Buffaloes over Singapore

[paulr]

Another good game by the sound of it

[d_Guy]

Also catching up. Liked looking through your flowcharts on blog.
At first I pictured winged bison roosting in the sturdy nutmegs but then recalled the marine squadron at Midway from incessant play of the AH game in the late 60's.

Great story telling, Mr. Shy.

[pierre the shy]

I have tried to correct the subject heading to reflect the current campaign.....

Managed to complete two further games, with some dice rolling assistance from Dougal the cat (He rolls better than me usually  ).

I will be writing them up over the weekend....but they both turned into really complicated fights so they may take a while.

Its now dusk on April 5th 1942 and the Japanese task force is temporarily withdrawing to the South East to reset for its second strike on a Ceylonese port which is schduled for dwn on April 8th, this time it will be against Trincommalee.     

[paulr]

Looking forward to reading those

[pierre the shy]

Managed to post the first new report tonight after a productive evening of AWI gaming.....

A tough fight for the Zeros this time, with half the Kate torpedo bombers shot down en route to the target area....

The second wave fight is even grittier, but I have not started writing up that one yet.

[paulr]

Another good read

The young chap is doing rather well

[pierre the shy]

Thanks to those who have been following this and for your comments here or on the blog....I will reply but this blogging lark is new to me.

I have just posted the last mission that I played...a very narrow victory to the Japanese.

I'm not going to do a follow-on to the Operation C campaign, at least immediately. It's time to immerse once again in some war of the 3 kingdoms actions instead.

[paulr]

https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-cruisers-2nd-wave.html for those wondering where it is

[paulr]

Good for the Japanese that you followed Dougal's advice

[bigjackmac]

Great stuff, Pierre, a thoroughly enjoyable campaign, very interesting!  And it definitely felt more intimate following only a single flight of three pilots, which was really nice. But I don't think I could pull that off, I lose way too many aircraft to do that!  I must be doing something wrong, your guys flew five sorties, shooting down 14 British fighters (and one PBY) while only losing a single Zero!

It seemed to me that you played the interceptors with a laser-like focus on attacking the strike aircraft, whereas I tend to play my interceptors as splitting their force to try and contain the escorts while the other section goes after the strike force.  Or sometimes no plan at all, just a blind charge into a furball!

And speaking of furballs, old Dougal is a cutie, but you trust that varmint around your minis more than I trust my children with mine!!!

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

Another advantage of counters over minis

[pierre the shy]

Yes I have been thinking about the relatively high number of kills the Zeros have been racking up, though I do make a point of not pursuing any damaged British fighters that are attempting to leave the board. I suppose I am a little too focused on trying to protect the Japanese strike aircraft, not that I have been doing a very good job in the last two fights when I lost over 50% of the attacking Kates to FAA fighters   Same with the FAA fighters trying to shoot them down rather than engaging the Zero escort; mind you in April 1942 would you prefer to dogfight with a Zero or engage a loaded bomber trying to sink your carrier?    

I think the high number of kills being made by the Zeros is a bit of an offshoot of how the campaign is structured, since I am representing the events of the entire carrier raid from the point of view of a single flight of fighters.....would one flight really fly four missions in on day? probably not, but its a design limitation I can live with. Remember I am not following everything exactly as it happened....HMS Cornwall and HMS Devonshire were actually left totally reliant only on their own AA guns for protection as they fled south from Columbo, only to be caught and sunk by a strike of around 80 D3A Val dive bombers which acheived around 80% hits from their attacks.

I'm sure Dougal's input was helpful in that last scrap   he's a stray we got from the SPCA about 18 months ago and has fitted into our household really well....and yes he has me very well trained to feed him at his convience    

Overall I am very happy the way this campaign is progressing, certainly furfilled the desire to refight the carrier raid from a aerial combat point of view. It's certainly an "intimate" one since its only focused on three main pilots as Jack has pointed out.....For a moment it felt almost like a real loss when Honda was shot down.

Thanks for all your thoughts....next stop Trincomalee.      

[Steve J]

More great stuff and Watanebe is progressing rather well to say the least .

[bigjackmac]

Pierre,

"Yes I have been thinking about the relatively high number of kills the Zeros have been racking up, though I do make a point of not pursuing any damaged British fighters that are attempting to leave the board."
Not very sporting, is it?  I tend to let them escape as well, though there may have been times that wasn't the case, I can't quite remember

"...mind you in April 1942 would you prefer to dogfight with a Zero or engage a loaded bomber trying to sink your carrier?"
Certainly not, I just can't seem to focus on the the intercept though, knowing all those Zeros are buzzing around behind me.  And I don't mean that in any way as a criticism, just a different tactical decision is all.     

"For a moment it felt almost like a real loss when Honda was shot down."
I know what you mean, it's actually pretty easy to get attached to characters once they get a few games under their belts.

"next stop Trincomalee."
Looking forward to it.

V/R,
Jack

[pierre the shy]

Thanks for your thoughts Jack...always really appreciated and I know we all approach things from our own perspectives  

I completed the next misson against Trincomalee, you can read the report here: https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-attack-on-trincomalee-1st.html

I did try some slightly different tactics with the defending fighters....they tried hard and almost pulled off a big upset...

Next up is another recce mission... this time the Japanese are trying to find units of the Eastern Fleet.....the outcome of the recce mission determines what may have been sighted.

This campaign is reaching its conclusion (there are a maximum of 2 missions left). I don't intend to follow the Shotai further at his stage and involve them with Coral Sea/Midway etc......I'm very happy with the way the campaign has worked and may move onto other theatres to undertake other "short" campaigns in a similar manner....I have a couple of ideas, one of which (Operation Pedestal) involves a more complex arrangement of intertwining two separate flights, one on a carrier and one land based, but that will take a bit of working out.