Here we go again! tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J) - No tc464

[crsutton]

My take as an Allied player on Oz.

An aggressive Japanese player can be in position to hit Northern Oz by May 1942.

Due to Japanese air superiorty and pitiful plane replacement rate, it is impossible for the Allied player to fend off-especially if KB is intact.

The Allied player needs to plan for this from day one to hope to prevent it. Here are my thoughts on at least making in difficult for Japan.

1. Darwin needs to be garrisoned just enough to prevent a frontal Japanese attack. Two good brigades plus odds and ends. At least one engineer and at least 200 base air support, level 5 airfield, level 3 port, level 5 fortifications. At least two AA units in Darwin. He has to close your airfield using netties from longer range-make him pay.

2. Absolutly no build up of other ports in N. Oz. Make him come through level 1 ports with level 1 airfields, and attack Darwin overland. Build Katherine and Daily Waters to level two airbases, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs to level 4 and 5 for your heavy and medium bombers.

3. Mobile units are the key. Oz gets six tank regiments. These units fill up with matildas and then grant tanks and have about 75 medium tanks each. By May, three of these should be up to strength. Allied medium tanks are tough. Oz gets two motorized units that are amazingly nice w/ mounted rifle squads, 25 grant/matilda tanks and 15 stuarts. Send every American tank unit you can spare to Oz. You can have five or six marine and army tank regiments with about 50 light tanks each in OZ by mid May. With commitments in Burma and China it is unlikely that any invading Japanese army can bring this many mobile units.

4 Fight a mobile defense using your superior number of mobile units to cut behind the Japanese and cut supply lines. You can't fight the big stacks but by combining a motorized brigade with a tank units gives the Allies a mobile jock colum that can defeat any sort of mobile unit Japan has or move away from any stronger unit. If Japan does not send enough tanks or a massive force to hold the line of communication with Wyndham there is hope to acutally cause some serious distress. Look for opportunities to cut off and destroy Japanese recon and tank regiments. (If a tank units advances into your occupied hex you simply need to follow him in with another mobile unit and he is cut off (all green hexsides)and out of supply.

5 The best hope is to delay, harrass and force the Japanese player to send reinforcments to this area. If he thinks your carriers are lurking about near Port Headland then any reinforcements or supply sent to Windham will need KB support.

6. Allies can't hold Darwin but only hope to buy time.

I personally think that other than grabbing Darwin any major offensive by Japan in Oz is a mistake. Opening up a large land front plays into the Allied strength. That is, you give the Allies one more place (China and India being the others) where he can fight a grinding land fight. Sooner or later this is going to hurt the Japanese economy. Japan needs to take places where the Allies can be completely driven out (PM, Noumea, Sulva) so that the Japanese units can refit and rest and await the eventual counter-attack. I don't think it is wise to give the Allies another place to grind in 1942.

[SqzMyLemon]

I'm having the same troubles Mike. You have to keep those larger ports fueled and supplied up nicely for when your Capital ships pull in. I had stripped Takao bare and when I sent 2 CVL's back to grab planes they didn't grab any replacements, they are still waiting since Takao only had 4k+ supply.

Are you including any CM's or ACM's in your follow up invasion groups right after you land? It's nice to be able to leave a few presents for any aggressive submarines or fast surface TF's that may be sent to try and disrupt you transports unloading. And then the ACM's are right there to limit deterioration.

Have you decided what mid-war fighter you'll concentrate on? I've decided to go with the George in many cases, changing research of later 45/46 aircraft frames I figure I'll never see anyway. Not sure of the Oscar's or Tojo's at this stage, Oscar's look good, but lack firepower. Tojo's more firepower, but no armour. I've capped my Val's at 50 and Kate's will capp at 60, but I still can't keep ahead of the need to fill out their current quotas, not to mention from tracker how many reinforcement ones I need. Your training units in the Home Islands, did you upgrade the aircraft at all, or keep the B5N1's and Jeans? I upgraded, so maybe that's why I can't keep pace.

Has Hakodate made you change your volume of ships to other ports at all? Right now in another PBEM I have going, its late Feb/42 and it's stocked with over 2 million resources right now, I've had to switch many ships over to try and get it into Honshu quickly. Or there's the option of just leaving it to stay a great reserve with a very short trip, when the perimeter starts shrinking.

Great AAR, always enjoy your posts and insights.

[Q-Ball]

The Japanese should be able to do a frontal assault of 4+ divisions in strength on Darwin NLT March 1. Singapore and Luzon seem to be consistently falling in early February, freeing up 6-8 IJA Divisions.

If the Japanese player prioritizes Northern Oz, which I think he should, then there is no way to defend Darwin.

[ny59giants]

Darwin is a base that I classify as "very important" to Japan. But more importantly, a base that you need to deny access to the Allies. Most bases are important to one side or the other, with few that are important to both sides.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Darwin is a base that I classify as "very important" to Japan. But more importantly, a base that you need to deny access to the Allies. Most bases are important to one side or the other, with few that are important to both sides.

No doubt, all of Northern Oz is really to deny to Allies.....not alot there for Japan really. And defending it is problematic on several levels.

But you can't let the Allies build big bases and go into the DEI....that's real bad. I hope to show HOW bad in my AAR vs. Cuttlefish, though he still has the IJN hammer to put on me.....

[Frandoxxx]

Hey everybody, thanks for all the comment on this, through a series of luck and "skill" I have ny allied foe really on the ropes in the Northern Australian/Port Moseby area. (It is mid January 42) Not sure I would have ever even thought about getting aggresive in Australia if not for all of your good comments.

I can now see why the Australian PM got so freaked out after Singapore fell.

[bklooste]

Q with Allied players rushing defenses into Darwin and PM isnt Brisbane a good play ? When he commits more units then take Darwin.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon


Have you decided what mid-war fighter you'll concentrate on? I've decided to go with the George in many cases, changing research of later 45/46 aircraft frames I figure I'll never see anyway. Not sure of the Oscar's or Tojo's at this stage, Oscar's look good, but lack firepower. Tojo's more firepower, but no armour. I've capped my Val's at 50 and Kate's will capp at 60, but I still can't keep ahead of the need to fill out their current quotas, not to mention from tracker how many reinforcement ones I need. Your training units in the Home Islands, did you upgrade the aircraft at all, or keep the B5N1's and Jeans? I upgraded, so maybe that's why I can't keep pace.

Great AAR, always enjoy your posts and insights.

George has a service rating of 3 as does the Frank, as does the Tony. You need to look at this carefully. We AFBs can tell you what a nightmare it is keeping our buffalos in action. (service 3 as well).


Biggest problem for Allied players defending Oz is that many are afflicted with the "replacment bug" where none of your Australian tank units will take replacments. They start out as cadres and reamain so. I hope it is fixed soon.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

George has a service rating of 3 as does the Frank, as does the Tony. You need to look at this carefully. We AFBs can tell you what a nightmare it is keeping our buffalos in action. (service 3 as well).

Good point crsutton, that is the one criteria I really didn't look at. I'm starting to see more posts on the importance of service ratings for aircraft. I'll go over my options again and make sure I want to take the plunge with the George.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

I'm having the same troubles Mike. You have to keep those larger ports fueled and supplied up nicely for when your Capital ships pull in. I had stripped Takao bare and when I sent 2 CVL's back to grab planes they didn't grab any replacements, they are still waiting since Takao only had 4k+ supply.

Are you including any CM's or ACM's in your follow up invasion groups right after you land? It's nice to be able to leave a few presents for any aggressive submarines or fast surface TF's that may be sent to try and disrupt you transports unloading. And then the ACM's are right there to limit deterioration.

Have you decided what mid-war fighter you'll concentrate on? I've decided to go with the George in many cases, changing research of later 45/46 aircraft frames I figure I'll never see anyway. Not sure of the Oscar's or Tojo's at this stage, Oscar's look good, but lack firepower. Tojo's more firepower, but no armour. I've capped my Val's at 50 and Kate's will capp at 60, but I still can't keep ahead of the need to fill out their current quotas, not to mention from tracker how many reinforcement ones I need. Your training units in the Home Islands, did you upgrade the aircraft at all, or keep the B5N1's and Jeans? I upgraded, so maybe that's why I can't keep pace.

Has Hakodate made you change your volume of ships to other ports at all? Right now in another PBEM I have going, its late Feb/42 and it's stocked with over 2 million resources right now, I've had to switch many ships over to try and get it into Honshu quickly. Or there's the option of just leaving it to stay a great reserve with a very short trip, when the perimeter starts shrinking.

Great AAR, always enjoy your posts and insights.

Lemon,

Mines are a problem for me. Early on, I planned on dumping 150 mines at Rabaul. I screwed up something and the mines all got dumped at Truk. Actually, all the available mines of that type (can't remember which) were dumped at Truk. [8|] That's great for Truk, but it really sucks for the rest of the Pacific. I get about 4 a day of that particular mine so it'll be awhile before I can do something with them.

With PDU off, most of my decisions concerning plane research/production are already made for me. It's all based on what the air units can upgrade to. I basically need to produce some of everything. As I upgrade air units (which is pretty slow), I update my air unit roster to see what their next upgrade is. I use this to determine my pool levels and research. In a sense, PDU off makes life easier because I don't have to make many of those decisions. I just produce everything and keep a close eye on pool levels. I'm still producing Nates, but will probably turn them off next turn. I have ~50 in the pool and my Nate losses have been very low. I'm trying to upgrade as many Nate units as possible but many of them don't upgrade or upgrade to something that isn't out of R&D yet.

I've modified my resource movement TFs only by shifting some of them. Here's what I've done so far:

Hakodate: Shifted some from Sapporo and Kushiro to Hakodate.
Shikuka: Shifted some from Toyohara to Shikuka.
Pt. Arthur: Shifted some from the China ports to Pt. Arthur.

I'm not too concerned about it. They're keeping up with production and making some headway. It'll all work out.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

I'm having the same troubles Mike. You have to keep those larger ports fueled and supplied up nicely for when your Capital ships pull in. I had stripped Takao bare and when I sent 2 CVL's back to grab planes they didn't grab any replacements, they are still waiting since Takao only had 4k+ supply.

Are you including any CM's or ACM's in your follow up invasion groups right after you land? It's nice to be able to leave a few presents for any aggressive submarines or fast surface TF's that may be sent to try and disrupt you transports unloading. And then the ACM's are right there to limit deterioration.

Have you decided what mid-war fighter you'll concentrate on? I've decided to go with the George in many cases, changing research of later 45/46 aircraft frames I figure I'll never see anyway. Not sure of the Oscar's or Tojo's at this stage, Oscar's look good, but lack firepower. Tojo's more firepower, but no armour. I've capped my Val's at 50 and Kate's will capp at 60, but I still can't keep ahead of the need to fill out their current quotas, not to mention from tracker how many reinforcement ones I need. Your training units in the Home Islands, did you upgrade the aircraft at all, or keep the B5N1's and Jeans? I upgraded, so maybe that's why I can't keep pace.

Has Hakodate made you change your volume of ships to other ports at all? Right now in another PBEM I have going, its late Feb/42 and it's stocked with over 2 million resources right now, I've had to switch many ships over to try and get it into Honshu quickly. Or there's the option of just leaving it to stay a great reserve with a very short trip, when the perimeter starts shrinking.

Great AAR, always enjoy your posts and insights.

Lemon,

Mines are a problem for me. Early on, I planned on dumping 150 mines at Rabaul. I screwed up something and the mines all got dumped at Truk. Actually, all the available mines of that type (can't remember which) were dumped at Truk. [8|] That's great for Truk, but it really sucks for the rest of the Pacific. I get about 4 a day of that particular mine so it'll be awhile before I can do something with them.

With PDU off, most of my decisions concerning plane research/production are already made for me. It's all based on what the air units can upgrade to. I basically need to produce some of everything. As I upgrade air units (which is pretty slow), I update my air unit roster to see what their next upgrade is. I use this to determine my pool levels and research. In a sense, PDU off makes life easier because I don't have to make many of those decisions. I just produce everything and keep a close eye on pool levels. I'm still producing Nates, but will probably turn them off next turn. I have ~50 in the pool and my Nate losses have been very low. I'm trying to upgrade as many Nate units as possible but many of them don't upgrade or upgrade to something that isn't out of R&D yet.

I've modified my resource movement TFs only by shifting some of them. Here's what I've done so far:

Hakodate: Shifted some from Sapporo and Kushiro to Hakodate.
Shikuka: Shifted some from Toyohara to Shikuka.
Pt. Arthur: Shifted some from the China ports to Pt. Arthur.

I'm not too concerned about it. They're keeping up with production and making some headway. It'll all work out.

[Mike Solli]

13 Jan 42

Reinforcements

2 Raiding Regiment - Southern Army - I'm building it up to full strengh. Not sure where it'll be committed though.
38, 39 & 41 Fld AA Bns - 17 Army - They're on their way to Truk and eventually, Rabaul. The 17 Army eventually gets an infantry brigade and independent tank company, in addition to the AA. They'll form the Rabaul garrison.
82 &83 Naval Guard - SE Fleet - heading to Truk.
4, 5, 7 & 8 Independent SNLF Co - SE Fleet - heading to Truk. Eventually, they'll most likely garrison bases I don't want Ted to walk into.
10 Special Base Force - Southern Fleet - Not sure what this will garrison, but it'll be an important base in the SRA.

Philippines

I attacked at Cabanatuan again, destroying the base force there. Now only the 1 PA Division remains. Another 721 prisoners to 11 Japanese casualties.

Ternate

I took that base, capturing the 108 members of the Ternate base force for no loss. Next target is Ambon. The forces for Ambon are gathering at Babeldaob.

SE Fleet

I took Lae, pushing out the remnants of the company defending there. I stationed 9 Zeros (and will add another 9 tomorrow) to sweep Pt. Moresby.

Other Stuff

Singkawang's airfield reached level 4. It'll stop there.

[Mike Solli]

14 Jan 42

Reinforcement

Ships: 1 each xAK, xAKL and Cha-26
Air: 2 Raiding Sentai of 27 Ki-57-Is

Ternate

An advance party TF headed for Ambon (with a SNLF) got caught by Dutch air power off Ternate (I forgot to use waypoints to avoid that area). A Ko-24K-1 put a 300kg bomb into an xAK. Fortunately, she took 23 points of sys and only a couple of points of flot damage and can stay in the convoy.

Malaya

I took Kuala Lumpur, destroying the remnants of the 22 Ind Bde. That was the last cut off unit. My forces are flowing south toward Singapore.

Philippines

Cabanatuan fell today, netting 4243 prisoners, the remains of the 1 PA division. Now, only Bataan remains in Allied control on Luzon. I'm going to pull out a division to suplement the invasion of Java.

China

I attacked A cuple different places netting almost 1600 casualties for about 60 Japanese.

SE Fleet

I landed at Buna with a company.

[Mike Solli]

15 Jan 42
 
SE Fleet
 
I sent a couple of BBs to pay a visit to Pt. Moresby to bombard.  I also hoped to catch the handful of juicy transports there.  The I-9 had been sitting in the hex doing nothing.  Today, she put 3 torps into an xAP loaded with troops.  I suspect she went down.  The BBs then showed up and their escorting DDs found a US sub in the hex and got a DC hit on her.  Then, another US sub took a shot at that DD and missed.  The resulting retialiation got 2 hits on that sub.  Both have been reported as sunk, but I doubt it.  Hopefully, they'll leave, clearing the way for the 4 Division invasion in a few days.  The BB TF never did engage any Allied TFs (but to be honest, none are showing up anymore).  The resulting bombardment did little in the way of damage.  On their way home, the BBs came accross a Dutch sub.  No damage was done by either side.
 
Buna was liberated.
 
Pago Pago
 
A midget sub attack failed......again.
 
Burma
 
The 33 Division moved accross a river and shock attacked Pegu (right next door to Rabaul).  The successful attack pushed out the small force there after mauling it, causing 447 casualties.  I'm not going to move into Rabaul yet.  I'll wait until some air support units arrive (they're enroute).  I am going to attempt to cut off Rabaul though.
 
Other Stuff
 
I increased vehicle production by 13 (to 85 in a week). 
 
I'm contemplating turning on the Sonia factory.  30 Sonias started in the pool and I'm down to 15 remaining.  The Sonia factory is 30.  I'd get about one a day.  I don't like the Sonia but PDU off requires that I use them.  I may wait until they're down to 10 and then build the pool back up to 30.
 
I have about 50 Nates in the pool and am still producing them.  I'm going to shut them off tomorrow.  Nate losses have been very low as well.  Most of the units using Nates upgrade to planes still in R&D.

[Mike Solli]

Duplicate post. [:@]

[Nomad]

The last time I looked, Pegu was next to Rangoon! [:D]

Keep up the good write up Mike. I just started my own PBEM game as Japan. I am using your AAR for my basic template.

[Mike Solli]

Nomad, you're a wise guy. [:D] I do that all the time. [:D]

[Grotius]

I'm also enjoying the AAR, Mike. I forget: do you have troops in PM, or are you preparing to invade it?

My play of Japan has also influenced by this AAR, as well as by Q-Ball and Cuttlefish (among others). Except I'm not as good as any of you guys.

[Mike Solli]

Thanks Grotious. I don't claim to be a good player. I just have this perverse love of Japanese economics.

16 Jan 42

Quiet turn today. I shut off Nate production. There are 57 in the pool and I just upgraded the 11 Sentai to Oscars, so there'll be another 39 in a few days.

Malaya

I took Malacca against no opposition. Manpower is 1(1) and Resources are 100(0). My Oscars sweeping Singapore are still unopposed. I don't expect to run into any more Buffalos there. I started bombing the airfield to prevent Ted from increasing the fort level. (I have no idea how high the fort level is.) The bombers destroyed 1 Vildebeast on the ground and caused light damage to the airfield for the cost of 1 Sally. Not all of it was repaired either. Interesting...

Billiton

Just to let you guys know, you can't fly a sweep mission from a level 1 airfield. (Yeah, you guys know that already. I just had to see for myself.) Billiton's airfield should reach level 2 in a couple of days.

SE Fleet

Below is the force arrayed at Pt. Moresby. The 4 Division will arrive there in a few days, escorted by a couple of BBs. That should be enough to take the place.

[Mike Solli]

17 Jan 42

Philippines

I'm bombing Bataan daily and am now moving my forces into Bataan. I'll bombard for awhile to see what's there.

China

A couple of attacks netted 4000 casualties for 170 Japanese losses.

Ambon

I landed an SNLF which won't be enough to take the island by itself. More troops are on the way, as well as the 21 Air Flotilla HQ and other stuff. I plan on moving the entire 21 Air Flotilla there to cause Ted grief should he want to try something in that area.

KB

KB had to sail to Takao to replace planes. I used quite a few because I resized the air units. They're now sailing south for Babeldaob and probable missions in the SRA, most likely supporting the Ambon invasion.

Malaya

More bombing is occurring at Singapore while my troops flow south.

SE Fleet

Ted tried a shock attack at Pt. Moresby that failed. Losses were pretty even (606 Japanese losses to 612 Allied losses). Below is what the forces look like compared to a day ago (above):