jwilkerson(Jpn) Moses (Allies)

[jwilkerson]

6/29/43

Burma

After being knocked out of Pagan for a turn, we have come back with 2 Jack and 1 Tojo unit. We will have another one of each ready shortly. We are hanging on in Burma. But that is all.

[jwilkerson]

6/29/43

Victory Screen
The major surprise here is that we are still 1300 some odd aircraft behind of the Allies in terms of air losses. Strangely the gap has continued to rise slowly in our favor since roughly September of 1942. Part of this is that the Allies are now attacking and hence losing more to flak and attrition, but we are still getting occasional victories in the air.

[jwilkerson]

7/15/43

AirToAir(Allied/Japanese): 1/1
TotalAirLosses(A/J) : 23/20

Burma
We put one Tojo unit at Pagan and a Tony unit at Taung Gyi. There are still 2 other new Tojo units back at Rahaeng waiting to come up.

China
Our armored force retreated an 8 unit stack of Chinese, just SW of Ichang.

Solomons
All eight of our CVs were out and lurking within 4 hexes of Shortlands, but only the smaller Hiryu/Soryu group got off a strike at a small USN DD group. Moses must have had the CAP stacked up to the Stratosphere over Shortlands!

[jwilkerson]

7/17/43

AirToAir(Allied/Japan): 3/13
TotalAirLosses(A/J): 25/25

Burma:
Our new Tojo unit at Pagan suffered at the hands of the sweeping Corsairs over Akyab. We will move one of the new Tojo units to Tuang Gyi to join the new Tony unit there. This pair will cover Pagan itself. The second new Tojo unit will probably be needed to replace the Tojo unit at Pagan.

Solomons:
With the fall of Shortlands, Rabaul will shortly be within range of enemy fighters and medium bombers. So we have relocated the Bettys and most of the Jacks to Lae/Admiralties/Kavieng all level-4 or above.

[jwilkerson]

7/17/43

IJN Fast carriers, 16 total. Eight CVs are in the Solomons trying to retard USN progress. Four CVLs are preparing for sea at Soerabaja after training up new crews. Two new CV and two new CVL are headed to Soerabaja to train up their crews. A few initial pre-production A6M5, Judy and Jill have been deployed aboard the carriers in the solomons. Production of A6M5 is currently scheduled to start in Aug43.

[jwilkerson]

7/17/43

Escort carriers, three at Kiska, the three damaged ones in the home islands under repair. Kaiyo will be awhile, the others should be back in action in time to relieve some of the three currently in the Aleutians. Keeping the CVE supplied with decently trained fighters is proving to be a challenge.

[jwilkerson]

7/17/43

Battleships.
Mutsu is in the Aleutians, Fuso, Yamashiro and Kirishima in the Solomons, Kongo, Haruna, Hiei at Rangoon, Nagato, Yamato, Musashi enroute to home islands for repair. Ise and Hyuga at Osaka awaiting conversion to AA Battleships.

[Mike Solli]

Geez Joe, have you lost any Japanese capital ships?

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Geez Joe, have you lost any Japanese capital ships?

Have had several close calls, but so far nothing larger than a CL.

I certainly believe a fleet in being used aggressively on occasion, provides the maximum delay, as it forces the Allies to proceed methodically and bring lots of hardware to each party. This is probably Moses' inclilnation anyway, but we don't mind encouraging him. But "agreesive" means we have to test the edge of the envelope, which means we have to be willing to take losses. In our recent op we had 8 CV within 4 hexes of Shortlands and in range of LBA and with orders to strike targets which would have been covered by allied fighters such as Corsairs and P47s. But neither side's aircraft rose to the occasion. There will be losses of course, but we also try to maximize our chances of survival by basing the capital ships out of nearby ports with a naval HQ, some repair ships, mineweepers and fighter cover. This type of precaution certainly saved Kaiyo in the Aleutians.

Except for occasional orders issuing problems and a sleepwalk here or there, Moses has also been conservative with his fleet, his capital ship losses are probably also lower than typical. He has not been as conservative with his AP/AK, though it remains to be seen if he will feel the effects later.

[pauk]

I would say that you have a quite good position in the NG/Solomons. Of course, you will loose it sooner or latter but you can make him pay for it. I know that i'm not telling you anything new, but using KB in coordination with several nearby AFs can ruin your opponent's day. It's now time for chess game![:)]

Intersting solution - converting Ise and Hyuga to AA Battleships. Do you find enough pros for that (japanese AAA just sucks, IMHO).

Keep it going! Very nice AAR indeed![:)]

[jwilkerson]

7/19/43

Yes, actually at this point, Moses has reached that part of the New Britain, New Ireland, Admiralties, NE New Guinea sector in which we are strongest in terms of mutually supporting ports and airbases. Rabaul being "attackable" may be a fact we can expliot!

As to Isa/Hyuga, I've never converted them before, figured the 12x14" were better than a tripling of the AAA. But, I'm thinking that Japanese AAA is better than No AAA, so I'm gonna try it this time. BTW, IRL I don't think I would. In the game, I'm gonna try it!



AirToAir(Allies/Japanese): 5/11
TotalAirLosses(A/J): 32/14

[1275psi]

Dont convert the lousy things!
I just had ise return -
1/ could have used her all that time she was gone
2/ The AA is lousy -and by then does not make a bit of difference -the DBs still get through
3/ Ise returned OK -with 30 system damage as well.
4/ they return with a grand total of doodly squat float fighters -useless anyway!
Do not ruin a perfectly good BB!

A fleet in being is very nice in mid 44, let alone 43
keep it up!

[jwilkerson]

7/21/43

AirToAir(Allies/Japanese): 1/0
TotalAirLosses(A/J): 15/10

Slow day over all, another "calm before the next storm".

Our 1943 "Wave of Troops" has been arriving and transports are in short supply has we try to pull the troops out of Tokyo as fast as they arrive. Fortunately over the next four months, many of the infantry units also arrive in the forward zones, though they too will require movement in some cases.

We are anticipating Moses to make moves in both the Aleutians and the Northern Solomons shortly. We stand by to intervene as we can.

[jwilkerson]

7/23/43

Wow! The storm sure hit today! Big air battles in the Aleutians and the Solomons. But after all, not much of significance in the air.

AirToAir(Allies/Japanese): 127/94
TotalAirLosses(A/J): 155/136

Aleutians:
Moses sends a carrier group out to tangle. Our Aleutians land based air cannot touch Moses carriers, but in turn they cannot touch our carriers. Lots of planes lost on both sides, no real result.

Solomons:
At sea, Moses, for the first time IIRC, succeeds in torpedoing one of our CA or above engaged in a major operation. And we succeed in landing a SNLF at Woodlark. With 61 B24s flying from Australia, Moses succeeds in bouncing a few 500lbrs off the Kirishima operating in the Solomon Sea.

[Canoerebel]

Is this game still going?  I hope so.  Let us know what's going on, if so.