Rookie II - Saving MacArthur - against opponent no. 4

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Leandros
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 15th . pages 3-4



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Brisbane Evening Star July 15th 1942 - pages 5-6



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 15th - pages 7-8



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 15th 1942 - pages 9-10





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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Thanks for the latest installments of your fine publication. Sad and quick ending for the famous "Showboat."
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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ORIGINAL: Bif1961

Thanks for the latest installments of your fine publication. Sad and quick ending for the famous "Showboat."

Thank you for your kind words and - yes.....

Hoping for some future consolation....

Fred
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Did you got my PM Leandros?
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Pse check your inbox.

Fred
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 20th 1942 - pages 1-2



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 20th 1942 - pages 3-4



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 25th - pages 1-2



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 25th 1942 - pages 3-4



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 25th - pages 5-6



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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Thanks for the new issues of your well connected and informed foreign reporters from the varied fronts.
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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ORIGINAL: Bif1961

Thanks for the new issues of your well connected and informed foreign reporters from the varied fronts.
Thank you, I shall convey your thanks to those concerned...[;)]..

Regds

Fred
River Wide, Ocean Deep - a book on Operation Sea Lion - www.fredleander.com
Saving MacArthur - a book series on how The Philippines were saved - in 1942! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D3 ... rw_dp_labf
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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[center]A summary of the game – so far[/center]

To get a proper understanding of this summary please read my postings in the beginning of the thread. To make it short, this is about testing the possible development of the war in the Far East and the Pacific with an aggressive allied side, as opposed to the relatively passive RL behaviour, particularly on the part of the US Navy. Just to have said it, I find it a waste of time to discuss IF this was at all a possible, or viable, strategy from the start. If such a strategy, as shown by the results in the game, has been an improvement or failure, is another matter.

We have come to August 7th, 1942. This date was originally selected by me as the cut-off point of this thread because it is a fitting date to compare the situation with that of RL as this was the day of the first successful allied counter-attack, the landings on Guadalcanal in the Solomons. What is different, what is better and what is worse.

(The Brisbane Evening Star is up-to-date but as you may have noticed I keep up a 7-10 days lag on its publication not to make it too easy for the opposition).

MacArthur’s strategy in this game, which was supported by the US political leadership, even the Navy was forced to join in, was to try to keep a “Relief Route” open to the Philippines for the purpose of retaking the islands as soon as possible – not because of the country’s value as such (even if it meant much for MacArthur) but because it was the shortest, and therefore quickest, route to bases from where the enemy supply lines could be interdicted to deny him the resources he originally started the war for, that of the mineral riches of the Dutch East Indies, Malaya and Borneo. From 1940 on this was, after all, the main purpose of expanding the US forces in the Philippines, the B-17 bomber supposedly becoming the main tool of such a strategy.

To keep the core of the Philippine Army supplied and intact could also yield important benefits for future operations.

The Relief Route should go through the Torres Strait and the Moluccas as indicated by Colonel Eisenhower to General Marshall in December 1941 when he took up his position in Marshall’s War Plans Office. It was also obvious that the ABDA organisation was not the best solution for this strategy as it was dominated by the British thinking in which everything was focused on the upkeep of Singapore as the main allied base. As the Australians were already sceptical to this, they, the Dutch (partly) and the New Zealanders, agreed to support MacArthur’s strategy – the ADA cooperation. With this it was possible to immediately reinforce the northern parts of the Moluccas, Tarakan, Menado, Ternate and Morotai, while the US forces in the Philippines contrived to delay the Japanese occupation of the islands as much as possible.

So, where are we today? To start in the eastern part (or western, depending on where you stand..), Baker Island, and Tulagi, in the Solomons, have been expanded as allied bases. Milne Bay was fortified early with units withdrawn from New Britain (Rabaul) and has later been reinforced considerably. In the Philippines Bataan is still holding out, morale is said to be quite good, the only other base still not captured by the Japanese is Bacolod on the island of Negros.

South of the Philippines, in the northern part of the Moluccas, the bases of Menado, Ternate and Morotai are still in allied hands, if somewhat cut off from the central part, Ambon and Namlea are strongly fortified. Sorong, has been captured by the enemy and Kendari is fighting for its existence.

The islands of Timor/Bali constitute the next defense line, the last barrier before Australia. Bali has been cut off for some time but the Timor bases of Koepang, Dili and Lautem are all well defended and in the process of being further reinforced.

From this can be seen that there are several springboards from which a north-bound advance can be initiated, to get back to the Philippines or the north-eastern part of Borneo. But, with what forces and for what purpose? At this moment there are plenty of available army units, among them several Marine Corps regiments but the allied naval losses have been considerable. The enemy has had losses, too, but because he is drawing indiscriminately on his large reserves of naval and air resources the Allies shall undoubtedly need considerable time before any serious advances can be achieved. The question is now more about keeping on to what is left, being it bases or air and naval assets.

In other words, has it been worth the outlay?

In the CBI Theatre the Chinese intrusion into Indochina has been crushed, while the situation probably has been stabilized in the north-western part of China. The initially quite successful British offensive into Siam has come to nought, the Japanese are now back in Moulmein and advancing on Rangoon.

Some words about the game. This is a fantastic game and I do not agree with those saying this is not a simulator, but merely a game. Oh, yes, it may be a game, but it is a simulator, too. My reasons for saying this are two: Firstly, there are some built-in variables which the players cannot control, and what faults the game have are in general equal for both parties, except, of course, for those degradations of the allied side built into the game from the start. But even that can be seen as realistic in the sense that it illustrates the alleged less proficiency of the allied side, at least in the start of the war.

But, all this, to be fair, presupposes that the two players are on a reasonable equal level of proficiency and it is quite obvious that they (we) have not been that. This was my first PBEM, except for Chickenboy running me through a short version of the Guadalcanal scenario just to acquaint me with the PBEM peculiarities. Thank you for that! The second and third player, Alex (Dili) and Terry, are also much more experienced than I am.

Just to mention a couple of personal deficiencies regarding the game: I was not aware, or believed otherwise, that the Cst AA units are worthless as coastal defense against heavy naval bombardments. With this, only in the early summer did I understand that I needed dedicated CD units to defend against the constant enemy naval bombardments. After I got those in place there was much improvement but too late for some locations. Same with mines, I simply was not able to have them loaded up on the minelayers. Some weeks ago, I discovered the trick and the enemy has lost many submarines and surface ships in the minefields after that.

Topping of commanders and pilots: I have never liked that. I feel it is unrealistic with new commanders stepping on to their ships the same day they are appointed. So, I used it sparingly from the beginning, only lately have I started to do this on submarines in for upgrades. Alas, on USN submarines it doesn’t matter much because they are so mishandled by the game, anyway, even with “reliable torpedoes” (is there a difference, at all?).

Just for the fun of it I appointed Cmdr. Arleigh Burke CO of a small destroyer force and that worked admirably, until he was sunk, that is….

Selecting pilots, however, I only started to do in July because their delayed arrivals to the units I find more realistic. In the meantime, however, the squadrons have had to use what they had. Foolishly enough, I didn’t even ask for “vintage” pilots when needed. I’ve learnt that lesson, too - now. Gradually, their proficiency levels are reaching acceptable levels which can be seen in the recent loss/kill statistics.

Finally, I have not taken the problems with aircraft replacements and upgrades seriously enough. I had it in the back of my head, the 20000 rule, airfield size and/or the distance to HQs, but didn’t act accordingly. Consequently, the flow of replacements has suffered. This is coming into place, too.

Now comes the 10.000-dollar-question – shall I continue this Sisyphus work? My present opponent has indicated that he can continue through August but is it worth it with the rather impotent remaining allied naval forces? Maybe a time for negotiations?

Please see map!

Fred
------
P.S 1: If I should decide to continue the game I am on the look-out for a new opponent as the present one has signalled that he wants to be rotated in the end of August.

P.S. 2: Does the Brisbane Evening Star still have any entertainment value?




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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

Post by RangerJoe »

I do like the newspaper way of doing things, although more information is there than I think would be in a newspaper at that time.

Against the computer, after I have secured the DEI, that is exactly how I go about reinforcing and resupplying the Phillipines. Of course, then it is a short trip to drop 200,000 plus supplies at the recaptured Hong Kong . . . [8|]

But I pull completely out of Burma, Malaya, and I do not use the Chinese to invade Indochina.
Seek peace but keep your gun handy.

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
― Julia Child

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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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As a loyal reader I enjoyed the journey and the alternate approach of the Allied player to defend forwards in PI/DEI. However what this game does not do well, and what history showed us in spades, was that countries/ areaS surrendered enmasse early on, like the collapse of the Dutch and the total surrender of PI once Luzon fell. This game forces the Japanese player to police up each and every little dot-hex and undefended base long after history had the vanquished nation turning over the keys to the country/possesion. So it is the politics of a defeated FOE that this game/simulation lacks and falls far shortER than history. As stated above this hurts the Japanese tempo which is critical in the early war period of the game. What might be an interesting game to play would be once the Japanese captures a set amount of base VPs in PI and DEI those areas surrender, like historic instead of forcing the Japanese to expend time, energy, units and supplies taking all the ash and trash. This might apply to India as well as India did have a large and vibrant anti-British faction and if the Japanese had taken say, 1/3rd of the country, they rise up and the British are forced to abandon mainland India as the nation devolves into a new black hole of Calcutta. This would have to be an agreement between opponents and maybe a disinterested 3rd party as umpire to fairly call balls and strikes.
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Hi, Bif, thank you for your regular contributions. I get what you mean but I do not entirely agree with you. If a base or a force constellation should surrender itself (is it at all possible in the game?) it should, in my opinion, be a result of the actual military situation given in the game parameters – and/or fighting morale. If we look at RL there are some examples, Singapore and Bataan being two. Singapore (its leadership) had for a large part lost its fighting morale after the constant row of defeats in Malaya, at the same time seeing a water supply problem arising (not good for morale). Bataan had good fighting morale after having beaten back several major Japanese attacks, but was starved, with many sick-cases, out of food (but with some water) and munitions.

The rest of the Philippines did not surrender with the fall of Bataan. The Manila Bay defenses, with Corregidor and the other Bay fortresses, were still intact and the US bases in the Visayas (mid-Philippines) and Mindanao were relatively untouched in spite of a Japanese presence in Davao since the start of the war. Only when Corregidor was captured one month later did the rest of the Philippines surrender and then partly because the Japanese in the meantime, by invading Mindanao, had made the situation untenable for General Sharp there, at the same time as he was ordered by General Wainwright (after Japanese threats of retribution) on Corregidor to surrender his forces. US commanders on the other islands in the Visayas first refused to follow these orders. They wanted to fight! That General Sharp chose to follow the orders from Wainwright, in spite of his knowledge that General MacArthur in Australia did not want him to was probably in fear of consequences (in addition to those threatened to be imposed on the forces of Corregidor) as he was about to lose the battle for Mindanao. Thereafter, he was forced to send envoys to the various US commanders in the Visayas to convince them that his surrender orders were legitimate.

Even if Singapore surrendered, no British or commonwealth forces in other parts surrendered because of this and had the Japanese demanded it they would have been snuffed at as the British were pretty sure of being able to defend Burma, as they had been with Malaya. Alas, no fear of personal consequences for the leaders there. That is good for morale..:-)..

Both allied bases eventually surrendered but for slightly different reasons and in a different time span.

In the game (August 7th, 1942), Bataan has still not surrendered because it was properly supplied before it was closed off. If it had, Mindanao would not have gone down with it because the general situation was quite different from the RL one. However, as it is, Mindanao has in the meantime fallen (Bataan still stands) because of the military situation and in spite of considerable allied reinforcements having joined the Mindanao defenders - it just wasn’t enough. But it was enough to prolong the fighting and make it possible to reinforce the Moluccas considerably.

This brings us to the Dutch. When the Dutch surrendered on Java, the Moluccas had been in Japanese hands for some time and there was little hope of more allied assistance, the more so as they had shown little interest in assisting in the first place and what did arrive was too little, too late. In this scenario there is still hope for the Moluccas, an important part of the DEI and in allied hands (because they want it to get back to the Philippines). Many Dutch and Australian units are still fighting there as the Allies have shown great will to sacrifice. Because of this, morale is good! A big difference. For the same reason the Australians have seen fit to allocate more units abroad than they ever envisaged in RL.

Bif, in your reply to Ranger Joe you may not have referred as much to “my” game as to the ideas in his posting but I would like to make a general comment on the “police up each and every little dot-hex and defended base”. Surely, this does not apply only to the Japanese side? The Pacific campaign shows that the practical way to deal with this was simply to by-pass what could be by-passed. What is the difference, could the Japanese in the game not do the same thing? Or do you mean that the small dots and undefended bases add too many points in the final victory tally? Is it not so that these points and (undefended) bases change nationality automatically with the national force structure surrounding them?

That said, I think perhaps the game should inflict more “punishment” on units which are without supply for long periods, eventually to be discarded. This could eventually take care of your problem but also put pressure on the players to have them supplied – if they want to keep them in the game.

What is important for me in this game is that it is possible to do – what is possible to do. Only then is it a good simulator. The impossible is only what the enemy refuses you to do – or if it is too costly.

It is interesting to note that in the second-last edition of the Rainbow Plan, the one in force until April 1941, Mindanao was considered the proper destination for the first eventual war reinforcements to the Philippines from the States, just as Eisenhower advised Marshall. To accomplish this the Moluccan Relief Route would have to be kept open. While the US Army, as 1941 drew on, upped its plans for the Philippines, the Navy went in the other direction by removing any mention of coming to the assistance of the Philippines in the actual Rainbow Plan. “Rainbow” was, after all, the brainchild of the Navy. Therefore, the large Army resources allocated to the Philippines in 1940 and 1941, were bound to be a waste.

(Does anybody find it suspect that the Navy changed its plans just as the army had gotten into gear to reinforce The Philippines?)

Your alternative scenario on starting out with the Japanese already in possession of DEI would, in my opinion, make for a very dull opening as it is exactly here that the Japanese could be given the first snuff on the nose simply because that part of their campaign was based on a rigid schedule with little room for unexpected problems, the forces used were not impressive and parts of it were expected to perform consecutive invasions. I would go so far as to say they were lucky, to the extent that they could soon speed up their operations. That is why I set as a pre-requisite to my first opponent that his Southern Command should operate according to its original plan and schedule – until it met with problems which upset its original plan. Only then could he react to rectify this.

One could always say “this is cheating because you knew this”. That may be so but even if the Allies didn’t know this they should know, if they wanted to prepare for reinforcing the Philippines, that they would have to react immediately with all possible forces to ensure the Relief Route.

In another game the Japanese player could, of course, speed up his advance schedule to avoid such problems. As an example, go for Ambon before Kendari. Or go directly for Balikpapan instead of Tarakan. I have only poked briefly into the Japanese side in an AI game trial and it was terrifying to see what resources were available from the start. What should be considered, however, is the “political” difficulty in transferring major units, being it army or navy, between the various Japanese commands. I am not sure how easy that was in practice.

Fred
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Saving MacArthur - a book series on how The Philippines were saved - in 1942! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D3 ... rw_dp_labf
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RE: Rookie II - Saving MacArthur

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Brisbane Evening Star July 31st 1942 - page 1-2



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