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The Helen is a much more attractive aircraft, and carries an additional bomb too! I will be upgrading to these as fast as possible. So far I have one group, at Kota Bharu.

The Nate gets a delightful sporty paint job. It perhaps indicates that the plane would best be performing aerobatics at an air show rather than actually fighting a war ...

Meanwhile, the Oscar looks cool in purple camo. It also gets a 12.7mm gun which is probably the main reason it is much more useful in the CHS.

Last but not least here is the Tojo, which looks to my untrained eye almost exactly like a P-47. Mean ...

BTW I am just leaving the 47th Sentai at Canton since I have no replacements and 9 planes really isn't going to make much difference to anything.

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

Meanwhile, the Oscar looks cool in purple camo. It also gets a 12.7mm gun which is probably the main reason it is much more useful in the CHS.

Actually, there is nearly no difference between the "stock" Oscar and the CHS Oscar. The historical aircraft had this asymetrical armament.

That may well be true in the later versions. However, in the previous incarnation of this game the Oscar I was equipped with 2 x 7.7mm guns only, but that was WitP vs. 1.0.

Ahh... Well, as I've never played a version earlier than 1.50, that might explain it...[:)]

Now on to the IJN.

First up is the Claude, in similar livery to it's cousin in uselessness the Nate.

Also at Tokyo, we have the Susie. As I said earlier, all Home Defence air groups have been downgraded to the old models.

The Jean torpedo bomber. Note the uber long-range compared to the Susie ...

All I am hoping to achieve with these old crates is to keep US subs out of Tokyo harbour.

There are also numerous old float planes dotted around the Home Islands and Kuriles. I really like the "azure" Alf

Meanwhile, for search duty on BBs and CAs we have the new super-duper Pete, which has double the range of the stock version.

The Jake has also had its range extended, making it the "floatplane of choice" for the discerning Japanese player.

Despite looking a bit sporty like the Nate and Claude, the Zero is in fact quite a good aircraft ...

The picture shows part of the "A Team", currently operating out of Legaspi in the PI.

Even with the spats, Subchaser has made the Val look cool.

Finally we come to the superb 18in Type 91 torpedo delivery system that is the Kate.

This CV group is one of four currently engaged in eliminating the coastal guns at Pago Pago.

One thing you might notice from those pics is that the ship-based air groups all have their HQ set to "Independent". The CHS team have done a thorough job of fixing up all the HQ assignments in the game.

I have pondering what to do with the Southern Area Army combat LCUs once the conquest of the SRA is complete.

There are 10 divisions available:

2nd, 4th, 5th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 38th, 48th, 56th, Imp Gds

There are also a few Brigades & Regiments, but I intend to use these for garrison duty.

The choices would appear to be:

a) Burma -> Northern India (overland)
b) India (by sea)
c) Northern Australia
d) PM/New Guinea

Now the trouble is that a) I don't consider an full-scale amphibious invasion of India to be realistic and will therefore not attempt it and b) my "rules" force me to use PPs to change the HQ of a unit before deploying it in a particular theatre. So, if I were to attempt India by the overland route I would have to change the HQ of all divisions to Burma Area Army, which would take ages to accomplish.

On the other hand, I don't consider a sea-borne assault on remote Northern Australia to be unrealistic. The question is, what would be the point? In the CHS Darwin does not generate 6 billion supplies a day anymore so it is not really a factor.

That leaves PM/New Guinea. The same HQ "rules" would apply so I would need to change the HQ to Southeast Fleet for any units involved. If only a couple of divisions were required this might be possible within a reasonable time frame though.

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I think what I will probably do is send one division to "under-staffed" Burma and then see whether PM is feasible before Oct '42 ...

Of course this is assuming I don't get bogged down in a Fortress Timor scenario as per the previous game

There's no point in invading northern Australia; I mean, you COULD take Darwin, but then what? Whoop-di-doo, big deal.

I think you'd be best off splitting the divisions:

One to three to Burma, to keep up the pressure there, and to be ready to receive your opponent's counteroffensive once he launches it.

One or two could go to New Guinea, depending on how aggresive the Allies are.

Maybe you should consider keeping the rest of them as a strategic reserve: deploy them at a big port (Singapore, Saigon or Soerabaja) with plenty of shipping, so they can be "rapidly" deployed where needed.

Sooner or later the Japanese HAVE to go on the defensive, and you might want to consider planning for that.

13 Jan 1942

The 9th NLF took Sinkep today after being fast transported in from Kuching a few days ago.

In the same area the 11th NLF are now landed at Singakawang and will Deliberate Attack next turn. Their transports were attacked by US and British bombers operating from Palembang. I think this confirms what I suspected which is that the Philippine air force has now been evacuated bar the PBYs.

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Today also saw the first action in the Bismarck archipelago, being the landing of the 14th NLF at the unoccupied Admiralty Islands. I did this for two reasons: one is I want the base and two I wanted to test the Allied reaction in this area. Next op will be a similar fast transport landing at Kavieng by the 24th NLF. However, in the CHS this base is defended by an Aussie Independent Coy so it might not necessarily be a pushover. A bombardment/surface combat TF will accompany this one.

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Neck Tie continues to wait on the Maizuru 2nd SNLF recovering (now up to 12 live squads) and for the South Seas Det. to arrive at Nandi. Their transports were spotted today by a PBY flying out of Suva so, if the USN is going to turn up they have now been warned.

A whole bunch of SNLFs assigned to Southeast Fleet and 4th Fleet arrived today in Tokyo (Jan 13 is the first reinforcement day in the CHS). I have therefore decided to expand Neck Tie to encompass New Caledonia and Espiritu Santo too Must be mad ...

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Also, following my thoughts about the Southern Area land army I have hatched another evil plan. It's name is Operation Bodyline, but details are classified for now. People with cricketing knowledge may be able to pick up a clue from the name though ...


Loss Ratios

Air: 2 - 1
Ships: 2 - 1

The sinking of a previously damaged single Japanese AP was enough to drop the ship ratio just below the 3 mark.