Intellectus Ex Nihilo (Wal-Mart on Ice)

[Anachro]

Yeah, my heart burns whenever I lose a CV. In my last PBEM, I saw Enterprise burn up from low damage/low fires over the course of a couple days...was very, very heartbreaking. Then I found out Allied DC was turned off. The only time I felt similar for another ship type was when the newly arrived BB Washington was 3 hexes out from Pearl and well-escorted only to take 3-4 subs from a random, unseen Japanese sub and sink immediately.

[Simonsez]

Hate it when the Japanese shoot subs at me. Those things are dangerous! [:D]

[Canoerebel]

6/15/45

Wenchow: Yet another Japanese division (16th) is making an amphibious assault here. That's the fastest way to get here but it's not good for disablements 2.5 months after the invasion bonus has expired.

[CaptBeefheart]

The numbers in the upper left: Are you cryptically tracking something like you did once before, or did you screw up the dates? [:)]

Cheers,
CB

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart
The numbers in the upper left: Are you cryptically tracking something like you did once before, or did you screw up the dates? [:)]

Just a flashback from the parallel universe I guess [:)]

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

The numbers in the upper left: Are you cryptically tracking something like you did once before, or did you screw up the dates? [:)]

Cheers,
CB

His other game that is in '45 got his wires crossed. [:D]

[HansBolter]

BTW, don't forget to buy back the air squadrons lost on Lexington.

[Canoerebel]

That's a good reminder, Hans. Except Lex's squadrons weren't lost. Lex made it to a small island with a level one airfield. All the squadrons offloaded the turn before KB finished her off. When KB sailed away and the coast cleared a bit, I brought in some supply and aviation support. All her squadrons are presently at Pago Pago or Fiji.

[Canoerebel]

6/15/42 to 6/18/42

China: MLR remains intact. Japanese just advanced to take Liuchow, over near Vietnam, but it was garrisoned by only an HQ unit for more than a month. More landings at Wenchow = more Japanese units with heavy disablements. Dave could offload these units at Hangchow and they'd arrive in Wenchow safely via the good road, but he must think that by landing he's eating up Chinese supply via auto-bombardments.

Burma: The cadre of 6th Aussie Div. is close to making it into the jungle where it'll have an open path of retreat. For the first time, Dave's bombers hit it to slow it today. At this rate it needs two or three days to clear the hex. He has a cav regiment chasing it but it probably won't arrive in time (if it does, and if it succeeds in attacking, my guys might or might not retreat in a helpful direction). Elsewhere, Dave's advance army took Myitkyina, which my guys evacuated.

Bay of Bengal: Repeated sightings of a large enemy TF at Georgetown. No sign of carriers in weeks. Lots of subs working around Colombo, Trivandrum, Diego Garcia. They've sunk two TK and one xAK in recent days. A few enemy subs have been roughed up. DS is disbanded at Colombo, it's air squadrons having just upgraded at Madras and the DDs and two CVs likewise have upgraded. Dave knows or suspects they're here but for the moment I like this position. Under strong LBA CAP the threat of effective enemy air strike is small and max protection is afforded for Ceylon. I might contest any enemy move into the immediate vicinity.

Singapore: No enemy attacks. Supply at 101k. I think the garrison will hold until well into July, perhaps later.

Oz: Darwin fell on the 14th, but the forts (and a sub) took out some enemy ships. I had withdrawn most of the units from there and nearby bases. Dave picked up on that via recon. He probably thought Darwin would be easy pickings but it wasn't. I didn't do that on purpose but it proved a lucky choice.

Pacific: Enemy subs nosing around Noumea, Efate, Christmas Island and between Pearl and San Diego. Most of these have been in these areas for weeks or months. No other major stirrings by the enemy. I'm working a plan to base patrols at Kure Island supported by AVD. Eventually, I may withdraw the Midway base force and insert a tank unit in its place.

Aleutians: SigInt of an enemy support unit prepping for Adak. I have small garrisons there and at Dutch Harbor. Kodiak and the Anchorage triangle are more strongly protected.

[Canoerebel]

6/19/42

The Long March: A chunk of Aussie 6th Div. (mislabeled 7th Div. on my map below) is probably going to escape.

Dave would have been better served to either totally ignore these units or to cut off their paths of retreat with small ground units. He instead has committed a lot of bombers for better than a month and hasn't yet succeeded in isolated or destroying any of the three units engaged in this long march.

[RangerJoe]

Good luck on those Aussies. That unit near Chiang Mai might make it to the road and then it will be able to move faster. Of course, if you kill off all the Aussies, the Kiwis, and the British troops, then their lovely ladies will just have to make do with Americans . . .

One of my father's cousins married an Australian woman.

[Canoerebel]

Olivia Newton John?

[RangerJoe]

Nope. I think that they met during WWII. But they lived in Idaho when I met them.

Besides Olivia is English. She was raised in Australia.

[Canoerebel]

6/20/42 to 6/25/42

China: The MLR remains intact. Dave is prepping and probing and assembling at some point or points where he'll attempt a breakthrough. I have alot of terrain covered now, with some decent backup positions. But now I'm low on troops. I think I'm most concered about the southwest sector now.

Burma: The Long Marches continue. Dave bombs the two Aussie division cadres each day to little effect. Progress is slow but steady.

Singapore: I got a bit tricky, putting AA units in reserve, hoping to lower supply usage (his bombers are all above the flak anyway) and to lead Dave to think I was out of supply so that he might attack. He responded by bombarding, to small effect and basically offset by his own gun losses. He hasn't attacked yet. Supply is at 95k. It's probably declining faster now, since bombardment likely draws more supply than the AA guns firing. So I might've skewered myself a bit there!

The Vast Pacific: No real enemy activity from Oz to the Aleutians. I continue to work all the LOC/prep angles.

[Canoerebel]

6/26/42 to 7/4/42

China: The MLR remains intact. Dave seems to have completed his amphibious landings at Wenchow, where he hasn't attacked. No real pressure anywhere at the moment, but I think Dave is working out Allied weak points and assembling the force(s) necessary to try for a breakthrough.

Burma: 6th Aussie Div. appears safe. Dave is bombing it every day, so progress is slow. But there's no way he can close it's escape route into China. He has corralled the cadre of 7th Aussie Div. and some engineers. He's bombing them each day. I'll post them in a jungle-rough hex and change movement directions from time to time. They're serving a purpose by attracting his bombers.

Bay of Bengal: No sign of carriers in weeks; perhaps upgrades? Some SigInt of combat support units inbound to Burma. No pressure yet against Ceylon, coastal India or Diego.

Singapore: I learned something: upgrades do have a supply cost. I cost me about 4k supply to upgrade one Indian division to '42 squads (253 in total). Supply there is down to 89k, so that was an extravagant purchase. No attack here since 3/31/42.

SWPac and SoPac: Other than the occasional sub, no signs of enemy activity anywhere. I continue to work my little angles at building speed bumps here and there.

CenPac: Midway forts to 5 today, which is pleasing. I'm still pondering whether to withdraw the base force (which has engineers) and insert in lieu thereof a tank battalion. I really don't need the big base force. An AVD can handle a PBY squadron. Hmm.

NoPac: I'm doing little things here and there, out as far as Adak. None will amount to anything if Dave comes in force, except at Kodiak and around Anchorage, which do have some middling defenses.

[BBfanboy]

AVDs typically have only six capacity so half a PBY squadron. One AVD/AVP will support the ops of 12 PBYs but will gradually fall behind on repairs.

[Canoerebel]

Thanks, BB. I had no idea.

Purely be elegant coincidence, the PBY squadron at Kure has six aircraft.

P.S. Why does every player and forumite know more about this game than I do? I've been playing it and it's ancestors since 2002.

[jwolf]

What is the consensus view -- if there is one -- on the consequences for the Japanese in not having the use of Singapore to this relatively late date? I naively think it really hurts them not to have that base, but I would like to know the expert opinion on that question.

[Canoerebel]

Dave is steaming around Singers, sending lots of ships to and from the Bay of Bengal/Rangoon. So it's probably only modestly affecting his logistics at the moment.

He's detailing scores of aircraft against the base each day. I think he has three divisions there, with at least one other nearby and prepping (probably several others too). And I have a PBY squadron keeping tabs on his shipping, so that's helpful info.

On the other side, I have 30 subs or so running supply. At least one has been sunk. And they're not out their hunting for enemy vessels or serving as picket lines. So that's a tangible cost assessed to the Allied side.

There is always that chance that the Allied player could find a way to take advantage of the situation by putting together a big offensive that would dovetail with Singers - such as an invasion of Sumatra or Malaya. The longer Singers is Allied, the greater those chances.

[Lecivius]

See, I said it does not draw supply. Therefore, it did