The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

It's a fun part of the game for me. John seems to leak information unnecessarily. Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that he seldom if ever intentionally misleads. But at the same time, reading tea leaves is inexact at best, so there's a healthy skepticism involved and I seldom take chances on my surmising.

[Bullwinkle58]

Here you go CR!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzXI_ApY4dY

(Enjoy the late-80s sample as well. Peter Gabriel I think.)

On a tangent, today as I drove to the ESL site I cranked up "Already Gone" to pain level and reveled in the seamless lyrics on top of one of the best drum tracks in rock history. Breakup songs from the dude's POV are rare. That one is a gem.

RIP, Glenn.

[Canoerebel]

Moose, what the heck! To cleanse "the palate," I offer this (in keeping with the title to this AAR):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-rHdSWZLpQ

[Bullwinkle58]

Owwwww! That hurt my ears! [:)]

I give you rap from 1991 (!!!!) and you can't take it? Man, oldddddddddd! [:'(]

[Canoerebel]

I couldn't take it in 1991...or 1982...or 1975.

Back in the early '80s, I was enroute from Atlanta to Miami for spring break. The person seated next to me on the airplane was a very comly coed from Purdue. We talked about what we enjoyed doing. After about 15 minutes, she looked at me and said, "You seem like you're 40 years old!"

[:(]

[1EyedJacks]

Little Wing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVCHOR-rVlQ

[1EyedJacks]

Although I really-really like the spaghetti westerns and soundtracks by Ennio Morricone. The soundtracks from the Man From Snowy River by Bruce Rowland are pretty good too. And I think the Corrs are ab-so-lute-ly swell.

<grin>

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I couldn't take it in 1991...or 1982...or 1975.

Back in the early '80s, I was enroute from Atlanta to Miami for spring break. The person seated next to me on the airplane was a very comly coed from Purdue. We talked about what we enjoyed doing. After about 15 minutes, she looked at me and said, "You seem like you're 40 years old!"

[:(]

Steeeeerike 1!!!!! [;)]

Edit: You FLEW to Spring Break?! The drive was half the fun. Charlottesville to Fort Lauderdale, non-stop, VW micro-bus. Livin' large. I had a brand new Master Card with a whole $150 limit. A week's playing.

Edit Edit: You CAN get 19 fraternity brothers in one room if nobody showers and the ocean is your friend. [:'(]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel


Moose, what the heck! To cleanse "the palate," I offer this (in keeping with the title to this AAR):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-rHdSWZLpQ

Cleanse the palate?? That was the whole meal deal!
Soprano Susanna Rigacci has great lungs .... and looks good in a dress too.
I wonder how long it took her to learn the lyrics ?[:D]

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Edit: You FLEW to Spring Break?! The drive was half the fun. Charlottesville to Fort Lauderdale, non-stop, VW micro-bus. Livin' large. I had a brand new Master Card with a whole $150 limit. A week's playing.

Edit Edit: You CAN get 19 fraternity brothers in one room if nobody showers and the ocean is your friend. [:'(]

I made all kinds of trips for spring break: airplane, car, canoe, you name it (seriously - one spring trip featured a six-day, 125-mile paddle on the Ogeechee River).

But I know what you mean about hotel rooms. For the 1980 Sugar Bowl, me and my UGA friends flocked to New Orleans to see Georgia beat Notre Dame for the National Championship. We had about ten people in our room on that occasion...but the hijinks were lessened, because one of the ten was.....my mother!

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Cleanse the palate?? That was the whole meal deal!
Soprano Susanna Rigacci has great lungs .... and looks good in a dress too.
I wonder how long it took her to learn the lyrics ?[:D]

Yup!

And you know what? When I watch that video, for some reason I always think of....Greyjoy!

[Canoerebel]

02/09/43

The old guide sniffed the air and looked out over the prairie, the golden grass lovely in the morning sunlight. The song of the meadowlark seemed particularly sweet. The sharp scent of wood smoke and of breakfast cooking struck him as particularly savory. And the laughter of children - too young to appreciate the danger - was charmingly domestic.

Yes, the senses were finely honed and simple things surpassingly desirable when death lurked all around camp.

Battle of Sumatra: No enemy activity. It's been 17 days (January 23) since the last Japanese sweep of Sabang. There is still plenty of time for John to overwhelm the settlers...I mean the besieged Allied fighter corps. So perhaps he doesn't feel the weight of time and the need to move sooner rather than later. Perhaps he isn't even aware that Hellcats will be available in less than two months. And he may well emerge from this campaign victorious. But giving me 17 days to rest and prepare is a meaningful block of time towards the objective of hanging on until the Hellcats come.

The Allied fighter corps at Sabang is up to 399 fighters and 10 fighter-bombers. That's the most I've had there, surpassing the total that was available when the air war commenced around January 1. I've scrounged around to find aircraft with the range to hop from Ceylon or Ramree to Sabang. Thus the total includes one squadron of Buffaloes, two squadrons of Dutch P-40Es, and the Beaufighters. Despite the qualitative deficiencies of these aircraft, their pilots are uniformly excellent and the added numbers are vital.

No signs of an overland campaign getting underway anytime soon. I'm even more concerned about an invasion of Langsa, which would be a coup-de-main in effect. The rotation of Allied infantry on the move towards Langsa from the adjacent hex continues.

Allied 4EB from Sabang hit the big airfield at Alor Star, catching the field without CAP. 10% damage is done to the runway and 5 supply points are destroyed (and I think some Tojos were damaged). John based a big combat TF at adjacent Georgetown after yesterday's RN bombardment run.

Recon shows a sizeable concentration of Japanese naval power at Mergui, up the west coast of Malaya. John will move to cover this base with CAP.

Pop Goes the Weasel: 4EB from Chungking hit Hong Kong today. This was a first and obviously caught John unprepared. No CAP. The bombers found BB Ise in port and hit her twice. They also destroyed two Ship Repair Yard points. I want to see if there's anything else there (like carriers upgrading), so I'll recon the port and send the bombers again (though they don't consistently fly from this base, probably due to supply issues). If John puts up alot of CAP it will suggest there's something there he's worried about.

Weasles Wanting to Pop: John's recon lit up the USN DDs in the Java Sea, but there's no naval air in the area prepared to pounce (IE, no strikes flow, though John will see to that overnight). This caught John's attention and he finally noticed that the Dutch hold Bandjermasin. I'm thinking about moving a few recon planes there (to take a look at Soerabaja) and a few patrols planes there (to scan the seas). There's only eight supply at the base, so these would be suicide missions. But it might be worth it.

It might be worth it because the Allies have had a good run of goosing John here and there in recent days: the air raids on Hong Kong, Alor Stor, and Palembang (and awhile back on Tavooy and Singapore), the bombardment run on Georgetown, and USN DD raiders in the Java Sea (and, awhile back, the Makassar Straits). He's chagrined about Bandjermasin, judging by his email comments. The objective is to make him that little less certain so that he has to post air assets to cover interior bases. Every fighter and bomber not within range of Sabang is helpful.

KB: No sign of it.

South China Sea: Pompano sinks a TK near Brunei.

Australia: 4EB from Townsville and Cairns find more than 30 Tojos over Horn Island. Every Tojo not involved in the Sumatra campaign is a good Tojo. Allies just reconned Merauke, Norfolk Island, and Woodlark Island, continuing a pattern intended to convey Allied interest.

SoPac: Allies recon Funafuti, which didn't show any garrison. But I'm skeptical and the base didn't show any detection level. So further information is needed.

[Canoerebel]

Email from John:

"At the risk of you reporting this statement to you AAR readers, when did you take Bandjermasin BACK??!! What the *ELL?! OK. Fine.

"Those raiding DDs had better watch out. We are a bit more awake this time..."

Has someone told John that I discuss his email comments in this thread? [X(]

Don't do that! [:-] Don't discuss with him things you learn from reading this AAR.

John didn't realize until today that the Dutch had taken Bandjermasin? The "capture" took place six or eight turns back and was noted during the "movie," so he wasn't watching very closely.

[Lowpe]

No breach of security in John's AAR that I can see.

[Canoerebel]

It's not a huge deal. I can imagine somebody writing to (or talking with) John to this effect: "Hey, you know that Dan posts things from you emails in his AAR." That's not giving him information from the game, but I'd rather that person not share things about my AAR with John, if that makes sense.

[ny59giants]

If anybody could have done so accidentally, it would be me. [&:] As far as I can remember, we discuss your game, our game, and his vs Herbie in our weekly or more phone calls. I stay away from specifics and if we talk about what is going on, its more big picture and me being a counselor to look at pro and con of what he is doing. We often talk about work, family, politics, and sports so AE is not always the main topic. To be honest, I don't have any more knowledge of what his plans are than you do right now. I'm just waiting for the second half of Dec '42 to finish up in our game so my own plans can kick into a higher gear.

Looking ahead - this morning in my game I got the mid-Dec CVEs (all three) and saw that no more American CV, CVL, or CVEs until March '43, but at least one of them comes into service each month for rest of year. John's window is steadily closing. [:-]

[Canoerebel]

It may not have even happened here. From past games we've played, John might remember that I do this kind of thing in my AAR. It gives him no advantage to know this anyway.

I know what you mean at carriers. I just went through an eight-day period in which the Allies don't get a single ship! That has to be the longest period in the game. I'm not too far away from that regular-carrier-reinforcments stage that you're talking about.

The one thing I wish in this game was that I had the beefed-up fighter replacement pools that you're talking about. I think I read in your AAR recently that you have three 25-plane P-38 fighter groups involved in combat!

The one P-38 fighter group I have available fior combat has performed wondrously. I can only dream of what things would be like if I had three at Sabang! (I do have several groups with P-38E and P-38F in permanently restricted West Coast squadrons, and one with P-38G just arrived at Tacoma a turn or two back. But I can't figure out any way to canibalize these fighters. Disbanding or Withdrawing both end up in planes and pilots disappearing permanently. Is there any trick that I'm not using?

[Capt. Harlock]

"At the risk of you reporting this statement to you AAR readers, when did you take Bandjermasin BACK??!! What the *ELL?! OK. Fine. "Those raiding DDs had better watch out. We are a bit more awake this time..." Has someone told John that I discuss his email comments in this thread?

Not to my knowledge -- but it's something that he could have easily guessed, since he knows you are writing a much more extensive AAR than he is. Did he ever specifically tell you that he did not want his e-mails quoted? If not, it seems to me fair game.

[Canoerebel]

No, he's never said anything like that. I wouldn't ever include something in my AAR that would embarrass John outside the game (though I can't imagine him saying anything like that), but quoting his comments about the game seem fair to me. It offers local color and insight into what's going on.

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Is there any trick that I'm not using?

I took just a quick peek at the start of both of your AAR's & didn't see anything about HR's, so ponder on this before you take any action. But you can 'downgrade' a restricted squadron with dated fighters you are using for training. This puts these more advanced planes in your pools. You can then 'upgrade' combat squadrons from these pools.

It can be done. I would welcome advice and suggestions from others.