Lunacy in the Pacific: Mogami vs. Oleg

[Oleg Mastruko]

OK.... now....

This thread is directly related to Mogami's challenge on the "Opponents wanted" board, so if this is the first time you see anything about "lunatic game" I suggest you consult this thread first:

http://www.matrixgames.com/default.asp?URL=http%3A//www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp%3Fm%3D935392

OK so I accepted the challenge and here we are.

This is an "all out", no holds barred, everything goes, no punches pulled, no house rules, screw-the-history, "I got 2000 King Tigers, roll the dice punk", "LOL what do you say exploded over Hiroshima?" kind of game. Mog is going to try to win AV as IJN, I'll try to stop him. If he fails in his all out attempt, I guess war will be effectivelly over real fast. If he succeeds, well, then it will be over relatively fast too.

Stuff to keep in mind...

- Mog will browse this thread, and I'll adjust the secrecy level accordingly. Doesn't mean much since this is "lunatic game" anyway and we both expect well lunacy, but I won't tell exact info that might help him, like "now I am transporting XY division to Numea, ETA 5th Feb 42".

- I will not post endless copy/pastes from combatreport.txt, although I will do that on occasion (important battles). I'll try to explain what is going on in the game in my own, if somewhat imperfect english, and using screenshots - I expect *everything* in this game. Soviets are surely going to be attacked, and soon. I expect USA to be invaded.

In one of his recent posts Mog gave broad outline of Japanese "AV at all costs" strategy in the game. Too bad I can't find that post now (send me the URL if you find it), but the basic ideas were as follows... Use Kwantung Army (KA) to crush Soviets, then send them (along with part of China Expeditionary Army – CEA) overland to Burma and India. KA, CEA and SAA then proceed to crush the Brits and everything else in their path. I think the idea was for Chinese not to be crushed, but merely bypassed and contained.

Good part of SAA (Southern Area Army) divisions must attack and occupy USA West Coast. This is, in Mogs words, crucial part of the plan, as he seemed to be taking the rest almost for granted in said post. If West Coast is won, Japanese are well on the path to auto victory.

- OK... In fact, somewhat paradoxically, I don't think any such lunacy is really needed to win as IJN (though I will welcome any lunacy in this game). I think IJN AV is quite achievable with by playing solid, very aggressive game, and having generous amount of luck, but nothing much more than that.

[DuckofTindalos]

Wonder if Mog has picked up his tin foil hat yet?

[Oliver Heindorf]

Oleg, good luck !!! [:)]

I think Mog will rumble around the globe. I will follow this AAR as I think it will be very intresting to read.

[Gen.Hoepner]

I'm here to read and learn[;)]
Let's see how Mogami will achieve that

[Speedysteve]

Good luck to both of you Oleg and Russ.

Altough I have limited spare time nowadays due to PBEM play I will try and keep an eye out for this.

Steven

[Oleg Mastruko]

First turn received and sent back. Only the Chinese could be issued orders on the first turn.

I expect Mogami's opening turn replay to be an hour or two worth of fun. He said it's the most complicated turn he ever did, so...

I'll have some work to do too on my first "proper" turn (ie turn two).

O.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Right... first turn was really humungous. Japanese had good PH day:

Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 112,68

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 69
D3A Val x 135
B5N Kate x 143

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1
P-26A x 8
P-36A Mohawk x 3
P-40B Tomahawk x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A Val: 14 destroyed, 35 damaged
B5N Kate: 9 destroyed, 28 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 5 destroyed
P-26A: 7 destroyed
P-36A Mohawk: 11 destroyed
P-40B Tomahawk: 31 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 3 destroyed
B-18A Bolo: 10 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 7 destroyed
PBY Catalina: 14 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB California, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 1
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
DD Cummings, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DM Ramsay, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1
DD Chew, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Hirondelle, Bomb hits 1, on fire


Allied ground losses:
161 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 21
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 87

Japanese also bombed Singapore harbor. Repulse got 4 bombs and 1 torp, PoW one bomb, so I was luckier there.

Number of places he invaded on first turn is mindboggling. I'll try to list them here just for the heck of it but forgive me if I forget something:

Legaspi, Vigan, Bulla, Jolo, Amboina, Cagayan, Davao, Menado, Brunei, Jesselton, Miri, Pontianak, Palembang, Singkawang, Kragen, Kuching, Aparri, Zamboanga, Sandakan, Taytay, San Jose, Guam, Wewak, Hollandia (LOL Hollandia – it's the first time I see anyone took Hollandia on turn 1), Biak, Admiralty Islands, Cotabato, Butuan, Dadjangas... did I forget something?

And add Hong Kong to that mega list... LOL... I should have listed the places he did NOT invade – would be less work.

Allied staffs, shocked into disbelief by sheer brutality of Japanese attack, are hard at work finding all those places on their maps... further updates to follow...

[mogami]

Hi, You forgot Jambi (paras) Linguyan (paras) and Naga (amph landing)

[Nomad]

Talk about surprise attack. [:)][&o]

[mogami]

Hi, There was not a single Japanese unit. Land/sea/air that I did not look at issue orders to or move. (didn't spend 100+ hours doing nothing. Often I had to stop and think how one action would support/detract from another and balance them out. Then there was always the need to find units that could actualluy reach a place and be strong enough to complete the mission. The whole shabang is tied together with kite string and it will be interesting to see how long it takes to fall completly into unredeemable disarry.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko

OK.... now....

This thread is directly related to Mogami's challenge on the "Opponents wanted" board, so if this is the first time you see anything about "lunatic game" I suggest you consult this thread first:

http://www.matrixgames.com/default.asp?URL=http%3A//www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp%3Fm%3D935392

OK so I accepted the challenge and here we are.

This is an "all out", no holds barred, everything goes, no punches pulled, no house rules, screw-the-history, "I got 2000 King Tigers, roll the dice punk", "LOL what do you say exploded over Hiroshima?" kind of game. Mog is going to try to win AV as IJN, I'll try to stop him. If he fails in his all out attempt, I guess war will be effectivelly over real fast. If he succeeds, well, then it will be over relatively fast too.

Stuff to keep in mind...

- Mog will browse this thread, and I'll adjust the secrecy level accordingly. Doesn't mean much since this is "lunatic game" anyway and we both expect well lunacy, but I won't tell exact info that might help him, like "now I am transporting XY division to Numea, ETA 5th Feb 42".

- I will not post endless copy/pastes from combatreport.txt, although I will do that on occasion (important battles). I'll try to explain what is going on in the game in my own, if somewhat imperfect english, and using screenshots - I expect *everything* in this game. Soviets are surely going to be attacked, and soon. I expect USA to be invaded.

In one of his recent posts Mog gave broad outline of Japanese "AV at all costs" strategy in the game. Too bad I can't find that post now (send me the URL if you find it), but the basic ideas were as follows... Use Kwantung Army (KA) to crush Soviets, then send them (along with part of China Expeditionary Army – CEA) overland to Burma and India. KA, CEA and SAA then proceed to crush the Brits and everything else in their path. I think the idea was for Chinese not to be crushed, but merely bypassed and contained.

Good part of SAA (Southern Area Army) divisions must attack and occupy USA West Coast. This is, in Mogs words, crucial part of the plan, as he seemed to be taking the rest almost for granted in said post. If West Coast is won, Japanese are well on the path to auto victory.

- OK... In fact, somewhat paradoxically, I don't think any such lunacy is really needed to win as IJN (though I will welcome any lunacy in this game). I think IJN AV is quite achievable with by playing solid, very aggressive game, and having generous amount of luck, but nothing much more than that.

Best of luck Oleg!

BTW, I don't think Mogami stands a chance (I played both Oleg and Mogami BTW)... [;)]


Leo "Apollo11"

[mogami]

Hi, I have a hard time sorting out who played past games but I think the game with Apollo was a UV game where his opponent lost all the USN CV and "retired" and I assumed control and was not quite able to recoup the situation. Apollo has never had to deal with me from the start. I was supposed to play him WITP but for some reason or another we have not. I seem to think I was playing both Oleg and Apollo (2 games but same situation of me adopting another players mess)

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, I have a hard time sorting out who played past games but I think the game with Apollo was a UV game where his opponent lost all the USN CV and "retired" and I assumed control and was not quite able to recoup the situation. Apollo has never had to deal with me from the start. I was supposed to play him WITP but for some reason or another we have not. I seem to think I was playing both Oleg and Apollo (2 games but same situation of me adopting another players mess)

Yes... you continued my (Japan) PBEM vs Oleg (Allies).

Oleg resigned and you continued that same game in two ways:

#1
Against me as Allied player (i.e. you continued in Oleg's shues).

#2
Against Oleg as Japanese player (i.e. you continued in Oleg's shues whilst Oleg continued in my shues).


It was fun!!!


You and me should do WitP (as we planned but then your transfer interfered and you didn't have Internet connx for some time)!


Leo "Apollo11"

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, I have a hard time sorting out who played past games but I think the game with Apollo was a UV game where his opponent lost all the USN CV and "retired" and I assumed control and was not quite able to recoup the situation. Apollo has never had to deal with me from the start. I was supposed to play him WITP but for some reason or another we have not. I seem to think I was playing both Oleg and Apollo (2 games but same situation of me adopting another players mess)

It was a strange situation where Apollo was IJN and I was Allies. I lost CVs and surrendered to Apollo, claiming the situation is hopeless, simply because CVs are worth too many points VP wise. Then some posts and emails were exchanged and you wanted to try to show all is not lost, I was sure it was, so I took IJN side from Apollo, and you took USN side from me.

You didn't manage to turn the situation around, though I would not claim you "lost", as I lost that game before you even took over...

Then we played another game fresh from the start (me IJN you USN), and after couple weeks or months I sunk your CVs in very one sided battle in my waters. You claimed it was due to bug (your CVs never launched a counter strike) but we continued and you never regained initiative. Since you lost 4 CVs to my strikes, frankly I don't think it would matter much if your CVs launched counterstrike and, say, sunk or damaged 2-3 of my CVs. Strategically nothing would change.

As a side note, I think there are situations when CVs do not launch a counterstrike when attacked, described recently in WITP AARs, so if that indeed was a bug, it's still in the game [8|]

Both games were played under premise of "CVs are too strong in UV" or, rather, "CVs are worth too many points in UV, so that when you lose, like 3-4 CVs, game is effectivelly lost". That was my claim before we started playing any of those games, and I think it was proven to be true

But WITP is totally different and this game is totally different. I do think you have a chance, in fact pretty good chance to win this...

O.

[Monter_Trismegistos]

Hey guys, stop talking, start playing. I'waiting for this AAR!

[mogami]

Hi, I played 40 games as Allies in UV and I think I lost around 6 but in almost all of them I lost the early USN CV. (Dadman sank them everytime but the Allies still won)

Unless the CV airgroups are assigned other missions (stooddown/airfield/Port) or CV out of missions or overloaded there should always be a counter strike. When there is not it is a bug. I find it does sometimes happen when you run turns without starting fresh.
(There is more then one bug that seems to find it's way into WITP when you run more then one game on your machine without restarting bewteen turns. And by this I mean it might take rebooting your computer between turns if the turns are not from the same game. )

Now I think UV might have been too short [X(] since you only had from May 42 to Feb 43 to change the balance so early disasters were more difficult to overcome compared to WITP where I think most players "resign" way to early. But still I overcame that 3 times as often as not. In fact I think I lost more games as Allies from Auto victory when I still had CV then I did after I lost them. (I can think of 3 games I lost to base capture and then the games with you and Leo. I won well over 20 games where I lost the CV battle and had to go the slow route building bases from Noumea to Lunga and using LBA as cover. I started 28 games as Allies in a 2 week period all of them the "super" scenario for Japan (19?) I won all of them. When I lost as Japan I still had "most" of my CV It was always the decline in quality of aircrew that mattered more then having a CV for them. (That and a nasty UV habit of my bombardment TF doing nothing and then getting bombed by LBA)
UV I often did close to 80 PBEM turns per day in WITP 20 is about max but my computer is dying and it takes longer to do turns now then before. I have to actually run another program (Gates of Troy) in the background or my computer freezes.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Yes yes... it will be slow afternoon here at work and I plan to devote whole afternoon to my first "proper" turn (ie turn 2)

I lost two BBs at PH, and CL Boise. Boise was pure gameyness fun - Ryujo came one hex from CL and sunk it [:D] He even launched some floatplanes from one of his CSs. However, all other BBs at PH are seriously damaged.

I have to say I am not very impressed by Japanese first turn. It was a fireworks of invasions with invasion icons popping up all over the place at ridicolous rate. But in fact I think he dispersed his units too much. What's the point in invading places like Jesselton, Djodjangas or whats its name etc. Pontianak... many of those places would be auto-conquered from the nearest IJN base anyway.

He didn't land at Malaya at all - this is the biggest surprise of first turn. Now what do you all think about it? It may mean many things. Perhaps he is leaving me the open door to evacuate all units towards Burma and India, so that he'll just walk in when the evac is over and take the place with 2 SNLF battalions? Perhaps he thinks I will try to evac overland, and he will stop me with one division at Thai isthmus?

He also attacked PI (Runway One) in force. This is also a surprise for me as I thought any "gamey" game for Japanese starts by bypassing Runway One completely and going elsewhere. Attacking Runway One is, like... too fair in a game like this [:D]

I will be checking the board while doing my turn today...

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko
Yes yes... it will be slow afternoon here at work and I plan to devote whole afternoon to my first "proper" turn (ie turn 2)

I work (ie sit in the office) in the afternoons, sleep in the mornings, that's why US PBEM opponents always suited me just fine (considering the phase shift in my biorhythm is around 4-6 hours which is a time difference between CET and EST).

O.

[Oznoyng]

I think all of Mogami's opponents need to chip in and buy Mogami a decent computer...

[mogami]

Hi start of turn 2 in east SRA