Vettim89 vs Greasylake - Reversal of Fortunes

[saj42]

Two things:

1. When counting the range of a command HQ bonus you count the hex it is in as well (a radius of 9 is actually 8 hexes distance).
2. My Dutch ML subs continue to lay mines with 23 Sys damage (don't know what yours are on). Not loading mines is usually due to port limit (lvl 9 required).

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Tallyho!

Two things:

1. When counting the range of a command HQ bonus you count the hex it is in as well (a radius of 9 is actually 8 hexes distance).
2. My Dutch ML subs continue to lay mines with 23 Sys damage (don't know what yours are on). Not loading mines is usually due to port limit (lvl 9 required).

Well, they had been loading up to now. Syst damage is 9 on one and 7 on the other. They are reloading at Soerobaja with a AS present

[vettim89]

25 February 1942

The siege of Midway continues. Larry told me today his sole engineer unit died of attrition. Forts are still at level 2[:D]. FOW has already revealed he has lost 3 DD's, 3 AP's, 3 MSW, a few PG/PC's at Midway. ALso he has lost about a dozen Carrier a/c.

There is a couple of TF near Palambang. Probable going to see that fall soon. With almost all his CV strength at Midway, I am hoping the Dutch can exact a small measure of AP/AK in this foray.

[Redd]

Hey Vettim, you just got another reader! Good job losing the combat reports, I checked you out earlier but I bailed when I saw the cr's. As far as Rangoon, it's a death trap. Nothing will retreat from there so I wouldn't reinforce. Your'e better off defending at Mandalay.As far as units on the west coast ,I'd bring 'em all to Hawaii just to get some use out of them. For instance, bring all cent pac units to Pearl, all so pac units to Lahaina, and all sw pac units to Hilo.Fan out from there and cover all dot bases in the HI and build up everything to create mutually supporting bases. From there you can fan out, but take care of your core area first. Hope this helps.[:)]

[saj42]

ORIGINAL: vettim89

ORIGINAL: Tallyho!

Two things:

1. When counting the range of a command HQ bonus you count the hex it is in as well (a radius of 9 is actually 8 hexes distance).
2. My Dutch ML subs continue to lay mines with 23 Sys damage (don't know what yours are on). Not loading mines is usually due to port limit (lvl 9 required).

Well, they had been loading up to now. Syst damage is 9 on one and 7 on the other. They are reloading at Soerobaja with a AS present

To load mines you need either a port 9 OR MLE ship. An AS will only load torpedoes and assist repair.
EDIT - probably requires minimum of 20k supplies as well.

[vettim89]

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to forego the defending Rangoon thing unless we get much further in 42 and he has not moved. BTW the hex I amd putting SE Asia HQ into is exactly 8 hexes from Rangoon and is also in command radius of Mandaly, I am going to build up that hex with some AV and forts and keep SE Asia HQ there unless Larry threatens India

My ML subs had been reloading at Soerobaja up until this point. They just stopped all of sudden. I think it is a level 9 port.

Got a turn from Larry so I will post a combat report with some screen shots later today

[vettim89]

28 February 1942

The Defense of Midway has concluded successfully. I think Larry evac'd his remaining units though I am unsure. Wouldn't that be nice if they all died. What amazes me about this is my defense was completely passive. I had no combat a/c at Midway and did not commit fleet units. The CD and AAA units plus mines did all the damage. Total cost thus far for the Japanese is 4 DD's 5 AP's, 1 AK, 2 PC's. 3 PG's, and 3 MSW offset by Allied losses of 1 ML, 4 DM, and 1 AK. As some ships with damage have yet to make port and FOW is on, Larry's losses may be even higher.

Palambang fell today. I suspect with the Midway debacle behind him, Larry will now concentrate his efforts here.

End of February so complete wrap up to follow.

[vettim89]

The score

[vettim89]

Ships Sunk. My DD losses leveled off this month. His came way up however. His lift continues to take a beating and I think there are quite a few damaged AP/AK retreating from Midway

[vettim89]

Air Losses. Nice to see Zeroes, Kates and Vals high on the list. Again, the bulk of my losses are on the ground

[vettim89]

Top pilots. P-40E seems to be the preferred killer for my flyboys especially if you including the AVG. Question - will Pappy Boyington transfer to the USMC pool at some point? He's got his 5 CBI kills

[vettim89]

Situation SE Asia - only one LCU in theatre at Tavoy. Unless Larry releases some of the Singapore units, not likely to see action here soon.

[vettim89]

Not much happening here either

[vettim89]

Where I suspect the action is about to be focused

[vettim89]

Forgto the PI. My count is 79 ground units are committed here - 35 at Manila alone

[vettim89]

1-4 March 1942

Lots of same old same old with one exception. Continued air and ground bombardments at Manilla and Cagayan. Larry has started soften up the bases on Sumatra now with LBA. Also Rangoon is getting a lot more attention from the Japanese Army pilots. I considered moving in an RAF Aviation battalion but thought better of it as I doen't want to lose it.

Larry somehoe managed to sneak in a SCTF into Amboina without me detecting it. This is frustrating as I have lots of Dutch flying boats running Nav Search. He sunk two tankers I had sent there to take oil to Sydney for the HI located there. Well at least the oil went down with the ships so he can't capture it.

I escorted a resupply convoy with a RCT to Midway escorted by CV's LExington, Saratoga, and Enterprise.=. Once the forts are built up, I am going to expand the airfield and port to make this a viable Forward operating base. CV Hornet should arrive at PH in two days.

I need to get thinking about my next line of defense. I am thinking Pogo Pogo and Suva. If SOPac is still quiet by the time I have those two bases shored up, I will start moving units to Noumea. I will only do this once I am sure I can go with enough AV to hold the Island against a determined attack.

[vettim89]

Attu is now property of the Japanese. He has two BF and a Bgd strength unit there. I am assuming he is going to build up the airbase there ASAP. I will be quite honest, I have neglected the NoPac front. Other than moving supplies to Anchorage I have done nothing. I am starting to move units up there. Once I have some lift accumulated I will buy off some WC units to reinforce this front. I thought about sending my CV's up there in hopes of intercepting some AP's but don't want to lose my carriers over such a distant outpost.

Larry also invaded Bankha on the east coast of Sumatra and is moving overland from Palembang. At this point all I can do is nip at Larry's heels. Just not enough pieces of the puzzle right now

[vettim89]

12 March 1942

Well I realized that I have not posted an update in a full game week. That is because very little is happening. SInce the successful defense of Midway and the fall of Attu not much has happened. Give an update regarding area of interest.

PI Larry has not tried anything other than bombardments lately. He has commited a huge amount of LBA for this task. He did land an addition SNLF on Cagayan but has not yet tried an attack. I am surpised Larry has not cleaned up the PI yet. There are lots of unoccupied bases that are his for the taking.

NEI Larry moved overland and took what should be called Osthaven (most southern port on Sumatra). He sent a SCTF to Batavia and bombarded it. Onor problem here is some of the remote bases are low on supply. I hadn't considered moving much at the beginning of the gaem as I never expected to be holding them almost 4 months into the war. Larry has such control over the air that I dare not risk any merchant shipping now.

Those are the only hot spots. Considering how bogged down Larry is in the PI and the fact that of the major NEI bases he need to take he has is Palembag. I am beginning to think about amore aggressive forward defnese in the CentPac and SoPac. As soon as I have the NoPac reinforced I am thinking about establish some strong points. I am thinking about Canton Is and Noumea. Have to wait and see how things develop first. I am probably about a month away from that game time wise. I have some specific ideas on where I would like to start offensive operations in about 6 months. Need to get my house in order first. I am beginning to wonder if Larry's strategy may be that the Japanese overextended themselves unnecessarily in RL and he may be thinking about a small perimeter defended in greater strength. Lots of time and things need to happen. I will admit I am getting a little bored of watching combat replays filled with my units gettiong pounded and having no recourse to stop it. Still I feel my defense has been well conceived up to this point. I think Java is going to cost Larry a lot and his failure to at least take Ragoon I think will come to haunt him.

[vettim89]

13-17 March 1942

Well things are finally moving. I will cover the areas briefly

NEI Larry moved on Amboina and Medan in the same turn. There are CV's south of Amboina covering that invasion. Unfortunately a lot of A/C got damaged here as a result of the preinvasion aerial and ship bombardments. Ergo I fear I may lose seom units outright if the initial Shock attack I am anticipating occurs the next turn. Fortunately I saw Larry coming and got the 17thFS out last turn. They are now in Alice Springs and will be heading to Brisane. Both P-40 outfits from the PI are now in Oz. I actually don't feel too bad about the situation here as I was doing some studying and realized my opponent is a full two months behind the historical timeline. So far my strong point defense has worked well for me.

PI In the lsat five days another deliberate attack failed at Manila - Larry has got to be pulling his hair out. Unfortunaley two successive deliberate attacks reduced the forts at Cagayan form 2 to 0. So the Japanese are finally making some headwya here.

SE Asia Well resupply of Rangoon is now done. There are now enough Betty's and Nells at Tavoy and Bangkok to make it too costly. CA Cornwal is now limping back to Ceylon after taking a couple of "fish". No movement on the ground yet. I can only hope my 88K of supplies will be enough to hold the Japanese Army off for a while. Forts are now 5 at Rangoon.

NoPac I bought off a RCT from WC and am shipping that unit, a arty unit I bought and a BF to Dutch Harbor. Realized I have no fuel up there so am sending a few tankers north. Thought about buying some Canadian Bgd's to send up there but will wait to see if Attu was a diversion or a precursor to Larry truly opening this front.

General I have problems with not enough lift already. Actually what I really lack are AP's. Doing some consolidating now to try to get units where I need them. I decided to move as much of the SWPac, CentPac, and SoPac units to Hawaii for now. Once I have thins organized I will move SoPac units to NZ, and SWPac units to Oz. Also have a huge fuel shortage in OZ which I hope will soon be remedied as I have a TF with 52000 oil just south of Brisbane now and another one with 100K just leaving Pogo Pogo. I also am moving a large amount of oil from Aden to Diamond Harbor - I assume this oil will move overland one hex to fuel Calcutta's HI. Need to move a little oil to Madras also. I sincerely hope I can keep Larry bogged down in the SRA for a couple of months. If I accomplish this I will be able to implement my initial plan for setting up for offensive operations which will involve defnding Noumea and the New Hebrides and Canton Is. SO much time will pass between now and then that I will have to modify my approach to meet my opponent's moves but that's the plan right now.

[vettim89]

Quick update. Amboina fell. I am unloading a lot of the SwPac units at Lihua in Hawaii. I am starting to load up some SoPac units and will move them to the big island. From there they will deploy south. Where will depend on where the game goes in the next month. My transport ships especially AK's are out of place. I have a 50+ in Aden even with huge numbers running back and forth to Ceylon, Karachi, and Madras. I think I will load them up with fuel and supplies and send them to Oz and then dead head them to SF (old railroad term). I am organizing a bunch of AK in OZ to head toward WC, but want to leave some units here as a reserve.

Larry keeps pounding away at Cagayan, Kuatang, and Manilla. No bad results have fallen my way yet. I am throwing my units at Kuatang to keep Larry from leaving them behind as training targets.

Game time is now 22 March 1942