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ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

... Evoken has too much on his plate so he thought it was best to step away from this one...

Sure. Just like all those politicians or corporate types who resign to spend "quality time with their family". Never a coincidence the resignation closely follows some scandal/ambition thwarted event.

Alfred

May 29, 1942

South Pacific

East of New Zealand, a Japanese surface task force composed of two light cruisers and two destroyers intercepts an Allied convoy of eleven xAK cargo vessels of various shapes and sizes and successfully destroys nearly all of them.

Ceylon

Drat! An Indian Brigade railed into a previously empty Jaffna at the last second, thwarting my attempt to capture the base with an SNLF parachute unit in a coup de main. The Empire will have to do this the hard way so we go to plan B - an opposed landing. Luckily I did plan for this potential outcome and my divisions are prepped for the landing.

China

Sian was captured and with it the destruction of three Chinese Corps. The industry and oil is thankfully mostly intact, with only two oil wells damaged. The huge Chinese Army (across the river from Sian) is cornered but I imagine that in the next turn it will break through the flimsy cordon of 400 AV that I managed to scrape together to slow it down. The chase is on. Where will it go next?

Will upload some screenshots when I have time.

May 30, 1942

Two Japanese Infantry Brigades and a tank regiment stand facing a horde of 52 Chinese units and are outnumbered more than 10 to 1 in both men and guns. To make matters worse, supply is an issue. The odds look grim. Today the Imperial Japanese Army can count on two things: The Japanese Army Air Force and competent officers with nerves of steel.

Sure enough, more than a hundred Sally bombers fly in and drop sticks of bombs on the massing Chinese Army on the plain below, and the Japanese officers wave their Katanas and urge their men to stand firm as wave after wave of Chinese troops charge in with fixed bayonets. At the end of the day, the Japanese are exhausted but still standing their ground. Will they hold tomorrow?

Supply is not an issue, at least for food. Look at all of that fresh meat. [;)]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Supply is not an issue, at least for food. Look at all of that fresh meat. [;)]

If they even have time to eat, I expect another Chinese human wave next turn.....

May 31, 1942

North Pacific

Yamato enters the scene! The behemoth and 6 other battleships plaster Umnak Island to soften up the defenders in anticipation of the incoming landings. 7 Buffalo fighters are destroyed on the ground as well as dozens of squads/devices. A less powerful cruiser force hits Cold Bay further to the east but inflicts significantly less damage.

Ceylon

The Japanese run the 6inch gun gauntlet as they come in to land at Trincomalee. Significant losses are sustained in the landing with an AP and an AK outright lost with another one surely to go next turn. Half a dozen Allied submarines from Colombo are also converging on the landing forces despite the best ASW efforts from the MKB's air wings. Nevertheless, the 2nd Division is now firmly ashore and will attempt to take the base tomorrow.

Northern Australia

Having eliminated the previous house rule on strategic bombing, I send 44 Nell bombers to hit the resources at Corunna Downs but no hits are registered despite fairly good conditions. I presume it's harder to hit resources than industry?

Philippines

A Japanese attack on the garrison at Clark knocks forts down to 0. Not long here now, hopefully.

China

The Chinese army attacks again near Sian and this time the small Japanese force opposing them is too exhausted to repel them and is thrown back with very heavy losses. That is too bad, as a Japanese division was only a mile away from reaching them. I have assembled a large Japanese army of my own at Sian with about 3,500 AV and will be shock attacking across the river into the disorganized Chinese force to hopefully send them reeling back and get my revenge.

June 1, 1942

Submarines

One of Andy’s Gato class submarines pokes its nose into Singapore but I had previously mined the port and it got egg on its face. The combat report lists the submarine as heavily damaged so I am hoping it sinks on its way back home.

India

Madras and Cawnpore fall to the Empire.

Ceylon

Frustration and flashbacks to bloody Pago Pago abound! The 2nd Division attacks but gets a truly terrible roll, thereby missing the seizure of Trincomalee by a measly few points. This is a notable setback here since I needed to secure this base to allow follow-on forces to land and Andy is rushing reinforcements to the beachhead and the division is now too tired to attack before they get there. I don’t think this alters the outcome of Morning Mist as I can prevent any Allied reinforcements from arriving on the Island but it will require time to prep the follow-on units for the landing.

Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I was surprised to see that Evoken/Andy had not evacuated any units from Ceylon despite the long armistice. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it means more units are there to be trapped and destroyed. This is just going to take longer than I thought.

Can someone please let me know what level of prep is in general required to avoid massive disruption? I have no previous experience with this so are we talking a need for a minimum of 90-100%? Does a 70% prep completely cripple a division or does it just need some rest after landing? I am sure die rolls are involved in this but just a ballpark estimate that I can work with would be highly appreciated.

State of the Empire

The mauling of the two infantry brigades in China ramped up my Army losses quite a bit. I should get Andy back for that soon though. The Allied sortie rates have dramatically declined over the last few game days as the Allies reorganize their squadrons.

Yeah after amphibious bonus is gone operations get really rough for Japan , you gotta try to get to 100 otherwise you gonna cripple the landing force

ORIGINAL: Evoken

Yeah after amphibious bonus is gone operations get really rough for Japan , you gotta try to get to 100 otherwise you gonna cripple the landing force

Reduces my options but I guess it's also something that will bedevil the Allies soon enough so can't really complain.

June 2, 1942

Eastern Pacific

While on a mission to strike American shipping traffic near the West Coast, the Kido Butai was foiled by a picket line of xAKLs that Andy appears to have set up for early warning. Too bad.

Ceylon

B-17 and Hudson bombers harass the 2nd Division that is still stuck on its beachhead at Trincomalee. With both plan A (the paratrooper drop) and plan B (a forced landing by a prepared division) having been foiled, I am hard pressed to find a way to get more troops ashore in a more expedited manner. Could Operation Morning Mist be in danger of being the first real Japanese failure?

June 3, 1942

Philippines

Half a dozen or so American subs are suddenly picked up by our ASW air around Bataan. Looks like Andy is trying to bring in some supplies here. Luckily, I have a crack ASW IJAAF unit equipped with Ann light bombers on duty there. Hopefully a sub or two will be knocked out.

Northern Australia

Japanese forces take Nookanbah.

June 4, 1942

North Pacific

Operation Jagged Peaks officially begins with the landing of the Japanese 17th Division and the 78th and 90th Infantry Regiments on Umnak Island. The Japanese troops find two American infantry regiments, a combat engineer battalion, and three base force/engineer units there.

Ceylon

I dispatch a bombardment task force composed of the battleships Haruna and Kongo, three heavy cruisers, and destroyer escorts to bombard Colombo and put an end to the bomber sorties staging out of there. On its way in, the Japanese task force encounters two British destroyers and sinks DD Fortune. It then proceeds to do good damage to the Colombo airfield, damaging many bombers and destroying two Hudsons and B-17E on the ground. Unfortunately CS Chiyoda hits a mine, but the damage is relatively minor.

June 5, 1942

Submarines

Dutch sub SS KXII slips past the ASW air and destroyer escorts and puts a torpedo into CV Junyo. I am grateful the damage is fairly minor with less than 10 points of flooding.

Ceylon

Air recon, now up and running from Madras, notes that Koggala on the southern end of Ceylon is empty of Allied forces. Seizure of this base would provide me with the critical opening to land follow-on forces and take the island. I land the closest forces I have at hand (a base unit with some infantry squads) there and hope they occupy it before Andy rails troops in.

Philippines

At long last, Clark falls to the Empire. Japanese forces will rest and then pursue the American and Filipino forces into Bataan.

xAKls as a picket line? [&:] I thought that was what the Tuna Boats were for!

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

xAKls as a picket line? [&:] I thought that was what the Tuna Boats were for!

Maybe he used both!

June 6, 1942

North Pacific

The Yamato led battleship task force once again pulverizes the Allied troops on Umnak Island. Those 46cm guns are quite something.

Ceylon

Koggala is taken by the base forces, and troops transports carrying the 5th Division are moving at full speed towards the base. Other troops are getting ready to sail to the island as well. Finally a way forward in Ceylon!

India

Hurricane and P-40E fighter strafe and bomb Japanese troop columns advancing towards Bombay. Goa is taken by a Japanese tank regiment.

June 7, 1942

North Pacific

Andy sends a large squadron of 13 PT boats to interfere with my landing operations at Umnak. One of the PT boats manages to make it through to hit an AK with a torpedo before it is sunk, but the rest escape after launching their torpedoes without hitting anything.

Luckily, the Japanese troops have already offloaded. There is still some supply left to drop off but there is enough ashore so I will pull back the cargo ships for now.

India

Ki-45 Nicks see their first action when they tangle with Hurricane and P-40E fighters over advancing Japanese troops in India. A couple of Nicks are lost for a few Allied fighters shot down.

Ceylon

5th Division troops begin landing on Ceylon.

June 8, 1942

North Pacific

I surged some surface task forces to deal with the American PT boat threat around Umnak. I needed to clear these waters to allow for safe bombardments of the island that will aid my attempt to take it. In a series of running battles during the night and day, all twelve remaining PT boats are sunk for the loss of one Japanese DM.

Speaking of naval bombardments, Umnak Island is hit twice this turn, once by cruisers and the other time by the Yamato task force. The Yamato group’s fire in particular is crushing, wiping out an engineer unit and destroying more than a hundred squads/devices. This is followed up by a deliberate attack that knocks the forts down from four to three. I will take advantage of the defender's dazed state to keep attacking every turn.

Ceylon

Andy likes to keep some nimble destroyers and submarines around Trincomalee to prevent and harass further Japanese landings there so I sent in a task force of four destroyers on a night run to do some damage. The Japanese destroyers encounter three Allied destroyers and successfully put a torpedo and some shells into DD Nestor, which I am fairly confident will go down to battle damage.

China

While Japanese forces are busy hounding and pursuing the Chinese monster stack, another Japanese army has reached Kunming. The army attacks this turn and knocks down forts from four to three. As in Umnak, the Japanese army will maintain pressure and keep attacking.

June 9, 1942

North Pacific

A Japanese cruiser task force with a daytime bombardment mission of Umnak Island is set upon by 16 SB2U-3 dive bombers from Cold Bay. Unfortunately, this was the day that I chose to rest my Zero LRCAP so there were no Japanese fighters overhead. Heavy cruises Kinugasa and Aoba both get hit by a 1,000 lb bomb but they will be ok. CA Kinugasa is hardest hit with 30 system damage. Despite the damage the cruiser task force gamely shells Umnak and the day's deliberate attack takes down forts once more, this time to two.

Surprise! Andy lands a big chunk of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion on Attu Island. Unluckily for him, I have this place well defended and will attempt to overwhelm the Raiders next turn.

Northern Australia

For the last several turns I have been bombing the resources at Corunna Downs with very high DL, good conditions, and at low altitude with no opposition. Not a single hit has been scored though despite using dozens of bombers. Are resources impossible to hit or just very difficult to target?