ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Good to see you post again, too, Q-Ball!
Thanks, but I didn't really go anywhere, other than work, family, etc.....
John, I am with you I think on the North. I think it's time to move KB up to the Aleutians. While I think Michael has a good point about avoiding a raid on Kodiak, I think they are going to have to move forward, and do it soon, and the second those ships leave Kodiak we will have a once-in-a-game opportunity: We will have a good chunk of the USN, sailing into our LBA range and away from theirs, with a CV superiority of 6+3cvl to 4. The deck will be stacked in our favor to decisively defeat the Allies, and probably cement an auto-victory (or at least a surrender in favor of AE)
Tactically, I would move KB within 1 or 2 days sail of Cold Bay, and park it just outside of Allied Nav Search range, with AOs handy. Probably anchor at the end of one of the Aleutian chain. It's now September, 1942, and surely they know that come November 1, it will be too late to rescue the troops on Cold Bay. It's not a huge deal to write them off really, but I think psychologically they can't make that decision; they have had too many defeats already, and probably feel they need a win before 1943. My gut tells me that even if the right decision is to leave those troops there, they will still charge in. My gut, plus all the sighting reports of shipping buildup at Kodiak.
It is very interesting playing with John and Michael, two completely contrasting styles. I think John was trained in the IJN, because he is always planning bold moves. Some of the operations I was probably oppossed to but turned out very well, like the raid on Suva; John proved me wrong on that one. John also drove me crazy by running CV's to the max, racking up Ops damage and burning every can of fuel around. I had to talk John out of a couple AK-hunting raids, which I personally think Japan can't afford if we want to keep KB fresh. But that's just me.
Michael came in at a time when the fleet was in desparate need of rest and refit; most ships had 10 or 10+ ops damage, and fuel stocks on the perimeter were about empty, leaving us vulnerable to Allied counterattack. Those problems are pretty much solved, and the Empire has taken maximum advantage of rest and refit. I'm itchin though to fight those USN ships at Kodiak, I can appreciate though the need to build up operations, as unlike almost every other situation with the Allies and Japan, time is actually on our side up there in the short-run.
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