Intellectus Ex Nihilo (Wal-Mart on Ice)

[T Rav]

Forts are only scary if there is someone in them. That defines island "hopping" not island "grinding." Well Done and BZ.

[T Rav]

Well Done and BZ are redundant, but not everyone knows BZ...

[BBfanboy]

I know BZ from my readings about the RN and RCN, but always wondered what the antonym is for that when you want to say "You Dunderhead!" ?

[Canoerebel]

Does "BZ" mean "Bravo Zulu"? Is that military for "good job" or "well done" or "get your toes out of my succotash?"

[Canoerebel]

2/9/44 and 2/10/44

Lunga: The defenses collapse and the Allies take the base on the 10th. The victors will prep for a distant target. DS and most of the Herd will now retire to Townsville.

KB: A difficult-to-pin-down "spotted enemy carriers announcement somewhere around Hollandia or Wolei. I might have to watch the replay again and watch more carefully.

Allied Invasion Armadas: Because of the configuration of the map and the likely location of KB, two of the Allied invasion armadas - at sea, loitering, and very far apart - cannot proceed until KB's location is confirmed or actionable intel is available. A third invasion TF has unloaded to make sure disruption doesn't climb. A fourth might can be handled by fast transport, as Dave seems to have withdrawn most of his garrison, leaving only a handful. It'll take DS about four turns to reach Townsville and perhaps three or four turns to refuel, replace aircraft and deal with a bit of SYS damage. Then it'll be available for offensive or feinting actions.

[Canoerebel]

In the fierce naval fighting at Rabaul, it's confirmed that Japan lost CA Maya. The only large ship the Allies lost was a CL. The two damaged CAs (moderate or less) are at Sydney. BB South Dakota took light damage, 8 or less in each category. And BB Colorado, which took a torp during an air raid, suffered light-moderate damage and is en route to Pearl. With BB Mutsu taking two TTs and incurring decent damage to gunnery, this was an Allied victory.

[Canoerebel]

Change in Victory Points over the Past Five Weeks

January 3, 1944: Japan 28.1k, Allies 19.8k
February 10, 1944: Japan 28.1k, Allies 21.8k

The Japanese score hasn't changed due to losing several high-value bases, including Rabaul and Port Moresby. The Allied score has changed due mainly to enemy ships sunk.

The auto-victory denominator (Japanese Points) hasn't changed.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel


That picture I think is before the torps made their mark? I deduce fires between 21-40, and systems damage 21-40 before those torps hit. Clearly 2 small torpedoes are not going to sink the Mutsu,

Remember that IRL the Mutsu didn't need any torpedoes at all!

[CaptBeefheart]

Love the play-by-play format! Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
CB

[Canoerebel]

2/11/44

Enemy Carriers: Whatever Dave's doing with KB, he has me tied up a bit. Once DS is rested and ready to go again (about a week), I think I can prod a reveal, as happened during the invasion of Rabaul.

[T Rav]

BZ, Bravo Zulu and Well Done are all synonymous. About as good a compliment as you will hear from a Captain or Admiral. I'm neither BTW...

[Crackaces]

This is scenario #2 no withdrawal. I understand you have had a bad CV exchange sometime in the past, but don't you start getting a plethora of Essex class carriers with air groups? At what point do you think you can match up with the KB and start the attrition? Or is the plan to always keep hitting where the IJ are not?

[Canoerebel]

The KB seen of late has about 900 aircraft. Dave may have other carriers around or about to come online.

DS has about 1,050 aircraft, with other carriers operating separately in distant locales, looking for targets of opportunity.

I don't want to fight at 900 (or so) to 1,050, especially if the battlefield is distant from Allied shipyards and/or close to big enemy airfields. As new Allied carriers arrive, or as KB suffers attrition, that will eventually change.

Right now, good things can be accomplished whenever Dave is prodded into committing or revealing KB at any fixed point.

[BillBrown]

Attriting the enemy CV fleet is fun. I just put 7 torpedoes into my opponents CV Shokaku. He needs to rename her from Soaring Crane to Sinking Crane.

[Anachro]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
The KB seen of late has about 900 aircraft. Dave may have other carriers around or about to come online.

Wow, that sounds nice...hehe. [:D]

[Canoerebel]

2/12/44 and 2/13/44

KB: Still reports of CVEs with a couple dozen aircraft at Wolei, but information remains stubbornly sketchy about the makeup of the carrier TF, whether it might be KB, and where KB might be if this ain't it.

Feinting and Closing: To force the issue, I moved a bunch of scouting ships forward towards Timor and the islands to the "north" and ordered a couple of bomber squadrons to target Port Headland. I get the feeling that Dave is skeptical, as one of his subs sank an xAK that didn't have troops aboard. I am trying to lure him out, but there's also "the real thing" hanging back a bit. It turns out Port Headland is defended only by a regiment.

Elsewhere, another invasion armada is loitering, hoping for an all-clear or orders to retire. I'd better fish or cut bait soon, else fate is going to frown on me, and Dave's going to get some licks in.

DS & Friends: My carriers will reach Townsville on the 14th. Lots of troops and transports there and nearby. So it won't be long before the Allies go hunting again. In the meantime, a fast transport TF is loading and eying weakly-defended Merauke.

[Anachro]

Out of curiosity, have you ever made the decision to quickly land at a weakly-defended target of opportunity using troops without any or minimal (25 prep)? What were the results in disablements?

[Canoerebel]

I do it all the time. Oft times speed and surprise against a poorly garrisoned or vacant base is far more preferable than foregoing the opportunity or taking the time to prep.

Of course, judicious consideration of all the circumstances are necessary. Using a raider or paratroop battalion or all or part of a RCT is certainly much less risky than using a division, which may suffer enough disablements to affect other important plans.

Generally, disablements when landing at a vacant or weakly garrisoned base might be 10% to 50%, usually on the lower end.

In the invasion of Port Moresby, which was garrisoned by an enemy division but no CD or Arty, I dropped two 100%-prepped divisions and one that was 100% prepped for another target. That was an accident/oversight but it worked out just fine. The unprepped division only suffered modestly more disablements - barely enough to register at all. All three divisions were ready to fight at near full-strength.

[HansBolter]

In January '46 I am taking the Kuriles as targets of opportunity for the force build up that arrives at Vancouver in late '45.

To get things rolling I cobbled together invasion forces consisting of regiments and battalions with little to no prep.

Landings found most islands garrisoned by mixed brigades. Two regiments and two battalions land with as much as 80-85 percent disabled squads. I quickly bring in another regiment with little to no prep only to see it suffer 60 percent disablement.

I had to sit and rest for two weeks while constantly bombing and bombarding to get things to a point where my marginally recovered units could succeed in taking the base.

I'm working on some decent prep for Bihoro for the assault on Hokkaido in February.

Taking marginally defended bases with little to no prep can be done, but its slow going due to the recovery time needed.

[Canoerebel]

My Allied army that came ashore on D-Day at Rabaul included three Aussie divisions about 55% prepped. That turned out to be adequate for the job. Had it not been, another TF was loaded with 1st Cav. Division, which was 100% prepped for Lunga. I wouldn't have hesitated to land that unit had it been needed. I knew there weren't tough CD guns at the base nor other uber defenses, so probably disablements would've been about 25%. And since Dave was busy withdrawing his army from Lunga, and since 2nd Marine Div. was also 100% prepped for that target, I knew that any disablements to 1st Cav. wouldn't have ripple effects.

So, yes, I go with low or zero prep quite often but it's based on consideration of all the circumstances.

And if it was an unoccupied base, I'd break off a single troop transport with a modest amount of AV and let them handle it.