Lunacy in the Pacific: Mogami vs. Oleg

[Captain Cruft]

The only Dutch land units I would try and save are the two NEIAF Aviation Units. One is at Batavia, the other at Soerabaja. They both provide c.100 aviation support IIRC.

Air-wise, other than the Dorniers/Catalinas and most importantly the Recon units (all those useless planes upgrade to F4/5 Lightnings) it's a bit of a waste.

The subs kick ass though

[Alikchi2]

Agree with Cruft. Don't forget MAF Aviation and PAF Aviation in Malaya and the Philippines respectively, as well. [:)]

I tend to have lots of spare political points at the beginning of the game (don't change HQs for new units much) so if you absolutely want to you can move a few Dutch BFs around. I.E. I like to move the Pamakasan Regiment and a spare base force to Kendari, since the garrison there is small and the extra aviation support is very welcome. [:)] They're going to all get captured anyways, so why not send them where you can use them?

[Oleg Mastruko]

OK thanks for the advice everyone...

KB, or at least part of it, hit Midway from NE (NE!). So obviously after PH strike he moved KB north of Midway to loiter there expecting at least one of my CVs will escape there towards North Pacific and Alaska.

Well.... here's one evil MWARGGHAHAHHA

Left with no CVs to hunt IJN aviators, blind with rage for everything western, caucasian and democratic, let out their frustration on the gooney bird island, doing some damage but not much (unless he's going to attack the island in earnest, which he's free to do anytime).

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Day Air attack on Midway , at 95,61

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
D3A Val x 69
B5N Kate x 48
E7K2 Alf x 1

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 20 damaged
B5N Kate: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
PBY Catalina: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
1 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 36
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Despite boastful talk, he's not at ease with having 100k+ angry (and hungry [:D]) Chinese at the gates of Canton, he diverted one solid bombardment force there:

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Naval bombardment of Canton, at 43,41

Japanese Ships
DD Minegumo
DD Natsugumo
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
CA Atago
CA Takao
BB Haruna
BB Kongo


Allied ground losses:
183 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Finally, bloodiest battle of the war so far, watch this:

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Day Time Surface Combat, near Kragen at 22,63

Japanese Ships
AP Aki Maru
AP Hokuriku Maru
AP Kashiwara Maru
AP Kasuga Maru
AP Nissen Maru #2
AK Thames Maru
AK Yahiko Maru
AK Tonegawa Maru
AK Yagi Maru
AK Fukuyo Maru

Allied Ships
PT TM-5
PT TM-8
PT TM-10
PT TM-12
PT TM-13
PT TM-14
PT TM-15

PT force cathches transports unaware without cover, and there you go... (yes they had torpedos).

Whatever he captured so far – he captured with no damage. I have no idea how he does that trick, but it won't win the AV war alone (unless the game, as I said, degenerates into normalcy and trench warfare)

HK fell this turn, along with dozen or so bases you probably never even knew are in game (Sansapor, anyone?).

In Malaya I think I'll go for Festung defence, which means he'll have to bring lots of troops....

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi
I tend to have lots of spare political points at the beginning of the game (don't change HQs for new units much) so if you absolutely want to you can move a few Dutch BFs around. I.E. I like to move the Pamakasan Regiment and a spare base force to Kendari, since the garrison there is small and the extra aviation support is very welcome. [:)]

Alikchi you're far too optimistic regarding the Dutch life expectancy. You expect I'll have time to tinker with their units moving them left and right... DEI are subjected to such fierce onslaught, that everyone, except things that float and fly, is just frozen in place.

All the IJN naval forces usually reserved for Malaya went to DEI. He landed in Palembang and Kragen on turn 1... in such circumstances, festungs are the only option, Goebbels and Adolf agree.

[Nomad]

I agree Oleg, you have to experience the pace to really understand. Everyone complains about the pace of a 'regular' game. It is 12/11/41 in my game, Mogami controls most every base in Borneo, Palambang and Kragen. He controls Kendari, Ambonia, and all of the bases in Mindanao plus most of the bases along the NG coast. 5 days, it doesn't leave much time to move much. Trying now would probably get them sunk. The Dutch just stay and die. [:@] Troops in the PI, stay and die. [:@] I was considering moving a bunch from Malaya, but I don't think I will( might though). Have to balance making him take Malaya which would cost some time against having them in India but also having Mogami in India in January 1942. [&:]

[mogami]

Hi, Just so the readers understand. There were 40,000 Japanese on Java by Dec 9th. (and more arriving everyday)

[Oleg Mastruko]

The onslaught continues, though we had two exceptionaly quiet days given the ferocity of this game and the period we are in. Some of his CVs loiter north east of Midway. Air loses are 4:1 (400-some kills for Japanese vs 100-some for Allies).

I have to go now, I go on business trip for couple days, more extensive updates when I get back (maybe I'll play while on road but I don't know that yet).

O.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko

I am not sure as to what Dutch units are worth paying PPs for? As I see Dutch pilot pool and replacement rate is very low (4 per month) so I won't be able to sustain too many Dutch squardons anyway, and they better be low-casualty ones (ie. Patrol). Do any of the Allied veterans have any advice here? What land units are worth paying PPs for, if any?

Pick the largest capacity air groups (i.e. max 16 planes vs. 8 planes) with the fewest actual planes and switch them to Southeast Asia or Southwest Pacific. Then rebase all like aircraft and disband/withdraw the other ABDA groups into them. That way you switch the majority of your planes for minimal PP cost (always change the air groups HQ's before disbanding other air groups). Then evacuate said group north or south.

Jim

[Oleg Mastruko]

OK I am back from my trip, and nothing much to report in this game - similar to Nomad's game Mogami is proceeding with his DEI operations. IJA (and/or IJN) land troops entered Surabaja hex (on 10th day of the war). Except for the breakneck speed of operations, and number of small bases simultaneously invaded, DEI invasion is just your plain vanilla DEI invasion... (not that I'd have anything to add to that anyway).

I managed to sink two IJN subs in DEI area, using LBA.

O.

[Oleg Mastruko]

War continues. Sorabaja may fall any day now. He is obviously gathering forces for final attack there. Not much to report (since I don't want to talk about my own plans too much, in case I have any).

He is continuing his naval bombardments of my forces in Canton hex:

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Naval bombardment of Canton, at 43,41

Japanese Ships
DD Minegumo
DD Natsugumo
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
CA Atago
CA Takao
BB Haruna
BB Kongo


Allied ground losses:
140 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Frankly, the fact that I keep his considerable surface forces including two fast BBs occupied with this utterly marginal task of bombing malnourished Chinese peasants – I consider it a success (or mistake on his part, whatever).

I retook Aparri in north Luzon. His effort on Luzon is 100% oriented towards southern approach, northern beachheads are empty.

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Ground combat at Aparri

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 601 troops, 5 guns, 3 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Aparri base !!!

KB is out of sight. Last I saw was part, or all of it, moving east – so he may well be trying to catch my forces on US-Hawaii route unaware to do some damage. I'll do my best to avoid it.

My naval losses have been remarkably light so far, in my opinion, but in air Mog is proving to be master of air warfare, constantly keeping losses in 4:1 range. Even with all the early IJN bonuses, and considering I lose many aircraft on the ground in DEI killing fields, this is success for IJN so far.

[Oleg Mastruko]

18th Dec. Japanese started probing attacks in Manila (they approached from the south) and Sorabaja:

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Ground combat at Soerabaja

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 28584 troops, 355 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 10230 troops, 94 guns, 16 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
72 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


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Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 80518 troops, 1035 guns, 28 vehicles

Defending force 78275 troops, 826 guns, 175 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
78 casualties reported

Now for some whining... Mog said he hates whining in e-mails and that we should whine on the board so here goes. I hate "undestructible LCU" bug/quirk. Here I have 4:1, combat in base hex I own, and what do we get as result?

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Ground combat at Pakhoi

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 19864 troops, 107 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 9313 troops, 72 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 4 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
3 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
509 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

This is downright bizarre. I am actually among the rare fans of ground combat model in WITP, but it has some quirks when it comes to calculating casualties, and overwhelmed units sometimes just simply refuse to die.

Bad things are about to happen... (from the intel report):

9th Division is planning for an attack on Vladivostok.

We informed our Communist friends in Moscow, and they say they're prepared...

Intel informs us enemy still has lots of men in their starting bases in Taan, Kagoshima, Pescadores...

Large force spotted 12-some hexes north of Hawaii, steaming east at 16 knots! I guess it can only be KB... Where's he going? Starting to get interesting...

O.

[Oleg Mastruko]

12/21/41 and operations continue. He is continuing bombardment of my ground units in Canton hex:

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Naval bombardment of Canton, at 43,41

Japanese Ships
DD Minegumo
DD Natsugumo
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
CA Atago
CA Takao
BB Haruna
BB Kongo


Allied ground losses:
96 casualties reported

Why is he doing this? Is he unnerved by my southern Chinese concentration? Or does he think 100 casualties day after day will eventually kill all billion or so Chinese? [:D]

Surabaja will fall tomorrow...

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Ground combat at Soerabaja

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 33711 troops, 368 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 10241 troops, 89 guns, 16 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0


Japanese ground losses:
298 casualties reported
Guns lost 11

Allied ground losses:
341 casualties reported
Guns lost 21
Vehicles lost 2

He is moving from Kendari towards Timor and nearby islands. The only question is – will he stop there (temporarily at least) or will he proceed to invade North Australia?

Central and South Pacific have been peaceful so far. I already said Mogami is very disciplined and is not easily led astray.

[Oleg Mastruko]

I assume he will attack Soviets somewhere mid January, and he will most certainly open with 500+ Sallys on airfield bombardment. It's no secret: I dispersed my Soviet airforce, and took most of it out of Sally range. If he's so keen on surprising them on the ground on the first day, he can do so only with his long range naval bombers. Nothing I can do about that...

Naval bombers are too valuable an asset for IJN so every Betty/Nell + pilot he loses in bombing ground targets is wasted. In my games I almost *never* use these valuable torpedo carrying aircraft in ground pounding role (by "ground pounding" I mean airfield/port attacks as well).

Here's the sweetest part: in dispersing Soviet airforce I sent some of them to other friendly countries too [:D] (yes it's technically doable, they can't fly combat missions but they can travel to friendly countries). That's about as much as I could do with USSR preparations, any other ideas??

What do you think he will make his priority in further attacks?

a) Australia (logical extension of very fierce DEI onslaught)
b) India
c) China
d) South Pacific (does not seem likely in my opinion)
e) Hawaii
f) West Coast

Soviets will be attacked regardless of his other actions...

O.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko

Why is he doing this? Is he unnerved by my southern Chinese concentration? Or does he think 100 casualties day after day will eventually kill all billion or so Chinese? [:D]

No, he knows the Chinese don't draw replacements once the initial stockpiles of supply get used up. He's helping you burn through those stockpiles.

Replacements require double the needed monthly base requirements of supply be on hand, and then only the supply above double is available to use to draw replacements with, so soon you'll be hurting big time if you let him keep it up for too long.

Your billions of Chinese will sit idle in your pools till the war is over. Not a lot of good to you there. [;)]

Jim

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko

Why is he doing this? Is he unnerved by my southern Chinese concentration? Or does he think 100 casualties day after day will eventually kill all billion or so Chinese? [:D]

No, he knows the Chinese don't draw replacements once the initial stockpiles of supply get used up. He's helping you burn through those stockpiles.

Yeah, well, I have some other ideas on my mind but will keep quiet. In short, I think there are better ways of making Chinese burn their supply, especially in a "no rules" game like this (like, bombing the supply? [;)])

He can have max 4-5 good surface groups as strong as the one he keeps busy with this ultra marginal task. I am sure he will stop with this very soon, though, he's certainly very wellcome to continue for all I care!

(Since Mog is reading this AAR I might be lying at any given moment - perhaps his Canton operations brought be to the brink of despair, I'm just hiding it very well [:D])

O.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Bit of good news among many defeats in DEI:

Sub attack near Muntok at 21,55

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga, Torpedo hits 1
DD Usugumo
DD Shinonome
DD Fubuki

Allied Ships
SS KXIII

In fact "defeats" is not very true. I mainly avoid any confrontations, so there are no big battles to begin with.

Surabaja still holds, mainly because he didn't attack last two days – I don't know why it seems it would fall with one good attack. Is he massing forces so to attack without damaging the oil and resource centers? I don't think so, and in my experience damage to oil and resources is very random.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Overall score so far, 22 or 23 Dec 41.

He's keeping air losses in 4:1 range but we'll see for how long will he be able to do it once Dutch are eliminated.

LCU losses mount and I don't like that, but it's still very acceptable.

O.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Biggest naval losses so far. 2 BBs are lost at PH, Boise on day 1. CLs were lost in futile counter attack on his invasion on day 1 or 2, there were no major losses after that.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko

Surabaja still holds, mainly because he didn't attack last two days – I don't know why it seems it would fall with one good attack. Is he massing forces so to attack without damaging the oil and resource centers? I don't think so, and in my experience damage to oil and resources is very random.

Maybe he's waiting to simultaneously sieze all suitable air bases within range so you can't city-bomb it after he captures it.

[Oleg Mastruko]

OK Mog is back after couple days and we continue our game - that's about the biggest piece of news for this report...

O.