From here to...well...it SEEMS like an eternity

[Moondawggie]

Mandrake, I fear occult, sinster forces are at work here, rather than some darn IT-type "leader bug."

Didn't you see "The Terminator" back in the 80's? Or "Terminator 2" a few years later?

These doppelganger Admirals named "La Bissett " have all the hallmarks of sophisticated robot killers sent from the future back into the past, just like the big guy who was trying to kill Sara Connor in LA back in the 90's!

My guess: future robotic intelligences are messing with your game. If I were you, I'd head into the nearest port, and change ship captains and task force commanders ASAP.

Otherwise, just like the Terminator, 20 years later tose big Robot guys captaining your ships and running your task forces will end up as the Governor of your conquered provinces....

Think about it...[X(]

[Cap Mandrake]

Moondawggie;

This is number two. Cap Mandrake went out with Stalker Girl and he left me here to keep the dogs off the couch. I was bored so I started watching Terminator. That other stuff you said is too confusing but that Sarah Connors chick is HOT! Also, the robot guy looks just like the Governor of California. Weird, eh?

[Cap Mandrake]

OK..come on, he's not "cautious" he is a regular Captain Queeg [:@]


*********Aboard HMS Valiant, 02:40, December 9, 1942, 220 nm West of Sabang, Sumatra**********

Admiral Willis: <The commander of Task Force 1021, the Sabang bombardment force, paces nervously on the bridge. After 20 fretful minutes, he stops and announces> "Captain, I've a very bad feeling about this, perhaps we should turn around."

Captain Coster (Skipper of Valiant): "But sir, the carriers and transports are counting on us to disable the airfield before they are spotted."

Admiral Willis "Yes, that is true, but my chief responsibility is to the men and ships of this force. I am just having a bad feeling deep in the pit of my stomach."

Capt. Coster "Yes, I know it well. It's the scones sir. They are notorious for their ballast-like effect."

Admiral Willis "No, it's more than that. I've had a premonition. Make our new course 270. Signal Warspite and the escorts.

[Cap Mandrake]

Do not use Admiral Willis unless it is some kind of peacetime naval review in front of the King.

********6,000 feet over Sabang Airfield, 07:20, December 9, 1942******

Sdrn Ldr. Everett (819 Sdrn.) looks toward his target now only 2 miles away. He is shocked. He expected an angry hornet's nest with smoldering buidlings and pockmarked runways. Instead it looks like a peacetime civilian airfield. There is no AAA. Construction crews scurry for cover at the site of 50 enemy aircraft appearing suddenly overhead. "I'd have thought the RN might have made a bigger dent."

[Cap Mandrake]

Captain La Bissett regarded the packet briefly then sliced open the the tape with his favorite paper opener fashioned in the shape of an iron age sword. It was a gift from his wife.....

[BrucePowers]

So, how is stalker girl? Are you two still dating, ie is she still stalking?[:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

So, how is stalker girl? Are you two still dating, ie is she still stalking?[:D]

OK, yes and yes. She bought a family-size bottle of personal lubricant imported from England of all places.


Here is the real story of Vice Admiral Algernon Usborne Willis [X(]

The poor bastard. He is probably cautious from getting the snot beat out of him as a school kid at Long Eaton....based on his name, I mean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Willis

[BrucePowers]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

So, how is stalker girl? Are you two still dating, ie is she still stalking?[:D]

OK, yes and yes. She bought a family-size bottle of personal lubricant imported from England of all places.


Here is the real story of Vice Admiral Algernon Usborne Willis [X(]

The poor bastard. He is probably cautious from getting the snot beat out of him as a school kid at Long Eaton....based on his name, I mean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Willis

Family size bottle[X(][X(]

[witpqs]

Keep an eye on that. Take a sniff every time she buys a new bottle. If it smells like fries or doughnuts (think bio-diesel) - you are on the outs.

[Cap Mandrake]

*********HMS Indomitable, 09:40, December 9, 1942, 120 W of Sabang*******

Two crewman are serviceing a fire extinguisher in a narrow passageway to the bridge. An angry officer approaches rapidly in a decidely unstealthy fashion. "Look out, here comes 'The Touch'", one sailor says to the other under his breath. They give way as a red-faced Captain A.W. La-touche Bisset enters the bridge.

"Captain, I want a maximal CAP. There will be no second raid. The invasion is off. In fact, it was never on. We are BAIT! Signal the task force to prepare for a new course, 270, to open maximal distance between us and Sabang....."

[BrucePowers]

You sent your carriers in as bait.[X(]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

You sent your carriers in as bait.[X(]

Wait, you are saying it was a bad idea? [:)] Poor Somerville. Imagine trying to write 3 condolence letters to Cpt. La Bisset's wife. The various La Bissets are now nearly 500 miles off Sabang and still alive, much to the annoyance of the men of HMS Formidable.

[BrucePowers]

Were there no enemy air assets at Sabang then?

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

Were there no enemy air assets at Sabang then?

I was expecting a dozen Sallys or some Vals without first line fighters. Andaman was known to have Sallys at times and Rangoon had like 40-50 Bettys. The approaching carriers and transports were supposed to be spotted 6-8 hexes away and to appear to be a landing force. When they weren't spotted Willis with 2 BB's was supposed to rough up the place at night and then have the carriers show up at dawn. When Willis turned yellow the Stringbags were not enough to shut down the field and there they were 2 hexes away. At this point I was a bit worried as all the bombers at Rangoon suddely disappeared (likely transferred to Andaman and Sabang). The goal was to draw resources to the area (away from our real target..more to follow)...but Andaman was untouched. I think the weather helped. 40 elite Bettys bearing down of Cpts. La Bisset would have been ugly. I hope the KB pushed for Sumatra too...but I doubt it.

[Cap Mandrake]

**********08:15, December 10, 1942, 300 nm South of Fiji***************


Lt. Honda prefered an altitude of 10,000 ft for his endless scout missions. It was cooler and no oxygen was required. There was no point in adding physical discomfort to his ennui. If he and the crew of his Kawasaki Ki-48 bomber were lucky, they might spot the wake of a US sub, or even a pod of blue whales. Most trips were not to be filled with such interest. Generally they saw nothing.
He signaled to the copilot to take the control and spread some sea urchin roe on a cracker. "Dericious", he thought to himself. It was an odd habit of his, to hold thoughts in his head in a language which he barely spoke but this curiosity made him more popular with English-speaking authors. As he savored the cracker and roe, he spied first the wake of two ships, then four, then perhaps a dozen or more, all transports all headed due North.......

[Alfred]

Surely you were not planning to decoy the enemy bombers away from Rangoon to Sabang in order to create a clear run from "300 nm south of Tahiti"
&nbsp;
Alfred

[tabpub]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Surely you were not planning to decoy the enemy bombers away from Rangoon to Sabang in order to create a clear run from "300 nm south of Tahiti"

Alfred

No....what we are seeing here is true Allied discombobulation in it's glory.
This operation has been laid on for quite some time, plus travel distance; yet, two game days ago I get the "I say old chap, we're running a little decoy operation in the IO; would you care to sail in circles for a few days? That's nice, be a good fellow...."

Note to Mandrake: A, we really need to co-ordinate better; let's have a BBQ in Sydney.
B. In our opponents other AAR against Canoerebel, you are getting billings but I am left out. I know you have the catchy handle, but I am running 1/2 this war; not well, but I am running it.....

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: tabpub

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Surely you were not planning to decoy the enemy bombers away from Rangoon to Sabang in order to create a clear run from "300 nm south of Tahiti"

Alfred

No....what we are seeing here is true Allied discombobulation in it's glory.
This operation has been laid on for quite some time, plus travel distance; yet, two game days ago I get the "I say old chap, we're running a little decoy operation in the IO; would you care to sail in circles for a few days? That's nice, be a good fellow...."

[:D][:D] I would like to defend myself but he has it about right. I am one of those kind of guys who is in line at the post office on April 15th turning in a tax form. Still, the noise in the Banda Sea has worked to draw the best Tonys he has (not to mention Yamato and a dozen DD's)and Java has been reinforced. I think the New Guinea feint has worked too as Gili and Lae have been reinforced. Of course, we don't know where the KB is.

Note to Mandrake: A, we really need to co-ordinate better; let's have a BBQ in Sydney.
B. In our opponents other AAR against Canoerebel, you are getting billings but I am left out. I know you have the catchy handle, but I am running 1/2 this war; not well, but I am running it.....

The collision of two iceberg-sized egos [:D] Maybe if you spent less time in the Bathyscaphe. [:'(] How about Darwin, Yossarian's Home?


BTW...Lt. Honda was flying out of Fiji, not Tahiti. I was confusing all of those brown people.

[Cap Mandrake]

********Aboard RNN Piet Hein, 120 nm ENE Cooktown, 13:30, December 10, 1942*********

"...Kutzooi!" Lt. Cmdr. Chompff read his orders with disbelief.


"......upon encounter of enemy submarines, you are to take such actions as to appear to prosecute the contact and protect your transports but you are to allow the enemy vessel to survive. In the event of enemy air reconnaisance activity you are ordered to offer only desultory AAA fire. In the event that your force penetrates to within 450 miles of Gili Gili, you are ordered to reverse course and return to Brisbane at which point you make take any defensive measures you find necessary....."

[Cap Mandrake]

Piet Hein comes about...



Not very big is she?