Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

21 Mar 12

Sub War

The Ro-60 continues to plod toward Rabaul in an effort for survival.

Just off Kavieng, The Dutch KXVIII caught a damaged xAKL that was making a run for Truk and sank her. She foolishly attacked on the surface and the tiny cargo vessel managed to destroy the Dutch sub’s deck gun before going down.

Off Aukland, The I-168 found an xAK loaded with fuel and put a torpedo into her, leaving her burning furiously. She was not reported to have sunk, but I doubt she makes port.

5 Fleet

The infantry regiment is one day out of Adak. KB is still hanging out south of Adak, still unspotted. I will most likely send the infantry regiment to Dutch Harbor to assist in taking that base. I’ll send the 4x Kongos in to bombard the place prior to the attack.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

One sweep netted 2 Kittyhawks and 1 P-40E lost vs. 3 Zeros.

Philippines

Manila’s port reached its goal of level 7. Someday, it’ll be able to start to move the 130k+ resources stashed there.

China

The 6 surrounded Chinese units are beginning to collapse. This attack caused 1357(96) Chinese losses to 63(1) Japanese.

Burma

I continue to clear Burma of the enemy. An attack just north of Shwebo resulted in the destruction of 2 of 4 Allied units causing 360(48) Allied casualties to 38(0) Japanese casualties.

The 18 Division has unloaded at Rangoon and is moving to the front while the Imperial Guards Division is beginning to unload today. That makes 5 infantry divisions in Burma.

Rangoon’s airfield made level 6 on its ultimate goal of level 7.

SRA

Continued sucking of resources, fuel and oil to the Home Islands. Things are looking good, but I can use more tankers.

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

20 Mar 42

SE Fleet
Interesting day today. There were two air to air battles resulting in 2x P-40Es shot down and one op loss vs. two Zero op losses. Later in the day, Lilys showed up and bombed the airfield, destroying another P-40E on the ground.

Not to be outdone, the Betties flew two naval attack missions vs. a TF that just arrived in Pt. Moresby. The escorting Zeros lost 3 of their number protecting the Betties. In all, the Betties sank 3x xAPs, two of which were loaded. Here’s the weird part. One went down with 46 combat squads and 94 guns and the second went down with 179 combat squads and 222 guns! What the heck was that?!

Not much else of note happened other than Tongoo’s airfield reaching level 3 in Burma. Lots of preparations for future ops though.

FOW?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

20 Mar 42

SE Fleet
Interesting day today. There were two air to air battles resulting in 2x P-40Es shot down and one op loss vs. two Zero op losses. Later in the day, Lilys showed up and bombed the airfield, destroying another P-40E on the ground.

Not to be outdone, the Betties flew two naval attack missions vs. a TF that just arrived in Pt. Moresby. The escorting Zeros lost 3 of their number protecting the Betties. In all, the Betties sank 3x xAPs, two of which were loaded. Here’s the weird part. One went down with 46 combat squads and 94 guns and the second went down with 179 combat squads and 222 guns! What the heck was that?!

Not much else of note happened other than Tongoo’s airfield reaching level 3 in Burma. Lots of preparations for future ops though.

FOW?

Has to be.

[Mike Solli]

Well, I'm still waiting for my turn but, in the mean time, I got my first turn off to ny59giants as the Allies, of all things. [X(] I haven't a clue. I've never been on the receiving end at the beginning of the war. [:(]

[Cribtop]

Just call up that reinforcement screen, use the filter to select CV and CVE, scroll down to 1944, and be happy!

Actually, Allied grand strategy seems to be "build a fence, then move it toward Japan." Decide on turn 1 which assets are to die fighting and delaying, and which are to be preserved for counterattack. Don't put everything in the second category. It ain't cricket and it's boring.

Q-Ball once said that the Allies have two strategic imperatives. First, cut off Japan from the DEI. Second, obtain one or more bases within strategic booming range of Japan. In a Scenario 2 game, I'd add that the Allies must attempt to divine the enemy phase 2 target (Oz, India, Hawaii or China are the most common) and try to hold on.

Good luck!

[Mike Solli]

22 Mar 42

Sub War

The I-25 found an empty TK TF about 15 hexes off the US west coast and put a couple of torpedoes into the TK H. M. Storey, a T2 SE-A class TK with a capacity of 14,250 tons. Banzai! That's the second one of those that's been sunk.

The Ro-60 continues to creep toward Rabaul and safety. The crew repaired a couple more points of flot damage.

Philippines

Another DA wears down the defenders of Bataan some more. The 1:2 attack against level 4 forts caused 531(31) Allied casulaties (destroying the 1st USMC AA Bn) while the Japanese lost 1753(18) casualties. A couple more days and I'll attack again.

SRA

Boela was liberated with no damage to the infrastructure. Resources 20(0) and oil 25(0). Only Babo remains in Allied hands, and only for a couple more days.

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop
[snip] obtain one or more bases within strategic booming range of Japan. Good luck!

This may be a typo, but it is a very accurate and descriptive typo!
[:)]

[Mike Solli]

23 Mar 42

Sub War

Those damn AMs off Pt. Moresby struck again. This time the AM Cairns hit the Ro-62 with a depth charge causing 14-28(24)-0-0 damage. She's headed for Rabaul.

5 Fleet

The infantry regiment arrived at Adak and will head to within 2 hexes of Dutch Harbor tomorrow. The 4x Kongos and 4x DDs were detached from KB and will head to within 6 hexes of Dutch Harbor. I'll land the infantry and then bombard the next day, when the DA occurs. That should do it for Dutch Harbor.

SE Fleet

I finally had some success here against the Kittyhawks. The daily Zero sweep 3 Zeros vs. 5 Kittyhawks resulted in 2 of the Kittyhawks being shot down for no Japanese loss. Later, 13x Betties escorted by 9x Zeros attacked a TF in Pt. Moresby. 4x Kittyhawks responded and one was shot down for no Japanese loss. Unfortunately, none of the Betties managed a hit.

Java

The attack against Batavia will go in tomorrow. This should end the Java campaign.

SRA

The invasion of Babo will happen tomorrow, which is the last oil producing base on my list to take (other than in China).

Other Stuff

I received another Yugumo class DD, the Kazegumo, today. That's the 4th of this class and will be used to escort KB.

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

ORIGINAL: Cribtop
[snip] obtain one or more bases within strategic booming range of Japan. Good luck!

This may be a typo, but it is a very accurate and descriptive typo!
[:)]

Hehe. It was, and it is. [:D]

[obvert]

Those damn AMs off Pt. Moresby struck again. This time the AM Cairns hit the Ro-62 with a depth charge causing 14-28(24)-0-0 damage. She's headed for Rabaul.

A quick TF of 2 old DDs might take care of this threat for you.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Those damn AMs off Pt. Moresby struck again. This time the AM Cairns hit the Ro-62 with a depth charge causing 14-28(24)-0-0 damage. She's headed for Rabaul.

A quick TF of 2 old DDs might take care of this threat for you.

Ooh, that's a great idea obvert. Never thought of that. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any bombers at PM, just fighters and recon.

[Mike Solli]

Been busy in real life guys but I still got a few turns done with another in the inbox right now.


24 Mar 12

Sub War

The Ro-60 and Ro-62 are crawling toward Rabaul and repairing damage along the way.

5 Fleet

The invasion fleet and BB bombardment TF are moving into position with KB in support.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

B-17s continue to make their daily run against Milne Bay’s airfield. He’s bombing an empty base. I guess he doesn’t want that base operational. That’s ok. I have others that are building as well.

China

Another attack against the 6 surrounded Chinese units netted 1457(26) Chinese for 154(0) Japanese losses. Another attack in a couple days….

Burma

I’m starting an air offensive against Akyab for two reasons: 1. Kill enemy fighters and 2. Reduce the ability of Akyab to support Allied air power. Here’s the result of day 1:

There were 4 sweeps of Akyab before the two bombing raids arrived (totaling 49 Sallies). Losses were as follows:

2 Zeros shot down + 2 op losses (1 KIA, 1 MIA)
1 Oscar shot down + 1 op loss (1 KIA)
1 Sally lost to flak

3 P-40E shot down + 1 op loss
5 H81-A3 shot down + 7 op losses!
3 Swordfish destroyed on the ground

Not a bad start. I’ll continue to bomb Akyab and there is also a bombardment TF headed there (or maybe diverted to Chittagong, not sure yet) of 3 BB and 1 CA.

Java

The first DA on Batavia went in today. I got 1:1 odds and reduced the forts from level 3 to 2. Losses were 2096(13) Japanese to 1612(67) Dutch. Not bad for a start. More forces are moving in.

[Mike Solli]

25 Mar 12

Sub War

Nothing but misses…

5 Fleet

The invasion fleet is 2 hexes out and the bombardment fleet is 6 hexes out, with KB behind them a few more hexes. The infantry will go in tomorrow and the BBs will go in the day after, to bombard the day the infantry attacks.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

One small skirmish between Zeros and Kittyhawks resulted in no losses to either side. I need to start a bombing campaign here but have only one sentai of Lilys available. I’m reluctant to use the 2x daitai of Betties in ground bombing where there are enemy fighters present in numbers (30-40 on average). I can’t bombard without undue risk because of a minefield at Pt. Moresby either. It’s a dilemma right now.

Another daily B-17 raid on Milne Bay’s airfield.

Philippines

I attacked Bataan. The result wasn’t what I had hoped, but it wasn’t too bad. The 1:2 attack against level 4 forts resulted in 876(32) Allied losses to 1036(16) Japanese losses. More air and ground bombardment while the infantry recovers.

China

Nothing new to report.

Burma

Three sweeps over Akyab were followed by two bombing runs totaling 69 Sallies. Here are the results:

0 Zeros shot down + 2 op losses (no pilot losses)
0 Oscars shot down + 1 op loss (no pilot losses)

1 H81-A3 shot down + 1 op loss + 1 destroyed on the ground
3 P-40Es shot down + 1 op loss
1 Swordfish destroyed on the ground

[Mike Solli]

26 Mar 12

Sub War

Nothing new to report. The two Ro- subs are still doing well (considering they got direct DC hits). The Ro-62 is one day out of Rabaul and the Ro-60 is still 10 days out.

5 Fleet

The 74 Infantry Regiment landed at Dutch Harbor today. The US CD unit sank one xAK after the infantry landed, but the landing was a success. They landed quite a bit of supply as well. I’m pulling them out so they don’t take any more damage.

Tomorrow, the 4x Kongos will bombard and then scoot. The 74th and the 2x Naval Guards will shock attack tomorrow. I don’t see an issue with this attack. After the successful attack, I’ll probably leave one of the Naval Guards as a garrison. I would like to get some engineers there to build up some forts. I’ll pull an engineer company out of Kwantung Army to send there. Level 3 forts would be nice.

My sub screen her found a small convoy of 2 ships with one identified as a TK headed this way. I moved KB to be within range of it. Maybe I’ll get lucky with them as well. There should be a little fun in the Aleutians tomorrow.

Unless something shows up tomorrow, I’ll pull KB out of here and back to Truk to repair the minor sys damage it’s accumulated in this foray.

4 Fleet

Just about all of the Naval Guard units have arrived at their destinations.

SE Fleet

Ted doesn’t want to come up and play in the air over Pt. Moresby.

21x B-17s visited Milne Bay’s port today doing light damage.

China

Another attack on the 6x surrounded Chinese units netted more casualties today. 1534(94) Chinese were destroyed vs. 53(1) Japanese. The 3x Chinese infantry units all are combat ineffective. Their end is near.

Burma

The BB bombardment force hit Chittagong and was a bit of a disappointment. It did a number on some troops there – 138(29) bit didn’t do as much damage to the airfield as I had hoped. Two dozen aircraft were damaged but only a Hurricane and a Blenheim IV were destroyed.

Three sweeps netted 5x H81-A3s shot down and a P-40E op loss at a cost of 2x Oscars and a bombing run of 46 Sallies further damaged the airfield.

Chittagong and Akyab are both ineffective airfields for the time being. Only Imphal is still fully operational to the Allies. I am going to see if I can work that airfield over. I may need to increase the size of some airfields that are closer to Imphal to be able to start an air campaign there.

Java

A DA against Batavia netted me 1592(104) Dutch losses (and a destroyed unit) vs. 500(7) Japanese casualties. They’ll need a day to acquire supplies for another attack.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: LSD Akitsu Maru – This is the second and last LSD the Japanese receive. It’s pretty nice because it can carry 6 aircraft in addition to the troops and equipment it hauls, and it is speedy too.

The days of the invasion bonus are coming to a close, as is my phase I objectives. Babo fell intact today, which was the last oil producing base. With the exception of Ambon, only minor bases are left to clean up. Better timing than my last game.

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

26 Mar 12

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: LSD Akitsu Maru – This is the second and last LSD the Japanese receive. It’s pretty nice because it can carry 6 aircraft in addition to the troops and equipment it hauls, and it is speedy too.

The days of the invasion bonus are coming to a close, as is my phase I objectives. Babo fell intact today, which was the last oil producing base. With the exception of Ambon, only minor bases are left to clean up. Better timing than my last game.

Wow, I never noticed this. Can they actually operate the aircraft, or can they only transport them? If they can operate them, then they can provide a bit of their own CAP - nice.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

26 Mar 12

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: LSD Akitsu Maru – This is the second and last LSD the Japanese receive. It’s pretty nice because it can carry 6 aircraft in addition to the troops and equipment it hauls, and it is speedy too.

The days of the invasion bonus are coming to a close, as is my phase I objectives. Babo fell intact today, which was the last oil producing base. With the exception of Ambon, only minor bases are left to clean up. Better timing than my last game.

Wow, I never noticed this. Can they actually operate the aircraft, or can they only transport them? If they can operate them, then they can provide a bit of their own CAP - nice.

They can operate the planes, but your CAP at this point would be Petes. Not ideal. Later of course you could use Rufes if you wanted to split a group or resize it to fit this. It might be more useful to have ASW Jakes on board though and let the real CVs do the CAP.

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

26 Mar 12

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: LSD Akitsu Maru – This is the second and last LSD the Japanese receive. It’s pretty nice because it can carry 6 aircraft in addition to the troops and equipment it hauls, and it is speedy too.

The days of the invasion bonus are coming to a close, as is my phase I objectives. Babo fell intact today, which was the last oil producing base. With the exception of Ambon, only minor bases are left to clean up. Better timing than my last game.

Wow, I never noticed this. Can they actually operate the aircraft, or can they only transport them? If they can operate them, then they can provide a bit of their own CAP - nice.

They can operate the planes, but your CAP at this point would be Petes. Not ideal. Later of course you could use Rufes if you wanted to split a group or resize it to fit this. It might be more useful to have ASW Jakes on board though and let the real CVs do the CAP.

So they can only operate float planes. Darn. When I saw their pictures in their info screens, it almost looked like they had actual flight decks and not just catapults. The ASW duty would be nice though.

[Icedawg]

Hello.

Is there anybody in there?

Just nod if you can hear me.

Is there anyone at home?

[obvert]

Yes, we are certainly missing you around here Mike!

[ny59giants]

He has weekend Guard duty and has at least one turn waiting for him in his inbox.