The Sun against the Eagle - WitP AE AAR - UCG v KyzBP

[undercovergeek]

The attack fleet of Great Nicobar just misses the scurvy Allied cowards - theyre ordered north east to tangle with the juicy looking targets at Port Blair



The divisions are on their final approach. Bombers are pounding Batavia, causing disruption and causing casualties



Air support troops and a base force have landed at San Fernando, despite been the biggest port in the region the unloading is going slow. Infantry and Artillery troops are about to land at Iba where theyll consolidate and march on Clark Field air base just to the south-east. CAP is provided by Zeroes flying at 100 feet in the hope we can catch any of those P36s who were absent this turn



The Port Moresby invasion fleet is unseen i think, although its capped from Lae there were no attacks on it - approaching Rabaul is CarDiv 1 to provide any CAP it may need as it rounds the headlands



CarDiv 3 has the entire area to itself, we need to take some land down here to put up a search umbrella - my spidey sense tells me theres supply fleets around here somewhere. CarDiv 2 is approaching Truk for resupply, it will rendevous with '1' near Port Moresby and then meet up with 3 - then they will head west and harass the Australian sea lanes



Finally Operation Harass KyzBP, Palmyra looks like it might be receiving reinforcements too, we have recon planes within the TF so we'll have a look as we approach and see what happens

[undercovergeek]

A few turns of tit for tat sinkings - the gloves are off and theres some serious Task Force whacking going on, unfortunately thats worse news for me than KyzBP - he has a million, trillion tonnes of shipping coming over the next few years - i dont.

Below, cross number 2 represents a raid by KyzBP that saw allied cruisers come out of the night and sink a lot of our cargo/troop ships - they were empty thank god but are still at the bottom of the sea

Cross number 1 represents a raid by the same guys on a small fuel task force taking fuel from Palambang to Truk - they are all future dive wrecks and the cruisers disappeared again - such is the success of the raids i dont know where theyre based

Batavia fell this turn delivering 18k prisoners to the Java prison camp. Everyone involved is getting on a train to Soerbaja to make sure it falls on the first attempt.

For this area whats left is Soerbaja, Makassar and one base left on Borneo - when these 3 have been taken ALL free units with an attack value will be sent to Soerbaja to work out the requirements for an attack on Northern Australia



And this is where the rest of the IJA are tied up - the attack on Manilla. It is supported by the air from Takao, with Nells and Betties bombing Allied ground troops - the first main target is Clark Field, theres just a bit of maintenance and mopping up to do before we get there. Coming from Takao are troops to capture Vigan and Aparri on the north of the Phillipines - these will also work their way south. I forgot about the frikking bombers he has there and they bag one cargo ship heading North from Iba - i will enjoy destroying these as i take all their air bases



Moulmein looks busy! The Thai army is heading west to see whats happening



Its been one administrative disaster after another during the attack on Port Moresby - the attack forces arrived last turn but i hadnt ordered them to get off the boats so they just drank beer in the harbour for a day, to make sure it didnt happen again i took the 'do not unload' orders off the incoming reinforcement task force, and they decided to unload on a passing island! We finally seem to have the CAP situation sorted here and any incoming air attacks were beaten off



KyzBP likes bombarding Baker, i dont know why, 2 turns in a row now - theres not many casualties caused or base damage - but to be fair he can reduce it to rubble - thats why i took it, and will take other Pacific islands - my presence there is enough to cause him to commit a decent sized bombardment force that isnt doing it anywhere else - to that end the plan is working. To smack him like a naughty step child though Car Div 1 is on its way to sink a few - they will station on the far side of Baker, enough to put them in range of Baker but out of range of Canton and its torpedo bombers. At Baker is the 5th Base Force trying to get off their ships but guess what - i ordered them to not unload - AAAARRRRRRRRRGH - and to top it off im betting theres a 3rd bombardment force and it will catch the ships in the harbour!!



and onto Palmyra, an island further east whos taking i hope will cause consternation in the Allied ranks. The plan was to land this turn, trigger the automatic shock attack and take the island with its little squadron of Devastators - it was going ok until the attack bit - we didnt win - this leaves the landing fleet open to the attacks of the bombers and also the escort fleet that took a few bangs and dents this turn - theyre heading to Tokyo for some repairs



Surface raiders stationed off Pearl get bombed from the middle of nowhere - here be Flatops, thank god - i wondered where they were

[JasonPratt]

Excited to see this return!

Also, I admire the strategy of setting up bombardment temptation traps. Go on. You know you want to. Just a little more. Mmm, good isn't IT'S A TRAP!

:D

[Sir Slash]

Hey Hiro-Geek-To. I was wondering how you play China in the game? And what effect it has on the game as to whether either player can ignore or not afford to ignore that theater. I had always thought it was kind of there just for show and not really that important for either player.

[undercovergeek]

My main priority is to clear the allies north and west of the main railway line - 2 reasons, it allows me to ship troops through the area quicker and frees up the Singapore - port Arthur supplies route pushing oil and fuel all the way to the Chinese coast and then a short hop over to the home islands

After that is to funnel the allies all the way back to Burma - there's some big VP targets in China and quite a bit of light industry I can deny the allies

[Sir Slash]

So China can provide Japan a secure land route for oil. I had never thought of that but it makes perfect sense when you think about it. Thanks UCG. Carry on.

[JasonPratt]

For reference purposes, here was my reply on that topic from The Eagle's Thread. Does not contain spoilers for whatever the Eagle may or may not be doing anywhere on the map now or in future plans so far as I know.

[Is China a sideshow or unimportant for Japan in WitP:AE?] Lord, no, it's practically a whole game to itself. At the very least it's a troop sink for relatively easy resources, so it's a hard question [for Japan] whether to ignore it or how far to prosecute it. Ditto for Burma and the rest of SE Asia; and then the question, which is also true for China, is: just how much are you willing to let the Allies set up an Asian landwar situation in their favor nearby? -- do you try to push for India?? Or taking the other extreme, if you ignore China and the Asian landwar, are you prepared to throw back an utterly massive Allied army with the world's largest possible aircraft carrier (i.e. Asia) parked just over the horizon from the Home Islands?

I'd go so far to say that, arguably much like real life, China is why any Japanese player ultimately loses the war, either in the sense of not being able to force the US player to lose interest and quit soon enough because Japan is busy dealing with CHINA, or in the sense of being surrounded and overwhelmed early because CHINA got its act together and wasn't pacified any/enough.

I think it'd be worth asking UGeek his opinion on the matter, too (uh... in hindsight that may have been what you originally mean, Slash...  :-[ ::) ), and how his view of China in the game is coloring the actions he's taking in China and related Asian land areas.

[undercovergeek]

ah got you!!!

wondered what you were all doing in my thread  :P

[Sir Slash]

Exactly. You've both helped my understanding of the game immensely.

[MetalDog]

wondered what you were all doing in my thread  :P

Come on now!  You know you do this for the ego stroke ;)

[undercovergeek]

Alor Star - the last bastion of Allied hope in Malaya, it should fall in a few turns - we're already there but not in force, to the north east are 2 approaching Thai divisions that should secure the region.

To the south the victorious forces near Georgetown are getting on trains to Singapore, with Malaya taken it frees up a lot of forces to redirect - small forces to take the unprotected outlying remainders of Sumatra and Borneo and onto the islands between Timor and Java, and the big divisions to finish off Java and head to Australia



Java - Soerbaja is all thats left, theres an approaching IJA army with an attack value of 1200, the same as the one that took Batavia, these forces are also southbound to Soerbaja to ensure the victory - this will also be the biggest release of Japanese forces which will rest for a few days and head to Australia with the Malayan forces



Timor - the last defence against the IJA before northern Oz, theres some handy airfields here - not for me, but for KyzBP to defend from, and having cleared out Kendari and Ambon i dont have any recon in range - we'll recon by force and land at the airfields at Dili and Koepang and see whats there. From Ambon will come the 146th regiment and the 8th tank regiment - it should be plenty to take the island, AV and air HQs will also leapfrog here from Sumatra and Borneo - then we'll prep simultaneous landings all the way across the north coast of Oz



After 3 attacks Port Moresby finally falls, Rabauls support network of ship tenders and Air support will be loaded up and sent here, others will be sent from Japan to restock Rabaul. CarDiv 1 will now head east to cause some mischief in the coral sea and around Guadalcanal - it will then rejoin CarDiv 2 to either flatten Canton Island or head west to scare Sydney



Theres already a raiding force out east bashing unescorted cargo ships around the islands



and further east we land at Savaii, our outpost in Fiji - hopefully it will fall fast, theres some air support on the way and with this we hope to annoy or scare KyzBP - either way is good



The 4 corners of my pain, Baker - getting bombed by KyzBPs surface force, Palmyra - where i didnt land with enough force and cant reinforce due to the presence of dive bombers, Christmas - where id like to go next, Canton - currently untouchable but ill turn it into a car park soon



and lastly the pearl blockade - i think we sank 4 ships here today, big juicy ones too

[bob48]

Cracking stuff, this.

[undercovergeek]

Cracking stuff, this.

cheers bob  O0

[BanzaiCat]

Pip-pip, old boy. Chappie to yer hows-your-father, eh? +1, nice one.

[bob48]

.....Time for your medication again, B_C.