Tales from the First Time -DanSez (J) vs Przemcio231 (A) - no Przemcio231 please

[Malagant]

We have a million Recon units. Fill them up then Divide them. That gives you 3 million Recon units, all with nice range, than can cover LOTS of enemy bases. He may be just disbanding his forces in nearby ports, then popping out at you again (read the Cribtop/John3 AAR for this in action!).

You mentioned Singkawang as a good base, I think it's great. It's outside torpedo range of air from Singapore making it relatively safe, and gets you Recon over Palembang, not to mention a great place for Naval Search over Java Sea. Though it's out of Torpedo range, it's still in bomb range, so some air cover is still needed.

[jwolf]

ORIGINAL: Malagant

You mentioned Singkawang as a good base, I think it's great.

As Malagant's opponent, I regretfully confirm this. [;)]

[DanSez]

RE: LOWPE
From the feeling I get, the Allies consider the forces currently on the field (excluding the US Carriers at this point) as playing with House Money. He will throw them into action looking to slow down my advance, thereby targeting the invasion task forces instead of the combat elements.

His subs are crowded into port hexes, not along probable shipping lines. Very few subs near the Home Islands at the moment.

I think he has been running fast transport single ship task forces into the Philippines or pulling some units out with the same. I have Manila now, but he voluntarily retreated from the city as my forces approached from the South. He is piling it up at Clark and Bataan. I have been bombing the air fields with the limited units I have until the Air Command is transferred from Takao.

I am concerned about his concentrating forces in Palembang and I hope to get recon on it as soon as I take Swak.

RE: MALAGANT
I've done some FP resize/expand but am out of Alfs, Jakes and about out of Petes. I did bump up their production a few per month but nothing crazy or to match the need at the moment.
More is the problem of getting them on the front edge instead of training or using in ASW.

/*
I wish I could expand the size of the Mavis units. Can the CS units do that? Are they big enough to load them and resize them?

[Malagant]

I don't mean the Float Planes, I mean the Recon stuff...Dinah and Babs. Since only a single plane flies a recon mission anyway, the size of the units is not a big deal. Recon over potential hiding places where he might be disbanding his disappearing fleets and hit them in port! Or for Palembang, get a small Recon unit in Singkawang and recon it awhile and see what he's got there. If he's reinforced it, you'll find out easily enough.

Naval Search is of course important too. Mavis are great (though mine seem to be down for maintenance most of the time), Jakes are great, Nell and Betty are awesome. I had some losses similar to yours early on, but have since scaled back their use in the attack role to minimize loss and have focused on searching with them, only attacking when I feel it's worth the risk. As to your question, no I don't think the CS will accommodate the Mavis...but I could be wrong. Try it and let me know!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: DanSez

RE: LOWPE
From the feeling I get, the Allies consider the forces currently on the field (excluding the US Carriers at this point) as playing with House Money. He will throw them into action looking to slow down my advance, thereby targeting the invasion task forces instead of the combat elements.

His subs are crowded into port hexes, not along probable shipping lines. Very few subs near the Home Islands at the moment.

I think he has been running fast transport single ship task forces into the Philippines or pulling some units out with the same. I have Manila now, but he voluntarily retreated from the city as my forces approached from the South. He is piling it up at Clark and Bataan. I have been bombing the air fields with the limited units I have until the Air Command is transferred from Takao.

I am concerned about his concentrating forces in Palembang and I hope to get recon on it as soon as I take Swak.

RE: MALAGANT
I've done some FP resize/expand but am out of Alfs, Jakes and about out of Petes. I did bump up their production a few per month but nothing crazy or to match the need at the moment.
More is the problem of getting them on the front edge instead of training or using in ASW.

/*
I wish I could expand the size of the Mavis units. Can the CS units do that? Are they big enough to load them and resize them?

CS won't fly Mavis.

Fortress Palembang is always a concern, and can really stop Japan's pursuit of the one hex you absolutely have to conquer, as mentioned before it is x3 terrain. In general the longer it takes you to capture Palembang or Balikpapen, expect lots of engineers to be flown in so the refineries get destroyed in fighting and in general greater forts.

The HQ assignments for the units in Luzon are pretty much restricted to other PI bases with a couple of exceptions. Allies don't really have much fast transport capability yet, and only get some if they convert the old destroyers to APDs, but he is using them to fight with instead from what I can see. They do have a fair amount of flying boats with which to move troops. Dutch can be flown to other Dutch bases, etc, etc.

Allies can also pay the PP to switch a base from one command to another if they want to. Some people like to switch out Darwin for example or Cocos and there are others.

Subs, early on there is not much point attacking merchant shipping around the HI, especially if as the Allies you know the KB will be in the SRA area. Better off to clog the choke points there and or to use a base defense for expected invasions.

Mines: be careful here as the Dutch get a lot of mines and he knows you have to come for bases like Oosthaven, Palembang, Balikpapen, Sinkiawing, etc, etc. Mining bases that have coastal guns like Ambon is very popular and effective. Mining choke points like Merak is too.

Lots of AFBs like to use the surface ships in the SRA hunting your invasion forces...like he is doing here.

[DanSez]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Mines: be careful here as the Dutch get a lot of mines and he knows you have to come for bases like Oosthaven, Palembang, Balikpapen, Sinkiawing, etc, etc. Mining bases that have coastal guns like Ambon is very popular and effective. Mining choke points like Merak is too.

Allies laid mines at Wake before I got there, still cleaning them up. Sure to see lots more.

[Encircled]

As has been said, you need Palembang asap, and before he reinforces.

If he manages to get an Aus Bde there, or the 18th British there, then you are going to have a real struggle to capture the base without significant damage to the oil.

Quick tip, don't shock attack (more damage to the oil) and don't bother repairing refineries. You have more than enough refinery capacity in the HI and it costs supply.

[DanSez]

RE: ENCIRCLED
Thanks for the tip. I have just transferred Dinah to Kurching and targeted Palembang for recon.

Dec 30th Glad Tidings:

Japanese forces CAPTURE Hong Kong !!!
Japanese forces CAPTURE Chengchow !!!
Japanese forces CAPTURE Taiping !!!

Took me a week longer than I wished for Hong Kong, but finally done.

Had a bad moment last night when I saw this:

[DanSez]

The mouse over said two single ship task forces converging on the port of Kompong Trach.

I have Nell/Betty Naval search based at Cam Ranh Bay covering Malaysia to Borneo so I was not happy to see these two ships pop up.

Allied Command informed me that those were submarines, not surface ships.

Freakin' Japanese search pilots apparently can't tell the difference between a whale or a cow.[:@]

In Other News -
Powerful Oscar sweeps on Singers started on the 28th. Recon now reports no fighters based here.

Question: If Allied Command has moved fighters to nearby base, LRCAPing Singapore, if I sweep Singers, will I intercept his LRCAP or will they just wave at each other as his LRCAP comes calling on my escorts and bombers?

I think there was a thread about that recently...

[DanSez]

I am looking at all that ART and the 38th Div now that Hong Kong has fallen. I could turn it North/East for the drive on Changsha, or I could load it up for the Java.

I am thinking the Java. Any suggestions before I load the boats in a couple of turns?
thanks

I am going to do a review of China in the next day or so. Some progress, never fast enough.

[Malagant]

38th Div is part of 16th Army on Malaya. I sent mine to join the rest. I've buggered up some sub-unit deployment and wanted some 'full' Divisions to make the crossing to Singapore proper. The Artillery is heading there as well, I figured it'd be handy for the actual siege of Singapore, particularly since it includes some big guns.

[DanSez]

ORIGINAL: Malagant

38th Div is part of 16th Army on Malaya. I sent mine to join the rest. I've buggered up some sub-unit deployment and wanted some 'full' Divisions to make the crossing to Singapore proper. The Artillery is heading there as well, I figured it'd be handy for the actual siege of Singapore, particularly since it includes some big guns.

Thanks, that is a good point. I was just looking at what I needed to do to rebuild one of the Malaysian Divisions. And yes the ART would be very helpful.

[DanSez]

Dec 31, 1941
I am moving air support units forward,
Preparing for the invasions of Sinkawang
And the following invasion (within a week) of Palembang.

Singapore is still unsecured.

Here is the first Tracker Industry Chart.
Obvious issues are not enough Resources or Oil coming in.
Burning up more Fuel than I am making.
Supply looks positive (at least on this turn).

Questions about the bottom boxes:

Airframes:
Says I am building 533 or 17 per day
The number in Red above, is that the actual HI cost (per day?)

Engines:
Says I am building 480 (280 - what is this?) or 15 Engines per day
The number in Red again - 270 - HI per day?

Vehicles/Armaments
Fairly straight forward.

Naval Yard:
Bld 1408(1)
Yard Need (1226)
Am I wasting or just not using all the 1408 pts?

Merchant Yards
Bld 215(592)
Yard Need 831
I know I am not building all the Merchant Ships in the queue at this point.

Anything else I am missing, or that I should pay attention too?
Thanks

Less

[DanSez]

These are the ships coming out of production in Jan 42.

At this point Tracker also projects
CV Taiho to come out in Jan 43
CV Katsuragi to come out in May 43
CV Shinano to come out in Jun 43
All 3 are accelerated builds at this time.
I will keep an eye on this to see if it changes as other researched ships (like the Shimakaze class) bump the CV time line back when they actually enter the building queue.
The first of the Shimakazes are supposed to come out very late Dec 42.

[DanSez]

Pretty busy the last few turns checking pilots, training, getting troops, planes, ships in position for the next phase in Malaysia and DEI.

But first, here is a review of China as of Jan 03, 1942

1. Post Hong Kong. Forces freed up are now unpacking in Canton. The question is which direction to drive: toward Wuchow or toward Kukong?
Recon will be directed toward Wuchow this turn. Kukong (DL 9/10) has 16K troops, 60 guns, 0 AVs and 0 planes.

Canton will require 360 garrison. There is currently 680AV in the city. I have decided to ship out the 38th Division and most of the rest of the units attached to the Southern Army to help with the seige of Singapore. But first I have an AMc in route to clear out those Allied mines. These units will probably join via an invasion at Mersing as I draw closer to the last phase of that campaign.

2. Assault on Chuhsien. Forts at Chuhsien were knocked down to zero two turns back. I bombarded this past turn to allow a little recovery from 2 previous DA attacks. Only 1 or 2 more turns left here and then clean up time. To the North and West I am trying to cut escape and supply lines. Units at Chuhsien are 22nd Div, 2nd Ind.Mixed Rgt, 12th Ind.Mixed Bde and 4th Mortar Bn. Just South of Nanchang cutting the road toward Changsha are the 6th and 39th Divisions.

3. Changsha Front. Recon says there are 135K troops and 363 guns there currently.

Just to the East of Changsha are 3 units: 3rd Div, 40th Div and 11th Ind Mixed Bde. Approximately 1025AV, 180 Guns, 115 Engineers. They are being targeted by bombers from Changsha - Nates happily providing CAP and wearing them down.

I need to pull some more troops and/or tanks over before assaulting, but in the meantime, the three units are a good building block for offensive action later in the year.

/*****
Current strategy is to push thru Kukong further isolating Chinese units between Kanhsien-Wenchow pocket and destroy them before moving on Changsha.

[DanSez]

Central China:

1.Eastern RR network Luchow to Suchow to Keifeng has been cleared.

2. Chengchow has fallen to assaults. 1350 AV now ready to assault Loyang from this side of the river. Recon (DL 9/10) says there is 93K troops, 225 guns, 0 AVs and 0 planes there. It will take a few turns of DAs and Bombardments. Units envolved are 35th Div, 36th Div, 110th Div, 3rd Ind.Mixed Bde, 15th Tank Rgt, 11th FA Rgt and 26th Engr. Rgt.

To the Northeast of Loyang, the 27th Div and 16th Ind.Mixed Bde square off against a Chinese force of 20K troops 42 guns.

3. Probes and blocks in the Hankow to Sinyang area. Japanese forces were rebuffed a week or so back in the area just North of Sinyang.

4. 3 Chinese units isolated and will be destroyed.

/* *******
Main focus in this theater is to mount the attack on Sian and isolate units in the Ichang area.

[DanSez]

North China:

A push toward Lanchow and the oil.
In this theater I have:

12th Tank Rgt.
5th Armored Car Co
2nd Ind.Mixed Bde
12th Indpt Infantry Rgt
1st Cavalry Bde
1st Ching An Tui Bde
4th Cavalry Bde

I am concerned if this is enough to take Lanchow. Nearby I have the 11th Indpt Infantry Reg unit free to rail this direction. It is serving as mobile reserve of the North.

I haven't bought out many units from Manchuria or Korea to move into China - just one aviation/engineer support unit so far.

At Jehol I have these units sitting:
26th Recon Rgt
3rd Infantry Rgt
9th Manchukuo Inf Bde
1st Eng Rgt

They might come in handy before I close the door at Lanchow.
Any advice on that route would be appreciated.

[DanSez]

About Political Points:

I have used it to change a few air unit commands, change out a few task force commanders, buy out a couple of small units my mismanagement got destroyed.

But in all that it has to be less than 200 points.

NOOB ALERT
The only major unit I have bought out was the Guards Mixed Brigade in Tokyo,
and I spent too much on that by turning on replacements before buying it out. In the first turns I think the cost was in the 689 but when I did buy it out, it was 733pts.

I started the game setting out with No Replacements for all units. But I want replacements for units that are fighting and somehow turned Replacements on for some of the Restricted Commands in Japan.

Any Restricted Units, if you add replacement, will cost you more to buy out later.
I knew this, sort of, but still I slipped a click in the wrong list and 'wasted' 44 political points.

As of Jan 03 1942, I have 1132 PPs, needing to spend some for China, and for other theaters. At the moment, with some replacements already made, the 53rd Div in Osaka (457 AV) will cost me 1734 PPs to tranfer out of Japan.

To transfer the 28th Recon Reg (mentioned above) in Jehol to China North Command will cost 75 PPs.

So many options makes me reluctant to spend them at times -- but I did recently do this:

Kido Butai has a new commander:
RADM Yamaguichi Tamon

at a very reasonable price (7pps)

[ny59giants]

Without looking it up, I usually start to buy the components of the division found in Korea vs one from Japan early in war. They have good experience.

[DanSez]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Without looking it up, I usually start to buy the components of the division found in Korea vs one from Japan early in war. They have good experience.

It would be easier to manage spending 400-500 a few times over a year than to save up 1800 for a one time purchase.

I bought out a couple of units for China this past turn.