The I-Boat Raid and CPO Withdrawal adjustments are in play.
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Allied Report: Alfred’s Pearl raid was below par, as 3 wounded BBs, 2 CAs and the 5th AF escape the surprise raid. The Repulse & 5th AF are sunk in Indonesia while the PoW is damaged. The I Boat sinks the Hermes. Group X shows up in the HI allowing Lexington to base in Australia. The rest arrive on T2. POC at the usual 7.
USN Report: Alfred does a typical aggressive patrol into all the USN Home Areas. I decide to defend the USM with all 3 LBA. It hands the IJN, the Marianas which I do not like, but it is likely to dissuade Alfred from a 2-area attack – which it does. He makes the HI very uninviting. So I decide to try to save bases in the NE part of the board. The Lexington was based in Australia so she will try to get enough daylight to save the POC in the CS.
Alfred gets D in both the CPO & AI, but fortunately only sinks the Enterprise (CPO) & disables the Hornet. All 3 green CAs are sunk however. The CS is D/N. Both IJN CAs are sunk but not before they disable the patroller. My LBA whiff in the USM, but sink all 3 carriers in the CPO & AI. But ugh!! The Yorktown can only manage 1 damage point on Sasebo and D Harbor falls. Aoba is sunk on the next round by Yorktown after the I Boat whiffs. Yokosuka invades Johnston Isl.
The IJN gain 9 POC to go to 16.
Allied Report: Alfred patrols everything except the western side of the board. I patrol the SPO & Marshalls in addition to two of my Home Areas and the western part of the board. I’d like a flag in the SPO for the anticipated T4 fight for Guadalcanal and the Marshalls to pose a T4 threat to flip the 2 bases.
Alfred spreads his LBA around. My first 5 go to the HI, but I put my last one in the SPO. I hope it plus my CVs will be able to control both the SPO and Marshalls. The marines do the expected and Alfred concentrates his raiders on the HI & CPO. I raid hoping to gain some attrition and limit his POC.
I get lucky in both the SPO & Marshalls by sinking both LBA on the first round after the IJN fire sinks the Lexington and disables the Yorktown during D while the I Boat whiffs on the Hornet. Alfred decides to run in the Marshalls. I don’t want to risk the patroller and let him go. In the CS, USM, NPO & AI we each lose one CA.
In the HI, it is pure D. Alfred has a good round as both marines are sunk along with 2 LBA. A third LBA is damaged. I can only damage the Zuikaku in return. I elect to run. Alfred gets D in all 3 pursuits against my BBs. I get some luck as only one is sunk. The other 2 are damaged and disabled. POC stays at 16.
USN Report: Alfred has a lot of areas open to raid, but as is usually the case, the Allies don’t have enough to raid very many. In a close decision, I decided to go for the Marshalls conversion & SPO primarily instead of Indo or the HI.
The IJN CAs run during D without pursuit in the USM & CPO. The Ramillies takes 3d before the Brits can retreat. The US gets the flag in the AI as Oi whiffs, before being sunk. But the Zuikaku sinks the Minneapolis in the JI.
The SPO & Marshalls turn out to be a disaster for the USN however. I get the D in the SPO but whiff on Sasebo and only damage/disable Yokosuka. So Guad falls to the IJN.
In the Marshalls, Zuiho, Ryujo and the I Boat all sink a CV! UGH!! We sink those 2 CVLs & both 4-3-6s in return fire. Yamato is then damaged & disabled during D in R2. So the Marshalls bases flip, but the USN CV loses are devastating.
We will fight on, but it does not look good for the Allies at this point. POC goes to 22.
Allied Report: The CV loses last turn make the game very difficult for me. I decide a passive move waiting for my T6 CVs will put me in too deep a hole to get out of. Alfred’s single LBAs sprinkled around gives me a glimmer of a hope and I decide to go for it.
Both marines go to Indo and I raid Indo & the Marianas with lone carriers hoping to take out his LBA. Since Alfred controlled both areas last turn, I have to decontrol at least one of the areas to capture & hold the Philippines. Since there aren’t any IJN surface ships in either of the areas, I’m pretty sure Alfred will go for D. Meanwhile my LBA will have to do what they couldn’t in the SPO last turn … beat off 2 SNLFs to hold Attu.
With D action, I have a 43% chance to knock out one or both of his Indo/Marianas LBA. It is D and Alfred disables the Formidable and sinks the Saratoga. But luck is with me, as the Formidable whiffs but Saratoga comes through downing the 22nd AirFlot!! Both marines land taking the Philippines.
In the AI, it is D and my LBA come through sinking one SNLF and damaging/disabling the other before the IJN retreat. And Vicky comes through on her suicide mission by sinking the Soryu!
So we get some success this turn. But it still is a tough situation for me. I will have to hold the Philippines against a determined IJN assault next turn I’m sure. The IJN control of the SPO will block my T6 CVs from Indo. And the POC has gone into really dangerous territory at 27. But at least I’m still in the game.
Allied Report: This turn centers around the fight for the Philippines as expected. My LBA placement must have surprised Alfred as he abandons 8 patrolling CAs in the Marianas. He does raid the BoB to try to take away a POC. I decide I probably can’t beat his LBA/CV in the HI & SPO. At least I’m not in that desperate a situation yet. So I go for attrition.
Alfred resolves Indo first. I get my D as D/N comes up. The IJN can only damage 1 LBA. The Allied LBA are hot as they sink both SNLFs. The Marianas are saved!! During N action, all 3 Brit CAs and 1 IJN CA are sunk. During the next D action, 1 Allied LBA is sunk (& 1 damaged for 3) while the IJN LBA only takes 1 damage point. Rats. On the 3rd D round, Alfred shoots down all 3 LBA. Uh oh!! But disaster is again averted as the IJN goes down in flames also! Whew. Then as a minor bonus, Alfred forgets to raid my marine in port.
In the BoB, 2 Brit BBs are disabled but he whiffs on one patroller. Brit return fire disables all 3 BBs (1 with damage) and saves the POC! Hooray! In the SPO, Alfred elects to shoot my marine and promptly sinks it! Sigh. The US CVLs get revenge downing the 23rd AirFlot. In the HI, 1 CA is sunk and 1 disabled during D action.
The Marianas turn out to be a US turkey shoot ala history. It is D/N. Air attacks sink 5 CAs and disable one. In the N action, the other 2 CAs are sunk while 1 US CA is disabled. The I B whiffs.
I capture Midway to allow me to patrol the NPO next turn.
POC goes to 23. I had some more good fortune this turn which is keeping me in the game. T7 & T8 ought to be exciting!
Allied Report: Alfred based 5 CAs at Pearl at the end of T6. So I patrolled an LBA in the Marshalls & USM. My main choice was whether to just position for next turn or raid the NPO or JI. I decided the JI raid was worth trying. Denying the POC would put me in good position in the game. Next turn will likely see more LBA there than I can stand. However I should have sent the marine to CPO to position for a T8 invasion of D Harbor instead of the JI.
I got D in the AI. The IJN shot down one of my LBA but I sunk Kure. Alfred then ran to protect his LBA for T8. I got N in the NPO and ran.
The main action was the JI. It was D/N. During D, CV-10, Essex, B Wood & Cowpens were sunk, Princeton was disabled with 1d and Independence took 1d. In return, Akagi, Kaga & Hiryu were sunk, Hiyo disabled, Shokaku/Taiho take 3d each & Zuikaku takes 2d. During N, The IJN sunk 2 BBs & a CA, disabled 4 BBs & 3 CAs, and damaged another BB. My fire sunk 3 BBs, disabled 1 BB and damaged another BB. The F Boat disabled the damaged Zuikaku.
I erroneously thought I had 1 more BB left than I did. So I decided to invade Okinawa & stick around for another round. If I could get another round of D or D/N, I would have a good chance to decontrol the area. But it was N. CV-10 was sunk, my last 2 carriers disabled and a BB further damaged. My return fire sinks a BB. In the following pursuit action, a US BB is sunk, and an IJN BB “cruiserized” & an IJN CA disabled.
POC goes to 15. With a bid of 5, on T8 Alfred will have to control the JI and deny me 1 more POC for a tie or deny me 2 more POC for a win. This game is going down to the wire!! Truk flips to the USN which will make basing easier for me.
Allied Report: Alfred does about what I expected with ship/LBA patrols in the JI and LBA in the NPO. He sends the 2 marines to the AI with a BB in an attempt to decontrol the area. He needs to control the JI and decontrol the AI and NPO or control the JI & NPO for a 1 point win. My patrols & LBA are designed to make that job difficult!
The JI with all his air power looks too difficult to decontrol. So I send all the surface within range to the AI and all the carriers within range to the NPO. One BB fails its SR to the AI. But I get enough there to give me very good odds of holding the area. The F Boat goes there as insurance.
We agree on D in the AI. All my LBA shoot at his raiding BB. The Kongo is sunk assuring my lone patrolling CA will hold the area.
In the NPO, Alfred’s first round fire sinks both CAs but whiffs on the New Jersey. Somehow I miscount and only shoot 24 shots of the 28 available and down 2 of the LBA leaving the third one untouched. Alfred’s next attack message shows up with no disables but 2 hits and 10 damage!! ACK, just enough to sink her. Then I notice he took 6 shots instead of the 3 Alfred had coming. Instead of 2 hits,there is only 1 hit for 6 damage. The N J lives!! This time I take my full 28 shots and down his last LBA for a one point win.
WHEW!! That was close tough game. I had several critical battles go my way that kept me in the game and finally won it for me. Alfred allowed that he had made several key mistakes that gave me a chance to stay in the game. I agree. He gave me too good of a chance to decontrol Indo or the Marianas so that I could capture the Philippines on T5. On T6, he exposed himself to some serious surface loses in the Marianas. I was able to take advantage of both those mistakes.
I made a mistake on T7 sending my Philippines based marine to the JI instead of the CPO. From Midway, it would have been able to threaten Dutch Harbor and made my task in the NPO much easier. Fortunately luck was with me to take advantage of Alfred’s mistakes and not get hurt by mine. Thanks Alfred for a good exciting game.
Allied Instant Report: WHEW!!. NJ survives & your last LBA is shot down. So I hold the NPO and win by 1 POC by my count. Zowies, that was close.
You made some mistakes and so did I. Yours cost you more however. That was a tough tense game. After you sunk 3 of my CVs with 5 bonus shots, I was in a real hole. Then I got some luck to come back.