Sailing in harms way: InHarmsWay (J) vs Andav (A) Scen2

[InHarmsWay]

Stepping even further back. I fully expect that Adm Wa will accelerate his upcoming offensive actions either down near Port Morsby or more likely at Ceylon. As hindsight is 20/20, I should have invaded the Aleutians about 2-3 months earlier, however I was worried that Adm Wa would take Ceylon so kept the KB in the area. At this point in the war, I am happy to trade Ceylon for neutering his northern attack to the Home Islands from the Aleutians. I believe this was his plan given the highly developed bases at Attu, Adak and Amchitka. My long term plan of hobbling his counterattack by targeting LCUs and devices may benefit from this if I can kill alot of units trapped here in the various island bases. Currently the score has over 21,000 points from allied land units killed.

Just sent back to Adm Wa the latest turn. As expected, he mobilized ~10 PT boats at Amchitka, however they performed very poorly, and I think the game must have a mechanism for instant building PT boats with an enemy TF in hex. The PT boats were surprised, and did not get a single Torpedo off. Also they then retreated out of hex. I was able to sink 6. No indication of any counter attacks from either Midway, PH or the west coast. Both KB and mini KB have refueled this turn, and will continue to bomb the ground forces while waiting for the rest of the invasion force to actually land! Looks like it will take 3 days total!

[InHarmsWay]

Feb 11th, 1943 and things continue to heat up! Looking at each area:

India/Burma : Admiral Wa must have been in the process of moving to land in Ceylon. He landed the 6th and 7th Aus Divsions and the Americal division at Colombo. Colombo will fall next turn as I had mostly abandoned it. He dropped the 77th Chindit Bgde at Dambulla in the interior of Ceylon. I have a rgmt of the 4th Guards Div there, and he was chewed up. I will attack tomorrow to try and wipe him out. Clearly this is the attack I had feared. I hope to tie him up here for a bit. I have three rgmts of the 4th Guards Div here, and the 14th rgmt. They will move to Trincomalee to hold out as long as possible. Supplies are ok, with ~10k on the island now. Hopefully he has a few CVs here in this area to support, as they will be out of the fight over in Alaska.

Australia : Things have gone quiet here, I expect both of our attentions are elsewhere! I am trying to cause michief south of Darwin but he has a couple divisions (somewhat depleted) there so need to be careful.

China : Continuing to grind towards Kunming, Adm Wa has several large infantry units that are slowing me, and I am not in a rush to get to the city just yet, as I want that to be the city all his other units retreat towards. I am making good progress on the dirt road towards Tsuyung and should be in that city in ~8 days or so. In north China, moving on Ansi, while slowly training up units on his trapped units in Ankang.

Main event - Aleutians : My southern Glen equipped sub line spotted his response from Pearl Harbor. From how far they have come, it looks like they have been sailing for 4 days (28 hexes out of Pearl). They are still 24 hexes from KBs current location. I have vectored in several subs, hoping for a lucky shot or two. However the main goal of my subs are early warning, and to be ready to pounce on any cripples in the event KB and Deathstar tangle. At this point in the war, I think I can win the fight as I have A6M5's Jills, and Judys, as well as every CV/CVL and CVE platform I still have afloat... Invasion wise, I have taken two small undefended bases, and have a deliberate attack going in on Amchitka tomorrow. Also I will be one hex out from invading Attu with ~100 AV. He has not seen that invasion force yet as they are coming from the northwest. recon has consistently shown 2 units an a small number of troops (200-400). Adak has been mined. His PT boats have only been a nuisance as well, which is a relief! Next turn will be interesting to see if he continues to close with the deathstar now that he has been spotted...

Banzai!!!

Feb 11 1943 Strategic picture.jpg (338.86 KiB) Viewed 35 times

[PaxMondo]

Feb 11th, 1943 and things continue to heat up! ...

Banzai!!!

Enemy CV's - I always do an "over/under" assessment of where the Deathstar could be. Assuming 34kts, that's 14 hexes each turn compared to the 8 normally moved at 15kts (pretty standard cruise speed for the allies). Further, unlike the IJN, the allies have unlimited fuel and RSY, so they can easily do 2 turn speed runs, so on the "over", the Deathstar could be in range in 2 days, the "under" is 3 days.

Ceylon - Do you still control the air over Ceylon? If yes, then shift some air units into Tricomalee and remind him of that. If not, It looks like you control Little Andaman and Port Blair. The G3M3 is within normal range (full bombload) from either base to Ceylon ... some night bombing of his airbases on Ceylon might be helpful.

OZ: if you want to harass him and cause real mischief, take Rawlinda and build it up. Then you can strat bomb Adelaide at night with G3M3's and rack up VP's ... to get there you will need to do airdrops using the H6K4-L from Derby to take Rawlinda. Then air in support units and .... it's a suicide mission unless you can get force down from the north to block his reaction from Perth, but you can rack up a fair amount of VP's in the meantime ....

just all thoughts (tactical options), based upon your stated intentions (strategies). use only as you see fit ... they are just all ideas ...