An Aussie Beta Affair - Luskan V Raver!!!

[Raverdave]

I am torn between holding Rangoon and causing Luskan the loss to time and effort to take it, and seeing my men safe on towards Akyab. If I stay at Rangoon the is no escape route, but if I move Luskan gets Rangoon for free along with the 126,000 fuel that is sitting there. It is a hard call.

[norsemanjs]

I'm sure Luskan would love to move some of his BB's into Rangoon with all that fuel and start running bombardment missions to Akyab, he'll try and pound it to dust.

One of the questions you need to ask yourself is: how much do you really save by "bugging out", also what can you truly accomplish by holding on and eventually loosing the entire garrison. It really depends on how well you are situated on setting up a line of defense at the river defence line. If you are starting to build up some force I'd bug out, if not delaying the Japanese advance may be worth the loss of the garrison.

An uneviable position all of us who will play the Allies will eventually have to face.

Good Luck

[Wallymanowar]

ORIGINAL: Raverdave

I am torn between holding Rangoon and causing Luskan the loss to time and effort to take it, and seeing my men safe on towards Akyab. If I stay at Rangoon the is no escape route, but if I move Luskan gets Rangoon for free along with the 126,000 fuel that is sitting there. It is a hard call.

A tough call. If there is no way to destroy the fuel, is it worth the loss of troops to prevent it from being captured? Retreating leaves you stronger to defend India and if he takes the fuel it means either he will dominate the BoB for a couple more months, or he will be required to ship it out. If he convoys it out you will be afforded the opportunity to harass his shipments with subs and mines.

I think the fact that he has more forces in Malaya than historical means that he has more forces available for Burma than historically and your troops in Rangoon are probably lost anyways unless you retreat. This being the case it is more important to perform a fighting withdrawal and strenghthen the line in India than to try to prevent his domination in the BoB. Remember, time is on your side - once the LOC to Australia is secure in the East and the Indian frontier is secure in the west, it is just a matter of attrition until the Allies win. Once he is forced to relocate his naval forces from the BoB and Indian Ocean the RN will be free to harass his sea lanes to Rangoon, and threaten his flank in Burma.

[mogami]

Hi, I don't think it is worth losing troops to protect fuel that will be captured once the troops surrender anyway. Get what bombers you can into range and as soon as the Japanese take Rangoon start bombing the port. Once the CVL have to retire for fuel hit Rangoon with a bombardment TF. (if you can follow the CVL and they go to Rangoon to refuel......)

[Luskan]

Well this last turnw as the quietest in a while - a few enemy planes in china trying to strafe my troops but there just aren't enough of them to do any damage (and there certainly isn't enough chinese support points to worry me).

Units in singapore are all not either 99% or 100%. Thrilled at this to say the least. Units in the Northern PI aren't nearly so happy - although my troops on Sulawesi and Mindanao are also looking quiet healthy.
As the IJ player you are concious of all your early casualties (especially the ones where your troops are knocked out, rather than destroyed because it is an active pressure to rest and refit your troops). Once I've taken Clark (that should happen in the near future or I'm going to be bloody angry) I'll be able to use my malayan troops for the next offensives, whlie those in the PI recouperate.

Running out of HQs - and as a result am having to "disassemble" some of my original big bases and reassemble them (big base forces, engineers for constructiona nd lots of hqs and cds) further south to keep my troops in fighting trim. In retrospect I've probably overdone it at Singapore - but that just means I'll have to move another HQ north or south when the time comes.

My operation at Moulmein is complete - the original two divisions that attacked rangoon have been shipped out, while 6 large inf units have been brought in (mixed brigades and regiments) in order to open a much wider front (I could have split the divisions into two groups of three to achieve this, but decided against it. The 55th and the Imperial Guards are my elite, and they will remain as a single striking force). I have left my armoured unit, base force and 2 engineer regiments at moulmein with the 15th Army HQ which will corordinate my offensive into Burma. For the moment, my troops are going to settle in, spit insults at Rangoon, and build up the all important preparation points before they move out. I can't tell you what their objectives are however.

The danger about India (or an amphib op along the coast of the bay of Bengal) is that Raver has had two months to move his troops around. I don't know what he has where at the moment, and although such an op would be a huge success if deployed in the right, empty coast city, I don't want to get stuck in a loosing beachhead.

For over twow eeks now my slightly superior sized INF unit (small) has been battling it out at balikpapan with three of Raver's units (2 small inf and one base force) in a perfect stalemate. Neither side is able to damage the other, and both sides have the supplies to last out, loosing 60 men a turn over and over. Raver's troops don't have any guns, but my 26 guns there aren't really maknig a big enough impact, so i've detailed a few brand new units into the fray from Japan.

I also had a four or six VN divisions appear this turn, and although I had already established my line of defence and communication with more than enough jap troops (too many to be honest) they are being committed to the defenses there as well. I was sort of Hoping Raver would try a lunge north of hanoi (meaning inland) and had troops there ready so cut off and destroy any chinese incursion, but Raver didn't do as I had wanted.

In china things have gone very very quiet on the gronud. A couple of Raver's left over units are trapped behind my lines, outnumbered hundreds to one out in the wildnerness - they won't be around long, and finally my front has resolved into a proper, equally defended line (instead of 3 massive armies with massive 200 mile gaps in the front line). This line is being serviced by some nearby HQs that aren't quite replenishing my losses fast enough - so I'm tempted to ship in a few more from less vital areas. Once these troops are in fighting trim, we'll see about slowly moving my line forward to test Raver's defences (fortunately I know he doesn't have anywhere near the kind of logistical support for his troops that I do. I know I can recouperate faster than his chinese can at this stage).

Also, Raver has been quite stubborn in leaving Suva alone. Disappointing again. Seems that I should have gone for Noumea and Darwin first, rather than later and FORCED him to react with something. Disappointing news (if indeed it is true) that his CVs are on the west coast - wouldn't be surprised if they were headed under Oz over to fight in the Indian ocean - although Raver wouldn't risk them in the confined waters north of Darwin or near Rabaul.

I think my tactics of trying to get Raver to react with his CVs were good in theory - but just too early. He's probably got all those CVs holed up somewhere upgrading thier AA guns, filling out the wildcats (training the pilots as people have been suggesting) and of course, getting some big BBs fixed and repaired to act as AA platforms for his future TFs.

My sigint revealed a few interesting hints this turn (hasn't been useful so far, but it might just have paid off) and I have dispatched my banana (bananaint?) to investigate.

[Raverdave]

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, I don't think it is worth losing troops to protect fuel that will be captured once the troops surrender anyway. Get what bombers you can into range and as soon as the Japanese take Rangoon start bombing the port. Once the CVL have to retire for fuel hit Rangoon with a bombardment TF. (if you can follow the CVL and they go to Rangoon to refuel......)

Yeah I was thinking of that but Luskan has at least 4 BBs in the area, so he is covering everything rather well at this point. I tend to agree about the troops in Rangoon, I am inclinded to save the men and let the place fall into Luskan's little yellow hands.

[Luskan]

Another turn, and I tested the defences at Tugeragao once more and got bruised there - that INF division there is pretty beaten up. Fortunately I'll be adding the requivalent of another division plus a hoard of engineers there to clean that mess up as soon as possible (and I think that place has been getting supplied from Manila to Clark to Tugeragao - so I've moved to sever the possible supply line - foolish of me not to do this first. I assumed that my troops at clark would suffice, but since I don't control that hex . . . Once I've dealt with the Defenders at Tugeragao (starved or otherwise) I'll be moving my engineer army (along with the left over INFs) to try and fix Clark once and for all.

My additional troops at Manila have arrived, and I now have over a ten to one advantage in troops, and about 6 to one in guns, and about 300 to 0 in tanks. Hopefully it will be enough to bombard the crap out of the place while my preparation points increase.

[Raverdave]

Luskan is in for a few interesting turns. I have had some plans brewing for the last few weeks and they are about to bear fruit ! I will peel that bananana if it is the last thing I do !

[Luskan]

Well, too late! By thinking with my banana, I was able to beat Raver to the punch [:D]
My reinforcements (which only just arrived in manila after their rushed two weeks of preparation and planning points) of several DIVISIONS at Manila launched a costly shock attack that took them over the walls of the enemy fortress and sent Raver's troops (and Macarthur himself I think) scampering over to Lambon bay - where they are majorly cut off from Clark (well, by road and rail they are - but they aren't cut off over the countryside being an adjacent hex and all). My quick thinking armoured commanders were set to pursue the enemy and chased them over to Lambon bay as well (so now my two tank regiments are already there, harassing them).

Manila is mine, and due to the spped with which it fell (shock attakc not deliberate) the place isn't messed up that bad. There are 13000 resource points here that Raver didn't evac (not as many as I would have liked) and now my supply situation on the entire island has gone from bad to quickly improving (Manila will be generating supplies for all my troops, and the HQs there will be adding a very few replacements as they are very small HQs). With this victory I can catch Raver's troops at Clark in a big pincer movement (although I still ahve to hit Tugeragao first) and crush them - hopefully before the remnants from manila join forces with him there.


A quick tip for the WITP players who haven't seen the game yet (soon though!):
Should Raver run for Bataan? Probably. Once troops are defeated and forced to retreat, they loose much morale and combat effectiveness. So in game terms, if Raver moves his troops to Bataan, they'll be in fighting trim there, but if I kick them out of Clark and they retreat to Bataan - well Bataan will fall very quickly because I won't give him the time (and he won't have the supplies and HQs) to replenish combat effectiveness. This is another reason singapore fell so quick (I'd kicked his troops the length of malaysia - they had so much southeasterly momentum that they skidded right past singapore into the sea! Same with his chinese in China. Once routed troops need hqs, supply and TIME to regenerate to the point that they can resist again.

This is the reason Iw as unwilling to continue the stalemate at Rangoon - if I had eventually lost (unlikely) since I didn't have any real firepower in Indochina Raver could have used his inferior forces to roll my superior, yet routing forces up like a carpet all the way to Hanoi. I withdrew, and then sent in lots of INF units to secure the place.

The allied sub feeding frenzy continues in this turn.

Also, Raver has obviously gathered as many chinese as he can under one banner (those troops that haven't been shattered in the chinese front already), and marched them down to Hanoi as I had initially hoped (my depression last turn was 1 turn premature). I haven't been idle, there is a little fort at Hanoi, and more than a few INF units - best of all I have 3 fairly fresh divisions at nanning that will be cutting these guys off from the rail link to cenrtal china fairly soon - meaning they'll have to be supplied along the jungle trails - never a good idea. Looks like my new VN troops are going to get their mettle tested!

Four of my bigger bbs made a run past the DEI in the last few turns, and Raver's LBA had many, many goes at them, to absolutely no effect (aside from thinning out their own numbers).

Also, my 2 weeks grounding of all air units not on ASW duty (and not in china!) has come to an end. All my units are refreshed and at full strength. Many of them ahve been rotated onto training and I spent about 50 minutes redistributing my air assets more evenly across my -erm - the emperor's realm.

Enjoy!


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/09/42

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Sub attack at 32,56

Japanese Ships
TK Akane Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PC Takunan Maru #10
MSW Chitose maru

Allied Ships
SS S-38

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Sub attack at 68,44

Japanese Ships
TK Ogura Maru #3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PC Gamitsu Maru #1
MSW W.19

Allied Ships
SS Plunger

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Sub attack at 43,49

Japanese Ships
APD APD-31, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW W.3

Allied Ships
SS O21

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Day Air attack on TF at 23,59


Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 9
Martin 139 x 21


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 9 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei
BB Kongo
BB Kirishima
CA Atago

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
4 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
2 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 23,59


Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 6


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Kirishima

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 15000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 23,59


Allied aircraft
T.IVa x 2


Allied aircraft losses
T.IVa: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x T.IVa bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 23,59


Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 15000 feet

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Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 138113 troops, 1461 guns, 152 vehicles

Defending force 19587 troops, 239 guns, 18 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Manila base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
3622 casualties reported
Guns lost 55
Vehicles lost 6

Allied ground losses:
1701 casualties reported
Guns lost 61
Vehicles lost 3


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

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Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3888 troops, 121 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 57724 troops, 657 guns, 222 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
120 casualties reported
Guns lost 4


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Ground combat at Balikpapan

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1442 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 2014 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
114 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Clark Field

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 43580 troops, 618 guns, 6 vehicles

Defending force 72411 troops, 390 guns, 306 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
131 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 3


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Ground combat at Lamon Bay

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6190 troops, 98 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 1569 troops, 0 guns, 97 vehicles

[kfmiller41]

Hello all, I dont often post (being a troll who just reads the boards) but I just wanted to agree with an earlier poster that this is a game, not a simulator. I plan on buying it as soon as it comes out but also knowing that playing as the Japenese side I will never expect to win the way people who fight a war expect to, by beating the other side. It just wasnt militarily possible for Japan to defeat the USA. That doesnt mean it wont be fun to try, and because this is a game I see no reason why there cant be options to make the game more competitive. Will they be historical? No but if I wanted exact history i will read a book[:D]. From what I have read in the AARs WITP will be loads of fun and anything that makes the game fun and competitive and reasonably historical gets a hurrah from me.

Also wanted to thank the playtesters for all the hard work playing and writing of these AARs[&o]

[Luskan]

The allied sub feeding frenzy continues in spite of my hundreds of ASW dedicated aircraft . . . While the I boats couldn't hit the US coast from 1000 yards at the moment . . .
Raver tried to shock attack at lamon bay, but like I was just posting, those troops ahve routed and are no good for anything. They outnumbered my little armoured unit there, but sill got their asses kicked.

Raver has got 50000 chinese at hanoi (nasty surprise) however fortunately I have 50000 troops there (not all combat troops however), but more guns than he has, and more tanks than he has, and many more reinforcements on the way. Hanoi will hold and Raver's little gambit will be cut off from behind.

My ships hit diamond harbour today, and got wasted - I lost 3 dds to the coastal battery. In daylight my ships tried again and did much better, smacking up the airfield and then putting a little damage on about a dozen of Raver's transports in port. More BBs on their way north to do this properly. 70+ transports in two weakly defended ports - I just can't let them survive.

The easiest way would be to land some troops and take the bases and have the brits scuttle them for me.

[Raverdave]

Manila Falls![:(] In a surprise move Luskan launched a shock attack which completely caught my defenders off balance. This has a serious impact on Clark as Manila was holding back a lot of japanese troops from Clark's southern flank. Also Manila was feeding suppies into Clark and the loss of some 13,000 supply points puts Clack in a very bad place. I don't hold out much hope for clark holding out much past the 15th of Feb and fear that it may even fall sooner. Luskan it seems, has been pouring troops into the PI in an effort to speed up it's fall.

In other news Hanoi has come under attack from some 50,000 of my Chinese troops and I am sure that they have the bottle to be able to take it. I have been preping these guys for nearly three weeks now, and it is only defended by a somewhat large but weak force.

Things in the Bay of Bengal continue to go from bad to worse, with Diamond harbour again coming under shelling from some rather large bombardment TFs. I am sure that Luskan has his eye on taking a slice of India and by doing so cutting off my troops in Burma. It seems to be a sound tactic for which I have no answers at this point.[&:]

[Luskan]

Actually that was the plan I had from really early on (hoping the jungle and lack of supply woudl just wipe you out in Burma and I'd really only have to fight that first big battle to take the place. However Rangoon held me up a bit - unwilling to go around it because all my transports were rushing in and out of the PI.

[Luskan]

Well, I launched a port attack at daimond harbour but there weren't any ships there - Raver had made a run for it and the crafty bastards timing was PERFECT. Only the damged cripples were left behind, so all the kates torps meant nothing. Cost me 2 planes and a dozen damaged.

On the up and up, I rushed a jap paratroop unit into Hanoi (lots of transport planes around) and they were enough to make Raver's losses go from 300 last turn to over 1000. That gambit of Raver's failed miserably. General Raver's troops in China must be more frightened of seeing his orders arrive than my troops!

As for Lamon bay, well there was only one end there wasn't there? 6600 enemy casualties and about 3000 prisoners surrendered into my swag. Now that HUNDRED THOUSAND troops under my best generals are already returning to manila (in truth some never left just in case) and after a couple of days recouping with a massive supply base under them, I'm going to crush Clark - although not how Raver expects.

I tried to snatch Tugeragao once again - and it cost me 500 troops (I had jsut dumped a whole bunch of little NLF units in there thinking they'd make a difference. Unfortunately, no. However those filipinos should be starving sooner or later (and my units will heal once the island is mine). Going to need to fnid some more HQs around here somewhere . . .

Lost another sub and a few damaged ships went under this turn, so I'll have to post some totals of sunk ships and points fairly soon. Raver STILL not trying for Suva. It is almost like he doesn't want the place for crying out loud. Well, it isn't like the islanders want Raver back anyway . . .


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/12/42

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Naval Gun Fire at Bataan (42,51) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

9 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
APD APD-31, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 22,50

Japanese Ships
DD Nowaki
DD Hamakaze
DD Urakaze
DD Shiranuhi
DD Isokaze
DD Kagero
DD Akigumo

Allied Ships
SS KXI, hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coastal Guns at Balikpapan, 31,64, firing at TF 74
TF 74 troops unloading over beach at Balikpapan, 31,64


24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese ground losses:
281 casualties reported

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Coastal Guns at Balikpapan, 31,64, firing at TF 79
TF 79 troops unloading over beach at Balikpapan, 31,64


42 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
PG Seikai Maru

Japanese ground losses:
162 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 50,108

Japanese Ships
SS RO-66, hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
PG Swan

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Day Air attack on Diamond Harbor , at 28,23

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
B5N Kate x 44
F1M2 Pete x 9
E13A1 Jake x 20

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 3
Hurricane II x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 2 destroyed, 13 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 2 destroyed
Hurricane II: 6 destroyed

Allied Ships
AK Virginian, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
TK Empire Steel, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Empire Puma, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

Port hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x E13A1 Jake bombing at 2000 feet
9 x F1M2 Pete bombing at 2000 feet
27 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
11 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
5 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
11 x E13A1 Jake bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Kure 2nd SNLF, at 31,64


Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 4
Martin 139 x 4


no losses

Japanese ground losses:
33 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Brewster 339D bombing at 2000 feet
2 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
2 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet

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Ground combat at Lamon Bay

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 105967 troops, 1129 guns, 129 vehicles

Defending force 9929 troops, 76 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 130 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Lamon Bay base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
318 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
6693 casualties reported
Guns lost 106


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 51,30

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 21068 troops, 258 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 2206 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 1828 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
335 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

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Ground combat at Tuguegarao

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14989 troops, 191 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 7510 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)


Japanese ground losses:
491 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

Allied ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Guns lost 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 44148 troops, 389 guns, 168 vehicles

Defending force 58113 troops, 658 guns, 235 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
136 casualties reported
Guns lost 4


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Hanoi

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47208 troops, 249 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 51009 troops, 445 guns, 25 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 1)


Japanese ground losses:
88 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
1254 casualties reported
Guns lost 33


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Balikpapan

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1463 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 4950 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
81 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Clark Field

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 43767 troops, 621 guns, 6 vehicles

Defending force 72557 troops, 389 guns, 310 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
267 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

[Raverdave]

Well my plan for a quick snatch of Hanoi has failed and now I have some 50,000 troops facing a rather bleak future. I know that banananana boy is racing yet more troops into the area from the east so looks like I am in for some hard rain.[:(]

Tugeragao still holds the wolves at the door, great fighters these men are! I would say that Clark will feel the full weight of the Japanese force in the next two to four turns, and while I am sure that they will give as good as they get, the numbers that Luskan has now massed means that there is little or no hope of holding the PI past the 20th of Feb.

[Onime No Kyo]

Just wondering...

Is there any real chance of eliminating resistance in China completely? Surely this would free up a lot of troops. But then again completely controlling the seaboard gets Japan just about all they need from the place.

So whats the reality of the thing?

[sven6345789]

this has been asked before. Fact is that you have to leave garrison forces behind in the chinese citys because otherwise, chinese partisans will appear. this duty sucks up a lot of troops. on the other hand, your main focus in china is to get as many resources as you can (most belong to japan already), and to see to it that southern china doesn't become a base for allied bombers. you have to cut the supply line. this is archieved by taking the burma road, and maybe to push a little further to stop air support reaching the chinese.
But to completely throw the chinese out of the game is difficult (actually not necessary).

[Luskan]

It shouldn't be possible to beat the chinese back, but for silly, silly allied players who seem to think that 1 chinese soldier = japanese soldier (and all they see is the fact they've got 75000 troops and I've only got 50000 etc.), so they pile all their numerous units into the same spots - and best of all, then get on the train line where my troops move from hotspot to hot spot very quickly and defeat them en masse.

Condensing your chinese troops in this manner is begging to get your ass kicked (just as Raver). Hanoi would have been a really good and daring move - but he needed to get in before my vietnamese troops arrive on the map (just because the numbers make the difference in the end).

I've already cut Raver's troops at hanoi off from inner china. There is only a jungle trail back inland, and I've got a weaker vietnamese unit moving into positoin to block that off as well. The plan is to make those 50000 chinese troops surrender and take them out of the game altogether. As it stands, Raver needs the supplies from India more than ever over the next 6 months to try and rebuild his shattered armies.

This gives me more than enough time to be more than ready for him - the forts are getting built up to massive levels already. I'll be able to either a: go onto a big nasty ass offensive and steal more resources, and take ALL the big airbases off Raver's hands, or b: be so fortified and powerful in my bases (and with enough supply and troops on hand to control the railway lines and interior lines of communication) that I could spare a couple of divisions to send to Burma or the Pacific.

The bay of Bengal is really really tempting at the moment (certainly once I weed Raver's troops away from the Indian Ocean coastline his supply lines go from long to crazily long through mountains and stuff. Also I have detailed a couple of paratroop units that will no doubt be useful in the crappy terrain for the Burmese offensive I've got planned.

However, first things first, as troops move into position on Luzon, and while other troops land at Iliolo (Raver has a few little divisions starving on little islands I've decided to take off him to consolidate the PI properly). Also, my troops landed reinforcements at Balikpapan and kicked Raver out - getting 11000 fuel, 34000 supply, 15000 resources and 45000 oil (the best part). I've got a few more troops landing around the place in Borneo in the next few turns to steal all those empty (hopefully empty) bases. The sooner I take all those empty bases down, the sooner I can fill them with ASW aircraft and take down Raver's Subs.

At the moment I've lost 30 ships to them or so, and they're way outshooting my Iboats.

[Raverdave]

Watch verwy verwy cwosly, I am about to catch that warskle wabbit er...banananana with his pants down in Fiji ![8D]

[Luskan]

Just send the turn and we'll find out (although I forgot to mention last turn Raver got in a fairly good bombardment - did quite a bit of damage and the base at Suva seems to be listnig to one side a little - seems he's got a few CAs together in a big bombardment group - and not to mention the fact that my IBoat missed one of the CAs completely.