Gutted - Hartwig (Allied) vs Nemo (Japan)

[modrow]

Ok, here's what I think the solution would have been. At least this assumption may justify Nemo's actions in my opinion.



You need to be aware of the fact that it is still possible to walk through a base. I am quite sure that at least if the hex east of Lucknow would be under Allied control, this would be possible (Nemo did it at Madras) and think the same holds for an uncontrolled hex. Therefore, the Lucknow position is much weaker for Nemo than it may appear at first sight, specifically as the Allied unit at Benares may also change the control of the hex NW of said location.

I was not aware of it, but always thought I would need to push through Lucknow, taking the base.

To be continued...

[modrow]

Ok, now here's what Nemo actually did...



I tried to group the different operations using the numbers 1-5, which does not necessarily correspond to a sequence on a timeline.

1 represents the push of the 14th Tank regiment. It took Cawnpore and moved on to Agra (both must be taken to make sure a walk through Cawnpore followed by a later crossing at Patna is blocked). The tank units are quite formidable (more evidence see below), a single Indian brigade seems to be no match for them, even if it is still in relatively good shape (which most of my units in India are not).

2 - well, Nemo pushed a division into Delhi quite quickly - I think by June 4th or so it entered the town. Which was truly bad, because ever since I seem not to be able to get a unit out of that hex any more. Movement orders are reset on a regular basis... Also, I lack the strength to push him out. Some of the units at Delhi have proud names (like a UK division), but they are essentially out of Morale and just a shoadow of their former self.

3 - this was a little surprise which actually was not needed by Nemo. But I sure was astonished to see that unit materialize two hexes west of Cawnpore all of a sudden... If someone can come up with the move this was supposed to block, I'd be interested to know...

4 - well, this is the race of the 4th Tank Brigade, which took Benares and then closed the walkthrough-loophole near Lucknow for good. As you will see when I talk about my movements, it is now back in the hex next to Patna in order to cut off some LCUs.

5 - this represents moves that occured only during the last two turns or so. Nemo gets ready to take Asansol. Nothing to be done against that...

To be continued...

[modrow]

Ok, now the last post of this series. I think one of the possible indicators whether there is a good commander or a bad commander at work is the clarity and simplicity of the operations. Nemo is a good commander. A view on the moves I did will show you that this does not hold for me... [8|]



As you know from my previous statements, I was always convinced that it is necessary to fight through Lucknow. My idea was to accumulate AV from the south to enable me to perform that task with a reasonable chance of success and then converging to Lucknow with a pincer from the south (probably via Benares) and a second one from the North, using LCUs from Delhi.

Not knowing what Nemo had in the North, I went for a feint (sp ?), seemingly threatening Jaipur, which was only defended by a single unit which looked weak according to cursor intel. this is what the 1 represents. It worked - but not well enough (probably because I could not really muster enough units to let the stack look sufficiently big given the time frame I had, thus that stack was never bigger than 3 units). Of course, it had to move back to Agra and did so piecemeal to make things worse. 14th Tanks threw back the last of the units to the east across the river, as - and that was the main problem - Nemo had continued to move at least one of the 3 LCUs to the east and inserted a division into Delhi, which, as mentioned above, I lacked the force to expell from day 1. Said unit was moved back to Delhi to serve as garrison there, as it is quite wrecked. This is what number 3 represents.

Also, I moved LCUs in the Delhi region around a bit to create a more diffuse picture of what I was trying to do, including the attempt to simulate a go at a reinforcement of Calcutta or a direct attack on Lucknow (2).

Formation of the southern pincer seemed to work quite well (4,5,6) including taking Patna. There were about 300 AV assembled at the bank opposite Benares, when a turn occurred which looked quite ugly for me, because things did not work as scheduled. a) the units which were supposed to leave Delhi did not (even though they should have been able to move out of town in a single turn), thus my northern pincer was down to a single unit which I had moved out ahead of time. b) I found out that Nemo had flown troops into benares. Would not have been a problem if all units of the southern pincer would have crossed the river. Still not sure what went wrong, but only one unit crossed and attacked, whereas the other ones stayed at 60/60 miles moved. Probably the "follow unit" command I had employed in order to prevent exactly this from happening did not work correctly. Anyone out there who saw the same thing happen ?

Well in any case I thought maybe it's not a bad thing after all, because 4th tank brigade was moving on the other bank of the river to the south. I had sent some reinforcements north there (7) and moved the 60/60 units back to the south (8). Unfortunately, 4th tanks were faster in spite of several turns of ground attacks on the unit it did about a hex a day, my LCUs did not. Then, last turn the AC supposed to hit the tanks decided to take a break and my attack across the river, assisted by the troops on the other side took place. Again, most of my units were as good as they come in India. Look at the excerpt of the combat report for yourself:

[font="Courier New"]
Ground combat at 31,18

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 5022 troops, 69 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 338
Defending force 5471 troops, 20 guns, 341 vehicles, Assault Value = 151

Allied max assault: 230 - adjusted assault: 48
Japanese max defense: 132 - adjusted defense: 195

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
118 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 3

Allied ground losses:
242 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
[/font]

[8|]

This Tank brigade does have a punch, does it not ? I have superior numbers, full supply, little fatigue and disruption (I assumed a few days of air raids would influence his unit) - and get creamed. Now, I expect that another shock-attack-pursuit series will start to push my still about 300 AV, that are mostly badly disrupted and tired now, back without any problem. [8|]

Well, that much relating to my failures in India.

Thanks for your interest - if there's any question, I'll be glad to answer. Also, don't hesitate to make suggestions what I should have done in your opinion.

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

as a good end for a busy week (and a good start for a busy weekend) I just managed to send the next turn to Nemo. He announced that he will be busy during the weekend, but I still want to provide a few more summaries anyway, so if there is some time before I get the next turn back, I think I can use it here.

Before I start doing that, I would like to take you on a guided tour through some of the more interesting aspects (imho) of the June 12, 1942 Combat report. Let's start with a successful night attack on HI at Formosa, which is a consequence of my starting to operate planes out of Cebu Island/Davao. Coronados can carry a nice load of bombs in this mod, thus I thought I might try to use them:

[font="Courier New"]
Night Air attack on Taihoku [Formosa] , at 49,44

Allied aircraft
PB2Y-3 Coronado x 7

No Allied losses

Heavy Industry hits 1
[/font]

Actually, the strategic bombing interface indicates that 8 HI points may have been destroyed [:D].

Also, during the night there was an unsuccessful attack of K XVII at Exmouth and a successful attack of I-165 against an AK inside the shipping channel to Panama (which is legitimate). I do not expect that the AK will make it to port...

In the air war, there was not much unusual. Of course, as always the Pe-2 did a good job at Hailar:
[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Hailar [Manchukuo] , at 63,22

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 71
Ki-44IIa Tojo x 7
Ki-109E Mike x 27

Allied aircraft
Pe-2 x 20
R-12 x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 4 destroyed
Ki-44IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-109E Mike: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Pe-2: 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 16

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x Pe-2 bombing at 2000 feet
[/font]

In India, Calcutta, Madras and Delhi were Nemo's targets, including 6 Angels scoring 1 air base hit at Delhi. In the central pacific, he has been intensifying attacks against Midway and Pearl. The only interesting ground combat event (apart from the disappointing events in India I described above) was that again Nemo's attack against my troops at Cold Harbor failed.

[font="Courier New"]

Ground combat at Cold Bay [Alaska]

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7902 troops, 159 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 103

Defending force 798 troops, 30 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 32

Japanese max assault: 103 - adjusted assault: 79

Allied max defense: 28 - adjusted defense: 166

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
89 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Guns lost 1[/font]

In general, Nemo has announced that after about 7 days to come with a focus on land war (india and russia come to mind) a big offensive action will take place in the pacific, which he intends to change the front lines a lot. Well... that is quite a soft region, not sure how much of a resistance I can put up... Depending on where he will start his activities, I might have an idea or two how to react, trying to sell my skin as expensive as I can -but that's essentially all I can do right now.

Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I just found another turn resolution (i.e. no game file as of yet) in my inbox. Whereas I don't have time to comment in detail right now, let me just provide three shreds of info

a) we had a bloody day in the air - but I don't think I have reason to be too dissatisfied there.

b) as I had feared previously, Nemo's tank brigade @ 31,18 once again proved successful in spite of being outnumbered (partly because my air2ground support did not get through, but his did and due to the condition of the units that did the river crossing). We may have another shock-attack pursuit elevator starting to work now. Perhaps I may still have a Jack up the sleeve (no ace, it may be trumped easily) -depends on how the map will look, but I assume this means that Nemo's aims for the India campaign against me have been reached.

c) the reason for the header... yet another heroic action of an Allied unit...
[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Rangoon [Burma] , at 29,33

Allied aircraft
OS2U-3 Kingfisher x 5

No Allied losses

Heavy Industry hits 1
[/font]

Virtually meaningless, but good for the newsreel to boost morale at the home front [8D].

Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

unfortunately, I am still waiting for the game file... as those of you who are entitled to read his AAR against Damian know, I asked already, but Nemo was busy... Maybe I'll ask again if it's not in my mailbox tomorrow.

Just as unfortunately for my readership, I did not manage to post any of the other summaries I had promised... which is something I want to change now. Here's a summary of Nemo's operations in the vicinity of Addu Atoll. Let's start with a map...



On June 08,1942 Nemo's CVE TF (3CVE, 2DD) moved to the position marked with the red 1. Each sequential red number means another day... so you see that he lingered NE of Addu for a while, moved in quickly, hung around E/SE of Addu for two days and seems to be moving back to Columbo now, where a shiny new batch of mines and a sub are waiting - of, course, perhaps he will double back hoping to catch ships striving for a safer port, but the ones still left at Addu are still unloading supplies and fuel.

The yellow arrows starting from the hexes with the red numbers mean strikes into the hexes the arrows point into. Note that multiple strikes are represented as a single arrow. Ship losses/write offs induced by these strikes are indicated in yellow. In my opinion, of you take out the good results achieved by strikes into the safe zone (western shipping channel - I did not complain about the second one, because I want to spend my time playing, not arguing), which killed 5TK and an SC, the op was not very successful, perhaps even on the contrary: Only 1AK and 1 AP were lost, whereas my present batch of reinforcements for Addu unloaded or are still unloading without being molested by his strike AC so far. I am quite sure he knows the reason why and am curious to see if and eventually how he reacts to that (personally, I think he should not).

Oh, and of course 2 PT boats got sunk. I achieved a total of two surface intercepts of this TF, indicated by the green circles (actually the one around the red 2 should be located 1 hex to the NW of the position where I put it). Hoping for a lucky hit there...

Ok, this is my little update of the day. I am trying to come up with a summary of the more successful CV op E / ENE of NZ as well, but Nemo has covered such a big area there by splitting his CVs into 3 TFs that I have problems setting up the map...

Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

as announced earlier, the last turn was relatively bloody in the air. Nothing compared to the mutual slaughter that takes place in his game against Damian, but more than twice the number of AC were lost compared to the usual losses.

First, take a look at the list provided by the magnificent tracker [&o]



As mentioned in my short summary, I do not think I have much reason to complain.

One major part of the action took place in Russia. The prelude actually occurred a day ago, when I finally decided to have a go at Harbin with my level bombers. That's where Nemo seems to be producing Ha-45 engines, which, if I am not mistaken, are relevant for Angels, Behemoth and Marlinas - please correct me if I am wrong. In other words - a juicy target. Which, in spite of or because of its relevance seemed to be defended only by Nates whenever I reconned the base. Thus, finally I decided to try my luck. Unfortunately, I did not score a single hit... but stirred up a reaction. Suddenly, recon over Hailar indicated that about 100 fighters had left the base, thus I went in with my fighters in addition to the standard Pe-2 attack. This was the result:

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Hailar [Manchukuo] , at 63,22

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 8
Ki-44IIa Tojo x 6
Ki-109E Mike x 21

Allied aircraft
I-16 Type 24 x 83
MiG-3 x 108
Pe-2 x 21
R-12 x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 9 destroyed
Ki-44IIa Tojo: 6 destroyed
Ki-109E Mike: 24 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
I-16 Type 24: 13 destroyed
MiG-3: 15 destroyed, 1 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 21[/font]

I think this is a good result for me. Interestingly, now the AC symbol has disappeared from Hailar (I feel almost sad about that). Looks like I need a new target for my Pe-2s... But actually, this development provides me with more possible targets for a follow-on than I can hit. Any recommendations ?

The second significant batch of action was in India. It was quite evident that Nemo would CAP his 4th tanks preparing to beat up my ground units, but I had to give it a try anyway and willingly paid the price. Well, some of my bombers even dropped bombs - but unfortunately no hits were scored, thus no significant reduction of Nemo's AV.

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on IJA 4th Tank Brigade, at 31,18

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 20

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 7
Lancer x 4
Wellington IC x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 2 destroyed
Lancer: 1 destroyed
Wellington IC: 5 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Blenheim IV bombing at 10000 feet
1 x Wellington IC bombing at 9000 feet
3 x Wellington IC bombing at 9000 feet
1 x Blenheim IV bombing at 10000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on IJA 4th Tank Brigade, at 31,18

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 10

Allied aircraft
A-20B Boston x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 4 destroyed
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x A-20B Boston bombing at 12000 feet
[/font]

A turn or two ago I had sent Spitfires along as escorts (which only flew in small numbers then and thus probably would not have made a significant difference), but did only send a few Chinese Lancers this time because a) I expected that too few would fly and b) I assumed that a big bad wolf might try to do something evil in their absence, because by now Nemo knows that I am operating a notable number of fighter planes out of Dacca. Whether a) was right will never be known, but b) definitely was:

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Dacca [India] , at 31,23

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 47

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 22
Buffalo/F2A x 13
Hurricane I x 3
Kittyhawk I x 9
Lancer x 7
Spitfire VB x 11
I-16 Type 4 x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 15 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 6 destroyed
Buffalo/F2A: 4 destroyed
Hurricane I: 1 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 3 destroyed
Lancer: 6 destroyed
Spitfire VB: 3 destroyed
I-16 Type 4: 5 destroyed[/font]

Here, too, I think I should not be too disappointed about the results. But without the Spitfires, it definitely would have looked worse...

As always, thanks for your interest !

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I have a question for you. I would love to make supplies for Nemo's forces besieging Borzya more scarce. I assume they are mostly fed via Hailar. What is the best way (assuming that there is a wayat all) to make use of my air force to impede the flow of supplies ? I assume that if the base is undersupplied, it will most likely not be able to push lots of supplies forward. But hot to obtain that in the best possible way ? Hitting the air base ? Hitting the resources ? I'm grateful for any idea, please share your secret evil tricks.

Thanks

Hartwig

[n01487477]

That's where Nemo seems to be producing Ha-45 engines, which, if I am not mistaken, are relevant for Angels, Behemoth and Marlinas - please correct me if I am wrong.

Totally correct, very important as is HI and a bit later Nissan engines, for the TojoIII. Could it be that Nemo is not investing much in second generation fighters, maybe providing some recon accumulated data, might reveal a weakness ?

The second significant batch of action was in India. It was quite evident that Nemo would CAP his 4th tanks preparing to beat up my ground units, but I had to give it a try anyway and willingly paid the price. Well, some of my bombers even dropped bombs - but unfortunately no hits were scored, thus no significant reduction of Nemo's AV.

Too small, think big, really big ! Air-Ground works well, but needs overwhelming brutality.

I would love to make supplies for Nemo's forces besieging Borzya more scarce. I assume they are mostly fed via Hailar. What is the best way (assuming that there is a way at all) to make use of my air force to impede the flow of supplies ? I assume that if the base is undersupplied, it will most likely not be able to push lots of supplies forward. But hot to obtain that in the best possible way ? Hitting the air base ? Hitting the resources ? I'm grateful for any idea, please share your secret evil tricks.

Manchuria has too many resource centres to wipe out the supplies in this region, I export supplies & res to Japan and other areas from here. Arshaan is the base to flatten close, or Mukden amongst others for long range. I have no problem with supplies movement, with the number of troops drawing supplies North.
Only real way is to get a unit behind in his supply lines


--Damian--

[modrow]

Damian,

thanks for your advice - as always, excellent comments.

ORIGINAL: n01487477
Totally correct, very important as is HI and a bit later Nissan engines, for the TojoIII. Could it be that Nemo is not investing much in second generation fighters, maybe providing some recon accumulated data, might reveal a weakness ?

LOL ! I slowly start peeping into the Japanes economy by playing Allies in this mod...

I will provide a more complete survey of what my intel tells me at a later point of time, BUT... As of yet, Ha 104 is not too prominent in production... thus no hordes of TojoIII on the horizon - but scary amounts of Ha45, followed by Ha101 (present workhorse engine). I need to recheck, but if I am not completely fooled by the intel screens, it seems that Nemo is presently aiming at producing about 700 Ha-45 engines / month. Actually, he is already close to that aim. Looks like bad times are coming...

So, how to prepare to shoot down scores of Angels, Behemoths and Marlinas in the best possible way ?

Too small, think big, really big ! Air-Ground works well, but needs overwhelming brutality.

Problem is not thinking big... problem is that I do not have too many bombers operating in that theater, maybe 60ish, with about the same number rotating in to replace worn down units. AFAIK an important effect of ground attacks is that disruption goes up notably when any losses are taken; thus I thought that killing off lots of troops is not even that important. But that may be wrong.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether I will be able to concentrate many more there, even if I try hard. Perhaps I should have moved some more bombers to India when the show began; now I think it may be too late to start that move.

Manchuria has too many resource centres to wipe out the supplies in this region, I export supplies & res to Japan and other areas from here. Arshaan is the base to flatten close, or Mukden amongst others for long range. I have no problem with supplies movement, with the number of troops drawing supplies North.
Only real way is to get a unit behind in his supply lines

Actually, Nemo most likely did not export lots of supply but used a lot of supply for building industry. Both Mukden and Harbin produce >200 Ha-45 engines each now, plus a number of different AC. Not sure how much this can have affected the total supply availability in the region. Unfortunately, in Russia, too, I am short of bombers (30ish active level bombers at present) and can only rely on Russian ones at present due to our rules until I can use coastal bases (which are not developed yet).

Thanks again, really helpful comments

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

anyone still out there reading anything but the AE forums ? Well, maybe a couple of people with an eye on the download status, trying to pass the time... and hopefully I will be able to keep your interest alive in spite of AE being around...

Anyway, once again a small update is overdue - once again, there was a turn (found it in my mailbox on Saturday, but was busy during the weekend) before I have fully described the events of the one before... Thus a few more bits and pieces from the combat report for 06/13/42, before I start dealing with the new events.

• Coronados hit HI at Taihoku [Formosa] again, scoring at least one more HI hit.
• There was a second surface intercept of Nemo's CVE TF near Addu by a Pt boat, which was sunk without scoring the lucky hit.
• SS I-156 (no, not 165 I triplechecked that) attacked the already damaged AK in the eastern shipping channel and sunk it. Well, I happen to have a bunch of ASW units not too far away, thus I'm fine if he inserts a number of subs there. In general, I haven't really seen many Japanese subs so far; maybe that's one of the things Nemo has decided not to produce.
• Asansol in India is Japanese now.
• The 300+ AV which were beaten to pulp by Nemo's 4th tank's 140+AV reatreated into Patna. That's really bad news, I think Nemo may be able to destroy them there if he takes the base - and my troops there are in real bad shape.

Most of the air war was covered in my previous posts, including the heroic kingfisher attack. Unfortunately, taking Asansol has added more HI points than I have managed to destroy so far in this game...

I recently read with a lot of interest the detailed information Damian revealed in his AAR about his production line. Collecting similar info for what Nemo seems to produce and posting it here is on my to do list (which, as you know, always tends to be longer than what I actually manage to post in the end...).

Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

well, probably the battle of Midway is not a turning point of my war against Nemo… anyway, part of the actions on 06/14/42 and thus on my list of things to report.

Nemo had announced there would be interesting things happening at Midway when he sent the turn to me to enter my orders, i.e. before the resolution of the turn I am reporting about (giving me a chance to move more stuff that would be lost there). During the last few game days, he had pummeled the base frequently from the air and generally made a lot of noise in the area. I believe that this may have been to draw my attention to that region; actually I am more focused on a different region of the map where I believe a bit more interesting things may start to happen soon.
These are the actual combat events relating to this action:

[font="Courier New"]
Coastal Guns at Midway Island [USA], 97,63, firing at TF 77
TF 77 troops unloading over beach at Midway Island [USA], 97,63

1005 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AK Suez Maru
CA Atago
BB Ise, Shell hits 4
AK Osaka Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
MSW RTN Chao Phya, Shell hits 2
CLAA Grigsby-san
BB Hiei
CA Kumano
AP Astuga Maru, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
903 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
71 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

------------------

Coastal Guns at Midway Island [USA], 97,63, firing at TF 77
TF 77 troops unloading over beach at Midway Island [USA], 97,63


557 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
MSW RTN Chao Phya, Shell hits 5
AP Teikei Maru
CA Kako
AP Huso Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
CLAA Grigsby-san, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano

Japanese ground losses:
607 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
81 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

------------------------------------

Day Air attack on USMC 6th Defense Bn , at 97,63

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 4
D3A2 Val x 81

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 4 destroyed, 8 damaged


Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
20 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
23 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
21 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet

------------------------------------

Day Air attack on TF, near Midway Island [USA] at 97,63

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 9

Allied aircraft
B-26A Marauder x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe-FF: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-26A Marauder: 2 destroyed

-------------------------------------------------

Day Air attack on TF, near Midway Island [USA] at 97,63

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 8

Allied aircraft
OS2U-3 Kingfisher x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Asagumo

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x OS2U-3 Kingfisher bombing at 2000 feet

-----------------------------

Ground combat at Midway Island [USA]

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 10019 troops, 186 guns, 29 vehicles, Assault Value = 334

Defending force 6128 troops, 240 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 135

Japanese max assault: 568 - adjusted assault: 500

Allied max defense: 114 - adjusted defense: 56

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 5)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Midway Island [USA] base !!!



Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
B-26A Marauder: 2 destroyed
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 4 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
1322 casualties reported
Guns lost 20
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
6747 casualties reported
Guns lost 177
Vehicles lost 2
[/font]

In general, I think one may say that this was a neat, lean operation run by Nemo. Good use of available assets, not overdone, a well-weighed blow. Did I expect more from my troops ? No, not really, they were short of supply and hardly any air assets available (evacuated in due time what was possible). Did we expect anything else from him ? Not really. But from time to time, something unexpected happens after all…

Thanks for your interest even in times of AE

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

the next installment of the 06/14/42 turn...

Relating to the subject of this post, I proudly announce that Nemo announced that his analysis of my style of play is complete, all plans are adjusted accordingly and will unfold now. And in fact, did he not read me like a book ?

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Asansol [India] , at 30,22

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 24

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 8
Wellington IC x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 4 destroyed
Wellington IC: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged

Heavy Industry hits 4
[/font]

Well, this evidently was an eminently evident attack, which I just had to run. I AM trying to kill HI and Asansol is an evident target in the India theater now that it belongs to Japan. Actually, the strategic bombing interface seems to suggest that Nemo lost 21 HI points during the raid. Does anyone have a solid estimate of a factor that applies (like the factor of 2 for planes destroyed on the ground ?).

On the other hand, sometimes the reading seems to fail...

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Dacca [India] , at 31,23

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 33

No Japanese losses[/font]

and my planes show up at unexpected locations instead...

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Delhi [India] , at 29,10

Japanese aircraft
Ki-264 Angel x 10

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 15
Kittyhawk I x 7
Spitfire VB x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-264 Angel: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Pe-2: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 5[/font]

Note that during the previous turns, there were Zekes as escort in the Delhi strikes.

As a matter of fact, the absence of the fighter escort was something I had hoped to see when yet another target to be protected (HI at Asansol) appeared. What I wanted to obtain here was mainly getting a feeling how well I can deal with the Angels if CAP is present, even though of course what I would have liked to see was downing some of his few beasts that are ready for action right now. Does not look too good to me so far [8|]. Specifically, the P40B's pilots are of 70ish exp and thus belong to the best pilots I got, and the Kittyhawks and Spitfires belong to my more heavily armed fighter planes. Well, maybe it's just the fault of the dice...

At another place, the Spitfires (or the dice?) proved their worth. Remember this statement from my post 146 ?

Only 1AK and 1 AP were lost, whereas my present batch of reinforcements for Addu unloaded or are still unloading without being molested by his strike AC so far. I am quite sure he knows the reason why and am curious to see if and eventually how he reacts to that (personally, I think he should not).

Well, Nemo decided to react, even though I think he should not have done so even more now that the outcome is known. Of course, CAP influences whether or not a strike is executed (does anyone know the exact formula ?), thus I had to have CAP at Addu. Thus, Nemo sent in a notable sweep: 66 Zekes. Look at these nice results, which really made my day [:D]

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Addu Atoll [IO] , at 2,24

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 66

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VB x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 18 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire VB: 1 destroyed
[/font]

So... let's get back to the "analysis complete" part. Not sure whether he will be right if he uses my actions so far as a basis. At present, I am very much analyzing the available toys, doing dispersed recon bombing rather than going for effect in a concentrated way, and my tempo in air ops (which will mostly be determined from what happens in Russia) may be higher than it seems so far, simply because strikes against Choybalsam (sp?) never seem to work, thus there are days of rest where there should have been action. Like today, when I wanted to kill the Mikes at CAP there and crater up the airfield - I guess I will have to find a different target. But then, I think the analysis will go on anyway; so let's see how I can mess up the puzzle.

Ok, I think we caught up with the game and I can start really processing the turn. As always, thanks for your interest !

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

it's been a while since I posted. No, I did not get sucked into AE (even though I bought it, all I managed to do so far was install it and do a test run checking whether the program works), instead I think I blame it to the standard excuse - real life. In any case, our game has crept on another two turns, and I would very much like to get the next turn to Nemo some time this weekend, so this update will be quite short.

This is what happened on 06/15/42:

• Nemo started to reduce Sovetskaya Gavan last turn, and this turn he expanded his attacks:
  [font="Courier New"]Japanese aircraft
  A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 19
  B5N2 Kate x 25
  G4M1 Betty x 15
  Ki-21-II Sally x 22
  
  Allied aircraft
  no flights
  
  Japanese aircraft losses
  B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
  G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
  
  Allied aircraft losses
  
  Allied ground losses:
  3 casualties reported
  
  Airbase hits 2
  Airbase supply hits 4
  Runway hits 9[/font]
  
  Note that this is a preemptive action, there were no planes at the base so far.
• As announced in my comments relating to the last turn, I tried to do some more damage to the HI @ Asansol. Actually, the A2A results are quite bad once again.
  [font="Courier New"]
  Day Air attack on Asansol [India] , at 30,22
  
  Japanese aircraft
  A6M2 Zeke x 42
  
  Allied aircraft
  P-40B Tomahawk x 36
  Blenheim IV x 28
  Buffalo/F2A x 8
  Hudson IV x 15
  Hurricane I x 10
  Kittyhawk I x 11
  Spitfire VB x 13
  Wellington IC x 10
  
  Japanese aircraft losses
  A6M2 Zeke: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged
  
  Allied aircraft losses
  P-40B Tomahawk: 17 destroyed
  Blenheim IV: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
  Buffalo/F2A: 4 destroyed
  Hudson IV: 3 destroyed
  Hurricane I: 4 destroyed
  Kittyhawk I: 6 destroyed
  Spitfire VB: 4 destroyed
  Wellington IC: 1 destroyed
  
  Heavy Industry hits 3
  [/font]
  Note that the HI hits according to the strategic bombing target choice window are much higher once again - if I may trust it, Asansol is down from 240 HI points (50% of 480) to 200 HI points. Actually, I think that this may even make the attack a success.
• Nemo continues to attack TFs at Addu. That comes at a price:
  [font="Courier New"]
  Day Air attack on TF, near Addu Atoll [IO] at 2,24
  
  Japanese aircraft
  A6M2 Zeke x 19
  G4M1 Betty x 9
  
  Allied aircraft
  Spitfire VB x 27
  
  Japanese aircraft losses
  A6M2 Zeke: 6 destroyed
  G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed
  
  Allied aircraft losses
  Spitfire VB: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
  
  Allied Ships
  TK Alcides, heavy damage
  PC Aldebaren
  
  Aircraft Attacking:
  3 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
  4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet[/font]
• Nemo's 1st shock division has arrived and started to play:
  [font="Courier New"]
  Ground combat at Aldan [Siberia]
  Japanese Shock attack
  
  Attacking force 1552 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 85
  Defending force 110 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11
  
  Japanese max assault: 80 - adjusted assault: 70
  Allied max defense: 11 - adjusted defense: 9
  
  Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 3)
  
  Japanese forces CAPTURE Aldan [Siberia] base !!!
  
  Japanese ground losses:
  24 casualties reported
  Guns lost 2
  
  Allied ground losses:
  8 casualties reported
  Defeated Allied Units Retreating![/font]
  
  This was unfortunate. I had reinforcements walking to Aldan, which were only 15 miles away when the paras came down.

Also, Nemo is still making a lot of noise at Pearl, running heavy air to ground strikes. The base is ripe for the taking; still I believe that there is something brewing in other regions of the Pacific and these attacks serve a dual purpose.

Ok, this is my short update for the first of the two turns I have to present to you. Second update will probabyl follow only after I did the next turn.

As always, thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,
I sent the last turn back to Nemo by the beginning of this week, so now the wait is on again. However, I can still provide you with a few combat events for June 16, 1942 and some extended discussion of what I think is interesting…

We had another bloody turn in the air (meaning some 80ish planes down on either side). Actually, Nemo commented on it and pointed out that I should not celebrate that losses were close to 1:1 but rather keep an eye on my ability to replace the losses. Now, that is a typical, multilayered Nemo comment…

First of all, I made two expensive mistakes this turn for which I paid dearly:

a) Forgetting to set Pe-2 to max alt:
[font="Courier New"]Day Air attack on Arshaan [Manchukuo] , at 61,25
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 12
Ki-109E Mike x 24

Allied aircraft
Pe-2 x 26

No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Pe-2: 8 destroyed, 1 damaged[/font]
b) Forgetting to define the target for my spitfires in India, so they did not accompany the move against Asansol:

[font="Courier New"]Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 46

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 27
Hurricane I x 8
Kittyhawk I x 7
Wellington IC x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 12 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 13 destroyed
Hurricane I: 7 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 4 destroyed
Wellington IC: 8 destroyed

Heavy Industry hits 1[/font]

Thus, it could have been even better than 1-1 for me. As if my situation was not dire enough already, I make it worse by sloppy gameplay [8|]…

Still – is the 1-1 achieved in spite of these FUBARs a victory ? Or should I look at the ability to replace the losses and feel bad ? This is the topic of my next few posts.

As a general rule, it is correct, ability to replace the losses is what one should try to keep in mind, aye... If I do turn my eye to the map, of course there are regions where Nemo is dead on with his comment (India, Russia), as I will outline in the next two posts. Still, I think that this is not the entire story, as I will outline in a third post. Note that I won’t be able to post all of these in the next few minutes, but I think during the course of this weekend you will see them.

For now, thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

In this post, which is a continuation of the analysis started in my last comment, I will discuss my perspective on the air war in India, which is one of the regions where keeping the air assets in shape will be difficult.

In India, heavy fighter losses are a problem because I cannot replace AC at many locations and transfer possibilities are… well… limited (mostly non-exisitent). Bomber losses are not a problem to the same extent, because I can still rotate units in and out and am just limited by the total number of units available in the theater – no way to induce annihilating strikes, but only nibbling at the cheese (the strategic bombing interface tells me Asansol is down about 45 HI points now, better than nothing).

Not sure why Nemo did not go in to prevent this by eliminating the key hub for that so far, perhaps he’s been having too many planes hunting down mini invasions. Also, he seems to be determined to increase shipping losses @ Addu, even though this is an expensive hobby. Below, you see his most successful attack so far (the first time he hit something):

[font="Courier New"]Day Air attack on TF, near Addu Atoll [IO] at 2,24
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 21
G4M1 Betty x 4

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VB x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 13 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
TK Soli, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage[/font]

Personally, I think that presently his LB assets in India are not fully adequate to the number of tasks he wants/needs them to perform, which is illustrated by his use of Angels in small numbers in his attacks on Delhi. Unfortunately, I have not really been able profit from that by depleting the bombers and thus enforcing a shift of assets, because my fighters have problems dealing with his escorts and most early Allied fighters in this mod seem to have a problem shooting down Japanese bombers (as you will see below in the post concerning Russia), whereas the cannons the Japanese fighters are equipped with shred Allied bombers easily (see attack on Asansol above).

(As a side note: I don’t complain about that, on the contrary, this is one of the beautiful things of this mod. You DO have a tool against everything the Japanese field, but you have to use the right tool for the right job and take care that you don’t waste it for something else.)

However, in my opinion a very important aspect in this context is the question what I can achieve when trying to preserve the AC. I can evacuate most of the bombers to Aden, I can’t evacuate any of the fighter other than disbanding/ withdrawing into another unit where the available nationalities (unfortunately, there is a mix of these), planes and supplies allow for this. Were they able to act as an “air fleet in being” which would be worth conserving as a whole, limiting incoming strikes Nemo could deliver ? No, in spite of the numbers and partly >70 exp results have not been suited to really limit what Nemo can do. Therefore, I think I should try to get the best results out of the units I can get – and this can only happen by using the planes. It does not help if they are trapped on closed down airstrips until they surrender to Japs taking the base. Therefore, I do not think I should avoid battle here, but take my chances where they offer themselves.

Ok, that’s the India update. There will be a break before the next update concerning Russia arrives. There will also be a post regarding the question whether Nemo can afford the losses he takes coming up - atrition cuts both ways, after all.

Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

Wow- these forums have become depleted. It’s weekend, and still when I returned to the forums after a light lunch and a bit of exercise at the gym, my last post was still at the top of the AAR-list.

But back to the topic: This post is the 3rd of a series of discussions on the air war initiated by Nemo’s comment that I should consider the aspect of ability to cope with the present losses before celebrating the recent loss numbers in the air war. It deals with the second theater in which Nemo’s comment is true: Russia.

In Russia, I believe that my air force can be competitive as long as I have a backbone of Mig-3 at my disposal. Unfortunately, the replacement rate for the MIG-3 is quite low, Nemo can atrite me there, no questions asked. Still, this turn I did respond to his previous attack on Sovetskaya Gavan and moved some fighters there. Here’s what happened:

[font="Courier New"]Day Air attack on Sovetskaya Gavan , at 73,30
Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 19
B5N2 Kate x 30
G4M1 Betty x 19
Ki-21-II Sally x 20

Allied aircraft
MiG-3 x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe-FF: 16 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 7 destroyed, 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged
Ki-21-II Sally: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
MiG-3: 4 destroyed, 6 damaged
IL-2 Shturmovik: 5 destroyed

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 12[/font]

As mentioned in my last post, you see that it is difficult for the Allied fighters to bring Japanese level bombers down. The MiGs tore up the escorts, but were unable to down a single level bomber.

Of course, looking at the number of MiG-3 that participated in the battle, most of you will realize that this was only part of my 1st line fighter force. I felt that I could not commit more, because as mentioned in the comments relating to yesterday’s combat events the Japanese para division is loose and at least partly active in Russia.

Nemo has started to use it for mini invasions in Russia this turn – or attempts thereof. Good, so the mini invasion is not going to become an extinct species even though by now most of the assets I had set aside for this type of ops are spent. I will try to find the time to summarize them in another post at some point of time. But here's what Nemo’s mini invasions look like:

[font="Courier New"]Ground combat at Yakutsk [Siberia]
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 51 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3
Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Japanese max assault: 4 - adjusted assault: 6
Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1
Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Yakutsk [Siberia] base !!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Tamsag [Mongolia]

Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 85 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3
Defending force 2164 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 62
Japanese max assault: 4 - adjusted assault: 0
Allied max defense: 62 - adjusted defense: 133

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)
Japanese ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Guns lost 5[/font]

Admittedly, I do not know for sure whether he wanted to bring more assets to Tamsag – his transports were intercepted. This is, of course, the reason why I could not bring more pilots and planes to the party at Sovetskaya Gavan… actually, whatever goes there tomorrow (game time) will find the place empty again. 43 MiGs will probably not be able to hold well against a monster sweep from 2 hexes distance if it should occur, thus they moved on for the time being.

At the same time, the number of places where I can get something out of my fighter planes in Russia is limited and will become more and more limited. Therefore here, as above in India, I should see that I spend the assets while I can get something in return rather than conserving complete shiny squadrons of fighter planes which unfortunately cannot achieve anything any more.

Even though it is not in Russia, for the sake of completeness I will add the results of the last major air battle that occurred last turn here (there were a number of additional bombing raids, of course, which I do not report). Another good result for the Allied side IMHO:

[font="Courier New"]Day Air attack on Cold Bay [Alaska] , at 105,36
Japanese aircraft
Ki-109E Mike x 18

Allied aircraft
A-20B Boston x 44
B-24D Liberator x 7
B-25D Mitchell x 12
P-43A Lancer x 48
Blenheim IV x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-109E Mike: 12 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-43A Lancer: 3 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 38[/font]

Ok, that’s it for this installment… Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[pat.casey]

I'm definately still reading this one!

Very different in-game feel which makes it interesting.

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

a short update - but first, thanks to pat.casey for his kind comments and persistence. I will definitely try to keep this thread running in spite of limited time - it's a fun thing to do.

Actually, there is still a lot of things to write about (e.g. part IV relating to the question of loss rates) even though once again Nemo and myself are quite out of phase. Due to WLAN-troubles, he could not send the game file to me before last Thursday and had lost the .001 and the report files, which he offered to replace if I wanted them (which I do). I was offline between Thursday and Sunday night, so I noticed only on Monday that the game file I received is prompting for player 1 password. I requested both sets of files from him on Monday, but have not received them yet. Thus I'm sitting here aching for a turn...

That much as a short update.

Thanks

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I still don't have a turn to work on, even though I retriggered Nemo twice. Not sure whether we will move on.
That's all I'll say for now.

Hartwig