From Here It SEEMS Like an Eternity...Imperial Japan's Thoughts

[John 3rd]

We are in a holding pattern.  It appears that Marc has computer issues and cannot get his turns taken care of.  This won't be fixed until Tuesday so we wait and see.
 
I complained that Australia hangs in the balance, I'm about to finish CRUSHING a cruiser TF south of New Guinea, and I am busy stalking a damaged CV SE of Midway.  These entreaties evidently fell on deaf ears with his ISP provider.  Cannot understand why...
 
Damned inconsiderate if you ask me...
 

[John 3rd]

Up and Running!
 
Just got an email from Marc saying that his internet has been fixed and he is working on the turn.  After a week of Jonesing, we'll get back to the serious work of winning the war...
 

[USSAmerica]

Pure carnage all over the Pacific!!!  [X(][&o][8D]
 
This is a great show you guys are running here, John.  Reading your account of the Midway battle was thrilling. 

[John 3rd]

September 2, 1942
 
Imperial HQ is forced to acknowledge that several operations have totally failed and that, quite probably, the war is over.  Continuing serious losses near the invincible Allied bastion of Perth (now flying over 300 aircraft) cannot to accepted or tolerated.  The 100,000+ troops that encircle the city cannot punch through the defenses even though they outnumber their opponents by a factor of more then 3-1 and are well supplied.  Allied Fortification are going UP and not down...
 
A deathly serious re-evaluation of Japanese planning is now underway with new plans to be released shortly.
 
C-in-C  Japanese HQ
 

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

September 2, 1942

Imperial HQ is forced to acknowledge that several operations have totally failed and that, quite probably, the war is over.  Continuing serious losses near the invincible Allied bastion of Perth (now flying over 300 aircraft) cannot to accepted or tolerated.  The 100,000+ troops that encircle the city cannot punch through the defenses even though they outnumber their opponents by a factor of more then 3-1 and are well supplied.  Allied Fortification are going UP and not down...

A deathly serious re-evaluation of Japanese planning is now underway with new plans to be released shortly.

C-in-C  Japanese HQ

[X(] [X(] [X(]

[moses]

That doesn't sound good. You're not going to leave us in suspence for long are you???????[&:]

[ny59giants]

One think I am learning reading your AAR and others, is that it is very difficult for either side to be successful without LBA playing a significant role in the outcome of a particular battle (Perth) or in places like Burma. Unfortunately, Perth is too far away for LBA to play a role (unless you are using AB's map and have Geraldton and/or Exmouth in Japanese possession).

The Allies have the same problem when it comes to Wake, Marcus, and the Marianas.

[bobogoboom]

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

One think I am learning reading your AAR and others, is that it is very difficult for either side to be successful without LBA playing a significant role in the outcome of a particular battle (Perth) or in places like Burma. Unfortunately, Perth is too far away for LBA to play a role (unless you are using AB's map and have Geraldton and/or Exmouth in Japanese possession).

The Allies have the same problem when it comes to Wake, Marcus, and the Marianas.

Good points, ny. I think the only difference is that the Allies have the advantage of MASSIVE carrier air power by the time they are usually ready to go after Wake, Marcus, or the Marianas.

John, if this is the high water mark of Japanese expansion, you've had a great showing! You've done lots of damage, and it will take a good while before the Allies can mount a sustainable, but inevitable, offensive. [&o][8D]

[moses]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

One think I am learning reading your AAR and others, is that it is very difficult for either side to be successful without LBA playing a significant role in the outcome of a particular battle (Perth) or in places like Burma. Unfortunately, Perth is too far away for LBA to play a role (unless you are using AB's map and have Geraldton and/or Exmouth in Japanese possession).

The Allies have the same problem when it comes to Wake, Marcus, and the Marianas.

LBA is brutal for both sides. John III used to clean my clock with his Betties whenever I got close to his bases. Nothings starts your heart beating like 200 escorted Betties headed for you carrier fleet.

Often someone will suggest to me (as the allied player) that its easy to invade various locations. But I just don't see how to do this without a lot of risk. Every time I try something like this as allies I get killed.

As for Japan you have to be very careful about coming within 6 or 7 hexes of any level 5+ airbase. You can get away with it a little during the first 4 or 5 months as the allies are disorganized and have generally poor training values. But after that you are going top take damage on a regular basis.

[FeurerKrieg]

I hope this doesn't mean a surrender is in the works! THe last Cap Mandrake game ended on a surrender, I'd like to see this one play all the way out.

Keep up the good work - maybe it is just time to dig in and start hurting those Allies!

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

September 2, 1942

Imperial HQ is forced to acknowledge that several operations have totally failed and that, quite probably, the war is over.  Continuing serious losses near the invincible Allied bastion of Perth (now flying over 300 aircraft) cannot to accepted or tolerated.  The 100,000+ troops that encircle the city cannot punch through the defenses even though they outnumber their opponents by a factor of more then 3-1 and are well supplied.  Allied Fortification are going UP and not down...

A deathly serious re-evaluation of Japanese planning is now underway with new plans to be released shortly.

C-in-C  Japanese HQ

[John 3rd]

Thank you guys!
 
Reading your notes cheer me up from the doldrums of abject despair.
 
I have had a busy week so I have not had the chance to write my AAR Combat Report for Sept 1-3, 1942.  In all honesty, I would prefer not to!
 
I was DEAD CERTAIN that I could take Perth with nearly 150,000 troops bersus about 30,000.  I would never have made the second landing if I thought otherwise.  I guess this is victory disease but I am an enperienced player who knows what can and cannot be done.  Do not understand why I couldn't get Perth.
 
Now the issue is do I have ANY chance of lifting some of these stranded troops off the beach without incurring prohibitive losses?  I cannot simply lose all those troops.  Problem is that if I don't get some of them, then the DEI will be unguarded/garrisioned.  How should I do this?
 
The fleet is still intact but in TERRIBLE need of yard maintenance.  My air arm is in pretty good shape for this point in the war.  It is in ground troops that I have issues.
 
They will know this.  The counteroffensive will start earlier then normal in the DEI if they TRULY understand the scope of losing all those troops.
 
There will be no early surrender in this game.  Wolfpack and Moses know that I do not do that.
 
Just sort of hard right now to know what to do.  Does anyone have good substantive thoughts for how I can get these troops at Perth?  I still have a substantial portion of the Fleet at Koepang (3CV/2CVL/2CVE) plus about 45 warships.
 
PLEASE lend me your thoughts and ears...
 

[moses]

Hard to know the exact situation until you post your AAR. But if in fact Perth cannot be taken then can your troops be pulled back from Perth to a beach hex where they might be evacuated???

For the long term I don't think the troops are you're primary concern. I would be more worried about the state of your fleet. How many CV's are left and what is their status?? Without a strong KB it's going to be hard to neutralise the allied jaugernaut. I guess you will have to depend on hordes of Betties to keep him at bay.

[jwilkerson]

In my experience from getting a few PBEMs into the 43-44 .... and I think this is borne out in the few public AARs that have played into 44+ ... the Japanese need the "rock paper scissors of landbases which can delay long enough to allow massing of the fleet and the LBA .. then this mass can "intervene" in the landing, which hopefully is at least temporarily stalled. Don't expect "decisive" results. PzB and Pauk's AARs are full of disappointments. It is really more like "snipping". But the true fundamental purpose is delay. By giving the Allies, at least the impression, that they can be hurt (backed up by a few successes now and then) it forces them to run "big" operations and mitigates against "freebees". And there can only be a few "big operations" going on at any given point in time. Yes PzB and Paul have had a few real successes where Andy's landings have failed, but in general those will be rare. The "pattern" will be landings that do not immediately clear the hex and which can thus buy enough time for the Japanese forces to assemble. I've tried to use combinations of the LBA torpedo threat (Betty/Frances) the Carrier Force and the Surface force. These three, if all present, can place the Allies on the "horns of a dilema" and provide too many targets and attack vectors to be covered. Though in these cases, I see most of Pauk/PzBs real successes being in picking off small groups of ships shuttling to and from the rear areas to the invasion hexes. Usually Andy covers the invasions hex(es) itself fairly well. But can't cover evey hex and every supply and reinforcement TF going back and forth. Point is, opportunities exist in these cases and sustained pressure will get the Allies to do "big invasions" and this will generate the maximum delay.

Now to figure out something to do on the mainland!

[moses]

The problem here is that I'm not sure he has much "paper" left. It seems he's down to 3 CV's and 4 CVE/CVL's and I suspect these are in need of refit. So once the allies get the CV Essex and the 5 or 6 smaller carriers they get very soon, the allies may already have a decisively superior carrier force by January.

I'm also thinking that his carrier pilots have been heavily fought over a prolonged period. Might the allied carriers already have superior pilot quality??

The situation certainly looks desperate to me and it will be interesting to see what John will be able to accomplish.

[jwilkerson]

Yeah, just advocating for as much "balance" as possible - in general. lately we've seen a few cases where relatively "hollow" IJN carrier forces have generated positive battle results, if only by being a distraction! IIRC somebody was complaining about having their American carriers drawn away by a Japanese decoy carrier force, until someone else pointed out this happened in the real war. And also IIRC it was later revealed that the reacting American carrier force (in the game in question) was commanded by a leader named "Halsey" generating new rounds of "historical result" claims!

But if you don't have much paper, you still might be able to accomplish something even with just a few crumped up scraps. So if he can preserve what he has left, they can still add to the multi-dimensional response capability.

But I'd try to save the troops too - just wouldn't risk the carriers to do it. But this is Mr. Anti-Risk-Taker talking here! [:D]

[John 3rd]

Such a combination of comments. 
 
For the record, I have all of the KB except Hiryu.  Have lost Junyo, Hiyo, 2CVL, and 3 CVE.  The rest of the fleet, more or less, is intact.  I've lost a lot of CLs and good number of DDs.  I'll do a comprehensive update when I find some time.
 
Headed to work at the casino.  Thanks for the thoughts.
 

[HMS Resolution]

How did you lose the KB?

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: HMS Resolution

How did you lose the KB?

See fb.asp?m=1436954 and the posts after that - you can also check out Mandrake's AAR to get the view from the other side.

[HMS Resolution]

Goodness, don't know how I missed it!