Hold by Nose and Kick in Rearend!

[EricLarsen]

One of my favorite tactics as the IJN player against a USN AI player is using the Guderian dictum of "Hold them by the nose while kicking them in the behind" armor tactic. After I get both Lunga and Tulagi ports up to level 3 I can then anchor BB's, CA's and such in Lunga for surface combat tf's and then the CV's and escorts in Tulagi for aircombat tf's. With good recon from Lunga I usually spot the AI's bombardment tf's from Noumea a turn or 2 before they arrive. On the turn they will arrive I create a surface combat tf in Lunga with Tanaka in command and leave it docked. Why leave it docked you ask? Because there's less chance of Tanaka picking the dreaded "Crossing the T" naval tactic that just wastes the IJN superiority in torpedoes. Usually you'll get the "Both sides surprised and manuevering for position" battle tactic which then does reward the IJN player with lots of torpedo attacks. I usually get two good surface combats out of this with lots of damage to the USN ships which now have to steam home. I have my damaged ships in a port and they can instantly start repairing. This sure worked well once when I had Hiei with 99 system damage plus high flotation and fire damage, which I was able to save because I could just disband the tf in port and start repairs right away.

I have Yamaguchi lead a carrier tf from Tulagi that goes to a spot one or two hexes just east of San Cristobal Island. That way Yamaguchi goes through part of the same path the USN tf uses but just before the USN tf goes through and then veers off. Since the AI always sends USN bombardment tf's back to Luganville this puts the carriers about 2 hexes away from the fastest surviving ships heading back to Luganville. With all the attack aircraft set to naval attack I've found that Yamaguchi usually finshes off the ships Tanaka didn't attack. Those damaged at night in the surface combat are still in between and with Val's at Lunga they can attack and finish off those cripples or the carriers can finish them off.

In this way I have Tanaka hold them by the nose while Yamaguchi swings around and kicks them in the butt. A clever way to use German armor tactics for naval warfare. I've also found that most times the AI sends out bombardment tf's that never come home and never have survivors. It also helps to thin out the USN admirals.<g>
Eric "Guderian" Larsen