The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

The length of this game, like mine, will be determined by the outcome of the first big CV clash. I can see both going into '46.

Especially since Dan cannot bomb John's oil. However, unless John gets a couple of crushing defeats of Dan's fleet, 1946 will be hard to pull off. The Soviet activation really brings the hammer down. Hard to see it lasting more than three or four months after they start hammering-even if the Americans are stalled. Russian OOB in 1945 is just nasty.

[paullus99]

I just want to see Canoe kick John's ass.....[:D]

[obvert]

x

[obvert]

posting issues. sorry.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

5/9/43 and 5/10/43

Battle of Sumatra: John and I have worked together (though he doesn't know it) to ensure that the endgame in Sumatra is methodical and therefore slow. After he evicted me from the contested hex, I sent an armored unit back to the hex from adjacent Langsa. It won the race, crossing the hexside before the enemy could and therefore closing off that hexside. Thus John will have to attack before advancing. And it's clear that a land advance is what he's chosen, because there are now seven units in the hex (up from three at the time of the attack). This buys me enough time to get all units out of Langsa. Some via strat movement and some by regular movement. All this means "Fortress Sabang" will be at optimal strength. It has 90k supply, so should last for at least two weeks or maybe longer.

With 8 divisions plus support troops my guess is that Sabang would go significantly over the SL. The conditions would not then be optimal, and instead of slowing his troops on the way with the already doomed and beat up divisions, you'll see their fatigue and disruption grow even in friendly territory. Supply will eat itself, and the base will not last long at all.

SL are best used by maximizing each hex, not stacking it all into one "fortress."It was a big adjustment for me after having to face 500k Allied troops in one hex in my non-SL games as Japan, to which the only answer is to pile up a bunch on the defense. With SL if he comes with too much it'll hurt him too, so you're better off trying to stay under the limits.

[crsutton]

Not all work in this AAR but some play. Here is one for Dan. I have seen Civil War cannon live fire but not ever seen a gun shoot canister. I can't imagine trying to advance in the face of a six gun battery firing this stuff. Not humanly possible. Not for me at least..

https://youtu.be/k86XhYS8GJI

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Not all work in this AAR but some play. Here is one for Dan. I have seen Civil War cannon live fire but not ever seen a gun shoot canister. I can't imagine trying to advance in the face of a six gun battery firing this stuff. Not humanly possible. Not for me at least..

https://youtu.be/k86XhYS8GJI

Interesting, but my understanding of the terminology is that the little balls that are in the shot are grapeshot or shrapnel, while canister was supposed to be any old metal junk like nuts and bolts stuffed in a canvas bag? At least in naval terminology, since they did not have access to the cardboard to make a rigid canister they used canvas.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Not all work in this AAR but some play. Here is one for Dan. I have seen Civil War cannon live fire but not ever seen a gun shoot canister. I can't imagine trying to advance in the face of a six gun battery firing this stuff. Not humanly possible. Not for me at least..

https://youtu.be/k86XhYS8GJI

Interesting, but my understanding of the terminology is that the little balls that are in the shot are grapeshot or shrapnel, while canister was supposed to be any old metal junk like nuts and bolts stuffed in a canvas bag? At least in naval terminology, since they did not have access to the cardboard to make a rigid canister they used canvas.

On land, they actually used "cans", thin metal containers. And it was, to quote Bruce Catton, "in the highest degree murderous". The artillerymen themselves often called it "canned hell-fire".

(Sorry for the thread OT...)

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Not all work in this AAR but some play. Here is one for Dan. I have seen Civil War cannon live fire but not ever seen a gun shoot canister. I can't imagine trying to advance in the face of a six gun battery firing this stuff. Not humanly possible. Not for me at least..

https://youtu.be/k86XhYS8GJI

Interesting, but my understanding of the terminology is that the little balls that are in the shot are grapeshot or shrapnel, while canister was supposed to be any old metal junk like nuts and bolts stuffed in a canvas bag? At least in naval terminology, since they did not have access to the cardboard to make a rigid canister they used canvas.

Well it sort of has become interchangeable but canister is an official round and does not refer to shoving nails and junk down the barrel. Canister was originally packaged in tin but both the American and Germans use modern canister rounds made specifically as ammo in WWII. Probably some other nationalities as well. Using a smaller round than grape, canister was considered an anti-personnel round. Grape shot, usually packaged in canvass, featured larger heavier balls. It was intended for ship warfare and the heavier rounds were considered better because they could penetrate some wood and tear up rigging as well as being useful vs personnel. But really other than size, the idea is generally the same.


Shrapnel is a solid case shell designed to explode near the enemy and then throw out balls or fragments. Canister and grape operate more like a shotgun blast where there is no secondary explosion within the shell.

[BBfanboy]

Thanks for the ordnance lessons boys! And now back to our regularly scheduled AAR! [:)]

[desicat]

Shrapnel is a solid case shell designed to explode near the enemy and then throw out balls or fragments. Canister and grape operate more like a shotgun blast where there is no secondary explosion within the shell.

Shrapnel rounds designed to explode above the ground and shower down upon enemies as a counter to slit trenches.

[Canoerebel]

5/11/43 and 5/12/43

Battle of Sumatra: On the 11th, the Six Sisters, the Four Kongos, and the Three Brothers (including Yamato) bombard the two bases. I haven't seen KB, but I suspect strongly she's in this region.

I think John is finally coming for Sabang. A very large TF of merchantmen is between Sibolga and Sabang. And Allied sub hit one and caused troop casualties. Too, I got a couple of SigInt hits like 21/15 Div. prepping for Sabang.

His timing is funny. He waited to invade until after he persuade me to retire most of my army from Langsa to Sabang. So he'll catch Sabang at a stronger moment rather than at its weakest. Probably something on the order of 1500 AV. He's going to wrap up the campaign in the not too distant future, but I think not before Circus performs.

Operation Circus: More than 500 ships are at sea now. Still waiting on carriers to perform their maintenance calls - the main thing is topping off fuel and replacing missing aircraft to top off squadrons. The advance merchantmen are roughly 1/3rd of the way to the beachheads now. They'll stop in a few days and await the carriers. Essentially all ships should be at sea in four days. SigInt that a pioneer engineering unit is inbound to Manikowari on New Guinea's northeast coast.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

The length of this game, like mine, will be determined by the outcome of the first big CV clash. I can see both going into '46.

Michael, I will agree to disagree with you on this. We have Jocke vs Obvert where Obvert won the CV clashes and lost the war in July of 1945. Why? Economics was a major part along with Yankees in Korea.

So I will posit that any Japanese player can win the CV clashes and still lose the war well before 1946.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

The length of this game, like mine, will be determined by the outcome of the first big CV clash. I can see both going into '46.

Michael, I will agree to disagree with you on this. We have Jocke vs Obvert where Obvert won the CV clashes and lost the war in July of 1945. Why? Economics was a major part along with Yankees in Korea.

So I will posit that any Japanese player can win the CV clashes and still lose the war well before 1946.

The other obvious example in my mind is my other long-running PBEM where I lost half the KB on day 2(!!!) and the game is still fun and competitive in mid-43 at least. If the Allies lose CVs there are other methodical methods to move forward. If the Japanese lose CVs they must buckle down and fight defensively earlier, but can push back and remain a threat if the Allies over-reach or become overly confident.

Here in RA with the enhanced defensive units of the Japanese OOB the Japanese should be able to withstand a few setbacks and stay competitive. The CD guns alone mean every invasion will be more hotly contested than in stock, and the better airframes mean air superiority might never go completely to the Allies except in local areas for short duration. See GreyJoy vs Mr Kane for examples of late war fighters with Symon's enhancements causing major problems for the Allies.

[Lowpe]

Often times I think there is too much emphasis put on the decisive battle...which seems to work more on the personal morale check of the players than the actual game situation.

[PresterJohn001]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Often times I think there is too much emphasis put on the decisive battle...which seems to work more on the personal morale check of the players than the actual game situation.

Very true

Carrier's help with mobility, but its the planes they carry that do the damage...

[zuluhour]

+1 Obvert

[zuluhour]

double post

[Canoerebel]

5/13/43

Battle of Sumtra: The Japanese stacked advanced to Langsa, but slowly enough that all Allied units left the hex. I'm leaving a blocking position in the jungle, but I might abandon that if John continues to employ the bombardments that mess them up so bad. In that event, the fallback is to get the fighting troops into Sabang, where there is 83k supply and bombardments don't bother them, and to leave most of the support troops out in the jungle (to avoid overstacking). At this point I think the Allies will hold through the end of this month, which is enough (and more than I had expected).

Yamato and friends bombard Langsa.

An enemy amphibious TF drops troops onto the jungle road on the west side far south of Sabang (and behind John's own units). This was an "oops" by him - what I don't know is whether these troops were moving forward to Sabang or whether they had possibly picked up units from the jungle to take elsewhere.

We're at D Plus 184 now. Hard to believe.

Operation Circus: Ships are scurrying around, carriers are scurrying around, things are in the final stages of organization. Point Luck is growing crowded. No helpful SigInt today.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel


Operation Circus: Ships are scurrying around, carriers are scurrying around, things are in the final stages of organization. Point Luck is growing crowded. No helpful SigInt today.

Hungry elephants can be preti nasti. An elephant bit my sister once. Feed the circus elephants or pay the consequences! [8D]