Sand in the Vaseline - Wobbly vs PzB

[EUBanana]

...and no way, this was my favourite AAR!!!! [:(]

[LittleJoe]

Great AAR guys, possibly one of the best.

[:(]

[wobbly]

All of the should haves and could haves are just semantics – I didn’t. What really gets me is my bad luck.

This turn I decide to keep my forces outside Karachi in the same place rather than move them as I have been. He rolls the loaded dice and comes up with double sixes again – bang – sunk. He had a choice of 5 hexes I had previously used to move to!

This heaped upon combustible BBs that explode due to unerringly accurate nightly torpedo runs (I had four BB magazine explosions), let alone the plethora of other smaller ships made of the same flammable material; paratroops that land and happen to fall on the AVG; bombardments that flatten the whole compliment of dauntlesses located in the bombardment hex along with 5000 of the troops, then totally reinforce so he can kill them again; submarines rendered useless by patch updates; cruisers that head off into the teeth of naval air power rather than retreating the way they should. All of this seemed to plague me far more than it plagued him.

The one thing I can imagine he felt hard done by was lack of escort for bomber raids – especially in the Carrier battle. But in almost all other things he suffered far less Ill fortune than I did. The awful unit trail finding AIs got us both but his mistakes meant he couldn’t press as fast on attack – mine mean they are cut off and likely to be
forced to surrender.

So few of my schemes worked. I feel like I got out of the wrong side of the bed on this one and have never been able to get back, I just lay there chewing carpet!

It does feel like I have left a beating husband (I imagine [:-)] ) full of “have I done the
right thing – I invested so much time”, but it was driving me crazy.

Calls like “I have seen 50 beauforts attack and sink 3 jap BBs in Java” just didn’t happen to me – they happened for him. In my case the base I would line up to try and pull this kind of thing would be the target of his bombardments. My 10 PTs and 4 PGs would not stop the bombardment, and then it would unload the most vicious hail of steel flattening the planes, airstrip plus 5000 of the troops surrounding the base (they sleep on Plastique for comfort).

It might be considered bad sportsmanship to blame this, and it is more likely that it was actually better generalship from PzB – many have poured scorn on my strategic and tactical decisions – but truthfully it was the luck that I FELT really broke my will.

[PzB74]

Hm, it's feeling really strange to 'be in here'! I'm not going to read Al's AAR quite yet, just wanted to add this post to both AAR's.

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Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo has received a message from Allied Supreme Command and invited us to discuss terms.

Our claims are: To keep all of our current posessions and take over control of India.
The Allied expeditionary force will have to leave Java within 3 weeks.
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I was very sorry to hear that Al wanted to call it quits today, but I understand him and has told him that he can do so whenever he wants to.
Many mean blows have been delivered, and India has all but fallen. The Allied hold on Java will then become teneous at best. The losses I've suffered
lately will still make it very difficult to achieve an autovictory. If the Allies can score only 2-3 or 4000 more points over the next 5 months, it will become alll but impossible.

I've asked Al to think about it for another day. Perhaps our peace terms aren't acceptable after all!?

Anyway: I'd hate to quit this game just a few months before the possible culmination of my long coveted goal - the conquest of India.
I might be interested in taking on a replacement player. Either to play until a decision has been reached in India (1/1-43 at the latest) - or to take this great
conflict to its final conclusion.

I've also offered Al another game, but I do feel that he needs a break just now.

I must say that I've never enjoyed any game more than this one, and I'd like to thank Al for making this into a very enjoyable journey. (For me at least )
He has played a great game, and I've enjoyed both his honesty and great sense of humor!

Salute [&o]
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[byron13]

I was going to ask if a replacement might want to fill in. I will admit, despite all of the implications, that I am not (cough! cough!) volunteering. I do think the Allies can turn it around from this point (though Wobs is right about China, which I hadn't considered).

Great - no, fabulous - game gentlemen. Thank you.

[Grotius]

Well played, guys! I really enjoyed reading this AAR -- it's been the first one I check every day. I learned a lot from it.

[Tom Hunter]

Wobbly,

I am the one who sunk 3 of KellyC's Japanese BBs off Java.

And I agree you had bad luck in this game.

I was answering Byron13's post that said India is indefensible. I don't think that is true but its certainly harder to defend if you BBs keep blowing up. I have seen enogh BB action so I can't even remember how many battles its been and I have yet to see any of mine or my opponents explode so I think my luck really is better than yours.

Frightening thought isn't it

[kellyc]

Those weren't the only BB's I lost. In my current game I lost another BB to a lone submarine who managed to get a torp into a magazine.

Face it, BB's just aren't the same anymore Of course the world learned this in the Pacific with Pearl Harbor and Force Z.

Just my thoughts,
KellyC
(Another unlucky ba$tard)

[stubby331]

It might be considered bad sportsmanship to blame this, and it is more likely that it was actually better generalship from PzB – many have poured scorn on my strategic and tactical decisions – but truthfully it was the luck that I FELT really broke my will.

Wobbly, well done for sticking to your guns for so long. A great contest that left me pondering daily.

Thank you for your efforts.

[Philwd]

Hi Wobbly,
I've been following this game with much interest. I haven't posted in either thread before as since I was reading both I didn't want to inadvertantly give anything away. I just wanted to say I think you did a fine job and if you could have hung in there a little while longer you may have found Pzb was at his zenith.
One thing for the future. You probably did let on a little too much. If you had said nothing about your upcoming operations then launched Java I bet you would have found next to no air waiting for you. After Tarawa Pzb would have been justified to think that was your main axis especially with a little encouragement.
Anyway that's nitpicking. Good luck and thank you for sharing your experiences with this AAR.

Quark

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Quark

Hi Wobbly,
I've been following this game with much interest. I haven't posted in either thread before as since I was reading both I didn't want to inadvertantly give anything away. I just wanted to say I think you did a fine job and if you could have hung in there a little while longer you may have found Pzb was at his zenith.
One thing for the future. You probably did let on a little too much. If you had said nothing about your upcoming operations then launched Java I bet you would have found next to no air waiting for you. After Tarawa Pzb would have been justified to think that was your main axis especially with a little encouragement.
Anyway that's nitpicking. Good luck and thank you for sharing your experiences with this AAR.

Quark

They weren't reading each other's AARs. They wrote their own AARs in parallel but independently. So PzB didn't know about the DEI operation until Wobbly had it openly underway.

Dave Baranyi

[WhoCares]

*sniff* [:(]
It was so much fun to read - now I will have to work while I'm at the office [:(]

[Hoplosternum]

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

ORIGINAL: Quark


One thing for the future. You probably did let on a little too much. If you had said nothing about your upcoming operations then launched Java I bet you would have found next to no air waiting for you. After Tarawa Pzb would have been justified to think that was your main axis especially with a little encouragement.
Quark

They weren't reading each other's AARs. They wrote their own AARs in parallel but independently. So PzB didn't know about the DEI operation until Wobbly had it openly underway.

Dave Baranyi

Hi Dave,

I too have been following both AARs, at least the last half anyway. I believe that PzB was reading things into what Wobbly was saying in his emails with the turns NOT in the thread [:)]. In his AAR I think he said he was getting some info that way, while Wobbly did not seem to get much in return. I think this is what Quark means.

Oh well I think Wobbly has certainly had very bad luck in this one. Attacking Java perhaps occured just a little too late as KB and much of the Japanese airforce had already been relocated or could be by that point. But the run of bad luck looked very hard to take [:(]

The AAR has been fascinating and certainly highlighted some issues. The land combat model is very suspect in my view and rather doomed Wobbly in India. PzB is clearly an excellent player but he has exploited this (and the broken night bombing - it's still free hits sadly) plus seemingly had the better of the luck recently. Having said that playing Japan is much harder in a real game than it is grandstanding from an AAR thread so he has deserved his triumph [:D] Good game and great entertainment for the rest of us [:)] Thanks to you both.

[Hornblower]

Wobbly, thank you for the time you put into the AAR..

[Freddy Fudpucker]

I've not been about for a few days and just got chance to look in on your AAR. I've been following since day one and am sorry to here that you've called it a day. I really thought you'd be able to hold out until you could 'turn the tide', but I understand your frustration.

You've pretty much been the guinea pig for major japanese manouevers (all credit to PZB) from which we have all learned. It's been tough but I'm sure everybody here would like to say how grateful we are to you for this AAR and the learning experience we have been able to share.

You have our greatest respect.[&o]

[cookie monster]

ORIGINAL: Hornblower

Wobbly, thank you for the time you put into the AAR..

Yep great AAR. Anyone who's ever written an AAR knows the effort/time involved. So thanks.

I enjoyed it alot.[&o]

[Greywolf]

I am reading this stuff