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We likes a bit of surface combat - specially when it involves the RN. [:D]

Indeed, EUBanana. [:D] More to come, hopefully!

12/21/41

India/Burma: I need more ground troops! And ships. And planes. I need a lot of everything. India really isn't very secure.

China: The AVG sweep (it was from Changsha to Nanchang) nets me one Nate of 2 on CAP. It looks like Cruft is keeping his Nates on the ground, like in Burma on our last game. Wise move.

I'm sure with the new upgrade options they'll all be Oscars relatively soon.. anyways, AVG is going to sweep Canton next turn. Maybe there'll be more IJA planes to kill there.

I need to get some airbases close enough and big enough to use my SB-2s..

Malaya: Hudsons out of Singapore again attack his shipping and again miss. They're pretty beat up, but experience is going up. I have them on Recon for next turn.

The Philippines: Bulk of the action this turn.

He starts off by bombing Manila harbor with Betties from Legaspi - sinks a PT boat, damages 2 subs and an AK. I plan on evacuating the remainder of shipping in Manila harbor at the next opportunity - probably as soon as Ryujo + friends leave the Mindanao area. The Borneo route is closed by the Saigon Nells and soon-to-fall Kuching.

Bombardments at Naga continue.. I have roughly equal amounts of assault points in Naga and Clark - about 600 each. Naga will be held until the forts start falling, then we retreat to Manila. The same strategy applies to Clark.

Davao falls, despite 56th Brigade's lack of supplies. The defending division retreats west for some reason. I'm sending it north to Cotabato, even though it has the worst morale and experience I've seen in this game. [8|]

Finally, Repulse isn't quite fast enough. She's only 2 hexes from Tarakan but the Japanese put 3 more torpedoes into her today, and it looks like they aren't turning back. There's a 99% chance Repulse will sink tomorrow, but I still have hope that it will somehow straggle to Tarakan and stop the flooding. Extremely doubtful.

DEI: My Martins are ineffective, but their experience is going up.. oh, I shifted around a few more air units. (Moved T.IVs from Bali to Amboina, that sort of thing.) No real action.

Well.. 4th Marines finished unloading. I have about 170 assault points at Palembang now.

Other Theatres: No action.

You got me as reader Alikchi!

I love andrew's map...cannot go back to the vanilla one no more

Thanks Hoepner! Good to see you. [:)] And yes, the map is amazing! Even without the improvements, I love the classic feel.

Anyways, sorry about the delayed updates, guys! Here's the 22nd of December.

12/22/41

India/Burma: Nothing much. Building up bases, as always. Burma still hasn't been invaded.. hmm.

China: Still no action. We like the status quo.

Malaya: No fighting yet.. I'm wondering when he'll reach Kuantan and Taiping.

I'm also thinking about evacuating unit fragments to India. I'd especially like MAF Aviation..

The Philippines: Bombardment continues at Naga.. his are much more effective than mine, of course.

In the North, my PTs arrive at Lingayen and meet a nice convoy.. escorted by 3 DDs and 2 PGs. Of the five, 2 are sunk and one is damaged. No hits are scored. Phooey..

Oh yes, and in the south, my P-40Es keep missing his ships. Double phooey!

DEI: The Repulse sunk one hex from Tarakan. [:(] Rah. Well, at least I did a little better than historically with her.

The rest of Super-Force Z is retiring to Kendari.. except for a few Dutch DDs moving to reinforce my good Australian friends at Kendari.

Other Theatres: No real action. All CVs are on the West Coast, the less-damaged Pearl BBs are on their way there, and a huge swath of convoys are churning towards CENTPAC + SOPAC. (Defense units for Christmas Island should be landing next turn, actually.)

Another quiet day.. but is a storm brewing? Emperor Cruft-san says:

"BTW there will be happenings soon. All a bit risky for me but I'm going
to go for it anyway. Nothing for a few turns yet though."

Hmm.. I wonder. Well, anyways..

12/23/41

India/Burma: His message above makes me worry about the security of India and Ceylon. I have brigades at Trincomalee and Columbo (about to be reinforced with Artillery units). I'm working on strongpoints at Madras, Diamond Harbor and Chandpur, with reserves at Asansol and Hyderabad, mostly tanks.

That doesn't mean he couldn't blow through India right now if he tried it. But I believe he'd finish Malaya and Singapore before he tried something like that. By then I'd have more guns, tanks and planes.

I don't think Cruft would do this, but that's a very good reason for him to try it. [:'(]

China: SB-2s start bombing here in an attempt to make his fighters come out and play with the AVG. More will be coming online soon..

I seriously doubt his risky operation would be here. There's not much risk involved for him in China, and not much he can do, in any case. ;p What's he going to do? Land Paratroops in Chungking?

Malaya: Still nothing here. I'm sure when the hammer falls, though, it will hurt.

The Philippines: More disaster and gloom! My B-17s launched against his ships concentrating at Lingayen today and got absolutely torn up by the defending Oscars and Zeroes. I don't think a single plane escaped undamaged and several were destroyed by the Zeroes' 20mm.

I've decided to do something interesting with the B-17 groups. I've upgraded one to A-20s and one to B-25s. Now, they won't come online for a while, but they should do better against the ships and ground targets.. and they'll definitely be a help later in the DEI.

Oh yes - he tried another deliberate attack at Naga this turn. Once again repulsed with heavy losses and no forts lost. [:D] Methinks he'll need reinforcements if he plans to take the place..

Finally, my P-40Es shot down two Zeroes over Davao to only one P-40E damaged! That deserves mentioning.

DEI: Nothing much new. PoW and friends heading back to Soerabaja; Kuching still stands.

Oh, his sub-laid mines sink a PC and an SC this turn, ouch! They were part of an ASW TF heading after a sub contact. (Maybe the one that laid the mines?) I think we'll get the sub next turn.

Other Theatres: No action.

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P.S.: Our house rule stipulates that I can't change HQs for any unit until January 1st.

That'll be relatively soon. I'll have nearly 2000 points saved up by then. What do you think I should do with them?

12/24/41

India/Burma: No action.

China: More bombing.. other than that, no action. Is he ever going to attack on the ground? I'm spread kind of thin..

Malaya: No action again. Well, SS Trusty torpedoes an AK off Kota Bharu and Cruft complains. [:D]

Also, nearly all my units at Sing have small fragments heading to Madras. They'll rebuild later and help me defend India.

He reached Georgetown and started deliberate attacking this turn. The base force there is trying to flee.

The Philippines: Owwy.

He nails Manila with another Port Attack - I'm not entirely sure what to do here. He sank the Dewey Dry Dock and another PT. He also hit an AS with a bomb.

I'm sending out more ships but I can't send them all out too much - too many have high float damage.

My USN subs are going to have to stage out of Soerabaja now - ah well.

He also makes a run on Clark again. I was able to muster a numerically strong CAP - 16 P-40Es, 3 P-40Bs, 3 P-35s and 3 P-26s. But the morale was terrible. They mostly broke off and let the Sallies and Lilies do their runs. Luckily, they're bad shots - only 9 runway hits.

I really need that morale to go up.

Also, bombardments at Naga. Yawn.

DEI Tried to sink I-162, PC Circe took a torpedo for the attempt. I hate that sub!

SOPAC/CENTPAC: SS Pollack spotted this this turn.



Tarawa next?

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More Neck Tie worries. I wonder..

MERRY CHRISTMASARU FROM NIPPONESE FRIENDS!

12/25/41

India/Burma: Nothing, nothing.. I really have lots of time to prepare with the new map. Which I like. Now I just wait and see if I have this thought out right..

China: He turned back my IL-4s with Nates. Phooey.

Malaya: Another attack at Georgetown.. forts are down to 3. Why won't my base force leave? It's their lives on the line! Agh!

The Philippines: He starts landing at San Jose (a little west of Manila in Andrew's map). My fleeing transports and assorted ships from Manila are passing through the hexes around it.

My B-17s break through and get another hit today - they really are doing well. In addition, A-20s and B-25s should be coming online tomorrow for naval strikes.

P-40Es attack his shipping at Davao and they all miss, but they shoot down 3 Claudes in the process. Killing his good pilots before they get their Zeroes = worth it.

Finally, the usual bombardments at Naga. My guys are starting to get disrupted. Once he starts deliberate attacking, I'll withdraw to Manila.

DEI: No action as of yet.. oh, I reinforced Palembang yet again. Swordfish from Singapore and more Hawks from Java. Supplies are unloading too, and forts are going up.

ASW efforts continue, as well.

SOPAC/CENTPAC: Yep, he landed at Tarawa this turn. Took him long enough. [;)]

My convoys should still be safe. If he advances any farther, rerouting will be necessary..

Speaking of convoys, stuff started landing at Midway, Christmas and Johnson Islands this turn. Each gets AA and CD units, plus a Marine Defense Batallion. Midway also gets an infantry regiment (161st), Christmas gets a full division (40th US) and Johnson will just have to make do.

West Coast: I-19, about 5 hexes from San Francisco, torpedoes AK Boreas this turn, which does not sink - but it looks possible. I've turned around the ship and really need to get her home quick if I can, because it's carrying the 22nd Bombardment Group - B-17s. I also dispatched about 5 DDs from San Fran to destroy the sub.

I really am running out of ASW escorts - averaging out at about 2 per convoy right now. I'll need to be especially careful when I get far from home ports.

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I'm having lots of fun. Cruft is playing his game very well - he covers EVERYTHING - and I'm enjoying trying to pull together a defense with the next-to-nothing I've got.

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Christmas Update - Southeast Asia
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India



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Burma



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Malaya



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Other theatres to follow later. Perhaps tomorrow if I'm feeling chipper. [:'(]

==PHOTO RELEASE 12/25/41==

Nothing much happened on the 26th. :p

12/27/41

India/Burma: Still waiting.

China: He tried night bombing with Anns and Marys this turn. One runway hit scored for several aircraft destroyed or damaged - "not worth it", as he says. I said it might be more effective with several hundred B-29s at 100 feet, wanna try it out someday?

He also took Pakhoi today with the Shanghai SNLF. In retrospect I should have at least put up a minor fight for it, but oh well. I may send some units south later to try and contest it - it's a very vulnerable hex, imho - but right now I'm going to wait for him to attack. Which he still has not.

If he's trying to tempt me into an offensive, it's getting close to working..

Malaya: The IJAAF launches a large strike on Singapore harbor with 91 Sallies. Escort was a bit deficient however - only 11 Oscars. Many Sallies were damaged and about 5 were shot down by flak and Buffalo CAP.

He still manages to sink an AK and 3 LCVPs though.

Also in Malaya, I've moved Wildebeests up to Kuantan. This puts them just in range of Kota Bharu, where Cruft is continually unloading War Crap. Maybe we can get through the CAP and have a nice torpedo strike..

The Philippines: My Bostons, Mitchells and Fortresses weren't nearly as effective today - no hits scored.

I don't think he liked them at all, actually, because he launches another airstrike at Clark - 34 Nells and Betties escorted by 76 (!) Zeroes. About half of my fighters stay and fight and get mostly shot down for their impudence. The runway receives 35 hits - it can still operate, but I'm sure he'll be back for more.

I've moved in another 20 P-40Es, put everything on super-CAP, and stood down my bombers so they don't suck away fighters. I want to actually hurt him this time!

He begins landing at Taytay, another small island. Yawn.

Oh, and I sent my PT boats towards Davao - I don't think they'll make it there in one turn - but they've been sitting at Butuan for too long.

DEI: POW and friends arrived in Soerabaja harbor today, where I conviniently received another AR today. Things are going well here.

He took Brunei today with an SNLF - the base force fled to Miri (one hex west). Northern Borneo is effectively his.

I'm tempted to try running a small SC TF into Kuching again.. but I know they'll get caught by Nells or slaughtered by his cruisers. Harumph.

SWPAC: I recieved two groups of A-24 Dauntless dive bombers at Brisbane today! Huzzah. I've moved them north to Townsville for now. I eventually want them in Java or the DEI. That would be just fantastic..

I've also been thinking about what to do with all the political points I have. I believe I will use them to convert the 2nd Australian Div to SWPAC command and bring it up to Port Moresby. First, though, I'll change the USAFFE airgroups to SWPAC.

CENTPAC 40th US Div began landing at Christmas today.

NORTHPAC: ASW group caught I-2 near Anchorage but missed with their depth charges. Recon reports I-2 slinking northwest, so the group will attempt to follow.

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Things are heating up.. I wonder what's next on Cruft's list?

In Palembang, I have 200 assault points now. And Stringbags. Mwahahaha.

12/28/41

India/Burma: I got two engineer units at Karachi today! They'll be traveling throughout India building up bases. First Hyderabad, then Madras, then Asansol. Then wherever.

18th UK Division arrived at Middle East today, as well. I need to wait and get my AKs over there before I can ship them out, but I'll probably put the Div into reserve. (Madras? Asansol?)

Malaya: Buffalos can't stop unescorted Nells - AKs Hermion and Bantam received a torpedo each in Singapore today. Ouchie.

The Philippines: Even more ouchie.

He launched another big raid on Clark as expected. The first strike was escorted only by Oscars and the P-40Es did quite well, shooting down 10 Oscars for 5 P-40Es lost. The next wave was escorted by 70+ Zeroes. I lost 10 P-40s to no Zeroes even touched, and 7 more on the ground - a total score of 22 P-40Es to 10 Oscars destroyed. Not good.

I've decided that I can't really contest the airspace here. It's better when my aircraft are attacking so they don't get caught on the ground at Clark - so I've set my bombers back on Naval attack. I also moved the operational A-20s and B-25s, plus a few P-40s south to Cagayan. There's a TF heading southwest towards Mindanao that I want to catch.

Speaking of, I looked at the recon reports of the stuff in Davao - CA, DE, AP, etc - and decided not to send my PTs in there quite yet. We'll wait for a while.

DEI: Nothing yet. Haven't seen a sub in a while.. [:'(]

SOPAC: He takes Abemama, an undefended beach near Tarawa, with a Naval Guard unit. I spotted another TF heading south of there, as well. He's picking up speed in this theatre..

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Also, CA Kinagusa was reported sunk in Davao harbor today! This was a ship that was heavily damaged in the fight with Force Z at Davao.

That's two confirmed sinkings - Myoko and Kinagusa. I'm pretty satisfied. [:)]

Today was a good day! Any day I can achieve parity in aircraft lost with him is good..

12/29/41

India/Burma: 55th Division finally reaches Tavoy and shoves my base force towards Moulmein. Thank you, Cruft! They were going like 2 miles a DAY..

Anyways. I assume he'll be heading north soon. My dispositions in Burma have not changed since the image I posted earlier. We'll see how they stand up.

Also, a large chunk of the 18th Div is shipping out to Hyderabad this turn.. the rest will have to wait until more transports are available.

China: I shot down an Oscar over Nanchang, ho-hum.

There was actually some naval action here today! SS Seawolf left Manila at the beginning of the war and is now on the way to Soerabaja. In between I decided to be a little suicidal and sail Seawolf upriver from Shanghai to Hangchow. Seawolf encountered a small ASW group there, but avoided being depth-charged and put two torpedoes into DD Asagumo, which sunk immediately! I am pleased. Seawolf is now scurrying to Soerabaja - Cruft probably wants her sunk. ;p

Malaya: Not too much action today. His bombers keep bombing and mine keep hiding. Oh, AP President Madison succumbed to 3 torpedoes fired by I-158 near the tip of Sumatra. Blah.

The Philippines: More action!

He attacks Clark, again with two waves, one of Army planes, the other of Navy. First wave is 30 Anns and 16 Lilys escorted by 27 Oscars - they get through pretty cleanly, although several are damaged by flak, and inflict 20 runway hits. The second wave is 9 Nells escorted by 63 Zeroes. Once again the Zeroes clean out the P-40Es on CAP (only 5 at this point) and the Nells score 11 runway hits.

At the same time, though, my bombers are launching and they're scoring hits:

AP Nichibi Maru, Bomb hits 1
AK Kinko Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
MSW Musashi Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage (sunk)

Cruft mentioned that I have only two more days until I am free to leave. But I'm thinking I'll stay for a while.. if I pull back to the DEI I won't have nearly as much tasty shipping in range. [:)]

Speaking of..

DEI: Betties from Davao and Palau (ooh, rhymes) chime in today at Tarakan and Sorong, respectively. At Sorong, 40 Betties show up and hit exactly nothing, because there is nothing to hit. At Tarakan, 38 Betties escorted by 8 Zeroes meet my CAP of 5 Brewsters. The Brewsters wing around the Zeroes and gun down several Betties - in all, 7 are destroyed by CAP and flak today, with more damaged. Yay! 4 hits on the runway, I think the guys on the ground slept through it.

I guess this means he's going to start heading south soon, though. I bet Tarakan or Sorong will be attacked.. this time I'm not sending out surface forces until I'm sure I can get away without being torpedoed by Betties or Kates.

Other Theatres: Not much.

[center]==GENERAL OVERVIEW OF JAPANESE ACTION & CONQUESTS TO DATE, DECEMBER 29, 1941==

[/center]

Do people like these extras? (The disposition screenshots, the IL-2 screenshots, this map, etc?) I enjoy doing them, but they can be time consuming.. if no one's watching, then I'll probably cut them. Thoughts? [:)]

Keep em coming.

Love 'em!

Good stuff!!! [:)]

AARs without maps are much harder to remember and keep track of. They add a lot of value, though I think people are happy enough with a screen shot if you don't have time to do the really cool stuff.

Thanks a bunch, guys! [:)] I'll keep it up. I'm enjoying doing them, actually. It's motivated me to get a big laminated CHS map to hang up and make big dramatic swooshes on. [:)]

Incidentally, I have a lot of screenshots today, to make up for my absence lately.. been visiting family in Texas!

12/30/41-1/1/42

Luckily it's been fairly quiet for the past few days, so you haven't missed much. [;)]

India/Burma: The larger part of the 18th UK Div is on its way to Hyderabad, and my reserves are getting into position as well. The Malayan fragments have largely made it to Madras, too. I'm pretty happy with the situation here.. probably I'll be less happy once he actually attacks. [:D]

Winnie wants "1x CL, 2x DD" back for January. What? You haven't even given me any destroyers yet! Rargh!

China: I think he's starting offensives aimed at Changsha and Wuchow. I spotted 9 units outside Changsha this turn.. thing he's going to surround and reduce it? The garrison is large.. in any case, I have my IL-4s set to recon that particular hex next turn. (They've had their morale shot up by Nates.. scaring away unescorted bombers, the only thing they're good for! [:D])

I've also concluded that fighter sweeps are pretty much worthless. 3rd Squadron AVG (based in Changsha) is not getting good pickings. Hmm..

Malaya: He's outflanked my position at Kuantan (about 150 assault points there). He has also evicted my brigade from Taiping and appears to be heading for Kuala Lumpur. I don't have a whole lot to stop him..

He has been bombing Kuala Lumpur daily with IJA bombers escorted by Oscars. I've set all my Buffalos in Singapore (about 3 squadrons) to LRCAP over the base - maybe I can catch a few. [:)]

The Philippines: His troops have arrived in Clark! Immediately they make a deliberate attack. 0-1 odds, he has about 1600 casualties. [:D] I only have four fort levels - his airfield bombing has kept my engineers busy, sadly. Even so, our numbers are nearly equal. Hopefully Clark will hold out for some time.

The bombardments continue to wear me down at Naga.. I think he'll start deliberate attacks again soon.

Manila port has been cleared.. only one damaged PT boat remains. Several of the small AKs (those really neat Philippine Steamers in CHS) that I had sneaking out were intercepted on the 31st by an IJN force of 3 DDs and all sunk or scuttled.

My PT boats at Butuan are heading out again - a convoy appears to be heading northwest from Davao back to Formosa. Maybe I can pull off a mid-ocean intercept?

He captured Puerto Princessa today. *yawn, stretch*

Finally, the air situation is pretty bad. Only my B-17s are launching - he's effectively destroyed most of my aircraft and shattered morale. I've started to pull out a few aircraft to the DEI - 4 P-40Es have arrived in Palembang, and 12 A-20s have showed up in Borneo. I'll probably leave the rest around - maybe we'll get lucky and catch some more shipping once the morale recovers. I just don't want them to get cut off.. we'll see.

DEI: All quiet, for the most part. Except!

Just today (1st January, 1942) he made a landing at Menado. Prior recon showed that it was escorted by Ryujo and possibly another CVL. I'm getting a lot of "CA CA CA CA CA CA" type recon.

In any case, I've evacuated the aircraft. In all likelyhood the base will fall tomorrow.

SWPAC: My A-24s are on their way to Java from Townsville. I really need good fighters in this theatre.. Wirraways just aren't going to cut it. Luckily, 7th, 8th, and 9th Squadrons USAAF (P-40E) arrived at San Fran this turn. Now I just need some AKs.. I've cleared out the entire West Coast!

SOPAC: Other than the usual fortification, minelaying and convoy-running, it's been fairly quiet. Well, until now. PBYs at Canton Island report a Japanese surface force heading east, straight for Canton. (See image.) "CA CA" doesn't tell me much - for all I know, it could be the KB, which was last sighted near Kwajalein - so I'm getting my things out of the way. Unloading at Canton right now is a Tactical Recon unit with Lightnings. I've turned away every ship except the AK carrying the group itself. Next nearest and also heading towards Canton are two separate convoys carrying the 2nd Marine Defense Battalion. (I'd feel a lot more secure if they'd made it there in time!) They will be heading directly east for a while, then south. Hopefully this is just a raid and I'll be able to land them later.

NORTHPAC: I'm sending a regiment out from Anchorage to secure Attu Island (the closest to Japan in Andrew's map.) Other than that, still nothing.

West Coast: All of my damaged but moveable BBs from Pearl have arrived at San Francisco - that's everything but Pennsylvania and Utah. None of them has system damage above 45! Excellent..

As mentioned above, I've managed to clean the entire coast of AKs and APs. Ack.

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Screenshots!

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Today's attack at Clark.

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General strength in the Philippines. (AP = assault points)

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General strengths in Malaya - note Kuantan, isolated.

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What I can see at Canton Island. I have 24 PBYs there, and all I get is "CA CA"? [;)]

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Combat ship sinkings so far. Losing Repulse really hurt.. at least she took Furutaka with her.

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My intel screen.

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That's a long enough update for one night. Hejus.

Tomorrow: Menado (probably) falls and hopefully I figure out what the hell "CA CA" is.

I've experienced several times the inability of Catalinas , even when highly experienced, to spot and recognize a CV TF.It's frustrating, i know[:)]
I'd not put many effords at Canton Island: it's a damned place for the allies to stand in a fight. Too far away from the closest possible support base. If he commits 2 divisions whatever you have at Canton is lost....i'd say let him conquer Canton island if he really wants it...it's gonna be a tough job for him to keep it supplied...and when your time will come you will easily take it back.