Back in the fold - Miller vs borner

[Miller]

Well, after a 3 year absence from UV to sample the delights of WITP and AE......I am back. Just finished my first PBEM against Brian (borner) with a victory playing as the Allies. Now the sides are reversed and its his chance for revenge......

Settings/House rules are the same as our first encounter:

Scenario 19, 200% Ship commitment for both sides, Allied damage control advantage etc etc.....

No night air ops
4E bombers min 10k feet
No sub invasions
Max 6 PT boats per hex
Max 3 F4U sqds active at any one time/None on carriers other than the Bunker Hill sqd.

Obviously most of the above is to the IJNs benefit, it gives me a (very) small chance of holding out for a draw on points.....

I shall not be giving away any secrets in this AAR, just bragging and mis-information[;)] so borner is welcome to contribute. Lets hope we have a long encounter.

[RGIJN]

good luck to both warriors!

looking forward to another loud AAR

[Miller]

1st-5th May: No action other than the taking of Buna and Gili-Gili via fast transport by the glorious forces of the Emperor.

6th May: The first ship losses of the campaign. A long range strike from Rabual by 40 Bettys and Nells hits a supply convoy at Cairns.

PG Swan has the dubious honour of being the first ship sunk in the game, closely followed by the AP Manoora. Four other transport are also hit. Only one Betty and Nell each are lost, lucky for me he had no CAP over his ships, I doubt he will make this mistake again[:-]

Meanwhile, our engineers are busy all over the map laying the foundations for many airfields and fortifications. No doubt Lexington and Yorktown are sitting in port, afraid to venture anywhere near the mighty IJN navy........

[Miller]

We got about 3 weeks worth of turns done over the weekend.

Lunga, Tulagi and Russell Is all fell uncontested and are building up for the long struggle ahead. My subs have sent AO Neosho and AK Adelong to the bottom off the Austrailian coast.

The main news is that Port Moresby fell to glorious forces of the empire on the 22nd of May. Borner had already withdrawn the infantry unit there so the place was almost undefended. I had brought way too many troops but as my recon showed the place was empty I diverted most of them to other bases before they landed.

The cost of the invasion: No ships sunk (or even hit!). A few Zeros to ops losses. None of his LBA from northern Aus ever sortied to attack, I think the bad weather helped or perhaps he was being very cautious. Either way it was the most pain free invasion of PM I have had. All in all an excellent first month for the empire!

[borner]

4 bomber groups. two b-25 and two b-26 were in range. Set to naval attack at 1000ft. over 4 turns they did not attack. when I changed them to Naval/airfield after PM fell, the b-25's hit the airstrip a couple times, but never wanted to hit the transports. Still, PM is an all or nothing operation for the allies in my view. You either put everything you can there to make the IJN fight as long and hard as possible, or try to get as much as you can out.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: borner

4 bomber groups. two b-25 and two b-26 were in range. Set to naval attack at 1000ft. over 4 turns they did not attack. when I changed them to Naval/airfield after PM fell, the b-25's hit the airstrip a couple times, but never wanted to hit the transports. Still, PM is an all or nothing operation for the allies in my view. You either put everything you can there to make the IJN fight as long and hard as possible, or try to get as much as you can out.

I usually go for a middle of the road approach when defending PM. Leave the ground units already there to fight (and die) and send a few FT fleets of supplies in so the a/c based there can get a few shots at any invasion force before pulling them out before the airfield is closed for good....

[borner]

only noteworthy thing to report is Akagi having her paint scratched by a MK10 mine. In other news ASW efforts by the USN are very disappointing to this point

[Miller]

June was a very quiet month, I hardly ever sighted an enemy ship. Losses for the month were one subchaser for Brian and one sub for me (My first ship loss of the game).

Bases are still busy building all over the map. I have all my toys to play with now but I doubt they will see much action for the next few months.

[borner]

that would be just fine with me. As the US I never feel quite comfortable until all 6 CV's are here and air units start to arrive

[Miller]

July 42 Summary. I lost an APD to a mine. Nothing else happened.

Bore in the Pacific up to now, lets hope August brings some action[>:]

Edit: I almost forgot he has been sending his 2E bombers to attack PM. My Zeros have sent them home with their tails between their legs......

[borner]

And until about 10/42, booring is just how I like things as the allies. The main events on both sides has been sub activity. Lex took a torp hit recently. the US sub fleet has been busy laying mines. Akagi found one a few weeks ago, and Kaga hit one recently. I doubt either did much, but a hit on a big ML yesterday probably left a mark. Two Imperial MSW's also have been sunk, which will help once more US subs get to work.

[borner]

Some action off Luganville. The mighty KB sails south and catches the USN off Luganville. Lightly escorted raids (due to the AI, not my opponent) are launched at nearly extreme range, and over 110 Vals and Kates are lost. Yorktown and Wasp will be spending some quality time in drydock, but should not be bad off enough to force them to return to Pearl. Due to this issue I did not press the issue the following day, and the KB retired back north.

[Miller]

Yes, A bad day for the IJN. I had hoped the KB would be closer to borner's CVs but due to refueling during the turn they were stood 10 hexes away, max range for my strike a/c and out of range of his.

If all my my a/c had launched it still could have been a bad day for the USN, however only a few badly or unescorted strikes flew into a 200 F4F CAP......over 100 Vals and Kates lost for a few bomb hits on the Wasp and Yorktown. The one silver lining is that most of the pilots lost were from the lower exp sqds (Junyo and the CVLs), I think only one CV of the original KB launcked any strike a/c[:-]

A definate setback, but not a game breaker by any means.

[Miller]

We are now into the middle of October. Borner's subs are laying mines at a prolific rate and keeping my MSWs busy, I have lost three to his subs torpedoes. His LBA has finally started to hit things as well, I lost a couple of APs but have plenty in reserve.

I am busy training up my replacement CV aircrew for those that were lost in the mini-disaster near Luganville, Wau makes an ideal bombing range for trainees operating from Lae. However, they will get nowhere near the exp of the originals before they are needed in action.

Borner has so far only built up a level 1 airfield on Gavigamana, a few hexes North of Luganville, other than that no other new bases are building. He is taking his time, waiting for more ships and troops to arrive before embarking on any kind of invasion. I doubt he will make any offensive move until the turn of the year.

[borner]

I think it's a level 2 now   

[RGIJN]

ORIGINAL: Miller


I am busy training up my replacement CV aircrew for those that were lost in the mini-disaster near Luganville, Wau makes an ideal bombing range for trainees operating from Lae. However, they will get nowhere near the exp of the originals before they are needed in action.

In my experience, you can coach a 27 A/C Val divebomber unit up to beyond 90 in a matter of a few weeks there.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: RGIJN

ORIGINAL: Miller


I am busy training up my replacement CV aircrew for those that were lost in the mini-disaster near Luganville, Wau makes an ideal bombing range for trainees operating from Lae. However, they will get nowhere near the exp of the originals before they are needed in action.

In my experience, you can coach a 27 A/C Val divebomber unit up to beyond 90 in a matter of a few weeks there.

Not when the pilots starting exp is 40! I am limiting them to gain up to 70 before putting them back on the carriers, after all bombing an airfield is not exactly good practice for torpedo a/c........

[RGIJN]

ORIGINAL: Miller


Not when the pilots starting exp is 40!

oupss...[X(] That bad?

[borner]

 Miller and I were able to knock out over 3 weeks of turns this weekend. Not much to report. He found several more mines at varrious points, and my B-17's made a few visits to G-G. One US minelayer has been sunk and a few DD's damaged by mines.  I am sure he has thousands of mines laying in wait for me, as I have only badly hit one of his ML's so far. 2 I-class subs were sunk and 3-4 more damaged. That about it. Thankfully I made it through the last few months only having 3 operational carriers. The others had been in drydock following his one major adventure south a couple months back.  It's nice to have a full carrier fleet again

[borner]

we are now at 12-9-42.  I had expected Miller to try for auto-victory in this game, and have been playing things very close to home. Thankfully he did not try anything, at least to this point. The sub-minelaying campaign continues, and we are starting to bag some of his MSW's. Latest report shows 7 having now being sunk. More Gato class subs are arriving every month, and soon, if the plan works, he will not be able to move freely between his bases without fear of a few dents every trip.