Illinois Yankee in the Showa Emperor's Court (Q-Ball v Canoe)

[janh]

I agree, recon (of Karachi) would be crucial to make a correct decision.  I wonder whether Karachi is doable, but maybe it is.  Maybe a quick surprise attack would in fact have a chance to succeed, but no ones has ever tried.

[Mike Solli]

Q-Ball, that's great news in the air.  What is your air strength in India?  Can you break it down by plane type?  I'm curious about what fighters you're using there.  Thanks.

[Lomri]

I don't think a CV battle near Karachi is as bad for CR as Bullwinkle makes it out to be. Damaged CVs can simply retreat into the worm hole and make for port. I am pretty sure they won't sink in the transit lanes, but I haven't tested this.

I kind of hate the idea of a CV battle near the edge of the map due to the oddity that is warping in and warping out. As much as either player wants to behave in a gentlemanly fashion, I doubt anyone could resist retreating into the transit lanes after a battle. Especially with no other safe ports around.

I would like to echo Bullwinkle's sentiment along the lines that Sir Robin should come with a noose. That being said when you put yourself in a do-or-die situation that is Karachi, you have essentially put your cards face up on the table. One needs to have a strong hand to do that.

Good luck in India, whatever you decide.

[edit] although on second thought, as painful as facing CD guns with 5+ divs is, you could in theory land at Karachi, and then pull out as a giant feint. That possibility makes my analogy of putting down your cards invalid. Not saying that is a GOOD idea tho!

[Alfred]

Damaged ships in transit off map can increase their flooding levels.

Also, if Q-Ball is concerned about landing in the face of CD emplacements at Karachi, there is always the option of landing alongside the Karachi hex and force his opponent to come out of his prepared defences if he wants to disrupt the Japanese landing.

Alfred

[Q-Ball]

Lomri: I didn't mention it before, but that is the exact reason that keeping CVs near Karachi late into the game is unwise. We are almost to the point that a CV fight could draw blood both ways. The Allies will have access to Karachi's airbase there, but most critically, I can't run down and finish-off any damaged US CVs; they can RUN OFF THE MAP. Mine can't, and in fact the nearest safe port would be Colombo, which is a long long way away. It is a terrible spot to engage in a CV battle for the Empire.

Mike: Zeros and Oscars, though that fight over Poona featured the combat debut of the TOJO. But mostly, the Tainan Ku unit racked up over 20 kills that day. It is a unit with alot of very good pilots.

It hasn't been all that one-sided; Dan shot down 9 of my planes for only 1 loss about 3-4 days ago over Benares, but I changed some settings and returned the favor the next day, shooting down 7 fighters and 4 bombers for 1 loss.

Hurricanes do relatively well, but once we get to the Blenheims, they die in droves

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Hurricanes do relatively well, but once we get to the Blenheims, they die in droves

Yeah, I see the same thing. I have little luck shooting down Wellingtons (but fortunately there aren't many) and practically no luck getting the B-17s. Thanks.

How do you like the Tojos? I'm not impressed, but I only had the prototype unit to play with (and it's down to 1 plane so it's now a training unit).

[cookie monster]

Nice AAR I like the pictures and your writing style.

Good luck with India.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lomri

I don't think a CV battle near Karachi is as bad for CR as Bullwinkle makes it out to be. Damaged CVs can simply retreat into the worm hole and make for port. I am pretty sure they won't sink in the transit lanes, but I haven't tested this.

Ships do sink in off-map transit. Trust me. [:(]

[John 3rd]

I was looking at the shipping losses and was stunned. What a different campaign. Lew and I are in mid-February and have that many ships sunk. Differing play syles really make an impact doesn't it?

Where are your CVs right now? Have you though about going on a massed raid?

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
How do you like the Tojos? I'm not impressed, but I only had the prototype unit to play with (and it's down to 1 plane so it's now a training unit).

I prefer the P-47 to the Tojo. But since I appear to be fresh out of P-47s in the pool, I guess I'll go with the Ki-44.[:D]

Seriously, it's the same answer as on most Japanese Aircraft; it's not that great, but it's the best I have. It is a better performer than the Oscar, and about on par with the Zero it seems in combat, maybe slightly better. They stink against 4Es, just like everything else.

I keep Oscars around, though, because they are fine for long-range escorts. Whatever you set to escort will get killed anyway, so they are good cannon-fodder to get bombers through to target. They are a good alternative to ZEROS for that, since Zeros are better dogfighters, and IJN pilots more dear. But OSCAR does have the range to escort BETTYS out to 12+ hexes, which is nice.

Everyone says Nicks are OK against 4E, but you don't get very many, and I haven't had much experience with it.

Japan's biggest problem is the lack of a cannon-armed fighter before the George.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Damaged ships in transit off map can increase their flooding levels.

Also, if Q-Ball is concerned about landing in the face of CD emplacements at Karachi, there is always the option of landing alongside the Karachi hex and force his opponent to come out of his prepared defences if he wants to disrupt the Japanese landing.

Alfred

Alfred, you beat me to it! Yes, ships in the transit lanes/boxes do alter their flooding levels. I currently have a RN BB limping to CT from Colombo with 60+ flood damge, and it's changed by 4 in the past two weeks (and not to the good.) That trip at my BB's damaged Cruise is 34 days in the lane, plus the on-map limp time from Colombo.

As far as bailing out to the Mid-East, yep, the wormhole is closer and the transit shorter, but Abadan has no shipyard (50 Naval Support in my game; don't know if that's original or recent), and Aden has a shipyard of 20 capacity. USN CVs could go pierside there, but could not stop major amounts of flooding. And they would be out of the game until Aden opened to the Med in mid-1943, plus transit time to the UK or EC, plus repair time. Into 1944 to be sure.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Hurricanes do relatively well, but once we get to the Blenheims, they die in droves

Yeah, I see the same thing. I have little luck shooting down Wellingtons (but fortunately there aren't many) and practically no luck getting the B-17s. Thanks.

How do you like the Tojos? I'm not impressed, but I only had the prototype unit to play with (and it's down to 1 plane so it's now a training unit).

Well speaking as an Allied fanboy with two scen #2 games going the tojo is a nightmare. It is better than any Allied fighter by far mostly due to speed and it's ability to fly higher. Given the scen #2 with the Japanese ability to produce so many, the tojo with the better pilots and better performance over any allied fighter allows the Japanese player to hold air superiorty at any point he want's to mass his fighters until the middle of 1943. The goal of the Japanese player should be to fend off any counter offensive by using attrition to keep the Allied fighter pool empty. The tojo is the plane for this. It's only real weakness is that for a Japanese fighter, it suffers from relatively short legs and is no more able to shoot down heavies than any other. Due to its service rating of one, I would build tojos over tonys if I was playing Japan. In an attritional battle service ratings matter.

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Damaged ships in transit off map can increase their flooding levels.

Also, if Q-Ball is concerned about landing in the face of CD emplacements at Karachi, there is always the option of landing alongside the Karachi hex and force his opponent to come out of his prepared defences if he wants to disrupt the Japanese landing.

Alfred

Alfred, you beat me to it! Yes, ships in the transit lanes/boxes do alter their flooding levels. I currently have a RN BB limping to CT from Colombo with 60+ flood damge, and it's changed by 4 in the past two weeks (and not to the good.) That trip at my BB's damaged Cruise is 34 days in the lane, plus the on-map limp time from Colombo.

As far as bailing out to the Mid-East, yep, the wormhole is closer and the transit shorter, but Abadan has no shipyard (50 Naval Support in my game; don't know if that's original or recent), and Aden has a shipyard of 20 capacity. USN CVs could go pierside there, but could not stop major amounts of flooding. And they would be out of the game until Aden opened to the Med in mid-1943, plus transit time to the UK or EC, plus repair time. Into 1944 to be sure.

It's not impossible to stage them from Aden to Mombasa and on to Cape Town. The transit on-map is relatively short then. Of course, you could build up Socotora to prevent that.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

It's not impossible to stage them from Aden to Mombasa and on to Cape Town. The transit on-map is relatively short then. Of course, you could build up Socotora to prevent that.

True, but it would depend on the facts of the damage ratios of the ships themselves. There might need to be enough time at Aden to fix system damage pierside to prevent the flooding on the double transit to CT to make the time roughly equivalent to waiting for Aden to open. Also, once you get possibly multiple beat-up CVs to CT, it's not a mega-yard either. Nothing to compare to the UK or EC for rapid repairs to multiple CVs.

And, at either CT, UK, or EC, you have to then tack on a month or two re-positioning time to get them back to battery at maybe Sydney or PH, depending on need. Any way you look at it, battering the USN CVs in a battle off India is Very Bad for 1943 carrier ops.

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

It's not impossible to stage them from Aden to Mombasa and on to Cape Town. The transit on-map is relatively short then. Of course, you could build up Socotora to prevent that.

True, but it would depend on the facts of the damage ratios of the ships themselves. There might need to be enough time at Aden to fix system damage pierside to prevent the flooding on the double transit to CT to make the time roughly equivalent to waiting for Aden to open. Also, once you get possibly multiple beat-up CVs to CT, it's not a mega-yard either. Nothing to compare to the UK or EC for rapid repairs to multiple CVs.

And, at either CT, UK, or EC, you have to then tack on a month or two re-positioning time to get them back to battery at maybe Sydney or PH, depending on need. Any way you look at it, battering the USN CVs in a battle off India is Very Bad for 1943 carrier ops.

So would a battering almost anywhere on the map. I'd rather have my CVs damaged and stuck in Aden than sunk by a pursuing KB. You are correct that the off-map area isn't a get-out-of-jail free card, but it is a good advantage.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

It's not impossible to stage them from Aden to Mombasa and on to Cape Town. The transit on-map is relatively short then. Of course, you could build up Socotora to prevent that.

True, but it would depend on the facts of the damage ratios of the ships themselves. There might need to be enough time at Aden to fix system damage pierside to prevent the flooding on the double transit to CT to make the time roughly equivalent to waiting for Aden to open. Also, once you get possibly multiple beat-up CVs to CT, it's not a mega-yard either. Nothing to compare to the UK or EC for rapid repairs to multiple CVs.

And, at either CT, UK, or EC, you have to then tack on a month or two re-positioning time to get them back to battery at maybe Sydney or PH, depending on need. Any way you look at it, battering the USN CVs in a battle off India is Very Bad for 1943 carrier ops.

So would a battering almost anywhere on the map. I'd rather have my CVs damaged and stuck in Aden than sunk by a pursuing KB. You are correct that the off-map area isn't a get-out-of-jail free card, but it is a good advantage.

The re-position and repair time factor is roughly equivalent to elsewhere maybe, but I disagree that off-India has the same ads/disads as "anywhere on the map." Would CR prefer to fight a carrier battle near the Marshalls, or off Karachi right now? Easy answer.

In addition to no shipyard, CR has no good fuel or re-load options in the IO now. If he brings a replenishment group, it's toast. If he tries to use Bombay or Karachi for a dash-in, Q-Ball should have enough surface forces to park them in both ports awaiting (not to mention mines.) Karachi probably (I'd have to check) doesn't have the size to do a docked refuel/rearm in one turn, making LBA port strikes an option. This presumes Karachi even has any fuel at this point.

A carrier meeting is risky anywhere, but there is no location on the map better suited for Q-Ball than off the strip from Bombay north to Karachi in mid-1942, with LBA at Goa and Colombo.

[Q-Ball]

June 21-25, 1942

Air Wars over Poona: The last couple days have featured large air combats over Poona. The tally so far is about 50 a/c a side. For VP purposes, that is bad for me, for attrition purposes, it's fine. Allied losses are types with limited replacements (Hurricanes and P-40s). I am starting to see USAAF planes; I can't remember how many are already allocated to SE Asia, or if Dan brought those from elsewhere because he was worried about India. We have seen P-39s for the first time there.

Despite the bombing, Poona is size-3, and climbing, so he can't shut me down without 4Es.

A bigger problem is that recon over Bombay shows 38 units (!). That is more than I expected. I am going to cut the town off and see if they flee, or stay. If that is 38 real units and not just fluff, and they stay, not sure how I can extract them. I will get to the hex and lob some "intelligence shells" over and count.

Deigo Garcia: I landed 225 AV at Diego Garcia, consisting mostly of an Inf Regt and Nav Gds. It did not go well at all; there is an Indian Bde there, which is more than I anticipated, and 6in guns sank 4 of my transports. Even worse, I am doing this without aircover, so I can't hang around too long in case his CVs show up. I stopped unloading more supplies, and we are moving back to Ceylon. I will probably need to bring more guys. This has not been my best effort!

KB Raid into Arabian Sea: I snuck KB past a line of picket ships by running it dark, and ran into....nothing. We spotted some ASW assets, but we didn't even attack those.

Dan is certainly alerted to it's presence, and I can't really loiter off Karachi without knowing where the USN CVs are. So that's an aborted operation.

Allied Ships: I spotted my first Allied BB since Pearl Harbor, when I-22 put a torp into IDAHO off the US West Coast. Not sure where she was going, but that could mean a movement somewhere. I don't see him making a move in the Pacific without BB support, since there are likely no Pearl BBs available. I would love to have had a direction of movement, but didn't get it.

I spotted a couple cruisers off South Australia, but that's about it. I have no idea where the USN CVs are, other than they are NOT at Karachi, so to intervene in the Bay of Bengal or Arabian Sea they would have to come from off the map. I have sent a couple GLEN flights over Pearl and not found a CV, so my best guess is that they are in South Australia. If not there, maybe Capetown. It takes 10 days to get from Capetown to the map though, so reacting from there isn't really ideal.

I am training some GLEN pilots on Recon to buzz a bunch of bases at once to get a fix.

[Q-Ball]

6/25/1942:

Air Attacks: Another large air battle over Poona; this day, I lose 23 airplanes to 18 Allied, so still around 1-1. The airbase is up to size-4 however, and I am starting to collect alot of fighters.

Tommorow I am sending 2 divisions to cut-off Bombay to the East, the 1st Inf and the Guards Tank Division.

Panzer Armee India: I bought the 2nd Tank Div units in Machuria, and will merge them with 2 Tank Regts already in India. Between 2nd Tank Div, Guards Tank, and 7th Ind Tank Bde, I think I have a Tank Army now. Southern Area Panzer Army?[:D]

In a good news/bad news, the Manchurian units were very cheap buys because I don't have enough Vehicles in the pool. I have Vehicle production up past 400 now; you need ALOT more in Scenario 2.

Luzon: Is about to fall. Last attack was 1-1 and dropped the forts to 1. The next attack, it will fall.

Clean-Up: It takes a long, long, long time to clear all the bases in the DEI. I don't like to leave vacant bases in my rear, partly to eliminate fuel depots for subs, but also because I need to turn them eventually. It's a hassle picking up an SNLF company over and over and clearing all of them!

Pamakasan, a base that still had a unit at it (Barisan Regt) fell on the 25th; the garrison surrendered. There is still a Dutch Garrison at Menado, which I plan to take care of shortly. That's it for the DEI.

The Allies still occupy Mindanao, Cebu, and Iloilo, which are all next on the list after Luzon.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

...I am starting to see USAAF planes; I can't remember how many are already allocated to SE Asia, or if Dan brought those from elsewhere because he was worried about India. We have seen P-39s for the first time there.

Warhawks and early Lightnings spotted in India probably belong to those units who enter the game already attached to SEAC. Airacobras would belong to units brought in from another theatre. Of course this assumes that no unscheduled unit aircraft upgrades have occurred.

For American bombers, early Mitchells would be original SEAC, Marauders and Havocs would be from outside theatre. B-17Ds would be refugees from the Philippines, other Fortresses and Liberators would be from outside theatre.

Alfred

[Q-Ball]

Alfred: Good to know; are you sure?

I have spotted P-40Es, P-39s, B-25s, and A-20s. So according to what you said, Dan HAS reinforced India with additional USAAF units. This is not surprising though.