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

[Crackaces]

In my uneducated opinion ... The main crux at this point is supply. Historically, the IJ were out of planes and pilots but that is not going to happen in this game. However, everything in this game takes supply, including refilling squadrons, replacements, etc. More so, a minimal level of supply of 20,000 in many cases. China offers the opportunity to exploit this weakness.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

In my uneducated opinion ... The main crux at this point is supply. Historically, the IJ were out of planes and pilots but that is not going to happen in this game. However, everything in this game takes supply, including refilling squadrons, replacements, etc. More so, a minimal level of supply of 20,000 in many cases. China offers the opportunity to exploit this weakness.

I share that belief. I think China right not only offers me a opportunity to burn supply. But THE opportunity to do so! [:)]

[JocMeister]

Tonights listening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3WJX1cIuY4

Tonights drink:
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-10107.aspx

Sadly the whiskey is my all time favorite. I´m on the last 10th of the bottle. [:(] Only 293 bottles where made...

[Crackaces]

Clynelish 1992 / 16 Year Old / Cask #5871

I would be a Macallan 21 Year Old / Fine Oak Speyside fan [8D]

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

Clynelish 1992 / 16 Year Old / Cask #5871

I would be a Macallan 21 Year Old / Fine Oak Speyside fan [8D]

I like Macallan! A tad to light in flavor though! [:)] I´m not usually a fan of Clynelish (prefer Ardbeg) but that one is exceptional. I actually held two bottles in my hand...but since I hadn´t tried it I didn´t want to pay for both bottles. So my friend bought the other one. And gave it away later...gah!

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]13th March 1945[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Back to the war!

------------------------
Okinawa
------------------------
No related action besides my subs being pummeled by ASW air. Erik pulls are really smart move and escape all attacks. Clever man. See screen for KB position.

He does strike out at Naha with some of the best result I have seen Japanese bombers do...well ever?

Morning Air attack on Naha , at 95,66

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 108 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 36
Ki-67-Ib Peggy x 23
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy x 80

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 10 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PBY-5A Catalina: 5 damaged

Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 24
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 59 [X(]

He actually closed the AF! [X(] That is the first time for 2 years he managed to do that. Not sure what is up. Lucky strike I hope... More AA is on the way!

Amphibs detach from the Fleet and move toward Luzon to pick up the next wave. Fleet will rest until the oilers arrive in two days.

First 2 subs are lost.

------------------------
China
------------------------
Erik continue to pay for sending out two divisions without air cover and AA.

Morning Air attack on 104th Division, at 67,44 , near Paoshan

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
Liberator B.VI x 58
Liberator GR.VI x 27
B-17E Fortress x 10
B-17F Fortress x 10
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 11
B-24J Liberator x 73

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
552 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Additional fighters are sent to area as I suspect Japanese fighters will arrive shortly to provide LRCAP. Bombers stand down to rest FAT.

The bombardment outside Nanning show exceptional results. Units in move mode?

Ground combat at 71,56 (near Lang Son)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 10565 troops, 676 guns, 768 vehicles, Assault Value = 5953

Defending force 108544 troops, 1075 guns, 570 vehicles, Assault Value = 3196

Japanese ground losses:
715 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 42 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

The corp recently pulled out have halted just one hex out. I want to see how much Erik has pulled out. Haiphong and Hanoi are really close to level 9 now.

[JeffroK]

Some different thoughts, I would have gone for the KB, once its sunk or disabled you have one less problem to worry about. Until then you have to provide heavy support to anything you plan.

What does your recon say about the rest of the Ryukyu chain, any islands capable of a decent airfield and have only a small garrison?

Has Daito Shoto got much of a garrison, should be easy pickings.

The islands of the tip of Kyushu, again an with rebuild potential, no garrison and in range of an airborne assault???

I'm not a China fan, but it does provide a diversion to use your troops and absorb IJA units far better used back in the Home Islands, but use that sledgehammer you landed on Okinawa to smash and grab.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Destination Okinawa - Conclusion[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

The amphibs leave the area to regroup at Manila for the second phase. That is the invasion of the rest of the island in the Okinawa chain. I wanted to do a short assessment of the fist phase of the Okinawa operation as it is now over.

This has to be the most successful operation I have done so far. It was not as flawless as the Moluccas operation as I made a few errors. But I achieved the goal with a absolute minimum losses. And the prize is Okinawa which is quite a bigger price then the Moluccas... [:D]

------------------------
The Mistakes
------------------------
-I should have brought more BFs with me in the first go. This is a flaw I seem to have problems correcting. I need to start prepping the BF TOGETHER with the combat troops. Not as an afterthought. I have enough lift now to land the BFs with the combat troops.

-The Replenishment TFs should go with the fleet and not stay 2-3 days behind it. This is easy to fix.

-I let the fear of Japanese response govern too much of what I did early on. I dictate the war now. Not Erik. More confidence needed.

------------------------
The positives
------------------------
-Prepping the troops right away for two options was crucial. Early planning worked.

-I had the patience to wait for the right moon conditions and take the extra two days to let the entire fleet and Amphibs refuel before going in.

-I spotted Eriks failure to garrison Okinawa properly and took advantage of it.

-Keeping the knowledge of the IJNs location at Shanghai a secret (no recon or navsearch) allowed for the aerial mining to take place. This most likely is what paralyzed the IJN at a critical time.

-I now have a foothold on Okinawa obviously. This is can potentially break the back of Japan.

------------------------
Allied Losses
------------------------
3 DDs
2 LCIs
1 AKA
5 Subs

That has to be extraordinary for an Okinawa invasion against a Japan that has not totally collapsed.

To sum it up. In all honestly I cannot really take much credit for this beyond choosing the target and loading the troops (which was flawless btw.. [;)]) Erik really dropped the ball on this one (I know you will read this eventually and you probably have your reasons but this is how it looks from my POV. No offense meant.). Naha should have had 2-3000 AV and 7-9 forts. That would have stopped things for at least 2-3 months requiring a massive effort by me. Bombardments, CVs on station, aerial bombardments, more troops, rotating wrecked troops out, additional supply and so on.

Putting 300.000 men on Formosa is what? 5-6000 AV. Half of that should have been on Okinawa IMO. Sure I could have massed up and grabbed Formosa first and then done the same with Okinawa. But that would have taken 4-6 months. Now I got Okinawa on day 1. Day ONE! [X(] And its March 1945...long way to 1946!

As I said I know you will read this eventually and I have no clue how the Japanese side look but the force allocation looks odd for me. Can´t wait to compare notes. You better write long ramblings like I do and not just page after page of CRs! [:)]

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Some different thoughts, I would have gone for the KB, once its sunk or disabled you have one less problem to worry about. Until then you have to provide heavy support to anything you plan.

What does your recon say about the rest of the Ryukyu chain, any islands capable of a decent airfield and have only a small garrison?

Has Daito Shoto got much of a garrison, should be easy pickings.

The islands of the tip of Kyushu, again an with rebuild potential, no garrison and in range of an airborne assault???

I'm not a China fan, but it does provide a diversion to use your troops and absorb IJA units far better used back in the Home Islands, but use that sledgehammer you landed on Okinawa to smash and grab.

I always appreciate a different view! [:)]

Of course it would be nice to have the KB out of the way no question about that! [:D] But I have this nagging feeling that I don´t want to let Erik dictate what I do. Erik has been really quite "KB centric" in our game. Call it a hunch but I think that ignoring the KB at this point might lead him to do something rash out of frustration. I´m basically refusing to give the KB any kind of significance. I don´t need to defeat the KB but he needs to defeat me. So it will be on my terms. I will go on with the things I deem important. Right now that is securing Okinawa and bring in more troops and supply. If I can do that I win. Its up to him to stop me. Not me to stop him. [:)]

The rest of the chain is lightly defended. I don´t have very much prepped for it. But what I have is 100% prepped. I hope quality of troops backed up by bombardments, CV support and LBA can tip the balance. I intend to secure the whole chain. [:)]

I don´t have anything prepped for Daito Shoto though. An oversight on my part. Once I have enough bases on Oki built up I will have to suppress it. I will start prepping troops for it next turn!

I actually havn´t reconned the islands outside Kyushu yet. Another oversight. I´ll deal with it next turn. I have the 11th AB and other smaller units on Luzon.

Okinawa was not the last big operation of the war. I will do something ambitious in a couple of months. I just have to decide what I want to do. Landing on the HI would be...cool! If I combine the Oki and Formosa troops that is 12k AV. [:)]

[JeffroK]

Naha should have had 2-3000 AV and 7-9 forts.

Is it a common thread that JFB max their aircraft building, optimise their Fleet and upgrade their LCU and the "infrastructure" gets the hind teat?

Just like in real life, there are many very important bases, maybe not for the JFB to use but to take them out of the AFB hands, which get no attention until too late. IMVHO, places like Okinawa, Iwo Jima etc shoul have had been fortified to the max, the airbase and port could be ignored so that the AFB has to build them.

I know the JFB is short on engineers but this very long term planning becomes vital.

[JeffroK]

Has Matrix fixed the disappearing posts bug???

I always Control C before hitting OK, and never lose them?????

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Has Matrix fixed the disappearing posts bug???

I always Control C before hitting OK, and never lose them?????

Nope its still present! Ran into it just a couple of days ago! [:(] I try to remember to copy the text before I post. But sometimes I forget and its always those times I have written a lot of text and it disappears! [:@]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Has Matrix fixed the disappearing posts bug???

I always Control C before hitting OK, and never lose them?????

Nope its still present! Ran into it just a couple of days ago! [:(] I try to remember to copy the text before I post. But sometimes I forget and its always those times I have written a lot of text and it disappears! [:@]

It just happened to me five minutes ago. Yep, forgot to save. But in the refusal window there's a "Back" hot-point which I clicked and the post came back long enough for me to cut & paste into Notepad, close the compose window, open a new one, and paste it in. Saved it, barely.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

My friends just moved to Woodbridge. The Calvert Woodley store I mentioned earlier is in NW DC, on Connecticut Ave. I'll ask them if there's a good beer shop nearby, but I kind of doubt it...

Thanks a lot, Lokasenna. I think that's where I'll be heading. My dad said Virginia still has the archaic ABC store system, and I don't think the government will have the latest and greatest craft beer.

EDIT: Nice Okinawa operation, Joc.

Cheers,
CC

I was just over on that side of town tonight. It occurs to me that Calvert Woodley doesn't actually have that much beer, but they're otherwise a good liquor store. In VA, you go to the grocery stores to sell beer. If you're after craft brews, you can try a Whole Foods or Trader Joes.

In DC, I walked by a place in Cleveland Park called Cleveland Fine Wines or something (it's just to the left of the Cleveland Park Bar & Grill), I think basically across the street from the Metro stop. I could see in the window that they had at least several shelving sections of beer, floor to ceiling. I didn't catch a glimpse of any particular brand, but you might try that one. Other options would be D'vines in Columbia Heights (I found my favorite 'wee heavy' for the first time there), and finally there's this place that allegedly has 1,200 brands on display: http://www.chevychasewine.com/.


@Jocke - that whiskey isn't very dark. If you weren't international I'd look up where you could get my preference, a 'real' whiskey from the Midwest [;)]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templeton_Rye

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Naha should have had 2-3000 AV and 7-9 forts.

Is it a common thread that JFB max their aircraft building, optimise their Fleet and upgrade their LCU and the "infrastructure" gets the hind teat?

Just like in real life, there are many very important bases, maybe not for the JFB to use but to take them out of the AFB hands, which get no attention until too late. IMVHO, places like Okinawa, Iwo Jima etc shoul have had been fortified to the max, the airbase and port could be ignored so that the AFB has to build them.

I know the JFB is short on engineers but this very long term planning becomes vital.

From my perspective, not THAT short on engineers. Short for the first objectives and line of defense, for sure. You can't build forts everywhere that far out. But by late '43 there are enough engineer units, plus the organic engineers, that it should be possible to have built up the really important places like Iwo, Okinawa, Luzon, etc.

[richlove]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

My friends just moved to Woodbridge. The Calvert Woodley store I mentioned earlier is in NW DC, on Connecticut Ave. I'll ask them if there's a good beer shop nearby, but I kind of doubt it...

Thanks a lot, Lokasenna. I think that's where I'll be heading. My dad said Virginia still has the archaic ABC store system, and I don't think the government will have the latest and greatest craft beer.

EDIT: Nice Okinawa operation, Joc.

Cheers,
CC

I was just over on that side of town tonight. It occurs to me that Calvert Woodley doesn't actually have that much beer, but they're otherwise a good liquor store. In VA, you go to the grocery stores to sell beer. If you're after craft brews, you can try a Whole Foods or Trader Joes.

In DC, I walked by a place in Cleveland Park called Cleveland Fine Wines or something (it's just to the left of the Cleveland Park Bar & Grill), I think basically across the street from the Metro stop. I could see in the window that they had at least several shelving sections of beer, floor to ceiling. I didn't catch a glimpse of any particular brand, but you might try that one. Other options would be D'vines in Columbia Heights (I found my favorite 'wee heavy' for the first time there), and finally there's this place that allegedly has 1,200 brands on display: http://www.chevychasewine.com/.


@Jocke - that whiskey isn't very dark. If you weren't international I'd look up where you could get my preference, a 'real' whiskey from the Midwest [;)]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templeton_Rye

http://www.chevychasewine.com has a very good selection of beer. I don't know if it's 1200 brands, but it's at least 500. Very good place.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
@Jocke - that whiskey isn't very dark. If you weren't international I'd look up where you could get my preference, a 'real' whiskey from the Midwest [;)]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templeton_Rye

Not my usual drinking. I came across it by chance in London as it was recommended to me by a salesperson on the Whiskey Exchange. (It happens to be the greatest store EVER. If you are in London this is a more important visit than Big Ben, The Towern and Trafalgar! [:D])

This is my usual drinking

http://www.ardbeg.com/ardbeg/whisky/ardbeg-corryvreckan#

That Templeton Rye looks really tempting. Sadly it cost a fortune here. 150 USD is a tad too much for trying something out I may not like! [:D]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Imperial Japanese Army[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Looking through tracker and the VP section I noticed something quite interesting.

This is the VP score concerning LCU losses on 21st September 1944

4280:13010

And now on the 13th March 1945

12320:14296

Quite a significant loss. Basically the Japanese Army has suffered twice the losses in the last 6 months then what they did during the entire war up to September -44. This has to put a tremendous strain on his ability to resist. I would estimate Japan has suffered around half a million losses or more during this 6 months span. Something like 30 divisions including 4 Tank Divisions have been either annihilated completely or completely wrecked.

To put it simply. The IJ Army has turned into a 1942 Chinese army.

Here are some numbers:

Infantry (Anti Soft/Anti Armor)
IJA Infantry Squad 1943 20/5

USMC Rifle Squad 1944 43/55
USA Rifle Squad 1944 37/55
AIF Infsection 1944 23/75
Indian Infsection 1944 22/75

AFVs (Armor/Anti Armor/Antisoft

Type 97 Medium Tank 25/50/24

M4 Sherman 90/120/32
T34/85 90/115/25
M26 Pershing 135/220/34

I think the numbers show pretty clearly just how much more firepower that is contained in the Allied squads alone. This is not taking into account the tremendous differences in the TOE between an Allied and a Japanese ID at this stage. I´ll see if I can dig up some screens on that!

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]China[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Here is the situation. I´m slowly turning this into a reversed China. The difference will be that that Erik actually have a air force to fight back with. If he chooses to. He most likely will. I´m pretty certain he is mightily frustrated with the lack of air war lately. [:D]

[Crackaces]

Joc, Have you thought about what bases are required to get to 2:1 VP's before December 1945?