Matrix Games Forums

KB position

.

Another attack ordered north of Hakkodate

Strategic recon

May begins with the first coordinate, despite being little, Kamikaze+Torp effort attempted by Rader and it ends up in a massive slaughter of japanese planes.

May 1, 2 1944

4 of our SCTFs (cruisers+DDs) raided Shortland, Torokina and Rabaul harbours...sinking some MTBs, some xAKLs and PBs...nothing of any interest.

His subs tried to interdict my cruisers' lanes with a big effort of at least 20 subs around Shortland but i was lucky enough not to be hit and our Air ASW based at Munda placed several 500lbs over those bastards probably sinking one of them.

Then, when our cruisers were retired back to Munda and Tulagi, his Peggys arrived (22 of them) escorted by not less than 50 Tojos IIc. We had not a awesome CAP over Tulagi but we managed nonetheless to humiliate the japanese fighter escorts and to distrupt the torpedo bombing formation. Only 2 xAKs sunk...not bad.
In the afternoon 40 Oscar-Kamikaze arrived over Tulagi, always escorted by several Tojos....and they got mauled too....but some of those nasty oscars went through and placed a Kami hit on CA Chester. She is damaged (20 sys 20 flt) and she will need some shipyard time but she should be ok withing a couple of months. She will be soon substituted online by CA Australia that, after being damaged by a night torp attack 3 months ago, she is now fully repaired and is able to get back in the fighting pit.

In NOPAC, while our convoys are moving safely towards Addak and while his subs and KB seemed to have completely retired, our infantry divisions launched a tremendous attack north of Hakkodate.
We hadn't the air support due to constant thunderstorms over the are for 2 days in a row but we achieved a good result nonetheless.
Our Corsairs on LRCAP shot down nearly 70 float transport planes.... don't know what Rader was trying to do...probably evacuate his troops... however the Japs took a serious beating and his LCUs are now in a terrible shape...
Mine are not and we can push forward again with 5 Divisions, while the rest will be moved back to Sapporo to get some rest.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 114,137

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 49
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy x 22



Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 14
P-40K Warhawk x 7
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 9
F4U-1A Corsair x 3
F6F-3 Hellcat x 22


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 22 destroyed
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
xAK Matthew Lyon
xAK David Gaillard
xAK Clan Macgillivray
xAK Colbert, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Andrew Furuseth
xAK Tarifa
xAK George Westinghouse, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 114,137

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 46
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 9



Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 9
P-40K Warhawk x 5
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 5
F4U-1A Corsair x 1
F6F-3 Hellcat x 14


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 28 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 2 destroyed by flak
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CA Chester, Kamikaze hits 1
SC-520
CL Detroit
DD Craven
DD Meredith
KV Chilliwack, Kamikaze hits 1, and is sunk
KV Wetaskiwin
SC-706
KV Dawson



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 26
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy x 22



Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 8
Kittyhawk III x 6
Spitfire Vc Trop x 7
Spitfire VIII x 2
P-38H Lightning x 7
P-39N1 Airacobra x 2
P-40N5 Warhawk x 16
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 7
P-51A Mustang x 7
F4U-1A Corsair x 5
F6F-3 Hellcat x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 9 destroyed
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 5 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
DD Helm
DD DeHaven
DD Blue
CL Leander



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 119,52 (near Hakodate)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 163212 troops, 3393 guns, 3897 vehicles, Assault Value = 6563

Defending force 35781 troops, 221 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 872

Allied adjusted assault: 3555

Japanese adjusted defense: 1197

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
10386 casualties reported
Squads: 280 destroyed, 232 disabled
Non Combat: 341 destroyed, 213 disabled
Engineers: 37 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 72 (45 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Vehicles lost 24 (16 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Units retreated 7

Allied ground losses:
1881 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 421 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 46 disabled
Guns lost 82 (2 destroyed, 80 disabled)
Vehicles lost 99 (4 destroyed, 95 disabled)


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
1st Marine Division
40th Infantry Division
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
2nd USMC Amphb Tank Battalion
3rd Marine Division
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
193rd Tank Battalion
8th Indian Division
93rd Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
5th USMC Tank Battalion
6th Infantry Division
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
32nd Infantry Division
104th Combat Engineer Regiment
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
41st Infantry Division
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
4th Marine Division
754th Tank Battalion
1st USMC Amphb Tank Battalion
33rd Infantry Division
4th USMC Tank Battalion
2nd Marine Division
Americal Infantry Division
9th Australian Division
198th Field Artillery Battalion
XI US Corps
147th Field Artillery Regiment
XIV Corps Artillery
134th Field Artillery Battalion
82nd Mortar Battalion
33rd Medium Regiment
225th Field Artillery Battalion
109th Tank Attack Regiment
181st Field Artillery Regiment
V US Amphib Corps
7th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
10th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
Eighth US Army
249th Field Artillery Battalion
XXI Indian Corps

Defending units:
2nd Depot Division
1st Mobile Brigade
4th Depot Division
57th Depot Division
Guards Depot Division
86th Division
43rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
51st Depot Division
77th Div /2
5th Area Army
81st Division
56th Depot Div /12
11th Div /1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 119,52 (near Hakodate)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 160248 troops, 3391 guns, 3894 vehicles, Assault Value = 6150

Defending force 18812 troops, 127 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 426

Allied adjusted assault: 3473

Japanese adjusted defense: 545

Allied assault odds: 6 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
10034 casualties reported
Squads: 282 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 274 destroyed, 104 disabled
Engineers: 38 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 82 (60 destroyed, 22 disabled)
Units retreated 6

Allied ground losses:
1169 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 158 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 51 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
104th Combat Engineer Regiment
93rd Infantry Division
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
41st Infantry Division
4th USMC Tank Battalion
4th Marine Division
32nd Infantry Division
6th Infantry Division
40th Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
8th Indian Division
2nd USMC Amphb Tank Battalion
754th Tank Battalion
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
193rd Tank Battalion
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
Americal Infantry Division
5th USMC Tank Battalion
3rd Marine Division
1st USMC Amphb Tank Battalion
2nd Marine Division
33rd Infantry Division
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
9th Australian Division
109th Tank Attack Regiment
181st Field Artillery Regiment
82nd Mortar Battalion
10th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
33rd Medium Regiment
7th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
147th Field Artillery Regiment
134th Field Artillery Battalion
XI US Corps
V US Amphib Corps
249th Field Artillery Battalion
198th Field Artillery Battalion
Eighth US Army
XIV Corps Artillery
148th Field Artillery Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
XXI Indian Corps

Defending units:
86th Division
1st Mobile Brigade
Guards Depot Division
56th Depot Div /12
81st Division
77th Div /2

Have you thought about siezing the islands in the Sea of Japan or for that matter off the South coast of Honshu as short range fighter bases? Did you bring any paratroops / transports / APDs in that little bag of tricks when you landed? I don't imagine rader will be focusing on them at the moment but if you can grab any and build them up on the cheap with air / fast transport it would certainkly shorten your LRCAP range.

.

.

ORIGINAL: Powloon

Have you thought about siezing the islands in the Sea of Japan or for that matter off the South coast of Honshu as short range fighter bases? Did you bring any paratroops / transports / APDs in that little bag of tricks when you landed? I don't imagine rader will be focusing on them at the moment but if you can grab any and build them up on the cheap with air / fast transport it would certainkly shorten your LRCAP range.

Yes, i've reconned them last week. They are all guarded with Sadogashima having more than 20k men in it...

And now, the only thing i really lack in this op is Paratroopers.... i simply forgot to move them from SOPAC to PH and when i noticed that it was already too late[:o]

Ok, analysing the enemy troop composition north of Hikkodate i can be sure that those float planes were evacuating his divisions... so i had no other choice than pushing on.
If i wanted to call off the attack i should have done a lot earlier when first Nemo suggested it...now it was too late

ORIGINAL: Miller

Nemo states that Rader might be producing 3000 fighters a month, that is highly unlikely. Maybe half that.

Why? This is scn 2, In which the Jap player pays a huge HI tax each month later in the game for the extra pilot training that comes with this scn. I realise he has banked extra HI points thanks to his conquests in India and China, but even so there is no way he can produce 3000 a month without bankrupting his economy. My guess is that Rader has been producing nothing other than fighters for the last 6 months or so. As there has never been a CV battle in this game he probably has enough naval TB and DB in the pools to last till 1955, likewise Nettys. Army bombers are pretty much useless at this stage of the game as well, apart from the torpedo carrying Ki-67.

It really boils my piss when people whine "Its scen 2 so they can produce unlimited planes/pilots forever" Its a lot more complicated than that!

3000 fighters per month in 1944 in Rader's earlier condtions is not difficult, if you focus on fighter production and accept that many of them will not be of the best types. All major fleet units already should be comissioned, he probably can or did turn off merchant production, relying on the existing pool of cargo ships. I just checked my longest game, I'm making 790 fighters of all types in August of 1943, while retaining very sizeable bomber production (1346 aircraft in total) and stockpiling several types engines. Completion of remaining carriers in the building queue will allow me to more than double overall air production, while turning off some HI to preserve large stocks of fuel for fleet operation. There is a possibility of tripling it instead, by stopping all merchant construction, but fighter pilots already are a serious limiting factor on my operations. Rader either found better ways to train them than I did, or just is better at accepting losses. Bottom line, with a mastery of economics making 3-4k of fighters per month late in the war is very possible, they are just impossible to crew with competent pilots.

Granted, this is a Scen 1-based game. But, Scen 2 gives huge extra stockpiles of fuel and oil by comparison, and Rader owned oil fields in India for a long time, still owns China.

Things are starting to make sense RE Greyjoy

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

History Ch. has always been horrible, except for some interesting footage (War War II in Colours).

Now it has also become (at least here in Italy) a channell dedicated to Aliens Enigmas, Old-Stuff Sellers and Ice-Truckers...

Probably crappier than ever[:o]

I do a quick google search for "hairy italian" and every hit on the first page is for a porn site. Do the samy thing for hairy Australian and the first hit is porn, the rest are about wombats and spiders [;)]

Well, some may call it "porn", some other may call it "Art"...everything is relative my friend[:D]

Ok, so for the 3rd and 4th of May we will concentrate our effort in closing once for all Harbin a/c production.

220 B-24Js will be called into action for this mission. I equally distributed my bombers towards the different targets and all the industries should be hit.

I know it's not a "juicy target"...but at least is something we can start with untill we have enough 4Es to concentrate on Honshu.

GJ - following up on Nemo, this is a great way to start your next series of surprise moves. You can lead Rader by the nose here - he'll see your concentration & watch his precious aircraft factories start going up in flames. You can even telegraph some of your next moves - force him to commit, then you change directions and kick him in the ass.

Probably a poor explanation, Nemo would do it much better - but if you make Rader jump in one direction, then hit him from another, your operations will be much more effective.

Still, great job - you have earned in place in the AE Hall of Fame, for no other reason than you are a glutton for punishment!

A My offensive has pushed Nemo to stop moving troops to Okkaido and he's now evacuating what he can from hakkodate...

its even worse, he has succesfully invaded your mind.

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

A My offensive has pushed Nemo to stop moving troops to Okkaido and he's now evacuating what he can from hakkodate...

its even worse, he has succesfully invaded your mind.

LOL...i meant Rader....but Nemo has clearly invaded my mind [:D]

ORIGINAL: paullus99

GJ - following up on Nemo, this is a great way to start your next series of surprise moves. You can lead Rader by the nose here - he'll see your concentration & watch his precious aircraft factories start going up in flames. You can even telegraph some of your next moves - force him to commit, then you change directions and kick him in the ass.

Probably a poor explanation, Nemo would do it much better - but if you make Rader jump in one direction, then hit him from another, your operations will be much more effective.

Still, great job - you have earned in place in the AE Hall of Fame, for no other reason than you are a glutton for punishment!

Yes, i got it...i should now take note of everything my recon tells me about his a/c factories. Then, once i have a decent map of his factories, stand down my reconj planes for a week and then concentrate only in a single place, so "forcing" Rader to concentrate his CAP effort over a certain part of Japan and then hit with 500 4Es at the exact opposite site...

what do u mean with "glutton for punishment"?

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok, so for the 3rd and 4th of May we will concentrate our effort in closing once for all Harbin a/c production.

220 B-24Js will be called into action for this mission. I equally distributed my bombers towards the different targets and all the industries should be hit.

I know it's not a "juicy target"...but at least is something we can start with untill we have enough 4Es to concentrate on Honshu.

This is my first look at the FOW changes from the beta, and I don't like them. I've been working Harbin over in my game, and those aircraft factories are not of equal importance by far. I disagree that Allied aerial recon, particularly by 1944, couldn't tell what model plane was coming out of each plant. I think this is yet another realized JFB whine which pushes the game into a corner it should not be pushed into.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok, so for the 3rd and 4th of May we will concentrate our effort in closing once for all Harbin a/c production.

220 B-24Js will be called into action for this mission. I equally distributed my bombers towards the different targets and all the industries should be hit.

I know it's not a "juicy target"...but at least is something we can start with untill we have enough 4Es to concentrate on Honshu.

This is my first look at the FOW changes from the beta, and I don't like them. I've been working Harbin over in my game, and those aircraft factories are not of equal importance by far. I disagree that Allied aerial recon, particularly by 1944, couldn't tell what model plane was coming out of each plant. I think this is yet another realized JFB whine which pushes the game into a corner it should not be pushed into.

Let me clarify: in this screenshot you cannot tell which a/c is being produced by each factory, but, as you see, my DL is only 7/10 (only 1 recon plane operated over Harbin, while the other one was repairing). If you get a DL 10/10 you can tell what kind of engine or aircraft is produced.

So i think Micheal got it right[:)]