Gutted - Hartwig (Allied) vs Nemo (Japan)

[Alfred]

hartwig.modrow,
 
The CV actions at Suva and Midway were a reconnaisance in force + a maskirovka.  Based on the disclosed intel, I would suggest the following interpretation.
 
Suva
 
This was probably the recon because:
 
(a)  he used Kates.  He prefers to use them instead of Vals to close down airfields and of course their torpedoes are more dangerous against warships.  Also he finds the durability rating of the Kates to be more useful to combat ground AA.  There is also the benefit of range to the KB, which IIRC, allows the Kates to be set to naval attack on their approach run without worrying about first disabling the airfield.
 
(b)  Midway is strategically a less important strategic target because IIRC he already has sufficient bases surrounding Pearl Harbor if his intention is to capture Pearl.  OTOH, a move on Suva helps to both interdict Allied SLOCs to Australia and better places him to move on to Tahiti and the Panama Canal.
 
Subject to how much carrier firepower he has retained in the Arabian Sea to interdict Allied relief of Karachi, I would expect him to have several more CVs hidden behind his Suva vanguard.  By doing so he retains the flexibility to strike at any Fijian or New Zealand Allied reinforcement convoys.
 
Midway
 
This is likely to be the maskirovka because:
 
(a)  it is less important strategically (see above comments).
 
(b)  Allied reinforcement of Midway is a dead end at this point in time, thus Nemo would be quite pleased if you took this bait which he has dangled before you at little cost to him (the CV TF can quickly link up with the Suva operation using the internal lines).
 
If Nemo is concerned about the Allied interest in the Aleutians, he would see closing down Midway's airfield (which can be accomplished periodically by regular visits of a baby KB) as beneficial in that it reduces Allied "eyes" into the Aleutians from the southern flank, and therefore would force any Allied moves in the Aleutians to be conducted frontally.
 
Alfred

[modrow]

Alfred,

thanks a lot for your view on Nemo's CV strikes. I think it is a sound analysis. Especially the context into which you put the Midway strike makes it look much more understandable for me now. And I should also mention that I had not identified the difference between the use of Kates and Vals apart from the difference in efficiency agains surface combatants (sp?).

I agree completely to Midway being a dead end. As a matter of fact, I am in process of evacuating a key (air)asset or two from the PH/Midway area. I have also been testing a more southernly approach to the Aleutians by sending an AK there from that direction, which has been promptly sunk by Betties. Consequently, I am now experimenting with drawing an air to surface attack by the forces used to control this approach towards a frontally approaching, LRCAPed TF in that region after trying to draw at least some of his fighters in the area away by a nuisance raid to Nome (sp?-the most northern base in Alaska). It would be nice to kill some of his strike planes.

The interpretation of the Suva raid as a recon in force is an interesting hypothesis which makes a lot of sense as well. I believe that Nemo can easily have an additional CV strike force following his vanguard, the strikes against ships fleeing Karachi did look like CVE sized attacks. Potentially he might also be able to figure out whether the continued actions against Effate are backed by substance or not. An actual move on Suva might lead to an interesting situation, especially if it does not occur immediately but I get a few more turns for buildup. What Nemo does not know as of yet is that there is an additional airfield in the region which is close to become capable of supporting medium bombers once I decide to toggle the building switch once more with an second one close to that state and that I moved some additional air assets into the region, including some fighter planes. A general problem in the entire region is that any reinforcement convoy is quite a distance away. I believe I need not fear that I lose any of those right now.

Thanks again for your helpful analysis,

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

Finally, my thoughts re. Exmouth. Interestingly, the delay in the post mirrors clearly the time it took for me to make up my mind what to do there. This is an evident weakness of myself as a commander.

One of the reasons why this is the case is definitely a lack of experience in large scale invasions in this game in connection with the fact that this cannot be a textbook operation. My experience is not sufficiently big to develop a feeling whether this can work or not. Maybe some of you can comment.

I can send in transport TFs in with some support of surface units, but only with virtually no air cover. Closing the airfield is a problem, as the last few turns showed (last turn, cursor intel did not show any lasting damage after the attack any more), providing ground support from the air will thus be difficult as well.

Regarding the troops that may be put ashore if all goes well, only one unit is well prepared (50ish prep level); I have an Aussie division (this is the best prepared unit), an Aussie Brigade and some remnants of a division from the Philippines, totaling maybe 600-650 AV if I use everything I have, leaving no combat unit at Perth. No supporting HQ, no artillery, no tanks available. All of this against cursor intel showing the presence of 5 units, possibly a divided infantry unit, a base force and some construction unit, but this is just a guess. Will these be odds which may allow me to take the base back, even assuming they get ashore in reasonable shape and fort s have not been developed a lot ? I doubt it, but as mentioned above my experience is limited.

Subjectively, I have the feeling that I might be in process of taking a high risk (I cannot really afford the loss of more heavy surface units, already now I have problems to form reasonable carrier TFs) for an operation with questionable chances for success, which would at the same time leave Perth defenseless. Is Exmouth that essential for me at this point of time ?

To find an answer, I would like to try an analysis starting from what I would like to avoid, even at high cost. This is most definitely the loss of Perth. Losing Perth makes it more difficult to put the reinforcements arriving at Aden to use on the map. Of course, there is always the option of doing the long trip along the edge of the map, but that is equivalent to a considerable delay of the effective arrival of those units on the map. Other than doing that, I can use these assets only for an attack on India or Western Australia (Perth), both of which are theaters which are far away from truly vital areas for Japan on the map. Also, there are essentially only three exit hexes he needs to supervise (e.g. using subs) in order to obtain a reasonable amount of information on any operation emerging from the channels. I believe this is enough of a strategic advantage for Nemo to opt for this kind of operation.

Note that unless I am mistaken the “save zone” rules for the western shipping channel prevents to use Exmouth as a Betty base interfering with moving TFs to Perth. Therefore, Exmouth controlled by Nemo does not make Perth worthless. Geraldton (sp?) in Japanese hands is a different story and might reduce the value of possessing Perth notably in my opinion. It must be guarded sufficiently well to prevent an easy capture, you don’t need to take the key base to neutralize it (see Pearl Harbor in this game).

Therefore, my next question is whether I might be able to defend Perth and Geraldton even if Nemo decides he wants it or at least make it sufficiently expensive for him to take it. If that is the case, I could live without Exmouth at the time being. Do you think this is possible ? If so, based on what OOB ?

A problem in this context is the absence of mutually supporting bases in combination with my lack of long legged fighters (I don’t seem to get any P38 production at all in this mod, just one-time-use of a few units) in the region. However, this disadvantage may be mutual – Nemo, too, would have a limited number of sorties available for his carrier TFs, and any bombardment TF would need a base to resupply nearby. Exmouth is still a lvl 0 port, thus it is not an option now, although it may be built to level 4. However, Exmouth definitely could provide additional air support (especially against Geraldton) and the possibility to swap CV TF planes, allowing for Nemo’s monster CAP and potential monster sweeps. I believe that without Exmouth in Japanese hands, a direct attack on Perth by Nemo would be unlikely.

For this reason, one should also consider the aspect that attacking Exmouth could the best way of defending Perth. If I had a sufficient amount of forces that I could feel sure there is a good chance I will take the base, I might be willing to leave Perth quite defenseless at the time being and take a risk. However, I tend not to think this is the case presently.

Therefore, at present I would tend not to launch an attack against Exmouth for real, but keep the pressure from the air on it, possibly along with a few additional fake activities. Of course, I am always interested to hear different views and arguments, which may change my view on things.

As always, thanks for your advice and interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I think that at present I don't have much more to say - unless there are any open questions or issues which were raised but which I failed to discuss so far. If this is the case, just post ahead.

Other than that, I am waiting for input from Nemo. Will update once I got it.

Thanks

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I just found the next turn in my inbox, that is

June 7 42 => June 8 42.

Did not manage to do much of an anlysis so far, but once again I see a number of potentially interesting aspects which I will discuss during the next few days.

The main "victory" of the day was this one:

[font="Courier New"]
Ground combat at Karachi [Pakistan]
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 23153 troops, 285 guns, 23 vehicles, Assault Value = 567
Defending force 9393 troops, 248 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 108
Japanese max assault: 772 - adjusted assault: 320
Allied max defense: 109 - adjusted defense: 1449
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 5)

Japanese ground losses:
737 casualties reported
Guns lost 11

Allied ground losses:
53 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
[/font]

Lucky dice on my side [:D]. And maybe helped a little bit by the fact that I provided some ground support on that hex for the first time and just in time (Nemo had announced when he would attack again when he wrote about his first failed attack and I had decided to believe this info). He really should CAP his ground forces on the eve of that important a battle.

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on IJA 51st Division, at 21,3
Allied aircraft
A-20B Boston x 9
Hudson IV x 10

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x A-20B Boston bombing at 12000 feet
10 x Hudson IV bombing at 15000 feet
3 x A-20B Boston bombing at 12000 feet
[/font]

Actually, Nemo should really CAP a lot more things in the area. To stress that point, I also went for a little terror raid on the port of Rangoon... unfortunately, there is not too much I could muster for that activity.

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Rangoon [Burma] , at 29,33

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 1

Allied aircraft
B-26A Marauder x 6
IL-4C x 6
Pe-2 x 17

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Minowa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Mogami, Bomb hits 2
DD Umikaze, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Kinu, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Port hits 2
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x IL-4C bombing at 8000 feet
17 x Pe-2 bombing at 2000 feet
3 x B-26A Marauder bombing at 15000 feet
3 x IL-4C bombing at 8000 feet
3 x B-26A Marauder bombing at 15000 feet
[/font]

What I am trying to pick up here is Alfred's comment Nr. 3 in his post 81 relating to the possibility that Nemo may be short of air assets in the area due to transfer of these planes to another theater. If this is the case, I would like to make him feel this shortage and react again, this time backwards.

Also interesting in this context are the air attacks on Karachi which Nemo sent in to soften my defense, because they may indicate that Alfred's above-referenced analysis was 100% correct:

[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on BA 60th LAA Regiment , at 21,3
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 16
G4M1 Betty x 24
Ki-32 Mary x 21
Ki-48-I Lily x 35
Ki-21-II Sally x 6

Ki-264 Angel x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-32 Mary: 1 damaged
Ki-48-I Lily: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
17 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 18000 feet
3 x Ki-264 Angel bombing at 18000 feet
6 x Ki-21-II Sally bombing at 18000 feet
13 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 18000 feet
21 x Ki-32 Mary bombing at 18000 feet
9 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 18000 feet
12 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 18000 feet
4 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 18000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 18000 feet

Day Air attack on RIN Karachi Base Fortress, at 21,3

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 2
G4M1 Betty x 14
Ki-32 Mary x 6
Ki-48-I Lily x 17
Ki-21-II Sally x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-I Lily: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21-II Sally: 1 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-21-II Sally bombing at 18000 feet
3 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 18000 feet
8 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 18000 feet
6 x Ki-32 Mary bombing at 18000 feet
8 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 18000 feet
6 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 18000 feet
5 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 18000 feet
[/font]

He uses Angels in small numbers... Either he wants to show that he has them or he is really short of assets for ground support. His Madras attack was feeble (9 Lily), he did the regular Diamond Harbor port attack to get rid of my AKs which enabled me to run mini invasions, but he seemingly cannot afford to keep pressure on Calcutta and Delhi parallel to these activities. Good.

Ok, this is the first bit of info. More updates tomorrow.

As always, thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

here's the next installment of information on the latest turn (June 7 => June 8)

In an edited version, as announced in the original post.

Let me begin with a map section:



We are looking at the progress of the southern CV TF, which Alfred assumed to be a vanguard. It is now 1 hex SE of Tongatapu - but before we discuss what happened there, look what has appeared (green circle, cursor intel attached by green line) - a second TF. It may be a replenishment TF, but Nemo knows I have a bunch of medium bombers at Nandi, which are trained from attacking effate over and over again. I do not believe that he would bring a TF into their range without some cover. Thus once again, it looks like Alfred was 100% correct in his analysis - The carriers near Tongatapu are a vanguard.

As you may be aware from my previous response to Alfred, I did try to make at least a bit of a stand with the fighters I could concentrate quickly, which lead to this exchange:
[font="Courier New"]

Day Air attack on TF, near Tongarapu [Tonga] at 90,121
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 36
B5N2 Kate x 40

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 31
P-40E Warhawk x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 8 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 7 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 19 destroyed

Allied Ships
TK Erling Brovig, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Santa Rita, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Andrea Luckenbach, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
[/font]

Actually, I feel this is not too bad an exchange for me, even though a total of 4 AK and 2 TK (partly damaged last turn)were sunk by this TF, considering we are looking at the work of four squadrons with exp between 55 to 47, that I can replace the airframe losses, that I kept a number of pilots who were shot down, and that exp of the units involved went up by an average of 3 . Most of the Warhawk losses occurred in one unit, which was bounced by each of Nemo's 5 (!) fighter units (1 Sentai, 1 Chutai, 3 Daitai) involved in producing the escort for the strike - attacking his carriers may not be a good idea. I think I might make another stand at another suitable base, where I will hopefully be able to bring even more fighters into the air.

Ok, this is it for now - I will discuss some more events in another post. Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I actually fall behind of events, because once again I was offline for a bit. Nemo has sent me the results of the next turn last Thursday, I am currently still waiting for the game file, which I will process prioritized over posting those results here. I'll just say that from the combat report it looks like that was not a very good turn for the Allied, but I will add details once I have received the game file.

Before I do that, let me briefly summarize a few more events of the turn I have been discussing during the last few posts (June 7 42 => June 8 42):

* I ran the usual attack on Exmouth (B17 at high altitude; 1 Base hit, 8 runway hits, no losses)
* In Russia, I continued my strategic bombing and scored 3 HI hits at Heijo.
* Also in Russia, I keep having troubles with a strike at Choybalsan (sp?). I wanted to sweep it for a the last few turns (30ish Mikes on CAP there); today I tried to order an AF strike with heavy escort - none of the ordered missions ever occurred.
* as announced, I was active in the Aleutians as well and think my strike went in my favour. See for yourselves:
[font="Courier New"]
Day Air attack on Cold Bay [Alaska] , at 105,36

Japanese aircraft
Ki-109E Mike x 9

Allied aircraft
A-20B Boston x 15
B-18A Bolo x 9
P-43A Lancer x 17
Blenheim IV x 14
Wellington IC x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-109E Mike: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-18A Bolo: 1 destroyed
P-43A Lancer: 1 destroyed
Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed
Wellington IC: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
9 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 17

[/font]

Another topic which is interesting to discuss would be India, but I will do that along with the discussion of the next turn.

As always, thanks for your interest

Hartwig[font="Courier New"][/font][font="Courier New"][/font]

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

whereas I found the turn in my inbox on Tuesday, we are currently trying to settle an issue which has emerged. One of the transport TFs Nemo attacked successfully during that turn was inside the western shipping channel. He was trying to hunt down another TF which actually was at the same strike range. He has offered a redo of the turn in which I keep the shipping channel TF out of harms way by modifying its orders.

Whereas I am not yet sure whether I want to accept that, this is just a symptom of the problem. To cure the problem,
we are now trying to find an acceptable solution for the shipping channel house rule. Nemo feels that his operative freedom would be limited too strongly if he was forced to adapt the range of his strike planes accordingly, which I consider to be the only way to uphold the rule. In my opinion this means effectively we play without a shiping channel sanctuary and suggested to simply cancel the rule rather than keeping something which looks like it but has no effect. Nemo does not feel that would be appropriate either.

In the end, I will probably settle for no entry of Jap surface units into shipping channel + right to request a rerun if something is hit. Still, this changes the entire strategic situation notably and creates additional problems for the Allied (as if I did not have enough of those already). Specifically, the reasons that led to not going after Exmouth are no longer valid. But I'll adapt to that as well.

A second issue is that Nemo has now requested that I do not conduct ground attack operations against his troops inside of Russia, because he seems to be unable to CAP his troops there and that I use only Russian bombers in the theater (I moved some of the Chinese there, we agreed earlier that moving in US bombers is not allowed). I'll agree to that as well. If he wants to make this game (even) less demanding/interesting for himself, so be it.

I'll keep you informed on how we proceed.

Hartwig

[Alfred]

To place the shipping lane incident into context, could you provide relevant screenshots please.  Also please elaborate on factor which precluded move on Exmouth (screenshots probably necessary here also).
 
Alfred

[modrow]

Alfred,

incident sounds like a word connected with too much - well, how can I put it - need for diplomatic patching ?
We found a problem which is related to a house rule I did not ask for and have to find a reasonable solution.

... anyway, here's the screenshot you asked for.



Red is the strike Nemo wanted to do. Green is the strike that did occur (that's why there are two TFs in the hex now). Nemo was not aware of the TF that was hit and actually did not even realize at first his strike had gone into the shipping channel.

In my opinion, if attacks into the shipping lane are forbidden that means the red CV TF can operate at its present location only with a strike plane range limited to 2 hexes. There is no other way to make sure no such attack occurs, and if something is forbidden to me, I have to make sure it does not occur.

(continuation see next post)

[modrow]

Now relating to Exmouth: my considerations leading to the decision not to attack there are summarized in post 103.

(btw: there are P38G in this mod according to the tracker, even though I could not find them in the screen the game provides - the same holds for T34 tanks.)

I did not manage to create a nice picture for Exmouth, this one will have to do:




The range Exmouth-shipping channel (not shown) is 9. Assuming, as above, that keeping a rule means doing whatever is necessary to avoid what is forbidden, which I did so far, rather than amending if something which is forbidden has occurred, this means possession of Exmouth in connection with shipping channel sanctuary rule does not pose a threat to ships moving to Perth as the usable limit of range is at Geraldton. Thus, a move on Exmouth with questionable chance of success and high risk for my remaining surface units may presently not be worth the risk involved.

As mentioned above, we will probably go for a solution which allows to call for a replay if something inside the channel is hit. Well, if Nemo operates Betties at full range (26 hexes) out of Exmouth, as he says intends to do, that means that 52 hexes of (or something like 13 days of travel in) the shipping channel are in Betty range from Exmouth - Marlina range will be worse. I am curious to see whether we end up running replays all the time.

Ok, that much in this context. I hope I will get back to playing soon rather than discussing a house rule I did not ask for and I am ready to discard, even if it makes things still more difficult for me.

Hartwig

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: hartwig.modrow

A second issue is that Nemo has now requested that I do not conduct ground attack operations against his troops inside of Russia, because he seems to be unable to CAP his troops there and that I use only Russian bombers in the theater (I moved some of the Chinese there, we agreed earlier that moving in US bombers is not allowed). I'll agree to that as well. If he wants to make this game (even) less demanding/interesting for himself, so be it.

The first rule we have negotiated to allowing it at bases, but not on non-base hexes.
Wish I could negotiate this (bold) rule ... sounds very very nice from my perspective[;)]

--Damian--

[modrow]

Damian,

sorry, I have been a bit sloppy in the wording... In the theater may lead to a wrong impression. I think from coastal russian bases I may be allowed to use other bombers as well, because he can attack them as well. But I don't count those right now, as they are far from being developed to a AF size suitable for bombing purposes.

Still, your conclusion that I'm a really nice opponent is absolutely correct [8D].

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

just to keep you informed about what is going on:

On June 5th, I sent Nemo a modified version of the turn whose resolution led to the attack into the shipping channel. I used my last save game file and changed one order: I made the affected TF reverse its course, moving away rather than towards its destination, trying to run from being hit in the channel. If Nemo continues to move his TF south, I won't be able to outrun him though...

Unfortunately, between the time stamp of the save game I used and of the original end of turn file whose resolution caused the problem there was a difference of 10 minutes, and I truly don't know what I did originally during that time, thus potentially some other outcome may be different as well (and the turn had gone well for him previously imho). That's why I am not in favor of Mulligans in general and why I suggested when pressed to do one that Nemo should run the turn and then pick which of the resolutions he wants to continue.

Since then, I have not heard anything any more and I'm not going to prod Nemo into action yet again - did that for a couple of turns already. Thus, I'm not sure, maybe this game died or is dying. If so, it's a pity.

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

for those of you who are wondering, the game is still on. Nemo got back to me the same day I posted with the suggestion to continue with the original turn, in which the attack into the shipping channel did occur. That would have been my preferred approach anyway. As a consequence, it was my turn, and I sent it back to Nemo yesterday after ruining my work of Monday evening by transferring planes to a wrong base, so that I had to redo much of what I had done.

Anyway, we are back on track, and as I know what events I can report now, I will try to provide a few updates in the next few days, all relating to the June 08 => June 09 '42 turn.

Thanks for your continued interest in this slow and bumpy game

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

as promised, a bit of info on what was going on between June 08 => June 09 in this game. Not a good turn for me, because many of my operations did not yield direct return (e.g. no HI hits from various attempts to achieve them), whereas Nemo scored.

First, the most painful issues. They relate to Nemo's carrier ops, specifically the southern prong, which is sort of cleaning the map from attempts to reinforce NZ and the Suva region with a broom (thus the topic). For your orientation, I post a picture which helps to visualize the movement of that carrier TF...



Nemo's most recent fast move to the southeast finally caught the two Allied TFs which are marked with green circles - one AO-TF and one AP TF, which were on their way towards the west coast, where I have a bad shortage of shipping capacity. As a consequence, the available units are sitting at the West Coast, but cannot be moved.

The TFs which were hit now had been trying to evade on a ESE course. 3DD and 3 AO are lost, 5 AP hit badly - I don't expect they will make it home. The position at which they were hit is not visible on this map. These losses hurt, especially the AP would have been needed badly. Let's see how many more losses the next few turns will bring. Fortunately, I do random setting of transport TF routes, i.e. the TFs are somewhat scattered over the deep blue sea... Unfortunately, I have to move in the region - no way to avoid that, thus losses have to be accepted (as I don't see how I could oppose his move). If Nemo turns towards the vicinity of bases again, I will use my available fighter assets again like I did near Tonga...

Thanks for your interest so far

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

how is your attitude towards fruit flies ? Actually, I am not sure whether this is the correct English term. I am talking about those tiny flies which appear in summer and feed (and breed ?) e.g. on leftovers of fruits (which you are supposed to collect separately from the rest of your garbage and dispose in special bins where I live in Germany- there are other special bins e.g.for packing material and paper as well). Well, you guess what happens in summer... you got fruit fly invasions aplenty in your house.

I HATE fruit flies. They do no real harm, but they unravel my nerves. I think they are disgusting. Unfortunately, my attempts to rid myself of the problem by means of a colony of spiders meet continued and fierce resistance of my wife, who thinks that spiders are even more disgusting... So again and again I find myself wasting my time trying to hunt them and kill them off.

How does this relate to this game ? See for yourself...



What you see in that picture is last turn's collection of fruit flies I sent to Nemo. Note that at Port Blair and Mangalore troops landed without facing any shots from coastal guns, even though the places are evidently garrisoned. Currently, I don't have much AV at the respective places, but I guess 1 AV beats 0 AV [8D], and if it does not, it's free intel on Nemo's dispositions and maybe a reminder that you don't want to leave places without a garrison. Of course, he could simply ignore them. But will he ? Let's see...

I would prefer very much running more substantial ops, but that will take a while to realize. Thus, for the time being I create a lot of noise (in the physics sense) in which at a later point of time substantial operations will be more difficult to spot and identify.

Thanks for your interest

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

I want to try to wrap this up briefly, because I got the next turn in my inbox already (the combat report looks like I received at least one more unexpected spanking and the usual set of pains). If you have additional questions, as always do feel free to ask. Also, I will postpone the discussion of the ground combat in India once more - I ruined the chance I got there, because I was not aware of it and think since this turn that I won't be able to mend that. Still want to show / discuss the theater, I think it may be instructive so others do consider the option I did not see (probably most people would anyway).

The additional op which I want to show you now is another attempt to annoy, one with a potential tiny sting, thus a gnat and not a fruit fly. I had said in one of my earlier posts that I want to try to make use of the bases I got left in the PI. Therefore, I moved a few planes into an active airfield in the region which still has a base force as well and is reasonably supplied. Look for yourself...



The green arrow indicates an air strike against Nemo's HI on Formosa I initiated from that base. Unfortunately, I did not hit anything...

Again, this is clearly a nuisance op without much of a meaning. But let's see whether Nemo picks up the gauntlet.

As a matter of fact, Nemo commented on my fruit fly ops in the e-mail I found this morning. He points out the shortage of shipping in this mod and that I will miss the AKs I use dearly. Actually, I do miss them already - but at the West coast (where I have about 4AK now - sure, some transports are moving towards Alaska and reinforcing the southeastern part of the map, but the bulk of my shipping is on the western half of the map, where I don't have many troops available or lack the supplies I would like to have to use them efficiently). Presently, I believe that it is better to do something with at least a potential psychological impact which involves small investments than to do nothing. Any opinions on that issue from anyone out there ?

As always, thanks for your interest and advice

Hartwig

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

a teaser for the next turn... showing a surface intercept of Nemo's CVEs near Addu and -look at the TF composition- that Nemo is not afraid of risk. Still, I guess this pays off, as the next few posts will show - not sure how fast they will come, though. A pity all I could find at hand to challenge him was a PT boat...



Does someone familiar with this Mod know whether Nippon is able to perform attack missions in Mongolia ? This info may be crucial for the question whether or not Russia is going to implode on me. One of Nemo's tank regiments appeared next to Ulan Bator last turn, took it this turn and is using the shock-attack-pursuit-lift to teleport itself towards Ulan-Ude. There are a few combat units there, but I won't have enough to expel his tanks once he enters that hex and can't use air support there.

As always, thanks for your support and interest

Hartwig

[n01487477]

Does someone familiar with this Mod know whether Nippon is able to perform attack missions in Mongolia ?

I believe the answer is no Hartwig...

--Damian-- your fellow partner in pain [;)]