Star Wars Episode 7: Revenge of the Allies (Grotius v. Cap)

[Grotius]

8 January 1942: Like Chewbacca, I feel like tearing the arms off someone. The ground-movement rules gave me an unpleasant surprise today. I ordered a corps to move from Sian to Yenen. I expected it to travel east along the road toward Yenen, but because an enemy unit was in that hex, it instead diverted northeast.

To make things worse, the unit moved an entire hex in that one turn because the map has a RR terminus at Sian, even though the hex to the northeast contains only a trail. So the unit ended up in a woods/trail hex northeast of Sian, instead of on the road from Sian to the hex east of Sian. But the unit can't travel back to Sian at RR speed; it will have to use trail speed. It's effectively hors de combat, as the French say -- out of combat. Andrew, I thought your movement mod fixed this one-way instant teleport?

Normally, one misplaced corps wouldn't be a big deal, but I was counting on that unit to garrison Sian for one more turn while it was in transit, while I moved units west from the Yenan area. In fact, he ordered a new unit toward Sian, and that would've persuaded me to cancel my movement out of Sian and stay put. Anyway, instead of two corps defending Sian, I've got only one. It's very worrisome.

To make things worse, a fifth enemy division arrived at Yenen. I could still hold the city with my six fully-prepped corps there, but now that Sian is in danger, I have to leave Yenan to avoid being cut off. I will try to get everything to Sian before he takes it with units approaching from the south. If he takes it in the interim, then I'll have 6 or 7 corps on the road between the two cities with no supply source; I'll have to move my force into Sian and hope I can eventually retreat it north. Here's a look.

[Grotius]

9 January 1942: I sent Capbacca the "chess" screenshot (remember, we're not reading each other's AARs), and he reminded me of what C3P0 once said: "Always let the Wookiee win." Meh. Not gonna happen.

Anyway, things seem a bit better in the Yenan-Sian area. He mounted a deliberate attack at Yenan but didn't come close to getting 1:1 odds, and thus suffered heavy casualties. Yay! Unfortunately, that stopped me from moving out of the hex, but I'm sure he'll stand down this turn, so I can try again. Actually, I'd like to stay as long as possible, but that depends on ensuring that Sian is secure, and I'm still not convinced of that. It looks like I'll get a second corps into Sian this turn, but I see yet another enemy unit headed toward Sian, so I still think it's time to exit Yenan gracefully and form up at Sian. If I can get out of Yenan, that is.

I see only a couple thousand troops at Canton and Ichang. I've already ordered an assault on Ichang; debating whether I have the oomph to do the same at Canton, with troops from Wuchow.

He has begun invading Timor. I guess he'll work up to Java and Sumatra next, as well as Balikpapan. My guess is he'll also invade northern Australia eventually. Playing on Andrew's excellent map, it's much tougher to supply Darwin. I'll put B-17s there shortly, but I doubt they can operate for long. With the enemy established at Kendari, I doubt I can get a transport TF into Darwin to resupply it.

Elsewhere, I now have air search at Luganville and Noumea. Intel tells me he's heading to Buin with transports, so I've parked some subs around there as a welcoming party. I can't defend Noumea with ground troops yet, but I do have 2 AA units, a CD, and a baseforce there, so at least I can put up some sort of defense to air and naval attacks.

He tried his first deliberate attack at Singapore, and he narrowly missed getting 1:1 odds, so again he took casualties. Here are the ground combat reports for Yenen and Singapore.

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Ground combat at Yenen

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 119357 troops, 1522 guns, 151 vehicles

Defending force 49831 troops, 357 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
2599 casualties reported
Guns lost 97
Vehicles lost 9

Allied ground losses:
1438 casualties reported
Guns lost 19

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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 131272 troops, 1404 guns, 383 vehicles

Defending force 65580 troops, 586 guns, 20 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 5)

Japanese ground losses:
3799 casualties reported
Guns lost 151
Vehicles lost 22

Allied ground losses:
3074 casualties reported
Guns lost 68
Vehicles lost 1

[Grotius]

10 January 1942: I'm pleasantly surprised that I still hold Singapore. As I've mentioned before, on this version of Andrew's map, there are two RR lines running south through Malaya. That made it harder to defend. If I can hold Singapore for another week or so, that will far exceed my expectations.

I'm also pleasantly surprised that I still hold pretty much every Chinese city I started with. I'm even thinking of assaulting Canton. I'm moving 4 corps down the RR to test the waters. I hope my recon -- which shows only 3000 troops defending it -- is correct.

That said, I am trying now to withdraw from Yenan. This past turn I gave my troops a destination of one hex west, and they didn't move when they were bombarded. This time I'll try giving them the destination of Sian.

Unfortunately, the situation in the Philippines is deterioriating. I put 2/3 of my force in Manila, 1/3 in Clark, and a garrison in Bataan, which (on Andrew's map) can only easily be reached through Clark. I suppose I should've piled everything into Manila, but I wanted to take advantage of the prep-points for Clark and Bataan, plus I wanted to delay the enemy long enough for two divisions of reinforcements to appear at Bataan. Anyway, by splitting my forces, I've made it easier for him to wear me down at Clark. Moreover, when he retreats me out of Clark, my guys will probably go to unoccupied Bataan rather than the contested hex of Manila -- right?

Anyway, today he finally managed to get 1:1 odds at Clark. Here's a look.

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Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 102651 troops, 1044 guns, 205 vehicles

Defending force 28726 troops, 262 guns, 101 vehicles

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Japanese ground losses:
1074 casualties reported
Guns lost 24
Vehicles lost 13

Allied ground losses:
1323 casualties reported
Guns lost 46
Vehicles lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition, my intel was right about an invasion of Buin. Unfortunately, one of my subs was traversing the base hex on its way to a deep-water hex, and it got caught in the base hex by enemy ASW. It fired two torpedoes and missed both times, and then this:

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Sub attack near Buin at 64,95

Japanese Ships
DD Yayoi
DD Yuzuki
DD Shigure
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Yamagumo

Allied Ships
SS Triton, hits 2, on fire, heavy damage [sunk]
-------------------------------------------------------------

Such is the depressing life of an Alliance commander in the early days of the Galactic War.

[Alikchi2]

Anyway, by splitting my forces, I've made it easier for him to wear me down at Clark. Moreover, when he retreats me out of Clark, my guys will probably go to unoccupied Bataan rather than the contested hex of Manila -- right?

That's correct (Cruft just did it to me [:'(]). If you can, try to pull your units back to Manila (assuming there is a lull in his attacks). They'll do much better there than in Bataan.

[Grotius]

11 January 1942: Thanks for your thoughts, Alikchi. I've tried to move units between Clark and Manila, but they won't move. His attacks have been pretty relentless. I know others have griped about this aspect of the land-combat rules. I understand that I shouldn't have complete freedom of movement between two enemy-occupied hexes, but no freedom at all seems too extreme. I'd have implemented some sort of movement penalty instead of an all-out ban.

Anyway, the issue is about to become moot. Today he achieved 2:1 odds at Clark, and knocked its fort down from 2 to 1. If he shock attacks tomorrow and gets 3:1 or better, it's all over, and I guess I'll be forced to retreat to Bataan. If I had to do it again, I probably would pile everything into Manila, but it's awful hard to make yourself give him the only supply-producing hex for free, especially when you have troops prepped to 100 for Clark. And who knows whether piling everything into Manila will really delay him that much longer. I'm wondering: does anyone in a WITP PBEM hold Bataan or Manila all the way until April or May, if the Japanese player commits five or six divisions? I'll be lucky to last into February.

The news is brighter elsewhere. I've got three divisions at Pearl Harbor now, and the 2d Marine Division is on its way there too. (I know there's controversy about when to deploy this unit, so I compromised and decided to give it garrison duty at Pearl for a while.) I got virtually all my shipping out of the DEI and Philippines unscathed, and my first cargo TFs from Karachi are now approaching Perth. I have lost no capital ships at all; all my CVs, CAs, and so forth are intact, though 6 BBs are repairing from the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. In China, I now have level 6 forts and 20+corps in Changsha, and level 5 forts in Chungking; I hope I can prevent him from taking either city. His most recent attack at Yenan failed to get 1:1, and my units there are slowly withdrawing west to avoid getting cut off by his gradual encirclement of the city.

The South Pacific is quite interesting. On Andrew's map, it's really undeveloped at game start; maybe it's that way on the stock map too. Vast stretches of territory lie untouched by either of us. My guess is that his early conquest of the Philippines spells doom for Port Moresby, but for now, the theater is very quiet. Here's a look.

[Grotius]

12 January 1942: Clark Field and Yenen both fell today, making this the single worst day of the war for the Allied side. In the case of Yenen, I withdrew to avoid being cut off. Not so at Clark.

I've already mentioned my reasons for keeping about 1/3 of my force at Clark: those units were fully prepped for it; I wanted to guarantee the arrival of two replacement divisions at Bataan; I felt I could inflict casualties on his troops, since his forces were divided too; and I didn't want to give him a supply-producing hex without a fight. I know I'm going to lose the PI; the question is how to delay longest, and how to inflict the most casualties on the enemy. But in the end, it's probably more prudent just to move everything to Manila before he arrives at Clark Field. As is, my units at Clark have retreated to Bataan, where supplies are very low.

Have I mentioned that I despise the rule that completely prevents units from moving between two enemy-occupied hexes? I can understand imposing big disruption penalties or casualties on such movement, but an absolute ban on even one soldier moving seems insane to me. That said, I knew the rule going in.

I've moved my 100,000-odd troops at Yenen west toward Sian to avoid being encircled. Unfortunately, a couple of corps didn't make it out this turn, and to my surprise Darth Gown attacked -- only a couple turns after he suffered severe casualties and disruption from a 0:1 failed attack there. So those two corps got whacked, but at least they retreated to join the healthy force that is now one hex west of Yenen.

I made a far greater blunder as I exited, though: I simply forgot to transfer out the Chinese fighters I had stationed at Yenen! There goes 12 VPs, a "Wookiee Life Day" gift to my opponent. I've been kicking myself about that all day.

At least Singapore holds. He once again failed to get 1:1 odds on his latest attack, and he again suffered nasty casualties. But it's only a matter of time before the Empire prevails. Fortunately, I'm already busy constructing several secret rebel bases.

Here's a screenshot of Darth Gown surveying the wreckage at Clark Field.

[Grotius]

13 January 1942: A very quiet day in the aftermath of my defeat at Clark Field. My units at Bataan are very low on supply; I'm sending submarines in with a few emergency rations, but that's about all I can do. I'm also supplying Manila by submarine, but at least Manila still has a reasonable stockpile.

Meanwhile, he's moving toward Balikpapan and Macassar. I hope my torpedo bombers will give him a welcome party as Balikpapan, but thus far they haven't partied very well.

My most significant victory so far, at Changsha, was very satisfying -- but I sure could use another to boost morale. I can see why Allied players fall into the trap of becoming over-aggressive too early. At some point it's hard to fight the urge to hit back, even if it's not in your long-term interests to do so. For now, I'm making myself hunker down, move supply and troops, and build up for a well-supported offensive somewhere down the road. A fourth division is about to arrive at Pearl Harbor, and a couple of others are on their way to the South Pacific, with more to follow shortly.

[Grotius]

14 January 1942: The Evil Empire took Kavieng and the Admiralty Islands today, along with Taytay, in the Philippines. Elsewhere things were pretty quiet. Lord Gown bombarded Manila and Singapore once again, and his aircraft raided Rangoon and Palembang.

In China, my northern army is moving west from Yenen to Sian. He has tried to block the road one hex east of Sian, with three units that recon and intel seem to suggest are a division, a mixed brigade, and an independent brigade. I have 3 corps in that hex now and should have three more next turn, so if nothing else I should be able to walk past his force into Sian, and I may be able to eject it with a shock attack.

Unfortunately, our game went out of sync this turn. I'm going to search this board for suggestions on how to fix that.

[DuckofTindalos]

So, how many of Lord Gown's own officers have been sent home in boxes with mysteriously crushed tracheas?

[Grotius]

After I spanked him at Changsha, he blamed his land leaders and promised that "heads would roll." Curiously, none of his junior officers seem eager to take command from their predecessors...

[Grotius]

15 January 1942: Imperial Stormtroopers assaulted both Singapore and Manila, and in both cases brave Alliance soldiers threw them back. Lord Gown didn't come close to 1:1 odds in his first attack on Manila; his adjusted offenses was 750 odd to my 4000, and my forts are still level 3 there. But I'm running dangerously low on supply, and as a result the odds will shift in his direction pretty quickly. I'm running supply in by submarine, PBY from Palembang -- and, as of next turn, even from Wuchow, in China. It won't be enough. Today, though, we celebrate, shooting blasters into the air with glee:

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Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 127346 troops, 1249 guns, 164 vehicles

Defending force 59724 troops, 573 guns, 136 vehicles

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

Japanese ground losses:
4314 casualties reported
Guns lost 91
Vehicles lost 8

Allied ground losses:
1024 casualties reported
Guns lost 24
---------------------------------

Much the same deal in Singapore, except that the odds were much closer to 1:1. Nonetheless, his failed attack there means Singers will hold for another few days or more, exceeding my expectations. I still don't expect to hold it to February. Here's a look:

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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 129983 troops, 1182 guns, 361 vehicles

Defending force 57527 troops, 448 guns, 19 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
2893 casualties reported
Guns lost 56
Vehicles lost 12

Allied ground losses:
1433 casualties reported
Guns lost 30
---------------------------------

And yet another victory at Changsha, into which a sole Imperial division wandered yesterday, apparently by mistake. It's clobberin' time!

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Ground combat at Changsha

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 165601 troops, 1303 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 18158 troops, 241 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 118 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
3158 casualties reported
Guns lost 90

Allied ground losses:
731 casualties reported
Guns lost 21

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

----------------------------------------

Lastly, a strategy question for you China hands. I suspect it's only a matter of time before I'll be rooted out of Sian. My question: do I try to defend Lanchow seriously? It and Sining are each worth a whopping 300 victory points, plus they are supply centers. But if I lose there, my 8 or 9 corps have nowhere to go but far to the northwest. By contrast, if I make my stand at Sian, I can get those 8 or 9 corps on the 6-hex trail to Chungking. It'll take them months, but they'll eventually return to the war. I'm leaning toward this option, but I'm not sure.

So, which fallback plan for northern China: south to Chungking, or north past Lanchow?

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

8 January 1942: Like Chewbacca, I feel like tearing the arms off someone. The ground-movement rules gave me an unpleasant surprise today. I ordered a corps to move from Sian to Yenen. I expected it to travel east along the road toward Yenen, but because an enemy unit was in that hex, it instead diverted northeast.

To make things worse, the unit moved an entire hex in that one turn because the map has a RR terminus at Sian, even though the hex to the northeast contains only a trail. So the unit ended up in a woods/trail hex northeast of Sian, instead of on the road from Sian to the hex east of Sian. But the unit can't travel back to Sian at RR speed; it will have to use trail speed. It's effectively hors de combat, as the French say -- out of combat. Andrew, I thought your movement mod fixed this one-way instant teleport?

I only just read this comment Grotius. Unfortunately my fix does not help in this situation. The fix I implemented was to block units from catapulting into adjacent hexes to which there are NO transport links at all. Previously, units would move into such hexes as if there were a link, even when there was no link on the map, or indicated with the 'R" key.

In your case, there IS a transport link between the two hexes. Also unfortunately, transport link type is set on a per hex basis, NOT on a hex-to-hex basis. What this means is that the Sian hex is considered a "rail" hex. The hex to the Northeast is considered a "trail" hex. When a unit moves between the two hexes, it moves at a rate equivalent to the link type of the hex it is leaving. So in your case, the unit leavs Sian at a "rail" rate, which means that it gets to the next hex in one turn. When it moves back, it moves at the "trail" rate. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do to stop that - a fix would need to be done in the game code itself.

I hope that explains my fix, and why it does not help in this circumstance.

Andrew

[Grotius]

Thanks, Andrew. Well, your fix is still a welcome one.

[Grotius]

16-17 January 1942: Two pretty quiet days in the Pacific. In fact, on January 17, I lost no aircraft at all, the first day on which I can make that claim. We've exchanged bombardments at Singapore and Manila, and today he took a tentative bombing run at Port Moresby. I'm building a base at Christmas Island (near Palmyra, not the one in the DEI) and perhaps Jarvis Island to give myself a way to hop planes to the South Pacific. Changsha is about to get to level 7 fortifications; putting the AVG there has really paid off. Chungking is close to level 6. Auckland now has the equivalent of a couple divisions and level 5 forts.

Today's strategy question for any lurkers here: how much infantry (if any) do you put on Ceylon? For now I've ordered the 18th UK Division to Madras, which is up to level 3 or 4 fortifications. But I'm still contemplating moving that unit to Columbo, which just made level 5 forts. I worry that the island could be a death trap for LCUs, though; if he brings six divisions or so, that's just more victory points for him. At least I can run and regroup on the subcontinent. What do you all think: is it more sensible to gather LCUs in Madras/Calcutta or in Colombo?

[Speedysteve]

Hi Grotius -

Just some limited thoughts. The only problem with Ceylon is that once they are there and the Japanese player has local control they are cut off. If on the mainland they can move freely.

Also - check your reinforcements. I know its a long way off but in a 42A campaign i'm playing you receive units that arrive on Ceylon as is.

Regards,

Steven

[DuckofTindalos]

Yeah, I'd be careful overloading Ceylon as well. Unless your opponent INSISTS on attacking it, it's a backwater. You can use every rifle on the mainland.

[Grotius]

Thanks for your comments on Ceylon. They confirm my own thinking.

Yet another question arose after today's turn. (See screenshots below.) I had ordered some stranded units in China to travel west, through woods, to Chungking. All five other hexes had "J" in them; the hex to the west was clear. As the attached screenshot indicates, I was hoping to move cross-country a couple of hexes, then on to the road from Ichang to Chungking. In fact, because Japan owned all five other exit hexes, I thought west was my only option, since my existing hex is enemy-occupied. And indeed the unit's movement orders said "W". But instead if went directly EAST, onto the RR. That actually may be good for me, but it sure seems odd. Some questions about this:

1. Is this behaving as intended? At the very least, shouldn't the game give me a hint that my guy is moving *east*, not west?

2. Is the reason it wouldn't go west that supply would completely "run out" in the woods hex to the west?

3. If so, what should I do with the other two units, who currently have the same orders - "W" to Chungking? Keep those orders?

4. Finally, any advice on what to do with the guy now on the RR? I'm almost tempted to send him north, to Honan, where he is 100% prepped. He's tired and low on supply, but at least he might make it thru Honan toward Sian, which I still own.

Here's a look at the overall map, indicating the planned and actual destination of the unit in question:



And here's a look at the pending orders for one of the two remaining units in the woods hex. Note the low supply -- and the order confirming that I'm supposedly heading "West".

[Oleg Mastruko]

Grotius this thread really needs some appropriate wavs like THIS one <= click here

[:D]

O.

[Grotius]

LoL, great sound byte, Oleg! Here's an image to go along with your file. You know how most players see MacArthur or Yamamoto on the combat summaries during turn execution? Not Lord Gown. He sees this guy.

[Speedysteve]

LOL [:D]

"You don't know the powers of the dark side I MUST obey my master"