Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

Not much to see this turn. Saigon fell which is why there is the big jump in VP for Scott. He bombed Fusan and lost planes to ops that always provide welcome VP for me.

Looks like he'll split Korea in two and should eventually be able to mop me up in the South. But, we're past mid January and I'm still in the lead. [:D]

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I'm trying to put one TRACOM pilot in each fighter squadron. I suppose that it can't hurt. I did make a mistake and released 20 pilots from the IJA fighter TRACOM pool and now they're nowhere to be found. Probably pretty happy to be sent home by accident. Let's hope the Kempatai find them and send them back

[John B.]

Well, another day and I'm still in the lead. Shot down a few allied planes but only a few of them are 4e. Man, the B-29s can basically fly whereever they wish and not get shot down. They're super planes!

[John B.]

Scott has cut Korea in half (no ominous feeling of impending doom here) and I have 6-7 divisions that will be trapped along the coast. In the circle are two divisions that may not make it out and so may be beseiged in that hex. It's not clear yet. This will be a bad result for me! There is a major airlift going on with both transports and my bomber fleet but I don't know how long they can be sustained. On the plus side, it should take Scott a little while to clear me out and Keijo will be a tough nut for him to crack.

[John B.]

But, before we get too glum, here is a tip of the Bushido spirit cap to the Captain of the I-48. It was forced to the surface, and then, under fire and with very heavy damage it put in 5 (!) torpedo hits and almost certainly sank those two AKs (14 VP each). And, he still lives! His sub is at 96% damage with 47% systems damage so the odds are against him getting home, but he's going to try!![&o][&o][&o]

[John B.]

Ooops, and here is his battle report.

[RangerJoe]

Man, that sub crew deserves some saki!

[John B.]

No fooling!

[Q-Ball]

I-48 is a newer sub.....so you've been building subs. I see differing opinions on whether the Empire should continue to build subs, since the efficacy goes down as the war goes on.

From my standpoint, I think the Glen-subs have value so I build some of those, but they are lower priority than warships, and only get the "leftover" NSY Points

What did you do with them? Was it worth it? You obviously got your money's worth on I-48

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
What did you do with them? Was it worth it? You obviously got your money's worth on I-48

I recall an exceptional lot of flattops going glug-glug in this AAR due to Japanese subs

[John B.]

I stopped all warship construction (except DDs) and all merchant ship production awhile ago as I figured that was just building VP for the allied war machine. If I don't build the ships Scott can't sink them and get VP for them. But, I have kept my sub production up to normal speed. The allied ASW is terrible to behold but every now and again I get shots at his carriers (I had one two turns ago but missed). The way I view it, sinking a single carrier is worth about 340 VP. Scott needs 2-1 in VP or I win. So, one fleet carrier sinking means Scott needs 780 VP just to break even. If the subs cost me 14 VP each then he would need to sink 55 subs just to not fall behind. And, subs have other uses such as mine laying, getting shots in at other ships besides CVs, and, the intangible morale benefit of every now and again seeing a torpedo hit one of his ships.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: John B.

I stopped all warship construction (except DDs) and all merchant ship production awhile ago as I figured that was just building VP for the allied war machine. If I don't build the ships Scott can't sink them and get VP for them. But, I have kept my sub production up to normal speed. The allied ASW is terrible to behold but every now and again I get shots at his carriers (I had one two turns ago but missed). The way I view it, sinking a single carrier is worth about 340 VP. Scott needs 2-1 in VP or I win. So, one fleet carrier sinking means Scott needs 780 VP just to break even. If the subs cost me 14 VP each then he would need to sink 55 subs just to not fall behind. And, subs have other uses such as mine laying, getting shots in at other ships besides CVs, and, the intangible morale benefit of every now and again seeing a torpedo hit one of his ships.

Thanks! Yes, you have to think before you build anything after 1943-ish, that's for sure, since you may not use it long before it ends up on the bottom....

[John B.]

Of course, now I have about 3.6 million HI that are unlikely to be used.

[John B.]

January 23, 1945 is now in the history books and there was a lot going on this turn. As you can see, Japan suffered very heavy loses in the air.

[John B.]

This was the result of a carrier battle that took place. I noticed from a recon unit that I placed in Iwo (with a range just shy of his big fighter bases at Tangaeshima (sp?) that there was a chain of convoys moving north and south. So, the KB sailed again. One of Scott's subs had a shot at one of my CVs as the KB sprinted out of Tokyo, but missed. Then, when the search parties reported it, by sheer luck, I was 8 hexes away from what turned out to be an American CVL TF. There was also some merchant ship TFs closer at hand.

[John B.]

Sorry, here is the photo.

[John B.]

I remember reading someplace where a person wondered why people left huge CAP over their own CVs and neglected to escort their bombers so, I had all of my fighters set on escort and it paid off in the morning strike. I did not know that the carrier pilots would be so free to Kamikaze (5 did and 2 got hits) but they were. Their names will live in the hearts of Pixels everywhere!

[John B.]

There were a number of stragglers in the morning who were shot down over the CVL TF but I did manage to catch one of Scott's merchant TFs which had no CAP.

[John B.]

Another small strike seems to have caught that same TF.

[John B.]

Then, because the rising sun was clearly smiling on me this day, the KB even launched afternoon airstrikes. One CVL was confirmed down and the San Jacinto looks like it is in big trouble.

[John B.]

The victory board says I got three CVLs by my guess I likely got two. Two others are out for the rest of the war (that's not as big a deal for his carriers since Scott has so many) and every little bit helps. There were hardly any planes in the lost column so either my hits are vastly exaggerated or his planes were able to land elsewhere. Here is hoping that it's option two!