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

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

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

Post by Mike Solli »

I took a look at how the Home Islands are doing. Pretty good, actually:

Fuel: 2.4 mil +100k enroute
Oil: 2.1 mil + 14k enroute
Resources: 14.3 mil + 270k enroute
Supply: 1.6 mil

My goals for 30 Jun 44:

Fuel: 3 mil
Oil: 2.5 mil
Supply: 1.8 mil

I'm pretty confident that I'll make the fuel and supply. There's no way I'll get that much oil there. That's about all I have everywhere. If my total of fuel and oil is >=5.5 mil, that'll work. The more oil the better though, because that's more for the refineries to use to make supply.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Lokasenna »

If the Oil isn't being shipped out of Urumchi, you may as well turn on the refineries and at least see if Supply/Fuel will flow out on the days Oil flows out too... otherwise you're wasting oil production each day.

Mine doesn't appear to ship out, but I'm not positive - my global oil levels in Tracker match up pretty well with my -277 Oil/day from the summary. Not on every day, so it's not shipping out all the time....but sometimes? And only in small quantities. It's always up between 49-50K.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by geoffreyg »

Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this AAR.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: geoffreyg

Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this AAR.
+100!

Ted is probably waiting for the F6F. Then the fireworks start.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Sangeli »

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Finally, Ted invade and took Ramree Island with some Chindits. I've never paid any attention to that dot hex. Now I realize how important it is. he can move one hex to the road cutting my supply line to my army. [X(] I have plans. I'm moving the 4 Parachute Regiment north for an air landing. I have 99 transports to haul them. Also, my theater reserve, the 21 Division has spent pretty much the whole war in Singapore. They're loading up for an seaborne invasion. I'm also sending up two bombardment TF, one of 4 BBs and 4 DDs and the other of 4 CAs and 4 DDs. Finally, I'm sending my tiny KB, the one that trashed the 9 Aussie Division a while ago. They still have 9 Zeros, 21 Kates and 27 Vals. I'll take that lousy dot hex back!
Ramree isn't that useful in bypassing the Japanese lines. In order to do that, he has to cross a river into 2x terrain with no roads. And any advance past that should the river crossing succeed will have to rely on supply trickling across from Ramree so its rather hard to exploit. That being said, Ramree is very useful to the Allies in that it gives them a base within 7 hexes of Rangoon. But the base is pretty exposed. Good luck taking the base but I don't have to tell you how Japanese invasion in 43 are dangerous. Even if you do succeed you may be opening yourself up to an attack elsewhere.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Lowpe »

I have had several run ins with those Chindits & they are tough guys...kill them off now if you can...but they get to over 100AV so you will need much more than 4 of your own paratroopers I think. Try to get some artillery there as well as that infantry division, that way you can bombard daily to eat up his supplies.

My bombardments with BB against Chindits in jungle terrain have been negligible.

The Chindits, even when heavily outnumbered, were hard to get to retreat or surrender, -- tough troops. I always wanted to look up what their replacement pools look like, but never did.

Allies will be able to stalemate you if he drops the other Chindits there as well I think.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

If the Oil isn't being shipped out of Urumchi, you may as well turn on the refineries and at least see if Supply/Fuel will flow out on the days Oil flows out too... otherwise you're wasting oil production each day.

Mine doesn't appear to ship out, but I'm not positive - my global oil levels in Tracker match up pretty well with my -277 Oil/day from the summary. Not on every day, so it's not shipping out all the time....but sometimes? And only in small quantities. It's always up between 49-50K.

I looked at that a different way, Lokasenna. I shut off the refineries because I didn't want to hit the fuel ceiling and have wastage. I don't recall what that ceiling is right now. Also, if it does begin to move, fuel is lost during movement, but oil isn't. In addition, there is no ceiling for oil.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: geoffreyg

Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this AAR.
+100!

Ted is probably waiting for the F6F. Then the fireworks start.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it, more than you know. I really enjoy all the input from everyone. I learn a lot that way.

Zorch, you're right. Ted mentions that every chance he gets, including how he will get 130 a month. [X(]
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Finally, Ted invade and took Ramree Island with some Chindits. I've never paid any attention to that dot hex. Now I realize how important it is. he can move one hex to the road cutting my supply line to my army. [X(] I have plans. I'm moving the 4 Parachute Regiment north for an air landing. I have 99 transports to haul them. Also, my theater reserve, the 21 Division has spent pretty much the whole war in Singapore. They're loading up for an seaborne invasion. I'm also sending up two bombardment TF, one of 4 BBs and 4 DDs and the other of 4 CAs and 4 DDs. Finally, I'm sending my tiny KB, the one that trashed the 9 Aussie Division a while ago. They still have 9 Zeros, 21 Kates and 27 Vals. I'll take that lousy dot hex back!
Ramree isn't that useful in bypassing the Japanese lines. In order to do that, he has to cross a river into 2x terrain with no roads. And any advance past that should the river crossing succeed will have to rely on supply trickling across from Ramree so its rather hard to exploit. That being said, Ramree is very useful to the Allies in that it gives them a base within 7 hexes of Rangoon. But the base is pretty exposed. Good luck taking the base but I don't have to tell you how Japanese invasion in 43 are dangerous. Even if you do succeed you may be opening yourself up to an attack elsewhere.

Sangeli, I hadn't thought of the supply issue over the river. Still, I'd like to wipe that unit out. At least it'll keep a good unit out of the war for awhile. I ran another turn and began execution of the operation, but the game engine reared its ugly head. I'll give the details later.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I have had several run ins with those Chindits & they are tough guys...kill them off now if you can...but they get to over 100AV so you will need much more than 4 of your own paratroopers I think. Try to get some artillery there as well as that infantry division, that way you can bombard daily to eat up his supplies.

My bombardments with BB against Chindits in jungle terrain have been negligible.

The Chindits, even when heavily outnumbered, were hard to get to retreat or surrender, -- tough troops. I always wanted to look up what their replacement pools look like, but never did.

Allies will be able to stalemate you if he drops the other Chindits there as well I think.

I just checked and the Chindits use run of the mill Indian infantry. They begin with 80 experience, but if they get trashed, the replacements will bring the experience level down.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

16 Mar 43

Sub War

There has been a sub hanging around in deep water just off Cam Ranh Bay. That base gets many of the tiny 1250 capacity TKs regularly from Brunei and Miri as well as a 4 TK TF (11.6k TKs) that hauls the fuel and oil to the Home Islands. The big TF had the W-19 & W-20 as escorts but they were due for upgrades so I sent the W-19 to Saigon for her upgrade. She just finished yesterday and was headed back to Cam Ranh Bay when she found the Tautog a few hexes south of CRB and hit her with a depth charge. Those Type 2 DCs work pretty darn well!

At Woodlark Island, the I-7 arrived with 12 eggs to plant. She planted the mines and then surfaced and shot up LCT-60. Then she found LCT-64 and shot her up as well.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet


Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Things are heating up here. Ted admitted that he wants to build up Woodlark to an airfield close to many of my airfields (Gasmata – fighters on occasion, Shortland – fighters and Betties, Madang – fighters on occasion, Rabaul – everything). I set my Betties (Shortland and Rabaul) to night naval attack and watched the fireworks… I wish… Six Betties went after 2x DDs at Woodlark and missed. Then 4 more went after the LSI(L) Westralia (gotta remember to look this ship type up)… and missed.

My bombardment fleet (2 BB, 4 CA, CL, 4 DD) is hovering a couple hexes to the SE of Rabaul (shallow hex) waiting to visit Woodlark Island. I goofed here. I just dropped a dozen mines in the hex, so I have to wait until they are gone. It would be bad form to hit one of my own mines. The Allied sub is still in the hex too. Maybe the sub will hit a mine.

I still think Ted is going to go after Gasmata, so I reinforced with the 87 Naval Guard. They came in today by xAKL and were sitting in port at daybreak. Eighteen SBDs came in after them unescorted. An even dozen assorted fighters from Rabaul intercepted and shot down 11 of them. Banzai! One of the remaining hit and sank an xAKL (Kasu-D), taking some troops with her. Later I discovered the troops were only support troops. All the combat troops made it safely. Banzai!

Ted’s P-38Gs swept Shortland shooting down 3 Tojos (no pilot losses). The Lightnings fly too high to combat them effectively.

Ted is sending SBDs and Mitchell II bombers against Madang’s port, about 45 sorties, along with an escort of 15 P-39Ds. I’d love to get some fighters there to ambush them. I’ll try and free up a sentai of Tojos if he keeps it up.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My bombers (about 100), in several missions, bombed the Chindits at Ramree Island, probably giving them headaches and disrupting some. My invasion/bombardment/air assault/carrier forces continue to move into position.

China

My bombers hit Chengtu’s airfield again, damaging a handful of planes and adding to the unrepaired damage. Ted had moved some planes to Chungking, so I hit that airfield with a chutai of Sallies, damaging a few planes and causing a bit of easily repaired damage.

The 3 Tank Division hit Wasu (north of Urumchi) where the remnants of the former Urumchi garrison fled, pushing them out of that base and killing a brigade (2x brigades and 1x base force remaining).

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
D Suzunami – Yugumo class, headed to Truk to escort KB
HQ Burma Area Army – arrived at Rangoon

The Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 9/44.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

17 Mar 43

Sub War

The I-28, patrolling off Astoria, put a torpedo into the xAK Tuscaloosa City. No report of her sinking.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Well, all those Allied bombers that had been absent for a while came back with a vengeance. Three Allied bombing missions (15x 2E and 66x 4E sorties) blasted Gasmata. I lost 3 Tojos in the air and one destroyed on the ground. Ted lost 7x 2E and 5x 4E bombers. Gasmata is still operational, barely. Almost 15% Allied bomber losses. If I can keep that up, I can win this battle.

My night flying Betties were at it again. There were missions against Woodlark (7 Betties – all missed) and Milne Bay (7 and 5 Betties – all missed). They went after that LSI(L) again (still haven’t looked it up) and 2x DDs.

19x P-38Gs swept Shortland Island again. Losses were 9 Tojos to 3 Lightnings with 3 more Japanese op losses. At least he’s not sending his bombers here. Not that the Betties stationed here are doing anything….

Nothing happened at Ramree Island, but I did see that the DDs there are slowly removing the mines. My bombardment fleet is still hugging the coast of the long island to the east of Rabaul (can’t remember the name) in an effort to hide from enemy subs.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I have a sentai of Tojos set to sweep Ramree Island, and another to escort my bombers. The sweep found 9x Allied fighters. Three were lost on each side.

My bombers went in again, disrupting more Chindits.

China

Japanese bombers hit Chengtu and Chungking again, killing a couple of Chinese fighters on the ground and damaging more. Unrepaired damage increased at Chengtu but Chungking once again repaired their damage. Chengtu’s airfield is probably closed now, but he wasn’t flying anyway.

The rabble 1 hex NE of Kanhsien (1 HQ, 7 Corps) was pushed into Kanhsien, except for 1 Chinese Corps. Losses were 1938(5) Japanese to 5052(355) Chinese. This was a shock attack over a river. This mission is almost complete.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

18 Mar 43

Sub War
5 Fleet
4 Fleet


Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Madang was hit again today by 13x Mitchell II bombers and 29x SBDs, escorted by 15x P-39Ds. (I forgot to send some fighters here to ambush them. Need to make a note.) They caused a little more port damage but the airfield is still fine.

Gasmata was hit by the bombers again, this time by 73x 4E and 4x 2E bombers. No Allied losses, but none of my fighters contested them. Four Tojos were destroyed on the ground. Gasmata is definitely closed. Too bad, because the fort level is stuck at 5.92.

Today, 4 and 6 Betties went after shipping….. and missed. That makes at least 39 sorties, all coming up empty.

The DD Nepal, which has been sitting at Woodlark for days, hit one of the I-7 deployed mines and went down! Yay! That must have been the last mine because none showed after the turn. Also absent was the Allied sub that had been sitting there. Given that, I decided to send in the bombardment TF. That TF was sighted today (DL 7/7) so I was squirming quite a bit when I saved the turn and sent it off to Ted. Maybe Ted thought it was just a supply convoy. Keeping fingers crossed.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Not much happened today. My bombers didn’t fly. My fighters shot down 3x Allied fighters over Ramree Island, and lost 3 Oscars over Shwebo.

My two bombardment TFs are in position to the SW of Ramree, with the invasion TF and MKB 2 days south. The 4 Para Regiment is in position to make its para attack. Just waiting for all the pieces to fall into place.

China

I hit the lone Chinese Corps 1 hex NE of Kanhsien with the full might of 13 Army, destroying the rabble. There are 28 Chinese units bottled up in Kanhsien with Japanese units in the 6 hexes surrounding that base. 13 Army will make the long trek to Sian, where it will then attack and take the 3 bases to the N and W of Chungking. Chengteh has 2 units (presumably a corps and base force) and the other two bases each have 1 unit (probably a corps. Once taken, Chungking will be isolated from the couple of bases the Chinese still hold in the far west of China. Currently, 13 Army is composed of 4x divisions, 2x independent mixed brigades and a mortar battalion. I’ll reinforce it with whatever I can scrounge up.

The 28 Chinese units in Kanhsien are now a self-sustaining POW camp. Well, not really self-sustaining because there is no supply there. I am not going to attack them. I will let them whither on the vine and die off eventually. I seem to recall that if Chinese units die of their own accord, they don’t return to Chungking at 1/3 strength. I might be dreaming, but even if they do come back, they’ll be delayed in coming back to regain replacements and causing problems.

The remnants of the Urumchi garrison (2x brigades and 1x base force) was hit again by 3 Tank Division and 26 Division, killing 60 more squads. The Chinese retreated into some rough terrain. The 26 Division will pursue them, but the 3 Tank Division will head south to join 13 Army.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

19 Mar 43

Sub War

The NW corner of Australia is proving to be another fertile hunting ground for my subs. The RO-33, a nice 8000 endurance “coastal” sub, found the unescorted AP Harris and put a torpedo into her. She was damaged from something previously. Not sure what. Mines at Darwin maybe? I vaguely remember mining Darwin, but that was a long time ago, if it really happened. Anyway, the sub caught up with her later in the day and put 2 more torpedoes into her, putting her down for good. Sinking a nice, big, 10k ton AP is always a nice thing. Too bad she was empty.

Just off Truk, the W-18 got a whiff of an enemy sub and hit the Plunger once with her Type 2 DCs. Another Allied sub that has to limp home (hopefully). I really like the former DMS W-19 class escorts. Upgrading them from DMS to E gives them Type 2 DCs. Very nice platforms. In my eyes, they are escorts, not minesweepers. The little AMcs (coastal minesweepers) do the minesweeping job well. I usually place a couple of them in each important port for minesweeping if needed.

5 Fleet

Adak is just 5 days from reaching fort level 6. Everything except the 7 Base Force is at 100%, with the BF at 93% and climbing. I’m ready for whatever Ted has in store for me. I see a bunch of LCTs at Dutch Harbor just sitting there. I’m confident that Ted will try for Adak, possibly as early as next month. I have decided to station a small naval force at Etorofu, just in case. It’ll be composed of Shoho, Zuiho and Hosho, along with 3x slow AOs. The air component is 57 Zeros and 24 Kates. It’s not a lot, but if Ted doesn’t have carriers when he attacks, they’ll do well. If carriers are present, they won’t enter the fray. On the ground are 42 Oscars at Adak and 9 Emilies at Amchitka, with a dozen Judies being shipped in to arrive in about a week (too far for them to fly). The Judies will be 4 hexes west of Adak, so they can pummel an invasion TF with 500kg bombs. Ouch! If Ted chooses to attack a dot hex east of Adak, I’ll move the Judies to Adak and have a field day.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Three flights of Betties went in today against Milne Bay and Woodlark Island, 13, 8 and 9. All misses. That’s at least 69 sorties with no hits. Sheesh.

Next the bombardment fleet reached Woodlark, composed of 2 BB (Kongos), 4 CA, CL, 4 DD. Two Allied DDs on ASW found them and ran screaming like little girls. Not a good start. I’m reluctant to use the Kongos in surface fleets. Their fast speed and AA makes them a natural to escort KB. Part of the reason I was squirming was because I had these 2 Kongos in a bombardment fleet.

Then, the Dutch sub O19 took a shot at a DD, missed, was prosecuted with no luck there either. At this point I’m thinking that all I did was waste fuel.

Next, the bombardment TF found the lone DD Lamson, teammate to the Nepal, which hit a mine and sank yesterday. She was overwhelmed by shellfire, but not before she put a shell into one of my DDs setting her on fire. My burning DD finally put her down with a Long Lance. It turned out that the DD Ushio’s damage was minor at 9-4(1)-3-0. She’ll be repaired in no time when she returns to Truk.

The bombardment TF then found a TF composed of an AM and 5x LCTs. That TF was destroyed easily. Three of the LCTs were obliterated by 36 cm (14”!) shells. One thing I noticed was that sunk LCTs don’t show up in the sunk ship list nor do they count as victory points. Odd. That’s 7 LCTs that were definitely sunk and they don’t show anywhere. Maybe it’s just coincidence that they aren’t reported yet, but it seems odd.

Finally, the bombardment TF did what their mission said to do, bombard Woodlark. I never knew that a dot hex could take port damage. The 112 Cav took some destroyed and damaged squads and the port took 21% damage. That’ll slow him down a bit. My task force got away free and clear. It’ll make it back to Truk in the next day or two.

Remember the SE Fleet HQ that I had been using to allow some of my base forces to upgrade to DP guns? Well, that fast transport TF (4 CL, 4 DD) just reached Talasea to drop the HQ off there so I could upgrade the 4 Base Force stationed at Gasmata. What I didn’t know was that Ted had some SBDs on naval attack orders and they went after this TF. Since its fast transport, the troops were dropped off, so only the ships were in danger. Two attacks came in, and luckily 15 Japanese fighters on Rabaul CAP came for the party. The first attack was 14 SBDs escorted by 14 Corsairs. Fighters locked into escorting bombers are at a definite disadvantage. I shot down 2 Corsairs and 1 SBD. The remaining bombers went after my fast little ships, and missed them all. The second attack was 15 unescorted SBDs, opposed by 6 Japanese fighters. They shot down 6 Dauntlesses and flak got another. Again, they all missed. Scary and exhilarating all at the same time. The ships will sail to Rabaul until the 4 BF upgrades (hopefully tomorrow). Then I’ll use my air transports (42 total) to move the HQ from Talasea to Rabaul where they can load and move on to the next BF.

So much for the fun stuff. Ted’s bombers came in for a visit next, to Gasmata again. I’m glad he’s putting he effort into Gasmata and not spreading the wealth because he probably could take out more than 1 airfield at a time now. This time, 65x 4E and 4x 2E sorties hit (no Allied loss) adding a bit to the airfield damage. The airfield is already badly damaged now, so that much effort didn’t do much more damage.

Madang’s port was hit again, by the Mitchells and again escorted by P-39Ds. Again I forgot to put fighters at Madang, but I made a note to do it next turn.

I have more evidence to support my theory that something is up here soon. Today I noticed that there were a couple of Allied subs near Rabaul and headed north. I believe they are replacing the subs stationed around Truk that were recently damaged/sunk. I’m pretty sure his intel told him that some carriers are in port at Truk. He wants some cheap shots at carriers coming out of port when he makes his move at Gasmata. They’re still at least a couple of days out from there. Here’s an overall look at my defense of Gasmata:

Two lines of RO subs in the hex rows immediately south of Gasmata, a dozen or more fleet/Glen subs, 200 mines, a midget sub, (almost) level 6 forts, packed with troops, DP guns (soon), 72 Betties (not that they’ve done anything so far), 150 fighters, ~100 army bombers, KB, Combined Fleet. If this isn’t enough, I don’t know what is.

Tomorrow, I am going to send KB1 (Soryu, Ryujo, Shokaku, Zuikaku – 129 Zeros, 54 Vals, 72 Kates) and the fast replenishment fleet south from Truk, just in case Ted tries something. They’ll hide in the Pacific south of Truk, a day’s steam from the north side of New Britain, where they can smash an invasion fleet in relative safety.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

A couple of small air skirmishes were all that happened today. My bombers didn’t fly, probably due to the weather.

Tomorrow everything should be in position to liberate Ramree Island for a second time this war (BB bombardment TF, CA bombardment TF, MKB, subs, 21 Division from the sea, 4 Para Regiment from the air, 100+ IJA bombers (if they decide to fly), 100+ IJA fighters, 36 Betty bombers stationed at Pt. Blair, 36 Zeros each at Pt. Blair and Rangoon). I’m looking for a brigade to station there as a garrison, probably from Kwantung Army. Until it arrives (a couple weeks), I’ll station the 4 Parachute Regiment or an infantry regiment already in Burma at Ramree.

China

My bombers bombed Chengtu and Chungking’s airfields again.

Other Stuff

Kwajalein’s fort reached the magic level 6.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Malagant »

Westralia is a converted Aussie AMC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Westralia_%28F95%29

Biggest mutiny in Australian history! :)



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

Post by Lokasenna »

To my knowledge, there is a ceiling for Oil - at Urumchi, it is 50,000. That's why I have the refineries turned on, because the Oil is going to get wasted anyway.

At least, Tracker tells me that it's a maximum of 1000 per oil center. My experience in-game bears this out also.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by rustysi »

I have noticed that Urmuchi will not ship anything out. I’ve heard that base has that problem. Does anyone have a solution to this? I turned off the refineries so I don’t build up too much fuel and lose it to wasteage.

I've read that to get the oil from here to move you need to create a demand at Port Arthur. Let me repeat that, I've read, so I don't know if it will in fact work. I'm about to attempt it in my AI game but it'll be some time before I can confirm/deny as I have to move about 225K oil with ~10 2850 size tankers.
-Zero M5c (Armor!) becomes operational in July 43. (Production 120, replaces Zero M5b currently off.)

Don't want to rain on your parade, but you are aware that the Zero's normal range drops to like 4 or 5 when they get armor? Not so hot for carrier ops!![X(]
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

Thanks for the info, Malagant.

The oil at Urumchi is still low compared to the fuel. I'm going to try sucking oil from Pt. Arthur to see if that works. I have ~125k oil there right now.

Rustysi, the plan for the A6M5c is land based, due to the range. I'll use the older models on KB. You're right, that range sucks, but it'll work for defense.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

19 Mar 43

Sub War

The NW corner of Australia is proving to be another fertile hunting ground for my subs. The RO-33, a nice 8000 endurance “coastal” sub, found the unescorted AP Harris and put a torpedo into her. She was damaged from something previously. Not sure what. Mines at Darwin maybe? I vaguely remember mining Darwin, but that was a long time ago, if it really happened. Anyway, the sub caught up with her later in the day and put 2 more torpedoes into her, putting her down for good. Sinking a nice, big, 10k ton AP is always a nice thing. Too bad she was empty.

Just off Truk, the W-18 got a whiff of an enemy sub and hit the Plunger once with her Type 2 DCs. Another Allied sub that has to limp home (hopefully). I really like the former DMS W-13 class escorts. Upgrading them from DMS to E gives them Type 2 DCs. Very nice platforms. In my eyes, they are escorts, not minesweepers. The little AMcs (coastal minesweepers) do the minesweeping job well. I usually place a couple of them in each important port for minesweeping if needed.

5 Fleet

Adak is just 5 days from reaching fort level 6. Everything except the 7 Base Force is at 100%, with the BF at 93% and climbing. I’m ready for whatever Ted has in store for me. I see a bunch of LCTs at Dutch Harbor just sitting there. I’m confident that Ted will try for Adak, possibly as early as next month. I have decided to station a small naval force at Etorofu, just in case. It’ll be composed of Shoho, Zuiho and Hosho, along with 3x slow AOs. The air component is 57 Zeros and 24 Kates. It’s not a lot, but if Ted doesn’t have carriers when he attacks, they’ll do well. If carriers are present, they won’t enter the fray. On the ground are 42 Oscars at Adak and 9 Emilies at Amchitka, with a dozen Judies being shipped in to arrive in about a week (too far for them to fly). The Judies will be 4 hexes west of Adak, so they can pummel an invasion TF with 500kg bombs. Ouch! If Ted chooses to attack a dot hex east of Adak, I’ll move the Judies to Adak and have a field day.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Three flights of Betties went in today against Milne Bay and Woodlark Island, 13, 8 and 9. All misses. That’s at least 69 sorties with no hits. Sheesh. [8|]

Next the bombardment fleet reached Woodlark, composed of 2 BB (Kongos), 4 CA, CL, 4 DD. Two Allied DDs on ASW found them and ran screaming like little girls. Not a good start. I’m reluctant to use the Kongos in surface fleets. Their fast speed and AA makes them a natural to escort KB. Part of the reason I was squirming was because I had these 2 Kongos in a bombardment fleet.

Then, the Dutch sub O19 took a shot at a DD, missed, was prosecuted with no luck there either. At this point I’m thinking that all I did was waste fuel.

Next, the bombardment TF found the lone DD Lamson, teammate to the Nepal, which hit a mine and sank yesterday. She was overwhelmed by shellfire, but not before she put a shell into one of my DDs setting her on fire. My burning DD finally put her down with a Long Lance. It turned out that the DD Ushio’s damage was minor at 9-4(1)-3-0. She’ll be repaired in no time when she returns to Truk.

The bombardment TF then found a TF composed of an AM and 5x LCTs. That TF was destroyed easily. Three of the LCTs were obliterated by 36 cm (14”!) shells. One thing I noticed was that sunk LCTs don’t show up in the sunk ship list nor do they count as victory points. Odd. That’s 7 LCTs that were definitely sunk and they don’t show anywhere. Maybe it’s just coincidence that they aren’t reported yet, but it seems odd.

Finally, the bombardment TF did what their mission said to do, bombard Woodlark. I never knew that a dot hex could take port damage. The 112 Cav took some destroyed and damaged squads and the port took 21% damage. That’ll slow him down a bit. My task force got away free and clear. It’ll make it back to Truk in the next day or two.

Remember the SE Fleet HQ that I had been using to allow some of my base forces to upgrade to DP guns? Well, that fast transport TF (4 CL, 4 DD) just reached Talasea to drop the HQ off there so I could upgrade the 4 Base Force stationed at Gasmata. What I didn’t know was that Ted had some SBDs on naval attack orders and they went after this TF. Since its fast transport, the troops were dropped off, so only the ships were in danger. Two attacks came in, and luckily 15 Japanese fighters on Rabaul CAP came for the party. The first attack was 14 SBDs escorted by 14 Corsairs. Fighters locked into escorting bombers are at a definite disadvantage. I shot down 2 Corsairs and 1 SBD. The remaining bombers went after my fast little ships, and missed them all. The second attack was 15 unescorted SBDs, opposed by 6 Japanese fighters. They shot down 6 Dauntlesses and flak got another. Again, they all missed. Scary and exhilarating all at the same time. The ships will sail to Rabaul until the 4 BF upgrades (hopefully tomorrow). Then I’ll use my air transports (42 total) to move the HQ from Talasea to Rabaul where they can load and move on to the next BF.

So much for the fun stuff. Ted’s bombers came in for a visit next, to Gasmata again. I’m glad he’s putting he effort into Gasmata and not spreading the wealth because he probably could take out more than 1 airfield at a time now. This time, 65x 4E and 4x 2E sorties hit (no Allied loss) adding a bit to the airfield damage. The airfield is already badly damaged now, so that much effort didn’t do much more damage.

Madang’s port was hit again, by the Mitchells and again escorted by P-39Ds. Again I forgot to put fighters at Madang, but I made a note to do it next turn.

I have more evidence to support my theory that something is up here soon. Today I noticed that there were a couple of Allied subs near Rabaul and headed north. I believe they are replacing the subs stationed around Truk that were recently damaged/sunk. I’m pretty sure his intel told him that some carriers are in port at Truk. He wants some cheap shots at carriers coming out of port when he makes his move at Gasmata. They’re still at least a couple of days out from there. Here’s an overall look at my defense of Gasmata:

Two lines of RO subs in the hex rows immediately south of Gasmata, a dozen or more fleet/Glen subs, 200 mines, a midget sub, (almost) level 6 forts, packed with troops, DP guns (soon), 72 Betties (not that they’ve done anything so far), 150 fighters, ~100 army bombers, KB, Combined Fleet. If this isn’t enough, I don’t know what is.

Tomorrow, I am going to send KB1 (Soryu, Ryujo, Shokaku, Zuikaku – 129 Zeros, 54 Vals, 72 Kates) and the fast replenishment fleet south from Truk, just in case Ted tries something. They’ll hide in the Pacific south of Truk, a day’s steam from the north side of New Britain, where they can smash an invasion fleet in relative safety.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

A couple of small air skirmishes were all that happened today. My bombers didn’t fly, probably due to the weather.

Tomorrow everything should be in position to liberate Ramree Island for a second time this war (BB bombardment TF, CA bombardment TF, MKB, subs, 21 Division from the sea, 4 Para Regiment from the air, 100+ IJA bombers (if they decide to fly), 100+ IJA fighters, 36 Betty bombers stationed at Pt. Blair, 36 Zeros each at Pt. Blair and Rangoon). I’m looking for a brigade to station there as a garrison, probably from Kwantung Army. Until it arrives (a couple weeks), I’ll station the 4 Parachute Regiment or an infantry regiment already in Burma at Ramree.

China

My bombers bombed Chengtu and Chungking’s airfields again.

Other Stuff

Kwajalein’s fort reached the magic level 6.
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Mike Solli
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

21 Mar 43

Sub War

The Allied minesweeping TF (now 4 AM and 1 YMS) stayed in Adak from yesterday, determined to sweep some mines. I had a midget sub sitting in the hex, waiting for an opportunity. The Ha-43 took a shot at the AM Bayfield and hit her with both torpedoes! There was nothing left of the Bayfield but a wet spot on the water. Banzai! I learned that I am unable to reload torpedoes so I am transporting another midget sub to Adak and will bring the Ha-43 back to Kwajalein to get rearmed and prepared for another mission.

5 Fleet

My sentai of Oscar IIbs flew a naval attack mission against the Allied minesweeping TF (3 AM and 1 YMS) taking out 2 AM in two separate attacks. Unfortunately, they ran into Allied CAP (3x P-400 and 7x P-40E) and lost 2 to enemy fighters and 1 more to flak. They did, however shoot down all of the P-400s and 3 of the P-40Es. I lost 3 pilots, but all but 2 of the pilots in the sentai have experience ~50/70, so I’m not too concerned about it. The IJAAF currently has 318 fighter pilots in reserve with many more (>200) in training units at or greater than 50/70.

Yeah, these ships are minor and expendable, but it’s showing Ted that I have defenses even in my minor bases. He’s going to need significant force to take Adak.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted rested his planes here today.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted sent his bombers after the hex to the SE of Akyab. I’m not sure why because the Aussie division garrisoning Akyab can’t move directly to that hex. I have there the 10 RF Gun Battalion (18x AT guns). Anyhoo, Ted sent in a total of 145x 2E and 26x 4E sorties in 5 raids, one of which was escorted by 17x P-40Ks. I had a couple dozen fighters in the hex from surrounding bases. When it was all finished, my RF Gun battalion was about 75% disabled (no losses) and I lost 4 fighters (+2 op losses) to Allied losses of 4 fighters, 13x 2E and 3x 4E bombers. That’s 9% bomber losses for no real gain. I love it. [:D]

Ramree Island: My BB bombardment fleet went in, causing an additional 10 points of port damage and, more importantly, 10 hits on port supply. Minor hits were made on the Chindits. I also had 110 Sallies and Helens hit the Chindits as well, causing more minor damage.

Six Nells, escorted by a handful of Tojos, unsuccessfully attacked the CA Dorsetshire at Ramree. A couple of Martlets were defending and one was shot down. MKB was only 6 hexes away, but sent in only 3x Kates. They couldn’t find the target and returned.

It turns out that the fumble of the 21 Division was beneficial. The BB TF did its job and left. Had I sent in the invasion TF, it would be sitting in the hex and the Dorsetshire, along with whatever else was in that TF would have trashed my invasion TF. Dodged a bullet there!

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

The A6M5c R&D advanced to 7/44.

An Allied xAKL was confirmed sunk near Pt. Moresby on 9 Mar 42.
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