The I-Boat Raid and CPO Withdrawal adjustments are in play.
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IJN Report: An interesting T1! The first raid on
Pearl resulted in 5 BB's being bottomed. So good that I decide to target the 7th
AF on the second round. That round results in 2 more BB's and a CA being either
bottomed or sunk. I also put 3d on the NV and get a hit on the 7th for 2d. The
I-Boat misses the listing NV(3d). Overall, a very good result for the IJN.
Excitement brewed in Indo as I whiff on the 5th AF on round 1 and get just a
single hit on round 2. For a puny 1d! Fortunately, day shined again on round 3
and I managed to flame the stubborn 5th AF. But wait!...the 5th gets to shoot
back!...a miss...whew!
Alfred rolls group X onto the board into Hawaii. Lexington is based in
Australia. POC at normal +7 for the IJN.
USN Report: Just one CV made it to Australia.
USN Report: I made AI neutral but northwest was about to fall as Sasebo took Dutch Harbor and Saratoga whiffed vs. Junyo in CPO, causing the loss of Idaho and flipping of Midway.
POC = 7 + 14 (Indo, JI, Mari, SPO, Mars, CPO, HI) - 4 (BOB, USM, NPO) = 17
IJN Report: With few BB's around, I press the
attack and hit the HI and CS area's hard. Alfred had placed all 3 LBA's in the
USM so I decided to pass on that area. My main objectives are to force a fight,
get CV attrition, convert bases and gain POC. Generally, with this kind of
attack, you will get a fairly high POC count while getting a mix of the other
objectives. My bid is 4 which is reasonable. Should I be able to max out the POC
and have a decent position, I would be in great shape to win the game. Alfred
elects to fight in the CS, CPO, NPO and AI.
The CS battle is interesting since I have 4xCA, 3xBB, Hiryu, Zuiho and Ryujo vs
9xCA, BB(3d) and 3xCV. A fairly close surface fight if it comes down to that.
However, it is the CV's that I want a crack at first! In a bit of a surprise,
Alfred decides to agree to my day preference. This could be a disaster if my 3
carriers/I-Boat remove his carriers as he would have to face my surface fleet
anyway. My carriers sink Enterprise while disabling both of the other CV's, Lex
with 2d. Alfred's fireback sinks both of my 2 bangers and disable Hiryu. In the
ensuing night battle, I sink 4xCA and NV(3d). Considering he is outgunned,
Alfred shoots very well. He sinks 4xCA!
CPO-I get lucky here as Junyo sinks Saratoga while the Saratoga whiffs! Alfred
elects to stay in an attempt to save Midway. After a day comes up and Idaho is
sent to the bottom, the USN retreat. Midway flips!
AI-Shoho misses Hornet and is sunk in return. Sasebo invades DH.
NPO-I run during a day. Away from Alfred's BB and CA.
Misc-Overall, an outstanding turn for the IJN! I sink 2xCV while exchanging
surface forces. I also flip Singapore, Phil's, Midway, DH, Johnston and Lae! I
gain 10 POC as well to move the counter up to 17.
USN Report: It turned out I should've run after losing just one LBA in HI round 1. I lost 4 round 2 while sinking just Hiryu and putting max damage on Zuikaku.
POC = 17 + 8 (JI, Mari, Mars, HI) - 4 (BOB, Indo, USM) = 21
IJN Report: My main goal this turn will be the
capture of Pearl! I elect to give up Indo this turn to help ensure the flipping
of Pearl. A secondary objective will be the clear out Alfred's forces in the
north (Attu). My main forces go to Pearl as do all 6 of Alfred's LBA. I place
4xLBA in HI and one apiece in the SPO and Marshalls. During the raid portion, I
send in 8 carriers along with my fleet. A bit high in carriers but I wish to end
things quickly and not lose many of them. At least that is the plan! In the AI,
I send in Kure, Hiyo and couple of surface raiders. Alfred has sent in 2xCV to
the SPO to open raiding lanes for next turn. His last CV goes to the NPO to get
attrition while the bulk of his surface forces go to the CS where the Fuso is
raiding. They will also be able to forward base at turns end.
HI-A night! Excellent! I sink both marines and disable away the NC. He sinks the
Kongo in return. During a second rd day action, disaster for the IJN! I record 4
hits on 38 shots. Worse yet, I only down a single LBA. This could be very bad...
However, Alfred sinks Hiryu, cripples Zuikaku and disables Soryu. Results that I
can live with since I still have a decent edge in the fight but I can't have
another poor round. I don't. My second round fire shoots down 4 LBA while Alfred
dings Akagi for 2d and sinks Junyo. Pearl flips as Alfred retreats. During
pursuit action, CO is sunk and MS is d4 and disabled. Atago takes 1d in fireback.
CS-Fuso completes it's mission and disables the lone patroller. She is then sunk
by the USN.
NPO-The Hornet sinks the IJN CA.
SPO-Alfred flames my LBA for no loss. The I-Boat whiffs again
Misc-POC moves up to 21. Pearl and Attu have fallen. This leaves only Guad to
complete the full Applebaum! Alfred gains raiding lanes to the IJN interior but
I like my chances at this stage. I see a showdown in the SPO on T4.
USN Report: Disaster! CV and sub come through in JI to sink 2 CVs and prevent me from air raiding Zuikaku. I just realized I didn't shoot Yorktown in JI which may have prevented the following mess. 8 CAs hit Yamato 3 times for 6 damage in 2 rounds. So I lost 2 instead of 1 CA when they finally disabled Yamato with no more hits in round 3.
Hosho put 1 damage on Wasp round 1 in HI, so I chose to sink the patrolling CA. I couldn't get pure night round 2 again and Hosho sank Wasp. So much for playing the odds.
POC = 21 + 9 (Indo, SPO, CS, CPO, NPO) - 7 (BOB, Indo, Mari, USM, HI) = 23
IJN Report: My objective for this turn is
three-fold, I want to invade Guad., gain some POC and see if I can sink a couple
of Alfred's CV's if he tries to stop me. I decide to repair Zuik even though she
can be airraided. The USN will need to bring enough CV's in that otherwise might
interfere with the SPO operations. It's a trade off. I patrol the entire board
except for BOB and IO. My LBA will hold Indo for me and my carriers will spread
out in flag defenses. The goal being that Alfred's carriers will have to fight
if they wish to decontrol POC. I also send a single LBA into the SPO. As the IJN,
any carriers that I sink on T4 are a big bonus. They won't be around on T5 when
they are most needed to break the perimeter. Alfred's 3 LBA guard the USM and CS
while the last one goes to the SPO. My 2xSNLF's go to the CS so they can
backdoor Guad and sent away Alfred's LBA there. The second reson is that my
raiders will also go there to try and KO his LBA and possibly hold the area to
score some POC. His carriers and surface raiders go heads-up with with my
carriers in the JI, HI and Mari's. Zuik may die in port but I am certain to
invade Guad and shoot down Alfred's lone CS LBA. The invasion of Guad will give
me the SPO and the POC that go with it. I also look to sinks some of Alfred CV's
this turn!
We then proceed to empty the dice server of hits!
JI-Soryu and Hornet sink each other. Then the I-Boat comes through for the first
time and sinks Yorktown(1d)! Zuikaku's crew breathes a little easier! At that
point, Yamato is being buzzed by 8xCA's. She proceeds to sink 2 of them before
being disabled with 6d. Wow!
Mari's-Hiyo and Lex(2d) sink each other and I run leaving the Mari's with a USN
flag.
Marshalls-Takao and DeR are each sunk leaving no flag in there.
HI-A pure day. Hosho hits Wasp but for 1d. Then, for some reason, Wasp decides
to shoot at and sink my only surface ship, the patrolling Maya. Strange move as
Alfred has already lost 3 CV's and is now allowing Hosho another shot if day
comes again on rd 2. Round 2 is a day/night. The disrespected Hosho takes aim
and sinks the Wasp! Unbelieveable! Alfred declines Wasp's fire and lets a CA, BB
and bonus BB sink the Hosho. Alfred does flag the area but still probably could
have without the loss of the Wasp had it shot at Hosho on rd 1. He would have
had the edge on the pref roll and even if I got the pure night on rd 2, I only
had a single shot at his patroller.
Misc-A glorious turn for the IJN! All four USN CV's are sunk! The POC nudges up
2 for a total of 23. It should be a simple matter to hold the perimeter on T5
and go on to a mathmatical lock in the game soon after. However, we will see if
the 2xBrit CVL's or the Vicky can pull some kind of magic. My main concern will
be an invasion of the Phil's or Johnston on T5.
USN Report: Having lost all 4 remaining U.S. CVs the only place I could contest was HI. I got night the first two rounds but Andy had enough non-carriers to last until day round 3. I resigned facing the full Applebaum with no forward bases.
POC = 23 + 11 (Indo, JI, SPO, Mars, HI) - 5 (BOB, CS, USM) = 29
IJN Report: It has been a long time since I have
completed the full Applebaum but this has all the markings. My biggest dangers
are from the marines so I will tailor my move accordingly. I patrol the USN
flagged Hawaii with 13 patrolling surface ships AND 2 CV's. The reason for the 2
CV's is that in the off chance that all my surface patrollers get eliminated, I
still will have at least one patrolling CV that can't be touched. And the reason
for that is Alfred only has Vicky for air cover and she should only be able to
get rid of one of my patrolling CV's.
I also only patrol the JI as the perimeter will give me the 6 POC needed to get
to 29. So the Mari's, CPO and NPO get no patrollers at all. They will come in
handy if the big battle occurs this turn...
Alfred patrols the HI with 8 ships so the final battle looks to be coming...
My LBA's cover Indo(2), SPO(2) and the Marshalls(2). That is 3/4 of the
perimeter and Hawaii is the last 1/4.
My SNLF's go to Hawaii and the Mari's. The Mari's SNLF will protect the Phil's
from invasion from Indo. The HI SNLF will help protect Johnston.
Alfred's marines head out to the SPO(1) and HI(2).
All available raiders from both sides converge on Hawaii! The IJN will hold a
9-7 edge in BB's while being even at 9 apiece in CA's. In the air is where the
IJN are the heavy favorite with Kaga, Akagi, Shokaku and Zuikaku vs Vicky.
Results:
SPO-I disable the marine with my 2xLBA
Indo-I disable Illus on the first round while Illus and Hermes whiff against my
2xLBA. Hermes slinks back to Ceylon.
HI-Night for the first 3 rds!!!
Rd1-I place the raiding Akagi(2d) on the line in order to get 5 shots apiece on
each of the marines. I don't wish to lose Johnston on some poor shooting. The
I-Boat could also be used to stop them, if needed. I also know that I only need
to get one of them since I have a SNLF in the area. Besides, the Akagi's captain
knows it is his duty to die for the emperor! I sink one of the marines and place
4d/disable on the other. There will be no USN invasions on T5 which is quite the
luxury for the IJN! However, that is pretty much where my good dice end as my
next 7 bonus and 33 non-bonus shots sink exactly one CA! Alfred also has a tough
shooting round as he only sinks Akagi and Ise. We each disable 7 ships as well.
Rd 2-A very poor round again as I only sink one CA on 4 bonus and 14 non-bonus!
I also disable 2 BB's. Not the attrition that I had hoped for! Alfred's round is
excellent as he sinks a BB and 2xCA while disabling 2 more BB's on 18 non-bonus
dice. One of the disabled BB's is also crippled. My once decent surface edge has
been whittled down to a one wrap. I have a BB, 2xCA and 2xCA(1d) vs a BB and
3xCA.
Rd 3-I manage to sink another CA and cripple his BB. If he has another better
round, the surface could favor him! However, he puts 2d on my BB and disables a
CA. So I will have an edge if round 4 is a night as well.
Rd 4-Sunshine at last! Before the turkey shoot can start, Alfred concedes.
Misc-The POC runs up to 29 at the end of this turn with an intact perimeter and
no USN bases anywhere within, or on, the perimeter line. At this point the game
is a simple runout until a mathmatical lock occurs. Good game and best of luck
in your upcoming matches Alfred!