The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

Yeah, I know. That's factored into the equation. He and I have been talking a lot.

He's not coming.

[JohnDillworth]

He's not coming.

This is where FOW is fun. You are just trying to sneak some ships through a hole in the fence and bring some empties back to safety. An opponent might not read this as innocently. He might get a blip of detection on a bunch of carriers and see another bunch on the fringe and read this as being baited into an ambush or some offensive activity. Or not

[Canoerebel]

It sure makes it fun. This logistics operation is about as exciting as a carrier battle (for me) due to the uncertainty, the tension, and the unquantified dangers.

[Canoerebel]

9/29/44

DS & Half DS: On the move in good order.

[Canoerebel]

9/29/44

Peep Show II: Progress at Karenko; still no massive IJ reaction to Death Star's absence. But I'll feel better when the window closes in a week or so.

[Canoerebel]

9/30/44

Death Star and Half Death Star: Several enemy LBA strikes from Truk, with a Judy planting one bomb on CVE Lunga Point, doing modest damage that may not slow the TF noticeably. But if John's ever going to try massed kamikaze and night attacks, this will be the night. Tomorrow, DS and HDS will draw close together (hopefully two or three hexes). Day after tomorrow, the two will merge and begin making for Luzon.

[Canoerebel]

9/30/44

Peep Show II: Karenko falls to the Allies and the enemy has yet to molest the Allied troops in China.

[Canoerebel]

10/1/44

Death Star and Half Death Star basically unite in the western Pacific Ocean. This results in target confusion for enemy strikes, resulting in a minor turkey shoot for the Allies. No hits scored by the enemy.

Where are the night bombers? Where are the kamikazes? If figured John would really load things up but this was more halfhearted.

Me and my boys heading out to see Dunkirk now, so that's all I can post. But that was by far the most significant development of the day.

[witpqs]

Maybe he wanted more but additional strikes did not fly?

[BBfanboy]

I don't know if you already did it, but shock attacking at Karenko in mountain terrain could be bloody for you (if the enemy has any AV left). I use DA in mountains unless the enemy is a tiny fragment. Let us know how it turns out, please.

[Canoerebel]

10/1/44

Some of the other news from the turn, now that I'm back from Dunkirk.

Formosa: At Karenko, 2nd Marine Div. tried a shock attack. It came off at 1:1 and did little damage to either side, though the Marines have some elevated fatigue now. I figured it was worth a try because the hex is way overstacked and I need to pull a unit out. So 2nd Marine Div. will depart, leaving reduction of the base to 5th Marine Div. and 9th Aus. Div. They'll only deliberate attack.

Luzon: Japanese resistance at Bataan collapses and the last two units evaporate. Luzon is a Japanese free zone.

KB South: The two carrier divisions left Koepang and are up near Makassar.

[JohnDillworth]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

10/1/44

Death Star and Half Death Star basically unite in the western Pacific Ocean. This results in target confusion for enemy strikes, resulting in a minor turkey shoot for the Allies. No hits scored by the enemy.

Where are the night bombers? Where are the kamikazes? If figured John would really load things up but this was more halfhearted.

Me and my boys heading out to see Dunkirk now, so that's all I can post. But that was by far the most significant development of the day.

Wow, just noticed the search plane losses. Dangerous job doing recon for the empire

[T Rav]

Dunkirk is pretty tense. We saw it yesterday and overall a good movie with beautiful aerial shots. CR, what did you think?

[Canoerebel]

I was disappointed. I'd give it a 5 out of 10 or 4 out of 10. Based upon reviews and other comments, I was expecting a 9 out of 10 or higher. The filming was good, the actors were good, the music was good. The storytelling seemed disjointed, uninteresting, and unable to convey the massive scale of Dunkirk and why it was so important. Instead it was a few implausible vignettes cobbled together in uninspired fashion.

You know what? The movie needed to begin with five minutes of historic B&W footage of the German blitzkrieg into France and the Low Countries - tanks and artillery on the rampage; paratroops, Luftwaffe raising cain to give a sense of the franticness and power of the German war machine and how it was rolling forward and threatened to destroy a 400k army. Instead you never see any Germans except an occasional isolated plane. (And that could have been done effectively but it wasn't.)

[Canoerebel]

10/2/44

Western Pacific: Death Star and Half Death Star merge and begin moving towards Manila.

Peep Show II: Allied 4EB hit Nagasaki manpower with modest effect. 3:1 attack at Karenko does more damage to the Japanese, but it's gonna take awhile to reduce that isolated garrison.

What next: In a week or less, a new army plus bountiful supply will reach Manila. Death Star will have been augmented by 600 aircraft. And the Allies will be ready to roll forward and really prosecute the war from the positions of advantage obtained over the past few months.

Allied carrier strength was just at it's most dispersed of the past two years. I had 25 carriers at Maninla, fifteen CVEs at sea escorting transports, 20 with Death Star and 20 with Half Death Star....and two of those moved within proximity of some of John's biggest island airfields. That was probably his last best chance at ganging up on Allied carriers. The rendezvous of DS and HDS gotta kinda nerve wracking. I don't expect to do anything like that again.

[Canoerebel]

10/3/44

DS, KB South, DEI: DS is moving in good order to Luzon. KB South is refueling at Balikpapan.

[Canoerebel]

10/3/44

The Heart of the Matter: With DS, reinforcements and supply now just five days out, preparations are beginning for the next series of operations.

I'll be focusing on the coastal China region, both to ramp up 4EB operations from Formosa and to proceed with the taking of key bases that will permit strategic bombing deeper into Japan.

So Formosa/China will be the center of activity for the next month. I'll have about 70 carriers, lots of big combat TFs able to replenish at Formosa, and lots of units highly prepped with plenty of good assault shipping.

The war is about to enter a new phase.

[Jellicoe]

Out of interest, and apologies if you have already mentioned this but what altitude are you flying your night bombers over Japan at?

[Canoerebel]

Usually 8k, 10k, 13k or 15k, 10k being the most common. Eventually I'm going to try some raids at 20k.

[JohnDillworth]

Do not be "common" with your altitudes. If you go in at 10, 000 ft a few times John will stack his night fighters at that altitude. If NF are close to your altitude they are much more effective. Keep changing altitude so your opponent can't guess. One night at 15k the next night at 3k. Switch targets, switch altitudes, hit manpower, make fires. Get the B-24s into the game. Much lower service rating. Keep em guessing