Nomad (J) vs ADB123 (A) - Last Stand at Balboa

[ADB123]

“Never have so many fled so fast...”

One of the Pros of the Forum, Nomad, was kind enough to answer my recent request for a semi-historic Scenario 1 game. Once again I am playing the Allies, so I have an opportunity to learn even more about playing The Game this time. I am asking Nomad to not read this AAR so that I can discuss plans and ask for help.

The only differences I put into my semi-historical preparation this time were to set Search and ASW Arcs for my LBA, and to keep Force Z in Singapore harbor. Nomad agreed to keep his initial invasions pretty much to the historical ones, with various bits of fine tuning.

The turn started off with reports of mini-subs being caught in the nets of Pearl Harbor. Then the Pearl raid began. Nomad got off a very complete strike with a nearly full complement of everything being thrown at my startled defenders. The destruction was enormous – even more than Pearl suffered in my other PBEM. And for good measure, one more strike of bombers hit the Port at Pearl in the afternoon, delivering the death blows for the California, two DDs and a DM. Dozens of other ships are badly damaged, as are the Repair yards, the Port and the Air Fields.

In the Far East the Weather was on my side a bit and Nomad's air raids were split up. So, for example, a small sweep of Nates hit Alor Star, but they were met by British fighters and were roughed up a lot. A similar thing happened in the Philippines where a daitai of Bettys came in unescorted and had to face P-40s alone. Other attacks were also scattered and so my A-to-A losses were relatively light while Japanese bombers took a fair number of losses.

There was a big air raid on Hong Kong, but surprisingly enough there was almost no damage from it. A large column of Japanese troops is on the road to HK, so the party there won't last very long. BTW – the MTBs from Hong Kong ran into a Japanese 2-DD TF off of HK. There was a fair amount of shooting, but no hits, and the MTBs continued along their way. I subsquently set dozens of different waypoints for the transports that I am trying to sail out of HK this coming turn. We'll see if that helps any.

I got one unpleasant and quite unlucky surprise this turn. In the afternoon phase some Bettys and Nells flew over to Singapore and attacked Force Z. I had deliberately not had Force Z run off because I wanted it around in case Nomad attempted any early amphibious landings in Southern Malaya, and also because I thought that the Japanese bombers would be limited to bombs if they came against the British CAP at Singapore. Well, the British CAP performed quite well, but not well enough and Repulse took two torpedoes. The damage is moderate, and I will have to be careful to get Repulse past the Japanese subs in the region and back to a sizable port for repairs.

BTW – speaking of Japanese subs, it appears that Nomad used submarines to mine Singapore and Bataan. In my other pbem I waited a couple of days to clear mines before I sent out my ships from Singapore and Manila, and Japanese subs hammered the Singapore ships, while almost the entire Combined Fleet feasted on the ships that tried to flee the Philippines. So this time I have sent everyone out on the first turn, and in the Philippines I have used mainly single ship TFs, with the occasional escort along with the more valuable and faster ships. I hope that this will help more ships to escape this time. I've also set those P-26s and P-35s on LRCAP over the two islands in the shipping lane that leads from Bataan in the hopes of discouraging LBA from hunting my slower ships in that area.

I also changed my approach to the Manila subs this time. In the other pbem I sent them out to new home ports in four big wolf packs. The subs got to their bases fine, but they didn't attack anything along the way. This time I sent the subs out in single sub TFs to various target locations before setting new home ports for them. We'll see if this works better.

Finally, despite my use of Search Arcs, my forces at Pearl could not locate the KB. That's probably my worst luck of the opening turn. So I don't know where the KB is, nor what it is likely to do. Never-the-less, I decided to go along with my original escape plan, only with breaking up the TFs even further instead of hoping that the massed AA on big TFs could shoot down more attackers if necessary. The damaged ships are sitting at the piers in Pearl – if Nomad attacks again they are sitting ducks. We'll see what happens next time.

[topeverest]

You cant stop thew japs from hanging around at pearl if they decide to. Here are a few tips, but know that no matter what happens, you will be on the short end of the stick when the fighting starts.

Getting them out of Pearl typically is a coordinated air, sea, and carrier effort. Sortie what you can in smart convoys strategically placed and try to get them in surfacr combat / activate ammunition withdrawals. Get your PT boats to cover the shallows and subs in a ring. Dont bring slow ships from pearl, as they will be bagged by the subs. Disperse critical planes at Pearl across your available airfields. The kind of air attacks that can be launched from Pearl wont succeed, so I wouldnt bother on turn 2. Put all your fighters up high in sweep and CAP missions and hold on for the ride. From a BB perspective, you should feel good if any BB or CA survives the attacks of the first several days. Dont attempt to evacuate any ship at pearl with a speed less than 15. It definately wont make it past the subs. Its better to roll the dice with air attacks.

Your CV's could attack the japs at Pearl as soon as turn 2, but a more coordinated assualt would be turn 3, and turn 5 for a 3 carrier strike. If youchoose to do that not only do you risk the assets, but you forego the chance to smash the Wake invasion. It is either or on that one.

No matter how you cut it, it will be hard to save any major ship if the Japs press there. Most Jap player will, as it is the very best opportunity in the entire game. Remember that ANY ship or plane saved at pearl is a bonus. Dont think of what is lost, only what is saved.

[ADB123]

December 8, 1941 -

When you are attempting to Run Away, the last thing that you want to see is something like this from your opponent:

“Interesting turn. I am not sure if that is what you intended, but it was interesting. I’m glad your ships crews do not have a lot of experience.”

Oh-Oh...

Things started out okay as the Japanese 2-DD TF off of Hong Kong caught up with the three British DDs. Once again there was a lot of shooting by both sides, but only Scout caught a shell near the end of the battle before both sides withdrew. The good thing about this battle and the one in the previous turn with the MTBs is that the Japanese DDs spent a lot of ammo including torpedoes. So they are unlikely to be able to ravage too many of my escaping HK transports, assuming that Nomad doesn't send them back for replenishment.

Was that what Nomad was referring too? It seemed too minor to be the case. And the next combat scene showed that to be true in a big way, as one of my escaping surface combat TFs from Pearl ran into the KB at night – to the West of Pearl!

Very big Oh-Oh...

Since the KB usually attacks from the Northeast, and I didn't know where it located, I took a guess and sent my TFs fleeing to the southwest. That is a great idea if the KB stays to the northeast...

I had sent my TFs out to a number of different distant locations in the hopes of avoiding having too many in one spot. This sort of helped a bit, but I still had a half dozen TFs sail right into the KB. My surface combat ships fought as well as they could, but they were out classed by the Japanese in the night battles. Never-the-less, Nomad must have been holding his breath as the Japanese CVs insisted on trading gun fire with the US ships. Some Japanese ships, including a couple of the CVs received minor hits (shooting at the Akagi is a waste of time – it may as well be a battleship) but for the most part it was the USN who was on the receiving end of the battles. And, as luck would have it, some of my faster transport ships also ran into the KB, however in those cases both sides withdrew.

So daylight brought the very unpleasant sight of the KB being surrounded by dozens of US TFs at varying distances. Report after report came in of Japanese spotter planes finding US TFs. It was only a matter of time before the bombers flew. And when they did it was rather painful, although there were a number of cases where the Japanese bombers flew against more distant USN combat TFs and took some significant losses from flak. But in the end I lost a dozen ships, with a half dozen more heavily damaged.

As I put it to Nomad in my reply to the turn:

“I guess I can find a Silver Lining in this somehow:

1 - I now KNOW were the KB is... (OUCH!)

2 - I wonder just how many torpedoes and bombs the KB has left to it... (nasty grin/idiot grin (?))”
Now, even I'm not silly enough to think that that the KB is really out of ammo and that I can safely send my CVs against it, but I can at least attempt to put a little bit of concern into my opponent's mind.

So I reformed a number of combat TFs out of the survivors and aimed them all back towards Pearl. The KB is in the way, but if they run into each other, so much the better - maybe the KB is also low on shells. And I've scattered my other TFs away from the area in the hopes that Nomad continues to the West and doesn't take another surprise turn.

BTW – Just in case the KB does continue along its path I moved that Vindicator squadron to Johnston Island and have them searching towards the East. And I've got the land-based Dauntlesses in the HI searching towards the West, so if the KB does stay around this time there will be some bombers hunting for it too.

After all that excitement everything else was rather mild in comparison. A Japanese TF invaded and captured Makin. I've still got a CV TF sailing in that direction, so I may catch any follow-on invasions in the Gilberts. And if Nomad is sharp-eyed he may notice that the Wildcats on Wake are no longer there. That ought to be a hint that there is another CV TF in that region too.

In the Far East Nomad sent out a number of Zero sweeps against the US fighters on Luzon. The US fighters held their own against the first couple of sweeps, but things went downhill afterwards and I eventually lost a dozen planes, and worse my air units suffered bad moral losses. So I am sitting out a number of the fighter units there. I also disbanded the P-26s and P-35s. There is no use leaving such easy pickings in that region.

To the south a Japanese CVL TF showed up in the Celebes and hit one of the Dutch minelayers with a torpedo. There are more targets in the area for that TF, but fortunately for me, the Japanese CVLs don't carry a lot of torpedoes so it won't stick around too long. (And if it does, I have some cruisers and DDs that would love to turn the tables on it and go on the hunt themselves.)

There were fewer bomber raides in Malaya and China. A number of Nates went on sweeps, but there were no British fighters left in northern Malaya for them to find. If they want to try out the air over Singapore, they are welcome. The Japanese invasion force captured Kota Bharu easily, so the race is on to pull out troops from the north and to try to build up Singapore to be a significant nuisance.

BTW – Although there were no air attacks on the remaining Force Z ships in Singapore Harbor this turn, I decided to send them off to Palembang, just in case.

It looks as if Nomad wants to disengage in China, which is great news for me. He is pulling his troops out of Ichang, and I'll haooliy let him leave. He is also not bothering most of my other troops that are scurrying ant-like all over the map in attempts to get back to safety. I am busy rebuilding split units and sending LCUs with less than 100 combat point capabilties back to Chungking for rebuilding. I only want to leave “decent” troops at the front line.

[topeverest]

Pretty much, Pearl is the only place you can turn the war in the first several days if the Japs continue to commit. Do what Bull Halsey would have done!

Those jap carriers at Pearl have 4-7 days of continuous action in them. Torpedoes probably are gone a day or two earlier.

This is where the allied player gets to feel the jaw dropping strain hoping he will leave voluntarily - I doubt that will happen until he expends his load!. I wouldnt leave! As allies, I will always act agressively with all available assets from Pearl if the Japs stay at Pearl. You have absolultely nothing to lose. If to commit CV's is tougher call, but I usually will throw them in day 3 or 4 if they are still around. By then, the Jap air compliment is far smaller than it was at the beginning. I usually still lose both CV's but on average I swap or take 3 with me. If I can succeed in that I will rush my remaining surface fleet in to try to bag ships. Put simply, it will be total carnage if the allies have a modicum of luck.

Just know the whole thing can be a catastrophe, but chances are you will get average results. As each turn clicks by, the odds swing more in your favor. The irony is that losses will be about the same if you risk nothing, except for the carriers at sea. You can hide those for sure if you want.

Good luck...

[Cap Mandrake]

Confronting 6 Jap carriers with elite pilots (even if they dont have torps) with 2 US carriers armed with 21 F3F's and 21 Brewsters and crappy short ranged TBD's seems like an impossibly bad idea to me.

Even if you get lucky and trade 1 for 1, you have still given the Japs freedom to field two 2 carrier TF's (plus the CVL's) and dominate everything with water on it for months.

[ADB123]

December 9, 1941 -

This was an interesting turn – the KB didn't get very far west, but at the same time it didn't launch any air attacks either. I wonder if it is low on fuel after all of the surface combat.

In any event, there was more surface combat this turn as my “Armada of Baby Minnows” ran into the KB again. This time instead of cruisers and DDs we had DDs and DMs. It's not quite the same, but all-the-same my ships did get another couple of hits on a few of the Japanese CVs.

What was also interesting was that Nomad had a 2-DD TF trailing the KB. One DD was smoking, so I suppose that both were damaged and he didn't want them slowing down the KB. (Not that the KB got very far anyway.) The two Japanese DDs played cat-and-mouse with one of my DD TFs, then shot up a pitiful 2 AM “surface combat” TF, and finally ran into a TF containing 2 DDs and a DM which shot up the two Japanese DDs.

When day came my TFs had cleared out from the immediate vicinity of the KB, but most were still well within range of Japanese carrier bombers. So I don't know why they didn't fly, but I suspect that Nomad is attempted to “sucker” me into committing my CVs. Sorry Charlie, we're not in the market for that sort of tuna at this time.

Things worked out much better for the Japanese surface ships between Hong Kong and the Philippines as a CA/DD TF and two 2-ship DD TFs caught and sank around 10 of the HK runaways. Those combat ships must be low on ammo now – in one encounter alone an AK took 50 hits to sink! In any event, the HK ships bought time for my Manila ships to make good progress. At the moment there aren't any Japanese surface combat TFs in the Celebes, and that CVL TF has gone off to re-arm.

Surprisingly enough it appears that all of the Japanese subs that were around Pearl have sailed off to someplace else – likely the West Coast. But Nomad flooded the waters off of Sumatra with subs and they enthusiastically slaughtered most of the unescorted tankers that I tried to sneak out of Palembang. Oh well, from now on I'll have to include escorts when I pull out fuel.

I received a surprise when I looked for Force Z – it was still in Singapore Harbour! Fortunately no LBA came hunting this turn. (Maybe because I now have all of the British fighters hovering in the skies over Raffles.) I couldn't figure this out, so I tried to order the move again, then I saw the reason – the TF can't go up the river because of the PoW. Oh well, I sent most of Force Z to Batavia and sent two short range DDs to Palembang to escort out the two British cruisers that are there.

I was also a bit disappointed that a squadron of torpedo planes that I moved to Victoria Harbour didn't attack the small Japanese TF in the port across the peninsula. I set them to bomb because I knew that they couldn't use torpedoes there, but they still didn't fly. So I flew them out and flew in another group of TBs. Maybe this group will be more enthusiastic about following orders.

Nomad continued to send Zeros on sweeps over southern Luzon. I only had my best P-40 unit flying and they held their own quite well. But they are tired now too, so I am resting everyone next turn.

Sigint brought some interesting news this turn – an invasion force is on its way to land at Maubon instead of the usual Legaspie invasion. I've ordered the British MTBs to go there as a welcoming party.

The only base to be captured this turn was Aparri. Nomad only landed a single regiment there, so I guess that he doesn't intend to march down the length of Luzon. That ties in with the Sigint about Maubon.

My Chinese troops reached Ichang this turn. Nomad's troops are still marching out, so while I set my troops to Combat instead of Move, I didn't order them to attack. I'm more than happy to let the Japanese move out peacefully.

So all-in-all it wasn't a bad turn, other than for the ships that sank on their way back to Pearl, or in Pearl itself. I'm still paying for last turn's unfortunate move.

[CapAndGown]

Trying to scatter out of Pearl while the KB is around seems like a fool's game. They are much better off in the harbor where they can repair float damage then out at sea where they are likely to sink. I believe the best allied strategy here is to hunker down under your large CAP. Since airfield attacks, even on the first turn, no longer take out huge numbers of AC, you should be able to put up an 80 plane CAP over Pearl on the second day.

[topeverest]

Cap mandrake -

Thanks for your thoughts. We seem to be on opposite ends of the strategy pendulum on this one, but perhaps we are not as far apart as it appears. I certainly agree the strategy has considerable risk, especially if the allied player foolhardily makes the engagement - but then it also has considerable reward possibilities if executed under the right conditions. I am not suggesting having this engagement out at Midway but close to pearl and only if the Japs are still targeting the base. I would never chase the lions tale in this case.

I assure you the American CV's are not so impotent as you believe, even with those buffalos. Give it a few play tests plotting both players and try the outcomes. Important to this mix is your harassing surface fleet and subs and the way you use your carrier planes. I think you will come up with a package that can and usually will give the Japs a hurting. If you actually mix it up and deliver average damage, I discount the fact the japs can rule the seas with a couple 2 cv convoys. With the quick delivery of Yorktown, several BB's and the remianing ships along with placement of land based fighters, the Allies can ambush the Japs elsewhere in a defensive campaign of opportunity. 2 CV's is not enough to mix it up with a defended base. As an example of s seemingly impossible air victory, in Jan 42, I recently used 13 buffalos in Rangoon to ambush a heavily escorted Jap level bomber run on Moulmein (approx 125 planes), for three fighters lost, I got 7 enemy fighters and another 8 level bomber kills and broke up the attack with many more damaged.

Hard - yes. Risky - certainly. Impossible - definately not.

In any event, this is why we play the game! To be fair and clear, the strategy you suggest will never hurt the Americans early in the war. 'When in doubt...retreat' is a very good credo to follow. I tend to aggressively play the allies in the beginning, its all the fewer islands I have to take back if I can get an early naval victory. If I don't I am not really much if any worse for wear. The allies dont have to take back but a small subset of the islands lost to get in bombing range if JHI, and there is flexibility to go any combination of 4 different routes.

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Trying to scatter out of Pearl while the KB is around seems like a fool's game. They are much better off in the harbor where they can repair float damage then out at sea where they are likely to sink. I believe the best allied strategy here is to hunker down under your large CAP. Since airfield attacks, even on the first turn, no longer take out huge numbers of AC, you should be able to put up an 80 plane CAP over Pearl on the second day.

The "Run, run, run, run, Run Away" approach worked okay in my other pbem, but there I had the benefit of my opponent staying to the northeast and I also fortunately got some bad weather to cover my ships.

The problem in this pbem was that the air fields at Pearl were hit extremely hard on Dec. 7 - they were totally in the "red", with both air fields and air support in the 60s. And I only had around 20 undamaged fighters in total. If I had been able to put 80 fighters in the air I might have stayed around. So the circumstances drove the decision. I suspect that the results would have been similar either way. In this case the only reason Nomad didn't launch more air attacks was that the accidental intercepts caused the KB to use up its preparation for launch.

As I see it, we were both lucky and both unlucky during the first three turns.

Now I've got air fields in the "orange", around 60 fighters on CAP (albeit, still with crummy experience and poor morale), my ships are arriving back in Port, and I don't have any TFs positioned to intercept the KB. If Nomad comes back again I hope that he loses a fair number of bombers, but I suspect that the end result will still be fairly bad for me.

Thx.

[ADB123]

December 10, 1941 -

This was the sort of relatively quiet turn that I need a lot more of over the next little while. The only real action was the presence of more Japanese subs off of Sumatra. Those subs are being very persistent – for example one sub was right in Palembang harbor and was attacked twice by the two British DDs that I sent in there. Oh well, pretty soon I will be in a position to always escort my TFs, so that will help things a bit. There was also a Japanese landing Vigan this turn, and as well a Dutch sub reported a contact off of Miri, so I suspect that invasion will arrive soon.

Things continued to be a bit puzzling in the Hawaiian Islands region. The KB is now a few hexes northeast of Johnston Island. It is moving westwards at 7 knots. Seven knots?! Did my “minnows” do more damage than I thought? In any event, the threat to Pearl appears to be receding nicely, and at that speed the KB won't be in position to bother me for quite some time. In the meanwhile I've sent out every sub that I can find in the region to try to intercept the KB. Maybe I can get lucky.

BTW – the Vindicators at Johnston Island didn't try to attack the KB. I guess the combination of too much CAP and not enough supplies kept them grounded. So instead I am setting them to continue to Search and Follow the KB. Who knows, maybe one of my Search planes will get lucky and drop a bomb on a CV – it's happened to me.

There was a sizable air raid on Clark this turn, but no fighter sweeps. My fighters are resting up nicely, so I will attempt an ambush next turn. I set the P-40Es to 30,000 feet in case they can get the jump on some of the incoming enemy planes. The P-40Bs are at 15,000 feet in order to take on the enemy bombers. We'll see how it goes.

The only enemy capture this turn was Laoag. Nomad already has planes at Aparri, so once Laoag is up and running my room for operations in that region will decrease even more.

There is a big clump of Japanese TFs sailing westwards towards the Moluccas. I don't know if there is a CVL TF in the mix, but if there isn't I have a number of cruiser/destroyer TFs ready to pounce. And the weather is lousy which will help my TFs keep out of sight.

The first Japanese troops came up to the walls of Hong Kong today. The clock is ticking on that British waste of manpower.

Otherwise I am busy building forts and recombining LCUs. The air fields at Pearl are almost repaired, and the air support and port facilities are down into the “orange”. There is a month's worth of damage to repair on the Shipyards.

Interestingly enough, there is still no sign of an invasion of Wake, or any Japanese moves into the Gilberts past the capture of Makin. I am happily prowling both areas outside of the range of LBA Search planes since I know exactly where the KB is crawling along.

[CapAndGown]

You don't seriously believe the spotting report that indicates 7 knots do you? Don't count on it!

Also, as to the city attacks by the KB, this was certainly not conscious on Nomad's part. Instead, this is just simply part of what gets hit when you do a port attack.

[topeverest]

If he hasnt hit wake, then he probably is going somewhere else with those forces. Perhaps it is johnston. I think you know it is pretty darn hard to hold Wake or Johnston or Midway if the Japs target them quickly. Though it is too early to tell, he may be setting up a Hawaii quarantine strategy and be targeting the Line's, Johnston, and Midway. That will really put a crimp in your support of Australia if he pulls it off. Also always watch out for an early attempt at Port Moresby.

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

You don't seriously believe the spotting report that indicates 7 knots do you? Don't count on it!

Also, as to the city attacks by the KB, this was certainly not conscious on Nomad's part. Instead, this is just simply part of what gets hit when you do a port attack.

Hmmm - I find it difficult to keep my CV TFs from racing all over the map. The KB has only moved about 6 hexes over the past two turns. How would he travel so slowly - set a target point and say "stay" at that location?

Thx

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: topeverest

If he hasnt hit wake, then he probably is going somewhere else with those forces. Perhaps it is johnston. I think you know it is pretty darn hard to hold Wake or Johnston or Midway if the Japs target them quickly. Though it is too early to tell, he may be setting up a Hawaii quarantine strategy and be targeting the Line's, Johnston, and Midway. That will really put a crimp in your support of Australia if he pulls it off. Also always watch out for an early attempt at Port Moresby.

Hmmm - That's an interesting thought. The KB is in a good position to cover an invasion of Johnston Island. But I would have expected that he would bomb the base and recon it before trying a landing, because I don't think that he as any units prepared for Johston Island.

Thx

[ChickenOfTheSea]

ORIGINAL: ADB123

ORIGINAL: topeverest

If he hasnt hit wake, then he probably is going somewhere else with those forces. Perhaps it is johnston. I think you know it is pretty darn hard to hold Wake or Johnston or Midway if the Japs target them quickly. Though it is too early to tell, he may be setting up a Hawaii quarantine strategy and be targeting the Line's, Johnston, and Midway. That will really put a crimp in your support of Australia if he pulls it off. Also always watch out for an early attempt at Port Moresby.

Hmmm - That's an interesting thought. The KB is in a good position to cover an invasion of Johnston Island. But I would have expected that he would bomb the base and recon it before trying a landing, because I don't think that he as any units prepared for Johston Island.

Thx

Expect him to do that just before the invasion forces arrive. That way your forces will be maximally disrupted.

[ADB123]

December 11, 1941 -

This turn found a Japanese CL/DD TF sitting in the choke point between Borneo and the Celebes. The TF had a field day sinking AK after AK after AK as they tried to pass. Fortunately, I had separated my escaping TFs according to speed, and the great majority of my more valuable ships were already past that point and closing in on Soerabaja. Elsewhere a Japanese heavy cruiser TF caught and sank a few more of the Hong Kong escapees just before the entrance to Philippine waters.

Since I can't do naval attacks with my LBA I have them all set to do either Search or ASW. And it was the Search function that allowed me to spot the incoming TFs last turn that I suspected to be heading towards Ambon. So last turn I sent some of the Dutch cruisers and DDs to Ambon, and this turn it paid off. A Japanese cruiser TF sailed into the harbor and surprised the Dutch, but despite this the Dutch easily bested the Japanese and sent them running for home. Then a Japanese invasion TF showed up, detected the Dutch, and ran off too.

I've got another Dutch CL/DD TF near by, so I am sending them to Ambon next turn, just to help out in case Nomad is persistent Even if he isn't, the new TF will spell the victorious TF and allow them to go off for replenishment. BTW – Nomad hasn't sent any units to Mindanao yet, so I wonder if those troops were the ones that were headed towards Ambon.

And emboldened by this success, I've sent the US cruisers and DDs up the straight between Borneo and Celebes to see if they can intercept that Japanese CL/DD TF, which ought to be close to being out of ammo at this point. There are also a couple of other Japanese TFs just to the northeast of Borneo, so they may be headed to the same location, in which case it will also be good that my US cruisers are up there.

BTW – I sent the remaining ships that are not yet free of the trap on different routes. There is no use giving Nomad more freebies than I have to.

And one other thing, I've got the PoW and Friends on their way from Batavia to Soerabaja, just in case Nomad is very persistent in the eastern DEI.

Speaking of ASW – my airborne ASW isn't doing a lot in the straights between Sumatra and Java, as Japanese subs continue to attack my TFs there. Fortunately, those TFs with more ASW ships were able to get through without taking casualties. I've now set the LBA in that region to 100% ASW, just to see if I can swamp those subs.

Nomad was busy with invasions this turn. First off came an invasion of Miri, as expected. Then came a big surprise – the Penguin, which is still sailing away from Guam and headed towards Hollandia as a first stop, ran into a 2-AKL Japanese TF just off of Hollandia. Both TFs looked at each other, and then they both ran off in opposite directions. At this point a series of successive Japanese landings occurred at Hollandia, Aitape, Wewak and other northern New Guinea bases. The Penguin kept on bouncing towards the east with each successive landing. So it looks as if the Penguin will be in Port Moresby a lot sooner than I expected.

Nomad sent a small Zero sweep over Clark that was jumped by my rested P-40s. Zero losses were almost 3:1! Then a Betty Daitai came in and the P-40s had fun with that too. Finally an escorted bomber group came in, but the P-40s still did well and shot down several planes with no losses to themselves. I'm quite pleased with the result and so I set all of my P-40s back to rest at Manila in anticipation of much bigger and stronger Zero sweeps next turn.

Otherwise the only air attacks were on my retreating troops in northern Malaya, on Hong Kong, and on various Chinese units that have the bad luck of being in very useless and open forward positions near the coast in China. All of my Chinese units are pulling back, but those units near the coast will provide easy target practice for some time yet.

Nomad attempted a Deliberate attack on Hong Kong, but it failed at 1:2 and there were no forts lost. Vigan fell uncontested to a huge number of units, mainly consisting of engineering units. It looks as if Nomad expects to be doing some Fort Busting soon.

Surprisingly enough, Guam is still being left alone, as is Wake. The forts at Guam went up to Level 2 this turn; if Nomad waits too long he could receive a nasty surprise, particularly if he doesn't send enough troops.

And one of my subs found the KB due south and a couple of hexes away from Johnston Island this turn. It appears that the KB can do more than 7 knots if it wants too. I am now wondering if Nomad is sending the KB to support an early invasion of Canton Island. Canton Island only has one of those USN Civilian Base Units, whereas Johnston Island has a Marine Defense unit in addition. So an invasion of Canton Island ought to be easier.

Now, I have a Cruiser and DDs waiting at Canton Island, which will be enough to stop a nuisance invasion, but if the KB shows up I won't be able to hold the defense. But then, the KB hasn't had an opportunity to refuel, so just how much more wandering around can it do?

Finally, Nomad pulled his troops out of Ichang, so my troops will capture it next turn. I have a unit on the road between the retreating Japanese troops and the south, but I am moving it out of the way, so if Nomad is patient, we can continue this disengagement with little trouble.

[topeverest]

I agree it's unclear where Nomad will strike - Canton, Johnston, elsewshere. If he takes the Line islands (Palmyra - Christmas), you will wish he hadnt. Your Australia - America logisitcs will be much more difficult in that case. Wake Johnston and midway are of less value, even if Midway can be a great forward sub base. I would not get attached to Wake or Guam. they can be taken at a point of his choosing.

If you are not, you should be planning your first defensive CV ambush at a point where Nomad likely will not have the bulk of his CV's or access to land based air. Pay close attention to your signal intel and intuition for hints. I like your roving cruiser convoys use of naval force. This early where you are targeting, he is unlikely to have suffient air cover to make you wish you hadnt.

Let me also suggest you find one or two forward bases between New Zealand and Hawaii to begin to build up and stock up. It's pretty important to do early and in a place not too close to the front. They serve as supply and force hubs the first several years of the war.

Good hunting.

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: topeverest


If you are not, you should be planning your first defensive CV ambush at a point where Nomad likely will not have the bulk of his CV's or access to land based air. Pay close attention to your signal intel and intuition for hints. I like your roving cruiser convoys use of naval force. This early where you are targeting, he is unlikely to have suffient air cover to make you wish you hadnt.

Right now Nomad is moving his forces way beyond his search and recon capability, and right into the middle of my search networks. The fact that he hasn't taken Davao or Cagayan yet means that he does not have any air bases that can cover the DEI. He already commented upon how my transports eluded his detection for two turns in a row.

Ah, if I only had some decent naval attack planes in the region...

Let me also suggest you find one or two forward bases between New Zealand and Hawaii to begin to build up and stock up. It's pretty important to do early and in a place not too close to the front. They serve as supply and force hubs the first several years of the war.

Good hunting.

I am already sending supply and fuel TFs to the far South Pacific. They aren't carrying much, but they will start to prepare the way for a later, larger build up.

But I'm also looking seriously at India, and the potential there for some interesting developments. I've already checked out in AI games the transfer of units from the East Coast to Cape Town, and I like what I see. I have visions of massive armies, backed by massive air forces, moving over land where the KB can't sail... [;)]

But I'm getting ahead of myself right now.

[topeverest]

India beyond Burma is pretty darn defensible. It is virtually unassailable overland with any competant defense. In order to make a major effort there, the Japs have to amphibiously invade and commit their carrier / naval forces which both requires western DEI and Malaya conquered. Furthermore, such a committment would pull the critical naval, ground, and air assets away from the Americans who surely would be able to launch a major counter - incursion.

Possible, certainly. Likely, no.

[ADB123]

December 12, 1941 –

Japanese troops kept on landing at Hollandia, Wewak and Aitape. Nomad is either landing more than just commandos, or else he used ships with slow off-loading capabilities. I didn’t bother sending the Penguin back to harass the Japanese transports, because the Penguin is unlikely to anything more then just look and run.

The Japanese CL/DD TF stayed in the Borneo/Celebes narrows and caught a three-AM TF that wandered into the trap. The AMs didn’t do any more than any of the transports that had been caught the night before. Obviously their ability to be included in Combat TFs doesn’t mean that AMs will actually attempt combat.

The TFs that had been headed to Ambon pulled back a few hexes to the north, and no one else attempted to break past my Dutch combat TFs at the base.

Daylight brought something I have never seen before – a single Kate attempted to attack the Dutch TFs at Ambon. Dutch Buffalo pilots stationed at Ambon jumped the Kate and shot it down before it could come close enough to spot my ships. I have never seen only one Kate, or any other Japanese Naval bomber, fly alone on a naval attack mission this early in a Game. My expectation for Japanese naval air attacks is that they will always be overwhelming.

In any event, my Search planes detected the other Japanese CVL coming in from the northeast, so I ordered both of the Dutch TFs back – the original TF to Darwin for replenishment, and the replacement TF to Timor where it can be in a position to strike.

Being “in position” is obviously very critical in order to get naval combat. I ordered the USN Far East Fleet ships to sail to the Borneo/Celebes straights last turn, and sure enough, they eventually ended up in the same hex as that Japanese CL/DD TF that had raised havoc among my fleeing transports the past two turns. But there was no interaction between the two TFs. Instead I simply got a message that my TF had detected the Japanese TF.

My guess is that this is because my TF was at the limit of its travel and so it didn’t have any more “preparation” left to allow it to engage. To test this I have ordered the TF to “move” to the same hex next turn before heading back to port. If the Japanese TF is still there my TF ought to engage it under these circumstances.

BTW – there are a couple more Japanese transport TFs heading across the Celebes Sea from west to east. It looks as if Nomad intends to build up a sizable force in the eastern DEI very early on. I wonder if he is contemplating a very early invasion of Darwin.

The only other invasion this turn was a daylight landing at Manus, so New Britain and the Solomons will obviously be in line for invasions early this game.

Japanese bombers flew against Allied ground troops over northern Malaya, central Luzon, and southern China again this turn. One group of Idas attacked on of my railroad bases. I now have one of the AVG groups ready for action, so I moved them down into the region. This ought to put a rapid end to Japanese bombers straying too far north.

The only Japanese ground offensive was an artillery bombardment at Hong Kong. The bombardment caused little damage. In contrast, the Allies enjoyed an extremely rare early opportunity for a conquest when my Chinese troops captured Ichang uncontested. I guess that I’ll have to savour and remember that one for a very long time.

At the end of the turn Japanese forces captured Miri, Hollandia, Vanimo, Wewak and Aitape. The survivors from Miri escaped to Brunei, but that base is already showing up as a target in Sigint reports, so it will likely be a short rest there.

BTW II – in addition to having the US Far East ships looking for trouble in the DEI, I also set up some aerial traps this turn. I have some British fighters attempting to intercept Japanese bombers over northern Malaya, and I also set some of the Philippine P-40s to try an intercept of Japanese bombers over central Luzon. Up until now Nomad has not been escorting his bombers to these targets. We’ll see if I get lucky.

And finally, the KB showed up halfway between Johnston Island and Baker Island this turn, essentially on the diagonal between them. Maybe Nomad is thinking of using the KB to cover a Canton Island invasion. In any event, I sent the CA/DD TF that I had at Canton Island towards Pago Pago, and I sent the CA/DD TF that I had at Pago Pago towards Suva. I’ll send the DD that I’ve had at Suva towards Noumea and the rest of the Anzac ships. I am keeping surface combat raider TFs at my most significant bases in the South Pacific in order to deter quickie base grabs, but I won’t try to contest if the KB is around.

Which still makes me wonder – just how much fuel does the KB have left at this point? It hasn’t obviously had the opportunity to refuel at sea. Maybe Nomad intends to eventually refuel it at Truk so that it will be in a position to cover anywhere in the South Pacific within a couple of days.