ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
The Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 5/44.
Should be a very good anti bomber plane! The Ki100I is for me.
I have often thought there are several advantages the Allies have that Japan needs to deal with and Bombers are one of them. Those Ki100II will prevent long range bombing runs during the daytime, anything outside of Jugs range (10 hexes and more). It will be your best Army bomber killer for a long time I think.
The other advantage to counter is Fletchers. I recently had good luck in having an Agano class CL fight several Fletchers, so I think pairing two or even three of those CLs up might at least give you a little better counter -- so don't waste those ships Mike.
The Ramree attack force is moving 3 miles a day. 15 more to go. [8|]
China
I've been chasing some Chinese rabble (1 each HQ, corps and base force) and hit them again a hex NE of Paoshan, killing the corps and base force and pushing the remaining rabble into Paoshan.
Other Stuff
The Tone and Chikuma completed their refit and are heading back to Truk.
Lowpe, I expect to get the the Tony II in July 43. Even if it is mediocre, it should do ok this early.
When do the Fletchers begin to come? I have yet to lose a CL. They sail occasionally, but spend most of their time sitting in port.
I killed my first Fletcher in winter 42. The Bannon I think she was. It is a trickle turning into a flood, and they are darn tough with armor, speed, flak, radar, they can do it all. Most of my kills in my AAR'd game come from torpedoes after a few hits to slow them down.
In my downfall game versus Mind Messing they can take on anything...but excel at making 12+ hex full speed runs into harbors, savage anything there, and run away (kudos to NYGiants for that tactic[&o]). It took 3 Nick Kamikaze with bombs to sink one after it hit a mine and that guy almost made it back 10 hexes to a port and safety.
If the Allies cotton on how to use them, they are game changers as nothing is safe. You don't have any AFBs reading this do you?[:D]
Lowpe, I expect to get the the Tony II in July 43. Even if it is mediocre, it should do ok this early.
When do the Fletchers begin to come? I have yet to lose a CL. They sail occasionally, but spend most of their time sitting in port.
I killed my first Fletcher in winter 42. The Bannon I think she was. It is a trickle turning into a flood, and they are darn tough with armor, speed, flak, radar, they can do it all. Most of my kills in my AAR'd game come from torpedoes after a few hits to slow them down.
In my downfall game versus Mind Messing they can take on anything...but excel at making 12+ hex full speed runs into harbors, savage anything there, and run away (kudos to NYGiants for that tactic[&o]). It took 3 Nick Kamikaze with bombs to sink one after it hit a mine and that guy almost made it back 10 hexes to a port and safety.
If the Allies cotton on how to use them, they are game changers as nothing is safe. You don't have any AFBs reading this do you?[:D]
Lowpe, I expect to get the the Tony II in July 43. Even if it is mediocre, it should do ok this early.
When do the Fletchers begin to come? I have yet to lose a CL. They sail occasionally, but spend most of their time sitting in port.
I killed my first Fletcher in winter 42. The Bannon I think she was. It is a trickle turning into a flood, and they are darn tough with armor, speed, flak, radar, they can do it all. Most of my kills in my AAR'd game come from torpedoes after a few hits to slow them down.
In my downfall game versus Mind Messing they can take on anything...but excel at making 12+ hex full speed runs into harbors, savage anything there, and run away (kudos to NYGiants for that tactic[&o]). It took 3 Nick Kamikaze with bombs to sink one after it hit a mine and that guy almost made it back 10 hexes to a port and safety.
If the Allies cotton on how to use them, they are game changers as nothing is safe. You don't have any AFBs reading this do you?[:D]
33 Betties missed with bombs. I went back to torpedoes. I figure if they ever do manage to hit something, it may as well be a big boom.
Remember the Tojo sentai I put up in Manas? Well, Ted has been sweeping pretty much everything except Manas and Rabaul. No air combat at all here. I left the Tojos for another day and then I'll move them if nothing happens. I figure 40+ Tojos can hurt any partial squadron he's putting in the air.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
The Chindits got more headaches.
China
More Japanese bombing of Chengtu and Chungking.
The 13 Army is getting closer to the Chungking plateau. Still half dozen or so hexes away.
Other Stuff
The B6N2 R&D advanced to 7/43.
The Ha-43 engine R&D advanced to 6/45.
A pilot escaped capture.
See, I told you it was a really boring turn. Some day (probably soon) I'm probably going to wish for days like this one.
The American warships like the Fletchers come in with relatively low crew experience. As the war gets to 44 and beyond, the crews have good at start experience and are even more difficult to sink. So right now, you have a chance to sink them, but not for long. [:-]
Awe, and here I got all excited seeing activity again.[:D] No big deal if he can't get to it he can't, I get it. Just hopin'. Hope all is well, take care Mike.
Rusty
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
Morning everyone. All is well with Ted and me. RL just sucked us both away. That happens from time to time. My problem is that when I get out of the AE habit, I tend to focus on real life to the exclusion of this infernal game. Ted mentioned there's an upgrade. I'm going to see if it's the beta becoming official. We'll decide on whether or not to upgrade later. Right now I just want to open the game up to see what the hell I was doing. I reread my notes for the past couple of game weeks to get an idea. I'll probably just run the turn to see what happened. More to come soon.
Right now I just want to open the game up to see what the hell I was doing. I reread my notes for the past couple of game weeks to get an idea. I'll probably just run the turn to see what happened. More to come soon.
Ok guys, time to update the AAR. I just ran the 27 Apr turn. Man was that exciting. [X(] Getting ahead of myself though. A few relatively boring turns to grind through first….
A few hexes to the east of Townsville, the I-10 caught an empty convoy and put a torpedo into the xAP Camphuys. I heard sinking sounds but she wasn’t reported as sunk. The I-10 took a retaliatory DC hit, but will make it back to safety.
5 Fleet
All quiet here. I refueled MKB2 and it used half the fuel in the replenishment fleet (12k of 24k fuel). In a week or so, I’ll refuel them again then send the replenishment fleet to Japan to refuel. I normally don’t like to suck fuel out of Japan, but it’s only 24k and my fuel situation is looking better than I had expected at this point in the war.
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
Once again, Ted swept where my fighters weren’t. All of my fighter units in this AO are at full strength, with spares, at least 3 extra pilots and rested. I moved the Tojo sentai from Manas to Shortland at 31k feet. Ted has been sweeping at ~5k below that. I’m hoping to get the bounce and kill some Corsairs and Wildcats over my base.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
I have decided to pull my army out of the hex along the road between Akyab and Cox’s Bazaar. Yeah, I’m bottling him up there, but I’m afraid that Ted will send some units around the flank to cut these guys off. If that happens, I’m dead in the water. I’m moving a whole 2 miles per day (combat mode). He’s been bombarding me daily for months. Today he stopped. I wonder why? Lack of supply? Anyhoo, my goal is to withdraw over the river and then defend the river line. I want to pull the 1 and 2 Tank Divisions out to use as a mobile reserve.
Something interesting happened with the Chindits at Ramree. My air force bombed them again, as they have been doing for weeks. For the first time, I saw squads destroyed and not just disabled. I saw 5 squads destroyed today. I don’t know how accurate that is, but to me that means the 77 Chindit brigade is hurting. There is no AA over Ramree. They either don’t have any AA guns or don’t have any supply. I’ll find out in a couple weeks when the assault force crawls into the hex.
China
Same ole bombing of Chengtu and Chungking.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
SS I-39 – Glen sub – headed to 5 Fleet, brings the number of subs here to 5 fleet and 5 Glen subs. I want good coverage in case he moves against Adak (or Amchitka or Attu).
1 South Seas Garrison – 4 Fleet – headed to Marcus Island (see below)
2 South Seas Garrison – 4 Fleet – headed to Marcus Island (see below)
I’ve switched some things up in the 4 Fleet AO. Currently, I have 15 Base Force (upgraded with DP guns) at Marcus. Someone suggested I move that unit out and put it somewhere more suited to it. I like having DP guns there and didn’t have any other units available until the Kure 7 SNLF battalion (with 24 DP guns) arrived on 18 April. I initially planned on sending this unit to Rota. While enroute, I made some changes:
15 Base Force – will move from Marcus Island to Rota
Kure 7 SNLF – moving to Marcus Island
1 South Seas Garrison – will move to Marcus Island
2 South Seas Garrison – will move to Marcus Island
I already have the Ichiki Battalion at Marcus Island. That’ll give me 4 infantry battalions and 24 DP guns at Marcus Island and the 15 Base Force and a garrison unit at Rota (along with engineers and AS at both locations). More infantry is planned for all 4 of the Marianas islands in the future.
Yeah, 4 infantry battalions can’t hold Marcus if Ted really wants it, but it’s an atoll so I can’t put much there anyway. I have level 6 forts, 150 mines and some midget subs there as well. Ted can take it, but it’ll hurt. That’s my goal. Make it hurt.
Should Ted come after Marcus, I’ll see him coming (naval search and sub screens). That’ll give me time to react. With the defenses there, I don’t think he would be able to take it quickly (within a day or 2 of arriving. He’d need to soften up the base first. I’d be able to get KB up there from Truk and put a hurting on him. I’d also be able to station LBA at the Marianas (I have significant AS there) to support KB. Even if he did take Marcus, he would have a very difficult time keeping it supplied.
Rotten day today, and it’s all my fault. Remember the attack on the DDs at Amchitka a couple of days ago? Well, I neglected to move them and the S-45 (that leaky old sorry excuse for a sub) put 2 torpedoes into the Shirayuki, sinking her. Another Fubuki goes down.
5 Fleet
4 Fleet
Nothing to report (other than my stupidity chronicled above).
SE Fleet
A squadron each of Wildcats and Corsairs took out 3 Tojos (+1 op loss) over Shortland Island for no loss. Two pilots KIA. Grrr…
Ted is resting his bombers in this AO. I know they’re coming. I just don’t know where or when. Gasmata?
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
My bombers hit the Chindits again, allegedly killing 9 squads. Hmm…
My assault force is still crawling toward the Chindits while my main army is still crawling out of its potential trap.
China
More bombing of Chengtu and Chungking’s airfields.
Other Stuff
The E15K1 R&D advanced to 6/43. Its R&D is complete. I moved the 2x30 factories to the Frank and increased their increased them back to 30. The Frank R&D is now up to 8 factories, 1 of which is fully repaired.
The Shokaku, Zuikaku and DD Arare entered refit at Tokyo. The Akagi and Kaga, currently refitting at Kobe, will complete their refit in 10 days. The Shokaku and Zuikaku will complete their refits in 14 days. All four carriers will be back at Truk by mid-May.
Six of the 7 E Momi class completed refit at Singapore.
Three of the 5 PC Momi class entered refit in Shanghai.
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