Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

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

User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

28 February 1942

When it rains, it effing pours...

My first downer was due to my carelessness. A group of 4 APDs and a DMS strayed near Noumea and got trounced by the air there. Two APDs sunk and the others beat up. I've been losing track of what I'm sending. I'm guessing the icon was over some map lettering and that's how I missed it. I check the Noumea/Suva area for ships daily.

Bombardments then happened at Noumea (Haruna) and Diamond Harbor (Yamashiro and Fuso). This was followed by amphibious landings at Diamond Harbor and Vizagapatnam. There's a foothold on DH, but Vizagapatnam is empty of troops. The weakling armored unit there might have scared them off. Diamond Harbor was supported by airborne drops at Howrah and Jessore, effectively surrounding Calcutta. I have two armored units (one of them kick-ass) on the way by rail to the base one hex west of Vizagapatnam. I had about a gajillion ships in Calcutta, so I formed them up into about 9 15-20 strong task forces with gunboat/corvette escort to break out. Three CL there are in another task force under the most experienced, most aggressive leader I could find to run interference at DH. I didn't check to see if they have torps. I could get lucky.

My port raid to Mangalore met no CAP this turn, so Mini-KB must have departed.

The boys at Mandalay are packing up to head north to India. I left one base force behind to repair the straggling planes that are left. I'd say about 80% of the planes are out at Diampur and Chittagong.

Losing Calcutta is going to bork things up. The interior or India just has enough troops to meet Garrison requirements. The good armored unit I commandeered was at the very tip of India, while the other was from Madras. Maybe that will be enough to deal with Vizagapatnam.

I have more APDs in from Panama, so I'll recoup those losses, at least.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
witpqs
Posts: 26376
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Argleton

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by witpqs »

The icons getting lost in the lettering has caused me to spend loads of time looking for a certain TF or other in the past, when it had apparently vanished. A good check is to take a quick look at the overview map, where each TF is a bright green or red dot. You can even turn off display of bases and air groups if you really want to reduce clutter.
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Good idea. My color blindness doesn't help things, either. I tried the "colorblind" switch on the command line and didn't notice any difference.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
BBfanboy
Posts: 19686
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Contact:

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by BBfanboy »

In case you are not aware of it, I will mention that Mandalay has a garrison requirement of 20. Abandoning completely will cause loss of one VP per turn, until the Japanese take it.
Often, you can get away with a garrison of about 12/20 and only have partisan problems about once in ten turns.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

In that case, I'll leave a sacrificial goat behind.  If I have a unit if levies, I use that.  The trip to Diampur will take time for the rest.
 
I've been getting units run to un-garrisoned bases over the last two weeks.  Might as well not let the Japanese get free VPs.
 
Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

01 March 1942

It seems that CF's surface commitment to the Calcutta event is a bit limited. He only caught one group with a CA/DD group, which consisted only of xAKLs, which were mostly wiped out. All the bigger ships broke through with minimal loss. I had a mostly heroic performance by my three CLs.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Diamond Harbour at 52,38, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shirayuki, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CL Dauntless
CL Ceres
CL Colombo, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Poor visibility due to Thunderstorms with 96% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms and 96% moonlight: 2,000 yards

---------------------------------------------

Night Time Surface Combat, near Diamond Harbour at 52,38, Range 3,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Shell hits 9
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 2
DD Kamikaze
xAK Asosan Maru
xAK Asakasan Maru
xAK Yamakaze Maru
AMC Nosiro Maru, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
xAK Kozui Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
xAK Meiyo Maru
xAP Tatsuta Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Hakozaki Maru
xAP Hakusan Maru
xAP Suwa Maru
xAP Huzi Maru
xAP Takatiho Maru

Allied Ships
CL Dauntless, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
CL Ceres, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
1635 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 135 destroyed, 46 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Reduced visibility due to Thunderstorms with 100% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms and 100% moonlight: 3,000 yards
Day Time Surface Combat, near Diamond Harbour at 50,39, Range 6,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Takao
DD Shigure
DD Harusame
DD Samidare

Allied Ships
AM Cromarty, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
AM Cromer, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
xAKL Ardent, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Mabella, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
xAKL Bust, Shell hits 2, on fire
xAKL Hermelin, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
xAKL Nordhval, Shell hits 4, on fire
xAKL Sarpen, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Honolulan, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Illinoian, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
xAKL Louisianan, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
xAKL Oklahoman, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
xAKL Santa Ana, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
xAKL Memphis City, Shell hits 7, and is sunk

Low visibility due to Thunderstorms
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms: 6,000 yards

Takao and friends never met my CLs, which was probably a good thing. Losing one CL to a solitary DD was probably the only dark stain on this day. Battleships attached to amphibs, seem to lose their backbone when attached, since they encountered nearly all the transports, but chose to flee. Hopefully his ammo level is falling faster than a fat guy from a balcony. The only danger part for the transports is being able to get around Ceylon. I'll probably divert them further south.

Apart from that, Addu falls, though his ships take hits. The Diamond Harbor transports also got hit good.

Tjepoe falls on Java. The clock is ticking on Soerbaja.

Vizagapatnam also falls, with heavy losses to the weak armor unit there. No apparent casualties on his end. [:@]

Watampone is taken. Celebes is pretty much under control at this point.

More bombardments at Manila. He probably doesn't have enough for a real attack yet.

Some sweeps over Noumea. All his ships are adjacent to Koumac, so I'll hurl the escorted bombers at them. The leadership on the USAAF squadrons was abysmal, so I culled the leadership for them. How guys with air skills in their 20s got chosen for leadership is beyond me. The USMC air is nearly full strength, so that should help. The Dutch sub at Koumac insists on targeting DDs instead of APs and AKs. I'm not sure if the high aggression level is to blame or not.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Richard III
Posts: 713
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:16 pm

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Richard III »

Pretty good show on you SAG`s part. Even with the usual FOW in the combat report he has to be unhappy with those LCU losses in the transport TF. Especially if they were Base Forces/Eng.
“History would be a wonderful thing – if it were only true.”

¯ Leo Tolstoy
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Yeah, I'd guess they were probably air support.

If it weren't for that first encounter, I could have done quite a bit more. I can't remember the Admiral's name, but he seemed the RN version of Willis Lee.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

02 March 1942

More struggles at Noumea. Kirishima and Hiei pay another visit, damaging many. They're staying out of 155mm range for this. Airstrikes are exchanged for little effect on my end.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Koumac at 114,156

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 93

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 20
F2A-3 Buffalo x 6
F4F-3A Wildcat x 10
F4F-3 Wildcat x 13
SBD-2 Dauntless x 8
SBD-1 Dauntless x 2

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
F4F-3A Wildcat: 2 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBD-2 Dauntless: 1 destroyed
SBD-1 Dauntless: 1 destroyed

---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on TF, near Koumac at 114,156

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 26 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 88

Allied aircraft
P-400 Airacobra x 18
SBD-1 Dauntless x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-400 Airacobra: 2 destroyed
SBD-1 Dauntless: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Soryu
CV Akagi

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x SBD-1 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
3 x SBD-1 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Koumac at 114,156

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 30 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 13
F2A-3 Buffalo x 6
F4F-3A Wildcat x 4
F4F-3 Wildcat x 7
SBD-2 Dauntless x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed
F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBD-2 Dauntless: 1 destroyed

---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Koumac at 114,156

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 30 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30

Allied aircraft
SBD-1 Dauntless x 2

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses
Afternoon Air attack on Noumea , at 115,160

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 55
B5N2 Kate x 106
D3A1 Val x 93

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 46
P-400 Airacobra x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged
D3A1 Val: 30 damaged
D3A1 Val: 5 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 4 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-400 Airacobra: 4 damaged
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 2 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
SBD-2 Dauntless: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 8
Runway hits 20

Looking at the intel screen under air losses 16 Vals and 16 Zekes went down, with 4 and 6 ops losses, respectively. 14 P-40s, 21 Airacobras, 7 F4Fs and 15 SBDs also went down, to all causes. Flak alone clamed 5 Vals. There are lots of 90mm guns there, and plenty of the smaller stuff too. I'm relocating my air at Noumea right now. I'm at the mercy of his bombardments right now, and when he's putting up 90+ strong CAP over his ships, plus a credible escort with his strikes, I can't keep up.

I have support troops, coastal artillery and the 3rd USMC Raider Battalion unloading at Suva. More infantry are also inbound.

Enterprise and Saratoga are at Auckland, proceeding to Pearl. Hornet will be in-theatre in 11 days. Wasp is due June 11. LEX is now refitting, getting rid of the useless 8" guns. SARA will also start when she arrives. The Yorks won't upgrade until April.

We've had this odd fight going on for the last 4-5 days:
Ground combat at 80,77 (near Manila)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 897 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 31

Defending force 114 troops, 9 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 26

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 26 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Assaulting units:
1st Raiding Regiment

Defending units:
1st USMC AA Battalion

This stray USMC AA unit is continually attacked, but no losses are suffered.

Another Aussie division will be set to recombine at Bombay within a week or so.

The Monkey speaketh this:
7/33rd Division is planning for an attack on Noumea

The only prior intel listed the 33rd Div as being at Kure as a whole in January.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
BBfanboy
Posts: 19686
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Contact:

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by BBfanboy »

I have often seen fragments of units with high disruption and very low morale escape destruction by running away time after time, even if it is a heavy artillery unit with no vehicles running from tanks!
Sometimes there are even no troops with the fragment - just guns (or an observer squad with no troops or a "Static Device"), and they still escape!
I tried letting them starve and four months later without supply, they were still there.
You need to trap them to kill them. Very annoying bug, unless it is your side's unit that is indestructible.


Afterthought - enemy units don't flee from bombardment by artillery, so you can sometimes grind them down to nothing that way.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

He may have to resort to that. It is annoying to watch them linger.

I forgot to include my one bright spot:
Naval bombardment of Adak Island at 162,52

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma
BB Nevada
CA San Francisco
CA Minneapolis
DD Aylwin
DD Clark
DD Drayton
DD Preston

Japanese ground losses:
241 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 18
Port hits 15
Port supply hits 1

Okie has one major eng damage. I hope the AR can handle that.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Forgot to mention last turn. Natutilus bags her fourth ship. A real xAK, with a torpedo. I don't think I'll be switching the commander of that sub.

03 March 1942,

That stray AA unit on Luzon finally surrenders.

Manila falls. I doubted it would happen. Raw APs were roughly 900 to 800, but something tripled his while halving mine.

Mini-KB has taken up position between Ceylon and Port Blair. Between them, Netties and a couple roving CL/DD groups, I have a feeling most of the Calcutta fugitives won't make it.

My BBs hit Adak on more time on the way out. Similar results to last turn.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Sangeli
Posts: 1132
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:33 pm
Location: San Francisco

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Sangeli »

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Manila falls. I doubted it would happen. Raw APs were roughly 900 to 800, but something tripled his while halving mine.
I'm guessing shock attack, no forts, and lots of command bonuses for the Japanese. Your opponent knows the ins and outs of this game. He's pretty fearsome; honestly I'm glad not to be playing against him.
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

I don't mind playing somebody rough. It's opening my eyes in a lot of ways on how to play this game.

My last opponent was a pro, too. I was dealing with Tojos in March, '42 over Port Moresby.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

05 March 1942

The slaughter continues in the Bay of Bengal. At this point, I'll be lucky to have any get out. In hindsight (always 20/20) I should have yanked them from Calcutta the moment Rangoon fell. That's on the future checklist.

More reinforcements are about a week away from Suva. More base units, the 2nd Raider Battalion and the two tank battalions form Pearl. KB is still parked off Koumac.

I've finally discovered Unmak Is, a hex from Dutch Harbor. I have about a billion support troops at Dutch, so I'm pulling a bunch over, with supplies on the way. If I can get that up quickly, I can make life at Adak pretty miserable.

I did one of my occasional tests at Colombo:
Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 7
Hudson IIIa x 5

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson IIIa: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 7, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 1
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 4
xAK Ayato Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Ryugi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tone Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Interestingly, I didn't do any actual damage to the base. Some of Myoko's damage were weapon hits. The 500s punched through, while the 250s didn't.

Asansol falls -- probably to roving paras. I also noticed Jamshedpur is his. This isn't good, since they're major rail hubs for that area.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Sangeli
Posts: 1132
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:33 pm
Location: San Francisco

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Sangeli »

500 lb bombs? I thought the Hudson and Blenheim have a 4 x 250lb payload.
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Me too, but some got through while others didn't, so I was assuming. I wasn't watching that closely.

I didn't really report on the last turn, but he launched his first assault on Calcutta. Favorable odds on his end, so I think it will fall next turn.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Sangeli
Posts: 1132
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:33 pm
Location: San Francisco

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Sangeli »

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Me too, but some got through while others didn't, so I was assuming. I wasn't watching that closely.
Hmm...ya I don't think you can really damage a CA with 250 lb bombs. You can damage some of the AA guns with on but that's about it. However, the 250 lb bombs can start fires on the merchant ships which is why I only use Hudson in an anti-shipping role when it comes to naval strike.

So now that Calcutta is probably gone, whats the plan now in India?
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Not sure at this point. I can't get much there without stripping Bombay and Madras.

I have three armored units at the base just to the left of Vizagapatnam, one of which is loaded with Stuarts. Also with them is one arty unit. They just got there by rail, and are currently unloading. I'll have a go at Vizagapatnam first with them, and if they succeed, I can threaten Calcutta, or at least block the coastal road west.

Once my second Oz division is reassembled at Bombay, I may sortie them.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

07 March 1942

Trying to get stuff in order.

Despite 107 engineers and 26 bulldozers, along with 31000 supplies, repairs at Noumea have been going at a crawl. Still 30+ port and 50+ airfield damage, with no harassment for several days. There's lots of damaged planes currently under repair, and I'm relocating them as they get fixed -- for now. I have a feeling KB has left --probably to Rabaul or Truk. I've got a supply convoy already topping off at Brisbane with another 20,000.

I'm re-aligning my sub ops as well. the 6-8 subs I've constantly kept on station off the Japanese coast have netted few encounters, besides ASW groups. Every other game I've played has netted 1-3 encounters per day with transports. I now have a half dozen enroute to the Formosa-Luzon Gap. Another two or three are also handling the choke point south of Borneo. My only success thus far is Nautilus off of Fusan. Narwhal is departing from Pearl, but won't get that far, since her range is fairly limited (around 9000 miles). I'm not WITP-AE prodigy, but I've always been good with sub ops against commerce.

California and Tennessee are out of the yard at Mare. That leaves me with nine active USN battleships, with only Arizona in drydock for the next month. Except for the two at Dutch Harbor, the rest will form up at Pearl. When I eventually hit the Marshalls, I'll use every one.

The 23rd Indian Division has joined the tanks at Cocanada. I should be able to knock him out of Vizagapatnam. As weakened as the 23rd is, it can still muster 250 APs.

Ed-
Image
Post Reply

Return to “After Action Reports”