herbie goes bananas again

[herbieh]

2 major blunders, the shipping racing north from efate was left on react, and id left all my cv planes training
other than that the fishing went well, it was a biggy ma!, but he got away[8|]

action, action , action at last[X(]
sub i-19 joined the fishes, 2 in 2 days, bad karma
Then TF 47 reacted to ships at efate, 3cl, 5dd verses 6ca, 6dd.
Round one to me, northhampton smacked, but round two wobbly got surprise, and his gunnery smacked me
Then during the day his CVs caught the retiring cripples, and TF 47 ceased to exist
score 3cl, 5dd sunk, to 1 ca sunk, 1 crippled, several damaged dds

a black day
efate troops watch a regiment swarm ashore


over near GG the trap was sprung, 5ca, 6dd and a dms well inside cv range, I imagine wobbly must have gone, OH poo, as the sightings went out
Then i heroically launched 20 jake[:(][:(][:(][:(], having made previous mentioned blunder
No hits
have set CVs all racing south, east and west, hoping to catch them before they skidaddle

Unforgivable blunder
Still wobbly is out, and now the opportunities will come.
after this chase, the regiment at munda will be loaded, and to lunganville it goes.

Now proceeding to kitchen where i will
a/ kick cat
b/ eat chocolate
c/ drink vast amount of beer.

[herbieh]

Well the cvs come up empty handed, his ca's burst a boiler running towards noumea and get away. i order the cvs to refuelling point south of the reef off GG.
Munda regiment is told to finish loading and sail to lunganville. Mutsu and nagato will provide close cover, CVs to cover, a battle will be forced!

Efate falls to 132rct
And as predicted wobbly CVs move north and strike at the shipping at nevea.
I put 3 squads of zeros at 90% cap, a big air battle, I lost 10 zeros, he lost 26 wildcats confirmed, and 12 dive bombers
3 aps and 3 dds are hit, one badly
Thats 10 warships in 2 days, which is terrible!

Many ships at efate, 3 sqs of nells at irau are set to naval attack, will be playing the lottery on what they actually attack I suppose[8|]
rotated the zeros at nevea, I would say with my Cvs pinned wobbly will stay 1 more day, then sprint home.
Its during that lull I hope to get this regiment into lunganville.

[herbieh]

Wobbly went away for the weekend, and I had college last night, so 3 days to stew over what I knew would happen that turn.
Lots of big nasty wobbly task forces all over the place, a very big one packed with cruisers raced into Nevea ( obviously embolded by the fact my CVs are not in the area) and hammered the convoy crippled by his CVs. I lost 2 MSW, 3 DDs, and 2 APs, for not much in return.
The shore bombardment was the kicker, 10 zeros destroyed. 180 runway hits reported, but actually little strip damage, base still in good shape
13 damaged zeros as well.
Pooo[:@]
Another odds and sods TF, all his SCs , DMS and PGs hit 6 barges in a mid ocean intercept of lunganville, expected carnage

51 Nells launched from Irau to efate, very dissapointing, only 3 bomb hits recorded on a AP and AK
Standing them down, none lost, but the fatigue and damage hurt bad.
Will rotate betties in tomorrow I think
My CVs finish refuelling, and head towards Irau, for a meeting with the BBs mutsu and Nagato, and the convoy for lunganville.
He is culling ships at the moment, must have revenge!!!!

[herbieh]

the inevitable lull, no action as wobbly retires towards noumea.
I am now urging evry ship I have into the area as quickly as I can, trying to get another regiment into lunganvillle
Betties into irau, nevea repaired, but still many damaged planes there.
Trying to get some ships for a bobmbardment of efate , try to catch any new planes he will base there.
Move transports, move!

[neuromancer]

Nasty, nasty!

You are lulling him into a false sense of security. That must be it.
[:D]


180 runway hits! Yikes, that will take a bit to clean up.

[herbieh]

Feeling like all my assets are just targets at the moment, and I'm meant to be the aggressor at this stage!
Another sub is sunk, I despair of them achieving anything, nearly every sub has been sunk in deep water as well!
Wobbly is a very good player, he concentrates his forces and hits only where it will pay off, or the returns are worth it.
Me, I seem to have forgotten how to concentrate on a objective this game, and if I was a real admiral Id have been sacked for lack of aggression!

So, this forthcoming effort I will try to force a battle, Im willing to sacrifice Mutsu and Nagato if it means coming to grip with wobbly.

Transports are being pushed hard towards lunganville, now south of irau, and my CVs are swinging to the north of them, ready to pounce
(are you sure they are not training this time herb?) yes you idiot.
Betties are packing into irau. Maybe wobbly will forget their long reach
Nevea is repaired, the damaged zeros, 20 plus of them slowly repair at 2 a day.
some 30 remain for LRCAP when the convoy reaches lunganville.
Biggest worry is mines, losing those 2 msw hurts[:@]

[marky]

naaah

save mutsu and nagato, they could come in handy [;)]

[herbieh]

That the Jap Cvs should be avoided before 43
What a battle as he comes charging north again, and the classic CV on Cv battle occurs , us on iether side of lunganville
1st wave, sees 20 wildcats, 64 DB and 12 tbd , against a cap of 106 zeros
31db,8tbd shot down, BB Heii is hit once but hard
2nd wave, 34db,14tbd,9wildcats, some dauntlesses turn back! 25db,4tbd shot down
3rd wave,14wildcats,51db,, some 40 db get through, CV akagi takes 2 1000lbs, but one hits armour.Shoho is hit by a dud (wobbly sees a bad hit)
4th wave, 36wildcat,34 db, only 18 db shot down. CV Akagi is hit again, as is Kaga, she is hurt, but her deck remains open.
A 5th wave comes in, and the dbs are slauhtered

Finally a Jap admiral puts in a coordinated strike for me, 96val, 102 kate, 15jake, 5alf,78 zeros, against 107 wildcats
86 val, 86 kates attack!
Cv Enterprise and Yorktown are sunk, sunk, sunk.
several cashit
More strikes goe in, hornet is hit twice

Totals are
46 zero , 44 val,56 kate lost
17f3
56 f4
119 dauntless
30 devastator
12 avenger lost

Akagi , heii retire, I order a pursuit!
And the convoy is ordered into lunganville
Betties at Irau are set to attack
I have planes in the pool to cover the losses, its now or never, attack, attack, attack!

[herbieh]

the intelligence officers gather the final results, it appears that we also hit Cl Achilles,Phoenix,Claa Juneau,CA san fransico and a DD, some seriously.
Wobbly flees to noumea, where Im sure his LBA fighters are on full cap.
Im going to retire a liitle bit towards irau, but continue to lurk, at least until the convoy unloads.
Wobbly launched 2 waves at lunganville airfield, for not much damage iether side. have 8 fighters there at the moment, no base forces , Im basically writing them off at the moment.
Cooktown hammered again that turn.

A long term plan is agreed upon after that battle
Rebuild the CV forces. Another regiment to Lunganville, or even efate(perferable), get him fixed on that area of the pacific, then in 40 days time land 2 full divisions iether at noumea or my favorite place, rockhampton
I have not given up on auto victory
If Wobbly keeps being brash and aggressive like that last week, the opportunity will come!

[herbieh]

ORIGINAL: neuromancer

Nasty, nasty!

You are lulling him into a false sense of security. That must be it.
[:D]


180 runway hits! Yikes, that will take a bit to clean up.

Yep, it worked!

[neuromancer]

ORIGINAL: herbieh

ORIGINAL: neuromancer
You are lulling him into a false sense of security. That must be it.

Yep, it worked!

Apparently so!

[herbieh]

Well no action that turn, wobbly sent me a mail about being crippled, no planes ect, ect, meanwhile I see another surface force forming up at noumea and another sails from brisbane. Persistant little kiwi isnt he[;)]
I, in turn tell him that all my ships are OK, and that Im going hunting.
Shoho and Zuiho form a little death star and are ordered to do everything this turn to get spotted west of lunganville. This is helped by the 2nd night in a row sub attack on a CV, two nights, 2 misses.
The rest of KB is ordered to fade to shortland, to stock up on planes
Several ships have quite sever system damage, kaga is a worry, she needs a rest. I wont be sending akagi home, she stays and trains her shattered airgroup.
Meanwhile just a single transport stays as bait at lunganville, mutsu, nagato and lots of CAs lurk , set to react
Going to be a long war . If I can keep lunganville centre of attraction for 30 days or so more I will be very happy.
Now, what to do about that sub sighting of Brisbane.....

[herbieh]

Well the single transport at lunganville proved to be a honey pot, a gazzillion p39s from efate hit her, looks like that place is up and running
My small CVLs were not spotted, but the fllet retiring was[:(]
So wobbly will probably come charging north again
So Mutsu and Nagato will hurl 16 inch metal at efate tonight, see what we catch on the ground
Shoho and zuiho move back towards lunganville, might catch something (bit of a worry lurking in LBA range)
Over at NG I lost a AV to a sub today, boo hiss!
Changed mind about Akagi, she will have to go home, system dam 47, and 30 flood, got to get her to shortland yet!
Tanaka sails south, he will be charged with delivering a fast transport run of supplies to lunganville.
How long to rebuild an USA CV airgroup?

[herbieh]

The plan, Mutsu and Nagato cream efate, shoho,zuiho hit anything in sight.
The reality

BBs dont arrive
A dozen DB from Efate attack shoho, a cap of 10 zeros doesnt slow them, and shoho wears a 1000 lb bomb. For the 2nd time this game the combat replay records a critical hit, but she only has system damage of 17[:'(]
Lunganville is hammered by LBA
I loose another sub of Brisbane this time, why bother having them !
The BBs arrived during the day, and deliver 144 runway hits on efate, and destroy 2 planes[:(]
retiring continues now, time to restock up for the next big mission
Tanaka with 10 CAs will conduct the biggest fast transport run Ive ever done in the next few days, Lunganville or bust!

Wonder when wobbly will move in Aussie land?

[PzB74]

How's the fuel situation, does your tanker fleet manage to keep up with demand?
Must be burning a lot of crude sending the entire Combined Fleet up and down the South Pacific like this [;)]

I remember how I crept back to base after my unsuccessful attempt at capturing Noumea..

[herbieh]

Good question pzb, fuel is the key to operations at the moment, mainly Ive had bucket loads, remember the great phony war period?. No fuel being burnt then , bucket loads being shipped but!
Currently have 4 tankers approaching nevea to stock up the BBs there, mutsu and nagato
rest of the fleet is at, or approaching shortlands, stocking up on planes and fuel
All the other tankers are heading south from truk, will have to wait for them for the next big op.
Tanaka continues to load at Lunga
No action at all that turn
I reckon wobbly is shaping up to grab Wunpunko, well, let him, this whole lunganville adventure was to bring his CVs to battle, and to suck troops away, need those reinforcement regiments to complete my evil plans! mad cackle![:D]

[herbieh]

My very 1st post reads, and I got clever and broke up the death star....
Well i just broke up the death star this turn, sending Junyo, Hiryu and Soryu drifting towards the aussie coast again, while the rest of the ships have a breather at Shortlands.

This turn wobbly did do a bombardment of lunganville, hit it hard too. My BBs didnt react, probably because he wasnt spotted.
They move in closer this turn. Tanaka heads south this turn, full of supplies
Some of his ships hit during the bombardment, not bad though. One of the ships hit was supposedly "hammered" in the big battle. Ahhh , fog of war is great, isnt it.
Bb heii reaches truk, 22 sytem damage, not going to send her home.

[herbieh]

Another sub sunk of brissy, he's formed deadly little anti sub task forces, and they are winning.
Taken all subs of offensive ops, sending back to shortland, there to resume transport roles
Well, interesting news, 2 CVs sighted in the coral sea, where are they headed.
Massive change of plans, BBs retire fast to north of nevea, Tanaka is diverted to north of nevea, all planes up to the chain to Munda put at 90% Cap, all LBA put to naval search,. His CVs could strike anywhere, so Im clearing the area of targets
Shok and Zuik are sent south at the rush to join Hiryu and Soryu who are lurking at the coral reefs end of GG, they havent been spotted

He really wants to fight, Me, Im just looking for an opening
Sending a small fast transport from lunga to capture the hex next to lunganville, as a retreat hex.
Planning ahead[:(]
having some fun trying to sort out air groups at the moment
Shoho and Zuiho are caught out of position, 2 hexes shy of shortlands and no fuel. Shoho system damage climbed 11 points in the journey there, she is out of the fight for a little while, I am not sending any ships home if I can help it( a bird in the hand better than 2 in the bush)

[herbieh]

His evil plans are revealed
The enemy CVs charge to just south of lunganville, all 3 of them , but dont strike
49 B17s do, and hammer the place
Tanaka is ordered to dump his supplies at nevea and clear out, the BBs and everything else are headed towards naru, clearing the oceans

Meanwhile my CVs join together, and begin floating unsighted down from the GG reef towards aussie.
If this is an invasion, it comes about 30 days too soon for my plans.
What to do?

[herbieh]

Wobbly E mail said his probe north was to chase away my BBs, which worked, he has pulled back towards noumea at the moment
All my ships involved regroup north of nevea, and are ordered to refuel with a large tanker force that has arrived on scene.

Irau and nevea are now size 4, and nevea gets a few Nells
Lunga is groaning under the weight of LBA.

My CVs are now slowly drifting down towards townsville, undetected, I believe wobbly wont be able to help himself, and a surface task force will be somewhere about. IF not, and I remain undetected, Im going for one of those anti sub task forces, and will get some revenge

Other ops, must get some supplies to lunganville, flying in some, Tanaka is headed to lunga, to load for another attempt.
If I keep threatening to the North of Lunganville wobbly will have to be brave to invade.
And every day is gold.