Playtest of Pacific at War 3 25 14

[larryfulkerson]

I found three Australian light bomber units near Sydney and moved them to Davao. They are similar and when you look at one
you've seen all three. Some generic monoplane bombers and a few fighters for top cover. They don't have any anti-shipping
capability but I can put them on sea interdiction missions. I'll see if I can't find some SBD's and or some TBD's to tackle that
stack of Jap ships. I've moved the planes off the carriers except for the Enterprise. You may remember that I lost the Yorktown
already so there's two air groups that are independent. It would be just my luck that they are tired and worn out and aren't
combat ready yet.

[larryfulkerson]

I got to looking around and finally found the Yorktown groups the last place I looked. It turns out that the fighters are in reorg
and the bombers are borderline ready. I hate to use them when they are less than 60% or so but sometimes the needs of
the Navy trumps the needs of the individual.

[larryfulkerson]

I've moved the units and now for the attacks. This is the results of the airstrike on that stack of Allied ships. 6 of 8 DD's.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Thomas, new turn. Thomas hit Batavia hard last turn. Planes ships and of course land troops and he took
horrific losses and I've taken a look at the 3rd of the 3rd and it's in surprisingly good shape. I think they can weather another
attack like that. Which is sure to come eventually. I don't think one bad attack result is going to hold back Thomas for long.
He's got some BB's he can bring up to help out, if they aren't already there. I don't know where the Jap heavy naval stuff is
and the carriers are a mystery.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war is alegedly going right now. I think my intell department is overestimating the BDA a little bit. 222 planes lost
by the Japs seems high since they have the highest AS value right now. Maybe it's a global / local thing. I can't imagine Thomas
allowing that level of losses for very long. On the other hand, I seem to remember his disdain for losses as the Allied player.
Perhaps he still has disdain, this time for the Jap forces. That might explain what's going on. He's driving his planes too hard. Losses
are high because his people are tired. That's my theory.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's my losses so far. I've eliminated all the categories that had no losses and this is what's left.

[larryfulkerson]

Hey Thomas: I'd like to take a minute and lobby for the C-46. I'm not sure how we could include it and how it would work but it
would be neato if we could use it as a mobile supply point or something. That and the C-47.

[larryfulkerson]

I had an infantry division at Perth that I kinda wanted in India and I hesitated to sail it across those uncharted waters not knowing what
lurks out there. So I sent a DD first and it got intercepted by one of those smaller Betty and Emily squadrons and so I kept going
hoping I wouldn't get sunk ( 4 DD's in the TF ) it didn't get intercepted again, so I started the INF division from Perth and discovered
I didn't have enough MP's to make it to the mainland, I had to settle for Ceylon. So next time not from Perth but Geralton instead.
Or whatever the name of the town is just north of Perth.

[larryfulkerson]

The ANZAC 3rd of the 3rd at Batavia has been through several attacks now and it's in surprisingly good shape still. Thomas has been
moving unit after unit into an adjacent hex for one more really good push I guess. I guess it's time for me to being in my heavy guns:
Commonwealth BB's and CA's from the Ceylon area. I'll have to run the gauntlet of sea interdiction just to get there to fight with him.

[larryfulkerson]

There were two TF's near Ceylon and I chose one at random and drove it to the invasion site and lost 3 DD's and a BB just getting to
the fight. Then I lost a bunch of ships sinking one Jap CA. Maybe I can destroy that Jap stack of floating equipment.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Thomas. During the night of T15 the Japs brought every land combat unit that was unemployed and some BB's from
the Manila area and lots of planes and the 3rd of the 3rd finally capitulated. Thomas left a hex for it to retreat into and it finally did
retreat. The group composition for one of those Jap hexes lists only the first 9 units in the hex.

[larryfulkerson]

During Thomas's turn he attacked Bataan and got slaughtered. He says he's going to continue these kind of attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

The 25th Inf Div made it from Geralton to Madras okie dokie. That's two divisions so far that have made it across the gulf. I'm
wondering if I ought to move some ships to Geralton just as insurance. Nah.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's an overview with some hot spots. The fighting continues in Java with heavy losses for the Japs. The 3rd Division has two
more brigades remaining on the island and it is hoped they will fight to the last man.

[larryfulkerson]

Okie dokie, new turn. Java is down to just one defender. He's probably not going to last long. The spotter plane in the hex......
does it lend any defensive power at all? Anybody know?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's where the carrier Lexington is now. All those brave Allied ships are cowering on the edge of the map for fear of getting
sunk by some Bettys or Nells. I can't afford to lose another carrier just now and I'm not taking any chances.

[larryfulkerson]

I seem to have managed to capture Saigon. There was nobody home except for two ships and it was easy to force them out of the
harbor. I'm pretty sure Thomas is going to react to this somehow. He'll probably float somebody in from somewhere and force me
out of the city but I can bust bridges and stuff before I leave.

[larryfulkerson]

This is T23 now and it seems that I've got only two more turns to use the AVG since they are going to be folded into the 23rd
Fighter group. That's my finest American squadron besides the naval groups and I hate to lose them. The British have some
high proficiency pilots but their airframes are limiting. Like the P-40 and the Wildcat. It's not until T93 or so until we start getting
some good airframes ( P-51's and B-29's ).

[larryfulkerson]

There's a Chinese fighter unit that used to have only Biplanes and I see here now in T23 that they finally got their late model
P-40's with their higher range and much better offensive and defensive values. I used to run this unit at the one-dot setting
because we're not making any more Gladiators and now that there's P-40's in the unit, of which I have a lot, now I can start
to run this unit at a two-dot setting. I don't have any three-dot settings on any of my aircraft units. The only three-dot settings
I'm using are those smaller units on atolls and the Chinese Army and the Indian and British units in Burma. And the Partisans.
And in Java. Okay, most of everybody else.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war is going right now. Yeah, I know, I'm just as dumbfounded as you about the inversion of AS level and number
of shoot-downs. I'm guessing most of those losses are the Nates and light bombers Thomas is using for his INT missions. I'd like
to see what the Jap losses are right now. Hint, hint.