Nomonhan Redux: Seydlitz (Japan) vs. MBatch729 (Allies)

[CaptBeefheart]

Ditto in that I hope all is well on the home front. Glad to see you are proceeding with this AAR, as it's highly intriguing.

What's next after Russia with all those ground and air units? China?

[seydlitz_slith]

Some will go to China and others will move south to help catch up in the SRA and Thailand.

[Heeward]

Is there any excess short - medium range airbases in your theater of operations against the Soviet Union that you could base your air squadrons from the KB on? This would then mean that they and their escorts could stay in port and not burn fuel.

Keep up the good work

[jonreb31]

Just read the whole AAR and it's excellent and exciting; bravo on a daring game. The war in Russia has been a very different and interesting conflict for the Pacific that could easily go in any direction. The Battleship CD debacle is a major frustration, and the invasion of DEI has been much slower then it should be (you're gonna need that oil in the near future unless you think having nates in 1944 is sufficient [:D]) but you might be able to pull off some sweeping victories in the coming months and years. I'm imagining Siberia>China>India, while the USA bashes it's head against your interior lines. That would be sweet!

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: Heeward

Is there any excess short - medium range airbases in your theater of operations against the Soviet Union that you could base your air squadrons from the KB on? This would then mean that they and their escorts could stay in port and not burn fuel.

Keep up the good work

There are airfields but not enough base forces to go around. Normally I will just pull the KB up into the area of operations and fly missions until I empty their ammo lockers then sail home.

Right now I have my whole bomber force and most fighters in training mode. After nearly 6 months of heavy war, I found that I was hurting my long range chances because my daily losses were exceeding my replacement rate. Since the situation is Russia is under control for the time being, I am not flying many combat missions. My pilots are training up and I am working hard to replenish my depleted units with aircraft. Since my bomber squadrons are all pretty good at ground bombing, I am working on getting up their defensive skills. I am also working all of my Nell, Betty, and Helen units pretty hard on ASW, either actual missions or training. I know that Japan will need a lot of expert ASW aircrews when the American torpedoes start working and my opponent has already demonstrated that he likes to keep a lot of subs on my doorstep at all times.

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: JonReb

Just read the whole AAR and it's excellent and exciting; bravo on a daring game. The war in Russia has been a very different and interesting conflict for the Pacific that could easily go in any direction. The Battleship CD debacle is a major frustration, and the invasion of DEI has been much slower then it should be (you're gonna need that oil in the near future unless you think having nates in 1944 is sufficient [:D]) but you might be able to pull off some sweeping victories in the coming months and years. I'm imagining Siberia>China>India, while the USA bashes it's head against your interior lines. That would be sweet!

Thanks for the comments. Yes the BB losses really hurt because Japan needed every one of these ships. I have no idea what changed in the last patch that has caused this effect, but something certainly has. That said, I have too much time invested in the game to not continue. Things happen in real life that the game can't simulate, like the Mutsu blowing up at anchor in 1943. Frustrating war losses, but I just tell myself that the ships must have sailed into a previously uncharted dense minefield. The war continues.

The Russian front has really tied my forces up. I feel the pressure of being just short of enough force to close out Singapore as well as not having enough forces to conduct ops in Borneo and Sumatra. My DEI timetable depends on the surrender of the Brits in Singapore and the fall of Vladivostok. When those happen I will be able to aggressively move on Java even though I am significantly behind the usual timetable.

[Yank]

Seydlitz thanks for documenting your game, I have really enjoyed reading it.  It seems like the Soviets are about to be knocked out of their Asian/Pacific bases, and you will defeat them.  Two questions about that:
 
1) Do the Soviets continue to get reinforcements if you possess all of their bases? If they do get reinforcements will it be enough to mount a serious challenge that you will have to guard against for the remainder of the game? Sorry, I know I could look at the game data for that information and the rule book, but I was interested in your thoughts on this and the effects on your long-term planning.
 
2) If you do knock out the Soviets, how big a boost will the Japanese war economy get from all of the oil, resources, industry, etc. that you have conquered? You touched on this in one of your posts a bit with regard to extra oil that you will get from the Soviets.  Is it a game changer in terms of Japanese industrial capacity and production? And again, how does this factor into your long-term planning?

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: Yank

Seydlitz thanks for documenting your game, I have really enjoyed reading it.  It seems like the Soviets are about to be knocked out of their Asian/Pacific bases, and you will defeat them.  Two questions about that:

1) Do the Soviets continue to get reinforcements if you possess all of their bases? If they do get reinforcements will it be enough to mount a serious challenge that you will have to guard against for the remainder of the game? Sorry, I know I could look at the game data for that information and the rule book, but I was interested in your thoughts on this and the effects on your long-term planning.

2) If you do knock out the Soviets, how big a boost will the Japanese war economy get from all of the oil, resources, industry, etc. that you have conquered? You touched on this in one of your posts a bit with regard to extra oil that you will get from the Soviets.  Is it a game changer in terms of Japanese industrial capacity and production? And again, how does this factor into your long-term planning?

I am not sure about how the Soviets would get reinforcements if I knocked out all of their bases. That said, the bear is tough and that is hard to do. The campaign is like a 15 round boxing match between heavyweights. I have the upper hand but my forces are sluggish from the losses.

I am hoping that I can get enough oil and resources from the campaign to provide a significant portion of my needs. I will still go after Sumatra (working on that now) and Java, but the extra boost close to home will help even after those places are lost since the convoy routes are short and easy to cover from Japan.

I haven't posted much at all in the AAR lately because we are in the "boring stage" where I am bombarding and resting my troops. Most of my air force is stood down in training while I replenish the heavy losses from 6 months of steady use, and I am basically shifting troops around to get enough leverage to start finishing off some of the points where I have significant troops tied up but haven't been able to close the deal.

[Smeulders]

Wouldn't Soviet forces simply appear in the off-map base Soviet Union ? You can not conquer that one.

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

Wouldn't Soviet forces simply appear in the off-map base Soviet Union ? You can not conquer that one.

That is what I am thinking but can not confirm.

[seydlitz_slith]

After over 30 turns of fighting, I have managed to finally send the Soviet units in the hex at Voroshilov back to their prison at Vladivostok. They had been hoping to stage a breakout and relink up to their other forces but my troops were too much and the conflict had bogged down into a world war one type trench battle. It is now turn 173, May 28, 1942.

Ground combat at Voroshilov (112,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 183100 troops, 1874 guns, 1270 vehicles, Assault Value = 5076

Defending force 38759 troops, 850 guns, 74 vehicles, Assault Value = 911

Japanese adjusted assault: 3416

Allied adjusted defense: 991

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3958 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 209 disabled
Non Combat: 23 destroyed, 243 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 46 disabled
Guns lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 85 (8 destroyed, 77 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
19496 casualties reported
Squads: 358 destroyed, 58 disabled
Non Combat: 1084 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 210 destroyed, 40 disabled
Guns lost 133 (93 destroyed, 40 disabled)
Vehicles lost 59 (58 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 30


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

[seydlitz_slith]

Since I haven't shown it in a while, here is a quick map tour of the fronts.

First the Russian front.

[seydlitz_slith]

Next the Mongolian front. I have been making good progress here after earlier being almost pushed out of the region.

[seydlitz_slith]

From here the news is not so rosy. The level of committment required to conduct a campaign against the Soviets has left me short of forces in the southern theater of war. As a result, I am behind in my timetable and in some places I do not have enough forces to quickly wrap up engagements.

Singapore is an excellent example of this. I have had the enemy bottled up here for three months but he is still just barely too strong for me to wipe him out. The end is getting near, however.


Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 58529 troops, 794 guns, 127 vehicles, Assault Value = 1817

Defending force 42634 troops, 513 guns, 273 vehicles, Assault Value = 832

Japanese ground losses:
121 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
80 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)

[seydlitz_slith]

In Thailand and on the upper Malay peninsula he has moved forces down from Burma in hopes of capturing Bangkok. The Thai units are pitiful. Not worth the rice that it takes to feed them. I have dispatched forces via ship to reinforce the area and get things back under control, but of course this means that these forces are not being used in other places.

[seydlitz_slith]

In Sumatra, I am attempting to take Palembang by aerial invasion. About a month ago I landed two para units at undefended bases. Using these bases as a bridgehead, I have been steadily flying in more troops and supplies. I now have two pincers closing in on the capital and hope to win the battle without having to conduct an amphibious assault.

[offenseman]

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

The Thai units are pitiful.

Agreed. I find they are most useful for meeting garrison requirements and "maskirovka"

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 174 29 May, 1942

Not much happened during the turn other than one of my I boats intercepting CLAA Atlanta off San Diego and putting a torpedo into her. If she is lucky she should make port, but that class of ship is fragile, not being much larger than a destroyer leader.

While I wish that I had got a shot at the transports, I am very happy about the hit on the AA cruiser as it will put her out of the war for quite a while.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR May 29, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near San Diego at 224,83

Japanese Ships
SS I-18

Allied Ships
CLAA Atlanta, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Heywood
AP Harris
DD O'Brien



SS I-18 launches 6 torpedoes at CLAA Atlanta
I-18 diving deep ....
DD O'Brien attacking submerged sub ....
DD O'Brien cannot reach attack position over SS I-18
DD O'Brien cannot establish contact with SS I-18
DD O'Brien fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD O'Brien attacking submerged sub ....
DD O'Brien fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD O'Brien attacking submerged sub ....
DD O'Brien cannot reach attack position over SS I-18
SS I-18 eludes ASW attack from DD O'Brien
DD O'Brien loses contact with SS I-18
Escort abandons search for sub

[seydlitz_slith]

I-18 now needs to head for the home islands as she has emptied all of her forward torpedoes during her 45 day patrol. Her spot in the blockade line will be taken by the sub directly north of her, and a newly arriving I boat will fill that subs old station in a day or two depending on the weather.

This might be just in time as one of my Glens has detected a convoy of tankers building in the port and I want to be ready to intercept. I try to keep a sub within range to fly recon flights over the major California ports every turn.

[offenseman]

How much oil and resources are you getting out of the Soviet Union?