The march of progress - Lokasenna (J) vs. HexHead (A), no HH please

[Lokasenna]

January 28

Subs
I-25 finds 2 AVDs, probably on their way to Pearl?, in the night phase. In the day phase, her Glen sights 2 TFs in the same hex as her. Unfortunately, the I-25 is also sighted at 10/10 DL. The 2 TFs are 4 ships (all listed as BBs) and 3 ships (listed as APDs). The BBs are listed as heading NE while the APDs are listed heading SW. I hope those are unescorted survivors of the Dec 7 strike that left because he thought all my subs were cleared out, but now he knows I have at least one... I-25 and -26 will try to vector in on them tomorrow, and I-19 is waiting closer to San Francisco.

SRA
The Zero sweep of Batavia is a smashing success, shooting down 8 Brits and damaging 3 more with no loss. Emaciating the Dutch/British air force, one sweep at a time.

Malaya
About 150 Sallys and Lilys bomb Singers' airfield, and only one Lily is lost to flak. I forgot to check ops losses. Detected damage to airfield shows as 54. I'll keep this up.

A bunch of units are at Johore Bahru, Malacca, and Temuloh. I plan to recombine into divisions at JB before moving into Singapore.

Luzon
A bunch of airfield hits at Clark (which shows as airfield damage 89) and a handful at Manila (airfield 25). Just trying to prevent any fort building (both should be at 0, maybe 1 at Manila) before the 16th Inf Rgt arrives from Truk in about 7-10 days.

China
2 more LI hits at Liuchow, which is showing as about 1/3 damaged now. Perhaps I should be concentrating solely on Hengyang, as I plan to take Liuchow in the second phase of my China campaign (along with Nanning and Kweilin). The Chinese units outside of Wuchow are escaping towards Kweilin, and I probably won't be able to stop the ones running away from Kukong either.

The stack outside of Sinyang attacks after bombing by IJA 2Es and gets 2:1 odds, trashing 8 Chinese units that retreat east "towards Chengchow", thanks to be cut off to the NE. I'm moving fast armor units around to their rear as well as to their NE. I hope to have these units destroyed in about a week, and then I'll begin moving towards Nanyang.

Elsewhere
Again, Catalinas (from Horn Island?) visit Moresby and try to bomb a DD and xAK. I'll merge the PBs with the xAKs for ASW escort back to Rabaul while the 2 DDs will go bombard Horn's airfield to teach those Cats a lesson.

I'll be inside Rangoon next turn, and from there I'll move towards Prome with light units, hoping to cut off the Burmese stack NE of Pegu in case the Imp Guards ID doesn't catch them.

Other stuff
Began prepping 3 SNLF/Nav Gd units for Bandjermasin, Koepang, and Dili. Another Nav Gd arrives at Kure in 3 days. It will head to the SRA somewhere in all likelihood; I have a lot of ground left to take, and the SNLFs/Naval Guards are the perfect size for some of these places.

MerSY
Turned off all xAKs except Std-A class. Pax is right - I have plenty of xAKs, especially once I stop invading places. There are several others I can turn on in case I begin suffering heavy losses as well. Turned off all but 4 xAPs, and turned off the late-war merchant CVEs while accelerating the other 4. I've turned off about 200 MerSY for this, which will leave me running a deficit of around 100-150. With 18.3k points in the pool, I'm not at all concerned and would rather have the HI in the pool as it's accumulating at a precarious rate (only about 2k per day...).

[Lokasenna]

On second thought, I'll probably send that upcoming SNLF to the Aleutians.

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

I turned off the MerSY as well after several people's advice. There's plenty of transports and by the time they are sunk you won't be able to ship from the DEI anyway

[PaxMondo]

2K/day HI in early 42 is REALLY good accumulation, or maybe better to say not so good. I generally don't start to accumulate HI until maybe March or April 42 as I am re-arranging the IJ economy until then.

Suggestion: Take a hard look at your ac engine factories. Make sure that they are expanding fast enough to meet your future demand.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

2K/day HI in early 42 is REALLY good accumulation, or maybe better to say not so good. I generally don't start to accumulate HI until maybe March or April 42 as I am re-arranging the IJ economy until then.

Suggestion: Take a hard look at your ac engine factories. Make sure that they are expanding fast enough to meet your future demand.

I'm taking it slow on them. I've got a production spreadsheet but am still planning out the "future demand".

I'm checking the factories every turn and those that aren't fully repaired get expanded if need be. Especially engines. I don't want to burn up too much supply too fast, even though I have a large surplus (~2M) on Honshu. I know that the ~2600 I'll be getting this turn will be dropping, especially as my aircraft/engine factories continue to expand. The Ha-34 in particular is extremely underbuilt. I'm going to need a lot of them for Helens/Tojos.

[Lokasenna]

I have 5 more days' worth of turns to post...here goes.

January 29

Subs
I-18 (midget carrier on its way to Sydney) attacks an AM near Brisbane but misses, then evades ASW.

I-25 sights DDs Mustin, Walke, O'Brien, and Russell with Minneapolis and Warspite to the NE of Pearl. She fires on Mustin and misses. Later in the day she fires 6 torps at CV Yorktown, hitting just once. There is an ammo storage explosion but no heavy fires or damage. Only 8 hexes NE of Pearl, she'll probably make it. I-25 takes a penetrating hit for this attack and is the closest sub I have to interdict. I'll try anyway. She has 25 Flt damage.

I-16 sinks an xAK outside of Suva.

I-154 is sighted in Darwin harbor. Oh well.

Borneo
Allies near Singkawang retreat further to the SW.

New Guinea
DDs find and sink an xAK at Horn Island. Bombardment only gets 2 runway and 1 port hit, with no damage aircraft. On the way back to Moresby, they sink AM Penguin.

Malaya
1st Raiding Rgt captures Port Blair today, which includes almost 9k supplies and 1200 fuel. That's nice.

China
The attack at Hangchow gets 1:2 odds despite 1645:703 raw AV; 2653 casualties for me and 1442 for him. However, only 9 of my devices/squads are destroyed vs. 276 disabled. The Chinese suffer 64 destroyed squads and another 144 disabled, plus other devices. With our supply differential, I can live with this result but it's got to get better.

[Lokasenna]

January 30

Subs
I-18 has an active day. She sinks 3 xAKLs in successive attacks outside of Sydney. Sadly, her Exp doesn't go up this day (I was curious and had to check).

S-37 misses CM Aotaka escorting a couple of xAKs near Manado.

Nothing near Pearl [:(].

Malaya
Sweeps of Singapore find empty skies.

3 Wirraways strike at an AK near Muntok, probably from Palemband but no vector is seen. The AK is part of the Muntok landing TF, which begins landing troops today. I plan to build Muntok to Level 2 (or higher) and use it to help isolate Palembang/Singapore, as well as the Java campaign in the next couple of months.

Burma
The Imperial Guards ID shock attacks and gets 744:1 odds, ripping the heart out of an entire RAF Base Force as it retreats NW into the jungle, towards Prome. I was hoping to destroy it.

Rangoon is liberated without a shot today. Only 10k fuel and 2k oil are captured. A minefield is present.

Toungoo will fall to a tank regiment next turn. Hopefully I destroy the detected planes on the ground.

China
A-29s have appeared in the skies above Ichang. Time to put up some Nates.

Elsewhere
4 Catalinas try to bomb a DD in Moresby harbor again. Would like to shoot a couple of these down with flak, but it's just not happening.

3rd SNLF arrives at Kure, 12th Nav Const Bn at Osaka. Both will go to Adak.

[Lokasenna]

January 31

Subs
I-166 hits xAP Empire Star fleeing Port Blair. She's heavily damaged, but no sinking sounds are heard.

I-154, still near Darwin, launches 4 fish at an AM and misses. I really don't like this class of I-boat, they waste a lot of torpedoes.

My midget sub launches on an xAKL before entering Sydney harbor, but misses. It then clears out 2 mines the old-fashioned way before sinking.

SRA
The usual raids: Netties out of Singkawang pummel the Dutch on the plain outside of Pontianak, bombing at Singers airfield, etc.

Landings begin at Madjene with the 8th Tank Rgt, which will roll around and capture bases.

China
Nates disrupt Hudsons sufficiently at Ichang that they don't deal any damage. Wish I had Nicks...

My attack outside of Hangchow gets 1:2 odds, but my destroyed casualties are light. The rock of his defense, a mid-200s AV Chinese corps, was half disabled during this assault. Once I've recuperated a bit, I think I can make him retreat.

Elsewhere
Toungoo is occupied. I hope I don't auto-occupy Magwe before I'm ready to defend it, so I'll have the Tank Rgt move back towards Prome.

Catalinas try again for the DD at Moresby. The DD in turn tries for the Dutch sub, which has returned.

Landings begin at Milne Bay.

[Lokasenna]

February 1

Other than subs, a very light day.

Subs
I-8 sinks xAK Adelong outside of Suva.

I-3 sights only a DD to the northeast of Pearl and is driven under.

And a string of Dutch sub attacks:
Dutch sub is still in Moresby harbor, but is unable to get any attacks off.

Dutch sub O20 hits TK Nihon Maru once on her way to Balikpapan. No escorts? How did I do this? Did I do this, or was this an old order I missed? In any case, she'll make it.

An AS on its way to Balikpapan is hit twice by another sub, but the PB escorting it finds nothing.

TK Samui Maru is attacked on the surface for no results by another Dutch sub, also near Balikpapan, but no damage either way. I got off light today.

PI
Taytay falls on Palawan, and the island is mine.

Elsewhere
6 Catalinas continue to visit Moresby and this time they land 3 bombs on Alaska Maru. Heavy fires. In the afternoon they come again and get 2 on Sinko Maru. I wonder if this unit got new pilots today? And with seemingly no ops losses so far.

Alaska Maru sinks at sundown. At least she was empty. Sinko Maru will sink over the next day or two on her way to Rabaul.

[Lokasenna]

February 2
Still a couple of days behind, but I got a nice surprise today. It's at the end of the post.

KB & Co. arrive at Truk, but I'll wait until I know where I want to send them before reorganizing their composition. Probably do it tomorrow. There were a couple of days of real life pause before this turn and I forgot my plan for them... [:-]

Subs
The O20 is driven away from more tankers by an SC near Balikpapan.

I-175 misses a DMS near Canton and sights another DMS. I wonder where these are heading...

Philippines & SRA, elsewhere
My DA at Clark gets 1:1 odds, with forts at 0 (and a message about assault reduces forts to 0...from 0). 1125 casualties for me vs. 668 for him, but once again mine are mostly disabled while his are a higher proportion of destroyed.

8th Tank Rgt liberates Madjene and will begin rolling around the southern Celebes at will.

Milne Bay "falls" to a Nav Gd fragment. I plan to build this into a medium-ish airbase.

China
24 Anns and 57 Lilys start 21303 fires at Liuchow. 9 Lilys get 1604 fires at Changsha.

17 SB-III's fly against some Nates at Ichang, a few are shot down and they land some light runway damage (never know how much, it's always repaired next day).

My bombardment outside Kweilin reminds me that I have the slight upper hand here, and I'll attack tomorrow.

My bombardment outside Hangchow shows that I am back up to about 2.5x the Chinese AV, but he has a nice terrain advantage and still has supplies (I think).

I bombard at Changsha and it does nothing of consequence. Still 3600 Chinese AV here. I'll stop bombarding...

And then the Chinese at Changsha attack:

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 103872 troops, 573 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3622

Defending force 62701 troops, 628 guns, 150 vehicles, Assault Value = 2091

Allied adjusted assault: 2251

Japanese adjusted defense: 4463

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1765 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 133 disabled
Non Combat: 13 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Vehicles lost 42 (23 destroyed, 19 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
7228 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 740 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 83 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 81 disabled


Assaulting units:
26th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
4th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
30th Group Army
29th Group Army
9th War Area
19th Group Army
27th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force

Defending units:
9th Armored Car Co
39th Division
40th Division
3rd Division
Kyuko Naval Guard Unit
6th Division
55th Infantry Brigade
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
11th Army
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion

That was a boost in the arm for my troops there. I doubt he'll hit the 2x supply threshold often enough to replace the lost squads.

The 9th Armored Car Co. took a beating. I'll send it out to Pingsiang to help cut off supplies to the Chuhsien area...

[Lokasenna]

February 3
Pretty quiet day, my notes don't amount to much.

Subs
I-18 sinks an xAKL outside of Newcastle with gunfire, and likely sinks a second later in the night phase.

Seawolf sights 3 AKs, 3 PBs, and 2 CMs of mine on their way to Makassar, near Ambon. DCs keep exploding above sub depth...I need ASW upgrades.

Air war
Usual sweeps at Singers, raids on Singers and Clark airfields. No Allied craft come up to play anywhere.

China
Fires at Liuchow hit 25954 this turn, and Changsha 2375.

Hudsons and SB-III's come at Ichang. 1 A-29 shot down for no loss, 1 runway hit. At this point, he's just burning supply to not do a whole lot except train my Nate pilots.

The surrounded Chinese units outside of Sinyang have enough fight left in them to post 1:1 odds when I attack, with roughly even casualty numbers. Not what I wanted to see.

My attack outside of Kweilin fails miserably, with 1:3 odds. I'm really noticing the difference between Scen 1 and Scen 2 on the ground.

Philippines
Clark Field falls today, with all 6 units that aren't Subic Bay Defenses retreating to Bataan. The beginning of the end has come. 3 B-17D's are destroyed on the ground. This is my first turn above a 1:1 VP ratio [:)].

[Lokasenna]

February 4
Really quiet day as I move troops down the peninsula towards Singers and wait to recombine into larger units for the crossing. IIRC, "tomorrow" is the historical date of Singapore's surrender.

Subs
I-18 sinks another xAKL outside of Sydney. And then another. And then another. It makes me wonder if maybe he's sending these out as decoys or to waste my torpedoes? Regardless, Exp on the Boat is up from 54/53 to 55/60 in the past 5 days. Awesome!

DEI
Nettys from Singkawang strike at Batavia ground units again. I could've sworn they were set to attack the LCUs just a couple hexes away.

Singapore's airfield is thoroughly shut down, but I have nowhere else to use the bombers right now.

CLs Kuma and Natori, with 3 DDs, sink 2 AMs near Bathurst Island in the surprise round. They end the turn 1 hex outside of Darwin and will enter the harbor next turn, which I'm 100% sure wasn't mined recently so unless he laid mines there in the past 3-4 days I should have a nice raid...

China
I-15s rise on CAP over Liuchow today, shooting down several Anns and damaged others, plus damaging Lilys, but the strike package is just too large for 7 fighters to really do much against. Fires are up to 34920, but I'll strike somewhere else next turn. I expect him to CAP Liuchow again.


The next few weeks...
I am moving AA units from Samah to Bangkok, thence on the rails towards Magwe so that I can at least put up a fight against strat bombing runs.

77th Sentai (in thirds) is at Rangoon, which will protect Burma for now. Once I get my Af Coys and Bns marched through the jungle to Moulmein (in a week or two?) and then up to Toungoo, I'll move on Magwe with them so that I can instantly set up a CAP and LRCAP from Toungoo.

I begin striking at Palembang's airfield tomorrow with my Nettys at Singkawang, and I'll try to shuffle some more Malayan-based LBA down-peninsula soon to step up the effort. 16th Inf Rgt arrives at Mersing in 8 days, and then it has to march to Johore Bahru where it can recombine (IIRC - I will have to look again) with elements into a Division. the 2nd FA Rgt arrives Bangkok in 10 days, and will rail down to Johore Bahru to combine into 2nd Div. I don't want to wait that long to start on Singers, but at the same time I am loathe to cross with only 2 fully combined Divisions, even though I think his defenses might be weak. It's just not worth the risk of a huge delay. Better 14 days now since I have his fort-building shut down than 30+ days later from a crippling, rushed crossing, I think.

Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu, and Soryu (I know - both early radar CVs in one TF, I'll have to change this alter) will sail to Balikpapan with escorts (1 Kongo, 1 CA, 1 CS, and various DDs), and from there they will begin the destruction of what's left of the Dutch air force as well as making harbors in Java a no-sail zone for Allied shipping. I'm undecided on what to do with my other 2 CVs + CVLs, but they're waiting for Mizuho to arrive from the Saipan area. I'm thinking of keeping them as a "reaction force", or perhaps raiding the NE coast of Australia. Or Suva. Or Pago Pago? Really can't decide where to use them, but with the lack of resistance in the skies above the DEI already I feel like even the 4 smaller capacity CVs are overkill for the job.

The 80th AF Bn arrived today. It'll go to Milne Bay to begin fortifying and building an airfield.

The Solomon (Tulagi) and New Hebrides (Luganville, Efate) invasions will sortie from Rabaul in 8 days. Fast Transport TFs are picking up a Nav Gd fragment from Shortlands to go take Ndeni, if only to make sure I get warning if he decides he wants it later.

[Lokasenna]

Shameless bump from page 2: have received the February 9 turn and will be home early from work/engagements today, so planning to catch up on posting after a busy couple of weeks. With the extra time, I'm going to dig into some longer term planning of things like MLRs and really looking at my air R&D, since I inherited a mess there.

The other mess is my Honshu resource levels, which are currently holding at 9 days reserve and I'm not yet making strong headway. But that has a simple enough short term solution of sending more xAKs to Hokkaido, which has 56 "Honshu Deficit Days" stockpile.

Also thinking of not waiting for my other ID components before moving across the causeway to Singapore. I need to look at the beginning Allied OOB and see what units are likely to be part of that 35-unit, 50k-strong stack. With the airfield closed to stop fort building and air superiority strongly established over the sea lanes, I'm not in a rush locally. But I need to lay out a timetable. With the 53rd ID in transit to Hong Kong -> Saigon and thence to Oosthaven, and the 21st also heading to Hong Kong -> Saigon and prepping for Merak, I should have some idea of when I can have Palembang (which is lightly defended) in my hands and when I can expect to be landing on Java. I know I'm going to need some (maybe even most) of those Malaysia divisions for the conquest of Java. And then I need to head back over to Mindanao/Luzon...

[Lokasenna]

February 5

Subs
I-122 sinks an xAKL on the surface at Akyab.

2 subs (I-121 and -124) hit mines at Madras while laying mines of their own. Oops. For some reason I thought Madras was clear. Both end up sinking. 12 free VPs for my opponent. Glad I used smaller/older subs for this task.

The midget at Suva is sighted but escapes. At dawn it shoots at AG Aldebaran (now that's a big ship graphic) but misses.

Midget at Soerabaja hits a mine and sinks.

China
5 Light Industry hits at Hengyang.

I get 2:1 odds against the trapped Chinese NE of Sinyang, but with a fatigue penalty I suffer a lot of disruption.

My troops near Kweilin bombard the Chinese to slow their retreat out of the hex if possible.

SRA
Singapore's airfield is pounded today, closed for sure. Too bad damage doesn't go over 100 [:D]. Got some supply hits.

Landings begin at Babo. 8th Tank has occupied Watampone and will take Pare Pare tomorrow as well, cutting off the troops at Makassar from any retreat routes.

Kuma/Natori & Co. sink 2 more AMs in Darwin's hex. Back to Balikpapan for pier side repairs and fuel/ammo.

A sub is sighted in Palembang harbor, along with 4 bombers and 4 HDMLs.

[Lokasenna]

February 6

Subs
Midget in Suva harbor is still OK, but it's just a scout now. I'll try to pick it up one hex out in case I can, but it'll have to wait a day.

I-169 hits AO Bishopdale with a torpedo outside of Noumea, then dodges the lone escort. Unsure if she sunk, but with "on fire, heavy damage" and hearing a sunk sound in one of the damage control phases after this I think she might have.

I-3 attacks an ASW TF near Pearl but misses.

I-16 enters Suva's hex and attacks an AD that's in a TF, hitting her once and then twice more. She sinks.

I-174 sights CA Australia, CL Achilles, and CL Adelaide with DDs Voyager and Stuart SE of Suva. 1 of 2 torpedoes dudes on Achilles. Lame!

China
Anns and Lilys get 4 more LI hits at Hengyang. Fires at Changsha up to 5446.

A DA outside of Kweilin does even worse this time, with 1:7 odds. Turns out my ID is sitting one hex to the SE, never having moved with the rest of the stack, which confuses me.

SRA
Babo is now IJN.

Landings occur at Makassar and the Allies bombard later. I've got 120 AV on the ground there, but it's disrupted heavily from the landings and my adjusted AV is 0 in the bombardment animation. There are 4 AMc's being a nuisance in the harbor, but I'll deal with them soon enough. They can't touch the TBs in the landing TF.

There's 50 Dutch AV at Tarakan. My lone battalion is not enough for the job, to no one's surprise.

Elsewhere
Tarawa joins the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Something hit a mine, and it wasn't mine...

Sunk ship sound is heard after the morning air phase.

38th JNAF AF Unit arrives at Tokyo and will head to Dili on Timor, I believe.

[Lokasenna]

February 7

Last turn I caught sight of a CA and AMC near Cooktown, but they've disappeared this turn. The Australians at Buna have moved back into the jungle as well.

Subs
I-21 sinks xAK Makua on the surface NE of Pearl.

KVIII is sighted in Darwin harbor by ASW but no IJN ships show up. Weird. I know it was from my Kuma/Natori TF.

I-172 sights an xAP, 3 DDs, and CL Honolulu near Niihau. She misses DD Case and escapes.

SRA
Fuse, Ise, and escorts find 2 Dutch CMs near Madjene, sinking them one hex later in the surprise round. Hopefully with mines still aboard.

Philippines
Usual raids at Bataan, some Lilys against Cagayan's airfield... I attack at Manila and get 1(.5):1 odds. Forts are reduced to 1. Will need to bomb here to keep them low, as well as recuperate. I suffered a lot of disabled squads but am glad that a large portion of the PI army is trapped at Manila - 6 divisions! Their AV was 417 before today.

Darwin!
Kuma/Natori enter Darwin's hex again, finding 2 AMs. Fumizuki promptly collides with Natori. Sacking that captain...it's a 5-ship TF! One AM is sunk, while the other is left burning. They find 2 more AMs in the harbor but there is no combat as my CLs vacate the area. Surprisingly, the 2 AMs seem to follow me out and are promptly sunk near Bathurst. I wonder if they were on ASW patrol...

[Lokasenna]

February 8

Subs
I-169 shoots at a DM near Noumea and misses... I guess this is where the ones sighted near Canton were heading? The -169 then hits Lewis Luckenbach outside of Noumea, heavy damage but she doesn't sink. 2 more torpedoes are fired with no results in a subsequent attack.

China
I'm going to try to use the 51st Recon Rgt to cut the rail line between Hengyang and Kweilin, as well as possibly push deeper towards harassing Chikiang, etc., later.

Some Anns are losting bombing Kweilin, but fires are started. 2 I-15's appear to have shown up via leaky CAP from Liuchow.

Pingsiang falls, and now supply to Chuhsien and the surrounding area should be cut off permanently.

Philippines
DA at Manila gets 1:1, reduces forts to 0. More IJA casualties than Americans, but we'll rest and take it soon enough. Bombings at Bataan continue.

SRA
Fuso and Ise obliterate all 4 AMcs in Makassar harbor. Free xp, maybe.

Makassar then falls and both units there surrender. IJ casualties are 20 disabled squads. I love it.

Elsewhere
Lae is captured.

CA + 3x AMC are sighted in the shallows near Cooktown, heading SE. They must have been running up to Horn Island, where an AP is sighted alone, and avoided the deep water in the reef/straights. Will move an RO sub that's nearby to intercept if possible.

KB2 will hang out near Rabaul, in case I want to raid NE Aus shipping. Looks like he's moving some stuff about, would love to catch some valuable early APs, AMCs, and even escorts.

[Lokasenna]

February 9

Sending some small RGC brigades to encircle the Chinese outside of Hangchow. I am late doing this, but he doesn't appear to be attempting a retreat and I'm rebuilding for some more time yet before I attack.

Subs
RO-66 finishes off Lewis Luckenbach in Noumea hex. Then, AO Kurumba is sighted and the captain elects not to launch torpedoes. Really?! 58 Aggression, maybe that's not enough. Kurumba must be one of the smaller AOs... Then RO-66 hits xAK Siantar in the harbor, setting it on fire but not sinking it.

I-1 duds on an xAK NE of Pearl.

RO-63 approaches Horn Island and sinks the ship there, an xAK.

Philippines
Butuan is occupied by the game engine. More bombings at Bataan, Manila.

SRA
Palembang and Singapore are bombed, keeping their airfields damaged.

Landings at Babar to put some pressure on Darwin soon.

Miri forts hit 2.

Other stuff
Salamua is captured, skeleton of C Coy runs back to Wau.

Landings at Gasmata.

16th Rgt is ETA 4-5 days to Mersing. 2nd FA Rgt is ETA 7 days to Bangkok, in Strat mode. Figure 2 days on the rails to Johore Bharu, 2 days to unpack, so 11 days until I start the movement into Singapore. A bit longer than I like, but I think I'm settled on this decision. There are 34 units with 59080 men, 352 guns, and 219 AFVs at Singapore with 9/10 DL.

53rd ID ETA Hong Kong (prepping Oosthaven) 6-7 days. 21st ID (prepping Merak) ETA Saigon 3 days. 67th Inf Grp (prepping Medan) departing Tokyo for Saigon today. 90th Inf Rgt (prepping Soerabaja) ETA Hong Kong 2-3 days.

AA units will unload at Bangkok tomorrow in strat mode, then it's up the rails for them and on to Burma to help defend Magwe.

[Lokasenna]

Catching up to Feb 13 now.

February 10

Mostly a quiet day.

Subs
RO-66 hits an xAK at Noumea. No ASW present here as yet.

South Pacific
Landings at Ndeni. Gasmata is captured.

Elsewhere
The usual bombings at Palembang, Bataan, Singapore, and Manila keeping the airfields damaged. Changsha continues to burn.

Manila holds against a 1:1 DA, but PA casualties are heavy.

5:1 DA outside Sinyang gets 3300 Chinese casualties.

Babar is captured by my small SNLF unit. Will establish an airbase here soon.


Not enough resources for Tokyo's LI. No Bueno... 8 days left for Honshu overall.

[Lokasenna]

February 11

Subs
I-174 sinks AG Spica on the surface at Suva. Then she sinks xAK San Angelo, 2 hexes SE of Suva.

RO-66 is sighted in Noumea and takes near misses. She sees Australia, Adelaide, and 2 DDs first though.

I-19 "obliterates" PC Jackson outside of San Francisco with 1 torpedo.

O24 hits Kinugasa with a torp near Toboali/Billiton. Heavy damage, and O24 escapes.

SRA
KB1 (Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku, escorts) does a port strike on Soerabaja, getting a small PC in the harbor with an 800kg bomb and hits CL Sumatra with a couple of bombs, but not much else is accomplished. I'll move them SE a hex or two, layer my CAP more (a bunch of 139s came in on the SCTF there), and hope to catch ships fleeing the port.

A Zero sweep of Soera from Makassar gets 3 Hawks, 3 Demons for 1 Zero.

China
44 Lilys beat off 5 I-15s and all make it to the target area, starting a lot of fires at Changsha.

DA outside of Kweilin gets 1:1, slightly more Chinese dead than IJA.

DA outside Sinyang gets 10:1, only suffers 1 destroyed IJA squad. Again tomorrow!

Elsewhere
Manado and Hollandia forts to 1.

Adak invasion is unopposed.