The Power of Inexperience / GreyJoy(A)-Rader(J)

[GreyJoy]

Sub attack near Deboyne Islands  at 102,136
 
Japanese Ships
      CV Kaga, Torpedo hits 1
      BB Kirishima
      BB Hiei
      BB Haruna
      DD Hatsushima
      DD Myojinami
      DD Kosugiri
      DD Suresushio
      DD Fubuki
 
Allied Ships
      SS Tuna
 
 
 
SS Tuna launches 6 torpedoes at CV Kaga
Tuna diving deep ....
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kosugiri fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Suresushio attacking submerged sub ....
DD Suresushio loses contact with SS Tuna
DD Fubuki fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Myojinami attacking submerged sub ....
SS Tuna eludes DD Myojinami by diving deep
SS Tuna eludes DD Myojinami by diving deep
SS Tuna eludes DD Myojinami by diving deep
DD Kosugiri fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Suresushio fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Canoerebel]

Why wait for Saratoga?  If the KB remains around the Solomons, you can handle Tarawa with less than the full compliment of carriers.  You might consider offloading some of the dive bombers and replacing them with extra fighters.  If, on the other hand, you don't know where the KB is, then you probably don't want to proceed.  So keep the enemy focused on the Coral Sea and Solmons region.  Then you'll have a pretty easy time in the Gilberts.
 
Is Merauke on New Guinea's south coast held by you or rader?  That's a great base for the Allies.

[GreyJoy]

and here you can see how much i've lost during the PM operation....

[Canoerebel]

"...(one other torp hit but was dude[:@])"
 
[:D]
 
You might need to send your sub skippers to a dude ranch for some training.  There's a bunch o' them in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, boy howdy!
 
 

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Why wait for Saratoga?  If the KB remains around the Solomons, you can handle Tarawa with less than the full compliment of carriers.  You might consider offloading some of the dive bombers and replacing them with extra fighters.  If, on the other hand, you don't know where the KB is, then you probably don't want to proceed.  So keep the enemy focused on the Coral Sea and Solmons region.  Then you'll have a pretty easy time in the Gilberts.

Is Merauke on New Guinea's south coast held by you or rader?  That's a great base for the Allies.

cause i wanna use only the Saratoga! i wanna keep my CVs more or less visible, well behind the screen of Lunga - mind you -, so safe enough...but if they stay there Rader probably won't keep much attention to the Gilberts...and yes, i wanna have 90 fighters on Saratoga...let's see what i can do...maybe a couple of CVEs will support her...could be done i think...

Merauke?...should be jap controlled but empty as far as i can tell...well...now i need to focus on PM...don't have means to open another front so far away...the japs are building up Bouganville fast and i need to start to worry about a Lunga counterinvasion...

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

"...(one other torp hit but was dude[:@])"

[:D]

You might need to send your sub skippers to a dude ranch for some training.  There's a bunch o' them in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, boy howdy!

i just googled it....LOL....what's the correct expression??? [:D][:D][:D]

[Canoerebel]

If Merauke is vacant, you need to look at it very carefully.  Look at the airfield potential.  Imagine how far patrols, recon, and 4EB can reach from there.  It also guards the Torres Straight.
 
You might organize a little amphibious assault team - a few Aussie units and some dedicated ships - and park them somewhere relatively safe like Brisbane or Rockhampton (or Tonwsville once the KB vacates) - in order to spring on Merauke should the opportunity arise.
 
And watch out for your carriers.  A clever Jap player who keeps seeing carriers in one particular theater over a long time is going to:  (1) devise an ambush plan that will end up wrecking the Allied carriers, and (2) come up with ways to take advantage of carrier absence elsewhre.  Keep those babies hidden as often as possible, unless you're employing them in such a way that the pluses of visibility outweight the minuses.

[Canoerebel]

dud = defective (IE, a defective torpedo that doesn't detonate)
 
"dude" = American slang for a new cowboy or a city slicker trying to act like he's a real cowboy.  So, dude can be fairly perjorative.  However, it's common for American males to refer to other males as "dude" in a friendly way, as in, "Hey, dude, did you see that chick with the great legs?"

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

dud = defective (IE, a defective torpedo that doesn't detonate)

"dude" = American slang for a new cowboy or a city slicker trying to act like he's a real cowboy.  So, dude can be fairly perjorative.  However, it's common for American males to refer to other males as "dude" in a friendly way, as in, "Hey, dude, did you see that chick with the great legs?"

Dud!!...yup...that was what i wanted to say!!

Thanks!

dude it's like "beavis and butthead" [:-]

[dekwik]

still enjoying the AAR, keep it up!

When the enemy has his CV's being such a thorn in your side perhaps it's time to try for an "exchange" You're pretty close to even in strength now right? If you lose worse-than-even you still get way more reinforcements soon. So maybe give Halsey the reins, 7 or 8 single CV TF with a BB in each to limit them to a 6 speed and reduce the "react" randomness (and act as a TT sponge) with a few CAs and DDs too. All set to follow Halsey, everybody on react 6, all strike aircraft limited to "within normal range", 30% cap and 70% escort on the fighters same range as strike aircraft, all at dive bombing altitude. If you lose the "mano a mano" exchange, you at least know you did everything you could. And you might be surprised at how effective the strike is. Just try to stay on at least "neutral ground" to stop him adding netty attacks. And if you have a supply convoy ready to go into PM, worst case is they end up as bait for the KB. I know, easier said than done....

[GreyJoy]

Well guys i was in fact looking for a kamikaze opportunity...all my fighters to escort (0% CAP), with the enemy CVs replenishing and putting my CVs between Mylne bay and his CVs' position (they should have been close to Cairns, pounding the base....i would have been close enough to be sure to strike...
 
Well...anyway...it never happened so let's pass over...
 
The day was hard for my 4Es...lost 50 of them, killing only 90 planes on the ground...flak and CAP over Jodpur are still very intense!
However it's confirmed: the bigger enemy units are retiring from Multan (already 50 of them abbandon the place)...so he's moving back...en masse...he still has however the ability to stop my movements just using his bombers so i cannot really turn to offensive...(if you look at the road map of india you'll clearly see why)...but i want to be ready to movre as soon as i can!...so maybe we'll advance even before the Med opens (i'm pretty sure Rader will be gone for that time, leaving back only base forces and planes!)
 
This week end i'll have some time to get back on track with this AAR (more screenshots and more aftermaths)...
 
Thanks for supporting me despite the terrible show i'm offering you
 
 

[pws1225]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Thanks for supporting me despite the terrible show i'm offering you

Bullshit (no offense Moose). You're the best show going. We're all pulling for you. And by the way, maybe you should change the name of your AAR. India doesn't look so doomed to me.

Regards, Paul

[cmdrsam]

I'm gonna throw my two cents out. So I guess take it with a grain of salt as I am no master tactition or master of this game. Currently in my first PBEM game as well and doing all I can do to give my opponet fits. The way I see it is this. You held tough. And you stopped a major Japanese advance. And it was a truely bloody campaign. For both sides. But you finally stopped the advance. But there is still more than enough fight in the beast. You won Sharpsburg/Gettysburg. The reason I named those two as I see perhaps one more major attempt at an offense from you opponent. And guess what? You will have the opportunity to beat him again. Losses happen, yes even after we plan everything we can, we are still going to get caught with our pants down from time to time. Guess what? Keep fighting on. Your doing better than you think you are. And you have some major players here telling you this. Dont let it go to your head as you still have alot of war left to fight. But you are doing alot better than I would say alot of us could. So chin up, button up, and continue your campaign.

[GreyJoy]

I think that from an objective point of view the allies in this game aren't doing well guys. We lost nearly 2 continents (China and India) and we weren't able to defeat Japan in any major engagement so far...and 1 full year of war has passed!!
The only true victory is that one, lost in the fog of times, near Tarakan in dec 1941 when we sunk with force Z a full invasion force...but that's all!!

Anyway, we're still fighting! [8D]

Decemeber 12, 13 1942

Rader is preparing what seems to be a major operation against PM.
He transported several units at Buna and they seem to be marching towards the Owen Stanley mountains...[X(]
The KB is in an appartent striking position, along with a strong SCTF based at Torobika.
Now we can fully see the air power he brought here...(see map)...nearly 1000 fighters plus the KB...not bad uh!?[:(]

Today he started to test the PM defences. We were able yesterday to sneak at PM, during a bad weather turn, 5 fighters units (the same badly battered that fought bravely but with no hopes the KB at Cairns). They are all australian (except for what was left of the marine wildcats group that was aboard of the L.I. CVE).
Japan came with a sweep followed by a 40 escorted helens strike from Rabaul...and WE DID FOUGHT THEM BACK!![:D].
Our Aus pilots are top notch! They are all well above the average and they will soon compete with those british heroes that are defending Karachi!

This allowed me to send supplies by air transports to PM for 4 days in a row...not much but it's already something...

We're placing mines at Lunga and Tulagi and those bases are getting a constant (even if little) flow of supplies and men. Lunga has already 5 forts, Tulagi and Tessafaronga 4...not bad!

At Karachi the usual sweep missions by 350 Tojos...we're obtaining a constant 2-1 odd in terms of kills...but as Rader just told me, he can easily sustain 3-1 in my favour without many problems...[:o]. However the battle for India is clearly won. Multan is being evacuated by his main units, leaving behind only Eng, base forces, AAs and some Inf units (just enough to defend the base). So we now have to think about how to get out of the corner!

What else?...well, some screenshots and maps...

[GreyJoy]

.

[hkbhsi]

Grey Joy,

my experience as Japan suggests me that if Reader has all these fighters around Rabaul it means that he is shifting planes from India. It is true that in Scenario 2 he can build an endless number of planes but the number of airgroups that can accept them is still somewhat limited. I don't have the exact figures at hand but I think that in scenario 2 there are around 6 or 7 more airgrops than Scenario 1. Even with buying out all the resctricted sentais from 2 Air Division and China Expeditionary Force there is no way that he can have all these planes active on both fronts.

Remember that Zeros and Oscar have quite a long range and it is possible to move them across vast distances in a very short time.

P.S. the above mentioned is not relevant if he has used his biggest CV to resize all the carrier capable navy Fighter groups to size 81 (using Akagi). You can easily check that if you see large numbers of Zero engaged in combat with only one sentai involved in the combat report.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: hkbhsi

Grey Joy,

my experience as Japan suggests me that if Reader has all these fighters around Rabaul it means that he is shifting planes from India. It is true that in Scenario 2 he can build an endless number of planes but the number of airgroups that can accept them is still somewhat limited. I don't have the exact figures at hand but I think that in scenario 2 there are around 6 or 7 more airgrops than Scenario 1. Even with buying out all the resctricted sentais from 2 Air Division and China Expeditionary Force there is no way that he can have all these planes active on both fronts.

Remember that Zeros and Oscar have quite a long range and it is possible to move them across vast distances in a very short time.

P.S. the above mentioned is not relevant if he has used his biggest CV to resize all the carrier capable navy Fighter groups to size 81 (using Akagi). You can easily check that if you see large numbers of Zero engaged in combat with only one sentai involved in the combat report.

Hi mate,

i can tell u for sure that Rader still has at least 900 fighters in India (at least 360 Tojos) and nearly 5/600 more bombers....so that means that he has at least 3000 active planes between the two main theatres...among which, most of them, are last generation fighters.

I've done everything i could to minimize the effetcs of the next KB strike. I'll keep my CVs between Lungaville and Suva...too distant for a coup de main of the KB but close enough to be ready to exploit any error of his (you never know...maybe i'll get lucky sometimes [:)]).

I do think his next target will be PM against which he'll do the main effort...but it could be that he'll come come Lunga again with one of his typical raids...I'll send a CL+DDs TF in order to tangle with Tanaka's TF which, i'm pretty sure, will come to engage my transports at Lunga...sooner or later these damned american crews will learn how to fight the japs in night battles eh!?!?! And anyway there seems to be no other way to train them rather than sending them to battle!

The Tarawa force is slowly taking shape again... think i'll use a Regiment, a Marine CD unit, a Marine Raiders unit, 2 base forces and 4 Seabees, plus 2 AA units. Targets will be Tarawa and Abenama. The operation will take place when the Saratoga will be operative again and will be put in place only if we'll be able to keep the KB's attention in the Solomons/NG area...

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

We lost nearly 2 continents (China and India) and we weren't able to defeat Japan in any major engagement so far...and 1 full year of war has passed!!

Now you just know that Canoerebel is going to prosecute that... [;)]

[SoliInvictus202]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

We lost nearly 2 continents (China and India) and we weren't able to defeat Japan in any major engagement so far...and 1 full year of war has passed!!

Now you just know that Canoerebel is going to prosecute that... [;)]

ROLF - AWESOME - [X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][8|][8|][8|][8|][8|][8|][:-][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[dekwik]

you have a couple of transport subs that might help supply PM I think? They don't carry much but it's a short round trip.