Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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11/2/42 to 11/11/42 Things remain quiet across most of the map, but I pulled the trigger on an elaborate plan, a long time in the making, to buy more time for Singapore. Singers: Twice, I've inserted TBFs from Ceylon in hopes that they would strike at the plentiful ASW TFs in the Strait of Malacca. Both efforts failed. I've also been working on a more elaborate plan to use the Allied carriers to insert fighters and SBDs or, under just the right circumstances, for Death Star to take position on Sumatra's west coast to handle anti-naval missions. If KB showed up far away, the plan would be easy to implement. But Dave didn't cooperate - there'd been no sign of KB for months. The plan also required navigating sub-choked waters. Beginning in early November, DS left Colombo and made it to a point well west of Sumatra without detection or incident. Eventually, around the 9th, the F4Fs and the SBDs moved to Singers, set both for CAP and naval strike. Not a single SBD flew...and for the first time in weeks, no inbound enemy bombers! Whiff! Whiff! My fighters scored a modest victory against some Oscars and Nates. Then I flew them back to DS, which immediately moved NW at high speed, just in case KB showed up (it did, as the graphic shows). I also brought in some P-38Gs on a suicide mission (Singers is low on supply, so no fuel tanks available, so the Lightnings are marooned). Fortunately, on the 11th, a bunch of enemy bombers showed up without escorts or sweeps. Dave lost about 40 Helens, which will offset the 10-12 Lightnings I'm going to lose. Overall, I felt like I've been trying to pull and inside straight. What little I've accomplished definitely wasn't worth the risks involved. Now Singers is down to 13.5k supply. The end is too nigh. Anniversary: At this point in my game with John III, the Allies had just begun a massive landing at Sabang. That was crazy thinking, though it worked out pretty darned well. China: No changes. At least two of the units late from Wenchow will make it back to the MLR. The Vast Pacific: Detachment of 4th Marine Raiders takes unoccupied Abemama. I intend to build up some of these bases, mainly for the purpose of enticing Dave to look this way more than he has been. Up in the Aleuts, the Allies now have units all the way to Attu. Japanese Sir Robin: Dave hasn't done anything anywhere close to what the Japanese do in most games. Consequenty, I hold Akyab, Ceylon, all of Oz except Darwin to Port Headland, Luganville-Noumea-Suva, the Line Islands, Midway, and the Aleutians. I think, but I'm not sure, that he's simply digging in, already on the defensive, possible because he decided that Singers-Luzon-Wenchow cost him too much time. I think this might be an effective strategy on his part, but we'll see. But I've never before approached 1943 with the Allies poised so far forward.
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