JAP v's Aussie knife fight

[pbhawkin1]

Hi
this is a PBEM b/w TokyoBoyTensai and myself.
1943, thick jungle, meeting engagement.
1500 points
day vis 20 (if your lucky)
10% arty
West to East rail line that snakes along the Southern edge and a North/South road in my Western half behind my setup line.
3 groups of 4 VH in the middle and each side having another group of 4 VH in their half of the map.
Aussies (me attacking from West, Japs from east.

Each side has just completed set ups.
turn 1 to follow.

Intel reports that a strong probing force of mixed Jap units is to the East of the N/S road and may be advancing to contact along the E/W rail line.
My orders are to locate and destroy him where I find him.

[PimpYourAFV]

Good hunting sir. [:D]

I am cleared to read this or is it off-limits to me until the end of the fight? I can add my own commentary along with yours if you want me to.

[pbhawkin1]

TBT
You are definetly cleared to write up from your side as you see fit.
I will write it up in the form of reports to a higher headquarters from the commander on the ground (me).
It may contain false information(!), truth, guesses deceptions and ideas as to what my forces are doing/going to do as well as what the enemy (you) is doing.
have fun reading and interpreting it!!

[pbhawkin1]

general advance by all forces on their assigned objectives.
Intermittent sightings report the enemy has 25mm AAA and SPAA.
They also have engineer units and motorcycle recon units.
Our forces engaged and hit without any obvious effects one of their SPAA as well as a sniper.
unfortunetly one of our section was hit by a 25mmAAA unit and suffered a number of casualties!
The enemy have gained control of the central and Southern VHs (with their motorcycles) while we have taken the Northern one.

Once their main line of advance is determined we can suppress them and close with them.

Col
Hawkins out

[pbhawkin1]

We have closed with the enemy acroos our front!
In the North we have identified an engineer squad, suppressed HQ, AAA and cavalry squad near some high ground. Unfortunetly our previously hit section took some more casualties this turn.
The Northern VHs have seen as identify and attack 2 squads and another SPAA gun with one of these squads retreating with 3 killed. We also had a couple of injuries.
Around the Central VH we have destroyed a motorcycle squad and reduced another to 2 men and destroyed a cav squad for the loss of a recon section.
A sniper has also taken some pot shots at us!
A 15 man squad has been seen in the vicinity of the VHs as well.
In the South progress is slow (as this is the furthest group from our start positions). Some in cover squads, engineer, sniper and SPAA are seen and preperations are underway to capture this position.
Again we hit this SPAA with a 37mm round but no obvious damage.

Col
Hawkins
Out

[PimpYourAFV]

I have acted as second for the Japanese commanders of the cavalry and motorcycle squads who committed seppuku. May their names be forgotten quickly before their pathetic performances on the battlefield tarnish our nations proud reputation for toughness and courage.

I have sent our research teams to interrogate all the commanders still alive on the field to find out who is responsible for not telling me the Aussies would use excellent jungle tactics recently developed. [:@] These investigations take up many hours each day of our leaders. Therefore, little effective countermeasures are being planned due to lack of time. The investigations are of ultimate importance to find out who will be the ones to lose face. [:-]

In the central region, enemy recon patrols snoop around and sacrifice themselves to expose our troops positions. These patrol groups shrug off almost all the fire we provide them to die with and our munitions are wasted. Once our guns our emptied so uselessly, then the real enemy comes in with fresh, fat infantry squads coupled with Stuart tanks which pour the fire on our troops like soya sauce over a bowl of don buri. While being shot to death, our troops sing better than I've ever heard them sing at karaoke bars.

In the south, the cunning Aussies are employing a rarely known tactic dubbed the 'Raptor Attack'. A large group of infantry and tanks are presented infront of our troops in an obvious location but almost out of range and on rugged terrain with many trees. These units fire at us constantly to distract us and cause suppression and casualties while a second, very mobile group sneaks around the bottom and plans to come up from underneath with a knife through the ribs. Our troops are quite fond of barbequed ribs but we sure don't want to become them. This situation calls for my personal attention and I order a big egg to put a stop to this nonsense before the Aussies get too carried away with their tricks.

One of the defenders of the southern objective is a lightly armored AA car which has survived at least 4 direct hits from 37mm Stuart tank rounds. The armor on the car is so thin it is comparable to a tent one uses for camping in. The incoming tank rounds are neither stopped nor deflected. Instead, the armor simply guides the dangerous projectiles through the car and out the other side without hitting any vital systems. Occasionally a crew member loses a head or two but this is acceptable because we have plenty of human replacements.

Next up, a word from the Aussie camp... [&o]

[pbhawkin1]

Intel reports that TBT is the Jap commander and that he has personal command of these forces.
We have managed to take the central VHs from a platoon of dug in Jap A and B inf along with destroying the remnents of a m/cycle and cav squad. In the process we inflicted significant casualties on his inf causing them all to retreat under cover of smoke.
A Stuart 1 recon unit also took out a strange looking tank that scouts report as being a Engineer tank armed with a flamethrower!!
2x light/medium tanks and a SPAA are also in the area.
His units in the North seem to be so supressed that they have gone to ground.
In the South his sniper has taken oput a second casualty[:@]
His dug in units are proving to be easy to surpress.
However, he has called in airsupport in the form of a Ki-48 twin engine bomber that destroyed 2 sections in an overwatch position in the South!! Luckily the Stuart was undamaged.
Casualties this turn are:
Japanese:
1xcav (1man)
1xmotorcycle (2 men)
1x engineer tank
4 other inf casualties

Aussies
2x inf sections (14 men)
3 other inf casualties

[PimpYourAFV]

Japanese troops are ordered to perform a limited counterattack. The Aussies repel our men time and again ripping apart the Nipponese with negligible losses to themselves. Even satchel charges are tossed among the IJA troopers and an evil tank lying in wait unloads as well adding to the bodycount.

I send a neutral party under a white flag to the Aussies requesting a brief truce to collect our dead, and in typical down under smack talk, they reply that they need the break as well to help them count the heaps of dead Japanese to chalk up on the scoreboard.

The Japanese are learning how to eat bitter. The Aussies are definitely man-for-man putting on a better show than us and the enemy commander is crafty fellow to be sure. Still there is hope... the enemy may be getting low on ammunition. [:D]

[pbhawkin1]

UNFORTUNETLY due to problems with his installation of SPWAW (causing the file not to be saved propery) TBT is unable to continue this PBEM.

[PimpYourAFV]

ORIGINAL: pbhawkins

UNFORTUNETLY due to problems with his installation of SPWAW (causing the file not to be saved propery) TBT is unable to continue this PBEM.

pbhawkins, I sent you the turn 6 save twice and you said it doesn't work so why are you blaming me for not continuing the game? [&:] That doesn't mean my installation has a problem. It means either our versions are not exactly the same or there is a bug in the email function of the game.

[pbhawkin1]

TBT,
i'm not blameing you!
Remember this was going to be my 6th turn and the others all worked fine as far as I could tell.
When I try to open your turn it comes up with the message:
"file unable to be opened"

BUT you said to me that you were having the same problems with other PBEM games that you were playing!
AND that it would be better to just stop rather han trying again waiting for this unknown problem to reappear after ?? turns.

r

[PimpYourAFV]

pb, one other PBEM didn't work for me but it was sent to me from another opponent which is the opposite situation. I redid the turn all for you and it still doesn't work. Its not worth wasting any more time and I already told you all this by email so I'm gonna leave it at this. Tattletaling on the forum won't help make it work. [8|] Try deleting your steel.prf file and then try loading the game again. sabrejack suggested this might fix the problem. Otherwise forget about it.

[pbhawkin1]

OK,
I wasnt "tattletaling' but rather I was just letting people know who were watching this DAR that it appeared it would not be finished dur to the aforementioned problem. You had said that you were going to do the same thing
I will try deleting MY steel.prf file, although i don't know how it would be corrupted as I am only playing you at the moment.
Anyway, if that is the problem and it does open shall we continue??

[Korpraali V]

Common problem is that if you have played a lot against AI you may accidentally press the "Solitaire Play" -button instead of "Play By EMail". In that case you can play your turn normally but your opponent can't open it anymore. As far as I know the only solution is to play that turn again equally to the first time. Or as equally as you can. That however can't be checked and is the matter of trust.

[PimpYourAFV]

pbh, try and see if that works. Most probably not so I will try installing a fresh version of the game for only using PBEM. I got a copy of your turn 5 and will redo it a 3rd time when I have a chance. [:@][:(] The reason I hate redoing the turn many times cause I have to walk my units through the smoke and into your waiting fellows even though I know what's there. I don't want to cheat by doing things differently on the redo. Also I rolled well the first time and destroyed a tank and 2 brens as well pushing back 3 other squads including repelling your sneaky flanking move on the bottom. Such luck is rare for me. [:(]