Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition

User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

Post by Mundy »

Hi,

Well, I finally kicked off another PBEM. I had serious cold feet (like I usually do) before starting another one, but I took the plunge. I've had a history of losing opponents, usually in late '42, but I think I'm safe here.

Cannonfodder has been great to talk with so far, and I think our philosophies on what makes a good WITP-AE game are pretty much in synch.

We're doing the DBB-C Iron Babes scenario (30, I think), with this setup:
HOUSERULES AND GAME SETTINGS
REALISM OPTIONS
FOW ON
Advanced weather ON
Allied damage control ON
PDU ON
Historical first turn OFF
Dec 7 surprise ON
Reliable USN torps OFF
Realistic R&D ON
No unit withdrawals OFF
Reinforcements +/- 15

GAME OPTIONS
Combat reports ON
Auto sub ops OFF
TF move radius ON
Plane move radius ON
Facilities expand OFF
Auto upgrade ships and airgroups OFF
Air and ground replacements OFF
Turn cycle 1 TURN

1st turn rules:
Allied player only able to command TF already at sea
No transferring or loading of squadrons
Max 30% cap set per squadron
No Japanese invasion TF will finish the turn more than 15 hexes from a starting Japanese base DBB:C / DaIronBabes + no Mersing Gambit on turn 1 (turn 2 is fair)

Game rules:
No 4e naval bombing below 10k
Sensible use of paratroopers
Pay full PP for units to cross national borders
No strategic bombing from or into China
Picket ships allowed if of the military type

All of this is pretty much my usual conventions.

I've just returned my Dec 7 turn. All 5 minutes that it took me. The real work is next turn. My only adjustments thus far was to disband Force Z, and adjust the path of my two CV TFs to help keep them out of harm's way.

Next turn, I'll most likely heed Churchill's demand to "do something" and send Force Z to Kuantan. It's an old habit of mine, and at least half the time, I'll get some good results. PoW can easily handle any Kongo which may be supporting. In one past game, I sank one with barely a scratch.

The Vindicators at sea I'll see if I can get to the PI via Guam. Hopefully I can use drop tanks from there.

Apart from that I'll keep my CVs out of the way until the initial storm passes.

I generally like to work out of just one port on the west coast, for better control over things. I usually randomly pick between San Francisco and Los Angeles. I'm favoring SF this time. Any Pearl survivors will probably wind up there and when finished, I can easily arrange an escort back. I also work out of Seattle to support the Alaska area. My SOP is to put an AR and an AS at Dutch Harbor and run a bunch of subs from there. IIRC, I only have three ARs, so they're very precious right now.

I'm favoring the Nimitz plan right now. I'm not sure if I want to get tangled up badly in the Solomans. If Suva or Pago Pago is threatened, I'll have little choice. I'd like to beef up Moresby as lots of bad things can happen if that goes. Any hint of that going, and I'm going to clear out Darwin.

This should be fun. With our time zone differences, this may take almost as long as the real war.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
EHansen
Posts: 360
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2013 1:31 am

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by EHansen »

I have been using Prince Rupert for supporting Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. I move a number of the Base Forces from the interior Canadian bases there to build it quite quickly.
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

That may help on the supply side, but I tend to move lots of base/flak group around, too. My convoys are generally big enough that they don't have to go out often.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Ugh...

The snake of Alternate History rears it head.

No Pearl Harbor strike this time. It looks like Cannonfodder was more worried about the subs in the Asiatic Fleet. Mini-subs did take a couple of shots at Maryland, but good ol' Taney fixed his wagon. I have a soft spot for Taney and Charleston. Incidentally, I didn't know Taney now lives in Baltimore. I had a shot to see her last year and didn't know it.

I think KB may be split. I don't think more than 2 squadrons each of TB and DB hit Manila. Carrier air did smack the Dutch fleet sitting at Palembang, beating them up pretty bad. I'm not sure more than one CV was involved in that one, either.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 48,91

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 70 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33
B5N2 Kate x 9
D3A1 Val x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Durban, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Dragon, Bomb hits 7

-----

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 48,91

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
B5N2 Kate x 16
D3A1 Val x 17

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CL Durban, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Dragon, Bomb hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage

PoW and Repulse took hits, too, at Singapore. Damage on PoW is heavy. Normally I'd run her out towards Java, but that way is blocked.

Wake fell immediately. The CLs in support took some hits from the shore battery, but probably nothing too bad. I'm thinking of running my carrier (Lex?.. I can't remember) there for a revenge raid. The strikes on Manila and Palembang, I think, don't account for all of KB's airpower, so for the time being, I need to tread lightly. He may be covering all the escape routes from Manila and Singapore.

I have the feeling that this will be a very aggressive offensive -- especially being an Iron Babes scenario. All my other games have been fairly conservatively played, so I actually find this one rather refreshing.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Addendum on Manila -- didn't want to clutter up the above post with reports.
Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
B5N2 Kate x 27
D3A1 Val x 45

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
PG Tulsa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
SS Pike, Bomb hits 1
AV Langley, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Seawolf, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Sealion, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Seal, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAKL Dona Nati, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS S-40, Bomb hits 2
AS Otus, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Pope, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
SS Sturgeon, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Stingray, Bomb hits 1
SS Pickerel, Bomb hits 1
xAP Neptuna, Bomb hits 1, on fire
ARD YFD-1 Dewey, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Don Esteban, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
TK Hai Kwang, Bomb hits 1, on fire

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

Repair Shipyard hits 1
Port hits 5
Port fuel hits 2

-----

Afternoon Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
B5N2 Kate x 27

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
SS Seawolf, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Skipjack, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Yu Sang, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
PT Q-113, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Salmon, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Shark, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1

Land based air from Formosa also contributed to this.

I'm wondering if he has any naval air in the central Pacific. Maybe I can run many of the survivors straight to Pearl.

If he's really reaching out quickly, I'm guessing maybe a division of KB could wind supporting a move on Rabaul and possibly Port Moresby. I'm guessing wildly at this point, but it seems logical.

Ed-


Image
User avatar
BBfanboy
Posts: 19667
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Contact:

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by BBfanboy »

ORIGINAL: EHansen

I have been using Prince Rupert for supporting Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. I move a number of the Base Forces from the interior Canadian bases there to build it quite quickly.
+1 EHansen!

Mundy, I don't understand your conviction that large convoys will negate the need to use other ports.
For starters, Prince Rupert is a couple of days sailing closer to Aleutian bases which means less exposure to his subs
and raiders and faster turnaround of needed ships. You can get millions of tons of supply to PR just by moving Canada
Command there. It builds quite quickly using ALL the interior Canadian BFs, which have, initially, no aircraft to support anyway.

Using more ports also splits his sub patrols so he cannot saturate all the routes out of one port. At the beginning of the game
US ASW is so poor that it cannot inflict significant damage to sub concentrations while they can devastate Allied shipping and
nearly always get through to the most valuable ships (CV, AP, BB, TK).

That's my take on how the game works, but it's your game and I will be following to see how your strategy plays out!
Good Luck!
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Thanks for the input. It's a long war, and I'll feel my way through this. The converse to the splitting up of his patrols is that many of them will be wasting their time patrolling quiet ports.

It's served me in good stead so far, but I will keep it in mind. My idea with this is not so much the supply side as a place to ship the troops out. I've never like doling out the transports too much, as I'm never quite sure what proportions to use. I've had a long habit of supplying SPAC and SWPAC directly from the states, which I'm sure isn't the most efficient way. I'll probably work out of Pearl for that. I've tried using Christmas Is in the past, but it's not really big enough for anything serious. I'll most likely use xAKLs with AMs for the dispersed supply runs.

It depends on my escort situation, too. Lots of 4-stackers were at San Diego. Kind of a second-rate escort for my carrier there. The CV there is enroute to SF, so I can get things pieced together. I'm not sure how many APDs I'll really need, so I tend to favor converting the Wickes and Clemsons to DEs. Not sure if an older Caldwell is in the game or not. One of them was converted to an APD in 1940.

No idea what to do with Pearl's BBs yet. They'll put a serious fuel crunch wherever I send them.

In a previous PBEM, I managed to lose all my carriers by Jan 42. My opponent began a serious anti-commerce campaign against Oz. The Aussies were reduced to burning cow dung to heat their food, and I couldn't run any serious offensives out of there. I probably lost a hundred tankers. In this vein, I'm paranoid about protection. I try to think outside the box, but in my history, that box has been a straitjacket. As a result, I'm listening. [:)]

With the situation to start with, I don't have much hope for the shipping in Philippines and Singapore. It'll be lots of 1 and 2 ship groups to escape. It looks like 1/3 to 1/2 my subs in Manila are still operational (didn't count yet), so I'll probably put the S-boats on the north coast and the fleet boats to Japan. I've always been pretty good at the sub war with at least 1 - 2 encounters a day once they're in place. It all depends on the torps, though. The Nautilus', et al with the 5" and 6" guns will be dedicated to Japan. I prize them rather highly. Likewise, Argonaut will keep the mine gear. I'm not planning any Makin Is skamboogery right now.

Enterprise is enroute to Pearl, skirting the sub to approach from the SE. Lexington is moving at flank speed to about 5 hexes E of Wake for a spite raid. She'll return to Pearl via the North Pacific. Sara is enroute to SF to get some escorts to Pearl, and maybe cover a convoy on the way.

I haven't spent any PPs yet. I work E to W in my turns, and am at Oz now. I plan a full Stalinist purge of the Chinese army to get the sycophants and other losers out of power. As they restock between missions, more aggressive sub commanders will make it in, too. There's a lot of inertia behind the Army of the United States, with few being deployable at this point. I'll get the Marines set up at Pearl and resist the urge to "do something".

Either way, I plan on finishing this no matter how badly I may do. After playing this long, does it matter who really wins? Not that I won't try, though. There's always better stuff on the horizon anyway.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Sub situation, Manila:

I'm able to send 14 patrols out. 12 are in dry-dock from damage. Lots of 60s and 70s for flooding. Most should be out within 10 days or less. The rest are combat losses.

Could have been worse.

Fleet boats are heading to Japan and Formosa. One headed to Saigon, too. The S-boats are heading to the usual landing sites. The way Cannonfodder has kicked this off, I could be assuming wrong, but I have to start somewhere.

I'll see what I can contribute from the Dutch boats. I hate patrolling Java Sea, being as shallow as it is. I always get the snot kicked out of me in those areas.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

08 December 1941

Stuff's moving.

PoW and Repulse finally went down. I sortied them out about 4 hexes to try and catch something. They wound up getting caught before they could auto-disperse into port.

Landings at Kota Bharu started yesterday and are continuing. A Dutch SS hit a transport there. Mersing's getting landed upon today. I also have an APD landing going on at Palembang. Mines and coast defenses got some hits in, but not enough. Cannonfodder seems to be taking the quick and direct route. Ocean Is just went down.

A fleeing xAP in the Philippines ran into the Akagi/Kaga division of KB. No shots, but a helpful sighting. This was in the SW region off the Philippines near Taytay. I had a report that a PBY landed a hit on a Hiryu class CV in that area, but in the combat report, it appears that the Hiryu/Soryu division is covering the Palembang landings. I'm guessing the 'Kakus are dealing with Singapore.

The good side of this is that I have a free hand on the other side of the pond. Lex is working over the transports at Wake. Just some SBDs flew out, and I didn't get a full strike. I'll give it another day. I'll probably give Kwajalein some love in the near future, also.

No landings yet in the Philippines. All air at this point, with a good blockade of the islands going on. Some of the escapees are getting sunk. The RN DDs from Hong Kong also went down after repeated encounters with IJN DDs. Houston, Boise, and a good chunk of the Asiatic Fleet are making for Balikpapan right now. My feeling is that he's going to deal with the PIs at some later point, taking all the goodies first.

I haven't gone into the turn proper yet. I'll see if anything is happening in the Rabaul area.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mike McCreery
Posts: 4237
Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:58 pm

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mike McCreery »

ORIGINAL: Mundy

Thanks for the input. It's a long war, and I'll feel my way through this. The converse to the splitting up of his patrols is that many of them will be wasting their time patrolling quiet ports.

It's served me in good stead so far, but I will keep it in mind. My idea with this is not so much the supply side as a place to ship the troops out. I've never like doling out the transports too much, as I'm never quite sure what proportions to use. I've had a long habit of supplying SPAC and SWPAC directly from the states, which I'm sure isn't the most efficient way. I'll probably work out of Pearl for that. I've tried using Christmas Is in the past, but it's not really big enough for anything serious. I'll most likely use xAKLs with AMs for the dispersed supply runs.

It depends on my escort situation, too. Lots of 4-stackers were at San Diego. Kind of a second-rate escort for my carrier there. The CV there is enroute to SF, so I can get things pieced together. I'm not sure how many APDs I'll really need, so I tend to favor converting the Wickes and Clemsons to DEs. Not sure if an older Caldwell is in the game or not. One of them was converted to an APD in 1940.

No idea what to do with Pearl's BBs yet. They'll put a serious fuel crunch wherever I send them.

In a previous PBEM, I managed to lose all my carriers by Jan 42. My opponent began a serious anti-commerce campaign against Oz. The Aussies were reduced to burning cow dung to heat their food, and I couldn't run any serious offensives out of there. I probably lost a hundred tankers. In this vein, I'm paranoid about protection. I try to think outside the box, but in my history, that box has been a straitjacket. As a result, I'm listening. [:)]

With the situation to start with, I don't have much hope for the shipping in Philippines and Singapore. It'll be lots of 1 and 2 ship groups to escape. It looks like 1/3 to 1/2 my subs in Manila are still operational (didn't count yet), so I'll probably put the S-boats on the north coast and the fleet boats to Japan. I've always been pretty good at the sub war with at least 1 - 2 encounters a day once they're in place. It all depends on the torps, though. The Nautilus', et al with the 5" and 6" guns will be dedicated to Japan. I prize them rather highly. Likewise, Argonaut will keep the mine gear. I'm not planning any Makin Is skamboogery right now.

Enterprise is enroute to Pearl, skirting the sub to approach from the SE. Lexington is moving at flank speed to about 5 hexes E of Wake for a spite raid. She'll return to Pearl via the North Pacific. Sara is enroute to SF to get some escorts to Pearl, and maybe cover a convoy on the way.

I haven't spent any PPs yet. I work E to W in my turns, and am at Oz now. I plan a full Stalinist purge of the Chinese army to get the sycophants and other losers out of power. As they restock between missions, more aggressive sub commanders will make it in, too. There's a lot of inertia behind the Army of the United States, with few being deployable at this point. I'll get the Marines set up at Pearl and resist the urge to "do something".

Either way, I plan on finishing this no matter how badly I may do. After playing this long, does it matter who really wins? Not that I won't try, though. There's always better stuff on the horizon anyway.

Ed-

If you are in fear of losing tankers it might benefit you to try to support Diego Garcia and ship fuel to CT and then either to Diego or directly to the west coast of Australia.

Even if he takes perth and everything north of that you can still get long haulers into Melborne pretty safely. He will have to use lots of assets if he wants to defend fuel re-supply from there.
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

It hasn't gotten to that point, and as long as I preserve my carriers, I think I'll be okay. Right now I can run roughshod over the east half of the map if I choose.

Abadan's mostly going to be dumping fuel into India proper, with occasional runs to Ceylon.

When stocks are high, I'll send an occasional convoy from Cape Town to Perth. The states will supply the rest, though I haven't really decide how to structure everything.

I have a quick strike sortie going out from Balikpapan to the area between Borneo and Mindanao, since I see a CVL prowling. Boise and Houston are enroute from the north to rendezvous with this group. I've had a decent history of pulling off intercepts on occasion.

I've been having issues getting Tracker and Combat Reporter working, since I reformatted my machine. Various Java errors. As the allies, I don't use Tracker as much as Reporter. Tracker is useful for letting me know when an LCU reaches its destination.

I want to start supplying all the little bases around. I have that on hold around Pearl, as the ocean is teeming with subs. I have four ASW groups of DDs patrolling. I landed one hit on the 8th. Small victories...

Ed-

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Lowpe
Posts: 24057
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:25 pm

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Lowpe »

Don't run fuel from Off map to Ceylon. Grab a port on the western tip of India close to Ceylon and ship it in from there.

Make sure Ceylon is safe first though. I would be tempted to buy out the big AA there and move it to India proper.

User avatar
BBfanboy
Posts: 19667
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Contact:

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by BBfanboy »

ORIGINAL: Mundy

It hasn't gotten to that point, and as long as I preserve my carriers, I think I'll be okay. Right now I can run roughshod over the east half of the map if I choose.

Abadan's mostly going to be dumping fuel into India proper, with occasional runs to Ceylon.

When stocks are high, I'll send an occasional convoy from Cape Town to Perth. The states will supply the rest, though I haven't really decide how to structure everything.

I have a quick strike sortie going out from Balikpapan to the area between Borneo and Mindanao, since I see a CVL prowling. Boise and Houston are enroute from the north to rendezvous with this group. I've had a decent history of pulling off intercepts on occasion.

I've been having issues getting Tracker and Combat Reporter working, since I reformatted my machine. Various Java errors. As the allies, I don't use Tracker as much as Reporter. Tracker is useful for letting me know when an LCU reaches its destination.

I want to start supplying all the little bases around. I have that on hold around Pearl, as the ocean is teeming with subs. I have four ASW groups of DDs patrolling. I landed one hit on the 8th. Small victories...

Ed-

Ed-
I find Perth to be a little exposed for supply convoys. With little in the way of search north of Perth, KB or MKB can come calling without much warning. Many Japanese players also send CL/DD raiding TFs around that area.
I prefer to ship to Adelaide or Pt. Augusta. The latter feeds the rail line to Alice Springs and it seems when I unload a ship at Pt. Augusta, a little more supply finds its way to Darwin.

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

Thanks guys, I appreciate the advice. Playing on my own for this long, I wind up with my own preconceived notions, which may be off the mark.

09 Dec 42 - The tide continues

Kota Bharu, Mersing, Palembang, Nauru Island and Tarawa all fall. You'd think Cannonfodder's done this type of thing before...

Also, troops are landing at Aparri, so the PI aren't on hold.

My surface adventure went to ashes. De Ruyter is sunk with Boise and Houston suffering significant damage. I should be able to save them. I got close to a surface group but KB/mini-KB got too close. A dumb mistake I'll try not to repeat. Air trumps everything here. None of the DDs got touched, though.

I think it's time to cut my losses with regard to Singapore. Sweeps and CAP are making everything I do irrevalent. Time to save what I can. I should be able to get most everyone on Malaya to Johore Bahru and Singapore proper. At least bleed him in the final battle. I can't even get the shipping out between the Netties and a division of KB there.

Time also to ship the Dutch subs over to a blockade of Palambang to mess with his fuel supply. I hate using subs in the Java Sea, as mine always get smacked there.

I guess once DEI and PI are taken, that's less of the map for me to worry about.

[EDIT] Forgot to mention, troops are on the beach at Rabaul, also. I plan to get something credible at Port Moresby as soon as I can.

Ed
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

11 Dec 1941

Landings at Vigan and Kavieng today.

CL Adelaide made a run into Rabaul. I let it through, since it was pretty much small stuff there. It started well, but she started taking too many hits. Very little flt and fire, but I'm in the 40s sys-wise. Some hits inflicted, but not enough.

Asiatic fleet (damaged Boise and 6 four-stackers) had repeated encounters with Nachi and 3 DDs. The first encounter was inconclusive with a few hits on each side. USN was surprised in later encounters and Boise ate a torp. A division of KB wound up hitting them at Balikpapan before they could disperse. I'll have to get out what I can.

The Lexington group, finding no more ships at Wake, pounded the airfield on the way out. Damage wasn't too impressive, even with the SB2Us on board.

I plan on a more complete planning of this turn. Some areas (India & most of China), I've been ignoring for awhile. It's been awhile since I've dealt with Dec '41, and I've been used to turns humming along with minimal tweaking, so I have to get back in the groove of things. Normally I can get through a turn in 40 minutes.

I'm getting my CVs concentrated at Pearl. Enterprise is in dry dock, since I ran her at flank on the 8th. Ships don't seem to like that much. Sara's enroute from SF with a non-4-stacker escort of DDs. I found Charleston in Seattle and am sending her to San Fran for escort work. In a prior game, Charleston was escorting a convoy which got caught by IJN AMCs. She dealt the punishment pretty well to them.

I'm going to forward deploy the PTs at Manila for a futile run on the transports. Anything to throw a wrench, if possible. I have a lot of ships there that would normally be long gone by now. Two divisions of KB are making that difficult. I ran one big convoy of transports out due east, straight to Pearl. I'm thinking that's the safest way right now. The KB divs are at the W and SW ends of the PI.

RNLAF attacked a TF centered around Haruna which was brazenly sailing down the Java Sea, due east of Batavia. It looks like a 300kg bomb isn't enough, as one hit to little effect.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

I've been thinking. (I seem to do most of my WITP thinking at work...)

Depending on how long KB stays tied up way out west, I'm wondering what offensives I can start, when practicable. I'm thinking long and hard over the Marshalls. That would give Palmyra, Johnston, Christmas, etc some breathing space, and possibly be a good spot to work from.

Probably the biggest constraint would be the stacking limits. I don't know offhand how many troops I can pile into those areas.

I'm probably getting ahead of myself. The Marines haven't even left the West Coast yet. I'll need lots of land based air to hold these, plus lots of construction troops. It will be mid-'42 before I have Seabees coming out of my ears. I won't know where to put them at that point.

At this point, I have no clue how far east Cannonfodder's going to push the Empire. With his opening move on Manila, my gut feeling is that of a more Asia-centric plan. No clue even if he's serious about New Guinea and the Solomons yet. Rabaul and Kavieng were landed upon fairly quickly, but those were rather minimalist forces. I do intend on getting Aussies into Moresby as quickly as possible -- especially units of 40mm guns. En masse, those will do a number on dive bombers, as witnessed in another game.

The urge to "do something" is high, but I'm going to beat that down. Playing WITP is like herding glaciers.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
CowboyRonin
Posts: 360
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:17 pm

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by CowboyRonin »

Start working on reinforcing your existing bases, stake out a position in SOPAC, plan to replace the CPNAB units when they vanish, and you will feel the logistical pinch. Between logistical issues, refits, and LBA upgrades and training, I think the historical timeline of August, 1942 is about the earliest you can take something away from him that he already has. There are some places you can hold if you get there first; I would use that to channel your "do something" energies.
Matrix forum liaison to Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager team
WitW/WitE2 Alpha tester
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

I agree.

Suva tends to get early attention from me, with some construction as I can spare for Pago Pago. I've never had to use the latter much in the past, but you never know. I usually like to build up Christmas Is, due to its large capacity for holding troops. (plus it's an atoll). It's a nice waypoint for the shorter ranged stuff.

As we speak, I have an ARD enroute to Suva from San Fran. I'll do my best to forget it exists until it gets there. At 5 knots, it will be awhile. I'll funnel an AR there too, when I can. I think I start with only 3 ARs, so they're quite precious. One of them will go to Dutch Harbor to keep the subs going.

Being Iron Babes, he's got a bit more to work with.

Ed-
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

12 Dec 42,

Adelaide met her end a couple hexes from Rabaul from the relentlessly perusing CL and DDs. I think my mistakes are pretty much over with now. Time to move on.

Rabaul falls. Landings at Wewak and the next base over to the west. Kavieng also taken. This all looks like the usual initial Japanese moves. At Hong Kong, another deliberate attack kills 1200 Japanese to my 400.

My escapees from Singapore and Manila are getting hit. Losses will be heavy, but something should survive from each. Langley went down. I'm always sentimental over that ship and always try to preserve her. I have a beautiful 1/700 kit of her I'll start someday when I get the courage.

I was careless in Lexington's departure from Wake and they strayed too far south. Nells with escorts made a couple runs. The F3A managed to down a couple each of Nells and Zekes. No hits on my ships. If need be, I'll turbo out of there, but I may not need to. I think that's enough to dissuade me from any cheap early invasions right now.

Haruna's down near Soerbaja now. 9 more B-10s made a run to no effect. I'll have to see if I have any torp capable planes near at this point.

The P-40s from Manila/Clark have been moving to Cagayan. I'll be hopscotching them over to Soerbaja and/or Darwin. I want to get them to Moresby as soon as possible. I've been eating through PPs, so they won't all go at once. The B-17s are already at Darwin training up. If they have the range, they may be visiting northern New Guinea. The base fragments scattered along the north Oz coast are being rounded up for shipment to Darwin. All my opponents seem to take those bases anyway, so why leave those assets there? I think I'll be starting a convoy to Darwin to beef it up. I'll be stockpiling supplies and fuel there like cans of Spam before Armageddon. I've already send most of the long range (10,000+) xAKs and xAPs to the States. Queen E departed on the 8th. I kept her at cruising speed as she's a high maintenance b***h that accumulates sys without provocation.

I'm not sure his Manila first plan was a real good one, apart from sealing that area up tight. I've got 5 unmolested VP squadrons I can get deployed. All the bomber and fighter squadrons, while short to start with, are better off than if they got clobbered. I would say that within a month, I will be getting them deployed as well. Oz needs all the fighter help it can get at this point. Looking at my pool, it seems the only planes I have in over-abundance are Kingfishers. I'd trade them for Wildcats in a heartbeat -- even for -3As.

I'm having fun.

Ed
Image
User avatar
Mundy
Posts: 2867
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:12 am
Location: Neenah

RE: Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy vs Cannonfodder

Post by Mundy »

13 Dec 1941,

Bases falling today:

Praboemoelih (next to Palembang)
Tabiteuea (by Tarawa)
Tuguegarao
Wewak
Aitape
Landing at Buin -- probably taken next turn. (I do like the new map with it separated from Shortlands Is)

along with the usual hits suffered by the Chinese.

Apart from that, escapees from the Philippines are getting hit badly. I think the big group heading East for Pearl may be past the worst of it. Anything that survives Singapore and the PI at this point is just gravy.

Haruna's only two hexes from Soerbaja, so I'm sortieing the two PT groups in front of her... just because. You never know.

Dutch subs and the S-boats seem more interested in hitting DDs rather than the transports, with predictable results.

Within the week, I should have 3 CVs together at Pearl. I'm unsure whether to send them towards Oz yet or not. I have enough air searches going on past the Darwin channel and the Rabaul route where I should detect Kido Butai if they try to run through. He's probably going to work down the Solomons on the cheap, so maybe a punch in the face there would be worthwhile, possibly causing him to re-align his carriers.

I don't want to beat up my SBD squadrons yet. One thing I noticed is that if the US carriers mostly survive, keeping all the dive bombers up to date will reach a crisis point in January with the pool not keeping up. I'd hate to use dash 1s to fill them out.

Ed-
Image
Post Reply

Return to “After Action Reports”