Nomad tries for AutoVictory - No tocaff please

[Nomad]

I have started a game as Japan against Tocaff. The ship commitments are
200/200 and the house rules are minimal. I will be going for an auto victory and
will be using this thread for discussing that.

There are six defined auto victory hexes. Townsville, Rockhampton, Brisbane,
Lugganville, Efate, and Noumea. I do not consider Rockhampton or Efate to be
viable targets on their own. Rockhampton is too close to Brisbane and the Allied
player can counterattack too easily. Efate can be easily isolated by a build up at
Lugganville and defeated easily. So, that leaves 4 possibilities.

Townville – this can be a very hard target to take. There is a large CD unit there,
The airfield and port are large, and he can move troops on the road network. But,
if taken by Japan, it is almost impossible for the Allies to retake. All LBA bombing
raids will be unescorted, leading to high losses. Troops marching can be bombed
all the way.

Brisbane ( and Rockhampton ) – Depending on whether he moves the 7th Aus ID
or not, this can be easy to take but it is a long way from Truk and the supply line
is hard to maintain. But it does have the advantage of stopping all of the air and
ground reinforcements going there. He would have to retake both of them and
the first will have to be an amphibious assault.

Noumea – Another very hard target, he will have at least the 1st Marine Div. there
and probably much more. This is the biggest prize of all, take it and the game is
definitely over. No Naval, US Air, or US ground reinforcements. He would have
no real chance to retake it.

Lugganville ( and Efate ) – this is usually the easiest target to take. But, Efate must
be taken and held with at least one of the independent Brigades. Lugganville needs
to be built to a level 4 airfield and a level 3 port to adequately defend it. A division
with some Zero and Betty squadrons stationed at Lugganville can defend both bases.


Some of the decision will hinge on what Todd does in the coming 4 – 6 weeks.

[Nomad]

We have played the first few days with no surprises on either side. I used FT to take Gili-Gili and Lunga. I am waiting for some reinforcements.

[Miller]

Only Luganville is viable, forget the others. You MUST take Efate in strength as well otherwise his short ranged LBA flying from there will crucify your resupply convoys.

[Nomad]

That is not true Miller. I have taken both Townville and Brisbane/Rockhampton in different games. It is fun taking Townville and watching the allies try to retake it. [:)] I think someone has taken Noumea before.

But, you are right, Efate must be taken and held well with level 9 forts. That makes the Allies try and bomb it and Lugganville unescorted.

To add to this:

I have taken Townville at least 5 times, and at least once I failed to secure it.

I have taken Brisbane/Rockhampton one time and held it.

I have never tried to take Noumea.

I have taken and held Lugganville/Efate at least 5 times. I lost them once.

I have had Townville taken when i was the Allies and it was not fun trying to take it back ( I never came close )

I have had Rockhampton taken once and I retook it before 1/1/43.

I have lost at least 2 games where I was not able to retake Lugganville/Efate, but I have retaken them at least 4 times.

That is what I can remember - I could be wrong on a couple of them - but I think that is fairly accurate.

[Nomad]

As of 5/10/1942 there has not been much activity. Todd has bombed a supply TF at Gili-Gili and used his B-17s to do no damage to the facilities and losing one B-17. I will probably lose one MSW.

[Nomad]

Eight more days have gone by with no real action. It is now 5/18/42. I have built a level 1 airfield at Gili Gili and based a unit of float patrol aircraft and Zeros. Lunga is building. I still have not made any decision on where to attack.

[Nomad]

A small victory at Lugganville. I notice some ship activity in the area and went to investigate:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/24/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Air attack on TF, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 35
D3A Val x 40
B5N Kate x 60

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 2 damaged
B5N Kate x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 3 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Russell, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage sunk
PG Moa, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage sunk
DMS Zane, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage sunk
AP Westralia, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Manoora, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Walke, Bomb hits 2
AP Orungal
AP Ormiston, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage sunk


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Efate Port Vila at 55,57

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 24

Allied aircraft
P-400 Airacobra x 3

no losses

no losses

Allied Ships
DMS Southard, Bomb hits 1, on fire


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 16
B5N Kate x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 2 damaged

Allied Ships
AP Manoora, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Zane, on fire, heavy damage
AP Ormiston, on fire, heavy damage
AP Wanganella, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Walke, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Lismore, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage sunk
PG Moa, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 54,54

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
D3A Val x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 5 damaged

Allied Ships
DMS Trevor
DD Sims, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage


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

I sent a small SCTF in to investigate further and moved KB a bit north.

Still mostly build up and scouting about. I have not made up my mind about
where to go for the attempt at AV, but Brisbane looks tempting.

[YUP]

Nice AAR. Keep it coming

[bigbaba]

nice attack. its allways good to reduce the allied transport capacity.

[Nomad]

And the sub and surface combat tfs get into the action - surprise and a LL attack.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/25/42

Weather: Clear

Sub attack near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

Allied Ships
DD Sims, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage sunk


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CL Tenryu
DD Ushio
DD Mutsuki
DD Asanagi

Allied Ships
DMS Trevor, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AO Neosho, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
SC 637
SC 638, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage sunk


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

Allied Ships
SC 638, Torpedo hits 4, heavy damage sunk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
D3A Val x 39
B5N Kate x 51

no losses

Allied Ships
SC 637, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage sunk

I really hate this - 80 bombers going after one SC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is nice to sink another DMS - that makes it harder for him to clear mines on a bombardment run.

[YUP]

I just lost a DMS thanks to I-21

[Nomad]

Todd is using his LB Bombers to annoy me. The F2/Tainian Daital is patroling over Lae and they have 18 new pilots with
experience in the 50's. But they are getting better.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/29/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Sub attack near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

Allied Ships
AV Ballard, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage sunk


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Lae at 9,33

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
Hudson x 9

no losses

no losses

Japanese Ships
AP Nichibi Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PG Keijo Maru

Attacking Level Bombers:
4 x Hudson at 6000 feet
3 x Hudson at 6000 feet
2 x Hudson at 6000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Lae at 9,33

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 18

no losses

no losses

Japanese Ships
AP Syoka Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP China Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PG Keijo Maru
AP Goyo Maru
AP Nichibi Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Lae at 9,33

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
Hudson x 8

no losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson x 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
AP Nichibi Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Attacking Level Bombers:
4 x Hudson at 6000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Lae at 9,33

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 12

no losses

no losses

Japanese Ships
AP Goyo Maru
PG Keijo Maru
AP Syoka Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Mogamigawa Maru

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 11000 feet

One AP is hit pretty hard and probably will sink, one other might also. It is the price
I pay to move supplies into Lae.

[bigbaba]

i found that high moral japanese fighter pilots in numbers (at least 2x the number of the bombers) can damage many of the annoying allied 4E so the OP loses "do the rest".

in my past game, i had 120 zeros (high moral and low fatigue) flying CAP over lae against together 45 allied 4E from australia.

the zeros shot down 2 bombers and damaged nearly all others so the allied lost all together 15 bombers out of 45!

[Nomad]

I don't quite have that many yet, and like I said, the ones at Lea are low experience. I put some more this turn and the experience is going up. Some of his bombers are starting to turn back so at this time it is annoying. He is losing 1-2 bombers each turn in ops losses also.

[Nomad]

Not having updated my AAR in a while, it is time - things have happened.

Tocaff sent his CVs to raid Lunga. He caught a couple of TF there:

==============================================
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/15/42
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Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 38,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 12
F4F-4 Wildcat x 23
SBD Dauntless x 30

no losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 1 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AV Kimikawa Maru, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
AP Ryuko Maru, Bomb hits 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 38,39


Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 15


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
MSW Wa 1, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Rokko Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

===================================================
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/16/42

Weather: Clear

Air attack on TF at 38,36


Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 8
SBD Dauntless x 45


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Ryuko Maru, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
APD 31, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
PC Ch 4, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
==========================================

I lost an AV, MSW, AP, APD. But payback is fun:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/17/42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 47,49

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 38
A6M3 Zero x 13
D3A Val x 74
B5N Kate x 66

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 27
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 9 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed
D3A Val x 9 destroyed
D3A Val x 14 damaged
B5N Kate x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2 damaged

CPO G.Oda of BII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 2

Allied Ships
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 17, on fire, heavy damage
CA Indianapolis, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Nashville, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Conyngham
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
CA Chester
CA Minneapolis, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Mustin
DD Porter


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I only got to within 9 hexes before launching - but his CVs did not launch any
attacks. I got no messages of sunk ships, but I expect Hornet and Yorktown
to sink, and I moved to a closer position since the well damageds ships will
not move far. Also, because he did not launch any SBDs or TBDs, they will
all sink too and none will have diverted.

At the same time, I landed three brigades at Port Moseby and the first attack
netted a 1 to 1. I expect to take it next turn. He did not reinforce PM at all.
I have taken Lae and Buna so he will not retreat but surrender.

[Nomad]

As you can see, I am not good at updating these. The operation is on as the picture shows.
I have chosen to initially land at Rockhampton and then march on Brisbane. It appeared that
Todd reinforced Efate heavily and I noticed a lot of Infantry units in Townville. I have the
2nd Inf Dif, the 38th Inf Div, the 35th Ind Brigade, and the 65th Ind Brigade along. Plus
a number of support units and somewhere around 100,000 supply and 75,000 fuel.

I am sending in a Bombardment TF with the 4 Kongo BBs this turn to hit
Rockhampton and try to knock out some of his Level Bombers.

[Nomad]

Sorry to say this game has come to an end. Two turns later I had a turn where most of my TFs didn't move, some took off to Truk and some proceded on to Rockhampton. We tried it again and 5 TFs headed for Truk, 4 TFs didn;t move and the rest were strung out from Rockhampton. Needless to say, Todd bombed most of them. I have seen this bug before, but never to this degree.

[Ike99]

Sorry to say this game has come to an end. Two turns later I had a turn where most of my TFs didn't move, some took off to Truk and some proceded on to Rockhampton. We tried it again and 5 TFs headed for Truk, 4 TFs didn;t move and the rest were strung out from Rockhampton. Needless to say, Todd bombed most of them. I have seen this bug before, but never to this degree.

I´m sorry too because I don´t believe it. I´ve played this games 100´s of times and I have never seen transports not move when in route.

Leaving port before fully loaded, yes. Not moving when in route, no...never.

Never ever.

Not to start a flame war because I promised Rutkins to be good so I won´t respond to your comment but I don´t believe it...at all.

This is your win Tocaff, he gave up.

And people say I´m too competitive and don´t like to lose. [8|]

[Miller]

If your transport fleets have "do not retire" orders they should not turn back for Truk, no matter how hard they are hit.

[HansBolter]

Todd won when his opponent gave up going the distance and went for the cheap shot victory.

Autovictory ruins this game.