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Hirose -> Post Battle IJN Debriefing (10/1/2003 9:34:07 PM)
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Scenario Debriefing:
My Strategy:
In a nutshell, sea denial. During the real Guadalcanal campaign the USN ruled the waves during the day while the IJN ruled the night. I intended to take that daylight control away from Brandon by keeping him guessing as to where my CV TF was and what I intended to do with it. At night I kept up a pretty regular and intensive pounding of Lunga and anything found floating around Lunga. These two strategies combined with a liberal mining campaign was intended to prevent his being able to reinforce his troops on the canal and to cause him some difficulties in trying to build anything like sea control of the area. I am not sure and will have to see what Brandon says about the effect this strategy had on him and his plans. I did manage to sink 10 ships to his 4, and I feel that this is a pretty good indicator that sea denial was a good and effective tactic.
What Worked:
I do believe, but this remains to be seen, that I was somewhat successful in keeping control of the Guadalcanal area. I did manage to build up a pretty good lead in points and this is what leads me to believe that my strategy was working.
What did not Work:
The carrier engagement during the last two turns was disastrous for the IJN. I had to make a decision around turns 9-10. I was ahead in points and could have just hid my CV TF in area where it was not likely to be found. I had only two CVs and one CVL to oppose his rather larger CV force. I did not know that he had at least three CVs , if I did I may have headed for the hills. Instead I chose to stay around and engage. I felt that running after building up a lead would be too gamey and really not very sporting! Stupid hay! But I did discover that once those planes leave the deck you are in the hands of fate! This causes me to not feel to bad about sticking around as I too could have had a lucky day and managed to take out a US carrier or two. Things would have been very different then, especially considering my good score going into the battle. Brandon also displayed some real sharps when he decided to pursue on day 12. If he had stayed content with the damage he inflicted on turn 11 and just withdrew I may have been able to get a tie game, but losing CV Zuikako in Turn 12 clinched it for the US.
I am also sad to report that I totally mismanaged my ground air assets, as well as my logistics. I am learning though and there is a ton of info that you have to take in before you can get good at this game. I look forward to my next PBEM and want to thank Brandon for the excellent game and for being such a great guy to learn this system with. You can download a track chart (zip file) of my general movements during the game at the following:
http://www.russojapanesewar.com/zip/Scenario-2-IJN-Track-Chart.zip
It's been Great!
Cheers
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