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War in the Pacific: AE PBEM - July 1st 1942
Erkki:
The first post will be edited, I will be adding screenshots and more important events. The PBEM AAR is here(and will be if anyone is interested to keep reading, reply!) to keep it out of the Matrix forums. I dont want spies. :P
Spoiler (click to show/hide)War in the Pacific: AE is a heavy-duty strategic-scale wargame. It is a turn-based hex-strategy on the Pacific War between the Empire of Japan and its ally Thailand and the Allies; USA, China, Dutch Empire, Britain, India, The Free French and in the end, The Soviet Union. I suppose that you all know the Space Empires series, this game is about as complex as those 2 when you have 200 odd colonies and and a 1,000 fleet. Except that you also need to move the resources, supply, oil etc around, the are only 2 "out-of-map" pools. Find out more on the game here: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=528&p=3&tmode=1&smode=1
Each turn is a day, and after both players have given their commands(typical turn taking 45-70 minutes), the actions are resolved simultaneously. So no I-go-u-go strategies often use. Each hex in the game is 40nm by side, and ground units size from battalion to division level, with possibility to merge and/or divide units if needed. Air are flight(4), wing(12), squad(36) and group(36+) size, being equally dividable and usually resizeable. Naval units are modelled down to single vessels, ground units are squad/gun/vehicle level(within the actual commandable units) and air units going down to single aircraft and pilots.
I will be playing a play-by-email Grand Campaign as the Japanese Fleet Commander, while my honourable opponent shall be commanding the Allies. We are both fairly new to the game, and are expecting lots of mistakes, which should make the game fun.
Questions, comments and suggestions(no, I dont know what I'm doing) are all welcome.
Initial situation, leaving out industry and logistics:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Pearl Harbour and the Blitzkrieg through the Pacific
Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
How does it all begin? Early December 1941, the strategic-value naval units of the Japanese Empire are
6 x CV, fleet carriers, 400 aircraft
2 x LCV, light carriers, as fast and as long ranged, but well less armed and less capable
2 x CVE, small, converted escort carriers.
10 x BB, battleships Kongo, Kirishima, Hiei, Ise, Nagato, Yamashiro, Hyuga, Fuso, Mutsu and Haruna
~35 cruisers, including torpedo cruisers(40 torpedo tubes each!) Oi and Ashiragu(I think)
~120 DDs, destroyers, general purpose warships that can do it all from anti-submarine work and escorting bigger ships to actual naval combat and invasion support
Yamashiro, Fuso and Haruna:
Yamashiro, Fuso and Haruna:
Allied assets in the beginning are believed to be:
3 x CV: Enterprise, Saratoga and Lexington. Locations are unknown
1 x CVE: Hermes, a british carrier, is known to be under repairs in Ceylon(Sri Lanka)
9 x BB: all 7 battleships of the US PF are known to be in Pearl Harbour. British ships Prince of Wales and Repulse have just arrived to Singapore.
~30 cruisers, including older British and Dutch types. These are assumed to be mainly of annoyance.
US Navy is also expected to begin move its East Coast units to the Pacific ASAP. They will have use the Panama Canal, though, which will take at least a month.
My opening:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Kido Butai. Massive force of 6 Fleet Carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Zuikaku, Soryi, Shokuaku and Hiryu, with a grand total of 390 aircraft: 130 A6M2 "Zero" fighters for air cover and bomber escort, 130 Aichi D3A dive-bombers as the general-purpose strike weapon for both naval and ground targets, and 130 Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers that are the "fist" of the force, with their capability to carry both torpedoes and massive 800kg armour-piercing bombs. Escorting the 6 Carriers are 2 battleships, Kirishima and Hiei, a cruiser and 6 destroyers with anti-submarine weapons.
This force strikes the Pearl Harbour, in hope of neutralizing the US Pacific Fleet(7 battleships) and moving the greatest surface threat from the Imperial thrusts deep into Dutch East Indies, Philippines and Burma. After the Pearl Harbour attack, the force will sweep across the Pacific, attack targets of oppoturnity and then retire to refuel and rearm at Kobe in the home islands.
Simultaneously, massed air raids from Formosa(Taiwan) will strike Manila Bay in the Philippines, hoping to catch as much of the US "Silent Service"(submarines) and transport vessels as possible. Philippines will be invaded on December 10th, and the last thing I want is 30 submarines in the same area with my 150 or so transports, or the Americans evacuating their units out. Once Hong Kong falls, a full reinforcement division will be shipped to Philippines to take out the threat to my left flank as quick as possible. Otherwise, Philippines is only usable as a naval base because Manila has a drydock, Luzon has 2 major airfields and Cagayan, in the island of Mindanao in Southern Philippines, a 3rd. After the 2 first days, the air units will achieve air superiority over Luzon, ie shoot down everything the Americans might get airborne.
In the Malaysian Peninsula, invasion forces will land, escorted by Battleships Haruna and Kongo. Air support will be provided. 30 G4M and 45 G3M twin-engined torpedo bombers are ready for anything the British or Dutch might decide to sink the transports before they can unload all supplies. Should anything get through unnoticed or unattacked by the bombers, the battleships should be able to deal with the British, even mano et mano. The invasion will clear the railroad from Bangkok ASAP, and new units will be railed down the peninsula.
The Imperial High Command wants Singapore to fall before January 30th, to free up forces for the Burma front and Java.
In China, I will just mainly move units around the first month or so. More units are railed from Manchuria, and preparations for thrusts on Sian are began.
Dutch East Indies is more complex. Initial landings will be done to North Borneo, and invasions of Sumatra, Celebles and South Borneo are prepared. Mindanao will also be invaded from Bedelaoab once the invasion fleet from South East Luzon returns there. Prepared landings will be committed once I know whether my opponent is going to position his surface fleet for defensive (and where!) or will he try to interference. I will later move my carriers accordingly for support(keeping them away, but within strike range, to provoke him to act against the seemingly weak invasion fleets!). I'm hoping to invade Palembang in Sumatra island by December 30th, or at least Mindanao and Tarakan in south Borneo. It all depends on what will happen in the first few weeks.
CVL Ryujo and its escorts are off Mindanao, striking Davao Harbor and then retiring. CVL Zuiho's airgroups will be refitted with more modern aircraft ASAP, it will be accompanied by Battleship Fuso and will steam south to take Ryujo's position by the December 20th. A heavy force with the rest of my battleships(all 5) and assorted cruisers and destroyers will sweep south to prevent, with the smaller carriers, evacuation of the Philippines the shortest route, ie directly East. Once the British heavies are located, they will move in to eliminate them. Currently, the Allies have nothing to stop the Japanese battleships with, except the BBs of their own. The only Allied air units capable of delivering a torpedo are either somewhere in California or British biplane "Swordfishes" that are of any threat only because my Zero pilots cant stop laughing.
Air situation:
Most of my Naval fighter units(both carrier and land based) fly the Mitsubishi A6M2 "Rei Sentoki" aka Zero. Compared to what the Allies have, it has superior manoeuvrability, range(very important in the Pacific), armament and climb/acceleration. They are also piloted by the best fighter pilots on this half of the world. The Zero's only weakness at the moment is its fragility, as there is no armour of any sort, or even rubber-covered fuel tanks. This means that as long as my boys are on the top, they will slaughter the laughable makeshift air forces of the Allies, but when they lose, they will lose hard, too. Improved versions of the Zero are expected later in the year. Production is now 70 a month, which should be well enough. I am not planning to lose my best pilots in hundreds. Navy Dive Bomber D3A production is increased from 12 to 22 a month, and B5N torpedo bombers from 20 to 50. I want to upgrade all of my units to more capable aircraft ASAP, to actually get to use them in combat. Biplanes will not do.
IJNA also stars a good 300 2-engined torpedo bombers, namely G3M and G4M. They have excellent range and used right, are also extremely lethal to anything moving on the surface. Their very only, and very japanese, weakness is the lack of practically all protection. Performance does not come without a cost. These bombers are built approximately 2 a day, and not one will be wasted bombing ground targets.
Japanese Army fighter units fly 50% Ki-43 "Hayabusa" and 50% older Ki-27. Ki-27 production is cut(only training units will fly it later), and I hope to give Ki-43s to all my frontline units by the end of January. Production rate is 35 a month. Army bombers flown atm are the fairly capable Ki-21, and the Ki-48 I want to get rid of. That eats 2 engines from factories and still only carries 4 x 100kg bombs(less than single-engine dive bombers), has short range, and again, no structural protections of any kind.
Allied air forces fly mainly obsolescent types such as Buffalo(target drone), CW-21(anyone ever heard?!?), Hurricane(wasnt good enough in Europe), I-16(straight from the Spanish Civil War), Watipi(leading edge technology from the WW1!), but also more modern types, mainly American Wildcat and P-40, though neither is as good as the Japanese A6M. Since the Allies have almost no bombers this half of the Globe, I should be able to advance really quick. Only problem early on might be the American carriers. We will see if they dare to challenge the might of the Kido Butai.
Before 22.12.1941
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Because I cant bother list all the 500-ish battles now, I will make a quick overview on what has happened now, what went wrong and what unexpected but welcome surprises came.
Firstly, Pearl Harbour went as expected. At least one of the BBs is done for good, with all the rest heavily damaged. It will take months for the first of them to become operational again. Effectively, the Pacific fleet is out. In the Philippines, Zeros achieve air superiority within a week, and the last American aircraft are downed when they try to, in ones and twos, bomb the invasion fleet off Vigan Peninsula. Air raids on December 7th and 8th kill off at least a couple of transports, and score hits on 8 submarines.
Landings on Malayan Peninsula advance in schedule, and actually managed to half cut-off 3 British Indian regiments. Georgetown and Alor Star are now in Japanese hands, engineer and aviation support battalions are railed from Thailand, being ready for action in 3 days, when G3Ms from Saigon will fly in and start sinking the British traffic in the Malaccan Strait.
On Dec. 10th a British force of several cruisers and probably every single smaller warship they had in Singapore tried to intercept the 2nd wave - only to meet Kongo and Haruna, and their escorts. Without a scratch in the paint, they sank one British destroyer and a cruiser, forcing this force to flee at flank speed before the torpedo bombers would get them. Unfortunately, weather did not co-operate and the force egressed without further losses.
On Dec. 11th, Kido Butai locates and eliminates a US Carrier task Force off Wake. Those bastards sank good part of my invasion fleet yesterday(and the assault failed, Wake remains in Allied hands, I also lost 3 big transports and an old cruiser). Enterprise, 3 cruisers and 4 destroyers are sank. BANZAI! 2 more cruisers and a destroyer each took a torpedo hit and multiple bombs, but it is decided that no further attacks are needed. I cannot be 100% sure that they never make it home afloat, but it is not worth the extra day of loitering around. they have over 600 nautical miles to the closest Allied-held island anyways. 700-ish to Hawaii which is the closest one with a drydock, even if damaged.
The air attacks looked someabout this I hope: December 11th, Great day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqAZd_nKY-I
On 16th, more units landed on Miri and Jesselton, securing vital oil fields and preparing to move on by land to take Baltimore, Brunei and other nearby places. The Allies decided to react. This was to be a very bad move for them.
By 20th, Allies had moved their Philippine Fleet to Cagayan in Mindanao, and missed their opportunity to escape East. Now were my battleships Yamashiro and Mutsu ready, with CVL Ryujo and 3 other BBs assigned to cover the landings on Mindanao. Mutsu, Yamashiro and their 7 escort ships drove through the Leyte Srait, under ineffective Allied air attacks. They then found 14 allied ships, a destroyer, 4 mine layers and 9 cargo ship in the bay, and sank all of them. Unfortunately for allies, a force of their own had just sank my transports off northern coast of Borneo, and these 2 Battleships now such close, they moved in, managed to catch them and engaged. Without taking a scratch in the paint they sank 2 cruisers and a destroyer before running out of ammo. Torpedo bombers sinking a destroyer and a cruiser, Allies have now lost a good part of their naval force in the area to almost to gain.
By the end of last turn, situation remains interesting(and consolidating) as my 3 battleships move in the South Philippines Sea, Mindanao Invasion force sets sail at Palau Islands, another carrier of mine arrives in the area, remains of Allied cruiser force escape in wrong direction and more Allies, including a Capital class ship, are sighted off Tarakan, where I too have an invasion task force already ongoing. Kido Butai will most likely miss this action(still refitting in Kobe), though.
Invasions and ground action looks very good so far, and naval action has been fairly one sided... But where are Prince of Wales and Repulse, and where are the 2 remaining US Carriers?
Explaining screenshots shall be posted later! Also, from this post on, every turn(or merged if single turns have nothing important happening) shall be reported. We play approximately one turn a day.
Spoiler: Claims, click to view, updated when something happens (click to show/hide)
yamo:
Pilot Officer, 2nd class, Saburo Kanda, a fresh graduate from the Navy Fighter School in Yokohama, now assigned to CVE Hosho's fighter wing, the Hosho-1. The unit has Navy Carrier Fighter type 0 Mitsubishi model 21 fighters, alias A6M2 "Rei-Sentoki" Zeroes. With 16 pilots and 10 aircraft there isnt a plane for everyone, but as Hosho's first mission is going to be invasion support in the South China Sea where it is easily in range of daily replacement aircraft(but not pilots), the imbalance will help to keep the fatigue low without wasting pilots. Hosho will set sail in a few days, but being a slow escort carrier, a converted merchantman actually, it will take over a week to cruise there. Its operational home port will probably be either Saigon or Palembang, and it will first be escorted by 2 destroyers, and probably gets Ryujo's current escort when it will retire to repairs in Hong Kong, Shanghai or Pescadore island in Formosa.
Jan 3rd 1942: arrives to Hosho-1 at Kobe harbor, from Yokohama Navy Fighter School. Has 25 operational training sorties
Jan 4th: CVE Hosho sets sail, first step is Shanghai, where it gets a new escort
Jan 6th: Hosho sets sail to Bedeloab, escorted by a destroyer
Jan 12th: Hosho arrives to Bedeloab, links up with Zuiho, covers Kido Butai's egress through the Celebes later?
Zrk2:
Captain Koyanagi, commanding officer of the Battleship Kongo, Indestructible, which is refitting in Hong Kong. Kongo is an old ship, built in 1915 originally as a battlecruiser, but since those times it has been fitted with extra armor and rebuilt almost completely. Despite being heavier than the original ship, Kongo class, its sister ships being Haruna, Kirishima and Hiei, is the fastest battleship class in the Pacific, making it in many ways more useful than the heavier Fuso and Nagato classes, that can only do 25 knots vs. Kongo's 30 knots. Once Kongo's refit is done, it will set sail with a heavy escort, and be stationed at Bedelaob in the Palau islands.
pre Jan 3rd: took part to Malaysian invasion, protecting the landing troops. Took part in a naval battle, with its sister ship Haruna, on Dec 9th, where Haruna sank a British cruiser. On the 2nd day of the Battle of the Celebes Sea, Kongo sank an American destroyer.
Jan 3rd 1942: Hong Kong, assigned to BB Kongo, which is refitting since Dec 31st. Theres some engine and systems damage due to sailing heavy seas at flank speed for 4 days.
Jan 10th: repairs done, Kongo and the rest of the Heavy Force stand by ready, awaiting orders
thobal:
Corporal Hori R. of Bako NGD Det T-1 in the Batan island, between Philippines and Formosa, doing ASW search to protect the naval traffic. The unit has 4 aircraft and 4 pilots.
Jan 3rd 1942: found himself at Batan island, 9 sorties.
Jan 22nd: unit moved to Lingayen, task still being ASW
Burnt Pies:
Corporal M. Kamihira of the Kanoya Ku K-1 stationed at Truk atoll. The unit flies 27 x G4M1 long range torpedo bombers, and is currently tasked with naval search. They will support the landings at Rabaul in New Britain within a week. With some luck they will be in strike range of the American CV fleet. Scroll up for the "Battle of Bismarcks" operational plans, top right is Truk. Kamihira himself has now flown just a single mission. The unit has lost a couple of aircraft in accidents, one pilot missing in action and another killed in landing.
Jan 3rd 1942: finds himself at Truk, 1 sortie
Jan 9th --> : unit ordered bomb Port Moresby, naval targets and do naval search
Jan 22nd: unit moves back to Truk after taking losses over Port Moresby
Mithras:
there are no bad pilots in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force! But heres a freshly arrived Zero pilot: Warrant Officer Kudo, O, of 3rd Ku S-1 Det B, based at Tarakan. Scroll up, Tarakan is the place I just conquered and moved a Zero force in. Today, they just shot down a Dutch B-239, a W331(or something) bomber, damaged another and turned the air raid back where they came from. The unit has now 5 kills and 2 losses, both operational ones, with one pilot killed. No losses to enemy activity. Kudo himself arrived just today, the unit will most likely see a lot of action in the following days so its never bad to have too many pilots. It has now 10 pilots and 9 Zeroes.
Jan 3rd 1942: arrives to Tarakan, 0 sorties
Jan 6th 1942: has taken part to 3 air combats already, but yet 0 kills. Opponents have been W139H3s and Buffaloes.
EuchreJack:
Colonel Nagino G. of 1st Tank Regiment of the 25th Army in the Malaya. The regiment has 57 tanks, 46 trucks (of 13 are broken down already) and 1200 men.
Jan 5th: Nagino's regiment is driving down the coastal road south to Georgetown. The frontline is now another 60 miles ahead, and he hopes to catch up before all the spearhead reaches Singapore and he misses all the action!
Jan 7th: Arrived to Kuala Lumpur, to the frontline
Jan 8th 1942: takes part to Kuala Lumpur's capture, 2/3 of defenders estimated to be KIA for just 19 Japanese riflemen
Erkki:
December 24th, 1941.
Prince of Wales and Repulse were found. They were in the Celebes Sea, just where I thought them to be, and they were heading West because they mistook my single light carrier to the Kido Butai. Following picture explains the action pretty well, not much going anywhere else. All in all, I think I just traded 1 battleship, a torpedo boat and a destroyer to 2 British destroyers... This is NOT good!
I hope tomorrow's action will bring the victory of the battle to me. At least the remainders of the Dutch surface force were annihilated by G4Ms in Brunei, and BC Repulse is badly hit. Should Kongo Force be able to catch them, it can not end well to them.
If the American Carriers dont show up, my opponent is pretty much out of cards at the moment. Battleship Nagato will probably sink, but depending on the Allied losses, it might just be worth of it.
Day Time Surface Combat, near Tawi Tawi at 70,93, Range 21,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CS Chiyoda, Shell hits 2
BB Nagato, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Ise, Shell hits 3, on fire
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 4
CL Yura
CL Tama
CL Oi, Shell hits 2
DD Yugumo, Shell hits 3
DD Yakaze, Shell hits 1, heavy fires
DD Hokaze, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Yugao, Shell hits 1
TB Hato, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 11
BC Repulse, Shell hits 5, on fire
CL Danae, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Vampire, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Vendetta, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Stronghold, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
DD Tenedos
DD Electra, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Express
DD Isis
DD Jupiter
In more detailed reports, BC Repulse was also scored multiple belt and side penetrating shots and an internal explosion. Prince of Wales probably has no trouble staying afloat, but it lost some of its main guns and good part of the superstructure. No fires were spotted, however.
Deadmeat1471:
I love the detail in WITP, but the 1 day turns kill me!
*Will be watching.
Toady Two:
Sounds really cool. Will follow.
thobal:
I plan on continuing to read this...
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