Lightfoot (Allies) vs stjeand (Axis) 3.1 (no stjeand)

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Aug 29 Turn Cont'd.

India

Kido Butai appears to be in Calcutta. May be planning to drive me away from Ceylon.
Indian and UK troops make a series of attack getting them closer to taking Madras.
1st AF makes a strike against the Japanese destroyer group that moved into the port getting two hits.

An Indian division is landed on Ceylon to help take Colombo but the combined attack fails to break the defender.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Sep 12 Turn

Advancements: UK Warships to 44, China Assault to 42.
More units die in DEI.

Reinforcements: India receives a division.

Production
UK: Truck
India: Division
US: Landing Ship, Truck, Transport and Division.

DEI
Still have units in Oil Fields but they will die next turn.

Solomon Islands
Using rain for cover I am able to land a unit on New Georgia taking Munda. Did lose 3 to air strike.
Losing the attached transports hurts right now.

China - Clear
I continue to put pressure on their line with two attacks that drive back Japanese garrisons.
In the south I advance to put pressure on the Indochina area.

I am trying to stretch the Japanese resource to the point there are multiple weak point for me to exploit.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Sep 12 Turn Cont'd.

India - Clear
But heavy rains in Ceylon area so there is no Japanese fleet attack this turn.

In Ceylon a combined attack takes Colombo and my second victory hex this year.

Around Madras a coordinated attack of UK and India armies wipes out the Japanese southern armies and takes Madras.

This allows me to bring my Escort Fighter close to my fleet in case Kido Butai decides to sortie from Calcutta.
I also bring the Australian CV/CVL fleet into the mid Indian Ocean for support if needed.

With the taking of Colombo my Victory situation is improved but this is quite late in 43.
They still hold a substantial advantage of 23 VP to my 15 (8 difference).

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Sep 26 Turn

It looks like most of the Japanese fleet relocated from Calcutta to Singapore. There will be no great carrier battle this turn.

US needs to find a dry spot for its fleet so it can recover Effectiveness. For now they head for Bombay and hope for better weather in October.

The US Fleets in the Indian Ocean return to Australia.

Production
India: Division
Canada: Truck
US: Marine, 2 Trucks, Air Transport, 2 AA.

I believe the Sea Power situations is the following:

Ships US/UK Japanese
CV's 8 3
CVL's 5/1 6
BB's 12/1 6
BC's ... 3
CVE's ... 2

Australia/S. Pacific
Just some shifting of units to get them in better positions.

India - Rain
Japanese continue withdrawal toward Calcutta and Allies continue to follow.

China - Clear

Japanese fall back in south. Chinese follow.
Where they don't run fast enough I attack.

In the north the Com. Chinese continue to try to push their way into Japanese held territory.

In Indochina the Chinese push further south taking resources and cutting rail lines.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Oct 10 Turn

The last of my units in DEI are overrun. The attack turned into a fiasco. But there was some results from it but they are difficult to measure in terms of effect because it depends on the Japanese situation. I cut off 160+ oil over the 5 turns I held the fields. Plus a lot of oil was spent sinking my ships.

Only 6 Japanese carriers in Singapore this turn. Rest are unaccounted for.

US CV;s in Bombay are at 75% Effectiveness. Weather is clear so hopefully they will continue recovering.
The US carriers at Sydney are all back to 100%.

Reinforcements: US 2 divisions.

China - Hvy Rains
Shift forces both north and south to extend my lines.

Indochina

Move more forces in and push my territory out to just north of Bangkok and up to Quang Ngai.

I expect next turn there will be push back to stop this.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Oct 10 Turn Cont'd.

India - Clear

My line closes up on the still retreating Japanese.

In the south I am able to strike at the Thai division with a series of attacks that eventually overrun it.
1st 4:1 hits 2 vs 2 holds, 2nd 5:1 hits 0 vs 3 holds, and 3rd 7:1 resulting in overrun.

In the center of the line I attack the Imp. Guard Div at 2:1 with even results, 2 vs 2 hits.

They have the advantage now of a constantly shortening line which allows them to recombine their divisions into armies.
Pondering ways to change that equation.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Oct 24 Turn

Bombers attacked Japanese Convoy route but no hits.
Reinforcements: US: Division and Fighter. India a division.
Intel is pretty limited. Japanese fleet of 6 in Singapore. Three more in Manila.

Production
US: Truck, Patrol Ship (not sure how useful but I thought I ought to test).
India: Division

China - Snow
Japanese pull back some and Chinese follow.

India

Fleet in Bombay at over 84% effectiveness.

Two major attack launched to try and break there line.

First against 22nd Division.
Odds 3:1 results 3 hits on UK and 4 on div but holds.
Associated air superiority fight resulted in 1 hit to AF1 and 5 hits on Japanese 3rd air.
Odds 4:1 resulted 0 hits on UK and 3 to Japanese but holds.
Odds 8:1 resulted in 1 hit on UK and 1 on Japanese but they retreat.

I try to expand the breakthrough with an attack on the Imperial Guard Division.
6:1 attack results in 2 hits on UK and 3 hits on Japanese but hold.
4:1 attack results in 0 hits on UK and 1 hit on Japanese but holds.
3:1 attack results in 1 hit on UK and 1 hits on Japanese.
4:1 attack results in 0 vs 0 and hold.
4:1 attack results in 0 to 0 hits but this time they retreat.

Further south I attack the 19th Army.
6:1 attack results in 1 hit to UK and 4 hits with a retreat to the army
UK Corps follows and attacks again.
6:1 resulting in no hits but Japanese retreat again.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Nov 7 Turn

UK Large Warships adv to 53.
US Bombers get one Merchant.
Reinforcements: India gets two division.

Looks like most of Japanese fleet is in Manila now.
US fleet is at or above 87% Effectiveness.

Production
UK: Truck and Landing Ship
US: Marine, Division, Sub, 2 Landing Ships, Truck and AA.
India: Division.

China - Rain
Couple of attrition attacks.

India - Clear

I am way behind on VP and losing war. So I get desperate and try some "hail Mary's".

The Japanese are pulling back as fast as they can. If they get behind the river west of Calcutta I will probably be blocked for quite a few turns. After that they have the Dacca line. I need to get supplies going to China to create an offensive there and get those two VP. Can't go another six months with Japan still accumulating VP.

So I make a couple of attacks on units I can catch up with but do little real damage.

My desperation attack is to cut off all supplies to the Japanese army in India but that requires significant risk to my fleet which hasn't recover full effectiveness.

Blockade fleets move out to cut off the two ports (blue arrows) and the main US carrier fleet with 4 CV's and 2 CVL's move to a spot in support distance of them.

In addition the UK lands two division north of Rangoon who move to cut the rail lines there.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Nov 7 Turn Cont'd.

The second part of the "Hail Mary" is to start an offensive against Port Moresby and Lae.

DEI
Movements to expand my bomber coverage deeper into the China Sea and DEI.
US division lands on Ambon which will allow it to support bombers able to attack NEI, Borneo and W. Papua.

New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

US Fleet in Sydney sorties with 3 CV's and 3 CVL's to cut off supply to Port Moresby.
They are supported by a submarine group of 4.
Landings are made on both sides of PM.
Landings to get air bases are also made on Milne Bay and Henderson Field.

Most of my bombers and Air superiority fighters are based on tip of Australia in support distance.
My fleet isn't as strong as the Japanese but hopefully the LBA's will make up for that.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Nov 21 Turn

Bombers attack Japanese convoys hitting two Merchants.
Reinforcements: US: Division and 2 Subs. India: Division.

Production
UK: Truck, Oiler, Landing Ship.
US: Sub, 2 Trucks, 2 Landing Ships, Patrol Boat and AA.
Australia: Division.
India: Division and Truck.

New Guinea and Solomon Islands

Japanese sent more troops in. I am not sure why none were interdicted.
I launched bomber attacks against the various airfield to wear down the LBA's.
Then moved my carrier fleet off Lae to trigger any interdictions.
There was a naval air strike resulting in 2 hits against the Japanese 12th Air.

Since there didn't seem to be to many air units set to fight I landed a division north of Lae and another one NE of Port Moresby.

Most of the carrier fleet returned to Port Moresby leaving a blockade fleet.

Bombers and Air Superiority fighters are moved to the captured air fields to provide close support.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Nov 21 Turn Cont'd.

China - Snow in north.

Indochina

The two UK divisions are now cut off but move to make sure supply to India is cut.

Japanese move two fleets to blockade the ports my units in Indochina are drawing supplies from. This leave them out of supply so the retreat northward but are sill blocking some rail.

The Japanese fleet is on the move, Red Circle, but I have no intel on it.
I suspect it is Kido Butai. Probably couldn't reach my carriers from Manila so they are just positioning themselves.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Nov 21 Turn Cont'd.

India - Clear

I succeeded in cutting off their supplies. Now my problem is can I hold the blocking positions to be able to hold it another turn or two so the Japanese armies are actually reduced.

I execute a number of attacks but only in the south do they make a break through that might trap one of their armies.

I move the main US carrier fleet close to land where it will be out of range of Japanese air at Rangoon and well within the support range of the Indian Air Superiority fighters.

I also move the UK fleet next to the US fleet (larger arrow) to give it some support.

[kennonlightfoot]

43 Dec 5 Turn

Then almost exactly two years after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese do what they failed to do at Pearl. They wipe out my Carrier fleet off Calcutta. They do it without suffering any hits even on their ships.

Mostly demonstrating I don't have a clue what affects a carrier battle.

The Naval air strikes did do damage to one CV but nothing that would account for the one sided results. So more is going on with the Air to Air combat and readiness of the carriers to fight.

The Japanese carriers didn't even make their own attack. (I found out later my opponent had forgotten to switch from Raider mode). So a battle between a fleet trying to avoid combat in Raider mode is more powerful than a fleet that out numbers it but is in Fleet mode trying to have a battle.

Since the purpose of this AAR was to see what the US is capable of after an assault on India, there is not much purpose to continuing. I need to find a way to test CV vs CV and LBA's vs CV battles using hot seat. This isn't all that easy to do since there is very little information on what is actually happening. And every combination has to be run multiple times to determine what the odds for that combination.

So the Allies ask for an Armistice ending the Pacific War.

[YueJin]

You got super unlucky with the random dice roll as shown by the 'ambush' status next to the Japanese fleet. You should have both had good recon on each other, being within two hexes of an opponent controlled tile but the Japanese fleet being in raider and the air attacks probably meant your fleet's identification was much higher than his.

Always, always, always keep a fleet in raider mode unless you absolutely need it to attack something else. Being in fleet is essentially giving your opponent free recon on you and a largely risk free attack as they can move in interdiction range then use the other action point to move away. Raider really should be the default mode for fleets as it is just so much better in 99% of situations.

[kennonlightfoot]

I think I determined my error.

I meant to send in the Lexington II CV armed with the latest technology and supported by first line fighters from the Indian Airforce.

Instead I sent the Lexington supported by trainers. [:D]

[kennonlightfoot]

Instead my flag ship was in dry dock have a pizzeria installed in the rear hanger.

[John B.]

Thanks for the AAR. Sorry that it had such an abrupt end to it.

[James Taylor]

Recognized that CV16 right off, see it everyday on my commute into Corpus.

The "Blue Ghost", what a wonderful museum, so lucky to have it in my back yard.

[kennonlightfoot]

My son had a job near by, Ingleside, and is now moving back to Houston. I was helping move yesterday and we had time to do the tour. Well done museum. He was a little mad. Said the sailor births on the Lexington were larger than what they gave him on the USS George Washington. Also, question whether the galley really served steaks.[:)]

[anarchyintheuk]

Enjoyed the AAR as well. Sad to see it go. Watching the counteroffensive in India was fascinating.