The Noumean Gambit

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 5:28 pm

I call this move by its target name because I don't kow who did it first. The Noumean Gambit is the move to capture Noumea by traveling from Shortlands or Rabaul down the lane formed by the name"Solomon Sea" then dropping straight down to the "Sea" in Coral Sea, then down further until you are level with Noumea then you have your choice of Noumea or Brisbine. I was able to move 2 divisions and one brigade accompanied by 6 CVs and 5 SCTFs and a replenishment TF without being detected. I was playing an experienced opponent who had already sunk the Shokaku and Shoho and badly damaged the Zuikaku but he neglected to put out scouts from Noumea or Brisbine. I am a conservative player, not very aggressive so my opponent had no idea I would do such a thing. I had built up Woodlark and Roussel Islands to make it look like I was going for PM. I sent recon to Luganville but not to Noumea until toward the end for fear I would alert him. In fact the presence of recon over Noumea did finally alert him - but to late. He had removed all his troops to Luganville and I was able to take Noumea without loss to my troops. I did suffer damage to two BBs and a Ca by air attack. Now I've got him trapped in Luganville while his two CVs are up in Truk on an ill-advised raid. I can't describe the tension of every turn as I crept down that track toward Noumea. I used only cruising speed to keep the TFs together. In fact I had all TFs follow a transport TF. When I finally got within 12 hexes of Noumea, I was spotted but the opponent thought it was just a raid. Scouts reported only combat vessels. Boy was he suprised when he saw transports in his harbor! What a feeling! the best time I've had in this game. People can whine all they want about this game, but there is always something new to try if you are willing to take the chance.

Curval · Post by **Curval** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 6:16 pm

Sweeeeeeeet move man.

I tried this in a game with Swoop but I was inexperienced and the attack was far too haphazard.

It scared him, but he was ultimately able to defend the base and I was forced to retreat.

I think your opponent may receive air reinforcements bound for Noumea in Brisbane though..but I could be wrong.

WarChild · Post by **WarChild** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 7:55 pm

'scribble, scribble'

Taking notes.

Hmm huh huh... yes,, drex can be more than passive aggressive.

"Plans alter"

PzB74 · Post by **PzB74** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 7:57 pm

Much the same as I did in my AAR game, was only 2 turns from landing at Noumea when I got spotted. Landed 100k men, 77k frontline troops. My opponent ferried in just enough troops from Luganville to prevent me from getting a 2-1 odds when I had reduced the fortifications :p

Nailbiting, but if the US player plays safe and keeps 30-40k troops on the Island, there isn't much hope.... You have to shake every tree in the South Pacific to get enough troops

The damage done by a big CV force that launches surprise air strikes on the ships at anchor in Noumea harbour - now that's another case. I'm quite paranoid about this when playing the Allies!

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 1:47 am

PzB wrote:Much the same as I did in my AAR game, was only 2 turns from landing at Noumea when I got spotted. Landed 100k men, 77k frontline troops. My opponent ferried in just enough troops from Luganville to prevent me from getting a 2-1 odds when I had reduced the fortifications :p

Nailbiting, but if the US player plays safe and keeps 30-40k troops on the Island, there isn't much hope.... You have to shake every tree in the South Pacific to get enough troops

The damage done by a big CV force that launches surprise air strikes on the ships at anchor in Noumea harbour - now that's another case. I'm quite paranoid about this when playing the Allies!

Your points are well taken but this move must be made by early July before he has any troops except for the Americal Div. Even then I was lucky because he had moved them to Luganville probably for a push to Irau plus when he spotted me he thought it was just a raid. No transports had been spotted in the recon reports. He never had a chance to reinforce Noumea. Everything was perfect for me and yet anything could have gone wrong: one of his subs intercepted one of the transport TFs outside of Shortland and torped it. Luckily I was able to disengage the damaged ship and send it to Woodlark while the TF moved on. I was extremely worried about the whereabouts of the allied CVs but when my scouts reported a TF of AOs out toward Nauru Is. I knew those CVs were nearby and out of the picture. I threw all my planes into Truk but he never attacked.

PzB74 · Post by **PzB74** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:36 am

That's true! Did you do the Noumea gambit before you took PM? A failure and the game would have been lost. Think my conclusion was that I sholuld have invaded 2 weeks earlier, but you know how it is - 1 more week and I get one more division :rolleyes:

It's still a very long time left for you to hold Noumea though! Guess you need to use all your troops and resources to do it. Not easy to have twice the required supply when level bombers hit your dumps all the time.

You're surely in for an very exciting time though

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 1:11 am

I haven't taken PM yet but then I don't need to. I am threatening Luganville where his US forces are holed up and of course Brisbine where he must concentrate his troops. I f I can take either the game is mine. first I must strengthen my position. He doesn't get any more ships but he does get troops and planes in Oz. He doesn't get alot of bombers though so I need to keep up good fighter protection. Yes, defending will be tough for so long but he only has 2 CVs and some CAs to protect his transports.

spence · Post by **spence** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:21 am

OOOW, OOOOW - It's May 31st and my worthy opponent is trying some kind of Noumea Gambit maybe. A bombardment TF of mine just missed colliding with one of his transport TFs about 100 miles NNE of Nevea.

The Battle of the Coral Sea resulted in the loss of Shokaku for the Japanese along with significant damage to Shoho. I lost the Lex. Since my own bombardment TF reports being sighted by a Val I guess he's made good his carrier losses and he figures to go for the big prize right off while there's little to defend with. Mayhaps!

Port Moresby is still mine and there seems to be little moving in the Western Coral Sea or SW of Rabaul. Maybe I can figure out how to write an AAR.

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 5:25 pm

Your opponent is possibly building advance bases for defense and planning to go for Luganville. It's too soon to tell. Put out recon and lots of it. You need to track his CVs

rcwkent · Post by **rcwkent** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 6:09 pm

I just lost Noumea in a Scene 19 IJN 160% game.

I had sent all ships back to Pearl, so with no Navy I'm done.

My opponent landed the end of June and it took 3 weeks
to capture the base. I anticipated the attack so i'd
abandoned Luganville and Efate. Ultimately IJA had 10 regiments
attacking, the entire Americal division was 100% ineffective.
1st Marines had not arrived. IJN could not close the airfield
for any time due to tons of engineers, but constant bombardments
and air attacks kept US air morale very low and engineers unable
to rebuild base defences.

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 6:57 pm

rcwkent wrote:I just lost Noumea in a Scene 19 IJN 160% game.

I had sent all ships back to Pearl, so with no Navy I'm done.

My opponent landed the end of June and it took 3 weeks
to capture the base. I anticipated the attack so i'd
abandoned Luganville and Efate. Ultimately IJA had 10 regiments
attacking, the entire Americal division was 100% ineffective.
1st Marines had not arrived. IJN could not close the airfield
for any time due to tons of engineers, but constant bombardments
and air attacks kept US air morale very low and engineers unable
to rebuild base defences.

If Japan has all her CVs intact to protect her escorts, there's not much you can do except ship troops and planes from Oz to Noumea for some kind of defense. I beleive there are enough troops in Oz to do this but getting them over there in time means he has to tip his hand. You have to ship fighters from OZ and that means using the slow Long Island. If you can do this, hope he doesn't decide to go for Brisbine or Townsville. It doesn't look good for the allies.

PzB74 · Post by **PzB74** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:16 pm

You've really strangeled the Allies if you capture Noumea!
It's a knock out blow that it's almost impossible to recover from.....
A surrender offer would be in its place.

I think US reinforcements should be redirected to Brisbane if Noumea is lost. Maybe with a 30 day delay before this comes into effect!

Too unrealistic to think that the US would abandon the theater if they lost a major base. The result would most likely have been the opposite.

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:31 pm

My very worthy opponent (who kicked my *** as the Jpanese in our last game) refuses to surrender unless I capture Luganville or Brisbine. Luganville because that's where all his troops are and his oilers. Meanwhile his CVs are heading back from Truk and must be low on fuel. Soon his planes won't fly and my LBA will fly.

denisonh · Post by **denisonh** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 10:53 pm

Drex wrote:My very worthy opponent (who kicked my *** as the Jpanese in our last game) refuses to surrender unless I capture Luganville or Brisbine. Luganville because that's where all his troops are and his oilers. Meanwhile his CVs are heading back from Truk and must be low on fuel. Soon his planes won't fly and my LBA will fly.

His supply lines to support Luganville are non-existent.

His ships will run out of fuel, and he will have to move them to Brisbane. If he runs out of fuel, his CVs will be sitting ducks.

A good example of how to play the over aggresive Allied player.

The Noumean Gambit

The Noumean Gambit

Re: The Noumean Gambit