Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[PaxMondo]

31 Oct 42

Tomorrow, 21 Division invades Dutch Harbor. Interestingly, its port is only 4(3). He really did focus primarily on Adak. I think that was a major mistake. That's one I won't make. I won't put a lot into upgrades, but there will be some.

I know you won't.

You are well aware that you need AF's in range to defend along with some ENG's to repair.

Thirty-three 4E bombers hit Tulagi today. Where are the other 60-70?

Still missing, yeah, that bothers me too.

At the front line, Ted bombards every day and it never goes well for him. Here's an example from today:

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 50529 troops, 1015 guns, 715 vehicles, Assault Value = 1154

Defending force 32402 troops, 502 guns, 360 vehicles, Assault Value = 665

Japanese ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
317 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 20 (6 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

I know it's most likely inaccurate, but it is still many times worse than my losses.

Actually, not necessarily that far off. And the losses are likely IND troops, which is one of the few nations the allies actually get reasonable replacements, but at an abhorrent EXP. What we don't know is whether he is getting a NET EXP gain on his IND units from the bombardment missions. If he isn't, great news for you. If he is, then he's doing the right thing. Allies have no limit to supply so they should always be bombarding against any IJ troops that they are in contact with. (2 Exceptions: PI and CHI unless they are getting supply to these positions).

DD Shimikaze, the one and only Shimikaze class, really fast at 38 kts. Will join the surface fleet. Wish I had more of them.

If you could afford to build them ... historically, the IJ couldn't afford to build them, they were only able to build cheap DD's after about 6/42. Sad. More Yugumo's (or Shimakze's)would have been a BIG help.

[sfatula]

The Jill is quite a bit faster the way I see it, 299 vs 235. Other than speed, it's just the range. Which as you mention, without a decent dive bomber, not all that useful CV vs CV as you want to be in DB range too. For other purposes, sure, the range can help. Of course, the Vals are not all that great with their wimpy bombs. Judies add some benefits, definitely the bigger bomb is a plus, and one more range (eventually D4Y3) but they don't even match the Kate range let alone Jills. And the early 2 models have their own engine. It's always a problem unless you go all Jills and no Judies as then you can max range them. But I can't imagine not wanting the Judy as the bomb is pretty bad on the Vals, they are certainly worse. There isn't much you can do about it though, that's the hand we Japan players are dealt.

So, I like the Judies except for the range issue. Which can be quite a bad problem at times. The Judy is a necessary upgrade, the Jills, not as much so but it is better and the range can at times be an advantage. Neither one is a game changer like some other planes are.

[Mike Solli]

30 Oct 42
Twenty-seven Nicks met 5 B-17Es over Lunga and couldn't bring down a single one. They all went home full of bullet holes though. Then, the 11 remaining Nicks met 6 more B-17s, again shooting none down but damaging them all. Finally, the last B-17/B24 sortie (29 bombers) were met by the last 3 Nicks. These got through pretty much unscathed. The last sortie of 9 B-17s met no resistance. I was pretty disappointed with the Nick's effort today.

So were the 4E's coming in higher than your Nicks?

So, 49x 4E sorties today. Fifty bombers are missing. He has spent a lot of time focusing on Lunga. Is that his target?

Yeah, I agree, where are they and is Lunga a target or a maskirovka?

The other Nick sentai ambushed the P-39Ds that were strafing Lae. Only 11 Nicks showed up and they found 51 P-39s. For a loss of 1 Nick (WIA), they managed to shoot down 7 P-39Ds.

I will bet that the Nicks got the dive bonus here. With their weapons and the dive bonus they are a real terror.

the B6N1 Jill R&D has advanced to 11/42 and will become operational 11/42. I am not building any of this model because it uses the Ha-44 engine and I am not building any. The R&D factories have advanced to the B6N2, which is currently at 10/43 and is expected to become operational 2/43. I will build this model.

I struggle with Jill period. A little faster (very little in terms of fighter speeds), basically same loadout, and a little more range. I do build them, my MKB generally is on xAK/xAP hunt, the TB's are set for ~6000-8000ft and bombs. They can do great damage. But for a CV v CV attack, any range beyond the DB's is pointless unless you have removed the DB's a replaced them with TB's. You need the bombers of some type, you can't attack with only 50% of your bombers ... so, I struggle with Jill. Or maybe better to say, I REALLY struggle with Judy's terrible range and the mismatch it has with Jill/Zeke.

The Nicks were 3k feet above the bombers (13k to 10k). Guess they just had a bad day. They were at 10k against the P-39s at 100'. Maybe 3k isn't high enough?

I found out where the heavy bombers are. You'll see in the next installment.

Lots of good arguments for and against the Jills and Judies. Right now I'm not accelerating the Judies but will later. Those big bombs can't be beat. I have 6 R&D factories working the Jill. I'll never have enough Ha-32 engines to speed it up, but that doesn't matter. I'll get the B6N2 2/43, which is fine. With the A6M3a, they're a nice long range force. I hadn't thought of putting them on MKB, but that makes perfect sense since most of those carriers don't even carry DBs.

[sfatula]

I found out where the heavy bombers are. You'll see in the next installment.

Another tease! Waiting for said post.

[Mike Solli]

1 Nov 42

Sub War

The I-157 sank an unescorted xAKL just off the NW corner of Australia.

5 Fleet

So, with the mines gone at Adak, Ted told me there were 398 there when it all started. He said next time there will be 1000. I told him it felt like a thousand were there.

BBs Yamato and Mutsu, along with CLs Kitakami and Oi, will bombard Adak tomorrow.

The 16 Army's raw AV is 946. I anticipate another attack in 2-3 days. I'm curious to see how the Allies are faring with bombardments about every other day. There are 5 forts, which helps them a lot.

The 21 Division landed at Dutch Harbor. Well a small part of it did. Only 88(12) infantry squads and 2(1) engineers landed. I should have put a CA with the TF but didn't. Three of the 4 xAPs hauling the division took damage from the defending CD unit there. The ship damage is pretty low, but they have 30, 41 and 20 fires. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will survive long enough to drop off the troops. Also there is a CA TF covering them. I transferred one CA to the invasion TF and am having the CA TF bombard. They'll be replaced by a CL/DD TF to cover them with KB1 5 hexes away and KB2 2 hexes away. KB2's 51 Vals are set to do a port attack on Dutch Harbor as their secondary mission. I see two ARs there. (He should have pulled them out when he had the chance.) It would be nice to sink them. (KB has a standing primary mission of naval attack 6 hexes out.)

At Dutch Harbor, the Allies have the following:

37 (SEP) Infantry Regiment
Dutch Harbor USN Base Force
2/250 Coastal Artillery Battalion - the culprit with 155 mm guns. If the 21 Division is able to land successfully, Dutch Harbor will be mine. There are no mines here, which is nice.

I see a possible issue looming on the horizon. The slow oilers are down to 44k of 80k fuel and the fast oilers (reserved for KB) have 43k of 77.2k fuel remaining.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

As I mentioned earlier, the Allied 4E bombers reared their ugly heads. Yep, they're still here. I counted 108 at the start. Not all went home. About 2/3 of them went after Rabaul and the other third went after Lunga:

Lunga first. 6 B-17E, 12 B-17F and 10 B-24D hit the troops with no loss and little result. A few disablements and disruption.

Rabaul, 4 flights against 62 Zeros, 9 Rufes and 18 Tojos. I mistakenly had 1.5 sentai of Nicks resting after yesterday's ambushes, totaling ~50 Nicks. Darn! Had I had them on CAP, the results would have been really bad for the bombers. Anyway, the first two attacks had 12 then 17 P-38Fs escorting 47 then 8 bombers. The last two flights had 17 and 8 bombers for a total of 29 Lightnings and 34 B-17E, 12 B-17F and 34 B-24D.

Results:

Zero: 4 shot down (3 WIA)
Nick: 4 destroyed on the ground

Remember, the op losses are estimates.
P-38F: 7 shot down + 2 op losses
B-17E: 4 shot down + 1 op loss
B-17F: 2 shot down + 2 op losses
B-24D: 4 shot down + 4 op losses

Damage to Rabaul is 0-9-10. With 181 engineers and 2 engineer vehicles, I suspect it'll be repaired in short order.

Banzai!

The Nicks are also on CAP for tomorrow, but I don't expect to see the bombers. They have a significant amount of damage to repair. There will be 135 F/FB + whatever is repaired flying tomorrow.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report. I have 11 (of 16) artillery units in the front line. I'm trying a bombardment with them tomorrow to see how it goes. It's nice to have surplus supply.

China

I attacked Neikiang (the base 2 hexes NW of Chungking with 2 tank regiments and 1 Tank Division. (The HQ is still lagging behind.) There is only one Chinese Corps there, but it's a biggun with a raw AV of 441 vs my raw AV of 302, but a lot of tanks. The attack ended up being 1:4 with a fort level of 3. It wasn't that bad though. I lost only 2 tanks and had 13 various squads disabled vs. a gun and 2 squads destroyed with 84 infantry squads and 10 other squads disabled. My troops will sit for a day to get more supply. Their disruption is non-existent. I'll try again when the supply catches up. Hopefully, the HQ will be there to give them a bonus.

Other Stuff

New models available now:

B6N1 Jill, again, not building it because it uses the Ha-44 engine, which I'm not building.
J1N1-C Irving, recon, not building it because, although it has 2 hexes greater range than the Babs, it uses 2x Ha-35 engines. Not worth the extra cost to produce.
Ki-61-Ia Tony, not building for various reasons. The most important is that I decided not to build the Tony at all this game. It's not a bad plane but it lacks a 20 mm cannon and uses the Kawasaki Ha-60 engine, which I'm not building.

Admittedly, had I decided to build the Tony, I would have built the Ha-60 engine. I tailored my engine production to the airframes I decided to build, but the type of engine an airframe needed was a factor in deciding which type of plane to build. Maybe in the next game, I'll consider the Tony instead of the Tojo. I'll have to do a comparison of the two to see if it's a good possibility. Then, I probably wouldn't go with the Helen at all and not build any Ha-34 engines.

I got confirmation today that the BB Royal Sovereign sank on 5 October 1942. I figured she did since she took 6 torpedoes, but it's nice to get the confirmation this early. The BB Valiant and CV Illustrious both were hit (neither nearly as bad) and have vanished.

Ted said this: It is painful watching you continue to run around invading things. Only 2 months left in 1942. Enjoy it while you can.

[sfatula]

J1N1-C Irving, recon, not building it because, although it has 2 hexes greater range than the Babs, it uses 2x Ha-35 engines. Not worth the extra cost to produce.

Yeah, you'll have the KI-46-III Dinah soon, and while still 2 engines (HA-33) (more HA-31 for Nicks!), it's +9 on range so worth it to me.

You got a decent bunch of kills there without the Nicks! It would have been far better with of course.

As far as the Tony goes, decent climb rate, armor, better guns than Oscar, but horrible range, so, defensive only. Not very maneuverable and service rating 3 not helpful. For me, meh. With the upcoming Oscar IIb, the tony can take more punishment, and has a little better guns, but, not much of an upgrade really due to it's other issues including unique engine. I do not produce it for those reasons.

[zebrazwo]

I got confirmation today that the BB Royal Sovereign sank on 5 October 1942.

Better late than never.

[Mike Solli]

2 Nov 42

Sub War

The I-157, who managed to sink a single xAKL off the NW coast of Australia, managed to eat 2 DCs from the escort of a TK convoy. She's not too badly hurt, but she's headed to Soerabaja for repairs.

5 Fleet

Dutch Harbor: The 3 burning xAPs are still hanging in there, but the fires have increased. I'm not concerned about losing the ship, but I want them to disembark 21 Division first. They have offloaded 199(19) infantry squads and 4(1) engineer squads, but that's it. So, still on the ships are 100 infantry and ALL the guns and support. Three of the four transports are burning brightly. Plus, only 101 supplies have landed.

Two CAs and a CL bombarded today. Most of the effort was focused on the troops, with an AD (probably one of the ARs I spotted) receiving a shell and a bit of damage to the port. Two guns were destroyed and 15 more disabled. I hope they're those nasty 155 mm CD guns.

I may have to bring in another division to take care of Dutch Harbor. I have little faith that most of the 21 Division will make it ashore.

Adak:

Things are looking better here, but the troops need a lot more BB bombardment before the defenses can be overcome.

Tomorrow, I am going to attack again, but that's after a bombardment by Yamato and Mutsu and 2 CL, then another bombardment by 3 CA and 2 CL. Let's see what the defenders look like after that.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Surprisingly, Ted sent his bombers after Rabaul's airfield again. There were 5 separate flights, and my fighters managed to have a presence in all of them. When it started, I put in the air 40 Zeros, 6 Rufes, 29 Tojos and 52 Nicks. So yeah, they ran into a buzzsaw of angry fighters. Every flight got through, but not every one did damage. In all, here's what was sent against Rabaul:

P-38F: 21
B-25C: 25
B-17E: 20
B-24D: 54

Sortie 1

21 P-38F - 2 shot down
20 B-25C - 9 shot down
15 B-24D - 7 shot down

No Japanese fighters shot down. One Zero destroyed on the ground.

3 airbase, 1 air supply, 4 runway hits

Sortie 2

9 B-25C

They slipped in through a rainstorm.

No losses on either side.

No damage.

Sortie 3

20 B-17E: 4 shot down
3 B24D: 1 shot down

One Tojo shot down (WIA)
One Ann destroyed on the ground.

1 airbase, 4 runway hits

Sortie 4

30 B-24D: 1 shot down

One Rufe shot down (no pilot loss)

2 airbase, 7 runway hits

Sortie 5

6 B-24D: 1 shot down

One Nick shot down (KIA)

No damage.

So overall here are the losses:

P-38F: 21 sorties, 2 shot down, 0 op losses
B-25C: 29 sorties, 9 shot down, 1 op loss
B-17E: 20 sorties, 4 shot down, 3 op losses
B-24D: 54 sorties, 10 shot down, 4 op losses

All for 3 fighters shot down with 1 KIA and 1 WIA and a fighter and 1E bombers destroyed on the ground.

Then, 6 B-17Es went after Gasmata and met 9 Zeros. No planes went down on either side, but those bombers went home with a lot of new bullet holes. There was no damage to the airfield.

In two days over Rabaul, 24 heavy bombers were shot down and potentially another 14 were op losses. That's roughly a third of his heavy bomber force. A few more days of this, and it will be combat ineffective for a good long time.

Rabaul's damage went from 0-10-9 yesterday to 0-17-4 today. That's just up 2 points. I hope he attacks again tomorrow, but I don't think he will.

One thing I did do was to buy out 2 AA regiments to send to Rabaul. One has 18x 8.8 cm guns and the other has 16x 10 cm guns. It'll take a while for them to arrive, but they will be a little surprise later.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My 11 artillery units bombarded very nicely today:

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2697 troops, 251 guns, 146 vehicles, Assault Value = 667

Defending force 52856 troops, 1013 guns, 774 vehicles, Assault Value = 1132

Japanese ground losses:
21 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
283 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (3 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

When he returned the favor, this is what happened:

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 50117 troops, 1009 guns, 713 vehicles, Assault Value = 1115

Defending force 32564 troops, 516 guns, 361 vehicles, Assault Value = 667

Allied ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

I can live with that. More bombardment tomorrow.

China

Maneuvering and bombing.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

J1N1-C Irving, recon, not building it because, although it has 2 hexes greater range than the Babs, it uses 2x Ha-35 engines. Not worth the extra cost to produce.

Yeah, you'll have the KI-46-III Dinah soon, and while still 2 engines (HA-33) (more HA-31 for Nicks!), it's +9 on range so worth it to me.

You got a decent bunch of kills there without the Nicks! It would have been far better with of course.

I may get the Dinah III sometime in Dec 42. I have that factory (size 15) doing R&D. It's at 44% and at 1/43. Statistically, I won't get it until January, but I may get lucky.

[Mike Solli]

3 Nov 42

Sub War

The Tunny took a DC and quite a few near misses at Adak (one of three enemy subs there).

5 Fleet

Attu:

All three of the big xAPs off Dutch Harbor went down, but I did rescue a total of 3500 troops. I suspect a lot of the guns were lost, unfortunately. There now are 249(28) infantry squads plus some engineers, HMG and support. No guns or supply. The last xAP (which is fortunately undamaged) has 13 infantry, a few engineers, the rest of the HMGs, a dozen each ATGs and AAMGs, 20 guns and some support, along with 474 supply. Not nearly enough supply. I'm sending 3k supply in a fast transport TF from Attu, but it'll take 2.5 days to get there. My raw AV outnumbers the defenders 181:80. I don't think he'll attack just because of the AV differential, but you never know.

Adak:

Adak was bombarded by Yamato and Mutsu along with 2 CL, then by 3 CA and 2 CL. Four ACMs were hit and a total of 254 casualties killing 15 squads and disabling 58 more. Not as good as I had hoped...

I heard sinking sounds at least 3 times, probably the ACMs. I saw 5 yesterday and I see only 2 now. They're really meaningless, because there are no mines to tend.

I tried another deliberate assault at Adak, but it really didn't do much. We both took equal losses but I took more disablements. I'll continue with naval bombardment and, after the troops rest, I'll try a barrage with my division to see what that does. I pretty sure I outnumber him in artillery. This attack was 1:2 with level 5 forts.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Lae was the target of a total of 124(!) P-39Ds strafing. The enemy bombers were nowhere to be seen today (not surprisingly), but I'm resting my fighters and FBs at Rabaul to get their morale back up. It's in the low 90s for the most part. The pounding the enemy bombers took yesterday probably will prevent much interference from them for a while.

Oh yeah, Rabaul's airfield is totally repaired. Yay!

I will set an ambush for the P-39s soon to start whittling them down. 124?! Sheesh!

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My barrage at the front line is proving to be very nice. Today, it destroyed 12 infantry squads and 3 guns. Their barrage did nothing but cause the Allies a few disablements. I'll continue doing this until my infantry resting at Cox's Bazaar is ready and has moved to the front.

China

Added Neikiang to the airfield bombing list, just to make sure he doesn't try to add to the forts there.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
15 Independent Artillery Mortar Battalion - rebuild, Southern Army, was a casualty from when the Burma front line troops were isolated somehow. Anyway, not sure where it'll go when it gets its replacements.
59 JNAF AF Unit, Southern Army, headed to Attu initially, then Adak eventually.

[sfatula]

Lae was the target of a total of 124(!) P-39Ds strafing.

If you can catch them strafing from above, I'll bet you'll murder them. No AA there? I take it no losses from strafing.

[Mike Solli]

Lae was the target of a total of 124(!) P-39Ds strafing.

If you can catch them strafing from above, I'll bet you'll murder them. No AA there? I take it no losses from strafing.

They usually take some damage, but rarely is one shot down. They have armor and actually are hard to kill after the first fighters dive on them. They often drop their bombs to fight.

[sfatula]

They usually take some damage, but rarely is one shot down. They have armor and actually are hard to kill after the first fighters dive on them. They often drop their bombs to fight.

Yeah, they should drop them but they'll be fighting from the bottom too, at least initially. The Nicks would help a lot with better guns. Going to need a large number!

[Mike Solli]

4 Nov 42

Sub War

The Tunny made two unsuccessful attacks at Adak wasting 6 torpedoes against ASW forces. In return, the ASW forces couldn't find her to drop any DCs. At least the torpedoes are being wasted.

5 Fleet

Dutch Harbor:

Most of what's still on the xAP of 21 Division is support and 410 supply, both of which are desperately needed. The division has only 14 supply ashore, which is marginally better than the 0 that was there yesterday. I have 3k supply enroute, but it is still 3 days out. The division's disruption and fatigue are both 35, probably due to the supply shortage. So, they wait. They have a raw AV advantage of 283:109. Eventually, they'll be able to attack.

The CD guns are still shooting as the xAP drops off its cargo, but they're not hitting anything. They're just wasting supply.

Forty Vals hit Dutch Harbor's port. They managed to put a bomb into the AS, AR and AD, which are still hanging on. There is a little lasting port damage, so they can't work on forts. I doubt he's wasting supply on forts.

Adak:

Three CA and 2 CL bombarded today, adding to the disruption and killing a few troops.

I tried bombarding with my one, half sized artillery unit. I lost a gun while killing a couple of squads. Not worth it. I'll stick with naval bombardment and (soon) Sallies.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Four B-17s hit Madang's airfield (for 1 point of damage). I'm putting 9 Zeros there in case they return tomorrow.

Nine P-38Fs swept Rabaul against 108 Japanese fighters, shooting down 1 Zero (KIA) for no loss. See what happens when planes get the bounce on other planes?

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

I keep going back and forth over what to do with the former Kweiyang garrison, now down from a high of 180k to ~60k. I've decided to surround them instead of pushing them back to Chungking. The decision is tough though. It'll take me the equivalent of 2 divisions to surround them, which would be available for offensive ops otherwise. But, those troops would slowly recover at Chungking. On the negative side, they would be an additional 60k mouths to feed on top of the 190k troops currently at Chungking. Both options are both good and bad. What do you guys think?

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

5 Nov 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

I've decided to buy out 19 Division from Korea to send here. Still debating which island to send it to initially. I'm thinking Dutch Harbor because I'm confident this division will cause its capture sooner than it would at Adak. Then, 21 Division can garrison Dutch Harbor while it rebuilds while 19 Division can shift to Adak. I have 19 xAPs and 2 LSDs available at Yokohama, which is 50% more capacity than I need to drop off the troops. That should speed up disembarkation. I'll also throw in a few xAKs loaded with supply so that lands with the troops.

I also have 56 Division (rebuilt and sitting at Tokyo from the fiasco of seeing it disappear from Cox's Bazaar due to a weird glitch in the game). Unfortunately, 56 Division is sitting at 48 experience. If they get up to 50, I'll probably throw it in at Adak.

Dutch Harbor:

Only 43 support remains on board the xAP, but the division is still lacking supply and is sitting at 45 (of 704 minimum). Its disruption and fatigue are dropping slowly to 32/31. The 3k supply on the fast transport TF is still 2 days out. Hopefully, that jump starts the division.

KB2's 40 Vals hit Dutch Harbor's port further damaging the AS, AR and AD and causing more lasting port damage. There was no loss here.

Adak:

Two BBs bombarded today killing 8 squads and disrupting another 3 dozen. Every little bit...

I screwed up today. I sent KB1s 40 Vals against the port at Adak. There are a LOT of AAMGs there and I lost 10 of the Vals for little damage. Stupid! Fortunately, I have a surplus of Vals in the pool (126 right now) and plenty of trained Val pilots.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

New enemy model today. P-38s swept Rabaul and dove on my ragtag fighter collection. There were 9 P-39Fs and 7 of the brand spanking new 400 mph P-38Gs against 27 Zeros, 9 Rufes and 47 Nicks. The initial attack took a Zero (KIA) and 6 Nicks out (2 KIA, 3 WIA) for no loss to the Lightnings. Things evened out when the P-38 weakness, its maneuverability, came into play. Two of each model P-38 was shot down for no loss. I have an issue here. I can defend at moderate height against bombers and get mauled by fighters (as happened today) or defend at high height and possibly not get a shot at the bombers. I'm opting for the high defense right now. He doesn't have a lot of P-38s (the only fighter that can reach Rabaul, I believe) and his bombers have been mauled recently. We'll see what he does tomorrow...

Over 100 P-39Ds strafed troops at Lae again today. I'm focusing on Rabaul and want to whittle down the P-38s first, then I'll focus on the P-39Ds. They have horrible maneuverability and speed, so my fighters can actually do well against them. The armor, though, makes them survivable. Still, one battle at a time. I don't have the assets to fight two right now.

I do have another sentai of the Ki-43-Ic at Truk. They are destined to get the Tojo IIc next month. The pilots are really good and are working on defense right now.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Still haven't decided whether to surround the 60k rabble or push them into Chungking...

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[sfatula]

Ever used layered defenses (CAP)?

Defense skill is esp. useful if the other guy is higher. I think it's best if you can eliminate the newer model first also.

[PaxMondo]

Lots of good arguments for and against the Jills and Judies. Right now I'm not accelerating the Judies but will later. Those big bombs can't be beat. I have 6 R&D factories working the Jill. I'll never have enough Ha-32 engines to speed it up, but that doesn't matter. I'll get the B6N2 2/43, which is fine. With the A6M3a, they're a nice long range force. I hadn't thought of putting them on MKB, but that makes perfect sense since most of those carriers don't even carry DBs.

I know. I think every JFB has a love/hate relationship with the Judy. You gotta have the big bombs so no choice. The devs nerfed the Grace by putting only 250kg on it. (Since it never really went into production historically, who knows what the actual load out would have been, but to think that they would have used 250kg bombs in 1945 is a REAL stretch for me.) I'm sure the AFB gang forced that one through, oh well. Therefore short-legged Judy is your only choice. That means you give up 1-2 hexes to the allies in the mid and late war if you try for a "fair" fight.

But who is silly enough to try a "fair" fight with the DeathStar?

[PaxMondo]

5 Nov 42
Still haven't decided whether to surround the 60k rabble or push them into Chungking...

Trust, me, keep them out. They will cost you 10x the losses if they get inside behind lvl9 forts. Move a "sick" ID (you know, one that is only about 300 AV and maybe a BDE or 2 if you are worried) in with them and then 2 - 3 Ann/Mary training groups to bomb them every turn. You'll get pilots and exp out of it and then when CK falls, you'll get VP's.

[Mike Solli]

5 Nov 42
Still haven't decided whether to surround the 60k rabble or push them into Chungking...

Trust, me, keep them out. They will cost you 10x the losses if they get inside behind lvl9 forts. Move a "sick" ID (you know, one that is only about 300 AV and maybe a BDE or 2 if you are worried) in with them and then 2 - 3 Ann/Mary training groups to bomb them every turn. You'll get pilots and exp out of it and then when CK falls, you'll get VP's.

I've come to the same conclusion, but for different reasons. I figured the fewer troops in Chungking the better.

[Mike Solli]

6 Nov 42

Sub War

Off Truk, the SC Ch-33 took a torpedo from the O16 and went down. In retaliation, her sister ship, Ch-32 hit the sub with a depth charge. The reinforcing SC will head here to replace her.

5 Fleet

Dutch Harbor:

The last of the 21 Division landed. The division has only 48 supply (of 726 required). There is a fast transport TF that will arrive tomorrow to land 3k supply. Disruption and fatigue are both down to 30.

Six LB-30s came to bomb the troops here but were met by 5 Zeros from KB2. No planes were lost on either side, but the bombers were ineffective.

Thirty-seven Vals bombed Dutch Harbor's port further damaging the AR and AD there. There were no losses to the Vals.

The Allies bombarded today. There were no casualties on either side, but supply was burned. Once my fast transport TF arrives, things should get better for 21 Division.

Adak:

Not much happened here today. The last part of 2 Division landed to join the division. They were on board an xAP that was damaged in the initial invasion and made it to Attu. An undamaged xAP picked them up and dropped them off today.

The Allies did an artillery bombardment of Adak. I love when he bombards. It uses his supply (and mine too, I suspect, from counter bombardment), and usually the losses are worse on his side. That was the case today. I took no losses and he lost 161 troops and had 4 squads destroyed and another 16 disabled.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I spotted a dozen enemy ships at Rennell Island (dot hex 3 hexes SW of Tulagi). I suspect he is landing troops there to build up the base. I moved 15 Nells to Buin hoping they attack the transports tomorrow. I also have the 4 Aobas + 8 DDs headed south to intercept. Unfortunately, they are 3 days out from arriving. Subs in the area are forming a line to the north, just in case they are headed for Lunga or Tulagi.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The Allies bombarded again at the front line, with casualties far in his favor. I had 1 vehicle destroyed and 3 squads disabled to his 25 squads destroyed and another 59 disabled.

China

Bombing and maneuvering. The 60k former Kweikang garrison is being surrounded. They will be ignored until Chungking and Chengtu are captured. That's just one more army that is surrounded. Here are the other big ones:

In and around Changteh: 250k, in the process of being surrounded.

Kanhsien: 43k

3 hexes SE of Sian: ~40-50k
s
Sian: ~300k, they aren't completely cut off, but I have troops on all the roads out of Sian. The supply produced there is being eaten by the troops. Sian is producing excess fuel but it has to travel across mountains (without roads) to make it to Chungking and Chengtu. Once they are surrounded (Chungking soon), the fuel will have nowhere to go. Eventually, I'll surround Sian too. There are 41 units in Sian and 4 more in 3 hexes near Sian. I'm working on pushing them into Sian so it'll only take 6 hexes to surround Sian.

Other Stuff
The Ki-44-IIc R&D advanced to 5/43 and will become available in 12/42.

Reinforcement
SC Ch-37, ASW off Truk.