Canuck's Revenge - ADavidB vs PzB (Wobbly's game continued)

[ADavidB]

PzB has started a multi-pronged offensive in the DEI as of November 10, 1942. In Java he has moved troops into Bandoeng and Soerbaja and his hit Tjilitjap with a bombardment TF:

Naval bombardment of Tjilitjap, at 19, 62 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

26 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 2
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 7
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
199 casualties reported
Guns lost 13
Vehicles lost 1

That's the first time that any of my CD guns have actually fired back at an incoming TF.

Also, that CL/DD TF came back to Lautem to find my BB TF there in place of the PT TF he hit the last time. The battle was unusually long. Round one went as follows:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Yugumo, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Akatsuki, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
DD Amagiri, Shell hits 1
DD Asanagi
DD Yunagi, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
BB South Dakota, Shell hits 2
CL Perth
CL Hobart, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1
CL Mauritius, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Concord, Shell hits 1
DD Fox, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Pakenham, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Boggs
DMS Lamberton, Shell hits 2
DMS Dorsey, Shell hits 1

Round two was similar:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Yugumo, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
DD Amagiri, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Asanagi, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Yunagi, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB South Dakota, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Perth, Shell hits 1
CL Hobart, Shell hits 3
CL Mauritius, Shell hits 6, on fire
CL Concord, Shell hits 1
DD Fox, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
DD Pakenham, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Boggs, Shell hits 2, on fire
DMS Lamberton, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Dorsey, Shell hits 2, on fire

Although my ships detected and tracked the Japanese fleet at the beginning of both engagements the Japanese TF still "surprised" my ships both times. My PT boats never got into the fray.

I had three DMS in the TF because I was expecting to run into sub-laid mines in Lautem. The sub was still there, however it didn't appear to have laid any mines nor did it interfere with my combat TF. My ASW TF did get past the engagement and was able to drop a couple of depth charges onto the sub:

Sub attack near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
SS I-7, hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
MSW Bellechasse
MSW Whyalla
MSW Cessnock

In addition, my mine-layers were able to also get in and lay more mines. That's good, because another Japanese combat TF is on its way:

Day Air attack on TF at 31, 73

Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 4
CW-21B Demon x 9

Allied aircraft losses
TBF Avenger: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Ise

I don't have any more surface ships in the area to be able to intercept that TF, so I'm going to have to hope that my LBA wakes up and does something. This turn none of the long-ranged LBA in Northern Australia budged, and as shown above only the planes at Lautem flew. Those ex-carrier Avengers were not much more successful going after the survivors of the surface battle:

Day Air attack on TF at 33, 75

Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 7
CW-21B Demon x 4

Allied aircraft losses
TBF Avenger: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu, on fire

Unless PzB interferes by means of his surface fleets or brings in some CVs (and he may be doing so) most of my ships from that battle ought to reach port but they'll all be out of action for some time. That turned out to be a pretty costly battle for me in the end. I keep on sinking PzB's smaller combat ships (for example, I've sunk around 50 Japanese DDs) but more keep on showing up. Add to this my inability to get my capital ships repaired enough to get upgraded and the general naval situation is pretty bleak for me right now.

Out at Colombo PzB put his engineers back into action after a couple of day rest:

Ground combat at Colombo

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 68189 troops, 382 guns, 1 vehicles

Defending force 22141 troops, 146 guns, 3 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 6

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 6)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 6

Japanese ground losses:
358 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
467 casualties reported
Guns lost 12

Things will be over there soon. Right now it looks like PzB has a good chance to reach the 4:1 win ratio by New Years 1943.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

I've come to the realization that what has been happening to me isn't chance. I'm now certain that the AI is really fed up with the laughable way that I've been handling the game and is trying to take over control from me. I can see no other explanation for how TFs don't leave when I want them to and how air units end up in odd and wonderful places. I'm pretty certain the AI is feeling quite smug right now after having "teleported" some fighters into Java the turn before PzB sent a big unescorted bomber attack:

Day Air attack on Bandoeng, at 19, 61

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 148
Ki-49 Helen x 27

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 25 destroyed, 10 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
A-20B Boston: 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 22

But the AI can't take all the credit - it was my idea to move the planes from Tjilitjap to Bandoeng. ([;)])

Fortune smiled (?) upon me again this turn as once again something happened that I'm just not accustomed to seeing - my CDs took more shots at PzB's bombardment TF:

Naval bombardment of Tjilitjap, at 19, 62 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 5
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 3
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
87 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 3

Even my air unit remnants in Java got a chance to have a kick-at-the-cat:

Day Air attack on TF at 17, 59

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 4
A-20B Boston x 3

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 2

My flyboys claim that they did some damage with that attack, but I'm not paying any bonuses without more proof… (PzB's TF sailed off to reload, so my guys will get a break for a while.)

Meanwhile my ground attacks didn't do much at all:

Ground combat at Bandoeng

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 25692 troops, 250 guns, 86 vehicles

Defending force 27194 troops, 243 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
134 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Allied ground losses:
386 casualties reported
Guns lost 33
Vehicles lost 3

And:

Ground combat at Soerabaja

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26131 troops, 287 guns, 18 vehicles

Defending force 27850 troops, 217 guns, 7 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
132 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
1296 casualties reported
Guns lost 117
Vehicles lost 13

I definitely need the AI to take over on ground combat… ([:(])

PzB rested some of his troops at Colombo and got a similar result:

Ground combat at Colombo

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 67397 troops, 380 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 21563 troops, 125 guns, 2 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 6)

Japanese ground losses:
719 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Allied ground losses:
124 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

The most "exciting" news was the "TRULY MOMENTOUS" naval battle at Lautem:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
PT Gyoraitei #1, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
PT Gyoraitei #5

Allied Ships
PT PT-67
PT PT-68
PT PT-74

Yes, we had yet another PT to PT battle, and my 50 calibre machine guns did their jobs well.

BTW - PzB does have a little AC TF in the neighbourhood:

Day Air attack on TF at 32, 74

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 5
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 4
CW-21B Demon x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
TBF Avenger: 4 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 1 destroyed

I'm guessing that it is a CVE and a CS or something similar. I'm not risking my Brit carrier in a direct confrontation, but I am sending it out to see if I can catch any "small fries" in the wrong place at the wrong time.

BTW II - there was still no improvement in the "wonderful world" of trying to get BBs and CVs to repair enough to upgrade.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

PzB is getting both more serious and more silly about his Timor adventure. For example, he now has a lot more in the way of carrier-based air power off shore:

Day Air attack on TF at 33,76

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 8
A6M2 Zero x 66

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 8
Hurricane II x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed
Hurricane II: 9 destroyed

If you are wondering where the bombers went, they went "that'a way":

Day Air attack on TF at 33,73

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 7

Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
TBF Avenger: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Hayashio, heavy damage

I think that was still one of PzB's stragglers from the night time combat two days ago.

But while PzB masses huge forces off the northeast coast of Timor, look what he does with his LCU remnants that have been sitting in the pestilent jungle for the past couple of months:

Ground combat at Lautem

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 72 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 5531 troops, 84 guns, 6 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese ground losses:
39 casualties reported

PzB must have a very low opinion of my ground troops...[;)]

Speaking of ground troops, PzB gave his troops in Colombo a bit of a rest this turn and only bombarded my troops. But he did send in a lot of bombers again, as he did in Java. He also rested his troops in Java.

Speaking of bombers, I'm sending my "Long Rangers" in to Rabaul at moderately high altitude to do a Port attack next turn, along with a sizable group of P-38s on Escort. Let's see if this works at all.

Why not in the Timor area, you may ask? Because PzB is expecting me to respond there and he hopes to crush my counterattack. Anyway, he will eventually try something in the PNG area, so this might be a time when his guard is down.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

You can tell when PzB is excited about this game - he starts to send turns faster and faster. Now that he has multiple invasions on the go he is sending turns day and night. <g>

Yes, PzB has started two more attacks, one at Lautem in Timor and the other at Kragen in Java. My PT boats in Lautem got shot up again - PzB still has plenty of DDs to throw at me:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
BB Ise
CA Maya
DD Makinami
DD Natsushio
DD Nowaki
DD Michishio
DD Arashio
DD Asagumo
DD Inazuma
DD Namikaze

Allied Ships
PT PT-67
PT PT-68
PT PT-74, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

But he isn't taking chances on having the DDs hit by fire from shore:

Naval bombardment of Lautem, at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
CA Maya
BB Ise

Allied ground losses:
177 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

He is also serious about landing some troops this time:

TF 48 encounters mine field at Lautem (33, 78)

TF 48 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33, 78

Japanese Ships
MSW W.9
MSW Rokko Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
AP Kenshin Maru, Mine hits 1, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 48
160 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Katori
AP Koei Maru, Shell hits 1
CL Kashii, Shell hits 2
PG Yachiyo Maru, Shell hits 3

Japanese ground losses:
846 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported

So my shore guns got a chance to fire and as well my mines finally got an opportunity to go to work. Even my land troops got off some quick shots:

Ground combat at Lautem

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2230 troops, 62 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 3281 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
40 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

And last but not least my local air forces fought their way through the LR CAP to get a couple of hits on a Japanese CA:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 9
TBF Avenger x 2
CW-21B Demon x 5
Hurricane II x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged
TBF Avenger: 1 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 1 destroyed
Hurricane II: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Ise
CA Maya, Bomb hits 2, on fire

I've re-armed the remaining PT boats and I'm sending a second PT TF in to see if they can slip by the battle force and get amongst the troops transports. Unfortunately my medium bombers in Northern Oz won't fly against PzB's LR CAP so there is little else I can do.

At the same time PzB's invasion of Kragen started off with a lot of action:

Naval bombardment of Kragen, at 22, 63

Japanese Ships
CL Abukuma
CL Kiso
CA Chokai
DD Wakatake
DD Uzuki
DD Shinonome
DD Shigure
DD Minegumo
DD Yamagumo
DD Oshio
CA Myoko

Allied ground losses:
351 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 32
Port hits 7
Port supply hits 9

Then:

TF 27 troops unloading over beach at Kragen, 22, 63

Japanese ground losses:
1412 casualties reported

Unfortunately my local air forces were committed to ground attacks (and as usual did squat) so there was no way to interfere with that invasion. So I've reset my airplanes and sent a sub to Kragen. Fortunately I was expecting PzB to invade Kragen right from the beginning and I've had troops there all along. However, like everywhere else, I am spread thin and the troops won't hold against too determined an assault. PzB plans to tie up my forces then do "divide and conquer". Since there is no point in trying to run I'm going to stand and fight.

"Stand and Fight" is working okay in Colombo. PzB keeps on bombing my troops from the air, but his ground troops are not making progress very quickly:

Ground combat at Colombo

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 65713 troops, 376 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 21586 troops, 120 guns, 3 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 6)

Japanese ground losses:
634 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Allied ground losses:
156 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Unlike his continental campaigns, PzB doesn't have "near infinite" troops available on Ceylon. In order to up the odds he needs to ship more troops in rather than just riding a convenient railroad. I still don't expect to last indefinitely, but it is still good to slow down his timetable a bit.

In other news, my "coordinated attack" on Rabaul didn't end up being coordinated at all. The heavy bombers went off on their own and were whacked hard, and the result of the adventure was an AG sunk in the harbour and a lot of lost bombers. My P-38s, on the other hand, decided to tag along with the tac bombers and have a nice safe run to whack Lae, which was good practice but of no real value.

Good news? Well, the North Carolina finally upgraded after taking a couple of weeks to get down to a damage level of "3" from a damage level of "6". After all that time the damage level went up to "4" after the upgrade. I fail to see the point of the whole exercise. In the meanwhile, back at San Fran the Nevada remains stuck at damage level "7". I'll leave it in port for a few more days and if the damage doesn't decrease I'll sail it to Pearl to see if that helps.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Well, when it rains, it pours. PzB is very skilfully making more simultaneous attacks and pouring seemingly limitless forces into the DEI on November 14. He is essentially doing what I predicted long ago that he would do, but he has simply waited longer to do it. This will likely assure him of avoiding any stumbles along the way. And he now realizes how little I can do in response to his overwhelming power. Not only that, he hasn't even committed the full KB to this operation!

I'll give you some examples. For instance, my PT boats didn't get through his picket line of ships:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
BB Ise
DD Makinami, Shell hits 4
DD Natsushio
DD Nowaki
DD Michishio
DD Arashio
DD Asagumo
DD Inazuma
DD Namikaze

Allied Ships
PT PT-67, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
PT PT-68, Shell hits 23, and is sunk

Then this:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
BB Ise
DD Makinami
DD Natsushio
DD Nowaki
DD Michishio
DD Arashio
DD Asagumo
DD Inazuma
DD Namikaze

Allied Ships
PT PT-75
PT PT-76, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT PT-77, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT PT-78, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
PT PT-79, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

And finally this:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78

Japanese Ships
BB Ise
DD Makinami
DD Natsushio
DD Nowaki
DD Michishio
DD Arashio
DD Asagumo
DD Inazuma
DD Namikaze

Allied Ships
PT PT-75, Shell hits 6, and is sunk

My mines have turned out to be my best weapons at Lautem:

TF 48 encounters mine field at Lautem (33, 78)

TF 48 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33, 78

Japanese Ships
MSW Rokko Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
MSW W.9
PG Yachiyo Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33, 78, firing at TF 48
180 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AP Koei Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
AP Kisaragi Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
MSW Rokko Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
CL Katori
MSW Ataka Maru, Shell hits 7

Japanese ground losses:
521 casualties reported

And this:

TF 48 encounters mine field at Lautem (33, 78)

TF 48 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33, 78

Japanese Ships
MSW Rokko Maru, on fire
MSW Ataka Maru
MSW W.9
PG Yachiyo Maru, on fire, heavy damage
AP Koei Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33, 78, firing at TF 48
95 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Katori
AP Kiri Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Kashii, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Meanwhile, at Kragen, I had pretty good units there, but nowhere near enough of them:

Ground combat at Kragen

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 21462 troops, 211 guns, 5 vehicles

Defending force 2241 troops, 0 guns, 2 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese assault odds: 27 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Kragen base!!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Catalina I: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
155 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

PzB even dropped paratroops onto Dili. However, that is a dangerous thing if there are good troops around, and I have paratroopers there too:

Ground combat at Dili

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 563 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 4035 troops, 19 guns, 4 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese ground losses:
329 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

I'm going to try to drive those paratroops out before PzB can do a serious assault on Lautem. I've also brought some fighters in to Dili to try to stop additional paradrops. It's probably hopeless, but I've got to try something.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Well, on November 15th I tried "one last futile act of defiance" and set my heavy bombers at Darwin to "Naval Attack". Surprisingly enough, not only the heavies went out, but the Mitchells did too. And they taught me a painful lesson - don't change your strategy in mid-stride. I usually avoid using heavy bombers on naval attack, but "desperate times require desperate means". All I accomplished from this was to waste lots of bombers, find out definitively that the Allies in this game don't know what an AP bomb is, and make room at my airfields:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 5
A6M2 Zero x 33

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 55
B-17E Fortress x 88
B-24D Liberator x 41

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed, 17 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 17 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 11 destroyed, 48 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Bomb hits 13, on fire
DD Nowaki
DD Asagumo

and:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 2
A6M2 Zero x 14

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, on fire

and again:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 4
A6M2 Zero x 29

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 38

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 13 destroyed, 8 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Katori, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Natsushio

(This time they missed the Ise somehow and found something a bit thinner skinned)

and:

Day Air attack on TF at 33,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Kashii

(Hudsons are toast against any CAP)

and yet again:

Day Air attack on TF at 33,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 3 destroyed

and not learning any lessons:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 1
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 5
B-17E Fortress x 31
B-24D Liberator x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Inazuma

and trying to be the stupidest around:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, on fire

Such is life in the "big city"...

Meanwhile, PzB confused the daylights out of me by mentioning in his email that the "Swordfish" put a torpedo into the Junyo. Huh?!!! I was pretty sure that I didn't have any more swordfish flying around, particularly not in the DEI, but when I watched the replay I got an even bigger surprise:

Sub attack at 33,77

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Hatakaze
DD Sagiri
DD Ayanami
DD Shirayuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Akigumo

Allied Ships
SS Swordfish, hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

One of my subs not only fired a torpedo but hit something? I can't believe it.[&o]

Otherwise it was pretty much business as usual. PzB was doing bombardments in Java and Colombo to soften up my troops. He also landed more troops at Lautem:

TF 45 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)

TF 45 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78

Japanese Ships
DD Natsushio
PG Busho Maru

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 45
5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Katori, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
183 casualties reported

and he sent a transport fleet to Dili:

TF 11 encounters mine field at Dili (31,77)

Japanese Ships
AP Kaedesan Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
64 casualties reported

Meanwhile, at Dili, as I had hoped, my paratroops kicked his paratroops out of town:

Ground combat at Dili

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3955 troops, 19 guns, 4 vehicles

Defending force 531 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 33 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

I also had CAP over Dili so this time when he tried to paradrop more troops in the transport planes were driven off. Of course, a landed force will be bigger.

In any event, I haven't "learned my lesson" yet. Since the Junyo will be sailing off to get repairs, I'm hoping that PzB will be careless about replacing her. Also, his naval air has been flying a lot the past few days. So I'm going to try to sneak that Brit CV in to see if it can get off an Avenger raid and maybe scare PzB's transport TFs away for a bit. I'm probably wrong and I'll undoubtedly get all three ships in the TF sunk, but I've got to try something "out of the box" here.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

November 16th was a "quieter" turn. PzB kept on landing troops at Lautem and Dili - my gun crews kept on shooting back. His minesweepers have removed most of the mines now but one Japanese DD still swept one the "hard way":

TF 45 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)

TF 45 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78

Japanese Ships
DD Natsushio
DD Inazuma
PG Busho Maru
DD Namikaze, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 45
196 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Nowaki
AP Haaburu Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Inazuma, Shell hits 3
AP Atuta Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
AP Anzan Maru

Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

PzB continued to bombard Colombo and various locations in Java from land, sea and air. A few of my air groups putzed around and did nothing to affect things for the most part, except for the stragglers fighting from Timor who dropped an occasional bomb on the odd Japanese transport. Not unexpectedly, my Brit carrier showed up and attacked nothing. I doubt that PzB even knew it was around.

PzB's Bettys flew after that transport TF at Gili-Gili again, and despite being hammered by my CAP were still able to get a couple of torpedoes into a transport.

I've decided that I'll rest my heavy bombers in Oz until PzB recaptures Timor. My troops are fighting bravely, but they will run low on supplies soon, which will turn the tide definitively in the Japanese favor. PzB is also landing a lot of troops. Hopefully I'll be able to keep them trapped and well bombed. Just for the fun-of-it I've sent my remaining two PT boats to Lautem just in case PzB has pulled his DDs out. If he hasn't, then that is no real loss because the next time PzB comes in he'll do the same thing and wipe out my PTs with DDs anyway.

Dave Baranyi

[EUBanana]

An American sub too, the torpedoes actually -worked-!

I get dud hits on cruisers all the time. You get used to it after a while.

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

An American sub too, the torpedoes actually -worked-!

I get dud hits on cruisers all the time. You get used to it after a while.

It's only recently that I've even been getting dud hits. For the longest time my subs took no shots at all. I'm hoping that the "1943 magic" works and my subs become worth something come January 1943. Right now I've got the vast majority of them in R&O.

My problem is that I've got the vast majority of all of my ships in R&O. I've got my secondary ports clogged with ships with sysdam in the "teens" and my more important ships are scattered around the ports with repair facilities. And I still have to complete the 1942 upgrades for the big ships. (The 1943 upgrades will probably come around before the ships go from sysdam "6" to sysdam "3". and will upgrade.)

It's a good thing that I've been building up secondary ports everywhere.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

November 17 was another somewhat quiet day, with some exceptions; for example, PzB was happily unloading more troops at Lautem:

TF 45 encounters mine field at Lautem (33, 78)

TF 45 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33, 78

Japanese Ships
PG Busho Maru
DD Nowaki

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33, 78, firing at TF 45
9 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
PG Busho Maru, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

…when suddenly the TF was "scared off" by a combat TF consisting of my two remaining PT boats. I had forgotten to set "react" to "6" from "0", so maybe that's why the PTs didn't engage the transport TF. Since the PTs have fuel (maybe they topped off the tanks in Lautem while cruising by) I set them to go to Dili next turn and return to Lautem afterwards (if they survive any encounter). In the meanwhile, the Brit carrier TF attracted no one's attention, scared no one, and attacked no one. I'm beginning to think that the Brit carrier is "of no use to man nor beast".

At the same time PzB tried to "sweep" my CAP out of Dili, but they were too tough (too stupid?) to know when to give up:

Day Air attack on Dili, at 31, 77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 14

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 4 destroyed

…and they still tried to provide some CAP to the Hudsons that flew in to attack PzB's transports:

Day Air attack on TF, near Dili at 31, 77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 3
A6M2 Zero x 15

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Jinsai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Iwaki Maru
APD APD-31
DD Hato

…as well as a number of other attacks that didn't hit anything. But my planes did hit a couple other ships in the area:

Day Air attack on TF at 33, 74

Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Inazuma, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

And:

Day Air attack on TF at 34, 78

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Anzan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

In the meanwhile, PzB continued to demonstrate why I consider the Betty to be the most dangerous weapon in the game:

Day Air attack on TF, near Gili Gili at 56, 94

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
G4M1 Betty x 10

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Mormacland, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Steel Mariner

Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

And:

Day Air attack on TF, near Gili Gili at 56, 94

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 3

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
AK Mormacland, on fire, heavy damage

But afterwards the Kittyhawks seem to have gotten into the "swing of things" and were able to stop other Betty attacks.

The ground war continued much the same as before with PzB attempting to soften up my troops with bombardments in most places with the exception of Lautem:

Ground combat at Lautem

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12037 troops, 145 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 5324 troops, 76 guns, 6 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Japanese ground losses:
333 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Allied ground losses:
142 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Vehicles lost 1

My troops were still able to bombard afterwards:

Ground combat at Lautem

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2313 troops, 65 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 11552 troops, 131 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

I'm sending my Mitchells in to bomb the Japanese troops at Lautem this turn. Sure, Ground Attack rarely works for me, but I've got to try something to disrupt his forces. Since Lautem is malarial if I can start to get the Japanese troops fatigued they won't come back from it readily. I'm trying to hang on to Lautem for another couple of turns until I can bring a fresh combat TF in to hit the Japanese forces. We'll see what happens.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Well, on November 18 PzB's transport TF didn't "run away" from my PT TF this time. Maybe it would have been better if they had [&:]:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Dili at 31, 77

Japanese Ships
APD APD-31, Shell hits 2
DD Hato
MSW W.9, Shell hits 3
AP Hotsukawa Maru
AP Iwaki Maru
AP Jinsai Maru, on fire
AP Kaihei Maru
AP Kidokawa Maru
AP Kuroshio Maru

Allied Ships
PT PT-80
PT PT-81, Shell hits 2, and is sunk

The PTs fired off some torpedoes but missed. However, their machine guns did some damage again. Never-the-less, because of the loss of a PT boat my TF left and PzB's TF stayed.

Meanwhile, down at Lautem my air attack ran into strong LR CAP and despite the good experience of my bomber pilots I still took heavy losses and the Ground Attack was aborted:

Day Air attack on South Seas Det., at 33, 78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 3
A6M2 Zero x 27

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged

As I've said in the past, I have little confidence in Ground Attacks.

Despite the inability of the Air Force to affect things, PzB's attempt to end things quickly at Lautem failed anyway:

Ground combat at Lautem

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 11558 troops, 134 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 5090 troops, 71 guns, 5 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Japanese ground losses:
366 casualties reported
Guns lost 39

Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

I'm hoping that this failed Shock Attack will slow down PzB's troops for a few days, but I'm not betting on it. Elsewhere, PzB continued to be more conservation and attacked my troops with artillery bombardments.

My second attempt to have a combined air attack on Rabaul failed again. The first time the P-38s didn't fly. This time three quarters of the forces aborted the mission half way and the quarter that got to Rabaul was hammered badly, despite being at 30,000 feet. I wasn't aware that 1942 Japanese fighters were so effective at high altitudes:

Day Air attack on Rabaul, at 61, 88

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 44

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 4
B-17E Fortress x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 4 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed, 6 damaged

So, all-in-all this turn was pretty much a write-off for me, other that to reinforce the message that my forces are pretty much useless against the Japanese forces at this point in time, regardless of experience levels. I wonder of the new Allied planes of 1943 will truly start to even things out?

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

I finally got a little break on November 19, 1942 - PzB's CAP over Timor was rained out for about a third of the turn. For the first third both of our air forces were rained out, then I had clear weather, then both of us did. When my planes didn't have to face CAP they did alright - when the CAP was back they were hammered. Here are the "no CAP" attacks:

Day Air attack on South Seas Det. , at 33,78

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 3
B-17E Fortress x 33
B-24D Liberator x 24

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

and:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 3

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Oboro, Bomb hits 1, on fire

and:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 31

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Oboro, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Hakata Maru #7
MSW Atsu Maru
MSW Asahi Maru
MSW W.11, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW W.17, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

and:

Day Air attack on TF, near Dili at 31,77

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 16

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Jinsai Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Kaihei Maru
APD APD-31

I'm not going to bother putting down the no-CAP attacks - trust me, they aren't pretty.

My lone PT also got into the fray and somehow survived:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese Ships
MSW Asahi Maru
MSW Atsu Maru, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Hakata Maru #7

Allied Ships
PT PT-80

Those 50-cal machine guns may well be my best weapons of the war...[:D]

PzB bombarded Soerabaja and my CD guns shot back:

Naval bombardment of Soerabaja, at 22,65 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

107 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Kako, Shell hits 8
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
CA Suzuya
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu
BB Haruna
BB Kongo, Shell hits 7

Allied ground losses:
530 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 2

Sure, I got hammered badly and my 155mm field gun hits probably didn't do much damage, but it still feels good not to just be a helpless target.

As I expected, PzB did a bombardment attack at Lautem while he lets his troops recuperate. Fortunately there was no effect.

At Colombo my troops continue to hold up although PzB reduced the fortifications by one again:

Ground combat at Colombo

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 68217 troops, 383 guns, 1 vehicles

Defending force 21311 troops, 111 guns, 3 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 5)

Japanese ground losses:
727 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Allied ground losses:
517 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

So I'll take the (very) little victories that I am getting and try to set up to do better. Just don't ask me about upgrades...[8|]

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Well, my last, lonely, little PT boat in Timor ran out of luck in a BIG way on November 20:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese Ships
CA Takao
CA Haguro
CA Ashigara
CA Mogami
CL Yura
CL Kuma
DD Makigumo
DD Makinami
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Arashi
DD Arashio
DD Asagumo
DD Yugure
DD Ikazuchi

Allied Ships
PT PT-80, Shell hits 41, and is sunk

It's actually funny to watch the replay because the AI has the PT commander "maneuvering for position". Sure - the only "maneuver" the PT boat skipper would be doing would be leaving the biggest rooster tail wake he could behind him as he tried to get out of there as fast as he possibly could!

Meanwhile, back in Java PzB sent another bombardment TF in to Soerabaja and once again my CD unit got a bunch of hits:

Naval bombardment of Soerabaja, at 22,65 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

185 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 6
CA Aoba
CA Suzuya
BB Fuso, Shell hits 14
BB Mutsu
BB Haruna, Shell hits 4
BB Kongo, Shell hits 7

Allied ground losses:
88 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Sure, it's still a "moral victory", but maybe, just maybe I'll get lucky one of these days and one of those shells will start a fire or an explosion. It's not totally impossible - PzB was griping in his email about one of my Catalinas dropping a small bomb on one of PzB's CVLs that just came back from months in drydock. Hey, PzB should consider himself lucky that I don't use his trick of setting Catalinas on naval attack at night when they use torpedoes.

PzB has also been very aggressively sending ASW TFs after my subs that are cruising the coast of Japan. He has been doing a good job of hunting them down, but one of them did get a hit in return:

Sub attack at 67,44

Japanese Ships
DD Nenohi, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PC Shonan Maru #17
PC Shonan Maru #6
PC Shonan Maru #2
PC Shonan Maru #1
DD Naganami

Allied Ships
SS Barb, hits 1, on fire

Things are still not going well for PzB on the ground in Lautem:

Ground combat at Lautem

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5404 troops, 46 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 4893 troops, 64 guns, 5 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

It's just too bad that I can't get more troops and supplies in there. But PzB has increased his air cover of the base and there is no way I want to waste troops, ships or transport planes against his air power - look at what is around now:

Day Air attack on TF at 33,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 5
A6M2 Zero x 53

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed

PzB has obviously brought in one or more fleet carriers to beef up his CVLs and CVEs.

Oh well, I'll continue on with my plans and see how things go. This turn I'm testing PzB's air cover again - this time in two locations. I'm sending all of my heavy bombers in Darwin after Kendari's airfields and port and doing the same thing at Rabaul. With any luck I'll have P-38s along as escorts. In theory, things should work out okay - my pilots are reasonably experienced (many in the 70s/80s) just like PzB's pilots. In the "real war" the USAF was able to hold its own against both the Japanese naval air and Japanese army air in November 1942. And I have air HQs in both Darwin and Rabaul. So if the game is modelling things at all well I ought to have a fair chance as long as my attacks aren't distrupted by weather or other random factors. We'll see what happens.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Well, in the end it came down to control of the air, and I couldn't control the air over Timor. I had trained my bomber crews well, I had built up supplies, I had closed down the nearby enemy bases and I had established local support for CAP. But I couldn't produce enough long range fighters to support my bombers and the great majority of the fighters that I could field at Timor were obsolete Dutch and British remnants. So without being able to at least establish parity in the air over Timor I couldn't risk naval or air re-supply and reinforcement. The KB ruled the waves and the air. More accurately, about half (and a weaker half at that) of the KB broke the back of my air defense and allowed the Japanese navy to pour troops into Timor at will. And at the same time more of the Japanese military was doing the same thing on a much bigger scale in Java.

I had the opportunity to put more troops into Lautem and Dili earlier on. I had put in place adequate troops to stop raids, but not to stop a full scale invasion. But I decided that I wouldn't commit a Division or more to the defense of the eastern two-thirds of Timor because I was concerned that I would get cut off and lose even more if I lost control of the air. And my concern turned out to be well founded. Right now I can't match the KB in the air and my heavy bombers can no longer close down large airbases the way that they could earlier in the game. (I believe change that is due to a combination of heavy training of fighter pilots by PzB, the presence of superior Japanese fighters like the Tony, and perhaps due to some of the changes in heavy bomber capabilities and attack routines that were introduced in version 1.50.)

In reality, right now not only is Java in jeopardy but northern Australia is also at serious risk. Most of the troops in Northern Oz are leftovers from the original invasion of the DEI. The best troops from Oz are being whittled away in Java along with too many of the best troops from the US. I've left my remaining best planes and troops in the Central and Eastern Pacific because I can't afford to have PzB be able to break my supply lines. And the reality is that Wildcats won't stop the KB unless I can bring huge numbers forward - and I need carriers in order to do that. It will be more than three months before I start to get the forces that I need to have a chance of fighting PzB to a draw. The question is - can I slow down his advance in time to be able to make use of those assets before PzB starts to try to take northern Australia or re-take the Solomons and PNG?

So for now I have to take comfort in "little victories" that don't really affect the outcome of the major campaigns. Such as in the November 21 turn where my subs started to shoot and hit with their torpedoes:

Sub attack at 32, 77

Japanese Ships
AO Iro, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PC Showa Maru #3
PC Seki Maru #2
PG Hirotama Maru

Allied Ships
SS KXVI

And:

Sub attack at 33, 77

Japanese Ships
AO Iro, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS O23

And:

Sub attack at 32, 77

Japanese Ships
AO Naruto, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
PC Showa Maru #3
PC Seki Maru #2
PG Hirotama Maru

Allied Ships
SS KXVI

Afterwards, even some of my bombers got in on the attack:

Day Air attack on TF at 33, 77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 2

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AO Iro, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

(One has to hope that after all that damage the Iro will finally sink.)

And the Brewsters caught one more ship:

Day Air attack on TF at 32, 73

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Jinsai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

But all that aside, PzB was able to land more troops in Lautem:

TF 33 encounters mine field at Lautem (33, 78)

TF 33 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33, 78

Japanese Ships
DD Arashi
DD Hatsukaze
DD Ikazuchi
DD Yugure
DD Makinami

Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33, 78, firing at TF 33
272 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Arashi, Shell hits 2

Japanese ground losses:
397 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

…and perform a successful shock attack:

Ground combat at Lautem

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 10765 troops, 72 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 4725 troops, 59 guns, 6 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Lautem base!!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 4 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
222 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Allied ground losses:
5570 casualties reported
Guns lost 55
Vehicles lost 2

Since PzB had troops in Dili my troops couldn't retreat and thus they surrendered.

PzB can pick up Dili whenever he wants. Now I am going to start to bomb Lautem back into the Stone Age - eventually PzB will have to send the "mini"-KB back to port and I will be able to lower my air losses. And since Lautem is relatively close to my air bases I will be able to rotate my bombers. But I still won't be able to get safe, easy practice for my fighters because of their short ranges. The next few months will definitely continue to be very tough.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Just a break from my wargame-worries to thank all the folks who have been taking the time to read what I write here. 15,000 is a lot of hits, particularly when you consider that for the most part I've been summarizing the rather conservative (and relatively unsuccessful-to-date) strategy that I've been using.

I always appreciate the feedback that I get and I do enjoy this game immensely, despite the grousing that you read from me so often. I'm fortunate to have been allowed to take over this game and I learn something about the game every day from playing John.

Thanks to all -

Dave Baranyi

[Guderon]

No, thank you for taking this game over! I truly admire that you were willing to take what appeared to be a hopeless position and keeping up a good fight. [&o] This has become my favorite AAR and I have to admit I'm cheering for you, no disrespect to PzB intended. He's done a brilliant job as the Japanese this game and my hat's off to him. But I'm definitely on your side in this one, starting off in as bad a position as you did. Hang in there!

[Tom Hunter]

This is getting interesting because if PzB destroys the army in Java he will have eliminated many of the ground units that the Allies used to win the war.

Of course eventually you will have a huge airforce and a big navy but it does make me wonder if there will be enough ground troops left for you to have any chance at all.

This AAR/game is becoming a strange experiment asking the question: how much damage can the Allies take before its impossible to recover?

[ADavidB]

November 22nd was now the fourth time that I attempted to send out a couple of big, well-escorted bombing runs. The previous day neither of the attacks even took off. So this turn, having lost Lautem, I send some of the planes from Darwin after Lautem but I left the planes at PM set to go after Rabaul. So today only half of the planes didn't fly:

Day Air attack on Rabaul, at 61, 88

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 56

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 32
B-17E Fortress x 33
B-24D Liberator x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 10 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 2 destroyed, 15 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 6 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 22

I was remembering things incorrectly before - I don't have an Air HQ at PM, it's at Lunga. Unfortunately, I have a number of Air HQs on "delivery", but all to the marvellous location called "Unknown". The loss of Karachi continues to hurt me day-after-day. Not only with lost land units, but now there are also a couple of dozen air units that are "setting up" for release at "Unknown" and they are sucking my replacement aircraft dry! These are the units that Wobbly lost six months ago, as well as units that I disbanded three months ago. I suspect that PzB still doesn't realize how big an event the capture of Karachi really was. A rapid capture of Karachi should be "Plan Number One" on all Japanese players' lists!

The attack on Lautem, which PzB isn't bothering to defend by air, went well as one would expect in the absence of enemy CAP:

Day Air attack on Lautem, at 33, 78

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 7
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-17E Fortress x 39

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 51

And:

Day Air attack on Lautem, at 33, 78

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 6
F-5A Lightning x 1
B-25C Mitchell x 36

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 23

I'm going to continue to pound Timor daily in order to keep PzB from being able to readily use it against me. He took it mainly to keep me from building long range bomber air bases there that could threaten more of the DEI, but if I don't keep the bases on Timor smashed he might be tempted to try to use them either to suppress my Northern Australian bases or as a stepping stone to invade Australia.

I've also decided that I've had enough of Timor so I've flown transport planes into Dili to fly my paratroops out. I don't want to lose them and I already have a good use for them once they have rested up. If PzB doesn't respond with overwhelming force next turn I'll also pull out the base force before pulling back the transports. I will also start to try to pull out some of the troops on Java by air. I've already pulled back the P-40Bs, and the Havocs - they are too valuable to waste. Now I'm concerned about defending Australia and I've got too few good troops in the North to be casual about it.

PzB continues to reduce Colombo slowly but surely:

Ground combat at Colombo

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 68526 troops, 384 guns, 1 vehicles

Defending force 21315 troops, 115 guns, 3 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese ground losses:
526 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Allied ground losses:
571 casualties reported
Guns lost 17
Vehicles lost 1

It's a matter of days there now.

Despite all the "doom and gloom" around the DEI and Far East, I have started a two-pronged plan of my own to establish better positions and hopefully whittle away at PzB's forces in the New Year. The "worm" is going to try to "turn" in a little while.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Guderon

No, thank you for taking this game over! I truly admire that you were willing to take what appeared to be a hopeless position and keeping up a good fight. [&o] This has become my favorite AAR and I have to admit I'm cheering for you, no disrespect to PzB intended. He's done a brilliant job as the Japanese this game and my hat's off to him. But I'm definitely on your side in this one, starting off in as bad a position as you did. Hang in there!

Thanks for the kind comments and the encouragement. Let's hope that I can eventually earn that support.

Dave

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

This is getting interesting because if PzB destroys the army in Java he will have eliminated many of the ground units that the Allies used to win the war.

Of course eventually you will have a huge airforce and a big navy but it does make me wonder if there will be enough ground troops left for you to have any chance at all.

This AAR/game is becoming a strange experiment asking the question: how much damage can the Allies take before its impossible to recover?

I'm starting what will be a new phase in the War and part of that will be to pull back as many of the troops that are stuck in the DEI as possible. At the same time I am planning a couple of offensives for the New Year that ought to allow me to start to turn the tide. PzB is feeling a bit cocky right now so I'm going to "encourage" him and let him underestimate me while I prepare for some serious showdowns.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi