Sailing in harms way: InHarmsWay (J) vs Andav (A) Scen2

[InHarmsWay]

Ok, I am jumping in (again!) but for the first time publicly!. This time I plan on sharing the highs and lows with the community! My esteemed opponent (Andav), who kindly abused and mistreated me in our previous game (Stock – Scen 2) is letting me try again as the Japanese. We have known each other for over 25 years and are well aware of strengths and weaknesses. This thread will be open to him initially while I review our previous game for everyone to see / comment on.
Andav had learned quite a bit playing the Japanese against witpqs twice, and knew all the weaknesses and strengths… he deserves to be able to crow about how he crushed me like a bug. Our next upcoming game will be different! So on to the hotwash of the last 4 years….
Following this short review, I will kick him off the thread and then will present my master plan (ish) for regaining Japanese honor! That will be followed by a detailed ongoing description of how that master plan worked perfectly following contact with the enemy... (oh wait, is that victory disease already setting in???)

[InHarmsWay]

Screenshot as of July 1, 1942... This is really the extent of my expansion. The game was Scen 2 stock, PDU, Pearl Harbor surprise, with the following house rules: 4Es cannot ground attack. Only land at bases, have to buy out units from China, and in general no exploits or other gamy moves like hunting known allied ships day 1, etc...

Game1 July 1 1942 overview.jpg (353.77 KiB) Viewed 1182 times

[InHarmsWay]

A couple comments, I probably was over cautious the first 6 months, I knew Admiral Wa was devious and knew the Japanese OB well. I also did not recognize the benefits of Scen 2 start with the Japanese, including the additional LBUs that are part of the OB reinforcements. As can be seen, I took Colombo and sunk a couple of Brit BBs in that area. China was a mess but I kept feeding supplies into it which helped. One really good bright spot was about 10 days into the game, a sub found and sank the Saratoga between the Hawaii and the west coast. I doubt Wa will make that mistake again...
Regarding Australia, I also went into Darwin, but did not even consider going after Perth, Sydney or anything beyond the north coast. I did take Fiji mainly to kill allied units, but quickly abandoned it.... effectively I never tried to isolate Australia or otherwise push the Allied into a CV battle... that said, Adm Was was not the bashful, sir Robin type and we did not lack for combat everywhere...

[Andav]

In the first game, I got lucky. While I had never played the Allies, my experience as Japan was an advantage but I have only ever played Scenario 1 based games. It was my opponents first game as Japan. He had not played any AE in many years. I think this definately gave me an advantage. I was lucky he split between Oz and India. I was lucky he was a bit timid since he did not really know the Allied challenges in 42-43. I was lucky he "Got Saucy" with mini-KB and let me ambush and destroy it in 42. This helped balance things on the CV front early. He would win a CV battle in the Marshals in 43 which made me change my tactics going forward. I had to advance under LBA until the US carrier building really kicked into high gear.

I expect he will Auto Victory me easily in this coming game. I will be lucky to have anything left by about May 42.

[InHarmsWay]

Bah! Autovictory in '42 is a pipedream.... Andav (Adm Wa) beat me like a rented mule in our last game! no luck was involved except my ambush of the Saratoga.... Yes, mini KB was ambushed and sunk in a very embarrassing way later in '42 off Australia's west coast. There is a very long list of painful mistakes and bloody lessons from the first game.

[InHarmsWay]

So here is the status as of Aug 1 1943. I really had not pushed anywhere further and was congratulating myself on a nice tidy perimeter in the back half of '42. He ambushed mini KB off Exmouth I believe in November '42ish. I lost a CV and 4 CVL/CVEs... he did not even have the decency of letting me know he was in the area.... I did get my revenge over at Tarawa mid '43 with the KB showing up well

Game1 Aug 1 1943 overview.jpg (350.83 KiB) Viewed 1163 times

[InHarmsWay]

China fell late 42, with mopping up through the first half of '43. I really did not know what to do over in India and so we ended up playing patty cakes along the India/Burma border. Nothing in the north pacific at all... Adm Wa regaled me with stories of dead IJA units from LBA in Australia so I got the shaky legs and retreated to Darwin, then abandoned the continent early 43. He took advantage of that and began moving up through Timor early '43. One of my (many) mistakes here was not really contesting this much. I expect if KB and friends had really decided to make this area their home, it would have slowed him down... same with not stopping his initial attack to retake PM and Milne Bay. During this time, I will say Adm Wa had it in for the British BB's.... they were the only BBs I could sink. I attacked Pearl on day 1 and I think I only sank a DD, PT and DMS...
With hindsight, KB was still the master of the battlespace, but I did not realize that until the Aug 8 1943 CV battle. Losing the Mini KB had made me cautious...

One positive was I got the first George in early 43, and the first Frank in mid 43.

[InHarmsWay]

For posterity sake, here is the score as of Jan 1 1943. I had been rough on my navy, with the following losses:
1 CV (Junyo)
3 CVLs (Zuiho, Shoho, Ryujo)
3 CVEs (Unyo, Taiyo, Hosho)
3 BBs (Ise, Fuso, Hyuga)
4 CAs (Aoba, Mogami, Ashigara, Takao)
14 DDs
9 SSs
5 TKs
lots of transports...

Game 1 Jan 1 1943 tally.jpg (191.15 KiB) Viewed 1150 times

[InHarmsWay]

January 1 1944, things still seemed a bit slow. I thought I was doing well, but the hammers were getting ready to fall! Admiral Was was creeping up the DEI chain, and slowing winning the burma land war attrition. We had our second signifiant KB / deathstar rematch, which ended in a draw. I caused more casualties (1 CV and 2BBs I believe) but was unable to really stop him from moving forward. I probably should have pushed it but was worried about gambling the KB as I had been rough with the rest of the IJN to date...

Game1 Jan 1 1944 overview.jpg (356.48 KiB) Viewed 1135 times

[InHarmsWay]

Here is the score tally for Jan 1 1944. As you can see, pretty bloody fighting with ~12k plane points lost for each side. I had not lost any additional carries, only lost 1 BB in '43, but 6CAs, 8CLs, and 34 DDs in '43 alone...

Game 1 Jan 1 1944 tally.jpg (187.56 KiB) Viewed 1133 times

January 1 was the highpoint of the allies, with Adm Wa getting ready to bring the pain....

[Andav]

In 43, I had very little carrier power left. This kinda dictated the advance out of norther Oz. I had tried two different invasions which where failures. I just did not bring enough to make sure I succeeded. I tried Ponape and Kusaie to isolate the Marshalls and bring pressure on Truk.

Once the Allies got rolling, I did a LOT between Jan 44 and Jan 45. I think Lowpe once commented to me, "The Allies are three invasions away from bombing the Home Islands". I think this is true. Harms did not appreciate the Allies ability to bypass and pretty much take what they want.

Isolating Singapore was huge for me. Harms made a mistake and sucked a bunch of supplies out of Singapore which made my life easier. Taking Java to cut off Palembang was on the 44 calendar. Setting up a base in the Philippines would also happen. And then there was the Kuriles, Shikuka and Hokkaido. Harms will be better prepared next time I am sure.

[InHarmsWay]

Here was Adm Wa's masterplan in action. After lulling me into feeling like I had stymied the allies, and after I had passed the Saki around for all to enjoy, the Allies strike! The map shows the triple whammy! I had about 300AV of reinforcements heading to Batavia but backed away when he landed. I did not have KB positioned well and this allowed the Allies a great foothold into Java and the Palembang. At this time I think I had ~300k supplies in Singapore. A couple months later, the Allies then landed north of Singapore after I had pulled supplies up to burma area in an attempt to hold outside of rangoon.

Game1 July 03 1944 overview.jpg (403.03 KiB) Viewed 1099 times

[InHarmsWay]

The landing just north of Singapore was brilliant, isolated Singers and with nothing of significance guarding my back door into Rangoon, unhinged the entire front. Again, I was timid with the KB as he had LBA from his Java and subsequent Sumatra bases covering the landings. At this point I began a strategic retreat through burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. Also began to build out bases in China (this was a mistake as it cost supplies that I would run short of late 44 and early 45 in China...
In early May he moved on the PI and I felt I had to move against the USN. A large CV battle was fought just west of Davao, with the two fleets in adjacent hexes.. Complete carnage on the Japanese side and I failed to effectively use my LBA in the area. KBs alpha strike was meager... The USN strike was brutal. This also was the first I experienced ~400 plane CAP... This was the end of the KB, and I only got a CVE in exchange. Adm Wa pushed forward and took San Jose and Iloilo. Big lesson here is how to combat these island base hopping jumps of 20+ hexes. Will need to think on that because that was a winning formula for Wa in this game... any suggestions are welcome once I kick Adm Wa from the thread... so gentle readers, please keep ideas to yourself for now!
These three attacks, all within a several month period made the DEI suddenly untenable. The Imperial HQ began to toy with the idea of Kamikazes for the first time...

[InHarmsWay]

After the disastrous first half of '44, things continued to go downhill in the back half... The one thing I was doing was causing casualties (both Japanese and Allies!) Here is the situation at the end of 1944. The final act in the SRA was a landing north of CRB in July '44, in an attempt to flank the Japanese fleeing the Singapore fiasco. I was able to counter that by pushing south strongly and held the line around Hue thereby allowing most of my army to flee across Thailand to Vinh. I think the allies were stretched at that point as he was not able to bring enough. The slow retreat to China was something I feel I did well, never letting myself get trapped from all his roving tank units. And boy are they fast! Singapore fell around August 44, with Bangkok in October 44. After taking most of the PI and isolating my units in Clark and Manila, Adm Wa did try and jump to Formosa, but by this time I was a bit more ready for him. I had been funneling in LBA for several months. My reasoning was first, what would really hurt, and losing that large island would be a disaster, second, I was getting alot of LBA reinforcements in late 44 and 45, and Adm Wa knew the Imperial OB very well and would want to take those bases to keep those units from arriving. I bottled his landing up on the SW point (Hengchun) and swept and bombed it extensively. This was the first time I realized I could actually compete with the Allies in the air, given strong LBA bases and formations. Good positive lesson!

Game1 Jan 1 1945 overview.jpg (385.47 KiB) Viewed 1071 times

[InHarmsWay]

The real hammer blow fell in November when Adm Wa landed up in Sakhalin. Completely unexpected as I was thinking, winter months, bad weather, I am ok.... right?? Well no! Yes, gentle readers, another bad strategic mistake by the Empire. The allies cleared out Sakhalin and then almost all of Hokkaido by year end. I did contest the air war over the north Home Islands and did well with Ki-83 sweeps but by then, 4Es were regularly hitting my main manufacturing facilities. Supplies starting dropping, but I was still funneling in some supplies to China as I was running low. I had built up just about all bases to lvl4-6 forts, with a half dozen at 8-9 lvl... in hindsight this was a waste as I was unable to stop him from landing, and all his engineers busted through forts like a cat through a tower of cards. Things looked grim!

[InHarmsWay]

Here is the Jan 1 1945 tally, note the 12k in strategic bombing points. Also most of the IJN is sunk, with only a few CVs and CA/DDs to make up the Ghost of the KB... My motto was that no Japanese ship should sink in port, the honorable way is on the high seas fighting the decadent Allies. Adm Wa obliged me there.

Game 1 Jan 1 1945 tally.jpg (189.94 KiB) Viewed 1055 times

[InHarmsWay]

The final curtain closed on March 11 1945. I had been fighting a withdrawal in China, with large garrisons up north to ensure the allies never unlocked the Chinese horde again. I wanted it to be more of a quicksand defense. The real happer fell in early march as the Allies landed on the Sea of Japan side at Niigata. After a bombardment and landing, the allied steamroller knock down 4 forts to 0 and take it in one attack. Ouch. They quickly spread like spilt coffee on a newspaper across the northern area of the main island. Another brilliant yet devious move by the great Adm Wa.... unfortuantly all those bonus divisions as reinforcements were not up to the task. 30/35 exp troops against the marines and tanks... oofff. This invasion, combined with the incessent 4Es.... almost broke my spirit. But the worst think Adm Wa did was say. "You can always quit, and send me a new Turn 1..."

I had been talking about all my multiple mistakes and just wait till next time when I will put up a better showing.... This got in my head! I could end the suffering and once more go back to the glory days of KB sailing again.... Well, his psyops worked! Here is the final strategic map...

Game1 Mar 11 1945 end.jpg (342.86 KiB) Viewed 1053 times

[InHarmsWay]

Here is the finally tally of points. I feel I did ok here. The allies knew they were in a fight. After we finished, Wa let me know that he was low on plane reinforcements at times, so if I had pushed harder in the air war, that may have helped... I also did not realize how I still had material superiority in ships, planes and troops into mid / late 43 as well (my mistake in allowing my historical knowledge get in the way of the Scen 2 game design). Other mistakes, I botched the research and economy a bit, and have now learned alot from reading the forums, thank you Mike Solli, Lowpe, and many many others... I don't want to give too much specific credit now with Adm Wa still lurking as he may deduce from that some of my upcoming master plans....

Game 1 final tally.jpg (189.7 KiB) Viewed 1050 times

[Andav]

One advantage of knowing Harms so long is I was sure this would 100% work: ""You can always quit, and send me a new Turn 1...". I knew he could not resist after all the talk of mistakes made and what he would do differently, etc. "Know your enemy"

I will bow out here as I wait for Turn 1.

Unfortunately, I suck at AARs. I have good intentions but I know from past experience I just do not have the time to do one well (Yes Harms ... I know I should retire ...). I do not think there will be a companion AAR at this time. Maybe at some point in the future.

Wa

[InHarmsWay]

Will Adm Wa now officially kicked off the forum, we can get this AAR start! The following is a dump of my master planning to date. For background on the scenario and our house rules:

Scen 2 stock with stacking limits, PDU on, realistic US torpedoes, variable +/- 15 reinforcements, units will withdraw, no historic first turn, allied damage control good.
-no ground bombing missions by 4Es
-units in China must be bought out their restrictive HQs to leave
-no hunting of ships turn 1
-no fishy shenanigans on turn 1, needs to be realistic.
-amphib / para invasions on bases only
-in general play a fair game.

For me, I try to play a bit in line with what historically would have been feasible, not what the game engine allows. That said, Scen 2 has the Japanese more prepared for the war, so I would say they would have been more open to a wider conquest!!!