Japanese AARt of war - Conanteacher's way

[Conanteacher]

We haven't seen a decent AAR for IC over Arma lately, so I start a new one as Japan.
It is my first AAR, though I have read many.
I'll try and include many tips so that players with less experience can learn of it.

Japan is a very challenging country because one has to focus at both land and the sea without neglecting the Air force.
Changing theaters (China, Oceania, India, Pacific, US), having limited IC and resources in the beginning and facing mighty enemies.

RULES:

- Start date 1933, normal/aggressive.
- No nukes, no "verdun effect" neither gamey tactics, set at "complicate the game a bit."
- No exp. troops, mil ctrl all my allies but very limited fighting with their forces.

GOALS:

- Puppet China.
- Conquer India and as much as Middle East as possible.
- Land in the US while knocking out AUS, NZ.
- War with USSR after 1943 IF Germany holds the ground.
- Try to land in Britain in 1946-47.

Soon I'll post my first moves...

 

[Conanteacher]

DAY 0 - Preparations
**************************


SLIDERS

Oil conversion deactivated.
First I move the political slider +1 Hawk. I need to shorten the time I spend building IC asap.

Economy sliders: min. consumer goods, 0 upgrades, 0 supllies - everything goes to production. I need to get the 5th tech slot asap.

I start with 82/76 IC, so I have to build up as much as possible.
With 1.04a you can get 15% IC bonus if infra is 100% so I choose these provinces to build.
There are some provinces which already have both high IC and infra - let's maximize the output.

PRODUCTION

I build up to 100% infra at Osaka, Ahichi, Ehime, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Akita, Tokyo (there I'll have to repair the Typhoon damage later)
I build IC as follows= +7 Nagasaki, +5 Sapporo, +6 Fukushima, +8 Ahichi, +9 Osaka, +5 Fukuoka, +4 Akita, +8 Ehime, +4 Hiroshima, +3 Tokyo.

There's a trick here. With the aforementioned +15% bonus you can get 8 IC out of a 7 IC province. Do some math!

UNITS

AIR units all to Tokyo for reorganisation.
NAVY send all subs to Fukuoka, send 3 + 1 transports to collect various units from the islands (I'll GAR them later). Merge fleets and reorg them (next post).
ARMY merge as many as possible. Take them back to Honshu to reorganize and brigade them. Set LOG wizards as leaders to save some supplies!

SUPPLIES

Starting with more than 6000 is not enough for me. I'll ship back as many as possible from the islands!
This by manually controlling convoys for a while - that's micromanagement hell but it doesn't last long.
The problem is, I have to create resource convoys to one island a time and then choose to transport only oil and supplies till the depot is empty.
That takes some effort, but gives more than 10000 supplies back!

TECHNOLOGY

Wartime Economy, Military Economy, Basic SMG and Advanced Vac. tubes to make up for research % drop.


MINISTERS

Goto Fumio for security, -5% cons Goods / Takasu Shiro for intelligence +5% IC

OVERALL STRATEGY

Save a lot! Try not to spend IC on supplies yet, build up your IC as much as possible.
Reorganize armed forces to have a clean picture of what units you have and how many brigades you'll need later.

 

[Conanteacher]

May 27th, 1933 - First results:

I got some fortunate events: Namely an extremely gifted generation (+2% research) and unexpected Deposits (+2% of all resources, which will aid me a lot later)

By this time the first Infra is here and the first techs researched, which took me to 119/78 IC.

I also have completed reorganization of Armed Forces, as these screens indicate:

ALL land leaders are Logistics Wizards. I will then de-brigade all divisions and reassign them ,then I'll start producing what's missing and send the combat ready troops to China.

As for the Fleet, which is the most diffiicult part, this is the Picture:

I merged them all to Nihon Kaigun, then took out all the capital ships into groups of the same class. I will assign CLs on them later.

By checking this picture I know what kind of ship brigades to build:


...But I'll disband these lvl 1 destryers first, they cost me manpower and supplies. Definateely not worth loading them with torpedoes.

 

[Conanteacher]

Feb. 3rd, 1935 - A Major Power emerges:

The industrialization efforts boosted my IC to 169/110.

Ministers

I changed the Armaments minister to Machida Chuji. By replacing Takahashi Korekiyo I lost 5-6 IC on total, but the -20% cons.goods gave me additional 8 IC.
That makes a combined bonus of +2 IC, + 10 energy/5 metal not spent on consumer goods.

Production

I added +5 IC in Niigata and Iwate, and + 6 IC to Kagoshima and to Kanagawa (also infra there to 100%)
I also started producing brigades for my ships in a low rate, and had to allocate some IC for supply production.
Here is a screenshot:


Events

Industrialization and Infra improvement events triggered, which cost me 11000 precious metal - I might regret this, perhaps it's not worth the effort.
I also denounced the London Naval treaty. Already daydreaming of my future fleet ...

Technology

Now that's an important aspect.
These techs help support my industry:


Other important techs:

Basic Inf., Mountain I, prioritize Inf., some land and air techs to boost research % - choose the lowest difficulty fields which are faster to discover and give 0.5 - 0.8 % bonus.

Some techs give important boosts:

Armoured Car gives +1 Ground Defence, Prioritize INF. gives up to +3 soft attack, +2 defence, faster building times etc.
In 1937/38 I'll be fighting with INF III, so these boosts along with the doctrines will make the difference. I don't intend to research Armor till 1942.

I'll focus also on Naval Diplomacy / Naval superiority later to shorten the vessel building time.

Resources:

I'm bleeding to support my Industry... -85 energy and -42 Metal daily. I'll have to micromanage some trades to keep growing...

 

[Adolphin]

I think this might be the first IC AAR ever

 

[Conanteacher]

Oct. 3rd, 1936 - Preparing for war:

I feel confident to slowly build up my armed forces, to be ready to attack China next summer.

Industry

My IC is now at 225/143.

I keep worrying for resources, I had to strike some deals with a lot of countries. Netherlands and Germany, but also USSR were the major partners. The UK also made some deals with me.
Fortunately in August some Hydroelectric plants were completed, that gave me +45 energy.

Puppet

I keep ordering Manchu to develop its industry. I want them to have 3 research slots. Their Forces are to 30%, unforunately. That means they spam a lot of useless INF.
Giving them blueprints constantly they researched "Boost mining", "Energy I", "Metal I", giving me their surplus.

Events

I chose a small increase in military spendong, to go historically.
I also chose to crush the 2-26 incident coup.

Ministers

January 1936, I replaced Kanin Kotohito with Inanba Satoru as chief of the Army. Now supplies are a lot cheaper.
Spending about 25-30 IC on supplies is an issue, especially when I have to trade some for metal and energy.

Sliders

So far my moves have been +2 hawk, + 2 Standing Army. I can wait for some events to maximize Hawk and interventionism.

Production

Here's a picture that speaks for itself.


Why do I build obsolete carriers? For flavor, and to double the punch of my existing Akagi and Ryujo CVs.
Capital and Region HQs are really important - since their deployment I spend more than 6 IC less on supplies!

Also, I built some MTN to give them the engineer brigades. 3 MTNs have LArt brigades.
Most INF will be with Lart, perhaps later I will research Rocket Art to give MTN and marines +1 soft attack.

Note the depletion of my resources - it took a lot of effort to minimize them. Don't forget that my insustry is growing - I ordered 36 more IC.

All my units are in Honshu, most with Log wiz. leaders.

Technology

Research rate is at 124%, I keep researching "Cheap" techs and many doctrines.



Still haven't researched census, manpower will not be an issue.

International Situation

Remember the setting on "complicate the game a bit?"
Well, there seems to be something really interesting happening in China...

More in the next update!

 

[Conanteacher]

I think this might be the first IC AAR ever

Actually, yes. If it goes well, I'll post more.

Well, so far there are some strange things happening with my pics - Devs, any help?

 

[Ericafaq]

Subs

Forward,iron sun

 

[Conanteacher]

Winter of 1936/37 - Planning a new order in Asia

International situation

Well, seems that the Communists didn't walk the Long March. They had a good chance to grab large parts of China, as seen here:

apparently, their Army got surrounded and they failed.

Perhaps this continued war has weakened my future rivals, or perhaps it made their troops battle hardened?

Economy

Either way, time is running up for me. To keep my industry growing, I need resources. Influencing the USSR to +130 got me many good deals like this one:

Once a week for more than three months is keeping my economy alive. But signing the Anti-Comintern pact and tension in Manchuria guarantees no future for these trades.
Other sources are welcome:

...but Germany is preparing for its own war in Europe and cancelled all the deals we had signed. These opportunists prefer to trade with China...

Production

Seeing no other option to feed my growing Industry, I have to expand and steal resources like every emerging power in human history.

As 1937 comes, I replace Goto Fumio with Ushio Shigenosuke as minister of Security.
February 1st slider move was to Standing army, which is now maxed out. This will considerably boost my modernization efforts.

As the Army reorganises to 100% strenght, I need to allocate IC to reinforcements and upgrades.
Non-vital unit production will be delayed. This is the picture of 1937:

The next months will be of intense preparations...

 

[quintelosky]

Excellent

 

[Conanteacher]

June 24th, 1937 - Tora!

Continuing to position my forces along the borders with China, I managed to almost reinforce them all to full strenght till the Marco Polo Bridge Incident fired.
Attacking the Chinese is my only option if I want to claim a major power status...

Economy

After all, trades with the Dutch and the Soviets were depleting my gold reserves.
On May the 11th I received the message "Layoffs in the mining industry", reducing my metal reserves to a half.
The moment of truth has come on June 24th, and I was not 100% ready to attack.

On the list one can read -10% AND -17% dissent, but the event seems broken and I get a more than 10% dissent hit...Quintelosky did you see this?
Fortunately I remember it from previous games and recently started researching "Public finance"(-5% dissent)

Army:

Almost all the Land doctrines for INF III have been researched, I hope to have a decisive edge against the Chinese now - especially with my MTN-II/EngII special divisions...
The terrain in China is really mountainous. This is how I will attack - could have done better:

Every attack has air support. My plan is simple:

1. Encircle and destroy enemy units.
2. Avoid prolonged battles which deplete Org.
3. Go for the VP/IC rich/resource rich provinces.
4. Land in the south as soon as they leave a beach unguarded.
5. Try to reach Chengdu region asap.

Navy
1. Establish Naval superiority.
2. Patrol the beaches to exploit gaps with landings.
3. Encircled units must stay without supplies.

AirForce
1. Inderdict on every attack possible.
2. Ground attack retreating units.

Goal:

The war must be over before 1939 comes.

Puppet:
Their Army is close to useless, I 'll trigger the console command to stop them spam divisions. Maybe later I can use some INF+Art to guard some beaches.
I'll be the only one to fight...

One last look at my sliders before I return with feedback from the front:

I have Metal for less than 150 days left. I expect lots of trades to get cancelled.
The 14% dissent hit is not yet visible. It will affect my troops as well.
There is no surplus of supplies to boost my offennse.
What are the odds?

 

[Conanteacher]

Correction! 4 Gundan will support attack to Ulanqab.
NOTE= Promotions are set manually and cost no skill. I will only promote leaders who distinguish themselves in the heat of battle. Twice a year I will evaluate their efforts.

 

[Conanteacher]

First Phase of Operations - Penetrating the borders and securing vital resources

Industry:

Starting with 14% dissent and having "War Economy" tech made my IC drop from 234/148 to 182/148 within a day!
Supllies were scarce and the units were not entirely ready for the attack...

Front Line:

One can only hope that the qualitative edge along with superior training, technology and logistics will pay out.
Combined with superior execution of maneuvers due to Conanteacher's excellent commanding skills, the first battles proved more succesfull than expected:

In this map we can see how deep penetration tactics result in mass encirclements.
After the assault on Beijing 6 enemy divisions under Belchurkin are retreating towards Zhangjiakou.
The commander couldn't foresee that all these forces were about to get encircled by well trained Japanese Mountain divisions closing the escape routes through Datong.

Winning a battle, however doesn't ensure victory on war. a second front is out of question for now, the beaches are well guarded.

Politics:

Germany supports us morally, for now.
Trade with czechoslovakia and Afghanistan was halted, but with minor impact on Japan's economy.
The USA and the Entente are increasingly worrying about the Empire's sucess.
Interestingly enough, ComChi troops seem to have marched a long way ack south.
The war between Guangxi and Nationalists has not ended, even though they are both at war with Japan.

4th of July - Enemy Troops surrender en masse

On July the 4th, Nationalist Government takes control of Shanxi "state". It is too late.
On 16:00, all Northern troops were encircled in Zhangjiakou. 3 hours later, another army got completely surrounded in Hengzhi region.
With very few battles fought, enemy forces were outmanouvered and left without supplies.

The following board shows a clear superiority of well fed troops:

China -60.00 due to lack supply. Note the ESE factor - no offensive supplies for Japan. Decryption makes also some difference. Air support is often present.

Second Week of Operations - Neutralizing Shandong

After destroying 18 enemy divisions with little fighting, General Nishio heads south to confront the troops of Shandong.
They were unprepared to face him:

The bulk of their Army fought despeartely for four days and nights under heavy storm, but to no avail - there were no reinforcements to help them break out.
On July the 14th, Jinan is captured, Nationalists declare the end of Shandong "state" and the remnant of its troops are pu under NatChi command.

The first victories came along with plenty of supplies and resources to help the industry recover and to boost the morale of the war-weary people, dropping dissent considerably.

 

[Conanteacher]

Second Month - Deeper Penetration

July the 21st, outskirts of Jinan. Briefing by Gen. Hisaichi Terauchi:

..."This is our attack plan in the north. First phase is in BLUE. Our best Mountaineers will attack south in Luliang. Assisted by engineer brigades, they should easily be maneuvering from tip to tip, above the heads of the enemy. Moving day and night, they'll drive the enemy off the shores of the Yellow River towards Taiyuan. Troops from Xinzhou will try to establish bridgeheads towards Ordos. Further North, Bayan Nur will be put under our control - the government plans to install a local administration at the borders of Mongolia, therefore as much terrain as possible must be available for its sustainability. Hohhot will be the capital.

Second Phase is in GREEN. Xibei San Ma's troops need to be driven off Ordos so that a corridor towards the communist's strongpoints is opened up. Our intelligences informs that almost all their troops are currently at the south of China, we could catch them off guard. All troops near Taiyuan and Changzhi need to surrender to us and be disarmed before they join the communists.

Third Phase is in ORANGE. Enemy resistance in the area of Hohhot will be neutralized, we hope to disarm the troops in Changzhi before they swirch allegiance to the the communists. The communist leaders are more capable than the corrupt Chinese warlords, and their army battle-hardened from years of fighting... Our most dangerous enemy..."

Results of the First Month of Battle:

Exactly one month after the war started, the Japanese Army has penetrrated deep into Chinese soil, and most importantly, has neutralized dozens of divisions.
Some units have reached the outskirts of Nanjing...

Resources are beginning to pile up, lack of supplies is no longer an issue.

Of course, after the first defeats, the enemy starts to put up some resistance - the next retreats will be harder to achieve:

Note the effort for a double encirclement: North at Weifang (With air support), South at Yancheng.

Both were succesfull. The Airforce helped with all available forces, as is clearly visible.

As for Gen. H. Terauchi's plans... Almost a complete sucess.

Though Changzhi has joined the communist cause and 5 enemy divisions managed to... escape somehow.

But many other units got encircled at the Southeast:

The Emperor is most pleased by his glorious Army and has ordered lots of medals to be awarded to the planners of this campaign

 

[Adolphin]

What version are you playing this with? AoD, Armageddon or maybe even DH?

 

[Conanteacher]

It is Iron Cross over HoI 2 Doomsday Armageddon, patch 1.04 alpha, Checksum KANH

 

[Ericafaq]

How do you get more than 70 IC for a 4 years?What the ultra disbalance for economical grow?

 

[Conanteacher]

How do you get more than 70 IC for a 4 years?What the ultra disbalance for economical grow?

I described my Industrial builds in every detail in the beginning. I focused production on IC. I'll need that later to take on the US - plus the TC it will generate.
What do you mean by ultra disbalance?

I focus on IC to have plenty of supplies, IC and TC later on....and I get enough units to beat NatChi.

Soon I'll be exploiting a puppet China, Manchu and Mengkukuo, which will handle over to me plenty of resources to feed my IC.
I plan to support 300+ effective IC in 1941 and maybe 400+ IC to take on the US.

EDIT= If by disbalace you mean neglecting of Industrial techs...well, you'll soon find out that proper doctrines are far more important than an up-to date unit.

I forgot to mention that my research % is about 120-125% at this time.

 

[bosman]

@ Conanteacher
Nice, that You started an AAR. I wish it's not the same version as we discussed in other thread about JAP-CHI. Also it would be better if things went more historical, because now it's a bit far from typical scenario, so you have rather priviledged position towards China.

"I'll try and include many tips so that players with less experience can learn of it." The problem is, that the situation isn't "typical" so the tips might not work the same in that one. IMO Guangxi Clique is too strong and with latest patch seems even stronger.

As for IC buildup, i think, that industrial techs have one big advantage - they proportionally increase resources production. Obviously some additional base IC is also needed, but to feed it, you need to sell money and supplies, so you waste some of gained IC anyway and it's quite risky. So good balance is the key.

Still, good to see this and good luck !

 

[Ericafaq]

What do you mean by ultra disbalance?

First years of 30ths was a years of first steps for economical recover.You got +70 IC with a locomotive speed.Its just impossible by reall situation for economy in a 1930ths