Hunting the AuTiger - an AAR (no Tigers please)

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

You have learned that the Japanese can lose the war in the first 3 months while it is harder for the Allies to do so in that time span. Add the learning of the production system and you see why many players want to play the Allied side. The learning curve is not so steep. [:-][:-]

I know you are playing the stock game and that means you will soon feel the weight of 4e bombers raining death from everywhere. [X(][X(]

The strategy of the Japanese player when it comes to India/Burma has to be weight against taking the islands in the East Pacific and slowing down the eventual counter-offensive (plus Chian and any invasion of norther Australia). The problem is, that KB cannot be at all these places at the same time. [:(][:(]

I hope you continue the game to end and use it as a learning experience for the next time. [8D][8D]

Now that I am understanding the situation better I am even more impressed by the accomplishments of players like Admiral Laurent and the others who have conquered well beyond the historical limits. This is a very difficult game to learn to play well and my hat is off to everyone who has developed winning strategies for either side. (I can easily think of lots of ways to lose... [:D])

[Dive Bomber1]

March 29, 1942 – This turn brought some unpleasant surprises for me. Not only did AuTiger out-manoeuvre me significantly in China again, but more importantly I realized that a Base Force that was supposed to be on a TF that was headed for Lautem wasn't on board. Instead there was only a small amount of supplies loaded on the APs.

I almost never use the "Load Troops" command – usually I'm careful to use the "Load Only Troops" command instead because I'm aware that using the "Load Troops" command can often lead to incomplete troop loading. But I wanted to send some supplies along to Lautem so I used the "Load Troops" command as an exception in this case.

I checked Palau and sure enough, there sat the Base Force that I had earmarked for the Lautem invasion. Since the TF had left port several days before I wasn't certain anymore if the troops had been loaded or not, so I started to look back in my old intermediate-saves and even ran some of the older turns that Tiger had sent back to me. As of March 26 the TF was on its way and minus any troops. But when I checked the March 25 turn the TF was still in port, all of the Base Force was loaded, and a small amount of supplies were loaded! [X(]

I don't remember exactly, but I suspect that what I did when I was setting up that turn was to set the "Stop Loading Supplies" order since I didn't want the TF to sit around for too many more days, and anyway all of the Base Force was already on board. But somehow, when the turn was run the Base Force was unloaded and the TF took off with only the small amount of supplies on board.

What was particularly strange was that it would normally take two turns to unload a large Base Force like the one that I had on board the TF, so something in the Game Mechanics did something very odd here beyond just misinterpreting my instructions. Oh well, I'll have to watch out for this from now on, and also go back to avoiding using the "Load Troops" command at all costs. [8|]

BTW - while going back through older turns I noticed something that I didn't notice the first time I played the turn - when a Japanese DD went down just short of Makin Island the commander wasn't Japanese - it was 1LT Holt. I guess that all the fragments that Tiger and I have been creating are starting to come back to haunt us. [:-]

I also learned some fresh lessons thanks to Tiger this turn. First off, he now has 11 units in Lanchow, while he only had two there a turn before. As you can imagine, his transport planes are showing Operational losses. But Tiger isn't reducing his defenses anywhere. All of his main front-line Chinese bases have around 100K troops in them. And as soon as I pull back from one area to try to get a numerical advantage in another Tiger moves forces forward and threatens my supply lines. I counted all the Chinese units that I could see and Tiger now has at least 149 Chinese units showing on the map! [X(] [X(] [X(] All I can do is shake my head in astonishment at how well Tiger has turned China into a morass that has the potential to become a huge threat at any time.

The other very painful lesson that I learned is that my CAP at 15K feet can't get down in time to intercept the Allied LBA at 3K feet. Tiger's British and Dutch 2E bombers are so highly skilled now that my CAP barely stops them even when it does catch up to them, and so the 2Es from Soerabaja pulverised my transports at Toboali. I will have to stop trying to get resources and supplies out of Toboali until I can close the airfields at Soerabaja. [:(]

BTW – to "add insult to injury", Tiger's five divisions in Imphal easily kicked out my worn-out unit. The combination of two months of jungle travel, constant Allied aerial bombardments, and malaria made my division useless. I can now clearly understand why some players ignore Burma and use the Burmese invasion Divisions to invade India by sea instead.

What worked out okay this turn for me? Well, my troops captured Dili, and other troops landed unopposed at Koepang, but now that I realized that the base force that was supposed to go to Timor stayed home I won't be able to do anything when Tiger uses my forces on Timor for "target practice" for his bombers in northern Australia.

Also, my own massive bombing attacks continued to work well on Batavia and Ichang. Tiger is still trying to keep some Chinese fighters in the air over Ichang and it is working to an extent because all I have to throw against that base are Nates and dive bombers. But I've got Sallys escorted by Oscars and Zeros over Batavia so that base is staying nicely closed. Now all I have to do is set up an air base that is close enough to Soerabaja so that I can close down that air base too.

[Dive Bomber1]

March 30, 1942 – Nothing untoward appears to have happened this turn but I'll obviously have to keep on watching what happens when and after I set my orders for my troops. It's so easy to make mistakes in this game with all the things that have to be planned and monitored.

Some of the things that I've been planning and monitoring for some time now started to come to fruition this turn. Troops started to land at Samarinda and they ought to be able to capture the base next turn since most of the Dutch troops there were recently kicked out of Balikpapan. Surprisingly, the shore guns at Samarinda were firing quite enthusiastically and damaged an escort ship heavily.

Lautem received another naval bombardment this turn and my invasion force ought to land next turn. I'm hoping to capture Lautem quickly so that I can trap AuTiger's short-range Dutch and British planes in Java. Other troops landed at Maumere and I will be grabbing the other empty bases in the region between Timor and Java as quickly as I can unload and reload my troops. And my troops captured Koepang this turn.

To aid in the attack on Java I am having a para-capable SNLF unit drop in on Bali next turn. Assuming that Bali is actually empty as my INTEL has told me, I will then fly in some air support troops so that I can start to bomb Soerabaja with Sallys.

Speaking of bombing Soerabaja, this turn my bombers at Singkawang and Kuching finally flew against Soerabaja. The Singkawang forces flew in first and ran into a stiff air defense, but my Zeros drove the defenders off and about half of my bombers were able to hit the air fields, albeit without a lot of results. But the Kuching attack was bigger and caught the CAP tired, wiping out most of the CAP and causing a lot of damage on the ground including plenty of bombers destroyed. The end result was 72 planes lost for the Allied against 31 planes lost for the Japanese. The toughness of the defense did cause most of my LBA units to lose a lot of morale, so I'm sitting them out next turn. We'll see what Tiger does in response.

My other two regular big air attacks on Batavia and Ichang continued as usual. The air field damage level at Batavia is maxed out while the air field damage level at Ichang continues to grow. This turn I also decided to test out the ground defenses at Ichang again for the first time in quiet a while. My attack lowered the fortifications to level 6, but my troops took a 5:1 ratio in casualties. So they are back to doing bombardment attacks for the time being. I am still trying to manoeuvre troops into position to cut off Ichang, but it is a slow process.

Tiger is still building up Lanchow and now has twelve LCUs there. When I wrote to Tiger about the "Leader Problem" that I mentioned last turn, Tiger's response was that he doesn't have enough Political Points to change any leaders at this time. Of course, that's because he has to change his Chinese units to non-restricted HQs in order to fly them to "hot spots" such as Lanchow. Tiger has been fortunate in this game and only once so far has he been "called" upon for the British ship withdrawal, so for the most part he hasn't had to either send back ships or pay up points. We'll see if his luck continues when April rolls around.

In other news my "stealth" Base Force-laden TF reached Nanomea this turn. The weather is bad with thunderstorms, so I'm hoping that they can unload before Tiger notices. If this works I will pick up the NLF at Nanomea and try to sneak it in to the uncaptured south-most island in the group. Once I've done this I'll move some patrol planes into Nanomea and then be able to keep an even better eye on Tiger's movements in the South Pacific.

[Dive Bomber1]

March 31, 1942 – My night time naval bombardment of Lautem found a pleasant surprise: a Hudson, a Martin and A Do 24K were destroyed on the ground. Lautem is still a level 1 air base, so AuTiger couldn't fly combat missions from there, so why were the bombers present; in transit, on patrol, or ferrying troops? In any event, the runways were hit pretty hard in this attack, so I'm hoping that any other planes will be trapped and caught in my upcoming attack. My troops landed at Lautem this turn, and there appears to only be a Dutch base force in place, so unless Tiger flies in a ton of combat troops I ought to capture the base this turn.

Speaking of capturing bases, my troops captured Samarinda this turn, after strong naval and aerial bombardments. The big surprise for me here was that the Dutch troops retreated towards Banjarmasin instead of surrendering! Fortunately, I have a DD FT on its way to Banjarmasin, and it will cut off the retreat of the Dutch. So I will use the Dutch troops for target practice and training of my air units.

Of course, I've got to get more air support units forward first. Once again my invasions have outpaced my ability to bring up support and supplies. So although my air-capable SNLF force captured the empty base at Bali, I don't have air support troops nearby to take advantage of the position. BTW – Maumere was also captured and the troops there are already on their way to capture more bases in the region.

As I expected, Tiger launched a large B-17 attack from Derby on the airfields at Koepang this turn. I'm not going to try to defend the base right now and instead I am pulling out the invasion force and using it to capture more empty bases in the region. However, what I am doing is collecting together a decent surface combat TF that I will eventually use to try to catch some of Tiger's bombers on the ground at the northern Australian air bases.

In other action in the DEI, a good Zero Daitai flew in to Soerabaja from Singkawang on a sweep and shot down a number of Dutch and British planes. I want to reduce the number of fighters in the base so that Tiger's bombers are less willing to attack my forces in the face of Japanese CAP. In other news, my troops landed at Pinrang, which is unoccupied. Once this base is captured there will be no place for the troops at Macassar to go once I finally invade that base.

There was more action this turn, but it wasn't really that meaningful. My troops captured Imphal this turn, but Tiger had abandoned it already. I'm not sure why he did that because his troops have shown that they can hold bases pretty much indefinitely. I presume he wants to use my troops for target practice again, but he could have done that more easily if he had contested the base. Oh well, I'll take whatever breaks Tiger gives me.

The other reasonably unimportant battle was where my armoured regiments once again kicked the Hopei Militia down the road towards Lanchow, but this time the Militia survivors were actually kicked into Lanchow. I'm not sending my armoured units directly against Lanchow but will try to use them to cut the roads between the three northern Chinese cities. Instead I'll have my five infantry divisions move in and attack. I don't expect this to work, but I don't feel like retreating at this point.

BTW – once again I have been caught in China with not being careful enough about watching the movement of my troops – a Mongol unit and a Japanese battalion wandered into Yenen again this turn. This means that Tiger's troops will happily kick them out next turn. Neither unit was set to go to Yenen, but the Game chose the path through Yenen as the "shortest" path. If's frustrating to see this sort of thing happen, but I should know better by now than to leave anything without a regular check.

BTW II – the April 1 turn brought with it an order for the British to withdraw a CLAA and two DDs. I wonder if Tiger will bother?

[Dive Bomber1]

April 1, 1942 - Lautem was hit by multiple naval bombardments again overnight, and no one fired back, so it appeared that AuTiger didn't bother to fly in any troops. Sure enough, when my troops attacked during the day all that was there was a badly beat-up Dutch base force that surrendered without a fuss.

Actually, there was more there than just the Dutch BF at Lautem - 14 planes were destroyed on the ground: 8 Martins, 3 Hudsons and 3 Dutch patrol planes. That was a nice bonus. I'm still not sure how Tiger got those planes stuck there, but I'm more than happy to get rid of them the "easy way".

Speaking of bombers, Tiger's Hudsons in that region must have experience in the 80s and 90s now, because no matter where they fly or how far they get hits on their targets. So another AP was hit in one attack, but fortunately the biggest group of Hudsons out of Darwin went against some cruisers and so suffered a fair number of flak losses. I've almost given up on putting CAP up against naval LBA attacks because even Zero Daitais with 70s or 80s experience don't seem to be able to stop attacks by Hudsons. (I only wish that my Bettys and Nells with 70s and 80s experience would do half as well as the Hudsons do - I'm obviously doing something very, very wrong with my anti-shipping LBA.)

In other land action my Fast Transport landed troops at Banjarmasin and they will capture it next turn. I've also got another FT TF heading for the last unoccupied base in Borneo. Pinrang was also captured.

In China Tiger tried to strafe the air fields at Wuhan with his P-39s. The P-39s were hammered by flak and caused no damage. I probably should have reset my planes to attack Changsha, but I forgot - once again rushing a turn may well cause me problems.

In India/Burma Tiger's 4Es hit the resources at Pagan for the first time in a long time. And some of his 2Es hit my troops at Imphal. I'm just going to leave those troops in Imphal as a blocking unit and a distraction for Tiger.

It turns out that all of my DDs that were due for upgrade in April were in the Home Islands. So I took the time to spread them out amongst a number of bases while I collect my recently repaired ships into Tokyo. I've decided that I don't want to bother with a nuisance raid into the Aleutians at this time, so instead I'm collecting all my undamaged ships, along with Kaga and the two CVLs under repair in Tokyo, then I'm going to send them south to join the rest of my CVs in the Solomons. Kaga and the two CVLs aren't fully repaired, but I want "quantity, not quality" when I invade Port Moresby.

This way I will be able to put 5 CVs and 3 CVLs in the attack, as well as have plenty of LBA around. The airfields at Lae recently reached level 3, and the fields at Gili-Gili are already there. The fields at Shortlands and Lunga are at level 2, and I have six other bases in the region with base forces that allow me to flood the area with patrol planes. Oh yes, and Rabaul is at level 6. I am slowly bring more and more air units into the region and intend to have overwhelming air superiority in place by the time I do my invasion, which is now looking like the end of April. Tiger should only have 4 carriers available at most at the time.

I will also be starting my invasion of Java at that point too, so Tiger will have to make some decisions as to where he will put his LBA. And with any luck I may even catch some of it on the ground again.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 2, 1942 - This will be a short report because Real Life has caught up to me in a very nasty way - my car caught fire and burned to a crisp. Everyone is fine, but this will be a major disruption in my life for a while.

In Game Life my troops landed at Waingapu, Sampit, Funafuti and Raba. The landing at Funafuti removed the need for secrecy, so I moved a Mavis unit to Nanomea. I also started to land a base force at Ndini, so I moved a Mavis unit into there too. Between the two air bases I ought to be able to see what AuTiger is doing in the South Pacific a lot better now.

Funafuti, Waingapu and Banjarmasin were captured this turn. Otherwise, I'm being fairly quiet because Tiger has a ton of bombers in both Soerabaja and northern Australia. The Australian contingent, both Hudsons and B-17s came in at low altitude over the port at Lautem and hammered a transport TF that was dropping off supplies. It appears that the combat unit that I used to capture Lautem will be stuck there for a while until I can "discourage" Tiger's air units in northern Australia. (My plans for that are starting to come together now.)

In China Tiger pulled his P-39s out of Changsha, so it worked out quite well that I didn't redirect my planes. Instead my forces hammered Ichang again, damaging the air fields and gaining experience.

My invasion TF ought to reach Macassar in two more days, and I've got spies heading out to check out potential invasion sites in Java, so things continue as planned. But I will be away a lot over the next couple of weeks, and will also have to handle the headaches of losing the car, so the pace of game play will drop off a lot over the next while.

[princep01]

Dive, that is terrible news about your car.  Maybe AU Tiger is taking this game a little too seriously!  Glad all the occupants are safe.  Wow, that is freakish.

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Dive, that is terrible news about your car.  Maybe AU Tiger is taking this game a little too seriously!  Glad all the occupants are safe.  Wow, that is freakish.

Thanks for the thoughts. Today I had a chance to see the car in the daylight and it looks like it was hit by a bomb. (A colleague who drove me to the pound, who lived in Isreal for a number of years, commented that it looked like a car that had been used as a car bomb.)

I've got the insurance folks looking into it, and now that I found out that there had been a recall for engine fires for the car (that I had never received a notice on) I may well get some lawyers looking into it too.

Ironically, I had just had the car into the Dealer's a few weeks ago for scheduled service and a Spring check-up. They gave it "flying colors"...

This experience gives me more of an appreciation for how hard it must have been to keep military equipment in operation in a war zone...

One thing for certain, I'll definitely check recall records on line for subsequent cars on a regular basis from now on.

[zhengxuacmilan]

hi DB

The picture is terrible, I could not imagine how terrible the accident was when i received you mail. I am so glad that you are ok.

best regards and good luck

Amb

[princep01]

That, my friend, is a very scary pic.  There was no collison involved, correct?  The fire started in the engine compartment and then spread to consume the whole car.  Wow.  Very impressive.  What make car is that?  Again, glad you are ok.

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: princep01

That, my friend, is a very scary pic.  There was no collison involved, correct?  The fire started in the engine compartment and then spread to consume the whole car.  Wow.  Very impressive.  What make car is that?  Again, glad you are ok.

That's correct - there was no collision. The car was going down the highway when the engine started to fail and and fire started to show up from under the passenger-side door.

It was a 2000 Mercury Cougar.

But then, remember the old definitions of the word "FORD":

- "Fix Or Repair Daily"

- "Found On Road Dead"

[Dive Bomber1]

April 3, 1942 – This will be another brief report. Things are going along as planned and as expected, with nothing really big scheduled to occur during the next little few game-weeks. So we are both setting up for the next big show downs.

My regular bombardment TF hit Port Moresby hard again and caused a nice number of casualties. I also set my refurbished fleets in motion from Tokyo to head down south. I've got both a nice air combat TF and a nice surface combat TF to reinforce my forces that are already in the Solomons. Things are coming together well for the upcoming assault on PM.

We both sent out plenty of bombing raids this turn. My planes hit Ichang and Batavia as usual. AuTiger sent out his Indian 4E bombers against the resources at Mandalay, and also bombed the air fields at Imphal. As usual, Tiger's 2Es and 4Es from Darwin took off and hammered my retiring, already damaged transports off of Timor. Those planes in Australia can't miss at this point no matter what the weather or the distance.

One of my bombardment TFs hit Macassar again, followed by air attacks. The troop landing ought to occur next turn. I've set a good Zero Daitai to try to fly LR CAP over Macassar, but if Tiger's planes fly, even that isn't likely to help.

In expansion news, Sampit and Raba were captured this turn, and troops landed at Water Island. My recon flights are telling me that Tiger has abandoned a number of bases in Java, but I'll do more recon before I start to fly in and FT in troops.

I'll be away until the weekend, so this is it for reports for a while.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 4, 1942 – Real Life finally gave me a short opportunity to do a turn, but I still don't have lots of time to spend on the Game, nor on the AAR. The big news this turn was that my troops started to land at Macassar. They ought to be able to capture the base next turn, after which I will have all of the bases around Java other than some of the "dots". And my troops landed at a couple more dots – Ruteng and Memboro – and also captured Wetar.

The air balance over Soerabaja has gone down a lot, although it is still positive for AuTiger. And the air balance over the northern Australian bases has gone up a lot, so I suspect that Tiger has pulled many of his bombers out of Soerabaja. I'm resting most of my air units in the region as I prepare for the next phase which will involve air and fast transport attacks on the outlaying bases of Java.

Three US subs showed up at Port Moresby this turn. I suspect that they are carrying supplies. I have my regular bombardment TF heading in next turn, so that ought to get rid of the supplies that are being dropped off. The Port at Port Moresby is at 100% damage so it will be a slow process for Tiger to unload supplies. Tiger is expecting me to attack PM – he just doesn't know when yet.

In other news, Taiyo finally reached the Home Islands. I had pretty much forgotten about it since it was slowly sailing home as part of a large transport fleet. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Taiyo to be repaired.

Otherwise, things are moving along slowly with nothing notable to report in China, Burma or pretty much anywhere else.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 5, 1942 – I'm still having great difficulty finding Game Time in the face of increasing demands for Real Time from the RW. If my time situation doesn't improve soon this pbem could turn into a 30 Years War (game). [X(] [;)]

That aside, this was another fairly quiet turn. Most bombers on both sides didn't fly, so the air aspect of the war was subdued. I am moving base forces and air engineering units forward so I can start my final assault on Java, but it will take another game-week or so to get everyone in place. I have been sending recon flights over various empty bases in Java, which is causing AuTiger to spread out his remaining fighters in Java in an attempt to intercept any paratroop drops on my part. But I intend to close the airfields at Soerabaja before I start to drop in troops.

My forces also continue to gather around PNG. I have more base forces in place and more air fields growing in the region, so by the time that I send the invasion forward the entire region ought to be covered very nicely by offensive and defensive air. I am also getting more submarines into action across the South Pacific, mainly as an early warning system. Tiger is staying quite quiet, but I expect that when he does move, he will move in a big way. It wouldn't surprise me if Tiger were waiting for my assault on PM for the opportunity to stage a major attack somewhere in the South-Central Pacific.

My ground forces continued to make important gains in the DEI. Macassar was captured on the first attack, so all of the preparation paid off. I should have a base force in place within a couple of game-days. Other troops captured Memboro and Ruteng, so the isolation of Java continues.

And oddly enough, the final remnant of my misbegotten early invasion of India is still holding out near Madras. Unfortunately, it no longer a nuisance to Tiger and is instead a practice ground for him.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 6, 1942 – This is something of a minor miracle; I've been able to do turns in two consecutive days! [X(] [:D]

This was another relatively quiet turn, but all of these quiet turns are important because they allow me to set up for my upcoming moves.

Port Moresby was whacked hard by one of my big bombardment TFs again, and later on during the day by Army bombers. AuTiger lost a C-47 from operational damage this turn, and I don't know where he is using them, but I can't discount that he might be flying some supplies into PM. I strongly suspect that he has been sending submarines in with supplies.

The only other air action was in China where my Army planes hit Ichang hard again. I am redirecting them against ground troops for the next turn because it appears that Tiger might be trying to position some troops to try to drive me out of a blocking position to the west of Ichang. Tiger's Chinese bombers also hit some of my troops in the far north of China.

One of my spy-plane subs, while on its way home to Kwajalein, spotted a number of US TFs in the Hawaiian Islands. That ought to stir up a hornet's nest next turn, so I've re-set the sub to full speed in an attempt to get past the Islands without taking too much damage from ASW forces. I also have a mine-laying sub on its way to the Aleutians. I'm not sure if Tiger is sending any forces into the Aleutians or not, but having mines in Dutch Harbor is an easy way to find out.

In the DEI my troops landed at Labao and Sawu Island. The troops at Sawu captured the base. Lombok also converted to my control without my troops needing to capture it, so the facilities there are undamaged. I've moved the targets in Java for my recon planes again just to keep Tiger's CAP honest. I've sent even more base forces forward so that when I start to pound Java, the air defenses will be crushed quickly. I will start to land small forces in Java at the end of April and do the main invasions in May.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 7, 1942 – This Game is very unforgiving of the smallest oversight, and Ground Combat has the harshest repercussions for not doing everything possible to optimise your moves. For example, the automatic Shock Attack rule for river crossings means that any attack across a river is at a huge disadvantage unless the defenders are unprepared.

My attack on Lanchow is a textbook example of this. Many game-weeks ago I sent off a sizable force of infantry and armor along the northern road towards Lanchow. AuTiger left a weak Chinese unit on the trail which forced me to attack it upon every move forward and slowed down my advance. This allowed Tiger to move substantial forces into Lanchow ahead of my incoming units while not weakening any of his forward defenses in the rest of China.

That in itself wouldn't have been a fatal problem except for the River Shock Attack rule. A strong Japanese Division crossed the river this turn and was forced to do a shock attack against the entrenched Allied forces. The Division received a 0:1 result, as expected, lost over 5000 men (which was unexpected), and eventually retreated. If Lanchow wasn't "protected" by the Shock Attack rule my forces could have moved in without attacking and would have only had to withstand an assault by the defenders, which would have most likely had much less of an effect.

I realize what I should have done. I should have stopped all of my advancing units in the hex before Lanchow and set them to all march into the Lanchow hex at the same time. If I could have orchestrated a simultaneous crossing I would have had a much better chance of surviving the Automatic Shock Attack. But this would have taken much longer and I've already spent many game-weeks on this operation, so I was impatient. I had also been successful at Singapore with sending infantry divisions across ahead of time so I had hoped that the same thing would work here. Now I've learned another painful lesson about this game.

Anyway, the attack has also shown that Tiger has brought enough forces to Lanchow so that I cannot hope to obtain sufficient odds to capture the base, since my incoming forces will continuously have to deal with very high disruption and fatigue values after crossing the river even if they aren't thrown back. The long supply line and Tiger's ability to bombard my troops from the air without me being able to provide air cover means that any troops that are able to stay at Lanchow will never be able to regain enough strength to capture the base.

So once again, the presence of inside movement paths and air transport has allowed Tiger to totally outmanoeuvre me, which in combination with the ground combat and ground movement rules, has prevented me from being able to obtain a local advantage. In light of this I am giving up on the advance on Lanchow and ordering my troops back to a friendly base. I am at a loss as to what to do in China and I have to give full credit to Tiger for taking what appeared to be a very weak position and turning it into a nearly impregnable bastion from which he will eventually be able to mount attacks at will against my most important bases. [:(]

Other than the frustrations in China things continued to work as planned this turn. Tiger has been resting his air forces (or has had them grounded by bad weather) so I have been able to continue to move my forces forward without interference. I did notice that the Allied air balance over Soerabaja increased again this turn, so I suspect that Tiger is bringing bombers in again. In light of that I increased the CAP levels of my fighters in my surrounding bases.

In an interesting bit of news, one of my subs cruising between Palmyra and Canton Islands was spotted by a Seagull. That means that there are US cruisers in the region, and likely means that US CVs are there too. Despite reasonably clear weather, none of the many Japanese naval air patrol units in the region spotted any US ships, so I have no idea of the significance of that report. Tiger could be just moving ships to and from Hawaii, or on the other hand he could be moving in to raid my bases in the Central Pacific. I won't know either way until one of my patrol planes gets lucky, or else bombs start to fall upon my bases.

BTW – Labao, the second to last unoccupied "dot" base in the DEI was captured this turn. I have now ordered a DD Fast Transport to drop troops off at the small island base just off of Soerabaja, and my transport ships are arriving at the locations of my invasion armies, so the Java operation is getting closer.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 8, 1942 – AuTiger has his CVs in force in the region between Palmyra and Canton Islands. Two of my subs in the area were spotted multiple times by Dauntlesses, Seagulls and even Devastators, and one of my subs was hit hard by a bomb from a Dauntless. This is the same region where Tiger ambushed half of the KB in our previous game. It appears that once again he has the US CVs split into multiple TFs in order to optimize his chances at launching strikes and also to minimize his losses to counterstrikes.

But my CVs are a long ways off and sitting in port being repaired and waiting for reinforcements. So Tiger can sail around as much as he likes. Who knows, he may be planning a strike at Baker Island, or even an invasion. But like most of my outer bases, Baker is just a "canary in a coal mine". What does frustrate me about this situation is that none of my multiple land-based search plane units are spotting Tiger's TFs despite being well within range.

In any event, the longer Tiger plays around in the Eastern Pacific the better, because my forces are still a couple of weeks away from the invasion of Port Moresby. Every day that Tiger's CVs stick around to the east is another little edge that I will have for my invasion. And I need all the edge I can get. Tiger is much too good at the ground game and I have no confidence that I will be able to capture PM, despite all of my lengthy preparations. But I will go through with it anyway and maybe I'll surprise myself.

Speaking of the ground game, a couple of Chinese units kicked my good Japanese division out of the blocking hex to the west of Homan this turn. I just can't understand how Tiger consistently outplays me on the ground. He had fewer troops and I had been bombarding his troops regularly. I'm doing something fundamentally wrong and I haven't yet figured out what it is.

I did find out what Tiger was doing with his C-47s; he air-lifted a second Chinese infantry unit into Akyab. So when my additional units finally crawl into Akyab after months of travel in the jungle they will join my existing unit in a futile siege.

You might ask, why don't I guard against this with fighters on LR CAP? Well, because my fighters are spread out trying to protect against Tiger's long-range bombers. For example, this turn over a hundred 4Es hit the resources at Moulmein while 50 more B-17s hit the resources at Bulla.

Why not strike back with my Bettys and Nells? Because they do a lousy job of closing runways and their morale plummets after raids like that. Anyway, I've committed most of them at the current time to support the attack on PM.

In a tiny bit of positive news, some of my troops landed on Roti Island without getting blown out of the water by Tiger's LBA, so that is a minor victory. That is the last of the "dots" in the DEI. Java is next, and my base forces are starting to get into position.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 9, 1942 - One of my subs in the shipping lane between Palmyra and Canton Islands finally ran into some US ships. Unfortunately, these ships were US DDs which depth charged my sub and sank it. Oh well, at least I know that AuTiger still has ships in the region.

My regular naval bombardment of Port Moresby went off well again during the night. The shore guns are no longer firing back, so this activity has turned into a bit of a milk run. I'll have my bombers in Lae fly in next turn to keep the damage levels up. I should be able to start the invasion in a week's time or so.

A Fast Transport TF unloaded troops at Pamakasan, just off of Soerabaja this turn. The weather has been cooperating in the region and my DDs got in and out without being bothered by the bombers at Soerabaja. Tiger pulled his troops out of Pamakasan long ago, so my troops can take the base without bother next turn. There are other empty coastal bases on Java itself, so I'll send FT TFs to them too over the next few turns. BTW - Roti Island was captured this turn, so there are now no more "dot" bases in the DEI in Allied hands, which allows me to send my ships through without annoying reports being sent out.

The return of bad weather is good news for me, because I am now in a position to attempt to get rid of some very annoying 4E bombers. We'll see if my luck holds. It would be very nice to keep Tiger a little more "honest" just before my major invasions start.

[Dive Bomber1]

April 10, 1942 - I was expecting this to be a quiet turn, but instead I was hammered all over the place. In theory I should have a material advantage at this stage of the game, but in practice I'm playing so badly that nothing is working. As I can see it, my problem is three-fold. First off, I don't understand the mechanics of the game well enough so my units almost never perform as they should. Second, I don't have any real feel for strategy or tactics, and my pbem opponents like AuTiger obviously do, and thus they regularly surprise me. Third, I am too predictable, so my opponents are able to regularly ambush me.

My major problems at this stage are in the air. AuTiger has effectively established air superiority in all of the key fronts. He already has hundreds of fighters and 4E bombers positioned to both attack and defend effectively. My best air units are being wiped out at long distances or by surprise. He is also continuing to use his air transports in Asia to stop any and all of my advances dead. He now has 5 ground units in Akyab and the full AVG to protect them.

His air units are also enjoying the advantage of superior experience. So while my air units are not detecting his ships, his air units are detecting mine. So, for example, the bombardment TF that I sent out from Amboina in thunderstorms last turn was spotted and attacked by Hudsons from Darwin this turn, despite the weather. And the P-40s that escorted the Hudsons shot down more of my crack Zeros that were on LR CAP than were shot down. The Hudsons didn't score any hits against my battleships, but the surprise is gone and my ships have been slowed down enough so that it would take two more days to go to Darwin, if I were to bother.

So what did work this turn? Well, my troops captured the empty Pamakasan. But this is typical - I am only capturing those bases that my opponents "give" to me. I am having as big a problem with land combat as I am with air combat. In my other pbems I can't capture key bases even when there are no defenses and I've got big numerical advantages.

So I'm not having fun at this stage. I've been playing the Japanese for over 8 months now and I don't seem to be learning anything. While my opponents have gotten better I've gotten staler and more predictable. I may just not be cut out for pbem play.

[princep01]

Dive, I have watched your game develp with both the earlier opponent and now AU Tiger.  Throughout this game, I have watched you suffer again and again from violating a basic tenet of warfare.  Because of your last post,  I will offer this bit of friendly criticism and trust that it is received in th espirit that it is offerred.  
 
The rule you are viiolating has been expressed many ways by some of the greatest military leaders of all time.  Variously, it is "Get there firstest, with the mostest", "Mass, not dribblets", and so forth since the dawn of military organization.
 
You have done this repeatedly in China by spreading out those fine Japanese INF divisions in an effort to out manuver the enemy....only to find your troops exhausted upon arrival after the enemies recon forces spotted you long ago.  He then easily beat you to the schwerepunkt, and punched your lights out with less capable, but way better prepared and concentrated forces.  Instead of concentrating a good number of Japanese units (like many Inf Div and Mixed Brigades) very early in the game and marching straight on Yenen with them, you frittered about until the enemy concentrated there and forced you to try and outmanuver him to the very far north and west.
 
I know India was a diversion, meant to delay his offensive preparations/operations in Burma.  But, why are you thinking like that?  At the point in the game that you frittered away a good deal of primo paras, the 55th Inf Div and more ships than you should have for such a limited activity, you could have concentrated troops to achieve a worthy goal of an early capture of the DEI, or grabbing Port Moresby or moving on New Caledonia.  
 
You have done the same thing at sea.  Instead of concentrating your power at the point YOU choose to fight or at an objective you want....you split the greeatest offensive tool in the game and used those units to little effect  ( running around in the Indian Ocean untiol the Kaga got damaged, then fighting the US on even terms (to his advantage at this stage) and losing a precious member of the mighty KB in exchange for only one of the enemy's fleet carriers.
 
I could go on and on as this has been a pervasive pattern in your play.  But, it is something I think you need to consider.  Mass those great Inf Divisions and simply stomp those low grade Chinese before they can grow and improve.  That doesn't work everywhere in China Changsha and the Canton area are defenable) ands and he can fight back, but you have the initiative early; you have the better army/air resources; and better commanders.  In my opinion you have not made consistent good use of these aspects of your army, air force and navy because of your failure to concentrate on the points that force the enemy to fight where your are not expected or where you simply want him to fight you. 
 
Again, I hope you do not take my opinoin as a harsh condemnation of your style of play.  But, it is what I observed and from your last message, you seemed to be looking ofr some comment.
 
The head peanut of the gallery has spoken.