Rob vs. 2ndACR .. Divine intervention needed NIK mod 5.2

[Nikademus]

havn't messed with them. (I need to get an addena thread going to keep track of all this) I'm showing per Shores Beaufighters arrived for RAF in India 12/42

[aztez]

I didn't realize that you were sharing this AAR [:)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Nor did I Aztez [;)]

Anyway i trust him not to read anything too sensitive [:D]


Been a quiet few days , slow turns and not much action.

Quick update and some good news too.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/22/42

Japan has a TF permantly hitting pakhoi .. lets see what SB2's can do on anti naval ops.

Naval bombardment of Pakhoi, at 39,39

Japanese Ships
DD Tomozuru
DD Hatsukari
DD Manazuru
DD Chidori
DD Samidare
CL Kuma
CL Naka


Allied ground losses:
43 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 9
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

I would like to get some TB's here but im sent them all to the DEI ..

I have a whopping transport TF with CV Hornet on ASW escort. I am also vectoring in my ASW and Replensishment group ( AO+DD followed by 5 DD's on ASW. can stay on station for a long time )

Damaged a jap sub and spotted about 4 more nearby

ASW attack at 140,58

Japanese Ships
SS I-24, hits 6

Allied Ships
AK Sage Brush
AK Shooting Star
AK Sawokla
AK American Builder
AK Mexican
MSW Kingfisher
AVD Gillis
AVD McFarland
APD Gregory
DD Fox
DD Monaghan
DD Dale
DD Worden
DD MacDonough
DD Hull
DD Dewey


He's hitting singapore hard from the air but losses must hurt

Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 27
Ki-48 Lily x 20
Ki-49 Helen x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48 Lily: 5 destroyed, 10 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 16 damaged


Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 15

He;s finally doing something about all my small oil stealing TK's in the south DEI

Day Air attack on TF, near Amboina at 39,73

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
G4M1 Betty x 17

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
TK Empire Celt, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage


Operation 'nick the oil' will go on hold permanetly .. Hurricanes cant stop zeros yet.

I've lost count of the oil and supply 'liberated' from amboina/sarong/kendari.

hehe Kendari is almost supply empty and has supplied a lot to Timor and Darwin.

the re-supply of andaman is was halted abruptly too. :-

Day Air attack on TF, near Andaman Island at 23,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
G3M Nell x 16

Allied aircraft
P-35A x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-35A: 6 destroyed

Allied Ships
AK Delawarean, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

she was almost fully unloaded so no major loss.

fighters will stand down then go back home to upgrade to P39's ( starting to get quite a lot of these ).

Now the really good news :-

oops deleted the ground combat report on manilla ..

summary

forts held at lvl 3

japan lost 3,500 men
i lost about 800.

excellent news

Japan also tried to punch toward wuchow .. i had heavily reinforced this forest hex and his bombing has been largely ineffectual

Ground combat at 43,40

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 151496 troops, 1810 guns, 29 vehicles

Defending force 130371 troops, 945 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
3398 casualties reported
Guns lost 143
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
1283 casualties reported
Guns lost 29

Nice !

He is also trying to open up the supply line to Nanning.

Blew past my border patrols

Ground combat at 38,37

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6998 troops, 80 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 644 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 164 to 1



Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

and even more jap troops spotted in N vietnam.


He must have brought in some burma troops for this as his Div (21st?) that started in hanoi is now near canton. I cannot take nanning but im happy to besiege it . again not sending any more men down here as its a real back water.

well thats it really ..

Norpac

All troops in anchorage for rest and refit . plenty of disabled stuff needs mending before i build up the aleutian chain.

Centpac

Finally got fuel to midway .. troops will be next

heavy mining ops for midway/johnson/french frigate/palmyra/christmas is.

SouthPAC

Canton now a main depostisory for a lot of 'stuff' bombers operational and excess AV support heading to noumea. more troops coming in 3-4 days. 2xRCT .. might move one to baker is.

SW Pac ..

dead quiet .. SW Pac hq now in noumea with NZ beigade and 1 BF .. not much really .2ns USMC heading to aukland before going north with better escorts.

Australia

4 CV's now in sydney .. fuel is in real shortage along the entite east coast. I'll ship some reound from Perth and plenty on the way from america ( still 1 month away)

Now what to do with the CV's ?? round to derby ? or upto townsville ? I dont expect him to operate with out heavy CV support so i need te be within LBA to help balance the scales. Timor/Derby defence is tempting .. as I am really beefing up Timor .. I'll do a full rundown next post.

Well thats a bout it really ..

bye

[KDonovan]

.. lets see what SB2's can do on anti naval ops.

these babies make great anti-naval weapons, as those 250kg (550lbs) bombs they carry can really put a hurt on ships, unlike those dinky 250lbs bombs Hudons carry. Too bad its hard to get them in range of any type of shipping, as i think moving those planes out of China is gamey IMO. In my last PBEM game i was able to suprise Miller with SB2's out of Nanning, and really put a dent on quite a few ships in the area. So good move.

Now what to do with the CV's ??

tough question, one with many answers. Where/When was your last KB sighting? Personally i think Brisbane/Townsville area, sounds like a death trap, as you are walled in by the Australian land mass, and its hard to get good catalina coverage, east of those australian bases. Unless you had massive AA support, then it would be allright. I think over near Derby, or staying in the SOPAC is your best bet.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: KDonovan

.. lets see what SB2's can do on anti naval ops.

these babies make great anti-naval weapons, as those 250kg (550lbs) bombs they carry can really put a hurt on ships, unlike those dinky 250lbs bombs Hudons carry. Too bad its hard to get them in range of any type of shipping, as i think moving those planes out of China is gamey IMO. In my last PBEM game i was able to suprise Miller with SB2's out of Nanning, and really put a dent on quite a few ships in the area. So good move.

Now what to do with the CV's ??

tough question, one with many answers. Where/When was your last KB sighting? Personally i think Brisbane/Townsville area, sounds like a death trap, as you are walled in by the Australian land mass, and its hard to get good catalina coverage, east of those australian bases. Unless you had massive AA support, then it would be allright. I think over near Derby, or staying in the SOPAC is your best bet.

Thank you for your reply

1) my sb's attacked in numbers and all missed [:@].. but i bet it was a suprise at least .. stand down for a few days when he get bored of LR cap missons .. i am slowly getting his measure

2) CV's .. townsville has very bad air cover untill i get some AV regiments in from america . some are heading to brisbane as we speak .. but a/c numbers are concentrated in north australia. timor is looking more attractive all the time. 64 b6B's from canton went to suva .. then noumea then brisane then darwin .. should bolster bomber defence here a lot. i like the B variety as they can realy gun down interceptors [:D]

[aztez]

Why on earth is your opponent naval bombing Pakhoi? [&:] I would think the job could be done with his airforce.

That's is nice amount of LBA bombers near Timor. Hopefully he becomes careless and you can suprise his CV's there. [:D]

Just be careful with your CV's since they are too valuable to be lost at this point in time.

[Rob Brennan UK]

SO instead of attacking the ships I did a wee LR CAP mission that worked very very well [:D]

Day Air attack on 4th Chinese Corps, at 43,40

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 19

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 38

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 7 damaged


Allied ground losses:
67 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Day Air attack on 46th Chinese Corps, at 43,40

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 6
Ki-51 Sonia x 25
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 38

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-51 Sonia: 6 destroyed, 7 damaged MUCH better

Nik mod has made bombers a lot more resilient but the 1E ones are still vulnerable

And as for how not to conduct a fighter strafing mission over a major base read on :-

Day Air attack on Mandalay , at 33,30

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 108
G3M Nell x 24
Ki-46-II Dinah x 3

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed, 28 damaged BLIMEY
G3M Nell: 2 destroyed, 12 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb: 6 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
CW-22 Falcon: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 26

Bear in mind i had 0 CAP .. as his recent sweeps would have been deadly to me. I do have a LOT of damage a/c to get oun now .. time to ecav mandalay untill i can at least match him in numbers.

Balikpapan airfield also got plastered for the 1st time today . CAP was brushed aside but a/c losses on the ground were minimal

Day Air attack on Balikpapan , at 31,64

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
D3A Val x 17
B5N Kate x 21
G4M1 Betty x 13
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 14

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 2 destroyed, 10 damaged
B5N Kate: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 15

Day Air attack on Balikpapan , at 31,64

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
G4M1 Betty x 35

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 8 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 5 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 3

My Long Range idea for an ASW group ..It's actually working

ASW attack at 139,64

Japanese Ships
SS I-22, hits 4, on fire ONE direct hit too

Allied Ships
DD Allen
DD Patterson
DD Henley
DD Blue
DD Bagley


Will try 1 more intercept then back to the AO for a top up[:D].. unless he sinks the AO in the meantime [;)]

screenshot .. heres whats in Canton right now .. more unloading right now too

[Nikademus]

The much beloved fighter straffing tactics the Japanese used will certainly cost them in blood if they try that at the wrong base.

Canton - Yikes. Thats alot of units in one place. I take it you discussed the issue of superstacking AA units prior to starting the game?

[Rob Brennan UK]

No we never discussed it at all .. i'll ask him about it in the next mail. and that was a fast reply nik [:D]. Thnaks for reading.

We generally agreed to not be too gamey .. and i have self imposed restrictions that have been posted before .. stacking never came up .. it's really just a hub to spread the love across the south pac . most troops will rotate out pretty soon.

[Nikademus]

bored at work....must take er....'stress breaks' between stretches. increases productivity.
[:D]

ok...just wondering. There was a reason i cautioned about AA stacking in the FAQ. [;)] As with anything, there can be too much of a good thing. Still, its not like there are not counters. There are only so many AA units to go around so if a player puts them all in one place (or a large majority) that leaves a bunch of other areas underdefended. Still...given the limitations on DB's and such, its probably a good idea to discuss before doing to prevent ill feelings.

[Rob Brennan UK]

yes , good call .. AA overstacking might be a problem. We will talk about it .. but allies don't get much AA units anyway. and i've definately ear marked 2 for noumea. maybe 1 to NE australia too.

[Nikademus]

A couple AA units + ENG support will definately make life tougher for the Japan player while he has those unarmored 2E bombers. They may make great anti-ship platforms (the naval ones at least) but they are fairly anemic at suppressing airbases that have good defenses (which force them to bomb higher which in turn further reduces their hit rates) Japan of course has to deal with much tougher 2E's and 4E's and will have to carefully dole out her limited number of AA units.

[Rob Brennan UK]

We have agreed to max 3 AA units in any one place for now ( can change if its unbalancing)

We are also discussing max Atoll strength. i.e 1 regiment + 2-3 support units .. but nothing yet agreed. Also how much can an attacker have at any one atoll too. sticky situation.

Either way Canton is way too small for all i have there. moved out 2 AA to suva . so not AA overstacked at least.

Well its 1st of March 1942

and Winnie rang up to say he wants 1BB and 2DD's back .. thats fine .. B resulution ( i think) sent home . she didnt sven have a walrus plane group for heavens sake. also 1 P class DD reluctantly released. DD Vampire at batavia has new orders to head back too ( cos she's S^%t ) . The remaining brit DD's are pretty good imo . Great ASW .. I'll have to trawl through whats in N australia and Timor next turn .. see if there any more duffers i can send back in anticipation of Winnies monthly calls [;)].

Quiet day really ..

Balikpapan is getting trashed .. shot down 2 nells as a bonus here though .. and 2 jap units 1 hex away ( at least 1 brigade sized unit) i'll stand and try to fight with fort 4's ) several damaged AK's in port though. A/f moved out .. only 4 more beauforts to evac.

Also manilla is doing well !

Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 110203 troops, 961 guns, 160 vehicles

Defending force 92222 troops, 627 guns, 213 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)


Japanese ground losses:
1604 casualties reported EXCELLENT
Guns lost 106
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
145 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

assault value here is 1648 .. pretty damn good imo .. supply is down to 5.5 k .. not a hope in hell of geting more in too. I'll be lucky if she lasts a month.

Singapore is not too bad with AV - 723. but the troops that got clobbered twice are in real bad shape 21-39 % strenrgh. fort 7 still holding though. and the dutch a/f is ferrying in supply (not much) daily with no interferance from japan yet.

Well as its the start of a month .. kill tally !

February saw few losses .. but they definately favoured the allies

2 Jap DD's
2 Jap subs
5 jap AP's
1 Jap AK
1 jap TK

for

4 allied AK's
5 allied TK's

I'll do a quick air loss one tomorrow. I havt fallen to any major jap suprise sweeps .. and few of my LR cap patrols have been favourable.

One more thing .. high praise for the latest Nik Mod Brit CV changes .. i love the new a/c . martlet 2. and the air wings seem bigger too .. at least arriving at full str [:D]. and i live new toys to play with. although i am unsure what to do with the new RN arrivals ..

2CV 3BB etc .. either at or heading to colombo ..

Stay in the indian ocean ? probably .. he's almost certainly got ambitions for andaman is. at the least.

Force Z still in batavia

Hermes in Derby

BB ?? slow R class . in koepang (timor)

also now have 1xBB deployed at canton and suva .. with DD's escort .. as a wee precaution for careless landings nearby. ( although i dont think for one minute he;s careless ).

bye bye

[aztez]

It is odd that he hasn't yet started any offensives in DEI yet.

Oh, can you post screenshot from China? ....or has there been any changes there since last screenshot.

What is the point score at the moment too? [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

china screenie as requested :-

as you can see , just some mucking about on the vietnam border ..

It is very slow right now. I suspect he wanted to sweep up the PI or singapore before adventuring into the DEI. He's a cautious player who comes in overwhelming force where possible. He must be massing troops in china somewhere too. unless he's saving supply.

side note .. RCT heading from canton to Pago .. just a precaution. im toying with sending one to baker is. but tarawa is now size 4 af .. so very risky and probably not worth it.

AA and another BF unloading at noumea too. ( still very weak here)

3rd march was only noticable as singapore held again ( supply here is slowly increasing so i have turned on the fort building again)

Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 82336 troops, 574 guns, 9 vehicles

Defending force 65196 troops, 287 guns, 20 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7)


Japanese ground losses:
1031 casualties reported
Guns lost 24
Vehicles lost 3

Allied ground losses:
168 casualties reported
Guns lost 14

[aztez]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

china screenie as requested :-

Not much has happened in China by the looks of things! [&:][:D] I wonder why he hasn't made any serious assaults there or do you have somekind of an houserule.

[Rob Brennan UK]

nope no house rule in china .. i'm as suprised as you are to be honest. Niks level 9 forts have made him pause i suspect and amass a huge army somewhere .. hence im not comitting anything to the backwater on the vietnam border.

[aztez]

I would assume his massing his troops somewhere in China or just a thought maybe the target would be Russia [&:]

[Nikademus]

If he's considering an offensive, he'll need one massive army. I'm far from the game's best land general (actually in all honesty i think i suck at this particular aspect....i'm far too cautious) but from head to heads i've run, any simotanious offensives in China under the mod are likely to fail....and fail hard

[aztez]

So, I would take that he would make a single massive thrust somewhere. If I where him I would try an split the allied forces in two! (I'am no ground combat expert either)

Well, I will try this Nik's mod when I get enough freetime to start a new campaign since what I read in this forum it will make this great game even better [:)]