[AAR] 1939 Japanese World Conquest

Day 7 - Continued

The emperor strode confidently to his seat at the head of the mahogany table in the war council chambers. "Have our planes reached the Indies?" he asked first. "We're happy to report that the bulk of our air forces, twenty-seven squadrons in total have arrived in Palenbang" Tojo began. "Furthermore we have completed air strips further east, but no forces exist to defend the airfields. The cruiser attack fleet is still four hours out from Singapore" he continued, with a hint of hesitation.

"Have you begun scouting the surrounding islands? the emperor asked next. "Of course, lord, intelligence reports significant concentrations of Australian troops on Borneo. Numerous landings occurred overnight in Indonesia, as well" Tojo replied, briskly.

"Odd", the emperor thought, "he thinks he's on the offensive?"

"Thank you, the invasion of mainland Australia will continue as planned" the emperor replied.

The original invasion planning documents have been lost, but historians have developed this recreation.

The two fleets would merge near Yandema and occupy it. Engineers would immediately set about building an air strip while the attack fleet would continue on to Darwin. There they would again build an air strip. Meanwhile connecting strips would be constructed along the islands connecting the chain. However, many of those islands were not yet under imperial control. The aircraft carrier gave the navy and air force a way to shuttle planes across the gaps between the air strips.

Once air superiority could be established on mainland Australia, the air force and navy would make short work of this island nation. Plans, however, rarely survive contact with the enemy, and this one was no exception.

WoW this was fast! I was German Empire and I got to 500 VPs after 2 weeks but u got twice the VPs at 2x the Speed! This means you were 4x Faster!!!

I have nothing to say in my defence, you are just really Fast.

i am thinking of Joining as UK and just Destroying everyone ASAP

Day 7 - Continued

The air force, always first on the scene, began hammering Australian positions. They isolated and focused on units that had little anti-air capability and avoided attacking large armies composed of infantry or anti-air. The goal was attrition so retaliation must be minimized.

As the cruiser fleet passed by Indonesia on the way to Yandema, they ruthlessly shelled enemy divisions still standing near coastal positions there. Though lacking the punch of Yamamoto's battleships, they eliminated multiple Australian divisions before continuing on to rendezvous with the invasion fleet.

Landings began in Yandema unopposed. The rest of the invasion force continued on to Darwin as planned. By this time, destroyers sent ahead to scout landing sites in Australia were reporting no troop sightings. The main invasion force originally destined for Darwin was redirected to the city of Townsville. Veteran troops with pre-war equipment, still recovering from a fierce battle with local militia on Dili were tapped to claim Darwin. Tojo protested briefly before passing the order down the chain of command.

Karl von Krass wrote:

i am thinking of Joining as UK and just Destroying everyone ASAP

Karl von Krass wrote:

WoW this was fast! I was German Empire and I got to 500 VPs after 2 weeks but u got twice the VPs at 2x the Speed! This means you were 4x Faster!!!

I have nothing to say in my defence, you are just really Fast.

Day 7 - Continued

Back in Tokyo it was becoming clear that Australia was badly out of position. Their entire force seemed to be invading Indonesian provinces, landing multiple-regiment divisions of mixed units across the region.

"Did they think we came to claim islands?" the emperor asked Tojo.

"Eliminate them, land everywhere, capture the prime minster, we have more important matters to attend to" he added. "What of the army, lord?" Tojo asked. "Where can they go?" he replied. "Destroy them at your leisure" he added, leaving it at that.

Day 7 - Continued

Landings continued unopposed all around Australia. Armored divisions that had been redirected from China began landing in Perth and Geraldtown. Meanwhile the main invasion force was making it's way down the east coast landing at major cities along the way. Infantry on the ground then fanned out to claim the remaining territory.

Intelligence reports began to pick up Australian army activity in Indonesia. They were headed for Darwin in a doomed attempt to save their rapidly evaporating core. The Japanese air force and navy made short work of these forces with only light casualties reported.

Day 7 - Wrap-up

The emperor dispatched a message to Australia, ridiculing their lack of preparedness. When translated to Aussie-English it read:

He then issued orders to begin building production centers all across their new holdings in the Middle East. This would the launching point for the final solution. By this time the marching time from production centers in China was over a day. He also began building infrastructure in key east-to-west provinces along the route to Jafa from China to accelerate the rate of reinforcement to the frontlines.

While enjoying shamisen in his private chambers, a diplomat arrived with a message from Australia. Annoyed at the disruption, he unrolled the scroll:

"He dares?! Have I not conquered all Asia?" he thought. "Does he imply I acted dishonorably?" he mused.

"He joined the axis, proclaiming for all the world that he stood against me. It was he that declared war!" his internal dialogue continued. Simmering now, he penned his response before dismissing both the diplomat and the geisha.

Spite_Is_Right wrote:

Karl von Krass wrote:

i am thinking of Joining as UK and just Destroying everyone ASAP

Island nations are preferable for pursuing solo victories. UK is potent in this scenario if played well, but it takes a little to get to this scale. Mainly because allied doctrine is slower than average and pan-asian is faster than average. UK has abundant VPs available, but much stronger competition than Japan.

Karl von Krass wrote:

Spite_Is_Right wrote:

Karl von Krass wrote:

i am thinking of Joining as UK and just Destroying everyone ASAP

Island nations are preferable for pursuing solo victories. UK is potent in this scenario if played well, but it takes a little to get to this scale. Mainly because allied doctrine is slower than average and pan-asian is faster than average. UK has abundant VPs available, but much stronger competition than Japan.

dont worry about me, I know just how 'strong' each nation that i plan to annex

Editorial

I want to take a minute before I launch into day 8 to discuss a tactic to deter AI war declarations and neutralize the AI in general. As I was streaking across Asia, I wanted to limit my exposure to that southern Soviet border. I knew if there was a gap, the Soviet AI would relentlessly invade there. That meant any province that directly bordered them would have to be manned. That border is long, and it doesn't seem like much but it really adds up. The alternative is a push through the Soviet Union. That will take longer for sure and it will telegraph my troop location and intention to Germany. It will also weaken my force and find me most likely caught fighting both the Soviet AI and Germany in Russia.

What's a guy to do? Leave provinces controlled by defeated nations there. The AI won't declare war on them to get to you. It won't work if they have right-of-way, you'll just have to take that and setup a defense. I did that all along the central Asian border and in Persia I left one province open. I would have been able to take all the cities, but a poorly timed revolt allowed Turkey to take Mosul. I didn't want to fight through the Turks, so I left French provinces there as well.

You can see some of what I'm talking about in this image:

Day 7 - Game Update

At this point I was in the driver's seat. Australia was a sideshow that only served to pad my stats. I lost nothing there and killed his entire army. I think he was just a low activity player. If you're that type of player, I can take your whole country between logins.

I think research priorities at this point were shifting to air force and rocket artillery, but it kind of runs together. I intended self-propelled rocket artillery to be my late game force to accompany the armored divisions, which had become the backbone of my force. At this point in the game, aircraft become so dominant and the armored forces so fast that infantry and artillery lose their luster. Upgrading them becomes less of a priority and they're mostly used defensively. I was transitioning to a end game stack composition of:

3 AC, 4 LT, 3 MI accompanied by 4 SPA, 3 SPRA, 3 SPAA

They continue to use essentially the same tactics of avoiding forces they can't defeat until artillery and air power can weaken them.

The economy was off the charts, I was adding high level units at a rapid clip. I was building production facilities all over the place. I started building secret labs at this point. I think I had about 180 units at this point. Here's a snapshot of the force marshalling at Arish that day (in the image posted above

Off Topic

Does this province have to be shaped like this?

Day 8

Things were progressing according to his design, soon all would know his true strength. He took tea in the study while receiving morning reports:

The news couldn't have been better. His armies were sweeping resistance away like cherry blossoms on the wind. His military was now firmly superior to all rivals and with the defeat of Australia he immediately dispatched the Southern Navy and all army forces in the south Pacific to Brazil.

Day 8 - Continued

The military council convened later than usual, as the emperor had declared a holiday for all officers to celebrate their tremendous victories. Parades were held and fireworks displays were performed in all the major cities.

The atmosphere was hopeful as they sat down to plan the operation, dubbed Operation Sairentoburēdo, or Silent Knife. The emperor sought to avoid further entanglements, saying, "The citizens of the whole world will soon be our people, let us only defeat those who oppose us." However, it was found that no suitable aircraft landing sites could be obtained to expand the air network into Europe without further warfare. Therefore, the emperor elected to rapidly pacify British Egypt and Greece in lightning invasions supported by overwhelming naval and air power.

Day 8 - Continued

The invasions in Egypt and Greece went smoothly, with Egypt continuing to offer resistance in the inland country and on the border near Italian North Africa. Finally, the emperor was forced to declare war on Bulgaria and Yugoslavia to gain access to German holdings there and more importantly the door to Germany proper, Vienna.

The 1st Avengers raced across Yugoslavia with infantry and a powerful artillery division in tow. The armored cars and tanks splitting in all directions scouting enemy positions and claiming territory everywhere, but north. Always north.

They encountered a division of German infantry, their equipment was dated but they were numerous. The attack appeared to have caught the Fuhrer by surprise and the troops stood by as they watched the Avengers streak past them. In an apparent mix up at command, the troops were not guarding the provincial center but were camping kilometers west of the city. The province was claimed, allowing the advance to continue past them. The follow up infantry would deal with the Hun in Yugoslavia. They had a date in Berlin and they didn't want to be late.

Day 8 - Continued

The avengers relentlessly advanced towards Vienna, minor skirmishes were fought on the outskirts but the city was taken without opposition.

German forces began to mobilize. The emperor smirked a little when he imagined the Fuhrer's face upon waking to the situation in Yugoslavia. Few troops had been killed, the stranded Germans in Yugoslavia had been battered by artillery forces passing toward the front, but now follow up infantry eliminated them. A battle was taking shape near Vienna with a strong German army inbound from the Italian border.

Engineers immediately began repairing the aircraft factory in the picturesque city. From here the Japanese air force would reign supreme over most of central Europe. Connecting air strips were under construction in the Balkans as well. Air forces began pouring into Europe from bases in Heraklion.

i am surprised at how t seems that your army is conquering countries as fast as they can march

Day 8 - Continued

The German military mobilized along the Romanian border and began threatening precious Balkan air strips. The emperor had ordered these positions scouted as the army moved through Yugoslavia, he was aware of their strength and believed air power and follow-up forces would be sufficient to handle the threat. In any case, they were not the Avenger's target and orders were given to continue the advance.