Bloody Pacific: Undercovergeek (Japan) vs. Yank (Allies)

[undercovergeek]

My first WitP AE game, my first AAR and my 3rd PBEM with my good friend and long term opponent Yank.

So, its a WitP AE Grand Campaign Scenario 1, one day turns.

There are no home rules, its not that anything goes, you wont see 12 ship ASW TF or non carrier capable aircraft on CVs, its just that we've always played with a bit of common sense and will discuss anything contentious as it happens and adapt from there.

For those in the know, this will be a homage to Admiral Laurent and my favourite AAR and battle plan of WitP, and hopefully AE's first attempt at the Admirals glorious vision. I've tried it once, it almost worked, and therefore im trying it again.

Now the plan:

Given the choice of either losing face or starting a war, the Japanese government has chosen the second option.

The Japanese Army is mainly concerned with China and has little interest in the Pacific, so the planning of the war has been left mainly to the Imperial Navy.

The Admiral in charge gathered a staff of young officers who all studied in the USA and knew well the enemy. The general feeling is that Japan's courage will overwhelm everything the Allied powers have at hand, but that in the end American industrial might will crush Japan.

So the objective is set: dealing the Allies enough damage that they will agree to accept Japanese control of the SRA before American industrial might shifts the balance of war to the Allied side.

The only chance for Japan is a short war. Political objectives are granted more importance than economical ones. So the seizure of the SRA is only the second objective of Japan.

The main idea of the plan is to put maximum pressure on the Pacific front. Japanese forces will invade the Hawaiian Islands in January 1942 with six divisions. Once it is done, they will occupy under CV cover the atolls south of them. Then all ships, planes, troops and supplies available in the USA will be “trapped” there. With a PH under Japanese control and with the Kido Butai and half of the Japanese surface ships in the area, they won’t be able to ship to the other fronts.

To do this, troops usually used to take the SRA are diverted from their objectives. Two areas will be conquered later than usual. Luzon won’t be invaded during the first month, the LBA based on Formosa will assure its neutralization. Java landings will occur in spring.

No troops have been diverted from Malaya, so Singapore is excepted to fall in January-February. Four reinforced divisions will operate there under support of a Navy Air Fleet and an Army Air Division.

Burma will be invaded by one reinforced division and the objective is to repulse British forces up to Mandalay, but not to take it in the first drive. They will have close to nil aerial support before the fall of Malaya.

Japan needs oil and resources and the prime economical objective is Borneo. All oilfields on the island will be conquered in December or January. To assure the security of the operations, Mindanao, Jolo and Menado will be taken.

After the fall of Singapore, the next main objective is Palembang. Operations against Luzon will start at this time.

Then Java and Timor will end the Japanese advance in the area.

In the second half of 1942, it is planned that Japan will hold all the SRA, that the Burma front will be stabilized somewhere in the north of the country and that most of the Pacific will be occupied. Japan will then be able to gather a mobile force of 8 divisions and will use it to knock down one of the Allied countries. Which one will be chosen later.

Japanese economics will adapt to the short war planning. All ships needing more than one year of building will be halted. All aircraft research for 1944 is stopped. No fortifications will be built on rear areas to save supplies for immediate use on the front.

[Mike Solli]

Wow!  This should be interesting. [:D]

[undercovergeek]

So the set up then, to be edited as i go in and out the game as i didnt take notes the first time round!

Pacific

The KB has been left to its own devices and i havent meddled with its set up at all, the subs around Pearl have been stationed to patrol to the NE and SW of the island to pick up any escapees after the attack.

6 Divisions are to be sent to Pearl - the 48th, 16th, 2nd, 56th, 33rd and 4th. Only the 33rd and 4th are complete as divisions, the rest are spread far and wide. All the divisions will take advantage of the Japanese transport bonus so are loaded on to xAP, xAK, xAKL and basically anything that will float to Hawaii. They will rendevous at Wake where they will also meet their support ships and escorts.

Here the 16th Div and some Const Btns, some AV support, 2 BF and a fleet HQ will split and head for Laihana to provide the main bombing platform to supress Pearl.

The very first stages of the plan include an invasion of Wake and Midway, and Midway will be used as a staging post for the final advance on Pearl. The 144th regiment (old South Seas Detatchment) starts loaded with a BF and supplies, perfect, this has been rerouted to Midway immediately. Coming up behind them are various TFs carrying Construction Battallions from the Home Islands and Formosa, supplies and fuel - all in all sailing towards Midway is the 144th, the 15th BF, 3 Const. Battallions, 11 Air Fleet HQ, the 7th BF, 35 JNAF AF Unit, and 28th Shipping Engineer Regiment, and an initial 20k tonnes of fuel and 20k tonnes of supplies. The 144th will leave Midway as soon as the occupation forces arrive and sail for Johnston Island - a perfect launch pad to bomb PH, and Midway will then be expanded and used to top up the KB as it sails round Pearl keeping the airfield unserviceable and keeping reinforcements at bay.

Wake is to be bombarded by a number of cruisers and destroyers (including Guam's bombardment TF) on the 7th and 8th to make sure the invasion forces have no trouble on the beach. Headed to Wake to hopefully arrive on the 8th are Sasebo 1st SNLF, 24th JAAF AF Btn, and Maizuru 2nd SNLF, to be closely followed by 1st Sasebo SNLF Co., and the 7th JNAF AF Unit. Once Wake is taken it will be used to expand its airfield and provide a jumping off point for aircraft from the Home Islands to Midway and Johnston Island or Laihana next to Pearl (the 16th Div destination) with jumping off points in mind a small JAAF Btn is also loaded for Marcus Island with some supplies to provide the same service as Wake for the shorter legged aircraft.

Makin, Hollandia, Tarawa and Guam have all had small invasion forces dispatched to them.

I have sent a small invasion force from Badelbaob(?) to Jolo, its a bit risky, my hope is to land some AV on the island quickly so short legged bombers (Sonias) from around the area can use this as a base to bomb anybody attempting to leave the Phillipines.

Every CA, DD, CL, and BB east of Formosa is forming up just off the coast of Japan to escort the 144th to Midway and provide a huge bombardment service as they approach.

Every ART and ENG unit in Manchuria is heading for a port, i would like to get these out of here ASAP to help with further conquests. The 604 PP Indian brigades on the Chinese coast will also be employed for garrison duty in the Pacific.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea

Everything with wings that can reach Manilla from Formosa is on Port Attack - i want to sink as many subs as i can on turn 1. The Zeros are set to sweep the skies before the big fellas arrive - Clark Field's airfield can wait til the 8th.

Bataan Island is the only invasion goal on turn 1, with some AV to provide a closer base to flatten Clark and Manilla and hopefully neutralise the skies over the Phillipines.

A Port attack is ordered on Hong Kong to reduce supplies, disrupt the troops and hopefully catch the DDs in there. The 38th Div is turning round and heading for Canton and the 104th Div is heading to where the 38th just came from - so the Hong Kong attack will be delayed for a while - i need the 38th as its unrestricted and i want it as reserve for Malaya/Burma

The 21st Division loads up at Shanghai and is to be used in reserve for Malaya.

Malaya/Burma

The original Kota Bharu invasion force is left to attack the beaches here, but everything else is sent to Mersing - i want to cut the peninsula in half as soon as possible. Small AV forces are sent to Patani and Singora to assist the Nates flying CAP over our landing forces, and the 143 Inf Batn is sent to Chumphon to cross the neck and take Victoria Point.

The 16th Naval Guard heads to Menado, the 124th Inf Btn heads to Miri, remanants of the 124th and 9th BF and Yokosuka 2nd SNLF head to Brunei, the 97 JAAF AF Btn and the 91st Naval Guard head to Singkawang to provide a decent airfield to bomb Singapore and catch any TFs leaving the area this way.

The Imperial Guards and its support are headed to Bangkok and then will turn south and come down the Peninsula mopping up any bases and will meet up with the final Singapore Invasion forces at Johore Baru.

Thats it - the turn is sent, i can only hope there are no clouds over Pearl and everything else goes well. I will wait one day before i start setting up the convoy TFs to keep the Home Islands happy (shipping in resources from China, Korea and Manchuria), i need all my invasion TFs out of the way so i can see whats happening - i think i can afford 1 day to let the ports clear themselves.

Whenever i read AARs from the experts i always wished they would say which unit went where so i can try and replicate their successes, i will put in as much detail as i can about the units and where they are going. I also wished there was a comprehensive 'i did this on turn 1 with the production/air frames/engines bit' - so after reading a few strategies and AARs and Mike Solli's threads about the merchant force heres what i have done so far - it may work, it may not.

Turn 1 production stuff

Increased Zero production to 150
Increased Oscar production to 95
Increased Sally production to 50
Increased Val production to 40
Increased Kate version 2 to 40

Halted all research after and including 44, and halted all obsolete production - Nate, Ida, Sonia, Hickory

Set Zuiho and Hosho airgroups to expand to fit ship, on turn 2 i will upgrade these to Zeros and Kates.

Increased supplies to Maebashi to 10k

Converted 5 xAK to AKE

Transport all Paras west to form up nr Malaya and drop on Port Blair as i believe this to be key to the Allies

I will turn off Yamato Musashi Taiho and Shinano for a few days to build up some points - there is no option for this on the 7th - i will do this on the 8th

Thats it - fingers crossed!!

[undercovergeek]

Day of Infamy

Pacific

The first 'shots' of the war were the comedic attempts of the midget subs to get into the harbour at Pearl, none made it through the nets and all were lost.

7 planes were actually lost during the Pearl attack, and 24 were damaged - 9 Kates, 1 Zero and 14 Vals. 28 Allied planes were destroyed on the ground.

Of the BBs:

BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB California, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 8, on fire
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage

The rest:

AV Curtiss, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AV Tangier, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Raleigh, Torpedo hits 1
DD Downes, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DM Ramsay
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
DD Reid, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AV Wright, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PT-26, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
DD Aylwin, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Blue, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Im quite happy with this, i assume the Pennsylvania and the Arizona are in trouble too.

Wake was bombed by 27 Nells, wrecking the airbase and disrupting the garrison there, later in the day 7 DDs led by CL Naka bombarded the island causing further airfield damage and vitally damaging the garrison. Behind them came 7 more DDs led by CL Nagara and performed the same job, and 2 more DDs followed up to completely shut down the airfield - these ships will combine and head north to join with the Midway Invasion TF that is heading east to the island already. The wake invasion force is 360 miles off the coast - i hope it gets there on the 8th, if not then the 9th looks definite.

The 144th Inf Reg has embarked with supplies and 15th BF to take Midway, and the support TFs are all under way, one slight error, i had placed the 11th Air Fleet HQ on a warp TF and thats now sat in Midway harbour on its own(!) i have sent it six hexes north to wait for the rest of the fleet.

My main concern with Wake and Midway is if Yank, who is usually reserved with his CVs comes to guard the islands - any opponent would be wary of KB but he'll know its just off the coast of Pearl, i may hang around one more day and disappear into the West to keep him on his toes.

Hollandia, Wewak, Guam and Jolo invasions all set off as planned - man this new format looks slow without everything been on warp speed!

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea

26 Zeros swept Clark and met one P40-B - they never saw each other and flew on - no losses either side.

36 Nells and 81 Bettys escorted by 46 Zeros bombed the port at Manilla, the plan here was to destroy as many submarines as possible, and recon units posted later in the day after another attack by 18 Sallys reported 14 submarines burning and broken on the surface. A number of transports also went down, and a DD is on fire. Tomorrow ill switch to Clark and shut the airfield down. Two more sweeps of 8 Zeros each met nothing in the skies.

The port attack at Hong Kong was a mixed bag, it achieved what it set out to do, sink ships in the harbour, but the DDs must already have been at sea. Idas, Sonias and Lillys escorted by Tojos and Nates hit 6 transports here, and recon later showed the DDs to be off the coast and not in the port.

Malaya/Burma

Force Z was seen off the cost of Mersing and 18 Nells took off to sink the Allied TF, 79 minutes later the Prince of Wales was listing heavily to port after taking 2 torpodos, the Repulse steamed on, 16 Nells returned to base, all but 2 damaged by the AA of task force Z. But their location was now known, and the co-ordinates were radioed back to Saigon, 27 Bettys then took off and met a CAP of 9 Buffalo, 8 were lost to the defenders, but 19 dropped through the clouds to 200 ft, released their torpedos and headed home, behind them the Repulse shuddered to a port side torpedo hit. The returning Bettys radioed the positions of the now stricken Battle Cruisers and passed 10 outbound Bettys over the coast of Indo-China. These 10 Bettys met 6 Buffalo and 5 of them spiralled into the Gulf of Siam before they even saw the smoking TF ahead, the remaining 5 dropped to 200ft, released and headed home. Looking over his shoulder, LCDR Miyauchi, leader of this squadron, saw the Repulse take one torpedo above the rudder on the starboard side, and the Prince of Wales shake to two more torpedo hits on the port side.

The Bettys had had enough and headed home, i can only assume both of the ships are on the bottom - ill Naval Search the area tomorrow and see what can be found. This alleviates my worry off the coast of the peninsula. I consider the Songkhia and Patani landings to be safe from attack but had forgotten to move their BB and cruiser escorts to Mersing where a huge force is landing. This force is only protected by one cruiser and 5 DDs and my worry here was that Force Z would attack the landings - i hope enough damage has been done to deter Yank, if not the escorts from further north are now headed to Mersing and the Bettys and Nells are still guarding the sea.

Further north 29 Nates straffed and swept the airfield of Kota Bharu losing 2 of their number and leaving undamaged the CAP of 5 Buffalo, as the Nates left the scene 22 Sallys at 15000ft bombed the same airfield, moderatley damaging the runway and causing damage to the airbase.

On the west coast 21 Sallys bombed the airfield of Alor Star, destroying a Blenheim on the dusty runway, but suffering 2 damaged aircraft. The runway was moderately damaged and these Sallys will fly the same mission tomorrow. Not far down the coast 27 Sallys bombed the airfield of Georgetown, destroying 1 Buffalo and 1 Blenheim on the ground and returning home unscathed.

The first real Allied attack occured over Mersing as the local airforce attempted to disrupt the landings there. 6 139WH-3s escorted 4 Wirraways to attack the troops unloading on the beaches, no hits landed amongst the landing craft and the AA of the TF damaged a Wirraway. Later 3 Blenheims would try the same attack escorted by 14 Buffalo, again the landing craft survived unharmed. 9 Vildebeest were the next wave of attackers from Singapore, 1 was lost to the AA of the pitiful escort scratched together for the huge Mersing landings, but 1 of the plucky torpedo bombers shaking and vibrating at 200ft above the waves loosed a torpedo at DD Shirayuki scoring a hit on the destroyer before returning to base. 2 Swordfish were next, 1 returned home undamaged, the other leaving a trail of smoke, their attack on the AK Kinka Maru unsuccessful.

Blenheims, Blenheim IVs, and Hudsons were escorted to Kota Bharu by 9 Buffalos after coast watchers radioed in the location of a huge BB TF off the coast. A heroic 2 Nate CAP defended the BBs and 5 Hudsons crashed into the sea around the pride of the Emporer's fleet and the rest of the Allied aircraft left with no bombs released.

Across the sea on the coast of Borneo, the Allied and Japanese forces will contest the small airfield of Singkawang. The Japanese need this airfield to home Lillys and Sallys to bomb Singapore and hunt amongst the straits of Malacca for fleeing TFs. 6 Blenheims attack the landing force but miss the fragile ships of TF153 as it approaches the beach. However as the noise of the passing bombers fade 5 Swordfish sweep from the skies and one scores a hit on xAK Meiten Maru carrying the 91st Naval Guard. 373 men give their life to the Emporer as the ship goes down, the accompanying landing craft picks up the stricken survivors and heads stubbornly for the shore.

Silently moving below the water of the Malacca Straits SS I-121 stalked her prey. CL Danae confirmed the sub's weapons officer from his book of Allied ship silhouettes laid out before him. 4 torpedos streaked towards the target, 3 missed, 1 hit and the horizon bloomed with the explosion of the sinking cruiser.

All the landings at Mersing, Kota Bharu, and Singkawang passed without further attempt by the Allies to stop the forces on the beaches. There were sporadic but ineffective infantry bombardments by the Allies but with no great success.

Summary

Im happy with the Pearl attack and will send the KB 1 or 2 hexes S/SE, i dont want Yank to try and get a fix on my location and have some lucky patrol boat or sub find a CV in its sights. I will change most of the Kates and Vals to airfield attack - i want the runway unserviceable and no strikes to be launched from Pearl at all. The rest i will put on Naval attack for any ships trying to get out of the harbour or any ships brave enough to come and find the KB. I have spread the subs out to try and catch anyone running for the West Coast and have sent 3 subs way east to keep an eye on the 3 main naval yards on the coast.

The Wake and Midway invasion TFs are under way and the escort is forming off Tokyo - there is no need to interfere here.

The SoPac invasion fleets are also under way and will be left to continue on their way. The Jolo invasion force with the mini KB in tow is steaming towards the small island.

Formosa airmen will continue to surpress Manilla and Clark.

Mersing, Kota Bharu and Singkawang will all be given deliberate attack orders and i will try and find some escort for the unguarded Miri and Brunei invasion TFs! Disembarking TFs seem very fragile in AE so i must try and guard these important ships.

This turn i will spend the time creating all the resource convoys for China and Korea and shipping resources around the Home Islands as per Mike Solli's advice - 250 hulls are required i understand!!

I will also adjust the ship replacement times.

[krupp_88mm]

wow pretty cool.. this definitely sounds like an awesome plan! I just hope the game model lets you invade pearl harbor.. to bad you can't choose which side of teh island to land on ..or can you?

[undercovergeek]

cant choose side im afraid - i dont think anything is modelled that way - it doesnt go down to that level - a good idea but sadly im at the mercy of the guns which ever side i approach from

[krupp_88mm]

yeah they got some big A88 14 inchers' and even mortars... better plan to loose alot of transports.. what's your plan to stop the transports from going down? im assuming bombing with air force the guns and probably use every BB to support the landing? can you land at night? landing at night might save your ships idk though just throwing out ideas..what if you landed with subs? lol maybe if you got a beach head with subs first the losses would be lighter for the main invasion?

- just trying to help (probably not)

[undercovergeek]

all advice gratefully received - its an all or nothing landing - the only way to reduce transport losses is to throw in as many support ships and combat ships with the TF and then the hits are shared around. The TFs will contain SCs, PBs, Es and various other 'chaff' and in there too will be the DDs, CA/CLs, and BBs for bombarding. In AE i cant stick around and continually bombard so i need a big port nearby to provide re-arm facilities - this will be Laihana that will fall first.

[bklooste]

PI.
Id try to land a Brigade and maybe a regiment in the PI take some territory , keep him busy and most importantly get him to use his supplies. Not sure if this modeled but the PI was mobilizing and training so you may be giving him some nice units. With air power , the PI units experience and moral he wont unseat a Brigade from some defensive terrain. If he commits everything land the 38th in a nice position when Hong Kong falls.

Hawaii.
Don't land on Oahu. Take Hawaii and all the other small islands build up the air bases and attrition him. The goals
- Disrupt his troops
- Keep the air field down
- Reduce supplies
- Bomb the guns
- Sink any relief ships or ships in PH.

Once things are in your favor take Oahu. Best of all you can use barges for the landing and pick decent weather , weather makes a big difference. If your invasion hits a storm its in big trouble.

Even if you fail you will take out a lot of shipping AND can withdraw your forces , consider if you do a direct attack and fail.

[krupp_88mm]

PI.
Id try to land a Brigade and maybe a regiment in the PI take some territory , keep him busy and most importantly get him to use his supplies. Not sure if this modeled but the PI was mobilizing and training so you may be giving him some nice units. With air power , the PI units experience and moral he wont unseat a Brigade from some defensive terrain. If he commits everything land the 38th in a nice position when Hong Kong falls.

Hawaii.
Don't land on Oahu. Take Hawaii and all the other small islands build up the air bases and attrition him. The goals
- Disrupt his troops
- Keep the air field down
- Reduce supplies
- Bomb the guns
- Sink any relief ships or ships in PH.

Once things are in your favor take Oahu. Best of all you can use barges for the landing and pick decent weather makes a big difference.

Even if you fail you will take out a lot of shipping consider if you do a direct attack and fail.

sounds like a solid plan here.. maybey while hes waiting on securing the bases he could get a jump start on som of the islands to the south.. just a though

im assuming he might have a hard time flying in new planes to pearl to defend.. perhaps he may try to use his carriers to fly some in .. better be on the lookout for that

[bklooste]

sounds like a solid plan here.. maybe while hes waiting on securing the bases he could get a jump start on som of the islands to the south.. just a though

im assuming he might have a hard time flying in new planes to pearl to defend.. perhaps he may try to use his carriers to fly some in .. better be on the lookout for that

Agree he only needs 2 divisions ( use fast transports) to secure the other Hawaii islands ( 1 is prob enough even) and try this strategy . Taking the approach islands is critical though ( don't use big forces to give the game away) , Midway , Baker and Johnston Island based planes can alert him of an invasion. Take them and he will have less warning its coming.

If he takes Johnson he can
- Hit Pearl with Betties and from there helping the invasion
- Redeploy Betties to Pearl

For fighters why waste a CVE these are needed i recommend packaging some Oscars and Sallies on AK from China and Malaysia ( once you win the air war there) , you cant take the PI ones as you will need them to keep his head down. This is important because in the attrition phase you want the army planes to do the hard work . Save the Navy pilots /Betties for hitting any ships that try to reinforce Pearl.

I would NOT include Heavy cruisers and Battleships in invasion fleets. I would also not bombard Oahu unless it has been heavily suppressed. The risk gain is just not worth it with the Wimpy AE bombardments.

With production your biggest problem will be ramp up speed so i suggest hijacking some other plants like the Glenn ( and restart these when something becomes obsolete) and keeping the Mabel available (restart) .

[rattovolante]

ORIGINAL: bklooste
Hawaii.
Don't land on Oahu. Take Hawaii and all the other small islands build up the air bases and attrition him. The goals
- Disrupt his troops
- Keep the air field down
- Reduce supplies
- Bomb the guns
- Sink any relief ships or ships in PH.

Once things are in your favor take Oahu. Best of all you can use barges for the landing and pick decent weather , weather makes a big difference. If your invasion hits a storm its in big trouble.

Even if you fail you will take out a lot of shipping AND can withdraw your forces , consider if you do a direct attack and fail.

I briefly considered this for my PBeM. There is a major problem: as long as they have supply and oil, Allies can resupply, repair and draw new planes at Pearl Harbor, you can't.
An attrition battle around Pearl harbor might end up with yourself facing constant bombardment or surface combat raids from Pearl Harbor. I'm afraid you will run out of carrier sorties/torpedoes and battleship ammo before he runs out of supplies at Pearl Harbor.

Also, there is a major problem with the whole plan IMO. Even supposing Pearl Harbor falls on Jan or Feb 1942, the Allied player can simply withdraw from the Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand - the game unrealistically allows you to evacuate them, politically impossible in RL) and move all assets to the Indian Ocean and advance in Sumatra/Java.

You might end up holding NZ, Australia and all the Pacific but very little oil. As you said, it's all a great gamble to accumulate enough points to secure a victory - does the Pacific provide enough victory points to offset your losses (in carriers, troops, planes, etc.)?

Also, there is IMO a serious limit of the game engine. Neither Australia nor New Zealand can surrender (i.e., see France, Italy, etc.) even if entirely occupied, so he will still get the crack north african divisions and reinforcements, which can be used in the DEI. Again, I'm not entirely sure if the victory points gained will be enough to compensate this.

[bklooste]

I briefly considered this for my PBeM. There is a major problem: as long as they have supply and oil, Allies can resupply, repair and draw new planes at Pearl Harbor, you can't.
An attrition battle around Pearl harbor might end up with yourself facing constant bombardment or surface combat raids from Pearl Harbor. I'm afraid you will run out of carrier sorties/torpedoes and battleship ammo before he runs out of supplies at Pearl Harbor.

A valid point but he has 2 Divisions to feed and will prob keep the planes running . I'm pretty sure the battle fleet is toast after a few days by KB and continued army bombing. The whole idea though is he also need to ship supplies and i think the Betties will do a good job here. At the very least it will cost him a lot of shipping.

Also, there is a major problem with the whole plan IMO. Even supposing Pearl Harbor falls on Jan or Feb 1942, the Allied player can simply withdraw from the Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand - the game unrealistically allows you to evacuate them, politically impossible in RL) and move all assets to the Indian Ocean and advance in Sumatra/Java.

You might end up holding NZ, Australia and all the Pacific but very little oil. As you said, it's all a great gamble to accumulate enough points to secure a victory - does the Pacific provide enough victory points to offset your losses (in carriers, troops, planes, etc.)?

Also, there is IMO a serious limit of the game engine. Neither Australia nor New Zealand can surrender (i.e., see France, Italy, etc.) even if entirely occupied, so he will still get the crack north african divisions and reinforcements, which can be used in the DEI. Again, I'm not entirely sure if the victory points gained will be enough to compensate this.

I agree here , i would prefer going a bit lighter on PH but Singapore and DEI must fall. You can use most of Burma + Malaysiaarmy +38th Div and Guard Brd for DEI and go a bit slower securing bases etc. PI ,Burma , New guinea is optional Malaysia and DEI is not.

I don't think taking Pearl Harbour is that important per se but its a great opportunity to force the US to bring all his pieces to the battle when he is least ready and you are the most ready ..it only gets worse. You can polish of the damaged battle wagons so they don't come back and have a good chance for a KB vs US CV battle when he still has Buffalo's and you still have your good pilots. Pearl will be a 6 month Siege do not let KB do the work , keep it for his relief fleets and CVs only. Use your army planes( and pilots) for the attrition battle.

A great US player may avoid battle but its a tough choice to make, most will throw everything at the PH invasion. The biggest risk i agree is he avoids battle and re attacks from Australia , hence you cannot sacrifice the DEI in this plan though you can go slow..

If he does take Pearl because of disrupted units , bombed CDs etc its a good place to park your BB , light ships (DD & TB) and LBA and 3 divisions everything else doesn't need to stay there . It will be hard for the US take back in 43 but easy in 44 so don't waste too many forces holding it .

Remember an attack on Hawaii is a war of supply , if you can supply and he cant you loose and visa versa. You can prob do it with 2 Divisions if you win the supply battle.

[undercovergeek]

the plan is to send the 16 Div to Laihana to build up a decent sized airfield here and bomb Pearl from there, before this happens Johnston Is will be used to stage Bettys from. In my previous attempt this was very successful and will be tried again - i need the airfield to be ruined and the troops to be out of supplies before i land.

2 divisions will then be stationed permantely here and the other 4 will move onto Fiji and maybe Noumea

[bklooste]

Your going to need 3-4 Airfields at least as he will shutdown some when KB leaves. Hilo , Kona , Lihue and Molokai are all needed. The 2 dot bases should be float plane bases.

Why bother with Noumea when Pearl falls ? Everything will go via Australia ( via the south lane) and the Middle east so the West coast to Sydney routes are no longer relevant and you cant stop the sea lane.

BTW Pearl has like so many large guns ( many more than WITP) even a fleet of 100 will be decimated. You need to bomb them for some time.


Can KB or BBs refresh in Johnson I with some AEs ?

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

Just off the coast of Laihana in the dead of the night I2 launched a spread of torpedos at Hoegh Merchant, and then rose to the surface to finish her off with 2 shell shots. I assume this was a supply ship leaving Pearl for the South/Fiji needless to say its on the seabed.

In a similar vein the SS Tambor spotted the AO Shiriya just off Wake Island, she was here to refuel the huge invasion fleets that are meeting here before going on to Pearl, 6 torpedos fired, 2 hit, none went off, the captain left puzzled at 2 loud clangs from his hull in the middle of the night!

A while later the Tambor again spotted the oiler on the horizon and fired another salvo, 1 hit, no explosion.

As the sun rose 21 Nells roared over Wake Is causing some minor runway damage but doing the important job of disrupting the garrison there.

In the afternoon the KB launched 27 kates with an escort of 15 zeros against 1 AMC floating outside the harbour at Pearl, unfortunately this threw up the cap of 58 fighters - i lost 18 Kates - a bad afternoon for the Akagi who practically lost her entire Kate wing.

At Wake another bombardment to assist the invasion was launched. Hopefully this should cause enough disruption to assist the invasion that should come tomorrow:-

CA Ashigara
CA Maya
CL Kuma
CL Natori
DD Tachikaze
DD Hatakaze
DD Matsukaze
DD Harukaze
DD Asakaze
DD Nagatsuki
DD Fumizuki
DD Minazuki
DD Satsuki
DD Yamagumo

The airbase, runway and ground troops all suffered in the attack, and im confident there wont be much resistance to the invasion. Wake is not so important as an obstacle to throw into the path of the Allies, i just need it as a jumping off point for short legged aircraft going to Pearl and a refuelling station for the invasion forces and any support heading east.

The 51st Naval Guard roar out from their amphibious transport craft to find Makin an empty island. Still as night falls the rising sun of the emporers flag flaps gently in the pacific breeze above Makin harbour.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

On the beaches of Singkawang the 91st Naval Guard make their way to the safety of the trees, their support troops, the 97th JAAF AF Btn didnt make it to the beaches. In a muddled intel report from the previous night the commander of the TF thought the 91st had gone down but it was the 97th - the Naval Guards were here alone with no AV Support - the sole purpose of the attack. An AV company from Shanghai is diverted to Singkawang at full speed - with an escort!

With the troops safely ashore the TF started unloading its supplies for the infantry and airfield that was to be built here, fully occupied with this task noone noticed the CL Durban and CL Dragon emerge from the night. Within an hour and at 4000 yds the entire supply TF - a DMS, a PB, a AV, a xAK, and a xAK are all crippled and burning on the beaches.

With their supplies burning behind them the 91st Guards launched their deliberate attack on the garrison, overwhelming the defenders by 4:1 and claiming the airfield for the Emporer. The guards will garrison the strip until the AV company arrives, bombers will be stationed here to attack Singapore, and Nells will hunt the straits.

Off the coast of Hong Kong the huge transport TF assigned to picking up the 38th Div at Canton sails past an outbound allied TF of 8 MTBs at 30000 yards, the two TFs glimpse each other in the night and then are gone. The unescorted Transport TF Captain curses the commander who redirected his escorts to Malaya.

The first sweep of the the day over Manilla takes the 12 Zeros by surprise as 18 P35s and 29 P40s rise to meet their challenge, some furious air combat takes place, resulting in the loss of 3 Zeros and 2 P40s. Following up the sweep was the main port attack on the city, 40 Zeros, 33 Nells and 57 Bettys, rising to meet them came 11 P-26As, 12 P-35As, 12 P-40B Warhawks and 46 P-40E Warhawks. 5 Zeros, 3 Nells and 8 Bettys were lost, 6 Allied aircraft also destroyed - not good odds. The AV Langley, and DD Peary were sunk in the harbour. A more substantial sweep followed to clear up any stragglers and 35 Zeros met 17 Warhawks - 1 Zero was lost for 2 Warhawks - a better outcome. A final sweep saw 11 Zeros drop from the sky to finalise any air superiority issues over the skies of Manilla, meeting 6 Warhawks, and destroying 3 for no loss - even better odds. With the skies clear 9 Sallys raided the airfield at Manilla, causing slight damage to the runway and destroying a Catalina on the field, and a lucky stray bomb sunk the xAK Yu Sang in the port.

21 Lillys opened the campaign against Clark Field's airbase, causing minor damage to the base and the runway.

The III company of the 124 Infantry Btn successfully landed at Brunei without been found by any roaming Allied TFs - another unescorted TF with lots of luck!

The 40th JAAF AF Btn ran down the landing ramps at Bataan Island to find the landing strip abandoned and noone home. The supplies were unloaded and work on expanding the airfield began. Bombers will be landed here to decrease the range to Clark and Manilla. Two visits from 8 B17s remind the troops ashore that a CAP will also be required here.

12 Kates leave the deck of the Ryujo some 200 km from the coast of Davao and launch a port attack on the the town. Some very minor port damage occurs - these Kates should have been on Naval attack to find fleeing Phillipines TFs - their orders are changed.


Malaya/Burma

4 Bettys take off from Shanghai and torpedo AMC Manoora making its way up the Malacca Straits.

Alor Star, Georgetown and Khota Baru airfields all receive attacks and suffer minor airbase and runway damage for no loss.

In the Malacca Straits more TFs are seen heading North, and 6 Nells and 9 Bettys are alerted to their presence. The xAP Sin Kheng Seng, xAP Dominion Monarch and xAK Wulin are sighted in a small TF off the coast of Kuala Lumpur - the Sin Kheng Seng receives 2 torpedos and sinks immediately, 1 Nell limps home with a smoking engine.

Steaming off the Malayan peninsular having decided to take an indirect route to Mersing is the huge BB force. Seen by 4 Hudsons and 4 Blenheims the Allied bombers attempt to dent the Emporers pride and turn into a sharp dive to attack the the TF - 4 of the aircraft are never seen again and the remainder leave the battle before dropping their bombs.

The Vildebeest and Swordfish again strike out from Singapore at the invasion fleet off Mersing. Unbeknown to the pilots the huge mass of troops are ashore preparing for the attack and just supplies are been unloaded. 21 Vildebeest, 15 Blenheims, and 5 Swordfish attack the landing site throughout the afternoon, at the cost of 3 damaged Vildebeest, 5 xAPs are left burning in the surf, their supplies alight. A seemingly heavy cost but im glad the invasion force is ashore and with the taking of Singkawang i can CAP any further landings on the entire east coast of the peninsular.

Summary

The Pacific is moving very slowly, Wake will be invaded tomorrow, im just used to it been taken on the 7th, the Midway Invasion force seems miles away from its target and all the other small support TFs for the Pearl invasion seem so far away.

Miri, Borneo, Mersing, Kota Bharu should all be Japanese by the end of the next turn. The mersing invasion force will strike west for Johare Bharu and cut off Singapore from any further reinforcements from the North.

Still no sign of the US carriers im hoping the KBs move to the west will have scared Yank into thinking theyre coming that way, i may repeat that next turn. Dont know what happened with the loss of 18 Kates other than the AA over Pearl is now devastating but it cannot and must not stop me from reducing the airfield to rubble - my aim is to get the damage high enough to prevent anything taking off and then pound the aircraft and the airbase beyond repair.

[Q-Ball]

Consider me subscribed, I can't wait to see how this invasion of Hawaii goes! I think you can do it, I just wonder how stretched your LBA is going to get between keeping Luzon supressed, making progress in Malaya, and commitments to Hawaii. Not going to be easy.

[undercovergeek]

Welcome Q-ball, you may note i have taken some advice from the omnipitent beings in your AAR providing you with pointers.

I will admit the majority of forces are headed to Pearl but hopefully by the time my opponent realises this he will have made all the usual moves elsewhere and will not be in a position of strength. Taking Mersing was always a goal and hopefully this will cut the peninsular early and i should be able to cover any seabound reinforcements from the local airfields.

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

This time the ASW found the SS Tambor first off the coast of Wake Island, but were only able to spot the foam of the descending periscope, the hunt was on, but the Tambor slipped away in the night.

The cruiser task force bombarded Wake once more in support of the troops approaching the island, more disruption and airfield damage - i may have caused too much damage to the island to be of any use - but it takes so long to get troops out here i want to make sure the troops take the island.

As usual (because i keep forgetting) the 21 Nells visited Wake Is and damaged the airfield and disrupted the last of the garrison there.

In the afternoon another light cruiser task force approached the beaches of the island and prepared the way for the landing forces - at last - the Sasebo 1st SNLF were first on the island and quickly surpressed the small garrison. The Maizuru 2nd SNLF provided reinforcements and the 24 JAAF AF Btn landed last to start work on repairing the airfield. The first stepping stone in the taking of Pearl has been achieved in the name of the Emporer!

The KB launched a full strike at Pearl's airfield, 84 Kates and 127 Vals, escorted by 50 Zeros, a huge cap of 45 P40-Bs and 29 P-36As came up to meet them - for 20 Warhawks and 5 Mohawks the Japanese suffered 1 Zero loss, but the Allies had broken through the escort and ran wild amongst the bombers, destroying 16 Vals and 13 Kates, and damaging a further 28. As well as the damaged CAP 10 more aircraft were destroyed on the field, the BB Arizona was sighted on her side and confirmed sunk, and more importantly 127 points of damage was done to the airfield - the planes left on the field suggest to me that the runway is too damaged for these aircraft to leave and the more damage i do hopefully the more will be left on the ground. A small attack occurred in the afternoon, 27 Kates escorted by 40 Zeros met a CAP of 20 Mohawks and 23 Warhawks - again 1 Zero was lost to 3 Warhawks, but the Allied fighters broke through the escort and ran riot amongst the Kates again - 7 were lost and 3 were damaged, the Akagi lost the remainder of its Kate wing.

The 53 Naval Guard prepared for their ramps to descend and charged onto the small island of Tarawa - after a moments confusion it was obvious the island was undefended - another piece of the South Pacific becomes the territory of the glorious Emporer.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

A tanker leaving the protection of Manilla harbour was spotted in the night by I-123, placed there for just this very reason - to catch fleeing transports and fuel transports. The TK Mindanao was hit twice and left burning, the submarine disappeared below the waves.

To the South West the 2nd company of the 124 Inf Btn came ashore at Brunei, a few casualities occurred during the landing but nothing serious, the battallion formed up under the protection of the cruisers off shore and prepared to take the oil rich territory. In the afternoon the order came to attack and after a brief but viscious firefight the garrison retreated causing 50% damage to the Oil facilities, supplies will be shipped in as soon as possible to fix the damage.

Just along the coast to the west the Yokosuka 2nd SNLF started landing on the Miri beaches supported by offshore cruisers and destroyers.

On 3 seperate occassions the Ryujo TF and her escorts saw 2 Allied xAKL off Menado, the weather, reported as foggy with thunderstorms, was blamed for the reason why the carrier TF broke off every time unaware of the nature of the enemy threat. In the afternoon the TF finally spotted a transport TF leaving the Phillipines, and as the weather improved launched her Kates - 2 AS and 1 xAP went to the bottom, 1 xAP disappeared in the smoke and made a lucky escape.

The 2 JAAF AF Btns landed unopposed at Bataan Island and raised the Emporers flag without taking any casualities. All the fighters from the Formosa region will be based here to reduce the distance to Clark and Manilla, until a base on the north coast of Luzon is taken and prepared. In the afternoon 8 B17s flew overhead and bombed the transports unloading the supplies, in xAK was hit and sunk the other continues to unload.

25 Nells and 27 Bettys escorted by 16 Zeros approached Manilla for a joint airfield and port attack, another huge 39 plane CAP came through the cloud base and set about the escort and bombers - 4 Allied aircraft were shot down for the loss of 2 Zeros, still good odds, but the CAP broke through the escort and found the bombers, 3 Nells and a Betty were lost and 3 more limped home. The DD Pilsbury sunk in the harbour and the airfield received many hits.

A sweep of 34 Zeros followed the bombers and met a fraction of the CAP, 10 fighters. 4 allied fighters crashed and burned and 32 Zeros retuned home safe. 30 Bettys then attacked the airfield, the skies clear of enemy fighters and caused heavy damage to the runway, and destroying 4 aircraft on the ground.

Attention switched to Clark as first 21, and then 10 Lilys attacked the airfield there causing minimal damage to the airfield and base.

As the large transport TF for the 38th Div steamed into Canton a small force of Vildebeest attacked from Hong Kong, fortunately a rushed CAP of Tojos and Nates had been hastily thrown together, destroying 2 of the enemy planes and distracting the other from attacking solo, it turned and headed south.

Malaya/Burma

Alor Star, Georgetown and Kota Bharu airfields were bombed again causing minor damage, no CAP is seen over the airbases.

The Allies have switched all their air-based attention to Mersing, all day there are deadly dog fights and bombing runs above the landing craft on the beaches. 10 seperate sorties are flown over the beaches, the meagre CAP of 7 Zeros from Singkawang earning high praise in the Emporers eyes. The first sortie consisted of 38 enemy aircraft made up of Blenheims, Swordfish, Vildebeest and Hudsons, escorted by Buffalos - for the loss of 1 Zero, the Singkawan heroes coupled with the AA of the TF downed or damaged 20 aircraft, 1 AK was left a burning wreck, the torpedo having detonated portside destroying all the supplies on board. 18 further enemy bombers are destroyed or damaged for the loss of no Zeros but 3 xAKLs are lost to Vildebeest - the curse of the Malayan landings. The BB Haruna attracted a number of attacks and repulsed them all on her own, the CAP never appearing for her and the rest of the BB TF. Despite the carnage from the air, the troops lined up and were ready to assault the base at Mersing - with odds of 34 - 1 the 18000 troops easily defeated the garrison, suffering only 204 casualities and causing 1734 - the remainder fleeing into the forest towards Joha Bharu - the invasion force will follow them, but the engineers will remain behind and build the airbase that is required here.

At Khota Bharu with a blow of his whistle the General in charge of the beaches ordered the attack and the 56 infantry regiment supported by the 12 engineer regiment swarmed over the garrison here - 374 were lost, but 2837 enemy lay dead and dying - the base force surrendering and the infantry escaping into the jungle.

Summary

The Vildebeest and Swordfish from Mersing are killing the transports at Mersing - i need more AV support at Singkawang to provide a bigger CAP for the TFs there and the base itself, more has been dispatched.

Im concerned with the amount of damage the KBs wings are suffering - if Yank sees the same damage i do he may be tempted to turn the CVs round and come for the KB, at the minute all the Zeros are on Escort and the Kates and Vals are on airfield attack - i need to consider this some more.

Also a recent read of the manual now has the rule of 50 + airfield size x 5 to shut it down - this means if Pearl is size 10 i need to cause 100 damage to stop the cap flying - im checking the levels of some target airfields and will post them later. Im unsure whether ive done enough damage to even stop strikes taking off (20 + base size x 5)

[bklooste]

upted the last of the garrison there.

The KB launched a full strike at Pearl's airfield, 84 Kates and 127 Vals, escorted by 50 Zeros, a huge cap of 45 P40-Bs and 29 P-36As came up to meet them - for 20 Warhawks and 5 Mohawks the Japanese suffered 1 Zero loss, but the Allies had broken through the escort and ran wild amongst the bombers, destroying 16 Vals and 13 Kates, and damaging a further 28. As well as the damaged CAP 10 more aircraft were destroyed on the field, the BB Arizona was sighted on her side and confirmed sunk, and more importantly 127 points of damage was done to the airfield - the planes left on the field suggest to me that the runway is too damaged for these aircraft to leave and the more damage i do hopefully the more will be left on the ground. A small attack occurred in the afternoon, 27 Kates escorted by 40 Zeros met a CAP of 43

<<< BRB notes been consulted >>>>

Why bother if you are going to invade Pearl ? Save your pilots, They will still be repairing later.