Aussies vs Austrians- no Solinvictus202- that means you Roland

[Itdepends]

Well Roland and I are both relative newbies at PBEM- this is his 2nd or 3rd game I believe- and it's my first. I've just discovered one of the most important rules of a PBEM AAR- it's a great way to fill in time while your waiting for that next turn!

House rules- hmmm- I've got them written down somewhere, sod it- I'm sure you'll figure them out as we go along- full PP for restricted units, no 4E naval below 10K etc.

First turn went reasonably well for me........ sort of. I let Roland port strike Pearl and Manila as long as I could move POW and Repulse out of imminent doom.

Well I got hammered in Manila- it's day 4 and I've lost 14 subs to aircraft in Manila. Some of that is my own fault- I foolishly thought that after the initial raid my fighter CAP would allow me to repair the subs hit in Manila- as it did against the AI.

[:-] My CAP was downed on day 2 and my subs continue to get hammered.

On the plus side I only lost 1 BB in PH and should have the first two out of repairs in around 3 months- ready for action.

I'm retreating back to Singapore and planning to evacuate as much as I can to Moresby, Darwin and Perth (Perth divisions will rail across to Brisbane/Townsville).

So that's all the boring bits- now for my current dilemma- mini KB is going on a rampage south of the Phillipines and I've got force Z to the SW and a DD/CL force with CA Houston to the ESE trailing them. Neither of my SAG are spotted at the moment. My original intention was to slip the light force past mini KB after an amphibious group heading towards the Phillipines- but that force is headed too far north- so now I either try a bombardment of Babeldaob to the East which has some minelayers and tankers in port- or go after mini KB- which has been using up ordinance at a prodigous rate divebombine targets in and around the Phillipines.

Surely they'll be out of ammo now..right?

So here's da plan. Assuming mini KB is heading west and will swing south towards Soerabaja- CA Houston and co are going to head in a westerly direction - but stopping short (hopefully) of getting in detection range of mini KB. Force Z heads NE out of Soerabaja after refuelling- again stopping after only 4-5 hexes- staying outside of detection?? (but certainly strike range) should mini KB head south at mission speed.



The next turn both taskforces head in and try for a night intercep. Should mini KB head east for rearmenant- CA Houston and co will attempt to intercept and at least cause enough damage for Force Z to catch the carriers.

What could go wrong!

[jrcar]

Good luck!

I consider a lot of those ships on the Allied side as "expendable" IF you can get in a decent position then I think it is worth the risk, it also indicates a level of agression early... which you then don't need to follow up, but for which the enemy the enemy needs to plan for... this slows them down.

The downside is if you loose them then your ability to present a credible threat has gone...

If you say they have been striking a lot then it probably is worth it, but you need to watch the Kates, they are the ship killers, while the DB usually just damage.

So has he been using the kates on missions?

Cheers

Rob

[Itdepends]

Umm - the short answer is no- at least not until now.
 
I got spanked! Mini KB conducted a highly illegal u-turn- completely ignoring the "No U Turn" sign and found my CA Houston taskforce. Fortunately nothing has been sunk yet- but there's some serious repairs required in the offices quarters- and don't get me started on the cost of the spares for one of these babies.
 
I did get a sub torpedoe hit on a light carrier [&o]
 
Unfortunately it was an american sub- and someone forgot to insert the correct fuse- so I've only dented their pride (and a hull plate) [8|]
 
Oh well- off to plan B- run away...................................
 
 

[Itdepends]

Summary of the last few turns- a rude awakening.
 
Roland is doing pretty well so far- I'm finding out just why certain bases in the DEI are targetted early in the war- it brings those damn torpedoe bombers right into the thick of things.
 
In India a defensive line is being formed from Chittagong to Ledo- with a number of airbases and fortifications in progress.
 
Troops in Burma have fallen back to Shwebo and base X- leaving Rangoon lightly defended- although I need to run another convoy in there soon- as supplies are becoming limited.
 
Noumea and Pago Pago are (soon) to be reinforced- with a forward base or two if I'm fast enough.
 
I've been steadily falling back to Singapore-evacuating as many troops as I can- particularly the Aussie Battalian (of course) and the troops attached to the III Indian Corps. Most of those troops are going to Moresby and Darwin. I pulled the 223? RAF group out of Singers a bit early- depriving my TBD of their most valuable weapon- torpedoes.
 
Roland indicated that he wasn't going to go after Mersing- and hasn't so far- but naval intelligence (is that an oxymoron?) have picked up a couple of divisions being loaded onto transports- headed for Mersing. Unfortunately Roland has already taken Sinkawang- and has torpedoe bombers there- making an interception of the Mersing transports with Force Z difficult.
 
So- in an effort to throw a spanner in the works- or at least block the harbour mouth with the sinking hulks of Force Z- POW, Repulse and retinue have been ordered to bombard the airfield at Sinkawang- hopefully opening up the way for a naval strike (and possible surface action) against the invasion fleet inbound for Mersing- although I'm leery of letting Force Z get too far north.
 
I can't show a map- the game is saved and sent- let's see how it goes!
 
 

[Blackhorse]

Good luck! Do you have any particular strategy in mind for defending the DEI (Festung Sumatra; defend Java beaches; hole up in the mountains, etc.)

[Itdepends]

Umm strategy for defending Java/Sumatra- you mean you can do that? [X(]
 
Cmon- I'm an Aussie- those Dutch guys are fine on their own....... eh? I'm probably being too cautious- retreating all land units in Sumatra back to Palemburg to deny that to Roland as long as possible- and keep shipping fuel out while I can to Darwin/Perth. Java I'm concentrating on Soerbaja and Batavia but don't expect to be able to hold them as Roland advances.
 
Concentrating my forces in a few areas that should come as a suprise to Roland- generally falling back to bases closer to Australia to make it easier to provide support. Koepang and to a lesser extent Ambon I'm going to make a stand in (with plenty of "dutch courage"). Pulling back Aussie troops from Rabaul and scattered rifle divisions into Moresby. Hoping I can use an amphibious assault to get a port and airfield operating in Milne bay- to mutually support Moresby.
 
Need to reinforce/develop Cook Town and Horn Island.
 
I've laid a few minefields in areas to restrict Rolands movement south of the DEI and Papua.
 
My biggest problem at the moment is I don't know where KB is. Pretty sure mini KB is holed up in Babeldaob (damn those Catalinas are worth their weight in gold).
 

[Itdepends]

Hmmm- mind speak to Roland in the companion thread  - "I see your thread is as big as mine".............
 
 
 
5 minutes later- as Roland makes another post- "Hey hold on- your thread is bigger than mine!"
 
 
"Wait a minute- you've got the turn- quit posting on your AAR and send my turn back- an AAR is After Action Review- I aint getting any action- so you shouldn't be doing a review" [:D]

[Itdepends]

Ok- after a few mis starts- we've got the turn rolling again- my mind control was obviously on the blink- because although Roland did send me a file last night- it was for another of his PBEM games.



Bombardment of Sinkiwang should occur this time- should go well as long as that BB/CV force exiting to the NE doesn't turn around

[Itdepends]

Ouch- Roland sucker punched me- doubling his BB force back and catching Force Z. Some rest and repair in Soerjaba is called for- followed by Pearl I think. They should make it as long as Roland doesn't pursue- I don't have anything that can stand up to those bloody Jap battleships.

I'm not sure how he caught on- I only had a detection of 1 on the TF- although I did do some aerial recon on Sinkawang first- so that may have tipped my hand.

Both heavy forces in the DEI smashed...............bugger.

[Itdepends]

A quick update- POW/Repulse and a few others are off for repairs. Being a stubborn bugger though- I pulled a B17 unit out of training and sent it over to Sinkawang to give the Japs some practice in filling in holes. Followed up with a bombardment from a depleted Force Z lead by HMS Exeter.
 
The subs are becoming a bit of a problem. I lost an AP on it's way to Singapore and a pair of AK's near Moresby- one of which was carrying a CD unit! Looks like my days of running escort free convoys around Oz are done. Damnit- theres never enough tin cans to go around.
 
In other news- the Ghurkas in Malaya have found out just how hard (slow) it is to hack a path through the jungle and are doubling back to take the goat track instead. I'd really like to get them into India to reform one of the Indian divisions- but daren't risk transports in Rangoon to get them out- so It's shanks pony to Calcutta I'm afraid.
 
On a brighter note- I'd say by around Feb '43 I'll have the first of my battleships repaired following Rolands rather lacklustre Day of Infamy in Pearl.
 
Also a note of thanks to others that are doing such detailed AAR's- it really helps to read a game that's 2 years or so ahead and see what sort of decisions I should be making now.

[Itdepends]

So I've finished packing and am ready to take the kids on a quick overnight trip to a horse riding school for the holidays (suprise)- and Roland kindly sends me a combat replay to look at- I might have time to get the turn in before I leave tomorrow.

And here's what he says in the email

hehe - here is the Combat Replay - and I can tell you this - you're not gonna like it much!!
LONG LIVE MY SUBMARINES!!!!

Now admittadely- his subs have been a bit of an annoyance- I don't have enough escorts- and he knows it- but the last time he crowed on about "decimating" one of my taskforces- his CA's came away smoking while my ships made a clean escape after knocking out a few of his AK's.

So I watch the combat replay- and he sinks an empty AK and shells an AKL with his subs- woopy de do. But then............















NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

She was sneaking around south Oz to mess up his DEI campaign- well that just went out the window.

Roland- yew bastard

[sprior]

That was unlucky but some of those JJ sub drivers are just too damned good.

[Itdepends]

So should I have had a group on the carriers on ASW? I wouldn't normally- but in my game against the AI I also had a carrier torpedoed on the way to Pearl.
 
Daniel

[Itdepends]

It's been a while since I've posted- after my two SCTF's got their assess handed to them I began to get paranoid- surely my opponent was reading my AAR- how else could he know exactly where I was about to strike and double back on me. Then as I began to get more into the campaign against a sneaky, unpredictable human rather than the AI- I began to realise what THE most important part of this game is- it's recon- specifically the ability to know what your opponent has where- and what their intentions are.

Well I'm feeling better today- my opponent isn't an omnipotent WITPAE god I thought he was. After having an amphib task force given a mild case of the flu (thanks to some Vilderbeests operating out of Koepang)- and his lamentation that his fighters flying LRCAP weren't covering his force- he sent another (or the same?) amphib task force against Denpasar- a reasonable size air base that I had the scrapings togethr of a base force at- and I was using as a stop over to get short legged fighters to Koepang and Darwin now that I've lost Makassar and Kendari.

Anyway- long story short- this time the amphib force and the accompanying battleship task force got .......ventilated.

Two torp hits on Nagato, 1 on Fuso. 11 torp hits on 6 separate AK/AKL's with around 1,000LYB reported as losses in the combat report (don't have the turn yet- not sure what intel screen says- haven't even looked at it in this game- after all- at this stage it's really only been my losses).

Bloody lucky though- the base force with the torpedoes only just reached the Soerbaja that turn- if they'd only been carrying bombs it wouldn't have been nearly as good. My opponent (Roland) should be posting up RE LR Cap in the forum shortly- apparently he's had heaps of fighters set to LR cap- I assume from Makassar. He didn't soften up my nearby airbases before sending his ships in- and he'd already had a taste of the Vilderbeests a turn ago- tactical error?- or should the LRCAP have been sufficient?

Anyway- enough of that for the moment........RE those battleships- how much trouble do you think they're in and where do you reckon he will send them? He already knows I can load torps out of Koepang. I don't have any carriers available to intercept- and don't know where KB is anyway. Reckon they'll make for Truk?- how much damage/how slow will they be? There's plenty of subs (including the Dutch ones with the functional torpedoes) in the area- I can flood the area with them but need to guesstimate how quick they'll move.

Not much change of the Vilders getting another go at them- they only carry torps at normal range anyway don't they? (4 hexes). Will they carry torps with drop tanks?

Cheers,

Daniel

[nicwb]

Looks like you got a bit of revenge for that hit on the big "E"

[Itdepends]

Well looks like the Vilders will carry torps with drop tanks- is it worth setting them to on?- The BB's at Denpasar are already 4 hexes from Soerbaja- I'd assume they'd be out of range before daylight - but might I get lucky?
 
Daniel

[Itdepends]

@nicwb- more revenge than I deserve really- I got a sub torp hit against Ryujo? from memory up near Japan- which gave me some solace. I'm just as pleased RE the LCU's I've sent to the bottom. I still don't understand why Roland didn't soften up the airfields in the area- or really soley on LRCAP.
 
Unless KB/mini KB are getting ready to do something nasty somewhere else? say the Pacific? I've got a lot of build up occurring in that area and really don't need any Jap carriers sniffing around.
 
Daniel

[Itdepends]

It appears my opponnent is seriously unhappy with the combat results- he asked to start the game again citing a concern over a possible corrupted database due to a partial "big babes" mod installation. His concerns throughout the game were too low a Allies:Japanese fighter loss ratio, bombers not flying in clear weather and now the LR Cap issue as per this thread
LRCap

Are his concerns valid?- is it possible to have a corrupted database on one side of a PBEM influencing the results? If not- and it's just unfamiliarity with the game mechanics that's caused his stumbles- I don't feel that a restart is justified.

I've indicated I'd like to continue with the game- as I treat it as a learning experience and have made mistakes myself.

Your thoughts?

Daniel

[Itdepends]

Well it appears my opponent has given up the ghost. After a week of waiting for him and his silent partner to conduct tests to ensure the database hasn't been corrupted I've .[>:]

So I'm calling this one done and will be looking for a new partner.

Daniel

Edit:- Roland has just sent me an email confirming his and his partners tests show that I should have been taking much more of a beating than I did and that he's not going to continue with this game. Kudos to him for taking the time to write a detailed explanation of his reasons- and supplying his password so that I could have a look at his force disposition.

Daniel