as IJ, you need to scout every attack point thoroughly and be prepared to bring the hammer to every landing.
Yeah, I'm going to have to slow down the tempo and send in the big dogs every time unless the objective is undefended. I'm pulling the 21st Mixed Bde out of Hanoi and add it to the North Borneo campaign along with every available SNLF.
Believe it or not, I'm not a huge fan of Korean beer, although one of the microbreweries is fermenting a potentially promising IPA as we speak which my buddy consulted on (based on Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale). Imports and homebrew get me through the usual day, although I'll take Cass if necessary.
Anyway, I'm doing an Ironman from the Allied side (Scen. 10) in which I let the two AIs duke it out until Oct. '42. Other than one ea. CVE and CVL in Davey Jones' locker, the KB is intact and I have no idea how big it is. I don't send my CVs more than 200 mi. from a healthy air base. Also, the RN was pretty much sunk so SE Asia is strictly a land campaign.
Highlights
Japanese forces CAPTURE Guam !!!
Allied forces CAPTURE Nanchang !!!
Mergui is occupied by the Japanese
Allied forces CAPTURE Hwainan !!!
CL Dragon is reported to have been sunk near Saigon on Dec 14, 1941
Malaya- shock attack failed at Kota Bharu. I’m loading up the 4th and 21st Divisions to join the 5th and Imperial Guards. The 38th will join them as soon as it’s done with Hong Kong. That will give me five divisions plus whatever other supporting units I can scrape up.
Burma-The 33rd Division and 90th Regiment are ready for the transports and will join the rest of the 15th Army.
North Borneo-the 21st Mixed Brigade will hopscotch down the coast starting with Brunei.
PI-the 48th Division will drink Sapporo in Vigan until I can bring enough troops in from Manchuria. Zero sweeps have been clearing out P-40s while Bettys and Nells have made a shambles of Clark. I’ll move them to the DEI as soon as I can capture someplace to put them.
A surface force raided near Saigon and sank two cargo vessels. Bettys and Nells sank one CL and put a torpedo into another.
The Chinese have been aggressive. We’ll see if they have the supplies to follow through.
Surface Combat-the Scotsman has aggressively raided with his surface fleet trading DDs and CLs for AKs. To date the reported losses of mostly ancient Allied combat vessels is 10 BBs, 3 CAs, 6 CLs, and 11 DDs plus assorted minor vessels. Almost all were sunk by aircraft. Most of these were lost at PH. The Japanese have yet to lose a DD or heavier. This has been my greatest area of success thus far.
Subs-both sides have active with their subs. The Scotsman appears to have fixed the Mark 14 prior to the outbreak of the war. The Allies have been caught using single ship unescorted TFs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submarine attack near Pearl Harbor at 181,107
Japanese Ships
SS I-169, hits 1
Allied Ships
xAKL Kahuku, Shell hits 27, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Kahuku is sighted by SS I-169
SS I-169 attacking on the surface
Matsumoto E. decides to submerge SS I-169 due to damage
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Submarine attack near Coffs Harbour at 96,164
Japanese Ships
SS I-8
Allied Ships
xAK Period, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Period is sighted by SS I-8
SS I-8 attacking on the surface
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Submarine attack near Pearl Harbor at 181,107
Japanese Ships
SS I-172, hits 5
Allied Ships
xAKL Nebraskan, Shell hits 32, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Nebraskan is sighted by SS I-172
SS I-172 attacking on the surface
SS I-172 low on gun ammo, Asada H. breaks off surface engagement and submerges
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Sub attack near Pearl Harbor at 181,107
Japanese Ships
SS I-169, hits 2
Allied Ships
xAKL Honomu
SS I-169 attacking on the surface
SS I-169 low on gun ammo, Matsumoto E. breaks off surface engagement and submerges
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I’ll have I-169 leave the torps behind next mission and just bring more gun ammo.
Malaya-I’m loading up the Nippon steamroller to move down the West side of Malaya. I can’t afford a stalemate at Singers. I have to anticipate a stronger force here and will brute force my way through. Even if it means delaying advances elsewhere.
Burma-the 33rd division and 90th Regiment are on their way to Bangkok to join the rest of the 15th Army at Pisanuloke. I’ll look for an opportunity to take Pegu or Toungoo by air assault. The rest of the army will head for Moulmein.
North Borneo-I landed two more SNLF at Brunei to join the one waiting for them. I’ll shock attack next turn. Two SNLF are on their way to Miri. The 21st Mixed Bde and two regiments are loading for Singkawang.
Naga-Koepang- I landed a SNLF on Naga which is undefended and will take it next turn. Three SNLF are on their way to Manado. If needed, I’ll bring more from the island with the funny name I can never spell. Other forces are prepping for Ambon and Koepang.
PI-bringing in the rest of the 14th Army while clearing out the P-40s with zero sweeps. Clark and Iba AFs are in shambles from Bettys and Nells. Captured Tuguegarao.
China has been problematic. The Scotsman has been aggressive and captured Sinyang and Foochow. Nanchang has changed hands twice. Amoy will probably fall next turn. The Chinese are threatening Taiyuan. I may have the call off the Chengchow operation and go on the defensive.
Hong Kong-I’ve slowly whittled down the fort level to 2. I’m moving the 1st Ind Inf Group from Canton to add a little more firepower for the final push.
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Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 21493 troops, 277 guns, 176 vehicles, Assault Value = 561
Defending force 7060 troops, 130 guns, 76 vehicles, Assault Value = 217
Defending units:
Rifles of Canada Battalion
1st Middlesex Battalion
Winnipeg Grenadiers Battalion
Hong Kong Fortress
Kowloon Brigade
102nd RN Base Force
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pacific-I took Guam and moved the South Seas force to Truk to prep for Rabaul. This area has been quiet except for a couple of Allied carrier raids in the Marshalls.
I’ve upgraded to Patch 6 Beta Build K7. I like the added info on the tooltips. I’m confused with all the changes to upgrading devices etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Cam Ranh Bay at 65,74, Range 8,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
DD Hayashio
DD Amatsukaze
DD Fubuki
DD Usugumo
Allied Ships
DD Thanet, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
Reduced sighting due to 25% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 25% moonlight: 8,000 yards
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards
Japanese launch Long Lance torpedoes at 8,000 yards before allies detect Japanese presence
CA Nachi launches Long Lance Torpedoes at DD Thanet at 8,000 yards
DD Fubuki launches Long Lance Torpedoes at DD Thanet at 8,000 yards
Range closes to 4,000 yards
CA Nachi engages DD Thanet at 4,000 yards
Range closes to 2,000 yards
CA Nachi engages DD Thanet at 2,000 yards
DD Thanet sunk by DD Amatsukaze at 2,000 yards
Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk...
Hong Kong-got forts down to zero, but the Scotsman still holds out.
Miri-invasion TF with CAs escorting saw the shadow of two Dutch DDs, turned tail and skedadled all the way back to Samah.
Manado-had a BB TF leading one of two different invasion TFs, didn't matter. The Scotsman's tactic of throwing ships at invasions paid off this turn. Also, the lesson of not having air cover-I didn't know Do-24K-2's carried torpedoes!
Two invasions turned back!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Manado at 75,99, Range 19,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CM Itsukushima, Shell hits 5, on fire
CM Yaeyama
xAP Hakone Maru, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
DD Paul Jones, Shell hits 2
DD Parrott
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Do-24K-2 launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 21in Mk VIII Torpedo
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China-the Scotsman has been aggressive here. At Kiukiang, he persists in attacking despite heavy losses each turn. At Tsinkiang he was successful.
Assaulting units:
58th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
50th Chinese Corps
49th Chinese Corps
3rd New Chinese Corps
23rd Group Army
30th Group Army
Defending units:
39th Division
11th Ind.Mixed Brigade
12th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Kyuko Naval Guard Unit
23rd RGC Temp. Division
17th JAAF Base Force
Singkawang – I chose to invade Singkawang instead of Kuching because it’s closer to Singapore, less defended, and has a bigger airfield. I brought the big dogs this time in the form of the 21st Mixed Bde from Hanoi and its pack and they took it on the first attempt.
Unfortunately for my Navy, the Dutch unleashed the most devastating weapon on the planet: the tri-motor torpedo bomber Do-24K-2! It should have a better name than that, “Destroyer of Worlds” or something like it. This time I brought air cover with the mini-KB. Didn’t matter. Similar to Midway, wave after wave of B-25s wore out my zero cap; then THEY came:
Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Maikaze
Aircraft Attacking:
14 x Do-24K-2 launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 21in Mk VIII Torpedo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
Allied aircraft
Do-24K-2 x 7
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Do-24K-2: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAP Naminoue Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
LSD Shinshu Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Do-24K-2 launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 21in Mk VIII Torpedo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BB, CA, LSD, and an AP went down to a wing of 18 bombers. They didn’t even need an escort! Who needs the KB when you have the mighty Do-24K-2!
I also finally took Hong Kong and Miri, but was too depressed to take any satisfaction from it.
I've upgraded to Patch 6 Build k8. Trying to get a handle on stockpiling material and devices. On the base display for example there is a column now for stockpiling and a Y/N selection next to Supplies, Fuel, Oil, and Resources. As a test, I selected Y on both bases in Hainan for Supplies. I then created a cargo TF in Samah and set it to load supplies. I ran three 2 day turns and the TF did not load any supplies even though there was over 30,000 units of supply at Samah. This would be useful to keep supplies or fuel from being drawn off to the large ports.
[:D]