Blinded by the Rising Sun - SireChaos (J) vs Championzhao (A)

[SireChaos]

This AAR is for the game I just started against championzhao. We´re playing Scenario 2.

Game Options:
- Fog of War on
- Advanced Weather Effects on
- Allied Damage Control on
- PDU on (not negotiable)
- Historical First Turn off (not negotiable)
- Dec 7th Surprise off
- Realistic R&D on
- Reliable USN Torpedoes off
- No Unit Withdrawals off
- Reinforcements for both sides variable

We agreed on a couple of house rules, like no dropping around fragments of para units etc - nothing really out of the ordinary. With Surprise being off, my opponent is only restricted from moving air units and creating new TFs within the war area (DEI, Phillipines, Pacific islands east to Hawaii).


Anything beyond this point is off limits to my opponent.

[SireChaos]

Okay, so let´s talk about the game...

It´s been a long time since I´ve played Japan, as for quite a while, playing Downfall on and off as the Allies was all the Witp-AE I did. But now the AE bug has bitten me again, and between the Beta patch and the awesome new capabilities of the Tracker, I am once more eager to get going. I´ve studied the map, the production system and the other information in the Tracker for the first turn, so I am ready for a more methodical approach than my last game as Japan when AE was pretty new and I didn´t really know what I was doing..

Plus, in the meantime I finished university, and my diploma thesis was on the effects of overconfidence - what better preparation for playing Japan could there be? [:D]


On the naval side, I intend to halt Yamato and Musashi on the second turn (can´t access ship, air group and ground unit arrival schedules on turn 1, probably due to variable arrival times), and use the Naval points freed up (plus a modest expansion to about 1500 total) to accelerate the Unryu class CVs. Shinano is a second Taiho class rather than a Yamato conversion in Scenario 2, so she´s useful enough to keep building for now; I might halt her later if that helps accelerate Taiho. Depending on how things go, I might switch the two or three later Unryus back to regular build speed after they hit the "durability*10" mark and accelerate some destroyers - Akítsukis in particular - instead. With this adjusted building schedule, I should get a batch of replacement carriers early enough for them to serve as something other than decoy targets.
I have expanded Merchant points to 900 (once the yards are repaired), and will probably halt and accelerate as needed to react to shortages.

Air production has seen the usual expansion of the carrier aircraft programs, plus a modest (at first) expansion of land-based airframes and engines; I do not want to deplete available supplies in Japan while I´m still expanding across the DEI and Pacific.

I will only expand Heavy Industry by a little at first, until I have captured the oil wells and refineries in the DEI and know in which shape they are - there´s no use in buying expensive HI expansions that suck your fuel stockpiles dry before 1942 is over...


Now for the military part:
First priority is to secure the DEI, with the vital oil and refinery facilities as intact as possible.
Second priority is to establish a perimeter that makes counterattack as difficult as possible, meaning that it will delay the inevitable successful Allied counterattack by as much as possible, giving me time to prepare the next lines of defense.
Third priority is to build multiple lines of defense between the perimeter and both the Home Islands themselves and the link between them and the DEI, to slow the Allied advance and give me the maximum amount of time during which I still receive fuel and resources from the DEI.

What this means in detail is, first of all I need to expand to roughly the historical extent of Japanese possessions in May ´42, plus the rest of New Guinea if feasible, possibly minus Burma. With the additional forces present in Scenario 2, taking Burma might be easier than historically, but I am not yet sure if it is worth committing as many forces, especially within comfortable 4E bomber range of India... and let´s not get me started on the idea of taking India as well.
I am also not sure if expanding in the Pacific beyond historical extent is useful; since it is now possible to supply Australia from the West, the sea link between Hawaii and Australia is not really crucial any more, and my opponent could decide to ignore a lot of those bases and let them wither on the vine. I think the best plan is to try and meet the USN carriers in battle in the second half of ´42 at the latest, while I still have some sort of edge over them; if that works, with the accelerated reinforcements in ´43 I might have enough carrier power left to challenge the USN again and produce some results (other than IJN carriers sunk, that is...). How to achieve that sort of engagement in ´42, on the other hand, is a different question.
I´m not really ambitious in China; I will create a defendable front line and secure a couple of supply producing bases near the starting front lines, but that is it; circumstances will decide if I try to take the area around Changsha, but once the original objectives are achieved I´d be content to let China rest unless my opponent (who is Chinese, and can thus probably be counted on to plan something there) tries something.

The opening moves are mostly historical. I´ve re-routed the Wake Island invasion force south, because a competent Allied player can mangle that force and escape, and I don´t need that kind of losses right away. I´ll go into more detail of Turn 1 once it is executed. (I am currently waiting for my opponent to send his turn).

In the meantime, I´d appreciate any comments on my plans.

[Steve Sv]

Good luck to you; I will be following along with interest.

I know some allied players have had success with a very early offensive in Burma. Do you have any concerns that the combination of no early action there on your part, a quiet China (you hope) and no HR limiting the number of Chinese units the allies can allocate to Burma could permit the allies to establish useful bases in IndoChina/Thailand early enopugh in the game to make your other defensive preparations moot? Are you at least planning early development of the AFs in northern Thailand to facilitate offensive and defensive operations in Burna a little later?

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: Steve Sv

Good luck to you; I will be following along with interest.

I know some allied players have had success with a very early offensive in Burma. Do you have any concerns that the combination of no early action there on your part, a quiet China (you hope) and no HR limiting the number of Chinese units the allies can allocate to Burma could permit the allies to establish useful bases in IndoChina/Thailand early enopugh in the game to make your other defensive preparations moot? Are you at least planning early development of the AFs in northern Thailand to facilitate offensive and defensive operations in Burna a little later?

I hadn´t thought of Chinese units in Burma. I suppose with the (if perhaps only unconscious) importance that China holds for my opponent, I could stay threatening enough in China to prevent him for pulling units of there to other place. Plus, house rules say we need to pay PP to move units from restriced commands abroad, so at the very least it should be some time before he can do this in useful numbers.

In any case, it would probably be a good idea for me to go into Burma, if only to increase the amount of territory the Allies need to take before they can threaten Indochina.
The geography there is... let´s say "inconvenient". The Burma/Thailand border is not nearly as good a natural barrier as the India/Burma border, but if I took Burma, or tried to, seaborne resupply/reinforcement via Rangoon would be vulnerable to raids out of Ceylon.
On the other hand, for the Allies supplying or reinforcing Burma is even harder, because there´s not much supply to be had out of China, and moving stuff overland from India is even harder through the jungle - where the much less rugged Burma/Thailand border makes it somewhat easier for me to move supplies and reinforcements overland from the port at Bangkok.
I guess that, as part of my perimeter, a Burma stalemate serves my purposes as well as a conquered Burma does.

[hades1001]

Your opponent is one of the most cunning, vicious and aggressive Jap player I have ever played against in the world of WITP/AE.

I almost lost the entire world in my first AE PBEM game against him as Allied.

But as human being he still makes mistakes, and I hope you can punch him in the face when he does so.

Good luck mate. GG

[obvert]

Good Luck. I'll be keeping track, as I'm playing the Japanese side now as well.

I think you'll find in Scen 2 that Burma shouldn't be much of a problem. Especially if you take units early and often from Manchuria. Especially armour.

[PaxMondo]

So, Scen 2. Do you have any aggressive plans? It's been shown that Oz, India, or China are all achievable (more or less). Do you have any plans to take any one of these?

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: hades1001

Your opponent is one of the most cunning, vicious and aggressive Jap player I have ever played against in the world of WITP/AE.

[X(]

Note to self: make sure a sharp sword for sepukku ceremony is available.

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

So, Scen 2. Do you have any aggressive plans? It's been shown that Oz, India, or China are all achievable (more or less). Do you have any plans to take any one of these?

Almost definitely not China.

All three of these are too tough to be quickly and easily conquered, and once I have the DEI, I have all the resources I will probably need; Burma has some nice oil and refineries, but Australia and China and India are all net oil importers rather than exporters.

So, if I decide to make exert the effort needed to conquer any of these three, I need to get something else out of it. If I attack India or Australia, I might draw the Allied navies into a battle to stop my invasion, which is what I´m trying to do anyway - China on the other hand won´t let me do this.

An attack on India would be easier to support, I think, as it is closer to all the fuel and supply sources in the DEA; but India is also easier for the Allies to support via the off-map ports and Karachi.
Australia is further away from support for both sides - at the the juicy parts of Australia in the Southeast are further away from either Japan or the DEI, not to mention from the US or Capetown.

Bottom line: either Australia or India, depending on the circumstances. The big question is, would my opponent have to defend either target? And if I conquer it, would he have to recapture it?

[PaxMondo]

India has a lot of HI and resources. You seem to capture a lot of fuel when you take India.

[Oliver Heindorf]

Abonniert. Ich will hier aber Action sehen und keinen Sitzkrieg ! Ich schlage konsequente Carrier-Raids zwischen PH und SF vor. Die bringen jeden Allied-Player an den Rand der Verzweiflung. U-Boote mit Glens lokalisieren die dicksten Pötte/Convoys und los gehts. Daher ist zB Midway wichtig. Gerade bis 8/42 kann man den allied player damit wahnsinnig machen insbes. wenn damit auch Einheiten auf den Grund gesendet werden. Ich habe die Erfahrung gemacht, dass es Jap Spieler gibt die das aggressiv machen (Xargun z.B.) und es welche gibt in deren AAR man es garnicht liest. Ich bevorzuge die Xargun-methode

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

India has a lot of HI and resources. You seem to capture a lot of fuel when you take India.

I know it has HI and resources. I´m pretty sure I have all the resources I´ll need, and pretty much all the HI I can support.

Capturing fuel is nice, but how long will it last? India can support 405 HI with its only oil and refineries, so there´ll be 1000 or so HI using up captured fuel at 2000 tons per day. Australia has 45 HI it can support with fuel production, and another 1000+ it cannot support. I´ll have a hard enough time building up fuel stockpiles in Japan, so I won´t be able to afford diverting much to either place.

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: Oliver Heindorf

Abonniert. Ich will hier aber Action sehen und keinen Sitzkrieg ! Ich schlage konsequente Carrier-Raids zwischen PH und SF vor. Die bringen jeden Allied-Player an den Rand der Verzweiflung. U-Boote mit Glens lokalisieren die dicksten Pötte/Convoys und los gehts. Daher ist zB Midway wichtig. Gerade bis 8/42 kann man den allied player damit wahnsinnig machen insbes. wenn damit auch Einheiten auf den Grund gesendet werden. Ich habe die Erfahrung gemacht, dass es Jap Spieler gibt die das aggressiv machen (Xargun z.B.) und es welche gibt in deren AAR man es garnicht liest. Ich bevorzuge die Xargun-methode

Jetzt wiederhol das bitte nochmal in Englisch, für den Rest der Leser. [;)]

[Redsunrizing]

Good luck Sir, and I am subscribed.

[SireChaos]

Okay, I got my opponent´s first turn.

The war started on a decidedly inauspicious note, as two Dutch submarines picked off a troop-laden freighter each on the short hop from Indochina to Malaya. One sub attacked on the surface and took a single gun hit in return, but that is not much consolation.

Allied LBA tried without much success (one non-penetrating bomb hit on BB Kongo in return for 6 Vildebeest, 2 Swordfish, 4 Blenheim and 3 Hudson) to attack the invasion forces at Malaya, while Japanese LBA hit ships in port at Hong Kong, Georgetown and Rangoon.

Then, the full might of Kido Butai´s carrier bombers struck... at Manila. For one thing, I thought sinking submarines would be more useful than sinking obsolete battleships; for another, having KB around would nip any attempts at Allied naval resistance in the DEI in the bud.
The results of the raid, even without the Dec 7th Surprise option, are encouraging, I think: 7 submarines, 4 PT-boats, a destroyer and a gunboat are reported sunk, 12 other submarines, 2 sub tenders, AV Langley and 17 other ships are hit at least once, in return for no combat losses at all (2 Val are listed as Ops losses, though) - and KB isn´t done yet.

[bk19@mweb.co.za]

ORIGINAL: Oliver Heindorf

Abonniert. Ich will hier aber Action sehen und keinen Sitzkrieg ! Ich schlage konsequente Carrier-Raids zwischen PH und SF vor. Die bringen jeden Allied-Player an den Rand der Verzweiflung. U-Boote mit Glens lokalisieren die dicksten Pötte/Convoys und los gehts. Daher ist zB Midway wichtig. Gerade bis 8/42 kann man den allied player damit wahnsinnig machen insbes. wenn damit auch Einheiten auf den Grund gesendet werden. Ich habe die Erfahrung gemacht, dass es Jap Spieler gibt die das aggressiv machen (Xargun z.B.) und es welche gibt in deren AAR man es garnicht liest. Ich bevorzuge die Xargun-methode

Translation from Google translate follows:

Subscribed to. But here I want to see action and not a phoney war! I suggest that consistent carrier raids between PH and SF. The Allied player to bring all to the brink of despair. Glens locate submarines with the thickest pots / convoys and off you go. Therefore, as Midway is important. Straight to 8 / 42 can be allied to the player to make insane especially if it also sent units to the ground. It has been my experience that there are Japanese players that make aggressive (eg Xargun) and there are any in the AAR is not at all read it. I prefer the method Xargun

[CT Grognard]

Fast jeder hier spricht ja Deutsch!

(For the benefit of the rest, I'll attempt to translate Oliver Heindorf's post:)

"Subscribed. I want to see action here and no Sitzkrieg (sitting war)! I propose consistent carrier raids between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco. These push every Allied player to the edge of despair. Submarines with Glens locate the fattest targets/convoys and in you go. For this Midway, for example, is important. Up until August 1942 one can drive the Allied player insane with this tactic especially when you manage to send LCU's to the bottom. In my experience there are Japanese players who do this aggressively (e.g. Xargun) and then there are those in whose AAR's you don't see this. I prefer the Xargun method "

[CT Grognard]

You're a fellow South African, judging by your e-mail address.

[bk19@mweb.co.za]

That I be sir....

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

India has a lot of HI and resources. You seem to capture a lot of fuel when you take India.

I know it has HI and resources. I´m pretty sure I have all the resources I´ll need, and pretty much all the HI I can support.

Capturing fuel is nice, but how long will it last? India can support 405 HI with its only oil and refineries, so there´ll be 1000 or so HI using up captured fuel at 2000 tons per day. Australia has 45 HI it can support with fuel production, and another 1000+ it cannot support. I´ll have a hard enough time building up fuel stockpiles in Japan, so I won´t be able to afford diverting much to either place.

True, but HI can be banked unlike fuel or supply. Can't ever be bombed. As IJ, you hoard fuel only because of its ability to convert to HI. So, if you can find a way to build/acquire more HI without having to spend supply (HI factory expansion), I would think that a good strategy. As observed in other AAR's, it looks like you can capture the equivalent of an additional 500K HI (at least) by taking India. If you can take Karachi .. a lot more. That's a lot of HI Just my thoughts, maybe others will offer theirs as well.

Good Luck and BANZAI!!