Banzais Don't Make Victories - Anachro (A) vs John 3rd (J) BTS 5.7

[ny59giants]

American BCs - Those two guys need experience before going toe-to-toe with the Japanese big boys. I've lost them early in the war before as I thought they were tougher than they were.

Plans for their use is to keep them afloat, gain experience, and team up with the 2 French BCs that come in May '42. In late '42, I have 8 of the Fletchers added.

Allied Fast Transport TFs - I convert the Clemson DDs to APDs and the Wilkes to DEs in May. You have enough AMCs to mix with those APDs to form one or two of these TFs. They can come in handy.

[Anachro]

@ny59giants What better experience than a trial by fire? [:)] The night exp in particular needs to be raised. The fast transports sound like a good idea.



Dec 21. 1941

Not much to report today. KB 1, 2, and 3 have all disappeared. KB1 could be anywhere after leaving Midway, KB2 is heading to Rabaul, KB3 is somewhere north of Darwin / east of Surabaja. Little action today, though some fighters manage strafing runs against Japanese transports around the Philippines. Mainly spent time moving cargo ships / transports around as I deal with putting things back where they were before worries about John's raiding caused me to shift them elsewhere. With easy pickings gone, I'd image the next few turns for me will be more getting my logistics set up then combat. There might still be a few potential exciting turns in the DEI with Force Z and a mixed force of Dutch CLs and USN DDs remaining around there looking for opportunities.



In Singapore, elements of buildable divisions will be flown out to rebuild in India.

I should note that I think CL Yura from yesterday's action went down, as an Alf is listed as "destroyed on the ground."

[Anachro]

Dec 22. 1941

A bad day as part of KB, let's call it KB 1.5, makes its appearance far in the north, east of the Aleutians. I had thought it had moved elsewhere, but he did a deep raid and manages to catch my small CL/DD force out in the open as it was heading back to recuperate in Seattle. So I lose a CL and 4 DDs for the day. Frustrating and unexpected. We'll see what he does with it next. It's not too far from Seattle and could potentially strike there, but I doubt it.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Alliford Bay at 193,51

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33
B5N2 Kate x 15
D3A1 Val x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
DD Smith, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
CL Concord, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Harwood, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

In the SoPac, my surface forces will stay away for a bit to repair and recover. USN carriers are south of Noumea and will meet up with the British CV soon enough to have a credible CV force. Given the movements of his smaller KB units, I would imagine he is currently concentrating his other carriers to protect further invasions in the SoPac area. In China, Hong Kong falls. The only good news for the day is it seems that the CVE Hosho, or some other CVE, did indeed burn up from the fires from yesterday's surface action.

[Bif1961]

The Hosho has 20 AC, unless it was bulked up for this mod. So if it holds true to 20 for Hosho then it might be CVE that went down.

[Anachro]

I took a look at the starting IJN mod and don't believe it's the Hosho that sank. According to the tracker, the Taiyo class has a plane capacity of 27, so that must be it. However, looking at the IJN starting OOB, the Taiyo starts with Claudes and Susies. He must've switched out the Susies for Kates.

[ny59giants]

IJN starts with more flattops and more land bases air groups. So, John and I agreed to reduce the quality of the planes and pilots at start. A few of the large and fast merchants can convert to CVEs.

[Anachro]

Dec 23-25 1941

A series of bad days for the Allies as John's raiders and submarines wreak havoc far and wide. First, John apparently has CLs and DDs operating far north of the Aleutians and runs into transports (empty thankfully) that had been fleeing from the KB. Next, Japanese submarines seem to hit any and every Allied CL or CA along the coasts of Australia regardless of how many escorts they have or other ASW activity in the area (CAs Canberra and Houston, CL Boise - all take torpedoes). Finally, BC Repulse is hit by multiple torpedoes from a long-range lucky Betty strike and suffers extensive flooding, trapped in an isolated port in the DEI. The rest of Force Z is quickly fleeing as the DEI becomes saturated with enemy air power.



Nonetheless, John seems to have flattops everywhere. KB3 is going up and down the DEI, making it hard to escape. I'd imagine that Repulse is eventually sunk. It remains an open question if I can even get the rest of Force Z safely away. The hammer blows are really starting to strike and Japan's early extreme advantage in strength and operational flexibility (4 KBs is better than 1) is really beginning to show. Essentially, with his KB's, John can shut down any form of defense in multiple areas.

KB 2 appears south of Rabaul and is close to sinking some ships nearby. He could potentially even raid Townsville or elsewhere. The Aussies start with no fighters whatsoever in Australia, so I cannot provide air protection.



KB3 in the DEI might have spotted Force Z and others in port. Who knows what will happen?



Dark Days. John is racking up his ship kill count. I almost feel like I need to send all ships to off-map sites to provide any form of protection from John's deep raids. Further more, his ability to strike deeply makes it extremely difficult to setup transport and supply convoys. I believe I will have to slowly setup ASW and search hubs that will be able to spot his raiders before they cause problems. This will retard my efforts to setup defenses in vital areas and go on the offensive later.

[modrow]

Sean,

I am following this AAR with great interest. Please keep writing

ORIGINAL: Anachro
...
Nonetheless, John seems to have flattops everywhere.
...

In fact, this is the main problem in this mod for the Allied player (and maybe a problem of the balance of the mod as a whole) IMO, at least it would be for me. Strike where KB is not to try to force IJ to deviate from its evil plans is much more difficult for this reason, and I believe that at least some of these KBs essentially represent a deathstar at this point of the war. Surface intercepts will tend to end disappointing due to the skill differential at night (and additional heavy guns provided by IJ CAVs), whereas during the day chances are you are going to pay the price in the air phase. The increase of available deck armor in some CV/CVL/the CAV reduces the risk of getting hurt severely by bombs considerably. I recommend sandboxing engagements to get a feeling for what can and what cannot be done, it may deviate from stock experience.

Just my 2cts

Hartwig


edited to add an important *NOT*

[Bif1961]

Concentrate major air assets in areas where you know he will have to come, set up CAP traps to kill the one thing he can't do without highly skilled pilots. Use the ships which are expendable, mostly dutch and older vessels and save the rest for later. Find the most defensable terrain and build up the forts and ship in supplies and let him beat himself against them for awhile. He might get target fixation and get bogged down against one or more of them and slow his across the board offensives. Your ambush at Rabual is a classic example even with his beefed up TOE he can't be everywhere so you have to be able to identify where he is trying to take something on the cheap and punish him for it. The first 6-12 months for the Allies are no fun and with this mod it makes that even more so.

[ny59giants]

Dutch warships - Don't throw them away. [:-]
In this mod they can be used in Fast Transport TFs. [:)]

[Anachro]

@hartwig Noted and agreed. For now, I think its time to switch from early shoestring "strikebacks" to a retreat and retrenchment for planning more calculated ambushes. That's what I am doing. Situation with various ships currently in the DEI is precarious still, but I will move most to safer regions and assess the situation as he shows his hand more fully as to his follow-on offensive operations.

@bif Yup, Forts are building up nicely in many places. Right now, I'm focused on getting my convoys setup with fuel, men, and supplies to SoPac being the biggest priority. I have base units and engineers at Suva, Efate, Noumea, Luganville, but previous little AV atm. Managed to reinforce PM a little bit with plans to put more Aussie troops there once his KB moves away.

@micheael? All surface units are currently trying to escape the DEI. Have to move and hide in ports to escape the sweep of his airpower and roving KB. There is no plan for further intercepts there. I am trying to get my ships out, even the Repulse.

Dec 26 1941

Japanese troops move on Singapore. 3 forts and 500 AV vs ~1800. I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to shock and take it next turn. Elements of various units are being flow out to extract to India. In the lower DEI, I move my ships east, whereas John's KB3 moves southwest of Sorabaja in an attempt to catch where he thought my ships might fleet to probably. Fuel is a heavy issue as I have been making use of full speed. It will be a nervous time getting Force Z and other ships out safely. BC Repulse fire damage is slowly creeping up and now sits at 9. Once KB3 is gone, I will try to full speed an AR in to fix her up as best as possible and try to extract her to safety. Still very doubtful if that can happen.

In the SoPac, KB2 moves just west of Port Moresby and attempts to find shipping targets to strike. It finds two old DDs, but other than that not much. One DD is heavily damaged, the other should be fine. He launched a bombardment on PM as well to little effect. Japanese troops land on Guinea at Lae.

KB1 appears just south of Midway. KB 1.5 could be anywhere in the North Pacific.

[jwolf]

Repulse is so badly damaged, I seriously doubt it will be able to dodge the enemy carriers even if the fires were to go out instantly. AR ships are rather precious, at least this early in the game, so I don't think that is a good gamble. But I understand, we all try to fight to save major ships if at all possible.

This mod seems to make it really hard to attempt any serious fighting Allied defense in the early months of the war.

[ny59giants]

This mod seems to make it really hard to attempt any serious fighting Allied defense in the early months of the war.

Please explain? John 3rd may know the mod better than me as its his, but the Allies do have some teeth to counter what you seem to be implying. John is experienced playing this as am I. Add in John's over aggressive play and its easy to feel the Allies can be overwhelmed. The formation of Allied "Death Star" can help as they can take on 2 of 4 parts of KB, but not all of them.

KB 1 & 3 - Hit Pearl, each is made of 2 CV and CVL
KB 2 - starts at Babeldoab with 2 CV (Hiryu and Soryu) and CVL
KB 4 - CRB with 3 CVLs

[jwolf]

I am assuming the experience levels of units are similar to stock. If that is wrong, then all bets are off and I apologize. But with standard experience levels for each side in Dec 41-Jan 42, any nominally fair fight will usually turn out to be an easy Japanese victory. So giving more stuff to both sides will indeed help both sides, but the really big immediate payoff is for the Japanese. At least, so it appears naively to me.

[ny59giants]

I'm painfully aware of the low experience levels for Allied LCUs. To raise them two things need to happen - ground combat and/or setting and keeping prep for same base. Once the prep level does hit 100, then experience and morale go up significantly. Especially in China, I don't keep changing prep as I want them to get to 100 for some base. Even if its now in Japanese hands.

[jwolf]

To raise them two things need to happen - ground combat and/or setting and keeping prep for same base. Once the prep level does hit 100, then experience and morale go up significantly. Especially in China, I don't keep changing prep as I want them to get to 100 for some base. Even if it's now in Japanese hands.

Very interesting point; I confess I was not aware of that. I have tended to mark the prep target for units based on organizing for certain objectives (at least in China, where one is not worried about conducting amphibious operations) and it looks like I have steadily double-crossed myself!

[Anachro]

It makes it harder in the sense that there are fewer gaps, but as michael states, a combined Allied CV unit can take on a smaller KB given the right ambush. Currently, 3 CVs are in Australia. 1 More is on its way, but is probably more than a week away.

[Anachro]

Also, don't forget to harass John any second you get about contributing, however small, to his own AAR. [:D]

[modrow]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants_MatrixForum

I'm painfully aware of the low experience levels for Allied LCUs. To raise them two things need to happen - ground combat and/or setting and keeping prep for same base. Once the prep level does hit 100, then experience and morale go up significantly. Especially in China, I don't keep changing prep as I want them to get to 100 for some base. Even if its now in Japanese hands.

I concur completely with respect to the preparation part of your statement. I would like to point out that IMO parts of the Australian LCUs should do the same, they can get 65 exp that way IIRC. Handle your device management well and you can create at least some units that are really competitive in that way in a reasonable time frame.

Another aspect to bear in mind is that the swing of the pendulum in this game is brought about to a considerable part by a change in relative firepower. 1 AV due to an improvised AFV is completely different from 1 AV due to a General Lee tank, 1AV Chinese rifle squad is different from 1 AV US rifle squad 44.

The problem with using ground combat to gain experience is that it will lead to destroyed devices, devices that you cannot replace. In my opinion the most efficient way to strengthen Allied LCUs if this is really wanted (and take away some IJ hindsight that allows to optimize what units are allocated to a given task) is adding devices to the pool, so that the Allied player can selectively add firepower. Conversely, the same approach could help to make IJ last longer - add an improved IJ 44 squad.

As always, just my 2cts.

Hartwig

[modrow]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

It makes it harder in the sense that there are fewer gaps, but as michael states, a combined Allied CV unit can take on a smaller KB given the right ambush. Currently, 3 CVs are in Australia. 1 More is on its way, but is probably more than a week away.

I did not test it (maybe I need to install the mod after all), but my gut feeling is that in early war this is correct only for some of the KBs (2 and 4 individually), and I would probably shy away even from a combination of 2 and 4, most definitely avoid confrontation with a combination of 1 and 3. But maybe I am just much worse at running early war CV encounters than later war CV encounters. I have yet to see a really devastating devastator attack, and 500lb bombs which some Dauntlesses may end up with seem to have a considerable chance of bouncing off 60 deck armor, so offensive capabilities are hamstrung and you need to get into devastator range. So the (in)famous perfect 7 hex attack is possibly replaced by a perfect 7,6 or 5 hex attack for IJ in this mod in early war for some of the KBs.

And the fact that in late 42 you are likely going to fight against Georges with Wildcats does not make things better.

As always, just my views (in this case even untested)

Hartwig