Matrix Games Forums

1/25/1942

SoPac/SwPac

A fast transport TF unloads at Madang

DEI

One of my american subs, SS Finback, manages to torpedo xAP Kamo Maru with one torpedo near Peleliu, no doubt the transport will survive. The Japanese fleet moves deeper into eastern DEI and is now just two hexes east of Manado. However, only mini-KB is spotted today, most likely just fog of war.

Fortress

The australian brigades are getting close, but the fast AP's are really suffering for it. I should get the Queen Mary for the 7th Australian Division that arrives at Aden in three weeks, perhaps I can get it in as well before the door gets shut.

1/26/1942 - 1/27/1942

SoPac/SwPac

Japanese capture Madang

DEI

The Japanese land at Sidate, which is a dot base just southwest of Manado and capture it. There are three SNLF and Naval Guard units with combat engineers and a base force present. A grand total of 124 AV. I'm considering reinforcing Manado via air transport just to slow him down, but I'm not sure if it's worth the PBY losses via leaking KB cap. The bulk of the IJN is hovering 2-3 hexes south of Manado. All of the carriers are there and atleast three battleships have been spotted.

O19 manages to torpedo a DMS just south of Singapore, but gets damaged by ASW in return.

PI

He has removed his tank regiments and two divisions from Clark field and brought in another, they are most likely in Manila, recuperating from the failed attack on the 17th. I currently enjoy a 2:1 advantage in AV, but I'm not too keen on trying to attack, considering the quality of my forces and the terrain. Would be nice to rout the enemy though.

Any ideas if a shock attack with this situation could succeed?



Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1259 troops, 92 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 1123

Defending force 57012 troops, 923 guns, 659 vehicles, Assault Value = 2087

Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Assaulting units:
38th Division
29th Division
65th Brigade
14th Army
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
16th Army
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
3rd/12th PA Inf Battalion
41st PA Infantry Division
71st PA Infantry Division
192nd Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
1st PA Infantry Division
86th PS Coastal Artillery Battalion
21st PA Infantry Division
45th PS Infantry Regimental Combat Team
31st PA Infantry Division
91st PA Infantry Division
4th Marine Regiment
31st Infantry Regiment
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
Subic Bay Defenses
51st PA Infantry Division
11th PA Infantry Division
14th PS Engineer Regiment
4th PA Constabulary Regiment
57th PS Infantry Regimental Combat Team
2nd PA Constabulary Regiment
2nd PA Constblry HW Regiment
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
Asiatic Fleet
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
201st PA Construction Battalion
USAFFE
803rd Engineer Aviation Battalion
Clark Field USAAF Base Force
Manila USAAF Base Force
301st PA Field Artillery Regiment
Provisional GMC Grp
II Philippine Corps
301st Construction Battalion
I Philippine Corps
202nd PA Construction Battalion
1st USMC AA Battalion
1st PI Base Force

1/28/1942-1/29/1942

SoPac/SwPac

IJA captures Port Moresby with the 21st and 2nd Divisions, resulting in the destruction of the Port Moresby Brigade, 29th Australian Battallion and an independent company. This means that the Torres straits are closed for me.

DEI

Lots of sub activity around Manado. Over two days my subs make 10 attacks, but only US subs with Mk14 torpedoes hit, and only one torpedo is not a dud, which hits an xAK near Sasebo.

1/30/1942


CenPac

AMC Prince Henry intercepts three japanese merchants between Tokyo and Kwajalein, but the merchants manage to evade combat

DEI

Japanese capture Manado, their first real foothold in DEI. I expect Netties to be based there next turn.

1/31/1942 - 2/12/1942

Almost two weeks of game time has passed since my last update. It has been very quiet in the Pacific, but in SRA the action has finally arrived.


DEI

After capturing Manado the IJN hung around for a day or two and then escorted another invasion convoy near Tarakan, where they invaded various small bases around Tarakan, but not Tarakan itself. I expect some unhappy SNLF troops to arrive from the jungle in a few weeks.

After this the IJN sailed for Singapore, via the northern coast of Borneo, and from there escorted a major invasion convoy to Java. They captured Merak via paratroops (good move, if they mine the place i'll be unable to use the straits) and landed at Kalidjati. Because the base was also taken by paras before the main landings i've been unable to identify all of the forces there, but SIGINT has detected atleast two divisions. I have about 650AV at Batavia and that's about it, everything else has left Java for the Fortress. The KB, after covering those landings, sailed back north and is currently midway between Java and Singapore.

Japanese troops also finally arrived at Singkawang and shock attacked, achieving 1 to 1 odds there.

Meanwhile, when the japanese were busy in western DEI, I sent a cruiser task force to bombard Manado, and achieved great results, destroying 15 planes on the ground there and thoroughly nuking the base. B-17's from Ambon will follow in tomorrow. This operation, however was in support of another, which yielded great results...

PI

A week ago or so I observed the mini-KB hanging around east of Leyte. A few days later a large invasion convoy came down and the mini-KB escorted it to Butuan, where it began its landings, obviously aiming to take Cagayan. The big-KB meanwhile, was leaving for Singapore. This is where I saw my chance, my carriers had been lurking around the western end of Java, and I decided to loop them around Timor and make a full-speed run for Mindanao, to catch the mini-KB.

Sadly, by the time my carriers arrived today, the mini-KB had already left, also heading for Singapore. However, four Furutaka class heavy cruisers, escorting destroyers and an invasion convoy still unloading supplies was present. In the two attacks all cruisers and destroyers were hit numerous times and also several patrol boats four of the biggest xAP's in the japanese merchant marine were blown out of the water.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Butuan at 80,89

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 19



Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 18
Fulmar II x 9
Sea Hurricane Ib x 3
F2A-3 Buffalo x 18
F4F-3A Wildcat x 13
F4F-3 Wildcat x 26
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 17
SBD-2 Dauntless x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 124
TBD-1 Devastator x 58


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 1 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Brazil Maru, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Hakozaki Maru, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Kikuzuki
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Hakusan Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Kamitu Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PB Chitose Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Busho Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Hikawa Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Kensin Maru, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Shosei Maru, Bomb hits 1
CA Kako, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires
PB Tyuwa Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Kyo Maru #8, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Nako Maru #2
PB Hirota Maru
PB Chosa Maru
PB Heiei Maru #7, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Syozui Maru
DD Uzuki
DD Oboro
PB Kenkon Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Taikei Maru
DD Shiokaze
PB Tatsumiya Maru, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Butuan at 80,89

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 11



Allied aircraft
Fulmar II x 5
Sea Hurricane Ib x 3
F2A-3 Buffalo x 18
F4F-3A Wildcat x 11
F4F-3 Wildcat x 24
SBD-2 Dauntless x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 104
TBD-1 Devastator x 41


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar II: 1 destroyed
F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Uzuki, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
PB Yomei Maru
DD Shiokaze, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
DD Kikuzuki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yuzuki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Chitose Maru, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Oboro, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Aoba, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Chosa Maru
PB Taikei Maru

Intel reports two cruisers sunk currently, but I'm not sure. I figure I still have a turn to hang around, and the port facilities at Butuan aren't exactly stellar. In addition I have 143 air support and 600+ AV at Cagayan, so it's unlikely that he's gonna take the place in a while.

Current situation in the Pacific

The current situation as I see it is as follows. After a long lull the Japanese are on the move in DEI. Yakface is playing it safe, and the one time he tried to be bold, he got stung (i'm referring to Butuan here). So I expect him to continue invading only under the cover of KB and most of his surface assets. His recent moves on Java have put him back on schedule with most of the PBEM's, meaning that he will likely take Java by march. What he will do from then on, I do not know. I fear the invasion of India the most, but we'll see.

CHINA

The situation in china has changed during the last two weeks. I amassed 5700 AV north of Nanyang vs 1600 Japanese AV,in an effort to rout them. The subsequent shock attack resulted in 1 to 2 odds, 42000 [:(] chinese casualties vs 2500 japanese. Result was that my AV was reduced by 2000 and has been around 3500 ever since. This marks the end of any chinese offensive operations for a long time..

2/13/1942 - 2/16/1942

SoPac/SwPac

It has been very quiet in this theatre. Yakface has dropped another para unit at Rabaul, which failed to take the base, and is now marching a (SNLF most likely) unit from Gasmata. My opponent doesn't like to land directly at his targets it seems.

PI

I moved some of my B-17's and B-26's into Cagayan and ordered attacks on Butuan port for two days. The result was a total of 13 unpenetrating hits on CA Kinugasa, which I hope set her on fire and made her sink in the level 1 port there, DD Yuzuki sunk and two other DD's damaged by bomb hits. Also several merchant ships and PB's were hit, but not too bad. In return I lost about 15 bombers altogether from various causes, most of the B-26's. Yakface moved in a lot of zeroes in an attempt to save his ships.

We won't know for sure, but I think we got atleast three heavy cruisers. CA Kako, which was only hit 5 times in the first carrier strike, probably got away. The whole Furutaka class should be out of the picture for a while, which means that we managed to wipe out the weakest 1/5 of the IJN heavy cruiser force. Additionally this means that Yakface won't venture far from his carriers for a while, overall a great success.

DEI

Yakface captured Singkawang on the 13th and has also been slowly advancing in Java, capturing Bandoeng on the 15th. After the allied carrier strike he also moved his carriers through Java sea almost up to Makassar but withdrew them last turn, no doubt after observing the force concentration at Koepang

Koepang is the secret fortress I have been creating ever since turn 1. I've concentrated the majority of LCU and aircraft reinforcements there. The current situation there can be seen in the attached picture. More on the fort in the next post...

The plan for eastern DEI

As I said in the last post, I decided before the game to go for a Fortress Koepang strategy, for several reasons.

The first one is that it protects the northern OZ, with Koepang in its rear any landings in northern OZ can only succeed and be sustained with carrier support.
The second, it provides a good bridgehead into southern DEI and places such as Balikpapan and Soerabaja are already in US heavy bomber range.
The third, it can be supported from norther OZ, Capetown, and via OZ, west coast as well. Granted, it isn't close to them, but it isn't too far from them either. In addition, it is within air transfer range of northern Oz. This was the deciding factor in choosing fortress Koepang over fortress Java strategy.
The fourth is, that being a dutch base I can easily the Dutch airforce and some of the air transportable Dutch units there and thus save them without pulling a full Sir Robin.

There are several things going for Koepang currently, thanks to the slow advance of my enemy. I have concentrated a massive amount of AA, CD guns, aircraft and supplies there.

The tests showed that the average loss in dive bombers for one attack was above 70 to flak alone for KB. Level bombers up to 10k feet lose about 10-25% of their numbers per attack, above 10k ft it is about 10-5% and above 15k ft the success rate for flak goes down to 5-1%. However at that altitude the bombers do little damage already.
I have 80+ 5-6" CD guns there, most of the mobile units on the map. Tests again show that even amphibious TF's with BB's included still suffer moderate damage.
I have a level 9 airfield there and the numbers of AC you can see from the previous post. 200 of the level bombers have low naval skills in the high 60's. The dive bombers and torpedo bombers are also at similar level. 120 of the fighters are the excellent Hurri2b's with good pilots. About 4-500 are P-40's and P-39's with skill levels between 50-60, they will provide the meat shield, and the rest of the planes are dutch.
All of this, of course needs supplies and I have already pushed the supply level up to 460000. A large amphibious convoy will bring in 200k within the next week.

This base is already so built up that I've shifted focus and most of the engineering units to Broome instead. The 700 AV there is a bit decieving, as it consists of the Americal Division, an Indian brigade (a pretty crap one) and about 200 AV worth of tank units with very good artillery support (100+ 155mm guns). The idea is to prevent Koepang from being cut off and to provide a level 9 airfield to where the Koepang airforce can withdraw if things go bad.

It's the same in Darwin, although the 1000 AV there is made up from australian militia divisions so it's a bit of a paper tiger. The large number of armor devices arriving with convoys to Capetown should improve the situation there though.

The 200 AV at Ambon is mostly made up by the "bird force" battalions, and the small garrisons to the north of Koepang are there to cover the minefields which in turn should force the enemy to take the long way round to invade Koepang, or suffer the losses.

In general I think that my opponent, after seeing the forces assembled here, won't touch the place, and given his tempo, any invasions in other areas, such as India or southern Australia, are unlikely. Any ideas from my readers?