The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Colombo has a great deal of important shipping - it's a triage unit for cruisers and destroyers. Right now I have 165 fighters posted there, but I think I'll leave it as is for a turn.

Much as I'd love to see Allied shipping destroyed at Colombo, this is his least enticing option. Unless you've moved the British AAA units from here, a port raid with such a large CAP would be a monumental blunder for John here. Heck, I'd even thank him for the opportunity to degrade KB aircraft just on the off chance he'll get through murderous AAA and land an egg on a repairing CA.

[Canoerebel]

Colombo's AA is at the front - both in Assam and Sabang. However, I don't think John knows that. I don't think John has any idea what I have at Sabang, and I believe some or all of the AA at Ramree arrived after I evicted IJ division that visited three months ago. So John should be leary of taking on a major Allied airfield. The only exception might be Sabang if he thinks he can bring a massive combined arms attack - carrier air, LBA air, and bombardment. If he does that, though, it's an indication he's tossing caution to the wind and is desperate.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Schindler's List is truly a magnificent movie. One of the few modern films that succeeds in putting the viewer in a tragic historic situation and feeling like they are there. (Titanic and Saving Private Ryan are in the same category, IMO.)

I like North by Northwest, but Grant is at his best in Charade.

As for B&W movies, Hitchcock was a master: Saboteur, Strangers on a Train, The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rear Window and lots of others.

How about Twelve Angry Men and Petrified Forest. Too many to list!

Double Indemnity, Witness for the Prosecution, The Postman Always Knocks Twice, Sunset Boulevard, and Twelve Angry Men. My wife and I have really been tearing through the classics in the past year. (Note to self. Rent The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)

We have also just about finished a journey through the 1970's which many say was the best decade for movies. I have to agree.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Colombo's AA is at the front - both in Assam and Sabang. However, I don't think John knows that. I don't think John has any idea what I have at Sabang, and I believe some or all of the AA at Ramree arrived after I evicted IJ division that visited three months ago. So John should be leary of taking on a major Allied airfield. The only exception might be Sabang if he thinks he can bring a massive combined arms attack - carrier air, LBA air, and bombardment. If he does that, though, it's an indication he's tossing caution to the wind and is desperate.

I think that your major repair port should always be stacked with AA. Best to hold some back. But in this case, you should welcome the attack. His losses in downed and damaged aircraft would be high enough for you to then pursue a carrier fight.

[Canoerebel]

Ross! The 70s? That's the black hold of the motion picture era. The '30s through early '50s were golden, and really the '90s through the present day have been great. But the '70s were just plain awful.*

*Note: This, of course, is my own humble opinion based on my subjective likes and dislikes. In particular, I dislike vulgarity, sleaze, and movies with an overtly political agenda. That leaves about three decent movies from the '70s.

[JocMeister]

Again one of those questions based on curiosity and speculation. [:)]

How worried are you about you position in general? As a reader I of course lack all the details but while I was quietly optimistic about the prospect of success in the beginning I´m now not so sure anymore. I´m worried that if JIII plays this right this has the potential to end in a major allied disaster. This shift in perception happened when I thought to myself "what would happen if you played one of those exceptional Japanese players like PzB?". All speculation of course but I have that nagging feeling that he could turn something like this in to a decisive Japanese victory.

Are there reasons to be worried or do you feel you are so dug in and have so much AV and supply in place that its simply impossible for him to dislodge you now? Even if you suffered a catastrophic naval defeat leading to the complete isolation of your forces and complete loss of the airspace?

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Ross! The 70s? That's the black hold of the motion picture era. The '30s through early '50s were golden, and really the '90s through the present day have been great. But the '70s were just plain awful.*

*Note: This, of course, is my own humble opinion based on my subjective likes and dislikes. In particular, I dislike vulgarity, sleaze, and movies with an overtly political agenda. That leaves about three decent movies from the '70s.

It's hard to talk in abstracts when dealing with something as broad and varied as film, so I'll add a few examples here. There were a LOT of amazing films made during the 70's. There was plenty of vulgarity, sleaze and politics in every era of film-making. Maybe it's the hairstyles you're not too fond of? Bell-bottoms?
[:)]

Chinatown
Apocalypse Now
Star Wars
Alien
The Deer Hunter
Taxi Driver
Annie Hall
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
All the President's Men
Carrie
Rocky
Mean Streets
The Sting
The French Connection
Deliverance
The Godfather
Jaws
Paper Moon
Manhattan
Dog Day Afternoon
Badlands
The Excorcist
The Great Train Robbery
Dirty Harry
Days of Heaven
The Man with the Golden Gun

[Bo Rearguard]

Whenever I think back on the movies of the 70's all those Irwin Allen disaster flicks come to mind--The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, The Swarm. That genre still lives on (with better special effects and CGI) in movies like The Day after Tomorrow, 2012, Armageddon, etc.

That and all those martial arts films. Plus, I can't dislike a decade that gave us Tora, Tora, Tora. Much superior to a certain 2001 movie that I won't mention. [;)]

[Canoerebel]

Obvert some of the films on your list are exactly the kind that I loathe while others seem no more than decent. In the former category, I'd include Apocalypse Now, Deliverance, and the Exorcist. In the latter category I'd include Rocky, The Sting and the Great Train Robbery. There were, of course, some pretty good movies - Tora! Tora! Tora! and Star Wars being two examples - but far too many movies in the 70s were poorly done or way over the top with profanity or vulgarity or underlying political messages.

[Canoerebel]

Joc, there's lots of fighting to be done and the wheels can definitely come off, but the invasion of Sumatra was a game changing event that following other game changing events - mainly the Assam campaign and the successive disastrous Japanese naval strikes at Ramree Island. I'm guessing you had to form your impression from reading John's AAR. Certainly nothing I've written in mine has hinted at the possibility of disaster. Yes, John might still pull out an inside straight here, but from where I'm sitting, the Allies have controlled the initiative since early June 1942 and Japan has done next to nothing offensively (except reconquering the Gilberts, which was fine since that was part of my plan to help me with Ramree Island).

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Joc, there's lots of fighting to be done and the wheels can definitely come off, but the invasion of Sumatra was a game changing event that following other game changing events - mainly the Assam campaign and the successive disastrous Japanese naval strikes at Ramree Island. I'm guessing you had to form your impression from reading John's AAR. Certainly nothing I've written in mine has hinted at the possibility of disaster. Yes, John might still pull out an inside straight here, but from where I'm sitting, the Allies have controlled the initiative since early June 1942 and Japan has done next to nothing offensively (except reconquering the Gilberts, which was fine since that was part of my plan to help me with Ramree Island).

I havn´t read John AAR for quite some time. To many "banzais" in there! [:)]

I base(d) my worry on that nagging feeling that it might have been too early for such a bold move. With your air force starting to be worn down and ground troops looking about the same I started to wonder if a decisive allied naval defeat could tip the balance into Japanese favor. But I´m too inexperienced to judge such things and as a reader of an AAR its hard to grasp the overall "feel" of a situation. Hence my questions. [:)]

The reason I brought up PzB is that he counter attacked a similar early allied incursion into Java. But I don´t remember the details of it and the strength of the incursion besides 2 USMC Divisions. Don´t even remember if it was WITP or WITP:AE. And to be honest I don´t think John is playing in the same league as PzB.

Glad to hear my worries were unfounded! [:)]

[Canoerebel]

There's no question a decisive Japanese naval victory would make my situation tough. Yes, the Allies can lose Sumatra if Japan can establish a blockade. Japan probably can't do that without winning a carrier battle. But even that happens, the Allies would hold on for months or longer. The Allied army in Sumatra is far stronger than John's at the moment; that could change, but it will take John a LONG time to pull together the kind of force that can overcome a combination of big infantry units, lots of supply, and fort building. The Allied army has been wearied in the campaign, but John is shedding divisions like crazy. I think he's already blown out at least two in Sumatra, maybe three, and he's had a bunch more impailed in Burma, where they are currently kind of isolated. Yes, the wheels can come off, but I'd MUCH rather be in my position than in John's.

[JocMeister]

Well, lets hope to avoid that carrier battle then! [:D]

Do you have a good grasp on the whereabouts of all his unrestricted divisions? I have found witpqs tool "intelmonkey" to be fanstastic for this:

https://sites.google.com/site/staffmonkeys/intel-monkey

For me its an absolutely essential tool nowadays! [&o]

[Canoerebel]

There's been so much activity that I know pretty much the location of all his unrestricted divisions - or at least 80% of them - if I bothered to assemble the information. Suffice to say most are in Burma or Sumatra, or at least heading to the latter. (One that isn't is 56th, which is at New Caledonia according to SigInt.)

The Allied divisions were beat up and somewhat dispersed during the Sumatra campaign. 18th UK, which speerheaded the landing, has been divided between Kota Bharu and and offshore island, important positions on the flank, but certainly making it vulnerable. 1st USMC and 27th USA Divisions need some time to recover disabled squads. The Indian Division and another USA division near Medan are in good shape. The division at Sibolga is fairly weak but fighting on good terrain.

I went through this awhile back and still think it's true, but given the carnage suffered by the Japanese army over the past few months, it will be impossible for John to retake Sabang (and probably Langsa) unless he's able to impose a tight blockade for an extended period of time. He can't do that without winning a carrier battle. So my priority is and has been to minimize the chance that he can do so. I think he's angling for one now - certainly judging by his frothing email comments - so we'll see.

[JohnDillworth]

Do the Allied ground forces receive automatic upgrades on 1/1/43? What are the conditions for the upgrades besides whats in the pools? Although these upgrades don't directly boost AV, they certainly increase the combat value of the boots on the ground.

[Canoerebel]

I'm not an expert, but intuitively I think the Allied pools begin to draw '43 squads staring on January 1. Over time, those become available to flesh out the units. So I don't think my divisions magically change to '43 stuff on January 1, but that date initiates the gradual transition to better equipment. Kill! Kill! Kill Japs!

[catwhoorg]

Don't you just need sufficient supplies for an upgrade ? (assuming the squads are in the pool)

[Canoerebel]

I dunno. I dunno nothin' 'bout nothin', I think. If they upgrade using just supply, sounds good to me. If it's a more gradual transition as the pools fill, that's fine too. I can be cavalier about it, because it doesn't impact how I play the game. My infantry are where they need to be, I'll use 'em as smartly as I can, and we'll see if John can come and root 'em out. My money is on General Vandergrift and the 1st Marine Division.

[pws1225]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Well, lets hope to avoid that carrier battle then! [:D]

Do you have a good grasp on the whereabouts of all his unrestricted divisions? I have found witpqs tool "intelmonkey" to be fanstastic for this:

https://sites.google.com/site/staffmonkeys/intel-monkey

For me its an absolutely essential tool nowadays! [&o]

+1 on that. The intel list that thing gives is about as close to a snapshot of the Japanese OOB as you can get. If it replicates the intel the Allies compiled in real life, I'm surprised Japan held out until 1945.

[JeffroK]

I believe the AFB have to make this sort of offensive, sometime & somewhere.

IRL the Guadalcanal Campaign drew the IJA & IJN into an area where the Allies could compete and start wearing down the JFB.

I also believe that your spearhead was diluted by incursions to Alor Star, Singora etc. They might have provided some distraction but could you have made Nthn Sumatra firmly secure with those forces???

IMVHO, the only place missed was Pt Blair, it might have been a valueable bear close to the rear.