Yes way... (GBL vs Dixie)

[obvert]

Not sure how adamant you are about the PI and getting it cleared quickly. In SCEN 2 you will have a lot of extra forces appearing soon for duty in either Burma, Singapore, DEI, or PI. You can also begin to buy out Manchurian DIVs and other things, (lots of nice small ARMOUR units doing nothing up there that are good bang for the buck, especially for getting deep into N China).

In my recent game I basically left the PI in a stalemate after forcing everything into Clark Field. Yes, he can build up forts, but will just run out of supplies quicker while doing that. Bomb a lot if forces are spread out before the concentrated AA can have as much effect.

I didn't take all of the PI until May, but I barely committed any forces there either, so had much more to use to quickly capture Palembang (Jan 9), Singapore (Feb 7), and all of Borneo and Java (March 4). This left me sitting pretty with invasion bonus time ready to shift forces into Burma and wherever else I wanted to go.

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: sprior

Thanks. I shall follow with interest.

It won't be that interesting. I am plodding buffoon at the best of times and a first time Jap learning curve is a bit on the steep side...

Besides, the less time I spend on the AAR, the more time there will be for me to get tempted into taking you up on your offer of a game. Will power and I are strangers...

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Not sure how adamant you are about the PI and getting it cleared quickly. In SCEN 2 you will have a lot of extra forces appearing soon for duty in either Burma, Singapore, DEI, or PI. You can also begin to buy out Manchurian DIVs and other things, (lots of nice small ARMOUR units doing nothing up there that are good bang for the buck, especially for getting deep into N China).

In my recent game I basically left the PI in a stalemate after forcing everything into Clark Field. Yes, he can build up forts, but will just run out of supplies quicker while doing that. Bomb a lot if forces are spread out before the concentrated AA can have as much effect.

I didn't take all of the PI until May, but I barely committed any forces there either, so had much more to use to quickly capture Palembang (Jan 9), Singapore (Feb 7), and all of Borneo and Java (March 4). This left me sitting pretty with invasion bonus time ready to shift forces into Burma and wherever else I wanted to go.

Hi mate. It'll fall when it falls. I am inclined to your way of thinking about it. Thanks for the tips about where to find useful units!

[1EyedJacks]

Thanks for the screenies Carl. It looks like you are well on your way to total global domination of the world! [:)]

When you were talking about a Hail Mary I thought you were referring to mounting a paratrooper attack at Palembang launched from Singkawang untl you mentioned the division from Hong Kong. I had the experience of having Fionn pull out of Singapore when I thought he was just going to sit on it and defend for a while. He started that whole "fortress Palembang" thing. It was a brilliant move on his part. You might want to do some recon and see if Dixie is gathering air support and troops in and around Palembang...

Mike Sollie has this great thread going on about early deployment of TFs for keeping the Japan's economy afloat at http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2280485&mpage=1&key= - I found this to be a good read.

I think you have an excellent start - thanks much for sharing with us.


TTFN,

Mike

[goodboyladdie]

That's why there is no time for subtlety Mike. I will establish an early beach head and then reinforce as necessary. If he has stripped somewhere else to mount a vigorous defence, I'll make sure I punish the lack of balance by going to the area he stripped...

As an aside, I neglected to consider the vertical scenario and have lost track of my para units. Does anyone know which ones I need to look for?

[SuluSea]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie



As an aside, I neglected to consider the vertical scenario and have lost track of my para units. Does anyone know which ones I need to look for?

Hi GBL the 1st Raiding Regiment, Yokosuka 1st SNLF and Yokosuka 3rd SNLF in scenario 1.

[goodboyladdie]

Thanks for the info mate. There will be a delay in an update. The MOD can't tell Dixie if his service will be extended, but need him to work 16 hour shifts. The poor sod's body clock is all over the shop and what little time he has available is quite rightly being spent asleep or with his family.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

...but need him to work 16 hour shifts.

Ach. Hate 16's. Hope he gets things sorted out.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

Thanks for the info mate. There will be a delay in an update. The MOD can't tell Dixie if his service will be extended, but need him to work 16 hour shifts. The poor sod's body clock is all over the shop and what little time he has available is quite rightly being spent asleep or with his family.

You know...some people and their 'priorities'! Family? Sleep? Basic biophysiology? Versus AE turn flippage? No choice! "Just....one....more...turn..." [:D]

[1EyedJacks]

Hey Carl,

What do your aircraft production and pilot training programs look like? My experience with the japanese side of the board is that you want your training program to start off ASAP. It was taking me about 2 moths to get a skill-set trained into the 70 percentile range.

For airframes & engines the trick seems to be having several factories producing your main line of combat aircraft and the engines you need.

One of the factors I sought in fighters was range. There are a lot of Nates on the board so ramping up the Oscars might not be too bad of an idea. I increased the Nell over the Betty and I ramped up the Sallies. I found the Lillies to be ab-so-lut-ly useless.

TTFN,

Mike

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: 1EyedJacks

Hey Carl,

What do your aircraft production and pilot training programs look like? My experience with the japanese side of the board is that you want your training program to start off ASAP. It was taking me about 2 moths to get a skill-set trained into the 70 percentile range.

For airframes & engines the trick seems to be having several factories producing your main line of combat aircraft and the engines you need.

One of the factors I sought in fighters was range. There are a lot of Nates on the board so ramping up the Oscars might not be too bad of an idea. I increased the Nell over the Betty and I ramped up the Sallies. I found the Lillies to be ab-so-lut-ly useless.

TTFN,

Mike

Hi Mike

I am starting a training programme, but have most planes committed forward during this expansion phase. Range is also a consideration in this phase, but I am concentrating on just a few types. The Lily has already been stopped and I am awaiting the new Nell before I build more. The Sallie will be the army's main bomber. The Oscar 1c is the only model being built, but the Tojo IIa and Tony will be in the mix later as I will need to make sure that my trained and experienced pilots survive against tougher allied fighters when the expansion phase is over and I concentrate on consolidation and spoiling attacks. The Oscar is spread over three factories, but IIRC they are all in the same city!

[goodboyladdie]

24th December 1941

I ran this in my downtime during a night shift, so could not take any screenies I am afraid.

Industry

The engine for the Tony came forward a month and I converted my Sonya factory to make some B5N1s to use up the Hikari engines. I hate building obsolete aircraft, but as per the suggestion, they are effectively half price so I decided to.

Central Pacific

The sub cordon around PH has been relaxed, also as per suggestion. Martin was not sending out ASW ships and a sub took some damage from an ASW aircraft, so time to move. The damaged sub and four others are heading to Kwajalein. Once they have refuelled they will sail for the West Coast to relieve the subs on so far fruitless patrol there. The 2 subs I have at Christmas Island engaged enemy tranports. Only one AK was actually hit, but she contained troops.

South Pacific

A shock attack at Rabaul destroyed one defensive unit. I am hopeful it will fall next turn. AKLs supplied Shortlands and Tulagi.

DEI

I took Beaufort on the north coast of Borneo, but operations elsewhere are suspended while BBs and CVLs rearm. An airfleet is present at Manado so a Betty group flew in to support the Nells forced out of Jolo by nuisance B-17 raids. The small Manado air battle produced my first ace, with six kills. My damaged CVE sailed from Ternate. A CL and 4 DDs will hopefully merge with her before she runs into another bloody sub.

Malaya

The 21st Div was in strategic mode so will unload at Singora before being transhipped to Mersing.

PI

My forces will move into Iba this turn. My troops waiting outside Manila were bombed by B-17s, so Nates will fly CAP.

China

A SNLF landing at Pakhoi found a Chinese corps present, so they will reload and run away.

Edit - adding the Kate comparison from Tracker to demonstrate the similarity pointed out by a helpful poster and since acted upon (as always, noticed something I now need to check - am I building enough Ha35s?

[goodboyladdie]

25th December 1941

The Naval Battle of Rabaul

I noticed USN dive bombers over the Rabaul landing and braced myself. I launched first from the detached division of the KB and it looked like I was only up against one CV from the low number and one type of fighters on CAP over the US tf. I will let the screenies tell the story...

[goodboyladdie]

The USN reply...

[goodboyladdie]

And the CVE Taiyo, close cover for the invasion force, weighs in...





I'll have to post more later. Night shift last night and I am too tired to do more now I am afraid.

[PaxMondo]

You got some good hits on LEx, but I wouldn't count her out.  Maybe no flight ops though.  How bad is the Shok?  Those 1000 lb really hurt ....

[sprior]

Four bombs shouldn't sink Lex but she hors de combat for a while.

[goodboyladdie]

She ate 7 bombs Simon. I have been really lucky when my CV's get hit, as you will shortly see. There were some raids on my troops at Rabaul from USN CV aircraft which made me assume she was still in the game, but none of my pm raids saw her and her air group seems to show up as lost on the aircraft losses list, which I will shortly post. 2 USN CAs were hit by my pm search planes and then the carnage resumed. Chicago took 2 more hits and I think I remember Portland taking some.

[goodboyladdie]

Central Pacific

I-4 sank DMS Boggs off PH, before leaving her inshore patrol area for Kwajalein with the other couple of subs I had left close in. An inshore minesweeper ran aground and sank at Kwajalein. The rest of the turn was played on my laptop during some downtime between stress and chest pains at work, so I am short of screenies and cannot remember exactly what I did. I forgot to add that Rabaul fell to a shock attack this turn. There were no allied aircraft losses, so I don't know where the USN ground raids would have come from if Lex did indeed go down. I am sure Bob Ballard will find the truth one day. In the meantime here is the sunk ships list for the Allies, for what it is worth...

Netties and Zeroes flew into Rabaul. An air flotilla is a few days away.



PI

2 P40's were shot down by fighter sweeps over Manila. Clark Field was bombed as part of my reduction of his fighting ability. About four raids are hitting it a day now. My Iba forces arrived and will conduct a bombardment to see what he has present. The damaged CVE Hosho met her escorts, then the combined tf promptly turned around and returned to Ternate. I will try again...

[goodboyladdie]

DEI

The main force of the KB sank a minelayer at Palembang, but saw nothing else. They are now making for Kuching to meet up with their oilers. I took the last British base on the north coast of Borneo with a small amphibious landing. Only Sambas remains in allied hands and I have forces approaching from three directions. Netties from Kuching sank a minesweeper and two small APs that were heavily laden with troops south of Sumatra.

Malaya

The 8th Indian brigade was knocked further down the trail from Kota Bharu. Slow frustrating going...

21st Independent brigade, shipped in from Vietnam earlier, is embarking in southern Thailand for an amphibious assault on Kuantan to try to speed up the conquest. When 21st Div gets in theatre they will, as previously discussed be sent to Mersing, where Martin now has HDMLs offshore.

Here is a screenie showing how lightly Shokaku got off.