herbie goes bananas again

[herbieh]

Thunderstorms, and then when I look closely, wunpunko seems to have grown a green cancer.
Sneaky buddy, sneaky.

Kb retires to shortland for some R and R

Having more fun reading about wobbly whipping on WITP.
cant wait for my turn!

[herbieh]

Wunpunko falls
another base force arrives, will go to shortlands

Irau- 2 regiments, 100 a/c
Lunga 1 division, 100 a/c
munda, 1 regiment, 50 a/c
shortlands, 1 division
rabual, 2 full divisions
woodlark, 1 regiment
PM , 1 division
Lea, 100 betties
Gasmatta, more betties
and you can walk on the mine fields

Thats a rough memory count of land forces, actually quite a few more scattered around
over 250 zeros in pool,60 nells in pool (3 squadrons arrive next month)

Naval forces, 6cv, 3cvl, 1cve, 4 bb, about 10 ca, and plenty of DDs ect
very light on SS.
Supplies seem ok
Bucket loads of APs
Im digging in. Wobbly is probably worried about a desperate long run attempt at auto victory. Not going to happen
Im going to annihalate his 1st major invasion attempt
Is he good enough to gain a foot hold?

[herbieh]

A middle sized raid hits PM
Only a handful of Rufes rise to stop them. Surprisingly they knocked down one
damage wasn't too bad

More interesting is the sighting of ships 10 hexes due south of GG
Wonder what they are up too
yammato and co are ordered to lurk near woodlark, set to react
KB behind her, but not too close, all this could be a diversion.

Argonaut must be on map, I spot a mine on the approach to lunga
He's a sneaky one he is, he is, arrr, he is.[:-]

[herbieh]

Wobbly hits a road bump

CL Hobart and 4 DDs hit woodlark, met by 2cl and 5 DD
I sink all the enemy DDs, Hobart gets away

I had to scuttle I cl, and 2 DDs

A viscious battle That!!

Wobbly never does anything by halves. Acting on a pure hunch, I send everything Ive got due south, all ships charge!!!!, straight down the middle of the coral sea, lets see what is lurking.
Now we can start shredding metal.
This is what I like, Im useless at attack, but I take 7 imperialistic scum for every son of nippon!

The seas will run red.
Gory stuff this wargaming eh![;)]

[herbieh]

silence decsends again, but Im going to keep steaming south, looking for trouble.....

[herbieh]

That dreaded combination, p38, b17 arrived at irau that turn.
I lost 12 aircraft all up, he lost 8, I think.
But he closed the place in one go[:@]

Im pulling out some base forces there, building up shortlands, pulling out the planes, its too easy to have 100's trapped on the field.

Then I suppose he can do this to lunga, PM, GG, Lae, ect, ect.
Quite a dilemma hey!

KB and co are still heading south at a crawl now, armed and dangerous, looking for bear...

[Freddy Fudpucker]

Herbie,

What is the date now? And how long left in the scenerio?

[herbieh]

Not sure of exact date, late October though
Im still 3500 points ahead, not enough though

No air raids today, airfield repaired
Im shipping out some base forces back to shortlands, and the planes will go.
I will just rotate 1 squadron at a time through the base.
KB and co remain unspotted, lurking to the west of Irau.
Thunderstorms, Wobbly will try something, lets see if I can get south of him and cut him off
Sending Kaga home worked, more CAs and DDs on the way!

[herbieh]

Things begin to hot up in the south pacific
2 DDs raid irau, damaging several APs there, however both got bashed a bit themselves.
Hudsons hit 2 APs as well, Im sure wobbly will note the lack of air resistance as the a/c there retire to shortlands.
Base forces loading avoid the attack, PHEW!

KB is just a little too far away, so I order her to lurk further east, they are spotted at last, Wobbly must have every B17 on naval search, sightings all over the map.
Im confident. Im ready, Im looking forward to the fight.
And I sound like Mark Latham pre election night[:'(][:'(][:'(]

[herbieh]

Well Ive had enough of this lurking about rubbish
There are ships at wunpunko, and no planes
So KB steams straight at it, attack!
The BBs are ordered, attack!

A single cve acting as iether a decoy or alternative bomb spunge heads towards noumea

I have absolutely no idea where wobblies CVs are, so this will probably be the stupidist thing Ive done ever in this game!

I can't wait until corsairs and Hellcats arrive, this is it.
Herb goes looking for trouble.[:@][:@][:@]

[herbieh]

A sub sinks 2 APs at Irau, my base forces are told to skiddadle!

Big action, at last!!!!
Wobbly DBs and beauforts strike at my BB fleet.
Out of 4 lousy Torpedo bombers, BB haruna wears 2, and is in very very bad shape
Mushia took a bomb
Psst, did you hear a rumour that we got hit?
Really?
Yeah, see that little scratch there, no , there[:D]
The DBs were basically ineffectual
KB launches 2 wonderful coordinated strikes.
His CAP cant get at the bombers, and suffers losses, I lose maybe 10 fighters
3AK, 1 AO are sunk, a DD is claimed sunk[:'(]
I wanted to send the BBs in this turn, but there ops points prevent it, some one refuelled grrrr
SO KB will rendevou with the BBs, and set the bombers to rest, CAP to 90%
Hopefully lots of LBA will attack, and be shredded
I am willing to wear hits on KB, its the BBs I want to stay untouched, they are slated to hit his airfields, and cull B17s

1 squadron from the CVE will do a airfield strafe this turn
Then KB is going home, yes, Im sending it home, and will defend the south pacific with BBs, fast transport couter attacks, and in mid 43, try with KB again
i want to try something different
Besides, it will be fun bluffing wobbly with KB when it will only be 1 ship (the cve)
Evil herb[:'(]

[herbieh]

Gamers worse nightmare
Computer has gone bung big time[:@]

I will return

Now I have to talk to the wife[X(]

[PzB74]

Amateur! [:-]

A true gamer always has at least 3 - or a minimum of 2 computers with UV and WitP running at all times!
Just the thought of going offline makes me sick [:'(]

Go and get a credit card and get online asap man!

Btw... you got my sympathy [;)]

[Freddy Fudpucker]

ORIGINAL: herbieh

Now I have to talk to the wife[X(]

Ah, the noble art of conversation. I can still recall it in a dim and distant past...

Remember to be nice [:)].

[herbieh]

has finally been resolved[8|]
back to the war.

I think Ive been conned. Nearly everything Ive got is at irau and lunga, and now at least 2 cvs are spotted north of cooktown
This smells of trouble
Kb is very tired, and I cant even remember therbattle plan, I think it was go home, better read up on my own AAR.

I think though that killer Al is on the way

About time too...

[herbieh]

Wobbly CVs appear on the coast between PM and GG, good thing I ran away, literally a 100 APs were in the area, supply runs galore, they all go to the Admiralties, will set up a barge base there.

KB is heade to Shortlands, the CVE to Lunga, want Wobbly to think he knows where KB is

2 massive B17 raids today, over 110 involved, PM is a crater, so is nevea
This is serious!!!
Im still keeping all LBA grounded, trying desperately to shuffle base forces about a bit, too many at irau, where its too easy to close it down.
Harauna is crippled, so she has to go home
Lost an AV to a sub of irau, only swallowed 5 torps[8|]

I will fight on

[herbieh]

Wobbly retires his CVs south, while I try to fill in a million holes all over the place[:(]
Ive so many APs about dont know what to do with em[:'(]

Trying to get Rabual built up a bit more with base forces from irau, so many subs down there I dont like my chances
KB is almost back to shortlands
I must try to keep it there to remove system damage, the stokers are screaming at me, this needs fixing, and that needs fixing, and no soup for you!

[herbieh]

The 11th of the 11th, a significant day in Australia

On this war front it is once again quiet, KB pulls into shortland, followed by the remaining 3 seaworthy BBs
Harauna heads to truk and home

I send the CVE into the coral sea at speed, waving the flag, she has to play keep wobbly nervous.
Another 3 heavy cruisers arrive Truk! A nice new reaction task force, they will join Tanaka at Rabual.
Really, Wobbly will have to have his poo in a sock when he finally invades.

Finally I have 60 barges in the pool, a million cockroaches will shortly spawn on the coast of Papua, he will have a busy time trying to stamp them out.

Im still confident I can repel his 1st invasion force[8|]

[herbieh]

well the game continues, its like the stone age compared to WITP, yet honour must be upheld!

A serious look at the situation fills me with gloom.
November rolls along, and I have failed totally to bring about the decisive battle[:(]
KB is tired, tired, tired, all that screaming about for nothing

I have lots of ships, plenty of planes, troops in reserve, men dug in, supplies seemingly a plenty.
Yet I am full of gloom
Soon Essex and co will arrive
His airpower must now be MASSIVE
How many CVs, CVLs has he now, and BBs and CA's
Hellcats, P38s and Corsairs coming on line
And an intact Navy
I think I will be blown away like a Autumn leaf

But I will fight
The plan is this
Wobbly will strike at least 2 places at once, with a major decoy, this I am sure
I will counter the decoy with a false reaction of the CVE playing KB, hopefully he will strike

!st reaction will be to hunker down, and wait until the transports to arrive. I will send in 1 Army plane sweep per day, raise his fatigue
day 2-3, release KB for her death ride
Day 4, send in the fast transport BBs, and Tanaka
day 5, release the Betties and remaining navy air power

And then pick up the pieces I suppose
If he gains a foothold that is it.

On the front today little action, still trying to evac some base forces from irau.
More troops arrived at truk, SNLF types, to the Admiralties they will go.

[herbieh]

Storms cover the area, and little is happening.
Even taunting wobbly about Kiwi Cricket players doesnt get a reaction
Nearly at the end of 42, KB remains together, PNG in my hands, the Solomons in my hands, and still he skulks down south

Now have Most of the surface fleet at rabual, KB at shortlands
Change of heart about sending KB home because in another game I had to, so the experiment can happen in private, not here .
Personally, I think if he doesnt move soon he wont have enough time left.
We will see
Boy, compared to WITP, this great game sure has been put aside.