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Feb 25, 1943

INDIA: The allies attack and, boy, they hit hard. Catching me off guard, Erik goes for Tricomalae as soon as the KB-1 moves south. The forces used for this air operation are really scaring... several hundreds of fighters and bombers...and the coordination...Boy, Obvert knows his stuff, that's for sure. It was a perfect operation for the allies. First the sweeps+LRCAP...lots of them! Then the escorted 4Es to hit the fields...and then, in the afternoon, the escorted DBs against my ships... hat's off to him!
Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 27
A6M5c Zero x 25
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 42
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 36

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 10
F4F-4 Wildcat x 69

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
30 x F4F-4 Wildcat sweeping at 25000 feet

CAP engaged:
582 Ku S-1 with A6M3 Zero (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 16 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 24000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
Chitose-1 with A6M5c Zero (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 17 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 32000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
4th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 22 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 22000 and 30000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 37 minutes
77th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 25 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 22
A6M5c Zero x 20
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 37
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 33

Allied aircraft
P-43A-1 Lancer x 11
Hurricane IIc Trop x 15
Kittyhawk I x 10
P-39D Airacobra x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-43A-1 Lancer: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 1 destroyed



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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 21
A6M5c Zero x 17
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 34
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 27

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 4
F4U-1 Corsair x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed

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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 30,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 20
A6M5c Zero x 12
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 20
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 23

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 2
F4U-1 Corsair x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 3 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed



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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 13
A6M5c Zero x 6
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 15
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 19

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 2
Kittyhawk III x 16
P-38G Lightning x 22
P-39D Airacobra x 4
P-400 Airacobra x 25
P-40K Warhawk x 72

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed
P-400 Airacobra: 1 destroyed



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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
A6M5c Zero x 5
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 13
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 14

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 18
Kittyhawk I x 17
LB-30 Liberator x 3
B-24D Liberator x 24
P-39D Airacobra x 4
P-40K Warhawk x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M5c Zero: 2 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 31


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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 7
A6M5c Zero x 3
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 10
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 14

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 6
Kittyhawk I x 1
P-40E Warhawk x 25
P-40K Warhawk x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 3 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
P-40K Warhawk: 2 destroyed

Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Liberator II bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb


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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 6
A6M5c Zero x 2
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 3
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 6
P-39D Airacobra x 4
P-40K Warhawk x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 2

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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
A6M5c Zero x 1
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 2
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 2

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 1
B-24D Liberator x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 7

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Trincomalee at 31,47

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
A6M5c Zero x 2
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 5
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4

Allied aircraft
Vengeance I x 4
Kittyhawk I x 4
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Vengeance I: 1 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Kamoi Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAK Tokyo Maru
PC Nire, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Shinryu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Natisan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
APD Aoi, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage


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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Trincomalee at 31,47

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 3
A6M5c Zero x 1
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 5
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4

Allied aircraft
Vengeance I x 44
P-39D Airacobra x 6
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Vengeance I: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Kazuura Maru, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Matsue Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AKE Genoa Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Ceylon Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Yosida Maru #3, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Nansin Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Chicago Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Meisan Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Sugiyama Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Teisin Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Syokyu Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Koyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Genzan Maru, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage


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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Trincomalee at 31,47

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 2
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
Vengeance I x 14

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Vengeance I: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Momoyama Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Utide Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Hakodate Maru, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage


Can't really blame my guys...they did wonders considering the odds... the first crapload waves of fighters (how many F4F does he have!?) managed to put most of my air groups off duty so when the bombers arrived my planes were too fatigued, damaged or scattered among the skies to really be able to interdict the bombers... and the results are bad: the base is almost closed, we've lost a whole fleet of supplies (nearly 30K supplies lost along with the ships) and we've almost lost the control of the skies..


Then, near Esperance, we've had a better look at the enemy's landing force... [X(].... almost the whole pacific fleet seems to be there!...but no CVs... seems like they're just CVEs....mmmmmm......


The only good news of the day comes from the road to Kunming...


Ground combat at 72,47 (near Kweiyang)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 14339 troops, 245 guns, 484 vehicles, Assault Value = 493

Defending force 15656 troops, 99 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 246

Japanese adjusted assault: 449

Allied adjusted defense: 217

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
283 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3198 casualties reported
Squads: 147 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 129 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 8 (5 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Guards Tank Division
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
10th Chinese Corps
34th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
35th Group Army

Esperance Invasion....[X(]

wow GJ,
looks like you just suffered a perfect 'non-storm' at Trinco, where the weather was clear at bases & targets, & his sweeping fighters arrived in front of his escorted bombers. Your guys did well enough against his fighter sweeps, but got used up by the near-perfect co-ordination of enemy air-power. The shipping damages look awful, especially the hits on your AKEs.
I'm fairly amazed by the attack-sequence, where your base airfield got hit in the morning by 4Es, then your shipping got hit in the afternoon by DBs. obvert took great care in organizing this strike, & got his attacks in proper sequence.

ORIGINAL: jmalter

wow GJ,
looks like you just suffered a perfect 'non-storm' at Trinco, where the weather was clear at bases & targets, & his sweeping fighters arrived in front of his escorted bombers. Your guys did well enough against his fighter sweeps, but got used up by the near-perfect co-ordination of enemy air-power. The shipping damages look awful, especially the hits on your AKEs.
I'm fairly amazed by the attack-sequence, where your base airfield got hit in the morning by 4Es, then your shipping got hit in the afternoon by DBs. obvert took great care in organizing this strike, & got his attacks in proper sequence.

Yup, he had the perfect air operation day. Everything went smooth. Coordination, weather, results. Hat's off to Erik for this one!!!!

Yep, Obvert crafted a beautiful operation. Rare for the date but as the war progresses it becomes very hard to defend against this sort of thing. A warning to you JFBs out there...[;)]

GJ, did you really leave five AKEs sitting in easy strike range.[:-]

Feb 27, 43

Yes Mr.Sutton...my fault[:D] I need those AKEs there to supply my SAGs... will try a different approach soon.

Anyway, Trico seems to be safe for the moment. A second day didn't come even if we brought in the KB to support the base. Now a brand new CAP is already present and the fields are repairing fast.

The allies land at Esperance and my LBA didn't attack I had 210 between Kates and Betties escorted by 130 fighters at Perth...and none of them took off (((

Oh well, nothing i can do now... time to abbandon western Oz and get back to a more defendable perimeter. The allies landed 37,000 units...at least 2 AUS divisions...

In China we're moving nicely. Hope to start the attacks at Changsha by the next week or so.


At Madras another bombardment by the allies doesn't do much except for burning 700 supplies of mine.


RnD: J2M2 is online but don't have a sentai that gets it untill september 43 [:o]
First sentai of KI-61b is operative...
A6M8 and KI-43 IV are movingalong nicely

What just happened at Trico teaught (sp?!) me something: i tought Erik woulnd't risk a Naval attack mission when there was the risk of an uncoordinated attack... well, apparently he took the risk and he was right. Need to be much more carefull now that we are in1943.... carefull at Rabaul...carefull in the Marshalls... less lazy above all.

So now in few days/weeks he'll be at Perth. Once Perth is conquered another whole front is gonna get active (Northern Oz). Gotta speed up the reinforcement of Western Java and Timor.... Planes are gathering to Port Hedland which now will be my main base in the area. Exmouth will be the border of my Empire...and soon blood will spill over there, am sure of that

You can do this too. Just break your fighter units into A/B/C. The game will assign them temporary low IDs. Then set A/B/C to Sweep and they will almost always sweep before bomber missions. Seems the code prioritise units with low IDs when forming air raids.

Ouch on the AKE's. you can use Colombo to arm the BB's can't you? Definitely going to put a dent in your naval bombardments. How many more of those things do you have and how many do you get?

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

What just happened at Trico teaught (sp?!) me something: i tought Erik woulnd't risk a Naval attack mission when there was the risk of an uncoordinated attack... well, apparently he took the risk and he was right. Need to be much more carefull now that we are in1943.... carefull at Rabaul...carefull in the Marshalls... less lazy above all.

So now in few days/weeks he'll be at Perth. Once Perth is conquered another whole front is gonna get active (Northern Oz). Gotta speed up the reinforcement of Western Java and Timor.... Planes are gathering to Port Hedland which now will be my main base in the area. Exmouth will be the border of my Empire...and soon blood will spill over there, am sure of that

Discovering that 2nd line bases aren't safe anymore.. happens to all japanese players in all games. C'est la vie ! It just happens earlier in a PDU-off game than in PDU-on, because well harder to fend off all those planes with A6M5s and Ki43s. in a pdu on game, Georges and Tojos would have exacted a higher toll. But it is part of the increased realism of Pdu-off anyway !

Feb 28-March 2, 1943


INDIA: 32 Corsairs, 25 P-40Ks and 28 P-38s sweep Colombo. 27 A6M3, 30 KI-43 IIIa and 50 KI-45a takes off to meet them. It's a slaughter. 35 planes lost against his 4...ouch[X(]. In the meanwhile 200 allied bombers pound Dambullah and, at night, the 4Es pound the port of Tricomale and drop mines at Diamond Harbour, Madras and Trico. My ability to defend Ceylon has been overestimated I guess.
Now the dilemma: I am trying to defend 3 bases (Madras, Trico and Colombo) and simply don't have enough planes for all of them. What shall I do?
In april he's gonna get the F6Fs and that could mean a total superiority. I am considering the idea of abandoning the whole area and get back to Burma.
Madras can't be defended without Ceylon and Ceylon risks to become a HUGE trap having lost the rest of India...
At the same time, without Ceylon I cannot defend Assam properly...
The allies will become a lot stronger in the next 3/6 months and I don't wanna let a whole army rot there...

Should I abandon everything now that I am still in time to do that?


OZ: we've successfully evacuated what we needed to Exmouth-Port Hedland. I consider the new perimeter a lot more solid... hopefully.

CHINA: the good news come from here. We've conquered another hex on the road to Kunming. We've found the perfect combination for the 20K SL hexes (4 artillery units, 1 Tank division and 1 Mixed Bde). If I can get to Kunming earlier than foreseen I may be able to abandon India sooner than expected...by the time the allies are back to Ledo I may have connected China with Burma....

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

ORIGINAL: veji1

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

What just happened at Trico teaught (sp?!) me something: i tought Erik woulnd't risk a Naval attack mission when there was the risk of an uncoordinated attack... well, apparently he took the risk and he was right. Need to be much more carefull now that we are in1943.... carefull at Rabaul...carefull in the Marshalls... less lazy above all.

So now in few days/weeks he'll be at Perth. Once Perth is conquered another whole front is gonna get active (Northern Oz). Gotta speed up the reinforcement of Western Java and Timor.... Planes are gathering to Port Hedland which now will be my main base in the area. Exmouth will be the border of my Empire...and soon blood will spill over there, am sure of that

Discovering that 2nd line bases aren't safe anymore.. happens to all japanese players in all games. C'est la vie ! It just happens earlier in a PDU-off game than in PDU-on, because well harder to fend off all those planes with A6M5s and Ki43s. in a pdu on game, Georges and Tojos would have exacted a higher toll. But it is part of the increased realism of Pdu-off anyway !

So true [:D]

To be honest, PDU OFF game, now that we're playing into 1943, is much more fun! Too easy to simply have hordes of Georges and Tojos... and I love to be forced to use planes like the Ki-45 or to get the best out of the KI-43... Won't play PDU ON ever again I guess

Situation as of 2/43 for you is the American bomber fleet will get stronger as the B-24D1 come out at 48/mo, B25D1 at 30/mo (first attack bomber), and the USN PV-1 at 28/mo. You mentioned the Hellcat, but it will take Obvert about three months to get the CVs done.

On the ground, the AMF Inf 43 (Aussie) start to come out at 35/mo with their Anti-Armor going from 15 to 75 while the Anti-Soft goes from 18 to 20. The Indian Rifle '43 comes out with same stats as Aussie in 3/43 at 60/mo. So, by 5/43 Obvert should be to rotate his Indian divisions back to a base to divide and upgrade his rifle squads. I'm in mid-44, so I don't remember when the Indian divisions upgrade to include more combat engineers. General Grant out in 4/43 and Ind Cmbt Eng 43 in 6/43.

I know you have played Allies and are aware of this. So, I point this out to give you a sense of when you must decide. IMO, you have about 2 to 3 months before your position in Ceylon and Madras will get very difficult to hold onto.

Yeah I would probably prepare for an april evacuation in Madras and June in Ceylon, but it is always hard to know. They key being that if you end up losing 100 000 troops there, well it sucks but it isn't that bad. If you end up losing 1000s of good pilots and some precious ships either at the bottom of the ocean or needing long repairs, well this sucks a lot more.

Uhm....Micheal, i really do not fear the upgraded allied 1943 squads. My concerns is the control of the skies/seas. Once i lose the air, everything is lost.
my troopers can stand in Madras (and i am sure they will) untill i can control the skies.
But that's the real point: can i control the skies of Madras if i lose the skies of Ceylon?
Can I control both with what i have now?
Don't really know, but i doubt i can control both of them.

Need to plan now. An evacuation of 150,000 men isn't exactly an easy task... Don't even know if i have the ships to do that all at once...

For the moment i'm sending the best escorts i have to Singapore (all the new and upgraded "E" classes...well, in DBB they aren't much anyway but still...) and the best AK/LSD,xAPs i have. Then i'll think about it.

I also need to decide where i want to draw the line in the send for the next 6/9 months and plan accordingly

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Uhm....Micheal, i really do not fear the upgraded allied 1943 squads. My concerns is the control of the skies/seas. Once i lose the air, everything is lost.
my troopers can stand in Madras (and i am sure they will) untill i can control the skies.
But that's the real point: can i control the skies of Madras if i lose the skies of Ceylon?
Can I control both with what i have now?
Don't really know, but i doubt i can control both of them.

Need to plan now. An evacuation of 150,000 men isn't exactly an easy task... Don't even know if i have the ships to do that all at once...

For the moment i'm sending the best escorts i have to Singapore (all the new and upgraded "E" classes...well, in DBB they aren't much anyway but still...) and the best AK/LSD,xAPs i have. Then i'll think about it.

I also need to decide where i want to draw the line in the send for the next 6/9 months and plan accordingly

You probably can't do it all at once, it's about evacuating the troops and planes you need to keep, and leaving behind what cannot be saved. To me the important goal in that area is that you do not want him in Burma before 1/44, nor obviously in the DEI. The next 9/10 months are about slowing him down long enough so that in 44 you can give ground progressively.

The big difference between PDU on and off will start to be felt in as much as the Allied LBA is a lot harder to contain because you don't have good enough frames in big enough quantity. Whereas in PDU on when defending your festungs your planes and pilot quality are excellent (good planes, few pilot losses because fighting on your turf) and really make it too expensive for the allies, in pdu off you will get ground down. Allied bombers will rule the sky, like it was in WITP before AE became too fighter centric (in my book).

You can overstack one base with AA guns. 5 guns per 1 plane, thus 30 aircraft raid has to be met by 150 AA guns. It will disrupt the raid and damage the bombers.

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy


CHINA: the good news come from here. We've conquered another hex on the road to Kunming. We've found the perfect combination for the 20K SL hexes (4 artillery units, 1 Tank division and 1 Mixed Bde). If I can get to Kunming earlier than foreseen I may be able to abandon India sooner than expected...by the time the allies are back to Ledo I may have connected China with Burma....

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

This mirrors my own experience. Stacking limits do not work for the Allied player in China. Low or no supply means a 1-1 attack with good bomber support prior will crack a hex in one or two turns. Japanese players are refining their tactics over the years. You need not even invade India as a strong enough air presence to cut off air transport to China means China will starve. It is difficult at first but if you are willing to keep attacking and burning Chinese supply China will collapse. I thought SL and my second campaign vs Ark would actually be a boon to me in China but in fact his own gain in experience allows for a dynamic that no amount of experience can rectify. No supply means no options. The total elimination of China should be an objective of every Japanese player. It takes time and skill but is not difficult to do using the right formula. Not difficult at all.

I would not fully abandon Ceylon but I would pull back most of the base units and engineers. I think it's pretty clear it's not useful of a base to you anymore. However, the Allies still need to force a landing there and from Erik's perspective it is not trivial. It's going to take time to prepare the OP and clean up the island. What you need to do is prepare strong defenses in 3x terrain backed by good forts somewhere on the island, probably Trincolomee. Ya those troops will be doomed but again you can always rebuild what you lose. I think a corner for you will turn when you start pulling Japanese units out from China and deploy them overseas but that is still a number of months away. Your goal needs to be to keep Erik as far away from the weak points of the Empire (e.g. DEI) until that happens.

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
Sian should be doable even in the end of 1943, while Lanchow i think it's a lost cause. Too many good terrain hexes where he has digged in for ages now...

Why do you think Lanchow is a lost cause? Typically the Allies will not defend Lanchow in strength because it is far from the front lines. While it is theoretically possible it is stacked to the brim with Chinese, I find that is far more likely that the Chinese are deployed at the current front lines. I also think that with Lanchow being isolated for some time with severely degrade the condition of the Chinese defenders by the time you get around to attacking the base.

Also, as far as your positioning argument goes I think it's basically equivalent to my argument about why to attack the Kunming mountain areas. Also, for this attack I think it may be wise to advance along the dirt road from Chengtu SW through the mountains. I have a feeling that your guys may get bottled up advancing directly on Kunming while that dirt road is nicely placed to completely outflank Kunming and can cut the Chinese mountain position in half. It's definitely a long slow march but your current attack toward Kunming is going to be on a steadily decreasing front in 3x terrain so it's probably the most prudent measure.