The Turning Point: floydg (A) & Coach Z (J) -- Luganville liberated

[ny59giants]

How many and what missions are your transports planes flying in Burma?? I would keep them busy flying to keep your spearheads well supplied. This is the biggest area of concern until Rangoon is captured and you can bring in massive amounts of supply.

How are you using SE Asia HQ?? I like to have it at Imphal to pull in supplies and have it prepping for Mandalay to give you added offensive punch.

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

How many and what missions are your transports planes flying in Burma?? I would keep them busy flying to keep your spearheads well supplied. This is the biggest area of concern until Rangoon is captured and you can bring in massive amounts of supply.

How are you using SE Asia HQ?? I like to have it at Imphal to pull in supplies and have it prepping for Mandalay to give you added offensive punch.

Right now, my ~50 transports are shuttling a baseforce into Akyab. I don't seem to have many transport units in the India/Burma area...

Supply is decent right now. The troops at Mandalay are at about 85% of maximum and everyone else is topped off.
My supply situation in China is awful, so I've been using the transports to send goods there.

And the SE Asia HQ was sitting idle at Calcutta, so I've started them towards Imphal.

[ny59giants]

If you can get AKs up the western map edge to India from Australia, I would strongly consider getting most of your current transport planes to India. You will get a lot more later and with their short range, they are better suited for operations there then in the wide open Paciifc.
 
Send some American AKs to India. A few there will allow you to generate PT boats for a defense of bases like Akyab. Also useful for setting a fighter trap when he tries to kill them with FBs. [:D]

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

If you can get AKs up the western map edge to India from Australia, I would strongly consider getting most of your current transport planes to India. You will get a lot more later and with their short range, they are better suited for operations there then in the wide open Paciifc.

Send some American AKs to India. A few there will allow you to generate PT boats for a defense of bases like Akyab. Also useful for setting a fighter trap when he tries to kill them with FBs. [:D]

Good ideas. I'm gearing up for that now.

As for the PT boats, I just created a pile to defend Nanomea Atoll. Stay tuned for the results...

[floydg]

December 9, 1942

Highlights: CVL Shoho hit

• The SS Wahoo fires its last two torpedoes at the CVL Shoho, north of Nanomea Atoll and both connect. The captain notices a large explosion and then dives deep to avoid several ASW attacks.
• 34xB-24D and 6xHudson attack the Japanese ships north of Nanomea Atoll. The CAP of 64 planes loses 8 of their own, but downs 13 bombers and lets only a few in to make runs on the BB Yamshiro and BB Hyuga, both missed.
• Spies report the airfields at Changsha expands to level 5 and to level 6 at Darwin.

Analysis: The SS Wahoo got a good shot off on the Shoho. Hopefully, she won't make it back to port. [:)]
I'm not able to penetrate his CAP defenses to go after his carriers (Shokaku and Zuikaku, plus some CVL). I don't really have the aviation support in the area to beef up the defenses, so I'll just keep him busy.

[floydg]

December 10, 1942

Highlights: CVL Zuiho hit; DD sunk at Efate

• A PBY searching north of Nanomea Atoll locates the CVL Zuiho and hits her with a bomb. The SS Trusty, by Rangoon, is also hit by a search plane.
• Northwest of Mandalay, the Allies attack a portion of the Imperial Guards Division. In several waves, the Japanese CAP loses 11 Tojo and the Allies lose 4 fighters and 2 bombers.
• At Efate, 6 American DD's are searching for a Japanese sub reported in the area. The sub is located, but not before the DD Blue takes a torpedo and sinks. The SS I-155 does take a direct depth charge hit and several other minor hits.
• Spies report the airfields at Haiphong and Rabaul expand to level 7, the port at Derby expands to level 5. Allied engineers complete an important level 3 upgrade to the port at Canton Island.

Analysis: Search planes did well this turn, hitting the Zuiho. I don't know how bad it was, but now two CVLs are likely out of action in the Nanomea area, which leaves just two CV and a CVL. Of course, he could have his other CV lurking in case I come in with my carriers.
My first line of defense there is now the PT boats, second line would be the mines (almost 1000) and then the coastal guns (not many). I've been flying in an RCT, but it's been slow-going with no so many transports available (I know ny59giants advises me to move my transports to India - I just seem to need them everywhere...).
I have my four CV getting close, so this could be a nice battle. That area is getting interesting now.
And I now spotted his transports two hexes out of Nanomea, so I'll create a pile of PT boats to mess up his invasion, which has to be coming now.

I moved some DD's to Efate to take care of the Japanese sub I spotted there. Of course, the sub took care of one of my DD's first, but I did hit it, so hopefully it'll have to retire (or sink in the process).

[ny59giants]

You may need to strip a few areas of your PBYs and Coronados to use in the transport mode (use some of those 2e bombers in the short term). They have a good lift capability and better range than your transport planes.

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

You may need to strip a few areas of your PBYs and Coronados to use in the transport mode (use some of those 2e bombers in the short term). They have a good lift capability and better range than your transport planes.

Yes, that's a good idea. I've been doing it on a small scale, but I suppose I should use my idle capacity for some benefit.

[floydg]

December 11, 1942

Highlights: Naval action at Nanomea!

• Action at Nanomea Atoll:
  • At night, the Japanese surface ships enter the area around Nanomea Atoll. In the first round of combat, a group of 6 PT boats take on the BB Yamashiro, BB Hyuga, CA Takao, CA Suzuya and 6xDD. The PT PT-149 is hit three times and is sunk.
  • In the second round, 6 more PT boats take on the same Japanese force and score a torpedo hit on the DD Maikaze, but lose the PT-171, PT-173 and PT-174.
  • In the third round, 6 more PT boats take on that force and score another torpedo hit on the DD Maikaze and lose the PT-142 and PT-147.
  • The MSW W.13 attempts to sweep some mines at Nanomea Atoll and three PT boats attack, scoring a sheel hit on the MSW before it can run away.
  • The two BB and two CA then shell the island, doing minor damage, but the CA Suzuya took two shell hits and then the CA Furutaka (in a different TF) hit a mine.
  • In the afternoon, a few small air strikes are sortied against these ships and the Allies score one bomb hit on the CA Kumano.
  • The Japanese counter-attack with 16xBetty from Tarawa striking some subchasers at Funafuti, sinking the SC-705 and SC-706. Then a carrier plane attack on Funafuti does minor damage to the airbase.
  • Then several afternoon surface combats ensued, the first pit 5 PT boats on the CA Kumano, CA Furutaka and 5xDD. The PT-163 was sunk.
  • The second combat with these ships left the PT-172 sunk.
  • The third combat left the DD Kasumi with two torpedo hits and shell hit, but PT-143 and PT-145 were sunk.
• Outside Attu, six subchasers scored two direct depth charge hits on the SS I-171.

Analysis: I had 21 PT boats at Nanomea; 10 were sunk, but I think I held back the invasion (and damaged two CA, two DD and an MSW), since Coach Z insists that the bombardment TF was following the transport TF, but the transport TF never entered the hex, but the bombardment TF did. I have 6 more PT boats coming in, so hopefully this will delay him enough to give up. Or give me enough time to bolster the defenses. Either way, it makes it more costly for him.

[ny59giants]

I think your opponent and yourself need to read post #91 of
 
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2122165&mpage=4
 
as Don shows how to order in your TF when it comes to landing or naval combat at a base.

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I think your opponent and yourself need to read post #91 of

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2122165&mpage=4

as Don shows how to order in your TF when it comes to landing or naval combat at a base.

Thanks. I'll forward to Coach Z. Despite relishing when the game "hates" him, I prefer a combat/invasion to his constant whining...

[floydg]

December 12, 1942

Highlights: Nanomea invaded

• The Japanese again mix it up with PT boats at Nanomea Atoll. The PT-46, PT-47, PT-169, PT-170 and PT-166 are sunk in three engagements at night. But the PT boats do inflict some damage on the DD Oyashio with a torpedo and 4 shell hits.
• The Japanese unload troops at Nanomea Atoll (3xNaval Guard, 3xSNLF and the South Seas Detachment). Coastal guns do damage to most of the transports and some of the escorts. Two AP's hit mines.
• The Allies bomb a portion of the Imperial Guards Division near Mandalay. 35xP-40E and 8xMohawk face 20xTojo. Six Tojos are downed to 6 Mohawk and 4 P-40's. Almost no casualties are done to the troops by the 9 Wellingtons.
• Japanese carrier planes attack Funafuti and do minor damage to the base, but flak does down about 10% of the bombers.
• Allied MSW arrive at Luganville to search for mines. Instead of finding mines, 20 Betty from Lunga attack and put a torpedo into the MSW Shepparton.
• The Japanese troops secure a solid beachhead at Nanomea Atoll, despite heavy casualties unloading and in their initial assault.
• Allies attack at Efate, but the Japanese easily repulse them.

Analysis: The PT boats couldn't hold back the Japanese at Nanomea Atoll. The mines were a bit of a disappointment, as ~1000 mines only registered hits on two APs. The coastal guns did decently and most of the transports won't be picking up those troops. But his naval bombardments were enough to drop my level 3 forts down to 2 and gave him a 1-on-1. He did take about 4000 casualties in the unloading and attack, but that wasn't enough. I get the feeling that I won't last long there, so I'm gearing up to pound the place into rubble once he captures it.
It seems like things in Burma have slowed down, as I can't get a decent ground bombardment and I'm building up my fighters for a good sweep of his 60+ Tony CAP. I'm hoping to scrape together the 72xP-38 AVG and about 40 P-40E's. I hope that will be enough.
My attack at Efate failed (big 0-on-1), so now I need to wait again to recover the massive disruption. As far as Luganville is concerned, I'm getting ready to load up and make an invasion.
Oh, and my carriers are gathering near Wallis Island, but one of the SBD's spotted a sub, so maybe he has an idea what I'm up to... [:(]

[floydg]

December 13, 1942

Highlights: Nanomea holds

• The BB Hyuga, BB Yamashiro, CA Suzuya, CA Takao and 4xDD bombard Nanomea Atoll, doing moderate damage. The Japanese troops make another bold push, knocking down the last of the defending fortifications, but the Allies still maintain control of the base.
• Near Gili-Gili, the SS Seal puts a torpedo in the DD Shikinami.
• The Allies bomb Wyndham, causing slight damage.
• The Japanese expand the airfield at Inch'on to level 7.

Analysis: The naval bombardment is what put him over the top in the combat at Nanomea. He knocked down two fort levels and now I'm down to 0 with moderate base damage, so I'll have to hold the place with no forts. I am going to fly in another RCT to boost the defenses. I hope the damage on his transports wiped out most of his supply, which should slow him down enough for me to put up a decent defense.
On a whim, I decided to get his attention and bomb Wyndham. It's not really a strategic target at this point, but just reminding him that I can do it. And to keep his fighters spread thin by defending lots of places.
Which reminds me: he has a few locations with a lot of fighters (around 100). They are Port Moresby, Mandalay and Rangoon. Port Moresby is a waste for him, since I'm not planning to attack it, but I'm happy with him thinking I might. Mandalay is the one troubling me the most, so I've been building up about 130 fighters ready for a sweep... stay tuned.

[ny59giants]

Don't forget the importance of having enough support troops on the base that are NOT disabled to keep your Assault Value as high as possible. It may be too late for this, but remember to have your Command HQs prep for bases along with your troops. As long as they are within the 9 hexes (the hex their in counts towards this so it's actually 8 hexes [;)]), they will help with your combat results. You could use South or Central Pacific HQs for this along with an Army/Corp HQ in the base.

[floydg]

Excellent ideas. A bit too late for this conflict, though.

At present I'm a bit low on support at Nanomea, but the units being flown in haven't had all of their support flown in yet. Things are not all dark and cloudy right now...

[floydg]

December 14, 1942

Highlights: Airwar in Burma

• In the Kuriles, the SS Gunnel gets attacked by an ASW TF and takes a depth charge hit.
• In three engagements, the Allies sweep the area over Mandalay. At first, 60 Tony take on 28xBuffalo and 32xP-40E, with the Allies losing 27 aircraft to only 14 Tony, but it did weaken the Japanese, as the second round saw 23xP-38G take on about 44 Tony, shooting down 15 Japanese and only losing 2 of their own. The last round had 42xP038G face off against 34xTony, dowing 13 more Tony for 8 P-38Gs. All together, the Japanese lost over 40 to 37 Allied planes.
• Three American PT boats encountered the CA Kumano and 3xDD at Nanomea and the PT-44 was sunk.
• The Japanese troops attack at Nanomea Atoll and are repulsed, taking over 600 casualties to under 400 Allied.

Analysis: I had really hoped for better results over Mandalay in my sweeps, but I guess knocking down his Tony numbers was worth it. Unfortunately, I moved the HQ out of Calcutta and now I can't rebuild the airgroups until I get it to a base with 20K supply... [:(]
At Nanomea, my troops held since I started to bring in another RCT. His AV has really dropped off, so unless he reinforces, he may be in trouble. I assume he'll be bringing back his BB's to bombard again, but I'm thinking to pull out my CA/CL's from the carrier task forces and make a run up there for some of my own bombardment, which may put another dent in his action.

Question: I'm thinking about going after Hanoi (5xChinese Corp vs. what looks like just 1/3 of a Japanese divison). How does the Vietnamese militia activation work? Does anyone know? I can't find these units in the editor...

[ny59giants]

Question: I'm thinking about going after Hanoi (5xChinese Corp vs. what looks like just 1/3 of a Japanese divison). How does the Vietnamese militia activation work? Does anyone know? I can't find these units in the editor...

I took over for John 3rd in the 2x2 PBEM and we do have the 1st VM division activated. It shows up as ID - 1980, but in the Editor that is one of those reserved slots. There is no info there on it. You can activate three division when Vietnam is invaded at 1/3 strength.

Most players have a HR on needing to spend PPs to move Chinese LCUs out of China. Do you have one?? My first game vs Damian was because of this issue (I took over it in late 5/42).

[n01487477]

Floyd,
yeah these are activated when you move across the border one or two hexes, can't remember the exact location trip point. They (units) are hard coded into the game, if you want to see my game V Micheal I think I still have the file. In my game V Nemo, the Pwhex file is different and his forces never tripped it, so I didn't get them [:(]

PP's should be expended here ...

--Damian--

[floydg]

Thanks Damian and Michael for the info about the Viet Militia. I'm wondering if I cross with multiple units, would it trigger multiple times? And how powerful are they, really? I guess I'll find out when I do it. I thought I read somewhere that this "expires" at some point. If it's 1943, I'll wait a few weeks and then make the move.

We don't have any HR about Chinese units leaving China. But I do have quite a few Chinese units which started out with a HQ of Southeast Asia, and I have moved those into Burma.

[n01487477]

rule 8.8, p. 155:
"Each time an Allied unit moves into a border hex inside Indo-China (portion next to China all the way down to even with Hue), the Japanese will receive a Japanese (representing Vietnamese/Vichy French forces) militia division (up to a maximum of 4). Thus if 2 ground units move into a border hex, and then 1 unit moves from one border hex to another, 3 militia divisions will be formed. These militia divison will be formed in Hanoi, Haiphong, Luang Prabang, and Hue in that order, and they will be formed at 1/3 strength."

That's what the book says, but I don't trust that much ... In my game V Micheal I got 4 1/3 strength units, if I have time I'll play a few more turns of that game and see if it does actually happen each time. I have no knowledge about a time period time out.

Here are the units AV= 160/each (just the VM Divisions)

--Damian--