Bill (Bwheatley) Vs Bill (Gen Billy) to the death

[bwheatley]

Ok guys i'm going to start a scen 7 with Gen Billy in about 30 minutes.
I'm playing as japan. We are following the same rules that myself & pzb are using.
Ie japan & us only until japan invades another nation.

We're playing the 22-26 scen so there will not be many carriers until later in the war.

I will outline some of my strategies. This is the first time i'm played as japan in a game so i will see how we go.
I have some grand plans and we'll see how they play out.

More to come in about an hour

[bwheatley]

Ok so far i know i want to hit PH right off the bat. Wake & Midway can wither on the vine until after PH is captured. I am going to prep the 11th, 1st & 18th Div for PH. Also the 30th & 24th Inf BDE will be prepped and loaded onto transporters.

I'm still in mid turn so i will come back and update this once i have the rest of my turn ready. I figure if i can leave from Tokyo turn 1 i can get to PH by turn 10-15 which will be much sooner then gb (general billy) can get his main battle fleet to PH. Hopefully if i can drop off 1500 AP there i can take that place and fortify it. I'm going to include other support units but i want PH. It will be so hard for him to mount a comeback from there.

More to come..

[Bill Durrant]

Good luck. I'm playing General Billy in WitP Scen 13 and he is crucifying me....and I mean crucifying! Will be intrested to see how this develops[;)]

[bwheatley]

Well i finally finished my first turn as the japs. that was very hard lots of stuff to do and i did not manage to do all of it .

I have about 8 divisions and several BDE preped and loaded for PH. I'm going to sail to a point about 10 hexes north of PH to coordinate and then send in my BB's to bombard before landing. This is an all or nothing shot i need to take this base. Once i take PH i'll take the rest of the bases in the chain.

I also have 2 BDE prepped for palmyra that i want to take as well. I have a tanker convoy and supply convoy heading to palmyra we will use that base as a resupply hub if our PH attack fails. The convoys to PH are being followed with 10 tanks to keep the ships full of fuel. I have ordered the typical attacks on PH i am landing several divisions on luzon and minandao (sp) and will take that chain. There is really no rush there. The us only has a few old cruisers so my BB's on patrol out there should make quick work of them.

I've never played japan before so here goes nothing. Perhaps i can pull off a victory similar to Pzb when he first played the japs by taking india . I doubt i'd take india but i hope taking PH would critically delay the united states for a long time. Once i take out the US bases i can sweep west to try and take out the brits.

[bwheatley]

Well at the start of turn 2 i have close to 500,000 troops (about 8-10 divisions) loaded up and steaming for a point about 6 hexes off PH. I'm going to meet up there. And then send it all in. I've never played as japanese so this is basically a wing and a prayer. Operation Wind Blade is in motion. I have about 25k troops moving towards palmyra. I took Baatan island today and will move a Const battalion there to build it up. In a few turns i'll begin landings on luzon. I won't mention much about the PI becuase its so routine. I know the US has afew old cruisers which might cause a nuisance if they catch any of my transport tf's. But if they do good because i left most of the tf's with a few of the old BB's . So it will be good target practice. I've got 30 subs enroute to PH to scope things out and hopefully sink any reinforcements. I'm hoping that i can make it to PH before the US fleet can sortie out to PH.

I'll either have a glorious victory or be laughed off the boards.

[bwheatley]

Well nothing to speak of on this turn. I landed a few troops at Loapg (sp) and will take that next turn. Next turn 3 divisions should be putting ashore at the base on the west side of the PI. from there we'll move quickly to Clark FIeld and then try to keep batan and manila seperated.

I need some words of encouragement for the invasion of PH .

[bwheatley]

More landings on luzon. I will be landing at davao next turn. I am starting to worry that this invasion of PH will fail. I hope we can get it all squared away. I hope we can suprise him.

[bwheatley]

Its turn 5 and most of the PI are under control. I am going to move into Clark Field with 3 divisions next turn. Davao should fall this turn as well as guam.

My fleet will pass 2 hexes north of midway hopefully i will not be spotted.

[Bill Durrant]

I need some words of encouragement for the invasion of PH .

See my earlier post about General Billy[:D][:D][:D]

Just go for it - I wanna see what happens. However I bet he has a sub screen around the islands. Can't remember how long it takes the BBs to get to PH from Mare Island[:(]

[Tankerace]

Well, the only large US formations in the area (including West Coast) are the Hawaiian Division, the 3rd Division, and 4th Marine Regiment. If you have 5 or more Divisions, you should be able to take the islands. Its just about getting them ashore under fire you have to worry about.

Bring in every ship you have, get 3-5 Divisions ashore, and you should take Pearl.

[bwheatley]

Yea i figure i will have so many ships he can't pray to take them all out at once. I am not bringing the combined fleet to PH either. I just think eventually my ships will start to land and make it ashore. Of the now 10 divisions enroute to PH i hope a few can get on the ground and we'll have ourselves a party. I just hope it does not permantly damage the jap fleet. If it does i'll just have to keep out of the war with countries other then the us

[kfmiller41]

This should be entertaining. I am playing the US in another game and I have not even worried about an invasion of Hawaii[&:]. I have 17 Battleships there now along with numerous other ships. I will throw out a sub screen now after reading this thread[:D] because its obvious some Japanese players are more agressive than others. Only thing abouot this strategy in my opinion is that even if Japan wins in Pearl they may lose alot of there fleet, and once its gone there in big trouble. Also Hawaii is going to be impossible to keep supplied I would think.[:-]

[bwheatley]

Well i know most of the fleet starts on the west coast. And i launched my ships from turn one. Most of them are passing midway island 1 hex north. I'm hoping to get them to PH before his main fleet can get there. If i can land my forces before his fleet can stop me it doesnt matter. I can and will withdrawal my fleet before hand to wake or midway since i'll be taking them soon.

I have never played the japs so i have alot of AP's sitting on jap islands waiting to be used. I could be playing this all wrong i dont know yet.

[bwheatley]

Took Naga Today and am embarking a BDE to land at johnston island. I will have troops on palmyra in a few turns as well. These will be my fall back bases in case the PH mission fails. Hopefully some of my ships can seek some sort of safe rearming port here.

[kfmiller41]

I suppose it all depends on if the US palyer gets wind that your coming. If he does he might try and interdict you during the invasion, but if he is refitting his destroyers he will be there without any escorts, which would be rough. I doubt he would expect a Hawaii invasion and "fortune favores the bold", so they say[;)]

[bwheatley]

Today I moved 3 divisions into Clark Field ready to take it away from the americans

[bwheatley]

Well still only 1 division in Clark Field. the other divisions are still slowly pushing forward. I have 2 divisions 1 hex south of Manila that are about to shock attack towards manilla.

In Operation Wind Blade (i think it was wind blade :>) we have 4 BC & 4BB in place 5 hexes north of liuhana (sp) in 3-5 turns we'll all be formed up and i'll be ready to start the invasion. Thank fully PH is not a big enough port to supply a mine layer so there should not be more then 300 mines in PH at this time. I'm hoping i can catch him flat footed. I have 1 BDE going to Johnson & 2 BDE going to Palmyra so hopefully that can be the outer limits of my empire. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly for the invasion my tankers are in place they are going to refull the BB/BC's before they move into PH to bombard. I know i'll net a nice gain with supplies and fuel at PH but just in case i have upwards of 100k supply a few hexes behind ready to offload. And there are another 30k supplies that are setup on constant loop between tokyo & PH so we can keep PH as a resupply point for our fleet.

If this doesn't go as planned i'm going to be on the defensive for the rest of the game. I'll have to give up any thought of taking the SRA.

[bwheatley]

My first 3 divisions are formed up north of PH. In a few more days they will all be together and i will start my invasion.

Godspeed my brave soldiers.

[Bill Durrant]

What date are you at?

[JagdFlanker]

just got the game a week ago as an early christmas present. it's amazing-overload!

i'm very excited to see you pull this off - the coast defences will be tough, but i hope you can nail it! there's only one way to find out - woo hoo!