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

[Mike Solli]

28 Aug 42

Sub War

The fast oiler TF pulled in to Balikpapan to replenish the AOs today. The DD Yayoi (Mutsuki class), one of the escorts hit a sub laid mine there and sank. The sub got away.

Not much else happened other than the usual Japanese sweeps of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazaar and Akyab. No Allied bombing happened today.

[Mike Solli]

29 Aug 42

Sub War

The I-10 caught another xAP north of Rangiroa and put a torpedo into her. No report of her sinking.

SE Fleet

Allied 4E bombers hit Milne Bay’s port today. Ted has been concentrating on the port at this base with his bombing attacks over the past week or so. Damage is at 100 so additional damage does nothing. Keep it up!

Burma

Same ole same ole.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: DD Onami (Yugumo class) – headed to Davao to KB.

Ominato’s port reached level 7. This is nice because I have added more ships to move resources from Hakodate to Ominato. The added port capacity eases the situation somewhat.

[Mike Solli]

30 Aug 42

Sub War

The I-17, patrolling off San Francisco, torpedoed and sank an xAK. I have increased the sub strength there to 2. Both are almost fully loaded with torpedoes. The sub that was there is headed back to Kwajalein to replenish.

Nothing new to report other than more of the same in Burma and SE Fleet. Seems like a broken record.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

SS I-34 – Will be based at Kwajalein.
SS I-35 – Will be based at Kwajalein.
SC Ch-34 – ASW
AG Hayasaki
TK Omurosan Maru – Type-1 TL – 11,600 capacity fast TK. This is number 2 of 8 of these TKs that I have accelerated. They will head to Singapore to assist in hauling fuel to the Home Islands. Currently, there is ~350k fuel in Singapore, Palembang and Medan. I want to get this fuel to Japan as soon as possible.
14 RGC Independent Brigade – RGC Army – combined with another brigade on map to create the 2 Capital Division. It makes a great garrison unit.

The two subs free up 66 naval shipbuilding points a turn. Very nice for accelerating more ships.

[Mike Solli]

31 Aug 42

Sub War

The Ro-63, off Cooktown, caught and sank a large xAK with 4 hits from 4 torpedoes launched. Banzai!

Burma

In the daily fighting over the hex NE of Akyab, 4x P-40s and a Blenheim IV were shot down at a cost of 1 Oscar.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: TK Ceram Maru – Type-1 TM (8150 capacity) – Will join the other 3 of this type to haul oil from Davao to the Home Islands.

The A6M5 R&D accelerated to Feb 43.

Air R&D is currently as follows:

Ki-43-IIa – 3x30, 60%, Nov 42, estimated completion on 1 Oct 42.
Ki-44-IIb – 3x30, 67%, Jun 43, estimated completion in Jan 43.
A6M5 – 6x30, 12%, Feb 42, estimated completion in late Oct 42.

There are an additional 44 R&D factories that are set to level 30 and are slowly creeping their way there.

Some models of note:

Tony: factories at 27, 25, 15, 15 – Feb 43
Frank: factories at 23, 16, 15, 11, 3, 3 – Apr 44
George: factories at 17, 14, 12, 6, 4, 3 – Sep 43

[Mike Solli]

Ok guys, I'm all caught up. It's pretty vague but I'll do better from now on. Just waiting for the turn from Ted.

[Mike Solli]

Comments as of 1 Sep 42

Interesting comments on the economic front even though the war itself has turned into a grind. First, here are a few comments by AO:

5 Fleet

I still control the Aleutians west of Adak inclusive. I also control Dutch Harbor. There are daily raids on the port of Dutch Harbor, but only by 8-10 B-25s, so damage is minor to insignificant. My air power in the Aleutians is exactly 2 Emilys. I’d like to increase that but probably won’t. I don’t have anything available and this region is only a speed bump.

I recently got the 51 Base Force for 5 Fleet and am sending it to Etorofu. That will be the major base in the region, for the subs stationed here as well as any air power to defend that sector. I have built up Paramushiro Jima to a level 4 airfield as well. My intent is to fool Ted into thinking that area is much stronger than it really is. I don’t want to fight a battle up here.

Naval power is composed of a SubRon of exactly 6 fleet subs and 3 Glen subs in 3 equal sub divisions. They patrol the eastern Aleutians to east of Kodiak.

4 Fleet

All I see of the enemy here is an occasional sub traversing the area to head somewhere else. I have at least a Naval Guard Unit at every island I deem important. That usually means it’s an island that can build a significant airfield. I have all of the initial air units there except the 9 plane Zero chutai (which is on board the Taiyo). My goal is to build up all the bases I am garrisoning to fort level 6 (Wake has the only level 6 fort so far) with a couple of exceptions on some of the outlying islands (Tarawa and Makin come to mind). The outlying bases will only be built up to level 3 for the time being. I’ve added significant engineer assets to the 4 Fleet command for fort and select airfield construction. I am building the 4 Marianas Islands to level 4 airfields with significant AS. I hope that the Marianas will be a bastion that Ted cannot crack in the coming years.

Naval forces: A SubRon of 9 Glen subs and 5 midget carrying subs. Another SubRon just forming currently of 1 fleet sub and 3 Glen subs. It will eventually be composed of 9 fleet subs and 3 Glen subs as reinforcements arrive.

The goal here is to make his invasions painful. I will increase infantry strength of important bases as I get reinforcements.

SE Fleet

Ted is contesting me with subs (just a few) and 2E and 4E bombers. He has approximately 120 4E bombers (B-17s and B-24s) and 50 2E bombers (B-25). There are also fighters stationed at Pt. Moresby, but they don’t fly CAP. The fighters are there though. My intel says there are 50-60 fighters there. He sweeps Milne Bay with 3-4 Hurricane XIIs almost daily. On occasion, I’ll LRCAP there and shoot 1-2 down. I sweep PM occasionally but never see Allied fighters any more. Ted is content with bombing my airfields into the Stone Age. Most of my aircraft in the area are at Rabaul with most of the fighters flying CAP over that base. I have a couple of recon dets at other bases so Ted sees the airfield icon at other bases as well. On occasion, I’ll move some fighters to other locations for specific missions, but then move them back to Rabaul.

Ted hit Rabaul once and then was ambushed there on a second attempt so he leaves it alone now. Gasmata was once an up and coming base but he hits it occasionally. I’m tempted to station some fighters there when he tries to hit it again but haven’t done that yet. For some reason, he spends most of his sorties hitting Milne Bay’s port. That’s fine with me. It allows me to repair my other bases.

A portion of my air power (2x Zero chutai, 1 Helen sentai and recon) is stationed at Hollandia. Their sole mission is to harass Merauke and keep an eye on the waters surrounding Merauke.

Air Power: IJN – 2x Zero daitai, 4x Zero chutai, 2x Betty daitai, recon, transport. IJA – 2x Oscar sentai, 1x Tojo sentai, 1x Nick sentai, 2x Helen sentai, recon, transport.

Naval Power (based at Truk): 2 CA, 1 CL, 18 DD (Fubukis), 8 fleet subs, 3 Glen subs, 5 Ro- class subs.

Australia

I control everything from Pt. Hedland to Darwin. In addition, I am building a base on Wessel Island. My main problem is at Merauke. Ted has around half a dozen effective subs in this area (Dutch and S class) and a squadron of Dauntlesses and some fighters stationed at Merauke. I can’t seem to get an invasion force there. I’ve tried a couple of times and will try again. I want to try it soon. I have 2 divisions available to invade. Ted also has a surface TF stationed at Horne Island. During an earlier invasion attempt, he lost the Repulse and some DDs and had some cruisers beat up. I have Helens bombing Merauke as often as they’ll fly but 1 sentai just isn’t enough to make a difference. I need to send in KB and MKB along with part of the Combined Fleet to do the job. It’ll cost me ships though. I just need to bite the bullet and do it. This time I’ll flood the area with ASW TFs too to put a dent in the sub threat. I’m moving some PBs and SCs into the area for the invasion. I don’t want to risk DDs in range of the SBDs.

Ted and I are trading blows around Katherine and Daly Waters. Currently, he controls both towns and has an Aussie division in each town. I have 3 divisions in the area and will gang up on one base at a time to try to beat up the Aussies. I figure that if I can inflict significant losses on these divisions, that will hurt Ted’s ability to replace Aussie losses around the map. He’ll have to make the decision to rebuild these divisions or leave them out of the fight.

The naval power in the area is drawn from KB, MKB and Combined Fleet as needed.

Air power is the 21 Air Flotilla, which isn’t big. It’s composed of a Zero daitai (that gets withdrawn in Dec I believe) and a daitai and chutai of Nells. Not much at all, so KB and MKB must take up the slack.

Ted has little air power in the region as well. He makes regular attacks against Daly Waters with reduced B-26 and Hudson squadrons. They’re unescorted so I can often get a few Zeros to LRCAP Daly Waters and can shoot down a couple a day. The only other air power is at Merauke as discussed above.

Burma

Lots of fun stuff is happening here. A couple of months ago, I moved the 18 Division to the hex NE of Akyab to cut it off. It turned out there were 40k+ troops in Akyab. Thus, something that was to be just a hassle to Ted has turned into one of the focal points in this campaign. I’ve bombed Akyab. I’ve bombarded Akyab from the sea. The only issue I’ve had was a lack of troops to actually take the place. I sent the other 3 divisions (Imperial Guards, 33 and 56) + the 2/3 of the 55 Division to Imphal to make a play on that place. That attack failed (not enough strength) so I’m pulling those forces out and am sending them toward Akyab. The jungle really slowed things down and Ted was able to send a bunch of troops to the hex (almost 65k) and is slowly grinding my units down. The infantry won’t make it. I also sent the components of the 1 and 2 Tank Divisions to Rangoon where they combined. After I finished fleshing out those two divisions, I moved them to Akyab as well. The 2 Tank Division is one hex away and still crawling there and the 1 Tank Division is a few hexes away on the road. I have a few days before the 2 TD arrives so I’ll make the decision to move into the hex or not then. I’m moving one of the infantry divisions to cut off Cox’s Bazaar to really mess with Ted. I am determined to kill off some Brit/Indian/Burmese troops. That should make him pause.

In the air, I have superiority over Akyab, Cox’s Bazaar and Chittagong. My IJA fighter pilots in the area are doing very well. I’ve recently upgraded a fighter sentai to Tojos. They have yet to see action. I expect them to do well tearing into the 2E bombers that the Oscars can’t handle very well. We’ll know in a few days how they work.

The 2 Fleet is stationed in Singapore and supports the Burmese theater. It is composed of 3 CA, 1 CL, 16 DD, 6 fleet subs, 2 Glen subs and 2 Ro- class subs. Currently, it is augmented by some CAs from the Combined Fleet.

The air force is most of the 3 Air Division and all of the 22 Air Flotilla:

1 AD:
108 Oscars
36 Tojos
54 Sallies
31 Lily IIa
81 Helens
Recon
Transport

22 Air Flotilla
81 Zeros
54 Betties
Flying Boats

I’ve been keeping the port and airbase of Akyab demolished but now I am going to start focusing on 1 airfield at a time. The first two I will demolish will be Cox’s Bazaar and Chittagong. That’s where he has his few fighters. Then I’ll go after Dacca, where most of his 2E bombers are stationed. That should be interesting.

Most of the 22 Air Flotilla is stationed at Pt. Blair. I love that base. It is able to control the entire region from enemy naval attack unless Ted decides to send US carriers there. I don’t expect that to happen.

China

I’ve been slowly destroying Ted’s armies. He still has significant forces but most of those remaining are in the southern part of China west of the main rail line. The north is basically mine. The more forces I surround and destroy, the longer it will be before Ted has enough force to come after me. I’m hoping this doesn’t happen until late ’44 at the earliest.

The air force is composed of the same units that started there. I’ve upgraded all fighters to the Oscar and all bombers to the Sally (yeah, I paid the PPs). Ted flies a handful of bombers out of his bastion around Chungking on occasion. I look at that as a good thing. That’s more supply consumed that he desperately needs there. I will continue to pick off the bases that have HI and LI to reduce his available supply in China even further.

I send about 66k supply from Japan to Shanghai about every 2 weeks. It’s the return leg of a resource CS. This keeps the supply levels high enough in China to allow offensive missions.

KB

Right now, all of the carriers of KB (and MKB) are current with their upgrades. Here is the composition of the carriers:

Carrier Zero Val Kate
Akagi 36 18 27
Kaga 36 18 18
Soryu 27 18 18
Ryujo 30 18
Shokaku 27(36) 27(18) 18
Zuikaku 27(36) 27(18) 18
Total 183(201) 108(90) 117

KB resides at Davao. Davao is close to a source of fuel and is relatively centrally located. All of KB’s fighters are the A6M3a model and will upgrade to the A6M5 when it becomes available in late Oct 42. I still will change the composition of Shokaku & Zuikaku from 27 to 36 Zeros and 27 to 18 Vals. I feel that fighters are much more important than dive bombers.

MKB

Here is the composition of the carriers:

Carrier Zero Val Kate
Junyo 27 18 9
Hiyo 27 18 9
Shoho 21 9
Zuiho 21 9
Hosho 15 6
Taiyo 9 18
Unyo 18
Total 120 36 78

MKB is located at Davao as well and for the same reasons as KB. I am very cautious with MKB because it doesn’t take much to take out one of these baby carriers. I like to have MKB trail KB in major operations and then sneak in for the kill of damaged ships after the main event is over. Sort of like the clean up crew.

MKB’s fighters are still the A6M2. It will probably remain that way until KB’s fighters upgrade to the A6M5, then MKB will get the A6M3a until sufficient A6M5s are available for MKB. This trickle down effect of fighter models is as follows:

KB > MKB > Land Based > Training

And the escort pool for both KB and MKB:

4 BB (Kongo)
2 CA (Tone)
2 CLAA (Tenryu)
3 CL (DesRon Leaders)
10 DD (Shiratsuyu)
6 DD (Hatsuharu – currently upgrading)
8 DD (Yugumo)
3 DD (Akitsuki)

Combined Fleet

Current Composition:

7 BB (+Musashi when she arrives on 1 Dec 42)
8 CA
2 CL (Kitakami)
1 CL (DesRon Leader)
6 DD (Asashio)
10 DD (Kagero)

The Combined Fleet is also stationed at Davao. It often detaches elements to other fleets to augment them for operations or missions. The BBs spend a lot of time in port. They are fuel hogs. But they can do a number on an enemy airfield in a bombardment exercise.

In addition, there are 6 fleet subs and 2 Glen subs that are dedicated to supporting KB, MKB or the Combined Fleet. In a planned operation, they would precede the main body as a scouting entity. They would then be another clean up crew to pick off damaged ships after the battle was won. I’d like to increase this to 6 fleet subs and 6 Glen subs for the combat and scouting duties described. It will be awhile because they are lower on the priority list for Glens.

The Economy

Things are looking good here for the most part.

Supply – 2.995 million, up 92k from last month and down only 80k from the start of the war. I see this rising more quickly in the months ahead because the last places where economic expansion is still occurring (Batavia and Soerabaja) have enough supply to complete the expansion. My intent in the near future is to start to push supply to the forward islands to allow them to survive should they be cut off.

Fuel – 3.232 million, down 141k from last month and down 1.259 million from the start of the war. This is a concern. I still have plenty to last awhile, but there definitely has been a downward trend. Fuel has risen only twice since the war began, and then the monthly rise was only 20-30k. It’s not really as bad as it looks because there is ~270k fuel not showing up on ships headed to Japan. At the current rate of consumption, there is enough fuel to last 31 months which is until April 45. I’d still like to slow the decrease. Singapore/Palembang still has ~350k fuel sitting around. My TKs are just keeping up with production. There are 6x 11.6k TKs that are accelerated and will arrive over the next few months. This should help with the movement of fuel out of that region to Japan.

Heavy Industry – Currently 7495 factories. Batavia and Soerabaja are still building up their HI factories. There are about 100 to add. HI points are up to 475k, up 122k this month. My goal is 100k per month to 700k by the end of this year. It looks like it’ll be around 900k by the end of the year. Very nice.

Resources – 16014 factories – Resource points are at 11.095 million, up 804k this month. That looks pretty good as well. I’m sending them to Japan as fast as I can.

Oil – 2924, with 23 remaining to repair at Soerabaja. Total oil points are 2.649 million with another 152k on ships headed to Japan. Oil points have increased by 3k this month and overall, we’re down 583k oil points, mainly in the first few months of the war. This looks good too.

Armaments – 100k, up 875. Steady at 100k with 500 of the 620 armament factories shut off.

Vehicles – 3510, down 987. The total was over 12k a few months ago, but most of that was used up to flesh out the 2x tank divisions. I have all 150 vehicle factories building. I often think of increasing this but have not so far.

IJN Pilot Pool – 1312, down 388 from the start of the war.

IJA Pilot Pool – 1109, down 1093 from the start of the war. This is the first month this pool is smaller than the IJN pool. It’s inevitable because there are many more IJA training units.

IJN Reserve – 636. 76 fighter, 288 bomber, 250 patrol, 22 transport, 0 recon.

IJA Reserve – 1042. 429 fighter, 494 bomber, 36 transport, 83 recon.

Pilot Losses – 318 MIA (+21), 238 MIA (+23), 971 KIA (+121)

Japanese Score – 23,247 (+1270)

Allied Score – 10,962 (+378)

Japanese Planes Lost – 2832 (+448) – lots destroyed on the ground this month.

Allied Planes Lost – 2805 (+352)

Allied Ships Sunk in August 42:

2 CA
1 CL
2 SS
1 DMS
1 PG
1 CM
2 xAP
4 xAK
2 xAKL

Japanese Ships Sunk in August 42:

1 DD
1 SS
2 SC
1 PB
1 xAK
2 xAKL

Allied Ships Sunk to Date:

2 BB
1 BC
5 CA
12 CL
19 DD
2 AP
15 xAP
30 xAK
48 xAKL
1 AO
10 TK
3 SS
1 SST
2 AS
1 AVD
4 AVP
4 AG
3 CM
1 DM
2 DMS
11 AM
21 AMc
7 PG
1 PC
21 PT
14 ML
1 YP
13 HDML

Total: 253

Japanese Ships Sunk to Date

1 CV
2 CA
3 DD
1 TB
3 APD
53 xAK
32 xAKL
3 AO
6 SS
13 SSX
2 AMC
1 AD
2 AV
3 DMS
1 ACM
8 PB
2 SC

Total: 136

Aircraft losses to date:

Reason Allied Japanese
Air to Air 1394 999
Destroyed on Ground 162 362
Destroyed by Flak 29 300
Operational Losses 1098 1171

I still hold the edge in Air-to-Air combat. Losses are about 1.4:1 in my favor. The longer I hold that edge, the better. You can see that I’ve taken significant losses on the ground. Damn 4E bombers. Ted’s catching up in the operational loss category mainly because he’s flying more sorties now. Flak, well, my flak sucks. Shooting down one of his planes with Flak is a rare event.

Political Points

I currently have 2755 PPs. I don’t have anything I am currently saving for, but I’m toying with the idea of sending another division from Kwantung Army to Burma. I know I’ll need the extra combat power eventually. The sooner it gets there, the better off that AO will be. The 18 Division is down ~25% right now and will need to be pulled out to be rebuilt soon. Ted has a lot of troops there so I’ll need more forces. I want to do more offensive nastiness to Ted there so I think I just made the decision to allocate another division to Burma. I just need to determine which one and get the shipping gathered to move it.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Flak, well, my flak sucks. Shooting down one of his planes with Flak is a rare event.

Lucky you are playing stock. If you play with the DBB flak updates, you will really see flak losses. [;)]

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Flak, well, my flak sucks. Shooting down one of his planes with Flak is a rare event.

Lucky you are playing stock. If you play with the DBB flak updates, you will really see flak losses. [;)]

Agree! In my game against Brad even the jap flak can shoot down 4Es!!... allied flak is so strong and powerfull that it's almost impossible to groundbomb. I recently lost 12 Helens at 6,000 feet bombing an indian division (with the embedded flak) alone in the burmese jungle[X(]

[Mike Solli]

1 Sep 42

Sub War

Well, I lost my first fleet sub today. There’s been an Allied TF sitting a hex west of Horn Island. I sent a couple of subs to check it out. The I-157 found it and launched at the CL Leander and missed her. Too bad. She did identify 2 CAs, 3 CLs and 2 APDs. What I didn’t discover until the end of the turn was that the I-155, also sent to that hex, was hit by a 500 lb bomb and sunk.

The I-170, patrolling east of Norfolk Island, was prosecuted by an Allied ASW TF and hit by a depth charge. Her damage is 16-67(50)-2-0. She’s limping back to Rabaul for repairs.

Not a good day for the Submarine Service.

5 Fleet

The daily B-26 raid hit Dutch Harbor without loss or much damage. 8x B-26s and 7x P-40s.

SE Fleet

12 Helens, flying out of Rabaul, hit Pt. Moresby’s airfield. They destroyed a couple of Catalinas and damaged another dozen planes. Not bad.

The 4E menace went after Milne Bay again today. This time they focused on ground troops. The attack was ineffective.

Burma

The IJA had a great day here today. For a total of 1 Oscar op loss (no pilot lost), they shot down 4x P-40s and a Beaufort V. They also so harassed the 2E bombers that the bomb runs were all ineffective. Very nice.

China

Those 8x A29A Hudsons of the Chinese Air Force flew today again. This time, 3 Oscars were waiting for them. The shot down 2 bombers for no loss. I’m sure there aren’t many in the pool. That had to hurt.

Australia

The IJN had a very nice day in this theater. Ted sent his usual couple dozen 2E bombers to harass my division at Daly Waters. 10x Zeros met them and shot down 5x Hudson III (LR) and 3x B-25s for no loss. Very nice.

I’ve decided to try for Merauke again. I’m loading 2x divisions for the invasion. I’ll support them with KB and MKB and a slice of the Combined Fleet will move to support them if necessary.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: SC Cha-41 – ASW

I’ve bought out the 14 Division from Kwantung for service in Burma. It’ll be 2-3 weeks before they make it to theater.

2x Momi class DDs began upgrades.

[Mike Solli]

2 Sep 42

Relatively quiet day today. Just the normal bombing missions by Ted. Fortunately, they were all ineffective. Total losses were 3x 2E bombers and a Chinese A29A shot down to 2x Oscar op losses (1 pilot lost). The Chinese are now down to 5 remaining A29As.

KB and MKB are sailing out of Davao today to get into position for the newest attempt on Merauke. One division is completely loaded and the second will complete loading tomorrow. Everyone will congregate at Ambon and then I will proceed forward with the operation.

Other Stuff

Being relatively underemployed (pretty much unemployed actually) here at the mob station allows me to focus on some aspects of the game that I often had to skip when I was at home and had the ole honey do list looming over my head.

I did an analysis of Java and discovered that I need to finish out the HI increase that is going on to make Java self-reliant. Both Batavia and Soerabaja have 6 remaining damaged HI factories for that to be completed. Soerabaja’s oil field and refinery each will be completely repaired in 21 days. Finally, my construction will be complete this month. The only damaged oil fields remaining are those at Magwe, which I am not going to repair. They are currently at 133(167). You’ll recall that Ted bombed them early but hasn’t done it for several months. Either he thinks they are destroyed or thinks he can’t destroy them without taking significant losses in the air. Either way, I’ll take it. That damaged oil field produces almost 40k oil a month.

I’m doing an analysis of where all the stuff is around the map and will present that info when it’s complete.

When completely repaired, here’s where I’ll stand:

Oil: 2947
HI: 7511 (goal was 7500)
Refinery: 3082 (Not counting 300 in Burma shut off)
Resources: 16,018
LI: 10,137
Manpower: 869

These numbers will increase as my ops in China continue. I want to destroy the Chinese army’s ability to counterattack in 44-45. I would like to eventually move a slice of the CEA out of China to help defend against the US menace. There’s a lot of land out there and not nearly enough troops to protect it. I know I can’t protect it all, but more troops will definitely help.

[PaxMondo]

Friend of mine's son-in-law shipped out today to Afghan. Where are you in that process?

[Mike Solli]

Hi Pax. I'm currently at the mob station. We've already done all of our required training over the past 6 months or so. We have to be evaluated and okayed as a unit which will begin soon. Then we get a short pass where I'll go home for a few days. Then back here and off to theater. I can't give any more specific info than that. I'll be out of the loop for a bit until I get internet access in theater then we'll probably do daily turns. I don't know my schedule but I'm sure I'll have time to dig into the game more than recently.

[PaxMondo]

Understood. Just didn't know if the two of you were moving together. Obviously not. He's a week or so ahead of you. His first tour.

[Mike Solli]

3 Sep 42

Today was another quiet day today with just the typical bombing/air-to-air missions. Total losses were skewed in my favor though.

5 Fleet

Ted sent his half dozen B-26s to Dutch Harbor. Very minor port damage.

SE Fleet

Ted went for Terapo with his 4E bombers today. He was able to kill off the SNLF company. Not much of a big deal really. I was slowly moving it out anyway. I’ll bring it back as a garrison for one of those small islands requires a garrison. I still have a handful of them that are ungarrisoned.

China

The 5 remaining A29As were hit by 3 Oscars. One bomber was shot down.

Burma

All of the action took place over Cox’s Bazaar today. For the loss of 2 Oscars, 6 Hurricanes were lost.

I sent a total of 117 medium bombers (Sallies, Helens and a sentai of Lily IIa) to Cox’s Bazaar’s airfield. For a cost of 3 Helens, I heavily damaged the airfield.

Australia

Nine Zeros met 31 enemy 2E bombers over Daly Waters. In a fight that was a lot of fun to watch, 10 enemy bombers went down in flames for no Japanese loss. That Zero daitai is getting nice experience for little risk.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: Maizuru 4 SNLF – SE Fleet

[Mike Solli]

4 Sep 42

Sub War

South of Tonga Island, the I-172 found and torpedoed an xAP loaded with troops. She wasn’t reported to have sunk.

5 Fleet

The B-26s were joined by half a dozen B-24s. They hit some troops on Dutch Harbor and did no damage. Ted will eventually attack. I have level 3 forts, 2x Naval Guard units and an engineer company. In addition, there are ~35 mines and 2x midget subs.

I am withdrawing the infantry regiment from Nome. My work there is done.

SE Fleet

Ted hit my troops stationed at Salamaua with some 4E and 2E bombers for no effect on either side.

Burma

Lots of action occurred today. I hit Cox’s Bazaar again with two flights totaling 78 2E bombers. Unfortunately, they attacked before the sweep arrived. In return for heavily damaging the airfield, I lost 8 bombers shot down and another 3 op losses. Then the fighters arrived. They tried to even up the score. For a loss of 2 Oscars, they shot down 5 Martlet IIs and 3 Hurricanes. I saw Hurricane IIbs for the first time in quite a while. He must be low on the Hurricane IIc. I can swap fighters with him all day.

Ted finally relieved the siege of Akyab, pushing out the 18 Division and 112 Regiment (55 Division). They were badly disabled but really didn’t take a lot of losses. I have 2x tank divisions and 4x infantry divisions headed to the area. I’ll try something else to see what havoc I can wreak. It ain’t over yet!

I am considering letting Ted come across the river from Akyab. Let him experience the joys of a lack of supply. Unless Ted got some intel about the tank divisions, he doesn’t know they’re there. They move relatively fast through the jungle (compared to the infantry) so I may be able to do an end run to cut off an advancing Allied force. I need to study the map some more and decide what to do.

China

Ted sent 5x A29As in again against 3 Oscars. Only 3 bombers went home.

Other Stuff

For the Merauke operation, I have decided to split KB into 2 TFs as follows:

KB 1: Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo
KB 2: Soryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku
MKB: Junyo, Hiyo, Shoho, Zuiho, Hosho, Taiyo, Unyo

The reason for this is to keep each TF as close to 200 aircraft as possible. For the most part, they will be in the same hex. Here is the plane breakdown:

KB 1: 102 Zero, 36 Val, 63 Kate = 201 aircraft
KB 2: 99 Zero, 54 Val, 54 Kate = 207 aircraft
MKB: 120 Zero, 54 Val, 60 Kate = 214 aircraft

Total: 321 Zero, 144 Val, 177 Kate

Should they run into Ted’s US CVs, they look pretty good. With a maximum of 6 CVs, each with 36 Wildcats, 36 Dauntlesses and 18 Avengers, they would have a maximum of 216 Wildcats, 216 Dauntlesses and 108 Avengers. I don’t expect to see them, but I always plan for them to show up.

[freelanxr]

Hi Mike
Nice AAR .especially what you did about the logistics.[&o]
just want to know did U guys agreed not to change the layout of the CVs?
I mean when we paly this game here(on the other side of the pacific) we usually put another extra fighter unit on the CVs and put the DB unit on the ground in order to make room for the fighters. and the 250kg bombs from DBs are really better than nothing.
From my point of view ,its all about air superiority,when you doubled you fighters you have the better chance to hit you opponent and get out of the battle in one pice. 177TB+144DB is nice ,but when the CVs meet each other, only 3-4 torpedo is about enough to put a fleet CV under water. what we need is to make sure they can get through the defence of enemy fighters that is why we need more fighters to escort them. if we got say 177kate + 465Zeros we can put 200zeros escort them, and put 250zeros to CAP mission, since the IJN have better pilot than the USN from the beginning ,it would be a disaster for the USN CVs,that is why we do the same with the CVs when we play the allien side of this game.
another thing is CVs are dispensable for ally they can make lots of them. but not for the IJN,you canot even afford 1 on 1 trade. if TED change 216 Wildcats 216 Dauntlesses and 108 Avengers to 432 wildcat and 108 Avengers, that may be a real threat even for all you CVs(kb+minikb)[:@]

that is just my opinion, And wonder why U guys dont do that??[&:]

[Mike Solli]

Hi freelanxr. I'm honored that your first post is in my humble AAR. [:)]

No, we do not have a house rule concerning the composition of CV air groups. We try to keep house rules to a minimum.

I don’t see how the Japanese player can (at least in the first 1-1.5 years of the war) afford to add a second fighter daitai to any carriers. Right now I have 6 land based Zero daitai and 4 chutai in the front line: 2 daitai in Burma, 1 daitai in Australia, 1 daitai in 4 Fleet and 2 daitai and 4 chutai in SE Fleet. All but the daitai in 4 Fleet are in combat.

In addition, there are 4 daitai functioning as training units in Japan. I wish I had more here but that won’t happen for a while.

In past games, Ted did some manipulation of his air groups but he hasn’t shown his carriers in this game (other than one quick attack against Dutch Harbor shortly after I took it a while back), so I don’t know the composition.

I don’t expect to see them through the end of 42 to be honest. I think he’s happy just to bomb me with his 4E bombers while he gathers strength and plots and plans. I expect that our first carrier to carrier confrontation will happen when he chooses to begin his counterattack. That will give me the opportunity to ambush him. I like these types of attacks because I can usually pick the range. It’ll keep my Vals out of the battle (usually) but I may be able to hit him at a range to my advantage.

[Mike Solli]

5 Sep 42

Sub War

North of Rangiroa, the I-27 put a torpedo into a fuel laden xAK. She was left burning furiously.

SE Fleet

The 4E/2E menace hit troops at Salamaua causing light casualties. I don’t think it’s worth the 100+ 4E and 20x 2E bombers used for the mission.

Burma

The air war in Burma was fought entirely over Cox’s Bazaar. In at least 5 different aerial incidents, there were significant losses. My bombers went in piecemeal and before the fighters swept the area. Total losses were 18 bombers from all causes. Ouch. They did a number on the Cox’s Bazaar airfield and destroyed a few planes on the ground. Enemy losses in the air were about half a dozen fighters to 2 Oscars. My bombers will stand down for a few days until they rebuild their strength.

Australia

Nine Zeros caught 22 Allied 2E bombers near Daly Waters shooting down 3 of them. More cheap experience for an already experienced unit.

[freelanxr]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Hi freelanxr. I'm honored that your first post is in my humble AAR. [:)]

No, we do not have a house rule concerning the composition of CV air groups. We try to keep house rules to a minimum.

I don’t see how the Japanese player can (at least in the first 1-1.5 years of the war) afford to add a second fighter daitai to any carriers. Right now I have 6 land based Zero daitai and 4 chutai in the front line: 2 daitai in Burma, 1 daitai in Australia, 1 daitai in 4 Fleet and 2 daitai and 4 chutai in SE Fleet. All but the daitai in 4 Fleet are in combat.

In addition, there are 4 daitai functioning as training units in Japan. I wish I had more here but that won’t happen for a while.

In past games, Ted did some manipulation of his air groups but he hasn’t shown his carriers in this game (other than one quick attack against Dutch Harbor shortly after I took it a while back), so I don’t know the composition.

I don’t expect to see them through the end of 42 to be honest. I think he’s happy just to bomb me with his 4E bombers while he gathers strength and plots and plans. I expect that our first carrier to carrier confrontation will happen when he chooses to begin his counterattack. That will give me the opportunity to ambush him. I like these types of attacks because I can usually pick the range. It’ll keep my Vals out of the battle (usually) but I may be able to hit him at a range to my advantage.

the honor is mine [:D]

in that case , you can resize some of your groups, the figher groups on all your fleet CV will be resized at july 42, do they sheduled to be resized again (i am playing another version of this game,a much old one, so i dont know that)? if not you can always resize them, say 45F+21DB+27TB = 81*115% for Akagi.if they do,Oooops[:(].

but i am pretty sure you can resize all the groups that based on CVE and CVL.
have you resized those groups to 81(the max size of an air group as far as i know,you can do this on Akagi) ?
all the land based IJN groups can be resized if they were not sheduled to be resized later and dont attached to restrict HQ [8|]

since the CVEs dont carry any torpedo ,its a waste to base any TBs on them, you can resize those TB groups to 81. and based on the island of your choice,with them an air HQ, you got yourself another huge unsinkable CV,the only downside is you cant order that CV to move[:-]

put one of those 81plane-fighter group on the front ,imaging what they can do to the 2E/4E bombers[:D]

[Annagil]

Just a greeting from Italy,

Played eons ago, i think my last full game against the computer was in 2010. Took the game back 6 months ago, wanted to try japan, I ended up without planes by mid 1942 and learned that economy is something. Found the original AAR, finished reading it 5 minutes ago, moved here and i plan to catch up asap.

Wished to say a huge thank you for making sense of most of the Japanese economy for me: I'm starting a japanese computer game this afternoon and see how it works now. Who knows, at some point I'll feel like trying my first PBEM game thanks to you

PS
wish there was a WITPAE for the was in the mediterranean sea...