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One of my three (!!) current AE pbem games.
First things first:
GET OUT JOERG!!!


Rules for the game:
Scen 2.
1 - No 4E bombers @ less than 15,000 for naval attacks.
2 - All Allies remain in place on 12/7 turn to simulate actual surprise. Except China which is allready at war at the time.

Realism Options:
- FOW - ON
- Weather - ON
- Allied Damage Control - ON
- Player Defined Upgrades - ON
- Historical 1st Turn - OFF
- 12/7 Surprise - ON
- Reliable USN Torpedoes - OFF
- Realistic R & D - ON
- No Unit Withdrawals - OFF
- Reinforcements - +/- 15 days

Game Options:
- Combat Reports, TF and Plane Move Radius - ON
- All Facitilities to Expand, Auto sub ops, automatic upgrades - OFF
- Accept Air and Ground Replacements - ON
- Turn Cycle - 1 day/turn


Oh, and feel free to point out my mistakes, laugh at them, comment them etc etc [;)]

December 7th 1941

Gentlemen, the Pacific is aflame!
Today the Japanese launched surprise attacks on the Commonwealth, ABDA and US bases.
The strikes were well coordinated, however due to luck and/or allied skill, no major losses were inflicted. Pearl Harbour were hit the hardest, and all 8 battleships are damaged, some harder than others, but it seems for now that they will all make it.
The British reports that their so called "Forze Z" was attacked by enemy planes, and the HMS Prince of Wales took a beating, however no ships were lost. Forze Z is now reported to be heading back to Singapore before departing for Soerebaja.

However I know how these documents with all this text can be hard on the eyes, so I have prepared a map for you to look at. Note that the legend is posted below the map, and that I will make a few comments further down this report.




Blue areas - this is where our submarines are located, the thicker the blue colour, the more submarines in the area.
Yellow line - this is our "we stand here"line, from here on we will fight to the end.
Red Dots - Japanese invasions
Black X's - Japanese aerial attacks


So, what can we learn from this? It seems the enemy wants to cut us in two, seizing forward bases and use his long legged bombers to pin down our naval forces untill he can destroy what he whishes. With that we wish him luck.

Issued orders
-Forze Z returns to Singapore
-Indian forces will use railroads to deploy at the Burmese/Indian border
-Resources/oil/fuel/supplies are being hauled from NEI to Soerebaja and Australia
-All ships in the Philliphines are to try to break out towards Soerebaja/Rabaul
-The British destroyers at Hong Kong have raced out to engage any enemy they can find, they do not expect to return
-All troops scheduled for Singapore are being diverted into Calcutta
-The AVG will protect itrs own airfield as well as fly CAP over Rangoon
-Malaysian forces will either break out north towards Burma or head into Singapore
-Convoys are being loaded on the US West Coast, carrying fuel, supplies and men to the South Pacific to reinforce bases there.
-Some of our bases has been issued orders to upgrade their harbours and/or airfields

All I can say men, are Godspeed and prepare for a bumpy road!

December 8th 1941

Gentlemen, please start by studing the attached file:





Pearl Harbour was hit again, and our battleships took another beating. As you can see, the Oklahoma cannot take much more damage before being utterly destroyed, and evidently the chief of the drydock was furious to see a bomb hit the St.Louis as she left the drydock after her repairs had finished.

If you now look at the next file:

December 8th 1941 continued




It is now clear that the enemy means business in the Philliphines as this convoy was spotted heading towards San Fernando, we do not dare think about how many men these ships are transporting!
General MacArthur has vowed to defend Manilla at all cost, so please remember him and his men in your prayers tonight!

December 9th 1941

Sirs, we have a few things to discuss today, so please be seated.
First take a look at the attached report:



This seems to indicate that our ships at Pearl Harbour should be safe for now unless something special occurs.
The British however reports that their luck has not been this great, on the way from Singapore to Soerebaja, the task force containing the HMS Prince of Wales ran across the hunting grounds of a Japanese submarine. One lucky torpedo was unfortunately enough to sink the allready damaged British battleship.

And this brings us to another matter, submarines, or that is torpedoes.
Please talk to your scientists, our torpedoes are simply not working satisfactory. Today our submarines reports to have scored a total of 27 torpedo hits on Japanese shipping. Does any of you care to venture a guess how many of these actually detonated? Well, if you guessed TWO, you were correct.
This cannot be tolerated! Our valiant submarine crews are doing their best to inflict harm on the Japanese, and we supply them with faulty weapons? I feel ashamed Sirs!

December 10th 1941

Sirs, this is the worst day of the war so far. A total of 15 ships were lost today, that is as many as we have lost so far in this conflict. Furthermore both Guam and Wake fell today. If you take a look at the attached report, I'll inform you what is happening.




*The purple dots are our carriers, and the line indicates where they were sailing from.
*Yellow squares are the enemy carriers, and the lines indicate where they were sailing from.
*Red lines show the Japanese assaults so far
*Green areas are zones where the Japanese submarines are operating
*Orange areas are the zones where we lost most of our ship today.

It is clear that as of today the Japanese submarines are the biggest threat to our ships, and ASW forces have been ordered to patrol around Pearl Harbour hoping atleast to scare the submarines away, however our anti-submarine weapons are not up to the task, and research in this field should be conducted.
At Soerebaja all surface vessels have been ordered to undergo repairs so that they are ready to form a task force built around the Repulse, the Houston and the Boise. To bolster this force, all available ABDA cruisers and destroyers will join them. Hopefully the Japanese will send surface ships in too soon, however I fear that the captured bases will soon be seing the arival of several long range bombers.
When it comes to our carriers, their targets are the Aleutians, Rabaul and Pearl Harbour. We hope to catch some Japanese ships off guard by doing this, and twart any invasion plans the enemy might have of these areas.

It has also been reported that our naval guns do inflict heavy damage on Japanese transports, and it is recommended that more guns be made available to bases likely to be invaded!

December 11th 1941

*sigh*
Not a good day I am afraid gentlemen.
We keep losing ships at an alarming rate, and espesially the Japanese sibmarines are now growing into a major concern.
We are also wondering what the target is for the Kido Butai, as she is now reported to be heading SW, is Japan guessing that we have sent a carrier towrads Rabaul? If so this is bad news, as that is exactly what we have done.

The task force we will form in Soerebaja will need to sail out as fast as possible (two days) and try to engage any Japanese surface vessels, as the NEI is about to be cut off from Australia by Japanese invasions in the Borneo/New Guinea area.

The situation is quickly detoriating.

The only report prepared today is one explaining where and how we lost ships today.

December 12th 1941

Sirs, an oppertunity has arisen.
The enemy seems determined to grab as many bases as possible in as short a time as possible. Unknown to the Japanese, we now have a carrier within striking distance of enemy task forces. Orders have been given to try to launch an attack.
There is some slight concern however as to the wereabout of the Japanese carriers as they have disappeared from the grid...

December 13th 1941

Sirs, we have had some minor successes today!
If you take a look at the report I have prepared you will see that things are still not rosy red though.




Our main concern as of today is the wereabouts of the Kido Butai. We expect the Japanese carriers to be heading SW towards the Rabaul area.
We are also trying to create a large enough force in Sydney to sail to Rabaul to bolster defences there, and convoys are heading out from the US to add to the defences of some of the islands located between the US and New Zealand.

December 14th 1941

Gentlemen, I have great news!
The surface vessels in Soerebaja have completed their repairs, and a strong TF has been formed under the command of CPT. A.C. Collins. This force is to attack enemy invasions in undermanned ABDA bases.

December 15th 1941

Nothing have changed in the last 24 hours sirs, but I would like you to take a look at the attached map so that you can really understand the desperate situation in the Philliphines!

December 16th 1941

The situation remains somewhat quiet, but Rabaul seems to be under severe threat. We are taking some steps to try defend the base, but we need to buy some time as reinforcements are still bording their ships in Sydney. We use every trick in the book, even our own version of "Rommel tanks".

December 17th 1941

Excellent news Sirs!!
CPT. A.C. Collins does not let us down, we have sunk an entire Japanese invasion force. We accept that it was not the biggest of convoys, but nevertheless it buys us some time. CPT. A.C. Collins is ordered to keep up his great work!

December 18th 1941

Gentlemen, today has been an eventful day, however I must start the day with dire news.
The TF under command of CPT. A.C. Collins engaged an enemy task force consisting of two heavy cruisers and several destroyers, and later in the day came under aerial attacks. The losses were the BC Repulse who took 7 torpedoes before slipping beneath the waves and the two light cruisers Dragon and Tromp who both took two torpedoes. The destroyer Jupiter were hit by a bomb and reports heavy damage. The task force is now heading towards Darwin.
The enemy finally shows up at Rabaul, however just to the south our carrier USS Enterprise lurks, and 1xAk is cinfirmed sunk, 7 xAKs is reported to have taken heavy damage and one 1 xAKL too has taken heavy damage. The Enterprise will remain on station for another day before heading to Sidney to refuel and rearm as the carrier has no mroe torpedoes on board.

December 19th 1941

Well gents, I do not know what to think of today.
Japanese forces captured Wuchow in China today, but the Chinese captured Ichang. Planes from the Enterprise sunk every Japanese transport at Rabaul, but it was too late and enough Japanese troops were landed to take the base.
Japanese forces also captured Luganville today, but we allready have forces enroute to retake the base.

December 20th 1941

Today is an uneventful day, some of our cruisers are heading towards Lugainville to drive off any japanese ships in the area, apart from that I thought I would update you gentlemen on the situation so far.

December 21st 1941

Ah what a day Sirs!
First I thought I could tell the tale of a huge victory as the commander of our cruisers off Lugainville reported to have sighted and engaged enemy carriers escorted by heavy cruisers and destroyers...



Unfortunately the so called heavy cruisers proved to be battleships, and our task force broke off after taking some beating, this of course allowed the Japanese carriers to launch a counterstrike by aerial units, and most of our task force was sunk. The result was three hits on one of the Japanese battleships doing no damage, and the same on one of their carriers. A sad day indeed.

December 22nd 1941

Another rather quiet day, we get reports of sightings of enemy submarines but are unable to sink them, and enemy bombers rule the skies. The situation in the Philliphines is quickly detoriating.

December 23rd 1941

The last British stronghold in the Pacific is gone!
Singapore surrendered today. After bombarding the British positions for two days, today the Japanese launched an all out attack, and the British forces quickly surrendered.
Britain has declared that she would continue the fight from Burma/India nevertheless.

Apologies!

There has been far too much going on IRL so I have not been able to update this. This will change now, alot of turns coming in now to get this up to date!

Terje