Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

In the pm strike, more mayhem is dealt out. Not a spectacular result, but pleasing nonetheless. More damage to Scott's CL fleet.

The Pheonix took 16 more bomb hits! It is not listed as having sunk and the float plane count only shows 5 (which would be the St. Louis) so if that ship lives it's one tough SOB.

I have the KB going into Patrol just a few hexes off of Manakowri. I've split the Yamato and the Mushashi into two bombardment TFs to head towards the airfield (after sweeping the KB patrol zone) with a CA TF scheduled to arrive this turn from Ternate. I don't feel like sticking around here so the KB will see if it can clean up survivors, hopefully avoid any surface fight (it does have a BB and two CLs in case we run into each other) and put Manakowri out of commission so that I can keep it down. It's now at a level 3 so I may have arrived just in time!

GetAssista, you're probably right about Russia. I had not thought of the artillery angle and he gets his subs after I declare war so I can do a Pearl Harbor on Vladivostok before they show up and head out to sea. Well, at least I know they're not coming out until August of 1945!

[John B.]

Not much to report for the morning after. The surface ships got away and I laid waste to six AKs (and a PC!) that stayed to unload their cargos at Manakowri. I also put the kibosh on two AVs that were lurking in a port nearby. For some reason the Yamato and the Musahi TFs opted to not bombard and their captains are having a little chat with Yamamoto about duty, honor etc... [:-]

I think that Scott is too strong to kick out of Manakowri since recon reports 10,000 troops there. It would take a major effort and really sticking my neck out to get cut off by the ever growing American CV fleet and his huge BB numbers. But I should be able to keep the airfield down until American carriers show up. My main hope is to slow him down as he tries to push into the DEI.

Scott has also started strat bombing China. Our House rule was no strat bombing in China but since Chungking fell that seemed too artificial so we agreed to change it. So far my CAP has taken out a number of B-25s and British twin engine fighters and Scott laid waste to Kunming's heavy industry.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
I think that Scott is too strong to kick out of Manakowri since recon reports 10,000 troops there. It would take a major effort and really sticking my neck out to get cut off by the ever growing American CV fleet and his huge BB numbers. But I should be able to keep the airfield down until American carriers show up. My main hope is to slow him down as he tries to push into the DEI.

Well, you took quite a toll for his advancement and let him have it. That's basically Japan's way in 43+

You can only try stomp out those overly ambitious pushes you can isolate, not the creeping advance of the Allies. Especially if the base is nothing exceptionally strategic like Manakowri. No lev 8-9 airfield, no large port. Him paying several CL/DD and dozens AKs for each of those looks ok in your book.

[Bif1961]

Sounds like he is going after reversing his recent VP decline by performing strat bombings in China. He has to make up for Chungking somehow.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961
Sounds like he is going after reversing his recent VP decline by performing strat bombings in China. He has to make up for Chungking somehow.

I believe China does not count into strategic VPs (Edit: yeah, only mainland Japan, Manual 17.0). Not a lot of potential there anyway. It is more about denying to Japan its supply generation whenever you can

[BBfanboy]

Whenever TFs fail to bombard they either have too low a DL on the target (perhaps caused by weather at the time of arrival) or they used up their ops points before they got there. In the first case, if Heavy Rain or Severe Storms hide all the land a captain would be wasting his ammo to bombard with no navigation references. Tell that to Yamamoto, and suggest he take a Betty bomber on a tour of forward bases.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Whenever TFs fail to bombard they either have too low a DL on the target (perhaps caused by weather at the time of arrival) or they used up their ops points before they got there. In the first case, if Heavy Rain or Severe Storms hide all the land a captain would be wasting his ammo to bombard with no navigation references. Tell that to Yamamoto, and suggest he take a Betty bomber on a tour of forward bases.

There is also a tendency for shenanigans with the waypoints on the bombardment route. I now use waypoints only to guide TF to the point where they run in, and do not use them during the turn of bombardment. Otherwise there is always the risk of some unexpected tallying around instead of doing business

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Whenever TFs fail to bombard they either have too low a DL on the target (perhaps caused by weather at the time of arrival) or they used up their ops points before they got there. In the first case, if Heavy Rain or Severe Storms hide all the land a captain would be wasting his ammo to bombard with no navigation references. Tell that to Yamamoto, and suggest he take a Betty bomber on a tour of forward bases.

There is also a tendency for shenanigans with the waypoints on the bombardment route. I now use waypoints only to guide TF to the point where they run in, and do not use them during the turn of bombardment. Otherwise there is always the risk of some unexpected tallying around instead of doing business

Agreed. From my observations a ship arriving at a waypoint will dally there until the next naval movement phase. If a TF fails to make it to a waypoint but is close, I often consider amending the route and resetting the waypoint further away rather than have the TF move a hex and then wait for the next movement phase.

[John B.]

He does not get strat bombing points for China, he's just cutting down on the heavy industry I get out of there. But, he's paying for that in VP so I'm ok with it. so far I have 280 strat VP for my firebombing of Perth.

You guys may be right on the whole bombardment issue. I don't think weather was obscuring the coast since the CA TF shelled the base but the two BB TFs each had waypoints assigned and neither one of them went into to drop their shells.

Manokowri is not strategic in and of itself but it puts him one leap away from bombing balikpapapn or at least cutting one of the sea routes. I'm happy to pick up the VP and to delay his advance. But, I don't like having my CVs out there when I don't know where he is especially since most of my CVs still have their December 1941 aircraft (my fault, I mishandled the naval air upgrades but better planes are now rolling off the production lines).

[John B.]

Here is the final butcher's bill from Manakowri. To this you need to add two AV (30 VP each) that were sunk in port strikes at Biak and I'm pretty sure another CL. Not a huge haul for sending in the CVs but the main point was to slow down the Manakowri airbase building and I think I've set that time table back a bit. I've got ships to continue the bombardment of that airfield and it may be a few days until Scott starts trying to interfere with the bombardment runs again.

The big question now is just where are his CVs? He's only lost three (Wasp was sunk, I'm pretty sure that Yorktown was sunk, and he let slip that Lex is holed up in some small port in south Australia at 98 or 99 flotation and may never see the light of day again).

It's also very very quiet in Burma!

[John B.]

You know, I've been leafing through the Geneva Convention because I'm pretty sure Scott is not allowed to use his Carriers to attack my CAs.

But, until I find that provision I'm just going to have to accept the sinking of two CAs at Babledoab who decided to ignore their orders to auto-disband so that they could better watch all those incoming planes. Perhaps on second thought I should not have sent that TF there knowing american carriers were in the vacinity but I was young and foolish at the time. [:)]

Heavy sigh. the KB is almost back at Balikpapan to refuel and then it will head back to Manakowri so see what we can do about this whole mess.

BTW, any ideas as to where a Japanese tank division would be useful? I have one that can leave China but I suspect against American or British or Soviet troops it may not do too well. Still, I'm open to ideas.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
BTW, any ideas as to where a Japanese tank division would be useful? I have one that can leave China but I suspect against American or British or Soviet troops it may not do too well. Still, I'm open to ideas.

Quick reaction force in Burma, specifically on the hard roads network. But do not roll into the clear hexes unless covered by fighters and AA. Tanks are very vulnerable to bombing

[John B.]

Good idea. I already have one armored division there, so two can be better.


This turn Scott showed that he hates my AMc's by shelling babeldaob with two BBs and heavy bombing. Both sank.

My naval fortress there did nothing but watch the fireworks. [:-]

[John B.]

Looks like we're getting set for another dance at Manakowri. Scott has moved fighters back to the airstrip and he has ships stationed there. I'm sure his carriers are lurking somewhere around there as well. I have three bombardment TFs leaving Ternate and the KB is up and moving from Balikpapan.

Meanwhile, not much is going on anyplace else. I continue to reinforce and fortify the Marianas (Guam is almost a level 7 fort) and I'm starting to direct reinforcements to Manila which I also intend to fortify as high as I can. My plan continues to be to stymie him at Manakowri as long as I can to keep him out of the DEI. I have a number of divisions in Burma so I'm pretty sure I can slow him down there.

[John B.]

One day closer. The KB is not quite in position to make it to within range of Manakowri. I could try a full speed dash but that would be iffy so I'm going to move it Sangi and try to auto-disband it. If that works, Scott may not see it in his naval search. If it does not work and Scott sees it, oh well. The bombardment TFs are going to patrol one hex away from where there are not getting long range CAP from Ternate and then tomorrow we'll try to coordinate a strike on that base. Scott has a lot of surface ships around so I suspect his carriers are hiding in the rear just like mine are.

One of his subs did put to torpedoes into a CA of mine. It only has 35 floatation damage but it's out of the fight and heading to Manila.

Stay tuned!

[John B.]

No action the night before. But, there may be fireworks tonight. The KB is at Sangi and you can see by the highlighted hexes that it's set to be NW of Mankowri during the day. My three bombardment TFs marked time yesterday and today they'll head into the reported location of Scott's surface TFs (two of my TFs have a fast BB). The question, as always, is whether my surface TFs are bait for him or if his are bait for me. We'll see if the American CVs show up.

In other news, I lost a TK near Manila and he lost a PT boat to a mine at Manakowri (not really an even trade). Oh, and the intel boys report that the Yorktown is not sunk. [:(]

The turn is off to Scott, let's see what happens!

[John B.]

So, the first day battle is in and so far it's looking like a tactical victory for the IJN. I think that the CL Leander went down (8 bomb hits) and the Marblehead is likely not in good shape (two torpedo hits with a massive explosion report but it was still afloat at last report and only listed as on fire with no damage reported). Three DDs and an AMC and an AP may be the total for today. Most of my planes stayed on deck no doubt in case Amercian CVs showed up. I lost about 15 planes to one unescorted strike and flak/wear and tear. As you can see, it looks as if Scott has a couple of TFs stuck behind my lines as I type this. The main KB will move to the indicated position to cover his retreat route if he heads down towards Boela or if he goes up near Babeldaob. The mini KB (plus the Musashi) will also move into those straits while I have a couple of surface TFs tying to make contact to see if I can finish off any survivors.

Scott's surface TFs did make make the Kongo shoot off all of its ammunition so it's heading back to base. The Hiei TF is off looking for his surface TFs while my CA TF (one of the three near Mankowri) will bombard Biak. My Betties on Ambon swtich to anti ship.

[John B.]

The next two days have been pretty much a damp squib. The KB did not launch any strikes at all in the past turn even though an allied surface TF was just two hexes away. Perhaps I should have a TF commander with an air rating of better than 21. As I recall, air rating does not matter for individual carrier commanders but it does matter for Air Combat TF commanders?

In any event, the battle of attrition at Manokawri continues. This turn he put a torpedo in the Hiei which will put it back in the yards and I have a DD that is crippled and likely won't make it back to port. The S-boat that put the fish into the BB did not get to cheer too long as it was forced to the surface and blasted in the daylight naval phase. The KB did launch a strike the second day and sank an AK and two AMs. I'm now heading up to Babledoab as there is a TF trying to get up that was spotted up there and it will take me away from Hollandia which is a major naval/air base.

Meanwhile, three new bombardment TFs are set to go towards Manokawri and Biak to try to keep those bases down which is the whole point of this exercise.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: John B.

The next two days have been pretty much a damp squib. The KB did not launch any strikes at all in the past turn even though an allied surface TF was just two hexes away. Perhaps I should have a TF commander with an air rating of better than 21. As I recall, air rating does not matter for individual carrier commanders but it does matter for Air Combat TF commanders?

I think it is both - individual CV commanders with Air Skill can orchestrate flight ops on their vessels and the end result is more aircraft in the strike package. The TF commander's job is to get them in position to strike and he needs to understand Air ops to make the best decisions.

Looking at the historic CV and CV TF commanders on the US side, all of them had high Air skill and I think the game developers tried to reflect historic leaders skills in the way ops work out.

[RangerJoe]

I also think that Aggression is important as well. A more aggressive commander would want to put more aircraft into the air while an air leader would know how to use them. But what was the DL? If the SCTF was in a storm, it might have been very low.