Best Two Out of Three

[John B.]

Hello all,

Well, with Scott tossing in the towel in when Newbies Collide and me going down to Davey Jones' Locker in Grudge Match, what could be more fitting than a new game. It really is my hope that we can get into 44-45 in this one. Opening moves are pretty standard. Scott has bombed Pearl and, lucky me, on the first day he did not sink any BBs. Last game I came spoiling out and actually sank three of his AOs but as a heavy cost in crusiers. So, this time I'm staying put and cranking up the CAP. Let's see if he comes for a second day. My CVs are heading to Wake. If Scott does not stay at Pearl I'll turn around but if he is landing a Wake it's always a good opportunity to catch some of his ships.

In China, color me surprised, I'm running away!

I have a different idea with the dutch. It was tough for Scott to take Tarakan last time and he lost quite a number of ships to shore batteriers. So, this time I'm flying the Makassar and other battalions to Tarakan. Rather than let him defeat me in detail, I'm going to see if I can give him a bloody nose there with unsuspected troop levels.

I only lost two subs at Manila and they are now deploying. This time I checked and the sub commanders are awful! so, I spent the points to upgrade the captain. Maybe this time they'll make a difference. I did have some P-40bs catch a flight of unescorted Bettys over Manila and shot down a few for what was the only bright spot of the day. Basically I'll fly out the marine regiment and whatever base forces will go and get them to Darwin via transport aircraft.

Also, this time I'm not sending HQs and baseforces into Clark or Sinapore. Rather than have useless mouths to feed, I'll let Scott kill them. They're going to die anyway, why feed them? In my army it sucks to be a REMF. [:D]

Transports are sucking oil out of every place that they can.

But, the real news is that Scott is being bold and daring in Malaysia. He has landed at Mersing, Palembang, and Kuala Lampur. This cuts off Singapore and may let him grab the oil wells early. As a consequence, there may well be a series of surface actions tonight. Check out the next message for action plan.

[John B.]

After Scott beat me last time I swore I would be less aggressive this time, I really did. But, I can't help myself when there are potentially juicy targets. As you can see, there are invasion task forces at Palembang, Mersing, and Kuala Lampur. I tried to get the POW into Palembang but it could not go up river, so, what the hell, it's going to Mersing. That's what those boys were there for. I think Scott has three BBs there and if I evade them I may smack his invasion TF. If it's BB v BB then My hope is to damage him and then be far enough out of Betty range to only have bombs hitting me and not torpedos. If that's the case, even if he damages me I may survive and I might put the hurt on his invasion fleet. As for Palembang, I have three CLs going in. I think Scott only has one CL there so I may have the gunnery edge in that contest. As for Kuala Lampur, I only see DDs so My CL based task force may be able to put the hurt on that one as well.

It's a risk. But, no captain ever did wrong by putting himself next to the enemy.

[topeverest]

IMHO, looking for the empire CA and BB is not a good use of the allied DEI fleet. let me suggest hit and run when he uncovers a fleet (no CV CA BB with it.)

There are many places to hide. Small ports and beaches are hard to ID ships unless reconned

[John B.]

topevereset,

I think that there is a lot of merit in what you say. Especially given the combat results (see below). OTOH, the POW was lame in the extreme in its shooting. It had more than three rounds before it went down and did not score a single hit.[:@] The minor pinpricks you see were done by HMS DDs. The only two good things to come out of this combat are (1) the Repulse was unscathed (so the captain can answer to a board of inquiry as to why exactly all of his few shots missed as well) and (2) I think the DDs got a sub on the way home. Blah. Still, I want Scott to know that he needs to cover his fleets with good units and can't pull off any fast ones. The other sorry spectacle from the night's surface actions was the loss of three DDs who put out of Manila and ran smack into CA task force. You would think that some one would have reported it, but you would be wrong. [:(] However, all is not lost for the allied navies on this second day of the war.

[John B.]

As you can see, the British navy redeemed itself in Palembang bay where an entire IJN invasion fleet was exterminated by three CLs. The total loss included two IJN CLs, an AP, a couple of TBs and at least three AKs (there are other screen shots showing the other losses). It was a swirling night of combats at close quarters with at least 7 separate actions as my ships kept running into him, damaging him and then running into him again. And, this time it was British torpedoes that did the trick. Not enough points to make up for the POW but it's always nice to win a surface combat in 1942.

[John B.]

So, on day three of the war here is how it stands. There was very little damage at Pearl with no BBs sunk and only 1 with more than 50% flotation damage. The KB was spotted far north of Pearl so may not be in action much over the next few days. My carriers are hovering out of search plane range near Wake as supplies are being flown in there from Midway and more supplies are heading there on ships. Don't think I can hold Wake but I want to make it costly for him. The Saratoga is heading to Pearl. Then, I'll move the CVs down to Australia as I suspect Scott will make a big move there.

Scott has taken Kuala Lampur and Mersing and has cut off Singapore. The only benefit to me of the Mersing invasion is that the Swordfish and Vildebeests coming out of Singapore have put some serious damage on several AKs as Scott cannot keep very much CAP over the hex. How long Sigapore can now hold out is anyone's guess but it won't be too long.

Although he lost his invasion fleet, Scott did grab Palembang on the first day. The CLs, just to put icing on the cake, returned and managed to damage 16 oil and 15 refinery points there with a shore bombardment. Those three ships get medals, lots and lots of medals. [&o] There are fires burning there and I'm not sure of those will cause additional damage. I have the Dutch bombers set on city bombing out of Batavia so I may be able to so some additional moderate amount of damage to the oil there. In the meantime, the dutch are flying several battalions into Tarakan and have just started flying a battalion into Port Blair.

In the Philippines I have an SNLF under attack just north of Clark Field that I may do some damage to. The first torpedo heartbreak took place when an American sub put a fish into the Ruyjo that just went boink! [:(] Ships flee south and are being picked off by that same carrier as is the usual case. I'm flying the marines and american infantry regiment out of Clark Field down to Davao for future shipment to Darwin. And, that helps prevent American casualties in the Philippines (not sure how the Philippine people feel about watching American troops fly way).I'm sucking oil out of Soerebaja and am moving ships to Balikpappan to do the same thing.

Still running away in China. In Hong Kong the merchant ships loaded their holds with fuel and headed out to sea. They won't get far, but at least the fuel sinks rather gets captured by Scott. Again, I'm not sure how the crews feel about being turned into floating torches. I"ll ask them when they get to port.

[topeverest]

Since the empire's combat fleet is so much smaller than the allies, each loss accelerates the initiative transition.

Why again did you get smacked around the first time?

[John B.]

T.E.

The first game I got lucky and sank 8 IJN carriers near Ambon in July 44 with no loss of my own. Since Scott was on the defensive and it was our first game we played it into 43 before he threw in the towel. The next game I think I was in the lead as I was pushing him back and had just taken Boela in early '43 when I lost all five of my fleet CVs on one day (a very dark day indeed). It would have been 6 months until I got any new CVs and about 9 months to CV parity. In the meantime, the 1st marine division and all the support troops at Boela were toast as I could not stop his ten BB deathstar bombardment force and he had two inf. divs on the way to destroy me there. While I may have been able to slog it out by the end of '45 it was not worth a year of real time to find out. So, I threw in the towel and we started game three.

[John B.]

Hello all, two more days have past and no significant new developments. In sum the KB is hovering near Pearl Harbor but not coming in for a strike. I have lots of cap up so, hopefully, I could clear through to his bombers if he heads that way. I suspect he's out trying to find my carriers. The two CV task force left Wake (I may be aggressive but I like to think that I'm not crazy). It's heading south and will loop back to Pearl to meet the Saratoga if the KB goes away. In a way I like knowing where his big carriers are. Perhaps he's just taking the short route to the South Pacific.

In Burma I'm fortifying Rangoon and in China I'm still running away.

In the ANZ area I have the first resupply convoy at Port Moresby and I'm flying in the first of many fresh battalions. The New Zealand Brigade is waiting for the PP to be sent to Fiji (which is a NZ responsibility).

Scott cut off Singapore so no reinforcements can get in. I did wipe out the SNLF at Kuala Lampur and I'm heading down to his blockade of Singapore with troops. I don't think I can break through but I might be able to delay his move into the city letting it's fort level build up somewhat. But, it's not looking too good. His merchants left Mersing so I'm starting to fly British aircraft out. I got in a good whack on Palembang with air (total oil damage now 53). He now has fighters there. I sent a CL task force there for another bombardment that should go home this next turn. It ran into a 4 DD IJN task force and a dutch DD took some damage but I did sink one of the DDs. I'm flying dutch troops into port blair and a dutch regiment on an outlying island was released to go to Wyndam to help beef up northern Australia (rather than simply die on the vine near java. A large number of battalions are being flown into Tarakan and the Americans continue to fly out of Manila/Clark Field to Davao. I'm taking oil and supplies out of Balikpapan and Soerebaja for Australia.

American troop and supply convoys have left the West Coast bound for OZ.

More later!

[BBfanboy]

At this stage in the war he will have lots of CAs in the DEI area and will be hunting your CL TF with them and with Netties. Could even be a carrier in the area.
Now that its presence has been revealed, and has used some of its ammo on the IJN DDs, I think it best to call off the bombardment and bug out.

[John B.]

BBFanboy,

After the DD surface encounter my fleet made it to Palembang, for some odd reason opted to not bombard [:@] and then headed home. They are in Batavia and, if searches fail to find any IJN surface ships nearby I may give it another go. Right now I"m repositioning the Buffaloes from Singapore into Sumatra to take care of the Japanese CAP so that the dutch bombers can make it through.

Not a whole of of new news to report. The KB is heading to Wake I'm sure to give those poor boys a good pasting. They did catch an APD that I had sent to resupply wake which had, for some unknown reason opted to not unload the supplies. The final tally of ships he sank at Pearl was only three. I have a TF of 6 BBs well enough to make it to the West Coast for repair and the 1/42 upgrades. In all, I have to be pretty happy with the Pearl attack. Given the cloud of Jap subs around Pearl I'm sending my carriers down to Canton for refuel and then on to Australia unless some other opportunity presents itself.

I've landed troops at Suva and Port Moresby as well as supplies and more convoys are headed that way. I see the IJN invasion force for Rabual and I expect a landing there today.

In the DEI, Singapore has been cut off and I have troops trying to fight their way in. I'm not sure it will work but I may cause some IJA casualties and slow down his entrance into the city. I'm not so worried about supply there given that he has cut me off. I also think that I may be able to fly some troops out of Georgetown into Sebang and thence onto Port Blair. I moved the Chinese transport squadron down to Sebang and it can pick up troops from Georgetwon rather than having to base there (and getting destroyed by the Japanese air raids that are pounding the city). I did get a battalion of Dutch troops into Blair that should help prevent Scott from taking it in an airborne assault. I have two resupply ships there which, for some odd reason, did not unload any supplies the last two turns.

This time I'm not only picking up fuel from Balikpappan and Soerebaja but supplies as well. Everything for Australia right now. I'm also still in the process of flying troops to Tarakan and have several more battalions there.

Not much to report from the Philippines. He is pressing forward and is now in Clark Field. He is not yet in Manila so those factories continue to make supplies. I keep flying out the US troops and sending them to Davao.

[John B.]

Well Wake Island did fall under a flurry of Val and Kate bombs. And, in more annoying news, I sent all the realtively unscathed BBs towards the West Coast and his subs basically ignored my DDs and put to fish into the Nevada (which should make it to Hilo to disband and pump out all that water) and one into the Oklahoma. [:@] the TF is now heading out at full speed and I hope I can lose the following subs. What a pain.

No real news to report anywhere. Building up Darwin, Suva, and Moresby. He has some CAs parked in Palembang and he is chasing my troops around in Malaya. Interestingly, he has not yet set foot into Singapore so it can still produce supplies and the few troops that are there can rest up and get their morale a bit higher (including the one Aussie Brigade that he mauled heading out of Mersing).

But, there is high drama at Port Blair. I've ferried a Dutch battalion there and had been picking up British troops from Georgetown and then sending them on to Blair. Just this turn Scott paradropped in a raiding regiment (not a full regiment). It destroyed my fort level but I think it may be in trouble. The only real problem in my morale. The Punjabi battalion has a morale of 12 and the base force has a morale of 14. They might got at the slightest push but the dutch boys are around 40 or so. And, given the emergency situation, I spent the PP and freed up another stronger ducth batallion in Sebang. It's flying in on the Chinese transport squadron and 3 dutch transport planes. You can just imagine them landing on the airstrip right into a firefight. Sort of like Malame airfield in Crete. I do need to hold Blair as it is the only route out for the Brits cutoff in Malaysia. Without Blair my air bridge can't reach anywhere.

As for Palembang, if I get some good luck I may be able to put a level of hurt on those oil facilities. I spent the PP to get the b-17s out of Manila and they are in Batavia along with about 25 Dutch bombers. I air transported some dutch base forces to the hex next to Palembang and I have 30 buffaloes set to do a sweep over the oil fields. Scott has 20 fighters there on CAP and I don't expect to shoot much down, my hope is to open a path for the bombers. I have the Batavia bombers and I'll also put drop tanks on the Vildebeests and send them and the blenheims in from Singapore. It's worth some aircraft losses to knock back his oil production from the get go. If it works this time I'll keep it up as long as I can.

[Bif1961]

Not knowing how badly damaged your BBs you are sending to the West coast are, it is risky to run them too long at full speed as they will accrue aditional damage and may sink.

[John B.]

Bif, that's a good point. they're actually in surprisingly good shape. My main worry right now is that Scott will put a cloud of subs around them and give himself the victory he did not get at Pearl. Too late to turn back now!

In other news, there is a savage fight for Port Blair. Scott flew in more troops and I flew in more troops but I still hold the port. Scott is bombing it and my bombers (a real theme for the day) did not fly. Scott lost a squad in the combat and I lost nothing. I suspect right now that my airlift capability exceeds his so we'll have to see what happens. I don't want to counter attack him yet.

As for my feckless bombers, the buffaloes were real champs over Palembang with the sweeps taking heavy casualties and clearing the way. But, in the end, none of the Dutch bombers from Batavia bothered to fly. Plenty of supply and air support squads and decent commanders. the whole thing was not entirely in vain as the Blenheims did fly in from Singapore and caused 3 oil hits but it could have been so much more! In any event, Scott may fly in more fighters but I'm trying again in the next turn. I used PPs to release two B-17 squadrons from the Phillipines and they're in Singapore set to bomb Palembang and the boys in Batavia will give it a shot as well. I don't like the plane losses I may take but I figure that the Dutch go away anyway and hits on Scott's oil production (that are expensive and time consuming to fix) only serve to weaken his economy in the long run.

He continues to advance on Manila which is basically an open city at this point. He also continues to advance in China. I'm not sure that the Chinese should start at low morale like the rest of the allied troops since they have been in the war for quite awhile but that's the way the game is made.

He is starting to show up near Rangoon. I've got resupply and reinforcement convoys there which I hope will help me hold Burma. One reason why I suspect he's being so bold in Singapore is that he wants to push me out of Burma this time to help him in China.

KB has disappeared and I"m sure it's heading to SoPac.

[John B.]

It's December 21st and this time I have a modicum of good news to report. As you can see below, this time the fighter jockies sacrifice was not in vain. Two waves of a sweep went in and got chewed up. But, a very nice coordinated strike from both Batavia and Singapore went in and looks to have inflicted about 60 oil hits or so. Nice to see Palembang down 111 oil from the very start. And, if it's 1,000 supply to fix each point then he's got a lot of shipping that he needs to send in there. I'm sending the B-17s out of Singpore again this next turn at a higher altitude. My hope is that they can make it in unescorted to let the buffaloes build up again for another big turn.[8D] the less oil/fuel he gets the harder his economic row to hoe is. [:D]

And, Port Blair continues to hold out. Scott has a very large bombardment task force near Sabang. I'm not sure if it's aimed for Blair or Sabang. I'm keeping the transports flying out of Sabang just in case but if he hits me there then he may well kill a bunch of D-C3s which are what's really moving troops out of Georgetown and onto Sumatra. Not many options.

Subs are shooting torpedos and they are really lousy. I had one sub attack an AK on the surface and it shot off it's entire load of torpedoes scored a number of hits and only the last two exploded. Sheesh. I wonder if he has a carrier doing ASW in near the Phillipines since I keep getting very high detection levels on my subs in that area. The Dutch did get an AK near Tarakan. There is something afoot there as there are several task forces wandering around in that area including one or two smaller carriers. No word on the KB. I wonder if he's up to something stunning. Pago Pago or Suva?

The Chinese are being pushed back.

[BBfanboy]

Pago-Pago and Suva are in SOPAC, a long way from Tarakan. Any TFs in this area are clearing the way for DEI invasions.
The ASW TF near the Philippines may be hoping to finish off any subs damaged at Manila in the first few turns, or just clearing the way for transports coming to the DEI.

EDIT: Your following post says there was a landing at Baker Island, so I am guessing you meant Tarawa was the area you saw the ships that you thought might be an invasion fleet for P-P or Suva. So many similar names in this game - it's a bear to remember them when you go to post! [&:]

[John B.]

For December 1941 the 27th was a pretty good turn. My carriers are at Canton Island and Scott invaded Baker Island in the last turn. I had a raft of CAs with the CVs so they went a huntin' and bagged two CMs a DD and most likely two AKs. Then, at Port Blair two British CLs took down Scott's resupply convoy and a DMS, a PB, and 3 AKs. Swordfish out of Tarakan added a DMS and not one, but two, American torpedoes exploded on an IJN AMC off the coast of Formosa. Many dark times ahead but it's always fun to ambush IJN convoys!

Unfortunately, Scott knows that my carriers are at Canton Island as he has a search sub just off shore. So, I'm bugging out and heading south. As I've mentioned, I don't know where the KB is and I certainly am in no shape to take that on right now. I'm heading to Oz and training as I go.

A quick trip around the perimeter shows my marine defense battalion digging in at Dutch Harbor, the BBs continuing to head to the West Coast, a new Zealand brigade landing at suva (giving me two there) supplies unloading at Darwin and Port Morseby, a mini KB south of Davao, IJA bombing at clark field while American troops continue to fly out of Bataan, my planes resting for another whack at Palembang (where recon shows reinforced fighter strength), Scott mopping up in Malaya while Singapore rests, me sucking whatever I can out of the DEI, flying whatever troops I can out of northern Malaya to Sebang, flying troops from Sebang to Port Blair (Scott assaulted again and it did not work for him), the Hermes getting ready to launch ground attacks on Port Blair, me digging in in Rangoon and the Chinese getting pushed around.

More as it becomes available!

[John B.]

Arggh, this has been a very frustrating couple of turns. The best way to put it is that the IJN is massively outshooting me in surface actions. In the last two turns my Rupluse task force has two CAS two CLs, and 6 DDs. I fought an IJN task force with a CL and 4 DDs and then one with 3 DDs. In the first action I lost a CL and a DD and he may have lost a CL but that's in doubt. In the second action he scored 13 hits and I scored 3. The Repulse basically does not shoot and has ended these two battles with nearly all of her 4 inch ammo. She has a good captain and good experience and I don't understand what is going on. You may recall that she did not really shoot at the Mersing battle either.

In other news, Scott is clearly aiming to isolate Australia. He has just invaded Espiritu Santu and it's still 1941. I have a reinforced Suva but that's about it. The American Carriers are just about two days sail from Sydney. I would send them north to counter the Espiritu invasion but (a) I'm almost out of fuel and (b) the KB is there.

I'm sucking everything I can out of the DEI including supplies out of Soerbaja. The mini KB has gone to restock so my task forces may be able to load up at Balikpapan and get away. But, since the Repulse can't shoot Scott's DD patrols may enforce a blockade on Darwin. I have mangaged to get a brigade and two battalions into Moresby with plenty of supply and I'm fortifying fast.

I did do a couple of local counter attacks in China that eliminated some minor units. At least it made me feel better.

Oh, and Port Blair is turning into an epic. I keep flying in more troops from Sebang but I don't seem to be able to do him much harm either with bombardments or attacks. But, he has not yet dislodged me. We shall see.

[John B.]

Well, it looks like I may dodge a bullet here. As you can see below, three of my carriers are headed to Sydney and they are out of fuel. Scott has one batch of fleet carriers that just struck Noumaea. If he was just a few hexes more south he would see me and then he would destroy me. But, I think he's focused on taking Noumea so I think my CVs will make it. To bad about New Caledonia, but there is not much I can do about it right now since it's only 1941. I'm not too worried about it right now as it's far far away from any place where he can hope to keep.

In other news yesterday was another major bombing raid over Palembang. Recon (flying every turn) tells me that I have 175 oil hits on him after several bombing raids. If true, I think that's worth the sacrifice of the poor boys in the buffaloes who are going up to clear the way. [&o] Fortress Tarakan may be his next target in the DEI.

Stalemate continues at Port Blair. He has a large task force there right now and I'm not sure what it's doing. If it's landing reinforcements he may eventually be able to take it. We shall see, but the fight is not over yet and I continue to fly in units from Sebang. They have decent morale, 65 or so, and I'm pretty sure that I outnumber him. This is letting more supplies get into Rangoon which may help me to hold Burma again, especially as he is heading into the south pacific.

[BBfanboy]

There is a good chance that subs with Glen aircraft (4 hex search range) are patrolling between Lord Howe Island and Sydney. If they get a sniff of your carriers he can sprint KB after you.
Consider sending out some empty xAKs that have full fuel bunkers to refuel the carriers so they can sprint to Sydney. Only after the carriers have had their drink should you consider fuelling the escorts as well. To get maximum fuel transfer from the xAKs, set their home port to the nearest base (dot or otherwise) to the fuelling rendezvous.

You could also send some xAKLs in a few TFs to hang around the carriers so that if he detects them and sends KB, the IJN strikes may be decoyed by the xAKLs.
If you have xAKLs at Suva that can be sacrificed you could send some into KB's search range to decoy it eastward.