War Plan Kumquat: SDR and Barthheart's attempt to play Plan Orange.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

This thing only goes 6 turns?

Yeah but we're still only on turn 2.  Each turn consists of five rounds of card play.

Well, if nothing else, Barth's leisurely canal tour is forcing me to burn up a good reaction card.  As there's nothing to react to, I have to use it for operations so I move a couple of ships from the Philippines to the Marianas and re-deploy the 6th Division from Shanghai to Hokkaido.

Photobucket's wasn't working when I first tried to upload and link to the screenshots of the reaction card and the overall map.  Seems OK now.  Can anyone else see these two images?

[MengJiao]

This thing only goes 6 turns?

Yeah but we're still only on turn 2.  Each turn consists of five rounds of card play.

Well, if nothing else, Barth's leisurely canal tour is forcing me to burn up a good reaction card.  As there's nothing to react to, I have to use it for operations so I move a couple of ships from the Philippines to the Marianas and re-deploy the 6th Division from Shanghai to Hokkaido.

Photobucket's wasn't working when I first tried to upload and link to the screenshots of the reaction card and the overall map.  Seems OK now.  Can anyone else see these two images?







I see them and they look great!!!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Good news.  Thanks.





(has anyone seen Barth's latest turn orders?)

[Barthheart]

Yeah, yeah I'm here.  :P

So I had to waste my last good react card on moving ships from the Panama Canal to the West Coast. 

The react cards are powerful, if used to react to enemy combat actions... but are pretty weak to conduct offensive operations on their own.... at least that's what I'm getting out of the game so far.
So my whole hand this turn was more defensive than offensive and so I've wasted an entire turn just shuffling stuff around... hopefully to locations I can use when and if I get better attack cards...

So far pretty impotent response from the US over the Japanese take over of the Philippines.  :(

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Well, Barth's dithering paid off.  I had to burn the best Japanese reaction card in the game and use it to fly a bunch of snooty staff officers to various tropical islands instead of making US ships go kaBOOM blub blub blub.  8!  8 wonderful logicistics points I could have used!  Gone.....It's a travesty....




Looks like we were both sitting on reaction cards, hoping that the other side would commit so we could counter-punch.  Didn't happen.  Barth used his to move more ships to the US west coast.

I moved air and ground units into the Marshall Islands.


Here's the situation at the start of turn 3.

[Barthheart]

Enough with sitting around on our hands!

Big offensive time:
Aimed at the tiny island of Eniwetok... and it's all important naval base.



Waiting to see if SDR want to try and intercept this juggernaut....

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

We do indeed intercept.

Looks like the Japanese naval high command get their wish and have the decisive Mahanian naval clash.

Barth unleashes a massive naval attack on Enewetiok using the following card.



Even though I had to use my best reaction card at the end of last turn, I got lucky and drew a few decent reaction cards for this turn.


First, I hit the incoming US invasion fleet with some torpedo boats.




They manage to score a hit on the BB Maryland.



Then, Japanese recce planes locate the main US fleet and radio the info on.




This spoils Barth's surprise attack and allows me to react with 4 activation points.

I sortie the Japanese battleships Nagato, Fuso, and Ise from Shikoku and the heavy cruiser Kako from Kyushu.

The destroyers already stationed at Enewetiok launch a night raid against the US fleet and score another hit on the Maryland, sending her to the bottom.





As dawn breaks, the opposing forces engage in earnest.  The Japanese gunners find the range almost immediately and score a lucky hit on the Arizona's magazines.  She blows apart and slips beneath the waves.  Dive bombers from the carrier Kaga focus on the Saratoga and land effective hits on her.  Shells hammer into the BBs California and Nevada, inflicting serious damage to both ships.



(I now cringe in fear, awaitng the US response)

[Barthheart]

And the responding fire the US fleet..... manages to put a dent in the Kaga. 

So we sail home after losing the Air Naval battle and our troops can't land on the island. Yeah for the USN!  ::)

[Barthheart]

SDR plays a card for Ops and moves some ships around including the Kaga back towards Japan for repairs.

I play a card as an event that gives me 7 Ops. Enough to bring even more reinforcements to Oahu.

Maybe I can scare him into giving up the Philippines.... :P

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Japan sends a bunch of sneaky types out to sabotage the Panama Canal.  It's now closed.

[Barthheart]

Ok, another offensive to get this war moving.
8 ships and an amphib invasion of Kwajalein attempted.. let's see his reaction to that! 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

OK!

Barth plays yet another YUGE offense card.  I counter with a rather anemic reaction card.  (Perhaps suffering from over-confidence from the successful repulse of the attack on Eniwetiok).



Barth launches an amphibious assault on Kwajalein.  The 24th infantry division will hit the beaches with a hell of a lot of naval support from the CV Lexington, the battleships New York, Tennessee, and Idaho, and the cruisers Portland, Chicago, Pensacola, and Omaha.

Defending the island is a single brigade and the Omura air group.  The carrier Akagi, the battleships Nagato and Fuso, and the cruiser Takeo link up and rush to the island's defence.

Once again, our destroyers perform superbly and manage to damage the BB Idaho .  Sadly, our capital ships under-perform and fail to sink a single enemy ship.  The light cruiser Omaha and the BB New York take hits but they're still afloat.

[Barthheart]

Well I managed to damage all the Jap ships but didn't sink any.  :P

That will allow my troops to storm the island and try to capture the port and airfield.
And they do it!
So the USN gets a much needed victory. Now let's see if we can make something of it.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Barth and I traded blows over Kwajalein.  The Japanese navy gave better than they got but still lost the battle.  The US managed to land the 24th infantry division and overrun the garrison.  Japanese air and naval units retreated and the US quickly got the port repaired.  The bloody Yanks are now docked right on my front doorstep.



My damaged ships pulled back to the Home Islands where the workers in the shipyards were able to pull off a miracle and complete repairs on the CV Akagi and the BB Nagato in record time (I played a card that let me repair two ships immediately).

[airboy]

Are you playing face-to-face or is this on vassal?