War across the Atlantic - Smeulders (Allies) vs. SqzMyLemon (Japan)

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Smeulders
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War across the Atlantic - Smeulders (Allies) vs. SqzMyLemon (Japan)

Post by Smeulders »

In Belgium we have a saying 'the best skippers stand ashore'. That's kind off what I've been doing in all or your threads lately, commenting on what you should do, but not doing anything myself. The time to remedy that has come and I will be starting my first PBEM and AAR. My opponent is SqzMyLemon, a friendly Canadian who has graciously offered to take the Japanese side in this battle of the newbies.

It's a scenario 1 game, historical first turn, PDU off with 1 day turn cycles.
House rules are the standard ones,
PP's for Manchuko units
No naval bombing under 10,000 feet
No strategic bombing in China

I'll now give my opponent the chance to say a word and then this thread will become the place for all the sneaky plans, great victories and shameful defeats of the allied forces. I hope you all enjoy it.
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LoBaron
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RE: War across the Atlantic - Smeulders (Allies) vs. SqzMyLemon (Japan)

Post by LoBaron »

Good luck Smeulders (and to SqzMyLemon too)!
 
Watching all this AAR´s showing up i feel a slight pressure to start the PBEM i plan with Rob Brennan but im more the
slow and careful type, colleccting a bit more experience and i want to wait for the next patch anyway (did anybody say chicken?? [:'(])
 
anyways, as always, high respect for anybody who crosses the bridge to fight a biological brain. [&o]
 
im sure my time will come.
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RE: War across the Atlantic - Smeulders (Allies) vs. SqzMyLemon (Japan)

Post by SqzMyLemon »

Popping in to say hello and add my 2 cents worth before I'm no longer welcome, which will be right after this post sadly. I've got two PBEM's started now both as the Japanese, nothing like jumping in feet first they say. However my game with Smeulders will be my first ever attempt at an AAR as well. I'm really looking forward to playing this matchup, but feel a little intimidated by my opponent. I've followed his posts on many of the topics and I think he understands the mechanics of the game much better than myself, so I've my work cut out for me. My main goal is to try and make it challenging regardless. A little overwhelmed by the sheer complexities of the Japanese situation, but no better way to learn than by my mistakes [:D]

Good luck Smeulders and have fun.

I'll start my AAR in a few days once I get things sorted out and some objectives in mind, right now it's sort of like "you guys go there and see what happens."

Feel free to pop over anytime and see the dark side. Input on game mechanics, advice, or just to see how things are going are welcome and appreciated as long as neither thread gets compromised. Hope you all enjoy the matchup.
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
Smeulders
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7/12 : Tennesee and a midget sub

Post by Smeulders »

Tennessee and a midget sub were the two ships that kicked off the war. The little thing actually managed to get into Pearl and torpedo the BB. That sort of thing of course isn't supposed to happen and his failure to sink a single capital ship in PH and hit force Z seemed to even out the karma. There were a a couple of worrying sights though, nearly all BB got more then 2 torpedoes in them, so I figured I'd lose one or two and quite a bit of the cruisers shared in the blows. The actual turn brought a disillusionment.

Image

This was what I found in Pearl, Nevada and Helena already sunk, Tennessee and Pennsylvania will likely follow. On the other side of the pacific the disappointment was even greater, force Z didn't need to be turned around, it was already heading to Singapore as an escort TF. Repulse was sunk and POW  is at 7/50/23. She'll go to Singapore to get her minor damaged patched, which should bring her up to 0/44/12, she'll then head to Colombo and Cape Town. I hope that the 44 float won't be too much of a gamble, but I don't want her to stay in Singapore too long.

One last bit of damage reporting, the PH airforce and it's base. Runway damage is up to 70, but I'm thinking that'll be repaired enough for my CAP to fly tomorrow. If it isn't and he attacks again, I'm in big trouble as I chose to keep the fleet in PH. The PH airforce took quite a pounding, loses are 31! catalinas, 8 Mohawks, 25 P-40B, 6 havocs and 12 fortress D/E.
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RE: 7/12 : Tennesee and a midget sub

Post by Canoerebel »

Good luck, Smeulders!  As a fellow Allied commander, I wish you and your guys success, honor, and victory!
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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The plans : Philippines

Post by Smeulders »

The plans : Philippines

My defence in the Philippines will be inspired by the Australians from World Defence. They've proven that overeager Japanese forces can be punished. To do so I'll keep a screen of Philippine divisions in the clear hexes Northeast of Clark and Manilla, bad defensive terrain, but therefore good terrain for counterattacks. They can be quickly reinforced by the tank battalions and some other light forces if opposition is light, else they'll fall back. South of Manilla there will also be small screening forces. The last stand will be at Bataan, good defensive terrain and it's good for delaying your opponent as it takes him quite some time to walk his forces in and out.

PT boats will be attacking landing forces and maybe the DDs will sortie if opposition seems light, otherwise they'll join naval forces near Java. The evacuation of ships will start once I know where the Ryuyo is. I am already experimenting with sending xAKL on very short trips that they can make during the night and auto-disbanding them to keep them from being attacked by carrier planes on naval attack.

The air force will try to hold out as long as possible, but has taken pretty serious damage already. The P-40E at Iba squadron is out of it, with only 2 active planes, though it does have 17 damaged ones, I hope they get repaired quickly. CAP is at 15000 feet, that should be high enough. In case it all goes downhill too fast, I'll withdraw the P-40E squadrons to fill out the squadrons destined for Australia.

Canoerebel : Thanks for the encouragement
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Smeulders
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8/12: The war has just begun

Post by Smeulders »

Damage Control
As expected, the Pennsylvania and Tennessee sunk, bringing the casualty bill from PH up to 3 BB, 1 CL, 1 AV and an AM, could be worse.
There are no more ships on fire, so the rest at least shouldn't sink.

POW made it to Singapore, but not before being attacked by a night naval strike. No hits, but Lemon did get a report that she was heavily damaged. Minor damage should be repaired in 10 days time at pierside.

Philippines
The air force is taking a pounding, no less then 12 P-40E were lost over Manilla today. I'm going to bump up Cap hight and see what it gives. Congrats to FO Daley though, he gained 2 kills on his first ever mission over Clark.
We may have lost track of Ryuyo, there is an unidentified TF some 400 miles to the east of Mindanao, I'm guessing that's her. Likely action is that she'll go into the Celebes sea to cut off retreating merchants.

Malaya
Many naval attacks go in against Khota Baru, unfortunately without fighter cover, leading to high losses. Large bombing raids are mounted against Georgetown airfield.


The pacific
Second day strikes against PH, but only by a couple of Zero squadrons. My opponent is saying they were launched by mistake, they only ran into light CAP as the field is still heavily damaged and many planes are being repaired.

An opportunity may have presented itself here. Our recon planes have sighted a TF some 200 miles west from Midway, believed to be the opponents oilers. I am guessing they are heading for Truk, but will only later turn southwest to stay away from our carriers. Lexington will be sent straight North, were she may intercept this TF and maybe sink a couple of these valuable ships. KB is believed to be outside of striking range, though not on the overview map TFs are sighted some 300 miles west from PH. The danger is that the KB has been split up, with some going Nortwest to protect the oilers and some heading straight for Truk (This is also the reason I believe the oilers to be making for Truk) . If I have missed the first group, they may be closer then I think.

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Smeulders
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Succes ! Well, sort of....

Post by Smeulders »

Short update : the plan worked perfectly, my carrier came within striking distance during the AM phase and would still have been close enough in the PM phase to launch additional attacks. Unfortunately, it seems that there are 2 support groups travelling behind the KB. One with 5 or 6 fast oilers and one with a single slow one, guess which one I attacked. Still, it's nice to see a plan work and one oiler less is always good. More updates once I get the turn.
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Smeulders
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9/12/41 First kills

Post by Smeulders »

A typical start of the game turn today, landings in the Philippine start

SUBS

A mention in the dispatches for the KXI, this Dutch sub tried twice yesterday but today succeeded in sinking the first Japanese vessel of the war, DMS W-3, she's hurt quite badly in return but will make it.
Sargo hit an xAK of Vigan
Multiple attacks from various other subs North of the Philippines.
I-10 sunk a large xAK near Fiji, I hadn't expected subs there yet, so the convoy was unescorted.

Philippines
Landings started today near Vigan and Aparri. The British MTB tried to attack transports at Vigan but had to retreat when confronted with a large DD force. A similiar force is also at Aparri, making work dangerous for my subs.
Lots of sweeps, but the loss ratio is good for the moment. No attacks on fleeing shipping as of yet, but I have lost track of Ryuyo.

Malaya
Fighters sweeps, buffaloes seem to be holding there own at the moment against the Nates

Pacific
As mentioned in my previous post, dive bombers from Lexington are the first Americans to sink enemy shipping.
A TF is sighted somewhat West of the French Frigate shoals, it might be KB or the oilers, to be on the safe side Lex will start a high speed run to stay well clear of it.


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The plans: Malaya

Post by Smeulders »

The plans : Malaya

Yet another front were the allies won't be able to do much. The plan here is to gather the forces in Singapore and try and hold out there as long as possible. The air force will bomb the enemy spearhead to slow them down as much as possible. Units on the major road will have to stop the advance as long as possible to keep retreat routes open for the units from Khota Baru and Kuantan, though the forts at Georgetown will likely do most of this work. I will be keeping some xAKL and small xAP at bases on the west coast of Sumatra to evac the air units to India.
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RE: The plans: Malaya

Post by modrow »

Smeulders,

sorry if I got you wrong, not sure, probably you are aware of this anyway: Georgetown can be bypassed/units at Georgetown can be trapped if your opponent moves into Taiping. Thus yes, you can try to make a stand at Georgetown, using the available forts, but if you do, the units which defend the forts there will most likely not make it back to Singapore.

Hartwig
Smeulders
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RE: The plans: Malaya

Post by Smeulders »

I was actually referring to the 'Penang Fort' unit at Georgetown, but I seem to have overestimated that one. Still, arriving, fighting next day and only then moving on is still a 2 day delay. Maybe I'll leave behind a battalion sized unit or two so his armour has to wait for some reinforcements. Thanks for the input.
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RE: The plans: Malaya

Post by modrow »

Smeulders,

just trying to share what I experienced - maybe just because I'm not a good player and make tons of mistakes [:D]

This is what Penang fort alone (everything else had left the hex already because I did not want it to get trapped) did in my game...

[font="Courier New"]Ground combat at Georgetown (49,74)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4242 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 127

Defending force 476 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 132

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 132 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Georgetown !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)


Allied ground losses:
746 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 43 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 11 (11 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1


Assaulting units:
41st Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
Penang Fortress
[/font]

Not sure whether a batallion or an attack relying on tanks rather than an infantry regiment would make a difference... But if I had left anything else there, it would have been lost because my opponent moved into Georgetown and Taiping in the same move.

I can recommend setting the units at Singapore that are fully prepped for that destination to rest mode, - you will gain a bit of experience and improve morale notably. Not that this will help much...

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RE: The plans: Malaya

Post by Smeulders »

I'm guessing I'll have some advance warning that he's moving to Taiping, it's a 23 mile hike through jungle and 23 over a minor road, so when the arrows show up, I can still wait a day or two until defenders at Georgetown need to be retreated. Not all units need to reach Singapore though, I've no problem losing a couple of the smaller ones if it means a couple of extra days to prepare defenses.
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RE: The plans: Malaya

Post by Q-Ball »

Smeulders, looking forward to the AAR. Not a bad move there on the Oilers.

I did Malaya and Phillipines differently; from the opening gun I moved everyone to Clark and Singapore.

On Malaya, you must keep a strong force at Mersing, and defend bases against Para attack, but other than that, the Japanese will get down the peninsula at about the speed they can walk it. Keeping units forward is only going to increase your losses IMO, but we'll see if I am right.

In the PI, leaving units in the open can backfire if you don't withdraw quickly. In my PBEM as Japan, I destroyed 3-4 forward deployed PI division early, which made it easier to close out Luzon, which I did at the end of January.

What are your planes in Burma?
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RE: The plans: Malaya

Post by modrow »

Smeulders,
ORIGINAL: Smeulders

I'm guessing I'll have some advance warning that he's moving to Taiping, it's a 23 mile hike through jungle and 23 over a minor road, so when the arrows show up, I can still wait a day or two until defenders at Georgetown need to be retreated. Not all units need to reach Singapore though, I've no problem losing a couple of the smaller ones if it means a couple of extra days to prepare defenses.

you are correct, my opponent's unit was in the hex for about a week and I started the retreat from Georgetown, where I had moved the troops from Alor Star, on day 3. Re. the little arrows- well, maybe I should bomb some less and scout some more. Problem is that I felt chronically short of aircraft/squadrons in the theater to begin with, combat did not improve that and I was more interested in keeping aware of what is at what airbase. I think you are also correct in planning not to move everything in one rush but slowly, at least displaying that you would defend in some places.

A big problem for me in this context (which was especially bad in the PI, where two or three divisions always arrived at or left a hex a turn too late) are the movement times -you may have read the repeated 46 miles rants in my AAR. If you move in combat mode, it's frequently 4 days before you leave the hex. This means it is quite difficult to successfully defend for a turn and then depart in a controlled way. But once again, just saying what was difficult for me (jumping into my game without testing against AI)- may be easy for you.

When's the next update coming ? [8D] Looking forward to it.

Hartwig
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10/12/41 : Typical early war days aren't fun

Post by Smeulders »

DEI
Landings at Miri have begun, the base will probably fall tomorrow.

Malaya
Khota Baru is taken and the FMSV brigade destroyed. Strikes keep coming in on Georgetown, but I have evacuated the field.

Phillipines
Vigan and Aparri fell today, two surprises though.
1) No airstrikes were launched on Luzon, not sure why though.
2) There are no large infantry formations in the landing forces. It's a single detachement at Vigan and a bunch of engineers, BF and artillery at Aparri. Is this just how the TFs are set up when you start the game, so the infantry comes in later or is my opponent doing something else with these units ?

The invasion TF are too well covered, the DDs are retreating to Java, PT will stay behind and hopefully get a chance to shine later.

The shipping evacuation
No losses in the souther DEI, not even a sub attack yet, but the two xAPs from Manilla were sunk north of Borneo, I wanted to try sneaking around the island, and so to Batavia, figuring he wouldn't be laying ambushes for the merchants there. There was one sub there though, who took out the Rochambeau, the President Madison ran straight in the Miri invasion covering force. The Ryuyo did turn up in the Celebes and attacked a couple of xAKL. Luckily none more important ships were targeted, but I'll have to find another way out for them though.

Pacific
Nearly forgot to tell about the best part of the day. The KB is actually chasing Lexington. The day after the PH attacks, it moved southwest, direction of Truk I think. Today it was spotted Southeast of Midway, bearing Northwest, in the direction of the Lexington. Lex will now make another high speed run to the Northeast, this should keep her out of reach of the KB, even if it makes a high speed run straight North as well. The Lexington group is burning a lot of fuel and taking quite a bit of damage from all the high speed runs, but that isn't much of a problem, she'll have to head to Pearl for upgrading planes anyway. The good part is that this chase is taking the KB further away from main theatres, delaying it's entry there. If he tries a high speed run to catch me, even better. He'd take damage, and need refueling, taking him out of the fight even longer. I just hope that I haven't miscalculated and see Lex sink in the coming turns.
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RE: 10/12/41 : Typical early war days aren't fun

Post by Smeulders »

Q-ball
Malaya is more or less a full scale withdrawal to Singapore. I just want to make sure that none of the units not on the main road are cut off. For example, from Kuantan to the main road is about a 10 day march, much shorter then the march from the border to the same spot on the road. I'm afraid if I don't at least delay, these units will get cut off.

The forward defense in the PI is indeed risky, but I'd like to see what it gives. Key here will be recon, if I see too many forces advancing I'll retreat, if he thinks he can push me aside with just his recon, well that's bad luck for him.

Burma plans will come tomorrow

Hartwig
I thought you didn't have too much information on the enemy before you start seeing their movement. There are quite a bit of movements in China that I can see and if the Chinese can do it, the British surely can
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RE: 10/12/41 : Typical early war days aren't fun

Post by modrow »

Smeulders,

first: Thanks for the update !

second: You are totally correct re. the movement arrows. Whereas I did not get any for the hex we were discussing, there are in fact quite a number of arrows visible in China (which I mostly did not really perceive/make use of so far), and some in Malaya as well. Thanks for drawing my attention to this.

Hartwig
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11/12/41 : At least all is well in the skies

Post by Smeulders »

Malaya
The buffaloes keep taking a toll on sweeping Nates, 2 downed for no loss today according to the combat reports. Unescorted airraids are keeping georgetown field closed, today a squadron will LRCAP it from Taiping.

A TF is sighted East of Kuantan, I'm guessing it's a landing forced aimed at Kuantan as sigint reveals extra troops embarking for the base. Everything carrying a torpedo in Singapore will fly against this fleet. There are still a CL and 2 DD in Singapore, meant as escorts for the POW, but they will sortie if the force is lightly escorted.

PI
More strikes by zeroes, slightly more losses at my side. Surprisingly, the squadron flying P-35A has accounted for 6 kill up to now, while losing 5 or 6 planes from A2A combat. Good show. Clark is getting pounded, runway damage is up to 66.

A lot of merchants are still stuck in the area, some of the longer ranged ones are going to try and break out straight to the Pacific. Others must hope Ryuyo leaves so the can flee through the Eastern DEI. A question to other allied players, how many of the ships here do you usually manage to extract and how do you do it ? Japaneses players are free to tell me how they try to stop this excodus, so I can circumvent the usual blockades.

DEI

Nells attacked the DD from Manilla North of Borneo and sank one, they also took out one xAK around the same position. As the Celebes is now closed as well all ships will go into harbours and pray, only the DD will try a full speed run further along the coast and then South to Batavia. They may bump into a Japanese TF that's now North of Kuching.

The Celebes is being flooded by Dutch subs and S-boats, I'm hoping to get a hit on the Ryuyo and maybe find out what the other TF(s?) there are, navsearch planes reveal nothing, but an invasion against Tarakan isn't unlikely. The american cruisers and destroyers will leave Balikpapan for fear of a potential port strike.

China
Not much movement by my opponent, the units North of Ichang entered the hex, tomorrow they'll bomb to see what is there.
The enemy has entered Hong Kong, the Kowloon brigade is put in reserve as I'm expecting a bombardement tomorrow.

Pacific
Lost track of KB again, I'm guessing this means it has retired as navsearch from Midway was looking East. This was done to make sure I found KB if it was still chasing Lexington. If it's still gone tomorrow I'll declare the battles after Pearl finished and put up a nice map of the manuevers.

8th Marine regiment will leave tomorrow, together with some FA Bat to reinforce Pago Pago, 2 infantry regiments are earmarked for Suva. More on my strategy for the Southern Islands later.
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