I've Made a Huge Mistake - Japan Focus Pacific

[Peever]

December 14-16,1941 Notes

Intelligence Snapshot from 15-Dec-41


-Recent captures: Guam & Brunei


Kriegsmarine: The heavy cruiser Admiral Lutzow arrives. If Rommel can capture Egypt maybe we’ll get some Italian ships in the Pacific as well. [:'(]



Patrol planes found some warships sneaking around Borneo. Went hunting with KB Prime and what do we find but a fleet of Dutch warships. Put some torpedoes in her and sent the fleet running.


Morning Air attack on TF, near Sandakan at 71,88

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 32 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 72
B5N2 Kate x 39

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
BC King Frederick, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
CL Tromp

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
12 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
12 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
Morning Air attack on TF, near Sandakan at 71,88

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 24 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33
D3A1 Val x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
BC King Frederick, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
1 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sandakan at 71,88

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 73 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 112
B5N2 Kate x 112

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 8 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
C.XI-W: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Tromp
BC King Frederick, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Merapi, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Banckert
CLAA Eenhoorn
DD Piet Hein

Aircraft Attacking:
18 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
27 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
22 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
24 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
20 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

China:
Hong Kong falls. Now to send the troops to take the French port. Also have troops moving in on Chuhsien then on to Wenchow so secure the area.





Another Dutch fleet bombards the newly taken base of Jolo. Already sunk one Dutch battlecruiser now it looks like I get to sink another one.

Night Naval bombardment of Jolo at 74,90

Allied Ships
BC King William
CL De Ruyter
CL Java
CLAA Graaf Willem

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 22
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 4

Boise takes a torpedo traveling through the straits.



Capital ship losses as of mid December. Looks a little light without all those battleships from a Pearl Harbor strike. With so many Japanese carriers I’m wondering how much of a fight the Allied fleets will put up? They do have quite a bit of fighter cover so they may stay under their protection now that the Dutch have lost a battlecruiser trying to raid outside of Allied fighter coverage.

[paradigmblue]

Yikes, your opponent is gutsy having those Battlecruisers so far from their major airbases. I think you may be right - I don't think the King William is long for this world.

An adjustment that an allied player has to make in Focus Pacific is just how dominant the Japanese player can be with their Naval Airpower early game - especially if the Japanese player goes after Manilla with the KB. While the allied player starts with more carriers as well, they are not nearly as useful early on as the additional carriers are for the Japanese player, and they are out of position to do anything useful.

I think that allied players sometimes see all of the additional ships they get in Focus Pacific and think that will allow them to compete symmetrically with the Japanese. That kind of thinking is a trap. The additional allied surface forces give them more options than in stock for raiding and support, but they still can't compete in a stand-up fight until much later.

[Bif1961]

Lutzow Icon is a little off displaying a Japanese Heavy Cruiser. Lutzow is listed as a CB but better called and Armored Cruiser.

[anarchyintheuk]

The 11.1s are light on range as well.

[Revthought]

ORIGINAL: paradigmblue

Yikes, your opponent is gutsy having those Battlecruisers so far from their major airbases. I think you may be right - I don't think the King William is long for this world.

An adjustment that an allied player has to make in Focus Pacific is just how dominant the Japanese player can be with their Naval Airpower early game - especially if the Japanese player goes after Manilla with the KB. While the allied player starts with more carriers as well, they are not nearly as useful early on as the additional carriers are for the Japanese player, and they are out of position to do anything useful.

I think that allied players sometimes see all of the additional ships they get in Focus Pacific and think that will allow them to compete symmetrically with the Japanese. That kind of thinking is a trap. The additional allied surface forces give them more options than in stock for raiding and support, but they still can't compete in a stand-up fight until much later.

As an Allied player, though never of Focus Pacific, I take a totally different approach to the early game than you are suggesting. My philosophy is that there is no use hiding your surface forces from danger. Even if the Japanese player sinks every major surface vessel you own, and you sink nothing in return, as the Allied player you will eventually have overwhelming power.

By being willing to take risks with your surface forces you can accomplish quite a bit.

*Keep the Japanese player honest by making him be sure he has every invasion he launches covered
*Slow down/disrupt the tempo of the Japanese advance
*Make the Japanese player disperse his forces
*If you get lucky, you can really hurt a Japanese invasion fleet
*You will hurt him more than he hurts you in the big picture. I'll trade two or Battleships for two Japanese CAs any day. The Japanese surface forces are, by-in-large, irreplaceable, the Allied players are not.

Given all that, I think it is a bit early to make a judgement on whether or not the Allied player is being too aggressive.

[Peever]

After the initial flurry of activity to get the game started my uncle and I have had to get back to other things in life beside playing this game so the turns have slowed down considerably. The goal will be at least three turns per week.

Around the Pacific things are slowing down as the initial wave of invasions are done and now things are shifting to the second round.

Wake Island:
Wake is covered in blood and whoever is left standing will have won a pyrrhic victory at best. Both sides have launched attacks on each other without success. Our forces are tired, hungry, and low on ammo. I really don't want to have to send more troops here but I don't want the Allies using it as FOB into the heart of the Pacific. I'll have to at least send a fleet of CM ships to mine the hell out of the waters to prevent or hurt any Allied relief effort.

Truk:
Waiting on some CV's and a few more transports to begin the invasion of New Britain. The Australians have a bunch of patrol planes stationed in Rabaul and Port Morseby there won't be any way to hide the incoming invasion. Will the Allies contest the landings?

DEI/Philippines:

*Another sub caught the injured Boise sailing into Soerabaja and put another torpedo into her. If that didn't finish her off then she'll at least be in drydock for awhile.

*KB Prime has bombed the hell out of the Allied airfields in the Southern Philippines and Tarakan. This seems to have put an end to those pesky Marine aircraft from attacking my ships. Also caught and sank a fleet of transports that appeared to be fleeing with fuel as there were a bunch of messages of "burning cargo" after scoring hits.

*The landings at Kuching have gone poorly. Seems that most of the infantry didn't make it to shore. Diverting the Singkawang invasion division to take Kuching.

*Continuing to tighten the vice on Luzon. There are no longer any US fighters in the skies here so it seems the US has pulled out what they can save.

Malaya:

Looks like everyone has fled down to Singapore. Recon flights show no allied troops except for a small force in George Town and that base just north of Singapore (I forget the name). There is a whole host of fighters in the skies above Singapore though. British, Australian, and French planes patrol the area in very large numbers. Singapore is going to be costly to take. Any bombing of the city will have to be done at night until their fighters have been crippled.

Russian Front:

* Russian subs continue to be a pain in the butt. They are all over Japan and outside of the northern ports that I'm using.

On Sakhalin island the Russians have started bombing Shikuka port. The base has no aviation support so I have no fighters there yet until I get a base force unit there, if they can make it through all the subs. The good news is the Russians have no skill what so ever. Forty bombers come in and do 1 point of port damage. Maybe I don't need any CAP over the base after all. I'm all for him using his bombers causing superficial damage instead of attacking my troops or airfields along the main border.

The first Japanese troops have reached the Russian forts along the border near Vladivostok. With luck I can draw some troops out from their bases and attack them piecemeal and be able to rush right in. Otherwise they will provide a nice diversion and keep them focused away from other areas of attack further north near Chita.

[Peever]

Minor Update:

First battles along the forts of the Russian border. Some more troops including artillery units are on the way to assist.

Ground combat at 111,45 (near Vladivostok)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11367 troops, 60 guns, 309 vehicles, Assault Value = 551

Defending force 3170 troops, 120 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Japanese adjusted assault: 389

Allied adjusted defense: 394

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
74 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
60 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled


In a last ditch effort the men at Wake fixed bayonets and charged for the glory of the Empire. Japan has suffered its first defeat of the war.

Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1909 troops, 33 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 31

Defending force 4568 troops, 84 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 62

Japanese adjusted assault: 0

Allied adjusted defense: 57

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
391 casualties reported
Squads: 59 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 19 (11 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
Maizuru 2nd SNLF
53rd Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
Wake USN CPNAB
1st Marine Defense Battalion


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

Maizuru 2nd SNLF Wiped Out at Wake Island by attrition!!!

53rd Naval Guard Unit Wiped Out at Wake Island by attrition!!!

[Peever]

Late December 1941

House Rules:
China: An issue came up regarding the French air assets and their starting locations in China. We have agreed that only the historical groups, The Flying Tigers, are the only Allied (non-Chinese) air groups that can operate in China freely. Allied nations must have their own air support to operate from Chinese bases. Air groups are allowed to transfer from bases freely using Chinese air support but they cannot perform missions.
This is to represent the logistical problems and inadequacy of China’s air forces/industrial capacity, and their inability to support a wide range of foreign aircraft and to be able to properly arm and maintain them.

House Rule Violation in Russia:
There was an unintentional rule violation when the Soviets auto-occupied Fuchin. The Russians are not allowed beyond starting borders until the situation is Europe has been stabilized. Thankfully the base is nothing but a size one airfield so it’s no big deal. I’ll just have to send a unit to occupy it to prevent this from happening again.


Russia:
Looks like I pulled some more troops out of their bases. Now can I destroy them piecemeal or will I end up taking too many losses?


In the skies above the battlefield there was some heavy air combat. Both sides sending in bombers and fighters. My fighters were outnumbered and took a beating but the bombers escaped unharmed. The Russian planes may be outdated but so far they are putting up greater numbers. As long as the Russian bombers continue to be completely inept at hitting their targets I’m not worried.

Southeast:
The Rabaul invasion force is finally on its way.

DEI:
North Borneo is secure except for Jesselton. Have some troops marching there from a neighboring base. A Tarakan invasion force is embarking on their ships now and will sail in a day or two. The Kuching follow-up force should be hitting the beaches to save the understrength original assault. KB Prime is also in the area and will bomb the beaches hard before the troops land and then sail to join the Invasion of Tarakan. The Dutch have attempted to attack Miri by air with no success. The Zeroes stationed there have shot down most of the bombers and the few that got through did no damage to either port or ships.

Malaya:
The Allies have finally started flying bombers out of Singapore. They have started hitting my airfields on the northern end of the peninsula with some success. The Oscars and Nicks didn’t do a great job of shooting them down and they did manage to put some holes in the runways.

Japanese subs:
Have hit some transports around US Samoa, Tahiti, Pearl Harbor, and off the West Coast. I have some stationed in Alaska, Indian Ocean, and around Australia but no reports from them yet.

Econ:
As 1941 comes to a close I’m going to need to take a major examination of the Japanese econ. It’s been about a week (game time) since I loaded a turn into tracker. Need to see how the massive resource drain is holding up. I noticed my vehicle pool has dropped to 170. I think it starts at around 1,000. With war on every front I’ll no doubt have to crank up production even higher than it is now and possible convert some smaller arms factories over to vehicles.

[Peever]

It’s time to stop picking berries and start chopping vines.

I’ve realized I’m starting to follow the same script I had when during my practice game as Japan a few months ago. Going slow from base to base. This was fine at the time because it was only to get some sort of grasp as how to play Japan before an actual game. Now though I’m realizing I’m wasting too much time taking/planning for non-essential basses when I need to be striking hard at the important targets.
Here then is Operation Ballpark: The Invasion of Palembang and Sumatra. The European navies have a decent collection of surface forces and even some carriers. After sinking of the Dutch battlecruiser they have not ventured outside of their own air cover. Perhaps I can get into a decisive battle by diving into their terroritory. British Force Z has not been spotted, the United States still have light crusiers and destroyers in the area so now is the time to go in and see if they will come out to play.



Here are the early plans for naval and air assets to take part.


I’m going to start gathering forces and organizing things for this operation. For the invasion of Tobali I’ll be brining some second line SNLF troops out of China since they will be at the extreme end of the invasion and the most likely to encounter surface ships. They will also act as bait to lure the Allies out.

[ny59giants]

Random thoughts from another relatively novice Japanese player, but playing with RHS:

I am using PP to buy out the SNLF troops from China to be used elsewhere.

Use warships for Fast Transport TF

I hope you converted some of the Akasi, Ehime, and/or Toho Class xAKs to xAK-t (increased troop capacity) to speed up conquest.

Lima Class xAKs go to AKEs (about 6 to 8) at start

Have you decided on IJN and IJA transport planes?? Maybe two for each service.

Vehicles - I've increased production to 225 myself, but RHS has extra tank divisions and tank brigades.

Mr Tojo should be a priority for R&D for '42. You need them yesterday!!

[Peever]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Random Thoughts

Thanks for the reminder on fast transports. I keep forgetting that. I have made some conversions for AKEs. I'm not too pressed for troop transports as Japan starts out with a bunch of extra transports. I have upped vehicle production to just over 180, will continue to increase as needed. After sending the latest turn I just realized I forgot again to increase the shipyards. Need to remember to do that first on the next turn.

I have not given much thought as to the transport planes yet as Japan receives some for free in this mod. Lets see according to my records:
IJN receives 5 free L3Y2-Tinas each month while
IJA receives 15 MC-21 Sally & 5 Ki-56 Thalia each month. I also have 6 Topsy planes in production as well.


One Final update on the game for a few days:

December 25/26

DEI:
Kuching hit hard by bombardment fleet to disrupted the British/Indian forces there. The following morning the 4th Guards launch a full scale attack to take the base and succeeded. I hate having to bring an entire division to take some of these bases but they are better prepared than original expectations.

Some Dutch planes attempted to strike at the landing ships but they were caught by KB Prime’s fighter CAP and fully destroyed. In preparation for Operation Ballpark, KB Prime is shutting down Dutch airfields on Borneo. The Dutch will still be able to get float planes up and search the seas but they shouldn’t be able to launch any more attacks from ground based aircraft. On December 26 KB Prime rained fire down on Singkawang.



Afternoon Air attack on Singkawang , at 56,88

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 126
B5N2 Kate x 152
D3A1 Val x 126

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 13 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
139WH-3: 31 damaged
139WH-3: 4 destroyed on ground
B-339D: 39 damaged
B-339D: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 27
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 94

That should put an end to these annoying air raids over Miri and Kuching.

Marcus Island:

The Japanese costal watchers stationed on Marcus Island report several USN carrier aircraft flying over the island! Several planes flew over the island coming in multiple directions. Intelligence estimates 2 or more carrier fleets in operations around the island.



More troubling news is that a small Japanese convoy carrying some recourses from Ocean Island and escorting some damaged ships back to Japan are in the area. Their original route had them sailing right where the US carriers are located. They are being rerouted to the Marianas Islands, but it may already be too late.
With the failure to capture Wake Island I knew this was a possibility, just not this soon. Further intelligence analysis suggests that these fleets must have departed before the battle of Wake Island had ended. They were no doubt hoping catch any attempt to send additional forces to Wake by surprise.
I need to get recon flights over Wake right away. I must assume that those carriers were covering an American relief effort for Wake and that the island is now resupplied and possibly reinforced with additional troops.

[Peever]

I’ve started another War in the Pacific. But this one on paper! So I recently got into board games and now have a new hobby. I’ve got a copy of Empire of the Sun on the way but to get ready I’m learning the system by playing the War Plan Orange mini game.

Back on topic…

Econ Update

I have slowed the resource drain but not reversed it yet. At the start of the war economic estimates indicated a 21 day supply of resources were available on the Home Islands. As of December 26 that reserve now sits at 18 days. So the imports from the northern islands, Korea, and Formosa are helping, but more ships will be needed to bring more resources.

Oil and fuel reserves continue to fall as expected. Now that bases in the DEI are being taken and with the upcoming operation to secure Sumatra this situation should be solved within a few months.

In aircraft production the go ahead has been given to start the production of a four engine bomber for the IJN. The “Liz” has entered a limited production. Right now at four planes but this will be expanded along with the required engines to get production up to 20 a month. By late spring or early summer the Liz should be in significant numbers to enter service.

With the destruction of the submarine fleet at Manila on December 8, the primary obstacle to getting more resources has been the near constant harassment by Russian subs. Some US subs have arrived off the home waters but the Russian subs are in much greater numbers than anticipated. Over twenty transports have been lost on convoy duty. That is more than one a day. It is imperative that the army seize Vladivostok as soon as possible.

Southeast Pacific:
Invasion of Rabaul has begun. Should fall shortly

Malaya:
Night bombing of Singapore airfields has begun. Not inflicting much damage. In the north Georgetown was taken. Marching everyone south now.

Pacific: Marcus Island under air attack. Minor damage reported. Looks like the USN came out for a Hit ‘n Run. The small convoy seems to have escaped destruction.

Tarakan: Coastal guns packing a punch here. Had to scuttle a transport that was burning out of control. Sending in KB for massive ground attack and with luck take out some of the coastal defenses.
Pre-Invasion action off Tarakan (67,91) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

329 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. They seem to have a decent number of 75mm and 120mm guns there.

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano, Shell hits 5
CA Mogami, Shell hits 12 (Not nice)
CL Sendai, Shell hits 6
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Usugumo, Shell hits 2
xAK Asosan Maru, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage (had to scuttle the next day)
DD Murakumo
xAK Awazisan Maru, Shell hits 15, on fire
xAP Brazil Maru, Shell hits 6
TB Kari
PB Sozan Maru
APD -104

Japanese ground losses:
202 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Kuril Islands:
Float planes spotted over Ketoi-jima! One report of a torpedo bomber as well. These islands are not prepped to deal with any situation from the Allies. The only base that has troops is the fortress on Paramushiro-jima. They don’t have an airfield though so only float planes can be stationed there. By not having any there I have no eyes as to what may be coming from Alaska. My subs around Dutch Harbor saw no ships. This is most embarrassing.



Turns out it was some Battleships getting some training in by bombarding any empty island.
Night Naval bombardment of Ketoi-jima at 134,50

Allied Ships
BB California
BB West Virginia
CL St. Louis

Port hits 10
Port supply hits 1

BB California firing at Ketoi-jima
BB West Virginia firing at Ketoi-jima
CL St. Louis firing at Ketoi-jima

[1EyedJacks]

Meep-meep!

[Peever]

ORIGINAL: 1EyedJacks

Meep-meep!

Had to look that place up. Only 168 people live there. I bet I could get elected mayor on name alone. One day when I'm really, really, really, really, really, really bored I'll head out there and see it for myself. Google tells me its only a six hour drive so I could get there and back home over a weekend.

[Peever]

Around the Pacific
January 1, 1942

Gilbert Islands/East Pacific:



Just received some ENG reinforcements scattered through the Marshall Islands. This will allow for some expansion to the Ellice Islands and Baker Island. With these new small aviation units some bases can be set-up to house float planes for recon and patrol. Canton Island is home to some PBY planes and I believe the base might have received some more troops or it just started more than it does in stock.

Southeast Pacific:



Rabaul took a lot of damage during some shore bombardment so it will take some work to get back up to full strength. Airfields are being built on Kavieng and Manus. Getting these built up now because someday there will be a lot of fighting in this area. Have some SNLF troops coming from Nauru Island to take Tulagi before the Allies get any ideas of getting to Guadalcanal before I do.

On New Guinea I finally have some troops taking the string of bases on the North Side. There are troops that will be coming from Truk to take Madang as well and another force to take Gasmata and trap the Australians that escaped from Rabaul.
The Allies seem to be using Horn Island and Port Moresby as their primary airfields. They have a lot of patrol planes flying in the region. There are some small pockets of troops around Lae but no working airfields.

Philippines:



The easy parts of Luzon have been taken. Just took Clark Field and have an Air HQ plus ENG marching there now. Will be primary base for hitting Manila and Bataan. Those two locations are the primary holdouts on the Island. I’m going to take out Manila first then assault Bataan.
The Invasion of Mindanao has begun. A small force of recon troops and aviation detachment has landed at Dadiangas. The large force is in final assembly at Babeldaob. They will land at Davao, then seize the rest of the island. The rest of the Americans situated around; Panay, Cebu, Leyte can starve until more important bases in the DEI are taken.


Southwest Pacific:



Sarawak, North Borneo, and Tarakan have all been captured by now. The invasion of Tarakan was a little bloodier than I expected. The Dutch have much better naval guns than had been originally expected there. Five Aks were sunk, one CA with moderate damage, one DD with moderate damage, and several more AKs were damaged during the invasion. For future landings more capital ships will go in with the landings. Some BCs are being detached from Japan to assist with this. There will also need to be more airstrikes on the ground troops to try and knockout the coastal guns.
A division is marching overland from Kuching towards Singkawang. KB is attacking the airfields around Balikpapan. The Dutch have about 50 fighters as cap over there right now.

On Malaya I’m slowly walking down the peninsula towards Singapore. Have plenty of engineers going with the troops to build airfields along the way because there will be a lot of fighting in the skies over Singapore. One the western side there are tanks leading the way to capture the bases so that most of the infantry and engineers can take the train instead of having to march.


Burma:



Troops just arrived at Tavoy and will take it. They will then hustle to join the rest of the army. The Rangoon force is marching onto Moulmein. That should be an easy fight. Then its onto Pegu. I’ve sent some fighters to see what’s over Rangoon and they have a good number of troops as well as CAP. So some ENG are following up the army to build airfields in Moulmein/Pegu.


Southern China:



Heavy fighting around the Chusien area. I have troops converging from three sides all engaged in combat. Looks the all the Chinese forces are trying to escape from Wenchow/Chusien.

I had some troops divert from their original plan of taking Pakhoi and attempt an assault on Nanning. They got slaughtered and had to retreat. The assault on Kwangchowan is way behind schedule as I forgot about that operation. Shameful I know. The troops marked for that operation got lost in the shuffle at Canton. Recent recon flights over the French base show that there are fewer troops and much fewer aircraft. Looks like the French escaped while I was negligent.

Personal Thoughts:

This past week I’ve been too distracted by playing the board games Empire of the Sun and Old School tactical. My turns in Focus Pacific have suffered as I’ve been going through them too quickly and missing/forgetting to do things. I have created a better Excel sheet to keep track of troops and operations to help me as things go forward. As a long time Allied player I’m so used to the game being on autopilot at this point. By now I would have gotten out what I could and just be working on creating convoys and letting the AI do its thing for the next few months. Playing as Japan is SO much more involved than I thought. Trying to expand on so many front simultaneously is hard work for this Japanese newbie.

[Peever]

Just as I'm getting the last ships loaded to head to their staging grounds for the 1st major offensives of 1942 I get word that Allied HQ is moving. My opponent will be moving and so our game will be greatly slowing down and then stopping for awhile. We will get what we can done this week but then things will really slow down until sometime in September it looks like.

In the DEI I have almost all the troops at their staging areas prepping for Operation Ballpark as well as a simultaneous invasion of Balikpapan. I have one last division just loading in Japan now so once it reaches Cam Rahn Bay then it will be time to load everyone up and get the show on the road.

In the Northern front I'm also unloading some divisions and artillery in Shikuka. Then I hope to have enough troops to seize the rest of Sakhalin Island.

On the Vladivostok front the Imperial Japanese Army have destroyed one border fortress and another one nearly destroyed. The Russians seem to have decided to make their stand in the bases instead of along the border. Meanwhile in Mongolia an army has marched from Hailar and is about to cross the border to attack Choybalsan. Will this draw troops away from Vladivostok? If if doesn't then the army will keep marching north and take Chita cutting the rail link along with Vladivostok and the coast off from the rest of Russia.

[Peever]

Time to short the Japanese housing market?

Econ woes:

Despite increased convoys Japan's resource shortages continue and now are coming close to the precipice of disaster. The home islands have fallen to a less than two week supply of resources.



This line shoes the shortage of over 238k tons of resources that Japan needs or about a 13 day supply give or take a day. The last number on the line shows the current amount stored in convoys which is just over a day's supply. The problem of course is the amount stored in shipping does not equal the amount unloading into Japanese harbors just what is currently stored on ships throughout the entire Pacific.

The good news is that there is theoretically enough resources close to Japan to support her needs.



The highlighted regions are all close to Japan and have enough of a daily surplus to meet the needs of the hungry hungry hippos that are the Japanese factories. The question is do I have the sipping capability to get all those resources in on a daily basis to actually start building a surplus of resources?

I'm going to implement emergency procedures to try and get around this shortage. Any transport ship that is not earmarked for an upcoming invasion is going to be pressed into convoy duty. The resource drain must be stopped now or this war is over.

This of course will have a number of additional problems. Fuel usage will surge now and most of the escorts are on the way to the DEI to cover the invasion fleets.

I know that future updates to this mod have/will be tweaking the industry but I don't believe those types of changes will do anything for a game in progress.

[HansBolter]

Small bit of advice from an old boardgame grognard:

The dog ears on your unit counters will drive you nuts, catching on adjacent stacks every time you attempt a move.

I used to painstakingly trim them with an x-acto knife (try doing that for a Fire in the East/Scorched Earth) until some one clued me in to the perfect tool: nail clippers!

You'll wear out the clippers quickly but the convenience compared to knife cutting is over the top.

[Peever]

Major Economic Live Journal Post Incoming:

Running the numbers:

So in this mod Japan needs ~240k tons of resources per day. If we split that up, we get 6 convoys of 40k tons each.
Japanese ports: Here we’ll look at the most reasonable ports for the start of the game. (These numbers based on my current game situation)

North:
Port Ominato: Shipping capacity of 60k but load/unload at 36k tons (Already too small. Will need to expand to meet the basic convoy size.)
Port Hirosaki (to the left of Ominato) Shipping cap of 84k and unload rate of 48k. (Good).
So in the north we have two good ports that can handle a 40k convoy every day.

Southern Ports (Kyushu)
Fukuoka has ship cap of 196 and unload of 84k. Great. Can fit two convoys
Shimonoseki (to the right on Honshu) and big port with unload of 78k.
Nagasaki comes in at 60k unload rate. Decent. Can expand for more.

Totals then become:
North has 2 ports that can handle 2 or three convoys.
South has 3 ports that can handle 4 or 5 convoys.
This gives me at least 6 spots for the basic 40k convoy. Great.

But what about the resource points?
On Hokkaido in the north we have: Daily surplus of +80k of resources
Hakodate with a loading cap of 48k. Great location.
Sapporo has a current cap of 36k but the port can be expanded and it’s not too far from Ominato.

On Sakhalin: Daily surplus of +35k of resource
Shikuka has a loading cap of 24k at size 4 port. Can upgrade to size 9 max so it will be great in the future.
Toyohara is a little closer but smaller port. Max size can get up to 4. Current loading cap at 12K. Not good enough for primary convoy.
So without taking any Russian bases on this island in theory the port at Shikuka could be built to load the entire surplus of the islands resources every day.

Korea/Manchukuo
Fusan: Current loading cap at 60k. Port size has max of 8. So can get one basic and a smaller convoy every day.
Keijo: At max port size of 6. Loading cap of 48k so good enough for standard convoy.

Port Arthur: At max size of 9. Loading cap at 78k again good for one full convoy and additional smaller one.

So Korea/Manchukuo has a loading capacity for roughly 3 standard convoys plus some additional ones. So three standard convoys would load 120k of resources but according to tracker Korea and Manchukuo only have a surplus of 108,230 of resources. Not good! Now if these ports are pulling resources from China by rail into these regions then everything should be good because China has over 30k of surplus resources right now. Whatever doesn’t come by rail can be taken from Shanghai harbor.
So looking at ports in it seems plausible that there are enough ports and resources in the region to handle the massive resource needs. Now how about the ships? How many convoys will be needed to ensure that 240k resources are unloaded every day? How many days to sail from Port Arthur, Keijo, and Shikuka to Japan?

Is your head spinning because my sure as heck is?!

Obviously we start with 12 convoys so that every day one is loading/unloading in their respective ports. Then depending on what collection point they go to will need to have several in transit at all times so again EVERY SINGLE DAY 6, 40K convoys are unloading into the harbors of Japan.

If it takes 5 days of transit to get from Port Arthur to Japan, then we need at least 10-12 convoys on that route to ensure there is always one loading and unloading. So that’s what ~50 AKs for that one route alone?
So Port Arthur, Keijo, and Shikuka all together could be 130+ AKs just for resource convoys. Add in the other ports and its easily over 150 and pushing 200 AKs or more for resource convoys. And all this only gets you 240K of resources and Japan requires ~238K. A 2K surplus every day only leaves you with a yearly growth of 730K resources by the end of 1942!

Now all these convoys need fuel, and escorts or the subs will destroy them.

Comparing all this to a stock game it looks to me that Japan starts at roughly an 80K shortage of resources. That seems like a more manageable task than 240K.

Now I don’t have numbers to compare these convoy stats too and I’m too inexperienced as a Japanese player to know how reasonable all this is, but it seems very hard to achieve a decent resource storage at this rate. Theoretically this seems possible but very hard and there are some major kinks to work out.

For starters not all the harbors are of the right size to properly load and unload the convoys. Second is the fuel drain all these will have and the escorts they need. I should also mention all these ships are for resources only and Japan still needs to ship fuel, oil, supplies, troops, and planes all around the Pacific too.

Exporting some data from Tracker to Excel it looks like I have 840 ships with cargo capacity of greater than 2.5K with around 1,100 AK/AKLs in total. At any one time a third of all AKs will be assigned solely for resources convoys just to meet the basic requirements.

If they use an average of 4.5 fuel per hex then we are looking at what? I’m thinking something like 3,375 points of fuel for 50 AKs on the PA to Japan run being used every day (not counting the escorts). Add that to Japan’s basic fuel deficit and now we have a shortage of just under 10K points of fuel for just that one convoy and the needs of the country. If the other long convoys (Keijo and Shikuka) use similar ammounts then we have a total fuel deficit of…~20K points per day or greater JUST for resource convoys and the HI needs.

I don’t like this situation. I know Japan is supposed to be in a deficit as that was the crux of the war but right now this mod puts it up to the extreme no? If the resource drain was double that of stock then ok, it will be tough but doable. At 3x the drain though it seems to really put Japan in a vice. I may have screwed myself by not getting the jump on this right away on the first turn.

I’ve made a huge mistake.

[Andav]

+1 to what Hans said. Clip your counters. It will make your life easier. As an ASL player, I know it really reduces the chances of knocking over stacks.

As for shipping resources, make judicious use of the "Do not Refuel" and Cruise speed settings. You will want to manage convoy fuel consumption very closely. If pulling from Fusan and Sapporo, you should be able to have some bombers on ASW to help keep the subs in check. Just one PB is good enough escort in the early war for these short runs. Most US subs are only a problem on the surface. You will loath British and Dutch subs by the end of the game. They should be busy else where in January 42.

Wa