How important is Port Moresby to you?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: fcooke

There were reasons the US wanted Alaska back so quickly....but they were not good strategic reasons - more nationalistic ones. But an interesting way to think about playing the game. The Aussies were already freaked by the speed of Japan's advance in their direction, loss of significant assets in the Singapore debacle, and were screaming for their troops to be returned from North Africa. Cutting them off from the US would almost certainly elicited a 'political' response rather than a sound military one.

There was one good strategic reason to take back Attu and Kiska - it meant the Japanese had to guard against another vector of attack from the Northeast. That reduced what they had available to guard CentPac and the Philippines.

These are both good points that complement each other. Port Moresby, while eliciting the political response fcooke mentioned, would also pose the same manner of the strategic threat BBfanboy mentions for the Aleutians.

[Alpha77]

Horn Island, how do you hold it as Japan ? Seems impossible, there are at least 3 bases in range, Cooktown, Cairns and Portland Roads (which should be build by the Allies). Seems it is more a training/targeting range for a hundred of Allied bombers/sweepers in Australia. Also why would it be so important for the Allies to re-capture Darwin, this can be done overland, my op did it. And if I play Allies, I know now, that supply flows there as long you build the other bases on the way. Takes a while also to move the troops (which can still restricted). Perhaps if the IJ side wants to fight with divisions at Darwin and put valuable air assets there, he can delay the recapture. But perhaps this stuff could serve you better somewhere else...and all this stuff you use don´t even need to be bought out, you can hand the IJ a lot of losses for null PP cost as Allied in this area

[Aurorus]

ORIGINAL: Alpha77

Horn Island, how do you hold it as Japan ? Seems impossible, there are at least 3 bases in range, Cooktown, Cairns and Portland Roads (which should be build by the Allies). Seems it is more a training/targeting range for a hundred of Allied bombers/sweepers in Australia. Also why would it be so important for the Allies to re-capture Darwin, this can be done overland, my op did it. And if I play Allies, I know now, that supply flows there as long you build the other bases on the way. Takes a while also to move the troops (which can still restricted). Perhaps if the IJ side wants to fight with divisions at Darwin and put valuable air assets there, he can delay the recapture. But perhaps this stuff could serve you better somewhere else...and all this stuff you use don´t even need to be bought out, you can hand the IJ a lot of losses for null PP cost as Allied in this area

Japan is forced to defend in this region regardless of whether they take Darwin or not. One allied base in 4-E range of Palembang will put Japan permanently on the defensive and pin down an enormous number of fighters to guard against attacks that may never come. Once Palembang is threatened by air, Japan loses a lot flexibility in the distrubution of her forces.

Taking Darwin, or at least isolating it by taking Horn Island, is a significant delaying tactic, at the very least. As per Chickenboy´s shrewd analysis above, the Japanese must make the allies fight in 1942. The Northern coast of Australia is a good place to do it, and I would much rather fight over Horn Island and Darwin than fight over Koepang, Boela, and Babo. If Japan loses Horn Island, that is only 1 step on the way to cutting off the DEI. If Japan loses Boela, it is the beginning of the end.