Spanking Lowpe (NJP72 vs Lowpe (A))

[Lowpe]

What is next you ask?

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Hoary Crap! Talk about poking holes in the dike! Has he expressed any consternation at the way you are keeping him reacting to your shotgun invasions?

Japan did attempt to stop me on the march up the New Guinea coast...with two counter invasions on the north side (one of which did knock me out of the base for a bit) and a successful counter invasion of a dot sea plane base on the southern side. At the time he mentioned it as a good tactic...I think Japan is simply short troops -- too many have been bypassed, and to add to that he failed to build any of the bases up so I have almost 0 fear of land base air strikes.

[CaptBeefheart]

Well done. I like your shotgun approach. Although it's not absolutely necessary, it's nice to have a few re-fuel stations in the DEI.

How big is the Soerabaja yard? That's also a nice bonus.

If I remember correctly, the IJA gets a lot of ground troop reinforcements in 1944, which means if the Marianas and Volcano Islands (and China) are troop laden now, he has to be pretty weak elsewhere.

Cheers,
CB

[RangerJoe]

The Soerabaja yard starts at level 8. I don't know if it has been expanded but when I play Japanese I like to expand it so the Heavy Cruisers can be repaired there.

[Lowpe]

June 15, 1943

Full speed ahead! No CD guns, no mines. Bathurst taken for an AKE base. 15 IJ troops cornered.

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[Lowpe]

Way too many targets for invasion plus paradrops to mention them all....will be on Celebes in force in a 2-3 days...closing off the southern approach to Balikpapen. Will be closing off the northern approach in about the same timeline. Should be on Mindanao in 2-3 days too.

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[Lowpe]

So is failing to take the small bases and dot bases a consequence of a Japanese auto victory gambit? Or is it simply negligence? Or part of a 22 hex perimeter strategy?

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[Lowpe]

I messed up and didn't take Namlea by paratroop this day. Oh well.

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[Lowpe]

Allied High Command has decided upon a strategy of closing off the South China Sea as Priority 1.

A secondary goal will be taking Soerabaja for the shipyards and fuel....but it will be done on an absolute shoestring.

[Lowpe]

Bit the bullet and transitioning the entire Australian medium bomber force into a torpedo bombing naval attack squadron....they will join forces with US assault bombers...medium term thinking here.

The Beaufort VIII can search and attack at night to a range of 8 with a torpedo...while the US AB forces can strafe and attack down low with machine guns or cannons and have range 11. They will be able to close off a lot of the South China sea...and force Japan into a funnel or allocating the KB to shepherd ships thru. Combined arms shutdown of the South China Sea: torpedo bombers, night naval search, submarine, desrons, oh my it will be glorious.

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[Lowpe]

Japan hasn't night bombed at all...so I am thinking of using these guys in a strafing attack role...either versus naval, port or runways.

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[Lowpe]

Darwin....15 trapped IJ units, about 800 AV.

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[Lowpe]

Turn is finished, a gawd awful amount of clicks. Invasions & paratroop assaults on a dozen locations. Allies flexing.

[Lowpe]

June 16th, 1943

IJN returns back to Manado...and runs into heavy sweeps. I forgot to change my naval search on my CVs and suffer for it.

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[Lowpe]

Expanding our forward bases by air drop....moving forward. Moonlight favors the USN now...however forecast is rain amongst the islands.

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[Lowpe]

Marshalls...

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[Lowpe]

June 17, 1943

Japan builds back Manado's fighter strength to 120, still no bombers....more subs tasked with targeting the IJN there.

Deathstar and Allied fleets assemble behind Morotoi....moving on Talaud today, Mindanao in three days most likely.

Namlea being built up...

Sorry, forgot to take a picture...used yesterdays...hope it isn't too confusing.

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[Lowpe]

Just a quick word on Allied tactics here:

I am trying to avoid any kind of decisive battle with the IJN.

It can be difficult to get a massed air strike on warships alone....your strikes tend to go in fragmented and I don't want to suffer 200+ CV plane losses since you can't rely upon the sweeps arriving first...if sweepable.

I want to avoid my fast battleships suffering yard time since they will be out of the war for a long time...don't care as much about my slow battleships other than they trade well. However, we are constantly putting our destroyers, especially Fletchers forward into harms way.

Our main goal is rotating invasions, constantly keeping pressure up by taking the low hanging fruit and build bases from which to leap frog forward, never stopping always bypassing. Always moving forward.

In the SRA the Japanese seem handicapped...they have no AKEs at Manado. No bombers in the area that I can spot...and no airbases built up. I do suspect the KB is either caught upgrading or hanging back to pounce after a huge cap trap or decisive fleet engagement.

What do you guys think?

[Lowpe]

June 18th, 1943

IJN sits in Manado...the IJ airforces launch a few strikes...and Betties manage to put a torpedo into West Point down at Manus flying just above the waves.

Second time West Point has been torpedoed this game...

I guess the Mindanao invasion is a go...one day to get into position, and one day to land...with follow on forces cascading in and past. Where is the KB?

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[Lowpe]

I know getting oil out of Urumchi is darn difficult...but on the theory of hitting Japan all along its perimeter to help spread her defenses we visited the oil during the day...now we will switch to night time bombing.

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[Lowpe]

Rangoon at night...

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Oscar IVs at Urumchi!

Morning Air attack on Urumchi , at 79,11

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 12

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 5000 feet *
City Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
26th Sentai with Ki-43-IV Oscar (3 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 7000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 7 minutes
54th Sentai Det A with Ki-43-IV Oscar (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 5000.
Raid is overhead