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I've got to keep PzB "honest", so I let him know that yet another of his important bases is now "open for business" as far as aerial bombardments go on August 12:

Day Air attack on Rabaul , at 61,88

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 destroyed, 17 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 29

It's always nice to get some Bettys on the ground. Now he has to decide if he wants to put some CAP there or not.

Speaking of CAP, PzB put some LRCAP onto Bombay:

Day Air attack on Bombay , at 20,10

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 6
Wellington III x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Wellington III: 14 destroyed, 9 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
289 casualties reported

Port supply hits 1

His Zeros had to come from either of two bases, so I'll bomb both with my B-24s. In the meanwhile, I'm not stopping the bombing of Bombay.

In the meanwhile, PzB completed his encirclement of my troops in NE India, not that this made any difference since as soon as one of his units "touches" one of mine, my units are frozen in place. So I've pulled back that armored unit, there is no way it can "pathfind" a way out for my troops now. What is really irritating is that I've got troops that aren't in contact with the enemy, have a clear path to Malir and still won't move. But then, everyone knows what I think of the movement rules in the game ...

Java continues to be nasty and messy as far as air battles go:

Day Air attack on Tjilitjap , at 19,62

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24
A6M3 Zero x 19
Ki-21 Sally x 67

Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 2
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2
P-40B Tomahawk x 23
P-40E Warhawk x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 15 destroyed, 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 8 destroyed, 17 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 9 destroyed, 12 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 13 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 12 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 25

But PzB hasn't been able to shut down my airbases, nor keep me from moving my air groups to wherever I want to engage him next.

BTW - speaking of "engaging forces", look at this neat little surprise I dropped on PzB in China:

Day Air attack on Hong Kong , at 43,42

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
IL-4c x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
IL-4c: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
BB Nagato, Bomb hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port supply hits 1

That will slow down the repairs on those guys nicely. PzB will undoubtedly move a ton of fighters into HK now, but it was still fun to say, "Hello"...[:D]

All this fun in the air aside, I've started to put troops into another base in the Gilberts. My plans continue to come together well.

Dave Baranyi

The initial euphoria gained from escaping immediate destruction is being replaced by an underlying level of unease as PzB starts to tighten the nooses around Northern India and Java. PzB isn't attacking Karachi right now because he wants to ready his troops for a final assault. So I have a month or so before his troops near the "100%" level and he starts his march on Karachi. I received the 25th Brit Infantry and that's about it as far as combat troops go for the next few months, other than one US combat engineering group that will come in a couple of weeks. I will get more engineering units and base forces, but I don't need and can't use them in India. Also, thanks to the movement rules that prevent my troops from disengaging to uncontested hexes, I probably won't get any more "stray" troops making it to Karachi/Malir. I should be able to do a few more guerrilla attacks, but they won't make much of a difference.

It also looks like my "glory days" of bombing at will in India are coming to a close as PzB moves more base forces into position to be able to support LR CAP over Bombay, Ahmadabad and the other nearby bases. PzB has entered a war of attrition with me and I don't have enough long range bombers to be able to counter all of his moves. Not having long range CAP is also a big problem. So while I can still cause damage in certain locals:

Day Air attack on Ahmadabad, at 24, 8

Allied aircraft
Beaufort I x 12
Beaufort V-IX x 28
P-40E Warhawk x 7

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort I: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
76 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 10

Day Air attack on Hyderabad, at 20, 17

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 5 damaged

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 1

(I was hoping to catch some of his LR CAP on the ground.)

But it is getting harder and costlier to do so everywhere at once as I could before:

Day Air attack on Bombay, at 20, 10

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 10
Wellington III x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 10 destroyed, 2 damaged
Wellington III: 2 destroyed, 9 damaged

Japanese Ships
APD APD-33, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
273 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

The same sort of thing is happening in Java:

Day Air attack on Batavia, at 19, 59

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
A6M3 Zero x 8

Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 2
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5
SBD Dauntless x 9
P-40B Tomahawk x 15
P-40E Warhawk x 3
A-20B Boston x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar: 2 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 10 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 13 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
74 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Runway hits 6

And I didn't do much to stop the response:

Day Air attack on Tjilitjap, at 19, 62

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
A6M3 Zero x 35
Ki-21 Sally x 48
Ki-46-II Dinah x 3

Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 2
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3
P-40B Tomahawk x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar: 5 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 6 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
Runway hits 1

I need to be able to open other fronts and provoke a reaction from PzB, but it looks as if he is going to be patient and avoid brash reactions. My biggest problem is that I don't have combat reserves in any important locations. I'm still struggling with redistribution of my land forces. I finally have some large transport TFs on the way from Hawaii to the West Coast, but it is a long way from there to the front lines. I'm going to have to "steal" some troops from some theatres in order to be able to project them into others, and hope that PzB doesn't realize what I am doing. At least my naval assets are getting to where they are useful to me.

The brightest area for me is still in the Gilberts where I am continuing to build up mutually supporting bases without interference from PzB. He seems content to reinforce his own key bases in the Marshalls and leave me alone. I would like to be able to start a combined-arms offensive in the Marshalls somewhere during the next two months. I want to be able to go in while PzB is still watching things in the Solomons, PNG, the DEI and India. But in order to do this, I will need to convince PzB that I can advance in those other theatres too - or at least in all of them other than India.

You may ask; why the Marshalls and not somewhere further west? Well, time and distance are the main reasons. I can get forces to the Gilberts in a lot shorter time than I can to the DEI. And likewise it takes PzB a lot longer to get forces to the Marshalls. I'm still not ready to go after PzB's more heavily defended bases, but instead I intend to try to neutralize those bases and then go after undefended or lightly defended bases that will give me more stepping stones. That way I get the best effect from my still very limited forces.

Of course, if PzB were to suddenly bring a reconstituted KB back into the Central Pacific to threaten the Gilberts, the dynamics would change dramatically, but I do have some significant forces there now, and a lot of way stations to allow ships to get out of harm's way quickly. And if PzB does commit the KB to one location, I'll simply take advantage of the opportunity to go elsewhere.

Time will tell.

Dave Baranyi

Surprisingly enough, PzB didn't continue his LR CAP over Bombay on August 14. So my B-24s were able to get in and hit the runways untouched. PzB didn't put any LR CAP over Ahmadabad either, so my short-range bombers were able to get in there too. PzB isn't too foolish - he did put some CAP over Hong Kong and whacked my Chinese bombers. He also appears to have removed some of his ships from port in HK. The other surprise was that my B-17s in PM didn't launch again. Oh well, I'll let them rest and build up numbers - they will launch sooner or later.

PzB has a couple of TFs moving into the Marshalls again from the west. I'm going to move some B-25s into Tarawa next turn to see if I can reach any of the ships. Just in case these aren't just transport TFs I'm moving SC and AC TFs into the waters around Tarawa.

My scouting around indicates that PzB has a small land force in Gili-Gili. If I can confirm what he has there, I may try to take it. If nothing else, a bombardment force ought to catch his attention.

I'm still trying to reunite little bits and stragglers of land and air units. There are some things that can't be fixed, such as two Vildebeasts that are now orphans because the rest of their squad upgraded to Spitfires. Others I'm trying to match up and bring to some reasonable size, or else disband them and worry about them at a later date. I have too many obsolete planes and too few modern ones.

Dave Baranyi

August 15 witnessed the fall of Rawalpindi. The troops there did cause a number of Japanese casualties, but the outcome was never in doubt:

Ground combat at Rawalpindi

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 108830 troops, 660 guns, 12 vehicles

Defending force 41375 troops, 206 guns, 5 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Rawalpindi base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
1066 casualties reported
Guns lost 15
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
50308 casualties reported
Guns lost 249
Vehicles lost 2

Those troops never got a chance to become established or rested and most were pushed in after the fall of Delhi. PzB won't find the same situation in Karachi/Malir. Malir is now up to a level 5 fortress and rising. Once I finish the fortifications in Malir I'll pull the non-combat engineers back to Karachi. I do have one last infantry group that has escaped the "flypaper" of the movement rules and will reach Karachi. Every bit helps.

PzB sent his LR CAP back to cover Bombay, but it didn't keep me from closing the air fields again:

Day Air attack on Bombay , at 20,10

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 19
B-24D Liberator x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 9 destroyed, 9 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 5 destroyed, 11 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
469 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 43
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

This turn I'm sending the B-24s after suspected LR CAP bases - we'll see if I get lucky. I've also moved all of my short-range bombers to Malir to give them an extra edge in their attacks on Ahmadabad. Things are now pretty much as optimal as they will get before the eventual Japanese assault. PzB's success in Rawalpindi may well encourage him to take on Karachi/Malir sooner rather than later.

In the meanwhile, PzB is bombing various locations in Java with more LBA than I can muster. This is a great example of how the Japanese player is not at such a big disadvantage in LBA as many people seem to think:

Day Air attack on Tjilitjap , at 19,62

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
Ki-21 Sally x 90
Ki-49 Helen x 23

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
A-20B Boston: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 22

Day Air attack on Soerabaja , at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 50
G4M1 Betty x 62

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 39

Simultaneously with this PzB is bombing Chinese positions with even more bombers. This is why I am trying to keep his air bases near my critical areas under continuous attack via the bombers that I have. I can't stop Japanese attacks of this scale with mid-42 Allied fighters. And my bomber attacks in the Marshalls and on Rabaul have succeeded in attracting PzB's notice. Will he react to my provacation or maintain his course?

Day Air attack on Jaluit , at 81,84

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-17E Fortress x 26

Allied aircraft losses
F-5A Lightning: 2 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged

Port supply hits 1

Day Air attack on Rabaul , at 61,88

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed, 26 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 9

BTW - it looks as if at least one of the TFs that I spotted in the Marshalls may well be laying minefields:

ASW attack at 80,84

Japanese Ships
ML Ma 1
PG Toyotsu Maru
PG Kaiun Maru
MSW Shonan Maru #7
MSW Chitose Maru

Allied Ships
SS Pollack

These TFs appear to be coming east from Truk. I'm getting tempted to try to "thread the needle" and hunt some of them down on their return trip. I'm also about to check into closing a gap in my perimeter as well as extending my perimeter in another place. The next couple of days will tell me how much value these ideas have.

Dave Baranyi

A number of milestones were reached on August 16. The first big transport TF from the central Pacific reached San Francisco. This finally allows me to start to move significant forces westwards. And more large transport TFs are on the way and only a few days away. BTW - the transport TFs from Oz and the Indian Ocean are reaching the eastern Pacific at this time too, so it won't be too long before I can have the to-and-fro pipeline running that I need.

Another milestone was reached in the Solomons, as an invasion force landed on the Russell Islands. This is the first serious counterattack that I have staged. More are on the way.

Finally, a milestone was reached in India - PzB has his first unit on the road to Malir/Karachi. I'm not certain if this is just an attempt to play "sticky paper" with the one last Allied unit that is on the road to Malir/Karachi, or a "nuisance" move to try to start to block my routes and take advantage of the movement idiocy. In any event, due to the movement idiocy (I refuse to call it "rules") I am moving troops out to a ring around Malir/Karachi so that I am not impeded from doing internal moves.

PzB also attempted to interfere with my aerial attacks on Ahmadabad in a big way, and found out that it is not as easy as it seems:

Day Air attack on Ahmadabad, at 24, 8

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18

Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 8
F4F-4 Wildcat x 20
Wirraway x 5
Kittyhawk I x 24
Beaufort I x 12
Beaufort V-IX x 22
P-40E Warhawk x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 63 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar: 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Wirraway: 5 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged
Beaufort I: 4 destroyed, 4 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 3 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 7 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
159 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 23

The Zeros came in from Delhi on LR CAP. That's fine with me, because LR CAP takes more out of the attackers than normal local cap. And of course, I'll have my B-24s go after Delhi this turn. BTW - the attack on Bombay was rained out.

Things were quieter in Java, although I did attack Batavia and PzB attacked Tjilitjap in return. We are both low on rested air units in that area. In the meanwhile I sent more attacks against Timor and Amboina. Speaking of that region, one of my picket subs ran into a big transport TF on the way to either Timor or the neighbourhood. My search planes confirmed this as well as spotting another transport in the same local. I'm hoping that they are going to Timor, so I set all my tac bombers to naval attack, and set up what I hope will be an additional surprise. In the meanwhile I am continuing to bomb Amboina and Koepang to keep PzB from putting any search planes in those locations. I like to be able to operate without "eyes from above".

I forgot to stand down the B-17s at PM this turn, so they went in and fought it out with some Zeros, but accomplished little of substance. However, this does cause PzB to keep an eye out on my intentions in that area, particularly since I reconned Gili-Gili last turn. And there will be more activity in the Gilberts/Marshalls to help keep PzB antsy.

Dave Baranyi

Well, for the first time since I took over, I caught PzB in a nice little trap as he was sending reinforcements down to Timor:

Day Air attack on TF at 29,75

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 14
SBD Dauntless x 34
TBF Avenger x 14

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Kuretake
PG Kamitsu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
APD APD-32, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Assam, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Nokaze
AP Tenpei Maru
AP Kyuden Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PC Ch 16, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Hachirogata Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PG Aso Maru
APD APD-34, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Of course, PzB has now filled Kopeng with planes, but that's good, because I'm sending my carrier TF back to port at flank speed, and sending lots and lots of bombers after the airbase at Kopeng. I'm hoping to catch him with planes on the ground.

One unpleasant surprise that I received was that my marines on Russell Island didn't attack. I was certain that I set them to "deliberate attack", but nothing happened and they were just on "defensive" when I looked. I am hoping that this was due to a CTD that I had while I was setting up the last turn. I don't mind forgetting something when I am doing a recovery from a CTD, but I don't want to find that there is yet another subtle problem with land combat.

In the meanwhile, I finally found out what PzB has been doing with his subs - he has sent a bunch of them to the Solomons and is trying to mine Lunga. Okay, I can live with that - I also have minesweepers on hand and lots of subchasers on their way to the central Pacific.

In the meanwhile, the air war went a bit more my way again in India:

Day Air attack on Delhi , at 27,10

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 41

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
21 casualties reported

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 52

Day Air attack on Bombay , at 20,10

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 8
Wellington III x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
583 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 64

I'm also back to trying to make certain that PzB's forces in PNG can't interfere with me:

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 45

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
51 casualties reported

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 32

In the meanwhile, PzB bombed Tjilitjap heavily again - it will be interesting to see if this continues or if some of those planes have ended up on Timor.

In the meanwhile, another big transport TF reached San Fran.

Dave Baranyi

Well, not all of my air attacks on Koepang took off on August 18, but the one that "counted" did:

Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 60

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 9 destroyed, 7 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 28 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
205 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 29

Intel now says that the air fields are at 100 damage. So I've changed all my mid-range bombers to "naval attack", but I'm still going back with the B-17s. I'm letting my carrier TF return to port to refuel and rearm. There is no rush - I'm not trying to stop PzB from sending troops to Timor - I just want to maroon them there. Afterwards I'll simply bomb them into the Stone Age. In the meanwhile, those troops in Koepang won't be elsewhere, which is what I want.

BTW - PzB did stop his air attacks on Java. But I didn't:

Day Air attack on Batavia , at 19,59

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 22

Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 9
P-40B Tomahawk x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 2
A-20B Boston x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort V-IX: 2 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Meanwhile, the air war continued in India:

Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Wirraway x 5
Kittyhawk I x 19
Beaufort I x 17
Beaufort V-IX x 25
P-40E Warhawk x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-46-II Dinah: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort I: 1 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
201 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 12

Day Air attack on Bombay , at 20,10

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 33
B-24D Liberator x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 10 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 10 destroyed, 5 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 11 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
467 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 20
Port supply hits 2

And I keep on forgetting to rest those Chinese bombers, but that's turning out okay:

Day Air attack on Hong Kong , at 43,42

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 9
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 3

Allied aircraft
IL-4c x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
IL-4c: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga, Bomb hits 2
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

And I've started bombing elsewhere, just to keep PzB on his toes:

Day Air attack on Shortlands , at 63,93

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 13
B-26B Marauder x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-51 Sonia: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 13 damaged

Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 3

And I'm starting to run out of good targets in PNG:

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 43

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 25

I even got some of my fighter bombers in Malir to attack PzB's nuisance troops on the road between Ahamdabad and Malir:

Day Air attack on Yokosuka 1st SNLF, at 23,6

Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 19
Kittyhawk I x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
67 casualties reported

Finally, my invasion troops attacked this time, so it must have been me forgetting to recover all of my moves from the CTD the turn before:

Ground combat at Tenimbar

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 537 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Tenimbar base !!!

Ground combat at Russell Islands

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 660 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Russell Islands base !!!

Dave Baranyi

Well, it goes to show you that you can't really trust the Intel folks - they must be first cousins to General Magoo who runs my search planes...[8|]

Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 8 destroyed, 8 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 6 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
102 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 13

The rest of my tac bombers went in scattered after the ships at dock and got a few hits but also suffered a lot of damage. So for this turn I'm putting even more bombers on air field attack and finally remembering to set the recons to Koepang.

Things have stayed quieter in Java - I'm bombing PzB but he isn't bombing me. And after a day's rest I'm sending out the flyboys from Karachi again - I haven't smacked Bombay in a while.

So I keep switching around which planes go onto attack and where I send my ships - there ought to be another landing next turn. The rest of my plan keeps on coming together, as well, PzB's initial move on Karachi/Malir seems to have slowed down. Maybe he just wanted to keep the remainders of my stragglers from making it to Karachi.

So unless PzB commits some of the KB to the Timor theater, I ought to be able to make life miserable for the garrison that PzB got in there. I won't bother to invade Koepang, I'll just neutralize it and eventually go around it.

Dave Baranyi

Wow, this game is moving right along. How many turns do you guys do per day? I can barely manage one per day in my PBEMs.

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Wow, this game is moving right along. How many turns do you guys do per day? I can barely manage one per day in my PBEMs.

It goes in spurts. We're usually doing two turns a day, some times one more. I'm at the stage now where a lot of things are in motion so I don't need to check everything every turn. But Real Life tends to get in the way of Game Life so this won't always be the case.

Dave

August 20th was a relatively quiet day. I did capture Nauru:

Ground combat at Nauru Island

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 2735 troops, 27 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 25 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Nauru Island base !!!

Nauru is roughly inbetween the Gilberts and the Solomons, so it is a good place to put some air patrols in place.

Otherwise I whacked Koepang pretty well with a number of planes and kept PzB's planes there grounded. He pulled out his ships so my carrier TF didn't get a second chance at them, but as I told PzB, I'll get more chances to sink his ships in the future. [;)] (He also has to get past the subs that I have in that region.)

"Quiet" is good - it means that I am moving forces around without being bothered.

Dave Baranyi

I'm still amazed at the difference in the tone between your and wobblys AAR. In the late stages he was almost always in a dark gloomy and defeatist mood (understandable) while you seem to totally ignore any setbacks or defeats [:D]

ORIGINAL: String

I'm still amazed at the difference in the tone between your and wobblys AAR. In the late stages he was almost always in a dark gloomy and defeatist mood (understandable) while you seem to totally ignore any setbacks or defeats [:D]

I'm a "glass is half-full" sort of guy. RL has always been full of obsticles for me and I've developed a particular style for dealing with them. What you see in my game reports is a reflection of that style,

I realize that I haven't "won" this game by any definition. PzB is waaaaay ahead of me in points. I will need to literally sink his entire navy, recapture most lost bases and bomb Japan back into the Stone Age in order to have a hope of breaking even. Months ago I commented on how I wasn't certain how an Allied player can win this game. I'm still not sure if it is possible. But I certainly am grateful for PzB giving me the chance to try a situation in which the Allies were almost defeated.

Wobbly was frustrated by many of the frustrating things about the game. I've now taken the attitude that I'm playing WiTP and I am not trying to "re-live" the Second World War - this makes accepting the frustrating aspect of the game mechanics easier. I don't care now how "historic" anything that I do appears - WitP is a Gary Grigsby game and I'll play if for what it is.

Thanks for your comments -

Dave Baranyi

ORIGINAL: ADavidB
I've now taken the attitude that I'm playing WiTP and I am not trying to "re-live" the Second World War - this makes accepting the frustrating aspect of the game mechanics easier. I don't care now how "historic" anything that I do appears - WitP is a Gary Grigsby game and I'll play if for what it is.

This is so true. You have to concentrate on what actually does happen rather than what you think should happen. It's not a simulation - it's a game (with lots of bugs). Brilliant but flawed ...

P.S. I'm enjoying this AAR and really hoping to see the total invasion of India thwarted. C'mon the Brits!

"I will need to literally sink his entire navy, recapture most lost bases and bomb Japan back into the Stone Age in order to have a hope of breaking even."

Pretty much what happened in real life -- accept for losing India.

Game mechanics are a problem. I think the bigger problem may be innacurate TOEs. I think the Japanese are typically over-gunned and over-supported. I doubt the UK and Commonwealth troops are close. Troops arriving from other theatres should -- for example -- at least reflect the 72 gun 25lb'er field artillery regiment of the infantry division and 6 3" mortars per battalion.

Practice does make perfect as far as bombing Koepang from Oz goes. On August 21 I started to get things ordered the way that I like:

Day Air attack on Koepang, at 28, 77

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 72

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 55

Day Air attack on Koepang, at 28, 77

Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 3
Martin 139 x 6
Hudson I x 19

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
24 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 17

I'll just keep this up on a regular basis and help PzB's forces there to waste away.

In the meanwhile in Java my now reduced forces are still going after PzB's rather quiet forces too:

Day Air attack on Batavia, at 19, 59

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 20

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 3
Beaufort V-IX x 6
P-40B Tomahawk x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 5
A-20B Boston x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 2 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 3

Day Air attack on Malang, at 22, 66

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed

Runway hits 2

True, it's an ugly war of attrition, but it keeps PzB tied up and forces him to decide whether or not to keep enough forces there to stop me or to let me continue to be a small, aching wound.

Meanwhile, in the Marshalls, PzB has been trying to reinforce key bases, and I'm helping to waste his efforts:

Day Air attack on Jaluit, at 81, 84

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-17E Fortress x 24

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 2

Jaluit is one of the "level 0" air bases that is hard to move up even to a level 1. Getting bombed regularly doesn't help. And I found out to my satisfaction that B-25s do reach Jaluit quite nicely from Tawara:

Day Air attack on TF, near Jaluit at 81, 84

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 30

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PG Eiko Maru, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
AP Tempei Maru, Bomb hits 12, on fire, heavy damage
AG AG-358, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
59 casualties reported

Two of those ships sank. In the meanwhile I continue to pour troops into all of the Marshalls as well as Nauru and build them all up.

Speaking of moving forces, PzB is doing something really strange in the Bay of Bengal. He has a sizable transport TF that is travelling due west and is now SW of Ceylon. What is he doing? Is he trying to go to the "map edge" and if so, why? It's not like I have a lot of anti-shipping planes in Colombo. Also, where does he intend to go with that TF? Is he planning to bring it north to reinforce India or invade Karachi from the Sea, or does he want to go south and try a sneak attack on some place like Perth or Broom? This will require watching. If he does come south I'll have to do a "map edge" sweep with my carrier TFs to discourage him from doing it again. <g>

Meanwhile, the big action is finally getting underway in India. PzB has 20 units on the road to Malir. They will first have to fight their way through a Chindits force on the outskirts. We will see if I get the advantage of the open terrain rules on attacks. I have also set all of my planes in Malir to ground attack on that approaching force. I'm not a big fan of "ground attack", but I need to at least try it here. The air groups in Karachi will continue to bomb Bombay and other key sites.

Dave Baranyi

Well, half of my Indian air attacks got off and performed well on August 22:

Day Air attack on Bombay, at 20, 10

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 40
B-24D Liberator x 36

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
642 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 63
Port hits 3
Port supply hits 1

I'm not certain that PzB will bother to try to defend Bombay any more. He may well feel that he will capture Karachi soon enough so that there is no point at "throwing good after bad" for the next little while. Unfortunately, my "ground attack" from Malir didn't fly, so now PzB's attackers are up in contact with the Chindits.

I've now ordered all of the non-combat engineers out of Malir and into Karachi. I will next spread them out in the various hexes to the north of Karachi. I want to avoid letting PzB freeze me in place, and I also want to set up an escape area in case his forces turn out to be more overwhelming that I expect. I have no idea if this will work, but with the idiocy inherent in the current movement rules I have to try something.

Down in the DEI PzB continues to ignore my bases in Java. He is just letting my small, tired air forces slug it out with his small tired air forces. I guess that he wants to rest up his main LBA forces for some showdown elsewhere. I also suspect that he is waiting to do anything on the ground until he frees up some troops from India. So my job in India is to delay that as long as possible.

In the meanwhile my LBA continues to do its job on Koepang:

Day Air attack on Koepang, at 28, 77

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 71

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed, 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
121 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 50

Day Air attack on Koepang, at 28, 77

Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 4
Martin 139 x 6
Hudson I x 33

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PG Kamitsu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Port hits 2
Port supply hits 7

The rest of my plan continues as planned. I'll actually get a substantial force in a couple of weeks, so that will allow me more flexibility. In addition, big returning transport TFs continue to reach both San Fran and Pearl.

Dave Baranyi

I am quite sure PzB isn´t going after Oz. He can do so later, when he has all his forces from India (which will be quite crack units then). I can think about two possibilities:
a) PzB brings in supplies for the last siege (not so propable, he got 800000 supplies in Bombay)
b) he brings in transports (with troops?) to invade Karachi.

If b) is correct, where are his carriers? I don´t think PzB will invade from sea without massive support (BBs, carriers). Could your airforce withstand such an massive hit?

ORIGINAL: Frank

I am quite sure PzB isn´t going after Oz. He can do so later, when he has all his forces from India (which will be quite crack units then). I can think about two possibilities:
a) PzB brings in supplies for the last siege (not so propable, he got 800000 supplies in Bombay)
b) he brings in transports (with troops?) to invade Karachi.

If b) is correct, where are his carriers? I don´t think PzB will invade from sea without massive support (BBs, carriers). Could your airforce withstand such an massive hit?

If you are reading PzB's AAR, you really shouldn't be passing information to me such as the amount of supply in Bombay. I appreciate the thought, but it ruins a bit of the fun of writing the AARs for both of us.

If PzB wants to commit a large group of his forces to an invasion of Karachi, he can make it work. My defense is based upon making such an invasion very costly for PzB. And I think that PzB realizes that as soon as I see major forces of his committed to Karachi I will be invading the Central Pacific in a big way - remember, Karachi is a long ways from the Marianas.

I believe that PzB is betting that he can overcome my defenses on land and will be patient with his naval. He has left one battle group in Bombay to prevent me from going in with bombardment TFs, or even a quick invasion. He will probably keep some of his carriers around in case I try to have my ships flee. But he doesn't want to commit his carriers to an air war of attrition with my air forces - I am too strong right now, particularly while I still hold Malir. Once he captures Malir he can take a chance on trying to close the airfields at Karachi, but that will still be a dangerous and costly effort for him. That is why he is building up the other air bases in Northern India and resting up his LBA - I expect him to try one last time to close down my air bases by air attack when he feels that he can overwhelm me.

I suspect that he might try to land those troops on that TF to the north of Karachi to cut off my escape routes. That's why I will be moving non-combat troops to all of the hexes to the north and northeast of Karachi - this way I can maintain control of the movement and slow down any advances from the rear.

As far as Oz goes, if I were in PzB's shoes, I would try a raid-invassion of Perth. It can't hurt and it would distract the Allies in a location that is hard to react to quickly. So my defensive strategy has been to strengthen my key defensive perimeter everywhere so that I can slow down raid-invasions and respond to them as opportunities to hit at his fleet.

My major objective at this time is to engage his fleet at near-equal or better terms any time that I can. He doesn't get to replace his major ships - I do mine. And the more of his transports ships I sink, the fewer are around to move his troops out of India. Remember, the quickest and easiest way to defeat Japanese troops is to sink them at sea. [:D]

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi

I only read Wobblies and your AARs. I think Wobbly stated PzB caught a very large amount of supplies in Bombay.