Whoops Apocalypse - yubari (J) versus Vaned 74 (A)

[yubari]

Ceylon.

The KB Kates launch an attack against the airfield and port of Columbo. SS Porpise is hit by an 800kg bomb and should sink but unfortunately the Kates were set at 12000 feet and launch a glide bombing attack. 23 Kates are lost, and 17 of the pilots are killed by the AA fire. An allied xAK is unloading at Columbo and is sunk by Vals from the KB. Japanese submarines sink transports possibly trying to bring supplies into Columbo on successive nights, the 20th and 21st.

Japanese transports containing a paratrooper unit (the only unit available at the time) and an IJN base force arrive at Addu overnight and a stout cruiser task force containing the CAs Suzuya, Mikuma and the CL Yura launch a bombardment. The US carriers have also arrived near Addu and from 4 hexes away launch a strike. Suzuya takes 3 bombs but is left with surprisingly light damage, and Yura is also hit, along with one of the AKs being sunk. Another is sunk by Addu`s coastal defence guns.

The surviving units are all set to retreat at high speed, and a battleship task force 7 hexes away, and apparently unspotted is sent to Addu to engage any American CAs which may try to bombard Attu overnight. The Japanese attack takes the forts down two levels from 3 to 1, the small Dutch unit there stopping the base from falling. Interestingly, only 40 dive bombers and 20 torpedo bombers attack, suggesting that there are only 2 fleet carriers present, and that they are short of planes.

A map can best show what is going on. The KB can be seen 4 hexes to the south east of Koggala. At Addu are the damaged cruisers and the transport fleet. The American CVs are 4 hexes from Addu. At the South of the map is the CVE Hosho along with the Ise, Hyuga, Fuso and Yamashiro. Another transport fleet is trying to bring a base force and supplies to Male. Just out of picture to the right is a huge transport fleet containing 2 divisions, the 65th Brigade and additional tanks and artillery. These should be landing at Jaffna in three days time. Finally, Koggala reached a level 4 airfield on the 20th February. It should be at level 5 by the 24th February if it is not damaged before then.

[Fishbed]

Absolutely exciting AAR, kuddos!

[yubari]

Thanks Fishbed! It is good to know that somebody is reading this.

Ceylon.
A deliberate attack at Addu fails to dislodge the Allied defenders, the level 1 forts stay intact. The allies have evidently been air transporting in more defenders, a small fragment of an Indian Brigade is destroyed in the fighting.

The CA Penascola, which went convoy raiding near Port Blair about three weeks ago heads towards Ceylon in an attempt to escape from its trap at Calcutta. 13 Kates from the Akagi hit it with two bombs on the 22nd. On the 23rd, three Japanese cruisers enter Trincomalee to launch a bombardment and discover three separate task forces there. The first, DD Gridley is left on fire, a PT boat is sunk, and then the Penascola with escort from DD Craven is encountered. CA Nachi gets into a fierce fight with the Penascola, hitting it with 9 shells and 3 torpedoes. DD Craven is also hit by Nachi and is left on fire. Nachi is hit by a couple of shells from the Penascola but is not seriously damaged.

The main Japanese transport fleet is engaged by the US destroyers Maury and McCall. In a disastrous encounter, there are four separate ship collisions. Both US destroyers are hit and left on fire. From these collisions two Japanese ships are left crippled, the other six escape with a medium amount of damage.

At the end of the day, the Japanese transport fleet is still left 5 hexes away from its target, Jaffna. I had set it to be 3 hexes away, and also heading in a direction of Trincomalee. There are also a number of allied task forces at Columbo. I expect that they are individual transport ships, and I am having great trouble getting my carrier planes to attack them. 2 lone destroyers will be sent to attack this turn. Finally, Koggala is 79 percent of the way to a level 5 airfield, frustratingly it will probably be 99 percent complete for the crucial turn of the 25th, the ground attack on Jaffna.

North Pacific.
A significant number of troops are being loaded at Ominato for an operation in the North Pacific. Covering the operation will be the CVL Shoho, 2 heavy cruisers and 2 light cruisers. I dont expect to encounter any opposition there, a Glen scout plane showed Adak to be empty.
Loading is completed at Ominato on the 22nd. Troops will be landed on Attu, Amchitka and Adak. Adak in particular is a crucial target, its airfield is potentially big enough to dominate the whole Aleutian chain. Additionally, more base forces are being brought into Onnoketan and Paramushiru Jima.

South Pacific.
The 4th Division is now unloading at Rabaul and should be landing at Port Morseby in the next ten days. Providing support will be the Nagato and Mutsu, 4 CAs plus 18 Zeroes and 55 Bettys and Nells at Rabaul. The IJN level bombers are ordered to attack Port Moresby airfield for the first time, and troops should be landing on Milne Bay on the 25th.

China.
2 Japanese divisions are approaching the city on the coast of China. They should be easily enough to take the city, defended with just one third of a Chinese corps.

Pressure.
At this point in the game, I think both of us are feeling more and more pressurised by the continual action around Ceylon. With the campaign at the moment on a knife edge, turns have slowed down to a crawl. Where we were once managing two or three turns a day, for the past week or so, we have been completing less than one turn a day. What an incredible game AE is!

[yubari]

Ceylon
More carnage around Ceylon with a lot of battles involving small numbers of surface combatants.
Overnight, the first Japanese task force, of the CA Atago with two destroyers and two torpedo boats reaches Jaffna expecting to find enemy PT boats. Instead, an xAP is encountered and quickly sunk. The combat report shows 52 non-combat squads to go down with the ship. The next battle occurs just south of Trivandrum, the southern tip of India and is between the Japanese CL Tama and DD Harusame against the CA Dorsetshire, CL Hobart and DD Mahan. The Japanese come off second best as Hobart hits the Tama three times setting it on fire. Next is a small skirmish between DD Hagikaze and DD Van Nes just outside of Columbo. No hits are scored. The Fourth surface combat of the night is again at Jaffna, as the CAs Myoko and Haguro which had bombarded Trincomalee the previous day meet and sink the AMC Corfu and the DE Jumna. The combat report shows 93 combat squads and 29 non-combat squads drowning.

The fifth combat of the night is the task force of the CA Dorsetshire crippling the already damaged Harusame. Harusame makes it back to Koggala but will surely sink at over 70 fire damage. For the sixth combat, BBs Fuso and Yamashiro sink two of three MTB boats at Jaffna, and in the seventh and final combat, DD Oshio skirmishes against DD Van Nes at Columbo, preventing the enemy destroyer from reaching the harbour area.

In the morning air phase, the first action occurs as 9 Bettys based at Koggala attack and miss an enemy President class xAP at Columbo. The main attacks of the day are at Jaffna and are a complete disaster for the allies. First 32 Dauntlesses attack unescorted against a Japanese CAP of 26 Zeroes and 11 Oscars. They suffer terribly, 21 being shot down before they can even drop bombs. They score 1 bomb hit on a transport but the remaining 11 are shot down on the return flight. Another 15 Dauntlesses are next and suffer the same fate. Next come 15 Albacores in two groups, 5 being shot down and no hits scored and the 3 of 5 Vindicators are shot down. The final attack is from 10 Blenheims escorted by Hurricanes and 1 fighter version of the Blenheim which is shot down. No hits are scored.

In the PM phase, the Japanese attacks start. 8 Kates from Zuiho which has been detached from the main KB and is south of Koggala attack and sink 2 xAPs at Columbo, no troop losses are reported. Bettys from Koggala torpedo the CL Hobart, heavy damage and the Hosho`s Kates hit the Dorsetshire with 3 bombs. Finally, 12 Kates from the KB torpedo and sink the previously damaged Gridley at Trincomalee. The allies launch a ground attack with Audaxes against Trincomalee, and Tainan-Ku shoots all 11 down very quickly indeed.

The best news of the day comes at the end. Fuso and Yamashiro bombard Jaffna, and the landing happens with few problems. There are revealed to be only 130 AV at Jaffna against the 1073 so far unloaded Japanese AV. A shock attack is ordered tomorrow along with bombardments from 4 more battleships.

From his comments by email, I believe Vaned was confident that he had won the battle for Ceylon, as can be seen in his dliberate attack at Trincomalee on the 18th. To see so many troops landing at an almost undefended base will be a psychological hammer blow.

Estimate total air losses today; 47 Dauntlesses, 3 Vindicators, 5 Albacores, 11 Audaxes, 1 Blenheim. 3 Zeroes, 2 Bettys, 2 Vals.

North Pacific.
Transport convoys spot an allied float plane and there are reports of two individual allied ships. I think that they are US light cruisers come to raid the resources producing bases of Hokkaido and Shikoka. The Shoho is immediately sent North at full speed to investigate.
I was very fortunate here I think. The allied cruisers were totally unspotted, and had they showed up a couple of days later, they could easily have bumped into one or more of my troop convoys. I have rerouted those convoys further towards the South, in the hope of avoiding the enemy cruisers.

South Pacific.
The first airstrike against Port Moresby airfield goes in and is suitably devastating, the combat report showing more than 90 hits from the 42 attacking bombers. 4th division is still loading at Rabaul and so will likely land a day or two after the first wave, which includes 144th Regiment and two 60AV naval units.

[Fishbed]

You're welcome - I find it strange you don't have more followers yet...! The game is really original and exciting.

[Texas D]

I am following as well, just a quiet reader. [:'(]

[khyberbill]

Thanks Fishbed! It is good to know that somebody is reading this.

I have been following this one too. Not only is it an interesting opening, but I am also playing against Don. Don and I started right after AE came out where we both discovered the deadliness of artillery in China, and we re-started right after the third hotfix. In our game, Don is playing the evil empire and I wonder if he will adapt his strategy based on this game. In our first game, Don invaded Darwin but left after a little raping and pillaging. We used to do about three turns a day but your game has slowed him down to a crawl!

[yubari]

Hi there Texas-D!.

Sorry about causing Vaned to slow down khyberbill. Are you playing 2 day turns? Vaned said that he was more of a 2 day turn man, and that this was his first 1 day turn game. Darwin was always an essential conquest for the Japanese in the original WITP, and it is even more so in AE with all those new islands in the DEI. Now where can I find the troops from to take it?

Ceylon.
Unloading continues overnight with another couple of transports hit by shells from the allied coastal artillery units. The battleships Haruna and Kongo also bombard, as do the Fuso and Yamashiro. The allies continue their aerial attacks against Jaffna, and suffer heavily from the large Zero and Oscar LRCAP there. Again, there are a huge number of attacks, but only one bomb hit is scored.

The Kido Butai launches a full strike against ships at Columbo harbour, something that I have been trying to get it to do for a long time. The Dorsetshire is sunk, along with DDs Evertsen, Mahan and the xAK Anatina. DD Van Nes, which has had four separate surface combats in the past two days again survives attack, this time being targeted by over 50 KB attack planes. Maybe it has a Bornean python on board.
At the end of the day by my estimates 30 H81-A3, 6 US Buffaloes, 5 Hurricanes and 10 Belnheims are shot down as they attack over Jaffna, and another 5 Catalinas are shot down while on patrol. For the Japanese, 9 Zeroes are lost as well as 3 Oscars and a couple of Kates.

In the ground attack phase, Jaffna falls. As yet there are no base forces, but more engineer units will be arriving in the next turn. Koggala has now reached a level 5 airbase and another large unit of 1c Oscars is flown in. Another division is due to arrive at Koggala tomorrow, to make it a total of nine divisions on the island, for a total of about 4600 AV. The map below shows the distribution of the Japanese units, and my best guesses about the enemy strengths.

North Pacific.
At least three enemy light cruisers are between Wakkanai, the base at the north of Hokkaido and Shikoka. All Japanese resource convoys have been routed away from the area. Land based Kates hit CL Honolulu with three bombs, and then Shoho`s Kates finish the job with 3 torpedoes. In the afternoon phase, 8 Kates from the Shoho miss the CL Phoenix. I think that there are now two enemy light cruisers up here, the Phoenix and the St Louis. In a first, the Japanese receive a useful piece of sigint; radio transmissions are reported at Umnak Island.

South Pacific.
Another bombing raid on Port Morseby scores 70 or so airfield hits, it should be completely closed by now, and so I set the Betty unit on 100 percent naval search. The Nells are on naval strike to a maximum of 14 hexes, the range of drop tank equipped Zeroes.

Japanese troops land at Milne Bay and find it empty. The landing at Port Moresby is three days away. 4th Division has finally finished loading and is one day behind the rest of the invasion force. I will keep it as a floating reserve, and will not land it if Port Moresby is only weakly defended. Recon reports seven units there.

China.
For some reason, a Japanese division got trapped out in the open on the railway between Chengchow and Sinyang in strategic mode, and could not be moved again. 11 Chinese corps attack the unit and force it to retreat. 2 Japanese divisions have arrived at Wenchow and will attack tomorrow.

[yubari]

Ceylon.
After suffering terrible losses on the previous two days, there are no daytime air attacks against the Japanese ships at Jaffna. 2 squadrons of Blenheims make a night attack but score no hits. The main threat is now from submarines. An AMC is sunk at Koggala, a PB is sunk while retreating from Jaffna, and three xAKs sink at Jaffna following damage from the coastal artillery.

The US carriers are spotted on the 26th by float planes from Male. The pop-up box shows them having just 2 auxiliary planes. The next day, I-17 is in the same hex and torpedoes a small Dutch AO and an American AO sinking both, but is left crippled by the DD Nizam. Two more submarines will investigate next turn. A couple more British xAKs are sunk while bringing supplies into Columbo, and 2 transport planes are shot down over Dambulla.

The Kido Butai headed south to meet with Japanese oilers and is now fully fueled but is almost out of aviation fuel, the Akagi has just 45 strikes left. I want to have one final attempt at getting the US carriers.

On land, Japanese forces are moving forwards for a second assault on Columbo. At the same time, the troops at Jaffna are advancing and will attempt to reach Dambulla. Fortifications are being built at both bases, and Koggala should reach airfield level 6 within a couple of days. Addu Island falls on the 1st of March, and so recon planes can search towards Cape Town for any British ships arriving.

North Pacific.
CL St Louis encounters a transport fleet, hitting the DD Ushio three times, and an xAK twice. The xAK is not too badly damaged, but with a name like Sinko Maru, I dont hold much chance of it reaching its target, Attu Island. Ushio bravely manages to hit the St Louis a couple of times, hopefully it has been set aflame. CL Phoenix left the area at full speed. Hopefully a couple of turns of full speed movement will have burnt enough fuel and caused enough system damage that they will not be able to interfere in the Aleutian landings.

South Pacific.
The landing at Port Moresby has occurred with few problems. An xAK hits a mine, and coastal artillery hits a PB and the CL Kashima but they are not seriously damaged. A deliberate attack on the 28th doesnt manage to take down the level three forts, and so the 4th division is landed on the 1st of March. The base should fall within the next three or four days.

West Coast.
The 6 or so submarines I have hanging around the US west coast ports find another victim. I-26 scores with two torpedoes against the CL Detroit leaving it with heavy damage. No sinking sound is heard, but I-26 manages to slip away silently beneath the waves.

Industry.
The aborted raid of the US light cruisers a few days ago, and the subsequent disruption to the resource convoys from Hokkaido and Shikoka mean that Honshu runs out of resources for a couple of days, and the Heavy Industry pool falls by nearly 30000 points. Keeping the Honshu monster fed later in the war will prove to be difficult, especially given the number of cargo ships lost in the Ceylon invasion.

[gladiatt]

ORIGINAL: Texas_D

I am following as well, just a quiet reader. [:'(]

+1;
i don't comment because i am playing witp, not AE,so i don't have all the clue about particular technics of playing; and i am not a particular brilliant stratege.
But reading [:)]

[khyberbill]

Addu Island falls on the 1st of March, and so recon planes can search towards Cape Town for any British ships arriving.

Note that you probably wont see any ships arriving from Cape Town if they are headed to Karachi. It is almost impossible to isolate India in AE.

[yubari]

Hi there Gladiatt! I recommend getting AE as soon as possible.

You make a good point Khyberbill, and it is quite right that India is almost impossible to cut off. At least holding Addu gives me a chance to scout more of the Indian Ocean, and to protect the flank of Ceylon.

Ceylon.
Allied transport ships continue to be sunk as they bring in troops and supplies into Ceylon. An xAK is sunk by Betties at Columbo, The CAs Chokai and Maya sink two small transports at Trivandrum and two other transports are sunk near Cochin by the KB. The KB heads further north in an attempt to hit the port at Bombay, my best guess as to where the US carriers are. Unfortunately, all they manage to find is a small xAKL and a British AMC which they sink, an American AO and the two British DDs which are all hit. B-17s based at Madras launch a bombing attack against Koggala airfield from 33000 feet and are surprisingly accurate, destroying 9 planes on the ground. At that height, the only planes that can intercept are the Oscars and they dont really possess the guns to do much damage.

On land, Japanese troops move to the hex south west of Jaffna. Troops are also marching towards Columbo, they should arrive around the 12th of March. It has become evident that the allies are flying more troops into Trincomalee. I have LRCAP over the base and they frequently intercept the allied transport planes but only rarely manage to shoot any down. I estimate the allies to be bringing in at least 20 AV a day by this method. Bombardment shows there to be 1100 AV at the hex between Dambulla and Jaffna, and 800 AV at Trincomalee.

South Pacific.
Port Moresby is captured on the 3rd of March. The 4th division is to be loaded onto transports and will be moved to Kendari in preparation for the invasion of Java.
An allied task force containing the CA Northampton, CL Leander and 2 DDs arrives at Milne Bay looking for transports. Fortunately only one ship is there, a small and badly damaged PB which was hit during the landing at Port Moresby. It is sunk quickly but that is a scant reward for the loss of surprise the allies had.

Dutch East Indies.
4 Dutch destroyers intercept a Japanese resources convoy between Palembang and Singkawang, sinking three of the transports and damaging three others. Irritatingly the day before a lot of Japanese destroyers had been set to upgrade and so just after the attack has taken place, I see messages informing me that they have been taken out of commission. Four modern Japanese destroyers will set sail from Singapore to try to intercept. At full speed, they may be able to catch the Dutch destroyers.

On the same day, the Dutch make a determined attempt to bomb the oil at Palembang. One W139 squadron goes in overnight scoring 2 hits. Another attacks during the day, giving my Claudes the chance to prove their worth. The 3 kills they score are almost beautiful moments, and the first kills a Claude has achieved in game.
At Singapore a number of the ships damaged from the battles around Ceylon are now being repaired. Amongst them are CS Chitose, CA Takao and CA Nachi. The CS Mizuho is still at Port Blair being repaired. All minor flotation damage is repaired (63 major remains) and system damage is down to 49. It will be another 4 months or so before it is sufficiently repaired to begin its long, slow and dangerous voyage to Singapore.

North Pacific.
All three objectives are taken and there appears to be no allied attempt to intervene. I want to build these bases up so that they can dominate the local area.

Burma.
Japanese troops are moving towards Myitkyina but progress is slow. Engineers are moving towards Lashio to build up some fortifications. At least three Chinese units are marching towards Myitkyina.

[yubari]

Ceylon.
This is a disastrous few days for the Japanese. Deliberate attacks at Trincomalee and the hex south of Jaffna both fail. CV Akagi is torpedoed by the Dutch sub KXVII, which I had previously thought sunk. The torpedoes hit in the engines, 11 flotation damage is caused, but the engines now have 28 damage and the ship can only make 20 knots. There are air to air battles as the allies try to disrupt my stack south of Jaffna. Around 10 Hurricanes go down for 5 Zeroes and 4 Oscars. The allies are continuing to bring in more troops by air transport, and my fighters can only occasionally engage them. Two Catalinas and a DC-2 are shot down over Columbo on the 8th but more and more Allied troops are now on Ceylon. The Japanese should arrive at Columbo tomorrow. The campaign will be lost if I cannot take the town quickly. An Australian xAP is sunk at Diego Garcia by a submarine, and more troops drown.

South Pacific.
The 144th Regiment and the 4th Division are loaded and heading towards Kendari. These two units will be involved in the belated invasion of Java. An allied patrol boat is spotted at Horn Island, and two cruisers and two destroyers are detached to attack it.

North Pacific.
Progress is going quickly on the airfield at Adak. After 4 days of building, forts are at level 2 and the airfield is at 75 percent progress to level 1.

Dutch East Indies.
The Dutch destroyers manage to escape into the Indian Ocean. I expect Vaned to try a similar raid in the next couple of weeks. I am busy trying to pick up all the small units that have been garrisoning former Dutch bases. I should be able to scrape up another two or three hundred AV from these units. With so many troops in Ceylon, I will need every unit I can get.

[yubari]

In something like 1000 turns of PBEM play of WITP and AE, and around 1500 turns against the AI, this is the worst turn that I have ever seen. Akagi is torpedoed a second time, this time by the SS Grampus, and then SS Grayback torpedoes the CV Shokaku. Akagi had been about halfway towards safety at Sabang but in a move of almost unbelievable stupidity the AI detaches it with one escorting destroyer back towards Jaffna, presumably because its size 3 port is the largest in the near vicinity. Jaffna is of course 6 hexes away from Madras and its hundreds of enemy planes and scores of enemy subs. The Akagi is now in mortal danger, on fire, surrounded by enemy subs and with one escort. I gave it a less than 10 percent chance of surviving. The attached picture shows the damage on the two carriers, and the suicidal situation that Akagi moved itself into. In retaliation, KB strike planes on ASW duty report nine hits on enemy submarines.

I opened and watched the turn at about 1am and then literally couldnt sleep the whole night. Madness.

Elsewhere, troops land at Horn Island and the shock attack manages to take the forts down to level 1. There are three tiny allied units there totalling 27 AV.

In a classy move, and knowing that we were both feeling considerable pressure about the Ceylon battle, Vaned replied suggesting a ceasefire and described the battle as being like Guadalcanal, except 6 months earlier and at three times the scale. Negotiations over the ceasefire arrangements are ongoing.

[khyberbill]

in a move of almost unbelievable stupidity the AI detaches it

Don has that luck. In our game, Repulse was close to escaping when torpedoed by a Betty. I set the home port to Madras (straight shot) and the AI turned it around and sent it back to Singers and it was sunk on the way back. The AI should leave its hands off after a plot has been set unless another attack occurs.

[yubari]

Yes, I agree Khyberbill. It seems that the port size is the most important factor and that any tactical considerations go out of the window. Evidently having a damaged battleship returning towards Singapore in the face of Bettys is an absurdity, but because Singapore has a size 9 port, that is what happened. I do not remember encountering any similar problems with WITP with this issue. I wonder if anything changed?

After ceasefire negotiations were opened by Vaned, we both agreed that we were not enjoying this Ceylon campaign. I have made an offer that basically features the Akagi being given safe passage in return for the ASW aircraft on the KB being stood down from ASW duty. There would be a continuation of the fighting on Ceylon until the 20th March, at which point the player who looked like they were going to lose would be given 20 days to evacuate as much as they could from Ceylon without fear of attack. I await a reply.

[khyberbill]

The cease fire has been going on for five days now. Time to get back to business.

[yubari]

Hi Khyberbill.

Unfortunately we havent done a turn for nearly ten days, and I havent received any kind of reply at all for nearly a week. I can only assume that this game is over. Here are what look like being the final scores.

[yubari]

And here is the list of large warships sunk. I am fairly certain that the Yorktown did not in fact sink, but all of the other allied casualties were confirmed sunk.

[khyberbill]

i haven't heard from don in the same amount of time. he has always warned me in the past when he would be tied up so this is unusual. sorry to see it end this way. it was an interesting show.