What was I thinking?

[Mike McCreery]

The ugly...

In haste I decided to take the bases on the north and east side of Dutch New Guinea. I did not need to take them early and I was arrogant so the Allies sailed up the coast and netted themselves 6 ships. On the bright side, I was busy putting the empty ships in port so another handful were not assaulted.

No troops were lost, just ships and supplies.

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[Mike McCreery]

The Good

The allies decided to strat move 2 Phillipine divisions to Naga to repel invasions. I did an amphibious assault on the base and dropped a large force. Once that was done I used my air troops to paradrop into Atimonan to cut off any reinforcements.

The first assault eliminated the 2 divisions.

This is the first play of the game where my opponent did something risky that did not pay off so I feel pretty good about it. Also, 2 less divisions to fight at Clark Field.

[RangerJoe]

The Good

The allies decided to strat move 2 Phillipine divisions to Naga to repel invasions. I did an amphibious assault on the base and dropped a large force. Once that was done I used my air troops to paradrop into Atimonan to cut off any reinforcements.

The first assault eliminated the 2 divisions.

This is the first play of the game where my opponent did something risky that did not pay off so I feel pretty good about it. Also, 2 less divisions to fight at Clark Field.

Very nice!

[Mike McCreery]

This is the type of fight that always bothered me when I was playing the allies because on paper the allies should have the upper hand. Better gunnery and naval tactics makes a big difference.

This is the TF that spanked me off the coast of new guinea.

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[Mike McCreery]

In a major victory Hong Kong has fallen to the Japanese forces. I believe it happened on December 16th.

On Dec 18 the Allies perform a direct attack on Ichang. I watched his troops partially encircle the base and debated back and forth whether to withdraw the troops to the southeast. Based on my poor performance in this attack when playing the allies, I decided to hold out and see what my opponent would decide to do.

I believe a better option as the allies would have been to surround the position and use that encirclement to withdraw to the southwest. As is there were equal losses on both sides. I will lose the base probably on a subsequent attack but the damage has been done and it takes supplies and time to rebuild those disabled Chinese troops.

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[Mike McCreery]

It is not looking good for the Allies in the Phillipines. 10 days into the war and the Japanese are closing in toward the capital fast.

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400+ AV of troops will strat move into Batangas tomorrow as the base just automatically fell to the Japanese

Troops at Byombong will move southwest and then northwest to try to cut off any troops left at San Fernando and then move back southwest to Iba.

[Mike McCreery]

Progress was slowed at Borneo when a warship group wiped out a naval guard unit headed for the northwest corner of the island. Another sortie will soon follow. Also captured Davao, Jolo and Sorong. More troops inbound for Mindano. The goal right now is to isolate and capture the Celebes to protect Balikpapan prior to invasion. Do not want bombers hitting the oil fields.

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[Mike McCreery]

I have been working up a spreadsheet on resource and oil production and the resulting outputs.

Looking at Japan today what I have come up with is the island has a deficit of 78,200 resources per day and a deficit of 8110 oil per day. Am I in the ballpark? Being behind nearly 80,000 resources per day seems a bit off.

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[Mike McCreery]

Dec 21, 1941

My opponent got a bit frisky in China and attempted a number of attacks. He assaulted Ichang again with much worse results although again, he can win this fight with one or two more battles but also more disablements.

The other two fights went badly as well. I dont try to attack with the Chinese troops without clear 4+ - 1 advantage as they suck.

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[Mike McCreery]

First set piece naval battle of the game. I am preparing to invade Ambon but there are allied forces arranged around the perimeter that could make the invasion painful.

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I have fantastic radar coverage but the allies also have coverage of all my fleets at 10/10

Ambon Radar.png (1.51 MiB) Viewed 312 times

[Mike McCreery]

If you cant see the pictures in the previous post it doesnt matter because absolutely nothing happened in the subsequent turn. All of the allied ships evaporated and my ambush did not result in any combat.

One of the cornerstones of this game is the buildup and the LACK of something happening at the culmination of whatever action that was planned.

[Mike McCreery]

December 23, 1941

An early Christmas present.

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[Mike McCreery]

Undeterred, my opponent continues his raid on Kuching and runs into a cruiser group. He did 12 system damage to a Cruiser but took much more.

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[Mike McCreery]

Later in the day a group of Nells make it much worse.

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[Mike McCreery]

It is Christmas in the Phillipines.

I have troops moving both north and south into Manila, they should be installed within a few days. Once I am garrisoned, forces will move north out of the city and finish off everything but Clark Field and Batan.

Davao just had troops land at Butuan and an armor unit is driving toward Cotabato.

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[Mike McCreery]

Christmas in Borneo

NW of Borneo is where the Boise and Houston went down. Balikpapan will be invaded within 3 days. I have a LOT of AA at Samarinda ready to repel any bombers nearby.

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[Mike McCreery]

New Guinea Christmas

Troops invaded Ambon last turn and the base should fall shortly. Sorong is providing strong aircraft coverage for the KB.

The minor KB's have scored some minor ships/groups around Babar/Samlauki.

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[Mike McCreery]

Malaya Christmas

Buckit Bei fell recently to amphibious forces. Southward movement is strong and I fear that I will not have the time to invade Malacca to cut off the remainder of his forces. Should take about a week to 10 days to pull off that invasion.

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[RangerJoe]

Malaya Christmas

Buckit Bei fell recently to amphibious forces. Southward movement is strong and I fear that I will not have the time to invade Malacca to cut off the remainder of his forces. Should take about a week to 10 days to pull off that invasion.

malaya christmas.png

Bring in paratroopers to capture bases on the railroad lines and roads going to Singapore. If they are on the coast or if there is an airfield there then the enemy can't move there in strategic mode.

[Mike McCreery]

New Years Eve 1941

At the end of battle tomorrow the Allies will control only 3 bases on the Phillipines. Going to consolidate forces and try to push him out of Manila.

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