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ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Andav



Not me. He should be bombing your moving guys or the guys sitting in the open instead of flying in supplies in 4Es.

The entire Burma Shuffle is a head scratcher. This is someplace the Allies should be making you pay for staying in the central plains in late 43.

Wa

I blame the Ramree Fetish,

Sounds nasty[:)], but I think you lost me. Are you saying Allies think taking Ramree means instant success in Burma?

More or less, yes. I've tried to argue back against it, but it's highly fetishized as a target. I found it underwhelming in the extreme (borderline useless or potentially detrimental in terms of time/forces used to take it), and I suspect Bullwinkle has also.

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

More or less, yes. I've tried to argue back against it, but it's highly fetishized as a target. I found it underwhelming in the extreme (borderline useless or potentially detrimental in terms of time/forces used to take it), and I suspect Bullwinkle has also.

It's a highly-useful base, especially for LRCAP and sweeps. It can hold huge supply reserves.

Downsides are that the hex crossing to the east is very slow. Visions of using it for rapid R&R swaps should be rejected. And, as I found, getting onto the road to the east with a vision of a rapid move south toward Rangoon can be stymied by Japan placing a huge, well-supplied (cough), armor-heavy stack in the jungle. And sitting there. So after coming east out of Ramree the Allies must then do a LOT of hexside-control maneuvering/fiddling to bypass that stack. Which I didn't do fast enough, before I had clocked my beautiful stack. And with British, Indian, and Aussie pools, that blows up the campaign.

OTOH, not using Ramree and instead going amphibious farther south has its own dangers if the heavy carriers are busy elsewhere. Pt. Blair and Akyab are range-limited for landing cover, and landing right on top of Rangoon is problematic due to the river, as well as big LBA from Chiang Mai and other Japan mega-bases. Other bases such as Pegu and Moulmein have their own mix of problems.

The game makes it far too easy to supply massive stacks in triple-canopy jungle. Both sides, although the Allies could build roads and were motorized. I think it's another example of what the devs thought "normal" and "reasonable" ten years ago has been overcome by JFB learning and optimizing in that time.

All things considered I think Ramree is worth doing, but it's not a slam dunk in every case and against every opponent.

I mostly meant that the mantra is usually, "Take Ramree and you'll be able to supply everything in Burma and then it's just game over", which is exactly how it doesn't work.

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I mostly meant that the mantra is usually, "Take Ramree and you'll be able to supply everything in Burma and then it's just game over", which is exactly how it doesn't work.

Never subscribed to this myself, but the advantage of its coastal location meaning you can dump supplies into the hex and not need to worry about the overland routines is not to be taken lightly...

Nov 9, 1943

At Magwe the Allied fighters come, and come and come.

Tbolts, Warhawks, Hurricanes, Lightnings, Corsairs, Hellcats...everything and some in startling large numbers. They all dive from 30,000 feet on the stacked low CAP between 4000 and 9000 feet.

No Allied bombers come, and in the afternoon some Japanese Fighters down more transport planes flying in supplies.

There was only one small Allied bombing run for the day.

Japanese dive bombers level bomb the Allied forces checking for flak presentation, not sure of that Aussie unit, and do very light damage, but the howitzers dial in the range and knock out many tanks, dropping the Aussie AV to 40 (from 60) while the Yankee tank unit is still at 0.

A good day here.

Disappointing but expected. Three heavy cruiser task forces bombard, and the Allie almost get a 3-1 for Rabaul defenders into the jungles.

Bungle in the Jungle, its ok by me![:)]

The supplies have made their way to the troops in the jungle NE of Shwebo so another attack is ordered.

100 damaged fighters on the ground at Magwe, and their repair facilities are only 70%. [X(]

Looks like New Mexico is making good her escape...

Allies swept Magwe with 500 fighters this day.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Allies swept Magwe with 500 fighters this day.

Sounds anticlimactic [:'(]

With a loss rate of 25% they can't stand doing that for long.

Hm., I will send 27 Frances on a strike against these guys if they keep heading for Taberfane. If they veer off for Darwin they should be out of range.

I suspect the Allies want to invade, to take advantage of the KB being near Midway...so there is a window of opportunity here.

However, I did make some provisions for this, and it seems from my detection levels that this task force is light on surface ships, as they bulk of the heavy ships were around Rabaul pounding it into submission.

Perhaps this a rushed invasion...perhaps I have a card up my sleeve.

I hate to lose the Frances, but there should be 150 fighter escorts. Cross your fingers...

Nov 10, 1943

Nick's strafing again...lots of supply for the troopers there to shoot up.

Surprise![;)]

Burma...getting spicy![8D]

Solid progress at Midway

Well, here is one reason why the KB didn't elect to pursue at Midway.[X(] I figure sting the Allies a few times and they will resort to massed strength invasions. I was hoping for a cobbled together invasion force. Sigh.[:(]

Better recon, and thankfully outside of the Frances range for naval attack (shortened to allow for heavy fighter escort).

Allies backtrack a little and assemble. Depending where these ships go, it is sure to get real nasty. Allie have 9/10dl on Taberfane and 300+ planes there. They can't do much against these ships except in unorthodox ways. Doho has lots of planes too, and no DL. I think he is aiming for the islands west of Taberfane which are lightly defended.

I thought for sure the Allies would exploit up New Guinea's northern coast line...but no DL there.

Flew lots of troops out of the jungle west of Rabaul. Will try again today, but tomorrow the runways at Rabaul will most likely allow CAP.



Bombed Darwin's runways again with Peggy this time...40 runway hits.

Bookkeeping notes:

Most likely no turn today...as the family is off to Gettysburg, and I am behind in my turn to Obvert. Those turns are a real bear![:D] That's a pun folks![;)]

Turn is done and in Jocke's hands....

So much excitement this turn with foot races going on to close hexsides -- or if Allies win to open hexsides.

Some big fireworks will surely come this day...