Matrix Games Forums

Perhaps you could take that disucssion in a PM instead of using my AAR-thread to complain about the mods?

Today we met the dreaded P-38 for the first time. They came from 8th FG who did a sweep over Dilli.

The results were somewhat surprising. My Oscars got 10 kills for 2 losses, and my Zeros 4 kills for no losses.

Tomorrow might be interesting. Ive spotted something that looks like a British BB setting up for a bombardment run on Andaman Island, and I have the Musashi there with two CAs.

Meh, the cowardly allied bandits retreated instead of coming to the fight. We will soon enter December and nothing exciting whatsoever is going on.

The smart move for the Allies is to fast trans some small combat and engineer units into Kai and the other two islands between Kai and Darwin and build up fighter bases ... and at Kai level-4. This will remove requirement to use carriers to invade Timor and or Ceram.

And once Timor and or Ceram are built up them SRA becomes vulnerable.

I usually make greater defensive effort in this area, but we have been over this ground before so I should not beat it to death.

But spot P-38 first show up could be seen as telegraphing of enemy priorities.

ok, ok, I will put some NLF on Kai to force him to do a real invasion and not just a transport. Im building up all the other bases in the region so why not.

Im in the process of reassigning the 6th Division from China to the SRA. 6th will be split up into regiments and put on the bases around Ambonia.
 
I fear the allies will attempt their first offensive in this area, and I want to make sure I have enough boots on the ground to make them pay dearly for any such attempt.
 
Meanwhile the KB is in Sasebo exchanging their A6M2s for A6M3as..

This is what the area looks like right now.



Ive got one regiment from the 6th as well as a tank regiment heading to Babo right now. So the anchor-points right now for the defensive line are Lauterm, Ambonia, Babo.

6 Engineer regiments are fortifying Bulla and the island next to Ambonia. As soon as the fort levels are at 9, they will move on, and combat units will take their place there instead. The local reserve is at Kendari and right now it consists of 3 SNLF units of approx 120 AVs that can be airlifted into any base at one days notice (transport planes are at Jolo to be kept safe from enemy bombers).

The area can also be reinforced relatively quickly from Java (2 brigades) or Manilla (16th Division and 2nd Tank Division)

Tomorrow Im setting a little trap in Burma. We shall see if old Castor walks into it or not...

Well, well, well...what have we here? A submarine invasion perhaps?

In other news. The ambush in Burma failed, he went for Akyab instead. Also, in a move that can only be described as "breathtakingly foolish" the allies tried to sneak a lone AR past my base at Thursday Island.

I have to take this one seriously. He has enough transports to fly in several thousand men in a day. I have sounded the strategic alarm. Tabbys are flying in reinforcements to Sorong from Kendari and Bulla. 6th Division/A regiment has been rerouted to Sorong (will arrive in two days). A surface combat TF led by the BB Yamato has departed Soerebaja and one surface combat TF led by BB Yamashiro has left Truk. Fighters have been diverted from Timor.

This is not a drill

Looks like a false alarm. The mega sub-tf is heading further in. Presumably he will mine some port or whatever.

Meanwhile I surprise him in Burma. Despite my Zeros being outnumbered and bounced, we get 2-1.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/05/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1001 troops unloading over beach at Dutch Harbor, 103,36



Allied ground losses:
81 casualties reported


We have seen the first opposed invasion. It seems he is only invading with one RCT. He suffered 1500+ losses in the first day, and he is mighty upset over this. Im not sure Im so surprised at losses like that when he is invading an island with roughly 1-1 in forces. One RCT against a Nav Guard.

Anyway, next time he will probably come in larger number.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 52,47

Japanese Ships
TK Daishin Maru

Allied Ships
SS Grayling

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1001 troops unloading over beach at Dutch Harbor, 103,36



Allied ground losses:
89 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 37,82

Japanese Ships
SS I-3

Allied Ships
DD Gwin
DD Meredith
DD Tucker

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Rangoon , at 29,34

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 18

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 138

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 31 damaged

Japanese Ships
SS I-160, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
SS I-153, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Numakaze, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
AR Akashi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS I-11, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PC Gamitsu Maru #1, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sanae, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
AS Tsukushi Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
AK Sanwa Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Kuwayama Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Yunagi, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Choun Maru #18, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Yudachi, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AE Soya, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
APD APD-35, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Sangetsu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
MSW W.11, Bomb hits 1, on fire
MSW W.13, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AD AD-3161, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Amatsukaze, Bomb hits 2

Japanese ground losses:
329 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Port hits 6
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Wellington III bombing at 11000 feet

This is insanely bad. Ive moved out too many fighters to Hanoi and Andaman Island and here I pay the price for it. So, im moving the fighters back to Rangoon now.

I thought Id pull out my Oscars while I upgrade them to Tojos, but I guess I have to upgrade them while in the frontlines.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Dutch Harbor

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 968 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 12

Defending force 1024 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 29

100 prep points is definitely recommended for the Allies when pulling a non-overwhelming landing. Once Moses landed with the wrong RCT (he had one prepped to 100 but loaded the wrong one) he landed at Adak I think - they got so beat up - he loaded them back up and pulled them out.

Well, old Castor is fuming over that landing. He pulled the RCT back, so Dutch Harbor will be Japanese for a little while longer.

He seems thoroughly convinced that the landing was unopposed, despite the fact that I have several thousand troops defending it. He claims this is worse than Normandy and that the game is broken. Personally Im not sure I understand why he insists on calling the landing unopposed, and then get angry because of his losses at the "unopposed" landing. I mean whats the point. First he wants the landing to be called unopposed despite him wading ashore a heavily fortified base with thousands of jap defenders, then he gets upset he takes casualties...because the landing was unopposed.

As for real life invasions, I believe Tarawa was worse than Normandy when it comes to casualty ratio on the beech, and at Tarawa the marines outnumbered the defenders 10-1. Here he landed at roughly 1-1 odds.

Anyway, meanwhile the war goes on...

But without knowing the prep points of the landed unit - we can't comment much further. If 100 then I might be surprised and at least want to know more. If less than 100 then less surprised and depending on how much less than 100 then perhaps not surprised at all!

We have now passed one year of war.
 
I believe the date is 10th of December 1942, but I am not sure. Here are some observations on the current situation.
 
In Japan, the industry is going though a complete overhaul since I am moving from two old production lines (Oscars and Zeros) to three new lines (Tojos, more neat Zeros and OscarIIs and Nicks). This costs alot of supplies, so supply output from the HI is minimal at this time. I expect this to continue for another week or so.
 
In Burma, something is up. He is still stuck at Akyab. But yesterday I saw for the first time in two-three months that he has put up a defensive CAP over Chandpur. when I examined the base closer I found what appears to be a small invasion convoy. 9-10 APs and 2 CAs. I cannot say where these are going, but I am pulling two regiments from my strategic reserve to reinforce Andaman and another base in that area.
 
At Darwin we are playing cat and mouse. I have three large surface combat TFs based on practically all my avaliable BBs. I have them doing patrols outside my bases. This has caused Castor to remove all aircraft from Darwin for fear of a bombardment run. There are alot of auxillary ships in northern Australia again, as well as lots of transports and warships. I cannot help but think that this is where the main effort will come sooner or later. Instead of doing an island-jumping campaign through the central pacific, why not strike directly at the heart of the enemy?
 
I am reinforcing all my bases here.
 
The KB is in Japan, upgrading its A6M2s to A6M3as, it is expected to take another month to complete this upgrade. Roughly half the carriers have upgraded to M3s now. There is a large CV-upgrade that comes in early 43, where most of the big carriers upgrade. Im considering to keep the KB at home until then.  
 

The demise of DD Tucker.

A single DD makes a successful ambush of a supply convoy at Dilli. Amazingly enough, the lone PG defender manages to score several hits on the DD, damaging it severely. Crippled by combat damage, the DD is quickly sunk by the Bettys from Koepang in the morning.






AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/11/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78


Allied aircraft
Catalina I x 14


Allied aircraft losses
Catalina I: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Ise
CA Nachi

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Catalina I bombing at 6000 feet
4 x Catalina I bombing at 6000 feet
4 x Catalina I bombing at 6000 feet
4 x Catalina I bombing at 6000 feet

A night attack with Catalinas? Good luck achieving anything with that...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Dili at 31,77

Japanese Ships
PG Kogyoku Maru, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AK Hague Maru
AK Shinnan Maru
AK Sumatra Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire
AK Wales Maru

Allied Ships
DD Tucker, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage

Heroic effort by Kogyoko Maru saves the convoy and puts an end to the DD.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 58,44

Japanese Ships
DD Arashio
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Makinami
DD Kazegumo
DD Akigumo
DD Yugumo

Allied Ships
SS Gato, hits 1

This is right off Japan. There has been a large ASW battle running here for the past few days. Apparently he feels safe enough to position his subs close to the home islands. Ive dispatched 4 ASW TFs with 6 DDs each. These DDs are KB escorts who have nothing to do right now while the KB is upgrading its airwings. Ive also flown in several Helen-wings. I do not want him to feel secure enough with his subs to use them like this. I want him to fear being inside Jap air-range.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 33,77

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
DD Tucker, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet

The end of the DD. Man that captain was crap.

This is my production right now. Bear in mind that alot of factories are still switching production lines.

I will not accept US subs in my interior lines. He has been trying a sub offensive the past week, and Ive met him in force. ive relocated much of my ASW Helens to the area, and dispatched all DD escorts from the KB. This is what the situation looks like right now

I believe I have damaged three subs for no own losses to either escorts or transports. He is very foolish to operate this close to my airbases. He should keep his subs further out in the ocean where my aircraft have a harder time locating him.