AAR-The Italian Affair--Hoepner vs. mc3744

[Gen.Hoepner]

Hi PzB,

We've already introduced the house rules that limits the 4E bombers , in night bombing, only for city targets. I have the feeling that it would be not fair to keep on pushing my opponent for new house rules that limit the ability of the allies.
I cannot move my chinese divisions outside china and he cannot bomb my AF in night time with his 4E bombers.
I feel unconfortable always to ask for house rules...

[PzB74]

That's understandable - but I thought you did him several big favors by restricting your offensives in China and India/Burma!?
The Allies will make potato mash of your bases during daylight hours in 43-44 anyway.... [&:]

Looking at these new smileys makes me think of other brilliant ideas...[:'(]

George: "I've just had another brilliant idea."
Edmund: "Another one ?"
George: "Yes, you remember the one I had about wearing underpants
on the outside to save on laundry bills."

[Gen.Hoepner]

[:)] I know i'm doomed already, but i do not want to give my opponent the feeling that i cannot face a tactical defeat using the normal game code and i always ask for new house rule to limitate the growing allied power. I'm already at 30,000 points against 6,800 and i can leave with this for the moment

But the question now is the following:

In 4 days i'll start to pruduce hundreds of Tonies....will these planes be able to slow down the allied air power and make them pay a hard price for every strike or it's just a wet dream of a frustrated jap fan boy?
I'm already considering to send the new tonies in "hot theatres" like Tarawa, Wewak, Rabaul, Munda, Rangoon and Java, in order to provide a strong CAP over my bases....will that be enough to free the zeros from the CAP tasks and let them only escort my navy bombers?

And with China completely in my hands....what shall i do with bases like Changsha, Yenen or Sian? Expand the HI or let them sit and save supplies and resources for the fatherland?

[PzB74]

With such a sizeable lead you may win an autovictory..will you continue the game if that happens?

I'm just receiving Tony's myself, going to upgrade a 36 ac Nata Daitai with 75 exp in a week or so.
Curious about what they can avhieve myself, wasn't worth much in UV, that's for sure.

How many are you producing? I'm still gearing up production, but almost got a 100 pr month now.
Also got 120 Tojos, and I'm not sure whether this ratio is right. Not sure I can convert production of any other
ac now - need em all!

It seems like more Nate units can be upgraded to Tonys than Tojos, but we're receiving more new Tojo Daitais
than anything else in the months to come.

[Gen.Hoepner]

I will go on for sure even if i get the autovictory: i think it's fair to let the allied player see the best part of his game when the tide will be changed defenetly.

Well, i'm playing Tanaka's mod, where all the Nates/Oscar I upgrade to Tonies....so i'll have the map full of those babies, that's why i'm already producing almost 170 Tonies/months and the production has been encreased to 220, while i've already stockpiled 500 Kawasaky engines and producing 140/months.
I will produce 80 Tojos in few weeks ( production doubled from 40 just yesterday).
In UV the tonies were useless, here in witp i hope the Teutonic design of the Ki-61 will be correctly evaluated.
When the Tonies will be ready to fight and take the defensive role that has been upon the zeros since the beginning of the war, i will concentrate myself in training all the Zero units ( even the carrier trained ones ).
When the Zekes will come to action i'd like to have a good amount of 75/80 navy fighter pilots

[kaiser73]

personally, in all my PBEM i simply add an houserule where nightbombing is smply forbidden by both players. i did that as Japan and as Allies as well.

It's not fun to see allied bombers killing whatever they want without any loss. same if i am the allies. i prefer to fight fair on daylight. it's kinda boring to attack at night...too easy.

[Tom Hunter]

Blackwatch and I are playing without night bombing as well. I am considering asking for a change for night bombing trained units which means the British Swordfish and Wellingtons now, and the Japanese Betties after it becomes too dangerous for them to fly in the daytime (which certainly has not happened yet).

We are still searching for the right balance at night but haveing no night bombing at all has not hurt our game.

[Djordje]

Your bombardment TF failed to achive anything at Kiska because it was intercepted with PT TF. Your TF spent most of it's operation points fighting PTs, so when they wanted to attack Kiska they had almost none... Allies have cheap way of fighting your bombardments, he just has to put some PTs into the base and he will ruin your bombardment run, and from time to time put some torpedoes into your valuable ships as well...
Tojo and Tony are good planes for defense of your bases, if you can provide some high exp pilots for them. In my PBEM I am even fighting P38s with them, and I have shot down more than I had lost, at least for now... But allied tide is growing, soon things will probably change.

[PzB74]

Ah, forgot that you were playing with that mod - that changes things! [:)]

I wouldn't ban all nightbombing, that sounds a little rash. Depends on how efficient night city bombing becomes later
on in the war. Nothing compared to what day bombing will do I guess!

[Gen.Hoepner]

Yes, i guess those PT were the key of Kiska defence. Not going to try again.....i've already been very lucky not to have been counterstriked by his LB. I'll use the 3rd BB division based at Ominato to defend the Paramushiro Jima..
He tried to counterattack my night raiders, only to find that they were already desappeared[:'(]
Now he started to mine Tokyo with his subs....damn!! I'll need to place some more MWSs up there...[:(]







AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/28/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 151 encounters mine field at Johore Bahru (22,49)

Japanese Ships
MSW Senyu Maru #2
MSW Choun Maru #7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 88 encounters mine field at Johore Bahru (22,49)

Japanese Ships
PG Seisho Maru
APD APD-37
APD APD-36
DD Yugure

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1101 encounters mine field at Baker Island (94,92)

Allied Ships
PG Kiwi

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Hanoi , at 36,37


Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 17


Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Heavy Industry hits 4[:(][:@][:@]

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
9 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
5 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 9
Ki-49 Helen x 20

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IF x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 3 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IF: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
PBY Catalina: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
33 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Runway hits 8

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
8 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 6000 feet
12 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 6000 feet

Another little strike from Reaghen[:D]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Rahaeng , at 31,35

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 36
Wellington III x 3
Martin 139 x 6
Hudson I x 26
IL-4c x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-15 Babs: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged


Japanese ground losses:
50 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 9

Aircraft Attacking:
[:-][:-][:-]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97


Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 29


Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 4 damaged

Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
6 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
12 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 151 encounters mine field at Johore Bahru (22,49)
Japanese Ships
MSW Senyu Maru #2
MSW Choun Maru #7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Sining , at 44,23

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 9
Ki-21 Sally x 19
Ki-15 Babs x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged


Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 17

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 8000 feet
4 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 8000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Myitkyina , at 36,28


Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 24
Buffalo I x 27
P-40E Warhawk x 16


No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 19

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Buffalo I bombing at 2000 feet
10 x Buffalo I bombing at 2000 feet
24 x Fulmar bombing at 2000 feet
14 x P-40E Warhawk bombing at 2000 feet
2 x Buffalo I bombing at 2000 feet
2 x Buffalo I bombing at 2000 feet
2 x P-40E Warhawk bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Merauke , at 47,87

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 32
Ki-21 Sally x 53
Ki-46-II Dinah x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
83 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 23

Aircraft Attacking:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91


Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 7
Brewster 339D x 24
Kittyhawk I x 36
P-40E Warhawk x 22


No Allied losses

Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 34

Aircraft Attacking:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 33rd Division, at 36,28


Allied aircraft
Beaufort I x 11
Beaufort V-IX x 9
SB-2c x 32


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
12 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
8 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
9 x Beaufort V-IX bombing at 5000 feet
11 x Beaufort I bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/29/42

Nothing to report.
My night raiders have been spread through some more further bases 'cause Bankok isn't safe anymore. The good news is that Akyab AF is being evacuated[:D][:D] That means that he felt the last 2 night raids and he does not feel comfortable there anymore! I consier this a kind of victory[8D]
Still collecting around some fuel for the Timor operation...After this last offensive operation i will have to be very cautious about the fuel problem! I Badly need not to waste any of it.

The training program goes on. As soon as the first nates/oscars sentais will be upgraded, i'll send 4 zero daitais to PI with replacements on and start a new training program at San Hose'

[Gen.Hoepner]

The war got to August. The second day of this sunny and warm month and nothing serious really happened.
I do confirm that Akyab has been evacuated of all his planes!!![8D]
Now planning daylight raids against Ledo and night raids against Imphal! The message is clear: JAPAN IS FAR FROM BEING BEATEN!
BANZAI!

Tonies and Tojos production started as planned. Few more days and i'll start to upgrade my crack army pilots
Sining is close to be sieged and then I'll have more AFs close to India....i'll keep on playing the cat and mouse game with allied bombers!
Collecting fuel for the Timor invasion which should be ready within 2 weeks.

[pauk]

greetings....

I hope you aren't really upset with his strategic bombing of your HI. This is how i look it: it is better to bomb HI than oil or resources. Oil and resources can't be destroyed, so you can stockpile them for producing supply later in the war. How many HI points you have in the pool (i belive you already pass 200.000)

The longer you have acess to the res&oil, the longer will Empire live

[PzB74]

Interesting that both out games have reached almost exactly the same date!
In my next turn I'm upgrading my first Nate unit with Tojos.

It seems like Tonys are the short legged base CAP fighters. Tojos on the other hand
got longer legs and can be used as medium ranged fighter escorts and bomber interceptors.

Have you managed to speed up Oscar II arrival date? I've been researching hard for a long time,
but they're still scheduled for 01/43 [:(]

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/03/42

Nothing interesting. The usual allied air activity in Burma and in NG and Solomons....[>:]


Pauk, as you can see i'm getting close to 200,000 HI points. I'm not that upset about Hanoi, just hate to see my cities damaged by those bastards[:@]

PzB, i upgraded the first chutai to the tonies, will see their birth of fire on few days in Burma
Did not spend much R&R on OscarsII....i'm not counting on them, but on the brand new tonies!

Here's some res and air prod screens

[Gen.Hoepner]

and the plane production

[PzB74]

Yes, natural that you don't care about Oscar II's when you can upgrade your army fighters to a model of your choosing!
Are you sure that Tony's are superior to Tojo's? Such a short range makes it difficult to transfer them accross the vast distances
between South Pacific bases!

[String]

ORIGINAL: PzB

Yes, natural that you don't care about Oscar II's when you can upgrade your army fighters to a model of your choosing!
Are you sure that Tony's are superior to Tojo's? Such a short range makes it difficult to transfer them accross the vast distances
between South Pacific bases!

Tonies have range 6 vs Tojos range 5

[PzB74]

Hm, I may have looked at the wrong stats in the ac database. Does the Tony have the same stats in the modified version of scen 15 as in the original one?

[pauk]

ORIGINAL: PzB

Yes, natural that you don't care about Oscar II's when you can upgrade your army fighters to a model of your choosing!
Are you sure that Tony's are superior to Tojo's? Such a short range makes it difficult to transfer them accross the vast distances
between South Pacific bases!

Hi, my date is 7/8 42. Already passed 150 rd points for Oscar II - but arrival date is still 43-01[:@].
I guess my decision to research O II is the worst one since Abraham Lincon said "oh, i'm bored, lets go to the theatre" [;)]