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Where are all of your tank rgts located?

I realize you have mentioned a handful, I just dont know how many you get to start with without opening up the game file.

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

Where are all of your tank rgts located?

I realize you have mentioned a handful, I just dont know how many you get to start with without opening up the game file.

Most are still in Manchukuo. We have a HR that prevents units from crossing into China without paying PPs, so they'll be there for quite some time yet.

The 14th Army has two. Both of those are at Clark.

The 15th Army doesn't have any.

The 16th Army has two. Both of those are at Watampone. They will be following the 146th Rgt on its way to Makassar.

The 25th Army has three. Two are in Sumatra (one heading to Oosthaven from Palembang and the other heading to Benkoelen from Palembang). They are both being followed by a Yokosuka SNLF (the 2nd is following one, the 4th is following the other). The third is at Alor Star with the Imperial Gds Division on its way to help the 55th and 56th Rgts in their fight with the 6th and 15th Indian Bdes one hex south of Alor Star.

The rest (3 or 4) are operating with some infantry in the clear plains of central China.

Dec 23rd 1941

Palembang

Finished sweeping the harbor of mines and formed a couple of ASW TFs to keep his subs in the area in check.

KB

Still hanging out providing CAP for the transports unloading supply at Wake.

Burma

The 112th Rgt reached the hex SE of Moulmein.

Malaya

The 21st Rgt is being airlifted to Kluong from Palembang.

The 55th and 56th Rgts and the 18th Mtn Gun Rgt performed another attack against the 6th and 15th Indian Brigades one hex SE of Alor Star. This time the odds were only 1:1 but again brought about a slightly favorable casualty ratio. Maybe this isn’t going to be such a grind afterall.

A sweep of Singapore by 11 Oscars only resulted in my planes burning gas. The AVG either wasn’t there, or just didn’t want to play. Recon of Batavia showed over 50 fighters, so I assumed they transferred there from Singapore.

An allied unit marched into Batu Pahat. I only have a small detachment of the 1st Yokosuka SNLF there. I will airlift it out with the Mavis transports I have at Soc Trang.

Singkawang

The airfield is 97% of the way to level 5. Next turn, it should be level 5.

I had a feeling Bill was going to move the AVG to Batavia or Merak, so I didn’t sweep Batavia again with the small Yamada detachment. Nine Zeros vs 60+ H81-A3s doesn’t sound very nice to me.

Philippines

The 4th, 21st and 33rd Divisions arrived at Manila and joined the 9th and 20th Rgts and the 16th Eng Rgt already there. The 4th Division will march to Clark and join the 14th Army units laying siege. Once they arrive, I will do some bombardment and ground attacks, then a deliberate attack. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but we’ll see what happens.

The other units in Manila would bring the stacking value over the max allowed - that’s why I’m not moving them to Clark right now. I’m not sure whether or not I should bring these guys along as well to boost the combat odds (and just deal with the added disruption and supply consumption). What do you guys think?

My mixed bag of bombers from Takao and San Fernando finally flew against Clark today and caused moderate damage.

Dumanquilas fell to the row boat corps.

This leaves only Butuan, Surigao, Malaybalay and Zamboanga left to take on Mindanao. The 1st Kure SNLF is marching to take Butuan. I think I will paradrop a small detachment of the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF from Jolo to Surigao. Zamboanga has some resources and light industry, so I can’t very well starve them out. The 2nd Kure SNLF arrived at Cotobato. Maybe I’ll get some transports over there to pick up the 2nd Kure SNLF and take them to Zamboanga. As for Malaybalay, I think I’ll just let it rot and use it as a training ground for my IJA rookie bomber pilots.

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts continue on their way to Makassar.

The Koepang invasion TF is one hex east of Lomblen. Tomorrow it should arrive at Koepang. It is escorted by two SCTFs and two CV TFs (Kaga and Ryujo in one and Zuiho and Hosho in the other).

Allied B-17s

None showed up again today.

Central Pacific

Transports at Wake are still unloading extra supply.

Regarding over stacking. I posted a thread in the tech support forum about over stacking in China and asked if there were penalties other than supplies. There is no disadvantage to over stacking other than the increased supply usage (which is a substantial concern). I can tell you if he is near the stacking limit at Clark and has built any forts, it will be very difficult to move him until he has supply issue. I would just plan to rotate units in and out of the battle and not really expect much until you start seeing a (-) supply in the results. I would airfield attack and hope for supply hits and prevent forts. Once he stops repairing damage daily, then mix in some ground attacks if you want. On large numbers of units, ground attack is fairly worthless. The occasional deliberate attack will burn his supplies as well but should not really be done until after a long air campaign.

Make sure your blockade is tight on the southern side of Luzon. Post pickets (a CL plus 3 or 4 DDs make a great blockade TF). Make sure you have enough ships around if one TF runs low on ammo there is another to take its place. Make sure you fly at least some naval search to catch any small freighters trying to deliver supplies.

Make sure you bomb Bataan some as well to prevent fort building and such. Starting that early will often help shorten the campaign.

Wa

Also, it is my opinion (and only my opinion) that pure artillery units are pretty much worthless as well. Arty has been so neutered that it is only minimally effective and burns a lot of supplies. I would rather use my stacking for infantry units if possible.

Wa

Dec 24th 1941

Palembang

Not much going on here. I’m flying 70 Oscars and 20 Zeros daily at 50% CAP waiting for Bill to hit the oilfields and/or refineries, but he hasn’t shown up yet.

KB

The Wake transports are finished unloading. KB will head to Truk to refuel and take a few replacement aircraft.

Burma

The 2nd RTA Division and the 112th Rgt are marching toward Moulmein. Just about daily, Bill sends some Blenheims to perform ground attacks on these guys. Very little damage or disruption occurs, but the attacks often knock them to combat mode from move mode significantly slowing their advance.
I swept Port Blair with some Oscars at Victoria Point. Nothing rose up to intercept them. Recon shows nothing at the airfield and only a single unit present. It looks like Bill hasn’t reinforced it yet. I’m thinking of doing a paradrop with the 1st Raiding Rgt (which is on transports and almost to Chumphon) and the 1st Yokosuka SNLF (currently at Soc Trang). It will take me a few days to get transports and the paratroopers in position at airfields along the northern part of the Malayan peninsula.

Malaya

The 21st Rgt is just about finished being airlifted to Kluong. All that remains is a small detachment at Singkawang. Now I can get those transports out of Palembang to free up aviation support crews for the fighters stationed there.

The 55th and 56th Rgts and the 18th Mtn Gun Rgt performed another attack against the 6th and 15th Indian Brigades one hex SE of Alor Star. This time the odds were 6:1 and again brought about a slightly favorable casualty ratio.

The FMSV and 8th Indian Bdes reached Temuloh yesterday. A deliberate attack by my troops there – 11th and 41st Rgts, 5th Eng Rgt, 5th Recon Rgt and 5th FA Rgt - sent them packing back up the rail line from which they came. The 11th will pursue tomorrow. The remainder will continue heading west to the main north-south road on the peninsula.

Some Sallys from Kuantan hit the airfield at Singapore causing a bit of damage to the runway and a couple of supply dump hits.

I airlifted the Yokosuka 1st SNLF detachment out of Batu Pahat.

The 2nd and 56th Divisions are about halfway to Johore Bharu from Mersing.

Singkawang

The airfield is now level 5. I’ll keep expanding it to level 6.

Philippines

The 4th Division is on its way to Clark. The 21st, 33rd and most of the 16th Divisions are waiting at Manila. The engineers from these units are going to help bring Manila up to a level four airfield. Once this is done, I will move in aviation support and a couple squadrons of Sallys.

Since Andav pointed out above that the stacking limit penalty only chews up extra supply, I’m thinking of moving all these extra troops at Manila to Clark. It will put me at about double the stacking limit, but it just might get me 2:1 or even 3:1 odds in a deliberate attack. Would this be a bad decision?

My mixed bag of bombers from Takao and San Fernando hit Bataan and Clark airfields again causing moderate damage. Recon shows Clark is at 57% damage.

A detachment of the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF was paradropped onto Surigao and took the base.
I have a bunch of engineers and aviation support units at Cotabato. They really aren’t doing much, so I’ll march them to Davao where they will load onto transports to be taken to Makassar once that base falls.
Six Petes from Digos pounded the airfield at Malaybalay creating several .5 cm-deep craters from the 30 kg bombs they dropped. I’m sure they infused some fear into the hearts of the allied garrison! I’ll transfer a few Nells that are still left in Takao to Cagayan to commence a more serious bombing campaign here.

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts continue on their way to Makassar. Right now, they’re in the hex to the NE of the base and 40 miles out. Since the 146th is in move mode along a secondary road, I’m figuring on a three or four day march.

The Koepang invasion TF reached Koepang. Tomorrow it will start unloading.

Allied B-17s

None showed up again today.

Central Pacific

Nothing much going on.

Java

The TF carrying the 38th Division is one hex NE of Cam Ranh Bay. Next turn, I will merge it with the TF carrying the 121st Mixed Bde already there. From there, I will move these guys to the Singkawang area and see if any bases along the northern coast of Java look to be viable landing sites.

Since Andav pointed out above that the stacking limit penalty only chews up extra supply, I’m thinking of moving all these extra troops at Manila to Clark. It will put me at about double the stacking limit, but it just might get me 2:1 or even 3:1 odds in a deliberate attack. Would this be a bad decision?

I think you would do just as well getting a 1:2 or 1:3 and not over stacking as long as you have engineers to help knock down forts (hopefully). Either way I think you are gonna get mauled the first few attacks if the Allies still have supplies.

You might look at this thread to see my experience attacking some Chinese units. It has screen shots of supply levels and such plus witpqs was nice enough to post the units involved so you can see both sides. I think your result if you over stack will be very similar. I know you have a time line but bombing the crap out of them for a while combined with some low odds assaults will wear them down just as quickly as if you do one big one and then have to wait for a couple of months for your units to recover. All of this is of course just my opinion.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3074000


Wa

Andav,

I think that's good advice. I'll bomb Clark like crazy, deliberate attack with the troops there, move those troops out while rotating in the 16th, 21st and 33rd Divisions, rotate those troops out and repeat. This way, his troops won't get a breather while mine take turns resting and recovering.

Christmas Update:

Dec 25th 1941

Palembang

Still no strike by Bill, but I have noticed something interesting in Batavia. According to recon, there have been over 80 auxiliary aircraft stationed there. I’m assuming these are his patrols that start out in the DEI and perhaps the Philippines. I suspect he is airlifting everyone he can back to Batavia as there are over 20 units there now. Alternatively, he is going for a semi-gamey approach of using them as naval attack aircraft once the invasion of Java comes. I believe it is the former though.

A couple of Dutch subs showed up at Palembang again. My ASW TF pursued them, but scored no hits. At least the subs were kept from doing any damage.

KB

In two or three more days, KB will be at Truk to replenish.

Burma

The 2nd RTA Division is only 10 miles from Moulmein. It is in move mode and on a main road, so it should be there tomorrow.

Malaya

The 21st Rgt is entirely at Kluong. Now I can get those transports out of Singkawang and bring in some Netties.

The 55th and 56th Rgts and the 18th Mtn Gun Rgt performed another attack against the 6th and 15th Indian Brigades one hex SE of Alor Star. This time the odds were 38:1 and brought about the surrender of the 109th RAF Adv Base Force. Hopefully this means the Indian brigades are on their way out too!

The 1st Mysore Battalion and the 2/215th Bty 80th AT Gun Regiment showed up in Kluong. A deliberate attack by the 21st Rgt and the three battalions of the 124th Rgt pushed them back to Malacca with heavy losses.

The Sallys from Kuantan hit the airfield at Singapore again causing a good deal of damage to the runway and a supply dump hit.

The 2nd and 56th Divisions are only nine miles out of Johore Bharu. I hope they arrive tomorrow.

Singkawang

Zeros from Singkawang swept Batavia and shot down one B-339D for no loss.

Philippines

The 4th Division arrived at Clark.

Bettys and Sallys from Takao and Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan and Clark airfields again causing a good deal of damage. Recon shows Clark is at 67% damage while Bataan is at 15%. I’m keeping those engineers distracted from building forts!

The detachment of the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF that was paradropped onto Surigao was picked up and returned to Jolo where it is based. I’m not sure what I will do with this unit. Most of its initial planned work is done. I’m thinking of using it to take Melak. That way, I can march overland to Samarinda to see what’s there.

The Petes from Digos resumed ASW duties. No more airfield wrecking for these guys this turn!

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts are 27 miles away from Makassar.

The Koepang invasion TF unloaded without incident today. The four Sasebo SNLFs I unloaded will do a deliberate attack tomorrow.

Allied B-17s

Another small raid on the 13th Division.

Central Pacific

I moved a small amphibious TF to Kwajalein to load up the 24th Air Flotilla. I will move it to Truk so my Claude squadrons in the area can upgrade to Zeros.

Dec 26th 1941

Palembang

Still no strike on the oil and refineries – very puzzling, almost disconcerting.

No sub action off Palembang – for once. Bill’s had a couple of Dutch subs right off Palembang taking pot shots at anything moving into or out of the base. He hasn’t hit anything of note yet, but I’m worried it’s just a matter of time.

KB

Nine hexes NE of Truk.

Burma

The 2nd RTA Division arrived at Moulmein. The base appears to be empty.

Malaya

The 55th and 56th Rgts and the 18th Mtn Gun Rgt performed another attack against the 6th and 15th Indian Brigades one hex SE of Alor Star. This time the odds were 56:1 and brought about the surrender of one of the brigades. The Imperial Guards arrived here today. They will join in the attack tomorrow. I hope tomorrow’s attack will end this little battle once and for all.

The Sallys from Kuantan didn’t fly today.

Most of the 2nd and 56th Divisions arrived at Johore Bharu. They will perform a deliberate attack tomorrow.

A couple of Dutch subs fired some torpedoes at a couple of TFs off of the eastern coast of Malaya. I was sweating a bit as one of the targets was the Hiei. Luckily, no hits were scored.

Singkawang

A Zero sweep and a Netty raid escorted by Zeros ran into an AVG training mission. For the loss of one Zero, 3 B-339Ds and 5 H81-A3s were shot down. In addition, the Netties destroyed a Catalina on the ground and damaged 17 more while scoring quite a few hits on the airfield. Pretty good results I’d say.

Philippines

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed a ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan for 5 hits on the airfield. Recon shows Clark is at 61% damage while Bataan is at 16%. Considering that Clark’s damage dropped by 6%, his supply situation is quite good. I’m hoping to use the change in the % damage at the base to determine when I should do a ground attack. When the % doesn’t change much from turn to turn, that’s when I’ll start the ground attacks.

The Nells I brought from Takao to Cagayan put a hurting on the airfield at Malaybalay – 69 hits on the field and 9 on the supply dump.

Butuan fell to the row boat corps. Those guys have been quite active.

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts are 32 miles away from Makassar. The last turn they were only 27 miles away! I guess someone dropped their teddy bear along the side of the road and threw a hissy fit until the commander agreed to send everyone back to go get it!

Koepang fell to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 8th Sasebo SNLFs. The 8th will garrison the place while the other three will load back up and head to Java – I’m not exactly sure where yet though.

Lautem fell to the 1st Independent and Bandasan SNLFs. Timor is completely in my possession.

Allied B-17s

Another small raid on the 13th Division.

Central Pacific

The 24th Air Flotilla is on its way to Truk so I can upgrade those Claudes.

Other Stuff

LCDR Isozaki of Tainan Ku S-1 became my second ace with two kills in the raid on Batavia. He is my second ace so far and the second from the same unit. PO2 Takatsuka leads all pilots with 6 kills.

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed a ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan for 5 hits on the airfield. Recon shows Clark is at 61% damage while Bataan is at 16%. Considering that Clark’s damage dropped by 6%, his supply situation is quite good. I’m hoping to use the change in the % damage at the base to determine when I should do a ground attack. When the % doesn’t change much from turn to turn, that’s when I’ll start the ground attacks.

Keep in mind, repairing bases only requires engineers, not supplies. What you ARE doing by keeping them damaged is preventing him from building forts. Forts cannot be built until all airfield and port damage is repaired.

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed a ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan for 5 hits on the airfield. Recon shows Clark is at 61% damage while Bataan is at 16%. Considering that Clark’s damage dropped by 6%, his supply situation is quite good. I’m hoping to use the change in the % damage at the base to determine when I should do a ground attack. When the % doesn’t change much from turn to turn, that’s when I’ll start the ground attacks.

Keep in mind, repairing bases only requires engineers, not supplies. What you ARE doing by keeping them damaged is preventing him from building forts. Forts cannot be built until all airfield and port damage is repaired.

Yes, repair does not consume supply, but I thought that the rate at which the base repairs damage is a function of the amount of supply present. Well supplied bases repair fast, poorly supplied bases replay slowly. In neither case though is supply actually consumed.

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed a ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan for 5 hits on the airfield. Recon shows Clark is at 61% damage while Bataan is at 16%. Considering that Clark’s damage dropped by 6%, his supply situation is quite good. I’m hoping to use the change in the % damage at the base to determine when I should do a ground attack. When the % doesn’t change much from turn to turn, that’s when I’ll start the ground attacks.

Keep in mind, repairing bases only requires engineers, not supplies. What you ARE doing by keeping them damaged is preventing him from building forts. Forts cannot be built until all airfield and port damage is repaired.

Yes, repair does not consume supply, but I thought that the rate at which the base repairs damage is a function of the amount of supply present. Well supplied bases repair fast, poorly supplied bases replay slowly. In neither case though is supply actually consumed.

Unless it's changed in one of the new patches, this is what the manual says:

9.4.2 BASE CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR

Engineers can be used to increase the size of airfields, ports, and fortifications at bases, and
they can also be used to repair damage to airfields and ports.
Each engineering vehicle is the equivalent of five engineering squads for these purposes. Each
turn, engineers at a base automatically attempt to repair any damage existing to their bases,
repairing runways first, airfield service damage second and ports last.

Bases

The remaining engineers at a base that have not conducted repairs will, if the base has been
given the appropriate order, attempt to increase the size of the airfield and port and increase
the amount of fortifications protecting the base. This work often takes many days before a level
increase is accomplished. Engineering efforts will be split between these three items unless
you intentionally instruct the base to discontinue the construction efforts of a particular item.
At the beginning of every scenario, construction defaults to On for fortifications at all bases and
for ports and airfields with current sizes that are below their SPS values, if the Set All Facilities
To Expand At Start option is selected for the game. You must turn these off if you don’t want to
expend resources on the construction.

At the instant a base is captured from the enemy, all construction is immediately turned off.
Construction work consumes supplies, and if a base is low on supplies, construction efforts
will slow accordingly.

One supply point is consumed every twelve hours for each engineering squad (or equivalent)
that is involved in construction operations. It is very important that you realize that construction
consumes supplies, as it is often best to discontinue construction (especially expensive
construction over the SPS) rather than use up precious supplies.
Construction costs to increase an airfield or port by one increase as the current size of the
airfield or port increases (i.e. it takes longer to go from a size 6 to size 7 than from a size 5
to a size 6).

Once a port or airfield reaches its SPS, the cost of additional construction increases significantly,
You should consider halting construction or else risk consuming large quantities of supplies
for possibly little benefit. In addition to the normal costs, it takes 10 times longer than normal
to increase a current size 0 airfield with a SPS of zero to a size of 1. These size zero locations
were very unsuitable for airfields (such as Wau, which was built on the side of a mountain).
Fortification construction costs are based on the SPS of the airfield and port in the base, with
longer time required for bases with larger potential. Construction costs also increase as the
current Fortification Level increases.

Edit: Important areas bolded.

Plus you can get port or airbase supply hits, which directly destroy supply. Another good thing.

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman



Keep in mind, repairing bases only requires engineers, not supplies. What you ARE doing by keeping them damaged is preventing him from building forts. Forts cannot be built until all airfield and port damage is repaired.

Yes, repair does not consume supply, but I thought that the rate at which the base repairs damage is a function of the amount of supply present. Well supplied bases repair fast, poorly supplied bases replay slowly. In neither case though is supply actually consumed.

Unless it's changed in one of the new patches, this is what the manual says:

9.4.2 BASE CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR

Engineers can be used to increase the size of airfields, ports, and fortifications at bases, and
they can also be used to repair damage to airfields and ports.
Each engineering vehicle is the equivalent of five engineering squads for these purposes. Each
turn, engineers at a base automatically attempt to repair any damage existing to their bases,
repairing runways first, airfield service damage second and ports last.

Bases

The remaining engineers at a base that have not conducted repairs will, if the base has been
given the appropriate order, attempt to increase the size of the airfield and port and increase
the amount of fortifications protecting the base. This work often takes many days before a level
increase is accomplished. Engineering efforts will be split between these three items unless
you intentionally instruct the base to discontinue the construction efforts of a particular item.
At the beginning of every scenario, construction defaults to On for fortifications at all bases and
for ports and airfields with current sizes that are below their SPS values, if the Set All Facilities
To Expand At Start option is selected for the game. You must turn these off if you don’t want to
expend resources on the construction.

At the instant a base is captured from the enemy, all construction is immediately turned off.
Construction work consumes supplies, and if a base is low on supplies, construction efforts
will slow accordingly.

One supply point is consumed every twelve hours for each engineering squad (or equivalent)
that is involved in construction operations. It is very important that you realize that construction
consumes supplies, as it is often best to discontinue construction (especially expensive
construction over the SPS) rather than use up precious supplies.
Construction costs to increase an airfield or port by one increase as the current size of the
airfield or port increases (i.e. it takes longer to go from a size 6 to size 7 than from a size 5
to a size 6).

Once a port or airfield reaches its SPS, the cost of additional construction increases significantly,
You should consider halting construction or else risk consuming large quantities of supplies
for possibly little benefit. In addition to the normal costs, it takes 10 times longer than normal
to increase a current size 0 airfield with a SPS of zero to a size of 1. These size zero locations
were very unsuitable for airfields (such as Wau, which was built on the side of a mountain).
Fortification construction costs are based on the SPS of the airfield and port in the base, with
longer time required for bases with larger potential. Construction costs also increase as the
current Fortification Level increases.

Edit: Important areas bolded.

Nice. Thanks for the confirmation. Once I see the repair rate slow down, then I'll perform a deliberate attack.

Unless I'm gravely mistaken, repair does not equal construction. Construction can be halted or slowed by a lack of supply, whereas repairs will continue. I'm wirried that if you follow the belief that his repair rate is an indicator of supply that you may delay your attack longer than necessary. The only way to be sure he is low on supply as far as I know, is to either attack or bombard his troops with your own ground troops and see the negative supply modifier. Not that bombing him isn't a great idea or ineffective.

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman

Unless I'm gravely mistaken, repair does not equal construction. Construction can be halted or slowed by a lack of supply, whereas repairs will continue. I'm wirried that if you follow the belief that his repair rate is an indicator of supply that you may delay your attack longer than necessary. The only way to be sure he is low on supply as far as I know, is to either attack or bombard his troops with your own ground troops and see the negative supply modifier. Not that bombing him isn't a great idea or ineffective.

Unfortunately, I believe you're right.

Over in the main forum, I asked about my supply level/repair rate hypothesis and Alfred indicated that it won't work. He suggested monitoring AA effects instead.

Dec 27th 1941

Palembang

Not much to report here. The 6th Tank Regiment, 91st NG and 4th Yokosuka SNLF arrived at Benkoelen. It is unoccupied and will be taken via deliberate attack tomorrow.

The 1st Tank Rgt reached Oosthaven. Recon shows one unit here. I am assuming it is either the base force that starts the game there, or one of the Palembang garrison units that had been displaced here. In either case, the 1st Tank Rgt will perform a deliberate attack tomorrow.

KB

Nagumo finally arrived at Truk with KB. The carriers are refueling and taking on aircraft. In addition, some of them have some moderate sys and eng damage that needs some work. They will be added to the port while I wait for the 144th Rgt to load up in Saipan and head by on its way to Rabaul. KB and a SCTF built around the Nagato and Mutsu will provide cover.

Burma

The 2nd RTA Division took Moulmein.

Malaya

The Imperial Gds Div, the 14th Tank Rgt, the 55th and 56th Rgts and the 18th Mtn Gun Rgt performed a final attack against the 15th Indian Brigade one hex SE of Alor Star. This time the odds were 611:1 and brought about the surrender of the last of the allied troops. This speed bump wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I envisioned myself bogged down here for weeks wearing these Indian brigades down, but in the end it only took 5 or 6 days.

The 2nd and 56th Division elements took Johore Bharu. The 22nd Australian Bde was roughed up pretty badly before retreating to Singapore.

I am loading some of my aviation support units at Patani and Singora onto transports for the trip to Palembang. Air operations here in Malaya are going to be reduced to some close air support attacks against the enemy units now isolated mid-peninsula and airfield/ground attacks against Singapore, so they aren’t really needed that much here.

Singkawang

A Zero sweep of Batavia only burned aviation fuel. The AVG didn’t come out to play. Tomorrow, I will perform an airfield attack using about 100 Netties stationed at Singkawang. They will be escorted by about 50 Zeros. In addition, the Zeros from Palembang will sweep the place, hopefully arriving over target before the main raid so they can soften up the air defenses a bit before the bombers show up.

A couple of turns ago, I had noticed that Sambas appeared to be empty, so I marched one of the 81st NG detachments there to investigate. Sure enough it was empty, so the detachment took it today with a deliberate attack. Since Sambas was empty, it means one of two things: Bill marched the garrison through the swamp to Kuching, or he airlifted the troops out of there to Batavia. I suspect the latter as Batavia is just crawling with Catalinas (recon shows 80+ auxiliaries at the airfield). Actually, I suspect that he is airlifting everything he can into Batavia right now (recon shows 24 units there).

Philippines

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed a ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan’s airfield again. Recon shows Clark is at 63% damage while Bataan is at 11%. Clark’s damage apparently increased by 2%. I’ll chalk that up to FOW.

The Nells at Cagayan didn’t fly today. I was hoping they’d hit the troops at Malaybalay. They’ll try again tomorrow.

Legaspi fell to the row boat corps. The 16th Recon Rgt has been moving southward through Luzon taking the bases enroute. I control pretty much everything on the main two islands (Luzon and Mindanao). I’ve just got Clark, Bataan and Subic Bay on Luzon yet to take and Malaybalay and Zamboango on Mindanao.

I transported some recon units from Hengchun where they had been sitting idle to Cagayan. Here they will start getting some intel on Malaybalay and the surrounding islands between Luzon and Mindanao.

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts are 20 miles away from Makassar. The lost teddy bear was found, thereby reenergizing the troops and allowing them to make some good time today.

Partisans hit Dili. I forgot about its garrison requirement and only had part of the 8th JNAF Coy there. The 66th NG detachment that moved west to cut the supply path between Dili and Koepang will march back and serve as a temporary garrison.

Allied B-17s

Another small raid on the 13th Division.

Central Pacific

The 24th Air Flotilla continues on its way to Truk. I really can’t wait to get those Claudes upgraded to Zeros!

Other Stuff

Ten of Kaga’s Vals found a small transport TF off of Denpasar and put a ton of 60 kg bombs into two xAKs and an xAP. Apparently no troops were aboard though.

Several other small TFs were sighted SE of Java. These look to be bait for my CVs operating in the area. I’m guessing he is moving his carriers towards the south coast of Java trying to catch Kaga, Ryujo, Zuiho and Hosho. If he had sailed along the north coast of Australia to get there, he could have arrived by now, but I have had a pretty heavy naval search presence in the Timor and Arafura Seas and haven’t spotted anything yet. So, my guess is he is sailing them south of Australia and will be coming up Australia’s west coast into the SRA. In that case, he is still a solid week off yet.

Dec 28th 1941

Palembang

Oosthaven and Benkoelen fell today. Benkoelen was unoccupied. Oosthaven had a small fragment of a unit. It looks like Bill is indeed evacuating everything he can by air back to Batavia.

KB

Repairing at Truk. Soryu only has 1 Sys damage so she is being used to provide air cover while the other four CVs repair damage.

Burma

Not much going on. I’m not really planning on doing much until the 33rd Division gets here. Currently it is in Manila and marching toward Clark. Once Clark falls, I will load it back up on transports at Batangas and send it to Burma.

Malaya

The Imperial Gds Div, the 14th Tank Rgt, the 55th and 56th Rgts and the 18th Mtn Gun Rgt are on their way to Johore Bharu where they will eventually be joined by the 2nd, 5th, 18th and 56th Division elements. I will merge the 5th and 18th elements and reform the divisions. The Imperial Guards along with the 5th and 18th Divisions will then march into Singapore and perform a shock attack. Hopefully, they will be enough to allow the 2nd and 56th Division elements to march into Singapore without triggering a shock attack.

A group of 40 Sallys from Kuantan hit an AT unit at Singapore. Why they didn’t hit any juicier targets there, I don’t know. There must be some big fat infantry units there, but they hit the AT unit anyway. To make matters worse, I brought them in a bit too low (10k) and thirteen got damaged. Next time, I’ll raise them up a couple thousand feet and see if that helps.

Another group of 52 Sallys from Kota Bharu performed a ground attack at Malacca. Again, they targeted a pretty useless unit – a base force. They roughed it up pretty badly, disabling 28 non-combat squads, but I find it hard to believe there weren’t any higher-priority targets.

Singkawang

Zeros from Palembang swept Batavia and encountered no CAP. About 70 Netties from Singkawang escorted by about 30 Zeros went in and hit the airfield for 3 supply dump hits and 40 hits on the airfield. Two Catalinas were destroyed and 46 others were damaged. One Do-24K was destroyed while 10 others were damaged. One Vildebeest was destroyed and 11 others were damaged. One B-339D was destroyed while six others were damaged. Overall, it was a pretty decent strike. Recon shows the airfield at 13% damage. I’ll hit it again tomorrow.

One curious note – the AVG wasn’t around. I’m guessing he moved them to Soerabaja.

Philippines

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed another ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan’s airfield again. Recon shows Clark is at 55% damage while Bataan is at 15%.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Malaybalay for 12 hits on the airfield and 4 supply dump hits.

I’m thinking of moving the force I have at Manila (21st and 33rd Divisions, 9th and 20th Rgts and the 16th Eng Rgt) to Clark and up the assault odds. Once they get there, I’ll do a deliberate attack and then get them right back out of there to reduce the excess supply consumption. I’m thinking this might be a better approach than trying to keep below the stacking limit while rotating.

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts are 8 miles away from Makassar.

Partisans hit Dili again. I can’t get the 66th NG detachment there quick enough.

Allied B-17s

Another small raid on the 13th Division. I think he’s burning more supply sending the bombers after these guys than I am repairing the few disabled squads from the attacks.

Central Pacific

The 24th Air Flotilla continues on its way to Truk. It should be there in a day or two.

Other Stuff

Ten of Kaga’s Vals found a small transport TF off of Probolinggo sank a couple of HDMLs. More significantly, the escorting Zeros shot down a couple more B-339Ds.

Ten Vals based at Jolo found three HDMLs off of Tarakan and sank all three.

CA Houston finally showed up as being sunk. After the trouncing she took off of Ambon a couple of weeks ago, it doesn’t surprise me.

Advice sought:

I'm casually planning my eventual move into Singapore and have come up with this.

1) 5th and 18th Divisions recombine and join the Imperial Guards Division to perform the initial shock attack crossing from Johore Bahru.

2) Once that attack takes place, the 2nd and 56th Division elements that can't recombine (single regiments and artillery units) plus independent 25th and Southern Army units also in Johore Bahru move into Singapore. I'm hoping that the three lead divisions already present will negate the river crossing shock attack. I'm thinking of doing it this way because I've heard that small units are much more likely to be chewed up in these river crossing shock attacks.

3) The whole time, the 25th Army and Southern Army HQs will remain in Johore Bahru prepped for Singapore. Since they have ranges of 1 and 9 respectively, they should never even have to move into Singapore to grant their bonuses.

How does this all sound?

Just make sure you have two of them following. This will probably be enough to have a high enough ratio to let the other units cross without issue.

Wa