Notes from a Small Island

[BBfanboy]

I urge you to reconsider a strong thrust from north to south by the Russians. They have some very good flak units to protect the troops, but the compelling reason is that you need the points for Peiping (X100) to have a hope of winning. The road that runs north from Peiping should be vulnerable to tank attacks with the rest of the horde following.

[traskott]

Agree. If you can deploy a couple of AA brigades escorting the main stacks, Erik will soon be counting his loses of bombers by hundreds..

[Barb]

Yup, Add the full Russian "Steam Roller" to the party. The more you bring the better - Japan is badly stretched already.

And do not hesitate to shock attack to Singapore with full strength. The more firepower you bring the more enemy defensive fire will be suppressed and you can get some good fort reduction both with combat engineers and AV ratio. Just make sure your units are well rested before the jump.

[HansBolter]

I found the sweep down from the north with the Russians progressed considerably faster than the drive west from Vladivostock.

[Canoerebel]

The Russians will mostly come down the eastern valley, aiming for Korea, as opposed to vectoring into the desert for northern China. The primary objectives early will be places like Harbin and Mutkiang, followed by Muken, followed by Korea. Originally I had considered vectoring towards Peiping and northern China, but the Western Allies will handle that vector. All subject to change, of course.

P.S. Given BBfanboy's urgings, and the counsel of you others, I took another looks at the vectors and made some adjustments. Thanks.

[Canoerebel]

8/1/45

The route to Allied victory is to take Manila, take Singapore, take Shanghai (and possibly Chungking), pocket and destroy enemy troops in China and Korea; find and destroy vulnerable enemy shipping in the shrinking empire, and employ DS fighters and LBA in a ramped-up strategic bombing campaign. The only major project left to do to fully implement this plan is to pick up the Allied army at Haiphong and transport it to Tungchow/Nanking. All the other assets are now in place.

Russia: Japanese fighters score a lopsided victory vs. Russian fighters over Vladivostock (only a few Russian squadrons were active but Erik found them). Russian paratroops take a vacant city in the interior and another base auto-flips. The Russians main objective is Korea, though they will watch for opportunities in China.

Luzon: Allied paratroops continue to take vacant cities around Manila. The vanguard Allied armor is a hex from Manila. Erik is not reinforcing and it doesn't look like he'll fight here. The Allies army of 3,500 AV will be more than enough to handle Manila and its garrison of 20k. Accordingly, Death Star, having refueled, can move on to help pick up the big army at Haiphong.

Singers: Still awaiting arrival of one more Aussie division, one armored unit, and one combat engineering regiment. They should arrive at Johore in two or three days.

[BBfanboy]

That's odd about Arshaan flipping - in stock it has a static fortress which should prevent any flip.

[Canoerebel]

Well, I didn't actually see Arsahan flip sides. I just assumed it did.

Perhaps there's an error in Scenario 2, or perhaps the unit withdraws? I dunno.

Look at the Prep objective in your post of the Arsahan fortress!

[BBfanboy]

Well there you go - the fortress packed up and went to Aden! Better check to see if it flipped to the Japanese!

[Canoerebel]

8/3/45

Manila: Probing deliberate attack by Allied armor comes off at 1:1, drops forts to 5, results in heavy enemy casualties, and drops nearly every enemy unit AV to 1 or 0. This base may fall before the infantry arrives over the next 2-4 days. Since the Luzon invasion is basically secure and done, DS and The Herd departed for Haiphong to pick up an army bound for China. The Luzon army will then handle the Formosa invasion (an Amphib Force HQ is 100% prepped, so that can proceed without fighting-unit prep).

[Bearcat2]

Arshaan Fortress withdraws in Sc1 & Sc2 in mid 44'.

[BBfanboy]

Thanks Bearcat2. I was not aware of that.

[Canoerebel]

8/4/45

Luzon: Manila falls on the 4th. This has been the closest thing to blitzkrieg in the war, for the Allies. They landed at Appari on July 26 and essentially conquered Luzon in nine days. Most of the Allied army here has already switched prep to distant targets and will rest at Manila until picked up for the Formosa invasion in a few weeks.

DS & The Herd: Steaming west unmolested, The Herd should arrive at Haiphong in two or three days. There it will load an army bound for China.

Singapore: The Allied army - about 7k AV - is underway. The crossing should take place in three days.

Russia: Thus far, the Russian army is making decent progress. Erik's biding his time, waiting until the advance armor gets within range of his bombers. I have to balance progress against that threat. It doesn't appear that he has any intention of fighting forward.

Erik's Strategy: With the exception of stinging raids and hitting targets of opportunity, Erik seems to be withdrawing into a tight perimeter centered on the Homes Islands, Korea, and parts of China. He's given up Luzon without a fight and I think he's basically evacuated the DEI. I'll try not to give him a good shot at a close-in, well-coordinated all-out kamikaze attack against Death Star. Very soon now, the Allies will begin the concentrated strat bombing attack on Home Island industry, including DS fighters.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The Russians will mostly come down the eastern valley, aiming for Korea, as opposed to vectoring into the desert for northern China. The primary objectives early will be places like Harbin and Mutkiang, followed by Muken, followed by Korea. Originally I had considered vectoring towards Peiping and northern China, but the Western Allies will handle that vector. All subject to change, of course.

P.S. Given BBfanboy's urgings, and the counsel of you others, I took another looks at the vectors and made some adjustments. Thanks.

Most of the Sov troops concentrate at Kalgan. In my experience as a defender, the Soviet tankers seem to move quickest running either

- into Linhsi then fanning out down the main roads.
- down the yellow trail between Linhsi and Arshaan

Once they're on that terrain, there is a lot of ability to bypass IJ positions and effectively turn up out of nowhere.

The east tends to be a big, slow slog until the IJ lines get worn down, but it is awful terrain.

Very soon now, the Allies will begin the concentrated strat bombing attack on Home Island industry, including DS fighters.

I've had some discussion over on Obvert's AAR regarding the HR's of this game regarding B-29's on night airbase attack. In short, I think it limits your options to fight his concentrated airpower. I've agitated for moving the limit up to 100 or even 150 bombers. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this.

[Canoerebel]

Like most house rules it was proposed in good faith to address a perceived problem but had troublesome, nettlesome, unintended consequences.

The house rule is highly disadvantageous to the Allies. Knowing that the threat of night bombing against his airfields and ports is small, Erik can reduce his night fighters at any particular base, therefore having enough to spread all over the place. As a result, the threat of meaningful Allied night air strikes against a port or airfield in the Home Islands (and a few other select places) is basically nil. Fifty bombers on night missions of that kind are basically useless against flak and a few enemy fighters on CAP. If I had 50 B-29Bs set on night attack against Gifu's airfield, I'd lose more bombers than I'd destroy fighters on the ground. Ditto every other base of consequence.

So I only use these missions against bases unlikely to be well-defended. In recent weeks, night missions vs. Manila, Takao, Balikpapan and Soerabaja airfields or ports have been quite successful. But Erik is withdrawing into the Home Islands, as I noted above, so these opportunities will soon vanish.

This rule, combined with the rule against strategic bombing in China, helped Erik a lot. But they are what they are. We're so late in the game now that it's fine leaving them as is. Let's see how things wind down as the year winds down.

[BBfanboy]

Congrats on taking Manila - a nice X100 base with a shipyard to boot! Go Yanks! ...er... Go Rebs? Go Renks? Oh, heck - Go Dan!

[grond69]

What would happen if you embedded a 50 plane airfield strike in a large, 200+ night strategic? The large strike might spread the NF enough to get a reasonable airfield strike in addition to the damage from the strategic strike.

[Canoerebel]

They generally don't fly in coordinated fashion. Most night strikes are broken into little groups that enemy fighters and flak can handle. 50 bombers on airfield strike don't have the oomph to accomplish enough to offset losses to flak, fighters or both.

[grond69]

Ah, of course. Thanks for the free education! Looking forward to seeing how things work out

[Canoerebel]

I'm optimistic about the future. Basically, since the start of 1945, Allied strategy has emphasized conservation of the B-29s until the day comes when my LBA fighters and naval fighters are in position to work together to sweep enemy airfields. That's been done a few times (just before the carriers steamed east to escort the inbound merchantmen). The results were encouraging. In a week, DS will be back in the East China Sea. From that point forward, the combined air war should proceed until the end of the war (except for one two-week window in which DS will return to Manila to pick up the army to deliver to Formosa). So basically the war is about to accelerate, and the B-29 pools are strong.