The I-Boat Raid and CPO Withdrawal adjustments are in play.
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USN Report: The Pearl raid was below
ave as 2 CAs, 2 crippled
BBs, a damaged BB and the 7th AF escape.
But they get a clean sweep in Indonesia. Bad news for the USN though as WXYZ
all are on the west coast & no CVs can base in Austraia.
POC at the standard 7.
USN Report: I don’t like this as Anders uses the patrols and raiders that I used against him in our just completed ladder game except that he puts 2 ea LBA in Indo/SPO/Marshalls.
With only 2 LBA protecting Indo, the Brit CVLs challenge for the 12 – 13% shot at holding Singapore. I don’t like any of the USN alternatives. I finally elect to go with the HI suicide CV and the block in the Marshalls. It in combination with Indo, should give me a 50% or better chance of a good position at the end of T2. The surface fleet will try to control CPO or at least prevent the conversion of Midway.
Almost everything that can go wrong for the Allies in the turn does. The Philippines falls during N in the Marianas. The IJN sinks the Yorktown & disables Hornet in the Marshalls, sinks the Formidable & Indomitable in Indo, downs the 11th AF in the SPO and completes the suicide part of the Enterprises mission in the HI. The Allied fire is a total bust (not a single hit in 23 shots) except for the sinking of the Yokosuka SNLF by the Enterprise. Capping it all off, the I Boat sinks the Saratoga. That leaves only the Lexington vs 2 unscratched LBA in the Marshalls and the Hermes vs 2 unscratched LBA in Indo. It’s a grim picture for the Allies. They decide to run in both areas. In the CPO, the Junyo whiffs during D and then runs uncontested.
POC goes to 18.
USN Report: With the Marshalls under IJN control, they can achieve surface superiority in both the HI & USM. The IJN have a very good chance of a KO. And that is exactly how they deploy, going after the KO.
My main hope is that the 5 LBA hold the HI. I could send 2 CVs & some surface to try to save the USM. But if I do that, I will probably suffer bad attrition and be in a losing position even if the HI is held. So I opt to bank everything on the LBA. Two CVs go after the SPO, to try to gain some position. The 2 Brit CVLs hope for a miracle in Indonesia. (An 0-2-7 will have to be removed at the beginning of next turn anyway.)
The IJN have another good round of shooting as the Yorktown, Ok, Indomitable, 5th AF & RNZAF are all sunk. The Allied fire whiffs in Indo and can only sink Hiryu, disable Akagi & nick the Kaga. Kure is sunk during N in the AI and Tone is sunk in the CS. The HI result means it will be almost impossible to win the area, but we try. The final nail in the coffin comes on R2 as the last 3 LBA are shot down. Samoa & Pearl both flip and the Allies resign.
Turn 2 turns out to be a disaster for me both in this game and my ladder game with Anders. I’ll whine a little bit about the dice, but it’s hard to complain very much. I’ve had a really good run for almost 2 years. When you play that many games, it is inevitable that you will run into a really bad dice streak. That’s life. Congratulations to Anders on taking advantage of the situation.
Now I can only hope that I can turn things around in my next game!!
IJN Comments: "How to win as the IJN, no actual skill involved". The short of it is the IJN did a two-area attack, the USN did a Marshalls block and got creamed everywhere by bad dice, leaving 5 LBA to hold HI against the IJN CV fleet on T3 to stay in the game, which didn't happen. While it is nice to put a win on the board (especially against Ed Menzel!), it wasn't a fun way to win, especially as our previous game was also decided by T2 luck.
I started out bidding 4,5 (I just realized I have first bid against *everyone* in this tournament - I might end up playing 100% IJN) as I played USN last time around against Ed. T1 was good - not because of Pearl (I only sank 5 BBs, two BBs got out of Pearl at -4) but because Ed didn't get a single CV to Australia. So I used the nasty 2-area attack Ed unleashed on me last game to see what would happen - putting just 2 LBA in Indo.
Ed came up with a Marshall block and put LBA in CS, SPO and MI, so I placed 2 LBA in Marshalls and 2 in SPO, sent the marines to HI and MI and went ahead with the 2-area as planned. Then dice was rolled and Ed only hit the Yokosuka (which was sunk) while I sunk 3 CVs (LBA, Sub and sacrifice CV in HI) and the LBA in SPO. End of T2 was IJN +18 and controls that split the USN into north and south (Ed saved Midway with his surface units).
The split meant I could have surface superioriy in both Home Areas, so I patrolled practically everything and waited for the LBA - Ed put 5 LBA in HI which I matched with 10 CVs and refused combat in USM where I had 1 CV, I-boat and a 3-unit wrap in case of night (which was likely given my control). I rolled average in HI and the game was over.
IMO opinion Ed did the right moves - he then took luck's outrage stoically (well, at least in his emails to me - I don't know what went on back in the Menzel abode :). While as I said earlier I didn't really enjoy the way I won this game it was a real pleasure playing Ed, not just for his sportsmanship but also for the way his moves never leave you comfortable with your own position. I was lucky me and the dice roller had him outnumbered this time.