GJ (Allies) - Mr.Kane (Japan) - The allies declare their defeat

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ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

You even got a Leaders + bonus! Seems to me he has been spending his PP to buy out artillery from Kwantung Army rather than look at his leaders and change out the poor ones.

Odd that he did not get a Supply - hit. Are your troops short of supply too?

A leaders bonus often happens in China regardless of quality, even though GJ has upgraded some leaders. It's more an aspect of numbers. The Chinese have a lot of HQs. The Japanese only a few.

[jonreb31]

Oh wow, GreyJoy at it again! Keep on sticking it to him, Japan's starting to learn his place.

[GreyJoy]

August 12-14, 1942

While things slow down in China (Kweyiang seems to be safe for the moment), Japan is mopping up two great invasions! OMG!!! This MrKane is really an aggressive player!

ALEUTINAS:

The Japs arrived with what seems to be 4 CVs, a full complement of BBs and mainly the whole cruiser fleet, escorting a big amphibious convoy... the target seems to be Attu (where I have only engineers) and maybe Addak... God...
However I managed to give him a little payback. I had a cruiser division lurking in those northern waters... 2 Honolulu Class CLs and 4 DDs... I've moved them north of Addak, in order to avoid the search planes from his KB... yesterday the target has been revealed...Attu... I've ordered a full speed attack at night, knowing that his BBs and CLs were there...but I had to risk...
The result have been more than decent:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Attu Island at 153,49, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
F1M2 Pete: 10 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CS Chitose, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
PB Hokutai Maru, Shell hits 27, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Denmark Maru
xAK Florida Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAK Havre Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
xAK Himalaya Maru
xAK Italy Maru
xAK Liverpool Maru
xAK Naples Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire
xAK Norway Maru, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
xAK San Francisco Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire
xAK Hohuku Maru
xAK Midori Maru, Shell hits 10, heavy fires
xAK Nagato Maru, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
xAK Sinsei Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires
xAK Tatuha Maru, Shell hits 7, on fire
xAK Totori Maru, Shell hits 16, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CL Honolulu
CL Phoenix
DD Drayton
DD Lamson
DD Case
DD Cassin

Japanese ground losses:
682 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 40 (11 destroyed, 29 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (8 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Low visibility due to Thunderstorms with 7% moonlight
Allies open fire on surprised Japanese ships at 2,000 yards
CL Phoenix fires at CS Chitose at 2,000 yards
Magazine explodes on CS Chitose
CS Chitose sunk by CL Honolulu at 2,000 yards

Japanese Task Force Manages to Escape
Task forces break off...


The Chitose is Sunk, along with the CL Tama...

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Attu Island at 153,49, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Abukuma
CL Kuma, Shell hits 1
CL Tama, Shell hits 35, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 3, on fire
CL Tatsuta
DD Fubuki
DD Shinonome
DD Usugumo
DD Shirakumo
DD Isonami
DD Shirayuki
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Murakumo
DD Uranami, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CL Honolulu, Shell hits 30, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Phoenix, Shell hits 1
DD Drayton, Shell hits 2
DD Lamson, Shell hits 1
DD Case, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Cassin


We lost the Honolulu later in the day... along with 2 DDs.... but we mauled a CL and a CS... along with some transports... not bad. Even if I can't efford to lose modern CLs, I think it was a good day, considering what I was facing with only 2 CLs and 4 DDs...
Our surviving ships avoided the KB....


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Night Naval bombardment of Attu Island at 153,49

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
PBY-5A Catalina: 8 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
CL Isuzu
CL Naka
CL Sendai
DD Matsukaze
DD Harukaze
DD Asakaze

Allied ground losses:
230 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 25
Port hits 10
Port supply hits 1





MARSHALLS:
Here all the Japanese CVs arrived, escorting Yamato, Musashi and several more modern CAs, along with an invasion convoy... target? Tabiutea!
Yesterday 100 zeros swept the skies over Tabiutea, fighting hard with my Buffalos...1-2 in his favour, but I saved most of my pilots...
Today they got closer... and the Yamato/Musashi repulsed with their AAs an attack of 15 SDBs.... tomorrow they' bombard, I know, but I don't think they can invade an atoll against 550 allied AVs... but we'll see soon.


The allied bombed Scoodra with many BBs... and I think I can now land there safely.

My next objective is a reinforcement convoy that needs to be escorted to Horn Island (low on supplies there)

In Burma the 27th Division is reaching Cock's Bazar, and we keep on building Assam bases at a decent speed (but supplies flow VERYYY slow)

[ny59giants]

Didn't Allied Intel Reports give you any messages about these invasions or at least the troops prepping for these bases??

[koniu]

If he land in atoll against dig-in 550AV he is going to lose badly.
It would be high risk mission for allies in `44 for japan it is suicide mission
Been there few months ago. I lose entire ID(less that 20 combat squads survive first day) attacking atoll defended by only 150AV.

On his place i will land in all those islands around Tabiutea and try starve Your troops.
Tabiutea bombardment should be only tool to close Your AF, nothing more.
In that case You will have to abandon them or commit Carriers to open supply road

[crsutton]

CS Chitose becomes a very useful CVL later on so the trade off was definitely in your favor. Not sure why he tied the valuable Chitose to an invasion fleet. She is a scout at this stage of the war...

The Japanese need to take defended atolls before the invasion bonus is gone. I can't see any chance of success here. Like said above. Even for the Allies later on, atolls are tough nuts to crack.

[GreyJoy]

Sooooooo.................. I've been away for a week-end...a wedding party out of town.... i came back very happy after a drinking night my my old friends... a bit of hangover, true, but the headhache i had was nothing compared to what was waiting for me on my mailbox....

... I'll post a complete summery as soon as i get to office but just to let you know...

A CV battle has occurred... We lost 3 CVs, 3 CAs, 3 CLAAs, 2 CLs and 23 DDs.... [X(] Japan hasn't lost a single ship[X(] And, this time, i'm the only one to blame for this astonishing defeat!!!

Details later

[GreyJoy]

Ok, here's what happened...


As you know the japs were conducing 2 ops, one against Tabiutea and one against Attu in the Aleutinas.
At Attu, after the naval battle where the CS Chitose has been sunk along with CL Tama and CL Honolulu, the allies retired and left the field to the enemies. The Japs did invade Attu with a Bde that easily conquered the base held by a couple of Engineer regiments.
Addak seems safe for the moment.
However, what was important, is that I saw 2 enemy CVs operating there. 2 CVs...

At Tabiutea, the Japs arrived with a full complement of CVL/CVEs (he already lost 2 CVEs, remember?), escorting the Yamato/Musashi and what appeared to be an invasion TF.
The invasion TF was however very strange... including AKEs and ASs...[&:] So I thought it was a fake one...
However the Yamato/MUsashi arrived to bomb Tabiutea and found 6 DDs commanded by Burke... we lost 3 DDs but put a torp into Yamato's belly.... then, the SS-34 managed to hit the Soho CVL... not bad...
Anyway, seemed strange to me to see the Yamato again...as far as I knew it ate 3 torps at Cocos 2 months ago and that big ship couldn't eat 3 torps and keep on operating at full speed at the other side of the map.... very strange....

So, by now, I counted 2 CVs in Nopac, at least 4/5 CVL/CVEs in CENTPAC, with 1 CV sunk at Cocos and one more damaged near the Adamans by a british torp...
How many CVs did he have left for the KB? Not many i'd say, right?

That's one of the reasons I've made the worst possible strategic mistake of this war.

After a bit of chatting with MrKane it came out that I was victim of the synch bug during the Cocos battle... we never sunk a CV, nor damaged another one or the Yamato[:@][:@][:@]

So I decided to move my pacific CV fleet (Was, York and Hornet) to escort a convoy to Horn Island... I don't know why I risked so much for a so useless operation, but possibly I simply felt overconfident...
Anyway, as soon as I approached Horn Island with my forces (2 SAGs, 1 ASW and 1 CVTF)I realized I was making a mistake... but I got stubborn and remained there...
PM got crowded of Betties and Zeros and I felt really naked with only 110 Wildcats defending my ships...I moved a bit west of Horn island, covering my convoys, but some 50 Nells escorted by 30 Zeros arrived from Kailanden and put a torp on the Yorktown...18 flt damage.... but the ship was still operative...

Then, the next day, I saw a CVTF near Milne Bay... recon said only 4 or 5 CVs...which was consistent with what I knew about his CVs dislocations...

So I said to myself: what the hell, Greyjoy, show yourself and the world you have balls and look for a battle!

I wanted to inflict the greatest possible damageand really didn't care about losing my CVs... so I ordered all the wildcats to escort and all the SDB/TBFs to attack. But I didn't want to face also the LBA from PM, so I took the worst possible decision: use all my 2 SAGs to bomb PM at night in order to close the AF, leaving the CVs alone...IDIOT!
I sent my CVs to a south-eastern route, to get close to the enemy... SPRUANCE in command...

My SAGs did close PM, but when the morning came my CVTF was engaged by 4 Japanese CAs... damn!!!! The York immediately sunk, while the Hornet took so many hits that the bridge was un-operable... the KB then attacked, sinking all of it, while only from the Wasp arrived a counterattack...which was easily broken apart by a full KB, composed of 7 CVs!!! WHAT THE ******!!!! Didn't I sink 1 of those and badly damaged another one 2 months ago????...no, synch bug my dear[:@]

Then he chased down the following days what was left of my mighty fleet.
The second day was even worse cause I had 2 SAGs composed of some survived ships which managed to engage the enemy CVs at day... but my ships simply fled because they were low on ammo...[:@][:@][:@] just to get later annihilated by his Vals/Kates

Results?

3 CVs sunk, 3 CLAAs sunk, 3 CAs sunk, 2 CL sunk and not less than 23 DDs...

And now, in the whole pacific, I am naked... damn!

The first mistake was, however, to risk my CVs in an operation which had no particular strategical goal. Stupid. Simply stupid.
The second mistake was a tactical one. I detached my covering SAG in order to bomb PM thus leaving my CVs alone... don't know why I did that...I never do it. I always keep a covering force with my CVs... this time, the only time I don't, I got punished. Lesson learnt (hopefully).

Ok, and now?...now I have to change a bit my plans, that's for sure.


In China the situation is getting worse and worse every day. Supply is non-existent and the constant battles, even if victorious, have drained any kind of reserves. In the north ALL my corps are out of supply and are melting like snow in the sun at every bombardment attack....

However in Burma I still see a light....

[morejeffs]

As an AFB playing McKane...I feel your pain..[:(]..His is tough...I have never seen such good aggressive IJA action as he is doing in China.[X(]...Supply for us sucks....[&o]

Good luck getting your revenge!

[CaptBeefheart]

Hayzoos Cristo, mi amigo. My condolences to the man who when all else is crumbling, his carriers are usually still intact.

Well, look at it as another challenge. Victory will be all the sweeter when it comes. Plus, this will just get more exciting for us in the peanut gallery.

Cheers,
CC

[JocMeister]

Ouch. Thats the worst case of syncbugs I have heard of [:(]

Perhaps from now on you should ask your opponent to attach the CR file so you can compare it with yours? I´ve been trying to get Erik to do this but he is worried that the CR contains FOW and I would gain intel from seeing his CR. But from what I´ve read on the forum and tested myself that isn´t the case and comparing CRs is the only way to make sure you avoid situations like this?

Someone please correct me if I´m wrong.

[GreyJoy]

Yes, usually I ask him to send the CR file when i'm out and cannot play the turn (so to see on my Iphone what happened)... but that didn't happen during those turns at Cocos (when the RN ambushed his mini-KB)...

...oh well, a part from the Synch bug, I really played this battle badly, so i'm the only one to blame this time. If the allies put in danger their CVs, even without aiming at a particular strategic target, they DO deserve to get punished!

CR Cody, don't worry too much. The allies will get so strong in a year from now that, if I don't commit any more huge mistakes, Japan will start suffering too [:D]

There are still a lot of options... even without all my 6 US CVs... I still have 3 CVs, 2 British CVs, and by dec 1942 i'll have 6 CVEs to play with... not that bad if you ask me.

Now that i'm playing japan in early 1944 against Brad I know how Japan will feel... and it's not pretty, believe me [;)]

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: morejeffs

As an AFB playing McKane...I feel your pain..[:(]..His is tough...I have never seen such good aggressive IJA action as he is doing in China.[X(]...Supply for us sucks....[&o]

Good luck getting your revenge!

I think i've done very well in China, winning all the battles i've fought, except one,... but simply, once the supplies is gone, your units will melt apart and you won't be able to defend not even in good defensive terrain.

But, on the other hand, i can assure you that Japan needs to invest a lot in China if he wants to conquer it all...and that mens lots of supplies, lots of HIs, lots of units...all things that will be missed later in the war. It's a compromise, as Always... so the more the allies manage to force the japs to invest in China, the better will be for them later on

[jeffk3510]

Not a game breaker, but definetly will take the wind out of your sails over the weekend.

Charge ahead!

[Cap Mandrake]

That was no mere, ordinary "synch bug", that was a parallel universe bug.

[GreyJoy]

Thanks guys... but, to be honest, my mistakes are clear, no matter the synch bug.
For sure if I hadn't thought to have put out of action 2 of his CVs, I may have not risked that stupid operation all the same, but I should have understood something was wrong with my reports when I saw Yamato in action last week...while I didn't pay to that event the kind of attention it deserved to....then even if only 4 CVs were left available in his Solomons Fleet, with the surface engagement we had (where York sunk and Wasp took a lot of damage), the result would have been exactly the same.

For sure the synch bug hasn't helped, but i'm the guilty one here

[BBfanboy]

Good to see you will play on.
For I while there I thought you were going to give the game over to Nemo as another No-CV challenge! [:)]

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Burma - I developed all those bases in Assam to max and still didn't get supplies to flow into central Burma bases (did OK outside of them). It wasn't until I got Ramree Island and was able to push out from there to get supplies to flow. IMO, I would focus on pushing down the coast to Aykab and then going inland from there along with an invasion of Ramree. In slightly less than two months, Burma has changed significantly since landing there.

I have found a huge difference between BigBabes and stock in regards to moving supplies within India. My uneducated observations and experience are that in the stock game there is a plethora of supplies that continue to propagate as long as airfield levels are built up that increase the number of supplies per pulse. This increases with continued supplies running into Karachi ...In BigBabes India starts out hungry for supplies and factories do not produce the plethora of stock .. in addition, the IJ can cutoff India producing a dearth with very little propagating ..

So the strategy might be different depending on the game modifications ...

[obvert]

These events will make this one pretty interesting for some time to come. Do you have any ideas which vector you'll now concentrate on until your Essex class arrives?

OT - Was just in Covent Garden with other visiting friends today and remembered fondly your London trip and our coffee. [:)]

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Good to see you will play on.
For I while there I thought you were going to give the game over to Nemo as another No-CV challenge! [:)]

Hope you are kidding!

Give up? While playing the allies?? Seriously? With only 3 CVs sunk??...not a chance! The allies cannot lose