Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter]

Just sent the Chinese move in.

Mog and I agreed that he will not be reading this AAR, so that I can post long term strategy as I did in my AAR with Blackwatch and sometimes do in Fear and Loathing.

My plan is to cause a constant high level of casualties on land, sea and in the air. Theoretically he will run out of stuff before I do and collapse as a result.

Everything in China is in montion, All the Chinese divisions assigned to SE Asia are heading to Burma and India or waiting for air transport. Everything else is sitting still as per agreed opening.

[CapAndGown]

This should be interesting. As you know, I was following your AAR against Blackwatch. Too bad it hasn't been updated in quite a while.

As to dueling with Mog, I don't think you are going to be able to get into an attrition battle for several months. From reading his previous posts on his play style, Mog is very methodical about supporting his invasions and defending his bases. I would suspect that Mog favors the "overwhelming force" style to a more "shoestring and expansionist" style which seems to be what Blackwatch favors. So early air battles, for instance, could end up as slaughters, especially with the Zero bonus in effect.

OTOH, Mog also appears to be a rather slow expansionist (at least that is what he claims). So it should be possible to set up strong points that will slow him down and leave you in a good position for an early arieal counter-offensive. For instance, Timor might make a good strong point. Lunga might even be doable, and/or Port Moresby. A repeat of your success in Luzon against Blackwatch, however, seems very unlikely.

Looking forward to seeing this play out. Good luck.

[WhoCares]

@cap_and_gown: In these 'lunacy games' Mogami throws a lot of those self-imposed rules and tactics over board and tries to exploit the game mechanics in all possible aspects to his advantage.
You might check the other 'lunatic' AARs of Mogami vs. Oleg and Nomad.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Correct. Well since Mog is not going to read this thread, we could use it for informal sessions of Allied joint chiefs of staff, to discuss strategies vs him [:D]

OK I am joking, that would be unfair. Infact I force myself never to read Tom or Nomad thread at least before doing my turns (later I do visit to take a peek).

In "games of gameyness", ie in devising dirty little tricks I think Allies will always win. The arsenal of gameyness at Allied disposal is just staggering, much more than Japanese. This is not to say Allies will win in the game overall, though.

My overall plan is similar to Tom's - inflict casualties everywhere, contest everything, and attack, if for no other reason then to make him stop his offensive temporarily.

O.

[Nomad]

I haven't seen turn 2 yet but it looks like I will not be taking much if anything out of the PI or DEI. I think just holding China, India, Australia, NZ, and Hawaii is going to be enough. I am hoping to inflict some losses somewhere on Mogami, just not sure where that will be. [&:] I do know that a night bombing campaign is in order. [:D]

[Oleg Mastruko]

One of my Allied opponents (in "regular" PBEMs) is just kicking my ass all over the place, I plan to learn from him. We never planned for a "lunatic game" but I am sure my games vs him are more crazy than this with Mog will ever be. Games vs him must be over by late summer 42, because one side must break by then, its so intense. (I won our first game as IJN, we play our second game - same sides - this time I may very well lose, it will be a very close call either way). I learned a lot in games vs him.

Yes Allies can kick ass early on, especially if they, like, convert everything to B17 or torpedo carrying Beaufort V-IX (or whats its name) and, like, base them in Chinese bases or do something similarly nasty. [X(]

He posts very rarely on the board, guy is impressive, ex USN pilot in real life BTW.

O.

[Kereguelen]

Oleg,

just out of couriosity: Are you playing "Jagdfluger"? I only ask because your description matches this former opponent of me who seriously kicked my ass in PBEM. That was a hell of a game! Cancelled game because of too many frustrating bugs, but he certainly would've won if we had continued!

K

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Kereguelen

Oleg,

just out of couriosity: Are you playing "Jagdfluger"? I only ask because your description matches this former opponent of me who seriously kicked my ass in PBEM. That was a hell of a game! Cancelled game because of too many frustrating bugs, but he certainly would've won if we had continued!

K

Yes! [&o]

O.

[Tom Hunter]

Thanks for your commentary everyone.

In the interest of keeping to my agreement with Mogami I am asking Oleg and Nomad to keep any postings about strategy very vauge, Oleg's is a nice example of this, its hard for me to learn much from "I am going to inflict as many casualties as possible."

Turn one Mog when for many bases in the NEI. He also hit the Phillipines pretty hard and struck Pearl. No ground or Naval forces near Malaya but a number of airstrikes, one of them bombed Repulse heavily enough to slow her down, so she and the other damaged ships at Singers are taking off to safer locations.

I have put everything that flies on Naval attack, including the helium balloon my kid just brought home from a birthday party. Dutch avaiation assets have moved in to Java or bases that cover the Java Sea. Most British planes in Malaya have also moved to Java. There is now a large number of bombers and fighters in range of the Japanese invasion fleet that is landing at Kragen.

Kragen is the only Japanese attack that I can stop this early so its getting everything.

In the Phillipines US air assets dispersed as much as possible and are also set to Naval strike.

Prince of Wales is heading South to link up with other Allied surface forces at Batavia. Then she will start to lurk and smash things.

The US is focused on getting supplies and troops to the Hawaiian Islands. My plan is to build up multiple large bases with at least a division of troops and plenty of supplies. Adm. Laurent is about to take Pearl in his AAR because the allies could not even slow him down when he went for the smaller bases around Ohau. If Mog comes for Hawaii he will have a tough time taking that first base, and the second, and the third and all the while airstrikes from multiple locations will be hitting back.

The British are going to abandon Malaya. Troops are moving North towards Georgetown for pickup and convoys are being organized. Mogami has to make a lot of victory points to get 4 to one, that means bases and casualties, which means he needs to hit big concentrations of both. The British start with two concentrations, India and Malaya and neither one is big enough. But the armies from Malaya and India may be big enough combined, so that is what I am going to do.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

The US is focused on getting supplies and troops to the Hawaiian Islands. My plan is to build up multiple large bases with at least a division of troops and plenty of supplies. Adm. Laurent is about to take Pearl in his AAR because the allies could not even slow him down when he went for the smaller bases around Ohau. If Mog comes for Hawaii he will have a tough time taking that first base, and the second, and the third and all the while airstrikes from multiple locations will be hitting back.

This is dangerous.

First, he may bypass Hawaii altogether and go for West Coast directly (WC being denuded of units you sent piecemeal to Hawaii).

Mog currently operates on the (false?) premise that he needs to take WC to win AV - he said so in one thread. He may be wrong, he may be right (depends on his overall strategy), but assuming WC is his ultimate goal he does not need to stop in Hawaii first.

Also, if you put one division per island, he may assemble three division team, and go from island to island destroying your units (and gaining cheap points).

I am known to have invaded Johnston, Palmyra, Midway against Division sized units (and more) in some games solely for the purpose of gaining points for destroying units (never wanted to keep the place). One hex islands are ideal for that, as there is nowhere to retreat. This is almost my trademark move as IJN. I send SNLF immediatelly. USN is irritated by IJN units in level 4 base so close to Hawaii so he invades, usually with Division or so. Now I have "option" to amass 2-3 Divisions and re-invade, gaining mucho VPs.

I think my second best day in all PBEMs I played as Japanese (VP wise) was when I destroyed 2+ divisions worth of troops on Johnston - 800 or 1000 VPs in one day, no other way to gain as much in days work except by sinking enemy CVs loaded with aircraft to the brim (or like 5-6 BBs LOL).

O.

[Tom Hunter]

Though there is some danger in defending Hawaii I think there is more danger in not defending it. Time will show who is right.[;)]

I don't think your examples of Palmyra, Midway and Johnston support the thesis that multiple large well defended bases in Hawaii will be easily crushed, even with 3 divisions to one. All those bases stand alone, without mutual support. All the bases in Hawaii are in mutually supporting range.

So though there is some risk in building up Hawaii I don't think its the same risk associated with putting a division on Johnston or Midway.

And if Mog does take Frisco maybe the US will launch a counter invasion from its base at Pearl. Anything is possible in this game.

[GaryChildress]

Good luck, sounds like you all are up against a maniac indeed! [:)]

Don't forget those DMs in PH! They are fast and can mine the heck out of the neighboring Islands, not to mention build up PH itself!

Gary

[Tom Hunter]

Dec 8th

Mogami opened with a very strong thrust into the NEI and the Phillipines. The Dutch are totally unprepared and are getting hammered. Most of the Japanese battle fleet is in the Java Sea, so Prince of Wales is heading for Tjiliap to redezvous with some Dutch ships. Another cruiser TF is forming up at Balikpapan but it may have to run too.


Allied planes took to the air on naval mission all over the place, of the hundreds of bombs dropped only 5 scored hits, not good but it's a start. So far the largest ship sunk on the Allied side is the Tromp, which blundered into a Kongo off of Batavia. On the Japanese side a DD has been lost to a PT boat [:D]. I have not sortied the surface ships from Manila yet so Allied losses are still light, only 7 ships, mostly PT boats, and I will trade 3 or 4 PTs for a DD any day.

The Phillipines is getting hammered hard as well. I am hiding the air units and then spending the PP to get them out.

I think Mog's plan is to secure the NEI get the supply coming and then take down Russia for the points. Even though he has said he wants the US West Coast I am not too concerned about losing it, he has to telegraph the attack a long time in advance. As a counter strategy I am building up Hawaii and concentrating a lot of APs in that area. So if I see an invasion heading for the US I can put 4 Divisions on transports and race him to Frisco, and if he goes to Hawaii all those troops will be waiting for him.

As a matter of policy I seldom spend PPs on West Coast units in the early war, so the game will be the guide to my initial garrison.

The big shift over usual policy for me is the defense of Hawaii. I often assume it will never be attacked, and shift the Allied center of gravity towards the South Pacific.

It's kind of interesting that Mogs decision not to play historically is causeing me to play more historically with the USA. I am gaurding US posessions first, and worrying abouth the rest of the world later.

Map shows the extent of Japanese advance on day 2 of the war. He is moving fast, hopeing to keep his casualties low.

[Gen.Hoepner]

Wouldn't be easier for Mog to go for China-India-Russia instead of the WC if his only goal is gain points?
In a classic-style invasion of the Hawaii or WC, Japan spends millions of fuel,supplies and lose many ships, while on the land war all these factors are really reduced and he can save his KB to counter strike any allied attempts of counterattack in the south pacific. i'd go for these 3 if i was him in these conditions. Take out China first, sendind supplies and some additional divisions once the DEI are secured, then move into Burma with 20 divisions and smash india without even using the combined fleet.

[Tom Hunter]

Hoepner,

I agree with you completely. But since I am paraniod my initial plans are designed in a way that allows me to save the West Coast if Mog goes for it.

I suspect this game will hinge on India.

[Wolfie1]

OUCH! that is one aggressive opening by Mog - remind me never to play him PBEM[&:]

[Tom Hunter]

He also took Palembang this turn, and Kendaria and Amboina, little Dutch bases are falling all over the place.

And he screwed up the game settings some how so there was no combat report. I know a lot of my planes flew but I have no idea what they hit.

Not a big problem though I am still way off balance and most of my moves are aimed at organizing my forces to fight better.

Russia must be an objective for Mog, its got too many VP to leave alone. I have been looking at the situation there and in China and have started making certain moves. The Chinese are going to go over to the offensive, mainly to gain experience. Chinese troops fight much harder at XP 60 than they do at XP 35. The second move is a bit stranger but it is the only thing I can think of to help Russia. I am going to break up some weak Chinese units and run them into Manchuria. They will hop on and off the rails to slow Japanese movement and screw up supply, right now 3 are on the way, but eventually there will be at least 9 (3 weak divisions worth). The goal is to slow the Japanese and give the Russians time to move around in response to the Japanese invasion. The really cool thing is that the Chinese units come back at 1/3 strength, and by breaking up units that are already at 60% TOE I don't actually lose combat power when the units go away. Instead they just leave the map for a while and reappear at Chungking.

It's not a great plan, but it's the plan I have.

[ADavidB]

I am going to break up some weak Chinese units and run them into Manchuria.

I sent unbroken Chinese units into Manchuria and they gave Tophat fits for a while. One of the nice things is that Chinese units will get supplies from the Soviet bases near the Manchurian border. So scurry around to your heart's content - there's no telling what might happen. (And if you happen to be able to trap a Japanese unit against the border, try to make it retreat into the USSR and see if that activates the Soviets on your terms.)

Cheers -

Dave Baranyi

[Tom Hunter]

The Allied airforce hit back hard at the Japanese transports off of Kragen:

Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 3
CW-21B Demon x 5
Buffalo I x 9
T.IVa x 8
Martin 139 x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Johore Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Kinugawa Maru
AP Miike Maru, Torpedo hits 1
AK Kaisyo Maru
AP Hakozake Maru

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 17
CW-21B Demon x 5
Buffalo I x 13
Vildebeest IV x 10
T.IVa x 9
Martin 139 x 6


Allied aircraft losses
Vildebeest IV: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Kashiwara Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Johore Maru, on fire
AP Hakozake Maru, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
AK Seiki Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
AP Fusemi Maru
AP Hinko Maru, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Kaisyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Aki Maru
AP Ryoyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Fukko Maru, Bomb hits 1

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 4
Martin 139 x 3


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Miike Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Fukko Maru

Sadly all the Japanese have long since unloaded, and when two Dutch regiments arrived to try and contain the invasion the 3 Japanese brigades supported by artillery and engineers handled them roughly:

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 40019 troops, 393 guns, 77 vehicles

Defending force 4711 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
405 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Allied ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Guns lost 14

On land Kragen is a big problem for the Dutch.

But at sea its going to be a bigger problem for the Japanese. The Japs have several cruisers in the covering force but no BBs. As the map below shows the Prince of Wales is two days away in company with 15 cruisers and destroyers. More ships are at Soerbaja and the surface group at Balikpapan will join as well. If the Japanese are still there in two days they are going to be hit hard.

US planes from the Phillipines are now based in South Borneo. They are aggresively attacking the Japanese force that is going after Tarakan. It does not look like they will stop it, but they are scoring hits on the APs.

The British took Songakhia in Thailand, which makes things a little bit safer for the fleets that are coming to pull the army out of Malaya. The Japanese left it empty.

Australia is sending more planes to Rabaul and Port Moresby, as well as sending forces to build up the base at Cooktown. Surface ships are heading that way as well. The Japanese are taking the small ports on the Northern coast of New Guinea, they grabbed Wewak today, and will soon go for Lae if their current rate of advance continues. They are steaming into RAAF territory as they do this, and Hudsons have already started making strikes on thier convoys.

Allied intel reports Japanese units planning to attack Russia. In responese some Chinese units are already heading to Manchuko to perform disruption operations in the Japanese rear. More on this later.

The US continues to organize. I am sending the US CVs back to the West Coast. I have a personal history of losing one or two because of lack of fuel on the front line, or failure to understand reaction rules or other reasons that come down to not being careful enough. So this time they are going somewhere safe, and they will come back after there is adiquate fuel in the Pacific and my position is better organized.

US gound units continue to load for Hawaii, but due to the rumored threat to the West Coast large groups of APs will be kept ready to move troops back to the USA if it looks like Japan is going for it. In the mean time strong bases will be built up in several locations, so that if the Japanese come to Hawaii they will be unable to make a quick base capture and then shut down the airfields on Ohau. I am sure Japan can shut one airfield with KB, and equally sure that they cannot take out 5 at once. 3 will have big forts and division size defense units, the others will be smaller but still large enough to launch twin engine planes.

In India preparation is under way to turn the whole country into a fortress. More on that when things get further along, but this time every base is going to be garrisoned and developed.

The Chinese are being left alone by Mogami, something he will eventually regret. They are looking for battles where they can get some experience and cause the Japanese to retreat and burn supply. The first target is Nanning.

Here is the map of Java:

[Tom Hunter]

The PoW TF goes in off Kragen and we fight a long blood battle. The British have a BB, 5 Cls and 10 DDs The Japanese have 3 CAs and 4 DDs

We both have very good luck and very bad luck. Mog's good luck is that he suprises Leach twice which allows him to do a lot of damage to the Allied CLs and DDs including sinking the Java. My good luck is that Leach comes back into action three times and eventually starts hitting with the 14" guns. In the end Suzuya goes down along with 2 DDs.

2 groups of 6 Dutch PT boats fail to find anything, and the CL Marblehead and 4 DDs find the Japanese convoy but are content with shooting up one AP and a patrol craft, niether of which sink. Then everyone goes home to Soerbaja. It is sort of an Allied victory but considering the huge advantage in force I had it did not accomplish very much. I do think Mog found it a little bit disturbing that PoW was first spotted by a Jap cruiser at 6,000 yrds and not a scout plane while still 300 miles away. There is another Japanese troop convoy that is one hex away from Kragen and will start unloading tomorrow. 3 Japanese BBs hit Batavia and you can bet they will be off Kragen in the morning as well so that is it for hit and run. The Dutch are in big trouble and that is all there is too it. The Japanese are bleeding a little but its not even slowing them down.

All the ships invovled are going to run like hell, there is far too much Japanese stuff in the NEI for me to stay. Some will head for India for repair, others will head for Australia and then either try for an ambush near Timor or head over to New Guinea where the weaker Japanese advance might be seriously delayed.

The Japanese continue to take the small bases on the North coast of New Guinea, today the Australians will start bombing the airfields nearest to PM and Rabual.

Japanese planes in Bancock hit a British TF on its way to Malaya. Some of the ships may sink, all were damaged. Just proves that I have to be more careful about routing shipping in that area. The 7th Bomber group will finally reach SE Asia some time next week at that point I will be able to start supressing some of Mogs air concentrations, at least on a tactical basis.


Airstrikes continue to be flown against Japanese shipping all over the NEI. A total of 122 sorties resulted in 5 bomb hits. Talk about pilot quality, ugh. [:@] But I do think this is still a good strategy. My pilots are slowly getting better, and Japanese shipping is getting damaged and occasionally sunk. Also my fighters are alive, I have good numbers of P40s in the NEI and relatively few have been shot down. As the Zero bonus fades and Allied pilot quality increases the time will come when I can fight and win in the air, at least for short periods in carefully selected areas.

I tried air transporting a Chinese unit into Russia but the game would not let me. Too bad.

Most of the cripples have left Pearl Harbor for the West Coast. US submarines are heading to a patrol line that runs South of Dutch Harbor, that will become a major base for subs on the tripwire patrol for the early part of the war.

In the Philipines there are some weak Japanese units in the North, I am going to move a strong force up there and counter attack. That should hurt him a bit and throw off his plans. I did the shipping run in the Phillipines a bit differently this time. The sortie was spaced out over days and ran in several different directions, and 10-15 ships are still in Manila waiting for the next period of bad weather to try and get out. Some ships went West past Marcus Island, it looks like they may all escape. Others went South and most of them have been sunk by CVL based air or planes from the Japanese base on Jolo. A smaller number when towards Singapore, some of them have been attacked by Japanese LBA, others made it to Singers intact, and an AVD actaully avoided the bombs. So Mog has sunk some of the Phillipine fleet but a substantial portion is going to escape. The 3 British DDs in Hong Kong also got away, Houston escaped completely and the Brooklyn took a torpedo but is already nearing Australia and will eventually be repaired.

Over all I am reasonably happy with the way things are going. Mogami is taking the NEI very fast but he is bleeding for his trouble. To my delight the PoW is still fully operational which means the Japanese need to be a bit careful, especially if she gets away this turn. I still have substantial air assets available if they are properly conserved I will be able to hit back pretty hard in January and February. I'm still avoiding Mog's center of gravity but the Allies are starting to nibble around the edges. Anything to keep the attrition high and the margin less than 4 to 1