Yes, I now have about 8 to 10 radars there. The last 4 days of IJN dancing around Attu looking for an opening have allowed me to run in a few convoys and bring in aerial transports to Adak. The end result is that Adak now has about 650 AV and 770+ Engineers. Tomorrow it will be a Level 4 port. This means it has moved from a Level 0 port to Level 4 in 4 days!!!!! US largesse is pretty amazing once well-channeled.
As to the PT boats etc: Yeah its a pity that I won't fight the IJN BBs when they're short of ammo but I think the key to dealing with a game like AE is to have utter equanimity if things go well or poorly. "X would be nice but if it doesn't happen it'll be fine. If it does happen it'll be fine too." Once you get significantly emotionally involved in plans you stick with them too long and you can find yourself sticking with the plan even though reason or fingerspitzengefuhl says you shouldn't.
I've also air transported 2 additional regiments in to Attu Island so that island's defences have increased to 550AV other forces. Next I'm going to fly an Aviation Support force ( 90 AV, all airmobile ) in. These are the same aviation units which I'm using to staff the extempore Airmobile Division in the south.
I spotted KB sneaking around trying to get into my operational depth. It sank the new CL Trenton which was heading to Dutch Harbour from Pearl Harbour. That's the price I pay for playing without CVs. My convoys caught at sea will be defenseless but that's what should make this more challenging and interesting in the longer run.
Honestly, I still don't know if he's attacking Attu in the end or pulling back to invade the Kuriles. I think the odds are shifting in favour of the Kuriles, which is a pity. If he lands at one of them I'll just pull all my subs in and send them to bring supplies to the other. Whatever happens one of those bases must be preserved as a jumping off point.
Elsewhere:
South Pacific: I'm shifting newly arrived forces and logistical preparations to this theatre as I'm becoming more certain that the Aleutians can more than defend themselves against Japanese incursions. I'll be sending most oft he follow-on forces from prince Rupert into the southern Pacific also. It is time to begin wakening that sector. There are 560 AV of troops trapped behind Japanese lines on one of the Pacific islands. If I can relieve them then those troops can provide most of the island defence forces necessary to hold the islands my parachutists and marine raiders capture.
In Oz some of my forces have begun outflanking his river-line defences north of Katherine and he has, accordingly, begun to pull back. This is good. When I first played him Damian would have kept on trying to salvage this situation. Now he recognises the situation and abandons a position when it is no longer tenable. This removes most of my opportunities to exploit such positional advantages and is good play on his part.
Operation Sneaky has been discovered ;-(. Basically I was trying to sneak a division of troops into his strategic depth all the way up to Babo - which is level with the 2nd line of defences he has been developing in the DEI region. I got the idea when I realised his aerial recon out of Port Moresby was poor and Horn Island held a Brigade of Australians. Unfortunately I think Damian must have gotten a sniff of my forces when a sub stumbled over an AMC.
In any case I've occupied 4 bases along the western PNG coastline and while he is amphibiously invading Dobo I should have the opportunity to fly and transport more men into a couple of them. It'll only dislocate the first line of defence now, which is a pity, but there's a limit to what you can with the forces available when you take over in a game like this. Still, better than nothing.
Burma:
He is pulling the tank forces etc at Myitkina back through the jungle trails. He isn't even trying to fight through the British cutting the road back to southern Malaysia. This is, again, absolutely the correct call and its good to see he hasn't wasted any time making it. The position is compromised, this is the best play he can make at this time and so he has made it without complaining or looking back. Its nice to see, Damian has come a long way.
He is also trying to slip a raiding TF into my supply lines between Colombo and Chittagong. In response to this raid - which puts these forces out of position in terms of countering any movements to Ramree I'm sending whatever I have ready at the moment to Akyab.
At Akyab the plan is to unload my armoured forces while the infantry, AAA etc move on to Ramree while they will unload. The RN covering force will also move to Ramree. Then everything will pull back to Akyab and my forces will begin loading the armoured forces and the "string of pearls" forces for the littoral landings along the coast from Ramree.
This will take a few days to load and be ready to go in time for the timeline outlined in post 126.
China:
The ravening hordes have been spotted. They are each 46 miles from their initial objectives and there's no sign of major IJA reactions. Even if he starts reacting now I don't think he could slip in enough troops to make a difference. It really looks like I've achieved strategic surprise in this sector. Let that be a lesson to ever IJA player - In China you must ALWAYS have a couple of IJAAF or IJNAF recon units assigned to recon missions without objectives. They'll fly to random hexes and spot whether anything's there and give you a good sense of whether a strategic reserve is mobilising. Of course most players won't think of using the Chinese in a manoeuvrist way but you've got to play as though they're good enough to make that analysis, at least until the point in time when you've got their measure and can step down precautionary commitments to levels commensurate with their actual ability.
So, next week he should be decisively engaged by strong Allied combat elements along the coast and plains in Burma, should be forced back to Darwin by the manoeuvre of my inferior forces, will show his hand regarding either the Kuriles or Burma and should lose a couple of bases in China - leading to strain on his ability to maintain a strategic reserve. He'll mop up a couple of bases in PNG since the force correlation there is just hugely unfavourable to me and the forces I have aren't capable of a manoeuvrist solution. Ah well, a bit of rain has to fall on every plan.
So, all in all, its going largely according to plan.
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