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

[BBfanboy]

Lord Howe is a great search and recon base for him to spot convoys for his raiders and check if you have ships upgrading at Sydney and Brisbane. Not sure if Melbourne is in range of a Mavis. You may have lots of air cover in those major bases but he can still concentrate enough to do what he wants.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Sangeli, I'm not sure he'd want to throw KB westwards.  I still have two good carriers -- three if Hornet escapes, which can still pose a threat to things.  One CVE is in San Francisco, training up a VMSB.  This should be due to flip to "carrier trained" pretty soon, as it's been at least a month.

I'm not saying he will throw the whole KB westwards; only half. At least that's what I would do if I were CF. But of course I could be wrong and he could be more conservative than I anticipate.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
If I knew KB was out west, I'd probably pounce on the Marshalls at that point.  Unless he's made late changes, his air power there seems to be patrol and fighters.  I still have 13 battleships for a relatively safe situation like this.  It would be nice if Intel Monkey threw me a bone now and then.

If half the KB was left in Truk I would still say it is far from a favorable situation in the Marshalls. In my previous PBEM game I launched an invasion of the Marshalls when I saw the KB appear in the IO. I ended up losing about half my fleet in the invasion just to LBA and surface ships (though granted it was pre-Beta and Japanese LBA is not so coordinated anymore). Had I faced half the KB it would have been even worse. With the reprieve on the seas after the battle it stands to reason the Japanese will reinforce the area making further incursions even more difficult. Even if all you saw were patrols and fighters on the raid, it only takes 1 day to fly in more units. When you make assumptions on what forces you face based off what your current intel suggests, you are liable to get burned. If you want to invade the Marshalls start in the Gilberts and get Corsairs and 4E flying over the Japanese bases.

[Mundy]

Well, regardless, I have more time to mull things over.

15 August 1942

Yorktown gives it up in the PM air phase. Cannonfodder doesn't pursue, and the PBYs at Johnston don't see KB anymore. My ships are back on mission speed, as some of them are at < 1000 miles endurance now. Hornet took some bombs, but damage levels are <= 10. Her air radar and some 20mm guns are destroyed.

He pushed things a bit to get to me, per his email:

To be honest, I had to leave behind almost the entire destroyer force as they weren't able to sprint the last leg without refueling... Had them catch up on cruise speed just now...

They're probably a bit beat up at this point.

Quiet everywhere else. In Chungking, I'm moving a weak unit to the SE and one to the SW, just to help fend off being surrounded.

I have one lone division near Imphal, he's been trying to finish for a few days now:

Ground combat at 59,41 (near Imphal)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4118 troops, 34 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 112

Defending force 2293 troops, 14 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 55

Japanese adjusted assault: 86

Allied adjusted defense: 58

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
69 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
71 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards/C Division

Defending units:
39th Indian Division

More planes arrive at Cape Town. Once everyone's assembled, I'll have close to 15 USAAF bomber squadrons. One squadron of recon Lightnings are also shipping over.

[Mundy]

16 August 1942

Remnants of the carrier disaster. Two Atlantas trying to get away. Hornet will be at Pearl tomorrow, with the rest of the surface forces the next day. Apart from the torpedo hit, they were pummeled by 60 kg bombs.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Johnston Island at 157,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 35
B5N2 Kate x 12
D3A1 Val x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CLAA San Juan, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CLAA San Diego, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
6 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
6 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Magazine explodes on CLAA San Diego


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

Morning Air attack on TF, near Johnston Island at 157,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 13 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
D3A1 Val x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CLAA San Juan, Bomb hits 5, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CLAA San Juan

CF's rounded the corner at Canton, I think.

Ground combat at Canton (77,59)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 46984 troops, 411 guns, 82 vehicles, Assault Value = 1537

Defending force 26396 troops, 250 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 359

Japanese adjusted assault: 656

Allied adjusted defense: 389

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
954 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 105 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1169 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 125 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Assaulting units:
116th Division
10th Garrison Unit
1st Ind.Inf.Group
56th Division
Hong Kong Def Force
33rd Division
20th RGC Division
Canton Special Base Force
1st JAAF AF Coy
21st Mortar Battalion
32nd JNAF AF Unit
47th JAAF AF Bn
4th Air Division
2nd JAAF AF Coy

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

My new P-38 squadron is up to 18 planes, all flyable within 3 days. I pulled the first bunch in just fine, but can't bring any more in for some reason. About 6 in the pool. Supply and base size at Bombay should be sufficient. Not sure what the deal is. This squadron is fairly experienced with about 26 kills between them.

[BBfanboy]

I think there is a limit to how many new planes can be brought into a squadron as replacements in a given week, depending on base size. I had the same experience with waiting for units to draw replacements and smaller bases seem to take forever! I think presence of an Air HQ helps.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I think there is a limit to how many new planes can be brought into a squadron as replacements in a given week, depending on base size. I had the same experience with waiting for units to draw replacements and smaller bases seem to take forever! I think presence of an Air HQ helps.

There's a hard cap of 12 planes.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I think there is a limit to how many new planes can be brought into a squadron as replacements in a given week, depending on base size. I had the same experience with waiting for units to draw replacements and smaller bases seem to take forever! I think presence of an Air HQ helps.

There's a hard cap of 12 planes.

My experience shows that hard cap of 12 is based on a 5 day interval, well a 6 day interval, 5 day delay, not weekly as many players assume.

After taking 12 planes in one fell swoop the message one receives is there will be a delay of 5 days.

[Mundy]

Thanks.&nbsp; I'll wait it out then.&nbsp; I don't think I have an air HQ at Bombay.&nbsp; Air HQs are probably the one thing where being&nbsp;under a particular command makes a difference.&nbsp; I am conserving PPs for when my USA divisions arrive.
&nbsp;
It's been the better part of a week, since I pulled the last batch in.
&nbsp;
Once they're up to snuff, I'll rotate another weakling P-40 unit in for their turn.
&nbsp;
The air war in India has been pretty much dead for the last week, which is fine with me.&nbsp; I can recover a bit.&nbsp;&nbsp; Fighters at Bhopal and Nagpur are most likely to see action when it happens.&nbsp; Delhi has a sizable air group, too, and I'm trying to keep the longer ranged bombers there.
&nbsp;
My RN carrier and destroyers are at Karachi.&nbsp; The CV is due to withdraw inside a month.&nbsp; The DDs will intercept and escort the transports from Cape Town.&nbsp; I'll probably let them return there with them.&nbsp; Cannonfodder's SOP is to stand off about 5-10 hexes west of Karachi with subs.&nbsp; If he comes closer, he gets swarmed with motor launches.&nbsp; I've beaten up the last two subs up there pretty good, so I may be in between visits right now.&nbsp; I'm thinking of sending my blimps from San Francisco over that ways.&nbsp; They've got a good hit to their credit.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I think there is a limit to how many new planes can be brought into a squadron as replacements in a given week, depending on base size. I had the same experience with waiting for units to draw replacements and smaller bases seem to take forever! I think presence of an Air HQ helps.

There's a hard cap of 12 planes.

My experience shows that hard cap of 12 is based on a 5 day interval, well a 6 day interval, 5 day delay, not weekly as many players assume.

After taking 12 planes in one fell swoop the message one receives is there will be a delay of 5 days.

It's a 7 day interval, and it's well documented. The turn after a unit takes replacements it will show a 6 day delay. The turn that a unit takes the max (12) replacements, it will not show any delay, the option to take more planes will simply be greyed out.

They made it be "up to 12 planes, one time per week". The way the displays work, you never see 7 days; you see 6 days the day after and 5 days two days after. It's easy to get the impression that it's either 5 or 6, but it's really 12 planes max every 7 days.

And remember it's getting replacements on ONE day, then a delay of 7 days. So if you only take one plane, you can't get more until 7 days later! So it sometimes is a good idea to live with a squadron being one or two planes down in case you need to replace more major losses in a hurry.

[Sangeli]

What's the status of the Gilbert Islands these days? Would be interested in seeing a screenshot of the situation. I think the Gilberts is one area you can make some progress with provided that you control some of the larger islands there.

[Mundy]

When I sent my carriers to Pearl, I had done a sideswipe attack on Tarawa.&nbsp; He has very little in the area.&nbsp; It didn't look like a lot of buildup had gone on either.
&nbsp;
I could probably grab Tarawa and Makin pretty quickly and easily.&nbsp; The thing is, KB could probably pounce in it fairly quickly, like on the Marshalls raid.
&nbsp;
I'll see where they go before making a move.&nbsp; I'm due for a lucky intel spotting one of these weeks.&nbsp; I only have one intel report regarding&nbsp;carriers the entire game.&nbsp; All my Marshalls LCUs are at or near 100%.&nbsp; I'll have to flip and train for awhile before changing targets.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

When I sent my carriers to Pearl, I had done a sideswipe attack on Tarawa.  He has very little in the area.  It didn't look like a lot of buildup had gone on either.

I could probably grab Tarawa and Makin pretty quickly and easily.  The thing is, KB could probably pounce in it fairly quickly, like on the Marshalls raid.

I'll see where they go before making a move.  I'm due for a lucky intel spotting one of these weeks.  I only have one intel report regarding carriers the entire game.  All my Marshalls LCUs are at or near 100%.  I'll have to flip and train for awhile before changing targets.

Sure...but what of you already have? Are you building up bases like Beru? There are a number of islands there that have high stacking limits for atolls and can be built up to level 5 air bases. The biggest advantage the Allies have at this point is in engineering resources and the Gilberts is a place you can really utilize this advantage. And in terms of making moves I'm sure there are plenty of unoccupied islands that you can take without attracting the KB.

[Mundy]

17 August 1943

Tojo sweeps started back up over India.

Morning Air attack on Jubbulpore , at 46,27

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 27

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 25000 feet



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

Morning Air attack on Jubbulpore , at 46,27

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 44

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
41 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 25000 feet
3 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 25000 feet

I'll put my guys up tomorrow. I'm trying to get at least a third of them over 30,000 ft, with layers at 20k and 15k. Most of the planes I have in the area struggle to get up that high. I can't chance that he'll slip bombers in next turn. No extras on the Lightnings yet. Once I do, I'll move the bulk to the front and let the fragment catch up.

From the above, it looks like at least 3 squadrons of Tojos. Probably another two in China. Given the right circumstances, I can bloody them a bit, if the terms are right. My USAAF guys are getting experienced.

Hornet's at Pearl. 8-12 days in drydock, depending on how many other ships clear out. That's still 10 days ahead of the Lexes. I forgot to , but I'm going to disband the fragments from the dead carriers to the pools.

Another bomber (B-26) squadron at Cape Town. Another five will show up in the next couple weeks or so. I'll be thick in bombers in India before I'm done. At this point, I can probably quit sending more that way.

A CVE (Copahee) is due at Tacoma in two days. I'm tempted to dump the replenishment squadrons on her into the pool also.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I'll put my guys up tomorrow. I'm trying to get at least a third of them over 30,000 ft, with layers at 20k and 15k. Most of the planes I have in the area struggle to get up that high. I can't chance that he'll slip bombers in next turn. No extras on the Lightnings yet. Once I do, I'll move the bulk to the front and let the fragment catch up.

Best chance you have of getting good results from CAP on Japanese sweeps is to have as many planes in CAP at different layers as possible. The Ki-44IIa is better than any single plane you have for CAP (P-38's thus excluded) but when 27 Tojo's face 200+ fighters it can even the odds a bit. If that means not being able to defend every base with CAP so be it; IJA bombing is only so powerful in the face of AAA and lots of engineers.

[Mundy]

That's generally how I work.

My USAAF pilots are getting good. I wish I had some of my Aussie pilots over there. They've been training most of the game and are in the 60s and 70s now.

If I can approach him experience-wise, it'll get better. I've bloodied him a few times there.

[Mundy]

20 August 1942

Due for an update.

CF's moving a sub north again. My MLs ran him over a bit.

ASW attack near Bombay at 34,24

Japanese Ships
SS I-157

Allied Ships
ML No. 202
ML No. 187
ML No. 201

SS I-157 is located by ML No. 202
I-157 bottoming out ....
ML No. 202 fails to find sub, continues to search...
ML No. 201 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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

ASW attack near Bombay at 34,24

Japanese Ships
SS I-157, hits 7

Allied Ships
ML No. 187
ML No. 202
ML No. 201

All the hits were "soft" ones with "sub damaged" in the messages. One fire was present, too. I don't know what his damage tolerance is with subs, so we'll see if she stays around.

Yesterday, he had another go at Wuchang. If I can't push it over the top, I guess he can't either.

Ground combat at Wuchang (84,51)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 41175 troops, 312 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 1349

Defending force 125450 troops, 422 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2225

Japanese adjusted assault: 1027

Allied adjusted defense: 1013

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
2800 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 613 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 37 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1216 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 94 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Assaulting units:
3rd Division
22nd Division
58th Division
2nd Ind.Mixed Regiment
12th RGC Temp. Division
18th RGC Temp. Division
13th Army

Defending units:
18th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
44th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
66th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
4th Heavy Mortar Regiment

Units continue to arrive in Chungking, despite the siege. I'm over 3,000 AVs now.

Copahee's a day out of Tacoma, bound for Pearl. I've withdrawn the SBDs and kept the fighters on board for now.

I have a precious new AR out of Panama bound for Pearl. Not sure where to go yet. Midway is tempting to help with bigger repairs there. Dutch Harbor and Midway are my main sub bases, with lesser amounts running out of Suva and Brisbane. Japan's pretty thoroughly covered right now, along with Formosa.

[Mundy]

I'm still mulling over the carrier fight.

I was too depressed at the time to look at the details.

My CAP didn't do a bad job -- especially on the second AM strike. Zekes went down in 2-1 ratio. His attack pilots were good enough not to be rattled by the losses. Often times, they'll simply miss on their attacks after getting hit. All his extra light carriers added enough CAP to make it hard for me to punch through.

Maybe I should just have a bunch of fighter equipped CVEs along at 100% CAP.

[JocMeister]

Just a small note on the aircraft replacements. Its very easy to circumvent the 12 planes a week limit.

Glad to see you keep on fighting! Who needs CVs anyway?! [:)]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

20 August 1942

Due for an update.

CF's moving a sub north again. My MLs ran him over a bit.


All the hits were "soft" ones with "sub damaged" in the messages. One fire was present, too. I don't know what his damage tolerance is with subs, so we'll see if she stays around.

From my own sandboxing of battles I know that "I" boats usually take at least 30 "soft hits" or 3 "penetrating" hits and survive with HD. From there it depends on die rolls whether they can limp back to port or not. For the 7 soft hits with a fire, I figure it will have 10 system damage, but will be able to repair 5 points at sea.

"R" boats seem to be more fragile as they are smaller coastal subs not meant to dive as deeply (i.e. the hull is not as strong). Figure 20 soft hits or two penetrating hits to put an R boat in peril.

[Mundy]

By "damage tolerance", I was wondering how far he'd let damage build up before pulling them. I tend to yank boats out with 5 sys. I think my guess to actually is in line with yours. Usually a couple sys and a flt per "light" hit.

21 August 1942

Another shot at Canton.

Ground combat at Canton (77,59)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 43893 troops, 395 guns, 82 vehicles, Assault Value = 1555

Defending force 25550 troops, 236 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 279

Japanese adjusted assault: 1140

Allied adjusted defense: 377

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
632 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 51 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
524 casualties reported
Squads: 20 destroyed, 66 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 15 (1 destroyed, 14 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Ind.Inf.Group
116th Division
10th Garrison Unit
Hong Kong Def Force
56th Division
33rd Division
20th RGC Division
Canton Special Base Force
4th Air Division
32nd JNAF AF Unit
1st JAAF AF Coy
21st Mortar Battalion
47th JAAF AF Bn
2nd JAAF AF Coy

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

Once I get driven out, I'll hole up at Wuchow -- see if I can get a good buildup there.

Forgot to mention...

My TF delivering the engineers to Lord Howe got hit a couple tines by Betties on the way back, the last time two hexes off the Australian coast. I'll be looking at LRCAPping after this, or using APDs.

Another B-18 unit at Cape Town boxed up for India. I have excess destroyers at Aden, so I'm pre-positioning them to catch the convoys when they get on map. A destroyer and corvette from Karachi are also on the way out.

I'll have lots of bombers in India before I'm done. I'll probably dedicate P-38s to escort duty with them. Maybe I can have a second Lightning squadron up and running before they all get there.