And here is what I refer to as the Wake dilemma. Enterprise and Lexington have just arrived 13 hexes east of Wake when an enemy TF is spotted 8 hexes to the west of the island.
Now, we know KB was at hex 97,85 on the morning of Dec 10, because it was merrily killing some transports at the time. So, that places it 45 hexes off Wake, with three days of sailing by the end of next turn.
So in theory we could be 5 hexes off Wake next turn, and KB would be 19 hexes off Wake. If he had sprinted once to get into position to cover the landings, he'd be 9 hexes away. If he has sprinted twice?
I am of the opinion that no-one would do a double high speed sprint with KB to cover a landing. Plus, as far as we are aware our carries haven't been spotted, so he doesn't even know we are there. In fact, scouting force has just been spotted south of Tarawa, so he'll be getting reports of carriers from down there. But Mike points out that if we get it wrong, there goes 2/3rds of our fleet carriers in the Pacific. Is any transport group worth the risk?
The question here is what do you intend to do with Wake Island if you keep it, and what will the enemy do with it if they take it? Naval search extension applies to both parties but the Japanese also have those pesky long range bombers that can carry torps - which closes the gap between the Marshalls and Wake, and between Marcus and Wake. This makes it harder to do any kind of Centpac incursion.
If you have plans to use Wake as a sub base to interdict the areas around Truk and Saipan, it might be worthwhile risking your CVs to keep it. And your CV air groups do need to get some battle experience.
Not sure if you have tabs on Mini-KB, but if it is not around the Philippines I would not rule out it supporting the invasion.
And finally, because I am unsure of your experience level with the game I will mention that you can find out if the enemy have any D/L on your Carriers by rolling the cursor over the icon.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
If you check the map on the previous page, you can see three carrier groups supporting his moves in the DEI, so I'm pretty sure that's where all his light carriers are.
And I played one Grand Campaign before, so know about the D/L thing. Neither carrier group is detected. The subs southwest of Wake are not showing any detection either, which implies no carriers within 7 hexes of them.
After lots of angst and debate, Mike and I agreed that the odds of KB being in striking range this turn were remote. So we moved the carriers forward to hit anything moving towards Wake. And then ensued a long and nervy wait for the turn. Did we miscalculate? Had we smashed up a fully loaded transport group? The turn comes back and...no KB, and his transports haven't moved. What a letdown.
So we now have carriers sitting 5 hexes east of Wake, and two enemy task forces at 8 and 9 hexes west. We could wait, we could move forward another 8 hexes to hit the transports if they don't move, or we could run.
But there is only one reason for those transports to be sitting idling there, and that is that they are waiting for carrier support. Discretion is going to get the better of valour here, it is time to pull out. We don't know where KB is, but with just one sprint KB could be a few hexes off Wake and that would be a very bad thing indeed.
What's even more annoying is that there are two reports of heavy volumes of radio traffic just northwest of Truk. If this is KB, we're passing on a great opportunity to disrupt Japanese plans.
Still, there was plenty of action to keep us entertained. More to follow.
Also, figure I must be looking in the wrong place for reports of mine hits, because our 175 mines at Palembang apparently haven't scored a single hit. Grrr.
Allied carriers: Patience my young 'grasshopper' (reference to old Kung Fu TV show). [:D] In this mod I would wait until you get Yorktown and full CVL at end of month. Form Death Star (DS) with those 4 CVs and full CVL. Mini-DS is the hybrids and Brit carriers. For now, train and more training for your pilots with good leaders. Maximize fighters on those large CVs to help ensure 'survivability.' For me, you wants all your warships to go through their early '42 upgrades in March and April to get radar. The F4F-4s come out and the Avengers. Japan starts to get CV upgrades in June/July '42. It is during the May to Aug '42 time frame when you have your 6 pre-war CVs to go up against KB somewhere. Right now, Lex and Sara are not ready to go up against just a division of KB (2 heavy and CVL). Maybe in late Jan or Feb, IMO.
ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Allied carriers: Patience my young 'grasshopper' (reference to old Kung Fu TV show). [:D] In this mod I would wait until you get Yorktown and full CVL at end of month. Form Death Star (DS) with those 4 CVs and full CVL. Mini-DS is the hybrids and Brit carriers. For now, train and more training for your pilots with good leaders. Maximize fighters on those large CVs to help ensure 'survivability.' For me, you wants all your warships to go through their early '43 upgrades in March and April to get radar. The F4F-4s come out and the Avengers. Japan starts to get CV upgrades in June/July '43. It is during the May to Aug time frame when you have your 6 pre-war CVs to go up against KB somewhere. Right now, Lex and Sara are not ready to go up against just a division of KB (2 heavy and CVL). Maybe in late Jan or Feb, IMO.
Although game year would be 1942, not 1943, I humbly agree. The only carrier battle you can win is against the CVEs, so I'd not try to confront any of the three KB heavy CarDivs.
Get your carrier air groups to 27+18 fighters and something similar for dive bombers. Offload torpedo bombers until the Avenger comes. Make sure all your carrier planes are armoured and have decent range, and train those pilots hard. It will pay off.
ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Allied carriers: Patience my young 'grasshopper' (reference to old Kung Fu TV show). [:D] In this mod I would wait until you get Yorktown and full CVL at end of month. Form Death Star (DS) with those 4 CVs and full CVL. Mini-DS is the hybrids and Brit carriers. For now, train and more training for your pilots with good leaders. Maximize fighters on those large CVs to help ensure 'survivability.' For me, you wants all your warships to go through their early '43 upgrades in March and April to get radar. The F4F-4s come out and the Avengers. Japan starts to get CV upgrades in June/July '43. It is during the May to Aug time frame when you have your 6 pre-war CVs to go up against KB somewhere. Right now, Lex and Sara are not ready to go up against just a division of KB (2 heavy and CVL). Maybe in late Jan or Feb, IMO.
Although game year would be 1942, not 1943, I humbly agree. The only carrier battle you can win is against the CVEs, so I'd not try to confront any of the three KB heavy CarDivs.
Get your carrier air groups to 27+18 fighters and something similar for dive bombers. Offload torpedo bombers until the Avenger comes. Make sure all your carrier planes are armoured and have decent range, and train those pilots hard. It will pay off.
Devastators can also be good for ASW and low naval bombing from 1k. I don't offload them, and I have gotten them to hit with Torps too!!
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Fear not, the only time my carriers will be going anywhere near any enemy is when I am pretty sure his carriers, of any description, won't be there. We're flying Buffaloes and even some Dauntless 1s at the moment, and the pilots are middling at best.
I have used this close pass to pull the Wildcats off Wake to bolster the carrier fighter force by another 12 vital fighters.
Have to be super cautious now, because we don't really know where KB is at this point. It could have split into three parts and be all over the place. A turn ago I was pretty much 100 pct certain it couldn't be near Wake or Rabaul. Now I'm not so sure.
The question has to be asked, how do you launch at torpedo at 2,000 yards at this lot and miss. The seas around Lingayen are so full of Japanese transports, it seems impossible to miss. Still, you have got to admire these guys for pressing this sort of attack against the odds.
Scouting Force had been nosing up toward Tarawa, but didn’t get there in time to stop a quick invasion. I’d been tracking a small TF heading there from the west for the last two turns, so decided to break off a couple of DDs from Scouting Force to have a nose around. They found what looks like a supply run.
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 136,128, Range 15,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
PB Santos Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
xAKL Toyotsu Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Aratama Maru, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Katsura Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
xAKL Kaito Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
xAKL Tenposan Maru, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
SS KVIII takes a stab at the carriers just north of Manado, but fails to penetrate the escorts. The Japanese are playing a dangerous game here. The carriers have been hanging in the area for a few turns and it is filling up with subs. It’s a matter of time before one penetrates the screen and causes havoc.
There’s another airfield attack on Kuala Lumpur, with unescorted Nells flying into Buffaloes and getting butchered. It’s good practice for my pilots, so I’m not complaining. I’m just wondering why there are no sweeps. Perhaps the Zeroes are too busy flying long range CAP over Palembang. Six less Nells to worry about.
Speaking of which, the brutal air war over Palembang continues, but the quality of the Japanese planes and pilots is starting to make itself felt. After the day’s action we have lost 6 Banshees, 5 Vildebees and a couple of Swordfish, with lots of escorts and no Zeroes downed. Air group morale is trashed, and we’re having to stand down from this fight. All the troops are ashore anyway so the fall of Palembang is pretty much a given.
Here’s the summary of the damage we did this turn. The first attack was well covered by fighters, but the last three attacks the Zeroes were able to get in among the bombers and tear them apart. Most groups are pulled back to rest and reinforce.
xAK Manko Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tarushima Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Kasuga Maru #2, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Hino Maru #3, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Heito Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tarushima Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Heito Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Ground combat. Another attack at Hong Kong, another loss for Japan and the forts remain at level 2. Good news, every day here is another day when these divisions are not in China.
Some surprise defenses at Manado, Davao but most importantly Palembang, where the defenders hang on by the skin of their teeth.
And there, right on cue, is KB. Weirdly they are not actually covering the transports. If we had put dive bombers on Wake, as I was tempted to do, it would have made for a lovely turn.
As well as spotting carriers off Wake, one of our fleeing xAKs gets hit by Vals flying from Badelboab. Are there are any Vals that are not based on carriers? Or does Vals definitely mean carries in the area?
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Peleliu at 87,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 1 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes
Japanese aircraft
D3A1 Val x 9
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
xAK Fatshan, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
Bit annoyed with myself this turn, because I’ve missed a couple of chances to put some hurt on the Japanese. I sent raids against the north Borneo ports, where damaged xAKs have been reported. But all the bombers went in at 15,000 feed, meaning we only got one hit, on the xAK Ryuyo Maru at Brunei.
The second mistake was an attack by Vildebeest from Singapore, loaded with torpedoes. Noticed there was a TF hovering 4 hexes off Singapore, and thought we’d have a go. But because the groups got so banged up over Palembang it ends up with only 3 Vildebeest going in against the Nagato, scoring no hits. If we had done this last turn it could easily have been 25 torpedo bombers, which could have caused a world of hurt.
The other 5 Vildebeest based at Singapore attack transports at Mersing, and xAK England Maru sucks 4 torpedoes. Don’t think she is going to survive that.
The attack on the unit moving up through the woods in northern Thailand reveals it is the 2nd RTA Division. We didn’t do much damage, but then we weren’t expecting much. Not sure how much damage is needed to knock a unit out of move mode, but I think a reported 8 casualties is not going to do it. There are actually two units, but don't know what the second one is.
We put a couple of Banshee delivered 1,000 lb bombs into xAK Eizan Maru off Kavieng, which is probably fatal for the ship but doesn’t change the outcome of the subsequent land battle.
There is an amphibious assault at Tulagi. This I’m surprised by. How did he manage to get troops all the way to Tulagi without us spotting them? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amphibious Assault at Tulagi (114,137)
TF 194 troops unloading over beach at Tulagi, 114,137
Ground combat is becoming an increasingly grim prospect for us. Singapore holds despite the arrival of the Imperial Guards Division, which I was quite surprised by.
Assaulting units:
5th Recon Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
14th Tank Regiment
8th Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
We also lose a combat at somewhere in China called Pengpu. This is some little cut off unit, so no surprise. More grim is this combat in the mountains west of Taiyuan.
Assaulting units:
41st Division
37th Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Defending units:
33rd Chinese Corps
7th Group Army
I am really getting tired of seeing the (-) symbol for morale and experience. The Allied troops are just so rubbish, and not very happy as well.
Hong Kong holds again, but the forts are taken down to level 0, so it’s pretty much all over for those guys. Manado falls, Kavieng falls, Davao forts are taken to 0, Hollandia on the north coast of New Guinea is taken, but most depressingly Palembang falls. The collapse of our position in the DEI continues apace.
He is being pretty aggressive. While it has cost a CVL and a lot of transports, it is paying off in terms of speed.
Still, we hopefully still have a few chances to hit him hard before we are forced to abandon any fight in the area. Because he has pushed so hard into the Palembang, without securing any base close than Johore, there is an opportunity to light up the oilfields with bombers before he can pack the place with AA or fighters. With this in mind, just about every B17 we have is already in Java or at Darwin.
By trying to bounce ships at various points in the area, plus ports, airfields and others, I’m hoping we can open some cracks where we can drive in and do some damage.
We have three task forces currently hanging around looking for trouble. Marblehead and 5 DDs at Balikpapan, the Brit BCs have just refueled at Soerebaja, and Danae and 4 DDs are east in case he is making a play for Ambon.
South of the picture hangs the Jacksonville, too scared to move forward but flying her planes into Ambon this turn in the hopes that 5 Dauntless 1s can put a bomb in a CVL. The enemy TF two hexes north of Ternate is a light carrier group. Just out of sight east are two Dutch CLs, while the other Dutch CLs lurk near Palembang hoping for easy pickings.
That's about it for our DEI forces. Boise and Java are in Soerebaja repairing, and the Brit carriers are steaming in the general direction.
Please note the profusion of subs in the Celebes Sea, where the Japanese have had two carrier groups operating pretty much since Dec 7. Mike is a greedy guy. Despite already having sunk a CVL, he wants more.
He is also routing every sub he can lay his hands on to the northwest of Wake in the hopes of getting a lucky shot off against KB.
A very frustrating turn for Mike. His sub positioning is spot on, but nothing. By the end of the turn there are carrier TFs parked on top of subs, but the screens effectively guard their precious charges.
Here is an example:
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ASW attack near Wake Island at 132,92
Japanese Ships
BC Chichibu
CA Suzuka
CL Tokoro
DD Teruzuki
DD Tanikaze
DD Hamakaze
DD Urakaze
Allied Ships
SS Argonaut
SS Argonaut is sighted by escort
Argonaut diving deep ....
The subs at Wake also fail to score any hits on transports, and take a bit of a pounding in the process.
The sneaky push through the Solomons continues, with Japanese troops unloading at Buin. Too close to Rabaul though, because at daybreak the Banshees arrive and drop a few bombs. These guys are getting a lot of practice, some even have naval bombing skills in the 30s.
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 13
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAK Daihachikyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Boston Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Daigen Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
The other deep strike Japanese transports at Tulagi meet elements of Scouting Force, with predictable results.
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Tulagi at 114,137, Range 24,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
PB Kosin Maru #3, Shell hits 37, and is sunk
xAK Yae Maru, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
xAK Daijukyo Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CA Indianapolis, Shell hits 1
DD Preston
Am loving Scouting Force. I haven’t used the BCs yet, but just having something with a bit of striking power starting in SoPac makes me happy. So far it has cost the Japanese two PBs and six transports, but we hope for more.
Marblehead fails to close with the enemy, despite being in reaction range, but does end up positioned too close to the light carriers. She sucks a torp and a bomb, and is left limping at 20 knots and heading back to Soerebaja. Got lucky really, that could have been several torp hits and the end of the Marblehead. She will probably speed to Sydney for repair and upgrade to CLAA. That is the fourth CL to be knocked out of the fight.
There is a big air battle over Palembang. Dutch bombers and fighters go in first to soften up the airfield, with 20 hits on the airfield and several dead bombers. It’s looking like the Zeroes will still be there to take on the B17s, but then a sweep by Hurricanes does a number on the Japanese fighters.
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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Hurricane IIb Trop sweeping at 20000 feet
Our best British pilots in our best planes, and it shows. After this battering, not a single Zero rises to meet the incoming B17s, who put a reported 9 hits on the oilfields.
Ground combat. Hong Kong falls, ouch. That is a lot of casualties.
Assaulting units:
1st Maizuru Assault/B Div /1
1st Maizuru Assault/C Div /1
Defending units:
141st USN Stn Base Force
Wake (Det.) Defense Battalion
Good thing the defence didn't collapse on the first turn. I forgot last turn to fly out the Catalinas, and losing a whole unit to carelessness would have been painful. I was expecting to get hit by a wave of carrier bombers to soften up the defenders, but apparently the Japanese troops wanted all the glory for themselves.
We were hoping to extract some pain for the taking of Wake, even if it was just a few transports being downed by subs. But it looks like he is going to get away with zero damage.
As well as spotting carriers off Wake, one of our fleeing xAKs gets hit by Vals flying from Badelboab. Are there are any Vals that are not based on carriers? Or does Vals definitely mean carries in the area?
High probability they are from CV/CVL, but we tried to address the limited number of Jap DB groups in this version (limited groups getting withdrawn).
NOTE: When in the "Intel" screen, go to your various devices. Scroll down to "Garrison" and click the "Y" to stockpile them. If not, any static LCU that is forced to retreat will soak up one of these static garrison devices and plant it someplace you don't want.
China: Get used to being short on supply most of the time. [:(] I don't try to repair much of the industry. I do try to keep Chungking at 2x supplies so I can soak up some of those 350 infantry squads per month. Find the 3x terrain and allow your troops to dig in.
SBDs: You will want to upgrade from the -1 to -2 models ASAP due to the greater range. I use Soerabaja for this.
Banshee: I set them to 20 to 30% training per group. They can hit transports with their poor NavB skills, but almost never against warships.
Our Banshees are training on the job, and so far have given a pretty good account of themselves. I am trying to avoid attacking warships with them as there is no point -- I will lose lots with no return. However, unloading transports are fair game.
Honestly, they have been so busy I haven't had time to think of training the pilots.
Good advice to use Soere for upgrades. The Dauntless 1 is a truly useless aircraft.
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