TOAW IV: Ongoing Action Reports

Started by greengiant, August 16, 2022, 07:38:47 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

greengiant

Instead of making a thread for every PBEM or solo match I play in The Operational Art of War IV I thought I'd just lump them into a single location. To get things started, here is the scenario of Iwo Jima, 1945. I chose it mostly to teach me about using naval units in this game. I've already run through a portion of this scenario solo as the allies, now I'm running a PBEM as the allies. Here is turn #4 report.
________________________________________________________

ACTION REPORT #1 TURN #4

GAME: The Operational Art of War IV
SCENARIO: Iwo Jima
DATE: 1 March 1945
SIDE: Allies vs Axis (USA vs Japan)
TYPE: Online match
REPORT TYPE: Ongoing
TURN LENGTH: 9
HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION: A fixed turn scenario focusing on the invasion of the Axis controlled isle of Iwo Jima. Historically this place has been described as a literal hell hole, what with the sulfur deposits covering the entire isle in an unbearable stench and the remainder consisting primarily of rocks and volcanic ash. The isle held little strategic value to the allies and the invasion of Iwo Jima was met with resistance and doubt from congress. It's also the only battle between USA and Japan where USA's overall casualties (wounded and killed) exceeded those of the Japanese forces. This is mostly attributed to how well dug-in the Japanese troops were. Eighteen miles of tunnels around the island meant that there was literally no single safe location on the island. After their defeat with only 200 or so prisoners taken (and the remaining twenty thousand Japanese soldiers all killed), pockets of resistance remained throughout the tunnels with the soldiers eventually succumbing to their wounds or surrendering.



GAME STATUS: Units can only be resupplied by returning them to the tiny island to the south-east of Iwo Jima; this is also where troops are deployed from using naval assets. The Japanese player doesn't have any real aggressive moves at their disposal beyond being able to utilize their coastal guns. Reinforcements continue to arrive for the first three turns with all now deployed by turn #4. Artillery support from naval assets, air assets and mobile artillery have proven their worth in allowing the allied troops to push forward into heavily entrenched areas and will continue to do so for as long as possible.

The southern Japanese forces have just about been annihilated along with the coastal guns along the eastern shores of the island. Mt Suribachi is ours and the Japanese defense garrison has been beaten back to the coast with no-where left to run.





The 3rd, 4th and 5th Amphibious Marine divisions now turn their attention entirely to the north where the stubborn defenders of this worthless rock refuse to give way. Their courage and honor are commendable, but we have a duty to perform and we will not be swayed!



After completely destroying the remaining battered Japanese defense garrison at the southern point, the southern division turned and headed north to join their brothers on the front lines. The Japanese have entrenched their entire front line in rocky, mountainous and hilly terrain. This is a nightmare for the allies and the only real saving grace, historically, were the flame thrower units and tanks. Since the flames tended to attract the attention of enemy snipers, by the end of the conflict there were no man portable flame thrower units left, only the M1 tanks which were placed into a pool to allow for quick reassignment to areas they were most needed.





To assist us we have some pretty neat naval assets. The battleships South Dakota, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin and heavy cruiser Indianapolis and a compliment of cruisers, destroyers and the air forces of carriers Bunker Hill, Cowpens, Essex, Hancock and Lexington's will all be chipping in to level (literally and figuratively) the playing field.

By eliminating the forces along the east and west coast, the allies hope to be able to circle round on either side and envelope the remaining Japanese forces. After much hard fighting a gap finally opened up on either side, with the Japanese 145th Infantry Regiment representing the only remaining opposition on the western coast. Supplies are also okay at the moment, though our mobile land based artillery are already showing signs of running low on shells. They will have to be used carefully for maximum benefit.

Here are some of the combat reports for this turn; as you can see things went very well for the allies as the Japanese continue to be pushed back.







We've made a clean breakthrough on the western coast; the infantry regiment has been annihilated. On the east coast we have similar success with our divisions now beginning to peel around. Unfortunately even more entrenched enemy are discovered on the east coast, slowing down our encirclement action as they will have to be dealt with first.

The circles are the remaining airfields we need to capture along with the camps in squares that also need to be captured. The X represent the absolute nastiest areas to assault with the highest levels of entrenchment.



At that ends turn #4 for the allies. Overall I am pleased with how things are turning out. We still have 6 turns remaining, though I fear the Japanese will begin to consolidate their forces to resist the allies final big push. Supplies are still acceptable which is also good. The final round of combat was me using up the last small percentage of moves available to drop some rain on the east coast enemies; the results of zero casualties were to be expected though. When an enemy is this entrenched there isn't much artillery can do. Only by assault with troops can we convince the enemy to stick their heads out.

To be continued......

Jarhead0331

Nice. You might be interested in checking this one out that I did a long time ago for TOAWIV...Let me know if you have any interest having your AAR's published on our front page.

http://grogheads.com/aars/20237
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


greengiant

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on August 16, 2022, 07:51:21 AM
Nice. You might be interested in checking this one out that I did a long time ago for TOAWIV...Let me know if you have any interest having your AAR's published on our front page.

http://grogheads.com/aars/20237

Ah wow, thank you for the offer Jarhead. While I certainly wouldn't mind having an AAR of mine hit the front page, I feel as though the quality in reporting could be better and is no-where near your level of reporting yet. I see you included far more OOB detail along with some historical maps to add context and flavour. By comparison mine is rather bare-bones, though I'm inspired to put in more effort now after seeing the AAR in your link, including throwing in some editing of my opening post. When this first AAR is completed, would you mind (even now you can) dropping some constructive crit in order to help me improve the quality of my posts? Then I will happily give the green flag for sharing this one on the front page and making Grogheads proud  \m/

Jarhead0331

Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


greengiant

#4
ACTION REPORT #1 TURN #5

GAME: The Operational Art of War IV
SCENARIO: Iwo Jima
DATE: 5 March 1945
SIDE: Allies vs Axis (USA vs Japan)
TYPE: Online match
REPORT TYPE: Ongoing
TURN LENGTH: 9
TURN: 5

First, a nice report of progress made by the US forces in the previous turn.



We knew this already, but still it's nice for someone else to remind us.

So, the three amphibious infantry divisions have their sites set on the remaining northern section of Iwo Jima. There are airfields to be taken and a few other key camp points we need to occupy. Lieut. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi has the nigh-impossible task of stopping the allies and he certainly is to be commended for his and his men's bravery.


Lieut. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Japanese honour compels them to strike whenever the opportunity arises. There are some casualties among the allies forces, but not enough to slow them down.



As per the plan discussed earlier, the allies enveloping action will require the men to fight their way to and secure Tachiwa Point, Quarry and the Meat Grinder to the north east and Nishi and Hill 362A to the north west before we can wrapping around the rear of the axis forces. In a more conventional, open-field encounter this would be a pretty standard tactic. On Iwo Jima though our enemy is essentially entrenched and will not budge. Meaning that while we may eventually surround their forces, they will still not budge and we will still have to send more men in to die to dislodge them from their bunkers and tunnels.



The 25th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Division assaults north-west into the Meat Grinder, only to discover the massive drop in moral from the constant assaults and shelling have left the Japanese infantry a shell of their former unit. They immediately withdraw to the Meat Grinders final area to the north, joining none other than General Tadamichi's HQ. The noose is tightening.



The 4th Tank Battalion moves up to assist in the coming assault. Save for one artillery unit, the rest are all still supplied enough to provide ongoing artillery support. This is very good news. As you can see they have spread themselves out just behind the front line in order to be close enough to provide support. By extension the ally naval assets have done the same, slowly wrapping around the island.

A sizable portion of the 3rd Infantry Division moves up and much like the assault on Meat Grinder, is met with little resistance allowing the allies to secure another point, Quarry.

To the west the 5th Tank Battalion moves out from the captured airfield and heads north to reinforce the line. This time the defense garrison is completely wiped out. This allows all remaining forces to the west to move up and reinforce all points along the line. At the same time multiple regiments and engineer regiments move up along the west coast. The net is certainly growing.





Seeing a moment to strike again, the infantry that took Quarry point make another assault on the axis HQ, winning the conflict and pushing them out. This has left the infantry division in a bit of a precarious position, now flanked on either side. To eliminate this problem, all forces in the area need to dedicate themselves to dislodging the final infantry in the Meat Grinder. If intelligence reports are to be trusted, there shouldn't be anyone else along the edge of the eastern coast once the Meat Grinder is cleared. We hope.The second major assault took place on the west coast, hoping for similar results and outcome. Both assaults prove to be successful. There are casualties on both sides, but the losses among the Japanese infantry are overwhelming, leading to some garrisons retreating on the east coast.





And with that, turn 5 for the allies has come to an end. The Meat Grinder is ours, but the Japanese forces on the west coast are holding despite their losses which will in turn lead to a delay in the allied infantry moving inland.

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

greengiant


greengiant

#7
ACTION REPORT #1 TURN #6

GAME: The Operational Art of War IV
SCENARIO: Iwo Jima
DATE: 8th March 1945
SIDE: Allies vs Axis (USA vs Japan)
TYPE: Online match
REPORT TYPE: Ongoing
TURN LENGTH: 9
TURN: 6



Some light bombardments from what few cannons the Japanese can muster sees minimal impact on the allied forces.



Then there was this blow to the allied forces that hurt more than anything the Japanese could do.



You can see how already the number of naval assets at our disposal has dropped by about half. This will certainly make life more difficult for the infantry left behind to finish the job.



Recon reported spotting a few units moving down to reinforce the trench line opposing the allies, though what exactly their configuration was we can't say for sure, not until contact is made.



On both the east and west coast allied infantry were able to push forward with very little resistance. On the western flank a clean hole has been punched through the trench line, leading to the capture of Hill 362A and in turn revealing the haphazard artillery line that has been desperately trying to slow down the allied advance. On the eastern flank things went almost as well, with multiple Japanese defense garrisons falling back in an attempt to reinforce their last few key positions. This in turn appears to have given the Americans another victory locations, Hill 362C. Unfortunately the remaining Japanese have seriously consolidated their forces. The allies decide to focus the majority of their next assault against the forces protecting Charlie Dog Ridge. While some of our naval assets remain, the order is given to expend everything we have against a few key positions.







The first two major assaults go very well, with the Japanese being pushed out and further back. Unfortunately the assault against Airfield #2 doesn't go as well, with even more Japanese appearing to reinforce it; their fierce conflict ended with the allies choosing to break off until reinforcements can arrive. That being said, our main assault this turn against the center is a roaring success thanks to our naval assets giving one final helping hand. While some retreat, other units are completely destroyed in the battle.





As you can see, the assaults on the center and west have seen more success than the attempts to dislodge the Japanese from airfield #2. Allied infantry and artillery move up to reinforce the new assault line as the Japanese slowly give way.




Another follow-up assault on the western flank ends in another great success, with Japanese garrisons either completely cut off now or facing imminent annihilation. The casualties the allies suffered in the failed attempt to take Airfield #2 still hangs like a dark cloud over everyone. Instead of assault Nishi directly and suffering the same fight, the allies decide to clear out the center a bit more so that those forces can be dedicated to Nishi and other locations where enemy entrenchment is heaviest; we want to avoid the casualties suffered in the assault on Airfield #2.

The battle is a success with more allied troops pushing forward into the capture territory.



The final big assault for this turn is again in the center, now to secure a portion of Charlie Dog Ridge. Statistics say our troops are in for a rough time, even with a mountain of artillery raining down on the enemy. Interestingly, the Japanese did historically learn to adapt to how the allies would use artillery but staying hunkered down until all shelling had ended. At that point they would resurface, generally unscathed due to the tunnel system and much to the dismay of the allies. This will not be easy.



Success! The center has almost completely crumbled, though the Japanese stationed just to the east are heavily entrenched.

And that brings us to the end of turn #6. A recap of what the battlefield currently looks like.


greengiant

#8
ACTION REPORT #1 TURN #7

GAME: The Operational Art of War IV
SCENARIO: Iwo Jima
DATE: 12 March 1945
SIDE: Allies vs Axis (USA vs Japan)
TYPE: Online match
REPORT TYPE: Ongoing
TURN LENGTH: 9
TURN: 7

The battle rages on and overhead, the sky begin to darken. If it gets any worse we will lose our air support.



What has really got our commanders nervous though is this.



Much of the previously spotted enemy have either hunkered down in their tunnels or have relocated to reinforce other areas of the battle. Most likely the defensive line to the east has absorbed all the stragglers, making this final a push a real tough one to crack. Our enveloping tactic has at least worked in the sense that it has forced the Japanese to spread their forces a bit on the thing side; the flip side of that coin being the terrain they did spread out into is a nightmare to assault. As such the next two  major pushes from the allies will come at the the camp of Nishi to the west (handled by the 3rd Infantry Division) and Charlie Dog to the east which has sections of 3rd, 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions. Artillery support was still available to both assaults in the form of land and naval assets which thankfully we still have a few of. In a quick attack of opportunity just prior to the main two upcoming assaults, an engineering regiment of pioneers of the 5th Infantry Division strike through above Charlie Dog, halting just before Airfield #2. Let us hope Lady Luck is with the next assault too.



Cannon shells smashed against the barren landscape as the allied soldiers waited for the signal to charge. Once the dust settled it was clear that both assaults were a success which resulted in our forces pushing through in both the east and west (along with our attack of opportunity in the center).







After two more attack of opportunities arose to push the enemy back even further, another two major assaults were readied for the same areas in the east and west.

After very successful pushes from both sides, coupled with the attacks of opportunity in the center it would appear the allies have succeeded in splitting the Japanese forces in half, straight down the middle.





As the forces in the eastern section of Charlie Dog refused to budge, our final big push this turn would fall there.







Success! We've broken into the high-entrenched area of Charlie Ridge with fantastic combat results. The final defense line of the Japanese is in tatters. As mentioned earlier though, with the unique level of entrenchment in this scenario this means the enemy will continue to move and consolidate until there are literally none left standing. The north-western corner of the island has a small but stubborn group, most likely holding together thanks to the presence of their HQ.

The allies have 2 turns left to crack this nut.

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

JasonPratt

I'll be curious to hear a post-op analysis of the other player (and/or by the other player)!
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

greengiant

#11
Quote from: JasonPratt on August 22, 2022, 10:06:33 AM
I'll be curious to hear a post-op analysis of the other player (and/or by the other player)!

This was started over Slitherines PBEM online system which means the only way to contact my opponent would be via the diplomatic pouch. I'll drop them a message and ask if their interested in joining Matrix forums and sharing their thoughts here post-game.

EDIT: I recently had a great post-op discussion with another TOAW opponent that was playing via traditional PBEM (sharing saves etc). As most of my PBEM games over at TheBlitz were also rather impersonal, I was surprised at how much fun we had discussing our devious plans and where they worked and where they failed. SO yeah, will definitely try get the player here. Their username is something like 'zdcwwwccssww' though which does raise a few alarm bells.

greengiant

#12
ACTION REPORT #1 TURN #8

GAME: The Operational Art of War IV
SCENARIO: Iwo Jima
DATE: 15 March 1945
SIDE: Allies vs Axis (USA vs Japan)
TYPE: Online match
REPORT TYPE: Ongoing
TURN LENGTH: 9
TURN: 8

Fierce pockets of fighting are still erupting across the northern peninsula, and it is most fierce at the camp objective of Kita and Nishi. While Nishi to the west will almost definitely remain under the allies control, the situation at Kita is far more dire. The 21st Infantry Regiment of the 5th Division have been cut off at Kita and are completely surrounded. If they are not rescued they will be wiped out to the last man.



Ironically, historically this is where General Tadamichi Kuribayashi made his last stand near Kita, known as Death Valley, or the Bloody Gorge.



Multi assaults were planned and readied. It was around this time that intelligence reported the enemy generals position as unguarded and reorganizing; a quick assault ended up pushing them back north and subsequently rejoining our cut off infantry, hooray! The general ended up with some remaining troops in Motoyama. The assault plan looked something like this, along with an indicator showing where our cut off infantry rejoined the parent division.



Five battles took place and all of them highly successful. In almost every instance the enemy retreated from their entrenched positions to consolidate what they had left. This will end up being to our advantage as we will have less chasing to do and more room to maneuver along with abandoned objectives to take. The red arrows indicate where previously enemy-occupied territory was captured and where the enemy retreated to.





The island is almost completely ours. With the scare of a regiment being cut off now over, a final big push is needed to grab the last few objective points. Airfield 2 and the enemy HQ to the west of Kita would be our next targets. Both are massively entrenched, having had sufficient time to dig in while our marines made their way north. Casualties are expected to be high on both sides, but the time for playing it safe Monty-style is over; we must have these last few objectives.

A very surprising result for the marines; very few casualties on their side!



The first battle against the Japanese HQ fared very well. Though we weren't able to capture or eliminate their leadership, those left retreated from point and gave way to our advancing troops who moved in to fill the gap.

The battle for Airfield 2 was an extra bloody affair with the Japanese refusing to give way. Multiple garrisons were completely wiped out in this engagement, with the surviving stragglers somehow finding the courage to hold onto the coveted objective.



So, Airfield 2 remains in the hands of our enemy with one turn left to take it some remaining objectives of importance. It is going to be a very, very close call.


greengiant

#13
ACTION REPORT #1 TURN #9


GAME: The Operational Art of War IV
SCENARIO: Iwo Jima
DATE: 18 March 1945
SIDE: Allies vs Axis (USA vs Japan)
TYPE: Online match
REPORT TYPE: Ongoing
TURN LENGTH: 9
TURN: 9

The allies final big push to secure the island begins with some measure of success; an attack of opportunity sees airfield #3 being swiped under the bloodied noses of the Japanese. Meanwhile, the only remaining Japanese forces in a position to retake it (just south of airfield #3) finds itself under imminent assault. Airfield #2 appears to be the last real pocket of resistance. Two large assaults are planned using remnants from all remaining regiments not busy reorganizing.



The resistance faced south of Airfield #3 is so strong that the overwhelming forces of USA are unable to dislodge the enemy. Instead, the enemy HQ retreats to another area further south. The battle to take Airfield #2 is a far simpler matter, with two enemy units being completely wiped out in the assault.





As you can see, the most important objectives are ours (the airfields), and there is only a single remaining objective to capture, the camp of Motoyama.



There is also the issue of a few enemy stragglers on the field, including one over Motoyama. The best we can hope with what little time remains of this turn is to assault that group and take it.


The assailants do their utmost to dislodge the Japanese from Motoyama, but only a single enemy unit is eliminated, and while many retreat, a handful remain to secure Motoyama. Darn!



Technically this should be the end of the game for the US, with (I think) the Japanese retaining one final turn, though I have my doubts as to what they might be able to accomplish in these final moments with the broken forces they have left.

I have to say, I am impressed how my opponent continually consolidated his forces to make me fight for every inch of terrain.

Also, here's to hoping the scenario isn't broken or anything and the game actually does stop when it's meant to. I did make sure to turn 'scenario variability' off at the start since this is a fixed-turn scenario, so it should all come to an end. I hope. The last scenario I played online went way over it's turn limit and eventually the entire thing was a lost cause and waste of time. Even if a scenario has a fixed turn limit, TOAW has many buggy scenarios that don't stop despite that being in the description with the best a player can do being to turn scenario variability off. Here is to hoping for a clean, proper end.

greengiant

CONCLUSION

So the final turn came and the only thing I focused on was trying to push the remaining Japanese out of Motoyama. I'm very happy to say this assault went well with minimal casualties for the allies. For a summary and a pic showing the final state of the island.





It looks like this was a victory for the allies, and I'm happy to say that we've altered history here a bit and not suffered nearly as many casualties and wounded as the allies did in RL. Hope you all enjoyed! \

Now to contemplate what game for my next AAR. I was considering DC Barbarossa.