The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[JohnDillworth]

I need a name

Presume Circus Midget is not PC so lets go with "Strong Man"?

[Bullwinkle58]

Klown Kar.

[Canoerebel]

10/8/44

Fancy Pants: Death Star and The Herd arrived at Legaspi. Two days away from Manila.

Peep Show II: All eyes on Chaochow. Enemy stack hasn't advanced yet but movement dots still present. Taichu airfield just went to level 8, which will allow big increase in air ops. John's window to make trouble in China/Formosa is closing.

[Canoerebel]

List of Allied operation names:

Circus: NoPac (originally Hokkaido but diverted to Aleutians), Summer '43
Roller Coaster: CenPac (Marshalls/Gilberts), Summer '43
Thin Man: CenPac (Roi Namur, Kwajalein), Summer '43
Lion Tamer: SoPac (Efate), Summer '43
Flying Trapeze: Wake Island, Autumn '43
Big Tent: DEI (esp. New Guinea, Moluccas, Ceram), Autumn '43
Third Ring: Gulf of Carpentaria (Merauke, Horn Island, Gove); Autumn '43
Carousel: Celebes (esp. Makassar), early '44.
Fun House: Luzon, Central PI, Miri: Spring, Summer '44
Bumper Cars: Eniwetok, Marcus (scrubbed), Summer '44
Peep Show I: Coastal China, Orchid Island, Summer '44
Peep Show II: Formosa, Summer and Autumn '44

[BillBrown]

Fancy pants = TBD

[witpqs]

I like Moose's "Klown Car". Figure it shows up looking like not much at all and the occupants just keep getting out.

[ny59giants]

High Wire Act

Bearded Lady

Fortune Teller

[Lecivius]

OK,

Ring Leader

Parade

Trapeze

Roustabout

[Canoerebel]

The names have to have a certain "ring" to them - to roll of the tongue in a pleasing way.

For that reason, I long ago rejected "Bearded Lady" as sounding just a bit clunky.

It's probably very subjective. To my ear, "Lion Tamer" sounded good; "Cotton Candy" didn't. "Third Ring" was chosen; "Ferris Wheel" was rejected.

By the same token, in the real war "Cartwheel" and "Watchtower," "Overlord" and "Market-Garden" seem to have a pleasing sound.

I just remembered another op name I used: Bumper Cars. That was to be the invasions of Eniwetok and Marcus Island, scrubbed several months back.

[Canoerebel]

10/9/44

Coastal China: I think the window just closed on any opportunities John had to cause trouble in Coastal China. He may have further notions but Death Star and the Allied air force will arrive before he could put anything together. The hunter might become the hunted.

[Canoerebel]

10/9/44

Peep Show II & Fancy Pants: Death Star & The Herd will arrive at Manila tomorrow. The TFs will refuel and should spend no more than one or two days in port. Then the entire armada departs to make for the Formosa/China region.

The exact nature of Fancy Pants is a bit uncertain, depending on opportunities and supply levels. I know it will open with the invasion of Pescadores and the distribution of supply to Formosa and China. From there, I'll decided whether to move west (to Hainan Island), north (into interior China) or east (to Wenchow and/or Ningpo).

These options are not mutually exclusive. I can do more than one or do them sequentially.

But supply is key - I want to fully fund the strategic bombing campaign. That's about to begin in earnest from Taichu. B29s will be able to strike as far as Tokyo. Liberators, PBY Liberators, and Brit 4EB can handle Kyushu. From a supply standpoint, that takes priority of the ground troop opportunities.

[BBfanboy]

Looks like 31st ID has recovered a lot of the disabled AV. Chaochow should be secure.

[Canoerebel]

33rd Div. is the one you're thinking of, BBfanboy. Here's the skinny on it.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

33rd Div. is the one you're thinking of, BBfanboy. Here's the skinny on it.

Ah right - but 290 AV is a pretty good recovery too! It's all good![:)]

[Canoerebel]

Yeah. For those who don't recall, 33rd Div. (a strong, experienced unit) was getting chewed up by 2nd Tank Division. It was down to 51 AV with the rest almost totally disabled. One more attack and those disabled squads would've become destroyed squads very quickly. John worked hard to isolate 33rd, but it managed to clear the hex and make Amoy. So when BBfanboy says its doing good to be back up to 290 AV, he's right!

[Canoerebel]

Most of my carrier and combat TFs arrived at Manila and refueled. This was eye-opening - they nearly sucked dry a bunch of fully loaded TKs. Two or three more carrier TFs and some combat TFs will arrive tonight. There's enough fuel to handle what's coming in - meaning, Fancy Pants is "fully funded" from a fuel standpoint - but the logistics to supply operations at the far end of the Pacific is challenging!

TKs currently at Manila have 25k fuel. TKs that will arrive tonight have 215k. Boela and Sorong have a combined 30k. And Miri has 175k. The challenge with Miri is that it's a level two port. So I can't refuel big ships there. I have to either use it to refuel small fry (like DDs) or, at some point, I need to detach 200 LSTs (well, maybe 75) to load fuel there and bring it to Manila.

But the real spigot is Oz, where I've spent the past year stockpiling supply and fuel. Getting the empties there was vital. Some are there and loading. Lots more are on the way.

[Smoky Stoker]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

But the real spigot is Oz, where I've spent the past year stockpiling supply and fuel. Getting the empties there was vital. Some are there and loading. Lots more are on the way.

How fortunate for you that the game does not attempt to simulate the strikes and pilfering of the Aussie longshoremen. That would work by, say, every month there is a 1/4 chance of no ships being able to load or unload in any port in Oz, and in those months X% of the supply in each port would disappear.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Smoky Stoker

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

But the real spigot is Oz, where I've spent the past year stockpiling supply and fuel. Getting the empties there was vital. Some are there and loading. Lots more are on the way.

How fortunate for you that the game does not attempt to simulate the strikes and pilfering of the Aussie longshoremen. That would work by, say, every month there is a 1/4 chance of no ships being able to load or unload in any port in Oz, and in those months X% of the supply in each port would disappear.

Sounds exaggerated...

[BBfanboy]

You can refuel big ships at Miri if you disband them in port first. As soon as they are refuelled put them in a new TF and send them off before the enemy gets wind of them. Of course a level 2 port will only fuel a couple of big ships before it runs out of ops points!
A bit of a nuisance but when you need the fuel ...

[Canoerebel]

10/10/44

KB: More news about enemy carriers - lots of KB activity on the map.

Operation Fancy Pants is about to get underway. The weight of Allied land, sea and air forces will be striking in John's heartland. He'll be weighing options - mass force and strike at home in a desperate attempt to stop the Allies, or spread out and strike on the margins. The current disposition of enemy forces suggests the latter.