NFC East Showdown: Cribtop (J) vs NY59Giants (A) - Between the Storms

[Cribtop]

December 30, 1941

4th Fleet

Abemama is occupied by rowboat.

KB 1 and KB 2 are spotted near Nauru, which is both annoying and a testament to Michael’s search efforts. After the Pearl strike I thought he would be low on Cats, but apparently not. This is fine, however, as a spotted KB plays into “Operation Seem Stupid.”

CVE aircraft bomb the tiny Nauru garrison as we prepare to invade the island.

Wake’s damage is finally repaired and the base goes to forts 1.

Lots of reinforcements arrive in Tokyo, mostly for the Pacific AOs.

16th Army

We sweep Kendari with the newly arrived big Zero unit but there is no CAP.

25th Army

DA Jesselton takes the base with 2:1 odds, retreating one enemy unit. Casualties 159(10) vs 12(0).

DA Georgetown takes the base with 12:1 odds, 3 enemy LCUs surrender. Casualties 2296(218) vs 18(0). Facilities suffer one point of damage each. We will expand HI here soon.

15th Army

DA Moulmein takes the base from a nominal garrison with 24:1 odds, casualties 62(8) to nil.

[Cribtop]

December 31, 1941

Subs

I-165 duds on and then torpedoes an AVP near Billiton that sinks.

K VII misses an ASW PB near Saigon.

4th Fleet

Nauru is invaded and taken by atoll shock attack. Once again the garrison was wiped out by bombing before we arrived.

14th Army

BA Lingayen shows raw AS a bit close for comfort but we order a DA anyway, trusting in the high quality of our units and the fact that they have 100% prep for the base.

Lucena is occupied.

25th Army

We move an air HQ into Sambas by FT TF. The HQ will move to Sinkawang to establish pre-conditions for the Palembang invasion.

Speaking of Palembang, recon shows the number of units has jumped from 6 to 8. Troop strength is still low but this could be a nascent Fortress Palembang. Alternatively, Michael could be stocking the base with engineers to maximize damage when it falls.

BA Sinkawang shows raw AS of 46 to 7. DA tomorrow.

[Cribtop]

January 1, 1942

Subs

I-154 guns and torpedoes an xAKL under the waves near Singapore. Good shooting as two gun hits result in “massive explosion damage.” That is one dead xAKL.

4th Fleet

An AMc arrives and sweeps sub laid mines at TB.

14th Army

Polillo occupied.

DA Lingayen is easy after all, odds 13:1, 2 enemy units retreat, casualties 2245(169) vs 310(1). Time to recombine 48th Division and settle into a siege. It appears from troop movements that Michael is going to hole up in Manila without putting up a major fight for Clark Field.

China

Very frustrating attack at 83,45. Despite marching overland, the enemy slips in two big KMT corps on the eve of our first full strength attack here. The result is a disappointing 1:6 with casualties 219(2) vs 1169(6).

All is not lost, however. Today our tank army arrived in the hex and significant reinforcements are coming in the form of divisions, arty and an HQ unit. We will try to bull our way through in this hex because there doesn’t seem to be anything beyond this roadblock until we reach Ankang.

We SA over a river to clean up stragglers at 88,49. Odds are silly and the enemy corps surrenders. Casualties 343(64) vs 47(0).

[Cribtop]

January 2, 1942

Subs

I-172 misses a DMS in a big convoy near Christmas Island (Pacific). The same sub then misses a big AK (not xAK) in the same convoy. We knew Michael likes to use this base and have 5 subs lurking nearby. They will attempt to swarm this juicy convoy full of AKs and APs. High value targets!

Plunger, camping the Adak base hex, duds on an AMC unloading supply there.

4th Fleet

Wake goes to forts 2. We are using one of the new naval pioneer units and they are very good engineers for the Japanese that are part of the BTS mod.

14th Army

Serasan occupied.

25th Army

Our main force is almost to Kuala Lumpur at last. There was an odd message today that the 3rd ISF base force was retreating out of the base. We just arrived in the hex next door. Never seen this kind of message.

China

The last few days, Michael has used the tiny KMT bomber force to harass us at hex 83, 45. Today we put some Nates on LRCAP but results are poor. The Nates damage most of the bombers but don’t shoot them down outright.

We then have just the armor units DA with very encouraging results despite the arrival of a 5th enemy unit in the hex. Odds are 1:3, casualties 1795(13) vs 78(1). As is often the case, the Chinese can’t deal with IJA armor. The enemy already shows a supply (-) as well. We will soon have more troops in the hex and will press the attack here, rotating in and out to stay in or near stacking limits. We also have a supply convoy about to unload at Hankow to support the offensive. What we need in addition are 2E bombers, but that will have to await letting the PP bank recharge a bit.

DA Loyang takes the base with 230:1 odds, retreats 2 enemy LCUs, and causes casualties of 2366(144) vs 67(0).

DA at 87, 44 (just West of Loyang) retreats 2 more enemy units. Odds 34:1, casualties 1156(143) vs 26(0).

[Cribtop]

January 3, 1942

“In case you haven’t been keeping track of current events, we just got our ASSES kicked!”
-Pvt. Hudson, Aliens

Subs

I excitedly ran today’s replay waiting for my five subs to descend on Christmas Island in the night phase and sink 2 or 3 AKs or APs. Instead, Michael had already mined the hex heavily and three of the subs hit the little doozies. 1 sinks outright, 2 are badly damaged and limping home. Neither of the surviving subs executes any attacks. And yet, this turned out to be a distant second in the disappointments today.

The enemy cruiser force spotted at Balikpapan for several days is leaving the Makassar Strait as KB-3 approaches. I-153 was waiting and lines up CA Chicago, only to miss.

Over in the Gilberts, S-35 misses the CL Kako (this class is a light cruiser in BTS), then is chased away by escorts in a second effort.

14th Army

Batangas occupied.

16th Army

You have to be careful what you wish for in war. As mentioned above, I am intentionally trying to look simple and sloppy in an effort to have Michael break his tendency in past Allied games to sit back until he has overwhelming force. Well, check that box!

What I did NOT expect, as it very much goes against what I’ve read in past AARs, was for him to mass his carriers to defend the DEI, but that is exactly what he does today. Cribtop Intel believes he spotted KB-3 and the Manado invasion TF approaching and assumed the target was Tarakan, Samarinda or Balikpapan. He thus springs a trap, leaving what appears to be all his CVs (or at least the USN CVLs present in this mod plus the Brits) just off Balikpapan with a surface TF blocking the entrance to the straits. We are quite fortunate that our only goal was shielding the Manado TF. However, we got a little greedy and positioned KB-3 along the northern coast of Celebes at a range of 8 hexes from Balikpapan, hoping to get the Chicago TF that fled.

In the AM phase, we are lucky that bad weather grounds everything. In the PM phase, we are in range and launch a strike against the CVs, which of course are protected by massed CAP and LRCAP. A painful battle sees the strikes cut up completely. We lose many planes but only one air group, Soryu’s Vals, is truly devastated. Pilot losses are far higher than we would like but are certainly lighter than we deserved. Due to the distance between the forces, there is no chance for an Allied counterstrike.

More on this situation and my overall strategy later, but for now I will note that Michael accused me of poor nav search in the area, which actually isn’t correct. We have Bettys out of Kuantan, soon to be joined by more at Sinkawang, the big Mavis group at Ternate, and two Netty groups out of Ambon all on nav search. The whole area is painted with black lines, we just missed him. Cribtop Intel believes he came up from Soerabaja, where there is a slight gap in our coverage that will be closed once Sinkawang becomes active.

25th Army

An ASW SC hits a sub laid mine at Cam Ranh Bay. Frustrating as we have a local minesweeper in the hex.

[Cribtop]

January 4, 1942

Subs

I-156 misses a DD in the enemy’s big SCTF as it exits the Makassar Strait near the base of the same name. I-162 sinks an xAKL near Palembang. Our subs in the area are focused on closing the single ship pipeline from Singers to Palembang and are doing well in that endeavor.

Escorts of the Manado invasion chase off S-39.

4th Fleet

Baker is invaded and falls.

14th Army

Lubang is occupied.

16th Army

KB-3 and the Manado invasion TF run away at full speed like little girls toward Babel. KB-3 will rebuild air groups and await the arrival of its sisters. It is time to create the full KB.

China

DA near Kaifeng to clean up stragglers gets 43:1 odds, forces 2 LCUs to retreat with casualties 636(78) vs 40(0).

[Cribtop]

Strategy Discussion

So, Cribtop, what in the heck are you doing? Your gameplay so far is weird.

So here is my thinking. Several factors became clear to me as I reviewed the additional units available to both sides in Between the Storms and as I reviewed the AARs of Michael and his opponents in past games. First, Michael is a quality player who tends to follow a script as Allies. He likes to use certain units in certain places and to pursue certain strategies in certain manners. Second, Michael has a tendency to keep his carriers and key units out of the fray until he has the strength to commit them. This meant we had to draw him out, to expose his navy to attrition while Japan was strong, whittling it down so we don’t face an unbeatable Death Star in the mid game. Third, between Michael’s quality play and the house rule limiting strategic bombing until July 1943 (which takes the now popular Oz strat bombing by Japan off the table), it seemed that auto victory was very unlikely.

Thus, the plan was to play simple and sloppy, hoping to get Michael to commit to battle in 1942. Well, that worked, to say the least. Now it is time to execute the real plan. We are not going for auto victory but rather will play the long game. I’ve never gone past mid-’43 and would like to do so. We will re-combine KB with all available CVs and CVLs to ensure carrier superiority in any future encounter (through ’42 at least). We will seize a standard perimeter plus Noumea and the the bases near Luganville. Then we dig in and prepare for an active, counter-attacking defense. Meanwhile, we will do what we can in China, trying for conquest but aware that this mod has several advantages, including slightly higher supply production, that will make China harder to roll. However, neutering China is an acceptable result.

Finally, there is a fly in the ointment: Palembang. Michael is up to 10 LCUs there, and although troop count is still low, we can’t allow a Fortress to develop. However, by choosing to face us in the DEI, the Allied carriers are in position to stop the invasion I was about to load now that Sinkawang has an Air HQ present. Ideally, we would unify KB and use it to seize our Pacific targets before working our way to the DEI to deal with the enemy there. However, we may need to send KB to the DEI right away to crush Palembang. What does the readership recommend?

In the end, perhaps I am a fool. Perhaps Michael planned to fight forward all along. Then again, perhaps not. Time will tell. Since KB-3 was thankfully unharmed in the recent disaster, no permanent harm has been done.

[Lowpe]

You need Singers and Palembang. Not Noumea.

Now get to work! Banzai![:)]

[Cribtop]

I tend to concur. I may have to bail on the Noumea adventure but can seize Rabaul and the Solomons as KB swings by toward Palembang. In fact, now that the "real plan" has been activated, we just loaded for Rabaul, Manus, Kavieng, the Shortlands and Milne Bay today.

[temagic]

I concur. Palembang and Singers is of utmost importance. Good thing you didn't lose those precious flattops there Cribtop.

[Cribtop]

Yes, it would have been difficult to explain to the Emperor! Operating KB in divisions was part of the original deception plan, but it is not my style to do it that way. I agree with Shattered Sword that there are two types of objectives in the Pacific War - those worthy of using all the Japanese carriers and those worthy of using none of them.

PS - I'm not worried about Singers. We have all the divisions for that op safely ashore and marching toward the objective. Malaya's survival is beyond the help of the Allied Navies. Palembang is a different matter.

[temagic]

I think it is a sound strategy to keep the KB united. Consider adding a CS or two for ASW also. (I know they drop the ax speed of the TF by 1 kt, but I think they are gold worth). I haven't read Shattered Sword. Is it a good book?

[Cribtop]

I very much recommend Shattered Sword. Great book that explains a lot about Japanese doctrine and why they really messed everything up at Midway.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

I agree with Shattered Sword that there are two types of objectives in the Pacific War - those worthy of using all the Japanese carriers and those worthy of using none of them.

Agreed ... I'm either all in or I fold ...

[Cribtop]

January 5, 1942

16th Army

It appears the enemy carriers have retreated to Soerabaja. Needless to say, we are on hold in this AO until KB unifies and enters the fray here.

KB-3 replaces air group losses at Babel. In looking over the air groups, even Soryu's Vals still had more than half its pilots remaining. Things really could have been a lot worse.

25th Army

DA 67, 87 (near Jesselton), odds 4:1, one enemy LCU retreats into the mountains, casualties 106(5) vs nil.

DA Beaufort takes the base with 19:1 odds, 1 LCU surrenders, casualties 230(12) vs nil.

DA Kuala Lumpur takes the base easily with 1390:1 odds, 3 enemy LCUs surrender, casualties 2699(231) vs 143(1). This opens up the good roads and rail lines to Singapore.

Ulan Melintang is occupied by row bicycle.

15th Army

DA 56, 52 (near Pegu) destroys an enemy LCU with 67:1 odds, casualties 500(56) vs 44(0). This action officially cuts the rail line between Rangoon and the rest of the world. These force will move to isolate Rangoon while additional units seize the now abandoned Pegu.

China

DA at the key 83, 45 hex results in a 1:2 attack, casualties 2548(28) vs 887(45). Most of our losses come from two armored car units in the hex that we will remove. There is no supply malus this time for the KMT. Our artillery will pound away here while we shift in fresh units to try for a breakthrough.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

I agree with Shattered Sword that there are two types of objectives in the Pacific War - those worthy of using all the Japanese carriers and those worthy of using none of them.

Agreed ... I'm either all in or I fold ...

That's a great way of looking at things. You guys just changed my thinking...

[Cribtop]

January 6, 1942

In which the first invasion of the “real plan” falls on its face.

Subs

No contacts but our subs off Pearl spot a convoy and we will try for an intercept. We are using a “scissor” patrol pattern with our subs and seem to be getting good results. It will, however, soon be time to recall most subs, refuel and divide them into commerce raiders and local subs used primarily to support operations by forming picket lines.

SE Fleet

We are moving to support numerous invasions in this AO, but KB 1 and 2 need to RV with the fleet oilers first. Today, we try a small invasion at empty Kavieng but are jumped by Vindicators out of Rabaul. For reasons unknown, the LRCAP from our CVEs doesn’t show up, so we suffer one transport sunk and one probably mortally wounded. Very frustrating because the unescorted Vindicators would have been easy pickings for our Zeros.

Still, this won’t stop us at all. Invasion forces for Manus, Shortlands and Rabaul are either loading or en route. KB will shepherd them home as it swings to the DEI to solve the Palembang problem.

14th Army

Mauban occupied.

DA Clark Field takes the base from the one remaining defending unit with 5:1 odds, casualties 1272(92) vs 9(0). There are now 9 enemy LCUs trapped in Bataan with the balance in Manila. We will seize Subic Bay and Bataan first to allow for bombardments of Manila.

China

DA at an empty Kanshien takes the base.

We SA over a river to clean up a straggling unit, odds 86:1, casualties 980(66) vs 13(0)

At the all-important 83, 45 we BA while resting and gathering supplies. However, by e-mail Michael indicates that the last attack came close to breaking the defenders here and apparently he was serious as we notice a move arrow. The enemy is trying to retreat toward Ankang. So far recon shows nothing behind this first roadblock, so a breakthrough could be very good for us. We order a DA for tomorrow to take advantage of the fact that movement will eliminate the forts of any units trying to retreat. Meanwhile, reserve troops are ready to pour through the gap and supplies are unloading at Hankow.

[Cribtop]

January 7, 1942

Breakthrough in China seems imminent.

Subs

ASW assets harass I-153 near Pamekasan but don’t hit. No doubt this ASW campaign is underway because air search out of Sinkawang has detected enemy CVs at Soerabaja and Michael wants to protect his carriers.

It appears that the convoy near Pearl was just ASW ships.

ASW PBs harass O-16 near Saigon.

5th Fleet

An enemy surface force consisting of CLs Phoenix, Honolulu and several DDs make short work of a PB on picket duty SE of Adak Island. We are scrambling a CVL and a group of cruisers to beef up this AO. At this point Cribtop HQ’s only objective is to land base forces and to take Ulak Island, but even these efforts are endangered by this enemy force.

SE Fleet

KB 1 and 2 are refueled and KB-3 is rapidly inbound. We will move within range of Rabaul’s Vindicators tomorrow and destroy them if they try anything. Meanwhile, invasion TFs sortie for Rabaul, Manus and Shortlands.

Wewak invaded and will fall next turn.

14th Army

KB-4 is swinging around the north end of Luzon en route to RV with the rest of KB. Stupidly, we forget to change the settings for the Kates and they give away our position by pointlessly attacking enemy PT boats at Bataan.

16th Army

Batjan occupied.

25th Army

Marching past Kuala Lumpur. Should be to Johore very quickly now that we are on the good roads.

An alternative Palembang plan has taken shape. More on that as we implement it.

15th Army

DA takes an empty Pegu. We are carefully shielding the presence of the Imperial Guards division here from the enemy’s notice.

Rangoon is held by 1 LCU. We will recon bomb it tomorrow and seize the base soon.

Two regiments, 1 infantry and 1 cavalry, are almost to Toungoo.

China

KMT bombers hit our troops outside of Pingsiang.

An RSA (River Shock Attack) catches and destroys two straggler corps at 87, 45 (near Chengchow). Not a huge fan of destroying Chinese units, but these rear area types are annoying as they can cut rail lines.

DA 83, 45 achieves a 1:1, casualties 1148(8) vs 363(18). A few of our tank units are a bit worse for wear and will be put in reserve. However, it does appear the enemy is close to breaking here. We will attack again tomorrow and go with a maximum air effort that includes recently bought out Sallys.

Recon continues to show nothing behind the roadblock on the road to Ankang. It appears Michael is bringing forces from Ichang to try to attack the base of our salient. We have the bulk of 12th Army moving into position both to reinforce our offensive and to stop any such counterattacks. In fact, we would welcome KMT forces pushing into clear terrain. Michael’s e-mail communications indicate that his troops are close to collapse. Based on his efforts to withdraw and the AV shown during replays, this is not misinformation on his part.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop
An alternative Palembang plan has taken shape. More on that as we implement it.

LA?[:D] Heck with the SRA, go straight for the West Coast and the belly of the beast!

[Cribtop]

Crap, Lowpe, how did you know? Shhhhhh... [:D]