An Idiots Guide To Losing Your CV's Before 1942: WiTP:AE KyzBP vs UCG

[JasonPratt]

This is such a huge campaign, I think you'll prefer not to do a narrative version, Kyz. Took a lot longer to cover the info.

Your non-narrative reports have been fine, so don't worry about that. :)

[jomni]

I prefer bullet points and discussion of strategy

[KyzBP]

After a much needed vacation, I am back.  Before I continue let me address the AAR style for a moment.

I've only written one AAR prior to this one.  It was a short lived Football Manager career that I posted around here somewhere.  It was pretty easy to stick to one style because I was playing as an alter ego and, again, it was short lived.  This AAR however, would be too narrow in scope if I played it as just one person's view.  I also think AAR will be too long to stick to any one particular style.  Bullet points and screenshots are probably the easiest route to take but every once in a while I think a detour is necessary to break up the monotony of a really long AAR.  I hope you'll bear with me.

After being gone nearly a week I expected UCG to have sent the turn already.  I was wrong.  So while he continues to crash spaceships and kill of forum members I'll fill you guys in on what I've been pondering while on vacation.

Remember my silly idea of trying to invade his northernmost islands?  I'm kind of liking it again.
Pros:
-Distraction.  It would certainly refocus his attention for a (short?) while.
-Destruction.  I would get to pick the time and place of a battle.  Hopefully it would allow me to hit him piecemeal rather than fight a well organized force...initially.
-Location.  I could attack at a place close to friendly waters yet very close to the heart of the enemy.  If it goes sour I can get out quick, under the cover of friendly air units.

Cons:
-Unnecessary Risk.  I've read a few AAR's where the Allied player just sits back and conserves his forces until 43 and then unleashes them with predictable results.  I don't have to invade anywhere for awhile but I want this to be fun.
-Failure.  This plan, if discovered, could cost me, at minimum, 2 CV's and 2 LCU's.  More on this later.
-Ridicule.  I could be forever known, to Grog's, as The Idiot Who Tried To Invade Japan...In 42.  That signature line isn't as cool as some that I've seen here.

I have 4 CVs available but only 5 squadrons of Wildcats and a squadron of Buffaloes.  I won't get anymore Carrier Capable squadrons until May or June.  All the Wildcats and Buff's would be assigned to 2 CV's and provide CAP for both the invasion and the bombardment TF's.   That's about 115 fighters.  They are also my best pilots so they should be an equal or better match to anything he can initially throw at me.  Once his carriers show up though it will change and I may have to bug out.  The good thing is he lost 50 of his best bomber pilots at Canton so the threat to my ships is diminished somewhat.

I will begin assembling the Bombardment TF at Dutch Harbor.  Once assembled, they will work their way west to Attu.  There they will wait until bad weather rolls in.  The invasion force will do the same.  We have to use the bad weather to stay undetected.  If we tip our hand at all then I'll have to cancel. 

The infantry and engineer units will all be set to train for Rabual until they are loaded on their ships.  If he gets the same kind of intel that I do then this may not only draw his forces south towards Rabual but it may force UCG to hold back some units he is planning to use for Port Moresby.  I may suffer a few more casualties but I don't expect a ton of resistance.

If I can get 1 division, 1 engineer unit, and one base force onto each island I should be able to keep him distracted long enough to get a bunch of convoys through to OZ.  I really didn't like what he was able to do to my convoys.



The time table for this is almost immediately.  I have to wait for a few more AP's to arrive at San Fran and L.A. but then we begin.

I know it's a bit crazy and a lot dumb but I warned you guys that I wanted to have fun with this.

[Sir Slash]

Victory belongs to the Bold but not the Foolhardy. Guess you need to decide which your plan falls under. Am I wrong in assuming that northern Japan will be lightly defended?

[OJsDad]

Here's the big question I have, would you be able to setup any airstrips and launch bombers against mainland Japan with any of those captured islands.  If you can, then I would say it's worth the risk. 

Guadalcanal cost the Japanese a lot and if you can get an airfield up and running you could cost UCG a lot.  If you go light, he may not need to divert as much as you may hope and still be able to pound on your southern convoys and troops. 

Go Big or Stay Home!

[KyzBP]

The big gamble lies in not knowing how well defended those islands are.  I don't want to recon those islands until right before I go.  I don't want him to have any idea I'm coming.  I would think a division thrown at each would do the job, if the islands are too well defended then I turn back.  The problem is I want to do this in the worst possible weather so I may be going at this blind.

If I get an Engineer unit onto each island I should be able to get airstrips set up quickly.  I'll move some Warhawks and Marauders onto to the airstrips to protect them while I expand the strips until the bigger bombers can move in.  He'll have to move resources that way.  It's just too close to the Home Islands.  Remember, I'm trying to buy time.  The more assets he sends in the wrong direction means he's not invading/holding something he had originally planned.

I'll probably chicken out at the last minute but it's giving me something to plan for.

[JasonPratt]

Squee: The Thousand Mile War!

Historically, Japanese blocked this move pre-emptively by taking the western Aleutians -- and threatening to roll up with their own invasion into Alaska, which might sound insane to us considering how large Alaska is, and the environment they'd have to operate in, but there was a very real fear in American upper ranks that the Japanese would be able to effectively take the wholes state with one division of troops.

(Might make for an interesting Grog thread, to consider how feasible that really was, or how disruptive it would have been for the Japs to even have tried if unsuccessfully.)

While I know the map has fog of war, the flags on the islands are still American, so despite UGeek running up a small recce force it looks to me like he isn't really thinking about doing anything there yet. CINCPAC seriously would have tried to take the northern border islands from Japan (like that one they share with Russia), for an early super-base-building effort, had they not been blocked early. So I think it's a viable plan to try even if he eventually kicks you off.

[KyzBP]

Squee: The Thousand Mile War!

Historically, Japanese blocked this move pre-emptively by taking the western Aleutians -- and threatening to roll up with their own invasion into Alaska, which might sound insane to us considering how large Alaska is, and the environment they'd have to operate in, but there was a very real fear in American upper ranks that the Japanese would be able to effectively take the wholes state with one division of troops.

(Might make for an interesting Grog thread, to consider how feasible that really was, or how disruptive it would have been for the Japs to even have tried if unsuccessfully.)

While I know the map has fog of war, the flags on the islands are still American, so despite UGeek running up a small recce force it looks to me like he isn't really thinking about doing anything there yet. CINCPAC seriously would have tried to take the northern border islands from Japan (like that one they share with Russia), for an early super-base-building effort, had they not been blocked early. So I think it's a viable plan to try even if he eventually kicks you off.

Thanks Jason!  Now I won't feel like such a fool if this doesn't work.

[OJsDad]

KyzBP, taking this chance may not work out, but I don't think you should feel like a fool.  You've put some thought into it.  You're going to try and hold on to it an use it to take the war to the home islands.  Just sitting around and assuming that UCG will allow you to wait until '43 is not the thing to do.  Perhaps the AI would, but don't count on any human player to do that. 

[jomni]

I support your plan. Just because it's different.  But downside is he can just igore you and your divisions are in the middle of no where gaining little VPs.

[KyzBP]

January 4th, 1942

UCG continues to be frustrated at Baker Island.  He's had, I believe, 3 landing attempts interrupted.  Today was no different.

There seems to be some type of competition between Destroyer Captains as to who can be the most daring.

Today LCMR H. "Hard" Wood of the Destroyer USS Ford single handedly took on the Invasion Force.  You can see the results above.
The Invasion Force turned away again and looks to be staging for another attempt.  Unfortunately, I don't think we have what it takes to stop him this time.
The KB tried numerous times to bomb the Smith by air but was unsuccessful.  I now have the Smith under the Airacobra CAP at Canton.

The waters near Pearl continue to clear up.

I'm speculating that the Air and Naval ASW efforts around Hawaii finally became too much so Geek moved them to the open water between
Hawaii and the West Coast.  It's also possible that they're going all the way to the West Coast in an effort to blockade me there.  If that's the case then I'll follow him with the always eager DD's.  He'll find the West Coast no more hospitable than Hawaii.  Maybe he just left to resupply.

Java continues to disappear.  There's really just the two strongholds at Batavia and Soerabaja remaining.  The brave forces at Tjilatjap are still putting
up a defense despite knowing what's in store for them.

This happened a couple of times with similar results.  We'll lose Java but it'll be nice knowing that we're hurting his transport capabilities in the process.

The Chinese forces are still, mostly, getting kicked around.  One exception is the fine men stationed in the port city of Pakhoi.  You'll remember Pakhoi as the port from which the P.T. Boat raid against Haiphong was launched.  Here's what they're capable of on land:

It would be nice if they could keep up the 10-1 kill ratio but the fortification level was knocked down to 1 so it'll probably fall in the next turn or two.

Nothing has changed in the India/Burma theater.  I'm continuing to reinforce the Blair-Rang-Bang line.  Also, a British CV will be arriving in Colombo soon to add to my defensive fleet located there.

There were no bombing raids in the Philippines this turn.  I continue to dig in and wait.  We have plenty of supplies for now so we'll just stand by.

The blockade at Ambon continues.  The small cruiser task force sent to break the blockade is less than a week away.  I've been trying to break it by air but nobody can hit his DDs.  The small carrier task force of his doesn't seem interested either.

Australia/Port Moresby/New Zealand are still gearing up for offensive operations but quiet overall.

Preparations for Operation Arctic Monkey has begun.  All participating LCUs have had their preparation location changed to Rabual.  They have all been placed into Strategic Move mode and are headed up to Seattle by train.  There they will meet up with their AP's and begin loading.  The BIG problem is the AP's.  I only have 12 of them readily available in the area.  I'm really hoping that's enough.  Now that the subs around Hawaii are gone I'm going to start sending the Bombardment ships up to Dutch Harbor.  But first I have to deal with this guy once and for all:

I think TF108 will be able to deal with his annoying little suicide ship.  TF108 will stick around there and be part of Arctic Monkey.  I hope having a BB in Alaskan Waters doesn't raise any eyebrows.

[KyzBP]

Thank you for your support of Operation Arctic Monkey.  I think just knowing that the Allies are on Japanese soil in 1942 will eat at Geek enough that he'll have to try and retake the islands.  I can't imagine him ignoring it.  I know I couldn't ignore it.  We'll see how this plays out.  A lot of thing can happen that could end up cancelling the operation. :(

[KyzBP]

Sorry for the delay.  We had a Dropbox snafu but are now back on track.

January 5th, 1942

Let's get right to the bad news.  UCG hit Sabang.  It was completely and totally unexpected .

First he smashed everything in the small harbor, including a troop transport that was unloading an armor unit.  Bad timing on my part.

Then he began unloading troops.

He has a 2 to 1 advantage on me right now but I'm hoping to weaken him by putting all my fighters at Sabang to Ground Attack.  I sent a Bombardment TF to Sabang from Colombo but they may not make it in time.  I don't think I have enough assets in the area to hold Sabang but maybe I'll get lucky.  The good news is Port Blair and Rangoon continue to build up defenses and supply caches.

Over in China, the boys of Pakhoi continue to put up strong resistance against Geek's IJA.

Geek finally knocked down the fortifications there so they may end up falling soon but they put up one heck of a defense.
The rest of China continues to roll over for their Japanese masters.  I really need to go through all of the Generals and make changes but I also want to save the PP's for switching other HQ's in the South Pacific.

When will Geek learn that the boys in the P-35's mean business?

I doubt it's anywhere near enough to sink that CVE but it's going to lay it up for a while at least.  The P-35 squadron has just taken on the nickname "Honey Badgers."  When things begin to look bad in the Philippines I may have to disband them and hope the pilots are returned to the pool.  If I can I'll reform the Honey Badgers somewhere else.

This is for that one person who may not know why they are now called the Honey Badgers:

The area around Baker/Canton seems to be stabilizing.  It looks like Geek is moving his carriers out of the area, possibly his landing forces as well.  I've sent a Surface Combat Group from Hawaii to standby at Canton in case the attacks on Baker continue.  Only one DD from the original group remains serviceable.


For the first time in this game I was unable to locate a single sub in the Hawaiian waters.  My guess still is they moved to that Black Hole between the West Coast and Hawaii.  I'll continue to run ASW patrols between America and Hawaii.

[Airborne Rifles]

I am excited to see the results of Arctic Monkey. Hope it goes off!

[KyzBP]

Here's an update on Arctic Monkey's progress, just for you Airborne.

First we have to make sure no one is snooping around our secondary staging area.

The Warspite and her friends took care of Geek's pesky AMC.  Those 3 will head back to Dutch Harbor to await the rest of the ships.  They will also be on standby should any subs or surface ships get too nosy.

All LCU's that are participating have been sent by rail to Seattle, the Primary Staging Area.  All AP's are also being sent.  The air cover for the operation will be supplied by the Lexington and Saratoga.  They will have a combined 140 fighters and 36 dive bombers on board.  I truly hope 140 Wildcats and Buffaloes are enough air cover for anything he sends.  Remember, it's a true 140 set to CAP.  I will not be sending out any offensive sorties with fighter cover.  The dive bombers are there to clear the beaches.  I don't expect to see any naval presence for the first week.  12 subs are being detailed to the area to provide initial interdiction of any surface vessels.

On the deception front, I've set a couple of Aussie and one NZ unit to plan for Rabual.  Just before Lexi and Sara (The Girls) leave, I'm going to send the Enterprise and Yorktown, with DD escort, to Christmas Island for some R&R.  Hopefully his subs will spot them moving in the direction of the South Pacific and attempt to follow, drawing off any prying eyes that may see the Girls and her AP pals cruising up to Seattle.

Now it's just the waiting while everything moves into place.  Then we wait on the weather.