The First Team: Take Two!

[John 3rd]

February 1, 1942
Victory Points and Economic Summary

Victory Points:

Score
Japan    9,312
Allies    6,030

This is the first report of the war. 

I copied the template for this from my Forlorn Hopes AAR and it was WEIRD seeing these numbers from the perspective of the beginning of the war.  

OK.  We finished Java off in January, have driven the Brits back into Singapore, and have the Americans pinned back in Bataan and Manila.  

Ships Sunk

Japan   42—297 VP—Losses to date:  CL Katori, 4 DD, 1 APD, 4 MSW, 3 PG, 14 AP, 12 AK and 3 SS (2 I-Boats and 1 Ro-)
 
Losses have truly been pretty good to this point of the war.
 

Allies    146---1,532 VP---Exact Losses are:  BB West Virginia and Oklahoma, 2 CA, 5 CL, 11 DD, 8 PG, 4 DMS, 7 MSW, 4 AS, 2 AVD, 1 AV, 2 AD, 5 AO/TK, 6 AP, 56 AK, 24 PT, and 11 SS (8 Fleet and 3 S-Boat)
 

Manchuria
Manchukuo Garrison---8,724---(8,000 Needed)
Political Points---120
 
Units Transferred: 
In January we pulled a number of units from Manchuria.  Don’t remember exact numbers but it is about the following:  1 Army HQ, 3 Eng Reg, 3 Art Reg, and 3 TK Reg.  ALL of them are in Malaya right now.  

9th Independent Brigade was just bought from China and assigned to 4th Fleet.
 
Industrial Report
Supply              2,024,596
Fuel                3,427,513
Manpower        811 (130,388)
Heavy Industry 13,294 (39,007)
Resources         16,534 (1,539,303)
Oil                 1,501 (1,281,026)

These numbers are absolutely foreign to a man used to late-1944 numbers!  

Only thing to note here is that Brad already has the 1st TF carrying Oil/Resources on their merry way home.  

Without me running every facet of the economy perhaps we can skip the whole ‘economy collapsing for most of 1943/1944 part’ of the war.  Thanks again to Brian, Damian, Q-Ball, and Michael for all the assistance you have provided in trying to teach this IDIOT how to run the Japanese economy!
 
Shipyards
Naval             1,324 (6)
Merchant          945 (5)
Repair            637  

Will rapidly expand Repair Yards at Shanghai, Manila, Hong Kong, Cebu, Singapore, and Soerabaja as soon as we have them (and supply allows).

Carriers           
Junyo              36 Days (Accel)
Hiyo                125 Days (Accel)
Taiho               764 Days
CVL Ryuho           264 Days (Accel)  

Battleships
Yamato            108 Days
Musashi             303 Days  

CVE
Unyo                66 Days (Accel)
Chuyo               246 Days (Accel)  

Should get 4 SS and 2 DD during February.

Weapons
Armament        568 (16,637)
Vehicles        137 (203)

Expansion occurring here in the Home Islands and Manchuria.
 
Aircraft
Engines         1,554
Assembly        868 + (182-Rd)

Such small numbers…

Engine Production
Type                Producing---Need---Stockpile
Mitsubishi          865—650—709
Nakajima           569(75)---587---16
Kawasaki          100---0---205
Aichi               20---0---34

Nakajima is close but it should expand enough to balance needs and then start building a stockpile.  Want to see these numbers (Nakajima) grow even more so will probably expand Factories another 100-150.

Plane Production

Fighters            Planes/Month (in Pool)
Nate               0 (190)
Claude             0 (278)
A6M2               183 (37)
A6M3               37-Rd              04/42
A6M3a             0-Rd               11/42
Oscar              132 (26)
Oscar IIa          12-Rd              11/42
Tojo               74-Rd              08/42
Tony               14-Rd              08/42
Jack               6-Rd               10/43
N1K1 George  31-Rd              05/44
Frank 1a           0-Rd               08/44  

We get Franks in 2 YEARS and 6 MONTHS!  [8|][8|]  Banzai!!!  [:D][:D][:D]
 
Seriously…  

Naval Production:  A6M2 coming up nicely and want to see the figure settle around 200/Month.  The A6M3 will be good to place land Daitai into.  Will keep George moving along but expand Jacks to try to get them in early.  LOVE those planes!  

Army Production:  Want Oscar up to about 150/Month.  Bard prefers Tojo since it uses the same engine as Frank so we are banking on getting those planes in a month or two early.  Tony will supplement the Tojos.  Once we get a decent number of these types then all research goes into MISTER Frank.
 
Bombers
Nell                  0 (228)
Betty                 56 (6)
Betty 2              7-Rd                07/43
Sally                 54 (11)
Helen                46 (20)
Lily                  40 (12)
Val                   57 (132)
Kate                  64 (92)

All bombers are expanding some.  These numbers are pretty firm for where we are at in the war.  Will definitely put some research into Judy, Jill, Frances, and Peggy to try to bring them in early.

Recon/Float
Mavis               0 (21)
Emily               16 (8)
Dave                0 (24)
Alf                 5 (24)
Pete                0 (16)
Pete A              38 (4)
Rufe                22 (45)
Glen               4 (22)
Dinah               31 (3)
Jake                34 (62)
Ida                 0 (81)
Babs (Ki-15)    0 (62)
Babs (C5M)     8 (15) 

We can do a lot of work in this area by focusing on just a couple of seaplanes.  Want to see Emily expansion occur.  Cannot overestimate the value and vulnerability that these planes have for our side!

Transports
Tina                 20 (7)
Sally                5 (2)
Topsy              25 (7)
Mavis-L           8 (11)
Tabby             20 (6)

The same focusing comment can be applied to this category of planes too.  We lost a BUNCH of Transports with the Burma Operations and they are restocking while we prepare for the next Parachute Operation.  

Will are converting several units to Tina for that long-range power projection ability and I think Brad likes Tabby as our mainstay.  

[John 3rd]

  I am SOOOOOOOOOO sick of typing a report, cutting and pasting it into this editor, making sure everything looks good and is lined up, and posting it to only find out that IT IS ALL SCREWED UP! 

I then go back in an re-space everything... 

Is there technique for doing this that I do not know??? 

[Jaroen]

Your AAR's are a great read John together with the other players contributing of course. I love the excitement when both parties plan and discuss strategies. Always fun to follow up on results from an outside position. In Dutch we have a sayin which goes something like: "The best navigating officers are on shore.". Which in English would be "The best horseman is always om his feet.", or something such.

I have commented on the historical capture of Balikpapan en Palembang before and I think there may be an interesting sidenote on the game situation. I'm not certain if it has been discussed before but it doesn't hurt to mention again. The matter is that the oil installations in Palembang were taken relatively intact after Japanes paratroops landed on them / close to them. The surprise of the paradrop may very well have saved the installations. This may also be true in-game. Would it help if paratroops are present when doing the first and/or final assault?

Good luck!

[Q-Ball]

Jaroen;

Intel reports 11 units at Palembang; it appears to be all the Dutch units from Southern Sumatra were moved there, since all other bases appear empty. That is too much for a Para drop to overcome, or at least the Paras we have available, which is one battalion basically.

I am using them though to drop on Djambi; the reason is to cut retreat. We want those 11 units to surrender.

The Palembang invasion sails in a day from Batavia; it's already loading. Should land around the 7th or so.

It's probably smart to load that hex up with engineers, and I'm worried about that. That's why we are bringing so many troops they should be able to take it on one Deliberate attack (over 500 AV). Better safe than sorry. Hopefully the damage won't be too bad.

[ny59giants]

I would divide your BB & CA into two bombardment TF and make continuous runs into Palembang. Their objective is to kill engineers, rinse, repeat! [:D]

[Canoerebel]

Too many needs, too few assets!  The Japanese need to bombard Singapore...and Palamebang...and elsewhere.  Ah, the challenges of WitP.  It'll be fun to see how John and Q-Ball allocate their resources.

[2ndACR]

I would be landing on Tkel (sp?) the southern base south of Palembang and marching overland. At least then you will not incur disruption etc to your troops except for the march to Palembang.

[John 3rd]

Brad--2nd ACR might be dead-on with that thought.  Why don't we go overland?  We aren't in a hurry for that target.

I think (since they have nothing to do) that we ought to nail Palembang with a BB TF and a CA TF.  Those were good thoughts above fellas. 

Singapore is going down now Gents.  Brad's last attack dropped the Forts.  He plans to hit it again tomorrow I think.

The Allies are putting up a fight over Dacca!  I raided it on the 1st and encountered some Hurricanes which I shot down.  Burma then added some more Zeros to the attack on the 2nd and it encountered 24 Flying Kittens with 17 Buffalo and Hurricanes.  The 58 Zero flying escort shot down 13 AVG and 14 Buf/Hur in exchange for 6 Zeros!  Brad made a comment to me that the Japanese learn when and where to fight in 1944 while flying inferior planes.  This is a MISTAKE by the Allies. 

Just sent this email to Brad:

I cannot believe they are fighting over Dacca.  The Allies are in for a rude surprise tomorrow.  I set over 100 Zero to Sweep the area.  They moved their bombers to Calcutta so tomorrow all my Betty with Escort will hit that!  Promises to be a bloody Allied round. 

The destruction of the AVG has HUGE implications that I am just putting my mind around this fact.  There is NOTHING until May that can compete with us.  When they get Spits at that point it will be more interesting.  If we can get our Tojo's even a month early we will be quite formidable in India.  Got to make sure not to lose excellent Oscar units before they upgrade.

Nandi is EMPTY!  Will fix that now.  Perhaps ego is involved but I already sent the SSF, SNLF units, and a BF for Gisbome.  Why not?

FUEL at Noumea!  Will reload and then head for some fun in the SE.

Grab Broome and life is good. 

As shown in the note, we landed at both Broome and Nandi this round.  Looks like we will have BOTH tomorrow.  The Allies MUST be having kittens...

[ny59giants]

Brad made a comment to me that the Japanese learn when and where to fight in 1944 while flying inferior planes. This is a MISTAKE by the Allies.

I disagree. [:-] They need to fight over "THEIR" AF, not yours. They need to get their experience up to over 60/65 before they become effective. Yes, they will lose aircraft, but few pilots. Your having this happen to you (John) in your game vs Dan. I would be fighting "tooth and nail" over Dacca and Calcutta at this point. They need to survive to 1 May in India.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

I would be landing on Tkel (sp?) the southern base south of Palembang and marching overland. At least then you will not incur disruption etc to your troops except for the march to Palembang.

I thought of that, but moving over the river will trigger a shock attack on Palembang. Isn't that bad for the facitilies? Anyone know?

If it doesn't make a difference, that would be better. I already have Teloekbetong.

[Jaroen]

@ Q-Ball: the paradrop I mentioned isn't supposed to be the only attack. When a base is attacked (deliberate or shock) it will help dropping paratroopers to lower the defensive multiplier of the defending forces because those will do a bombardment (thus resembling the paradrop surprise). I believe this is in the rules?! In addition I think a paradrop will increase chances of keeping installations intact. I'm just not certain whether paratroopers are necessary from the beginning of a longer lasting attack or will do the trick with a last day jump when taking the base.

Historically the Palembang oil fields were surprise attacked by a smallish paradrop who were driven away without achieving much except for drawing attention long enough for land combat troops to come to the rescue and take the installations. I wouldn't be surprised if the game would actually resemble this . . . , but I never tested it.

[DW]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

  I am SOOOOOOOOOO sick of typing a report, cutting and pasting it into this editor, making sure everything looks good and is lined up, and posting it to only find out that IT IS ALL SCREWED UP! 

I then go back in an re-space everything... 

Is there technique for doing this that I do not know??? 

I don't know of any technique, but perhaps you could write your report, make a screen shot and post that instead of pasting it into the post?

Just a suggestion.

[John 3rd]

Maybe give that a try.  Good thoughts...

[John 3rd]

Haven't been posting here as often as I would like...

[John 3rd]

Finding the Allies is getting to be a difficult job for the Japanese...

[John 3rd]

Burma is highly fluid and the Allies certainly intend to make a fight of it so...

[ny59giants]

Sir John,
I think that the troops will keep moving towards their objective "IF" it is another base and not a non-base hex. Thus, if they set Imphal as their objective from Mandalay, they will continue to move in that direction. If they chose a non-base hex, then they are rest to their current hex after combat (including bombardment). You can attack them (ground and/or air) to increase their fatigue and disruption to slow down the rate of travel.
Michael


Edit: I would send about twice the amount of Glen equipped subs to Australia vs India right now. More Psych Warfare 101!!

[John 3rd]

Michael,

Thanks for the post.  I know you tried to call tonight but it wouldn't go through.  Very strange...

Call you tomorrow after 'treatment.'  [8D]

John

[modrow]

I am duly impressed by the advance of the Japanese - running like a swiss clockwork, or so it seems. Much more smooth than I would have thought possible. I stand corrected relating to my previous assumptions of possible victory disease.

This triggers a few questions...

- Do you feel you have encountered any major setbacks so far (I do not count reoccupation of a base or two in Burma by the Allied as such) ?
- Do you feel you should have done something different from how you did it so far ?
- Do you feel the Allies have already missed a good opportunity to thwart (sp?) your plans ?
- Do you have any real concerns about any theater or are you just feeling well and comfortable in your position ?

Thanks for your answers... - and as always, keep up the great AAR !

Hartwig

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: hartwig.modrow

I am duly impressed by the advance of the Japanese - running like a swiss clockwork, or so it seems. Much more smooth than I would have thought possible. I stand corrected relating to my previous assumptions of possible victory disease.

This triggers a few questions...

- Do you feel you have encountered any major setbacks so far (I do not count reoccupation of a base or two in Burma by the Allied as such) ?
- Do you feel you should have done something different from how you did it so far ?
- Do you feel the Allies have already missed a good opportunity to thwart (sp?) your plans ?
- Do you have any real concerns about any theater or are you just feeling well and comfortable in your position ?

Thanks for your answers... - and as always, keep up the great AAR !

Hartwig

Thanks for the compliment, and good questions.

The biggest problem at present is Singapore. It is 2/7, and the base still holds, despite a commitment of 4 Divisions plus engineers and tanks. We need to clear this before invading India, and they have to be pleased with it still holding. With Java gone though another Division is about to arrive, and 3 divisions are on the way from the Phillipines; that should clear it out.

Once Singapore falls, we are immediately loading up for India. The Phillipines troops are already prepping for Vizingapatam, and we have been collecting ships and supplies for a quick move after Singapore falls. Ideally, we want to hit the beach March 1, though I am not sure we make that target at this point. We will have about 8 divisions available initially, with another 2-3 Bdes following on.

Anything Different? Not sure what we would have done differently. Can't really say yet, maybe something around Singers, but I thought we had a good start there.

I think the Allies have made several mistakes. They got their forces split up in the Phillipines unnecessarily, and lost a bunch of cruisers in areas where they didn't have air cover. We are finding alot of territory empty, which only encourages the Japanese to push faster. The "Invasions" of New Zealand, Fiji, and Northern Australia are happening with ragtag collections of leftover units, but that's enough when there is no opposition.

The only real concern at the moment is Singapore. We have to take that.

I've learned alot from this game, and the thing I learned most is that the key to a quick Japanese advance is not troops or ships, but logistical planning. The only times we have had to pause, it's because we didn't have enough ships, supplies, or base forces to keep going. You have to plan ahead and have those loaded up and ready to go.

I don't know what the Allies could have done to slow us down. We took Java way too fast for them to reinforce (some players do that to slow Japanese down). Same with Noumea. They don't have the CV strength to challenge us in the SW Pacific (yet). I don't think they could have slowed us down, they could have avoided certain losses though.