AXIS AAR Ketsu-Go Frame 01

[Viper61]

TO ALL AXIS SQUADS:

  EXCELLENT JOB DOESNT EVEN TO BEGIN TO SUM IT UP.  I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR MORE.

My plan was to defend the assigned ALLIED targets with a good offensive operation.  My goal was to obtain a draw in points at the end of the frame.  I considered draw in points mission success as in the the real engagements the IJN forces were beaten badly.

My basic plan was to concentrate my combat power where the ALLIED forces would be the weakest.  This would then allow me to save my AC for a follow on strike to the enemy CV's late in the frame.  I calulated that what ever points I lost due to my own targets being distroyed I could make up in sunk ALLIED CV's and Crusiers.  My estimate of the enemy situation was about 75% accurate.  I had the enemy strength's correct but misjudged the types of AC used.  I had expected more naval AC and less Airforce AC.  My other misjudgement was what "Air spawns" would be used.  There was some surprise at H+10 when the first AXIS fields started flashing.

I assumed that the ALLIED commander would throw most of his weight to the IJN fleet as it was worth the most points.  Likewise I assumed medium attacks to the central and northern regions (less points).  This would also mean that the ALLIED CV's would not have a sizable fighter cap.  I did not think we could win in a slugging match (plane on plane) so I lessened my resources over the fleet and strengthen them over my land targets.  To compensate I assigned two great squads the AK's and the Damned to defend the IJN fleet.

Have to thank the 325th planning cell on this one.  Lowtec and I planned this mission over several days and he provided the Power Point presentation that the AXIS order was written on.   Lowtec.  I made it a point to visit as many of the towers as I could prior to lift off.  No questions were asked and all had seen the Operations Order.   to the AXIS CO's for reading the order and getting it out to your guys.

I divided my forces into three groups and assigned commanders to each to control the tactical fights.  AKDogg and the AK's over the fleet with the Damned.  CUTT 325th, 327th and 364th protecting the train in the central region.  And Nomde 56th, 347th and FATE to the north protecting the fuel depot and train.  Two addtional squads 9GAIP and Fighters Inc. provided recon to the enemy fleets.

From H+1 to H+60 the sector commanders defended their assigned targets (rules) and the Recon elements sought out the ALLIED CV's.  The recon elements had the job of finding and attacking by H+60 to satifiy the rules and set fires for the follow on strikes.  This was accomplished very well.  First blood goes to Fighters Inc. for conducting a recon and downing a CV in the process!!!  WTG

On que the ALLIED forces sent in their fighter sweeps (P-51's) as I though they would.  I assumed one squad would be used in each of these operations.  I assigned 2 to 3 of my squads to defend and fight in close quarters to each other thus we would have the advantage in combat power.  5 to 10 minutes later the bombing AC arrived which I calulated would be P-47's as well.  The ALLIED squads were attacking mostly at one squad at a time and I attempted to concentrate 3 squads on them.  Mostly this worked.  I know the AXIS targets were distroyed but the ALLIED side paid a heavier than expected price for the them.

I was surprised that the AXIS squads faired as well as they did against the the ALLIED AC. I figured on higher loss's in first 60 minutes (defense).  This allowed for even bigger strikes to the ALLIED CV's later on.  In fact the AXIS side shot down more ALLIED AC over all.   to all.

At H+61 I had all squads rearm with bombs and head generally south to engage the ALLIED CV's.  There was great communications on the AXIS side.  Very good grids and directions were called which allowed the strike packages to get to their targets quickly.  Attacks were made I believe on all the ALLIED CV's.  I am not sure of the total ships diestroyed by it looked to me like we sank prehapes 4 or 5 of 7 CV's and several Crusiers.  As I had calulated the fighter cap over their fleets was very small.  These defenses were overwhelmed quickly.  In the central southern ALLIED CV I used my recon elemenet (9GAIP)to drag the fighter cap to the water while the dive bombers came in from above.  Overall this seemed to work well.   to 9GAIP for the mission success in deverting the fighter cap. In all the AXIS side threw nearly 70 AC at the CV's in 3 strikes.

Looking at the TOD LOG the AXIS side distroyed many more objects than the ALLIED side.  ASSUME job guys!!!!!!  Everyone needs to look at the logs and see how many objects the AXIS side distroyed.  What makes this number so unquie is that it was done with approximatley 70 NIKI's hauling 2 bombs each and targeting moving ships.  JUST PLAIN ASSUME GUYS!

Time was my enemy now.  I had planes all over the southern sectors and only 20 minutes to get them home.  A calulated risk but worth the points I thought.  In the end I think we had 11 AC in the air as the time ran out.  More importantly the ALLIED side had 6.  So only 25 points were lost.   to all the guys that made super human efforts to return on time.

I hope the points show a AXIS draw or a slim victory.  This was a hard frame to win.  It called for accepting a high risk mission for the AXIS side.  But the risk was reduced by employing a detailed simple plan, decentralized command, maximizing my combat power.

In short:
     Be where they think you arn't.
     Mass your combat power.
     Decievely engage at a place of your choosing.

I hope the AXIS squads enjoyed the plan, mission and my style of command and control.

This fight belongs to 68KO.  He couldn't be here to see it but he flew in the minds and hearts of 121 AXIS pilots.   68KO .

Viper 61
Operations Officer
325th VFG

AXIS CIC Frame 01 Ketsu-Go

[doobs]

couple questions my ords said nothing about an attack on the cv's, basically said you would be on the defensive and we were to all out attack.

Also the two train targets we had, well one wasn't there, and Dace said somthing about the other being stuck in a tree., so niether could be hit.

here were my objectives, says nothing about axis hittin cv groups, we were wondering why our cv group was flashing so fast.


Objectives:

1.Our main goal is to Engage the Yamato and her
Escort, these ships will be steaming for Okinawa.
There last known posistion was off the coast at 5,5 -
6,5 - 6,6 - 7,6 and should be steaming SSW towards
Okinawa.  

2. We have also been tasked with two Rail targets, One
is the Supply Train at 10,9,7 The other is a Supply
Train at (16,12,6). We must also destroy the 9 Petrol
Tanks in the Tokyo area
16, 11, 7.

We are on the offensive, which means we expect no
Japanese attacks on our Fleets.
Every aircraft should be used in the Attacks.

Good luck Gentlemen.


This would explain why alot of us didn't see enemy, how many did you commit to attacking cv's. Every axis squad but 2 have objects destroyed,  who was on defense, look like over half your side was on the offensive. If ya don't mind could ya post your objectives. Because something is way off

It also looks like you didn't use the Ki-67, which according to the setup rules should of had a minumum of eight.

RULES
 
Only certain aircraft will be enabled at certain fields, Please note these above and in the frame objectives.
 
All Aircraft must be flown with a minimum of 8 pilots per aircraft unless otherwise noted.
 

 AXIS AIRCRAFT

 A6M5B "Zero"
KI-84 "Frank"
 KI-61 "Tony"
 N1K2-J "George"
 KI-67 "Peggy"
 B5N2 "Kate" (Optional)
 D3A1 "Val" (Optional)



not meaning to flame just some concerning observations.
had squads flyin around with nothing to do

going on the offense is not a good defense, it is no defense at all

[Shifty]

Just did a quick count from the logs.

122 IJN pilots

6 flew A6M Zekes

8 flew Ki-61 Tonys

13 flew Ki84 Franks

95 flew Nik2 Georges

I saw a lot of N1K2s we must have ran into the KI-84 squad because we saw a lot of them too. Great fight with the Ki-84s over the Yokohama area.

[Nefarious]

Yes, The Axis were supposed to be Purely Defensive.

No orders we're given to the Axis as to attack the Allied Fleets. And the Ki67 was not to be used this frame per the Axis Orders which explains why they did not use them doobs.

Im taking a close look at the logs, and seeing exactly how to score this Frame. The Trains are going to be elimated as future targets. And the scoring will only reflect the normal Air to Air Kills, the Petrol Tanks around Tokyo, and the Yamato Fleet.

The scale (size) of this map makes it hard to relegate offensive targets for both sides and I did plan on switching the roles for the next frame. I know personally I saw my fair share of action at Osaka, although brief. The 412th fought a horde of N1K2's and I ended up captured.

[Stoney74]

I posted this in another thread, but I'm curious to the fogvisibility settings.  We were ingressing at 25K (P-47's) and couldn't see anything.  No horizon to speak of and hardly any vis on the ocean.  A lot of my squad felt like we were flying in IFR.  Guys were having to use the attitude indicator to figure out where they were going.  Just looking for a reason for the fogvis settings...

[Shifty]

Originally posted by Stoney74
I posted this in another thread, but I'm curious to the fogvisibility settings.  We were ingressing at 25K (P-47's) and couldn't see anything.  No horizon to speak of and hardly any vis on the ocean.  A lot of my squad felt like we were flying in IFR.  Guys were having to use the attitude indicator to figure out where they were going.  Just looking for a reason for the fogvis settings...

I struggled with that too. I actually was flying upside down once around 28K and didn't realize it.

[Jester]

Just curious - If the Axis sank the Allied Carriers when they were suposed to be on pure defensive:

1. Will the Allied side get them back for next frame?

2.  Will the points for destroying them be deducted from the Axis side when it comes time to figure who won Frame No. 1?

!  

[Husker]

It did feel like a knife fight in a phone booth with a midget with that fog. By the time I saw the ONE hostile aircraft of the entire frame 6 others who where less then 3K away from me swarmed him like a bad habit.

[Dantoo]

couple questions my ords said nothing about an attack on the cv's, basically said you would be on the defensive and we were to all out attack.

Sooooo what were the F6fs and F4U's doing above the CV's at 20+K:p


IMHO if you run this frame again in the future make sure that the CV's are a target.  Both sides having to attack something makes for far better gameplay.

[doobs]

Originally posted by Dantoo
Sooooo what were the F6fs and F4U's doing above the CV's at 20+K:p

better stick that toungue back in there Mr. Northern Hemispherely challenged. The Reason we were at 20K over our CV's is it was T+75, we were rtb for fuel anyway so we figured there were KI-67's there bombing, since the cv was flashing.  And how did you see us and we not you, we dropped alt after fuel critical and still didn't see anything.

[Dantoo]

Methinks wrong cv if you didn't see us

Cos the guys we met sure saw us (diving down on us from above front)    I'm sure they were seeing us fairly clearly too as the 50 cals sprayed under, over, round and alas finally into my cockpit.  It was 2 squads, F6fs and F4u's but I led badly and allowed us to get into a position where numbers dictated the result.  mea culpa.



BTW it was darn hard to see anything out there once you had alt.  I wouldn't be surprised if lots of guys flew right past each other without a sighting.  3 of us went round a group of P51s at H+10 and either they didn't see us or they were very properly focussed upon their task.

[doobs]

Originally posted by Dantoo
Cos the guys we met sure saw us (diving down on us from above front)    I'm sure they were seeing us fairly clearly too as the 50 cals sprayed under, over, round and alas finally into my cockpit.  

well at least they blessed ya before they shot ya

[Shifty]

Maybe I'm missing something here............. If you can attack any target you want regardless of what the CM's set up, and if you can fly what you want, what makes this different from the MA. Also if the one side is allowed to use heavy fighters for their strikes, why should the other side have people lumbeirng around in TBMs when they could use F6Fs or F4U's?

Just asking...

[Dantoo]

There are far better qualified people to answer this but I will have a shot:

You only get points for designated targets.  You can hit anything you like (unless it's specifically protected in the rules) but it's a waste of time and ammo.  You win a frame by getting more points than the other guy.  Ultimately this win is usually considered less important than many other elements of the frame.  It can be a useful guide however as to how balanced the setup was.

The rules for each frame usually dictate what types are to be used and how many of each type and what other restrictions are in place.  This gives frame CO's a set of reasonable problems on how to achieve their tasking.  It is up to the CO's to then allocate the resources they have decided best fits the plan they have developed.

There is no way you can design a 2 hour frame to be perfectly "fair and even" for everyone involved.  It differs greatly from the main arena in that you use discretion and brains at the squad level also when you tackle your assigned task. If you are allocated Kates then you need to learn how to get the best out of them.  Kate vs F4U1-C looks one sided on paper but it doesn't always turn out the way it looks.  FSO is great for that.

 The CO's plans are usually good right up to the point that the CM says "hangars open".  At that point the other side starts trying to ruin your careful planning. and preserving their's.  It's all in good fun.

People get their fun different ways.  Most of us enjoy one simple thing in FSO - shooting down Doobs.  Bombing his CV is fun too.

[doobs]

I landed did you, oh wait that damn unknown enemy got ya


Dantoo
22:00:42 Departed from Field #34 in a N1K2-J
23:16:00 Was shot down by unknown enemy.