Threadwar 3x3 - Japanese Animal War

[Mike Solli]

8 May 42
 
Quiet day today.  Bruce sent some paratroopers to Nias Island and liberated it a second time.  The Aussies that landed there vanished.  I suspect they were inserted by sub.  I think the dastardly Allies are just trying to drive us nuts.  It ain't gonna work.  We're already there. [:D]
 
My Nells and Betties flying out of Pt. Moresby caught another Allied cargo TF along the eastern Australian shore, this time 2 hexes south of Thursday Island.  All three AKs went down.  Really strange.
 
We lost an MSW from old damage and a Kingfisher put a 250 lb bomb into an AK near Wyndham.

[Mike Solli]

9 May 42
 
The day started out very well.  The US DD Preston ate a mine at Dutch Harbor and went down. 
 
We lost an AK and MSW to old damage and had a TK moderately damaged off the coast of Balikpapan by a torpedo from the S-38.  In retaliation, one of the escorts hit her with a depth charge.  We also had an AK damaged by a recon bomber.
 
Bob's bombers hit Rangoon's resource centers again, damaging about two dozen resources.  I knew they wouldn't last long, but this is rather quick.
 
Another nasty trick the Allies have done was to dump a support unit fragment (by SS) to the dot base, Rennell Island, a few hexes SW of Lunga.  I realized this when an airfield symbol appeared last turn.  I landed a SNLF that was on it's way to Noumea to clear out the pesky Allies.  I suspect this will become commonplace.  Hopefully, I'll kill the air unit there.  I doubt it, but you never know.

[BrucePowers]

I thought we banned this practice

[Mike Solli]

10 May 42
 
I had a rough day.  The Allies snuck some fighters into Noumea and ambushed me.  It ended up costing me 7 Zeros and 7 Sallys. [:@] A TF is in port there composed of CAs, so who knows what's really there.  We'll see what happens next turn.  I am having the Sallys shift to night bombing of the airfield and brought in a new Daitai of Zeros and am running LRCAP over Noumea.  Hopefully, that'll even up the odds a bit.  Oh yeah, A BB SAG will hit overnight too.  A little naval action is good.  KB (currently 4 CVs) just finished refueling and is sprinting south.  They should be within 5 hexes of Noumea next turn.  All of the bombers are set to naval attack with the Kates additionally set to airfield attack as a secondary target.
 
Bob's British Air Force continued to hit our ships in and around Rangoon, damaging 3 AKs.  He also hit and damaged the remaining resources at Rangoon today.  I suspect he'll hit another base tomorrow (probably Moulmein).  Bruces ground forces are rapidly moving into Burma.
 
We took Rennell Island from the BF fragment that was dropped off there by sub.  202 more Allies pass into captivity for no Japanese loss.  The 2 SNLFs and 1 NLF are reloading on their transports and resuming their trek to Noumea.  There is also an engineer regiment loading at Rabaul headed for Noumea.
 
I attacked Noumea causing 402 Allied casualties to 1507 Japanese casualties.  The massive amount of Japanese supply is allowing the damaged squads to repair rapidly.  We're losing very little, if any, troops.  The Allied fort level remains at 7.
 
Bob's Chinese attacked the Japanese base at Pucheng again.  He took 951 losses to 190 Japanese losses. 

[Mike Solli]

11 May 42
 
Hi guys.  Back again after a far too busy RL.  We've been playing and my cohorts in crime helped me out a couple of turns.  Now back to the war....
 
Several Allied CVs were spotted south of Noumea to include the Hornet and Lexington.  I'm going to cautiously try and engage them from maximum range to attempt to damage them to some extent.  As a reminder, we have 4 CVs in the area.  The other two are at the Home Islands repairing sys damage that has been occurring from the start of the war due to mission creep.
 
Oh yeah, how were the US CVs spotted?  They caught a bombardment fleet heading for Noumea and sank the Hyuga, Tatsuta and Yubari. [:@]  Damn!  My first mistake.
 
In addition, 5 AKs were damaged in various parts of the globe.

[Mike Solli]

12 May 42
 
Reinforcement:  1 AK at Nagoya
 
Busy day today.  KB caught a supply TF at Noumea damaging 10 AKs and a MSW.  In addition, the I-124, after dropping off a load of mines at Suva, put 2 torps into a TK.
 
We lost 2 AKs to old damage and another ate a mine at Wyndham.  The Grayback put a torpedo into the Katori some 300 miles north of Noumea, which was running from the Allied CVs.
 
We liberated Wenchow from the nasty Chinese.  They surrendered 8703 to 318 Japanese casualties.
 
The Chinese pushed a Japanese regiment out of the hex NW of Wehcnow.  They lost 1015 casualties to 328 Japanese casualties.
 
The Chinese also unsuccessfully attempted to oust us from Pucheng with a shock attack.  The fiasco cost the Chinese 545 casualties to 63 Japanese casualties.
 
The Admiralty Islands airfield reached level 3.

[Mike Solli]

13 May 42

Reinforcement:  An AP at Hiroshima

KB launched at an AK promptly sinking it. Then, They launched at the Allied CV TF at max range piecemeal. That disaster cost us 64 Kates and 62 Vals to no more than a handful of Allied fighters. Over 90% of 4 CVs worth of elite bombers were lost. Needless to say, we need to pull out KB and replace the losses. We can replace just about all the losses with land based Vals and Kates, but this was definitely a disaster.

We had 2 AKs damaged by sub and Hudson.

Bruce attacked Magwe, achieving 3:1 odds and reducing the fort from 4 to 3.  He lost 42 casualties to 154 Allied casualties.

[Mike Solli]

14 May 42
 
The loss of the teeth of KB has definitely changed our plans.  The force in Noumea will not be able to take the place without support.  There are no level 4 airfields close enough to take on the Allied carriers.  Luganville will reach level 4 soon, but this is not enough to take them on.  I am going to withdraw north to Koumac and then pull them out as I can.  There is quite a bit of land-based air power but it is primarily at Luganville, Lunga, PM, Rabaul and Truk.  We'll see what the Allies do.  The 2 CVs at the Home Islands have full complements of aircraft.  KB is withdrawing in good order to Rabaul.
 
Here's the damage:
 
Ship    Planes available/Pilots available/Maximum
 
Akagi:  Zero - 15/17/28  Val - 7/9/28  Kate - 1/2/28
Hiryu:  Zero - 14/17/23  Val - 0/2/23  Kate - 1/4/23
Soryu:  Zero - 17/18/23  Val - 0/0/23  Kate - 3/4/23
Shokaku:  Zero - 21/23/28  Val - 3/5/28  Kate - 1/8/28
 
Note that the daitai were not at full strength before the battle.  Even so, the Val and Kate daitai were ravaged.
 
Bettys out of Luganville hit a TF at Noumea damaging 2 AKs, a PC and MSW.
 
Bruce is invading Darwin and began landing troops there today.  Allied air power theredamaged 4 AKs, 3 APs and put bombs into the Yamato and Fuso.  The damage to the BBs was minor at best.
 
Bruce hit Magwe again getting 3:1 odds yet again.  He reduced the fort level from 3 to 2 and caused 205 Allied casualties to 104 Japanese casualties.
 
Meiktila was also hit by the Japanese.  The fort level remained at 3 and we lost 2457 casualties to 1023 Allied casualties.

[Mike Solli]

15 May 42

Quiet day today.

Bruce continued to land troops at Darwin.  We had an AP, AK and MSW damaged there.

The O19 damaged an AK at Rangoon while mining the place.  Also, the Tautog put a torp into an AK near Wake.  IT was part of a TF reinforcing Wake.

Edit: Tarawa's port reached level 2.

[Mike Solli]

16 May 42

Reinforcements:  2 ARs at Osaka
 
The Sculpin sank a damaged AK at Victoria Point.  Another AK was lost from old damage.
 
Bruce continued to land troops at Darwin.

[Monter_Trismegistos]

Knock, knock...

Is there any war here?

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, I have another turn to add.  Just need the time.  Later today.  It's a slow game.  With 6 people, there's always someone who can't get to the turn promptly.

[Mike Solli]

17 May 42
 
Bruce continued to land at Darwin.
 
We lost an AK and MSW from old damage.  An AK was damaged by the S-37 at Darwin and the O20 put a torp into an AP at Rangoon.  In retaliation, APD31 put down the O20 for good.
 
To irk Speedy more, a Jake put a bomb on the Porpoise.
 
South of Noumea, an Allied ASW force hit the I-155 with a DC.  Her damage is 34-12-0.  She'll head to port for repairs.
 
Tulagi's port reached level 3 today.

[Mike Solli]

18 May 42
 
Reinforcement:  AK Teikai Maru at Tokyo
 
We lost an AK and AP from old damage and another AK was damaged by air attack.
 
Bruce landed more troops at Darwin and assaulted Magwe.  He routed the defenders causing 380 casualties for no Japanese losses.
 
Nagaoka's airfield reached level 4.

[Mike Solli]

19 May 42

Reinforcement:  142 IJA BF

Our newly won base at Magwe had an oilfield there, at 33(7).  Allied bombers damaged 21 fields today. [8|] 

Off Victoria point, the PC Shumshu caught and sank the Pike. [:D] Bravo Bruce!  Two subs in 3 days. 

We lost the CL Tenryu from damage sustained off Noumea earlier in the month.  We also lost an AK from old damage.  An AK was damaged from the Skipjack, an AP was damaged from Beauforts and a mine, and the I-19 was badly damaged from an Allied ASW TF off the French Frigate Shoals.  The I-19's damage level is 39-80-0.  It's unlikely she'll survive.

Bruce attacked Meiktila getting 1:1 odds and reducing the fort level from 3 to 2.  He also attacked Darwin, where we discovered the for is level 7. [8|]

[BrucePowers]

WE got more troops headed to Darwin[:)]

[Mike Solli]

20 May 42
 
Nothing much happened today.  Just the same old bombardments around the map.
 
We lost 2 AKs from old damage.

[Mike Solli]

21 May 42

We got the CVE Unyo as a reinforcement today.

At Darwin, Bruce landed the 56 Div.  That brings the assault strength up to 3 Divisions (5, 38 & 56), a HQ, 4 art regs, 2 eng regs, a tank reg and misc units vs. the 3 Aus Div and misc base forces.

We lost an AP from old damage and the Allies lost an AK from old damage.

Yesterday, I saw an Allied merchant convoy heading west about 8 or so hexes south of Luganville.  I figured they would head south out of range of Japanese LBA but planned for an attack on them, just in case.  My planning paid off and Nells flying out of the lvl 3 airfield (91% to level 4) caught them putting a 250kg bomb into 2 AKs.  Gotta sting the Allies whenever possible.

Bruce had a good day, planting a 250kg bomb into the S-41 and Perch. 

We're adding significantly to the ASW capability in the Burma area.  I just upgraded an IJN LB daitai to the Liz.  For those of you who aren't familiar with CHS, the Liz is a 4e Japanese Naval bomber that carries 4x 500kg bombs. [X(] [:D] They have armor and are reported to be killers on ASW.  We shall see.  This is the second daitai outfitted with the Liz.  The other is operating in the SE Fleet region.  House rules limit us to 2 daitai.  I will produce another dozen for the pool and then shut off production.  They are very sturdy aircraft.  To date we have lost 2 operationally.

[Mike Solli]

22 May 42
 
Reinforcements:  1AK and 142 IJN BF
 
The I-8 put 2 torps and a 5.5" shell into an unescorted AK 260 miles NE of Pago Pago but didn't see her go down.  An Empire on recon duties put a bomb into an APD. 
 
We lost an AP and the Allies lost a MSW from old damage.
 
More troops landed at Darwin (remainder of the 56 Division).  Bruce took Meiktila (the Allies had withdrawn).  The resources were at 100 (0).  I suspect 50+ B-17s to bomb the resources into the stone age tomorrow. [8|]  Well, we'll get 1 day's production out of it.

[Mike Solli]

23 May 42

Quiet but very nice day.  We lost an AP and AK from old damage and had another AP hit a mine at Rangoon.

The highlight of the day was an Allied fighter sweep over Meiktila.  Bruce had stationed 16 Zeros and 25 Oscars over Meiktila and they mixed with 33 Hurricanes.  When it was all said and done, 29 Hurricanes went down in flames for the loss of 2 Oscars.  Well done, Bruce!

Bruce attacked Darwin once again.  For 1147 Japanese casualties, he caused 1307 Allied casualties and reduced the fort level from 7 to 6.  Bruce continues to bomb Darwin's airfield with about 100 Helens each day, causing the Allied engineers to focus on trying to repair the airfield damage.  It's working.