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

Started by KyzBP, June 22, 2015, 04:02:39 PM

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BanzaiCat

It's cool, jomni. I don't think anyone's been dropping too many hints, though I think we've probably come close a few times. It's just natural to want to yell at the movie screen something like "GIRL DON'T GO IN THERE HE GONNA KILL YOU"  :2funny:

Sir Slash

My post was out of surprise at the, "Hex of Doom" rule and certainly not meant to be any kind of advice or hint. Anyone who would actually take my advice, would be in so much trouble that nobody could probably save them any how.  ;D  I played this game long ago and never knew about the HOD rule-- my shock ruled my emotions.

  The really great part of this AAR is hearing the thought processes of both of you, strategies and tactics and planning. Along that line, I was wondering... it's March now. The warm weather is ahead. Does weather affect your play at all? Are there storms that you have to plan around and such? And what about the colder weather in the fall, will it affect AM any?
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

KyzBP

Quote from: Sir Slash on February 04, 2016, 10:11:56 AM
My post was out of surprise at the, "Hex of Doom" rule and certainly not meant to be any kind of advice or hint. Anyone who would actually take my advice, would be in so much trouble that nobody could probably save them any how.  ;D  I played this game long ago and never knew about the HOD rule-- my shock ruled my emotions.

  The really great part of this AAR is hearing the thought processes of both of you, strategies and tactics and planning. Along that line, I was wondering... it's March now. The warm weather is ahead. Does weather affect your play at all? Are there storms that you have to plan around and such? And what about the colder weather in the fall, will it affect AM any?

Weather does play a part.  Blizzards and thunderstorms reduce visibility, restrict operations and even ground aircraft.  If you remember when I was planning AM I was looking for a blizzard to conduct my landings in just in case I didn't bring enough air cover.  Thunderstorms seem to be playing a big part in the air operation, or lack there of, near Rangoon.  What doesn't seem right, for now at least, is how operations in Alaska and AM seem to be unaffected by the climate.  I've been reading Thousand Mile War (based on someone's recommendation. Great book! Thank you!) and conducting operations in the summer were near impossible.  I haven't even gotten to winter yet.  Based off of what I read I never should have been able to launch AM.

I'll keep on planning operations with little to no regard for weather until the games shows me I need to pay attention to it.

Silent Disapproval Robot

Weather should be a big factor.  I recently read a 3-book series about the air war in the Solomons and the weather played a huge factor especially when trying to cross the Owen Stanley mountain range near Pt. Moresby.   The weather accounted for quite a significant portion of losses suffered on both sides.

KyzBP

March 5th, 1942

I know I've used my "Eating the Bear" reference earlier but today it seems appropriate.  Today we had bear for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner,
and even dessert...and it was delicious! :)

Surface combat off the coast of Hokkaido.

The Minneapolis ran into a picket of sub chasers.  It looks like my subs have 4 less problems to worry about.  I love hitting these ships around
Geek's home islands.  It's really all icing on the AM cake.  I never thought we'd actually be on the offensive here and certainly not at this point in the
war.

As dawn broke, nothing near Hokkaido was safe.


We hit Sapporo multiple times.

The first thing I noticed is Geek has no fighters flying CAP.  I imagine he has them all set to Escort and will try to break through my CAP.

EXCEPT...




...Not a single fighter escorted any of his raids, and his bombers were cut down accordingly.  Have we depleted Geek's reserve fighters?
Sending unescorted bombers against my fighter pilots at this point is suicide. I understand that he has to do something but his planes
and pilots are being massacred.  I know that sounds a little dramatic but all my fighter squadrons at AM have 30+ kills, some have 50+.  I want
to keep pressing my air superiority here but soon Manila will fall and/or his carriers will head north.  That will force me out of Dodge.  I'll be sad
to close the chapter on AM but I think the clock is ticking again.

The Little Planes That Could continue to put up a valiant effort at Padang.

These guys will benefit greatly once the Base Forces from Sabang get here.  Those guys are still marching and are next to Sibolga.  They're on
a road which should speed them up a bit.

B-17's get some work done.

I'm always impressed when these guys can hit a ship from 10,000 feet up.  And it was carrying troops!

Geek gets into the ship sinking business as well.

There was nothing I could do here.  The Airacobras were all at Pago.  I transferred them back up here and moved some Hawks to Pago.  We should
be able to give him a hard time if he returns.  I want to keep atritting his carrier based planes.  Those guys are almost irreplaceable.

What was I so excited about at the beginning of today you ask?  ???(As if you don't already know.)
Geek underestimated the tenacity of the pilots of the Royal Navy.

They fought their way through 26 Zeroes to score hits on 3 :o carriers!!  I was literally grinning from ear to ear.

Then I was brought back to earth.

They came in unescorted.  I'm seeing a pattern again.  The single bomb hit didn't even show up as damage.  I was scared though.

Even if that bomb hit would've caused damage, this would've made it worth it.

SCRATCH ONE FLATTOP!  Actually I think they both went down. We lost a lot of planes in the process though.
I'm surprised that not only did we sink the first carrier of the war but it was done by the Brits AND with biplanes. 
Vegas would've cleaned up on that Prop bet.

Smelling blood in the water, I'm sending everything I can scrounge up to try to keep the pressure on his TF.  I'd love to take down the rest
of these carriers but I should just be happy with what I got.

It was a good day!


KyzBP

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 04, 2016, 05:35:33 PM
Weather should be a big factor.  I recently read a 3-book series about the air war in the Solomons and the weather played a huge factor especially when trying to cross the Owen Stanley mountain range near Pt. Moresby.   The weather accounted for quite a significant portion of losses suffered on both sides.

I agree, SDR, and it does seem to play a factor to a point but what I was trying to note is how crappy everything was in the Alaska theater and how difficult it should be for either of us to undertake any operation.  The Thousand Mile War book is really eyeopening.  What is the name of that 3 book series?

Silent Disapproval Robot

It's called the Rabaul trilogy by Bruce Gamble.  Books two and three are excellent.  Book one was released after two and three and you can probably skip it as much of the information in it is already covered in book 2.  It's basically a very depressing retelling what happened to the small Aussie garrison on Rabaul once the Japanese invaded. 


Invasion Rabaul: The Epic Story of Lark Force, the Forgotten Garrison, January - July 1942





Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942-April 1943






Target: Rabaul: The Allied Siege of Japan's Most Infamous Stronghold, March 1943 - August 1945






BTW:  I had no idea the Japanese had a ship named the Manko Maru.  That's comedy gold!  Pervy little buggers!  (I'm sure it's actually supposed to be Mankou Maru but Manko Maru is much better).



KyzBP


BanzaiCat


Con

That is an unlikely turn of events.  The US will have to be buying the Brit pilots a lot of beer since right now they lead the war in Carriers sunk and damaged!

A book that I loved and was very very instructive (though its a dense read) is Fire in the Sky.  Lots of interesting detail and analysis on why the Allies (US ) won the air war.  It turned out to be a couple of strategic decisions even before the war was started on designing simple robust planes, focusing on revetments/runway repairs and having a large standing pool of mechanics (many who were naturally interested in building cars etc) available.



KyzBP

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on February 04, 2016, 07:15:36 PM
* Googles "manko" *

;D
Yep, I did the same.  :2funny:

Quote from: Con on February 04, 2016, 07:34:21 PM
That is an unlikely turn of events.  The US will have to be buying the Brit pilots a lot of beer since right now they lead the war in Carriers sunk and damaged!

A book that I loved and was very very instructive (though its a dense read) is Fire in the Sky.  Lots of interesting detail and analysis on why the Allies (US ) won the air war.  It turned out to be a couple of strategic decisions even before the war was started on designing simple robust planes, focusing on revetments/runway repairs and having a large standing pool of mechanics (many who were naturally interested in building cars etc) available.




That book is at the top of my wish list.  The Kindle version is a little more than I like to spend on an ebook but I might grab a used, physical edition.

Con

I would get it.  Its really worth it plus it would make a great companion read as you are playing this game.

Con

KyzBP

Quote from: Con on February 04, 2016, 07:51:26 PM
I would get it.  Its really worth it plus it would make a great companion read as you are playing this game.

Con

As soon as I finish up the 1000 Mile War I'll grab that and the Rabual Book 1.  I'm intrigued by the Lark Bn.  They've developed an interesting story so far in this game.  I'd like to see what really happened with them.

Thanks to both of you guys for the recommendations.  O0


Airborne Rifles

Quote from: Con on February 04, 2016, 07:51:26 PM
I would get it.  Its really worth it plus it would make a great companion read as you are playing this game.

Con

+1

His other book, Touched with Fire, does the same as this one but for the ground war:

http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Land-South-Pacific/dp/0140246967/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454638513&sr=1-2&keywords=touched+with+fire