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1) Upon review, the rowboat corps capture of Kanshien somehow brought fort level 4.70 with it. I thought forts died when a base is captured, but maybe those steathly rowboat portagers took the place before the KMT could push the demolition plunger.

If you take an empty base without having to attack it, you get it in the condition it was left. Check the base expansions (AF) and it may be partially to the next size.

2) I have a mess with KB. I set the Zero groups (and only the Zero groups) to re-size once we got the July increases. For some reason, the Val and Kate groups also re-sized, but unevenly. The Vals went up to 27, the Kates stayed at 18. How can I reduce the size of the Val groups? I set them to re-size and they did, but they all still have more planes and pilots than I want.

There is a delay before the option of pulling extra planes out of a group. It may be a week, but the left click arrow for planes will show up.

Your Cowboys will struggle until Jerry gets a profession general manager for the team. He is wearing too many hats, IMO. He needs to fire himself. [:D]

Thanks, Michael. I have felt that way about Jerry since he fired Jimmy and cost us 4 consecutive Super Bowl wins. Unfortunately, Dictators never fire themselves. [8|]

July 10, 1942

Subs

A newly stationed ASW TF harasses Gato near Toyohara. We also have ASW Aircraft here now. Pikerel duds on, but then uses gunfire to damage, our kamikaze xAK returning from Horn Island. She may make Milne Bay.

4th Fleet

We complete the exchange of an AV for a base force at Ocean Island.

SE Fleet

More engineers leave Truk to work on the second defensive line.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

Kofian invaded.

25th Army

We forgot to order the Pamakasan invasion TF to do its thing so they will go in tomorrow.

Sipora occupied by rowboat.

15th Army

No change.

China

The southern pincer of Red Dragon simultaneously arrives at Liuchow and Kweilin. We expect to take Liuchow tomorrow and will BA Kweilin to gauge resistance.

Our paratroop drop at Hengyang gets annihilated by attrition as a big corps is present. Recon today reveals that the enemy Kukong stack is marching for the base of our salient, so their suicidal attempt to block the rail line was in vain. 13th Army will pursue the Kukong stack and, in conjunction with forces left in place near Wuchow, stymie the enemy. Criptop Intel is of the opinion that CF would've been better advised to move by rail from Kukong to Kweilin.

5th Fleet

The CVE Raiders retire NNW without incident toward the mid-Ocean re-fueling TF south of Adak.

ALERT! ALERT!

Liuchow falls!

Enemy carriers spotted!

Full details tomorrow!

I'm a tease! [:'(]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop



ALERT! ALERT!

Liuchow falls!

Enemy carriers spotted!

Full details tomorrow!

I'm a tease! [:'(]

Yes, you are! I just caught up and now get this as a 'reward.'

I hope your CVEs got out of the way in time.

July 11, 1942

Subs

Our brave kamikaze xAKL manages to beach at Milne Bay but sinks before she can disband. Her crew and captain escape, however.

Grampus duds on both a DD and a big xAP near Tokyo as a troop convoy returns from Truk. As usual in deep water our DC attacks are useless. We will mine the little islands SW of Yokohama and route convoys to the west for a while.

We now have wolf packs watching the approaches to the New Hebrides (where a convoy was spotted recently by Emilys) and the channel between Oz and Tasmania.

A Betty reports a hit on a UK sub near Port Blair.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Noumea makes level 4 port and airfield today. Ahh, Allied engineering prowess.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

CF appears to have shifted the Horn Island B-17 groups to Daly as 11 4Es attack troops there today. We set a big CAP trap for tomorrow with 30 Nicks at Daly and 45 Zeros LRCAPing from Katherine.

Kofiau occupied.

25th Army

The Pamekasan invasion goes in with minimal disruption due to high prep. As so often happens with Dutch bases, upon landing our troops discover that we have been mis-spelling the place for months.

Two 1250 TKs running Oil from Miri to Singers collide. Damage is slight but they will need some yard time.

15th Army

We are moving troops to try to re-take Akyab.

China

DA Liuchow takes the base with 24:1 odds. 3 enemy LCUs are forced to retreat toward Nanning, which is great as it clears the road to Tuyun. Casualties 4291(369) vs 387(0). Mike S, there's another month of KMT replacements spoken for.

BA Kweilin shows raw AS 1010 vs 1099. Most of our Liuchow force will march here and take the base.

In the center, CF has consolidated 16 LCUs in the hex east (map) of Changsha. However, he only owns the NE hex side and we are about to sneak an armored car unit across there. Thus, all the maneuvering of the past month or so may result in 16 LCUs cut off.

Recon spots what appears to be 2 more LCUs at Kienko moving to oppose our northern pincer. Every LCU sent here by the enemy is a win.

5th Fleet

And now the big news. We spot 3 enemy TFs today near the CVE Raiders. One is the 2 DDs from the destroyed convoy, one a powerful SCTF and one lists 4 CVs and 7 ships. SBDs overfly one of our picket AMCs and attack in the AM phase. 44 F4F-3, 45 F4F-4 and (only) 15 SBDs come in, but all miss the "nimble" commerce raider. Weather prevents a PM strike.

The CVEs and the other 3 pickets were all out of range thanks to our northerly course. CF is heading NNE from Pearl and is at 27 hex range from the base. Cribtop Intel estimates that he moved one day and sprinted the next. He came up 1 hex short as the Raiders were 8 hexes NNE of his position. Had we taken the direct route back to Japan, he gets us. The Kates from Hosho try for a strike but can't find the target, which is for the best as they would have been slaughtered.

We assume that CF is at least somewhat low on fuel after a full speed move. We order the 2 shorter legged AMCs to head NNW back toward Japan in the hopes that CF pursues this way, assumes we sprinted and he came up just short again, and pursues toward Japan. Then he's out of gas and forced to RTB. Meanwhile, the big AMCs (with tons of extra fuel) and the CVEs will retire NNE, hopefully an unexpected direction. If we're lucky we'll fall into a hole in the Ocean, have time to gas up, then sneak back through the Aleutians. A bit of good news in that we are moving across a weather boundary into a storm front tomorrow.

We certainly could die in the next 24 hours, but only if the enemy pursues NNE at flank speed. Question is, how many CVs do you think CF has here? 7 ships seems small for a death star (although this number could be FoW), and the large number of fighters is probably the result of stepping down the Devastators and replacing them with USMC fighter groups. We guess 2 or 3 CVs. This is interesting intel. Clearly some of the enemy carriers were at Pearl after all, but if they were all there, why not pursue with them all? This seems to indicate that if CF has offensive intentions over a 90 day window, they are likely aimed at 4th Fleet AO, or perhaps SE Fleet. Much to ponder as we run like hell.

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Cribtop



ALERT! ALERT!

Liuchow falls!

Enemy carriers spotted!

Full details tomorrow!

I'm a tease! [:'(]

Yes, you are! I just caught up and now get this as a 'reward.'

I hope your CVEs got out of the way in time.

Thanks for reading, Obvert! Sorry for the rotten timing. [:D]

Good luck with the escape and evade mission. If I were the Allied player, I'd probably assume that you'd move NNE - the direction most opposite the locaiton of the Allied carriers. But I usually guess wrong when I try to guess (good thing I don't play lotteries or bet on sporting events).

True enough, Dan. However with his CVs SSW and really between me and Japan, my options are pretty limited. The storm front could save me tomorrow if he comes, and recall he will have to move flank to get in range tomorrow. One more speed run plus a little weather god luck could equal USN CVs with no Ops points tomorrow thanks to the AI controlled DD re-fueling feature.

Quick update as I just watched the replay.

Our CVEs and 3 AMCs survive the turn unspotted as the enemy CVs move on a WNW course and we evade NNE. The enemy only moves a few hexes, in fact he may not have moved at all ([X(] fuel limitations?) and barely catches AMC Hokoku Maru. She gamely survives the AM phase but takes a hit near the end that sets her up for 5 bomb hits and a big glug glug in the PM phase.

We could either re-fuel tomorrow or move one more day in a northerly direction. Tough call. We are only 12 hexes from enemy CVs but we have disappeared from CF's radar so to speak and he may believe that he caught the tail end of our formation and thus pursue west as we hoped. I'll probably flee north until forced to re-fuel.

We had 3 I-boats lurking near Umnak Island that moved south today and may be able to pull off an intercept tomorrow. Wouldn't that be fun.

We definitively ID SBDs from Lexington. What's odd is that once again we see 90ish fighters and no more than 15 SBDs. Probably just a targeting AI thing as over 100 bombers are reported split between 3 TFs now (our AMC's brave Jake pilots radioed spotting reports in the clear even knowing their mother ship was doomed).

Suggestions welcome!

July 12, 1942

Subs

ASW TFs harass Sealion near Pescadores and KXVIII near Balikpapan.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

No change.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

The B-17s stay home, perhaps due to bad weather. We'll try to CAP trap Daly Waters again tomorrow.

DA Pamekasan finds a once strong KNIL regiment starving to death and forces its surrender. A few more occupied bases to clean up in the DEI, but this was the only one with an undefeated enemy.

25th Army

A Dutch straggler LCU appears just outside Padang. We will destroy it.

15th Army

Recon shows that CF has fighters up over Calcutta now. Toungoo makes level 3 forts, Schwebo makes level 2 airfield.

China

We are marching on Kweilin, Kukong and Changsha. We should fully isolate the Changsha stack with 48 hours. Recon shows that the Liuchow survivors are falling back to Nanning, which is fine by Cribtop HQ.

5th Fleet

So far, we guess correctly and find a hole in the Ocean, as detailed above. To date we have only lost an AMC that was used as a red herring. We hope the enemy is low on fuel and believes we fled west, taking him far away from our CVEs. We need breathing space to re-fuel from our large AMC consorts. For tomorrow, our raiders have enough endurance to move almost due north, but they will be forced to gas up on the 14th come hell or high water.

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday so no turn until tonight. I hated to pause with all the drama lately, but we need to avoid being disowned. [:D]

July 13, 1942

Subs

Firk! Ding! Blast! We guess correctly and put I-33 right on the location of CV Enterprise. Our sub launches torps but they hit and dud! Arrghhh!

Plunger duds on an xAK near Tokyo. That's ok, USN subs are supposed to dud. Arrghhh!

Ann on ASW patrol from Formosa reports a hit on a sub.

4th Fleet, SE Fleet, 14th Army

No change except that Merauke makes level 3 forts.

16th Army

11 B-17s fly into a 51 fighter CAP trap at Daly. 1 is shot down outright, all are damaged, and several do not get home. Banzai!

25th Army

Siberoet occupied by rowboat.

15th Army

No change.

China

We are almost to Kweilin. KMT forces leave 16 LCUs in Kukong, marching 6 to try for the bottom of the Red Dragon salient. This is great news, as 6 LCUs will never break through our 2 LCU blocking force in rough terrain, while the 16 LCUs are about to share a hex with IJA forces, meaning they cannot rail out.

5th Fleet

Our CVE Raiders escape detection and re-fuel from an AMC despite our orders to flee north. Banzai!

The most frustrating moment in the game is watching an IJN sub dud on a US CV over morning coffee. I feel your pain.

Nice move getting the CVEs out of danger.

July 14, 1942

Virtual Bastille Day passes almost unnoticed by the war, so an abbreviated repot today.

Subs

No sign of the enemy CVs. Based on the position of our subs, surviving AMCs and a picket line of TBs watching the NOPAC approaches to Japan, Cribtop Intel's best guess is that they retired toward Pearl Harbor. We sure hope so.

Escorts harass K VII near Manado and K XVIII near Balikpapan.

SE Fleet

Base forces begin to unload at Torokina and Buka.

16th Army

The B-17s stay home and enemy recon snoops Daly Waters. Time to leave for a while lest CF catch our Nicks on the airfield.

25th Army

We occupy Kangean by rowboat. We will always have a soft spot for this little base. Here's why: tm.asp?m=2395328&mpage=6&key=

China

We will arrive at Kanshien tomorrow. The place is under constant air attack.

13th Army marches into the Kukong hex, preventing the enemy from railing 16 LCUs to assist at either Kweilin or Changsha.

CF won a little race today and got an LCU from Changsha into the hex of the isolated central army before we could march troops into the Changsha hex to prevent this manuever. Such is life, the plan was always to take Changsha from behind.

Overall Cribtop HQ is still very pleased with Red Dragon. We need to wrap things up and get to an equilibrium point ASAP, but are about on schedule.

A Hole in the Ocean a/k/a 5th Fleet

We will sit tight today and re-fuel the CVEs from our second big AMC, then begin working back to Japan tomorrow. We don't want to drift within air search range of any Allied base before the enemy has committed to returning to Pearl Harbor.

Full update tomorrow. I'm just stopping by to say:

Tim Tebow! Are you freakin' kidding me?

I'm not totally drinking the cool aid, but the dude's a winner. Are we sure we're watching the real NFL season? 'Cause I think the Broncos have become a sports movie. 80 yard TD on the first play of the first "new rules" OT period in history? No way. Didn't happen.

Because of TT, the Giants have been moved to just an after thought on most shows.

The Giants' offense cannot afford a slow start next Sunday if they hope to win like they were able to get away with today.

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Full update tomorrow. I'm just stopping by to say:

Tim Tebow! Are you freakin' kidding me?

I'm not totally drinking the cool aid, but the dude's a winner. Are we sure we're watching the real NFL season? 'Cause I think the Broncos have become a sports movie. 80 yard TD on the first play of the first "new rules" OT period in history? No way. Didn't happen.

and .. two facemask penalites not called too ....[8|]

Michael, if I was the Giants, that's just the way I want it. Really feels like the last time the G Men made a Super Bowl run, yes?

Crackaces, I love your avatar. Mrs. Cribtop is a redhead. The facemask non-calls are further proof of my "sports movie" theory. The hero has to overcome all obstacles to prevail at the end, etc, etc.

July 15, 1942

Q-u-i-e-t day.

A Hole in the Ocean

While our CVEs still loiter at Point Sir Robin, the enemy's CVs pop up just a few hexes south of Adak looking for us. We hope CF is about ready to go home soon, as even sitting still fuel will become an issue soon. It is nice to know where the enemy carriers are. It will take weeks for CF to mount any sort of offensive operation supported by carriers.

25th Army

SA Padang destroys the small Dutch straggler unit that wandered out of the jungle. We believe there are no remaining forces on Sumatra.

China

Our main force arrives at Kweilin. DA tomorrow. This fight, unlike Wuchow and Liuchow, could be a longer battle. We are manuvering an armored car unit to cut the rail line into Kweilin once and for all (the IJA paratrooper corps is thankful for this news).