Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

[FeurerKrieg]

Makes sense to me. And definitely a good reason to provide some extra defense to Tjil and Soerabaja.

[sanch]

ORIGINAL: Spidery
... Not having got this far before I am almost completely in the dark in predicting what the result of many actions will be. I like this, it seems a pretty good approximation to the real world situation so is more fun.

Exactly!

I've never played the Empire before. And now into Oct 42, I'm frequently scratching my head and trying to figure how to counter something without risking too much or losing too much. And all I see are tougher and tougher decisions in the coming months. Most interesting!

[Spidery]

July 25th 1943

Air Losses: 80 Japanese, 76 Allied, 40 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

I-28 puts a torpedo into the Hornet near Java but is herself sunk.

I-171 puts a torpedo into xAP Neleus, part of a large troop convoy passing the North West Cape.

Various subs on each side get damaged.

DEI

No new landings, seems to be concentrating on landing troops at Tjilatjap. Sweeps do well, a bombing run has little LRCAP and fails to get through. Looks like the Allied engineers will have the runways repaired in another day.

Some ships moving on the North of Java attract a small Allied strike that is ripped to shreds by leaking CAP.

All a good start at weakening the Allied airforce.

The cruisers encounter a DD force do some damage and take none but are out of ammunition.

Solomons etc.

P-38G sweep Manus. Losses favour the Allies but not by too much it seems.

Engineering

Allies build an airfield at Namatanai.

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

Quiet


Day air losses

[Spidery]

MrKane has started his own mirror AAR. This makes the risk of inadvertent security breaches more likely. I think I will change the style of this AAR in consequence and run it a week or so behind the game.

[Spidery]

July 26th 1943

CA Suzuya takes a TT just outside of Soerabaja but makes port for repairs easily.

I-7 takes 2 torpedoes from an Allied sub and sinks.

Surprising failure of an Allied attack:

Allied adjusted assault: 158

Japanese adjusted defense: 82

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
227 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 14 (5 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
176 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
766th Tank Battalion
24th Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
767th Tank Battalion
181st Field Artillery Battalion
226th Field Artillery Battalion
183rd Field Artillery Battalion
Sixth US Army
249th Field Artillery Battalion
208th Coast AA Regiment

Defending units:
41st Infantry Regiment
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment
2nd INA Gandhi Regiment

Warhawks appear over Tjilatjap and sweep does very poorly, few planes lost on either side.

Naval search suggests he has managed to restock fighters on his carriers.

Light cruiser force raids Tjilatjap and engages BB. CL Kuma lost and the Allies lose 2 DD. Only 1 torpedo hit scored and that was on a DD.

I don't think I can stop him establishing Tjilatjap as a level 9 airbase and bombing my oil facilities. However, I should be able to put a fair amount of CAP over them forcing him to use night strikes. I'll be able to start deploying night fighters in September. Singapore and Soerabaja repair yards will also be untenable. I should be able to contain the current landing to prevent taking any other bases but if he makes another landing all bets are off. It is possible I will in a few months be able to force him back into Tjilatjap but doubt then I'll be able to prevent him bombarding and resupplying so will be unable to recapture it.

Break for a week as I am away

[Lowpe]

I guess that attack is at Tjilatjap? Only attacked with a fraction of the forces present...

Good luck and enjoy your short vacation from the game.

[Spidery]

No, on the road between Tjilatjap and Benzoelen(?). He may have had some reserves held back to pursue or it could be that his troops were disrupted still from the bombardments and landings.

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

No, on the road between Tjilatjap and Benzoelen(?). He may have had some reserves held back to pursue or it could be that his troops were disrupted still from the bombardments and landings.

You can check what happened when he amphibiously landed. If his troops were prepped then they would not have taken many disablements.

[Spidery]

July 27th 1943

Lots of sub action. Possible sinking of SS Jack by E Sagi.

Sweeps of Tjilatjap are bad, will stop until planes fixed and have more aviation support at nearby bases. Allies have over 150 planes on CAP.

Allies restart bombing of Rabaul and Kavieng, flak downs some planes.

Supply is too low at Soerabaja to replace planes.

Allied carriers seem to be withdrawing again.

Recce reports 200+ fighters at Tjilatjap.

Allies have already expanded Tjilatjap to 3, they will be able to base heavy bombers here within a week. Apart from the danger to Palembang, Djambi, Balikpapan and Samarinda this also threatens Singapore port and its yards.

At Bandoeng now have forces over the SL so will pull out the weaker and move in better forces. With luck these will be able to hold the base.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

ORIGINAL: Spidery

No, on the road between Tjilatjap and Benzoelen(?). He may have had some reserves held back to pursue or it could be that his troops were disrupted still from the bombardments and landings.

You can check what happened when he amphibiously landed. If his troops were prepped then they would not have taken many disablements.

Was thinking more about disruption from the long sea voyage from Perth.

[Lowpe]

Bump to save from Page 2 purgatory.

[Spidery]

July 28th 1943

Try some night strikes at Tjilatjap, no hits and heavy AA losses.

Allies expand Tjilatjap to 4 and now report 389 fighters, 74 bombers, 18 auxiliary present - heavily overstacked even if they are all 1E. 1 more day and will be able to start flying 4E at full effect.

2nd INA Gandhi regiment is slow to move and is destroyed. The cost to recall is 720 - don't think I'll be recalling that but what makes it so expensive?

I-32 sinks TK British Genius near Karachi.

[Spidery]

July 29th

Allies strike with small forces at task forces unloading at Soerabaja. 1 xAK (empty) 1 AMc lost but downed 32 Hellcats and 7 Wildcats.

Set some CAP over Rabaul and downed a B-24D1, 4 Anson and 4 P-39D. All told 55 enemy losses for 20 of mine and a bunch of those were naval search planes lost to CAP.

SS Kingfish hits a mine at Banjoewangi and may have sunk.

2 new aces at Soerabaja and 1 at Manus.

Allies now have 388 fighters and 100 bombers at Tjilatjap.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Bump to save from Page 2 purgatory.

Cheers

[Spidery]

July 30th

N1K1-J do well over Manus downing 14 P-38H. No N1K1-J are lost but 7 Ki-84a and 3 J2M2 are lost. I think I may pull the franks and jacks.

Allies have expanded Tjilatjap to 5 so am expecting strikes against oil facilities to start.

Lead Allied forces enter Bandoeng hex. I have over-stacked by 20% with 2 divisions plus smaller stuff including the experienced 110th Division (89 experience). However, only have 4 30cm guns in the way of heavy artillery present.

Gathering forces at Merak to launch a raid on Tjilatjap. Hope to have 3 bombardment task forces with 7 BB and 2 or 3 cruiser SCTF forces to lead the way. Also may try and send a mine-laying task force in. Hope also to be able to sweep with 100 N1K1-J from close airfields. Depending how that all goes the following day may send the carriers in an 8 hex strike.

Ki-84r advances to 11/44

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

2nd INA Gandhi regiment is slow to move and is destroyed. The cost to recall is 720 - don't think I'll be recalling that but what makes it so expensive?

Probably because you won't be taking many Indian prisoners from which you can recruit replacements from!

That said, it 720PP does seem quite excessive for what is essentially a garrison unit.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Spidery

2nd INA Gandhi regiment is slow to move and is destroyed. The cost to recall is 720 - don't think I'll be recalling that but what makes it so expensive?

Probably because you won't be taking many Indian prisoners from which you can recruit replacements from!

That said, it 720PP does seem quite excessive for what is essentially a garrison unit.

Expensive! Note to self: don't lose the INA units. [:D]

[Spidery]

July 31st 1943

I-171 is worked over to small damage off the North West Cape.

Allies expand Tjilatjap to 6! 513 F, 122 B, 26 A reported present. Unknown number and strength of task forces present.

Allies bombard at Benkoelen, minor damage.

Allies seem to be sending a division up the road to take Kavieng.

[Spidery]

July 1943 overview

The poor CV action followed by the firm lodgement on Java make this a very bad month.

Air and sea losses mainly reflect the bad CV action. Jump in base points from expanding Chungking.

Allied at sea losses are 2 good-sized TK sunk by sub action and the rest SS or DD. Am beginning to get a few enemy SS sunk as surface ASW assets improve.

Code: Select all

             Japan      Allies
 Overall:   +1,033      +1,863
 Land:         +71         +97
 Air:         +581        +700
 Base:        +260        +156
 Sea:         +121        +910
 

[Spidery]

Losses at Sea

The SST lost was an experiment. It didn't seem much use and the extra VP lost after the conversion means I doubt I will be producing more SST.