Stopping the Juggernaut - Cruft vs Alikchi II (CHS)

[DuckofTindalos]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

Fast Minesweepers

Fast minesweepers are little changed except none of them have depth charges. This will make a difference to me I was prone to using them as ASW escorts.

Have Allied MSW's had their DC's removed as well?

[Captain Cruft]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft
Fast Minesweepers

Fast minesweepers are little changed except none of them have depth charges. This will make a difference to me I was prone to using them as ASW escorts.

Have Allied MSW's had their DC's removed as well?

I'm not sure without looking. Quite possibly some of them have, the CHS is supposed to be based on reality as much possible rather than generic classes.

BTW the slow and more numerous Japanese MSWs do still have their DCs.

[DuckofTindalos]

Well... It's just that MSW's were historically used for ASW quite a bit...

[Captain Cruft]

Akitsuki class long-range Destroyers

I am looking forward to getting these. Ideal CV escorts methinks ...

[Captain Cruft]

G5N Liz

Looking at the aircraft, here is the G5N Liz I mentioned earlier. In the CHS you are provided with an empty factory at Sasebo for them. I have expanded it to 16 which will cost about 17,500 supplies in total.

I have just noticed that due to the bombload I will need size 5 air bases to operate these from effectively.

[Captain Cruft]

Ki-83

An IJA twin engined fighter bomber. What is notable about it is the high speed and climb rate. I have no idea if any of these were produced in reality but I will certainly have a go

[DuckofTindalos]

Four prototypes were completed and tested, and the Japanese were planning series production when the war ended.

[Captain Cruft]

Thanks for illuminating me

In the scenario they have an availability date of May 1945.

[DuckofTindalos]

I'd still like to see the P-80 and the Kikka, but they're probably outside the game's timeframe. Too bad you can't go beyond 4/46...

[Captain Cruft]

8th Dec 1941

SS I-4 encounters a lone AK just off Lahaina and sinks it with 4 torpedoes. A bit over the top but I'm not complaining.

Major happenings

Wake falls, phew. Two DDs receive coastal gun hits. They should be OK and are heading back to Eniwetok. The main landing force is also returning to Kwajalein despite still having some supplies on board. I am worried about the Lexington or Enterprise showing up.

In the PI, Aparri, Vigan & Legaspi (all undefended) are taken. It is now a matter of transporting the remaining parts of the 65th Brigade and 48th Division in from Pescadores. I am using air transport and a fast APD convoy to move the engineering/aviation support over from Tainan & Takao. It shouldn't take too long to get some fighters in place over the beach-heads.

In Malaya, landings continue at Kota Bharu. The 18th Div is in good shape but is content with bombarding for the moment. There is no sign of Force Z, just ineffective shipping attacks by Blenheims & Hudsons.

The KB has re-fuelled and will now move to a position 5 hexes to the east of Johnston Island. 5 hexes being outside SBD range should any show up. The idea is to maybe catch the CVs coming back to Pearl, or if that doesn't happen, to just be intimidating for a day or two. After that, the carriers will head south towards Palmyra, Canton Island etc. They are following the Replenishment TF so they can hang around for quite a while.

[Captain Cruft]

9th Dec 1941

I lied about the 18th Div, it was in fact set to Deliberate Attack. Which, as it happened, was a good thing. The Empire forces were trying to run away so Kota Bharu is now ours! The 59th Fighter Sentai with its Oscars has now been installed and a segment of the 12th Aviation Regt will be airlifted over from Saigon to support them (I have some LD2 Tabbies there to do this).

Things are also moving quickly in the Philippines. Since I have some more Tabbies & Tinas at Takao and have moved the Topsies and Theresas from Taichu to Tainan some aviation support has now been airlifted to both Aparri and Legaspi. Single Zero Daitais of the Tainan and 3rd groups have been installed at each base respectively. This is good because the P-40s in Manila seem to mostly have been set to Naval Attack. They didn't hit anything today but I'm sure that won't last ...

Over at Cagayan the B-17s did not appear today for some reason. The bombardment force encountered two transports though which were summarily despatched. After the night phase of the next turn this TF will retire to Palau, as will the Ryujo. They have together sunk a few transports for no loss but it is time now to prepare for the Davao landings.

---
The KB (travelling at the speed of the tankers it is following) is still some 4/5 hexes to the north of Johnson Island. No targets spotted yet.

---
The air losses ratios is currently at just under 10 - 1.

No Japanese ships have been lost whilst about 8 Allied vessels are with us no more. Apart from the transports this includes MSW Penguin at Guam and AD Whitney at Pearl (reported today).

If I could keep going like this I might stand a chance ...

[Captain Cruft]

10th Dec 1941

Whilst the Brits in Malaya are busily running away, over in Hong Kong things are different. In the CHS there is quite a lot of shipping in HK at the start, including some MTBs (PT Boats). Well, this turn the MTBs turned up at Pescadores. Unfortunately, one of them hit a type 4 mine and sank, which presumably caused them to abort the mission. Which is just as well because I had an unescorted transport convoy there loading up the 48th Div.

The rest of the ships from HK have been spotted running away frantically on a south-west bearing, possibly heading towards Brunei. The Formosa-based Nells 'n' Betties were socked in - otherwise I am sure they would have had a go at them. However, I have a bombardment force heading for San Marcelino which happens to be in a position to interceopt. It has been re-directed - let's see if I can pull off a mid-ocean surface battle.

---
Elsewhere nothing happened. No Allied air attacks at all. I can see a vast phalanx of subs heading out from Manila but that's about it.

[Tanaka]

Finally a CHS AAR!!! Looking forward to it!!!

Good Stuff! Great pics and descriptions of whats going on in this great new scenario!!! [:)]

[Captain Cruft]

Thanks

Speaking of Tanaka, later on I have a plan to form a special "torpedo squadron", consisting of Kitakami, Oi & Shimakaze plus a couple of other suitable DDs. This will be commanded by the said admiral and used in night surface battles in important places.

[Captain Cruft]

I remembered this turn that I needed to set some ARs and MLEs building. However, in the CHS you get a lot more ARs to start with (also AEs and ASs). So, I have just decided to build a few MLEs to be going on with.

This is where another Crufty idiosyncracy comes in. I like to only convert ships with non-Japanese names so I can distinguish them easily. The only such available at Osaka this turn was the London Maru - it is now in the build queue as a Large MLE. The Paris Maru and Penang Maru are on their way from other Home Island ports for the same treatment.

--
Naval Shipyards are coping OK so far but then I have halted the Shinano, Yamato & Musashi. I intend to build at least the Yamato but it'll have to wait until I can increase capacity a bit.

[tsimmonds]

This is where another Crufty idiosyncracy comes in. I like to only convert ships with non-Japanese names so I can distinguish them easily. The only such available at Osaka this turn was the London Maru - it is now in the build queue as a Large MLE. The Paris Maru and Penang Maru are on their way from other Home Island ports for the same treatment

Crufty, this cracked me up; I did exactly the same thing for the same reason.

[Captain Cruft]

Cool Nice to know I'm not the only potty one around here.

[Captain Cruft]

11th Dec 1941

Well Adm Nishimura just missed the fleeing Brits by a single hex. They had jigged to the west before resuming their south-west course. However, some of the Saigon Nells did respond, resulting in a ML definitely sunk and a PG & two AKs probables. I'm going to have one more go at intercepting with the surface TF then it can return to its original mission.

--
I started reconing Pakhoi today. Initial reports show no troops present. It seems that running away is a common problem for the Allies ... ;P If this true it nicely solves my problem with this area.

--
More ineffective shipping attacks by Malaya airforce and Manila P-40s.

--
The KB is half-way between Johnson Island and Palmyra now. No sign of US shipping whatsoever except for the odd sub sighting.

[Captain Cruft]

12th Dec 1941

Adm Nishimura's cruiser force meets PG Moth in a night surface battle! The British gunboat was already damaged from the Nell attack yesterday so did not put up much of a fight. Still, I am pleased to have pulled off a mid-ocean intercept whatever the result

The Nells from Saigon sank another couple of AKs fleeing from Hong Kong. These scattered ships keep changing course, I can't decide whether they are heading for Singapore or Brunei or both.

--
In a taste of things to come an A6M2 Zero was shot down over Manila by a P-40 of the USAAF. I always knew fighter sweeps were a waste of time, grr ...

Interestingly, although this was the only plane I lost today (except for a Mavis also shot down over Manila), the air losses ratio is now more like 7-1 than the near 10-1 reported earlier. Realistically, if I can keep this value above 2-1 through to the end of 1942 I am doing well.

--
Ship-wise, there are now 20 Allied ships sunk for 0 Japanese.

[Captain Cruft]

Pilots & Air Groups

I have decided that I will not generally use the disbandment method of pilot merging for this game. This is mainly because I do not trust that it will not cause problems of phantom units and/or aircraft replacement pool black holes. Also, it will force on me a more disciplined and less reckless usage of my air power.

Depleted air groups will be withdrawn from the front line and sent somewhere safe to re-coup using pilots from the pool.

The one exception to this will be the special Training units that the CHS provides. There are 8 of these, 4 for the Navy in the Home Islands (1 each of fighters, dive bombers, torpedo bombers and "Nells") and 4 for the Army in Manchukuo (3 x dive bombers & 1 x fighters). These start at experience 40. I will train them up until they get to c.55 and then split and disband as required.