Banzais Don't Make Victories - Anachro (A) vs John 3rd (J) BTS 5.7

[Lowpe]

Either that is a mutant unit at Ramree, or more likely there is more than one unit there.[:)]

What did he Wake with? Japan doing atoll invasions in 1944 is pretty unheard of unless the Allies just took it.

[Anachro]

2 Brigades, but I hadn't really reinforced the island, so partially my fault. Seems he was 100% prepped though. He also has plans for Manus and Midway, but both have at least 150 AV or more and 4 forts. The DL on Ramree is 9/10, think it's only 1 unit.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

2 Brigades, but I hadn't really reinforced the island, so partially my fault. Seems he was 100% prepped though. He also has plans for Manus and Midway, but both have at least 150 AV or more and 4 forts.

Marcus, Wake and Midway. No more important atolls in the Pacific than those three I think. They are like daggers pointed at Japan's heart growing ever bigger...especially when Marcus falls as then Japan needs to not only look at the Marianas but also the Jimas and even Hokkaido/Kuriles.

Don't lose the dot base next to Midway. It can provide a base for rearming, making life on Midway very difficult. It is also a great pby base, and a place to hide ships for ambush. I used it to hide the KB once and utterly destroy an Allied invasion once upon a time. I don't think John uses dot bases much, though.

[Anachro]

Mar. 20th, 1944

The turn I've been waiting the last few days for and one where my hope turned out to be true: Pegu falls in one day's fighting and now I have a key juncture from which to begin the investment of Rangoon in earnest. Based on his emails, John appears to have been surprised by this and mentions that "if [he] had known that Pegu could be invaded by sea I would have had 2+ IDs there like everywhere else on the coast."

Pegu controls the movement to Moulmein, Rangoon nearby, and the railway heading north into the interior of Burma. In other words, it is the most critical square for his rail lines. I aim to move quickly and finish up the Burmese campaign as soon as possible? How? I have more divisions prepped to finish things off, including 2 American divisions solely prepped for taking Rangoon. These reinforcements will be brought in shortly. Initial main goals: cut off the escape of troops at Rangoon and towards the Indian border, take Rangoon, and take Moulmein to free up the 1500AV there and cripple the numerous IJA forces there.

Also, another good sign: notice the lack of supply for the Japanese units at Pegu, I believe this is common across the whole area: John does not have much supply.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Mar. 20th, 1944

The turn I've been waiting the last few days for and one where my hope turned out to be true: Pegu falls in one day's fighting and now I have a key juncture from which to begin the investment of Rangoon in earnest. Based on his emails, John appears to have been surprised by this and mentions that "if [he] had known that Pegu could be invaded by sea I would have had 2+ IDs there like everywhere else on the coast."

Pegu controls the movement to Moulmein, Rangoon nearby, and the railway heading north into the interior of Burma. In other words, it is the most critical square for his rail lines. I aim to move quickly and finish up the Burmese campaign as soon as possible? How? I have more divisions prepped to finish things off, including 2 American divisions solely prepped for taking Rangoon. These reinforcements will be brought in shortly. Initial main goals: cut off the escape of troops at Rangoon and towards the Indian border, take Rangoon, and take Moulmein to free up the 1500AV there and cripple the numerous IJA forces there.

Also, another good sign: notice the lack of supply for the Japanese units at Pegu, I believe this is common across the whole area: John does not have much supply.

Nicely done. All that he would have to do is to take a look at the base and see the possibility of port facilities.

[Anachro]

I just checked and it's not possible to build port facilities. Still possible to land there though. Interesting.

[RangerJoe]

That is interesting.

But other people have invaded there, how does John III not know this?

[Lowpe]

John doesn't read any AARs...so he has never seen this pulled off before.

He obviously doesn't look at the hex side details on the map. You could perhaps closely examine those going forward and surprise John again by invasion, cutting off retreat path, etc.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe
Nicely done. All that he would have to do is to take a look at the base and see the possibility of port facilities.

Yup. Doom on him for not understanding the map. Double doom on him for not having dedicated (and prepared) defenders on Pegu. Fort levels='2'? In 1944? [:-]

ETA: "Gardner's Horse Regiment"? [&:]

[Anachro]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
You could perhaps closely examine those going forward and surprise John again by invasion, cutting off retreat path, etc.

Like an invasion in a non-base hex? Up the river?

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ETA: "Gardner's Horse Regiment"? [&:]

Yes, they are very good cavalrymen. Hehe, the British get a few small little "cavalry" tank units like them, pretty similar to, actually a little stronger than, the Army and Marine tank battalions.

"The 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) is one of the oldest and most highly decorated armoured regiments of the Indian Army. It was originally raised in 1809. It served in the Nepal and First World War. During the reconstruction of the British Indian Army in 1922 it was amalgamated with the 4th Cavalry."

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ETA: "Gardner's Horse Regiment"? [&:]

For pulling the plows through the (land) minefields![X(]

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ETA: "Gardner's Horse Regiment"? [&:]

For pulling the plows through the (land) minefields![X(]

Don't knock the Cavalry! [:@] I should design a Cavalry Division to be used instead of the First (Chicken) Cavalry Division. It became an infantry division in World War II.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
You could perhaps closely examine those going forward and surprise John again by invasion, cutting off retreat path, etc.

Like an invasion in a non-base hex? Up the river?

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ETA: "Gardner's Horse Regiment"? [&:]

Yes, they are very good cavalrymen. Hehe, the British get a few small little "cavalry" tank units like them, pretty similar to, actually a little stronger than, the Army and Marine tank battalions.

Ah. So. That's more like it. Of course, the Japanese have "Cavalry Regiments" in China too. But they're literally horse-mounted cavalry.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
You could perhaps closely examine those going forward and surprise John again by invasion, cutting off retreat path, etc.

Like an invasion in a non-base hex? Up the river?

No, not non base, rather there are some other bases that aren't obvious invasion hexes, or that the water blocks movement to and from, or that mines are more effective in.

Up river invasions aren't normally done so that is a possibility as the game progresses.

[RangerJoe]

Palembang is up river. So is the Soviet base with the IL-2 factory. Both can be invaded.

[Anachro]

Well, somehow John was able to work his nav strike distance to just hit Moulmein and not my carriers one hex over; I lose a CL and some nice fast xAPs in the process. I doubt I'll stop his Moulmein forces from escaping. My troops are at Rangoon, but the 600AV there is being feisty in defense; John claims he has slowed down his other game to focus on this one. I don't know if he expects me to land additional troops, and part of my wonders from his emails if he thinks he can old (he might think I've shot my wad as he was surprised with forces already committed), but I have 3 more divisions heading to Rangoon and 1-2 heading to Moulmein. Will post pictures in a couple days.

AKEs and AEs at Akyab allow re-arming of my CAs and BBs for bombardments.

[Anachro]

I was planning to reinforce Manus, but just as my reinforcement convoy and some accompanying SCTF protection was passing by Finschafen, I spot KB2 hanging out at Truk with ~200 fighters and ~100 bombers. I have ample fighter coverage between Manus and Port Moresby, but nonetheless I'm wary. I send my troops and supplies to PM where I will reinforce Manus by air for now. AV should rise to ~280-300 over the course of time and supplies are going up.

[Anachro]

April 1st, 1944

Rangoon seems poised to fall. John said it will be an exciting April 1944, so I'm sure he has some invasions planned in the Pacific: Manus and Midway come to mind, but both have level 3-4 forts. Manus will have 250 AV rising to 300 and Midway has 120 AV, 4 forts, and obviously quick reinforcement from Pearl.

[Lowpe]

how many b29s do you have now....Rangoon/Pegu can reach a lot of targets!

[Anachro]

B29 arrives this month, so at the moment 0 are in the pool. Sigint shows John is reinforcing Singapore with another division.