Topic: Uncommon Valor: Battle for South Pacific. An AAR between AP and Dracho

[AcePylut]

Uncommon Valor: Battle for the South Pacific, and After Action Report between Ace and Dracho

UV is a turn-based "we-go" game simulating the battle for the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Rabaul in WW2, between May 1, 1942 and December 31, 1943.  The game is available for 20$ digital download, at www.matrixgames.com

A view of the overall map, shows the area of the SouthPacific portrayed in the game.  Truk, the island in the top middle, is where all Japanes forces, supplies, etc. arrives... on a user defined amount of variation from their historical date of arrival (from 100% historical to 100% random).  In the Southeast corner of this map, is Noumea, where all US forces and supplies arrive.  In the Southwest, you can see the northeast coast of Australia, incl Brisbane (where all UK, Aussy, NZ, etc. forces and suppliesarrive)  Above Aussy is the east half of New Guinea (and  Port Moresby).  heading North and East, we jump across the straight there, follow the big island northeast, and see Rabaul, the lynchpin of Japan, in the South pacific.  The Solomon Islands chain is clear in the center / center-right of the sceen (with Guadacanal in southeast). 


each hex is 30 miles across

Each turn is one day, broken into three phases:  Night, Morning Afternoon.  At the conclusion of the Afternoon turn, you will give orders to your forces (broken down into individual ships, aircraft squadrons, regiment sized combat infantry, company sized support ground forces, and individual commanders) for the following day.  Once you give your orders, you can not change them until after the next afternoon phase. 

Logistics play a heavy part in this game, if you don't keep bases supplied and ports fueled, you have no ammo to fire your guns and juice to move your machines.  Ground Forces suffer from fatigue, disruption due to combat, supply state, malaria (very few places on the map are Malaria Free.  Basically Australia & Noumea for the US, Truk for the Japs).  Experience, morale, commander quality, in range of it's superior headquarters, all factor into a ground units ability to do their job effectively.

Every ship, from the mighty BB-Yamato, to the future US president's PT boat, is included in the game.  There are your standard combat ships (CV, BB, CA, CL, DD... easy for all SFC'ers to know this) to your transports (AP, AK, LSx, AG, APD), to your gunboats and PTs (PT, PG, PC, SC), to mining ships (ML, MSW), to sub & sub chasers (SS, SC).  Ships require fuel and supplies from port to move and fire weapons.  Ships will suffer unavoidable System (SYS) damage at sea (price of being on the unforgiving ocean).  Damage from enemy weapons will hurt SYS damage, Floation (FLT) damage, or Fire damage.  If any of those get to 100%, ship sinks.

As always, Air Superiority gives the ultimate advantage.  Every 'common' airplane that fought in the South pacific is modeled, into squadrons.  Squadrons can be Fighter, Fighter-Bomber, Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber, Level Bomber, Recon, Transport, Search, Supply.  Each different type of squadron has unique types of missions it can fly (although many, such as 'level bombinb mission' overlap among the types), which you must order each turn (lest you screw up and set them on a long range mission during a Thunderstorm, thus taking unnecessary stupid losses). 

Control the Skys, and you control the seas. Control the Seas, and you control the Islands.  Control the Islands, and you control the bases.  Control the bases, and you control the Skys.  is the the order of business.

The "winner" is decided by who has most victory points.  You score victory points for sinking ships, shooting down planes, etc., and also for any base you control that's in supply at the end of the game, multiplied by the combined value of it's airport, port, and fortification.

All Jap stuff starts the game in control of Truk, Rabaul, Kavieng, and Lae, for the most part.  Allies start in Nomeua, Espiritu Santo, Australia, and Port Moresby, for the most part. 

[AcePylut]

So, Dracho and I decided to fire up a Grand Campaign game, starting May 1, 1942, ending December 31, 1943... and play it through.

Due to the operational, not strategic, scope of this game, some things are inevitable. All games start with a massive Japanese expansion, followed by a length of the when US industrial production stomps the Japanese into the ground, and then the Japs get crushed.

Knowing that the whole "crushment of the Japs" means the game is really boring for the last 3/4s if you play historical (I.e. Jap CV's lost at Midway don't come into game), we are playing an alternate history game, where the Battle of Midway isn't fought, Jap pilot production is slighty improved, and Japs get a few extra ground forces.  We decided to stray from the historical reinforcement, and chose a variable based reinforcement.  This is a good cross between "no stupid crap like Hellcats & Corsairs in June '42" and "the CV reinforcement may take a month later, or earlier, or even longer".

Other options chosen were:  Allied Damage Control is On (allies repair ships at sea much better than Japs), Fog of War on (duh), reinforcement schedule variable, weather variable, Jap 160% Ship Commitment by HQ, Allies 100% (more ships to battle with, more victory points to lose to the Allied LBA).

Japan starts with the CV's Shokaku, Zuikaku, and CVL Shoho, escrots, and a good number of transports.  US starts with a few transports, the CV's Lexington & Yorktown, and escorting ships.

I introduce myself, AcePylut-San, the honorable and righteous Imperial Japanese Commander.  The cowardly and weak so-called "Allies" will be commanded by Dracho.

[AcePylut]

After 8 days of turns, I can post the orders I have given, and effect.  This map shows the route my 3 carriers took down from truk, with tick marks each day.  i had to "slow down" going through the straights to stay undetected, and kept the speed an "cruise" south of the Solomon Island chain when I got through those straights.  I ended up on day 8, in a thunderstorm sitting where i have that flag planted  , about 300 miles south of Guadacanal.

on opening day, I moved a squadron of Zero's to Lae, set them on CAP to fend off the inevitable PM bomb runs. Sent my surface fleet at Shortland Islands to cover transports, as they carried invasion troops to undefended Guadacanal and Tulagi.  Gave orders for my transports at truk (with subchasers, gunboats, minesweeprs in the tf's) to load up and head south, to keep them thar bases supplied.  I immediately begane building up those bases (airport first, then port, then fortification).



The week went by with usual nuisance raids from PM, my CAP is getting good kills.  Then again he's boosting the exp on those pilots pretty easily.   Copule days of T-storms, rested all a/c, no need to lose my super-high exp pilots to stupid crap like storms.  that's for the scrubs.

I decided, with my high exp IJN aircrews and better aircraft, an even amount of CV airpower (US CV's carry about 20-30% more aircraft than simiilar class Jap CV's), and his relatively crappy planes and pilots, to see if he sent his carriers out to play. 

After 7 days, when I parked my CV's south of Guadacanal, a t-storm hit the South pacific.  That's good, means lots of bases might be 'socked in' due to weather, and all air missions from that base would be cancelled.  Having spotted his carriers from Emily and Mavis search planes stationed in Shortland Islands, I knew they were lurking.  With the T-storm covering me, I decided to make a stab south, towards Noumea, far from any Japanese Port (incase I get damaged, and can't limp back to base, I might lose a CV) to see if i could get his carriers.  I set all my bomb/torps squadrons to naval attack, set most of my Zero's on CAP overmy fleet, the rest as escorts, and 1/2 my floatplanes to naval search, the rest ot ASW patrol, and gave orders to my ships to "react to enemy" and set a destination halfway between Noumea and Lungaville, his only two bases there, but juuusssst outside range of his land based air.

On day 8, Admiral Nagumo came out of the thunderstorm in the morning, and immediately prepared to launch aircraft, having sighted the US CV's with float planes... when 70 US Carrier based aircraft screamed out of the skies, and attacked Carrier Task Force 1.  I barely had time to get 30+ Zero's on CAP to defend my fleet.

[AcePylut]

My CAP broke through, but only chased off about 10-15 attackers, and the rest of his planes broke through, and began their attack runs.  Crap, not going good for me.

The cowardly US Diver-bombers struck early, on the CVL Shoho... and two 1000lb bombs into her broke her engine and she shuddered to a halt.  A few dive bombers attacked the Shokaku and Zuikaku, and they each took a 1000lb bomb.  Distracted by the flame whisking from the Shoho, most of the remaining US aircrews turned on the Shoho, and she ate 5 more 1000lb bombs, and a pair of torpedos.  She exploded, and sank, suffering massive loss of life.  A flower blossom was laid over her wreath.

She did her job, however, and save the Shokaku and Zuikaku with her sacrifice, as the last couple US bombers only managed to score a glancing blow on the Zuikaku.  Our revenge will be swift.  After we eliminate another inbound squadron of American torpedo planes spotted by scouts.  My remaining 20 zeros attack, and quickly break up the attack.

Report of his strikes is as follows -

Air attack on Jap TF at 47,55

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 9
SBD Dauntless x 57
TBD Devastator x 13
 
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 1 damaged
 
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 12 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 10 damaged
TBD Devastator x 1 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 8 damaged
 
CPO R.Bando of EII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 3
 
LCDR C. Fenton of VF-42 bails out WOUNDED and is RESCUED
 
Japanese Ships
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage
CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 2,  on fire
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage
CA Furutaka
DD Sazanami, Bomb hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air attack on Jap TF at 47,55
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
 
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 9
TBD Devastator x 13
 
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed
 
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 4 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 6 damaged
 
LCDR J. Brett of VT-2 is KILLED
 


All in all, I am very happy with the results.  I have absorbed his surprise attack, and only lost the Shoho.  My return strike from 2 Japanese heavy carriers, will be swift, and swift it is..

[AcePylut]

My Zeros fend off the CAP over the CV's, for the most part, only having a few turn back or get shot down.  I strike with over half my dive bombers and half my torp planes.

The first attack run on the CV Yorktown is made by a 4-plane element of Kate torpedo bombers.  Catching the york in a turn, they put two torpedo's into her starboard flank.  She immediately lists toward the hole, and the cap'n is forced to straighten the ship.  Which the experienced Val diver bomber crews note, and begin their long, screaming, bomb runs, and they quickly tag the Yorktown with 5 250kg bombs.  Jap crews beging alternating their attention between York and Les, knowing the York is crippled.  Lex takes a bevy of 60kg bombs.  Most fail to penetrate the belt armor, and only do superficial damage.  More Kates dive in on the crippled Yorktown, a sitting duck in the ocean, and pump 5 torps into her port bow.  She is sinking by by the bow, quickly.  Will Allied Damage Control save her?  The remaing 20 or so Vals dive on the lex, hitting her with a couple 250kg bombs and a copule 60kg bombs, when a Val gets lucky, and drops a 250kg bomb into the Lexington's AA ammo storage facility, and...



The last element of Vals drops a couple more bombs into the Lex, and all Japanes aircraft depart, leaving behind a Yorktown sinking heavily, and a Lexington suffering from contining explosion as the ammo in her holds cooks off.

Air attack on TF at 48,55
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
D3A Val x 46
B5N Kate x 50
 
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 20
 
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 5 destroyed
D3A Val x 12 damaged
B5N Kate x 12 destroyed
B5N Kate x 21 damaged
 
 
ENS E. O'Hare of VF-3 is credited with kill number 4
 
LT Y. Subota of EII-3 Daitai is KILLED
 
Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 7,  on fire,  heavy damage
CA Astoria, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 14,  on fire,  heavy damage
CA New Orleans
CA Portland

[AcePylut]

Imperial Japanese Navy Scout Plane Jake, flying from the CA Furutaka, reports at dusk, a confirmed visual of the US Yorktown sinking.  Lexington continues to burn heavily, ammo continues to heat off, but she is still level, and isn't listing. 

All in all, I'll take it.  My CV's have tough hides.  I'll trade a CVL for a pair of CV's, even if it means 4 months in rehab. 

Now, do I stick around another day, hoping to finish off what's left of the Lex? (or perhaps she is not as damaged as we are led to believe)  Or retreat, happy with confirmation of at least 1 CV sunk, at the cost of 1 CVL?

[Dracho]

All-in-all, it was a pretty historical representation of the Battle of Coral Sea, only SW of Guadacanal.

[AcePylut]

When the battle was over, I was thinking the exact same thing   

[IndyShark]

I have that game, but have not played in a long time. I was bothered by the air tasking. My planes never attacked what I wanted them to. Have they fixed that yet?

[AcePylut]

Depends,  were your planes fatigued?  Were they low on morale?  Were they green aircrews or elite? Did they have fighter escort?  What was tehir commander like?

Overcome all those factors and your planes will do what you order them to.  Among others.

[762_XC]

 

[AcePylut]

Darkness falls after a partly cloudy second day of the Battle for Espiritu Santo...

Admiral Nagumo, on his flagship Zuikaku, decided to hunt one more day for the crippled US carrier, before retiring.

Morning strike of 33 assorted Vals and Kates, attack his decoy screening fleet of ~5 Cruisers and ~8 Destroyers.  Fuchida sends message to Yamamoto, 3 Cruisers damaged by Val Dive Bombers, 1 CA and 1 DD damaged by torpedos.

Japanese float planes located the reminaing US Carrier, Lexington, steaming north east at 12 knots.  An afternoon strike is launched from the Zuikaku. The afternoon strike, a detatchment of 15 vals/kates attack the cripple, putting 2 more 250kg bombs and 3 60kg bombs into her flight deck.  Traingulating, the Vals send word that her speed is approximately 5knots, being towed northeast to Lungaville.

At noon, US forces intercept a radio message origination from Truk, with a high confidence it came from Admiral Yamamoto.  All that can be deciphered is "Execute Operation Wither Vine".

In late Afternoon, 58 Betys/Nells (Japanese medium bombers, the magic photons of Jap land based air) out of Rabaul, escorted by 44 Zeros from Rab and Lae (flown down on turn 1  ) blow through CAP over Port Moreseby,  and destroy 10% of Port Moresby's supplies in a port strike.



Nagumo decides to retire to Shortland Island over the night, but wisely decides to move to a location as far as possible from Allied land bases air, but still within range of the Lex, in the morning, so that he can launch one more strike before retiring home.

[IndyShark]

Depends,  were your planes fatigued?  Were they low on morale?  Were they green aircrews or elite? Did they have fighter escort?  What was tehir commander like?

Overcome all those factors and your planes will do what you order them to.  Among others.

No, they were not fatigued, low on morale or anything else. I just get frustrated when I have a good target and they hit something else miles away. I'd like to be able to pick which task force or port they hit.

[Dracho]

At least for the ports, you can now designate a target by clicking on the air unit. 

[AcePylut]

Day 3 of the Battle for Espiritu Santo, and as planned, the morning saw a Jake off the cruiser Furutako sight the wounded Lexington... not nearly as damaged as I was lead to believe by the sunset scout aircraft of yesterday.  Nevertheless, another 12 bombs (6 60kg, 6 250kg) tore into her... but she still floats.  Damnnation, what's it gonna take to sink her?  I've put 26 bombs into her over three days.  Ahhh, Allied Damage Control 

The Guadacanal Forward Meterology Station reports scattered thunderstorms moving into the area.  Nagumo decides to retire his carriers, partially satisfied with the battles result.  the Japanese traded 1 light carrier, and suffered damage on a couple escorts and minor damage to teh Shokaku and Zuikaku, in return for a confirmed sinking of one heavy US Carrier, Yorktown class, a possible sinking of a second US carrier, and damage to about 5 escorts.  Nagumo peers off to the east, as the sun sets over day three, and can not escape the nagging thought that perhaps that 2nd US Carrier will survive, to come back and haunt the Emperor's glorious forces another day.

On other fronts, 7 Nells out of Rabaul drank one to many cups of Sake, and decided to balls-out attack Port Moresby, unescorted.  Drunk, knowing the effects of alititude on alcohool, the pilots try to increase their buzz by flying at a high altitude.  Unwittingly, this save them, as PM's cap was butting around at low level, and was not able to climb and intercept by the time the bombs dropped.  But, just as you can't hit the toilet with your winkie when drunk, the Nell's couldn't hit a thing over PM, and all their bombs fell harmlessly onto the civilian population of Port Moresby.

In other news, another nighttime nuisance raid of A-20's attack Lae, and manage to drop a whole grenade on the airport.  Lae was shutdown for approximately 2 minutes.  But blah, his pilots gain more experience, the easy way. Lets just hope the op losses from night flying kills his pilots off faster than they can gain exp.

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Air attack on Lae , at 9,33
Allied aircraft
A-20B Havoc x 3
Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Havoc x 1 damaged
 
Runway hits 1
 
Attacking Level Bombers:
 3 x A-20B Havoc at 10000 feet
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40
 
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 7
 
Allied aircraft
P-400 Airacobra x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 6
 
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell x 1 damaged
 
Allied aircraft losses
P-400 Airacobra x 1 damaged
 
Attacking Level Bombers:
 3 x G3M Nell at 12000 feet
 4 x G3M Nell at 12000 feet
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 52,56
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
D3A Val x 17
 
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 1 destroyed
D3A Val x 2 damaged
 
Allied Ships
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 12,  on fire,  heavy damage

(12 + 14 = 26!!! bomb hits, and still not a confirmation of her sinking.  Oh boy, I can't wait until the Essex class carriers arrive in January with their armored flight decks)

[AcePylut]

Next day, meterology reports bear fruit, and thunderstorms roll across the always unpredictable South Pacific. Nagumo retires his carriers from the Battle for Espiritu Santo.  Spies throught the allied countries start to pore over newspapers and radio reports, to ascertain the fate of the Lexington.  The boat that too 26!!! bombs and was still afloat.

Things are probably going to be fairly quiet for the next couple weeks of game time, so in that lull, I'll post a few of the combat units (ships, planes, bases, troops) 'detail' screens, so the viewers can get an idea of the immense depth "behind the units" in this game, and some descriptions of "what does what".  Of course, I'll only be posting info on stuff Dracho already knows, fog of war and all that.... like I'll post the info for those Zero's I have at Lae, that just might take a nite flight for the heck of it     I can post a pic of Guadacanal (Lunga is the base name), since Dracho knows that 2 weeks into the game, it's probably got a level 1 airfield by now, but nothing else as the port, airfield, and fortifications all start at level "0".

Each airfield "level" equates to being able to fly 50 airplanes a day.  So if you have a level 1 airfield, you can fly 50 aircraft total off it (most squadrons have 20-30 aircraft).  You need a level 2 aircraft to run offensive missions from it (and can fly 100 aircraft per day).  You need a level 4 airfield to fly 4 Engine bombers, which I won't have to worry about.  Well, I'll need to worry about it once Dracho-San gets enough 4E bombers to wipe out entire bases at a time.  Note, if you try to fly more aircraft than the airbase can handle, you take penalties, and some of your planes won't fly.  Let me tell you, it sucks when you "try" to send out 200 Betty's on a naval strike, and only 30 of the fly, because you tried to fly too many.  Also, to fly aircraft, repair them, etc... you need a "base force" troop unit at the airport.  Most of the Base Force units provide avaition support (some are infantry support only), and to fly aircraft, you need enough avaition support.  If you don't have aviation support, you won't repair planes that take damage.  If you don't have enough aviation support, some planes will fly, but since that base force is so overloaded with work, you're squadrons will suffer from Morale and fatigue loss (even if they don't fly), and you won't be able to repair aircraft as effectively as you need to.  Bad Morale + High Fatigue + Damaged aircraft = worthless.

[IndyShark]

At least for the ports, you can now designate a target by clicking on the air unit. 

Is there any way to designate a ship target?

[AcePylut]

At least for the ports, you can now designate a target by clicking on the air unit. 

Is there any way to designate a ship target?

No.  In a manner of speaking, I kinda like it like that. Keeps you from sending 3 Emily's against 100 Hellcats.  In a way, though, it's extremely frustrating, when 40 betty's go screaming off the Noumea to attack 3 AP's, instead of attacking those 10 AP's and 4 DD's steaming to Guadacanal. 

I tink a good idea would have been if you could designate a "target area" in which the aircraft will attemp to attack only ships in that area, if of course they pass their exp/morale/fatigue/etc.checks.  That way, you can at least have some control over your bombers heading off to max rangeto attack a PG boat, suffering the far more important fatigue and op losses than you gain from killing a PG boat.

Me and Dracho have run a couple more turns, mostly quiet, but there will soon be another post

[762_XC]

So when does Dracho start dropping nukes on Rabaul? 

[AcePylut]

Never, thank you very much   That would make the game "not fun".  And war should be fun!.  Now, if Dracho can just get the next turn off to me, I’ll have nother update about the Glorious Imperial Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces latest conquest hehehehe.  I’m going to be out of town over the weekend, so there won’t be anything after tonite until at least Sunday night, from me anyhow.

Sometimes, I wish Dracho wasn’t watching this forum, cuz then I could post a little about my tactical, operational, and overall “grand” strategy.  As time goes by, I’ll be able to unfold what I’m doing, or you’ll see what I’m doing.  Eventually, I’ll be reduced to about 10 destroyers, so I’ll be able to backdate my expansion strategy as the plans work or don’t work.

The big questions, some of which I haven’t answered yet, is how far I want to expand, before bunkering down for the inevitable Allied Land Based Air onslaught?  Where do I want to make my stand?  Do I want to focus on PM/Aussy, or on the Solomon Islands and Espiritu Santo?  How will I setup an semi-effective defense?  What bases should I “hold at all costs” and which ones should I “evacuate as soon as they smell the Allies”?  Should I try creating a bunch of “low level” bases, or should I go for a few “high level” bases (takes time to build them up, so you can’t do both)?  If given the choice, should I focus on killing his transports or should I focus on his combat ships (allies and Japs both suffer from ‘not enough transports to do everything you want).  When should I start being cautious with my Kido Butai (carriers ), and not try a stunt like I just did at Espiritu Santo?  How can I best feint one direction, while striking at another?  How will I use diversionary tactics to draw his planes/troops/ships to the “wrong place”?  How will I be able to do anything under the watchful eye of the PBY-Catalina’s?

Well, I know the answers to a couple of these questions.  Operation Wither Vine is progressing as expected.  A smaller operation, titled “Flower Blossom”, is about to bear fruit.  As you’ll see when the next turn arrives.

[Dracho]

Well, being as this is the first full game of this thing I'll have played, and you have the only BB and CV in the theatre, I'm fairly certain you can do what you please... for a time, so talking about it here isn't exactly going to let me shift a bunch of forces, LOL.

You only have a few things you can do, some more dangerous than others:

You can try a direct Naval assault of Port Moresby, which will probably bring you into land based bomber range, making resupply... tedious for the long haul..

You can try a direct assault on Nomea, which is risky.

You can try an assault on Espirito Santo and / or the French Frigate Shoals, which would put Nomea within range of your Betty bombers, and seriously irritate any effort by me in the Solomans, because I'd basically have to withdraw to Brisbane.   

You could invade Australia, but that'll turn into a quagmire that'll eat troops like China if anything at all goes wrong.

So, my money, and what prep I can muster, is to prepare for a feint in Port Moresby and a full-court press in the southern Solomans. 

Oh, and I love transport planes.   


BTW, in late 1943, unless you've wiped me, I'm buying a new Truk.   


I'll get the turn to you early this evening.  The wife has been working me so hard around the house that I fell asleep at 8:30 last night.

[AcePylut]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/15/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

GOOD NEWS!  Today, AcePylut-San  is proud to announce to the Emperor that Operation Frower Brossom was a complete success.  Troops of the 84th Naval Garrison, transported in 4 high speed destroyers, were able to sneak into Gili-Gili bay and capture this highry desirable port for the Son of Heaven.  Randing unopposed in the earry morning, the invasion commander quickry subdued the resident natives.  They quickry proved their royarty to the Imperiar Japanese, by fingering a rocal coastwatcher.

In other news, the first aircraft set down upon the newly constructed airfield at Lunga Point, Guadacanar. 

Surprisingry, the Arries have decided to send dayright raids against Lae, and over the rast few days, many weak Arried aircraft have been sent crashing down to the firery pits of doom.

Our proud aircraft carriers have refueled and re-armed after the Battle for Espiritu Santo.  Morale runs high among the Imperial Japanese Navy aviators, as they imbibe massive quantities of rice wine, celebrating their victory over the weak and cowardly american carriers.

Operation Wither Vine continues as pranned.

-----
Ground combat at Gili Gili
 
Japanese Shock attack
 
Attacking force 790 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Japanese assault odds: 36 to 1 (fort level 0)
 
Japanese forces CAPTURE Gili Gili base !!!
-----


One can now see bases that are under Japanese control.  The allies on New Guinea are being surrounded, and soon are in danger of being cut off.  Recon aircraft flying out of Shortland Island drop flyers to the allied forces at Port Moresby.  Flyers say "Surrender and save yourself.  You will be fed and watered.  Do not continue to fight for a dead country.  the USA will be destroyed shortly."



-------


Here is a pic of the detail screen all bases have.  As I've just captured Gili Gili, and haven't done anything with it yet, I can post it here. 



Counterclockwise, from top left, one can see the name of the base, and command structure the units belong to.  In this instance, it's the 8th Army HQ. 

Travelling counterclockwise, we can see all damage at the base.  There is port (no damage) airfield, and airfield service.  If airfield gets above 50, you can't run offensive missions, but you can still do CAP (getting damage above 50 is known as "shutting down the base").  Below that is the current amount of supplies at the base ( a typical transport can carry 2000-3000 supplies, depending on the ship), and the amount required.  I also have '1' fuel at the base, no idea where that came from.

Continuing, there are a couple things I want to points out:  Avaition support and avaition support required.  Av support req'd is always the "number of aircraft" at that base, in flyable condition.  Av support is the combined amount of Aviation Support (via ground "aviation" base-support units).  As you can see, I have no av support at the base, as I didn't include an aviation support in my invasion force.  However, that doesn't matter for the moment, as if you look clockwise from the top left, you'll see three items:   Port Capacity, Airfield Capacity, and Fortifications.  GG starts with a level 3 port.  The number in paranthesis is how much you can increase theport, before it starts taking twice as long to increase it another level.  Regardless, you can never raise a port or airfield level more than 3 levels above the number in paranthesis.  Fortifications can be raised to level 9 at all bases.  Level 9 fortifications is like Omaha beach fortifications.  Levle 0 is, er, take cover behind that bush kinda fortifications.

One can see all the troops, planes, and ships at the base, or click on the icon for a view of the squadrons.  Right now, as I've just captured it, and don't have a runway, yet, or any base forces to support my units, there is nothing there.

for planes... F=Fighters, RB/NF = Fighter Bombers or Night Fighters, DB = Dive Bombers, LB = Land based bombers, RE = Recon aircraft (very important to scope out various bases before attacking), TR = Transports, PA = patrol (naval search), FP = Float Planes, FF = float fighters, TB = torp bombers.

for ships... CV = carriers, BB = Battleships, CA = Cruisers, CL = Light Cruisers, DD = Destroyers (justlike SFC Space Navy Command), AP = troop transports, AO = Fuel ships, SS = subs, DM = Mine Warfare ships, PT = PT boats, AG = Barge Transports, AU I forgot, AV = seaplane tenders.

AV's are pretty sweet, becasue they have "inherent aviation support", and ifyou park them at a base, they will add their aviation support (usually around 20 Av support) to the base.  So you don't really need a base force tohave aircraft, if you have enough AV's.

Since I do'nt have any Engineering units at Gili Gili, yet, nothing will be built.  So, once I get anEng unit at GG, I will modifymy build to build my base up.  Sicne I already have a level 3 port there, I'll probably build up the airfield to level 2 (so I can do offensive missions), then build up fortifications a bit, then who knows, depends on how the war is going at that point

[762_XC]

What's an AV?

[AcePylut]

AV (and CS) are seaplane tenders.  Think of them as "floatplane aircraft carriers".  Most of my AV's have about 12 float planes in 2 squadrons (which are good for anti-sub patrol, and my long range float planes are good for naval search).  My CS ships have 24 float planes.

THey also have a small "aviation support" ability, that if you are at a 'hex' you own, and have some supplies there, the AV or CS ship will "act" as a aviation support base force, and provide a small amount of aviation support.

They have a few uses:

1) You can grab a forward location, move an AV there, and base the "big" floatplanes (Emilys, Mavises, PBY Catalinas for us) there.  You don't need an airport at a hex to fly floatplanes (but you still need aviation support), and you can use the AV to provide "aviation support", thus you don't need to move an 'aviation support base force there".

2)  You don't have enough Aviation Support Base Forces... so you can use the AV's or CS's to boost support for wahtever operation you want. AV's and CS's are good for this, because they can move from one location to another a lot faster than you can transport a base force.

3)  AV's and CS's (CS's basically are like 'big' av's) can be used as forward scouts for your task forces.  They can head out into the open ocean, and provide good ability to perform naval searches, that may be at or beyond the edge of the planes that fly out of bases.

4)  Decoy's.  Av's and CS's are often mistaken for aircraft carriers by the enemy.  Sometimes, I'll have a couple tf's heading into enemy waters, one comprised of a couple AV's, one is my Carriers.  Sometime, the enemy will make a mistake, and launch all their aircraft at the "AV task force", leaving my carriers untouched.  I'd much rather lose a couple seaplane tenders than a Carrier.

5)  ASW patrol.  Got a big task force of transports?  Sounds like juicy targets for subs?  Put an AV or CS in that task force, put all those planes on asw patrol, and help keep them pesky subs away.

[AcePylut]

A photo of the Imperial Jap Navy CS Chitose (CS = bigger better AV).  After the battle of Midway, she was modified into a light carrier, with a traditional flight deck for launching zero's and stuff.  This is a pik "pre-conversion", which is the unit I get to use in the game. 



The Chitose will be in theater shortly along with 24 float planes and decent aviation support woot!

[Commander La'ra]

Is this a 'download only' game you pay for?  It looks quite like 'my cup of tea', but I'm on 56K...

[IndyShark]

No, I have a cd. I should get it out and put it on ebay! LOL

Here is the website if you want to order it.

http://www.matrixgames.com/

http://www.matrixgames.com/games/game.asp?gid=216

It is $40 for a cd and $30 for a download only.

[Commander La'ra]

Ah! Thank you.

[IndyShark]

If you are interested, I'd be willing to sell you mine.

[Commander La'ra]

How much you want for it?

[Dracho]

They also have a free game:  Pacific War the Matrix Project.  It's the precursor to both Uncommon Valor and War in the Pacific.  Gary Grigsby released it back in the early 1990's, and they cleaned it up and debugged it and made it a free download.

[IndyShark]

How about $25?

[Commander La'ra]

Sounds pretty reasonable.  May be a couple of weeks before I can spare it, though.  It's truck payment time...

[IndyShark]

No problem. Let me know when you are ready.

[AcePylut]

5/25/06

AcePylut-san reports to the Emperor... the Great Air Battle of Port Moresby has been progressing well.  Japanese Bettys and Nells, escorted by 3 Squadrons of Zeros, have beaten the outnumbered and outmatched American aircraft into submission.  The airfield has been subjected to 7 straight days of air attacks, damage has been done to the airfield, and a great many supplies have been lost by the Allies.  Soon they will be out of supplies, and starved and beaten into submission. Until then, however, those brave allies continue to send pilots to their doom in inferior aircraft.  The 1st Tinian Datai (Subaru Sakai, Ota, Nishizawa, Sasai) have broken the morale of the allied bombers, and have fended off multiple attacks.  The allied bombers refuse to assault Lae.  Multiple pilots of the IJN and IJA are on the cusp of Ace status.

4 Destroyers, carrying elements of the 84th Japanese Naval Garrison, have succesfully assaulted Buna, and the encirclement of PM continues.  Operation Frower Brossom is a success.  Operation Wither Vine continue to progress as planned.

Lunga Airfield, Guadacanal, is in full operation, ready to attack any enemy shipping approaching the Southern Solomon Islands.

An airbase has been constructed in the protected bay of Gili-Gilli, and shortly, short range bombers will be able to strangle.

Returning to port, fumes from teh single bomb that the Shokaku took were ignited by electricians spark, and explosions shuddered through the carrier.  Limping, she was able to mkae it to Truk, and has since been sent back to Tokyo for repairs

A short halt tothe war has been called, while Dracho-San fixes his computer   (that one bomb hit on the shokaku did 51 sys damage!.  The two bombs the Zuikaku took only did 13 sys damage)

The Zuikaku, escorted by a minimal amount of ships, was able to sneak out of Rabaul, move undetected into firing range of PM, and launched an airraid of the field that did massive damage, most importantly was destroying a number of supplies. 

Dracho-San decided to move a couple gunboats into PM, to deflect any naval attacks from their supply ships.

Recon over PM showed reinforcemtn of the Port Moresby ground garrison, and the withdrawal of a couple units.

Two transports suffered damage from allied torpedos.  one transport was succesfully attacked, however, the torpedo was a dud and no damage was done.  Sub chasers have been dispatched tothese area's, to locate and destroy those evil American submarines.

Scout planes over Midway and the Aleuts show that the Allies have withdrawn carrier forces.  My carriers dispatched for the invasion ofMidway have been diverted to the South Pacific.  Arrival is expected within 2-4 weeks.


Here's a picture showing some of the more common aircraft ranges.  Japanese ranges are measured from Gili-Gili, which one can tell, PM falls within range.  Allied ranges are measured from PM.  The important thing to note is the incredible range (23 hexes) of the Japanese Zero.  Basically, I can stay "just" out of range of allied fighter aircraft (until those P38's and Corsairs show up ) and bomb at will.  The "red dots" are locations of Japanese bases.  The "green" dots are locations of the allied bases.



I showed the ranges in a hexagonal form, but the game models it in a circular fashion, so there is alittle give and play on this, depending.

[AcePylut]

UV's modelling of my favorite aircraft the Jap A6M2 Zero... here's the stats.



Blammo, I love that pair of 20mm cannons.

And here's a current shot of my pilots at Lae, the 1st Tainan Daitai.  Check out Saburo Sakai's 4 kills.  He's got some competition though.... another guy in there has 4 kills.  Unfortunately, you can't see Sasai, Nishizawa (Japans best ace, irl he was killed while riding in a transport aircraft).

[AcePylut]

FEAR MY PILOTS DRACHO  They are coming!

[Dracho]

Yeah, yeah.. you're going to meet my top ace Skip... Skip Bombing.     Replaced my HDD last night.  I just need to flash the bios on my mainboard than I'll load UV tonight & get a turn out.

If I just didn't have so much real work to do int he evenings on top of this.  Last night after 5 I installed an anti-theft device in an '02 Ford and demolished the fireplace in the middle of our bedroom. 

[AcePylut]

I emailed Voidwar my "general strategy" and also what Operation Wither Vine is... so that when the tide turns and you crush all my samurai, we'll see how well it worked.

Oh yeah, can't wait for skip bombing to come into play.  

I went backed and looked at some stuff... you put 1 bomb into the SHokaku during the Battle for Espiritu Santo.  It did about 12 sys damage, 30 fire damage, and some 12 floatation damage.  The next day, I noted that the float and fire damage went down a bit.  But, but, the day after that, my fire damage rose to 40 and my sys damage rose to about 50.  Interesting.  Crappy Jap Damage Control.  Shes on the way back to Tokyo.  She'll be back   Probably just in time to get slaughtered by your Skip Bombers.

Notice I got my first ace after last nights turn  

The Emperor advises you to withdraw from Port Moresby.  There is no need for you to needlessly throw your soldiers to their doom.   

[AcePylut]

Update - 6/12/1942

Since the last report, it's been pretty quiet in the South Pacific.  Dracho continues to bunker down at all locations, including Port Moresby.

There has been a continuing air battle over Port Moresby, as nearly every day my bombers fly down and pulverize either the airfield, port, or ground troops.

In a surprise move, however... Dracho decided to move a regiment of troops up from POrt Moresby heading towards Buna.



Watching this move, I initially thought that Dracho was just going to protect the area's around POrt Moresby.  As another week had passed, this regiment had moved towards the top of the 14k foot ASL Owen Stanley mountain range.  I suspected that he was either placing the unit there to delay any ground invasion of PM, but thought he might be trying to grab some initiative, and capture a lightly defended Buna (especially since he is aware I moved those troops to Dobudaru (1 hex east) to grab the potential level 6 airfield there.

I know that the "Kanga Force" started the game at that US base up by Lae.  At this time, I'm not sure if he kept it there, or if he had withdrawn it back to PM.  Time will tell.

Looking over my assets, and thinking taht I needed to plan for the possibility that he may be trying to recapture Buna, I loaded up tthree "Fast Transport" task forces (destroyers can act as transports, and destroyers can mover at 30+ knots, as opposed to the slow lumbering regular transports that move anywhere from 10-20 knots) with a full strength regiment of my own...

And it was a good thing, because the day after the entire division finally was re-located to Buna, Dracho's troops came down from the mountains and tried to capture Buna.

My troops also attacked...

-----
Ground combat at Buna
 
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 7556 troops, 86 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Defending force 3974 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)
 
 LTJG A.Kamisaka of F1/Tainan Daitai is credited with kill number 2
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 164
 
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 57
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Buna
 
Allied Shock attack
 
Attacking force 3928 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Defending force 7437 troops, 86 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)
 
 
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 23
 
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 186
Guns lost 2

---

I "deliberate" attacked Dracho, Dracho "shock" attacked me  (shock attack is "attack with reckless abandon", deliberate attack does not push as hard.  Deliberate is good to wear down the enemy, Shock is good to crush a worn down enemy)

As one can see,. both attacks faired about evenly, however, I have a definite man advantage, and the abiliy to reinforce much quicker via fast transports.  I suspect his unit is very fatigued, after their month long trek up the unforgiving Owen Stanley Mountain range, and mine are fairly disrupted due to their quick transport.

It's too bad Dracho decided to send this unit to it's doom  I was more than content to let it sit 1 hex away and suck some serious supplies out of Port Moresby.

Oh- speaking of supplies, during this two week period, I sent my 1 carrier in theater with a full contingent of cruisers and destroyers - 25 ships in all, down around GG towards PM.  Three hexes from PM, I split the TF into two, 1 contained the carrier and minimal escort (4 destroyers), all the ships went inot the other.  This 20 ship Cruiser and Destroyer TF bombarded Port Moresby, causing some 200+ runway damage, and shut down the airfield for a couple of days while repairs were made ( and supplies sucked away).  It also caused 7 Supply hits, which translates to 70% of PM supplies lost.

PM started out with lots of supplies.  By my continual attacks on PM, along with Long Range Cap intercepting and turning back Dracho's C-47 Supply Squadrons, it should be running low on supplies.  Dracho is going to have to find a way to keep that base supplied, if he wants it to have any effective use.  I smell a transport convoy soon, because his C47's are taking a beating from my Long Range cap flying over PM (that's where that pilot got the kill from in the combat report above).  I doubt his replacements will be able to keep up with his losses.  I also noticed that Dracho is using B17's on naval attack missions, at 100ft.  That's fine with me.  He only gets 7 B17 replacements a month, and if they get lots on attacks on transports, I'll take it because in 8 months, he should only be able to send 50 plane B17 attacks agaisnt my airbases, instead of 200 B17's

With PM shut down from my bombardment task force, all my forces were able to retire without loss.  I was also able to sneak in a couple transports to those forward bases, wihtout fear of an air attack out of PM.  They delivered much needed supplies to my forward outposts, which should be enough for about 4 weeks of action.

PS - All those carriers that weren't lost at Midway are starting to make an appearance.  Very soon I should have 6 aircraft carriers in theater (he should have around 4, plus some odd light carriers and such) and the game will be heating up quickly.  My 6 or so vs his 4 or so is actually an even battle... because Jap carriers only carry about 60 planes on average, where as the US carriers carry 90 aircraft. 

[AcePylut]

Day 2 of the Assault on Buna... see's Dracho scaling back his attack:


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/13/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Ground combat at Buna
 
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 7423 troops, 86 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Defending force 3780 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)
 
 
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 95
 
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 47
Guns lost 1
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Buna
 
Allied Bombardment attack
 
Attacking force 3735 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles
 
Defending force 10331 troops, 165 guns, 0 vehicles
 
 Allied ground losses:
Men lost 2

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dracho did a "Bombardment" attack with his ground forces.  Think "Artillery barrage".  So he used his arty on me, but didn't send my forces forward. 

I deliberate attacked again, and my losses went down a bit from the first day.  Something I noticed during combat resolution is that his troops lost strength very quickly (I have an "assault value" of 100+.  His forces have an "assault value" of about 60-80.  Combat ends after a certain number of attacks.  If before those attack, the assault value of either force gets to zero, they lose.  I think dracho's troops are about ready to fall, and am contemplating a shock attack to see if I can send them back to PM.  My odds have gone to 2-1, as opposed to 1-1 before.  Perhaps that's because I ran a couple more fast transport ships down to Buna in the last couple days, with reinforcements

Notice in the bombardment attack by Dracho did more damage to his forces than mine   Tokyo-Rose states "ohhh pooor GI tripping over your feet at Buna.  Maybe next time you wirr arm mortars after they're carried to your troops, instead of retting GI Crumsy drop one and kirr himserf andbuddy.  Maybe you outta just surrender, and save arr your rives"

[Dracho]

Since this IS my first game, and I'm most likely to get my head handed to me, I don't hesitate to speak up here.

One thing is that I *THINK* the computer fudges the battle reports a little if the "Fog of War" setting is on, especially when pilots report kills or damage to ports etc.  I've seen you think you hammered Port Morsby's supply and when I'd check the base, it didn't go down very much at all.. same for runway hits, though I'm surprised you bother.  My fighters suck so badly this early in the war they aren't worth shooting at.

As for Buna, what-the-hell, I figured it was better to fight at your base than mine.  The rest of the division should be along directly.  The very first thing I did was strip Australia of ground troops, because the randomizer had more infantry in the pipe (enough to defend the coastlines), so that flotilla you saw in the first couple of turns was delivering 5 divisions to New Guinnea, along with thousands of tons of supplies.  Also, my air transports and level bombers have been amazingly efficient at keeping Port Morsby supplied (along with submarines). 

I was much more concerned that you were coming after Luganville or Efate Villa (as I was pretty sure you'd get a bloody nose down south) because the South Pacific command is very light on ground troops in the beginning (we're not even to the historical US invasion of Guadalcanal yet), but that also has been rectified.  In fact, I was able to transport the 3rd Australian Divison to reinforce some of the islands.

My bomber crews, although fatigued, have been scoring steady progress against your transports.  They're getting competent enough that it's a risk for you to come inside my air zones now, even with heavy fighters.  All the allied planes carry 1000lb bombs and just 1 of those can ruin a Japanese Carrier if it gets a lucky explosion. I'll trade you carriers 2:1 and still come out ahead.

At this point anything you do is going to cost you and I'm just waiting for enough strength to go on the offensive.  Even if you take a major base at this point, it just shortens my supply lines.  I hate playing the Japanese because even if you take Port Morsbey, it can require so may troops to do so that you strip rear bases, leaving them vulnerable to invasion (especially with CVE's flying nothing but Marine Fighter groups escorting the transports continually).

What kills me about this game is supply.  In my stand-alone game I have invaded Rabual (March 1943) and I am using Shortland Island as a naval base (took it in late '42).  I have to run supplies all the way up from Noumea, and fuel etc, but I need those transports and freighters to supply the beachhead.  I have 70,000 troops being held on the beach by 20,000 Japanese because I can't keep them supplied well enough for their attacks to reduce the fortifications (it was 9 when I landed).

And mines!  OMG I hate mines!  I have lost more ships to mines than all the Japanese Navy, Air Force, and Naval Air service combined.

[AcePylut]

This is my first “real” PBEM game also.  That one I had against that other guy, well he gave up and never responded.  Probably because I, as the US, caught all his Betty’s and Nells at Lae with a 100 plane strike of P39’s, and shut down lae, and pretty much wiped them out over a weeks worth of action.

I’m pretty sure the Fog of War gives ‘inaccurate’ combat reports.  I did some checking in my “refresher” game against the AI, and would see the Japs apparently do “100 Runway Damage”, and then load up from the US side and see little to no damage.  And vice versa.  I’ve been running pretty steady recon, however, and * think * I have a pretty clear idea of what’s there. 

Hey, I’m doing this for fun, the South Pacific WW2 is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, history subjects, and I don’t really care who wins or loses.  So if you have any questions, or note something funny in what I say (I.e “pounding PM” hehe), and want it clarified to “see how the game is doing it”, or just curious as to why I did something, please ask.  I’ll answer as best I can, and if I can’t because “what I’m doing” is part of a larger strategy, I’ll say so but still try and answer as best I can.

I really liked that move towards Buna.  It’s stuff like that that the AI would never do. You were able to take 4 undamaged destroyers, and run their SYS damage up with all those high speed runs between Rabaul and Buna.  For the three weeks those guys were on the march towards Buna, I continually had to “guess” what their intention was, and plan for each eventually.  Unlike the AI, which would never do something like that, and if they did, after a couple games you’d know that “on 6/10/42, there will be a regiment of troops showing up at Buna”.  Then again, doing something like that means I get to write glorious stories about the combat effectiveness of the IJN and IJA and the skill – or dare I say lack of skill - of the weak-spined, cowardly, Aussies hehehe.  Now, those guys up at Wau… not sure what to make of them yet.  Are you trying for a quick strike against Lae, if of course you suspect that Lae is lightly defended, or are you just trying to delay a potential invasion down from lae, or perhaps feinting towards Lae, and heading up to Madang?  Maybe it’s an ENG regiment trying to build up a base all sneaky like. Either way, they have to be using twice as much supplies as they normally would, due to distance, unless you’re keeping them in supply via C47’s. 

PS – I haven’t forgotten about Nevea, Gami-Gami, Lungaville, Wunpuko,

Note to other readers:  “Lunga” is not an abbreviation for “Lungaville”.  “Lunga” is the main base on Guadacanal (Think: Henderson Field).  Lungaville is a large base down by Nomeua, in Espiritu Santo

As much as some things in this game are frustrating, those are the things I like.  Like how airplanes will not really strike a tf with lots of CAP, if they don’t have escorting fighters.  Yeah, that’s how it should be.  But then to see a flock of Bettys fly from Rabaul to Townsville to strike 2 whole SubChasers because a 5 ship TF was defended by 3 P39’s… well that’s frustrating!  Just like Supplies, there’s never enough to do everything you want to do. And in my opinion, the US supply situation (like you described above) is the key to a Japanese victory.  Sinking transports brings more joy to me than sinking CL’s as a Theater Commander (but I’d rather take out those nasty Jap killing CLAA’s).  But sinking CL’s makes great headlines hehehe for the media boys, and sinking lowly cargo haulers don't.