War and Peas - Hortlund (J) vs. Canoe (A)

[Canoerebel]

Hostilities should commence sometime tomorrow.  I recieved Steve's portion of the turn today.  I then patched up successfully (a small miracle) and I've begun working on my turn.  I plan to send it back to him late tomorrow morning.

[Grfin Zeppelin]

Aaaaaw nice.

[Cribtop]

So not a big enough "get yer popcorn ready" icon for this bad boy.

EDIT: OK, I'll try to make one.

[marbakka]

I'm new here, but I'm very excited to get in on the front end of these AARs. I've been trying to slog through your game with Chez but I've only made it through about 21 pages of 93 (the last time I looked). [X(]

I'll be reading both AARs for learning purposes (and entertainment) at the start, but eventually I'll focus on one or the other to allow for more commenting. Expect dumb new guy questions. [8D]

[Olorin]

[Galahad78]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

After much thought I plan to read both AARs of this game. A matchup this good promises to be a learning experience for the readers, IMHO. In order to avoid OpSec breaches

Same here -- but I may occasionally make a remark on one AAR if I haven't read the other AAR yet. (Knowledge should be shared . . .)

I was just thinking the same. It will be much fun to know both sides of the story, and since I am not much of a poster, no OpSec breaches expected [:D]

Subscribed!!

[Canoerebel]

A tip of the cap to Vettim for alerting me that Sturgeon, Salmons, Snapper and Porpoise weren't at Manila on the 7th.  I moved them accordingly.
 
The major items I spent time on for turn one:
 
1.  Set all forts to build (there's a one-click button on the Bases window that makes this a snap).
2.  Lots of orders to Chinese troops - mainly to get them moving to the various MLRs.  I did change prep for some units.
3.  There are three or four British troop convoys loaded and ready to move - the UK birgade at Capetown will steam in the general direction of Sumatra; two Indian brigades (at Goa?) will make for Port Blair; the good Ghurka unit at Bombay makes for Diego Garcia; and the Indian brigade at Karachi makes for Colombo for the moment.
4.  RAN and RNZN combat ships generally move north.
5.  Lexington and Enterprise move south.  Saratoga to move north from San Diego towards Seattle.
 
The final thing done was to set all Russian aircraft for training, along with most Canadian, West Coast, and India squadrons.
 
Turn sent to PH.

[John 3rd]

Good Luck Sir. Having working TTs SUCKS for the Japanese player. I would never have gone for that. You should really start putting a dent in his forces immediately. NASTY!

[Canoerebel]

Hey, John, didn't you have an Operation East Wind in your game with Wolfpack?  Do you think that PH is plagiarizing you?  You should castigate him in his AAR.

[LST Express]

Wow what a treat! Since I have no interest in commenting on game play, I'm going to happily enjoy both AAR's. This should be a very interesting match, good luck.

[John 3rd]

I did use that one once. Hmmm... What sort of penalty should he get? Don't think it rises to the level of the Kangaroo Court...

[Canoerebel]

I think my opponent is already sprinkling his emails with comments in hopes of establishing a base line that he can later depart from, from time to time, to good effect.  Two of his email comments thus far:
 
1.  This morning with the combat replay:  "Wow, not really sure how or why, luck of the dice I suppose, but Ive just had one of the best first turns Ive ever experienced as the Japs."  [I haven't looked very carefully yet, but to me the attack on Pearl Harbor was not that great.  Perhaps on the heavy side of average, but not enough to gush over.]
 
2.  This afternoon with the turn file:  "Here comes the turn. I must say I am impressed, letting Force Z ride to the sound of the guns is not something you see often. I like it alot, I can tell I will have to fight for every inch."  [Bull crap!  I haven't done anything unusual wtih Force Z - certainly not anything that would impress an opponent not given to hyperbole.] 

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I think my opponent is already sprinkling his emails with comments in hopes of establishing a base line that he can later depart from, from time to time, to good effect.  Two of his email comments thus far:

1.  This morning with the combat replay:  "Wow, not really sure how or why, luck of the dice I suppose, but Ive just had one of the best first turns Ive ever experienced as the Japs."  [I haven't looked very carefully yet, but to me the attack on Pearl Harbor was not that great.  Perhaps on the heavy side of average, but not enough to gush over.]

2.  This afternoon with the turn file:  "Here comes the turn. I must say I am impressed, letting Force Z ride to the sound of the guns is not something you see often. I like it alot, I can tell I will have to fight for every inch."  [Bull crap!  I haven't done anything unusual wtih Force Z - certainly not anything that would impress an opponent not given to hyperbole.] 

Seeing the postion of the map near Singapore in the other AAR .. I would rank your move simular to the Kings Indian Defense of chess fame sophistacted in its own right .. and certainly more risky than a cut and run Brave Sir Robin Affiar ..It will be very interesting how this plays out .

BTW) IN my game with Reliable torps off I sank 15 ships full of troops in 3 days . I cannot imagine the toll with reliable torps on ..

[Canoerebel]

12/07/41

Pearl Harbor: BBs West Virginia and Pennsylvania go under. All the rest of the BBs take damage ranging from moderate to heavy. If Steve strikes again tomorrow, I'll probably lose three or four more BBs. The Allies will sortie a variety of combat ships - one CA/CL TF, one CL/DD TF, two DD TFs, two PT TFs, and a half-dozen or more sub TFs will try various likely intercept routes. A few fast damaged ships will flee to the SE. The airfield was hit hard to, but the Allies should be able to put up roughly 80 to 100 fighters. I've set all to 70% CAP at altitudes ranging from 5k to 25k, with most between 10k and 20k.

NoPac: Ships show up at Kodiak. I assume these are subs, but who knows. Five DDs from Seattle and four from SF will head that way (as is the Saratoga TF moving north from San Diego.

CenPac: Ent and Lex are heading south, but if the KB sticks around at Pearl, I might turn them west to be in position if it seems that the KB's sorties run low. Some lone-wolf CAs will visit Tarawa.

SWPac: The French, Kiwi and Aussie navies are mainly steaming north.

Eastern DEI: What might be a Mini-KB is east of Davao. Houston appears to have escaped, while Boise has a better than 50/50 chance of clearing the danger zone. Rendezvous point for the eastern DEI combat ships is Soerabja. Dutch PT boats are moving from Soer to Banjermasin.

Western DEI: Oops! I set Force Z's home port to Batavia and intended to send her there, but I forgot to scrub her mission to Kota Bharu, so off she went. Now I have to try to extract her from the jaws of the lion. Lots of enemy ships between Singers and Singkawang (my guess is the latter is the target, but Palembang could be it). With Force Z steaming north, Steve might react with that in mind, while she will actually reverse course, steam just to the east of Singapore, and then break for Batavia. Several CL TFs will rendezvous near Billiton Island. Airlift of Padang garrison unit to Palembang to commence immediately. I don't want to lose the base by sudden parachute assault before I can beef up the garrison with local troops. I'm not expecting to get a chance to Fortress Palembang, but I'll take what early steps I can.

Philippines: The usual massive exodus, with a fair number of ships making for Midway or Adak, alot heading into the eastern DEI (Darwin and Soerabaja) and some making for Singers or Palembang. The Hong Kong ships are doing much the same. A strong IJ blockading force seems to be just outside Manila Bay. Four USN DDs will sortie along with all the subs. It may be tough or impossible for the fleeing support and transports ships to get out safely, but we'll see what happnes. Most of the Hong Kong ships are going south, but a few will break for Luzon's north cape and then make for Midway. Jap paratroops took Vigan, so Steve is organized and planning to move fast.

China: I'm setting up the usual MLR. I usually do pretty well in China, but it always worries me and is a fertile field for disaster.

Major Allied Plan: I intend to divide my combat ships into various sectors, with forces strong enough to contest any incursion that's less than a full-scale invasion with max support. The carriers will also be divided. Sara will take NoPac while Lex and Ent will take station somewhere else - either the Pacific or Indian oceans. I still need to identify fuel and support ship (AD, AS etc) hubs. Don't yet know where I'll make my stands.

Early Indications: I think Steve will move fast in the western DEI. I'll try to impede him with my best asset - combat ships. Other than that I don't have any early insights. For no reason whatsoever, my initial hunch in this game is: Australia.

[Justus2]

Great to see another AAR from you, looking forward to it! It took me several weeks to get caught up on your AAR vs Chez, but learned more about the game than any other thread!

[geofflambert]

Realistic R&D off?  Can I build an A-bomb in three months?  --Herzegovina
 
Please expedite your answer, I have a lot riding on this.  --Herzegovina
 
Please do not give any actionable intelligence to Herzegovina!  --Bosnia
 
Can anyone get in on this game?  --Montenegro
 
As long as I get Trieste, I don't give a crap!  --Slovenia
 
A pox on all your houses!  And I do mean that, I have enough pox infected carcasses for all of you!  --Croatia
 
You small pathetic children should remember who is listening!  --Serbia
 
You don't scare us, we're the land of Alexander!  --Macedonia
 
Pay no attention to that fool!  Macedonia is merely a province in my kingdom.  --Greece

[Galahad78]

Could you elaborate on your China situation/arrangements? I'm in Feb 1942 in my game and totally lost on this theater (doesn't mean that I'm not lost anywhere else [:D][:D])

[obvert]

How do you plan to use the US air forces in the PI? Will you pull the 4Es back? Will you buy out any P-40s and send them further south?

[Canoerebel]

12/8/42 (The What Happened portion to be followed later by the What Next portion)
 
PH is kind enough to send the combat replay file first while he works on the next turn.  That helps us keep things moving, but it does have a downside - I get roughly half informed as to what's going on, with sometimes gaping holes in my grasp of the situation.  But here's a report of a fast and furious day:
 
Pearl Harbor:  The KB backs off, which is very nice, but several Allied combat TFs get hung out in no-man's-land.  I think I lost six DDs trying for a mid-ocean intercept.  The KB is retiring to the WNW. 
 
CenPac:  Somehow, one of my CV TFs was found by a Japnese CV near Johnson Island.  The Japanese launched a raid of some 20 Zeroes and 20 Kates.  The CAP performed well and there were no hits.  Yikes!  Shazaam!  I need to think things through a bit - is this part of the KB (detached prior to Pearl - or can the IJ player use the "turn one warp speed" to somehow get a Mini KB out that far?  I want to see if Lex and Ent are close enough to combine so that they can handle the threat from wherever and whatever source it turns out to be.  It's not the main KB, though, because that's far, far away to the NNW and won't be a factor.
 
SoPac:  The Japanese take Nauru Island (I have a couple of USN cruisers closing on Tarawa, so I want to see if there's a chance to strike).
 
Eastern DEI:  Lots of shipping seems to be coming down from Babeldaob.  I think a Mini KB is somewhere south of Davao, so I need to evaluate the threat level and opportunities to strike.  A big decision to come - do I use the Dutch and RN combat ships to contest the major incursion over in the South China Sea or do I send some to protect Ambon and Timor?  I need to see the file to evaluate.
 
Force Z:  A major victory as the Allies claim their fist enemy capital ship. The CL Maurtius TF tangled with a Japanese TF consisting of CA Chokai and a DD.  Mauritius managed to set Chokai afire and the other Allied ships sank the escorting DD.  Chokai then sank a Dutch minelayer.  Then Force Z came in and sank Chokai, which managed to first sink DD Tenedos.  Getting 5% of the Japanese heavy cruiser fleet on day two of the war is big news.
 
Borneo:  An IJ naval guard unit landed at Kuching, but it might not be enough to take the base.  I'm going to air transport reinforcements in hopes of slowing Steve a bit.  I have several CL/DD TFs near Billiton plus Force Z should be relatively close.  Should they be committed to Kuching?  I'm sure Kongo and friends are waiting and there is also a small enemy carrier there.  I'll have to evaluate when I get the file.
 
Malaya:  The Japanese take Khota Bharu.  This usually begins the sequence where I end up with several units hung up and unable to retire to Singapore.  I may call in the Philippine B-17s to slow down the enemy advance.
 
Philippines:  Lots of action at the mouth of Manila Bay, where Steve has a number of DD TFs plus CA Ashigara.  Allied subs hits some mines and missed some shots of their own.  Four old USN DDs tangled with several Japanese combat TFs to indecisive results.  The Japanese claimed several minelayers moving north along the coast, but the bulk of the Allied shipping broke south.  Unless they refused to sail due to the threat posed by enemy ships, most or all made it safely away (I think at least some returned to Manila, but I'm hoping not all of them did).
 
Hong Kong:  Japanese DDs at the mouth of Hong Kong port do their blockade work, sinking a bunch of small stuff.
 
Allied Subs:  A K-Class sub hits a troop xAK near Soc Trang.  American subs launched at some enemy DDs but missed.  Thus far, the "good USN torps" feature hasn't paid a dividend, though I bet Steve has had to modify his conduct just a bit. 

[Capt. Harlock]

Force Z: A major victory as the Allies claim their fist enemy capital ship. The CL Maurtius TF tangled with a Japanese TF consisting of CA Chokai and a DD. Mauritius managed to set Chokai afire and the other Allied ships sank the escorting DD. Chokai then sank a Dutch minelayer. Then Force Z came in and sank Chokai, which managed to first sink DD Tenedos. Getting 5% of the Japanese heavy cruiser fleet on day two of the war is big news.

Kudos -- but you have to admit unusual things are in fact happening with Force Z! [:D]