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Love it, so, any immediate threat to Gibraltar through Spain, would that be a pawsible axis countermove?
Has Japan committed all of its CV's to Singapore and the Philippines?
Japan has committed all of it CVs north east of the Philippines right now - 3 CTFs (2 CTFs were in the Singapore/DEI area before).
@Spain/Gibraltar: yes, they could attack Spain - they still have a about 6 - 9 months before they start Barbarossa. I am not sure how effective it would be, as the Allies have some reserves (but a far smaller army than Germany). And if they withdraw too many units from the Soviet border, the Soviet might want to start the war on their own terms.
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Japan has at least 18 CVs (organised in 3 groups of 6) and maybe 1-2 fresh CVs in reserve. (The USA has about the same, although I should not divulge exact numbers about my teammates, the UK currently has 5 CVs on the front, 2 CVs in a newly created CTF and 6 CVEs)
Before judging the size of the Japanese/US fleets, please keep in mind that with our mod the "minimum training" law DOES NOT reduce build time.
Before judging the size of the Japanese/US fleets, please keep in mind that with our mod the "minimum training" law DOES NOT reduce build time.
It's 1940 and the allies are already stopping Japan? Doesn't that seem rather imbalanced - the allies will, eventually, be able to bring all their IC to bear and that way grind the axis down, unless the axis play exceptionally well early on. If the UK and US can already counter Japan this early, how can Japan have any hope of ever winning?
It's not like Japan has already been stopped completely.
However, to give you some background information: the Axis have won the 5 previous games in this series. Even though I claimed that Japan could be stopped by a comitted Allied defense (something the previous Allied players have not done), some actually perceived Japan as being "too easy to play" and "too strong". We have the same rules as in the previous game and almost the same as in the 4th session as far as Japan is concerned. Therefore, it is difficult to assess whether there is an actual imbalance or if the Allied strategy is about to pay off. And as it is yet undecided and Italy is still present with its entire fleet, we might see an Axis reaction to what happened.
In the 4th and 5th game Japan defeated the USA - the UK didnt really defend the East (except for Sri Llanka and parts of India) in those games.
But we will assess balancing after this game again.
Yes in the previous 5 games Japan has always defeated the allies in the Pacific. 1 time they annexed USA, 2 times they Sealioned UK, the other 2 times they defeated the US navy sinking most of the carriers and the game was over before they could do more damage. For this game we have chosen to nerf Japan by forbidding complete chinese annexation in the first war (they had to go with "seize the coast"), note that this happened in the previous game as well (by mistake) and japan defeated US navy anyway, sinking one third of the carriers.
I'm quite happy how this turned out. Note that in this game USA have been boosted by early German dow on Yugoslavia and high Soviet threat due to German strategic choices. Boosted USA and Pacific oriented UK (1 CTF, some army corps and several airwings) have managed to succesfully engage Japan and at least delay them. There is still no clear winner on the sea but japan seems to be in a tough spot in the land combat in the Philippines.
This is the most favourable situation possible for the allies and it is fair that at least in this position they can give a fair fight, otherwise there wouldn't be any reason for USA not to bunker into Pearl Harbour and leave the Pacific to Japan untill they can actually give a fight.
PS to add more informations about balance, the Japanese, UK and USA are all experieced players and are all good or very good in managing air and naval combats.
I'm quite happy how this turned out. Note that in this game USA have been boosted by early German dow on Yugoslavia and high Soviet threat due to German strategic choices. Boosted USA and Pacific oriented UK (1 CTF, some army corps and several airwings) have managed to succesfully engage Japan and at least delay them. There is still no clear winner on the sea but japan seems to be in a tough spot in the land combat in the Philippines.
This is the most favourable situation possible for the allies and it is fair that at least in this position they can give a fair fight, otherwise there wouldn't be any reason for USA not to bunker into Pearl Harbour and leave the Pacific to Japan untill they can actually give a fight.
PS to add more informations about balance, the Japanese, UK and USA are all experieced players and are all good or very good in managing air and naval combats.
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Ah, I see. As I said I have little to no experience with HoI3. I played HoI2 mp a long time ago, and there the allies almost always won if the skill of the players was fairly equal. Looks like this is not the case with HoI3, which is a pleasant surprise to me.
Committing serious forces to the defence of the Philippines was a good move. The Allies are very confident that they risk that many units right next to Japan. In an earlier game we discussed with Rufus defending the Philippines but we choose otherwise. However in that game the strategic environment was different.
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I will post my recaps, hopefully within a few days.
Edit:
I will post my recaps, hopefully within a few days.
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@Philippines: you made the right decision in that game (the 4th). When Singapore and the Dutch East Indies are undefended it is difficult to fight against the more modern Japanese navy, especially without UK support.
@recap: Looking forward to any input from the German perspective!
@recap: Looking forward to any input from the German perspective!
Great recap, Lance!
And the developments in this game are really exciting. We wanted to proof that allies can win this time and for the moment it doesn't look too bad, eh? Anyway, the decisive German attack hasn't yet begun.
Tomba
And the developments in this game are really exciting. We wanted to proof that allies can win this time and for the moment it doesn't look too bad, eh? Anyway, the decisive German attack hasn't yet begun.
Tomba
Chapter IV - The Battle of the Philippines
This session was worse than the previous one and we had so many issue we managed to play only 1 and a half months. Also due to the heavy naval fightings in the Pacific that forced us on speed 1 most of the time. SU had basically nothing to do in this session, apart from starting to organize the army on the German border. The chapter is named after the only important thing that happened in this session, a huge land and sea battle between Japan and a USA with a minor fleet and air contribution from the UK.
The last save of the last session (25th of May) was corrupted, so we had to go back to the 21st and Japan managed to avoid the battles in which they lost 3 BBs. Anyway, a CA fleet of them got caught by an american SAG at the start of the session and the losses managed to sort of balance the change of save.
Now, those are the few things that happened to SU:
Bullism on Romania
Bullism on Sinkiang. Sinkiang was annexed about 1 and a half months into the war
The most welcomed result of Soviet expansionism, mainly from the war with Finland
Nevertheless, a lot happened in the Pacific, I can't tell exactly but from voice chat I got that Japan was tring to save the staving army in the Philippines and moved out most of their fleet. They managed to win a coupple of major naval engagments, sinking 3 american CVs and 2 BBs, but they lost a tons of minor battles, losing most of the transports and many escorts. Also according to the US player Japan lost al least 2 corps of land troops but maybe more.
Japan being trown out of the Philippines
Ship lost during the war. Not shown: 1 italian DD, 1 British SS, other useless minor's losses
Tactically I'd say the naval battles of the Philippines were kind of uncertain (most of Japan's losses are outdated ships), but strategically the allies have scored a major victory as they already stopped Japan, at least for the time being. Also, the heavy losses of the Germans and the Japanese allow the UK to deploy more and more of their navy in the Med, making a victory of the powerfull Italian fleet less and less likely.
Note: according to the House Rules, USA is allowed to rebase units to Europe only if the allies hold for 45 days 30 ports of a list of 92, which is build in the mod and includes all the important ports of the Pacific and the Indian ocean (they can alwais redeploy everything they want in defence the UK islands). Since the Japanese and american entry in the war the allies were holding a little more than 35 ports and thanks to the victory in the Philippines USA is now free to redeploy units in Europe.
Also, since Barbarossa is getting closer and this update was too short, I'd like to start talking about the Soviet build-up.
The following picture tells what the first two years and a half of production were mostly about
This also counts IC from conquered countries (not much). Note that I'm still on war economy, as soon as Total economy mobilization will be enacted my total available IC will be almost 500
Untill July 1937, 90% of Soviet production was industrial capacity, after that soviet production remained at 70%-80% IC until Jan 1938 and 40%-50% untill Aug 1938. A total of 100 base IC was produced and deployed beind the Urals.
This session was worse than the previous one and we had so many issue we managed to play only 1 and a half months. Also due to the heavy naval fightings in the Pacific that forced us on speed 1 most of the time. SU had basically nothing to do in this session, apart from starting to organize the army on the German border. The chapter is named after the only important thing that happened in this session, a huge land and sea battle between Japan and a USA with a minor fleet and air contribution from the UK.
The last save of the last session (25th of May) was corrupted, so we had to go back to the 21st and Japan managed to avoid the battles in which they lost 3 BBs. Anyway, a CA fleet of them got caught by an american SAG at the start of the session and the losses managed to sort of balance the change of save.
Now, those are the few things that happened to SU:
Bullism on Romania
Bullism on Sinkiang. Sinkiang was annexed about 1 and a half months into the war
The most welcomed result of Soviet expansionism, mainly from the war with Finland
Nevertheless, a lot happened in the Pacific, I can't tell exactly but from voice chat I got that Japan was tring to save the staving army in the Philippines and moved out most of their fleet. They managed to win a coupple of major naval engagments, sinking 3 american CVs and 2 BBs, but they lost a tons of minor battles, losing most of the transports and many escorts. Also according to the US player Japan lost al least 2 corps of land troops but maybe more.
Japan being trown out of the Philippines
Ship lost during the war. Not shown: 1 italian DD, 1 British SS, other useless minor's losses
Tactically I'd say the naval battles of the Philippines were kind of uncertain (most of Japan's losses are outdated ships), but strategically the allies have scored a major victory as they already stopped Japan, at least for the time being. Also, the heavy losses of the Germans and the Japanese allow the UK to deploy more and more of their navy in the Med, making a victory of the powerfull Italian fleet less and less likely.
Note: according to the House Rules, USA is allowed to rebase units to Europe only if the allies hold for 45 days 30 ports of a list of 92, which is build in the mod and includes all the important ports of the Pacific and the Indian ocean (they can alwais redeploy everything they want in defence the UK islands). Since the Japanese and american entry in the war the allies were holding a little more than 35 ports and thanks to the victory in the Philippines USA is now free to redeploy units in Europe.
Also, since Barbarossa is getting closer and this update was too short, I'd like to start talking about the Soviet build-up.
The following picture tells what the first two years and a half of production were mostly about
This also counts IC from conquered countries (not much). Note that I'm still on war economy, as soon as Total economy mobilization will be enacted my total available IC will be almost 500
Untill July 1937, 90% of Soviet production was industrial capacity, after that soviet production remained at 70%-80% IC until Jan 1938 and 40%-50% untill Aug 1938. A total of 100 base IC was produced and deployed beind the Urals.
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I hit the Post Reply button by mistake while the chapter was only half written. Sorry, now it's finished.
Correction: Italy didn't lose a BB, only a DD.
I will try to post a recap later today.
This game is entering a very interesting phase. Germany supports Italy in the Med with a lot of CAGs, British convoy losses are high, and Germany still has plenty of time and land forces to attack Spain or help Italy to attack North Africa. The Med will see more action in the next session.
Cheers,
Lance
I will try to post a recap later today.
This game is entering a very interesting phase. Germany supports Italy in the Med with a lot of CAGs, British convoy losses are high, and Germany still has plenty of time and land forces to attack Spain or help Italy to attack North Africa. The Med will see more action in the next session.
Cheers,
Lance
We had a nice session tonight, despite some issues, some fight is going on in the far East and in Spain. However Soviet Union had nothing to do for the whole session, except getting ready for Barbarossa, So I won't post an update this time as all my plans and army deployment will be revealed after the start of Barbarossa (it is now mid-September and the 1st of November is likely to be the first day in which Germany can break the MR pact).
I hope the UK player(s), which saw most of the action, will post a summary of the session, as I'm aeger to see what was going on as well.
I hope the UK player(s), which saw most of the action, will post a summary of the session, as I'm aeger to see what was going on as well.
Chapter IV – Naval warfare in early summer 1940
May 25 – July 8
A short session, covering 6 in game weeks.
The British CTF was active in the area between the Philippines and Singapore, moving out on patrols to harass Japanese fleets. Whenever Japanese CTFs moved out to hunt my carriers, I withdrew. At least twice the chasing Japanese carriers initiated naval strikes, before turning around once my fleet reached land based air cover in Malaya/DEI.
British land based aircraft and my CAGs made many naval strikes on enemy forces in the Sibuyan Sea and my CTF was even engaged in a large battle – I withdrew, as my CAGs were getting de-orged. But in a coordinated move Einar (USA) moved in his SAGs and in the resulting large battle the Japanese lost many ships.
Minor British victory
My CAGs sunk some Japanese ships east of Borneo in the only British naval victory that where any ships were destroyed.
Japan covered the retreat of troops from the Philippines with its CTFs.
Towards the end of this session the Japanese fleets had retreated to ports and were getting repaired. US fleets were in ports as well and the British CTF is in Singapore.
Meanwhile in the MED
The air war continued, at one point German CAGs started port striking Malta but they were soon stopped by British INT.
The Convoy War
The war against British shipping really escalated in this session. Italy moved out all its battleships fleets to hunt British convoys. 6 SH BBs and 10 BBs are sinking huge amounts of Allied tonnage every week. The losses are enormous and I won’t be able to sustain them very long.
It’s only a matter of time until my planes and fleets have to challenge the Italian naval forces in the Med. Especially since Spain (and thus Gibraltar) might be at danger as well.
British Air Force
British Navy
We have played chapter V as well (see Rast's post) and I will update the AAR as soon as possible (World Cup, you know ;-) )
May 25 – July 8
A short session, covering 6 in game weeks.
The British CTF was active in the area between the Philippines and Singapore, moving out on patrols to harass Japanese fleets. Whenever Japanese CTFs moved out to hunt my carriers, I withdrew. At least twice the chasing Japanese carriers initiated naval strikes, before turning around once my fleet reached land based air cover in Malaya/DEI.
British land based aircraft and my CAGs made many naval strikes on enemy forces in the Sibuyan Sea and my CTF was even engaged in a large battle – I withdrew, as my CAGs were getting de-orged. But in a coordinated move Einar (USA) moved in his SAGs and in the resulting large battle the Japanese lost many ships.
Minor British victory
My CAGs sunk some Japanese ships east of Borneo in the only British naval victory that where any ships were destroyed.
Japan covered the retreat of troops from the Philippines with its CTFs.
Towards the end of this session the Japanese fleets had retreated to ports and were getting repaired. US fleets were in ports as well and the British CTF is in Singapore.
Meanwhile in the MED
The air war continued, at one point German CAGs started port striking Malta but they were soon stopped by British INT.
The Convoy War
The war against British shipping really escalated in this session. Italy moved out all its battleships fleets to hunt British convoys. 6 SH BBs and 10 BBs are sinking huge amounts of Allied tonnage every week. The losses are enormous and I won’t be able to sustain them very long.
It’s only a matter of time until my planes and fleets have to challenge the Italian naval forces in the Med. Especially since Spain (and thus Gibraltar) might be at danger as well.
British Air Force
British Navy
We have played chapter V as well (see Rast's post) and I will update the AAR as soon as possible (World Cup, you know ;-) )
As the UK player: Japan saw a lot of action and so did Germany btw ... Germany invaded Spain, Japan invaded Malaya - plenty of air and land battles and some naval battles. I will try to post a recap this weekend.
nice update, however i'm pretty surprised at the short session.
speed 1 ? or technical issues?
speed 1 ? or technical issues?