Illusion of Victory - Alikchi vs Cruft

[Alikchi2]

I've just experienced that if japanese player wants PM he can have it, at least by June 42, so be cautious not to mass to many valuable troops there
Cooktown, if operative at Level 5 AF, is a Pain for the Japs! From there you can pound to dust all his AFs in NG.

How many troops in Burma? Where are the 18th and 2nd UK divisions?
I'd use the AVG In Burma to force him to put his priceless zeros in an war of attrition. China is lost already,unless you're playing with 1.4, i guess. Do not waste too many resources there.

I'll try to make some CV raids between Mariannas and Wake if the KB is in DEI....there should not be a lot of Betties and Nells there

my 2 cents

I don't think I'll be enlarging the garrison of PM too much larger than it is right now - maybe another brigade when I feel like I can, but no more than that. What I really need is aviation support.

That's a good idea for Cooktown! I'd really like to hurt Lae with my heavies. I'll start work there.

I believe the 2nd UK div is still on its way to the front (i might be mistaken), but the 18th is at Akyab, while most of the troops are in Mandalay (about 1500 assault points there now!). As for the AVG, I agree - he can take all of China that he wants if he feels like it, but I don't think he will. My primary interest is in shooting down as many planes as possible, though, and there are plenty of easy kills in the sky over China. (He's only been using army planes in China and Burma - quite historical - so I've had an easy time shooting them down so far.)

That's a good idea re: CV raids. I've had them for too long in the same place (Northern Oz). Maybe I'll do a bit of hunting around in the north.. as long as I can get away with it.

[Gen.Hoepner]

Be carefull to place 1500 AP at Mandaly and the 18th a Akyab. if he decides to go for India, bypassing Burma, you're toasted !! He can land, like Pzg has made vs Wolby, at Chandupur and cut your entire army!!!
If u take a look to my AAR in March, you'll see that my opponent has done exactly the same as you in Burma: I was really close to do the Indian affair, but then i decided to go for South Pac.....but it's so damned risky!

[String]

remember, you can get away with it for only one turn, after that betties and nells will start pouring in.

[Gen.Hoepner]

Well,CV raids in my opinion are a great tactic for early allied carrier ( first 7 months of 42). If you manage to intercept one big cargo Tf from Japan to Truk you can easily scrumble his plans and force him to react , diverting some forces from other sectors. Also pounding Wake or other isolated Jap isles is a good way of training your pilots: just hit and run and you'll be fine!

[Alikchi2]

Be carefull to place 1500 AP at Mandaly and the 18th a Akyab. if he decides to go for India, bypassing Burma, you're toasted !! He can land, like Pzg has made vs Wolby, at Chandupur and cut your entire army!!!
If u take a look to my AAR in March, you'll see that my opponent has done exactly the same as you in Burma: I was really close to do the Indian affair, but then i decided to go for South Pac.....but it's so damned risky!

I honestly would never have deployed my army this far forward if I didn't feel that I could get away with it. But I think Cruft is too conservative a player to invade India. Not that I'm deriding him in any way - he's really a much better player than I am - but I think he isn't going to do any big operations in the Indian Ocean area. And yeah.. I saw your AAR.. it's a very thin line down there. [X(]

remember, you can get away with it for only one turn, after that betties and nells will start pouring in.

Very true.. my CVs have taken so many bombs and torps that they deserve to have been sunk,r really. I think I'll reunite them with Hornet at Pearl and then pound Wake and Paramushiro Jima in the Kuriles a bit.. (I know there are Betties at Wake but the combined CAP of 5 CVs should means lots of kills for my Wildcat pilots).

Well,CV raids in my opinion are a great tactic for early allied carrier ( first 7 months of 42). If you manage to intercept one big cargo Tf from Japan to Truk you can easily scrumble his plans and force him to react , diverting some forces from other sectors. Also pounding Wake or other isolated Jap isles is a good way of training your pilots: just hit and run and you'll be fine!

Definitely agreed.. I have to be careful not to draw too many torpedo bombers or (worst case) the KB though! Cruft reacts extremely fast. I don't want to go too far into Japanese territory or I'll get pinned and sunk, no doubt. It would be nice to catch a convoy though.

[Alikchi2]

3/21/42-3/22/42

India/Burma No action.. AVG is up to 21 planes now. I might start bombing his airbases after the next turn.. recon is reporting minimal CAP.

China: Just a little tidying up of the front.. deliberate attack at Nanning tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

DEI: Owwy.

The day starts off with a few abortive strikes by my Martins from Timor to Kendari - no hits are scored all day. Then his Betties and Nells (launched from Kendari) make short work out of an empty convoy of APs on their way back to Northern Aus. They alsoknock out several transports carrying elements of a Dutch unit. There's not too much I can do to stop this except get out of range and set my heavy bombers at Darwin to hit Kendari. But that wasn't the biggest disaster today.. the Kido Butai moves in range of my bombers from Timor and a few T.IVs and Martins take off with a heavy P-40 escort... when the dust clears I've traded 43 Warhawks, 11 Brewsters and several bombers for about 16 crack Zeroes. I've turned my naval bombers off next turn.. I can't just throw my aircraft into the KB's CAP like this. Probably he'll bombard Lautem or Koepang or both at some point with the BBs I spotted, too.. he must be at least mildly annoyed by now. I've also made the decision to a) pull what I can of the ABDA flotilla out of Balikpapan and back to Darwin, and b) being the USN CV's trip back to Pearl. It's time to get out of here and start working on other theatres.

Also, Palembang fell, finally. I'm still not entirely sure what the hold up was, but it's his now. I'm sure Java is next.

SOPAC/SWPAC: The Zeroes over Lae have been replaced by Nates. My Tomahawks knock down a few and clear a path for my Beauforts to land some torpedo hits on Japanese transports. The B-26s make their appearance too, hitting an AP with a couple 500 pounders.

Other Theatres: No action.


===

So, the Kido Butai has arrived in the Dutch East Indies. Time to leave.

[Gen.Hoepner]

KB in the DEI? time to pay a visit with your CVs somewhere in the EastPacific[;)]
Go for Wake I'd say!

Knock down as many nates as you can before patch 1.5 comes out or you'll be facing a lot of Tonies at Lae[;)]

[Alikchi2]

I actually have units planning for the invasion of Wake at some point Hoepner! [:)] The place has Betties and Zeroes though so it won't be a walk in the park, if I do ever try anything. I can hit and run the place.

Oh, I forgot - Palembang fell last turn. Finally - I don't see why he couldn't have taken it a few days after he landed.. there wasn't anything special there. Oh well. I'll update my above AAR with this info..

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

I actually have units planning for the invasion of Wake at some point Hoepner! [:)] The place has Betties and Zeroes though so it won't be a walk in the park, if I do ever try anything. I can hit and run the place.

Oh, I forgot - Palembang fell last turn. Finally - I don't see why he couldn't have taken it a few days after he landed.. there wasn't anything special there. Oh well. I'll update my above AAR with this info..

I guess it's to risky to invade wake at this stage...just put a STRONG CAP over your CVs and make bomb the place with BBs...it's gonna be a slaughterhouse for those betties[8D]

CODE WORD: ATTRITION

[Alikchi2]

Very interesting 4 days!

3/23/42-3/26/42

India/Burma: No action.. the fleet sits at Colombo with no task in the face of Japanese LBA. Ideas, anyways? Oh, Hurribombers hit a Japanese regiment sitting on the rail hex next to Mandalay, which is becoming a bastion.

China: Japanese air raids knock down more Chinese fighters, so I pull everything back to Chungking. I'll rebase them once I've gained some replcaements, but for now, there's no reason to keep them out there if they're just going to get shot down.

The IJA continues bombardment attacks at Kungchang, supported from the air by Army heavy bombers. I doubt the Chinese here will last in the face of the force Cruft has here. He can afford to take his time.

DEI: My bomber raid on Kendari (on the 23rd and 24th) comes off far more dramatically than I thought it would, with about 100 B-17s and LB-30s hitting the base! However, they take grevious losses - about 20 are downed and many more damaged, with morale in the 40s. They'll need another week before we can try that again. Still, it was gratifying to see lots of Nells and Betties destroyed on the ground. I hate them so much. [:D]

He bombarded Lautem twice on this period, including once with 6 BBs on the night of the 23rd, destroying plenty of planes on the ground - but the base is still operational and planes are repaired quickly.

The Japanese have launched the invasion of southern Borneo! Tarakan is the first target, with troops landing during the last two days. Looking at the numbers, I'm pulling the troops at Tarakan back to Balikpapan already - there's no way we can hold. I'd rather have my troops go down together, behind forts, than in bits and pieces.

Speaking of Balikpapan, the Kido Butai moves into the Makassar Strait and port-attacks it on the 26th. Another bomb is placed into the CL Marblehead - a heavily damaged ship from the Davao attack group - and I am forced to scuttle her. However, all the other surviving ships left Marblehead on the 24th and are already on their way to Darwin, so that's a bullet dodged.

Finally, it looks like the big fight in theatre is about to commence. On the 24th, an enemy destroyer force sorties into Batavia to clear out my PT boats. They sink two out of the six. By the 27th, two huge task forces are one hex from Batavia, and I can't do anything about it except wait - this looks like the real deal. I have a little more than 200 assault points worth of Dutch troops there.

I almost wish he had tried a landing in Kragen instead - I laid all those mines for nothing, sigh! Still, he's heading straight into the teeth of the coastal guns and the majority of the ground forces in Java. We'll see how many Japanese I can kill.



\

SOPAC/SWPAC: I'm sending in another big wave of reinforcements for these theatres. Since Lunga hasn't been taken yet, I've marked it as the destination for the Americal Div, a base force, and an RCT. The CVs will cover this op on their way to Pearl. I have about 50 P-40Es that will provide CAP once the base force has been placed.

Northpac: Kiska is about to hit 3/3.. I have 48 B-17s ready for when the base is big enough.


===

I've probably forgotten a few things from the last turn.. c'est la vie. Things are moving along.

[Alikchi2]

Things are just getting messy, messy, messy.

3/27/42-3/28/42

India/Burma: Rather humiliating day in the air. The Hurribombers strafing that regiment between got jumped by Nates and lost about half a dozen of their number. Tomorrow we're sweeping two Japanese bases in range plus the hex in question with all the fighters at Mandalay in revenge. Hopefully the next two days will include many downed Nates.

DEI: 5th Division and supporting units have landed at Batavia. I'm already outnumbered nearly 3 to one. I have good forts and my men are dug in, so it should take a while to dig them out - but it's already a forgone conclusion, really. I have a sneaky convoy of AKs and APs on the way to slip in to Soerabaja and evacuate the ABDA HQ and anything else that I can grab before Java falls.

The Kido Butai moves back around the Celebes today and doesn't participate, but he bombards many bases, including Balikpapan. More invasions are forthcoming, no doubt. A strike is launched from Koepang - I stupidly forgot to turn off the naval bombers there - and gets slaughtered by Zeroes.

Tarakan falls quickly to the SNLF - everyone's going to make a stand in Balikpapan. But he has his toehold in southern Borneo.. the coastal guns did hardly a thing.

In Sumatra, Medan falls to the Japanese paratroopers - I really had no chance here. My troops retreat north.. I might be able to save some with Brit subs.

SOPAC/SWPAC: Another air battle over Port Moresby - a convoy pulled in there today, two AKs escorted by a CL. Each AK is loaded with P-40Es.. but things are coming together now. I've pulled the convoy back from PM without unloading - I don't have enough aviation support in PM anyways - to meet up with the USN CVs and the Guadalcanal garrison convoy about half a dozen hexes north of Lunganville. Then, once a base force is on the ground, I'll have fighters ready to defend Henderson Field.

Operation Watchtower should be a go in about 2 weeks.

China: Almost forgot about this theatre. He begins deliberate attacks at Kungchang and reduces the forts in the first one, but not the second - I won't be able to rebuild them in time to catch up with him, I can already tell. My Chinese have low morale. I also noticed that a Japanese unit has moved dangerously close to the base behind Kungchang - Lanchow? - and I don't need another Sian disaster, so I'm pulling back one of the stronger Chinese corps. In the center and south, there is essentially no action other than the usual bombardments.

Northpac: A sub badly messes up the convoy I had carrying an EAB to Kiska. Still, th e engineers that survived will be greatly welcome there. I've set all my aircraft in the area to high ASW duties - this is the only area I've seen a Japanese sub in a loooong time.

Centpac: No action other than routing the many, many convoys I have south towards Australia. I'm running low on AKs, it seems.


More later soon! Things are going at a rapid pace now.

[Alikchi2]

Some things didn't come off, but I scored big in the DEI today..

3/29/42-3/30/42

India/Burma: The sweeps didn't come off very well - Cruft informs me that he's keeping his Nates mostly grounded to escape from the AVG/Hurri menace. I need to bring in more heavy bombers - perhaps I'll bring in some from the Darwin area, if I can slip past the Betties.

DEI: Speaking of slipping past the Betties, an RAF unit arrived in Darwin today after a very long trip from Karachi. I now have about 500 aviation support there - I've started pulling back all my fragmented Dutch units with only 2 or 3 planes from Timor to start training and rebuiling in Darwin.. no point in seeing them get shot down over and over again.

The land battle at Batavia is still going - more bombardments. He outnumbers me 21,000 to 13,000, but I have lots of forts and prep points. We'll see how it goes.

Big news today is that my Beauforts put two torps into BB Hiei! Mutsu, Kirishima, Haruna, Hiei, and Nagato came within about 5 hexes of Koepang (I assume on a bombardment run) and for once all my torpedo bombers launched at once. Granted, out of forty bombers, only two scored hits, but they were both "Critical Damage" hits. Hiei is heading towards Kendari, but Cruft informs me that it's likely she'll sink before she gets there.

Just in case, I ordered the heavies at Darwin to make a port attack at Kendari the next two turns. They aren't ready yet - morale is low and a lot are still damaged from the last raid there, I'll probably lose a lot of planes - but I'd just love to sink that ship.

Oh, and the Kido Butai moved southwezt, towards New Guinea - past Darwin. If they continue heading that way, they might come within range of PM. I'm glad I got my CVs out there - they're only a few days' full run ahead of them.

SOPAC/SWPAC Like I said, the Kido Butai appears to be heading southwest. I'm afraid they'll keep coming and disrupt the Guadalcanal operation I have planned and at worst, sink the Allied CVs. That would be a disaster. Hopefully, he'll turn back.

In any case, the forces here are coming together. They've been spotted several times - I'm sure Cruft is wondering what I'm up to - but I'm going to pull them out of range and wait a bit at Noumea before I head for Lunga. Hopefully that will throw him off my trail.

The last thing I need to do is once again throw my head into the noose. This operation will have full air cover from at least 3 CVs and 50 Warhawks once I get the base ready.

CENTPAC: Again, not too much happening other than moving forces around. Moved a few subs to Canton for the sub base I'm establishing there.

Northpac: Kiska is at 99% to 3/3! Things seem to be going well here. I need to clean up the subs, though. Rather annoying.


I'm happy I (hopefully) sunk that BB! I need to compensate, points-wise, for all the mistakes I've made.

[Alikchi2]

Quickie update before I go to bed. Not too much has been happening over the past few days.

3/31/42-4/2/42

India/Burma: No action.. Mandalay is about a quarter of the way to level 9 forts. With 1500 assault points worth of troops, almost fully prepped.. it's a fortress. The AVG and some Hurribombers will sweep Pagan tomorrow - recon reported 9 Nates on CAP today. Maybe I can catch a few.

China: Dammit! He snuck around behind the guys fighting at Kungchang and took Lanchow with a bunch of Mongolian cavalry. Now I have to make a long trek over the mountains to Chengtu, then Chungking. That is, if I can escape. He knocked down the last fort level today. Whether I lose these 60,000 troops or not, North China is his now. They'll retreat tomorrow or get slaughtered.. no action on the southern or central fronts.

DEI: Incessant hammering. Fighting still continues at Batavia, and I think he may attempt a landing at Balikpapan soon. Sumatra is falling - a landing at Bankha appears to be on the way. I have 9 AKs sitting in Soerabaja harbor, waiting for me to get the political points to evacuate the ABDA HQ and a few other units. A few days ago, I bombed Kendari harbor with my heavies from Darwin in an attempt to catch Hiei. Hiei hadn't made it there yet, apparently, but I hit some destroyers there hard.

Other than that, no action. I have lots of Gooney Birds at Darwin flying bits of base forces to Kai Island. If I can save this base it could come in very handy.

SOPAC/SWPAC: I've stood down the bombers at Port Moresby and put them on recon duty. The P-40s there are engaging Nates and Lilys every day and shooting down a fair number, but I need a heavier CAP there. And more aviation support, as always. The US carriers and Lunga invasion force are meeting up in Noumea, with most ships still coming in. They sunk an IJN sub on the way in, too.

CENTPAC: More big convoys routing around. A whole bunch of TKs arrived on the west coast at the beginning of April - they're on their way to various bases on the convoy routes (from Noumea to Palmyra, basically).

Northpac: The sub base at Dutch Harbor was just established, with an AS and 6 S-boats. The S-boats are going to be patrolling off northern and central Japan. Also, I have a few more units on their way to Kiska. The surface force in the north consists of a CL and half a dozen DDs.


Things are (relatively) quiet - for now. I expect the Lunga op to begin within two weeks, probably earlier. After that, we're taking an extended break in operations.

[Alikchi2]

Pretty quiet lately, but a couple interesting things have popped up.

4/2/42-4/4/42

India/Burma: I moved up another squadron of Hurribombers that was sitting around doing nothing in Diamond Harbor to Mandalay. Oh, and my sweep of Pagan netted me two Nates - not too much, but I'll take it. I'm halting them next turn lest he take advantage of them.

China: Kungchang is about to fall. For some reason I have a division stuck in Homan - a remnant unit from earlier that I couldn't get out in time to escape. I'm going to try and retreat it to Ichang. I'm attaching a picture at the end of the post to give you a better idea of the situation in China.

DEI: He reduced the forts in Batavia to 3 today. I've started retreating all my units there to Djojakarta.. there's no point in letting him force them to retreat. We'll delay there as long as we can, and then pull back to Djojakarta.

In other news, all my subs in the DEI are offline until I can get more fuel to Darwin. My CV ops there sucked it dry. Also at Darwin, my transport planes are getting an RAF base force to Kai Island much quicker than I had thought possible. I'm going to chance the Betties and bring Sparrow Force back from Timor to Darwin, then airlift it to Kai Island. That should give us about 50 assault points worth of defence there. If necessary, I'll bring in some of the Kiwis, as well.

SOPAC/SWPAC: Okay, a lot of action today! Firstly, Lae got a Daitai of Zeroes that escorted the usual Nate/Lily raid. They totally cleaned out my Tomahawks and destroyed a fair number of planes on the ground. Bit news is a large force of Zeroes and Betties activated at Rabaul and also hit PM, killing off even more P-40s and doing a fair amount of damage. 32 Zeroes and 41 Betties were in the first raid, versus the 3 surviving P-40s that could get in the air after the usual strike. It was pretty bad.

I'm evacuating all the bombers from PM and have moved up a few RAAF Kittyhawks. I have to at least attrit him here - I can't allow PM to be suppressed, even if I have to stop offensive operations for the time being.

On the plus side in this theatre, substantial reinforcements are on the way. The USN CVs are sitting at Noumea, as is the Lunga invasion force. More units are on their way from the Canton Island area.

I'll have a picture at the end of the post so you can see the situation in the solomons/New Guinea Area. It's pretty simple - all I have is PM. I can't afford to lose it.

Also, he sub base at Canton activated today, with 6 S-boats and 2 more modern boats being the first to arrive. They'll rest for a turn, then set out for the IJN shipping lanes.

CENTPAC: Yawn.

Northpac: Nothing new.




Okay, here's the China picture. The bases with lines on the hexsides are where my main armies are concentrated and building up the forts - I will fight here. The arrows are pretty self-explanatory.





Rabaul, PM, and the Solomons:

[Gen.Hoepner]

Hi mate,


PM is well built? how many air support? AF level?

[Alikchi2]

Hey Hoepner!

PM isn't nearly as well built as I'd like. 2 ANZAC base forces and 3 brigades. Level four airfield, 60 aviation support. I have another, larger American base force and some EABs on the way from the west coast but it'll be a few weeks. In the meantime, I'll just have to hold while I can.

I do think I'm about as strong as I want to be in PM right now ground troops wise. If I have to I have enough AKs around to send the 7th Australian Div into New Guinea.

Thanks for comment [:D]

[Tom Hunter]

I had quite a bit more troops and air support than that and I was unable to hold the place against a Japanese opponent determined to take the place.

On the other hand it does look like the attack on PM was his last major offensive in the Pacific. He is pushing on China pretty hard right now but not attempting any large invasions at the moment. The area under Japanese control is pretty much the same as what I showed on the map I posted in our AAR a week or two ago.

[Alikchi2]

Tom: That's a good point. If my opponent does want PM, he can surely have it. I can't do much to stop him until it's been reinforced.

I don't know if Cruft will take PM or not. Sending the 7th Oz Div there is sounding like a good idea - at least, once I can protect the transports from his Betties.

I follow your AAR, and Blackwatch really has been pushing hard. Our game has been much more leisurely up to this point.

If Cruft did take PM, I'd probably just sit back and pound it with heavy bombers for six months and retake it later.

[Gen.Hoepner]

To take PM in mid 42 i had to deploy the bulk of my assault troops and my entire fleet asset and still was risky! But then now i'm unable to defend it against allied heavy bombers, so don't worry too much and i'd say: reinforce Pm and make it a damned tough nut to crack for the japs...even if he takes it, it will be his last offensive operation in south pac and you should be able to take it back quite soon!

[Alikchi2]

That's reassuring Hoepner! If he tries for PM I plan to put up a fight [:D] I'll reinforce it with another division as soon as I get the PPs. I'm in the negatives right now - I accidentally forgot to withdraw a few Brit ships.

The heavies are already making an impression from Darwin in this game. I'm planning to take Cruft's suggestion and move the LB-30 squad to Burma - probably Mandalay, I've built it up to a level 5 airbase and it's growing. It also has level 9 forts now, and spare fighters ready to fly in if the AVG and Hurris already there can't handle another massive raid. In that theatre, at least, I feel pretty damn secure. [:'(]

SOPAC/SWPAC is different.. he's really still pushing here. The arrival of all those crack Zeroes and Betties at Rabaul has really put the fear into me.. I need to build up PM and I need another base in the Solomons! PM does need work but I'm getting to it as fast as I can!