Nothing Up My Sleeve: Magical Moose Tricks--Bullwinkle58 vs.1EyedJacks

[Bullwinkle58]

January 26, 1942

Christmas Eve, 2012

Title just to document how addicted I am. [:)]

Presents all wrapped, ham in the oven, guests coming in three hours. We had a nice little dusting this morning to freshen up the postcard, and perhaps zero temps overnight. A clear, cold Christmas Eve.

One of our guests this year is a lifelong Georgia resident. Two days ago we took him out walking on a frozen lake. The deep water line was very clear through the ice and we razzed him that he was now over his head. This lake is a block from the house and big enough for float planes to land on, so it's pretty big. As he was thinking of coming back over "shallow" frozen water two kids on hockey skates, with sticks and a dog for mascot, came across the lake, tiny crackling sounds coming up from their blades. He got back over shallow water REAL fast. It was funny. He is also considering moving here now, as he's seen what four seasons looks like.

Oh, yeah, the turn. [:'(] (No, no drinking. Yet.)

1) Blah, blah, blah, ASW. Next.

2) Yadda, yadda, yadda, Chinese bombing. Next.

3) 50+ mines cleared at Balikpapan. He wants him some oil. Five subs in the strait waiting for tankers.

4) Typical raid at Palembang.

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
G3M2 Nell x 21

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 6
B-339D x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged
G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
B-339D: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Albacore I: 1 destroyed on ground

I'm really unsure how to handle CAP in these tough times. Never had this sort of sustained effort by the AI. On the one hand having a scrap keeps him honest, and two engines and an airframe per loss ain't nothing HI-wise. OTOH, scraps prevent me consolidating CAP and actually susrprising and doing some rare decent damage. Over P. I can rationalize that I'm buying fort-building peace, or at least more peace than otherwise, but there are so few Brit fighters to go around.

The combat report said a fighter-bomber was lost on the ground. It's possible he doesn't know P. is fat with HQed torpedoes now. I hope he comes near soon.

5) In Burma, the Refugee Chinese heavy bombers do good work, hitting the far-forward tank regiment south of Magwe three times. Given it's only tanks I bring them in at 3000 and 4000 feet, and they destroy two and disable over 30 AFVs on the road. My feeling is disabled tanks may fix slowly out in the open with trail-drawn supplies only and no HQ. Could be wrong.

6) 51 Japanese planes fly, gain fatigue, maybe ops losses, to cause 5 casualties in the tiny base force walking around north of Victoria Point. They're my new Rodneys. Out of disrespect I won't dub them Rodneys II. They're the Other Rodneys.

7) Big battle at Lingayan. Three Allied LCUs there to soak up the attack, buy time and disruption, eat some enemy supplies, and die, do almost all of that. Major Allied losses, units retreat to Clark. Still can't feed them. Clark has 7 supply this turn. Seven. All engineers back to Bataan, 2 of 3 HQs, all tanks, half the infantry. The stand will be there, not Clark. Manila still Allied, with one LCU. Pumping 100 supply per, will stand and die.

Moved small P-40E unit from Cebu up to Bataan. Cebu's organic supply generation can't fly them and also build, and Bataan can. A few more Bettys bagged would be nice. I wasted PPs to change the fighters' HQ to unrestricted on the off-chance anywhere Allied was still in range, but alas, no. They're red disband, so they fly until they die. Six planes, six pilots.

Midway forts to 3. Calcutta AF to 7! I finally have an Asian mainland AF where I can upgrade squadrons. All three AVG fighter gorups are there waiting for P-40s to build.

Float plane scouts Batavia; probably Glen. IJN subs seen off SF, Seattle, and Palembang. Last Dutch CL trying to sneak by while heavily damaged. Flushed from Singers, headed for Cocos for gas, then CT for float repairs. I think she got past. Singers has one harbor defense launch, no planes of any kind. Battened down. Forts 4 at about 65%. Supplies dwindling. 30+ LCUs seen at JB across causeway.

Merry Christmas!!!

[BBfanboy]

Merry Christmas Bullwinkle! (Can I use that smiley in a wargame AAR??)
I used your avatar's name in reply to Cap Mandrake's post about the song "Baby It's Cold Outside", because it is!

[Bullwinkle58]

January 27, 1942

DDs Down

Day after Christmas. Other newer toys to play with, but AE must have its due.

1) Dance of the DDs. USS MacDonough on ASW patrol near Lahaina spars with both I-20 and I-23 and falls to the latter. Off screen, it seems IJN DD Shirakumo sinks after a collision near Takao. There was a deep-water ship breaking-up sound efect heard just before the commencement of the ground attack phase, and that effect is the one usually used for subs. So I'm unsure what happened. The collision is reported as a one-liner in the combat events report, not the combat report.

2) Japan completes clearing all mines at Balikpapan, a very impressive feat. If tankers are coming the surface force at Soerbaja will likely sortie.

3) 92 unescorted bombers hit Clark, and meet a small P-40E CAP from Bataan. Two are downed. Some troop losses. Iba is re-taken by Japan.

4) Multiple probes across the Chinese MLR at Changsha, Sian, Ankang. Changsha is abandoned, Sian has one last LCU strat packing, and Ankang is a way-point on the route NW toward Burma. Chungking has repaired its LI and a bit of HI, and is about halfway to Forts 7. AV there is in the 1500 range, with all the Chinese arty and AA, and a half-dozen base forces and many HQs. It has light CAP of obsolete planes.

5) Meiktila is beginning to get daily air strikes by Bettys from Rangoon at best guess. Minor damage. A bastion is being built at Mandalay. The rails from Lashio are burning up with whole Chinese corps strat moving toward Mandalay and its 28,000 supply after their long, long walk out of central China. A small force has begun moving toward Taung Gyi where Japan's leading edge tank regiment is headed to establish a southern flank position. This tank unit takes more Chinese LB strikes and loses another tank with 12 more disabled. Japan tries to LRCAP with Oscars and gets three over the tanks, but the Chinese still get the job done. My impulse is to not risk too much to hold TG. Better to make a very strong stand to the north at Mandalay, but I don't want to give TG away either. The Chinese masses give options so long as I can keep a moderate level of supply in central Burma. So far my efforts to get any pulled into Imphal have been fruitless.

6) Samarinda falls to a shock attack, finishing the clean-up of Borneo East. Three Dutch defender units retreat into the bush, one is destroyed.

7) Three BBs are underway headed to Pearl, one Seattle and two SF. A heavy escort of six extra DDs meets and merges with the SF TF. Many large supply/fuel convoys have been to UK/EC, loaded, and are on the way back to CT at Full speed. More Aircobra units are en route as well.

8) Oz is starving for fuel, but no heavy combat ops are planned and PM is on its own. Perth has about 27,000 to service Cocos and Force Z. It will need to hold for about six weeks to two months before any significant fuel will be available. Sydney is making about 1900 supply a day which is less than I'd like, but doable. Darwin has enough for now, as does NZ. Noumea has a pile, but no troops to use it. That island would fall to a Girl Scout troop.

9) Sydney Ports go to 9, which will give a bit of supply relief.

10) All P-40 replacements are off throughout the world. I need to get the AVG back into the fight. Calcutta is ready to upgrade but the P-40E pool has three planes. Can't wait for February.

[Bullwinkle58]

January 28, 1942

China Hammer

Our holiday guests have departed and it's back to the war. There could have been a better day for it, but that's Allied Land, January, 1942.

1) In central China three large, core cities fall to the advancing Japanese wave. This was long planned, but still, sobering. Changsha, Changteh, Hengyang.

The list of forces employed to take these three vacant bases is long and powerful. Six full infantry divisions, a tank regiment, and at least two more division equivalents. The central stack at Changsha is 70% of the total, and the retreating Chinese corps are only two days ahead on the way west. There is no more N-S work to be done; the effort is all west now. In the north, dozens of Chinese units pick their way between Kienko, Chengtu, Tsuyung, and Paoshan, their ultimate goal the railhead at Lashio, where already a basket of units have trained to Mandalay and adjacent bases to eat, rest, build, and dig in. Some will continue on into India.

The Allies have also recieved intel that at least one division is prepping for Lashio, which brings up the question of what happens when the front line of the blitzkrieg reaches that way station. What will be the Japanese supply state? Will they be able to operate offensive air from the slight infrastructure available in the mountains and foothills around and east of Lashio? Is there a link-up plan with the huge stacks which will be long freed from duty at Singapore and which can move into Burma rapidly on internal lines? I think yes, and there are already preliminary moves by the leading tank regiment which is moving towards Taung Gyi even as heavy bombing commences at Meiktila, the other necessary link in the rail net. Before this is over, before summer 1942, a chess match of supply lines established and supply lines severed, of route bombing and paratroops, will be underway in Burma I believe. If the Allies can shove supply in from the sea they should prevail. If not, NE India is in play by land, and possibly even if Burma is a mess, by sea.

Lashio itself may turn into an Alamo for the Allies. It is needed to hold Mandalay's flank, but it is a difficult place to fight in terms of cousin bases. Any number of Chinese troops passing through could stay, but they will be weak and undersupplied and without any arty. At present the only tiny bit of air supply can come from Ledo, one transport squadron feeding off an under-supplied base. By summer that situation will improve, as should the USA's injection of forces to stiffen at least the critical coastal bases like Chittagong. But time will tell.

2) USS Silversides takes a shot at I-20 as it goes by headed east near Pearl. A clean miss. Later that day I-20 takes USS Maury to the bottom. Two days, two destroyers on ASW duty. Three critical TFs are inbound to Pearl: two full of BBs, and one immense supply convoy from San Diego. Pearl has been whittled down to 130,000 supply and that is far too low. My hope had been to drive some holes in the sub halo around the island, but two DDs lost is stiff. Some more ASW upgrades commence in four days, but what I really need are the waves of SCs and KVs I'll have in later 1942. Risking low-ASW-rated fleet DDs in games of chicken is no fun.

3) Heavy unescorted bombers come again at Clark and are met by a better P-40 CAP than yesterday. Two bombers are destroyed, one heavily damaged. The raid is disrupted and does minor damage.

4) Further on bombing, the Chinese heavy bombers once again hit the tank regiment deep in Burma and are met by Oscars. Ten good guys are lost. I have had this lesson at least three times now, twice before on oil centers. My opponent is very, very good at plugging CAP gaps when I show him vulnerabilities. I always push my luck at least one day too far and he makes me pay. This was another of those times. Still, the Chinese have slowed that regiment by destroying and disabling more AFVs than they had a right to.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Do Chinese HQs respawn like the combat units?

I'd have to look it up. I thought it was just infantry.

Edit: Yep. Just infantry. Might be able to buy the unit back, but I doubt I would. One thing the Chinese don't lack is HQs.

The Chinese HQs have always respawned in every game I have ever played. They have mostly been scenarios #10 & #55 though.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Do Chinese HQs respawn like the combat units?

I'd have to look it up. I thought it was just infantry.

Edit: Yep. Just infantry. Might be able to buy the unit back, but I doubt I would. One thing the Chinese don't lack is HQs.

The Chinese HQs have always respawned in every game I have ever played. They have mostly been scenarios #10 & #55 though.

Respawned for free like infantry does, or buyable? I didn't now this was adjustable in the editor. The manual makes it sound hardcoded.

[Bullwinkle58]

Just did the next turn and it looks like the Other Rodneys bought the farm from bombing when I wasn't looking.

RIP.

[Bullwinkle58]

January 29, 1942

The Coast is Very Much NOT Clear!

1) I had taken a chance about a month ago and put, I think, five old DDs into the yards at Soerbaja to convert to APDs. I figured at the pace the Japanese were moving in the DEI I'd have the month it would take, and could well use Fast Transport assets in the region. They completed safely two days ago, and were ordered to Batavia. Today I load them up with 1000 supply, order them to Singers and change the homeport to Palembang. I set Direct/Coastal routing, not because it's safer, but because it looks like it is on the map. [:)]

Imagine my surprise when the TF travels into the Merak hex and finds a whole bunch of angry red dots, erm, mines. And proceed to clear some. No, no, no!! Fortunately there are no boomskis and the TF retreats to Batavia. Not sure why there, but I am OK with it.

Merak has had a base force and a medium-heavy Dutch fighting unit since the first week, building forts since Merak is a very common route onto Java. I can only imagine that Japan had seen the plethora of refugees heading through the strait and sent some sub miners. I have coastal minesweepers available at Batavia, so I can clear them pretty quickly I hope. But that was a close call. APDs do not grow on trees. I might lose them helping Singers, but it's an experiment I'm willing to try once or twice.

2) Tried some night bombing and proved once again it is not overpowered or any sort of Allied wonder weapon. B-17Ds bomb Johnson I. at night. 2/3 get lost or don't launch, what gets there does one (1) supply point. Launch 6 newly-arrived B-26s from Palembang on the oil fields at Djambi. At 2000 feet they hit nothing.

3) Clark bombed and this time 45 Zeros come to escort, facing one P-40 on CAP. It survives. Damage is again lower than on days with no CAP at all.

4) Sallys in China penetrate to the roads far to the north, almost in the mountains, and route bomb marching hordes. Meiktila in Burma gets pasted again; the damage always seems to accrue on the weakest base force. Wonder how that works in the code. It's the last unit which arrived, so maybe it has the fewest organic forts.

5) Japan assaults and takes a vacant Sian, which has been a key bastion city until this week. The mix of forces is odd, and makes the hair on my neck stand up a bit.

Assaulting units:
10th Tank Regiment
23rd Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
37th Division
5th Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment

There is a dot base north of Sian where the railroad terminates. I've used it extensively. Tanks could get there fast, open the faucets, and get chase units onto the E-W yellow roads I'm still using for hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops. Everybody is at least two days west of the dot base, but tanks could make that up easily. Have to see how it goes. Some of this tank horde could also go up the river valley for Lanchow and the fuel supply. I have a medium strong stack there fortifying. I actually hope that's what happens as I could lose that city easier than the many corps strung out on the roads. Those have zero supply for the most part, and are at less than 50% AV.

6) Near Yenen a stiff little battle in rough terrain gets a 3:1 against loss ratio for the Allies, but isn't a disaster. There are three orphan LCUs trying to get out of that rough land and to Lanchow. If they have to act as delayers that's OK too. They'll be re-born at Chungking and save the walking. Chungking has enough supply to replace them as squads become available.

Overall though, China just got hard in 48 hours. I may have waited too long to pull out of the center.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

January 29, 1942

Overall though, China just got hard in 48 hours. I may have waited too long to pull out of the center.

Ah, you have discovered the weakness of the combattus interruptus method! You will find out how serious the mistake was in about nine months ...[;)]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

January 29, 1942

Overall though, China just got hard in 48 hours. I may have waited too long to pull out of the center.

Ah, you have discovered the weakness of the combattus interruptus method! You will find out how serious the mistake was in about nine months ...[;)]

This is China. They'll be hungry again in four hours. [:'(]

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Do Chinese HQs respawn like the combat units?

IIRC manual mentions, that most HQs (of all nations) respawn automatically. Is China exception to this?

[witpqs]

I didn't know that about all HQs. I wonder if that has changed with the introduction of buying back destroyed formations with PPs?

BTW, IIRC from my current game then, yes, Chinese HQs do come back (without PP purchase) just as do the combat units.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

I didn't know that about all HQs. I wonder if that has changed with the introduction of buying back destroyed formations with PPs?

BTW, IIRC from my current game then, yes, Chinese HQs do come back (without PP purchase) just as do the combat units.

I lost the Lusu War Area HQ so I can see if they show up in the Chungking magic queue pretty soon. But the manual is very explicit about China--infantry only. Not arty or base forces either. If HQs come to Chungking from the magic rebirth code that's a change. I myself hope that's not the case since the stated reason for the magic rebirth is the mass of Chinese peasants available to be infantry fodder. Which is true, but generals aren't peasants. HQs ought to cost.

[witpqs]

Lusu War Area is the one that starts the scenario practically already trapped, right? My game is in Jan '43, so I'll check when I get the turn and see if it's back.

[Bullwinkle58]

January 30, 1942

The End of the Beginning

One more day to the end of the month, but nothing much happened today so I need a catchy title. Who better to crib than Winnie? [:)]

January 1942 is my least favorite month playing the Allies. It's worse than December because you expect titanic events in December, but January is a slog with few tools to wield. Running, running, losing, losing. Immense amounts of drudge housekeeping. Setting up hundreds of TFs, setting up pilot training, setting up sub patrol zones, setting up patrol planes, moving transports by the many hundreds to someplace where they can go to work. Every month afterwards rests on January to some extent. So it has to be done. But it's like flossing, not like eating the steak.

In this game January has not been too cruel. I have run a lot, especially in China, but in what I hope is a strategically interesting manner, one which makes Japan unsure of what the Allies are up to and how to respond. I held my carriers safe, Force Z the same, and lost only one BB on 12/7 and got three more safely off-map. There were some mistakes made, especially in the routes chosen for ship retreat the first week (USS Boise we hardly knew ya), mining patterns, the retreat in Malaysia which took too long to rebuild LCUs and thus lost a few, and too little supply forced into Singers. Probably others I'm forgetting. But at the beginning of January I thought Japan would be far more aggressive on land than has been the case. I thought all of the Celebes would be gone for example. I thought Palembang would be at least besieged today. I thought Japan would be building Rabaul. Would hold Manila. Would have Wake.

Another month of amphib bonus has gone and that's good. February has a real mass of upgrades open up, especially to DDs. Merchants begin to get a modicum of AA as they can be spared to go into the yard. CAs about double their AA suite too. And fighter production ticks up just a bit.

Much yet to do to set up defensive lines in Burma and elsewhere. I'm not happy yet with submarine production; too many have been tied up around Hawaii and only now are there four fleet boats appraoching the HI to test defenses and convoy routes. One will penetrate the Inland Sea if it can avoid mines. On land, intel has just given up yet another full infantry division prepping for Pearl Harbor; I must get more LCUs there. Two are on the water, a slight parachute unit and another USMC tank group. The Americal Division is unpacking at San Luis Obispo and will go aboard at SF in a week or so. Three BBs are en route to Pearl, Idaho just arrived this turn in SF, and Nevada comes out of the upgrade yard at Pearl at 100% tomorrow. A landing at Pearl will cost him if I can finish preps in February.

Much to be done. No time to waste.

1) Four busy bee AMcs at Merak clear 62 mines without mishap. The strait reads clear again.

2) Dutch sub attack wounds xAK, but more importantly gives intel:

Sub attack near Donggala at 67,98

Japanese Ships
xAK Arabia Maru, Torpedo hits 1
xAK Tokusima Maru
xAK Toko Maru
xAKL Tamaki Maru
TB Chidori

Allied Ships
SS KVIII

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Light escort, carrying troops. Best guess is western Celebes, or maybe Kendari. The latter takes a medium bomber strike today and is by far the more attractive tactical target for area denial, but Japan seems to be going a yard too far if this is the whole effort. The surface response force at Soerbaja has two CLs now to help the DDs. This force might try an intercept unless a MKB is seen.

3) A lot of bombing in China doing pretty stiff damage to road marching units in several places. The corps plus HQ near Yenen is attacked again and loses 1650 disabled to 106. There is no help for them, no supply, no air support. They must keep marching and do the best they can.

A first air attack on Lashio does some supply damage, but also signals that Japan has realized how key this base is to the "China Strategy." I have detailed the beginnings of a Lashio defense I was not planning to undertake two days ago. Mandalay must hold, and that means Lashio must at least slow Japanese advancement. The number of tanks he has poised to come west is sobering. Lashio is on the railroad and can get supply if Mandalay has it to spare. This turn the Allies also began a a sustained series of moves to build Chittagong as a second potential supply flow route to Imphal and the Mandalay group. If supply cannot be forced into these bases the Chinese army is going to have to keep moving into India where it can get some supply. And that will imperil Burma greatly.

[Encircled]

When you say "Mandalay must hold", do you mean "until we are out of China" or indefinitely?

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Lusu War Area is the one that starts the scenario practically already trapped, right? My game is in Jan '43, so I'll check when I get the turn and see if it's back.

Yeah, down by Shanghai, north of a river I think, maybe on a dot hex by itself. In that range anyway. Toast.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Encircled

When you say "Mandalay must hold", do you mean "until we are out of China" or indefinitely?

My hope would be indefinitely. I can easily put fifteen Chinese corps there, including some "American armed" ones. Plus assorted Indian and British units, including arty. Supply will be the break-point. I've never defended the region from a human, so I could be tragically wrong. But I don't want to start the road back from Imphal or north of there. I hope to perhaps threaten Indo-China if he gets too frisky. But that's several seasons away at best.

[V I Lenin]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Encircled

When you say "Mandalay must hold", do you mean "until we are out of China" or indefinitely?

My hope would be indefinitely. I can easily put fifteen Chinese corps there, including some "American armed" ones. Plus assorted Indian and British units, including arty. Supply will be the break-point. I've never defended the region from a human, so I could be tragically wrong. But I don't want to start the road back from Imphal or north of there. I hope to perhaps threaten Indo-China if he gets too frisky. But that's several seasons away at best.

It depends where you put them. Inside Mandalay base hex (or any other limited-supply base) the whole force will be restricted to the amount of supply #that base# can draw (=number on base screen * wastage * [x number of times per week depending on terrain path cost, 4 if cost is 70 or better, 2 if less than 70 I think]) and will have big problems as that is not a very big number even fully built up. Outside base they can draw their own from as far back or even further than the base would draw (= direct supply from Imphal, Chittagong, even Calcutta depending on where they are). So, for supply purposes, it would be better to defend not in a base, maybe ahead of Mandalay or, if that isn't possible, then perhaps in the jungle up country from Shwebo. If you do have to go into jungle getting out of it is much easier if you keep a hold and so don't have to make too many opposed river crossings, and it is much easier to attack base with supply limit from open country than it is to defend it.

Alternative is to defend in base but rotate units in and out to draw their own supplies - risky though as they will not calculate their needs based on bombardments and so on but only on sitting in open. If you have very big forts it can work better, though. Best would be jungle up road from Rangoon (Tonguu?) but maybe too late for that now.

[Bullwinkle58]

Very good points, Mr. Lenin. Are you perhaps an old hand with a new account/screen name?

I do need to figure out a defense halo around Mandalay. Defending NE of the river there would be better, but Mandalay has AF and terrain features I want. It's at Forts 3 now and still building; also the air field. I also need to take some time once and for all and figure out what the monsoon rules are now after being patched. I'm ashamed to say I don't even know the exact dates.

Lashio is also going to need some flanker defenders in the mountains and rough country nearby. If he comes with tanks as I expect he will right now, I need to be able to at least threaten getting behind them. My hope is that both garrisoning and distance from his big supply ports will stall any huge advance into Burma from China. I think his main effort will be from "normal" directions such as Rangoon and up from Indo-China. So far he has not shown a lot of love for big amphibious ops such as a landing to take Calcutta directly, or Madras, would entail, but I may be schooled on that at Pearl before any Indian expedition becomes reality.