Tale of the Sheep! - JocMeister (A) vs. Lowpe (J)

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
I do that when I deep search on something as well. The Old Days. I miss Mynok's avatar.

It seems a lot of the newbies don't stay and the ones who post often have not read the manual even once. OTOH, I get the impression, and in one of my games have confirmation, that there is a pretty large community of AE players, especially in Europe and especially who are English-challenged, who don't visit the forum much or at all.

I remember Mynok even though he was a bit before my time. Or rather before I became active on the forum.

Glad to hear the game might be doing well outside the English speaking forum. I know there is a pretty decent sized German community outside the Matrix site but know little about it. One of their members did an occasional visit here from time to time if I remember correctly.

I really hope Baloogan and Historical gamer can attract some new blood to the game. Its needed.

[JocMeister]

Drinking a "gravöl" or "funeral beer" today. He would have liked that!

RIP Lemmy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZIfeovedU4

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
I do that when I deep search on something as well. The Old Days. I miss Mynok's avatar.

It seems a lot of the newbies don't stay and the ones who post often have not read the manual even once. OTOH, I get the impression, and in one of my games have confirmation, that there is a pretty large community of AE players, especially in Europe and especially who are English-challenged, who don't visit the forum much or at all.

I remember Mynok even though he was a bit before my time. Or rather before I became active on the forum.

Glad to hear the game might be doing well outside the English speaking forum. I know there is a pretty decent sized German community outside the Matrix site but know little about it. One of their members did an occasional visit here from time to time if I remember correctly.

I really hope Baloogan and Historical gamer can attract some new blood to the game. Its needed.

I think you're missing some of the new blood. Over the past few months there appear to have been several newbies sign up on the forums. They're around. Try not to scare them away.

[Rio Bravo]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
I do that when I deep search on something as well. The Old Days. I miss Mynok's avatar.

It seems a lot of the newbies don't stay and the ones who post often have not read the manual even once. OTOH, I get the impression, and in one of my games have confirmation, that there is a pretty large community of AE players, especially in Europe and especially who are English-challenged, who don't visit the forum much or at all.

I remember Mynok even though he was a bit before my time. Or rather before I became active on the forum.

Glad to hear the game might be doing well outside the English speaking forum. I know there is a pretty decent sized German community outside the Matrix site but know little about it. One of their members did an occasional visit here from time to time if I remember correctly.

I really hope Baloogan and Historical gamer can attract some new blood to the game. Its needed.

I think you're missing some of the new blood. Over the past few months there appear to have been several newbies sign up on the forums. They're around. Try not to scare them away.

I agree, it would be great if some of the newer folk join in on the forum.

Best Regard,

-Terry

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
I think you're missing some of the new blood. Over the past few months there appear to have been several newbies sign up on the forums. They're around. Try not to scare them away.

No need to tell me. I´m very pleasant and friendly! (Handsome too!). [:D]

[Canoerebel]

Me too! I'm winsome and alluring in a modest yet captivating way.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
I think you're missing some of the new blood. Over the past few months there appear to have been several newbies sign up on the forums. They're around. Try not to scare them away.

No need to tell me. I´m very pleasant and friendly! (Handsome too!). [:D]

Hrm. The jury's still out on at least one of those...

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Me too! I'm winsome and alluring in a modest yet captivating way.

Exactly! [:D]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
Hrm. The jury's still out on at least one of those...

Okay, okay. Perhaps I´m not always pleasant before I get my morning coffee... [:(]

[JocMeister]

PS. Sent the turn to Jeff and I´m about to leave town. Be back on Friday.

Happy new year everyone! [:)]

[Canoerebel]

Happy New Year Joc!

[Rio Bravo]

Hope you had a nice Christmas Jock!

[JocMeister]

No turn from Jeff yet. I hope we will return to the normal pace soon. [:(]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]1st August -42[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

A new turn and a new month! [:)]

Aircraft wise August is a pretty awesome months. P38F (40/mo), B17F (24/mo) and B25-C (25/mo) to name a few. Nice!

------------------------
NORPAC
------------------------
Quiet here. The expected sweeps never happened.

------------------------
India
------------------------
British bombers sortie to hit the retreating Japanese troops in the North. I stupidly assumed Jeff wouldn´t waste CAP this far out. I was wrong and paid for it. [:(]

Morning Air attack on 18th/C Division, at 53,27 , near Gorakhpur

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 4
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 6

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 35
Wellington Ic x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged
Wellington Ic: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
43 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Obviously not good for the already depleted British pools. I´ll try to sweep with some Hurricanes tomorrow and see if I can get some revenge.

At least the ground forces spearheaded by then 255th Armored brigade cross the river in good order! [&o]

Ground combat at 53,27 (near Gorakhpur)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 4644 troops, 15 guns, 208 vehicles, Assault Value = 221

Defending force 1878 troops, 26 guns, 38 vehicles, Assault Value = 77

Allied adjusted assault: 54

Japanese adjusted defense: 23

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
1020 casualties reported
Squads: 47 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 8 (6 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
175 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
255th Armoured Brigade
44th Indian Brigade

Defending units:
14th Tank Regiment
3rd RTA/A Division
35th Field AA Battalion

------------------------
SOPAC
------------------------
By the looks of it Jeff is pulling back from Noumea. [&:]

We get some TTs off against a DD and CL Katori but no hits. Allied CVs will refuel and keep position South of Noumea.

[poodlebrain]

I think the Japanese realize that Noumea would not net them a 4:1 VP ratio, and will back off. The exposed bases the Japanese did capture are nice targets for you to get some offensive experience for your units. Japan can't defend them adequately without the KB, and Japan can't afford to keep the KB in the region. You might want to begin prepping some units for the recapture of Efate and Aoba as they will be low hanging fruit for later in 1942.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: poodlebrain

I think the Japanese realize that Noumea would not net them a 4:1 VP ratio, and will back off. The exposed bases the Japanese did capture are nice targets for you to get some offensive experience for your units. Japan can't defend them adequately without the KB, and Japan can't afford to keep the KB in the region. You might want to begin prepping some units for the recapture of Efate and Aoba as they will be low hanging fruit for later in 1942.

Already had some troops prepping for Efafe but they are only in the 40-50 range. Set a NZ BDE on Aoba. That should do it. [:)]

[RangerJoe]

I am new to the game and I have some questions for you.

1. Have you considered having subs lay a minefield at Coal Harbor? As well as the bases supporting it? Or the approaches if possible? One hit could be a nice distraction.

2. When you see a convoy coming in to Coal Harbor, do you send PT Boats in? This could be very useful during bad weather or when moon light is low. Even if you don't sink anything, you can disrupt their unloading.

3. If a convoy is coming in to Coal Harbor and is far enough away from their CAP, have you considered sending in P-39s at 100 feet to strafe and bomb? Possibly with torpedo planes?

4. Have you thought of using PT Boats/MTBs as bait for a CAP Trap? Is is fun watching the surviving Nells trying to torpedo the small boats.
5. Could you also leave a PT Boat/MTB in port to attract an attack from bombers for your light AA?

Very good going so far.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I am new to the game and I have some questions for you.

1. Have you considered having subs lay a minefield at Coal Harbor? As well as the bases supporting it? Or the approaches if possible? One hit could be a nice distraction.

2. When you see a convoy coming in to Coal Harbor, do you send PT Boats in? This could be very useful during bad weather or when moon light is low. Even if you don't sink anything, you can disrupt their unloading.

3. If a convoy is coming in to Coal Harbor and is far enough away from their CAP, have you considered sending in P-39s at 100 feet to strafe and bomb? Possibly with torpedo planes?

4. Have you thought of using PT Boats/MTBs as bait for a CAP Trap? Is is fun watching the surviving Nells trying to torpedo the small boats.
5. Could you also leave a PT Boat/MTB in port to attract an attack from bombers for your light AA?

Very good going so far.

Hi, Welcome to the AAR! [:)]

1. I have tried but Jeff has put up a defensive minefield at CH. I lost two subs trying to lay mines.

2. I havn´t tried yet. Allied PT boat pool is really shallow at this point. The few I have are in Australia. Its a good idea though! [:)]

3. Jeff has 140 Fighters at CH. Sending in P39s that low might possibly escape under the CAP. But they might just as well get completely slaughtered. Besides that I only have two P39 squadrons on the WC. I also lack enough LowN trained pilots.

4/5. After Jeff had some Nells fly into Seattle after some minesweepers he stood his naval bombers down. This is hopefully something I can take advantage of in the coming weeks. [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Noumea[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Some of you seems pretty concerned that I´ve decided to fight for Noumea. I can understand that as it normally is a deathtrap but I´ll try to explain more closely why I chosen to.

You have to fight somewhere right? The allies job in 42 is to identify where the Japanese are weak and try and hit back there. Not where they are strongest and can overwhelm you. Obviously there are exceptions to this as delaying Japan at critical locations might be worth the loss of troops, ships and planes. A good example of this is the Allied CV strike at Java where we managed to force the Japanese to withdraw their invasion costing them at least 2 weeks for the cost of Lady Lex and 2 CAs. A good exchange IMO as we not only bought time but actually won the VP exchange.

Noumea is not about buying time though but rather to fight where the Japanese are weak. Some facts.

- There are no Japanese divisions in SOPAC.
- Closest Japanese airfield from Noumea is at Port Moresby 32 hexes away.
- Closest port (not counting size 1 ones) are at Rabaul 35 hexes away.
- Noumea is a x3 hex with level 6 forts. It will soon have over 1200 AV fully prepped for Noumea. A fully prepped HQ combo will soon arrive.
- Allied construction units have just arrived in mass. We will soon have several supporting airfields in New Caledonia.
- The bulk of the USN in already in position. My LOC is built up an pouring in troops, supply and fuel.
- A lot of my LBA strike capabilities are here.
- The RAAF is now fully trained and have planes to spare. I want to get them into action.
- About 50% of the Allied subs are stationed at Noumea. We are bound to eventually hit something important.

Everything is stacked to my advantage here. Obviously the KB and IJN still dictates terms when they are in the area. But they alone can´t capture Noumea. For that he needs probably 5-8 divisions depending on how fast he wants to get it. He only have those numbers in India. He can´t pull them from the line or India will collapse and he will have allied units pouring into Burma in mid 42.

Obviously there are risks involved here but you have to trust your instinct sometimes. My instinct tells me I can hold here and that the Japanese can´t support this kind of operation given the heavy involvement in India, China and NORPAC. If I´m wrong you can all tell me "told you so" later on! [:D]

[zuluhour]

Your supply and fuel situation, Espiritu Santo and environs?

ps. I agree, your reasoning is sound.
pss. Like to hold Suva as long as possible, forever is good.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

3. If a convoy is coming in to Coal Harbor and is far enough away from their CAP, have you considered sending in P-39s at 100 feet to strafe and bomb? Possibly with torpedo planes?

4. Have you thought of using PT Boats/MTBs as bait for a CAP Trap? Is is fun watching the surviving Nells trying to torpedo the small boats.
5. Could you also leave a PT Boat/MTB in port to attract an attack from bombers for your light AA?

3. Jeff has 140 Fighters at CH. Sending in P39s that low might possibly escape under the CAP. But they might just as well get completely slaughtered. Besides that I only have two P39 squadrons on the WC. I also lack enough LowN trained pilots.

4/5. After Jeff had some Nells fly into Seattle after some minesweepers he stood his naval bombers down. This is hopefully something I can take advantage of in the coming weeks. [:)]

Altitude set to 100 feet on fighters uses the strafe skill [;)].

It's unlikely that bombers will attack PTs/MTBs beneath CAP. Not impossible, but unlikely.