Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng - A Chinese HPP AAR

[TheBromgrev]

Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng
(War of Liberation)

Nation: People's Republic of China
Difficulty: Normal
Game Version: SF 2.04f
Mod: HPP 2.04
Style: History Book

House Rules:
1) No sneaky invasions of Japanese-held islands. The AI is too dumb to properly use the navy to patrol its homeland and is too dumb to leave a reserve in place, so I won't use gamey tactics like landing an army in Nagasaki or some other large port that's almost always undefended.
2) Manually control navy and special forces. Everything else will be under AI control at the army group level. If I fight against Japan alongside the other Chinese states, then I'll have to control my troops manually when fighting against the RoC due to the Allied Theater sharing bug.
3) Any ships that are built must use components close to the current year. I may not get to this point, but if I do I'll abide by this rule.

I'll be writing this using the history-book style. My first goal is to survive (easier said than done), and my second goal is to reassert control over all of China, possibly including the two breakaway regions of Mongolia and Tannu Uriankhai.

Table of Contents:

Introduction:

Chapter 0: Introduction to Modern Chinese History

Chinese Civil War:

North-Western Campaign:

Chapter 1: Recovery
Chapter 2: Failed Spring Offensive of 1937 - March 5, 1937 to April 16, 1938
Chapter 3: Spring Offensive of 1938 - May 9, 1938 to October 28, 1938
Chapter 4: The Encirclements of Winter 1938 - October 28, 1938 to April 5, 1939
Chapter 5: The End of Xibei San Ma and an Analysis of the Western Campaign - April 6, 1939 to September 3, 1939
Chapter 5.5: World War II

Eastern Campaign:

Chapter 6: Eastern Expedition, Phase 1 - April 3, 1940 to January 2, 1941
Chapter 7: Eastern Expedition, Phase 2 - January 12, 1941 to November 14, 1941
Chapter 8: Eastern Expedition, Phase 3 and Analysis - November 14, 1941 to January 31, 1942

Southern Campaign:

Chapter 9: Phase 1, Crossing the Yellow River - April 4, 1942 to June 10, 1942
Chapter 10: Phase 2, The March to Nanjing - June 11, 1942 to February 4, 1943
Chapter 11: Analysis of the Southern Campaign

World War III:

Ending the Chinese Civil War and WWIII Part 1:

Chapter 11.5: World War III
Chapter 12: The End of the Chinese Civil War - March 28, 1943 to June 9, 1944
Chapter 13: The Calm Before the Storm - June 10, 1944 to July 2, 1945
Chapter 14: Overview of the PLA

WWIII Part 2:

Chapter 15: Early Success - July 2, 1945 to October 2, 1945
Chapter 16: The Commonwealth Counter-Attacks - October 2, 1945 to December 22, 1945
Chapter 17: The Great Manchurian Pocket - October 31, 1945 to January 2, 1946
Chapter 18: Tactical Victory - January 2, 1946 to January 24, 1946
Chapter 19: The March to Pusan; Entering Bengal - January 25, 1946 to April 8, 1946
Chapter 20: The People's Republic of Korea- April 8, 1946 to May 15, 1946

[Avindian]

This sounds like a neat idea!

[Terraferma]

I wrapped up playing a Nat China in SF recently so I am definately watching this! Subscribed and good luck.

[misterbean]

communist china? wow. talk about an undertaking.

[Derahan]

Excellent! Really looking forward to this!

[SSmith]

This one looks like a real challenge. Best of luck!

[Elastic Fish]

Can't wait to see this get going. After reading and really enjoying your Nationalist China AAR (H.P.P. 1.0, what a long time ago...), it will certainly be interesting to see how this one develops.

I'll definitely follow this!

[Megaherz]

In HPP it is possible to take out and control Nationalist China(I have succeded) with ComChi,but it is not easy and it will require some encirclements against the nationalists and you have to win this one fast before Japs take most of Nationalist China!

I always find it easier to take out Xibei San Ma first

[TheBromgrev]

Thanks for the feedback! To clarify my country choice, I made a thread in the HPP forum asking for people to vote on what country I should play as for my HPP Semper Fi AAR, and the PRC got the most votes. I've only played through as the communists once and lost to the RoC when I restarted hostilities. One thing I'm unsure of is whether to make peace with the KMT or not.

If I make peace, then I can build up for the conflict with Japan, and can take out Menjiang and Manchukuo while the Japanese are busy with the RoC. However, that strategy is risky, because there's a good chance the RoC will have problems against Japan. If I don't make peace during the Xi'an Incident, then I risk weakening the RoC too much. Then, there's the matter of the Xinjiang War, which could start a war between the USSR and RoC (bad outcome, as this makes Japan's job easier), and the 2 Japanese/Soviet skirmishes which can also expand into an all-out war (good outcome if I make peace with the RoC). The entire theater is explosive diplomatically, and the difficulty of reuniting China is very much dependent on how "lucky" I am in regards to the border skirmishes, as the RoC AI typically isn't strong enough to beat Japan on its own and requires outside help to win.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten my Threat from the East AAR. I'll be updating that one along with this AAR once my work schedule clears up, which should happen in about 2 weeks. I may post a gameplay update before then if I have time, but updates will be slow for the next two weeks then pick up afterward.

[Dieselboater]

communist china? wow. talk about an undertaking.

Indeed - Bromgrev allowed himself to be voted into an AAR with PRC...

Good luck! (Good house rules).

[nightraid3r]

Hi, as a speaker of mandarin, I figure I would tell you that "war of liberation" would more likely be 自由战争 with the Pinyin being: Zìyóu zhànzhēng. I am looking forward to your aar

[friget234]

another reader fo u!

[Surt]

hmm, the world revolution is moving closer, the free world better support the real Chinese Government.

[Megaherz]

The best way that I have found is to not DoW on the Japanese and cut the Japs way from National Chinese lands to keep them from advancing further south on the Nationalists(while hoping that Japanese wouldnt make any amphibious attacks).

This isnt easy and there are probably more diffrent ways to do this,good luck

[TheBromgrev]

Hi, as a speaker of mandarin, I figure I would tell you that "war of liberation" would more likely be 自由战争 with the Pinyin being: Zìyóu zhànzhēng. I am looking forward to your aar

Zìyóu I think means "Freedom", while Jiěfàng I think means "Liberation". I used Jiěfàng because I had seen on several non-Wikipedia sites online that the PRC refers to the Chinese Civil War as 解放战争 (Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng),

[gaeliel]

Just a question: how are you going to win the civil war with your armies under auto-control if the AI can't do anything against a former ally (assuming you're going to for a unified front, that is)?

Otherwise, I'm really looking forward to the AAR. Last time I tried I allied with the USA (!) to beat the Japs, but then they dragged me into a war against Russia (!!) after the whole of China was, um, liberated...

Good luck!

[TheBromgrev]

That's a very good question, and I didn't think about that bug when I wrote up the house rules. I'll make a modification to that rule, thanks for pointing it out! I haven't actually started the game yet aside from my normal "Day 1 changes", since I don't have any freetime and won't have any for a few weeks due to work. I can still make posts while at work, just won't play the actual game.

[cpreston5]

I've been struggling as the PRC for a while, and I'm looking forward to seeing how a far more skilled player will do it.

[AradoX]

I voted for RoC, but actually I'm more excited about how this will go, due to the sheer challenges facing PRC.

Bug aside, I always play exactly like house rule 2 (AI at Army Group etc.) and thus strongly prefer AAR's that also do that.

zhù nǐ háoyùn!

[Comm Cody]

I Micromanage down to Brigade level if necessary, and I never use the AI because it screws everything up.

Anyway Good Luck TheBromgrev, and my China be united under the flag of the PRC!