This is my 2nd AAR and I'll try to be a bit better in providing some flavor. My opponent Riva Ridge appears to be eager and full of surprises. He said he was going to do an AAR, so I said I'd do the opposite view. He was looking to have a scenario where the Japanese get a little extra, the challenge he sent in his house rules was something I have never seen before. Thus I had to accept. We landed on BTSL 3.2 vice RA8.0 in the original proposal.
Here are the house rules he proposed.
Greetings,
I propose a RA 8.0 game (https://sites.google.com/site/reluctant ... ome/ra-4-0) with the extended map with road stacking limits - you have to load the extended map data and art first and then overwrite with the file from the stacking limits zip.
I have no special House Rules unless you have something in mind. I reserve the right to dialogue with you if something strikes me as particularly game breaking but prefer to let things play out - if you want to make a play for Alaska or something, go for it.
I have no special aversion to you attacking somewhere else other than Pearl Harbor or modifying the force. Where you strike is where you strike.
Finally, on 07 December, I will not move or change orders on anything other than existing TFs already at sea.
I will likely AAR this - I ask you don't look at it.
Let me know if this meets your approval.
FOG ON
Advanced weather effects ON
Player defined upgrades ON
Historical first turn OFF (Do your worst; attack wherever you want)
Surprise ON
Realistic RD ON
Reliable USN torpedoes OFF
Turn Cycles : 1 day
allied damage control ON
autosubs OFF
facilities expand at start OFF
accept replacements OFF
Reinforcements : extremely variable
No Units Withdrawal OFF
"Do your worst; attack wherever you want!"
Now that is a challenge. I have been contemplating exactly what that might entail.
December 6, 1941 (AE Nippon News) Shumei Okawa reporting
Sources close to the Emperor have indicated that in lieu of any significant counter proposals by the United States, that Japan has sent another formal letter to the President of the United States, indicating that Japan will not tolerate any interference from the West in Japan ensuring it's own survival.
These actions culminate the following activities
per The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
Origins. Tensions between Japan and the United States went back at least to the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, when Japan astonished the world by soundly defeating Russia on both the land and the sea. President Theodore Roosevelt, who was an admirer of the Japanese, offered his good offices to both warring parties, and the Treaty of Portsmouth ended the war on terms that were generally favorable to Japan. However, certain factions in Japan were dissatisfied with the peace terms. Combined with racist incidents against Japanese immigrants on the U.S. West Coast and laws prohibiting further Japanese immigration, this dissatisfaction created a rift between what had previously been friendly nations.
Resentment increased after the Washington Naval Conference gave Japan just three battleships for every five British and American battleships. Many officers in the Imperial Navy considered this an affront to the Emperor and the honor of Japan. The Great Depression hit Japanese agriculture and light industry particularly hard, and the prospect of further expansion into the Asian mainland became increasingly attractive to Army leaders. Kwantung Army officers staged an incident on the South Manchuria Railway on 18 September 1931 as an excuse to seize control of all Manchuria. In 1933, following a League of Nations report criticizing the Manchurian takeover, Japan walked out of the League of Nations and, in December 1935, announced it would not renew the naval disarmament treaties, set to expire in December 1936.
1937-1941: Japan and the West Slide Towards War. Japan's seizure of Manchuria, and the war with China that began in 1937, deepened the rift between the U.S. and Japan. On 5 October 1937, in response to the crisis at Shanghai, Roosevelt gave his "Quarantine Speech" at Chicago. On 11 November 1938 the Roosevelt administration imposed a "moral embargo" against Japan, and by June 1939, Gallup polls showed that 72 percent of Americans favored an embargo on war materials shipped to Japan.
The fall of France and Holland in the spring of 1940 radically changed the picture in the Far East. The Western powers were no longer in a position to adequately protect their colonies, with the Netherlands East Indies in perhaps the weakest position of all. Japanese Foreign Minister Arita's declaration on 15 April 1940 asserting that Japan had a special interest in seeing that oil continued to flow from the NEI was seen as laying the diplomatic groundwork for Japan to take possession of the Dutch colony. These developments finally prompted the United States to embargo sales of certain grades of scrap iron and aviation gasoline to Japan, on 22 July 1940.
Japan responded to events in Europe by occupying northern French Indochina and joining the Tripartite Pact in September 1940. The combination of events was probably coincidental but appeared highly provocative. The United States responded by extending the embargo to include all scrap iron. The accession of Japan to the Axis is widely viewed as a critical development, but the United States had already come to view Japan as a co-conspirator with the "bandit" nations of Germany and Italy and there was little immediate change in U.S. policy.
The path to war was set on 2 July 1941, at a Conference in the Imperial Presence. The conference decided on a policy of southward expansion or "Southward Ho!" (Prange 1988) while keeping Japan's options open in case of a Russian collapse. Matters came to a head when Japan occupied southern French Indochina on 21 July 1941. The United States, Britain, and the Netherlands responded with a complete oil embargo.
By August 1941 the Japanese were withdrawing all their merchant shipping into the sea lanes immediately around Japan, a fact that U.S. Navy intelligence was quick to pick up.
During the last months of 1941, Nomura engaged in fruitless negotiations with the U.S. Secretary of State, Henry L. Stimson. Though the two men respected each other and earnestly sought to avoid a war, their positions were irreconcilable. The United States wanted Japan out of China. Japan wanted a free hand on the continent. The Japanese government continued to negotiate because the Emperor insisted on it, and because the Japanese leaders knew how risky war with the United States would be. The United States continued to negotiate because they did not want preparations for possible involvement in the European war to be disrupted by a Pacific war, and because it was thought that time was on the side of the United States, which were rapidly rearming and sending reinforcements to the Philippines.
By 4 September 1941 the Japanese position had hardened into a demand that the United States and Britain give Japan a free hand to settle the China Incident, in return for which Japan promised not to use French Indochina as a base for operations against the Western powers and to withdraw troops from China and French Indochina once the China Incident was settled to her satisfaction. These terms could not be reconciled with the American position, which had hardened into a demand Japan pull out of China immediately and completely.
We anticipate that this will not be well received by the US and will, in fact, be the end of any further negotiations. Unless, some late communication takes place, it would appear that we are on the brink of
December 7, 1941 (AE Nippon News) Shumei Okawa reporting
Japan announced today that the imperialistic and unyielding forces of the Western nations had provoked Japan into having no choice but to declare war on the United States. As part of the Tripartite Pact, Japan was technically already at war with the European powers.
Early today, Japan began to secure it's interests in Southwest Pacific area. Air attacks were carried out against the airbases at Singapore, Georgetown, Alor Star, and Kota Bharu in Malaya as well as Iba, Clark Field, Manila, Cagayan and Cebu in the Phillipines. These air strikes were extremely successful in nullifying the bases and produced over 330 destroyed and/or damaged aircraft. Japan losses were termed minimal.
Runway hits
Singpore 77
Kota Bharu 44
Aloe Star 49
Georgetown 47
Iba 102
Clark Field 78
Manila 48
Cebu 24
Cayagan 85
In addition to the strikes on the air fields, Manila port was attacked and the majority of the American fleet based there was either destroyed or heavily damaged.
________________________________________________________________________
Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 87
B5N2 Kate x 84
D3A1 Val x 102
Allied Ships
SS Snapper, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Paz, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
SS Sealion, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
xAK Governor Wright, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
ARD YFD-1 Dewey, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS S-41, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
TK Manatawny, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Tantalus, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Elcano, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Canopus, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
TK Hai Kwang, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
SS Sturgeon, Bomb hits 1
PG Tulsa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Si Kiang, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AM Bittern, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS Saury, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Capillo, Bomb hits 1
SS Seadragon, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Ravnaas, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS S-38, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
SS Skipjack, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAP President Madison, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Sargo, Bomb hits 1
AS Otus, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Searaven, Bomb hits 1
SS S-37, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AVD Childs, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS Sculpin, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Swordfish, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAP Rochambeau, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
TK La Estrella Caltex, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Stingray, Bomb hits 1
AM Quail, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Candesa, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS Salmon, Bomb hits 1
SS Seawolf, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SS Sailfish, Bomb hits 1
SS S-40, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAKL Bisayas, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Repair Shipyard hits 2
Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 15
Runway hits 48
Port hits 7
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
20 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
24 x A6M2 Zero bombing from 5000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
27 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
17 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
24 x A6M2 Zero bombing from 5000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
City Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
14 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 9000 feet
City Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
15 x A6M2 Zero bombing from 5000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
24 x A6M2 Zero bombing from 5000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
6 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
24 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
13 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
2 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
City Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
8 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
City Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
City Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
These air attacks were followed up with invasions at Kota Bharu, Mersing, Singkawang, Kuching, Taytay, Busuanga, Lingayen, Mauban, Atimoman, Davao and Laoag. Paratroopers landed at Malaybalay on Mindanao.
Allied reaction to these attacks was to swiftly retreat. The British navy fled Singapore at the first sign of the attack. DD Scout and DD Thayer were sunk fleeing Hong Kong. American combat vessels were tracked fleeing from the Cebu area. Attacks on these vessels resulted in the sinking of CL Dallas and CA Chicago.
Sources indicate that the navy is operating 3 carrier task forces in conducting these raids. One operating in the South China Sea, one in the Philippines Sea and one in the Celebes Sea. It is unclear if other carrier groups are involved. The Malaya landings were conducted by elements of the 25th Army. The 4th Army is conducting the Philippine operations.
NOTE: This is the worst that I could come up with within some semblance of reason. A couple of operations didn't execute or the damage would have been worse. The basic approach is to achieve complete air superiority over the South Sea/Celebes Sea theaters to support swift land actions. Other theaters of operation will be engaged shortly.
