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Kodiak falls. Air strikes on Canadian bases takes out some 4E bombers and a strike on coastal bases pretty much flattened some marine bombers (SBDs and TBFs) and even a P-38 on the ground.

Nome forces begins loading.

1st and 2nd armored divs being withdrawn from Burma to spearhead the next strike.

More troops being ground up in China. He has deployed some Hurricanes and upgraded his Chinese fighters to P-43s and P-66s. A waste of precious supply IMHO. I only have 4 squadrons of fighters in China, all equipped with longer ranged Oscars and they are having a field day. Helens (I have the 5 x 31 plane groups deployed at Changsha) striking here and there, keeping him from reacting to my moves. 23rd army has begun to clear the Hanoi - Changsha road/rails.

Northern Oz he is moving a US force, 1 unit 13,000 strong (probably a division) north towards Katherine. Bathurst Island is now a level 4 field and the Sallys flying from it are showing their worth. Now carrying 4 550 pounders instead of 2, they are making scrap iron out of an Aussie armored regiment.

Spotted a couple of TFs off the Alaskan coast, so sent my carriers east and shot up the ports in the area. Bagged a few transports, an AP or 2, escorts, and my first 2 APAs!

Saki for everyone [:D]

Some unexpected moves on his part the last few turns.

Alaska: he landed a regiment at Steward. Not really unexpected, just I figured he would wait a bit before he risked moving back. 4E bombers are attacking the port at Kodiak. Probably because I had the Mikuma in there pumping out some water for a few days (she took 2 sub torps). Dutch Harbor force (4th and 20th divs) will land tomorrow.

Central Pac. More of the same. Flew a few Nell night raids on his base in Luganville. Hit some P-38Fs.

Northern Oz. He has realized the futility and is withdrawing in droves. Daily Waters has only 2 units in it. I have the 21st div and 2 armor regs about to move into the city. I transferred my least experienced Zero group to Darwin and they scored an 18 to none kill ratio yesterday against his P-39s and P-40s CAP over his fleeing units. In 6 days flying I already have an ace with 7 kills in the group.

Burma. More of the same except the night raids have stopped.

China. The real surprise came here as he withdrew from the Changsha area (pink on the map) and yet is trying to advance in the blue area. These 4 cities amount to 120 supply a day for him. Roughly 20% of his current production. Who am I to question it?

Enemy units land on Kodiak just as the last supply crate is loaded at Dutch Harbor, and the troops come home to a well deserved rest. Adak is now the home of 8th fleet. It currently has a level 5 port, and level 3 airfield. 1 group each of Nells and Zeros are standing by in case he gets too nosey. It will be the home for the subs operating between Pearl and the west coast.

Central Pac is loaded out with troops, supplies, and forts. As Adak, 1 group each of Nells and Zeros.

Solomons continues to dig in at Rabul, Shortlands, Munda and Guadalcanal. Port Morseby is about as ready as it will ever get. Buna is home to 5th fleet and is currently a level 7 airfield, level 3 port. Enemy sub activity is still extremely heavy in this area. 1 group of Nells and Zeros, but a whole bunch of shorter ranged army air is training in the area as well.

Northern Oz sees him still running away, so I took Daily Waters and also moved out of the area. I left 2 armored regiments behind to keep him honest. Only 1 division remains in Oz along with misc other forces (SNLFs, armor, art ect).

Burma is being held by the 21st army plus the Imp Gd div. Not much happening here.

Next operation is almost ready to kick off. I have 6 CVs, 4 CVLs, 11 BBs, 2 armored divs, 8 inf divs, plus a whole lot of support standing by and (I hope) enough shipping to lift it all at once already in the assembly area and 3 more divs enroute. Needless to say, this will be a major operation.

All my army fighter units, except a few squadrons of Oscars and Nicks, are Tojos. The vast majority of army bombers are Helens. I have several hundred Zeros and Bettys in the pool. Tony comes on line next month. My pilots are beyond "well trained". . . . .

And current situation in southern China:

Northern China:

He had penetrated almost to Peiping, so I sent 1st army around the right to deal with it. Mongrel garrison army came up from Sian and was threatening Yenan, so he pulled out. North China, drove up to Kungchang and pulled back to Sian.

Oscars led the way for the bombers in hitting Chungking airfield and destroying several dozen British aircraft on the ground over a 4 day period.

Just a sample of 1 of my squadrons, this one happens to be in the Marshalls. What should I train them in next? Kamikaze attack maybe? I actually have 2 groups of the perma restricted planes in Japan already training in it. I plan to unleash them as a VERY well trained night attack group once he closes the ring on me.

The Emperor has been shown the plan and a faint smile was detected. A nod was his only "official" response. With that, 6 CVs, 4 CVLs, and 4 CVEs in 4 carrier groups, 4 BB divisions in 3 TFs, 2 oiler TFs, and 3 invasion groups carrying 7 infantry divs, 2 armor divs, 3 inf regts, 9 armor regts, plus HQs, base forces, artillery, and combat engineer support sets sail.

The invasion force: (1 replentishment TF is about 20 hexes behind)

They say no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. This was the case with Operation Koala Bear.

The original plan called for me leaving my bases on Java and staying 20+ hexes away from the Australian coast on my approach, and hit the lower bases on the south side combined with an armor foray through the desert (he seems to like doing this in China, so I thought I would return the favor) and dropping paras on Kalgoorie. I intentionally havent prepped the units for their landing zones (except 1 div is set for Albany and 1 for Esperance). I hadnt reconned the bases other than I knew none but Perth had expanded.

I encountered a sub patrol last turn. He must have tried shifting forces because his B-17s started hitting the armor force on the rail line last turn. They wont survive long under heavy pounding. I also started recon flights over his bases and found Perth a lot less defended than I expected. 6 units at about 6400 strength. 2 units at Geraldton. Since he knows where I am, I have modified the plan to head straight in to Perth/Geraldton. I have 1 more, or maybe 2 turns at the most before the armor is dead and he can flood the area. I want to have boots on the ground and bases secure before then.

Those are the only 2 bases he has in the area that could possibly launch strikes on my forces, and after I capture them, I can lay waste to anything in western Oz.

The bear stalks its prey. Forces deploy and close on their targets. Seems nothing out here but subs and DDs. The Desert Armor Force folded up this turn, so Im sending in the Yokasuka Assault Brigade in force to Kalgoorie. Even if they die en masse, at least they will buy me a few turns. I split the landing forces each into 2 waves. I removed all the slower ships (14 kts and below) to get there faster. Ise BB group merged with the Geraldton force for gunfire support, while Fuso and Yamato group merged with the Perth force. Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, Soryu will launch on Perth tomorrow to clear the airfield.

No strikes on his airfields because the air groups were too busy shooting up fleeing ships. His rail net is paralyized. I took Kalgoorie, and landed on the base 2 hexes east of Perth (recon showed both these bases as empty). The remainder of the Yokosuka Assault bde is flying into Kalgoorie. The 23rd armored regt is being detached from the Perth force to land at the base SW of Perth. This leaves him no rail movement available to him.

He threw every piece of junk he had in the air. Whiraways, Fulmars, Hudsons. No real effect. His shore guns at Perth did some major damage to a half dozen DDs, but losses I have to take under the circumstances. Every allied soldier in western Oz will die. It is the will of the Emperor. BANZII!!

On the plus side, the Mogami arrived at her repair yard in Japan today. She will be in the shop 2 months banging out the dents from those sub torp hits.

How did you get to Kalgoorlie?

Mavis Ls out of Port Hedland.

Sweet.  Nice Range on those puppies.

E mail from Rob:

Trip was fine. I spent part of it considering the game. I questioned early in our where you were getting all the divisions from. I had never seen such an onslaught and certainly not with the incredible amount of divisions that seemed to be everywhere at once. You said "smoke and mirrors was how you were doing it". And that appears to be true. after much research I believe I know how now. I believe you are moving units to restricted HQs and buying them out at greatly reduced PP costs. This link details that: tm.asp?m=3045636&mpage=1&key=? Sorry man. That's just not the spirit of the game. It sucks because I generally love the pace of this game and don't require a straight game overly to enjoy it. But your play style is just not something I enjoy. It kills the competitiveness of the game...because instead of countering your moves I find myself countering your use of the programming of the game at each turn. That's hardly fun.

Now I don't think there is anything wrong with that if both players agree to it in the beginning of the game. Clearly I did not because it doesn't fit my game style and didn't realize until we were well into it that it was your play style.. Again, Ill miss playing you due to your deliberate pace. But I think you need to find someone who is willing to play you using your play style because I just don't find it "fun".

Good luck in the future.

My reply:
What commands are you releasing your units to? Dollars to doughnuts you are not buying them out at full price either. US units to IX corps, Aussies to 1st Aus corps, and Indian units likely to air HQs (personally, I transfer the Burma HQ to India so my units are at least in a ground HQ) I'll bet. Your air units, same thing I will bet. Yes, I transfer command of 25th army to Korea, 15th army to China, and 16th army to Japan. So, you can release ALL your units at a reduced cost, yet complain that I do. Interesting...

But of all the units I have released from those areas, the only ones you have encountered are:
1st div in Alaska. First use: Jul 42.
8th div in Port Moresby. First use: Apr 42.
9th div in Port Moresby. First use: Apr 42.
14th div on Luzon and Port Moresby. First use: Luzon in Feb 42
20th div at Adak. First use: Aug 42.
24th div at Geraldton. First use: Oct 42.
26th, 32nd, 41st out of China, badly shot up so it didnt cost much went to Japan, rebuilt and used at Perth.

Units released that you havent encountered:
7th div (Guadalcanal)
10th div (Munda)
12th div (Shortlands)
19th div (Port Moresby)

Hardly an abusive number of troops. Certainly well within the totals I could have released by now. The 2nd, 4th, 5th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 33rd, 38th, 48th, 55th, 56th, Imp Gd, 4th Gd, 5th Gd, 6th Gd, Gd Armor, and a half dozen garrison units which are baby divisions (not counting many bdes and regts) are all units that I get that I dont have to pay to release.

Frankly not surprised by this though. Knew this game wouldnt last when you "surrendered" after your carrier losses.