Rain falling, bombs falling

Rain falling, bombs falling (Full Version)

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Dive Bomber1 -> Rain falling, bombs falling (8/16/2007 12:39:21 AM)
May 20, 1942 – This was a fairly quiet turn again as rain hampered many air operations. There were also no reports of action or enemy contact during the night phase. Despite the rain there were some air attacks. Thus, while rain stopped most air operations in China my second-string air units made another nice raid on Changsha again. And there was a fairly intense air battle between second-stringers over Soerabaja. The follow-up artillery attack caused a good-sized number of casualties. BTW – I ought to be in a position to attempt my first Deliberate attack on Soerabaja the turn after next. The weather did clear up in the South Pacific so AuTiger was able to send B-17Es against Port Moresby and B-17Cs against Rossel Island again. My A6M3s continue to hold their own in the air over PM, but enough B-17s continue to get through to destroy more on the ground than are lost in the air. I may have to move my planes back and revert to LR CAP again. And AuTiger's 4E and 2E bombers flew out of Noumea this turn and hit my transport TFs in the New Hebrides. Enough of my troops got ashore so that they ought to be able to capture Banks Island and more importantly, Efate, but it has turned into a costly operation. However, checking regional Allied Air Balances, it appears that AuTiger has stripped his combat planes from the Canton Island to Suva region; therefore I am sending in some combat ships and invasion TFs to see if I can grab a few more empty bases. In the meanwhile, the movement of forces to the Home Islands continues nicely. I should be in position to do a nice, massive and simultaneous attack on the Aleutians by mid-to-late June that ought to have AuTiger scrambling a bit.

Dive Bomber1 -> Bombs falling, more rain needed (8/17/2007 12:06:10 AM)
May 21, 1942 – The power of the US 4E bombers was demonstrated again in China this turn as AuTiger sent his "big boys" against Nanchang and hammered my airfields and the planes on them. Unfortunately, the 4Es got the "jump" on my bombers and caught them before they could take off. (I'm never sure why that happens sometimes and not other times – maybe it is local weather effects.) So I moved my remaining planes out of Nanchang to various backwaters bases for repair. I also moved my other planes in China – pulling those in Canton out to other bases and moving fresh planes into different bases. I brought my one good Zero Daitai back to a frontline base and I will attempt to strike at Homan next turn in the hopes of catching some second-line Allied fighters. This cat-and-mouse approach to air combat is frustrating because I would prefer to be able to set up a consistent campaign, but I can't do that while the 4Es remain effectively invulnerable to my fighters. So I am rather belatedly going to attempt to open up a "Second Air Front" in Asia – this time in Burma/India. I am moving most of my Betty/Nell units to the region along with my other reasonably good Zero Daitais. Right now it appears that AuTiger has stripped the region of good combat planes and only left British 2E bombers along with transport planes around. I'll test out my theory this turn with some Sally attacks to see if I can catch any planes on the ground. If AuTiger brings his 4Es and Hurricanes back to India I will send my Betty/Nell units to China. If he leaves his good units in China I will attempt to damage some of the air bases in India. The big problem with this plan is that AuTiger has much bigger and better air bases in the region than I have. I expect that I will end up losing a lot of planes in this attempt, but it is better than just sitting back and being bombed into oblivion. And in the end if I can gain a bit more of a breather in China that will allow me to bring up more units to attack Changsha it will be worth the trouble. BTW – today's artillery attack on Changsha was okay, considering that there wasn't an aerial bombardment to soften up the defenders. In the other main air battle AuTiger continues to put unbelievable numbers of Dutch and British second-line planes into the air over Soerabaja. My incoming attacks take care of them, but I keep on being bled little-by-little. Something has to be very wrong with the game model here to allow a totally isolated base to continue to function for so many weeks under siege. In any event, my artillery attack went off well again and the rest of my main force arrived, so I ordered everyone to do a deliberate attack next turn. Either I should get some reasonable results, or else something very unreasonable will happen – this game tends to give very quantized results. Elsewhere, my remaining forces in the New Hebrides captured Banks Island and Efate. I will now attempt to land a base force at Efate and to extract that NLF from Banks, but since I don't have any Fast Transport TFs in the region I am totally at the mercy of the weather.

Dive Bomber1 -> The Mummy Walks... (8/18/2007 12:32:30 AM)
May 22, 1942 – Weather was the big news again this turn as rain and storms covered most of the map. That's alright by me because I'm resting up a lot of my forces and also it means that it is harder for AuTiger to get his 4Es into the air. Never-the-less, some of my air units did fly. First off, my Zero sweep of Homan went off, but to my surprise there was no CAP present. So those 15 or so fighters that my Intel and Recon report at Homan must be sitting out the weather or are flying LR CAP over somewhere else. In any event I pulled my Zeros back to rest them up and to repair the 5 planes that received operational damage during the flight. I also shuffled other planes all over China so that AuTiger gets yet another different view of where I have air units. A few other small bomber flights flew in China and caused some nuisance damage to various air fields. As this "shell game" continues I also moved more good unit closer to the Front, although deliberately not quite there yet. My attack on the airfields at Myitkyina was almost equally futile because only a few bombers flew out of Mandalay. Those that did fly hit the airfields lightly and destroyed a few C-47s on the ground. I'm betting that it takes more than one turn for AuTiger to move CAP and bombers back to India, so I shifted out the bombers that flew this turn (they also took a fair amount of operational and flak damage) and flew in fresh Sallys and some fresh Zeros. We'll see if I get away with this or if the "Wrath of God" falls upon Mandalay next turn. In Soerabaja even more Dutch and British second-line planes got into the air this turn, but since I had more of my own second-line fighters and bombers in place the Allied planes were all shot down or destroyed on the ground. However, although my bombers continued to pound the airfields at Soerabaja and caused plenty of damage, the airfields still aren't closed. I suspect that I would need to "borrow" the US 4Es to be able to close the airfields properly. ("Stop feeding tana leaves to the Mummy!") The first Deliberate Attack on Soerabaja followed and it went reasonably well. My troops achieved a 3:1 attack ratio and lowered the fortifications from 9 to 8. What was particularly encouraging was that there were almost twice as many Allied casualties as Japanese casualties and the fatigue and disruption levels of my troops didn't go up. So I ordered my troops to continue with another deliberate attack next turn. Also, my "extra" division at Malang received its full allotment of supplies from some transport ships so I ordered it to join the rest at Soerabaja. Unless something very strange happens I ought to finally capture Soerabaja within another week. Elsewhere my land efforts didn't go so well, as once again my troops east of Lashio along the Burma Road attempted another Deliberate Attack and received a 1:1 result, but suffered many more casualties than their Chinese opponent. So I've reset them to do artillery bombardments until the other troops that are crawling through the jungle finally make it to the contested location. Actually, I would have to say that today's artillery attack on Changsha went reasonably well when you consider that there wasn't a preliminary air attack. My troops keep on building up at Changsha and I have several more divisions that should get there within a couple more weeks. It will still probably be nearly impossible to take the base, but I will continue to try anyway – if I don't AuTiger is sure to move his forces forward to harass me. I've come to a decision on what to do about additional troops in China. Instead of sending my main combat troops from Java to China after taking Soerabaja I will start to send my secondary "Guard" units to the Chinese port bases where I have been keeping otherwise good Chinese Army combat units as garrison troops. This way I can increase my pressure on the Chinese Front while keeping the Chinese ports under control. So as part of this I loaded up all the remaining non-air-capable small units that were in Tjilitjap and sent them along to Singapore. I'll let them rest up a bit there and then send them along to selected port bases in China. At the same time I collected all of my air-capable units from their various locations and they are now on their way to Tokyo to stage along with all of the other units that are getting ready for June's Operation "Kita-e". It will be interesting to see how AuTiger responds to a massive multi-base blitzkrieg in the Aleutians. This won't be a feint like my ill-fated Indian adventure. BTW – it looks like AuTiger is getting serious about defending northern Australia – my recon planes are reporting more and more fighters and now bombers in the northern Oz bases. I'll have to continue to keep him edgy in that region for the next little while. But at the same time I have come up with a very interesting (at least to me) idea for an operation that will utilize the veterans of the Java campaign very well, and going against the defences of Northern Oz isn't part of it. [:D]

Dive Bomber1 -> Java is Mine!!! (8/18/2007 4:33:48 PM)
May 23, 1942 - The very, VERY Big News this turn is that Soerabaja fell! Not only did it fall, but the defense totally collapsed - the fortifications were reduced by 1 to level 7, and then my forces achieved a 9:1 combat result. What was even more astonishing to me, and very, very helpful, was that there was NO damage to the oil or resource production. And the air fields and port are in perfect condition too. To add to the fun, there is a lot of fuel and a good amount of supplies, resources and oil in stock. This is definitely the best break that I've had in a long, long time in this game! [sm=happy0065.gif] [sm=happy0065.gif] [sm=happy0065.gif] [sm=happy0065.gif] [sm=happy0065.gif] And all this happened without the division at Malang actually reaching Soerabaja! So I am now resting up my troops in Soerabaja since it is a non-malarial base and I will build up the fortification to level 1, and then build up the port from its current level 8 to level 9. I may very well build up the airfields too because I expect that AuTiger will start to send B-24s from Northern Australia against my resources and oil and I want to be able to keep plenty of Army fighters on CAP to wear down the 4Es. I have set all of my planes in the region to "naval attack" in the hopes of hitting a few of the many Allied subs that are in the region, particularly those that were removing troops from Soerabaja. (My forces even caught and destroyed an Allied sub in port in Soerabaja.) As my air units rest up I will start to move my air support units to Soerabaja. I will leave a base force in Tjilitjap because that is my one good port on the west side of Java, and I have a base force and a construction engineering unit in Batavia that are still struggling to try to fix all the damage there. In contrast to Soerabaja, when I captured Batavia the airfields and port were maxed-out with damage as were the oil and resource facilities. There is still some damage to the port and both the oil and resource facilities are still 99% damaged. I may move my combat engineering regiments to Batavia to give a hand in the reconstruction. Okay, what else happened this turn? Well, before the capture of Soerabaja there was another big air battle over the base with the Dutch and British fighting viciously but hopelessly. It was very gratifying to see the remaining Allied air units get destroyed on the ground during the capture of Soerabaja! [&o] Also in the DEI, one of the Dutch straggler LCUs from Balikpapan finally reached the base to the east of Balikpapan, after having been stuck in the jungle to the west for weeks and weeks. I have been using those isolated units for target practice for my bombers, but for whatever reason they haven't been fading away. I don't currently have any units in that base to the east of Balikpapan, but I do have some combat units already on board a TF that has left Java, so I redirected them to go to that base. If I am lucky the Dutch unit that just got there is a base force and won't be able to capture the base. If AuTiger is lucky it is a combat unit and he will temporarily re-capture that base, but there is nothing there but some supplies, so I don't really care. In any event, I'll bring more of my bombers and fighters out of Java and let them get practice on those remaining Dutch troops. In China AuTiger got his 4Es to fly this turn, with some B-17s hitting the resources at Nanchang (for whatever reason) and more B-17s along with B-24s hitting the airfields at Wuhan. My "shell game" worked this turn and the only planes in Wuhan were some recon planes. Some of my Sonias hit the undefended airfields at Ichang nicely, and then I pulled those Sonias back for R&O. This turn I have brought a number of air units back into position to hit Changsha again from multiple locations. I have also moved in some Zeros to Canton to add some escort firepower. My artillery attack at Changsha did okay again this turn considering that there wasn't a preliminary air bombardment, but I want to cause more damage next turn. BTW - AuTiger is once again using his "Rebel" tactics and has moved multiple units out of Ichang to the southwest where they threaten my communication lines and Wuhan. But I have a number of big, strong and well rested divisions just down the railroad from Wuhan and I should be able to quell this threat easily. I've also ordered a unit to approach Ichang from the eastern road again, just to remind AuTiger that two can play at the flanking game. The fact that the 4Es flew in China was good news for my efforts in Burma, because my air attack on Myitkyina from Mandalay went off well and more Allied transport planes were destroyed on the ground. The flak at Myitkyina is pretty strong, and about half of my Sallys were damaged in the raid, so I set them all to "rest" and shipped them back to Bangkok on the railroad. I also moved out my small Zero unit that flew escort and left only a recon unit in Mandalay. (I'm still wondering why AuTiger has been leaving LOTS of transports on the ground in Myitkyina. I suspect that he is flying forces out of the base into China in order to support his defenses there. I ought to test the defenses at Myitkyina again, just in case. [;)] ) Even without any ground attacks or air attacks from Mandalay, Myitkyina isn't getting off easy next turn, because I moved a Betty unit and a Nell unit into Rangoon, along with a good Zero Daitai and they are all set to attack the airfields at Myitkyina again next turn. I am also moving more base forces into the region so AuTiger will be faced with the same sort of "whack a mole" choices that he faces in China. So, will AuTiger leave his 4Es and Hurricanes in China? Will he move them back to India? Will he split them and try to defend both? Stay tuned. Oh, BTW - I saw something in Burma this turn for the first time in a long, long time - some Blenheim IFs flew at night against Mandalay. As usual, those rather "iffy" fighter-bombers did nothing other than to catch plenty of flak. That reminds me, speaking of plenty of flak; I am currently moving all of the AA units out of Manchuria and into various Chinese bases. Sure, AA units don't do a long against air raids, but every little bit helps. Elsewhere, things are still very quiet in the South Pacific and my forces continue to advance without interference. I wonder if AuTiger has moved his main US forces up to Alaska and is planning a sneak attack on Japan? That will be quite funny if he does, particularly as my own forces continue their build-up in the Home Islands. It also appears that AuTiger has some "holes" in his defenses in Northern Australia. I'll have to do more scouting and make him a bit more nervous in that region. [;)]

Dive Bomber1 -> Blen-dumb IFs (8/19/2007 7:27:10 PM)
May 24, 1942 - This was another relatively quiet turn. Nothing happened in the night phase except for the "Iffers" damaging themselves again. The day turn was also fairly quiet in most regions, probably thanks as usual, to rain. A couple of my smaller air attacks hit Changsha this turn, with no opposition. They caused some nice damage and helped the subsequent artillery bombardment to do more damage. My main air attacks didn't fly - maybe they will launch next turn. But in any event it was good that the secondary attacks flew because this way it is more difficult for AuTiger to focus on any single air base. The "shell game" worked in Burma again too. Some Brit 2Es hit the airfields at Mandalay, but "no one was home" except for AA, so the Brits suffered a fair amount of damage for no serious return. As a bonus my naval 2Es took off from Rangoon and hit Myitkyina hard, which will keep AuTiger honest. There was no CAP at Myitkyina but Bettys and Nells ran into a lot of flak, even flying at 15K feet, and the bombers suffered a fair amount of damage. There were no longer any planes on the ground in Myitkyina, so even though my bombers caused a fair amount of damage to the airfields I'm not bothering to send them back next turn. In fact, I've moved them back to Bangkok for R&O. It appears that AuTiger moved his transports and some fighters to Yunan, so I am scouting that base a bit more next turn and have moved fighters and bombers into position to hit it the turn after next if it appears to be a good target. In any event, if AuTiger moves his good air units back to India there won't be much for him to go after this turn, never-the-less some of the "moles" are still around and looking for opportunities to "pop up" again. The main Allied air effort this turn was out of Noumea where B-17s hammered more of my transports that were offloading at Efate. I only wish that my Bettys and Nells were as good at bombing Allied ships as the B-17s are at hitting Japanese ships. I have to believe that it has to do with the programmed relative "accuracy" of bomb-carrying bombers such as B-17s compared to nominal torpedo bombers such as Bettys and Nells. I keep on hoping to see similar results from my 2Es that I see from the Japanese AI against me when I'm not playing PBEM, but for now since AuTiger is keeping his ships far away from my air bases anti-shipping is his "playground". AuTiger's B-17s did miss on one attack and my troops landed at Malakula this turn, so that will be the last "dot" in the New Hebrides that will be taken by me. BTW - I have a small invasion force that is on its way to Wallis Island, so that ought to get AuTiger a bit more interested in the central south Pacific. AuTiger and I are both now wondering what I will do with the victors of Java. AuTiger is trying to prepare for either India or Northern Australia, so my increased Recon over Oz and my increased bombing of the Indian border bases ought to keep him a bit edgy. Add to that my upcoming "grab" of Wallis Island and he will have a lot to think about. Interestingly enough, when one of my subs dropped off some mines at Dutch Harbor this turn I found out that AuTiger still has a fair number of ships up there. So he may still be considering some action in the North. I am modifying my plans a bit now to attempt to give him the impression that my upcoming moves to the Aleutians are just "nuisance" base-grabs like I've been doing in the South Pacific. As such I'll first send several NLFs to take the outer most bases and judge his response. But I intend to have most of the Combined Fleet sitting back waiting for that response. Things ought to be interesting in June 1942.

Dive Bomber1 -> Database goofiness (8/20/2007 4:46:20 PM)
May 25, 1942 - We are starting to see an increasing frequency of "bad" database reports. I have a British Squadron Leader in charge of a transport TF, and at the beginning of this turn, when a bunch of Allied MSWs swept Japanese mines at Dutch Harbor, the Game reported "73 Japanese casualties". So we are starting to pay the "price" for having lots of fragments in the game. Unfortunately, AuTiger moved countless numbers of fragments from the Philippines and from the DEI by subs to Australia, as well as creating fragments by the ton in China via air transport, so the poor old WitP Database is having troubles keeping track of what is going on. That's why I work very, very hard not to create fragments if I can avoid it, and to recombine them as soon as I can, but it appears that AuTiger hasn't learned this lesson yet. It's only too bad that the Game Database isn't a bit more robust. Anyway, Database headaches aside, this was another relatively quiet turn. The Blenheim IFs flew uselessly against Mandalay again at night, and rain cancelled most air missions elsewhere during the day. Only one secondary bombing mission flew against Changsha this turn and found that there is still no CAP over the base. If my main air missions ever fly they ought to do well, considering the amount of rest that they have received. BTW - my ground attack air missions all flew against the Dutch unit at Samarinda, but oddly enough there were no Dutch casualties. AuTiger also hasn't tried to capture the base even though it is still empty and his unit is a Dutch garrison unit, which ought to have some infantry. I wonder if the unit is a "ghost" unit? In India, AuTiger moved about half of his good fighters back into Myitkyina, and also his transports, so whatever those transports are doing in that base, it must be very important to AuTiger. No "mole" was scheduled to "pop up" over Myitkyina this turn, so that wear-and-tear on AuTiger's Hurricanes was for naught. I will leave India relatively quiet next turn as I have set a fairly strong air attack for Yenen instead, along with a multi-base attack on Changsha. My troops keep on getting stronger at Changsha, and in particular, my main combat divisions have been receiving engineering replacements, which is particularly important. The land combat design in the game causes the "first" combat unit on the left of the LCU row at the bottom of the screen to take the brunt of any attacks, and the engineers in that unit suffer the brunt of the engineering losses in any failed attack. Even if other units have plenty of engineers and even if there are multiple combat engineering units in the "stack", if that first unit is depleted in combat engineers then the entire attack is weakened and there is no reduction in the fortification level. The only answer is to either pull back the "first" unit for R&R or to let them all sit around and rebuild engineering strength in situ, which is what I have been doing. I think that this is a very poor design, but it is what we have, so I have to live with it. Nearby, AuTiger has added yet another unit to the stack that is SW of Ichang. I still don't know where he will cross the river with that stack, but it doesn't really matter. I now have another good division in Wuhan, so in combination with the level 9 fortifications a river crossing against Wuhan ought to result in some very poor results for AuTiger (assuming that the same game mechanics apply to the Allies as have been applying to my Japanese units). It's more likely that AuTiger will attempt to cut my supply lines, but if he does I will simply send units into Ichang and cut his supply lines in turn. The "big" news in Burma is that the third brigade has finally extricated itself from Akyab, leaving only one in place. So I now have three units making the ridiculously slow trek back to Rangoon. What is good is that the closer they get to Rangoon, the more supplies they receive, and then their progress will average closer to 2 miles per day rather than 1 mile per day (along a road where several hundred thousand troops have traveled over the past 4 months, yet which still hasn't improved a bit due to the very unfortunate ground movement design in the Game). AuTiger got some more "freebies" this turn as his B-17s from Noumea wiped out some more transports in the New Hebrides. I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck. Never-the-less, my troops did capture Malakula, so the New Hebrides are mine, within the limits of what AuTiger wants to do with his 4Es. I guess that I will be limited to bringing supplies and troops in and out via DD Fast Transport from now on. This has certainly changed my outlook on Noumea - from now on it will be a primary target right from the beginning of any new pbem games.

Terminus -> RE: Database goofiness (8/20/2007 5:18:32 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1 I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck. You have Betties and Nells to do that...

Dive Bomber1 -> RE: Database goofiness (8/20/2007 7:16:20 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Terminus quote: ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1 I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck. You have Betties and Nells to do that... In theory, but in practice Bettys and Nells just don't hold up as well against P-40s as B-17s and B-24s do against Zeros...Oh well, I'm hoping that when I get Tojos and Tonys that I can balance things out a bit.

princep01 -> RE: Database goofiness (8/20/2007 7:22:41 PM)
Dive, in my humble and relatively inexperienced view, Noumea is one of the truly strategic objectives for the Japanese to take, but it needs to be taken early. The Allies have a hard time getting fighters to it, as only the P40B and a few of the really obsolete Brewsters and whatnot have a chance to reach it via flight. The rest have to be shipped in. Additionally, getting adequate engineers to expand the AF and aviation support to Noumea is another difficult thing for the Allies. All this means that the Japanese have a great opportunity to grab it early (say before Feburary) as there cannot be much effective opposition before then. In my game ( currently at May 23, 1942), the Japanese did wrest Noumea from me. It was a month long battle begainning in early March. In the end though, the Allies could not retain control of the sea and the Japanese got 4 Inf Div, 4 Tk regiments and 2 Enginneering regiments into the fracas against 2 US Inf Div, 1 US Inf Regiment, 1 Inf Aussie Brigade, an Aussie Tk regiment and various support groups, including an HQ. I thought 15K supply would be adequate to keep the Japanese at bay with 200 land based AC on the island. But, I was very wrong. The supply melted away FAST with that many planes operating from the base. Two major reinforcing efforts were made. The first was largely successful and over 14K supplies and fresh fighters got to the island along with some land reinforcements. The second was largely a bloody, costly failure and only a few thousand supplies made it. After about 5 weeks of heavy fighting and numerous loses on each side, Noumea surrendered and something like 29K Allied troops were captured. The Japanese paid a dear price (Mutsu, Hiei, Chikuma, 2 CL, a dozen DD, a sub and about 8 AP/AK, along with something like 80 naval AC), but they got the island and a rich haul of victory points. Now, the life line to Aussieland is severly crimped. Not broken, but really quite dangerous and long. Morale of the story is two fold (at least). As the IJN, taking Noumea very early is advisable, or you are going to have to pay dearly for it. Secondly, if you take it, it is a great way to mess up Allied supply lines to Aussieland and a wonderful spring board to a lot of different high point alternatives like Suva, Auckalnd or Aussie bases.

Dive Bomber1 -> RE: Database goofiness (8/20/2007 10:18:03 PM)
quote: Morale of the story is two fold (at least). As the IJN, taking Noumea very early is advisable, or you are going to have to pay dearly for it. Secondly, if you take it, it is a great way to mess up Allied supply lines to Aussieland and a wonderful spring board to a lot of different high point alternatives like Suva, Auckalnd or Aussie bases Princep - Yes, I see that now. It's too bad that I didn't think of that when I made that silly dash into India - those units might have been enough at the time to grab Noumea before it was reinforced. But I'm trying to be optimistic about the situation - AuTiger has over 50K of troops sitting in Noumea, which means that they aren't causing trouble for me elsewhere, and also with my forward bases I will know if he sends enough ships there to make use of them. Thanks for the comments! [:)]

Dive Bomber1 -> Swatting flies and I-16cs (8/21/2007 10:47:05 PM)
May 26, 1942 - After another quiet night (with the exception of the sounds of the swatting of flies and Blenheim IFs) my "moles" popped up successfully again to strike very nicely around China. First off, two Daitais of Zeros and a Daitai of Sonias hit Yenen nicely, and this time the Zeros whacked the I-16cs there very well, shooting down 11 of the pests and hitting more on the ground. Next a number of air attacks hit Changsha from various air bases with Sonias, Sallys, Bettys and Nells all joining in the fun with no CAP in the air and no flak from the ground. AuTiger is trying to figure out what to do here, so he has moved fighters back into Homan, and there were obviously plenty of planes in Chungking, but the Weather Gods didn't smile upon him this turn. So, satisfied with my results, I pulled back all of my attackers for well deserved R&R and will let AuTiger chase "phantoms" to his heart's content next turn (weather permitting). Despite bad weather AuTiger's air units chased phantoms in Burma this turn, but they hit empty "mole holes" in Moulmein and Mandalay and took a fair amount of damage thanks to AA and my Best Friend, the Weather. And what was nice was that his bombers went after my air fields instead of my resources or oil, and air fields repair much more quickly. BTW - despite pulling a number of my "moles" back to nice quiet backwater "holes" I still have a number of air units set to strike different targets next turn - Weather permitting. Elsewhere things were reasonably quiet except for the odd artillery duel at the Chinese Front Lines. I now have 5700 AV points worth of troops besieging Changsha, but I am still waiting for more troops to arrive. When I finally strike I want to have good results instead of the usual frustrating results. The fortifications at Soerabaja reached level 1 last turn, thanks to the huge number of engineers that are imbedded in my forces there. So I stopped building forts and turned my troops to the business of improving the Port to level 9 from its current level 8. That should also only take a couple of days. A second Dutch straggler unit reached Samarinda today, but there still wasn't an Allied attack, nor did my attacking bombers cause any casualties. So those units must both be pretty much wiped out. It looks to be two or three more days before the TF with my small combat units reaches Samarinda and puts an end to the misery of the Dutch. This will be good for our sync-issues too in case there are fragments of these units sitting back in Australia. I started to assign new "objectives" for some of my units in Soerabaja. Some were set to targets in northern and western Australia, other to targets in Ceylon, and even one to Dutch Harbor, just in case AuTiger wonders why I am targeting everywhere BUT the Aleutians. [;)]

Dive Bomber1 -> Offending the Weather Gods (8/22/2007 5:55:24 PM)
May 27, 1942 - AuTiger seems to have ticked-off the Weather Gods in this Game because the only Allied planes that flew this turn were the Blenheim IFs during the night phase and a few Catalinas during the day phase. Fortunately, my spread out air attacks escaped the full wrath of the WGs and several groups of Sallys hit Changsha while another Sally group hit Yunan, just to keep AuTiger on guard. AuTiger has now brought about half of his Asian air force back to India and left half in China, mainly in Chungking. There are also a good number of fighters in Homan - I suspect that they are P-40s on LR CAP. In any event, I pulled back and sat down the air units that flew this turn and brought up fresh ones to several different bases. Sonias and some naval LBA will go after Changsha again, with some A6M3s along for escort, and Bettys and Nells, escorted by A6M2s, will hit one of the Indian air bases that doesn't appear to have CAP at the moment. Sure, AuTiger might get lucky and get his 4Es to hit the bases where I have located my current attackers, but he has so many choices, and there is so much bad weather, that I'll take that chance. The Dutch "ghost" units at Samarinda were attacked from the air again but suffered no casualties. They also again didn't attack the base. My troops ought to land in another turn or two. If nothing else, my air units are getting practice for their replacement pilots. The first air support units ought to reach Soerabaja next turn, so I put a Nate Daitai into the air base just in case having it on CAP helps to reduce the odds of B-24s striking the oil fields at long distance. AuTiger has a very large number of planes in Darwin right now, so I need to figure out some relatively "safe" way to keep him nervous about that region. I am about to land a base force at Sorong, so that ought to have him thinking a bit because I usually build up a number of air bases in a region before I start a major offensive. The Allied air presence in the South Pacific remains light other than at Noumea, so my little "nuisance" invasion force might make it to Wallis Island without any problems. I also have a nice cruiser/destroyer TF going along just in case AuTiger does what I would do in that situation and sends a surface combat fleet to try to intercept my transports once he realizes that they are unloading. Of course, if he sends some of the US CVs I'll have everyone run off in different directions, but that will be useful information in itself, because I treat all of my forward bases as "canaries in a coal mine". In other important news, the KB finally reached port in the Home Islands for the first time in over six months. They will undergo R&O for the next couple of game-weeks before I move them to the north-east. More troops reached Tokyo for their own R&O while other already rested troops headed off to Paramushiro Jima. I've also called in all of my BBs to the Home Islands for R&O and also to participate in the upcoming operation. I've got cruiser squadrons in the Far East, DEI, South Pacific, and Central Pacific to take care of any need for surface action. In fact, I will likely send several of them out for "demonstrations" early in June to help keep AuTiger from becoming complacent. [;)] [:D]

Dive Bomber1 -> The Moles Strike Again (8/24/2007 5:54:32 PM)
May 28, 1942 - This evening portion of this Turn was totally quiet as AuTiger, or the Weather, kept the Blenheim IFs at home. Even the day turn was relatively quiet, particularly from the Allied perspective, as Weather affected a lot of the regions. The only Allied air action was in the South Pacific where B-17s whacked one of my subs in the region. That sub is now limping home with lots of damage. Most of my planned air attacks on Changsha didn't fly due to the weather, but for some reason a couple of Sonias did hit the airfields. Once again there was no CAP over the base. AuTiger also pulled back about half of his fighters in Homan and they are now sitting in Chungking. It looks like he is expecting a renewed air assault on Chungking. Instead I have set a number of Sallys, Bettys and Nells in coastal bases to hit Changsha again next turn, along with some good Zeros on Escort just in case AuTiger decides to put some LF CAP over the base. (BTW - I now have over 6200 AV points besieging Changsha.) The one air attack that did go well in China was on Yenen, which is currently empty of Allied aircraft but it still gave my air units some good practice at damaging the airfields. Everything that I can do to use up Chinese supplies is a Good Thing. BTW - it looks like AuTiger may have finally moved another unit into the contested crossroads along the Burma Trail just to the east of Lashio. I will have another combat unit at that location in a couple of weeks too. The Weather was particularly bad in India, so no Allied bombers flew. However, my Bettys, Nells and Zeros from Rangoon flew and hit Chandpur nicely. There were only 3 Hurricanes on CAP and my Zeros drove them off, with no losses on either side. My bombers dropped their loads accurately and caused a nice amount of damage to the airfields. Now AuTiger has to consider improving his CAP over Chandpur too. As in China, my air units then "moved holes" and are back in Bangkok for R&O. This way, if AuTiger does get his 4Es to fly next turn there aren't any sitting ducks for him to hit. Just to keep him jumpy, I've set a Sally group in Indochina to hit one of the western Chinese air bases next turn. I don't intend to give the Allies in the Far East any rest. The DEI remains quiet, without even any Allied subs around. I'm guessing that AuTiger has his subs back at their bases for R&O, or else he is using them as pickets closer to his main defensive lines. While this "pleasant" situation is in place I am busy moving as much oil and resources as possible back to the Home Islands and other industrial sites. BTW - my bombers in Borneo had more easy practice this turn against the Dutch "ghost" troops at Samarinda. The TF with my combat troops finally arrived this turn and after they unload they will take care of the Dutch once and for all. And a number of transport ships also arrived at Soerabaja, so I will be able to start to move out the victors at my leisure. In other news, my Wallis Island invasion TF is still unspotted, so it ought to land in a few more days. Therefore, I have ordered my covering surface combat TF to move closer before the final push. It will be interesting to see how AuTiger responds. Right now he is spending a lot of effort in the New Hebrides/New Caledonia area. So I have ordered more long range planes to fly Recon over Noumea just to keep him a bit nervous. I will also send in a couple of small Fast Transport TFs into the New Hebrides to distribute some supplies and pick up the isolated troops. This will make AuTiger even antsier. In the meanwhile, the Home Islands remain abuzz with activity as more troops arrive and ships continue to be redistributed to various bases to spread out the naval repair activities. The Kuriles are also busy as more and more ships, troops, supplies and fuel arrive at various bases. Mid-to-late June will definitely be very interesting. [:D]

Dive Bomber1 -> Transports along the map edge (8/26/2007 3:44:10 PM)
May 29, 1942 - The forces on both sides got good nights sleep again this turn as there was once again no action during the night phase. But things picked up nicely during the day phase as many of my units went into action. The Allied forces in China received the bulk of the attention from my air units this turn as my bombers hit Changsha, Wuchow, Kweiyang and various land units outside of bases. There was no Allied CAP present and little flak so my pilots enjoyed the practice. I've decided that I will try my luck with my ground forces at Changsha again next turn. I currently have 6300 AV worth of units there, along with a couple of good HQs, and it will be a couple of weeks before more good units arrive, so there didn't seem to be any more reason to wait around. My units will probably take horrendous casualties again, but I want to find out if the Chinese have weakened any. In addition to the ground effort, I have once more repositioned my air units in China and have even set two Zero Daitais to "sweep" Homan. My Intel reports that the number of fighters at the base has been reduced, so I am hoping to catch AuTiger with his guard down a bit. Elsewhere in the Far East, AuTiger sent his Liberators from India to hit the port at Rangoon. I have kept a damaged PC in port at Rangoon as a "decoy" and it did its job well. For the first time the 4Es ran into heavy flak and 4 bombers were shot down along with a couple dozen more that were damaged. That ought to keep that air group out of action for a while. And as "frosting", there was no damage to the port. My bombers in Borneo hit the "ghosts" at Samarinda again this turn, and at the end of the turn those two Dutch units "gave up the ghost" and were no more. I have a couple of smallish LCUs in Samarinda now and once they rest up I will probably send the larger unit off into the jungle to finish off the remaining Dutch stragglers, unless my bombers do that first. My patrols and recon units brought home a number of interesting reports this turn. For the first time some Allied transports were spotted along the western map edge. I have a submarine there, so I will see if it can catch them. I have a few Nell groups within range, but my experience is that my Nells will never fly at near maximum range to attack any ships. There was interesting news from the South Pacific too. I had increased recon over Noumea in response to an increased number of ships in the region, and although my planes found that there was a lot of flak over the base, they also found out that there wasn't any CAP. So I may try some long range bombing in a couple of turns. Finally, the CVE Long Island was spotted in a convoy at Canton Island, probably dropping off some fighters. Since I already had a surface combat TF in the neighborhood I redirected it to try to intercept the L.I., just in case I can get some "cheap" victories. It's been a long time since I've been able to attack any Allied shipping. BTW - My Wallis Island invasion forces is still undetected and it should land in two more days, so a "distraction" around Canton will help that effort out too.

Dive Bomber1 -> Changsha holds again (8/27/2007 7:25:32 AM)
May 30, 1942 - Nothing happened during the night phase again, despite my efforts to hunt the Allied transports along the Western Edge with my sub. The day time brought some Allied action for the first time in a while, and many of my attacks went off too, despite less-than-optimum weather. As usual, most air action took place in China. AuTiger's B-17s took off for the first time in a while and hit the airfields at Nanchang. In a change of pace, they didn't catch my bombers on the ground and so my Sonias were able to hit the airfields at Changsha quite hard. Other Japanese bomber groups hit various Chinese front line bases and there was no CAP at any of them. My Zeros also did a sweep over Homan but AuTiger didn't have any of his fighters there on CAP, so the sweep was for naught. So as usual I moved my air units afterwards and set up for fresh air attacks next turn. BTW - my Deliberate Attack on Changsha reduced the fortifications down to Level 5, but still resulted in a 0:1 attack. So I lost tons of troops, but fortunately for a change the Chinese lost lots of troops too, but still not as many as me. So I will be sitting back and bombarding again for a couple of weeks before my reinforcements arrive. In Burma B-24s hit the port at Rangoon again, and damaged that poor PC even more. The weather is worst in that region, so I'm sitting out my planes another day before I send them to hit a target in India again. AuTiger still has his transports sitting in Myitkyina under heavy Hurricane CAP, and I suspect that he is flying troops back into China - maybe into Changsha. So I am bringing forward a fresh Zero Daitai and will fly LR CAP over Changsha as soon as the Zero pilots are rested up a bit. Things are about to liven up in the South Pacific. AuTiger has sent some sort of combat TF north of New Caledonia. I can't tell if it is a surface combat TF or an air combat TF with its air patrols sitting "quiet". In any event I ordered all of my ships in the region back to safer bases and brought more LBA forward. Next turn ought to show me what AuTiger is up to. AuTiger will find out what I am up to further to the East next turn too, as TFs near Wallis Island and Canton Island were undetected again this turn. And the Allied transport TF was still in port at Canton Island this turn. Next turn my cruisers and destroyers will sweep Canton Island on a combat attack - it would be nice if they found some targets still around. (I'm not bothering with a bombardment with such light ships.) And my Wallis Island invasion may start to unload next turn. I wonder what sort of hornet's nest I am stirring up in the region?

Dive Bomber1 -> The IJN Strikes! (8/27/2007 10:36:22 PM)
May 31, 1942 - It's nice to have something work as planned [:D] The night portion of this turn wasn't as quiet as the past few nights; British DDs swept mines off of Colombo, US DDs hammered a Japanese sub south of Noumea, and the IJN found come very juicy targets at Canton Island. Yes, my cruiser/destroyer surface combat TF found a nice, big, and unprotected US transport convey at Canton, and almost everyone got to fire something at the enemy during two rounds of battle: Night Time Surface Combat, near Canton Island at 98, 99 Japanese Ships CL Abukuma CL Tenryu CL Yubari, Shell hits 1 DD Yugumo DD Akatsuki, Shell hits 1 DD Mutsuki DD Kisaragi DD Minazuki DD Akikaze DD Yakaze DD Hokaze DD Tachikaze DD Nokaze DD Namikaze DD Kasasagi DD Hayabusa DD Sagi Allied Ships PG Kiwi AV Pocomoke, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk AP Moreton Bay AP Wanganella AP Bloemfontrin, Shell hits 1 TK Frank G Drum TK Mexicos H Whittier TK Paul Shoup, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk TK Solana TK Captain A.F. Lucas TK District of Columbia TK D.G. Scofield TK F.H. Hillman TK Larry Doheny TK H. M. Storey MSW Bungaree MSW Outarde, Shell hits 3, on fire AVD Casco, Shell hits 13, on fire, heavy damage The AVD sank later while trying to escape. My ships sustained no serious damage and are already just about out of LBA range of Canton Island. And since there weren't any bombers at Canton this turn my ships will definitely be out of range if AuTiger sends any bombers in next turn. This turned out to be superb timing because my Wallis Island invasion force landed this turn too and captured the base in a shock attack. And the B-17s at Noumea flew against Luganville, suffering some nice damage and causing no significant damage. So AuTiger has to do some thinking about his South Pacific strategy now. BTW - during the turn my patrol planes still spotted the Allied combat TF out around halfway between Noumea and Luganville, but its whereabouts were lost by the end of the turn. It may have just been a sub-hunting TF, but it could also be one of the "decoy" TFs that AuTiger has used in the past to try to lure the KB out into his side of the Front. But the KB is far away and much too busy to bother with decoy fleets. Weather was a factor in China as usual this turn, but a number of my smaller raids did fly. Once again there was no CAP anywhere over the Front in China. So I did another massive shifting of air units and have set up my biggest multi-base, multi-plane attack yet, this time on the airfields at Homan. My recon is still reporting fighters and miscellaneous planes on the ground, so I am sending in hundreds of bombers that are being escorted by over a hundred of my best Zeros. With any luck at all they ought to cause some significant damage. My daily raids on Changsha will also continue with my second line planes. The only region where I am resting my air units is in Burma where the weather is just too bad to bother trying to fly. If things clear up a bit next turn then I will stage another major air raid in that region. Otherwise, June 1 will bring upgrades for a large number of my DDs along with some CLs for the first time. Almost all of the ships that are due for upgrade are already in ports that have ship repair facilities, so the entire operation ought to go smoothly. BTW - although a lot of ships will undergo upgrade all at once, I still have enough of the Combined Fleet in fighting order to continue along with my mid-June operations. [image]local://upfiles/22744/E8BC86C32809405CB8B4C1168785BF7E.jpg[/image]

Dive Bomber1 -> Bomber exchanges (8/29/2007 12:58:10 AM)
June 1, 1942 - The night phase was back to being quiet this turn. In fact, AuTiger was pretty certain that my attack on Canton was a "one-time thing" and he had his transports back in the base again this turn. That's a safe guess on his part, and I don't have anything else around that can attack him; particularly since my Bettys and Nells haven't attacked any ships since the first few weeks of our game. The day turn saw lots of air action as my Changsha air attacks took off as usual and were unopposed, and also my multi-base attacks on Homan went off too. The results for the attacks on Homan were disappointing - a few P-39s were destroyed on the ground, but they were hit during the first two air attacks. The final three air attacks only damaged the air fields. AuTiger got off 4E air attacks this turn, with a group of B-17s hitting Canton and more B-17s hitting Port Moresby. Both attacks caused little damage, although the attack on Canton stopped my bombers from flying, despite the fact that there was negligible destruction. I don't understand the rules governing bombing attacks and why the Allied air attacks seem to get a "jump" all the time and can "negate" air attacks from the Japanese bases. In any event, I moved all of my air units in Mainland Asia again this turn and have long range bombers and Zeros attacking Chandpur again next turn. We'll see if they cause any significant damage.

princep01 -> RE: Bomber exchanges (8/29/2007 1:32:11 AM)
Dive, one reason your Bettys and Nells might not fly naval/port attacks against Canton Is. is that you have not assigned enough escort to them. I know the Zero can fly that far (from Tarawa). Because Canton Is. might be populated with a large number of fighters, you might have to really pour on the escorts, but otherwise, I see no reason for those bombers just to sit if you have ordered them to do other things. Of course, frequent Emily/Mavis recon of that bastion is also a good idea if you aren't doing that. Don't know why the Allied bombing raids seem to get the jump on you alot. Maybe it's the way you hold your mouth:). Just some thoughts.

Dive Bomber1 -> RE: Bomber exchanges (8/29/2007 1:43:52 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: princep01 Dive, one reason your Bettys and Nells might not fly naval/port attacks against Canton Is. is that you have not assigned enough escort to them. I know the Zero can fly that far (from Tarawa). Because Canton Is. might be populated with a large number of fighters, you might have to really pour on the escorts, but otherwise, I see no reason for those bombers just to sit if you have ordered them to do other things. Of course, frequent Emily/Mavis recon of that bastion is also a good idea if you aren't doing that. Don't know why the Allied bombing raids seem to get the jump on you alot. Maybe it's the way you hold your mouth:). Just some thoughts. I suspect that I am doing something fundamentally wrong with the way that I am using my Bettys and Nells. They all have pilots with high experience, I have good commanders in charge of the bomber units, I have lots of air patrols flying around, I am reconning promising targets... but the planes won't fly out and strike at ships, even when there is little or no CAP. They will fly recon, even against heavy CAP, and they will fly bombing missions, even if I don't have overwhelming escort numbers. But I never see the long range anti-ship attacks that happen against me when I play the Allies. This isn't just in this particular pbem, but in all of my pbems. That's why I think that I am doing something fundamentally wrong. (It probably is the way that I hold my mouth... [:D] ) Thanks for the ideas.

Dive Bomber1 -> A Rare Occurance (8/29/2007 4:57:46 PM)
June 2, 1942 - AuTiger has been mentioning the Battle of Midway, so I thought that I would "indulge" him a bit and send some Mavis on recon over the base. AuTiger is keeping most of his outer Pacific bases lightly defended under the assumption that he can quickly bring up the US CVs and LBA. His weak spot in this theory is in the central South Pacific where there are still a number of bases that are unoccupied. If I were inclined I might go after more of those bases in order to put more pressure on the Allied supply lines between the US West Coast and Noumea/NZ/Australia, but I'm busy elsewhere at this time. In any event, AuTiger is allowing me to reinforce my existing bases, including Wallis Island, without interference, so I can't complain. There was night action at sea this turn. AuTiger sent out some British DDs to hunt down one of my Glen-equipped spy subs off of Ceylon, and the DDs did their job and sent the sub limping home with plenty of damage. Then in a very rare turn of events one of my subs put a torpedo into a US DD at Dutch Harbor and sank it. My subs usually do worse than the US subs, so this was a pleasant surprise. Things continued to be surprisingly quiet in the air in China. My air attacks on Changsha went unopposed again, but there were no air attacks from the US 4Es despite good weather across most of the country. And even in Burma the 4Es didn't fly, although British 2Es hit my troops on their way to the Burma Road. I guess AuTiger is getting a bit nervous about the buildup of forces to the east of Lashio. Things are heating on the ground in China. My besieging troops caused an unusually large number of casualties with this turn's artillery bombardment - over 1400! It is more normal for them to cause 200 to 300. I'm not sure what is happening, but I certainly hope that this isn't a fluke. AuTiger finally committed his troops from Ichang - he is attempting to cut my supply lines instead of attacking Wuhan. So I immediately ordered the two big divisions at Wuhan to march towards Changsha. This way they will protect the railway while they are enroute, and will also add to my offensive capability at Changsha. It is becoming a bit of a race-against-time to see if I can wear down the defenders of Changsha before AuTiger can bring in fresh troops, but at least it is keeping him occupied there and out of mischief in the rest of China. What does surprise me is that AuTiger isn't trying to bomb any of my troops in the region. My Bettys and Nells hit the airfields at Chandpur again this turn. This time there was no CAP. Never-the-less, my bombers caused little damage, there were no Allied planes on the ground to destroy, and the flak was heavy and accurate, so all-in-all, it was a waste of my time. I pulled back my bombers and Zeros from Rangoon and will now re-think my options in the region. My 2Es in the DEI are still bombing "ghosts" in Borneo. Sometimes they cause casualties, many times they don't. I am repositioning most of my Army bomber units in the region to go on naval air patrol, which is important because Allied subs are starting to show up again. AuTiger's 2Es from Darwin scouted my transports at Timor this turn, but since I have a couple of Daitais of Army fighters there the bombers didn't attack. I am moving a third base force to Timor so all three bases will have air capability. I am also positioning some surface combat ships to do a bit of raiding. I want AuTiger to keep "alert" in that region. Otherwise, things are going along pretty much to plan. I may delay my "Northern Adventure" a couple more weeks in order to be better prepared, but I still have a fair amount of "Summer" available before the weather in the North gets really bad again. I am still debating my initial approach to the Operation - do I attempt a quasi-diversion to start or go all out across the entire Front? We will have to see how well my other diversions go.

Dive Bomber1 -> Another Sub gets Hammered (8/30/2007 5:22:43 PM)
June 3, 1942 - This was another relatively quiet turn, with a few exceptions. Another of my subs attempted to "get lucky" at Dutch Harbor, but instead the DDs on ASW patrol hammered it and sent it limping home. What was more interesting in the region was that an Air Symbol showed up at Adak for the first time. In light of that I decided to start my activities in a small way and ordered a three-ship TF to carry an NLF to Komandorski Island. After I take that "dot" I am sending the TF on towards Nome. I have the feeling that AuTiger has pulled his troops out of Nome and repositioned them further south. In any event, this will get things going. Rain affected much of Mainland Asia and washed out most air operations. However, some of the smaller air attacks on Changsha flew as planned and kept the air fields damaged. The subsequent artillery bombardment again caused over 1400 casualties. I'm not sure what has changed, but maybe AuTiger is finally running out of supplies in China. Or else, maybe moving all those units in, out and around Ichang has used up his forward reserves of supplies. In any event, since the Attack Value of my troops at Changsha is once again over 6000 I have ordered another Deliberate attack. Otherwise, both sides remained quiet. AuTiger finally sent his ships away from Canton Island - I guess that they unloaded all of their fuel and supplies. I have some subs in the area which will try to intercept the "empties". My cruiser and destroyer force finally made it to Tarawa and to Fuel. They were limping along on "fumes" for the past couple of turns. It's a good thing that AuTiger didn't chase them with the US CVs or I would have been in very big trouble. And I am still shipping all the oil, resources and "extra" troops that I can back to the Home Islands. Now if only the Combined Fleet ships would get repaired a little faster. [&o] [&o] [&o]

Dive Bomber1 -> Some Stats (8/31/2007 9:12:26 PM)
June 4, 1942 - The US DDs at Dutch Harbor chased down another of my subs and sent it limping home to the repair yards this turn. I use subs to gather info and much of that info comes at a cost. Oh well, it is better than being totally surprised. So now I know that AuTiger still has plenty of ships around Dutch Harbor, and also that his air base at Adak is growing very rapidly. It looks like once again AuTiger will get the "jump" on me and I will not be able to progress in the Aleutians without a very costly fight. I can only hope that the Advanced Weather slows down his airborne Death Squads. Generally, I'm in a bad mood from this turn. My bombers hammered Changsha from all over the place, but the ground combat result was pretty much the same as usual: I lost three times as many troops as the Chinese and the fortifications went down by one to level 4. AuTiger keeps on bringing fresh troops into Changsha so I can't get that edge that I need, despite now having over 400,000 crack combat troops and several good combat generals in place. Things aren't likely to get better soon because AuTiger kicked my unit out of the blocking position between Ichang and Changsha and has cut off the Japanese Division that was blocking the northern route out of Changsha. This will be an interesting test of my "understanding" of the ground movement system in this Game. Several turns ago, and specifically BEFORE the land connection between my Division and Wuhan was cut, I set the Division's objective to Wuhan. It started to move at the usual glacial pace (across open country) and even the daily bombardments by the Chinese troops in the hex didn't reset the movement. Okay, so far, so good. But this turn after my other unit was kicked out of the hex between the Division and Wuhan, the movement of my Division was stalled at 10 miles. Hmmm - my understanding of the Movement rules is that if a unit has its objective set to a friendly base BEFORE it is cut off than it will continue to move towards the friendly base, EVEN through enemy troops. I have seen this happen against me several times in my pbems. However, maybe my understanding isn't quite correct this time. In any event, this type of lack of clarity in the Game Rules is what makes this Game occasionally much less enjoyable than it should be. It's one thing for a player to make a stupid mistake, and I make plenty of those. But it is quite another thing to have rules which aren't clearly defined. BTW - to add insult to injury, AuTiger didn't bother to send his 4Es against any of my Chinese air bases this turn; instead he sent a large number of B-17s to bomb the air fields and port at Hong Kong. A DD that has been sitting alone in Hong Kong harbor for weeks and weeks was hit by 5 bombs and is almost sinking again after being repaired from high damage levels to damage level 30. So it is clear that I can't use the port at Hong Kong to repair my ships. In any event, I'm going to take some time and give a status update of sorts. The Intel Screen for June 4 is posted below, and here are some of the details within the numbers: Air Losses: Fighter Losses: A6M2 = 490, Nates = 483, P-40s (both types) = 384 As you can see, AuTiger has done a masterful job of hammering my fighters, either by catching them in traps or smashing them on the ground. I have been totally unable to do the same to him. 4E Bomber Losses: B-17s (both) = 145, Liberators = 36 Considering the replacement rates for 4Es, it is easy to see from those feeble numbers why AuTiger can send his heavy bombers wherever he pleases. Ship Losses (Highlights, ignoring most transports and miscellaneous ships): Japan: 1 CV, 1 CVE, 1 CL, 7 DDs, 9 subs, 1 TK Allies: 2 CV (1 British), 1 CL, 1 CLAA (British), 2 ADV, 2 AV, 8 DD, 4 subs I guess that the good news here is that I have only lost one tanker so far. But the bad news is that I wasn't able to significantly damage the Allied navies during the first six months of the War. [image]local://upfiles/22744/E390A7DC86AC4A7E97019940F6880369.jpg[/image]

Dive Bomber1 -> River Crossing Blues (9/1/2007 5:56:05 PM)
June 5, 1942 - The night phase was quiet, then the day phase came and everything went "south" again. Okay, "everything" isn't correct, because some things went okay. My air attacks in China, for example, flew for the most part and were unopposed. But I've got to believe that this is because AuTiger can't be bothered at this time to go after my recovering air units. It was on the Ground that things continued to deteriorate. A third division finally crossed the river to the east of Lashio and was hammered during the automatic river-crossing "Shock Attack". I can understand why Allied players like this feature - this slows down the Japanese advance tremendously during the first six months of the Game. And because of the placement of the rivers, once the Allied player starts to counterattack the Allied forces don't have to cross rivers to attack most of the forward Japanese bases in Burma or China. The artillery attacks that followed the air attacks on Changsha were back to causing a few hundred Allied casualties again, instead of the 1400+ that had been occurring for the previous two turns. The AV value of my troops at Changsha was once again over 6000, but much of that was due to the arrival of another relatively fresh infantry division. At the same time, the artillery attack showed that AuTiger had also brought more troops into Changsha. I then decided to pull back my "left most" infantry divisions to rest them. This rather unfortunate "feature" of the Game that causes the certain units to take the brunt of most losses in combat is another reason that a player can't just blindly hammer-away against well defended positions. Instead, more micro-management is required to pull units out when they are selectively worn down by the Game Mechanism. However, when I checked beyond my first couple of infantry units I found that many of my original besiegers were depleted of combat engineers. Essentially, only those relatively "fresh" units that I had brought in lately were still truly combat ready. At that point I realized that I had lost the race to grab Changsha, despite having reduced the fortifications down to level 4. So I decided to pull back all of my troops. I am sending my most weakened troops to Nanchang and my fresher troops to Wuhan. Sure, I know that once AuTiger realizes that I have given up he will re-start his 4E bombing campaign in a big way and likely move his massive Chinese armies forward, but this attack has failed as badly as my other earlier attacks. So against AuTiger's defense blitzkrieg attacks, flanking attacks and full frontal attacks have all failed for me in China. Since AuTiger has taken to launching daily bombing attacks on my troops that are east of Lashio I have decided to give them orders to pull back too. I can't see a way that I can bring those troops up to strength enough to dislodge the Chinese units on the trail. This is all very discouraging. Sure, I could rant and rave against the weaknesses in the Ground Movement and Ground Combat models and blame them for my lack of success, but the reality is that I played right into all of those weaknesses and as such allowed the Game to become AuTiger's ally in the battle. Now that I know better, I am playing the Ground Game much differently in my newer pbems, but that doesn't help me here. The seeds that I planted at the beginning of this game have now yielded and I have to harvest what I've sown. Otherwise, things were relatively quiet in most regions. My small bombardment TF out of Lautem was spotted halfway to Oz and attacked by Hudsons and their escorts, but I had a decent Oscar Daitai on LR CAP and there was no damage. It's a bit frustrating that I haven't yet been able to sneak in for an attack, but at least this way I will have AuTiger's attention. I am setting up for a couple more similar attacks in different regions, and maybe I'll be luckier with those. In the meanwhile, I am getting the rain that I need in the North, so things will liven up in that region soon.

Dive Bomber1 -> More Expansion (9/1/2007 9:46:57 PM)
June 6, 1942 - Yet another quiet night passed. The day was almost equally quiet. Most of my air attacks in China flew, but I was using second line air units and masking the fact by sending out large numbers of them from multiple bases. Once again there was no Allied opposition. The only Allied air attack was in Burma on my troops to the east of Lashio. The first phase of my withdrawal from Changsha went well and about half of the besieging troops pulled back successfully. The other half ought to make it out next turn. That will only leave that lone division trapped to the north where it is stuck at 10 miles traveled. Once I rest up my better units at Wuhan I will send them out and attempt to re-establish supply lines. But I will go north of the river so that I can avoid the river crossing rules. The big news this turn was that my first Aleutian invasion TF reached Komandorski Island this turn and unloaded. So my troops will capture their first piece of the Aleutians next turn. Invasion TFs for the next two islands are already on their way. For the moment I am attempting to make this appear as "yet another" of my minor expansions. We will see if AuTiger buys that or not.

Historiker -> RE: More Expansion (9/1/2007 11:25:59 PM)
So now, you have fun with the Russians! [:D] Was that the plan?

Dive Bomber1 -> RE: More Expansion (9/2/2007 12:11:04 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Historiker So now, you have fun with the Russians! [:D] Was that the plan? No - The Russians appear to be too tough at this stage, and there isn't really a good reason to go after them. What is important is stopping the Allied reinforcements - either by capturing India, or capturing the US West Coast. I've decided to try to capture the US West Coast. That may sound very silly, but I am betting that AuTiger has sent a lot of his forces into the South Pacific and Australia. Therefore, I am sending all 10 of my good, experienced and full Divisions to Alaska, along with dozens of artillery, armor base force and other troops. I will try to quickly overwhelm the US forces in Alaska, grab the Canadian West Coast Bases, drop paratroops on the "United States" base, then send all ten divisions south along the West Coast. What I am betting on is that at the beginning AuTiger will use my move into Alaska as a reason to start to move into the South/Central Pacific. But at this stage he doesn't have enough combat divisions to go very far. I realize that the US gets six month's worth of reinforcements when a certain line is passed, but I'll take my chances. Anyway, it will certainly be more interesting than just sitting around waiting for overwhelming numbers of 4-Engine bombers to blast my forces into dust... [:D]

ctangus -> RE: More Expansion (9/2/2007 1:18:59 AM)
I think Historiker is referring to the fact that Komandorski is a Soviet base...

Dive Bomber1 -> RE: More Expansion (9/2/2007 1:55:22 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: ctangus I think Historiker is referring to the fact that Komandorski is a Soviet base... It IS!!!??? Oh oh --- I didn't intend that... Oooooooops - (Ah shi*t!!!!!!!!!!!)

Historiker -> RE: More Expansion (9/2/2007 2:02:03 AM)
Yes, it is! Didn't the name sound russian to you? Moreover, as far as I know, a massive rise of milita will come, when you enter the West Coast. So not even your 10 best Divisions will be enough - if I my memory doesn't trick me - and after you have been beaten, he has an extreme boost to for his land units... If I were you, I would ask Tiger to allow you to replay the last turn, because otherwise, the soviets shall be active...

ctangus -> RE: More Expansion (9/2/2007 3:14:30 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Historiker If I were you, I would ask Tiger to allow you to replay the last turn, because otherwise, the soviets shall be active... I agree - ask for a mulligan. IRL the Japanese would have known if they were invading Soviet territory or not. You might want to offer some concession (more palatable to you) elsewhere though - if I were playing you I'd give the mulligan but would want something in return. Well good luck! Exciting AAR - Russians active? West Coast invasion? [:D][;)]

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