Rise of the Sheep! JocMeister(A) vs. Obvert(J)

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Burn, baby, burn!  What's this game?  Toyko in Flames?

While I make some tongue in creek sport of this event in the game, I am aware that people (a lot of people) suffered and died cruel deaths in Toyko, Hamburg, Dresden and many other German and Japanese cities.  But, rather than blaming the Allies for winning the war, I blame the totalitarian leaders that brought the world this calamity.  It is a very good thing that wargames do not come with olfactory options.  "War is cruelty and you cannot refine it".  Sherman 

You forgot London, Coventry, Warsaw, Rotterdam et al.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Thanks for the clarification Jocke.

Re: VP's a very good achievement IMO if you look at how the situation was 2 years ago!

Thanks Speedy. I was pretty amazed to see I actually have a shot at AV considering my first 2 years and the never ending string of disasters. It all depends on keeping the same pace now. Its almost 3000 VPs worth of Jap LCU VPs in there though due to Eriks superstack slowly committing seppuku.

But I think it should be doable. There are almost the same amount of troops on Luzon as it was in the superstack plus what I just cut off in Thailand.

Will be interesting for sure. But its a great motivator! [:)]

[JocMeister]

Where can I see what Jap planes using what engine? I just noticed about 100 engine point have burned down in Tokyo. Its the Nakajima Ha-35. Would be interesting to see what kind of planes uses that engine. Erik still has 440 engine point up and running but losing 100 surely can´t be good news for him? Thats almost 1/5th of the total production.

Or is this something he has already built big pools of?

[Spidery]

Why would he still have those factories now?

Late war planes that use it include the Irving Night Fighter and the Tsurugi and Toka kamikaze planes.

He may have it shut off and just not needed to change it for anything else. Or he could be wanting the Tsurugi and Toka as they carry 800kg bombs and are reasonably fast. Although a pure kamikaze plane, the game allows them to drop bombs so can be used as normal level bombers. They could be nice against the Soviets (an 800kg bomb is likely to make a mess of a JSIII[:D])

[Lokasenna]

Ha-35 is a standard early/middle engine. Zeros, Tojos, Kates, etc. Not much uses it late war, as far as I can tell.

If you load up a tracker from the Japanese side and go to Air Production, you can sort by engine.

[JocMeister]

Thanks Lokenna,

Why would he still have those factories now?

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Where can I see what Jap planes using what engine? I just noticed about 100 engine point have burned down in Tokyo. Its the Nakajima Ha-35. Would be interesting to see what kind of planes uses that engine. Erik still has 440 engine point up and running but losing 100 surely can´t be good news for him? Thats almost 1/5th of the total production.

Or is this something he has already built big pools of?

There is few more engines but they have marginal importance to game

[JocMeister]

Thanks Spidery and koniu! [:)] Probably a kami thing then. Thats ominous! [X(]

koniu, thats a great chart! I´ll save it in my "important AE stuff" folder! [&o]

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister
koniu, thats a great chart! I´ll save it in my "important AE stuff" folder! [&o]

Say thanks to my copy/paste skill[:D] Most important skill i learn during my 20 years of education

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]22nd-23rd January -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Main show is of course over Luzon.

------------------------
Operation Arise
------------------------
Its impossible for me to detail everything happening here but in essence all Japanese resistance in the air has collapsed. Strangely enough Manila AF was still closed on the morning on the 22nd. 3-400 runway hits make sure it stays closed. About 100 Japanese fighters are destroyed on the ground throughout Luzon on the 22nd. Very few enemy fighters took to the air.

On the 23 the target shifts to Clark. Due to the weather damage is light but the AF is closed. Erik staged a bunch of fighters at Lingyuan. This I had predicted though...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Lingayen at 79,75 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 50 damaged
Ki-84r Frank: 9 destroyed on ground

28 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Missouri, Shell hits 1
BB Wisconsin
BB New Jersey
BB Iowa

Japanese ground losses:
369 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 16 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 15 (7 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 25
Port hits 17

With the SR3 rating no Franks took to the sky in the morning on the 23rd. In fact not one enemy fighter was seen either on the ground or in the air. Victory! [&o]

Now I just have to make sure that the airfields stay closed with a combination of naval and air bombardments.


------------------------
Luzon
------------------------
With the airspace in allied control we can now begin to pound Manila starting tomorrow. 2 BB bombardments as well as a full aerial strike is ordered. Mines are still present at both Bataan and Manila. CD guns is making the clearing of those mine fields costly. I have probably lost somewhere around 50 AMs/YMS/PTs to the CD guns so far.

We also intercepted what is presumed to be a supply convoy at Aparri.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Aparri at 82,73, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
E Hatsukari, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
xAK Lima Maru, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Lisbon Maru, Shell hits 30, and is sunk
xAK Mito Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Asuka Maru, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Bennion
DD Callaghan
DD Cogswell
DD Erben
DD Foote
DD Gregory
DD John Hood
DD Hopewell
DD Johnston
DD Laws
DD Longshaw
DD McCord

Right now I can´t really seal of Luzon without bringing in the CVs. I won´t do that though so for now roving bands of Fletchers using their 11 hexes strike potential will do their best to intercept anything coming.


------------------------
Manilagrad
------------------------
I´m not expecting great results from the bombardments tomorrow. But I want to make absolutely sure the next attack lowers the forts so I add what I can. I have hedged my bets here again though. Erik has piled on more at Manilagrad and Japanese raw AV is now up to 3500. My forces present here are not up to the task so we brought in reinforcements too. Lots of it.

I´m expecting the next attack here in 3-5 days. This time the forts will go down. I started bringing up the theatre reserves to Iloilo from Cotabato. I doubt they will be needed though.

The Lingyan forces are still aboard their assault ships but Erik still has almost 100.000 troops in place. I will await the next attack at Manila to see if he starts shifting them to Manila. There is no point landing against that much right now. But the opening will come eventually I´m sure.

------------------------
Strat bombing
------------------------
The fires are still burning in the city but is down to 1400. Another 400 VPs are gained on the 22nd. [&o] 908 HI and 729 LI are destroyed in Tokyo! Not bad at all for only 2 months of strat bombing. [:)]

[JocMeister]

As a little anecdote regarding LRCAP and how impossible it is to control. In the above screenshot P51Bs are the only planes set to LRCAP Manila itself. The P38s are on escort. The rest of the fighters are "wandering LRCAP" that showed up at Manila despite having other duties. Mostly TF LRCAP. The 1A Corsairs I´m not even sure where they came from. Probably CAP bleeding over from Batangas 1 hex away despite having a range 0 set.

[paullus99]

Time for your next target - let him reinforce defeat - you need to be putting boots on the ground elsewhere....use your mobility.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: paullus99

Time for your next target - let him reinforce defeat - you need to be putting boots on the ground elsewhere....use your mobility.

I have been prepping for 2 months now for the next major landing. Its due in early March! [:)] Just waiting for the prepplevels!

[Powloon]

Glad to see you made it past the latest misunderstanding! You two definately remind me of an old married couple sometimes just don't get divorced as we kids will be devestated[:D]

Looks like your latest Tokyo raid went off well. Have you noticed if he is repairing anything? If so it might indicate where he is feeling vulnerable.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Powloon

Glad to see you made it past the latest misunderstanding! You two definately remind me of an old married couple sometimes just don't get divorced as we kids will be devestated[:D]

Looks like your latest Tokyo raid went off well. Have you noticed if he is repairing anything? If so it might indicate where he is feeling vulnerable.

I highly doubt he will do that. Last raid burned down 400 HI/LI. Thats 400.000 supply to repair and 200 days. So I assume whatever is burned down is going to stay so. Perhaps if I get some damage done to critical engine/plane factories he might do so. But not LI/HI. [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]24th January -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Considering the last days of action this was a calm one.

------------------------
Luzon/Manilagrad
------------------------

The naval bombardment go in and as expected doesn´t do much.

]Night Naval bombardment of Manila at 79,77

Allied Ships
BB King George V
BB Alabama
BB Colorado
CA Boston
CA Vincennes

Japanese ground losses:
204 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Manila at 79,77

Allied Ships
BB Richelieu
BB Massachusetts
BB Indiana
BB South Dakota

Japanese ground losses:
330 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

I´m going to hold the bombardments off until the mines are 100% cleared. The Richelieu hit a mine and suffered 40 FLT damage and will be out for the rest of the war. [X(] Happened to the right ship though... Besides, while the result looks decent there are now 230.000 enemy troops at Manila. At best the two bombardments burned some supply and cause a point or two of disruption. It decider will be in two days.

With the arrival of another 30.000 troops in Manila its now 100% clear this will be the last serious Japanese resistance of the war. I´m happy he made his stand here outside the HI LBA and close to the major Allied bases of Cotabato and Iloilo. With 5 level 9 AF within range of Manila this is as good an opportunity I will get to destroy the biggest Japanese troops concentration on the map.

Tomorrow five USMC divisions and 2 US IDs will reach Manila together with more armor and two more big Engineer Corps RGTs. That will add another 4000 AV to the Manila assault. It should bring the rav AV up to about 8500 against 3500 Japanese AV. We need to drop the forts next attack though! [:@]

I had to stand the 4Es down after today as plane fatigue is costing me a lot of planes right now. As you all know its not something I can afford.

------------------------
Indochina
------------------------
The main army will reach Vihn tomorrow! It should fall quickly. Looks like Eriks next line of defense will be around Nanning. Odd location. Not much troops either? Could only find 100.000 or so in the area with another 150.000 around HK/Canton. The thought of trapping all those troops is enticing. A landing East of of HK...

Mop up actions in southern Thailand will begin shortly. Cam Ranh Bay will most likely go first. Saigon will be bypassed. Troops will reach Hue in about 10-12 days.

------------------------
DEI
------------------------
Next set of invasions are leaving Lautem. This will be covered by a CVE fleet of almost 400 fighters. Backed up by LRCAP that should be enough to protect the fleet.

------------------------
CV Fleet
------------------------
Pursued by several subs the fleet returns towards Mindanao to refuel and replenish at sea and then escort a 500.000 supply convoy to whatever port is secured first in Indochina.


------------------------
Allied war machine
------------------------
Its almost silly at this point the amount of hardware that has started arriving. While not so many warships as one could expect the amount of lift capacity is simply astonishing. I have lost track of all the APAs, AKAs, LSTs, LSMs, LCIs constantly arriving. But the real workhorses are the xAKs. Despite having just dumped 3 million supply at Luzon that are now returning empty I still have almost 3 million more moving towards Luzon.

Fuel is a bit worrisome though. Having the CV fleet moving around just gurgles fuel. Each time I replenish them almost 100.000 fuel is vaporized. How Erik could move the KB around as much as he did in 42-44 I have no idea. He must have burned a million fuel doing that. [X(]

------------------------
Allied fighter pools
------------------------
Well, I guess I don´t have to go to great lengths to explain here. The USAAF pools are now completely empty of P51s/P47s and P38s. We have a small pool of P40s and P39s left. USN pools are in slow decline but not critical. One big battle and they will be shot though.

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Powloon

Glad to see you made it past the latest misunderstanding! You two definately remind me of an old married couple sometimes just don't get divorced as we kids will be devestated[:D]

Looks like your latest Tokyo raid went off well. Have you noticed if he is repairing anything? If so it might indicate where he is feeling vulnerable.

I highly doubt he will do that. Last raid burned down 400 HI/LI. Thats 400.000 supply to repair and 200 days. So I assume whatever is burned down is going to stay so. Perhaps if I get some damage done to critical engine/plane factories he might do so. But not LI/HI. [:)]

It will also depend on supply situation. If he is low on supplies he will not repair at all if he have decent reserve he could. Also You don`t know how big engine/plane pools he have. To much FoW to tell if he cant or he don`t need to repair damaged factories.

[JocMeister]

Yes, obviously I don´t know his supply situation. But I have some indications it might be problematic. The VP score is fluctuating wildly. Only reason I can think of is that bases are getting "in and out" of supply making the VPs swing around.

I´m pretty sure he would repair any NF factories at this point though. [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]25th January -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

The calm before the storm. Almost nothing happened. Tomorrow I have about 6-8 deliberate attacks going in. Some more important than others.

------------------------
Luzon/Manilagrad
------------------------
I sweep empty skies and the 2Es keep Manila AF shut while the 4Es rest. Big day tomorrow. I MUST drop the forts with this one. 8200 AV including ALL the USMC divisions attack tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I have to be careful here though. Some of the troops are slated for the next set of invasions in just about a month. I can´t wreck these troops to the point where they don´t have time to recover.

------------------------
Thailand
------------------------
Oddly enough Erik left Saigon with everything. No clue why unless forts were a lot lower then I think they are. He now moved into the wilderness to the East. Hopefully I will reach CRB before the Jap troops from Saigon can get there.

------------------------
Allied fleet
------------------------
More reinforcements as Shangri-La arrives at Balboa! Bunker hill has 4 days of repair left until these two are ready to join the fleet.

[JocMeister]

Just watched the replay. Manila went well! The 1st Jap Tank div was wrecked and 2 of the IDs took a severe beating!

And the forts got knocked down a notch!!! [&o][&o][&o]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Manila (79,77)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 213206 troops, 3634 guns, 6355 vehicles, Assault Value = 8357

Defending force 131615 troops, 1554 guns, 1229 vehicles, Assault Value = 3504

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4 [&o][&o][&o][&o]

Allied adjusted assault: 3673

Japanese adjusted defense: 12735

Allied assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), disruption(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
10123 casualties reported
Squads: 77 destroyed, 683 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 210 disabled
Engineers: 44 destroyed, 130 disabled
Guns lost 207 (18 destroyed, 189 disabled)
Vehicles lost 173 (41 destroyed, 132 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
7475 casualties reported
Squads: 59 destroyed, 606 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 348 disabled
Engineers: 110 destroyed, 198 disabled
Guns lost 216 (20 destroyed, 196 disabled)
Vehicles lost 370 (28 destroyed, 342 disabled)

Assaulting units:
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
5th Marine Division
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
192nd Tank Battalion
754th Tank Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
38th Infantry Division
77th Infantry Division
710th Tank Battalion
767th Tank Battalion
40th Infantry Division
762nd Tank Battalion
37th Infantry Division
716th Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
4th USMC Tank Battalion
I Corps Cmbt Engineer Regiment
93rd Infantry Division
CenPac Amphib Tank Brigade
193rd Tank Battalion
3rd Marine Division
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
5th USMC Tank Battalion
2nd Marine Division
XIV Corps Combat Engineer Regiment
25th Infantry Division
31st Infantry Division
XI Corps Combat Engineer Regiment
1st USMC Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
32nd Infantry Division
6th Marine Division
4th Marine Division
713th Flame Tank Battalion
6th Infantry Division
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
251st Field Artillery Battalion
XI Corps Artillery
I Corps Artillery
205th Field Artillery Battalion
Tenth US Army
XXIV US Corps
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment
147th Field Artillery Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
16th NZ AA Bde
I US Corps
XIV Corps Artillery
10th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
III US Amphib Corps
9th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
South Pacific
XI US Corps
8th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
X Corps Artillery
694th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
1 USMC Seacoast Art
XIV US Corps
X US Corps
33rd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
1st Tank Division
107th Division
105th Division
8th Division
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
64th Ind.Mixed Brigade
57th Ind.Mixed Brigade
61st Ind.Mixed Brigade
56th Ind.Mixed Brigade
102nd Division
6th Division
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
56th Division
8th Exped. Force
157th JAAF AF Bn
14th Area Army
216th Naval Construction Battalion
2nd Air Fleet
56th JNAF AF Unit
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
20th RF Gun Battalion
85th Field AA Battalion
1st Base Force
102nd AA Regiment
58th JNAF AF Unit /2
7th Air Division
13th Air Fleet
104th AA Regiment
16th Army
26th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
3rd Rocket Gun Battalion
88th Field AA Battalion
77th Field AA Battalion
9th RF Gun Battalion
12th JNAF AF Unit
20th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
91st JAAF AF Bn
24th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
27th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
60th JNAF AF Unit
28th JNAF AF Unit
20th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
30th Special Base Force
33rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
78th Field AA Battalion
21st Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
33rd Special Base Force
2nd Base Force
16th Field AA Machinecannon Company
21st JAAF Base Force /2[