Lunacy Games

[Tom Hunter]

July is the first winning month for the Allies as Japanese losses finally exceed Allied losses across the board.

The Allies lost 338 planes to 445 Japanese, not a good ratio but an important start

Japanese army losses were 317 to 89 Allied. This is mostly the work of the Chinese who won a large number of defensive victories in July and also launched limited offensives that hurt some smaller Japanese formations.

In shipping the Allies also pulled ahead as the Japanese began to take losses in the battle for Port Moresby.

Obviously the margin is not enough to win the game for the Allies but it appears we are turning the corner.

Note the days air losses, things have gotten serious.

[Tom Hunter]

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[mogami]

Hi, Bear came and kidnapped me so I can't do turns. Big plans for party tomorrow so will be 2 Jan before I get home. Everyone have a nice safe New Years. Bear does not play WITP so I can't do turns even if I could get email. He is a Steel Panthers player.

[Tom Hunter]

Here is the intel screen for September. The allies caught the Japanese on everything but army loss points during August, the surrender of Port Moresby was the reason for that.

in the air the Allied loss went up 405 points to the Japanese 415. Not a big margin of victory but a win none the less.

Army losses were very much in Japans favor, 756 to 169. In September they will move back towards the Allies and the trend should accelerate from there.

On ships the Allies took a bight out of the Japanese, sinking two Jap ships for every Allied ship lost (24 Japs sunk, 12 Allied) and boosting the Allied ship number by 89 points and the Japanese ship sunk number by 115 points.

ADavidB is running a very interesting game, playing as Allies and following a strategy diametrically the opposite of mine. Where I seek battle and attrition he seeks to build up strength for a more powerful attack later.

One of us is really on to something. Either he is creating an unstoppable juggernaut that will smash the well prepared Japanese defense, or I am sucking the life out of Japan and it will crumble faster due to the losses it has taken thus far.

I have no idea which one of us is correct but I think it will be very interesting to find out so I am asking him to post his intel screen on this thread as well.

[ADavidB]

As per Tom's request, here is the Intel Screen for my game against Tophat as of September 1, 1942.

I am still working on the theory that the best way to win a scenario 15 campaign on points by the Allies is to minimize the Japanese score as much as possible. Thus I am attempting to only engage when I can score more points than Tophat. This means that I have to be very patient and allow my forces to build up so that I don't get crushed piecemeal by the Japanese strong points during the first year or so of the war.

Now that I'm back, we'll try to get back into a regular pattern of turns and see how well my strategy works.

Dave Baranyi

[Tom Hunter]

September was a very mixed month for the Allies.

In the CBI things are going very well, the British are on the march in Burma, their offensive is visible above the combat report, and the mixed hex has 2 badly beaten up Japanese divisions that are going to get stomped again soon, the Chinese have achieved stalemate and the Japanese no longer enjoy air superiority in China thanks to a big effort by the RAF, CAF and AVG. This shows in the army losses, the Japanese army losses are up 209 points for the month, the Allies only 68.

But the Americans got pounded in the air especially over Luganville where they lost over 200 aircarft in 2 seperate days of fighting. Japan shot down 717 Allied aircraft and lost 529 of her own. If not for the Luganville battles the score would be much closer to even.

It is true that KB lost 41 Zeros in the second battle over Luganville and the fighting over the Japanese fleet itself. They also took 2 bombs on Kaga and one on Shokaku. Those are nice but not decisive.

Shipping losses were light on both sides, 3 Japanese and 6 Allied and the score in that area barely changed.

I may put more strategic discussion in my AAR but all in all September was a pretty good month for Mogami at least in terms of losses inflicted Vs. losses taken.

[Tom Hunter]

Combat in the air and on land was very fierce in November. Allied Aircraft losses were 633, Japanese 676. After months of fighting Japanese pilot quality is starting to decline, at the end of October/start of November Hurricane IIs were shooting down large numbers of Zeros near Rangoon.

On land the British offensive in Burma and Thailand is starting to show in the statistics. Alllied army losses went up 77, Japanese losses up 211.

At sea things were quiet for the most part, 1 Allied ship was sunk for 7 points and 7 Japanese ships went down for 56 points.

The base points have also started moving in favor of the Allies partly because of recaptures and partly because I am improving every base on the map to score points. The tide may be moving in favor of the Allies but to win I am going to need every point I can get and so far Mogami is proving adept at hitting back and keeping the loss ratio close to 1 to 1.

[Tom Hunter]

After almost a year of war the Allies are starting to hit back very hard. Japanese losses are up in all catagories and the Allies have even started moving the number of bases controlled back in thier favor.


The Japanese lost 923 aircraft in the month of November, a hundreds over Burma and many more in the fierce battles in the Banda sea, The Allies lost 642. There were several reasons for this shift.

One is that Japanese pilot quality is starting to decline. However they are still pretty good, and fighting the Brits things are about equal, the 30 RAF pilots and handful of Dutch don't amount to much and both the Allies and the Japanese have brittle airgroups in Burma and a constant training program. If the Banda Sea battles affected Japanese pilot quality it will not show up in November, the pilots who fought that battle were all veteran.

Second the Allies have pulled all their second line aircraft from the front. Mohawks and Demon still fly but they are working as bombers now. The I-16s do not challenge Japans air supremacy in China. Instead the air battles are fought by Spitfires, Hurricanes Wildcats, P40s and very recently by P38s as well.

Finally the US Air forces (Army, Navy and Marines) are heavily engaged at last. The have good quality planes and plenty of them and this helps move the loss statistics in the Allies favor.

You can also see the opening of the Banda Sea front in the raw numbers of losses. In October 1300 planes were lost down on both sides, in November the number jumped to almost 1600 a 19% increase in the casualty rate.

Things got bloodier at sea as well. A big CV battle resulted in the sinking of the Junyo, and an AI run screw up allowed the USS Colorado to be sunk by Japanese bombers. More heavy shipping losses occurred in the first two days of December but you will have to go to the AAR for that.

On land the losses are also running in the Allies favor, but Japanese toughness on the defensive is showing, the British are stalled at Moulmein and pulled back in Thailand because of this. The Americans have not been pushing this number up because there are few or no Japanese in the bases that they have been taking.

I will post a strategic map in the AAR.

[Tom Hunter]

Is this the only Lunacy game still going? Comparing my results to me is not that interesting, but in the spirit of inviting comparisons and comments I will keep posting these here.

In December the Japanese lost 604 aircraft to the Alllies 463. This is a slightly lower loss rate than the Month of November but is still good for me. Mogami is trying to fight but also trying to rebuild his airforce which actually shrank in November. I remember some players saying: "you can not kill enough Japanese planes to reduce the size of their airforce, only pilots are important." Another nice theory goes into the dustbin.

The army losses have more or less equalized reflecting the quiet period in China and the successful Japanese defense in Indo China. In the Pacific the Allies have been taking bases that the Japanese have not occupied so there are no significant losses there either.

At sea the Japanese have been getting pounded largely because they have been forced to operate under the Allied air umbrella. Japanese losses on points are almost 4 to 1, a welcome chance from the early part of the war when they ran the other way.




What follows is Mogami's email to me:

"Japanese on map supply 1 Jan 1943 2,685,647 up from Dec slightly. I stopped combat in China to preserve supply but production of OscarII and Tony has begun so some of what I saved is being consumed there.

The Tony had it's combat debut over Wuhan this turn. (A CEA fighter group reinforcment arrived already equipped with Tony)

Fighter Production by type (if 100percent are turned on and have required HI
points)

Tony 225
A6M3a 202
OscarII 148
Tojo 94
A6M3 72
Nick(a) 44
Nick(b)25
Total fighter production per month at 100 percent 810"

[Mike Solli]

Please keep it up. I find it very facinating. Thanks.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

Is this the only Lunacy game still going? Comparing my results to me is not that interesting, but in the spirit of inviting comparisons and comments I will keep posting these here.

Belated reply to your question.... yes I believe it's the only of lunacy games still going. By mid-May 42 Mog said that "I proved my point" (not that I felt I had any point to prove - my task was to prevent him from proving HIS point [:D]) and asked me if I am "attached" to that game. I felt he wants to drop the game, and since I really thought it can only go downhill for IJN from then on (he didn't take whole lot of strategic objectives) I agreed to drop the game.

O.

[mogami]

Hi, You proved your a better WITP player then I am.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Just more ambitious or concetrated - you played my lunacy game as if sleepwalking [>:]