Notes from a Small Island

[Canoerebel]

8/31/45 and 9/1/45

Manchuria: The Soviet advance went much more rapidly than expected. They are now in position to initiate the assault on Korea.

[mind_messing]

That 7k Allied AV inbound from Singapore in two weeks? It'll disembark and immediately move on Chungking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_akwHYMdbsM

[Canoerebel]

It aint the wrong way.

I know what I'm doing, but it takes too long to give the zillion details that would give readers enough info to know whether or not it'll work.

[Canoerebel]

9/2/45

Singapore: A bunch of non-American armor attacks, achieving 2:1 odds and dropping forts to 2. The armor will attack again tomorrow then rest a day. A day after that, a general assault, with armor shock-attacking, should do the trick.

China: Western Allies take Tsinan, so road is open to Peiping/Tsientsin pocket, where union with Soviets will take place.

Manchuria: A Russian armor corps crosses river and attacks by shock at Yingkow, facing 5 forts with 2.33 infantry divisions and lots of arty. The attack does little to either side. The Russians have a much bigger force crossing tomorrow, then more each day thereafter. Western Air hit the enemy ground troops effectively, facing no opposition. I can't believe Erik will stand here in the open, but he seems to be.

Russians take nearly-vacant Harbin. This is a key rail junction. About 10k AV can now rail by a direct route to Yingkow, turning that front into the greatest Allied army I've ever seen in AE.

[RangerJoe]

I presume that your artillery units bombard during your armoured attacks, does your infantry units bombard also? Or do they just defend with some in reserve mode?

Who knows, you might get lucky and your armour could take Singapore!

[jwolf]

It is really cool to see a combined US/UK and Soviet mass offensive, sort or replaying the European theater in northern China.

[Canoerebel]

Yes, arty bombards every day.

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I presume that your artillery units bombard during your armoured attacks, does your infantry units bombard also? Or do they just defend with some in reserve mode?

Who knows, you might get lucky and your armour could take Singapore!

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: jwolf
It is really cool to see a combined US/UK and Soviet mass offensive, sort or replaying the European theater in northern China.

It's really fun to see the long plan begin to coalesce so well. It took so much time to get everything situated properly that sometimes it seemed like it would take forever. When DS made that journey past Iwo Jima to meet an inbound Herd and then move to Aparri and Haiphong, it felt like things were moving at a glacial pace. Ditto when the landings occurred in China with hopes of moving forward, only to be stymied so that I had to stand down for quite awhile to await the Western Allies moving from Indochina. I knew how it would synergize eventually - if I attended to planning and logistics and troop movement - as long as Erik didn't get to throw a monkey-wrench into the works. Now the plan is in full fruition and I think the end is going to come well before the end of the year.

[palioboy2]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

Dan, that screenshot shows that production starts in July, 1945 with no end (Till) date. You should see roughly 1 per month produced until the game ends.

Yer right, Mike. Thank you.

I blame my misinterpretation of the chart on my UTI (Chickenboy will want to know that).

Ummmm, pardon me? I was under the impression that affected a different head!

[HansBolter]

Just saw the post above about atomic bomb production. You must be getting bad die rolls as I have 6 in my inventory in December after having dropped one.

Have loaded two Soviet Armies on American amphibious transports headed for the bay opposite Tokyo on the sea of Japan side. D-Day will end of first week of January.

[Canoerebel]

9/3/45

Singapore: Allied armor takes the battered enemy fortress. The immediate payoff is the points for this base. Then, the remaining enemy garrison of about 128k soldiers will add more victory points over the next week or two. That will free up an Allied army, most to go to China, a part to handle the balance of the DEI.

Barring KB excursions into the hinterlands or other major (and largely unexpected) hijinks by Erik, the war is now limited to China, Korea, Manchuria and the Home Islands. There are no major enemy forces elsewhere.

[BBfanboy]

The manual says under Section 17.0 Victory Conditions that the points for the base are not counted until it has its needed supply (1X, not the 3X it tries to accumulate). Removing units will reduce the requirement but also reduce the supply draw. Singers should be big enough to draw supply regardless of the troops there.

I thought there was also a requirement that the damage to the base facilities be below a certain threshold, but I cannot find anything about that in the manual.

[Canoerebel]

There are supply requirements attendant to bases, but here the Allies are more than flush.

Supply won't be an issue at Singers or anywhere else in SEAC. Part of the Allied "grand strategy" was to ensure the flow of adequate supply to the front (around the Home Islands) by securing SEAC and Singers. Supply has been flowing steadily and abundantly from the beginning - mostly coming ashore at Georgetown and migrating efficiently all the way to northern Indochina.

[BillBrown]

For future reference, Georgetown may not be the best base to unload supplies for Malaya, it is not on the railroad.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

For future reference, Georgetown may not be the best base to unload supplies for Malaya, it is not on the railroad.

True, but port size and west coast location may be the deciding factor.
On the East Coast of Malaya, Kota Bharu tends to be built up a bit but it takes days to sail ships from the IO into the South China Sea. And if you do that, it is probably better to go straight to Bangkok for a big port on the rail line.

[Canoerebel]

I wasn't sure Georgetown would work, but as BBfanboy notes it was by far the best option. It worked well, as it turned out. The flow of supply and fuel was constant and abundant.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I wasn't sure Georgetown would work, but as BBfanboy notes it was by far the best option. It worked well, as it turned out. The flow of supply and fuel was constant and abundant.

Ramree Is is one of those places that might not seem to be able to propagate supplies, but when built up will fill all of south Burma.

[Canoerebel]

I have and had Rangoon, so supplying south Burma wasn't a problem. The challenge/question, six months back, was whether I could get supply to the East China Sea region by shipping it to Georgetown, having it migrate overland to Saigon or Haiphong (or, if things went really well in the land campaign, all the way into the interior of China or, if not, then then shipping it to Tungchow). At the time, I knew I wouldn't have Singers for a long time to come. The system worked very well. It works so well that I may not ship it directly, now that Singers has fallen. I think I prefer to avoid the risk that Erik might use KB to pounce into the Singers region.

[Canoerebel]

9/4/45

Points: Allies still a long way from victory, but the lead is beginning to snowball, a bit. Points for bases is the biggest help, with Singers flipping, but Erik loses a small-value base or two nearly every turn now. Shanghai, Chungking, Chengtu, and Peiping are the next big-value bases. Losses to enemy ground units is also a material factor now. Erik still has more than 100k troops at Singers, and he has an army isolated in northern China. These categories will be important, but Strategic Bombing, which will recommence "terminally" when Death Star returns, will be the key to victory.

[Canoerebel]

9/4/45

From Singers to Manila: The Japanese Empire has collapsed.

DS will arrive at Manila tomorrow, escorting empties that are picking up an army bound for China. DS should be back on station in the East China Sea in a week. I don't think it will ever again leave the waters proximate to Japan.