Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. Bigred (A).

[Yakface]

Hi John

In answer to your question (hope I'm not butting in) I had a look at this mod a bit ago and noticed that almost all the chinese units had their full TOE. In stock the infantrycorps are mostly between 1/3 and 60% of their TOE. It means that in the Rluctant Admiral, China has an AV about 2.5 times that of stock. They're an absolute monster. However I have a strong suspicsion that it will come to haunt the Chinese as they have no extra supply sources and in the long run I can see massive death from starvation

[FatR]

I'm not sure how this happened, maybe material JuanG's mods included stronger Chinese forces. Anyway, I don't exactly disapprove, in the stock it is rather easy to overrun huge regions of China in 1942, while in this mod a Japanese player is in a much tighter situation. Although, on the other hand, farming VPs early in China might become a concern. Let's see how this plays out.

As about oil centers, as mentioned above, I've taken only Tarakan so far, in practically undamaged condition. I might try a paradrop on Medan in the near future, depending on results of recon.

[bklooste]

I think it should be a major concern that needs to be considered my first thoughts as China would be i need to loose 75% of my forces so i can supply them ( so move any units to Burma i can depending on HR and PP) . The result would be a massive offensive disregarding losses which will result in a very experienced and supplied Chinese army of the original size ,likely to be a monster once the Burma road is re-opened and you pull supplies accross it ( yes as allies build those bases) .  It really forces the IJA to concentrate on closing the Burma road and putting a lot more units in China which went to Bataan historically.

[FatR]

We've resumed our game, but nothing very important happened so far. Hong Kong fell to a shock attack on 19th. Notably, I used an extra infantry group and a mortar unit from Canton in this siege. Otherwise, it would have lasted into January, probably. Freed troops will go to Luzon, where most Allied troops gave me the slip. I smashed 4th Marines, at least.

Meanwhile, there is a part of my war plan I haven't covered yet:

Defenses of North Pacific

These regions are very weak at the start, allowing major opportunities for an unorthodox Allied player. I've already landed an AF unit on Paramushiro, other such units head for Onnekotan, Marcus and Wake to start building up fortifications. A NavGuard arrived on Marcus two turns ago. Unfortunately, there is no free construction units around.

Paramushiro also will receive 8th Base Force, now available at Home Islands. I want to turn it into a major stronghold, with Onnekotan as its supporting airfield. Other based on Kuriles will be eventually garrizoned, but I do not intend to develop them much (besides building fortifications). Instead, a powerful airbase at Bihoro will be eventually created, to project airpower over Kuriles.

I transferred Paramushiro to General Defense headquarters, so now I can base a restricted squadrons of Mavises on it. Eventually I'll probably airlift some restricted units there.

No major fleet assets are currently available to protect Kuriles. As the threat of surface raiding cannot be discounted. I plan to transfer two CLs that currently repair their battle damage at Pescadores to Home Islands waters, after they become combat-worthy again. 5-6 old DDs will be scrounged here and there to supplement them.


EDIT: After much thinking, I decided to fortify Shimushiri as well, and put 5th Fleet HQ there, while Onnekotan will not be developed past about level 2 airfield and 3-4 levels of forts. Not only Shimushiri is a prime target for a possible invasion, I need a major airfield in the middle of the island chain, so that IJAAF bombers will be able to participate in any possible battles. Also, from there 5th Fleet command radius covers all of the islands.

[FatR]

Enemy carriers found!

It's only December 23, and we're probably about to have the first carrier battle of the war. Two USN CVs just surfaces southwest of Kendari and launched a divebomber strike against the Japanase old battleship group that just moved there in the hopes that Force Z might move from the south, to intercept my new chain of invasions (forces have already landed at Sorong, Ternate and the hex next to Manado, but the main amphibious fleet heads to Kendari). Yamashiro had light fires after 5 bomb hits, but took no damage that might impair its performance, others had their paint scratched. Mini-KB was too far to the north, sinking small Dutch auxilaries, and only one Zero group provided LRCAP, without much success.

I'm not pursuing enemy carriers (except sending subs to intercept), but I'm willing to stand and fight. Mini-KB actually fields more fighters than two enemy CVs can (85 operational Zeros), and they still had Bufallos on one of the decks, but Mini-KB's strike capability is very weak, particularly after Kate losses taken in the first week of the war. I've pulled my battleships north, so that they, a cruiser close cover TF and two already-unloaded convoys will form a target-rich environment around Mini-KB that hopefully can force enemy to lauch dispersed strikes. Should have commanded one BB to merge with Mini-KB, to provide a bomb sponge, but oh well, the best thoughts often came too late...

Make no mistake, I hope for a carrier battle more than I fear it at this point. But agressive pursuit would have stretched my fleet across the sea, and opened it to too many CAP-attriting attack from various small bases. Also, I cannot discount the probability of Force Z or other Allied surface combatants being nearby, after all.


Meanwhile, both parts of KB will fly ground stikes to support the invasion of Port Moresby, that's coming in two turns, and then sail through Torres Strait to - if USN will be too far away- smite Darwin. Nagumo's force is still at Rabaul (where it replenished planes and sorties, but not torpedos), so I don't want to rush into DEI right away. The enemy is far enough to disappear before I can intercept, anyway. Unless targets of opportunity arise, the next stop after Darwin will be Colombo - there are no major warships at Soerabaja. Remaining fuel on AOs should suffice for that raid.

[FatR]

Yubari decided not to challenge Mini-KB and american carriers went on their way. Hopefully they'll try to sneak attack me somewhere else in DEI, but with KB already on its way, they probably will be gone for good. The Kendari invasion convoy will hit the beaches on the next turn. It carries an Air HQ to immediately establish Netties coverage. With stronger fleets assets available for covering invasions, I decided to not bother with establishing an airbase at Manado, although I'll capture the base anyway.


Burma front

The first success was achieved on December 25, when Port Blair finally fell after fighting that took more than a week. Take note, JFBs - 1st Raiding Regiment might not be strong enough to take Port Blair on the first shock attack. Thankfully, my esteemed opponent only sent ships to bombard Port Blair, but did not reinforce. So, now Allied fighters can only get from CBI to DEI on board of ships.

It seems, that Yubari intents to fight at Moulmein. A good move, but will he be prepared for a hook from Chiang Mai (assuming Moulmein won't be just overran by Imperial Guards)? I've sending 143th Regiment there, and two tank regiments from Malaya will probably reinforce the advance - not many Allied troops were cut off on the peninsula.


Maneuver warfare in China

The China is probably the most interesting theater at the moment. With stronger Chinese forces, even my massive army on the Central Plains does not guarantee easy victory. As you can see on the map below, I succeeded at cutting off most of Chinese troops on Central Plains, yet my sneaky opponent refused to just let them be slaughtered and sent them southwest, to avoid the Japanese hammer, and possibly overwhelm my rather deficient holding force. Also, a massive, 113 thousands-strong relief force just sallied forth from Nanyang.

Overall, it seems, that Yubari intends to launch sieges whenever terrain in Japanese-held hexes prevents Chinese forces from being easily evicted, and build up their experience by bombarding my troops. I believe, I can turn this strategy against him in the long term. As long as my main mobile force is free to rampage, the more Chinese forces are tied across the map, the better. Also, Chinese supplies should be eaten up fast by an army of this size. Particularly when it regularly launches bombardments. I intend to speed up the process by strategic bombing of the industry in Changsha area. However, I don't want to let this djinn out of the bottle, until I have enough fighters to overwhelm the goddamn AVG (which is responsible for at least hald of Allied air kills so far) and enough bombers to achieve decisive results on the first couple of days. There is alot of scattered industry in China that can be bombed in return.

I also intend to go for supplies on operational level. The smaller part of my force, including the mass of tank regiments (which proved to be not as mobile as I expected on cultivated terrain) will continue mop-up operations and play with his relief force, while 6-7 divisions will strike Chengchow in the near future, to start capturing Chinese industrial base, and then will move to Loyang. In stock game I would have been 100% sure that my force will squash the defenders like bugs, here it feels as somewhat risky move.

The current situation in China:

[FatR]

What is the situation on the last day of 1941?

Well, you can see the point count below. Japanese have achieved all targets of their initial invasion rush, except Mindanao, where forces deployed were insufficient to overrun Cagayan (but I'm sending two SNLFs and 144th Regiment, which wasn't used in South Seas thanks to my logistical screwup, to reinforce) and Ambon, where a duch sub torpedoed an AP with one of 4th Regiment batallions, so it limped back to Ternate before reaching the beach, and remaining forces were insufficient. At Malaya, Luzon and Burma Japanese forces should be in position to achieve a decisive victory in January, while in China the situation remains fluid and uncertain. We've ascertained the position of most of the enemy's CV strength and they were chased off from DEI without causing appreciable harm.

Outside of PH Allies have lost between 7 and 9 cruisers and over dozen tankers (nearly all present in Philippines and DEI at the beginning), although not all show up in the list yet (but I'm pretty sure, that a TK with "fuel cargo burning" or showing "heavy fires, heavy damage" outside of port is done for). Among other categories of Allied ships, minelayers surprisingly took major hurt. All Dutch ones should be on the the bottom by this point. Subs alone took out three (out of six ships registering as sunk by them, although I believe that they did in two tankers, beyond that).

Japanese lost CS Chitose and Misuho (Battle of Palau), their only LSD (Vildebeests at Mersing), two modern destroyers (Mersing and Battle of Celebes Sea), AMC Asaka Maru (sub attack south of Formosa) and one large xAP (again, Battle of Palau). Other losses aren't worth caring about.

Yubari outmaneuvers me in the air so far. His bomber arm is mostly passive, launching sneaky attacks from time to time, but fighters regularly ambush my bombers, to the point many Army flying regiments are heavily depleted. I believe he's quite good at reading what I must bomb at the moment. Thanks to my own production mistakes too, I have no medium bombers, except Nells, in the pools.

[FatR]

The Pacific

Brave soldiers of the Empire have seized Rabaul, Lae, Port Moresby, Wake, Guam and Tarava/Makin. None of the landing cost me any ships at all, some transports and PBs were moderately damaged by coastal defenses and that's it. Now I just need to extract ImpGuards Brigade and 2nd Division regiments that stormed Rabaul and Moresby from the latter, take Horn Island and land troops across Solomons to achieve my first-stage objectives for the Pacific. Surface raiders scored another little victory at Canton Island on 30th, where CL Tatsuta and DD Yayoi surprised and sunk DMS Trevor and a small xAK. As I know where two of the three Allied CVs are, currently nearly all available AMCs are heading for Allied communications in the Pacific. Subs did not achieve much so far, sinking a DM and seriously damaging AMC Prince Robert.

See the situation in Solomons/Eastern NG on 31th on the map below. Lae/Nadzab will be my second most important base, after Rabaul, while in PM I intend to build only forts. Tulagi and Shortlands will receive large base forces, although one from Tulagi will be withdrawn to Munda, as Japanese shift on the offensive.

[FatR]

Philippines

I believe Gen. Honda troops, reinforced by 21th and 38th Divisions can seize a swift victory yet. Allies took some beating in open field, including routing of 4th Marine Regiment, and although two initial attacks on Manila were relatively costly, with one regiment mostly disabled, forts are now at 0 or 1, depending on how accurate are aerial damage reports. With 38th Division arriving in the city on the next day, we should be able to evict the enemy, smashing most of American-Philippino army in the process. I believe that Yubari attempts to retreat now simply to provoke an attack before my reinforcements are all in place. But just in case, and seeing how weather over Luzon finally clears, I ordered about 100 bombers (mostly Anns, unfortunately, at this point) to pound the troops in Manila and knock them out of movement mode, if they are using it.

Philippines were a bloody grinder for my aviation. I lost at least hald-hundred of Zeros there, with two naval bomber Ku taking fairly heavy losses, and two Army bomber Sentai practically crippled. Oh, and Saburo Sakai went missing. On the positive side, around 70 Warhawks were shot down in return. Allied losses on the ground are minimal. Even if we hit the airfield currently housing Allied planes, rarely any of them are destroyed. I hope we can finally pound the remnant of American squadrons into oblivion after restricting them to Clark/Bataan.

[FatR]

Eastern DEI and Mindanao

Here the ocean of blood was the most bloody, but I managed to pick up the pieces after Battles of Celebes Sea and Palau and put together a new wave of invasions. As you can see, Kendari is a Bettie nest now. Manado and Ternate have token garrizons. Two SNLFs that took Manado will briefly visit Davao, to evict Allied stragglers, but they are preparing for Tarakan. Ambon holds, but I hope my battleship bombardment a day ago knocked the wind out of defenders. Ambon is my most unsuccessful invasion so far, witn one xAK going down from fires on the return trip and the base not seized.

Now I need a bit of a pause, to bring enough fuel, supplies and auxilary ships to Kendari (which will become my main base in Eastern DEI. But I intend to take Makassar with 146th Regiment within the next week.

KB and Mini-KB swept the area, chasing Allied fleet from DEI (despite what my recon told me about ships in Soerabaja). A ton of small ships, mostly Dutch trash auxilaries was toasted between Darwin and Soerabaja, but the only real lossses are probably a medium TK and a Dutch sub. I decided against an immediate raid to Colombo. KB aircrews need rest and new planes. Hopefully they'll be able to load them at Kendari. Also, Kaga developed engine trouble and cannot maintain cruise speed. At Kendari I intend to reform my carriers into three divisions, of 2 CVs and 1 CVL each. Two divisions will raid Colombo, and the third one, with 2 CVEs attached, will strike Perth.

[FatR]

Western DEI and Malaya

With Palembang taken early and Ooosthafen about to fall, I'm at the gates of Java. Too bad I don't have infantry for an immediate invasion. My cruisers have raided Batavia and Kalidjati on the last turn, smashing airfields and killing a few of the Dutch planes. Allied fighter activity is minimal. Either unrestricted Allied air units managed to escape towards CBI before Port Blair fell (but I saw only Bufallos in the air there on the last turn, so maybe not), or are waiting and training.

In Malaya, most Allied forces pulled back to Singapore, except for stragglers from Khota Baru and Kuantan areas. I'll reopen railroads and rebuild 25th Army's divisions before crossing. Meanwhile, I try to keep the airfield damaged, so that forts won't be built up. This takes some toll on my Army bomber pools, which is noticeable due to the overall shortage.

[FatR]

Burma

Looks like Imperial Guards and elements of 55th Divsion will be able to just smash Allied forces at Moulmein without any fancy tricks. I chose well, preparing my troops for it from the beginning, now Japanese have a preparation advantage, judging by the combat report (this might also be due to the Southern Army HQ's, now in Bangkok preparation bonus). Oscars met Bufallos over Moulmein over the last two days, and the overall kill count was in my favor after the latter were caught by a sweep. But bad weather seems to be keeping my bombers on the ground, at least I think it is the reason why they don't fly.

[FatR]

China

Now, what an exciting mess. China is the second major Japanese aircraft grinder, thanks to bloody AVG. And unlike Luzon, here we rarely manage to inflict significant losses in return.

As about the situation on the ground, the concenrated Japanese swept the Central Plains, killing a gazillion of Chinese on the way (thanks to their units being filled with troops to a much greater extent in this mod). But my cunning opponent felt the weakness in southwestern part of the formed pocket and not only just as many troops fled in that direction, but they have linked up with reinforcements from Nanyang and now are besieging Sinyang. Unmodified AV is almost 10:1 in Chinese favor, their first attack dropped the forts to 3 and the rate of casualties is in our favor, but not nearly enough in our favor to hold, so I was forced to buy out remaining 2nd Air Division medium bomber units and to launch a massive bombing campaign againt enemy troops at Sinyang, which did suprisingly heavy damage. Bloody AVG interfered again and caused new losses to my bombers, but this time not without a noticeable cost. They also were unable to stop all but one of my bomber formations from getting through relatively intact. After the second deliberate failed, Yubari rested his troops for a turn. Two brigades and one Chinese puppet regiment are already close to Sinyang, but I fear a shock attack on this turn.

Meanwhile, my troops are about to cut off the communications of Chinese in Sinyang and to enter Chengchow. Rivers will run red there on the next two turns, and I hope 95% of the blood will be Chinese.

[FatR]

Detailed air losses

This really, really hurts. The main consolation is that while my bombers took hell of a lot of punishment, Allied fighter forces suffered considerable attrition too. Except for those bloody AVG planes. I hate their very sight now.

[FatR]

Pilot losses

Even more pain. Tainan Ku and 3rd Ku lost many of their aces. Of land-based Zero units only Yamada Ku keeps its initial cadre of pilots relatively intact.

Do note though, that we play with the houserule that restricts Zeros from sweeping above 15k. This is likely one of major causes for my heavy air lossses. But it will start working against Allies as well soon enough.

[FatR]

Japanese Industry

Resource levels are falling of a cliff. Is it normal, or is it peculiar to this mod? At this rate, my stockpiles will be gone in a year, faster than oil and fuel. But at least we've started taking major resource centers, starting from Johore Baru this turn, so I hope the situation will change soon enough. Still, it means that SRA resources are just as vital as oil.

I'm also worried about smallness of my HI surplus. Do note, that I need to expand Naval Shipyards alot more, to build everything I can. Some merchant shipyards repurposing or shutting off some armament factories is probably in order.

[FatR]

Aircraft Production

Not only I vastly underestimated my expected bomber losses and erroneously decided that repurposing the Ki-48 factory to Ki-21 should be done right away, I was too slow to react to them, and did two major mistakes, allowing most Nell units to upgrade to Betties, and switching Mavis production to Emilies right away. As a result, now availability of Mitsubishi Ha-32 engines is a crippling bottleneck for my aircraft industry, and my pools of modern bombers are dry, not in the least because I cannot produce both Betties and Sallies in the same time. I finally switched the Pete factory to Sallies on the last turn, in a belated attempt to reinvigorate my IJAAF bomber force (I don't want to make any individual Sally factory very large, because they'll be switching to Helens, as soon as Ki-49-IIa is available).

Well, at least the situation with Zeros, Vals and Kates is unusually good, thanks to the mod. I'll even be able to temporarily shut off factories for the latter two soon enough. What is in very high demand, besides modern level bombers, is Jake.

[FatR]

Engine Production

I'm already building up my production of Nakajima Ha-34, because it'll become a very important type (Tojos and Helens use it) in late 1942.

[FatR]

Ship Production

As you can see, even with two extra CB of this mod halted, and considerable shipyard expansion we're barely making a surplus. In this mod the Naval Points budget seems to be much tighter than in stock, thanks to the greater number of ships. I don't know what to do about this situation, because, as you saw above, my industry situation isn't exactly stellar, even though I already have a resource deficit of 17k per day (even though the Tracker chart says it's only about 14k).

[ny59giants]

While on the road for 11 hours yesterday, I was able to talk John through getting Tracker installed. He will address the low engine numbers in version 2. Ha-5 will need to be converted over immediately. We are now in late Jan 42 and his lack of using Tracker from the beginning is going to hurt for some time.

For your HI issue, I would slowly cut back on Armament production. Using "LCU Production" look out 180 days to see how much Armament you need. In our game I have it almost off and I'm still gaining a surplus.

Resources - Those small islands in the Philippines Archipelago and then both Nauru and Ocean island are valuable. Don't forget Okinawa area. All those small xAKLs and PBs come in handy. [:D]

Vehicles - John is using my suggestion to Juan's mods of increasing the number of Engineer Vehicles for Engineer and Construction units, but you have to fill them out. This may be where all your vehicles are going if any have Replacements "on." I had to increase Vehicles to 160 and hope that's enough when the rest of the 1st and 2ns Armor Division come out in mid-42.