Variants - Allied side - Xargun welcome

[Nomad]

Xargun and I are embarking on a game. We are using Andy Macs updated scenario 2 and 100 points of Variants.

You can find the thread on variants here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4906600

Andy Mac has made the scenario changes and Xargun is busy doing his turn 1.
We have no house rules just some turn 1 rules:
1. Allied TF that exist on turn one can change their orders, no new TFs can be created
2. Only ground and air units either in China or attached to China Command can be given orders on turn 1.
3. No deep penetrations by the Japanese( No Mersing turn 1, no Palambang, etc. )

I usually suck at doing AARs, they only one I remember keeping up with was the Pinups in the Pacific one, and that was a team game and my partner Vettim89 kept me posting.

[Evoken]

What are the changes ?

[Nomad]

These are my Variants:

We have agreed upon 100 points

E1 ... Add size 30 F4F-4 factory at Eastern USA --------- 5 points
E1 ... Add size 30 B-25C factory at Eastern USA -------- 10 points
E5 ... Increase Sydney repair shipyards by 10 ----------- 5 points
........ and Auckland repair shipyards by 20
E4 ... Add size 50 oil at Melbourne --------------------- 5 points
.....................................Total E ------ 25 points

A1 ... Accelerate P-47D25 by 8 months to 43/7 ------------8 points
A1 ... Accelerate F6F-3 by 4 months to 42/12 -------------5 points
A2 ... Delay Prod end P-47D25 by 3 months to 9/44--------- 2 points
A6 ... Add USAAF 75 x P-47D25 10th AF HQ ----------------- 2 points
A6 ... Add USAAF 75 x P-47D25 II US FTR HQ --------------- 2 points
A14 .. Add 50 PBY-5 to pool ---------------------------- 2 points
A14 .. Add 50 SBD-3 to pool ---------------------------- 2 points
.....................................Total A ------- 23 points

N3 ... Add 2 Mdway CVBs in 1944 ------------------------- 8 points
N4 ... Add 3 Essex CVs in 1943 -------------------------- 15 points
N7 ... Change CV Wasp to Yorktown class ------------------- 2 points
......................................Total N ---------- 25 points

O1 ... Add 25 PP per day ----------------------------------- 4 points
.......................................Total O ----------- 4 points

L1 ... Increase 25lb gun by 25 to 53 ----------------------- 2 points
L1 ... Increase 40mm bofors AA gun by 25 to 37 -------------- 2 points
L1 ... Increase 6pdr AT Gun by 25 to 37 --------------------- 2 points
L2 ... Accelerate 6 pdr AT Gun by 6 months to 42/6 --------- 3 points
L3 ... Add USMC Div TOE #2502 at San Diego ------------------ 4 points
L3 ... Add USA Inf Div TOE #2511 at San Fransisco------------ 4 points
L4 ... Add USMC Div TOE #2503 at San Diego ------------------ 3 points
L8 ... Change III US Corps HQ to temp restricted ----------- 1 point
L9 ... Cancel withdrawal of III US Corps HQ ----------------- 1 point
.........................................Total L --------- 22 points

B1 ... Increase port potential of Vava'u by one to SPS(4) ----- 1 point
..........................................Total B ---------- 1 point

.....................................Grand total ------- 100 points

That is a bit easier to read

[Andy Mac]

The P47 acceleration for me was the one game changer in your list that give you equality or better in the air in late 43 thats probably the single biggest impactor of your choices for me,

Its probably a little cheap at 8 points for the power it gives so I may put a cap of say max 6 months accel for any one type in future or tweak the cost a little - didnt want to say anything before you got started but that was my reflection of your choices

Really interesting to see what you do with Vava'vu and will Xargun even notice

[Nomad]

One thing I did strive for is about equal expenditures on Econ, Naval, Air, and Land. It just felt right to have some equality there.
I am really interested in the B-25C also, since it will upgrade through out the war.

[Andy Mac]

I liked all your choice I thought they were very interesting the B25C factroy is a great choice given how short of bombers the allies usually are in 42 and as you say it will give you more of the excellent D1 Attack variant so really nice choice

The only one I wasnt sure of was

L1 ... Increase 6pdr AT Gun by 25 to 37 --------------------- 2 points
L2 ... Accelerate 6 pdr AT Gun by 6 months to 42/6 --------- 3 points

With the PIAT upgrades to squads and the fact that japanese Tanks are not that good not sure it was worth 5 points

But I think I made the acceleration of P47 too cheap so it all balances out

A14 .. Add 50 PBY-5 to pool ---------------------------- 2 points - I would maybe have went for the PBY-4 for the extra range

But that a minor quibble

[ny59giants]

Just added a comment on maybe raising the night time experience of major Allied warships by 20 to 25 points for at start and '42 warships. If you had that, an Allied player might be more aggressive with them from the beginning.

[Nomad]

I looked at it. 2 points and CL Boise has 73 Night Experience. But, that is also 2% of my points and it is one ship. One bad die roll and Boise takes a long lance and there goes 2 points. I think that if we had gone with 125 points I would have used some of them on doing this.

[Nomad]

Andy, I had two options here. One was the 6pdr AT gun as I took and the other was two more Divisions, one L5 and one L4. The two divisions were going to be one British and one Indian. I flipped a coin and the 6pdr AT gun won. Part of the decision was looking at what I had trouble with filling out CW land units and the 25pdr, 40m Boffers and the 6pdr AT were where I had trouble.

Also on the drawing board was a combination of the two, 25 more 6pdrs and one division in 1943. So many decisions to be made.

[Nomad]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

The P47 acceleration for me was the one game changer in your list that give you equality or better in the air in late 43 thats probably the single biggest impactor of your choices for me,

Its probably a little cheap at 8 points for the power it gives so I may put a cap of say max 6 months accel for any one type in future or tweak the cost a little - didnt want to say anything before you got started but that was my reflection of your choices

Really interesting to see what you do with Vava'vu and will Xargun even notice

You might tweak the cost based on the number of airframes that will be added.
The 8 month advancement and the 3 month extension means that I will get 13 months at 175 aircraft per month for 2275 P-47D25s. That is a lot of heavy duty fighters.

[Nomad]

On the B25s. I will get about 30 months or more of production. 30 months of production is to February 1945. I may get more, depends.
but 30 months means 900 extra medium/attack bombers. I will have a size 20 and a size 30 factory that switch from B-25Cs to B-25D1s.
When I get to the time for them to upgrade to B-25J11s I will have to make a decision. I may keep one of them producing D1s and not
have them upgrade. The J11 has more guns but at the cost of 2 hexes in their range. I will have to decide if that is significant.
But I have until September 1944 to make my decision. And I could make it after that too.

More comments on my choices:
A size 30 F3F-4 factory because the USN and USMC are always short on fighters in 1942, this will help.

Increasing the shipyard in Sydney to 40 means I can repair all the USN BBs except the Iowas.
Increasing the shipyard in Auckland to 35 means I can repair all the prewar BBs and all of my CVs except the Lexingtons, which can be repaired at Sydney.

A size 50 oil at Melbourne lets me use the 55 refineries in Australia to make some fuel.

The 2 size 75 P-47s in 1944 gives some large sweeping units. Should be very useful.

50 PBY-5s because I expect my opponent to hit Pearl Harbor and destroy most of my PBYs there.
50 SBD-3s because like the fighters, the USN and USMC are short of SBDs, just not as bad.

2 Midways in 1944 and 3 Essexs in 1943 seemed to be a good idea. I got fairly lucky with my Essexs, one in February 1943, one in May 1943, and then one in August 1943. The Midways arrive April and December 1944. Unlucky with one. All of these do come with complete airgroups.
Changing the Wasp for a Yorktown class gives me 6 size 90 CVs buy June 1942 and hopefully enough aircraft to be able to do something.

Adding 25 PPs per day allows me to release some units quicker, but also I am a bit OCD about HQ assignments, this will allow the changes I like to make.

Adding 25lb guns and, 40mm Bofors, and 6pdr At guns because in my previous games these items always seems to be in short supply. Maybe I could have done something besides the 6pdr At guns, but it is done now.

Adding 2 USMC Divisions and a USA Infantry Division will to help island invasions during the war. The 7th Marine Division arrives January 1943, the 8th Marine Division arrives December 1943 and the 74th USA Infantry Division arrives December 1942.

I changed the III US Corps HQ because I always seem to be short on Corps HQs. They take so long to prep for a new invasion so I hope this will help that.

Enlarging the port SPS at Vava'u will allow me to build the port to a size 7. That gives me a South Pacific port that can repair small amounts of major engine and float damage without having to send them to a repair shipyard. And the rearm capability is huge, I can rearm everything there. Vava'u will be my major hub in the South Pacific for the first year or more. I expect to lose Noumea, although I will fight for it.

[Nomad]

First turn is away, we will see what carnage ensues.

[Nomad]

My opponent did indeed attach Pearl Harbor. His attack was not that successful. He sank 2 BBs and severely damaged the other 6, but only one has any fires, and that is only 3. I should be able to field all 6 in about 15 months. Of course he might try a second attack, I will have to wait. I did not lose many ships on the first turn at all. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few turns. Force "Z" fled at top speed towards Batavia and will refuel and be ready to try and intercept any forces in the area. Dutch, USN, and the lighter British naval forces are gathering in the DEI and getting ready to combine and see about some attacks.

[Nomad]

Very little happened this turn. No second attack on PH. No air attacks in the PI at all. The three British DDs that start in Hong Kong ran into a superior Japanese surface TF and were all sunk. They damaged a DD but that is about all. A small TK ( 6650 size ) was sunk by sub just South of Singapore. That is about all. I have a bazillion TFs moving everywhere, air groups are training and some places CAPPING. I made a stupid error and forgot to stand down the British bombers at Singapore and lost 11 bombers. Stuff happens.

[Nomad]

I wondered if my opponent would abort the Tarawa invasion until he had more support, but he didn't. I had detached CA Louisville and sent it to patrol at Tarawa and here came an amphibious TF.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 136,128, Range 18,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Santos Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAKL Toyotsu Maru, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
xAK Aratama Maru, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Katsura Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
xAKL Kaito Maru, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Tenposan Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Louisville

Japanese ground losses:
1843 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 69 disabled
Non Combat: 23 destroyed, 82 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 30 (15 destroyed, 15 disabled)

There was no ground combat at Tarawa, so I guess I got everybody.

The mini KB entered the Celebes Sea area and sank two ships:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tawi Tawi at 72,90

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B5N1 Kate x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAK Si Kiang, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Tantalus
xAK Capillo
PG Tulsa, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B5N1 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

The good part is it used almost half of its torpedoes that turn. I have surface forces at Balikpapan and some will sortie out to see if they can get close enough to make a run next turn.

KB only moved 3 or 4 hexes this turn. It is 15 hexes East of Midway. Not entirely sure what he is doing, another turn of waiting to see.

My PTs in the PI did nothing as usual. I never seem to have any luck with them. They found a CL/DD TF, not the amphibious TF I was hoping for.

My choice of adding 50 PBY-5s seems to be working good. I was able to fill out all of the PBY squadrons at Pearl Harbor this turn and they should be mostly repaired in a few turns and I can then send them out to Bases in the South Pacific.

As usual for the Allies, there is not a lot to do now, I have those Bazillion TFs moving to places where they can be of use. I do have some TFs loaded with fuel, supply, air units, and LCUs moving to places in the South Pacific.

[Nomad]

I see I have let this AAR lapse. I will try to catch up.

A British TF consisting of second class CLs found an amphip TF at Kuching:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Kuching at 58,88, Range 21,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Chokai, Shell hits 8
DD Sagiri, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
TB Kasasagi, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AK Kaga Maru, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Hakonesan Maru, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Hakubasan Maru, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PB Nako Maru #2, Shell hits 14, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Danae, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Dragon, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CL Durban, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
2016 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 59 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Unfortunately, all three CLs were sunk in the next day or two, but they foiled the landing

I lost a few more ships that were fleeing the PI and Hong Kong. The merchants at Hong Kong generally
serve as target practice for Japan.

[Nomad]

Trying to hit a CVL TF in the Celebes Sea

Night Time Surface Combat, near Gorontalo at 71,96, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo, Shell hits 1
CA Myoko, Shell hits 4, on fire
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1
CA Nachi
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 1
DD Natsushio

Allied Ships
CA Houston, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Boise, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
DD John D. Ford, Shell hits 2
DD Peary
DD Pillsbury
DD Pope, Shell hits 1, on fire

A few more merchants lost in the area.

DD Van Nes took a Torpedo hit. Didn't sink yet

[Nomad]

Continuing to try and sink that CVL

Night Time Surface Combat, near Gorontalo at 73,96, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo, Shell hits 2
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Nachi, Shell hits 1
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 1
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 2
DD Banckert
DD Witte de With
DD Kortenaer, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Piet Hein

Today CL Durban and CL Danae were sunk by sub.

DD Kortenaet was sunk by Kates later in the turn. DD Piet Hein was hit by a bomb.

[Nomad]

I had CL Adelaide at Shortlands and she found a Amphib TF

Day Time Surface Combat, near Shortlands at 109,131, Range 18,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Shonon Maru #15, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
PB Takunan Maru #2, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Katsuragisan Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
xAKL Amakasu Maru, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CL Adelaide

Japanese ground losses:
261 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

no landing at Shortlands.

A few more merchants sunk by sub. He is using his subs around Borneo to hit the fleeing merchants.

[Nomad]

A quiet turn, the British MTBs did put a torpedo into AS Nagoya Maru.

A couple more merchants lost