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Sardaukar: Too late to change alltitude since the turn is already sent but I will drop it to 6000 feet if these guys were unable to do damage.

Personally I never have used P39D's in naval strikes before so intresting to see what the results are. I have read that they can do a lot of damage and since they fighter bombers it might be hard to shoot them down too.

Maybe they could even cripple CV or something! [:D] I know that is very optimistic thinking but one needs to keep spirit up until the turn arrives at least.

It will be intresting for sure! The Fiji islands are no walk in park type of mission for the japanese.

That recon in china is interesting and an eye opener.. Where is he weak as a Japan player you don't have that much . What is NE of Kaifeng ?

ICHang is prob a Single division or 2 Brigades and the rest base force and support. Still Hankow can reinforce.

bklooste: I have only one recon unit operational at china currently so  gathering intel is slow. I wll focus it to Ch
anghsa area next. He has quite a few units there but I have no idea what these troops are.

If he has 1 division + 2 brigades (assumingly behind lvl 3-4 forts) than that would require 2500av worth of chinese  there to knock them out) I don't have that much extra unless ofcourse he doesn't have much near Changhsa.

As for NE Kaifeng. No idea than again I don't much either since this war in china has been such an bloodbath.

I think he has released units from Manchuko though.

I might retake Nanning for the fun of it. That would knock two units out war for longtime.

The problem currently is at Sian. There are troops but so much has been disabled! I wonder how to speed up recovering process? It is VERY slow and propably due to supply situation.

Also how fast do his troops recover from disabled status back into action. I do not know this.

The active av worth at Sian is now at 1600av but if those disabled units would recover the tide might be turned swiftly.

Aztez, the japanese bombardments take out too many chinese troops to hold any contested city for too long. It will be interesting to see what goes on around Chung King when the time comes, my view is more of the same.

What size airfield do you have on Suva?

Best of luck my friend.

I am playing Japan vs the AI with a strict rule that I cannot buy units from restricted commands.  It is amazing the difference between that and when you can buy them.
Aztez, I think you are going to be in for some good luck in the coming months.  Hang in there- I can see where he is going to have some logistical issues soon.  In fact, the fights that have occurred in China must have worn down his armor to the point where he is out of it.  In my AI game I started expanding vehicle dramatically on turn one. As of August 42 production has not come close to keeping up with my demands.  I have fought very hard in China just as he has.  He has to be near the point where some of his units are worn down in equipment and fatigue/morale. 
Hang in there!!!

SuluSea: That is true. Allthough the only bombardment I have recieved lately is with his airforce.

This has nothing to do with lack of ground artillery. After the initial bombardment which was way off balance (we both thought so) Dave restrained him by not doing it again.

He did not not promise there would be none but that he is using it conservative way in China.

That is true gentleman speaking. I will pay off the same courtesy if needed later on. Another good example on how to deal with issues that are bound to rise up when you enter PBEM games.

I'am not yet focused on Chungking. At the moment I'am busy maximizing the casualty levels at Sian or if lucky even holding the city. Who knows.. those disabled squads are giving me headache and I guess it is safe to say that same thing goes for the japanese too.

I think the Suva airfield was size 5.. not 100% sure but I will check when the next turn arrives.

Thanks and we shall need some luck for sure!

offenseman: Most certainly those changes shift the balance. I have no idea how much is actually out of Manchuko but at least some armoured units, artillery and aircraft. As for infantry or engineers well no intel/idea on those troops.

Lets hope so since the luck department has been avoiding me so far. I read somewhere (propably in chinese threads in war room or in the long discussion in general forum) that he had expanded his armour/vehicle production. Even with that I would assume he is short on them after these assaults.

We will hang in the game and the end curtain and credentials are far away.

Thanks for cheer and kind words.

No turn yet so no idea what has happened in Sian nor Fiji area.

China (may 29th - 30th 1942)


There were no ground offensives at Sian last turn. Allthough it seems he is definately preparing for one since he has now 47 units at Sian.

Instead we had large scale airstrikes againts the city and land artillery bombardments!

Here are the rounds of artillery fire he conducted:

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Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 131388 troops, 1306 guns, 267 vehicles, Assault Value = 3063

Defending force 92288 troops, 636 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1709


Allied ground losses:
3066 casualties reported
Squads: 34 destroyed, 93 disabled
Non Combat: 56 destroyed, 77 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 32 (24 destroyed, 8 disabled)

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

Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 133408 troops, 1306 guns, 267 vehicles, Assault Value = 3667

Defending force 90461 troops, 617 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1622


Allied ground losses:
3039 casualties reported
Squads: 35 destroyed, 122 disabled
Non Combat: 75 destroyed, 91 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)


Ok.. basically he destroyed 60-70 infantry squads and disabled +200 of them. All this adds is another minus 100-200av.

The bombardment modelling within the game requires a lot of fine tuning!

Otherwise the turn was quiet in china.

Fiji (may 29th - 30th 1942)


Allied lba fighters dueled with KB near Nadi.

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Nadi at 130,161

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 51



Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei
CV Zuikaku



Aircraft Attacking:
6 x P-39D Airacobra attacking from 100 feet


No luck with this one but at least few bombers got through. The retaliation came swiftly as Zero fighters sweeped Suva and divebombers assaulted our troops at Kandavu Island.

The main invasion force has not yet revealed itself. I think he is waiting for his carriers to gain air superiority in the area.

There are at least 6 diffrent TF's in the same hex where he has his carriers placed. I think he is using the follow TF option and has set transport/invasion TF as an lead unit.

We lost around 40 fighters while his losses are reported as 16 Zero fighters shot down.

Interesting that he landed at Kandavu first. That may indicate that he wants to establish a base for LBA that he can use in the coming battle without having to risk his carriers after he achieves initial air superiority. It also works as a refuge in case one of his carriers are hit since there will be an emergency airfield that the plane would fly to instead of being lost.

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

Interesting that he landed at Kandavu first. That may indicate that he wants to establish a base for LBA that he can use in the coming battle without having to risk his carriers after he achieves initial air superiority. It also works as a refuge in case one of his carriers are hit since there will be an emergency airfield that the plane would fly to instead of being lost.

A good tactic all in all. One used by USN at Okinawa iirc.

This was an really bad turn that just arrived. Well, the turn did not arrive but the combat replay file did and oh my it was bad pretty much everywhere.

AE is definately AFB edition if you are an fan of mental torture. Yeah, I spotted few threads that seems to have the good old song how the cards are stacked againts japanese etc.

Well.. I just say that reality check might be in order when talking about those issues. AE is far from anykind of AFB game.


seydlitz: I think that analysis is spot on. Also kind serves as an nice patrol aircraft base once it falls.


String: True. That is an text book example on how to conduct an invasion succesfully. Allthough the real Okinawa campaign had some "problems".



China (may 30th - 31st 1942)


It was may 30th 1942 that the chinese defense near Sian collapsed. We went few round againts him but in the end it was all for nothing.

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Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 160529 troops, 1446 guns, 705 vehicles, Assault Value = 3853

Defending force 82651 troops, 578 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1530

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 1675

Allied adjusted defense: 373

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

Japanese forces CAPTURE Sian !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
No Allied losses

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
7492 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 424 disabled
Non Combat: 24 destroyed, 389 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 12 disabled
Vehicles lost 32 (4 destroyed, 28 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
16789 casualties reported
Squads: 1092 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 1543 destroyed, 62 disabled
Engineers: 334 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 110 (109 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 19


Assaulting units:
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
59th Division
7th Ind.Mixed Brigade
3rd/B Division
6th RGC Division
12th Indpt Infantry Regiment
28th Engineer Regiment
15th/A Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
41st Division
51st Recon Regiment
26th Engineer Regiment
15th RGC Temp. Division
69th Division
138th Infantry Regiment
6th Division
110th Division
11th Indpt Infantry Regiment
13th Indpt Infantry Regiment
12th Tank Regiment
8th NCPC Infantry Brigade
13th Tank Regiment
37th Division
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th/B Division
15th/C Division
5th NCPC Infantry Brigade
9th Ind.Mixed Brigade
9th Armored Car Co
3rd/A Division
8th Recon Regiment
35th Division
26th Recon Regiment
15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th Armored Car Co
3rd/C Division
13th/A Division
1st Mortar Battalion
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
North China Area Army
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
1st Chinese Corps
57th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
76th Chinese Corps
14th Chinese Corps
3rd Prov Chinese Corps
16th Chinese Corps
30th Chinese/C Corps
79th Chinese/A Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
29th Chinese Corps
42nd Chinese Corps
60th Chinese/A Corps
4th Chinese Base Force
10th Chinese Base Force
Red Chinese Army
15th Chinese Base Force

That is an sad result. Even with those horrific losses he still had some 4000av left. It was just too much for the chinese.

I have a lot of units depleted north of Sian and I need to start moving them out. I wonder if I'am even able to do this.

As if this was not bad enough two chinese corps assaulted the base after it was fallen. Thus that "shock assault" dusted another 250av worth of troops. They arrived 1 day too late and paid the price for it.

What this basically means is that he has now free room to maneuver here. Thus leaving me with very few options.

a) Start withdrawing troops out of Changhsa and Southern china towards inner defensive lines which can be drawn into river crossing defense.

b) Either to withdraw units out Lanchow or left them there and force him to divert units there. I think there are some 1000av worth of infantry there.

c) Ask for peace in china and start negoating with him on this issue.

I'am not a fan of either of these options above.

This whole theatre was an bloody mess and it seems I was able to hold it together for just 6 months in game time.

The initial airraids, shock assaults, ground bombarments were just too much. I lost way too many units before we spotted the problems here.

I can guarantee that 90% of the PBEM japanese players will have an field day in china with the current game structure.

Fiji (may 30th - 31st 1942)


Things didn't go much better here either.

There were several P39D naval strikes at 6000feet but these aircraft were unable to hit anything. Yes, we hit grand total of 0 merchants with these raids. That is bad indeed.

He had some Zero fighters on LRCAP over these ships but several of my aircraft managed to make attacking runs despite that fact.

The second invasion landings were made at Nadi. He landed the following troops...

47th Nav Gd
42nd Nav Gd
144th Infantry Rgt
48th Nav Gd
44th Nav Gd
46th Nav Gd
67th Nav Gd
65th Bde

These units are still unloading their supplies at Nadi. The way I see it this more than enough to capture the Fiji region.

His carriers seem to be lurking north of Fiji islands.

Burma (may 30th - 31st 1942)


As if we did not suffer enough than came the Burma news. The brave allied soldiers holding out at Lashio were crushed...

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

Ground combat at Lashio (62,46)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 26980 troops, 210 guns, 156 vehicles, Assault Value = 782

Defending force 17970 troops, 142 guns, 85 vehicles, Assault Value = 222

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 1150

Allied adjusted defense: 412

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Lashio !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
1111 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 64 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 45 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
5483 casualties reported
Squads: 132 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 359 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 79 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 30 (30 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 73 (73 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 13


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
38th Division
41st Infantry Regiment
55th Engineer Regiment
12th Engineer Regiment
16th Infantry Regiment
15th Army
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
1st Burma Division
16th Indian Brigade
BFF Brigade
200th Chinese Division
Burma Corps
106th RAF Base Force
108th RAF Base Force
107th RAF Base Force
103rd RAF Base Force
1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment
102nd RAF Base Force
221 Group RAF
109th RAF Base Force

Oh,. I don't have any confirmation where these units retreated but most likely somewhere unsuitable direction.

That concluded the month of may 1942.

There were several P39D naval strikes at 6000feet but these aircraft were unable to hit anything. Yes, we hit grand total of 0 merchants with these raids. That is bad indeed.

well. at least in UV and WITP P-39 with their powerfull gun were real ship-killers at 100 ft. when attacking not armed targets. maybe lowering the alt. would help you to get some hits on the japs.

ORIGINAL: bigbaba

There were several P39D naval strikes at 6000feet but these aircraft were unable to hit anything. Yes, we hit grand total of 0 merchants with these raids. That is bad indeed.

well. at least in UV and WITP P-39 with their powerfull gun were real ship-killers at 100 ft. when attacking not armed targets. maybe lowering the alt. would help you to get some hits on the japs.

These guys flew their bombing strikes at 100 feet. I guess those ships covering the invasion fleets plus few Zeros were too much for them.

I have set their alltitude at 100 feet for the upcoming turn though.

Intel screen at beginning of june 1942...

Allied aces...

Pilot replacement pools

Aircraft losses...

Allied fighter pools...