Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 4

Turn 5

Turn 6

Turn 7

Turn 8

Turn 1

Turn 2

IJN Report: After such a bad Pearl, night action in the Mandate looks pretty scary, so I go one area attack even though Ed only put 2 LBA in Samoa. His third LBA goes to the Aleutians where it promptly disables Sasebo before succumbing to my air power. Ed then gets night against the flag in CPO and promptly sinks all three of my carriers there with his BBs and CAs. In Indo, I exchange Zuiho for Hermes as my LBA fail to sink either of his 027-2s. A failure which I will soon pay dearly for.  POC at 16.

Attrition: IJN losses: 4 carriers, 4 cruisers. USN losses: 1 cruiser. RN losses: Hermes.
Bases: IJN capture Singapore, Philippines, Lae, Johnston, Attu. USN saves Dutch Harbor and Midway.

Turn 3

IJN Report: After two bad turns, I put on a massive 2-area attack. Which includes Sasebo going to the Mandate. Threatening to capture New Hebrides and a possible KO in 4. I put 4 LBA in Hawaii, the other 2 go to Indo as a hedge against his marines escaping Pearl this turn and then possibly going after the Philippines next turn. Ed defends Hawaii with 4 LBA. He puts his last LBA in the Mandate along with the bulk of his fleet. The portion of the USN fleet based in Midway can't join the party in the Mandate but they easily deny me any POC in my interior. Combat is totally lopsided as Ed's LBA destroy my CVs in Hawaii (4 sunk, 1 disabled). I sink 2 LBA, 1 marine, and Colorado in return. I then get smacked around in the Mandate too (2 CVs sunk, 1 disabled, plus a bunch of surface ships). I can only sink Yorktown in return (I hit Hornet and Yorktown for 2 damage each). To add insult to injury, the three British 027-2s sink both of my LBA in Indo on the first pass with no loss to themselves. The I-Boat soothes my wounds a little by sinking Lexington.  POC at 17.

Attrition: IJN losses: 6 carriers, 3 battleships, 4 cruisers. USN losses: 2 CV, 2 BB, 1 CA.
Bases: IJN capture Pearl Harbor. USN saves New Hebrides.

Turn 4

IJN Report: I only have two carriers (Junyo and Hiyo). The USN has four and the POC is only at 17. Ouch! Indonesia and the Marshalls are wide open raiding lanes and there's a large USN fleet parked in Midway. Double Ouch!! I use what little forces I have to attempt to set up a perimeter while the USN repairs 2 crippled CVs. I also send Kure after Dutch Harbor. I manage to flag Hawaii, Marshalls, and SPO; but Formidable's two shots sink my LBA in Indo. Argh!!! I needed those 3 POC badly. I get good luck in the Aleutians as Saratoga dings Kure for only 2 damage and then gets herself sunk by the I-Boat in return.  POC at 18.

Attrition: IJN losses: 4 cruisers. USN losses: 1 CV, 1 BB, 1 CA. RN losses: 1 CVL, 3 BB, 1 CA.
Bases: IJN captures Dutch Harbor. IJN saves Kwajalein.

Turn 5

IJN Report: With a solid perimeter around the Mandate, I can finally get some POC flagging my rear areas. I'll attempt to set up the perimeter again for next turn; but Ed's 3.5 CVs easily poke a hole in the SPO.  POC at: 25.

Attrition: IJN losses: 1CV, 3 CA. USN losses: 1 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA.
Bases: IJN saves Kwajalein again.

Turn 6

IJN Report: I only have one CV now. I have very few CAs left as well. With CPO cut off from the sea, Ed can only defend it with LBA. I send my two available marines there - against 6 LBA. Ed sends 2 cruiser patrols into each of my flagged perimeter areas: Indo, Marianas, Marshalls, Hawaii. I defend Hawaii with 4 LBA and Hiyo and send POC stealing raids into the other three areas. The dice go my way as one of my marines survives the air assault and captures Midway. I also succeed in two of the three POC stealing raids (Indo and Marshalls). Decontrolling the Marshalls also saves Truk from potentially flipping after turn 7.  POC stays at 25.

Attrition: IJN losses: 2 BBs. USN losses: 4 CA. RN losses: 2 CA.
Bases: IJN captures Midway. USN captures Kwajalein.

Turn 7

IJN Report: My flags in Japan, CPO, and Hawaii allow me to flag NPO this turn with 2 cruisers. I send 3 BBs and 2 CAs to Indo in a vain attempt to steal a POC against Ed's three patrolling cruisers. Ed avoids my 6 LBA patrolling the Japanese homeland. I send out all my carriers on suicide missions to stop his three marines. The dice go my way again as all three marines are stopped.  POC drops to 17.

Attrition: IJN losses: 5 carriers, 3 BB, 2 CA. USN losses: 2 marines sunk, 1 disabled.
Bases: IJN saves Midway, Johnston and Lae. USN captures Saipan via isolation.

Turn 8

IJN Report: The IJN fleet is in shambles. I have 2 CV (Unryu and Amagi), 5 BB (1 crippled), and 3 CA. I've done virtually no damage to the USN fleet the last two turns. The USN has 10 CVs, 9 CVL, 12 BB, 14 CA plus one RN CA. By denying Ed any bases at Midway and Johnston, he cannot patrol the NE corner this turn. That means I need two more POC this turn for a victory. A tall order against the enormous USN fleet. But I have lots of options - decontrol Hawaii or Japan, flag Indo, or try and flag both CPO and NPO, plus other options to decontrol Indo and Marianas (with all three of my marines going after Saipan). In order to prevent the decontrols, Ed has to patrol heavily. But he still has 10 CV and 3 CVL on raiding duty. I put 4 LBA and the bulk of my fleet in Indo. I put 1 LBA each in CPO and NPO. Plus all 3 marines in the Marianas. With my force in Indo virtually guaranteeing a decontrol there; Ed has to aggressively defend Marianas, CPO and NPO. But if he diverts too many carriers to those areas, then Indo could be in jeopardy of getting a Japanese flag. After deploying his ships, we both figure that the Japanese have a slight edge in the odds. The dice go my way as I decontrol Indo at night and Kure slips by CV-12 and the F-Boat to take Saipan (disabling his LBA). That's the two POC I needed. Game over.

A very interesting game as the luck heavily favored the USN on turns 1 through 4. But good luck for the Japs on turns 6 through 8 allowed me to squeak out a victory. Nice game Ed. Good luck in your future matches. Take Care.

USN Endgame Comments: Very good summary of our game.  The theme was definitely one of IJN CV's sinking easily and USN air power missing the SNLF's (Turns 4, 6 and 8).

I think another key was on Turn 6 when you were able to sink 6 CA's and break control with night actions in the Marshalls and Indo.  I missed those patrollers dearly on Turn 8.

Anyway, thanks again for a good game.