Guadalcanal scenario: took Lunga & Tulagi, what now?

[Randy Stead]

Into early September now. I finally managed to get some supply to the boys at Lugan and Tulagi. It cost me a few ships; Chicago, some APs and a few xAK types, some DDs, but I got the supply on Tulagi to almost 9,000 and Lunga to about 14,000, so they will be okay for a while.

Had a big carrier scrap NE of Tulagi. My Catalinas on Lunga saw them coming down from Truk, so I got my three CVs up that way. In a dumb move [this kind you never forget] I had my Wildcat set to range 5 as well as all my bombers. They were away and got a free spipe at me. Fortunately they split their striking power to go after some supply ships around Guadalcanal. My Wildcats held them off, shot down a pile of their torpedo bombers and a chunk of Vals; flak nailed a few and fortunately nothing got seriously hit. Next turn I set my range to 6 and moved NE and we had a brawl. They hurt Wasp and her planes diverted to Lunga, from which they operated until I pulled them back to Luganville; I fear Kirishima and friends coming down and bombarding them into oblivion. I had a strike totalling 102 bombers, mostly SBDs. They creamed Shokaku and saw her sunk. Zuikaku was a flaming wreck but I did not see her sink. I have about 7 subs up around Truk acting as eyes [one actually got a Mark 14 to explode] and scavengers of cripples. Tone and Chikuma were hit with several 1,000 lb bombs and a couple of destroyers were sunk, damage. I actually had one torpedo from a Devastator explode on Zuikaku and another hit but dudded. Grrr.

I've now got Enterprise and Saratoga heading west towards New Guinea as there are some surface ships moving west, south of the tip of New Guinea; what is that, Cape Gloucester? I don't know what they are doing and intend to find out. Now I think my main worry will be those big BBs the IJN has. My hope is to spot them early enough and get my CVs to deal with them. I now have two BBs, but they are still outnumbered.

This game has turned into a real addiction. I'm sure you all know the feeling. [:D]

[Ambassador]

Torpedo bombers are the tool to use against battleships, I hope you still have some torpedoes left. But your two BB ( SoDak and Washington I suppose ?) are not to be discounted too easily, I find them better than most of the IJN BB (except the Yamato’s off course).

You’re right, in a grand campaign, AP’s are not to be risked before converting to APA’s.

ORIGINAL: Randy Stead

This game has turned into a real addiction. I'm sure you all know the feeling. [:D]

Amen.

[Randy Stead]

Yes, I still have some left. At present I have no idea where his BBs are. Probably up in Truk, where I would be happy for them to stay. I know I have sunk Shokaku, and likely Zuikaku and several cruisers, so I am not as wary as at the beginning of the scenario. However, I think he's still come some light carriers somewhere.

The AI has just landed at Milne Bay. My two undamaged carriers have sunk two transports there and I hope to hit them again in the coming turn. I'm hoping he's stranded a whale, as supplying the LCU is going to be a challenge for them. Not sure if I should attack it or just sit tight in my base and let him punch himself out. I'm inclined toward the latter, as well as bringing over reinforcements. With his present focus on Milne Bay, I think I can delay reinforcing Port Moresby for a while.

[Ambassador]

You may set some recons to watch over Milne Bay, and raise DL, and then set some bombers to do ground bombing, a.k.a « knock-knock-who’s-there reconnaissance » ; this may give you the names of the units present, and the general info on number of troops, guns and vehicles may give you hints on whether they’re full or not. The AI is sadly prone to drop only partial units (maybe because so many transports get sunk ?).

Where are you on the VP sides ? It’s a game after all, points determine the winner.

[BBfanboy]

Congrats on getting those two big carriers - a significant victory! As I have seen many a time, the fact that you cannot designate a specific naval target for your carrier aircraft often means that they will split their strike among targets in range rather than concentrate on the most dangerous/valuable one. Don't forget that CVL Ryujo is in this scenario too.

What is the status of Wasp? Was she able to limp away to a safe port or is she still burning/flooding? I don't know if the AI for IJN subs is scripted to act like a PBEM player or not, but a human would do what you did and stake out likely ports that your damaged CVs (and those low on sorties) will go to. Many a player has seen his damaged carrier torpedoed one hex short of safety!

On NG, keep your troops at PM and they should be fine - I don't think Buna or MB are worth many points anyway. At Lunga, if the enemy starts making weak attacks and you have kept most of the Japanese transports from dumping supply or reinforcements, and you have Americal division present, you can march at least a division toward Tassafaronga to kick the enemy off Guadalcanal. It will take a long time - 2 miles a day in Jungle Rough terrain minus battle turns, but the constant pressure will keep the starving Japanese fatigued, demoralized and disabled. You can even consider dividing your division at Tassafaronga to rest a third or two thirds at a time while waiting for supply to catch up to them. Do not shock attack there until you have a very good reading on the strength of enemy troops and forts.

[Randy Stead]

Wasp is at Luganville patching flotation damage. I was taking her to Noumea; just past Espiritu Santo I got the messages that she was flooding, so I turned back the two or three hexes to Luganville rather than risk the journey to Noumea. Her fighter unit is on Lunga dealing with Betty & Friends [not as nice as Barney & Friends]. I've put her other wings into Noumea for a rest and training until she is ready to go. It will be a while; I have to get her ready for the trip to Sydney, a long, nervewracking haul. Enterprise is at Sydney for about 15 days; took a sub torpedo SW of Lunga. That leaves Saratoga and Hornet to help hold the line. I've got one carrier over by Milne Bay to interdict supply and the other one keeping an eye over Guadalcanal in case those BBs come back. I've also got North Carolina at Sydney repairing some low number major damage. She'll only be a few days.

I've got an Aussie cavalry brigade landing at Milne Bay and I plan to bring over the two brigades to unite 5th Division. Right from turn 1 I set Americal to Tossafaronga. Right now I am loading up more engineers to help build up Lunga. Then more fighting troops.

It's taken a long time but I feel I am getting to grips with this game. Too bad that new guy who made the two post rant couldn't put in the time like everyone else has.

[RhinoDad]

Her fighter unit is on Lunga dealing with Betty & Friends [not as nice as Barney & Friends]

I bomb you, you bomb me
We’re a great big family
With a great big blast
A torpedo or two
Won’t you say you’ll try it too

It's taken a long time but I feel I am getting to grips with this game. Too bad that new guy who made the two post rant couldn't put in the time like everyone else has.

Different games for different people. You may not like some of the games he likes, but probably would not be whining about it. Then again maybe he just likes trying to get a rise from people; maybe that is his game.

It is a great game and so much worth the commitment! Bet you never had such fun therapy. [;)]

[Randy Stead]

Rhin Dad, great poem! My kids are all adults now, with families of their own. They loved Barney when they were quite young, but inevitably they grow older and out of their childish likes. Barney was all the rage back in the day, and still is with some kids. My grandkids now listen to the Barney CDs when they come for a visit. My son is the eldest of the three, so once he got to an age when Barney wasn't cool, he came home one day with something he learned at school:

I hate you
You hate me
Let's gang up and kill Bar-ney
With a great big knife
And a bullet to the head
Aren't you glad that Barney's dead?

Sick little punks.[:D]

Back to the game. I have not done much forum activity for a few days; been hard at it turn after turn. I am into turn 72 now.

I've been able to get reinforcements over to Port Moresby and Milne Bay. The Aussie infantry brigade that has held the line on the Kokoda Trail for so long has been marching back to PM. He's just a few miles away, so I expect next turn it will appear in the base hex. I am going to rest it for a while and let it upgrade to the 1942 infantry squads. I've been building them up ever so slowly, about two a turn since game start until I had hoarded about 110. Now each turn I am having one LCU per turn swap out their old militia gear for the new gear.

I have two of the three brigades that make up the [5th?] infantry division at Milne Bay. I also brought over one of the cavalry brigades. The Nipponese landed some forces in an attempt to take the base. I kept jackhammering their supply ship inbound and deprived them of supply for a while. When they were good and hungry I bombarded them for a bit then sent in a deliberate attack, which wiped them out. I have removed all aircraft from Milne Bay over to Port Moresby. I have enough supply at Milne Bay for a long time so there is no need to protect the base from air attack. Ranger Joe, I think it was, suggested I abandon the airfield if I was getting swept. After one big brawl in the air I took that advice. I forgot I had a damaged sub that was laying up there. It happens in this game; so many pieces to track. Anyhow, they reminded me I had a sub there where they sent over a swarm of Zeros with 9 of their torpedo planes, what are they called, Kates? They hit the sub and killed it. Now I know why there are wreaths floating in the harbour. They are still flying over and hitting the airfield, but I have enough engineers to stay on top of the damage and they are working to enlarge the airfield for my eventual return. The flak does a good job damaging bombers and kills off one or two now and then. I've got plans to send over another AA unit, as soon as my transports get back from Port Moresby, refuel and repair. Just before they get to Milne Bay, I will send in a pile of fighters to protect the ships as they unload.

My recon spotted a TF near Kavieng. I began to move a CVx2 fleet to intercept when one of my subs torpedoed CV Junyo and sank her. She is showing up in the sunken ships report in the intelligence screen. I don't know if that is confirmed sinkings. I did get an operations report that a SS I that was claimed as sunk was confirmed to still be in operation. So, fog of war is a factor. I am hoping the Junyo sinking report is gospel truth.

I got supply over at Lunga to over 33,000. My boys are now eating well. [:'(] While Wasp is hors de combat for a while, I have her air groups over at Lunga. Any supply ships that try to run in to Tossafaronga may be in for a surprise. I've got a pile of fighters there, too, support and engineers working to enlarge the airfield. The port is bigger now, same at Tulagi, so I can now run in smaller supply fleets to dock instead of running it over the beach via amphibious supply. While I was bringing supplies in that way I had my carriers up there providing floating air cover and interdiction of IJN supply runs. Now that Lunga is so well supplied and has air cover, I can redeploy my CVs elsewhere. Wasp is patching at Noumea until I get her system damage down as much as I can so that she will be better able to cope with flotation on the voyage to Sydney shipyard. She has major damage to systems and flotation that cannot be repaired at Noumea. I don't have any AR repair ships yet, but I know one or two are on the way. I will check their arrival date when I start the next turn. I am not sure if an AR can repair the damage Wasp currently has; will consult the manual as my bedtime reading tonight.

Enterprise is at Sydney for about 16 days to upgrade. BBs South Dakota and Washington have major damage from a surface combat near Lunga. They both got hit by DD-launched torpedoes and are patching up at Noumea before heading off to Sydney. The IJN paid for it, though, losing CAs Chokai and Takao and CL Jintsu. I've got a BB upgrading at Sydney, I think it might be North Carolina? A pile of stuff is getting the 10/42 upgrades done there as they need a size 5 shipyard to upgrade. I have the upgrades going on pierside. At Noumea I have other ships that do not need a shipyard doing upgrades as well. I am definitely becoming quite adept at using the repair manager to set priorities in order to maximize repair throughput at Sydney.

The ANZAC navy is a bad luck magnet this scenario; Canberra was repaired at Sydney after major battle damage. On her way back to Townsville she was torpedoed by a sub and is back in the shop with major damage. Australia also got clobbered hard and is being patched up. Me and the repair manager are becoming good friends.

I'm now preparing units for Buna. This will be a long term project, as such I have had a long running campaign to nail every supply ship I can on the way in, or out. Now that Lunga is well supplied and guarded, I intend to use my CVs to interdict supply ships. I am beefing up the presence of infantry on Kokoda Trail, as well as preparing land units. I will try to hit it from land if possible, and with 2 or 3 divisions from sea. I have to add up the shipping tonnage needed and see if this is attainable. If I do a good enough job at starving Buna, then the Hori Group on Kokoda Trail will wither to the point where I may take them from land alone. However, If I can take the base at Buna, I will put the Hori Group in a real bind: out of supply and surrounded. I can feel my confidence to play this game growing by leaps and bounds. The two scenarios I have played have been very educational and being able to play a grand campaign, though daunting a task, is now seeming more of a possibility. I thank everyone here for their helping out a new guy. Salute.

[Ambassador]

Well done.

Concerning reportedly sunk ships, the list may be wrong. When you wonder about a CV, check the air losses for the day : if you see a bunch of carrier-capable planes like the Zeroes, Kates, Claudes, etc, in the « ground » losses, it is confirmed.

Managing the upgrades, land, air and sea, is a big part of the game indeed, and the infantry squads greatly improve. Be careful to keep enough forces available at all times.

Flak is a killer - when the enemy bombards, it may often be better to simply bring more flak. Let the Sallies and Betties impale themselves on your flak like the English knights on the Scottish shiltrons.

[Randy Stead]

Thanks, Ambassador, that's good advice. Too late now to check the day's losses for the day. However, I think my sub skipper was overly optimistic, as a coastwatcher has just reported seeing Junyo. I will play it safe and assume she is still prowling somewhere. Right now I am not conducting carrier operations. Enterprise is upgrading at Sydney, Wasp is repairing systems damage at Noumea; when that is down as low as it can go I will try to get her to Sydney. The other two carriers are at Luganville while her escorts make some repairs under readiness mode. While there I got the task force to refuel from a tanker I had placed there for such an occasion. When they are all ready to go I plan to send them to Noumea and wait up for Enterprise to rejoin the fleet. Then we hope to go hunting again.

I realize I have made one jumbo mistake, forgivable I hope as a rookie. Early in the game I hauled a big load of fuel out of Sydney to Noumea. I realize now that was a mistake, as I am now low on fuel up at Townsville. So low, in fact, that the needle is resting hard on "E". I've now got a couple of tankers going along the Aussie coastline [with escorts, of course!] to scavenge fuel out of the coastal bases that have fuel but do not need it, as I have no ships operating out of them. Meanwhile, I have a loaded tanker that has just pulled out of Noumea to hop over to Townsville to fill up their tanks. This tanker of fuel is so precious I have assigned four destroyers as escort.

I've had some successes, but also some failures. I'm glad in a way that I have screwed up some things, because I have learned from them. As this is solo play in a scenario against the AI I count it as practice; no stats to be kept, but damned good learning experience.

[Ambassador]

Better screw up in one of the small scenarios than in a full campaign.[;)]

Fuel moves overland, no need to move it with tankers from bases connected by rail to Townsville anyway. Just move your unused ships to Townsville, and you should see the fuel accumulate in short order.

I believe I said earlier that fuel would be short if your fleet continuously steamed. You see the results. This is why people tell this scenario teaches you logistics - you’re on a shoestring, and experience the bad consequences of the Allied wealth of assets in late war on the expenditure of supply & fuel.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Better screw up in one of the small scenarios than in a full campaign.[;)]

Fuel moves overland, no need to move it with tankers from bases connected by rail to Townsville anyway. Just move your unused ships to Townsville, and you should see the fuel accumulate in short order.

I believe I said earlier that fuel would be short if your fleet continuously steamed. You see the results. This is why people tell this scenario teaches you logistics - you’re on a shoestring, and experience the bad consequences of the Allied wealth of assets in late war on the expenditure of supply & fuel.

+1 On logistics. When the US lost AO Neosho in the Battle of the Coral Sea, Yorktown and Enterprise (or was it Hornet?) had to go to Cooktown to get enough fuel to return to PH. Not fun for an Admiral to take his big ships that far along the Great Barrier Reef to a small town that probably didn't have much ability to dock or pump fuel. But it was a secret location the Japanese I-boats probably would not guess so it worked out. Good thing Lexington sank or they would have sucked Australia dry of fuel! .

[Ambassador]

I did not know they had to go to Cooktown to refuel. A single CV TF indeed sucks as much fuel as the whole of Oz’s industry for a week. This is the primary limiting factor to the deployment of CVs in SoPac area at the start of the game, when KB is busy in the DEI (the second one being the lack of replacement aircrafts to compensate eventual losses - again, that’s part of logistics).

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

I did not know they had to go to Cooktown to refuel. A single CV TF indeed sucks as much fuel as the whole of Oz’s industry for a week. This is the primary limiting factor to the deployment of CVs in SoPac area at the start of the game, when KB is busy in the DEI (the second one being the lack of replacement aircrafts to compensate eventual losses - again, that’s part of logistics).

I learned that on the forum too! I remember thinking that it was kind of ironic that Cooktown was named after Captain James Cook, the famous navigator and map maker, whose ship was damaged on the Reef and had to pull up on shore to make repairs at that point. The irony is that it was a salvation for the desperate US CVs too!

[Randy Stead]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Better screw up in one of the small scenarios than in a full campaign.[;)]

Fuel moves overland, no need to move it with tankers from bases connected by rail to Townsville anyway. Just move your unused ships to Townsville, and you should see the fuel accumulate in short order.

I believe I said earlier that fuel would be short if your fleet continuously steamed. You see the results. This is why people tell this scenario teaches you logistics - you’re on a shoestring, and experience the bad consequences of the Allied wealth of assets in late war on the expenditure of supply & fuel.

I was hoping so but I am not seeing it, in spite of adjusting the fuel ticker and having a pile of ships there. The only ships elsewhere are a few minesweepers and ships being repaired/upgraded in Sydney. In the interval, I have turned off refueling of all ships as a standard practice. There is enough fuel aboard the ships in port to keep me running back and forth to New Guinea for a while. I just started feeling vulnerable with seeing that red zero for fuel turn after turn.

Agreed, this is an excellent scenario for teaching logistics. I fought like hell to get any amount of supply into Lunga and Tulagi, now I have over 30,000 at Lunga and about 10,000 at Tulagi, so they won't need feeding for a while. That will free up my offensive ships for operations elsewhere. What is hindering me at the moment is having one carrier, Wasp, still badly damaged at Noumea. I am keeping her there until I have knocked off as many major points as possible before trying to get her to Sydney. Fortunately, though she has a lot of systems damage, none or a very tiny amount are major. When I have that as close to zero as possible, off to Oz.

I've also got Washington and South Dakota at Noumea, same as above. Boy, could I do with some repair ships and a floating drydock right now. Sydney shipyard is full to the brim. Enterprise is upgrading there; her air wing is ashore for R&R. North Carolina is also there in the last week or two of her repairs. I've got Saratoga and Hornet at Luganville, where they have just fully refueled. I am waiting for her escorts to finish repairs in a few days, then that group will be ready for operations.

While Wasp is sitting at the pier, I have her air groups augmenting the VMF at Lunga. I am hoping the air power there is enough to both protect the base and interdict any IJN ships that come near to resupply Tossafaronga. I am also building up LCUs there for the eventual push to fully clean the island. Since the beginning of the scenario I have had LCUs aiming for Tossafaronga and they are now at 100%. It is now a matter of buying them out and getting them over there. I've got plenty of PPs saved up to release units but I am avoiding large one time expenditures of PPs.

The IJN are having a hard time now getting supplies to their forward bases. I had a number of carrier strikes on supply convoys and the reports credit me with sinking 22 various Marus. I think they are getting ready for some kind of push as I have had coast watcher reports of larger ships deploying to Rabaul, big scary stuff like Yamato. That's why I want my CVs back ASAP. At this point I don't have to push forward so much as defend what I have.

I do have plans to try to take Buna. I've got LCUs prepping for that base. This is not a near horizon operation but a while off. I first desire to maintain a supply blockade of Buna until the time is ready. If/when I make my move I want plenty of air power and surface combat power. My nightmare is stranding a hungry whale and Yamato & Friends are on the prowl, preventing me from getting more in or taking out what I already have ashore.

[BBfanboy]

1. There is no such thing as major Systems damage. It is things like wiring that can easily be repaired.

2. Unless Enterprise's upgrade causes some float damage, the ship can be moved to pierside repair the turn after the upgrade starts. They just needed the shipyard cranes for a day to remove old guns/radars and load aboard new ones.

3. Buna is a sideshow. Can you take it overland via the Kokoda Track?

[Randy Stead]

I have all of the ships upgrading at Sydney set to pierside. No need to tie up shipyard space. Achilles is now the sole occupant of the shipyard and is getting all of the loving attention, thanks to the recent completion of repairs to Canberra, the bad luck magnet. Twice clobbered, once at sea and one day out of Sydney on her way back to Townsville after repair. If she ever gets hit again and survives, I will disassemble her and send her piece by piece by train!

South Dakota is at sea on her way to Sydney. I am closely monitoring her damage and if she appears to be getting into trouble I will have her head for one of the intermediary small islands on the way to Sydney.

I thought system damage could be "regular" or "major." Hmm, will have to investigate all of my ships with systems damage. I thought the systems damage that could not be repaired at Noumea would be considered major.

Buna is something I am considering for two reasons:

To gain experience with land combat

To allow me to base my shorter range bombers closer to Lae and Rabaul. I'd like to take a good whack at both of those, but for now I wish to get Buna out of the way. There's no way [says I] that they can take Port Moresby from me now. I have oodles of supply and LCUs there, as well as lots of aircraft. Should they try, I believe I could use my carriers to say otherwise.

As always, comments and advice are appreciated.

[Randy Stead]

BBfanboy, I just checked all of my damaged ships which showed moderate damage to systems; none of that is major. I just learned something new. The colour of the systems damage numbers made me think it was major damage. Now I feel like an idiot for sending South Dakota to Sydney with high levels of systems damage which I could have reduced to zero at Noumea before sailing to Sydney. That will not happen again. Luckily for me she is not showing signs of flotation damage increasing at sea. This was a dumb risk for me to take with such a precious ship. In real life I would've been reassigned to a garbage scow.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Randy Stead

BBfanboy, I just checked all of my damaged ships which showed moderate damage to systems; none of that is major. I just learned something new. The colour of the systems damage numbers made me think it was major damage. Now I feel like an idiot for sending South Dakota to Sydney with high levels of systems damage which I could have reduced to zero at Noumea before sailing to Sydney. That will not happen again. Luckily for me she is not showing signs of flotation damage increasing at sea. This was a dumb risk for me to take with such a precious ship. In real life I would've been reassigned to a garbage scow.

Well its a calculation you have to make. Systems damage repairs according to the points a port has for ship repair. A larger port has more points (not counting any naval support points available). Then you have to consider the number of ships already using points at Sydney. The aim should be to have a reasonable chance of saving the ship and then the earliest repair date so you can use her again.

[Randy Stead]

All good advice, BB, and concepts that I am quickly mastering.

I am happy to report that South Dakota made it safely to Sydney and is now the highest priority for repair there. Wasp will soon be making a run over to Sydney, as soon as I have her systems damage reduced to zero. Her flotation damage of 30 is all major and cannot be reduced at Noumea. Washington is also having her systems damaged aimed for zero, with the same plan in mind.