War and Peas - Hortlund (J) vs. Canoe (A)

[Canoerebel]

1/28/42
 
NoPac:  No major action today, but lots of IJ shipping at several enemy bases north of Coal Harbor.  I decided to commit the five fighter squadrons retrieved from Hawaii to the defense of West Coast, deciding that is a more proximate concern than Oz.  Besides, Oz is getting five or six fighter squadrons from USA, via Capetown.
 
CenPac:  I-2 near LA misses BB Warspite.  Well to the south, a combat TF including CAs Louisville and Canberra ambush a small IJ TF near Ocean Island, sinking CL Katori and two PB.
 
Oz:  Steve is coming a little heavier now for Darwin via the back door (landing tank units at Wyndham).  I wont fight in NW Oz, so he'll take this area within the month.  Further south, a Brit division is unloading at Perth.
 
DEI:  Nothing of particular moment.
 
Clark Field:  More than 100 Bettys plus another hundred bombers hit the troops here.
 
China:  Steve has been committing a fair number of bombers here for quite some time, so even though he hasn't made any progress on the ground (to speak of), he's got plans for the future.
 
 

[JohnDillworth]

Feeding New Mexico (and previously Warsite, which took damage) into the vortex plays into PH's desires, if I'm reading him correctly. 

Tell that the the Chiefs for Staff when they find out you lost a BB to a CL 3 weeks into the war. Although the press wrote it as a heroic victory you will be commanding the garrison at the Panama Canal......on the Atlantic Side!!

[Canoerebel]

Fortunatley, I can communicate privately with the Joint Chiefs, giving them all the reasons we can benefit from the effusion of blood occuring as a result of our calculated and our miscalculated moves.
 
Hey, we're more than six weeks into the war!  And anyhow, I've got to put up at least a semblance of a fight in NoPac or Steve will grow bored with the game.

[Capt. Harlock]

NoPac: New Mexico and Raleigh tangled with the Oi TF, which put two torpedoes into the BB. Later in the day Vals and Kates came calling from part of the KB positioned to ambush. Two more TTs into New Mexico finished her off. I don't know whether Raleigh will make it. Oi took heavy damage, but that's small consolation.

Well, with luck that floating Long Lance dispenser will not be back until the USN dominates the Pacific. Did Raleigh take damage from the surface or the air action?

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

floating Long Lance dispenser

[:D]

[princep01]

I have been away from the AAR for awhile and missed how PH got Japanese land forces into the Darwin area when you had those US CVs in the area? Did he obtain a sufficient LBA presence in Timor to cover his forces and force your CVs away?

Too bad as I thought you'd bloody his nose if he tried to land in northern OZ.

My 2 cents on his future intentions.....I don't know, but, like you, I think India is not on the list But, the tell will likely be where those Divs go that are currently on Luzon. I'm certain you will keep a sharp eye on those eight Uglies. Maybe with your "advanced" torpedos, you can set a little trap off Manila Bay or other likely exit ports and let the sea swallow a couple of them.

Castor Troy, would you please release the name (computer) of your Japanese opponent that just disappeared 5 months into the game? I'd like to be sure that I do not accept a game from him. That is a very unsporting thing to do.

One thing about your AARs Canoerebel, they always produce a lot of interesting jabber and opinion. Interesting stuff. Thanks for taking the time to maintain it.

[Canoerebel]

The whole Timor to NW Oz region became a hive of enemy activity over the course of a month.  With Lautem in Steve's hands and the Mini KB on station (unitl it later moved into the Pacific), I thought loitering in the area would be dangerous, because it was expected, so I moved the carriers away - one to refuel at Perth, the other (plus the RN carriers) to cover Cocos Island. 

Steve waited to get his ducks in a row and then did a quick tank-unit landing at Wyndham.  I tried to intercept with combat ships, but was too late and got them coming back out from the beaches.

It's risky for the Allies to try to oppose a Japanese invasion of the Darwin area.  Usually, I'd prefer to attend to regions that are more important and more suitable for good defensive work.

I would've fought harder if he had come sooner. But he waited until he had his ducks in a row.

[BBfanboy]

CR, now that I have had a look at the map again, Coal Harbour does not seem a great place to make a defensive stand because its development potential is only 3/4. Victoria and Vancouver on the other hand can go to 9/8 and are mostly there already. Maybe those troops for Coal Harbour should go to one of those locations and your B-17s should go to work on the bases PzJH is trying to build up?

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: princep01


Castor Troy, would you please release the name (computer) of your Japanese opponent that just disappeared 5 months into the game? I'd like to be sure that I do not accept a game from him. That is a very unsporting thing to do.

bluebook, the AAR should still be around somewhere.

[princep01]

Castor Troy..thank you. Blurbook.....that is a name I shall remember.

Canonrebel, thank you for the update on the developments in the Darwin area.

[Q-Ball]

castor brings up some excellent points, and since my game vs. Canoe was cited, I'll weigh in.

I don't get the panic here, either. I am very interested to see what PH makes of this Northern Expedition, but my first reaction was that it's a big investment in a sideshow. Actually invading the West Coast would be doing you a favor, with all the Restricted units you can use, plus the 6 divisions or so you get extra as unrestricted reinforcements. He can bomb Seattle, which is the main concern; but I think he needs Victoria to do that effectively, and I think landing on that row triggers the big reinforcement. Conducting a major bombing operation from Coal Harbor isn't easy; he can use sweeps over Seattle to really knock down alot of your fighters, but you have tons of fields to run B-17s from, with ample AV support, to keep Coal Harbor in check.

He will have to keep an air presence, CVs or otherwise, in the Gulf of Alaska to prevent you from raiding his supply lines with DDs and whatnot. The supply line to Coal Harbor is pretty narrow.

Once Seattle is secure, and you are confident he isn't launching an air campaign, I wouldn't bother with a major effort to re-take Alaska. Why do you need it? Other than to threaten the Kurlies, you don't. And, as you get closer to 1944, it will become a huge trap for Japan. At that point, you could just land in the Aleutians, and isolate whatever is left in Alaska. If he has evacuated, retaking it will be easy.

The main impact is that I do see it diverting a good chunk of your air strength, and retarding your training program a bit, as the Restricted Air units that are normally just training are on extra duty. Even here, though, alot of the air strength you are committing will be units that are stuck on the West coast anyway, including P-38s.

I also agree with castor on Hawaii: Against a good opponent, there is no chance. Pearl Harbor starts with a pile of Engineers, 2 Infantry Divisions, and enough CD guns to make any landing expensive. The only viable airbase to control the Hawaiin skies is Lahaina; everything else requires too much time to build.

Australia is also impossible vs. a good opponent. Moving the San Diego Marines there is a good idea early, as well as some Marine air and extra units, especially fighters. But it shouldn't take a ton. The Aussie Militia units are OK, if they are set to digging right away. In this game in particular, the IJN is needed to cover the Gulf of Alaska; he can't do that, AND cover Australia.

India is much more vulnerable. The Indian Army starts out in terrible shape, and the RAF is very weak early, with inadequate replacements for everything. It's also a very short hop from Singapore, and doesn't require much Naval commitment once you are ashore (unlike Australia, which will require CONSTANT IJN commitment).

If he makes another move, I think it will be India, because you can pull that off as Japan without a big naval commitment. I don't think the IJN can cover both North Pacific, AND Australia; too much sea to cover, too far apart.

[Crackaces]

Once Seattle is secure, and you are confident he isn't launching an air campaign, I wouldn't bother with a major effort to re-take Alaska. Why do you need it? Other than to threaten the Kurlies, you don't. And, as you get closer to 1944, it will become a huge trap for Japan. At that point, you could just land in the Aleutians, and isolate whatever is left in Alaska. If he has evacuated, retaking it will be easy.

Big picture .. lots of VP's are in Alaska that unlike any other area in terms of VP density vs. ability to defend ...well Alaska is very hard to take back until '44 .. there are no roads / rail connecting the lower 48 to Alaska .. and after establishing a good base of VP's one can then go after some other area with a host of VP's .. bang 4:1 sometime in '43 ...instant victory ... however, I believe you are quite right that once instant victory is not achieved the investement in Alaska vs. other more strategically defensive areas will hasten the IJ's demise.

Quite a gamble in my eyes ..but I can see a path for this strategy to work.

[Canoerebel]

Interesting thoughts, Q-Ball.  Thanks for weighing in.
 
My casual observations are that fighter squadrons set to a percentage CAP (anything from 20% to 40%) and a percentage of training (say 20%) seem to train well - possibly as well as if they were set to 100% training.  I've mentioned that before, much earlier in this AAR, and it seems to be confirmed by what I'm seeing in my West Coast fighters. 
 
I just brought in the five additinoal fighter squadrons from Hawaii, so that should help a bit.  However, I did strip off four or five fighters squadrons at the start of the game to send to Oz. 
 
I'm about to shift around the American forces.  I'm going to leave decent garrisons in San Diego and SF to protect the vulnerable aircraft factories, but as many of the rest of the troops as possible will go to Vancouver and Prince Rupert, both of which give Steve chances to get bases close to USA strategic targets (Prince Rupert by moving inland to seize Canadian bases like Calgary, etc.)
 
As for India, I am skeptical that Steve has the time now to move in a meaningful way.  In my game with Q-Ball, he landed en masse in Ceylon in early March 1942, after first clearing Port Blair and western Sumatran bases.  That gave him plenty of time to do what he needed to do to isolate India, in part because I didn't know what was going on or how to properly prepare.
 
In this game it's already the end of January.  It will be weeks or months before Steve has the infantry and carriers needed to invade, but even then he will first face some hurdles that I think Japan has to attend to prior to or in conjunction with a successful invade and isolate plan:  Port Blair and Sabang are probably necessary to clear first, while Diego Garcia, Cocos Island, Attu Atoll and Socotra will be important in the isolation phase, especially Socatra.  Since the Allies hold all of these bases in some strength, taking them will require a fairly large commitment of troops and should take some valuable time.  Also, Steve will ahve to be careful because Allied carriers will be present to nip at his flanks and heels.
 
Finally, USA troops are en route to Capetown - four or five regiments (Marine and Army) moved out shortly after Pearl Harbor and will arrive in Capetown beginning this week.  That plus an Oz division already deploying to Karachi from Aden will provide a core of strong troops.  Last, but not least, the Allies have plenty of transports at Capetown to handle the Emergency Line-of-Death reinforcements should they become available.
 
Alot will have to change before I will beleive India is vulnerable, but in the meantime the Allies are improving on the sub continent's defenses.

[Q-Ball]

Good point on India; I hadn't considered the date, plus the fact that he isn't close to clearing Singapore (a pre-condition for a move on India), and several IJA divisions are still at Clark. The clock is running out on a landing before April 1. IMO, Japan MUST make it's major post-DEI landing before April 1 to avoid landing penalties, and also to prevent Allies from having valuable time to set-up defenses. It's also a deadline that Japanese players can keep in mind to push speed as much as possible.

I wasn't as close to taking India as you think, BTW. At the risk of patting myself on the back, I think I executed a near flawless campaign, up UNTIL April 1, 1942. I cleared the DEI lightning fast, and had everything moving, transport, supplies, fuel, engineers, AV, to bring the hammer only 3 months after Pearl Harbor.

But I really lost my way after April, that and your defenses. I should have landed after Ceylon NW of Bombay; I wouldn't have cut you off, but you would have immediately evacuated almost all of India, to protect Karachi. I should have landed on Socotra, but didn't consider that until too late. And I should have crossed the line of death; I didn't because I felt it would hurt me long-term, which it does, but I should have just gone for it. Would have been a good show at any rate! Ultimately I lost my nerve on that one.

[khyberbill]

I should have crossed the line of death;

Radar crossed the line of death against GreyJoy, he took Scrotum and still could not take Karachi. The part of the code that allows ships to enter the map and get to Karachi in one turn helps immensely to the defense of Karachi.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill

I should have crossed the line of death;

Radar crossed the line of death against GreyJoy, he took Scrotum and still could not take Karachi. The part of the code that allows ships to enter the map and get to Karachi in one turn helps immensely to the defense of Karachi.

There's no doubt it's a major pain regardless.......Allies have plenty of time to turn Karachi into a fortress, so direct assault is impossible. Only hope is to restrict supplies...and that is really tough. Not to mention that Allies will pull 100,000+ supplies in there from the get-go. It's impossible to interdict the off-map supply route; you would have to literally park the IJA off the port.

The IJA fell apart quickly in that one, Dan did a good job counterattacking me, and trapped several divisions in India. It was a disaster for the IJA.

It's tough to see a strategic path there. Has anyone in WITP-AE successfully taken Karachi?

[ny59giants]

Isolating India may be easier with the extended map used in mods based on DaBabes. You have two more bases up along the NW map edge and the sea lanes to Karachi from Aden can be contested with those bases in Japanese hands.

Edit: its 13 hexes from Masirah to Karachi.

[Q-Ball]

Maybe more importantly, it's 5 hexes from the Aden exit to Karachi, not 2. Masirah is barely within Zero range.

Still isn't easy, but more possible...you can use Masirah to refuel raiders though

[ny59giants]

Brad,

It may be easier for you to install DBB and see the difference with the extended map.

In stock, the distance from Aden and Abadan to Karachi is 5 hexes. Both are connected and use the same hexes to enter the map above Karachi. so you can freely move between bases off map.

Using the extended map, Abadan is not connected to any other off map bases. Aden and Abadan use different set of hexes to enter the map. From Aden entry hexes on the map to Karachi is now 21 hexes and you have to go by Masirah to get there.

[Q-Ball]

Just noticed that.......so you can still run supplies from Abadan (which is connected to Capetown and other points), but Aden is effectively isolated if the Japanese have Socotra (well, it draws supplies, but the ships can only emerge near Socotra)

That would have been handy vs. Dan, but oh well.......