The Emporers Shopping List - Undercovergeek (J) v Yank (A)

[undercovergeek]

A second attempt at scenario 1 as Yank graciously agrees to a restart after some IJN/A disagreements with Patch 3.

There will be no prolonged Pearl attack and no attempt to take Pearl for the first time in my history of playing PBEMs with Yank - this will come as a surprise to him when he eventually realises im not coming - hopefully this will tie up a few LCUs as he reinforces Lahaina and Oahu.

In our first game of AE despite being hiccup free the Malayan campaign wasnt completed until mid March - it just took so long to bring down the Imp Div. As a solution to this i thought about taking a more direct route, and with that in mind decided that the Emporer will have had certain goals and objectives (a shopping list for arguements sake) that there is no reason not to go straight to or thereabouts on turn 1.

With this in mind a huge force is going to land at Kuantan and Mersing, the Kuantan Force will have an AV of approx 650 - it is their job to land here, take the base, defend it at all costs and massively improve the airfield.

Mersing will receive a force of about 1600 AV - which is the 48th, 5th and 18th Div with other regiments and plenty of engineers and air support. Non divisional regiments will stay to garrison the base here that will be just used to allow free passage between Kuantan and Johore Bharu and also be home to the 3rd Air Div - its range been long enough to cover Johore Bharu and Kuantan to the north.

The Mersing force will then march to Johore Bharu, isolate Singapore and will wait for the 38th (shipped from Canton) and the Imp Div shipped from Bangkok whereupon all 5 divs and engineers will march to take Singapore - against the AI this job was done by Boxing Day 1941 - and i cant see Yank been able to do anything the AI cant once Sing is isolated. 2 of these divisions will then head north and mop up the peninsular from south to north instead - the remaining 3 Divs with support will then be prepped for Ceylon.

To protect the landing force everything from the Saigon area will be stationed at Patani, with the 3rd Air Div on its way to patch up the inevitable repairs required until they do arrive. All Nates will LRCAP Kuantan and all OScars and Zeros will LRCAP Mersing - again a successful gambit against the AI with only 1 bomb hitting a ship from the main attempted raids on the landing craft.

The 65th Brigade and an SNLF or two with some air support will also land at Singkawang - this base will fall to provide a base for the bombers from Formosa when theyve finished at Manilla. The 65th brigade and the SNLFs will instantly reload and take Palembang by the 11/12th December before Yank can organise any resistance by piling everyone into the city. Paras are heading to Kuantan to land on all the unoccupied Sumatran bases further North.

For Java the target is obviously Soerbaja, for Borneo Balikpapan and to grab these as early as possible before a proper resistance can be mounted a 4 division attack is planned - the 33rd, 21st, 56th and 16th are all headed to Badelbaob they are escorted by the pacific BBs and CA/CLs, they will rendevous and combine at the base and then head to Balikpapan where the 16th will split off and take the base covered by fighters from Jolo and Menado taken on day 1/2. The 33rd and 21st will carry on and land at Semerang or Soerbaja and start the Javan campaign straight away with the 56th heading to Batavia.

When this job is done these divisions will head for Timor and then will take Darwin and start a PzB style take over of Oz with the goals been Perth to the West to Cairns/Townsville in the East.

Heading South to the heart of the Pacific is the South Seas Detachment, the 2nd and the 4th Div - they will meet up at Truk with the KB and then the SSD is bound for Pago Pago and the 2 divs will take Fiji, then head west and take Noumea.

So there it is - we're heading straight for the big targets from day 1.

Orders are in, the first turn has just been sent back by Yank so we'll see how the Pearl attack went and ill update the AAR.

Im not a fan of combat reports copied and pasted into AARs but im also aware of how translating these takes up pages and pages and maybe boring so i will try and restrict the report to just highlights.

Opening turn now.............

[Grfin Zeppelin]

Good luck [:)]

[Nomad]

Imperial guards - put it into stat mode, ship it by rail to Singora, put it back into combat mode. This takes about 6 days.

[Mike Solli]

Sounds interesting.  Only concern I see is taking Palembang too soon.  If the Allies have bases within 4E range of Palembang, they may go for the oil fields early.  That could be expensive.
 
Good luck!

[undercovergeek]

i should have plenty of CAP up by then mike from Singkawang - i think it reaches

[Mike Solli]

Zeros will.  Use Billiton.  That's a great airfield to support attacks against Southern Summatra and Northern Java.

[undercovergeek]

good call - ill have a look into it - thanks

[undercovergeek]

It all starts so well, a midget sub gets through and puts a torp in Tennessee, then the main air attack goes in:-

BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS Tautog, Bomb hits 1
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
SS Dolphin, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AVD Thornton, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Helena, Bomb hits 1
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AV Wright, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AS Pelias, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
AVP Avocet, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shaw, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Selfridge, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Monaghan, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Tucker, Bomb hits 1, on fire

It seems a bit tame to me, West Virginia might be in trouble, but even the overly enthusiastic sunk report shows no BBs under the water - but, by way of recompense the planes got off lightly too:-

A6M2 Zero: 5 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 3 destroyed, 23 damaged
D3A1 Val: 8 damaged

Most of this should be under repair by the time i get to Truk - which is where the KB is now heading to meet with the 4th, 2nd and 143rd regiment. All the SoPac BBs and CA/CLs are meeting just off the mainland and will form up and head there too.

The already set up Hollandia, Wewak, Aitape, Makin, Tarawa and Kavieng TFs have been left to their own devices - theyre under way, a TF also heads to Ocean Island and an AS heads here too to provide support for the subs which are all headed for Fiji or Noumea, as the island ownership moves south so will the AS - two more ships in Tokyo are been converted to AS. The islands around Makin and Tarawa will be organised properly with a garrison unit, an air support unit and an engineer unit each so planes can move freely and defenses can be built.

Menado landings go well, these troops are ordered to shock and take the airfield ASAP - this base will provide CAP to the 4 divs coming in from the HI to talk Java and Borneo.

Jolo landings go well too with the 21st Air Flotilla HQ and some air support units ready to receive the 21st Air group stationed at Formosa (Nells), these landing ships are moved south instantly - the Houston and 1 other is spotted 9 hexes away.

The mini-iest of KBs, sent from Badelbaob is sat on the S of the Sulu sea underneath Jolo waiting for anything coming through the narrow passes, and 2 subs are also en route to cover these passes.

The 21st, 33rd, 16th and 56th all set off for Badelbaob in good order.

On Singkawang the 65th Brigade, 41st Guards, Sasebo 1,3 and 8 Guards and yokosuka 4th all land without hiccup, supported by 2nd Tank Regiment, 2 air support units and will shortly recieve the 23rd Air Flotilla HQ to take the Formosa bombing groups after they run for Manilla 1 more turn. The 65th, and the Sasebo trio, and the tank regiment will reload and head for Palembang ASAP once Singkawang falls next turn.

At Kuantan the Southern Army HQ, 124th Inf Reg, 143rd Inf Reg, 41st Inf Reg, the 91st and 81st Naval Guards and the Yokosuka 2nd land without trouble - supported by 2 Tank Regiments, 9 AA units, 11th Base Force, 3 Air Support Base Force units and 13 construction engineer units - when the base falls work will start instantly on the airfield and the airforce at Patani moved here.

At Mersing the 14th and 25th Army HQ land along with 3rd Fleet HQ to help with the unloading of ships at the small port, the 5th, 48th and 18th division land and will be rebuilt when the ships are empty, 2 tank regiments, 9 AA units, 15 artillery units, 4 air support units and 18 engineer units make up the support, other than the 3rd fleet hq it will all head to Johore Bharu once the unloadings done - enough ships leave Saigon and Camranh Bay to pick up the Imp Guards and the rest of this force and will bring it to Mersing when they arrive, out of this group the 112th regiment will garrison Mersing.

As best as i can tell the Prince of Wales and the Repulse are sunk, the combat report records it and the sunk list but a TF is still off Mersing with BB BB amongst the ships there - if the report is right they both have 5 torps in them whether theyve sunk or not. The Nells and Bettys have stood down in preperation of flying to Johore Bharu and the 22nd Air Flotilla - their HQ - is loading on a ship and heading there too - if you load it on turn 1 the planes fly without torps.

The CAP provided by Patani was brilliant, only 2 ships were hit at Kuantan and many Vildebeest, Blenheims and Hudsons were destroyed for no loss - however after depleting the supplies flying that much there is no fuel tank possibility for the next turn meaning the Oscars cant reach Mersing and the Kates cant reach Kuantan!! Its only for a turn but the landing forces will be uncapped - it wont be a pleasant day for turn 2 - Zeros will CAP Mersing.

Ships are forming up off Formosa to be sent to Canton to collect the 38th Div - a lot of SCs and PBs are on their way for escort in case Yank doesnt move the DDs and MTBs at Hong Kong.

The last of Formosas troops are shipped out to the SoPac, base forces and air enginers and the 11th and 5th air HQ all leave for Truk.

China just moves a bit - very slow here apart from Pengpu where the 13 Ind Brigade kicks the 89 Chinese Corps out of its hex in a 'sweeping the rear' exercise - im undecided in China whether to start at the bottom and work up cleaning everything between Hong Kong and Shanghai, or to work down from the North to Kaifing - either way troops are on the move.

Everything went according to plan - the 2 down points being the lack of teeth to the Pearl attack and the Patani supply situation.

Yank has the turn

[CapAndGown]

Why don't you hit PH again? I did not sink anything on the first day either. On the second day I was able to sink 3 BBs.

[undercovergeek]

i learnt my lesson last time with the AA coming on line at Pearl after day 1, plus the KB has a massive job further west and then further south escorting 2 divisions and blocking anything coming into Fiji and Pago Pago, i want to get to these before he does

[undercovergeek]

Day 2:-

The landings at Mersing and Kuantan suffer a set back - the CAP cant reach the unloading ships and for a turn the ships are at the mercy of the Vildebeest and Swordfish - it costs me 2 sunk APs and 1 sunk xAK with 5 more damaged but they were all empty. The DDs escorting the Repulse and POW break off and scare away the unloading ships at the 2 bases, there is already 90k tonnes of supplies at Mersing and 55k tonnes of supplies at Kuantan, these ships are diverted now to Singkawang where there is a shortage and to Patani to cover the replacements for the damaged aircraft as the 3rd Air Div has just landed here and replacements will be allowed.

Both bases fall with little trouble, as expected - the defeated Kuantan garrison heads west to Timuleh and the defeated Mersing garrison heads to Johore Bharu. Somehow it looks like Yank managed to get Malacca's garrison to Johore Bharu in 1 turn so there will be 7 fresh units and the defeated Mersing ones to fight for this base - the 3 Divs at Mersing are rebuilt and along with all the ART and 2 tank regiments set off for Johore Bharu - 1619 AV - they shouldnt have any trouble at JB and will wait there for the 38th, 1 mile out of Canton as we speak and the Imp Guards still getting on the train for Bangkok.

The subs in this area will now make their way south past Soerbaja and onto Darwin and Sydney.

I-21 put two torps into an already 'holey' Prince of Wales - still no sunk report!

I created surface raiders early this game and a TF of 4 CAs and 4 DDs meets the 3 DDs Vampire, Tenedos and Express - for hardly any damage the 3 DDs are sunk.

Singkawang also falls without trouble, the 65th and the SNLFs are reloading and heading for Palembang, CLs, CAs, DDs and supplies are also on the way. Paras and their transports are also headed to Kuantan to drop on unoccupied Sumatran bases and will hopefully shut off the Palembang garrison and force a surrender not a retreat when the invasion force arrives.

The 23rd Air HQ is still en route to Singkawang, once it arrives all the Formosa Nelss and Bettys will restation here to cover the Malacca straits and Soerbaja. The 22nd is also on its way to Palembang and then the Saigon Nells and Bettys will restation here to cover Java.

Jolo falls and the 21st Air HQ lands safely and unloads with air support troops - the small number of units attached to the 21st are transferred in - Nells and they will cover Borneo and the escaping Luzon/Manilla/Mindanao fleets.

The evil Boise is seen twice, sailing alone she is attacked in the morning and all 12 Kates miss her, in the afternoon she is hit once by a torpedo, the mini-KB moves slightly west and south to try and hit her one more time before she reaches Balikpapan.

Thankfully i took Menado depriving this airbase from Yank, Balikpapan and Ambon are the nearest fields to attack the mini KB from - the 12 Claudes on board are put on CAP.

Makin falls, the KB sails west looking vainly for a solo CV but doesnt spot anything, and the invasion divisions all head south to Badeldaob and Truk.

I-2 sinks an inbound Allied AK off Lahaina.

The turn is with Yank, ill put this turn down as a great success - all goals achieved so far, the next on the list is Palembang and Miri, the Miri invasion force is en route and the Palembang one is loading at Singkawang.

[undercovergeek]

Day 3:-

The troops at Mersing move 12 miles towards JB but there are 4 more Allied units coming down the west of the peninsular that will beat me to it - ill recon these units to try and see what im facing.

Massed Vildebeest and Swordfish attacks fail to reach any ships this turn as the CAP comes back on line. The 3rd Air Div arrives at Patani and starts repairing damaged planes that are then shipped to Kuantan where the airfield is being expanded.

The first transports arrive in Bangkok for the Imp Guards - everyone is here except the guards themselves - theyll arrive next turn.

Recon over Sumatra shows all LCU heading towards Palembang - they will not get there before the 65th from Singkawang. Paras are still enroute from Formosa and the HI - they will drop on these empty bases before the delibertae attack is actually ordered in Palembang to force a surrender.

The 4 CA/4 DD raiding force stationed just south of Singapore catches a number of TFs heading south - a PG is sunk by the Kumano in the first engagement, the Kumano then bags two AMs, then CLs Danae and Mauritius with 5 DDs come south - Suzuya takes a torp and shell hits and will retire to Saigon for repairs with a DD escort, the other 3 CAs/DDs head to Patani after damaging Mauritius and 2 DDs - all 3 are on fire.

I-122 sinks an AVP between Singapore and Palembang as she heads to Darwin.

Bettys from Jolo sink DD Pilsbury near Tawi Tawi

Sallys from Kuantan sink an xAK, a CM and a TK heading north up the Malacca straits.

DDs from Luzon are missed near Taytay later on and the Boise escapes unhurt after Kates find her twice but only 3 Kates at a time are launched - the mini KB tracks her run southwest.

Troops occupy Ocean Island and Tarawa - an AS is stationed at Ocean island to provide support for the southerly subs.

The huge oil/resource/fuel movement operations start, TFs are headed to Port Arthur and Hakodate to start collecting - further TFs will be established next turn.

[undercovergeek]

Day 4:-

The race down the peninsular goes on, im confident the 1600 AV marching to JB will be plenty to kick the defenders out - although it boosts Singapores garrison some.

Im concerned that the 65th hasnt left Singkawang yet, if it doesnt leave next turn im sending it anyway and will send the stragglers across the day after - speed is of the essence here.

The Miri invasion should hit the shores next turn or the one after.

The Imp Div has started boarding ships as has the 38th at Canton and will both head to Mersing

In my history of playing WitP ive never occupied as many airbases at the start and utilised the Nells and Betties, Sallys and Lilys are also been used at 1000 ft and its all to great effect - anything coming up the malacca straits is toast. The sulu sea is also a dangerous place to sail - Yank loses 3 TKs in the Malacca strait to Sallys at 1000ft and various xAKs and AKs, and a PG, between Singapore and Java he loses 2 more to subs. Over near Jolo 2 xAKs are hit, ive run out of enough supplies here so bombs are getting used - more supplies are on the way. The Boise is hunted again and hit by a torp and then 5 bombs - if she hasnt sunk shes out for a long time - ill follow her for one more turn.

The CAP from Singkawang provides excellent cover over the remainder of the ships in the region and none are lost to the bombers from Singapore, a large naval battle takes place between Singkawang and Palemabang - all the excess supply ships fully loaded from Mersing are being escorted to Palembang for the invasion - they were intercepted by the CLs Durban and Dragon but the CLs Sendai and Kuma are present with a host of DDs - fire is exchanged - 1 ak is lost to a torp and the Kuma takes 4 hits, as does the Durban - the TFs retire.

A final highlight as 16 B17s attempt to bomb Takao - 35 Nates provide CAP and damage/destroy 9 of the bombers.