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ATTENTION: Skip to post 15 if you are just starting and want to fast forward over the fairly predictable first few months.

This is a companion AAR to the one just started by my esteemed opponent kfsgo. I am going to try write up the first two weeks from memory and combat reporter after which I will try give a general overview on how the game is progressing from my end as I don't really have time to write out a blow by blow account.
Feel free to ask about specifics.
I am still pretty new to this game so advice is always welcome especially about the production side of things.

7/12/41
Pearl harbor attacked! -Well sort of, only one squad of 18 kates from Kaga (I think) decided to take torpedoes with them. The rest bounce bombs off battleships with predictable results. BB west virgina eats a minisub torpedo though which is nice.
The airfield gets a pretty good smackdown from the vals as I was already planning to stick around for a second day of strikes and I wanted to limit the number of planes he can put in the air.

------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 60 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 48
B5N2 Kate x 72
D3A1 Val x 135



Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 8 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
D3A1 Val: 8 destroyed, 23 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
A-20A Havoc: 2 destroyed on ground
B-17D Fortress: 3 destroyed on ground
P-40B Warhawk: 4 destroyed on ground
B-18A Bolo: 2 destroyed on ground
SBD-1 Dauntless: 3 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 6 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed on ground
R3D-2: 1 destroyed on ground
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed on ground
O-47A: 1 destroyed on ground
SNJ-3 Texan: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 1
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AS Pelias, Bomb hits 1
CM Oglala
DM Gamble
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 3
DM Ramsay, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DM Preble
AV Tangier
DD Worden, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 4, on fire
xAKL Manini
AV Curtiss
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 2
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Chew, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 3, on fire
BB California, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
DD Cummings, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1


Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Repair Shipyard hits 2
Airbase hits 38
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 170
Port hits 13
Port fuel hits 2

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

At least most of the ship hits are from 800kg bombs so they will have a bunch of sys damage to repair.

Landings at Khota baru, Kuching and Vigan go off without a hitch. Most TF are left on their default orders. Merchant shipping is sorted into 3 different ports by speed so I can try set up resource convoys over the next week or so.
Kuching invasion is the 143rd inf bn and the 91 naval gd.
Phillipines planes all take the day off for some reason, this enrages me no end as I was really hoping to take advantage of the first day surprise rule to bomb clark (only 1 port strike houserule.)

Zero, oscar, mavis, val, sally production is expanded and vehicle factories are all set to expand. Shinano is halted and the first few arriving CV/CVL and CVE are accelerated. I do some very rough sums to figure out engine usage and set factories to expand to what I hope is the correct amount.
Lots of fiddling with china garrisons. This is a real nightmare so far, I don't seem to have much in the way of free forces apart from in the north.

DD's Shiratsuyu, Shigure, Yugure, Ariake Sinka bout half the HK MTB squadron. Only other sea action with damage is this:
ASW attack near Kota Bharu at 54,75

Japanese Ships
DD Maikaze
CA Mogami
DD Hagikaze
DD Arashi

Allied Ships
SS KXII, hits 2

8/12/41

Zeroes sweep Clark
-------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese aircraft
     A6M2 Zero x 44
Allied aircraft
     P-26A x 6
     P-35A x 11
     P-40B Warhawk x 24
     P-40E Warhawk x 19
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
     P-35A: 1 destroyed
     P-40B Warhawk: 2 destroyed
     P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
[>:]
-------------------------------------------------------------
DD Pope found by kates from Ryujo
DD Pope, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Betties from Formosa strike at AV langley 3! times over the day and miss every time. Something like 20+ betties ignore all other shipping to go after this ship and miss.
Sonya from Canton strike HK port and put some bombs into a few mechies. The DD squad hunts around HK looking for fleeing merchies, MTB or the brit DD's.
A bunch of fairly ineffective bombing from both sides in Malaya.

KB STRIKES!
[&:]...... Or not. No flights, a few search vals lost to CAP, lots more anger.

xAK Fushimi Maru gets 99 fire from two CD hits at kuching, WELP!
Tarawa invasion force lands. Takes it.
Vigan is taken.

78th Chinese Corps loses about half its combat squads near nanchang.
I paradrop 1st SNLF into Atimonan to prepare it for followup invasion forces

Khota Baru falls, yayyyyyyy,

-------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Kota Bharu (51,75)

Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 13514 troops, 132 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 472
Defending force 3674 troops, 40 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 121
Japanese adjusted assault: 738
Allied adjusted defense: 21
Japanese assault odds: 35 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Kota Bharu !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), preparation(-)
fatigue(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
     430 casualties reported
        Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
        Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
        Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
     2732 casualties reported
        Squads: 100 destroyed, 7 disabled
        Non Combat: 153 destroyed, 3 disabled
        Engineers: 15 destroyed, 0 disabled
     Guns lost 23 (23 destroyed, 0 disabled)
     Vehicles lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
     Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
   56th Infantry Regiment
   12th Engineer Regiment
   11th Infantry Regiment
   5th Recon Regiment
   41st Infantry Regiment
   25th Army
   5th Field Artillery Regiment
   5th JAAF AF Coy

Defending units:
   FMSV Brigade
   8th Indian Brigade
   3rd ISF Base Force
-------------------------------------------------------------

Baatan has a little confusion from the allied side as the DD's go in first.
TF 288 encounters mine field at Bataan (78,77)

Allied Ships
     DD Pope
     DD Peary, Mine hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
     AVD Childs
     DD Pillsbury, Mine hits 1,  heavy damage
     DD John D. Ford, Mine hits 1,  heavy damage

4 mines cleared [:D]

---------------------------------------------
TF 290 encounters mine field at Bataan (78,77)
Allied Ships
     AM Lark
     AM Quail
     AM Tanager
     AM Bittern
37 mines cleared
---------------------------------------------

I-122 Puts a fish into CL Mauritius by Singers, shes reported as sunk but i'm not hopeful. She ought to have to go to CT or Sydney at least.
SS KXI sinks an AP off Patani with 3 TT.



[:@]  CL Boise avoids the CA cover force at Kuching and gets in amongst the transports.
Japanese Ships
     CL Kashii, Shell hits 32, and is sunk
     xAK Ryoyo Maru, Shell hits 17, and is sunk

Allied Ships
     CL Boise

9/12/41

More landings on the Phillipines at Aparri and Laoag.
104th Div storms west out of Canton and smashes a Chinese corps. I plan to catch as many as possible on their own and rough them up before they can be concentrated into high AV stacks. Fighting in open terrain is just a bonus.
Meanwhile to the south....
Hong Kong assaulted!
Japanese Deliberate attack
--------------------------------------
Attacking force 21456 troops, 321 guns, 218 vehicles, Assault Value = 634

Defending force 6560 troops, 132 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 224

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 206

Allied adjusted defense: 201

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
333 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Allied ground losses:
350 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 42 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
--------------------------------------
Kuching also falls this turn with heavy allied casualties and a destroyed unit.

Boise is caught by my Kuching cover force 80 miles west.
Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
DD Maikaze, Shell hits 1
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
CL Boise, Shell hits 6, on fire

Of course she gets away with minimal damage and my ships deplete all their torpedoes.
4 AKL are sunk, 2 running from the PI and two trying to escape hong kong.


Manilla is bombed trashing the airfield maybe 50%, not much based there, I was hoping he had shifted the B-17's there.

CA Mikuma is caught by dutch bombers returning to Kuching. A 300kg SAP bomb blows the front turret apart and leaves it with over 30sys and some minor flt and engine damage.

Finally the big event of the day

KB STRIKES AT PEARL
-------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 65
B5N2 Kate x 122
D3A1 Val x 110



Allied aircraft
P-26A x 1
P-36A Mohawk x 38
P-40B Warhawk x 80
F4F-3 Wildcat x 7


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 12 destroyed, 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 21 destroyed, 12 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 1
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB California, Bomb hits 6
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 1
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 4
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 5
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 1
CL Helena, Torpedo hits 1
AV Wright, Bomb hits 2, on fire
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hull, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AE Pyro, Bomb hits 1


Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Repair Shipyard hits 5
Port hits 5
Port fuel hits 1
-------------------------------------------------------

Well crap.
[:@]

West Virginia is out of the war for ages. The rest I likely have to expect in march or so if not before. Most will likely not even have to retire to the west coast for repairs.
KB's airgroups are gutted for a single p-40 is shot down, the losses are much worse than reported in the combat report. I grabbed a screenshot from the 20th (current turn) which shows them, there have been no major actions involving CV planes since then.

I dont quite know what to make of this, yet again only a single carrier (soryu, same as last time) sortied with torpedoes. All the bomb hits on the 9th were 250kg hits so I may as well have not bothered. Probably 80% of the pilots in the planes were lost. KB retires towards the mainland to replenish planes and repair a bunch of accumlated sys damage from running at full speed the previous day to avoid SC groups sortieing from pearl.

So far everything is progressing alright with the exception of the KB disaster. No sign of force Z.

I am prepping ships and troops for a combination invasion and force Z trap at Manado, landfall on the 13th.

10/12/41

More mopping up of civvies fleeing from the PI, A few Ak and AKL lost this turn to surface groups.
The HK DD's intercept my Miri invasion force which escapes into the night and then are caught by the CA's from kuching.

---------------------------------------
Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
DD Scout
DD Thanet, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Thracian, Shell hits 4, on fire
--------------------------------------
Of course none are sunk, [8|] My CA seem awfully bad at killing enemy surface combatants.

For subs SS KXIII is badly damaged at Khota Baru by ASW cover, she will provably live though.

Meanwhile north of Batavia:
Japanese Ships
SS I-165

Allied Ships
TK Augustina, Torpedo hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

My subs claim their first important target!

Malaya sees a bunch of bombing to keep the allied units from withdrawing in strat mode.

First half a dozen Vildebeasts + 3 Swordfish break through CAP over Khota Baru and elevate my stress levels considerably by making a run on BB Haruna. Thankfully 2 are shot down by AA and the others miss.

Mini KB potters around between Celebes and Peleliu sinking a few more escaping civvies and I lose some more nates over the PI to warhawks. I'm losing them at what looks like a 3-1 ratio, better get some zeroes over quick!

The big air action of the day is every plane I can get my hands on in the PI strikes at Manilla port. Most of the army bombers decide to take a day off but the Betties and Nells get the job done.

------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 25
G4M1 Betty x 46

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
PT Q-113, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Canopus, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AS Holland, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Yu Sang, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Princess of Negros, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Capillo, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Tantalus, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AO Pecos, Bomb hits 1
xAKL Compagnia Filipinas, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PT Q-112, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
TK Mindanao, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Si Kiang, Bomb hits 1, on fire


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Port hits 5
Port fuel hits 1


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

Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33
G4M1 Betty x 15

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAK Yu Sang, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
PG Tulsa, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PG Asheville, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb

Port hits 1

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

Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 19
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 22
Ki-27b Nate x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-Ic Sally: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
xAK Ethel Edwards, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Sagoland, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AS Otus, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PG Tulsa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Mindanao, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Si Kiang, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Paz, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Corregidor, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Capillo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Compagnia Filipinas, and is sunk

Port hits 2


Pretty good results, most of those ships now have no chance of escaping the PI.
Sadly out of 33 betties carrying 800kg bombs only 15 attacked and only 3 of those hit. Still it's nice to see them carrying them.

On the ground Hong Kong falls on the second day of attacks!
--------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 21236 troops, 321 guns, 218 vehicles, Assault Value = 623

Defending force 6087 troops, 132 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 191

Japanese adjusted assault: 620

Allied adjusted defense: 153

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Hong Kong !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
756 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled

Allied ground losses:
6792 casualties reported
Squads: 257 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 564 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 24 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 146 (146 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 84 (84 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 6
--------------------------------------------------

and another Chineese Corps and and army HQ are trashed SE of Sinyang
Allied ground losses:
2688 casualties reported
Squads: 74 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 119 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2

11/12/41

Guam and Brunei invasions roll ashore, I seem to have allocated far more to the Guam invasion than is strictly necessary but better safe than sorry I guess!

I finally catch that blasted AV Langley and buddies trying to run into the Ceram Sea.

     AV Langley, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk [8D]
     AM Finch, Shell hits 8,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
     AM Whippoorwill, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
     xAP President Madison, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
     xAP Rochambeau, Shell hits 1

The rest of the surface action consists of slaughtering the refugees from HK and the PI.

More bombing in all the usual places, we go about equal in numbers over Clark and I put a bunch of bombs into the runway. This is mostly to stop them from building the forts up rather than to stop flights.
I trade 10 zeroes and 10 various bombers for 20-25 fighters (about 15 p-40E/B the rest crap)

On the ground I smash another corps and army HQ in the mountains north of Chengchow. 150combat 150NC squads destroyed. Another corps near Luchow loses 100/50 squads as well. Finally more mopping up actions along the rail lines accounts for probably another 100 of each type.
This tactic of having divisions running around catching loose corps seems to be working quite well.

Medium term in china I am moving everything I can spare to the north. I am going to do a big three pronged push through to Sian before more troops can be moved there to reinforce. I hear the oil is nice too.



Bruinei Falls to the 41st guard batallion.

A fairly quiet day. I am making a bit of a show moving some transports around for a sneaky plan I have in the works. More on that tomorrow.

12/12/41

To start the day an extremely alarming turn of events occurs when a carelessly routed CL/DD force chases the RN DD's right into singapore hex. The engagement is again inconclusive. I seem to have terrible luck bringing enemy SC units to battle.


AM Quail shelled by SC force and AVP poolster torpedoed by a sub, otherwise unexciting at sea. This is ideal as I have managed to break contact with the Mini KB (no sightings for 2 turns) and flash all my BB's either up by the PI or over by Malaya (apart from the two designated to go help out SOPAC)

Thus my rather obvious movement towards the Celebes over the last few turns to establish a Netty base as well as the lack of BB's covering it should hopefully draw out force Z. Then Mini KB will materialise to their north and give them the gift of torpedoes (all carefully not used on merchies.)

MY SNEAKY MANADO PLAN



Hopefully Force Z will steam up the makassar strait through my sub screen and eat some airdropped torpedoes then proceed to be hunted down by the CA in the area. Subs will attempt to pick off fleeing ships in the makassar strait and I have a load of sub mines to drop in the choke point if anything ends out on this side of it.

In the air some B-17's show up over Peleilu and blow up an AO and AD docked in the port and a zer sweep over Clark goes 9-1 in my favor.

On the ground my wake invasion force arrives and loses an AKL to the CD guns and another heavily damaged (should be alright though.) The forced shock attack takes the island in one go. Kudos to the 53rd Nav Gd and Maizuru 2nd SNLF.

East of changsha I somehow have a pair of Rgt roaming around for loose Corps lose control of all their hexsides, now trapped there with three chinese corps eep! Not quite sure how this happened but a div and an armored car unit are sent from 2 directions to reopen the hexsides.



Tomorrow will hopefully be a busy day [:D]

13/12/41

Most awesome unit of the war award goes to SS Sculpin.

Submarine attack near Laoag  at 81,72
 
Japanese Ships
      DD Yukaze
      DD Sawakaze
      xAK Marei Maru
      xAK Norfolk Maru
 
Allied Ships
      SS Sculpin, hits 22, and is sunk
 
SS Sculpin is sighted by escort
DD Yukaze attacking submerged sub ....
DD Yukaze attacking submerged sub ....
DD Yukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Yukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Yukaze attacking submerged sub ....
DD Yukaze is out of ASW ammo
DD Yukaze is out of ASW ammo
SS Sculpin forced to surface!
...Much more after this

After hitting an xAK with torpedoes (duds) Sculpin was severley damaged from depth charging and forced to surface. UNDETERED she proceded to engage in a gun duel with both destroyers and managed to put torpedoes into DD Yukaze and both AK after being hit several times by the escorting destroyers main armament.
Sadly all were duds she was eventually overcome by her flooding.

In other news I had two xAK torpedoed this turn, 1 will make it to port and I cleared a bunch of sub mines off my PI landing sites.

Other than that absolutely NO sea action. No sign of force Z or even the ABDA cruisers. Manado landings go off smoothly and the troops roll ashore while my BB force bombards Cagayan, blows a triplet of B-17's to pieces and shuts down the airfield. More bombarding next turn as the airfield reads 85% damaged and I don't think the forts can escape.

Over Clark the airfield eats another 80+ bombs and we both lose 6-8 aircraft each.

The rest of the air action is the usual Malaya/China bombing runs.

Guam falls and troops take San fernando and Tuguegarao in the PI. Miri invasion force rolls ashore in good order.

14/12/41

Slow day at sea. SS-36 takes a few depth charges and will have to retire. Otherwise inconclusive sub caction. Still no show from any allied SC forces [:(]
Cagayan bombarded again but all the planes have fled somehow. A xAKL in port takes a BB main gun shell.

Some Hudsons show up over central china. Nates intercept but their shitty guns cant do more than damage them. In return Sonia's throw 50Kg bombs all over changsha airfield, one lands on a DB-31 and leaves a crater behind.
Rabaul is scouted and it appears to have not been reinforced. Invasion Tf escorted by BB's Mutsu and Yamashiro is greenlighted.

China is quiet and Manado and Miri fall with minimal losses to us and bloody days for the allies.

Fairly quiet day all around.

15/12/41

SS Saury is DC'd for 1-2 hits and some mines are cleared off the HI, otherwise no sea action.

Some RN DD's ineffectually bombard a tank regt of west coast of mlaya.
Cl Kashima and 2 xAK are roughly handled by Rabaul CD battery. All should live though.
Lots of casualties coming ashore, probably 25 squads disabled/destroyed.

Kavieng is invaded.

In the air there is some more trading of planes over Clark. Runway has a fresh set of craters and the PI airforce is fast running out of planes. 30 rise to meet us and only 20 land intact. We lose about 1:1 again. Lots of reported ops losses this turn and the replay showed more kills.
 
Japanese aircraft losses
      A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
      G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed
      G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak
 
Allied aircraft losses
      P-35A: 1 destroyed
      P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed
      P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed
      P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground

First sweep of singapore. Only a few aircraft actually fly from each side. 30 buffaloes vs 12 oscars and 10 zeroes. We lose a zero for 2 buffaloes and lots of damage to others.

No real ground action, Alor Star is in Malaya is taken empty.

Another quiet day.

Recon today tells me Kfsgo has moved quite a lot of troops (~40K) out of singapore and into forward positions. Perhaps he is trying a forward defense?
I immediately begin preparations for landing in force at Mersing with the Imperial guards div and probably another 500-600 AV on top of that. All heavy combat units assigned to the western front (6BB + a dozen or so CA) head towards indochinese ports to rearm and prep (AKE are already positioned) and the mini Kb pulls out of Celebes to do the same thing.
If I can cut Singapore off from this force it's all over bar the shouting.
Fighter sweeps over Singapore take top priority to establish air superiority for the possible invasion.

16/12/41

At sea I catch an xAK off the china coast and sink it. Some inconclusive ASW near the Manado landings and some more mines swept away from the HI is the only other action.

Clark Field action nets another 3 or so P-40 for no loss other than a couple of Op's. Manilla port attack nets a dozen or so damaged ships and puts pretty much all of them on Heavy fires-heavy damage. From now on refered to as HF/HD.
Singers sweeps all take the day off. [8|]

A PA inf bat is liquidated in the northern PI and Rabauls forts are taken down to zero. Should fall next turn.
Some inconclusive combat in china with my trapped rgt's and a few more rain line hoggers are kicked off by roaming tanks.

[>:]

17/12/41

A bit of inconclusive sub action off the PI is the only sea action. Duds are a real blessing.

Clark airfield is hammered again and only 7 fighters rise to defend it. However they score on two zeroes for no loss but the runways still get theirs.
Singapore combat report says 10 buffaloes and a Blenheim IF for and oscar and a zero but intel shows significantly more buffalo losses and lots were damaged so I live in hope.
Chinese bombers start flying to disrupt my movements and nates seem unable to do more than ping them with their crappy MG's.
Otherwise the usual bombings in malaya.

Another Chinese corps shows up with my trapped regt's im starting to get a little worried.
Ground combat at 83,53 (near Wuchang)
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 10086 troops, 76 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 310

Defending force 19530 troops, 171 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 547

Assaulting units:
   11th Ind.Mixed Brigade
   12th Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
   72nd Chinese Corps
   26th Chinese Corps
   78th Chinese Corps
   3rd New Chinese Corps
   30th Group Army
---------------------------------------------

Another corps is roughed up by 110'th div + 2 mixed bde north of Kaifeng. 80C/40NC squads lost with more disabled.

Rabaul falls and one unit is destroyed, looks like the base force from the report. Lark bn and the NG rifles fall back into the jungle.
146 inf rgt is nearly half disabled from the fighting and rough landing however.

It really has been a quiet few days. My ships are preparing for the possible Mersing operation so no real exposed task forces.




18/12/41

No sea action of any sort this turn. Not even subs.

Stronghold and scout keep trying to disrupt my troops on the west coast of malaya.

Over Singers we trade 2 zeroes for 7 Buffaloes and an IF, not too shabby really.
Dutch floatplanes try for Manado but are shown off by the covering CA's.
9 nells try for DD stronghold on the malayan west coast but the nimble little bugger evades them all.
I give the PI aircrews the day off to get fatigue back down.
Bombing of forward positions in Malaya/China.


SW of Khota Baru I catch the retreating units and send one unit reeling south while the others hold with heavy losses, suits me!

Directly east of Changsha I run into 1300 Chineese AV with 1 div and 1 rgt no real losses but I will have to pull back. Damnit I have really not paid enough attention to this front. All my china time is given over to the sian offensive and mop up actions.

Speaking of which the top prong of my northern thrust very convincingly smashes through the Chinese blocking force. Another bde is almost caught up.

--------------------------------------------------
Japanese ground losses:
     274 casualties reported
        Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
        Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled
        Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
     3821 casualties reported
        Squads: 70 destroyed, 8 disabled
        Non Combat: 118 destroyed, 13 disabled
        Engineers: 4 destroyed, 3 disabled
     Guns lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)
     Units retreated 4

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
   37th Division
   41st Division
   4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
   6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
   33rd Chinese Corps
   34th Chinese Corps
   61st Chinese Corps
   7th Group Army
--------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in south china my marauding 104 div marches into Wuchow and munches up the base force and an army HQ. Chinese units flee in all directions but I decide to consolidate to avoid a disaster like central china is turning into.



19/12/41

AMc WA-20 manages to blow itself up minesweeping the HI. [:-]

5 transports are sunk fleeing the PI while I lose an xAKL to subs.

More stronghold/scout antics.

3 Nates lost in the PI for nothing and some night flying hudsons blow up a zero at khota baru.

SW Of Khota the british base force is destroyed and the meagre remnants of FMSV Brigade are sent fleeing south along the rail line.

North of Kaifeng a Chinese corps accidentally shocks across a river into 2div 3 bde (1400AV) and is obliterated.
The center prong of my Sian thrust moves out, reinforced to nearly 3k AV. [8D]

South on Manado I catch the retreated dutch forces and send them packing again. They are almost gone.




And so that brings the AAR up to date with the game.

So far I am assembling 2div components at truk as well as preparing for the Mersing op. I am keeping them separate until I strike for OPSEC purposes. I hope he isn't a knowlegeable enough player to know the OOB and deduce its presence from fragments.
However his forces seem to be pulling back to Singapore so I may have to abandon the operation as not worth risking all the assets for. I would guess sigint betrayed me here.

2 Div as well as a handful of SNLF/Nav gd units and a pair of independent rgt will be used as my main striking force in SOPAC for now.
I have not seen any sign of Port Moresby being reinforced so it should fall easily enough. After that I plan to move on Suva and Noumea to make moving convoys from the WC a miserable proposition. This is all rather fluid at the moment depending on how things progress in the DEI and the Phillipines. I think I have committed enough force to Malaya and the PI to take singers/clark but we will have to see.

Burma is a no show for now as I have decided to take Singapore as early as possible and coupled with the fact I actually don't know what is needed to invade it means I want to wait until overwhelming force is assembled. Some engineers and Aviation groundcrews are preparing the border bases and I am marching around with a pair of That divisions attempting to make it look like something bad is coming.

The KB is refitted and heading out. I am tempted to temporarily split it and send a carrier div to the DEI and perhaps try another ambush while the others move to support my SOPAC invasions. However 3 US CV vs 4 IJN is not an ideal matchup at this point. On the bright side a sub glen flight caught what appears to be a CV and some merchants leaving the West Coast a couple of days ago. I assume this is Saratoga so she is reasonable far away from SOPAC for now.
I am made cautious by my own experiences of using Lex/Enterprise to ambush the mini KB and totally sinking it early in the war. MiniKB stays away from anywhere there could be US Fleet CV's. I am less worried about the british CV's as they are smaller and their planes are quite bluntly shit at carrier battles until 3/42 or so.

So far no significant allied SC forces have been sunk and efforts to draw them out to battle have been unsucessful. I really hope this isn't because Kfsgo has decided to wait a few months for his pearl harbor BB's to be back online. I need to smash the allied surface forces in a conclusive battle before then otherwise I will end out spread too thin and vulnerable. I estimate that by march his heavy line of battle will overmatch mine and only the KB will provide local superiority. (Am I right about this?)


So who has opinions or advice for me. Anything else I have forgotten to cover?
Also having never written an AAR before what could be improved about it? So far I have just been going from memory and combat reporter so it has been fairly dry as well as past tense. I hope to have much more planning and future op discussion for future updates as I will attempt to get into them fresh from doing my turn.

I finding splitting the KB a very risky gambit. 
 
Allied intel is so good and the IJ intel is so bad, many times you don't even know if the KB has been spotted.  If your opponent suspects (and he will if he is able to see "two" KB's in separate areas) and forces a carrier battle, he can hurt the IJ.  Even if it is an even exchange, IJ still loses.  At least I would gladly exchange one for one as the Allied player in '42.  It will make the rest of '42 relatively calm and '43 a breeze. 

20/12/41

Today makes two weeks at war. So far no real disasters (phew) and I am fairly happy with the pace of things.

At sea SS-39 sinks an xAK off the east coast of the PI. Thankfully she was empty returning from supplying the southern Salient.

DD Stronghold and scout shoot at some tanks again on Malaya. This time however 17 nells catch Scout and put a torpedo into her side sending her to the bottom.

At Balikpapan I saw a port icon last turn so a dozen nells fly over and put a bomb into an already damaged AG, no doubt a refugee from the PI. She is likely sunk.

I had ordered all the bombers in Malaya to perform a heavily escorted port attack on Singapore to catch what appears to be some transports in port. Unfortunately almost none fly and the singe one that gets through to attack the port is shot down by AA fire.
34 buffaloes rise up to meet the escorts and another half dozen or so are shot down.
Other than that the usual chinese and malayan interdiction bombings occur.

In china my encircled units near changsha are relieved by an armored car company opening a hexside.

6th div gets hurt trying to root some chinese out of a wooded hex by sinyang. Another div is routed to help them.
------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 86,49 (near Sinyang)
 
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 11437 troops, 102 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 402
 
Defending force 11169 troops, 71 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 344
 
Japanese adjusted assault: 220
 
Allied adjusted defense: 493
 
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
 
Japanese ground losses:
      1162 casualties reported
         Squads: 1 destroyed, 49 disabled
         Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 35 disabled
         Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
 
 
Allied ground losses:
      121 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
------------------------------------------------

And a chinese heavy corps is smashed by ichang as my reinforcements arrive.

-------------------------------------------------------
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 34839 troops, 268 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 1304
 
Defending force 9627 troops, 75 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 236
 
Japanese adjusted assault: 1125
 
Allied adjusted defense: 57
 
Japanese assault odds: 19 to 1
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
 
Japanese ground losses:
      317 casualties reported
         Squads: 3 destroyed, 31 disabled
         Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 41 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
 
 
Allied ground losses:
      4994 casualties reported
         Squads: 241 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Non Combat: 170 destroyed, 32 disabled
         Engineers: 8 destroyed, 2 disabled
      Guns lost 8 (8 destroyed, 0 disabled)
      Units retreated 1
-------------------------------------------------------

Chengchow falls without any resistance as all allied units appear to have evaced and just north of Chengchow another chinese corps is roughed up trying to fall back.

Another fairly quiet day but today the green light was given to the mersing invasion as sufficient numbers of troops appear to be north of the targetted line so cutting the rail line is deemed worthwhile.

Invasions of Kendari and Tarakan also begin loading. They are covered by a 4x CA force and there are now 36 torpedo equipped nells flying out of Manado and the 200 engineers I have moved there should get the AF to level 4 this turn.

The 6 BB available for the Mersing op are divided into three TF's with 2x CA and a CL plus 8-10 destroyers each. One will bombard mersing while the other two provide cover. I think this should be sufficient to dissuade Force Z from interfering, the mini KB will also be on station to cover the landings as well as 30 zero and 40 oscar flying LRCAP from malayan bases. Finally Saigon Netties will strike at anything within range and there is a squadron of divebombers stationed at Kuching.

Finally an overview of the theatres after two weeks of war.

MALAYA




CHINA




PHILIPPINES




DEI




AIR LOSSES [:(]

21/12/41

The mersing operation ships get underway, landfall in 2 days. The strikes at Tarakan and Kendari begin loading.

Singapore is swept with fair success. Another half dozen buffaloes not going home for a zero and an oscar. Surprisingly no ops losses today anywhere on the map, I don't think i've seen that before! I doubt there are more than two dozen buffaloes remaining and they will no doubt be withdrawn soon.
Malayan bombers still refuse to fly a port strike against singapore despite reports of several transports in the harbor.
Otherwise the usual scattering of interdiction bombings.
An AKl is sunk off Darwin but otherwise no action at sea. The next few days should get a lot more busy.

The final interesting news for the day is heavy radio traffic at christmas island. Likely a reinforcement convoy from the west coast. Not much that can be done about it now.

KB is moving <REDACTED> and I am still trying to draw out the allied fleet.

On land there is some desultory combat in china but nothing significant. The sian advance keeps moving forward and I am keeping close watch on central china. Now I have opened the chengchow rail route reinforcements can be routed there rapidly if the situation deteriorates.

Well we are through the new year and the current date is the 3rd Jan.

This shows the extent of my expansion so far and planned operations.


It's been a rough air war so far but the Malayan and PI fighters are all gone so losses should taper off pretty quickly at this point.



China is a bit of a mess, I am probably going to lose nanchang in the next couple of days but heavy reinforcements are on the way to push back the Chinese. Sian push has stalled to run around encircling as much AV as possible, what I  get now I don't have to deal with later!



Expansion through the DEI continues now supported by LBA after dutch flying boats have proved remarkably effective against shipping.



The allies are making a stand outside of singapore, this suits me as the crossing into singapore can be pretty brutal with the forced shock attack.



In the phillipines I am acheiving 1:1 attacks and the forts at clark are gone. Not long now, maybe 2 weeks? Seems like this heavy commitment to the PI may pay off.


PM is about to fall, 95% certain it does in the next combat round as they are down to 10AV there vs 400.



And finally this little guy is going to pay a visit to Fiji with his buddy the 81st naval gd plus some support troops. Almost 600AV all told and there are some uh, heavy units tagging along to provide cover so the landing should go off without a hitch.

Finally about 800 solid AV is headed into burma centered around the IG div. THe Thai armies are messing around the border and trying to draw the allies forward.

Once the PI falls I can send units to mop up southern PI and finish off singapore.  Then the assault on Java will begin. Afterwards I am uncertain exactly what I shall do. Who has advice or ideas? Also how much AV is needed to take the southern PI? I remember a few PI divisions there but I don't really know how much the defenders have available.

Well I figure I better update this.

Its the 16 march today. PI, Singapore and Rangoon have all fallen Darwin fell a few days ago against minimal resistance and Java and Sumatra are invaded and in the final stages of resistance.
As this is only a scenario one game and my first outing with Japan there wasn't a grand plan other than expand fast in SOPAC to grab an extended perimeter before Noumea and Fiji could be reinforced.

I also wanted to see how fast I could take the PI and then release those troops to take Java and Northern Australia.
As it turned out this was a terrible idea, the PI troops stood for a lot longer than I had anticipated despite every single unit I could find descending on Clark Field. More than 3800 Solid AV took months to batter and smash its way through the massively outnumbered defenders.

However they won eventually and Singapore finally fell (albiet a couple of weeks late.)
Now I have occupied all the major bases in the DEI except Batavia (about to be besieged and should only last a week or two) and the Dutch airforce is down to half a dozen planes. They were reinforced by the Singapore airforce and a bunch of british hurricanes but the zero proved the superior plane and after a fairly brutal air campaign the ABDA airforce is no more.

However we all know everybody plays this game for the naval news, which I am of course excited to announce that, well, there is none.

Pearl harbor was a total bust and not a single BB was sunk and only one severely damaged.
Not a single significant naval combat since the game began. The closest thing was KB stumbling across a troop convoy in SOPAC and sinking CA Australia and CL's Leander and Achillies as well as what was either a bunch of base forces or half a division.
Oh and I lost a CVL to the bloody dutch subs [:@] and Mini KB had a shot at force Z off Darwin 6 weeks ago but they were 1 hex outside torp range so all that happened was a bunch of bombs bouncing off the BB's.
This of course means that by now I am rather outnumbered when it comes to BB's but I still maintain a superior carrier force (for now.) I am really quite glad my opponent seems to be a very conservative player because there is a lot of mischief those BB's could get up to when the KB isn't around.

So yeah the Naval stuff is a total letdown.

The yellow dots are going to be the first major Imperial defense sites.





MEANWHILE IN BURMA

Rangoon has fallen to a fairly lacklustre IJA assault with the Brits/Indians retreating into the interior or being wiped out. Burma Div was totally destroyed and a bunch of other weak units trashed.
The pace was so slow due to the drawdown due to Clark Field <--- (Bad idea don't do this)

So currently we have:



[X(] More than 110K allied troops in north burma! [X(]

Looks like literally EVERYBODY is there. The British, the Aussies, the Indians, The Chinese and I swear there is a US division walking through the jungle from India unless the unit colors are lying to me.

Oh frack



Prepare yourself for GARY GRIGSBY'S WAR IN SOUTHEAST ASIA [&o][&o][&o] [8D]

The question to the peanut gallery is how much AV is required to perform the invasion sketched out in blue and does Chittagong have coastal defense?

So far a reinforced 25th army (~2k AV) is about to advance and engage the enemy in north Burma. 4 div and 5 Tk rgt which turn into 1st Tank div in 3 months.

16th Army (2 and 38 divs + AA and Art) is in the pacific or moving there, mostly to be concentrated at Noumea and Fiji to stop any clever moves by Kfsgo with NORPAC to be defended primarily by the unholy amount of Naval Gd units I have.

15th Army (14, 33 and 55 divs) is spread between Java and Northern Ausy. Wont be free for a wee bit yet and I probably have to leave 14th div in North Australia to keep the savages at bay. Probably can spare 33 and 55 after Java falls. ~900 AV for those two divisions is available soonish.

14th army (16, 48 Divs and 65 Bde + 5 Tk rgt) is at Manilla recovering or arriving at Singapore. 1250 AV currently and all earmarked for Burma.

Southern army has 4th and 21st Divisions which are currently cleaning up around palembang as well as 21 Bde and 124 ind Rgt at singers. ~1000 AV shortly available.

Finally 53 and 54th divisions are at manilla. They were bought out from the home islands late in the Clark campaign and after arriving suffered disproportionate losses. 820 AV between them and they can join the invasion too as a second wave.

So 2k AV in burma and after two weeks at a rough guess I can probably have almost four thousand AV at singapore.

Either in Burma or about to move there are 200 modern oscars and 80 zeroes (elite pilots in the zeroes) as well as ~250 @E army bombers and ~90 Netties to interdict the Indian ocean from the Andamans (which are being built up now).

RAF fighters appear to have been reinforced by P-40's and around 200 fighters are estimated, bomber numbers are unknown but most 4E's appear to be in Ausy/SOPAC so that's a big relief. Still will be a rough air war. Another 50 Oscars and 80 2E bombers can be brought in from china in short order.

I figure if I can take the line on the previous map then I can starve the massive allied forces in Burma in (hopefully) fairly short order and then relish in the destruction of the commonwealth ground forces.

as far as I know Chittagong has 6'' guns - a few of them.... - but it has the option to get 2 additional 9,2'' guns if some are available....

If your back is strong enough, and if you can spare the whole might of KB, wait for him to commit all those guys in Burma proper (aka in the Jungle), then get several 1000s AP ashore at Calcutta and along the Bengalese coast and round up all those nice people driving to the Himalayas. The big Chinese units will eat much more that they are actually worth. if you can maintain the encirclement, you could destroy a good chunk of his forces and buy some time in the theater

If I go in it will be with nearly all of the IJN covering the invasion. A 2BB 2CA 2CL SC TF and a 3CA 4CL TF are designated to SOPAC but otherwise nearly everything else will be committed to an invasion. From email conversations and last sighting of his CV's heading west underneath AUS I have a suspicion he has combined the US and British carrier fleets. I think that's 4 US CV (plus hornet just arrived a few days ago) and 1 UK CV and Hermes CVL
Could be a chance to destroy them if he commits them to attack an invasion fleet but so far he has avoided all naval combat so I wont get my hopes up. I'm more worried about not having got most of the vildebeasts and swordfish in the DEI. They just never came out to play.

The pacific is covered by most of the IJN airforce with Air HQ's at all the important places. Betties can be anywhere in a day or two and zeroes not too far behind so any invasion without carrier cover would be a bit of a disaster.