A Good Place to Start - Matthew (A) v Fokko (J) - Bottlenecks Mod

[BBfanboy]

Is there a DL on the Enterprise TF?

[M Peaston]

No there isn't. There was no sign of Enterprise on the Combat Replay either. I also looked at the Ops reports for any sign of Enterprise's aircraft spotting the Japanese sub to the west, but there weren't any reports - although that doesn't mean the sub didn't spot the aircraft. Force Z's detection level is an unsurprising 10.

Japanese search aircraft haven't been very much in evidence so far - it leads me to suspect the Japanese may be training up for future ASW.

I think Manado is going to be used as an advanced base for Japan's push into the southern DEI, which is why I keep striking it. If I'm wrong then Fokko must be wondering why I'm so obsessed with the place.

It's also crossed my mind that I might be being sucked into a trap.

[BBfanboy]

Well that CL/DD TF is trying to intercept Force Z and night battles against that many Long Lance tubes are not a good idea. Doubly so if you bombard Manado first and come out short on ammo for the night battle. Your gamble to take... or not!

[RangerJoe]

Well that CL/DD TF is trying to intercept Force Z and night battles against that many Long Lance tubes are not a good idea. Doubly so if you bombard Manado first and come out short on ammo for the night battle. Your gamble to take... or not!

I concur. Have Force Z flee the area and let the Japanese CL/DD TF be hit by the Enterprise's air wing and/or effective LBA. If the Devastators use bombs, against those targets they could be more effective at low level.

[M Peaston]

Long Lance Torpedoes - uhh, I had forgotten about those things….

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated as always, but the die is cast -I’ve already sent the turn. I always do the turn first and only update the AAR on the previous day’s action (or lack of) after I’ve sent the turn off, so I am not keeping my opponent waiting any longer than necessary.

Force Z is already committed to bombarding Manado before scuttling off at high speed. It’s in the hands of the TF commander now, and the dice gods….

No reports have been received back yet, apart from an intercepted IJN HQ communication indicating that Force Z encountered some kind of reinforcement convoy.

Things may not have gone as badly as I feared they might.

Happy New Year to all!

[BBfanboy]

Happy New Year to you and all the AAR writers who do the work to share their game efforts with us!

punch out minion_400.gif (466.6 KiB) Viewed 808 times

A vicarious thrill for us to wait for the next update in a great match!

excited minions.gif (489.37 KiB) Viewed 808 times

May Force Z make game history for something other than its demise!

SunkSmiley.gif (16.33 KiB) Viewed 808 times

[JanSako]

Here's why I believe I can't 'City Bomb' at Palembang.

If this is the cause then I think it is fixable.

There's also the same problem with Bangkok.



Palembang.png

You are correct, these have been fixed in a later build of your scenario. You could fix these yourself & update the database, but have to tell your opponent because he has to replace his scenario files as well. Otherwise the game will yell at him or will want to 'downgrade' back to his scenario version. It is meant to prevent the Japan player just editing the heck out of a game after it has launched .

I would suggest you get the latest from LST though, there have been a number of database bugs found since you started.

[M Peaston]

Thanks BB Fanboy, I’m really enjoying this game, and I’m pleased you’re enjoying the AAR. I’ve learned a lot from those that have taken the time and trouble to post advice both to this AAR and on the forum generally, and I’ve enjoyed reading other AARs, so it’s nice to be able to give something back to the forum.


Jansako, thanks for confirming that for me.





17th February 1942



CHINA

The Japanese capture Shuozhou, forcing the battered Reds to retreat.



INDIA/BURMA

It must have been a few days ago when some anonymous clerk walked into that hot, dark, stuffy office in Aden. “Stuffy, stuffy, yes very VERY stuffy. Must throw those windows open. Oh dear! That wind must be coming down off the mountains. I wasn’t expecting that. Now, those papers, I’m sure they were in this pile - they probably were anyway. There now, two neat piles, same size - that must be right.”

Fast forward to today, and the bemused Australians of 21 and 25 Brigades queue up to embark onto some AKVs - roomy perhaps, but far from comfortable - whilst looking at the troopships across the dock that they thought they were going to be embarking on. They’re not half as bemused as the pilots and crews of 803 and 806 squadrons are, as they watch the dockworkers try to cram the (now disassembled and crated) aeroplanes onto the troopships…..

If shipping’s tight then I usually try and micromanage which formation is going on which ship. In this case there was plenty of shipping and capacity available so I let the AI do the allocations….Hmmm….. I thought about unloading and repacking everything but I couldn’t be bothered; they can sort it all out at Karachi.



ABDA

Plenty of action here. As is often the case, things didn’t turn out as badly as I feared, or as well as I hoped. I don’t think Force Z will go down in history for this engagement, but it is a small achievement none the less. It caught a small troop convoy unloading at Manado. CL Kashii and DDs Kuri and Karii were sunk and two troopships left burning. Force Z suffered only very minor damage and has now retreated to the Makassar strait under cover of P40s from Balikpapan. A small tactical victory certainly, but if it delays the Japanese advance into the Southern DEI, then perhaps a more significant strategic victory?

Enterprise didn’t launch any strikes because of poor weather, and is now retiring to Perth. Eventually she’ll go to the West Coast or Pearl Harbor to link up with the other USN carriers.

I had less success with Durban, Boise and the two DDs at Miri. They sunk 3 xAKLs they found nearby, but were then chased off by two Destroyers and two Torpedo Boats. John D Edwards was left burning heavily and has been ordered to disband at an Allied-held Island off North Borneo. Boise, Durban and the remaining destroyer are now in the Celebes Sea; they’re undetected from what I can see therefore should also be able to make the Makassar Strait unscathed.

Durban must be singled out for some particularly poor shooting during the Miri encounters.

The Dutch B10s again attacked Palembang, and again there was no fighter cover. An xAP at the port was hit in return for six B10s lost. I’m not sure what happened to the fighters. I checked and rechecked the settings and all was okay, but neither the sweeps nor the escorts flew. Someone muttered something about the pilots not being able to take off because the sun kept getting in their eyes.

Indomitable had better luck. Off Djambi her Albacores hit an xAK with six 500lb bombs, hit an xAP and returned without loss. Not for the first time FAA pilots showed an uncanny knack for just sidestepping the Japanese CAP.

There was the usual daily ground and air bombardment of Bataan, which is now down to about 7 days’ supply.



SWPAC/SOPAC

ML Laurabada was sunk by a small Japanese TF off Umboi Island. Laurabada gallantly gave up her fuel to enable a PT Boat flotilla to reach Lae, but did not have enough for herself to escape.

I’ve lost tabs on KB’s whereabouts. Has it left the area? Has it moved south into the Coral Sea where I don’t have adequate air search? Or have my patrols simply failed to spot it? A BB/CA TF has appeared west of Woodlark Island, possibly off to bombard Port Moresby? Or maybe even Townsville? I hope it’s not Townsville, there’s a fair amount of shipping there being used to keep Port Moresby supplied and reinforced. I’m inclined to think the Japanese wouldn’t leave this powerful surface TF without air cover.

Sydney-bound traffic is now being diverted to Melbourne. Does Fokko not understand just how disruptive it is having his navy hanging around the Solomons/Coral Sea?



CENPAC

The 57th Coastal Artillery Rgt departs San Francisco bound for Christmas Island.



SUBMARINE WARFARE

I-159 sinks xAK Fatshan off Batavia
S-23 put 2 torpedoes into xAK Nichiyu Maru at Rabaul.



INDUSTRY

There appears to have been some kind of labour dispute affecting aircraft factories in San Diego and Los Angeles. I noticed that despite being more than half-way through the month only one Catalina had been produced. I checked the factories and found that they weren’t producing anything. The production of SBD3s had stopped as well, but at least I’ve got plenty of these in the pools, whereas I need every patrol aircraft I can set my hand on! I’ve banged a few heads together, compromises have been reached and the factories are producing again. I’ll keep an eye on this for a while. The good news is that the shutdown did not spread across the Pacific to Australia, so the production of Wirraways was completely unaffected. One must be thankful for small mercies.

[M Peaston]

Coral Sea.png (1.83 MiB) Viewed 731 times

[CaptBeefheart]

Happy New Year! I would also like to commend you for doing this AAR.

In my opinion, Coastwatchers are always eating funny mushrooms or smoking wacky tobaccy. I don't pay attention to their reports. If someone else has gotten anything of value from them, please correct me.

Nice usage of your forces to hopefully slow down the grand sweep of conquest. Keep up the good work.

EDIT: What happened at your Southern California factories? And which HQ that had MacArthur in it disappear?

Cheers,
CB

[BBfanboy]

Happy New Year! I would also like to commend you for doing this AAR.

In my opinion, Coastwatchers are always eating funny mushrooms or smoking wacky tobaccy. I don't pay attention to their reports. If someone else has gotten anything of value from them, please correct me.

Nice usage of your forces to hopefully slow down the grand sweep of conquest. Keep up the good work.

EDIT: What happened at your Southern California factories? And which HQ that had MacArthur in it disappear?

Cheers,
CB

This is correct 99% of the reports are imagination. But every once in a while you get some good info. The tip-off seems to be the degree of detail given - more detail = a better sighting. E.G. a sighting that gives the number and types of ships is more credible than just the number of vessels. Even better if it gives ship class or ship name - the latter usually being a ship in port. I usually look for corroborating SIGINT info or assign search/recon aircraft to verify.

[M Peaston]

Yes, I suspect that many of the coast watchers spend far too much of their time brewing and consuming the local moonshine. According to the coast watchers at the Japanese held port of Buka/Bonis in the Solomons most of the Combined Fleet seems to cycle through the port on a weekly basis.

However, I do find that the coast watchers in friendly hexes are a little more useful. True, they’re not good at all at letting me know what was there, or how many, or where it was heading, but they usually alert me to the fact that something is out there somewhere, as from friendly-occupied hexes I mostly receive reports where there is already known enemy activity, but generally no reports from where there is no known or suspected activity. The problem is that usually I’m getting better information from my search aircraft about the same TF as the coast watchers have spotted. What I don’t know is whether the coast watchers help raise the detection level of a TF, or otherwise provide some advantage to the search aircraft.

I wouldn’t rely on a coast watcher report, but I try not to completely dismiss them either. I agree with you BB Fanboy - check it out if you can.

[M Peaston]

Happy New Year! I would also like to commend you for doing this AAR.

In my opinion, Coastwatchers are always eating funny mushrooms or smoking wacky tobaccy. I don't pay attention to their reports. If someone else has gotten anything of value from them, please correct me.

Nice usage of your forces to hopefully slow down the grand sweep of conquest. Keep up the good work.

EDIT: What happened at your Southern California factories? And which HQ that had MacArthur in it disappear?

Cheers,
CB

Thanks Capt Beefheart,

I’m not sure what happened to factories; all I know is that production was switched off and judging by the numbers it must have happened early February. It’s possible I turned it off by accident, although I generally try not to press anything that I don’t really understand. I think it very unlikely I would have accidentally toggled off production at two different locations though, and if I had done so on the global screen then Melbourne would have been affected as well. I can’t explain it.

MacArthur came with his own ‘Dugout Doug’ command HQ in the Philippines and I managed to recreate his evacuation in a PT boat (with some hairy moments in the Sulu Sea from what I recall). From what I remember of the design notes the idea was to combine him with the SWPAC command HQ when it arrives.

[M Peaston]

18th February 1942




CHINA

The Japanese have pretty much got the 11th War Area sown up. Any attempt at breaking out is met with superior Japanese forces making tactical use of the rail lines southwest and southeast of Tsinan.

Chinese gunboats bomb Hankow - minor airbase, runway and supply hits recorded.



PHILIPPINES

The usual heavy air attacks and ground bombardments at Bataan. Bataan has about 6,500 supply left, and is getting through nearly 1,000 a day.



DEI

Japanese forces are breaking out of Palembang, taking Praboemoelih to the south, and heading for Djambi to the north. The NZ 24th ADC Engineers have been destroyed, Lahat and Palembang Commandos are falling back on Benkoelen in some disarray. Benkoelen itself has been bombed for the first time, and elements of the Japanese 81st Naval Guard Unit have landed unopposed at Bengkalis.

Allied air forces at Batavia and Bandoeng were stood down for the day, except for 9 Dutch Buffalos which didn’t get the message. They swept over Palembang, claiming 3 Oscars without loss. Why can’t they do that when I need them to?

Force Z is transiting the Makassar strait undetected under cover of P40Es from Balikpapan and is heading for Koepang. Boise, Durban and Encounter are refuelling at Tarakan and I hope to get them back to safety too. I wonder where mini-KB is? Hitherto it had been based at Babeldaob and operating in the Ternate-Manado-Celebes sea area, but there’s been no sign of any Japanese pursuit.

Warspite is crossing the Great Australian Bight and nearing Western Australia. I was thinking of having her join force Z but looking at Warspite’s speed I think she is a bit slow. Instead Warspite will join Eastern Fleet. I’m thinking of sending Prince of Wales to an Indian Ocean port for her refit, then maybe she will also join Eastern Fleet operating with the RN fleet carriers. Repulse will add some firepower to a mixed heavy/light cruiser force that will operate out of Darwin and/or Port Hedland. Hermes (currently at Darwin) will also remain.



SWPAC/SOPAC

KB has disappeared, and thankfully the feared bombardment of Port Moresby or the Australian East Coast didn’t materialise, but there is no chance of the Marines getting through to Tulagi at the moment.


The US 21st BF heading for Luganville is now just 160 miles away, I hope the Japanese battleships don’t head there, that could be nasty.



SUBMARINE WARFARE

Triton torpedoes xAK Atago Maru off Saipan.

[M Peaston]

11th War Area.png (2.1 MiB) Viewed 536 times

Palembang.png (1.35 MiB) Viewed 536 times

Coral Sea.png (1.64 MiB) Viewed 536 times

[M Peaston]

19th February 1942




INDIA/BURMA

In Burma Japanese reconnaissance over the last few days seems to have been particularly interested in the track from northern Thailand towards Taung Gyi.

I don’t intend to make a serious attempt to defend Burma, just hold long enough to organise a decent defence of Bengal. The Japanese have captured Moulmein, and the British have abandoned Martaban and Pegu. Rangoon is garrisoned by the 2nd Burma and 45 Indian Bdes plus a naval and air BF units and a squadron of Hurricanes. They’re just there to deter the Japanese from seizing Rangoon with light forces and will be evacuated as the Japanese advance. I’m looking to make an initial stand along the line of Toungoo-Tapun-Henzada. Should the Japanese outflank this position by advancing along the Taung Gyi track I’ve got the BFF Bde and 1st Burma Bde at Taung Gyi itself plus a more advanced picket along the track, so I should get sufficient warning to be able to withdraw along the rail line if necessary. When I become more confident on the Japanese axis of advance I’ll seek to concentrate my forces more. If they advance in sufficient strength on multiple axes then I’m stuffed whatever I do.

Burma.png (1.76 MiB) Viewed 511 times

DEI

In a sloppy navigational error RAF Hurricanes from Batavia swept Praboemoelih rather than Palembang. Three Dutch B10 Martins were lost over Palembang for no result.



PHILIPPINES

US/Philippine forces held off a Japanese deliberate assault at Cagayan on Mindanao.

Bataan is now down to 5,800 supply, so slightly less consumed/destroyed as usual. Special mention must be made of 2nd Lt Gamboa and his Beech 18-S transport. Operating out of Cebu, he has single-handedly rescued the yummy nurses from Manila as part of Operation Petticoat, flown out elements of the Asiatic Fleet and Far East Air HQs, and elements of 1st Port Maintenance Bn (all in turn picked up by transports flying from Tarakan and Makassar). Now he’s making daily supply flights to Bataan - a drop in the ocean though.

USS Argos has arrived at Bataan with another drop in the ocean. I intend to use her to pull out the small amounts of supply in the unoccupied ports nearby and run it into Bataan. In the Celebes Sea there is a convoy of three small xAKLs with about 570 supply, if they can make it through (a very big if) then I’ll try risking bigger, single merchant ships (there’s one approaching the Makassar Strait with about 3,700 supply, and another being dispatched from Darwin with a similar amount).




SWPAC/SOPAC/CENPAC

The Japanese Battleship group south of Tulagi has disappeared, 21st US BF has been allowed to unload at Luganville unmolested so far. Lexington, currently skirting the northern edge of the Tasman Sea, has been ordered back into the Coral Sea to try and locate the Japanese surface group.

However, the Japanese carriers have now reappeared, and are between Ontong Java and Nauru Island, putting them within easy reach of the Marshalls. This is something of a problem for Spruance, who is also heading for the Marshalls with Saratoga and Yorktown. Achilles and Leander with DDs Preston and Cushing are already at the Marshalls, their sortie was originally timed to coincide with with the US carrier strikes for maximum effect, but Spruance is late.

I thought long and hard about ordering Spruance back to Pearl Harbor, but I’ve decided to continue, albeit having altered course to the northwest. If I can keep the Japanese carriers away from the Solomons long enough to get the 1st Marine Rgt to Tulagi, inflict some material loss on the Japanese in the Marshalls, and force them to disperse assets to protect the Marshalls then that’s all to the good. I think Spruance has one more day sailing westwards and can still safely abort if necessary. I think the harsh reality is it will be aborted though; if KB heads towards the Marshalls, or if I lose track of its whereabouts, then it would be too risky to continue.

[JanSako]

Just remember that Kido/IJN CV's can reach up to 26 hexes under ideal circumstances. 9+9 sprint +8 strike range of Kates, if he sends them out with bombs only. They will not fly at 9 against ships, never mind the 'theoretical' range. They can fly at 9 hexes against ground targets, 7 with torpedoes.

[BBfanboy]

A lot of those Burma-approaching enemy troops could be the Thai divisions, which start out very understength, low on experience and with no heavy weapons. This early in the game they are still weak and could be destroyed if they get too far ahead of IJA support.

[M Peaston]

Just remember that Kido/IJN CV's can reach up to 26 hexes under ideal circumstances. 9+9 sprint +8 strike range of Kates, if he sends them out with bombs only. They will not fly at 9 against ships, never mind the 'theoretical' range. They can fly at 9 hexes against ground targets, 7 with torpedoes.

Thanks Jansako, it never hurts to be reminded of KB’s reach. I carefully counted out the hexes and Spruance should be okay for at least one more day - assuming of course that Mini-KB isn’t also lurking in the Pacific. If it is then Spruance might be sailing into a trap….

It’s always an interesting exercise to pick a port you think is safe and trace out 26 hexes - it’s enough I think to shake complacency out of any allied player.

[M Peaston]

A lot of those Burma-approaching enemy troops could be the Thai divisions, which start out very understength, low on experience and with no heavy weapons. This early in the game they are still weak and could be destroyed if they get too far ahead of IJA support.

I suspect the Japanese are waiting for reinforcements from Singapore before pressing on. I’d never thought about this before, but the use of dot bases to make a supply cap also provides intel and early warning of any enemy moves, with the need. to capture the bases when on the move, unless they flip to enemy control (as they’ve done in Burma along the Thailand border). In the early days there was a lot of ‘flipping’ to and fro, but it seems to have stabilised now.

It’s going to make any surprise moves difficult on this front.