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42 Aug 2 Turn Cont'd.

India

The Indian air force makes a strike against the Japanese CVL fleet off shore blocking me getting reinforcements in.
They sink a battleship, Hyuga, in one strike (all the oil they had). That is kind of scary. How well will the Allied fleets do against the concentrated power of Japanese land based air?

The UK fleet that was in India scatters all over the Indian Ocean to avoid being spotted by Kido.

The US fleet returns to Sydney to recover.

Production:
UK is now manpower limited. It can only produce support ships so they build a Landing ship, Oiler and Supply Truck.
US builds a transport to make up for losses that occurred when then ran units into India past the CVL's.

Convoys

In spite of the presence of two Japanese carrier fleets I am going to keep the India route open. India and UK must have oil and production to keep in play.

UK sends 27 PP and 4 Oil to India.
US sends 34 PP and 2 Oil to India, 24 Oil to UK.

42 Aug 16 Turn

Convoy war in China Sea
My subs sink two merchants.
Japanese air units sink the Sea Fox.

Japanese invade Diego Carcia

Production

UK everything is still going to repair their fleet.
US builds 1 Merchant and 1 Marine unit.

Convoys
No change. Fingers crossed that the Japanese are back to ignoring my Convoy lanes.

S. Pacific and Australia
Waiting for the US Fleet to recover.

China
Not much action this turn.
Chinese make some minor adjustments to their lines.

India

More rain keeps the Japanese at bay.
US division moves out on the northern flank to put some pressure on the Thai unit.
Otherwise just some minor adjustments to positions.
Not shown in screen shot are significant reinforcements arrive this turn from UK, US and India builds.

42 Aug 30 Turn

UK Assault Advancement to 43. US Assault Advancement to 42 and Naval Air Advancement to 42.

Convoy War heats up as Japan returns to the high seas with there surface fleets and air interdictions.

US subs sink 2 more Merchants but suffer a lot of damage from air attacks. But at least no kills.
One sub group must have been to close to land since they were attacked by surface action.

Also the Allied convoys suffer considerable damage losing 10 Merchants.

Production:
UK still repairing.
In spite of the Convoy losses India gets enough PP in to start two new divisions.
US builds a sub to replace the one lost plus 1 Transport to make up for loses when landing troops at Bombay in air range.
Canada helps out the UK by building an AA.

Convoys
I shut down the Indian Ocean route for UK to stop the loses and hope the Japanese go away when they find nothing.
US convoys are redirected to Australia and New Zealand for this turn.
I attempt to see if the US could still use UK merchants to move production without the Indian route being on for the UK. This didn't work. The UK has to turn on the Indian Ocean route to receive supplies from the South Pacific route. But it can't do this without the imports from India turning on allowing Japanese raider to kill Merchants.

S. Pacific

Rain and no activity. Still waiting for the US fleet to recover. It is still at 91% Effectiveness.

China

Clear weather but no activity.

Australia

I move a garrison to Darwin. I am trying to come up with some kind of plan that would allow me to strike at the oil in DEI from here.

India

Rain continues. The reinforcements received last turn move out with the US divisions extending the line far to the north retaking Lahore. Two more fresh divisions show up, one UK and one Indian.

This is the last turn of the full force of the Monsoons. Next turn the chance of clear goes up to 30% but I think I have enough force in the area now for them to stand up to sustained attacks.

Breaking the Japanese codes doesn't appear to do much of anything for the Allies. Kido Butai disappears again. I know what the Indian Ocean fleet is only because they made Convoy attacks which gives me the names of the ships, crew and their children. Fleet consists of 4 CVL, 1 CV (Hiya), 1 CVE, 4 BB, 2 BC, 3 CA and 7 DD. Which also happens to be 21 ships. So much for the 20 limit.

If this fleet wasn't sitting on my Indian Ocean convoy route, this would be a good thing. Part of my intention with all the fleet and sub movements is to try to keep the Japanese doing the same. Especially now that I have 60 Oil production. These ships and air units are eating up a good percentage of their oil production. It takes them 40 Oil just to keep there two fleets at sea. Probably another 5-10 Oil to keep making those air attacks. That means their stockpiles are growing very slowly. But it is hard to tell how effective this strategy is since I have no way to confirm what is happening to their inventories.

Thanks for the AAR! This is very interesting. I wonder if you'll be able to either (a) sneak the US CVs back to India to free up the convoy lines or (b) do something near Truk/Rabaul to make him shift the KB back to that neck of the woods to keep him burning oil.

ORIGINAL: John B.

Thanks for the AAR! This is very interesting. I wonder if you'll be able to either (a) sneak the US CVs back to India to free up the convoy lines or (b) do something near Truk/Rabaul to make him shift the KB back to that neck of the woods to keep him burning oil.

My fleet is no match for their two fleets in the Indian Ocean. So far by intel is lousy. Must have broken the Eskimo code instead of the Japanese one. Until I know where Kido Butai is and that place is well away from the Indian ocean my four CV fleet doesn't have a chance.

The Japanese have concentrate about six air groups around Rabaul which makes it a pretty deadly area for CV's.

Truk would be a good target if it could be quickly killed but if I have to wait for it to be reduced by blockade first I would probably be looking at a massive Japanese fleet attack in two turns. They also might be able to supply it by air although I would expect my carrier planes would shoot them down.

But I am going to put fleet operations to take an island to the test in a turn or so.
Meanwhile India is becoming a disaster again.

42 Sep 13 Turn

Convoy War
US Subs sink 2 Merchants but they still must have a lot of bad torpedoes.
Japanese Air units aren't having any problem killing subs. They sink another one.

Reinforcements
UK gets 1 Inf. US an AA which goes to Delhi.
India gets an infantry division.

S. Pacific
Fleet only up to 94% effectiveness.
Still don't know where Kido Butai is.

China
Things not going well either. Japanese continue there advance toward Chungking.
I pull my line back to straighten it and get my best armies in the front line.
I need rain but there is little chance of it until October.

42 Sep 13 Turn Cont'd.

India

Still getting rain as the Monsoons dwindle.
The line is better but it still has weak points where I haven't been able to get Corps size units deployed. One more turn and I will be able to do something about those weak points

Meanwhile I try to get them to withdraw those two Thai units NW of Delhi by pushing further behind them with the US divisions.

Production:
US: Sub, Merchant and Supply Truck.
Com. China gets enough points to build a new Army.

Oil situation is improving as the US pushes more oil out.
UK send 5 PP to India
US sends 20 Oil to India, 13 PP to India, 40 PP and 10 Oil to UK.

23 Sep 27 Turn

No action on the Convoy war but something odd happened (details later).
Reinforcements: UK DD, US BB Sub Marines AA, India a Division.

Pacific

Main fleet still no to 100% (96%) effectiveness but I need to draw some of the pressure off India. My plan is to target the Marshal Islands so I move the US Carrier fleet NE to take position to attack Kwajalein next turn and blockade the surrounding Islands. I pull my subs back from China sea area to also support this.

But I still don't know where Kido Butai is. Hopefully their intel is worse than mine.

India

The weather is clear and the attack begin. Both toward Bombay and Delhi. They have considerable success driving my line back and exposing both Bombay and Delhi to direct attack. One of my UK divisions covering Bombay is killed. Because of the terrain cost and weather I never could find a way to reinforce it up to Corps strength even though a division to do it was adjacent to it.

I am to weak to counter attack so I make the Corps in Delhi elite to strengthen it. I move an Indian Corps into Bombay. The line is getting thin.

To hopefully take some pressure off I send a US division on transports into the Bay of Bengal on a suicide mission. If they don't get sunk, I am going to land them south of Calcutta then cut the rail lines. This should severely damage their supply situation until they destroy the unit.


Production:

UK and India don't have anything left to use for this.
US builds a Transport, Merchant, Sub, marine, Inf. Div. and Landing Ship. Trying to get some offensive power.

42 Sep 27 Turn Cont'd.

Then I started to set up my Convoys. And, the thing blew up in my face.
The convoy route to Bombay disappeared.

Any attempt to set Merchants going to India by the US or UK resulted in the message shown in the screenshot:

"No rail or convoy connection to ally"

Something is blocking trade to India but I can't find anything that could do that. The Japanese infantry did move adjacent to Bombay but I can't find any rule that indicates that disables the port. They have a fleet two hexes from Bombay but it isn't even on the Convoy route.

I reroute my US production and oil to UK for now. But if I can't fix this India is doomed.

Anyone have an idea what could trigger this?
Or, is this a bug?

It's no rail route to Delhi being available I'm pretty sure. If you let it fall and the capital moves to Bombay, shipping should start again.

ORIGINAL: YueJin

It's no rail route to Delhi being available I'm pretty sure. If you let it fall and the capital moves to Bombay, shipping should start again.

There is rail in Delhi. I have been using the line on the West side to move reinforcements north. Since I occupy Bombay and it is the only part of the rail that is adjacent to an enemy unit, it shouldn't be blocked.

But I don't think rail affects Convoy Routes that are ocean based. I am not having a problem keeping my land units in supply. They weren't cut off. The only thing that got cut was the Indian Ocean Convoy Route. The only thing I know of, rule wise, that can shut off a convoy route is loss of the Port it is going too. They would have to occupy Bombay to stop merchant marine.

Check my October turn post when I make it later. As unexpected as it's disappearance. It up an reappeared. But I can't see any change in situation. If anything, the situation got worse with almost the entire Japanese surface fleets outside of Bombay. And, a three army attempt to take Bombay executed.

Why it went away for a turn and why it reappeared babbles me.

42 Oct 11 Turn

India is still cut off for Convoy supplies.
So no Convoy war this turn.
Kido Butai still unaccounted for.

Production:
Canada builds a Supply Truck
US builds two Inf. Divisions.

Convoys
Still blocked so just US PP and Oil to UK.

China - Rain
No activity there.

India - Clear

The Japanese penetration of my line is pushed deeper below Delhi. The city is cut off.
At Bombay they move three armies up but don't attack yet.

I counter attack the weaker units in the breakthrough and surrounding forces around Delhi.
An attack on the NW side, Thai unit, by Indian troops kills the unit. The Indian divisions move in to occupy the hex and reopen contact with Delhi.

South of Delhi the combined UK and Indian armies attack the Japanese HW driving it out of the hex. The British advance cutting off the Japanese army that had penetrated the line.

In Bombay area I shuffle the Indian units there and withdraw the damaged UK Corps. The Indian units are brought up to Corps strength for the coming attack.

The UK is able to bring a full strength Corps into Bombay (to the north of) without it getting damaged by the Japanese carriers off shore.

The Indian air force makes a strike against the Japanese fleet but it does no damage.

My disparate suicide invasion is made by the US division below Calcutta and moves to cut all the rails lines. Hopefully this will give Delhi enough relief to reform its lines next turn. Nice to see US troop obey suicide orders.

India's Production is only 21 PP. If I can't solve the Convoy problem, their armies will just disappear just by attritions of these battles.

42 Oct 11 Turn Cont'd.

Pacific

I am going to try to create a distraction which will hopefully take some of the pressure off India. The Allies are doomed if they lose the 100 division potential of India. Also, it is a test of how effective the US fleet is against an Island that is defended by both good infantry and land based air.

So the taking of the Marshal Islands campaign begins.

Kwajalein
I move my Carrier fleet of 5 CV's and 1 CVL (UK) adjacent and make air base attacks to suppress the Land based air unit there.
Japanese air losses are 4 and US 1.

3 Subs are moved to blockade Enewetak.
3 BB and 2 DD move to blockade Tarawa.
3 BB and 2 DD move to blockade Wotje.
2 Subs and 1 DD move to blockade Maloelap.

The marines land on Wake Island and retake it.

Now I have to maintain this force for three turns to kill the garrisons.

Whilst Delhi is the capital I'm pretty sure that any hex along this route being unavailable will prevent any trade. There's a very similar issue in Warplan Europe where taking a hex next to London will stop all convoyed resources from reaching the UK and the Axis can cheese it by cutting off the trade route and not taking London so the capital doesn't move.

42 Oct 25 Turn

UK Anti-Tank advances to 43. US Warships advance to 43.

Convoy War
UK loses 1 Merchant.
That is actually good news. Imports reopened from India to UK which means the Indian Convoy route has miraculously reopened. But why did it do that? Especially since even more enemy are around Bombay.

Having no supplies going into India for two turns (plus whatever disappeared before I knew it was a problem) has crippled India. If it reoccurs, India will be lost.

So push as much as I can into India even though there are Japanese fleets all over my convoy route.
UK with 75 MM sends 33 PP and 18 Oil to India.
US with 33 MM sends all it can to India. 20 PP and 13 Oil.

Production is limited. US takes opportunity to build a fighter and another Oiler.

China - Rain

Pacific

Marshal Air (at Kwajalein) attacks my fleet losing 2 air for the attempt.
US Fleet attacks it making only 1 hit for two strikes.
Otherwise, waiting for the blockades to take effect.

India

It appears the US division cut off enough supplies to prevent a counter attack by the Japanese in the north. Delhi holds. I shift the stronger UK Corps to the south of it into Delhi. My forces aren't strong enough to kill the surrounded Japanese army yet. Have to wait for starvation to reduce it.

In the south three Japanese armies supported by almost all the Japanese fleets (both the Indian Ocean one and Kido Butai) The defenders take 6 hits to 7 against the attacker. But they hold Bombay and I am able to switch out the weakened Indian Corps with fresher UK Corps. I also expend Supply Trucks to get their Effectiveness up.

42 Nov 8 Turn

It looks like the turning point in India. The massive fleets withdraw. But they could be just refueling and waiting for the Japanese infantry to get up to strength for another try. Luckily, the fleet left behind isn't on my Convoy lane.

But Kido has disappeared again. So much for US code breakers.

Pacific

The Japanese withdraw the air unit from Kwajalein.
US lands marines on the Island beaches but they aren't strong enough yet to take the island.
Waiting on starvation to do its work.

China - Snow and no activity.

India

The Convoy system is back online. The Indian line is rebuilding. An attack against the surrounded Japanese forces the 13th Army to surrender.

An air attack against the fleet does no damage but does confirm the fleet only has one carrier. That means the intel showing only 4 carriers in Colombo is identifying the rest of the CVL's in the area.

Kido is probably headed for the Pacific and along with it the air power needed to take Bombay.

42 Nov 8 Turn Cont'd.

Australia

I decide to test the effectiveness of my bombers against Japanese air bases.

The XXI Strategic Bomber group with the support of the US Escort fighters make the attack.
US suffers 7 hits to 6 hits against the Japanese 10th Air.

Not a good show. Hopefully a multi bomber raid later will do better.

Production
US builds another Transport, Inf. Div., Oiler, and Truck.

Convoys
Trying to push the maximum to India.
UK with 75 MM: 25 for Imports, 13 PP to India which leave 37 to support exports from US.
US with 33 MM: 3 Oil and 30 PP to India, using UK MM 50 PP and 5 Oil to UK.

42 Nov 22 Turn

Reinforcements:
US receives a Battleship.
Com. China gets its Army.

The Japanese Indian Ocean fleets all back at Colombo. Hopefully due to Oil shortages.

But Kido Butai is still missing. I am sure it is headed for the Pacific. Hope my fleet survives the attack.

Pacific

The Marines take Kwajalein.
Japanese ships show up outside Wake and Kwajalein but they are mostly weak coastal's.

S. Pacific

Make another bomber attack on Japanese air base on New Guinea with mediocre results. US 1 hit and 2 hits on Japanese.

India

UK Corps arrives. The Indian position should start improving as units rebuild. US division that is cut off probably will die.

Production:
Canada builds a Supply Truck.
Com. China builds a supply Truck.
US builds Landing Ship, Transport and Supply Truck

Convoys
UK: 25 Imports 25 PP to India.
US: 10 PP and 3 Oil to Australia, 10 PP and 10 Oil to India, 20 PP and 3 Oil to UK.

42 Dec 6 Turn

Kido showed up. One more turn and I would have been back in Pearl Harbor.

China - Rain and no activity.

India - Still rebuilding.

Production
US builds a Strategic Bomber

Convoys - Unchanged

Pacific
I resupply units not currently blockaded using Trucks (must be amphibious ones).


As mentioned Kido Butai showed up and moved adjacent to my Carrier fleet.

As usual this triggers my Carrier's to make a surprise attack. As shown in the screenshot they do very little damage but the Colorado is sunk and two of my CV's take heavy damage. This of course forces me to withdraw all my naval forces but a few subs back to Pearl.

What is interesting about this is the type of combat it supposedly is and how poorly it goes considering what it is suppose to be representing.

It is called a Carrier Interdiction

The heading says the "Axis Attacking"
Now the Axis side was the moving player and had to use all its action points to even reach the US Carriers. They moved adjacent which should make them and easy target.

Now the next question is who actually attacked and who defended and what was their state.

The Combat logs says the Attacking Carriers were the US ones. This implies they launched planes and attacked the Japanese Fleet. The Japanese having no action points left would I assume launch fighters and defend themselves.

The log dialog also says "Defending Carriers - AMBUSH"
I am not clear who is being Ambushed. It would be logical to assume that the Ambushers would be the US that sent an air attack against a moving fleet that had used maximum movement to get there. So they would be the Ambushed.
{Edit: I did find "Ambush" in the manual. The side marked with "Ambush" is the one who achieved surprise attack on the other side. No info on what that actually does. I assume it explains why the interdicted fleet was able to attack the Attacker.}

But then you look at the casualties.

The Defending fleet loss Air to Air and AA Guns plus three hits to CV's. That is reasonable for an Interdiction attack by the enemy but probably low for a "Ambush" if that occurred.

Then you look at the Attackers Loses.
9 Air to Air, 3 AA Guns, 5 hits to Carriers, a battleship sunk, two more hits to surface vessels.
These losses look more like the US fleet was ambushed by a massive Carrier Attack.

So the question is: What really happened in this battle?
Are the labels wrong or I am just misinterpreting what the labeling says?
Interdiction isn't what I think an interdiction is?
Who was actually ambushed?

Shouldn't an "interdiction" battle be just an air strike in one direction not two?
Or does "interdiction" mean something else.

ORIGINAL: kennonlightfoot

So the question is: What really happened in this battle?
Are the labels wrong or I am just misinterpreting what the labeling says?
Interdiction isn't what I think an interdiction is?
Who was actually ambushed?

Shouldn't an "interdiction" battle be just an air strike in one direction not two?
Or does "interdiction" mean something else.

A veritable ocean of ambiguities. It's why I'm passing on purchasing this title so far.