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

[Mike Solli]

1 Sep 42

Sub War

I-171 missed a really big xAP SE of Noumea. Darn!

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied bomber focus was Gasmata again today. There were a few fighters stuck on the ground and a couple were destroyed on the ground. Forty Oscars were attempting to defend the base and they actually shot down 4 B-26s. Amazing!

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Thirteen Albacores put a couple of bombs into a Gozan class xAK. She went down later in the day. My Tojos were stationed too high to catch them. I split the sentai into chutai and set some to CAP high and medium range. The xAK was part of a supply convoy.

China

More bombing and maneuvering.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[PaxMondo]

28 Aug 42

Burma

That irritating Allied AMc was still sitting in Cox's Bazaar harbor clearing bunches of mines that I just laid. I finally got an Ansyu PB there and she sank her with one shot! Saki for the entire crew!

BANZAI!!!

[PaxMondo]

29 Aug 42

Other Stuff

The Ha-44-IIb R&D advanced to 9/42. I will not produce any of this model. I have 7x 30 factories working on the IIc model now, which is the one I want as soon as possible. I also have factories producing 210 Ha-34 engines, which is exactly what I need for 90 Tojos and 60 Helens a month. The Helen IIa (the model I want) also becomes operational in 9/42. I'm delaying production of this model until the Tojo IIa becomes operational in mid-December 42. I have 522 Ha-34 engines in the pool and produce 7 a day, just enough to accelerate the Tojo R&D factories. I have a 69 of the Ha-44-IIa in the pool and 90 in units. This will (have to) last until the IIc model becomes operational. I'm still producing 60 Oscar (IIa model now) per month and anticipate producing that throughout the war. I'm not doing any R&D on them.

Pretty sure that you mean Ki-44-IIb wherever you state Ha-44-IIb.
Ditto Ki-44-IIa for Ha-44-IIa.

I think Grandpa has been watching too much "A Bug's Life" (Little Mermaid? Sorry, I forget their ages ...) with the Grandkids!

[PaxMondo]

30 Aug 42
Reinforcement
14 RGC Independent Brigade (RGC Army), combines with the RGC Capital Brigade to form the 2 RGC Capital Division. This unit will move to Shanghai to relieve 35 Division for use at the front.
AG Hayasaki

BANZAI!!!!!!!!

[PaxMondo]

31 Aug 42
SE Fleet

The bombers went for Gasmata (my forward fighter/FB base) today. The Nicks weren't there at the time, but they got 15 Zeros on the ground. Fortunately, I have spares. The Zeros were on an attempted ambush (that didn't pan out) and I had 47 Oscars stationed at Rabaul on LRCAP over Gasmata. We all know how good Oscars are against 4E beasts. They managed to shoot down 2 escorting Wildcats, and didn't lose any of their number. They probably damaged a lot of bombers but none were shot down. Gasmata's airfield is out of business for a while.

Here's damage at my bases in the area (port-airfield-runway):

Madang: 57-72-84
Tulagi: 0-29-42
Gasmata: 0-75-99

Fortunately, I've planned for this and have moved my planes back to other already prepared airfields. Hollandia, Manus, Kavieng and Rabaul.

Dang, Ted has been very, very effective with the use of his bomber force thus far.

[PaxMondo]

1 Sep 42

SE Fleet

The Allied bomber focus was Gasmata again today. There were a few fighters stuck on the ground and a couple were destroyed on the ground. Forty Oscars were attempting to defend the base and they actually shot down 4 B-26s. Amazing!

Like you, I have only 4 letter epitaphs to describe the Oscar. However, loathe though I am to admit it, against unescorted 2E bombers they can be somewhat effective. But I would be careful of a sweep by Ted ... those Oscars will not hold up against P-40's.

[sfatula]

The Nicks service level doesn't help. More than one group and rotating can be useful at times, but not when your base is closed of course!

[Mike Solli]

29 Aug 42

Other Stuff

The Ha-44-IIb R&D advanced to 9/42. I will not produce any of this model. I have 7x 30 factories working on the IIc model now, which is the one I want as soon as possible. I also have factories producing 210 Ha-34 engines, which is exactly what I need for 90 Tojos and 60 Helens a month. The Helen IIa (the model I want) also becomes operational in 9/42. I'm delaying production of this model until the Tojo IIa becomes operational in mid-December 42. I have 522 Ha-34 engines in the pool and produce 7 a day, just enough to accelerate the Tojo R&D factories. I have a 69 of the Ha-44-IIa in the pool and 90 in units. This will (have to) last until the IIc model becomes operational. I'm still producing 60 Oscar (IIa model now) per month and anticipate producing that throughout the war. I'm not doing any R&D on them.

Pretty sure that you mean Ki-44-IIb wherever you state Ha-44-IIb.
Ditto Ki-44-IIa for Ha-44-IIa.

I think Grandpa has been watching too much "A Bug's Life" (Little Mermaid? Sorry, I forget their ages ...) with the Grandkids!

That's my new mix up. It used to be Rangoon & Rabaul.

[Mike Solli]

The Nicks service level doesn't help. More than one group and rotating can be useful at times, but not when your base is closed of course!

I've come to the same conclusion. I changed the training Nick unit in the Home Islands to 5 Air Division and converted a training fighter unit in Formosa to Nicks. As of mid-September, the second unit is at full strength and island hopping to the front. The training unit has only 8 Nicks so far. My issue is that I'm only producing 30 Nicks a month. I'm reluctant to increase it because that would entail increasing my Ha-35 production. That's something I'm reluctant to do right now with the 6 Ha-45 factories increasing. That's a lot of supply (and HI) usage. I'm contemplating increasing Nick production from 30 to 45. That would be an increase of 18 HI a day plus another 18 HI a day for the increased engine production. At 30, I was able to keep 1 sentai stocked up at the front line and slowly fill up the training unit. Once the training unit is filled, there is basically no loss there. The Ha-45 factory size increase will be complete in about 25 days. I may wait until then to decide on the potential increase to the Nick.

That's basically a lot of rambling to say I'm keeping track of Nick shortages and see what they are when the Ha-45 production increase is finished.

By the way, as of 22 September, I have 407 Ha-45s in the pool. None of the 18 George R&D factories are fully repaired, but one is at 29, one at 27 and two at 26, so we're getting there.

Yesterday was a record for us. We turned around 4 turns in one day. The stars were aligned. Neither of us had much to do other than play this infernal game.

[Mike Solli]

1 Sep 42

SE Fleet

The Allied bomber focus was Gasmata again today. There were a few fighters stuck on the ground and a couple were destroyed on the ground. Forty Oscars were attempting to defend the base and they actually shot down 4 B-26s. Amazing!

Like you, I have only 4 letter epitaphs to describe the Oscar. However, loathe though I am to admit it, against unescorted 2E bombers they can be somewhat effective. But I would be careful of a sweep by Ted ... those Oscars will not hold up against P-40's.

Right now, I have 2 sentai of Oscars at Rabaul defending the skies. As of mid-September, one of them was converted to the Tojo IIa.

[Mike Solli]

31 Aug 42
SE Fleet

The bombers went for Gasmata (my forward fighter/FB base) today. The Nicks weren't there at the time, but they got 15 Zeros on the ground. Fortunately, I have spares. The Zeros were on an attempted ambush (that didn't pan out) and I had 47 Oscars stationed at Rabaul on LRCAP over Gasmata. We all know how good Oscars are against 4E beasts. They managed to shoot down 2 escorting Wildcats, and didn't lose any of their number. They probably damaged a lot of bombers but none were shot down. Gasmata's airfield is out of business for a while.

Here's damage at my bases in the area (port-airfield-runway):

Madang: 57-72-84
Tulagi: 0-29-42
Gasmata: 0-75-99

Fortunately, I've planned for this and have moved my planes back to other already prepared airfields. Hollandia, Manus, Kavieng and Rabaul.

Dang, Ted has been very, very effective with the use of his bomber force thus far.

He's been focusing on their use. I still need to read the Air War Guide to try and maximize my use of my fighters. That's been a very surprising change this game. One thing Ted said is that he's converting his training squadrons to obsolete bombers to put more good bombers in his pool. Apparently, he didn't do that last game. That's surprising. I do that constantly. You'll never see an Ida in the front line!

[Mike Solli]

2 Sep 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Allied bombers focused on Madang and Tulagi today. A couple of Nicks were destroyed on the ground and the bases took more damage.

Here's today's damage:

Madang: 57-77-96
Tulagi: 0-42-55
Gasmata: 0-100-98

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Splitting my Tojos into chutai to guard at different heights paid off today. Thirteen unescorted Albacores showed up at Akyab to try and bomb a supply convoy there. Five were shot down and they were ineffective. Very nice.

China

Bombing troops/airfields at Kunming, Kweiyang, Chungking and Lanchow. I have troops at all but Chungking. I'll begin attacking at Lanchow once the final division headed there arrives.

I'm gathering forces at Kweiyang. The final army will have 10 divisions plus a lot of heavy artillery I bought out from Manchukuo. There are ~180k Chinese there.

My first attack will be at Kunming. The 1 Tank Division is there with 33 Division on its way. It's still 6 hexes away along the road. I figure it'll take a couple of weeks to get there. The Chinese garrison has about 46k troops including the remnants of the Paoshan garrison along with some reinforcements Ted sent there.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[sfatula]

The only good news about B17s is their service rating is much worse than the Nicks. But he has a lot too, so, can afford to have a bunch not ready at any given time. It's going to be hard to get over that hump.

[Mike Solli]

3 Sep 42 - quiet turn

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted rested most of his bombers with only 52x 2E sorties focusing on the troops at Lae.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Bombing and maneuvering.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
Maizuru 4 SNLF, SE Fleet, half battalion sized, AV=30. Will head to Amoy as part of the garrison allowing 51 Engineer Regiment (51 Division component) to head to Kweiyang. I still need to find replacements for the 51 Division's recon and one infantry regiment, both garrisons on the south Chinese coast. Eventually, 51 Division will combine at Kweiyang.

The Ki-44-IIc R&D advanced to 2/44. I anticipate it becoming operational mid-December 1942 and will produce 90 per month. I expect to use it on the frontline, mainly in Burma, until early 1944. I expect the production run to reach 1000-1100. It will be my base CAP and be used for short range escort mission as well.

[Mike Solli]

4 Sep 42

Sub War

The RO-66 spotted a TF that included 3 CA, 4 AP, 2 DMS and 2 DD south of Milne Bay. They couldn't get a shot off, unfortunately and took 2 DC hits. Her damage is: 15-75(59)-1-0. She'll make it to Truk eventually and will be in the shop for a while, but will make a full recovery.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I have some Nells on night naval attack. They spotted the TF the ran over RO-66 (above) and launched 24 torpedo carrying Nells that hit......nothing.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I move fighter units in and out of Burma as they take losses, to replenish them with replacement fighters. I had sent an Oscar chutai to Shwebo and mistakenly, their range was >0. They flew to the front line just east of Cox's Bazaar and managed to lose 4 planes while shooting down only 1 Hurricane. I hate the Oscar.

Four Albacores approached Akyab hunting for puny xAKs dropping off supply. The Tojos on CAP shot them all down. Nice!

I've noticed that Ted typically sweeps the front line. They come in 2 sweeps, one of a squadron each of Hurricanes and P-40Es and the second with a squadron of Hurricanes and half a squadron of P-40Es. I'm setting up a little ambush using 84 Tojos and 96 Oscars. We'll see how many actually reach the hex tomorrow...

China

Bombing and maneuvering...

Other Stuff

The A6M5 R&D advanced to 12/42 and will become operational 10/42. I will produce it. The Zero goal is the A6M5c. I will not produce the A6M5b. Right now I am producing 60x A6M2 (which will upgrade to the M5) and 60 A6M3a. My final production will be 60 A6M3a and 60 A6M5c. The 3a has the range I like and the 5c has armor. On KB, I'll use the 3a as the escort and the 5c as the CAP. KB1 is composed of Akagi (3a), Kaga and Soryu. KB2 is composed of Hiryu, Shokaku (3a) and Zuikaku. The four CVs without a plane listed currently have the M2 and will upgrade to the M5 and then the M5c. The land based frontline units are all using the M2, and will upgrade to the M5 and George.

[Mike Solli]

The only good news about B17s is their service rating is much worse than the Nicks. But he has a lot too, so, can afford to have a bunch not ready at any given time. It's going to be hard to get over that hump.

The problem with being on defense is that you need to CAP critical bases every day. As the attacker, he has all the chips. He can rest whenever he wants to rest. I pull out units to rest by flying them to Truk.

[Mike Solli]

Turn arrived. Will continue with the updates in a couple hours.

[PaxMondo]

The only good news about B17s is their service rating is much worse than the Nicks. But he has a lot too, so, can afford to have a bunch not ready at any given time. It's going to be hard to get over that hump.

The problem with being on defense is that you need to CAP critical bases every day. As the attacker, he has all the chips. He can rest whenever he wants to rest. I pull out units to rest by flying them to Truk.

The power of having the initiative cannot be overstated. Having it and wielding it effectively are key elements of the game.

Ted has wrested a portion of the initiative from you with respect to his 4E's and the airwar. Far too early for him to be allowed to do so. I think you need to shake things up a bit and get control again. He knows that you are a conservative planner with respect to your airforce and economy, I think he is using that against you (effectively).

Ideas:
- You may wish to consider spending a few 100,000 supply and ramp up either Nick or George so that you have ~300 of them within the next 60 days.
- Deep raid on his 4E air bases with the KB + BB's, kill them on the ground.
- Use a string of DD's shuttling against his 4E air bases and use the KB as an air shield / hammer if he responds with an SCTF against them.

I think you gotta do something not ordinarily Mike to shake him up. He's outplaying you, not the game, right now.

[Mike Solli]

The only good news about B17s is their service rating is much worse than the Nicks. But he has a lot too, so, can afford to have a bunch not ready at any given time. It's going to be hard to get over that hump.

The problem with being on defense is that you need to CAP critical bases every day. As the attacker, he has all the chips. He can rest whenever he wants to rest. I pull out units to rest by flying them to Truk.

The power of having the initiative cannot be overstated. Having it and wielding it effectively are key elements of the game.

Ted has wrested a portion of the initiative from you with respect to his 4E's and the airwar. Far too early for him to be allowed to do so. I think you need to shake things up a bit and get control again. He knows that you are a conservative planner with respect to your airforce and economy, I think he is using that against you (effectively).

Ideas:
- You may wish to consider spending a few 100,000 supply and ramp up either Nick or George so that you have ~300 of them within the next 60 days.
- Deep raid on his 4E air bases with the KB + BB's, kill them on the ground.
- Use a string of DD's shuttling against his 4E air bases and use the KB as an air shield / hammer if he responds with an SCTF against them.

I think you gotta do something not ordinarily Mike to shake him up. He's outplaying you, not the game, right now.

Yes, initiative is most definitely true and I have been reacting. I'm over 3 weeks behind on this AAR, just so you know. A LOT has happened. First, let me discuss your ideas.

The George is still in R&D. Of the 18 factories, one reached 30 just 2 days ago and the next day, the Ha-45 pool exceeded 500 (currently at 515 and increasing ~15 a day). The remaining 17 factories average 19.2 with a the top 4 at 29, 28 and 26x2 and the remainder at 23, 21, 20, 19x3, 18, 17, 16x3, 15 and 8. The N1K1-J is still showing 7/43 to become operational. No idea what the final date will be, but the engines will accelerate it a LOT. The Ha-45 engine factories are currently at 490(80). One is finished at 120, one is at 82(8) and the last 4 are at 72(18). When finished in 18 days, they'll pump out 19 engines a day. That should be plenty to cover the George 1 & 2 R&D along with the Frank and Grace.

Raiding his 4E bases: I did some research on where his bombers were coming from and was able to determine whether they were coming at normal or extended range. It turns out his 4E bombers are most likely coming from Pt. Moresby. There could be some stationed at Milne Bay as well. I know that both of those bases have mines, so I'm reluctant to send in ships to bombard. I'll have to think about that.

I need to think about how to go about hitting the bombers on the ground. He has well over 100 fighters in that area. I keep whittling them down but he seems to have an endless supply of planes.

I just spent some time looking at US Army 4E, 2E and fighter replacement aircraft. (I'm not considering all the aircraft that arrive as reinforcements.)

Fighters:
P40E (35/month) phases out at the end of 10/42, so 35 more replacements. I see a few in Burma and a few in PNG. As of 28 Sep 42, 462 have been lost from all causes. So far, he's gotten 350 replacements plus 353 reinforcements for a total of 703-462=241 +35 in October for 276 available. Still a lot of them. I wonder if he's using some for training because I don't see many of them. The P40K is just coming online to replace them.

P40K (65/month) (just saw them for the first time ~27 Sep) until 7/43. They're not much better than the P40E but there are a lot of them. He'll get 725 over the course of 11 months. Interestingly, he gets no reinforcement squadrons with them, so that 725 is a hard number.

P38 series - He gets a smattering of 3 different varieties totaling 104 through 9/42 with an additional 160 between 10/42 and 5/43. I find that they don't really do that well. They do extend fighter coverage to the bombers though. There never seem to be large enough numbers to really make a difference. So far 24 have been lost leaving 80 available right now.

2E Bombers:
B25C (20/month), 8/42-1/43 + 49 reinforcements. 89 through 9/42 with 30 losses leaving 59 aircraft with 80 replacements over the next 4 months.

B26 series (15/month), B26 delivers 3/42-5/42 and the B26B delivers 5/42-6/42 for a total of 75 and 6 replacement aircraft with 51 losses so far. That leaves 30 remaining aircraft. They're almost gone.

The 2E bombers just can't survive without serious fighter cover. I catch them over and over and chew them up. I'm not worried about them.

4E Bombers:
B17E (15/month), delivered 1/42-6/42 with 90 replacement aircraft, 77 reinforcement aircraft and 45 starting the game for a total of 212. With 62 destroyed to date, there are 150 remaining.

B17F (24/month), delivered 8/42-9/42 for a total of 48 bombers. Only 2 have been destroyed so far, but they haven't com across much resistance where they are (Luganville or its environs).

B24D (15/month), delivered 7/42-1/43 with a total of 45 delivered so far and 40 reinforcement aircraft for a total of 85. Seven have been destroyed leaving 78 remaining.

So all that blather tells me some important info. There are some 275 4E bombers remaining (a lot!) but the replacements for the next few months is only 15 per month. And that's assuming all are in operational unit and none in training units.

Things look better with the 2E bombers. There are about 90 remaining with 80 reinforcements through 1/43.

So, if I can kill over 15 heavies and 20 mediums, I'll cut into that force. I'm going to keep track starting next month.

[Mike Solli]

5 Sep 42 - Quiet day.

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Allied bombers hit my troops at Salamaua, Lae and Merauke causing little damage. Some 4E bombers hit Tulagi's airfield causing more damage. The airfield is still open and the Dinah's stationed there are still providing naval search to the south.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Some Tojos met some Hurricanes and Warhawks over the front line (a hex east of Cox's Bazaar) and shot down a Warhawk. Pretty lackluster.

China

Still bombing Kunming, Kweiyang, Chungking and Lanchow and maneuvering the armies.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.