VSWG vs. Gary - The Allied perspective

[VSWG]

February 20th, 1942

Philippines:

The news that arrived from Manila today are almost too good to believe...

1. The Southern Luzon Army defeated the entire 16th Army again and took Lucena! 2 Divisions and the Brigade should be wrecked by now. The Tank Brigade and a NFL unit that appeared at Lucena today were defeated for the first time. On to Naga, where two more units are waiting to be routed (1 Base Force for sure, and probably a construction unit). Naga is a wooden hex, but I think will be able to force another retreat to Legaspi, the final stand of the 16th Army...

Allied Shock attack at Lucena

Attacking force 18978 troops, 147 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 656
Defending force 41635 troops, 153 guns, 58 vehicles, Assault Value = 446

Allied max assault: 992 - adjusted assault: 1258
Japanese max defense: 283 - adjusted defense: 209

Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Lucena base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
383 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
925 casualties reported
Guns lost 32
Vehicles lost 1

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

2. 5500 supplies were captured at Lucena. [:)] Excellent, enough materiel for another week of heavy fighting.

3. The main body of the Northern Luzon Army marched 45 miles today (the pursuit feature brought them already 15 miles to Lingayen) and were ordered to attack the base. No serious resistance is expected, as the defending units are the defeated units from Clark Field. The NLA is ahead of its (tight) schedule! In order to secure its LOC to Manila units will be sent to Bataan ans Baguio.

4. Even better, Blenheims reconned northern Luzon today and reported no more units in Vigan, Aparri, Tuguegarao and Laoloag! These reports will be verified today by the Blenheims - still no naval attacks, since I don't want them to burn supplies by flying from a level 3 air field. Clark Field has still more than 70 runway damage because some IJA bombers from Formosa flew some inefficient ground attack missions on my troops that also inflicted some damage on the airfield, and the 301st Prov. Engineer Battallion hasn't moved from Manila to Clark Field so far - this is the only unit on Luzon that has enough engineers to fix the damage quickly.

5. Warhawks and Dauntless have arrived at Manila from Cagayan, but were ordered to stood down as they are too tired to fly missions. The LB at Cagayan have also stood down and will only fly some recon after executing some excellent ground attack missions against Japanese troops at Lucena today again - for the 4th time in a row!! Those guys are the true heros of this campaign... [&o]



Burma:

Gary didn't use the opportunity created by my failed shock attack at Meiktila yesterday and ordered only a bombardment attack. I think this front will be stable for a while.


DEI:

Operation Apple Strudel is off to a bad start: the KNIL Rgt at Madioen marched only 22 miles towards Malang. Maybe the two Regiments that arrived from Kragen today will be faster, otherwise they won't make it to Malang before the Japanese divisions arrive at Madioen. This is not serious however, as Madioen, a wooden hex with 4 forts, was supposed to be my first line of defense anyway.

Java's northern flank is barely holding, the Japanese troops at Bandoeng reduced the last fort, but another one is already up again.

Japanese Deliberate attack at Bandoeng

Attacking force 6782 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 172
Defending force 9861 troops, 60 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 127

Japanese max assault: 142 - adjusted assault: 108
Allied max defense: 122 - adjusted defense: 83

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Japanese ground losses:
290 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
264 casualties reported
Guns lost 8
Vehicles lost 1


SWPac:

A few days ago I had set up a float plane base at Rennel Island, between the Solomons and Milne Bay. The air base icon attracked a large surface combat TF today that slaughtered AVD Heron. My fault, really: this TF was spotted yesterday, but I assumed that Gary wanted to set up his own float plane base at Rossel Island because that was where the TF was heading to, and because an AK was reported to be in this Tf. I should have moved the AVD anyway.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Rennell Island at 65,103

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CL Sendai
DD Kuroshio
DD Maikaze
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
AVD Heron, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

This TF is overkill for dispatching a single AVD, I assume something else will be happening here, soon. Unfortunately, my forces are bound by Operation Passenger and won't be able to interfere. BTW, all cruisers were smoking from too much wear'n tear.

SoPac:

DD Samidare, which was torpedoed by a PT boat at Canton Island 10 days ago, sinks near Tarawa.


CentPac:

An I-boat returned to Midway and sunk a MSW on mineseeping duty.

At San Francisco a troop convoy is forming, destination Fiji: 1 RCT, 1 large Base Force, 1 Aviation Rgt and 1 Air HQ (the latter will go to Savaii). Depending on what happens in the Solomons, these troops might be going to Koumac instead.

[Cap Mandrake]

Am I to understand it is Feb '42 and the Allies are on the offensive in Luzon [X(]

Good Lord. Are you trying to make us feel bad?

[Yakface]

As a JFB - this is one ugly game.

[DuckofTindalos]

Damn, what the <BLEEP> went wrong here?[&:][X(]

[Luskan]

Allied Fanboys secretly hacked the game code shortly after beta.
&nbsp;
Either that or us JFBs are getting steadily dumber.

[timtom]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

February 20th, 1942

SWPac:

A few days ago I had set up a float plane base at Rennel Island, between the Solomons and Milne Bay. The air base icon attracked a large surface combat TF today that slaughtered AVD Heron. My fault, really: this TF was spotted yesterday, but I assumed that Gary wanted to set up his own float plane base at Rossel Island because that was where the TF was heading to, and because an AK was reported to be in this Tf. I should have moved the AVD anyway.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Rennell Island at 65,103

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CL Sendai
DD Kuroshio
DD Maikaze
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
AVD Heron, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

This TF is overkill for dispatching a single AVD, I assume something else will be happening here, soon. Unfortunately, my forces are bound by Operation Passenger and won't be able to interfere. BTW, all cruisers were smoking from too much wear'n tear.

This could be the recipe for an ambush (on your part) sometime in the future...add CV's and stirr

[Ron Saueracker]

Hiya Martin. This AAR is a really well done treat. Too bad Gary is proving to be a somewhat careless and overly wanton and aggressive player.

As for your comment...

It's a bit weird that so many fighters escorted the Dauntless, though, CAP was set to 90%.

I've seen this anomaly so often I truly believe that CAP settings have absolutely no impact on whether the fighters can "also be available for strikes" unless set to Long Range CAP, thoroughly making the air ops model as much of a lost cause as the truly wonky land model and the questionable dinosaur that is the naval model. Joe, Don and the Mikes have their work cut out for them if any improvements to these areas have been OKay'd by the brass.

[ny59giants]

A word of caution before you get a case of the dreaded "Victory Disease" in regards to your Luzon adventure. [:D]

If I was Gary, I would be forming a invasion TF to land behind your troops and cut them off from getting back to Manila. You need to keep the the frontlines strong to continue your push, but think about keeping your Armor as a quick reaction force to prevent this possibility.

Hopefully, Gary doesn't do this, but I would prepare for it. [;)]

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Am I to understand it is Feb '42 and the Allies are on the offensive in Luzon [X(]

Offensive? I prefer to call it 'MacArthur's private little Blitzkrieg'. [:D] [Of course he hasn't been in charge of USAFFE since day 2. A chap called K.A. Joyce has replaced him (good land, good admin rating), and is apparently doing a stellar job! I'll definitely send a MTB for him...]

Good Lord. Are you trying to make us feel bad?

Nope. I'm a selfish person: I'm trying to make me feel good. [;)]


Yakface, Terminus, Luskan,
nice to see you guys reading this AAR. [:)]

ORIGINAL: timtom

This could be the recipe for an ambush (on your part) sometime in the future...add CV's and stirr

That is a very good idea! Luganville comes to mind... But it will have to wait a while (US CVs are at Pearl Harbor), and I would like to know where KB is before pulling such a stunt.


Ron,
I have to make a little confession here: I reloaded that turn, and what can I say... I had forgotten to reset the CAP... it was still at 50%. [:o] So I do think the CAP setting limits the number of escorts. It does NOT limit CAP in case no escorts are needed, so house rules involving a limitation of carrier CAP settings ("not more than 50%", for example) to avoid naval UberCAP do not work IMO.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

A word of caution before you get a case of the dreaded "Victory Disease" in regards to your Luzon adventure. [:D]

If I was Gary, I would be forming a invasion TF to land behind your troops and cut them off from getting back to Manila. You need to keep the the frontlines strong to continue your push, but think about keeping your Armor as a quick reaction force to prevent this possibility.

Hopefully, Gary doesn't do this, but I would prepare for it. [;)]

Now this is very good advice! Manila is virtually undefended right now, only half the Corregidor CD guns (the other half fell with Bataan), an AA unit, USAFFE HQ and two base forces are present. So far I have only thought about a less risky variant: a Japanese invasion at Lucena or Naga (should I conquer it) to cut off the Southern Luzon Army from Manila.

I think I can risk some more days of an all-out offensive, though. MTBs are around and will cause Gary some headache, and 7 submarines started to operate around Luzon and will guard the ports. Soon I will have Clark Field operational, so such an invasion would need carrier support. He would need at least a division to risk such an invasion, too. So while this is not impossible, it would take Gary a while to gather such a fleet. I will start rotating out one Reserve Div. of the Southern Luzon Army as soon as I have captured Naga, and will do the same with the Norther Luzon Army as soon as I can judge the amount of resistance in northern Luzon. The Tank Rgts are too valuable to keep as static reserve, they will operate in northern Luzon.

[VSWG]

I'm keeping track of all Japanese units, here are the the major combat LCUs:



I have no clue where the 56th Division and the 56th Brigade (both start the game at Fukuoka) could be. Maybe they are still at Fukuoka, in which case they could participate in a second Luzon campaign, as well as the 38th Division at Canton, which might or might not be still in China. The 31st Division has probably moved into Burma by now, I'll try to fly more recon.

Of course Gary could have bought some stuff from Manchuria by now, and there are lots of smaller units available to him. He wouldn't need much to stop my offensives on Luzon... I'd say the limiting factor is shipping, and especially escorts, not LCUs. A Dutch recon flight confirmed that there are approx. 100 ships at Balikpapan, which is where the first Java convoy retreated to. Then I have spotted quite a number of APs around Luzon yesterday, so it seems that he does have the APs in the area to act quickly.

[ny59giants]

I played chess for many years and was better on the defensive than the offensive.

I also like Napolean and his style of getting the other side to see one thing while he did another. He would have made both Guderian and Rommel look like amateurs!! [:D]&nbsp; [:D]&nbsp;&nbsp; I say this because some of the things Gary is doing or more specifically, not doing confuse me.

Be careful and find where KB is lurking. . . .&nbsp;&nbsp;
How long would it take him to have it go from Canton Island to Luzon??

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Lox a-lordy ! .. Offensive in Java .. I bet gary won't see that coming at all. With the PI rapidly being re-conquored and if you can stall him long enough in java he'll be having kittens with worry. Looks like the weak PI assault has rebounded badly on him.

allied victory in 43 ? quite possible by the looks of it. Keep the PI alive long enough for the allied Essexs and co. to bully through a few HUGE convoys in 43 and it's all over bar the shouting.

This is one fun ( and very well presented game) [&o]

I have to admit that I'm having some 'War Plan Orange' thoughts myself. But those are pipe dreams, I won't hold Luzon until the first Essex arrives, all Gary needs are some fresh combat units - a couple of NLFs would already stall my offensives at Naga or in northern Luzon.

To be honest, I don't think I will be able to eliminate the Japanese divisions in southern Luzon, but I might force another retreat from Naga despite it being a wooden hex. But moving the entire SLA to Legaspi is very risky, as it could be cut off from Manila easily.

Northern Luzon can easily be reinforced from Formosa by air transport, fast transport or APs/AKs. I guess I will be seeing some new units here soon, so I probably won't be able to push the Japanese into the water here either. But I'll try... [;)]

Summary: this Luzon campaign won't be a decisive victory, but it could stall Gary tremendously on other fronts. As I said, every Japanese ship, plane and LCU that he will now have to move to Luzon is already a victory for me (and even more if it will be damaged/sunk/destroyed), because it will be missing on the outer perimeter.

The Luzon Campaing is only in a tactical sense an offensive (it really is a little Blitzkrieg ATM), but its strategic nature is defensive: its aim is to force Gary to send more stuff to take Luzon. Now Operation Passenger is exactly the opposite: its tactical nature is defensive (I'm building up a base in SoPac), but it is a offensive in a strategic perspective: it will be the starting point of the first Allied offensives in SoPac. More on that later...

Oh, and that move on Java is really more a raid to cut the supply path. A nuisance that will delay the fall of Java for some days should it succeed, nothing more.

[VSWG]

February 21st, 1942


Philippines:

Another day, another Japanese base falls... Lingayen this time. All 125 resource centers are intact [:)],&nbsp; but only approx. 1500 supplies were captured. [:(]

Ground combat at Lingayen
&nbsp;
Allied Deliberate attack
&nbsp;
Attacking force 19238 troops, 113 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 540
Defending force 11613 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 52
&nbsp;
Allied max assault: 544 - adjusted assault: 517&nbsp;
Japanese max defense: 41 - adjusted defense: 75
&nbsp;
Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 0)
&nbsp;
Allied forces CAPTURE Lingayen base !!!
&nbsp;
Japanese ground losses:
201 casualties reported
&nbsp;
Allied ground losses:
68 casualties reported
&nbsp;
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

The 4 retreating units that the NLA is chasing since Clark Field are:

• Yokosuka 1st SNFL (a paratrooper unit, nice!)
• 12th Const Bn
• 4th Aviation Rgt
• 21st Air Flotilla

No shock attack/pursuit this time as I don't want to suffer unnecessary losses/disruption - my troops are moving fast enough anyway.

Dozens of recon flight were flown from Manila and Cagayan (I'm a big fan of recon. Don't leave the house without it!), and the two units at Bataan were identified: the Sasebo 1st SNLF and the 32nd NLF are here. I didn't expect two combat units, to one Tank Rgt was ordered to reinforce a small INF unit marching to Bataan. These two units have to be pinned down before they can move to Clark Field. The second Tank Rgt. and a Reserve Div. will arrive at Baguio tomorrow.

Another heavy bombardment TF appears in the South China Sea - this is a serious threat to the advance of the NLA, I hope the MTBs and submarines cause the TF to spend some ops points. In case Gary wants to bombard Manila (doubtful), 1 submarine and 2 PT boats will stay cover the Manila Bay.



East of Luzon a 10 ship convoy is heading for Naga. It might carry reinforcements, it might be empty and pick up the defeated troops at Naga. Anyway, CL Boise will finally make its appearance! [:)] Naval attacks will be flown from Cagayan (100 LB) and Manila (25 Dauntless), but the 50 Blenheims at Manila have been set to ground attack Naga, as they would probably attack the bombardment TF instead of the APs. I'm willing to risk this with the Dauntless, as they are repaired much faster. Two submarines have been ordered to Naga, too. Weather will be partly cloudy.

Two Reserve Divisions of the SLA are at Naga, the main body will follow tomorrow. One unit will bombard the Japanese in order to identify the 2 unknown units at Naga.

70 IJA bombers from Formosa flew another ground attack mission against a base force at Clark Field for almost no damage. Maybe if he would recon this base instead of Manila... And I have no idea why he is not trying to keep the airfield closed. Tomorrow it will be too late: the engineer unit has arrived and will repair the damage, and I have moved the 48 Hurricanes from Wuchow to Clark Field (65 runway damage does not close a level 8 AFB) to fly CAP.


Burma:

The unit moving to Meiktila turned left and has now reached Magwe, an undefended level 3 AFB. If I had known that I could easily stall the Japanese offensive at Meiktila I would have covered my flanks, too... Anyway, sooner or later I will retreat to Mandalay.


Malaya:

I started flying out the AIF Brigades and the Air HQ I missed earlier to northern Sumatra, where fast transport TFs will pick them up during bad weather. Thanks for the adivce, guys, from now on I'll concentrate on fewer units. I guess I could have saved a lot of PPs this way...

At Singapore the daily Japanese bombardment attack caused 213 casualties. No air raids since weeks.


DEI:

Java's northern flank at Bandoeng holds...

Ground combat at Bandoeng
&nbsp;
Japanese Deliberate attack
&nbsp;
Attacking force 6523 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 155
Defending force 7969 troops, 48 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 115
&nbsp;
Japanese max assault: 127 - adjusted assault: 45&nbsp;
Allied max defense: 112 - adjusted defense: 217
&nbsp;
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 1)&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
&nbsp;
Allied ground losses:
166 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

... but that unit on the coastal road has moved south again! Tijlitjap can muster only 65 AV, but has lots of second line troops and level 3 forts, so it will hold against everything but a brigade.

AP Tutukami Maru and AP Yoshinogawa Maru, both hit by Martins a few days ago, sink on their way to Kuching.

Operation Apple Strudel takes off! A KNIL unit marched all the way to Malang, the other two will stay and defend Madioen against the 2 Japanese division. Lets hope the Martins fly from Tijlitjap to support the shock attack. Should it succeed, the unit will march to Soerabaja and cut the supply line simply by being present. No need to take the base.


SoPac:

The 3rd wave of Operation Passenger is only two days away from the Samoan Islands. Annoyingly, an I-boat parks at Pago Pago, so I've sent the escorts on an ASW mission.


CentPac:

SS I-7 found a small tanker TF and puts 2 torpedoes into TK Maersk northeast of Pearl Harbor. 7 Wickes and Clemson class DDs and an AO leave Pearl Harbor to hunt this nuisance down.
&nbsp;

[VSWG]

February 22nd, 1942

Philippines:

The AKs east of Luzon are empty, and heading for Legaspi?? He's probably trying to evacuate the remnants of his divisions... [:)] Anyway, the LB from Cagayan took care of them, they are perfect ship-killers by now (70+ experience). CL Boise didn't make contact (no "TF XY retreats" message), and will now try to disturb the landings at Aparri (full speed, retire to Manila). She was spotted by Japanese planes, but not identified (I think). I might lose her tomorrow, but her chances to escape to Pearl Harbor are slim anyway, I'd rather see her die taking out Japanese transports.

The annoying attack on Manila destroyed many planes because the Blenheims and Dauntless didn't take off. The Dauntless have relocated to Clark Field (still 50 runway damage, -10) to attack the ships at Aparri after a sweep by some Hurricanes. Warhawks and the remaining Hurricanes will fly CAP today, hopefully they won't get caught by a large Zero sweep (where are Gary's Zeros? I have no idea...).

The Japanese cruisers were engaged by several PT boat TFs at night, but managed to sink 2 without losses before bombarding the units at Lingayen. Thankfully disruption and fatigue didn't increase by much, the NLA should reach San Fernando (and its 125 resource center) tomorrow. Apparently Gary is sending Kongo, Yamashiro, Fuso and Haruna to the Philippines (the latter two should be damaged, he seems to be desperate), I hope my subs and PT boats can prevent any nuke bombardments.



Shock attacks at Naga and Baguio were ordered today, both should succeed in taking these bases, especially as all LB are ordered to support these attacks. Gary seems to think the same, as the Dinahs have left Naga.

The ships at Aparri have unloaded a unit, probably the 19 Mixed Rgt. from China. I forgot to load a SigInt report into Bodhi's utility a few days ago, and in this report the 19th Mixed Rgt. was reported to be on an AK, heading for Lingayen. The convoy probably got redirected to Aparri when Lingayen fell. That's a unit with 200 AV... It's time to start thinking about how much further north I should send the NLA...

DEI:

Well, the attack at Malang kind of succeeded although the Martins didn't take off. If they do tomorrow (forecast: clear) the KNIL Rgt. might be able to take the base.



The troops at Madioen will probably loose their retreat path tomorrow, there seems to be a tank unit on the northern railroad. The Tijlitjap Garrison Bn. with cut its supply path and then chase it, but most likely this won't work and the troops at Madioen will surrender there.


SWPac:

A BB and a CA are reported from Rabaul, looks like something will happen here soon. Maybe an attack on Port Moresby.


SoPac:

Tomorrow the 3rd Wave will start unloading. Quite risky with KB and Mini KB awol, but it shouldn't take long, and weather is bad. I'm not completely defenseless, either, there are 60 2Es waiting at Suva. Savaii and Pago Pago are both level 3 air bases by now.




CentPac:

At Midway, a Coronado managed to score a hit on I-26.

A Japanese invasion convoy is heading for Christmas Island.

The convoy for Suva leaves San Francisco.

"Erm, what?!" you might ask... Yes, there's a Japanese convoy heading for Christmas Island, and the base is virtually undefended. Luckily, a Bde. of the 25th Div. might make it in time, and some Catalinas will fly in the fragment of the Marine Paras (15 AV, but I'll take it).

Lexington, Yorktown and Enterprise have left Pearl Harbor, Saratoga has 12 sys damage and can only make 29 knots. A bombardment TF around BB California, undamaged on Dec. 7th, has also left the harbor. It is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that my carriers will see combat - they will only lurk in the background, waiting for a chance to strike in case no Japanese carriers are around - and this invasion would be utter madness without carriers. I think the whole purpose of this operation is to lure my carriers out and sink them, so I will be very careful. Christmas Island isn't worth the loss of a single US CV - the last critical convoy carrying planes, units, supplies, fuel and oil to Australia is right now to the east of Christmas Island, and all following can be routed through Panama if necessary. It won't take long to reconquer this base anyway with PH so close. Actually I'm quite happy to see Gary so deeply involved in CentPac - the farther away from the Philippines, the better.



The length of the arrows indicates how fast the TF can move in a day. I have ordered the DDs to Christmas Island because I want to force Gary to show what he has in this area - they are expendable. ML Oglala will be late as always, but half of the Bde. should arrive before the Japanese convoy unless carriers will show up during the next day (and they probably will show up). The PT boats will arrive out of fuel, but there's some left at Christmas Island.

[ctangus]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

February 22nd, 1943

Looks like you & Gary got a lot of turns done in the last day or two! [:'(]

Great read, as always.

[VSWG]

Fixed. [:'(]

---

Edit: Might as well add some content to this post.

Here's a list of the Japanese BBs and CAs and their (last) known position:

BB Kongo (Kongo Class): 42 02 17 Naval bombardment of Tijlitjap, then sighted moving northeast, towards Kuching

BB Yamashiro (Fuso Class): 42 02 17 Naval bombardment of Tijlitjap, then sighted moving northeast, towards Kuching

BB Ise (Ise Class): 42 01 23 damaged in the Battle off Canton Island (1 TT, 3 bomb hits)
BB Ise (Ise Class): 42 02 23 repairing at Tokyo

BB Mutsu (Nagato Class): 42 01 23 damaged in the Battle off Canton Island (1 TT, 8 bomb hits)
BB Mutsu (Nagato Class): 42 02 23 repairing at Tokyo

BB Haruna (Kongo Class): 42 01 04 Hits a VH2 mine at Kuching
BB Haruna (Kongo Class): 42 01 09 damaged by 13 bomb hits at Kuching, several AA mounts destroyed

BB Fuso (Fuso Class): 41 12 22 torpedoed by sub
BB Fuso (Fuso Class): 41 12 23 torpedoed by Swordfish, moving towards Saigon

BB Hiei (Kongo Class): Position unknown, probably escorting KB

BB Kirishima (Kongo Class): Position unknown, probably escorting KB

BB Huyuga (Ise Class): 42 01 24 sunk during the Battle off Canton Island

BB Nagato (Nagato Class): 42 01 24 sunk during the Battle off Canton Island

CA Suzuya (Mogami Class): 42 02 21 TF at Rennel Island
CA Mogami (Mogami Class): 42 02 21 TF at Rennel Island
CA Mikuma (Mogami Class): 42 02 21 TF at Rennel Island
CA Kumano (Mogami Class): 42 02 21 TF at Rennel Island

CA Maya (Chokai Class): 42 02 23 bomarding Lingayen
CA Chokai (Chokai Class): 42 02 23 bomarding Lingayen
CA Ashigara (Nachi Class): 42 02 23 bomarding Lingayen

CA Tone (Tone Class): ? (probably with KB)
CA Chikuma (Tone Class): ? (probably with KB)
CA Myoko (Nachi Class): ?
CA Haguro (Nachi Class): ?
CA Nachi (Nachi Class): ?

CA Aoba (Furutaka Class): 42 02 13 at Canton Island
CA Kinugasa (Furutaka Class): 42 02 13 at Canton Island
CA Furutaka (Furutaka Class): 42 02 13 at Canton Island
CA Kako (Furutaka Class): 42 02 13 at Canton Island

CA Takao (Takao Class): 42 02 17 Naval bombardment of Tijlitjap, then sighted moving northeast, towards Kuching
CA Atago (Takao Class): 42 02 17 Naval bombardment of Tijlitjap, then sighted moving northeast, towards Kuching

Bottom line:

Out of 8 BBs, 2 have been sunk, 2 are probably with KB, 2 are damaged and 2 are in action in the DEI (now probably PI)
18 CAs: 4 are now in the Solomons, 3 are near the Philippines, 6 are missing (probably carrier escorts), 2 have been last sighted a week ago in the DEI, and 4 have been last sighted at Canton Island 10 days ago.

[VSWG]

Third day without at turn.



So I'm bored... any requests for screenshots/comments/statistics?

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

So I'm bored... any requests for screenshots/comments/statistics?

Would it be too much to ask for all of the above?

Great AAR by the way. . . well written, and an excellent learning tool.

[ny59giants]

Martin,
What are his losses in ships to date??
The amount of AP/AK lost should have the shipyards working overtime to replace them. [:D]

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

ORIGINAL: VSWG

So I'm bored... any requests for screenshots/comments/statistics?

Would it be too much to ask for all of the above?

No, but you would have to tell me about what topic/area. Unless you want me to take 80 in-game screenshots from all over the map, merge them into as single pic, comment on every unit/TF/squadron, and host it on a server. [;)]

Great AAR by the way. . . well written, and an excellent learning tool.

Thank you very much! [:)] Glad to see another reader!

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Martin,
What are his losses in ships to date??
The amount of AP/AK lost should have the shipyards working overtime to replace them. [:D]

Losses so far (February 23rd, 1942):

Code: Select all

        A	J
 
 CV/CVL	0	0
 CVE	0	0
 BB/BC	0	2
 CA	3       0
 CL	4	1
 CS	0	3
 DD	10	18
 APD	0	1
 AP	12	52
 AK	122     30	
 AO	4	0
 TK	19	0
 SS	8	7
 Aux	14	0
 ML/DM 	7	1
 MSW/DMS	10	20
 PG/PC	18	29
 SC	4	0
 PT	37	0

---

I think I've been harping on my victories a little too much in this AAR, and have downplayed my mistakes so far. To counter that, I herewith present you "VSWG's Top 5 Mistakes" in this PBEM (in no particular order)! [:D] Read and learn, dear readers... [;)]


VSWG's Top 5 Mistakes


1. Not sending enough fuel to SoPac/SWPac/Australia (Dec. 1941)

A typical newbie mistake. For the record, I did know from several AARs that I need lots of fuel here early on (especially in CHS), and I did send lots of TKs and AOs, but simply not enough. For instance, I've got 100,000+ oil closing in on Australia right right now, which is pure overkill. Those TKs should be carrying fuel instead. Doesn't matter anymore now (got a fuel depot at Pago Pago now), but it did hamper my operations in January.


2. AK/TK losses in the DEI (Dec. 41 - Jan. 42)

Even before the game started, I had decided to keep sending supplies to Singapore and Manila no matter what. This strategy caused tremendous losses in shipping when Gary took Kendari and Kuching early and based Nells/Bettys there. Losses to I-Boats were brutal, too.
In hindsight the recent events on Luzon seem to justify these losses as those AKs carried the supplies to Manila that I need to keep my troops on the offensive here right now, and I'm still holding Singapore. However, I could have been more clever in my tactic. Conventional wisdom is to send those AKs to and from Manila and Singapore in 1 ship TFs, and this is what I did. Now I think it would have been better to form convoys of 3-5 ships, and LRCAP them with some fighters or (if possible) move them from base to base and LRCAP the bases. Losses in AKs would have been probably the same, but my fighters would have attrited his torpedo bombers - a couple of damaged Nells here, a Betty shot down there, and suddenly Gary would be faced with a shortage of torpedo bombers, and might have been forced to send Zeros as escorts for his Nells/Bettys.


3. Operation Flying Mountain I & II (9th & 20th January)

You have already forgotten these two Operations? The 2 sweeps with my entire DEI fighter force against 60+ Zeros over Kuching? The screenshots are too depressing to post here again, but here are the links...

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6839/sweepdv2.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5180/kuchingdn3.jpg

Well, I still give myself an 'A' for effort and creativity, and an 'F' for forgetting about the Zero bonus (and the fact that in CHS AVG has lost the anti-Zero bonus). Without Flying Mountain I & II, I might still contesting the skies over Singapore and Java.


4. Defense of Java

Right now the combined assault value of all troops is approx. the same as on Dec. 7th, 1942. When this game started I decided to keep all Dutch garrison units where they are in order to force Gary to fight for every base in the DEI. This strategy has its merits, but Java should definitely see an increase in AV before Japan invades - if not Dutch Garrison units I should have sent some CW troops from Singapore or some Australian units. Right now I'm surprised to see how much resistance I can put up on Java, and I'm wondering what the situation would look like right now if I had sent at some combat units to Java.


5. KB's CentPac raid (21st January)

To be more precise: not moving several convoys between Midway and Pearl Harbor away from KB when it retired after its CentPac raid. I thought KB would move directly to Midway in order to support the invasion of Midway. Well, it didn't. It cost me CA Minneapolis, CL Trenton, CL St. Louis, 3 DDs, 2 PCs, 4 AKs and an AA Rgt - all could have survived if I hadn't been to lazy to move them out of harms way.

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Still no turn, BTW. [:(]