Where the eastern wind is blowing... AAR against Canoerebel

[Hortlund]

Game is on hold for a couple of weeks right now as Canoe is on vacation with his family.

[adsoul64]

And I'm missing it! Too ugly on my side hoping that weather is bad and Canoe will back home sooner? [:-]

[PaxMondo]

PH, are you back on this yet?

[bigred]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

I have a question.

Right now I have 4th Div at Ambon and 56th Div at Balikpapan. I have 4 BB and the mini-KB together with 6-8 CAs and alot of DDs and CLs in the Ambon-Balikpapan region.

At the same time I am tied down at Clark, and I am about to become tied down at Singapore. The road to Singapore is cleared now and I could launch an attack there within 4-5 days.

At the same time, Palembang is secure and I have troops all over Java - not enough to capture the place, but enough to hold half the island and prevent any huge fortress-building.

I just realized that I have no real use for my surface fleet right now. I am not about to mount any new offensive operation. Im just going to build up airfields on Timor and grab a few dot-bases at Darwin and start building them up too. All of this can be done under protection of LBA.

I hate seeing Japanese assets not being used, especially at this time of the war. It feels like Im wasting time and resources.

So...any suggestions? Keep my ships in port or defending bases I already have, should I go looking for trouble? Should I move offensively with the two divisions?

1. Hard to bombard Bataan because of the minefield. I believe Clark is also a port accessed from south china sea w/ no mines. I would set up 1/2 CL Cruiser bombardment TFs operating from Pescadores and shell him every turn by sea. Set the the TF to "do not retreat" and empty the gun ammo into clark before going to port for a refill. Also set the search planes to night recon clark to increase gun acuracy. If u have any 8inch shells they are real good at causing alot of damage. I suspect the continued run by BBs in this idea would use alot of supply and fuel at pescadores.
2. Then I would bypass Clark leaving one div w/ support/ART.
3. Take all the rest of southern army and finish singers first then Java/clearance of sumatra.
4. Then clear Rangoon /stop burma supply to china.
5. Come back to PI in october.
6. BTW, every attack you make on Clark cuts about 3000supply out of Bataan supply pool. CR probably has about 40000 supply at bataan. So you will need to attack clark about 10 times to run CR out of supply. THEN he will be forced to retreat into bataan, where you wll crush him. So you need to restore your damaged inf between attacks. Watch tracker to see the recovery process of your units. Also I would recommend if you go for clark early use divisions/armor only in the attacks. Reg/BDE will not recover fast enough.
3x div attack one every 10 days should do the deal. 10 days between attacks , 10 attacks, you will need three months or 100 days to reduce Clark. Might be quicker w/ cruiser support.
7. CR is a dangerous player. CR could try to reinforce singers while you spend the next 2 months at Clark If CR figures out how to place 5 divisions(2nd&18th BR, 7&8thAUS plus random armor units) into Malaya. Better to take singers first which cuts allied support for any Clark operation from the CBI theatre.

[Hortlund]

Canoe is still on vacation.

Big, some good ideas there, but Im already committed to Clark with 4 divisions 4-7 days away. Perhaps I should have gone for Singers first instead, but its too late to change now. I will set up bombardmentTFs right now though, they should be useful in any case.

In the words of Guderian; you hit someone with your fist, not with your fingers spread, I will focus everything on Clark first and then Singapore. I believe that is the best way to overcome those two obstacles now that I failed to prevent the entire Malayan army to pull back to Singapore

[obvert]

Just checking. Are you planning to bombard Clark? To get there you have to move through Bataan, and if there are mines, that could be trouble. I may be misunderstanding where you're planning to bombard, so please ignore if that is the case.

Here is a pic where I set a waypoint for the sea hex to the West of Clark, and the TF still shows it will move though Bataan to get there.

[bigred]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Just checking. Are you planning to bombard Clark? To get there you have to move through Bataan, and if there are mines, that could be trouble. I may be misunderstanding where you're planning to bombard, so please ignore if that is the case.

Here is a pic where I set a waypoint for the sea hex to the West of Clark, and the TF still shows it will move though Bataan to get there.

yes, Obvert may be correct. Sorry bout that.

[Hortlund]

Good catch, would have been annoying to see the ships sunk by the Bataan-guns.

[Hortlund]

Game is back on track now. This first turn is to re-orient everything again.

Most important things going on right now.

1) The big China offensive. The plans are set. Now I need to build up some airfields before we are ready to go. It will be a rather complicated operation with 2 feints before the main attack to try to pull reinforcements the wrong way. More on this later.

2) The reduction of Clark Field. 4 divisions are on the way from the lower NEI and from Malaya. A force of 1000 AV will hold the Singapore defenders in place while the operation is on.

3) Northern front. Alot of invasion forces are shuffling around in the north pac right now. Next target is Kodiak, after that those troops will move on to Anchorage. After that we will move towards Canadian coast.

4) Restructuring the airforce. I need to put more pressure on Burma and Singapore while the operations against Clark goes on. Lots of moving of airunits around starting now, should be finished in a week or so.

[CRations]

Hi Panzerjaeger,

Can I ask how the game is going? I'm curious as to which bases you plan to stage your air groups out of and which aviation units you have deployed at those bases.

Are you importing additional aviation support units to Burma & Malaya? Are you building up any of the airfields where you plan to stage your air groups?

Most of Burma/Malaya is jungle or bases. Can I ask if you have a bombing strategy - as in using light bombers with 30-100kg bombs VS AC with 250kg bombs? In testing I've noticed that using a lot of recon aircraft to increase detection levels seems to assist in the effectiveness of my air-to-ground strikes. Do you see the same thing or am I just imagining an increase in damage?

Regards,

CR

[Hortlund]

Sorry, Ive been having a dreadful time at the office for the past week. Will try to get back to the AAR now

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: CRations

Hi Panzerjaeger,

Can I ask how the game is going? I'm curious as to which bases you plan to stage your air groups out of and which aviation units you have deployed at those bases.

Are you importing additional aviation support units to Burma & Malaya? Are you building up any of the airfields where you plan to stage your air groups?

Most of Burma/Malaya is jungle or bases. Can I ask if you have a bombing strategy - as in using light bombers with 30-100kg bombs VS AC with 250kg bombs? In testing I've noticed that using a lot of recon aircraft to increase detection levels seems to assist in the effectiveness of my air-to-ground strikes. Do you see the same thing or am I just imagining an increase in damage?

Regards,

CR

Hey
Its too early to say what will happen with Burma yet. My only objective here was to cut the Burma road, and it is cut now.

Right now Im only using second-tier units to keep up appearances and take whatever I can in the early stages of the war. I will have to reinforce here sooner or later, but that is after Clark Field and after Singapore.

As for my bombers. I will use Helens as my main bomber, and I plan to have pretty much the entire Army Airforce flying Helens for the next couple of years. It makes production easier, and the Helen is a good-enough aircraft to be the workhorse.

[Hortlund]

Short update.

North Pac
We are moving in on Anchorage. After that we will move on to the Canadian bases. Warspite saw action against Oi off Coal Harbor. Apparently he is concerned enough to have capital ships divert up here, which is good. Warspite took two torpedo hits, which is better. I have 4 CVs in hot pursuit right now, perhaps we can catch him. For some reason, the BB did not retire to Seattle, but must have gone south along the west coast.

We are prepping for a huge defensive battle up here. My bet is that the main battle will be around Kodiak - Cold Harbor in about a year and a half. He will most likely try to catch all my troops in Alaska/Canada by cutting them off in the Cold Harbor-area. Who wouldnt?

Basically my thinking is this:
I can present a credible threat to key areas in the US/Canada by taking alot of undefended or lightly defended bases with small forces of my own. If he does not react to that threat - fine, I can hurt his industry with strategic attacks. If he does react to the threat - fine, those forces will not be deployed against the SRA and the bases there.

NEI/Malaya/Phillipines
Initial objective is achieved. Palembang is safe. What remains now is the reduction of all other enemy defensive positions in the area. Im going to do that slow and methodical and expect to be done in about two months. First Clark, which should fall inside two weeks, then Singapore which should fall in about a month. Parrallell to this, small units will clear out Java and the island chain down to Timor. Other units are setting up to take and/or remove Darwin and Port Moresby.

China
The main show. I have started a huge offensive operation that will take several months to complete. My aim is to slowly reduce the Chinese ability to fight by removing their supply sources and at the same time, prevent the army from growing by killing 350 squads per month. I am expecting a conquest in 43/44.

Alot of people try for the heavy-handed approach in China, with huge stacks slugging it out with other huge stacks. Canoe seems to follow this script by placing something that must be several thousand AVs at Nanyang. He moves his units around in stacks of 15-25 units. Well, fine. Im playing into this by setting up huge stacks myself that Im manuvering in a threatening manner around his huge stacks. And while we dance around like this, I have a diversion-attack coming up through the jungles of Indo-China to threaten his mountain bases. Hopefully, when he spots these troops, he will shift his reserves there. And then, my real offensive will commence. In a place he has hopefully completely forgotten.

But more on that later.

[Ketza]

Very nice AAR I am glad to have played catch up. Interesting!

[Hortlund]

Thanks.

Another turn passes without anything really interesting happening. Two US surface raiders were spotted, one off Peleliu and one between Okinawa and Japan. Bold moves to no avail, I have no shipping to speak of in those areas. Two CVs who were rearming and refueling in Tokyo are ordered to take a detour to see if we can catch the northern ones.

Forces in the Philippines are in place and begin moving towards Clark. I should have about 3500 AV ready for attack there in a couple of days.

[CRations]

In regards to China:

Is this primarily a ground offensive or are you using air assets as well?

Is your planned offense in China affecting production for Japan? Maybe increasing man or armor production?

Are you streamlining your air production by limiting air frames to build for the Army and Navy?

Have you considered "buying" some of the armor & infantry units from your Kwantung Army? Several of them have very nice EXP/MOR ratings.


CR

[Historiker]

Interesting approach, your march on Canada. Will you go for inner bases or just stick to the isolated bases at the coast?
This will sure be interesting

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: CRations

In regards to China:

Is this primarily a ground offensive or are you using air assets as well?

Is your planned offense in China affecting production for Japan? Maybe increasing man or armor production?

Are you streamlining your air production by limiting air frames to build for the Army and Navy?

Have you considered "buying" some of the armor & infantry units from your Kwantung Army? Several of them have very nice EXP/MOR ratings.


CR

Im using alot of air-units in China. In fact, I will probably be using 2/3 of my entire army airforce there soon. Airunits are worth their weight in gold in the open plains. Right now Im using bombers to attack airfields in order to cause damage that prevents fort buildup and cost supplies to repair.

I will be using Kwangtung units, mostly artillery.

Yes, I am streamlining production. In a month or so, when they come online, I will be building Helens, Bettys, Tojos and Zeros almost exclusivly together with recon/search and Kates/Vals.

China is the main show for me, so it is not like Im letting Chinese concerns influence my desicions - it is China at the core of this strategy.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

Interesting approach, your march on Canada. Will you go for inner bases or just stick to the isolated bases at the coast?
This will sure be interesting

Depends on what the defences looks like. I am somewhat reluctant to attack on shore, since that will bring the entire US restricted army into play.

If Im reading the tea-leaves correctly, he is reinforcing in Canada/northern US, so that seems to indicate there will not be any huge land offensive up here. Just a credible threat that draws him in, making him commit more and more forces up here.

And, like I said, I think he will launch his first counteroffensive up here. There are just too many benefits for him not to really. It is close to his home bases, far from mine, he can use restricted bomber units even. The shape of the Japanese defensive positions will resemble the cresent of the moon, he will have alot of CVs avaliable together with the ability to raid north from Pearl etc. If I just show him the KB somewhere completely elsewhere, like around India, I think he will launch a big attack aimed at Cold Harbor - Attu with the objective of completely cutting off everything east of there.

And that is where Im planning to be waiting for him.

[Hortlund]

I really hate the WWI-trenches of Clark. Must every allied player always put every single unit in that hex?

I thought I could overwhelm it by using most of my major units, but to no avail. 8 Divisions still fail to take the hex.