Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[Cribtop]

June 30, 1942

An iffy day in the air is balanced by a good day on the ground.

Subs

Three IJN wolfpacks are moving ever closer to their mass patrol areas.

4th Fleet

Furious digging sounds are emanating from our defended bases. We land a base force on Ocean and move in a 20 plane Jake unit to "mind the gap." We thought Nauru but turns out Ocean is the better choice after a little "Z" keying.

SE Fleet

Mavis transports finish flying the former Ndeni garrison unit into Tulagi. AS there now a little north of 150 with 4.95 forts.

14th Army

Constant bombing and bombardment have starved the raw AS of the Clark Field garrison from 1900ish to under 900. We'll soon finish the enemy.

16th Army

6 B-17s hit Daly, which is a surprise after the recent 2 plane raid our Nicks contested. CF guessed right here as we stood down our LRCAP. The Nicks will be back on station tomorrow.

We are pulling stockpiled resources out of Darwin and Port Hedland and occupy Tanahdjampea.

25th Army

The IJA catches up to a beaten Dutch stack today and will SA tomorrow. Additional forces are 2 hexes out from Padang. Then it's all DBCL work and defensive prep.

15th Army

We sweep Chittagong with 2 Zero Daitai and the results are not great. Total losses are 16 Zero to 13 Hurricanes. Pilot losses for us are 9 plus 1 WIA. The much-argued and much-discussed bounce was the culprit. We don't have a hard and fast rule on altitude but we are creeping up there and at Chittagong the enemy's CAP is at 25K. We're sending in the kitchen sink tomorrow at a similar altitude but I may discuss the "2nd manuever band" HR with Cuttlefish as the incentive for both players is just to go up and up. I think I'd prefer to either shorten the length of the bounce as PzB or Castor Troy once suggested or do away with it entirely. Still, we have attrited the enemy from 68 fighters to 28 per recon, so we will continue as CF will run out of Hurris before we run out of Zeros.

Cox's Bazaar makes level 1 airfield.

China

Despite having most of a massive IJAAF raid scrubbed by weather, a DA at hex 77, 56 clears out the former Wuchang garrison with 8:1 odds. 4 enemy LCUs retreat, and better yet they are shoved down the road toward Kukong. This clears the way to Kweilin and our main army will move out tomorrow. Casualties in the battle were 4872(346) vs 490(3). Nice.

5th Fleet

The CVE Raiders and their AMC pickets are between the Aleutians and Midway. Hoping to start catching some prey soon.

[Cribtop]

As July 1st dawns, the northern pincer of Operation Red Dragon goes into action. We cross the river and shock attack two enemy corps tomorrow with 1700 raw AS. Fingers crossed. However, recall that in the long run this pincer is designed to make noise more than anything else. The turn is away. Now we wait.

[Cribtop]

June 30, 1942

Another month ends as we continue to walk the tightrope between neutering China and shifting forces to the perimeter.

Subs

Tomorrow a wolf pack of 13 subs will blanket an area east of Fiji where we have observed large Allied convoys. The net is set, we hope to catch fish.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

MKB is just about done repairing. Tomorrow the air groups will finally re-size, which is nice. Cribtop HQ will begin rotating carriers and DDs home to upgrade in batches of 2 CVs at a time. The first group will be Junyo and Hiyo so as to keep maximum combat power in theater in case the enemy tries something in the Pacific to coincide with upgrades.

14th Army

A regiment used in the conquest of the central PI is shipping out to seize Pamakasan, Bali and two bases on Celebes where defeated enemy garrisons are huddled.

16th Army

Galaeia is occupied while Nabire and Sangi are invaded.

Over Daly Waters 19 Nicks attack 3 B-17s and destroy one of the monsters. We are surprised CF continues to throw the 4Es against our bomber killers. Daly makes a level 2 airfield today, which increases our tactical options.

25th Army

We SA Dutch stragglers at 45, 78 (near Sibolga). We destroy one LCU and retreat 3 with 49:1 odds, casualties 742(78) vs 40(0).

15th Army

A frustrating but oddly lucky day over Chittagong. Sweeps by Zeros and Oscars are again scrubbed by bad weather over the target (despite predicted overcast skies). Then, of course, our bombers come in. Fortunately, 30 escorts hold off the Hurricanes and we get one of those weird "slip by the CAP to bomb the base" results that happens in AE sometimes. Very lucky but we still lose 11 Oscars. Airfield damage is up to 45.

China

We are marching on here. As mentioned, tomorrow sees the northern pincer go into action. Cribtop HQ is somewhat nervous given the terrain despite numerical odds in our favor.

5th Fleet

A small sub wolf pack approaches Umnak Island. The Raiders squeeze down the shape of our AMC pickets to avoid USN patrol aircraft and shoot the Midway gap.

[Capt. Harlock]

Constant bombing and bombardment have starved the raw AS of the Clark Field garrison from 1900ish to under 900. We'll soon finish the enemy.

Not before time -- Cuttlefish held Clark until July?! I wonder what he's flown out of, or into, the place?

[Cribtop]

Good question. Per the screens, nothing got out. We've had Clark under constant air and arty bombardment for months, but refused to commit the troops needed to finish it off. We also put a Val group on nav attack out of Manila that killed a few kamikaze xAKs. Cribtop HQ firmly decided that finishing Luzon was a low priority. We will attend to it after Red Dragon as the last offensive of the war.

[ny59giants]

Future planning - I would start thinking and then placing some rapid response forces at key locations. Following Nemo's suggestion from months ago, I would place a division and the transports needed to move them at Truk, SRA (Kendari), Singapore or someplace closer to the Burma/India border, and North Pacific (Ominato). If you don't have the division available now, then assign an infantry group that eventually fills out to a full division at a later date.

[Mike Solli]

I agree with Michael. Those are all good choices. Sometimes I use Balikpapan, but I like Kendari better.

[PaxMondo]

And priortize in reverse order ... Ominato first ...

[Cribtop]

We have a division at Truk and one at Batavia on reaction mode. Once 18th Div finishes Padang it will move to Kendari while the Batavia Div shifts to Singers. My plan for Ominato is to have enough PPs in the tank to buy out a Manchuria Div stationed near Korea. I do need to make sure I have the assault shipping handy.

I'm also working on shifting forces within Japan and into the Kuriles to watch for a "Suddenly Hairy." TBs are deployed as pickets too. Plus, I own much of the Aluetians. I don't think such a hail Mary is CF's style, but plan for capabilities not intentions, right?

Finally, raw AS at Clark is almost even, so I might try a DA there soon or even task 18th Div with helping out. It all depends on China right now.

[Cribtop]

July 1, 1942

A good start in China toward a breakthrough to Kienko.

Subs

Moving into position with our subs. Haven't even sniffed Allied subs in days. Knock on wood.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

12 B-17 bomb Horn Island. Now that CF knows our Nicks are in Oz he feels safe returning here. We may need to set a CAP trap.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

6 B-17s come to Daly and only 4 return to base. We do lose a Nick to defensive fire but the pilot parachutes into the lines of the grateful IJA tankers below.

Nabire is occupied, the last base of any stripe on New Guinea still in Allied hands. Sangi is also taken.

We try but fail to invade Kalao with a DBCL force. We get a "can't unload here" error message. If this base is immune to amphib attacks we may just turn it into a major airbase. [;)]

25th Army

The Operation Barracuda fleet is almost back to Singers.

15th Army

Sweeps are again cancelled due to storms over Chittagong. This monsoon thing is a b#$tch.

China

We cross the river and SA at 80,40. Two Chinese LCUs with about 480 AS are present. We get a good attack with 2:1 odds, casualties 1434(9) vs 2190(5). Our 4 divisions are still in good shape and good supply and will DA tomorrow with round the clock air support. We need to take this hex pretty quickly as CF has two more LCUs in the hex to the west (map). What do y'all think are the odds we can push through rapidly? While this attack is mostly a diversion we need to make some progress to force the KMT to commit their strategic reserve at Chungking in this direction.

An odd little round robin game is occurring near Changsha. CF's partially trapped army is staying put 1 hex east (map) of Changsha. He marched 2 units overland to try to cut us off from Wuchang but failed as we got 2 units there first. We are now bringing up a local reserve division to crush the enemy here and then may have an opportunity to hammer the enemy's main force, which is currently divided up over several hexes.

5th Fleet

The Raiders are through the Midway gap and into Indian Country. Who knows what we'll find.

[Cribtop]

Just noticed we went over 1,000 posts. Thanks as always for the great contributions to this thread by my excellent readers! [&o]

[Cribtop]

July 2, 1942

A bad die roll today in China...

Subs

We have pretty patterns of subs all spread out at the tip of the Indian subcontinent and in the convoy lanes east of Suva. Looks cool if nothing else. The theory is to force a convoy to run a gauntlet of 3 or 4 consecutive sub occupied hexes and hopefully feel the burn from sheer numbers.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Tulagi makes level 5 forts. Recon of Luganville finds only 2 LCUs present. Not exactly a strong buildup. Hmmm. We'll have Emilys check in at Noumea and Suva too. There is some evidence via SigInt that CF is stuffing New Zealand and the Melbourne area.

The B-17 training missions over Horn Island continue.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

Gorontalo and Molu invaded.

25th Army

No change.

15th Army

We sweep Chittagong at 26K with Zeros and get better results. Still not great, but we kill 13 Hurricanes for 17 Zeros. What is the monthly production of Hurricane IIs? Not sure that this is worth it. I can definitely afford the airframes, but if I can't drain his pools I'm just wasting pilots.

China

DA at 80, 40 on the northern front results in an awful die roll and a 1:2 attack. Casualties 1115(7) vs 1705(5). Our divisions are still in good shape but need to recover DIS. Problem is it won't be long before the KMT moves in two more corps here. We can probably afford to rest a day and then try again. Ground combat masters, what do you think the odds are? Raw AS is approx 1700 vs approx 400.

5th Fleet

No change.

[Crackaces]

We sweep Chittagong at 26K with Zeros and get better results. Still not great, but we kill 13 Hurricanes for 17 Zeros. What is the monthly production of Hurricane IIs? Not sure that this is worth it. I can definitely afford the airframes, but if I can't drain his pools I'm just wasting pilots.

He produces 16 IIb's per month .. but .. starting last month in June the units begin upgrading to IIc's at 36 per month.

Bombardment produces better airframe results [8D] [My opponet has forced me to go inland ..]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

China

We cross the river and SA at 80,40. Two Chinese LCUs with about 480 AS are present. We get a good attack with 2:1 odds, casualties 1434(9) vs 2190(5). Our 4 divisions are still in good shape and good supply and will DA tomorrow with round the clock air support. We need to take this hex pretty quickly as CF has two more LCUs in the hex to the west (map). What do y'all think are the odds we can push through rapidly? While this attack is mostly a diversion we need to make some progress to force the KMT to commit their strategic reserve at Chungking in this direction.

Have you ever heard of the Napoleonic battle of Jena-Auerstadt? The diversion can yield results all out of proportion to the inent. Don't sell it short.

[ny59giants]

You have to force the A2A attrition at this point. The Alies can train up enough pilots unless the air war gets very intense, but they have such a shortage of airframes that they cannot afford days like today and lose 13 airframes. Keep looking for a fight. [;)]

[Cribtop]

Thanks for the good advice, gents. I tend to agree that A2A attrition is important and want to press the issue.

As for Jena-Auerstadt, Mike, I read The Campaigns of Napoleon cover to cover and had an entire corps of Russians painted up for tabletop minis in college. I hear you. I was just hoping to force the commitment here of more than merely local reserves. I'll fight on. The real key is that the central front is a mess for the KMT and in the south only poor roads stand in the way of the capture of Kweilin and Liuchow. So far, so good.

PS - I've also had the distinct honor of playing 2 games of Empires in Arms to conclusion. Game 1 - I was Russians. My brother the Turk gambled on his unique ability to throw a "1" on a six sider and brought in the Turkish Cav on an outflank against escalated assault by the Austrians. Coolest move ever. My brother destroyed the Austrian army entirely and captured Archduke Charles. Game 2 - I won as England. Spain somehow came in second! When Napoleon threatened to invade the large Spanish empire in southern Italy the Spaniards ceded a province to the Austrians, forcing Nappy to either back off or declare war on Spain, Austria, Prussia and Russia. Great move. In the same game, I landed Wellington at Brest and needed a 5 or a 6 to take the place by storm to destroy the French Fleet before Nappy got there. "6" baby! [:D] My roommate was the French and he never stopped muttering about my dice skills. Good times.

[Cribtop]

The turn is away. CF and I had a good discussion of altitude via e-mail today as we are both trying to stay somewhat true to real life but both also feeling the inevitable pull to go higher given the rewards of the bounce in the game engine. He is a great opponent and an unfailing gent. It's been a treat to play someone so consistent with the turns and even-handed on the HRs.

[jrcar]

Agree you need to attrit Allied airframes, as Japanese though your problem is pilots. So check to see how many you are loosing, rather than the airframes (which are largely irrelevant as you normally produce more than you can use). The problem with fighting over enemy territory is you loose lots of pilots that way. Try and generate circumstances where you force the allied player to fight over your ground... in particular as 1942 heads into 1943.

Taking Akyab then LRCAPing it tends to generate these types of circumstances.

Cheers

Rob

[Cribtop]

Thanks, Rob. This has been a somewhat odd game in that Cuttlefish has pulled back his air force and avoided any offensive action other than "training" raids by his B-17s. My pilot losses have been miniscule even counting the last 2 weeks in Burma, where I've lost about 20ish fighter pilots in total from both services.

Just today, another crop of fighter and bomber pilots graduated from Cribtop Academy. I have over 500 trained bomber and over 300 trained fighter pilots in each air service, plus a healthy TRACOM and a few "flying circus" groups.

I'm considering an offensive to try for Akyab as we now have 3 IJA divisions in Burma backed by 3 RTA divisions to handle garrison and anti-Chindit duties. This suggestion adds to my speculation in that regard.

[jrcar]

Ok in that case then you can afford to use them! The key targets though are 2E bombers, the Allies get so few, and they are far more versitile. Hunt than out in their lairs where you can.

Getting 4E is great, but they tend to be harder to get, at least you can make them operate from bases further back.

The Hurricane IIC though tends to chew Japanese aircraft.

Consider the altitude cap... like second highest manouvre band. This generally limits aircraft to 31k feet, except a few on either side, which usually have to fly lower.