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Hello,

Does anybody want to share any 1943 Japanese tactics? I know that if you are still fighting and the date ends in /43 you are not going to win But what strategies do people use to slow up the allied juggernaut? I am playing against a very experienced opponent so I am not looking for miracles in my game but it has got me thinking on how I should have laid out my defence.

I found myself in the situation of having too few CVs to halt any invasions cold but enough assets to at least contest the initial landings. But I was undecided as to how to fight. Do you hurl everything at the initial attacks to stop the allies getting a foothold in the New Guinea / Solomons. Or is it best to fight for each base, conserving as much as possible of your land, sea and air assets so that you always have a threat in being if he gets too ambitious? I am not talking about actually winning the game just making the allied players progress as slow and painful as possible. What will cost him most ships and AC and what will delay his capture of Rabaul and my other back bases the longest?

Also I would like to ask about peoples views on where the best place for the allies to attack is. When I was preparing my defence I pretty much wrote off PM as the Japanese. It is just too exposed and so just got a land garisson (and mines of course). I was all set up for my opponent to attack me up the Solomons but of course he went for PM and Gili Gili. Is there any way to prevent this? Any bombardment taskforce is highly exposed to allied CVs (once he has the advantage in this area) and it's easy to throw away your remaining air to sea capabilities with long range strikes on empty transports. With hindsight I wish I had placed a lot more troops in PM as most of them retreated accross the kokoda trail so live to fight another day - unlike the write offs when Gili Gili fell Perhaps if I had packed out the base he would have attacked in the Solomons instead where the terrain is far more favourable to my surface forces and mines. But quite frankly why would any allied player not go straight for PM?

So assuming the Japanese player still has plenty of planes, CVs and surface vessels but does not outnumber the US in any area, how do you make it hard for him? And as the allies how would you go about taking him down?

I have not played that many games into 1943 but I've learned a few lessons playing the Nips;

Don't waste your carriers in futile attacks that will only give your opponent a lot of victory points. Only use them if a 'true' opportunity can be found! Transfering the carrier aircraft to land bases might be more productive.

Conserving your pilots is extremely important - you're most likely never going to get this experienced replacements later. If your cv's are sunk with their airgroups aboard, it's a double tragedy! At least let them have the opportunity of transfering to a nearby base.

I know that a lot of players don't build Lunga and other bases because they say that it will only aid the Allies when they occupy them. I don't think that way - US engineers create bases faster than you can say WTF anyway.... So I create a network of bases that are mutually supportive.

Getting early warnings is vital, so forcing your opponent to take out bases that threaten him will give you a clue to what's going on.

Putting all your base forces in forward bases is usually wasteful. Remember that the US heavy and medium bombers will ruin your day no matter what. Getting 100 ac's stuck on a closed base is really bad for you. Put in a lot of air defenses and withdraw your aircrafts and base forces behind e.g. Lunga and PM. These are initially out of enemy bombing range and can be used to mount counter strikes.

Having huge numbers of aircrafts is a must - never send them in piecemeal....
Try to save your Betties and Nells and release them when they really can make an impact. Having 1-200 bombers hit your invasion force isn't very funny.

2-300 Zeros do bite hard if they're not manned by green pilots and worn out, so try to rest them and transfer them to the rear when their fatigue/morale drops too low.

Rotating your troops is also vital, this is a bit strenous but pays off. Having 20k fatigued troops on Lunga doesn't do the trick. Watch your base forces as well, when to many support units are out of action, send them back to Truk for a month or so.

Mine vital bases heavily, and then I mean heavily...... If you know that the enemy has to cross certain shallow water hexes, then mine them as well.

Placing surface combat tf's on react in bases 4-6 hexes from potential invasion hexes also pays off. Small tf's with 1 cl and 4 dd's can really ruin the day if they achieve surprise.

Let the enemy come to you and fight on your terms, never react to his initiative but let him play it out until the situation suits you. Then you strike - hard!

It will take time to capture a base fortified up to lvl 9 and garrisoned with 10-20k troops. I would never reinforce the base if I'm not able to protect my transports. So you should control the air/sea before bringing in reinforcements. If the enemy lands 40k troops, you will have to bring in another 30-50k men to save the base. If you can't achieve this - don't.

You should never forget to store enough fuel and supplies in your main bases at Shortland and Rabaul. You burn a lot of them when the going gets tough...

PM is a problem indeed, it is very difficult to effectively defend it. Again it will be important to delay the invasion force long enough to enable your forces to mount possible counter attacks. Building up enough bases behind and above PM makes this effort simpler.

If you can't throw in a wildcard now and then, you will loose. So do what the enemy least expect. When he attacks one place, he will be weak another! All invasions got long flanks... Make your opponent paranoid, this will drain forces and resources away from the front and make it easier to make an impact.

Patience is often one of the first casualties of war, things don't always have to happen as fast as possible. Use what time you got and try to create a plan so cunning that you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel

Others from that you should train your reinforcement pilots before sending them into combat. I don't like committing them until they reach at least 60 exp.

Well, just a few thoughts - maybe you can use a few of them

Good luck!

See AAR, Beer gives you the wobblies, and remember to die with honour!

Seriously if I had it all over again I would concentrate on all of the last post, but only have a thin crust, and build Gasmatta, Madang and Munda big, and not waste any resources on dobodura buna or PM, or GG for that matter.

Defence in depth is the key

Anyplace in range of B17s will initially get closed down, but a defence in depth allows a strike back.

Fight for every base
Kill 10 for 1 of yourself
Long live the emporer

Some one said on these forums scene 17 is sepuka one hex at a time, I agree

Hi,

Thanks for the replies and the advice

I have built a lot of bases so that my opponent cannot just hit a couple of big bases with the B-17/24s and close me down completely. But this means I don't get the 250 (?) air support engineers can look after any number of AC bonus. It's April and I am already having a lot of unsupported aircraft even though I have not lost a single air support unit Oh my god it's April and that means the Corsairs, Hellcats and Thunderbolts will be here soon

His PT boats are a menace too, stopping my bombardment TFs. Anyone got any tips on how to get rid of them? I've killed a lot (more than a dozen, maybe twenty) but it's cost me Mutsu, Nagato and Kongo (I think) all with Torpedo hits over the months I've tried sending in Tanaka with a load of Destroyers and Jintsu(CL). Bagged two more but Jintsu catches a Torpedo....

By the way does anyone know how bad the IJN ship commitment gets? And is it a gradual fall or in sudden drops? Is it worth sending anything back. I made mistakes holding on to damaged stuff in '42 but now I am unsure if I should keep stuff in the 20-30 SYS damage range.

Please keep any ideas or experiences coming

Cheers.

His PT boats are a menace too, stopping my bombardment TFs. Anyone got any tips on how to get rid of them? I've killed a lot (more than a dozen, maybe twenty) but it's cost me Mutsu, Nagato and Kongo (I think) all with Torpedo hits over the months I've tried sending in Tanaka with a load of Destroyers and Jintsu(CL). Bagged two more but Jintsu catches a Torpedo....

By the way does anyone know how bad the IJN ship commitment gets? And is it a gradual fall or in sudden drops? Is it worth sending anything back. I made mistakes holding on to damaged stuff in '42 but now I am unsure if I should keep stuff in the 20-30 SYS damage range.

I'm not too sure I would be that eager to bombard him with my BB's while there are dozens of BB's around. Send in the cavalry (DD's) and try to pick them off. If losses get to heavy, leave em and let him come to you.

Ship commitmend depends on what value you play with. At 100% you'll have quite a few ships hanging around in Tokyo instead of in the Solomons...

I never hold on to anything above 20 sys damage in 42. Send em all back and keep cv air groups. If you're really desperate for reinforcements, send back the ships you got the least use for. PC's, ap's etc. If you manage to bring the reinforcement level up to medium level, you should get something back - one day

You could also gamble and send back cvl's and cve's and try to swap them for BB's, CA's and CV's. (Keep the airgroups ofcourse.)