Wolfpack vs John III - Allied perspective

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Preface:

I have been playing WITP since it came out and have had a few other PBEMs going. Notably against Vietnam Vet and Castor Troy. This is my first attempt at an AAR. John is planning on doing the Japanese side AAR as well. We both will not view the others thread.

I still have a lot to learn from this game and hope that the crowd here will offer suggestions and constructive criticism. I am not planning to dump the whole combat replay here but just hit the high points and go over my overall strategy. Once I figure out what I need to do to post screen shots I will include those as well. Any other suggestions are welcome. I will be nowhere near as creative as Cap Mandrake in the Fear and Loathing PBEM thread. [&o]

Early Strategy:

Weather the wrath of the KB as best as possible without exposing my carriers. I am not one to throw them away(Castor Troy may think otherwise [:'(] ) and don't plan on using them unless I know the KB is far away.

China depends upon my opponent. I am content to defend but given a Japanese offensive I will look to trade space for time and if the opportunity presents itself counterattack to cut off the spearheads.

Burma: First a withdrawal to Mandalay and then eventually India. No extra troops will be brought forward.

India: Build airbases and defend. Particularly Imphal,Dacca and Calcutta to use to bomb his troops if he decides to move through Burma.

Malaya: Fall back on fortress Singapore and defend as long as possible. Sub doctrine is turned off for both sides so I will be basing many of my subs out of Singapore and hopefully they will take a heavy toll.

DEI: Pull out as much fuel/oil/resources as I can. Move some troops around to better defend Java and eventually Timor. The Dutch will stand and fight. Aircrews may be evacuated towards the end. Exceptions would be the recon planes that upgrade to the very valuable f-5.

Philippines: Fall back on Clark Field and then Manila. Evacuate Bombers and eventually fighters as PP become available.

Austrailia: Accumulate supply and fuel and build up bases to help defend/recapture New Guinea when the time comes.

South Pacific: Build up supplies/bases at Pago Pago,Suva and Noumea.

Central Pacific: Build up Canton,Midway,Palmayra and eventually Baker. Lick my wounds at Pearl.

West Coast: Start shoving the troops and supplies out the door using multiple small convoys. Also refit 8 AKs to be ARs.

Overall the strategy will be to fall back and delay where I can. Protect my major assets with an eye of a counter strike sometime late 42 early 43.

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 7th:

A fairly standard start. Only Arizona sunk at Pearl. Two other BBs severely damaged. Airfield hit pretty hard with a most of the planes out of action.

Landings at Vigan,Aparri,Legaspi in the Philippines. My B17s manage to get one hit on an AP at Legaspi. Ships in 1 ship task forces flee Manila. Most subs transition to Singapore for basing. Keeping a few ships around to drain supplies from the islands nearby.

In Malaysia he lands at Kuantan and pounds my airfields everywhere else. No hits by my planes as they are all set at 15k. That will be addressed next turn. Forze Z runs for Java to keep John honest when he moves in that direction. Sent 6 MSWs from Singapore to Trincomalee and they promptly got bombed from Songkia. One sunk and 4 heavily damaged.

In India pulling most of the ships back to Karachi to distribute supplies. Some tankers and AKs are sent to Java to assist with the resource movement there.

One thing to note is that John did not go for Wake Island on turn 1. I think he may wait for KB support prior to trying but can't say for sure.

It will be interesting to see if the KB hangs around. Having never played John I have no sense as to the type of player he will be. Turn 1 doesn't appear to be overly aggressive but it is only one turn.

[castor troy]

Looking forward to your AAR and I will follow your opponents as well but don´t expect informations from me as you´re my enemy too. [;)] Looks like you can increase your number of posts too this way! [:D] Perhaps you could try your carrier tactic you used against me another time. Perhaps in 2/42 and after that KB isn´t what it was before! [;)] I hope you still have time for our game...

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 8th:

John captures Vigan,Aparri,Legaspi and Guam. Air raids over the Philipinnes and Malaysia.

Looks like the first target in China other than Hong Kong is Changsha. I will have enough troops there for the short term to hold him off.
Hong Kong looks to fall soon. He already has the fort level down to 3. 2 divs + engineers attacking. [X(]

Forgot to change the orders of the MSWs out of singapore so 4 more sunk today. All the ships out of Manila without any attacks or signs of interceptors.

Most importantly no second attack by the KB. My search planes were still on train though so I don't know where the kb is. [:@]

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 9th - 10th.

The KB has been found just west of Johnston Island. Lucky for me I was prudent in moving my carriers south so there is no danger there.

Only thing of note (demonstrates my incompetence) is that Hong Kong fell on the 9th and I scuttled the three dds that start there because I forgot to move them. [:@]

John has also moved a carrier task force centered on CVL Zuiho south of Davao attempting to catch ships fleeing from the Philipinnes. He did catch 2 AKs and an AS but most others have been diverted north of Borneo where no Japanese activity has been seen yet.

Makin was taken on the 10th.

A BB task force has been seen heading south away from Kuantan. I wonder if he is trying to catch some ships at Palembang?

This game demands attention to detail and mine has been lacking so far. Luckily I have not paid too heavily for my mistakes so far.

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 11th

A fairly quiet turn overall.

Port attack on Manila catches 3 AKs and damages severely. I am glad that I pulled everybody out early even with the losses I have had so far. Some are going to escape rather than sink in Manila.

My Brit aircraft keep attacking a bombardment task force centered on the BBs Kongo and Haruna. One bomb hit on Kongo this turn. Probably just a scratch.

Planes from the Zuiho catch the AK Bisayas near Tawi Tawi and sink her.

Other than that I am trying to get fuel out of DEI and down to Austrailia. Single ship convoys are loading at Palembang,Batvia and Soerabaja. Trying to deny John as much fuel as possible.

John IIIs overall intentions are still unclear. Hopefully I will see where his main pushes are over the next few days.

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 12th

Another fairly quiet turn. Makes me wonder what John is up to.

In Malaysia he continues to unload troops at Kuantan.


Bombers from Singapore hit a surface combat task force centered on the BBs Mutsu and Nagato just 2 hexes from Singapore. Both got one bomb hit. Probably nothing more than minor damage again. Would be nice if some torps would hit.

In the Philipinnes another Manila port attack. Hits the same three aks as yesterday. Reinforces my feeling that it was a good move to get most of the ships out.

Moved the P40E from Manila to Jolo today in preperation for its evacuation from the Philipinnes. Too many Zeros showing up for this squadron to be effective.

CVL Zuiho still active with its Kates flying across Borneo to hit individual aks taking on fuel at Brunei. AKs Corregidor and Don Jose sunk. Two of the ships fleeing Manila but at least they took some fuel with them.

One bright spot for me. PTs got a strike in near Aparri. For one PT lost I heavily damaged one PG and two APs.

China is fairly quiet with a bombardment attack at Changsha and a couple air attacks.

PTs near Aparri moving to attack....

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 13th:

UH OH! That wasn't the KB that I thought I had detected going west near Johnston Island a few turns ago. Instead she was lurking NE of Pearl and ambushed an ASW task force today and sunk 5 DDs.



What is worse is that I have task force of damaged ships close behind that ASW task force and it looks like it will be hit next turn. I am sending all the ships back to Pearl. 2 BBs, the 3 CLs and 8 DDs stay in the primary task force. I also created two 1 BB and 1 DD task forces for my two most damaged BBs(Pennsylvania and Oklahoma) and sent them back to Pearl seperately because they are so slow in their damaged state. I am also putting every active fighter in Pearl on LRCAP over the primary task force to hopefully take some of the blow.

Elsewhere SS KXVI gets sunk after 5 hits near Tarakan.

John lands troops at Davao and Sorong. Dutch Martins put 2 bombs into AP Nichiran Maru as Sorong.

LBA hits a task force north of Kuching made up of MSW from Manila. This is the only tsk force out of Manila I did not put into single ship task forces and I paid for it.

[Wolfpack_MatrixForum]

Dec 14th:

This turn I snatched a minor victory from a potential major defeat. The KB attacked and its nose got bloodied.

My primary task force of 2 BBs,3 CLs and 8 DDs made it back to pearl and this was what the KB went after at extreme range. To John's suprise(his only comment in the email was "Costly round") he lost 45 planes and pilots to my fighters and flak. I only lost 25 fighters. He did score a number of hits but none of them were serious and none of my ships are any closer to sinking. This was a very pleasant result when I was expecting several ships to be sunk. Also nice to cull pilots from his elite carrier squadrons without having to risk my carriers.

Elsewhere:

Off Kuantan SS KXIII sinks AK Thames Maru sending part of the 18th Division to the bottom.
Landings at Ambonia and John caputes Davao,Sorong and Morotai.

Val taking off to attack Pearl for a second time. It did not return....

[castor troy]

Lucky man you! I hoped to see John to get within 4 hexes of your BBs to take out min. 2 of them! [:D] Good idea to put some photos and screens in your AAR.