The Sun in My Eyes Mk IV, EOS from the Allied Perspective

[goodboyladdie]

17/12/41

22 Zekes, 21 Nells and 21 Bettys from Lahaina visited PH during the day. They bombed from 20,000ft and did little damage. A small CAP of 1 F4F-3, 2 P-36As and 5 P-40Bs put down a Zeke and a Betty for the loss of 2 P-40Bs. An OS2U-3 somehow got involved and shot down. 6 A-20s out of Palmyra attacked BB Fuso and BB Hyuga south of Hawaii but just lost a plane for their trouble. 7 more attempted to attack an AMC and a ML off Kona, but lost one of their number to the CAP of 1 Zekes for no hits. AF damage now stands at 90/64. My division of PT boats hit Lahaina to find the covering force absent (you'll see from the screenie they are heading South West). This was lucky as they are still there today having run out of ops points! They scored three torpedo hits on AP Fukko Maru.

Transports are off Molokai. I am treating it as a potential invasion, but it may be vessels retreating from my PTs. I have moved the planes from Molokai and have dispatched all available subs to mine. A SAG consisting of DDs Tucker, Selfridge, Dewey, Shaw, Cassin and Downes has been sent to stir up trouble. All surface vessels have disband orders to hopefully be safe in harbour by the time Mike's planes come. If I can distract him with surface vessels the AF might recover enough to recommence offensive missions.

CL Raleigh, AVD Swan, DD Helm and Henley are running North. The damaged Phelps and DM Ramsay are going too. It may cause Mike to keep some CVs in the area or lay off bombing the AF.

[goodboyladdie]

47th and 19th Engineers are loading at SF for Luganville and Noumea respectively. I foolishly did not escort AD Dixie and she was sunk in two attacks by I-5, taking a total of 4 torps. ASW tfs are speeding to the area, just off LA. I-2 was attacked by 4 four stackers North of SF, taking 1 hit and 3 near misses. Another ASW group is rushing to join the action in the hopes of finishing her off. Here is a screenie that actually show the HI demands of New Orleans.

[goodboyladdie]

2 AKs arrived at Davao only to be badly hit by 2 raids out of Legaspi. 1 sank. 3 B-24s out of Soerabaya got 1 bomb hit on AK Kenyo Maru at San Fernando, leaving her on fire. PBYs out of Bataan are doing the target spotting for these long range attacks. 329th BS has moved it's B-17Es from Brisbane to Batavia to add more weight to attacks against shipping off Malaya and to provide additional cover for Kuching.

SS 1-154 sank off Tarakan and a small TK succumbed to her injuries at Brunei.

Here is my first decent fighter. It's arriving 02/42 and I'll have nothing better until 1943 as the P-38 is pants in this mod. P-40s do good work with very experienced pilots, but the latter are in very short supply and in this mod will remain so...

[goodboyladdie]

IL-4Cs attempted another raid off Takao. They missed the ship they were attacking, but making Mike wary of moving ships close to China is the point of these raids. Over Canton 3 P-35s and 5 I-153s managed to knock down 4 Sonias out of 45 raiding my troops there. 130 casualties occurred on the ground. HK took 3 raids again: 1 small Ki-48 raid, followed by a large Army/Navy raid and then a nuisance raid from Nates (or Claudes - can't remember!). 36 Kates raided Canton later and one was shot down by the ambush LRCAP mentioned above. I am resting this CAP next turn in case Mike counters it after 2 days of losses. Daily raids from Chungking on Wuhan by SB-2s and Martin 139s have been doing damage. There is a LRCAP of 10 Nates over Wuhan, but it failed to score. My own LRCAP ambush of 4 P-36s knocked down 3 Idas over the same area. Mike is hitting my troops threatening Shanghai hard from the air. I will leave the troops forward until Moral drops too low and then pul back to a more easily defensible line. I just want to appear to be threatening everywhere to try to divert some of Mike's attention to China.

Here is Mike's counter to my Spitfires. It's a license built Bf109-E.

[mlees]

Auto-disbanding of TF's is the very last thing to occur during turn resolution. Your returning TF's will still be vulnerable to air attack as a TF, although the CAP in that hex (Pearl?) should still be available.

[Nemo121]

Couple of points about the Spit vs Ki-109 matchup as one who has had a lot of experience with that matchup in my mod ( using the same performance stats ).
 
1. Ki-109 CANNOT reach your high-flying B-17Es. Sure the B-17s won't achieve anything stunning quickly BUT over time they can just keep putting a couple of 500lbers a turn into docked shipping slowly but surely accumulating damaged APs and AKs.
 
2. The Ki-109 is a potential war-winner for Japan IF you let the Japanese get bases within 2 hexes of your own. Once they have such a base they can swamp you with superior numbers of Ki-109s ( and they can easily build 5 Ki-109s for every Spitfire you get ) so you are going to have to adopt your strategy to avoid letting the Japanese get these fighter bases. I've done it in my game vs Jagdfluger and when I wanted to avoid fighting Ki-109s I was very succesful in doing so. These fighters avail him nothing if he can't fly them to your bases to sweep your planes from the sky AND if you don't send your bombers into the air over their own bases.
 
3. In a 1 on 1 or even 2 on 1 fight with good British pilots the Spitfire will beat the Ki-109s fairly handily. The problem is the Japanese will wear you down with sheer numbers if you stand toe to toe and fight them.
 
 
My best advice would be to adopt the hi-lo mix I'm using as the Allies in my game vs jagdfluger. Sure you lose a lot of P-36s and P-35s etc but the hi portion of the mix usually manages to do very nasty things to the Ki-109s after they use up most of their firing passes on the hapless P-35s and P-36s. I borrowed the idea from Soviet naval doctrine of the 1960s to 80s since I think it would have worked out pretty well in real life ( given what they had available ) and it certainly works well in-game.

[goodboyladdie]

18/12/41

Thanks for the input guys. I will certainly have to watch out for Mikes in large numbers. The need to get the necessary resources is what I am hoping will force Mike to move forces away from PH. However, with the PPs available he can easily free up other troops from China/Russia to carry on.

SS Tambor was hit by a Mavis. She has damage of 2/20 and disbands. SS Cachalot is at 46/82 and also disbands at PH. The DDs only found the damaged AP Fukko Maru at Molokai and finished her off with gunfire. 26 Zekes, 18 Nells and 16 Bettys raided PH. Thet scored 8 runway and 2 airbase hits and damage is 92/49. Only 1 Nell was damaged by the small CAP and 2 P-36s, 1 SBD, 1 0S2U and 1 B-18 were destroyed. 6th Pursuit and 19th pursuit have been withdrawn. Their planes have gone to 78th and 73rd pursuit squadrons respectively. The SBDs are moving back to Molokai.

SS Argonaut is on her way to mine Johnston. She is big and slow and it's a risk, but that seems to be Mike's forward operating base so I need to keep it mined. SS Triton is going to Manila via Takao. PTs are on the way from SF in company with an oiler which will detach North of Hawaii. The screenie shows CVs present at Johnston, but I am guessing it's the covering force, although my A-20s did not fly against it which suggests there is a CAP.

[goodboyladdie]

SB-2s continue to raid the AF at Tavoy unchallenged. A squadron of Vildebeests out of Moulmein is hitting ground troops every day too. There were no succesful anti-shiping strikes today although B-17s were up in good numbers. The B-17E sqn that gave up their planes to allow a B-17D AP unit to re-equip were given the pre-production B-25Cs in exchange for their B-18s at Brisbane. 93rd and 14th BS, with their B-17Ds were transferred to SEAC at Singapore from SWPAC at Soerabaya. ASW groups are hunting subs in the Southern Java Sea and off Johore.

HMAS Canberra is sailing from Brisbane in company with AP Tulagi to join the US Pac Flt at SF. I-165 hit AK Lycaon with elements of RAAF 9 Group HQ on board South of Canberra. The rest of the convoy has increased to full speed, and the damaged ship (61/83/34) is making for Devonport, but is doomed. ASW assets are scrambling from Sydney, but there is a detected sub near Sydney too, so I have had to split my meagre forces.

[goodboyladdie]

An AK out of Panama arrived at New Orleans with 10000 tons of resources, but this is only 2 days supply and the convoys coming from Melbourne are still weeks away. I-5, which killed AD Dixie last turn is near SF now. All available ASW forces are heading for her. I hope she has no torpedoes left because 4 troop convoys are also coming out this turn and I could only afford one escort for each convoy.

Here is a screenie of the CVs due that I forgot to use last turn.

[goodboyladdie]

Here is the current Ace list. I really hope I get a break at PH as I think these guys could do Mike damage if more than a handful of planes could get up.

[goodboyladdie]

I had SigInt that a base force is on an AK moving to Shanghai, so maybe I am forcing Mike to re-inforce?

Mike's Nates are starting to get more effective. I lost a P-36 for 1 Ida over Wuhan. The LRCAP is being reinforced with P-43s (finally ready) and I-153s. There was a heavy Army/Navy raid on HK and HK fell to a deliberate attack at 4 to 1.

Here is a screenie of the Java Sea. China is such a jumble it would be very difficult to show what is actually happening!

[goodboyladdie]

19/12/41

24 Zekes, 11 Nells and 14 Bettys hit PH AF again today. The small CAP downed on Betty and damaged 2 others and a Nell, but US casualties amounted to 1 F4F-3, 1 P-40B, 1 P-36A and a B-18. 8 hits were scored on the runways and damage is now 92/32. 2 Bostons were lost to Zekes in 2 attempted raids on shipping off Kona. USS New Orleans, heavily damaged and only capable of 1/1 is running North from PH with PG Sacramento as escort. I will keep doing this until I get a bite as I need to get my AF up and running again if I am going to hold Hawaii. Here is a screenie. I foolishy replenished my PTs (they had torps so it was pointless) so they were unable to sail. I would have liked them to raid Lahaina again before the Covering Force returns.

Edit: And I really must learn to use Paint.net properly as I keep recolouring arrows when I do not mean to!

[goodboyladdie]

42nd, 41st, 40th and 35th Pursuit Squadrons are loading in SF for Sydney. The mine damaged USS Louisville is sailing with AP Katoomba from Pago Pago for San Francisco.

The KB has turned up heading for Kwajalein. I have subs in the area on minelaying missions so perhaps I will get a lucky hit in?

[goodboyladdie]

I got SigInt that 56th Ind Inf Brigade is planning for Davao. Mike will have to go for the DEI as quickly as possible and I will try to make it slow and expensive as it may distract him from the Central Pacific.

Troops at Clark were hit by 2 raids. 1 P-40B and a B-339 were lost to Zekes over Legaspi in the only raid attempted by my B-17Es. The MSWs Bittern & Finch, fleeing from Bataan with 80 sys damage were sunk by 2 torps from I-157. It is a lucky break as they will regenerate later and it would have cost a bit of supply to repair. Georgetown in Malaya fell, as did Batan Island North of Luzon.

CV Indomitable, with CAs Australia and Cornwall and CL Glasgow sailed for Batavia from Colombo. They will join Force Z there as will an old D Class CL and 4 assorted DDs which left Singapore today.

Here is a screenie for the F4F-3 Wildcat. The -4 will apear in the next post. The -4 is due next month and I'd be interested to know which is better before I swap out all my squadrons.

[goodboyladdie]

In China 10 Nates got the upperhand on my ambush over Wuhan. 2 P-36s and 2 I-153s fell for no loss. I have sttod down the ambush and moved the P-43s to Chungking from where they will mount a sweep once they have rested. The bombers out of Chungking that visit Wuhan every day are increasingly being roughly handled and losses are increasing. IL-4cs were again in action attempting to hit shipping at Singapore. 4 were damaged in tussles with Zekes.

My forces in Wuhan will deliberate attack this turn to try to drive his troops back.

Here is the dash 4 Wildcat for comparison.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

An AK out of Panama arrived at New Orleans with 10000 tons of resources, but this is only 2 days supply and the convoys coming from Melbourne are still weeks away.

Try loading resources at Victoria. Canada base produces a lot. You might be able to concentrate resources for pick up at Victoria base from Vancouver, and from Portland (which is up a river) and the bases near it. Or just load from those bases directly.

[ny59giants]

WOW!! No invasion of Borneo in almost two weeks. Bad for him, but good for you. [:D]  As an Allied player the capture of Kuching usually makes shipping to and from Singapore hazardous.
 
I hope you are enjoying unlearning habits of an Allied player when it comes to running your economy, especially on the West Coast. [:D]   No more just pulling up to the nearest wharf and telling them to fill up all those supplies you want.  I think I was more concerned with getting resouces/oil moving to the right places than fighting the war in the beginning. Add to the fact that you need to try to keep Hawaii.  Look at it this way, when AE comes out, IMO you will be way ahead on the learning curve as an Allied player. [;)]

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

An AK out of Panama arrived at New Orleans with 10000 tons of resources, but this is only 2 days supply and the convoys coming from Melbourne are still weeks away.

Try loading resources at Victoria. Canada base produces a lot. You might be able to concentrate resources for pick up at Victoria base from Vancouver, and from Portland (which is up a river) and the bases near it. Or just load from those bases directly.

Thanks for the tip mate. I need all the help I can get sorting out the economy. I will get moving on this next turn.

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

WOW!! No invasion of Borneo in almost two weeks. Bad for him, but good for you. [:D]  As an Allied player the capture of Kuching usually makes shipping to and from Singapore hazardous.

I hope you are enjoying unlearning habits of an Allied player when it comes to running your economy, especially on the West Coast. [:D]   No more just pulling up to the nearest wharf and telling them to fill up all those supplies you want.  I think I was more concerned with getting resouces/oil moving to the right places than fighting the war in the beginning. Add to the fact that you need to try to keep Hawaii.  Look at it this way, when AE comes out, IMO you will be way ahead on the learning curve as an Allied player. [;)]

Hi the other Michael

This was the one benefit of all the re-starts. Anywhere I managed to lay some hurt on him he has made errors. He did not want to land on Borneo without CV support after last time, but really wanted to try for a bigger punch at PH. He used his CVEs aggressively to try to make up for all his CV/CVLs being involved in the Central Pacific and he learned the same lesson us AFBs learn the hard way - Never send a CVE to do a CVs job! His subs are being a pain in the arse, but not quite as much as in the other starts.

Running the economy is a headache, but interesting. I do not seem to have enough of anything anywhere...

[witpqs]

Oh, some of the bases along the shipping channels have resources too.