Matrix Games Forums

Hi Aztez,

I'm new to the site and after recently buying the game I quickly discovered the learning curve to be steep. I've been following your AAR, and the comments from other site members has been a great way to get a feel for the game, having never played WITP previously. Great job on your postings with all the screen shots, combat reports and such, it really makes it easy to follow your campaign and learn about the game mechanics and strategies. Good luck the rest of the way and I'll be following along...like a sponge absorbing all the details! I've just started a U.S. campaign against a Japanese AI opponent to get my feet wet. Anyone like to school a newbie via PBEM? Great forum and group of people, I look forward to being a part of it.

Welcome to the forums SqzMyLemon!
And yes even as a WitP "vet" you can learn much in this AAR. [;)]
The learning curve flattens but it never really stops....

Flattens to a 60% slope from an 89% one [;)]

the more i read your AAR Aztez the more scared i am of PBEM [:D]. Not the actaul game but the time spent agonising over should i or should'nt i moves and then realising its 2AM. Im thinking of doing an AAR too (more time), any theroetical physcists here that can help me stretch a day by a few hours more [8D]

and dont panic over china, its so vastly differant from Witp that i think there isnt a consensus of 'best policy' here. Even if it does crumble in 43 just makes the rest of the game more interesting imo.

Have fun with the kids over the weekend too, trick or treat made it to your neck of the woods yet ? I'm hiding in tomorrow with all the lights off [;)]

The last couple days has been quiet in all fronts. Few short notes though....

- Japanese have seized Wyndham in north coast of Oz. The operation is coved by CV Junyo and other mini KB ships.

- CV Wasp has arrived and it is headed for the west coast with heavy escorts around her.

Otherwise no major developments to comment.


crsutton: I know but the it doesn't feel good to get short stick at china. The theatre is definately not an sideshow in AE nor it was in witp.

There simply are way too many troops that enemy can move out. I proposed that the maxium av should at 2000av anywhere but Manchuko. I need to discuss this with Dave once it becomes more imminent.

Otherwise I think the raw sketch I drew few post back is the way to go. I do not see me holding out along the railway system. It is his territory.

At the moment inclined to leave just enough troops behind so that the industrial assets would be damaged.

Noted that Ankang is not recieving any supplies. It has been this way a longtime so definately not worth keeping troops there.

Hmmm, your seem to be going through the same shock treatment if your opponent has already seized Changhsa and Sian. Another good example why it is propably and good idea to pull out and towards inner china.

That decision needs to be done either by next turn or following one. After that it is too late.

I asked Dave that ceasefire to be extended into end of june 1942. The movement rates are just plain awful.

SqzMyLemon: Thank you and most importantly welcome to the forums. Good to hear that you have liked the AAR so far.

Basically I could have posted the same words you did few years back, I was ready to abandon/give up on the game but started reading AAR's and here I still am.

The AI is much tougher in AE so that should be an good way to get your feet wet.

Take your time and once you feel you got he basics I recommend an shorter PBEM scenario. You will find that these forums are friendly place to be, That itself is an miracle if you look at other places around the internet.

Nice to have you onboard.

LoBaron: That is an good summary. It is nice to see new people enjoying the game.

Rob: Be scared... be very scared! Just kidding around!

I would love to read about your and LoBarons adventures so an AAR would be nice ofcourse if you can spare the time.

I did ask an extra two weeks and as stated to crsutton I think abandoning the railways is most likely thing to do. Eventhough I will lose resource centers. Maybe leave maxium amount of engineers there to do damage the industrial assets. Btw, he has captured a lot of bases 95-100% intact. At least in DEI! That is odd.

Yeah, Halloween is here but it is not an big event. I did live in Alabama in early 90's and you cannot compare it by any means.

Appreciated and most definately had already an enjoyable evening. The girls just snoozed off so few hours to myself now.

Fiji (june 9th - 10th 1942)


The battle has now taken a "wrong turn". This is simply because our airforce were either drinking whiskey on the beaches or were enjoying the time with local women.

The only airstrike we launched was againts PC ship which naturally was sunk. That is not good since there were plenty of targets spotted by our SBD's unloading at Nadi.

Oh, well that has happened in the classic witp too. Unfortunately that means Dave will seize the Suva quite quickly since he has unloaded 17 units already.

I have another go next round and maybe we can spot something and sunk them. Only adjustment was that I gave an secondary target to the bombers.

Lets see what happens. Oh, and the KB has left or at least our patrols have lost contact. I guess it is about time it heads out towards Truk for replenishment.

Burma (june 9th - 10th 1942)


RAF have flow strikes againts Mandalay / Schwebo area in past few days. There has been no enemy opposition reported.

I have kept bombing Mandalay because at least I burn his supplies here and the this base is kind of an hub if you look at the map.

Japanese have kept their airforce at Rangoon. There are also quite a few ships docked at port if recon is to be believed.

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

No id never pull out without a fight there. Its a good location for a counterattack and you give up fortresses for free.
you got a lot of units there its a matter of supply though if you can stage one.
So the critical point is to keep the west. thats the only area where you can fly supplies in.
if you can do both its better naturally, if you cant the west is more important than any frontline city IMO.

also can you do recon to check if he depleted his forces in the south to stage the attack on Sian?


Edit: im just trying to see things from the Japanese side. If i dont want to go India then steamrolling western China with my
Burma army would be a very lucrative option. Basically if i capture Kunming then the war in China is over.
And remember he HAS a couple of AV´s in Burma.

those forts arent being given up, many of them are already lost, lol, not yet in a literal sense, but they are lost

Aztez: im sorry i dont mean to argue. i figured maybe you changed your mind and said "hey this is the set up now" lol, good to know you arent doing that.

ORIGINAL: Yamato_Blitzer

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

No id never pull out without a fight there. Its a good location for a counterattack and you give up fortresses for free.
you got a lot of units there its a matter of supply though if you can stage one.
So the critical point is to keep the west. thats the only area where you can fly supplies in.
if you can do both its better naturally, if you cant the west is more important than any frontline city IMO.

also can you do recon to check if he depleted his forces in the south to stage the attack on Sian?


Edit: im just trying to see things from the Japanese side. If i dont want to go India then steamrolling western China with my
Burma army would be a very lucrative option. Basically if i capture Kunming then the war in China is over.
And remember he HAS a couple of AV´s in Burma.

those forts arent being given up, many of them are already lost, lol, not yet in a literal sense, but they are lost

Aztez has to slow him down. Slowing him down means to force him to concentrate large numbers of forces.
Level 5 forts do this.
..and free forces to hold other areas. or counterattack. [;)]

How are your submarines doing as a whole? Did the April upgrade have any noticable effects?

I had troops sitting behind level 5 forts and they are shattered just like the rest that stood and fought for cities I felt was important Changsha being one of them. I'll be the first to say I'm no brilliant strategist but building forts in China is a complete waste of supply the end result is the same, actually one could argue that more troops are lost sitting behind large forts after a week of bombardments than getting routed out into the countryside after the IJA deathstar enters a level two fortified city.

ORIGINAL: aztez

Fiji (june 9th - 10th 1942)


The battle has now taken a "wrong turn". This is simply because our airforce were either drinking whiskey on the beaches or were enjoying the time with local women.

The only airstrike we launched was againts PC ship which naturally was sunk. That is not good since there were plenty of targets spotted by our SBD's unloading at Nadi.

Oh, well that has happened in the classic witp too. Unfortunately that means Dave will seize the Suva quite quickly since he has unloaded 17 units already.

I have another go next round and maybe we can spot something and sunk them. Only adjustment was that I gave an secondary target to the bombers.

Lets see what happens. Oh, and the KB has left or at least our patrols have lost contact. I guess it is about time it heads out towards Truk for replenishment.

By any chance, were any of your CVs spotted as they slipped away?

Maybe the KB is racing after your CVs now that the Japanese troops are on the ground.

You might want to send your CVs more toward the Antarctic just in case you are being followed.

I wonder if Daves being sneaky and LR capping the transports and leaving a few PB boats bobbing about with no cap to attract the naval bonbers ?

I also suspect that overloading the airfield is coming to haunt you , maybe put some sqds on rest (3) as iirc they count as 1/3r'd or nil for stacking if resting. and No KB means you dont need all the fighters on high CAP %. .. just a thought. More fighter escort may overcome any latent LRCAP by the magic % and the bombers then fly to the transports.

Pure speculation on my part here though.

Hehe not bad Rob. Was thinking in a similar direction.
Maybe he doesnt even need to LRCAP if he moved many fighters in and
set em to 100% CAP to protect the transports.
Aztez did you have a low percentage of fighters on escort duty?

ADB123: i think Aztez said something about moving his
carriers to PH.
With the KB down at least 1/3rd i wouldnt dare to come near
this place in summer 42´.

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

Maybe he doesnt even need to LRCAP if he moved many fighters in and
set em to 100% CAP to protect the transports.

That is a good trick. As Japan, sometimes the best use of Nates is to fly a bunch of them into a base so the fighter numbers are higher. When the magical recon plane flies over they count the numerous fighters, go back and tell the bomber unit commanders who then say...."no way we are going there. Too many fighters."

Yamato_Blitzer: I'am not giving up but just trying to make most out of the situation around the map.

No need for apology or such since I didn't even know we were arguing! Good debate is what needed on every issue. That is just an positive thing.

The setup I showed was just the current positions of troops and by no means was it an strategic plan.

LoBaron: I checked and we actually have level 6 forts at Changhsa.I did the turn but I'am still undecieded whether to "abandon" Changhsa area. It is an two edge sword.

There are marching into northern part and we can put up an tough defense there yet again soon. Otherwise still 50/50 for the best strategy in china.

Well, I don't need to slow him down. Basically I need to stop him for good. The counterstrikes are out of the picture since no means to supply such an effort.

I will post an pic tomorrow describing the chinese front even more detail.

The fighters at Fijis are around 50% CAP and 10% rest.

SuluSea: They are doing better but no means are they deadly yet. I will post more about this now that you mentioned. (Made an note to check things out try an do that on tomorrows update). I know seydlitz is intrested in this area of the war.

How much did you have behind lvl 5 forts at Changhsa? I think the railways are the burden. He can shift troops in quickly and give units rests in nearby bases which are well supplied nodoubt.

That is why I'am seriously considering abandoding our defenses at the railway lines.

ABD123: I don't think he spotted any of the carriers. It was touch and go operation and these ships were not ordered to lurk outside Fijis.

I did alter the seach vectors manually for the upcoming turn so we shall see whether there is some indication of his naval assets. I think these carriers had to withdraw towards Truk. They were heavily involved in action and must replenish.

The US carriers are well on their way towards safety.

Rob: That was the good old trick in the classic Witp. Thank god these ships do not attract the same level of attention with AE.

That speculation might have hit nail 100%. He has now enough lba fighters and bombers to give an KB much needed break and also he has landed enough troops at Nadi.

seydlitz: Indeed and I have seen this happen few times for me too.

The fighters take into their own judgement and start providing CAP for naval assets and TF's. I guess that is what happened RL too so no complaints here.

Btw, your AAR getting few bullets and bombs consumed!

Northern Australia (june 11th - 12th 1942)


The invasion has now "officially" begun. On the morning on 11th large japanese TF moved into Wyndham and started unloading troops and supplies.

This operation has Mini KB's full attention.

I had some 100 bombers at Katherine which were set on naval strikes.

The results are hard to judge since FOW is so strong in AE. These are the bombing runs that recorded "hits".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Wyndham at 71,126

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
Ki-27b Nate x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3



Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 7
Beaufort V x 6
Hudson I x 15
Hudson III (LR) x 10
B-17D Fortress x 3
B-17E Fortress x 6
B-26 Marauder x 6


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged
Beaufort V: 2 destroyed
Hudson I: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
APD Hagi
APD Fuji
xAP Kobe Maru
xAK Ginyo Maru
xAP Naminoue Maru
xAK Nagara Maru
CVE Hosho
xAP Hakusan Maru
xAP Baikal Maru
xAK Kunitu Maru
xAK Kamogawa Maru
AK Sagami Maru
xAK Hakubasan Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
APD Aoi
xAK Kensin Maru

Japanese ground losses:
53 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Wyndham at 71,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
Ki-27b Nate x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3



Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 8
Beaufort V x 3
Hudson I x 12
Hudson III (LR) x 9
B-17D Fortress x 3
B-17E Fortress x 6
B-26 Marauder x 3


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged
Hudson I: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 2 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Kogyoku Maru
CL Tama
xAK Kensin Maru
xAP Baikal Maru
xAK Kosin Maru
xAP Huso Maru
xAP Hakozaki Maru
xAP Suwa Maru
xAP Huzi Maru
xAK Toho Maru
xAK Toko Maru
xAK Fushimi Maru

Japanese ground losses:
242 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)


...intresting and as said noway to tell what the actual damage is here. Propably not too much achieved here.

Dave is providing fighter cover from his carriers and from lba fighters.

I haven't moved any major troops into northern oz and I have no intention of doing so since he controls New Caledionia.

It seems he might be trying to move via land into Katherine and cut the Darwin out this way. Less risky this would be at least.

Fiji (june 11th - 12th 1942)


KB has vanished. I did alter the search vectors for the next turn though.

I still think the carriers are heading to Truk after hard fough battle.

Allied airforfce launched an strike againts Nadi.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Nadi , at 131,160

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14



Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 7
SBC-4 Helldiver x 24
SBD-3 Dauntless x 36


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBC-4 Helldiver: 2 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)




Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 6
Port hits 1

Dave mentioned that he didn't have any transport in the area in past two days.

That is an odd statement since my SBD's made several sightings and his troops totals have increased significantly. To me this is war propaganda ofcourse it could be FOW too.

It has been quiet here in past few days. That would indicate to me that Dave is satisfied here with his supply levels and av strenght.

Aztez how high is the mdl of Nadi? Id fly recons until you get it at least as high as 6, then you can make an educated guess.
Otherewise...any chance of closing the airstrip there? At least it would be Wildcats against Oscars this time.
As its only small you could accomplish that with DB´s only (or maybe with some additional B17 LR flights).
If your supply situation is ok at Suva id harrass him at Nadi as strong as i could.

Hm Australia.
I wonder if it wasnt a mistake invading at Wyndham (compared to Darwin)

Small Base (if you didnt build it up for him) and you can easily close it down with subs, or
at least make it hard for him to reeinforce.
Worst case you could get som AK´s on the way out.
Hows your Darwin AF looking?

Wyndham may not be a bad place to land. The terrain is highly defensible with a smaller force as compared to Darwin. My guess is that he will work on building the airfield up here and using it to dominate the area. As soon as he is established here he can easily go back and take Darwin.