The I-Boat Raid and CPO Withdrawal adjustments are in play.
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USN Comments: IJN raids sweep Indo, and only permit
the 7th AF, New Orleans, and a crippled California to escape Pearl. Two CVs to
Australia. POC to 7
USN Comments: Alan's IJN does not patrol
Marshalls or SPO, counting on LBA. I decide to try and take advantage of this by
sending all three Allied LBA to Indo. Alan responds with all 6 LBA.
Unfortunately, this means I have to defend Coral and USM with my fleet, as Alan
sends sizable task forces there. I also send a force to counter Alan in the
Aleutians.
In Indo, Alan's 6 LBA down all three Allied LBA in one pass, while my returning
11 shots manage 1 damage. Elsewhere, Alan sinks two American CVs and
cripple another while I only sink one in return. I take heavy damage in my
cruiser force fending off the IJN in my home areas. Dutch Harbor, Midway,
Singapore, and Philippines fall. POC to 16.
USN Comments: I defend Hawaii with my only 3 LBA.
Alan doesn't even have to give up Indo, although he does eventually send most of
his carrier force to Hawaii, presumably to have enough air raiding capacity.
I attempt to steal some POC in Japan (3 CA vs. Yamato) and retreat after 1 turn.
3 CVs successfully decontrol SPO vs. one Japanese LBA. In Hawaii, my LBA do
manage to sink two carriers before I retreat, and I escape with one LBA, one
crippled BB, and the 2nd marines survives the air raids with 4 damage. I'm
forced again to defend Coral and USM with surface forces, suffering more damage.
Midway though this turn I realize there's no way to stop the POC from maxing
out, so I pin my hopes on punching a good hole T5. With carriers getting
winnowed, my best hope might be LBA in the SPO. (Lae and Guad are still in
Allied hands). In fact, POC goes to 28
USN Comments: I patrol almost nothing, besides a
couple of cruisers in border areas should I get lucky. Alan sends patrols to USM
and SPO, but eventually fully backs SPO, diverting only one BB and CV to the
Marshalls to take out my patroller. My 6 LBA go to the SPO.
I attacked Marshalls with 2xCV and adequate surface, somehow thinking Alan might
target my patroller instead of my CVs. Nope, he sinks Enterprise, but at least I
return the favor and sink Hiyo. I then damage, cripple, and disable Nagato. This
makes the 3rd turn in a row in which I've crippled an IJN BB which then repairs
at Yokasuka and comes back. Yuck!
In the SPO, Alan downs only one LBA while my LBA sink Saesbo and disable Kure.
Lae and Guad are saved again! In the other crucial action, the I-boat only
disables the crippled 2nd Marines in Coral, allowing them to land at Guad. I
expected Alan to try and stay (he had 7 carriers against my 5 LBA), but he
retreats. I was leaning towards retreating myself, hoping to conserve LBA for a
big fight in SPO next turn. POC max out at 29.
IJN Report: I am +29 against Rob Flowers after 5 turns.
USN Comments: Again, I patrol almost nothing.
Single CAs go to Indo, Marshalls, and Hawaii, where I expect Alan to use LBA.
With Lae and Guad in Allied hands, I use my LBA forward, 3 in Indo and 6 in SPO.
Alan abandons SPO and splits his fleet between Indo (to back up two NLF trying
to retake Lae), and Marianas. He also sends a small task force to the CPO. 2 LBA
each go to Hawaii, Indo, Marshalls.
My pitiful fleet can't tackle any of those areas with much certainty, so I
decide to play it safe and move my BBs forward to the SPO. All three marines go
to SPO in order to be able to retake Lae if necessary. I finally get to repair
the crippled Yorktown and Massachusetts in Samoa.
Since I'm not risking much else, and I have the SPO hole for free, I try and
take on the LBA in Hawaii with 2 CV and Vicky, I figure I might get lucky, and
hopefully I'll lose no more than one CV.
Indo sees Alan getting night and disabling my LBA by invading Lae, which I
retake from the SPO.
HI sees Alan getting night, but the I-boat whiffs. Then his LBA sink BOTH of my
CVs. So much for low risk. At least I down one LBA in return. With nothing to
lose, Vicky sticks it out, and downs the second LBA without loss! HI is flagged,
which doesn't affect the score, but may open up some opportunities for me. At
least I have a better hope that my CV force can overcome 4 LBA next turn.
IJN Report: I am +26 against Rob Flowers after 6 turns.
USN Comments: Alan bases his entire fleet in
Pearl Harbor, except for Nagato which repaired last turn. He still has 10BB,
15CA, 9CV left, compared to my 8BB, 10CA, 4CV, 5CVL (which includes the T6
reinforcements!). So even trapped with the flag, he can hold HI easily. I could
try to use the HI flag to hurt his fleet, but I'd be facing a big surface lap, I
wouldn't have THAT much more air than him. I decide to hold out and hope for
better odds on T8.
Alan spreads his 4 LBA into the four areas that I can reach that don't have USN
bases: Marianas, Marshalls, CPO, and NPO. It's a good strategy, as I could
likely beat them all together, but I'll probably fail in 1-3 places this way. I
send the most material to Marianas and Marshalls, as holding those areas will
yield the most POC (since I have patrollers), and they are crucial to flipping
Truk, which I'll likely need since Alan will have the flexibility on T8 to hold
either Japan or Hawaii.
Alan's I-boat whiffs in the CPO, and his other LBA manage to only disable 1 CV.
So far so good! I then shoot and get three hits on three separate LBA.... to the
tune of 2 damage each. Argh. Marines invade Kwaj and Philippines.
Second round sees Alan disabling 2 more CVs, while I down two of the LBA (Mari
and CPO), and hit the Marshalls LBA for..... 1 damage. Double Argh.
Fortunately, in round 3, my lone remaining CVL in the Marshalls gets a hit to
take out the 3d LBA, flagging the area. Whew! This was important not only for
POC this turn, but for my T7 reinforcements to be able to hit CPO next turn. So
I only failed in the NPO, the least important area, and I didn't suffer any
losses.
IJN Report: I am +17 against Rob Flowers after 7 turns.
USN Comments: Alan patrols most of his fleet in the Japanese Islands, holding back a BB and his speed 8 cruisers and carriers to threaten Allied patrols. I patrol heavily in Indo, Marianas, and Hawaii, with LBA protecting the other areas. No real combat occurs. F-boat sinks Zuiho. Singapore, Saigon, Truk, and the Marshalls and Marianas bases flip. USN invades Johnston and flags CPO to prevent threats to HI next turn. POC goes to 17.
IJN Report: Rob has defeated me in our Top 10 game. He gained 15 POC on the last turn to win by 2.5 after the bid.
USN Comments: Alan patrols his entire fleet to
Japan. He only needs to swing five points to win. I can't patrol the Aleutians,
that's one already. He still has his LBA to play around with, but only in Hawaii
and NPO. I consider throwing a patroller in NPO, so as to make it such that
he'll have to send LBA there, or have to hold Japan instead of just
decontrolling it. But in the end I simply push everything into Japan to get as
many patrollers as possible. Everything else I hold with LBA. (Johnston is safe
from Alan's remaining NLF.)
Then Alan puts his 6 LBA in Hawaii. Uh-oh. I should have kept some carriers on
raid. Now I have to win (or at least decontrol) in both fights. Not good. In
Japan, I have a definite air advantage but suffer a surface lap. My 11BB, 12CA,
8CV, 9CVL against Alan's 10BB, 15CA, 7CV, 5CVL. Alan gets night in the first
round, but only targets my carriers with cruisers, which whiff. He takes out 6
of my BBs and cripples another, and takes out 5 cruisers. In return, I take out
all 10 of his BBs (wow) and 6 of his cruisers. The F-boat cripples the Hiryu.
Alan concedes that battle.
In the other area, I'm at a greater disadvantage, with my 5 LBA plus Ticonderoga
and San Jacinto vs. Alan's 6 LBA (one damaged). Round 1 Alan sinks SJ, downs one
LBA, and damages another. I manage to down 3 LBA!! Round 2 sees Alan only damage
one LBA and Ticonderoga (but not cripple), and I down 2 more LBA. In the third
round the last Airflot sinks the Ticonderoga before being shot down. The Allies
control the area!
We go and try another couple of rounds in the Japan battle, as the IJN still win
if they can decontrol the area, but the Allies (fortunately for me) don't choke.
Allies will control that area too, for a total gain of 15 POC, a 2.5 POC win
after the bid. Whew!