Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[Bif1961]

He had 58 disabled tanks maybe they got caught in swap before the main attack could get started? The following infantry didn't press the attack when the tanks fell victim to the swamp thing.

[John B.]

Get Assista, You might be right, the regiments may have come in from the non-river hexside and just happened to show up at the same time as the armor crossing the river. I have a full strength brigade there and a half strength garrison unit so some 75 mm guns. My thinking was (and is) that if he's in Palembang there is no real reason to have major land units there. he's already cut off the fuel/oil supply. Assuming the carriers don't die there only staying in Singapore while Medan is sending liquid my way. Then we're heading north and lamenting our lack of fuel.

The really big guns are in Manila and the Marianas. If he wants the big VP hexes he needs to come and take them.

Bif, maybe it's a Market Garden thing. When the lead tank got wiped out none of the others could get off of the road.

[John B.]

Carrier battle Borneo!!! The night started with several of my surface TFs intercepting a British TF with the Unicorn (CVL) and the Hermes (CVE) along with Prince of Wales and another BB. I also intercepted an allied surface TF with a CA, CL, and two DDs. I came off the worse for the wear on this as I lost a CA, 2 CLs and 2 DDs and Scott lost a DD and had damage to his CL. I also got three hits on the Unicorn which was reported to be on fire after the first battle, but not much afterwards.

However, all of my surface combats may have disrupted his air defense plan because he wound up with CV TFs in 3 different hexes.

[John B.]

And, one of Scotts CV bunches wound up within five hexes of the KB (you will recall that I set my planes to attack at 5 hexes to avoid running into the allied CAP buzz saw). The AM turn had no launches because, wait for it, there was bad weather. [8|] Not like that's happened before.

[John B.]

And then came the PM turn, the sweet sweet PM turn. All three of my TFs pulled of a coordinated strike on his northern CV TF and, while they took terrible losses from the CAP my fly pixel boys pushed on through and got in some really devastating hits. Several of his CVEs got pounded, the CV Princeton took two torpedo hits below the water line and a 500 kg bomb hit that penetrated the flight deck, one of the other CVs had an ammo explosion and the other one took two 500 kgs through the flight deck.

[John B.]

In his return strike, Scott did not have many escorts and his bomber/torpedo force got chopped up. His net result was one bomb hit on the Shokaku which is still all green and operating normally.

[John B.]

The air losses favor the Japanese especially adding in the 75 or so planes that went down with the CVEs. These losses are consistent with Scott losing 3-4 CVEs but I don't think he lost any CVs. It's a little hard to tell as he has land bases right there so any CAP and strike aircraft in the air could have diverted to his Borneo bases.

[John B.]

In the ship loss column you can see my surface losses but also the CVEs that went down (I saw three sink and the other were battered). I don't think the Princeton II went down. It only had two torpedo hits and one bomb hit. It's not in good shape and it and it's to CV friends are probably out of the war for a few months but not sunk.

[John B.]

The plan for tomorrow. The Carries will run back to Singapore. My strike arm was badly battered and there are more American carriers out there so why tempt fate when I can try to hide under the land based air umbrella.

But, I would like the chance to try to catch his damaged CVs so I"m sending the Musahsi back out at full speed and I've created to BB TFs from my carrier TFs to go to the upper part of Borneo to try to catch ships there. They will face the risk of more allied air power but they should be there at night and, fingers crossed, back close to Singapore in the daylight. It's risky, but his carriers are likely discombobulated right now so I think it's a risk worth taking.

[BBfanboy]

John B. : CV Princeton took two torpedo hits below the water

What!? Your above water torpedoes achieved nothing? This calls for a Diet investigation by senator Tru - Man-san.

Regardless of that failure, your gambit was brilliant and paid off handsomely - Bravo Zulu!

[John B.]

My air torpedoes have been a complete failure. But the balloon bombs will be a sure fire hit. I can just feel it!! I wonder how many strat bombing points they'll get for me?

[John B.]

We pause for an important question. Given the recent loss of carriers (and the transport debacle from a few turns ago) Scott thinks he will not be able to dig himself out of the VP hole that he's in. I am just above the 2-1 level but I really can't see me making it to the auto victory in 1945.

He's a solid player but I think he's bummed by his lack of progress. I don't think things are all that grim for the US now that my fuel is cut off and it's only April 1944. In fact, the start bombing of Japan looks like a points bonanza for the US.

But, if it really is pointless for the allies there is no real reason to continue. We've never played into 1945 so I don't know. Any thoughts?

[John B.]

Time for a serious question.

Scott does not think he can dig himself out of the VP hole he is in. I'm just above the 2-1 level for an auto victory in 1945 but I can't imagine that will hold. But, Scott does not think he can get past me VP wise and wants to tip the king. He is a solid player but I agree with him that if it is pointless for the allies to continue we can find other things to do with the next year of our lives.

I don't see it as grim for the US. I think I'm in an ok position but its April 1944 and my fuel is basically cut off. And, we have yet to see the deluge of firebombing of the home islands where the real VP lay. (Cue Godzilla movie analogy).

What do people think. Does the US have a realistic chance? I think so but I've never made it into 1945 before.

[BBfanboy]

Depending on your fighter defences the Allies can rack up a lot of points with strategic bombing and taking a few key cities like Singapore, Shanghai, Peiping and of course Tokyo! [:D]

The main consideration is enjoyment of the game. Your opponent should review the reinforcement queues he has and look at a couple of the recent AARs that got to late 1944 or into 1945. Those playing it say it is a much different game than the island hopping slog and Japan is always in strategic defensive mode (although raids and spoiling attacks are possible). The Allies have to play an enormous logistics game while Japan wishes it had some logistics to manage!
If none of that appeals to him, ending the game makes sense.

[Bif1961]

After a loss like that it usually takes a day or two to readjust, he has 16 months to go and some atomic bombs to drop.

[John B.]

Thanks for the insights Bif and BBFanboy! Scott is much more of a trooper than I am (I would link to any number of my whiny posts but why bother ). I was chatting with him last night and he's back in the game.

I think in some respects this is a game about the strategic bombing of Japan. If you could destroy the 2300 heavy industry in Tokyo (for example) that would be worth 46,000 VP by itself. Let's hope his A bomb and firebombing don't roll well! The allies want to get close enough to start and the Japanese want to rack up enough VP and keep the allies away long enough to not give the allies an auto victory by August 31, 1945 since after that the best the allies can do is a marginal victory.

[Bif1961]

It is like Sim_city and you finally get a chance to unleash Godzilla.

[John B.]

Lol, very true!

[John B.]

We're back and today there is a glorious Kamikaze victory to report. There was some TF near Mindanao hanging out and I still have my base at Jolo. I recall past advice to use the Kamis behind the lines where I can to increase effectiveness. You can see that the American TF had to split into two.

[John B.]

And that's because the 13 planes scored 9 Kamikaze hits! Each of the hits on the DDs got deck penetration so they may be in trouble. There was no reported deck penetration on the CAs but some of the hits destroyed gun mounts or radars so these ships probably have some bad system damage on them. I'm not sure of the effect of Kamis on armored warships but this is a good start.

Pixel pilots giving their lives for their pixel emperor! [&o]