Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[Cribtop]

GO SPURS GO! My family has had season tickets since I was 10 years old, Up 3-0 on Memphis! Banzai!!

[ny59giants]

GO SPURS GO! My family has had season tickets since I was 10 years old, Up 3-0 on Memphis! Banzai!!

You might as well talk about the NBA now because in a few months you will not be talking about the NFL. [;)]

[Cribtop]

I don't want to! The Cowboys are so far gone into Jerry's World of Weirdness that I don't know they ever recover. Meanwhile the Spurs are the anti-Cowboys, playing up to their potential every time, win or lose. I've pulled for the 'Boys since I was 8 but I'm so down on them now that when there were brief rumors that the San Diego Chargers might become the San Antonio Chargers, I pretended it would actually happen so that I could briefly dream of a world in which I could legitimately renounce my Cowboys fandom. Ugly place to be.

[Cribtop]

March 24, 1943

Subs

A Jake on nav search claims a hit on a sub NW of Kure Island. Unfortunately, this may give away KB's position if CF is paying attention.

Convoy escorts chase off Gar near Toyohara.

5th Fleet

No sign of the Adak invasion fleet and covering forces NW of Midway. We'll push East with KB for 48 more hours, then retire to a point where we can quickly intervene if CF comes back for another round in the Aleutians.

Shimushiri Jima makes airfield 4.

Burma

The Allies hit Akyab's airfield, which, ironically, is already a total wreck due to constant bombing by the IJAAF.

China

Sweep of Chengtu shoots down 8 P-66 for no losses to the IJAAF.

[Cribtop]

March 25, 1943

Subs

Search planes from KB once again overfly USN subs. Afraid our cover is blown.

5th Fleet

Ulak Island is occupied by Allied rowboats.

Southern Army

We still have a small army slogging toward the isolated Aussie units at Broome and Derby. No sign of any relief for the enemy before the IJA arrives.

Waingapoe makes airfield 4.

Burma

We have piled a stunning (for the Japanese) 414 engineers and 20 plus engineer vehicles into Taung Gyi. Today we make level 4 forts (recall forts were knocked down to 3 by an Allied DA a few weeks back).

China

We sweep and bomb Chengtu in daylight. There is no CAP and we destroy 4 planes on the ground, damaging more. Given the total lack of flak and thus supply, the damaged planes will never escape.

[Cribtop]

March 26, 1943

Quiet day.

5th Fleet

Atka Island occupied by rowboat for the Allies.

Shikuka goes to airfield 3.

SE Fleet

P-38 and B-25s raid the small airfield at Tulagi.

Burma

More Allied raids bounce rubble at the Akyab airfield. We plan to spring an LRCAP trap here tomorrow.

Combined Fleet

The fleet pulls back West to join up with the Oilers. We will re-fuel and sail to Yokohama. This has three purposes: 1) clear SYS damage and complete conversion of the last few CVL air groups to A6M3a; 2) facilitate swapping the newly upgraded Shokaku and Zuikaku for the Akagi and Kaga, which need to upgrade; and 3) keeping KB near 5th Fleet AO in case CF re-loads and tries for another island in the Aleutians.

[Cribtop]

March 27, 1943

Subs

Gar sinks an xAKL near Toyohara. Whale sinks an xAK near Amami Oshima. Tambor duds on an xAKL near Sorong.

I-174 engages the small UK DD force that once again makes a mysterious run into and out of Cox's Bazar. Perhaps CF is scouting defenses or hunting supply TFs that will never come (as they are unnecessary).

IJN ASW hunts Sawfish near Hong Kong.

5th Fleet

Ominato makes airfield 5.

We unload an LCU at Uruppu Jima. Etorofu is next and then the Kuriles are at least preliminarily secure, with more to come.

Combined Fleet

KB re-fuels at sea and heads for Japan tomorrow. It will be the carriers' first return to the Home Islands since Pearl Harbor.

SE Fleet

CF pulls off a very clever raid. He correctly guessed I would LRCAP Tulagi after yesterday's attack there and springs a big B-24 assault on Munda today. Caught without defenses, we compound the error by standing down the Betty group at Munda so we could add a Nick group to the LRCAP. Frankly we are fortunate to only lose 8 Bettys and 1 Zero on the ground. The field is damaged but not too badly. We will defend Munda with everything tomorrow, but doubt the enemy returns.

Namatanai makes airfield 4. This base will be used to help defend Rabaul when the time comes.

Burma

Our glorious LRCAP trap fails due to user error. I messed up my settings for a few Tojo groups. Instead of 90 Tojos and 30 Nicks, we end up with 32 Tojos and 30 Nicks. Sigh. CF comes with everything and we fight reasonably well, getting slightly better than 1:1, including a decent haul of Blenheims as we do get through to the bombers. His Hurricanes get the bounce at first - we can assume he has learned to both escort and LRCAP his raids. Japan can easily replace the losses, especially as few IJAAF pilots are casualties. We'll try again soon with even more Tojos - a new group just arrived in theater.

Our armies continue to march in the Arakan. Cribtop HQ wonders whether CF will make a stand just outside Akyab or try to withdraw through the trackless jungle. Neither option seems fun for him.

We are planning an Op to converge on the Commonwealth Army in Burma from 3 sides. 17th Army and the tanks could emerge from the jungle aimed at Schwebo, 15th Army and another 3 division force could thrust at Magwe/Meiktila, and 18th Army at Taung Gyi serves as the Anvil. No way CF can get significant reserves in due to the jungle transit time. He will be faced with encirclement at Taung Gyi or withdrawal to Katha. Lots of prospects for delay here.

Part of this plan is already in motion. We mentioned air reinforcements previously, which include more Tojos, some Vals, a bunch of IJAAF transports, etc. We also have a horde of supply about to land at Rangoon and a concentration of IJA engineers at Taung Gyi that are bumping fort levels by 12% per turn (quite a feat for the Japanese).

China

Unopposed night and daylight raids at Chengtu are starting to take a toll on what's left of the KMT air force. Our recon bombing finds that only Chungking has flak bursts, confirming the poor supply state of the enemy.

Air losses.

Despite the Munda licking we took, total air losses today in all theaters are 38:33 in favor of the Allies, a very acceptable loss ratio.

[Cribtop]

March 28, 1943

Subs

Porpoise duds on a Tonan Whaler in the main convoy hauling oil out of Singers. Glad we got lucky here! CF is figuring out where my routes are - time to move things around.

Finback duds on an ASW SC near Donggala.

I-16 torpedoes and probably mortally wounds a big UK tanker full of fuel just off the wormhole near Karachi.

Combined Fleet

Steaming for home and hopefully dropping off the radar.

SE Fleet

Woleai goes to forts 6. Yes, Woleai. Even the back line is digging in now.

Southern Army

Saumlaki goes to airfield 4.

China

Our daily Chengtu raid goes in unescorted and meets a small CAP. Fortunately only one bomber goes down and the raid gets through.

[Cribtop]

PS - I'm thrilled with the result of last night's game. A long series yet, but first blood to the good guys. GO, SPURS GO!

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

PS - I'm thrilled with the result of last night's game. A long series yet, but first blood to the good guys. GO, SPURS GO!

+1

Being a Blazers fan never allowed me to fully appreciate the phenomenal teams over the past 15-20 years down there, but now that the Blazers have fallen apart and I live in Europe I'm finding it very hard not to root for this Spurs team.

That said, the Blazers beat the Bulls with Jordan and Pippen in a game one in Chicago. Then lost 4 straight! [:-][:@][:(]

[Cribtop]

Agreed on two points - first this Spurs team is no longer the "boring" defense only Spurs. These guys are fun to watch. Second, Miami hasn't lost two games in a row since January, and has a great record after losing Game 1 of playoff series. We have a long way to go, yet.

[Cribtop]

March 29, 1943

Subs

I-168 misses a DD near Madras. I-27 misses a DD near Viz. Looks like an ASW TF leading a supply convoy from Madras to Calcutta.

K XVIII misses an xAK loaded with troops near Shortlands, much to our relief. Pogy torpedoes a supply xAK near Pagan. This ship is in a huge convoy that is working to move hundreds of thousands of tons of excess supply from Tokyo to the perimeter. We are going to pump up the stockpiles at Truk, Rabaul, Kwaj, Babel and Kendari, ready to support defensive Ops. Tokyo has over 4 million supply, we plan to move about 1M out.

Something Allied sinks - surely the big TK we hit near Karachi.

5th Fleet

Many damaged ships from the Adak battles are hiding out in Dutch Harbor, per recon. Hmm. Perhaps a visit from Mr. Tanaka is in order.

4th Fleet

Bettys from TB sortie after a DMS near Funafuti but miss. Looks like a small supply convoy.

SE Fleet

Finschafen and Salamua go to forts 2.

Burma

We massively LRCAP Akyab but CF doesn't come out to play.

China

Another unescorted raid here costs us two bombers, but daily destruction of the KMT air force on the ground continues.

We launch a BA at the long besieged Tienshui. Raw AS shows as 1434 vs 3505 in China's favor. Cribtop HQ is sure all peripheral Chinese bases are out of supply due to recon bombing (no flak). We have several HQs and lots of troops fully prepped for this base. Assuming a supply malus for the garrison, we may be able to roll it with 1:1 odds in raw AS, which is about what we can scrape together. If this force were destroyed, it would radically alter the balance of power in northern China and allow a drive to the Central plains. Hmmmm....

[Cribtop]

March 30, 1943

Subs

Narwhal duds on an xAK near Truk. The xAK torpedoed near Pagan yesterday sinks trying to make Saipan.

IJAAF ASW planes report a hit on a sub near Cam Ranh Bay. IJN ASW forces harass Finback near Donggala.

SE Fleet

Ndeni makes airfield 7.

Southern Army

Wyndham makes airfield 2. We are building this to support our overland drive to eliminate the Aussie beach heads at Derby and Broome.

Burma

Naturally, as we rest our Sentai CF hits the Akyab airfield today. We'll catch him one of these days.

Other

Chinhae in Korea makes port 5. We are building this to encourage overland flows to the area.

[Cribtop]

March 31, 1943

Quiet, but my spidey senses tingle.

SE Fleet

A B-25 raid hits Tulagi from Ndeni. Combined with a sighting of three TFs at Ndeni, this causes Cribtop HQ to order Combined Fleet to head to Truk instead of Yokohama. My gut tells me CF may try for the Solomons or Gilberts again. If he does, we will be ready. If not, KB still has a good port to clear SYS damage and is well positioned to react to other moves.

Southern Army

Brunei makes forts 4.

Burma

Uttaradit makes airfield 2.

Bhamo is occupied by Allied rowboats.

China

Siangtan makes forts 4.

[Cribtop]

AND....

My hard drive crashed. Crap! This may delay the game for a while. I'm going to take it in this weekend.

Can you play AE on one of those Microsoft Surface things? I may have to buy a new PC.

[Cribtop]

OK, my computer issues have been resolved and the war continues tonight!

[Cribtop]

April 1, 1943

Somewhere, an American squadron is upgrading to Mr. Hellcat. Yikes.

Quietest turn ever.

Southern Army

Saumlaki makes forts 3.

Burma

BA 1 hex SE of Akyab shows raw AS 930 vs 396. DA tomorrow.

Question

We recently upgraded CLs Nagara and Isuzu. During the upgrade, we pulled the floatplane groups off the ships and upgraded to Jakes. Now the planes won't go back to the ships. Is the Jake too big, or do the upgraded versions of these CLs no longer host floatplanes?

[obvert]

Glad to see you up and running again.

I know the later sub upgrades have been ejecting all kinds of Glen groups as they no longer carry them, and I think some of the CL upgrades did the same, but I'd have to check. Are those the ones that convert to CLAA?

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Is the Jake too big, or do the upgraded versions of these CLs no longer host floatplanes?

AE doesn't look at FP "size", which is why a common HR is that only Glen be used on subs. So, obvert is likely correct, the upgrade removed the FP from the ship. Good thing you had it off, otherwise you lose the group entirely I believe.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Is the Jake too big, or do the upgraded versions of these CLs no longer host floatplanes?

AE doesn't look at FP "size", which is why a common HR is that only Glen be used on subs. So, obvert is likely correct, the upgrade removed the FP from the ship. Good thing you had it off, otherwise you lose the group entirely I believe.

I would have thought this, but my Glens just got pushed to base during upgrades.