borner vs bigred

[borner]

sen 19. No house rules. settings 200% japan / 100% allies.


My first game against Bigred. More details to follow soon

[bigred]

My allied view of the 200% IJN issue: more victory points for the allies. Should have no effect on my operations. Allied air will crush Bourner.

[borner]

boUrner perhaps, but not me!!!    [8D]

[bigred]

The IJA moves to squeeze PM from Buna.

[borner]

BIGRED had moved out as many of his troops as possible, so only some AA guns and 24 fighter-bombers were caught at the base.

[bigred]

KB hung around one turn too long. Range 7 allied LBA attack w/ heavy allied losses.
Special Note: on the previous turn loss of 60 unescorted SBDs flying out of port off carrier deck.

[borner]

yup, kb started the turn at range 9, had orders to return to port, and instead moved two hexes closer. Akagi was badly hit, but was very lucky with the other two carriers.

[bigred]

As the KB withdrew from the New Hebrides intel reported a slower than normal return to Lunga port. With 5 allied carriers on hand but not enough planes because of previous attrition off Kumac (SDB's at 50%) a consolitation effort was made to load over 80 planes each on 4 carriers. The TBD's were removed and extra SBD's were loaded. Intent was not to close at a range of 4. Mitscher was given the approach command of react to enemy.
On the previous turn the IJair (betty sub search) seemed to be focused on the allied subs trying to pick off the Akaga and failed to notice the approach of TF202. Another contributing factor was the approach of thunderstorms which did occur on the day of action.
Contributing factors to a loss of IJN ship manuverability was the lack of fuel(which I did not know about) and the shallow operating area around Lunga. These problems probably magnified the damage done to the KB.
Overall not sure the USN TF202 will make it home. Time will tell if this was worth the cost.

[borner]

very good move on BIGRED"s part. the KB had been ordered to stay in port awaiting tankers, but for some reason moved away from port and land based zero cover and went a bit NW. My Bettys and land based Val's had been on ASW partol but I changed them back to naval attack, but only 9 Val's flew. Finally, the 2nd batch of US strikes hammered Akagi, but the KB did not fly, allowing the US to escape with less damage than would have been expected. This is by far the strangest open to a game I have seen. Take nothing away from BIGRED, as he is playing an outstanding stragegy by the US to this point.

[bigred]

Thanks to Ike99 (a teacher in life) who taught me how to use MS paint.

[borner]

hopefully he makes a comback one of these days

[bigred]

On retreat from the battle area the Big E had suffered the most damage and w/ a lack of speed Mitscher split the TF into 3 parts w/ the least damaged CV's 330 miles away from Lunga. This move provided a counterstrike ability if the undamaged KB turned south while getting out of range of Kates and Vals based at lunga. As expected LBA went after the Big E and maybe the other 2 FTs will get away, leaving the USN w/ hopefully a one carrier loss.

The 66 plane SBD raid is against a DD flotilla that was covering the Akaga before it sank last turn.

To add insult to injury the sub fleet dropped some eggs at Lunga just as any damaged CVs went to the hex but before going to port. No time to use any IJN minesweepers. Picked up something on the replay but not sure.

[bigred]

In info exchange u did sink the Big E and did 30 percent damage to two other carriers which must sit out the next part of game in port. So I have 3 operational cv's.

I think having the 200 % rule will help you to survive my later offenses. At least I insured you will not get an auto victory. In terms of comparision we need to measure our game against our previous games against Mario. I look forward to the 2nd half and wonder if I will be able to muster at least a 1.5 to 1 victory. I think 1.75 will be a decisive allied. Less than 1.5 and you win a marginal. less than 1.25 and U win a decisive.





---- Brian O <borneruv@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Paul
>
> At the risk of giving free intel if the game is going to go forward, yes, the KB had a good amount of damage done. Akagi was sunk, as I expected it would be. I never figured she would get as close to port as she did. Kaga is going back to Japan for repairs. The killer was the KB reacting on your raid after reaching port, although I had everything set to try and prevent that - I guess sometimes it will react no matter what which is another very useful lesson. One CVL was finshed off by your subs, Another is at 57 sys and in Rabaul. Shoho may or may not make it as it is in port with 60+ sys and flotation damage. The other 3 full size CV's have 31-45 sys and zero flotation. So, the plan is to sit behind my bases with lots of CV air groups transferred to them and wait until your 1943 attack and see how that goes. Not sure you want to invest a couple months worth of time into a game like that though.
>
> Not a total loss, as I think I now finally have a good feel for playing Japan and what approach to take in future games. It really does take a quite different approach.

[borner]

Bigred and I played through almost a month of game turns following the KB disaster. US CV's arrived off Gili Gili and sank an AP and ML. The operation highighted to me the difficulties Japan would have in getting troops into forward postions. The following email was sent to Bigred......
&nbsp;
(-----just so you are not upset down the road. I do not see this game going much beyond jan-feb 43. You have 4 fleet Cv's, I have one that is really operational. You can cut off PM from supply and reinforcement, as I really cannot even effectively run a convoy to Buna at this point. I can see you taking PM or Irau&nbsp;in fall 43, once you get p-38's to protect the strip once you take it, and my fleet not being able to do much to stop it. From there, your air power clears that side of the map. [/align]If you want to go on I am willing, just did not want you to put the effort into something you expect to go far into 43 and be disappointed.------)[/align]&nbsp;[/align]Bigred emailed back offering to end the game. Very disappointing to have lost a game so early, but the experience did clearly point out to me the danger of bringing the KB too far south without a good reason, and the dangers of the AI going against your orderes for TF's and putting them into very bad situations. Before IKE had disappeared he had talked often of the challenge of playing Japan well. I finally understand some of those comments. Japan has a great fleet in 42, but you still have to take care not to loose it without inflicting at least equal losses on the US, and they can recover with the endless supply of ships and planes from Pearl, and you cannot.[/align]&nbsp;[/align]My thanks to Bigred for the game, and apologies for it ending so soon.[/align]&nbsp;[/align]&nbsp;[/align]