The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

1/22/43

Singapore: No big news today. The P-38Gs sweep to no great effect; the B25Cs perform their mission, doing no harm to the enemy and losing a moderate number; and the B-24Ds from Sabang mostly don't fly (one group of three or four does so without effect). No enemy carriers were sighted, but I'm not sure any bombers got close enough to tell. John's CAP was bolstered by 50+ AM5s, so the CAP was tougher but certainly not uber. (In an email comment, John was pretty contemptuous of my decision to order a second raid. He can be funny that way.)

Battle of Sumatra: An IJN sub sank CA New Orleans just west of Sabang with two torps. She was leading a bombardment mission against Sinabang. The escorting destroyers turned around and went back home. And the SBDs that were to target the port refused to fly. So the entire Sinabang thing left a sour taste in my mouth. Temporarily there are no Allied capital ships at Sabang, though several (including BB Indiana) are inbound from Ceylon.

A big IJN fast transport TF flagged by three CAs arrived at Phuket and began unloading. The pre-landing bombardment was immense. The TF is still there, so five USN DDs from Sabang will try to interdict tonight, along with four PT boat squadrons from Langsa and a fifth from Sabang.

There is another IJN cruiser TF west of Sinabang. I'm not sure what it's doing out there, but I have all kinds of TFs inbound. I'm hoping this won't prove to be an enemy raiding force, but on the chance that it is, two USN TFs will merge (flagged by Indiana and CL Cleveland) to provide advance cover on the merchants. USN carriers are coming behind, but are a few days away.

This is a very tense situation. If I miscalculate, or if John chooses just the right course, is cruisers might get amongst a bunch of merchants doing pretty grave harm. Tension!

Burma: A quiet turn. My main stack a hex south of Magwe is still low on supply.

USN Raiders: All seven of the raiding DDs continued to retire without molestation. One DD near Iwo and one DD SW of Timor are zero on fuel and will be refueling today. If that operation goes okay, the destroyers should all be clear. (It's odd - all destroyers had similar fuel levels. Some went to zero. Others have good numbers. I had checked fuel and speed levels, so I don't know how/why the computer treated consumption differently.) The big question is whether these raids make John more attentive so that he has to spread his defenses a bit and draw down just that bit from the forces besieging Sumatra.

John: He's feeling his oats again. He's talking about being Stonewall in the valley. It's been a pretty tough week for him in the game, but he's determined to rectify things. So he'll be attending to the defensive, but also (by nature) going on the offensive to exact retribution

The Key: Meanwhile, no enemy sweeps at Sabang in three or four days. How much longer? That's the key to the campaign, in my opinion. It's in the air that this is won or lost. Each day in which the Allies maintain or grow slightly stronger is a good day. So, by that measure, this was a good day.

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Raid over Singapore: If you happen to just be checking in, a raid by B-24Ds over Singapore struck paydirt, damaging more than a half-dozen enemy carriers, including Hiyo with a "heavy fires/heavy damage" report. More details on the previous page.

I've figured this is the most efficient way (if possible) of eliminating major enemy warships.

In my game vs Cannonfodder, I caught Fuso and Yamashiro at Colombo with my Liberators. Both ate over 50 bombs each and burned down to the waterline before sinking.

Amazing what non-penetrating hits can do. [:)]

[ny59giants]

John has fallen in love with Fast Transport TFs since this game started. In a short PBEM game as Allies, his opponent used them to great effect against him. I would say in our game he has used them close to 90% of time when invading someplace. Expect him to use them against you anyplace where he needs to get in and out quickly. As Allies, you can use some of the AMCs and APDs in this role.

[Canoerebel]

I think John's been a fan of fast transport TFs since WitP came out in 2005.

[Encircled]

Its a criminal offence for a JFB not to love fast transports.

I love them!

[KenchiSulla]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Raid over Singapore: If you happen to just be checking in, a raid by B-24Ds over Singapore struck paydirt, damaging more than a half-dozen enemy carriers, including Hiyo with a "heavy fires/heavy damage" report. More details on the previous page.

I've figured this is the most efficient way (if possible) of eliminating major enemy warships.

In my game vs Cannonfodder, I caught Fuso and Yamashiro at Colombo with my Liberators. Both ate over 50 bombs each and burned down to the waterline before sinking.

Amazing what non-penetrating hits can do. [:)]

Mundy, that was a nice lesson learned for me... No important ships in heavy bomber range when possible...

Dan, you are doing a great job....

[Canoerebel]

I think nearly every player loves FTs, right? I've always liked them, though I don't use them all that often. One reason is that they used to have a nasty habit of arriving at the target hex, unloading, and then sticking around and drawing land-based air attacks like Zsa Zsa Gabor drew men. They were supposed to unload at night and retire, but about 50% of the time they'd screw it up. So I'm pretty careful with them and only use them when the target is important enough to justify the risk (Well, duh. I suppose that's the way it's supposed to be.)

[KenchiSulla]

The problem with FTs is that when using them you are already admitting that you are not in control of the theater...

If you think FTs your mind is set to delaying the inevitable.. Ok to use, but not a solution....

[Mundy]

One of the few high points for me in this game.

It's hard to believe that can happen until you see if for yourself.

[Canoerebel]

1/23/43

Battle of Sumatra: A tough day for the Allies. John's Tojo sweeps resume and score much higher than normal kills versus F4Fs and P-40Ks. The problem seems to be that I forgot to reset my P-38Gs from Sweep mode, so instead of providing umbrella CAP, they flew another mission to Singers. Worse, all the planes in the squadron now need maintenance, meaning at least another day without their service. Tomorrow may get ugly.

Also disturbing is Sinabang's airfield went to level one. So John's loaded up the field with Zeroes. This makes ingress and egress for shipping problematic. I"ll try to suppress the field with the B24Ds, but this is going to be a challenge.

The SBDs flew one turn too late, but did rough up a host of merchant shipping disbanded in port there. And subs sank two enemy merchants and a DMS there.

PTs operating out of Langsa sank an xAK near Medan. This ship was carrying alot of troops, making me wonder if John is about to try a quick leapfrog invasion of Langsa. I have 200 AV there with another 100 on the way. The DDs and PTs will cruise from Sabang to Langsa tonight to see what's up.

Battle of Burma: Allies to attack in the hex south of Magwe tomorrow.

Ramilles: She's still giving me fits. She's over at map's edge but declines to go to Capetown. A big xAK has joined her. I've re-issued the orders and will see if the ship is thus persuaded to proceed. If not, I'll come up with a Plan B or G or W.

Elsewhere: The USN raiders continue to make good progress towards getting out of Dodge, though two of the DDs are lagging due to fuel issues. Small steps continue elsewhere. I won't mention them because they're small pieces to an immense puzzle that won't begin to take shape for a long time. But I think I'm seeing things I want to see out of John.
The Key to Victory: Things have tightened up once again. The campaign hangs in the balance. Can the Allies hold?

[Bullwinkle58]

Do you have an HR on night bombing?

[Canoerebel]

I don't think we have an HR on night bombing. But I think we discussed it long ago and agreed (at the time) not to use it. I was all for that since I had 100 ships bottled up in Sabang's little harbor at the time. So I won't employ that unless John does it first. And if he does, I'll probably revisit the issue with him.

[jwolf]

On the Ramilles: can you send it to Karachi and withdraw it from there?

[Canoerebel]

1/23/43

Battle of Sumatra:Nuclear IJN bombardment of Langsa (BBs Yamato, Hiei, Haruna and more) tear up Langsa's airfield and do modest damage to the ground troops. There was pre-bombardment skirmishing with PT boats, but the USN DD TF was warded off by an IJN DD TF. The Allies lost two DDs in that skirmish. I was very worried that this was a pre-invasion bombardment. But it seems that John is now focused on Burma. SigInt shows that Imperial Guards and 14th Division are aboard transports inbound to Rangoon, and a regiment and a brigade inbound to Port Blair. This will eliminate John's weakness in Burma. I can only hope that it indicates he's not planning a coup de main vs. Sumatra.

Meanwhile, there's another IJN TF with a BB (Nagato IIRC) west of Sabang. It tangled with an APD TF inbound to Sabang, doing little damage to it. The massed Allied resupply/reinforcement convoy is not far away, escorted by a pretty stout combat TF including BB Indiana, two USN CAs, and CL Cleveland. Carriers are a few days away.

No IJAF sweeps of Sabang today, thank goodness. But the Allied OOB is beginning to show serious cracks. The P-40Ks in particular are dwindling. But the P-39G squadron is operational again. Hopefully that makes the difference I think it does.

IJ fast transport invasion of Great Nicobar, which was vacant. I had an amphibious TF with garrison troops inbound, just ten hexes away. So Sabang is increasingly isolated. I'm going to try to get the big resupply/reinforcement convoy in, but it's going to be tough and tight.

Very tense situation in Sumatra.

Battle of Burma:The big Allied stack near Magwe attacked, achieved a disappointing 1:2 ratio, but did considerably more damage. But with strong enemy reinforcements inbound now, I'm going to begin consolidating my positions. There are units hung out there in precarious places. So even this is challenging.

Ramilles: Finally, after weeks and even months of effort, Ramilles accepted orders to rebase at Capetown. Pairing her with a large merchant ship in an Escort TF did the trick. She can't withdraw from Karachi due to damage level. Nor can she repair there. So it's a relief to get her off to Capetown.

Raiders: All seven USN DDs are far from the scene of action. One or two are still struggling with fuel and working towards rendezvous with pre-positioned replenishment ships.

Singers Raid Recap: Hiyo shows up on the ships sunk list but I don't think it's legit. A quick check of the points for ships sunk shows an increase of 325 points in the past eight days. That's not enough to allow for the two CAs, the host of merchants, and Hiyo (258 points alone).

Assessment: From an operational standpoint things look awfully tough in Sumatra and Burma right now. The Allies are fighting gamely. Japan is bringing terrific force to bear. I'm not as optimistic as I was two days ago about my ability to hold this "Guadalcanal." But then I step back and consider that it's January 1943, I'm fighting hard at an advanced position (for this date) in Sumatra, and the conflict is costing John pretty dearly, especially at sea. I want to win this campaign badly. Very badly. Very, very badly. But as things now stand, the Allies are in pretty good shape no matter what happens.

[BBfanboy]

The 325 VPs might come close if the Hiyo was scuttled (fewer VPs) and you add in your 58 pts per CA plus the merchies. IIRC a lot of the latter were low-point xAKLs?

[Canoerebel]

1/25/43:

I think my last post should have been labeled 1/24/43. I think I forgot to post for the 23rd.

Battle of Sumatra: A blessedly quiet day - no IJN nuclear bombardments; now IJAF Tojo sweeps. Two IJN TFs, one featuring BB Nagato and the other probably a DD TF, have gotten behindthe big Allied TFs inbound to Sabang. I hope BB Indiana and her escorts are up to the task. And I hope that I've deduced correctly that KB is at Singers or somewhere else far away. F4s on recon did sight carriers at Singers today.

Battle of Burma: A tense battle starts for the Allies to withdraw from the hex south of Magwe. John's trying to cut off the path of egress. He thinks I didn't see this coming. I did, bombing the units moving to create an encirclement, but I expected the Allied stack to take the hex, thus gaining control of all hexsides. That would have created multiple routes of egress. This is the second time the Allies have pulled back during the Burma invasion. Yhe going is tough here too.

Ramillees: She'll exit map's edge in two or three days.

[JeffroK]

Indy should clean up Nagato, its the escorts I would doubt.

Re you raiders, I am trying to play the evil empire seriously for the first time, made it to 7/42 without sinking the HI. I have found it very hard to get any ideas about the location of the Allied fleets, even had a landing on Etorofu which I didnt see till the Marines raided the sushi shop.

The japanese player is almost blind, has to put in a major effort in setting up and maintaining his search patterns (though Tracker aids him), the Allied player has a major advantage with Sigint.

There should be wide stretches of ocean available to slip through and put a scare into JIII, if he sees them.

[Skyland]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Raiders: All seven USN DDs are far from the scene of action. One or two are still struggling with fuel and working towards rendezvous with pre-positioned replenishment ships.

My humble advice will be to use lone CL as raiders. Better range and their armor will be enough against DD or smaller ships. DD are too fragile, it is better to use them for sub hunting or escort of convoy in Sumatra area.
Good luck anyway !

[JohnDillworth]

My humble advice will be to use lone CL as raiders. Better range and their armor will be enough against DD or smaller ships. DD are too fragile, it is better to use them for sub hunting or escort of convoy in Sumatra area.
Good luck anyway !

I've had lots of luck with dual-Fletcher TF's doing raids. for some reason the 2nd DD does not seem to increase detection. once they have good radar and working torps they are lethal. Too valuable for raiders right now though

[Canoerebel]

1/26/43

Battle of Sumatra: The wolves got in amongst the sheep! BBs Nagato and Fuso managed to find a big supply/fuel TF that the Indiana TF was shepherding. The results were ugly - I think about ten xAKs were sunk as was a small DD and a TK. Two more TKs will probably sink. It was an incredibly long replay - incredibly long. Like 20 minutes. I kept clicking the "Done" button trying to end the horrible scene - I was clicking as fast as the T-Rex dinosaur clicking the TV remote control on the Toy Story II movie, but it didn't work. I had to watch the entire grisly affair. Indiana and her sister ships were busy too, tangling with a very tenacious four-DD TF. Several Allied DDs were set afire. I think two or three of the IJN DDs suffered light to moderate damage. Several other Allied supply/troop TFs were not molested. All are now close to Sabang and hopefully will make it into port tonight. I think Fuso and Nagato are low on ammo - they've simply got to be after shooting for about 95 hours. I'd detail Indiana to chase them, but that would leave the merchants unescorted with lots of enemy ships in the general vicinity.

I think another big enemy bombardment TF is heading for Langsa - this is probably the massive Yamato-led group. The bombardments aren't a huge concern. The possibility of an invasion is. I can't offer any real opposition this turn. Indiana needs to reprovision at Sabang.

No enemy air attacks on Sabang, which is one small bright spot. Most of the enemy air is probably concentrated in Burma at the moment.

I'm going to load up Sabang with Avengers this turn. It's not ideal, because the odds are fairly high the bombers will go for the Yamato TF at Langsa, which will be covered by heavy LRCAP, instead of the enemy ships lurking west and north of Sabang. But I think it's worth one shot. Allied carrires are probably still two or three days away and unlikely to make it in time to hit the enemy.

Battle of Burma: My army stack south of Magwe is indeed in a precarious situation. It's made 17 miles towards a safer hex, but John is bombing them to slow them down. It may take five days to get them into the hex. So this army is going to take some punishment.

Ramilles: She'll leave the map tonight. I won't post about her again until she gets to Capetown. Her odyssey was weird and vexing and protracted, so getting her off the map is a small favor.

Hunting Grounds: Sumatra is a tough and tight and dangerous place to be right now. Things look increasingly dark, though not yet hopeless. It's January 26, 1943. Keep fighting!