ALLIED ONLY: aztez (A) vs erstad (J) ...2nd ROUND

[Rob Brennan UK]

I would love to flank him here but I doubt I have enough forces. As said in previous post those 3 units are propably worth of 700-1000av infantry. With the terrain bonus I would need 2500-3000av worth of infantry to succesfully do this move. I don't see an point doing this unless I'am sure I can actually do the job.

Actually you need a heck of a lot less than that ..why ?

Consider how supply works , can trace in or out of a contested hex but not through one.

So all you really need to do is occupy the hexes feeding his big troop blocks and voila , no supply gets through. he has to kick you out of there not the other way round. Many WitP japanese agressors fail to understand this (or forget) and china can really hurt japan by doing this.

The next huge bonus to this is the downfall of anyone who has all thier eggs in one big agressive stack (aka land death star) . Land movement system works similarly to supply i.e cant move from one contested to another. Therefore he cant just pull out a few divs from sian to open his supply lines again. So unless he has more uncomitted combat units closeby he can't supply sian , you bombard it for as long as poss and when hes really suffereing attack back. end of problem in china !

I;m sure it wont be as simple as that in practise as i've crucified at least 2 japanese players in china in WitP by doing this (they upped sticks and never contacted me again sadly ) .

So unless AE has changed ground rules fundamentally this should still be possible. I was going to wait and do this vs LoBaron [:D] but i feel you could do with a potential winning plan in china [;)]... Bang goes my secret china strategy .. whoops.

Actually now that hex ownership isn't 'remembered' by the computer , split up a corps or 2 and surround sian so he has no way out(war torn batered ones will do just fine ) , all else can be thown into a wooded roadblock so he has the x3 penaly to face, not you.

Who knows , you may be on the verge of a stunning victory here , OR i just lost you the war in china .. either way its fun to watch [;)]

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

I would love to flank him here but I doubt I have enough forces. As said in previous post those 3 units are propably worth of 700-1000av infantry. With the terrain bonus I would need 2500-3000av worth of infantry to succesfully do this move. I don't see an point doing this unless I'am sure I can actually do the job.

Actually you need a heck of a lot less than that ..why ?

Consider how supply works , can trace in or out of a contested hex but not through one.

So all you really need to do is occupy the hexes feeding his big troop blocks and voila , no supply gets through. he has to kick you out of there not the other way round. Many WitP japanese agressors fail to understand this (or forget) and china can really hurt japan by doing this.

The next huge bonus to this is the downfall of anyone who has all thier eggs in one big agressive stack (aka land death star) . Land movement system works similarly to supply i.e cant move from one contested to another. Therefore he cant just pull out a few divs from sian to open his supply lines again. So unless he has more uncomitted combat units closeby he can't supply sian , you bombard it for as long as poss and when hes really suffereing attack back. end of problem in china !

I;m sure it wont be as simple as that in practise as i've crucified at least 2 japanese players in china in WitP by doing this (they upped sticks and never contacted me again sadly ) .

So unless AE has changed ground rules fundamentally this should still be possible. I was going to wait and do this vs LoBaron [:D] but i feel you could do with a potential winning plan in china [;)]... Bang goes my secret china strategy .. whoops.

Actually now that hex ownership isn't 'remembered' by the computer , split up a corps or 2 and surround sian so he has no way out(war torn batered ones will do just fine ) , all else can be thown into a wooded roadblock so he has the x3 penaly to face, not you.

Who knows , you may be on the verge of a stunning victory here , OR i just lost you the war in china .. either way its fun to watch [;)]

I'm afraid you're incorrect, at the very least concerning the movement off troops, as long as he controls the hex-side leading from Siam to the South, he will be able to bring back divisions to break up any blocking troops, I also suspect he'll be able to trace his supply through the hex as long as he controls both hexsides leading along the road.

Aztez, how good is the recon you have on those three units guarding the road ? He has an awful lot of good troops in Siam, so maybe those left are of lesser quality (Have the two units that got beaten out of Siam retreated further that you know off) ? On the other hand, you said you opponent is pretty careful, if so he won't be using Chinese units to guard important hexes. You could go and have a look with one weak corps though, if he sees the arrow going to his rear, he might just pull back some troops for extra security, if not, well Chinese troops are expendable.

[LoBaron]

Hey Rob! Please continue to hand your Evil Plans to aztez! My veteran Manchurian spy the famous Szechuan Duck has
is eyes and ears everywhere (i have been told that "Duck" is an acronym for "Dumb UnCoordinated & KIA" but i dont speak
any Manchurian dialect so this could also mean something totally different...and anyways im drifting off topic...) [:D]


The way i understand this it works like this:

Each hex has 6 sides that can be owned by a side. so in fact between two hexes there are 2(!) hexsides, one for each hex.

For the Sian situation this could mean the following imho:

Lets look at Sian and the SE hex of Sian:

Current situation:

Sian hex is contested, the hex SW of Sian belongs to Aztez, the hex SE of Sian to erstad (thats what I read from the screenshot)

Aztez owns every side of the Sian Hex besides the SE side because thats where erstad entered from (and so this side belongs to erstad).
Basically this means that Aztez could move his units anywhere EXCEPT in the SE direction as long as the Sian hex is contested.

For erstad the situation is the opposite, he only owns the SE side of the Sian hex so again, as long as the hex is contested his only valid
path out of the hex is the SE direction (thats the 82,41(?) hex i guess).

So what changes when aztez tries to outflank the Japanese by entering 82,41 from the side to cut off the supply/retreat path?

Aztez moves in from the W to cut off the troops located in Sian:

as far as i understand it following happens:
the hexside of 82,41 (or whatever the thing SE of Sian is) changes ownership to China from the direction aztez entered, in this example from east (so the W side of this hex) 
and the hex status changes from Japanes ownership to contested.

So the effect is that erstad cannot move W because this is the only side owned by aztez.
Every other direction should be possible even while the hex is contested.

Aztez on the other hand can only exit the hex through the W side again, thats the only side he owns, again, as long as the hex is contested.

The end of story is that basically by this move nothing changes for the Sian hex, erstad still owns the SE side of it and could exit there at will.

Im not totally sure i got this right but it looks sound to me and Szechuan Duck nods and smiles (...and yes i know this doesnt mean anything in
Asia...)

Supply tracing would be blocked i think but that is another story and im exhausted by all those hexes...

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

I would love to flank him here but I doubt I have enough forces. As said in previous post those 3 units are propably worth of 700-1000av infantry. With the terrain bonus I would need 2500-3000av worth of infantry to succesfully do this move. I don't see an point doing this unless I'am sure I can actually do the job.

Actually you need a heck of a lot less than that ..why ?

Consider how supply works , can trace in or out of a contested hex but not through one.

So all you really need to do is occupy the hexes feeding his big troop blocks and voila , no supply gets through. he has to kick you out of there not the other way round. Many WitP japanese agressors fail to understand this (or forget) and china can really hurt japan by doing this.

The next huge bonus to this is the downfall of anyone who has all thier eggs in one big agressive stack (aka land death star) . Land movement system works similarly to supply i.e cant move from one contested to another. Therefore he cant just pull out a few divs from sian to open his supply lines again. So unless he has more uncomitted combat units closeby he can't supply sian , you bombard it for as long as poss and when hes really suffereing attack back. end of problem in china !

I;m sure it wont be as simple as that in practise as i've crucified at least 2 japanese players in china in WitP by doing this (they upped sticks and never contacted me again sadly ) .

So unless AE has changed ground rules fundamentally this should still be possible. I was going to wait and do this vs LoBaron [:D] but i feel you could do with a potential winning plan in china [;)]... Bang goes my secret china strategy .. whoops.

Actually now that hex ownership isn't 'remembered' by the computer , split up a corps or 2 and surround sian so he has no way out(war torn batered ones will do just fine ) , all else can be thown into a wooded roadblock so he has the x3 penaly to face, not you.

Who knows , you may be on the verge of a stunning victory here , OR i just lost you the war in china .. either way its fun to watch [;)]

I'm afraid you're incorrect, at the very least concerning the movement off troops, as long as he controls the hex-side leading from Siam to the South, he will be able to bring back divisions to break up any blocking troops, I also suspect he'll be able to trace his supply through the hex as long as he controls both hexsides leading along the road.

Aztez, how good is the recon you have on those three units guarding the road ? He has an awful lot of good troops in Siam, so maybe those left are of lesser quality (Have the two units that got beaten out of Siam retreated further that you know off) ? On the other hand, you said you opponent is pretty careful, if so he won't be using Chinese units to guard important hexes. You could go and have a look with one weak corps though, if he sees the arrow going to his rear, he might just pull back some troops for extra security, if not, well Chinese troops are expendable.

Bugger !

[aztez]

Rob: I didn't know you kicked some butt in china on the classic witp! Too bad indeed that those guys forfeit the game after those moves. Another prime example why it is important to find reliable opponent.

I like the basic principle you are aiming at and I might give a whirl in minor scale at first. The more he becomes aware that the game is far from finished the better.

I think the supply paths work a bit diffrently with AE. Now you cannot cut the whole supply vacuum with an small unit but instead you need larger forces to accomplish this.

I think the stunning victory might be a bit too much but we shall indeed fight to the last men here.

I know you have more tricks on your sleeves (we all have) so don't be too modest.

Smeulders: The recon is bad. I must admit that but I will try to improve things and will move RAF recon unit into china. This unit has served its purpose near burma so it can be moved into more important sectors.

I don't know where those 2 hammered brigades are but I would assume they are out of Sian area for good.

I will do just what you suggested and 1 medium size corp unit will move into the hex 40 miles south of sian. We will soon find out what he has guarding this monster spearhead.

Yeah, he is most definately careful but maybe he is feeling the "victory disease". I doubt it but worth the shot anyway.

LoBaron: You better not get too comfortable since I know Rob has a lot of tricks in his ammo belt.

I agree those hex can make you head spin. Almost an daily feeling after hard day at work.

What I gather your analysis is quite spot on. The ZOC control system is sometimes hard to figure out but I think I will gain the hex control once I enter the hex 40 miles south of sian. To gain it back he needs to throw those chinese infantry units out.

Very good and solid analysis you made!

[aztez]

China (may 16th - 17th 1942)

The second assault came in may 16th. Another massive ground battle which the chinese were able repulse.

Yet again we disabled a lot of units. I wonder how much time it take to gain full strenght with japan? It is deffinately slow going with the chinese infantry units.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 170773 troops, 1309 guns, 498 vehicles, Assault Value = 4744

Defending force 126324 troops, 924 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3278

Japanese adjusted assault: 1121

Allied adjusted defense: 3051

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker: disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
16343 casualties reported
Squads: 80 destroyed, 829 disabled
Non Combat: 72 destroyed, 733 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 118 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 85 (1 destroyed, 84 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
14378 casualties reported
Squads: 150 destroyed, 464 disabled
Non Combat: 506 destroyed, 558 disabled
Engineers: 28 destroyed, 26 disabled
Guns lost 38 (26 destroyed, 12 disabled)


Now with these two battles here both sides have lost around 40 000 men either destroyed/disabled. That is one bloody affair we got ongoing here.

Japanese are supporting this advance heavily with their lba bombers/fighters. Last turn alone there were +150 bombers in total assaulting the city. Needless to say AVG cannot handle such an force.

He seems to be moving more units into Ankang road. Two more enemy units appeared there last turn.

In further south those two enemy brigades have now withdrawn into Nanning. I guess he saw any further advance as an hopeless affair.

[aztez]

The Pacific (may 16th - 17th 1942)


This is the detailed view that show main events from the last turn of action.

[seydlitz_slith]

The KB has probably gone to Truk or Japan to replenish. He flew a lot of sorties during his last series of landings.

If he takes Fiji then New Zealand would be a perfectly logical target for him. With NZ and Noumea He can base Nells and Betties with Zero escorts that can essentially control all sea access to Australia from the east. With all of the small islands in his hands he forces the allies to use carriers against his land based forces. That would be a gamble that he would be willing to take most likely through all of 1942 and well into 1943.

I am watching developments around Sian closely.

We need to figure out a way to attrition his supply path. If you look at rules section 8.3.1 Overland Movement, the table tells the supply cost per hex. Rules Section 15.3 Ground Unit Supply tells you that he must be able to generate a positive supply number for a unit to be supplied. If I remember correctly, the formula is 100 minus the supply cost of each hex in the supply chain back to the base providing the supply. He can't trace supply through an enemy held or enemy contested hex.

The Rough+Wood hexes between Sian and Nanyang or Loyang cost 20 each if he can not trace using the road. Of course with the road they cost only 3. The trick would be to find a way to deny the road since even if he is able to trace supply I believe that the amount of supply is reduced by the amount of the cost. I don't know if the is is 1 to one or a fraction, but if forcing him to trace supply through two or three hexes of rough woods cuts his supply in half then it would really help. We need to figure out how to make that happen. I don't have the answer yet. Maybe someone else will.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: aztez

Rob: I didn't know you kicked some butt in china on the classic witp! Too bad indeed that those guys forfeit the game after those moves. Another prime example why it is important to find reliable opponent.

I like the basic principle you are aiming at and I might give a whirl in minor scale at first. The more he becomes aware that the game is far from finished the better.

I think the supply paths work a bit diffrently with AE. Now you cannot cut the whole supply vacuum with an small unit but instead you need larger forces to accomplish this.

I think the stunning victory might be a bit too much but we shall indeed fight to the last men here.

I know you have more tricks on your sleeves (we all have) so don't be too modest.

Smeulders: The recon is bad. I must admit that but I will try to improve things and will move RAF recon unit into china. This unit has served its purpose near burma so it can be moved into more important sectors.

I don't know where those 2 hammered brigades are but I would assume they are out of Sian area for good.

I will do just what you suggested and 1 medium size corp unit will move into the hex 40 miles south of sian. We will soon find out what he has guarding this monster spearhead.

Yeah, he is most definately careful but maybe he is feeling the "victory disease". I doubt it but worth the shot anyway.

LoBaron: You better not get too comfortable since I know Rob has a lot of tricks in his ammo belt.

I agree those hex can make you head spin. Almost an daily feeling after hard day at work.

What I gather your analysis is quite spot on. The ZOC control system is sometimes hard to figure out but I think I will gain the hex control once I enter the hex 40 miles south of sian. To gain it back he needs to throw those chinese infantry units out.

Very good and solid analysis you made!

Aztez no worries. Im far from comfortable.

I have seen enough of Rob´s posts, situational analysis and creativity that im currently rather expecting to get my a** handed on a plate when playing against him. [:D]
Theres always hope though and whichever way it goes im expecting quite fun times ahead.

[Rob Brennan UK]

LoBaron - Don't overestimate my ability , Read LittleJoes and my AAR back in the Witp Forums, we carried on till autumn/fall 44 but ditched the AAR earlier as the game slowed to a trickle. You may well learn something and i hope you enjoy the read if you decide to do so.

Seydlitz

We need to figure out a way to attrition his supply path. If you look at rules section 8.3.1 Overland Movement, the table tells the supply cost per hex. Rules Section 15.3 Ground Unit Supply tells you that he must be able to generate a positive supply number for a unit to be supplied. If I remember correctly, the formula is 100 minus the supply cost of each hex in the supply chain back to the base providing the supply. He can't trace supply through an enemy held or enemy contested hex.

Maybe my initial ex-secret plan would work then by forcing his supply through the wooded areas and small chinese spoiling forces could easily block them if needed.

Aztez

You better not get too comfortable since I know Rob has a lot of tricks in his ammo belt.

My belts widening fast at my age .. both realistically and metaphorically [:D].. Also regarding opponents i couldnt agree more , although i would happily accept a game stop if one side or the other really isnt enjoying it. after all its a game and therefore supposedly enjoyable to both parties.

Actually that was my one and only main land combat trick , used it as both allies and japan to divide and conquer mainly in china(allies) and the PI (as japan). I usually make up my plans as i go along to be honest, so you could say im a flexible rather than a good planner . Both attributes are beneficial but to be the best (Nemo/PzB etc.) you have to be both and imo thats a born instinct.


Also Aztez , another thing to start considering is AK conversions .. its a freaking pain to find the right ships (i cycle through those disbanded in SF) as you can now get some much needed AKE's and iirc some DD's change to DE's ..(DD-DE also some british DD's do this and im convinced its a good move as they keep the same speed , so no slow 19kt DE's in AE) AK to AG seems pointless and AKx to APx adds very little pasenger space for a large chunk of cargo room, so its not a no brainer conversion by any means.

[aztez]

seydlitz: The Truk is most propably correct guess since he is definately not leaving the southern pacific just yet.

I would like to airmine the Truk are but I don't have any suitable aircraft to do so.

Yeah. That would make sense allthough I looked up in the north and noticed few potential targets if he chooses to keep his forces far down in the south. He has been very modest and careful with the Betty bombers so far. Few raids which all ended up in disasters for him and haven't seen them action since. If you take out china ofcourse.

As for southern pacific I got very intresting intel last turn. It was an quiet turn but allied signit revealed quite a lot. More on that on the pacific map pic. (see below)

First I must admit and thank for your ideas regarding ground battles in china. Eventhough I'am still suffering so are his troops too. The concept you put up in the crisis situation was dearly needed. The most obvious evidence came last turn when my intel showed 11 units outside Sian. These must be those hammered units. He still has 37 units at Sian but that is far less than +50.

Also thankful that we agreed few more HR here swiftly after both thought there was something wrong.

I know the supply is key there and what you said above is absolute truth. Unfortunately I don't see how to make that happen. I do not have supplies nor troops to pull that off even if I think it would make a lot of diffrence. Dave is still simply too strong and I doubt he has the same problems I'am facing.

I'am very impressed on your Russian adventure. It is going forward and will pay in dividens if your opponent cannot stop and to be honest he will have hard time in that game. Excellent AAR in many ways.

LoBaron: You don't need to be modest. The comments you have made here show how capable "emperor" you are and I have doubt that the game you two are about to enter shall be very intresting one.

Rob: The little joe AAR is definately good read too bad it never saw the 1945's and 1946's. You were pushing hard when it ended.

The "belt"! I could say the same but I always contest that I'am still 24! So, I cannot admit to anything just yet.

That is true. It needs to enjoyable for both. The 1st encounter vs Dave was very much depressing affair a longtime. The Wake island battle turned it around in 1944. You must have respect to your opponent and keep in mind that PBEM games needs both participants. Dave already asked if I was enjoying the game. That shows character and also stated that if that situation changes than we need to look for solutions to fix that problem.

I agree all what you said but you forgot the luck part. If you get lucky once or twice it really can change the rhythm of the game. I have learned a lot from the oldtimers in these boards and this AAR/Thread has already shown that even if you think you are solid player than think again. At least to me this has become quite obvious after these good views/debates.

To be honest I have been so busy jumping around the hoops to prevent disaster after disaster that I haven't even started looking at those conversions. Now that you said it this must be done soon. I have a lot of xAK and xAP ships sailing towards west coast from Oz and India. Once these arrives than it is time to really think things through. At the moment I'am just shipping troops/aircraft/supplies into frontlines with any ship available.

[aztez]

Pacific (may 18th - 19th 1942)


Another quiet turn but that really didn't sum up as uneventful.

The most intresting fact was that our spies/recon revealed that there will invasion attempt launched if not already in motion. (see map below)

[jrlans]

Hmm so looks like NZ is the next big target. The real question is will Dave just let Fiji rot knowing that supplies will be almost imposible to get there or do you expect a major attack there?

Personaly i still dont see the gain from hitting NZ, after the allied push back thru SoPac it becomes isolated and irrelivant. Any troops left staitioned there would be as good as lost not to mention it pushes his immediate supply lines even further burning more fuel and using up more shipping that would otherwise be devoted to fueling the war industry. The only thing that makes sense to me would be a conquer and abandon strategy, just to score points and eliminate the units on the islands.

That being said, if he does attack NZ it may provide you with an opportunity to sink some jucy merchant targets. If you can get some decently long legged TBs you could base them so that you could hit the beach he unloads at and then get out before the base gets shut down. I think sinking even 15 merchants total would be a win for you.

Edit: I realy am not sure as to the ranges between Aus and NZ as NZ is hardly ever threatened in any of my games. So if you cant get a planes that can transfer between the two then disregard my idea about hitting his convoys cause its obviously not worth lossing the squdns

[Yamato_Blitzer]

Seydlitz makes a point about capturing NZ and stationing LB's in the area. But I still think it's folly and I have to agree with jrlans. In the end and considering that you'll soon field a strong naval and amphib force it seems like a really pointless exercise by Dave. An unnecessary and senseless expenditure. By the time he takes NZ it'll be to late to exploit the gains and advantages of it. It'll sync up with the entering of strong Allied forces from the U.S. he's better off going directly for OZ.

[bklooste]

With such huge stacks in XIan and decent forces in the South of China he must be weak in other parts of China . What about Wuchang , IChang and Nanchang ? Hangkow and places like that are probably empty so if you can crack him at a place he left weak he is wide open.
The best way is to surround these places as he is likely to only have a single unit once cut off he will be forced to send other units. DO this at a number of cities and his spear heads will be weakened a lot.


Note while numbers may be ok the quality will be much lower ( eg few guns) , he has his decent units at the front ( or sent them overseas) and half the Japanese units in China are bad.

[Q-Ball]

Taking New Zealand was much more appealing in WITP than it is in AE.

In WITP, taking New Zealand, coupled with patrolling of the West map edge, cut Australia off completely. This neutralized Australia as an offensive platform.

In AE, it's still a problem for the Allies, but less so.

First, there are still safe lines of supplies and fuel to Australia via Capetown/Aden.

You do cut off direct moves from US West Coast, but you can still get troops and planes there the long way, it's just MUCH longer than straight accross the Pacific. But it's possible.

The Allies get extra goodies in AE, not in WITP (some extra troops I think). It's also costly for Japan in terms of fuel expenditure, which will hurt in the long run.

Still, it's a problem for the Allies, I will grant that.

[seydlitz_slith]

I do agree with Q Ball. NZ looks good to a Japanese player in 1942 as they usually have victory fever and forsee only the ways that they can make life difficult for the allies.
Usually there is an assumption that they will be able to move enough fuel and supplies down there to handle expected needs. However, by late 1943 and into 1944 it becomes painfully clear that Japan doesn't have the fuel to support operations south of Guadalcanal. Of course, that in no way prevents him from taking NZ anyways. In fact, if I was as flush with victory fever as he must be after taking all of that territory I certainly would go after NZ as a next logical target.

BTW, here is another ground combat tip for you that you may already know. If you get a stack of units locked into combat in a hex and the odds were in your favor or about even but as a result of the combat you have some units with high disruption, then you can put some (no more than about 20%) of your units into reserve (no pursuit) and they will recover from the disruption much faster. Your enemy can't see when you do this so as long as you leave enough units in combat mode this is a fairly safe gambit. Often one or two units will take the brunt of the disruption in a combat. If you set that one unit to reserve it will pull down the disruption very fast. Often I will do this one unit at a time, often leaving the artillery units to bombard, and cycle which units are in reserve over a few turns to get them all down to low disruption quickly. If you are doing this and your opponent is not doing it, you can often recover from disruption much quicker than he and launch an attack with better chances of success while he still has many units disrupted.

[aztez]

jrlans: There were more allied signit intel revealing that NZ is under real enemy threat. Units seem to be planning for Wellington as well as Auckland.

You can go around losing even if you lose southern areas. That only means he must garrison these areas and thus he has less troops available for central and northern areas.

I doubt he will just leave Fiji alone since it is not impossible to lift the "siege" if/when it becomes isolated. I think that would be an huge mistake on my books.

This would be the 1st time NZ is under threat in my games either. I checked and Oz is too far away from NZ thus it is impossible to fly in aircraft even with drop tanks in place. Maybe some bombers can get in but no fighters.

Yamato_Blitzer: I think this NZ adventure might be an "victory parade show" since he has captured quite large areas of the map already. He still has plenty off transports and naval assets available and maybe he just feels it would make an great conquest.

Really even losing NZ doesn't mean Oz will be surrounded. Not by an long shot in AE.

I'am recieving nice amount of troops within 10 days in the west coast area. I might be too weak at the moment to seriously push towards japan but the time will come when tables are turned.

bklooste: I think he has pulled a lot of units out of those areas. The problem with advancing towards them is that he has few stacks threatening my flanks if I go around and switch into offensive mode.

If you look at the map he definately has sizeable forces threatening Changhsa from two diffrent directions.

I did just fly in an recon unit into china so I should be getting better intel on these areas soon. Once these reports are in than we might consider some flanking movements.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the new railroad system is fast in AE. He can move units around in order to counter any move I make in central china. I bet he has some sort of an mobile reserve force on strategic movement command at place.

..and I have lost a lot of troops here which is taking its toll plus the supply levels are far from good either.

Q-Ball: Agreed. Losing NZ in classic witp meant total disaster for in the Oz. I read few AAR's where it was lost and it wasn't pretty after that.

The off map bases in AE guarantee that Oz cannot be isolated and that is historically correct.

Only benefit to me seems to be the fact he can cut off NZ reinforcements from arriving unless ofcourse they show up in Oz if new zealand is lost. I do not know the answer for this.

Be as it may it really seems Dave has set his focus on the NZ adventure.

Nice going btw on your allied allied AAR. I think you are putting up an good fight vs Cuttlefish.

seydlitz: I think Dave has calculated his fuel consuption for 43's and 44's so he must feel that this kind of operation id doable.

I have actually flown some recon on the capture SRA/ABDA and it seems most of the bases that were captured had industrial assets intact. That is weird to notice or my intel is completely wrong.

As for the analysis on an whole I think you are spot on. He has the "victory fewer" but I wonder when does he think he needs to start preparing for his defenses! I mean surely he must do that in order prepare himself for later years.

Actually I wasn't aware on how the reserve mode actually does work! So, that is an nice hint indeed. I haven't used the reserve button much at all. I will give it a whirl to see what kind of an impact it can make.

We had anohter ground engament at Sian last turn. Again big losses for both sides. One thing that could be golden is to figure out how to speed up disabled units recovery. That could make an big diffrence here.

[aztez]

China (may 20th - 21st 1942)


The battle at Sian rages on. Last turn saw the enemy make 3rd assault againts our troops defending Sian.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 148572 troops, 1202 guns, 246 vehicles, Assault Value = 4381

Defending force 107626 troops, 747 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2772

Japanese adjusted assault: 1958

Allied adjusted defense: 2391

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
7358 casualties reported
Squads: 30 destroyed, 666 disabled
Non Combat: 36 destroyed, 826 disabled
Engineers: 24 destroyed, 51 disabled
Vehicles lost 27 (1 destroyed, 26 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
6579 casualties reported
Squads: 204 destroyed, 216 disabled
Non Combat: 439 destroyed, 365 disabled
Engineers: 40 destroyed, 17 disabled
Guns lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Assaulting units:
35th Division
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
59th Division
7th Ind.Mixed Brigade
6th RGC Division
3rd/A Division
69th Division
15th/A Division
110th Division
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade
41st Division
3rd/C Division
12th Tank Regiment
26th Recon Regiment
37th Division
15th/B Division
13th Indpt Infantry Regiment
28th Engineer Regiment
6th Division
3rd/B Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
8th NCPC Infantry Brigade
12th Indpt Infantry Regiment
26th Engineer Regiment
9th Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th RGC Temp. Division
11th Indpt Infantry Regiment
15th/C Division
North China Area Army
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
95th Chinese/C Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
30th Chinese/A Corps
78th Chinese Corps
57th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese/C Corps
48th Chinese Corps
85th Chinese Corps
30th Chinese/B Corps
76th Chinese Corps
13th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
95th Chinese/B Corps
3rd Prov Chinese Corps
14th Chinese Corps
42nd Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
63rd Chinese/A Corps
61st Chinese Corps
29th Chinese Corps
60th Chinese/A Corps
34th Group Army
10th Chinese Base Force
2nd Group Army
4th Chinese Base Force
1st Construction Regiment
15th Chinese Base Force
31st Group Army
3rd Group Army
4th Group Army
15th Group Army
Red Chinese Army
18th Group Army
39th Group Army
7th Group Army
2nd Construction Regiment
2nd War Area
4th Construction Regiment

...now we are nearing for 50 000 casualties reported for both sides. I know FOW can play an role here but it most certainly has been bloody affair.

He has kept sweeping and bombing Sian via his airforce. This cannot be stopped since he several airbases around this region. AVG will be overwhelmed soon enough. There really isn't much help coming chinese airforce either since I receive 1 fighter as replacement per day. That is not much.

Otherwise the china theatre was peaceful. There were no other ground engaments only few airstrikes in the south and changhsa region.

[aztez]

The Pacific (may 20th - 21st 1942)