I'm thinking he is working along the lines of Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumly, Rough and Ready, Klondike Cat, Dudley Do Right, Mr Wizard, and the whole Fractured Fairy Tale line-up.
I am, after all, very, very old.
The real test will be if the Internets can provide art work.
Does that mean I'm old too? Gulp! To be fair I'm up here in Duluth - a lot closer to "Frostbite Falls" than you are!
The Enewetak gambit CR ran was also in early 42' so that is how I came up with it since you asked me to guess. You do have Wake so I thought you may leverage that asset.
A little entertainment for the younger or nostalgic crowd!
Given what you said about lacking the wherewithal to mount a big offensive, "The Bare Necessities" song from the Jungle Book comes to mind too!
Soon the Japanese on Johnston Island will be singing it ...[:D]
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
No point in taking Johnson back as it is now just a POW camp
Just an example of some nuances .. the drop tank distance of a Hellcat is 25 hexes .. Pearl to Palmaya is 26 hexes . [;)] but Johnson to Palmaya is 22 hexes and then Canton Island is 22 hexes .. If island hopping of certain fighter groups is in the future Johnson Island becomes a little bit more than a POW camp ..[8D]
The big purpose I find for Johnson at this stage of the game is interlocking patrol arcs ithe Pearl/Midway ...
Island hopping planes is something else I've never done against the AI. It usually doesn't occur to me. Might change that in a PBEM.
Knowing what I know now I think Johnson's main purpose was to pull the sub base forward from Kwaj. In Decemebr and JAnuary there were usualy 5-6 subs around Hawaii. I don't know if my ASW response was abnormal for Mike's past experience, but I usually don't let subs alone off CONUS or Hawaii. Just rubs me the wrong way.
I'll be interested to someday find out if an invasion of Oahu was planned. The big air battle at Hilo seems ot have been a turning point. An Oahu invasion really requires at least one, and two better, LBA bases in range of PH.
1) Ambon. My suspicions that Japan has Big Plans for this base are increased today when the stalled landing is aided by the arrival of a stiff bombardment force.
Night Naval bombardment of Ambon at 76,109 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
8 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
BB Kongo
CA Chokai
CA Atago
CA Takao
Based on time since the landing hung up--about three days--my best guess is these guys are homeported at Babel-de-bob. I'll file that away for SubPac. I doubt they'll hang around, but I'm once again wondering if it's worth the fuel to move Force Z over to the Timor area. Against this TF it would be a helluva fight, and right now Z is a one-shot due to ammo reloads, but OTOH sinking or crippling one modern BB might be worth it. I doubt Z can get into position fast enough, but this TF might show up again at another island in March. The cold wind of the amphib bonus ending is starting to blow.
The attack on Ambon after this drubbing is somewhat successful for Japan, but the base holds again. I'm regretting moving most of the garrison to Timor, leaving just this fragement. These guys can fight.
Ground combat at Ambon (76,109)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 1442 troops, 19 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 56
Defending force 1473 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 42
Defending units:
4th Coastal Gun Battalion
Molukken Garrison Bn /1
Ambon Base Force
2) Singers supply at about 21,000, so I take a chance and turn on replacements for almost all the combat LCUs. I just finished a microscopic Tracker session on each one, and it did help. (That and Perceval's boot.) AV on most are up 2-3 in one day, despite the pools being empty. Disruption is at zero throughout the base, and some disabled squads get up on the line again. A fair bit of Support squads arrive (those pools are fat.) My Indian divisions are hollow, with next to no infantry after the battles down the penninsula, but the two Aussie formations, the rock of the defense, are in pretty good shape and have great leadership.
I even get 5 fort-build points in as his air efforts focused on Palembang. Probably a waste of supply, but you never know.
3) The AA at Bataan falls silent in three bombing attacks. He has to have noticed.
4) B-17s return to Miri with light numbers but meet no CAP either. No Oil hits, but a number of TFs are observed in port. AFAIK northern Borneo is the only petroleum flowing home. Balikpapan shows nothing in port.
5) Japanese are methodically taking all Celebes bases without opposition or observation.
6) UNDERDOG proceeds. All ships at sea now.
And so we arrive at March. USS Hornet in twelve days. Many aircraft models, especially precious Wildcats, step up the production. On the first day the Allies still hold Singers, Bataan, Clark, Palembang, Mandalay, Wake, Tarawa, Makin, Canton, Baker, all of the Aleutians, Rabaul, all of NG but one base, Batavia, Soerbaja, Darwin, and, thankfully, Pearl Harbor. Things could be worse.
Force Z - I value Prince of Wales a lot due to her huge AA numbers. I like this force to survive and be my SC TF that leads the Allied CV (American and Brit) around the map as my early '42 "Death Star." A trained up American CV force with the 3 Brit CVs in mid-42 can be a force that can take on KB (away from LBA). Yes, that short window between May (some Avengers on board) and the re-sizing of carrier air groups in July. I also place a Marine fighter group of 18 planes each on the 5 American CV (except Wasp). Having 45 fighters per CV makes me sleep better. [;)]
Indian Replacements - Do you want the slow amount of Indian infantry (the number go up significantly in '43) to go to Singer or to fill out those in India?? I ask, because most of your troops in Singapore are below 50 in experience which means 1/2 their AV. Adding more troops will actually lower their experience levels. Just a quick cost vs benefit analysis.
Vindicators - They may be old and slow, but they have a great transfer range and with drop tanks can hit far from a level two base with those 1000 lbers. [8D] Can you use them for hit and run in the greater SRA area to cause havoc where he doesn't have fighters??
Force Z - I value Prince of Wales a lot due to her huge AA numbers. I like this force to survive and be my SC TF that leads the Allied CV (American and Brit) around the map as my early '42 "Death Star." A trained up American CV force with the 3 Brit CVs in mid-42 can be a force that can take on KB (away from LBA). Yes, that short window between May (some Avengers on board) and the re-sizing of carrier air groups in July. I also place a Marine fighter group of 18 planes each on the 5 American CV (except Wasp). Having 45 fighters per CV makes me sleep better. [;)]
Indian Replacements - Do you want the slow amount of Indian infantry (the number go up significantly in '43) to go to Singer or to fill out those in India?? I ask, because most of your troops in Singapore are below 50 in experience which means 1/2 their AV. Adding more troops will actually lower their experience levels. Just a quick cost vs benefit analysis.
Vindicators - They may be old and slow, but they have a great transfer range and with drop tanks can hit far from a level two base with those 1000 lbers. [8D] Can you use them for hit and run in the greater SRA area to cause havoc where he doesn't have fighters??
I've never had POW long enough in an AI game to practice. For sure she is the best Allied BB until North Carolina comes out. I have been saving Z for use in Sumatra/Java, and to be truthful I'll probably try to save it for that, but the appeal of getting a rare IJN modern BB is high. I sense Mike depends on the BBs as a security blanket more than I do from the Allied side. Z has been hanging around Cocos a long time now too. CR's experience this week has sobered me up as to how safe the IO is to hide in. I've been keeping them in port to hold down system damage--POW only has one after being at sea continuously since 12/7--but he only has to get lucky once. Cocos is still trying to get the AF to 1. It has patrol planes, but no real air defense.
The infantry pools are empty, so I think Singers pulling any in are moot. Still, if they weren't, I'd pull. Singers is the best force multiplier on the map right now. By recon there are 33 LCUs tied down there, including a huge portion of his infantry, and probaby 25% of his air force. Every day he loses bombers. Every day I get stronger in Burma. The Indian army in 1943 is nice, but I have lots of infantry and armor by then and in late spring Aden opens to the world. Tracker sez that what turning replacements on is doing mostly is pulling in support, which helps everything else in the hex, including combat. And I've never studied disablement closely, but I think the PPs I spent on high admin COs is paying off too.
I used the Vindicators to hit an airfield on Celebes yesterday. They did OK, but there was nothing to hit yet. They've mostly recovered from getting shredded at Djambi. I keep waiting for an assault on Java, but it's still a ways away I think.
After running the turn Singers and JB now have 44 LCUs in residence. I think he intends to make the next one count. I'm assuming a Shock.
Movement dots seen at Manila and Lingayan aimed at Clark. I think he noticed.
I did tell Force Z to mosey SE a bit. Got a replenishment TF organized at PErth and heading to someplace it will be useful if a high speed advance to the rear is needed. The bombardment TF is gone; I vectored a Dutch sub into what I think would be the withdrawl course if Babel-d is the homeport.
1) Further evidence Ambon is important: Japan today shows a carrier TF of some kind SOUTH of the cloud of subs clogging the Makassar Strait. Vindicators, flying at extreme range in order to harrass ASW TFs, are jumped by fighters. Despite a combat report which shows three lost, in reality all eight in the flight are gone. The model is out of production.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 63,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes
CAP engaged:
47th I.F.Chutai with Ki-44 Tojo (6 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(6 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Raid is overhead Chitose Ku S-1 Det with A6M2 Zero (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000
Raid is overhead
I assume this TF is there to CAP the BBs at Ambon yesterday. If it stays I assume the BBs might be back. Staying is dangerous, but so were those subs it drove through. If it withdraws my best guess is not back north past the subs, but east past Kendari. I might be able to put assets in that path.
2) Ambon holds again.
Ground combat at Ambon (76,109)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 1374 troops, 19 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 47
Defending force 1412 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 34
3) Singers supply, with combat LCUs on Replacements=Yes, and building Forts, still has over 20,000 supply. AV improves a bit again. Bombing lessens markedly, possibly due to extreme damage every day from AA, and what does come in is directed at the port and supply ships. Only one already in the yard is hit. The let-up on the AF allows 8% Forts 4 to be built in two days. The shift says he may not have a good answer to the Singers rock-paper-scissors. Supply has to stop, and actions in the PI show a preference for waiting until supply is gone to attack. OTOH, time is a factor. LCUs at Singers show 38 and 12 more at JB. To stop the supply runs he has to put max effort into naval strikes and not just the AF, and/or send in surface enforcers and risk my TBs and DBs. The longer Japan waits the more air power can come in from CT. But if he shifts the Netties to naval he lets up on the AF and forts progress back toward 4.
4) This has gone on long enough that Palembang is being pressured on supply production. It has no LI and depends on the refineries to throw off supply. But since Djambi has been lost the oil stocks are very low. I considered sending the British 18th Div up the road to eject the Japanese from Djambi, but they would be meat out on the roads. Instead I have several 40k to 50k pure supply convoys headed in from CT. They will dock at Oosthaven. The railroad to Palembang is still open. Unloading will be slow and I will lose some to spoilage, but it's doable.
5) Escorted Chinese bombers hit the stack just west of Tuang Gyi. I have blocked the road to its south and am moving Chinese corps down both hexsides to the NW and NE. The AVG bombs and strafes (they have excellent strafe ratings) the LCUs headed cross-country for Akyab. There are several attacks; this is an example:
Morning Air attack on 15th Guards Regiment, at 58,48 , near Magwe
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x P-40E Warhawk bombing from 100 feet
Ground Attack: 1 x 500 lb GP Bomb
Also attacking 6th Tank Regiment ...
Also attacking 15th Guards Regiment ...
6) Two raids on Samarinda oil yield 1 Oil damage point. It's not much, but these raids do add up over time, as well as demand engineer committment to repair.
7) SS Grayback attacks a convoy in the Sea of Japan. No hits, but they are regular as a train through here. The dice will work eventually. More subs headed to the HI.
8) At Cagayan the Allies do a probing attack with one LCU to test the make-up of the stack in the hex. Debating making an all-out attempt to force some retreats before the base is starved out. It has Forts 3, and that's a lot to give up, but time is not on its side either. This is the correlation of forces. The P.I. units have some organic supply each. The base is about zeroed.
Assaulting units:
3rd PA Constabulary Regiment
2nd/101st PA Battalion
103rd PA Infantry Regiment
1st /101st PA Battalion
3rd/101st PA Battalion
102nd PA Infantry Regiment
102nd PA Infantry Division
Cagayan USAAF Base Force
III Philippine Corps
Defending units:
146th Infantry Regiment
82nd Naval Guard Unit
9) After much thought and visualization of buyer's remorse, I let Lex and Saratoga go into upgrade cycle at San Diego. The UNDERDOG twin carriers should be enough by themselves, Hornet arrives in ten days, and the Lex/Sara duo really need that first upgrade to be competitive IMO. I hope it was a good decision.
... 6) Two raids on Samarinda oil yield 1 Oil damage point. It's not much, but these raids do add up over time, as well as demand engineer committment to repair...
... 8) At Cagayan the Allies do a probing attack with one LCU to test the make-up of the stack in the hex. Debating making an all-out attempt to force some retreats before the base is starved out. It has Forts 3, and that's a lot to give up, but time is not on its side either. This is the correlation of forces. The P.I. units have some organic supply each. The base is about zeroed.
Assaulting units:
3rd PA Constabulary Regiment
2nd/101st PA Battalion
103rd PA Infantry Regiment
1st /101st PA Battalion
3rd/101st PA Battalion
102nd PA Infantry Regiment
102nd PA Infantry Division
Cagayan USAAF Base Force
III Philippine Corps
Defending units:
146th Infantry Regiment
82nd Naval Guard Unit
...
(a) engineers are not required to effect repairs to industrial facilities
(b) before counter attacking at Cagayan, check to see if you can recombine those units. You might have enough present to reconstitute a division. Certainly the individual battalions may be enough to reconstitute a regiment. Always better to attack with a single big unit rather than its sub components.
Are you reasonably sure he will leave those convoys at Oosthaven alone? Does the DL for the base show any recon?
PS - meant to add that I am awed by your management of the Singers/Palembang situation. Certainly your opponent made a mistake in not bringing the big hammer yet, but you have confounded all his attempts to up the ante. Bravo Zulu, o partially brass one! [&o][&o]
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
... 6) Two raids on Samarinda oil yield 1 Oil damage point. It's not much, but these raids do add up over time, as well as demand engineer committment to repair...
... 8) At Cagayan the Allies do a probing attack with one LCU to test the make-up of the stack in the hex. Debating making an all-out attempt to force some retreats before the base is starved out. It has Forts 3, and that's a lot to give up, but time is not on its side either. This is the correlation of forces. The P.I. units have some organic supply each. The base is about zeroed.
Assaulting units:
3rd PA Constabulary Regiment
2nd/101st PA Battalion
103rd PA Infantry Regiment
1st /101st PA Battalion
3rd/101st PA Battalion
102nd PA Infantry Regiment
102nd PA Infantry Division
Cagayan USAAF Base Force
III Philippine Corps
Defending units:
146th Infantry Regiment
82nd Naval Guard Unit
...
(a) engineers are not required to effect repairs to industrial facilities
(b) before counter attacking at Cagayan, check to see if you can recombine those units. You might have enough present to reconstitute a division. Certainly the individual battalions may be enough to reconstitute a regiment. Always better to attack with a single big unit rather than its sub components.
Alfred
a) Did not know that. Thanks.
b) Arrgh. Too late. Turn sent back with attack ordered. Did not notice the unit numbers. Whatever survives I'll combine.
Are you reasonably sure he will leave those convoys at Oosthaven alone? Does the DL for the base show any recon?
He has put a sub on Oosthaven's doorstep on occasion. I do not think he is actively reconning it.
There is aviation support at Oosthaven and it has fighters about 50% of the time. It's a repair base for P. Also, there is a permanent USN sub in the single hex between Oost. and Merak. Also, Force Z is near Cocos. Also, the TBs are either at P. or Batavia.
I would like him to risk combatants to come get 10 xAKs. Japanese players who risk the IJN to kill Allied merchants need to play the Allies. Even now it's a rare day 1-3 merchants aren't delivered somewhere on the map. I have about 70 of them sitting in WC ports waiting for the situation around Hawaii to resolve. And the Liberty ship program hasn't kicked in yet.
Playing this first PBEM I've come to really love Oosthaven. It's optimally located, has a railroad, can be reached with very little risk off the IO, and is in range of several very powerful Allied bases. I've let it build fuel from Palembang and that's what's suplying the growing force at Cocos. Without that Force Z would have had to risk pulling in to Batavia several times already.
There is also a refuelling base halfway down the IO side of Java. Starts with a D, I think, has a fortress. It draws fuel from Soerabaja, just like Batavia does, but of course the port is smaller.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
Are you reasonably sure he will leave those convoys at Oosthaven alone? Does the DL for the base show any recon?
PS - meant to add that I am awed by your management of the Singers/Palembang situation. Certainly your opponent made a mistake in not bringing the big hammer yet, but you have confounded all his attempts to up the ante. Bravo Zulu, o partially brass one! [&o][&o]
Edit crossed in the mail.
The P-S axis has been the most interesting part of the game so far. I think Japan erred by splitting attention between the PI and Malaysia, and then sub-splitting P. and Singers. I still do not how much, if any, LCU force he set up to take Hawaii, but with no HRs on moving across borders I thought I'd have faced an avalanche of ground force by now, and I haven't. The island landings have been very economical. There's no rampaging hammer coming across China. There are some big stacks, but nothing I woudln't have expected if there had been an HR and PP required investment. Letting Singers get to Forts 4 made all the difference. With Forts 2 that first assault might still have failed, but it would have likely knocked them to zero, and the next would have taken Singers. And 40ish LCUs would be headed for Burma most likely.
If P. and S. fell tomorrow I'd feel they had done their jobs. I think Singers will go on the next attack(s) given the number of LCUs massing. But I should get at least 5000 more Japanese casualties. And he still won't have a handle on P. and the fuel. It's not a fortress, but there's enough there to take some big landings. A campaign from the north will take weeks. And Oosthaven will be expensive, although with Singers' air field in operation he can really pound on my navy. At some point I'll need to decide what P. is worth. And hope the taking wrecks it. [:)]
There is also a refuelling base halfway down the IO side of Java. Starts with a D, I think, has a fortress. It draws fuel from Soerabaja, just like Batavia does, but of course the port is smaller.
The old spellng of Jakarta? Djakarta? Tillijap (sp?) is also a decent little base. Haven't looked at fuel, but it has a good AF and several Dutch air units are delivered straight there.
Thanks for the tip on Djakarta. Z is moseying and will need a drink soon. The replenishment TF from Perth is low volume.
Looking back on my current game as Japan (PBEM now in 2/44), I did quite well in capturing Singapore on 31 Dec '41. I use the Mersing Gambit and committed 6 or 7 division to the conquest. My inexperience was in exploiting this quicker. Taking Singapore quickly is priority #1 in my book. Going into March '42 with it still in Allied hands is a strategic victory for you as any major conquest will not happen now, IMO.
Singapore - Enough supply, but not enough AV to hold
Luzon - Enough AV, but not enough supply to hold out
The newer beta patch which turns back on Light Industry even with enemy troops will help the defense of Singapore and Manila. I now play exclusively with stacking limits, so Manila is a better choice. Especially, with the LI back on.
Looking back on my current game as Japan (PBEM now in 2/44), I did quite well in capturing Singapore on 31 Dec '41. I use the Mersing Gambit and committed 6 or 7 division to the conquest. My inexperience was in exploiting this quicker. Taking Singapore quickly is priority #1 in my book. Going into March '42 with it still in Allied hands is a strategic victory for you as any major conquest will not happen now, IMO.
Singapore - Enough supply, but not enough AV to hold
Luzon - Enough AV, but not enough supply to hold out
The newer beta patch which turns back on Light Industry even with enemy troops will help the defense of Singapore and Manila. I now play exclusively with stacking limits, so Manila is a better choice. Especially, with the LI back on.
The AI usually uses 7-8 infantry divisions on Singers. Never the Mersing Gambit of course, but enough force in the shock attack to deal with Singers. I've gotten Forts 3 several times though. The AI does not do the sustained forts denial bombing humans do.
The new beta patch turning on LI does help, but I don't think it's decisive. I believe Singers gets 180 supply per day and Manila is only 100. I kept Manila until last week, and Clark and Bataan are still both zeroed out. There's simply too many mouths to feed on Luzon and far too little LI.
9) After much thought and visualization of buyer's remorse, I let Lex and Saratoga go into upgrade cycle at San Diego. The UNDERDOG twin carriers should be enough by themselves, Hornet arrives in ten days, and the Lex/Sara duo really need that first upgrade to be competitive IMO. I hope it was a good decision.
I tend to skip the first upgrade that removes the 8" guns without any compensation than 1.1" AA guns because of the annoying habit of my carriers to get into surface fights. Those 8" guns at least mean that the two carriers have a chance at self-defence.
If surface battles happened as often in real life as they do in games, the US would have probably built the alternative to the Midway that was armed with dual-purpose 6" turrets and single purpose 6" guns just to give them more punch.
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