Turn 13/14 Early/mid April 3 '42.
Communist China:
That southern base regiment is tenacious and gets the most-valuable-unit! 10 attacks later and major losses for the invaders! A real Alamo. Japan losses: Corp-1, 2 DB attacks, 2 light tanks attacks -1, Division-1, 2 battalion attacks-1,2 FF attacks. But alas! They are down to 1 HP, and with little MPPs income, I opt not to reinforce them the +3 points. With nothing left of the base, they opt to run away into China so they will need to be chased down. CC will take a NM hit with the loss of the southern base.
China:
I'm not sure what Defier's plans are for this build up around Canton/Hong Kong (he has at least 2-Corp, 1-Division, 3-Regiment, artillery, Fighter). The closest airfield is 4 hexes through mountains. Roads and villages are decently far apart. DEI would have been a much better target with all those troops IMO. Outside of Canton it gets mountainous and progress will be slow...indeed my village protectors took a beating, but withstood bombers and Corp attacks. Capturing that village won't gain him much, and I can sort of keep him bottlenecked with the mountains and limited roads. The village might fall next turn, I was only able to reinforce to 8HP.
Flying Tigers did there job, but are now down to 2hp after getting bombed (retaliation, I suppose, for doing it to his FF group last turn).
Defier continues to attack the mid section as well. Not as bad as last turn since he focused air power on the South Communists, but he will have more units to spare with the loss of the Southern Base. He now has 2 artillery to strike at the fort.
My turn:
Remember that B-24 I sent to AMMC last turn? It is causing mayhem, chaos, and destruction
Guessing there were no fighters in the Philippines...whoopsie there goes the port and convoy. Ooo this looks like a nice target...Whoopsie there goes IndoChina harbor (bonus: spotted a Destroyer Transport). Job well done and no losses! This should really throw him for a loop, since everywhere except DEI and Japan itself is in range. Fighters just got a whole lot more important!
Designer Note: I designed the convoys, when shut down, to move to another if one exists. However, the collection efficiency will be 10% less each time a begin/end port is relocated. I didn't like how you end up playing whack-a-port in vanilla-Pacific with no loss of income. Both of these convoys will relocate to another port.
On the other hand, I decided to attack his fighter again. It did not go so well this round. The medium bombers took a mauling, and the American fighter took more damage than it was worth. He took some too, but don't remember how much.
For the southern front, I am sending the Cavalry to the west to strike the garrison. Reinforced the east with my rebuilt Corp, and attacked what I thought was a softer spot, 2:2 damage.
Australia: His sub poking around in the Coral Sea got a prepared shot on the DEI destroyer, -5. I designed it that way for subs to get a 50% prepared shot bonus. Still hurts!
My turn: That sub got severely retributed and is now down to 2 health. I was surprised to find a CL down there, perhaps he was trying to find a safe exit for the sub. The CL was mercilessly attacked by B17s (heavy) and B25s (medium), causing -6 damage, but shooting down a few B25s. I moved some of the heavy cruisers at arm's distance to attack next turn if it is unable to escape.
Sent the Darwin medium bomber to DEI.
Not sensing any imminent threat in the Solomon's area, I decided to do some rearranging. Moved General Blamey to Rabaul to supply the airfields there. It's limited land area to move stuff around, so it will take some turns to get set up.
USA:
My Turn: Opted to raise the second sunk battleship, due to arrive in Jan 1944. I really debated this one, since the war should be fairly decided by then. In the end I decided to do it since I lost all 8 of my PH pre-war battleships, and 150 MPPs is cheaper than new.
Fleet arrives at PH (2 CV, 3 CA, 6 DD, 1 SS). It doesn't have much offensive punch, but it's the best I can get at this point. I don't have any heavy ground units this early in the game, but we will see what kind of hit and run opening I can find for this fleet. CV Hornet arrived, but it needs planes. Operated my last stateside Seaplane out to an island for eyes.
While I still have half a dozen obsolete ships to bring up to health, I feel I am finally at a point with the USA's mobilization to start dropping a research chit every turn.
British Raj/Burma/GB:
Defier continues to bomb Moulmein, but this time he took some light damage to some of the bombers. With AA and Fighters guarding, it won't be such an easy unload anymore.
My turn: India continues to reinforce Burma. I transported some light tanks and unloaded them near Moulmein. Also took the opportunity to move the regiment further south and attack the weak engineer unit. His units still don't have good supply, so not sure if he was an HQ nearby or not. I decided to scope out Chiang Mai (north Thailand) with the Chinese Corp - completely empty! My Chinese Corp is now knocking at the door. Bare minimum it will force him to operate a unit there. If I capture it, great, if not well he still spent the MPPs.
Singapore:
I don't think he has an HQ in Malaya to move his troops into Singapore. He's got two SF sitting outside Singapore, but 2 AP is not enough to get them in with ZoC of the LNG. He bombs the Naval Gun down to 5, which is still drawing supply from Singapore.
My Turn: the LNG fires its shell at a SF unit causing -1hp, bringing it down to 6hp. If he doesn't have an HQ, there are 3 SF units on Malaya that will not be able to get to full health.
Malaya: That partisan unit is still sitting there, blocking the railroad.
Dutch East Indies:
Still no active offense against DEI. I did spot a Destroyer transport (SF unit) outside Indochina, so Defier is getting ready. He will need to move over several of his battleships for de-entrenching if he is using fewer land troops.
My turn: Both capital defenders are now up to full strength, so now I can concentrate on rebuilding other Java defenders. My bomber moving east was a good set up. It ran a bombing run on Brunei and found a sub sitting in port, causing damage. I'm sure that will cause some heartburn
I operated the medium Bomber in Darwin to the old airfield. Now I can attack both Sarawak and Brunei ports, though I do have to be weary of even light carriers intercepting. See my notes under China for how much he will be needing fighters.
