Illinois Yankee in the Showa Emperor's Court (Q-Ball v Canoe)

[Q-Ball]

I haven't posted in awhile because work is killing me. That's not necessarily a bad thing, too much is better than not enough these days, but I am on a project that is keeping me busy 'til 8 most nights, and on weekends.

Dan is posting pretty regularly it seems, so recounting action here might be redundant. I'll share some thoughts, and open it up to questions if anyone wants to know.

The highlights:

AIR WARS continue over India. I am overall about 1-1 , which isn't helpful for auto-victory, but I am staying in to bleed the Allied air. P-38s in particular I want to shoot down, and I am managing to keep those pools empty so far. The RAF is also really suffering. The ratios also changed because before I entered an attrition war, I pulled out all my best pilots; all the guys over Bombay are 50/70-ish rookies. (meaning 50 exp, 70 air skill, kind of my training standard).

SUBS continue to sink Allied xAKs. I got a TK off California awhile back, and CL ENTERPRISE is now reported sunk, after taking 2 torps awhile ago. Not sure if that's real, but the location looks right (entry box off Mombasa; she was hit near Socotra)
PANZERARMEE INDIA is advancing on Jalagon near Bombay, to clear some space before a last effort on Bombay

IN THE PACIFIC, I am assembling forces for a big operation, that is really just points hunting, and designed to force the Allies to come out and play.

STRATEGICALLY, I have no idea what the Allies are up to. I can't read any tea leaves, other than convoys are unloading at Karachi alot, and I see shipping around Canton Island, the Aleutians, all of which could mean something or nothing.

I have to assume Dan can move on anything, so I am garrisoning the usual spots, islands in the Pacific, etc. If I am paying particularly attention to anything, it's probably the KURILES (because Dan has done that before), SUMATRA (because that would obviously cut-off 12 divisions in India and would be a disaster), the DEI in general (because of the OIL), and CENTRAL PACIFIC, because that's the shortest route to Japan.

I consider the SOLOMONS, NEW HEBRIDES, and EASTERN NEW GUINEA as unlikely targets. It's not like Dan to go "the long way", and in 1943 at least, the Japanese don't mind slugging it out with LBA.

The only way to quickly respond to an invasion is Land-Based Air, so I have strategically placed Air HQs, Bettys, Zeros, plus some VALs for those bases that can't support torps.

OBJECTIVES: With all going on at work, I haven't had time to think about where I am going. I think Auto-Victory is out of reach. If it is, I am playing for the long-haul, which is a different game. I would dearly love to bring the USN CVs to battle, but that seems unlikely now on my terms, as there isn't anything I can attack that would require CVs to defend it.

I would do this game differently the next time, starting with taking SOCOTRA in the Indian Ocean. (I though it would trigger reinforcments, but too late found out it wouldn't) Or, even better, Invading Australia, which is much easier to isolate. I think I was playing a fast game up until April/May, when I got bogged down in India and didn't press a landing closer to Karachi, for fear of triggering a pile of reinforcements and not taking India. No idea how close I could have gotten, as I don't know how desperate Dan was in terms of troops in India. Maybe I overestimated this.

Anyway, I am assuming DAN has kept everyone up to date basically on the action, at least from his standpoint, so fire off questions if you like.

[witpqs]

If it's any consolation, even though Socotra doesn't trigger reinforcements it really should trigger them. So you played a better game by not going there. [8D]

[JohnDillworth]

Thanks for the update. Dan is pretty regular, but we appreciate the view from the other side. I think you could have been more aggressive in India in the beginning. You were going along fine but then bogged down outside Bombay. Although a landing at Karachi would have triggered reinforcements, Dan would have had no place to send them. I believe your might have run up enough points to make auto-victory at least within reach. He had no way to force you out as the KB is at least an equal match until 1943. one mans opinion.
Taking
Socotra would have been really interesting.

Work is good thing, but it sure is nice to see the occasional post from you

[d0mbo]

Hi Q,
 
Hope you will find the time and inspiration to post for a bit what your intentions are after your minor setback in India. No doubt others will be very interested to hear from you as well, especially we JFB's.
 
Keep up the struggle!
 
Cheers,
 
d0mbo.
 

[Q-Ball]

I haven't posted in a long time; first, it was work, then getting into WITE.

The fact is I have lost this game. It's over. Through my indifference and sloppiness, and Dan's exploitation of that, I am going to lose approx. 7 Divisions in India. They are cut-off around Poona. I can't see surviving that type of hit. If I can get them to a coast and pull fragments, maybe I can keep going.

I have a bad attitude right now on this game, because I found this one pretty dull. It wasn't a Naval Game at all, just a badly abstracted land war in India, and not really very interesting. I should have gone for Karachi, because I could have lost 7 Divisions that way, and maybe one. But I haven't seen an Allied warship larger than a DD in harms way since January of 1942, or nearly a year ago in game terms. Yawn. That's probably the right strategy for the Allies, and a winning one. Not Dan's fault, he is a gracious opponent, just a good one who knows what it takes to win.

The IJN sits in port for lack of anything to do. I could load up an invasion for somewhere, but what's the point? I had several divisions prepped for Suva and they are still at Rabaul, but I decided that wouldn't buy me anything, just another outpost to defend, and possible exposure to losses. As it is, I need those troops to replace the ones lost in India.

Anyway, that as much as WITE is why I lost interest in this one. Once I got ashore in India, it got very boring.

The Smart Allied player will fortify Pearl Harbor, Sydney, Melborne, Karachi, and forget everything else. Whatever you do, don't take the fleet out of port. This is a winning strategy; the Japanese can get close in VPs, maybe 3:5 to 1 like I did, but you can't win Auto Victory without all of Australia or India, unless the Allies player does something stupid and tries to fight a Naval War.

[John 3rd]

I can understand the frustration Q-Ball. Good thoughts!

I have argued many times that the aggressive Allied is the one who really wins due to the simple math. ANYTHING the Japanese lose is terrible while the Allies can lose nearly everything they have and still have parity by the end of 1943. Though bloody the Allied player should fight it out instead of Sir Robin.

The ground war is abstract and not very satisfying for those of us who play for the FLEET aspect. If I can bolster your thoughts though--there is no doubt that Dan will launch a counter-offensive sometime in the next few months of gametime and then the game will, once again, become quite exciting.

My .02...

[JohnDillworth]

I think this one was a candidate for auto-victory if you went early, hard and fast for Karachi. Even if he had both Australian Divisions in India you could have taken it, and there was nothing he could have done in 1942 to take it back. You could have then mopped up the rest of India. I love reading your AAR's, and I am reading your WITE AAR's, and I like CR's too, so it's kind of like being friends with both your jilted wife and your hot , new girlfriend. I like them both, but it's a bit awkward

[Chickenboy]

I hear ya Brad. It's a tough call on some games. For those Allied players that really want to *win the game*, they'll adopt increasingly unrealistic defensive postures designed to safeguard from autovictory, but without semblance to real life exigencies. The "Sir Robin" taken to the extreme becomes "I'm not going on an offensive until 1944, when I get my cool toys."

When they turtle up for two years of game time, it's understandably dull. I would not begrudge someone that dropped a game where their opponent wanted to wait for two years of meaningless turn flipping to come out and fight. It's an unrealistic expectation that IJ players are expected to wait as long as it pleases the Allies to start fighting.

That being said, I don't think that is this scenario. Canoerebel is already on a general offensive in India and will likely be on an offensive elsewhere soon.

If you lose 5 divisions, you'll be back to even in a sense, considering that you start with a number of extra divisions in scenario 2. All's not lost, even if some of these troops don't make it back.

Where's that bad boy bushido bully? The (rising) sun will come up tomorrow.

Now, how to make him bleed? Nay. "Bleed" sounds too passive. Hemorrhage a warm gout. Yes, that's better. C'mon. Kill! Kill! Kill!

[John 3rd]

What he said!

BANZAI!

[vicberg]

The real question is whether you are still enjoying WITPAE....if not, don't do it.

[JohnDillworth]

The (rising) sun will come up tomorrow.

[:D]

[d0mbo]

ORIGINAL: vicberg

The real question is whether you are still enjoying WITPAE....if not, don't do it.

Basically this. Let's just say I am very happy my opponent doesn't use this extreme Sir Robin tactic you encountered in your game (although we are playing stock #1), otherwise we might have the same problem. Perhaps I should give him credits for that when I send my next turn.......

Thanks for letting us know your thoughts, Q-ball.

[FOW]

Unfortunately there are no 'political' consequences in WITP:AE for doing a major Sir Robin - unlike WITE

for the Axis:
a. If AGN fail to take three important towns the Finns capitulate.
b. If AGS is pushed back to Rumania that country changes sides, joining the Soviets

If the Sovs 'Sir Robin' then they:
a. risk giving the Axis a chance of autovictory by getting 290 Manpower centres (?)
b. don't gain combat experience thereby not getting some LCUs to gain 'Guards' status
c. giving the Axis more resources to continue the war
d. let the Finns remain in the game

Yes I too have been seduced by WITE

[John 3rd]

I would love to see some sort of game consequence for Sir Robin. Should be a way to GAIN VP by holding onto 'hot' sites for longer periods or something like that. ANYTHING that would encourage the Allies stand and fight as they did during the war.

[obvert]

New here, but this is the first AAR I have followed throughout since getting addicted. I agree, when India turns into another China, and there is no naval action, I'd be bored stiff.

However, the strategy I've found most useful once an opponent turtles the navy is to wipe the board of transports. Couldn't the IJN move farther south and hit supply routes all over the pacific? With CVs? Using the scout cruisers and subs to find things. Better than port at least, right? And I find sending land and air down with the ship fun and satisfying.

I'm curious if there would be a drawback to this strategy, even from this point? At least you go out swinging. Make the tanker problem more severe.

As long as land air is strong in DEI, then any move there could at least take out some critical units, possibly even supporting CVs

[Mynok]

Biggest problem is the fuel that would be consumed.

[janh]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd
I would love to see some sort of game consequence for Sir Robin. Should be a way to GAIN VP by holding onto 'hot' sites for longer periods or something like that. ANYTHING that would encourage the Allies stand and fight as they did during the war.

I wonder whether something like a "major loss of PP for the loss of certain cities before a given date" could be implemented as an option (at game start). Maybe even at the risk that PP sum up to negative values?

[crsutton]

Well, I enjoyed the AAR while it played out.

But you are in a roundabout way covering two issues that I have brought up and seen them shrugged off.

The first is autovictory. Your entire stragetic plan centered on an attack in India with the hope of pulling off an autovictory. Now that autovictory is out the window you find yourself overexposed and in a vulnerable position, and you have lost hope and sound like you want to bag it. Well, this is exactly why I hate the concept of AV. I have seen too many Japanese players in AE and WITP shoot for the moon, fall short, and then throw in the towel after 1943 comes around and they realized they have shot their wad. This is the perfect example. I really enjoyed you move into India. It was interesting because it has not been attempted and we all wanted to see what happened. I don't fault you for that it is just that the autovictory carrot caused you to play in an unrealistic manner. Hindsight being 20-20, you should have done the "short con rather than the long" Grabbing Celyon, killing a lot of soldiers and then bailing out late in the year when the pressure got too hot.

The second is scenario #2. You need to understand that given the extra resources (especially air superiorty into 1943) the Allied player has no choice but to play very cautiously until well into 1943. This does not mean a total bail out as my personal feeling is that would give the Japanese player too much of a chance to grab territory. However, my scen#2 mantra is anything but my carriers. That is, I will risk anything but my carriers unless I am in a position that is critical to me. Which means virtually never..... Your main axis has been into India. CR had no reason to risk his carriers there once he knew that you would not get AV as any carrier fight against the full KB in 42 is a recipe for disaster for the Allied player.

Given scen #2 and the real threat of AV, the loss of three or Allied carriers might have put you over the edge. Once again, here is an example of auto victory creating an artificial situation which dictates strategy. No AV threat and Canoe might have been more willing to come out and play.

Get rid of autovictory. I got no problem with the Japanese player having an equal chance of winning the game. But find another way to do it. There would have been no autovictory in real life anyways. It is silly to see it in a historical simulation such as this.

Considering that you have all your fleet elements and will only lose some infantry. (and you got extra infantry), I don't see your situation as so bad. With conversions and accelerations possible in the scenario, the Japanese player can still have a massive carrier fleet and match the Allied carrier fleet until the end of 1943. But if you heart is not into it then now is the time to negotiate peace. Perhaps ask a skilled Japanese player to take over for you.

Anyhow, it was fun to watch.

[Capt. Harlock]

The Smart Allied player will fortify Pearl Harbor, Sydney, Melborne, Karachi, and forget everything else. Whatever you do, don't take the fleet out of port. This is a winning strategy; the Japanese can get close in VPs, maybe 3:5 to 1 like I did, but you can't win Auto Victory without all of Australia or India

What about the West Coast? If the Japanese help themselves to, for example, Vancouver, they can raid the Seattle area with CV's and LBA. The loss in shipping and destruction of HI should be a major step towards auto-victory. And it will be a strong-willed Allied player indeed who will not bring the fleet out for that!

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

What about the West Coast? If the Japanese help themselves to, for example, Vancouver, they can raid the Seattle area with CV's and LBA. The loss in shipping and destruction of HI should be a major step towards auto-victory. And it will be a strong-willed Allied player indeed who will not bring the fleet out for that!

Never Vancouver. The strait defenses at Victoria are among the best on the map. See my Emergency Reinforcement posts for what happened when I sailed many IJN heavies past Victoria. Glub, glub. You can't bring ships to Vancouver from the northwest either. Non-navigable water. You have to run the gauntlet.

Coal Harbour is doable as a strat bombing airbase and port. SeaTac traffic dead meat, and the Seattle industry is reachable.

Alfred's idea BTW. He has some good ones.