WitP mod v903 Ngineer(Japan) vs. Feinder(Allies)

[Feinder]

September 19th, 1944

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - No new funding spent on Research. I also refunded the extra chit(s) for AAA, because I think "2" is the max for surface ships anyway.

Production - Crap. I forgot to screen cap (with the new stuff). For UK, I bought Strategic Bombers. USA I spent most on upgrades and replacements (again); but also bought the last Mari-Bmbr. There are some Tac-Bmbrs still avail, but they were expensive, so I'll pick them up when I can. USSR bought a Tac-Bmbr too I think.

Losses - USS Tambor sunk in port at The Corner. Japanese losses:
Inf-Corps : Burma
Inf-Corps : China
Inf-Div : China
Garrison : China
Sub : DEI
3x Destroyers : DEI

Economy - Not much change. But you can see from the Research slide that Industry is at 94% and dbl-chitted, so maybe we complete it next turn.

[Feinder]

October 7th, 1944

India

Supported by Heavy Artillery, Japanese and Thai ground force attacked a Chinese Inf-Div, but the results were of marginal value.

As a follow-up counter-attack, Allied forces concentrated on a Japanese SNLF-Div that had become disrupted during the previous attack. With additional air-support, the SNLF-Div was driven from Mandalay with heavy casualties, but our assaulting units were too exhausted to exploit the retreat and Mandalay remains and open city.

I don't know if, next turn he'll return the SNLF unit to Mandalay, shift the Thai Inf-Corp to Mandalay (thus abandoning the mines), or something else all-together.

Meanwhile, Gen. Montgomery has arrived in theater to lead the British and Canadian troops. Given the results further south (more on that later), I'm thinking of getting them loaded into AVLs (instead of heading to China as I first considered).

[Feinder]

October 7th, 1944

China

Japanese general retreat in China continues.

In Comm-China, I'll attempt to cut-off that Japanese HQ and subordinate units. I also got notification that a Comm-Chi Partisan spawned up in North Comm-China near the mines. Free units are always appreciated.

More to the Center in Nationalist China, the People's Army continues it's advance, now supported by the reconstituted Chinese Air Force. A unit of Partisans also rallied to our cause, and is being reequipped for further service.

To the SE-Center, our forces continue to drive towards the puppet Capital of Nanjing. As noted, Japan has committed a Inf-Corps to its defense. We'll need to move forward an HQ and additional support units to complete that push; and I expect that he will commit more forces to its defense.

Chinese forces also launched an attack from Changsha. Heavy artillery playing a major role at the open, we managed to drive back, and even destroy an Inf-Corps that had been besieging the city. This leaves open the opportunity to liberate the nearby Mines, and to link up an attack against Wuhan (which is both a National Morale Objective and an Industrial Center, so would certainly be a worth-while liberation).

[Feinder]

October 7th, 1944

Dutch East Indies

The first map attached, was the situation at conclusion of Japan's turn. The second map is the the situation at the end of my turn. I both maps, because there's already a lot going on with those maps, and adding more arrows than already would just be confusing.

Japan's continued it's attacks against the USN Sub at Mindanao. That's fine, it's tying up a CVL and 3x DDs.

In NE Borneo, he moved up an SNLF-Div (I presume from defending the capital of Brunei), to counter my Inf-Corps from continuing it's advance towards whatever that little port is in the NE corner.

He also baby-seal-clubbed my AVL off Sumatra, not unexpected.

He then launched several attacks with Carrier and Land-based strikes, against my CV/CVLs in the SW of Borneo. He did manage to damage my air-groups at -9x SPs, and mauled my Fighter that was also providing top-cover. I'm certain that he was disappointed in the results. IJA then advanced with two Inf-Divs against my forces an NW Borneo, their attacks were unsuccessful (and did more damage to themselves). However, I did pull back my Ind-Divs, so that he could not isolate them.

And my response at running the replay was, "Hm. We have basically his entire fleet spotted, and in theater at this point. I have Carriers and LBA about on parity with him (I have about 5x CVs and 5x CVLs in range for strikes). But my surface units too far to engage this turn, but can cruise to provide cover end-of-turn. With 8x IJN Carriers, and a Fighter squadron, that is 18(!) enemy intercepts. So, do I fight with what I have? Or to consolidate?"

I went with "Fight".

My attack really amounted to mad throw everything at him, starting with LBA. I used Strat-Bmbrs and Med-Bmbrs first (escorted when possible) to draw off enemy Intercepts and to further damage his air-groups. Ends up, he has an additional Fighter in Sumatra as well. I used CVLs to directly attack his Fighters, destroying the one in Borneo. And then Mari-Bmbrs for additional attacks (again drawing escorts from y Carriers - Range(4) is like an range of 10, very helpful). I lost a Mari-Bmbr (destroyed), but it did draw interceptors. You can see my little hash-marks on the first map, to indicate me recording which/how many intercepts had been made.

Lots of carnage. However, I was able to beat thru his Cap, and finally go into Bomber-Mode (having drawn all his intercepts). With Japanese air-cover flagging, more bombers continued to leak thru and score hit's on his Carriers. We also sent bombardments against his Fighter in Sumatra, I know it was heavily damaged. But also noted that his CV in port there, was down to 1x SP (from Bombers), so I bombarded the port, and finished off his CV there as well.

Ok. So having now expended my attacks, and fairly pleased with the results:
3x CVs and 1x CVL sunk, no what do I do...?

I moved up any Fighters and CVs from the South (off Oz/Timor) to provide top-cover, and then began setting up a screen north of my CVs. Most of my surface units were in/near Celebes (and it's a lot of surface units). They weren't in range to actually engage the enemy in open-water. But then it hit me, "What if lock him down in port..." And so thus I have moved up a crap-load of surface units to blockade his Carriers and other units in port.

The good thing about being adjacent, I can see just how badly his air-groups have been mauled. He's really "only" got solid strikes from his two remaining CVs ("only" is in quotes because that's 4x Strikes which can handily take down a BB/BC). But otherwise his surface fleet is also limited to a single-DN and BC (location unknown), but otherwise is mostly consisted of about 10x Destroyers and a handful of Cruisers.

So sunk this turn...
3x CV
1x CVL

Now Blockaded...
1x CV
3x CVL
1x CL
1x DD
(the middle map is DEI at (almost) turn complete and is fully zoomed in, so you might want to open the image in a new tab).

And, in other news...
My Recc-Div moved up and attacked his CL in port off Sumatra (also Blockaded).
And I have no idea if it was a mistake or he was hoping I wouldn't notice but... A Tac-Bmbr appeared at the Horn of New Guinea, so I attacked it, and killed it.
And taking the opportunity, I made amphib landings to secure the islands of Palawan and Panay (to support upcoming invasion of Luzon, liberation of Manila).
I moved up 4x CVLs that were in-transit to Oz, and pummeled his units at Rabaul. An IJA Med-Bmbr was destroyed, and having pulled his intercepts, I set the other two CVLs to Bomber-mode and heavily damaged his CVL in port. I expect he'll be running back to Japan.
And then as an after-thought, I flipped everything in range to "Raider" since I'm sitting astride most of his convoy routes.

[Feinder]

October 7th, 1944

National Morale and Strategic Map

National Morale - Well, the USA actually gained +595 points this turn. Yay. Japan -6896, "yay-er".

Strat Map - Like I said, we've go pretty much his entire navy spotted (less his DN and BC). I did note that it's interesting that he had 7x CVLs, no 6 as I had been accounting for.

Hopefully, we can take out another CV and 3x CVLs next turn.

[Feinder]

October 7th, 1944

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - Nothing new spent on Research. But Industry(5) completed, so 1. that awesome to start. 2. I got 150mpp refund, also awesome.

Production - Still upgrading and replacements. But I did buy a Tac-Bmbr. Other purchases from prev turn also included.

Losses -

USA:
1x Inf-Div and AVL off Sumatra
1x Mari-Bmbr lost in battle of "The Corner"

Japan:
1x Inf-Corp in China
1x Med-Bmbr in Solomons
1x Tac-Bmbr in New Guinea
1x Fighter at The Corner
1x CVL at The Corner
3x CV at The Corner

Economy - USA bumps with Industry(5) and Refund. Would like to see a Japanese hit to convoys next turn.

[Elessar2]

Research - No new funding spent on Research. I also refunded the extra chit(s) for AAA, because I think "2" is the max for surface ships anyway.

It's 3. I figured the progression would go L1: more 4-5 inch dual-purpose guns L2: more smaller caliber guns (Bofors). L3: Proximity shells. The historical record demonstrates those 4 levels pretty well:

L0: Vittorio Veneto's: had few effective DP, only 12 3.5", and, amazingly, wasted 4 barrels on star shell only guns.

L1: Bismarck: 16 4.1", but only 16 37mm and 78 of the relatively useless 20mm.

L2: Early war US AA suites, with all those Bofors.

L3: Late war US once they had a lot of proximity shells

-----

I do await your opponent's comments on the China war. It does appear he borrowed from that theater to feed the others, and is now paying the price. I have toyed with having regular blanket low negative supply events for both sides in China; the issue is that the SC economic system, as such, doesn't work well when a country or theatre has little to no combat over a period of many turns. SC assumes you can simply stockpile MPPs ad infinitum then use them to easily buy an instantly huge army for yourself, and then promptly go to town, while the reality of China's economy and general situation, including geography, meant that that was likely a pipe dream for Chiang no matter how quiet the Japanese were against him.

The relatively poor performance of his CVs does indicate that the currency of his experienced early war carriers is a coin that once spent cannot be repurchased easily, esp. for the air wings; in my AARs I blamed most of the poor performance of the US Navy on their poor NM, but high IJN experience likely had a lot to do with that as well. Those earlier battles almost certainly nuked most of those air wing experience pips. You have also knocked him down below one of the key NM thresholds of course however.

Your little blockade trap shows the danger of using front-line ports even if they do give you instant supply. Note I may have convinced the devs to dial down naval supply at these rinky dink ports; we shall see when the next patch comes out.

[Feinder]

October 25th, 1944

India

Fierce fighting continues Mandalay. The Japanese SNLF-Div is mauled by combined Indian and Chinese assaults, which also included support from 1st Indian Armoured Division. The Japanese SNLF-Div holds, but at heavy cost.

Meanwhile, recon flights over Rangoon from RAAF Maritime Bombers, confirm that the long-present CVL had been transferred to the Dutch East Indies. Further loitering also confirmed that the city and environs has also been denuded of troops. Thus British and Canadian assault troops have begun loading for planned liberation. I'll probably take the extra turn(s) to bring HQ and another Inf-Corps, because once landed in Rangoon, they'll need to hold. I would expect the border troops to fall back onto Rangoon, plus anything else he can get in by rail. So my Rangoon invasion will have to be sufficient to hold until my Border troops can pursue and his forces that have retreated. If successful, it should largely shatter his SE Asia Army (1x HQ, 2x Inf-Corp, 1x Art-Div, 2x Inf-Div, 1x SNLF-Div); which would leave open the (long) road to Malaya and Indo-China.

It is amusing to me though that, India has truely proven to be my multi-national theater.
Indian - Along the border with Burma.
China - Along the border with Burma/China.
British - Assault for Rangoon, and fighter squadrons
Canadian - Assault for Rangoon, and fighter squadron (now in China)
Australian - Defense of S India, now participating in DEI. Maritime squadron for patrols and recon.
New Zealand - Defense of S India, now participating in DEI.
USA - Defense of The Incursion, now participating in DEI.

[Feinder]

October 25th, 1944

China

Communist Chinese forces continue to recapture territory in the North. The Mines are now in sight, and IJA forces have pulled back further to the East (meaning that if/when we secure the Mines, they should rebuild since he won't be adjacent to them). Also the town of Shazaam! was liberated and the IJA Northern Army HQ is threatened with envopment.

Nationalist Chinese forces continue their drive in the Central Pain towards Tientsin, while forces along the right flank encounter determined resistance outside of Haichow as IJA forces are compressed.

Lines along Wuhan towards Nanjing remain fluid. An IJA Inf-Div had pulled back towards Wuhan, but was destroyed before it had time to entrench behind the river east of Wuhan. Our drive towards Nanjing pauses as I move an HQ to support my troops, and also to not over-extend them to far with forces at Wuhan along their flank.

[Feinder]

October 25th, 1944

Dutch East Indies

Again, attached the map, but more with notes than with arrows, because otherwise it gets too busy.

We closed last turn with several Japanese carriers blockaded in ports in Malaya and Sarawak.
Japan concentrated attacks on the Fast Battleship USS South Dakota, launching air-strikes from it's remaining CV/CVLs. SoDak sustained heavy damage and did (auto)retreat south back towards Borneo. The Royal Navy HMS Suffolk was also sustained a direct hit to her engine room from the CL Kiso which sortied as well. SoDak's fires were contained however, and with careful counter-flooding, her list corrected sufficiently that she was able to limp back to port at SW Borneo. The Suffolk also managed to contain the damage, and retreated from the action area under tow from USS Cleveland lending assistance.

The Japanese attempt to breakout has failed, and despite their exhaustion, US Naval Aviators are once again called upon to do their gruesome work. Many of my air-groups are indeed, already depleted (down to 5-6 SPs); those of my CVLs in the best shape (usually at 8). The CVLs USS Cabot and Princeton, are sent first with Fighter Sweeps over the Japanese Carriers and a Japanese Fighter Squadron in Sumatra. The IJA Fighter squadron had already been largely attritted, and was destroyed while many fighters of the remaining Japanese carrier CAP was also destroyed. Trusting to an end-result of sinking the enemy carriers and otherwise advantage of Land-Based air cover, the US carriers closed the range, and sent in their strikes laden with extra Bombs and no escorts. The Naval Pilots claimed having sunk two CVLs and heavy damage to a CV that was making for open sea where the South Dakota had been driven off. Carrier Aviation having driven the remaining hares to the hounds, the US Heavy Cruisers and Fast Battleships raked the desperate Japanese Carriers as they charged the heavy salvos of their executioners. Also showing no less valour than their larger fleet units, an IJN Destroyer and the Light Cruiser Kiso were likewise destroyed under a hail of Allied shell-fire. My CAGs though, are all in shambles, and will need to return south for replacements.

With much of the carnage complete, most surface units retreat south to the greater protection of land-based CAP, but with several Cruisers left to intercept shipping along the Burma and Batavia convoy routes. The port facilities of Malaya and Sarawak have been completely destroyed from the bombardments of prior weeks.

Seeking to gain advantage during the Japanese route, Adm. Doofus sent sent forward the 8th Marine Division to land at Brunei. The Japanese Light Cruise Kishima sortied and managed to wreck most of the landing force, before itself being shattered by Medium and Patrol bombers from bases in Southern Borneo and Celebes. The few remaining survivors of our landing force have been enveloped in a screen of destroyers and submarines, and squadron of RAAF fighter to provide top-cover. It is our hope that this will provide sufficient protection to allow the remains of the 8th Marine Division to escape.

Admiral Doofus, the same having ordered the costly landing off Sumatra has been summoned back to San Francisco to face a Courts Marshall.

Now assuming control of our Amphibious Forces, Adm. Bemore Cautious has loaded several transports near Celebes and will attempt subsequent invasions next turn.

[Feinder]

October 25th, 1944

Elsewhere, National Morale, and Strategic Map

Elsewhere...

The quartet of CVLs patrolling off Rabaul send final recce missions over the Bismark bases, looking for the damaged CVL from last week, but their quarry has escaped to the north. Most of the bases also appear to have been abandoned (not surprising). The CVLs will dock at ports in Eastern Australia to top-off their airgroups.

Another "Recon in Force" in the Marshalls, another Carrier Group (of 3x CV and 1x CV), pass the atoll of Tarawa, destroying the patrol squadron that had been occupying the base and wrecking the port facilities to prohibit regular transports from landing ground troops next turn. A division of Aussie infantry that had been loaded at Darwin, is diverted past The Horn, and will be in range to seize opportunity to occupy Tarawa.

Similar recce missions from patrol bombers out of New Guinea, show that Babelthuap is also lightly held. We don't yet have a assault force ready to attack it, but it has certainly made it to the "attack at opportunity" list.

National Morale - US NatMorale went up by 1800pts (sweet!), while Japan continues to dive and is down to 85k, putting the 70% break-point within reach. It also occurred to me that, he doesn't have THAT many ships left, so I won't be able to get these large NM hits to Japan otherwise except for taking NM hexes. So that just becomes a part of the equation. Speaking of "the equation" the victories of the last two turns have "bought" us a few months. US NatMorale expects to drop below 40% on March 31st 1946; and the US surrenders just after Christmas in 1949. It'll be nice if I can get him into the "under 70% tier" with me, essentially at parity, but I also have the advantage of having research (most of) the morale techs (so +20%) and with the advantage for NavWeaps(3) and (soon) InfWeaps(3).

Strategic Map - I just threw a bunch of stuff on there, that seemed useful (because I'll use it for reference when I get the turn back). The Japanese Navy is largely wrecked, with most of it's remaining units sheltering in the hive of islands among the Philippines. It has occurred to Adm. Bemore Cautious that landing at the islands where his ships are sheltering, certainly present an opportunity to damage his ships in port again. And, we're looking at 5 or 6 assault units, not just one that can isolated/pounded (if he still holds the port). If I land at his islands, if he choses to stay in the port of course my ground forces and hit him, and it also pins him so that my navy can then blockade him. So it's a thought. I dunno, the IJN may very well leave their hive and head back to safer ports. We'll see what the next turn provides.

And while it is true that the air-groups of my forward carriers in DEI have been largely depleted, the reality is, the group that was involved in the action, represents less than half my flight-decks, and he doesn't really have anything left to oppose me at this point (just 1x CV, 2x CVLs, and a pair of DN/BC).

[Feinder]

October 25th, 1944

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - I went ahead and dropped extra chits into Land and Amphibious warfare, both will certainly be useful in the coming months.

Production - I rebuilt the Para-Div. Those guys are just bad-luck having been wiped out twice already. But they're too useful to give up on.

Losses - None for the Allies (other than a substantial number of air-step losses).
Japan losses
1x Inf-Div : China
1x Fighter : Sumatra
1x Mari-Bmbr : Tarawa
2x CL : DEI
2x DD : DEI
3x CVL : DEI
1x CV : DEI

Economy : You can see that the wrecked ports and raiding convoy lines has begun to take the toll, Japan drops below 300mpp.

[Feinder]

And just a reminder...

I did NOT fund the Atomic Bombs.

So this doesn't end until I'm sitting on Hirohito's Throne, or there's a People's Coup D'etat (he concedes).

[Feinder]

November 12th, 1944

India

Grrr.

So, I was clicking through "my" units along the line in India, and ended up clicking on the Thai Inf-Div along the line, causing an unintended attack by my already disrupted Inf-Corps (taking an additional 2x SP of damage). That basically changed up my intentions to continue to my attack on his SNLF-Div. Basically, most of the front-line along India-Burma went to shuffling so that I could pull back my Inf-Corps.

So my feed-back is to change the Japanese Minor Ally Colors to maybe a Dark Tan or something, that otherwise resembles Japan, because as you can see, it's easy to mix-up India vs. Thai.

We also noted that he has moved an HQ into Rangoon. Even as "just" and HQ, I think that could sufficiently hold off an assault by my Inf-Corp and Inf-Div (esp with Amphib(1)). So I've continue to load transports, but we'll go somewhere else besides Rangoon. At this point, there is not shortage of valuable landing sites.

[Feinder]

November 12th, 1944

China

The Japanese continue their withdrawal from China. I'm careful to not follow to closely, to allow him to spawn the partisans when possible.

In the north, the Comm-Chi have recaptured the Mines, and I'll attempt to surround that Inf-Div next turn (if he doesn't move it out).

The Center slows its advance, partly because I need to pull replacements, partly because I need HQ support.

In the SE (towards Nanjing), we pulled replacements and destroyed an IJA Garrison holding the joint at Wuhan. Basically, I'll leave an Inf-Div to anchor my flank, and then advance to Nanjing. Frankly, I don't know if what I have is enough to take Nanjing, but pressure is good.

[Feinder]

November 12th, 1944

Dutch East Indies

Ending your turn next to sub is never healthy. And my damaged Destroyer that "found" the IJN Sub last turn (north of Sarawak), paid the price. IJN sub fired a full spread of torpedoes with 4 hits, DD Somers broke in half and sank with heavy loss of life.

He then pushed up a CVL, and hit my (heavily damaged) AVL off capital of Sarawak, destroying it and the remnants of the 8th USMC-Div. Bugger.

However, this did leave his CVL exposed, so I in turn moved forward a few CVs which promptly dispatched his CVL. He's now down to 1x CV and 1x CVL (spotted in North of Philippines).

I then proceeded to make several invasions to secure the "hive" of bases of the Islands south of Manila; also landings liberating Sarawak and Brunei. An IJA Inf-Div was destroyed in Sarawak, and the to the order has been driven into the jungle and should melt away on its own.

I also sent a Heavy Cruiser transiting the Sumatra-Malaya Straights for the first time 3 years. The mission to look for the DD that had escaped in that direction a month ago, and to insure that hadn't parked it somewhere inconvenient.

[Feinder]

November 12th, 1944

Elsewhere, National Morale and Strategic Map

Elsewhere - I almost feel guilty that Tarawa is a foot-note. Just six months ago, it Tarawa would required a significant allocation of resources. But at this point, having wiped out the half-strength Mari-Bmbr squadron there, our Australian assault were able to land unopposed. We also pushed up our CV/CVLs towards Kwaj, bombing the ports and facilities there (Kwaj actually undefended!). Having bombed the ports, I don't see him able to reinforce it, and we have troops that should be (just) in range to capture Kwaj as well.

I'm curious to see what/if he decides to defend Enewetok, because while they are not major bases, they are 1500-NM each, which is pushing him towards/below the 70% mark.

My focus remains on Manila-Batavia-Singapore (all damage to Allied NM over time), but if I can grab up some freebies that hit his National Morale (like the Marshalls, I'll take them).

National Morale - He took some hits, and some more when the fall of Tarawa registers.

Strategic Map - Line of control indicated.

[Feinder]

November 12th, 1944

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - Nothing new spent on Research. Infantry Weaps, Bombers, GroundAtk, and AirCraft Prod all getting close. Sweet.

Production - Built 2x Tac-Bmbrs for USA

Losses -
USA - USMC-Div + AVL in DEI
USA - DD in DEI
Japan - Garrison in China
Japan - Inf-Div in DEI
Japan - CVL in DEI

Economy - A hit to Japan's MPPs due to raiding activity.

[Feinder]

November 30th, 1944

India and SE Asia

India was actually fairly quiet. I ended up rebuilding some of my units and wearing down his supply at Mandalay.

I did however pull thru a pair of Cruisers to patrol the straight between Malaya and Sumatra (clear). Then sent an amphibious invasion to the throat into Malaya and even towards Bangkok. That close to Bangkok was a bit of a reach tho, as expected, it was defended. And I mis-considered the supply (it's a rail, not a road) from my port, so my Inf-Corps outside of Bangkok will like get pounded next turn for no supply. However, I do have Monty ready to unload in the port next turn, so I'm hoping that my advance Inf-Corp will retreat, and Monty will then help with the supply. I've got another UK Inf-Corps that I can bring in via transport on subsequent turn. The plan will be to push as far south into Malaya as possible, and to put pressure on Bangkok.

You can also see from this map, the Chinese advancing into IndoChina and reclaiming much of the south. I parked a RN BB and a DD at Haiphong, to shut down the port. I'd also be interested if he were to send some of his remaining capital ships against them, I could hit them with my units off the Philippines.

[Feinder]

November 30th, 1944

China

We managed to surround the IJA Inf-Div in Comm-Chi territory. That's good. We can kill it, and fairly assured that it won't be back.

Advance and build-up at Nanjing continues. He's "only" got an 8x SP unit there, which tells me no HQ nearby or he'd have rebuilt it to a 10. He could still land something at Shanghai; but I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll have a chance to surround Nanjing and kill it (and cause any of the Minors to eliminate).

Also, a possible bug on that Southern City with Partisan (circled). It's marked as a Partisan-Supply hex, not as Partisan-Unit hex. Ngineer thus abandoned it (thinking it would not spawn a unit). That does seem like a mistake to me, so I've agreed to not move that Partisan.