Matrix Games Forums

Couple of days off. Family health issues. My father had an heart attack and is now in critical conditions. Always tough to realize your parents are getting old and fragile


June 1, 1943

A quiet day. The first attack in the new hex 46 miles south of Chungking goes bad, but at least we know what to expect: Stiff resistance!

Allied SAGs moving towards Horn Island.

The evacuation from Dimampur keeps on going...under a rain of bombs... more than 350 allied bombers attack our retreating troops...OUCH!

Several ships went today in shipyards for the scheldued upgrades. Started to get radars everywhere, which is fine!

Sorry, Nic. Our thoughts are with him.

Thanks witpqs! His conditions are stable now. We just need to hope and pray


June 2, 1943

Dimampur is abandoned in good order. To prevent his usual daily bombing run over my troops (which could have caused a shifting from reserve mode to combat mode, thus slowing down my marching guys) we've set a little CAP trap. 3 groups of A6M8s were placed in LRCAP from Imphal... and today, only 13 B26s appeared over Dimampur... all shot down

BBs are approaching Maloep in the Marshalls... another invasion?

KB is busy supporting a badly needed re-supplying mission of Mereuake.

Enemy cruisers massing at Milne Bay and Munda....

Another failed attack against the Chinese south of Chungking...

Sonia KI-51b finally online. 4 Sentais can now be switched to fighters (KI-43 line) and Fighter bombers (KI-45c). I badly needed this

With the KI-61c online I can now upgrade a Nate sentai to a Tony KI-61c sentai.... finally!

Sorry to hear about your dad GJ [:(]

I hope he recovers well!

Hope everything ends well with your dad, GJ [8|]

Thank you guys. Really appreaciated!

So the retreat from Dimampur is going well. We'll suffer now a bit from overstacking and lack of supplies, but we should be back on Burma in decent shape. I don't see how he can succesfully cut my retreat path.

the Frank KI-84a production is going well, with 9 planes coming online each day. Soon we'll have the badly needed Franks to defend Burma.

The Marshalls are now a lost cause. I have to face the truth: that part of the map is lost and now it's all about defending the real outpost of my right flanks: Ponape, Truk and the Marshalls.

Pretty curious to see how Ponape will handle his next offensive. It is a bastion now, with a reinforced Division, CD guns, 150mm field artillery pieces and 3 good AA units (with guns raging from 75mm to 8.8cm to 10.5 cm...the best we can efford), along with some DP guns.

June 3-4, 1943

Majuro falls too easily. A SNLF unit and a base force, behind 3 forts fall to the assault of an Engineer regiment and an artillery unit[X(]

Gotta stop this downfall


Dimampur switches sides and becomes allied.


KB will now move back to the shadows. I want to move it to CENTPAC in order to ambush those invasions that are becoming too easy for Erik to be accomplished.

Lae is about to fall. He attacked today, after a heavy naval bombardment, achieving immediately a 1-1. Not good, but it was foreseen.

Made a good and deep check with Tracker.

Here are the numbers of the 3rd gen fighters I can field:

4x42 Setais of Frank Ki84a
1x36 Sentai of Frank KI84a

2x42 Sentais of Tony Ki-61d (available in july 43)
2x36 Sentais of Tony Ki-61d

1x45 Sentai of N1K1 (until October when another 1x27 group will be available)

2x42 sentais of Tojo KI-44c
2x36 Sentais of Tojo KI-44c

5x36 Sentais of Oscar KI43 IV° (available in july 43)
2x42 Sentais of Oscar KI43 IV°

1x27 Sentai of Jack J2M3 (starting in mid September 43)

Not much, I know...but backed up by a lot of A6M5c and A6M8s and by good numbers of KI-43 IIb and IIIa, it should be enough to keep the balance until P-47s arrive in great numbers

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

June 3-4, 1943

Majuro falls too easily. A SNLF unit and a base force, behind 3 forts fall to the assault of an Engineer regiment and an artillery unit[X(]

Gotta stop this downfall


Dimampur switches sides and becomes allied.


KB will now move back to the shadows. I want to move it to CENTPAC in order to ambush those invasions that are becoming too easy for Erik to be accomplished.

Lae is about to fall. He attacked today, after a heavy naval bombardment, achieving immediately a 1-1. Not good, but it was foreseen.

Are you still convinced your plan to make the Allies attack through CentPac is working?

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

June 3-4, 1943

Majuro falls too easily. A SNLF unit and a base force, behind 3 forts fall to the assault of an Engineer regiment and an artillery unit[X(]

Gotta stop this downfall


Dimampur switches sides and becomes allied.


KB will now move back to the shadows. I want to move it to CENTPAC in order to ambush those invasions that are becoming too easy for Erik to be accomplished.

Lae is about to fall. He attacked today, after a heavy naval bombardment, achieving immediately a 1-1. Not good, but it was foreseen.

Are you still convinced your plan to make the Allies attack through CentPac is working?

Maybe not as I liked [:D].

For sure he's not attacking in Burma or in the DEI, which is still fine to me.
I keep on considering CENTPAC a much better place to defend that the DEI. consider also that, when I talk about CENTPAC, I mainly mean Mariannas-Caroline...the Marshalls are just a backwater to me.
However I can't say I like the pace he's been able to keep in the Marshalls...

Here's an interesting comparison:

Frank against P47s and Hellcat against the A6M5 (the plane I've been using against the Hellcat so far).

If I can keep up the fight against the Hellcats with the A6M5, I think i'll be able to fight the P-47s on a decent ratio...

We reached May 7, 1943


CENTPAC: the allies keep on advancing. They conquered a small atoll south of Kwalajein, where only a couple of squads of the 47th Nav Guard Unit were present. The allies landed with an LCI TFs, that was heavily attacked by 30 Kates dropping a rain of bombs. 7 LCIs went down, along with 2 DDs damaged, but it didn't stop the brave Raiders that easily conquered the base. The Marshalls are now more than lost, but i'll try anyway to slow them down now. KB-3 is moving to Truk in order to support the future interdiction actions in CENTPAC.

SOPAC: Lae is bombed daily now and the Naval Guard unit present there won't hold for long against the USA Regiment landed. It's ok. Coulnd't do much more anyway.
Several allied SAGs are massing at Munda, while ours are based at Torokina. Georges swept Vella La Vella, finding 50 Wildcats there. 25 F4Fs went down for 3 Georges...unfortunately my major ace (Tukugawa with 9 kills) is reported MIA[:o][:o][:o]

Mereuake and Horn Island have been re-supplied with lots of goodies. Now it's all about waiting for him to come.

Erik keeps on reconing Exmouth...waiting for him to advance here.

Sending men and supplies to Siberoet and to other places in Sumatra... building forts and AFs...

Our retreating army in India reached Imphal, overstacking a lot. All my transports are busy delivering supplies to the starving troops. Enemy tanks are on our heels, but I think from now on we are safe. 2 Divisions will hold the enemy, while the rest of the army will march towards Kalemyo and then to Burma.

CHINA: Another failed attack south of Chungking... but I am still confident.

Ok, so now, strategically, we do consider:

The Marshalls and the lower NG, along with the Solomons, LOST.

The new perimeter (the real one), goes from:

Finschhafen-Torokina to Rabaul-Kavieng (with Bouganville now pretty much being just a delaying theatre).
Truk-Ponape-Kusiae, with Kusiae not more than a delaying theatre.
Exmouth-Port Hedland-Derby, being a MUST DEFEND outpost.
Horn Island - Mereuake-Taberfane-Darwin.

Ready to send lots of units to the Marshalls from China and Japan.

I am not forgetting the Kuriles either. waiting for some PPs to accumulate in order to send the last regiment of the 42nd ID to Onnekotan Jiima.

Say you are Obvert, what would you do ? What do Port Blair, tha Andamans and Nicobar look like ?

ORIGINAL: veji1

Say you are Obvert, what would you do ? What do Port Blair, tha Andamans and Nicobar look like ?

Port Blair is well defended, with 350 AVs and artillery behind 5 forts. Rangoon (which is a lvl 9 AF) protects it pretty well.
Great Nicobar and the rest of the Adamans are being built. The defence of that chain is anchored between Sebang (level 9 AF) and Port Blair (level 6 AF).
I think it's too early for him to invade here, however I don't forget that part of the map. Many SNLF units, coming back from India, are already 100% prepped for those islands and the engineers are already at work. Base forces are ready in Singapore to be transferred here..

If I was Erik? I would probably keep on pushing through the Marshalls/CENTPAC and try to flank Rabaul on its right flank. That's where I wait for him with the KB...

An "hail mary" move to Java is also possible, but it would be pretty risky now... and as soon as my guys get back from Imphal, i'll be able to move back to Singapore quite a decent army

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: veji1

Say you are Obvert, what would you do ? What do Port Blair, tha Andamans and Nicobar look like ?

Port Blair is well defended, with 350 AVs and artillery behind 5 forts. Rangoon (which is a lvl 9 AF) protects it pretty well.
Great Nicobar and the rest of the Adamans are being built. The defence of that chain is anchored between Sebang (level 9 AF) and Port Blair (level 6 AF).
I think it's too early for him to invade here, however I don't forget that part of the map. Many SNLF units, coming back from India, are already 100% prepped for those islands and the engineers are already at work. Base forces are ready in Singapore to be transferred here..

If I was Erik? I would probably keep on pushing through the Marshalls/CENTPAC and try to flank Rabaul on its right flank. That's where I wait for him with the KB...

An "hail mary" move to Java is also possible, but it would be pretty risky now... and as soon as my guys get back from Imphal, i'll be able to move back to Singapore quite a decent army

A move on those islands would be risky that early, but in a PDU-off context, less so. With PDU on you could swarm him with quality planes, sweep him to death once he took the base, etc.. wiht pdu off, I don't know it would be an audacious way of putting you in a precarious position in Burma straight away, plus opening the possiblity of going for the back end of Sumatra later, from India or from a reconquered western Oz.

Agreed, if I were him I would keep bringing up the pressure on PNG/Sopac theater, with the next big moves being Merauke and Horn Island to ensure access to the DEI. He has time though.

In a PDU off environment grinding your airforce is once again a legitimate and achievable objective : you only have so many quality airframes, so multivector aerial campaigns will force you to either relinquish air space or fight in baddish planes. He needs to do what he did in Ceylon again. (I suppose it will start in Burma fairly soon).

mid43... still so early, you need to stall him for a looooong time now : you don't want him bombing your oil for at least another year.

ORIGINAL: veji1

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: veji1

Say you are Obvert, what would you do ? What do Port Blair, tha Andamans and Nicobar look like ?

Port Blair is well defended, with 350 AVs and artillery behind 5 forts. Rangoon (which is a lvl 9 AF) protects it pretty well.
Great Nicobar and the rest of the Adamans are being built. The defence of that chain is anchored between Sebang (level 9 AF) and Port Blair (level 6 AF).
I think it's too early for him to invade here, however I don't forget that part of the map. Many SNLF units, coming back from India, are already 100% prepped for those islands and the engineers are already at work. Base forces are ready in Singapore to be transferred here..

If I was Erik? I would probably keep on pushing through the Marshalls/CENTPAC and try to flank Rabaul on its right flank. That's where I wait for him with the KB...

An "hail mary" move to Java is also possible, but it would be pretty risky now... and as soon as my guys get back from Imphal, i'll be able to move back to Singapore quite a decent army

A move on those islands would be risky that early, but in a PDU-off context, less so. With PDU on you could swarm him with quality planes, sweep him to death once he took the base, etc.. wiht pdu off, I don't know it would be an audacious way of putting you in a precarious position in Burma straight away, plus opening the possiblity of going for the back end of Sumatra later, from India or from a reconquered western Oz.

Agreed, if I were him I would keep bringing up the pressure on PNG/Sopac theater, with the next big moves being Merauke and Horn Island to ensure access to the DEI. He has time though.

In a PDU off environment grinding your airforce is once again a legitimate and achievable objective : you only have so many quality airframes, so multivector aerial campaigns will force you to either relinquish air space or fight in baddish planes. He needs to do what he did in Ceylon again. (I suppose it will start in Burma fairly soon).

mid43... still so early, you need to stall him for a looooong time now : you don't want him bombing your oil for at least another year.

And that's where my strategy is aiming since day 1: keep him as far as possible, as long as possible, away from my oilfields.

Mid 1943 is where my gap in quality airframes becomes less important: with Franks, Tonies "d" and Oscars IV I am starting to feel way better in terms of quality.

I still need to reinforce and solidify my perimeter, but I am quite happy about how it looks like now. Horn and Mereuake are really tough nuts to crack and cannot be bypassed if he wants to go that way.
Finshhafen and Umboi Island are too two beautiful fortress...surely can be conquered, but they should slow him down enough.

A direct assault towards the Mariannas is out of question for the moment, that's why I am keeping the KB in a position to be able to cover the I.O. flank.

Once the retreat from India will be completed, the whole western front should become much more strong and stable, especially if the KB will be on guard

Well if you look at Spidery's game against MrKane where the Allies were able to pull off such a move in Java it is largely due to the Allies having a decisive edge in CVs in that game. The Japanese had lost a handful of CVs/CVLs but the Allies had lost almost nothing. Luckily GreyJoy is in a better position than Spidery was at this point and not just CVs. Also with Exmouth and Port Hedland still in Japanese hands a move towards Java seems unlikely.

I think Erik is going to go for a more standard approach and largely continue what he is doing right now. That means taking the rest of the Marshalls and bypassing Rabaul. I just don't think he has enough of an edge over Japan yet to make a hail mary worth the risk right now. If I were Erik I would continue trudging forward and try to fight a CV battle sometime in 43 on favorable terms; I don't think he can move on the Marianas until he defeats you in a CV battle or opens up a DEI front.

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

Well if you look at Spidery's game against MrKane where the Allies were able to pull off such a move in Java it is largely due to the Allies having a decisive edge in CVs in that game. The Japanese had lost a handful of CVs/CVLs but the Allies had lost almost nothing. Luckily GreyJoy is in a better position than Spidery was at this point and not just CVs. Also with Exmouth and Port Hedland still in Japanese hands a move towards Java seems unlikely.

I think Erik is going to go for a more standard approach and largely continue what he is doing right now. That means taking the rest of the Marshalls and bypassing Rabaul. I just don't think he has enough of an edge over Japan yet to make a hail mary worth the risk right now. If I were Erik I would continue trudging forward and try to fight a CV battle sometime in 43 on favorable terms; I don't think he can move on the Marianas until he defeats you in a CV battle or opens up a DEI front.

Mr.Kane in that game surely did a great move in Java. But he had already the NW coast of Oz. With Exmouth, Cocos and Sebang (and Diego for the moment) in my hands, a move unseen towards Java is very complicated. And if I see him coming with weeks of advance, I can move the whole KB in place...

Here's what the SOPAC/SWPAC theatre looks like.
Bouganville can be easily bypassed, once he will be able to close Torokina AF. Then the next move should be a by-passing approach moving NE of Kavieng towards Manus. Doable, but with the KB lurking not exactly a walk in the park.

Finshhafen and Umboi are the key for the NG coast. He can get Lae and he can move north, but if he wants his navy to move forwards he needs to get those two bases first. It should take a good while to clear that choke point. Time that I will use to build my next defensive line (Sarmi-Biak-Sorong).

Mereuake and Horn aren't that easy to be bypassed or closed. No other base around to be used for a frog-leap strategy...so if he wants to get into the DEI from that door he needs to have one of the two IMHO.

The same for NW Oz. If he wants to advance towards the DEI, he needs to get Exmouth first. The only way to bypass Exmouth is by taking Port Hedland... but it's a long shot...almost impossible when it's defended by 40,000 well armed, well dug in, well supplied men.

Let's see guys. Now the my whole defensive strategy will be under exam. I am pretty curious to see if what I have planned will work or will crumble miserably under the hits of Erik's ideas... tense but really interesting moments!