Meanwhile, in another corner of the multiverse (No Dmitry Z zone)

[CaptBeefheart]

Let's hope those Canuckies are recovering quicker than those divisions on the beach. Also, do you have a leader with a better Admin rating? A higher one will give you quicker recovery, and 35 is quite low. Of course, you wouldn't want the Land rating to be too much lower.

Cheers,
CC

[John B.]

Here's a quick round up of the action. It looks as if Dmitry is going for a major assault in china (us old timers will get the old World in Flames reference [:)]). This result is from just south of Ankiang. Lot's of dead Japanese tanks. I hope it costs lots of supply for him to build those things since he sure loses a lot of them. I messed up in the Gobi and it's a real dog's breakfast up there. And, lot's of radio intel about army units shipping to Kwangchung so he may be about to hit me from the south as well.

In Burma I have pretty much secured the jungle triangle in the North east. The British division is very nice (looks like 60 25 pounders and 15 4.5" guns in its artillery park). [&o] It is close to Lashio. I looks like Dmitry has landed another division at Rangoon but, my big 4e squadrons have finally come on line. Hit Rangoon last turn with 50+ B-17s and knocked out about 20 bombers on the ground.

At Canton Island my bombardments kills lots of him. I figure int he past two weeks he's lost about 250 squads/devices/guns which counts as another failed major assault. I can't quite put together a counter attack since he shore bombards me every few days. I'm down to 19K supply. I just ran in a ship but it did not unload anything this turn so now it's cowering in port while a IJN carrier force approaches.

[John B.]

Commander Cody you make a good point. I may have a better admin rating Canuck leader, but I think I'll stick with the high land rating for now. I think BGEN Warren is my highest land rating officer.

[John B.]

Well, here is the end at Canton Island. I got tired of bombarding and giving Dimtry the chance to redeem the situation so my canadian brigade attacked (even in the face of a shore bombardment). I suspect that those three divisions were in pretty bad shape given the final result. A much better result than Suva and it takes three IJA divisions off the books for a long long time! My guess is that Dmitry will stop pushing east. He may head down to New Zealand but that would be quite an effort. I suspect he won't since the Kaga and Akagi are still running around near India.

Now, what to do with my carriers? Leave them in Oz? It does make for a nice central location for them.

[BBfanboy]

Your carrier air groups need to gain battle experience. Is there any place where he is vulnerable and you are unlikely to suffer strong counterattacks? Maybe a cross-island raid on Palembang from the IO? Kill some tankers and unescorted Netties?

[Bif1961]

Good going at Canton he hobbled himself by throwing away the better part of 3 divisions where he didn't need to send them. A bloody repulse and a lot of points for you.

[Lovejoy]

Canton Island will from henceforth be known as the Somme of the Pacific. That had to hurt, to have skewered three good divisions on tony atoll and then annihilated by a brigade of Johnny Canucks (Respect). Well done, you've made the maple leaf proud.

[Aurorus]

ORIGINAL: John B.

Here's a quick round up of the action. It looks as if Dmitry is going for a major assault in china (us old timers will get the old World in Flames reference [:)]). This result is from just south of Ankiang. Lot's of dead Japanese tanks. I hope it costs lots of supply for him to build those things since he sure loses a lot of them. I messed up in the Gobi and it's a real dog's breakfast up there. And, lot's of radio intel about army units shipping to Kwangchung so he may be about to hit me from the south as well.

In Burma I have pretty much secured the jungle triangle in the North east. The British division is very nice (looks like 60 25 pounders and 15 4.5" guns in its artillery park). [&o] It is close to Lashio. I looks like Dmitry has landed another division at Rangoon but, my big 4e squadrons have finally come on line. Hit Rangoon last turn with 50+ B-17s and knocked out about 20 bombers on the ground.

At Canton Island my bombardments kills lots of him. I figure int he past two weeks he's lost about 250 squads/devices/guns which counts as another failed major assault. I can't quite put together a counter attack since he shore bombards me every few days. I'm down to 19K supply. I just ran in a ship but it did not unload anything this turn so now it's cowering in port while a IJN carrier force approaches.

The supply cost for replacements to those tanks is not enormous, but vehicles are in short supply for Japan, even if he has expanded vehicle production substantially. No matter how much he expanded it, the drain on his vehicle pools, at this point in the war, is enormous. Also, his vehicle pools are probably nearly empty, because he would have just finished receiving the 1st and 2nd tank divisions and outfitting them. This is not a happy situation for Japan. This is another major setback. Japan simply cannot afford to bleed so badly so early and hope to survive the coming onslaught.

[John B.]

Here is the latest update. Burma has become the most interesting theater right now. My offensive there seems to have done pretty well. I have a British and an Australian division at or near Lashio with a few Chinese divisions. Dmitry has moved in at least one IJA division and a number of heavy guns that are bombarding me just west of Lashio each turn and seem to be killing 1-2 Chinese squads. He just lost several tanks to an Australian attack at Lahsio and I may try to swing around his flank while the Brits hold the force in their hex. In the meantime, a US division is set to assault Shwebo this turn with the hlep (I hope) of a very large air bombardment. Dmitry has wrested back some measure of air superiority but my hope is the B-17s can make their way through with the help of the new P-38s coming out of Chittagong. And, you may see down south a US division has taken Prome and is heading towards Rangoon because, well, why not. I'm not sure what he has in country, but I suspect that he has moved most of his reinforcements to the Lashio front.

More to follow.

[John B.]

As you can see, things are not quite as good in the Gobi desert. Dmitry is heading towards Urumchai and given how his tanks, even OOS, manage to push my men out of the way in clear terrain it won't be too long before he takes it. I'm still holding the front hex just south of Ankiang and they have managed to stave off about 6 IJA shock attacks now inflicting some nice casualties in the process. This turn he had another tank unit destroyed (listed 42 vehicles dead). I think, but this might must be wishful thinking, that China's supply situation is just a little better now that the road is open from Mytikyana.

[John B.]

Here is the current victory screen. I think I'm doing pretty well in the air but still suffering from the ground loss hangover and the ship deficit. My subs have been a bit more active and I seem to have put down 3-4 TKs (including one of the big ones) in the past week. Based on my game with Scott, I don't think Japan ever runs out of merchant ships as they did in the real war, but the VPs help and it can't hurt to sink the fuel and the supplies that go down with some of the ships. But, there was another carrier (Soryu) in my sub's sites but the torpedoes missed. [:(]

Dmitry still bombards Canton Island every day. I'm not sure why since it's really not a strategic location. Maybe to keep me focused on there? I am focused on it, but only because my forces over there have nothing else to do. I think my general plan in the So. Pac. is to gather forces and go after Espiritu Santo or Guadalcanal. He has not built these bases up so I suspect that there are not many troops there. That can cut off Noumea, Suva, and Pago Pago and let them wither in the vine down there. But that is in the far distant future.

[John B.]

Uh oh, This is a very concerning result. For some reason, three Chinese divisions held of shock attacks from this same Japanese division on three different occasions but now that the British division is there it collapses and ran away (good division, lots of artillery in the hex just west of Lashio so very good terrain). He had moved in some tanks the artillery and a Thai division but my guys running away on a 2-1 does not bode well. Especially since my brits are now at 88% disorganization and there is a good road leading into Lashio. To add to the woes the Australian division that is in good shape just this turn moved to the hex south west of Lashio so I'm not sure it can make it back in time to avoid being cut off. Brits, you need to step it up in Burma![:-]

I do have a US division about to head into Rangoon but I think he just got major reinforcements there. My offensive in Burma may be coming to an end right about now it depends on the next few turns and my hope that I don't lose a division or two!

[John B.]

On the bad luck side, I had a torpedo bounce off of the Hiyo and off of a Japanese BB. [:@] On the good luck side you can see below that a very large TK fleet was one hex outside of Diego Garcia. The night before an IJN CA TF bombarded the island (I guess my air recon just isn't any good anymore. So, Dmitry missed wiping out 12 high value tankers by one turn because that's where my boys were headed to refuel on the road to Perth. Let's hope there are not more ships on the way as I take a quick detour!

The Japanese are still headed towards Lashio where my resupply is grim given the difficulty of supply pushes into towns. I'm in Rangoon and about to cross the river to Mandalay. Who will break first? Will the Aussies arrive in time to bail out the Brits?

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
I think, but this might must be wishful thinking, that China's supply situation is just a little better now that the road is open from Mytikyana.

Yes, it is wishful thinking. For additional suply generation, the road from Rangoon to Tsuyung should be free. Just check what the base screen for Tsuyung says. There is no "Burma road open" string in the low-left corner.

ORIGINAL: John B.
Uh oh, This is a very concerning result. For some reason, three Chinese divisions held of shock attacks from this same Japanese division on three different occasions but now that the British division is there it collapses and ran away (good division, lots of artillery in the hex just west of Lashio so very good terrain).

Check the strength of allied 42 squads gainst 43 squads in the database. In 42 most of them (US excluded) have crap anti-armor ratings so you can get pushed around by Jap tanks if not in fortified positions. In my opinion 42 is too early for a serious offensive in Burma, you just give Japan player an opportunity to whittle away Allied device pools relatively cheaply. It's up to him to seize this opportunity ofc, but Dmitry is agressive so he will.

[John B.]

AMBUSH AT CANTON ISLAND!!! Jap Cruisers in flames. Many ships reported sunk!!!

The island below is Canton Island (largest island in the Phoenix island group) which is basically a strip of land that surrounds an internal lagoon. It's the graveyard of a Japanese Infantry Corps and now, it seems a significant number of Japanese ships! More as it develops.

[John B.]

@ GetAssisa,

I've heard that there are three sources of external supply for China. One, the Burma Road, two (oddly, Ramree Island) and three, Ledo. Not much flows through the last two but I did build up Ramree in my last game and lots of supply was disappearing from there and China started doing better. The Burma road ships in supply that is landed at Rangoon and generates its own 500 per turn points (sort of like Chungking gets a magic 600 supply points per turn that is not accounted for by the factories there).

I hear what you're saying about the allies not yet discovering the power of strong anti tank weapons for their infantry. I'm ok with being in Burma (there are two aggressive players in our game ) and I've made a lot more progress than I expected. I figure it's taking up troops, planes, and supplies that he can't throw at China and gets me in a better position for 43. I think Dmitry and I are pretty finally balanced in Burma right now. I'll provide an updated map when I get the info. for the naval battle off of Canton Island.

[John B.]

Well, it appears that by sinking a few CAs at Canton Island I broke Dmitry's will to resist. After he sent me the combat replay 9 days ago he sent this message:

"Well, it's a big defeat. I like my heavy cruisers even more than carriers, so it is some kind of Midway for me.
We should continue, but I need a short pause, for doing my turn relatively calm:)"

That was 9 days ago and I've sent him two pms with no response (when he was kicking a@# in 1941 early 1942 Dmitry was sending 4-5 turns per day). Assuming he's ok, it's not really a good way to play the game to bash around and drop out at the first hint of trouble. [:-] So, it looks like the allies carry home the victory trophy in the fall of 1942 even though Japan had an intact KB and was winning 2-1 on VPs. Thank God for the Canucks! [:)]

[Yakface]

It's looking like a pattern

tm.asp?m=4154055&mpage=3&key=

Game ended Jan 43.

[Aurorus]

Good game John.

The Suva campaign was an interesting read, and I hope you enjoyed the game: abbreviated as it was.

[John B.]

I did enjoy it! Part of the fun is trying to do something/anything in 1942 to stem the IJN and not get your own clock cleaned and the Suva Campaign provided a lot of highs and lows and let me get in lots of extra whining about my submarines.

I don't want to bash on Dmitry too much, he should not jump ship like that, but he is a funny and interesting guy in his emails and he is missing out on the challenge of stemming the rising Allied tide.