Here we go again! tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J) - No tc464

[BigBadWolf]

What are your plans for Burma, Mike? How many divisions and sentais will you have up there?

[Mike Solli]

I was waiting for someone to ask about Burma.  That place is going to be the place where the IJA/IJAAF gets sucked dry.
 
Right now I have 3 divisions and ~4-5 Tank regiments.  Two more infantry divisions will head that way and the major tank reinforcements that come in about 1.5 months will be bought out and sent there as well.  I'll form both Tank Divisions there.
 
Air power.  About 75% of 3 Air Division will be there.  The rest of that Air Division will be around Palembang, Java and Borneo.  Most of the fighters will be in Burma along with ~50% of the recon and some bombers.  The stuff in the rear will be mainly recon, bombers acting as ASW and a few fighters for Palembang and Java.
 
IJNAF:  22 Air Flotilla, which currrently has 3 Zero daitai and a bunch of Bettys/Nells as well as a few Mavis.  They'll be primarily in Pt. Blair with 1 Zero daitai in Burma.  The bombers will rotate out as needed with some in Northern Summatra providing additional naval attack/ASW/recon.
 
I'll provide more detailed info once it's set (which will be soon).
 
Right now I'm relenquishing the air to the Allies.  Once I move in there, it'll be enmasse.  At least 1 daitai of Zeros and 3 sentai of Oscars (~150 fighters) all concentrated in a small area around Magwe along with recon.  The bombers will be farther to the rear.  There won't be many of them.  Ted has a lot of fighters at Akyab.  I'll send another naval bombardment there as well as massed fighter sweeps to knock it back a bit.  If I can get air superiority over Akyab, then I'll send the bombers in to pummel the airfield.  If I can push Ted's fighters out of Akyab, I'll be in good shape in Burma for awhile.

[Mike Solli]

15 May 42

Well, I've been spoiled so far this game. My losses have been extremely light. My total warship losses so far have been one Fubuki class DD. I just lost a sub. *Sigh* I should have known better. I had a few off the US west coast and Ted had been chasing me around. He finally got one, the I-3 about 4 hexes west of San Francisco.

To counteract my loss, I just got the I-11 as a reinforcement. She's destined for the Indian Ocean area.

I landed the final third of the 21 Div at Oroquieta, Mindinao. They'll take that base and push eastward. The rest of that division is heading north from Davao. Mindinao's days are numbered.

Ted attempted to bomb Magwe's oil again unsuccessfully.

KB2 is still headed north to hit the Adak area. They're about 3 days out.

Down at Ndeni, my reinforcements are closing in on the base. There is 1 SNLF, 3 Naval Guard units and a construction unit there with the Gds Brigade, 90 Infantry Regiment and several more Naval Guard units within a couple of days of landing. Three Furutakas (the 4th is repairing sys damage) will be in the hex covering the landing with KB hovering north of the island.

[Mike Solli]

16 May 42

Sub War

The I-17 found an xAK east of Hawaii and put a torpedo into her. That's a very fertile ground for my subs. She won't sink, but she's definitely not happy.

Burma

Once again, Ted attempted to bomb the oil fields at Magwe but didn't hurt them further. They remain at 44 of 300.

Australia

I have a CA TF at Broome, in case Ted tries to mess around there. Instead, he sent 18 Albacores to stir things up. The Oscar chutai stationed there shot down 5 Albacores for no loss but the remaining Albacores put a 500 lb bomb into the Mogami. No serious damage resulted but I'm still sending her to Soerabaja to repair the damage.

Some maps will follow.

[Mike Solli]

Burma.

The 22 Air Flotilla HQ is at Pt. Blair, along with most of the attached units .

The 3 Air Division HQ is moving to Toungoo (red arrow). Once the HQ arrives, it will be able to support all of the airfields within the red circle. Then I'll move in lots of fighters and start to eat up the RAF and AVG. Here's what I have available for Burma:

22 Air Flotilla
81 A6M2
72 G3M2
36 G4M1
3 Mavis

3 Air Division
115 Ki-43-Ic
85 Ki-21-IIa
31 Ki-48-Ib
27 Ki-30
12 Ki-32
24 Ki-51
29 Ki-46-II

[Mike Solli]

Australia.

The mob is moving toward Katherine then north to Darwin. A small force will move south toward Daly Waters. If it's unprotected, I'll take it. If not, it'll have to wait.

[crsutton]

He should not waste too much more on Magwe. It seems like the more damage there then returns start to diminish.

I am much further along in my game but it just blew me away that my oppoent could land a massive army at Wyndham (level one port) and then support it from there as it marched 400 miles over what was in real life a dirt track and incredibly hostile terrain to flank Darwin. Who put that "cheese" in the game. Japanese army was critically short, of trucks and running supply and tanks over that road would have consumed any vehicles.

The designers have made it very easy for Japan to take North Oz but made it impossible for the Allies to retake it overland due to very restrictive supply flow. With a commitment of force, it can easily be held until late into 1943 cutting off a major route to the DEI for the Allied counter offensive.

[Mike Solli]

Ndeni.

KB1 (4 CVs) is in the pink circle. The surface TF is 3 Furutakas heading south to support. Just to the NE is the Gds Bde invasion force, 2 days out. Just north of the northern map edge is another invasion TF (also 2 days out) with 3 Naval Gd units and the Replenishment TF. Off map to the west is the 90 Infantry regiment (3 days out) coming from Pt. Moresby.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

He should not waste too much more on Magwe. It seems like the more damage there then returns start to diminish.

I hope he continues for another couple of turns. I can ambush him with >100 fighters to his ~30.

[Mike Solli]

Strategic Map.

The TF in the red circle is KB2 (2 CV). It's headed to Adak to pay a visit. It's about 2 days out.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

He should not waste too much more on Magwe. It seems like the more damage there then returns start to diminish.

I am much further along in my game but it just blew me away that my oppoent could land a massive army at Wyndham (level one port) and then support it from there as it marched 400 miles over what was in real life a dirt track and incredibly hostile terrain to flank Darwin. Who put that "cheese" in the game. Japanese army was critically short, of trucks and running supply and tanks over that road would have consumed any vehicles.

The designers have made it very easy for Japan to take North Oz but made it impossible for the Allies to retake it overland due to very restrictive supply flow. With a commitment of force, it can easily be held until late into 1943 cutting off a major route to the DEI for the Allied counter offensive.

Yeah, you have to keep telling yourself that it's just a game, not a simulation in a lot of respects. I invaded Australia because Ted would have bombed the southern SRA into the stone age by the end of 1942, as he was doing in our WitP game before this. I had to take it.

[CapAndGown]

Go take Port Hedland and Exmouth too.

[Mike Solli]

Yup, that's the plan. Too many places to visit and too few troops. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

17 May 42

Quiet turn. The only real thing to note was that Ted once again attempted to bomb the oil fields at Magwe and was unsuccessful.

KB2 is moving toward it's little visit of Adak.

The reinforcements for the Ndeni invasion are still headed there.

[Mike Solli]

18 May 42

I landed on Christmas Island (the one near Java) finally. It's undefended. I'll take it tomorrow.

An Allied sub (Silversides possibly) attempted to sail into the port of Hakodate and kissed a mine. She showed up as sunk but didn't increase the number of Allied ships sunk. I don't think she actually sank.

Australia

11 surviving Albacores visited Broome again. I reinforced the Oscar chutai with another Oscar chutai. Five Albacores were shot down before arriving over the Japanese CAs there. Two were shot down by flak, the surviving bombers missed, and 3 of the 4 remaining Albacores were shot down on the way home. Banzai!

Burma

Teds bombers were successful against Magwe's oil fields today, reducing them from 44 to 35 of 300. I'm moving in 2 Oscar Sentai and 1 Zero Daitai to LRCAP Magwe tomorrow and try to knock down some Allied planes. We'll see how that works out.

Ndeni

The Guards Brigade and 3 Naval Guard units began landing today. It'll take a couple of turns before they're ready to attack.

[Mike Solli]

19 May 42

Burma

Allied fighters flew over Magwe again, but this time my planes opposed them. The results weren't as good as I had hoped but it wasn't too bad. I lost 9 Oscars and 2 Zeros in the air (and another half dozen or so operational) to 6 Hurricanes and 2 Warhawks. Overall, I lost 4 pilots killed and 12 wounded. Question: How many wounded pilots have you guys seen come back? I've seen exactly 1 in this game.

Adak

KB2 arrives tomorrow and has not been spotted.

Yamato arrives tomorrow! That'll allow me to accelerate 3-4 CVs!

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Yamato arrives tomorrow! That'll allow me to accelerate 3-4 CVs!

Huh? Yamato is 233 durability/points. A Unryu is 63 durability, 189 points accelerated (assuming it is already in the build queue). If they aren't building yet, then you are almost 2 years away from getting them unless you expend the 3xdurability points. By March of 1944 the US will get 8 Essex carriers plus numerous CVLs and CVEs.

I would definitely start thinking about stopping some subs and expanding some shipyards.

[Mike Solli]

Not sure what I want to do yet, cap. I know, I need to make a decision.

By the way, we got hit by the data bug. We had to go back and run the 17 May turn. It was the same. I redid the 18 May turn, so we're back a couple of days. Ted and I are both out of town this week so no turns until Friday or Saturday. [8|] Damn work.

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Not sure what I want to do yet, cap. I know, I need to make a decision.

Well, as you know, I made that decision on day one. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

Yes you did, and very successfully. I'm still of the mindset of accelerating ships at the number of turns left before construction ends equal to between 10x and 30x duability. That allows me to accelerate the maximum number of ships. I change them from accelerate to normal when I have the ability to halt them (10x durability). Yeah, I know all the arguments against my position and for your position. At some point (probably after Musashi is finished), I'll start to accelerate within 10x durability. Many will say it's too late. I am betting that it won't be too late for my style of play. I'm a conservative player (if you hadn't noticed).

Your philosophy is fewer ships as fast as possible (CVs). Mine is more ships accelerated somewhat but not as fast as yours (CVs and DDs). I'm of the opinion that DDs are just as important as CVs. In different ways obviously, but very important in their own way.