The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

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jwolf
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by jwolf »

500 days for the Washington will stretch repairs out to ... around the end of the war? It's still a nice victory to get the ship safely into a major port. And I would guess the crew can find things to do on Oahu while they are waiting for their ship. [;)]
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

Washington got clobbered during the Marshalls campaigning back in the summer. She limped into Maloelap, so badly damaged that I dared not send her home given the number of subs John had between the Marshalls and Pearl. My best hopes were that he wouldn't find Washington amongst the clutter of so many Allied bases (he didn't for a long, long time) and that, eventually, the locus of action would shift, prompting John to move his subs elsewhere(which happened just before he discovered Washington disbanded in port). I think he toyed with the idea of sending KB to hit Maloelap after he finally found Washington. If so, Big Tent ended that idea and created sufficient noise so that I could chance sending Washington to Pearl. Hooray for small victories!
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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crsutton
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by crsutton »

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth
John committed a tenacious four-DD TF to a raid on Ambon. It tangled with the CA Baltimore TF. I lost three 10-point DDs (I think all Fletchers), and John lost the same number (also 10-pointers, including Arashio) plus a fourth with "fires, heavy damage." Both of us are bleeding DDs a bit, but since attritioning the Kaigun is my highest priority, I'll take this result. I suspect the enemy TF was highly experienced and had a good commander, because it found several rounds with marked tenacity.

yup, this is definitely "cruiser country" but since both of you are depleted I guess DD's will have to do. Both of you are have success with with those small DD raiding parties. Destroyer production is a battle you can't lose, you get tons. scrape you State Side ports and make sure you have more headed this way. a one or 2 DD TF is often overlooked by search and even if found they are the devil to hit from the air. PT boats are your friend in closed waters. even if they don't hit anything they provide a tripwire and some disruption. At the rate you guys are going you might sail into Tokyo bay on a PT boat. Good to see this AAR back up and running

No matter my long term strategic plans, sinking Japanese DDs is always a top priority of mine. Once they are reduced sinking capital ships gets so much easier.
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Crackaces
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Crackaces »

After a long, perilous journey, badly damaged BB Washington made it to Pearl Harbor. I'm going to let SYS and minor FLT damage repair. Then she goes in the yards. It looks like she's out of commission for about 500 days. I'll consider moving her to the West Coast yards at some point.

I think the WC will take some days off that estimate. I remember having the lady lex with a big vent to the sea and
getting an estimate of about 400 days at PH .. then I sailed her to Bremington Wa and the time was about 120 days less ..
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
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Anachro
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Anachro »

The Washington in my Allied PBEM was sunk by two very successful spreads from one sub in one turn...in view of Pearl Harbor. Manly tears were shed...as were may cries of frustration.

I learned the value of escorting a BB with nothing slower than DDs. At the time, I had been towing it with 4 sub-chasers to PH from the WC in prep for movement to combat theaters. I also learned the value of keeping ASW up at all times despite the lack of ANY sub activity in the vicinity of PH for months.
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

I may have given the impression of assuming there were no subs in the LOC and that I left Washington unprotected for the run to Pearl. While I did think the odds of a hostile encounter had dropped a great deal due to John's intense focus on activity elsewhere, Washington was put in a TF with ASW ships that followed a second ASW TF...and was then met by a third ASW TF coming out of Pearl.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

11/29/43

Today was a fine day - nothing major happened in the way of battles, but all the important things that underlie waging war effectively seemed to be moving in the right directon.

Big Tent: The sub war went in my favor today. Allied ASW sank an IJ sub near Boela. Allied subs sank two xAK and an xAP in the main area of traffic between the Carolines and Mindanao. John is wisely flooding the area with subs, but the combination of shallow water, plentiful ASW ships, and a goodly number of big ASW aircraft squadrons, has helped whittle down his sub fleet a bit. Those things don't re-spawn, so the effort should pay long term dividends.

Death Star made its first visit to port today, taking station at Boela. Two of the three Death Star CV TFs replenished to 100% sorties; the third is at 80%. The two CVE TFs (which previously visited) have about 98% sorties. Little if any progress was made towards replacing aircraft (I'd like to draw some fighters), so I'm going to leave the carriers there one more day.

Boela airfield went to level three today. The lumbering herd TFs are one hex away and will arrive tonight. I'm hoping an air transport TF with four fighter squadrons will unload. But the field currently has 130 good fighters (a mix of P47, Corsair, Spitfires and Kittyhawks).

Sorong airfield is level three and engineers are also working well on the port. The airfield has 80 fighters. I'm going to chance sending in a small supply TF (from Boela) and a bigger transport TF carrying support troops in strategic mode. This is a bit risky but let's see if the hunch works out. Two combat TFs will move from Boela to Sorong to make sure the way is clear, retiring immediately so that they aren't at risk from air attack.

SigInt is giving solid information every turn. It's clear John is preparing a new line of defense anchored on Mindanao, the Malacca Straits bases, and even Koepang, on Timor. For reasons given previously, this suits me.

I have many things I want to do, all of them immediately, but for the most part I can only do them one at a time. So I'm reluctantly prioritizing - reluctantly because some of the less sexy/exciting logistical jobs are getting the highest priority. Here's the current list in order of importance (and subject to immediate change should KB show up or should other opportunities or problems develop): (1) Get enough supply to the critical bases to make sure they can withstand attack when Death Star leaves; Manikwari and Morotai both need about 25k as they are the most exposed major bases (Sorong and Boela are already good on supply); (2) once 2nd Marine Division is unloaded at Boela, move expeditiously to reinforce the invasion of Dobo; I think this will be enough to quickly overpower the enemy defenders; (3) then divide 2nd Marine Div. into three RCT and invade along the LOC to Oz (Saumlauki, Babar, and one other island); (4) retire Death Star and lots of empty transports to Normanton to pick up the troops for the invasions of Merauke and Horn Island (PM will wait until later) plus the support troops slated for the DEI (lots of base forces, engineers and AA); (5) attend to Ambon.

John already may be experiencing supply issues at Merauke and Horn Island. The latter was a key component of his original line of defense, so I think it has a good garrison with lots of forts; so if ongoing Allied air attacks wipe out supply, that will make all the difference.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

Screen shot for 11/29/43.

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"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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Capt. Harlock
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Capt. Harlock »

sinking four CM (including CM Tsugaru, so Grafin Zeppelin can't participate in this AAR any longer).

Oh, villainy! [:D]
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

11/30/43 and 12/01/43

These turns were mostly quiet from a combat standpoint, meaning not very exciting for you, the reader, but were immensely significant logistically, so very exciting for me.

Big Tent: There wasn't any combat to speak of, so I'll get right to the logistics:

1. All troops (including Strat Mode) designated for Sorong and Boela have now unloaded. Both bases now have an additional two construction regiments (base building will really ramp up) and lots more aviation support. Both bases also have 80k supply. They are both set now, except for construction. Sorong went to level two port today.
2. The air transport TF unloaded at Boela on the 30th. Boela has 175 fighters; Sorong 150.
3. Lots of supply TFs and several big transport TFs carrying troops bound for Manikwari have moved to Sorong without incident.
4. Death Star has fully replenished all sorties, torpedoes, and made good all fighter replacements. Death Star will move out tonight to cover shipping at Sorong (and thence to Manikwari) and to cover Manikwari and Biak just in case John is moving ships towards either.
5. DMs laid 160 mines at Sorong and then replenished mines. They'll deliver to Morotai day after tomorrow.
6. 2nd Marine Div. is mostly ashore at Boela and will need two days to convert to combat mode. In a couple of days, the unit will load on transports to invade Dabo.

No definite fix on KB or Kaigun. John is working reinforcements hard and beginning to flip turns. He may well have something up his sleeve. But with Death Star fully replenished (and now that I know that Boela can handle the carriers), I'd gladly accept a carrier battle.



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"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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Crackaces
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Crackaces »

These turns were mostly quiet from a combat standpoint, meaning not very exciting for you, the reader, but were immensely significant logistically, so very exciting for me.

Hmmm Actually all the prep and planning that lead to an operation are far more interesting to me than the random die rolls that dictate results ..
How the DEI is unfolding is showing a whole new strategy in my mind to deal with an overly aggressive IJ player .. even one that starts with gobs of toys ...
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
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Grfin Zeppelin
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Grfin Zeppelin »

Poor poor Tsugaru :(

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obvert
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by obvert »

ORIGINAL: Crackaces
These turns were mostly quiet from a combat standpoint, meaning not very exciting for you, the reader, but were immensely significant logistically, so very exciting for me.

Hmmm Actually all the prep and planning that lead to an operation are far more interesting to me than the random die rolls that dictate results ..
How the DEI is unfolding is showing a whole new strategy in my mind to deal with an overly aggressive IJ player .. even one that starts with gobs of toys ...

Yep. This is the stuff I like to sit around and work on in game for hours. I haven't had time to do as much of that lately, but last night had 5-6 hours, and just kept the game open working on logistics the entire evening while watching the Champion's League football and eating dinner.

You're in a good spot, and anything he tries to do involving re-invading any of these bases will be very welcome I'd think. Japan has to work on fluid and active defence at this point.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

12/02/43

Big Tent: Allied subs score hits against a TK near the Celebes and two xAK near Babeldoab (Haddo responsible for the latter two).

Death Star declines to leave Boela, set to follow an ASW TF that declined to leave port. My guess was that a cargo TF also set to follow was still unloading, but I couldn't find anything of the sort. So I reset the orders and hope the carriers will leave tonight to take station near Sorong.

Tomorrow is an important day as reinforcing supply and troops are to move from Sorong to Manikwari, which is fairly exposed. Sixty fighters at Manik will provide most of the air cover, and CA Baltimore TF will visit the port quickly to (hopefully) make sure the port is clear.

For the next four to six days, I'll be focused heavily on getting supply to Manikwari and Morotai. Death Star will probably take a blocking position south of Babeldoab. That could draw carriers or combat ships if they're nearby and if John is so inclined.

2nd Marine Div. will be ready to load aboard transports commencing tomorrow. I don't yet know if I'll send them to Dobo without Death Star. Probably not, so that operation might still be a week off.

Allied 2EB and 4EB continue to hit Merauke, Horn Island and Port Moresby daily, both to suppress the airfields and to work on supply stockpiles in preparation for medium-term invasions.

SigInt continues to shed light on John's defensive reaction to all this, which is what would be expected and (mostly) natural under the circumstances - build up a tight, tough line around Big Tent. So I'm giving more thought to what the next big operation will be, though that's probably at least four months down the road. (For one thing, I'll have to get all the empty Big Tent cargo ships and transports back to Hawaii, once Big Tent and Third Ring are finished. That'll take awhile.)
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Flicker »

Since you mentioned Hawaii as a marshalling point, do you have enough shipping and troops there to mount a small invasion in the Marshalls or someplace that John seems to be evacuating? You might be able to pick up a small win and still be ready for your next big operation (Shanghai?).

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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

I have a host of troops at Pearl Harbor prepping for a variety of places, includng Roi Namur, Eniwetok, Marcus Island, Truk, Yap and Ulithi. A sizeable fleet is gathered there, but not one strong enough to take on KB by itself, of course. At some point preliminary to the next big, big Op, I will sortie forth from Pearl to pick off a target or two that will aid in clearing the LOC for that big, big Op.

I doubt I'll ever invade Roi Namur, but it is somewhat possible that I'll reinforce the troops currently on Kwajalein, to try and break that stalemate.

Big Tent has largely made irrelevant places like the Marshalls, Gilberts, Solomons, New Britain, and possibly the Carolines. I don't think any of them hold bases that would merit the effort needed to attack. Such attacks would divert resources better committed to the main thrust.

As long as the Allies maintain carrier superiority, the advance isn't going to be methodical or linear. It'll be deep, bypasing enemy concentrations of force (I hope). (Sub attacks on enemy tankers aren't the only way to reduce John's fuel supply; prodding him to use massive fleets to make sudden, wholesale, emergency changes in his troop deployments uses up alot of fuel. That's an indirect means to achieve a strategic goal - reducing fuel. I wonder how much fuel he's expended in 1943 rushing everything to NoPac, then the Marshalls, and now the DEI?)

If I suffer a material carrier setback, I'll reevaluate everything, but that's how things look at the moment.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Flicker »

Thanks for the response CR. Yeah, I was hoping for an ersatz force to nip away at the low hanging fruit.

Your Spice Islands operation certainly bypassed concentrations of force, but with the perimeter tightening I wonder how soft John's next underbelly might be... In a war for oil, focusing on the oil producing areas would seem to be as useful as hitting his oil routes. Tarakan and Balikpapan are closer now; Palembang not so much. Taking Manila and Luzon (along with Shanghai) might close his access to those oilfields, but they wouldn't drain his fuel as much. Does John's mod give him oil super powers in addition to extra forces? More tankers?

BTW your game is the only one I'm playing at this moment. I got a new computer and while I've reloaded WITPAE I haven't really started a new game (time constraints). I could reload my old save game but I think I'd like a new start with less Sir Robin and more 'realism'. Part of the fun for me is researching the historicity of gameplay (which I would never do in PBEM).
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

12/03/43

Big Tent: Death Star leaves Boela and takes station near Sorong. John notices and comments in his AAR. He'll have to allow for a move in nearly any direction. To give him some food for thought, recon will begin working north New Guinea coastline bases tomorrow.

Lots of shipping exposed at Manokwari tomorrow. One more quiet turn and that base should be in pretty good shape. To give it some cover, Death Star will move ENE four hexes, and CA Baltimore TF will return to the port overnight.

Haddo torpedoes an xAK, it's third score in two days.

2nd Marine Division begins loading at Boela tomorrow. Disruption and fatigue were minimal after her long journey in Strat mode. the unit is prepping for Truk (I misstated "Umnak Island" a few days back), but I'm nearly positive it'll go to Dabo, hopefully overwhelming the defenders there.

John's been very cautious with his combat vessels of late - and it seems he's even pulled his subs out of direct contact. I don't think his temerity, if that's what it is, will last much longer.



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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by Canoerebel »

ORIGINAL: Flicker

Thanks for the response CR. Yeah, I was hoping for an ersatz force to nip away at the low hanging fruit.

Your Spice Islands operation certainly bypassed concentrations of force, but with the perimeter tightening I wonder how soft John's next underbelly might be... In a war for oil, focusing on the oil producing areas would seem to be as useful as hitting his oil routes. Tarakan and Balikpapan are closer now; Palembang not so much. Taking Manila and Luzon (along with Shanghai) might close his access to those oilfields, but they wouldn't drain his fuel as much. Does John's mod give him oil super powers in addition to extra forces? More tankers?

BTW your game is the only one I'm playing at this moment. I got a new computer and while I've reloaded WITPAE I haven't really started a new game (time constraints). I could reload my old save game but I think I'd like a new start with less Sir Robin and more 'realism'. Part of the fun for me is researching the historicity of gameplay (which I would never do in PBEM).

I've mentioned this before, but I think the route to victory is this (and in this order): (1) Destroy the Japanese navy; (2) obtain bases with airfields from which to efficiently target Japanese airfields; and (3) wage war against Japan's supply and oil.

The latter can be done directly, by taking oil-producing bases or destroying them via bombing, or it can be done indirectly, by sinking enemy TK and xAK or by luring the enemy into wasteful uses of fuel.

At the moment, the Allies are within 4EB range (or will soon be) of Magwe, Balikpapan and Tarakan. I've taken Boela and Babo, small producers, but John was actively extracting oil from each (judging by Allied sub encounters with TKs in that vicinity). One of the objectives of the next big op will be to finish interdicting John's LOC from Japan to the DEI via the South China Sea.

So I'm working on the oil angle but always keeping in mind that there are two higher priorities.

I don't think John gets extra fuel or TKs in this mod.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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RE: The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

Post by jwolf »

by luring the enemy into wasteful uses of fuel.

That's a pretty clever strategy. You can push him into a fuel crunch, at least to some extent, even without any fighting.
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