Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[PaxMondo]

I've had enough of these IJAAF clowns. I brought in some Zeros to sweep the skies of Chungking.

They are pretty bad aren't they!

Until they get Franks, yeah, they really, really, s___!!!!

[PaxMondo]

14 Sep 42
Burma

A sentai of Tojos met a squadron of Hurricanes over the front line shooting down 4 Hurricanes for a loss of 2 Tojos (no pilot loss!).

China

Twenty-three Zeros swept Chungking meeting 4 P-66 Vanguards and shooting down 3. That's more like it!

BANZAI!!!!!

[PaxMondo]

16 Sep 42
Reinforcement
DD Niizuki, Akitzuki class, KB escort.

I love these, but I have no idea if they actually do much!

My wishful thinking is that they do, but I would never bet on it ...

[PaxMondo]

18 Sep 42
SE Fleet

Ted tried to sweep Rabaul with 18 P-38Fs vs. 72 Oscars. Should have been a blow out, right? They're Oscars. The end result was 2 Oscars shot down (1 KIA) to 1 P-38 shot down. I converted one of the Oscar sentai to the Tojo. I have 0 faith in the Oscar.

Well established to have that zero faith .... pathetic excuse for a 1942 fighter ....

[PaxMondo]

20 Sep 42
I had gotten some sort of crud from one of my grandsons (they're cesspools, I tell ya!).

Oh yes they are ... they will either rev up your immune system or kill you!!! And sometimes you feel like the latter would be preferable ...

[M Peaston]

21 Jul 42


I just sent the 25 Jul turn to Ted and have decided to do a couple of things. First, I'm going to dump a large load of mines in Akyab. I'm thinking 4-500. I'm also going to send a couple of small PBs (probably Kiso) into Chittagong harbor to see if there are any mines there. (I won't tell the commanders that's the mission.) If it checks out, I'll send in the 7 BBs I have at Singapore to let them know what a real mission like that looks like. I also may station some Nells in Burma for naval attack missions. They may get lucky.

Apologies for bringing up an old post, but I’m only just catching up.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of Rear-Admiral Woodward’s account of when he wanted to check if Falkland Sound had been mined the night before the landings at San Carlos Water. I can’t recall the exact details but the gist of it was that Woodward tasked one of his frigates to sail up Falkland Sound, bombard some Argentinian positions, send up a few starshells and generally be a nuisance and a distraction.

There was an awkward silence until eventually the frigate captain replied with something like:

“I expect you’ll want me to sail in and out of the sound entrance a few times as well, do some zig-zagging, that sort of thing.”

More embarrassing silence until the captain continued

“you know, to check for mines”.

At which point the admiral muttered something like, “yes, well if you wouldn’t mind doing that, that would be very helpful”.


Great AAR, by the way. I’m really enjoying it, and learning a few things.

[Mike Solli]

Morning guys. It's been a busy couple of weeks, but Ted and I have still been running turns. I'm waiting for the 11 Oct turn any time now. Some interesting actions have occurred, and some mysterious things on Ted's part. I expect to catch up in the coming week. Right now I'm staring at the ocean at Myrtle Beach all alone and will be until next Thursday. My wife is at a family vacation (Mom, sister and brother) in her brother's RV about 30 miles south of me. They've done this for years. My wife used to come with her sister (who lived near us) and I'd stay home. Unfortunately, her sister passed away about 1.5 years ago and I started driving with my wife so she didn't have to make the 600 mile trek alone. I stay in an amazing place (timeshare, but with points so it's far more versatile) that we bought into decades ago. Anyway, I'm basically a bachelor for the next week with nothing to do except catch up here and walk the beach once or twice a day.

Three weeks of catching up commencing now...

[Mike Solli]

14 Sep 42
Burma

A sentai of Tojos met a squadron of Hurricanes over the front line shooting down 4 Hurricanes for a loss of 2 Tojos (no pilot loss!).

China

Twenty-three Zeros swept Chungking meeting 4 P-66 Vanguards and shooting down 3. That's more like it!

BANZAI!!!!!

This is one of the gifts that Ted keeps giving me. He keeps putting up Vanguards against my Zeros pretty much daily and I shoot them down. Lots of easy experience!

[Mike Solli]

16 Sep 42
Reinforcement
DD Niizuki, Akitzuki class, KB escort.

I love these, but I have no idea if they actually do much!

My wishful thinking is that they do, but I would never bet on it ...

Same thoughts here, Pax. I accelerate every DD as soon as I can though. If anything, they're a target (like PBs) diverting attention from the important ships. So far, they've basically seen no action. KB hasn't been threatened through 20 Sep 42. I'm not giving away anything in the future though.

[Mike Solli]

21 Jul 42


I just sent the 25 Jul turn to Ted and have decided to do a couple of things. First, I'm going to dump a large load of mines in Akyab. I'm thinking 4-500. I'm also going to send a couple of small PBs (probably Kiso) into Chittagong harbor to see if there are any mines there. (I won't tell the commanders that's the mission.) If it checks out, I'll send in the 7 BBs I have at Singapore to let them know what a real mission like that looks like. I also may station some Nells in Burma for naval attack missions. They may get lucky.

Apologies for bringing up an old post, but I’m only just catching up.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of Rear-Admiral Woodward’s account of when he wanted to check if Falkland Sound had been mined the night before the landings at San Carlos Water. I can’t recall the exact details but the gist of it was that Woodward tasked one of his frigates to sail up Falkland Sound, bombard some Argentinian positions, send up a few starshells and generally be a nuisance and a distraction.

There was an awkward silence until eventually the frigate captain replied with something like:

“I expect you’ll want me to sail in and out of the sound entrance a few times as well, do some zig-zagging, that sort of thing.”

More embarrassing silence until the captain continued

“you know, to check for mines”.

At which point the admiral muttered something like, “yes, well if you wouldn’t mind doing that, that would be very helpful”.


Great AAR, by the way. I’m really enjoying it, and learning a few things.

Glad you're enjoying it! Believe me, I'm learning a lot from these guys too. They're a wealth of knowledge.

Interesting story. Never heard it before.

[Mike Solli]

21 Sep 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I screwed up at Munda. If you don't recall, Ted dropped the 3 Marine Parachute Battalion there a couple of days ago and I decided to drop the 2 Raiding Regiment there today. Well, 56% of it actually. They shock attacked and really blew it. The remnants were wiped out by attrition at the end of the day. Ah well, it'll rebuild. I have the 3 Raiding Regiment headed to the SE Fleet AO by ship. I like to use small slices of paratroopers to take dot bases and mess with Ted. Since I screwed up the 2 Raiding Regiment, they'll need reinforcements in order for me to continue with my irritating tactics.

The 83 NG will arrive there and land tomorrow. I doubt they can defeat the elite Marine Paratroopers, but I refuse to give away Munda. That would be a definite thorn in my side.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today, I shot down 4 of 8 P-66s. Like I said above, this is baffling to me, but they keep coming and keep dying.

My airfield bombing campaign of Lanchow, Chungking, Kweiyang and Kunming continued today.

Actually, I've been shifting my excess bombers to focus on Kunming's troops. I'm trying a deliberate assault tomorrow.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

21 Sep 42 - addition

SE Fleet

I forgot to mention that there were 63x 4E and 0x 2E sorties. I'm tracking this now...

[Mike Solli]

22 Sep 42

Sub War

The S-28, sitting in Munda's hex, torpedoed one of the fast transport Ansyu PBs (after she disgorged her troops (see below)), causing heavy damage. Fortunately, those Ansyu PBs are tough birds and she'll make it back to Rabaul for lengthy temporary repairs before heading back to Truk.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The 83 NG (-) landed at Munda by fast transport. About a third of it was disabled.

Forty-one Nells and 17 Betties bombed the Marine Paratroopers at Munda and cause exactly 5 disablements. Then 13 Sallies came in and caused one more disablement.

Today, 100x 4E and 61x 2E sorties hit various bases. They aimed for troops, which is pretty inefficient.

SRA

The SRA is officially secured. I've finally liberated all of the bases in the area. Boy was that a chore!

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Airfield bombing of Lanchow, Chungking and Kweiyang continued.

The deliberate assault on Kunming was a resounding success! They achieved 4:1 odds (fort level 1) and destroyed 887 squads for basically no loss. The Chinese 10 and 12 Construction Regiments were destroyed in the process. Nice! They don't automatically return. They have to be rebuilt:

Also, 9x A29A and an SB-III were destroyed on the ground. The infrastructure was in pretty good shape too:

Resources: 47(13)
HI: 39(11)
LI: 63(17)

None of it will be repaired.

Other Stuff

The B6N1 Jill R&D advanced to 1/43. I'm expecting this model to become operational in late December 42. I will not build this model because it uses the Ha-44 engine, which I am not building. R&D will advance to the B6N2, which uses the Ha-32 engine that I am building. The Ha-32 is currently building 120 per month. In a couple of weeks I'll increase it to 150. Right now there are ~180 in the pool and it is slowly decreasing. I will use it for the following aircraft:
B6N2/2a Jill - 60/month
E15K1 Norm - 30/month
H8K Emily - 10/month
P1Y Francis - maybe
N1K1 Rex - 30/month, as needed.
Ki-21-IIa Sally - 30/month until the Ki-49-IIa Helen starts producing, which is available but won't begin production until the Tojo IIc finishes R&D in mid-December 42.

The Ha-43 engine R&D advanced to 7/44. It will become operational 7/43.

[PaxMondo]

22 Sep 42
The Chinese 10 and 12 Construction Regiments were destroyed in the process. Nice! They don't automatically return. They have to be rebuilt:

Actually, I don't think that they can. Without a capital, I don't think you can re-build that nations forces. They go back into the auto return queue, but without a return date. It looks something like this:

Screenshot 2026-05-03 065040.jpg (78.6 KiB) Viewed 75 times

[Mike Solli]

23 Sep 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Forty-nine naval bombers escorted by 31 Zeros bombed the Marine paratroopers at Munda. They encountered 2 P-38s and managed to lose a Zero (KIA) in the process. Oh yeah, they caused exactly 2 disruptions.

Then 8 Betties showed up and 3 were shot down by those two P-38s.

After that, 13 Sallies showed up and managed to survive the single P-38 remaining. They caused one disruption. *Sigh*

Enemy bomber sortie count:

2E: 72 (there were 61 yesterday)
4E: 112 (there were 100 yesterday)

The 83 NG will attempt a deliberate assault against the 3 Marine Parachute Battalion. Not sure why I attempted this.

With the airfield damage at Tulagi, Buin has become my naval search base to the south with Dinahs. I'm stationing some Zeros there at an attempt to protect that base and am transferring some AS there from Rabaul. Rabaul will be reinforced with an AS unit from Truk.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I have an Ansyu PB guarding Cox's Bazaar from Allied AMcs trying to clear the mines I have there. She encountered 5 enemy MGBs and took them on, sinking 2. The survivors fled, and so did my PB, which took 5 hits (minor damage).

Then, an enemy bombardment TF composed of BBs Royal Sovereign and Valiant, along with 2 CA and 4 CL hit Cox's Bazaar going for the jugular. They sank all 3 ACMs tending the mines (408 by the end of the turn) and beat on the port a bit.

Three AMcs arrived clearing 41 mines.

I'm sending in an Ansyu PB to try to get rid of the enemy AMcs at Cox's Bazaar.

China

The Zeros shot down 3 of 7 P-66s today over Chungking.

Bombing occurred at the airfields at Chungking, Lanchow and Kweiyang, with extra bombers softening up the troops at Kweiyang for the eventual attack there. I'm still massing troops and artillery there. Another Vanguard and an A29A were destroyed on the ground at Chungking.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

22 Sep 42
The Chinese 10 and 12 Construction Regiments were destroyed in the process. Nice! They don't automatically return. They have to be rebuilt:

Actually, I don't think that they can. Without a capital, I don't think you can re-build that nations forces. They go back into the auto return queue, but without a return date. It looks something like this:
Screenshot 2026-05-03 065040.jpg

China still has both the capital and secondary capital. But, according to the rules book (unless they changed), only infantry units come back at 1/3 TO&E. The construction regiments are engineers. I don't think they will come back at 1/3 TO&E.

[Mike Solli]

24 Sep 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I set up an ambush over Munda with 28 Zeros and 19 Nicks. I wasn't to be disappointed. A flight of 38 B-25C escorted by 10 P-38F arrived. In a swirling fight, 2 Lightnings and 17(!) B-25s were shot down at a cost of 1 Zero (MIA) and 1 Nick (MIA). Intel reported a couple more B-25s and a P-38 crashed on the way home. BanzaI!

The 83 NG assaulted the 3 Marine Parachute Battalion. Not much happened. I lost 3 rifle squads disabled and the Marines just laughed.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I shot down a few transports and damaged a bunch more over Munda. Ted was apparently sending in supply and/or troops. I still see only 3 Marine Parachute Battalion.

Enemy bombing sorties:

2E: 38
4E: 74

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Those two Allied AMcs managed to clear 163 mines before the Ansyu PB arrived to disrupt things. All they did was damage one of them. Fortunately, they fled.

Later in the day, a handful of Nells attempted to bomb the AMcs, but missed.

Later in the day, 18 B-24Ds raided Munda disabling a few squads. None were shot down but many were damaged.

China

Same bombing and maneuvering.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
AMc Takunan Maru, Kujira class, will convert to a 12kt PB. The 12kt PBs are definitely needed to escort the multitude of 12kt cargo ships. They suck, but keep the enemy subs from surfacing. Also, they pretty much all carry the Type 95 DC rack, so they get the (very) occasional hit.

[Mike Solli]

25 Sep 42 - I inadvertently saved over this file. All I have to go on are my notes, the combat report and the combat events report.

Sub War

The I-153 sank an xAK in the Aleutians.

In the afternoon, I-155 took out another xAK in the Aleutians.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I forgot to mention yesterday that I sent a bombardment fleet from Truk to hit the Marines at Munda in anticipation of the attack by Kure 3 SNLF later in the day. The TF was composed of BBs Hiei, Kongo and Haruna (Kirishima is still at Yokosuka repairing damage from quite a while ago), 4 Aobas, CL Abukuma and 8 Fubukis. Everyone bombarded devastating the Marines. It appears that the entire battalion was disabled. It's a really good unit. Hopefully, the Kure 3 SNLF is good enough to trash them. We shall see...

Sixty naval 2E bombers escorted by 38 Zeros attempted to bomb the Marines at Munda to add to the carnage. They were opposed by 2 P-38Fs who managed to shoot down a Zero (KIA). The bombers were ineffective.

The LRCAP of 18 Zeros and 15 Nicks finally arrived just in the nick of time. They ended up protecting 13 Sallies who came to bomb the Marines. A single P-38F was still in the airspace, but was shot down (finally). The bombers were ineffective. Sheesh!

Then, 37x 4E bombers came to Munda for a visit. The LRCAP couldn't shoot any down, but they did damage a number of them. Fortunately for me, it appears that the bombers focused on the 83 NG and not Kure 3 SNLF (who would attack later in the day).

Then, the LRCAP, reduced to 18 Zeros and 3 Nicks, was encountered by 7 B-24D and 3 B-25C escorted by 2 P-38F. We traded a Zero (KIA) and a P-38. These guys were ineffective.

Six more B-17s arrived. By this time, there were only 3 Zeros remaining on LRCAP and nothing much was accomplished on either side.

Two more raids totaling 13x 4E bombers would try their hand, but nothing came of it from either side.

In the afternoon (yep, the above all happened in the morning), apparently the LRCAP was replenished because there were now 10 Zeros and 7 Nicks over Munda, and they encountered 15 SBD3 Dauntlesses, most likely coming from Woodlark Island. All 15 were shot down. Oops. I'm pretty sure they were going after the amphibious TF containing the remainder of Kure 3 SNLF that hadn't offloaded.

Another 28x 4E sorties bombed my troops at Munda.

Then, 2 Catalinas escorted by a couple more P-38Fs went after the bombardment TF. The LRCAP shot down the Cats.

I also saw that the LRCAP shot down another transport and damaged 11 more. Man, that LRCAP did work today!

No, the Kure 3 SNLF didn't attack today. I wanted to make sure the whole unit landed. They'll go in tomorrow.

Enemy bomber sorties today:

2E: 4 (wow, that dwindled after yesterday's fiasco on their part!)
4E: 97, about normal

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Two Ansyu PBs on a Fast Transport mission at Cox's Bazaar encountered three enemy MGBs, sinking one.

China

The Zeros intercepted 6 P-66s shooting down 4 today. Every time this happens I just scratch my head.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

26 Sep 42

Sub War

The S-28 launched a couple of torpedoes at DD Sazanami. Fortunately, they missed. Sazanami is an escort for the amphibious TF dropping off Kure 3 SNLF at Munda. A little later, S-28 launched 4 torpedoes at CA Tone, a much more valuable ship. They, too, missed. Then, Sazanami prosecuted the sub and hit her with a depth charge. She's reported to have sunk, but that didn't happen. I still see her sitting in the hex.

The I-169 put a torpedo into a BIG loaded xAP off Raoul Island. There was no report of her sinking. She was really big so I have no doubt she survived.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I had the bombardment fleet stick around Munda and use up the last of its ammunition hoping to do a little more damage to the Marines. It was ineffective. They are withdrawing back to Truk.

I have a MTB hanging out in the area. I sent them to Woodlark Island hoping to catch a ship or two and put a torpedo into her. Well, she got to Woodlark, but it wasn't at night. It was in broad daylight and caught an Allied TF of 2 DD and 2 AP. It's kind of hard to surprise the enemy when you're spotted at 22k yards. She got to within 7k yards (nowhere near torpedo range) before her commander had her withdrew. Too bad. That would have been a glorious victory torpedoing an AP.

Later in the day, 6 Nells launched a torpedo attack against the same TF but unfortunately missed.

Some 56x 2E bombers hit the Marines at Munda in two attacks but were unable to cause more than 1 squad loss. I'm sure those guys have a nasty headache after the bombardment and all the bombs dropped. Not happy campers I suspect.

Thirty 4E and 4x 2E hit Munda's troops. I had 13 Zeros and 5 Nicks flying LRCAP. They damaged quite a few but didn't shoot anything down (or lose anything either). Later, 12 B-17Es came in and tried but there was no real result on either side.

So, the attack on 3 Marine Parachute Battalion went in by Kure 3 SNLF. Marines on Marines. I was kind of worried because the SNLF took a lot of disabled squads when they landed. I needn't have worried. They blew away the US Marines destroying the unit and taking no losses themselves. Another elite US formation destroyed! Banzai!

The series of events leading up to the destruction of the 3 Marine Parachute Battalion will directly lead to events that will soon happen in this AO. How's that to keep you coming back!

Enemy bomber sorties:

4E: 101
2E: 4

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

The airfields at Lanchow and Chungking were targeted as well as the troops at Kweiyang.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
TK Omurosan Maru, Type-1 TL, 11,600 capacity. Will be used to haul fuel from Fusan to the Home Islands. Fuel is building up nicely in Fusan (along with resources), but oil is still lagging behind.

[PaxMondo]

22 Sep 42
The Chinese 10 and 12 Construction Regiments were destroyed in the process. Nice! They don't automatically return. They have to be rebuilt:

Actually, I don't think that they can. Without a capital, I don't think you can re-build that nations forces. They go back into the auto return queue, but without a return date. It looks something like this:
Screenshot 2026-05-03 065040.jpg

China still has both the capital and secondary capital. But, according to the rules book (unless they changed), only infantry units come back at 1/3 TO&E. The construction regiments are engineers. I don't think they will come back at 1/3 TO&E.

Sorry, I thought you had taken out the CHI already ... confusing AAR's, SORRY.

Dang, end of Sept 42, and you still have to take CK ...