Japanese 350pt Fleet v US tonight - urgent advice please

Bartacus · Japanese 350pt Fleet v US tonight - urgent advice please

Hi all,

I am playing my friend's US fleet in a 350 pt game tonight.

He has a fairly limited fleet so I know pretty much what he will take.

Iowa
Washington
Tennessee
Enterprise
Lots of cruisers
4 Destroyers
3 subs

Planes - Fortunately he doesn't have too many, from memory 1 Hellcat, 1 Wildcat, 1 Avenger, 1 Dauntless, 1 Mitchell and 1 PBY.

I have a pretty full selection of IJN to pick from. My main limitations are

Only 2 Judy
No Betties
No Yamashiro

I want to play a fairly balanced fleet is possible, no destroyer based LL swarms etc. My first attempt is as follows

Yamato
Musashi
Shokaku
Shoho
Tone
Yahagi
Akitsuki x 3
Subchaser
Emily
Judy x 2
Val
Zeke x 3
I19 x 4

Plan is to target his destroyers early doors with my planes to leave my subs unmolested by ASW as much as possible. Subs can then go for his BB's and deny 1 objective.

My BB's will target either 1 or both other objectives depending on fleet set-ups.

My main thought is whether the 27 pts spent on Tone and the Subchaser could be betterr employed? Subchaser was just a filler and to give 2 ships per sector anyway. Obviously I like Tone, especially with Shokaku and Emily, but I wonder if the points could be better spent on another Emily or more subs/fighters/destroyers? The other unit I am thinking could be traded out is Shoho. Trading out all 3 could give a second Emily, 2 more Akits and another Zeke, which would strengthen my own ASW considerably.

All thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Duck Crusader

That looks pretty good to me, well balanced and flexible. Well Built!

Bartacus

Thanks Duck, I'm all proud of my little build now! Very Happy

Would you go with the original build then or......

remove Tone and Subchaser and replace with Zeke, Akitsuki, Isokazi?

I am leaning to option B. I will lose the Tones scout SA but I think a 4th Zeke will help combat the B25/PBY and the 2 DD's will help ASW, while giving me more LL power too.

Cheers

The_lucky_Y

bring a Nachi and a Zeke and upgrade the Val to an judy with the last two points.

Bartacus

Thanks Lucky,

Unfortunately I don't have a third Judy, and I am worried that if I take Nachi and a Zeke I will have an odd number of ships, which always worries me with IJN's weak AA v US.

The_lucky_Y

then the lone ship is the bait for the first turn attack...

Duck Crusader

Nah, leave the Tone in. You said yerself that he doesn't have much air, and Tone's SA is one of the best the Japanese have.

swarbs

I like it too. Especially because it seems the build goes very well with the strategy you've laid out. It'd be especially nice if those subs of yours could knock the ER5 off of Iowa.

Bartacus

Well I've just got back having gone for option B without the Tone.

The dice gods were with me and the IJN vanquished the USN.

My memory of his available ships was a little off, as he turned up with 4 BB's (4th was a California, and he had a Devastator as well as the other planes).

My overall plan to weaken his ASW worked well. He only had 2 subs and I took one out early doors.

My planes were atrocious, causing only 2 hits all game (one on Enterprise, one on Salt Lake City), while his sunk the Shokaku and caused several other hits. Fortunately after sinking the Shokaku his TBD's went for my subs which were causing him a headache and consistently missed them.

I went for the northern objective with Yamato and Musashi lined up against the Washington. He moved the Iowa up and in the second round of firing vitalled the Yamato at range 2! I thought my time was up then especially when both my return shots only caused 1 damage to the Iowa and Washington but I then launched my LL strike and managed 2 hits on the Iowa who was already carrying 2 damage and was sunk. This left me with a shot against the Washington from Yahagi - double 6!!!

With both his decent BB's gone the tables were turned and my subs tore into the California and Tennessee whio kept failing their slow rolls. My opponent helped me by ignoring the 2 objectives that were fairly open except for my subs.

He capitulated when he was down to the Enterprise, heavily damaged California and 1 destroyer, although his aircraft were totally unscathed. I had the Musashi with 2 damage, Yahagi with 1, 3 DD's , Shoho, 2 Zekes, one Judy and all 4 I-19's although 2 were crippled.

All in all a very fun game and revenge for the trouncing he gave my Kreigsmarine fleet last time out. I think my choice to leave the Tone out was correct, although it would probably have made my planes far more effective (I kept missing by 1 success). Taking the extra destroyers though allowed me to nullify his subs quickly and assisted my LL rush which turned the match in my favour. As always with IJN it all came down to the 6's.

jfkziegler

swarbs

Yamato, Iowa and Washington all at once is quite a bloody turn.

Duck Crusader

Good fight! The Emperor smiled on you, no mistake.