Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter]

Things have gotten quiet in the Sorong area, though the allies are continueing to build up their airbases and ports. It looks like HMS Exeter may not get to Darwin, but all the other ships damaged in the Japanese attacks will make it. In addition to building up the airfields the Allies are now enlarging the ports to try and give damaged shipping a better chance of survival.

The attack on Moulmein was delayed another 2 days because of a screw up on my part. I have noticed that a small spoiler attack the day before big shock attacks has a significant effect on the defenders but my timing was messed up and my spoiler went in at the wrong moment. So Moulmein will get hit hard on the 12th, not the 10th.

One strategic advantage that the Japanese have been enjoying is a free hand in the air over China. This has helped Japanese pilot training a lot. In the last few days the British and Americans have moved a combination of B25s, Beaufighters, the AVG and a 72 plane P38 group into China. On the 8th the bombers struck and destroyed more than 30 planes on the ground at a base in Manchuria and the P40s interecepted a raid on Hsinyang by 30 Tonies and shot down 7 with no loss to themselves. From this point on I am going to make an effort to hunt for Mogami's airforce and keep his losses as high as possible all over the map.

Finally the Allied CV fleet is passing Thursday Island on its way to Cairns. Several divisions of troops, base forces and engineers are getting ready for the attack on Gili Gili, to be followed by other bases in that area. Another front opens up in the next week.

[Tom Hunter]

I have been slow to update because of being busy pounding Mogami.

In the CBI area the air war has gotten very hot with both sides launching major raids on eachothers airbases.

It started with an Allied raid by Mitchells and Beaufighters from Chengting onto a major Japanese base in Manchuria. That caught about 60 Japanese planes on the ground, follow on raids did some additional damage, including sweeps by P38s that shot down a lot of Japanese fighters.

Mogami went after Raheang in retaliation this is the raid from January 11th:

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 23
A6M3a Zero x 26
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 36
Ki-21 Sally x 159
Ki-49 Helen x 47
Ki-46-II Dinah x 6

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 8
Hurricane II x 27
I-16c x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 6 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 13 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 22 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 14 destroyed, 14 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 4 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 14 destroyed
Hurricane II: 15 destroyed
I-16c: 12 destroyed
Hawk 75A: 1 destroyed
SB-2c: 2 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 2 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 4 destroyed
Blenheim IV: 3 destroyed
C-47 Dakota: 4 destroyed
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
79 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 2

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 89

I made a mistake (one of several in the theater) and did not turn off replacements right away. So even though I flew in Spitfires and shot down tens of Japanese Mogami made it up in airframes destroyed on the ground.

On the 12th the Mitchells hit Canton:

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 48

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-46-II Dinah: 4 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 4 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 1 destroyed
Ki-15 Babs: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 6 damaged

Airbase hits 13
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 18


By the 14th the Japanese were back over Raheang, and the Allies pulled the bombers out of China because Burma needed the long range fighters, and I won't fly bombers alone. Mogami has also started training bombing missions in North China again because pilot attrition is soaring.

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 23
A6M3a Zero x 26
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 35
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 36
Ki-21 Sally x 65
Ki-49 Helen x 83

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 6
Hurricane II x 18
Spitfire Vb x 28
Beaufighter VIF x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 6 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 20 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 14 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 21 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 7 destroyed, 4 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 8 destroyed, 15 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 7 destroyed
Hurricane II: 5 destroyed, 9 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 9 destroyed, 11 damaged
Beaufighter VIF: 3 destroyed
I-16c: 4 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 1 destroyed
SB-2c: 2 destroyed
Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed
Hawk 75A: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
21 casualties reported

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 33

I had been pulling bombers out of Raheang so my losses were lower, and the Japanese took heavy casulaties without inflicting much damage on the Allies.

On the 15th the Japanese planes were licking their wounds at Bangkok and the Allies had been set up to take advantage of this. First in came the strike from Rangoon:

Day Air attack on Bangkok , at 29,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 43
P-38G Lightning x 51

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 4 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 5 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 9 damaged
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

This did some damage, but mainly it cleared the way for the heavies from Mandalay:

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 7

Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 5
B-17E Fortress x 47
LB-30 Liberator x 48

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 14 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 11 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 11 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 3 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 2 damaged

The 16th saw similar raids destroying more planes, and on the 17th the Allies hit Victoria point.

On the ground I am afraid I blew it at Moulmein, I had a huge army of rested Chinese and Indian troops on one side of the river, and an equally large force in Moulmein, if I had gotten them both to Shock attack at the same time I think I would have had 2 to 1, but I got it wrong, and launched a 0 to 1 on the 15th and then a 1 to 1 on the 17th that took the forts down a level. I am definitely wearing the Japanese down, but some of the Chinese divisions are back to 22 AP so they are walking back to Rangoon for rest and the remaiining Chinese + the Imperial army (the real Empire, not the upstart Japanese version) will continue to pound on the Japanese until they break.

A turn just came in, when I get back the Invasion of Gili Gili causes more huge air battles, with combined losses of up to 140 planes a day for Japan, and over 200 a day for both sides together.

[Tom Hunter]

Sorry folks but my frustrations with the game (not this one in particular, but WitP in general) have taken the fun out of it and I am closing down.

We stopped at the start of the invasion of New Guinea, Gili Gili was allied and KB was coming South. Lots of air losses, and a screw up on my part lost me Repulse and Prince of Wales, or maybe it was a magical reset of oreders from retire to patrol, I am not sure which. Anyway that is it.

I am quitting because of a combination off the following factors:

Leaders that vanish, including some of the more important Allied Commanders

Other units that vanish

Units that stop moving due to "no move from enemy hex to another" or just stop this has been a huge problem for me in Fear and Loathing

An air combat system that only simulates certain battles of a certain size

A land combat system we all know about

A naval combat system that is as flawed as the two above and has some startling exploits, I will post about those in the Analysis of Naval Combat Thread.


I find it impossible to have fun under these circumstances, and since Mogami is not paying me to clean his clock I am done.

[Ron Saueracker]

Rather an abrupt end! Was it the Kung Fu Napoleonic naval combat with no basic cause/effect that was the final straw for you?

[mogami]

Hi, This was a really great AAR. Interesting how all through it both Tom and myself misread what the enemy is up to and why. For example I saw Malaya being evacuated long before he gives me credit however there were no forces in Malaya capable of exploiting this and I assigned all the air I could. (The units he thinks went to Burma did not go because he blocked the road and the units that start in Burma were in PI)
I had air groups assigned to naval attack around PI the entire time only weather prevented them from flying most of the time.
If he had stayed in Singapore he would have still have held it after Manila fell. I would then have been forced to use SAA there and never moved against Efate and Luganville or captured Port Moresby. I would have been unable to advance to Rangoon
Ron, I expect to have to send supply to SRA only the supply you think exists did not exist because the bases were damaged. The supply that bothers you was not a factor in this game. Tom can verify the current status of supply and base repair in SRA.

Mike, I do not plan in detail. I go into a fantasy land before turn 1 where I try to imagine the map on 1 may 1942 and then I try to set up operations that will bring about my "perfect vision" I don't even attempt to plan a day by day supply point by supply point agenda. Instead I try to have forces and means available at proper times in proper locations to send. This resulted in real problems during game in that units attempting to capture Manila had other locations as objectives. (and thus are reduced in combat strength) It was not till after I change objective to manila and spent the required time prepping to 100 that odds finally went up. Had I assigned Manila to start with and then changed objectives I would have been at least 30 days faster. (big boo boo that took me many turns to understand)
Oleg I almost never scuttle a ship. I am a sailor. A USN sailor "Don't give up the ship"
I really am not a very good player. It's embarrassing. I'm not rigid my problem is I'm too elastic and too prone to abort operations because I see where they might fail while sending in operations that are destroyed by events that should have been clear to me. So I run from shadows and plow into unseen disasters. And I tend to over estimate what the forces I assign to operations are capable of. My LBA always lets me down, My TF get clobbered (even with bad Allied gunfire the Japanese lost most of the ships involved in nearly every naval combat in this AAR)

China was.. well a mess. At start I was moving almost every unit toward Manchuria when Chinese advanced. I cut off a large Chinese force but had to let it go. (I should have allowed it to capture the base before surrounding it) So attack on Soviets was wrecked and worse nothing was in place to fight in China. (This had to be my bad because I thought in setting up games it was understood the whole purpose of these games was to test whether or not attack on Soviets and release of Kwantung Army would have result of Japan winning the "land war in Asia"

I'd like to run another "Lunacy " game. Allied player would be free to fight in China (because plan B would accept this and account for it in planning) Only I would not violate any of my existing house rules other then the PP for units moving between HQ. (no turn 1 teleports) The reasoning behind this is Japan decides to move South only they are going to use the "main" Japanese Armies in the war against Western Alliance. So they must knock out the Soviets. I would like to have Soviet units deployed by Allied player prior to turn 1. And allow him some free deployment. (I want to test my planning not my exploiting skills) Likely will wait on the final WITP version before ever starting another PBEM game.

Any way thanks a lot to tom for playing I really enjoyed this game a great deal and wish the problems had not intervened.

where did I ever say I was going to invade USA? "Beer made me do it" had finished before these games began and it was clear from that test that it was not feasable

The "Lunacy" part of game was Allied player allowing Japan to attack Soviets and then use land Army (CEA and Kwantung) to invade Burma Malaya and if possible India thus freeing SAA for operations that required naval transport. Only Nomad allowed Japan to invade Soviets. Tom and Oleg both made this impossible right off.

except for turn 1 where I used the movement (entirely inside SRA) I never vilolated any of my other house rules other then the "Lunacy" one of allowing Kwantung and CEA units to enter other HQ area without paying PP (any unit that require sea lift had to pay PP which is completly legal even in my normal games)
My turn 1 movement in this game would work in normal game only there would be a 2 day delay before landings commenced at southern most locations. However this delay would allow Japanese air more time to achive control.

[Mark VII]

Sorry to read that this game has ended. It has been an enjoyable AAR that would keep me somewhat on the edge of my seat as I read the entries. Better luck with the game system next time!...terry

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

Sorry folks but my frustrations with the game (not this one in particular, but WitP in general) have taken the fun out of it and I am closing down.

[treespider]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

Sorry folks but my frustrations with the game (not this one in particular, but WitP in general) have taken the fun out of it and I am closing down.

We stopped at the start of the invasion of New Guinea, Gili Gili was allied and KB was coming South. Lots of air losses, and a screw up on my part lost me Repulse and Prince of Wales, or maybe it was a magical reset of oreders from retire to patrol, I am not sure which. Anyway that is it.

I am quitting because of a combination off the following factors:

Leaders that vanish, including some of the more important Allied Commanders

Other units that vanish

Units that stop moving due to "no move from enemy hex to another" or just stop this has been a huge problem for me in Fear and Loathing

An air combat system that only simulates certain battles of a certain size

A land combat system we all know about

A naval combat system that is as flawed as the two above and has some startling exploits, I will post about those in the Analysis of Naval Combat Thread.


I find it impossible to have fun under these circumstances, and since Mogami is not paying me to clean his clock I am done.

I was at your point six months ago....Now I'm back treating all of this as one big test bed.

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: treespider

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

Sorry folks but my frustrations with the game (not this one in particular, but WitP in general) have taken the fun out of it and I am closing down.

We stopped at the start of the invasion of New Guinea, Gili Gili was allied and KB was coming South. Lots of air losses, and a screw up on my part lost me Repulse and Prince of Wales, or maybe it was a magical reset of oreders from retire to patrol, I am not sure which. Anyway that is it.

I am quitting because of a combination off the following factors:

Leaders that vanish, including some of the more important Allied Commanders

Other units that vanish

Units that stop moving due to "no move from enemy hex to another" or just stop this has been a huge problem for me in Fear and Loathing

An air combat system that only simulates certain battles of a certain size

A land combat system we all know about

A naval combat system that is as flawed as the two above and has some startling exploits, I will post about those in the Analysis of Naval Combat Thread.


I find it impossible to have fun under these circumstances, and since Mogami is not paying me to clean his clock I am done.

I was at your point six months ago....Now I'm back treating all of this as one big test bed.

Exactly. I don't want to see yet another game on this subject released that has not built on the good and torn down the bad.

[mogami]

Hi, Tom could you bring the AAR up to the last turn? On the final turn the opposing CV might have encountered one another. (inside Japanese LBA range as well)