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

Started by KyzBP, June 22, 2015, 04:02:39 PM

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KyzBP

Quote from: jomni on January 15, 2016, 06:40:53 PM
Are you keeping tabs on Attu?

I have a sub parked there to let me know if any ships slip through, I have a Minelayer loading up to mine Attu, and I just bombarded it a couple of days ago.  I'm with you, Jomni.  I'd hate to see that suddenly built up.

JasonPratt

Hm. Since he's pretty clearly going for an early victory point win in Australia, he might not even bother contesting AM, not merely for a potential threat of who knows what. Granted the real Imperial government would never accept the insult to their honor and would send some troops to deal with it, but I would expect those experienced Philippine troops under UGeek's leadership to finish off Australia.
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Sir Slash

If I were Geek, I would be wondering what you could be planning next. Maybe something that looks like you plan to continue aggressive in the north like some sub recons or air action might have Geek-amoto thinking you're moving closer to the Home Islands. And really pull him out of position. I think your move caught him off-guard and now he maybe prone to over react to what he's afraid you might do next.  :knuppel2:
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

jomni

Quote from: KyzBP on January 15, 2016, 06:59:41 PM
Quote from: jomni on January 15, 2016, 06:40:53 PM
Are you keeping tabs on Attu?

I have a sub parked there to let me know if any ships slip through, I have a Minelayer loading up to mine Attu, and I just bombarded it a couple of days ago.  I'm with you, Jomni.  I'd hate to see that suddenly built up.

He must be thinking AM is surrounded by Japan on one end and (a built up) Attu on the other.  Your boys there will starve.

Airborne Rifles

KyzBP, I would imagine you're planning at some point for a showdown with Geek's carrier force. Is there some sort of minimum force you're trying to achieve befor sending your carriers into harms way? His lunges at the LOCs to Australia would seem a decent opportunity for an ambush a la Midway.

KyzBP

Quote from: JasonPratt on January 15, 2016, 10:48:03 PM
Hm. Since he's pretty clearly going for an early victory point win in Australia, he might not even bother contesting AM, not merely for a potential threat of who knows what. Granted the real Imperial government would never accept the insult to their honor and would send some troops to deal with it, but I would expect those experienced Philippine troops under UGeek's leadership to finish off Australia.

What you're say is mostly true, Jason.  I think he will contest it though because his large carrier force disappeared from the Central/South Pacific.  My only real blind spot is between Johnston Island and Tokyo.  Since I haven't seen his carriers in awhile I believe he's headed to AM.  I believe it's at least important enough to him that he'd risk trying to reinforce Palmyra without any air cover.  You're correct in believing he's going for the early victory in Oz.  It makes perfect sense.  Clearing the Central/South Pacific of his carriers was the main goal of AM.  With that accomplished I may be able to get troops to Oz to prevent that victory.

Quote from: Sir Slash on January 15, 2016, 11:14:26 PM
If I were Geek, I would be wondering what you could be planning next. Maybe something that looks like you plan to continue aggressive in the north like some sub recons or air action might have Geek-amoto thinking you're moving closer to the Home Islands. And really pull him out of position. I think your move caught him off-guard and now he maybe prone to over react to what he's afraid you might do next.  :knuppel2:

Geek hasn't tried to bomb AM for a couple of turns now.  I think my CAP has deterred that for the time being.  I imagine he'll resume as soon as his carriers get here.  Just to try and push his buttons a little more, I've considered sending the dive bomber squadron to hit his main airfield on Hokkaido or one of the ports there.  I'm sure that would get his attention but it might pull my carriers out of position and get everyone killed.  it's so tempting though.

Quote from: jomni on January 16, 2016, 12:53:53 AM
Quote from: KyzBP on January 15, 2016, 06:59:41 PM
Quote from: jomni on January 15, 2016, 06:40:53 PM
Are you keeping tabs on Attu?

I have a sub parked there to let me know if any ships slip through, I have a Minelayer loading up to mine Attu, and I just bombarded it a couple of days ago.  I'm with you, Jomni.  I'd hate to see that suddenly built up.

He must be thinking AM is surrounded by Japan on one end and (a built up) Attu on the other.  Your boys there will starve.

I don't think Attu is built up at all yet.  I think I sunk most of the troops he was going to use to build up the island.  Attu is just 2 days away from Dutch Harbor by ship.  I can continue to bombard him to keep the island from being useful to him.  I have base forces headed to Kiska and Amchitka.  Once they arrive I'll be able to not only hit Attu by air but keep an eye on the approaches.  I think he'll end up with the emaciated troops defending a frozen volcano.  I've been wrong before though.

Quote from: Airborne Rifles on January 16, 2016, 06:52:20 AM
KyzBP, I would imagine you're planning at some point for a showdown with Geek's carrier force. Is there some sort of minimum force you're trying to achieve befor sending your carriers into harms way? His lunges at the LOCs to Australia would seem a decent opportunity for an ambush a la Midway.

In 2 weeks the Hornet will arrive.  If I don't lose any carriers between now and then, I'll rendezvous all my carriers and put my hastily constructed "Plan Z" (Reference: Sponge Bob movie) into effect.  As you'll see in the next update, without Geek's carriers in the Central/South Pacific I can bombard and interdict with impunity.  He'll have to send carriers in to regain control of the area. 
Plan Z is reactionary but should force the first carrier battle and it will be on my terms.  Here's how: Once my carriers are formed up into a single TF I'll watch for his reaction, courtesy of my PBY's.  If he leaves his big force at AM to protect his transports that will be used to dislodge me, then he'll most likely send a small carrier force to the Central/South Pacific.  If he does then I will attempt to jump him with my 5 carriers.  If he sends the big boys down to C/S Pacific, then the carrier force will return to AM, with all 5 carriers, and not only attempt to disrupt his efforts to retake AM but I WILL hit the homeland this time.  My fighters have gained experience and are competent.  Within the next 2 days my bomber pilots will also gain experience, as we'll soon see.  If his small carrier force is up there I should be able to take them out.  If he does neither and leaves AM alone then I will take another island, get base forces and planes in there and begin a bombing campaign he can't ignore.

Whatever can help Australia is already enroute.  Anything else I send, at this point, will get there too late.  I have troops at Seattle on standby for a second wave at AM or to shore up Alaska.  I have troops loading that will reinforce my small bases along the rim of the Coral Sea.  In the words of The Tragically Hip: "This is where it all starts getting good."

KyzBP

February 24th, 1942

As I was saying in previous posts, if Geek doesn't keep carriers in the area this will happen:




I am able to interdict his reinforcements, sink and damage many ships, bombard his(my) island, and even damage
his subs.  Palmyra and Baker are too far into my AOR to resupply and reinforce without air support.  The only way he can get
air support into the area is with his carriers.  I will continue to deny him the use of air bases in the area by bombarding the poop
out of them until he stops me.  I have to keep him reacting so he can't activate his own plans.  This overall strategy should buy
me enough time to get MY reinforcements to where I need them.

This is why my carrier pilots are about to gain more experience:

Geek is trying to get his ships out of the area but the Enterprise and Yorktown, loaded with bombers and not worrying about enemy
fighters, are planning on stopping the exodus.  The BB/DD TF is also in the area and will mop up whatever the bombers miss.

The Royal Sovereign finally succumbs.

It took 3 raids to do it but she finally went down.  I'm pretty mad at myself for wasting her.  The CL Tromp joined her at the
bottom of the sea.  I'm guessing his next move with these guys is to hit Point Blair.  I moved the most experienced squadron
to Point Blair as CAP for the ships unloading there.  There are 2 squadrons of Buffaloes there already but I don't think they'd
stand up to Geek's carrier pilots.

Here's what survived on Sumatra:

The Aussie brigade should've been sent to Oz but these guys got here at about the same time Geek invaded Australia.  It's from
here I hope to reconquer Sumatra.  Ok, maybe not reconquer but to harass Geek so he can't just leave skeleton forces everywhere.
The name of the game is tying up troops until we can start permanently retaking bases.

We did the same thing on Java.

I don't have near the number of survivors here that I have on Sumatra.  Also, all available troops in this area are headed to Australia.  These
guys will lay low until the tide of war turns in this AOR.

Here's why China sucks:

61 Fing units!  I'm not sure I have 61 units left in all of China.  It looks like Geek decided to recreate the Golden Horde and is going to pillage
and plunder his way to India.  I have nothing that can stop him if he decides to do that.

A quick look at the area around Attu.

I feel pretty confident that I'm ok here.  I'll start to worry if the Philippine units don't show up in Australia.  If Geek massed his carriers,
filled his transports, and headed to the West Coast, I don't know if I could stop him.  Everything is forward deployed.  I'm counting on my
steady stream of new units to keep my rear areas protected.

KyzBP

February 25th, 1942

A mostly quiet day except at AM.  I thought Geek had given up trying to attack the ships here.  I was wrong.

But first, giving Baker Island it's daily dose of iron, lead, and steel.

The airfield should be almost unusable by now.  I don't think he's even bothering to keep anything other than float planes there
any longer.  No matter what I can't let him keep planes anywhere near where I'm running convoys.  I can't afford a repeat of December.

Geek was waiting for me at Buna.

It was just a single supply ship but the troops at Buna are in fairly desperate need of supply.  Adding the Lark Bn and our efforts to
fortify the base have depleted the existing supplies much faster than I had planned.  I never saw his ships anywhere near here.  I have
one more AMC coming up a day behind.  I'm hoping these guys move on.

On to AM.

Wave 1.

Geek loses 14, but only 2 Zeroes, to my 5. Unfortunately 4 were Wildcats.

Wave 2.

Geek loses 4 (18 total) to my 5 total.  I'm not sure why these launched unescorted.

Wave 3.

Another 4 for Geek brings him up to 22.  I add a Buffalo to the tally bringing me up to 6.

There was another wave but I didn't grab the screen.  He lost around 4 again and I lost 1 or 2.  We are certainly
wearing down his bombers but aren't hitting his fighter as I had hoped.  The good news is that not a single bomb
was release by any of the waves.  Whatever got through to the ships was taken care of by the shipboard AA, which
on the BB's is massive.

I'll continue in a moment.  If you've been following this AAR, you'll know why.

KyzBP

Continued...

Here's how Shimushiri and Ketoi look as we prepare to depart after 10 days of operations.

Shimushiri:

Shimushiri has more troops, including armor, mines, and a squadron of fighters.  Because of my oversight in leaving
the Base Force behind, those fighters may never get off the ground.

Ketoi:

Ketoi is a smaller island and has less of everything.  I did bring a couple float plane tenders so the PBY's can operate
from here and keep an eye on the approaches to AM.  The Engineer's here seem to be working a little faster.

I'm still trying to bring in a couple of Base Forces so I can operate aircraft on these two islands but they may get turned away
depending on Geek's arrival.  I'm not ready to call AM a success until I get the carriers and BB's out of there but I'm feeling
pretty good about it.

Back to the rest of the war.

We, again, perform a preemptive bombardment at Pegu.

Recon shows Geek building up these forces.  I'll try to keep him as disrupted as I can.  It may even discourage him a bit.

We completely wiffed on Geek's trapped TF.

The previous last direction had them heading NW.  Of course it went South instead.  It's still trapped.  I have some ships
headed to Palmyra should he head there and I'm still trying to block him from heading North.  If we don't get him tomorrow
then the carrier planes should locate and sink him the following day.  I haven't seen either of Geek's main carrier TF's in awhile.
He could be sending the smaller one (last seen leaving the Bering Sea 2 weeks ago) this way.  That means I need to knock this
TF out quickly and get my ships back under friendly air cover. 

Lastly, I think the waters between Pearl and the West Coast may be quiet enough to send the BB's damaged 12/7-12/8 to Almeda.

This will open Pearl up as a Forward Repair Base again.  These guys were taking up a lot of space.  Many of these won't be ready
for action again until 1943.  I couldn't have them clogging Pearl up that long.

I detached as many DD escorts as I could find and have them steaming to Rockhampton to disrupt that invasion.  I've also flown
the 2 squadrons (7 planes total) of LIB-30's towards Oz.  They have very long legs and big bellies so they should contribute
as soon as they get there.  Intel still indicates Rockhampton is a go.  Another troop transport is reported to have left port and
is headed here.  This has to be where we bloody Geek's nose.  If we don't make a good stand here, the reinforcements won't
arrive in time and the game could be over.  We don't want that.





KyzBP

Kind of a side note/observation here but I was comparing where Geek and I are to the boys at Operation Glacier:
http://operationglacier.com/Map?side=Both&date=latest.

They're a little over a month behind us but the comparison is dramatic.  Our conflict appears much more aggressive and violent.  At the pace we're going I don't think this war will make it to 1944.  One of us will exhaust our resources before we hit 44.  Either Geek is an Uber Agressive, Tyrannical, Despot...and a superb tactician or the Japanese Commander at OG is a very cautious and deliberate player.  He's gained almost none of the ground Geek has and appears to be letting the Allies retreat at their leisure.  Geek gave me a little room at the beginning but hasn't let me breathe since.

I just found the contrast interesting.

jomni

Over stretching is a real concern.  Imagine all his forces in Australia when you can just bypass and isolate them during the big counter-attack at the end of '42 and '43.
He is clearly trying to get an early victory by taking a lot of territory early and not worrying about how to defend them.

KyzBP

Quote from: jomni on January 17, 2016, 06:51:45 PM
Over stretching is a real concern.  Imagine all his forces in Australia when you can just bypass and isolate them during the big counter-attack at the end of '42 and '43.
He is clearly trying to get an early victory by taking a lot of territory early and not worrying about how to defend them.

I agree, Jomni.  If I can achieve some sort of stalemate in Australia before auto victory kicks in I should be able to isolate a large chunk of his forces.

KyzBP

February 26th, 1942

My war with Photobucket continues.  That was the reason for the delay.  The struggle is real.

The SS Skipjack drops into a port on Hokkaido.

I keep trying to harass him and see if I can draw his attention but he's not really retaliating up here.  Maybe I need to do something
more dramatic.

Buna's supply AMC is sunk.

It's pretty clear that Geek is not going to let me resupply the troops occupying Buna.  Their supplies are very low.  I'll try to find a
spare sub and see if I can get some supplies in there that way.

The Carrier Pilots find their targets.


I think we got them all.  I'm hoping this deters Geek's further ambitions for Palmyra and the Central Pacific.  I'll bombard Palmyra
again and then send everyone to Pearl to regroup and figure out what my next course of action will be.

Geek retakes Dili.

While this may not seem like a significant action, it solidifies a thought I had and has me considering a new strategy/tactic to delay
Geek's potential Auto Victory.  Follow along:

In a few places where Geek has steamrolled through my bases he's left remnants of my forces on these islands.  These remnants have stumbled
into bases that Geek had captured only to find them empty like Dili and Tjilatjap.  I think he's using a locust type tactic of capturing a base and
then moving on without leaving a garrison.  I'm considering trying to retake the west side of Java.  It will not only return me some Victory Points
but it may divert troops destined for Australia.

AM may end up being more permanent than planned and the troops headed for Australia from America may not make it in time.  Why? This:

This appears to be his large carrier TF...nowhere near AM.  :tickedoff:  Some of the transports should slip through but the most needed convoys
will have to head towards Canton until we see where these guys are headed.  These guys showing up here and now may have sealed the fate of
Oz.

Staggerwing

If you are trying to draw him north what about giving him a whiff of possible medium or heavy bombers near your AM holdings? Is there any way to leapfrog a few B-25 or even a Fortress or two near there just long enough to tease his spotters and then pull those planes back? Does the game make it possible to recreate the Doolittle raid in a place of your choosing?
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