Miller (J) vs Mr Kane (A)

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

That was an excellent PH Strike. You managed to clobber nearly all the CA--CL present and--to me--those are the most important vessels present.

What do you know of your opponent? Will he turtle or fight?

I've read a few of his AAR's and I reckon he will fight, I certainly hope so as if he does I think I can do a good amount of damage. I tend to mass my forces in one area to maximize my chances, of course that leaves me vulnerable elsewhere but you can't have everything!

[witpqs]

I leave you guys alone for ONE DAY and you start a game that's both wild and innovative from the first turn! [:D] [8D]

I've never even seen anything like that DD -> CV intercept on the first turn (this one being obviously *not* carrier hunting).

Fantastic Pearl Harbor strike! It's always a hard call whether you want them all sunk so they are gone or all badly damaged so they tie up yards forever. That strike was as good as any. How about US aircraft losses at PH? The PBY fleet on the ground there is very important for the first few months.

The low level bombing was great for turn 1; is he sticking to it? They all have such poor skills at start that for most squadrons low versus normal is the same at first, but they should get hit by a lot more ground/ship fire. Did you see any of that?

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

I leave you guys alone for ONE DAY and you start a game that's both wild and innovative from the first turn! [:D] [8D]

I've never even seen anything like that DD -> CV intercept on the first turn (this one being obviously *not* carrier hunting).

Fantastic Pearl Harbor strike! It's always a hard call whether you want them all sunk so they are gone or all badly damaged so they tie up yards forever. That strike was as good as any. How about US aircraft losses at PH? The PBY fleet on the ground there is very important for the first few months.

The low level bombing was great for turn 1; is he sticking to it? They all have such poor skills at start that for most squadrons low versus normal is the same at first, but they should get hit by a lot more ground/ship fire. Did you see any of that?

I assure you those DDs meeting the Enterprise was purely random, I bet his heart was in his mouth when he saw it! There are no Kingfisher floatplanes showing up as op losses so I doubt any of his BBs went under at Pearl, quite a few of the torps were dud hits. However, it looks like all have a good amount of damage, I doubt I will see any until 43. I think he lost about 100 a/c on the ground including about 30 PBYs. The low nav does the trick against transports but has been ineffective against warships up to now. I'm employing all my BB and Cruiser based Petes as emergency fighters, they don't shoot anything down but seem to disrupt the aim.....

[witpqs]

Yes, I tried to be clear those DD's were clearly not carrier hunting. I had misread your post and thought the intercept was on turn 1, but it was actually turn 2, and I just assumed it was Wake Island and missed "Midway" completely (I think I was still salivating over the Pearl harbor results post! [:D]). I found it so amazing because his CV TF would have needed full speed to be that close to Wake.

The turn 2 intercept is still significant as it signals he will be hyper-aggressive. His carrier (and maybe the other one too, just unseen??) is probably angling for the oilers in the refueling TF.

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BTW, on carrier hunting my own opinion is the Allied player should get Turn 1 with no carrier hunting (including no pre-positioning hunting assets for Turn 2) but that as of Turn 2 the Allied carriers are on their own. Turn 1 single-phase plus Turn 2 two-phase naval movement is plenty and the Allied player should not expect more.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Yes, I tried to be clear those DD's were clearly not carrier hunting. I had misread your post and thought the intercept was on turn 1, but it was actually turn 2, and I just assumed it was Wake Island and missed "Midway" completely (I think I was still salivating over the Pearl harbor results post! [:D]). I found it so amazing because his CV TF would have needed full speed to be that close to Wake.

The turn 2 intercept is still significant as it signals he will be hyper-aggressive. His carrier (and maybe the other one too, just unseen??) is probably angling for the oilers in the refueling TF.

---

BTW, on carrier hunting my own opinion is the Allied player should get Turn 1 with no carrier hunting (including no pre-positioning hunting assets for Turn 2) but that as of Turn 2 the Allied carriers are on their own. Turn 1 single-phase plus Turn 2 two-phase naval movement is plenty and the Allied player should not expect more.

That's why I have made sure the oilers have been in the same hex as the KB since the start. I bet the Lexington is far to the northwest of Midway hoping they were going to show up...

[Miller]

12th Dec 41

The three old British DDs that start off at Hong Kong meet a couple of my transport TFs in the Sulu sea and sink a few low value AKs, I hope to kill them next turn. One of my roving DD Tfs stumble upon a load of transports fleeing Hong Kong and kill a good number. I have refrained from using Netty's for fear of them flying against AKLs or PTs at Clark under a CAP trap, the Allies get zillions of AKs so killing the ones fleeing Manila is pointless imo.

My invasion of Mersing will go in next turn and Palembang the day after. Very little opposition the last couple of turns, I think he may be regrouping his forces on Java.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Miller

There are no Kingfisher floatplanes showing up as op losses so I doubt any of his BBs went under at Pearl, quite a few of the torps were dud hits. However, it looks like all have a good amount of damage, I doubt I will see any until 43.

At game start I think almost all the US ships that have FPs carry the Seagull rather than the Kingfisher. The Kingfishers are just beginning to be made available to the fleet.

[John 3rd]

How are you getting to Palembang? Using Fast TF or regular?

[scondon87]

The PH BBs carry Kingfishers, but everything smaller still has Seagulls at game start. At least in stock.

[Miller]

13th Dec 41

Landing at Mersing is a mini disaster as I forget to LRCAP it and lose 5 AKs to the 1000ft bomber brigade, but all the troops get ashore and it should fall next turn. The first amphibious TF hits Palembang and it looks like he has not tried to re-inforce it, another two are due to unload next turn so it should fall without any problem. Lots of AA and naval support among the transports so as long as I get some Zeros up over it when it falls it should be safe from any air threat for the time being.

Elsewhere I sink one of the old brit DDs that meets one of my surface TFs near Jolo, the other two run away. Jolo is invaded and will fall next turn no doubt. KB next to Wake Is and the invasion going in next turn, stay tuned.....

[adarbrauner]

Could has been much worst against the Vildebeest and Swordfish torpedoes.

Attacking close to Singapur, without air supremacy, can be dearly expensive.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: adarbrauner

Could has been much worst against the Vildebeest and Swordfish torpedoes.

Attacking close to Singapur, without air supremacy, can be dearly expensive.

Agreed. I have lsot a lot of AKs so far but they are about the only ships Japan has plenty of.

[Miller]

14th Dec 41

Mersing falls on the first attack. Moving units west of there to stop any more of his troops getting back into Singers. Palembang invaded and will fall next turn. Lots of AA already in place and I will be moving the best Zero unit in as well (45 a/c). Will also have at least one strong SCTF there in case he tries to bombard it. For some reason (I f***** up) the Wake invasion does not go in, we try again next turn....

[Miller]

15th Dec 41

Palembang falls. Wake falls. AVG CAP trap in China kills about 15 heaps of crap, happy to see them there rather than Singapore, think he won't try and make a serious attempt to hold there now. About to land troops at Tarakan and Balikpapan but won't attack until I have control of the air.

[witpqs]

Now you have to defend Palembang from bombing of Oil, or is there an HR delaying that?

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Now you have to defend Palembang from bombing of Oil, or is there an HR delaying that?

No, he is free to bomb it if he wants, but I have 80 Zeros there and plenty of AA and a CA force to protect against bombardments.

[Miller]

16th Dec 1941

The Houston shows up with half a dozen old US DDs at Tarakan, sinks one of the two DDs escorting the invasion (they hit her with a torp but it's a dud) then sinking the invasion fleet of 4 AKs, but after they had already landed the troops. I have two SCTF's in the area and hopefully one will intercept her next turn. Nothing of note elsewhere except China where I take Nanyang in the north and Wuchow in the south.

[Miller]

17th Dec 41

Houston evades my SCTFs, drat.

Interesting development in China at Changsha where I has moved in 3 divisions, he tries to kick them out but fails and takes considerable losses:


Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 62861 troops, 359 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1886

Defending force 34177 troops, 328 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1072

Allied adjusted assault: 2526

Japanese adjusted defense: 1841

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1887 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 63 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled

Allied ground losses:
8522 casualties reported
Squads: 285 destroyed, 372 disabled
Non Combat: 110 destroyed, 137 disabled
Engineers: 66 destroyed, 31 disabled
Guns lost 66 (50 destroyed, 16 disabled)


May go over onto the offensive here if I can scrape enough troops together....

[Bif1961]

He had (-) Op Mode, probably what cost him the most.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

He had (-) Op Mode, probably what cost him the most.

Actually it was one my divs in move mode as it just moved into the hex the same turn, so it could have been even worse for him.