Japan '46 AAR - Bring on the Marines!

[Hunter9502]

Thanks for you insight.

It seems the Japanese AI should be combining units into battalions (to reduce fatigue accumulation) and dig,dig,dig IP and TRENCHES. I don't know if you have observed this behaviour in your campaign.

My experience so far (first 10 turns as Allied human) is that the Japanese counterbattery fire murders my small 4-6 gun artillery units. The beachheads are too shallow do deploy artillery too soon.

Also, its seems strange that Coronet scenario sv1 and v2 do not envision any new Japanese reinforcements. The campaign lasts for two months and Japan are defending symbolic objective (capital Tokyo). Had the Japanase established that the Allied Kanto invasion is no ruse ,the Japanese would have rushed additional units to the Kanto Plain even at the expense of weakening their position elsewhere in the Home Islands.

Yeah the first 10 turns are the hardest for the US and it gets considerably easier from then on. RNG is a huge part of how well that goes, I was getting fairly lucky with avoiding disruptions, but it's very easy to get bad RNG and end up stuck on the beach for a while. I wouldn't worry about losing those small artillery units, they are basically worthless. I've never had those regiment level ones deal any more than 1 or 2 casualties, but usually they deal none. It is the bigger howitzers and your naval guns that do the real damage, but it is perfectly normal to delay deploying the howitzers until it is safer. I waited to deploy a few of them early on because I didn't want to lose any to mines and have them get stuck on the beach where counterbattery combined with the 200% damage modifier on beaches tears them to shreds, but I still lost quite a few as you can see from my considerable gun losses, but you get so much over time that it's not crippling at all.

[Yaab]

One last thing.

Don't you think the Allied supply sources of 60 value on the beaches are set too high? I found no info, but was Operation Coronet really designed to be supplied via beacheheads for its whole duration? Maybe the Allies should have taken Yokosuka or Choisi as servicable ports? Just a thougt.

[Hunter9502]

One last thing.

Don't you think the Allied supply sources of 60 value on the beaches are set too high? I found no info, but was Operation Coronet really designed to be supplied via beacheheads for its whole duration? Maybe the Allies should have taken Yokosuka or Choisi as servicable ports? Just a thougt.

I'm not really sure what the real life plan was for supply, though it's worth mentioning the Normandy invasion was supplied almost solely by artificial Mulberry harbors and direct landing of supplies onto the beaches for months, since the Germans had destroyed the existing ports. They were still landing supplies on the beaches almost up until the end of the war, so I think the Allies would have enough experience to figure out logistics in Japan. Capturing Yokohama was a main objective so I assume they intended to fix it up and use it as a supply port as well, and it's worth mentioning some divisions later in the scenario are landed directly in Yokohama.

[Yaab]

You are right, some scheduled Allied units do arrive at Yokohama later in the campaign. It is a pity the campaign descriptions make no mention of this fact! The description just talk about clearing the mines so the Tokyo Bay is accessible to the Allied ships.

I believed all units arrive via the beaches or as para drops.

So the units will only arrive when Yokohama falls?

[Hunter9502]

You are right, some scheduled Allied units do arrive at Yokohama later in the campaign. It is a pity the campaign descriptions make no mention of this fact! The description just talk about clearing the mines so the Tokyo Bay is accessible to the Allied ships.

I believed all units arrive via the beaches or as para drops.

So the units will only arrive when Yokohama falls?

I don't think there are any restrictions on if they are allowed to land, so theoretically the Japanese could still be holding Yokohama and have Americans land right behind them, but those divisions arrive so late in the campaign that you have almost certainly lost the game if you haven't taken Yokohama by that point. The paratrooper landing options are a little odd too, because you really should have already pushed beyond the landing zones by then, and if you haven't then you are probably in trouble. Even if you somehow hadn't pushed that far I'd still land them on the beaches anyway, because if you've ever played Normandy or any of the games that have paratroopers they get some really nasty RNG casualties when paradropping. I suppose it's cool to have that as an option though.

I actually made a schedule for division arrivals, since it's a little bit of a mess to sort through the menu, and I couldn't find anything like it in the documentation. Maybe it could be useful:

[Yaab]

Great! This list is an excellent tool. Thank you for sharing it!

[Hunter9502]

March 12th - Turn 101-110

Full Map

I noticed some of the links for images 404 when you open them bigger, there seems to be some sort of a weird issue with Imgur, so I will be using a different host from now on.

This batch of turns was done a couple of months ago but I didn't have time to make a post and ended up taking a break from this campaign. My memory of events is a little iffy as a result, but I'll do my best to explain what happened.

Sagami Beach

Progress is steady on nearly every part of the Tokyo front. The 5th Marines make good progress this day, pushing into Southern Tokyo and coming across the first bunkers, which sit on 500 point objectives and will be an assured pain to clear due to the additional combat modifier from city terrain and Japan's fanatic nation status that makes it impossible to push them out. They do succeed in clearing out the last of the resistance in Kawasaki, most notably those pesky militia units that held out desperately in the industrial zone, clearing the way for the full redeployment of the division to Tokyo.

The 2nd Marines also finally finish redeploying and begin making small incursions into Tokyo, but primarily they end up diverted to deal with some Japanese units that crossed the river and took advantage of a gap in my lines. The 3rd Marines also make some progress, with one regiment free to deploy westwards due to the 2nd Marines taking their place. This allows the capture of Tachikawa and its 500 point objective, and additional gains are also made in Kokubunji. There are still some pesky Japanese units around Chofu that have to be mopped up, but since they are broken they are more of an annoyance than an actual threat.

The newly arrived 13th and 20th Armored Divisions also begin moving to the front this day, making pretty quick progress due to their motorization. Some rubble will slow things down a bit, but overall I expect they will be deployed near Tokyo far quicker than the 2nd Marines, possibly fully positioned by the end of the next day.



There's not a whole lot to talk about with X Corps. Part of the 31st continues holding their ground in Hachioji despite sizeable Japanese resistance, while the rest of the division pushes unopposed through the forests. Otsuki is left poised to fall unopposed to a recon unit. The remnants of the Japanese 117th Independent Mixed Brigade are dispersed with ease by the 37th, and the real struggle will be chasing down and wiping out the broken units. The story is similar in the south with the 24th, which breaks the remaining Japanese resistance and chases them into the forests. A unit of recon Greyhounds push across the river into Numazu, which has a militia unit, but otherwise this direction is largely undefended. A token force will have to be sent to capture the points in the Izu Peninsula, but this part of the front is essentially quiet for now.



Kujukuri Beach

Having completely cleared up resistance in Sakura and secured the banks of Lake Inbanuma, the 1st Marines begin moving further northwards into Matsuzaki. The plan is to have them secure the bridges and ferries across the Tone River, and then rest for a while to recover losses until an infantry division can replace them. The 96th Infantry, having finished redeployment to the former positions of the 4th Marines, makes some small pushes near Ryogoku to shadow the advance of the 1st Marines. Soon they will start a general push to secure the final stretch of Kujukuri Beach. The 4th Marines will take a while to redeploy westwards, where they will join with the 6th Marines to push towards Tokyo. The 6th Marines still make steady progress without them, clearing Chiba and pushing to the outskirts of Funabashi.

In the Boso Peninsula there is progress made in redeploying the 7th and 27th Infantry northwards, but they are slowed considerably by some Japanese remnants that have to be chased down. While the 27th finishes up with that task by the end of the day, the 7th will still have to chase down a few units for god knows how long.



Casualties

A major victory would already be achieved if this was a multiplayer game, but the threshold is 41,000 points under solo victory conditions.