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WriterNotViking -> RE: AE Kangaroo Court (11/8/2011 6:10:05 AM)
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I feel the need to confess to someone, and since my wife does not care, and my cats care even less, I choose all of you.
The date is early August 1942 and the enemy is a lobotomized Japan (commanded by the AI). Therefore, the Dutch East Indies are not only largely in Allied hands, they are the center of Allied naval and aerial might in the western half of the map, and the graveyard for half a dozen Japanese CVs, half a dozen BBs and a dozen or so CAs (that's just the confirmed sinkings). Having decided the efforts of a certain Hurricane IIc squadron are best spent in that very area, I load this squadron, and its 18 elite pilots, aces all and tempered by eight months of non-stop air combat, onto an xAK. Escorts are not immediately available, but Japanese sub activity has been pretty much limited to lurking around Colombo, Melbourne and Pearl Harbor, the air threat is easily negated by staying away from the mainland, and surface raiders are nowhere to be found. Waypoints ensure this lone xAK takes the road less traveled, further reducing the risk.
Turns pass, and I forget to check on the transport. And when one day the sub attack screen appears, showing an SSX, of all things, attacking a single xAK dead in the middle of the Indian Ocean, I can't quite place the unpleasant tingle that slithers down my back, not even when two well-placed torpedo hits send the poor vessel plummeting to the ocean floor.
The ice doesn't flood my veins until I check the Air Losses for the turn... And see 17 beautiful, rugged Hurricanes listed as Destroyed - Ground. The report fails to mention the tragic and horribly vexing loss of eighteen combat veterans, at a time when the average Allied pilot graduate ranks in flying skill somewhere between a flying squirrel and a large rock.
So now I have a rule. No unescorted ships carrying troops or aircraft. Ever.
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