As a side note .... Greenburge should be currently scouting out B29 bases in the CBI as a lietenant in the Army Air Force
He is indeed; I think I made a brief reference to that at one point quite a while back. Greenberg was one of the great hitters of his era and Ishii admires him not only for his hitting prowess but for his character (refusing to play on Yom Kippur, for instance). I think he also likes Greengberg because he plays for the Detroit Tigers and the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese league are Ishii's favorite team. Ishii would be very pleased to know that Greenberg was one of the first major league players to enlist following Pearl Harbor and that he insisted on, and was eventually granted, overseas duty.
Not a good ball player, but a great one and a truly good person too. The athletes of today could learn a thing or 2 from the way Hank led his life. A different world back then.
Location: Kagoshima
Course: None
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 459
Orders: Await further orders
---
Torpedomen Kinsei and Hosogaya enter the dispensary and, after receiving the okay from Lieutenant Nakagawa, walk over to Chuyo’s pallet.
“Hey you guys,” says Chuyo as they settle themselves cross-legged on the floor beside him.
“Hello, Chuyo,” says Kinsei. “How are you feeling?”
“Recovering, I think,” says Chuyo. His left arm twitches and he pretends to adjust his blanket to conceal the fact that his left hand is trembling. His friends politely pretend not to notice but Chuyo sees it is no use.
“Really, I think I am getting better,” he says. He sounds as though he is trying to convince himself as much as he is trying to convince them. “Even Lieutenant Nakagawa says so.”
“That’s good!” says Hosogaya.
“We hear they are moving you to a hospital ashore,” says Kinsei, “Surely you will finish getting well there.”
“Yes,” says Chuyo in obvious distress. He sits up a little. “But they don’t need to! I really should stay on board. Maybe you two could talk to the Lieutenant for me and make him see I should stay here?” Kinsei and Hosogaya look at each other. Both know they have a better chance of being named admiral than they do of persuading the ship’s medic to keep Chuyo on board.
“We will see what we can do,” says Hosogaya soothingly.
“Ah, it’s no use,” says Chuyo. He slumps back. “This is a fighting ship. There is no place here for a…for a cripple!”
“Look here, Chuyo,” says Kinsei sternly. “You’ve had a rotten break, it’s true. But you will get better and you will return! You have to. There are battles ahead and we will need you. So stop moping so much and work on getting well.” Chuyo looks at him, a little surprised. The feckless and quiet Kinsei of old would never have spoken so. Chuyo thinks he sounds a little like Lieutenant Sugiyura himself. Slowly he nods.
“I will,” he says.
“We brought you something,” says Hosogaya. He pulls out a small tin of hard candies and hands it to Chuyo. Chuyo takes it with his right hand.
“Thank you, guys,” he says. “Hey…take care of yourselves, okay?”
“We will,” promises Hosogaya. The big torpedoman clasps Chuyo’s hand and then stands. Kinsei does the same thing.
“We will see you back aboard by the end of the year or we will come looking for you to find out why,” he says firmly.
As is customary with those who have read this thread from beginning to end, I wanted to de-cloak to post in praise of Cuttlefish's amazing AAR. Best book I've read in a very long time.
One note of curiousity as I am new to the game. In this version of reality, CF sank numerous enemy carriers and held substantially more territory than Japan did historically (although less than he could have, which I realize was by design as he has stated).
Despite these impressive victories, commented upon by old salt WITP'ers on this thread, the VP count was insufficient to close off the war in '43 or '44 (admittedly it was close at the beginning of '44 and Santa Cruz kept the war going).
Bottom line - as all players have honed their skills and game balance has arguably moved away from the Japanese side with patches and mods, is automatic victory for Japan possible in a good PBEM between equal players? How often does the Rising Sun win or at least survive?
Just curious.
Hi Cribtop, glad you enjoyed reading through this massive thing. I'll take a stab at answering your question, though I think opinion is likely to vary on the subject.
I would say that an auto-victory for Japan is difficult but not impossible. Japan has to play a very aggressive game and make very few mistakes to pull it off. Most Japanese victories, I think, come when the Allied player grows discouraged in the first year and throws in the towel, often due to SCLS (Sudden Carrier Loss Syndrome).
There are some AARs out there that show just what Japanese forces can do in the hands of a skilled player. PzB's "Clash of Steel" is maybe the classic example, but take a look at Raverdave's "Dark Side of the Moon" where Honda not only overruns all of Australia but wins a crushing carrier victory in 1944. AmiralLaurent's "Bloody Pacific" shows Japan capturing the Hawaiian Islands. I would also recommend Pauk's AAR except that it seems to have disappeared (?). There are others but those are the ones that occur to me right now.
Location: Kagoshima
Course: None
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 456
Orders: Await further orders
---
In the officer’s mess a rare treat is served. An enlisted man delivers a large pan of sukiyaki to the center of the table. It is very hard to obtain beef in Japan these days and so the assembled officers are enthusiastic as they use their chopsticks to pick out choice pieces of thin-sliced beef and savory vegetables.
“This is good,” says Lieutenant Kuwaki. “As a boy in Kobe we used to have beef once a week. I have missed it.”
Lieutenant Miharu leans back in his chair. “Here is an interesting thing,” he says. “Beef is one of the first things I thought of when the prospect of war with America was being discussed. Meat in general, in fact.”
“Meat?” says Lieutenant Sugiyura. “As in, we shall devour them like a tiger devours fresh meat?”
Miharu smiles. “Not exactly,” he says. “When I was in America I saw many strange and interesting things, but nothing I saw surprised me more than something called a ‘supermarket’. In this place, called the A and P if I remember, meat was available for sale in quantities I could not believe. An American housewife could take home a shopping basket full of meat every day.”
The other officers react with surprise, except for Lieutenant Sakati. “It is true,” says Sakati. “I spent most of my time abroad in Scotland but I have been to New York and seen this for myself. I have heard it said that America has more land for grazing cattle than the total land in all the main Japanese islands combined.”
This is a sobering thought. Not wishing the discussion to become too serious, Miharu turns to the chief engineer. “Do they eat a lot of beef in Scotland?” he asks.
“Not so much,” says Sakati. “It is an island so there is a lot of fish just like here in Japan, as well as a fair amount of mutton and fowl. Most of their food is remarkably bland, however. Except for haggis.”
“Haggis?” asks Kuwaki.
“Trust me, lad,” says Sakati. “You don’t want to know.”
Haggis - I've had it. As long as you don't dwell on what you're eating, it wasn't all that bad. The stuff I had was a bit too much black-pepper than for my taste, but that was remedied with some Tabasco.
There's a town in the Tampa Bay area called Dunedin, that was settled largely by Scotts; actually the largest Scottish population in US, more than New York and Boston I believe. They host several festivals throught the year (Celtic Festival and Highland Games come to mind). Lots of fun, and lots of food (some of it more "interesting" than others). Actually, the Celtic Festival is just around the corner... (11-22)
-F-
"It is obvious that you have greatly over-estimated my regard for your opinion." - Me
Honestly, while I've not tried it yet, I'm sure it can't be any worse than some of the other things I've tried over the years. And yes I know exactly what it is...but then again, I knew what those other things were and ended up liking most of them anyway. If nothing else, I'm at least willing to try most things once. I try to keep an open mind (and an open stomach). [X(]
Location: Kagoshima
Course: None
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 453
Orders: Await further orders
---
New orders are received:
[font="Courier New"]Hibiki is hereby detached from Task Force 23 and ordered to proceed to Kobe Naval Yard for refit.[/font]
---
The old two men in the dory are tending their nets, fishing for eels in the weedy tidal estuary of Kagoshima Bay. The eels hatch at sea, around the Marianas islands, and return to the estuary to grow. After a year they proceed up the many rivers that flow into the bay and become freshwater creatures. There they remain for several years until they return to the sea to spawn and begin the cycle over again.
The men concentrate on their work. They have done this together for many years and rarely speak unless there is need. In the middle of the morning, however, one of the men sits up and looks out across the water. A destroyer, her worn flanks streaked here and there with rust, rides at anchor perhaps half a mile away out in the bay. The man looks at the destroyer and then turns to his companion.
“Did you hear that?” he asks.
“Eh? Hear what?” says the other man.
“Sounded like someone yelling.”
“Trouble, you think?”
“No, it sounded happy.”
“Hm. Discipline must not be what it was when I served. We never sounded happy, not in my day.”
