1943 (No Chris Panton allowed)

[rroberson]

I have had a game sneak into 1943. A cause for celebration like you would not believe. To celebrate this properly I have decided to begin an AAR that will stretch from 1 January 1943 ...till the end. I have a great opponent and despite the fact we have an 8 hour time difference we still manage to put in four or five turns a day.

We are playing 1 day turns with PDUs off (which I had never done and it really hamstrings you). I am the allies.

First some stats, cause everyone likes stats.

[/URL][/img]

[rroberson]

[/img]

I actually have done quite well here. I lost the RN carriers in a very bloody battle of Timor (where I was very dumb on my handling of the Royal Navy).

I lost the two American carriers just a couple of days ago trying to kill off a four carrier Japanese carrier group of off Attu in the Battle of Alaska. More on that latter.

[/img]

My opponent hasn't been so lucky. He lost four of his fleet carriers during the decisive battle of New Cal in march of our game. The CVLs fell under the bombs of Saratoga and Enterprise during an operation off of Exmouth, where he had been raiding my shipping. And he lost Hiyo during the Battle of Alaska...where I know I damaged another CV, beat up a CVL, but Kaga once again escaped.

[rroberson]

[/img]

I have not done well taking down his warships. My sub forces are the embarrassment you'd expect when you don't actually test your torpedoes before they go into production.

[/img]

My Battleship losses are very light. The two Royal Navy heavies went down off Timor due to an ill-advised attack on troops ships during the Battle of Timor. No, you won't see Prince of Wales or Repulse on this list. They survived the onslaught and are operating with the US Fleet after a lot of time in the yards of San Francisco.

[/img]

Not much can be said here. I spent a lot of the early game raiding his shipping and paid a bit of a price in cruisers.

[rroberson]

[/URL][/img]

After 13 months of war I have more then a few Aces...most of the gentlemen have earned their kills over Burma where we have fought a vicious air campaign.

[Quixote]

Rob,
I'm glad to see that you're still fighting the good fight in a PBEM. I'm equally glad that you appear to have some carriers to actually fight back with this time around. You've always come across as one of the nicer and more self-effacing guys on the forums, ever since original WitP. I wish you luck this game - consider me subscribed.

[rroberson]

[/img]

Let's start with China. I loathe China...I hate playing there mostly because I dislike the ground engine of the game. SO I usually get my ass handed to me there...whether Im the Japanese or the Allies. This game is no exception. I fall back, I defend, he flanks me. Wash Rinse Repeat. I will be generally surprised if China lasts six more months. I simply don't have the troops to hold him out...nor the ability as a land general to figure out how to.

[rroberson]

[/img]

On to Burma. The only place I hate as much as China is Burma. Same reason. Currently he is pushing into India (Imphal) ever so slowly I have a couple of Indian divisions poised to slow down his progress but really given my lack of Commonwealth strength on the ground...he should be able to take it. I also have no ability to hold control over the skies. I have plenty of broken squadrons attempting to contest the air, but he has the ability to roar in with massive sweeps to clean out my CAP over an airfield and then bomb it splinters with 100 plus Sally raids. I have no answer for this as the Royal Air Force is decidedly absent in numbers. I, at one point, had moved several squadrons of American fighters (Tenth Air Force) into the region, but was forced to move them to China when that situation began to collapse to the point where I was seriously concerned that they were about to exit the war.

Chris loves his air power. He doesn't do anything without saturating an area with bombers. Usually a turn maybe two of heavy bombing followed by ground attacks and the hex is his. I have more fighters inbound to Burma, but they are a couple of weeks away.

[rroberson]

Suffice to say he controls the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. I actually held out in DEI for months past the fall of Singapore while he was busy tackling the problem I presented him in Timor.

[rroberson]

[/img]

The Timor Sea has been the source of some serious naval battles and great fun. I decided to make him fight for Timor and it was an epic struggle. Unfortunately, I have mostly been on the wrong side of the win column. The Fleet Air Arm died here, as did two Royal Navy Battleships. Happily I was able to catch mini KB here and buried them with dive bombers. Currently I have built up Port Hedland nicely to serve as a secondary facility to Darwin which remains under constant threat from Nells, and Bettys as he proved a couple of days ago. He has been running fighter sweeps over Darwin which I believe he may stop soon now that my brand spanking new (with level 70 plus pilots) P 38 squadron has joined the fray. While the run from Hedland to Darwin is as bad as any Malta run for the Royal Navy. I have discovered that he left the other end....wide open....and have begun to run supplies from that unexpected direction.

[rroberson]

[/img]

It's been months since any action has happened here. Once he rolled through PM he was content to stay. In fact so content he has no bombers in the region. It has allowed me to build up Horn to a level 4 airfield and I have begun to truck Darwin conveys through the region. Once I build up enough medium bombers in the area I will smash PM. I doubt you will see me land in the area however.

[rroberson]

[/img]

Another area that has not seen action in months. We fought several running battles for the entire area including the Battle of New Caledonia which cost him 4 or 5 carriers and broke his back in the area. I also drove him out of Luginville. Currently, I have a level 5 airfield at Ndeni, but lacking medium or heavy bombers I have been unable to do much more then occasionally harrassment bomb Guadalcanal and Tulagi both of which appear to be chalked full of enemy soldiers.

[Lokasenna]

Wow, look at that Burma/India map! That's impressive. Looking forward to see this to the end.

[CaptBeefheart]

Nice. Good analysis. Looks like he's winning the air war attrition game, but well done on the CV tally.

Cheers,
CC

[rroberson]

[/img]

[/img]

He doesn't know it yet, but this region is about to get hyper active. I was able to wade ashore and take Tarawa and Makin easily several months ago. Too easily. I tried to land troops at Mili but backed off when the resistence was greater and I didn't want to sustain the landing... He has virtually no airpower in the area. Which makes sense given how much airpower he is tossing around everywhere else. It is my belief that he has abandoned the troops to their fate here. It's been months since I have seen transports delivering cargo. I will soon finish the airfield at Kusaie Island and a couple months after that be able to deploy single engine bombers to hit Ponape. Once I do that ...if not before I will take Eniwetok and close the prison door on the Marshall Islands. Once that is done it will become a nice training ground for my pilots but bypassed as the campaign moves north. I also grabbed Wake island and Marcus island several months ago which allows me to shift shipping back and forth (as well as recon the Marianas) at will without threat of sudden attack.

[BBfanboy]

You hold Marcus!! That's great - it gives a nice kick-off point to raid/invade in 3 directions - the Marianas, the Bonins, or the Home Islands! Do you have enough intel on the Bonins and Marianas to know where he is weakest?

[rroberson]

[/img]

And then there is this. Desperate to relieve pressure off of China (and Burma) where his Sally raids (I have no idea how he is keeping 100 plus bombers in the sky but he is good at it) are devastating my forces, I rolled the dice with Operation Anvil. After many many recons of the Kuriles I noticed he had lightly defended them. He was busy raising hell in the Southwest Timor Sea with my shipping so I sent to Fleet Carriers there to deal with that. I made landings at Tarawa and Mili as a distraction while I slowly built up my forces at Attu in the Aleutians. Months before I took them back from him after he landed light garrisons in the area. His heavy loss of carriers at New Cal has allowed me to roam the seas freely as he is reluctant to commit his remaining strength to battle. Something I had to change. So Operation Anvil was born.

The idea was to land in December where I hoped it would hamper his air operations and give me time to build up airfields and forts. Built around 4 Fleet Carriers, three Escorts and 9 battleships I made four landings in the Kuriles, two of them reembarked right away but two of the succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. Only Hornet was damaged eating a torpedo from a Betty. He lost as many as 100 fighters/bombers in a two day period. My troops are on the ground and airfields are coming up, already I can fly B 25s from them which has allowed me to follow his fleet each time they come out to play. Which was the goal of the landings...force his navy to battle. My entire pacific plan is to go through the front door as it were ignoring the southwest pacific area. TO do this successful I have to cull his fleet a great deal more then it is. With him hiding them it's been difficult to do that as my submarines remain ineffective (I told him I wanted hit but no explosion on my tombstone). With Anvil he must fight and fight in an area I designate.

I hope this forces his air force home when the threat of my small but powerful HB comes on line and further forces his bombers to return to the home islands and away from the skies of china and burma.

Already his fleet has returned to fight...

Sadly I lost the first naval battle of the Kuriles after I followed his fleet movements and engaged them with 3 carriers just three days ago. The quality of his naval air showed as he put down two of mine for the loss of Hiyo. (I had 70 plus wildcats CAPing the fleet yet his bombers came roaring through). While I can certainly afford the carrier losses it did hurt a bit and slowed down the planned pace of my operations in the central/south Pacific as all my carriers are either laid up in the yards or need yard time for maintenance and upgrading. However, it's an exchange that I will happily make as his carrier force is finite. Mine...not so much.

[rroberson]

Lessons learned after 1 game year.

I still suck at this game. I have a hell of a good time, but I will never be an elite player...ah well...blowing shit up is fun.

I think I may have touched 43 in one other legit game (maybe 2). That's really due to my impatience. And after a full game year I realize I am damn impatient. And it shows in my play style.

I lost battles I should not have been fighting because I was so use to just commiting everything knowing the game in question probably wasnt going to last six months. With Chris I have found the perfect opponent. He, like me, lives to get that turn out, we are averaging 4 or 5 a day (when our wives aren't torturing us)which helps keep one very interested in the game.

Next time I roll through a 42 I will slow down a lot. Too often I was panicking about some damn breakthrough or loss somewhere in my past games. This game really is a war of attrition and its a learned skill. And now that I have made it this deep again I really see that.

I hope to update this at least weekly if not more. Our game moves very very fast (which is nice) but anytime something major happens or I have something in the planning...you will read it here first.

Currently my fleet is being repaired. In about a month 3 of my four carriers will be ready for action. Based on my current beliefs (and heavy recon) he has little to no air power in the central pacific. Eniwetok is next on my hit list. I have been looking at the Marianas but I want to wait until I have plenty of LCI/LSTs available and Essex before I attempt that. Im sure Ill have a number of crazy insane ideas in the near future to get me in trouble and Operation Anvil should be loads of fun as that plays out.

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: Quixote

Rob,
I'm glad to see that you're still fighting the good fight in a PBEM. I'm equally glad that you appear to have some carriers to actually fight back with this time around. You've always come across as one of the nicer and more self-effacing guys on the forums, ever since original WitP. I wish you luck this game - consider me subscribed.

Thanks and welcome to the thread should be a fun ride to 45.

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

You hold Marcus!! That's great - it gives a nice kick-off point to raid/invade in 3 directions - the Marianas, the Bonins, or the Home Islands! Do you have enough intel on the Bonins and Marianas to know where he is weakest?

Yea I was fortunate, I was able to grab it when I took Wake. His carrier losses have really hampered him.

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Wow, look at that Burma/India map! That's impressive. Looking forward to see this to the end.

It's as ugly as it looks, I honestly don't know why he hasn't rolled into India. He can just about anytime he is ready...as the Commonwealth forces just melt away before him.