Matrix Games Forums

My opponent is out of town on business until the weekend, so there won't be any more reports until then.

March 12, 1942 -

My opponent went away for a week and all he brought me back was a Bombardment TF.

The night phase started out with the Japanese invasion TFs at Cebu still unloading, then the big Japanese Bombardment TF that had hit Cairns a while back sailed into the waters off of Darwin. Waiting for the Japanese were the three surviving PT boats from the Philippines.

I've got to salute my PT boat skippers. They hit the gas and roared in against the four Japanese BBs, three Japanese CAs and five Japanese DDs with all guns blazing and their torpedoes rocketing out of the launchers.

Unfortunately, the Japanese gunners on the BBs were ready for them and sank each one in turn with a single shot. No US torpedoes hit their targets, and the Japanese Bombardment TF sailed along on its mission pretty much without noticing the debris that they cut through.

The Japanese TF then got into position to fire, but the Defenders were awake and prepared, and I was more than pleasantly surprised with the following results:

Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

546 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 32, on fire
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso, Shell hits 20
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 18
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 6
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 19, on fire, heavy damage
CA Maya, Shell hits 1

Allied ground losses:
201 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 15 (4 destroyed, 11 disabled)

BB Hyuga firing at Emery Point Fortress
BB Yamashiro firing at A/B Battery Heavy Coastal Artillery Regiment
BB Fuso firing at Emery Point Fortress
BB Mutsu firing at Emery Point Fortress
CA Suzuya firing at Emery Point Fortress
CA Ashigara firing at Emery Point Fortress
CA Maya firing at Emery Point Fortress

I had forgotten that there were 9.2 inch guns at Darwin, along with the usual 6 inch guns. Sure, none of the CD guns could penetrate the armor of the BBs, but they sure tore up the superstructure of the ships. Interestingly enough, the Combat Replay showed things a little bit differently – for example Yamashiro was shown taking superstructure damage – but never-the-less it was a very satisfying message to send to my opponent about the potential cost of an invasion of Darwin.

Afterwards, when I checked the damage, I was surprised to see that there was no damage to the Port or Air Fields; the Bombardment appears to have been focussed upon the Base Fortifications, as was reported in the Combat Report. And the CD units had suffered very limited damage. So if my opponent comes in again he will meet something of the same thing the next time. I can't wait to see those 9.2 inch guns against APs. [:D]

Otherwise, the night phase was quiet with the exception of Dutch sub O16 getting caught in the shallows off of Balikpapan and being harassed and damaged slightly by Japanese ASW ships. O16 will now have to head off to Colombo for some repairs.

Daylight brought Japanese Air attacks to most of the usual places – Cebu, Madioen, Bataan, Oosthaven, and the Sumatra stragglers. Then some Kates, escorted by Zeros, from the KB Lite hit Darwin, but they spent most of their time arguing with Flak. Allied Air was rained out in all theaters.

Japanese troops in Java made more ground today as the two Japanese Infantry Regiments at Madioen finally captured the base in a Deliberate attack. The two Dutch units retreated to a nearby empty base. And I was surprised that once again there was no serious Japanese attack on Cebu. Instead both sides fired off ineffectual bombardment attacks at each other.

So it appears that my opponent is pretty much committed to a direct invasion of Darwin. I am still wondering why he is his bothering instead of landing at Wyndham, which is undefended, and then cutting off Darwin. Maybe he has most of his armored units committed elsewhere, such as the one sitting around at Cebu. In any event, I don't mind either way because this simply causes the Japanese advance to slow down even more.

Although, who knows, maybe this is just another bit of misdirection. And considering that I have no idea where the KB is located at this time, I probably shouldn't focus too much of my attention on northern Australia.

March 13, 1942 -

I received a surprise this turn which was rather interesting and potentially informative in a couple of ways.

The night phase started out quietly, other than there being multiple Coast Watcher reports of ships in ports in PNG and the Solomons. The one of my Surface Combat TFs that happened to be on its way to San Diego ran over sub I-15 off the coast of Southern California. The DDs in the TF attacked the sub but it got away safely. Immediately afterwards, I-15 attacked a DD in another Surface Combat TF that was in the same hex but steaming towards Los Angeles. The sub's torpedoes all missed, after which the DDs in that TF attacked the sub too, but I-15 once again got away safely.

Then, out of the darkness a Japanese Bombardment TF hit Darwin:

Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu
CA Maya

Allied ground losses:
3 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 9
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 1

BB Yamashiro firing at Darwin
BB Fuso firing at Darwin
BB Mutsu firing at 2nd RAN Base Force
CA Maya firing at Sparrow Battalion

So Yamashiro, Fuso, Mutsu and Maya were back again, one night after they were involved in the exchange with the Emery Point Fortress.

Hmmm – there are a couple of unexpected things here:

1 – How did Yamashiro, Fuso, Mutsu and Maya get re-supplied with ammo so quickly?

1a – Were they able to get resupplied at sea near by?
1b – Were they able to get resupplied at a base in Timor and get back in one day?
1c – Did my opponent just reform a new Bombardment TF at sea and send the four ships back with the ammo that they still had on board?

I'm leaning towards the third answer because the bombardment wasn't that destructive, but if either of the first two possibilities are correct then the Japanese side can do something that I thought they couldn't do, even if a Japanese AKE is in the region.

2 – Why did the Bombardment TF encounter the CD guns at Emery Point last turn but not this turn? (Note that the TF fired at different Allied units this time than last time.)

2a – Do the targets of a Bombardment TF change each time it attacks?
2b – If the targets change, is that change random or sequential through the list of Defending units?
2c – Did the presence of the PT boats last turn “alert” the Base Defenses, allowing the CD Unit to “spot” the incoming enemy TF and engage them, and since there were no PT boats this turn the enemy TF was undetected?

I'm leaning towards the third possibility again because when I checked the Defenders at the base afterwards the Emery Point Fort unit was still in very good shape, had plenty of supply, and had all of its guns.

In any event, unless I'm proven otherwise, this tells me that it is a very good thing to have PT boats on a Picket Line at Front Line bases that are under threat of Bombardment attack. Therefore I ordered up more PT boats at Sydney this turn and I will send them along to Cairns, Perth, and Darwin (if they can get there before an invasion) just in case they can help my Defending units spot incoming TFs.

Interestingly enough, Japanese ships once again were landing troops and possibly supplies at Cebu this turn. But for the first time there was a report of Defending guns shooting back and a report that the Japanese lost a number of vehicles. This time the Surf wasn't to blame.

Daylight brought out Japanese bombers as usual over the usual targets: Bataan, Oosthaven, Cebu, and the stragglers in Sumatra. For the first time, Japanese bombers hit Tjepoe in Java. And more bombers came in to hit the Port at Darwin. The bomber attacks were scattered and some were unescorted, so I set a nearby sqaudron of British Buffalos on LR CAP over Darwin next turn, just in case my pilots get lucky and find an unescorted Japanese Bomber squadron looking down instead of looking up.

And the KB Lite sent some Kates to attack the Dutch stragglers in Timor. But there has still been no hint of the location of the full KB.

Things changed a little in Cebu this turn. The Philippine troops attempted another Artillery attack that once again did nothing, but then the two Japanese Infantry units, along with the Armored unit that was short a dozen of its vehicles, attempted a Deliberate attack. They failed and only achieved a 1:2 result against the Level 3 Fortifications without lower the fortification level. Both sides took around a hundred casualties. It's only too bad that I can't get any supplies into isolated bases like Cebu because if I could the troops could delay the Japanese for a very long time.

March 14, 1942 -

I ordered a swarm of subs to go down to the Timor/Northern Australia region a few turns ago and the first one got into some Japanese TFs this turn. Dutch sub KVII first got attacked near Roti Island by the DD escorts in a Japanese TF that also contained BB Hyuga, CA Mogami and CL Abukama. KVII got away okay. Then the sub was attacked by a PB in a Japanese Transport TF. This time the escort ship found the Dutch sub and damaged it with depth charges. So KVII is off to Perth for some repairs.

The next night action was yet another Naval Bombardment of Darwin by some of the same ships as the previous two nights:

Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

180 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso, Shell hits 35, on fire
BB Mutsu
CA Maya, Shell hits 12, on fire


BB Yamashiro firing at Darwin
BB Fuso firing at Emery Point Fortress
BB Mutsu firing at Darwin
CA Maya firing at Emery Point Fortress

Once again the CD guns had a good time, with plenty of 4”, 6” and 9.2” shells whacking Fuso and Maya.

There are a number of puzzling things here:

1 – The Japanese ships didn't appear to fire back, and if they did, they didn't hit anything

2 – Two of the Japanese ships hit Emery Fortress again, after they all skipped it last turn

At first I was ticked off and puzzled as to how the Japanese ships could have reloaded and come back again so quickly. But then as I thought about the results a thought struck me – are those ships out of ammo, and my opponent doesn't realize it?

But that aside, I still have no idea why Emery Fortress was attacked again and not one of the other units at Darwin. There were no PT boats there this time to give an advanced warning. So it looks like the theory that I favored after the first Naval Bombardment is invalid, and therefore I have no working theory to account for what is happening and how the targets of Bombardment TFs are selected.

BTW – when I checked Emery Fortress afterwards the CD guns are still all fine and there is plenty of supply.

In other night action, an AM in a US transport TF on its way back to Pearl Harbor attacked Japanese sub I-19 off of Washington Island. The sub got away, but the sub also didn't get off an attack of its own, so I am satisfied.

Finally USS Searaven attacked an AK off of Malacca, but its torpedoes were duds. Fortunately, Searaven was able to escape from the Japanese ASW escorts.

Daylight brought an air raid on Darwin by Nells, escorted by a handful of Zeros. The Buffalos that I had on LR CAP over Darwin attacked the incoming planes but couldn't get past the Zeros and the Nells were able to hit the Port a couple of times. Later on in the afternoon phase Bettys came in, once again escorted by a handful of Zeros, and again the British Buffalos attempted to get past the Zeros but couldn't. This time the bombers were distracted by Flak and didn't hit anything. The end result was that I lost a couple of Buffalos and my opponent lost a couple of Zeros.

The other usual Japanese air attacks hit Bataan, Oosthaven, Cebu, Tjepoe and the Sumatra Stragglers.

Then it was the Allied turn for Air Attacks. First off some Hudsons attacked a Japanese Transport TF that was halfway between Timor and Darwin. The first attack went after an xAK and the second attack went after an xAP. Neither attack hit the targets. But this leaves an interesting decision for my opponent – does he put some Zeros on LR CAP over the TFs or not, particularly since these are undoubtedly the Invasion TFs for Darwin, and the closer they get the better the chance of my planes hitting one or more of the Transports.

Then, way over in Burma, my Forts and Liberators in India staged an air raid on Rangoon. The Forts went after the Port and the Libs went after the air fields. There were a handful of Oscars on CAP, but the 4Es blew past them. The Libs got a handful of hits on the air fields but didn't catch on the ground any of the planes that are based at Rangoon. But the Forts caught a Japanese DMS in the harbor and sank it at its moorings. Both bomber squadrons got home safely so I am resting them up again for the next interesting opportunity.

I was surprised when the Japanese land units at Cebu only tried an artillery attack this turn. The attack caused no damage. Then a Japanese Infantry regiment attacked the remnants of the Philippine 73rd Regiment at Dumaquete and wiped them out.

So it appears that Darwin will be invaded next turn unless the Invasion TFs are slowed down by a sub attack or two. In any event, I am looking forward to seeing a “soft” Invasion TF run up against the guns of Emery Fortress.

Well, it turns out that I was correct and my opponent was forgetting to re-arm his bombardment TFs. Then to compound the problem he sent in a combat TF and probably the invasion TF into Darwin. The results were grim, as are shown by the screen cap below that my opponent sent to me. (He didn't send the next turn.)

So my opponent is rather discouraged at this point since he has been making a number of mistakes and his plans are pretty much falling apart at this point. So he asked for a stoppage in the game for now while he collects his thoughts. I understand how he feels and have been there myself plenty of times with AE and even more so in WitP. So I told him that was okay, although I did make the suggestion that we could consider a re-start once the next patch gets a full public release. I already have one of my Japanese pbems on hold for a re-start upon the next patch release too.

So it's up to my opponent if he wants to re-start or continue this game. I'll be busy for the rest of the week so that will give him time to consider.

In any event, it's been a great match up until now and I have learned a lot about the Game and have enjoyed the match a lot.

My opponent was able to get the various Real Life things in order that were interferring with his ability to concentrate on the more important things, such as this match, so he accepted an offer to go back one turn so that he could avoid sending the Suicide Express into Darwin. As I pointed out to him, it's not like his invasion of Darwin was much of a surprise to me anyway. [:D]

So I re-did my part of the March 15th turn and sent it off to him. With any luck tomorrow night I will see how the War continues!

A gracious decision. Frank communication helps while riding AE's learning curve.

March 15, 1942 -

The shoreline of Darwin was not littered with burning and sinking Japanese ships this turn as my opponent wisely took advantage of our 1-day reset to pull back his ill-fated Task Forces. He was already gun-shy concerning CD guns thanks to his experiences in the DEI. Now he is even more so. Of course, there are plenty of empty bases along the north shore of Australia, so all my opponent needs to do is to start to consider flanking moves instead of direct assaults on strongholds.

And for a change the defenders of Darwin got a break during the night because there were no Bombardment TFs either.

BTW – I am now testing out a new Theory of Defense against Bombardment TFs. I have pulled all of the LCUs out of Darwin except for the Fort, which is static, and the RN Base Force, which has embedded CD guns. What I want is for incoming enemy TFs to only face LCUs that have CD guns in them. I want to see if this makes things any tougher for the enemy TFs.

BTW II – my opponent “blames” players like PzB for making the invasion of northern Oz seem “easy”... [:D]

BTW III - There was an unopposed Japanese landing this turn as Japanese troops finally landed on Manus.

The only other night action was USS Searaven being chased unsuccessfully by a Japanse PB off of Malacca.

While Darwin didn't receive any Naval attention this turn it did receive Air Attacks in the morning and in the afternoon. In both cases, the Zero escorts flew in first and swept at 15,000 feet while the bombers flew in later unescorted. I had British Buffalos on LR CAP over Darwin so they engaged the Zeros. I lost a few Buffalos and the Japanese lost a couple of Zeros. But my Buffalos were out of position after each Fighter engagement so they never engaged the Japanese bombers.

Japanese bombers also hit Bataan, Tjiatjap, Oosthaven, Benkoelen and Cebu.

Otherwise, things were quiet. There is no sign of the KB anywhere.

The big news this turn in the Building Front is that the Port at Seattle reached Level 9. I like having big Ports on the West Coast of the US so that I can repair or upgrade ships in multiple locations, and also so that any Transport TFs that I form there will load as quickly as possible. I've been using the big Restricted US Infantry and Armored Divisions to aid with the building of facilities since they usually contain a good number of Engineers and Engineering vehicles.

All the ships that were due for the March 1942 upgrades are now being upgraded. Most of the ships that will receive the April 1942 upgrades are also in safe locations for that upcoming event.

There are now only two Battleships left in Pearl Harbor from the December 7 attack. And the first Pearl Harbor BB to become repaired will leave the Shipyard tomorrow.

March 16, 1942 -

Japanese troops continued to land at Manus near New Britain, and a fresh Japanese Transport TF dropped off more troops at Cebu. The shore guns at Cebu continued to fire back and disrupted a number of the incoming Japanese squads.

Naval action was limited this turn to a Glen that checked out a retiring Transport TF near Palmyra, and some more Japanese subs that showed up off of Colombo.

The Air War continued with more Japanese air raids on Darwin. This time the Japanese Bombers came in first and the Japanese Escorts afterwards. So my Buffalos on LR CAP got uninterrupted chances at the unescorted Japanese bombers, but the British pilots couldn't find their targets. Fortunately, AA on the ground did damage a number of Bettys. Afterwards a couple of Zero sweeps flew in and shot down a couple more Buffalos. I've still got plenty of Buffalos and British pilots in reserve, so it is still worth the effort to try to ambush Japanese bombers over Darwin.

The rest of the Japanese air attacks hit the regular targests – Bataan got hit multiple times, and Oosthaven, Cebu, Tjepoe and Benkoelen all received single attacks.

I did try something new this turn, thanks to some “inspiration” from one of my opponents in one of my pbems where I am playing the Japanese. Last turn I set the remaining Dutch Catalinas on Naval Attack, with Port Attack as the back-up order. Only one of the Dutch units flew and it missed the SC at Palembang that it attacked, but this ought to make my opponent think a bit about putting up some CAP in his bases in the DEI.

There was some action in China for the first time in quite a while as two Japanese Divisions at Loyang attempted a bombardment attack against the Chinese troops. The artillery attack backfired and only the Japanese suffered any casualties.

There were also artillery attacks from both sides at the Stalemate at Cebu, but as usual there was no damage on either side.

Things ought to liven up a bit in Sumatra soon because some Japanese troops have appeared a hex away from Oosthaven.

And the Big News this turn for the USN was that BB California got back into Service in San Diego – upgrades included! This is the first Pearl Harbor attack victim to be fully repaired. BB Tennesee ought to be fully repaired in another two weeks. For now I am leaving California in San Diego and will wait for the April DD upgrades to take place and be repaired before I send the Prune Barge back to Hawaii.

March 17, 1942 -

There were multiple reports of Japanese ships at the various bases around PNG and the Solomons over night. My opponent is being very busy there. I can't tell if he is building up bases in anticipation of an Allied counter-attack in the region or building up an infrastructure to support further Japanese expansion in the South Pacific region. In addition, the Japanese amphibious TF at Manus continued to offload troops for the third night in a row.

The only action of the evening was off of Sinkawang where Dutch sub O20 fired four torpedoes at a Japanese xAK, but missed with all of them.

Daylight brought a resumption of Japanese efforts in the air over Darwin. Two Zero sweeps flew in and fought it out with the British Buffalos in the air over the base. A couple of Buffalos were shot down but no Zeros. After the Zeros flew in and cleared the skies Betties flew in to hit the base. The Bettys have been focussing upon the Port, in presume in the hope of reducing the effectiveness of the CD guns at the Fort. So far the only damage has been to the Port and not to the Fort.

Some of my best British Hurricane pilots swept the skies over Mandalay this turn. A large number of Oscars flew up to meet them but the Hurricanes did very well and shot down seven Oscars while losing none of their own. However, when the 4Es flew in afterwards there were still a sizable number of Oscars on CAP and for once one of the Liberators was shot down, while about half of the attacking planes were damaged. No hits were made on the Air Field at Mandalay.

This was the most unsuccessful attack yet by my 4Es in India. I will have to re-think my strategy in the region and likely have to move more 4Es in order to be able to cause significant damage to the Japanese effort there.

The other usual Japanese targets – Bataan, Oosthaven, Cebu, Tjepoe and Benkoelen – all received air attacks this turn.

Japanese Recon flights resumed over much of China this turn. My opponent has stopped his buildup at Loyang and isn't obviously threatening any other Chinese bases, so I'm not sure what his intentions are in China at this time.

There were no Japanese ground attacks this turn, even at Manus which is undefended. No new Allied bases were threatened by Japanese ground troops.

Therefore, while enjoying the relative quiet I just continue to build up my forces and prepare for any attacks in my “trip-wire” regions of Hawaii, South-eastern Australia and the Bay of Bengal.

March 18, 1942 -

Japanese TFs continue to offload at Manus. I'm not sure what is going on there because my opponent still hasn't captured it. I wonder if he forgot to send some combat troops and has been unloading Support Troops and supplies, with no one there to capture the empty base? Eventually, later on in the day phase, another TF showed up and started to unload combat troops, so maybe he will capture the base next turn. (However, some of the Japanese troops were lost in the surf on the way in. This may just be a Bad Luck landing for my opponent.)

More Japanese troops were also offloaded at Cebu, but there the Philippine troops happily shot back, causing some casualties. In addition, it was a “Surf's Up” day at Cebu too, so more Japanese troops were lost to unlucky landings. Despite the additional troops – there are now three Infantry Regiments and an Artillery Regiment at Cebu – there was no Japanese attack, nor any counterfire when the Philippine troops fired off their Artillery attack at the end of the day.

The Air War brought something new as 16 Zeros tried to sweep the skies over Lashio. However, 27 H81-A3s of the AVG were waiting for them. The Japanese lost three Zeros up front and another four were lost on the way home. The AVG wrote off a couple of planes afterwards but lost no pilots. I still have plenty of H81-A3s because I upgraded one of the AVG squadrons to P-40Es.

It appears that the Zero sweep was supposed to herald a Japanese offensive aimed at Lashio, because later on I spotted a column containing 5 Japanese LCUs on the road to Lashio. So I will finally get a chance to test out my Defense-in-Depth in the region, as I moved a number of bomber squadrons into postition to start to hit those Japanese troops. I also ordered my 4Es to go after those troops. Practice against Ground Troops ought to bring up everyone's experience fairly quickly.

I also have a half dozen good Fighter units in the region too – three of them being AVG and the other three being British Hurricane squadrons with good pilots. My opponent will have an interesting choice – he can try to cover his troops, or he can try to hit Lashio, or he can defend his airfields. If he tries all three at the same time I should be able to have some fun. BTW – I have my planes located in a half dozen different bases so the odds ought to be better that not everyone will be rained out on the same day.

There were also a couple of big Zero sweeps of the skies over Darwin. But I had pulled back the British Buffalos already and am resting them. I am also sending the one Buffalo unit in the region that can upgrade to Hurricanes back to a big enough base to allow the change. I hope to spring a reasonable surprise in the region within the week.

Other Japanese Air Attacks hit Bataan, Oosthaven, Medan, Tjepoe and Benkoelen. Japanese Recon planes flew over Cairns again for the first time in a while. But now I have some PT boats on patrol at Cairns and Townsville, so any incoming Bombardment TFs will have a less easy time of it. I've also almost finished pulling the last Australian unit out of PNG, so I ought to be able to put my Australian Catalinas back on Naval Search within a day or two.

Finally, my Dutch Catalinas were useful nuisances this turn as they attacked a number of Japaness ships around Sumatra and even put a bomb into a Tanker in Palembang Harbor. My opponent has another interesting choice here – put up some CAP over Palembang and other local bases, or put up Big Zero Sweeps over Darwin. I don't think that he can do both. [:D]

BTW – in addition to the Japanese ground thrust at Lashio it appears that my opponent is making another thrust at Ichang. It will be interesting to see if he can take it as easily as he did Nanyang as I've got much better Chinese units in Ichang. In any event, I brought my Chinese bombers out of training and set them to attack the incoming Japanese columns.

I've also started a different strategy in China as far as my LCUs go. Since my troops Starve in the Cities and Feast in the Countryside I've started to send Chinese troops to a number of Rough Ground crossroads and strategic positions, as well as starting some off to see if some of the Japanese bases that are behind the Front are being garrisoned or not. We'll see if I can distract my opponent a bit.

March 19, 1942 –

More Japanese TFs unloaded at Cebu and Manus. The Philippine troops at Cebu continued to fire at the landings, but with no success. Then a Japanese TF arrived at the empty base of Wyndham in Northern Australia and started to unload. So the Japanese Invasion of Australia has finally begun, after some mis-starts at Darwin.

Daylight brought the beginnings of the Battle of Lashio as a squadron of the AVG jumped some Oscars on LR CAP over the Japanese troops on the road to Lashio. The AVG squadron chased off the Oscars and shot down at least one. The main Air Battle took place later as the largest Allied Air Attack of the War arrived over the Japanese troops on the jungle road.

The Allied attack consisted of 6 Liberators, 5 B-17s, 7 Hudsons, 15 Blenheims, 11 Hurricanes, and 9 AVG H83s. Opposed to them were 1 Zero and a dozen Oscars. The Allied fighters blasted the Japanese Defenders out of the air, shooting down at least a half dozen with no Allied losses. No Japanese fighters reached the Allied bombers. But with the lousy weather the Allied aim was poor, even at 6000 feet, so the results of the air attack on the Japanese troops were relatively minor. But this served notice that Japanese advances in the region will be subject to non-trivial attacks.

Elsewhere, Japanese air attacks hit Darwin, Bataan, Oosthaven, Medan, Tjepoe and Benkoelen. Zeros and Oscars showed up on CAP over the Harbors at Palembang and Samarang. Dutch Catalinas attacked ships in both bases and hit an xAK hard in Samarang. So my plan to divert Japanese Air Power worked quite nicely.

I've now sat down all of my bombers in India and also the Dutch Catalinas. I'll let them rest and let the Japanese Air Units take some Operational losses. But, weather permitting, I'll send them out again in another turn or so.

The Japanese advance on Lashio is pretty serious. My bombers attacked the 33rd Division, 15th Army, 143rd Infantry Regiment and 55th Mountain Gun Regiment. I've got around 200 AV behind Level 3 Fortifications at Lashio, but they aren't likely to hold up too long aggainst the incoming attack. The only break may be if my opponent didn't send any Combat Engineers along. In any event, I hope to give my Bomber crews some good practice during the Battle.

Elsewhere, some Chinese bombers hit the Japanese troops on the road to Ichang, and Japanese bombers hit Chinese troops on the road away from Loyang. I wasn't really intending to abandon Loyang this turn, but I forgot to rescind the Marching Orders for the troops. Oh well, I didn't want to retreat under attack, so this will work out okay.

Japanese troops finally captured Manus. It appeared that my opponent did forget to send Combat troops at first. And at Cebu Japanese troops fired off a bombardment attack that did little. The Allied counter-fire actually did more damage to the Allied troops than the Japanese fire.

Finally, some Japanese troops arrived at Tjepoe on Java this turn. They should be able to capture the base easily since the only Dutch troops there have already been defeated once and retreated.

March 20, 1942 -

The night phase was quiet except for Japanese landings at the empty base of Wyndham in northern Australia. A second Japanese TF joined the first one. This second TF had trouble with the surf and lost a number of armored vehicles.

Once the Japanese units eventually got their act together and attacked Wyndham it turned out that my opponent had landed an Infantry Battalion, a Recon Regiment, and two Armored Regiments. I expected my bombers to hit the Japanese units this turn, but they didn't. Later on when I checked, it turned out that I had positioned my Bombers in the right place, but simply forgot to give them orders to attack... (sigh.) Oh well, next turn will be different, particularly if my opponent takes his time landing a Air Support unit at Wyndham.

The usual Japanese Air Raids hit Bataan, Tjepoe, Benkoelen, Oosthaven, and Darwin. Japanese Recon planes flew over Katherine. I hope that my opponent sends bombers over Katherine, because I have plenty of British Fighter pilots there waiting for a few shots at the Japanese.

I set my Dutch Catalinas back to Naval attacks this turn. It will be interesting to see if any of them get through the Japanese CAP again. I also set even more Bombers in India this time to hit the Japanese column that is on its way to Lashio. And even more Bombers are moving into position to increase the air attacks from multiple bases.

There were three Allied bases captured this turn by the Japanese. Wyndham, of course, was a walk-in since there was no opposition. A Japanese Infantry Regiment captured Tjepoe easily and drove the already-defeated Dutch troops further down the road towards Soerabaja. And three Japanese Infantry Divisions captured the now-empty Loyang. Surprisingly, the Japanese troops in Cebu only tried an artillery attack again instead of a Deliberate attack.

This AAR continues to be impressive. I'm still not really sure why Darwin and Port Moresby are such a magnet for players of the Japanese side, but clearly they are considered necessary.

I'm looking forward to seeing how things settle out, especially as your opponent becomes more proficient with using his various forces. AE does have quite a learning curve, as I am finding in my PBEM game. We are in August of '42, and while I think I've given him a roadbump or two, especially in Malaya, its very much been a matter of me building up forces and trying to reinforce key locations while he pretty much does as he likes.

How are you doing when it comes to shifting fuel and supply to Australia/NZ? Has your foe made much effort at New Caledonia/Noumea, or at taking Luganville?

How are you doing when it comes to shifting fuel and supply to Australia/NZ? Has your foe made much effort at New Caledonia/Noumea, or at taking Luganville?

So far, except for one Pleasure Cruise by the KB early on that accomplished nothing except to use up fuel, my opponent has left the South Pacific alone. He has been very busy in the Solomons, but I don't know if he is simply building up a network of mutually-supporting bases or is setting up for a venture further south.

It doesn't matter much to me because I have ignored the central South Pacific Islands, other than to set up plenty of Naval Air Search bases. Instead I have been mainly focussed upon making all of the Hawaiian Islands a massive death trap in case the Japanese show up, and also the major stepping stone into the Central Pacific later on if I want. I have been building up way-station bases in the Far South Pacific. I'm moved minor US forces to New Zeeland and Australia, but for the most part both regions are still on their own.

As far as fuel and supply to Oz goes, I was moving a lot in from Cape Town for a while, but thanks to the Funny Game Mechanics, almost all of the Supply ended up at Sidney (where I currently have around 600,000 supply points) and almost all of the fuel ended up at Adelaide, where I happen to have most of the ships for the region. So it's a pain because I can't refuel subs at Brisbane because the fuel won't move there, because I don't have ships there, because I don't want the ships to be sitting ducks for a KB raid... and so on. So I'm now shipping a massive amount of fuel and supply to Hobart because all of my troops in Tasmania are there, and the fuel shouldn't move anywhere. I've also shipped a lot of fuel and supplies to New Zeeland. I've got most of the Australian and all of the New Zeeland cruisers there, and I have moved in one US P-40E squadron.

Thanks for the interest! [:)]

Clearly my logistics skills are poor. I'm just now starting to build up significant supply and fuel in the South Pacific. My opponent has pretty much just taken the Solomons too, though he did grab New Guinea and Northern Oz. In any case, I do read your AAR, and at least from the number of hits it gets, I ain't the only one.

Fight on!

Clearly my logistics skills are poor. I'm just now starting to build up significant supply and fuel in the South Pacific.

Right from the beginning I went through all of my ships from Australia to India and sent my long range freighters to Cape Town, my long range troop ships to Aden and my long range tankers to Abadan. I moved my shorter range ships to the Arabian Sea ports of India and the Tasmanian sea ports of Australia. Therefore I had plenty of ships available to send supplies and fuel to Australia and started to do so right from the arrival of the first Supply convoy at Cape Town.

I've sent a few big supply/fuel TFs to New Zeeland, but not as many as Oz. I'm not operating big fleets in the region right now so I don't need a lot.

I also have been regularly sending single-ship long range transport TFs with supplies and fuel from the Canal Zone bases to Tahiti and vacinity. This has allowed me to build up a small stock pile to supplement the AOs that I have down there.

But mainly I have been sending the occasional very big TF instead of multiple small TFs. I find that a 30 ship TF that contains plenty of escorts and an AMC or two tends to discourage almost all submarine attacks from even starting. And I'm moving too far away from the Front for my opponent to be able to send the KB raiding, particularly since the TFs are relatively infrequent. Anyway, most of my opponent's subs keep on patrolling the coast of Australia from Melbourne to Townsville. They give my LBA plenty of ASW practice, and I don't bother sending any TFs that way, so this essentially keeps the Japanese subs out of my hair.

So, so far, so good. This strategy won't work later on when I start to move big combat forces into the region, but for now its fine for me.

March 21, 1942 -

The only activity during the night phase was yet more Japanese landings at Cebu. This time one of the incoming TFs got too close and the Shore Guns let loose, causing a number of casualties. Later on the Japanese troops, now consisting of two Infantry Regiments, an Armored Regiment, an Artillery Regiment, and and Engineer Regiment, fired off an Artillery attack that did no damage. I am totally puzzled why the Japanese don't just do a decent Banzai charge and get it over with, but I'm not complaining to my opponent. I'll just try to remember this as a lesson when I finally start to invade Japanese-held bases.

The Day Phase Air Attacks started out promisingly as a number of H83As jumped a handful of Oscars and a Zero in the hex down the road from Lashio. The AVG pilots shot up the Japanese nicely and didn't lose any planes or suffer any damage. Much later on the main Allied Air Attack came in to hit the Japanese troops in the jungle. There were 15 more A83s, 7 B-17s, 6 Liberators, 17 Blenheims, and 13 Hudsons. Four more Oscars and another Zero opposed them. The H83As had a good time with the Japanese fighters and then the bombers emptied out their bomb bays from 6000 feet.

The sole result was the damaging of one piece of field artillery, despite there being some 26,000 Japanese troops on the ground. My opponent got quite a kick out of the futility of the Allied attack. I thought about all of the trees that were hit instead of Japanese troops, and the Lumberjack Song came to mind. Oh well, I'll rest my Air Crews and try again in another turn or two.

I guess that I ought to be more realistic in my expectations, after all, the many and frequent Japanese Air Attacks on my troops haven't been doing a lot of damage either. So today, while Japanese planes hit Bataan, Oosthaven, Medan and the retreating troops in Java, only those retreating troops in the open took any serious damage.

Dutch Catalinas attempted to attack Japanese ships in Palembang Harbor again this turn, but the Cats were turned back by Zeros on CAP. Next turn I am going to try to spring a surprise on the Japanese bombers that have been hitting Oosthaven, and the Japanese troops that are closing in on Oosthaven.

BTW – the Australian bombers didn't fly against the Japanese troops in Wyndham again this turn. But this time it was due to Weather, and not my forgetfulness.

March 22, 1942 -

This was a strange night – nothing at all happened. [&:]

Daylight brought Japanese Air Raids on Darwin, Bataan and the Dutch stragglers in Java. Then a couple of Japanese Bomber squadrons raided Oosthaven where they were met by 3 Dutch B 339s. The Dutch fighter pilots shot up the Japanese bombers until the fighters ran out of ammo. Several Japanese planes were shot down and a number damaged. Afterwards I moved the B 339s out of Batavia to a less obvious location while I wait for another opportunity. Unfortunately, the Dutch Bomber attack that was supposed to hit the Japanese troops on the road to Oosthaven didn't fly.

Four Chinese Bomber squadrons did fly this turn and hit the Japanese troops on the road to Ichang. The Chinese bombers didn't cause much damage, but they did leave notice that Japanese troops in China need to be protected too.

Then things got hot over northern Australia. First off a number of Buffalos swept Wyndham but the Hudsons were late. By the time the Hudsons got there Carrier Zeros arrived on LR CAP and roughed up the old Australian light bombers. Then the Japanese CV TF sent off a Zero sweep of Katherine which shot down several Buffalos on CAP. This was followed by a Kate attack that was escorted by Zeros. So it obviously wasn't just a CVL off shore.

In the face of this major raising of the stakes by my opponent I started to pull back my forces even further. Right now Tennant will be my First Line in the region, with Daly Waters as the next fallback position. I need to draw the Japanese forces far enough inland so that they can't receive air support from the Japanese Naval Air units.

Never-the-less, I still get the feeling that the Northern Australian action is a Diversion and that the main Japanese target is northeastern Australia. So I am continuing to build up strength along the East Coast, particularly at the inland bases that can't be hit by Naval bombardments.

Elsewhere, yet another Japanese amphibious TF unloaded more troops at Cebu. Once again the Defenders fired off a number of guns at the incoming Japanese troops and caused a fair number of casualties. Afterwards, despite the addition of a third Japanese Infantry Regiment, the Japanese forces only fired off an Artillery attack. If I could only get supplies into that base I might hold it forever.

Speaking of supplies and holding out, the first Japanese ground attack hit Bataan this turn. Two Japanese Infantry Divisions, along with dozens and dozens of other ground units, did a Deliberate attack. The attack lowered the Fortifications to Level 3 and achieved a 1:2 result. The Japanese took 6174 casualties while the Allied forces took 2388 casualties. Importantly, many of the Japanese casualties were destroyed squads. Considering that the Allied troops at Bataan have been out of supply and bombed daily for ages, this is a quite good result. Things won't continue in this manner for long, but it has been a good effort.

March 23, 1942 -

Yet another Japanese TF started to unload at Cebu this turn. This time the TF was a bit further offshore and only a couple of Allied shore guns fired at it.

Next, Dutch sub O21 shot 4 torpedoes at a Japanse DD near Wnydham, but missed. The Japanese ships missed O21 in turn. I'm not certain, but I think that this was the CV TF that had harassed Katherine a turn or two before.

Then came my opponent's Big Experiment of the Turn, as once again a Japanese Bombardment TF hit Darwin. The only Allied unit left at Darwin is the Emery Point Fort, and it fired back as before, hitting the Japanese ships quite nicely. In the end the results were as follows: BB Ise – 8 hits, BB Nagato – 4 hits, CA Hyguro – 15 hits, on fire, CA Myoka – 9 hits, on fire, and CL Izugu – 3 hits. The Naval Bombardment caused some damage to the Fort Unit, but not a lot, and not to its main guns. If I could get supply to Darwin that base might hold out for a long time regardless of the Naval Bombardments.

Daylight brought the first Japanese air attacks on Soerabaja in quite a while. Surprisingly enough the attacks were aimed at the Port. Is my opponent actually thinking of trying to send some TFs into Soerabaja? I'd love to see those CD guns get into action! [:D]

There were other Japanese air raids on Bataan, Medan and Benkoelen. Otherwise things were reasonably quiet.

The Japanese besiegers of Bataan tried out an Artillery bombardment this turn. It had very little effect. At Cebu the Japanese troops finally tried a Deliberate attack which worked out reasonably well for them as the Japanese achieved a 3:1 result and lowered the Fortifications to Level 2.

My opponent is not being quite as passive in Sumatra as appeared for a while as Japanese troops showed up at Benkoelen this turn. Although the Dutch troops at Benkoelen have been fortifying the base for months, there aren't many troops there so I don't expect the base to hold out too long.

In Java, some Japanese troops caught up to the retreating Dutch troops just outside of Soerabaja, but I think that my troops can reach the Relative Safety of Soerabaja before an attack can be launched. We'll see next turn.

Now that I've pulled all of the Australian troops out of PNG I've got my Australian Catalinas back on Naval Search and Recon missions. It appears that there are some ships in port at Port Moresby, so I am sending some B-17s to pay a visit next turn, just in case they can find some sitting ducks. I believe that there are some Zeros at Port Moresby, but I'm hoping that the Flying Fortresses can blast past them.

Speaking of Blasting Past, the weather has cleared up a bit in Burma so I am sending my bombers and fighters there to attack the Japanese troops that are just outside of Lashio again. I set an AVG squadron on LR CAP over the Japanese troops in the hopes of driving off some of the Japanese CAP. With any luck this ought to be a sizable attack. It will be interesting to see if the Bombers cause more damage than the last couple of times that they tried.

Elsewhere, the Airfields at Prince Rupert reached Level 6 this turn, so I am starting the process to send some of the troops at Prince Rupert on to bases in Alaska.