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

[Canoerebel]

How's Sara doing?

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I ordered the shock attack. If anyone thinks its insanity you still have about 30 mins to speak up! [:D]

Yikes! I do. But I missed your timing. Hope it works out!

[Lokasenna]

I don't think you're risking disaster (in my terms), but I wouldn't have shocked. A deliberate, yes. Not a shock.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]5th September[/font]
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Turns slowed down again.

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NORPAC/WC
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Still very quiet.

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SOPAC
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That odd TF turns out to be a lone PB heading for Aoba. Odd?

Day Time Surface Combat, near Aoba Island at 121,150, Range 18,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Busho Maru, Shell hits 29, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Bagley, Shell hits 1
DD Blue

A big TF starts unloading at Luganville. Andother at Lakatoro. Engineers are also unloading at Tanna. I´ve refueled some of the xAKLs at NZ and are sending them to Noumea. They will start shuttling thing around.

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Saratoga
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Turns out I was very lucky. Nothing major but I will need a trip to the yards. Question is if I do the repairs here in OZ or send her to the WC...time wise it might not be much difference. But if I repair her in OZ the Sydney repair yard will be occupied for a good while...

10/42 updates are less then a month away too....it adds 1000+ AAA value so its not one to skip.

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India
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Turns out...Jeff left the Dacca. I was off by a day. A small Arty unit is destroyed in the attack though. Always something. [:)]

[Xilana]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister


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Saratoga
------------------------
Turns out I was very lucky. Nothing major but I will need a trip to the yards. Question is if I do the repairs here in OZ or send her to the WC...time wise it might not be much difference. But if I repair her in OZ the Sydney repair yard will be occupied for a good while...

10/42 updates are less then a month away too....it adds 1000+ AAA value so its not one to skip.

I think it makes more sense to make for Sydney; its a big ocean to cross with lots of subs waiting for you outside the big ports I surmise.

?Do you have any thoughts of what your opponent is up to outside of CBI? Any plans to retake Hawaii?

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: venividivici10044a

I think it makes more sense to make for Sydney; its a big ocean to cross with lots of subs waiting for you outside the big ports I surmise.

?Do you have any thoughts of what your opponent is up to outside of CBI? Any plans to retake Hawaii?

Its not that long heading straight for Balboa and then the WC. Havn´t run into any subs there yet. But I´ll probably go for Sydney anyway. Looking at my timetable I don´t have time for a trip to the WC without having to postpone a lot of stuff.

I´ll get a post up shortly regarding my thoughts. [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Strategic musings[/font]
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NORPAC/WC
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I would have liked to start moving here. Sadly I´ve had to scrub those plans for now. While I have the troops to recapture Coal Harbor I can´t do it without air and naval control. At he moment I have neither of those. The Navy will be busy for the rest of 42 which means NORPAC will have to wait.

New timetable probably around mid 43. I can´t put this off for too long though as there are loads of Japanese base VPs in these areas. I probably will need to recapture at least Alaska during 43 to keep AV off the table.

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India
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With the capture of Dacca the Japanese position in India will be impossible. The supply from Chittagong can´t be defended and a withdrawal to Burma is inevitable.

I predict Japan will have left India before 42 is up. This frees up a lot of troops for me that can be used elsewhere. I need to figure out where to use them. Throwing them into the Burmese quagmire isn´t always a given.

I may have an idea though.

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SOPAC/OZ
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With complete lack of Japanese resistance we are slowly building up our infrastructure. Once that is in place we can start moving. Progress might be slow right now but once we get moving things can move very fast.

I decided to secure the Solomons just because I always bypass it. I look to land in the Solomons before 42 is up. Right now we are hampered by lack of bases and the possible presence of KB. If its still around it will be sitting at Rabaul.

If I were in a AV situation I would move a lot more aggressively here. But VP ratio is dropping for each turn and might even dip below 3:1 depending on how fast Chungking falls.

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CENTPAC
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So, the big question: When will we take back PH? Short answer: It will be a while.

Long answer: PH in itself isn´t something I need. My current supply route is working great and is only 16 hexes longer then my normal one. Due to off map travel (and slower loading) though it adds about 10-14 days of travel though. This is actually not that big of a deal once you get things up and running. This was easily compensated by sending extra long range xAKs from CT to Balboa. I also sent an extra TF worth of tankers from Abadan to Balboa.

Only thing I would need PH for is for a push into CENTPAC which I have no desire for right now. The ultimate goal of capturing CENTPAC is obviously to get to the Marianas. Planned properly this is quick work though if you go PH-Midway-Wake. I can do that in a couple of months in 44.

I´ll open a new front here in early/mid 43 though. It won´t be PH though. Obviously this could change quickly if AV becomes an issue as PH is 3000 Japanese VPs...

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Japanese intentions
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I have absolutely no clue what Jeff is up to. India was a very odd move considering the opening. So is the complete lack of troops in SOPAC. Heavy artillery moving for PH is really the only indication I have of Japanese movements lately. If they really are moving for PH it could mean Jeff isn´t finished in NORPAC. It could also be "fake movement" and they were moving somewhere else. But where?

SIGINT havn´t given anything away lately. Best guess right now is that Jeff has realized the chance of AV is gone and are starting to prepare his defenses. He has A LOT of ground to cover. And he has to be worried about the number of allied troops in India. Don´t think any Japanese player would relish a 5000 AV allied army in Burma in early 43. This is not something he can ignore. He needs about the same in solid Japanese troops (not RTA) to to hold.

He has so much he need to cover right now. Burma, Sumatra, New Guinea, Solomons, Northern OZ PH/CENTPAC, NORPAC and Alaska. Lots and lots of ground.

[JocMeister]

PS. Map of India coming up today. Havn´t gotten the turn yet. Only replay.

[JeffroK]

I may have an idea though.

Has CR been doing a recce for you?? [:'(]

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

I may have an idea though.

Has CR been doing a recce for you?? [:'(]

I have no idea what you are talking about...

[Rio Bravo]

Joc-

Thank you for your "Strategic Musings."

Gives me an idea of what your longer-range thoughts are on the war.

Best Regards,

-Terry

[JocMeister]

Hah, and here I though no one really read those. Clearly at least two people do! [:)]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Hah, and here I though no one really read those. Clearly at least two people do! [:)]

I read it too. [;)]

The Solomons and So/SW Pac are surprisingly fun. it's an easy place to make progress without the need for large battles and CV support. I think you probably remember how to do that? [;)]

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Hah, and here I though no one really read those. Clearly at least two people do! [:)]

I read it too. [;)]

The Solomons and So/SW Pac are surprisingly fun. it's an easy place to make progress without the need for large battles and CV support. I think you probably remember how to do that? [;)]

Oddly enough its kind of my specialty!

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]KB sorties![/font]
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Well, this was kind of surprising.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Lakatoro at 119,151

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 60 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
B5N1 Kate x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
PC Onondaga, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AM Cessnock
xAP Ormiston
xAP Shooting Star, Torpedo hits 1

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

The gaming gods give and they take. Today they gave. [:)] I have a big CA TF covering the landing at Luganville. Not only that but the landing at Luganville contains 3 very large 21knot xAPs.

Very happy to not lose that. Obviously they will cancel unloading and race away. To be honest I was more lucky here then I deserve. I knew KB was in the area but instead of waiting the extra two weeks for the small xAKLs to move to OZ and move the troops I used what was already in OZ.

I havn´t gotten the turn yet so I don´t know much more then this yet. KB is only 4 hexes from my CAs...moonlight is only a couple of percent...

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]India[/font]
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Updated map. We are looking really good here. I´m allowing my troops to rest up a bit in Dacca before making the crossing to cut the rail. I want my flank to catch up and give the support troops time to get to Dacca.

Appearance of KB in SOPAC is a big relief. It frees up a lot of troops currently on garrison duty as well as giving my navy in the IO a lot more room to maneuver. Now I don´t have to fear KB in the IO. [:)]

I´m honestly not sure why Japanese players are so eager to show off KB. A KB in hiding is worth 4 times more then a visible KB because the allied player has to play like the KB was within striking distance everywhere on the map.

[JocMeister]

Btw, heading out with some friends tonight so I told Jeff to hang onto the turn until tomorrow.

So no update tonight. [:)]

[BBfanboy]

That strike did not look like KB - just a CVE or CVL. What makes you so sure KB is in SOPAC?

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

That strike did not look like KB - just a CVE or CVL. What makes you so sure KB is in SOPAC?

Because he knows I have my CVs down here. He wouldn´t move in with anything less then the full KB. [:)]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Btw, heading out with some friends tonight so I told Jeff to hang onto the turn until tomorrow.

So no update tonight. [:)]

Be sure to update your current fav beers!

Tried some great new ones here in London. Lots of good start-up breweries around. Beer by Numbers, The Kernal and Wild Card are a few of my new finds.