Big Trouble - undercovergeek & swift

[wernerpruckner]

This is for the 2 vs 2 PBEM with the RA mod.


Houserules:


No 4E on naval attack below 10k ft
No new Allied TF on turn 1, China free to move and fight


maybe more will come when we are in the game........

[undercovergeek]

As we wait for 3.4 and discuss HR and various strategies, can i take this opportunity to invite various Allied Chiefs and indeed IJ chiefs to wade in with advice.

Having read Johns breakdown of the boosts for the Japanese it appears its going to be a very rough ride til mid 43 - what i would ask the IJ chiefs is 'what would be the worst scenario for you'? Fortress Palembang, Fortress Java? A sturdy defence of Malaya and the PI? i know personally i would be thrown off balance by a well planned and well fortified defence of Palembang

[DOCUP]

Not an exp Chief. But here for the ride guys. Good luck.

doc

[sprior]

Fort Palembang will delay the inevitable unless you can get a jump on the allies, and that depends on your HR.

[undercovergeek]

ORIGINAL: sprior

Fort Palembang will delay the inevitable unless you can get a jump on the allies, and that depends on your HR.

were going to request no Mersing - this steers the Allies to K Baru and Kuantan giving us a bit of breathing space at the back of Sumatra (west) and weve discussed shipping the preloaded convoys in India to either the west coast of Sumatra or Java, maybe the 18th div too and anything thing else we can get there in a hurry - my own personal thought is its not about a victory here but to make him bleed for every hex - what he loses now hes lost forever - we get brand new shiny stuff

[undercovergeek]

My understanding is that in RA the IJF have less resources (oil/fuel/supply) than the standard scenario 1. As soon as possible the IJF MUST come for the oil centres or he will be short - it is now i wish there was a 'sabotage' option and we could just blow Palembang, Medan, Balikpapan, Miri and the Chinese fields on turn 1, then retire to Hawaii and wait for the surrender.

One of the wonders of the game is psyching out the enemy and planning to work out where hes going next and what with - the oil fields are that important in RA we have a major advantage in knowing he must come for them ASAP. That leads me to believe we must build up, defend and prep Palambang asap. We can fly Dutch units from Sumatra, ship in CD guns from OZ and then the pre loaded convoys can come down the channel - the good thing about it all is he can only really attack at PBang, Oosthaven or Benkolen - everywhere else is too small - i think we mine and guard these bases as much as possible.

[undercovergeek]

Our spies (well, me really) have been reading Johns AAR of the RA mod, and in that discussion our esteemed foes seem rather enamoured by a Pearl attack, also, alarmingly John refers to his fear of Fortress Palembang on numerous occassions - it may be our plan to totally seal up Palembang coincides with a IJF plan to crack it open - this should be fun.

Depending on where the KB and its many minions end up i would like to consider a move into the Pacific to totally unbalance our foes plans, and take immediately the fight to him.

[wernerpruckner]

The most important thing for them is to secure the resource areas in the DEI....therefore our most important goal must be to bring as much opposition up at those targets as possible - we hope that with enough engineers at some of the targets our sappers will blow up things [:D]

[John 3rd]

I'm signed up for this AAR and will comment once I get back from a Job Fair. Good Luck!

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: undercovergeek

Our spies (well, me really) have been reading Johns AAR of the RA mod, and in that discussion our esteemed foes seem rather enamoured by a Pearl attack, also, alarmingly John refers to his fear of Fortress Palembang on numerous occassions - it may be our plan to totally seal up Palembang coincides with a IJF plan to crack it open - this should be fun.

Depending on where the KB and its many minions end up i would like to consider a move into the Pacific to totally unbalance our foes plans, and take immediately the fight to him.

Dan's success over in his Campaign has scarred the tar out of me. Palembang is on the 'to grab by Dec 20th' list in any campaign I play in from now on. Did this in both my RA 2.0 (Lew) and my RA 3.0 (Bill). If you guys are going to do this you'll have to be fast. It is every JFB nightmare to see Palembang a smoking ruin after taking it.

Glad about Mersing. HATE gamey opening moves and that is one of the biggest. Hope your opponents keep it under control for the 'Warp Speed' opening turn.

The DEI must be grabbed quickly in this Scenario. The Japanese have less of everything to run their economy so DEI has to be brutal and quick, therefore, I'd advise fighting for every square inch. Anything you sink, shot down, or damage cannot be easily replaced. Your stuff can and will be...

[undercovergeek]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

ORIGINAL: undercovergeek

Our spies (well, me really) have been reading Johns AAR of the RA mod, and in that discussion our esteemed foes seem rather enamoured by a Pearl attack, also, alarmingly John refers to his fear of Fortress Palembang on numerous occassions - it may be our plan to totally seal up Palembang coincides with a IJF plan to crack it open - this should be fun.

Depending on where the KB and its many minions end up i would like to consider a move into the Pacific to totally unbalance our foes plans, and take immediately the fight to him.

Dan's success over in his Campaign has scarred the tar out of me. Palembang is on the 'to grab by Dec 20th' list in any campaign I play in from now on. Did this in both my RA 2.0 (Lew) and my RA 3.0 (Bill). If you guys are going to do this you'll have to be fast. It is every JFB nightmare to see Palembang a smoking ruin after taking it.

Glad about Mersing. HATE gamey opening moves and that is one of the biggest. Hope your opponents keep it under control for the 'Warp Speed' opening turn.

The DEI must be grabbed quickly in this Scenario. The Japanese have less of everything to run their economy so DEI has to be brutal and quick, therefore, I'd advise fighting for every square inch. Anything you sink, shot down, or damage cannot be easily replaced. Your stuff can and will be...

i think this is a direct quote from my discussions with Swift - anything and everything should be thrown at the IJA/N in the DEI particularly Palembang - in my last 3 PBEMS of stock i have taken it by the 12th because 'i should', i never really looked that deeply into 'i MUST'! and RA makes it even more important. Itll be a race for sure but we should be able to get stuff in there fairly quick depending on where the carriers go

[wernerpruckner]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Glad about Mersing. HATE gamey opening moves and that is one of the biggest. Hope your opponents keep it under control for the 'Warp Speed' opening turn.

we will go with very limited houserules (at least at the game start):

-no invasion on non dot hexes
-no Mersing invasion of turn 1
-no 4Es below 10,000 on nav attack
-no new Allied TFs on turn 1
-no landings west of Singapore on turn 1

[wernerpruckner]

As my partner undercovergeek told you, we will try to play a very active defence game in the DEI (and elsewhere)

What do we have at the turn 1 to tinker around with:

lots of TFs [8D] !

Air Combat: TF 405 and 406
TF 406 is between Johnston and Frech Frigate Shoal with CV Enterprise, CAs Northhampton, Chester, Salt Lake City and 9 DDs
TF 405 is near Pago Pago with CV Lexington, CAs Portland, Chicago, Astoria, Minneapolis and 9 DDs

These are our firebrigade in the Pacific, we are still discussing about there first orders......there are several options!

Surface Action Groups:
TF 401 is at Tarakan with CL Marblehead and 5 DDs
TF 402 is at Balikpapan with 4 DDs
TF 404 is at Cebu with the Scourge of the Seas - the CL Marblehead [:D]
TF 409 is at Johnston with the CA Indianapolis and 5 DMS
TF 412 is near Makassar with the CL de Ruyter and 4 DDs
TF 413 is at Oosthaven with the CK Java and 2 DDs
TF 414 is near Batavia with the CL Tromp
TF 420 Force Z starts at Singapore wit the BB PoW, the BC repulse and 4 DDs
TF 431 is at Townsville with the CA Canberra and the CLsLeander, Achilles and Perth
TF 433 is at Hong Kong with 3 DDs
TF 434 and 435 are the two PT squadrons of the Dutch Navy (12 PTs)
TF 436 9 MTBs at Hongkong
TF 437 is near Iloilo with the CA Houston
TF 438 is at Palembang with the CLs Dragon and Durban
TF 439 is at Colombo with the CA Exeter and the CLs Enterprise and Glasgow
TF 440 is at Singapore with the CL Danae

All these nice action groups can be moved at turn one - so the question is where to put them [:D]

ASW:
TF 416 at PH with 1 DD

Minesweeping
TF 417 at PH with 2 AMc

Support
TF 418 at PH with 1 AG
TF 411 one the way to PH with one AVD

Transport
TF 423 at Goa (CL Ceres, 4 xAP, 2 xAK) with 9048 troops (44th and 45th Indian Brigade)
TF 427 at Karachi (4 xAP, 2 xAK9 with 4524 troops (46th Indian Brigade)
TF 428 at Bombay (CL Dauntless 2 xAP,xAK) with 2750 troops (48th Gurkha Bde)
TF 430 at Townsville (CL Adelaide, AMC Westralia, 3 xAP, 3 xAK, 1 AO) with 2643 troops (14th RAAF Base Force, 39th and 53rd Australian Battalion)
TF 407 at Canton Island (CA Penscalona, 1 AGP, 1 AP, 3 xAP, 3 xAK) with 6104 troops (114th and 115th USAAF Base Force, 131st and 148th FA Bn and 147th FA Rgt)
TF 408 at Santa Cruz Island (CA Loisville, 1 xAP, 1 AP) empty
TF 410 at Pago Pago (CL Trenton, CL Concord 3 DD, 1 AO, 4 AP, 1 xAK) with 6578 troops ( 104th USN Base Force, 2nd Marine Defense Battalion)

Because we can move all those assets at turn 1, we will need to have a plan......an evil plan [:'(]

And we have several active subs:10 Dutch subs on patrol in the DEI
and also 10 US Subs on patrol ( 2 at PI, 4 Wake/Midway and 4 near PH)


This are all our active naval Forces for turn 1.
Undercovergeek and I are discussing various options for them, but we also will like to have some input from others!

[John 3rd]

The TF at Canton, Pago Pago, and Townsville provide a great opportunity to reinforce one or two locations fairly quickly in the South Pacific. There are enough CAs, CLs, and DDs down here to make a couple of fairly strong STF as well. Lexington TF gives you some potential punch!

Don't forget there are additional aircraft in this area to. That Squadron of P-40s and Vindicators at Pago Pago as well as the Aussie Squadrons either on the TF at Townsville or able to be loaded there at Townsville.

Notice that you have an operational SS Base at Pago Pago with (I think) 4 S-Boats. Bill has used the additional S-Boats (plus the pair near Wake) to cause all sorts of havoc in our game. HATE those boats!

[undercovergeek]

i may have to spend some time talking Swift round, but if the KB and its many flat topped minions depart the Pacific to attack Manilla, Singapore and the DEI im very inclined to scoop up some decent troops and start harrassing islands they would think untouchable until 43 - im looking at Roi Namur, poss Saipan to cut his supply lines but be far enough away to remain out of harms reach - he would have to pull the CVs back and then we can fortify PBang at out leisure

[wernerpruckner]

I forgot to add the nice off map TF
TF 422 at Cape Town (2 AP, 3 xAP, 2 xAK) with 11641 troops (251st Recce Battalion, and the 53rd&54th&55th British Brigade)
This is a really nice and strong force.

What else do we have after turn 1 (or not....depends what and where the Japanese will strike)

Subs:
Dutch: 5 subs at Soerabaja (1 ready the other 4 are damaged)
PI: 27 at Manila (Most Japanese will strike here as hard as possible, so we can not count on these subs [X(] )
Pago Pago: 4 (this is a nice plus in RA - those can be very dangerous subs - all old S class)
PH: 6
Lahaina:1
San Diego: 2
SF: 3

Carriers:
good old Hermes is in Ceylon
and the Lexington is at SF

Battleships
The usual 8 at PH and two in Seattle (Colorado and the damaged Warspite)

Cruisers
PH: 2 CA and 6 CL
Ceylon: CA Cornwall and CL Caledon
Singapore: CL Mauritius (damaged)
Bombay: CL Capetown
Aden: CL Colombo

Destroyer
Manila 4
Singapore: 5 (4 are damaged)
Soerabaja: 1
Suva: 1
Sydney: 1 (damaged)
Melbourne: 1 (damaged)
PH: 30
San Diego: 3
SF: 5
Seattle: 5

These are our main Naval units.

We have several other combat ready units (mostly for convoy or patrol duty):
10 AMC - which can easily destroy unprotected enemy ships
2 DE in India
1 APD in PH ( I like APDs, but as Allied you get them quite late in war in good numbers)
16 PG
15 KV
12 PC

And we also have a nice mining fleet:
8 CM
1 CMc
8 DM

And there are also a few Patrol boats around (12 at PH and 9 at Manila)


And now the important ships: Tenders.....we need those....so those will be evacuated from combat zones (if possible)
We will get many more tender during the war....but we only have few to loose, and those we might loose are in the PI and DEI.....

[wernerpruckner]

Our main plan for the game: Be as active and agressive as possible!

Therefore we need to have Warplans........and we work on them very hard!

[DOCUP]

So who is doing what and playing with what?  Are you all to try and air lift as much of the scattered DEI units to Pburg?  If so try the transport planes in China. 
 
doc

[undercovergeek]

everything and anything with AV is heading to PBang as quickly as possible - i think weve given ourselves 5 days before we expect the first landing there.

Will the chinese transports not need buying out?

[DOCUP]

Yes, but you can move them to the free Chinese air command for 12 pts.  They do make a difference and you can move them on turn 1.  They move alot of stuff with the Dutch Lodsters.