Slaughter of the Innocents - RA - Marbakka (A) vs. John the 3rd (J)

[marbakka]

December 17, 1941

China
He bombarded Changsha for a second day. He has 4 Divisions and an Army there, but I'm pretty sure I can hold it with what I have. He has what appears to be a good sized stack back near Hankow protecting against any advance of my Ichang Army, not that I plan on moving it from its nice defensive position at present.

There has been a lot more bombing of bases in the south than I am used to. I'm not sure if I should take that to mean that he is making use of his Canton army to try to cut off the Changsha area or what.

Malaya
Still no march down the penninsula. He has a fleet inbound for Kuantan, but he won't find anything when he gets there; everything is on its way to Singapore. It appears that the mKB moved out of the area and is headed for a homebase to resupply. I can't imagine he has any sorties left.

DEI
Palembang falls. He commented in the email that he expected more of a fight. I'm not sure why he would be surprised. Fortress Palembang is but one of the options and is a waste of time against an opponent intelligent enough to attack early when there is nothing there. I don't think my Timor defense is going to work, but it was better than a fool's errand at Palembang against this opponent, imo.

He sent BBs and CAs to bombard both Kendari and Ambon, and an invasion force should arrive at Ambon tomorrow. This is too fast for my liking but there is nothing much I can do about it. I've been trying to get the Kendari BF to Dili and all the Ambon troops to Koepang, but it is slow going, and he caught a bunch of my patrol/transports on the ground. Force Z is nearby, but I'd like for them to deal with a raiding group near Timor first. We'll see what they actually do when it comes down to it.

SOPAC
He took Gasmata on the same island as Rabaul. My cruiser TF is Brisbane should be ready to head back up here soon - strengthened by the addition of CAs Indianapolis, Pensacola, and Australia.

CENPAC
Wake Island falls in a day. Boooooo. I lost at least 7 PAs that I'd sent out there for the day. Submarines will swarm the port for a few days and try to get some revenge.

This means that I'm almost blind to anything beyond the French Frigate Shoal area. I don't like that one bit, but what can I do about it?

NOPAC
In blizzard conditions, a force of 7 DDs arrives at Adak and is engaged by my YPs and AMs. I got a hit, but he sunk everything in sight. Thankfully, my transports (trying to unload in the port) beelined it for Kodiak. I got 106AV unloaded at Adak, but no supplies. I'll have to remedy this soon, but there is nothing I can do until I get some surface assets up there, and I can't really do that until I get the fuel flowing from Prince Rupert...and I can't do that until I find some TKs.

[Prydwen]

Hi,

I don't recall if I have posted or not. I just wanted to say I've been reading since the get go and I really like your AAR style. Very unique.

Joe

[marbakka]

ORIGINAL: ItsAMadhouse

Hi,

I don't recall if I have posted or not. I just wanted to say I've been reading since the get go and I really like your AAR style. Very unique.

Joe

Thanks.

And thanks to all who are following my little story - particularly those who step in and give needed (even if not heeded) advice.

[marbakka]

December 18, 1941

I've had better days.

China
IJA exercises its right to throw itself on Changsha's defenses heaping dead Japanese body upon dead Japanese body until someone thinks to sound the retreat. 866 squads disabled. That'll take a while to sleep off, but they'll be back and in stronger numbers. Chinese troops get an extra helping of rice tonight.

Burma
He seems to be pushing a little bit here. Today, he took Tavoy, cutting off one of my units coming up from the south to Moulmein. Moulmein itself has 330AV, and I am now trying to get a sufficient amount in the hex north of Moulmein to discourage any attempt to flank.

Malaya
He landed in Kuantan as expected. It also appears that he is finally marching troops south from the Kota Bharu region with one unit on the east side and one on the west shore. It doesn't make sense to me that he didn't start this right after he took Kota Bharu.

DEI
Force Z tangled with the heavy SCTF that was foolin' around down near Timor. Once again, my belief that PoW is worthless against capital ships has been reinforced. She went down after her captain thought it would be a good idea to catch every torpedo fired toward the allied line like a goalie on fire. Sadly, Boise got scuffed up pretty good as well. I'd like to think she'll make it to Koepang, but I'll have to get her out of there fast as Timor is in his crosshairs. BC Repulse decided to return to 'Baja with Houston.

3 squadrons of Banshees split between Koepang and Dili decided that their spades game was more important than attacking enemy surface assets directly off the coast.

Koepang is at 220AV. Dili is at 15.

SOPAC
To my dismay, a submarine has parked itself right off the docks at Luganville and is firing torpedoes into the port at night...mooning our helpless merchantmen from the foredeck during the day. Even more disturbing, SigInt indicates that the same forces that took Midway and Wake are now moving toward Luganville. I figure the Guards Mixed Brigade has about 230AV total. Luganville has 60AV currently with more equipment to be unloaded as soon as we can get the port upgraded. I'm unsure what to do. Should I send my CA SCTF over here instead of Rabaul and try to intercept them, or is it pretty much a certainty that the KB1 will cover such a deep strike? I'd really hate to lose this base right after dropping off those extra troops from the RA mod.

[marbakka]

December 18, 1941

China
He sent a sizable force to clear Kweiteh, the dot-base behind his lines in northern China. It sits right on the rail line, so it is an ideal place for these trapped troops to make a stand. However, they performed terribly and saw 306 squads destroyed.

In the south, he has moved a force toward my line, but has not actually attacked anything. South of that force, I have a couple Corps on its way to raise cane at Amoy.

DEI
I was disappointed that he took Ambon so quickly, but I couldn't reasonably expect anything less when I've been leeching AV from there to Timor. Oddly, he sent a single BB to bombard Lautum, the base just east of Dili. I have 0 AV there and the two units (ENG and AA) are almost to Dili now.

The Banshees remain silent.

CL Boise made it to Koepang, but her fires increased to 19 from 11. I've disbanded the group in port, so hopefully they will get that under control. Once they do, there is actually only moderate damage and I should be able to send her to Colombo with some escorts.

SOPAC
I now have intel that forces are headed for both Rabaul and Luganville. My CAs will be ready to leave Brisbane tomorrow, but they a) have very few ASW escorts, and b) may not be fast enough to reach either place in time. I expect to see heavy SCTF escorting the Rabaul force and probably the KB1 escorting the Luganville force. Neither base will hold against a determined attack.

NOPAC
A force landed at Attu Island despite the ongoing blizzard. I feel like Adak is fairly secure except that I can't get supplies in there until I have some sort of SCTF to make sure those DDs aren't still around. I'm airlifting stuff out of Dutch Harbor, but there is too little supply to send and not enough planes to send it in.


Losing Midway this early has paralyzed me in the central Pacific. Without eyes in the NNW, I'm hesitant to send out ships either north to help with NOPAC or south to help with Australia. It's going to be torture not having CVs over here. But I baked the cake and now I've got to sleep in it. Or something like that.

[marbakka]

December 20, 1941

China
Nothing major. I will try putting the AVG into Changsha again tomorrow. Unlike my other opponent, John is using Zeros here and I don't very much fancy losing a lot of my best pilots to those guys. We'll see how they do, but I may be leaving China to fend for itself.

Malaya
The southward march has begun. Almost all my troops are in Singapore now with a small contingent in Jahore.

Burma
It looks like he may be massing troops in Tavoy. That is already a level 4 airfield, so I expect he'll be using it to interdict supply shipments bound for Rangoon.

DEI
A SCTF headed by BBs Ise and Hyuga showed up outside of Koepang and tangled with my patrol boats to no effect. However, before they got out of dodge, they intercepted DDs Electra and Express who had been sent down from 'Baja to escort CL Boise to Colombo or Cape Town for repairs.

The Banshees were silent again.

SOPAC
An enemy carrier has arrived west of Rabaul and sunk most all of a cargo fleet that had just finished unloading in Port Moresby. I suspect this group is meant to cover his new and improved attempt to take Rabaul. I had not yet decided whether to send my cruisers to Rabaul or Luganville. I'm now leaning toward the later.

CENPAC
An AMC sinks 2 cargo ships that were supplying the French Frigate Shoal for the patrol planes stationed there. He won't be keeping Midway if he isn't going to play nice and be a good neighbor.

[janh]

Great AAR! I like this style, it is fun to read and browse. Keep going and good luck!

[marbakka]

ORIGINAL: janh

Great AAR! I like this style, it is fun to read and browse. Keep going and good luck!

Thanks!

[marbakka]

December 21, 1941

China
Ouch! I had a unit stationed across the river south of Chengchow in the north. I didn't see his units moving to cross it, so I didn't reinforce them. Another 161 of my Chinese squads were wiped out. If you're keeping count, that's something like 500 squads for the opening weeks of the war. Not cool.

Also, the AVG did terribly against his Zeros over Changsha. They have only 9 aircraft remaining after a single day of operations. I'm moving them to India to repair and then they will try to find a home in Burma.

China sucks.

Philippines
In Luzon, he has advanced his troops to the doorstep of Clark Field and Manila. I expect he will solidify his line and bring in some reinforcements before pushing into the city/base. I can't put my finger on why, but I get the feeling that he wants the Philippines out of the way in a hurry. An air raid on the port at Manila sunk most all of the damaged and patrol craft that were snoozing there.

In Mindanao, all my troops are concentrated in Malaybalay. They have about 5000 supplies and could theoretically hold out for a little while. However, he already has troops in the hex and is marching more up from Davao, so until he attacks, I don't know how much force he is bringing.

DEI
An air raid on Batavia (out of Palembang) results in the sinking of a bunch of coastal minesweepers, but also the sinking of a DD that was about to put to sea.

A heavy surface group bombarded Dili in the night. Dili is weak, so this certainly doesn't help anything. With Force Z already out of the picture, there is not much I can do over here until and unless I bring in my US CVs from Cape Town (a LONG way off)

During the wee hours of the morning, a US S-class submarine spotted a burning CA Ashigora moving NE toward Japan out of the Celebes Sea. They fired torpedoes but no explosion resulted. The captain reported the ship sunk. o.O

SOPAC
A carrier group of some sort is pushing south from the Rabaul area where he just landed troops. He will certainly take that prime territory in the next day or so. The carrier group reportedly contains a bunch of CVEs but I'm wary of the intel because he launched a handful of Kates and Vals. It has more of the feel of a lone CV with escorts.

In any case, I have already ordered my CAx3 SCTF to make for Luganville. I am a) expecting an amphib attack there soon, and b) sick of his submarine parked in the port.

CENPAC
It is time to start deploying some ships out of Pearl. I can't continue to huddle up for fear of the KB1. I will send a BB and some cruisers north to Kodiak to assist in ridding those waters of that DD group. I will also send some cruisers and DDs to Balboa to make their way to Cape Town. I need to supplement my CV escorts - especially when Hornet arrives.

[BBfanboy]

OK - I'm a little confused about what happened to some of those very valuable Brit DDs. You don't say the result of the intercept of Electra and Express by BBs in the DEI, and then Electra shows up in the graphic for the air attack on Pt. Moresby. It isn't clear if the DD was sunk along with the xAKs.
The DDs are minor vessels in the big scheme of things, but ASW is a big problem early on and the Brits have more experience than the USN at this point. They are also better at night fighting. I like to keep track of those gems!

Change of topic - We last heard that Boise was disbanding to quell fires that rose 8 points. Good move - the systems damage no doubt put a lot of her pumps out of action. In the graphic showing ship damage Boise is grouped with damaged DDs including two of the V class. In case you didn't notice [so many details in this game!] , one of them has a speed of only 16 Kts and will slow Boise down as she tries to clear the area for repairs, if you are grouping them as a TF.

Re: PoW - your unhappy experience is not unusual. I read somewhere that part of the coding for historic vessels is that they are more likely to be hit in the game by weapons that hit them IRL. PoW is a torpedo magnet!

[marbakka]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

OK - I'm a little confused about what happened to some of those very valuable Brit DDs. You don't say the result of the intercept of Electra and Express by BBs in the DEI, and then Electra shows up in the graphic for the air attack on Pt. Moresby. It isn't clear if the DD was sunk along with the xAKs.
The DDs are minor vessels in the big scheme of things, but ASW is a big problem early on and the Brits have more experience than the USN at this point. They are also better at night fighting. I like to keep track of those gems!

I suppose I should have clarified that. Those ship lists are ships sunk, so Electra went down. I believe Express is in 'Baja or nearby.

Change of topic - We last heard that Boise was disbanding to quell fires that rose 8 points. Good move - the systems damage no doubt put a lot of her pumps out of action. In the graphic showing ship damage Boise is grouped with damaged DDs including two of the V class. In case you didn't notice [so many details in this game!] , one of them has a speed of only 16 Kts and will slow Boise down as she tries to clear the area for repairs, if you are grouping them as a TF.

Boise is in terrible shape. I believe she has 66 SYS damage (without looking at it). Her ENG and FLT damage aren't bad, but I don't want to send her to colombo with pumps like that. Worse, I've not got anyone nearby to escort her. I fear she'll be lost when Timor is attacked again.

[BBfanboy]

Boise only had 12 FLT damage IIRC; once the fires are out you should be able to move her to an Oz base to reduce systems damage below 50 and then send her on to CT or Columbo. Flooding usually doesn't spread much if it starts out below 30 points, in my experience. You may not be able to pump out, but your damage control can contain it.

[marbakka]

December 22, 1941

An unusually quiet turn. Very little to report aside from the normal bombings.

China
Canton seems to be ground zero for his airforce and they are concentrating on bombing my southern troops.

DEI/SOPAC
Koepang has 230AV at fortification level 2. Dili has 60AV at fortification level 0. I have the 11th Australian Brigade and a CD unit loading at Perth. They will both unload at Koepang, but I haven't decided whether that is where I want to keep the troops. The convoy that is bringing the troops is escorted by a cruiser and some destroyers. These will escort Boise out of Koepang on their way back. We will have to see how she looks when it is time to go to know whether she is going to Colombo, Melbourne, or the Cape.

Rabaul fell today.

CENPAC
SigInt indicates the presence of heavy radio transmissions just west of the Marshal Islands. This could be just about anything, but I'm looking for an invasion bound for Luganville from the north. Could this be it? If so, my CAx3 TF will reach Luganville in plenty of time to cause him problems. If, on the other hand, it is the KB1 escorting said invasion force, then my CAs may be in for a long Christmas.

I have deployed a cruiser-led SCTF to Kodiak where it will refuel and then go patrol around Adak while equipment is unloaded there.

[marbakka]

"Sorry for the delay. I definitely wanted to have the turn waiting for you when you returned, but these "last checks" before sending a turn are important. No doubt you remember from reading my other AAR that it is especially important that I check my carriers as I have a bad habit of not doing so and being surprised when my attacks do little." (Me in response to his email just now)

*snicker*

Get it? "do little"...Doolittle [:D]

Subtle propaganda FTW! [8D]

[RogerJNeilson]

Just to reiterate, well done on the style of the pictures for this, must take you a lot of time, but its great as a way of seeing the key things.

Roger

[marbakka]

December 23, 1941

I'm exhausted from travels, so no text summary today. A picture is worth 1000 words or whatever.

[BBfanboy]

I wonder if that CV off Oz is looking for the damaged Boise, expecting that it would head for Brisbane or Sydney for repairs? There is nothing at Cookstown normally for it to head there, and you are not sending large convoys to Pt. Moresby, so there seems to be little other reason for a CV to be off NE Oz.

EDIT: PS - I would cut Vampire loose from the escort convoy that includes Boise - she is holding up the escape of the important ships. Give her an escort of one of the old American DDs to help with damage control and let her leapfrog bases down to Perth.

[marbakka]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I wonder if that CV off Oz is looking for the damaged Boise, expecting that it would head for Brisbane or Sydney for repairs? There is nothing at Cookstown normally for it to head there, and you are not sending large convoys to Pt. Moresby, so there seems to be little other reason for a CV to be off NE Oz.

My theory is that he was escorting his Rabaul invasion and sent it on a raiding cruise when he saw it wouldn't be needed there. When it appeared west of Rabaul, I had 2 convoys that had just finished unloading at Port Moresby so that is, I assume, the immediate reason why he came over that way. I'm hoping not to have to send ships at Brisbane and Sydney running as that would cost me in fuel.

[marbakka]

December 24, 1941

I knew this would be a tough match, but I feel like I'm getting clobbered.

China
Another big slaughter of Chinese forces. This time it was in the mountain hex NE of Tsiatso. There really was no excuse for my soldiers performing as badly as they did. I mean how hard could it be to defend a mountain? That is another 185 combat and 215 non-combat squads lost. I'm considering pulling my Ichang army to the north to help defend up there, but I would have to be careful to leave enough to defend the Ichang area. It'd be risky, I think.

Malaya/Burma
It feels like he is far more active in Burma than in Malaya. He is slowly marching down the peninsula, but there seems to be no urgency in it. On the other hand, he is rushing up the coast of Burma toward Moulmein and should be moving troops into the city in the next couple days.

DEI
It just keeps getting worse for Timor. A bombardment fleet accompanied by a light SCTF hit Koepang today, damaging a lot of my aircraft. I'm pretty ticked that these Banshees have not flown a single sortie the entire game. Not one. Fortress Timor has been an utter failure so far.

SOPAC
Severe storms mostly blinded me in this region. A ship was spotted NE of Townsville consistent with his carrier raider moving southward along the coast. It will be 5 days before Canberra gets out the yards in Sydney and even then, I've got nothing to use as an escort for her. My SCTFs are over by Luganville.

Speaking of which...yesterday I spotted a TF NW of Luganville. I thought perhaps it was the invasion force that I've been expected, but today they show as a medium SCTF headed SW toward the Sydney area. My two SCTFs will attempt to intercept.

CENPAC
I should have followed my gut and kept a tight lid on Pearl a little longer. The large group of ships that I was redeploying to NOPAC was hit hard by what appears to be KB1. CL Raleigh went to the bottom and I have no doubt that more will follow. An air transport TF coming from Seattle narrowly missed running straight into them thanks to zigzag waypoints for sub avoidance. That TF is carrying a lot of search planes that I'd hate to lose. They will head SE to try to avoid the carriers, but I'm skeptical that any of this stuff will survive. The fox is in the henhouse and I can't find the shotgun.

[obvert]

It's pretty early to be sending things directly to Pearl from the West Coast. Most Allied players convoy far to the South in the first months of the game, or even use the off map areas. If you can avoid these raiding CVs, he will waste a lot of fuel for little gain.