February has been a tough month so far for merchant shipping on both sides.
Japanese subs picked up an Allied convoy heading towards Adak. Since my previous cruiser raid revealed that there were no Allied air-search assets in the Aleutians I sortied my force from Paramashiro again and pounced on the task force as it was unloading. Sunk were three xAKs, an xAP, two AMs, and an AVD.
On the same turn Allied destroyers dashed in from the Solomon Sea and hit a Japanese supply convoy unloading at Aitape, sinking a PB and five xAKs. At the same time a surface force based around Prince of Wales hit Manus, sinking three CMs there. This force was lucky – it arrived one turn ahead of the Combined Fleet, which was coming down from Truk. Japanese planes attacked the raiders on their way home, scoring a penetrating bomb hit on CL Raleigh and bouncing four bombs off POW.
The Japanese then hit Lae with a pair of battleships. They found no warships there but sank an AM and a pair of xAKs. A lot of vehicles were reported lost with the freighters so with luck I mauled a TD battalion or something.
The Allied 4E bomber offensive in the New Britain area is weakening. It started up again with around 60 bombers visiting my scenic bases each turn but that number is down to about 30 bombers and at that number they are having trouble keeping bases damaged. The Allies lose an average of two B-24s a turn on these raids, and I think that losses, damage, and maybe poor morale are having an effect. Right now I actually want my opponent to keep pushing the bomber offensive - I prefer tired B-24 groups to fresh ones, which are almost unstoppable.
Submarines on both sides sank a tanker during the period, the Japanese torpedoing one off Ceylon and the Allies scoring a kill in the Straits of Luzon. Allies ASW forces sank an I-boat just east of the Marshalls. American ASW has improved noticeably since the start of ’43.
Japanese troops continue to push at Chinese forces in the mountains south of Sian. The Chinese are weakening and I think a breakthrough is not far off. This will enable my troops to cut off Sian and the rest of the north off from southern China. I don’t know if this will cause my opponent supply difficulties in the north or not.
I have had my recon planes scouting out the Chinese bases in the Sichuan Basin. Chungking seems well defended but I was not getting any results from my recon flights over Kienko, which would be the first logical target if my forces break through and turn south. I spent two turns checking my recon groups before the truth finally dawned on me – I was in fact getting accurate reports, reports showing that there are no Chinese in Kienko at all. That makes a move south tempting, though no doubt he could rush defenders there ahead of me if I moved in that direction.
My main strategy in China is still to wreck as many Chinese units as possible and to keep on doing so. Forcing Chinese units to scramble around to stop a breakthrough seems like a good way to continue doing so “on the cheap.”
I vote turn north as planned but drop paras on Kienko to rattle him and thus make conquest of Sian easier. Plus, if there's industry at Kienko he may destroy some or all of it re-taking the base. In fact, if you fly in a kamikaze engineer unit, you will increase the chances of industry destruction. All of this is relevant in the China front due to lack of Allied supply generally in China.
I'd be wary about an advance from Ankang. How's your supply flow? I found earlier I had real trouble being able to get supplies to flow to Ankang when I had a force of 4000AV there. It seemed my LCU's were constantly in the red. It seems an awfully thin route of advance easily cut in numerous places. What do you have in terms of reserves to keep it open as you advance? And what happens if you reach Kienko and the Chinese just backfill behind you eventually cutting you off? I think it is worth a visit from paratroops though for the startle factor if nothing else [:D]. Maybe that would cause him to overreact and start a withdrawal from Sian. Would occupying the second mountain hex to the northwest block the flow of fuel/oil from Sian, Lanchow and Urumchi? That would hurt the Chinese supply capacity in Central China and possibly force him to commit troops to open the route again. Too bad you decided to leave Burma in Allied hands, without those 500 tons of supply you could really put a hurt on the offensive capabilities of a Chinese attack or limit him to staying put to conserve supply.
I like the idea of driving north, then swing to the east and threaten Sian or Lanchow, but not if you are relying on a shoestring route to supply your offensive through Ankang, or have no troops south of Sian to hold the defenders in place or force a withdrawl if it looks like he'd be cut off. Also, a large force from Chungking could easily recapture Kienko and block your route into Cental China. It's all about the fuel/oil to me, if you can capture the oil centres and just attrition Chinese forces from lack of supply and limited offensives you're in good shape and all that black gold flowing to Port Arthur is pure gravy.
What has he committed in terms of numbers of units around Ankang and Sian? Don't underestimate the sheer number of troops he can bring from Central China and if they park themselves in rough terrain you'll have the devil's own time of it budging them before you can even think of getting him on the plains. If you are not in Burma threatening the Burma Road supply flow or Poashan than as the Chinese I'd pull a Chinese Zukov and redeploy every Chinese unit east to bolster the defences around Kienko and move to bottle up your northern force. Hard to know exactly what to suggest not knowing how strong the Chinese player is in terms of units and AV around Sian. Just a few thoughts and I'm certainly no expert!
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
Cribtop, I love the idea of dropping paras on Kienko. There's no industry there but it would be bound to shake him up a bit.
ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon
Hi Cuttlefish,
I'd be wary about an advance from Ankang. How's your supply flow? I found earlier I had real trouble being able to get supplies to flow to Ankang when I had a force of 4000AV there. It seemed my LCU's were constantly in the red. It seems an awfully thin route of advance easily cut in numerous places. What do you have in terms of reserves to keep it open as you advance? And what happens if you reach Kienko and the Chinese just backfill behind you eventually cutting you off? I think it is worth a visit from paratroops though for the startle factor if nothing else [:D]. Maybe that would cause him to overreact and start a withdrawal from Sian. Would occupying the second mountain hex to the northwest block the flow of fuel/oil from Sian, Lanchow and Urumchi? That would hurt the Chinese supply capacity in Central China and possibly force him to commit troops to open the route again. Too bad you decided to leave Burma in Allied hands, without those 500 tons of supply you could really put a hurt on the offensive capabilities of a Chinese attack or limit him to staying put to conserve supply.
I like the idea of driving north, then swing to the east and threaten Sian or Lanchow, but not if you are relying on a shoestring route to supply your offensive through Ankang, or have no troops south of Sian to hold the defenders in place or force a withdrawl if it looks like he'd be cut off. Also, a large force from Chungking could easily recapture Kienko and block your route into Cental China. It's all about the fuel/oil to me, if you can capture the oil centres and just attrition Chinese forces from lack of supply and limited offensives you're in good shape and all that black gold flowing to Port Arthur is pure gravy.
What has he committed in terms of numbers of units around Ankang and Sian? Don't underestimate the sheer number of troops he can bring from Central China and if they park themselves in rough terrain you'll have the devil's own time of it budging them before you can even think of getting him on the plains. If you are not in Burma threatening the Burma Road supply flow or Poashan than as the Chinese I'd pull a Chinese Zukov and redeploy every Chinese unit east to bolster the defences around Kienko and move to bottle up your northern force. Hard to know exactly what to suggest not knowing how strong the Chinese player is in terms of units and AV around Sian. Just a few thoughts and I'm certainly no expert!
Lemon, my supply flow to Ankang seems to be good right now. I had trouble earlier but either the supplies I'm pouring into Tsingtao are having an effect or maybe its the expansion of the next base down the line at Nanying. Chinese forces do keep trying to cut the road but I have two divisions and two brigades devoted to keeping the road clear and they are doing the job.
Recon shows about 30 units in Sian, quality unknown. There are another fourteen units on the Sian-Nanying road. They are in the woods and very hard to dig out of there but most of them were mauled a couple of months ago and they have little offensive potential. Your point is well taken about not getting cut off, though, and I intend to be wary. I would really like it if occupying the next mountain hex up the road and cutting off Sian threatened his supply situation. That might force him to attack me, which would be ideal. But I don't know if that would have enough effect to provoke my opponent into action or not.
Things have continued to be active in the Pacific. In the Marshalls the Allies remain stalled on Kwajalein. They haven’t attempted any further landings and I don’t have anything like enough troops on the island to try and push the elements of the two divisions there off. The Allies did mount another invasion of Jaluit, though, and this one succeeded, though it cost the victors around 60 squads destroyed.
Over in the Solomon Sea area the Allied bombing campaign tapered off and has stopped for the moment. Allied forces are currently creeping overland, towards Kavieng from the dot hex at the other end of New Ireland and towards Madang from Lae. From what I can see I don’t think that either attack has the power to succeed. Both bases are well-defended and should be able to hold out unless my opponent brings further forces to bear.
On 3 March I sent two heavy cruisers, Aoba and Suzuya, along with seven destroyers, down from Manus to the open-water hex just off Lae. I was hoping to intercept some shipping. What my ships found instead was a heavy Allied SCTF with three battleships. Oy!
The night was very dark, only 10% moonlight, and the engagement opened at 2000 yards. At that range Japanese torpedoes are deadly. Five of them hit BB Mississippi and the last one triggered a magazine explosion. CA Chicago was hit by a torpedo and several shells and listed with heavy fires, heavy damage. This listing is usually the kiss of death but I don’t think the cruiser was sunk, not yet at least.
At this point my ships wisely attempted the maneuver known in IJN circles as “getting the hell out of Dodge.” DD Hayashio was sunk and DD Michishio escaped but sank immediately after the battle. CA Aoba was hit hard and sunk by Allied aircraft the following morning. Despite the losses I am quite happy with the encounter, especially considering the odds against my ships.
[font="Courier New"]Night Time Surface Combat, near Lae at 99,127, Range 2,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
CA Suzuya
CA Aoba, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Akigumo
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
DD Shiranui
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Hamakaze, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Michishio, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hibiki
Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 4
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 18, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
BB South Dakota
CA Chicago, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Australia
CL Perth
CL Nashville, Shell hits 1
CL Columbia, Shell hits 1
DD Nicholas
DD Waller
DD McCalla
DD Bancroft
DD Meade
Reduced sighting due to 10% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 10% moonlight: 3,000 yards
Range closes to 23,000 yards...
Range closes to 17,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 11,000 yards
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 8,000 yards
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
Range closes to 4,000 yards...
Range closes to 2,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 2,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 2,000 yards[/font]
Most of my surviving ships returned safely to Manus that night but damaged Hamakaze lingered in air range, along with the destroyer detached to accompany her – Hibiki! The two destroyers survived heavy air attacks the next day. When night fell they scurried for Manus but along the way ran into a strong TF based around Prince of Wales. The destroyers again escaped. Hibiki even put a shell into an Allied destroyer. By the end of the night on 4 March both were back at Manus.
Right now Allied heavy bombers are concentrating on my base at Ponape but it isn’t going very well for them and I expect the effort will be discontinued soon.
Over in China things are rather interesting. Chinese forces have moved to cut the road below Anyang, and have also moved into Anyang itself. I am continuing to attack above Anyang and trying to push away the interlopers on the road. Neither attempt has so far succeeded but the Chinese forces are paying a price. Each of my attacks, which come off at either 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 odds, usually costs me about 200 – 300 squads disrupted. But each attack is costing the Chinese around 100 squads destroyed.
The biggest problem for me here is the threat to my supply line, but so far I am having no trouble keeping my units in supply despite the heavy combat. I’m not sure why this is so. I have supply convoys running frequently into Tsingtao, so that must be helping.
Burma remains a moribund theater. Some more Commonwealth divisions have come up but are just sitting there. I now count 14 divisions facing me on the immediate front, not nearly enough (I think and hope) to effect a breakthrough.
Under the sea both sides have met with some recent success. I have already mentioned the attack against Yorktown. A British tanker was torpedoed and sunk off the Australian coast and a American freighter was sunk in the Aleutians. Allied subs sank a medium and a small tanker in the waters around Singapore and bagged an xAK near Babeldoab. Japanese ASW forces sank two subs in the shallows near Singapore (the first kills for my ASW forces in quite a while) and one Japanese sub was sunk off Lae.
One other note of interest (at least to me): near the end of February my HI reserve reached and passed the one millions mark. This is the first game in AE where I have been able to get to that level. It’s a nice feeling of security to have that much HI in the bank already.
China - Placing a Command HQ at Nanyang will help pull supplies to the front lines. You can ship in supply to Hankow as long as your xAKLs and small xAKs are used. It does have a size 4 port. I would be bombing the AF at Sian to destroy his supply. It may take some time, but you can cause some of his troops trouble keeping their supply levels up.
Wow, you must have a lot in Burma if 14 Divisions isn't enough to bother you.
Well done to pull out of the morale hit from CV losses and mount a strong defense on multiple fronts.
I have 11 Japanese divisions (nine infantry, two tank) in the region. Eight of them are on the Burma-Thailand frontier and three are guarding the coast. I also have elements of another division, some garrison units, and a couple of tank regiments there.
As for soldiering on after losing the carriers...well, I was crushed by Q-Ball in my first game. My second game, against Erstad, is near the end of '44 and Japan is under seige, with several cities in flames. Compared to those games this one seems like a winner so far. And I find that losing the carriers is forcing me to play more thoughtfully and creatively. It's an interesting challenge.
Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you.
On 6 March my search planes spotted large numbers of Allied warships, including a carrier task force, moving into the Solomon Sea. My guess was that the Allied plan was to come through the Vitiaz Strait and either attack Manus or effect a landing somewhere in the Bismarck Sea area. So I sent two SCTFs from Manus to Umboi Island hoping to intercept them. My fondest hope was that I might manage a night intercept of his carriers.
The first task force, consisting of Fuso, Ise, Hyuga and escorts, encountered only a destroyer and three DEs. The destroyer was sunk, the DEs fled, and my ships returned to Manus.
The second task force, based around Musashi and Kirishima, failed to retire and remained at Umboi as the sun rose. I don't know why. It's possible I failed to set "retirement allowed." It's also possible they just got notional. At any rate they encountered a powerful Allied surface force of three battleships. The Battle of Umboi Island was on.
And quite a battle it was. I have never witnessed a longer surface battle. The two sides slowly closed the range, slugging it out, while shooting each other to rags. It was an epic battleship duel against two closely matched forces and it was a lot of fun to watch. The Japanese got somewhat the worst of it overall, I believe, though the only ships that actually sank during the battle were BB Maryland and DD Harusame.
The crusher came when the air phase started and Allied carrier planes (the carriers had remained in the Solomon Sea after all, off Gasmata) and land-based air sank everything of mine that was badly damaged. I lost both battleships, four heavy cruisers, and a light cruiser. It was a heavy blow.
The battle:
[font="Courier New"]Day Time Surface Combat, near Umboi Island at 100,125, Range 29,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
BB Musashi, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Haguro, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 9, on fire
CA Furutaka, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kako, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Naka, Shell hits 4
CL Isuzu, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Teruzuki
DD Makigumo, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Yukikaze
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 1
DD Murasame, Shell hits 1
DD Harusame, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
DD Sazanami
Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 18, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
BB South Dakota, Shell hits 5, on fire
BB Ramillies, Shell hits 12, on fire
CA Australia
CA Devonshire, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
CA Exeter, Shell hits 2
CL Perth, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Nashville, Shell hits 4, on fire
CL Columbia, Shell hits 2
DD Nicholas, Shell hits 6
DD Waller, Shell hits 5
DD McCalla, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Bancroft, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions: 30,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 29,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 29,000 yards[/font]
Subsequent to the battle a small amphibious force invaded and captured Cape Gloucester.
Always look on the bright side of life, as Eric Idle advises us. To that end I have found a couple of silver linings to the sorry affair. The first is that another American battleship is gone. That's eight so far, not bad considering I only sank one at Pearl. My opponent is going to miss those ships later when trying to support amphibious landings and form bombardment TFs.
The other thing is that between losses and damaged ships the Allies are short on surface forces right now. This will hamper him for the next several months, I would think. I still have seven battleships, enough firepower to keep fighting back effectively.
I really want to stall the Allied offensive in New Guinea and vicinity until June or July. That's when I start receiving more air and infantry reinforcements and can better cover some areas that are now weak points.
In other activity, a US infantry division arrived at Kavieng and a marine division arrived at Madang after overland marches. They found both bases too strongly defended to attack and are at the moment just sitting there, looking menacing and awaiting further developments. And I was wrong about Ponape. It cost my opponent some more Liberators but they did succeed in closing my airfield there. There's no sign of an invasion yet but the loss of my forward air position in the Central Pacific does give my opponent more room to maneuver in the area.
Over in China things continue to be fairly hot. I turned my spearhead around above Anyang and crushed a Chinese corps that had cut the road behind it, destroying 220 Chinese squads. As long as I can keep killing Chinese I'm pretty happy. I have some paratroops en route from Singapore, which I hope to use in a future attack against Kienko.
The suggestion ny59giants made about shipping supply upriver to Hankow turned out to be a good one. But I have to say that it still looks weird to me, after all those years of WITP, to see one of my task forces that far inland.
***
This game has not gone as I had hoped. But I'm still oddly optimistic and committed to continuing to fight and fight hard. I like my defensive setup and am determined to make the Allies pay in blood for every yard of coral and every wretched patch of jungle.
I've yet to fire up AE from the Allied side. All I know about the Allied order of battle is what I know from history, from reading the forum, and what my previous opponents have used against me when. Charbroiled's forces have suffered heavy losses so far this game, especially in warships, APs, and tankers. His ground units in the Pacific have also been battered. But as we get later into '43 I know these losses will be made good. He will get a number of new carriers, new cruisers and destroyers by the truckload, and lots of ground units and the APAs and AKAs to carry and supply them. His planes are going to get better faster than mine will.
It's going to get ugly. But that's one thing you know when you play Japan - no matter how well you do, in the end it's going to get ugly.
Until, of course, I succeed in bringing about and winning the Decisive Battle, thus breaking my opponent's will to keep fighting and forcing him to sue for peace.
Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
BB Musashi, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Haguro, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 9, on fire
CA Furutaka, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kako, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
I looks as if Musashi and three CA's would have gone under even without the American airstrikes. Well, at least two of the CA's were of the less valuable Aoba class.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
A very disappointing show by Musashi, especially considering she was facing Maryland and Ramillies. I hope that the captain had some manners left to go down with her.
Throughout the latter half of March Allied forces have continued to press me in the Pacific. Kwajalein finally fell towards the end of the month, leaving all of the Marshalls finally in Allied hands. It was a pretty good fight, though, which cost him a lot of troops and a fair number of ships, not bad for a CD unit and a base force.
On 30 March Allied forces began landing at Ponape. This is a good attack, well organized, with a full division, armor support, and engineers. The bombardment force ran into the minefield there. A light cruiser and destroyer were both mined and the DD (Sims, I think) sank. During the invasion itself my opponent made the mistake of sending in his minesweepers first, alone and unescorted. This resulted in the loss of a large number of AMs.
The bombardment force itself had four battleships. These took a lot of CD hits. While 14 cm and 12 cm guns aren't going to seriously threaten a battleship a couple of them did have their radars and several AA guns shot off and ended up with fires aboard. They did the job, though, and while several landing craft were hit I think only one LCT was actually sunk. The invaders got ashore in good order and while Ponape is fairly well defended I think this attack will eventually succeed. I am already evacuating cadres of some of the more valuable defending units by air.
In the Bismarck Sea region the Allies remain stalled at Madang and Kavieng. More units are moving up on Kavieng but right now the Marine division at Madang is stuck and largely cut off. I am using large numbers of transport planes to pull units back from the cut-off garrisons at Buna and Shortlands and will use these units to shore up my defenses on the northern New Guinea coast. This is where the primary danger to my empire currently lies.
The 4E bombers are back and are currently trying to suppress Manus. They are failing. I have a lot of fighters there and while they only shoot down one or two bombers a turn the remainder are so shot up and harassed that what damage they do is being repaired overnight. The forts at Manus are still going up, in fact.
Delay in this region is important. Places like Hollandia and Wewak are already strong points and I have engineers at work at Aitape, Vanimo, and other bases. But there are still a couple of dot hex bases uncovered and I need time to move in more engineers and troops as they become available. At the far end of the coast I am putting a lot of effort into the Manokwari/Noemfoor/Biak trio of bases. Time, I need time...
Still nothing to report in Burma. Over in China my forces doubled back and attacked the Chinese units that had cut the Ankang road and infested Ankang itself. All the Chinese units were forced to retreat and Chinese losses were heavy, with hundred of squads destroyed.
Paratroops have reached Shanghai and are moving by rail to my forward airbase at Nanyang. Supplies in the area continue to remain good and after my troops have rested a few turns they will continue to seek out and engage more Chinese units.
Allied subs accounted for two small tankers near Palembang and an xAK in the Luzon Straits. Japanese subs sank a YP off the Canadian coast and bagged two xAKs in the Solomon Sea - one of these had vehicles aboard, always a good thing to see. An Allied sub took a shot at damaged Akagi near the Home Islands while it was moving to a major shipyard to finish repairs but thankfully the torpedo was a dud.
As I predicted, Allied forces captured Ponape. The battle lasted several days but the issue was never really in doubt. The only good thing to come out of the battle was that my opponent got a little careless following the capture and left an SCTF sitting there. Bombers out of Truk responded by putting three torpedoes and three bombs into BB Washington. The big ship may not sink but it will be out of action a good long while and the Allies currently have few enough BBs at their disposal as it is.
I also learned that CL Perth and CA Devonshire sank as a result of the Battle of Umboi Island, so that evens the score for that battle at least a little.
I predicted that Allied 4E bombers were going to lose the battle to close my major airbase at Manus, and I was right. But what I had not counted on was the fact that Charbroiled was going to lose patience with the progress of the aerial battle and send in his carriers. And a bombardment SCTF. That effort, combined with a last furious push by his LBA, really dropped a hammer on the airfield there. It wasn't cheap - he lost over 30 carrier planes and almost 20 LBA in the final turn (5 heavy bombers and 15 fighters) but the airfield was in fact closed.
Not only that, his carriers caught some of my ships in the area, sinking a destroyer and CL Kinu. Another destroyer (Yudachi, I think) was damaged by carrier planes and sunk by a submarine a day or two later.
While this was happening a lot more Allied units made their way to Kavieng and the base finally fell on 16 April. The Allies are continuing to make inroads into my defenses, as Allies will.
While my opponent was concentrating on Manus, however, the airfield at Rabaul was repaired. I flew some Bettys in and the next turn they jumped a task force of fuel-laden oilers in the Solomon Sea, putting torpedoes into and undoubtedly sinking four of them. The Bettys then flew out again.
Subs have been active on both sides. A Japanese sub put a torpedo into CVE Suwanee in the Solomons and another sank an oiler near Milne Bay. AP President Buchanan was also torpedoed and sunk in the Solomons. Allied subs have really been on a tear. They recently torpedoed a PB and an xAK, though both made it safely to port for repairs. Not so lucky were a pair of tankers and another three xAKs (one in the Luzon Strait, one off Sasebo, and one near Sakhalin), all of which sank.
There is not much to report elsewhere. Burma is stagnant and my troops in China are continuing to chase down and beat up on Chinese corps in the Nanyang/Ankang area. One corps in the forest near Nanyang was hit so hard it was destroyed instead of retreating. This is actually counter-productive; I want Chinese corps reduced to two guys with a broken artillery piece, not annihilated so they can be quickly rebuilt at 1/3 strength.
The game continues to advance at a pretty good pace. The last three weeks have not featured a lot of dramatic action but the Allies continue their job of maintaining pressure in the Pacific and the Japanese continue to try and delay and thwart them.
The biggest event, at least from my point of view, was the sinking of BB Washington. The battleship had been damaged by Japanese torpedo bombers out of Truk and I had a submarine waiting when it tried to leave Ponape about a week later. That's nine US battleships confirmed sunk so far.
The only surface action was a raid by a light Japanese SCTF against Kavieng. Three Allied xAKs and a couple of sub-chasers were sunk. The freighters were all shipping fuel. Since my aircraft and submarines had previously scourged an AO convoy heading for the same destination I can at least hope that he is struggling a little bit to provide fuel to his forward bases.
Allied forces did invade and capture both Nauru and Ocean islands during this period. This marks the fourth time those islands have changed hands this game. The natives there probably have both American and Japanese flags hidden in their huts by now and just bring out and hang the flag of whoever happens to be in charge that month.
Allied bombers continue to suppress my airfields in the Bismarck Sea area. They have also begun an offensive against Truk, though so far this has not done any damage and about ten B-24s have been lost. I have a lot of fighters there, Zeros, Tojos, and Oscars. Experience has taught me, though, that if he can keep it up long enough he will simply wear down my fighter groups.
As any player on the Japanese side does, I imagine, I get tired of the unending waves of 4E bombers. I don't have a problem with the fact that Zeros and Oscars struggle to bring them down and suffer 2:1 or 3:1 losses in the process. That seems realistic to me. But I think that any model where the Allied player quickly realizes that escorting his bombers is counter-productive might need a tweak somewhere.
The big question for me in the game right now is where the Allies will strike next. Currently they hold the Marshalls, the Gilberts, and Ponape. Further south they have Lae and Kavieng, while I hold Madang, Marcus, and Rabaul and all points west. If he wants to attack in the Pacific he first has to either attack or bypass Truk. Anywhere he goes will mean a tough fight and I expect he will wait until he has more heavy surface units and carriers available. Even Rota (aka "the Achilles heel of the Marianas") has a decent garrison and good forts now.
There are vulnerable bases along the New Gunea coast and I expect he may strike at one of them before long. His forces advancing overland from Lae are still stalled at Madang, and Wewak and Hollandia have major garrisons as well. But while I have garrisons and forts everywhere places like Aitape and Vanimo are vulnerable to a major assault. My goal in this region is to hold him below Hollandia for as long as possible while building up the Manokari/Noemfoor/Biak trio of bases. If I can do that I may be able to keep him away from the Philippines and DEI (at least along this axis) for a good long while.
Burma continues to be absolutely dead quiet. The lack of activity there is almost starting to unnerve me, in fact. It's like the old cliche: "I don't like it, Sarge. It's quiet. Too quiet." By this stage in my previous two AE games crushing Allied offensives were underway. Is Charbroiled still marshalling forces because I have adopted such a defensive stance in this theater? Or is he hatching some dastardly scheme? I guess only time will tell.
Moulmein now boasts my first level 8 forts of the war, by the way. The other bases down the peninsula, from Tavoy to Georgetown, all have forts from level 4 to 6.
In China I am bringing most of my army down from Ankang and concentrating it at Nanyang. My units had gotten spread out and a bit tired chasing down and routing Chinese units and I want to re-form my big fist in this theater.
On the home front my HI reserve has reached 1.15 million. Oil is getting low, though - I just can't ship it in as fast as it gets used - though fuel levels remain good throughout the empire. Armament production has now been shut off completely. Supply and resource levels are both very high. Tokyo alone, for example, has 6 million supply and 1 million resources.
This is how the northern New Guinea coast looks in May '43:
But I think that any model where the Allied player quickly realizes that escorting his bombers is counter-productive might need a tweak somewhere.
I have a feeling that will change as the game goes into late 1943. The Japanese get fighters with the armor and firepower to cope with the American 4E's, but the Allies get fighters with the range and speed to deal with Japanese fighters.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
But I think that any model where the Allied player quickly realizes that escorting his bombers is counter-productive might need a tweak somewhere.
I have a feeling that will change as the game goes into late 1943. The Japanese get fighters with the armor and firepower to cope with the American 4E's, but the Allies get fighters with the range and speed to deal with Japanese fighters.
You are correct. I should have clarified that my original statement only applies to the first half of the war. In my previous games I discovered that the Jack, among others, is pretty good at shooting down 4E bombers. This leads to Allied players being reluctant to send unescorted bombers against well-defended bases later on in the game.
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