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ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Chez-san: How may I be of service? (bows)

Thank you for your offer. I'm sure I will call upon it often!

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Chez,

You mentioned that the air battle didn't go as you desired / expected in the PI and that comparatively few of the Allied aircraft were downed. Was this because you just didn't encounter them (e.g., they were stood down or on escort rather than CAP) or that they were engaged, but your fliers fared poorly?

Very few P-40s came up to fight in the PI but that is most likely due to surprise. I expect much more action this turn.

I encountered quite a few Buffalos over Malaysia. Lots of air battles that had little if any result in air-air combat. Almost like they were sparring. Of course, the majority of the battles pitched Nates vs Buffalos so that may explain it. My Oscars and Zeros will be moving in next turn and that should help.

Chez

A lot of good comments here but unfortunately I am out of time. I have to head to work.

I'll try to respond later tonight.

Chez

1. Q-Ball's AAR has extensive commentary on how to achieve an auto victory (and not just by doing India). The principles hold equally for Australia.

2. You don't seem to be factoring in harvesting strategic VPs (see Q-Ball AAR) for Japan.

3. Invading New Zealand before making the big move on Australia is a mistake because:

(a) you don't need it to cut off Australia from West Coast
(b) still leaves CapeTown-Perth/Adelaide SLOC completely open
(c) imposes a delay on Japanese operations against Australia
(d) triggers significant Allied reinforcements which can be deployed decisively to stymie Japanese operations against Sumatra, Java or Burma - IOW the Allied player does not have to waste time getting those reinforcements all the way to NZ but can move them to far more decisive theatres far closer to their arrival location
(e) if you invade NZ you must capture both the North and South Islands in order to minimise your deployment - even then the garrison requirements of 260 Ass Val (other wise you don't get the full VP value) is a noticeable drain on your Australian schwerpunkt

4. Landing in Perth is not the way to cut the Trans Australia railway. To cut the rail line you either land at Esperance and drive north to capture Kalgoorlie, or capture Port Augusta. Both those locations are above the Line Of Death and therefore do not trigger the emergency Australian reinforcements.

5. Landing at Port Kembla has several downsides:

(a) it triggers the emergency Australian reinforcements - again just like NZ, these reinforcements can be gainfully employed elsewhere but unlike NZ, there are sufficient Australian forces present to impose a stubborn Allied defence which gains sufficient time for the reinforcements to actually be transferred to Australia.
(b) Port Kembla is very close to major Allied reserves which can quickly join the defence
(c) there are several close by mutually supporting airbases which you will have difficulty in closing down

6. Overall you are dissipating your Australian operations into too many separate, non mutually supportive, operations

7. You have absolutely no grounds for believing your opponent will move troops away from Sydney/Melbourne to meet any Japanese landing elsewhere - in his game against Q-Ball he relied upon the Indian Line Of Death, why would he not do the same in Australia, particularly as landing at Port Kembla guarantees him receiving a high boost in reinforcements

8. I don't believe you have properly calculated how long and with what forces, the capture of the SRA will need. Very noticeable is your complete oversight of Java and almost only a passing reference to Sumatra in your opening remarks. You need both Australia and the SRA for auto victory calculations (directly in accumulating VPs and maintaining a strong economy).

9. In his game against Q-Ball, your opponent almost from day 1 started evacuating his Malaya forces out via Port Blair. Your early move on Sabang/Port Blair will cut off this route but in fact will encourage him to take the southern escape route via Palembang/Oosthaven/Batavia.

10. The net result of points 3, 8 and 9 above is that you have an extremely optimistic timetable for your Australian invasion.

Hi Alfred,

I have never tried an invasion of Australia or NZ so I welcome your comments. You have some very valid points so I'll try to justify my thoughts. I am open to changing my course of action if that's what I need to do.

1. I am trying to avoid reading any AAR that Canoerebel is a player in, or an opponent of. I have read the first 3-5 pages of Q-Ball's AAR vs Canoerebel before I was selected as Canoerebel's opponent. Call it old fashioned or just plain stupid but I really feel it detracts from my enjoyment of the game if I know what he has done in previous games.

2. I do understand harvesting VPs. That is my normal style of play. I tend to expand only to what I feel is defensible and then wait out the inevitable counter attack. As I am normally a historical type player, I have never played counted on auto victory in the past. So this is all new ground. Advice on how to achieve it without giving away Canoerebel's typical strategy is most welcome.

3. The reason for invading NZ is simple. Without NZ, he will have a much harder time mounting an attack against the east coast of OZ. His build up would be limited to Suva and nearby bases. I do not intend to garrison NZ completely. Most of the invasion troops will be pulled once my major objectives are taken. I understand I will not gain full VPs by not garrisoning but that is not the objective. The objective is to deny him the use of NZ as a staging base. This will give the added benefit that any base not garrisoned will be damaged/destroyed by partisan attack. He wil have to repair them before he can use them.

With a decent size air contingent and the major ports fortified, Dan will have to commit a sizeable force to retake it and that buys me time. Now he can go through New Caledonia and cut off NZ but I consider the NZ forces to be lost anyways. Best case sceanrio is that I can evacuate some forces back to OZ. Coming through New Caledonia brings him closer to my bases in the Solomons and leaves himself open to air attack from three sides (N, S, W).

4. The purpose of landing in Perth is simply to deny him the use of the base and to gain the use of a sizeable airfield to cut the SLOC from India to Oz. A side benefit is that once Cunderdin and Kalgoorlie falls, he he can no longer use rail movement to bring his troops close enough to Perth to mount a counter attack in a timely manner. Any invasion from the sea to any of the coastal bases near Perth is a doable operation for him. But it creates a very long SLOC that he must keep open and it is highly susceptible to interdiction by my submarines and carrier forces.

5. Any move on Sydney exposes my troops to the concerns you expressed. But Sydney is the key to the entire land mass IMO. Port Kemblee is the best port to attack as it contains no CD units to tear up my invasion fleet. I have so far identified 5 inf divisions that will participate in the attack on Sydney. I also have identified several recon and armor units that will move to cut lines of advance to Sydney. I do not have time to march down a coast road any great distance to get to Sydney. To do so allows him to consolidate his defences. Landing in the heart of them will disrupt that consolidation. His air forces in OZ are weak.

6. I agree with you here but understand that Sydney is the main goal. The area around Sydney represents the majority of Aussie supply production. If he loses that, he will not be able to mount any offensives without bringing in external supply. All other Japanese actions in OZ are designed to prevent supply from coming in easily.

7. Absolutely true. I doubt that he will move any substantial forces to counter my landings in OZ. But if he moves even just one unit, that is one unit less to face at Sydney. The general timeline is this... land at Perth and Darwin initially. Then somewhere along the north coast while the fight for NZ is going on. In the meantime, my Sydney invasion force with 3 divs onboard and suporting troops will gather in the Coral Sea. Once the primary NZ objectives are met, the inf divs there will reload onto transports and head west. I anticipate that the NZ operation may take as long as a month. That gives the Perth and Darwin forces time to do what they need to do.

8. I have not overlooked Java. Java will be invaded after Singapore falls using my Malaya troops. Borneo and the PI will be mopped up after Java falls. This is close to my standard pattern. Cutting off Perth and Darwin and securing Sabang/Port Blair before landing on Java will help reduce his evacuation options assuming he doesn't Sir Robin from the start. If he does, those forces are likely headed for Darwin or towards Ceylon. If Darwin, then my invasion there will be put on hold as I will not have enough troops to take the place. But Darwin is of miniscule importance at this stage.

And yes, my timetable is probably overly optimistic. that's one of the reasons I do not want to say "On Feb 1st, I will land at Sydney, et al" I plan to remain flexible and change plans on the fly if forced to.

I do appreciate this type of exchange as it confirms or questions my thoughts. Again I have never attempted to invade Australia before. I most definitely need to prep my units as far in advance as possible. I do intend to prep some restricted units in Japan and Manchuria for bases in India to give a false impression that those areas may be targets. I have zero intention of using them or invading India.

Please keep the advice coming but please, please avoid giving away Canoerebel's past strategies.

Thanks,

Chez

"Again I have never attempted to invade Australia before."

You should qualify that to "invade anything other than the northern coast of Australia before". I seem to recall having to kick you out of every base from Exmouth to Thursday Island and from  Daly Waters north in our CHS campaign... [:'(]

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

"Again I have never attempted to invade Australia before."

You should qualify that to "invade anything other than the northern coast of Australia before". I seem to recall having to kick you out of every base from Exmouth to Thursday Island and from  Daly Waters north in our CHS campaign... [:'(]

[:'(]

Oops, very true. I meant to say "invade Australia for autovictory purposes before".

Chez

Turn 2 saw major air battles all over the map.

Dan sent several small TFs looking for KB and found it. A small TF of 4 Allied DDs landed one hit each on Akagi, Shokaku and Soryu for little damage. One of his DDs was heavily damaged but the others got away with only minor hits.

KB struck back during the day with a sweep and a naval strike against these TFs. I swept PH with one unit of fighters and according to the combat report shot down 7 fighters for no losses. 79 Vals and Kates escorted by 21 Zeros found the CA Minneapolis with 12 DDs at the entrance to PH. About 20 allied fighters opposed them and succeeded in shooting down 1 Zero, 1 Val and 1 Kate for the loss of only one P-40. Minneapolis received one bomb, DD Alwyn 2 bombs and DD Dale one bomb.

Then 25 Vals found the DD TF that had audaciously attacked KB during the night sinking the DD Hull outright and securing heavy damage to the Farragut and Selfridge.

Two of my bomber raids to Rangoon lost their escort on the way and were met by the Flying Tigers. 30 Bettys and 15 Sallys went down. Ouch!

Air attacks throughout Malaya were generally productive but his Malayan air forces managed to hit Haruna with 3 bombs and sink an AKL at Kuantan. Otherwise the landings continue.

In the PI, a port attack against Manila saw hit on the Langley and Canopus. I achieved good air-air results over the PI shotting down about 20 fighters for the loss of only 6. He still has a lot of fighters available there so next turn is sweep, sweep, sweep!

Chez

Chez, best of luck!

Going for autovictory is an interesting option but watch your back.
Canorebel knows very well when the time has come to go and grab some points, so if you try OZ protect your flanks.

I am looking forward to this AAR. Banzai!

9 Dec 41

Note: Air losses will be those reported in the combat report as it becomes too difficult to determine in which action a particular plane was shot down in.

Malaya:
More air coordination problems this turn and it cost me dearly. My TF at Kuantan had zero CAP show up despite orders to patrol the fleet there (confirmed after the replay). 6 separate allied air attacks consisting of Swordfish and Vildebest sank 4 AKs and an AP. Thankfully, they had already landed their troops and had only a few hundred supply on each. The loss of the AP especially hurts. Kuantan and Kota Bharu both fall to shock attacks but their airfields are heavily damaged and will need some time to repair.

I swept Singers with good success shooting down 6 Buffalos for no losses. A sweep against Toungon in Burma engaged the AVG with some success. 2 H81-A3's were shot down for the loss of one Oscar.

Received a sighting report of 2 BBs and a CA just west of Singkawang. This must be Force Z. My Singkawang invasion forces are nearing the area so I will have them mark time a saf distance away until the area is clear. They have only a CL and DDs for escorts.

Philippines:
Had mission set to sweep Manila followed by a mission to bomb the port. As luck would have it, the bombing mission got there first. 39 P-40B/Es and 15 P-26/P-35 intercepted 20 Zeros escorting 41 Bettys. 2 Zeros and 5 Bettyw failed to return but they did hit 3 AKs in port. The sweep arrived next with 55 Zeros and got the bounce. They were engaged by 22 P-40B/Es and 7 P-35s. 5 P-40Es and 4 P-35s were shot down for no losses. A very good result for me. His PI air force is rapidly being reduced. He must have transferred his bombers out as I have yet to see an allied bomber in the skies near PI. Nells operating from the newly captured airbase at Laoag found the damaged AV Langley passing Bataan and put two more bombs in her. Pretty sure she sank. Baby KB also enjoyed success by sinking 2 AKs fleeing the PI SE of Davao.

My DD force operating between Hong Kong and the PI found 7 single ship TFs each with an AK and sank them all plus a PG. These were refugees from Hong Kong. The survivors from yesterday's surface engagement with my CA force, DD Scout and Thracian, were also intercepted and sunk. I-165 found and sank an AP north of Puerto Princessa.

His subs enjoyed success also. They launched close to a dozen sub attacks on my invasion forces approaching Iba sinking one AK loaded with troops and putting a torp into another. My ASW forces scored not one hit and are nearly out of DCs now.

CentPac:
Tarawa fells after a brief fight. My troops are 3 hexes east of Wake and heading in. KB is still SE of Midway and too far away to help out much but I have not seen hide nor hair of his carriers. My guess is that they may be headed south towards Suva. KB would have seen them if they had steamed for PH. KB will stay out of range of Midway and continue to move west towards Wake.

The Rabaul and Tulagi invasion forces should arrive next turn. There is a second Rabaul force that will arrive with reinforcements if necessary. They are two days out.

Dan has been fairly aggressive hunting down my subs hanging around PH so I have orderd them back a few hexes. They will take up a loose circle around Hawaii with a couple headed for the West Coast. Hopefully they will spot Saratoga. Would be nice to know if she will head for SoPac or transit the Panama Canal.

Chez

A long, painful replay...

First, Lexington found my refueling force MW of Midway and sank or heavily damaged every dang one of them plus a DD. A second DD is heavily damaged. Then Vindicators from Midway finished the job. The loss of these 7 AOs is really going to hurt especially during my planned invasion of New Zealand. The only good news is that now I know where Lex is and KB is nearly between her and Hawaii. Unfortunately, KB was also spotted by a PBY from Midway.

Now the question is should I go after her? KB has about half a fuel load onboard but only 2 carriers have torps remaining. Lex is about 800 miles to the NW and the fly in the ointment is that Midway Island is located between our two carrier forces. As tempting a target as she is, I'm hesitant to risk any major damage to KB especially as Shokaku already has a torp hole in her. And I can't ignore Midway with her Vindicators. What to do, what to do? Not sure yet. I think I will send the damaged DD east and hopefully she will trigger and air attack if Lex heads that way.

Second, CA Lousiville and CL Adelaide arrived at Rabaul at the same time my invasion force did. 4 AKs loaded with troops and one PB went down with another AK heavily damaged. Two DDs were also banged up quite a bit. The lost troops really hurt. These troops represented nearly 25% of my available forces in CentPac.

Lousville and Adelaide were hit several times by the screening destroyers and were on fire after the battle. My second Rabaul TF will arrive next turn and is going in. The TF has a CL and several DDs for an escort so they will continue in. If Lousville and Adelaide remain at Rabaul, I hope they are low on ammo and/or fuel.

And then to add insult to injury, Le Triomphant arrives at Tulagi simultaneously with my small invasion TF consisting of a CM and and AK. I'll let you guess the outcome. Le Triomphant wasn't even scratched.

This is a major setback my plans in CentPac. I will need to rethink my options for the planned invasion of New Zealand. I had hoped to have the Solomons, New Hebrides and New Caledonia under my control by mid January. That won't happen now. I will have to bring more troops in from Japan as quick as I can. I have diverted one TF from Babeldaob with an infantry rgt onboard to head for CentPac.

The good news is that Wake fell n the first assault. VMF-211 must have flown out to a carrier, maybe Enterprise, as they were not at Wake

Malaya:
The news is much better here. Kuantan and Kota Bharu airfields are repairing though not as quick as I want them to. I continued my sweeps against Singapore and shot down 14 fighters for the loss of 4 Zeros. 22 Zeros swept Rangoon and met 13 Buffs and 38 H81-A3s. This time the losses were even at 3 each.

Additional troop ships are headed for Kota Bharu and Pattani. The Mersing invasion force is marking time south of Saigon waiting for the airfields to get cleaned up. I anticipate landing in about 4 days.

Allied air attacks in the area were ineffective today.

Borneo:
The Singkawang force is still marking time waiting for a BB SCTF to catch up with them. I lost track of Force Z this turn and I want to make sure I have enough support to counter them if they show up. I-123 snuck into Balikpapn harbor and put two torpedoes into CL Marblehead. Unconfirmed as yet but I believe she sank. One less cruiser to worry about.

China: My troops launched a shock attack against Hong Kong but were repulsed with moderate losses. The attack was 1:2 odds. They will rst a day and try again.

Philippines:
Dan sent a MTB force to disrupt my Iba landings. I have 3 invasion TFs each covered with a surface force. Somehow the MTBs evaded all the surface TFs and sank an AK and a DMS. 3 MTBS were damaged, one severely. The intercepted invasion Tf withdrew one hex delaying its landing of troops but the other two are unloading as fast as they can. There are more TFs enroute this area.

A second fighter sweep against Manila saw about 6:1 odds in my favor. His fighters are rapidly been chewed up.

Invasion forces also landed at Davao and continue unloading. Approximately 23 allied bombers were noted to be at Cagayan but they are not launching any attacks. I suspect these are his B-17s. Two of my DDs found and sank an AK near Jesselton.

I-164 found a fleeing AP and sank her north of Puerto Princess. Dan seems to be sending his APs from Manila that way. This is the second one sunk in that area.

EastPac:
I-23 torped and sank a large tanker heading south from PH.

Overall allied fighter losses totaled 32 this turn as opposed to 11 Japanese fighters lost.

Now to figure out what to do with CentPac

Chez

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

Chez, best of luck!

Going for autovictory is an interesting option but watch your back.
Canorebel knows very well when the time has come to go and grab some points, so if you try OZ protect your flanks.

I am looking forward to this AAR. Banzai!

thanks for the encouragement. I'm going to need it after today's turn!

Chez

Hi Chez,

Your opponent moves in the Pacific are relatively standard. He knows where you should attack, because there are not so many "must haves" at this stage of the game, and he can easily be waiting for you in most of those bases. In my opinion, the right way to handle this is to delay the landings for a week or two. You'll get these islands anyway.

Right now, he's gone for Rabaul, Midway, and Tulagi, and found you there. I would suggest you check your back in Guam, and the Marshalls. If the Lexington is alone in Midway (a good look at the force composition in the combat report, and perhaps a rewatch of the replay should tell that), there is a possibility that the Entreprise could be around the Gilberts.

Francois

ORIGINAL: fcharton

Hi Chez,

Your opponent moves in the Pacific are relatively standard. He knows where you should attack, because there are not so many "must haves" at this stage of the game, and he can easily be waiting for you in most of those bases. In my opinion, the right way to handle this is to delay the landings for a week or two. You'll get these islands anyway.

Right now, he's gone for Rabaul, Midway, and Tulagi, and found you there. I would suggest you check your back in Guam, and the Marshalls. If the Lexington is alone in Midway (a good look at the force composition in the combat report, and perhaps a rewatch of the replay should tell that), there is a possibility that the Entreprise could be around the Gilberts.

Francois

Thanks for the advice. This is my 5th PBEM over the past 7 years and I have yet to see anyone make this move. Dan plays a more aggressive game than I am used to and he has already lost 6 or 7 DDs for this reason. However, I will simply have to strengthen the escorts and make him pay for his raids. I am sending 2 BBs and some CAs from the PI operation to Rabaul as we speak.

Unfortunately, Dan does know where I have to go. He knows that airbases are the key to the Japanese advance. The Japanese player does not have the engineer forces to quickly build airbases so I must take those that are available. Delaying 1-2 weeks simply gives him time to bring in more ships and there are several Aussie CAs and CLs near Brisbane to call on.

The Rabaul move was brilliant in my opinion. If he stays there for the next turn though, he will probably lose those ships to my TF just arriving. It has a good escort. Dan said it was a stroke of luck that he ran into my TF at Tulagi as he only pulled in there to refuel. A single DD normally won't cause much damage but my TF was only two ships. My mistake was in not sending more escorts. The next TF of mine that approaches the Solomons will have carrier support.

I wouldn't doubt that he may send Enterprise to raid the Marshalls. I am weak there but all my ships have left the area so he can raid if he wants. The Marshalls are empty of anything worthwhile. Sending Enterprise towards Guam is a surefire way to lose her. Some players do send their carriers in to be sunk for the sole purpose of replacing them with Essex class but I would find that gamey in the extreme.

I also doubt that he will send Enterprise further west. My guess is that she is headed south for Suva or Pago Pago. If she took on VMF-211 from Wake then Enterprise is overloaded and flight ops would be severely impacted. KB is nearing Wake so if she goes there she is sunk.

His positioning of Lexington was excellent. I am sure that only Lex is there in that only VF-2, VS-2, VB-2 and VT-2 flew. He knew that my tankers would take the northern route and he had spotted KB the prior 2 turns so he knew they were in no position to guard the tankers. I should have routed the tankers much further north to keep them out of harm's way.

Chez

This is AE, Steve... he won't get any replacements for his early war carriers - at least not any that he won't receive anyway. That was a big change from WITP.

In our game I had the Australia en route to Rabaul when my aircraft identified one of your BBs so I reversed her course. I'm afraid that you may have become too used to my careful use of my vessels, leaving you open to someone who's more willing to throw the dice. I have faith that you will adjust...

Now, it's time for me to go to bed... way past, actually - but there was a good film on TNT.

Bah, you over-estimate the importance of those Oilers. You've got internal lines AND you've learned that your opponent is likely to risk strategic assets to attack assets which are, given Japan's situation with internal SLOCs, of operational relevance, at best. You can use this against him.

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

This is AE, Steve... he won't get any replacements for his early war carriers - at least not any that he won't receive anyway. That was a big change from WITP.

In our game I had the Australia en route to Rabaul when my aircraft identified one of your BBs so I reversed her course. I'm afraid that you may have become too used to my careful use of my vessels, leaving you open to someone who's more willing to throw the dice. I have faith that you will adjust...

Now, it's time for me to go to bed... way past, actually - but there was a good film on TNT.

I would agree with your assessment. You're not one to haphazardly risk your vessels so I may have become somewhat complacent. That mindset is changing fast. I'm in the process of combining the covering TFs with the invasion TFs where I can.

I do think his sending Louville and Adelaide was a nice move. He told me that he didn't know my TFs were in the area.

The Japanese have so little offensive firepower in Centpac in the early stages that covering these forces is difficult. The allies actually have as much, if not more, naval firepower in the area. But with it being scattered between Oz and NZ and other places, it's difficult for the allied player to mass enough strength soon enough to stop the landings.

I'm not too upset about losing the Tulagi force considering it was just a CM and an AK. Losing the ground unit hurts more in the short term but in the overall picture, it is minor. Losing the 1st Rabaul force does hurt much more but my troops are landing at Rabaul now. Another TF will arrive in two turns and then I will have enough AV to take the place. The new TF has a CL and several DDs as part of it so if he comes back, they will be able to inflict some damage in return... I hope.

Sending the Lex NW of Midway was a nice move also. Never anticipated my oilers being in danger so I took no great pains to protect them as they were simply on their way back to Japan.

I was under the impression that the allies still replaced lost carriers with Essex class one for one. Nice to know that. Hopefully he will send them out to be engaged.

Chez

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Bah, you over-estimate the importance of those Oilers. You've got internal lines AND you've learned that your opponent is likely to risk strategic assets to attack assets which are, given Japan's situation with internal SLOCs, of operational relevance, at best. You can use this against him.

As far as keeping the fleet supplied, that is correct. But the oilers represent nearly 80K capacity that I find extremely useful for moving oil and fuel around after the SRA falls. Japan cannot afford to lose any tankers or oilers. Replacements are few and far between. Even with internal SLOCs, tankers become extremely vulnerable to allied subs in 1943.

Chez

A much quieter turn as I rest many of my aircraft and troops.

China: Another shock attack against Hong Kong brought down a fort at 1:1 odds. Casualties were about even. My bombers are bombing the troops at HK

Philippines:
And once again, Dan sent 2 PT TFs to Iba to disrupt the landings. They conducted 3 attacks, none of which caused any damage. One MTB was sunk. Perplexing as to why my 3 covering TFs in the hex didn't engage them. Still, he did manage to prevent the unloading of needed troops and supplies. Am thinking of generating a 4 ship DD TF in the hex to see if that helps. Troops are ashore at Iba but not insufficient strength to attack. Maybe next turn.

73 bombers with an escort of 74 Zeros blew through the defending fighters and raided Manila port again and scored 3 more hits on 2 AKs. At least 5 defenders were shot out of 27 engaged. Intel however tells me that 11 allied fighters actually went down. He must be down to only a handful by now.

Davao fell and bombers have relocated there.

SS KXIV put a torp into an AK loaded with troops near Laoag. It sank but the men were rescued. SS O20 also put 2 torps into a subchaser in the same area which blew her out of the water.

Zuiho found a couple of fleeing AKs and snak them SE of the PI.

I-123 putt 2 torps into an AK fleeing the PI and sank her.

Malaya:
My troops are unloading quickly at Kota Bharu. A Zero unit arrived there to provide additional cover. One of my armored units arrived at Georgetown and are waiting for additional forces before attacking. Alor Star is now cut off from Singapore. Intel indicates there about 10K troops there.

The Mersing force continues enroute after joining up with a large BB surface force. Additional engineers have be redirected to Kuantan as the airbase is only very slowly repairing and can't be used yet. Nearly all of my engineers at Kuantan are disabled.

His Malaya air forces have been considerably attrited I think. Only a couple of small air attacks against my ships with no hits scored. My CAP damaged several and shot two down.

Southern Resource Area:
AVD Childs led a charmed life. Twice engaged by a 2 DD TF near NE Borneo, she managed to slip away after suffering only a single hit each time. Weather was very poor with thunderstorms and 46% moonlight which only allowed spotting at 2000yds.

AP President Madison, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. She was found by the same DD TF and sank under a hail of gunfire at 2000yds.

The Singkawang force has resumed its plodding trek towards its target. It now has 2 BBs and 4 CAs covering it.

CentPac:
CA Lousiville and CL Adelaide detected the rememants of the TF they destroyed yesterday at Rabaul. This time they withdrew without firing. Guess they figured DD Ushio and xAK Yae Maru were too heavily damaged to waste ammo on.

The allied cruisers then stumbled upon a single DD, the Sazanami. Sazanami managed to put a shell into each before extricating herself without damage. Lousiville fired only her secondary armament so I wonder if she is out of main gun ammo.

I-154 found the AP Rochambeau near Balikpapn and engaged her on the surface. I-154 was very roughly handled with 4 5" shell hits. She managed to score only one in return. She submerged due to damage. Flood damge is 46 so she is on her way back to port.

SS Snapper tried to sneak into Pescadores and ate a mine for her troubles.

Supplies continue to be unloaded at Wake but I will withdraw the TF even though they aren't empty yet. KB is now in position to cover their withdrawal as KB heads for the Solomons area.

No sign of Enterprise yet. My sole surviving DD from the oiler massacre sank during the night so my Lexington tripwire failed. Not sure where she went but you can be sure that KB is on guard.

EastPac:
I-23 missed the tanker Gulfland near Hawaii.

All in all, a good turn for me. Very few losses in the air and at sea while inflicting some good hits on Dan.

Next turn sees the arrival of several important TFs and a lot more air action is planned.

Chez

"I was under the impression that the allies still replaced lost carriers with Essex class one for one. Nice to know that. Hopefully he will send them out to be engaged. "

Nawww... in AE we get all the Essex class carriers as they were built. We get the option of renaming the Lexington II, Yorktown II, Hornet II and Wasp II as we wish (so if I don't lose any of those you will first see a USS Constellation - after that I have to figure out some other decent names to use).

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

"I was under the impression that the allies still replaced lost carriers with Essex class one for one. Nice to know that. Hopefully he will send them out to be engaged. "

Nawww... in AE we get all the Essex class carriers as they were built. We get the option of renaming the Lexington II, Yorktown II, Hornet II and Wasp II as we wish (so if I don't lose any of those you will first see a USS Constellation - after that I have to figure out some other decent names to use).

Slight embellishment: in stock scenarios you don't get in-class replacements. In the editor it's a one-box-checkoff to turn them on. I assume that was not done here, but it's easy to replicate WITP's scheme.

Fairly quiet turn. LOts of small unit naval actions and air attacks. Troops continue landing at various points across the map.

China:
Another failed shock attack at Hong Kong. Odds were 1:2 and no forts brought down. Will rest them this turn. My bombers continue to atack his ground forces there with mixed results.

Philippines:

Iba falls! Troops continue to land at Iba without major interference. Dan sent his PTs to Iba again but they were prevented from engaging any transports by my DD TF. No losses either side. Vigan fell as did Batan Island. There is still one more troop TF with a significant number of troops enroute to Iba. They should land in two days. In the meantime, the runways at Iba are being repaired and my fighters and bombers will be moving in next turn.

His ships are fleeing the PI en masse. Several have headed towards Chi Chi Jima for what ever reason I don't know. Bettys from Yokohama attacked an AK and a tanker near Torishima sinking both. Very high hit rate: 7 torps for 9 Bettys. I am placing more aircraft in the home islands on naval attack... best training there is for them.

Two of my DDs returning to Takao to rearm stumbled across an AM and 2 tankers in the South China Sea. The AM and 1 tanker were sunk. The other tanker got away as the DDs ran out of ammo. 2 other small AKs were sunk in the same area by another DD force. I-158 put a torp into the AS Holland north of Kuching. Ryujo notched an AM near Jolo. Speaking of Jolo, troops are landing there now and will take the island next turn. A lot of my air power will transfer to there afterwards. Once in place, I intend to pay a visit to Cagayan. His B-17s are still there. He launched a small airraid with them but missed.

Fighter sweeps continue against Manila and Clark. His fighters on Luzon are just about wiped out. Dan lost 10 P-40s in exchange for 2 of mine. Air attacks against these tow bases were unmolested.

S-37 put 2 torps into an AP loaded with troops near Laoag. She sank but most of the troops were rescued. The sub got away.

Malaya:

Stingray attempted to penetrate the harbor at Cam Rahn Bay but sustained 3 hits in the effort. Believe she was trying to attack the Mersing TF waiting there. Search planes located an allied surface TF NW of Singkawang. The report says, "BB BB BB BB BB BB". This is probably Force Z with some cruisers added. My Singkawang invasion force will land next turn. They are heavily escorted with 2 BBs and 2 CAs and numerous DDs. In addition, there is a naval TF with 2 BBs, 4 CAs and 8 DDs following them. All are spotted so Dan my risk Force Z. All Bettys and Nells are on naval attack and hopefully will engage this force also.

Troops continue to land at Kot Bharu and Kuantan. Two Mersing TFs are in a holding pattern between Kuantan and Kota Bharu pending the developments around Singkawang. They will stay there until Kuantan is operational which should be next turn.

His air force has been silent this turn in Malaya though intel reports lots of bombers and fighters at Singers.

CentPac:

The CDs at Rabaul are beating up the invasion TF sinking two AKs but the troops are ashore though still insufficient strength to take the place. A much larger troop transport with 2 Inf Rgts aboard will arrive in 1-2 days to land at Rabaul. His pounding of my Tulagi and Rabaul invasion fleets two turns ago have drastically limited my options in this area. I have more troops on the way from the Home Islands but the timetable has been seriously upset in this area.

His Hudsons have been active but no results as yet.

My work schedule just got totally hosed as I need to pick up extra shift due to not having a replacement for a nurse that quit. Going to working 6 days a week. Will love the overtime but it will limit the time I can put into my games.

Chez