Changing of the Guard Frame 01 AXIS AAR Comments

[Viper61]

<S> to all of the AXIS Squads for the efforts made by all.  In every sector I know everyone was giving it their all and most fought outnumbered and out matched in the AC types.  Never the less in 1 location the ALLIES were soundly thrashed.  But in others they ate us up.

My plan was fairly simple and limited by the setup in that with only about 140 guys trying to cover 4 defensive locations and attack 4 others you get left with about 2 squads in each area.  Got the Task Order out Sunday night early to all everyone ample time to plan internally.  I also figured turnout would be problematic due to the 4th being 2 days ago and a lot of folks on vacation.

Turnout was light with the AXIS side being just 9 above their min number projections.  And 10 less than the ALLIES at start.

I limited our 2 engined bombers to the bare minimum's to limit exposure to what I knew would be tuff buff missions to accomplish.  Glad I did and I know the Strike Packages had it tuff.  They were instructed to drop the 6 hangers only at each base and nothing else.  So only a total of 18 bombers was planned for.  Not including the D3A's of the Task Group attack.

I strengthened the defenses over the far east and far west figuring due to their locations they would see 2nd sorties or after H+60 furballing which they did.

I was surprised by the 2nd strike to the AXIS Task Group.  I had hoped that it was far enough out of reach for a second strike.  But the ALLIES hustled well and made it up there twice and we lost the entire fleet on the second strike as the defensive CAP was eliminated on by the first sortie in.  A second strike to the ALLIED Task Group wasn't possible due to the speeds of the IJN AC.  And sense we can no longer dedicate a squad to attack after H+60 as their 1st attack a second strike just wasn't possible to the ALLIED Task Group.

Due to some limited turn outs on the AXIS side we slipped over on our KI-61 allocation by 9 AC.  However given the turnout of Frame 01 we could have used another 20 KI-61's and probably not evened the fighting.

I had a chance to witness as a gunner the attack onto the enemy's Task Group.  They got swarmed by F4U's which completely out class the A6M's.  And the D3A's of course didn't stand much of a chance either.  They did get the CA but there was no chance of a second strike.  As the IJN AC just don't fly that fast.  And sending in G4M's I doubt would have worked nor would they have escaped either.

Have to pass on a Big <S> to JG11 who bagged 29 kills or 34% of all of the AXIS kills.  A superb effort.

I made a mistake in the orders which caused some confusion in the East and defense of A99 and IJN vs. IJAFF AC.  In short while making my plan I forgot to switch some numbers around and allocated a AC you couldn't fly.  It did get it corrected but squads ended up practicing in the wrong AC and it weakened the defenses at that location.  Completely my mistake.

Bottom line the AXIS got soundly beaten in all areas of Frame 01 (Kill's and Objects destroyed).  <S> Warloc and the ALLIED side.

Personnel opinion for whats its worth.  The setup needs a bit of tweaks to make it possible for the AXIS to have a fair chance at winning right now they don't.  Changing up the AC percentages would probably help.  And there isn't an easy way to get a fight between the KI-61's and F4U's.  Leaving the A6M's to handle the swarms of F4U's alone.  Yes Swarms with a capital "S".  Also there needs to be a Alt CAP in order to even up the fighting.

Also the planning is difficult to adhere to the special rules and not exceed your percentages per AC type and side or force numbers.  Its a game please make it simple.  I understand the historical perceptive and that part is really neat.  But not as easy to plan as you might think if you want to try to maximize your AC types and force structure.  Again just my 2 cents and not complaining either.  Love what the CM's do to make this game what it is.  Just providing my comments in the hopes of bettering the game.

Viper61
AXIS CIC
Frame 01

[Pand]

Well written

[Squire]

It's sometimes hard to get the percentages right as the CiCs do not control individual squad turnouts (I wish we could). Its a case of trying to be within the limits and its never going to be bang on. As for the downdraft (the setup CM mentioned it) I asked about that and was informed there wasn't any so we were not doing anything deliberate re being above a max alt ect. In fairness the G4Ms I engaged were @24k or better at A108.

I made an error myself in the orders (assigned a squad twice ) but it got sorted out as it was caught a day or so before the frame. Hey we aren't perfect.

We did our CiC duty Viper, and my compliments for you getting your orders out so fast! to the Axis.

[Shifty]

Personnel opinion for whats its worth.  The setup needs a bit of tweaks to make it possible for the AXIS to have a fair chance at winning right now they don't.  Changing up the AC percentages would probably help.  And there isn't an easy way to get a fight between the KI-61's and F4U's.  Leaving the A6M's to handle the swarms of F4U's alone.  Yes Swarms with a capital "S".  Also there needs to be a Alt CAP in order to even up the fighting.

An alt cap is not going to even up the fighting IMO and I'm not going to change it at this late date adding even more confusion to the alt cap subject. Even if there had been a 25K alt cap the results would have been the same for the G4Ms attempting to attack A-108. The G4Ms were all at high alt in one big formation with close escort flying a predictable path to the target. The CAP for 108 never saw any threats to 108 other than the G4Ms and their close escort before making contact. So all of their targets were massed in one group at a similar altitude. If you look on the Allied side their B-25Cs didn't fare any better than the G4Ms. Nor did US TBMs fare any better then Japanese D3As.

The destruction of 15 G4Ms by F4U-1s is being potrayed as a travesty and the destruction of 20 B-25s by Ki-61s a superb effort? Your rising sun is showing Viper.

I changed the percentages late last night cutting down on the number of Corsairs and upping the Ki-61s. Plus added 20 Ki-61s assigned to IJN Command in the Solomons area.
Hopefully this will aid the Axis in the Eastern part of the map. Also ALLIED CICs NOTE: RAAF aircraft will no longer operate in the Solomon Islands on the Eastern part of the map. This area is strictly USN/USMC.

Viper you did a first class job as CIC as did Warloc. I appreciate your input on the setup as well as your hard work on the orders.

 

[Stampf]

Thanks Viper.  <S>  Always enjoy flying for the you when you are CiC.

Best part of JG11's success last night was that it was another "No Casualty" flight.  We all made it home, minus 1 disco.  For me...that trumps our victory count.  Thanks for the opportunity.

<S>

[Butcher]

An alt cap is not going to even up the fighting IMO and I'm not going to change it at this late date. Even if there had been a 25K alt cap the results would have been the same for the G4Ms attempting to attack A-108. The G4Ms were all at high alt in one big formation with close escort flying a predictable path to the target. The CAP for 108 never saw any threats to 108 other than the G4Ms and their close escort before making contact. So all of their targets were massed in one group at a similar altitude. If you look on the Allied side their B-25Cs didn't fare any better than the G4Ms. Nor did US TBMs fare any better then Japanese D3As.
 

This is just a small taste of historical accuracy. What happen at A108 was a freak mixup of orders on the Japanese escorts side, however one thing is forgotten the attackers were facing a veteran squad as well in a dominate ride, as Pand pointed out a "turkey shoot".
Not here to brag, but even if the Zekes were up at 30k, it wouldn't make much of a difference.
I've seen the FSO guys really do their homework in balancing out the scenarios and frames, I can imagine next frame there won't be any F4us at all - but please don't base this on on attack over A108, that was a minor flaw over orders giving the allied defenders a major "advantage".
I know the japanese will be decisive in the next frame and things will balance out again - this is one of those few Pacific theater events that I wait for every year, hoping one day I can get one on one with HighTone and his Zeke 

If I could ever help out I certainly would join the FSO admins just to hang around and watch what you guys do, I would never be apart of the staff for sure but certainly would help out any way I could.

[WxMan]

Personnel opinion for whats its worth.  The setup needs a bit of tweaks to make it possible for the AXIS to have a fair chance at winning right now they don't.  Changing up the AC percentages would probably help.  And there isn't an easy way to get a fight between the KI-61's and F4U's.  Leaving the A6M's to handle the swarms of F4U's alone.  Yes Swarms with a capital "S".  Also there needs to be a Alt CAP in order to even up the fighting.

Looking back at the numbers of aircraft used and reading the Op Orders again, I believe our CiC may have made a mistake.  The set up calls for: USMC: F4U-1s are allowed to make up to 40% of USMC Fighter Forces the remainder 60% will be F4Fs.

Using the maximum commitment for each squad, I calculated that 74% of USMC Fighter aircraft were F4U-1's assigned, and 26% of the F4F's were assigned.  The actual numbers were even a bit more skewed.  TBM's were not considered in the calculation since the set up specified Fighter aircraft.

[Shifty]

Looking back at the numbers of aircraft used and reading the Op Orders again, I believe our CiC may have made a mistake.  The set up calls for: USMC: F4U-1s are allowed to make up to 40% of USMC Fighter Forces the remainder 60% will be F4Fs.

Using the maximum commitment for each squad, I calculated that 74% of USMC Fighter aircraft were F4U-1's assigned, and 26% of the F4F's were assigned.  The actual numbers were even a bit more skewed.  TBM's were not considered in the calculation since the set up specified Fighter aircraft.

The percentages were changed last night after Frame-1 to add some balance. The original setup called for 60% F4U-1s and 40% F4Fs. No mistake was made by either CIC.
See this thread. http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,335895.0.html

[Viper61]

Good comments all.  Always enjoy a good AAR page after a fight for 2 days.  As a CIC you can never can be everywhere so these comments greatly help in appreciating the entire frame.  Great comments on the AXIS A108 attack as compared to the ALLIED A39 attack as I had no visibility at either.  Except for Stampf's buffer comments on our side as it was happening.  Stampf was in charge of the defense at A39 with JG11 and 332nd.  That paints a different picture for me.

After hearing the comments on the Alt Cap issue I'll drop that.  And your right it probably wont have made a difference and its hard to police in the game.  Better and easier to make adjustments in other locations to balance out the game play.

After having a few hours of sleep and rerunning the scenario in my head I think the changes you made Shifty should balance it enough without completely reversing to a AXIS dominated win.  Which I don't want to see either.

Appreciate the good comments one and all <S>.  I enjoy the FSO a lot like the rest of you and really only fly in AHII because of this event.  And the planning and control functions as the CIC are fun to me as long as I am home to do them 

Last comment - What about reducing each sides attacking and defending targets from 8 (4 defending and 4 attacking) to 6 (3 defending and 3 attacking).  Side turnout using last night as the example strained the resources for each side.  Reducing from 8 to 6 as an example would have freed up 4 to 5 squads on the AXIS side.  I would have then provided a 3rd squad to each 2 squad Strike Package.  This would have opened up the plan to allow for different options to the Strike Package CO having more resources.  I "think" we would see better game play at the targets with more complex operations involving 2 layered attack plans and the use or scouts and deception operations.  Again just a comment.

[Shifty]

Last comment - What about reducing each sides attacking and defending targets from 8 (4 defending and 4 attacking) to 6 (3 defending and 3 attacking).  Side turnout using last night as the example strained the resources for each side.  Reducing from 8 to 6 as an example would have freed up 4 to 5 squads on the AXIS side.  I would have then provided a 3rd squad to each 2 squad Strike Package.  This would have opened up the plan to allow for different options to the Strike Package CO having more resources.  I "think" we would see better game play at the targets with more complex operations involving 2 layered attack plans and the use or scouts and deception operations.  Again just a comment.

Already in the works for Frame II. I'm trying to get Objectives out early this afternoon. My wife expects me to have a life and take her out this evening. 

[APDrone]

Already in the works for Frame II. I'm trying to get Objectives out early this afternoon. My wife expects me to have a life and take her out this evening. 

Oh bah..  McD's drive-thru only takes a few minutes.

[Stampf]

A39 Defense.

III/JG11 fielded (10) Ki-61's and the 332nd fielded (5) A6M2's in the effort.

With this relatively small group we set up 2 rings, one within the other, and kept ourselves close to the target.  First in was a group of P-38's...and they came in guns blazing, so we ignored them, and let them penetrate into the inner ring where the 332nd was patrolling.  Several times the 38's tried to pull us out of our defensive range, but both groups exhibited excellent discipline and maintained a tight noose around the target.  A good effort was made by the lightnings to clear the airspace over target, but with the long time lag between their arrival and nothing else arriving, it was fairly obvious was was going down. Finally a scout/pathfinding 38 was spotted on the deck, and after releasing a single plane to dispatch him, the noe strike group was found.

Alone, and on the deck...the enemy B-25's were at our mercy...and were destroyed.  We then mopped up the 38's and rearmed.  Late frame hunting found us down by A12 were we located a destroyed a group of (4) P-40's.  We then headed east to the coast to try to attempt an intercept on Allied strikers RTB from hitting the fleet to the north.  None were found and with only 1 minute left in the frame, we touched down without loss (1 disco) at A43.



<S> 332nd Flying Mongrels.  Well done.

<S> Allied attackers.  The 38's did all they could to clear that space, and less disciplined defenders may have fallen for it.  A good effort.

[SlipKnt]

Our attack on the Allied CV was a really good fight.  We designed the strike group to avoid any scouts on a b-line course through A103 airspace.  All fighters stayed where they were supposed to and get high.  Embedded escorts stayed with the D3As.  At specific intervals, we launched our sweep and search fighters.  They were to over fly the target area and report and try to continue east.  The next fighter group would already be inbound only to smash over the CV at altitude from a 180 degree offset.  While one group was to push the fight down, the other squad was to remain high and pick on any fighters trying to climb back up through the CAP.  We then turned in the D3As and sent our embedded escorts direct to engage immediately.  One miscalculation...   ...we never knew about nor saw the F4U1s until the CV was in sight.  We got swarmed.  OUr remaining fighters did everything they could.  I believe I avoided 5 passes.  I was 15 seconds to drop and all of a sudden, both wings were missing.  In the end, we managed to punch through and get the CA, and got some bombs on DD1.  But that was it for us.  I believe only 1 D3A and 1 fighter from G3-MF made it home.  I think a couple from JG2 made it home.  Mostly, we all died for the Emperor.

A big   to JG2 and FATE (and the Gunfighters that are flying with G3-MF this month).  You guys executed the plan perfectly.  I couldn't be happier about that.

A big   to VF17 Jolly Rogers for thorwing us off balance in the final minutes of our strike.

A big   to all the Allied forces over that task group.  You guys made for a fun night!

 

[APDrone]

Good defending A39 with JG11.  WTG!  <S>

As the frame drew to a close, Kansas and I were vectored to try to defend the remnants of our fleet.  Unfortunately, Kansas got there a little bit before I did.. and when I did finally encounter the attackers I gazed down upon them from my A6M2...




After which I confirmed the wide swath of yellow running down my back.. uttered a girly - girl little squeal and, realizing I had a fresh case of double barrel sake waiting for me back at base, decided to return to it.

[Big Rat]

First off let me give a thumbs up for my squad , teamwork and communication were excellent.  Lots of over watchers keeping the low guys safe, and thanks to blue flight for staying high cover.  All those monday night Hog nights and hours of training for the last year finally come together .

Now for the AAR. Our job was to defend C95 a Cruiser group, We were the only ones tasked with this as far as I know, didn't see any other squads near the cruisers group. If I remember our first contact was West of the cruiser group at about T+35/40, we ran into a set of about 5-6 A6M3's co-alt at about 26k or so.  Being that we had about 18 pilots that night, they were forced down and defensive very quickly, I think 1 or 2 may have been shot down at this point.  We maintained our alt and let the zeros go that were left.  About 5 minutes later our cruiser started flashing and we all made a B line for it.  We found what I believe what was left of our first group of zero's encountered, quite a ways below us and a few higher ones.  There was a little confusion as to how many zero's where, especially high ones.  We were kinda milling about with the high ones so they were kinda hard to pick out from friendlies with the short icons.  Most of these were pushed down in fairly short order as well, in which case we now had the high ground over the zero's and proceded to B&Z them at our leisure for the most part with high hogs watching the low ones.  A good portion of us were staying high waiting for the other shoe to fall, and didn't want to get sucked down trying to kill the remaining low zero's.  At about T+50 as many of us were circling over the boats and climbing somebody gave a VAL call out and we knew the strike was finally here.  We started pushing that way, some of our squad was already mixed in before I got there, with most of the cover already below 15k directly behind the VALs.  The Zero escort was close in tight enough behind the VALs that I had to find a hole to slip in behind them.  Unfortunately for us the zero escorts kept us busy long enough that the VAls got a run in, a few got picked off early (sorry Rodent for removing your tail) but I saw at least 3 make a good run in.  After that, all the enemy planes seem to be mostly low and we began to mop up.  I have to give credit to the early A6M3's, those guys fought it out against bad odds for a long time.  Had to be a bad feeling with all those Hogs above, but you fought with great bravery  Well we lost the cruiser, good job Vals getting in there under heavy resistance .  AFter everything died down we re-armed and looked for a fight up north, but Topgun beat us to it , I really did want to out kill them this frame in one of our aircraft .

In synopsis, we never got hit by a large enough group of A6M3's to even tie up the entire squad, we always had at least a wings worth (6-8) of planes free to cover the others.  So air superiority over target was never really questioned.

 
BigRat

PS  Way to Go JG11 , hope to find you on our side of the map next time