TOS V3.05 PBEM "Cartwheel"

[eric_A]

Week 12, 1942

On a hill north west of Port Moresby, men who only a few months ago
were carpenters, farmers and accountants waited in the pre-dawn darkness
as waves of bombers hammered the jungles below. Then came a short but
intense artillery barrage and as the sun came up a whistle sounded. The
ANZAC draftees fixed bayonets and charged down the hill towards the
rubber plantation.....

New Guinea: 1 Jap marine killed, 1 damaged by bombers, Green ANZAC
promoted. Rubber plantation recaptured.

Near Palembang: Artillery sinks 1 damaged Jap CA.

 

[El_Tigre]

China:
- Kaifeng (1 NI) captured, no losses
- DD Okinami east of Foochow lost 2hp
- Hanoi: bombarded, rails south of city destroyed, a Guerilla killed a Flak.
- killed NI east of Hanoi

NL:
- the brave DD Van Gent (1hp) rushed from Batavia past a huge Japanese fleet
to attack and sink a lone Transport east of Bandjermasin. The heroic ship was
promoted to veteran status, but now faces the mighty guns of BB Haruna

 

[aksully]

Boy I just don't know how you guys can be so lucky in those hopeless naval attacks! Misfit's destroyers are immune to vet subs...not that I have many of those left thank you! Now El T sends (from God knows where.. Batavia!!!!) a nearly sunk piece of scrap metal that takes out a transport (with nearly a full load) in shallow water no less!!! Let's not forget Eric whose bombers seem to have laser designators! Oh and the infamous SG aka super guerilla makes his usual handy dandy strealth attack. And listen....I have had complaints that after the SGs wipe out their targets (without a scratch) in my fortified cities and towns...that they are raping poor helpless women then leaving without ever being seen!! That has got to stop!

Sully

 

[eric_A]

Check your PM box.

 

[eric_A]

Boy I just don't know how you guys can be so lucky in those hopeless naval attacks! Misfit's destroyers are immune to vet subs...not that I have many of those left thank you! Now El T sends (from God knows where.. Batavia!!!!) a nearly sunk piece of scrap metal that takes out a transport (with nearly a full load) in shallow water no less!!! Let's not forget Eric whose bombers seem to have laser designators! Oh and the infamous SG aka super guerilla makes his usual handy dandy strealth attack. And listen....I have had complaints that after the SGs wipe out their targets (without a scratch) in my fortified cities and towns...that they are raping poor helpless women then leaving without ever being seen!! That has got to stop!

Sully

I can't tell you when or where for security reasons, but I lost one of
my subs to one of your transports, feel better now?

 

[aksully]

That's a little consolation Eric..thanks...especially after this turn! Apologize for sending this so late. Short notice medical appts for my dad took up a bunch of time this afternoon plus an alert for my wife wrecked dinner and the evening. Everything is back to normal and I managed to get my turn done.

Borneo Area Action
-Sub sunk SE of Bandiermasin > IJN lost 1 DD
-Infamous DD Van Gent Blown out of the water
-Transport SW of Ketapang Sunk
-Ketapang bombarded

Port Moresby Area
-Sub sunk W of Rabaul (Geez..next time park him in the harbor!)
-DD (US) sunk S of PM and another redlined
-Allied Fighter shot down
-Bomber destroyed another damaged (PM)
-Cape York bombed
-Darwin bombed
-Zeke destroyed

Sumatra Area
-Improvements bombed, troops damaged in and near Palembang

China
Chinese Inf W of Peking KIA
Chinese MGB (2), Guerilla (2), Seabees (1) NW of Hanoi KIA...2 workers captured
Chinese Inf E of Hanoi KIA

Reserves have been committed in the effort to acquire strategic resources...if Japan loses China...so be it! We won't leave anything of value but shells of cities. Then the entire weight of the IJN & IJA will fall towards the East and South. Shrimp on the barbe sounds mighty tasty!
Sully

PS. Just trying to scare you guys...is it working?

Turn sent to Misfit about 11pm CST.

 

[El_Tigre]

Boy I just don't know how you guys can be so lucky in those hopeless naval attacks!

"Never say luck, always say destiny."

 

[Misfit_travel]

Quiet US turn. Jap subs are definitely scarce out there......

BTW Sully, just because you don't see my task forces (notice plural), doesn't mean they are not out there. The US history books say I have to hit Wake and Kwajalein first, but fortunately I'm not American.....

Koniciwa Sully-san.....

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Enemy marines retreat, captured airbase in New Guinea:

 

[aksully]

Quiet US turn. Jap subs are definitely scarce out there......

BTW Sully, just because you don't see my task forces (notice plural), doesn't mean they are not out there. The US history books say I have to hit Wake and Kwajalein first, but fortunately I'm not American.....

Koniciwa Sully-san.....

Misfit

Hei Fujisan! Nationality noted!! Eyeballs Mk I's gazing east to horizon, south to PM/Aust for the telltale signs of massive combined CW/US Mega TF. Fortunately was able to slow the Chinese a tad but only a tad. Unfortunately the Van Gent Gambit put a dent on my Borneo takeover...temporarily. Oh to have a couple of moves back! 2 tactical mistakes are dramatic for me. Now that's not including the Chinese SG. That's something that beyond my ability to deal with effectively. Actually either El T gave me a gift or made a rare tactical move mistake last turn exposing the SG's. Think it was a gift to give me some sort of false sense of security....it worked
Sully

 

[aksully]

This is a post I stumbled upon yesterday and found the discussion pretty interesting. I've attached the first post. This is from Wargamer Forums which was from a link I monitor in the NWS forums..anyhow.....

Don Mattox has an interesting article posted at WarfareHQ, Legitimate Tactics or Underhanded Sleaze: Should Players be Limited to Historical Tactics in Wargames?

Ron Dockal had this to say:

quote:

I prefer game setup to be historically accurate, with the players choosing their own strategy. The strategy can be based on history, or their own creative ideas. The intent of the game is to model history such that choosing the historical strategy and moves will result in the historical results, or as close as possible. Choosing an alternate strategy should give results that would have happened if that strategy had been historically chosen. Player creativity should be spent on selecting military strategy, not finding ways to alter the model to cheat the system. Besting your opponent at military strategy is a lot more satisfying than besting your opponent at finding loopholes in game software.—Ron Dockal, Schwerpunkt Games, Developer of Russo-German War and Anglo-German War.

It was Mifit's statement of Nationality that prompted me to post this. From a practical standpoint I found following the initial Jap strategic moves early in this game were not in my best interest. But trying it is the only way to see how to be successful in playing a new game like TOS.
Sully

 

[El_Tigre]

China:
- 4 Artilleries bombarded the LT Army outside of Hanoi until only 1hp
remained, then a Chinese LT closed in and killed it
- killed a NI west of Hanoi, lost 1 LT
- 1 NI west of Peking bombarded and destroyed

NL:
- no combat

Two Guerillas sneaked into Peking and Hanoi. Both where killed after they
provided the Chinese military with invaluable information about the number
of troops inside the cities.

 

[El_Tigre]

Actually either El T gave me a gift or made a rare tactical move mistake last turn exposing the SG's.

We knew that your LT Army had healed in Singapore, so I thought I'd give
you some cannon fodder, hoping that you would leave your Army exposed to a
counter-attack.



Honestly, I didn't really EXPECT you to attack that stack and leave the Army
ouside the city...

 

[aksully]

We knew that your LT Army had healed in Singapore, so I thought I'd give
you some cannon fodder, hoping that you would leave your Army exposed to a
counter-attack.



Honestly, I didn't really EXPECT you to attack that stack and leave the Army
ouside the city...

It was time to commit my reserves and start spilling some Chinese blood no matter what the price. It was simply...necessary to slow down the Chinese Juggernaut. They are after all.....Samurai!

Sully

 

[aksully]

Week 16, 1942 Jap Summary...

New Guinea
-CW Inf on Airfield KIA, another redlined, and Seabees redlined
-Port Moresby bombed-Fighter damaged
-Jap Val destroyed
-Cape York bombed-Transport sunk
-Darwin bombed

Borneo & Vincinity
-NL L Tank KIA E of Ketapang, NL Inf Redlined
-Ketapang bombed
-Banjoewanji bombarded
-Batavia bombarded
-Palembang bombarbed

China Near Hanoi
-Ch L Tank, MGB, and Elite Inf KIA
-Jap Engineer KIA

Sully

 

[El_Tigre]

It was time to commit my reserves and start spilling some Chinese blood no matter what the price.

The Chinese High Command cannot but shake their heads in disbelief of the
short-sighted and inhuman strategy of the Japanese Army.

:shakehead

 

[Misfit_travel]

Build, build, build......

Its amazing the stuff that comes out of US factories. (Lots of G.I. Joes and texas "medium" condoms). For those that don't get the joke, during the war the US army used extra large condoms to protect the barrels of their rifles from sea water. They shipped them in containers marked "medium" size should they fall into Japanese hands.

Turn to Eric_A.

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Turn 16, 192

Same here, lots of building, not much fighting. Most of
my planes are in the Australian Outback being repaired.

Our dive bombers redlined a marine north of the airbase
in New Guinea.

 

[El_Tigre]

Its amazing the stuff that comes out of US factories. (Lots of G.I. Joes and texas "medium" condoms). For those that don't get the joke, during the war the US army used extra large condoms to protect the barrels of their rifles from sea water. They shipped them in containers marked "medium" size should they fall into Japanese hands.

China:
- my Artilleries found a more rewarding target than Hanoi: I sunk Super BB Yamato and CA Kuma near Hong Kong. A DD is heavily damaged
- killed 1 NI west of Hanoi, pillaged some roads. Hanoi is now cut off, but has a harbor
- destroyed improvements on Formosa

NL:
- nothing to report

 

[aksully]

Well that is not too good! Ok..what am I missing? Land Artillery has lethal sea bombardment? Now that was a stupid move on my part somewhat based on the assumption that artillery doesn't have lethal bombardment. This is a major revelation for me.

But, whatever the results are the game itself...the benefit of learning and understanding the gameplay better outweigh the final outcome. I have been humbled and taught some very valuable lessons. Getting spanked but smartly tends to improve understanding! Well, that's what I'm here for...the lessons learned are painful but internalized. I shudder to think what else I don't know? Sully