Hairy Yankee Reports: Q-Ball (A) v Greyjoy (J)

[Q-Ball]

7-16-43 to 7-20-43

Thanks for the comments while I was out....and I'm BACK! It was a great trip, I didn't have time for the naval museums or anything war related. With wife and kids, it's about the big sites: Versailles, Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Tower of London, Nat. Gallery, British Museum, etc. etc. etc. Plus, the food.

I'm partial to French food, but I think the best meal I had on the trip was in London, at St. John Restaurant near Smithfield Market. They specialize in modern updates to meaty British Fare. Yummy!

Anyway, back to the war:

Molu:

The IJN visited Molu in a big way, bombarding the place with 5 BBs and cruisers, supported by Carriers. This is most of the IJN. The purpose, other than flattening Molu, looks like it was to resupply Samlauki.

The bombardments flattened about 100 of my fighters on the ground, and sank some small shipping (about 20 PTs, 4 AKLs, nothing big, which was the point). They also ran supplies to Samlauki.

Again, my 100 DBs at Bathurst didn't fly, it's getting to be a broken record. We'll give it another shot tomorrow.

This disrupts my plans of getting 32nd Infantry to Samlauki. It could be we have a stalemate here, which suits me as long as the IJN is tied-down.

Torokina:

With the IJN clearly elsewhere, we are moving on Torokina, and I don't see how we can be stopped. For good measure, I am adding a landing at Green Island, while the IJN is gone. We may as well make him pay!

All of my CVs will support the operation, so I don't foresee problems, as I also have piles of LBA around Torokina from 4 airbases. This should be a safe landing. Famous last words, right?[:D]

Otherwise, we occupied Kiriwina, so we are building a cluster of airbases now off the tip of NG.

[obvert]

I'm partial to French food, but I think the best meal I had on the trip was in London, at St. John Restaurant near Smithfield Market. They specialize in modern updates to meaty British Fare. Yummy!

Well found! That's one of my favorites, introduced to me by my girlfriend on our first date, so good memories as well.

[veji1]

ORIGINAL: obvert

I'm partial to French food, but I think the best meal I had on the trip was in London, at St. John Restaurant near Smithfield Market. They specialize in modern updates to meaty British Fare. Yummy!

Well found! That's one of my favorites, introduced to me by my girlfriend on our first date, so good memories as well.

Ah memories... They have a second restaurant on Spitalfields market as well. As I quite like Offals, having a place almost specialising in them was quite awesome. Anyway London is now a "cuisine" capital. I am french and I would say that although in countrytowns restaurants and everyday home life the french still eat and cook way better than the Brits, in London and all the upmarket gastropubs man can find in "affluent" areas like the Cotswolds, Dorset and such one can eat really really well. London is probably the only city in the world where you can find any type of cuisine.

[Capt. Harlock]

Tsk, tsk, you're falling behind. Especially, I'm eager to hear your side of the July 23 turn.

[Q-Ball]

7-21-43 to 7-23-42

Capt. Horlock's request for updated must mean Greyjoy posted something on it....he definitely had a frowny face on the e-mail he sent!

London: Interesting that others know St. John, though Fergus Henderson is kind of famous. We went back Saturday and ate in the bar, which has the same food as the restaurant, mostly.

I know it's old fashioned, but we also went to Simpson's in the Strand; my wife went there as a kid 30 years ago. I have to say it was VERY good. Awesome roast beef, and the puddings were very good.

Best meal in France may have been Le Soufflet....guess what they specialize in? It was good!

Molu:

IJN BBs trashed Molu again. If this is a pattern, I'm probably going to have to abandon this effort. I don't think he can kick me off it, but I am stalled there.

This isn't all bad, because to keep it closed, he is going to need to keep the IJN around there. So, either a) they'll be pinned for a long time, or b) eventually I'll be able to move

Treasury Islands:

Here, Greyjoy sent a TF of MUSASHI, MUTSU, and YAMASHIRO, plus DDs, to bombard the Treasury Islands. Something got screwed up though, because they tangled with PTs, then loitered there during the day. Not what Greyjoy wanted, I bet!

We really peppered them with bombs, but no heavy damage, and only MUTSU caught fire; she was hit by at least 18 1000lb bombs, I would hope for more damage with those, but many bounced. Sadly, I had no torp bombers around. We did sink a DD instantly from a single 1000lb hit...BOOM!

So, we have subs in the way to Rabaul hoping we get lucky, and I am bringing in the CVs. They were hiding in the dark near Lunga, but we are charging ahead, because I don't think he knows they are there (otherwise, I highly doubt he would have attempted this bombardment). If we are lucky, those BBs are slow enough to be caught at sea. If that happens, we should sink something.....

Greyjoy has lost 4-5 more DDs lately; he has lost close to 40 modern ones, which is alot.

[Q-Ball]

7-25-43

Greyjoy unfortunately had to leave for Paris without sending the turn, but he did send me the replay, and said "go ahead and salivate while I am gone!" He chose to attack my landing at Torokina, and the result was pretty much a turkey shoot.

UPDATE: Greyjoy confirmed that he lost 500 planes, and 320 pilots. That's alot! Though Japan can build plenty more of both...

I am only including combat reports that went the worst for me; aside from these, there were maybe 10 or so that were Japanese attack planes getting shot down, with no Allied losses:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Torokina at 109,130, Range 6,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Kamikaze, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Asanagi, Shell hits 3, on fire

Allied Ships
BB Tennessee
BB Idaho, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 1
DD Anthony
DD Aulick
DD Philip
DD Pringle
DD Renshaw
DD Stanly, Shell hits 1


That kinda sucks, IDAHO took a torp hit, and will probably need some yard time. My yards always seemed clogged with BBs, including CALIFORNIA, still repairing damage from the Pearl Harbor attack.

Another instance, some unescorted Vals somehow broke through; it looks like I will lose about 4 LSTs from this:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Torokina at 109,130

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D3A1 Val x 43

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 46

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 4 destroyed, 5 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
LCI-62, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
LST-16, Bomb hits 1, on fire
LST-472, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
LST-23, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AKA Oberon, Bomb hits 1
LST-28
LCI-22
LST-335, Bomb hits 1, on fire
APA Cambria, Bomb hits 2
LST-468, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
LST-31, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires

They had already unloaded though

That's it; the rest of the combats were George, Zero, Jill, Judy, Francis, Betty getting shot down by lots of Hellcats, plus Wildcats, P-40, P-38, Corsairs, everybody.

The combat report indicates 275 Japanese planes lost (real tally might be higher), and I lost 9.

So, that invasion is ashore, and we should be in good shape going forward here. I landed 2 Australian Divisions, an HQ, 1 Tank Regt, a Boat/Shore Bn, and Artillery Bn. We are oppossed by a force built around a Nav Gd, and 1/3 of a division. This should fall pretty fast.

[Q-Ball]

7-26-43 to 7-27-43

There was additional action off Torokina; sort of a mixed bag all around, though the big news is the sinking of MUSASHI.

Battle of Torokina: NIGHT Phase:

A Japanese TF consisting of MUSASHI, YAMASHIRO, a couple CLs and DDs attacked the landing site at Torokina. I had already withdrawn all APA and AKA, so the remaining ships were xAP or barges, mostly unloading supplies. I had a TF of 4 DDs there, and scheduled a TF to get there at night, around INDIANA, WASHINGTON, and DDs.

The IJN trashed the transports, sinking 4 xAP, 4 LST, 2 DD, and numerous LCT barges. Nothing huge.

Then, they ran into INDIANA and friends. INDIANA pumped several penetrating 16in hits into MUSASHI, leaving her in flams and in sinking condition (Greyjoy confirmed via e-mail she sank!). INDIANA was damaged, but only 14 major float; really light considering she ate a couple 18-in shells. WASHINGTON was unscathed.

So, we sank our first major IJN unit....really late in the game to be saying that, but at least it's a good one. MUSASHI is no more.

Day Phase, Next Day:

Before I knew Musashi was sunk, I ordered a CA TF to intercept on the way to Rabaul. Of course, they lingered too close during the day, so it looks like I will lose CA NEW ORLEANS. Drat! That was dumb. She is still floating, so I at least hope to make him lose another 100 a/c or so sinking her; he lost 40 today just getting those 2 torps in.

Total Damage, Last few Days:

Allies:
SUNK: 4 x AP, 8 LST, 3 DD, 1 CVE (sunk this day), and probably CA New Orleans
DAMAGED: WASP (light; 60 days or so), INDIANA (medium; 3 mo), and St Louis (still in danger; not sure yet)
A/C: About 40 total

Japan:
SUNK: MUSASHI, 3 DDs or so
DAMAGED: MUTSU (pretty heavy), YAMASHIRO (Light-Medium)
A/C: Over 550

I don't think it's a huge victory or anything, he can replace the aircraft. I hate losing another CVE and CA, I've lost too many of both. But MUSASHI is nice, and he's lost tons of DDs, (well over 35 modern ones). I also won't be seeing MUTSU likely until 1944 or so, when it won't matter as much

The landing at Torokina went smoothly; everyone is ashore, and the first attack dropped the forts. We should have it in a week or so.

What's Next:

He's probably bringing KB over to the Solomons. Not sure I am ready for that yet, though CV CONSTELLATION and 2 CVLs are about to join the main fleet, and CV CONGRESS is not far behind, with 2 more CVLs. I will seek battle, but only if I have equal or greater LBA, which Greyjoy is not going to challenge.

I really woudl like to shut down Rabaul. The port is mined, so bombardments would expose my BBs to mine hits. There are 300+ fighters there, so bombing would be too expensive. I'll probably get P-47s and P-38s together and start occasional sweeps.

[JocMeister]

If you want to close Rabaul use 10-15 squadrons of Corsairs and P47s followed by 200 4Es. Done deal. [:)] Question is if its worth the losses you will suffer? My opponent stacked up high in Rabaul (700+ AC). Wasn´t too big of a problem as long as I had a good sized CAP up over most things I wanted to keep afloat. Kind of handy knowing where he were in fact...

[Q-Ball]

7-29 to 8-7-43:

I haven't posted in a few days mostly because I've been getting my butt kicked. My morale is a bit down, because I haven't played well at all, and made some really dumb mistakes.

First, KB shows up and sinks 5 cruisers off Rekata Bay. I had no CAP at all over them, which was just careless on my part. Really dumb. No excuse for it.

Then, I lost 2 CVEs because I messed-up orders, and left them exposed to his CVs. Again, good job on Greyjoy's part taking advantage of my bad moves, that's what good players do. But I lost those for no reason, other than I suck.

Greyjoy is doing a really great job on defense, and I am playing into his traps every time

Need Help:

Finally, I lost another 8 attack transports off Green Island. This one really hurt, because it was actually a trap I set, where he took the bait and ran. I would actually like to know from the gallery how this one happened:

1. I set 5 BBs to "Retire", and be at Green Island at night. (I didn't want to expose them to air attacks from Rabaul)
2. I left my CVs close enough to sink anything short of Rabaul; range was set to JUST short of Rabaul, as I didn't want to get chewed-up by the CAP there

Somehow, his BB TF misssed my night TFs, arrived during the day, sank all the transports, and made it back to Rabaul before the AM air phase. How did he do that?

We had a sync bug at the same time, so the replay I saw (which wasn't valid due to bug), resulted in the entire IJN TF being sunk by BBs and air with minimal loss to me.

Fortunes of war so I accept the result, I just need to know how you can hit something during the day and escape air attacks.

Playing Allies:

At this point, I feel I have lost the game. I will likely destroy the IJN, but doing that in 1944 will feel like "well, that's supposed to happen". I played very well in 1942, and Greyjoy didn't advance very far at all, but since then I've been outplayed completely from a tactical standpoint. I've taken stupid risks, and lost way too many ships.

Playing Allies is way easier than Japan. You can make piles of mistakes, as I have done, and still be fine. I have plenty of DDs, and my CVs are basically intact, so I can recover from losing so many APA and cruisers simply through production.

In my defense, I haven't done anything remotely gamey, like Cap traps; 200 fighters over APA or BB or other isn't a CAP trap. 200 fighters over an xAPc is. And while I have shot down over 1000 a/c in the last week, it wasn't "cheapies". I lost alot of ships.

Anyway, I need to recover morale to continue, but it sucks when you get outplayed so badly.

Next Steps:

The silver lining I guess is that we are moving really fast in the Solomons. I anticipate clearing Papua NG and being in position to strike the Mariannas by end of 1943. Problem will be lack of APA, but I'll have the bases and airpower built.

Oh well, I guess we'll keep going and crush the Empire; all is not lost as long as I have all my CVs, and I have those.

[Q-Ball]

PS: The contingencies to recover from my losses are these:

1. Bringing together remaining assult shipping to at least lift 2 divisions or so. I have several under repair as well. We will likely have to us AP as well; US does start getting alot of those soon. By spring 1944, I should be fine here, especially with the piles of LCI/LST coming

2. Lack of assault transports can be mitigated by travelling short distances with LST/LCI. So a sail from Pearl to Mariannas is not possible, because troops would be too tired. this is why I have to secure the NG coast.

3. I can cover for the lack of cruisers, or will have to, via DDs, like all the FLetchers. I have not lost that many DDs, so I am in good shape here.

4. BBs: I am getting BBs back from yard, so I have numerical superiority there. Getting the Iowas will help even more.

[Symon]

Been watching you and Greyjoy playing this from the beginning. Have to say you guys are both impressive. You are doing things like they were meant to be done with. I like your strategic appreciation. I like how you plan. I like how you marshal your forces and use them in support of strategic objectives; using time and space, until it's "time". Love this AAR. Some of it reads like one of our Fleet Problems, or a short term CPX.

Especially like how ya'll put different things into perspective, both operationally and logistically. That stuff helps us, more than you know, to make things mo'bedda. You guys are good. And yeah, I'll say the same thing to Greyjoy.

JWE

[JocMeister]

I think you need to pause for a bit. Give yourself some time to "tidy up" everything before you move again. Mistakes are bound to happen but they tend to happen more often when I rush things! [:D] You are in a good position in the DEI and are about to neutralize Rabaul. I think you are rushing things. Its no good being in a excellent position if you lack the proper tools to exploit it.

Losing those APAs do suck. But nothing to be done about that now. I can´t remember when the started arriving but the Brits get some LSI(L) that might be viable to send to the Pacific. You can do the same invasions with LSTs as you could have done with APAs/AKAs. It will just be a bit harder due to the lower speed. So "snap invasions" probably won´t be doable. That means advance slow and steady under as massive LBA cover.

Don´t forget that while you might have made a mistake or two you have still played far better then most of us could have done. You are in a better position than I am and I´m a year ahead of you! [:D]

Don´t think about "lost or won". Arn´t you playing to have fun? [:)] I´ve been in the same position you are now morale wise three times in my game. I almost quit but the first two times byt my opponent convinced me to keep playing and the third time some people in my AAR convinced me to keep playing! Its about finding the fun in the little things while the big things suck! [:D]

You´ve done better then I could only dream of doing. Take a deep breath and look at what you have done wrong and stop doing it. Then look at the things you´ve done well and start doing them again! [:)]


Cheers,
Jocke

[Canoerebel]

Brad, don't wallow in the mire! You're a good player playing a good player. Take a breath and move on. Make GJ pay for his evil ways. [:)]

[ny59giants]

I know I'm not one to throw advice out about playing through mistakes made. I've quit games too many times myself when I've had things go badly like CVs getting sunk early in '42 or taking Palembang in May '42 to find the oil and refineries almost totally destroyed. [:(] Right now I'm in March '44 as Japan and April '43 as Allies playing PBEM. My objectives are to finish both games regardless of any set backs and try to do better than history.

I've read many postings about achieving auto-victory as a goal for Japanese players. Mainly when playing scenario 2 since Japan does get some advantages. I guess my question for you Brad is what were and now are your personal goals in this PBEM vs Greyjoy?? Was it to defeat Japan before Sept '45?? Was it to win by auto-victory as Allies?? If not these, then what??

[witpqs]

Somehow, his BB TF misssed my night TFs, arrived during the day, sank all the transports, and made it back to Rabaul before the AM air phase. How did he do that?

Only Michael looking at the turn run in debug mode could say for sure, but chance definitely allows this. Maybe they weren't even in the same hex at the same time (the reality-variant in the sync bug being the Allies made a die throw for a radar contact and reacted), who knows? It happens in the game, and forces missed each plenty at night IRL, even with radar. Maybe try to compensate by having multiple forces there to catch intruders?

[JohnDillworth]

Need Help:

Finally, I lost another 8 attack transports off Green Island. This one really hurt, because it was actually a trap I set, where he took the bait and ran. I would actually like to know from the gallery how this one happened:

1. I set 5 BBs to "Retire", and be at Green Island at night. (I didn't want to expose them to air attacks from Rabaul)
2. I left my CVs close enough to sink anything short of Rabaul; range was set to JUST short of Rabaul, as I didn't want to get chewed-up by the CAP there

Somehow, his BB TF misssed my night TFs, arrived during the day, sank all the transports, and made it back to Rabaul before the AM air phase. How did he do that?

We had a sync bug at the same time, so the replay I saw (which wasn't valid due to bug), resulted in the entire IJN TF being sunk by BBs and air with minimal loss to me.

Fortunes of war so I accept the result, I just need to know how you can hit something during the day and escape air attacks.

As I'm reading both AAR I won't comment except to say I would drop GJ a note and ask how it happened from his end. Circumstances are unlikely to repeat and he is a wordy son of of gun so he might share his take on the events

[Q-Ball]

Aug 6 to Aug 10, 1943:

Thanks for the words of encouragement; I don't think it's all bad, in that I am moving very quickly, so in some ways that is a choice on my part. I chose to take more risks to move quicker. I probably should have chosen differently, but on the other hand, a) I get piles of APA in 1944, when I really need them badly, and b) I will be set-up by then base-wise.

I will have to use non-APA along the NG coast, but I can get away with it there. Not invading atolls or islands though. But to invade atolls and islands, you really need the LCI-Rocket ships and whatnot, which you don't get until 1944. So, I have a few months anyway before taking that on.

So, while my tactical grasp is certainly lacking lately, I think I'm on track to get to Japan in 1945.

Rabaul:

The unit count went down alot at Rabaul; I sent DDs into the harbor, and found it to be basically empty, except for a TF of AKEs we sank. Surprising! Next turn, I sent YMS to sweep mines; CD guns destroyed both of them, and in the daytime, the airbase was evacuated, save for flying boats.

So, this is interesting; I think Greyjoy withdrew a bunch of units from Rabaul, and is abandoning the airstrip. This, when I was just getting ready to sweep and bomb it, which is probably why he is abandoning it. With Torokina and Treasury about to be 2 lvl-5 airbases in easy P-47 range, it's time to leave, I guess.

So, this seems to cede control of the Solomon Sea. I can't relax due to pop-up attacks, but that means I need to accelerate the timetable, if he is leaving me the whole Bismarck chain.

Next Steps:

If Japanese airpower is gone, I can and should rapidly accelerate some moves.

Recon indicates that the NG coast is not heavily defended, all the way up to Hollandia or so; even Wewak is empty! There are some troops, probably enough base forces to keep me honest, but not much else. Wow.

So, we are about to land at Arawe and Finschaven, two bases that I have units prepped for and handy. I will follow that up with quick landings at Saidor, Hansa Bay to build those airbases.

I have 30000 troops prepping for Manus; this is my final objective, because I can turn Manus into a major naval base. But I am thinking of taking Rabaul, mostly because it would be a great base, particularly since it will be beyond recon range, so he won't be able to monitor activity there. There are 24000 troops there, but I am guessing none of those are elite Infantry or tanks or anything; probably base forces, SNLF, etc., various lesser formations. Stuff that 2 US Infantry divisons can easily defeat.

The MINES and CD guns are a problem at Rabaul; a couple follow on questions there.

First, anything you can do about that? I think I have to take my CD-gun lumps on landing, I can't really address the mines in advance if CD guns are there, which is probably why they are there.

Second, how many CD units does the Japanese get? Not very many IIRC, precious few.

Decisions, decisions on whether to land at Rabaul

[ny59giants]

The MINES and CD guns are a problem at Rabaul; a couple follow on questions there.

First, anything you can do about that? I think I have to take my CD-gun lumps on landing, I can't really address the mines in advance if CD guns are there, which is probably why they are there.

Second, how many CD units does the Japanese get? Not very many IIRC, precious few.

Decisions, decisions on whether to land at Rabaul

Can you embed some DMS into a Bombardment TF to sweep some mines as you slowly decrease the range in which your escorts fire from?? Start out at 20k and slowly decrease by about 2 to 3 each time.

[PaxMondo]

Brad,

Your opponent is playing well, but he is bold. Make him pay for his boldness. He's made the same play a couple times, so set him up something he will recognize and then slam the door hard. Or if that's what you've been doing, keep doing it. [;)]

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Brad,

Your opponent is playing well, but he is bold. Make him pay for his boldness. He's made the same play a couple times, so set him up something he will recognize and then slam the door hard. Or if that's what you've been doing, keep doing it. [;)]

Exactly, and that's what I thought I was doing a couple times, but c'est la guerre. It will work eventually, because he'll take an even greater risk. The reason why is that he'll have to, because we're moving pretty fast, and will eventually get to a no-go zone.

8-11 to 8-15-43:

The next month or two figures to be fairly quiet, unless Greyjoy changes his mind about the Solomons.

Rabaul, Kaveing, are all empty of aircraft save for flying boats, and I don't see any planes closer than Vanimo. We torched a bunch of Topsy on the runway at Aitape, probably airlifting in refugees from Lae or someplace.

The following roughly are the nearby garrisons:

Arawe: 7K
Aitape: 7K
Hansa Bay: 67th Nav Gd
Madang: 18th Garrison Bde
Lae: 4K, in 10 units (lots of shattered units)
Rabaul: 25K
Shortlands: 15K, many refugees from Torokina
Saidor, Finschaven, Cape Gloucester: Empty

So, the defenses in NG are weak to non-existant. We are accelerating our preps for landing. We are landing at Finschaven and Arawe in days, then probably a move toward Wewak and Manus. Not sure if this is a trap, or a major pullback; we'll see, but I am advancing cautiously in case.

At the moment, though, we received INTEL that KAGA is at Saipan. That seems right to me, so probably KB is there. That means I can do whatever I want at the moment, and makes me think this is a pullback.

Strategic Plan:

So, the next 3 months or so, I plan to gobble up the bases in Papau NG, build the ports and airfields to prepare a major move north or west. This will allow me to do a few things:

1. Rest all units, and repair shipping. I need production and repairs to catch-up, particularly in APA. I have many under repair.
2. Accumulate more 4E and 2E and P-47. I haven't lost many P-47, so having a larger stockpile will really help.
3. Build infrastructure for later moves; that means large ports, with piles of fuel and supplies, forward deployed at Manus, etc, for future moves