The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

Fun House is off to a remarkably smooth start. See map for details.

When will John pounce?

[BBfanboy]

Risky Business indeed- don't get caught with this:

[Canoerebel]

At first I thought you were referring to one-time presidential candidate Gary Hart. I figured that photo was of the girl he got involved with. But then I remembered that the boat he was aboard wasn't the Risky Business, it was the Monkey Business.

I wonder whatever became of Gary Hart? I also wonder who that woman is and what else you can tell us about her, BBfanboy.

[Canoerebel]

Orders have been entered. The far-flung TFs are mostly going to weigh anchor and make for Death Star and security. I can attend to final troop and supply unloading once more Nav Search up and things stabilize (if they stabilize). Invasions of Nada and Catanduanes tomorrow.

[Simonsez]

Rebecca De Mornay - the call girl in Risky Business w/Tom Cruise - he of the tighty whities.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

One more tidbit before lunch. This is the kind of game-mechanic glitch that many can benefit from.

6th and 9th Australian divisions handled the invasions of Catbalogan and Guiuan. Both are excellent units with high prep. Both are ashore in good shape, and both bases are vacant.

But one of the units shows 100% prep for Adak Island and 100% prep for Tarawa. How is that possible? In putting together the invasions, I retrieved tiny fragments of units that had been scattered about during Carnival, Roller Coaster, etc. in the summer of '43. The parent units, which were nearly entire, were, as I said, highly prepped. But the little cadres somehow asserted their prep and wiped out the much larger parent units. I have never seen this before, mainly because I've never been so careful to move fragments forward and reunited with the parent units.

BEWARE!

This has happened to me. I am now obsessed with tracking down every fragment and making sure they are prepping for the target I intend.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Simonsez

Rebecca De Mornay - the call girl in Risky Business w/Tom Cruise - he of the tighty whities.

JWE is in the house!

Greetings, comrade. Are you in Chile or Alabama?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Simonsez

Rebecca De Mornay - the call girl in Risky Business w/Tom Cruise - he of the tighty whities.

Right - she was also in one of the many iterations of " The Three Musketeers" where she played a traitorous ex-wife to Charlie Sheen's musketeer character.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three ... 1993_film)

[Canoerebel]

I haven't seen those movies. She's a looker.

[Canoerebel]

After finishing most of the orders for the next turn, I went for a li'l hike in the mountains. My thoughts turned to next turn and went something like this: "Three invasion beaches next turn? That's asking a lot of the carrier CAP if John sends in KB. One more turn and I can put up LBA CAP (at Legaspi, which should fall), which will help with security. Hmm, keeping Death Star stationary or nearly so might help John try for an eight-hex strike, if he is so inclined. This isn't a speed race - I don't need to unload everything at Legaspi in one turn. How about bringing all Fun House ships to Death Star, except those bound for Nada? That will tighten up the defenses and, if Legaspi falls, I can then move the transports there to unload."

I'm creating two files: (a) the original with the additional two invasions; or (b) a single invasion with every other ships withdrawing from beaches - including Legaspi - for a turn. I'll decide which one later, but my preference is (b), I think.

[Canoerebel]

Aren't triggers for kamikazes: (1) Home Islands; and (2) any base within 13 hexes of Saigon or Takao?

If that's right, I can go as far as Altimonan without triggering them. I have troops prepping for bases within the 13 range, but that's for later.

My rule in the past was to not let the kamikaze trigger stop operations that otherwise made good sense. If it's close enough to 50/50 that the prospect of triggering would tip the scales against the op, I didn't need to be considering it anyhow. But, in this case, I think I need several strong airfields before I get too rambunctious.

[Simonsez]

From a post by michaelm in the way back machine. (Manual states 15 hexes, but map scale change caused a recalculation to 20.)

1944

Base within 20 sea hexes of BASE_TOKYO, or BASE_TAKAO or BASE_SAIGON. Not counting bases in China or Tibet.

Base must have an AF 1+. This would exclude the 'dot' bases unless they are built up.
There is no limitation such that the base has to have been occupied by the Japanese and re-captured.

You might be pretty close from where you are currently engaged

Read this thread.
tm.asp?m=2617899&mpage=1&key=kamikaze%2Cactivation

Cheers!

Plan accordingly.

[Canoerebel]

Thanks, JWE (aka Simonsez, for newcomers). When Legaspi falls tomorrow it'll trigger kamikazes.

As I explained above, I wouldn't forego a good op simply because it triggered the Divine Wind. But I would look more knowledgeable if I didn't blunder into it.

Legaspi (and adjacent) bases are worth it. And now I can just proceed with my ops further north, rather than having to include kamis I the equation.

[Simonsez]

Sorry to burst your bubble CR, but I unfortunately, or maybe fortunately am not the afformentioned JWE. Rather, I am just a humble watcher of PBEM's and on and off again AI player for the time being. Although, a longtime friend just bought a copy of WITPAE this past Christmas so perhaps a head to head is in order once he spends a year getting up to speed. [X(]

Best regards!

It's been fun watching you two battle this out.

[Canoerebel]

Well, thanks for reading and thanks for helping.

[Canoerebel]

John'll probably send the turn in about three hours, so I've been do more planning and remembering.

A look back at the Peanuts 1, 2 and 3, which have had the most far-flung experiences of the war.

In January 1943, 6th and 7th Australian Divisions were attacking in the Burma Plains when the Japanese moved in behind and threatened to isolate and destroy the Allied army. I got them out of there, but only through a single open hex side that took some planning and a bit of luck. It was at just about this time that I made the decision to shift the weight of the Allied forces from SEAC to the Pacific. 6th and 7th were at the heart of this, as was 9th, which had just entered the map, slated for Burma. At that moment, sometime in mid January, I dubbed 6th, 7th and 9th "Peanuts 1, 2 and 3." I'm not sure why those names popped into my head, but they stuck. Those, in turn, led to the "carnival" code names for all subsequent operations: Carnival, Roller Coaster, Big Tent, Third Ring, Fun House, etc.

6th and 7th had a long way to go to exit the Burma jungles on foot, entrain at Chittagong, detrain at Bombay, and catch boats for Capetown to East Coast to San Francisco. 9th had a head start since it was inbound to India when I detoured it to Capetown.

I believe only 9th made it in time for Carnival. It was the spearhead of the successful invasion of Adak Island. It remained there until late '43 or early '44, when retrieved for Fun House.

6th and 7th didn't make it from India to San Fran in time for Carnival, but they were the core divisions for Roller Coaster, the invasion of the Marshalls. 6th took Tarawa. 7th was divided to take Mili, Maleolap and Wotje.

6th was retrieved from Tarawa early in early 1944 and sent to Oz for Fun House. 7th was scattered and more exposed to enemy ships and surveillance. I didn't get its three RCT out until a bit too late to join Fun House.

6th Division invaded Giuian in the Philippines on April 4. 9th invaded Catbalogan the same day. Both bases are vacant and will fall on April 5.

7th Division is strung out all over the place - from Boela to the Coral Sea. It was originally slated for three different targets in the southern Philippines. But I may consolidate the division and prep it for a stronger target - Davao and Manila come to mind.

From the jungles of Burma to the Aleutians to the Marshalls to the Philippines in 15 months. Truly an expeditionary army.

[Canoerebel]

Fun House is just getting started. If Celebes incited such a strong reaction in John, imagine what the Allies in the Philippines will do to him. Things are about to take a turn for the nasty, I think.

But here's a comparison of the June '43 strategic map and the April 4, 1944 strategic map.

[Canoerebel]

What happens now depends upon the Kaigun and the KB.

If John wins a decisive naval victory in the next few weeks, I'll be in trouble. Holding on to the new bases in the Philippines will be like Celebes on steroids.

If the status quo continues (or relative naval parity, in the event of a battle), I'll concentrate mostly on what's been taken thus far, building those bases large while also filling in to the rear.

If the Allies win a major naval victory in the next few weeks, I've brought along troops that are prepped for more forward bases - some of them much more forward.

[Canoerebel]

John's email with the next turn: "Man--I wish we had a full day to get in 4-5 turns right NOW!  Bold, fun and crazy."

He's got his fire up now. He'll come. We'll fight. Soon, I think.

Time to run the turn.

[BBfanboy]