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December 19, 1941

Good weather today and all my 4E bombers flew. The Japanese reinforced Miri with additional fighters who in combination with the dense flak knocked out two of my B-17Ds, but I did get around 25 oil hits in total. I think overall that's a good trade for me, but I don't know how long I can keep this up before Slith brings in even more forces to make these strikes impractical. Here is the first strike that went in with the heavy bombers:

If he has his fighters there, he does not have them elsewhere.

If he is using only light AAA units, increase the altitude about one or two thousand feet above their range. If he is using only heavy AAA units, then down low is the way to go.

That is another 25K supplies needed to repair that damage not to mention the lost oil which translates into fuel/HI/supplies.

Plus possibly more teeth gnashing and hair pulling.

December 20-21, 1941

The KB struck Rabaul with a heavy raid but to little effect as the port and airfields were essentially empty.

On the 21st, submarine KXIV sank a Yusen N Cargo ship near Cam Ranh Bay.

I also was prepared to continue the bombing of the oil at Miri but on the 20th the weather grounded my aircraft and on the 21st I noticed Slith bringing in significant airpower to Kota Bharu once more so I decided to strike their base there. Japanese fighter sweeps went over Singapore but to no avail as the B-17s and their Buffalo escorts were busy plastering their airfields at Kota.

December 22, 1941

The Saratoga task force paid a visit to its Japanese friends on Sakhalin Island. Unfortunately there wasn't much to greet in the area aside from a couple of small minelayers that were found and sunk, but the visit did seem to throw the Japanese into a frenzy of activity. Even a little disruption can go a long way in this early period.

December 23, 1941

The Japanese landed on Rabaul (I had pulled back all forces there aside from the resident base force) and were met with some timely laid mines that damaged a couple of ships including a light cruiser. The Japanese also appear to be heading towards a landing either at Sinkawang or Kuching. The convoys were attacked by Swordfish and Vildebeests but with only one cargo ship successfully hit.

Incredibly, Hong Kong has withstood it's latest assault that I thought was it. This means that the city will fall next turn, the actual historical date of its capture. How apt!

December 24-25, 1941

An exciting couple of turns in which the Japanese delivered some good blows! As I mentioned in the last post, the Japanese were seen heading for a landing at either Kuching or Sinkawang and it turned out to be Kuching. I decided to risk a move on the transports despite the considerable number of Japanese warships suspected to be in the area. I sent two task forces over two turns, one from the east and one from the west, to see if I could score some hits.

The Boise, Houston, and a few destroyer escorts surged in from the east but unfortunately they first stumbled upon a small Japanese escort task force of two torpedo boats and two destroyer minesweepers. They sank all four vessels but were significantly delayed in the process. After this, they only managed to sink a single damaged and isolated transport (previously hit by air attack) before they were set upon by Slith's heavy covering force, which sank both the Boise and the Houston as well as a couple of destroyers.

The Dutch cruisers and the Marblehead then struck from the Singapore area but were again met by plenty of Japanese warships. I lost the Marblehead for a Japanese destroyer without inflicting damage on the transports.

Once again I discover that Slith is not taking any chances, and is very extensively covering his invasion task forces. If you count both the close escort and the covering forces, each transport/cargo in this latest invasion was matched by about two Japanese destroyers (not to mention the heavier warships). This makes it very difficult to damage his troop convoys but it does significantly reduce the number of invasions that he can run at any one time. Here is the troop convoy that was finally reached by a single destroyer but to no effect.

To round up the update, the Japanese finally took Hong Kong. Rabaul, essentially already evacuated, fell to the Empire as well.

Not all is bad news in these early dark days though - The evacuation of shipping from the SRA is essentially complete, and this process has been quite a success overall. With Japanese warships largely tied up playing defense due to my early aggressive moves, I only had to really worry about IJN subs. Including the Hong Kong shipping, I lost only 9 xAKLs, 6 xAKs, and a single medium sized tanker. None of the auxiliaries were sunk. Best of all, it looks like the Repulse will make it to safety despite taking five torpedo hits from Betty bombers on the first turn.

I would suggest that due to the heavy escorts, you back off a bit now. Save your ships, repair any damage, then get ready to strike again - especially if the enemy gets sloppy.

Tiny dot bases are your friends now to hide your ships in small packages.[:D]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I would suggest that due to the heavy escorts, you back off a bit now. Save your ships, repair any damage, then get ready to strike again - especially if the enemy gets sloppy.

Tiny dot bases are your friends now to hide your ships in small packages.[:D]

That's the name of the game right now. Trying to find less heavily defended convoys before I strike.

January 1, 1942

A game week has passed since the last update and the war has entered a new year. The Japanese have continued their careful advance across the SRA. Recently they have landed in force in Mindanao, seized an abandoned Manila in Luzon after the Allies declared it an open city, and marched down all the way to Malacca in the Malay Peninsula. The Japanese are also landing all over New Britain and New Guinea under the watchful eye of at least part of the KB.

I haven't been entirely passive either. Heavy bomber raids have continued with some degree of success from Singapore, particularly in terms of targeting airfields in conjunction with naval bombardments. In China I have avoided Slith's thrusts and lashed back with my own counterattacks, most notably catching and wrecking an out of position Japanese infantry brigade. I suspect things will heat up a bit further this month.

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

January 1, 1942

A game week has passed since the last update and the war has entered a new year. The Japanese have continued their careful advance across the SRA. Recently they have landed in force in Mindanao, seized an abandoned Manila in Luzon after the Allies declared it an open city, and marched down all the way to Malacca in the Malay Peninsula.

Leaving Manila open, is that a sort of role-playing action? I usually hold it as long as possible as even a light urban city is good defensive terrain.

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

January 1, 1942

A game week has passed since the last update and the war has entered a new year. The Japanese have continued their careful advance across the SRA. Recently they have landed in force in Mindanao, seized an abandoned Manila in Luzon after the Allies declared it an open city, and marched down all the way to Malacca in the Malay Peninsula.

Leaving Manila open, is that a sort of role-playing action? I usually hold it as long as possible as even a light urban city is good defensive terrain.

Some of it was a bit of role-playing for my own fun but since we are not playing with staking limits and it looks like Slith might be going for a strong push in the Philippines, I also decided to maximize the defense of Clark by pulling all my troops there instead of spreading them out to cover Manila too.

January 2, 1942

Relying on SIGINT once more I was able to confidently track the approximate whereabouts of the Japanese 21st Infantry Division (in a convoy heading to Truk) so I set up the Saratoga in an ambush position near the Bonin Islands. I figured I had maybe a maximum of a couple of turns to strike before I would be detected but unfortunately as the Saratoga task force arrived in position a Japanese light cruiser was transiting through the area so my cover was blown. With the Japanese now aware of my plan, I decided to hightail it out of these dangerous waters.

At least you got the CL and probably a good reaction from the enemy.

January 9, 1942

The relatively cautious Japanese advance has continued over the past week. Imperial forces have landed on Tarakan, and Manado in the northern Celebes, the Solomons, and a number of points along the northern coast of New Guinea have been taken. The Japanese advance down the Malayan Peninsula is also almost complete, and Singapore has been subjected to heavy air attacks as a result. These air raids have been successful at suppressing the airfield's use as a heavy bomber base, but at a cost. An average of 25 Japanese aircraft have been lost per day over the last five days. I am on the lookout for more openings to inflict damage on the Japanese, but Slith's embrace of the slow advance with overwhelming force makes this more difficult. If nothing else, at least this is giving me time to prepare my overall defenses.

January 11, 1942

The skies over Singapore were filled with explosions, tracers, and flaming aircraft today as the Allies faced off against the Japanese air offensive.

In China, a large Chinese army, with the help of the Chinese Air Force, caught and battered the Japanese 39th division near Wuchang. The Chinese army will pursue the division and try to rout it a second time.

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

January 11, 1942

The skies over Singapore were filled with explosions, tracers, and flaming aircraft today as the Allies faced off against the Japanese air offensive.

Using Nates (and losing them together with good pilots) in the frontline already shows the frustration of your opponent. And it will just grow bigger with these losses. All these pilots in Nates lost for probabyl no gain should be flying in Tojos in mid 42 where they are more than a match for your Warhawks.

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

I am on the lookout for more openings to inflict damage on the Japanese, but Slith's embrace of the slow advance with overwhelming force makes this more difficult. If nothing else, at least this is giving me time to prepare my overall defenses.

You do seem to have him rattled. [:D]