Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

I know many of you have been pacing the floor at night, frantic to learn how I'm doing in my first game as Japan, so, sorry for the delay, work and Scott moving interrupted our progress, but now we're back on track. Here is the production screen for this turn. The HI pools are going up about 3,000 per turn and oil is slowing being used up. Otherwise, I think everything here is ok. I'm expanding vehicle and engine/plane production slowly but surely as well as building more HI. I have Balikpapan and Palembang unscathed so I'm hoping more oil will start to flow into the Home Islands.

One question, do I need to ship oil/resources from Hokaido to Honshu or does that flow automatically? I've been shipping it but if I don't have to I'll be happy.

[John B.]

Next, we have the VP screen. No surprise that in December 1942 the Japanese have jumped out to a lead in terms of ships sunk and army points killed. I was lucky enough to pick up about 100 ship points in the past two turns when the KB caught a number of allied TKs trying to sneak in and out of Java. Not a good idea to send in unescorted merchant ships when Japanese carriers are afoot. [:-] This turn may see additional casualties as I'm about to cross the river into Singapore. I'm not too happy about it, but it must be done. Also, Scott is paying a heavy price for forward defense in China and he is doing the same thing in Burma. The Burmese troops are awful as he's just seen when one tank regiment has pushed its way into Pegu.

His carriers could be anywhere. They were sighted near Suva about two weeks ago and they have disappeared. They may be in New Zealand but I really have no idea so I'm keeping the baby KB in Truk and refitting the fighter squadrons to zeros.

I am in Port Moresby but that's a stalemate and I really have no desire to push further into the So. Pac.

[John B.]

The one big opportunity right now seems to be in China. Scott defended forward (as I did in my first game) and is now paying the price. I have a hammer of 6 divisions heading up the main road and I've already battered his defenders three times so they should not have much of a chance to escape. And, he has 2-3 corps trapped in the clear terrain that may never make it out. Capturing Sian would be quite a coup for January 1942.

In the Philippines the siege of Clark Field has started. I may try an assault next turn to see how much his losses in the PA inf. divisions hurt him. Several of them are severally reduced for having fought in the clear terrain. Otherwise, not much of note is going on. Expaning on all fronts, resources starting to flow into Japan. Situation seems normal.

[Bif1961]

Welcome back looking forward to seeing how things develop.

[John B.]

Scott is on vacation so we can fly through some turns. One US CV revealed itself near Moresby and took out two of my DDs. I have three naval guards units on the ground at Moresby and they have lots of supply so I may be able to distract Scott there for awhile but I won't get any further unless the KB goes down there are some point and it's being put to good use right now in the DEI. It did chase down a bunch of AKLs off of Java and it's going back to rearm. This coming turn will see deliberate assaults on both Singapore and Clark Field. No sense in going for the shock attack until I see that they're in a weakened state. In Burma my tank regiment took Tuangoo as the local burmese troops continue to show that they're no good. Honestly, I think that they are best for running away and then rear area garrison duty in India. The offensive into China goes on. I'm winning the race to Sian and roughing up the same corps as I catch up to them. More news as it develops.

Anyone know if I have to ship oil/resources from Hokaido to Honshu or does it ship itself?

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: John B.

Anyone know if I have to ship oil/resources from Hokaido to Honshu or does it ship itself?

No, you have to ship them.

[John B.]

Thanks!

[John B.]

Well the dual attacks on Singapore and Clark Field went in and, as expected, they took heavy losses. Still, it's only January 1942 so I'm not too disheartened by these. I need to wear them down and in each case I managed a 1-2. I also took the fort level down a notch in Singapore. I looked at the troops and they are still in good morale just high disruption so I'll rest a few turns and then go in again. I did redirect a division that was heading towards Burma to go down to Singapore (God bless the rail net!). Easier to take out Singapore with more troops and get on to taking Java and Darwin.

American carriers have disappeared again.

This is a decisive turn in the battle to take Sian. My juggernaut has made it to the last rough terrain hex before the city. I suspect that most of the troops there are beaten up by my continued advance so if they get pushed out of the way I can deal with the troops heading up the unimproved road as they'll be in a bad situation. And, once I take the rough terrain hex taking Sian should not be that hard. I'll keep you posted.

[John B.]

We are at the end of January 1942 and the Japanese continue to do well, or I think so. Just had a surface naval action at Moresby that, as you can see, took out 4 very large APs and, according to the combat reports, about 200 guns and 70 trucks went down with the ship (I suspect he was putting the early war american artillery on shore there). Nice to see the big APs leave as they won't be coming back as APAs!

It's not as one sided as this looks, however, as he has at least two CVs in the area. So, I'll lose two CAs and a CL in the deal. VP wise it's a win with the dead ground troops factored in but I hate to lose the CAs.

And, I continue to struggle to get my torpedo bombers to launch. As you may recall from my game against Demitry, my British swordfish never launched. Here, I have betties and nells at Moresby. Level three airbase with an air HQ with a good air leader. Lots of torpedoes, good aggressive leaders and they stayed on the ground. My zeros flew and took out a number of P-40s and a few F-4fs but my torpedo bombers stayed on the ground.

Interesting to see what happens this next turn. No more surface ships for me there and I'm not quite clear where his carriers are even though the Mavis are combing the area.

[John B.]

At Clark field I've made several 1-1 attacks but no breakthrough. I lose a few more then Scott except this last time when it dropped to a 1-20. Not sure why that happened but if I can take Clark by early February I'll be happy. I am sending another division in from China figuring that it will just help out my odds and might get things done sooner.

[John B.]

The invasion of Java is about to begin. I should be on the ground next time and I'm glad to have located Scott's CVs near Moresby so I know the KB can operate with a bit more impunity. I've got two divisions heading in and my first target will be Soerebaja after I land. the Dutch bombers keep coming in but they're pretty much suicide troops anyway.

In China, I'm stuck at Sian since he has a huge army there. So, I'm moving in artillery since I might as well shell his troops to death and take the city eventually anyway. I did manage to sneak into Kwelin which breaks his internal rail line but it looks like the four corps he has trapped near Changsha will get away. For some reason my attacks against them were all disasters even though he was out of supply.

[John B.]

In Burma, Rangoon will fall soon, it's only a matter of time. I don't have any plans to go into India so I may use my troops there to put additional pressure on China by going through the back door. The terrain may be too awful, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

And, last but not least, here is the production screen. Oil is depleting and I'm staring to move that and resources in. Building planes faster than they are being shot down so far so that's a good thing. I'm also building up some Light Industry. I know that the payoff is a long time coming, but it can serve as a source of supply when the fuel runs out.

[Bif1961]

The only benefit he has is terrain at Clark, everything else is negative. I would bomb to eat up what little supply he has left and keep his disruption up and after 2-3 days do a shock attack that should flip the odds from 1-1 to probably 2-1 or 3-1 in your favor and with no supplies and no forts that should end him.

[John B.]

Shock attack can be risky given how much power he has there but since he's at low supply you might be right. I'll give it 48 hours and give it a shot.

[Bif1961]

True and Bataan collapse and 70,000 surrendered to a smaller Japanese force because they were worn down from weeks of being out of supply. HoITPAE to reinforce your loses.

[obvert]

So. In your first Japanese game how are you finding the economy? [;)]

Curious to see what you're prioritising for airframes. What are your 2nd gen RnD choices? Your 3rd gen?

Also, have you begun to track resources into the HI yet? It's easy to lose sight of how much the Japanese economy needs to stay running. Make sure to have ALL of the available resources from Sakhalin and Hokkaido on CS supply routes back and forth into the HI. Also, Hokkaido needs some fun to run the HI factories. I usually set one TF to return with fuel after dropping resources at Ominato.

Armor and heavy arty are cheap to buy out of Manchuria. If you're progressing in China these will help immensely!

[Aurorus]

ORIGINAL: obvert

So. In your first Japanese game how are you finding the economy? [;)]

Curious to see what you're prioritising for airframes. What are your 2nd gen RnD choices? Your 3rd gen?

Also, have you begun to track resources into the HI yet? It's easy to lose sight of how much the Japanese economy needs to stay running. Make sure to have ALL of the available resources from Sakhalin and Hokkaido on CS supply routes back and forth into the HI. Also, Hokkaido needs some fun to run the HI factories. I usually set one TF to return with fuel after dropping resources at Ominato.

Armor and heavy arty are cheap to buy out of Manchuria. If you're progressing in China these will help immensely!

I find the heavy artillery from Manchuria more helpful in the first months in places like Clark Field and Singapore, where there will be a large stack of allied troops in good terrain. This depends, of course, on how you approach Singapore and Luzon. As Obvert mentions, the heavy artillery is not expensive (unlike the other artillery).

I am also curious about your decisions with regard to aircraft production and R&D. If you could post a screenshot of tracker and update us as to how your factories are allocated... inquiring minds want to know.

[John B.]

@bif. I have a shock attack set to go into Clark Field this turn (Feb. 3rd). If it doesn't work I'll give the pixel widows and pixel orphans your address. Kidding, of cousrse, with the low supply messages I've been getting from the allied side I should not be at too great of risk of calamity.

@ Aurous and Obvert. Ah, tracker, someday I'll be able to get that to work. In any event, I'll post a series of screen shots with both current aircraft production and the R&D models.

[John B.]

current production screen one.

[John B.]

Current Production screen two