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Sub War
Subs on both sides seem to have hit some sort of bare patch, few if any engagements these past few turns. Most of the IJN subs which started in PH are still hanging around the area and I get sightings on at least 5 to the north of PH and maybe 1 or 2 to the south every turn from Cats flying out of PH. Apart from PH, I've spotted a handful of subs in the Java Sea but nothing beyond that. Most of the rest of the Pacific Ocean and all of the Indian Ocean is IJN sub free so I'm making the most of it by running unescorted merchant shipping, albeit taking more out of the way routes just to be sure.

On the Allied side, most of the Dutch subs are working in and around the Java Sea with the Brits and US subs clustered around Malaya, off Cam Ranh Bay and around Formosa. I seem to have run out of unsuspecting IJN shipping running over my positions so am going to move some of the US subs over to the area between the DEI and PNG, firstly to setup a forward early warning screen of any ship movement and secondly to see if I can catch some of the invasion convoys that will surely be pushing on PNG soonish.

CBI
The Sallies are back over Mergui again this round, have moved part of the AVG into China to try and see if I disrupt some of the bombing attacks on my LCUs, can't keep giving away freebies

DEI
Palembang got swept this turn so I should be seeing action on this side of the Java Sea soonish.

It's not part of the DEI but it's a good place to put as any. Miri is invaded this turn and Kendari falls.

Malaya and Singapore
Kuantan falls.

Another relatively quiet turn, feels like after having fought out the initial phase of the conflict both sides are now gathering themselves for the next push and counter.

Sub War
Looks like that super SAG put in at Hong Kong, Permit took a shot at Mogami but nothing came out of it while S-40 got sighted by escorts before even getting into firing position, don't know whether I caught it moving into port or out, if out I'd kill to find out where they're going. Would give some clues as to where the next blow will land. Off Singkawang Sculpin took a shot at a light SAG so it seems things are on the move.

Lookee here
Allied SIGINT has been a mixed bag for me in this game thus far, most of the reports I've gotten have been to state the obvious. ie. so and so unit planning for Singapore but the past two turns I've gotten these.

4/2nd Field Artillery Regiment is planning for an attack on Mersing.
2/2nd Recon Regiment is loaded on a Aden Cargo class xAK moving to Mersing.
56th Recon Regiment is loaded on a Japanese xAK moving to Mersing.

It's a pity I only have subs in the area but this close to Singapore I'd expect a heavy screen so it'll just have to be subs then.

Picked up some heavy activity around Kendari and also what looks like an invasion force going somewhere. I've got Force Z (-)(+) heading for Darwin and looking around the area Ambon seems a likely target so a speed run there it is. If I'm right I'll only get there during the day phase after the troops after unloaded but the hope is I'll sink every last one of the transports since the Brits do it better in the day. I'm not going to bother with the ships near Kendari as the past couple of turns have shown me the folly of engaging targets with less than adequate recon so I'll just do the dastardly thing and hope to ambush some hapless invasion TF, here's to not getting egg on one's face.

Without a doubt the best day the Allies have had since the start of the war but we'll get to that a little later. I only have the combat replay as my opponent forgot to save the turn (been there, done that...many times) so will update more of the turn once I get it back a little later on today.

Sub Wars
An I boat spots a YO just off LA but decides to pass on taking a shot, I can't think of a better way to announce the presence of IJN boats off the West Coast, will have to start escorting my merchies, some of them have been running up and down the coast without any protection.

O20 puts one in the side of xAP Taizan Maru off Soc Trang, glugglugglug sounds are heard so I'm chalking up this one as a kill.

Allied Sub killboard
KXIV - AK Sakura Maru (6,840t)
S-38 - xAK Gyoun Maru (1,900t), xAK Kikuryu Maru (1,900t)
KXV - xAK Nojima Maru with O19(3,425t)
Sargo - xAK Gosei Maru (3,425t)
Swordfish - xAKL Yamatsuru Maru (1,650t), xAKL Muko Maru (1,650t)
Perch - DD Sazanami (2,090t)
Seadragon - xAKL Kanjo Maru (1,650t)
Tarpon - TB Manazuru (775t)
O20 - xAP Taizan Maru (on 27 Dec 1941)

Probable
Seadragon - xAKL Tamaki Maru (torp hit 1, on fire, hvy dmg, 12/12/41)
S-38 - xAK Tamon Maru (torp hit 1, on fire, 12/12/41)
KXI - xAK Kogyo Maru (torp hits 2, hvy fires/dmg, 07/12/41)

Rule Britannia
Never in my wildest imagination did I expect to Force Z to do as well as it did. Really lucked out this turn. The enemy fleet was indeed an invasion fleet and was heading for Ambon. Betties didn't appear from out of Manado to sink every Allied ship in sight but that was a calculated risk which had a good chance of going my way since the Dutch SAG was unmolested when it pushed into the Celebes Sea a couple of turns ago. Unloading of the invasion troops didn't occur during the night phase so it was with crowded decks that the IJN fleet met the pride of the British Far East Squadron and her consorts.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Ambon at 76,109, Range 24,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Kuroshio, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Murakumo, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
DD Sagiri, Shell hits 2
DD Tsuta, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
DD Yomogi, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Kansai Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Kashii Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Aobasan Maru, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
xAK Asosan Maru, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
xAK Atutasan Maru, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 4
CA Houston, Shell hits 3
CL Danae, Shell hits 2
CL Durban, Shell hits 2
DD Alden, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
DD Bulmer, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Edsall
DD Paul Jones, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
DD Electra, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Express, Shell hits 3, heavy fires

Japanese ground losses:
5639 casualties reported
Squads: 88 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 151 destroyed, 159 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 72 (37 destroyed, 35 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied Ships Reported to be Approaching!
Japanese TF suspends unloading operations and begins to get underway
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions: 30,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 24,000 yards
Allies open fire on surprised Japanese ships at 24,000 yards

All due respect to CTG and what must be a bad start to his day (he usually sends a turn before he goes to work) but I'm sure I speak for most when I say it's turns like these we live for as PBEM players. Outstanding result all round, the loss of whatever those merchies were carrying will sting him badly in the short term, the merchies themselves are gone for good and taking out DDs to spread his ASW assets thin is always a good thing.

It didn't come cheap though, from the looks of things Force Z's screen has ceased to be a viable fighting force, will have to scrounge up some more DDs and I'm running low on those in the immediate area. Will probably retire Force Z for repairs and PoW's upcoming refit and swap in the ANZAC cruisers to stand guard off Darwin. I might have to leave behind a couple of stragglers for some very pissed off pursuers as I high tail it out of there back to safer waters.

SIGINT
Looks like Mersing is for real.

6th Tank Regiment is loaded on a Toho Cargo class xAK moving to Mersing.

Malaya and Singapore
Georgetown and Miri fall. Have to remember to check Miri for damage levels to the oil and refinery.

Relatively quiet turn so I'll take the chance to do a little more detailed post.

Malaya and Singapore
The IJA is just north of KL with both the road to Kota Bahru and Thailand crawling with troops, their advance has been slow due to the nature of the road network but should go faster after they capture KL, everything south of there is good road and I expect the IJA to be in Johor in force no later than the middle of January, which means Singapore should fall before February rolls around.

The Philppines
Really screwed up big time in the PI, overstacked Bataan and I've basically blown through all the supply, am pushing some units forward to Clark and will probably attack one of the weaker adjacent hexes in a bid to both throw CTG off balance and to steal some supplies if I can overrun the IJA there. Mindanao is also being steadily reduced as bases fall one by one. Overall very disappointed with my performance here, considering I was given ample breathing space to setup my defences I stuffed it up with the overstacking.

DEI
And that brings us to the meat of the pie, the Dutch have been unmolested in Sumatra and Java and air units are training up for naval attack all ready to go out in a blaze of glory when the invasion TFs make their move while LCUs are preparing defences and a redoubt as a last stand.

The lack of engineers that can build forts has ensured that till now Palembang is still at fort level 0, I'm sure I'll pay for the lack of foresight soon enough. On Java Island itself the idea here will be to tie up as many assets as possible for as long as possible and prep levels are building nicely, no chance of any local counterattacks here though, reckon I'm looking at slightly over 500 AV for all the combat LCUs on Java and a single IJA division can take me on with no problems so I'll be relying on forts and terrain to make it costly to dig me out of the holes I'm digging (either that or bury me where I stand).

The Dutch fleet together with a couple of American and British destroyers will stay in local waters till it is untenable to do so or until the majority get sunk, I'll stay true to the spirit of the game but I won't throw ships away needlessly.

CBI
The Flying Tigers make their first appearance in the skies over China when they ambush some bombers over Wuchow, Tracker reports 25 bombers downed, the objective here is to sting CTG when he leaves himself vulnerable, scoring some cheap shots in the process but more importantly making him escort everything that flies.

Morning Air attack on 13th Chinese Base Force, at 76,57 (Wuchow)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-36 Ida x 21
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 9
Ki-51 Sonia x 13

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-36 Ida: 4 destroyed
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 4 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 7 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Ki-51 Sonia bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 50 kg GP Bomb
14 x Ki-36 Ida bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 30 kg GP Bomb
3 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
AVG/3rd Sqn with H81-A3 (14 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Raid is overhead

A stack of IJA has moved into Changsha, I'm hoping he'll find that Changsha is a different ball game from Ichang, I've got 2.5k AV in the hex sitting behind level 4 forts with another 1.5k AV 2 turns away, I'm hoping a bloody nose at Changsha will give him pause and be a little more circumspect in his advances as I'm thin everywhere else and need time to consolidate.

I'm looking at holding cities like Nanyang and Loyang with a skeletal force and pulling back the bulk of my troops into more defensible terrain, counting on stacking limits to work both ways here.

SIGINT
Radio transmissions detected at Chiang Mai (58,53).
Heavy Volume of Radio transmissions detected at Ominato (119,54).

Looks like Burma soon and either CTG is shoring up the northern approach to the Home Islands or he's planning on making a move on the Aleutians. We'll see if we pick up any more whispers.

Enemy Carriers spotted
What looks like KB is spotted off Samar, that'll be the first sighting of KB since PH. KB had to return to Japan after PH as per one of our HRs and it looks like CTG did just that and is now making his way down to the DEI to ensure that things stay on track for the Empire of Japan. There isn't much left to hunt in the DEI so KB can hang around as much as it wants, it's if it comes further south where the sea lanes are a little crowded right now that I'll be a whole lot more concerned.

Sub Wars
Shark and Tambor shoot their entire loadout at separate xAK targets but all of them either miss or fail to explode, feeling slightly miffed, the pixel captains surface and proceed to engage their targets but do nothing more than make their IJN counterparts soil their underwear.

Malaya and Singapore
The beaches of Mersing inflict more casualties on the IJA than I'll ever can.

Amphibious Assault at Mersing (51,82)
TF 33 troops unloading over beach at Mersing, 51,82

Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

17 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad accidentally lost during unload of 56th Engr Rgt
20 troops of a IJA Hy Inf Sqd 41 lost in surf during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt /1
7.7mm T99 AAMG dropped into water during unload of 2nd Engr Rgt
17 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad lost in surf during unload of 2nd Engr Rgt
20 troops of a IJA Hy Inf Sqd 41 lost overboard during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt /2
20 troops of a IJA Hy Inf Sqd 41 lost in surf during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops accidentally lost during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops lost overboard during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 4th Infantry Rgt
17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 113th Infantry Rgt /1
12 troops of a IJA HMG Section lost from landing craft during unload of 113th Infantry Rgt /1
17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost overboard during unload of 148th Infantry Rgt /1
15 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 148th Infantry Rgt /1
17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of 148th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops lost overboard during unload of 148th Infantry Rgt
17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of 113th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 113th Infantry Rgt
15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 113th Infantry Rgt
Motorized Support lost from landing craft during unload of 2nd Recon Rgt

CBI
Payback's a bitch

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 47448 troops, 486 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 1367
Defending force 95722 troops, 464 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2281
Japanese adjusted assault: 617
Allied adjusted defense: 5555
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 9 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
8714 casualties reported
Squads: 142 destroyed, 361 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 203 disabled
Engineers: 35 destroyed, 54 disabled
Guns lost 64 (12 destroyed, 52 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (3 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
736 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Assaulting units:
18th Ind.Mixed Brigade
6th Division
2nd Ind Engineer Regiment
39th Division
40th Division
8th Ind Engineer Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th Army
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion

Defending units:
37th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
19th Group Army
9th War Area
29th Group Army
27th Group Army
30th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force

Nice defence at Changsha, Arnhem. Changsha has significant industry so it is worth fighting for. Can't remember if it has good terrain on the route up toward Changteh, but I recall needing to prevent the IJA from surrounding me when I had a stack at Changsha.

Speaking of stacking, I installed the new official version and searched the manual re: stacking and the only references were about stacking over island size limits. Surely Bataan is unrestricted in size? I have been socking multi units into unrestricted island bases like Rabaul, Ponape and Kavieng without any indication of problems so far. What, then are the new rules on stacking in an unrestricted or non-base hex? [&:]

Another question - was wondering what the fate of all those Force Z ships was after your recent victory. How many were lost to their damage, which have made port and which are limping along?

Last question - I swear! I like your avatar but Pegasus did not have a horn and Unicorns had no wings. How did you get them to cross-breed? [8|]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Nice defence at Changsha, Arnhem. Changsha has significant industry so it is worth fighting for. Can't remember if it has good terrain on the route up toward Changteh, but I recall needing to prevent the IJA from surrounding me when I had a stack at Changsha.

Speaking of stacking, I installed the new official version and searched the manual re: stacking and the only references were about stacking over island size limits. Surely Bataan is unrestricted in size? I have been socking multi units into unrestricted island bases like Rabaul, Ponape and Kavieng without any indication of problems so far. What, then are the new rules on stacking in an unrestricted or non-base hex? [&:]

Another question - was wondering what the fate of all those Force Z ships was after your recent victory. How many were lost to their damage, which have made port and which are limping along?

Last question - I swear! I like your avatar but Pegasus did not have a horn and Unicorns had no wings. How did you get them to cross-breed? [8|]

Hey BBfanboy,

Thanks for dropping by!

I can't claim credit for Changsha, CTG did all the work. It starts out as a tough nut to crack all by itself because of the garrison and fort levels, think it has something like fort 2 at start and that IJA stack pretty much just waltzed right into battle without any prior recon.

Our game is a modified scenario called DaBigBabes, and we're playing a variant that includes among other things, stacking limits so some of the stuff you'll see in this AAR can't be found in the stock scenarios. You can follow the link below to find out more about the mod (we're playing DaBigBabes-C), the extended map we're using (look under AE Extended Map) and the stacking limits (look under AE stack limits)
DaBigBabes site

You can also check out the screen shot below of turn 1 of a DBB-C game showing Bataan and it's stacking limits.

Status of Force Z as follows
BB Prince of Wales
CA Houston
CL Danae
CL Durban
DD Edsall
Have picked up 2 more DDs from Darwin, Peary and John D. Ford and are heading south for a yard big enough to take PoW for her Jan '42 refit.

The other 4 DDs of the original screen (with their sys/flt/eng damage levels) will pull into Darwin on the next turn with near empty bunkers but very much alive, managed put out their fires and dodge some very angry IJN DDs.
Bulmer - 38/27/17
Paul Jones - 35/31/19
Electra - 39/17/18
Express - 40/8/14

So the net loss is still only Alden from the original engagement.

My avatar is the divisional patch of the British 1st Airborne Division, you know, those crazy Brits who stormed a bridge in Holland in a town of which the name escapes me for the moment and tried to hold it against German armor with nothing but rifles and umbrellas?

Keep those questions coming, I'll do my best to answer them unless it violates OPSEC

Super response Arnhem - muchos gratzias. I had forgotten that the hex stacking limit was a DBB initiative. Seems like a great idea to increase the realism of the game.
Bravo on the Force Z survival. I never expected those 1920's era four stackers to survive heavy fires/heavy damage. British DDs seem to be pretty tough - Kelly survived torpedo hits on both stem and stern!
Where can I get one of those anti-tank umbrellas! Might be useful in city traffic.

Edit - to add the word "stem" .

Deleted - double post

Relatively quiet turn.

DEI
Two turns ago, two IJN light SAGs were seen coming down the Makassar Strait, they carried on down the south of Bali into the Indian Ocean looking for things to kill and found and killed the very last group of merchant ships from Java on their return loop. Swordfish out of Soerabaja launched torps over the AM and PM pulses but nothing connected, pity.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Roti at 66,117, Range 9,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
DD Amatsukaze
DD Asakaze
DD Harukaze
DD Matsukaze
DD Hatakaze

Allied Ships
AG Gold Star
CM Prins van Oranje, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
CM Willem v d Zaan, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
HDML P 17, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
HDML P 18, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
HDML P 19
HDML P 20
ML No. 310
ML No. 311
xAP Van Outhoorn, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Ethel Edwards, Shell hits 16, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Improved night sighting under 89% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 89% moonlight: 12,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 9,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 9,000 yards
Imazato, Hiroshi crosses the 'T'

The SAG is making it's way back up to friendlier waters but not till Adm Doorman says goodbye the next turn, at least that's the plan.

Malaya and Singapore
Nothing to report except that Mersing has fallen and an awful lot of IJA manpower is now in Malaya. List of units that landed at Mersing.

16th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
4th Infantry Regiment
56th Engineer Regiment
2nd Recon Regiment
2nd Engineer Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
24th Infantry Regiment
113th Infantry Regiment
6th Tank Regiment
56th Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Field Artillery Regiment

End of '41 and a fairly quiet turn so I'll be doing updates of the various theatres.

SIGINT
Ominato was reported as expanding port size to 6 so northern Japan is going to see activity of some sort, whether it's offensive or defensive in nature the buildup of American presence in the Aleutians goes ahead, I have base units and aircraft heading there, just waiting on infantry LCUs to pop up so I can ship 'em out.

India
The game of musical chairs that is moving LCUs around to satisfy garrison requirements and free up fighting LCUs for the front line is complete, forward bases along the border with Burma have at least 1 base force each, figure I've got the equivalent of 2 weak Indian Divisions and maybe an armored brigade to call on should the shit hit the fan. Not many air units to speak of at the moment apart from refugees from Singapore. Shipping wise there isn't anything of significance in the Bay of Bengal, all merchant shipping is now up near Karachi except for a handful in Colombo and Calcutta. Naval shipping is concentrated at Colombo for lack of a better place to deploy them.

Burma
Am intending to make a fight of upper Burma especially Lashio and Mykitbananananana. The Burma Division and the 17th Indian Division (once it's reconstituted) will be the mainstay of the resistance here, together with the AVG of course. If I read our HRs right, I can pull the 5th Chinese Corps from Paoshan once Rangoon falls right?

China
I ran into a wall at Ichang, CTG returned the favour at Changsha, apart from that, he's been cleaning up stragglers nearer the coast and just pushed the Chinese LCU near the Thai border back towards Nanning and I'm fixing to hold the Nanning-Kweilin-Hengyang-Changsha line. CAF units are at Chungking and training. I expect them to be useful sometime in late '42, assuming the Chinese are still around then.

Malaya and Singapore
Everything that floats has been pulled out of the area, ditto for everything that flies. Apart from a couple of base forces and ISF militia battalions, the British Army in Malaya is now safely ensconced (or is that trapped?) in Fortress Singapore, with the landing at Mersing I expect the IJA will cross the Straits of Johor by the end of the first week of January.

DEI
Search planes have a 3 CV TF east of Ternate and heading west, so KB or at least a part of it is definitely in the area, figure he's either making sure the second attempt on Ambon goes through or he's going raid Darwin and/or soften up Java for the final push. The Java Sea is empty except for light forces, will gladly trade a dozen DDs for a shot at KB. If the search planes know how to count that still leaves the other half of KB unaccounted for...

The Philippines
Nothing to report what hasn't already been reported. Just waiting on the IJA tighten the noose.

SWPAC and SOPAC
The area is busy with shipping and reinforcements bound for Pago-Suva-Noumea-Oz, I've got Cats flying out of bases in the area but will push seaplane tenders out further to get some sort of early warning if the IJN comes south. That said, any raid towards Suva would have to have some sort of AO support so I'm not really expecting anything till at least Rabaul falls, nonetheless I'm doing all I can to not be caught with my pants down.

Sub War
Allied Sub killboard
KXIV - AK Sakura Maru (6,840t)
S-38 - xAK Gyoun Maru (1,900t), xAK Kikuryu Maru (1,900t)
KXV - xAK Nojima Maru with O19(3,425t)
Sargo - xAK Gosei Maru (3,425t)
Swordfish - xAKL Yamatsuru Maru (1,650t), xAKL Muko Maru (1,650t)
Perch - DD Sazanami (2,090t)
Seadragon - xAKL Kanjo Maru (1,650t)
Tarpon - TB Manazuru (775t)
O20 - xAP Taizan Maru (on 27 Dec 1941)

Probable
Seadragon - xAKL Tamaki Maru (torp hit 1, on fire, hvy dmg, 12/12/41)
S-38 - xAK Tamon Maru (torp hit 1, on fire, 12/12/41)
KXI - xAK Kogyo Maru (torp hits 2, hvy fires/dmg, 07/12/41)

Tracker reports Tamaki Maru as sunk, not updating till I see it reflected in the ops report. An RO boat camping on the Noumea base hex launches torps at a convoy unloading an EAB, which begs the question is it there cos he thinks I will reinforce it and thus waiting for a shot at transports or is it there cos he wants to keep an eye on things cos he's going to want to visit the area and/or take Noumea?

Significant events
7 Dec 1941 - Air raid on Pearl Harbor sinks Nevada and Tennessee, with Pennsylvania eventually succumbing to fires a couple of days later. The Philippines and Malaya are invaded. CTG goes long and invades bases like Puerto Princessa and Singkawang from the word go. Repulse is torpedoed just off Singapore, she suffers moderate damage.
9 Dec 1941 - Boise sinks CVL Ryujo in the Celebes Sea before being sunk herself. Tarawa falls.
11 Dec 1941 - Wake Island falls.
12 Dec 1941 - Guam falls.
18 Dec 1941 - Hong Kong falls.
18-24 Dec 1941 - Chinese troops attempt to take Ichang but are bloodily repulsed suffering heavy casualties.
27 Dec 1941 - First major Allied success of the war, invasion convoy destroyed off Ambon by Force Z.

ORIGINAL: Arnhem

My avatar is the divisional patch of the British 1st Airborne Division, you know, those crazy Brits who stormed a bridge in Holland in a town of which the name escapes me for the moment and tried to hold it against German armor with nothing but rifles and umbrellas?

The name of the city escapes me too, but ur clearly delusional Arnhem. I know for a fact thats its a myth they only had rifles and umbrellas. In fact they never had any rifles issues to them!
Taunts Mark 4, mustages Mark 1 and along with the obligatory umbrellas Mark 27 is all that was needed! Well, I once heard some fairytale story about a few fellows brinigng along some mystery boxes too, i think they called them radio's, but they clearly was of no use. Too unwieldy to smack down a tiger tank in a prober and orderly fashion.

Highjack off,

Rasmus

ORIGINAL: Walloc

ORIGINAL: Arnhem

My avatar is the divisional patch of the British 1st Airborne Division, you know, those crazy Brits who stormed a bridge in Holland in a town of which the name escapes me for the moment and tried to hold it against German armor with nothing but rifles and umbrellas?

The name of the city escapes me too, but ur clearly delusional Arnhem. I know for a fact thats its a myth they only had rifles and umbrellas. In fact they never had any rifles issues to them!
Taunts Mark 4, mustages Mark 1 and along with the obligatory umbrellas Mark 27 is all that was needed! Well, I once heard some fairytale story about a few fellows brinigng along some mystery boxes too, i think they called them radio's, but they clearly was of no use. Too unwieldy to smack down a tiger tank in a prober and orderly fashion.

Highjack off,

Rasmus

Bah, radios are for wussies, death by tea and crumpets, now there's the proper way to take out a Tiger.

The Philippines
Bombing of Clark has resumed, fighters going up next turn to see what they can do. The IJA 65th Bde attacks the 31st PA ID and pushes it back toward Subic Bay.

China
The AVG ambushes a couple of unescorted Mary's over Nanning and butchers the lot of them. And in Changsha the reinforcements marched in the last turn and this turn the entire stack was ordered into action with rather spectacular results.

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 148468 troops, 731 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3942
Defending force 42219 troops, 469 guns, 103 vehicles, Assault Value = 833
Allied adjusted assault: 4063
Japanese adjusted defense: 1485
Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
15033 casualties reported
Squads: 375 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 291 destroyed, 151 disabled
Engineers: 34 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 104 (67 destroyed, 37 disabled)
Vehicles lost 26 (18 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Units retreated 12
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
7258 casualties reported
Squads: 121 destroyed, 568 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 83 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 56 disabled
Guns lost 25 (1 destroyed, 24 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
73rd Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
8th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
27th Group Army
30th Group Army
29th Group Army
20th Group Army
9th War Area
19th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force

Defending units:
18th Ind.Mixed Brigade
2nd Ind Engineer Regiment
6th Division
39th Division
40th Division
8th Ind Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th Army
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion

Ship Losses to date
For the Allies, the prize pelt would be that of the Ryujo courtesy of Boise which unfortunately was sunk by the CVL's escorts. In addition to the CVL, the Allies are claiming 8 DD's sunk through surface action. The Tone is showing up as sunk due to collision somewhere near Truk, I'm not too optimistic about that one and expect to see it go off the sunk list eventually. Other than that, the IJN has lost 13 merchant ships of various sizes, mostly through sub action so all in all, pretty light losses for the IJN thus far.

In exchange the Allies have lost the following
3 BB - lost during Pearl Harbor strike (Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Nevada)
3 CL - all through surface action in the Southeast Asia region (Boise, Java, Mauritius)
7 DD - 4 Brit (trio from HK, Jupiter out of Singapore), 3 American 4-stackers
Lastly, a total of 49 AKs of mixed sizes, 2 AO, 4 TK, AS Canopus, AV Langley have also been lost, mainly through surface action as they egressed the battle zone.

Allied Sub killboard
KXIV - AK Sakura Maru (6,840t)
S-38 - xAK Gyoun Maru (1,900t), xAK Kikuryu Maru (1,900t)
KXV - xAK Nojima Maru with O19(3,425t)
Sargo - xAK Gosei Maru (3,425t)
Swordfish - xAKL Yamatsuru Maru (1,650t), xAKL Muko Maru (1,650t)
Seadragon - xAKL Kanjo Maru (1,650t), xAKL Tamaki Maru (1,650t)
Perch - DD Sazanami (2,090t)
Tarpon - TB Manazuru (775t)
O20 - xAP Taizan Maru (on 27 Dec 1941)

Probable
S-38 - xAK Tamon Maru (torp hit 1, on fire, 12/12/41)
KXI - xAK Kogyo Maru (torp hits 2, hvy fires/dmg, 07/12/41)

Updated to move xAKL Tamaki Maru into a definite kill.
S-39 takes a shot at a DD escorting Haruna just outside Kendari and gets DCed for her trouble.
RO-68 tries again at Noumea to sink an xAK and gets DCed.

Significant shinies in the coming month
CV Indomitable and CA Dorsetshire
1st Raider Bn
6th Australian ID
23rd Indian ID
2 US Construction Regiments
Production of B-17E and Hurricane IIb begins

SWPAC
At least half of KB pulled up off Noumea and pulverized a supply convoy unloading there, another convoy with 2 DDs escorting APs carrying an EAB was spared and is hightailing it out of there. So much for early warning. I have a hole in my search coverage called the Coral Sea and I guess on hindsight it was a little too optimistic of me to think I could deploy enough Cats to cover the whole area. At least now I know what the sub was doing there off Noumea.


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Noumea at 115,160
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
B5N2 Kate x 59
D3A1 Val x 51

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
xAK Bundaleer, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Barwon, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Age, Bomb hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
PG Moresby, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Barossa, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AM Chevreuil, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Cycle, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Dundula, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Echunga, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Corinda, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
18 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
18 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
11 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
23 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
8 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
8 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring PG Moresby
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Cycle
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Barwon
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Age

So obviously I can't tangle with even half of KB with what I have in the area, I'm calling this south KB, as to why you'll see in a minute. TF composition appears to be made up of CVs with CVLs and CVEs in support and it's heading in the direction of Sydney 25 hexes away, assuming a pulse speed of 3 hexes that puts south KB within striking range in 3 turns. If it keeps coming this way and recon firms up and shows nothing but a light screen I've got something nasty planned.

The other half of KB, (which seems to be similiarly made up of CVs and CVLs/CVEs and which we'll call north KB) is about 12 hexes north of Darwin and continuing south so I'm assuming north KB is on the hunt for shipping and maybe a port strike or two. Turns out the ANZAC cruisers have just topped off their bunkers in Darwin and will steam north to try and engage north KB, I hope I plotted my course correctly otherwise I'll end up 1 hex south of it when day breaks and present the IJN with 4 cruisers for target practice, just in case the Dutch fleet is steaming to the area to see if it can have a whack at the pinata in case the ANZACs fail.

SWPAC
Well that was a non-starter, the ANZAC cruisers miss out on north KB completely which allows KB to pound on Darwin, nothing important sinks but I've got damage to quite a few ships. North KB is now only 4 hexes off Darwin and I'm revectoring the ANZAC cruisers, the Dutch fleet, 3 DDs from Darwin and a pair of damaged CLs inbound from Java all into the area to try for an intercept, the super SAG of BBs and CAs is half a day behind KB and I expect the next turn to be real messy.

To the south, KB continues coming on Sydney, have vectored a USN SAG from Sydney to try a mid-ocean intercept, here goes nothing.

Morning Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24
B5N1 Kate x 18
B5N2 Kate x 54
D3A1 Val x 44

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
xAK Wulin, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Electra, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Bontekoe, Bomb hits 1
TK Havfru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Dragon, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAKL Isla Filipinas, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CA Canberra, Bomb hits 2
xAP Kajang, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Tjisaroea, Bomb hits 1
xAP Candesa, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Oriskany, Bomb hits 1, on fire

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

Port hits 4
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
27 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
13 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
27 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
18 x B5N1 Kate bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
10 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb

Massive explosion on xAKL Oriskany

------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Brisbane , at 96,160
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
B5N2 Kate x 18
D3A1 Val x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 8 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
AMc Tongkol, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk



Port hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000' *
Port Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
18 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000' *
Port Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000' *
Port Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Battle of Timor Sea
The results of the turn come back better than I expected but I was expecting the worst, still, the losses suffered were significant in exchange for basically nothing.

We start off with the indomitable Marblehead, this ship is shaping up to be a lucky ship, having survived contact with enemy surface forces in the flight from the Philippines, she was on her way to Darwin and safer ports beyond when the enemy CV TF popped up 2 turns ago, together with De Ruyter and 2 DDs I pushed her into battle in an effort to maxmise the chance one of my SAGS would connect with the IJN CVs and inflict damage. The IJN DDs do a magnificent job of screening the flattops (in the combat report, not shown here) and subsequently little damage is done to KB(-).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Koepang at 69,120, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Kaga
CV Akagi
CVL Zuiho
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 2
DD Arare
DD Kasumi
DD Akikaze
DD Yukaze
DD Nokaze
DD Namikaze
DD Numakaze

Allied Ships
CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 3
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 1
DD Vampire, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Vendetta

Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 20,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 20,000 yards
CL Marblehead engages CL Abukuma at 20,000 yards


It's next the turn of the Dutch and Adm Doorman shapes up to be a really effective leader, he's crossed the T twice already in 2 engagements of this particular fleet. It's a pity the ships under his command cannot take advantage of his opening positioning and the enemy CVs get away, this will cost the Dutch dearly later in the day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Koepang at 68,118, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Kaga, Shell hits 2
CV Akagi
CVL Zuiho
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 1
DD Arare, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Kasumi
DD Akikaze, Shell hits 1
DD Yukaze
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 1
DD Namikaze
DD Numakaze

Allied Ships
CL Tromp, Shell hits 3
DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Whipple, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Piet Hein, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Kortenaer
DD Evertsen
DD Witte de With
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 1
DD Banckert
DD Tenedos, Shell hits 1, on fire

Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 20,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 20,000 yards
Doorman, Karel WFM crosses the 'T'
CL Tromp engages CV Kaga at 20,000 yards

First wave of airstrikes from KB(-)
-------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Truscott at 71,121

Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B5N1 Kate x 17
B5N2 Kate x 39
D3A1 Val x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
DD John D. Edwards, heavy fires
DD Whipple, on fire
CL Tromp, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Witte de With, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Piet Hein, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Banckert, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tenedos, on fire
DD Kortenaer
DD Evertsen, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Van Nes, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
2 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
26 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
17 x B5N1 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

Magazine explodes on CL Tromp
Witte de With dead in the water ...
Banckert dead in the water ...
Piet Hein dead in the water ...
Kortenaer dead in the water ...
Evertsen dead in the water ...
Van Nes dead in the water ...

2nd wave doesn't find many targets left
-------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Truscott at 71,121

Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D3A1 Val x 13

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
DD Kortenaer, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Whipple, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD John D. Edwards, heavy fires
DD Tenedos, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

Kortenaer dead in the water ...
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Kortenaer
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Whipple
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD John D. Edwards

In addition, the planes of the 1st Air Fleet also claim 2 damaged xAKs that were limping their way into Darwin from Java. Total butcher's bill for the day is Tromp and 9 DDs (4 Dutch, 1 Brit, 2 USN, 2 other Dutch DDs are very badly damaged and are fighting heavy fires, am counting those 2 as sunk unless they make Darwin).

The ANZAC cruisers were my best hope for inflicting crippling damage on the IJN CVs but they could not intercept twice in a row, KB(-) changed course drastically with each turn ensuring the cruisers would run into empty sea. My losses have been extremely heavy and I've gutted the ABDA surface fleet for little gain, there won't be much left to oppose the IJN in the Java Sea from here on end. On the other hand, I suppose it could have been worse, my heavy surface assets are untouched when they could have easily suffered the same fate as the Dutch fleet.

To the south, the other element of KB has disappeared, I had expected that element to come close enough to Sydney to bomb the port but it's disappeared I suppose I should be happy for small mercies.

This engagement has made me a little more circumspect in gunning for KB when it presents itself, on hindsight given the assets I had and the lack of naval search to paint an accurate picture for my SAGs to react into the IJN CVs I should have resisted the temptation to engage and bided my time till a more advantageous position opened up. The line between daring and folly is a fine one and I definitely tripped over it to fall onto folly with this battle.

Sub War
One of my precious AKs is torpedoed off CONUS, she's on fire and will try to make port. Swordfish puts one into the side of xAK Raisin Maru[/i] near Saishu To just off the Home Islands, I didn't see any escorts so hopefully this will make CTG commit assets to protect even the shortest hops in the safest waters. KXII takes a shot at Hiei off Mersing but nothing comes out of that

SIGINT
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade is planning for an attack on Sian.

Kudos for a gutsy move to try and intercept KB with SAGs. It seemed like a "tail of the tiger" move where you were OK as long as you were close enough to hold onto the tail, but once it slipped out of reach - OUCH! Too bad you didn't get one more intercept - those DDs had to be running low on ammo.

China
CTG seems to be in a hurry in China, think he's trying to roll up my MLR, am pushing additional corps over to try and hold what I have.

Ground combat at Nanning (72,55)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 8692 troops, 72 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 247
Defending force 10015 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 164
Japanese adjusted assault: 184
Allied adjusted defense: 103
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1024 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 98 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Allied ground losses:
523 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Assaulting units:
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment

Defending units:
52nd Chinese Corps
35th Group Army
9th Chinese Base Force


Malaya and Singapore
Port strike on Singapore harbour takes out the only 2 inhabitants, a pair of HDMLs. Malaya is full of meatball base symbols.

DEI
Palembang is swept by A6Ms out of Singkawang, first time CTG has done that.

The Philippines
The result of attacking with no supplies, note the much reduced AV values for the Allied stack. The defence of the Philippines is by far the most serious mistake I've made in this game, I had hoped to tie up Japanese forces here well into March. If CTG knew about my supply situation he'd would have Luzon in about a week of game time.

Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 20106 troops, 238 guns, 74 vehicles, Assault Value = 673
Defending force 26355 troops, 257 guns, 374 vehicles, Assault Value = 749
Allied adjusted assault: 76
Japanese adjusted defense: 2641
Allied assault odds: 1 to 34

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
521 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3806 casualties reported
Squads: 59 destroyed, 377 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 70 disabled
Engineers: 40 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 62 (8 destroyed, 54 disabled)
Vehicles lost 17 (3 destroyed, 14 disabled)

Assaulting units:
51st PA Infantry Division
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
1st PA Infantry Division
14th PS Engineer Regiment
21st PA Infantry Division
41st PA Infantry Division
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
Clark Field AAF Base Force
Far East USAAF
1st PI Base Force
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
Cavite USN Base Force

Defending units:
2nd Formosa Inf. Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
9th Infantry Regiment
16th Engineer Regiment
3rd Ind Engineer Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
21st Ind Engineer Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
7th Tank Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Army
48th Field Artillery Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

SWPAC
ANZAC cruisers are caught just getting into Darwin by 1st Air Fleet.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Darwin at 76,124
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 71 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
B5N2 Kate x 46
D3A1 Val x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 5 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
CL Perth
CL Leander, Bomb hits 2
CA Australia, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 2
DD Pillsbury

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
19 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
8 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 10000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
12 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
19 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

As you can see from the screenshot below, I will soon be in a world of hurt, I've collected all my merchies in one place in time for them to be shot to pieces. With KB South just off Townsville and coming up fast I can only assume CTG will stay in the area till every ship in Darwin is at the bottom of the harbour. It essentially comes down to fight or flight and flight is basically choosing another way to die in this scenario. Staying in port will force CTG to roll the dice as to what ships his bombs will hit and I've got a lot of ships I can afford to lose without breaking a sweat, hopefully he runs out of bombs before I run out of ships. To be sure, I'm trying to prepare myself for the pain of losing everything there. And when I say everything I'm looking at about 4 cruisers, a dozen DDs, a dozen TKs and maybe 20 odd of the larger AKs that I will be loathe to lose, everything else is cannonfodder as far as I'm concerned. I'm looking to the latter ships to be my bomb magnets, insofar as a HDML can absorb one bomb before it becomes a reef.

However, if I am about to die, it will not be peacefully, a scratch TF of the least battered ships of ABDA under that hero of the hour Adm Doorman will sally forth to try and engage KB North on what will certainly be their death ride.

Sub War
We both continue taking potshots at unescorted AKs in our respective enemy's home waters, I continue duding while CTG takes down an xAK.

Darwin always seems to be a trap in early 1942 - just not enough strength around to keep the Japs from waltzing in at their leisure. He is likely to send his large SAG [the BBs] into the harbour to bombard. I hope you have sown every mine available there!
Looking forward to seeing how Krazy Karl Doorman's Death Drive turns out - sic 'em boy!