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My first post and its an AAR against my old foe Yank. Many times we have clashed across the seas, and many times weve never made it past Dec 1942. For various reasons over the last 6 years (!!) weve been interrupted: AE release, a bug in an update, personal matters and weve never reached the 'turning point' - consequently my poor friend has spent the last 6 years getting clobbered up and down the Malay peninuslar, battered in the Pacific and bullied in Australia and has never had the chance to get on the upside and do it back to me. On the flip side like any schoolyard bully, i am flush with victory and overly confident of my abilities and have not been stood up to yet and have not yet met the might of the revitalised Allies - we're both hoping this is the one.

Its GC1, one day turns, Yank has the Allies, me the glorious Japanese - weve known each other long enough to not really have a set of house rules, we know about the 6k feet bombing rule and the strategic bombing stuff in China, and anything else that might seem 'ooh this is a bit risque or cheeky' weve always queried it in a mail and proceeded from there.

I have attempted a number of times in both WitP and AE a Pearl invasion against Yank, i have yet to be successful and will not be trying it out here - i have other cunning plans to outwit the Allies and leave them reeling. Never mentored by anyone but an avid follower of John III's strategy of 'it isnt over until all my ships are sunk' balls out attack method, and Nemo's scary ass tactics - i shall be applying the same tactics here, not suicidal (yet!) but well thought out and structured attacks. It is my intention to grab as much important land as possible, the more i own when the 'turn around' starts, the harder and longer it will be for Yank to take it back.

With this in mind on Day 1 there will be two attacks, yes 2!!! Yank and I have never understood the communities disbelief that coordinated attacks could go in at Pearl and Manilla, well, im obviously better than Yamamoto and there will be 2 attacks in the aforementioned places. The KB will follow its traditional path but all the DBs and TBs have been put on port attack, only the Zeros will attack the airfield - however much effort i put into the airfield it will never close and i wont waste time trying, i dont imagine sticking around for a second day, depending on the results of day 1 of course, so its not imperative to close/damage the field - it is imperative (IMHO) to drop as much Kaboom on the ships as possible.

There will be a three pronged thrust in Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra. On day 1, in Malaya, Patani will be converted into a major airfield - it is already level 3 and of the 24(ish) construction engineer units between Patani and Takao it will receive 6 who will begin expansion immediately, it will also receive the 3rd Air Div HQ and 200 points worth of aircraft engineers and all the supply i can get there to support drop tanks on day 2. All the local Oscars and Zeros will be based here from the get go to provide LRCAP over Mersing and ultimately, i hope to base all the local Sallys and Lilys here to cover any Allied withdrawals or approaches up or down the Malacca straits.

All available forces are diverted to Mersing - the 48th Div, the 5th Div and the 18th Div and other regiments and armour in the area, 250 points of aircraft engineers, 12 construction engineer units, and the 22nd Air Flotilla HQ will be sent from Saigong as soon as the Bettys there have finished with Force Z on turn 1. The airbase here will be built to provide a fighter base for escorts and sweeps across the peninsular, over to Palembang and Singkawang. The Imperial Guards are coming down from the North, they will start at Alor Star and begin rolling up the Allies from this end, and the 38th will be picked up immediately at Canton and shipped to Kuantan and start in from the East. Once Johore Bharu falls the fast moving armour units will head up the roads to Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and Temuleh and close down the peninsular. The rest will head South to Singapore and take the base by Boxing Day 1941. Plans for the forces here after all this (first week of Jan 1942) will be to send 3 divisions to the North of Java, and let the armour and the regiments cross the straits and take Northern Sumatra - then the 2 remaining Divs and all the armour and regiments from Sumatra will head for Ceylon.

Various SNLFs and Naval guards will take Singkawang with the remaining 6 construction units, an Air Div HQ from Takao, and 200 aircraft engineers - this base will be built up to provide air cover over Mersing and southern Sumatra.

For Southern Sumatra (Palembang) the 65th Brigade will ship from the East, wait off Singkawang for other units and then should land in Palembang on turn 3 or 4, armour will immediately head south for Oosthaven whilst the other SNLF units spread West and North, the 65th will wait for Oosthaven to fall before catching the train there with a number of Aircraft Engineers and Construction units - this base will be the launch pad for air attacks against Batavia. The 3 Divs from Malaya will land at Kilidjati in Java and spread west and North to isolate the units that will inevitably be holed up in Batavia and these Divs will secure and take the North of the island.

Further East, Jolo and Manado will be taken for 2 reasons, to deprive them to Yank and to provide air cover for the divisional convoys that will be sailing between the 2 airbases later. An Air HQ unit will be based at Jolo and a number of Bettys and Nells will patrol from here to cover any Phillipine withdrawals.

The 33rd, 21st, 56th and 16th Divs will route around the Phillipines and meet at Badeldaob - the 16th will lead the attack and will land at Balikpapan securing this base and building the airfield to provide air cover for the follow on attack - a number of SNLFs and Air Engineers will be sent to Bandjermasin opposite Soerbaja to secure the level 3 airfield here to provide CAP for the main attack - after the arrival of garrison troops at Balikpapan all 4 divisions will sail to Samerang and mirror their brothers in the North, spreading West and South to surround and finally defeat Soerbaja - hopefully by mid/late Jan 42 the DEI will be wrapped up, garrisoned and ready to support the next phase of the attack.

Tomorrow:- China and SoPac

The first turn is sent to Yank

ORIGINAL: thebluefox

With this in mind on Day 1 there will be two attacks, yes 2!!! Yank and I have never understood the communities disbelief that coordinated attacks could go in at Pearl and Manilla,

Nor have I, as long as the first Manila attack is a night attack (Manila is 18 hours ahead of Honolulu) ... bravo. Looking forward to this.

double post

For China, all forces in the North will make their way through the mountains, meet up at Teiyuan and head for Yenan, after taking the base here they will make their way west and head for Sian. Further South, forces will meet at Kaifeng to take Chengchow and Loyang, forces freed up here by the fall of these 2 will also head for Sian. In the South, forces will rendezvous in Hengchow and gradually work their way west taking all Chinese bases to Hanoi.

In the SoPac the 4th Div and 2nd Div plus the 144th Regiment are all headed to Truk where they will meet up with the recently replenshed KB, they will then head to Fiji, landing at Nadi and moving East to Suva, whilst the 144th heads for Pago Pago, this should secure Fiji by mid Jan, at which point Aircraft Engineers and garrison troops will be shipped in. As soon as possible the 7th Div and the 53rd Division will be bought out and shipped south to assist the 2nd and 4th in taking Noumea, Rabaul and Port Moresby. Between Fiji and Kwajalein bases with airbase potential of 4 or more will be garrisoned and built up.

So thats the opening plan - lets see how we get on!!

Dec 7 1941

Pearl:-

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 68
B5N2 Kate x 144
D3A1 Val x 126

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed by flak
B5N2 Kate: 5 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 6 (!!!), on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires
CL St. Louis, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1
CL Helena, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Detroit, Bomb hits 1
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Lots of other DDs and support ships sunk, but these are the big fellas - i cant believe the Nevada is still up - i think this warrants a second go at the ships - the KB is routed around Lihue and back towards Pearl to avoid tangling with any ships that may be fleeing.

The Prince of Wales and Repulse are skillfully avoided by the convoys coming west to Mersing, and the 2 BCs are sunk by the Nells and Betties from Saigong.

Manilla:-

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 63
G3M2 Nell x 36
G4M1 Betty x 81

Allied Ships
SS Stingray, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
SS Tarpon, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
SS Pickerel, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Swordfish, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
SS Perch, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Searaven, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
SS S-37, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
TK Gertrude Kellogg, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Snapper, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Permit, Bomb hits 1
SS Porpoise, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Seal, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
SS Pike, Bomb hits 1
SS Saury, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Sturgeon, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
SS Sargo, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
SS S-40, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Salmon, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Sealion, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
SS Sailfish, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Skipjack, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Sculpin, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Seadragon, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

Carnage amongst support ships but this is the real reason we came - tankers and subs - a good days work here. Sallys finish the job:-

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 18

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
SS Shark, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS S-38, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Perch, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Tarpon, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Seawolf, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Skipjack, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Seadragon, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

The Boise is sunk off the coast of Mindanao.

Between the landings at Mersing, Patani and Singkawang only 5 ships were hit, 3 with torpedos at Mersing but they didnt sink, and 2 with bombs at Singkawang, also for minimal loss. Miri, Brunei, Jolo, and Manado all went without a hitch.

More Zeros are sent to Patani to provide adequate CAP over Mersing until the bases are captured next turn. The Palembang force is combined off the coast of Borneo and heads towards its target.

All the Divisions head in the right direction

ORIGINAL: thebluefox
The Boise is sunk off the coast of Mindanao.

Dec 8 1941

The tale of TF11 sent at full speed from Mersing to Singkawang to defend against any raiders:-

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano
DD Maikaze
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi, Shell hits 1
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Electra

They bump into the retreating remnants of Force Z and finish off the surprisingly unsunk PoW!!............

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Shell hits 1
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
DD Maikaze
DD Nowaki, Shell hits 1
DD Arashi, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
DD Vampire, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Tenedos, Shell hits 1
DD Express, Shell hits 1

3 DDs blunder into the path of the TF, still making its way southeast...............

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
DD Maikaze
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
xAKL Shinai, Shell hits 20, and is sunk

Still going, an unloaded xAKL gets in the way..............

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Shell hits 4
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 7
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano
DD Maikaze, Shell hits 19, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Nowaki, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Arashi, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
DD Hagikaze, Shell hits 5, on fire

Allied Ships
CL Danae, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CL Mauritius, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Vendetta, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Stronghold
DD Encounter
DD Isis, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
DD Jupiter

Wow, its been a busy night for the TF, and they retire to Patani for a rest!

Elsewhere -

I absent mindedly left the mine laying sub at Bataan laying mines - i usually change it to patrol and send it south, a small TF of 4 PTs leaving Bataan hit the field and they all get hit [:)]:-

Allied Ships
PT Q-111, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
PT-41, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
PT-34, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
PT-31, Mine hits 1, heavy damage

A second port attack goes in at Manilla:-

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
G4M1 Betty x 21



Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 4


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
SS Seadragon, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Perch, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS S-37, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Swordfish, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Searaven, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Porpoise, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Sculpin, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Snapper, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
SS Swordfish, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Sargo, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Sturgeon, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Sealion, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Stingray, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk

This should free up the area of subs for a while.

My decision to go back to Pearl was wrong..... it usually is!!:-

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 42
B5N2 Kate x 141
D3A1 Val x 126



Allied aircraft
P-26A x 1
P-36A Mohawk x 38
P-40B Warhawk x 67
F4F-3 Wildcat x 8
SNJ-3 Texan x 2


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 14 destroyed, 21 damaged
D3A1 Val: 19 destroyed, 19 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed
P-40B Warhawk: 3 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA Minneapolis, Bomb hits 1
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits

No torps and no sinkings - the KB heads to Truk with the replenishment TF out front.

Another 5 transports are sunk across the Malayan theatre but theyre all empty. As planned Mersing, Manado, Singkawang, Miri, Brunei, Jolo, and Makin fall.

There are allied TFs spread all over the theatre from Malacca to Davao. Nells and Bettys are sent to Jolo, Manado, and Badelbaob, Sallys and Lilys are sent to Singkawang in the hope of causing as much destruction as possible. The mini KB moves south towards Ambon to intercept fleeing TFs further out from the main area. The Palembang invasion force sits 1 hex out from their target.

Dec 9 - Dec 13 1941

Palembang falls with little fuss - i had spotted a TF heading south from Singapore and thought this may try and intercept the invasion force - they never turned up if that was the case. Of the 900 oil and refineries here 151 are damaged - i wont repair - theres still plenty to play with here. The 65th brigade and a tank regiment head immediately south for Oosthaven, an SNLF force and another tank regiment head North to Djambi in a bid to take southern Sumatra ASAP.

Johore Bharu falls and the 1800 AV force will rest for a day or 2 before marching to Singapore - the main job is done - isolating Singapore - the troops can rest for a while.

Airbases at Patani, Singkawang and Mersing are expanded and more bombers moved in - in the next few days the masses of engineers at Patani, Mersing, Singkawang and Takao will start to move south concentrating on Mersing (potential size 7 airfield) and Oosthaven - these are the 2 biggest in the region and are needed to pacify Java and Malaya.

For a day or two the Nells and Betties had a real difficulty finding and bombing the multitude of targets in the area around Batavia and Jolo - on the 12/13th they found their targets and masses of AKs and APs are destroyed leaving the Phillipines, the Mini KB plays a big part here two. 2 AS's are sunk near Manado and subs put 3 torps in an AP off Christmas Island. 4 torps are fired at the CA Chicago leaving Pearl, but they all miss. 3-4 Oil Tankers are sunk off Davao, and 4 more APs near Legaspi.

Manado has been strengthened and surplus AV and aircraft engineers are being prepped here for Bandjermasin opposite Soerbaja to provide aircover for the 21, 33, 56 and 16th Divs as they round Borneo in a week or two. The above divisions are all now in Badelbaob and the 16th is getting ready to sail West for Palembang - when it falls the rest will follow, Bandjermasin will be taken and then all 4 divs will sail for Semerang.

The 4th, 2nd and 7th are all approaching Truk where they will form up and head for Fiji under cover of the KB, along with various base forces and air engineers.

A force in Osako starts to prep for Rabaul.

The first shock at Hong Kong goes in at 2:1 reducing forts to 2

No sign of any CVs or their wings.

Looks like an interesting first couple of days. Your opponent seems to be very generous in allowing you to throw history out the window, but then again that is why this is a replay and not a documentary. I like that you have taken full advantage, and are bringing him the pain. i suspect though that he is of the correct mindset... it really doesnt matter what you do now, the war machine will get rolling soon and he will get it all back. Still it makes for a very compelling game, and i cant wait to read more.

BANZAI!!