Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter]

Or in a sudden fit of sanity we will both sail around to the North (Japanese) and South (Allied) of New Caledonia and it will be a big letdown.

We have both brought along fleet trains so we can steam around for a long time.

[Tom Hunter]

Manuevering continues in South Pacific with some combat but nothing remotely decisive.

B17s bomb Luganville to moderate effect, then the allies launch two big raids against some un-CAPed DD TFs North of Koumac, they both get this result:

Day Air attack on TF at 68,106


Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 12
B-26B Marauder x 39


Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Kamikaze
DD Mikazuki
DD Hatakaze
DD Mochizuki
DD Oite
DD Yuzuki
DD Harukaze
DD Nagatsuki

A B26 group is moved back to La Foa and replaced with Dauntlesses which have a better chance to hit DDs.

The Japanese are hunting for targets and find 3 AKs unloading at Koumac:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 109
D3A Val x 48
B5N Kate x 24

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Kaiping, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Empire Peri, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Ban Ho Guan, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Allied CAP over Noumea is now 222 fighters and when fully operational has about 250.

Next turn Mogami will be in bombardment attack range and I may take the BBs out of harbor and put them on a patrol TF. The CAP will be even larger at that point and hopefully it can chew up a stike with 100 Zeros escorting.

Hawaii dispatches 42 P40Bs and 64 B25s to join the party, more planes will follow, they are being spaced out to avoid overcrowding the airfields on the way.

Long Island will fly off another 16 Kittyhawks in 2-3 days.

There are 177 fighter on the Allied CVs, not enought to tangle with KB in a straight up fight, but maybe enough to win if KB has just fought a battle with 222 fighters flying CAP over Noumea. I am hoping the Japanese are brave enough to fly a strike against the AKs unloading there, that would be ideal.

KB is at the top of this map in at least 4 TFs. The Allied fueling point is at the bottom, the Allied main battle fleet is 5 hexes South of the tankers coming North at mission speed with everyone follow Mitchner except for Somerville (RN slow BB TF) who is under his own orders and one hex ahead.

[Redd]

Oh man, this is gonna be good! Keep up the good work Tom. I especially like the strategy talks, I have learned so much from this and some other AAR's [&o][&o][&o].

I think that you are dead on with your tactics. If he impales the KB air on your LBA, then move in for the kill with your own carriers. If not then hang back. Of course Mogami knows of this tactic as well, so perhaps he has something up his sleeve[X(].

Eagerly awaiting your next turn.

[Sneer]

sometimes most important decision is to resign from objective
I'm interested when this decision will be taken
conclusion is : June - too late (risky) to go for Caledonia

For me it was always too far away

[Tom Hunter]

There is a real possibility that this is all cover for an invasion of Russia. Mogami has started to recon Kiska for the past few days.

He has too many CVs near New Caledonia (Soyru and Akagi have been spotted) for this to be a diversion for Pearl Harbor, India or the US West Coast. And if it is the large air groups covering those 3 locations will murder any surface force that has no carriers.

But it could very well be cover for an invasion of Russia, he does not need CVs to launch that. If he is going for Russia these moves also slow down any American counter attack.

We are both in difficult positions for a variety of reasons but that is what makes the game interesting.

[Sneer]

I'm aggressive Japan player - all the time
situation at Caledonia is a worst nightmare - assuming Mogami really wants to have it.
price paid in VP for taking Nomua -no mentioning quality of lost pilots or lost cv - is too high - but if he moves somewhere else - time lost is too precious. If it is decoy ? well ... it is really difficult to disrupt japanese operations in June 42 by making successful counterattack.

I assume you don't bother in autovoctory but want to play a war till 45

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

There is a real possibility that this is all cover for an invasion of Russia. Mogami has started to recon Kiska for the past few days.

He has too many CVs near New Caledonia (Soyru and Akagi have been spotted) for this to be a diversion for Pearl Harbor, India or the US West Coast. And if it is the large air groups covering those 3 locations will murder any surface force that has no carriers.

But it could very well be cover for an invasion of Russia, he does not need CVs to launch that. If he is going for Russia these moves also slow down any American counter attack.

We are both in difficult positions for a variety of reasons but that is what makes the game interesting.

Remembering the thread "A Tank is a Tank is a Tank..." is it really that hard for Japan to conquer Russia? A rickshaw seems to be a match for a T-34 if I remember the gist of the test threat correctly.

[tsimmonds]

sometimes most important decision is to resign from objective

situation at Caledonia is a worst nightmare - assuming Mogami really wants to have it.

Mogami tends to rush in where angels fear to tread.

That is not to say he fares as well as angels usually do....I'd hate to captain an AP in one of his fleets.....[:'(]

[Tom Hunter]

Sneer,

The Lunacy games are an explicit attempt by Mogami to win auto victory using any mechanism provided in the game.

Likewise I can do the same, and I have already done things that are not really possible historically, like posting search units of an AK and a PT in the middle of the Pacific. I never do that kind of stuff in my other games.

Ih he gets the auto victory I am not sure what I will do. I'm not going to commit either way.


I do not expect to disrupt a Japanese invasion of Russia in 1942 with an offensive by the US, or one by the British. But if he goes for Russia I am sure as hell going to launch offensives. The realistic goal will be to push the casulaty number high enough to prevent the collapse of Russia from giving Mogami 4 to 1.

The Americans can move from New Caledonia to the dot islands to the East and then they have an L2 airbase 4 hexes from Efate. From Efate they go to Luganville. By the time that is done it is late 42 and I can push on the Solomons.

Likewise the British are planning an advance through Burma and into Thailand.

Mogami has launched a series of operations in China that are burning up Chinese supplies and limiting China's ability to counter attack which also points at an attack on Russia.

On the other hand Mogami often sticks with his plan, so maybe he will go after New Caledonia. I am waiting for him to wake up and send a turn so I can see what he does next.

Ron in answer to your question about Russia I don't think it is very hard for Japan to conquer Russia but I am not certain that he can get 4 to 1 victory out of it. Time will tell, there is very little I can do about it one way or another in Russia. As I just mentioned I am doing a lot about it in India-Burma and the South Pacific.

irrelevant Mogami has been very careful with his AP fleet so far, probably to keep the capacity to move a big army intact. His warship losses have been heavy for Japan at this time, and he has actually lost more CAs and possibly CLs than I have. He is ahead on BBs 6 to 1 and niether of us has lost a CV of any type.

But if he comes to New Caledonia with a transport fleet lots of things are going to sink.

I do admit to feeling pretty good about my chances. Bad luck is always possible, but barring that the Allied position is very strong, if he comes I think he will lose. Bad luck would be something like a rain storm closing Noumea airbase the same turn a big unescorted strike of Vals and Kates comes after the BBs on patrol there. Then I would have no CAP and he would sink the ships. That is possible but not likely, and I might be able to recover from something like that though it would really hurt.

[Tom Hunter]

By the way if you haven't guessed I am writing all these posts because I am jonesing for a turn, Mogami is either out or still asleep. Or possibly pounding on Oleg.

[Sneer]

if you play for points then it will be difficult to redeploy from caledonia fast and there are little points for allies in the sector. anyway - any decisive battle in late 42 are enough for score as it is difficult to lose more then 4:1 at late 42 for allies. I think you have pretty more chances then Mogami in caledonia

[Tom Hunter]

Sneer,

Any counter attack coming out of New Caledonia is going for points by causing casualties. Though your right there are not many point in the area there are not many viable alternatives for the Allies given the forces they have in 1942.

During the combat phase of June 8th things got hotter.

First the Japanese hit Koumac with 2 DDs TFs. They sunk 1 AK, 1 TK and 5 PTs, 2 DDs took torpedos. Victory for Japan, sort of.

During the day the Allies hit back hard from the air. This is one of the two DDs that was torpedoed, it only got one hex before the Aussies found it:

Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 28
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
DD Mochizuki, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

The Beauforts are better than this, weather was bad and only 8 of them found the target at all. Mochizuki sank a bit later.

Then the attacks on the remaining DDs started. They had some LR CAP but the Allied bombers were so numerous they cut right through it. Losses in the air were 7 Allied, 5 Japanese and by the last attack the Zeros were so tired and low on ammo they did not do much at all.

First the Maurders improved upon their terrible performance of the previous day:



Day Air attack on TF at 67,107

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 2
B-26B Marauder x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Oite, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Hatakaze
DD Yuzuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Harukaze
DD Nagatsuki
DD Kamikaze



Then a group of LB30s came in at 16,000 feet. Oite was already damaged and moving slow, and it is much easier to hit a smoking cripple:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9

Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 35
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Kamikaze
DD Harukaze
DD Oite, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Yuzuki, on fire

The Japanese CAP was now pretty tired and shot up as well. The Allied dive bombers showed up and pretty much flew right past them:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 15
Beaufort V-IX x 14
A-24 Dauntless x 16
B-25C Mitchell x 8
B-26B Marauder x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 2 destroyed
A-24 Dauntless: 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Harukaze
DD Hatakaze, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Nagatsuki, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Oite, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

That ended the Allied attacks, I am convinced we can call this a win for the Allied airforces if not for the PT boats.

[Tom Hunter]

In China the Japanese launched a huge attack on Changsha:

Ground combat at Changsha
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 433153 troops, 5183 guns, 385 vehicles
Defending force 197824 troops, 1077 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 8
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 8)
Japanese ground losses:
22491 casualties reported
Guns lost 684
Vehicles lost 33
Allied ground losses:
7861 casualties reported
Guns lost 142

Other than the South Pacific (see above) nothing of great importance happened though there was a lot of the usual movement required to keep plans going forward.

I suspect Mogami cleared out the PT boats to bombard Koumac so I am responding with the US BB TF 16 ships lead by 3 old US BBs are pounding North from Noumea at fulls speed.





They are now based at Koumac with a 71 Naval skill admiral who is not very aggressive (51)

For CAP I flew up 2 of the US CV fighter groups and 24 Fulmars off one of the British CVs and a 16 plane Kittyhawk group that was on the Long Island. Another way of looking at that is Mogami is facing 94 fighters that he did not know were there a day ago, plus the 200+ planes he did spot with recon flights.

In addition to the planes mentioned above 2 Marine VMF units of 19 planes each and a big P40 unit are LR CAPping and a Hurricane II group is flying CAP over Koumac. In theory there are over 150 fighters covering these guys, I hope that it is enough.

To keep the fighters up I pulled some bombers back to Nandi for R&R. Even so there are about 100 bombers on the island with Naval Attack orders.

Needless to say I am nervous about this, I could lose a substantial number of surface ships in the next day. But if all goes well Mogamis pilots will see the BBs and launch a huge attack into an even bigger ambush depleteing his CV planes at an important moment.

For those of you hoping for the battle of Armageddion (I can't spell it) I suspect that Mogami will withdraw if his air group gets murdered and we will go back to a standoff. But I might be wrong, and this is certainly a good show so far.

[Ron Saueracker]

Ouch, that has to hurt. Good one Tom.

[Sneer]

defensive play at this stage brings certain amount of comfort
it is extremaly difficult to close caledonia region from shipping even if vs AI game
against human almost impossible so as long as you evede decisive carrier battle region will be open
enemy ports are very far away , combining with poor Japanese damage control ....
To one of major beyound historical invasion I brought 200k supplies and 100k fuel together with landing forces but I see Mogami will have to take much more if he decides to land at caledonia - it is too far to react later with convoys
I'd say 300-400k of supplies in 3-4 months and 400-600k of fuel
damn biggest logistics operation I ever seen is needed

[Ron Saueracker]

I am SO wanting to see the next turn.[8D]

[Sneer]

me too[8D]

[Oleg Mastruko]

This game is about billion times more interesting than my lunacy game (where Allies, led by me, do all they can to sedate the game, not make it active or interesting).

Anyhow... I thought attacker needs AT LEAST 1:1 on ground attack to have some possibility of reducing forts. In your above post he had 0:1 and still reduced the forts by 1....

Oleg

[Oleg Mastruko]

OH... and I think Mog already lost Caledonia - and with it probably the game - but does not know it yet.

If he brings 300k troops there, they will be lost/blocked there forever, thus accelerating his eventual defeat.

O.

[Tom Hunter]

I saw that and I am going to send more troops immediately.

This victory is the result of my strenous effort to improve the quality of the Chinese army. The troops at Changsha are all in the high 50s XP wise, that is as high as the Chinese will go launching bombardment attacks.

If they had been in the 40s the place might be coming apart now. Instead I have an army that can hold on even when the Japanese send 440,000 men.

The Japanese concentration may have opened up opportunities for the Chinese too, I have a few detachements out looking for trouble, maybe they can find some.