Hairy Asian Experiences - GreyJoy (J) vs. Q-Ball (A)

[Canoerebel]

Durn, you seem to have Brad's number! Well done, GJ!

[Chickenboy]

Loving it, GreyJoy. Loving it. [&o]

[witpqs]

Nice work!

[Cap Mandrake]

Make it stop! Santa Maria!

It's the 8 hex nightmare!

[Cribtop]

Ban-F'n-Zai! [&o]

Well done, and IMHO a rushed move by Q-Ball. He is hanging out a bit here and will probably try to retire. You have a chance to clean up some cripples, though, which will end up a very nice win for you. If he presses on, his losses could escalate from the Operational level to the Strategic.

[obvert]

Awesome! [&o]

In one blow you managed to take away several of the major routes of advance for him. Now he's stuck with places he can move under LBA for at least a few more months.

[Encircled]

Well done that man!

I'm a complete newbie at this, but the impression does seem to be that your opponent is "rushing it". And you are making him pay

[JocMeister]

Big mistake on Q-Balls part imo.

He is rushing when there is absolutely no need for it and now he paid the price. Well done GJ!

[GreyJoy]

Thank you guys for your support!
 
Brad wrote me an email saying he had 1/2 of his fighters on training and all but one of his DBs on stood down. He seemed pretty depressed and said he has to stop rushing his turns or he better stop playing. I know how's feeling...when you get the turn and discover you have made a dumb mistake like setting on training all your DBs or ordered you BBs not to retire after a bombardment.... it really hurts.
 
However even if his DBs were set on nav attack, he couldn't have reached my CVs, so the outcome may have not been that different.
Brad ain't losing any CVs, i'm pretty sure. I just hope the damages to his 3 CVs hit by torps is extended enough to force them to stay in the docks for some more months...thus gaining time for my deep defences to grow.
I can't chase him down cause i only have at hand 6 CVs and nothing more. Won't force my luck.
I think he got lucky here anyway.... if those 100 bombers and 40 fighters had found the target and coordinated a bit, not turning back as they did, he could have had some CVs sunk immediately and possibly some BBs damaged... This is our 3rd CV engagement and he has always been lucky with the outcome...
 
Now i have to get back to the shades and leave the possible attack of tomorrow to my LBA. This time i'll use the Frances en masse...let's see if he decides to try to hunt me down.
 
In less than 20 days my KB will be fully operative again, with 12 CVs, 4 CVLs and 2 CVEs. The good thing about this battle is that now i now i don't have to worry much, at least for the next 30 days or so, about my western flank.
 
I also decided to abbandon Mitykina and Wazrup in Burma and move my burmese eastern perimeter from Katha to Lashio. Time to start shrinking my perimeter cause he's sending a lot of LCUs both on Akyab and on the central front (south of Kalemyo). I don't wanna overcommitt in Burma but at the same time i don't want to risk any breaktrhough...so a small retreat on more defendable positions is advisable now me guess. This should free up a division that can be used as a reserve.
 
 
 

[Encircled]

Definitely

You can slow him to a snails pace there, and judging by this AAR, slowing him down makes him a lot more prone to mistakes

[JohnDillworth]

Check to see his aircraft losses. You might have gotten one CV. Even if you didn't he may have lost a few flightdecks and is unable to launch a credible strike. You might want to consider a run north and east and try another strike on any stragglers . Hopefully the BB's have cleared the area because they just seem to soak up DB attention at the expense of CV's. Really well played here. He has to reload on the CV and the APA front now, if you had any irritating counter attacks planned you have a couple of months.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
email saying he had 1/2 of his fighters on training and all but one of his DBs on stood down.

Wow. What a major error. Who does that when they're anticipating combat? Unless, of course, they're just flying along relying on mass application of superfluous strength and flipping turns as fast as they can. [:-]

Do you have any surface combatants nearby? Can you scoot some of them into the Finschafen area on a straggler sweep? There's only so many ways out of the NG 'bend' where he is. Bottlenecking them-if possible-is probably not a bad idea. Subs? Surface CL/DD attack?

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Make it stop! Santa Maria!

It's the 8 hex nightmare!

[Sillyness=on] "That so gamey to take advantage of a game mechanic that allows the IJ to strike at one hex more than the Allies. There is no historical precedence for such an advantage ... Blah Blah Blah .. " [/sillyness] [For those that do not understand .. There is a group of IJFB's have a tendency to complain a lot about certain "ahistorical" advantages the Allies have in this game [;)] Santa Maria! The perfect 8 hex strike!]

What an excellent operational move GreyJoy! Not knowing the DL level .. I thought you got an abundance of bad die rolls in the strike package department. I do think with your excellent position and with the enemy taking a steamroller approach that this was about to happen but I thought a more LBA strike package rather than the perfect surgical strike with CV's ..[&o][&o][&o][&o]

One thing to think about is the real life Battle of San Bernardino Strait -- the IJ snatched a defeat from a decisive victory .. it looks like you are going to balance measured force with risk to pick off the Escort TF's?

Anyway .. excellent move .. After listening to CR's advice in my AAR and watching this AAR ..I still believe the DEI is one of the toughest routes to strike at the empire. Interlocking LBA and close fuel sources for injecting the KB into the mix makes such a move like this not only possible .. but in the hands of an excellent player probable...

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
email saying he had 1/2 of his fighters on training and all but one of his DBs on stood down.

Wow. What a major error. Who does that when they're anticipating combat? Unless, of course, they're just flying along relying on mass application of superfluous strength and flipping turns as fast as they can. [:-]

Do you have any surface combatants nearby? Can you scoot some of them into the Finschafen area on a straggler sweep? There's only so many ways out of the NG 'bend' where he is. Bottlenecking them-if possible-is probably not a bad idea. Subs? Surface CL/DD attack?

This is where Tracker comes in handy IMHO ... I have learned to check every squadron out methodically on the speadsheet before sending in the turn ...

[Cribtop]

I feel his pain - it's awful to flub orders in a big Op.

I concur with the others who say to try for his CVs. Subs, surface TFs, LBA, even CVs if feasible. He's in constricted waters and some of those US bird farms are hurting and will be slowed.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

I feel his pain - it's awful to flub orders in a big Op.

I concur with the others who say to try for his CVs. Subs, surface TFs, LBA, even CVs if feasible. He's in constricted waters and some of those US bird farms are hurting and will be slowed.

It is hard to tell the condition because I would look at the movie for the levels of sys damage and fire. It looks like from the Yorktown picture that that is between 25% - 50% fires? I think over 50% puff of thick black smoke are embedded in the flames -- while all red flames I think are between 25% - 50%? It would have been intersting to see the movie for teh Hornet just after the explosion to see how much sys damage [how much streaming black smoke from the center]. "Ammo explosion" I think only means an extra damage die roll which can be fatal in a spectrum all the way to just adding a little bit more damage ..

You have an excellent point in that it will be interesting if any of these TF's form Escort TF's. If involving CV's that is a sure indicator that those "bird farms" can't launch ...

[Chickenboy]

Escort TFs with carriers and some small (mostly ASW) escort in an escort TF are quite vulnerable to surface intercept-even by small numbers of surface raiders. These will lag the exfiltration from the area and are doubly vulnerable.

Greyjoy-I would very strongly encourage you to be aggressive here. Your opponent is pinned against the New Guinea shoreline to the West, New Britain to the SE and the Devil / Deep Blue Sea to the East. He's not going North, so you can really rip him a new one on the only way out. Follow up your intial efforts with a full press slaughter. It's the right thing to do.

[GreyJoy]

mmm... still no reply from Brad. I guess he's a bit upset and taking his time to play this round...
 
BTW, as far as i can tell, the Yorktown has gotten some heavy damages and should be in a escort TF, while the Sara, the Hornet and the Lex seems to be still in fighting conditions. I won't play with my luck now. He has his whole fleet there. 3 Essex classes, 2 CVLs and probably the starting carriers (minus the Wasp who took another torp during the battle for Rabaul 2 months ago). Even if i took out the York, it's still a mighty power to face and i only have 6 CVs with me... the smallest ones! No, i won't chase him down.
Also i have a very critical fuel situation. I was already at 55% fuel when i decided to rush this 14 hexes at full speed... now i barely have the fuel to get back to the randevous point with my AOs....
In war you have to accept what the Gods give you and should never ask too much... it's still a long long way to 1945 and there will be other battles to fight. We've won this one, let's accept it and get what it gives.
 
I'll let my Frances and my subs do the job... let's see what they can do

[JohnDillworth]

Maybe it's time to unleash the CA's? Any chance for a night dash at full speed? He does have some air assets left and you won't have any (much) fighter cover but a couple of ca's and tanaka might be deadly

[GreyJoy]

A part from the little tactical victory (yes, it was a little one, believe me), this battle has, imho, a great phycological value.
Brad was laying a trap for me and got counterambushed...this is the third CV encounter that he loses...and even if his losses have been marginal, i think he's starting to feel a bit of a complex towards my CVs...this will slow him down cause he will suffer, for some more months, of a CV inferiority, so, as Obvert said, he will have to advance only under the LBA umbrella...and there are very little place where this can be done. In the meanwhile i'll be able to keep on fortifying my positions and to build my inner perimeter, train crews, get some shiny new air groups and keep on building planes.
My LBA remains strong and soon he'll have to face it.
I must keep my fleet active and strong and, like Koniu, move like a butterfly and sting like a bee[;)]