Matrix Games Forums

I've got to admit, two damaged and two sunk subs wasn't worth a bunch of torpedo hits. If I'd hit some bigger ships I'd be happier. I've still got plenty of subs left however.

A very quite turn....aprt from the Thunderstorms.......again? ! ?:eek:


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/10/42

Weather: Overcast



Thats all folks!

Lost the CR again, but only one thing happened this turn - apart from 3 idiot betties flying to Noumea on a joyride. I didn't order it, and I think they forgot to take any bombs . . .

On the bright side, Admiral Kono has done it again, leading the same little undamaged task force of:

CA Ashigara
CA Mikuma
CA Kako
CL Tama
DD Minegumo
DD Hokaze

into battle at Wupenko. Seems the reports of enemy AKs are wrong and in fact they had already left (I guess?) instead they found a minefield, which the Mikuma promptly hit. Damage at 30 sys, and burning rather brightly at 30 fire (only twenty flood).

Then my little tf caught the Preble and Montgomery (?) and sank them without any return hits - my deadly destroyer duo of the Minegumo and Hokaze each landed a torpedo hit against one of the DMs. Those two destroyers are responsible for so many of Raver's sunk ships . . .

Air searches out of Luganville (I should have gone there - lots of tankers apparently) didn't find my tf, in spite of Mikuma burning away.

On the whole, this small tf tactic is bloody brilliant. There must be a penalty against using too many ships in a surface combat tf - or too many big ships (2 BBs, and the rest destroyers works really well too, whereas 7 BBs and the rest destroyers isn't good for anything unless you bombard). I have risked 4 CAs, 1 CL and 2 DDs against the entire Eastern area of Raver's domain, and have been reaping the benefits - two damaged (30 or so sys) CAs is all it has cost me I think - while Raver has had plenty of ships sunk.

For such a small risk/outlay of force, I am getting a really big return!

You are breaking a golden rule in warfare......bewarned!


On the upside my LRBs are having a wow of a time going through their advance training course. Exp is coming along rather well and soon they will be practicing on a real target rather than Gili Gili.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/12/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Sub attack at 21,34

Japanese Ships
APD 1

Allied Ships
SS S-39


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Gili Gili , at 17,42

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 9

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 53

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe x 2 damaged


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 12

Runway hits 6

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Top secret IJN research facility yields scientific clues on how to reach and defeat B17s at 35000 feet.

1. Skinnier pilots (malnutrition being as it is, I think this is improving).

2. Planes with longer wings. Work has commenced on the new "double zero" immediately. Sounds like a hamburger.

3. Squadron of P38s . . .

I can help you with #3.....just wait till early '43 and I'll send a few Squadrons your way;)

Well folks, nothing to report as Luskan has gone AWOL

Well Luskan has been found! And in the last turn, I sank yet another sub! Wooo Hooo!, That makes 4 subs confirmed sunk, and at least as many again sent back to Japan for repairs. Aside from that ol'Luskan has been quite.....which always means that trouble is brewing. I'll just have to try and keep a sharp eye out for his sneaky little tricks!

Hate it when you're sitting around waiting for the response to the turn that you forgot to send . . . Anyhow, last turn was a disaster for me.

I neglected to combine my ten new destroyers with my Lunga surface fleet before I sent the fleet to Luganville for a party. The result was that my ships were hammered. No CR to post (Raver will don't you worry!) but basically his two surface combat tfs hit my one tf for some fairly even pounding. Although the two fights couldn't be called a win for either side, when you add them up, and then leave a CL, CA, and DD within three hexes of an unbombarded airfield, they score changes quite rapidly.

One CA sunk, a CA, CL and DD scuttled (all at 99 sys and above 90 flt) for a couple of mauled USN cruisers (unlikely to be damaged enough to go back to pearl) and two destroyers that were more seriously damaged.

Raver's two surface groups performed much better than they would have if they had been one big tf.

My first real defeat of the game.

D@mned right I'm gona post the AAR!

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/16/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Shell hits 1
CA Ashigara
CA Kako, Shell hits 1
CL Jintsu
CL Tama
DD Akigumo
DD Kagero, Shell hits 1
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Shiranui
DD Hokaze

Allied Ships
CA Pensacola
CA San Francisco
CA Quincy, Shell hits 1
CL Honolulu
DD Bagley
DD Blue, Shell hits 1
DD Ralph Talbot
DD Jarvis
DD Drayton
DD Fanning


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Shell hits 6
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 1
CA Kako, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 2, on fire
CL Tama, Shell hits 2
DD Akigumo, Shell hits 1
DD Kagero, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Oyashio, on fire
DD Shiranui, Shell hits 3
DD Hokaze, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
CA Pensacola, Shell hits 1
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 1
CA Quincy
CL Honolulu
DD Bagley, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Blue
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Jarvis
DD Drayton
DD Fanning


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Kako, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 9, on fire
CL Tama, Shell hits 4
DD Akigumo, Shell hits 2
DD Kagero, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Shiranui, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hokaze

Allied Ships
CA Pensacola, Shell hits 5
CA San Francisco
CA Quincy
CL Honolulu
DD Bagley, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Blue
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Jarvis
DD Drayton, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Fanning, Shell hits 1, on fire


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Gili Gili , at 17,42

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 4

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 40

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe x 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 20

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 4

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 30000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 50,50


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7
SBD Dauntless x 33
P-400 Airacobra x 7
P-39D Airacobra x 6


no losses

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Ashigara, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
DD Shiranui, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 52,53


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7
SBD Dauntless x 33
P-400 Airacobra x 4
P-39D Airacobra x 10


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kako, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Luskans main mistake? Forming a pattern.....what works once, maybe twice( risky) is OK, but three times is just asking for a whupping...and thats what Luskan got, extra DDs or not. I was waiting with 3 Surface TFs but for some reason one one engaged (?). But I DID warn Luskan a few posts ago now didn't I ?:D

If Raver is playing defensively (and he is - he has made only one raid of any kind all game and look how that turned out (his submersed cvs!)).

I'm happy for Raver to play defensive for now - since it will give me time to a: prepare the trenches long before the USN goes offensive, or b: make my Jan 1st 1943 lunge for autovictory unstoppable. As tempting as the autovictory is, avoiding it will be Raver's prime concern - and on the other hand, I have recently encountered a couple of great spoiling tactics the IJN can use against the USN in a couple of my other games, and I am anxious to try them on Raver.

Curses ! I am hunting his cripple ships from the last two turns and have yet to find them.....naval search has been very poor, and I fear that they may have slipped away:mad:

Defense is the name of the game.............but then again I have a habit of rolling the dice;)

Hats off to Raver's sly move. He foresaw my move while had me confused as to his.

After my bad encounter at Luganville, I had a stream of "damaged" (most very slow but not in danger of sinking) ships limping home, and I had the undamaged Hiei and CL DD escorts needing to return to lunga to refuel immediately. Fortunately I had 5 tankers about to unload. I thought that Raver was going to send his surface combat groups out to Lunga to sink my tankers, and maybe catch the Hiei with her pants down.

So the tankers met Hiei mid ocean to refuel, while all my other BBs raced for Lunga to cover it. Then they met the tankers to refuel - and while they were at sea anyway, they properly bombarded Luganville, finding no enemy ships there at all - about 10 AKs, and some PT boats had dodged to a nearby beach hex. The bombardment did cost Raver 13 destroyed aircraft (most p-39s but I'll take what I can get) and cost me a whole lot of fuel and ammo.

I think the IJN battleship threat will now be a defensive one. Has been a disappointment I must say. 7 USN battleships would be more like it I think (I've had 4 max so far in a game and they caused a riot - without air support they rampaged across the map. One of them ended up sinking, and the other three sent to Pearl but the damage they did was impressive.

And here is the AAR....I had about 15 Aps in port the move before this one.....had I not sailed them most would be on the bottom.
Luskan has to be watched like a hawk at all times.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/20/42

Weather: Overcast

Naval bombardment of Luganville, at 53,53


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra x 9 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra x 19 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Yura, Shell hits 1, on fire

Airbase hits 9
Runway hits 42


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Luganville, at 53,53


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
Hudson x 1 destroyed
Hudson x 1 damaged
P-39D Airacobra x 5 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra x 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 1


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 44
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Runway hits 27


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My ships returned, bagged a whole bunch of PTs for no loss, shot down a few dauntlesses and mitchells that had a go on the way home, and bagged a damaged AK that didn't really raise my self esteem much. Good bombardments though

I really have to start kicking some airfarce butt.........

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/21/42

Weather: Clear

Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Hiei
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CA Aoba
CL Tama
CL Yubari
DD Arashi
DD Yamagumo
DD Harusame
DD Minekaze
DD Hokaze

Allied Ships
PT 38, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
PT 46
PT 48, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
PT 60
PT 61


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Hiei
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CA Aoba
CL Tama
CL Yubari
DD Arashi
DD Yamagumo
DD Harusame
DD Minekaze
DD Hokaze

Allied Ships
AK Bellatrix, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Hiei
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CA Aoba
CL Tama, Shell hits 3
CL Yubari
DD Arashi
DD Yamagumo
DD Harusame
DD Minekaze
DD Hokaze

Allied Ships
PT 46, Shell hits 30, heavy damage
PT 60, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
PT 61, Shell hits 49, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 53,53

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Hiei
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CA Aoba
CL Tama
CL Yubari
DD Arashi
DD Yamagumo
DD Harusame
DD Minekaze
DD Hokaze

Allied Ships
PT 46, and is sunk
PT 61, and is sunk


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Luganville, at 53,53


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
no losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 20


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Luganville, at 53,53


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
Hudson x 2 destroyed
Hudson x 1 damaged
P-39D Airacobra x 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 40


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Luganville, at 53,53


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged
PBY Catalina x 1 destroyed
PBY Catalina x 2 damaged
P-39D Airacobra x 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 40


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 46,48


Allied aircraft
B-25D Mitchell x 13


Allied aircraft losses
B-25D Mitchell x 1 destroyed
B-25D Mitchell x 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Haguro
BB Yamato
BB Haruna
CA Furutaka

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
4 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
2 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
:rolleyes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 46,48


Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 10


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 12 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CL Tenryu
:rolleyes:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My ships are now unhappily returning to port through some thunderstorms that aren't doing them any good. They'll be back to 0 sys and sitting next to huge supply depots when the time comes to raid Raver once again. Hopefully with more success.

Starting to think that maybe a long siege defense would give me a more total, crushing victory than autovictory.

Posted by Luskan

Starting to think that maybe a long siege defense would give me a more total, crushing victory than autovictory.

Define "a long siege defense"?

Do you mean you're considering preparing for a long defence against the allied offensive through '43?

Good Luck, mate.

Quite....too d@mned quite.......I know that sneaky little swine is upto something but what?

Raver is paranoid - he thinks I'm out to get him! :rolleyes:

I don't like playing without a couple of reserve operations that are all set up, fuelled, loaded, ready to go at the click of a button etc. One offensive op to take advantage of an opportunity and a defensive op to counter Raver (although he hasn't done anything but bomb GG from 35000 feet).

Playing the game at Luganville with Raver sitting there waiting for me was going to cost me big time (well, it did cost me big time, but when I tried to up the ante he sidestepped).

To be honest I'd say that although I'm ahead on the scoreboard, Raver has probably won the first quarter with a dodgy goal and a bunch of behinds, while I've kicked two goals from 50 meters (not worth the new "extra" points - anyone know why they decided to change the AFL rules and points system this year??) and hit the post half a dozen times.

Raver's nuclear powered subs are on blockade out of Truk, and never seem to go home to refuel . . .

SCN 19 isn't as furious a scn as 17 because the IJN already has Lunga and PM - so any further advances are a long step - especially if you have to hold them for 6 months to win the game etc.