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

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition

User avatar
Annagil
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:27 am

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Annagil »

Com'on, you can manage... what are nights for if not for posting updates? :)
User avatar
Chickenboy
Posts: 24520
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2002 11:30 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Chickenboy »

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Well hell. I was within a couple of weeks of being caught up. [8|]

C'mon dude...we're awaiting the latest with bated breath!
Image
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

You're right Annagil. There's nothing to do over here at night except run, do turns and update. I'm done with the turn and running for the night. [:D]

27 Sep 42 (again)

Burma: My typical turn here is to sweep with at least 1 sentai of Oscars/Tojos over Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar and 2 chutai of Oscars over Akyab. Ted never sends fighters to Akyab, but he is still sending transports there and I shoot down a couple each day. There is a message that transports were intercepted over Akyab pretty much every day but the chutai pilots don't ever rack up kills. Their experience is rising nicely though. The transports show up as op losses. I have 3 Tojo (IIa) and 2 Oscar (Ic & IIa) sentai and 3 Oscar chutai (Ic). I also have 4 Helen and 1 Sally sentai totalling 139 bombers. On any given day I put 110-120 bombers over a target. Akyab's port and airfield remain trashed and Chittagong's airfield just about always has some damage on it.

Today was a quiet day. A couple Allied fighters went down for no Japanese loss.

SE Fleet: It was a little more lively here. Ted has usually 80-100 4E bomber sorties and ~50 2E sorties over PNG. He has P38, P39 and P40K squadrons along with some P70 night fighters. I send a sentai of Helens on a nightly bombing raid to PM. On occasion, I send some fighters to LRCAP a base at PNG but that's not a daily thing. My fighters don't stand up to Teds volumes of fighters very well. I have 3 Oscar (Ic) and 1 Tojo (IIa) sentai, 1 Nick FB sentai, 1 Zero daitai (A6M2) and 2 Zero chutai (A6M2) defending Gasmata and Rabaul. I also have a couple of Betty daitai on naval attack orders, just in case Ted gets stupid. He hasn't gotten stupid yet.

Today Ted sent 14x B-24s to Rabaul. I had 70 fighters on CAP over the hex and they shot down 6. The remaining bombers did minor airfield damage that was easily repaired. I also caught 6x B-25s unescorted over Salamaua and shot 5 down. Elsewhere in the region, things evened out. I lost 5 fighters to none of his. Fortunately, these battles were over my bases, so my pilot losses were low.

5 Fleet: Ted is happy sending a half dozen B-24s and about a dozen B-25/26s along with a squadron of SBDs over Adak. Adak is doomed, but hopefully, they'll take a toll with them. I have the base mined and there are subs in the vicinity, about half a dozen along with another 8 enroute. I wish I could put some fighters up there, but I have none available. Today, the SBDs hit the port and sank the I-165, which was damaged earlier and attempting to repair some of it's damage before attempting to head home. Now it'll never leave. [:(]

Merauke: This place is a potential thorn in my side, but I think Ted is having problems keeping it supplied because he is doing nothing there. I have a sentai of Helens at Hollandia that bomb the airfield nightly. I also have a daitai and chutai of Zeros there.

Other Stuff: The Ryujo and Hosho left the port of Davao today to head for Kobe for upgrades.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

28 Sep 42

Burma: 4 Japanese fighters vs. 7 Allied fighters.

I have a nice sized army heading over the river and through the jungle to the hex just NE of Akyab to cut it off once again. Does anyone know when the monsoon dates are? I can't remember to save my life!

SE Fleet: 5 Japanese fighters vs. 7 B-25s shot down over Salamaua again!

5 Fleet: The damn SBD squadron hit the port again and sank a midget sub that was in bad shape after travelling from Dutch Harbor without any fuel. Ah well, I have plenty more midget subs, and they've done absolutely nothing so far this game!
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

29 Sep 42

Burma: I sent my Betties stationed at Pt. Blair on a night port raid of Trincomalee and they found and sank a CM! Ted doesn't have a lot of them so it's always nice to see one go down.

1 Japanese fighter vs. 3 Allied fighters.

SE Fleet: Not a good day here. It started out ok. My Helens destroyed a P-70 on the ground. That's about the only way I can kill one. Then, my fighters took a beating over PNG. 6 Japanese fighters vs. 2 Allied fighters. [:(]

China: My huge army hit Changsha. My goal is to capture all of the rail lines in China, both to expedite my movement and to hinder Ted's movement. The 1:2 attack hit level 3 forts. Losses were 4137(22) Japanese to 3557(35) Chinese. His army is composed of 4 HQ, 6 Corps, 2 construction regiments and a base force. I have 10 or 11 infantry divisions and 11 artillery units, 10 of which are the heavy units I bought out of Kwangtung. I'll bombard for a turn or two before attacking again.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: SS I-36 - Glen carrying sub - will be based at Kwajalein and patrol in the central Pacific.

The A6M5 R&D advanced to November 42. My intent was to allow it to advance to October (around 10-12 Oct) and then upgrade the 6x30 R&D factories to the A6M5b. On the day that was supposed to happen, all 6 factories converted to operational! I told Ted what happened and he graciously offered to let me redo the turn. That would have killed my Zero research. Also, I couldn't have really used those factories because my engine production isn't anywhere close to being able to support them. I never had that happen before. Anyway, I upgraded the R&D factories and my research is at 99% of the way to October. Ah well. I'll get them in Nov 42. I'll have 3x30 A6M3a factories and 1x30 A6M2-N factory that will upgrade to the A6M5. I'll produce 120 a month.

I've been toying with the idea of taking one of my small extra R&D factories and converting it to a size 1 A6M5 factory. I might get the planes a week or so early. I may give that a try tomorrow.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

30 Sep 42

Quiet day today. Pretty much the same thing going on in Burma and SE Fleet. Not much to write home about.

Reinforcements: xAK Urato Maru - Std-C - will convert to TK and assist in pulling oil from Pt. Arthur to the Home Islands.
SC CHa-43 - ASW
TK Ryuei Maru - 11.6k capacity that was accelerated - Will haul from Singapore to the Home Islands.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

1 Oct 42

Burma: 1 Japanese vs. 7 Allied fighters. I attempted to bomb Cox's Bazaar's airfield, but neglected to set the bombers to naval attack then airfield attack, so they went in with light escort against a bunch of Allied fighters. Five bombers were shot down and an additional two went down from flak. Moderate damage to the airfield.

SE Fleet: Nothing happened here. I guess Ted rested his planes, or maybe it was bad weather.

Other stuff:

My Ki-43-Ic upgraded to the Ki-43-IIa and all 128 operational factories were upgraded and turned back on. The first sentai to upgrade will be in Burma. Their normal range of 6 hexes will allow me to sweep Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar from Magwe without either using drop tanks (extra supply usage) or at extended range. Can't wait!

I had 43 IJN pilots accelerate through month 8.

The Ki-43-IIb R&D advanced to 4/43.

Reinforcements:
Kinugasa-1 FP - I'll increase it's size to 24 and use it for either naval search or ASW along my SLOC from Singapore. I rebuilt it after Kinugasa went down some time ago.
26 Sentai - fighters from 2 Air Division. Bought out for 5 Air Division and will be shipped to SE Fleet (where 5 Air Division is stationed).
26 Sentai Det A - Anns - will eventually upgrade to Helens. Was bought out for 5 Air Division.
26 Sentai Det B - Same as Det A.
TK Otowasan Maru - 11.6k TK accelerated - Will go to Singapore to haul fuel.
34 Construction Company - Was rebuilt after being destroyed at Dutch Harbor.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

2 Oct 42

Sub War: A US fleet sub south of Kobe ate a depth charge dropped by the SC Ch-27. She was reported as sunk, but I doubt it. I suspect she's headed for home.

Burma: More bombing of Cox's Bazaar's air field, costing me 2 fighters and 2 bombers for light damage. I don't think it's worth it at this point. I'll stick to taking out his fighters with my fighters.

Nothing else to report.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

3 Oct 42

Another quiet day.

Burma: The Betty daitai at Pt. Blair hit Trincomalee again sinking an AM. (I forgot to take them off night port attack.)

I stuck with air superiority missions. Good thing I did. Ted threw the kitchen sink up there today thinking he could down some more bombers. He threw every fighter he had available: P-40E, P-40K, Hurricane IIb, Hurricane Iic, Martlet, Sea Hurricane. Six Japanese vs. 11 Allied fighters went down.

SE Fleet: Ted made up for his Burma losses here. 11 Japanese fighters vs. 8 Allied fighters. Fortunately, all of the combat here was over Japanese bases so pilot losses were low.

China: I hit Changsha again, getting 1:2 odds but reducing the fort from 3 to 2. Losses were 6695(15) Japanese to 3236(113) Chinese. More rest and bombardment then I'll try again. One of the construction regiments was destroyed in the attack.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

4 Oct 42

Same ole boring stuff. Total air losses were 5 Japanese to 13 Allied planes.

Hosho and Ryujo entered refit at Kobe.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

5 Oct 42

6 planes shot down on each side.

I've noticed that my IJA bomber pool isn't keeping up with losses. Currently, I'm producing 90 Helens and 40 Sallies a month. I still have the Lily factory (size 34) that is set for the Lily IIa (started the war as the Lily Ib). It's been off for months. I converted it to the Helen and set it's size to 30. I also increased my Ha-34 engine production by 60 to cover the increased bomber production.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

6 Oct 42

More boring stuff. Four Japanese and 6 Allied planes shot down. Akyab (Allied) and Lae (Japanese) airfields were bombed as well as Milne Bay's (Japanese) port.

CLs Kuma, tama and Kiso entered refit.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

7 Oct 42

Sub War: The brand spanking new Ro-100 just arrived at her patrol area off Cairns and the DD Guin spotted her and hit her with a depth charge. Sheesh, she just arrived at her patrol station on her first war patrol. What rotten luck. She'll survive but she's headed to Rabaul for temporary repairs before heading to Truk for complete repairs.

7 Japanese vs. 12 Allied planes shot down. Bombing here and there....
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

8 Oct 42

Burma: Ted added the Mohawk IV and Kittyhawk IA to his gypsy air force in Burma. [:D] It didn't matter. He still took heavy losses. 6 Japanese to 12 Allied.

SE Fleet: No air combat here today once again. Hmmm...

China: I attacked Changsha one more time. This attack was 2:1 and reduced the fort level from 2 to 1. Losses were 5216(20) Japanese to 2226(373) Chinese. Almost there.

Reinforcment: xAP Tenzan Maru
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

9 Oct 42

Burma: Good day in the air over Burma. Six Allied fighters shot down for a loss of 2 Oscars.

The army that has been crawling over the river and through the jungle finally got to it's destination. The shock attack ended up being 1:2 and losses were 6080(40) Japanese to 513(34) Allied. I can trash them if I only had supply. [8|] Screen shot below.

SE Fleet: My nightly bombing raid of Pt. Moresby finally did some good. They destroyed 2x P-38s and a P-40K on the ground. Elsewhere in the region, 13 Zeros mixed it up with 9 P-38s, shooting down 4 Lightnings for a loss of 2 Zeros.

Other Stuff:

Reinforcements:
TK Mirii Maru - 11.6k accelerated TK that will head to Singapore to haul fuel.
65 Naval Guard - destroyed at Dutch Harbor and rebuilt.



Image
Attachments
Burma.jpg
Burma.jpg (548.48 KiB) Viewed 189 times
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

10 Oct 42

Interesting day today. At least something to talk about other than how many planes were shot down, but first, the numbers.

Burma: Over Cox's Bazaar, 2 Tojos traded for 4 Hurricanes.

SE Fleet: Ted has, on occasion sent a squadron of P-38Fs from Merauke to Hollandia to sweep the joint. He has said in the past that he has 2 squadrons of them (one at Merauke and one at Pt. Moresby) and I know he gets replacements for only 2 months. He's been using them for a while, so I suspect he's running low on them. Anyway, 8 P-38s swept Hollandia and met with 13 Zeros and 5 of his precious fighters (he really likes them) were shot down for no loss to me. Oops.

China: I just bought out 3 more Heavy Artillery Battalions from Kwangtung for use in China. [:D]

Now the interesting stuff. You may or may not recall that I have lost 2 of my 4 minelaying subs. I'm pretty cautious where I use them now. I often use them to lay defensiv minefields on the fringe of my empire. I had laid some in places like Adak, Wake and Gasmata, where I don't want to risk CMs. Anyway, I got the wonderful sound of a ship hitting a mine while the screen showed Gasmata. Wonderful! After the turn, I saw that the S-37 had hit a mine there and was showing up as sunk. I made a comment to Ted about that and he corrected me. Actually, two ships had hit mines. The S-37 had survived, but he doesn't think she'll survive. Also, a DMS was blown to smithereens at Adak. [:D]

Reinforcement: 5 SNLF Co - was destroyed by bombing at Terapo and rebuilt - It'll be a garrison.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Annagil
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:27 am

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Annagil »

I still think a raider cruise with KB south.east of the Salomon would be, now that he is still short of CVs, a good idea insofar:

- it would probably lead to the localization of at least (possibly more, considering he has to supply PM and possibly NZ) one US-Australia convoy (ideally, TKs)

- it would create panic and possibly force errors

- it could possibly bring the re-routing of forces to the South as emergency garrison (if he could be led to believe this to be preparation for a land invasion) in an area where you really have no interest.

the downside would be the risk of losing one or more CVs, but that's not a major: your offensive in the Eastern Pacific seems basically over and in a few months CVs will just be floating airstrips within your internal waters, not power projecting items and as such, they are much less valuable. Better risking them now producing damage to the enemy than eventually losing them trying to prevent damage to yourself.

User avatar
Ossian
Posts: 100
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:38 pm

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Ossian »

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

7 Oct 42

Sub War: The brand spanking new Ro-100 just arrived at her patrol area off Cairns and the DD Guin spotted her and hit her with a depth charge. Sheesh, she just arrived at her patrol station on her first war patrol. What rotten luck. She'll survive but she's headed to Rabaul for temporary repairs before heading to Truk for complete repairs.

7 Japanese vs. 12 Allied planes shot down. Bombing here and there....


Ah, too bad. That happened with me once, playing as the Allies. I had waited patiently for the arrival of the USS Tang. First patrol out she got sunk. Grrr.
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

Annagil, he's got 6 CVs that can carry a total of 526 aircraft. He also has Avengers. Finally, I don't know where his carriers are. I suspect they are on the West Coast but they could be anywhere. The last time I saw a carrier was a couple of months ago, before Dutch Harbor was taken. There were 1 or 2 carriers involved for just a short period of time. If I used KB, and he ambushed me in the middle of nowhere, that would be a long trip home. I'd also have to send oilers along with them. I think the time for me to raid that far out has passed. If you hadn't noticed, I'm pretty conservative. I want to catch him coming at me and make him hurt. I'm gathering my long range Glen subs to form a screen and catch what I can as far out as I can so I can react. I have a screen west of Pearl Harbor to catch an invasion or raiding fleet early but he hasn't come that way. I don't have enough subs to screen everywhere but I need to find the most likely routes and screen them. I believe he's just biding his time and doesn't plan on coming out until 1943. That's fine with me. I'll have level 6 forts in all of my important bases.

Ossian, fortunately, Ro-100 is the worst class of sub I have in the arsenal so far. Even so, every weapon has a strength and so does this one. I'll get her repaired and she'll make another attempt.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

11 Oct 42

Burma: Each side lost 7 fighters.

China: If finally took Changsha, and more importantly, I trashed the Chinese army there. The 3:1 attack cost me 3955(30) casualties to 22745(1765) Chinese losses. The army is showing up at ~82k. Before I moved into that hex, it was over 120k. Unfortunately the infrastructure is trashed. Manpower is 2(1), Resources 0(80), HI 0(30) and LI 0(160). I'll rebuild the HI and 30 resources.
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
Post Reply

Return to “After Action Reports”