Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Monter_Trismegistos]

You little cheater [:-] You edited database and replaced Boise with Brooklyn?

[Tom Hunter]

No Mogami must have done that [;)]

More likely I just don't remember which one was where, since they are the same class of ship. But the one that starts in the Phillipines has taken one torpedo and 24 sys damage.

Other than that and the opening day attacks I have managed to avoid taking damage to anything larger than a DD in air to sea combat. I don't really count the Pearl Harbor damage or the hits on Repulse since they were not really my responsibility.

[Tom Hunter]

This picture is East of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese TF is KB



This turn, (Dec 17) he sunk 3 BBs that were heading to the West coast, and also got a couple of AKs. There are still 2 or 3 BBs in the area, they are scattering. All the merchants are single ships, before I broke them up they were 2 or 3 ship convoys.

The CVs are safe, off map to the South and heading East at full speed.

The weather is as bad as can be, an he has already missed some shipping due to clouds. Chances are he will get the other BBs and a few merchant ships. Somewhere in the mix are a couple of small ground units and one bomber group but these have a pretty good chance of escaping due to the large number of small targets and the weather.

It is definitly a win for my opponent, but its not a disaster for me, just a defeat.

Elsewhere I discovered that Mog's invasion of Luzon is 60,000 men at Manila and some small units in the North. So I sent half my army North and just hit a para battalion at 537 to one odds and inflicted 215 casualties on a unit that only had 315 people to bing with. It may be possible to kill all the Japs in the North part of the Island, at any rate I am going to try. Remeber this game is not about keeping the Phillipines in action as long as possible. It's about keeping the point score close, which means causing casualties.

Allied Naval assets that were in Java are heading South to Broome. The P40s from the Phillipines are operating out of Timor, they will provide some CAP and then PoW will look for some targets of opportunity. Mog has a lot of smaller TFs invading little bases, with luck one of them is going to die some time around Christmas.

The Brits are building up for a major airstrike on Bancock. There are already 50 planes in Georgetown and I am stetting up Rangoon as well. On the first day the weather is good the Japs are going to get hit by a sweep and then as near 100 bombers as I can get. In addition to scoring some points and hurting his airforce this will make it safer for the British as they pull units out of Malaya.

China took Nanning in a deliberat assault. Chinese fighters did a big sweep over Wuhan and shot down 6 Nates yesterday losing one of their own. Finally a large Chinese army is outside the Kwieyang (the city East of Homan on the rail line, they will bombard tomorrow and attack next turn if things look good. Map of China in the next report.

[AdmNelson]

This picture is East of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese TF is KB

Looks like it will be shoot fish in a barrel. How many subs are in the area?

[ADavidB]

This picture is East of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese TF is KB

If that were me playing the Japanese, the KB would send 300 planes against one lousy TK and repeat that 14 times while the rest of the ships got away...

Maybe you should just send eveything after the KB - they will eventually run out of bombs, shells and fuel and then your escorts can finish them off...[X(]

Dave

(who needs something to drink but must go to the Dr.'s first...[;)])

[Tom Hunter]

KB launched 3 medium sized attacks on a convoy of 4 AKs and 3 attacks on BB TFs.

There are 5 subs in the hex right below KB, the last sighting has him steaming right over them. I'm not counting on anything, but it would be funny as hell if he ate a tin fish next turn.

The weather is very much in my favor, as are the large number of nearly valueless ships. He is going to do some damage but the USA is not going to lose the war because some AKs and MSWs get sunk. I'm not saying I like this, I am just saying it's a tactical win, not a strategic one. I had some luck, the bad weather is really good for me, but the habit of running lots of small convoys really pays off in a situation like this one.

I did think about lurking with my CVs and then attacking when Mog runs out of sorties, but I am going to resist the tempation its just not worth the risk at this time.

[AdmNelson]

The weather is very much in my favor, as are the large number of nearly valueless ships. He is going to do some damage but the USA is not going to lose the war because some AKs and MSWs get sunk. I'm not saying I like this, I am just saying it's a tactical win, not a strategic one. I had some luck, the bad weather is really good for me, but the habit of running lots of small convoys really pays off in a situation like this one.

I did think about lurking with my CVs and then attacking when Mog runs out of sorties, but I am going to resist the tempation its just not worth the risk at this time.

Weather in Dec 41 --- is always a problem for the IJN around PH. Do reist the tempation

[Tom Hunter]

Don't worry Adm. this temptation is very easy to resist. Mog actually wrote me that he "hit the jackpot" that made me think he found my CVs.

Here is China. There are 100,000 men 2063 assualt points outside the Kaifeng with it's 4 units. The route I took to get there made Mog think I was going for Hsinyang, the 6 units left Kaifeng the day defore I got there. I will bombard this turn (turn already sent) and if the number of Japs is low enough it's time to Shock Attack. If there are a lot of them then it's time to withdraw to Homan.

I think its very important to give my opponents no rest. I have already seen prep messages for the coming attack on Russia, China can't save the Russians from the awful set up they start with, but it can make life a bit more difficult for the Japanese.

Eventually a large Japanese army is going to plow into China on it's way to India. When that does happen its critical that the Chinese troops have good experience levels. So there is going to be an active war in China, and so far so good.

[Tom Hunter]

This is the map for China, I was in a rush and did not see the failure to post. The map is from Dec 17, we are now up to Dec 20 or 21.

[Tom Hunter]

Things have gotten a lot quieter, Mogs initial steamroller is consolidating, and I am still pulling back and organizing.

In China Kaifeng was to strongly garrisoned for me to take, so I turned around but Mog got across the rail line before I got out. He believes I have made a critical error which may be right but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that also take advantage of the screwball movement system in this game. We will see what happens.

KB has split into 3 groups and is chasing small ships in the area between Hawaii and the US West Coast. I have about 12 Subs in the area hoping to get lucky, no hits so far but there have been attacks. He is sinking PCs and lone AKs at the rate of 2-3 a day now so it't a bit painful but not a major disaster. No air or land units were caught and a number of ships got through to Hawaii and are unloading land units and supply.

The US CVs are converging on Los Angelese to refuel, if Mog spreads out enough I could hit him at 3 to 2 after he has launched 5 days of air attacks. Still undecided on that but considering it.

Allied naval forces are converging on Broome to fuel. I have enough P40s to provide CAP over Timor and I may raid North from there in early January.

Java is still Dutch but there are Japanese units on the rail line North of Soerbaja. Borneo will be gone soon, he has units outside every base there. My plan is to keep on nusance bombing him and then pull the Dutch airforce back to India.

Malaya is being evacuated, so far a few brigades, a base force or two and some HQ units are out, two big convoys are heading for Georgetown with enough ships to grab a big chunk of the army. Only one Japanese Division is coming in, it will meet 4 Brigades at Alor Star which should hold it.

Indian is moving supply to the big East Coast cities as fast as possible.

In the Phillipines I held a deliberate assualt on Manila off while half my army was chasing Japanese in the North. They are coming back now, the Japs have consolidated a 10,000 man force in the North and I can't beat that easily. I still have some AKs in Manila, every turn one of them is loading a base force and heading East across the Pacific. So far Mog has not noticed this, it looks like I will get 4 bases forces out this way before I run out of ships. After that I am going to use subs, but that is not nearly so effective.

South Pac is very quiet, the Aussies have airpower in Rabual bombing the nearest Japanese bases and Mog has stopped advancing in New Guinea. The transports carrying fuel, supplies and limited numbers of troops that direction were not affected by the KB raid so the first American stuff will arrive some time in January as is usually the case.


A little philosophizing (and some really bad spelling). Mog is a tougher opponent than the other people I have played, and that is hurting me some but not critically. The KB raid is something that I have often thought other players should have done, and he is the first to do it to me. He is also fighting a better battle in China, though the long term effect of that remains to be seen. How much will any event in China matter after Russia falls and the whole Japanese army heads South?

December is a really bad month for the Allies and mine has been no exception so far. The big successes are all defensive, getting unexpected numbers of ships and units out of the Phillipines, sinking a cruiser and a few DDs, (10 ships so far) getting PoW out of the NEI intact and ready for more action.

So far so good, even the losses that hurt some like the BBs from Pearl don't hurt that much. More on strategy later but the game is not going badly all in all.

[Nomad]

My big question is "Will Mogami try to take the West Coast?" On the face of it, no, but with Mogami you never know for sure.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
So there is going to be an active war in China, and so far so good.

Careful there, from what I've read in your other AAR's you haven't faced a Japanese opponent who's strong in China. You should fully expect to see many small paradrops surrounding any units you allow to get exposed (not to mention rear bases) in a forward rush. China's supply is abysmal in the best circumstances and Mog will probably have yours decimated by the end of January. Any units caught forward will be lost and won’t rebuild above their 1/3rd replacement strength because China doesn’t have enough supply even before the attacks on its industry to allow replacements to be drawn. So conserve your strength, it’s a one shot deal.

[Tom Hunter]

Jim your right about prior opponents and I am watching the situation carefully. This is going to be a different sort of a game because I know for a fact that he is going to come into China with the Mankucho troops after he crushes the Russians. Unless he decides to go from Russia to Alaska but I think that is less likely.

So China needs to watch supply, but it also needs to watch experience levels. If the Chinese army stays at XP 30-50 to conserve supply it will just roll over anyway. If the XP is in the 50 to 80 range they will do a lot better.

It's a real balancing act no matter how you look at it.

One thing I am doing is pulling all the SEAC units into India. At full stregth they make a valuable, possibly critical, suppliment to the forces in India.

[Nomad]

I saw Mogami mention somwhere that in these games he would be going to Russia and then marching through China to Burma and India. I think he is planing on using the railroad and I do remember him saying something about it was up to the Allied player how much combat there would be between Japan and China. I got the idea that if you moved North and West of the Railroad he would not attack. But, a war of words is another possibility.

[Tom Hunter]

He said that, but I am not sure I believe him, in fact I don't. Killing Russia will open up options, but he is after 4 to 1 and China can be a victory point mine. Maybe I will abandon it and move the Chinese army to Karachi [:)]

Anyway I never let the enemy rest anywhere.

The thing I really dislike about December is too few opportunites to hit back.

[Nomad]

I just realized that it is in my lunacy thread. [:'(] One thing to consider is that China just does not have a lot of supply. India has plenty of supply. I think he needs both China and India for enough points( could be wrong here ). If you can keep India maybe he can not get enough points to win? In that case moving Chinese forces to India might not be a bad idea, they will fill out quickly.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
If the Chinese army stays at XP 30-50 to conserve supply it will just roll over anyway. If the XP is in the 50 to 80 range they will do a lot better.

Well if he does a Russia first strategy you can be entrenched to level 9 in your bases and level 7 in the countryside before he gets back if you just hunker down and dig. But I doubt he'll ignore China. Japan has plenty of power to run both ops at once and by keeping you from fortifying your Chinese bases then the Manchuko troops will just blow right through China after they finish off the Russians.

You need a good 150 - 300 engineers per base to have any kind of decent fortifications by June, so don't leave your bases too empty. A level 9 fort can hold out for months (triples your AV) and your units will be level 80-90 by the time the siege is over. I've got some units that level in Changsa in my game and the city is still holding on with level 8-9 forts. He gets banged up so bad each time he assaults, I practically rebuild the lost fort levels before he's ready to assault again. Too bad the rest of China looks bleak for me.

But wherever I have lower level forts, he simply blows through them in a month or less. So dig in while you can, it'll pay big dividends if he actually leaves you alone long enough to finish. Of course if I were mog I wouldn't leave you alone, so my point may be mute. [;)]

Jim

[Nomad]

Sounds like picking a group of Bases to completly fortify and man might make sense. Abandan some of the outlying ones. Need to think about that. Mogami is off to the VFW for this afternoon and evening.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Nomad

Sounds like picking a group of Bases to completly fortify and man might make sense. Abandan some of the outlying ones. Need to think about that. Mogami is off to the VFW for this afternoon and evening.

I wouldn't abandon them until Mog shows his cards. No sense giving him an easy victory. But at the same time I wouldn't allow my units to get decimated in open field fighting because those engineers wont rebuild, so once they're destroyed then you lose the ability to dig in.

I think I’d put a good 6-8 Corps inside each front line base and keep at least 1 corps or division at each rear area base. Then look at what you have left and decide how many units to split off as a mobile fire brigade group for attacking his flank or threatening exposed bases. The rest I’d send to the last 4 bases before Burma (Chungking and the base northwest of it, Kunming and the base southeast of it) and dig in. That’s your bastion of defense for when the Manchuko army arrives (if it arrives).

So I guess the question is how long do you have to dig in? If you think you can keep him tied up in Russia for at least a year, then your firebrigade can be a good 2/3rds of those remaining units discussed. If you think he’ll steamroll Russia in just a few months, then at best your firebrigade is a nuisance force.

One last note, don’t try to fight him in the air. Use hit and run tactics until the zero bonus is gone before you try to fight him. Otherwise you’ll find yourself with no planes in your pools by June (as I find myself now) with months of rebuilding ahead. This effectively extends the zero bonus, so save your planes till they have an even fight.

Jim

[patrickl]

Thanks guys for the posts. Very informative about Jap strategies and counterstrategies!Will be glued to this thread. [:D]