PAW with Sarsfield as Allies, Larry as Japs

[larryfulkerson]

The situation with the Indian National Army forces has deterioated and I've started pulling them to the east to try to force myself onto an airfield hex to fly out the paratroopers but there's no supply at all and my boys are starting to show some wear and tear. All these troops are probably doomed.

[larryfulkerson]

I found an Allied TF near Colombo, Ceylon that has a CV in it and I think maybe it's the British HMS Hermes. It has room for one aircraft unit and I'm guessing that the aircraft unit is a composite type that has bombers and fighters both. Wait, we're still in the early war period so maybe the aircraft unit has only bombers. But the TF is protected by multiple fighters at the airfields near where it's anchored. I hesitate to attack it given so much Allied LBA. I've got lots of anti-ship bombers on Sumatra and Java so I'm ready if he sorties to the east.

[cpt flam]

Larry, I'm surprise that you don't remember the possibility to look your opponent attacks from last turn.
When you are on resolved attacks.
Left button give opportunity to go back a turn.
Sole solution with playback to know what happen.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm in a struggle in China near Wuchang and I can't say I'm winning. I found a place where Karl is stacking Nationalist Chinese with Communist Chinese and there's a scenario rule that says you can't do that. I'll have to send Karl an email and mention it. I have an HQ unit that was minding it's own business and an enemy unit moved adjacent to it. I have to find a unit to replace that HQ unit so I can move it to safety.

[larryfulkerson]

Karl finally captured Johnson Island so this is what it looks like now. Karl reports that he's doing a buildup right now so I guess we can expect some fireworks soon. I've decided that I need to build a 10-foot concrete block wall around the entire island of Wake and I'm going to make the Mexicans pay for it. I've got this one officer under my command who is an absolute A$$. He can't get along with anyone and can't follow the simplist of instructions. I'm going to send him to Wake and put him in charge of building the wall. We're into June of 1942 and my perimeter is largely intact still. If I can somehow force Karl to wait while my carriers are mending I'll have a better chance of rebuilding the KB to defend the home islands. As it is I have only one operational carrier and that's not enough to do any good for any mission it may be called upon to do. I'm thinking of moving all the carrier-capable aircraft to the south pacific to defend against Allied incursions and the rest of the LBA I'll park in the DEI and Sumatra and the south Celebes to prevent the British from making any rash raids. The British have the CV Hermes with a full load of bombers so he can dash in with his TF and sink one of my DD's and move back to his LBA defensive umbrella so that it would be hazzardous for me to reply. Things aren't going all that well in China because it would take a stack of my units to move one of his Chinese units and I don't have that many to go around right now. So it's largely a standoff.

EDIT: The label for Johnson Island points below the blue dot because the blue dot is a TF escorting some Allied troops destined for Johnson Island.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's happening on the continent right now. The struggle with the Chinese goes on still.
My Nationalist Indian troops are completely out of supply so they aren't long for this world I'm
afraid. The regular Indians have surrounded them in poor terrain and there's nowhere for them to go.

The AVG was dissolved Some of the pilots transferred to the USAAF but some of them retired from
the war entirely and went back to the states. One went to South America.

I've successfully repaired all the rail I own so there's train service from Singapore to
somewhere near Hong Kong.

The fighting in North China is at an almost standstill. I need that terrain so that the
Allies can't base their heavy bombers in that area and bomb the Japanese home islands. I'm not
sure what will break the logjam. Maybe a lot more arty for my attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

The CVL Zuiho was in the dry docks for about 7 turns or so and is now close enough to 100% that I'm putting it back into action. It's got space for one air unit and I'm debating whether to put a fighter on it or a bomber. I'm leaning toward the fighter. The Zuiho unit has lost all it's DD's so I'll have to escort this unit with a dedicated DD unit everywhere it goes. Something I just now noticed is that it's sitting in deep water just off the coast of the Japanese home islands and it's overextended in supply. I hadn't noticed that before now.

[larryfulkerson]

There are two sections of the rail that I need capture yet to have the entire rail repaired and in service. When I have the entire thing repaired we'll have one-day train service from Singapore to Peiking. I'm not sure what advantage that will give me yet but I'd rather have it than not. I have no plans on trying to capture the entire state of China, just the railroad.

[larryfulkerson]

Singapore fell finally. Now to move those troops somewhere else. I'm not sure what to do with them actually.

[larryfulkerson]

Karl has made a move. He drove his TF's up to Wake island and killed the garrison there but hasn't captured the hex yet so I still have a chance to move my ships up there and contest the intrusion. I've had two carriers that reached 98%f which is good enough for combat so I've got four good carriers now and this is a situation in which they might come in handy. This ought to spark some fireworks.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what I can see of the Wake area. Not all the Allied ships are visible so there's probably a lot of Allied ships off to the east that I'll have to deal with. I'll have to bring the entire fleet for protection in case I can't retreat my ships after the combat phase. I count two carriers but only enough planes for one. Surely he brought more than that. It's probably invisible and I'll have to drive up there to expose it.

[larryfulkerson]

Karl has brought in the American and Indian and British troops to help out the Chinese and they have made a breakthrough north of Hanoi. I'm going to have to pull back and reorganize and see if I can't find some troops to rail into this area to help defend. I'm thinking that with all the troops he brought with him that he's going to own Haiphong soon.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the view of Pearl which I thought I ought to check out to see how many ships Karl had in reserve and it looks like only a handful. Two CA's a CL and a DD is what I think is there. That probably means that Karl has brought almost his entire fleet to Wake. So I thought I ought to bring my entire fleet to the party.

[larryfulkerson]

As a first step I thought I'd stage everybody at Eniwetok and then advance the carriers first to shoot down all the Allied intercepters. I'm going to get intercepted on the trip to Wake I'm pretty sure and I don't need a lot of losses just getting there. Two separate ships were sunk by Allied LBA just getting to the staging position.

[larryfulkerson]

Okay, I've moved the ships in for the attack and all the planes are assigned targets and the surface ships close enough to shoot will shoot at the Allied ships. I've arranged it so that my ships are just out of range of the Allied ships so there should be no damage to the Jap ships. Famous last words.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the report on the strike on the first Allied stack with a carrier in it. It seems that I may have sunk the carrier. But he's got more of them left. I need to strike again.

[larryfulkerson]

I did a strike on the ships I could reach within range and sunk several of them but he still has some LCU's that could land on the island next turn and I expect him to do that. I'm not sure if he's going to stick around and duke it out with me next turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Karl has made some progress since last turn. I've railed some troops into the AO and I just need to disembark them and form a line of defense. In this area I'm fighting the Americans ( green ), the Chinese ( yellow ), the British ( brown ), and the Indians ( white ). I have a hunch that this isn't going to go well. Karl has enough troops to push his way down to Haiphong and I'm not sure I can stop him there either.

[larryfulkerson]

Karl is making headway in his push to the south in the Hanoi area. He's gotten behind some of my defenders and I need to pull the entire line back to the south.

[larryfulkerson]

Karl is making a lot of good progress in the Hanoi area. Also, he's made a breakthrough in central China. These new troops are giving the Allies the upper hand.