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[Erkki]

Fixed your links for you. Could you possibly post a large, zoomed out map so that we can have an idea where everything is?

Fixed my post as well.

Yeah I could post one or the (not very informative) strat map, but I currently play the game on 1280 x 800 (laptop) so it'd take a while to combine the screenshots for one very large image file... But currently most of the IJN is in KB near Wake(north of Marshall Islands) and in the Dutch East Indies (South China Sea, Malaya, North Borneo mostly).

[USEC_OFFICER]

Fixed your links for you. Could you possibly post a large, zoomed out map so that we can have an idea where everything is?

Fixed my post as well.

Yeah I could post one or the (not very informative) strat map, but I currently play the game on 1280 x 800 (laptop) so it'd take a while to combine the screenshots for one very large image file... But currently most of the IJN is in KB near Wake(north of Marshall Islands) and in the Dutch East Indies (South China Sea, Malaya, North Borneo mostly).

Oh well. I guess that I'll just have to brush up on my East Asian geography then.

[Zrk2]

Fixed your links for you. Could you possibly post a large, zoomed out map so that we can have an idea where everything is?

Fixed my post as well.

Yeah I could post one or the (not very informative) strat map, but I currently play the game on 1280 x 800 (laptop) so it'd take a while to combine the screenshots for one very large image file... But currently most of the IJN is in KB near Wake(north of Marshall Islands) and in the Dutch East Indies (South China Sea, Malaya, North Borneo mostly).

Oh well. I guess that I'll just have to brush up on my East Asian geography then.

Good plan.

[Erkki]

December 17 1941

Another good day to the Empire(with some luck)!


Kido Butai:

A USN submarine attacks KB in the night and hits CV Akagi. The torpedo is reported to explode, but Akagi suffers no damage. FOW - phew!

Hiryu and Soryu pursued the fleeing enemy, but found only the DD Mahan that was still intact. D3A dive bombers sunk it!

The rest of the KB attacked Wake Island. A Zero was lost(pilot OK) to 2 Wildcats(the only ones that took off to defend), and the island's garrison was hit hard. Wake will be invaded tomorrow!


Malaya & DEI:

Near Palembang, a Japanese CL & DD squadron meets the patrolling Dutchmen and makes mince meat out of them. Long Lances score 2 kills in this brutal nocturnal point-blank range encounter.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Singkep at 49,87, Range 1,000 Yards
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Jintsu
      DD Natsugumo
      DD Minegumo
      DD Arare
      DD Kasumi
      DD Murasame
      DD Harusame
      DD Yudachi, Shell hits 2
 
Allied Ships
      CL Java
      CL Tromp, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
      DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 1,  on fire
      DD Evertsen, Shell hits 1
      DD Van Nes, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is SUNK

DD Van Nes sunk by CL Jintsu at 1,000 yards

CL Tromp was left in sinking condition and most probably did not survive the night. DD Yudachi suffered only minor damage...

In daylight, IJNAF attacked and sunk about 10 ships with both torpedoes and bombs. Many are still left!

Also, Japanese submarines in the area managed to sink 2 merchantmen and 2 tankers. Banzai to that!

Manado fell to the IJN Marines. Time to fly in the bombers and recon aircraft!


Burma: looks like the Allies are reinforcing the Andaman Islands, so 3 Paratrooper companies might not be enough to take them, and naval invasion is out of question as long as Singapore holds. Hmm...

New Guinea: 2 IJN AMC armed merchant raiders catch a convoy of 2 troop transports escorted by 2 gunships near Port Moresby. They're all hit hard and left to sink, Banzai!



Day Time Surface Combat, near Port Moresby at 95,130, Range 20,000 Yards
 
Japanese Ships
      AMC Aikoku Maru
      AMC Hokoku Maru, Shell hits 2,  on fire
 
Allied Ships
      PC Swan, Shell hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage
      PG Moresby, Shell hits 9,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      xAP Malaita, Shell hits 4,  on fire
      xAP Morinda, Shell hits 8,  heavy fires,  heavy damage

[Korbac]

All going well!

[Erkki]

Okay, so while we wait for the next turn, I thought to write down some of my thoughts regarding the Case Lexington.


Apparently my opponent had picked up some Vindicator dive bombers from Pearl and wanted to reinforce Wake with them. As the Kido Butai attacked Manila, he thought he'd have the time to do that. CV Lexington was sunk only 4 hex from Wake which is much, much closer than the Lexington TF needed to be to deliver the dive bombers or extract the F4F squadron. Why were they so close? Did he do that in hopes of catching an invasion fleet? What was his intel, known and unknown factors, on the Kido Butai? I am 100% positive that he must have seen the KB first attack Manila and then sail South to Mindanao where KB's Zeros fought off the P-26s. After this, CVL Ryujo entered the Celebes Sea and has been patrolling it since. Ryujo's 9 B5Ns have sunk 10 ships already, averaging one a day! Did Roger think that KB would stay with the Ryujo(or the other way around)? Is this why he has not contested the landings at Mindanao or Manado(in Celebes) or sent even destroyer patrols? If yes, where are his patrol planes - why did he not use them to make sure that the KB actually is where he presumed it to be?

Its also possible that he KB to be on its way and thought he could take the risk and get away with it. But why move Lexington that close then, why not keep CAP % high or fly Wake's VMF-211 aboard the Lex? KB had taken the most direct route to Wake and had been rendervouzed and refueled by a replenishment AO TF that had waited in anchor in a nearby Super Secret Hideout. KB had also used full speed of 28 knots(Kaga's flank speed) for a day.

Theres still something I got to give Roger. Though I can see that hes reinforcing Palembang's garrison(booooring!!) and mining the sea hexes around it, he has also been an active opponent so far. After only 10 turns, the naval losses have been greater than in the 200+ turns of my last game!!!


Naval losses

Nihon Kaigun:

CL Isuzu (sunk by a submarine)
1 TB (sunk by RN DDs)
1 DMS (97 floatation damage and about to sink, will be sunk by a submarine)
2 PC (actually they were probably very old, re-designated DDs, sunk by RN DDs)
1 AMc tiny coastal minesweeper(sunk by strafing P-40s)
The SSX minisubmarines at Pearl Harbor

No other losses - of any kind!

Allies:
CV Enterprise
CA Astoria
CA Chicago
CA Portland
CL Dragon
CL Durban
CL Danae (has been hit by 10+ shells, 2 torpedoes and 2x 250kg bombs, at Singapore, probably sunk or sinking at the moment)
CL Tromp
4 old USN DDs
1 Dutch DD
1 modern RN DD
1 DM (Thracian)
3 or 4 modern USN DDs

At least 16 submarines!

Crapload of other shipping, with big fat xAPs and TKs... We're getting close to 200 confirmed sinkings!

Important damaged ships:
CL Mauritius (I have no idea how badly, but she did suffer multiple 200mm hits through the belt armor)
CL Java (probably just a scratch)
3-4 DDs (at least 1, DD Peary, has suffered heavily and will most probably not escape Singapore)
12-13 submarines, mainly at Manila, everything from heavy damage from bomb hits to depth charges

Its been a pretty fun game so far. 

[Erkki]

December 18 1941

Another day in schedule(or nearly), with a minor setback... More about that later.


Burma:

The Allies have over 120 planes at Rangoon with multiple convoys, probably unloading supplies or loading troops to be evacuated. I dunno. Pisanuloke's airfield doesnt have enough supply to support drop tanks so the 2 Ki-43 Sentais dont have quite the (normal) range to reach Rangoon... So instead they will tomorrow sweep the adjacent base, Pegu, while Ki-21s bomb the troops.

Also tomorrow, 2 Marine paratrooper battalions will be dropped at Port Blair in the Andamans by Army transports. There are ships there too but I give 50/50% to take the place tomorrow.


DEI/Malaya:

In the night, Imperial and Allied navies struggled. CL Sendai TF first ran into 4 small minesweepers and sunk them all. Then the Heavy Cover TF with BBs Kongo and Haruna ran into what was probably every single Dutch PT boat in the DEI. They were all sunk to no losses.

After this, an Allied CL Squadron led by CL De Ruyter somehow passed through the screen of Japanese CL, CA and BB Ts and found the 8 minesweepers that I had reserved for clearing the minefield off Palembang... Well, that only means that instead of the 10 minesweepers that were in the plan, we'll have to go with 2. Lol. This probably isnt so bad though as the Allies have hit their own minefield now about a dozen times as they've cruised to and from Palembang. []

In the day phase, the De Ruyter TF met and engaged the Sendai Squadron. 2 Imperial destroyers were moderately damaged in this battle(but will survive), but 2 Allied destroyers were hit hard and the rest of the Allied ships are now definitely out of torpedoes and have probably used up most of their ammo.

IJN submarines sunk at least 5 more (civilian) ships in the area, while IJNAF bombers took out at least 4 more. IJAAF bombers struck Singapore and scored a direct 250kg bomb hit on a submarine in the port!! Zeros from Kota Bharu and Singkawang escorted bombers and flew LRCAP over the battleships. They engaged Dutch and RAF fighters and bombers and shot down at least 1 Buffalo, 3 B-339s(also Buffalos) and 3 139WH bombers + a Wirraway(never seen these in action before!) to no loss. Slowly but steadily we are reducing the Allied air strength in the area: the Allies will get no air reinforcements any soon, if they dont choose to use the US AVG and its H-81s from Burma.

Tomorrow the IJN invasion fleet will rendervouz in the middle of the sea, while fighters and bombers from Singkawang, CVL Zuiho and CVE Hosho will provide support. 3 more very powerful surface combat task forces are moved in the area. Air units in Malaya will continue their task of hitting the fleeing shipping and Singapore.

The Sumatra Invasion Force has the 4th Infantry Division, 2 battalions of SNLF Marines, 3 mechanized recon companies, some artillery, 2 engineering regiments, aviation support battalions and a base force unit. The amphibious TFs themselves dont have anything bigger than DDs and CLs embedded, but air cover is provided from Zuiho & Hosho + about half of the IJN submarine force and 1/3 of Imperial surface fleet is in the area. There are also some reserves.

Depending on how tomorrow goes I will choose between landing directly at Palembang and landing at Oosthaven in the South instead. The last is probably the safer option mines and surface threat wise, but it does have its own risks.


Pacific: Wake Island falls!!!! The Kido Butai will now retire.

[Erkki]

CVL Zuiho


December 15-18 1941

The Zuiho TF retired to refuel and rearm at Saigon. There was little to no air threat in the area, just the risk of submarines(but they are everywhere!) so there was not much for the Zuiho's Zero pilots to do. The time was used to fly some CAP to give the pilots flying time, but mainly, all the 15 pilots were given rest. 2 new Zeros were received and there was time for the mechanics to fix all planes. Zuiho-1 is now 100% ready. Zuiho's aviation fuel, forpedo, bomb and drop tank storages were topped.

Zuiho's B5Ns operated from Singkawang for 3 days and sunk at least 4 ships from there. Today evening, they returned to the Zuiho, as did Hosho's Zeros.

From Saigon, the task force's escorts were reinforced with 3 more destroyers to help detecting and fight off the enemy submarines. Zuiho and Hosho are now heading to dangerous waters with every type of risk: air threat, enemy surface units, submarines and even mines!

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Zuiho-1 and Hosho-1 are tasked with flying CAP over the Task Force and nearby sea, as well as to send a pair of Zeros to protect the invasion fleet some distance away. Enemy contact is expected.

[Erkki]

Looks like this game is over. I had a chat with my opponent, and it seems that we have some fundamental level disagreements with the game rules.

[Erkki]

I really do find it a little unfair to first deal a set of dos and not dos, house rules and to have a deal to play with fun in mind. And then ruin the game by trying an early victory with moving every possible troop, ship, plane and mine available to Palembang, and quit when I complain about his playing.

I could have taken the place (on Sumatra BTW, most important hex in the game thanks to its oil wells and refineries, also very difficult to conquer because its up a river and has the best possible defensive terrain, even invading near it doesnt work because there arent any places to near to do that, plus all the island is pretty much just jungle with dirt roads...). I mentioned him that, and had him reply to me with a "get a new opponent". How hard can it be to get an opponent who actually concentrates on the game and follows the house rules he himself proposed?

[timferius]

Well, that's rather lame. What's the point of house rules if you ignore them anyways?

[Jerick]

I really do find it a little unfair to first deal a set of dos and not dos, house rules and to have a deal to play with fun in mind. And then ruin the game by trying an early victory with moving every possible troop, ship, plane and mine available to Palembang, and quit when I complain about his playing.

I could have taken the place (on Sumatra BTW, most important hex in the game thanks to its oil wells and refineries, also very difficult to conquer because its up a river and has the best possible defensive terrain, even invading near it doesnt work because there arent any places to invade near). I mentioned him that and had him tell me to get a new opponent. How hard can it be to get an opponent who actually concentrates on the game and follows the house rules he himself proposed?

Again?
Damn it.
Erkki you really need to find better opponents

[Erkki]

Note to self: next time,

1) read at least some of your future opponent's posts before you play him

2) invade Sumatra on December 10 or earlier...

I wonder what he'd have thought about Kido Butai striking San Diego instead of Manila or Pearl, just because I know that CV Yorktown is there on December 7...?

I have chosen to not use historical hindsight to my own advantage too much... I cant play the game competitively if my opponent does. The first months are critical for Japan and even a small setback can shorten the war considerably. I think what he did was very unfair. I hadnt mentioned it here or in the other AAR, but he had also pulled every floatplane Catalina, and probably the others too, to fly troops to Palembang. All that shipping I had been killing since the beginning of the war was in actuality doing nothing but near-suicide runs to reinforce his "strategy". Bah.

[Erkki]

2 turns passed since the last AA report... CL Java and probably CL De Ryuter & 3+ destroyers, submarine and closer to 20 other Allied ships were sunk during those 2 turns, but those dont matter much now. I cleared the route to Palembang and troops would have landed the following night.

Not sure if I will start a 4th game... I thought about playing the Allies, but wheres the thrill and the excitement when you're never in a real trouble, almost guaranteed to win the war and not one of the assets is irreplaceable? Would be relaxed, maybe, but also a bit boring. (okay, maybe winning as the Allies isnt THAT easy, but its certainly much, much easier and more forgiving side to play).

[thobal]

Wait, what was the rule and how was it broken?

Also, have you ever finished a match in this game?