Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[rustysi]

Some nice results up above Mike. Congrats.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Most Excellent! Victory point score?

Japanese: 38,868
Allied: 18,741

2.07:1

Even though I don't really pay a lot of attention to that score, I do like seeing it north of 2:1. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

And no, I don't want to know what he'll have.

Actually he only gets one more Essex by the end of the year, so you should be good until then. Provided you keep the KB intact.[:'(]

That's sort of the key, isn't it? [:'(]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Some nice results up above Mike. Congrats.

It's nit picking and delaying. Nothing really war ending though. But I'm all about delay and the thousand cuts thing.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I’m sending in a single CM to try and drop some more mines there. She’ll arrive tomorrow. Keeping fingers crossed that she makes it back out.

Mike, do you still have the 4 sub mine-layers that you start the game with? They could make it in and out. They'll each drop 40 eggs if you have the inventory.

I'm down to 1 remaining. Close to 40 mines in supply right now. If you read on, you'll see Rabaul now has 150 brand spanking new mines and the CM is out of trouble.

[Mike Solli]

When his carriers are repaired, he'll have 3 Essex, 6 pre-war, 2-3 CVLs and all the little babies. Minus the CVEs, that's about 900 capacity. I'll have to count mine up. Don't have it handy. Off to work now. Later, guys!

[ny59giants]

Ted spread his bombers around today.

Manas: 100-80-96
Kavieng: 98-100-90
Rabaul: 44-96-97
Talasea: 0-100-36

How much AA do you have at these bases?

Without George or Franks, your best bomber killer are your Nicks.

You could get most of KB close enough to Manus or Kavieng and put up a large LRCAP to slow his bombers down. EDIT - Take off some DB/TBs and put on more Zeros. [;)]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli


It's nit picking and delaying. Nothing really war ending though. But I'm all about delay and the thousand cuts thing.

That is the attitude!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

China

My army is finally moving in to Chungking. There is some 200k troops including 100k infantry. There are some 640k starving Chinese. Tomorrow, I’ll put all my bombers on Chungking to beat up the infantry more. By the way, I have >1600 guns in the army. I’m planning on bombarding for a while. No real hurry. My goal is to liberate Chungking before the end of the year.

This will be interesting. I've never been able to liberate CK starting this late. Even when I get the forts down to zero, which is frightfully painful (takes me about one month per fort level) there are just SO many CHI squads that I can never get the 2:1 ratio needed.
Granted I am playing AI, and more importantly Ironman so the CHI units have been increased (but I haven't run the numbers to know exactly how much). In stock it may be possible, I've just never tried ...

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Today, Manus was the primary target of the Allied bombers. The Oscars there were worthless.

Yeah, Oscar as an interceptor is not ideal. Low: DUR, Armament, climb, speed. Yeah, not really a good match to the mission. Tojo fits the bill better. If only it had 2x20mm CL guns ... sheesh, if we're gonna dream; 4x20mmm CL guns.

I tested that once ... good thing for the "greatest generation" that IJ never did that, some of us wouldn't be here because USAAF bomber casualties would have been a lot higher.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli


Manus was swept by 6 P-40Ks and defended by 24 Oscar IIIas, losing an Oscar to 2 P-40s. Really? [8|]

Without seeing the replay, I can't say for sure but here's my guess. You likely have your 24 Oscar on a 50% CAP/20rest mission. Something like that.
Even at 100% CAP only a max of 8 will be in the air, 8 more will launch within 5 mins, the last 8 within 30 mins. So, it was really more like 8 Oscar v 6 P-40 initially, so 1:1. Then your 5 min launch craft likely hit the stragglers and got one more.
Just me guessing, but you could watch the replay again and see ....

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

This will be interesting. I've never been able to liberate CK starting this late. Even when I get the forts down to zero, which is frightfully painful (takes me about one month per fort level) there are just SO many CHI squads that I can never get the 2:1 ratio needed.
Granted I am playing AI, and more importantly Ironman so the CHI units have been increased (but I haven't run the numbers to know exactly how much). In stock it may be possible, I've just never tried ...

Ok, I took Chungking around Oct 43. However, I didn't have enough time to relocate the troops to where they were needed after that -- in my case Vietnam and Marianas and then Hokkaido. In hindsight, I probably would have been better off surrounding Chungking, and moving the bulk of the troops into other positions much earlier. Six of one, 7 of the other though. Scenario 1 game.

[rustysi]

But I'm all about delay and the thousand cuts thing.

What else can Japan hope for?

When his carriers are repaired, he'll have 3 Essex, 6 pre-war, 2-3 CVLs and all the little babies. Minus the CVEs, that's about 900 capacity. I'll have to count mine up.

You should have about that many. IIRC correctly you've only lost one. Heck with your reinforcements you may even exceed him by a few.

[rustysi]

I probably would have been better off surrounding Chungking, and moving the bulk of the troops into other positions much earlier.

I kinda go along these lines myself. What do others with more experience, especially late game, think of this idea.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I probably would have been better off surrounding Chungking, and moving the bulk of the troops into other positions much earlier.

I kinda go along these lines myself. What do others with more experience, especially late game, think of this idea.

Absolutely take the city ASAP. It's worth the very heavy casualties.

The "surround and isolate" argument has merits if the Allies are banging on the inner perimeter in '42, but otherwise taking the city is the best option as it frees up the greatest number of troops.

Not just combat troops either. You can min/max on the garrison requirements to free up the better quality troops for elsewhere, as well as gut China of the aviation and engineer units, as well as move the aircraft needed to keep Chungking suppressed over to other duties. If you get the resources and industry fairly intact too then it's the icing on the cake.

Also not to be neglected is the psychological factor of knowing there's no possibility of Allied actions over a vast section of Japanese territory.

[Mike Solli]

We'll see what happens in China. I'm with MM here. I want it to be mine so I don't have to worry about it, ever. Then I can pull out as many troops as possible. Some of them are pretty highly experienced. But, I'll pull out the trashed units first. They're cheaper to buy.

SE Fleet - well, unless I can get an airfield or two fixed, there won't be much in the way of my fighters vs. his bombers. I am using KB to ambush some though. Guess I should post the next turn.

[Mike Solli]

29 Jul 43

Sub War

One hex SE of Cam Ranh Bay, the Shark torpedoed and sank one of the tiny Type-1 TS tankers, a 1250 capacity one. She was hauling oil. She was one of 22 (now 21) of these tiny tankers hauling oil and fuel from Miri/Brunei to Cam Ranh Bay. Then I was hauling the stuff in big (11.6k) TKs to the Home Islands. Time to change things. CRB is now done as a hub and I’m going to find some moderate sized TKs (probably Std-A/B and/or Type-1 TM (8150 capacity)) to haul directly from Miri/Brunei to the Home Islands. It’ll save on fuel too. Not sure what I’m going to do with all those tiny TKs, but there’s a use for them somewhere.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

The DD Cummings (Ted is calling her the DD Boise) happened to find an AV sitting at Makin (augmenting naval search in the area) but ran away without engaging. Then she found my carriers but again ran away without engaging. She will pay for her insolence.

The invasion of Tabiteuea finally commenced. The 90 Regiment landed about half its strength and did a half-hearted shock attack which disabled some squads on both sides. Tomorrow, I’ll rest them because they are fatigued and disrupted, while landing more (or maybe all) of the regiment along with some more supply. My carriers continue to hover in the area protecting all. They did send 18 Vals after DD Boise hitting her with a single 250kg bomb. At the time she was fleeing to the south. Hopefully, that’ll slow her down enough to put her under for good tomorrow. She did manage to shoot down a Val. That was my only pilot loss today.

SE Fleet

Interesting things are going on in this area today. I think Ted is finally realizing that my major airbases (with the notable exception of Gasmata) are all pretty much destroyed and he can use fewer sorties at each base to “maintain” the damage. He sent sorties against Manas, Kavieng and Rabaul. Like I said, Gasmata has no damage and, interestingly, is getting supply overland (I guess) from Rabaul. It is slowly increasing, which is good. I haven’t stationed any aircraft there because they’ll suck up the supply, but I digress. I have no operational fighters at any of the bases, but they wouldn’t fly anyway.

I did have a bit of good fortune. My carrier CAP leaked over Namatami (the dot hex to the NW of Shortlands, where that former garrison fled). Half a dozen B-25s were on their daily training run bombing the remnants of the garrison and were met by 7 highly experienced Zeros from KB. All the bombers were shot down for no loss.

KB found a small TF sitting at Munda and attacked it twice using a total of 18 Kate, 32 Jill and 45 Judy sorties. The net result was the sinking of AKs (NOT xAKs) Cetus and Draco along with DD Case. In addition, DD Patterson took 3x 500kg bombs but was not reported sunk. I’m pretty sure she’s gone because there are no ships in or near Munda visible. Here’s the weird part. The AKs were loaded. Ground losses were 0 combat, 227 non-combat destroyed and 20 disabled, 0 engineers and 315 vehicles destroyed and 20 disabled, but only 15 troops lost. Hmmm…

Ted admitted that he sent a base force there and it went in 2 convoys. The troops had already arrived and the TF that was destroyed carried the equipment.

The Allied troops lost did jump by 80 today. That’s 240 squads, right? I need to check to see the composition of a navy base force. That one was trashed. Yay, KB! More tiny cuts!

I’m shifting KB north to be within range of Rabaul and Kavieng tomorrow. Hopefully, the fighters can take out a bomber or two and gain more elite pilots.

Ted did another nasty little invasion today. He flew in a slice of the 2 USMC Paratroop Battalion to take Namatami, the unoccupied dot hex at the south end of the island where Kavieng is. It’s 1 hex east of Rabaul. According to intel (the local dog population?) some 450 troops landed. I’m flying an SNLF to Kavieng to march south but I think I’m going to also fly some IJA paratroopers sitting at Truk right onto the base. That place is definitely too close to home to be an Allied base. Tomorrow, I’m going to detach the 4 Kongos from KB for a visit too.

Manas: 100-80-94
Kavieng: 98-100-98
Rabaul: 44-98-97
Talasea: 0-100-29, this is the only airfield that is repairing. Hopefully, it stays under the radar.
Gasmata: 0-0-0

SRA
Burma

Nothing to report.

China

My Chungking invasion army will reach Chungking tomorrow. Then the ground bombardment will begin. The air bombardment has been going on for months. Today, I changed all my bombers to concentrate on Chungking. I’ll get a bomber count for you tomorrow. I’ll post the bombardment so you can see what’s there on both sides. I’m really curious to see how much Chinese AV is there. They’ve been down to minimal calorie count for a long time and there are a LOT of mouths to feed.

Speaking of feeding, I’m starting to see the occasional yellow “!” pop up in China. I’m shipping another 60k supply there to ease things. I’ll probably ship another 60-120k there in the near future. They’re going to need it with all that artillery banging away.

Other Stuff

The N1K2-J George R&D advanced to 1/44 (will become operational 9/43). There are 6x30 factories researching along with 25(5), 21(9) and 18(12) still repairing.

The Ha-43 engine R&D advanced to 4/45. There are 1x60 and 1x30 factories researching with two more that are at 25(5). In 5 days, my research efforts will double. Yay! I estimate this engine to be operational in 5/44, and there’s absolutely no amount of whipping I can do to change that.

Now that I’m getting better fighters, I’m having issues with them because some of the good ones aren’t SR1. I’m going to take a hard look at some of my fighter training units and decide which should convert to operational units. Most of my fighter airframe pools are filling out nicely so I can afford more operational units. Couple that with the fact that some of my planes are SR3, I need more operational units to be able to keep sufficient numbers of fighters in the air.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

This will be interesting. I've never been able to liberate CK starting this late. Even when I get the forts down to zero, which is frightfully painful (takes me about one month per fort level) there are just SO many CHI squads that I can never get the 2:1 ratio needed.
Granted I am playing AI, and more importantly Ironman so the CHI units have been increased (but I haven't run the numbers to know exactly how much). In stock it may be possible, I've just never tried ...

Ok, I took Chungking around Oct 43. However, I didn't have enough time to relocate the troops to where they were needed after that -- in my case Vietnam and Marianas and then Hokkaido. In hindsight, I probably would have been better off surrounding Chungking, and moving the bulk of the troops into other positions much earlier. Six of one, 7 of the other though. Scenario 1 game.

Yeah, but Mike is starting on CK at what date? 6/43? I would guess you started your attack a few months earlier than that ... or not?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

This will be interesting. I've never been able to liberate CK starting this late. Even when I get the forts down to zero, which is frightfully painful (takes me about one month per fort level) there are just SO many CHI squads that I can never get the 2:1 ratio needed.
Granted I am playing AI, and more importantly Ironman so the CHI units have been increased (but I haven't run the numbers to know exactly how much). In stock it may be possible, I've just never tried ...

Ok, I took Chungking around Oct 43. However, I didn't have enough time to relocate the troops to where they were needed after that -- in my case Vietnam and Marianas and then Hokkaido. In hindsight, I probably would have been better off surrounding Chungking, and moving the bulk of the troops into other positions much earlier. Six of one, 7 of the other though. Scenario 1 game.

Yeah, but Mike is starting on CK at what date? 6/43? I would guess you started your attack a few months earlier than that ... or not?

I was in Chungking around July 24, 1943, took the northern bases and by Oct 1 thinking about taking Chungking , which at the time had 4,000 AV or so, I think it fell in about 8-10 attacks, and I think I tried to space out the attacks around 3-5 days. So she didn't fall till Nov sometime -- but I didn't find the date in my AAR.

[Mike Solli]

30 Jul 43

Sub War

The Amatsukaze hit the Triton with a depth charge off Truk. I typically see ~3 enemy subs hanging out there.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

There are 2 single DD TFs, composed of the Cummings and Abbot. They both found the invasion TF, but both declined combat when they saw the invasion fleet was escorted by 2 CAs (Aobas). Cummings got away, but Abbot (Fletcher class!) caught the attention of 18 Vals and was hit by a single 250kg bomb which caused a magazine explosion. Goodbye Abbot! [:D]

In the afternoon, 25 Nells, from Roi-Namur, and 18 more Vals hit the enemy troops on Tabiteuea. I knew they would cause few casualties, but I just wanted to increase fatigue and disruption on the enemy troops.

I had planned on resting today, but apparently, when more troops land they trigger another shock attack at an atoll. Turns out that did the trick. The 11:1 shock attack destroyed the 5 Marine Defense Battalion and the 821 Engineer Aviation Battalion, also destroying a few Coronados as well. That was the purpose of this operation. I wanted to keep enemy naval search at arms length.

Now, I want to get the last of the AS/engineers ashore to repair damage and build forts. I'll also replace 90 regiment with a Naval Guard, and maybe an engineer company to build forts faster. I'd also like 10-15k supply so they are self sufficient for a while. The carriers will hang around until the invasion fleet completes its mission then will withdraw.

SE Fleet

KB (1&2) was hanging around east of Rabaul today. I sent an A6M5c daitai to LRCAP Talasea. The first engagement wasn't so hot, losing half a dozen to no Spitfire losses. [:-] Fortunately, it was over a Japanese base, so I lost 1 KIA and 4 WIA. Later, 15 SBDs showed up and I shot down 11. [:D]

KB didn't see any shipping, so they hurled a few Judies at Namatanai to give the Marines there a headache.

Allied bombers were spread around hitting Rabaul and Kavieng.

KB will move tomorrow. Enemy subs are starting to congregate.

Manas: 100-80-92
Kavieng: 98-100-98
Rabaul: 44-100-100
Talasea: 0-100-29, still under the radar.

SRA
Burma

Nothing to report.

China

My army arrived at Chungking today. Bombardment tomorrow.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

I-40, Glen sub, Central Pacific
E Mutsure, Etorofu class, ASW
SC Ch-48, ASW