March of the Penguins: Onime vs. Fabertong

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Happens all the time; no idea what it's supposed to mean, though...

My guess is she missed by a country mile. [8|]

[Onime No Kyo]

Is a very crappy picture better than no picture?

[VSWG]

1. Yes.
2. It's not crappy at all.

Now tell us which ship had the honor so sink the Mutsu. [:)]

[DuckofTindalos]

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Happens all the time; no idea what it's supposed to mean, though...

My guess is she missed by a country mile. [8|]

Missed so wide, nobody saw where the fish ended up...

[Onime No Kyo]

(1) DesDiv 26 (Parrot, Whipple, Edsall, Barker), in the vanguard of Force Z, does not make contact with enemy. Moving roughly NE, by the time Marblehead makes contact, they are too far east to patricipate in the action.

(2) DesDiv 29 (Alden, Blumer, JD Edward, Paul Jones) led by Marblehead sights enemy. They open main battery fire and execute a column right turn while firing torpedoes.

(3) Umikaze, at the tail of the Japanese DD line is hit by several shells and a torpedo. She breaks amidships and sinks immediately.

(4) Battle Line (POW, Repulse, Boise) opens fire at enemy DDs at extended range and fires illumination rounds. As Mutsu is sighted beyond the INJ DDs, Battle Line executes a gradual column right turn to unmask the main batteries. A left turn is now impossible because the Dutch squadron is already in process of executing a more shalow right turn to avoid closure with IJN DDs.

(5) Mutsu is stuck by several shells from POWs secondary battery. Finally, one main battery shell strikes home causing visible fires and loss of speed. Several more hits from Repulse's secondaries follow but Battle Line is now being masked by the Dutch squadron.

(6) Dutch units, having completed their column right turn, open broadside fire at IJN DDs and torpedoes with general vector in direction of Mutsu.

(7) Mutsu is stuck by one torpedo. Although there is a visible heavy explosion, she continues retiring.

(8) Sagi is slammed by hits from Java and DeRuyter falls out of column heading north, into the Mutsu's wake and capsizes. Shiokaze receives several hits from Tromp and the Dutch DDs and retires roughly WSW at reduced speed.  

Postmortem:

1) Performance of DesDiv 26 left much to be desired. Not only did the division fail in its assigned mission of establishing early contact with the enemy but then failed to pursue either the damaged and retiring Japanese forces or the IJN CL and DD which were never engaged, placed rougly NE of Mutsu.

2) Gunnery of DesDiv 29 and Marblehead were superb. Not only did these units strike their own fair contribution to the action but also made a correct choice to turn at the right moment to allow the heavier units freedom of action.

3) RN cruisers were not able to participate in the action at all, being masked by DesDiv 29, Battle Line and Dutch Squadron at various points in the battle.

4) Gunnery of RN heavy units was attrocious. While firing broadsides at a well illuminated target, POW scored only one main battery hit. Repulse failed to score any hits at all while receiving several hits from Mutsu's secondary guns in return. Boise performed well.

5) Maneuvers by the Dutch Squadron came very close to upsetting the reult of the entire action. Not only did their column right turn interfere with the movements of the battle line, but their continued failure to reverse course and pursue the now retiring IJN units also robbed other units of the TF of doing the same. Their saving grace was their outstanding gunnery.

6) An IJN CL and DD were never engaged. The Shiokaze and Mutsu were allowed to retire.

7) Admiral commanding made the correct desicion of calling off pursuit with the approach of sunrise, allowing the entire force to escape detection by air.

[Onime No Kyo]

General update....



NAVAL COMBAT

Aside from Force Z action relatively little naval combat took place. Incidentally, Shiokaze is reported to have sunk the following day.

American subs continue to be scoreless. The Dutch, on the other hand, strike 3 transports between Malaya and FIC, one of which, struck by 3 torps breaks up and sinks immediately.


LAND COMBAT

Faber took Tavoy, putting positions in Burma in question, and Georgetown. He also landed and captured the Admiralty Is. Baker Is. and Buna. Hong Kong has fallen (or has it? During last turn execution it was still mine. Syncro bug again rears its ugly head).

His forces are also landing at Macassar (which prompted the sortie by Z) and Lautem.


AIR COMBAT

Japanese strikes continue in Malaya and the PI. Faber launched a nother large raid at Singers. All the CAP I could scrape together went up and got pounded to smithereens. When the same occured over Clark, the P-40s knocked down a few Nates and quit while they were ahead. The count there was something like 2 his to 3 mine. Something tells me that the Brits are engaging a bit more bravely. [8|]

Faber's aircraft in the DEI claimed several more ships retiring from the PI, including, sadly, the Langley.

Dutch air forces continued their efforts, scoring several hits.

Australian air units in the PNG and Rabaul are performing very well against Fabers ships operating at Lae and now at Buna. Units from Darwin have stuck 3 APs which delivered the Lautem invasion force. There were no troops on board but hopefully I've deprived him of a few bullets and some bread.

[rtrapasso]

Good job, Onime!!! [&o] [&o] [&o]

And, yes, i did see this just a few minutes after you posted it - this is just to let you know that i did... [:'(]

[Yava]

Yes, I must agree quite a nice battle[8D] That's why I like Force Z and Dutch CL's [:D]

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

Good job, Onime!!! [&o] [&o] [&o]

And, yes, i did see this just a few minutes after you posted it - this is just to let you know that i did... [:'(]

Thank you Robert. I now have an official readership or one.

Hey. Here's a thought. I should test if Faber actually reads this. I should post a picture of a female penguin in studded black leather and see if he reacts.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Yava

Yes, I must agree quite a nice battle[8D] That's why I like Force Z and Dutch CL's [:D]

I take what I can get. And as long as I'm throwing cliches around, I think I should use it before I lose it. [:D]

[Onime No Kyo]

12/15/41

NAVAL COMBAT

The USS Sturgeon demostrated that theres more than one way to skin a transport. Surface and blast the bastard with your deck gun, and then fire torps at it until you get one that works right (one did).

The Dutch sub arm has been quiet this turn. Unfortunately Faber's hasnt. One of his boats torpedoed a transport evacuating pregnant women and orphaned children from the DEI. I'm expecting a public outcry. Well?!

AIR COMBAT

Faber hit Singers again. No CAP! [:@] (Sometimes I wich this was a closed AAR, I need to bitch!).

The Chinese keep sending up dribs and drabt to CAP Changsha. It occurs to me that the one guy that'll be left alive after all this will have one heck of a war record.

The P-40s out of Clark did a pretty good job today, pruning Faber's strike a bit while losing only one of their own.

I now have Forts operating out of Australia. Their fist strike hit Kendari and met with a determined Zero cap. Despite being liberally shot up by the Forts MG's, they brought down two of the big bastards and damaged several more. The attack was a port strike, netting a hit on the Mizuho.

Incidentally, I've had the PI Forts bombing Jolo for the last few turns. They're not doing much, its just for morale purposes.

Also, Faber hit a few more of my PI transports (not many left that are still in transit). The Aussies in the PNG hit a few more transports there but the Darwin Hudsons scored only a dissapointing 2 hits on the Lautem force.


GROUND COMBAT

Lingayen and Macassar fell. Nothing unexpected there. Lautem is still holding, but just barely. Its the apalling lack of ground troops around there that depresses me. [:(]


NOTE: That sinc bug is very weird. Last turn HK fell in the replay, but was still mine in the orders turn. Fine, I can live with that. But this turn it was mine again in the replay. <shrug>

[rtrapasso]

You can always use Pompack's Patented Method to get around the sync bug...

[Onime No Kyo]

Whats that? Faber said that he'll try something on his end and that he was hoping the thing would resolve itself in a few turns. Not sure what he has in mind but it seems that were still a bit out of sinc.

[DuckofTindalos]

Faber should know about it, and it's him that has to start it off... Just listen to the Penguinista...

[Onime No Kyo]

I am. But I'm still curious about what the process is.
&nbsp;
Hmm..Faber sent me back a turn with the CR. Seems my latest foray with Z has netted a few more ships. I'm a bit dissapointed at the result though. Will post more after I get home and run the turn.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo


Postmortem:


2) Gunnery of DesDiv 29 and Marblehead were superb. Not only did these units strike their own fair contribution to the action but also made a correct choice to turn at the right moment to allow the heavier units freedom of action.


4) Gunnery of RN heavy units was attrocious. While firing broadsides at a well illuminated target, POW scored only one main battery hit. Repulse failed to score any hits at all while receiving several hits from Mutsu's secondary guns in return. Boise performed well.

Very interesting surface action. IMHO you were very lucky to get those results out of DesDiv 29 and the Marblehead, since they were firing USN torpedoes and mostly non-turreted 6-inchers. You were also lucky that Mutsu's gunnery was as bad as the RN's: her 16-inchers were rather more potent than either the POW or the Repulse's main guns.

[Onime No Kyo]

Hehe. [:D]&nbsp;Imagination will only take you so far. In reality, most of the hits I received came from Mutsu's secondaries, but that just detracts from a good story. [:D]
&nbsp;
Plot-wise, however, it still works. Marblehead spent most of the action broadside to the Japs so more than half of her guns were clear.&nbsp; And USN shipboard torps didnt suck that bad. They just had a short range and pathetic speed. [:D]

[Onime No Kyo]

12/16-17/41

I've got a 2-hour b!tch session brewing, mostly me kicking myself in the butt for my own stupidity. I'd love to tell you all since I'm sure that most people who've PBEMed as Allies have done this at least once, but I will keep my peace in the interest of opsec. [:@]

Sync bug seems to have been alive an well as of the 12/16 turn but Faber seems to think that it should be gone by the next turn. Since I have no idea what means he's using to fight it, I'll just have to trust in the ancient penguin magic.


NAVAL COMBAT

Another sortie by Force Z has run headlong into the WitP surface combat model, which seems to assume that merchie TF can and will succesfully scatter under any and all circumstances. Be that as it may, Z hit a large transport TF, again off Macassar. The Japanese escorts bravely took a beating, losing 2 MSWs and a PG sunk outright and a PC heavily damaged. From the transports I managed to catch only one AP, which sank, and love tapped another one which probably barely felt it. In return I got a small caliber shell to the Repulse, which cracked the flowerpot of the Capt's favorite fern. On the way back, however, one of Faber's subs put a torp into the Kortenaer (I love how that rolls off the toungue, by the way. Deffinately a kick@ss name for a DD. Anyone know what it means?). The damage is serious but she'll live.

Faber's Lautem invasion force was visited by the HMAS Adelaide. The brave little Australian gave a serious fright to a MSW and seriously damaged 2 APs (almost certainly empty by now). The Adie got 4 small caliber hits, which were patched up by morning using cardboard and chewing gum.

Faber's 4 Furutakas dropped by Rabaul. While they caused little damage, I'm still a bit steamed that my patrol Cats didnt catch them coming in. On the flip side, Faber inquired if Force Z had a cloaking device, so I suppose it works both ways.

Submarine action has been light, largely owing to the fact that Faber seems to have completed his current round of landings and most of his TFs have already pulled back.

The only cause to brag for me is the torp that S-37 put into an AP north of the PI.

AIR COMBAT

Singers got spanked again. Enough said. [:@]

Clark was doing reasonably well, or at least as well as I expect them to. The CAP P-40s take out between 4 and 6 planes a day while losing only 1 or 2 themselves. At this stage of the war with the resources at hand, I call that a fair deal.

The Forts are hitting the Kendari airstrip. That and $.85 will get me a cup of coffee, of course. I got a few Betties on the ground but have really little hope of closing the place down with what I have and given the rates of attrition Faber's Zeroes are forcing.

A few more ship hits by the Dutch and Aussies in the DEI and around Lae, but nothing that will throw any wrenches into Faber's works.

GROUND COMBAT

Lautem still holds and Faber's transport TF seems to have departed. I find it rather hard to believe that he's unloaded all the supplies already. Hmm....

Faber launched another attack at Yenen (which I apologise for failing to mention before). I dont have too many troops here, but he's getting 0:1s so far, so I'm hoping for the best.

Faber has landed at Menado. That one's not long for this world since I have no way at all of either reinforcing it or interfering with his op in any serious way.

Faber has also taken Hollandia. Honestly, I dont know why he bothers, seeing as how its utterly useless and can be taken at his leasure. When I asked, he responded that he and the boys enjoy white, sandy beaches. [8|]

******************

In any case, as you can probably tell, I'm not in a happy mood over that thing that I wont talk about. <smacks self>

On the bright side, there is a decoration announcement. Congratulations go out to Lt. Gies, currently based at Clark Field who shot down his 5th Japanese aircraft on the 16th becoming the Allies' first ace.

PS...Faber, how are your flyboys doing?


EDIT: Faber just sent me a turn and in the email said that the cync bug should be taken care of shortly since he's done something to his Oscars which he had at strafing altitude to hunt for my PTs all of which somehow causes the cync bug. Since all this is obviously Greek to me, I will, once again, trust in the penguin magic.

[Onime No Kyo]

Upon further reflection I feel I should mention that Faber is keeping true to his word of not being a lunacy player. Given my inept commanding, he could have probably had most of India and half of Australia by now.

[aztez]

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

Upon further reflection I feel I should mention that Faber is keeping true to his word of not being a lunacy player. Given my inept commanding, he could have probably had most of India and half of Australia by now.

I know the feeling. I have an game againts Erstad and he propably would have conquered as much if he wanted to. [8|]

Just hang in there. The sun will shine and you will get the chance to kick some Penguin butt! [:D]