The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Lowpe]

I would say you manhandled the Japanese there, considering TF 203 is pretty weak. Nicely done.

[Bif1961]

Dosen't appear that he has a lot of AAA at Kagoshima as you PB4Y-1s took no damage.

[Canoerebel]

9/14/44

Glen Wars: Two Glens destroyed on "Ground" today, raising hopes that two of John's subs went under.

[Canoerebel]

9/14/44

I don't often post about the day-to-day sub wars, preferring only to mention major hits or trends. Here's a trend update:

Japanese Sub Doctrine: Several months ago, John began deploying subs on the map margins - a very marked departure from his conduct the prior 18 months to two years. Suddenly there were subs patrolling the West Coast, then Colombo, then the Aden wormhole, then Diego, then the Albany/Esperance sector of Australia.

John scored quite some kills - perhaps 15-20 over two or three months. Most (all?) were xAKs on supply duty. I shifted things around a bit and made do with what ASW platforms were in the vicinity. Allied ASW has killed a handful of enemy subs - perhaps 5 or 6.

This has been effective for John from a Victory Points/Gaming standpoint. It hasn't been from a military standpoint. I've gotten a few too many of his subs and I'd rather have his subs way out on the margins than posing a risk to capital ships. I'll willingly feed an occasional sacrificial lamb to the enemy wolf packs if I can keep the current trends going.

John mostly keeps his subs away from strong Allied ASW platforms, such as Death Star. I think he's reconsidering due to the Formosa crisis. He's also begun laying mines more actively.

Allied Sub Doctrine: Like John, I now keep my subs away from KB and strong enemy air patrols. My subs were incredibly quiet for many months, but recently sank CL Nagara and put three TTs into BB Ise. Some of my subs are minelaying. Most of them are serving as detectors of enemy air ASW.

[JohnDillworth]

Honest work on Johns part. Never know if you are going to pick up a troop convoy or one of the capital ships rolling off the slipways every day. As for AK's, AP's and what not. Surprised he is not squatting i nthe canal zone more. You get DD's, DE's and those lovely PF's in significant numbers so just convoy up. Subs are not going to win or lose the war at this point...AK's are

[Canoerebel]

9/14/44

See map for details.

[Lowpe]

you can have two glens on one Iboat, one in reserve.

[BBfanboy]

To maximize the chance of a naval bombardment in a non-base hex:
- you must set the Bombardment TF to "remain on station", not "retirement allowed"
- you need a good prior D/L on the enemy troops and spotter planes for both night and day bombardment phases
- if you can, set a proper recon aircraft to that hex on the same day - the morning recon should raise the D/L for an afternoon bombardment (happens after the air phase).

[Canoerebel]

9/15/44

Today was mostly about setting things up for tomorrow, which should be a very busy day, with:

1. Allied shock attack at Taihoku.
2. Allied deliberate attack against retreating enemy stack east of Takao.
3. Mining and strategic bombing versus Home Island targets (if planes fly).
4. Likely Japanese shock attack against US division west of Amoy - to disrupt the enemy, Allied 2EB and naval bombardment.
5. Invasion of Camiguin Island north of Luzon.
6. Probing deliberate attack after yesterday's invasion of nearby Calayan.
7. Allied shock attack at Lang Son on the Vietnam/China border.

[JohnDillworth]

BTW, John had to taken the troops for his Indochina adventure from somewhere. DEI you think?

[Canoerebel]

John's worked hard to retrieve units from forward bases, including Oz, Timor, New Guinea, and probably Java.

He's accomplished a lot in pulling back so many units, but I'm hoping it will mostly be for naught. To this point it really didn't help him with the defense of Luzon, Formosa and coastal China. And if he's now concentrating on preparing the defenses for the Home Islands by emptying or weakening his forward positions like Java, Makassar, Borneo, Malaya, Sumatra, then that'll make the next Allied ops easier.

I don't have plans to invade the Home Islands, so let him pack them full of troops.

[BillBrown]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

John's worked hard to retrieve units from forward bases, including Oz, Timor, New Guinea, and probably Java.

He's accomplished a lot in pulling back so many units, but I'm hoping it will mostly be for naught. To this point it really didn't help him with the defense of Luzon, Formosa and coastal China. And if he's now concentrating on preparing the defenses for the Home Islands by emptying or weakening his forward positions like Java, Makassar, Borneo, Malaya, Sumatra, then that'll make the next Allied ops easier.

I don't have plans to invade the Home Islands, so let him pack them full of troops.

That is the best news I have seen lately.

[Canoerebel]

9/16/44

Peep Show II: Twin Allied attacks really mess up two IJA stacks. Over the past four or five days, John's army has declined from 185k to 120k. I think John is beside himself. I think this is serious enough to prompt him to do something rash. Let's see.

Coastal China: Little plan to rough up enemy stack works well (thanks, BBfanboy, for the bombardment tutoring) but the attack still comes off at 1:1 and inflicts high disablements on my division. I'll try again tomorrow to neuter the attacking enemy force.

[Canoerebel]

9/16/44

Details regarding the Formosa battles and the tough little fight near Amoy.

[Canoerebel]

9/16/44

The battle near Amoy is particularly interesting. To my surprise, John's stack has really roughed up the single US division - a good one with experience and up-to-date equipment; but my efforts to tinker with John's stack prior to his attack did pretty well; but the outcome is still uncertain - my division could take very heavy losses or John could skewer his little army by attacking again.

[Canoerebel]

Combat report (see two posts above) showed 33rd Div. adjusted downwards for leaders, fatigue and experience. Why? This division looks pretty good to me. And the leader is outstanding. What's going on underneath the hood?

[BillBrown]

Really bad die rolls? One good thing is that you have a lot of ready guns, that will help a lot if he attacks again.

[BBfanboy]

I wonder if the AI can "decide" the leader is one of the disabled casualties, and thus not available for the battle?

[JeffroK]

37mm AT Guns v an Armoured Division??

[Canoerebel]

57mm AT Guns are tough to come by, so I'm stockpiling them. I'd have upgraded when I realized 2nd and 3rd Tank Division were coming, but not enough supply to permit it.