<t> A sad moment. Our opponent Bill has had to call the game for personal reasons.<br/>
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It was a blast. The great support from players far more experienced than myself or Mike was vastly appreciated. It made it so much more fun to know we had all these great players looking over our ...

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>April 2, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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Our aircraft continue to hammer away at Kalidjati, knocking the troops, port and base. We do 187 troop casualties, which is not a huge amount but every little bit helps. We also find that his ships remain in port, despite the hammering they ...

<r>
<QUOTE><s>[quote]</s>ORIGINAL: BBfanboy<br/>
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A few of those guys have poor defensive skills. If you get a chance to let the unit train on Strafe at 100', their defensive skill will rise rapidly. Some people micro-manage their pilots and will move the ones needing specific skills to a ...

<r>
<QUOTE><s>[quote]</s>ORIGINAL: DOCUP<br/>
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I have also seen that he doesn't fly escort with his carrier bombers.
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It's a bit bizarre really, because it makes his carrier strikes terribly ineffective and expensive. Just this turn we jumped 12 Vals over ...

I hate Japanese DDs, and would love to sink every single one. Their habit of putting Long Lances into the sides of ships much bigger than them is quite distressing. PoW is still in Cape Town fixing up from a single Long Lance hit on the second night of the war.

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>March 31-April 1, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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Ah, the arrival of April, a much awaited event for the Allies. Not only does Japan lose its unload bonus, we also get access to all those radar, ASW and AA upgrades. Okay, so we have to take a bunch of ships off the line for 2-3 ...

<r> The really weird thing about the last turn is that Mike initially had no idea that his subs had finally struck home against a carrier. Despite watching the same replay, his did not show the sub attack against CVL Nisshin. It was only when he sent off the turn and had still not issued his ...

<r>
<QUOTE><s>[quote]</s>ORIGINAL: BBfanboy<br/>
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If he brings real IJA units up it will get much tougher but I agree with trying to wipe out those units if they are isolated.
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They look pretty isolated. I still have a unit on the road leading north, so ...

<r> When I say Mike has flooded the area with subs, this is what I mean. What amazes me is that it has taken this long to get a torp in.<br/>
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<IMG src="https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/32803/EC522FE0B599425F9707372D10CEE558.jpg"><s>[img]</s><URL url="https://www.matrixgames.com ...

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>March 30, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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we have discovered where the Japanese subs are - the Torres Straits. Poor old DD Lamson sucks up a torp from SS RO-64. But she has done her job, which is keeping the subs away from the Enterprise. Amazingly, she is still going, with 89 ...

<r> Of course the whole point of the expensive exercise has been the capture of a port in Java, and this the Japanese manage. Despite the hits to their transports, the Japanese get some forces ashore and easily sweep aside the airfield unit that is their only opposition.<br/>
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<I><s>[i]</s ...

<r> Here is the list of newly minted aces. You can see why the term 'ace factory' has been coined for Soerebaja.<br/>
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<IMG src="https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/32803/8C33736A37E9467BB5D5471D51308374.jpg"><s>[img]</s><URL url="https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/32803 ...

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>March 29, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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Another big day in the DEI, with the landing continuing at Kalidjati and major strikes against the port at Soerebaja.<br/>
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But let's start with the sub action, or lack of it. Despite a carpet of subs, the Japanese escorts are doing ...

<t> The mistake I made this turn is parking the carriers in Darwin for a fuel topup. They got buzzed by a Japanese recon plane, so now he knows we have brought some carriers to the fight, and our chance for surprise is lost.<br/>
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Still, given how badly we hammered the invasion forces, not ...

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>March 28, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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It's a pretty big day in the war, as the first Japanese troops storm ashore at Kalidjati. Assume he picked this base, rather than Batavia, because it is lightly defended. By infantry at least. Because we got a couple of days warning from ...

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>March 26-27, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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As you can probably tell from the screenshot above, the focus is on the DEI. West of Borneo is a group of carriers that sinks some small coastal minesweepers and a minelayer. Everything else has left the area. East of Borneo is another ...

<r> He is cutting it very fine then, because as you can see from the below screenshot, it is about to down in the DEI, and it is March 27th.<br/>
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<IMG src="https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/32803/5A2FDF8599154DC6A6A4403C2EACF332.jpg"><s>[img]</s><URL url="https://www ...

<t> It's looking like Australia and India are certainly going to escape invasion during the sweet spot of speedy Japanese unloading. <br/>
Speaking of which, does that end at the end of March, or April 8? The manual says "Note that there is also an “initial operations” bonus for the Japanese during ...

<t> Now for the DEI plan.<br/>
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The British battlecruisers are pulling back to Soerebaja. That is where we have the best air cover, and it is also furthest from the Japanese air bases. If he really wants to close Soerebaja down and force our ships to retire we can't stop him, but the plan is ...

<r> <U><s>[u]</s>March 23-25, 1942<e>[/u]</e></U><br/>
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It looks like it's on in the DEI. Allied intelligence has been feverishly trying to divine what is behind the intense bombing campaign in Java, and at last we have our answer. Some loose radio discipline reveals this.<br/>
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<I><s ...