An Idiots Guide To Losing Your CV's Before 1942: WiTP:AE KyzBP vs UCG

[Sir Slash]

OK. Thank you. Fingers are crossed for A. Monkey.

[bob48]

You boys are certainly providing us with some first class entertainment!

[KyzBP]

You boys are certainly providing us with some first class entertainment!

Thanks Bob!  Blame me for the slow down of the game though.  Now that sports are starting to wrap up we should be getting more turns in.

[KyzBP]

January 14th, 1942 continued:

Over on the other side of the globe Geek has decided to deny me access to Sabang.

He seems to have a knack for getting his ships to Sabang at the same time as my transports and cargo ships.  That's not good for me.

Geek ramped up his bombing of Batavia.


He then followed it up with a ground assault which spelled the end for Batavia.

Only one stronghold remains on Java.  However, given how easy my troops seem to surrender, I don't expect it to last very long.

We have been able to launch some raiders out of the last Java port though


Even the subs are still trying to get into the action.

I wish I could catch some of these AK's full of troops but I'll take every little victory I can get right now.

Over in the Philippines our friends in the Honey Badger squadron continue to punch above their weight.

Very soon Geek will have air cover in this area and the P-35's will either ground themselves or be shot down.  I can not stress enough how awesome this squadron has been.  They absolutely crushed any expectations I had for them.  If anyone reading this ever plays this game from the Allied side, please set these guys to Naval Attack and turn them loose. You won't regret it.

Back near Port Moresby, Geek has landed troops at an unidentified island.

If he's able to build an airstrip here it will provide good mutual support for Port Moresby should he manage to take it.

A hand full of Banshee's attempt to disrupt that landing.


At Baker Island we continue to bombard Geeks troops.

We're expending a lot of ordnance for very little result.  I'm not sure if I'll continue doing this. If I do it will be to deny him an air base.  I don't think he'll miss 18 troops.
Especially when 5 PBY's can do a near equal amount of much damage:

I'm looking forward to one day reading Geek's thoughts on PBY's.  ;)

And now for the real conversation starter:

Those 11 Devastators are from my Carrier group with almost no fighters present.  Geek now knows (if he didn't before) where some of my CV's are.  The big questions are:
-How many CV's does he think/know are there?
-What does he believe their intentions are?
-How and with what will he respond?

Given where he encountered them I could see him thinking they are just headed to Pearl, possibly to stage for the big attack on "Rabaul".  That could work in my favor.  I could also see an "accidental" CV meeting engagement near Palmyra.  I will lose these guys if I that happens so I have to be careful not to get too close but I want to catch some of his ships landing troops or supplies.  I really hope he thinks all or most of the CV's are in this group.  There's no way of him knowing what type or how many aircraft are on these carriers.  Then again, he may not care at all and may continue doing whatever it is he's doing.

   

[Staggerwing]

How far off is the (hopeful) commencement of Operation AM? (acronym for opsec)

[KyzBP]

How far off is the (hopeful) commencement of Operation AM? (acronym for opsec)

I'd say around 1 game week.  There's a couple of big support ships due out of drydock in a couple of days and a couple of AP's still headed to port.  Plus, a few extra days may allow me to build up enough Political Points to get another Ground Unit involved.

[KyzBP]

January 15th, 1942

As each day passes, the momentum seems to swing further and further in Geek's direction.  Maybe today is the day something big swings the momentum back towards the good guys (my team).

This was certainly NOT that event.

The Armor BN that I've been trying to land near Sabang is finally caught by Geekanese naval units.

They could've made the difference at Sabang.  This is one of those soul crushing losses that make you want to take your toys and go home. :'(

Then there's the pesky Geekanese subs:



They're like cockroaches of the sea, though less delicious.  You can kill/damage one but 3 more show up in it's place.

Case in point: Hawaii.  >:(

And one of these subs had the audacity to take a shot at the Enterprise:

This was actually a hold your breath moment.  A damaged CV would put quite a crimp in our plans.
I do wonder how much information these subs are passing on to UCG and how accurate that information is.

His subs did manage to score a hit though.

At least she's close to port and I'll be able to get her fixed up quick.

Over in the Philippines our P-35's are at it again.

They hit a convoy to the South of the main island thereby avoiding any potential CAP presence.  These guys are smart.

Geek did take Lingayen.

I doubt it'll be long before he's sipping cocktails in Manila.

He made other ground attacks.  All nail biters.  I can't afford for any of these to fall.


Fortunately, for now, he seems to be taking the brunt of the losses.  I can't get any help to either of these locations in a timely manner so we're going to need some luck.

My faith in the Baker Island Bombardments has been rewarded.

I have no idea how many ships he lost but the combat report indicated 110 ground losses.  Hopefully this fills up his shipyards for awhile.

In another surface engagement, our Dutch raiders ran into an IGN Surface Combat Group.

We both limped away.  I'll call it a draw but my Dutch raider group will now have to disband.

On the Arctic Monkey front, we were able to learn that Chi Chi Jima has about 4282 troops present.  I'll bet it's about 70/30 infantry to support troops.  It'd be nice if it was the other way around.  We are still making preparations and assembling the participants.  We will set the wheels in motion shortly.

[BanzaiCat]

"Geekanese"

[Staggerwing]

How did you obtain the intel on Chi Chi Jima?

BTW, I have a book, still to be read, called Flyboys by James Bradley. It is about some American pilots who were shot down over Chi Chi Jima where they were captured by the Japanese and never returned home and also about one pilot who did.

[KyzBP]

How did you obtain the intel on Chi Chi Jima?

I have a bunch of subs in that area watching for any naval activity.  I imagine the info came from a radio intercept.  Ultimately it was listed in my Intel report.

[BanzaiCat]

+1 for Flyboys. Excellent book and one I've been wanting to re-read for some time now.

[KyzBP]

+1 for Flyboys. Excellent book and one I've been wanting to re-read for some time now.

I guess I have a new book to read.

[KyzBP]

How did you obtain the intel on Chi Chi Jima?

I have a bunch of subs in that area watching for any naval activity.  I imagine the info came from a radio intercept.  Ultimately it was listed in my Intel report.

A correction of sorts: Chi Chi Jima is NOT part of Arctic Monkey.  The islands I'm looking at landing on both end in Jima.  Given the amount of subs I have in the area of the operation I just assumed that Chi Chi was one of them.

Side note: I just started reading Flyboys.  Thanks for the recommendation Staggerwing.

[Airborne Rifles]

How did you obtain the intel on Chi Chi Jima?

BTW, I have a book, still to be read, called Flyboys by James Bradley. It is about some American pilots who were shot down over Chi Chi Jima where they were captured by the Japanese and never returned home and also about one pilot who did.

+1. Great book. Gave me a whole new perspective on the elder President Bush.

[KyzBP]

January 16th, 1942

The South Pacific seemed to be getting all the attention today.  The pace at which Geek is kicking my butt is becoming demoralizing.  I see why the Allied player sometimes just packs up and goes home.  Don't worry I'm in it for the long haul.

My original plan was to build up Luganville and the other nearby bases so they could mutually support each other once Geek arrived.  Two things happened to prevent that:
1. Geek sent his CV's into the transport lanes Southwest of Canton Island, preventing(and sinking) the initial wave of troops from getting to those islands.
2. Geek got here a bit earlier than expected.  I've only played against the AI, and the AI is gentlemanly enough to allow me time to build up this area.  Geek is no gentleman. ;)

I have absolutely nothing to stop him in this area.  The bombers and fighters that were enroute are either at the bottom of the ocean or being dropped off near Suva rather than risk having them destroyed while crated.

Now Geek is trying to further isolate the area by taking bases further East.

Savaii may turn into another Baker Island for him. I think it's too far away for him to support and Suva, which is just off screen to the West, is about to have a bunch of planes ready for action.  The TF that has been bombarding Baker could head this way once the area around Baker is clear or when the Enterprise arrives at Canton.

The small Surface Combat Groups accompanying the convoys to the Northeast of Savaii are DD's. 

I'm breaking them off escort duty and sending them after the landings.  Maybe I can catch him with some full boats.  If I can't, then they'll be around should Geek try reinforcing what he already has.  I really hope he's starting to spread himself thin.

The Battle for Sabang continues.  Geek has started dropping off more troops.

While he's (hopefully) disorganized, I'm going to try attacking him.  Intel shows me having slightly more Infantry than he does plus I have a fair amount of artillery so we'll see if that catches him off guard at all.

I also have some help on the way to deal with his constant harassment of my transports near Sabang:

I don't know if he'll have any CAP assigned to cover his Raider TF's.  I only have a handful of Seafires to cover these guys unless I re-position so I can get land based CAP from Point Blair.  The planes at Sabang have been utterly useless so I may fly them away rather than lose them to bombardment.

Now for the really bad news: PORT MORESBY FALLS!

Once again, without much of a fight, a major bases lands into the hands of the evil Geekanese empire.
I was really hoping having all my AM units set to "plan for Rabaul" would keep him from committing enough units to quickly take Port Moresby.  I don't even know if he checks his Intel Reports but either way Port Moresby is gone.  The troops that were at Moresby are now headed to Buna on the East Coast.  There are no supplies there so they won't be able to make a stand there either.  I also lost all the aircraft that were at PM.  There were some decent Banshee's and crew present.

I'm not really sure how to proceed from here.  The East Coast of Australia is almost wide open.  I imagine that's his next major target.  More now than ever I need AM to succeed.  Here is the big, glaring weakness with AM:

All the units set to Rabaul were to take part in the operation.  However, I don't have near the amount Political Points needed to convert those units from West Coast to Pacific Fleet.  The Marine Armor Bn will be converted and that's about it. I will have only 1 Infantry, 1 Tank, and 1 Combat Engineer units hitting the beach.   I'm going to have to scale down to just one island and build it up as fast as I can.  If I can grab one of the islands then I should be in decent shape to hold it.  I have a metric buttload of Combat and Construction Engineers ready to turn the island into a frigid beacon of freedom but I have to take it first.  In about 2 days, supply and troop convoys will be headed towards the South Pacific.  At the same time the ships and troops involved in Arctic Monkey will be loaded and leaving for the final staging area.  The first shots should be fired in about 10 days +/-.

In other happenings:
Georgetown was lost.


But Wenchow continues to resist.

And did some decent damage in the process.  It doesn't seem like Geek has any problem absorbing these kind of losses though.

I'm open to any suggestions on how to stop the Geekanese Steamroller (not to be confused with Mannheim Steamroller).  I don't know if giving suggestions is possible though as I'm sure all of you are following Geeks surely more entertaining AAR.