Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[RangerJoe]

You could consider night bombing his airfields where his sweeping fighters are stationed.

I think that Nicks are better against the B-17s with their two engines and higher durability. You need armoured fighters to go after those Fortresses.

[BBfanboy]

AA will fire in move mode but probably with a delay to get their guns ready. Warning time would be a factor.

[Mike Solli]

You could consider night bombing his airfields where his sweeping fighters are stationed.

I think that Nicks are better against the B-17s with their two engines and higher durability. You need armoured fighters to go after those Fortresses.

I have Lilys night bomb the airfield at Mandalay. They've killed exactly 1 H81-A3 and damaged a couple. The issue I'm having in Burma (and everywhere really) is a lack of AS. Now that AS counts against engines and not planes, it's hard to keep planes flying.

I have some Betty's at Rabaul that can bomb Pt. Moresby at night. I made a note to start that tomorrow.

I do like the Nick. I will use them when they arrive. Not sure when that happens.

[Mike Solli]

AA will fire in move mode but probably with a delay to get their guns ready. Warning time would be a factor.

Good to know. The lack of AAA at Singapore and Bataan tells me it's getting close to time to attack.

[Mike Solli]

8 Mar 42

Sub War

The RO-34 caught an xAK a few hexes SE of Adak and sank her. Apparently, she was alone because it was done on the surface.

5 Fleet

There's some sort of TF headed to Adak. It looks like it's merchant shipping. Hopefully, RO-34 attacks tomorrow.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

New fighters over Pt. Moresby today. A squadron of Kittyhawks appeared. Six were shot down for no Japanese loss.

I got an infantry brigade overland to Pt. Moresby finally and see what's there. I won't take it. The 18 British Infantry Division is there, along with other stuff:

Pt. Moresby.png (1.19 MiB) Viewed 221 times

SRA

A CA TF sailed into Ambon and sank the AVP there. No more support for the planes that were hanging out and attempting to mess with the Kendari invasion force.

Malaya

Singapore - 1485(+16) - 751(-7) - I'll attack when the Allied AV is <700.

Philippines

Bataan - 944(0) - 685(-1)

Borneo

Miri and Samarinda are still repairing oil fields. Miri has 139 to go and Samarinda has 8 to go.

Sumatra

Palembang is still repairing it's oil fields and has 85 to go.

Java

Tjepoe still doesn't have enough supply to begin repairs. Supply is on its way and is 3 days out.

4 Division is 59 miles from Soerabaja. The attack will go in when they arrive.

Burma

So, two bad things happened today. First, I sent the wrong Oscar sentai to Magwe. It was the Oscar Ib model, not the Ic. Not much difference but coupled with the other bad thing, it was pretty bad. Ted sent his Hurricanes in at 21k ft, which allowed them to dive on my planes. Ouch. Anyway, 4 squadrons totaling 54 Hurricanes came in, one squadron at a time. By the time it was over I ended up losing 19 Oscars, 2 Tojos and 3 Zeros to 9 Hurricanes (and maybe 3 more op losses). Pilot losses were:

Zero - 2 KIA, 1 WIA
Tojo - 2 WIA
Oscar - 7 KIA, 4 WIA

At any rate, I'm down to 2 Tojos remaining so I pulled them out and replaced them with a fresh sentai of Oscar Ics. My planes are now at 30k. Still no bombers flew.

I had some Lilys finally fly a night mission to hit Mandalay's airfield, but they missed.

Intel says there are 35 fighters at Imphal, 28 at Mandalay and 2 at Lashio.

A tank regiment is 2 days out from Lashio with 3 tank regiments and an infantry headed to Mandalay and more reinforcements crawling through Thailand.

China

Kweilin was liberated today, cutting the Chinese rail line. The infrastructure was somewhat damaged:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 24(16)
LI: 24(16)

That's 40 less supply a day for the Chinese.

Other Stuff

The Ha-43 R&D advanced to Jun 45.

Reinforcements
22 Port Unit (18 Nav spt) (SW Fleet) - assigned to Soerabaja
23 Port Unit (18 Nav spt) (SW Fleet) - assigned to Soerabaja
24 Port Unit (18 Nav spt) (SW Fleet) - assigned to Palembang
32 Port Unit (18 Nav spt) (Southern Fleet) - assigned to Palembang
43 JNAF AF Unit - (Southern Army) - assigned to SE Fleet

[RangerJoe]

If you use a Fast Transport TF to bring supplies, the ships will bombard the LCUs only, you can even have battleships along for the ride. Then I do believe the enemy units bombard. So try to capture Milne Bay and build that up, you can starve Port Moresby while bombarding the LCUs. Once the enemy is weakened, you can Fast Transport stronger units there, no shock attack with their landings, then you can attack capture the base. BTW, the 18th UK and that Aussie brigade are not highly experienced.

[PaxMondo]

Burma

So, two bad things happened today. First, I sent the wrong Oscar sentai to Magwe. It was the Oscar Ib model, not the Ic. Not much difference but coupled with the other bad thing, it was pretty bad. Ted sent his Hurricanes in at 21k ft, which allowed them to dive on my planes. Ouch. Anyway, 4 squadrons totaling 54 Hurricanes came in, one squadron at a time. By the time it was over I ended up losing 19 Oscars, 2 Tojos and 3 Zeros to 9 Hurricanes (and maybe 3 more op losses). Pilot losses were:

Zero - 2 KIA, 1 WIA
Tojo - 2 WIA
Oscar - 7 KIA, 4 WIA

At any rate, I'm down to 2 Tojos remaining so I pulled them out and replaced them with a fresh sentai of Oscar Ics. My planes are now at 30k. Still no bombers flew.

Crap.

You're prolly right, c's likely would have made no difference, but it still stings.

[Skyros]

Magwe flipped today, with its infrastructure intact:

Oil: 300(0)
Refinery: 100(0) - This will remain off. I want the oil to flow south without any spoilage. The fuel produced would undergo spoilage as it moved.

I think the spoilage from moving fuel was removed a long time ago. I found this in the change log.


v1.00.95 - December 7, 2009

• Second Official Update – This release is comprehensive and updates ALL previous versions to the v1.00.95 level.

95. Gameplay Change: Removed the wastage of resources/oil/fuel during overland movement.

[Mike Solli]

Magwe flipped today, with its infrastructure intact:

Oil: 300(0)
Refinery: 100(0) - This will remain off. I want the oil to flow south without any spoilage. The fuel produced would undergo spoilage as it moved.

I think the spoilage from moving fuel was removed a long time ago. I found this in the change log.


v1.00.95 - December 7, 2009

• Second Official Update – This release is comprehensive and updates ALL previous versions to the v1.00.95 level.

95. Gameplay Change: Removed the wastage of resources/oil/fuel during overland movement.

Outstanding, Skyros! Thanks!

[Mike Solli]

9 Mar 42

Sub War

The RO-34 torpedoed and shelled an xAK between Adak and Dutch Harbor. Sinking sounds were heard immediately after.

5 Fleet

Hunting ships as I can. Only subs up here.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

A whopping 5 Betties made a night bombing raid on Pt. Moresby doing nothing.

My daily sweep of of Pt. Moresby (23 Zeros) encountered 3 P-40E and 7 Kittyhawk IA, shooting down 3 of each for no loss.

In an unexpected move, an Allied deliberate assault occurred against my infantry brigade at Pt. Moresby! The attack failed at 1:2 odds and the tiny ACoy/NG Rifles was destroyed in the process. My brigade lost a single squad destroyed but 40 were disabled. If the intel report is accurate, 19 infantry squads were destroyed with another 90 disabled, along with 14 other squads destroyed and 35 more disabled. The rest of 20 Division is crawling toward Pt. Moresby. As soon as they arrive, I'll combine them into the division.

I'm going to flood the waters south of Pt. Moresby with subs to prevent resupply. Maybe I will take it!

SRA

Kendari was liberated. I flew in some naval search and a chutai of fighters.

Malaya

Singapore - 1496(+11) - 752(+1)

Philippines

Bataan - 942(-2) - 684(-1) - 65 Brigade arrived today, but I forgot to check. I'll set a deliberate assault for the day after tomorrow.

Borneo

Working on oil repairs.

Sumatra

Working on oil repairs.

Java

I think I can win Soerabaja with 1 division, but a second is 46 miles out, so I'll wait.

Burma

Nine Lilys made a night bombing raid on Mandalay, causing a measly 1 airbase hit.

The air war began in earnest at dawn. The first enemy squadron to arrive at Magwe were 15 Hurricane IIas. The IIa already? I don't know what the replacement rate is for IIa and IIb, but I was surprised to see them so soon. My starting defensive aircraft were 6 Zeros and 40 Oscar Ics. I lost 2 Oscars to 7(!) Hurricanes shot down. Banzai!

Then, 3 H81-A3s showed up and were all driven off. Is the AVG already burned out?!

Then 6 Hurricane IIb swept Taung Gyi, but I had no fighters there.

Next, 3x IIb swept Magwe. One each Zero, Oscar and Hurricane were shot down.

The final sweep of Magwe was by 12 Hurricane IIb, vs. 4 Zeros and 26 Oscars. Two Zeros, 4 Oscars and 4 Hurricanes were shot down.

So, the total for Magwe today was:

Hurricane IIa: 15 sorties, 7 shot down
Hurricane IIb: 15 sorties, 5 shot down
Zero: 6 aircraft, 3 shot down, 1 KIA, 1 WIA - I'll take those pilot losses
Oscar Ic: 40 aircraft, 7 shot down, 1 KIA, 5 WIA - I'll definitely take those losses

One Hurricane IIa swept Prome. Really?

Finally, 9 Hurricane IIa swept Chiang Mai. I had a couple of chutai of Oscar Ic there and at a cost of 1 Oscar (no pilot loss), they shot down 2 Hurricanes.

So, in total, 14 enemy planes were shot down at a cost of 10 planes and 2 KIA. Not the best, but the RAF is taking some punishment. Intel says there are 15 fighters (Hurricanes) and 4 bombers at Mandalay, 3 fighters (AVG) at Lashio and 17 fighters (Hurricanes) and 21 bombers at Imphal.

China

Herding cats.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

A couple of updates I didn't add:

The BB TF and CA TF are 2 days out from where they will sneak in to bombard Darwin, 3 and 4 days from now.

KB is 3 days north of Truk and the fast oilers are 5 days north of Truk.

CRB is full of ships trying to unload fuel, oil and resources. I've diverted some to Saigon.

[PaxMondo]

9 Mar 42

Burma

Nine Lilys made a night bombing raid on Mandalay, causing a measly 1 airbase hit.

The air war began in earnest at dawn. The first enemy squadron to arrive at Magwe were 15 Hurricane IIas. The IIa already? I don't know what the replacement rate is for IIa and IIb, but I was surprised to see them so soon. My starting defensive aircraft were 6 Zeros and 40 Oscar Ics. I lost 2 Oscars to 7(!) Hurricanes shot down. Banzai!

Then, 3 H81-A3s showed up and were all driven off. Is the AVG already burned out?!

Then 6 Hurricane IIb swept Taung Gyi, but I had no fighters there.

Next, 3x IIb swept Magwe. One each Zero, Oscar and Hurricane were shot down.

The final sweep of Magwe was by 12 Hurricane IIb, vs. 4 Zeros and 26 Oscars. Two Zeros, 4 Oscars and 4 Hurricanes were shot down.

So, the total for Magwe today was:

Hurricane IIa: 15 sorties, 7 shot down
Hurricane IIb: 15 sorties, 5 shot down
Zero: 6 aircraft, 3 shot down, 1 KIA, 1 WIA - I'll take those pilot losses
Oscar Ic: 40 aircraft, 7 shot down, 1 KIA, 5 WIA - I'll definitely take those losses

One Hurricane IIa swept Prome. Really?

Finally, 9 Hurricane IIa swept Chiang Mai. I had a couple of chutai of Oscar Ic there and at a cost of 1 Oscar (no pilot loss), they shot down 2 Hurricanes.

So, in total, 14 enemy planes were shot down at a cost of 10 planes and 2 KIA. Not the best, but the RAF is taking some punishment. Intel says there are 15 fighters (Hurricanes) and 4 bombers at Mandalay, 3 fighters (AVG) at Lashio and 17 fighters (Hurricanes) and 21 bombers at Imphal.

Very interesting results in Burma Air today ... Ted is really pushing his air defense here now. As you note, the Brit replacement rates on all aircraft are pretty thin ... so?

My only thought is that it must mean he has a lot of USAAF coming here, or he basically is opening up the door to India. Why? First, Ted is experienced allied player; he knows that he cannot stop IJ from taking Burma in 42 and he knows that he needs to be careful of his British forces because the Indian forces cannot stop IJ in 42 or 43. To stop the IJ in 42/43 he has to have Brit/US forces there. So, if he is spending his Brits now, that must mean he has ample USAAF coming in. I think it is like 60? days to transfer units from East Coast to India via the off-map convoys? You need to confirm that timeframe and put a stake in the ground on this date.

[RangerJoe]

I think that it is 30 days for units to move from the East Coast to Cape Town. If he were to send them by fast ships, it could be quicker than that. If off map movement doesn't cause damage, then it could even be a much shorter time.

[Mike Solli]

I ran another turn with more plane losses on both sides. Here's what the Aircraft Losses screen says for total losses:

P-40E: 126
Hurricane IIa: 17
Hurricane IIb: 37
H81-A3: 32
Kittyhawk IA: 8

I suspect there are a fair number more of Hurricanes, but the P-40s are probably pretty much depleted. Who knows, maybe not.

Other plane losses:

A-24 Banshee: 63
Blenheim IV: 62 - that's surprisingly high

[RangerJoe]

The sad part for your opponent is that even those P-40 and A-24 units withdraw, he would get to keep the aircraft. That is a nice boost when the Allies finally get some better pilots through training. But I bet that you are NOT complaining about his wastage.

[Mike Solli]

The sad part for your opponent is that even those P-40 and A-24 units withdraw, he would get to keep the aircraft. That is a nice boost when the Allies finally get some better pilots through training. But I bet that you are NOT complaining about his wastage.

Not a bit, Joe, not a bit.

[Mike Solli]

10 Mar 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I had fun here today. First, 5 Banshees flew unescorted against my troops at Buna. After 3 were shot down, the survivors fled. Then, 9 more Banshees flew the same mission. These guys probably weren't as bright. All were shot down.

Unfortunately, my sweep didn't fly. Too bad.

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1498(+2) - 753(+1)

Philippines

Bataan - 1196(+254) - 687(+3) - 65 Brigade arrived. The deliberate attack goes in tomorrow.

Borneo

Drill baby drill!

Sumatra

Drill baby drill!

Java

4 Division is 24 miles from Soerabaja.

Burma

The night bombing of Mandalay did nothing, again.

Magwe received 3 enemy sweeps totaling 2 Hurricane IIa and 15 Hurricane IIb. I initially had 6 Zeros and 33 Oscar Ic. Losses:

Zero: 1, 1 WIA
Oscar Ic: 2, 1 WIA
Hurricane IIa: 1
Hurricane IIb: 2

In addition, a sweep of 4 Hurricane IIa trop flew over Taung Gyi where I had no fighters.

Two bombing (14 and 7 sorties of Blenheim IV) runs at my tank regiment at Lashio causing no casualties or disruption. That tank regiment is attacking 2 units there totaling 2500 troops. If it does not succeed, there is another tank regiment and infantry regiment that will arrive in a few days.

Losses are dwindling. Two WIA are definitely things I can live with. Intel reports 13 fighters and 1 bomber at Mandalay, 25 fighters and 22 bombers at Imphal, nothing at Lashio and 4 fighters at Chittagong.

In a surprise move, the Allies attacked 15 Army at Mandalay. The attack failed at 1:1 odds, and the Allies lost 81 infantry squads, 19 other squads and about 250 disabled. My losses were much more modest at 5 infantry squads and 89 infantry squads and about a dozen other squads disabled. Also, one enemy unit was destroyed. I don't know which one yet.

China

Herding cats.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

11 Mar 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I had a couple of night bombing raids of Pt. Moresby with some Betties, that were actually successful. The final tally was a number of damaged aircraft:

1 Kittyhawk IA
1 P-39D - Been waiting for these to show up. That tells me he's running low on the P-40E.
6 PBY4

Total damage caused was 1 airfield and 11 runway. When I saw the turn, there still was a single point of airfield damage. By the way, the port is 2(2) and the airfield is 3(6).

My daitai of 27 Zeros flew their daily sweep of Pt. Moresby and ran into a full squadron of 18 P-39D and 8 Kittyhawk IA. They did good work shooting down 10 P-39s and 4 Kittyhawks, but did suffer a single loss (1 MIA).

Five B-17E flew against 40 Brigade, at Pt. Moresby, but were met by 20 Zeros on escort duty. They lost nothing but actually shot down one of the enemy beasts! Amazing. Those bombers are almost invulnerable to our early war fighters. Later, 8 more B-17E flew against 40 Brigade encountering 5 Zeros. No planes were lost on either side, and both bomber raids did little to the infantry.

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1507(+9) - 747(-6)

Philippines

Bataan - 1197(+1) - 688(+1) - I did my deliberate assault. The results were 1:2 with level 3 forts. Allied losses were 56 destroyed and 187 disablements, including 39(73) infantry (Loss(Disablement)). My infantry losses were minimal, but they'll have to rest because of disablements, disruption and fatigue:

16 Division: infantry - 0(45), 59/51 (disruption/fatigue)
48 Division: infantry - 4(63), 58/53
65 Brigade: infantry - 1(34), 40/37

Like I said many times earlier, there's really no hurry here.

Borneo

Miri's oil is currently at 164(136).
Samarinda's oil is currently at 95(5).
Everything else is fully repaired, other than Miri's refinery, at 122(178) and not repairing.

Sumatra

Palembang's oil is currently repairing at 818(82).
Palembang's refinery is at 668(82) and the resources are at 18(2) and neither is repairing.
Medan is the only base in enemy hands with 8 units and 7860 troops.
Everything else is mine and fully repaired.

Java

Still slowly pushing the Dutch rabble to the SW corner of Java. 4 Division is nearing Soerabaja to join the main body of 16 Army (16 Army HQ, 38 Division, 17 Medium FA Regiment) to attack and liberate that base. The rest of 16 Army is strung out to the west of Soerabaja pushing the rest of the Dutch south. Right now I see 13 units (12k troops) in Soerabaja and 21 more units scattered to the west and SW of Soerabaja. I'm not concerned about the Soerabaja garrison because I'll have 13.2k infantry total to array against them when 4 Division arrives.

Burma

The Lilys actually did a couple of small night raids on Mandalay. They weren't nearly as effective as the Betties, but they did fly. They caused a few points of runway damage and there was still a single point of airfield damage remaining when I saw the turn.

Two H81-A3 flew a sweep against Taung Gyi. I had no fighters there, but there is proof that the AVG still exists, barely.

Chiang Mai is my main base for Burma right now. I keep 3 sentai of recon planes, the night bombing Lily sentai and some fighters there. Four Hurricane IIa Trop swept here today and ran into 22 Oscars, losing a Hurricane for no Japanese loss. By the way, those recon planes allow me to search 9 Allied bases at any one time. There's not much I don't see there right now.

Ted saw sent 21 Blenheim IV (1.5 squadrons) against the 1 Tank Regiment, just a few miles west of Lashio, moving to Lashio in order to attack. They did no appreciable damage, or even disruption.

The 14 Tank Regiment, at Lashio, attacked later in the day getting 2:1 odds and reducing the fort from 3 to 2. They fought against 2 small British BFs and lost nothing while killing and disabling a few squads. I'll attack again tomorrow. The Brits have no AT defenses and I have the 1 Tank Regiment arriving shortly to bolster the attack.

Finally, the Allies did a deliberate attack against me at Mandalay. They failed, getting 1:2 odds and losing more infantry than I did - 31(28) Japanese to 56(126) Allied. The down side (sort of) was that 55 Cavalry Regiment (component of 55 Division) was destroyed. That's interesting. The unit was in pretty good shape before the attack, but it was a small unit. Small units don't usually fare well in combat with large units. It's really not an issue though. 55 Division has all of its components in Mandalay except for 144 Regiment, which starts in Babeldaob and currently is almost fully loaded on fast xAPs at Samarinda for movement to Burma. I think I can skirt it around Singapore and unload it at Rangoon directly. We'll see. When I get it to Mandalay, I'll be able to recombine the division even though 55 Cav Regiment was destroyed.

China

23 Army caught up with the Chinese corps that was thrown out of Kweilin on the road to Liuchow and chewed them up. I noticed that the 25,000 man garrison at Liuchow is withdrawing up the rail line. It's open terrain and I've been bombing them mercilessly with about 63 light and 12 medium bombers daily, causing significant casualties. That's fine. I want that east-west rail line to assist in the transport of my oil/resources I'm gathering from the SRA.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
23 Medium FA Regiment (Southern Army) - enroute to Burma.

[RangerJoe]

Just to let you know for your planning purposes, on the Discord channel it was mentioned that the Japanese Invasion Bonus lasts through April.

That recon unit that was lost will be rebuilt when the division reforms. A suggestion for combat though, take your beaten up units and smaller combat units and put them into Reserve mode. On defense if they are needed in the combat to prevent the enemy's victory, they will participate but in move mode. If the enemy attack wins without their participation, they apparently retreat without loosing their disabled squads and devices.

[Mike Solli]

12 Mar 42

Sub War

The I-18 caught DMS Lamberton off Pearl Harbor with a torpedo. Sinking sounds were heard immediately after the attack.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The sweep of Pt. Moresby found a mishmash of enemy fighters today: 3 Kittyhawk IA, 3 P-39D, 21 P-40E. Another squadron of P-40s arrived. The net result was 4 P-40s vs. 2 Zeros lost, plus an additional Zero crashed on landing (1 MIA, 2 WIA). Not the ratio I've been having, but only one pilot was lost. I didn't expect to see another squadron of P-40E though.

Ten B-17Es visited the 40 Brigade at Pt. Moresby causing little damage. No Zeros were present today.

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1517(+10) - 741(-6)

Philippines

Bataan - 1000(-197) - 589(-99) - Result from yesterday's deliberate assault. The difference is most of mine are disabled and most of the Allied are losses.

Borneo

Drill baby drill!

Sumatra

Drill baby drill!

Java

4 Division finally arrived. The deliberate attack finally goes in tomorrow!

Burma

Eighteen Blenheim IV attacked my tanks at Lashio again. I need to remember to put some fighters over Lashio to ambush them.

Those two lonely H81-A3s swept Taung Gyi again. Poor ole AVG.

Over Magwe, the first enemy sweep was 3 Hurricane IIb Trop. All 3 were shot down. Does anyone know if the "Trop" is the tropical variant of the Hurricane?

The next enemy sweep was 11 more Hurricane IIb Trop. Six were shot down at a cost of 1 Oscar Ic. So far so good...

Ted caught up in the next sweep. Three Hurricane IIa Trop and 7 IIb Trop shot down 8 Oscars at a cost of one of each Hurricane. Guess my pilots were tiring out and the planes were getting damaged and low on fuel and ammo.

The last enemy sweep was 4 Hurricane IIb Trop, with 3 shot down for no loss.

So, 9 Oscars lost (5 KIA, 3 WIA) for 14 Hurricanes. Not the best ratio, but at least it was all over my territory and the lost pilots were all IJA.

I reinforced the Oscar sentai and Yamada Det with another chutai of 12 Oscars for tomorrow.

The tank regiment shock attacked Lashio again today. The result was 1:1 and the forts were reduced from 2 to 1. Again, there were no Japanese losses and the 2 British BFs lost a few and had 16 more disabled. They'll do a deliberate assault tomorrow.

China

Herding cats.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
I-30 - Glen sub - headed to SE Fleet AO.
44 JNAF AF Unit - headed to SE Fleet AO.