Im getting crushed Rroberson v CV2 (No CV2 allowed)

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The only rationale I can think of for his actions in Alaska is that he was trying to provoke a carrier battle. You didn't bite so he left.

The only rationale I can think of for his actions in Alaska is that he was trying to provoke a carrier battle. You didn't bite so he left.

Im sure that's what was it. No way I was doing that and it makes sense at first I wasn't seeing many zeros...then when I started taking pokes with my avengers KB shows up and bombs the airfields out of existance. He was trying to catch me being my usual rash self.

[rroberson]

It's time for more maps

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As you can see by this simple map of Alaska...there are no CV2 Japanese troops to be found pretty much anywhere. I have begun to slowly retake everything he rolled over. Cold Bay fell this turn to airborne troops. According to recon Dutch Harbor is wide open. About the only activity I have found in this region is Adak. And I have plans for Adak...

[rroberson]

And then there is the jewel of my defenses...

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From Luginville to Koumac to Noumea and east to Nadi and Suva I have well developed bases just chalked full of combat troops. At this point I would welcome an invasion from CV2. While he could probably sweep in and take these islands. My defenses are now to the point where he would pay a bloody price for it.

I doubt very seriously he will ever move south. He has a very limited amount of air at his forward base in Lunga. And while Im sure he is building up the bases northwest of it...I just don't see him coming south. Too risky.

I do have a secret project in this area that is close to be launched. We will see how it goes.

[rroberson]

And the fight down under continues.

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For a while we were fighting over the airspace above my ground troops. I think he got tired of that or realized that even though he was dominating my green pilots he was still losing pilots. I also had moved my troops south far enough to keep air cover over them so he wasn't getting free shots with his bombers. Well he stopped sending out his zero sweeps in the last week or so.

I continued to pound his troops from the air until he finally moved them to darwin and out of my bomber range. I know he has a good size airfield there but I couldn't honestly tell you how much air power is there currently.

I have finally begun to deploy P 38s to the area..."if" and this is a big if, I can keep Tennant Creek supplied (and everyone was right that is a bitch to do) then I can provide air cover as my troops move north once again to take Daly Waters. My hope is that he will respond and move south again and into bomber range. If he doesnt then I move north to Katherine. Could get fun.

[rroberson]

And lastly the mess that is China as we enter October.

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The lines have slightly shifted but that was mostly due to me pulling out of the Changsha area. Part of the whole going to ground and keeping my combat strength together until I can get to 43. And I will get to 43. He is crushing the airfield at Chungking. I had slide the RAF in to hit his troops. I think he didnt like that and for about a week I saw 100 plus bomber raids by his helens. He is now maintaining the destruction there with 50 plus raids. Was fun while it lasted.

He has shown no signs of moving further in the north. He sent a probe to Lanchow which I destroyed. In the South he is pushing hard but I am prepared to keep the line right where it is as I have about 300 thousand troops in the neighborhood. We will see how it goes, hopefully I can slog it out with him until he gets bored.

Burma remains sleepy phoney war silent.

I had been planning to hit the Cocos. I had a sub keeping and eye on the place. He now has a surface group with Chitose and a Battleship there. A bit of a surprise but I have the FAA about 3 days sailing time from there. Maybe I can give him a bit of a surprise.

[rroberson]

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uh oh.

This will not end well.

Right now it looks like "just" a carrier raid. But I have been getting sigint about a possible south Australian landing. Further he has an armored car group running around the outback (my bombers have been hitting it).

It's that group to the north of the carriers that has me worried.

The Royal navy has reformed and is a solid 4 days away and even then it's just one CV and CVL. No match for him if he has even 1 fleet carrier in this group.

Things are about to be explosive off Perth.

That being said I did leave the Formidible's FAA group at Geraldton. And I have a smattering of various fighters and bombers scattered between Geraldton and Perth. Maybe I will "finally" have some luck and put a bomb into one of his carriers or better still a torpedo from one of the several subs operating off the west coast of Australia.

Man I could use it.

[rroberson]

oh for fuck's sake.

This is going to be a first class rant. Sorry, I am beyond frustrated...I tend to not get ranty in my gaming forums but damn.

Here's the deal. The entire Japanese navy went from Alaska to Australia in around a month.

The entire navy.

The fuel costs alone must be out of this world.

yet he has fuel to burn. In a decade of playing the Japanese I have ever once had "fuel to burn" like this.

I enjoy a good game and lord knows I never expect to win, because I never have.

But I am feeling so gamed at this point Im not even sure what to do about it.

Tell me this...and it's a serious question,...perhaps I have been playing a straight game all these years and I just don't think to do things like he does.

He is using the Mavis L as a paratrooper transport.

Is it me or is that just outside the bounds of reality? Again, I don't really need to play a "realistic" game persay...but sitting here watching ever rule pushed to it's extreme has really got me frustrated.

I'm trying to soldier on because I keep think the good part starts for the allies sooner or later.

but when is sooner?

[rroberson]

grrrr okay, so im over that now...this damn game can be wildly frustrating. I think it's because we put so much time into each turn.

okay so here i sit in october and yet more setbacks. Western Australia is his. period. That being said, he won't stay long. he never does. Its another hit and run. The side part of his raid was he put down about 20 more transport ships (and one destroyer) and that hurt a bit but not as much as it could have. On an upnote he is paying one hell of a price for this landing the disrupted troops number in the thousands. And the guns at Perth did hit him hard. He hit perth with a small amount of troops and it's not likely to fall soon. He buried Geraldton with troops...I have high hopes he marches south with them...because I have 2 brigades of australian troops as well as a pair of armored units north of him. I have a huge (level 5 or 6) airbase at Alice Springs...filled with B17s. I doubt seriously he comes west. But if he does it will hurt him. I have also canceled my planned offensive north. Im hedging on this...because there just isn't any way he has this many divisions to toss around. So I doubt if he has much strength left at Darwin...but by that same token if he does come east...those troops are dead with only one avenue of retreat...so Im turn them all south to get on the railroads.

ugly ugly game.

I completely understand why allied players vanish now. It's tough to get your teeth kicked in for a year before you can begin to have any fun. Fortunetly we play at such a pace (we did a game month over the weekend) that it will probably be a couple weeks before we reach 43 and then I can finally explore the fun side of this game as the allies.

[rroberson]

Okay, I'm sitting here trying to decide what to do with the RN. When I thought it was a single carrier raid of perth I was going to try to catch him. Now Im back tracking and thinking about seriously hitting coco again. I "know" where his fleet is. I bet I could get in and out before he can redirect and hit me.

I also have been shooting up his PBs (and akls) here and there off of lunga. Lost in last turn's debauchery was another successful run. My next move is a bombardment group to hit his level 8 airfield.


Most of the American navy is in san francisco at the moment refitting. It's probably what kept me from being rash and getting my carriers sunk off Australia when I saw him moving to hit perth. I should have the bulk of my fleet (3 CVs, 2 CVEs, 7 Battleships and tons of cruisers and destroyers) ready to go in about two weeks. Their destination is Auckland and then I will figure what to do with them from there.

My subs are not having much success, I may have to rethink their deployment.

back to mulling this map.

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: rroberson
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I completely understand why allied players vanish now. It's tough to get your teeth kicked in for a year before you can begin to have any fun. Fortunetly we play at such a pace (we did a game month over the weekend) that it will probably be a couple weeks before we reach 43 and then I can finally explore the fun side of this game as the allies.

Why so, where do they vanish? There are still more people looking for Japanese opponent than Allied in the Opponent Wanted section.

TBH the Japanese side IS harder to play, depending on scenario, game settings and house rules. Every single naval loss hurts Japan, and even in air, IJNAF starts with literally zero experienced fighter pilots in the pool(well, just like the Allies). Scenario 2 does help the Japanese and depending on your house rules and game settings, Japan can R&D planes and produce the good ones so much that it can stay with the Allies well into 1943, even early 1944. But not on the ground or at sea.

Remember that its still early in the game and the war will be a long one. If you're lucky your opponent will think that his victory streak will never end, and you'll get to bleed his nose HARD somewhere. Just keep your CVs alive! The Allies can, quite literally, lose every ship they have and get in 1941 and first half of 1942 and still win one hand tied behind. [;)]

I would seriously reconsider doing anything with your BBs and CVs for now. "Keep them secret. Keep them safe!" They might not achieve victories from East Coast, but you WILL make your opponent think about their location. He WILL have to prepare to meet them everywhere he is, or take the risk. The more risks he takes the easier it will be to surprise him pants down WHEN you decide to do just that. Knowing that the F6F and F4U, once you get them, WILL wipe the floor with Ki-44 and A6M could help you through the hard times. [:)]

[BBfanboy]

If he has been burning tons of fuel, perhaps the Royal Navy should be used to raid across Sumatra into Palembang. Knocking off a half dozen tankers while he is out adventuring would spoil his fun! You could also hit the oil fields themselves. Take only your 30 kt ships so you can get outta Dodge afterwards.

[rroberson]

It occurs to me that I am doing a piss poor job managing my submarines. Mostly because he was able to move what appears to be the entire KB from the shores of Alaska (where I know there were two maybe three fleet carriers) to Perth in around a month...without me noticing until he was well on his way. Now he had to stop and rearm along the way and between Alaska and Perth..there is this tiny island called Japan.

here are my usual patrol zones.

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And the East China Sea

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Now it's just not his warships that I am not seeing.

Its "any" shipping whatsoever. No Tankers, No supply, and the rare ASW ship that comes out to challenge my submarines.

Am I setting up in the right spot?

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If he has been burning tons of fuel, perhaps the Royal Navy should be used to raid across Sumatra into Palembang. Knocking off a half dozen tankers while he is out adventuring would spoil his fun! You could also hit the oil fields themselves. Take only your 30 kt ships so you can get outta Dodge afterwards.

Sadly the RN is down to a carrier and a half due to withdrawals. I'm not sure how much damage they could cause there.

Yeah, I don't get where all this fuel is coming from honestly. I know with my Japanese games...the very idea of moving the entire fleet halfway around the world in a month. Ouch.

A big problem is I am just not sinking his shipping with my subs. The big joke off alaska was my subs were lining up his warships (including one or two carriers) and smack...dud. I know this begins to improve in January and thats just 3 months away...but I need some success here.

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: rroberson
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I completely understand why allied players vanish now. It's tough to get your teeth kicked in for a year before you can begin to have any fun. Fortunetly we play at such a pace (we did a game month over the weekend) that it will probably be a couple weeks before we reach 43 and then I can finally explore the fun side of this game as the allies.

Why so, where do they vanish? There are still more people looking for Japanese opponent than Allied in the Opponent Wanted section.

I actually never much liked playing the Japanese. Hurts my head with all the numbers (part of the reason I suck at the game ) but found if I wanted a game EVERYBODY wants to be the allies. Very few prefer the japanese, thus the opponent wanted section. So anytime I wanted a new game, I happily volunteered to be the Japanese. It's a lot to do with my absolute inexperience with the allies...In the (lord) 40 plus games I have played in the decade I have been at it..I probably have gotten to play the allies 5 or 6 times and only 1 of those games (my memory is hazy) ever got to 43.

I'm frankly very very excited that I am almost to 43. It's the promised land for me and fueling some of my frustration right now because I'm worried I wont have much left to defend.

[rroberson]

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I had most of my S boats here as well as my share of fleet boats until recently.

I have been running them to Sydney for upgrades. I was hitting nothing and I mean nothing with my subs. It was a rare day when they would sight anything.

I have finally reduced my sub zones here and begun to patrol the various islands north east of Lunga. He has built some significant airbases (Kasaie and Naru) on some of them and he has to be running supplies to them.

It's a major problem if I can't start whittling his shipping down. He has way too much now and is running amok.

[rroberson]

By the way about half of his carriers are now moving east across the Great Australian Bight under Australia (well south of it). He is popping transports fleeing from him. If he continues east (he is about 15 hexes away from Port Augusta) he will kill about 40 fully laden transports who just weighed anchor and are attempting to get the hell out of dodge. The fighters I have there just arrived and will be of little use as they unpack from the rail cars.

On a note of entertainment, when I realized he was headed to "raid" Perth with his CVEs [:D] I sent a small surface group there to help the destroyers and smaller vessels stave off what I thought was coming.

Led by the Cruiser Chicago this 3 ship surface group is now in position just west of Albany to have a go at a small baby carrier group off of Busselton. He no doubt sees me but it will be interesting to see if the full speed dash I made at his shipping off Perth pays off with a couple of banged up transports before the sun comes up and he puts my cruiser down.

Geraldton did fall. But my troops got out and are retreating across the outback much as my troops from Broome did to the west coast....Ironically they are getting ready to retreat west..again.

I also crushed the paratroopers on the rail line at Cunderlane as I just happen to be moving a aussie brigade there hoping to catch that armored unit. Needless to say they are still headed west hoping to reopen the rail line.

[ny59giants]

Sub Patrols - I would send some to be off Hong Kong. Since he has pushed you back in China, he can drop off his Oil/Fuel and Resources at this base and allow the roads/rails to move it to at least Shanghai and hopefully to Korea (or Port Arthur) before going on ships to Japan. If he isn't spotted there, then he is going though the Philippine Archipelago to get stuff to Japan vs around Formosa.

I'm near the end of 43 as Japan (farthest I've ever been as Japan) and I HATE those damn P-47s. If I come out on the wrong end of 3:1 in A2A I'm happy. [:D] Attrition is the way here. They are great in the sweep role. Second for me is the Corsairs in sweeps and then the P-38s.

What are your plans for your three plus Marine divisions?? They are your elite troops and need to be used to plan aggressively.

[BBfanboy]

Looking at your sub patrol distribution around Japan, there are a couple of openings he could be exploiting: the straight path into Nagasaki from the west and the shallow water path to Tokyo Bay.
What is the DL of your subs? If he knows where they are he can route around them or use air patrols to make your subs dive so that they cannot see convoys passing through the hex. I monitor the DL every turn and if the sub is seen at all, I move it several hexes and return in 3 - 4 days.

I think Michael hit the biggest factor: the Japanese can ship a lot of oil overland and then have the short hop from Fusan to N. Japan to finish the delivery. The Strait of Tsushima is mined and guarded by CD guns so the only good approach for now is the opening next to Wakkanai on NE Hokkaido, but that is a big detour that takes a lot of fuel. You will need a western Aleutians base to exploit that.

Have your subs had their radar upgrades yet? That should make a big difference to nighttime intercepts.

[Chickenboy]

My opinion: your sub routes around the Home Islands and Formosa straits are too close to his likely aerial surveillance. If you're a found submarine, you're a liability.

Back 'em off several hexes along likely ingress / egress lines.

[bradfordkay]

In my opinion your sub patrol zones are too short. This causes a couple of problems. One is that the detection level on the subs can become so high that they are easily avoided. Another is that with such a short patrol zone - which appears to be across the expected shipping lane - your chance of missing the enemy TFs is increased.

What I like are long patrol zones along the expected route of the enemy TFs. I believe that this increases my chance of finding his shipping while at the same time keeping the DL low on my subs. It seems to be working: as of Jan 10, 1944 the sunken ships list shows 184 Japanese vessels that have succumbed to my subs. Yes, that number isn't entirely correct - but my guess is that it is a little high on combat ships and low on merchant ships.