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This thread is off limits for Gary!! Gary has his own AAR, and it is off limit for me, too, so please refrain from posting information you gained in his thread.
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I'm playing the Allies in a PBEM game against Gary Childress. The settings are:

• WitP version 1.801
• CHS 2.05, Scen 155 (extended map, no A2A modifications, Soviets not available)
• Turn cycle = 1 day
• Allied sub doctrine = off
• Japanese sub doctrine = off
• fog of war = on
• advanced weather = on
• Allied damage control = on
• historical 1st turn = off
• player defined upgrades = on
• vary setup = off
• December 7 surprise = on
• reinforcements = variable +/- 15 days
• auto sub ops = off
• facilities to expand at start = off
• automatic air upgrades default = off
• air and ground replacements default = off

We agreed on the following house rules:

• no disbanding air units at home base and thus also no returning pilots and planes to pool (as that doesn't work anyway)
• The Japanese are not allowed to enter the Panama and Aden passages.
• Aden is off limits to the Japanese and cannot be invaded nor attacked by the Japanese.
• Japanese carriers are not allowed within 4 hexes of the entrances/exits of Aden.
• Japanese subs are not allowed within 4 hexes of the entrances/exits to Aden.
• Turn 1: Allies are only allowed to move TFs already at sea or TFs already present in a port.
• Turn 1: KB must attack PH on turn 1 and is not allowed to go after the American carriers on the first turn
• Turn 1: Japanese are only allowed to invade bases up to 15 hexes away from a friendly base and must be within "line of sight". In other words no invading the back side of islands or bases tucked away behind islands and land masses.
• Units assigned to the following HQs may only be deployed outside their command areas if they are transferred to another HQ:
  • China Command HQ
  • Canada Command HQ
  • Kwantung Area Army HQ
• All Australian nationality Brigade and Division LCUs (without AIF units) are only allowed to move within Australia Proper and New Guinea (including New Britain but NOT Dutch New Guinea). This restriction is permanent, even if the units are reassigned to a HQ other than ANZAC Command, and still applies even if a Division or Brigade is split into smaller units.
• The Soviet Union attack must be triggered by entering hex 65,32
• The construction of at least one of the two Shinano ships MUST always be halted

Furthermore, I'm going to restrict myself by the following rules:

• No submarine invasions for recon
• No amphibious invasions against non-dot-hexes
• No breakdown of LCU's in combat to reduce fatigue and disruption
• No single ship TFs scouting for enemy carrier TFs by triggering naval air strikes
• PT boats may not be combined with any other type ship, except when transfering to
  another base
• Airfield stacking limited to 50x airfield level +15 % (planes on transfer do not count). Air HQ, 500 aviation support or airbase size 9/10 negate this stacking rule. 4E-bombers always count as 2 airframes

Gary said he will "try to follow the above to the letter as well", and we both have the desire to "keep it real", especially concerning the non-historical first turn.

Two things about me before I start this AAR:

1. English is not my native tongue so please be so kind as to forgive me my errors. I try to do my best.

2. I'm fairly new to WitP, war gaming in general and PBEM in particular. I bought the game a couple of months ago after browsing the forum intensely, and so far I have only played a couple of the scenarios against the AI. I know the game mechanics, and I think that by readling lots of AARs on this forum I have also gained a (vague) feeling of what is doable and what isn't in a full campaign. Because of my inexperience every piece of advice is welcome! [:)]

So lets jump right into turn 1! [8D]

Pearl Harbor:

I'm not sure what to say... Here's what happened:

Kido Butai appeared 4 hexes due west of Pearl Harbor and launched the following strike against minimal resistance (4 Tomahawks):

Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor, at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 76
D3A2 Val x 118
B5N2 Kate x 128

The Vals started dropping 60kg GB bombs (!?) at 2000 feet, then Kates joined with 600kg AP bombs (6000 feet)?!? Not a single torpedo was launchend! Weird... 10-15 of the 600kg APs were penetrating hits on my BBs, but most of them bounced. The Vals scored dozens of hits, and unfortunately the pilots made the right decision by attacking smaller ships. Result: no BB is in danger of sinking, but most of them are damaged, and a lot of CA/DD sized ships are heavily damaged:




The airfield attack was more successful...

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 25 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 destroyed
PBY Catalina: 18 destroyed
C-47 Dakota: 1 destroyed
P-36A Mohawk: 10 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed
B-18A Bolo: 6 destroyed
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 3 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed
B-17D Fortress: 3 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 5 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
P-26A: 1 destroyed

My fighter squadrons are in a very bad shape: No fighter squadron has more than 4 ready planes left, and morale is in the 20s and 30s. Oh, and the airfield is trashed, too...

Airbase hits 57
Airbase supply hits 2 -> 61 Airfield Service Damage
Runway hits 287 -> 85 Runway Damage


...while Kido Butai lost 12 Vals, 9 Zeroes and 2 Kates. The day ended with 3 strikes against transport TFs in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor:

In the AM phase, 19 Vals and 29 Kates slaughtered AV Wright: Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage.

In the PM phase, 28 Kates escorted by 4 Zeros attakced AVD McFarland (3 Torpedo hits), while 51 Zeros (strafing) and 15 Vals took care of an AP with ze German name of Jagersfontein (Shell hits 92, Bomb hits 16). All three ships sank and are the only victims of Kido Butai (so far). Interesting that Gary left so many planes on naval attack.

Gary will probably stick around with his CVs for one more turn, and I won't be able to contest the skies. My only hope is that the AA fire of my BBs will be fairly intense. I'm not sure if my battleline should A) remain disbanded (and suffer the AA penalty) B) form several TFs and remain at PH or C) make a run for the ocean or Lahaina. Advice?


More to the west [:(]





Guam was also invaded. No combat so far.

Philippines: Invasions at Batan Island, Vigan, Aparri, Tuguegarao, Naga and Legaspie. See the screenshot for details.

Red Arrows: Japanese air strikes
Green Arrows: Allied air strikes
Dark red Arrows: Paratrooper landings
Blue Arrows: Naval invasions



30 Sonjas from Canton strike Hong Kong and inflict heavy damage on several ships, but 2 are shot down and 26 return damaged. Several smaller raids on merchant ships in this area score several hits, but half of the ships remains intact (so far). A CVL is sighted in Pescadores, the only sign of Mini KB!



China: Rather quiet. Smaller raids on Wenchow and Changsa by IJA bombers from China and Formosa, no damage.

Malaysa: 130 Nells attack Singapore AFB! The main force of his naval bombers is here. IJA bombers from Kompong Som (32 Lilys, 14 Sallys, 14 Oscars) and Saigon (27 Sallys, 22 Zeros) attack the airfields in northern Malaya, but fail to damage the aerodroms. Only the 18th Div invades Malaya so far. His Schwerpunkt seems to be the Philippines, or maybe there will be a follow-up landing closer to Singapore.




Borneo: Japanese troops invade all bases in northern Borneo. Looks like a very strong landing at Kuching. He wants to build up this AB as soon as possible. I bet he can't wait to rebase those 130 Nells from Saigon to Kuching and thus isolate Singapore, Batavia and Palembang by air at a single blow. This I cannot allow, but how to suppress Kuching? POW and Repulse at night? Level bomber by day? Any ideas?




So, any advice for Kuching? Pearl Harbor? I'll talk about my general plans in my next post, but now I have to prepare for the Germany - Portugal game! Too bad it's only the "small final". [:(]

So watch this space... [:)]

With regards to the BBs Maryland and Arizona aint going nowhere fast but a quick trip to Lahaina might just save them, as for the rest get them out of  there as fast as possible(ie full speed) set course for Palmyra where your CVs should also be going( you can always come back to PH when the KB leaves).Any reasonably intact DDs should be in ASW groups to cover the main body .You might want to try sending subs to where the KB is (maybe you'll get lucky)

In other areas have you considered the possibility of sending force Z down to Kendari along with as many supporting ships as possible.Its a much better base to work from than either Singapore or Soerbaja(Balikpapan is good for light units but doesn't have anywhere near enough fuel)

Malaya is in my opinion a deathtrap and you should try and evacuate a s many units as possible from the peninsula before its inevitable collapse

That being said my experience is purely vs the AI so maybe the more experienced PBEM players can do more for you

>quick trip to Lahaina
 
IMHO I am not a fan of this move.
1. If it does not autodisband on time, it can easily be sunk if he has planes on
naval attack.
2. If it does autodisband (you must choose it and hope it does) it will certainly survive another day. But he can go after it again and maybe being in a smaller port will make it much more vulnerable.
3. Everyday he attacks PH after the first day, he will lose 25-30 mega pilots.

Like I said my experience is entirely vs the AI (just don't have the guts for a PBEM)

Thanks for the comments! The Lahaina discussion is now somewhat moot as Gary sent me an email to reassure me that he would not hunt down my CVs with KB (by positioning KB due west of Pearl Harbor he came quite close to my AC TFs). He said that he would withraw KB to the west next turn, and I believe him. So all ships stay put in Pearl Harbor. Lets pretend I received some MAGIC intel... [;)]

I finished the "real" first turn a couple of minutes ago, and I spent more than 1 hour only with sorting the different AKs, APs, and TKs. It's an arduous task because WitP's sorting and filtering features are not very refined, to put it mildly. [>:] But there are a lot of different classes of transport with different strengths and weaknesses, so it has to be done. I'll post some examples tomorrow, and a general update.

1. English is not my native tongue so please be so kind as to forgive me my errors. I try to do my best.

2. I'm fairly new to WitP, war gaming in general and PBEM in particular. I bought the game a couple of months ago after browsing the forum intensely, and so far I have only played a couple of the scenarios against the AI. I know the game mechanics, and I think that by readling lots of AARs on this forum I have also gained a (vague) feeling of what is doable and what isn't in a full campaign. Because of my inexperience every piece of advice is welcome!

I'd say you have a pretty good handle on English and Photoshop too! So far a well written and illustrated AAR. Well Done!

ORIGINAL: Wellard

Like I said my experience is entirely vs the AI (just don't have the guts for a PBEM)

I can only encourage you to try PBEM. It's an awesome experience, and you will never play against the AI again. [8D]

TheElf,

thanks for the kind words! Your own AAR gave me the idea to use screenshots instead of just posting the combat reports.
BTW, I'm not using photoshop, but SnagIt, a screenshot program that can automatically save, crop and convert screenshots by pressing a hotkey. Saves a lot of work. It's not freeware, though.

While waiting for the second turn I made two screenshots detailing my strategies for Malaya and the Philippines. Lets hope they survive contact with reality...

In general, I will try to hold both Manila and Singapore as long as possible. In Malaya, I'll try a fighting withdrawal with two defense lines. In the Philippines, all forces will gather in Manila, and my aim is to provide them with as much supply as I can gather.

My reasoning for committing (and probably losing) all those forces in the DEI: I'm going to trade troops for time (short version). Long version: evacuating Singapore and Manila would open the door for some early invasion of India and Australia. I need time until reinforcements arrive and to set up my defenses, and if some Inf LCUs in Malaya and the Philippines are the price I have to pay for that, then I'm willing to pay it. For now, only parts of selected base forces, combat engineers and HQs are evacuated. I'm planning a Dunkirk-style evacuation for Singapore though, but this will not happen until the forts are coming down.

Well if you have read the Fear and loathing thread you will find a way to relly slow him down.I essence it's make him fight for SWingapore then evacuate to Sumatra and make him fight there then make him fight for Java and Timor.If you do this right you can delay his securing the SRA until mid '42.However he seems to have gone for the grab Borneo tactic which makes that a little more difficult.Jolo seems to be the key to IJN control of the Sulusea/Celebes area so denying that to him will slow him down as long as the mini KB doesn't sneak up,and stab you in the back
And when I talked about evacuating Malaya I would have done it much as you intend to

Here are some screenshots of different CHS APs/AKs. Just a little teaser for non-CHS players...

Have a look at this beauty, more AA than a Japanese cruiser! [&o]



I'll receive a second transport of this classe in June 1942. This one starts the game in Colombo.

Here's the opposite extreme... [:D]




This one (and several other tiny AKs and APs) is available in the Philippines, others start the game in India / the DEI. They are hard to detect in bad weather, and should have a fair chance to evacuate some forces from Singapore and Manila, or transport supplies into enemy controlled zones.

And finally one of the four Q-ships from Bombay:



APs with teeth! And in this case: Torpedoes!! [8D]  The Q-class ships can be "upgraded" in April 1942: they lose their weapons and half of their AA rating but increase capacity to approx. 3000. Not sure if I'm going to do this.

No new developments, but my first mistake:

Guam was taken today, and of course I forgot to move the local AO and MSW out of port. [8|] Both were scuttled.
Someone should be shot for this, and I think it's me.

Besides Guam, all other invasion sites fell today:

• Borneo: Kuching, Miri, Brunei and Jesselton
• Celebes: Manado
• Luzon: Vigan, Aparri, Naga and Legaspi
• New Guinea: Hollandia

Kido Butai is 180 miles southwest of French Frigate Shoals, refueling.

Sub warfare:

• 2 Dutch submarines entered Kota Bharu this night and were hunted by the SC TF. No hits. They're going to evacuate a small part of the base force.
• a smaller AK fleeing from Kuching was sunk by 2 torpedoes
• TK Agwiworld was hit a torpedo from S-155 just south of Singapore. Sys/Float/Fires 17/1/10, now in Singapore
• SS-123 attacks DD Peary, fleeing from Manila. Torpedoes miss.

Borneo:
An AK at Kuching and PG Isabel at Brunei were sunk by gunfire of the local invasion TFs. The SC TFs then bombarded Kuching for a second time, they must be out of ammo now. Too bad POW and Repulse are already near Bandjermasin...

Clear weather in the Philippines resulted in several attacks on fleeing merchant shipping north of Luzon. 5 AKs were hit today. On the other hand, no sign of the enemy between Luzon and Borneo. More ships will make the run today. Where's baby KB?
Air attacks on Clark, Cagayen and San Fernando, all remarkable ineffective. Maybe too high, 15.000 feet. Gary always uses 15.000 feet...
I set my Warhawks at Manila to naval attack (2000 feet) last turn to avoid any air combat with Zeros and to increase their experience, and they score: AP Kisaragi Maru at Naga hit by one of 37 planes, small damage. [:'(]

Another port attack on Hong Kong gave ML Redstart the coup de grace and sunk another PT. There's no use in waiting for bad weather here, all ships will leave Hong Kong now. First deliberate attack on the city today, and the forts came down already (at 4 now).

Malaya:
A Lily puts a (small) bomb into AP Montoro, which is evacing the base force from Victoria Point together with an AK. S/F/F is 30/7/9. Should make it to Calcutta via Port Blair (in case the BF must be unloaded).
Only a handful of Nells attacked Singapore today, but they score: DD Jupiter, just returned from an ASW mission, is hit by an torpedo and will probably sink.
Japanese and Allied air attacks on Kota Bharu result in no damage.

China: completely quiet. There's a war going on here??

Ship losses so far. Besides the Guam catastrophe, all losses have been rather inevitable.

China is a mess in CHS! I'm trying to sort it out at the moment, and I'm starting with the HQs:

China has several different types of HQs, and all of them are on the map on 07/12/41:

• China Command, a static command HQ with a command radios of 5 hexes, which means Chungking + 4 hexes.
• 2 command HQs with a range of 2, both protecting the Burma road: "Y-force", static, in Kunming; and "NCAC", non-static, in Tsuyung.
• 9 Command HQs with a range of 1: 8 "War Area" HQs + "Red Chinese" HQ (in Yenan). Some of them are static, some not. Have a look at the screenshot: yellow lines are static command HQs, white lines indicate non-static command HQs.
• 24 corps HQs ("Group Army") with a range of one, all non-static. Those are the small red circles.

As you can see, some HQs should be relocated. The lack of a command HQ in Changsha is alarming. On the other hand, Sian has two command HQs, but one can be moved. "NCAC" should be relocated, too, as Tsyung is covered by the static "Y-Force" HQ.

Regarding corps HQs, Tsuyung, Changsha and the hex southwest of Nanchang have two. As their bonuses don't stack (right?), I'm planning to move them too.

That's it for today, tomorrow I'll cover other unit types. Hopefully, I will then have a plan for China, too. Any suggestions?

Edit:

I forgot to add the support values for the HQs:

All HQs have a full TOE, but the percentage of disabled squads differs:

China Command: 360 support, only a couple of disabled squads.
NCAC and Y-Force: 240 support, only a couple of disabled squads.
War Area HQs + Red Chinese: 240 support, between 2 and 8 % disabled squads
Group Area HQs: 180 support, 20 to 25 % disabled squads.

This thread about how to defend China in CHS may be helpful.

tm.asp?m=1181129

I was about to start my two PBEM games, but my computer crashes too much playing WitP. [:@][:@] I saw that v2.06 just came out. [&o] The F6F production went up to 230 from 144 per month.

p.s. - take care of my favorite ship (BBB) in the SRA. [:D]

BBB - Big Bad Boise!![:D]

That ship, the Boise, sucks! You can't sink it no matter how many torps you hit her with, and sheeling her barely scratches the paint[:D][:D]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

This thread about how to defend China in CHS may be helpful.

tm.asp?m=1181129

I was about to start my two PBEM games, but my computer crashes too much playing WitP. [:@][:@] I saw that v2.06 just came out. [&o] The F6F production went up to 230 from 144 per month.

p.s. - take care of my favorite ship (BBB) in the SRA. [:D]

BBB - Big Bad Boise!![:D]

Thanks for the link, ny59giants, ctangus makes some very good points. I would post in that thread, but then Gary knows what I'm up to. [:)]

I've started the evacuation of Wenchow on the first turn, it's already empty. Honan: I could try to defend the wooden hex to the northeast, across the river, so that the supply line can't be cut. I'll have a look at the Inf-LCUs today and see what I have in that area. I'm not looking for offensive action in China right now, but want to be in good shape in 1943.

Well, the increase of F6F production in 2.06 doesn't help me right now, but we're playing with PDU on, so I should have less problems than Andy Mac.

About the Boise, she will soon see action. Right now she's safe near Balikpapan. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the Prince of Wales...

Gentlemen (I assume no ladies are present),

the situation is grave. Well, no surprise so far...

Todays highlights:

BB Prince of Wales and most of my ABDA surface combat ships arrived in Balikpapan, just in time to witness the first Nell attack from Kuching. PoW catches two torpedoes and is at 32/51/13. [:(] A CAP of 8 Brewsters was ordered, but no planes appeared.

First deliberate attack of the 18th Div on Kota Bharu today - the city fell immediately. All three units retreated with few losses to the southwest. I was hoping for a little more resistance...

Port attack Manila: 51 Bettys sink SS Seawolf and damage SS Swordfish (46/44/0) as well as AS Hollandia (41/13/1) and AK Corregidor (47/17/5), which were waiting for bad weather to leave port (forecast: partly cloudy). The CAP of 8 Warhawks however downed 8 and damages 28 Bettys for no loss. Morale is up to 87, so not all is bad. The CAP should have been a lot strongther, though. A smaller raid damaged AO Trinity (18/46/14), which was loading (together with another AO and a TK) fuel. They will continue loading and evacuating as much fuel as possible.

A little trap was waiting for Gary at Hong Kong: 21 Warhawks (ex-USAFFE) were circling over the city, ready to butcher the usual raid of Sallys/Lilys at 15.000 feet. Sadly, only 5 Sallys arrived today, and no A2A combat happend. I wonder why, the Sallys came in at 15.000 feet, my fighters were at 15.000 / 18.000 feet, but they "climbed to intercept", and then the A2A combat was done.

Tarawa was captured, no opposition.

SS Tresher attacks an escorting DD of Kido Butai! [X(] Dud, but no hit on the sub either.
The fleet is still 180 miles southwest of French Frigate Shoals, together with the replenishment fleet. More subs are closing in. Will he stick around?

Because of leaking CAP, Gary now knows that parts of the AVG are in Malaya. They CAP'ed Georgetown and Taiping, but responded to the bombing of Kota Bharu.THe third squadron is still at Rangoon.

Invasion convoy east of Kendari sighted! I'll cover this one with a screenshot:



Kendari is just within range of all ships around Balikpapan. I could rush in everything I have, or I could gather at Makassar and attack at night a day later. It seems like Gary is risking a lot with this invasion, only supported by Manado (level 3 airbase), and with all my surface vessels in the area. A trap? Mini KB hasn't been sighted yet, apart from report of a CVL in port at Formosa on Dec. 7th.

Attacks on Allied merchant shipping:
Japanese dive and torpedo bombers attacked the remnants of the Allied merchant fleet in the South and East China Sea. The following ships were (heavily) damaged today in this area:

AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PG Moth, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Hai Lee, Bomb hits 1
AK Wawa, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
AK Ravnaas, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Morazan, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

SS-123 attacked AK Paz: Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Now that most ships have left this area or are sunk, the focus will shift to the Philippines. Losses will continue to be high, as I'm stubbornly sending (small) AKs and APs
in and out of Manila, trying to supply the city and reinforce the garrison. I think most of the smaller merchant ships are expendable, but it nevertheless hurts to see them sink, like these two 2850-cap. AKs I sent to San Fernando to evacuate supplies:

AK Soochow, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage (sunk)
AK Taiping, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage (sunk)

More worrying than the loss of cargo capacity is, IMO, the increase of experience of the Japanese pilots, which are having a field day.

Near Singapore, TK Agwiworld proves to be a torpedo magnet: despite being ordered to load fuel in Singapore, the ship left the harbor and was (again) torpedoes by SS-162. Three torpedo hits this time. Why did the ship leave port? The setting was "retirement allowed", and homeport was Batavia, but I thought ships loading fuel/supplies would only return to their homeport after being fully loaded?
[&:]

Another TK was torpedoed by a Nell near Balikpapan as well as a AK near Pontianak. Again, I'm trying to transport as much supply, oil and resources as possible to Singapore and Java, and evacuate some of the base forces, too. Something has to be done about Kuching, though.

I'm doing the turn later today; comments are - as always - welcome.

You are learning the hard way about the lack of naval power around Kendari/Ambonia area at the start for the Allies. First thing I always do is send Boise over there and then some more of the ABDA ships to stop this flank attack. The Japs don't have any heavies (CA's or larger) at Palua to start with and this area needs to be contested or you are back to Timor/North Oz very quickly. [X(]

When I play, I send all those AP's to OZ and beyond (use AK's to transport troops,oil, and such) as you will need them in '43 when your counter-offensive hits high gear. [:D] Since you get more PP to start with in CHS, I spend some to evac some of those Dutch BF's (those not on Java) to northern OZ - speed up the fortification building process. [:D]

Usually, I spread out the large Aviation unit and engineer unit in Manila among AK's to make a run to Darwin. You will need those aviation regiments and BF's in Northern Oz for your LBA's in a few months or it will be a short fight, IF, and when he goes for OZ.