Here at the end of all things... (Jap Armaggedon vs Nemo)

[Hortlund]

A small update as to the operational dispositions at the start of hostilities:


Hokkaido

Started with 2 867 AV, is now reinforced to 4 400. I do not think I will add more troops here unless he comes ashore "for real". Also 11 CD units have been brough here to beef up shore defences. The most likely invasion target is protected by 1700 AV and 6 CD units.


Korea

Started with 6 900 AV has recieved some reinforcements from Formosa and China and is now at 7 200. The largest parts of the reinforcements are in the form of aviation support though.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

State of the economy at game start.

Note HI

And today:




The reason for this disaster is because I forgot to turn off the repair of alot of bombed-out resources, armament and vehicle manpower, light industry etc. I focused too much on aircraft and engines and totally forgot about the others.

Grrr.

Im turning off all naval and merchant production, together with 90% of the armaments and vehicle production. I need to save as much supply and HI as I can and I need one big burst of production in a month or so when the new front-line fighters arrive.

[JeffroK]

A warning about Nemos comments you posted, within a week you can have 72 fighters on a CV, and I learned in Downfall to drop the Hellcat and fill out with Corsairs and Bearcats. My CVL carried the night fighters.

Therefore his 10 CV (Downfall has 18? available, I dont know in this mod.) with 480 fighters becomes 720, a big increase in his potential.

Add to your list of bases to defend, Shikoku,  A bit central (attackable from both flanks) to invade but the roads lead into central Honshu.

Good Luck, I played Downfall as japan and you take a lot of hurt, your troops are brittle so take AV with a grain of salt,  but its a fun short battle.

[Hortlund]

A rather depressing turn today. Nemo sent surface raiders deep into the south china sea, all the way up to Korea. That caught some of my tanker convoys. I thought they would make it to the safety of the mine-barrier at Tsushuma, but alas. I believe I lost something close to 10 large tankers today, roughly half of my large capacity tankers.

Another dreadful day in the air. 15-1 losses today. The vast majority came when P47s swept Nagoya again, and that sucked in alot of leaking cap from Gifu just to the north. I had Gifu heavily capped because I want to keep those aircraft factories and the leakers were few, disorganized and lost alot. Unfortunately I lost my first Ki201s and J7W1s in that debacle.

Todays kamikaze attacks were all shot down by CAP. All save one that went in against an unescorted DD TF off Formosa. His CAP is stacked now, so I guess he learned from yesterday too.

Heavy air attacks on Daito Shoto today, disrupted the defenders who saw the forts reduced from 6 to 3. That means the island will probably fall tomorrow. That is unavoidable, but it held out much longer than expected, 3 days to be exact.

His CVs did move, but they are still covering Daito Shoto, also they sent all their attack aircraft to support the ground attack. He doesnt seem to have any fighter CVs, all seem to have their normal airwings.


Estimated allied losses:
3 APD sunk (CD)
2 LCS sunk (CD)
2 PF sunk (CD)
1 DD damaged (Kami)

5 P47s
10 Beaufighter TF.Xs

Lessons from today
Remove all shipping from the south china sea.

Stick with the game-plan, remember that this phase of the game is all about buying time. Only stand and fight where and when I have to. That time and place has not come yet so it is important to resist the urge to try to put up huge CAPs over likely targets or launch massive strikes against his ships.







Edit:
Thoughts for tomorrow
I have decided not to defend anything tomorrow. I will put up some CAP over some targets, but not nearly enough and the units flying will mostly consist of 30-exp wonders.

I simply do not think that I will gain anything from trying to defend this far out this early. Also my R&D have advanced both the J7W1s and the Ki94IIs and I am producing roughly 400 a month of these. That means I will have an airforce flying not-obsolete aircraft in a few weeks. I already have about 100 Ki94IIs avaliable and I will save my best pilots for another month. After that I should be able to defend 2-3 key hexes "for real".

[Hortlund]

Day 3

Daito Shoto fell today after being obliterated by USAAF heavies. Over 1000 heavy bombers knocked most of the defenders out (about 900 B-29-25 together with 100 B32s and B29Bs). Then an alpha-strike from the US CVs came in with about 250 torpedo bombers.

After that the defenders had 313 unadjusted AV which fell to 50, despite being in supply and behind lvl 3 forts. I suspect the disruption was well into the high 90s for those two units.

Something similar happened in the Philippines where my stragglers on Luzon were hit by over 1 000 bombers (500 DB + 500 TB + 100 LB).


Estimated enemy losses
1 PF sunk (CD)
1 APA sunk (CD)
4 xAK sunk (CD)
1 xAP sunk (CD)
3 SS sunk (ASW + surface action)

2 CL damaged (Boise and Nashville) by kamikazes
1 DD damaged (surface action)

All in all Daito Shoto held out for 3 days and cost the enemy
6 PF
6 APD
1 DE
3 LCS(L)
1 APA
4 xAK
1 xAP
together with rougly 3500 casualties and 400 vehicles.

That is not really a bad result considering I did not commit any additional forces to the defences. Those losses were all from CDs and LCUs.

Air
Big sweep over Nagasaki by 100 P47Ns met no opposition. 100 P51Hs swept Tokyo and met 40-something 30exp-pilots. Nemo must be wondering whats going on. Im going to play into this and make some comments about bad die-rolls or some other reason my fighters did not fly. "Oh, &¤#¤, I forgot to set the fighters to cap at Nagasaki" or some other form of AE-academy-awards-winning acting.

Another big loss for the IJN tankers today. This was expected as I have two convoys that were caught between Formosa and Japan by our ended ceasefire. Another big loss came when 100 B25s found a troop convoy unloading at Moppo in Korea. I lost about half of a division that I had brough from Formosa to Korea. Hurts of cource, but all in all it was just 150 AV of the 30exp-quality. I will not lose the game because of that.

About tomorrow
I am really tempted to try to hit the USN surface combat TFs that are hovering in the narrow straits between Korea and Japan. However, I must try to stay focused. The loss of those 15-20 DDs and 3-4 CLs would mean exactly nothing and it would delay Nemo absolutely not at all.

In order to attack the USN ships, I would have to put 100-200 of my best dive bombers on naval attack, but the attacks would take place inside LRCAP-range from Okinawa, and no one knows where the USN CVs will be tomorrow. With bad luck, I could be sending 200 DBs escorted by 100 fighters into a 1000-plane CVCAP, and that is just pointless at this point in time.

At the same time, I dont need to defend that sea-area because Im not contesting the SLOCs between China and Japan right now. I know I cannot defend them, so why try? Instead I will ship resources from Korea to Japan via the Sea of Japan, where my shipping is protected by the mine-barrier of Tsushima.

There are two hexes I will have to defend tomorrow though, and I will try to mount a serious defence in those two hexes.

[Hortlund]

Overall impression after the first two weeks of the game (three days of combat).

Air
Nothing major has happened yet, what we are seeing is just Nemo probing my defences. This is of cource expected, so Im trying not to show him what Ive got. Instead of defending the obvious targets like Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka, Im just putting up a bare minimum of fighters (to disrupt bomber aim, in case he should come with the heavies). Judging from comments by Nemo, he is a bit perplexed over the lack of fighters. I am trying to play into this confusion by saying Im worried about the lack of fighter interceptions, that they are highly fatigued and/or baseforces lack good radar. Im saying that I will try to increase CAP percentage to get more fighters into the air. We'll see if he takes that bait. The goal for me here is of cource to make Nemo careless, and give the impression that I cannot put up a good defence in the air.

In the meantime, both Ki94II and J7W1 are now in production. I have withdrawn my best fighter units to safe fields, and at the end of the month I should be able to field about 450 Ki94IIs and 350 J7W1s. In addition to that, I have the G9M and Ki264s, roughly 150 of each. All in all, that is not a totally insignificant strike force. Although every day I dont have to use that force is a good day. This game is all about buying time for me, see the first post.

At the current rate, I should have at least 6 months of full aircraft/engine production, that takes us well into 46 and my strategic objectives will be met. So, production is not really an issue right now. Things might change though, as soon as combat heats up, supply consumption will rise and I might have to shut down production.


Navy
Nemo is much more agressive than I expected. I was expecting him to go deep into the east china sea, but not on turn 2, and not without carrier cover. That cost me alot as I missjudged how much time I had to bring the tankers home from China. Other than that though, nothing much has happened. Ive killed some subs, around 10 right now I think, and I have lost alot of merchants. I will not commit anything significant outside the sea of Japan though, at least not until I absolutely have to.

[Capt. Harlock]

Nemo must be wondering whats going on. Im going to play into this and make some comments about bad die-rolls or some other reason my fighters did not fly. "Oh, &¤#¤, I forgot to set the fighters to cap at Nagasaki" or some other form of AE-academy-awards-winning acting.

Once again, ethical dilemmas of disinformation rear their ugly heads. I guess it's a bit more legitimate against Nemo, since he plays psychological games of his own. But I would suggest you write something a little more vague, implying that you forgot something but not being explicit. (e.g. "There are a surprising number of things to take care of even with the Japanese Empire shrunk as it is.")

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock
Once again, ethical dilemmas of disinformation rear their ugly heads. I guess it's a bit more legitimate against Nemo, since he plays psychological games of his own. But I would suggest you write something a little more vague, implying that you forgot something but not being explicit. (e.g. "There are a surprising number of things to take care of even with the Japanese Empire shrunk as it is.")

Nah, as you say, the game is against Nemo, and the mind-games are half the fun. He is much better at them than me even. In this game, psyops is part of the strategy. Not that I have him fooled with my little act, he suspects that Im holding back my fighters and said in his latest email that he will start bombing my HI centers now. That is a good way to force me to fight...

[PaxMondo]

Actually, playing Downfall scenario myself right now, it seems as busy as the GC with all of the units to manage. In particular all of the air groups.

[Chickenboy]

Following this AAR with interest, PH.

WRT Nemo's initial dispositions and attacks, assume that he has loaded up the scenario from the Japanese side and has an excellent idea what your individual base strengths, weaknesses and dispositions are at day 0. I assume that there were no overt statements about players not doing this prior to the onset of hostilities? I'd assume that he has near clarivoyance or omniscience about Japanese dispositions for the time being.

Thus, those tankers shouldn't be a surprise to him or you-assuming his familiarity with the initial OOB and dispositions-he knew what a juicy target it was and acted accordingly with his surfeit of naval forces. Similarly, he would know precisely what AAA you had on your base that just got plastered and been able to work around it.

As far as the head games go, forget it. That only works if you place any credence in communications with him for the scenario. Assume all that is in writing (other than "here's the turn") is an effort to sow disinformation. Say what you will for your replies, but they will be unlikely to bear fruit if you expect to affect his attitude or approach to the game. I'd recommend keeping communications on point and effectively ignore his queries or protestations. You don't have to lie, but you also don't need to play headgames in order to exchange turns.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Following this AAR with interest, PH.

WRT Nemo's initial dispositions and attacks, assume that he has loaded up the scenario from the Japanese side and has an excellent idea what your individual base strengths, weaknesses and dispositions are at day 0. I assume that there were no overt statements about players not doing this prior to the onset of hostilities? I'd assume that he has near clarivoyance or omniscience about Japanese dispositions for the time being.

Thus, those tankers shouldn't be a surprise to him or you-assuming his familiarity with the initial OOB and dispositions-he knew what a juicy target it was and acted accordingly with his surfeit of naval forces. Similarly, he would know precisely what AAA you had on your base that just got plastered and been able to work around it.

As far as the head games go, forget it. That only works if you place any credence in communications with him for the scenario. Assume all that is in writing (other than "here's the turn") is an effort to sow disinformation. Say what you will for your replies, but they will be unlikely to bear fruit if you expect to affect his attitude or approach to the game. I'd recommend keeping communications on point and effectively ignore his queries or protestations. You don't have to lie, but you also don't need to play headgames in order to exchange turns.

Hey [:)]

Actually I think it is all fun and games. Ive known Nemo (as well as you can "know" someone via mail that is) for a while now, and I think we have a pretty good relationship. One might say there are two layers to our conversations, lets call them "in game-conversations" and "about other stuff -conversations". When we talk about the current game and comment things, we both know that we both are trying to gain knowledge and advantages while hiding weaknesses and threats. But when we talk about other stuff I completely trust him to be a honest and honorable person. This AAR is a good example of that I suppose, I have no problem doing this "secret" AAR.

As for his knowledge of the Japanese side, yeah, there is no getting around that. He pretty much wrote the book on how to defend Japan in this scenario, so there is little I can do to surprise him now at game start. Right now Im just trying to buy time long enough for "my" changes to take effect. I have a big advantage too though, from playing the allied side against Nemo. That, for example, is why I will defend the lvl 9 ports in China. I know how much easier it becomes as the US player to have more large ports than just Manilla.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Actually, playing Downfall scenario myself right now, it seems as busy as the GC with all of the units to manage. In particular all of the air groups.

Yeah, I actually think that turn 0 for Downfall is much harder to do than turn 0 for the GC...its a nightmare.

[Hortlund]

Day 4 - the battle for Keijo

Today for the first time, we managed to do some damage to the yanks.

There were two hexes I had to defend today, and surprisingly enough, Nemo attacked them both. This post will deal with one of them - Keijo

At Keijo, a very important convoy was unloading, Nemo had sent recon over the base for the past 2-3 days, so I knew he knew there was something going on there. I expected an attack, I did not however, expect the USN to park a couple of CVs just off Korea.

First came two P47N-sweeps. My defensive tactics for the fighters were tested and it worked. The sacrificial units were butchered of cource, but the real defensive fighter units actually achieved a positive kill-ratio. I believe my Ki-94IIs actually achieved a 3-1 kill ratio. That is not bad.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Keijo , at 103,50

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 31 NM, estimated altitude 46,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 34
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 21
Ki-94-II x 27
Ki-102c Randy x 23

Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 50

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 7 destroyed
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 7 destroyed
Ki-94-II: 1 destroyed
Ki-102c Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47N Thunderbolt: 5 destroyed


Aircraft Attacking:
25 x P-47N Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Keijo , at 103,50

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 47 NM, estimated altitude 45,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 20
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 6
Ki-94-II x 24
Ki-102c Randy x 22

Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47N Thunderbolt: 4 destroyed


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Keijo , at 103,50

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 18 NM, estimated altitude 47,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 11
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 5
Ki-94-II x 20
Ki-102c Randy x 20

Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed
Ki-94-II: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47N Thunderbolt: 2 destroyed


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Keijo , at 103,50

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 42,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 8
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 3
Ki-94-II x 13
Ki-102c Randy x 18


Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 50


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed
Ki-94-II: 3 destroyed
Ki-102c Randy: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47N Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed

As the morning air-phase grew longer, fatigue, damage and losses took a heavy toll on our ability to put planes into the fight, and when that last 50-plane sweep came, our fighters were far far from as effective as they were during the initial sweeps, and that cost alot in the later sweeps.

Then came the afternoon-phase and the big surprise:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Keijo at 103,50

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 2
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 1
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 1
Ki-94-II x 2
Ki-102c Randy x 2



Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 143
TBM-3 Avenger x 15


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-94-II: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
SC CHa-105
SC CHa-107
SC CHa-106, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
E No.16, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
E No.36



Aircraft Attacking:
15 x TBM-3 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo
12 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
3 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
10 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
9 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
12 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
12 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
15 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Keijo at 103,50

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 8
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 3
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 12
Ki-94-II x 19
Ki-102c Randy x 2



Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 141
TBM-3 Avenger x 51


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 2 destroyed
Ki-94-II: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
TBM-3 Avenger: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Shimane Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
SC CHa-102
SC CHa-76, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-73
E No.26, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
E No.22
SC CHa-75
SC CHa-71
TK Daiki Maru
SC CHa-101
SC CHa-79
E No.36
SC CHa-70



Aircraft Attacking:
15 x TBM-3 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo
18 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
18 x TBM-3 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo
18 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
18 x TBM-3 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo
11 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
16 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
20 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
18 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet
18 x F6F-5 Hellcat sweeping at 10000 feet

My already depleted CAP had little chance to prevent the torpedo bombers from getting through, naturally. However the sacrificial CVE included in the TF soaked up most of the attacks and saved the tankers from destruction.

Today Nemo lost 42 P-47Ns over Keijo, that is a big success for me.

[Hortlund]

Day 4 - Fusan

The other hex I was defending was Fusan. The reason was I had brough some of my very precious surface taskforces here in case Nemo tried to do something funny with his SCTFs, and also, alot of tankers were hiding in port to avoid his raiders.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tsushima at 103,56

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 3,100 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 3
N1K5-J George x 4
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 2
Ki-84b Frank x 2
Ki-102c Randy x 3



Allied aircraft
Beaufighter TF.X x 6
B-25J11 Mitchell x 9


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-102c Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter TF.X: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-25J11 Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
MTB G-552
MTB G-155, Shell hits 12
MTB G-165, Shell hits 6
MTB G-845



Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-25J11 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x Beaufighter TF.X strafing at 100 feet *

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tsushima at 103,56

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 28 NM, estimated altitude 4,100 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 6
N1K5-J George x 6
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 3
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 2
Ki-84b Frank x 8
Ki-102c Randy x 5



Allied aircraft
F4U-1D Corsair x 10
B-25J11 Mitchell x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 3 destroyed
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-102c Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1D Corsair: 5 destroyed
B-25J11 Mitchell: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
MTB G-451, Shell hits 16
MTB G-165, Shell hits 11
MTB G-352
MTB G-155, Shell hits 5
MTB G-845
MTB G-552



Aircraft Attacking:
18 x B-25J11 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

This is leaking CAP from Fusan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Fusan at 103,55

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 8
N1K5-J George x 9
Ki-84b Frank x 21
Ki-102c Randy x 15



Allied aircraft
F8F-1 Bearcat x 13
TBM-3 Avenger x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-102c Randy: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F8F-1 Bearcat: 3 destroyed
TBM-3 Avenger: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Shinyo
DD Shinyo
DD Shinyo



Aircraft Attacking:
14 x TBM-3 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Fusan at 103,55

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 3
N1K5-J George x 6
Ki-84b Frank x 15
Ki-102c Randy x 9



Allied aircraft
F8F-1 Bearcat x 13
TBM-3 Avenger x 10


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-102c Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F8F-1 Bearcat: 1 destroyed
TBM-3 Avenger: 4 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Shinyo
DD Shinyo
DD Shinyo



Aircraft Attacking:
4 x TBM-3 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo

And these are strikes from the CVs against shipping at Fusan. The raids all got through, but it cost Nemo alot of Avengers.

[Hortlund]

Here are the casualty figures for today. The large number of Hellcats lost is because a CVE took a couple of torpedos and apparently went down off Formosa.

[Hortlund]

Meanwhile, things are heating up in the Okinawa-region aswell. Nemo is pretty confident of himself here and has told me how he will attack and take Amami Oshima within the next three days.

Apparently he really wants me to commit forces to the defence of the absolute outer perimeter.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Day 4 - the battle for Keijo

Today for the first time, we managed to do some damage to the yanks.

There were two hexes I had to defend today, and surprisingly enough, Nemo attacked them both. This post will deal with one of them - Keijo

At Keijo, a very important convoy was unloading, Nemo had sent recon over the base for the past 2-3 days, so I knew he knew there was something going on there. I expected an attack, I did not however, expect the USN to park a couple of CVs just off Korea.

First came two P47N-sweeps. My defensive tactics for the fighters were tested and it worked. The sacrificial units were butchered of cource, but the real defensive fighter units actually achieved a positive kill-ratio. I believe my Ki-94IIs actually achieved a 3-1 kill ratio. That is not bad.

It appears as though Nemo is an advocate of the nonsensical stratosphere sweep approach. P47 sweeps at 42,000 feet? What rubbish. Did you two discuss this issue before game start?

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
It appears as though Nemo is an advocate of the nonsensical stratosphere sweep approach. P47 sweeps at 42,000 feet? What rubbish. Did you two discuss this issue before game start?

Nah, no need. We both use the forces we have to the best of their abilities (with a couple of houserules regarding 4Es). I have no problem with the strato-sweeps, there are counters against all tactics, including the max-alt sweeps. The challenge is to find the tactics that work and use them.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Day 4 - the battle for Keijo

Today for the first time, we managed to do some damage to the yanks.

There were two hexes I had to defend today, and surprisingly enough, Nemo attacked them both. This post will deal with one of them - Keijo

At Keijo, a very important convoy was unloading, Nemo had sent recon over the base for the past 2-3 days, so I knew he knew there was something going on there. I expected an attack, I did not however, expect the USN to park a couple of CVs just off Korea.

First came two P47N-sweeps. My defensive tactics for the fighters were tested and it worked. The sacrificial units were butchered of cource, but the real defensive fighter units actually achieved a positive kill-ratio. I believe my Ki-94IIs actually achieved a 3-1 kill ratio. That is not bad.

It appears as though Nemo is an advocate of the nonsensical stratosphere sweep approach. P47 sweeps at 42,000 feet? What rubbish. Did you two discuss this issue before game start?

Not to highjack this thread but I just want to interject what it means to fly at 42,000 feet.

First, the operating altitude for a P-47 was about 30,000 feet. "The oxygen supply is from a low-pressure system with a new American demand valve. During the trials this was not entirely satisfactory, and the majority of flying was limited to 30,000 feet as the flow above this height was unreliable.." plus "The operational ceiling of 1,000 ft/min is reached at about 31,000 feet." (http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/ ... -afdu.html). I would assume that somebody on the development staff found a reference somewhere to the maxium service ceiling and set that at maximum altitude.

But a little background there is an oxygen dissociation curve. There is a slight difference between 6K and 12K feet. There is a huge difference between 26K and 32K feet. Below 26K and one can combine outside air and oxygen above this and we start rigging up 100% O2. Now B-29's regualrly flew at 36,000 with special O2 regulators. However, above 40,000 feet requires positive pressure above 15" of water to keep oxygen tension. This is a very hostile environment in which equipment failures are deadly. (http://www.operationalmedicine.org/Text ... Manual.pdf).

Even if the aircraft are somehow tooling around at service ceilings ... the strain on the engine is tremendous and not reflected in the game. It might be cold up there at 40,000 feet but an aircooled radal engine depdends on more than just cool air to conduct heat ... there is the cold but not enough density ..so no heat conducted and very high CHT temps that quickly increase downtime ...

Ok back to the fantisy nonsensical stratosphere sweeps ...[:D]

[Hortlund]

I have to be careful around Korea now. The logic of battle is to escalate, but I do not want to be sucked in to committing forces I dont want to commit here and now. He has several CV TFs together with several SCTFs in the area. Im strongly suspecing huge fighter sweeps from Okinawa tomorrow. If I play into this, I will have committed my reserves at a time and place chosen by him and on his terms.

At the same time, I really need to defend two hexes in Korea tomorrow, the alternative is to lose ships I very much want to keep. So, I need to find the balance between committing enough forces to defend the crucial hexes, while not getting drawn in to a running battle.

The one thing that benefits me here is that Nemo will most likely assume that large groups of airunits in various bases
in Korea and southern Japan are an offensive weapon aimed at his CVs.