Miller (J) vs Mr Kane (A)

[Lowpe]

Congratulations on a great game![&o]

Hang tough and see how long you can make it![:D]

[witpqs]

Good show!

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Miller

31st Aug 45

The final day of the month goes by with barely a whimper. The usual bombing in China and over Formosa, nothing else. Recon indicates the bulk of his fleet still appears to be at Manila. So with him still requiring just over 1900 VPs for the auto victory, I have achieved what will ultimately be a marginal deafeat[:)]


I have to admit it has been hard to find any enjoyment out of the game in the last few months. Obviously the huge continuous bombing is to be expected at this stage of the game and I can do nothing to stop it unless it is over the home islands. However Kane seems to be playing it ultra safe when really he does not need to any longer. He has even discontinued his mass sweeps of the homeland now he is only achieving 3:1 in kills rather than the previous 10:1. I have an absolute ton of a/c sitting in the homeland collecting dust and I'm starting to think I will run out of supply before they get to fly in anger again....

Great work here!

What is your supply situation now that you mention it?

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Miller

31st Aug 45

The final day of the month goes by with barely a whimper. The usual bombing in China and over Formosa, nothing else. Recon indicates the bulk of his fleet still appears to be at Manila. So with him still requiring just over 1900 VPs for the auto victory, I have achieved what will ultimately be a marginal deafeat[:)]


I have to admit it has been hard to find any enjoyment out of the game in the last few months. Obviously the huge continuous bombing is to be expected at this stage of the game and I can do nothing to stop it unless it is over the home islands. However Kane seems to be playing it ultra safe when really he does not need to any longer. He has even discontinued his mass sweeps of the homeland now he is only achieving 3:1 in kills rather than the previous 10:1. I have an absolute ton of a/c sitting in the homeland collecting dust and I'm starting to think I will run out of supply before they get to fly in anger again....

Great work here!

What is your supply situation now that you mention it?

I have about 1.5M in total. Many of the bigger home islands bases are in the yellow. I probably have enough planes in stock to last the rest of the game, but am I correct in thinking a/c and engine factories do not use supply, only HI?

[Miller]

1st-10th Sept 45

Still relatively quiet considering the date. A massed B29 raid on Harbin in Manchuria brushes aside a small CAP and catches half of my total army 2E force on the ground, destroying 150 of them. However I gain a bit of revenge the next day when I put a CAP trap over Shanghai that kills about 100 B24s.

His death star remains unmoved at Manila, surely it has to make a move soon. He still needs 1700 VP to hit the 2:1 ratio.

[Miller]

Here is the current situation in Manchuria and Eastern China:





The purple circles show the main concentrations of the Ruskies. As you can see he has rolled over all the lightly defended northern areas and is knocking on the door of most of the main bases. He has switched his B29s to bombing the troops of the surviving eastern Chinese bases, softening them up before moving in for the kill. Yenan, which has been besieged for almost 3 years is finally about to fall. Likewise Port Arthur will go in the next few days, you can see my last TK convoy there now pulling out 130k of precious fuel just before it falls.

Most of his russian bases on the south coast and to the east are very lightly defended. I tried a large para drop on the base circled as it was showing to be home of 500 a/c despite having very low numbers of troops according to recon. Unfortunately it failed but at least I have blocked the rail line and I'm considering a follow up landing on the base to the south east on the coast to cause some further disruption if possible.

[Lowpe]

A/C and Engine factories only use supply expanding and repairing.

Drawing planes into groups uses supplies.

Those are massive 4E losses. [&o]

[Miller]

A quick question. Can US aircraft fly missions from Russian bases?

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Miller

A quick question. Can US aircraft fly missions from Russian bases?

Just tried it in my AI game and I can fly from Soviet-captured bases. That is bases outside USSR territory. But cannot fly into USSR itself.

Also US can bring a land unit to the Soviet base (the one outside initial USSR territory,) and then it can switch base command using PPs

[Lowpe]

Original Soviet bases, with that country code, are prohibited.

Anything else is fair game.

[HansBolter]

Soviets can base at and fly from Allied captured bases as well, so there is a fair amount of flexibility.

[Miller]

11th-20th Sept 45

The Soviets continue to bulldoze their way across Manchuria. Port Arthur falls on the first attack (7000 v 500 AV). Large numbers of units have now arrived at Mukden, Harbin and Mutankiang with attacks no doubt imminent. Antung just over the border of NW Korea is also likely to fall within the next few days. No sign of their airforce, but lets be honest he does not need to use them.

Kane explained his lack of activity with the massed units at Manila stating he was experiencing a troop loading bug. This did not stop him sending his death star on a tour of the East China sea looking to draw airstrikes. I tried an attack with massed kamikaze units but they all went in unescorted or in small packages, costing me 250 in one day. I've stood them down to rebuild, they have been very disappointing in the game so far. He has also restarted massed sweeps of the home island, including P47s flying from Iwo Jima. He has been crafty, sweeping smaller bases one hex away from the larger ones and my bleeding CAP has been taking heavy losses (even with range set to 0 sometimes they respond). The kill ratio has been around 5:1 in his favour, only the Frank has a chance against the best Allied fighters now, the likes of the George and Sam are cannon fodder.

VP gap down to 800 for the 2:1, maybe I can hold out to the end of the month before it is reached.

[Lowpe]

Kamikazes, at least for me, are very hard to master. [:(]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Kamikazes, at least for me, are very hard to master. [:(]

Yes. They require mass to really have some effect, and then maybe the return isn't always what you'd hope even if some do hit. For me best combined with conventional strikes, en masse and with the KB providing a big cohesive punch somewhere in there. The dribs and drabs can get through but it's not easy and it takes massive losses to make it happen.

[Miller]

21st-30th Sept 45

Grim. I send the bulk of my fleet to Iwo Jima in an attempt to stop the sweeping of my bases in the HI from fighters based there. He gets wind of my approach and clears out the airfield the day before my bombardments arrive. I flatten the base but lose a DD and a few escorts to CD gunfire. However, recon shows it is operational again by the end of the month.

The big news this period was my attempt to land a punch on his DS which continued to hover in the East China sea. On the 26th I had the numbers of a/c in place and ready to try and land some decisive blows, but the weather and bad strike co-ordination shafted me. Over the course of the day I see countless small to medium sized strikes go in and impale themselves on his CAP, which was lighter than I expected (about 600 a/c), the reason for this being he had ordered an airfield attack with all his strike a/c that was escorted by 600[X(] fighters.

Despite a lot of my strike a/c failing to find a target and turning back I still manage to lose almost 700 a/c, about 100 bombers getting through to attack in severe storms (as usual) and achieve a pathetic one kami and two bomb hits on his CVs (he has learned to leave the CVEs at home as they are easy prey). The KB was in position to deliver a blow but was clouded in by the weather both morning and afternoon, typical and doubly annoying as they would have had a "free hit" without any counter strike from his CVs that would probably have been fatal. Needless to say however the weight of my attacks was enough to spook Kane and he has withdrawn the DS back towards Formosa for the time being. But the points gained by him that turn led to this:

[Miller]

The only other area of concern now is Manchuria and eastern China.





The purple circles show where all his main concentrations of Russian troops are now. Peiping in eastern China and Tientsin to the south have stout garrisons and will be tough nuts to crack. In Manchuria, Mukden, Changchun and Harbin all have around 1000 AV but are facing four or five times that amount at each base. Mutankiang to the south east has 2000 AV but is about to be assaulted by 15000[:(], half of it armour. Basically I'm screwed[:D]

Meanwhile the orange circle sees 5000 AV about to roll into Korea. I'm retreating everything to Keijo, it would be pointless trying to defend anywhere else.

[Miller]

Industry





The main concern now is supply. My two main supply bases of Tokyo and Osaka are always running short on resources, which I continue to ship religiously from Hokkaido. I think I have enough fuel to last me till the end of the game. Perversely the HI industry total continues to climb each day despite the fact I'm producing every air frame and engine I still can.

Having played the late game as Japan before, Kane knows that resources would be my bottleneck and has been targeting resource centres with massed daylight raids by B29s after sweeping with 200 plus fighters for a few turns beforehand. He has also targeted several a/c factories which has seen me lose 30% of my Sam production, but to be honest my engine output for them is still negative to what I need. I have decent pools of most major a/c (at least 500 plus for most models), I just hope I get to use them before I run out of supply.....

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Miller


Basically I'm screwed[:D]

Ha, Ha! You have played the most incredible game.[&o] I can tell you about being screwed.[;)]

[Miller]

1st-15th Oct 45

First I will start with the only bit of good news. Kane has been bombing my fleeing grounds units all around China with B29s, however after they had obliterated a unit they had reverted to target as "commander discretion", an oversight we could all make. So anyway, the next turn about 300 decide to fly to Tokyo and bomb my troops there from 10000ft....





It could have been worse for him, I had stood down a few fighter sqds there due to fatigue/morale reasons, even so he loses 113 (Kanes figures, not the inflated 162 shown in the image). Still, at this stage of the game you have to take these little bonuses to keep you going. That is the end of the good news.

In China at Shanghai he tries his first ground attack:

Ground combat at Shanghai (92,55)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 226577 troops, 2767 guns, 3621 vehicles, Assault Value = 10188

Defending force 112222 troops, 1200 guns, 709 vehicles, Assault Value = 3790

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 7

Allied adjusted assault: 7418

Japanese adjusted defense: 43421

Allied assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 7)

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

Japanese ground losses:
2835 casualties reported
Squads: 21 destroyed, 249 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 71 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 38 disabled
Guns lost 112 (6 destroyed, 106 disabled)
Vehicles lost 45 (6 destroyed, 39 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
17603 casualties reported
Squads: 176 destroyed, 1913 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 462 disabled
Engineers: 38 destroyed, 215 disabled
Guns lost 273 (42 destroyed, 231 disabled)
Vehicles lost 520 (44 destroyed, 476 disabled)

A good defence but that attack burned away what supply I had left there. He has also been bombarding every night with two large cruiser forces, preventing any chance of resupply. To try and open the way for a FT supply TF I sent the bulk of my surface fleet to intercept his bombardment forces. The idea was for my ships to rush in, engage, then disband in port. However only 2 of the 5 TFs I sent in found any action, BBs Kongo and Kirishima taking on 6 British CAs and escorts. The CA London and 3 DDs are sunk but in turn one of my BBs takes a torpedo and 2 DDs are lost. The only other action sees a TF of DDs meet 4 US CAs and DDs. They achieve nothing and lose 2 of their number. Then during the day I find all the TFs that I had expected to disband in port still at sea and attacked by air the CA Suzuya and 6 DDs are sunk despite a small CAP trying its best to protect them. Needless to say I send everything fleeing back towards Nagaskai the next day, he sends a load of DDs in pursuit that sink a few more of my damaged DDs but my dive bombers sink 4 or 5 of his in return. So overall we each lose one CA and about 10 DDs, but Shanghai is pretty much doomed now and his bombardments continue every night.

Elsewhere in China the two year siege of Changteh (two hexes NW of Changsha) comes to an end as he manages to overcome my totally out of supply troops despite a fort level of 6. This took me by surprise but the big downer is rather than retreat SE towards Changsha they go SW into the woods[&:] and are basically out of the game now. That leaves just Wuchang and Changsha itself as my remaining bases in central China.

Over in Manchuria he continues to chip away at the troops of my main bases in the central area by air and some ground attacks have reduced fort levels with supply dwindling away. Meanwhile he also smashes through the north western bases in Korea and has a stack of troops who have reached Keijo, although he has not tried an attack there yet.

Even over in the backwater of Malaya the near year long siege of Singora has come to an end. With forts down to 2 and no supply flowing north from Singapore I decide to get out before I'm kicked out, with my stack leaving the hex on the 14th. Fortunately Palembang provides just enough supply to keep me going in Malaya for now.

And finally, he lands on the base at the southern tip of Formosa covered by his death star and has troops marching north towards Takao. I still have plenty of troops on Formosa but not a single point of supply. I'm going to risk one final FT TF under the nose of his CVs to get some in and at least allow my troops to put up some resistance. However, the time has basically come to write off everything left in China, Manchuria and Formosa and concentrate on home island defence. He continues to sweep in large numbers, including from Iwo Jima again. I'm losing about 3:1 in planes but most of my pilots survive and he takes op losses flying at extended ranges to reduce the gap to 2:1 in some encounters.....

[witpqs]

So anyway, the next turn about 300 decide to fly to Tokyo and bomb my troops there from 10000ft....

[X(]