PAW with Sarsfield as Allies, Larry as Japs

[larryfulkerson]

My challenge for a War in the Pacific was accepted by Sarsfield_slith and we've got liftoff. I don't recognize the name of my opponent and he may be better at wargamming than I am. This is my first PBEM in quite a while. I tend to play a better game with I'm doing a PBEM game probably because I'm documenting it as I play it.

I found some smaller carriers just south of Tokyo that weren't doing anything and thought I'd move them down to the PI area to attack any ships I might find in Manila's harbor. In my CVTF I have the Hosho, Shoho, and Juyjo with their air groups set to sea int and moving them south didn't trigger the appearance of any Allied ships so I guess I'm not close enough yet to expose them.

I have plans to keep my Chinese area troops near the coast since the supply levels in the interior are poor. But I do want to capture the railroad so I can move troops and materials from Saigon to Peiking and vice versa. Also, I want to see if I can't capture Guam and Wake, and make some landings on the PI in this first turn.

[larryfulkerson]

A really strange thing just happened. I did a save of my game just in case I have some kind of problem and then closed out TOAW. Then I started up TOAW, went online, and tried to load my saved game and got an error message that this version of TOAW couldn't load this file. So I thought I'd create the challenge again, starting over as it were, and succeeded in creating another challenge and just for $hits and grins I tried to load the saved game and it loaded successfully. I have no idea why it didn't work the first time and I'm going to do another save of the game and see if I can't get it to work again.

[larryfulkerson]

I found some more carriers just east of Wake and moved them into range for the strike on Pearl and the BB's there. I have the Akagi, Soryu, and Zuikaku for the strike(s). I plan on making some three-dot attacks on the Allied ships and that will turn my air groups orange or at least yellow and I'll have to rest them before I can use them again. So there's probably going to be only one strike attempt.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the Hanoi area at start and I plan to move the troops north to protect my facilities and to the northeast to start grabbing the railroad. There's a hex near the bottom of the image that may or may not have a partisan in it. I'll have to go check it out at the very least. Before I start moving troops though I need to deploy the aircraft to cover the movement of the troops just in case the Allies have any INT missions scheduled.

[larryfulkerson]

As I'm going through the aircraft getting them ready for action, I've come upon one of those composite bomber units and reduced the range of the unit to the range of the Mary's since there's more of them than anything else. I'm going to keep my eye on the number of Sally's since they have a longer range and I'd rather use the Sally instead of the Mary. I don't know a lot about the Jap airplanes but I'm guessing that the Sally is a better performer than the Mary. I'll look that up and make sure. There's usually a lot of Chicom and regular Chinese troops in this area so I'll need the CS missions to help my boys push toward the west.

[larryfulkerson]

Good thing I looked them up. I stand corrected. The Mary is a marginally better aircraft when going after tanks but the Sally is marginally better when going after troops. Also, the Sally has some anti-ship capability and the Mary does not. I'll have to keep that in mind.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the results of the Pearl strike. I lost a handful of aircraft and he lost four BB's and a few bombers.

[larryfulkerson]

I managed to capture Rabaul and I have started to fortify it with the presence of ships and planes. I plan on using Rabaul to stage attacks further south and Port Moresby is on the list. I've flown in some sea int patrol aircraft and have already sunk a couple of Allied floaters attempting to move into the area. I plan on trying to isolate Australia from the West Coast of the US.

[larryfulkerson]

I moved several additional divisions to the PI to help take it down faster. There are at least two partisans in the north end of the PI that I'm having to deal with. I don't yet have an estimate about when the campaign to clear the PI will be finished but it won't be an easy pushover. I'm going to have to involve the ships for some offshore arty support. The Allies have lots of AA to cover their troops so I hesitate to use my aircraft in the CS role.

[rhinobones]

Here's the results of the Pearl strike. I lost a handful of aircraft and he lost four BB's and a few bombers.

Larry, looks like the Allies lost all 8 BB's . . . 2 of each class. Am I reading the table correctly?

Regards

[larryfulkerson]

Yeah, I think there were 2 BB equipment's in each of the BB units. So yeah, I think he lost 8 of those bad boys. I thought about sticking around for another strike in the next turn but not all of my planes were healed yet from the first strike. I want to use the red-green-yellow rule in this game. Green units can fire and move, yellow units can move but not fire, and red units cannot fire or move with the single exception that it can move in the direction of a better supply hex. I think it makes for a more realistic game. I got this rule from Steve Sill. He's a gold mine.

[MonkeysBrain2]

Nice AAR Larry! Just keep on going.
And I personally thank you for everything that you have done for TOAW!

[larryfulkerson]

Thank you for your kind words. I'm not a very good player, I just like to post a lot. PAW is one of my favorite scenarios and I'm trying to give my opponent a good game. I'm adding to the AAR while I play the game so you guys are finding out what happens as it happens. We're in the early war years when the Japs are making all their progress but in mid-'42 I expect the Allied side to start getting a lot of equipment....ships, planes, troops, etc. So the character of the war will change and I may have to go on the defensive. But so far so good.

[MonkeysBrain2]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Thank you for your kind words. I'm not a very good player, I just like to post a lot. PAW is one of my favorite scenarios and I'm trying to give my opponent a good game. I'm adding to the AAR while I play the game so you guys are finding out what happens as it happens. We're in the early war years when the Japs are making all their progress but in mid-'42 I expect the Allied side to start getting a lot of equipment....ships, planes, troops, etc. So the character of the war will change and I may have to go on the defensive. But so far so good.

Larry,

You are THE MAN. And toast to you!

I remember you from the past and I am glad that your hunger for TOAW is still alive. Mine also. Because TOAW is really one of those magical games that anyone can return into.

I have made many AAR's on Gamesquad. Even you have praised me

With permission I can dig links to my old AAR's and post it somewhere. If I cannot I will not do.

Please make AAR on Piero Falotti 1992 scenario. Play NATO side. Even in this state it was magnificent game.

I destroyed ALL Iraq forces, held Western Europe against Russian horde, captured Balkans and Bulgaria and Romania almost. Started to advance into Caucaus. My glorious NATO forces seemed invinsible. In Norway Russians only took few cities.

This was aganst PO Warsaw Pact.

Later I must see my attorney!


Mario

[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looks like in northern China. I'm fighting the Communist Chinese for the railroads in this area. I need to be able to use the rail to move troops and equipment from Peking to Singapore and only about 1/3 of the rail is mine so far. I've got a short segment from Hanoi to Bangkok and a fragment near Hong Kong and that's it. I need to grab the rest of it away from the Allies. And then repair it as fast as I can. There are at least two partisans making a nuscience of themselves and I've shipped in an entire divisiion to see if I can't round them up.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like just north of Hong Kong right now. The supply levels in this area are really low and so it's a slow motion job clearing out the Allies. It looks like I have a partisan or two behind my lines. I'd best send somebody over there to check it out. I've got some engineers busy repairing the rail almost as fast as I grab it. I've got one unit way out ahead of everybody else and he's terribly exposed and vulnerable. So far resistance has been minimal.

BB Kongo tangled with the Allied CD guns on Corregidor and got some damage so I drove it to Hong Kong to get a quick tune up. New coat of paint and top off the tanks and we're back in the fight.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the Hanoi area right now. I don't need to press north here very far....just enough to make the rail safe from Chinese interference. So far no partisans to deal with, knock on wood. I would have expected a couple of them in this area.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm clearing the north end of the PI of partisans while moving on Manila. I've got some ships that are yellow and in need of rest parked at Laoag. I'm repairing the rail from Lingayen to Manila. I've got some ships bombarding Corregidor to silence the CD guns so I can enter the harbor and bombard Manila to help take it down. I'm thinking of maybe landing some troops at Legaspi at the southern tip of the island. I found an open port at Batangas and landed a division there to start clearing the south of partisans.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what Malaya looks like now. I've landed some paratroops just north of Singapore and I'm worried about them. What if the Allies counterattack them? I've got a BB parked just offshore to help protect them. There's also lots of CS in range of them. I've landed a division just to the NE of them that's making it's way down to the city proper. Supply levels are seriously low.

[larryfulkerson]

I've captured Rabaul and several ports and airfields in the area including some on the north coast of New Guinea. I've got plans for Port Moresby in the near future.