Canuck's Revenge - ADavidB vs PzB (Wobbly's game continued)

[ADavidB]

The World (at least the Allied World) asks on October 26... where the Devil did the KB go? It didn't show up anywhere, nor attack anything. Was this just another case of "McGoo's Airforce" at work? (Fog of War along with Fog of Jungle Juice I guess...) In any event, I'm not letting down my guard yet and have continued to divert the TFs near the region where I last spotted that TF.

In the meanwhile PzB has sent a sub down to Perth for the first time in months. I'm not sure if he is trying to mine the harbor, scouting or just looking for an easy opportunity, but I turned the bombers down there to ASW and sent out a DD. We'll see what happens.

PzB's troops did get to Rawalpindi at the same time as mine, and I lost my chance to grab the base. So it's off to Mongolia for the rest of the troops up there. Unfortunately, thanks to the ground movement rules the unit in Rawalpindi is now stuck until PzB bothers to destroy it.

PzB sent the bombers and the bombardment fleet back into Colombo today. I'm surprised that he is bothering to send in so much force. Look at all the ships he is using:

Naval bombardment of Colombo, at 14,24

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 4 destroyed
Wellington III: 9 destroyed
Hudson I: 3 destroyed
Catalina I: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
CA Suzuya
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
1913 casualties reported
Guns lost 22

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 150
Port hits 6
Port supply hits 3

That's really overkill - he'll be able to take the base with a squad of Geishas...[X(]

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

That's really overkill - he'll be able to take the base with a squad of Geishas...[X(]

Hmm. I know I would surrend to a squad of Geishas. [:D]

[frank1970]

I´d be very cautious in Java now. PzB showed you some carriers near Lunga (Are you sure it were his frstline carriers, not a force consisting of slow old carriers and CVLs?), then imho withdrew them towards Truk (estimation) and is waiting for your response.
Therewhile he has put the "real thing" between Java and Northern Australia (out of range of LBAs) and waits for you doing some more shipping between Java and Australia. He will then slaughter your last remaining transports and after that slaughter your forces in Java (Don´t forget, he has lots of very experienced forces from India, it would be a shame to not use them to recapture Java). After doing this, he will have a 4:1 point lead and you will have large problems to get a 2:1 in 45 if he stays defensive afterwards (maybe he will conduct offensives in China afterwards).

Just my ideas about the current situation.

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Frank

I´d be very cautious in Java now. PzB showed you some carriers near Lunga (Are you sure it were his frstline carriers, not a force consisting of slow old carriers and CVLs?), then imho withdrew them towards Truk (estimation) and is waiting for your response.
Therewhile he has put the "real thing" between Java and Northern Australia (out of range of LBAs) and waits for you doing some more shipping between Java and Australia. He will then slaughter your last remaining transports and after that slaughter your forces in Java (Don´t forget, he has lots of very experienced forces from India, it would be a shame to not use them to recapture Java). After doing this, he will have a 4:1 point lead and you will have large problems to get a 2:1 in 45 if he stays defensive afterwards (maybe he will conduct offensives in China afterwards).

Just my ideas about the current situation.

Good points. My feeling is that he has a couple of CVEs at Buka as the "demonstration force". What that big CV TF was I'm not certain. This turn should tell - if it suddenly turns up past my defensive line, then it is the fast CVs, if not, then it probably was the older CVs. But I'm not in the mood to go after his CVs with mine right now. I still have three fleet CVs in good shape, but I want to rest the two older ones and finally upgrade them. I also have one Brit CV that is really only good for "demonstration", as well as one new CVE that I am keeping back until I get its breathren in a month or so. So for now the flyboys on land have to hold things.

I agree with you completely about Java - he has a lot of planes in that area and probably some of his CVs too. I have pulled back most of my naval resources out of northern Australia to give them R&O so I'm not in a position to do anything "funny" there anyway. Also, I'm pretty much limited out on good land units right now and I won't be getting any new ones for months. I do get a lot more engineers over the next two months, but I already have all the engineers that I need so I'm not sure what I will do with them.

Right now my biggest "gambit" is an attempt to sneak another base force into Timor into the base that I hold in the middle of the island. I'm resting my heavy bombers right now so that I can hit his air bases as the ships near port and I also have a couple of fighter squadrens that I will use for LR CAP. If I can get that unit in place I will have two air bases on Timor which will change the balance in the region. But I've also got to keep PzB "honest" and make him think that I still have my BBs in Darwin. (They are in southeastern Oz getting repairs and upgrades.)

Right now the one thing that is hurting me the most is the loss of Karachi and the inaccessibility of the forces that were do to go there. There are many base forces in the "unknown" location that I could use right now. I still feel that PzB's campaign in India was the most important decision of the game.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi

[Andy Mac]

I have an ultra gamey/sneaky suggestion for mid 43.

Save PP's and send a few US RCT or 7th US Div to India 2,000 ish pp per Div.

Wait until you have 3 ish Divs in the queu plus 25th/3rd/44th Indian and voila take either Bombay or Karachi and you have instant 6 Divs plus bfes plus all UK air back from the dead to cause mayhem and distract PZB plus say a 3 divisional assault force.

Enough to cause trouble at the very least

Andy

[Rob Brennan UK]

[:D][:D][:D] Oh that is the nastyist tactic i think i ever heard ..

Would yuo consider it david ? and im not sure it would work might just send the US divs into the 'unknown' oblivion for reinforcements, that would really suck

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

I have an ultra gamey/sneaky suggestion for mid 43.

Save PP's and send a few US RCT or 7th US Div to India 2,000 ish pp per Div.

Wait until you have 3 ish Divs in the queu plus 25th/3rd/44th Indian and voila take either Bombay or Karachi and you have instant 6 Divs plus bfes plus all UK air back from the dead to cause mayhem and distract PZB plus say a 3 divisional assault force.

Enough to cause trouble at the very least

Andy

Are you talking about changing their HQs to SEAC or Southeast Asia in hopes that they will "teleport" into Karachi? That's not a smart move - they will teleport into the "unknown" and stay there until Karachi is recaptured.

Anyway, there are enough poorly designed aspects of the game that we have to live with - I don't feel like trying to exploit more bad design features.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

[:D][:D][:D] Oh that is the nastyist tactic i think i ever heard ..

Would yuo consider it david ? and im not sure it would work might just send the US divs into the 'unknown' oblivion for reinforcements, that would really suck

I agree - that's not a tactic I want to bother with. I don't even use the tactic of using subs to "regrow" units from fragments.

I firmly believe that there ought to be "off the map" locations to be able to bring forces "around" the globe. For example you send troops to the "US" base then to an "East Coast" base and after some reasonable period of time they end up in the Far East ( 2 months or 3 - something historic ) and equivalent things to simulate the Panama Canal for ships.

But it won't happen so I'll live with what I've got.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi

[Andy Mac]

Sorry i was not perhaps clear.

What ever happens you will have to conventionally assault Karachi or Bombay with forces you bring (ignore the west coast Atlantic route for the moment) just retaking either Karachi or Bombay brings those UK Divisions that are in the que into the fight again and respawns UK air units (this is my supposition I have never tried it)

i.e. Allied forces springboard back into India from Iran aftere Karachi is retaken.
If you sent for example a US Divison (say 7th) paid 2600 PP's to send it to India it would not appear on map until and if Karachi was retaken i.e. its in Iran with the UK forces.

That was my intent. It would require 3 - 5 conventional division to take one of those cities I am sure so it may not (probablyt is not) worth it unless it becomes clear PZB is not leaving garrisons in place in India.

He has taken India and captured all the cities depriving you of unit spawns it is the threat of a renewed allied toehold in India more than any other that will make him keep substantial forces in India so you must make him guard against it to force him to honour the threat.

If he takes all of his main combat formations out of India leaving minimal forces thats a lot of force he is free to deply you must make him keep forces in India and if an opportunity for a capture of Bombay or Karachi arises take it (although only after you have sufficient LCU's in Iran to hold what you take hence my supposition that you would would not really do it until 2 or 3 Divisins are mustered)

p.s. this is not an exploit or bad design imo as you are having to bring enough force by sea to take the city in the first place to allow the UK and Indian forces to re enter the fight. (If they entered in Sydney after the fall of Karachi it wouldnt even be something to think about)


Andy

[ADavidB]

What ever happens you will have to conventionally assault Karachi or Bombay with forces you bring (ignore the west coast Atlantic route for the moment) just retaking either Karachi or Bombay brings those UK Divisions that are in the que into the fight again and respawns UK air units (this is my supposition I have never tried it)

Okay - sorry, I misunderstood you the first time.

By the time I am able to ship sufficient troops to recapture Karachi I won't need to worry about "teleporting" additional troops - I'll have enough control of the seas that I'll be using those troops elsewhere. [;)]

Thanks for the clarification -

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

October 27 was fairly quiet. I received no reports of sightings of the KB or anything similarly interesting, my re-disposition continued, albeit at a more leisurely pace, more of my combat ships got long-awaited upgrades, and a small crowd of stragglers in Java surprised a Japanese TF that was casually steaming by:

Day Air attack on TF at 25,62

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 3
Beaufort V-IX x 2
A-20B Boston x 10

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
PG Unkai Maru #1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Jintsu
PG Nikkai Maru

It was the Beauforts, of course, who got that torpedo into that PG. These planes are "reinforcement fragments" who showed up in South Eastern Oz and who were then eventually moved far enough north for them to end up in Java. PzB will undoubtedly bomb that base back into the Stone Age the next turn, but it was fun while it lasted.

I could put a lot more planes back into Java if I wanted to do so, including fighters, but I don't want to bother at this time. I'm still building up my P-38 forces and want to reserve my planes and pilots. I also still have Mohawks awaiting upgrade to P-40Bs, so I don't want to waste P-40s either. Anyway, if PzB is bombing Java he isn't bombing elsewhere.

BTW - Kiska Island recently became a level 4 airfield and is on its way to level 5. So I just put a squadren of B-17s in to keep an eye on things. Once my old BBs are upgraded I'll send them back to the Aleutians to protect against bombardment TFs, then I'll start a long range air campaign against the Kuriles. If PzB responds then I'll try to get him into a protracted war of attrition. If he doesn't respond then I'll start to invade the Kuriles in the Spring of 1943. Sooner or later PzB will be stretched too thin and I'll start to be able to take advantage of him.

BTW II - PzB told me that his troops didn't beat me into Rawalpindi but that he has all key bases garrisoned. That will reduce the number of units that he can bring back from India. I tried to set my infantry unit in Rawalpindi to Ulan Bator as its movement objective but it wouldn't let me and said that the supply lines were cut. However, when I set the objective to one of my bases in Burma it was happy and let me do it. In the meanwhile, my other 6 units continue along their slow but merry way to Mongonlia. I presume that there is some obscure logic in how the land movement system functions, but that logic has continued to elude me.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

Well, for the first time in what seems like both game-months and real-months my forces sank not just one but two Japanese subs on October 28! For the past couple of game months PzB has been nailing my subs as if they were painted day-glow yellow and had big red flashing lights on them. At the same time I have hardly been able to find his subs, let alone sink them. But this time the escorts in two slow transport TFs on the way home found the range on two of PzB's subs without the subs getting any shots off at my ships:

ASW attack at 109,74

Japanese Ships
SS I-5, hits 11, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SC SC-701
SC SC-639

and:

ASW attack at 108,75

Japanese Ships
SS RO-62, hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
AK Empire Cameron
AK Charles McCormick
AK Admiral Senn
AK Coloradan
MSW Katoomba
MSW Kapunda

And I only had two escorts in each of those TFs. Both subs sank immediately afterwards.

Meanwhile, back near Truk, one of my few remaining subs in the region spotted that carrier TF again. What I don't know is if the TF is heading back to Truk or leaving again. That doesn't matter a lot because I haven't needed to send any TFs back into that region and therefore there aren't any interesting targets for PzB to go after. (He is always welcome to test his naval air against my LBA...[;)])

In Java, as I predicted, PzB sent a load of planes off to hit the airbase from which I hit his TF last turn:

Day Air attack on Soerabaja , at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 26
G4M1 Betty x 57

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 21

Interestingly enough, all of the damage was repaired by this turn.

I sent some B-17s out just to keep PzB honest:

Day Air attack on Maloelap , at 82,81

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-17E Fortress x 37

Allied aircraft losses
F-5A Lightning: 3 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 21 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 25

This turn I'm sending more planes out against PzB's air bases around Timor - my TF with the base force is nearing Timor and I want to discourage PzB from putting bombers on naval attack in the region. I've also got fighters set to provide long range CAP over the TF.

PzB has been busy with Real Life the past week since I got back from my vacation, and he will remain so for the rest of this week, so that will continue to limit the rate with which we can turn around turns. I'm starting to look forward to 1943 and can't wait to get things moving towards that time and the reinforcements that I'll receive. [:D]

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

It looks as if PzB has decided to send out his subs "two by two" because on October 29 two more Japanese subs showed up, this time in Darwin Harbor, doing some nuisance mining. One sub surprised one of my ASW TFs:

Sub attack near Darwin at 36,84

Japanese Ships
SS I-169

Allied Ships
MSW Junee, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Bellechasse
MSW Cessnock
MSW Whyalla

But after my naval search planes spotted this sub along with one more another of my ASW TFs went to work and sank this sub:

ASW attack near Darwin at 36,84

Japanese Ships
SS I-169, hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DMS Dorsey
DMS Lamberton

Now I'll have to send mine sweeping TFs to clear the port.

My troop transport with the base force is now at Timor and was hiding under rain showers this turn. I did send out some heavy bombers to put some craters in one of PzB's local airfields:

Day Air attack on Amboina , at 39,73

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 24

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-17E Fortress x 39
B-24D Liberator x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 2 destroyed, 10 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 5 destroyed, 22 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 destroyed, 10 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
65 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 50

I've got two more groups of B-17s in Darwin so I'm sending them out again this turn against Ambonia while I rest the two that just flew.

It appears that PzB has many of his Bettys in Balikpapan and is using them to attack Java along with his Sallys. That's fine, as long as they are bombing airfields they aren't attacking ships.

As mentioned last turn, I also had some air attacks set up to keep PzB looking in all directs. One attack was rained out, the other flew:

Day Air attack on Jaluit , at 81,84

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 2
B-17E Fortress x 39

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Port hits 8
Port supply hits 7

I like to hit Jaluit once in a while just to keep PzB from building it up - he does try to reinforce it every so often.

Speaking of "reinforcements" - my recon now tells me that PzB has 28 land units in Rabaul. That sounds like a good target to isolate. I'd like to eventually get it into "punching bag" condition as I have Koepang:

Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 4
B-25C Mitchell x 27

No Allied losses

Runway hits 11

PzB doesn't even try to repair things there any more.

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

This turn was October 30 - I'm having trouble keeping my game dates right. (I'm in too much of a hurry to get more P-38s and ships I guess...[;)])

In addition to my minesweeping accomplishing nothing, not much else happened this turn. Somehow one of the MSW TFs that I set up last turn ended up being a "transport" TF this turn. Of course, it didn't sweep anything. Was that just a goof on my part or a problem with overwriting save files? I think that I'll go back to erasing my save files before copying the turns that PzB sends to me.

The turn wasn't that quiet - I bombed Ambonia again, PzB bombed Java and Columbo again. I move move ships around. The KB stayed out of sight. This is actually not a bad time for me to be doing little, so I don't mind that PzB is doing much the same. But PzB has promised that he will get more aggressive once his Real Life committments are out of the way later this week, so I'm still getting ready for another onslaught. The question is - where will it be?

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

October 31 was essentially a repeat performance of the previous day. PzB bombed various troops and bases in China, Colombo and Java, I bombed Koepang and Wotje. Another Japanese sub showed up off of Hawaii but it missed its target and its opponent missed it.

PzB has avoided making any more rash moves, and I'm happy to oblige him by simply sitting back and slowly building strength. So things are at a "boring" stage. I don't want to send my forces against hundreds of well-trained LBA and neither does PzB. The question remains, will PzB wait for me to finally make a move or will he try to push me into reacting?

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

I'm combining November 1 & 2, 1942 together because:

1 - Not much happened on November 1
2 - I was out late "entertaining" my boss and a couple of his colleagues from out of town and I was too beat last night to bother reporting on "not much".

Yes, things continue to be relatively quiet. Neither PzB nor I are attempting any major actions, although the Sig Int keeps on trying to convince me that he is planning BIG Things in China. I just can't get excited about that - I've built my bases as much as I can and my troops are rested, although their morale never does increase. I have no idea if these Chinese troops will do any better than my Indian troops did, but there isn't much I can do about it so I'm taking a "What, Me Worry?" attitude towards China.[X(]

We have also continued to exchange bombing raids. I've been easing mine off because PzB has improved his fighter protection and I'm still not ready to commit P-38s to serious action - I just don't have enough yet.

My tac bombers have been keeping PzB "honest" as far as his TFs of small ships go - for example, he has again tried to send a mine laying TF to the southern Marshalls and again my B-25s are in range:

Day Air attack on TF at 81,83

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 43

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
ML Ninoshima
ML Washizaki
ML Ma 1
ML Kuroshima, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
ML Katashima
PG Toyotsu Maru

and:

Day Air attack on TF at 81,83

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 37

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
ML Washizaki
ML Ma 1
MSW Shonan Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
ML Toshima
PG Toyotsu Maru
PG Kaiun Maru
ML Ninoshima, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Two of those MLs eventually sank. I'm not sure why PzB doesn't send some LR CAP over those TFs - he should be in range. Oh well, don't give him any ideas! [;)]

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

B-25s are always my favorite Allied bombers in GG's games. They have decent range and as tac bombers they have a reasonable effectiveness against shipping. On November 3 PzB's MLs stuck around longer than I expected that they would and my B-25s got more practice:

Day Air attack on TF, near Jaluit at 81,84

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 25

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
ML Washizaki, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
ML Ma 1
ML Katashima, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

and:

Day Air attack on TF, near Jaluit at 81,84

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 8
B-25C Mitchell x 28

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
ML Ma 1
ML Toshima, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Three of those MLs sank. Again, for some reason PzB decided not to put CAP over his ships.

But on the otherhand over in PNG, PzB did put some LR CAP on some AGs:

Day Air attack on TF at 55,88

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5

Allied aircraft
Wirraway x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wirraway: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
AG AG-104

Oh well, I've got lots of Wirraways and I'm more than happy to use them to keep PzB's Zeros occupied.

Another odd thing that happened this turn is that a bunch of P-40Bs turned up on Java after having gone missing for quite some time. I didn't send them there, nor did I move them anywhere near Java or Northern Oz. But I'm not complaining - I didn't take them away in the first place. Maybe now I'll be able to surprise PzB's bombers a bit.

And yet another unexpected attack occured - a sub that had been badly damaged at Ceylon and that was limping home was nearly run over by one of PzB's transport TFs and yet got a hit on a ship:

Sub attack at 19,39

Japanese Ships
AP Neikai Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Yamakisan Maru
AP Ryugi Maru
AP Otake Maru
AP Mikage Maru #2
PC Ch 15
PG Magan Maru

Allied Ships
SS KVII

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

Now, why won't my subs that aren't damaged shoot at anything???[&:]

[ADavidB]

PzB got his ships out of range of my LBA so my "fun" was overwith once November 4 came around. Instead I lost a sub that I sent to try to catch some of the retreating MLs in the Marshalls:

Sub attack near Kwajalein at 79,79

Japanese Ships
ML Hirashima

Allied Ships
SS Plunger, hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

while in Colombo I tried an attack with all my troops on PzB's land forces that had just come up. I was hoping to catch them a bit tired - no such luck:

Ground combat at Colombo

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 19836 troops, 251 guns, 2 vehicles

Defending force 73355 troops, 412 guns, 6 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
119 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
2348 casualties reported
Guns lost 84

I didn't realize that he had brought so many troops in. Oh well, now I'll sit back and let him bring down the defenses.

One little bit of good news is that my newly appearing P-40Bs accounted for themselves quite nicely:

Day Air attack on Tjilitjap , at 19,62

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed

The rest of my air strikes were okay but nothing special. This turn I've set all of my long range bombers in Darwin to hit the airfields at Kendari. PzB has a lot of fighters there and I want to see if I can close them down. I'm also sending in a fighter group to sweep the airfields. We'll see what happens. The good news is that by next turn I ought to have another P-39 squadron changed into P-38s. Once they get repaired I'll send them to the front to see what kind of difference they will make.

The other news is that I continue to be unable to get BBs to upgrade at Seattle, even with no other ships in port. I just can't get the sysdamage below 7. I'm trying one piece of advice that I've read in the forum and am sailing the "offending" BB to Vancouver for a turn or so, then I'll send it back. Maybe a "change of scenary" will make a difference.

Dave Baranyi

[String]

I'd suggest hoarding the P-38's before using them in combat. Then launch a massive bombing range with escort and bomb some important base of his back to stone age.

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: String

I'd suggest hoarding the P-38's before using them in combat. Then launch a massive bombing range with escort and bomb some important base of his back to stone age.

I agree - that's the best plan, and I'd love to be able to do that, but I want to continue to hit PzB at multiple locations along the front so that he can't mass too much of his power in one location. So I need to use some of those P-38s now in order to "keep him honest". For example, I do have one squadron in the Gilberts that are providing escort to my B-25s. They are there more for "demonstration" than anything else and I'm actually quite happy that they haven't had to face opposition yet - just flying along is giving them experience and I want to keep it that way.

But PzB has been able to rebuild several of the air bases that threaten Timor and northern Australia and while I do have lots of long range bombers I need to be able to close those bases without taking too many losses. Allied long-range bombers are no longer the "total death in the skies" that they were in UV so I do need to have escorts - particularly against PzB's newer interceptors.

So it's a tough trade-off for me - it would be better for me to be able to wait another two months to be able to build up a good stock of P-38s, but at the same time I can't allow PzB to do whatever he wants uncontested along the front lines. My guess is that once PzB captures Colombo he will finally turn his attention to Java and I want to be able to interfere with that in a serious manner. In order to do that I will need to shut down his bases that threaten Timor and northern Oz before he starts his invasion.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi