The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled

[Cuttlefish]

February 1, 1942 – February 10, 1942

I made an error when I started this game and left sub ops set to computer control. I would have suggested restarting the game when I noticed this following the first turn but my Pearl Harbor attack was so crappy (one battleship and one destroyer sunk) that I thought it would not be fair for me to make the suggestion. And at any rate it was an inconvenience, not a real problem. It just took a little time to bring the sub fleets back under human control.

The interesting thing about all this is that I missed a few subs in the first turn and they remained under computer control. After I noticed them I decided to leave them that way out of curiosity to see what they would do. The results have been interesting. The subs under computer control are killing machines. My subs have done well overall but the handful under computer control have scored a disproportionate amount of sinkings. I have read posts from players in games against the AI who have commented on the lethality of Japanese submarine warfare and I can certainly see where that might be the case.

Malaya: Preparing the Final Assault. The Temuloh pocket has been eliminated and the only Allied units remaining are in Singapore. Japanese units are massing now on the other side of the causeway and I anticipate a swift capture once they invade. Six brigades have been destroyed and several others (including the 27 Australian) have been smashed in the campaign. A swift conquest would be good, because it is time to move on to other fronts.

Burma: Come Into My Parlor. The British captured Moulmein and then shock attacked across the river against my units pulling back from Pegu. The result was heavy casualties for the British (1 to 20 odds). My troops don’t have enough supply to counter-attack effectively so I have adopted a different approach. My units are feigning distress and pulling back a little. What I want is for Charbroiled to pursue them. For the British to follow them back towards Pisanuloke would be more than rash but given how aggressive my opponent has been thus far I don’t consider it beyond the bounds of possibility.

The question for Burma now is really where do I aim my amphibious operations to cut off the enemy? Do I aim for Rangoon, Akyab or further up the coast?

Luzon: MacArthur Returns. Japanese forces captured Clark on 7 February. The Allied forces retreated into Bataan. I immediately set one division and the 65th Bde to hold Clark and prep for Bataan while setting a larger group (three divisions plus armor) to prep for Manila. My plan was to wipe out the smaller contingents at Manila and Batangas before returning to finish off Bataan. To that end I gave all units a well-earned breather by setting them to Rest while they racked up prep points for their new targets.

Lo and behold, a powerful Allied force has come up out of Bataan and into Clark. These units look fresh. Rest time is over and I will attack them next turn. It’s an interesting move. If the intent is to delay me I would think the Allied units would do that better by remaining intact in Bataan and digging in. My opponent may have hoped to catch me on the move with my forces already split, which would have been a cunning idea but he launched it a little early. We will see how it plays out.

DEI: Fuel, Lovely Fuel. The major conquests in the area during this period have been Makassar and Tarakan. The facilities at Tarakan were captured 100% intact, as at Balikpapan, which makes me very happy. Balikpapan now has an aviation HQ with bombers and fighters, so the “Nettie zone of death” now extends over most of the DEI. Mini-KB and a battleship force have been roaming around Timor and harassing Darwin.

Pacific: Suva is Hit. Kido Butai has been hanging around Fiji. There are PT boats there, around 11,000 troops, and a fair number of planes. KB’s fighter pilots very quickly eliminated the Allied aircraft that came out to play and its carrier planes visited the port at Suva, sinking or heavily damaging a number of ships, including several xAKs, an AS, an AD, and an AVD.

Meanwhile I have been building up Tulagi as a seaplane base (hm, that sounds familiar) to keep an eye on the large Allied presence on next-door Lunga. The overall plan, as several have suggested, is for the area is to bypass the large numbers of troops the Allies have committed forward and occupy bases further to the south. This will cut off Lunga and force Charbroiled to either let the units starve or come out and attack me in early ’42 to try and save them.

China: Roads of Death. Nanyang fell to the second attack. Japanese units there are now prepping for Sian while other units come up and secure the roads to Nanyang, which are clogged with Chinese. The results have been grisly. Chinese formations are being smashed left and right and I imagine the roads in the area must be scattered for miles with bodies, burned-out equipment, and abandoned gear.

In the south things are less intense. Japanese forces recaptured Shaohing and are now driving on Wuchow. The southern area, though, is currently very much a secondary theater.

[Cuttlefish]

February 11, 1942 – February 21, 1942

My opponent’s defense continues to consist of an aggressive offense. While it has cost him in casualties these tactics are slowing me down a bit. The question is whether he is inflicting short-term delays at the cost of giving me big gains further down the road. The opportunities are there, at any rate.

Malaya: Crossing the Causeway. Five Japanese divisions, several regiments, and a lot of engineers, artillery, and armor are now moving on Singapore. While this assault is a week or two behind my usual schedule I am expecting a quick victory here once my forces actually cross the causeway in a couple of days.

Luzon: Manila is Captured. The Allied thrust against Clark was turn back easily and the Allied units were sent packing back to Bataan. Japanese forces then captured Manila in a two-day battle, taking about 12,000 prisoners. There are now two pockets of Allied troops on Luzon, a small one at Batangas which is about to be eliminated and a large one at Bataan. The units on Bataan have all been forced to retreat at least once and should not be able to hold out very long.

Pacific: Townsville Raided. Kido Butai visited the coast of Australia and found quite a few ships in port at Townsend. At a cost of five fighters Japanese carrier planes downed twenty P-40s and then worked over the port, sinking CL Achilles and DDs Crosby and Voyager, and damaging quite a few xAPs and xAKs, some of which will probably sink. My carriers then headed back to Truk to refuel.

There are some A-24s at Lunga now and they sank a couple of transports bringing supplies into Tulagi. I need to get the airstrip there up to level one so I can bring in some fighters but that is still a week or so away.

DEI: Allied Carriers Appear. With Borneo and the Celebes in Japanese hands the next target is Ambon. To prepare for this I sent a naval guard unit to occupy Boela at the opposite end of the island. Mini-KB and surface units were slightly to the north to cover against Allied LBA. Lo and behold, American carriers appeared from behind Timor on 21 February and sank the small invasion convoy. This was a bit of a surprise, considering that the last time I saw his carriers was near Palmyra on 27 January.

The target was almost certainly my light carriers. The loss of a naval guard unit does not thrill me but Charbroiled probably can’t help but see it as a stroke of bad luck. Mini-KB has now fallen back under cover of the Nettie umbrella and my opponent can pursue it there if he likes. And he just might, though the expected move would be for him to get his carriers out of Dodge before my carriers can track them down. And that is just what they will try to do.

His carriers can go three ways; south around Australia, east through the Torres Strait, or out into the Indian Ocean and then towards India. The expected course would be down around Australia. Whether or not I can intercept might depend on whether my submarines can give me any useful contact information. It’s certainly worth trying, though. And since I know where his carriers are at the moment this is a good time to send SCTFs raiding deep into the Pacific.

China: Chinese Forces Fall Back on Sian. Chinese forces are finally consolidating around Sian and for the moment my drive from Nanyang towards Sian has stalled until fresh divisions come up. In the south Wenchow was captured and Japanese forces are probing westward (actually southward, you know what I mean). But with most of my forces in the north I do not have further conquests planned in this area for the near future.

The Kuriles: Northern Exposure. Because Charbroiled has been so aggressive I put together a scratch surface force with a heavy cruiser, a couple of short-legged light cruisers, and a handful of destroyers and sent them up to Sakhalin to guard the resource convoys there – you know, just in case. I’m also building up air bases throughout the region and already have reasonably good air coverage there. Finally, there are submarines patrolling likely approaches. If I had not taken these precautions I would no doubt have suffered from destructive Allied raids. The fact that I’ve actually set some defenses probably means that attacking in this area will never even cross Charbroiled’s mind.

[Kubel]

Cuttlefish
As usual your AAR's are a great read...I'm signed up.
Best of luck.

[Cuttlefish]

February 23, 1942 – February 28, 1942

Things are proceeding more slowly than I would like. But the campaigns on Malaya and Luzon are all but over and soon Japanese divisions will be en route to their next targets. Meanwhile Charbroiled’s aggressive use of his carriers and surface elements, which has been effective thus far (costing me Haruna, a valuable replenishment TF, and a naval guard unit), finally boomerangs on him.

Pacific: USN Finds Trouble at Tulagi. Last installment, as you recall, Allied carriers raided the DEI while Kido Butai was heading back to Truk. KB hastily refueled and rearmed there and then headed back south, hoping to catch the Allied carriers either coming back through the Torres Strait or circling south around Australia. What happened instead was that a powerful Allied surface force (three battleships, three heavy cruisers, and escorts) showed up to bombard Tulagi just as my carriers were approaching the Solomons.

The first strike hit BB Colorado with ten bombs and put torpedoes into Mississippi and New Mexico. His ships split into two groups, one with what looked like Mississippi, New Mexico, and two destroyers and one with all remaining ships. I ordered my carriers south and they found the larger group the next day, sinking Colorado and CA New Orleans and heavily damaging CAs San Francisco and Minneapolis as well as CL Detroit. The smaller group with the two damaged battleships was undetected on day two and may have headed for Australia rather than Suva.

To add interest to the situation I had earlier ordered Admiral Tanaka to take a circuitous route from Truk and raid Suva. His battleships and heavy cruisers are even now approaching the base from the north, leaving the Allied forces between a rock and a hard place.

Meanwhile a Japanese submarine took a shot at DD Bagley in the Torres Strait. It missed and no other ships were spotted but this could be the Allied carrier force heading back east. That could make things interesting indeed.

Malaya: Missed It By That Much. My initial shock attack at Singapore came within a whisker of taking the base outright. I am hoping that the second attack, ordered for 1 March, will do the job. Surface forces, transports, and minesweepers are massing near Singapore in anticipation of its fall.

Luzon: Battling Bastards of Bataan. Batangas and its 9000 defenders fell easily and Japanese troops are now driving towards Bataan. All the defending units there have had the stuffing beat out of them and I don’t think it can hold long, if at all.

DEI: Kendari Captured. Kendari was the only major base taken during this period, though a number of minor bases were invaded.

Elsewhere: Stuff Moves Around. There haven’t been any major developments in other theaters. Japanese forces are either marching or sailing into position or are awaiting the fall of Singapore and Bataan. This will free up ten divisions and really get things moving again. One division, the 19th, has been purchased from Manchukuo and is now about halfway to Truk.

Below is the end of month screen for February 1942.

[Cuttlefish]

Here is a map of the current situation around the Santa Cruz islands:

[Cribtop]

Oh, my. Well done, indeed. Those Allied troops in the Solomons are well and truly isolated now.

[aprezto]

As early war allies, you sometimes want to pull the tail of the Japanese Tiger. The reasoning being that you'll illicit a response from the Japanese that wasn't in their plans, or catch them unawares. However, sometimes you are more successful at this than you really wanted to be.
His approach to the Solomons appears to be an instance of this.
 
I wont comment on the Moumein gambit. That seems two bridges too far.

[Cuttlefish]

March 1, 1942

WITP – Admiral’s Edition is a very large and complex game. There are a lot of aspects to it and different people probably enjoy different facets of the game more than others. Some people delight in the crafting of grand strategy, others in the minutiae of logistics, others in handling ships, or air units, or what have you.

Me, I like sinking enemy ships. I live for the turns when my bombers or surface fleets are engaging the enemy and I watch tensely for the success or failure of the engagement. Give me a good cruiser duel or the chance for my carriers to surprise an enemy task force and I’m delighted.

Even so there are times when my forces succeed beyond my expectations. At such times I can’t help feeling sorry for the other guy. I get almost embarrassed and it’s kind of like “okay, we’ve won the day, let’s ease up and go home now.” This last turn was like that.

Pacific: The Suva Massacre and Other Carnage. Kido Butai’s pursuit of the Allied surface fleet suddenly took a back seat to Admiral Tanaka’s raid on Suva. Tanaka’s force, consisting of battleships Mutsu and Yamashiro, four heavy cruisers, and numerous light cruisers and destroyers, arrived at Suva by night. They first met six PT boats. These launched their torpedoes, all of which missed, and then fled into the night. Tanaka’s ships then arrived outside the harbor entrance. The harbor at Suva is a sack with a narrow mouth guarded by reefs and any force caught inside would be pretty much doomed. Which is exactly what happened to the fifteen tankers and oilers my ships found there, along with their three escorting destroyers. Only the largest tankers still had fuel aboard so the force must have almost finished unloading.

Next up was a force of four destroyers, all of which were sunk, and then two more destroyers, one of which was sunk and one of which escaped. The final toll: ten tankers, five oilers, and eight destroyers (Shaw, Reid, Flusser, Bagley, Blue, Jarvis, Craven, and Hatfield).

For the record, the Allied destroyers did not go gently into that good night. They peppered Mutsu with enough shell hits to cause fires aboard and did moderate damage to several IJN destroyers. Mutsu will need yard time.

When the sun came up Kido Butai located and sank CA San Francisco. Further pursuit of damaged Allied ships was derailed when search planes located a task force, including warships CA Australia and CL Perth, unloading at Efate. Australia was left with heavy fires and heavy damage (in other words, it’s doomed), as was DD Smith. Two AMs and an xAK were sunk and a number of combat troops were reported killed.

My original idea was to make Charbroiled too wary of my carriers and surface forces to bring in the ships needed to heavily reinforce this area. That tactic obviously did not succeed. Looking at the carnage my forces have wreaked over the last several turns, however, perhaps it should have. At a minimum the Allies have lost a battleship, four heavy cruisers, nine destroyers, fifteen tankers and oilers, and a few lesser ships. The Allies have deep pockets, I know, but this early in ’42 such losses have to hurt a lot. The total cost to Japan has been fifteen Kates and Vals lost to flak.

Tanaka's force is out of torpedoes and Mutsu and other ships are damaged. Kido Butai is now very low on torpedoes. I'm calling off the hunt and have ordered my ships back to Truk. There are still ships out there to find, including two damaged battleships and several damaged cruisers, but I do not want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at this point by getting greedy and overstaying my welcome.

[Cribtop]

Banzai! Tanaka's Suva raid is somewhat reminiscent of a battle from Small Ship, Big War if my memory is accurate.

[Wirraway_Ace]

Cuttlefish, a very interesting situation.
 
Assumption:  Imperial Cuttlefish HQs agrees the Japanese strategic objective in the Pacific is to establish and maintain a defensive perimeter of adequate depth to protect the industrial centers of the Home Islands from strategic bombing and naval interdiction.
 
To do this, the IJN must neutralize the USN through a series of favorable combat outcomes over the course of many years of war.
 
The challenge for the Japanese is how to conduct operations to establish the conditions where the USN must fight from a disadvantageous position.   The number of physical objectives for which the USN must fight, at least on a timeline that favors Japan being able to employ favorable force ratios, are very limited (in fact, they may not exist at all).  Probably only NZ and Hawaii approach the threshold of must-haves for the US prior to their fleet becoming so powerful that the conditions for a favorable Japanese force ratio become very unlikely.
 
[font=calibri]In this case, however, the US Joint Chiefs appear to have solved this conundrum for the Imperial Cuttlefish HQs.  By attempting a very aggressive forward defense with the scarce naval and ground forces available, they have created the tactical and operational situation whereby you can achieve a series of victories that support your strategic objective.  By risking scarce US, and possibly Australian and NZ , ground forces in the Solomons, New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Islands and Fiji without adequate air bases (or air forces for that matter), they have forced upon the USN the mission to maintain SLOCs with these outposts.  With the recent battles, some of the best available USN surface combat ships have already been lost (a Colorado class BB [the most formidable of the old BBs], and 2 New Orleans class CAs  [the most balanced of all the Allied CAs until the Baltimores]).  The enemy is in a situation where he will either have to continue to feed his naval forces into SOPAC risking defeat in detail, make a major naval effort to with draw his ground forces, or abandon them to capture (having evacuated cadres by PBY).  [/font]
 
[font=calibri]Assuming he plans on continuing the fight, his options for fleet support activities are very exposed.  He probably has a lot of fuel at Suva which he will try and use.  [/font]
 
A couple of thoughts on Cuttlefish Critical Information Requirements (CCIR):
 
1.  Has the enemy stripped Fiji of forces to establish the beachhead at Lunga?
2.  What are the strength and disposition of his ground and air forces in the New Caledonia and Santa Cruz Islands?
3.  Is the enemy building up the ports of NZ in parallel with Fiji to support fleet ops in SOPAC?
4.  Will he commit his carriers to support forces in the Solomons?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

Cuttlefish, a very interesting situation.

Assumption:  Imperial Cuttlefish HQs agrees the Japanese strategic objective in the Pacific is to establish and maintain a defensive perimeter of adequate depth to protect the industrial centers of the Home Islands from strategic bombing and naval interdiction.

To do this, the IJN must neutralize the USN through a series of favorable combat outcomes over the course of many years of war.

The challenge for the Japanese is how to conduct operations to establish the conditions where the USN must fight from a disadvantageous position.   The number of physical objectives for which the USN must fight, at least on a timeline that favors Japan being able to employ favorable force ratios, are very limited (in fact, they may not exist at all).  Probably only NZ and Hawaii approach the threshold of must-haves for the US prior to their fleet becoming so powerful that the conditions for a favorable Japanese force ratio become very unlikely.

[font=calibri]In this case, however, the US Joint Chiefs appear to have solved this conundrum for the Imperial Cuttlefish HQs.  By attempting a very aggressive forward defense with the scarce naval and ground forces available, they have created the tactical and operational situation whereby you can achieve a series of victories that support your strategic objective.  By risking scarce US, and possibly Australian and NZ , ground forces in the Solomons, New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Islands and Fiji without adequate air bases (or air forces for that matter), they have forced upon the USN the mission to maintain SLOCs with these outposts.  With the recent battles, some of the best available USN surface combat ships have already been lost (a Colorado class BB [the most formidable of the old BBs], and 2 New Orleans class CAs  [the most balanced of all the Allied CAs until the Baltimores]).  The enemy is in a situation where he will either have to continue to feed his naval forces into SOPAC risking defeat in detail, make a major naval effort to with draw his ground forces, or abandon them to capture (having evacuated cadres by PBY).  [/font]

[font=calibri]Assuming he plans on continuing the fight, his options for fleet support activities are very exposed.  He probably has a lot of fuel at Suva which he will try and use.  [/font]

A couple of thoughts on Cuttlefish Critical Information Requirements (CCIR):

1.  Has the enemy stripped Fiji of forces to establish the beachhead at Lunga?
2.  What are the strength and disposition of his ground and air forces in the New Caledonia and Santa Cruz Islands?
3.  Is the enemy building up the ports of NZ in parallel with Fiji to support fleet ops in SOPAC?
4.  Will he commit his carriers to support forces in the Solomons?

I agree with your analysis. He has already committed enough forces forward that he almost has to fight for them. The situation in the South Pacific is filled with possibilities for Imperial Cuttlefish HQ. It's up to me to take advantage of them.

To answer the CCIR points:

1. Not completely. There are currently about 11,000 troops at Suva, though how many of these are combat troops is unknown.
2. So far the only detected troops are at Efate, about 9000 of them. I have to get some recon on Luganville, Noumea, and other important bases in the area. I'm committing a number of Glen-equipped subs to get a better picture. Knowledge is power!
3. Unknown. It's a good question, though, and I would do well to learn the answer.
4. There's no real way to know this yet, but I have to go on the assumption that the answer is yes. He has already used his carriers in the area once and would probably do so again.

[Nemo121]

*chuckle* Spot the professional. Almost a 5 para order there

With that said I couldn't agree more with Wirraway Ace.... If I were to assess the situation I would say that it looks like Charbroiled has chosen to fight forward but has neglected to come up with a cohesive strategic layer to shape that fight.

There's a lot more to conducting a forward fight than just shoving units as far forward as you can - which appears to be what is happening here. Units are pushed forward without thought being given to guarding the bases along the SLOCs to prevent them being cut off/used as bait.

I think there is every opportunity for the IJN to destroy significant quantities of the US Pacific fleet and US Army through:
a) bypass operations leaving US forces to whither on the vine as you go for 2nd and 3rd echelon targets in the enemy's strategic depth. I would suggest that instead of leaping from Rabaul to Guadalcanal that you leave the enemy to whither at Guadalcanal and look at leapfrogging to Noumea etc.

b) attacks on the few fleet support bases the Americans do appear to be setting up ( Suva and New Zealand appear to be the primary ones he could be establishing ).

c) attacks on the Allied fleet as it steams in to escort supplies etc to beleaguered outposts. In reality they should be air-evacced but I don't think Charbroiled will see it that way.


Basically though it looks like Charbroiled is actively feeding his own arm into the wood chipper. Your goal right now should be to convince him to stick his second arm in in an attempt to save the first. I think he is ready to make that committment, you just need to make it attractive to him.


I'll leave the CIRs to Wirraway Ace as I think they cover what needs covering very well. I'll just add one slightly different thing to the discussion - some would argue it is another CIR but I'd argue it isn't critical, just a strategic indicator of some value. Anyways....
1. Use your subs at his primary bases to spot the flow of tankers and AOs - If you don't have subs at his fleet bases then you need to get them there now. I routinely accept losses and damage to subs in return for vital information as to the timing of comings and goings and the composition of the enemy TFs with the end result that when I DO send in surface raiders or CVs I have a very good idea of what will be there without having given my intentions away with aerial recon.

2. I think you need to find out where he is shipping fuel to ( apart from Suva ) and bank on him using those bases as fleet bases.

3. Then cross-reference that with base size. If he is building the bases up then he is looking to reload CAs and BBs there. If he isn't then either:
a) he is using another base for his BBs or CAs or
b) he is neglecting his logistics preparation in favour of the sexy forward fight ( I believe this is the more likely option and would be a hugely important strategic indicator for how you should proceed for the next 6 months ).


Bottom line though, 1 hand in the wood chipper, he is predisposed to sticking the 2nd hand in but it is up to you to seduce him into doing so.


In most cases you should follow the money, in this case you should follow the flow of US fuel and TKs/AOs + the building up of forts and seek to leap in between his forward ground garrisons and the fleet bases he is building up. This will necessitate either abandoning those garrisons or sending ships in harm's way. Either works for you...
1. If he abandons the garrisons you just leapfrog forward again using KB to destroy the fleet bases on the way.
2. If he sends ships to support the garrisons you will just sink them cheaply.

P.s. Sorry the incoherence but it is 3am and I can't get back to sleep so this is a bit less coherent than normal.

[Cuttlefish]

Thanks for the comments, Nemo. Your advice about following the fuel is particularily well-taken. I am currently working to map out his shipping lanes and discover what bases are being developed. Your wood-chipper analogy is colorful enough to make me shudder but does describe the situation well. As my next entry shows, I may not have to work very hard to convince him to put in his other arm...

[Cuttlefish]

March 2, 1942 – March 8, 1942

Singapore is in Japanese hands and Bataan should follow within a few days. The end of the campaigns in Malaya and Luzon always signals to me the start of new phase of the campaign, and really the one that I think is most critical to Japan. That is, what are the next targets and in what order do I pursue them?

Malaya: Campaign Over, What Next?. Singapore fell on 3 March. The facilities there were captured intact, which continues a run of good luck I’ve had with that so far. The five divisions there are resting and prepping for their next assignments, the foremost of which is the capture of Palembang. The more I play AE the more convinced I am that Palembang is the key to the entire game. Japan has to have that fuel and oil and has to keep it flowing as long as possible.

One division will be sent by rail up to Burma, where it will join the 33rd. I don’t want to move too much there overland, just enough to put a bit of pressure on. I want him to stay deployed forward there so I can land behind him. I don’t have designs on India per se, but I do see an opportunity to destroy a lot of British forces and perhaps spare myself some of the pain I have experienced in my other two AE games in trying to defend the region.

Another division is being sent to Davao. I usually mop up the rest of the Philippines with the forces used to capture Luzon, but Charbroiled is forcing my hand here. After taking Davao and Dadjangas earlier I have left Mindanao alone. My opponent, not one to ever just sit and wait to be destroyed, has abandoned Cagayan and the rest of the island and is concentrating against Davao, currently held only by a base force and naval guard unit. I’m landing behind him and with the timely arrival of the new division should trap and destroy his forces there.

Luzon: Nearing the End. While I think that Charbroiled’s tactics delayed the fall of Singapore by a week or two I think they have hastened the end of the Luzon campaign. Allied forces on Bataan have already stood off two Japanese attacks and may withstand one or two more but the end there is in sight. Most of the Japanese forces thus released will be used in the upcoming campaigns against Java, Timor, and Port Hedland.

Pacific: Into the Wood Chipper. Kido Butai and Tanaka’s battleships have returned to Truk and several damaged Japanese warships have been sent back to Japan for repairs. Meanwhile a force of five Japanese heavy cruisers was sent down to the New Hebrides. I thought that Charbroiled, knowing the forces that recently attacked him would have to rearm before they could strike again, might try to continue his build-up in the area. I was right.

On 8 March my cruisers encountered ships unloading at Luganville. The largest force was attacked first and consisted of six medium-sized xAPs protected by heavy cruisers Northampton and Chester, light cruiser Trenton, and three destroyers. In a couple of rounds of fighting both Northampton and Chester were sunk, as were two of the xAPs. The rest of the Allied force was damaged and scattered.

CA Mikuma and DD Hagikaze were damaged in the fighting and sent limping north, The rest of the Japanese force then encountered two xAKs with two escorts. Both freighters and one of the escorts, DMS Dorsey, were sunk. Next up were two xAPs and AM Bunbury, all sunk. As Luganville was actually a way point for the final destination of Efate the Japanese cruisers continued on and in the daylight phase encountered two DDs escorting one of the surviving xAPs from the first combat of the previous night. The xAP and DD Anderson were sunk.

All the combats showed Allied troop casualties, mostly engineers and guns. The Japanese cruisers are heading back to Truk. CA Mikuma is only moderately damaged but DD Hagikaze might be in danger of sinking on the way home if the fires aboard are not quickly extinguished.

I am changing my submarine dispositions to try and learn more about Allied forces in the Pacific. So far only Suva has been identified as a major forward base, though I think Auckland is a possibility. He has forces on Shortlands, Lunga, Luganville, and Efate that I know of. Japanese forces are currently moving to secure Lae and Milne Bay but I’m holding back my divisions until I have enough information to decide where an attack will sting my opponent the most and provoke a reaction to try and save his forward garrisons (convince him to thrust his other arm in the wood chipper, as Nemo puts it).

China: The Road to Sian. Chinese forces on the Nanyang-Sian road have held their ground. To dislodge them other Japanese divisions are moving to cut the road above them. There are a lot of Chinese units at Sian now but many of these are broken formations. I’d like to get to Sian before they have a chance to regain much strength.

[Nemo121]

The more I play AE the more convinced I am that Palembang is the key to the entire game. Japan has to have that fuel and oil and has to keep it flowing as long as possible.

True, very true. Without it Japan can maintain its pre-war economy if the rest of the DEI is taken intact. With Palembang Japan can maintain a wartime economy.

I think the next two months will be interesting, and decisive here. If you find those bases and he commits he could find himself without a fleet in being and having to delay his counter-offensive significantly in 1943.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Thanks for the comments, Nemo. Your advice about following the fuel is particularily well-taken. I am currently working to map out his shipping lanes and discover what bases are being developed. Your wood-chipper analogy is colorful enough to make me shudder but does describe the situation well. As my next entry shows, I may not have to work very hard to convince him to put in his other arm...

Cuttlefish,

another data point that might help focus your recon effort: BB Colorado could only rearm her 16 in main guns in a level 7 port or by one of his few very large AEs. Look for the AEs, the fuel, and of course those level 7 ports.

[Cuttlefish]

March 9 – March 14, 1942

One of themes of this game, for me, is the quest to become a better player. My whipping at the hands of Q-Ball exposed the fact that I had a lot to learn. My second game, against Erstad, is now nearing the end of ’43. This game shows improvements in my play but also reveals that I am far from being the player I want to be.

I think the number one thing these games show me is that I am a pretty good player at a tactical level but not so good at a strategic level. I handle my air assets and surface fleets well, for example. But AE is a game that shows us that Japan can win a lot of battles but still lose the war, especially if the victories are not in service of a good overall plan. In both games I have surrendered the initiative too early and left flaws in my defenses that my opponents have been able to exploit to good advantage.

This game is still young and it’s difficult for me to tell if I’ve made any real improvements, especially because the situation I’m facing is much different than what I faced against either of my previous opponents. As the game goes on I will get a better idea of how I’m doing.

DEI: The Target is Palembang. The invasion of Palembang began on 14 March. The base does not appear to have been reinforced and I am confident the Japanese 5th Infantry Division will take it on the next turn. Other Japanese convoys are currently en route from Singapore to the western end of Java (that’s where Krakatoa is, you know – west of Java). The main goals here are to establish a strong presence at Merak, threatening Batavia, and to give me a fighter base with which to cover the Sunda Strait. Subsequent landings will take place at other points on the island to split the defenders.

The landings are being covered by mini-KB but I am a little concerned about the possibility of unpleasant intervention by the US carriers. I haven’t seen them in about two weeks and certainly Charbroiled has not been shy about using them so far. I’m unwilling to pull Kido Butai out of the Pacific right now so I have done what I can by sending several pairs of second-line destroyers out into the Indian Ocean to act as pickets.

Philippines: Rising Sun Over Bataan. Bataan fell on 9 March, bringing an end to the campaign on Luzon. Japanese units are currently hiking out of the peninsula back to Manila while minesweepers clear mines at Bataan and Manila Bay. Transports are standing off while the mines are cleared, waiting to take my divisions to new battlefields in the DEI and the Pacific.

At Mindanao my forces are swiftly overrunning the island. A division is disembarking now at Davao, which the Allies were trying to overrun, and the campaign here should not take too long. I’m tempted to leave the rest of the archipelago (Iloilo, Cebu, etc) to rot while I fry larger fish. For one thing, a lot of those bases have garrison requirements now and I have places to go and enemies to destroy.

Pacific: Operations in Eastern New Guinea. Japanese forces have taken Lae and invasion convoys are en route to Milne Bay and the Torres Straits bases – Horn Island, Terapo, and Merauke. These bases, especially Horn Island, are rather difficult to hold against a determined Allied counter-attack but my previous games have led me to believe that it’s a mistake for Japan to allow the Allies to use these bases too early. Port Moresby is lightly held and the invasion here will commence soon.

Meanwhile I’m getting more information back from my Glens and long-range search planes. Noumea is occupied but very lightly; the Allies are concentrating on the New Hebrides instead. There is no Allied activity in the Central Pacific that I can see (Baker, Canton, etc). Several small convoys have been spotted around Dutch Harbor.

One of my SCTFs returning to Truk strayed to close to Lunga and dive bombers there put two bombs into CL Kashii, sinking her.

Burma: Netties on the Prowl. There haven’t been any advances by either side in this theater. Charbroiled is still moving units forward, however. A large Allied convoy unloaded at Rangoon. The ships made it in but ran afoul of Netties from Bangkok on the way out. Over two days AMC Cornwallis, PG Indus, two xAKLS, three xAKs, and three xAPs were sunk. Two of the latter were Empress of Scotland and Empress of Australia. They were beautiful ships (I love the ship art in this game) and it almost seemed a shame to sink them. But, as General Sherman observed, war is cruelty, so sink them I did.

[Cuttlefish]

March 15, 1942 – March 25, 1942

With the end of the campaigns on Luzon and Malaya Japanese forces move on to fresh campaigns. It feels to me as though I'm spending a lot of time waiting for my forces to reach their destinations but really things have moved along fairly briskly.

DEI: Oils Well That Ends Well. Once Singapore fell I wasted no time invading Palembang. It fell to the 55th Division after a two-day battle. To my delight the oil and refinery centers there were both captured 99.1% intact. My luck in that regard has been very good this game. I already had almost every tanker in Japan heading towards Singapore in anticipation and in Palembang, Miri, and Balikpapan alone they have 400k of fuel and 600k of oil waiting to be picked up.

Meanwhile other Japanese forces seized Merak. There are now two divisions ashore there and they will soon move on Batavia. Dutch aircraft have made quite a few attacks but it is the usual story for them – they suffer heavy losses and couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Two more Japanese divisions are en route to Semarang from Manila. Japanese paratroops are going to land in both Sumatra and Java to try and cut off retreat or reinforcement and help bring both campaigns to a swift conclusion. There is still a lot to do in the area, including capturing Ambon, Timor, and Port Hedland.

Pacific: Port Moresby is Captured. Two Japanese divisions, the 54th and the 19th, landed at Port Moresby and evicted the two defending Australian brigades with little difficulty. Coast guns and B-17 raids cost me two xAKs and two xAPs. Japanese forces have taken other bases throughout the region, including Milne Bay and Terapo. The only check here has come at Horn Island, which was garrisoned just heavily enough to thwart the naval guard unit sent to capture the place. Worse, a force of Allied DDs, probably sneaking over from Darwin, hit my landing convoy after it had unloaded and sank a PB and four small xAKs.

There hasn’t been any sign of major convoys or base building on the part of the Allies in the South Pacific recently. As soon as more fuel reaches Truk – it’s on the way now – Japanese forces will strike into this area. Right now Suva seems to be the only base that can support his garrisons in the New Hebrides and the Solomons and I am thinking that this would make a good next target. There only seem to be about 9000 defenders there.

China: Sian, Slowly. Japanese forces are still driving on Sian. They are now two hexes below the city and trying to pound the defenders out of the way. The Chinese troops in front of them are numerous but weakening. My major worry is that this delay is giving his units at Sian a chance to rest and prepare.

Burma: Imperial Guards Arrive. Japanese troops, bolstered by the Imperial Guards division, are ready to resume the drive on Rangoon. Netties out of Bangkok sank a convoy of four xAKs trying to reach Rangoon. No troop casualties were reported so I think the Allies were trying to move in supplies. I lost nine Oscars to only two Hurricanes in the attack but no Netties went down. As this game features a matchup between two residents of Oregon it is kind of ironic that one of the freighters sunk was Oregonian.

[madflava13]

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[Cuttlefish]

March 26, 1942 – April 9, 1942

Until near the end this was a mostly quiet period in the air and at sea. The main action has been on the ground in various theaters. But even as the campaigns in Java, Burma, China, and Mindanao move forward Japan eyes fresh conquests, determined to secure a strong defensive position for its new empire and to further lure out and destroy the Allied fleets.

DEI: Sometimes They Come Back. Most of the action here has been at Java, where Japanese forces have secured Semarang and Djokjakarta, thus cutting the island in half. Other Japanese forces are besieging Batavia, which as always is going to take some time to wear down.

Southern Sumatra has been cleared with the help of paradrops at Djambi and a couple of dot hexes. The Japanese division involved is now at Oosthaven, where it is loading for the invasion of Koepang. Oil and fuel are flowing freely out of Palembang.

Two Dutch submarines were bombed and sunk while in port at Soerabja. This little act of vengeance made me happy because another Dutch sub had earlier put two torpedoes into Ryujo in the Java Sea, hurting the carrier badly enough to need about six weeks of repairs at Singapore.

The most intriguing event in the region came on 8 April. On that date Japanese forces received interesting information from the Indian Ocean. Two destroyers on patrol near Christmas Island reported being shadowed by Dauntless dive bombers. A short while later I-157, on patrol about six hexes off the southern coast of Java, reported contact with a number of American destroyers and heavy cruisers. The conclusion, that one or more US carriers were approaching Java from the south, caused Japanese convoys unloading at Semarang to cancel operations and scatter to the northwest. Other Japanese convoys transiting the Java Sea, including invasion convoys bound for Timor, veered off to hug the coast of Borneo.

There were no sightings of any Allied force in the Indian Ocean on 9 April. But on that date Japanese carriers put in their own appearance in the region.

I had earlier determined, based on sub sightings and the Allied attack against the Horn Island invasion force, that Allied warships were operating out of Darwin. I was also growing nervous about the possibility of Allied carriers or SCTFs interfering with the upcoming Timor operation. Accordingly I sent Kido Butai past Port Moresby and through the Torres Strait. They somehow transited the strait without being seen and arrived four hexes off Darwin on 9 April, where they rendezvoused with a powerful SCTF coming down from Singapore.

At Darwin they found a task force consisting of at least four destroyers and four light cruisers. These ships proved to be challenging targets for my carrier planes but by the end of the day CL Mauritius and DD Witte de With had been sunk and CL Danae had likely been fatally wounded. Scouting reports indicate no fewer than 44 ships in port at Darwin. Kido Butai will remain in the area to guard the Timor invasion and wreak as much havoc as possible. And besides, US carriers are in the area. There’s always the chance Charbroiled will try something rash.

Pacific: Operation Wood Chipper. It’s a little too early to say that the invasion of Suva is underway. Preparations for the invasion, however, are well underway; troops and ships are en route to Truk and Rabaul from the Philippines and the Home Islands and other measures, such as building up fuel reserves at both bases, are also underway. The operation will feature at least three divisions, Kido Butai, and the bulk of the Combined Fleet.

If successful Wood Chipper will destroy the main Allied forward base in the South Pacific and isolate large Allied forces in the New Hebrides and Solomons. My hope is that this will be sufficient provocation to draw Charbroiled into trying to stop me.

Burma: At Last Moulmein. Japanese forces have recaptured Moulmein. The defending unit, the British 18th Division, escaped before it could be wrecked by being forced to retreat. This was a disappointment. The drive on Rangoon now begins in earnest. Japanese submarines have sunk two freighters near Rangoon in recent days, indicating that the Allies are trying to supply their forces and avoid the Nettie umbrella by running in single xAKs and xAKLs. This means, to me, that he intends to stand and fight.

I really, really want to land behind him but any operation of that sort will have to wait until Java is conquered. I just don’t have the forces to invade India right now, even in a limited way. I have fourteen divisions available at the moment. Four are earmarked for Suva, three to attack and one in reserve; four are on Java; one is headed to Timor; one is on Mindanao (and will soon be available), two are in Burma, and two are being held at Singapore. So within a week or so I could muster three divisions for a landing around Akyab or Chittagong; I’m not sure that would be enough and it would leave me without a strategic reserve. But if I can overrun Java quickly enough it might be possible.

China: Contest of Strength. There’s really not much to report here. Seven Japanese divisions are facing off against fourteen Chinese corps below Sian and trying to wear them down. In the south Japanese forces have pushed the Chinese back as far as Kanhsien but I don’t have the forces down there to push further.