Nomonhan Redux: Seydlitz (Japan) vs. MBatch729 (Allies)

[seydlitz_slith]

One of the Nell units did go after the main TF but had no luck.

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Bintan at 51,86

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 32 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 7



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CL Java



Aircraft Attacking:
7 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 13000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the butcher's bill for the naval fights during the turn:

[seydlitz_slith]

Up north at Okha, a Russian sub tried yet again to penetrate the harbor defences and get to my loading troopships.

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ASW attack near Okha at 128,37

Japanese Ships
CL Kuma
AMC Asaka Maru
DMS W-19
DMS W-10
xAP Kokuryu Maru
xAP Hakone Maru
xAK Daisin Maru
xAK Nagara Maru
DD Numakaze
DD Nokaze

Allied Ships
SS ShCh-128



DD Numakaze fails to find sub and abandons search...
DD Nokaze fails to find sub, continues to search......
DD Nokaze fails to find sub, continues to search......
DD Nokaze fails to find sub, continues to search......
DD Nokaze fails to find sub, continues to search......
DD Nokaze fails to find sub, continues to search......
DD Nokaze fails to find sub, continues to search......
Escort abandons search for sub...

[seydlitz_slith]

As in the prior turns, I continued to pound Vladivostok and Voroshilov from the air. There was no opposition but bad weather kept the bombers of the KB from hitting their targets. Next turn I will use them against Vladivostok and then I will head them for port as the carriers are getting low on sorties meaning that they need to replenish their bomb stocks. Geez, I feel like the USN off the coast of Vietnam in the late sixties.

[seydlitz_slith]

Up near Shilka, my zeroes and oscars once again intercepted his bombers. He must be frustrated to know that I am slowly eliminating all of the freebee attacks that he was able to do with his aircraft.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is a snap of the ground situation up north. Supply is short for my northernmost troops, but as soon as they pull back further south I should be ok.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the area around Vladivostok. Note that he finally did destroy the border fort east of Mishin and the next hex that he will enter is the primary supply hex for my forces at Voroshilov. I should be able to hold here since I have level 3 forts (more building) and combined arms of over 500 AV. He will be attacking with about 500 AV that I have been bombing for the past few turns. I worry most about the supply not being passed through a hex with combat. However, my Olga invasion force is enroute and should be here in a few turns. That will open a new supply path and I already have a loaded supply convoy in a western Honshu port waiting to sail there and unload.

[seydlitz_slith]

He has asked me how many of my subs he has sunk near Pearl Harbor. He says that his flyboys claim that they have sunk about as many subs as Japan possessed. I am sure that I disappointed him when I told him that he has not sunk any subs there, although he has seriously damaged a couple. I told him that I have lost only two subs, and those were both to mines.

Of course, his sub losses look to be much higher:

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the arty duel at Voroshilov. Again he didn't fire back and again his AV on defense is low.

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Ground combat at Voroshilov (112,45)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 4709 troops, 406 guns, 284 vehicles, Assault Value = 2089

Defending force 63012 troops, 1493 guns, 527 vehicles, Assault Value = 1572

Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 5 (3 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (5 destroyed, 1 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
1706 casualties reported
Squads: 30 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 57 destroyed, 86 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 52 (29 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 107 (89 destroyed, 18 disabled)

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the aircraft loss summary for the turn.

[seydlitz_slith]

And by request, my replacement pools.

Fighters first:

[seydlitz_slith]

Bomber pool.

[seydlitz_slith]

And finally R&D:

[Mac Linehan]

Hi, seydlitz -

Outstanding AAR and game; a very radical and interesting approach, I am enjoying every post. I would like to emulate your use of paratroops in the Philippines and have located the 1st Raiding Rgt in Kagoshima. Do you remember where the other Para units are? I have checked the in game (Scn 1) ground unit listing, but no go.

Thanks for your assistance,

Mac

[Jonathan Pollard]

There are two para units in Kagi, in Formosa.

[FatR]

Thanks for the outstanding and detailed AAR, seydlitz. I follow it with great interest.

Also, these planetops are awesome and really I hope that one day they'll be available as a download...

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: Mac Linehan

Hi, seydlitz -

Outstanding AAR and game; a very radical and interesting approach, I am enjoying every post. I would like to emulate your use of paratroops in the Philippines and have located the 1st Raiding Rgt in Kagoshima. Do you remember where the other Para units are? I have checked the in game (Scn 1) ground unit listing, but no go.

Thanks for your assistance,

Mac

I believe that Jonathan is correct. If I remember, you have 1st Raiding Regiment in Kagoshima, 3rd & 4th SNLF on Takao. Don't quote me, but I believe that the other two are SNLF units. Find them in the unit list and you will see the parachute emblem. In January you get the 2nd Raiding Regiment.

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: FatR

Thanks for the outstanding and detailed AAR, seydlitz. I follow it with great interest.

Also, these planetops are awesome and really I hope that one day they'll be available as a download...

I also think that the planetops are awesome. The person who is doing the artwork on them follows this AAR, so I am sure that he will see your request and take note of it. I figure that he will want to wait until he has all the plane tops done to his satisfaction before releasing them since he is still working on some. In fact, just yesterday he did a Mabel planetop for me because the stock Mabel plane top was just plane ugly compared to the ones that he had done and I use the Mabel quite a bit. I am sure that now that it has a new top you will see a screen capture of it in the near future.

[FatR]

ORIGINAL: seydlitz
The air war over Russian territory is not going as well as planned by a longshot. Much of this seems to have to do with the weather, which has been terrible just about every turn. The weather prevents a high percentage of missions from being flown and also serves to protect the enemy biplanes when I try to sweep them. Zero fighters do well during sweeps but seem to be sitting ducks when escorting bombers. I feel like I should be mowing these biplanes down with even Nates, but in reality they are much harder to fight than even the AVG P-40s. I don't know why.

Also a small commentary: I-15 and I-153 have MVR 53 (highest in the game, AFAIK). And I-153 does not even suffer MVR cutoff until 16 thousands feet, so at higher altidute bands its advantage over Ki-27 is even greater. I, personally, think that, to match history, their MVR must be cut by about 10, as I-15, if anything, was outmaneuvered by Ki-27, and I-153 is its powered-up and heavier successor. Also, every gun on old Russian fighters is "Center-line", as opposed to "Front", which, I believe, provides accuracy advantage (technically this is a correct description, but in reality these planese weren't that good as gun platforms).

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: FatR

ORIGINAL: seydlitz
The air war over Russian territory is not going as well as planned by a longshot. Much of this seems to have to do with the weather, which has been terrible just about every turn. The weather prevents a high percentage of missions from being flown and also serves to protect the enemy biplanes when I try to sweep them. Zero fighters do well during sweeps but seem to be sitting ducks when escorting bombers. I feel like I should be mowing these biplanes down with even Nates, but in reality they are much harder to fight than even the AVG P-40s. I don't know why.

Also a small commentary: I-15 and I-153 have MVR 53 (highest in the game, AFAIK). And I-153 does not even suffer MVR cutoff until 16 thousands feet, so at higher altidute bands its advantage over Ki-27 is even greater. I, personally, think that, to match history, their MVR must be cut by about 10, as I-15, if anything, was outmaneuvered by Ki-27, and I-153 is its powered-up and heavier successor. Also, every gun on old Russian fighters is "Center-line", as opposed to "Front", which, I believe, provides accuracy advantage (technically this is a correct description, but in reality these planese weren't that good as gun platforms).

I could not agree with you more. The I-15 and I-153 perform against the Japanese fighters including the zero better than any of the more modern fighters that I have encountered. I think that this is because of the ludicrous MVR rating that they have been assigned. It is too far over the top and is unrealistic.