Matrix Games Forums

Just curious...can folks see the pictures I post?

I see your two charts just fine.

Very good AAR.
You are approaching it with more 'big picture' than I am at the moment. It is great to read what is in your mind/planning wise.

I hate those single ship task forces but it seems to be a forum consensus to allow such them.

R&D -- I am trying a heavy push (5x30) thru these lines Zero/Frank/George/Sam/Tony (for the Ki-100-I). Medium push (3 or 4 x30) for Judy, BN51, Helen, Francis, Shinden, Irving Night Fighter, Randy(day and night fighter). Some single/dual (x30) research factories so far for others and as the game goes on I hope to shift more R&D into those late war fighters.

You can research the A6M2-N Rufe which I believe you can then upgrade directly to the A6M5, skipping the other A6M3 series.
I have
5x30 A6M3 and
2x30 A6M2-N Rufes

I am hoping that will give an even better jump on the A6M5 upgrade.
(more experienced players may agree or correct this opinion)

ORIGINAL: Malagant

Dec 12, 1941
A landing force at Kuching was supposed to have LRCAP from a large unit of Oscar 1b from Kota Bharu. Sadly despite being set to 90% LRCAP, only a handful flew, and they were completely ineffective. 4 waves of bombers including all the Swordfish and Vildebeest from Singapore flew. I shot done NONE. I lost 7 xAK, including complete destruction of 114th Inf Regiment and 11th Shipping Engineer Regiment.

Rebuilding those regiments was only a handful of PP, so I've rebuilt them.

Those are about the only Allied planes that can hurt you early on, and they can sting! I guess the Allies can use carrier planes, but anyhow the shipping isn't safe until those guys are whittled down some.

On merchant shipping, I am not OCD enough to maximize ship convoys. I started to at first, but situations change, enemy sub threat for one, and now I just eyeball them. I would rather be larger and unable to dock but well protected from enemy subs in general than conform to some of the docking limits especially with tankers. Others are different, I am sure.

Check your naval commanders some need to go: the tonan whalers need good captains and then the rest of the tanker line in order of capacity, the Tone has a lousy captain, and there are others out there to. Don't forget to look at air squadrons too, what was the inspiration of the leader of the large Oscar squadron that didn't fly much...with one squadron you will never have more than 1/4 of the planes actually flying lrcap often times much less, and it is always nice to have low and high cap too. Only one squadron flying lrcap is often an invitation to disaster as you found out.

Finally, some Japanese units are very expensive to buy back once destroyed, the INA units you get near Burma for one, any expanded air squadron is excessively expensive if destroyed (a good reason not to makes them imho).

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.

Looks Dan, looks like we're not too terribly different. I chose to push for the 3a because I think its range will be a significant increase over the M2 and I want to get it out there PDQ instead of just waiting on the M5. I primarily see using it in on my CVs during my planned invasion of Canada where it will be used for LRCAP of the landing forces while the CVs stand off farther, as well as escorting the longer-ranged attack aircraft.

Those 'stringbags' out of Singapore are definitely scary, and I knew they were scary, but I seriously underestimated the effectiveness of the LRCAP. I did not check the leader beforehand, but he's pretty decent actually with Ldr 62; Insp 66; Air 62; and Aggr 66.

Actually the reasons were very apparent when I looked over things...the airstrip hadn't been completely repaired yet, the Morale of the unit was mid 70s, and the fatigue was in the 30s. Poor choice of unit. If I try to land something else at Kuantan or Mersing, I hope to make better choices!


Reviewing air group commanders is a chore I keep putting off out of laziness, need to get it done! I've reviewed Task Force commanders as I make surface task forces, but not ship captains. So much to do, I love it!

I wouldn't say I'm being super min-max on the convoys I'm using, I'm really just looking at what I have ('ve been mustering all the merchant shipping that's not being actively used in a central place to help me organize), picking a nice even number of identical ships with escorts that won't slow them down. I haven't run in to a port size problem yet. I feel like some places I might have too many ships running (for example, I have three Miyati running from Amami Oshima, but I think they're moving the goodies faster than they're being made!

Hopefully I don't lose any more units so won't have to worry about rebuilding them! But then again, when I invade North America I sincerely doubt anyone will make it out alive


Some economy stuff for yall:

I found during the last turn that instead of Halting the Shinano, I'd accelerated it. Horrible misclick. At least I caught it before it was terribly wasteful!

I'd added some Naval Shipyards (aiming for 1500). With Shinano off and my expansion I currently have Unryu, Amagi, and Katsuragi accelerated. If I'm understanding Tracker right, this means they'll be done Spring of 43 instead of Summer 44...that should be a tremendous boost at a very critical time period (with my plan, that will likely be after getting my tail kicked out of Canada and struggling to scramble together defenses!)



I'm also accelerating three DDs (I can't help but feel like I'm always short on DDs!). As my Naval expands out to 1500 I might accelerate a CL as well, though I have to say I'm really considering accelerating Junyo and Hiyo. I can move them up several months and hope to have them available during the invasion of North America. Thoughts?


Overall economy isn't in the toilet yet, but it's still early in the game and I've got a lot of time left to wreck things!



I really like Trackers Global and Oil&Res tabs. That latter shows me that Japan needs 236900 Resources, but makes only 157800. This difference is almost completely made up for from the other Japanese Islands, Korea and Manchuria...but not quite. Even if I ship all the unused back it's still about 3000 Resources per day short. I'm hoping that can be made up from the Philippines.



Fuel is a little weirder to work out, as there's Fuel production which requires Oil, etc, but I need 12000 per day and of course don't make anywhere near that...even if I had all the Oil I needed (which I don't!) I'd need to bring in over 4k/day. Miri & Brunei are a nice start, but a drop in the bucket overall (pun intended!) with an estimated 1350 when fully repaired. I may increase the Refinery in Miri actually to consume all the Oil produced both there and Brunei, but haven't thought that out yet (man I go thru supply quick!).



Any thoughts on priority targets or where to consider starting convoys early? I was thinking of forming a lame Fuel convoy of a bunch of xAKs from Miri...not efficient but not as big a risk as Tankers while there's still danger here.

And, Oh! I need to organize some ASW assets on convoy routes!!

Looks like I have a turn waiting in the Dropbox! Back to the war!!

Priority target is oil, as long as you can CAP it from day one of the takeover. Allies can't turn oil production off, but they can shut down the refineries prior to your takeover.

SRA has the most, but also Burma, Lanchow.

Then go for the gold -- North America! Can't wait to see the fireworks.[:)] Good luck!

The overall plan is to complete conquest of "SRA", push in to Burma, be a nuisance/distraction in Northern Australia, and hit North America with (probably) 25th, 16th, and 14th Armies along with 5th Air and parts of 22nd & 23rd AF. I don't have a good feel for a 'time-table', but am hoping that SRA can be in mop-up mode by spring of 42 so I can start shifting things north asap. I don't want to be operating around Alaska in winter if I can help it, but I may do that to get this invasion done and hope to grab up Victory Points before Dec 42!

While I have a fun big plan, and I feel comfy doing operational plans, I don't have a good grasp on what and where I want to hit first. Borneo has a couple nice places (Tarakan, Balikpapan); Sumatra has of course Palembang and Medan; and Java has multiple good sites as well...

My original plan was to have 21st IMB, 21st Div, and 4th Div to smash Palembang all together, then move down to Java.

Now I'm wondering if this might be over-allocation of force. I haven't put any Recon on Palembang (yet), but I don't think there's more than a Base Force and support. Can one Division take it?

Would this be spreading things out too much: my Home Fleet (see above) escort 21IMB to Tarakan and Balikpapan (*Note, i remember Tarakan has some nasty CD Guns...how are these best dealt with?); MKB and West Fleet escorts 4th Div to Palembang; then when landing complete continues on with 21st Division to land at Batavia and start working down Java. Would that be splitting things off and trying to do too much at once?

To consider, it seems POW and Repulse are sunk (both reported sunk on Dec 7, and no change in that report yet...). A few RN ships from Singapore seen heading out thru Straits of Malaca. Dutch Navy was active at Singkawang a few days ago, a quick hit and retire. I also am suspecting that he's pulled the 'scary' stuff out of Singapore and is waiting for me to venture down towards Java...I'm hoping I can be skilled enough with MKB to provide protection, but I'm shaky on how LRCAP is working!

If I LRCAP one TF of several in a hex, will they fighters respond to attacks on other TF in the same hex?


So planning stuff aside, there have been some operational setbacks. In Malaya, PI, and China I've unthinkingly gotten involved in attacks piecemeal...as parts of a formation arrive I set them to Combat and Deliberate, hoping to brush the enemy aside, but other parts of the formation show up during the movement phase and join the attack while still in Move mode. No horrible results, but definitely a bloody nose that I didn't want.

More significant bloody nose came to the Christmas invasion force...none of the LRCAP from KB launched, and one of the US CVs was lurking north of Christmas and smashed the force. Only one xAK has sunk, but two AMC and two more transports are likely to be lost, along with all the 51NG if KB doesn't provide protection again. I'm going to continue on (throwing good money after bad, as they say!) to Christmas, hoping to get some good Recon flights in to determine how screwed I am. If I've gotten there before any Marines I should be ok (I think there's just an engineer unit there now, same as Canton?) but otherwise this whole thing has been a costly fiasco and lesson in over-reaching!

The positive side is that both US CVs are located. One is 4 hexes north of Christmas, heading SW. The other is just off Ocean Island. KB will continue to escort towards Christmas, Fast AO has gone to hide in port in Canton. If they continue on current heading, the CV near Christmas should be smashed. I'll get the landing going, then turn and make a speed run towards Kwaj and hope to nail the other (which I suspect is there to try to raid Marshals and slow down advances towards Tarawa). I have a few Nates here to protect things....not sure how effective they'll be against a lone CV, but fingers are crossed I don't take too many more "minor" casualties...all these minor losses are adding up!

Other than that, Guam was finally taken, that Base Force will pack up and get ready to occupy Christmas when/if it's taken, or Canton if not.

Oh, one other thing...I ran out of pilots for planes on MKB. Several of the Nate pilots are ~35exp guys with little training. They have about 7-10 days to get good before they're thrown in to the fire against the RAF and Dutch! It sure is depressing that I've run out of pilots already, but I recognize a lot of it is because I chose to over-stuff the airgroups to the max number of pilots. Lesson learned...go slow!

Ug, I had a nice daily report done, but took to long and my connection timed out and lost it all! Have to do it all over again!

Dec 22, 1941

Nothing very noteworthy in the industrial end of things. I increased Ha-34 production a bit, I'll need a lot going for Helen and Tojo! Tracker says Japan Region needs 2.1 million supply to complete repairs. I'm producing 20k/day with 789k there already...will I survive the Factory Increases I jumped in to?

Malaya
1st Raiding Regiment took Port Blair, having taken off from Bangkok. Engineers from Victoria Point are being flown out. Most of 22AF is in Victoria Point, with Bombers set to Naval Attack, 50% Search, and range to keep them out of Rangoon...I don't need my bombers shot down by the AVG, and certainly don't want to suffer the indignity of having them shot down by Buffaloes!

About 30 Nates are going to Sweep Rangoon to see what happens. If the AVG is there I'll get my ass handed to me, but if it's just the Buffaloes then I hope to start thinning them out some.

About 100 Oscars (A, B, and C flavors) are set to Sweep Singapore. I'll Sweep a day or two, and have about 100 Sally and Lily resting up to start bombing the airfield, preventing Fort construction and HOPEFULLY shutting down the Torpedo Bombers...but I strongly suspect he's relocated to Java.

Land units continue to slowly push down the roads towards Singapore. 33rd Div should land in Kota Bharu tomorrow. I'd considered having that division land in Mersing to cut off all his forces that are road-blocking me, but I'm not brave enough. 38th Div is coming from Hong Kong, depending on how the bombings go I may land that one at Mersing (high Exp in that Division will be a plus if both Aussie units are there!)

Sumatra
4th Div, Southern Fleet, and KMB are staging out of CRB with intent to land at Palembang on Christmas. 21 Div will follow a few days behind, going to support 4th Div if needed, otherwise will land on Java and really get this party started!

Borneo
9th Base Force landed at Brunei. Engineers are a day behind. About 30k Supply landing at Miri. Beaufort is taken by 2nd Sasebo SNLF Company, the RN Base Force there surrendered. Some JNAF forces are landing at Singkawang to support 21 and 22 Air Flotilla forces there. Zeroes are resting to prepare for Sumatra invasion support, Bettys and Nells are Searching.

21 IMB is heading to meet Home Fleet near Jolo to take Tarakan. Home Fleet is going to circle Mindanao while 21 IMB steams to the area...several small Patrol and DD have been spotted, need to get in there and clear them out before they interfere with shipping thru the area. Input on how to handle the big CD guns at Tarakan is needed, please!

Philippines
Bombarding in Clark Field, waiting for everyone to get there together. Bombing continues there as well.

Palawan is taken by three SNLF, they are reloading and heading for Mindanao, then will support rest of Borneo and take Celebes.

South Pac
CL Adelaide was hit by two torpedoes from I-18 off Rabaul. She's not reported sinking, but I'm hopeful she'll either sink on the way back to Australia or be taken in Rabaul...

Guard Mixed Brigade has left Truk escorted by Southern Fleet heading for Rabaul. 5 NG/SNLF forces are hitting the bases around Lae. I have several subs in this area, along with one near Horn Island, two off Port Moresby, and two watching Luganville. Other than Adelaide, there has been very little activity here.

5th Base Force is loading up after the fall of Guam, heading for Truk to get some Fuel, and then on to Christmas. One more NG Battalion is arriving in Saipan in a few days, it will join the other two there, form the 84th NG, which will head there also (since the NG that were supposed to garrison Canton and Christmas got thrashed...)

Cent Pac
The US CV spotted near Ocean/Tarawa disappeared...frustrating as I have so many Mavis and Nell looking for her! I'm hesitant to get any ships in this area underway until I spot her. If she goes east she'll catch my straggling survivors from the doomed Canton/Christmas force.

The Christmas force got hit again, but some Zeroes flew this time. Of 22 SBDs that attacked, 18 were reported shot down, most of this in the PM attack. The only survivors of the attacking force are two very damaged CM and a DD. The 53NG is on the ground at Christmas, and survived the Shock Attack. Allies only have the CPNAB there, so KB will lurk on the west side of Christmas and bomb the snot out of them and hope to take it when the 53NG Disruption is recovered. I lost sight of the US CV over here too, but the planes came from roughly NE of Christmas. I figure with that many SBD gone, that CV will head to the barn to recover. Pity I couldn't catch either US CV out here, John did a great job lurking out of range of KB while getting licks in on soft forces!

North Pac
And even more fun! A sub had spotted US transports going in to Dutch Harbor, so the Tama/Kiso group went up there. U.S Grant, Horace Luckenbach, and Eldorado were sunk, along with 4 YP. Nothern Fleet will retire to Adak, covering the arrival of the AS and AKE there, then will commence interdiction patrols around Kodiak. Some B-17s tried bombing that fleet, but were ineffective.

One week (give or take) to 'buy out' Karafuto brigade. Along with the three Battalions of the 4th Inf, I'll have a formidable force up here. I think he starts with an Inf Regiment at Kodiak, which I don't think I can take, but I should be able to overwhelm Dutch Harbor and the rest of the Aleutians easily enough. If I can do that and prevent reinforcements during the winter, I'll be in good shape for Spring/Summer 42 fun!

One worry, though, is the two BB he'll have coming out of Seattle. Very likely he'll send them up here. I need to send some Nells up this way PDQ as soon as the Airfield is built up, otherwise they will run over my poor Northern Fleet! Also still considering making a small CVE force with Taiyo and Hosho to come up here. To that end I'm hoping to finish off KBs immediate operations, have KB retire to Truk, and have Kaga split off to join MKB to work in SRA. What's keeping me from sending the CVEs up there now, though, is that if I were him, I'd send the US CVs up there with no hesitation. The three CVs he has can't stand up to the KB at this point, but they can sure trash the CVEs...I hate to actually give him something constructive to do with his weak Navy!

All in all a good day!

Dec 23, 1941

A bit of excitement today! Nothing earth-shattering, but feeling quite happy about how my naval reorg has worked out!

I turned off a few more Armament Factories. Despite heavy loss I’ve been gaining, have 27k stashed away already. I have only a 50 size Factory running now, all are off otherwise. If I see it trending down I’ll fire things back up.

A few of the R&D factories are showing repaired now (it’s only been a few days since I set everything up, so it’s fun to see how quickly they get going). Most of the repairs have come on A6M3 and Helen plants.

I’ve also turned off a lot of Merchant SY. Still building everything, but the pool was going up.



Burma

The rest of the Raiding Regiment landed at Port Blair. Construction groups are being moved now. Some of the Transport squadrons I’d used are heading back to the PI to support the two SNLF Paratroop units in moving around to quickly take the little bases around the Philippines.



I see a number of ships in Rangoon…some xAKs, some PGs. 11 units, 12000 men. I see nothing in Pegu. My Nates set to Sweep Rangoon didn’t fly.

Malaya

My Oscars made their presence felt at Singapore. 8 Buffaloes were shot down for one Oscar-c in the first day’s sweep. I’m being a bit impatient and have set up a Sentai of Nates to escort while about 150 Sally and Lily are set to bomb Singapore’s Airfield from 10k. Recon shows 54 bombers at Singapore still, I’m really hoping to catch those Torpedo Bombers on the ground there!

Otherwise things are moving along slowly in Malaya…closing in on Temuloh, and the slow stuff is catching up to help clear out Taiping.

Something kind of interesting…the 6th and 15th Indian Brigades and an Artillery Regiment seem to be stuck east of Georgetown, I’ve gotten results like this a few days in a row now:

Ground combat at 50,74 (near Georgetown)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2157 troops, 40 guns, 171 vehicles, Assault Value = 385

Defending force 1293 troops, 16 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 10

Japanese adjusted assault: 68

Allied adjusted defense: 3

Japanese assault odds: 22 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
701 casualties reported
Squads: 56 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 50 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 9 (4 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Tank Regiment
11th Infantry Regiment
5th Recon Regiment
5th Engineer Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
25th Army
5th Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
6th Indian Brigade
15th Indian Brigade
137/155th Field Regiment

They don’t retreat, just sit there getting smashed! Fine by me, that’s fewer bodies in Singapore!

I’m going to hit Singapore hard (little rest for the Aircrews!) with almost everything for a few days, then go back to rotating units thru so 1/3-1/2 are resting while the rest do work…I’m hoping once I get the Airfield beat down I can keep it beat down without having to use all my bombers every day!

Sumatra!
Since nobody answered to talk me out of it, I’m making an attack on Palembang, designed to land on Christmas day. All of the Western fleet and the MKB is committed to supporting this attack. 4th Division is landing (I confirmed all the ships will fit up the rivier!). That force is actually in xAPs, dangerous but it moves very fast. 2 CA, 2CL, and 4DD from West Fleet will join them (currently planning on Merging, as their primary role is to prevent the Dutch Navy from getting in to the Transports). The rest of West Fleet (2 BB, 2 CA, 4DD) will follow in same hex as far as they can, the BBs won’t be able to take the river of course. The escorting ships will switch to Bombardment when we get there! MKB is following 3 hexes behind, with all the fighter groups set to 40 LRCAP on the Landing Force; 40 CAP; and 20 Rest…not sure how long they can sustain that tempo, and I’m not sure the allocation of fighters is correct…but we’ll see!

21st Division is following two days behind. If Palembang is able to be taken by 4th Div, the South Fleet and MKB will shift to that landing force and they’ll land on Java, probably Merak so I can keep MKB central and support both landings. Zeroes from Singkawang are set to LRCAP the landing force as well.



Note that MKB has two Kongo BB and two CA that can be used as an operational reserve if force is needed.

Merry Christmas!

Philippines

Home Fleet hit and sank some PT boats and 3 PG at Zamboanga. That force was causing transport task forces to withdraw away from Jolo, very happy to have them gone. A CA, CL, and 2 DD will split off and check out PT boats spotted at Palawan…they’re threatening my SNLF trying to re-embark out of Puerto Princesa. The rest of Home Fleet will circle around Mindanao and smash anything that floats, and meet up with 21st Independent Mixed Brigade to hit Tarakan (still hoping for some advice on dealing with the big Coastal Guns there!)

Bombardment at Clark Field was boring. I’m beginning to wonder if I have enough force here to really push him off Luzon in a timely manner…



I have some SNLF in Babeldaob that have been patiently waiting for transportation. Some xAK-t and PBs are getting there in a few days, these will work on other parts of Philippines.

I see a number of warships heading from the south towards Phillipines…a CL off Balikpapan, some DDs and PGs near Ternate. I’m hoping he’s getting aggressive just as I’ve deployed major fleet force to the area!

The I-162 put a torpedo in to TK Sunchaser in Makassar Strait…heavy fires, heavy damage. Guessing she was full!

South Pac

Invasion forces from Truk are underway. Should hit Rabaul in two days. I see a CL there at Rabaul, maybe the damaged Adelaide I put two torpedoes in yesterday. I have a sub there, hopefully we’ll finish her off and save the South Fleet some ammo!



The I-169 has the giant brass balls to launch torpedoes at three DDs (John Edwards, Edsall, and Whipple). None hit and the sub escapes. South Fleet may need to detach some Cruisers to deal with the DDs, will evaluate tomorrow.

Cent Pac

Here’s where my confidence tanks. This is the second day I’ve lost track of both US CVs, and the third can be over here by now too, I think. KB is way low on gas, but I’ve sent them north to try to intercept the CV that was near the Marshalls if it heads back to Pearl. The other CV that had been near Christmas has disappeared, so I’ll lose my chance to take advantage of her weakened air wing. I’ll head KB north for two days, then she has to turn towards Kwajalein.



Revealing this is scary for OpSec, but all the fast AOs are disbanded in Canton. I was out of position to protect them with KB, and they were in a likely path of a US CV. I thought it less likely that Canton would be Reconed and Port Attacked than the AO fleet being spotted by Naval Search and bombed. The AOs are pretty much out of gas (just a few hundred points of fuel left), but there’s 5k fuel in Canton. After KB goes north, they’ll form up and load that fuel at Canton and head towards Kwaj.

Another problem is I have a largeish group of slow AOs and TKs heading in to Kwaj from Japan. I’d intended to have the Fast AOs meet this force in port and load up there, but I’m afraid to get closer to Marshals with an American flattop roaming around!



And more, there are small fleets disbanded in Ocean and Nauru, with Naval Guard in each, that I’d wanted to load up and take Tarawa and Makin, then start working their way down all the dot islands to Funafuti.

The Naval Guard at Christmas took on some reinforcements. I’m going to let them chill for another few days (hoping they’ll take more after delay), then will try to deliberate and see what happens.

More giant brass balls, I-4 launched torpedoes at two DDs at Midway, landing one on Monaghan and escaping! These guys are awesome! 

North Pac

North fleet retired to Adak, sucking up the small amount of fuel I had there. Lots of fuel and supplies coming in from Japan (about a week out). AKE and AS will be there in two days; North Fleet is underway to meet and escort them in. I bought out another engineer group from Manchuko to head up here…I think I’ll end up buying out a lot more, but trying to generate enough PP for Karafuto soon.

And that’s that! After a relatively slow week my reorg has come together and I’ve greatly increased the tempo.

I really value input from you guys, any thoughts on what I’m doing here are greatly appreciated!

Wow those pictures came out uselessly small, sorry about that!

Any help here...

-How to deal with big CD guns at Tarakan?
-Will LRCAP set to one task force in a hex protect a different force in the same hex?
-Do you think 4th Division is enough to take Palembang?

Thanks guys!

Jeesh, what’s a brotha gotta do to get some answers around here?

Dec 24-25, 1941

As I said before, John is a new player as well. We’re both more focused on trying to figure out HOW to do things, not so much on what to do. That being said, it’s quite clear to me that I’ve very much underestimated how quickly John would react to the situation and move to interdict my (in retrospect) obvious plans. Well done to you, John!

With that teaser in there, on to a wee bit of excitement…

Burma
My Sweeps of Rangoon still haven’t launched. The airfield is only Lvl 1, there’s no Air HQ up there…I’m guessing that’s why. Recon over last two days has shown no fighters there, perhaps he’s withdrawn them expecting a sweep or bombing from Port Blair?

Speaking of Port Blair, the CLs Ceres and Dauntless bombarded the airfield there. I have no planes there yet, and the damage was immediately repaired by the copious Engineers there.

Malaya

Pushed his force north of Temuloh out, but I’m still slogging thru the jungle following the railroad. Near Georgetown the 6th & 15th Indian Brigades and 137/155th Field Regiment all surrendered. Very happy to have prevented them from joining up in Singapore.

33rd Div landed at Kota Bharu. That force is supposed to be part of the Burma invasion, I just landed it at the wrong place. Now I’m not sure if I want to commit that force in to helping push down to Singapore, or send them by rail up to Chiang Mai. Will take them another day or two to finish unloading, so no decision has to be made right now.

No Sweep or Bombing of Singapore happened on 24th due to icky weather, but everything flew on the 25th. No fighters in the air, recon shows none on the ground, so I suspect he’s pulled them elsewhere. The airfield was left at 25% after just one day bombing. Several Vildebeest, Hudson, and Blenheim were damaged and destroyed on the ground, so that’s good! None flew on the 25th against the Palembang force…

SRA
4th Div force (I added 2 CA, 2 CL, and 4 DD in to the landing force to screen/protect) ran in to a single DD off Bangka, brushed it aside and landed at Palembang. The Division will DA tomorrow, looks like very light defense. I intend to split the Division (it’s “whole” now) and it will clean up Sumatra and live here.

No enemy attack planes flew, but a few Betty’s escorted by Zeroes flew out of Singkawang, trying to hit a TK sneaking out past Oosthaven. Dutch LRCAP on that Task Forced was thinned out a bit, but no hits on the Tanker or DD accompanying it. 3 B-339D and a Demon shot down for loss of a Zero and a Betty.

Makassar Strait shows an enemy surface force of 4 ships including a BB and CL heading North towards Jolo. Home Fleet is assembled at Jolo and is heading to intercept. I don’t believe it really is a BB as POW and Repulse went down, but maybe another UK BB has come over already?

Hermes was attacked on 23rd by Bettys, but has not shown up at all on 24th or 25th. I’ve adjusted the air assignments on MKB to be more offensive…with 4th ID on the ground and Singapore (hopefully) nearly out of commission, I’d love to put that thing down asap.

An AD (I would have used an AG, but don’t have any yet!) is sent to Jolo along with several SC and a few thousand Fuel. There are subs prowling all over the Sulu and Celebes Seas, I need to at least keep them honest. Some Sonias from Southern (had been in Hong Kong) are staging that way to go on ASW there.

Philippines
Nothing new or exciting. Seems a stalemate at Clark Field (I have 48th Div, 65th Brigade, 4th & 7th Tank Regiments, and lots of artillery). I’m not really sure how to get this place captured with the forces I have here, he seems to have about the same amount of force here as I do. Ideas?

I found that I’d somehow not loaded up 16th Army at Babeldaob. Sigh. It’s loading up and heading to Malaya. I suck.

Trying to get lots of recon over Mindanao, not sure how much force I need there. I’ve got 4 SNLF/NG I can commit to it, but not sure that’s enough.

North Pacific
AS and AKE arrived at Adak. Nothing new. Engineers in 7 days, Fuel and Supplies right behind, then port and airfield construction will begin in earnest (though working through the winter I suspect will be painful).

Cent Pac

I-4 at Midway put two fish in to AP Henderson, and one in to AP Tasker Bliss. Casualties were reported. I’m guessing that means Midway has more defenses now!

KB lost all contact with enemy CVs, is swinging by Palmyra and Johnston and meeting up with AO for Fuel. I know where the CVs are, though…

South Pac
And the real excitement!

I’m thankful I had subs crawling all over New Britain area, as on the 24th there was sightings of many enemy surface forces. I pulled the invasion forces back and sent Home Fleet in, thinking I’d brush aside any force here.

First I ran in to a nice enemy force at Rabaul consisting of CA Canberra, CLs Boise, Marblehead, and Achilles, as well as 6 DDs.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul at 106,125, Range 4,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Seagull V: 1 destroyed
SOC-1 Seagull: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Shell hits 3
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 5
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Furutaka, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Kako
CL Sendai
CL Kuma
DD Shikinami
DD Ayanami
DD Sagiri, Shell hits 1
DD Oboro
DD Sazanami
DD Ushio, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
CL Achilles
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CL Boise, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
DD Craven
DD Gridley, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD McCall, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Edsall, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD John D. Edwards, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Whipple

After the battle, I-18 put a torpedo in to Craven. There was a follow on battle in the morning where Achilles, Marblehead, Gridley, and McCall all took several hits for only 1 hit on my DD Oboro.

Then the morning air missions happened…

TF 142 sighted by Allied Torpedo Bomber at 106,125 near Rabaul

And I said, “Uh-oh”

Remember the US CV seen near Marshalls several days ago? Found them!

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 15
SBD-2 Dauntless x 39
SBD-3 Dauntless x 15
TBD-1 Devastator x 25

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-2 Dauntless: 2 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 12, on fire
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 12, heavy fires
CA Kako, Bomb hits 3
CL Sendai, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Sagiri
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sazanami
DD Shikinami

Only one attack launched, luckily.

Aoba and Furtaka split off in to an Escort. They have almost no Engine or Flt damage, but Sys about 50 for both. They’re making spd 7 to Truk.
Kinugasa is not so good. She split off after the surface engagement with S: 71, Fld 53(5), Eng 34, Fire 96(!!!). I don’t expect her to survive the fire.

The BBs, Kako, and Sendai all have ~20 Sys and less than 10 Flt or Eng damage. They’re going Full Speed to Truk as well.

Truk has 25 Bettys but no Air Hq, and only 9 Claudes at the moment. Zeroes from Jolo have staged to Babeldaob and will be in Truk tomorrow. I think it very likely that he can easily get another days strikes on Home Fleet tomorrow, after that I’ll be in LRCAP Zero range. Bettys should keep away surface task force pursuit.

If he tries to chase with the CVs I have several subs in good spots to try to get lucky. If he goes west or east of New Britain, or near Feni Islands, there are two subs along each of those three routes. Getting a fish in to one of the CVs would be ideal.

So as of now I’ve lost one CA, he’s lost a CA, a CL, and a DD. I think two more CL will go down, and probably two DD as well. If he breaks off here, he will have prevented my landings in this area and forced me to withdraw some major assets for repairs. If he pursues, he risks getting torpedoed by Bettys and Subs, but might put down some big ships I’d rather not lose.

Regardless KB will be moving to Truk after refueling. I’m thinking of splitting her in to two or three groups in mutual support range. Catching them on the way back to Pearl would be great, or maybe chase them down to Sydney. Either way I’m really hoping I can take advantage of knowing where all three CVs are (one heading in to Pearl/CA to replenish SBDs; other two around Solomons)!

Again, I sure am glad I had all those subs out there, or I would have arrogantly sailed the invasion forces right in to this mess!

Also again great job to John for getting right forces in the right place at the right time!

Burma - The only thing a lvl 1 airfield is good for is CAP. Planes will not fly sweep or bombing missions from an airfield so small.

And regarding the KB. There is great risk in splitting it up. If you lose the carriers piecemeal then you are done.

Thx Wargmr!Chiang Mai airfield is at 55%, should be only a few more days!

It's pretty late and I'm pretty tired, but wanted to give a quick update...

We had a pretty interesting back and forth air battle in Java Sea. I put a bomb hit on Hermes and a CA (they're in same hex as Batavia), took a few hits on xAPs (nothing disastrous), and we both lost a fair number of aircraft, but I feel like I came out the better of it. Going to hang back away from Hermes and see if she'll come out of Batavia and in to Zero range from Singkawang!

South Fleet has managed to withdraw. Kinugasa sank as predicted, but everything else is a day away from Truk. Lots of repairs needed to lots of major ships (nothing above CL went undamaged!) but overall damage is very reasonable considering the situation I put myself in!

KB is not going to split up...in fact I don't think they'll head in to Solomons yet at all, but instead support a landing at Midway. I know he's reinforcing Midway, but I have a Regiment, two SNLF, and a Base Force ready to land there before New Years. I'd very much like to deny him that base!

That's it for now. A very exciting couple of days here! I'm hoping Hermes comes out to play (I think only 1 Swordfish was shot down, so should be plenty left to tempt him to use them!) so MKB can put her down!

Question I can't find in manual...what size port/type of supply ship is required to replenish Torpedoes on Carriers?

ORIGINAL: Malagant

Wow those pictures came out uselessly small, sorry about that!

Any help here...

-How to deal with big CD guns at Tarakan?

Leave it until later and bomb it a lot first. Or land at nearby base and walk across. You have to shock over a river but better than losing ships if the base is prepared from the air.

-Will LRCAP set to one task force in a hex protect a different force in the same hex?

Often, yes, but not always. LR CAP is fickle, and it also depends on what is moving where. If a TF you have LR CAP on is set to a home base elsewhere, and under attack, it may move. You can also set the LR CAP for the base in question which if the planes are at an appropriate altitude can protect your ships there.

-Do you think 4th Division is enough to take Palembang?

Thanks guys!

Depends on what he's moved there. Generally yes, but if he's been adding a bunch of units, maybe not. Recon.

Hey Thanks, Obvert! Walking across seems very reasonable. I'd planned on taking this base on my way down the Borneo coast...he's got planes there that I'd like him to not have there, if you know what I mean! I'm lacking in air assets that I'm willing to throw at that base (I've got some Betty & Nell at Jolo, but that's not their job...must conserve those awesome pilots!). So, I think I'll land a SNLF at Tandjoengselor and hoof it!

Good thoughts on LRCAP. I've got a surface fleet and an amphib fleet in same hex, with MKB following several hexes behind trying to give LRCAP to both. I'm trying to find the most effective way to keep all three fleets covered!

As it turns out, 4th Div looks to be more than enough to at least take Palembang. For some reason the DA I'd ordered didn't work, but I should have the base tomorrow:

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 728 troops, 6 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 38

Defending force 12777 troops, 113 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 444

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

Assaulting units:
So.Sumatra Garrison Battalion
Palembang Base Force

Defending units:
4th Division

I had some Air Support and Eng following up, but pulled them back a bit to wait to see how the air war here develops. I'm really hoping to get Oscars moved down here PDQ to seal the deal on the Dutch and Royal Air Forces!

Thanks for the thoughts there, very much appreciated!

Dec 26-28, 1941

Most of the Air Factories are done repairing...about two dozen more on Zero and Oscar Ic factories till they're done, and that Supply expense will be gone...for now.

I still haven't given a solid look at engine r&d or expansion yet. I know I'm not building the Rocket, and know I want to build the 201, so switched the Rocket factor to Jet, and have two of them set to repair to 30, but I'm not sure if the Engine R&D works the same as Airframe: is 30 still the way to go to give best odds for acceleration?

Supplies are dropping quickly. I'm down to 720k in Japan, though I've shipped out a lot (about 25k each to Truk, Kwaj, Adak, and Malaya; about 50k to Miri) recently. I'm noticing that there's a lot scattered around in little bases where I landed then immediately reloaded. I may take on the chore of sending some little xAK around to collect that stuff up and put it somewhere useful!

I'm getting a lot of PBs done (Ansyu-C, Kiso, and Toso). They're very welcome, as I'm hoping to start shipping some stuff from recent conquests back home soon. I've dispatched some TK to Vietnam to wait for an opportune time to swoop in to Brunei and take a load of Fuel back home.


Malaya
In a brainless maneuver (the kind I'm best at!) the 55th Regiment marched from Kuantan to Temuloh, crossing the river in to Temuloh in Move mode and Shock Attacked, and got kicked in the junk:

Ground combat at Temuloh (50,78)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3587 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 115

Defending force 4207 troops, 39 guns, 30 vehicles, Assault Value = 122

Japanese adjusted assault: 53

Allied adjusted defense: 73

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

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
307 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
153 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

It could have been worse, disruption is very high so that Regiment is resting and waiting for more buddies to come help.

Forts at Taiping have been slowing me down, finally got them to drop from 2 to 1. My losses have been light there (hitting with an Armor, a Recon, and an Infantry Regiment only still as the rest is catching up) so I'm hoping to keep doing DA for a few more days to get that road clear.

41st IR is sitting at Georgetown waiting for Supplies to build up. I'm going to have some fun and see if I can send them by Barge across to Sumatra I've got a lot of 2 big herds of Netties at Victoria Point that will hopefully keep the Straits clear. This is not without risk, as I know he had two CL bombard Port Blair a few days ago. No sign of them since I put the Netties up though, and I've got Torpedoes ready if they do!

Burma
I know it was wasteful but I sent some unescorted 1e bombers in to Rangoon, mainly to see what he'd committed there.

orning Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-30 Ann x 7
Ki-32 Mary x 7
Ki-51 Sonia x 11

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 18
Buffalo I x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-30 Ann: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-32 Mary: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-51 Sonia: 7 destroyed

No Allied losses

Looks like the first AVG and the RAF Buffaloes. I'm considering some low alt night attacks on that airfield with my 1e to see if I can do any real damage, but will wait for the replacement planes to get fixed first.

One Inf Regiment crossed the big river to the hex east of Pegu. Pegu has 2 units, 3000 men, a handful of guns. I see nothing in the next hex upriver, so will go Northwest to cross instead of straight in to Pegu. Recon is switching to that hex (not sure if I've hit it or not, but need to make sure!). If enemy are there I'll just wait for the rest of the Division to catch up and reform.

Rangoon shows 19000 troops and 152 guns, so he seems concentrated there. I don't intend to hit them there yet, I've only got one division that way (with Thai backup) but I will move to cut the Burma Highway if he lets me.

Sumatra
The exciting part!

4th Division landed without incident. A few air attacks came in while the Division was unloading, but only minor damage.

During the attack, as I noted above, we spotted Hermes in Batavia. I decided to go crazy and send the Western Fleet full speed to Batavia to try to smack her around if she stayed put to continue to try to bomb the landing force.

Sadly however, Western Fleet instead reacted to a ship in the 'straits' between Sumatra and Bangka...turns out it was the unescorted Prince of Wales...apparently rumors of its death had been greatly exaggerated! Despite reacting to it at night, there was no Night combat with Western Fleet, however successive waves of Nates from MKB put multiple bombs on her (MKB is out of Torps!). POW still didn't sink, but during the day the Western Fleet finally got to work and chased her down:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Toboali at 50,92, Range 11,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Walrus II: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Ise
BB Hyuga
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CA Ashigara
CL Naka
CL Natori
DD Hatsukaze
DD Hayashio
DD Amatsukaze
DD Asashio
DD Arashio
DD Asagumo
DD Matsukaze
DMS W-2
DMS W-3
DMS W-4

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Poor visibility due to Rain
Maximum visibility in Rain: 15,000 yards
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 11,000 yards
Japanese launch Long Lance torpedoes at 11,000 yards before allies detect Japanese presence
BB Ise fires at BB Prince of Wales at 11,000 yards
BB Prince of Wales sunk by CA Haguro at 11,000 yards
Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk...

A sad end for a proud ship. I wonder if she's really sunk this time!

Palembang was captured, and Lo!, there is no damage to any of the facilities, and minimal resources had been removed prior to our assault. About 150k Fuel is sitting there waiting to fuel my war efforts! Excellent!

Minor setback, however, a follow up task force including a JAAF Air Bn was torpedoed (3 hits by a Dutch sub!) and sank, however the 4th Div's Amphib force was still in the hex and looks to have picked up pretty much the whole Bn, which is now unloading.

My Oscar 1c Sentai has moved here (ahead of the Av Support) and is providing Cap while that Amphib force finished unloading and gets out, then will help the MKB cover the next part of this excitement...

Java
21st Division is staged to land at Batavia, supported by Bombardment from Western Fleet and with lots of air cover from MKB. They should land on the 30th.

Recon shows a lot of air there, I'm hoping the Bombardment will do some damage and followup strikes by MKB will hopefully cut the heart out of the Dutch and Royal Air Forces here in Java.

Hermes was last seen at Tjilatjap, several Swordfish were shot down over last few days (an unescorted attack on MKB was nice to see!), so I'm not expecting much danger form her. The big danger for me is not really know what's potentially there. Recon shows 11 units there, but I don't have a number of folks or anything. I'm hoping it's a lot of smallish base forces etc, but if there's real forces there (like some Brits or Aussies from the west) I may be in trouble. Worst case I'll pull parts of 4th Division from Java down as well as some Armor from Malaysia.

And to make the next turn even more exciting...

Borneo

I know I said I was going to land outside Tarakan and walk in, but I want to see how things will go if I bomb the crap out of it with Bettys and land with lots of strong surface vessels in the amphib group. Almst all of Home Fleet is buried in amphib group carrying 21st IMB, and they should land tomorrow too!

PI

Not much excitement. DA at Clark Field dropped Forts to zero, hoping to take the base tomorrow.

26k troops in Bataan, 37k and 20k in Manila and hex east.

16th Div is forming up at Lucena and will go in to Manila while 48th Div goes in to Bataan. Anything moving around will get hit with 65 Bde as well as 4th and 7th Tank Rgts.

Recon showed only 1400 troops in Davao, so I landed a SLNF there. It didn't get all unloaded, hoping to DA tomorrow. Three more SNLF are heading to Mindanao to clean up all the little stuff then try to dogpile on Cagayan, which is where his big concentration of troops is sitting.

I haven't seen the P-40s from FEAAF in weeks. Last thing I saw was a few damaged/destroyed when I had CAs do Bombardments of the airfield at Cagayan, but nothing since, and I know I didn't destroy THAT many. I'm standing by to find out the hard way where he's hiding them!

PNG-Solomons

I was able to extract all my forces after the near disaster at Rabaul. All the Amphib groups are lurking at Pearl (under the watchful eye of the Zeros and Claudes there) while the Bettys there haven't seen anything come north of Rabaul. My subs near Rabaul tangled with a few US DDs and a CA, I expect that was the CV force, but no shots on CVs. No sign of that group.

Southern Fleet lost a CA, as noted above, but otherwise escaped serious damage. There will be some yard time, but the damage was spread out across multiple ships so nothing is terribly serious:



They should make Kobe in a week, I'll spread them out to multiple Naval Yards and expect to have them back in action by Spring, still a formidable force!

CentPac

On a whim I sent a DD from one of the original amphib forces back to Christmas, thinking he may try to drop in some Marines with an AP or something. Apparently he had the same idea, as we had an amusing DD vs DD battle:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Christmas Island at 174,141, Range 13,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Asanagi, Shell hits 2, heavy fires

Allied Ships
DD Cummings, Shell hits 2

Looks like I got the short end of the stick there. Adding to the comedy, though, turns out we both have a Sub lurking there, as the Plunger took two shots at the Asanagi, while RO-64 fired 4 shots at Cummings...none of them hit, and I'm guessing both our DDs will head back to get fixed. Asanagi will probably be fine, with 41, 29(5), 27, 11. She's only making 8 knots, but if left alone I'm guessing she'll be fine.

KB has met up with Fast AO, gassing up near Kwaj and ready to escort my force to Midway. This smells terrifyingly historic, as after having an invasion turned back by US CVs near Coral Sea I'm heading to Midway to try to take that island and hope to smash US CVs trying to respond to that...

...maybe I should rethink this, it didn't turn out well for the Empire the first time!

Alaska

Nothing new.


Anxious for tomorrow's turn, should have some interesting things! Moreover the wife and kids are gone all day tomorrow so I can spend a bit more time with the turn!


And a final note: RIP Leonard Nimoy!

Congratulations on sacking Palembang.

Getting it unscathed has to be a relief.

Oh yes, very happy to not have another supply black hole!

Sadly no turn today though, John's busy Guess ill be spending Saturday curled up with Tracker!

Dec 29-31

A quick operational update then some discussion of state of the Empire and the game!

General Stuff

More conversions are finishing up. Several AKE were completed, and have been sent to key locations (Kwaj, Truk, Davao, Saigon). A number of shorter-legged PBs and AGs have begun to stage forward to provide local ASW at key places (primarily where I expect to be shipping resources).

I did an end-of-the-month trainee pilot review. There weren’t very many pilots to cull as they’d only been training a few weeks. I’m not at all happy with the number of Navy Pilots I have training, particularly Fighter Pilots (only 64 currently!). I have a note to sit with Tracker and identify a way to get more Naval groups going on training duty, but I think what will primarily happen is a vast reduction in the number of Float Planes on ASW & Nav Search training and put the bulk of them on Sweep Training. Army training is great with about 250 Fighter Pilots in training.

Shut down more Armament Factories, and turned off the Nell Factory (pool at 66 planes). Added a few more Vehicle Factories, and noted that one of the Vehicle Factories hadn't repaired because I didn’t get > 10k Supplies there. Woops!

Similar to the Surface Force re-organization I’d done a few weeks back, I decided to build up a sub force organization to espouse a more multi-sub force concept and clearly identifying operational areas and responsibilities. More on that later!

Malaya-Burma

Chiang Mei and Rahaeng airfields are slowly expanding. I haven’t attacked Rangoon again, but will commence night Airfield Bombardments with 1e soon. I don’t expect much damage, but I want to get some action up here. When the airfields are big enough I may throw a couple 2e squadrons up there and get a bit more serious.

Port Blair buildup is going slow, and the three Eng units I have there seem to be using supply faster than I’m flying it out. To that end, as part of the end-of-month pilot review, I realized I had some Restricted Topsy squadrons in Manchuria stuck there doing training, so I “Upgraded” one to the older slower much shorted-legged Theresa (there were just enough Theresas in the Pool!), and I’ll use those Topsys to upgrade some of the Southern Air’s Theresas and increase my air lift ability quite a bit!

22nd Air Flotilla Netties have seen no shipping coming in to Rangoon or west of Port Blair yet.

Taiping finally fell on the 30th. It looks like I completely destroyed the AntiTank Regiment, which will help. I’m hoping to swoop down the road now. I regret pushing a big chunk of my force down the railroad from Kota Bharu…I’d had a vague memory of reading in the manual that troops can get something like road movement when marching down train tracks, but that’s not really what the manual says, and the pace is horribly slow. Still, I’m quite pleased with the destruction I’m causing to the LCUs here. I’m pretty comfortable that no reinforcements made it in to Singapore, so the more I can beat stuff up while out in the open the better off I’ll feel! Speaking of Singapore, the Airfield damage is staying pretty high…I’ve been hitting it hard, but will start to back off a bit and see how few 2e I need to maintain some damage on it to prevent fort building, then ship the rest of 3rd Air down to Java to clean that up.

Sumatra-Java

The Barge Invasion of Sumatra has become a disaster. I knew going in that the range was on the long side…there wasn’t enough gas in the barges to get them home. This was acceptable, as I’d intended them to just stay there and be sent back to the pool when I was able. HOWEVER, it seems I chose the wrong Task Force type, and the 41st Inf Regiment can’t Unload in the enemy base (Langsa)! Reading the manual now (too bad I didn’t do that beforehand!), I left the Task Force type at the default Barge, but should have changed it to Landing Craft (which seems analogous to Transport and Amphib).



So now the bulk of the 41st is on two Barge task forces trying to paddle and row their way back across the Malaccan Straits with no fuel hoping to get back to Georgetown before the Sys Damage from no fuel sinks the boats! I would REALLY hate to lose the 41st, it’s a 90 Exp Regiment…even losing a lot of devices/squads will be a terrible waste!

Otherwise Sumatra is going well. A and B groups of 4th Division crossed the river out of Palembang and will mop up the southern end of the island as quickly as I can get them to move.

1st Sentai (Oscar Ic) has conducted several sweeps of Batavia successfully mauling the CAP there for only 1 lost plane. An example:

Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 21

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 14
B-339D x 4
CW-21B Demon x 8
75A-7 Hawk x 6

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

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 4 destroyed
B-339D: 1 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 1 destroyed
75A-7 Hawk: 1 destroyed

The Java invasion was nearly an epic failure due to shaky nerves of the Amphib Task Force commander. I’d ordered the group to land directly at Batavia. During the night movement the group DID move to Batavia, but then was scared away by air power! I can understand the group fleeing from the perceived air power, I hadn’t turned on Remain On Station nor changed the Treat Tolerance…but what bothers me is that instead of fleeing away from danger towards safety, the group fled and stopped at Merak! Western Fleet however stayed and performed a successful bombardment (caused a few plane losses, but nothing incredible), but then they started heading back to Saigon!

The Groups then came under very heavy LBA attack from Dutch and a few RAF planes. I had ~20 Zeroes from MKB on LRCAP over them, which shot down many planes, but by the end of the day the Zeroes were spent and many attacks made it through. Some BBs took a few hits (no noteable damage) and some of the AKs were hit harder, but no ships actually lost. Dutch subs are all over them, but I have a lot of ASW Airgroups from MKB, as well as a flood of PBs and DDs that have kept the threat down.

I decided to go ahead and Unload at Merak, as well as changing the destination of both groups to Merak. During the next night about half the Division unloaded, but again the Amphib group decided to flee from the Air Threat, ending up near Billiton, while the Surface Force (Western Fleet) stayed at Merak. Arg!

The next day I ordered the Amphib Group back to Merak, and finally thought to hit Remain On Station…and they did, and the Division is unloaded, Merak is Captured, and the Division is recovering from very high disruption (48).

Between sweeps and good CAP over my surface and amphib force, I think I’ve ripped the guts out of the Dutch Air Force. Very happy with the air exchanges last few days, this is the first time I feel like I’ve successfully put superior planes and pilots in position to do well, and they did! The only negative thing I’ve noted in the last few days is a LOT of losses to Naval Search from MKB (Kates and Jakes mostly) lost to CAP over Java.



Also found there are a fair number of mined hexes in the area…my Polish Minesweepers (aka DDs) have done an admirable job finding mines by sailing thru the minefield until something explodes…two DDs will need some time in Hong Kong to get fixed up! The DMS I’d sent to Palembang are on the way down here to clean things up.

I don’t know how many days 21st Division will need to Rest before their Disruption comes down, but I’m not going to rush. I’m going to hold at Merak, get Supplies unloaded, and build up the Air Support at Palembang to support this Division. Batavia shows ~12k troops. I THINK they’re mostly support, but I don’t want to find out the hard way that I’m wrong. Some Sallys and the other Oscar Sentai (the Ia and Ib groups) will come down here to support, and MKB may perform some ground support as well.

Borneo
Tarakan: despite suggestions, I dove straight in. I took several hits to the big Coastal Defense guns, lost 2 xAKs, and some cruisers need a few weeks repairing, but 21st IMB was able to take the base. Oil and Refinery are at 63(27), very reasonable. Some mines are here as well, also some in Makassar Strait. Some DMS from Hong Kong are on the way down to help clear these out.

Naval search shows something interesting, though…I see a CA and CVE in Samarinda. Home Fleet had left Tarakan already to sit in the Strait, so I’ve sent them at Full Speed to bash whatever is there. I’m not sure what flattop might be there that’s getting reported as CVE (note I’ve seen it three days now, coming up the strait and docking there). Hermes took several bomb hits from Kates while she was lurking south of Java a few days back, and she’s reported as sunk…but I don’t believe that a handful of little bombs would put her down, so possibly her. It could also be a US CV coming around from Rabaul, but she would have had to run over several layers of my subs (around Ramree, Horn, and PM) that saw nothing. So, I’m believing it’s either just wrong, or Hermes. I’m hoping the CA there is Houston, as putting her down would make me a lot more comfortable with the balance of power here in the SRA.



Home Fleet came under a lot of LBA attack while lurking in the straits, but the level bombers had no success.

The enemy has another surface group growing at Ternate, spotted and attacked by Bettys from Jolo. I suspect he’s attempting to interdict landings on Mindanao with these, and I’m quite vulnerable to that. Landings on Mindanao are diverted and ported until I can get Home Fleet assets over here to cover. That will have to wait of course until I sink whatever is lurking at Samarinda.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ternate at 78,102

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
G4M1 Betty x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 6 damaged

Allied Ships
CL De Ruyter
CL Java, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Durban

The 21st IMB took some hits on the way in, and Disruption as high. The xAK that survived the landing took too many losses to transport the Brigade, so we’re waiting for some more xAK-t to come in (note I’ve converted about 50 Aden class to xAK-t…not that I’m throwing them away but it is the most numerous class of vessel and feel it a good fit where speed is not critical). They’ll then move around to the last corner of Borneo, where I expect MKB will be able to support them.

PI

My Armor units took some big hits in the last DA at Clark Field. I’m taking a few days off the DAs, just doing some Bombardment and continuing the air strikes while the armor units pull back and refit and the Infantry take a breather.



Davao and Zamboanga were captured by SNLF. There are currently 5 SNLF on Mindanao, when threat of CL force is gone I’ll load them up and hit Cagayan. I still haven’t figured out where he’s hiding all the P40s from Luzon…



South Pac

Nothing new

Cent Pac

IAW my force org, I’ve split off Kaga with heavy escort to join MKB. She’ll head in to replenish her air wing (for whatever reason, her planes took the brunt of the losses at Pearl) and meet the rest soon.

The DD I sparred with at Christmas bombarded my force there, but I’ve recovered a big part of my strength and expect to take the Island soon…but I also expect he’ll be counter-invading soon supported by the lone CV that was there a few weeks ago. I have 5th Base Force on the way, about two weeks out, supported by my Eastern Fleet. Two Naval Guard and a Base Force on the ground soon, with some Engineers coming soon. I have an AV on the way (a long way away, though) then I’ll place some Mavis here. I really want a regiment here but haven’t made it a PP priority (North Force has priority).

North Pac

Supplies are unloading now. Fuel and the first batch of Engineers will land tomorrow. An Infantry Battalion the day after that. I’ll have enough PP to release the Karafuto Brigade in three days; transport is on the way to pick them up, and they’ll hope to take Dutch Harbor. 20th Division will come next (1836 PP for the whole Division, so should be ready early February).

I’ve thought a bit more about my northern operation, and think I may be a bit vulnerable to the BBs he’ll have coming out of Seattle soon. I’m stepping up the sub operations in this area, and I’m intending to deploy Shoho up here when she’s available in two weeks. I know this is counter to what I’d said before, but I’m hoping to keep clear of US CVs if they come up this way regardless of force.

I expect things to get serious up here after DEI is cleaned up. I’ve not really laid out the allocation of all the forces, but I’m thinking it will include 14, 16, and 25th Armies. This will of course leave things thin in DEI and Burma, but it sure will be fun! First step will be clearing out Alaska, which I’m hoping to achieve with 20th Division and Karafuto, rest will be landing in Canada and going for the gold!



I've lost sight of all US CVs, though I've not got good eyes east of Marshalls, nor south of New Britain. If the Sunk Ship list is anywhere near accurate, I've not got a lot of things left to worry about in Java area or Australian waters, so the US CVs are the only real threat he has. I don't have a good feel for how conservative he'll be with them given the losses he's taken otherwise. He's already used them to block a thrust while keeping them safe, so I have to assume he'll try to do this again. He certainly won't try to challenge the KB with them...he's no fool...but I would not be surprised to see a US CV show up in Alaskan waters, nor would I be surprised to see them in Celebes area where he knows I have little carrier support. I'm behind the 8-ball here, but this was why I wanted Kaga over in the MKB to begin with...so I could stand up to a small US CV force here.

I'm sending KB up to recon Midway and see if I can smash some ships that are unloading (it's got a small port, so if he sends a big fleet with a big force they may be stuck there for several days landing). I've got 144th IR, a Base Force, and SNLF loaded up ready to go, but if KB's recon shows he's got more than a Marine Def Batt or two, then I may call this op off. I don't really need Midway, I just wanted to deny its use to him, but I'm not sure I'm willing to commit the forces needed to do it. Christmas is already my most exposed position, I don't really want to make any more!

So after Midway I've got to get KB's air wing refit, then she'll go have some fun. I'm intending a fun long cruise after a short break at Truk: She'll sail down east of Solomons, cut west near Fiji aiming for Noumea, then turn around and cruise east then north past Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Marquesas looking for Oz bound convoys, then hopefully if things go right I'll be getting to Christmas as that place is becoming strong enough to support KB (AKE, fuel, supply, etc). Then I intend to be a pain sailing off west coast (out of air range!) looking for shipping to bash between CA and Hawaii. Fun times!



I’ll babble some more tonight about a few other things, particularly how I want to use the subs… Thanks for reading!

So I'd been reading HansBolter's post about operating more than one sub in a task force:

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and I thought maybe better "wolfpack" type action might be better realized by having multiple sub task forces operating in close proximity, giving each other opportunity to react to each other's sightings. This might be greatly enhanced by including a Glen-boat in each "pack".

So I decided to organize the entire sub fleet in to 3-ship Squadrons (SubRons) of same type, or at least similar range/speed characteristics.

I then had a good hard think about what I wanted my subs to do in this game: where they needed to be and what they were doing there. With that I allocated SubRons to one of four different main Areas of Operation, within each I'd have a nice AS supported base (as minimum) as home base.

The plan didn't quite hold up when the rubber hit the road, however, as I realized that my organization did not take in to account the current location of the subs. If I'd done this day one, it would have been great, but instead I decided to modify the organization significantly to keep subs in the same area they're currently in (or at least near by!).

So my plan will be to have these squadrons operate in a specific locale...a 3-4 hex radius area around a key area, with the Glen Boat being the least exposed and ideally trying to provide contacts for the other boats to react to.

There is a fair amount of transit time still to happen, primarily to the largest group, the IO Division. Even the groups that are already in their area are spread pretty wide, and I want to try more localized concentration for each SubRon.

I don't really have any experience to compare to, but I hope to discuss the effectiveness of the SubRons as they come together in this AAR, and hope to get great results.

Let me know what you think!



<edit> Forgot to mention, I intend to move the MineLayers together as a group and when they drop mines, drop A LOT of mines. I'm a bit confused however as Tracker shows an I-122, but I can't find it in game, nor does it show up on the sunk ship list. Did it sail away and defect to the Communists?

Also the Reserve boats are those that are banged up and being repaired. I thought I'd keep them near the HI as a bit of a reserve and to react to any weird Doolittle-esque action.