Buried in the Sunset (Marbakka [A] vs. Texas_D [J]) - Reluctant Admiral 4.1

[marbakka]

Combat Report - 1/20/1942

- Heavy bombing in the usual places except today my too little half-strength AVG squadrons dealt a pretty nasty surprise to the Japanese bombers coming at Changsha. They hadn't been escorted for several days, so I was hoping to catch them completely off guard, but the first wave did bring some Oscars along, but 2-3 subsequent waves were flyin' around with their pants down and paid a hefty price for it.
- On the other hand, the AVG squadron in Rangoon was given orders to strafe the troops building up SE of Pegu. He had evidently arranged for some LRCAP because some Oscars met them at a higher altitude and peppered them pretty good.
- In Changsha, he conducted a bombardment attack to gauge the troop levels. I find it quit entertaining how many troops we both have piled in there. He has just over 100,000 and I have just under 170,000. Unfortunately, about 1000 AV of that are just passing through. Now that I've seen his force size, I'm wondering if I should leave them there at the risk of losing Kukong in the south.
- There is a TF NW of Timor that MIGHT be the KB or it could be the mKB making its slow painful way home. Somehow I don't get the feeling it is the KB because it doesn't seem to have other TFs escorting it like the KB has. That being the case, the only other place the KB could have gone is west into the IO or SW to continue chasing my CVs. Mine did not quite reach Perth, so I have to set them a waypoint to refill and then dart to the SW to evade any pursuing enemy.

I'm starting to get a feeling that he is more heavily invested in China than what is normal. I don't know the game well enough to say for certain, but he is stacking an awful lot in central China without seeming to weaken his northern or southern holdings at all. Here is the list of units currently in the Changsha hex (bear in mind that a stack of 3 more units is in the hex to the east):

34th Division
14th Ind.Mixed Brigade
13th Tank Regiment
6th Division
3rd Division
41st Division
13th Division
15th Division
22nd Division
32nd Division
11th Army
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

I counted 8 divisions in there. Is that more than normal for central China? Is this a giveaway that he is pursuing a "China first" strategy? If so, should I be reacting in any particular way?

[ny59giants]

If you choose to fight mainly in the open or the light urban bases which have a high stacking limit, you will lose. He will try to smash them there as he cannot in the jungle, rough, or wooded hex that limits his combat power.

[marbakka]

Define "light urban bases." Do you mean Changsha?

[marbakka]

BTW, I forgot to mention that Kweiteh fell after the slaughter of the 12000 remaining troops. Those 2-3 divisions will not be joining the front unfortunately. But will he send them to the north or to central China?

[ny59giants]

Yes - light grey is light urban.

If you are on the losing end of 2:1 combat odds, you will have a large number of destroyed squads. If he can get over 350 destroyed per month, then he can overwhelm your replacement rate. A good Japanese player will want to destroy all those infantry squads, but not kill the unit.

[marbakka]

I must say it hadn't even occurred to me that I might should give Changsha up. Don't I get a x4 bonus there? It also has 3 forts.


BTW, with regards to may whining about the AVG not getting reinforcements, it is because none of my bases have over 20000 supplies. This is a problem and means I will have to either get more supplies in there or move AVG to India to refit occasionally

[marbakka]

Combat Report - 1/21/1942

- Another bombardment attack in Changsha with no real effect
- I now see three groups which are supposedly carrier groups. One is the KB which is stationed north of Darwin and doesn't really appear to be going anywhere. Does he think I have a lot of stuff parked in Darwin? I don't. Nothing really but submarines repairing from their patrols. The second is the wounded mKB (I think). It is located between Timor and Soerabaja and has moved maybe 4 hexes in 3 days. I'm sending a submarine to investigate. The third group is a "new" one and has appeared NE of Ambon. This is the first turn that we've spotted it, so I don't have reliable information.
- Boy is it nice to see my carriers with full bellies! They topped off in Perth and are headed for Auckland for the return trip. I will likely take them to Pearl to reform their task forces and replace the planes that they have lost. I guess I couldn't ask for a much more successful cruise. (Still, it might be Halsey's last)
- Boise is about a day out from Townsville where she and her DDs will escort all or some combination of the wounded ships there down to the shipyards at Brisbane and Sydney. Houston is in pretty bad shape and PoW is not well off either. Repulse could probably make it on her own, but there is no sense in rushing it. They will be going slow, along the coast, and with plenty of stops along the way. Even when they get the Brisbane and Sydney it will only be for pier repairs. They need bigger repair yards than Australia has to offer (can we enlarge those at all?)

[ny59giants]

Its not a question of you giving up Changsha, but knowing when to retreat from there before you get thrown out and have those units become combat ineffective. That is a skill that often is difficult to learn and usually has a steep learning curve.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: marbakka

I must say it hadn't even occurred to me that I might should give Changsha up. Don't I get a x4 bonus there? It also has 3 forts.


BTW, with regards to may whining about the AVG not getting reinforcements, it is because none of my bases have over 20000 supplies. This is a problem and means I will have to either get more supplies in there or move AVG to India to refit occasionally

Much easier to move the AVG to India than to try to get 20K supply accumulated in China. Many allied players use India as the R&R location for the AVG. You must be out of Nettie range [21-26] if you want to safely stand them down.

Re: the allied shipyards - NO you cannot expand them. The game gives the Japanese player some control over industrial point usage but not the Allied player [except perhaps for turning off some aircraft production or other industrial production to save supply].

[Arnhem44]

It seems you may have damaged a couple of the CVLs badly enough they're limping for port, there's nothing quite like a crippled ship waiting to be picked off by a sub, if you have any operating in southeast asian waters I'd run 'em in at full speed damage be damned for a chance at administering a coup de grace on one or two of his Majesty's finest. He's making for Soerabaja and thence to Singapore so plant some subs in the way and cross your fingers. Your best chance is while the cripples are out at sea, once they make port they're as good as saved. Also, if the subs at Darwin are not badly banged up, send 'em out against KB. The third CV TF you observed heading for Ambon could be the lightly damaged/undamaged decks of mKB, separated from their damaged brethren.

[Uncivil Engineer]

ORIGINAL: marbakka

Combat Report - 1/20/1942

- Heavy bombing in the usual places except today my too little half-strength AVG squadrons dealt a pretty nasty surprise to the Japanese bombers coming at Changsha. They hadn't been escorted for several days, so I was hoping to catch them completely off guard, but the first wave did bring some Oscars along, but 2-3 subsequent waves were flyin' around with their pants down and paid a hefty price for it.
- On the other hand, the AVG squadron in Rangoon was given orders to strafe the troops building up SE of Pegu. He had evidently arranged for some LRCAP because some Oscars met them at a higher altitude and peppered them pretty good.
- In Changsha, he conducted a bombardment attack to gauge the troop levels. I find it quit entertaining how many troops we both have piled in there. He has just over 100,000 and I have just under 170,000. Unfortunately, about 1000 AV of that are just passing through. Now that I've seen his force size, I'm wondering if I should leave them there at the risk of losing Kukong in the south.
- There is a TF NW of Timor that MIGHT be the KB or it could be the mKB making its slow painful way home. Somehow I don't get the feeling it is the KB because it doesn't seem to have other TFs escorting it like the KB has. That being the case, the only other place the KB could have gone is west into the IO or SW to continue chasing my CVs. Mine did not quite reach Perth, so I have to set them a waypoint to refill and then dart to the SW to evade any pursuing enemy.

I'm starting to get a feeling that he is more heavily invested in China than what is normal. I don't know the game well enough to say for certain, but he is stacking an awful lot in central China without seeming to weaken his northern or southern holdings at all. Here is the list of units currently in the Changsha hex (bear in mind that a stack of 3 more units is in the hex to the east):

34th Division
14th Ind.Mixed Brigade
13th Tank Regiment
6th Division
3rd Division
41st Division
13th Division
15th Division
22nd Division
32nd Division
11th Army
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

I counted 8 divisions in there. Is that more than normal for central China? Is this a giveaway that he is pursuing a "China first" strategy? If so, should I be reacting in any particular way?

Here are the original HQ's and start locations for each of those 8 divisions (this info from my notes):

1 Army: 41st - starts somewhere in North China area (somewhere east of Loyang/Chengchow)
11 Army: 3rd, 6th, 13th, 34th - start in and around Hankow
12 Army: 32nd - starts in Suchow (IIRC)
13 Army: 15th, 22nd - start around Nanking

and I'm fairly certain that the artillery and engineers now at Changsha all start at Hankow.

So, this concentration is not PARTICULARLY unusual, BUT, it means he has very little defending the Ichang-Sinyang-Hankow area. He can easily defend in the north using the terrain. He can easily recapture the cultivated area between Suchow and Chengchow because you can't defend there. So, it seems he has taken a calculated risk to get Changsha early. IMO

[marbakka]

ORIGINAL: Arnhem

It seems you may have damaged a couple of the CVLs badly enough they're limping for port, there's nothing quite like a crippled ship waiting to be picked off by a sub, if you have any operating in southeast asian waters I'd run 'em in at full speed damage be damned for a chance at administering a coup de grace on one or two of his Majesty's finest. He's making for Soerabaja and thence to Singapore so plant some subs in the way and cross your fingers. Your best chance is while the cripples are out at sea, once they make port they're as good as saved. Also, if the subs at Darwin are not badly banged up, send 'em out against KB. The third CV TF you observed heading for Ambon could be the lightly damaged/undamaged decks of mKB, separated from their damaged brethren.

It would be nice if he headed for Soerabaja or Singapore either one, since I still own both.

[marbakka]

Combat Report - 1/22/1942

Another slow day. The only thing of any significance that happened was this:

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 114244 troops, 1151 guns, 353 vehicles, Assault Value = 3646

Defending force 131488 troops, 704 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3427

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 2446

Allied adjusted defense: 6897

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
19858 casualties reported
Squads: 316 destroyed, 889 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 110 disabled
Engineers: 54 destroyed, 132 disabled
Guns lost 84 (11 destroyed, 73 disabled)
Vehicles lost 44 (1 destroyed, 43 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
2482 casualties reported
Squads: 23 destroyed, 264 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Guns lost 32 (3 destroyed, 29 disabled)

EDIT: Funny thing about this is that on this very turn, I had ~1000 AV leave Changsha to head to Kukong, so it would have been even worse for him had he attacked just one turn earlier.

[marbakka]

ORIGINAL: Uncivil Engineer
So, this concentration is not PARTICULARLY unusual, BUT, it means he has very little defending the Ichang-Sinyang-Hankow area. He can easily defend in the north using the terrain. He can easily recapture the cultivated area between Suchow and Chengchow because you can't defend there. So, it seems he has taken a calculated risk to get Changsha early. IMO

And yet, he has a sizable force in the Hankow-Sinyang area. Sizable enough that it drove off the 1700 or so AV I have there. Also, SigInt a couple days ago indicated at least one unit planning for Ichang.

[BBfanboy]

Wow - he lost 316 squads destroyed in Changsha - that's 2/3 of a division worth! [:)]
I think you know for past painful experience not to counterattack just because he weakened his force. If he had the terrain bonuses on defence it would be your troops suffering big losses. You can be comfortable knowing he can't dislodge you with current forces unless he bombards from air and ground for a while to destroy your supply.

[marbakka]

Combat Report - 1/23/1942

Another quiet day.

- Japan invades Umnak Island. This is starting to get a bit annoying. I know he doesn't have carriers up there, so I'm tempted to send Saratoga and Yorktown up there to put a stop to this nonsense. Even if I did, though, it will still be several weeks before their TFs are fully formed in San Diego. In the meantime, a TF consisting of an AM and about 8 YPs is moving to guard Cold Harbor where I have search aircraft based but no defense troops yet.
- The KB is moving toward the Torres Strait once again. They bombed Darwin's port today, severely damaging my AS and putting a bomb or two into a submarine as well. I'm not exactly sure what he is hoping for up here. My CVs are on the opposite side of the continent and headed for NZ with a combat TF soon to follow. If he cruises down the Australian coast, he won't get much. I suppose I should just be happy that I have a solid location for him.
- Yesterday's report that CVL Ryujo had sunk (which I didn't bother to share) is now said to be mistaken.
- Batavia fell today. It was poorly defended as most of the Java troops were in Soerabaja for Scrabble Night

[marbakka]

OH! I almost forgot to mention the best news of the day. I was more excited about this than I was when I put all those bombs in the mKB. I sunk one of those dastardly submarines that has been causing all the chaos around Fiji. There are at least 2 more to deal with but boy was it nice to see that thing go down.

[Uncivil Engineer]

ORIGINAL: marbakka

I must say it hadn't even occurred to me that I might should give Changsha up. Don't I get a x4 bonus there? It also has 3 forts.


BTW, with regards to may whining about the AVG not getting reinforcements, it is because none of my bases have over 20000 supplies. This is a problem and means I will have to either get more supplies in there or move AVG to India to refit occasionally

Light urban defensive bonus is x2 - it's heavy urban that gets x4. Changsha is x2 only.

[Arnhem44]

ORIGINAL: marbakka


It would be nice if he headed for Soerabaja or Singapore either one, since I still own both.

D'oh! My bad, wasn't paying attention, where do you think the damaged decks are going to then?

[marbakka]

Combat Report - 1/24/1942

- KB disappears. My search patterns are equally porous north (Ambon) or southeast (Torres Strait), so I don't know where they went
- Japan lands at Balikapan and drops paratroopers all over the place around Ambon (but not Ambon Island itself)

Not much else of note. Lots of bombing and very little shooting down of bombers [:(]