Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

[Mundy]

One thing I've noticed sending my carriers to Pearl:

They seem to act like a big searchlight, exposing Japanese subs the whole trip back.

[Mundy]

28 July 1942

Neikiang falls.

Ground combat at Neikiang (75,44)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51438 troops, 396 guns, 347 vehicles, Assault Value = 1604

Defending force 18710 troops, 103 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 501

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 2712

Allied adjusted defense: 82

Japanese assault odds: 33 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Neikiang !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), op mode(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: HQ(+)

Japanese ground losses:
597 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 102 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
6721 casualties reported
Squads: 262 destroyed, 113 disabled
Non Combat: 182 destroyed, 100 disabled
Engineers: 25 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 90 (66 destroyed, 24 disabled)
Units retreated 5

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
70th Division
63rd Division
12th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
15th Division
35th Division
11th Tank Regiment
1st Army

Defending units:
24th Chinese Corps
11th Chinese Corps
60th Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Base Force

They're heading for Chungking. When they get there, I'll have 2400 AVs there, so I doubt he'll dislodge me easily if/when he makes his move.

[BBfanboy]

What fort level in Chunking?

[Mundy]

6. They've been working at it all game.

I think it's maxed, as the fort level is red.

[BBfanboy]

The red does not mean maxed out - it means the supply cost to build higher goes up steeply.

[witpqs]

The read actually means you must have a minimum of (IIRC) 30,000 supply present there to build more. As BB said, supply cost is higher too, which I think is the case for every % of every level of fort or other building.

[Mundy]

Thanks for that.

It's a bit rich for me right now. I think Chungking's around 8,000 right now.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The red does not mean maxed out - it means the supply cost to build higher goes up steeply.

Some are maxxed at 6. they read as "6/6" and are red.

Others appear red at 6 but can still be built higher. They typically read as "6/9" and are in red.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

Would it be a good idea to try to increase those that can be increased above 6?

I mean, China is already supply starved... do we really need to spend more and more supply to raise some of the "last stand" based?

[BBfanboy]

IMO, the supply is better spent in providing replacement devices and bullets to the units on hand. Oh, and once in a while they should get a cup of rice too!

[Mundy]

Looking again, I'm at about 11,000 there. I'll use that for more important things than forts.

30 July 1942

Big Picture

His daily bombing has been at only a few spots over the last several days: The Diampur refugees at Ledo, the airfield at Chungking, and Canton. I'm guessing most of his offensive India air is in the East. If I see them stop for a day, I'll assume they're shifting their attention westward again.

I've had good search coverage from Normanton. Pretty much no shipping in and out of Darwin for quite a while now.

All my carriers except Wasp are on the blocks for upgrades. About 10 days for the Yorktowns and 40 for the Lexingtons. The latter are getting their big 5"/38 upgrade, which is why they're taking so long. I'll make due with four for now.

My Chinese fleeing Neikiang for Chungking got attacked by an armor-heavy group.

Ground combat at 75,45 (near Chungking)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1530 troops, 0 guns, 284 vehicles, Assault Value = 971

Defending force 11788 troops, 54 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 191

Japanese adjusted assault: 235

Allied adjusted defense: 68

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: fatigue(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 22 (3 destroyed, 19 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3652 casualties reported
Squads: 101 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 141 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 27 (9 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Units retreated 5

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
13th Tank Regiment
35th Division
3rd Tank Regiment
12th Tank Regiment
15th Division
11th Tank Regiment
1st Army

Defending units:
60th Chinese Corps
24th Chinese Corps
11th Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Base Force

Heavy on my side, but a fair amount of tanks are down.

[Mundy]

01 August 1942

Another month in

Things of interest this turn.

Intel Chimp had this to say:

1942-07-31 Heavy Volume of Radio transmissions detected at Kwajalein Island

Something's going on there. I'm still keen on kicking off my invasion in the next week or so, once my ships are out of the yards.

Cairns is up to level 5, and I put two B-26 squadrons there. I took a shot at Port Moresby. It looks like Nicks are the official anti-bomber plane of the IJA right now.

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 5

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-26 Marauder: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
32nd Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 12000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 12000.
Raid is overhead

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

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 2

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-26 Marauder: 3 damaged

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
32nd Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 12000 , scrambling fighters to 7000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 53 minutes

I've moved up three more Marauder squadrons form Brisbane there, plus some Beaufighters. A group's worth of fighters moved to Townsville to beef them back up. I have one squadron of P-40s at Cairns, also.

Cooktown's starting to look rather nice for a base, with the range benefit. I know supplies there will be a bear, though. I'll mull it a bit. Back in UV, Cooktown was a no-brainer, but the road network here isn't as forgiving.

Speaking of bombers, all my USAAF squadrons went to the higher plane counts, so I was busy adding pilots to them all. My SOP is to have two extra pilots over plane capacity.

My remnants at Imphal got driven out to the south, after a few attempts.

Ground combat at Imphal (60,40)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4219 troops, 22 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 140

Defending force 4082 troops, 19 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 65

Japanese adjusted assault: 122

Allied adjusted defense: 37

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Imphal !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-), morale(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2458 casualties reported
Squads: 21 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 107 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 26 (26 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1
Units destroyed 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards/C Division

Defending units:
1st Burma Division
106th RAF Base Force
6/9th Jat Battalion

Same with the guys from Paoshan.

Ground combat at 67,44 (near Paoshan)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 11081 troops, 137 guns, 48 vehicles, Assault Value = 308

Defending force 6138 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 26

Japanese adjusted assault: 109

Allied adjusted defense: 106

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
154 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
518 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Assaulting units:
5th Guards/A Division
5th Guards/C Division
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
21st Army

Defending units:
54th Chinese Corps
NCAC

Finally, CF took another swing at Canton, and missed.

Ground combat at Canton (77,59)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 50150 troops, 417 guns, 85 vehicles, Assault Value = 1472

Defending force 30288 troops, 282 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 674

Japanese adjusted assault: 673

Allied adjusted defense: 933

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
3017 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 171 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 25 (1 destroyed, 24 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
943 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 108 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Assaulting units:
Hong Kong Def Force
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
10th Garrison Unit
56th Division
66th Infantry Regiment
33rd Division
20th RGC Division
21st Mortar Battalion
1st JAAF AF Coy
4th Air Division
Canton Special Base Force
32nd JNAF AF Unit
47th JAAF AF Bn
2nd JAAF AF Coy

Defending units:
2nd Prov Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Cavalry Corps
14th Chinese Corps
62nd Chinese Corps
6th Chinese Corps
16th Group Army
57th AT Gun Regiment

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Intel Chimp had this to say:

1942-07-31 Heavy Volume of Radio transmissions detected at Kwajalein Island

Something's going on there. I'm still keen on kicking off my invasion in the next week or so, once my ships are out of the yards.

Do you know where the KB is lurking now?

[Mundy]

No. I'm assuming Truk.

One advantage I'd have is having my carriers buried amongst 4 or 5 amphibious TFs, probably diluting any strikes he makes.

Treespider got burned badly in that situation in our game a while ago, losing all of KB in the process. He hit me in the middle of landing troops at Luganville. I lost one carrier from his air.

I know... nothing's for sure.

I plan on having the follow-on base forces, engineers, and aircraft immediately behind the invasion, so I hope to have defenses up fairly quickly.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
No. I'm assuming Truk.

One advantage I'd have is having my carriers buried amongst 4 or 5 amphibious TFs, probably diluting any strikes he makes.

Treespider got burned badly in that situation in our game a while ago, losing all of KB in the process. He hit me in the middle of landing troops at Luganville. I lost one carrier from his air.

I know... nothing's for sure.

I plan on having the follow-on base forces, engineers, and aircraft immediately behind the invasion, so I hope to have defenses up fairly quickly.

Well since you expect them to be in Truk it sounds like you are expecting or even hoping for a large CV battle. Having KB strikes diluted against amphibious TFs will undoubtedly work to the advantage of your CVs but the Japanese will have plenty other advantages being on the defensive. By forcing such a battle you are not going to be able to capitalize on other typical Allied advantages like LBA or CVEs as you won't have LBA in range and your CVEs haven't started coming in yet. And of course the KB you are facing is full strength (including post Dec 7th reinforcements) with very good pilots. On paper it really does not look like a favorable engagement for the Allies but I guess you don't really have anything else going for you. Win the battle and you can completely shift the tide of war. Lose the battle and the Japanese probably get the Autovictory but that has a decent shot of happening anyway. I guess you might as well go for it and if it fails just sue for peace or something.

[Mundy]

He'll get autovictory at this point, as he has a 4.5-1 advantage right now.

I have to start with something. I can't wait until mid-1943. Unfortunately, grabbing island bases won't make that up. I need a real offensive in India.

A USMC division and two USA divisions are about three weeks from Cape Town. I'll probably be able to buy out one of the Army units. The Marines are ready to go.

My ship losses weren't out of whack, as he never hit Pearl. I'm probably better than I normally am in China, holding enough of the large bases. India (and Ceylon) look like a good autovictory route. I haven't looked, but Calcutta must roll in plenty by itself.

[Mundy]

Yikes, Calcutta's worth over 1,000 pts to the Japanese. That's like wiping out KB every day.

No wonder my VP ratio is falling faster than a fat guy from a balcony.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

Yikes, Calcutta's worth over 1,000 pts to the Japanese. That's like wiping out KB every day.

No wonder my VP ratio is falling faster than a fat guy from a balcony.

Well they only get those 1000 VPs once so I'm not sure what you mean by wiping out the KB every day.

The army loss VPs are probably the biggest source of VP losses, however. The final attack on Benares destroyed a total of 6833 squads and devices. At a cost of 3 squads/devices per VP that is nearly 2300 VPs. And unlike the base control VPs you cannot reverse these losses.

[Mundy]

That's not so bad. I was thinking it was a constantly accruing amount. I never paid much attention to victory point, since to me, that isn't the point of a long game.

[Mundy]

03 August 1943

I ran a sweep against Port Moresby from Cairns with Beaufighters. Not so good, as I lost three for no gain. I think experience played a big part, as they weren't very good. Numbers are back up. The Beaufighter and Oz P-40 pools are rather high right now, since there are only a handful of Australian fighter squadrons on the continent. I should look over some of the Wirraway squadrons to see if they can convert.

I've been asleep watching Pearl, as I've ran that base completely out of fuel. Never had that happen before. Fuel usually seems infinite there. I have one tanker group filling up in the states. I have to wait until my big Suva bound cargo fleet is out before I can get the rest of the tankers out. No big deal. Pearl doesn't see a whole lot of ship traffic, so I can be a bit leisurely about it.

My Suva cargo group has Coast Guard ships with Haida and Taney. Charleston and an 8,000 mile destroyer are also going along. I noticed that Taney is getting Hedgehogs with her September '42 refit. She's probably the first ship to get them.

Troops showed up at Chungking and I attacked:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 81814 troops, 185 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2387

Defending force 42119 troops, 340 guns, 313 vehicles, Assault Value = 1370

Allied adjusted assault: 1560

Japanese adjusted defense: 2397

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
1325 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 207 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
8959 casualties reported
Squads: 143 destroyed, 773 disabled
Non Combat: 102 destroyed, 189 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 58 disabled
Guns lost 16 (4 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
9th Separate Brigade
19th Chinese Corps
5th New Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
7th Construction Regiment
58th Chinese Corps
11th Chinese Corps
29th Chinese Corps
3rd Construction Regiment
23rd Chinese Corps
60th Chinese Corps
71st Chinese Corps
303rd Brigade
8th Construction Regiment
100th Chinese Corps
83rd Chinese Corps
10th Construction Regiment
12th Construction Regiment
37th Group Army
23rd Group Army
16th Construction Regiment
14th Group Army
14th Chinese Base Force
7th Group Army
7th Artillery Regiment
China Command
1st War Area
56th AT Gun Regiment
1st Artillery Regiment
Lusu War Area
CAF HQ
1st Chinese Base Force
15th Group Army
3rd Chinese Base Force
25th Group Army
10th Group Army
13th Group Army
49th AA Regiment
Central Reserve
19th Chinese Base Force
4th Chinese Base Force
Red Chinese Army
24th Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Base Force

Defending units:
15th Division
3rd Tank Regiment
35th Division
13th Tank Regiment
12th Tank Regiment
14th Division

Not a good move, as it cost me 800 AVs. I thought it may have been a weak vanguard, but guessed wrong. Should have bombarded to gauge the situation. A black eye should learn me...

I sent CF a note about the autovictory probability. He intended to keep the game going which is good. I've had so many aborted games where I had to endure 1942 and never played with all the fun toys that come the next year. The game is racing along for me right now. We fit in two a day on weekdays and 3 or 4 on the weekends. Even that's at a casual pace, as we both have lives. Anyway, I won't be doing anything rash in the meantime to desperately stave off defeat. I'll probably run a few Halsey-style raids on his outlying bases to see how well he's guarding the East. Any major event, I'll wait the month and a half for the Lexingtons to finish their upgrade. Their AA should top an Atlanta by the time they're done.

By that time, I can hopefully have 2+ American divisions in India, one of which being Marines. I've been sending fulled up B-25 units over, too. I'll be rolling in bombers over there by that point. My first Spitfire squadron arrived in Melbourne. As usual, they're ahead of the production pool, so I figure it's at least a month and a half before they're up to strength. The Spit is not a good Pacific War plane, with it's crap range. I can't even ferry it to Moresby, for Odin's sake.