1 April 42

1 April 42 (Full Version)

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Xargun -> 1 April 42 (4/7/2005 5:06:42 AM)
Allright... this is the latest turn from Rob... I have more troops landing at Palembang and I have ordered another attack on the base. My men will be resupplied from the TFs and I hope to take the base - there has to be a ton of oil sitting there waiting for shipment to the Home Islands.. My night time air raid on Kunming has lost me 1 Sally, but destroy 1 I-16c, 5 Hudson I and 1 Blenheim IV. They also crater the runway and kill some men. Allied air raid on Amboina (13 B-17Es) hit nothing. My daylight air raid on Lanchow airfield was also successful. 2 Marys were lost, and 1 Ann, 6 Sonia and 3 Sally were damaged. They claim 1 P-40E destroyed on the ground (he had no CAP). They also claim 37 men and beat the hell out of the airfield: 48 airbase, 8 supply and 125 runway hits (2 raids). Lanchow has actual damage on her runway after the daily repair phase and the lack of fighters is a good thing... Maybe Rob has given up the sky over Northern China. My air raids on chinese troops claim 150 men and 1 gun. My CV TF NE of Canton locates a large allied TF and attacks - 15 zeros escort 56 Vals and 59 Kates on the free run - no CAP... 1 Val and 1 Kate were shot down as well as 7 total planes damaged. They sunk 1 AK and 1 DD escort and damaged 2 more DDs and 3 more AKs.. Not all that surprising, the AKs are carrying troops... Over 400 men of the 25th US Division drown in the Pacific waters - add that with the men from the failed DD TF, I have killed over a 1000 men from this division... I just hope I can finish off the TF before it makes port at Canton, or I will never take the island from Rob.. I have ordered the CV TF a little closer to Canton (but still out of his SBD range) as well as ordered my bombardment TF in the area back to sea heading for Canton to catch any ships at port. That is about it for the turn, other than I have 4 divisions of men at Lanchow and am bombarding the defenders. More men and arty is on the way there. I hope to take the base by end of the April.. I count roughly 20 chinese units at the base... If I can force them into the wilderness I will own Northern China.

Brausepaul -> RE: 1 April 42 (4/7/2005 11:04:51 AM)
I know, I know, we are a demanding crowd...but can you provide a screenshot of DEI to see who owns what?

Xargun -> RE: 1 April 42 (4/11/2005 8:04:54 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Brausepaul I know, I know, we are a demanding crowd...but can you provide a screenshot of DEI to see who owns what? I am at work right now, but will finish my current turn and post some screen shots when I get home tonight.. Xargun

Xargun -> Update (4/11/2005 8:44:16 PM)
I am at work and do not have access to my notes nor the game itself, so I am posting some info from memory.. Lanchow I have 4-6 divisions at Lanchow along with 1 Arty unit. they are lobbing shells as fast as possible at the chinese defenders. I am currently causing 100+ casualties per day while loosing none of my own men. I also have complete control of the air now. Rob has a few chinese fighters in the area, but I have not seen a P-40 for almost a week - he has pulled them all into Central / Southern China to support his air raids on Bangkok and Hong Kong. I am currently bombing the airfield at Sining to shut it down (and waste chinese supplies). Then my bombers will concentrate on the defenders at Lanchow. The base will most likely be worthless to me (oil will probably be mostly destroyed), but I will either kill / capture / or drive 160k chinese troops into the jungle / mountains where they can die. Palembang I have captured the Grand Daddy of Oil.. I have captured it relatively intact as well. I believe out of the 700 oil production it has only like 50 damage !! My oil plans are great.. Palembang will produce enough oil by itself to feed 25% of my industry - Now I just need to ship it home and protect it from the evil Allies... The damage to the base is minor - 1 manpower and like 30 resources are damaged as well - I plan on repairing all the oil as well as the manpower point and will repair the resources if supplies allow in the future. I have a base force there already - helped in the landing and they have already begun expanding the port and airfield. I doubt very much that I will need any real defenders here, but plan on keeping at least 1 NLF and some base forces to keep the oil pumping and keep Rob's sub commandoes away. Rangoon Rangoon is slowly expanding its airfield and port and next turn I'll finally have an AS there to reload my subs - this will save 3-4 days on sub transitting to Singapore and back. I will now have 4-6 subs in the Indian Ocean fulltime with little turn around time needed. Rangoon has plenty of fuel and supplies to support my subs forever... Timor The first load of troops planning for the invasion of Timor are on there way to Kendari - where they will fully prepare and wait for additional troops before invading. I plan on hitting both allied bases on Timor (East and West ends) at the same time to limit his air response. I also plan on having having fighter CAP on the invasion to keep the bombers in Oz from playing. OZ My subs are still hitting ships moving around northern Oz.. I just sunk a TK this last turn - which I believe was full of fuel coming from India (it was moving South). I am also tracking a large convoy of merchies which is probably carrying men or supplies. Hopefully I'll get some hits on them. South East Pacific Well my 3 CVs are about 360 miles east of Canton looking for more allied ships carrying men and supplies to Canton... I have subs coming behind my TF and they have spotted a new TF to the north. The TF is showing 10 ships, including several CAs and merchies.. The CVs will be directed north to strike at this TF.. I doubt that it is full of Merchies as Rob knows my CVs are in the area, so I expect either warships or perhaps the long lost US CVs.... I have 3 full wings of planes and they are well rested now (no attacks this turn) and all at like 98% strength (have lost a couple planes while bombing the DD TF)... Either way I plan on sending all bombers and 1/2 my fighters at the enemy TF, keeping the rest on CAP just in case.. Hopefully the battle will be far enough away from Canton that he can't draw on any air support from the island... My replenishment TF is like 200 miles from this unknown TF and is turning around, heading back to Tarawa.. Hopefully Rob did not spot it on his turn, or it may be in trouble.. Not a whole lot more is going on.. I have several still in the planning stages and have dozens of ships undergoing repair and refit back in Japan - at least a dozen DDs are getting new and improved AA weapons and will actually give me a basic amount of flak support for my ships - in October, Rob will leap ahead of me again, but right now with the right ships we have almost even AA support. Now I just have to wait for the ships to be repaired before sending them out again...

Xargun -> RE: Update (4/13/2005 3:43:03 AM)
Here is a screenshot of the northern half of the SRA. As you can see there is a lot of traffic between Saigon and Singapore - mostly fuel, supply and men being moved to singapore in preparations for the full invasions of Sumatra. You can also see that Palembang is mine and I have over 40 zeros there keeping its precious oil fields safe. [image]local://upfiles/10982/45EC43D3938042D1A63376DC2DAADC8E.jpg[/image]

Xargun -> RE: Update (4/13/2005 3:45:43 AM)
Here is the screenshot of the southern half of the SRA. It shows my conquest of Borneo, Suluwesi and some of the islands north of Timor. [image]local://upfiles/10982/CDDE567D14EE4714BD9160A1A48263C6.jpg[/image]

Xargun -> RE: Update (4/13/2005 3:47:07 AM)
Here is a screenshot of the Amboina area, including Sorong. Right now Amboina and Sorong are at 100% oil production and Amboina has already been bombed from Darwin a couple times. I plan on not repairing any damage to Amboina - its to easy to bomb and very exposed - and hope that Rob forgets about Sorong - which has as much oil production as Amboina does. [image]local://upfiles/10982/30D650E1D6174BB29BA795C63A1C289F.jpg[/image]

Xargun -> RE: Update (4/13/2005 3:49:09 AM)
Here is a screenshot of the Canton Area. As you can see I have Rob's TF spotted and intel says 6 CA and 1 CV. Whether or not its true, I am moving north with my CVs and will attack it. We will see... Next turn should be interested... [image]local://upfiles/10982/743B8B82ED9E4E3D9F3969E8AE056EEE.jpg[/image]

Brausepaul -> RE: Update (4/13/2005 1:44:33 PM)
Thanks for the screenshots, I appreciate it very much. I know that it is easier to play than to report what you are doing ;) Got some hints for my own PBEM as Allies. The next turn should be indeed very interesting (Canton area).

Xargun -> RE: Update (4/13/2005 10:40:43 PM)
I am currently at work and have checked my mail and a nice turn is awaiting me.... I am going to die from anxiety.. I have a chance to bag one (or more) of Rob's CVs and I have to wait another 5 hours before I can get home and run the turn... Argh !!!! If I was able, I would leave work early and go home now... but alas, I cannot... Oh well.. it should be a very exciting turn - at least if our CVs engage. Xargun

Xargun -> 4 April 42 (4/14/2005 4:53:41 AM)
Well not the great exciting turn I expected... Very dull actually. Turn started off with some allied ASW efforts - no depth charges even dropped and all subs involved have been moved. I dropped of an NLF on Apamama Island (south of Tarawa) and after a brief battle the 32 men of the Americal Divisions surrendered and the base was back in Japanese hands once more. My MSW detected and cleaned up some nasty allied mines at Brunei, making the harbor safe once more for oil exportation... I raided Kunming airfield, claiming 1 chinese fighter and 3 RAF bombers destroyed with a loss of 1 Sally. The runway was hit and cratered with 7 airbase, 2 supply and 23 runway hits. In northern China I raided Sining airfield as well. 18 zeros and 24 nates escorted over 60 dive bombers on a raid. They claimed 1 chinese fighter shot down and 1 dive bomber damaged in the raid. The chinese base suffered many hits: 7 airbase, 3 supply and 56 runway hits. It looks like my plan to close down these northern chinese airfields is working... especially since Rob has pulled the RAF out of here. In Burma, 59 LR bombers left Rangoon and struck at Diamond Harbor. According to reports they all launched torps, but only managed to hit 1 AP and 1 AK with 1 bomb each (odd huh [;)]). I did not expect great results, but want to keep Rob on his toes and make him spread his fighter support over all bases before I really get some good hits. Both merchies hit were heavily damaged and burning - I believe I have hit these ships before, but don't feel like going back through 5 months worth of notes to check. My raid also claimed a dozen men, as well as 3 port, 1 fuel and 1 supply hit. 1 Nell and 1 Betty were lost in the raid, along with 20 planes damaged - its a long flight to Diamond Harbor from Rangoon... My CVs near Canton moved North 3 hexes and found nothing... Even my land-based recon from Tarawa have lost the allied CV TF.. He must have moved either far to the east or NE to avoid my recon... I have ordered the CVs to return to Tarawa for refuelling and some rest, while my newly arrived Division of troops at Tarawa rest for their invasion of Canton - the CVs will escort them in - along with my bombardment TF.

Xargun -> 5 April 1942 (4/16/2005 11:33:06 PM)
Well this is like the 4th time I've tried to post a message to the forum from work today... so I am trying again... Well the turn was slow... again... It seems Rob's CV TF has ran off the map and I have no idea where it is - although I have a general idea - it can only move so fast - and am not worried about it. I have ordered higher CAP on my CV TF but will not worry about it til it shows up again. I must claim that I lied about where my CVs were heading.. just in case the enemy might be listening [:D] instead of heading back towards Tarawa I sent them against Canton Island. The were ordered to move within 5 hex range and I planned to hit the shipping docked at Canton.. I say planned because they did not.. and I only have myself to blame.. I have had all my CV bombers set to range 4 so I can use torps against anything located and then forgot to change their range to 5 when ordered against Canton so not a single plane launched. This made me mad as the sub I have sitting at Canton has spotted several TF of sitting ducks... I mean merchies... My sub even tried to attack an enemy AP and both torps missed [:@] I ordered my TF S-SE in pursuit of some other TFs I have spotted with my subs in the area - afraid Rob will move SBDs to Canton (if they aren't already there) and hit my CVs if I stray to close. In china my aircraft continue pounding the chinese without mercy, killing / wounding hundreds per turn. At Lanchow a large contingent of my Arty has finally arrived at the base bringing the total guns to over 1800 which opened fire on the chinese troops there. This turn alone they claimed over 550 enemy soldiers... at this rate Lanchow will definately be mine with low loss counts. A beat-up allied DD sunk (at Canton I think). This is one of the escapees from the earlier mauling of the allied DD troop fleet. Other than that not much happened.

Xargun -> 6 April 1942 (4/17/2005 12:04:33 AM)
Well another day.. and I get kicked in the teeth... Near Canton my CVs have yet to find anything to sink. Rob must have a recon plane following my TF around and warning everyone away from me.. Unfortunately I am at about half fuel and am only moving at mission speed - which is 5 hexes total per day (3/2). I am moving South towards Pago Pago where my subs (Have I mentioned I love those recon plane equipped subs) have spotted several allied TFs gathering.. I am moving within range and have double checked my ranges on my bombers to ensure they actually fly this time. I am also continuing the arty strikes on Lanchow and slowly driving chinese forces further back into china on all fronts. My aircraft continue to dominate the skies in china and I am wondering if I should move more of them out of china to combat the RAF threat in Burma... What do you guys think about that ? My TF arriving at Rangoon ran into several problems.. The first were some mines that Rob snuck in an laid without my knowledge. My ships started clearing them and then a DD struck one, which blew a huge hole in its forward hull (like 40 damage). Then an RAF air raid came in at the TF to add insult to injury. The RAF bombers hit 2 ships, including an APD with 3 bombs and my damn AS with a bomb. The whole purpose of the TF was to escort the AS to Rangoon.. Luckily the damage is only around 20 so it can still function. The 3 damaged ships are disbanded in port and the rest refuelled and headed south for Singapore. I have also ordered some zeros to fly CAP over the retreating TF and assigned more planes to CAP since the RAF wants to play again... My zeros at Rangoon raided Akyab again and beat up the RAF fighters there. Over a dozen RAF fighters were claimed with no losses on my side - a couple damaged planes is all. Another great air victory for my pilots. That is basically all that has happened this last turn other than 1 of my subs sinking an AK off the north coast of OZ. I have 4-6 subs along the northern edge of OZ trying to stem the flow of supplies / fuel importing to OZ from India - they have sunk a few ships, but really done anything else to stem the tide.. Rob just has to many ships and supplies that losing a few doesn't hurt him much at all.. unlike me.

Brausepaul -> RE: 6 April 1942 (4/17/2005 12:09:02 AM)
Destroying the RAF airpower in Burma might prelong his air buildup in that area. Since you have control of Chinese airspace anyway better make use of your power, I guess.

Capt. Harlock -> Redeploying Air Assets (4/17/2005 11:45:42 PM)
I have to agree. Now that you have artillery to do much of the heavy lifting in China, it would seem that you can well afford to switch over to Burma and delay the inevitable British build-up as long as you can. The one potential flaw is that the Brits will receive upgraded aircraft much quicker in the Burma-India sector than in China, so you might find yourself in a painful battle of attrition.

Xargun -> 7 April 1942 (4/19/2005 8:36:31 AM)
Well the turn starts off slow - as usual lately but heats up in the air phase... An IJN AP unloading supplies at Rabaul (all I have are APs in the area at the moment, so I am using them to haul supplies around) hits a mine - ouch. Luckily the damage isn't critical, and the flooding / fire is easily contained [Damage: 18/0/1] but its still another ship I will have to send off for repairs... IJN I-9 locates and makes an attack against a US surface fleet. The sub sneaks up and launches torpedoes against the BB New Mexico - unfortunately I miss... I-9 is not as lucky, as the escorting DDs hit her with a depth charge [Damage: 26/42/0]. I-9 has been ordered back home for repairs. She should make port before sinking and then head home once the flooding is stopped. I was surprised at the target actually. I saw the allied TF sitting in a hex last turn and thought I would come over and investigate and I find 3 BBs and 5 DDs sitting in a hex by themselves.. It would have been nice to score some hits on the New Mexico, but oh well. Daylight comes and brings with it a lot of air activity.. My first strike hits Andaman Island's airfield, claiming 2 supply and 4 runway hits. Then my planes proceed to bomb the hell out of the chinese some more... Then the excitement starts... My 3 CV TF stopped 4-5 hexs from Pago Pago and was jumped by enemy aircraft. Apparently a US CV TF snuck up on me and launched a lagre wave... The wave consisted of 2 F4F-3's, 71 F4F-4's and 54 SBD bombers. My 32 zeros on CAP were overcome. The CAP fought bravely downing 1 F4F-3 and 34 F4F-4s. My CAP and TF flak brought down 7 SBDs and damaged another 20+, but the bombs flew... CV Hiryu took 1 hit, and CV Junyo took 2. BB Hiei took 2 as well, and BB Kiroshima took 1. Then my CVs launched back - luckily the first wave didn't do enough damage to shut down any of my CVs so I fired back a full strike... 11 Zeros escorted in 55 Vals and 58 Kates - against what I thought was 2-3 CVs at first - boy was I mistaken... Rob's TF had only 2 F4F-3s and 20 F4F-4s flying CAP - looks like the majority of his fighters were flying escort... The dogfighting was fierce as was the enemy flak.. In all my planes shot down 2 F4F-4s and lost 3 zeros, 11 Vals and 24 Kates.... another 10 bombers were damaged. My bombers flew straight at their targets though and landed a combination of bomb and torpedo hits. To my surprise, CV after CV after CV showed up as targets [X(] In all 4 allied CVs were targetted and hit... The Yorktown took 3 bombs (only 2 penetrated) and 1 torpedo. The Saratoga took 2 torpedo hits, with one causing an AMMO EXPLOSION [:)] The Lexington took 1 bomb and 2 torpedo hits. The Enterprise took 2 bomb hits. I was ecstatic at the Ammo Explosion, but nothing sank [:@] This all happened in the AM air phase and I was worried about the upcoming PM phase as I know my CVs cannot take 500 pound bombs very well. I knew I hurt all 4 enemy CVs, but figured they would all launch a second strike come the PM phase - just not enough damage to any single CV to shut them down... on either side... I was expecting another massive launch from his 4 and my 3 CVs.... and I was dreading it... Heavy damage to my CVs this far south is nearly a death sentance... The PM air phase started with an RAF air raid on Rangoon Port. They killed a few min, and hit the port with 1 bomb. 9 RAF planes were shot down and another 4 damaged by Oscars and Zeros flying CAP - 2 Oscars were lost to enemy fighters. Then the CV battle began again... Unfortunately the damn US launched first - must be the benefits of that damn radar. The strike was 2 F4F-3s, 13 F4F-4s and 18 SBDs - a lot less than I was expecting... I still had 18 zeros on CAP to defend with... I lost 1 zero to the enemy fighters and claimed another 2 F4F-4s. My CAP and AA claimed another 6 SBDs and 5 damaged... But as earlier, my CAP and AA was not able to stop the attack [:@] Luckily the surviving SBD pilots decided that the BB Hiei looked like the best target and concentrated on her.. In all 4 bombs struck her, but all bounced off her armor. 1 bomb did find its way onto the desk of the Junyo, adding to the fire brewing there. My return attack was more powerful than his second strike, but lightly protected.. 4 zeros escorted 30 Vals and 8 Kates on a counterstrike. My last raid must have hurt his fighters badly, as only a total of 6 fighters were flying CAP. I lost 5 more Vals (10 more damaged) and 1 Kate (3 more damaged) and managed to land 2 bombs on the Enterprise - which resulted in an AMMO EXPLOSION... I also landed 1 bomb and 1 torpedo on the Lexington. As my survivors flew home, both CVs were burning. The rest of the turn was nothing important, just my troops beating up on more chinese men, including another 350+ at Lanchow. Apparently my Ammo Explosions on the 2 enemy CVs were either FOW or just minor explosions, as nothing sunk on either side. But the next turn will tell the tale.... I may have 30 fighters left on all CVs, as well as 40 bombers total.... The bombers are all tired and have very low morale with over 2/3rds of the planes damaged. I have ordered all bombers to stand down for rest and repair and ordered all fighters aloft for CAP - I pray that the damage I inflicted to Rob is enough to drive him off... Another air strike will really hurt my CVs... Right now the only CVs hurt is the Junyo [Damage: 43/9/10] and the Hiryu has some minor damage [3/-/-].. Needless to say neither BB is hurt, although Hiei does have 6 points of fire damage - which should be fixed this turn. I am not leaving any ships behind and am heading away from the battle zone as fast as possible in what I hope is a surprising direction... My TF is starting to get low on fuel, but I'm more worried about his CVs finishing them off than anything else... If Rob can scrape together 1 full CV worth of planes I could be in trouble.. If he has 2 usable CVs (and planes) I am definately in trouble, as he will close and use 1000 pounders on me... I damaged a lot of SBDs, but probably not enough to stop him from sinking 1-2 of my CVs if he closes the range. Total air losses in this CV battle are [All sources, but mostly Air to Air, Flak and Ops]: 56 F4F-4s lost vs 24 A6M2 Zeros 29 SBDs lost vs 18 Vals & 28 Kates The only good news is that in 8 days the Hiyo will arrive, but I may lose 3 CVs by then... I cannot afford to evenly trade CVs with Rob at this point, although a 2:1 trade would not be bad... But with the current state of my aircraft I doubt that is a possibility, unless the CVs sink from flooding damage. If he leaves any ships behind, I may have to detach a BB to sink it, as I doubt my aircraft can muster another strike for several days. The excitement is growing into fear as I wait for Rob to send the turn back... This could be a turning point in the war if his CVs are not badly hurt and mine are... We will see... I still don't know how he caught up with me and with 4 CVs.... Oh well.... At least he only has 1 real CV left out there to defend with... Maybe its time to hit Pearl again ? Hmmm... [:'(]

Brausepaul -> RE: 7 April 1942 (4/19/2005 10:35:15 AM)
Wow, interesting turn, and a little bit surprising that a CV battle took place...cool[:)] I really hope than you can extract KB from battle, a loss of CVs might hamper your ability to be offensive for quite some time. Anyways...sorry for the loss of so many pilots,, but on the pro side it seems that his strike force has been hit hard, too. On a side note: I am really astonished about the claims the pilots made. In my Allied vs. AI Japan game, my CVL Hermes was hit by a full strike of KB...the combat report said that it was hit by 62 bombs and several torpedos, not to forget more hits on the rest of the TF...poor guys.

mogami -> RE: 7 April 1942 (4/19/2005 10:58:37 AM)
Hi, Don't worry if the enemy CV strike hits you first your strike is already in the air. Both strikes launch at the same time and it is just random which one resolves first. (As long as you see the enemy TF you launch)

Xargun -> RE: 7 April 1942 (4/19/2005 6:17:57 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Mogami Hi, Don't worry if the enemy CV strike hits you first your strike is already in the air. Both strikes launch at the same time and it is just random which one resolves first. (As long as you see the enemy TF you launch) Thats nice to know [:)] So perhaps my first strike did enough damage to shut down several of his CVs and prevented a second launch from them... Hmmm... Either way I am still anxiously awaiting the turn from Rob so I can see if I escape or not. Luckily if I do lose some CVs its none of my main CVs - the 3 CVs there are smaller than the others, but their loss will still hurt badly for my future operations... Xargun

Xargun -> RE: 7 April 1942 (4/19/2005 6:21:37 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Brausepaul Wow, interesting turn, and a little bit surprising that a CV battle took place...cool[:)] I really hope than you can extract KB from battle, a loss of CVs might hamper your ability to be offensive for quite some time. Anyways...sorry for the loss of so many pilots,, but on the pro side it seems that his strike force has been hit hard, too. On a side note: I am really astonished about the claims the pilots made. In my Allied vs. AI Japan game, my CVL Hermes was hit by a full strike of KB...the combat report said that it was hit by 62 bombs and several torpedos, not to forget more hits on the rest of the TF...poor guys. Well the claims are always high.. thats why I posted the actual aircraft losses.. I don't usually look at that data (as it is 100% accurate and no FOW affects it), but every now and then is fine... And this is definately one of those times when I need that info... Maybe with so few fighters left he will run.. or maybe he won't have enough left to escort his strikes and won't launch ..... Either way is good for me.. I also don't have the KB here - only 3 second-lind CVs... The real CVs are either in Japan for repair or enroute elsewhere.. I am moving my 3 baby CVs into the area at high speed for backup, but they will not arrive within any useful time frame - I'm hoping they can be used to cover the invasion of Canton and / or to finish off any crippled US CVs left in the area. Xargun

Xargun -> RE: 7 April 1942 (4/20/2005 9:43:10 PM)
I downloaded the turn this morning before leaving for work but did not have time to run it... To be honest I'm kinda afraid to... I stood all my bombers down on the CVs and put all fighters to 90% CAP, but if Rob closes I have a bad feeling he will penetrate my CAP and land some serious hits on all my CVs... Right now only 1 needs yard time, the other 2 just need new pilots and planes... but if Rob closes and attacks I will be in trouble... Oh well... I am nervous but will run it when I get home.. It would be great if he withdraws that TF, but I have a feeling even if he does withdraw some, he will either leave the planes behind or send in the less damage CVs with the surviving planes from all the CVs... Either way I could easily be in trouble... Oh well.. We will find out in roughly 6 hrs. Xargun

Capt. Harlock -> CV Dust-Up (4/20/2005 10:23:52 PM)
Considering that you gave better than you got against his first-line carriers, without the benefit of the KB, I'd say you did pretty well. Unfortunately Rob can patch holes and replace/train pilots at a faster rate than you can, but I would still say the victory goes to you -- for the moment, at least.

Xargun -> 8 April 1942 (4/22/2005 4:59:50 AM)
All right.. Just did 2 turns which I'm sure has told you about the one, but just ran the second and .. well I'll get to it in a minute. Not a whole lot happened this turn. An allied (US) AO sank at Midway. I believe it was one of the ones I caught with some torps when Rob was hanging out around Wake with his CVs. Either way, thats one less mobile gas station for him - will help in the coming 2 years I'm sure. I bombed the hell out of some more chinese troops with my planes.. My men on the ground also beat up some chinese troops in Central China, driving them back deeper into the interior. I lost 135 men and inflicted x3 losses on the chinese - so a good deal. Lanchow was a little slow this turn as my arty only claimed 134 chinese troops this turn. I also landed some troops at an allied control beach in the SRA - it has nothing, but I do not want Rob to have any beaches / bases inside my territory to use as bases without me knowing about it. The NLF will easily take the beach next turn. I also arrived at Nukufetau Island with my bombardment group and ordered them to become a Surface group to protect the arriving NLF APs... Other than that not much happened.

Xargun -> 9 April 1942 (4/22/2005 5:20:17 AM)
Now on to better things [:D] The turn started off good.. My Surface group at Nukufetau Island found a lone allied AK sailing to the island and pounded the hell out of it [SC TF: 1 BB, 4 CA, 4 DD]. The merchie quickly sank, taking over 1000 US troops with it [:D] Good move... My troops landed on the base and captured it without a fight. After an unsuccessful ASW attack on a US Sub in New Guinea, my PG / PC TF located and hammered S-38 in the straights near Balikpapin, hitting the enemy sub with 2 depth charges. The sub is reported heavily damaged and on fire - maybe I'll get a kill out of it yet.. The good news keeps coming.. After missing the damaged allied CVs last turn, I ordered RO-63 to Canton to try to bag anything at the port and low and behold guess what she saw .... The USS Yorktown limping into port with a measly 2 DD escort. RO-63 quickly closed in and fired 4 torps - 2 of which hit her amidships... After a pair a huge explosions the Yorktown capsized and sunk [:'(] The DDs counterattack was feeble... So lady Yorktown is no more [;)] At least I got 1 kill from our engagement... Reports indicate over 40 SBDs went down with her as well... Thats at least 2 (if not 3) groups and pilots lost. A major victory for me. A moment later I-16 put 2 torps into a TK near Palmyra, leaving the ship adrift with heavy damage and burning. Next was an air raid on Kunming AF. 8 Zeros escorted 35 Sallies. The chinese CAP was light (only 9 fighters), but they claimed 4 Sallies and 5 damaged [including AA fire]. My claims were 5 chinese fighters and 2 RAF Blenheim IVs. My pilots also claim 103 men as well as 11 airbase, 1 supply and 30 runway hits. Intel showed a bunch of RAF fighters at Pagan, so I ordered a sweeo by my zeros at Raheng. The 27 zeros ran right into 37 Hurricanes on CAP and there was a very one-sided battle. I lost 4 zeros and shot down 15 Hurricanes - a very good air battle for my Burma men. While a vicious dogfight was happening over Pagan, 18 zeros were escorting in 84 Sallies on a raid on Akyab AF. The RAF CAP was light - 12 Demons and 8 P-40Bs. I lost 1 zero and 9 Sallies in the raid, but they claimed 3 Demons, 2 P-40Bs, 3 Hudson, 2 Hurricanes and 1 Martin [In air and caught on the ground]. My bombers also claim 33 men, 2 guns, 8 airbase, 5 supply and 39 runway hits. My Sallies took a beating, but overall it was a successful raid - catching a lot of planes on the ground. My arty strike at Lanchow netted me 337 enemy troops as more japanese troops arrive at the base. I still have 1 more mortal unit and a couple more infantry units to arrive before the assault force is all there. Figure 1-3 more days to assemble them all, and then a couple days to rest up the infantry before the real assault begins. In all a very good day for me - especially with the air-to-air kills in Burma and the sinking of the Yorktown. I would not be surprised if the other US CV (Hornet I think) is coming straight for my CVs, and they have detoured slightly South, in their westward journey. The Soryu and Hiryu are not hurt at all - although their air units are very depleted and the Junyu still cannot conduct air ops yet - her flooding and fire is under control (so far) and she should make port - provided no interference by the damn allies. I am avoiding any AF larger than 1 and will fly in replacement air groups as soon as they get within range of Tarawa / Kwajelein. I also have several groups of Betties at Tarawa and just waiting for the AF to expand to a size 4 - then I will control the seas around there - keeping Rob away. I am thinking of transfering the decimated air groups from these 3 CVs to other CVs undergoing repair and swap their air units out, so I can keep them going with fully experienced groups - this will surely surprise Rob if I can pull it off.

Xargun -> 10 April 1942 (4/23/2005 6:49:10 PM)
Well another day and I'm at work again [:@] Work is really getting in the way of my PAC-waring... Well I got the turn last night and ran it but did not get a chance to finish my orders so I will give a breif synopsis of the turn. Not a whole lot happened til the Air Phase. My LR bombers from both Kendari and Balikpapin located and pounded a merchie TF at Koepang (Timor). My bombers flew in both the AM and PM air phases pounding the TF. In all 8 AKs where hit, of which 4 sunk during the turn. The rest should be badly damaged and will hopefully finished off this next turn. Rob had no real fighter cover over the base - a few wirraways and I think they claimed 1 bomber in all the attacks. My CV TF is still limping away from the Canton area, heading a West - South - West to stay away from any bases that can house offensive aircraft. My baby CV TF is racing to the area at full speed and will hopefully get there before Rob can muster any more offense in the area. The other good naval news is that an IJN sub located and put a torpedo into the US BB New Mexico. The sub only fired 2 torps (must be all it had left) and got 1 hit on the US BB. Hopefully the BB is damaged enough to force it to retire to PH or the West Coast. Also an MSW sank at Darwin from previous damage - probably during one of my many air raids of Darwin's port. Other than the usual beatings in china, nothing much has happened. I will post more details tonight when I get home.

Xargun -> 11 April 1942 (5/2/2005 1:40:27 AM)
Another day and I found the Hornet... or actually the Hornet found me.. The turn starts off with an allied air raid on Rangoon AF. A zero and a Betty were destroyed in the raid, and a single hit on both the airbase and runway were scored. Not a big deal, as I have plenty of aircraft - pilots are way more valuable to me. Rob's fighters from Port Moresby caught one of my APs unloading supplies at Finschafen and hit her with several bombs - the claims are at 5, but there is no one an IJN AP can take 5 bombs and still be floating. I am guessing more like 1 or 2 as she is not in all that bad of shape. Rob also raided Palembang with 16 B-17s. My CAP and AA damaged 4 of them and they scored a few hits on my runways. Surprisingly he didn't go for the oil like I figured he would. Then the USS Hornet showed up near Nukufetau Island. 10 Wildcats escorted 35 SBDs in an air raid on my bombardment / surface combat TF protecting the invasion TF... My flak claimed 2 SBDs destroyed and another 12 damaged. The allied pilots claim 2 bomb hits on the BB Mutsu and 2 on the CA Kinugasa. Luckily both hits on the Kinugasa struck armor (1 deck armor and 1 turret armor) and did not penetrate. The hits on the Mutsu litterally bounced off the armor. The damage to both ships is very minimal with a little fire on the Mutsu (2 fire). That is about it for the turn...

Xargun -> 12 April 1942 (5/2/2005 1:48:59 AM)
The turn started off with another night time air raid on Rangoon by RAF pilots. This time they destroyed a single Oscar and another Betty on the ground and got 2 hits on the runway.. That is all.. I landed a portion of a Bde at Macassar to claim the last allied outpot on the island. The troops landed fine and are still unloading, unfortunately Rob must have spotted my TF and had planes set to Naval Attack. The dutch air force is still alive and struck at my landing force (I thought they were all dead or pulled back). 6 Brewster fighters escorted 7 T.IVa torpedo bombers on several raids on the TF. In all 3 APs were struck with torpedoes and over 100 japanese troops wounded or killed In china, I put up an entire Sentai of zeros over the 20th Mixed Brigade and they intercepted a large RAF raid. 13 zeros were flying CAP and intercepted 42 RAF bombs escorted by 5 chinese fighters. 1 Zero was shot down and my CAP and ground AA claimed 7 Blenheim Is, 3 Blenheim IVs and 1 chinese fighter. A sentai of Ann DBs were set to Naval Attack and located a small allied TF near Teloekbetoeng. 2 AKs and a DD were attacked, with only 1 AK actually getting struck by multiple bombs - unfortunatly the bombs were small (100 kg) and the ship is probably not all that damaged. At Lanchow my arty strikes (over 3000 guns now) claimed another 350 chinese troops. I am waiting for the last few units to arrive before I begin the actual push for the city. Aircraft within range are also standing down for some rest before the big push. My baby CVs have reached Kwajelein and have refueled. They are racing towards Tarawa as fast as they can. They will join up with the 2 CVs in the area and try to catch the fleeing US CVs...

Xargun -> 13 April 1942 (5/3/2005 8:32:54 PM)
My troops continue to unload at Macassar. I did not order an attack this turn, as I want supplies to build up some and the troops to recover from the landing. Rob shouldn't have anything there that could threaten my landing so the troops should be safe. My MSW detect and remove some mines around Rabaul.. I have a feeling there are still more, so I will leave them there for a while yet. Rob came in with another night air raid on Rangoon. He came in with 13 RAF bombers... and my flak damaged a couple and actually shot down a Hudson I... No bomb hits were reported inside my base... An IJN sub (I-154) put two torps into the RN AK Empire Rani off the northern coast of Oz. The AK was already damaged from the air raid at Koepang and quickly sank. A large air raid over Kunming met with little resistance. 27 fighters escorted 90 dive bombers aginst the AF at Kunming. 2 Bombers were shot down along with 4 damaged. 1 enemy plane was destroyed - chinese fighter flying CAP. Roughly 50 chinese were killed or wounded and the airbase took a beating. 89 airbase hits, 5 supply and 63 runway hits. This should put a crimp in Rob's AF at kunming for a while and force him to spend supplies he doesn't have to repair it. 51 Sallies were escorted by 8 zeros against the airfield at Mandalay where Rob based some B-17s out of. His 9 P-40Es flying CAp shot down 1 zero, with my zeros claiming no kills... The Sallies hit the airbase, but did not do much damage - 1 airbase and 6 runway hits.. a single B-17 was damaged in the raid. The raid wasn't very successful, but hopefully it will force Rob to pull the B-17s back or chance losing them to air raids. More air raids over china by both my planes and the RAF. Loses in the air were very low for me, and my LR CAP caught some RAF bombers shooing down 3 and damaging 4 more. Ground loses on both sides were moderate. My arty at Lanchow claimed over 200 more chinese troops. Fighters and bombers from Port Moresby found my APs unloading supplies at Lae and hit both of them with a single bomb. After reports indicate only 1 AP was hit and it had the fire and flt under control. Rob also bombed the AF at Lae, putting a couple holes in the runway that I have no engineers to fix. At Pagan another round of dogfighting erupted as 24 zeros swept in from Rangoon and encounter 26 Hurricanes on CAP. 1 zero failed to return home, while over 10 Hurricanes were claimed. I like these odds.. its an easy way to build exp for my fighter pilots before the damn Sptfires arrive. Right now all 4 zero sentai I have in Burma are 70+ exp.... In the SRA, my forces have finally cleaned the Amboina Island of all resistance. In a daring Shock attack, my NLF wiped out and captured the remnants of the Molukken Garrison. Over 650 men were either killed or captured. My massive ASW air plan near the Molacca Straights have payed off, with a Lily hitting the SS Truant with a bomb. I also have an ASW TF in the area trying to keep it clean. Rob & I are now running v 1.5 and we shall see how it goes. Well my huge stockpile of men and equipment just evaporated. I had over 75k manpower and nearly 10k in armaments last turn and now I have 115 manpower and 2267 armaments. But the good news is I just got a ton of combat units... In china, I just recieved 4 new divisions - all at 100% and ready for battle. In Kwangtung I recieved 1 new division (100%) and in Tokyo I just recieved 6 new Naval Guard Units: 3 are at 71%, 2 are at 23% and 1 is at 17%... The troops in China have already been ordered to the front lines... The additional 50k of troops should enable me to bully over Rob in china. The Naval Guard units in Tokyo are given some future destinations and allowed to rest and gather more men.

Xargun -> 14 April 1942 (5/3/2005 8:55:56 PM)
The first turn run under 1.5 goes to Rob... The last few men unload at Macassar and they were ordered to attack. The battle was brief and I captured the base with minimal losses and captured nearly 2200 dutch troops, including a DAF unit. My men also destroyed a Dutch Torpedo Bomber on the airfield. Now the entire island is mine, except for 1 or 2 mauled dutch units retreating to Macassar. I will await them with open arms and bayonets [:D] IJN sub I-29 locates the US CVE Long Island only 200 miles NE of Pearl... Unforuntately she doesn't get off any torps and is jumped on by 3 DDs and sunk with at least 4 depth charge hits. Would have been nicer if I could have put at least 1 torp into the Long Island. A larger air battle erupts over Rangoon as the RAF commit to a daring daylight raid. Nearly 40 RAF bombers escorted by 9 Dutch fighters attack just after dawn. My 6 zeros and 28 Oscars greet them. In the end 2 Demons and 6 RAF bombers are shot down, along with 5 RAF bombers damaged. The RAF raid targeted the AF at Rangoon and in total destroyed 1 Bomber and 1 Oscar. The runway recieved 7 hits and over 100 IJA troops were wounded. Overall a decent defense by my men.... then the second raid came in... The second raid consisted of high flying B-17s and LB-30s - a total of a 100 of them. My CAP couldn't reach them before they started dropping bombs... In all 1 bomber was shot down and 13 damaged but they mauled the AF. My losses were: 2 zeros, 5 Oscars, 2 Betties, 3 Sallies and 1 Nell along with over 500 troops. The airbase took 9 hits and the runway took 30... Personally this is a little high for the bombers flying at 25000 feet. I know they dropped a ton of bombs, but unless they have high experience, the tropp losses is a little high. Rob then proceeded to raid Palembang, aiming for the oil fields. 12 RAF Hudson bombers escorted by 6 dutch Demons went up against 4 Nates and 12 Zeros. 1 zero was damaged. but only 1 Demon and 1 Hudson were shot down. The Hudsons then proceeded to maul my oil fields, claiming 9 hits. I checked the oil fields after the battle and they did roughly 9 damage... I cannot afford to lose that much oil per raid... Thats 50+ oil a day I just lost. Ouch.... At Lae Rob's bombers found my APs again - I had split them into 2 single AP TFs, so he only attacked one. He still manage to hit it with a single bomb with only 3 Hudsons attacking...The AP is nearing 40 sys damage and has been ordered home for repairs. At Finschafen, Rob found my 3 APs carrying the rest of the 4th NLF and attacked with fighters and bombers. Luckily these RAF (or Oz) pilots are not as skilled and only hit 1 AP with a torpedo. The ship is at 28 sys and will continue to unload the troops before heading home for repairs. A second wave of 2 Hudsons located the lone AP TF and hit it with 2 bombs. The AP Niitaka Maru is heavily damaged and basically crippled. She is ordered to limp to the nearest port for emergency repairs - 99 sys/ 54 flt/ 13 fire At Lanchow my arty strikes claim 275 chines troops... The best news is that the last of my units have arrived at Lanchow. I have ordered 1 more full scale arty strike and then I will attack. My planes are resting another day to regain morale and then they will be supporting the ground assault. Rob has roughly 160k men and I have about 250k... I should win... My 3000 guns gives me the advantage easily along with air supremecy. At Tatung I have just finished surrounding 2 chinese corps and attacked. The chinese troops repulsed my first attack inflicting nearly 3 times the losses on my men they they took, but they should now be low on supplies. I have more troops arriving at Tatung in a couple days and have ordered another attack. My manpower is now at a 2, with armaments at 2447. I just recieved an additional 3 BF units. I am not sure, but I think I am at the stage where I will never have a large manpower pool again. I just have a ton of units taking a little bit from it each turn and every couple turns I have 3+ units arriving.. Most of them are base forces for a while now, but they still drain manpower. My HI pool is 39886 and I have 384 in my vehicle pool.. I also just recieved a bunch of new air units as well which is great, as they all came with 70 experience pilots except for 1. I got 3new zero sentai including the first A6M3 group. I also got a Claude group - which is now repairing its new zeros. I will be moving these units to the front as soon as possible starting next turn. At Tarawa a new Zero sentai just arrived and is resting this turn for what I think will be another big CV battle in the next couple days. I have a feeling Rob is going to either Raid Tarawa or somewhere near it with the Hornet and probably 1 or more of the damaged CVs... He claims they are heading for PH, but I don't see how I could have damaged all 4 CVs that badly with my air strikes. The bad news is Tarawa is only a size 3 AF still, although engineers are working hard to enlarge it to a 4, so my Betties and Nells can use Torps against his TFs... My baby CV TF arrived in Tarawa and is sitting at anchor for a day, while they take on a full load of supplies and fuel. They will then move away from the island about 150 miles and await the US CVs.... The only real attack I have planned this turn is a night time raid on the AF at Dacca, where the 100 heavy bombers came from.. I have ordered all LR Bombers from Rangoon to attack at 6000 feet. Hoepfully I can get a few kills and keep those suckers on the ground. I have also ordered a second Sentai of zeros to CAP and put them at 30k altitude to combat this new threat.

Xargun -> 15 April 1942 (5/7/2005 7:59:11 PM)
I'm at work... again... and am posting from memory... If I remember correctly this turn goes to Rob as well.... Argh.. I need to regain the initiative... its too early for him to be dictating the pace of the war... Well lets jump right to the sore spot of the turn... Rangoon... Again... I set all my Betties / Nells to attack Dacca Airfield, along with some escorts.. The AM phase came and I got the air strikes cannot launch due to weather message - then I relax.. If I can't launch he can't attack.. Boy was I wrong.... I also set both sentai of zeros to 50% CAP - should have roughly 27 zeros on CAP at 30k feet to intercept his heavy bombers... yeah right.... His raids came in.... The first was a small raid by normal RAF bombers.. My Zeros and Oscars claimed a few and my flak did as well.. The damage wasn't much to his bombers, but it was enough to throw off their aim.. They hits caused minimal damage.. Then the heavies came in at 25k again.. a 100 heavies came in and bombed me flat... My zeros claimed like 2 or 3 and damaged a bunch, but he flattened the Air Field. Also, in both cases my CAP was only half of what it should have been [:@] Where I should have had 25-29 zeros waiting for his heavies, I had 12.... Needless to say it didn't inflict nearly enough damage... His bombs wiped out roughly 12 planes on the ground and damaged another 20... I am furious about this... Now most of my units (except fighters) are down to 10-20% strength and their morale is in the toilet. Not only that, weather prevented my launch, but didn't seem to hamper his bombing at all... A bit ridicilus I think... Those heavies can't be that experienced and yet they are pounding my forces... I didn't expect this kind of pounding from the air for another year... At this rate he can bomb Rangoon flat whenever he wants and I can't do anything about it... I pulled as many Sallies out of Rangoon as I could and moved them to Singapore to rest and recover morale. Maybe with less planes there he won't hit as many.. Near Lae Rob's Ozzie air force caught my supply carrying APs again and put some more bombs into them. They are fleeing towards Rabaul - only port close enough to offer a size 3+ port in range. Currently there are 3 APs fleeing to Rabaul with flooding damage. One of them will probably not make it, but the other 2 should be fine. My CVs have reached Tarawa and are taking on fuel and replacement aircraft / pilots. The damage CV is still limping NW away from any allied bases with an air field over size 1. The flooding damage is under control and should be fixed soon. Unless she runs into the enemy she should make port at Tarawa fine.. Although I am thinking of detouring to Truk for the larger port and safety there, before heading home. Although I am thinking of heading straight to Japan, but I am sure Rob is flooding the transit route with his subs - I've spotted 2 new subs about 4 hexes south of Japan just sitting there... So I'm sure he's trying to get into position to bag my damaged CVs as they try to get home. I am thinking of sending my mostly repaired CVs from Japan against Pearl Harbor on a daring raid to try to catch his CVs and whatever else he has there in port. I believe he still has at least 2-3 BBs from my initial PH raid. Thinking of sending 3-4 CVs against Pearl to land another crippling strike. What do you guys think ? I think he'll have minimal air defense - concentrating mostly on ASW efforts and won't think I'd bring the KB back this late in the game.. As long as I can get there without being spotted I think I can sink a few ships, hopefully his damaged CVs and BBs. My first strike should hit him with surprise and then I would probably flee so he doesn't bring to much air power to bear against me. I am also converging all my subs in the area into the direct route from the area between Canton and PH trying to finish off his damaged CVs. One of my subs already found one of the CVs and got clobbered by his ASW escorts... The ship is heading home, but with 70+ flooding, I don't think she'll make it. Right now I have 2 other subs in the area - a very low number... but I have roughly 10 subs laid up in repair docks in japan along with the rest spread out near OZ or in Burma / India. Tarawa is enlarging its airfield as fast as possible and its now at 77%. When its done, my LR bombers will begin operating out of there with normal range and ship killing torps. I hope Rob comes to Tarawa for a fight... Between my CVs there and the LBA I will definately give him a warm welcome...

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