China - 4/30/1942
This screen cap came in just above the 1,000K limit at first, even though my computer insists it is 994K... Lots going on here. The end of China is in the works.
I'm keeping DL as high as possible on every remaining Chinese base with Recon units from Hankow, Kweiyang, and Lao Cai to the southwest off screen. There has been no significant change in forces for at least a month, aside from the disappearance of his air units at Chungking/Chengtu (could they have flown over the mountains?).
1 - Chengtu - At last count (I'm bombarding daily with arty), relative AVs were 1800 for me and 2300 for him. He's behind level 1 or 2 forts as I've been keeping the AF damaged when possible.
2 - Neikiang - Bullwinkle moved 5 units out of Chungking. I had been keeping the capital almost surrounded - partly to help keep its incoming/outgoing LOCs cut off, and partly to see if I could bait him to leave the level 6+ forts there for the open terrain. He did so with these 5 units. I pounded them from the air while they were west of Chungking and moved 2 IDs back to Neikiang to defend behind level 2 forts. It was more than enough. He got stuck, pinned down by my bombers and I used noncombat units already on the way up from Kweiyang to close the hex side behind him. I'll leave these 5 units here to rot - it was ~1500 AV and almost 80,000 troops, a substantial portion of his Chungking forces (about 1/6 of his Troops total and I would estimate maybe 1/5 of his AV total). It did succeed in cutting supply shipments to my fighters at Chengtu for several days, as well as the
extremely long supply line to Tsuyung (more on that in #5).
Now that I control the hex sides again, supply will flow from Kweiyang to Chengtu, right?
3 - IJA LCUs - Reinforcements, all heading for Chengtu. Includes 2 IDs to the southeast and a bunch of arty, tanks, and at least 2 more IDs in the northeast, coming through Kienko.
4 - Recovering IJA - 2 IDs that were hit hard in initial attacks on Chengtu and Kunming. The ID outside Kunming is almost finished its recuperation, while the one outside Chengtu has been hampered by a temporary cut in the supply lines.
5 - Tsuyung - I may have made a mistake here. I thought I would be clever and march 3 IDs and a bunch of arty (8-10 units) north from the east of Kunming. It took forever to cross the mountains and rivers, but they're in the base now. He has almost 900 AV defending the place, and he moved the unit out of Kunming into the hex in between as a response to my move here. However my goal was to cut any supply flowing in from the west. I've done that, but I'm having trouble keeping my units in supply. Another source of high ops losses is in my transport planes - I'm having to airdrop supply here, and it's costing me planes.
6 - Kunming - He has almost 2300 AV here and behind level 3 or 4 forts. I have almost 3000, with more coming in from the east. Once Chengtu falls, I plan to send the entire army from up there to Kunming. I need Kunming down, and then I'm moving on to Chungking with my entire army. I think.
7 - Kweiyang Airbase & CEA HQ - Recently built to level 9 as pretty much every engineer from Manchukuo came here. I'll need to send them back sometime, but I wanted a level 9 AF in order to avoid stacking penalties for my immense bombing campaign on Chungking. When I played against the AI, I was running from 3 separate airbases at one point (Changteh, Chihkiang, and Kweiyang). It was a logistical headache, with supply spoilage from "backtracking" LOCs from Hankow->Kweiyang->Chihkiang/Changteh. I think Kweiyang is the best place to base CEA, and it makes sense to centralize my operations here. It's out of reach of almost everything flying from India (15 hexes from Ledo, so only 4Es can reach and B-25Cs on extended range, yes? And Ledo is currently only AF 3). After I take Chengtu, I plan to build its AF to max in order to maximize my VP gain. Same with Chungking. The rest of the Chinese bases are only a multiplier of 10, so I probably won't build them up, and send the engineers back to Manchukuo and to the mountains to build up forts.
Supply is something of a concern here. I'm barely staying above 3x required at Kweiyang and other bases, and my LCUs at Chengtu and Kunming are kept barely above the required amount as well as keeping their organic supply full. Also of concern are my ops losses. I need Chengtu to fall so that I can lay off on my bombing campaign a bit. I'll have another post up from tracker showing my air losses and where they're concentrated.
8 - Defeated and/or trapped Chinese - A 28-stack NW of Sian is pretty much all ghost units. They were previously trapped in the hex to the SW, but I allowed the hex side to open up and they retreated across the river. I'm holding a brigade at Sian, which is more than enough to defend if they come south, but they look to be heading NW. I'll cut them off with the stack heading SW for Chengtu, once I figure out where they're going, and close the hex sides. He had been mounting attacks in an attempt to kill off these Chinese, I think. I got a lot of free VPs. The only other large Chinese stack is SW of Lanchow, where I'm slowing breaking it down with a brigade and an ID. He appears to be moving it NW, but I'll let him. I can afford to keep a couple of IDs up here to protect bases while he starves to death in the mountains.
9 - Chungking - He has 98 units and 460,000 troops here. 1256 guns. According to latest recon, anyway, DL 9/11. I had been only bombing the airfield, but after weeks of considering I've decided to firebomb the place. I'll knock the industry down, perhaps all the way. I can later rebuild the HI. It would be a lot of supply to do so, but it might gain me time and save me on supply costs reducing the place, as the Chinese will have only Chungking's free organic production to sustain themselves. A couple hundred per day? By the time I capture the base, the LI won't be worth rebuilding, I think.
