New AAR - but not as good as Snigbert's

[ADavidB]

Iain -

Thanks again for the observations. That's the difficulty with not having the game to look at - I've been assuming that some of the other bases between Guadelcanal and L'Ville could be built up to hold bombers. ( The old Pacwar strategy. )

Joel - 15 ships eh? Like Pacwar. But again, if you can put forward 15 ships agains a 6 or 8 ship TF, it's got to be an advantage.

Thanks to you both - I'll have to bother those Markam folks tomorrow to see when they will get their supply of UV in.

Dave Baranyi

[IChristie]

OK, so my palms started to get itchy reading all these AAR's and I thought I'd try a little experiment. I went back and loaded a saved game from 13 October (just prior to the arrival of the US fast BB's) and I switched the computer to the Japanese and started replaying the game. I wanted to see if all my pontificating about what the AI should have done would actually work.

So far the first week has mostly gone the way I expected. The first surprise was that there 86 (yes, count'em 86) ships in port at Noumea (not counting the 10 already in a TF). HOLY COW! I thought the allies were on the ropes. About 20 of them appear to be SC's but there were also about 20 DD's.

So, I formed up 4 separate fast tpt TF's and set up a rotating run to L'ville (which was down to 2 tons of supplies).

The first set of fast Tpt TF's to L'ville ran smack into a CA TF and lost two of their number. They managed to give better than they got, however and a pair of IJN CA's is probably out for the duration.

After that, the navy seemed to pretty much abandon the beachhead at L'ville. All the heavy units were seen heading west.

OK, the 1st Marines won't starve. Now to retake Koumac

I formed another fast tpt TF to ferry some av support to Basse Poya (Yeah, OK Noumea only had 985 points, but they'll have to get by on a little less ). Once they started landing there, I moved the SBD's and TBF' there along with some P-39's and Wildcats. The whole shootin' match was set to attack the ground troops at Koumac. Meanwhile all the B-17's and B-26's from PM are recalled to Noumea. The fortresses are assigned to the airfield at Koumac and the Marauders are assigned to CAS.

After a bit of softening up at Koumac, I loaded the 7th Marine regt for teh assault with a base force for support. The LBA wrecked the airfield in the first two days and more or less obliterated the ground units in three. The marines took the base with 75% of their number still on board. Koumac is back in allied hands in less than a week. So far, so good.

However, the AI did have a couple of little surprises up its sleeve. The first shock was when the Mutsu and Nagato snuck into Gili Gili harbour and sank about half of two resupply convoys. With all the bombers busy retaking New Cal, they got away scot free.

Well, the next step is the reduction of PV. Once the airfield is out of commission there, I can start regular supply convoys to L'ville and wipe out the beach head.

To make life a bit more interesting I have set the AI to very hard. Right now, I think that I will be able to avoid the auto defeat but I have a feeling winning the game from this position is going to be a little exciting.

[brisd]

Iain,

Sounds like a fab plan. I used to play GG's WIR and let the program play itself until one side, usually the Germans, were on the ropes and then step in and take over. I enjoy the challenge of defending such a position.

[IChristie]

26 October. The plan is still basically on the rails. I had to reduce the intensity of air ops because the bomber crews were getting worn out so I am alternating between the mediums and heavies pounding PV. Been a while since there was any air activity so I think its probably out of commission. The first real convoy arrived at L'ville last night. Supplies are now up over 10K tons thanks to the "Night Train from Noumea" destroyer runs. I moved some of the SBD's from New Cal to L'ville as well and with the improved supply situation they are also able to hit the airfield at PV.

Washington and South Dakota arrived at the start of the week. Now that LBA from PV is not a threat, I saddle them up an send them off to bombard L'ville. It's looking like about time to switch the SBD's to CAS and start hammering the beach head.

On the other side of the map the AI is clearly fixated on Gili Gili. I moved extra fighters in to take on the daily sweeps flying out or Rabaul. I also wanted to get some dive bombers in house in case he tried another bombardment. Only one problem - SBD's haven't got the range to transfer to anywhere except other bases in New Cal or over the L'ville. The solution? Move the Long Island out into the middle of the Coral sea as a floating transfer stop. SBD's fly out to her one turn and on to Gili Gili the next. I managed to transfer three groups this way.

Then once again the AI pulled a little surprise raid. This time it was the carriers Hiryu and Kaga. Once again the raid is timed to coincide with teh arrival of supplies. Normally this might get my hair standing on end a little bit, but the airfleets from the two carriers seem pretty depleted. Nonetheless they manage to torpedo two AP's, one of which sinks.

In return the SBD's claim of have planted 3 bombs in Hiryu and 2 in Kaga. Hiryu is reported to be on fire.

After one turn of that little escapade the CV's disappear north again.

Well, pretty soon it will be time to start squeezing the L'ville beachead. I'll give them a few days of bombing by the boys at the L'ville airbase and a few nights of talking to General Washington and the boys. After that they should be ready to see reason.

BTW, I now know just how suicidal this invasion was. Not only are the first Marines happily ensconced so are 3 RCT's of the Americal Division. All looking pretty fresh too (assault values > 55).

[IChristie]

1 Nov - Well the week goes pretty much as planned. There's one small bit of excitement when weather socks Noumea in for two days allowing PV to reopen and launch strikes against the bombardment force loitering off New Cal. Luckily there are no casualties. After that incident I switch to bombarding PV to ensure that the LBA stays grounded for the duration

Airstrikes against the beachead average 80+ SBD's and 40 P-39's. They are taking a fearful toll on the Japanese trapped on the beach. On an interesting note, despite flying sorties for 5 days straight the pilot fatigue is still down below 20%. Must be because the flight is so short (same hex)

The first of the second round of convoys arrived last night. Supplies are in the white and it's time to take this island back!

On another positive note, I received word mid week that Hiryu did in fact sink.

[mogami]

Hi, there honorable comrade....hey wait a minute? whats that uniform you have on? Gadzooks you've gone over to the enemy, rather then return to Oct 13 and save the poor stranded Japanese troops your plotting their destruction. (will your save game files work with my version?)

[IChristie]

rather then return to Oct 13 and save the poor stranded Japanese troops your plotting their destruction. (will your save game files work with my version?)

Unfortunately not. If they would, I would not be stuck with the old version of the game. I have to set my date back to 12 April every time I want to play LOL.

[IChristie]

8 Nov - Things are still on track. But I'm getting the feeling the AI is up to something.

The big attack went in on the 2nd. In three days the beachead was squeezed down to half it size, but the assault regiments just couldn't sustain the effort. Further offensive action was postponed for a few days while they catch their breath. Reinforcements will also be brought in from Noumea. The invasion force is now down to 16K while I still have over 40K on the ground.

In the mean time air attacks against the beachead continue. Likewise, PV continues to get its share of attention. At last report it was down to fewer than 20 planes.

Over in PG though, things appeat to be getting interesting. After another week of large fighter sweep, yesterday Gili Gili was raided by a sizeable force of bombers escorted by over 50 zeros. The CAP at the base put up more than 75 P-40's so damage was light. There also appears to be at least one enemy unit on the move over the Owen Stanleys from Buna.

There also seems to be a fair bit of shipping traffic down the Papuan coast. The Bostons and Beaufighters left in PM keep it honest sinking and damaging almost a transport a day.

A quick check reveals that almost all of the combat units are in Gili Gili with only two regts left holding the fort at PM. I commandeer a supply convoy at Gili Gili to start moving some troops back to PM.

[IChristie]

Nov 16 - All auto victory hexes are back in allied possession. All in all it took about 5 weeks to achieve that. In reality, the AI did not really put up much of a fight. I don't think it's programed to go after the AV anyways. It seems to be putting most of the effort into trying to make something happen in New Guinea.

The assault on L'ville went pretty much according to the book. I rested the ground troops, pounded the enemy troops with the dive bombers from L'ville and mediums out of Basse Poya, while the heavies kept PV down and out. I moved some reinforcements up by air and by sea and then assaulted again. The assault elements broke through on the first day and it was all over. In fact, it happened so fast that the first troop convoy was only half unloaded. The second convoy was only halfway to L'ville. I quickly reloaded the first one, and redirected the second one to PV. Three days later we were ashore there. There wasn't much left after three weeks of concentrated attention by over 75 heavy and 60 medium bombers. The garrison basically gave up at the first sign of serious aggression.

Over in New Guinea things are not going all the allies way at all. I would say it's about and even heat right now. I had a bit of satisfaction early in the week when I scraped together some extra medium bombers I found lying around Australian airfields (why I didn't look earlier I don't know). Just a soon as I moved all of them fwd to PM, a nice juicy IJN cruiser TF appeared in the Bismark sea (probably on the way to bombard Gili Gili). At any rate it got bounced by over 100 planes from both PM and Gili Gili. Two CA's and a CL got seriously mauled and one DD was sunk.

Before I could laugh too hard though, another CL and DD force sortied from Shortland, bombarded Gili Gili and got clean away the next day. Man those things can move a ways in a day.

I retaliated by taking down a convoy of three nice fat Maru's taking supplies in to Lae.

My joy was shortlived because the IJNAF returned the favour, catching my troop transfer convoy on the return leg to pick up more units from Gili Gili. They were just outside the harbour, negotiating the reef when they got swarmed by a big raid of Nells and zeros out of Rabaul . One was sunk outright, two others might as well have been and a third is probably too badly damaged to be useable. Next time I will make sure that inbound convoys get explicit Long range CAP assigned fightes. I had a couple groups on LRC, but they decided not to cover the convoy (preferring to watch them sink from the balcony of the officer's mess at the airfield, I guess!).

Anyway, I think the easy part is now over. I'm going to have to give some thought to what next. The last month has taken a toll on my DD force. All the back and forth to L'ville has several ships up in the 15% system damage range. I think we'll need to consolidate for a while and consider the options. One thing is for sure, the bulk of the airpower is going over to NG. If it's an even ball game now, the addition of 300+ aircraft ought to tip the balance nicely in my favour.

[Hartmann]

Luganville was down to 2k supplies!!!

So if you would have waited a bit longer, so that they would have actually been OUT of supplies, then this should - according to the manual - have had a GREAT effect on their combat effectiveness. Maybe the Luganville gambit could have worked after all.

Hartmann

[mogami]

Greetings, I think I am still several months away, but I am looking at L'ville as the main target for Phase 2 operations.
I have commenced the prelimanary missions to remove allied naval units

[IChristie]

Luganville was down to 2k supplies!!!

That was on 13 Oct. The great "Shame of Luganville" catastrophe (in the original game) Occured in December, so it was not a question of waiting long enough. There were two problems:
1. Keeping them out of supply. As I just demonstrated the US had enough DD's to run a very substantial fast transport shuttle - stopping it would have (and did) require massive commitment of naval units.

2. Troops outside teh base, even when well supplied, don't seem to fare much better than troops inside without supplies. In terms of combat effectiveness the US units were, on average twice as effective (as measured by assault rating) than the Japanese regiments in teh beachead.

I think the only way to make it work is to strangle Luganville first with a Naval and air blockade and THEN invade with fresh troops. The early invasion was just pointless, it chewed up my LCU strength and did not contribute measurably to the siege. I would still maintain that taking Port Vila is an essential part of the strategy. Without a large airbase in striking distance it will be tough to maintain a blockade.

[mogami]

Greetings, I might be wrong but I think anyone who missed reading this massive masterpiece will enjoy reading it. One of the best ever (and not just because of my poetry)

[mogami]

Hi, In case you were not around while UV was being developed here is a look at the history of the game.