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Definitely Bill the Cat sniffing dandelions. In spite of the billboards and placards aplenty warning that it would lead to spontaneous decapitation...[:-]

Sorely missed comic strip. Calvin & Hobbes too.

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

Sorely missed comic strip. Calvin & Hobbes too.

As a father, I've tried to occasionally model myself after Calvin's dad with patent falsehoods writ large about the natural workings of the universe. Just enough to blow my son's mind...[:-]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
Definitely Bill the Cat sniffing dandelions. In spite of the billboards and placards aplenty warning that it would lead to spontaneous decapitation...[:-]

*ack*!

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

Sorely missed comic strip. Calvin & Hobbes too.

As a father, I've tried to occasionally model myself after Calvin's dad with patent falsehoods writ large about the natural workings of the universe. Just enough to blow my son's mind...[:-]

Between John's nascent JFB grade schooler and your Calvin & Hobbes influenced child, I fear for our future. [;)]

I still have most, if not all, of the Bloom County books that came out and about half dozen of Calvin and Hobbes. Opus was great for a person going through a lot of personal changes in his late 20's.

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

Sorely missed comic strip. Calvin & Hobbes too.

As a father, I've tried to occasionally model myself after Calvin's dad with patent falsehoods writ large about the natural workings of the universe. Just enough to blow my son's mind...[:-]

Between John's nascent JFB grade schooler and your Calvin & Hobbes influenced child, I fear for our future. [;)]

My child is NOT a 'nascent' JFB--he is an ASCENDENT JFB!

BANZAI!

Thanks for remembering and, unfortunately due to NO SNOW this winter, we have not had a chance to work on the Mark TWO version of the Japanese Snow Fort.

Thanks for remembering and, unfortunately due to NO SNOW this winter, we have not had a chance to work on the Mark TWO version of the Japanese Snow Fort.

The citizens of the Village of Northport are happy to report that we have your snow. It was mistakenly delivered here. We would appreciate it if you would come and pick it up. We don't know what to do with it anymore. We have taken to throwing it in the harbor but Northport is probably only a level 2 or 3 port at best so we hay be running out of room if we get the promised addtional foot tomorrow.

I think we've gotten as much snow in La Salle, CO as Dan has in his home town in Georgia!

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Is this portion of our show illustrative of how this game is going now? [:)]

Well you could pull a rabbit out of your hat! ,sigh., knowing many will not get that.


Oh and its, "While I watch from the safety of the Range Rover, Jim will collect the semen sample from the bull rhinocerous"

ORIGINAL: vettim89

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Is this portion of our show illustrative of how this game is going now? [:)]

Well you could pull a rabbit out of your hat! ,sigh., knowing many will not get that.


Oh and its, "While I watch from the safety of the Range Rover, Jim will collect the semen sample from the bull rhinocerous"

The horn is really just a giant hair. Really. I learned that in 2nd grade. (Jim may not care.)

I hereby dub this "The Baby Thread." Really gotta have some turns soon.

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Thanks for remembering and, unfortunately due to NO SNOW this winter, we have not had a chance to work on the Mark TWO version of the Japanese Snow Fort.

The citizens of the Village of Northport are happy to report that we have your snow. It was mistakenly delivered here. We would appreciate it if you would come and pick it up. We don't know what to do with it anymore. We have taken to throwing it in the harbor but Northport is probably only a level 2 or 3 port at best so we hay be running out of room if we get the promised addtional foot tomorrow.

There was a guy here in Sweden who tried to sell, on an auction site, "brand new snow" for ~$1 per cubic meter, on the condition that the buyer came to his home to take it off the ground [:)]

He actually got one responder, who said he will buy the snow, but he could only pick it up in June ... [:D]

11/3/42

I included this note when I sent Brad the latest turn: Bullwinkle says my AAR is turning into the Thread. Yesterday, we had a run of posts devoted to favorite comic strips and barbecue.

Battle South of Poona: The Allied army clobbered the three retreating IJA divisions south of Poona, booting them another hex south and inflicting at least 800 squads destroyed (half infantry, half support). Three hundred Allied armor in reserve followed, but I decided not to attack tomorrow. I'd rather await arrival of the bulk of my army. The armor should all be in place to attack day after tomorrow. These three IJA divisions 5, 12 and 38) are wrecked and will be all but destroyed by the time this chase is over.

Battle of Poona: The Allies achieved 12:1 odds at Poona. The two IJA divisions (6th Guards and 54th) can't retreat because the Allies control all hexsides. The Japanese didn't take horrific losses, but they're cause is hopeless. These two divisions, less whatever Brad might have evacuated at some point, are finished.

48th Division: So at least five IJA divisions have been essentially destroyed thus far, with one more to go. 48th Division remains on the yellow road south of Bombay and west of Poona. It's too late for it to go anywhere that would offer even a long shot of success. It will be destroyed.

Goa: For some reason, the Allied bombardment TF remained in place and refused to go into Goa to bombard. They'll try again tomorrow, assuming the commander figures out that ships perform better when they move. Meanwhile, the Allied heavy bombers performed a devastating raid on the airfield, destroying about 60 aircraft (mostly Tojos) on the ground and scoring more than 200 hits on the field.

Operational Impact: The campaign has taken shape so that I now know that six IJA divisions will be destroyed in the Japanese withdrawal from western India. One other division (1st) was treated pretty rudely. The other ten or so divisions will have made it out without a problem. The Allies are advancing steadily in southern India, and I would expect the Japanese to quickly retreat from any base that the Allied army nears. Sheer distance will mean the campaign to "liberate" the southern end will take awhile, but by the end of 1942 the Allies should control all or most of the southern territory. I don't yet knwo whether Brad will make stands at Ceylon and the Calcutta area. He has time to do so, but he'd have to commit the KB to defend Ceylon. I doubt he'll do so with the war heating up in the Pacific in 1943. I doubt he'd try to hold Calcutta, either, in the face of a 3,000 or 5,000 AV army with huge numbers of aircraft committed.

Strategic Impact: I can't imagine any other way that the Allies could have destroyed six IJA divisions by the end of 1942 than a massive land campaign. Accomplishing this at the risk of nearly losing India and suffering an auto-victory defeat was a gamble, but I was fortunate to win the bet. Scenario Two gives Japan four extra divisions, so the net effect is that Brad is now two short of even a Scenario One lineup. I'll take that. The extent of the victory also means that the Allies will be able to siphon off alot of units from India, to devote to the Sumatra invasion. This will include 27th Divisions, two Marine regiments, the Brits, and the Australians. The Indians, meanwhile, will have the oomph to handle Addu Atoll, Diego Garcia, and possibly even Ceylon.

I am learning just how dangerous a campaign in India can be for the Japanese. Luckily I didn't stick my head TOO far into the noose...

I honestly think Brad could have conquered India had he known how vulnerable it was. Of course, we were in uncharted waters, so neither of knew enough to really foresee what the possibilities and vulnerabilities truly were. But had Brad been just a bit more aggressive in closing on Karachi in May, June, or July 1942, I think I would have lost the battle and the war.

But your right, John. If Japan isn't going to conquer India, it had better not stick around too long. Brad did.

Snicker, snicker...

I just posted a friendly li'l taunt in Q-Ball's new "how to defend Russia" thread in the WitE War Room. Ordinarly I avoid anything that could remotely resemble a taunt, but in this case I'm hoping that drawing Q-Ball's ire might challenge his competitive nature and get him to pay attention to this game.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I honestly think Brad could have conquered India had he known how vulnerable it was. Of course, we were in uncharted waters, so neither of knew enough to really foresee what the possibilities and vulnerabilities truly were. But had Brad been just a bit more aggressive in closing on Karachi in May, June, or July 1942, I think I would have lost the battle and the war.

But your right, John. If Japan isn't going to conquer India, it had better not stick around too long. Brad did.

It just goes to show that either you go to India full on, going for the Ceylon + Socotra than Karachi or the base between Bombay and Karachi to clear the whole damn place...

Or you go for the east India limited objectives campaign, to wreck a few units, get a buffer for say the first 6 months of 1943, and give you in depth defense in this area...

But you don't want to be sitting between two chairs and go halfway... If you go bold, you must retreat very fast as soon as you hit the wall, not try to stabilise the front...

For Japan, her strategic objectives are really "all or nothing." Knowing that if you don't knock the allies out with AutoVictory, you're faced with a very long war indeed - which will require defense in-depth, mutually supporting airbases & an intact KB.

So, you'd be faced with potentially going full-bore into Hawaii, Australia or India - and putting valuable assets at risk (pilots, troops & the KB) and either winning the game outright (at which point your losses were worth it) or not winning, loosing valuable assets, and putting your defenses at risk.

That's a delicate balancing act.

ORIGINAL: veji1

Or you go for the east India limited objectives campaign, to wreck a few units, get a buffer for say the first 6 months of 1943, and give you in depth defense in this area...

Additionally, taking Calcutta and the area around offers the chance to bank substantial HI reserves for use at the end of the war, and/or to pay the crazy high HI numbers for all those Scen 2 pilots.

That's something I can't gauge, because I'm just totally unfamiliar with how the Japanese economy works. Suffice to say, I'm sure Brad has derived lots of benefits from conquering so much of India.