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The following day's shock attack was met by still more troops who were rushed into battle. The result was heavy losses for the Allied army.

You forgot to mention the japanese armour that was utterly massacared the day before your infantry turned up [;)] Jan 4th 42.

Ground combat at Kuala Lumpur (49,79)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 15134 troops, 139 guns, 89 vehicles, Assault Value = 621

Defending force 3052 troops, 32 guns, 198 vehicles, Assault Value = 133

Allied adjusted assault: 477

Japanese adjusted defense: 63

Allied assault odds: 7 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
643 casualties reported
Squads: 24 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 29 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 112 (50 destroyed, 62 disabled)
Units retreated 4


Allied ground losses:
934 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 60 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

The annoying 1-1 attacks on 2 day turns really do hurt a LOT however so no telling if the Lumpur Line (as it is now known) will hold in the face of a japanese flanking move, still its more interesting that just hiding in singapore [;)

The elite japanese imperial guard divisiion has been identified moving toward south burma so the spirited allied counter attack against the equally inept thai army has been halted in favour of a tactical retreat to places with better defences, the impending loss of the burma road will hurt china however but staying would mean suicide for the inesperiences allied troops.

Speaking of China :-

Ground combat at 85,44

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 41069 troops, 403 guns, 154 vehicles, Assault Value = 1477

Defending force 79011 troops, 469 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2482

Japanese adjusted assault: 356

Allied adjusted defense: 4777

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 13

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
7956 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 394 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 422 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 39 disabled


Allied ground losses:
1054 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 64 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled

chinese forces defened the road to Sian , the open terrain was deemed indefensible against 3 full japanese divisions but they held the wood line rather better than i thought would happen ,, good going my digital peasants !

also of note (but seems like japan forgot about it ) were the following raids on japanese troops ships and a vulnerable ASW group.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Kuching at 58,87, Range 23,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Sozan Maru, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
PB Naruto Maru #3, Shell hits 24, and is sunk
PB Tokotsu Maru, Shell hits 30, and is sunk
PB Fuji Maru #3, Shell hits 15, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL De Ruyter
CL Danae
CL Dragon
CL Mauritius
DD Vendetta
DD Evertsen
DD Piet Hein
DD Van Ghent
DD Electra
DD Encounter
DD Express

Japanese attemepts to get a second base force to kendari was halted abruptly by the appearance of the raider cruisers Glasgow and cohorts on the night of the 8th Jan

Night Time Surface Combat, near Kendari at 70,106, Range 5,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
APD Aoi, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
TB Kasasagi
DMS W-4, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Zinzan Maru, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
xAK Kinkasan Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Ryuyo Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Meiu Maru

Allied Ships
CL Ceres
CL Glasgow
CL Caledon, Shell hits 1
DD Banckert
DD Thanet

Japanese ground losses:
1558 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 93 destroyed, 86 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 27 (23 destroyed, 4 disabled)

The same group caught them up again while withdrawing as a nice bonus !

Night Time Surface Combat, near Kendari at 70,106, Range 5,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
APD Aoi, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
TB Kasasagi
DMS W-4, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Zinzan Maru, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
xAK Kinkasan Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Ryuyo Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Meiu Maru

Allied Ships
CL Ceres
CL Glasgow
CL Caledon, Shell hits 1
DD Banckert
DD Thanet

Japanese ground losses:
1558 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 93 destroyed, 86 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 27 (23 destroyed, 4 disabled)



Sadly the entire raiding force was lost while intercepting what looked (at the time) to be a large inbound invasion force heading to Timor ..

The good news for the allies was that force Z has been waiting for this for quite some time and allied high command had the powerful surface group in position to try and repel any fast land grab without japanese air support.

The bad news was that the force had refuelled on the night of the 8th (forgot to turn off the damn button) so didnt advance untill the 10th and by then japan had spotted it 2 hexes away. Japan sacrificed a TB to prevent force Z catching the invasion convoy. The outcome was a sunk TB and a rapidly fleeing japanese invasion so while we didnt achieve the damage i was hoping to inflict the end result was as planned (the invasion force forced to retire). I would strongly suspect the 'hidden' KB will be ordered to help cover this force when it returns. force Z will ofc not try and commit suicide but we have achieved a minor victory or 2 over the forces of Japan.

Hello all.

apologies for not updateing this recently but both the allies and japanese players have had RL to deal with and while the game progressed there was no time to update here.

so in summary whats happened as we are now upto the 24th of Jan 1942 ?

1) not much in the DEI, the japanese invasion force vanished into the hinterland and has not been seen since. Japan now has kendari operational with zeros and netties which have been flattening allied arbases within zero range. As we cannot compete in the air vs these deadly fighters allied high command has withdrawn all but search a/c from the threatened airfields. Meanwhile the intact dutch airforce continues to train up hard and given how quiet it's been over sumatra/java and timor the 'sitzkrieg' has been most welcome.

2) Pacific .. even less than the DEI. I'm sure japan has planned multiple invasions like they did around rabaul earlier so nothing is considered 'safe' apart from PH which as it wasn't touched on the 7th now has a very sizeable fighter force in place, likewise the west coast hasnt been neglected either with airfields springing up and the defence force in unpredictable bases. I am expecting a KB raid somewhere in the pacific soon as its been far far too quiet lately.

3) china . Moslty the chinese getting out of dodge in the south but 2-3 corps have been overwhelmed by fast japanese armour columns and have taken huge casualties. The AVG has been nibbling away at japanese training efforts , got 6 nates todays and 10 Ida's on the 20th for no allied losses. However japan has a huge army airforce hammer which i am trying to avoid like the plague. any airfield hit with 80 odd sallies with 50 oscar escorts is going to be wiped out. Japanese city bombing (which we allow as opposed to industry attacks) are rather hard to figure out thier effectiveness as number of 'fires' and any collateral damage seem random.

4) Malaya . the anticipated japanese flanking move to cut off kuala lumpur has not materialised and japan hammers the city daily with heavy artillery that the indian defenders cannot match. Slowly getting worn down is not fun but its all about delaying japan at this point in the war and he is almost 100% prepped for singapore and NOT kuala Lumpur. What Japan has to gamble on is are the allies prepped for kualal lumpur or not ? as this could make a huge differance in combat. Screen shot might show japan too much but i have to show this somehow.

5) Burma , allies ran away from rangoon and packed up all the supply too [;)]. Japan has just taken Pegu , adjacent to an empty rangoon. Rather annoyingly no sign of the imperial guards . aliied force could have stopped the limited japanese stack there if we had been brave enough. So where is the Imp guards ? its a big question imo. Have Japanese planners diverted it to malaya ? or is it lurking in case we move forward to defend positions between mandalay and rangoon ? decisions decisons.

Thats about it as i cant talk plans or current ops. Losses have been light imo for both airforces upto now. I'll do a screenie of losses next time.

TTFN

Rob

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 24, 42

Quick update , sorry (again) no plane casualty list as i'm going straight from the combat turn file to here. These past 2 days have seen a huge ASW effort in the pacific east of Pearl Harbour against the japanes Iboat 168. At least 3 ASW groups converged on her over the two days and utterly missed with everything. the sub however was distracted enough not to hit back with (working BAH) torpedoes. Still this will get the DD exp up slowly so by 1944 they might be able to hit a sub occasionally [;)].

I'm sure japan has an AMC cruising up the amoerican west coast just testing the waters before KB comes calling. Despite numerous airgroups taken from trianing to operationsl status noting happened. from now on however the West coast WILL be operational and not just a training establishment. that'll keep the newsies and plebs happy while the real men make ready for the counterpunch that Japan so richly deserves.

The Japanese 'Hammer' managed to get tangled up with some LR CAP by the AVG in china. this didnt end well for the AVG.






British efforts in Burma however were much more productive with Lillies and some Betties falling from the Sky over Kuantan.

Morning Air attack on 1st ISF Base Force, at 51,79 (Kuantan)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 22



Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 6
Buffalo I x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 12 destroyed, 2 damaged

And

Morning Air attack on 1st ISF Base Force, at 51,79 (Kuantan)

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 22



Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 6
Buffalo I x 5


Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 8 destroyed, 5 damaged





Aircraft Attacking:
5 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 11000 feet *
Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb

A couple of minor dutch and PI bases fell today too but thats on page 24 of the washington post so not very important in the scheme of things. Seagull flyingboats operating from remote islands in the south PI have been harassing japanese mop up invasion shipping but as yet just seem to give the sailors a nice shower when the bombs miss. Made a bit of a mistake here as LoBaron had set them to semi train on low level nav bombing, Me in my infinite wisdon set them to attack at 6k ! and promptly forgot all about it. End result is pilots with crummy skills in both columns and the ability to use up valuable supply where stationed. Still its useful propganda if they hit anything.

Elsewhere much of Jan has been quite. the japs have oozed down the solomons as far as munda and Port Moresby has been evacuated by the allies ,, 'cos Timors MUCH more important .. not really giving anything away there as we chat in game about stuff like this.

I PROMISE i will post a screenies of plane losses next post. Fingers crossed and hope to die. [;)]

Finally !





26th and 27th were relatively uneventful , Japan invaded hollandia and looks like a hugh Japanese BB fleet hovering south of new guinea .. is it CV's ?? much more search added to the area and DB's on standby.

Japan also made its 1st foray vs Bataan hehe ..

Ground combat at Bataan (78,77)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 57421 troops, 589 guns, 289 vehicles, Assault Value = 1982

Defending force 55384 troops, 952 guns, 766 vehicles, Assault Value = 1853

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 673

Allied adjusted defense: 3595

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
10224 casualties reported
Squads: 16 destroyed, 520 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 555 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 154 disabled
Vehicles lost 58 (11 destroyed, 47 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
2636 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 163 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 202 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Vehicles lost 46 (2 destroyed, 44 disabled)

fort 2 is pretty terrible but fort 0 in clarke was worse ,, in hinf sight i might have stopped this lot at clarke but at the time it didnt seem worth the risk. Supplies are at $%^%$$££"£ <censored> .. sounds of heavy door knocking and the footfalls of RMPS; fade into the distance. <end>

Right its Lt. Newbie here as the captain has been 'promoted' temporarily <cough>

Bad news in china as something very odd happened indeed .. chinese forces attacked at kweisu ?? up in the north .. and what was listed as 4 japanes eunits turned out to be 5 with the suprise arrival of a complete jap division ! turn before it was even listed as 4 units on the mouseover . In addition the base NW which was chinese reverted to jap control for no apparent reason just before the attack .. no idea why and its still empty ?? maybe i missed the garrison need and it swopped sides , either way i suspect ill get hammered here next turn.

Ground combat at Kweisui (92,35)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14692 troops, 131 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 559

Defending force 16201 troops, 152 guns, 98 vehicles, Assault Value = 594

Allied adjusted assault: 167

Japanese adjusted defense: 937

Allied assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
159 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
1155 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 115 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 80 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

This is going to hurt chinese efforts in N china and is a direct result of me being too agressive and no recon.. not a good combo by anyones standards. Still it would have been nice to crucify 4 traitor cavalry units which might well have happened if thier overlords had not turned up unexpectedly .. <bah humbug>

TTFN

Good turn for the allies in the air today over malaya .. japanes escorts didnt take off and the Nells got walloped, which is a really really good thing from my pov.







The Lumpur line in malaya creaked under the 1st japanese assault and was reduced to fort level 1 , japan rested on the next two days so we have forts back upto 2 but from the last attacks i suspect a 2-1 is due and in 2 day turns we are likely to be evicted with heavy losses. Overall though this tactic has bough the commonwealth much needed time to realy bump up the forts in singapore and stock up a ton of supplies too.

Our little ambush in the air today almost produced the 1st aces of the war, we have several pilots with 4 kills now and oddly they are in buffs. Will have to preserve these guys at all costs untill we get some better hurricanes.

Heres the pilot list just for info.

Feb 3rd and 4th 1942

American Naval staff have been seeking revenge for the loss of the submarine fleet at Manilla since the outbreak of the war. On the 1st a US CL hit the annoying AMC (alluded to earlier in posts) and sank it ourright. Today land based B17's on naval search (for the added range, as japanese ships do seem to have been lurking just outside floatplane range on the US west coast) found 2 AMC's and 2 CL's apparently on convoy raiding duties. USN admirals ordered out the fleet to intercept these nusiances.

Light cruisers engaged 1st

Followed by its big brother.

Given that the location of japanese carriers are not available this was a risky move on LoBarons part but well worth the nail biting.




The CL's have got away or are still lurking , LoBaron will have to talk about what he's upto here as i don't know [;)].

Over in Malaya , the Lumpur line still holds even after one whole month soaking up japanese bombardments and attacks. It's definately looking creaky right now but has bought singapore a month of free time , generally uniterupted by japanese air raids, to fortify etc. Incidentally japan did raid singers today and several nells and betties were shot down for very little damage to the huge CD guns.

also in the skies the last remaining P40's in the Phillipines rose into the air and managed a 1-1 loss vs the sweeping zeros and then hammered a few sallies who arived without escort. Congrats there to my estwhile allies.

Speaking of allies and opponents .. OI COME AND POST HERE .. it was a joint AAR , now its a lonely commonwealth propoganga page (must be the daily mail).

Port Moresby fell on the 3dr too , Aliies had evacuated it and just as well as a full division landed with regimental support. Unlike MacArthur I;m not in the habit of throwing away australian lives (albeit digital ones) for no gain. [;)]

I think they are planning evil things commander Rob, very evil things. And do not want the public to know.

Also they had to spend long time preparing the carribean pirates fleet to concentrate their ships at the US west coast.
Which is beautiful. So needs to be defended. With old battleships.




Banzaaaaai!!!!
Erm....sorry....wrong disc....
For freeeedoooooom!!!

So, you have discovered my raiders off the west coast. However, you also learned this time the lesson about sailing old battleships around in sub infested waters.[:D]

BTW, Idaho didn't have torpedo bulges, did she?

I am certain that my I-boat did more than just scratch the paint the spud wagon.
I am sure that she will make port, but I do get points for striking a moral blow. The periscope pics will look great in the propoganda films.

To be honest, with 3 AE games, a lot of RL work going on, and other issues vying for my attention, I haven't even had time to visit the forums or post for the past few weeks. No sign that this will change over the next month either. RL is like that.

Don

ORIGINAL: seydlitz
So, you have discovered my raiders off the west coast. However, you also learned this time the lesson about sailing old battleships around in sub infested waters.[:D]

BTW, Idaho didn't have torpedo bulges, did she?

I am certain that my I-boat did more than just scratch the paint the spud wagon.
I am sure that she will make port, but I do get points for striking a moral blow. The periscope pics will look great in the propoganda films.

Well Idaho was a nice target I guess since your CL´s already made her look like a candle holder. Lets see if the sub commanders are blinded by bright fires
next night and she makes port. [;)]

I hope there is one or the other hole in your fast CL´s too...
Salute to their performance. Typical Japanese night fighting expertise. They should be in for a medal if they get home.

Grats LoBaron , scratch 2 japanese CL's in the pacific.

Thats an expensive end to surface raiding from japan for some time to come (we hope).

for the readers CV Hornet went a-hunting, ballsy move as jap Cv's could have been close to punce a trap her.

Over once again to Malaya and the Lumpur line was broken by a japanese shock attack on the 5th Feb 1942

Ground combat at Kuala Lumpur (49,79)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 33900 troops, 541 guns, 478 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293

Defending force 12713 troops, 172 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 262

Japanese adjusted assault: 1377

Allied adjusted defense: 161

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Kuala Lumpur !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
855 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 47 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 60 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Units pursuing 2


Allied ground losses:
4272 casualties reported
Squads: 161 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 404 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 60 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 55 (55 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 107 (107 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 6
Units destroyed 2


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!


Retreating eh ? more like legging it back to singapore as fast as the coolies can carry the wounded , its not pretty. Singapore has still been relatively untouched by japanese air (just a few sweeps which the allies avoid at all costs) and so has had time for all sorts of nasties.

DD evertson on an ASW patrol south of singapore was torpedoed on the 7th and has just limped into singapore harbour for emergency repairs , ok thats free intel for japan but its current news regardless.

ASW attack near Lingga at 51,87

Japanese Ships
SS I-158 (sneaky undersea pirates)

Allied Ships
DD Evertsen, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Van Ghent

American and Holland both had thier undersea heroes make attacks on the 8th but oddly only the american torps worked , the dutch ones bounced off !

Submarine attack near Quinhon at 66,70

Japanese Ships
xAK Atutasan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS S-36 (gallant brave men)

the PI is still holding well and japanese bombardments of bataan have mostly been harmful to the attackers. However the army air has finally been unleashed and it causing major hurt with 150 sallies/day rainding both troops and the airfields.

Motor torpedo boats ordered to try and save the last basion out side Bataan (Cebu) were sunk in a daylight encounter with japanese CL's . Japan seems to favour it'ls Cl's right now and allies only have solid intel on one Jap BB and 2 Cv's (can't say where for obvious reasons)

Day Time Surface Combat, near Cebu at 80,86, Range 15,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Naka
CL Natori
DD Michishio
DD Shikinami

Allied Ships
MTB 10, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB 11, Shell hits 1 yes it sank later.
MTB 12, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB 26, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB 27, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

and here is the US CV attacks mopping up the west coast of the states , BB Idaho is (CENCORED) but the fish approve of a new home [;)]. The Escorting DD Benham also suffered catastrophic pump failur in sight of the golden gate bridge and had to be towed listing at 30% into emergency dry-dock.

Overall

Japan is oozing into burma and the commonwealth hold the line at mandalay (for now) . In china its anyones guess whats happening as bith myself and Seydelitz duel at geological speed for rail lines in north china. Japans actually doing better at it than the allies sadly.

DEI , suspciously quiet since the timor assault was driven off. heavy bombing of ambon keep the fields closed but thats about it apart from some very suspicious naval activity near balikpapan, SS trusty was sent to investigate and tripped an ASW group 40 miles from the harbour. she emergency dived and escaped unharmed. Naval recon flies daily over south borneo and 'something' is a-foot. Watch this space for more intel as its brought in by our embedded reporters.

[/quote]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK


Grats LoBaron , scratch 2 japanese CL's in the pacific.

Thats an expensive end to surface raiding from japan for some time to come (we hope).

for the readers CV Hornet went a-hunting, ballsy move as jap Cv's could have been close to punce a trap her

and here is the US CV attacks mopping up the west coast of the states , BB Idaho is (CENCORED) but the fish approve of a new home [;)]. The Escorting DD Benham also suffered catastrophic pump failur in sight of the golden gate bridge and had to be towed listing at 30% into emergency dry-dock.

Thank you commander Rob. I cannot let you Brits and Dutch sink IJN shipping all alone.

My guess is that operation "Free the Carribean" cost the Japanese 2-3 CL´s and 3-4 AMC´s.
Its not much but it helps morale. And for sure serves an a bit safer convoy route (very relateive so, considering I have no damn idea where the IJN CV´s are).


And, yes, something Allied definitely went glugg before reaching the safety of San Francisco. Don, Mike, if you don´t mind I too prefer to leave you in the dark whether the artificial reef is large or small.
You could reduce your ops tempo a bit though. And stay more visible please. I am getting slightly paranoid here. [;)]

I was not getting any email notifications about posts to this forum and assumed noone was posting anything- so much for the "subscribed" option working!

I will hopefully be able to comment and update things from the Japanese side later today.

ORIGINAL: LoBaron


My guess is that operation "Free the Carribean" cost the Japanese 2-3 CL´s and 3-4 AMC´s.
Its not much but it helps morale.

Depends on whose morale one is referring too! [:D]

Well Lenny, since your merchies didn't seem to want to come out and be raided by my CL's and AMCs, I was disappointed. It was quite a shock to get excited by smoke on the horizon only to discover that it was an American battlewagon that was faster than the AMCs. After the first turn of combat I split the cruisers off and sent the faster ones on a bombardment mission to Los Angeles. Just got to shell Hollywood.[:D] I figured that it would pull your surface forces eastward into my sub patrol line.

However, you immediately intercepted the cruisers and foiled the bombardment plans. At any rate, your battleship did indeed find my sub patrol line so that part worked. I thought my ships were going to get away scott free until the carrier showed up.

Just remember, the sea is alive with the sounds of Jap submarines. Sail in it enough and you will pay the price. At this point in the war my subs are better than your destroyers so I am not afraid to hang tough and engage even the ASW groups.

Regarding other matters, I would like to say that the Japanese forces in all theaters are very well supplied. I have moved more fuel and supplies to forward areas in this game than I have in any of my prior games. Mike constantly wants more, but at least he tells me what he needs far enough in advance that I am able to get it there. We even have convoys loaded with supplies on "do not unload" orders at various spots just waiting to be sent in right after key objectives are captured.

I am certain that Mike would agree that our differing play styles do cause issues at times. He is far more aggressive with the carriers in support of tactical operations than I am. I believe that it gives the allies a strong advantage by knowing where the carriers ares. If they know, then they can use their forces to strike weak areas with minimal risk. Some of these ops have lead to loss of precious ships and troops. But it is very interesting to watch his aggressive style in action. It is much different than mine and I am learning some new tricks myself. I find myself as way too conservative in most operations.

I am sure that Mike misses having control of the Army Air force. I have been very controlling in this area as it is one of our strongest assets. You are not seeing many Army bombers in Malaya because I lost several to allied fighters after the navy failed to provide proper escort. I would rather see him lose his own planes (Netties) if his navy pilots can't do their job correctly. Rob, I am sure that you have felt the effects of the Army air over China. I am somewhat role playing the Army role by having them focus on their own thing. On Luzon, I am bringing my own fighters over because the navy zero pilots can't seem to consistently escort the bombers one hex to the target and I am fed up with that. In China, I am having a ball. Somewhat different tactics from what I normally use, but some of them seem to be working fine.

[&o] Having not previously discussed these issues with Don, I am somewhat at a loss. We do have differing styles, that much is certain. Different in philosophy, both tactically and logistically. I think our major difference might be in the value of time. I feel that time is the achilles heal for Japan. Failure to take early strategic objectives like Singapore and Manila quickly puts the Japanese behind the time curve for later operations such as Java and Palembang, which leads to the allies reinforcing, fortifying, and training up units that will defend those objectives. Those three factors cause much greater losses to men and material to take the truly important (IMHO) bases and if the Allies are smart, cause great damage to base facilities in places like Palembang. So before you know it, it is May and places like Java and Palembang are still in Allied hands and their is still no meaningful flow of oil, resources, and fuel coming from those areas.

What loses the war for Japan? Loss of aircraft and pilots? Sure that hurts, but the game allows us to train new ones and build more aircraft. The game does not however, give us a pass on needing fuel, oil, and resources. We cannot train or build more of those. Those have to be taken and defended.

So while bombing the peasants back to the Ming Dynasty may save a lot of aircraft losses it really does not do much for the main war effort. (IMHO)

Of course, this is a great game and no one style is really the be all and end all. Some may be better than others but even that is debatable and dependent on that game and its unique conditions. Actually, for me, that is one of the great things about this game.

So we can continue with the internal Japanese politics or not. I will adjust to those game conditions as well, just as I have tried to do to this point.

Well the above is an interesting insight into japanese politics and it looks like we have a much more realistic game with internal strife in the japanese hierarchy but the allies do not have an overall commander as we disagree as much as agree on operations/deployments and objectives. For an accidental role play of WW2 in the pacific this game is abosolutely facinating from the individual combats all the way to the top level decisions.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Feb 09, 42

Back to the action and it was another good 2 days for the Allies , starting with another Japanese CL and a DD being sunk off the US WC.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Coos Bay at 202,62

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes


Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 8
SBD-3 Dauntless x 26


Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Kuma, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Samidare, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage


The US again managed a really productive raid into japanese held waters SE of chichi-jima , a very bold move by LoBaron once again another japanese transport force sinks to davey jones' locker.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Chichi-jima at 114,79

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes


Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 9
SBD-2 Dauntless x 36


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Kiyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Izan Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Zuisyo Maru
PB Tsukikawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Yuri Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Heizan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kyosei Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Meisan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Yahonui Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
321 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 12 (2 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Morning Air attack on TF, near Chichi-jima at 114,79

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes


Allied aircraft
TBD-1 Devastator x 15


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Izan Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Kiyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Zuisyo Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
2538 casualties reported
Squads: 37 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 58 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 41 (26 destroyed, 15 disabled)

Not sure what it was carrying but from an allied perspspective - who cares ! .. hip hip hoorah

The Commonwealth and chinese theater was spurred onto further heights after the american attacks became known over the wireless, and the SS Trusty on its maiden patrol sighted and sank yet another japanese CL.

Sub attack near Tandjoengselor at 70,94

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Shikinami

Allied Ships
SS Trusty

The AVG in china was also active against the smaller raids (as opposed to Seydelitz Hammer ) and shot down 11 Ann's on training bombing runs near Ichang.