To mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific we started playing Old Dominion GameWorks' Malay Barrier campaign in December last year. The aim is to play the campaign which covers December 1941 – March 1942 from December to March, 80 years later.
As umpire I chose to use the historic forces and not add any of the possible Dutch battlecruiser options. I also chose to not play the optional Turn 0. This means that Force Z has sortied and been sunk as happened historically.
Pierre the Shy is commanding the Allied forces which became the ABDA Command (American British Dutch Australian) on this day in 1942. Our regular host, Roy, is commanding the Japanese Western Attack Force and Lester is commanding the Japanese Eastern Attack Force.
We have completed Turn 1 which covered 16-31 December and are well into Turn 2. I can now share some information on how the campaign is progressing.
Turn 1, 16-31 December, was uneventful with no naval actions fought despite US recon aircraft locating what appeared to be a Japanese patrol force of cruisers and destroyers off the coast of Malaya. The British forces based on Singapore were distracted by the need to provide escorts for troop convoys reinforcing Singapore. Hopefully these troops will be able to assist in stopping the rapid Japanese advance down the Malay Peninsula from Kota Bharu.
Turn 2, 1-15 January, has started more eventfully with a Japanese convoy being intercepted off the coast of the Malaya Peninsula.
Pierre the Shy's account of the action can be found here (https://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,21409.msg338341.html#msg338341). I will be providing my account once Pierre the Shy provides a couple of decisions and Roy and I can complete the action.
Looking forward to seeing how this campaign pans out :) .
:o
WoW!
At 1600 15 January as the Japanese convoy continued at 10 knots on the South East leg of its zigzag course, lookouts reported masts on the horizon dead ahead. The convoy redeployed from anti-aircraft formation to surface formation. The two heavy cruisers took the lead closely followed by the 12 transports in two columns. The two destroyer divisions took up protective positions on each side of the transports.
At the same time lookouts on a Royal Navy destroyer reported smoke to the North West. The report from the US submarine had been right, there were ships in the area. The combined Royal Navy & US sweep rapidly redeployed from anti-aircraft formation to surface formation while continuing north at 24 knots.
As the forces closed the Allies identified the lead Japanese ship as a large Japanese heavy cruiser and the Japanese identified 3 British destroyers. The Allies altered course to North West to close the enemy.
The second Japanese ship was identified as another large heavy cruiser and the closer Japanese destroyer division was also identified. The Japanese identified the lead ships of the Allied centre column as HMS Exeter followed by 3 old D class light cruisers. Pierre the Shy, commanding the Allied force now faced a dilemma. This was not a convoy screened by light cruisers as the US submarine had reported. One of the Japanese heavy cruisers was probably more than a match for his cruisers, two stood a good chance of overwhelming him. The gunnery officer also reported that all Exeter's radars were inoperative removing the edge in accuracy his fire control radar may have given him.
After muttering about the traditions of Nelson, "No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy" and the court martial of Rear Admiral Troubridge Pierre the Shy sent the traditional signal, "Enemy sighted, am engaging".
Exeter opened fire with her forward turrets at 18,000 yards and scored early hits. The Japanese reply was unsuccessful.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823262279_2271044d0c_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXrLo4)
The British centre column worked up to 28 knots, the maximum speed of the old D class cruisers, and altered course to North to open their gunnery arcs. The port column of four destroyers steadily worked up to 32 knots and altered course to West to cut off the Japanese. The starboard column of American destroyers nursed their over 20 year old machinery up to their maximum 32 knots as they tried to work ahead of the British cruisers.
The Japanese altered course to South to try and work their way past the Allied force. The two heavy cruisers steadily worked up towards their full speed of 36 knots. Their starboard column of four destroyers worked up to 32 knots and pulled ahead of the starboard column of 6 transports. Their port column of four destroyers increased speed and the rearmost destroyer started to lay smoke to cover the transports.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51821975552_ae4ac7de55_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXkaT7)
Exeter's shooting continued to be excellent at approximately 15,000 yards and the leading Japanese heavier cruiser was suffering badly. The D class cruisers were having little to no effect on the second heavier cruiser but were having some effect on some of the Japanese destroyers. The Japanese firing continued to be poor with Exeter, Danae and the rapidly closing British destroyers of the port column taking some damage.
The Japanese destroyers of their starboard column had finally worked ahead of their heavy cruisers, due to the damaged Kumano slowing. They were however too late to effectively engage the rapidly closing British destroyers. The secondaries of the Japanese cruisers had caused some damage to the British destroyers and set two a blaze. Despite this the British destroyers managed to launch their torpedoes. One struck and did enough damage to cause the already damaged Kumano to sink, a second penetrated deeply before exploding and set off a massive explosion in the Kumano's magazine. The two halves of the Kumano would slowly sink over the next half hour. Rear Admiral Takeo Kurita was killed by the explosion.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823032588_a122960f08_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXqA6S)
The second Japanese heavy cruiser, Suzuya, had temporarily reversed course to avoid the slowing Kumano and any torpedoes heading her way. She now reversed course again to support three of the four Japanese destroyers from the port column as they launched an attack on the British cruisers. The fourth destroyer continued to lay smoke to protect the convoy.
The Exeter, with its current target exploding dramatically, looked to shift targets and unfortunately for the Mitakesan Maru, last transport in the port column, the smoke laid by their destroyers was dispersing enough for Exeter to fire on her. 8" shells slammed into the artillery ammunition in her cargo hold, the series of explosions ripped the ship apart and she had sunk with 5 minutes.
The American destroyers had almost worked ahead of the British cruisers and the three that could opened fire on the closest Japanese destroyer, all missed.
The Japanese destroyers of the starboard column closed to 1,400 yards and engaged the damaged British destroyers which took evasive action and laid smoke as they withdrew from their successful torpedo attack.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823643455_67f13a77e1_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXtHG4)
[It was getting late so we finished for the evening. On Sunday we decided that Roy and I would finish the few turns remaining in the game. I was to follow Pierre the Shy's instructions to break off the action, including a texted reminder about one of his destroyers still having torpedoes]
The commander of the Suzuya recovered from the shock of seeing the flag ship explode and ordered the convoy to press on. (Much too all our surprise Roy passed the morale roll.)
Exeter managed to avoid a salvo of torpedoes. She was then hit by a full broadside from the undamaged Suzuya bringing her to a stop. Exeter's engineers managed to get her underway again. Another Japanese destroyer fired torpedoes at Exeter just as she was about to be covered by smoke by the US destroyers. Unfortunately one of these hit, causing enough damage to sink her.
Express managed to get into a good position to launch her torpedoes at the Suzuya but was hit hard by Suzuya's secondaries and only had one torpedo mount still operational. These missed as the Suzuya unexpectedly turned towards the Allied ships.
All four British destroyers that had attempted to cut off the Japanese were hit hard by the four Japanese destroyers that had been unengaged despite laying smoke and taking evasive action. With their speed already reduced they couldn't break contact.
With the majority of the Allied ships withdrawing behind smoke the Japanese broke off the action and the convoy resumed its southerly course.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51826985483_45a102fa1d_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXLRae)
It was definitely a game of changing fortunes.
Crumbs!
The Board of The Admiralty will be having words I'm sure!
A great write-up! Definitely a game of two halves. Not sure PtS will be leaving you in command again Paul!
Does the sea change colour in the photos?
PtS will be quoting Nelson to the Board of The Admiralty :-S
And he was pretty heavily overmatched
I agree with you Fred, I don't want to be in charge again X_X
I forgot to adjust the colour balance for the different lighting between the evening and the following day
I'd already labeled the pictures so didn't go back and fix :-[
Very nice! Did you use the 3d printed merchant ships for the transports?
Cheers,
Aksu
No 3d printed merchant ships were harmed in the playing of this game ;)
There were some in the Japanese starboard column :)
Wow, I wasn't expecting such a change in fortunes :o !!! A great looking game though :) .
Giood stuff
If only I didn't have to move away for a job a decade back. Its been a long time in the gaming wilderness.
And it seems that Mr the Shy really has sold his soul for better dice rolls. This would never have happened 15 years ago.
It certainly began well and the nothing less than exceptional gunnery of the Exeter had given me hope that the IJN was going to receive a serious bloody nose! Well done PtS! Yet, as we know, all good things must come to an end. It seems that Paul did a credible job of simulating PtS's normal die rolls. ;)
The early war in the Pacific is a fascinating period and you have captured the spirt (and many of the outcomes). Excellent report and great looking ships. :-bd :-bd
The Admiralty regrets to announce the loss of HMS Exeter and HMS Express while attacking a heavily escorted Japanese invasion convoy "somewhere in the South China Sea off the eastern coast of Malaya" recently. The other ships involved are returning to HM Naval base in Singapore.
Quote from: Rhys on 19 January 2022, 08:00:15 AMIf only I didn't have to move away for a job a decade back. Its been a long time in the gaming wilderness.
And it seems that Mr the Shy really has sold his soul for better dice rolls. This would never have happened 15 years ago.
Sold my soul for better dice roles? - if I had I don't think its made much diffrence to increase the average numbers that I roll with any sort of dice!! :) Paul was only playing the last couple of moves since we didn't think it was worth for me to make a 30 minute drive to play the breakoff moves.
Quote from: d_Guy on 19 January 2022, 03:22:23 PMIt certainly began well and the nothing less than exceptional gunnery of the Exeter had given me hope that the IJN was going to receive a serious bloody nose! Well done PtS! Yet, as we know, all good things must come to an end. It seems that Paul did a credible job of simulating PtS's normal die rolls. ;)
The early war in the Pacific is a fascinating period and you have captured the spirt (and many of the outcomes). Excellent report and great looking ships. :-bd :-bd
Yes an excellent game. Pity about the second half :(
Playing the ABDA in this campaign is like being a Spurs supporter (which for my sins I confess that I am) - You know that you can do well sometimes but there will enivitibly be a downside when somewhere along the way to balance out the good stuff :)
Maybe there is hope if the above model is correct - I see Spurs scored twice in two minutes in injury time to win 3 - 2 this morning :o :-SS
There was one last contact during this campaign turn. Japanese land based aircraft had located one of the groups of Allied ships withdrawing from the previous action. Rather than commit a full Saturday evening session we met for just under an hour this evening.
For some reason Pierre the Shy was keen to come up and "conduct his own defence", I'm sure this had nothing to do with the fate of Exeter under my command :D
As the three crippled Allied destroyers limped south at 8 knots towards Singapore they were spotted by a reconnaissance aircraft of the 22nd Naval Air Flotilla. Two flights of Hurricanes were vectored in to provide some protection but how much would 5 Hurricanes be able to do...
A formation of 29 Nell bombers were seen approaching from the south east. As the Hurricanes moved to intercept 5 Zeros headed towards them. The two flights of Hurricanes split and tried to work their way round the Zeros to get at the bombers.
The left hand flight of 3 Hurricanes was intercepted by 3 Zeros and 2 Hurricanes were quickly damaged and the third shot down with no loss to the Zeros. The right hand flight of 2 Hurricanes was intercepted by 2 Zeros and managed to shoot down one of them.
While the flight leader tangled with the remaining Zero he ordered his wingman to take on the bombers. He managed to get one burst, which missed, at a Nell before he was bounced by the 3 Zeros that had tangled with the left hand flight of Hurricanes. He managed to shoot a Zero down before being damaged and forced to break off. His flight leader and his opposing Zero were both out of ammunition.
With all the fighters shot down, damaged or out of ammunition the 29 Nell bombers approached the three crippled Allied destroyers. USS Stewart, HMS Jupiter and Electra in line astern. HMS Scout had been detached to escort the damaged ships and nervously circled her charges. The Nells were level bombing with 500lb bombs from 10,000ft.
The 13 Nells of Bihoro Kokutai managed to straddle Jupiter and Electra but failed to score any hits. They had 3 Nells damaged and 2 shot down. The 16 Nells of Genzan Kokutai managed to straddle Stewart and Electra. One of the 500lb bombs struck the Electra and this was enough to sink the already badly damaged destroyer. 2 Nells were damaged and 2 shot down.
Kanoya Kokutai had arrived 12 minutes late and attacked with 5 Bettys concentrating on Jupiter and managed to straddle her with 500lb bombs but did no damage, a Betty was shot down.
The Japanese had sunk Electra and shot down 1 Hurricane and damaged 3.
The Allies had shot down 4 Nells plus a Betty and damaged 5 Nells.
Some success for the Japanese but it had been costly. 11th Air Fleet was pleased by the report of 4 cruisers sunk.
4 cruisers! Nice... ;D
Tin hats everyone and ring up maximum revolutions.....large formations of Japanese navy twin engined bombers have been sighted approaching two separate ABDA task forces (A small RN/USN force based at Singapore and a larger USN force based at Surabaya) which are out hunting for more Japanese invasion convoys.
Hopefully the Japanese recce pilots did not report my ships as battleships or battlecruisers. If they did then up to half of the bombers could be armed with 18" torpedoes rather than bombs which would really not be good.
I did get some defending fighters this turn (Dutch Buffaloes) but of course they are covering a Dutch task force which is not under air attack >:(
So each task force has to rely on speed and far too few AA guns to survive attacks from these large formations of level bombers (less a few removed last turn) before they can even think about actually engaging any invasion convoys this turn.
Chances are something is going to be hit, just prey its not one of the cruisers.
Ominous hummmmmmmmmmm of engines...
Take off time has been delayed by a couple of days due to rather unseasonal weather over the target area......Wellington is expecting around 130 - 150mm (5 to 6 inches) of rain today after nearly a month without any significant rain, so we have re-scheduled for Monday which is Waitangi Day here.
So not dodged the encounters with the 21st and 22nd Air Flotillas, just put postsponed them a bit! :-SS :-w
QuoteOminous hummmmmmmmmmm of engines...
The hummmmmmmmmmm got much louder yesterday afternoon ;)
Action 1The undamaged ships of WESGROUP sortied again from Singapore. With the loss of Exeter and all of the modern British destroyers damaged the force was reduced to 2 D class light cruisers, 4 Admiralty S class destroyers and 3 American Clemson class destroyers.
As they steamed north at 24 knots lookouts reported aircraft approaching from the southwest. It looked like it might be a small raid, only 5 Zeros and 5 Nells.
The Japanese aircraft passed astern, preparing to attack from the starboard side. This was screened by the American destroyers with their very limited AA. The Allies turned to port hoping to delay the enemy attack.
At this point lookouts reported more aircraft approaching from the southwest; 7 more Nells and 16 Bettys!
As the Allies continued to maneuver the newly arrived Nells moved to join the other Nells and Zeros. The Bettys moved to attack from port. The leading 6 Bettys managed to straddle Durban but scored no hits and lost an aircraft.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51869553980_7deb53aef4_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n2x2hQ)
The 3 American destroyers had fallen behind as they were on the outside of the turn. This opened the way for the 5 original Nells with 3 Zeros strafing Durban. Durban managed to down one of the Zeros but with little AA to disturb them the Nells managed to hit Durban with a 500lb bomb. The blast from this damaged much of her armament but fortunately did not affect her machinery spaces.
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The second group of 7 Nells then attacked the Durban with the 2 remaining Zeros strafing her. The leading American destroyer, Parrot, had managed to work into a better position and shot down one Nell and damaged another as they approached Durban.
The remaining 10 Bettys attacked Durban while the Zeros strafed Durban and the leading British destroyer, Thanet. Fire from the remaining destroyers damaged one Betty as it broke off. Durban was straddled repeatedly and a 500lb bomb penetrated the machinery space halving her speed and further reducing her firepower.
Rear Admiral Arthur Palliser's flagship had survived this time but was crippled. He transferred his flag to Dragon and considered his options with his much reduced force. The Japanese had 1 Zero, 1 Nell and 1 Betty shot down and 1 Nell and 1 Betty damaged.
Action 2
Rear Admiral William Glassford again sortied his US ships from Surabaya, this time reinforced by Marblehead and John Paul Jones. Destroyer Division 59, however, was detached for other duties.
As they headed north at 24 knots look outs reported bombers approaching from the west. They were soon identified as 16 Nells and 13 Bettys. The Nells passed astern of the US ships and moved to attack from starboard where there were only 2 US destroyers. The Bettys circled as the Nells moved into position.
The US ships turned to port to make it harder for the Nells to reach their attack position. Another 20 aircraft were spotted approaching from the west, Zeros.
The Zeros moved to support their bombers with 9 joining the Bettys and 11 the Nells.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51868901321_66f3b1d7e3_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n2tFh6)
The first wave of 6 Bettys attacked the Houston with Zeros strafing her and the supporting destroyers. Houston damaged two Zeros and shot one down. She was straddled by 500lb bombs but undamaged. The second wave of 7 Bettys attacked the more exposed Marblehead with Zeros strafing her and the supporting destroyers. She was straddled repeatedly but was undamaged. The AA crews of Marblehead and John Paul Jones both claimed the Zero that was shot down.
As the Bettys withdrew the Zeros that had been supporting them joined the Nells.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51869553870_423ace9093_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n2x2fW)
The Nells attacked all 3 cruisers; 6 against Houston, 6 against Boise and 4 against Marblehead. The Zeros strafed the cruisers and supporting destroyers. Houston and Boise were both straddled but managed to escape any damage. Houston and Marblehead both damaged Zeros and Boise shot one down.
The Japanese had lost 2 Zeros and a Betty, 4 Zeros had been damaged. The Americans had managed to survive undamaged.
Sounds like the Allied forces got lucky!
Historically Marblehead was heavily damaged by air attack and withdrew to New York for major repairs, via Ceylon, South Africa and Brazil (over 16,000 miles or 26,000 km) :o
Houston was hit by the same air attack disabling Turret 3 (or Y Turret depending on which side of the Atlantic you're from). She was later sunk at the Battle of Sunda Strait.
Having run the gauntlet of the IJN's land based 21st and 22nd Air Flotilla's and survived largely intact its now time to try and inflict a bit of damage on some more Japanese invasion convoys. 3 have been sighted and will be engaged, though the severely deplied West Force (1 old CL and 7 old DD's) has the only daylight engagement so they might have to beat a hasty retreat if they sight anything larger than a CL, though I am keen to try and stop that sighting as they are now south of Singapore, which is not good. The other two are night actions but we have some decent ships to use there.....not saying which ones as loose lips sinks ships. The Japanese at night under GQ rules at this time are very capable so we will need to be on top of our game actually get amongst the transports, or even try and scare them off, but its now or never as unless I am very lucky ABDA does not see any more reinforcements......still waiting for those Dutch Type 1042 battlecruisers to show up but the umpire just laughs.....maybe next time :-w
I'd suggest that you will do OK as long as you don't let Paul anywhere near your dice....
:o :o :o ;D
Well we finally played one of the night actions last Saturday after being delayed for various reasons over the past few weeks.......first up was the USN vs a Japanese Invasion force at Balikpapan which did not end well for the USN thanks mainly to the Long Lance torpedoes that the Japanese were able to put into the water.
With the sheer number of number of torpedoes fired I guess the odds were they would hit something, just not as often as they actually managed....
You can find the USN after-action report here: https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2022/03/torpedoes-in-water-disaster-at.html
I did manage to sink one transport and damage another, thus making the transport force take a force morale test. If they fail then the invasion will be unsucessful, but however you look at it any success came at a very high price.
Blimey, that did not go well for the USN!!! Let's hope the Japanese fail their morale tests, for what would be a Pyrrhic victory of sorts.
Pierre the Shy continued to play in his normal friendly manner, despite both his and his opponents the dice rolling against him on almost every opportunity. His couple of expressions of opinion on his luck were entirely understandable and fairly restrained
The signs were not promising from the opening Japanese salvo, amongst the many 5" shells that slammed into the Houston one hit the bridge, killing Rear Admiral Glassford and most of the bridge crew
The Japanese managed to launch about 60 Long Lance torpedoes all at less than 6,000 yards
Ouch. That's a painful encounter.
Things went a lot better last night, with the ANZAC cruiser squadron facing off against a smaller Japanese convoy anchored off Mendao, Celebes. It another night action but some of the 6 cruisers have radar and the weather was better, giving us better visiblilty.
Acting in 3 parallel divisions each of 2 ships the allied cruisers were able to deploy into line and quickly sink a Japanese destroyer as well as leave the force flagship, identifed as a Mogami class heavy cruiser, in such a damaged condition that she had to be scuttled by the small number of remaining crew members. The RAN flagship took a couple of 8" hits from the IJN heavy cruiser, but no major damage was caused.
I was looking forward to getting in amongst the 4 anchored japanese tranports with some more USN DD's to gain a bit of revenge, but the Japanese commanders decided that being quite heavily outnumbered that the invasion would be cancelled and the remaining ships would retreat northwards at high speed.
With no other ships in sight we did not play any pursuit turns, but intelligence suggests that at least one Japanese transport was not quick enough to up anchor and was sunk as it attempted to escape from the ANZAC force.
The Japanese transports were on half an hours notice for steam. Seeing multiple explosions the length the Japanese flag ship within 12 minutes of the first report of the enemy encouraged three of the four transport crews to perform minor engineering miracles. They managed to slip out of Menado Bay around the headland to the north following in the wake of the rapidly departing remainder of their escort. The fourth was not so lucky and was sunk by 6" and 4" gunfire.
It was certainly the shortest naval game we have played, two turns!
After just over a month's hiatus, due to real world factors, we managed to get back to our Malay Barrier campaign on Saturday night
Turn 4 1-14 February 1942
This campaign turn generated 3 actions.
1. Sumatra
A Japanese convoy, of 8 transports escorted by no less than 6 cruisers and 11 destroyers, was reported heading south towards the east coast of Sumatra. The RAF managed to send 9 Blenheim IVs to intercept. As the Blenheims approached from astern the escorts closed in and formed a tight ring around the transports.
Six Blenheims came in at 20,000 feet to attack the rearmost transport of the starboard column. Two Japanese destroyers and the transport opened fire with all available AA and missed! To the surprise of all, three of the Blenheims managed to straddle the transport. Two of them actually managed to hit the transport with a 250lb bomb causing major damage to the ships holds. As the Blenheims continued over the convoy one was shot down by the destroyers on the port side of the convoy. The bombs in the hold had started fires and set off the artillery ammunition carried there. The resulting explosions tore the ship apart.
The remaining three Blenheim attempted to repeat the feat against the rear ship of the port column but two were shot down and the third was damaged and driven off by the now thoroughly alert Japanese AA crews. The morale of the convoy held and the commander of the Palembang group of the 38th Infantry Division now had to work out how to complete his mission with only half his planned artillery
2. Java Sea
The Dutch sortied from Java with all their ships, three cruisers and seven destroyers. As they headed north they were attacked by 8 Nell & 6 Betty bombers escorted by 10 Zero fighters.
The Zeros strafed the lead and rear cruisers to distract the AA gunners while the Nells and Bettys made their attack runs at 10,000 feet. One Zero was damaged and driven off but no bomb hits were achieved.
Worsening weather meant the Dutch were unable to locate any Japanese convoys that may have been operating in their search area.
3. Kendari, Celebes
At noon a Japanese convoy of 4 transports, escorted by one heavy and one light cruiser, a seaplane carrier and four destroyers was on the south east leg of its zig-zag course. The starboard destroyers spotted three ANZAC cruisers in line abreast approaching from the south west at over 20 knots.
The convoy worked up to its maximum speed of 16 knots and the two destroyers that had been screening the port side moved to the starboard side of the convoy. As it did so the ANZAC cruisers were rapidly working up to their maximum speed of 32 knots. The ANZACs also altered course to starboard to intercept the convoy. This revealed that it was in fact three pairs of ANZAC cruisers supported by four American destroyers.
The Japanese commander, Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura, was faced with a dilemma. Outnumbered 6 to 2 in cruisers there was no way he was going to win this action or even inflict major damage on the enemy. But there was no way his transports could escape the much faster Allied cruisers and destroyers.
He decided to save his valuable warships and abandoned the transports to their fate, along with the 1st and 2nd Sasebo Special Landing Forces they carried.
Much to our surprise we had managed to fight all three actions in less than two hours, including a tea break after the two air attacks. This did mean that no photos were taken.
The jubilation on the ANZAC cruisers was stifled as news that Singapore had fallen passed through the ships.
Still going well nice AAR
That's certainly upper the anti!
Great reports!
Wow, sucks to be the army doesn't it.
1st and 2nd Sasebo Special Landing Forces are naval infantry, at least the Navy can keep it quiet and not tell the Army
Three interesting little engagements - that I assume have impacts on the campaign. And the type of engagement that would rarely be played outside of a campaign.
One of the things I really love about campaigns :)
Turn 5 15-28 February 1942
The Dutch sortied from Batavia with all their ships; 3 light cruisers and 7 destroyers. They were supported by a British light cruiser and 3 destroyers and 2 US destroyers. They were intercepted by 16 Nell and 7 Betty bombers supported by 6 Zeros. The Dutch light cruiser Java managed to shoot down 2 strafing Zeros and damage 2 more while the remainder of the force managed to damage one of the high flying Nells. The Japanese failed to even straddle any of the ships.
The force then intercepted a Japanese convoy heading for Batavia! As more and more Japanese ships appeared Rear Admiral Doorman's dilemma became more acute. Did he attack the convoy or let them pass and capture the capital of the Dutch East Indies and his home port. As more lookout reports came in it became clear that the Japanese had 7 heavy cruisers! supported by 15 destroyers! To attack would be suicidal so reluctantly Doorman gave the order to withdraw east to Surabaya. [This was handled by a couple of brief discussions between the umpire and the players, no ships were placed on the table. We had time for a DBMM game instead.]
On capturing Batavia the Japanese found the following warships that had been unable to escape scuttled in the harbour. The light cruiser HMS Danae and the destroyers USS Barker, HMS Encounter, HMS Stronghold.
In the east things had been strangely quiet. Japanese land based aircraft and a Carrier Division had searched in vain for targets. The carrier aircraft instead attacked Darwin disrupting repairs to Allied ships there. Three convoys reached their targets unopposed.
Really good stuff. Cracking read!
Ominous...
Good stuff there!
Turn 6 1-15 March 1942
And so we come to the last turn of the campaign...
The Japanese Western Attack Force had already captured all of their objectives and were moving to consolidate their hold on Malaya, Sumatra and western Java. They had even transferred 3 Destroyer Divisions to the Eastern Attack Force.
The Japanese Eastern Attack Force continued their advance south opposed by the Dutch and ANZAC squadrons, with a few British and American survivors, based at Surabaya, eastern Java. The Dutch, reinforced with an additional light cruiser and destroyer, and the ANZACs sortied again to try and stem the Japanese advance.
The Dutch were again intercepted by Japanese land based aircraft. The Japanese focused on the Dutch light cruiser Java, seeking revenge for the Zeros she had shot down in their last encounter. The first wave of 5 Betty bombers failed to score any hits but lost 2 shot down and one damaged to AA fire from the supporting Dutch destroyers. Java's own AA was preoccupied fighting off the strafing Zeros and failed to shoot any down.
The second wave of 6 Nell bombers lost 1 shot down by the supporting destroyers while the strafing Zeros again escaped loss. One Nell managed to straddle the Java and a 500lb bomb exploded just above the engine room. This took out about half her guns and combined with damage to her steam lines slowed her to 16 knots.
As Java slowed the light cruiser Tromp had to swing to starboard to avoid her. It was at this moment that the third wave of 12 Nells attacked, 8 aiming for Java and 4 at Tromp. Both cruisers failed to shoot down any of the strafing Zeros. The supporting destroyers managed to shoot down two Nells and damage another. The Java was straddle again but fortunately all the bombs missed.
The damaged Java was sent back to Surabaya escorted by a division of Dutch destroyers. The remainder of the squadron continued north towards Borneo. At 0800 the next morning they sighted a Japanese force of 3 heavy and 3 light cruisers and 12 destroyers. Rear Admiral Doorman again decided that he had to withdraw rather than attempt to engage with his much weaker force of 4 light cruisers and 8 destroyers.
And so the campaign ended.
Results
I think it is fair to say the results of the campaign were a bit of a surprise to Pierre the Shy. He had spent weeks desperately avoiding Japanese air attacks and withdrawing from superior Japanese forces. His main British force had been crippled in a drawn action. All his American cruisers had been sunk in a disastrous night action. The ANZAC squadron had a couple of significant successes but in one of these they had not been able to engage the out numbered Japanese warships.
The victory conditions required the Japanese to have successfully land 25 convoys to win. The Western Attach Force had completed all of theirs but the Eastern Attack Force ran out of time and failed to capture Dili, Timor and Surabaya, Java. This was due in part to the two successful intercepts by the ANZAC squadron. The Japanese Eastern Attack Force had also made what turned out to be a fateful decision early in the campaign. They attempted to gain dominance using strong patrols rather than dispatching 3 convoys.
The degree of victory was determined by the ratio victory points, based on ships damaged and crippled. The expectation being that the Japanese would sink and cripple up to 3 times more than the Allies. The Allies ended up with 54 victory points to the Japanese 39.75 giving Pierre the Shy a Strategic Victory, the best possible result.
His focus on destroying Japanese transports (half his victory points) and willingness to withdraw when the odds were against him had served him very well. He had been fortunate that a lot of the engagements had been during the day which allowed him to see what he was up against before engaging.
ABDA did a bit better than I expected, though we still lost Malaya, Singapore and the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese. I won't say much more as I think Paul has summed it up really well just above.
Congratulations to ADABA and looking forward to the next campaign reports,
Well done ABDA, for dancing round a much superior force and getting its punches in where it matters!
A fascinating and delightful campaign and well reported! Much enjoyed, thanks for this.
Wow! Great results and wonderful write ups. Thank you.
This has been a very enjoyable campaign to read about.
Hope it was fun to play - sounds like Pierre may have felt he was loosing, even though he managed to disrupt Japanese plans and maintain a good damage ratio.
I think both sides felt they were losing X_X X_X
That made umpiring interesting
Quote from: paulr on 09 May 2022, 09:13:08 AMI think both sides felt they were losing X_X X_X
That made umpiring interesting
Yes, real world actions are often so unbalanced that even doing better than history, and actually doing something that affects the greater war outcome, still feels very unsatisfying!
Interesting that both sides seemed to think they were loosing - and I suppose correct assessment for the Japanese who knew they were behind schedule.
I suppose it comes down to if this high level fog of war made it interesting for the players or not. The only similiar experience I had was with the Close Combat Market Garden computer game - where a lot of the battles as the British Paras where just about clinging on to a map - basically aiming for a draw due to time running out. Which gave more time for the XXX corps advance or reinforcement drops.
Kind of worked playing against a computer, not sure how great it would have been with two human players.
I wrote a large post, and the phone decided it wasn't connected when it posted.
So I'll just say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Edit - oh THAT bloody posted fine.