Rise of the Sheep! JocMeister(A) vs. Obvert(J)

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Battle for Balikpapan Day 1[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Erik did something quite unexpected. He stayed and will fight for it. This changes my initial plan a bit and I will try and be a bit clever here. It seldom works but perhaps this time. Erik has a lot of Naval power hunkering under the Balikpapan CAP. No doubt he want to prevent bombardments from closing the airfield and take advantage of my TFs coming in as bombardment TFs instead of SCTFs. So I won´t do that.

There is a good chance Erik outnumbers me here. I´m guessing possible as much as 4-6 BBs and possible a few of the remaining CAs as well. So I won´t risk everything here. That means trying to take them out from the air instead.

I´m going to send in only 3 SCTFs nexy turn. 2 Fletcher TFs and the Modern CA one. Their main purpose is to break up Eriks TFs and possible force them to retreat out from the CAP. The CVs will move down a bit and their strike range has been increased to cover the Balikpapan hex. Hopefully the airfield will be closed by then. Otherwise this will be nasty.

I don´t really have a plan here. Everything will depend on how tomorrow goes. I do have a hidden ace up my sleeve in form of the 4 Fast BBs. Oddly enough they have had a very low DL all the time. So quite possible Erik thinks they are CAs or something. If all else fail they will go in and clear the way for the amphibs.

Whatever happens we will have a big naval battle during the night. Sadly the moon is at 100%.

Big day tomorrow! Fingers crossed.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Battle for Balikpapan Day 2[/font]
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Kicking myself a little for sending in the modern CAs. [:@] In hindsight it was unnecessary and the TF did not achieve much, if anything.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 64,97, Range 12,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Shell hits 11
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 6
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kuroshio, Shell hits 3
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 2
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 4, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Wichita, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Boston
DD Bennion, Shell hits 2
DD Luce
DD McCord, Shell hits 1
DD Mullany
DD Philip
DD John Rodgers, Shell hits 1
DD Saufley
DD Stevens
CA Canberra II
CA Sleipner, Shell hits 22, and is sunk

It was not an enjoyable battle to watch. The Fletchers spent all their torps firing at Jap DDs instead of the Hiei. Hieis first two 36cm salvos hit Sleipner and then Wichita dooming them both. Boston and Canbarra II was content to do absolutely nothing and I don´t think either of them fired a single salvo during the battle. Wichita sinks right after the battle.

After this battle the Fletchers (who I had hoped would go in first) have several very disappointing battles where they spend most of their ammo hitting nothing. With one exception.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 64,97, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Kinu, Shell hits 2
DD Yuzuki, Shell hits 24, and is sunk
DD Shiokaze, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
DD Charles Ausburne
DD Beale
DD Callaghan
DD Erben
DD Healy
DD Richard P. Leary
DD Norman Scott
DD Sigsbee
DD Stembel, Shell hits 1
DD Thatcher
DD Trathen
DD Twiggs, Shell hits 1

A very disappointing night. And to add insult to injury this is the last sighting of Hiei and the Japanese CAs. In the morning they are simply gone. [:(]

Daytime
Morning dawns and the USAAF comes into play. It turns out they will be the saviors of the day. Multiple sweeps hit the Balikpapan CAP doing a little bit worse than expected but gets the job done. I deliberately did not use my best groups for this job as they are sweeping on extended range. Turned out well anyway!

Morning Air attack on Balikpapan , at 64,97

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 26 NM, estimated altitude 43,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 36
N1K2-J George x 81
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 28
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 46
Ki-61-Id Tony x 9
Ki-84a Frank x 78

Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Id Tony: 2 destroyed
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 3 destroyed

This is followed by more sweeps with similar results. Then the bombers came in. I was expecting carnage but it actually wasn´t that bad.

Morning Air attack on Balikpapan , at 64,97

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms [:@]

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 30
N1K2-J George x 63
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 19
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 18
Ki-61-Id Tony x 1
Ki-84a Frank x 54

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 3
B-17E Fortress x 9
B-24D Liberator x 7
B-24D1 Liberator x 10
B-24J Liberator x 68
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 4 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed on ground
P1Y2 Frances: 17 destroyed on ground
B6N2 Jill: 3 destroyed on ground
P1Y1 Frances: 13 destroyed on ground
B5N2 Kate: 4 destroyed on ground
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 1 destroyed on ground
M6A1 Seiran: 14 destroyed on ground
E13A1 Jake: 4 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 3 destroyed, 14 damaged
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged


Airbase hits 24
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 73

All in all I think about 35 B24s are lost. Could have been a lot worse. No enemy strikes took off but so I guess the airfield was either closed or most of the planes were damaged enough to be able unable to do flight OPS?

Thanks to some productive sweeps in Burma we still get out on top with 226 Jap planes destroyed for 132 allied.

CV OPS
What I was hoping to be a "coup de grace" for Japanese naval power in the region turns out to be pfffzzzz instead. This is the only strike that flew. I have no idea why no strikes flew against what was/is left at Balikpapan. Bah. [:(]

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 64,98

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 42
SB2C-3 Helldiver x 29

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Shikinami, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
DD Amagiri, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Shikinami
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Amagiri

The Hiei and the two CAs has just vanished. No idea where they went. [:@] Its possible they are still sitting at Balikpapan as I have a 6 ship DD TF identified there. Now I just have to figure out what to do tomorrow. All in all. I´m quite disappointed. Losing 2 CAs for the price of a few DDs is just not worth it. If I had bagged 2 CAs and a BB it would have been a good day. Not so now.

The positive is that it looks like I might have the airfield suppressed. I still have 150 4Es ready to go again tomorrow to make sure. Question is if Erik will continue to fight for it or not. Is it time for me to send in the Fast BBs....lots to think on.

[bigred]

Is the oil or refinery at Balik destroyed?

Does your senario allow refineries to produce supply?

It will be interesting to watch how u capture Balik.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: bigred

Is the oil or refinery at Balik destroyed?

Does your senario allow refineries to produce supply?

It will be interesting to watch how u capture Balik.

Everything is intact. I left it there so I can grab it. [:)] Yes, its a SCEN 1 so they are producing supply I think? So he won´t run out in the first place.

I hope it will go smooth. In my experience everything in a clear hex is doomed against allied armor. I have 5 tank units landing including Shermans and Jacksons. If Erik stays true to his habit there will be 1-2 NavGuard + a RGT or something. Perhaps a SNLF unit or two. I don´t think I have seen a AT unit yet. So that means my armor should be able to attack unmolested. [:)]

With some luck he has brought some Tankettes in. Would be cool to see what the Jacksons can do against them. They have a anti armor value of 220! Same as Pershing! [X(]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Battle for Balikpapan Day 3 and 4[/font]
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Not much to report. Looks like Hiei and the two CAs got away. Crap! We have now completely cleared out the sea around Balikpapan. No enemy surface assets is left within sight.

We have also gotten complete control of the skies and the airfield is shut at Balikpapan and I´m working on closing Samarinda as well. Don´t want him to sneak any bombers in there.

Tomorrow we land. I hope the embedded BBs and air attacks will suppress the defenders enough to make up for the less than perfect prepp of my units.

We did manage to bag some small fish on day 3 though!

A most frustrating attack to watch though. First of all I don´t know why the engine decided this small strike was enough when nothing else where in sight. Secondly, time and time again the Avengers went for the nimble destroyers instead of the stricken CLs. [:@]

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 64,97

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 33 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 9
Ki-61-Id Tony x 4

Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 62
SB2C-3 Helldiver x 29
TBM-1C Avenger x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed
Ki-61-Id Tony: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
TBM-1C Avenger: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Naka, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hokaze
DD Nokaze, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
CL Kinu, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
DD Okikaze
DD Akikaze
DD Sawakaze

Situation feels stable and the only bad thing happening was Illustrious taking a glancing blow from a sub launched torpedo. Nothing major and she will stay with the fleet for now. She will have to head to the Yard after this though.

Update on the rest of the world coming tonight

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Tavoy[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

As can see in the screen nothing has changed. Erik has reached a blocking position just East of Tavoy. I bombed the stack last turn and this is what I´m up against.

Also attacking 35th Ind.Mixed Brigade ...
Also attacking 8th Tank Regiment ...
Also attacking 6th Ind.Infantry Brigade ...
Also attacking 48th Division ...

Problem for me right now is that my armor is really lagging behind. Unless I can dislodge Eriks troops without the armor I´m in a world of problems. No doubt the two Tank divisions in the North will get to the hex before my own armor slugging through the jungle.

I also made a mistake up at Moulmein and forgot to reset my "fake movement" unit that crossed the river into Moulmein and gut destroyed. So there can be no doubt for Erik now that I´m not moving there. I´ll continue the movement for a while yet and see how much he shifts to the hex I´m crossing into. I might have to cancel the crossing all together.

One positive thing in the south though is that I have managed to take a really good toll on Erik fighters LRCAPing from Bangkok. I achieved something close to 10-1 over the last week. So now he stopped LRCAPing his troops and my bombers have a free reign! [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Marianas[/font]
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Some good turns here. Eriks forces at Saipan has finally collapsed. I´m just using the armor to kill them off.

Ground combat at Saipan (108,93)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2449 troops, 135 guns, 387 vehicles, Assault Value = 1340

Defending force 14178 troops, 108 guns, 153 vehicles, Assault Value = 41

Allied adjusted assault: 712

Japanese adjusted defense: 69

Allied assault odds: 10 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
979 casualties reported
Squads: 53 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 45 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 14 (12 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

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42nd Recon Regiment Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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55th Field AA Battalion Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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19th RF Gun Battalion Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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45th Field AA Battalion Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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32nd Air Defense AA Battalion Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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17th Ind.Mixed Regiment Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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Saipan Naval Fortress Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!

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4th JNAF AF Unit Wiped Out at Saipan by attrition!!!


Japanese Unit(s) surrounded at Saipan

On the 2nd of November another deliberate attack was ordered at Guam. Excellent results here as well! [:)]

Ground combat at Guam (106,95)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 42696 troops, 902 guns, 1459 vehicles, Assault Value = 1553

Defending force 26056 troops, 442 guns, 216 vehicles, Assault Value = 384

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 810

Japanese adjusted defense: 741

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1) [&o][&o][&o]

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1 [&o][&o][&o]

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1824 casualties reported
Squads: 51 destroyed, 97 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 54 disabled
Guns lost 93 (11 destroyed, 82 disabled)
Vehicles lost 50 (28 destroyed, 22 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1184 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 197 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 38 disabled
Vehicles lost 76 (5 destroyed, 71 disabled)

I´ll be able to attack again in 3-4 days.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Phillipine Archipelago[/font]
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As can seen in the screen its quite confusing with a myriad of small islands captured and still left in enemy hands. I find it really hard to report from this front as there is so much moving around.

Basically I´m building bases and moving forward and Erik lets me. He has done the occasional sorti with the air force but nothing near to any allied CAP.

As can also been seen in the screen we are running out of small islands. Soon its time to land on Luzon. I´m waiting for Iloilo to hit level 9 first though. Should happen in 3-4 weeks.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Battle for Balikpapan Day 5 - Landing[/font]
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A good turn for the Allies. It seems my assumption that defending in a clear hex is near impossible for the Japanese at this stage.

This is just allied yum yum! [:D]

Pre-Invasion action off Balikpapan (64,97)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

145 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales
BB Mississippi
BB California
LCI(G)-220
LCI(G)-82
LCI(G)-81
LCI(G)-80
LCI(G)-79
LCI(G)-78
LCI(G)-77
LCI(G)-76
LCI-69
LCI-68
LCI-67
LCI-66
APA Starlight
DE Encounter
DE James E. Craig

Japanese ground losses:
1146 casualties reported BOOM!
Squads: 1 destroyed, 84 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 53 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Naval bombardment linked to the landings cause another 200-300 casualties during the day.

Later in the day the 4Es come in with very promising result!

Morning Air attack on 74th Infantry Regiment, at 64,97 (Balikpapan)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

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

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 9
B-17E Fortress x 7
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 14
B-24J Liberator x 60
F4U-1A Corsair x 25
F6F-5 Hellcat x 26
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 21

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 3 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 3 damaged
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
557 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

If I can do that for a couple of days thats going to effect his disruption a bit...[:)]

It also turns out I wasn´t too off with what I would encounter when landing. The auto bombardment shows the following.

Ground combat at Balikpapan (64,97)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3248 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 408

Defending force 19731 troops, 319 guns, 813 vehicles, Assault Value = 727

Japanese ground losses:
138 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Infantry Regiment
83rd Infantry Brigade
7th Ind.Infantry Brigade
454th Ind.Infantry Battalion
74th Infantry Rgt /1
205th Naval Construction Battalion
24th Port Unit
90th JAAF AF Bn /2
14th Air Fleet
22nd JAAF AF Bn
206th Naval Const Bn /2

Defending units:
2nd USMC Amphb Tank Battalion
711th Tank Battalion
706th Tank Battalion
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
124th Cavalry Regiment
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
96th Infantry Div /8
165th USA Base Force
148th Field Artillery Battalion
160th USA Base Force
2nd Medium Regiment

When watching the replay I noticed that at least one of the BDEs showed 0 AV and several others were really low. This looks like a hodgepodge of units just thrown in there in the last minute. And guess what? No AT... [;)]

I was cautiously optimistic before the landings but now I´m quite confident I secure it. Next turn will see two more naval bombardments and the 4Es again. My units will need to recover fatigue and disruption for a few days before doing the first attack. In the meantime I will do what I can to just hammer the defenders with all I got.

[JocMeister]

Bah, seems like this game has turned into a soap opera lately.

[8|]

I asked Erik if we could just play the game from now on and keep the crap out of it. During the last week there has been "discussions" about:

- Aerial minelaying (I mined Palembang)
- Night bombing (I used 4 squadrons to rough up a airfield causing a massive 21 runway hits)
- And now this lovely "suicide recon" as he calls it.

If we spent the same amount of time playing the game as on all this crap we would get 2-3 turns more done per day. I totally get that this is a hard time playing Japan just as 42 is a tough time to play the allies. Its easy to get hung up on stuff. But this is wasting too much time right now.

Wow, I even wrote about the suicide recon in my AAR. How evil of me to exploit the game engine like that... [8|]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I also made a mistake up at Moulmein and forgot to reset my "fake movement" unit that crossed the river into Moulmein and gut destroyed. So there can be no doubt for Erik now that I´m not moving there. I´ll continue the movement for a while yet and see how much he shifts to the hex I´m crossing into. I might have to cancel the crossing all together.

[/quote]


EDIT: If the sarcasm is missed I´ll explain it in plain text. Throughout the game both me and Erik has used "fake movement" to confuse and hide attack vectors. I take it this is a commonly used method as I have seen it in multiple AARs. I had the AA unit set to move toward Moulmein to get a movement indicator going there while the real crossing would be to the east (empty hex). This is what I´m moaning about in the above quoted comment. When the AA units crossed I thought it would be obvious to Erik I just forgot to reset the movement and thus giving away the real crossing point to the east

This is something I have done probably over 100 times in the game but this was only the second time I forgot to reset the units movement BEFORE it crosses. First time was also a AA unit moving from Bessain due east. That time there was no discussion of "suicide recon" [8|] I have no idea how Erik would come to the conclusion that it was.

I have the utmost respect for Erik but the last few days we had several discussions on the most minute things. None of them started by me. Its tiring and energy draining to constantly having to spend what little spare time I have writing long emails back and forth. I´m just fed up with it at this point. I´m guessing he may be a bit burned out right now or something.

I wrote I kind of direct email to him simply stating there is nothing to discuss this time. He was wrong and either he believes me or he doesn´t but I´m not going to spend hours "discussing" this.

Play the game or don´t.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Battle for Balikpapan Day 6[/font]
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Another very promising turn. First the two naval bombardment go in. The first one is a big fizzle though.

Night Naval bombardment of Balikpapan at 64,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y1 Frances: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
CA San Francisco
CA Minneapolis
CA Chicago
CA Chester
DD Hopewell
DD Franks
DD Cotten
DD Claxton
DD Brownson
DD Fletcher
DD Lyman K. Swenson
DD Brush

Japanese ground losses:
108 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Not too surprising the BBs do a lot better! [&o]

Night Naval bombardment of Balikpapan at 64,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y1 Frances: 17 damaged
P1Y1 Frances: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Richelieu
BB Massachusetts
BB Indiana
BB South Dakota
DD Blue II
DD Loke
DD Frej
DD Nicholson
DD Cassin Young
DD Irwin
DD Aulick

Japanese ground losses:
426 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 16 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

No opposition is met during the day when the bombers go in. This is a summary of the damage caused by the 4Es.

Japanese ground losses:
487 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Japanese ground losses:
64 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Japanese ground losses:
229 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Japanese ground losses:
90 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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

Japanese ground losses:
105 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Japanese ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

I sum that up to about 70 disabled infantry squads in a single day of bombing. Nice!

Then Erik forgets to turn off the auto bombardment. Thank you!

Ground combat at Balikpapan (64,97)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2896 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 341

Defending force 19914 troops, 323 guns, 822 vehicles, Assault Value = 765

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

When watching the bombardment only one RGT showed any AV at all (30). Yet the total AV shown here is 341. Is the total in the CR counting disabled squads as well? Which one is the correct one?

Erik also tried to fly in some troops using Flying boats. Having transport interception working is nice. [&o] 10 are shot down over Balikpapan and no further attempts have been made.

I will rest the troops for another day. After that I will order a deliberate attack to gauge the opposition. Besides the disabled squads most of Eriks troops should suffer severe disruption from the bombings.

Hopefully I was right about the clear hex dooming any attempt to defend. I don´t know the fort levels but judging by the damage inflicted it doesn´t look too bad. Level 4 perhaps.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Tavoy[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Looks like its full flight south now. Erik won the race to the key hex. I have 3 more days before the infantry reach the hex. Armor and combat engineers are hopelessly left behind. Since it in fact will be four days before I can attack and I most certainly won´t be able to take control of the hex in the first attack this basically means Erik is safe. For now.

I´m trying to slow him down bombing the tank units racing ahead but they have been absolutely impervious to air attack. Despite bombing at 6k with 300 4Es I have yet to disable a single tank. So I switched to try and soft up the units already in place. Its not going spectacularly well.

Here is a screen of the situation. Interesting enough there seems to be only 39k troops left in Moulmein and it looks like Erik might be heading south even with his superstack.

[Bullwinkle58]

If his super stack gets to Bangkok and the choo-choo it's a different game for you. That's what I'd do. Everything north of Bangkok is toast at this point anyway. Other than the gap in the tracks way south in Vietnam it's a clear trip most of the way to Hong Kong.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

If his super stack gets to Bangkok and the choo-choo it's a different game for you. That's what I'd do. Everything north of Bangkok is toast at this point anyway. Other than the gap in the tracks way south in Vietnam it's a clear trip most of the way to Hong Kong.

And even then, there's a grey road...

Joc, are you hoping to "link up" with your thrust from the sea? What's the long-term plan for these Burma forces? This is an era of the game about which I have little more than theories, especially from the Allied perspective, so would love thoughts from you (and from others).

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

If his super stack gets to Bangkok and the choo-choo it's a different game for you. That's what I'd do. Everything north of Bangkok is toast at this point anyway. Other than the gap in the tracks way south in Vietnam it's a clear trip most of the way to Hong Kong.

Hmm, Hadn´t thought of him bailing out completely and "choo-chooing" out. That wouldn´t be very "Erik" but its certainly a possibility.

I have to give some thought on how I would counter that. The drawback for him would be that I all of the sudden would have 17k unrestricted AV free to do something else with. I could leave just the Chinese and some of the Indians to mop up Malaya and Thailand. I´m actually not sure it would be bad for me if he really did bail out with everything. Hmmm.

Very good point Bullwinkle. It hadn´t crossed my mind. I need to ponder this a bit.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

If his super stack gets to Bangkok and the choo-choo it's a different game for you. That's what I'd do. Everything north of Bangkok is toast at this point anyway. Other than the gap in the tracks way south in Vietnam it's a clear trip most of the way to Hong Kong.

And even then, there's a grey road...

Joc, are you hoping to "link up" with your thrust from the sea? What's the long-term plan for these Burma forces? This is an era of the game about which I have little more than theories, especially from the Allied perspective, so would love thoughts from you (and from others).

Yeah, the jump between Phnom Penh and Saigon is 3-5 days. I'd split any armor off and send it ahead.

To me the there are several norms in this theater and era. One is to use sealift. There's not much naval danger now. The other is to get the Allied armor together and get it into rice country in Vietnam/Laos. It can really move and it sweeps anything it catches in the open out of the way quickly. Bangkok is a juicy target, but it can consume a lot of Allied force and especially time. I think Saigon has at least as much utility due to position for naval air, a great port, and removal of some decent HI production. With Saigon Bangkok can be pounded as well as anything trying to come or go from Bangkok.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

If his super stack gets to Bangkok and the choo-choo it's a different game for you. That's what I'd do. Everything north of Bangkok is toast at this point anyway. Other than the gap in the tracks way south in Vietnam it's a clear trip most of the way to Hong Kong.

Hmm, Hadn´t thought of him bailing out completely and "choo-chooing" out. That wouldn´t be very "Erik" but its certainly a possibility.

I have to give some thought on how I would counter that. The drawback for him would be that I all of the sudden would have 17k unrestricted AV free to do something else with. I could leave just the Chinese and some of the Indians to mop up Malaya and Thailand. I´m actually not sure it would be bad for me if he really did bail out with everything. Hmmm.

Very good point Bullwinkle. It hadn´t crossed my mind. I need to ponder this a bit.

Refer to jrcar's AAR.

At this point and going forward the Japanese have to be constantly moving toward and not away from supply sources. Shrinking the footprint. Defending fewer key bases. That stack with good supply can be a terror on the Chinese coast or near Shanghai. And eventually he'll have to deal with Soviets. 170,000 men or whatever would be useful if they aren't dead in western Asia.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
And even then, there's a grey road...

Joc, are you hoping to "link up" with your thrust from the sea? What's the long-term plan for these Burma forces? This is an era of the game about which I have little more than theories, especially from the Allied perspective, so would love thoughts from you (and from others).

To be completely honest. I´m not sure. [:D]

The only thing I do know is that until Luzon is secured there won´t be a landing in Indochina. For the moment I´m content with trying to defeat Eriks forces here.

Its a very good question indeed. If Erik does indeed bail out I would probably do something fancy with 10k AV in mid 45. Hokkaido? [;)]

I might even look at the possibility to get the Chinese in Supply again. Thats 35k AV that would probably sweep through China in very short time.

I guess the best answer right now would be that it depends on what Erik does. I have been struggling here for so long the thought of "whats next" has never crossed my mind.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
And even then, there's a grey road...

Joc, are you hoping to "link up" with your thrust from the sea? What's the long-term plan for these Burma forces? This is an era of the game about which I have little more than theories, especially from the Allied perspective, so would love thoughts from you (and from others).

To be completely honest. I´m not sure. [:D]

The only thing I do know is that until Luzon is secured there won´t be a landing in Indochina. For the moment I´m content with trying to defeat Eriks forces here.

Its a very good question indeed. If Erik does indeed bail out I would probably do something fancy with 10k AV in mid 45. Hokkaido? [;)]

I might even look at the possibility to get the Chinese in Supply again. Thats 35k AV that would probably sweep through China in very short time.

I guess the best answer right now would be that it depends on what Erik does. I have been struggling here for so long the thought of "whats next" has never crossed my mind.

If he leaves, just maintaining Bangkok, you don't need to land in Indochina most likely. You already have what you need on the Asian landmass. You could drive on Singers, a huge VP get as well as the best shipyard and AF in Asia outside the HI. That pushes his naval dreams back to Formosa at best. Or, you could "do the loop" around Indochina (leave Bangkok to rot), come up to Haiphong and think about taking Canton and HK. That opens up Chinese supply real well. CRB is a huge, non-river port to pour in supply sourced from the PI via Oz or Pearl. I agree that a 1945 Chinese army with supply and air cover is a bear for Japan.

[JocMeister]

The shipyard at Singers would certainly be welcome...The need for it might lessen a bit when Manila is secured. But having a shipyard is never bad. [:)]

Within 3 days the future of Burma will be a lot clearer. Right now everything depends on that hex. Its unlikely its I´ll be able to gain control of it. Perhaps a 30% chance if the Tank divisions doesn´t make it in time. If they do there is basically 0% chance of success.