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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> After Action Reports >> Start of the Storm?

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Start of the Storm? - 1/23/2008 1:04:44 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 11, 1942 � The night phase was quiet as usual, with only my lone MSW sweeping mines out of the harbour at Rangoon. The day phase brought action however, as AuTiger's air units took off in great numbers from many locations.

First off 144 B-17s hit the airfields at Kendari again, keeping the place totally closed and getting rid of the remaining damaged Oscars on the ground. Then 143 Mitchells, escorted by 52 P-40Bs, hit the airfields at Lautem again. It certainly looks like AuTiger is thinking hard about trying an invasion of Timor or somewhere else in the region.

In the CBI AuTiger's British 2Es hit the SNLF stragglers that are still in the jungle to the north of the railroad in Burma. The 4th Mixed Regiment made it to Rangoon so AuTiger didn't bother going after them again. And for the first time in ages some Chinese 2Es hit the pitiful 114th/A in the jungle to the southeast of Lashio. Never-the-less, the 114th/A continued it's "blistering" pace and gained another two miles for a grand total of six. AuTiger is also planning more air attacks in China proper because bombers returned to Changsha this turn, along with auxiliary planes and the ever-present P-40s.

However, I've decided it is time to try a few ambushes just in case AuTiger is getting a bit too cocky. Therefore, I brought fighters in to fly LR CAP over the retiring SNLF and the 114th/A, and also a couple of bomber groups to try to catch some of those Chinese 2Es on the ground in Yunan. At the same time I brought a number of my better "modern" fighter Daitais back into China into the bases surrounding Shanghai. I set those fighters to 90% CAP at high altitude, and also put other fighters nearby to LR CAP over Shanghai. In addition, I took my other fighters in the region off of "Training" and set them to 90% CAP over my important bases in the Western Home Islands and other bases within B-17 reach of Changsha.

Sure, there's a low probability that I will actually catch any of AuTiger's bombers since he has so many targets to choose from, and the high experience levels of his pilots mean that his bombers will most likely out-fight my fighters anyway, but I feel that I ought to try something.

Elsewhere, AuTiger continues to be fairly quiet. Although plenty of Catalinas patrolled over my transport TF at Ogliuga and my other bases in the region, no Allied planes attacked, nor did any Allied ships show up. So I was able to load the damaged Jakes onto the AK and set them to join their compatriots back at Attu. My plans are coming along nicely in the region and I ought to have things where I want them within a couple more game-weeks.

The far South Pacific was equally quiet although the Air Balance over AuTiger's bases in the region went up again. However, this may only be due to bombers in transit. Obviously, AuTiger must be flying a huge number of bomber units to Australia in order to mount an attack by 143 Mitchells.

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Post #: 391

It's Hit and Run Time Again - 1/24/2008 1:30:54 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 12, 1942 � Once again the only action during the evening phase was my lone minesweeper sweeping a mine out of Rangoon Harbor. I'm not sure why the MSW can't sweep more than one mine at a time, but at least it is getting lots of practice this way.

The day phase was almost equally quiet as generally bad weather returned most everywhere. Therefore, not only AuTiger's regular bombing attacks didn't fly, but my planned ambushes didn't fly either. However, my small air-to-ground nuisance attacks in far Southeast China did fly so that was a nice change of pace.

I immediately pulled my attackers back and re-shuffled my air units in China since AuTiger still has his good fighters, bombers and auxiliary planes in Changsha, along with his backups in Chungking. I continue to expect a 4E attack to hit somewhere in China, but I'm not sure of when or where. In parallel I increased my ambush and attack air units in the SEA. Hopefully, some of them will take off and catch some Allied planes in the air or on the ground next turn.

In the absence of any air interference the 116th/A moved up to 10 elapsed miles this turn. AuTiger moved one of his LCUs along the road from Yunan just opposite across the river from my unit. AuTiger must be thinking that I am trying to cut the road, instead of my actual plan, which is to finally get out of that Movement Trap.

Things were also quiet in the Aleutians. My Jake-recovery TF is almost back to Attu. Only Catalinas flew from the Allied side. It appears that AuTiger is even reducing his air cover in the region a bit. But I'm not through being a pest in the region yet, so I ordered my Bettys at Kiska to fly an airfield attack on Adak next turn and I am also sending out the BB TF to bombard Adak again. In addition, I am sending a replacement Surface Combat TF back to Kiska from Paramushiro Jima. However, I have given orders to my CV TF to return to Paramushiro Jima at Mission speed.

So, for the most part it was yet another day of moving forces around. I am slowly getting all of my Pacific bases equipped with Naval Base Forces instead of Army or Air Force base forces. This way any incoming Allied TFs have to deal with at least a few coastal guns. I am also moving Army and Air Force Base Forces back to Manchuria. I stripped them out at the beginning of this game and in retrospect I probably shouldn't have done that. I lost a lot of flexibility in the positioning of my air units in China thanks to that early decision and I won't do it again in future pbems.

I am also making certain that I have a "stock" of Army and Air Force Base Forces in my non-malarial main bases so that I can quickly move them back into strategic malarial bases when I need them. Whenever AuTiger finally strikes I expect him to hit very hard and I want to be able to respond locally to any breakthrough instead of having to move units over long distances.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 392

Sweeping another mine the "hard way" - 1/25/2008 12:38:29 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 13, 1942 � This was one of those turns where not much went well, but not much went really badly either. The night phase started out with my third or fourth unsuccessful attempt to recover some planes out of Ndini as the AV that was sailing in this time hit an Allied sub-laid mine. Between Allied bombers and Allied mines Ndini has turned into an unjustifiably costly sink-hole for me instead of the "stepping stone" that I expected it to be so long ago.

Bad weather across the northern third of the map made a mess of the air plans of both sides again. Some of my bombers flew to attack the air fields at Yunan, but they did little damage and caught no planes on the ground. And there were no Allied bombers attacking my troops in the field in Burma, so my LR CAP was for nought.

In a very strange move, a number of P-40s flew over Nanchang. I didn't have any CAP over the base, and no enemy bombers showed up, so I have no idea why those planes were there nor what their mission was supposed to be. Maybe they were escorts that didn't have any bombers to escort, maybe they were on LR CAP for some reason, or maybe AuTiger guessed wrongly that I would have CAP in place and sent them in on a sweep.

In any event, I pulled back my 2E bombers and ordered some divebombers to attack some Chinese troops in the field next turn. I also pulled back my weaker fighter units. I am actually hoping that AuTiger sends out his P-40s at extreme range against one of my Tony or Tojo Daitais that is sitting at 90% CAP and 30K feet.

In other news, the unmolested 116th/A reached 12 miles this turn, so the 2 mile-per-day movement rate seems to be sustainable. The SNLF fragment in northern Burma was also unmolested but is only moving at one mile-per-day and appears to be losing troops faster than it can get out of the jungle, so I may lose that fragment. Oh well, that will allow the "parent" unit to rebuild, so that's not all bad.

In naval news, another of my battleships received its October 1942 upgrade. That leaves only two BBs to go and both have Systems Damage that is less than 10. Since they are both in large ports that contain Repair Shipyards they ought to upgrade within the next couple of weeks. In the meanwhile the Akagi still sits at System Damage 12, where it has been for a week or so. The Akagi was supposed to upgrade in August, but despite sitting by itself in various big ports containing Repair Shipyards, ARs and even Naval HQs, the System Damage for Akagi has only gone down by 8 points in the past several months. This may be a case of the Game "working as designed", but it seems to be a poor "design" to me. BTW � the system damage of the Akagi only started to go down once I started to dock my BBs in port for repairs and upgrades. Go figure.

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Post #: 393

Little to Report, Sir! - 1/26/2008 12:52:40 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 14, 1942 � This was a very quiet turn, even by the standards of this pbem of late. The only thing that happened during the night phase was that Ogliuga Island reverted back to Allied control "automatically". AuTiger is getting a bit ambitious in the region and the Air Balance at Atka has gone up. But my latest bombardment TF will hit next turn so maybe this will be an opportunity for my forces to catch some Allied planes on the ground.

Otherwise, the only action came from a couple of tit-for-tat light bomber attacks on each other's troops in the field in the Burmese/Chinese border area. Once again AuTiger lucked out and my LR CAP ambush was waiting over the wrong target.

The 116th/A is alone once more as the Allied unit across the river disappeared. I presume that AuTiger sent it back to base. Unmolested, my troops gained another 2 miles on their journey to Lashio and now sit at 14 elapsed miles.

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Post #: 394

Toothless Bombardment - 1/26/2008 5:14:39 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 15, 1942 - My naval bombardment hit Adak Island without a hitch this turn, but it sure didn't have much of an effect. All that was accomplished was to cause a dozen or so casualties. Oh well, the Yamato is back so maybe a larger bombardment TF will do more.

There was the usual bad weather over most of the map again. I don't remember seeing a "Clear" day over Tokyo since the start of this pbem. However, AuTiger has gotten lucky with his weather over northern Australia where his bases have remained reasonably clear for quite some time while my bases in the DEI remain under rain. This means that AuTiger's bombers can usually take off, although there is no guarantee that they will find their targets. This also means that I can't sneak a bombardment TF in to keep AuTiger "honest".

So after an initial false start in which a few B-17s couldn't find Kendari, 137 B-17s flew and hammered the airfields there again in the afternoon. I finally got a base force into Morotai and flew in some Tojos and decent Zeros, so maybe the next time AuTiger sends the B-17s I'll have a chance to put a little opposition in his path.

In China the weather continued to be bad but AuTiger's bombers finally flew out of Changsha along with their P-40 escorts. The Liberators hit the resources at Nanking, but were hit back by a lot of flak so AuTiger took a couple of losses and a number of damaged planes.

The Chinese light bombers flew against the 34th Division again so I decided that it was time to bring up more planes and try for a few ambushes again. I have a number of reasonably good fighter units now set on LR CAP over my troops in the open in China and Burma and as well have bombers and escorts set to try to bomb the secondary airfields where AuTiger's Chinese 2Es are bases. I am trying out Tojos and Tonys as escorts for my bombers, so it will be interesting to see how well they do if they run into any P-40s on LR CAP.

In land news, the 116th/A is now at 16 elapsed miles, so it looks like it will reach Lashio before Christmas. The 4th Mixed Regiment is now only two hexes from Rangoon on the Burmese railway, so it will be in for full R&R soon. Only the fragment of the 2nd SNLF which is still in the jungle to the north of the Burmese railroad is doing poorly as it is now down to 11 disabled squads with 18 more miles to go before it gets out of the bush. I'm pretty sure that it won't make it.

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Post #: 395

A Small Nice Surprise - 1/27/2008 5:09:23 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 16, 1942 - This was yet another quiet evening, with only some Allied MSWs minesweeping way off in the far reaches of the Bay of Bengal. I've actually cut back on my routing mining of the Bay of Bengal ports and am focusing now on the Northern Australian coast and the DEI bases near there.

I keep on thinking that AuTiger is planning a major strike into that region in order to cut me off from my main resource and oil supplies. I have a fair number of forces in the region, but they aren't really the "right" forces for defense-in-depth. Instead what I have there are the units which I expected to back up any offensives in the region. So I am once again reconsidering my immediate distribution of forces and starting to move more forces into the region. Hopefully, AuTiger will continue to give me the time to bring more of the "right type" of forces to the region.

AuTiger was generally quiet this turn, and in contrast a couple of my plans actually worked for a change. An air attack flew against bombers at Hengchow and actually caused some reasonable damage to the air fields, but no bombers were caught on the ground. Then one of my Ambush Flights actually caught some Chinese 2Es over the 34th Division and shot a few down. It wasn't at all like the sorts of results AuTiger gets with his highly experienced pilots, but it was still a lot better than I've seen in quite some time.

On the other hand, the other key airfield attack didn't fly, and my other Ambush Flights didn't have anything to ambush, but they did suffer unpleasant numbers of Operational Losses in the lousy weather. That exemplifies what I dislike about the "Advanced Weather" - my less experienced pilots are continuously lost to bad weather before they can gain enough experience to gain any experience.

What I have been doing is setting my less-experienced air units to Training at an altitude or 5000 feet and a maximum distance of "1". I also have them in my larger air bases in the Home Islands. But because EVERY BASE in the Home Islands suffers from Thunderstorms almost EVERY TURN my planes either don't fly or I lose a handful of rookies each turn. I'm sorry, but that is B.S.

In other news, the 116th/A is up to 18 elapsed miles, and the Kure 2nd SNLF fragment is up to 44 miles, without losing more squads.

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Post #: 396

P-38s - 1/28/2008 11:53:31 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 17, 1942 � The night phase was another case of Peace and Quiet, but the day phase brought a fair amount of action and a few new things.

First off, AuTiger sent his Indian Forts off on a "hunting expedition" for my fighters in Burma. The Forts had difficulties finding Taung Gyi during the morning phase, but when they arrived in the afternoon they ran into a Daitai of Tonys for the first time. The Tonys acquitted themselves quite well, shooting down 4 out of the 12 Forts and damaging most of the others, with no Tonys lost.

The next nice effort came at Canton where AuTiger sent a unit of P-38s out on a sweep for the first time. 24 P-38s ran into 16 A6M2s and 22 Tonys. The Tonys did well and shot down 4 of the P-38s without a loss to themselves. And even the A6M2s only lost one plane.

In the meanwhile one of my washed-out bombing attacks from the previous day finally flew as Helens and a weak Zero Daitai bombed Yunan again. AuTiger had already pulled out his Chinese bombers so there weren't any to catch on the ground, but at least my pilots received some useful experience.

A less pleasant result came from the first air raid on Lunga by 4Es from Luganville. 100 B-17s and B-24s hit the air fields and port at Lunga. I had a reasonably good Zero Daitai on CAP, but despite taking some damage the bombers went through with their mission readily and hit their targets quite hard. I lost 9 A6M2s on the ground, and the already damaged AV that just got to port was damaged some more.

There isn't much that I can do about the situation in the South Pacific at this time other than to re-distribute my planes so that I minimize losses to 4E bombing raids. This certainly makes me happy again that I went to the trouble to grab Port Moresby way-back-when. Otherwise AuTiger would be regularly making the South Pacific untenable for me.

The situation in Asia is a different story. I've got to think that AuTiger will be unhappy with the results from his raids against my Tonys. I moved more Tonys into Canton and moved the Zeros out to Hong Kong, where I also moved in more Zeros with more experienced pilots. It will be interesting to see if he tries again with more fighters or with his fighters moved to closer air bases. Also, will he try to use some bombers against my base in conjunction with fighters?

In Burma I pulled back all of my fighter units in order to let the successful Tony defenders recover and also to give more training to my Zero Daitais. AuTiger has too many planes in that region to take any unnecessary chances.

In ground news the 4th Mixed Regiment finally made it back to Rangoon for full R&R. The 116th/A also reached 20 elapsed miles. And the Kure SNLF reached 46 elapsed miles, but at the same time went down to 10 damaged squads thanks to a strong British air raid. In China AuTiger brought a third LCU up against the trapped 34th Division, but their additional strength didn't change the situation much. The AI didn't help me way-back-when when it stupidly moved the 34th into a trap, but it now isn't helping AuTiger any as it makes him attack the 34th over and over again.

In Naval news, another of my BBs received its October 1942 upgrades, leaving only one BB to go. And the Akagi has quietly edged down to an Operational Damage level of 7, so who knows, maybe even the Akagi will be upgraded before Christmas.

My Christmas 1942 "wish" is that production date for the Oscar II will move ahead a month from its current January 1943 date, since I have over 220 planes-worth of R&D for this model. Sure, the Oscar II isn't anything great, but I would take paper kites in trade for my Nates at this point.

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Post #: 397

300 Bombers over the DEI - 1/30/2008 12:02:14 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 18, 1942 � The night phase was Peace and Quiet again other than a lone MSW sweeping a mine out of Ndini harbour. But the day period brought some ominous portents of things that may come.

The biggest change was that 154 B-17s hit the Port at Maumere. I've had a Base Force there for some time so that I could build up a back-up to my bases at Timor. As usual with Japanese engineering, it has been taking "forever" to try to build up the air fields to level 2 (and they still aren't there) so that I could use Maumere for some bomber support against naval attacks on Timor.

But why make a Port attack? I realized afterwards that what AuTiger is likely trying to do is to prepare for an invasion � Port attacks are the best means to get rid of any CD guns that may be present. This attack was followed up by another big attack on the airfields at Lautem by 157 Mitchells accompanied by 52 P-40Bs.

So AuTiger must be planning a mass invasion of multiple targets in the region and he wants to be certain that my forces will be out of supply, disrupted and that I won't be able to bring in air support from my backup bases. This fits in with the "vacuum" that I am seeing in the South-central and Eastern Pacific. There is no Allied Air Presence to speak of anywhere along the usual island bases. And AuTiger has totally ignored my activities in the South-central Pacific. (AuTiger likely assumes that the forces that are present on the Allied Atolls can withstand any Japanese raids long enough for back-up forces to arrive.)

What is particularly discouraging is that because of high pilot experience levels AuTiger is losing almost no planes to Operational Losses despite flying long distances with huge numbers of planes. I lose three times more planes and pilots on Range 1 Training flights each turn than AuTiger loses with three times the number of Air Operations each turn. Oh well, all I can do is to continue to reposition my forces and hope that AuTiger gives me the time that I need, and that he eventually makes a mistake of some sort.

Things were quiet in China as AuTiger re-thought his situation there in light of the failure of his P-38s to "wipe the sky" of my fighters. The weather was also lousy as usual, so I have no doubt that AuTiger will be back to try something else new soon enough.

In Burma the British 2Es attacked the Kure 2nd SNLF again but didn't hit any of the remaining troops, so the unit increased its movement to 48 elapsed miles without losing any more squads. The 116th/A also continued on its trek to Lashio and reached 24 elapsed miles.

AuTiger is getting impatient with the trapped 34th Division and added a fourth Chinese unit to the attack, but was rewarded with the same mediocre results. Land combat, like Land movement, tends to be a joke in this game, only this time I get to "laugh" at the results. But I still think that it is a sad excuse for a proper war game land combat system.

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Post #: 398

Liberators and Lightnings over Canton - 1/31/2008 12:23:03 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 19, 1942 � It was Peace and Quiet again during the night phase until my naval bombardment TF went in and hit Adak. Things didn't start out well as one of the escorting DDs hit a mine, but the rest of the force went ahead and did a fair job on the base. A Dauntless and a couple of Catalinas were destroyed on the ground, the various facilities were hit reasonably well, and there were over a hundred casualties amongst the defending troops. It wasn't a "nuclear" attack by any means but it still sent a good message to AuTiger not to take things for granted in the Aleutians. BTW � Atka reverted automatically to the Allied side, which is fine because that is one less empty base for AuTiger to use as a training target.

But the Aleutians aren't AuTiger's primary area of interest, as the day's main air battle showed. AuTiger, likely feeling a bit frustrated by the results of his first P-38 raid against Canton, sent more P-38s this turn, along with B-24s. 20 P-38s and 35 B-24s flew from Changsha to Canton and ran into 60 Tonys on high altitude CAP. Once again the Tonys performed well; 14 P-38s were shot down versus 7 Tonys, and the Liberators shot down more of the Tonys than did the P-38s. The Tonys also shot down 4 Liberators and damaged a lot more. The big bombers eventually did get through, but they didn't cause much damage and only a couple of recon planes were destroyed on the ground. And since I once again have all of my Southern Field Army back in Canton all of the damage was repaired by daylight.

So, will AuTiger try it again? My Tonys came through the battle in good shape with only a few planes under repair. Never-the-less, I've started to move up my next half-way decent Tony Daitai towards Canton, and if AuTiger gives me a day's respite there will be even more Tonys to greet him the next time that he "comes a calling".

The only other air action was an attack by Chinese 2Es on the trapped 34th Division. The subsequent land assault achieved much better odds against the 34th this time, but the overall results were still pretty much the same as usual. Never-the-less, I'm betting that AuTiger will send out his 2Es again next turn so I've moved a number of half-way decent Zero Daitais into position at different bases and set them to fly LR CAP missions over the 34th next turn. With any luck the Chinese bombers will have a rough trip.

In other land news, the Kure 2nd SNLF fragment received a break from the regular British air attacks this turn, so it advanced to 50 elapsed miles without losing any squads. And better yet, it actually received some supplies for the first time in a long, long time. The 116th/A didn't receive any supplies but it still moved up to 28 elapsed miles.

Otherwise, I just continued to re-distribute my forces. A Naval Base force arrived at Soerabaja this turn to back up the Special Base Force that is already there, and I redirected another Naval Base Force towards Kendari, instead of having it land in the Philippines. I also sent a fully-repaired and upgraded cruiser/destroyer TF out of Tokyo and down towards Saipan.

And in surprising news, the System Damage on the Akagi dropped to 5 today! That is with the damage on the Hyuga dropping to 6 at the same time. (They aren't in the same ports.) They were both at Sys Dam 7 yesterday, so this is quite a pleasant turn of events. Now watch, the Akagi will probably revert to taking weeks to get down to Sys Dam 3 before it can finally upgrade.

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Post #: 399

RE: Liberators and Lightnings over Canton - 1/31/2008 3:53:35 AM

USSAmerica

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Hi Dive. I just wanted to let you know I'm still reading and enjoying your war and AAR.

_____________________________

Mike

"Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett

"They need more rum punch" - Me

Artwork by The Amazing Dixie

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Post #: 400

RE: Liberators and Lightnings over Canton - 1/31/2008 6:18:52 AM

Dive Bomber1

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quote:

ORIGINAL: USS America

Hi Dive.� I just wanted to let you know I'm still reading and enjoying your war and AAR.�

Hi, it's great that you are still here. It is hard to find exciting things to write at this time as I attempt to prepare for obliteration (and hope endlessly for a miracle...

)

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Post #: 401

Another small ambush - 2/1/2008 12:21:38 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 20, 1942 � The Hunters became the Hunted, or at least the Unlucky this turn as a DD in one of my ASW TFs ran into a freshly laid mine at Khota Bharu and suffered a fair amount of damage. It's a very good thing that Singapore was only a hex away. The MSW TF that was supposed to clear the way for the DDs came afterwards and continued the job that the DD "started". Except for some minesweeping at Tulagi things were otherwise quiet during the rest of the night phase.

The day phase was anything but quiet as both sides continued to play Cat-and-Mouse with each other's air units. First, I had a Daitai of Sallys fly into Hengchow at treetop level to try to catch some of AuTiger's Chinese 2Es on the ground. My bombers endured a lot of damage but took no losses, thanks to the relatively weak Chinese flak. Unfortunately they didn't catch any planes on the ground despite causing a fair amount of damage to the air fields.

Then AuTiger sent 60 B-17s to hit the airfields at Taung Gyi in case I had an ambush fighter Daitai there. I didn't, but the 4Es did catch a couple of recon planes on the ground. I haven't yet figured out what allows some planes to fly out of an air base before a bombing raid and what leaves some or all in place to be hit by an air raid, but my suspicion is that the "common factor" is once again Pilot Experience.

Next there came an attack by 58 B-17s on the Port at Ndini. Once again I am assuming that AuTiger is preparing the way for an invasion. (God Bless � AuTiger deserves that miserable piece of malarial garbage.) I had a little squadron of Rufes on CAP and they valiantly attempted to confront the sky-darkening enemy attack. Surprisingly, no Rufes were shot down by the Flying Fortresses.

Then during the Afternoon Phase 10 Chinese SB-2c bombers from Hengchow finally attacked the 34th Division. Waiting in the sky were 33 A6M2s from four different Daitais in three different bases. The result wasn't bad; 5 SB-2c bombers were destroyed and the rest were damaged, but I did get a number of Zeros damaged. I suspect that again the effects of relative experience came into play: AuTiger has been giving his 2Es constant practice against my trapped LCUs and I've got to believe that most of the Allied bomber pilots have very good experience by now. On the other hand, these Zero Daitais were my "second tier" units, which were all that were available at this time since my First Tier Zeros have been tied up in the Aleutians. (My Third Tier fighters are sitting back in big air bases far from the Front Lines and undergoing 90% training at 1 hex max distance.)

Finally, the British 2Es flew against the Kure 2nd SNLF fragment in northern Burma again, but they didn't cause any damage. So the fragment moved up to 52 elapsed miles and didn't lose any more squads. At the same time the 116th/A moved up to 30 elapsed miles.

Far away from the mainland of Asia I restarted my pull-out from the southern most reaches of the South Pacific by loading a worn-out NLF unit onto an AK that had just dropped off a few supplies at Funafuti. I have a larger dedicated transport TF nearby that will pull out the Air Base Force out of Funafuti and also the worn-out NLF that is sitting at the next Island up the chain. Thankfully, AuTiger is still totally ignoring that region so it appears that I may have a good chance of getting all of my forces out safely.

Speaking of pulling out forces, I pulled an Air Base Force out of Kiska this turn. I've left behind a full Base Force that contains Coastal Guns and AA. I'm sending that Air Base Force off to Korea to fill in one of the air support "holes" I left at the beginning of this pbem when I sent absolutely every unit that belonged to Southern Command to the Front.

And finally, the System Damage on Hyuga went down to 5 this turn, tying it with Akagi again in the Race to Upgrade.

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Post #: 402

Peace and Quiet - 2/1/2008 4:30:40 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 21, 1942 - This evening it was the Allied turn to have a ship hit a mine in a base where minesweeping was occurring. An AK carrying troops hit one of my sub-laid mines at Umnak while the MSW escorts were cleaning up other mines. I've got another mine-laden sub in the neighborhood so I'll send it down to "refresh the stock" at Umnak.

There was also a little bit of sub hunting as one of my DD ASW TFs chased an Allied sub in the North Pacific, but otherwise nothing happened this turn except for the usual recon flights from both sides.

AuTiger must be rethinking his options in the Asian mainland now that I've finally got a force together than won't just roll-over-and-die when any Allied fighters show up. Of course, if AuTiger reads those posts in the Forum that speak of the multiple-attack approach to dealing with localized CAP then I could be in trouble again in no time.

AuTiger hasn't given up on this air offensive in China by any means, so there were Warhawks on LR CAP over Hengchow this turn and there are still a lot of planes at Changsha, although surprisingly enough, there wasn't any CAP over Changsha this turn. Just in case AuTiger does try another raid on Canton I brought up my lone decent Tojo Daitai to join the four decent Tony units on high altitude CAP. Those 142 planes and pilots are the "best hope" for the Japanese right now.

Well, that's not quite 100% true, because I am slowly pulling my experienced Zero Daitais out of the Aleutians, but they are only good against second-string Allied planes at this point, so I am quietly positioning them and saving them for what I hope will be another opportunity to do a long-range air ambush.

In any event, I am enjoying the "breather" that I am getting and hope that it will stretch out a little longer. The Kure 2nd SNLF/1 wasn't attacked this turn and reached 54 elapsed miles, so it could be out of the jungle and onto the railroad in a couple of days with some luck. And the 116th/A reached 32 elapsed miles.

I was surprised to see that there were only two Chinese LCUs attacking the trapped 34th Division this turn. AuTiger must have pulled his other two units back in order to rest and rebuild them. I will have to watch how things develop and maybe send some long range bombers in to hit those fresh Chinese LCUs. Today's land attack on the 34th was back to the usual level of minor casualties. The 34th can't stand this forever, but it is certainly taking its time disappearing. I guess the advantage from AuTiger's P.O.V. is that he has been able to use the 34th as a near-freebie training ground for his forces.

In other news, the Port at Manila finally reached Level 9. I'm planning ahead for AuTiger's eventual charge across the Pacific and Manila's location makes a great rallying point.

And finally, in the Surprise of the Day, both the Akagi and the Hyuga upgraded overnight!

So now all of my Naval Upgrades are up-to-date and the vast majority of my combat ships are in excellent shape. Now all I have to do is to position them so that I can respond strongly to AuTiger's first offensive.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 403

Bye-bye I-124 - 2/2/2008 6:05:27 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 22, 1942 - The night phase saw the usual sort of thing; a single minesweeper swept a single mine from Tulagi. However, it appears that this was the final mine, so the MSW can go back to Shortlands for R&O until the next Allied sub shows up to mine Tulagi again.

One of my last dedicated mine-laying subs, I-124, ran into some very bad luck after it mined the harbor at Brisbane this turn. Some very sharp-eyed Hudson pilots spotted the sub and hit it with several bombs. So I-124 sank in the harbor. This is just another example of how well experienced are the pilots of AuTiger's 2E bombers. Now, if he would only risk some of those bombers against my Tonys� (sigh)

Other than that attack there were no air attacks anywhere this turn. Only Recon flights flew. AuTiger continues to fly Recon over Kendari. I'm not sure why, because most everything there is in ruins and more 4E bombing attacks won't make things any worse. Maybe he just forgot to give those recon planes a different objective?

AuTiger has pulled back a bit in China. He has Spitfires flying CAP over Yenen, P-40Es flying CAP over Changsha, and a mix of various fighters flying CAP over Chungking. But otherwise there isn't any sign of Allied air. I took this opportunity to pull back one of my Tony Daitais and give it more planes to bring it up to strength. I actually have several Daitais with more pilots than the maximum number of planes. It's seems silly to me that I can't transfer pilots between units, but hey, that's the Game for you.

Speaking of Air Power, AuTiger appears to be a lot more interested in the Aleutians than I expected because the Air Balance in the Eastern Aleutians, including Adak, has gone up a lot in the past couple of turns. Considering that the weather is still garbage 99.99% of the time and Winter is just around the corner, I've got to wonder why. But I'm not one to waste opportunities so I ordered the Yamato TF to head out and bombard Adak again. I put my best Zero Daitai on LR CAP at 10K feet over the TF and with any luck in two turns I will reduce the Air Balance at Adak again. BTW - I also have Kongo and a couple of big, good CAs in the TF, so if AuTiger sends any ships forward there ought to be an interesting naval battle.

In land combat news, today's land attack on the trapped 34th Division got better results for AuTiger than usual, despite the lack of an aerial bombing attack. I guess that time is finally running out for the 34th. Just to liven things up a bit I moved a bomber unit nearby and set it to hit the Chinese troops that are besieging the 34th. I also moved a couple of bomber units into Burma again and set them to do some nuisance raids on some of the Allied bases that don't have any CAP present.

In other LCU news, the Kure 2nd SNLF/1 reached 56 elapsed miles this turn and actually has its full complement of supplies for a change. The 116th/A still doesn't have any supplies, but it reached 34 elapsed miles anyway.

I'm also indirectly keeping AuTiger edgy in south-western China as I continue to move minor LCUs around. I've been shifting my weaker forces to back-water bases by land and as AuTiger sees those units move he sends Chinese LCUs out to "shadow" my units, just in case I attempt to cut his supply lines. That's good for me because it moves Allied LCUs out of the relative "safety" of bases and into the open where I can hit them with my air units without taking so many flak losses. I am also working on re-establishing my lines of communication in the region and getting rid of the last few "A" marks that interfere with my supply transport. Right now AuTiger has his troops sitting back in their bases so that makes my job easier.

Finally, the recover operation in the Far South Pacific is moving along smoothly with no indications that AuTiger knows or cares about what I am doing. Later on, when AuTiger is fighting his way through the Pacific, he will learn that every unit counts and that there will be no "gimmes" for him to grab with minor units.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 404

Gnat bites - 2/4/2008 3:06:27 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 23, 1942 - We had yet another quiet night, other than a couple of contacts with Allied subs in the Bering Straight that didn't result in anything. The day phase was less quiet, but bad weather did cause a few headaches for AuTiger.

First off, all of my nuisance air strikes flew this turn. A Helen Sentai bombed the air fields at Myitkyina but caused only a little damage. A Betty Sentai bombed the air fields at Ledo and caused no damage and hit none of the planes on the ground. Finally, an Ann Sentai hit the 55th Chinese Corp that is besieging the 34th Division at 44, 36 and caused a few casualties.

AuTiger had some troubles at first thanks to the weather and his first B-17 raid against Kendari turned back. But in the afternoon 105 Forts hit the air fields and port at Kendari causing reasonable damage. However, the end result was that AuTiger lost a half-dozen B-17s to Operational damage, so that was a decent result from my p.o.v. In addition, 35 Liberators hit the Port at Ndini again, with four Rufes making yet another valiant effort to be "noticed" by the big bombers.

From a pure "bad luck" point-of-view, despite the bad weather my bombardment TF on its way to Adak was noticed by some Allied Wellingtons. So unless AuTiger is asleep at the wheel he has enough warning to pull out his planes out of Adak and send in some PTs if he wants. In any event, I increased the Zero LR CAP over my TF in case some Allied bombers do take off next turn.

In LCU news, the Kure 2nd SNLF is now up to 58 elapsed miles, so with any luck it will be out of the jungle next turn. The 116th/A continued its march and reached 36 elapsed miles this turn. And the land attack on the trapped 34th Division was not as strong as last turn, although the 34th still took plenty of casualties in its current hyper-weakened state.

And in the Far South Pacific one of my recovery TFs removed an IJA BF out of Funafuti while another recovery TF pulled an NLF out of Nukufetau. They are now on their way to Truk for rest and rebuilding. There was still no sign of AuTiger noticing my movements in the region.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 405

Missed punch - 2/4/2008 4:14:40 PM

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October 24, 1942 - It was the Allied turn to sweep mines this evening, and while some MSWs were sweeping out Dutch Harbor an Allied AK with them hit a mine and took some casualties. It looks like either AuTiger is preparing to stage a non-trivial operation in the Aleutians at some point, or else he is really concerned about a Japanese return to the eastern Aleutians. BTW, my bombardment TF hit Adak but caused little damage despite containing 2 BBs, 3 CAs and 3 CLs. And as I expected AuTiger pulled out his air units in advance of the attack.

Otherwise things were quiet all over the map with the exception of Recon flights. AuTiger is still sending daily F-5A recon missions over Kendari. He must be wondering why I have TFs there all the time. The reason is simple: Kendari is still producing excess Supplies and Resources so I am constantly shipping them out to where they are needed. I will also have a fresh Naval Base Force arriving soon, so that will make the place a bit more secure.

In the Asian mainland AuTiger continued with his CAP over Hengchow, but for whatever reason, he hasn't had any CAP over Changsha recently. He did move some Spitfires to Ledo in response to my air raid last turn, which has encouraged me to continue with my hit-'n-run air tactics. Therefore, I am sending bombers against some Chinese LCUs out in the open in southwest China again next turn, and I am also trying a single Sally Sentai raid at 1000 feet of the airfields at Changsha. My Recon flights keep on telling me that there are a lot of planes at the air fields, so maybe I'll get lucky, particularly if AuTiger keeps his CAP grounded.

In Ground Combat news, the Kure 2nd SNLF/1 finally made it to the Burma Railroad this turn, so it won't take much more time before it is reunited with the main unit. The 116th/A continued on its march and reached 38 elapsed miles. And the daily assault on the trapped 34th Division had less of an effect than usual. I keep on thinking that there ought to be some means by which I can drive a rescue force through the Chinese lines, but with the Land Movement rules I would probably just get another couple of units trapped again.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 406

An "Aw, nuts!" moment - 2/5/2008 2:18:01 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 25, 1942 - AuTiger and I appear to be taking turns sweeping mines nowadays. This night it was the turn of one of my MSWs to sweep some fresh mines out of Ndini.

The day phase started out with one of those "aw s*h*i*t" moments for me as my recon planes flew over Changsha only to find a number of P-40s and P-38s back on CAP. Either AuTiger guessed right or his INTEL told him to look out for an air attack. In any event, my Sallys flew in and got hit hard, losing 8 planes. And as usual with my air attacks, no Allied planes were caught on the ground. All that came out of this mess was that a few P-40s were damaged.

Then it was AuTiger's turn to have a "surprise" turn into a headache. Thirty-five Liberators flew out of Umnak and attacked the air fields at Kiska at 6000 feet. But my reasonably well-trained A6M2s and A6M3s had a good day in the air, shooting down 13 B-24s and damaging a number of others. Never-the-less, the rest of the Liberators got through and did destroy a number of planes on the ground. But for once my pilots weren't "asleep in their cockpits" and I didn't lose any pilots on the ground. So I increased the CAP levels for my fighters to 90% and brought in a back-up A6M2 Daitai just in case AuTiger tries to do "better" the next time.

Other than my misbegotten Sally attack on Changsha, things were quiet in the Far East. However, AuTiger started flying F-5As over Canton again. I wonder what he will think of the fact that I had no CAP this turn? In any event, just in case AuTiger decides to send more fighters and bombers in against Canton next turn I moved my rested good fighters back into Canton and Hong Kong and set everyone to high altitude 90% CAP again.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 407

Kendari bombed to bits again - 2/6/2008 3:26:53 AM

Dive Bomber1

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October 26, 1942 - The night phase had the usual minimal action, which this evening consisted of a couple of my MSWs unsuccessfully chasing an Allied sub off of Paramushiro Jima, and a couple more of my MSWs sweeping mines successfully near Singapore.

The day phase brought an attempt by my air forces in the Aleutians to "spook" AuTiger a bit. I had Bettys fly recon over Umnak and Emilys fly recon over Dutch Harbor. AuTiger had a few Kittyhawks on CAP. I just want to keep AuTiger edgy, and this seemed to be the safest way to do that. However, half of my Bettys were damaged from flying in the bad weather, so I won't be doing that very often.

AuTiger sent out much more substantial "messages" with his essentially invincible air units. Kendari was hit yet again by 147 B-17s and Lunga was hit again by 64 B-17s. As usual, the Forts had no losses. This exemplifies a fundamental logical problem with the use of Pilot Experience as a major factor in Air Mission success - Operational damage should reflect general "bad luck" and the wear-and-tear on the planes as they get older and have more missions on them. But high Pilot Experience negates any random chance damage. It should be harder for both sides to operate older planes that have seen many missions, not easier. I wonder if any of the Devs have ever thought about this?

It appears that AuTiger is getting ready for a stronger "Round Two" in China and has been steadily reinforcing his main air bases at Chungking, Changsha and Yenen. Changsha is now a Level 9 air base so there is essentially no chance that I'll ever be able to close it again or stop AuTiger from using it as a main air base for the Strategic bombing of the Home Islands.

In any event, I decided to not take any more chances and I pulled my fighters out of China and placed them in various strategic, but not Front Line, bases in Southeast Asia. I lucked out before with air units that weren't really that good, so I now want to rest them up and train them more before I risk them again.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 408

More Recon Wars - 2/6/2008 8:22:14 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 27, 1942 - My lone MSW in the Aleutians successfully cleaned out a couple of Allied mines from Adak during the night phase. Despite a huge build-up of the Air Balance levels at Umnak and Dutch Harbor nothing flew out to try to hit my little "sacrificial goat". Never-the-less, it's still nice to see that AuTiger continues to be "interested" in the Aleutians.

The day phase was primarily "Recon Wars", with both sides sending planes out all over China, and in the case of AuTiger, yet another F-5A flight over Kendari. I wonder if AuTiger is considering a thrust right at Kendari so that he can place his air power right in the middle of the DEI? In any event, my repositioning of my forces is continuing so if AuTiger does try a major effort in the DEI I will be in a position to oppose it in force.

In the meanwhile, as part of my attempts to "cover my tracks" as I move my forces around, some Anns hit a Chinese LCU that ventured outside of the safety of Wuhan, while some Sallys hit one of the LCUs that is slowly but surely grinding the 34th Division down into oblivion.

As far as my other "wayward" LCUs go, the Kure 2nd SNLF/1 is safely in Mandalay now, on its way to Rangoon and eventually Bangkok. I am going to ship the rest of the Kure 2nd SNLF to Bangkok to join up with the fragment. And the 116th/A is up to 44 elapsed miles on its way towards Lashio. I wonder if its movement rate will increase again once it reaches one hex from Lashio?

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Post #: 409

Diving into the bomb shelters - 2/7/2008 10:23:09 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 28, 1942 - It was another quiet night. About 10 of my DD escorts missed an Allied sub they passed in the Marshalls, and the 1-plane AV that was bombed in Lunga harbor sank finally in Shortlands harbor. What a waste of supplies - you can be sure that I'm not converting AKs in my latest pbems.

The day phase belonged to the Allied 4E bombers. Forty-two B-24Ds hit the resources at Hanoi, sixty-three B-17s hit the resources at Rangoon, and 54 more Forts hit the airfield at Tulagi. Actually, AuTiger's Super-2Es got into the act too, as some Beauforts at Brisbane whacked yet another sub that was laying mines.

The only thing that didn't work out right for AuTiger this turn was his daily land attack on the trapped 34th Division. This time he had his Chinese LCUs try a Shock attack. The results were much worse than in the previous handful of Deliberate attacks. Somehow that only seems "fair" considering that the 34th should have never been trapped in the first place except for the incredibly bad Land Movement routines in the Program.

Otherwise, things were generally quiet. My repositioning of my forces continued as planned in the absence of any attempts at interference by AuTiger. He must be very confident that his eventual onslaught will wash past any defense that I attempt. But I am enjoying setting up little surprises. For example, I just dropped a fully rested and full strength Naval Base Force at Kendari, and I am pulling out the decimated Special Base Force that was there and sending it back to Manila for rebuilding. I already pulled out a decimated Aviation Engineering unit out of Kendari and sent it to Manila too, and it is recovering very nicely.

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Post #: 410

Sleepy Time - 2/9/2008 3:11:58 AM

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October 29, 1942 - This evening phase had no action of any sort, not even minesweeping or sub hunting. For that matter, AuTiger's subs seem to have disappeared off of the map. Maybe he is moving them back to port for R&O in anticipation of getting good torpedoes in January 1943.

The day phase was almost equally quiet. There were no air attacks by AuTiger. The only action was a ground attack by my Anne unit on a Chinese LCU in the open to the north of Wuchow, and another attack by a unit of Sallys on one of the Chinese LCUs that is besieging the 34th Division. Speaking of the 34th, the Chinese LCUs didn't attempt an attack this turn; I guess that the effects of the failed Shock attack last turn were pretty painful.

Right now I get the feeling that AuTiger is trying to "smell out" my forces. He has recon planes flying all over, but he isn't finding much, and when he finds something, I move it. I am absolutely astonished (and extremely grateful) that AuTiger has waited so long to do anything. Every day that he holds off a major attack is another day in which my forces become distributed better and better. If AuTiger had mounted any sort of counter-attack a couple of Game-months ago while I had all of my forces bogged down in the Aleutians he would have found almost nothing in his way.

In any event, I appear to have "tempted" AuTiger to move some Chinese troops out of his bases along the rail line in Central China. A fairly large column of Chinese troops is now chasing a couple of my armored units down towards the crossroads between Canton and Wuchow. But I have moved a sizable force back into the crossroads - a force that is much stronger and more rested than the one that defeated another Chinese army a while back at the same point. I have also moved a number of bomber units back into the area and will give them some practice against that Chinese column, along with a Tony Daitai on escort just to keep AuTiger a bit cautious.

In the meanwhile, I think that I have spotted one last chance to try to extricate the 34th Division, so I've ordered a number of full-strength and fully rested Divisions out of Wuhan again and have them heading towards Changsha. I also have a big Division wandering around to the south, apparently threatening the rail line, but actually just "laying Js" so that I have supply movement in the region. It will be interesting to see what AuTiger does.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 411

RE: Sleepy Time - 2/9/2008 11:12:25 AM

Koniev

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Hi DB -

Although I havn't posted anything up to now, I have been reading this thread with some interest. You write a very entertaining and informative AAR - please keep it up.

I was getting a little upset at the earlier troubles you seem to be having. My thinking was - Why should I learn a game that has so many apparant bugs in it. This seems to have improved after you corrected to the same versions.

One observation: As your "saga" unfolds, I am reminded of a scene in the movie The Longest Day where Field Marshall Rommel points his baton toward the English Channel and says something like "Across that sea lies a monster...". Or words to that effect. I feel that something is going to break - and that you won't like it. Good luck.

_____________________________

"Those who don't remember History are condemned to relive it" George Santayana

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Post #: 412

RE: Sleepy Time - 2/9/2008 4:32:41 PM

Dive Bomber1

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Koniev

Hi DB -

Although I havn't posted anything up to now, I have been reading this thread with some interest. You write a very entertaining and informative AAR - please keep it up.

I was getting a little upset at the earlier troubles you seem to be having. My thinking was - Why should I learn a game that has so many apparant bugs in it. This seems to have improved after you corrected to the same versions.

One observation: As your "saga" unfolds, I am reminded of a scene in the movie The Longest Day where Field Marshall Rommel points his baton toward the English Channel and says something like "Across that sea lies a monster...". Or words to that effect. I feel that something is going to break - and that you won't like it. Good luck.

I've learned to "live" with the problems in the current version of WitP and I now avoid many of them, so I don't get as upset with it as I used to get. It also helps to know that the Admiral's Edition is coming and I expect that many of the old problems in WitP will be corrected.

One thing to keep in mind in this AAR is that this is the fourth Scenario 15 pbem that AuTiger and I started against each other. The first two were stopped early on after AuTiger threw away much of his naval power in overly-aggressive thrusts into the jaws of the Japanese forces. The third game was stopped after I threw away half of the KB by mis-reading my INTEL and going beyond my ability to know where the Allied forces were located.

This fourth pbem has been very different because AuTiger changed his tactics and strategy dramatically and it was extremely hard for me to compensate and correct for his new approach. He very deliberately avoided all engagement early on except for those areas where he could ambush my air units and trap my land units. I took huge, and in reality, totally unnecessary losses to my air units and also my land forces as I chased AuTiger into almost every trap that he set. The only point at which I surprised AuTiger was with my assault on Port Moresby.

The result of this is that at this point in our pbem, AuTiger has much better forces than he might if he took the more typical aggressive defense approach, and I have much weaker forces than I might have if I hadn't spread myself so thin and attacked too many places simultaneously.

So all of the frustrations and set-backs that I've endured in this pbem have been very useful because I now have a much more realistic and effective strategy for my current pbems. Sure, I'll continue to make mistakes, fall into traps, and get tripped up by unexpected quirks in the Game Mechanics, but I now have the feeling that I can play competitively, which I didn't really have as this pbem got underway.

Thanks for the comments - Dive

(in reply to Koniev)

Post #: 413

Armies on the March - 2/9/2008 11:07:41 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 30, 1942 - It was Peace and Quiet again during the night phase. I look forward to each night phase with great anticipation, because I know that one of these turns the quiet night will be rudely awakened by the sound of guns roaring and troops storming ashore somewhere.

In the meanwhile, the usual games went on. AuTiger sent 150 Mitchells and 53 Tomahawks against Lautem again. This time AuTiger didn't have his usual luck with the weather and a half dozen Mitchells were lost to Operational Damage.

There were then a couple of air attacks on the trapped 34th Division, but this time with a difference. In addition to having a couple of Chinese 2E bombers fly in to hit my ragged remnants, a squadron of P-38s flew in with machine guns blazing. Well, that's just "Too Good" of an invitation, so I moved some Tonys in close and set them to fly LR CAP over the 34th next turn, just in case they can catch some P-38s flying at the treetops.

I was disappointed this turn that none of my bombers in and around Canton flew against the Chinese troops that are coming down the railroad towards the crossroads north of Canton. A Daitai of Tonys did fly LR CAP over the enemy troops, so AuTiger will know that I have some intentions in the area. I wonder if this will encourage him to try to challenge my Tonys or cause him to hold off. All was not totally quiet on my side as the same lone group of Anns flew against the Chinese troops north of Wuchow again.

It appears that AuTiger is continuing to send his troops forward along the railroad. I wonder if he will try to attack my troops at the crossroads. My forces there continue to build and I wait with great anticipation for any Chinese engagement. If the Chinese do show up I intend to attack and then pursue.

Something similar is happening in Burma. As I expected, AuTiger didn't wait long after I moved my Brigade back from the outskirts of Myitkyina to send some troops forward along the rail line. This time it will be my turn to give my 2E bombers practice against his troops in the region.

Elsewhere, my repositioning of my forces continued unabated and unhindered by the Allies. And I get a couple more fresh base forces in four more days, so things are looking reasonably good at this point; and certainly better than they did back in the Summer of 1942.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 414

Snookered again - 2/10/2008 11:11:48 PM

Dive Bomber1

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October 31, 1942 - It was Peace and Quiet again in the Night Phase as nothing occurred, then the Day Phase brought action, but little of it turned out good for me.

First off, 125 B-17s hit the Ports and Airfields at Kendari again, giving the newly arrived Naval Base Force a very unwelcome welcome. Then AuTiger sent his P-38 trainees and Chinese 2Es off to hit the 34th Division again, but this time they were escorted by 69 P-40Es, aka the "Gods of Death" in this particular pbem. My Zero Daitai on LR CAP over the 34th was reasonably experienced, but it was also badly outnumbered and thus it got hammered. In the end I lost 13 A6M2s against the loss of 4 P-40Es for AuTiger. So I moved my now much smaller Zero Daitai to Shanghai and sent my last Zero Chutai over to be merged with it.

Then, as is oddly typical of "luck clumping" in this Game, none of my other air attacks flew, despite reports of reasonably acceptable weather throughout China and Burma. If there is any one wish that I have for WitP AE edition it would be to have reports telling why an air attack didn't fly.

So as a result of a strong air attack followed by a strong land attack, the 34th is almost finished. There are only 5 combat squads left, along with some support troops. It is obvious that unless the Game decides to really screw-around with AuTiger there is no hope to save the 34th, so I called off my last, much too late, rescue effort.

In other news, A6M3a Zeros finally got into production with the start of November. Consistent with my lousy luck this turn, the Oscar II still hasn't advanced and will still not arrive until January 1943.

November also means the start of Winter, so the chances of AuTiger sustaining any significant aerial campaign in the Aleutians have just been reduced significantly. Therefore, I have started to pull even more forces out of the Kuriles and will send them to join my other forward units in other regions.

The one bit of good news was that the 116th/A continues on its slow march across the jungles and is now at 52 elapsed miles towards it rendezvous with the hex that is only one hex from Lashio.

Below are the Stats as of November 1, 1942 - One can readily see how well AuTiger's strategy and tactics have succeeded in this game by simply looking at my Troop, Air and Naval losses.

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 415

The beginning of the end - 2/12/2008 1:58:23 AM

Dive Bomber1

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November 1, 1942 - It was Peace and Quiet during the Night Phase again, which was okay because all of the "nightmares" flew during the day phase.

Last turn, although my planes didn't fly out of most of my bases, AuTiger's Recon planes flew like usual and one spotted my air units doing nothing on the ground at Mandalay. So I assumed that "Divine Retribution" would immediately follow and pulled back my planes out of Burma with the exception of my best Tojo Daitai that I left flying LR CAP over Mandalay.

Sure enough, AuTiger's highly experienced pilots had no issues with the weather this turn and a massive air attack hit the air fields at Mandalay. Only a quarter of my Daitai flew, so my 7 Tojos had to face 47 Liberators, 62 Forts, 12 Wellingtons and 24 Blenheims. My pilots did their best, but they were only able to shoot down 4 Blenheims and damage a few other bombers, while the bombers shot down 4 of the Tojos. The resulting attack totally closed the airfields and air support at Mandalay.

That was nothing that I didn't expect, but what was totally discouraging this turn was what happened to my attempt to throw something back at the Allies. I put my best Betty units on air field attack against a number of secondary Allied air bases in the hopes of catching some planes on the ground. My bombers flew against Trimcomalee, Cookstown, and Midway. The other planned air attacks didn't fly.

The Bettys only ran into CAP at Trimcomalee, where second string Hurricanes had a field day against my crack Bettys. Those bombers that weren't ravaged by the fighters were hammered by the flak, and in the end accomplished no hits on anything. The Bettys at Cookstown only faced flak, but were hammered by that and ended up only destroying one Catalina on the ground. Even the Bettys that attacked Midway were hammered by flak.

Essentially, I have absolutely no forces capable of threatening the Allies at all at this stage of our pbem. I don't even have any means to try to gain parity in the pilot experience gap. AuTiger's planes can do pretty much what they want, when they want, as long as he gathers a large number of his bombers at the same place and the same time.

And to add to that sad lesson AuTiger flew 61 Forts against Lunga again this turn too. I have too few decent fighters to be able to counter the Allied attacks and there are too many potential targets for AuTiger for me to be able to guess right where he will attack and have sufficient defensive air in place to "discourage" him.

In retrospect, the obvious reason that AuTiger can do what he wants at this stage of the game is that I threw away too many units and pilots early on and gave the Allied planes too many opportunities to gain "free" experience. Once I got behind the "experience 8-ball" there was no catching up.

Oh well, while things are pretty much pointless for me in this game, AuTiger deserves the opportunity to see how well he can do when he goes on the offensive, and so I'll continue to be a "compliant target". I don't expect AuTiger to make as many or the same mistakes that I made, and so his eventual re-conquest ought to go smoothly and quickly and put an end to this sad failure in a relatively short time.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 416

Lousy Luck x 4 - 2/14/2008 12:19:23 AM

Dive Bomber1

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November 2, 1942 � This was a multiple bad luck night phase, as my incoming transport TF hit a mine at Nanomea, which alerted AuTiger to my TF being there. Then the PC that hit the mine sank, and to add insult to injury, the entire transport TF decided to head back to Truk. I don�t know if AuTiger will react, but I have decided to send a fast cruiser/destroyer TF down from Kwajalein anyway just in case AuTiger decides to try to interfere with my withdrawal.

Speaking of withdrawals, the withdrawal of my Brigade from the western outskirts of Myitkyina has prompted AuTiger to send a single small British LCU down the rail line. That unit is now only one hex from Mandalay. I presume that AuTiger is going to send that unit into Mandalay as a "test" to find out what forces I have in place. I have that Brigade there, along with some other units, so they ought to kick that British unit out quickly. It will be interesting to see what AuTiger does next.

In China AuTiger sent his Chinese 2Es along with his trainee P-38s against the 34th Division again, with the P-40Es along to keep me honest. The bombers hammered the 34th hard and subsequently so did the ground attack, but the blasted survivors are still there. I can only shake my head in frustration at all of the experience that AuTiger's forces have gained thanks to the idiotic AI sending the 34th into that trap.

BTW � the 116th/A, which hasn't been bothered recently, is now up to 56 elapsed miles, so it ought to move to the hex next to Lashio in a couple more turns. BTW II, now that the Kure 2nd SNLF/1 is safely on the railroad south of Mandalay, and has plenty of supplies, it has now lost a couple more disabled units. So the blasted thing may still disappear before it rejoins the rest of its compatriots in Bangkok.

I forgot that I had some Emilys flying long range recon over Midway and Trincomalee this turn, so I turned them back to routine naval patrols. I do happen to have a BB-TF at Wake, which was on its way to Kwajalein, and since my recon spotted some ships at Midway and no Air except for patrol planes, I've decided to try to take advantage of the generally bad weather in the region and try to sneak the surface combat TF in to either catch the ships or else bombard the base. Sure, I know very well that spur-of-the-moment nuisance attacks almost invariably backfire, but I figure that I get opportunities so rarely that I have to try to take advantage of some of them.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 417

The End of the 34th Division - 2/15/2008 2:02:08 AM

Dive Bomber1

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November 3, 1942 � There was another quiet night phase, with the exception of some Allied MSWs that swept mines in Brisbane Harbor. Then the Day Phase came and brought a mix of action.

First off was yet another big B-17 air raid on the air fields and port at Kendari. 131 B-17Es flew in at 9000 feet. But waiting for them were 22 A6M2s on LR CAP from two nearby Daitais. The Zeros weren't the best of the Japanese air units, but they still fought bravely and well, and for the first time the Allied 4Es felt some pain. Eight Forts were shot down in air-to-air, and a large number were damaged. Later on another B-17 became a casualty of Operational Damage. Only five Zeros were shot down, although more were damaged. That ought to give AuTiger something to think about.

Next it was the turn of the 34th Division to suffer another massive low altitude air attack by the Allied air units from Changsha. The air attack set the stage and the following land attack, now by four Chinese LCUs, finished off the 34th. So a sad chapter in the saga of the Movement Rules was finally closed. From now on, if AuTiger wants "practice" in China he will have to earn it.

In other LCU news in mainland Asia, the 116th/A reached 58 elapsed miles this turn, so it ought to move next turn. And the Kure 2nd SNLF/1 lost two more squads, so it looks like it will disappear while marching back to base. BTW � the small British unit that was only one hex away from Mandalay along the railroad disappeared this turn, so I assume that AuTiger has pulled it back and is satisfied with having the railroad under "A" control for now.

It appears that AuTiger is planning a major offensive in Burma because the Air Balance levels in the Indian border bases have reached astronomical levels, while in China the Air Balance has dropped down abruptly. Now, AuTiger certainly hasn't abandoned his air efforts in China, and there are still plenty of fighters and bombers in Changsha, but the threat of Heavy Bomber attacks appears to have moved to Burma.

Despite the misadventures last turn of my Recovery TF in the far South Pacific, AuTiger didn't do much in the region and the air balances over his bases in the South Pacific remained low. My transport TF returned safely to Nanomea, so I was able to pull out the SNLF and the IJA Base Force that I had garrisoning that base. They are now on their way back to Truk for R&R and then onwards for future repositioning. So I am quite happy with the overall results of the operation and now have forces that will be useful instead of being isolated.

BTW � my bombardment TF moved undetected to within striking range of Midway this turn. However, the Air Balance over Midway suddenly jumped, for the first time in a very long time, from 9 to 149. That's very good, or very lucky, INTEL on AuTiger's part. The weather also suddenly cleared up, so I decided that I wasn't going to send in my TF under those conditions and instead ordered it to head back at Flank Speed to Wake.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 418

Liberators over Wake Island - 2/16/2008 4:36:40 AM

Dive Bomber1

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November 4, 1942 - It was another quiet night with no action of any sort. You may be wondering why I emphasize this each turn, but a "quiet night" to me means that none of my bases are being hammered by Allied Bombardment TFs, which means that there aren't any invasions occurring. And I want the Allied onslaught to wait as long as possible.

The day phase was active thanks to Allied bombing. Libs and Forts hit the airfields at Mandalay causing plenty of damage, but not really making any difference since I'm not trying to base any planes there.

In response, one of my Betty Daitais from Port Moresby flew a nuisance air raid against Cookstown. As I've learned to expect, the raid was truly only a nuisance and caused trivial damage. AuTiger obviously doesn't care because he has a minimal Air Balance at the northeastern Australian bases.

Being overly "gun-shy" potentially cost me this turn, as a Group of Liberators flew from Midway to hit the airfields at Wake. So AuTiger didn't have anti-ship air units in place at Midway. If I had taken the risk with the bombardment TF last turn I might have caught some Libs on the ground. Of course, those same Libs might have caused me all sorts of grief on the subsequent turn. In any event, I moved a decent A6M2 Daitai into Wake and set them at 90% CAP, just in case AuTiger tries another air raid. But since his Libs took a fair number of Operational Losses this turn, he might rest them.

The F-5As flew recon over Kendari again this turn, so I re-set my Zeros in the region back to LR CAP over Kendari, just in case AuTiger sends out his B-17s again. AuTiger did send out his massed Mitchells and P-40Bs against Lautem again. His planes suffered some Operational Losses, so I'm not too unhappy about being unable to do much about these raids.

In news of the Asian mainland, AuTiger has brought a large number of planes back into China, both at Chungking and Changsha. So I can expect some serious air raids in the near future. I've brought good fighters back on CAP at Canton, Shanghai and Peking, so we'll see what transpires.

In LCU news, the 116th/A moved and is now on a trail and only 60 miles from Lashio. So it ought to reach Lashio reasonably quickly, and from there reach the railroad. The Kure 2nd SNLF/1, on the other hand, is vanishing with each passing turn even though it is on the rail road and has plenty of supplies. There are only 4 squads left now, so it ought to disappear within a few more days. I sure wish that I understood more of the nuances of the LCU model in this Game.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 419

Peace and Quiet all over - 2/16/2008 5:38:03 PM

Dive Bomber1

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November 5, 1942 - "Peace and Quiet" expanded beyond the Night Phase for a change and there was no action at all this turn except for aerial reconnaissance flights. I suspect that Bad Weather had a bit to do with this too, because rain suddenly appeared most everywhere again after a few turns of nearly realistic weather. In any event, this meant that my plans continued on uninterrupted and I'll take that for as long as AuTiger will give it to me.

Never-the-less we are still both maneuvering all over the map. Some noteworthy observations from this turn:

- AuTiger pulled his Liberators out of Midway. Maybe he spotted my bombardment TF and decided that discretion was the better part of valor in this case.

- Dauntless dive bombers spotted one of my subs off of Dutch Harbor. The Air Balance over the Eastern Aleutians is still quite high, but AuTiger hasn't attempted to put any planes back into Adak.

- The Allied Air Balance in China has changed again; AuTiger appears to be moving planes around like mad, perhaps in response to how I am moving planes around in that area like mad too.

- There is only one Allied LCU outside of a base now in China. I've also pulled all of my LCUs back into bases, so things are quiet there for now.

- The 116th/A only moved 2 miles this turn, despite now being on a road (path?), which is no better than it did in the bush. Oh well, that means yet another month before the unit reaches Lashio

- The Kure 2nd SNLF/1 moved a couple of hexes along the rail line in Burma, but didn't lose any more squads.

BTW - I am now slowly building up a stock of A6M3a fighters. I'll start to put them into carrier fighter groups as time goes on. I don't intend to exchange out my land-based A6M2s at this time.

(in reply to Dive Bomber1)

Post #: 420

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