Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[ny59giants]

I figure I'll learn a lot about my inadequacies as a Japanese player in my current game (late 3/43). Thankfully, unless I do something stupid, I should have carrier superiority until close to mid-'44 or longer (after my opponent came to visit Tokyo in late 2/43, he is now down to 2 CVs and 2 CVEs [:D]). The hard part will be figuring out to slow down the Allied "Death Star" that is now at Chittagong (over 6500 AV). I'm holding, but the 1st Tank Division has gotten mauled after two attacks. [:(] My ace in the hole is having 5 large Tojo air units that can kill any Allied fighter that comes after me. [8D]

[Mike Solli]

8 Dec 41

Subs

Nice day today. The I-122 dropped her load of mines in the hex just east of Tobali. Then she found an unescorted merchant convoy probably fleeing from Singapore or somewhere around there. First she surfaced and put 3 torps into the TK Spirilla and down she went. Then, she put a torp into another TK and finally put 3 torps and 2x 5.5" shells into the xAK Zannis Cambanis and watched her go down. In the last attack she got hit by .303 MG rounds a few times for 2 sys damage. She's down to 2 torpedoes left so she's headed to the barn.

5 Fleet

7 BF headed to Adak. ETA about 6-7 days.

4 Fleet

KB, CA TF & amphibs headed to Wake. ETA 2 days.

Makin taken. (That's about my limit for rhyming.)

SE Fleet

Fleets enroute to Shortlands, Admiralty Island and Kavieng.

Burma

Invasion forces on trains.

Philippines

A P-40B and 2 P-26As were shot down for no loss. I took Vigen and stationed 2 Zero and a naval Bab chutai there.

The DA on Iba failed. I got 1:1 odds and caused 148(4) casualties to 68(1) losses. The P-40s are still stationed there. I'm trying a shock attack tomorrow. Gotta get that base!

The invasion of San Fernando will begin tomorrow. 48 Div, 65 Bde and support will land. It's interesting to see that Ted is moving forces from Manila to Clark Field and Clark to Bataan. Looks like he's doing what I would like to have happen and I can use 16 Div and 65 Bde to keep an eye on them while 48 Div moves on to Mindinao.

Speaking of Mindinao, I'm postponing the invasion of Davao temporarily. I spotted a CL (most likely the Boise) at Zamboanga headed SE. I may send the invasion fleet back to Surigao as I had originally planned. I moved a Betty daitai from Formosa to Babeldaob. Hopefully, they'll catch the CL. I'd love to kill the Boise! There are 4 BBs that are headed to Babeldaob (from the Home Islands). They're still 4 days out. I may wait until they arrive so the invasion fleet has some substantial fire support.

China

The garrison shuffle.....

Hong Kong

The invasion force has arrived. I'll bombard a couple of turns first....

Malaya

Ahh, Malaya. Ted is becoming a pain in the butt. It started out with the CL Mauritius running into the Chokai and 5 DDs a hex SE of Kuantan. (This was one of the DDs I thought I'd kill off.) Well, it was a whole bunch of nothing. Chokai took a 6" shell that caused no damage and the Mauritius too a couple of 8" and a couple of 5" shells. My ships also used 40% of their torpedoes for no result. The two fleets went their separate ways. Right after that, the I-153 launched 6 torps at her for no effect. *Sigh*

It got better. [:(] My Mersing fleet (just off Soc Trang) was caught by the DDs Vampire and Tenedos. I had 3 DDs escorting them. I should have just driven them off, right? Heh. The Vampire too 8 hits. I think she went down because I never saw her again and the Tenedos took 2 hits. They spread the wealth on my ships hitting a DD, PB, AK and 3x xAKs. Two of the xAKs went down. Man, my merchant shipping sucks. Two hits from a 4" and they go down?! It's gonna be a long war! So ends that event....

In the air war over Malay, I shot down a Blenheim IF for the loss of a Sally. I had a total of 54 Nell sorties against 2x DDs parked at Kota Bharu for no hits and 3 lost to flak. I'm ready to kill off all the Nell pilots and start over with rookies.

Still no invasions are headed in. It'll happen soon. I've noticed that the ground forces at Alor Star are moving south but the forces at Kota Bharu and Kuantan are not. Looks like he's going to try and hold off my invasions long enough to pull the bulk of his forces to Singapore. Maybe the Mersing Gambit is the way to go. If that succeeded, I could still cut off the bulk of his forces. We'll see how tomorrow goes against his sacrificial ships off Malaya.

Other Stuff

Some interesting happenings. I saw that the CL Java and DD Evertsen sank from a collision. Oops. [:D] Damn Dutch. Also, the DD Stuart allegedly sank from unknown causes. Mine maybe? If it's accurate, I'll take it.

I checked my factory increases and some of the bases have too little supply. I fixed that. Everything should be good now.

I forgot to accelerate ships today. Looks like I can accelerate 2 CVs and 4 DDs right now. That should increase over the next few turns as my naval shipyards increase in size. They're currently at 1401 and will increase over the next week or so to 1500.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I figure I'll learn a lot about my inadequacies as a Japanese player in my current game (late 3/43). Thankfully, unless I do something stupid, I should have carrier superiority until close to mid-'44 or longer (after my opponent came to visit Tokyo in late 2/43, he is now down to 2 CVs and 2 CVEs [:D]). The hard part will be figuring out to slow down the Allied "Death Star" that is now at Chittagong (over 6500 AV). I'm holding, but the 1st Tank Division has gotten mauled after two attacks. [:(] My ace in the hole is having 5 large Tojo air units that can kill any Allied fighter that comes after me. [8D]

Carrier superiority is very nice. So is the Tojo in numbers. Sounds like you're doing great.

Not sure what to do about that Death Star. I don't think the Japanese "Tank Divisions" can be thought of as real tank divisions.

[Cribtop]

Don't be too hard on the Nell pilots. In my experience torpedo planes can't hit nimble DDs until a dive bomber or warship slows them down with a few hits.

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, but the need to fly to hit. This next turn they didn't even fly...[:@]

[Cribtop]

OK, now you can shoot them. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

I'm ready to shoot them. The PoW is tooling around of the west coast of Malaya and they didn't even fly. At least Kaga's Kates "flew". [8|]

[Grfin Zeppelin]

Its common knowledge that Netties only fly if they have no escort and the target has cap.

[Mike Solli]

Ain't that the truth. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

9 Dec 41

A less than stellar performance......

Sub war

One bit of good news. The I-121 put a torpedo into the CL Mauritius at Mersing. Hopefully, that'll be enough damage that Ted'll decide to pull her.

4 Fleet, 5 Fleet, SE Fleet

Nothing to speak of....

Borneo

Well, the Miri invasion is one day out. It can't be made easy though. Ted sent some Do-24k-1s to check it out and ended up sinking 2 small cargos. Sheesh. Aren't those German planes? What are they doing here, and on the Allied side?! Anyway, no real harm done other than some soldiers that had to go swimming. [8|]

Philippines

Some good news! Iba fell! I destroyed some P-40Es on the ground too. The combat replay said 7 and the intel report said 16. Either way, it's great news and some US pilots are gone for good as well. I suspect it was an oversight on Ted's part. He was too busy gloating over his driving me nuts off the Malayan coast. Anyway, I did a shock attack (SA) and took 159(0) to 3512(477) Allied losses. The 31 PA Inf Div surrendered! That's great news. Ted is definitely withdrawing to Bataan.

I'm using the Yokosuka 3 SNLF to paradrop into Mauban and take it. That will be where the 16 Div lands. That should reduce landing casualties to that division.

I landed at San Fernando and will attack tomorrow.

In the air war, I lost a Betty to flak in return for killing a P-35 and Stearman 75M (whatever that is) on the ground.

Malaya

Ahh, Malaya. Still no invasion, and I'm glad there wasn't. The PoW showed up just NE of Mersing. I think she was at Kuantan waiting for an invasion. Anyway, she was spotted and the Nells decided not to fly at all today. [:@] I guess they got tired from all the missing. Anyway, Kaga sent 25 Kates escorted by 16 Zeros (fortunately). There were 7 Buffalos flying CAP over the PoW. The Zeros shot down 4 and drove the rest off. Clear skies for the Kates, right? Heh. They all missed and lost three of their number to flak. My bomber pilots are beginning to remind me of the Keystone Cops. Not sure what the PoW is going to do now.

This didn't really happen around Malaya, but it fits in perfectly. I have quite a few ships heading to various ports for different reasons. Many are without escort (not enough escorts). The 3 Brit DDs in Hong Kong finally made a break for it. The avoided all 3 TFs I had blockading the port and headed west. South of Samah, they found some of these ships and ended up sinking two empty xAKs. Fortunately, they're not critical ones. The Brits (Thanet, Thracian and Scout) got away and ran after some other ships which fortunately avoided them. This drew the DDs closer to Cam Ranh Bay and the Mersing invasion force and they ran into one of them. [X(] The Brits ended up sinking two small ships and the Thracian took a pummeling and the Scout took moderate damage. Later, a recon plane from the area put another bomb into a DD (I suspect it was the Thracian) and sank her. I never saw her again. Kaga's Vals (flying out of Soc Trang) sank the Scout with a magazine explosion and Kates from Ryujo (to the east) sand the Thanet. They're gone finally.

In the air over Malaya, some Nates shot down a Blenheim IF (seems to be all they can shoot down) for the loss of a Sally to flak, along with the Buffalos shot down over the PoW.

So, here's the status of the Brit ships floating around east of Malaya:

PoW north of Mersing - I have some subs and Kaga tring to intercept.
CL Mauritius - ate a torpedo and in Mersing
2 DDs south of Mersing - Don't know who they are but they seem to be heading to Singapore.
Tenedos - slight damage - didn't see her today but I think she's between Soc Trang and Kota Bharu.
Electra - took a 250 kg bomb and is in the same area as Tenedos. I have a CA TF in the area. Hopefully, it'll find them and take them out.

Malaya is a mess, at least as far as invasions are concerned.

Other Stuff

The Stuart is no longer showing up on the sunk list. That was weird.

Hong Kong

A little more bombardment....

[USSAmerica]

Mike, since Ted had CAP flying over the PoW, did you have zeros in range to escort your Betties?  They usually won't fly without escorts if there is CAP at the target. 

Of course the Kates had Zeros from Kaga as escort so they attacked, FWIW.  [:D]

[Cribtop]

Always a joy, eh?

Remember to make use of the (ahem) modestly named Cribtop Lifeboat Doctrine if you have the extra ships. Keeps a lot of troops from swimming! [:D]

[ny59giants]

Where are your four BBs that usually headed for northern Malaya on turn 1?? The two Kongo Class end up with your CVs, but the other two plus your CAs should be able to handle Force Z.

I set my Zeros at Soc Trang for Escort and max range with drop tanks. They usually fly often.

I did the "Mersing Gambit" twice and did follow someone else's AAR to get a handle on it. I then played head to head just in this area to get the kinks out. Be patient.

[Mike Solli]

Cribtop, I plan on using your doctrine....eventually. Right now it's taking every hull I own to move stuff, and it's still not enough. By the way, I started converting 24 hulls to carry extra pax on 8 Dec. They should be ready in a couple of days.

Michael, I think the reason I've lost as many ships as I have is from a lack of patience. The Mersing plan caused me to take more risk than I normally do. This turn, I've pulled back all of my Malaya invasion fleets to Cam Ranh Bay. You're right. Patience.

[Mike Solli]

Oh yeah, I sent the 4 BBs to Babeldaob because there was nothing in that area. Mini KB is usually there, but it's forming off Malaya (more on that in the next installment.

[ny59giants]

I've only recently started playing the 'dark side' so I know what the Allies have and can do (7 years of WITP/AE next month). Any element of surprise you have have gotten by landing at Mersing is gone. It is still the best way to capture Malaya. Do you have any fighters in Malaya at Kota Bharu?? The next turn would have me using most of my LBA to attack ground units. Since you started with the 'Mersing Gambit' last game and show signs of it again, I would imagine that he is placing most of his LCUs that are on rail lines into Strat Mode to get them down the peninsula quickly. Most will take two to three days for this to happen. Hit Alor Star and other bases that you feel he may be evacuating from quickly.

Are you using any transport planes to get Aviation Support flown into Malaya?? I get what I can this way and then use transports to ship in the rest eventually.

Consider breaking your Vals from Kaga into 3 parts and placing one back on her to be able to hit his DDs. I would still want the extra Zeros, but a couple well placed bomb hits might help.

All FPs on your warships should go to 100% Naval Search for the next few days to ensure he is spotted and attacked.

Double check the leaders on your LBA Zeros, Oscars, Nell, and Betty just to make sure they are not the problem.

These suggestions are for Malaya area only....for now [;)]

[Mike Solli]

10 Dec 41

More blood....

Subs

Two hexes east of Billiton, the I-156 was cruising south to it's patol area. It came across the LC Dragon and put 2 torpedoes into her. Not sure if she went down, but she's definitely out of the war for a while.

One other successful sub attack occurred but I'll discuss is below at the appropriate time.

4 Fleet

The Wake invasion fleet has stopped 1 days steam from Wake with the CA TF just a few hexes away. They're waiting for KB which should be ~6-7 hexes from Wake tomorrow. KB's aircraft are set for naval attack with airfield set for secondary. I see Wake has it's dozen fighters and about a dozen bombers. Hopefully, KB will put the aircraft out of commission and the CAs can dash in and pummel the place before the landing occurs.

I've picked up the 8 BF from Japan and am sending it to Marcus Island. Not sure I really want it to go there. I usually send a bunch of engineers there first to build the place up a bit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

5 Fleet

The Adak invasion force is 4 days out. No sign of any opposition there, but Ted is sneaky.

Hong Kong

Another day of bombardment is in order. The Brits are slowly weakening.

Philippines

Good day here today. San Fernando fell to a SA. My losses were 336(1) to 1284(153). The 11 PA Division retreated and looks to be trashed. I am moving on Lingayan.

I took Maubin by paratrooper attack. Tomorrow, a force of an SNLF and construction troops will land there with more behind.

Ted didn't oppose me in the air at all. Odd. I did destroy a P-40 on the ground.

Miri

This invasion was the result of my lack of patience. They made it to the port hex and then were caught by the Houston. About half a dozen ships went down to one minor hit on Houston. Fortunately, the ships were all small xAKs or xAKLs. 70% of the infantry battalion made it ashore in good order. I ordered a SA tomorrow. The Brunei invasion force, a day sail to the north, turned around until I can take care of that nuisance.

SE Fleet

I landed at Kavieng and will attack tomorrow.

The Gds Brigade will be bought tomorrow to be shipped to Truk for use in this theater.

Babeldaob/Mindinao

I've decided to go with the invasion of Butuan, in the north of Mindinao. The force is composed of the 146 Inf Reg, an artillery bn and 2x tank regiments. The only concern is Boise, which starts the game in this area. I haven't seen her at all. She's definitely hiding somewhere. I'll wait a day or two for the 4x BBs to arrive and send them in to clear the area out.

I did have some fun with a small TF of a CL and 5x DDs. They went after some fleeing ships around Manado and managed to sink 2x AS, an AVD and a PC for no damage in return. They were in 4 separate TFs.

In addition, 6 Bettys flying out of Babeldaob, sank an xAKL. I guess it's better than nothing.

Malaya

Have I said recently that I hate this place?

Today marked the first day where a Ki-43-Ic fought the enemy in the air. There were 4 Oscars vs. 10 Buffalos and 3 Hudsons. They shot down 3 Buffalos and a Hudson. Banzai! They're not building fast enough yet!

That damn PoW did it to me again. She steamed from Mersing to Singora/Pattani where I had two small TFs unloading some supply. She sank about half a dozen merchants and 2x AVs. *Sigh* Then, she took off back down to Mersing. Kaga sent 20 Kates after her and one managed to score a torpedo hit. [:D] Kaga is now out of torps but has plenty of bombs left. Any, the I-155 was lurking in the area and put another torpedo into the PoW. She's not done for, but I hope she's slower. The Ryujo reached Cam Ranh Bay today. Tomorrow she'll team up with Kaga. Between them they have the follwing:

Kaga - 18 Zeros, 26 Zero (Yamada), 25 Kates (27 Vals are at Soc Trang)
Ryujo - 30 Zeros, 18 Kates (with torps)

After they team up, I'm going to pull Yamada's Zeros off and replace them with the Vals. Then the Yamada Det will fly CAP in the hopes of getting my Nells to fly. 8 Nells flew today. [8|]

Up north, a Tank regiment is 1-2 days from Alor Star, which Ted has evacuated of ground troops. There are still planes there though! [X(] IG Division and another tank regiment are stat moving and getting close.

Other Stuff

The Tennessee showed up on the sunk list. I guess she succumbed to her wounds from the Pearl Harbor attack.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I've only recently started playing the 'dark side' so I know what the Allies have and can do (7 years of WITP/AE next month). Any element of surprise you have have gotten by landing at Mersing is gone. It is still the best way to capture Malaya. Do you have any fighters in Malaya at Kota Bharu?? The next turn would have me using most of my LBA to attack ground units. Since you started with the 'Mersing Gambit' last game and show signs of it again, I would imagine that he is placing most of his LCUs that are on rail lines into Strat Mode to get them down the peninsula quickly. Most will take two to three days for this to happen. Hit Alor Star and other bases that you feel he may be evacuating from quickly.

Are you using any transport planes to get Aviation Support flown into Malaya?? I get what I can this way and then use transports to ship in the rest eventually.

Consider breaking your Vals from Kaga into 3 parts and placing one back on her to be able to hit his DDs. I would still want the extra Zeros, but a couple well placed bomb hits might help.

All FPs on your warships should go to 100% Naval Search for the next few days to ensure he is spotted and attacked.

Double check the leaders on your LBA Zeros, Oscars, Nell, and Betty just to make sure they are not the problem.

These suggestions are for Malaya area only....for now [;)]

I have no troops in Malaya yet. Ted put ships in all 3 port hexes. Between that and his air power, it's stopped me so far. I am whittling down his ships and air power but it'll be a couple of days at the least before I can land anywhere. There still are the PoW (2 torps), CL Mauritius (moderate damage), Express (badly damaged), Express (moderate damage), Electra (badly damaged), Tenedos (moderate damage) in the area. I'm hoping to take out the DDs with a CA TF and the CL & PoW with carrier air and subs. We'll see....

I'd love to try Mersing but I don't think it'll work any more. Oddly, I don't see him moving anywhere except out of Alor Star. The forces at Kota Bharu and Kuantan have been bombed pretty heavily since the beginning so once his ships are gone, I can land with ease and take both places. We'll see how the next turn goes.

[PaxMondo]

sheesh, already 3 turns.  You guys move fast!  [:D]

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, we were both off today. This is not the norm.