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Q-Ball -> RE: Going Coastal (11/22/2012 1:48:03 PM)
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Pax, not sure I share your optimism on China; it's going downhill pretty fast now, and I think he'll be able to close it out and start moving troops sooner than I would like. I also don't think Burma is going to do much for me.
I am optimistic, though, elsewhere in the Pacific, where I am in great position to really cause problems down the road
Chickenboy, RE: RTA, we do have a HR. Greyjoy misunderstood it initially, and I'm OK with the RTA there, and told him that. They aren't that good in the end, and have no replacements. They also disappear in mid-'44. But it does help him in Burma.
11-5-42 to 11-11-42:
Horn Island: We invaded Horn Island. Everything went smooth, as Greyjoy didn't contest in the air (I had ALOT of fighters on LRCAP out of Portland Roads), and he must have been flying out the defenders. We landed 2 Brigades of Kiwis, plus some US Tanks. It was plenty.
This opens up alot of possibilities. While he can observe anything going through the Torres Strait, I can get shipping into the Gulf of Carpentaria pretty easily, provided I CAP it from Portland Roads, etc. I have the fighters, so between that and coastal settings, I am moving some shipping into the Gulf.
I've been building Normantown's port, so we can use that as a base. I plan to land troops at Merauke, which is lighly defended, then Gove, which can be built into a large base, then Darwin. This opens up an advance toward Ambon; not sure I'll do that, but it's another axis he has to defend, so that's a good thing.
Only problem is that I really can't bring CVs in the Gulf yet, because they would be observed for sure, and might be a tempting shot. I willl move a cruiser squadron though to provide some surface support for these landings.
Arorae:
After 2 days of attacks, he stopped; we have unloaded all we want to, and the airstrip should be operational soon. We lost 2 transports, an APD, and PC on this move, no big deal.
The CVs have left the area, and are moving to Sydney, to await further developments.
Burma:
My offensive is not going well so far. I will reach Warazup with 50,000 guys and lots of tanks, but he has reinforced it. Even worse, upriver I accidently crossed with an Indian Division that was completely mauled. I was just feinting, and that unit was one of the weakest ones (still had the '41 Indian Squads, and was not full strength). Ouch!
I have Akyab invested, but I think the garrison is large enough to hold me off. Same with Warazup. And my supply situation stinks.
I don't anticipate a breakthrough in Burma. I've pulled some of my best units for elsewhere, and he has ALOT of units there; at least 9 IJA divisions, plus the RTA, and at least 300 fighters.
I'll keep pushing though, because I want to make him commit there
Indian Ocean:
Greyjoy pulled off a mid-ocean intercept in the IO of one of my convoys moving b/w India and Oz. Nice job on his part, I always have trouble with those! MOGAMI and friends wasted every ship.
Thankfully, it was a smaller convoy of 6 TKs. Only 3 days before, that area was transited by a larger convoy carrying 2nd UK. THAT would have been bad!
I need to run convoys closer to the map edge, that was pretty slick of him
Australia:
Derby is lightly defended, and will fall as soon as the 6th Aus Div can get there from Broome. I think he's leaving Australia; I have a single brigade moving toward Daly Waters, which has only a single unit. I don't think there is much at Darwin either.
Imperial Defenses:
A pattern is emerging on GJ's defenses.
His game so far is much less aggressive than I play the Empire. That's good and bad; the bad is that I am much closer to the heart of the Empire than I would like my Allied opponent to be at this stage, particularly in Australia.
On the other hand, his losses have been very light, and I am now reaching the "hard" perimeter. Everything so far, like the Aleutians and Horn Is, has felt like just speed bumps, but the next moves will run into real fighting. He has built networks of airbases that likely have Air HQs, has hoarded his best air units well. Greyjoy handles his planes very well tactically, in fact he's beating me there so far. All in all, he has a very good air plan, and that coupled with all the extra planes you get in Scen 2 means I will have a very rough time with major landings, that will include heavy losses.
Bases that are obvious targets are all well defended; no weaknesses there. Kido Butai is untouched, and remains formidable.
It's going to be tough......
Naval Situation:
To recap, Greyjoy's losses so far have been relatively light; he's lost 2 CAs, 1 CL, and about 20 DDs. The CAs hurt, and you always need more DDs, but no CVs in there.
I've lost 15 cruisers; that sounds bad, but scratch the surface, and it really isn't. Only 3-4 of those are modern ones, there are alot of RN D and C class cruisers, Omahas, Dutch, and other not very useful types that I intentionally put in harms' way. My DD losses are VERY light; 3 modern US DDs, and all the rest are older Dutch/4-stacker types. I have lost 4 USN BBs though.
So overall, the Allied Navy hasn't lost much, so the good news is that I can afford to lose a bunch of ships in a major move.
[image]local://upfiles/6931/2972F85749BE46BABBEEEAB1B5F69F4D.jpg[/image]
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