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RE: Victory Disease - 2/8/2010 8:20:12 PM

Q-Ball

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I'll look it up, but my shipping losses have been minimal. I am finding I don't have ALL the ships I need, but I think that's mostly because I have so many engaged in shipping stuff all the way to the DEI, which is a long way from Los Angeles. That's why I want to open the Torres Strait and shorten my supply line.

The other thing is that I am pretty much picking up anything not nailed down on the West Coast and moving it to Australia, even if I don't have an immediate need for it. Infantry, Artillery, Base troops, fighters, bombers, transports, chewing gum, toilet paper.......you name it, if there is a ship available and something to haul, it's moving. So, given that, I have less deployed forward.

Starting in late 1942, the Allies get about a transport a day, so I am starting to get a surplus.

Transports are a dime a dozen for the Allies. ESCORTS are more dear, never enough of those, but transports.....I don't foresee a problem.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/9/2010 4:22:48 AM

Q-Ball

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December 29-31, 1942

Ambon: Kido Butai and friends are hanging uncomfortably close to Ambon. I only have a single base force unit and would dearly like to get some engineers and AV support in there, but unless KB goes away it could be tough.

Kido Butai is hanging at Menado, a size-7 airbase with Bettys. That looks like a major air-hub, and is within 10 hexes of Ambon; probably if anything appears, KB will seek to pop it next day.

On the 30th, KB launched DB attacks on the port, where I had a single damaged AK. He got the AK, but lost 20 DBs (!) to flak; don't think he'll be doing that again.

I have shifted Spits to Ambon to put up some resistance, but I really need to get units there. I plan to send in a couple small convoys, then use the USN CVs (at a safe distance), to put up a nasty CAP over Ambon. He'll sink the small transports, but not before I hopefully toast 60+ planes. That would make KB go away. This is the plan, anyway.

Waingapu: Air battles at the other end. First, Zeros sweep Raba, and nail about 15 fighters for little loss. Ouch! Cuttlefish then sweeps Waingapu, where Spits and other better fighters down 14 Zeros for 2 losses. That's better! Finally, SBDs from Raba sank 3 transports unloading at Makassar.

Port Moresby: The first reinforcements are unloading; another day or two, and I will have substantial engineer and base troops. I intend to max-out Port Moresby, and terrorize the Solomon chain.

Merauke appears to be evacuated, and I will land at Terapo and Milne Bay to complete the move on Southern NG. At that point, the Torres Strait will be open, and I can focus on the DEI.

Fuel Problems: I have been so good about moving fuel forward to Koepang, Port Hedland, and Darwin (between them, I have almost 400,000 fuel), that I have completely neglected the rest of Australia. Sydney and Perth are dry, and Melbourne is running out. Yikes! Convoys are on the way. Yet more reasons I would love to grab Balikpapan.

< Message edited by Q-Ball -- 2/9/2010 4:24:21 AM >

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/9/2010 8:12:43 PM

Q-Ball

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Combat Report, Jan 1-3, 1942

Port Moresby: Not much action; a large Zero sweep yesterday. We lost 6 fighters in exchange of a reported 10 Zeros (probably a couple less than that). I'll exchange 1 for 1 at this point, particularly P-40s, which is what I have over Port Moresby.

Meanwhile, engineers and base forces unloaded successfully in the harbor, with one more on the way. At that point, I'll have over 200 AV, plus engineers expanding the airstrip.

Once Port Moresby is stocked with planes, I will load-up for landings at Merauke (undefended; will build an airstrip there), Terapo (1 unit), and Milne Bay (2 units). At that point we will be done in New Guinea, or at least this end of it.

Tanna/Efate: I am organizing a reinforcement convoy for Efate to save the situation, consisting of the rest of the 2nd Marine Div. Tanna is a size-5 airbase and climbing now.

Ambon: The last 3-4 days saw air attacks from Menado; Bettys/Zeros bombing the airstrip, plus Sallys. Our Spits gave a good account of themselves, shooting down 12-15 Zeros and 4-6 Bettys in exchange for 5 losses. Cuttlefish is now sweeping the base. Hopefully he doesn't realize that that's all the Spits I have; I can't afford to lose alot, but they will stay and fight. I would love some more, too bad the RAF doesn't get any yet.

KB drew off toward the Malacca Strait, where it was picked up by both sub and Catalina patrols. I can't figure out where they are going, but I am taking advantage of the break to send in a couple convoys of engineers and supplies and get the airstrip fully repaired.

I am short of ship-killing planes. I have several units of Australian Beauforts Training up in NavT, I hope to group about 50 of them together and spring a nasty surprise at some point. But generally, I don't have alot of good Naval Strike aircraft.

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Post #: 693

RE: Victory Disease - 2/9/2010 8:23:30 PM

Capt. Harlock

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quote:

Combat Report, Jan 1-3, 1942

I think you mean 1943.

And speaking of that, IIRC the B-25's start to improve their ship-killing abilities considerably in 1943. Something about skip-bombing . . .

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/9/2010 8:47:08 PM

aprezto

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

And speaking of that, IIRC the B-25's start to improve their ship-killing abilities considerably in 1943. Something about skip-bombing . . .

Surely that is dependant on pilot skill at low level?

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/10/2010 12:49:46 AM

Q-Ball

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Combat Report, Jan 2, 1943

Normally I haven't been posting one-day combat reports, but this one could be interesting.

See the picture below; there is a large Japanese TF bearing down on Ambon. My CVs are in a position to catch them tommorow morning as they sail home. Normally I wouldn't put them forward into a position in Betty range, AND near KB, but KB is sighted at Balikpapan, too far away to intervene tommorow morning. Thus, we strike.

CVs will take up position just off Ambon, within 6 hexes of where I think they will be tommorow.

There are a few ships in the harbor at Ambon; one TF just finished unloading engineers, another just arrived with supplies. Both will pick up anchor and leave.

Luganville: The other interesting development is the appearance of some sort of CV TF at Luganville! What could that be? It ain't KB, appears to be something small. I have 50 DBs set to attack tommorow, but alas, the only fighters I have available have a max range one hex short of Luganville. He'll have to come closer for an attack, but I think he won't.

Stay tuned on that action off Ambon

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/10/2010 1:23:28 AM

Canoerebel

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This looks like trouble to me.

Ambon is pretty far forward and you've been pressing and pressing and pressing. The enemy has taken relatively few losses to ships and aircraft. He has lost critical bases and he's going to pounce sooner or later. Now that you're venturing out into Indian country - Ambon is still too new to provide much protection - he may well hit you with everything.

It won't really matter strategically - he's already suffered mortal wounds that he won't recover from - but he's going to go down kicking and screaming.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 5:00:48 PM

Q-Ball

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Combat Report, Jan 3-8, 1942

The last few days have been relatively quiet.

Last Report Action: I left off the last report with a promise of action; Cuttlefish must have aborted that Bombardment run on Ambon once he was sighted. That turned out to be very wise, as I would have been in position to pummel those BBs. Next time, perhaps.

DEI: There have been no Japanese air attacks lately; the last series were fairly costly for Cuttlefish, thanks primarily to the Spitfires of the RAAF. Not sure why the Aussies get them before the RAF, but there it is.

I dropped another Base Force at Ambon, and have an AIR HQ on the way to make it torp-capable. I also now have PTs at the base, with another PT base at Raba.

Kido Butai was last seen on the 4th above Menado, but hasn't been seen since. Our Air Search reaches almost to Davao, but not quite.

Speaking of Davao, I received another Intelligence report of a Division, the 19th, moving to Davao. That is very interesting on two levels; first, Mindanao is turning into a fortress. Second, the 19th is a Chinese Division; that would confirm the end of offensive ops in China.

China: Speaking of China, about 2 weeks ago the Japanese withdrew from Liuchow. The only contact now on the front is at 79,55, where the IJA lobs shells over and drops bombs every day, but that's about it. I am moving some small units forward to Reconnoiter, but there can only be two possibilities.

First, that he is shifting units to another front, like the north. I need to get the Chinese airforce active on Recon to see if this is the case. But that is a possibility.

Second, he is stopping all advances in China and going to the defensive. The 19th Div at Davao is interesting; if the IJA stops advancing in China, it can be used as a source of reinforcements. He might be doing that to reinforce the SRA, which is much more critical.

Burma: I forgot to mention the cease-fire lifted last month. We occuply Akyab and Myikintya pretty strongly, but with all restricted units out of Burma, we dont' have the strength to invade Burma (yet). I am saving my PPs though primarly for the SRA, so there is a chance this will become a sideshow for quite awhile, until 1944 anyway.

In the meantime, the RAF keeps bombing so the Japs keep their head down, but that's about it. I probably won't update here, unless something happens.

Tanna/Efate: I am landing Marines tommorow at Efate, to hopefully finish taking this base. Not sure if we run into air resistance, we probably will, and if we do we will likely lose some ships (I have some Wildcats on CAP, but not enough to stop a determined attack). That's fine, I'm not short of transports.

Shipbuilding: I have had some local shipping shortages, but those are starting to ease. Every day, new ships pour out of Alameda, so AK/Aps are really starting to pile up. This is a good thing. The thing I can't wait for now is March; that's when I get APAs, and can convert alot of APs to APAs, which I will do.

Port Moresby: Map below shows the situation. Again, I don't care about the Solomons; the only objective here is to clear the Torres Strait so I can really shorten my supply lines to Darwin. Darwin is less exposed than Port Hedland, and is becoming my main port. Southwest Pac headquarters is now Darwin, and I am using Darwin to dump troops and supplies now for further offensives.

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< Message edited by Q-Ball -- 2/11/2010 5:01:29 PM >

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 5:06:23 PM

Mike Solli

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Second, the 19th is a Chinese Division; that would confirm the end of offensive ops in China.

Q-Ball, the 19 Division starts the war in Korea.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 5:06:23 PM

Mike Solli

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Second, the 19th is a Chinese Division; that would confirm the end of offensive ops in China.

Q-Ball, the 19 Division starts the war in Korea.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 5:24:52 PM

Q-Ball

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You are correct, Sir; the 19th Division starts in Korea. The "Tiger Division" historically was transferred from Korea in '44 and died on Luzon.

I will keep a lookout for Chinese units; I would expect units to be leaving Manchuria at this stage.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 8:30:45 PM

Capt. Harlock

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quote:

thanks primarily to the Spitfires of the RAAF. Not sure why the Aussies get them before the RAF, but there it is.

Not that it matters, but it makes sense. What you're actually seeing is the upgraded models of the Spit; the early models were of course in combat before Pearl Harbor. When the RAF gets a batch of more advanced Spitfires, the logical place for them is defending Malta or London, which are far more important than Burma at this stage of WWII. The Aussies have their own priorities -- in fact, you pretty much get to determine them!

Your strategy looks very good. I confess to great disappointment that Cuttlefish backed off on the bombardment of Ambon -- the peanut gallery wants to see blood in the water!

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 8:47:52 PM

Chickenboy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

quote:

the peanut gallery wants to see blood in the water!

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/11/2010 10:08:14 PM

Q-Ball

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This game has featured less naval combat than any I have ever seen. We have yet to have a CV battle, the only CV not floating is Long Island, and the biggest ship I have lost outside of Pearl Harbor is CA Houston. Very strange.

My philosphy is that I don't like to give battle for battle's sake, only if I will have superior force, or there is a bigger objective. During the Japanese expansion, it was easier to hit and run, and run away when KB showed up. So far during my offensive, the IJN has been a day late it seems. Both of us are reluctant to move our CVs into the other guy's territory where LBA can intervene.

Not sure what is going on around Ambon, other than the IJN is really hanging around close.

Combat Report, Jan 9, 1942

Air Action over Ambon: Kido Butai parked 3 hexes north of Ambon, and air combat broke out.

First, 2 Marine SBD units at Ambon launched attacks. They got slaughtered and didn't hit anything. Then, VALS hit the port at Ambon, but were raked by AA and Spits. He lost over 50 A/C on the day. The Spit units are still in good shape, the P-40s there are not.

Cuttlefish says the Port Attack was an error on settings. I guess he hoped to hit transports, which were there yesterday, but gone today.

I am still a little short on supplies at this point, I don't really have enough to run bombing ops, and I am short AV support to. Nevertheless, I packed the base with fighters, in case he tries an attack tommorow.

Efate: Another Betty attack was turned back by CAP. The first ground attack was 1-1 and dropped the forts, so I might have the base tommorow. Another Houdini-like escape from a botched invasion over there. I need to fire Adm. Ghormely and get a better invasion commander over there!

Once Efate falls, I have 4 engineering units that should pretty quickly get an airbase going. This will spell doom for Luganville, as I have 2+ Divisions fully prepped. Once Luganville falls, we will land on New Caledonia, and complete the isolation/conquest of the New Hebrides. This, coupled with the Torres Strait moves, will really shorten supply lines to the DEI.

The Fleet: I am also anxious to move more fleet units into the DEI. I have 6 USN BBs around the New Hebrides and all my CVEs; these would come in handy in the DEI.

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There will be Blood! - 2/12/2010 4:43:18 AM

Q-Ball

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Combat Report, Jan 10, 1943

Capt Harlock and others, I think you are about to get your wish. There will be blood tommorow! Cuttlefish is counter-invading Ambon! I did not see this coming! The day before, the closest transports on Nav Search were at Menado, so I am surprised. The investigaive board will have to wait though, because there are bigger fish to fry, specifically stopping this invasion!

The Battle: The picture below shows the set-up. I am going all-in. As you know, I have been reluctant to commit the USN CVs against KB, but I am now. Why?

1. I am using 200 aircraft from Lautem to support; they are within 6 hexes of KB, 7 of the invasion beaches, so this is like extra CVs.
2. Ambon has 100 fighters; these should provide extra support for ESCORTS over KB and the invasion fleets
3. Finally, I have Hermes and Copahee, they can provide an extra 60 Wildcats over the USN CVs
4. If things go badly, I have a safe port right behind me, Darwin
5. Finally, I would really like to stop this. He needs to get at least 3 divisions ashore to have a chance, maybe more if they are not prepped, which would be doubtful.

So, I feel like this is as close to my "Home Turf" as I can get.

Even if the CV battle goes badly, I am moving 7 BBs into that hex as well; they will then be 6 hexes from the invasion beaches. Even if my CVs are toasted, they can hit the invasion ships during the night. They may still be in position to be hit during the rebound, but I am thinking the KB strike force will be spent in a CV battle. I have identified at least 3 BBs NOT in the area, so I may have superiority in this regard.

So, dear readers, you wanted blood? Unless Cuttlefish pulls up anchor and abandons the troops he has landed (53rd Division so far BTW), there will be blood tommorow. I guarantee! Whose? Well, you'll have to check back!

Bad Timing!: The unfortuante thing is that I am leaving town tommorow for the country to get 1/2 a cow, so I'll be offline after ONE more day. Talk about bad timing! What are you going to do, I have a family to feed delicious beef to......

Oh By the Way: Efate fell, which would be a major event in any other report, but not in this one.....

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RE: There will be Blood! - 2/12/2010 4:46:26 AM

Fishbed

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quote:

Bad Timing!: The unfortuante thing is that I am leaving town tommorow for the country to get 1/2 a cow, so I'll be offline after ONE more day. Talk about bad timing! What are you going to do, I have a family to feed delicious beef to......

Damn it HOW DARE YOU ?!

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RE: There will be Blood! - 2/12/2010 9:13:13 AM

seille

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I want to see this NOW !

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RE: There will be Blood! - 2/12/2010 10:23:16 AM

LoBaron

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WOW Q-Ball!
Good luck, I can�t wait to see the outcome of this battle.

Did you have good intel on the IJN TF compositions? Do you still have those Spitfires at Ambon? They might come in handy...

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Battle of Ambon - 2/12/2010 2:55:52 PM

Q-Ball

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Combat Report, Jan 11, 1943

I promised blood, and Cuttlefish and I delivered! The result is mixed; I lost alot of ships, he lost alot of planes, and I think I may have successfully defended Ambon.

Night Action: First, there was a significant night action at Ambon. An Allied TF built around Prince of Wales, 3 CA, and several DDs, engaged a Japanese TF consisting of Fuso, 2 CA, and a coulpe CL and some DDs. The RN overall acquitied itself well; CA Hawkins and 2 USN DDs were sunk, and a Japanese DD also sank; but Fuso was really pounded (heavy fires, heavy damage), as well as Suzuya, and my surviving ships suffered only minor damage. I don't think Fuso will sink, but safe to say we won't be seeing her for a bit.

My PT TF successfully drove off the transports, so very little was accomplished at night for Cuttlefish in terms of unloading.

Day Action: Of course, my CVs only went 8 hexes, so didn't end up where I wanted them to! The Day results overall were not too terrible though, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

The USN CV force ended up out of range and out of the battle, other than contributing some CAP to other ships. My support TF though, consisting of Hermes and Copahee, WAS in range. Kido Butai launched numerous strikes; Copahee ate two torps on the first strike and sank like a stone, but Hermes absorbed 4 separate strikes, taking punishment like a champ before finally succumbing. I hate losing these ships, but Cuttlefish lost over 100 aircraft attacking them, which could be fatal to the Ambon invasion.

Another Japanese air attack sank 3 transports unloading at Lautem. All my planes at Lautem attacked, and although over 50 strike aircraft got through the CAP, not a single hit was scored on KB. We did put two bombs on an already heavily damaged Suzuya; intel reports it sunk, but I am not sure about that. We lost 60 planes attacking KB, but most are Marine and Aussie planes that are fairly expendable.

Next Steps: I don't know what happened to the troops he landed; did he pick them back up? Either way, there is noone at Ambon now. This, coupled with the air losses, makes me think he will withdraw. If he doesn't I have more forces in-store for tommorow.

I couldn't get them there last night due to speed constraints, but 7 BBs will be in the Ambon hex tonight. If any IJN ships are there, we will have a nice battle! I have also moved the USN CVs into position to strike the anchorage or KB, whatever is there. At this point I would like a battle with KB, since he has lost over 150 planes in two days, and the remaining ones must have damage and morale problems. The last couple attacks yesterday faced a CAP of only 24 Zeros, if that's what I see tommorow it will go well for the US Navy. But I expect him to withdraw.

Overall, I think we successfully defended Ambon; we paid 2 small CV for that (plus an old CA), and in return took an IJN BB off the board for several months. Tactically, I think the Japanese won this round, but strategically, we did; the counterinvasion is stopped, and we can go on with our advance.

Efate: Cuttlefish did hit a transport TF at Efate with 2 Kongo-class BBs, plus YAMATO. The result was predictable: I lost 10 ships, including 4 APs (ouch). Not a scratch in return. That hurt a bit.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 7:10:19 PM

Q-Ball

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Cuttlefish knows I need to split soon to get my carload of beef, so he ran the turn I just sent. I won't get it back until Sunday, but he did let me know what happened from a combat standpoint, and apparently it was a disaster for Japan.

He ordered his forces to withdraw. During the night, the PT Boat TF I have lurking around Ambon got mixed up with his Carriers; one CV TF had a collision, and basically didn't get moving enough because of the PT boat dance. As a result, it was obliterated during the day. Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu, and Soryu were sunk. No word on our losses, but I guess we didn't lose any ships.

I would hate for that type of defeat to happen because of a borked routine, or maybe this is just the fortunes of war, so we will sort this out. If that stands, certainly the game really just went south for the Empire; I don't know how you can recover from a loss like that, and with new CVs coming on-line shortly, it will just get super ugly fast for Japan.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:02:49 PM

witpqs

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Cuttlefish knows I need to split soon to get my carload of beef, so he ran the turn I just sent. I won't get it back until Sunday, but he did let me know what happened from a combat standpoint, and apparently it was a disaster for Japan.

He ordered his forces to withdraw. During the night, the PT Boat TF I have lurking around Ambon got mixed up with his Carriers; one CV TF had a collision, and basically didn't get moving enough because of the PT boat dance. As a result, it was obliterated during the day. Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu, and Soryu were sunk. No word on our losses, but I guess we didn't lose any ships.

I would hate for that type of defeat to happen because of a borked routine, or maybe this is just the fortunes of war, so we will sort this out. If that stands, certainly the game really just went south for the Empire; I don't know how you can recover from a loss like that, and with new CVs coming on-line shortly, it will just get super ugly fast for Japan.

Just on the surface it doesn't really sound borked. At Midway a submarine sighting caused two CA's to collide.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:06:37 PM

Q-Ball

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Cuttlefish gave me more detail. That CV TF ran into my PTs during the night off Namlea and withdrew....back to where they started, south of Ambon. Daybreak found them there, where the USN CVs destroyed them. All other IJN CVs were well away by then. That's what happened.

Cuttlefish is a good sport and would absolutely play through anyway, but is that fair? Or fortunes of war?

You can debate while I am on my Beef Run!

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:26:16 PM

Capt. Harlock

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quote:

Cuttlefish is a good sport and would absolutely play through anyway, but is that fair? Or fortunes of war?

You can debate while I am on my Beef Run!

It sounds quite fair to me. The PT's messed up in not attacking the transports, it seems right that they should contribute something. And we all know that Midway's results were basically due to mis-timed attacks caused largely by navigation problems with the SBD's.

But it does seem a shame that the game is now much less interesting. To quote Lincoln (Happy Birthday, BTW) "The result is not doubtful."

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:28:22 PM

Zacktar

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Tough call. I think this one's right on the line between "borked" and "them's the breaks". Probably all of us have read at least a little about "friction" in warfare, and it's not too hard to imagine a lookout's contact report leading the TF commanders to believe that they had run into a heavy surface combat TF. At the same time, it's a shame to see such a finely balanced contest take such a sharp turn on a fluke.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:40:18 PM

witpqs

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IMO it's fair.

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RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:46:42 PM

Miller

Posts: 2226
Joined: 9/14/2004
From: Ashington, England.
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Well assuming it was the full KB (6 CV) and they launched strikes against your CVs then I think its a fair outcome. However if your LBA was involved due to the retreat routine error then perhaps you need to consider a re-do.

One things for sure, if the outcome was fair then its game over for the Japs....

(in reply to Zacktar)

Post #: 716

RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:51:39 PM

Canoerebel

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From: Northwestern Georgia, USA
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I think it's an awful break but absolutely fair. Complicated plans in tight waters when powerful combatants are juking and looking for an opening are just the kind of thing that lead to disaster for one side or other. Some little thing goes awry (a single search plane is down for maintenance and just happened to have the very sector where the American carriers were located) that has disastrous consequences.

(in reply to Miller)

Post #: 717

RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 8:53:50 PM

witpqs

Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Miller

Well assuming it was the full KB (6 CV) and they launched strikes against your CVs then I think its a fair outcome. However if your LBA was involved due to the retreat routine error then perhaps you need to consider a re-do.

One things for sure, if the outcome was fair then its game over for the Japs....

I'm curious why LBA involvement would make a difference?

(in reply to Miller)

Post #: 718

RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 9:01:19 PM

Chickenboy

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Joined: 6/29/2002
From: San Antonio, TX
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Cuttlefish knows I need to split soon to get my carload of beef, so he ran the turn I just sent. I won't get it back until Sunday, but he did let me know what happened from a combat standpoint, and apparently it was a disaster for Japan.

He ordered his forces to withdraw. During the night, the PT Boat TF I have lurking around Ambon got mixed up with his Carriers; one CV TF had a collision, and basically didn't get moving enough because of the PT boat dance. As a result, it was obliterated during the day. Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu, and Soryu were sunk. No word on our losses, but I guess we didn't lose any ships.

I would hate for that type of defeat to happen because of a borked routine, or maybe this is just the fortunes of war, so we will sort this out. If that stands, certainly the game really just went south for the Empire; I don't know how you can recover from a loss like that, and with new CVs coming on-line shortly, it will just get super ugly fast for Japan.

Four fleet IJN carriers sunk in one engagement due to some crummy luck? That's so unrealistic!

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Post #: 719

RE: Victory Disease - 2/12/2010 9:01:27 PM

Chickenboy

Posts: 24520
Joined: 6/29/2002
From: San Antonio, TX
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zacktar

Tough call. I think this one's right on the line between "borked" and "them's the breaks". Probably all of us have read at least a little about "friction" in warfare, and it's not too hard to imagine a lookout's contact report leading the TF commanders to believe that they had run into a heavy surface combat TF. At the same time, it's a shame to see such a finely balanced contest take such a sharp turn on a fluke.

+1

Looking at the of the conflict zone you displayed earlier, I thought his choice for placement of his CVs south of Ambon was risky. He has to move 5 hexes to get out of the cauldron back towards the Celebes.

He harvested the benefits of this placement two turns ago by some long-distance strike against Hermes et. al., now he gets the dirty end of the stick. He could have chosen a safer placement to minimize these unforseen catastrophes, but he didn't.

Brutal, but that's war.

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(in reply to Zacktar)

Post #: 720