IJN Carrier attack on Hawaii - January 1942. Wargame for thread in progress.
- Thread starter Glenn239
- Start date
One question: had I left Akagi off Midway, would her fighters (any surviving) have had the option to strafe the airfield or facilities?
Yes, fighters can attack parked aircraft, scoring kills on rolls of 5 or 6.
I'd overlooked that.Carl Schwamberger said:
If the cruisers were rebuilt, IMO there'd be new fleet CVs (since this is the basis for Lex & Sara), & in under a year. (I'm thinking the conversion is twice as complicated as the oiler/bulk carrier onversions, so 6-8mo.)Glenn239 said:
Whatsay, Glen, don't bother gaming it, just roll a result? My TF escort againt Mike's cruisers, & my BBs against his?Dilvish said:I'm up for a nighttime cruiser fight. I had been gunning for one the last few days and nights of the game. I had sent those two cruisers ahead to sink the Japanese seaplane tender, but my sub got her first.
I wouldn't mind a battleship force clash either.
Kevin and Glenn,
I'm up for a nighttime cruiser fight. I had been gunning for one the last few days and nights of the game. I had sent those two cruisers ahead to sink the Japanese seaplane tender, but my sub got her first.
I wouldn't mind a battleship force clash either.
Michael
Mike - I hear, but I just don't think a cruiser night fight was in the cards. Midway was inoperational and no US carriers were available, so there was nothing stopping KB from "Cornwalling" the whole US cruiser force. Your BB's were just too far from Midway to arrive in time, and without them, the four IJN BC's were too much for the US surface forces, even if Nagumo was inactive. With Lexington sunk, Nimitz would have ordered everything south and tendered his resignation with King, I think.
Living in Exile,
You are welcome, and thank you for inspiring this game.
In answer to your question about a 3rd Pearl Harbor Raid, I'll say that it would be a bad idea.
Japan could return with the carriers Zuikaku, Shokaku, Hiryu, Shoho, and Zuiho. I would add one or more of the other carriers as well. Wait three or four months, and Akagi and Soryu might be operational. It may be realistic to assume that air groups will need to be taken from other carriers to bring the first five I mentioned up to full strength.
In the meantime, Hornet is in the Pacific, and Saratoga is back from repairs. Wasp and or Ranger may be in the Pacific. The big addition to Hawaii's strength will be in air power. I ended the game with 16-18 steps of P-40s on Oahu, with a dozen or more steps of P-36s scattered around the islands. Hawaii's airfields can be reinforced quicker than either side's carriers.
The game ended with 135 US fighters at Hawaii, while the IJN had 54 fighters operational. Another IJN raid on Oahu would have been inadvisable.
By the way, you had a submarine seaplane carrier as well?!
Yes, Kevin had a submarine seaplane tender unit capable of "readying" 3 points of "P" aircraft. These were based to start at Wake Island, and were the "dash forward" force that went to the submarine anchorage on the first night turn, to be ready for recce duty the next day. The sub unit could make torpedo attacks, and was in the general vicinity of your carriers and cruisers, but there was never an intersection between the two.
BTW -
One poster had asked how many US tankers there were. The answer is four. IJN tankers were speed 2/1, USN tankers 1/1. That means that every second turn IJN tankers can move 2 squares, whereas USN tankers could only ever move 1 square.
Tanking was done day or night, rain or shine on a tanking table. As strange as it sounds, at the time of this scenario, the IJN force was probably better than the USN at tanking. In clear weather, a US tanker could resupply 50-150 points per turn (that's 250 tons to 750 tons transferred in 4 hours). The IJN was rated at 500 tons to 1,000 tons in 4 hours per tanker in clear weather.
One poster had asked how many US tankers there were. The answer is four. IJN tankers were speed 2/1, USN tankers 1/1. That means that every second turn IJN tankers can move 2 squares, whereas USN tankers could only ever move 1 square.
Tanking was done day or night, rain or shine on a tanking table. As strange as it sounds, at the time of this scenario, the IJN force was probably better than the USN at tanking. In clear weather, a US tanker could resupply 50-150 points per turn (that's 250 tons to 750 tons transferred in 4 hours). The IJN was rated at 500 tons to 1,000 tons in 4 hours per tanker in clear weather.
Special Advantages of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1. Long Range Seaplane Cruisers.
Tone, Chikuma – If both of these are in the same task force, you get one free scouting squadron of range ‘6’ every turn.
Suzuya, Kumano, Mikuma, Mogami – if all four of these are in the same task force, you get one free scouting squadron of range 6 scout free every turn.
2. Searching
Japanese squadron types ‘P’, ‘M’, ‘T’, ‘S’ and ‘SR’ search at no penalty.
Japanese “D” squadrons search with a penalty of ‘+1’ to each roll.
Japanese “F” squadrons search with a penalty of ‘+2’ to each roll.
3. Tracking
If a US ship task force was spotted last turn at a range of less than ‘6’ from either a Japanese carrier or one of the long range seaplane cruiser groups mentioned above, then when the US task force moves, it is ‘tracked’ on a roll of ‘1-3’. You see where all ships of a ‘tracked’ group will move to before any of your (untracked) task forces move.
4. Pre-War Training.
If attacking ships in port with level bombers, your “T” squadrons attacking from your six Pearl Harbor carriers are considered to have a ‘4’ level-bombing value to reflect the residual effects of intensive pre-war training.
5. Air Strike Procedure.
Japanese fleet carriers tended to launch air strikes in two waves. However, right at the time of this scenario (the raid on Port Darwin), Kido Butai experimented with a ‘running rendezvous’ strike against a land base.
Japanese fleet carriers attack ships at sea in ‘waves’ of up to half of the carrier’s capacity rounded up, (Akagi’s capacity is 15, meaning it can launch up to 8 squadrons in one wave). All carriers in the same zone must attack the same target zone, with all aircraft in the wave being combined into one strike. Japanese fleet carriers can launch two waves per turn. The second wave may be directed against a different target than the first wave.
Japanese light carriers may launch all their squadrons as one wave.
If attacking a land target and the strike will pass over an island or anchorage en route to the target, the Japanese player can launch both ‘waves’ as one giant attack. The range of all participating squadrons is reduced by one.
6. ‘Long Lance’ Torpedoes
These have special advantages in surface combat. In aerial combat, to reflect the volatile nature of these weapons, Japanese cruisers hit by bombs roll one additional die for each hit and they suffer an additional hit for each penalty die roll that is a ‘6’
7. The “Zero” Fighter.
The Zero fighter was probably the single greatest asset to the Japanese carrier forces in the first six months of the war. While Allied fighter pilots and tactics were good enough that fighter vs. fighter aerial losses were usually comparable, its long range, manoeuvrability and high rate of climb gave it advantages that were unparalleled.
a. Only one U.S. fighter may shoot at each of your Zero squadrons, no matter how many U.S. fighters there are in the combat. (i.e., if there are 20 “CAP” fighters but only 5 “Zeros”, only 5 CAP may shoot at your Zeros).
b. For every two escorting Zeros, three defending fighters are blocked from shooting at your bombers during the ingress round. (i.e., if 8 Zeros are escorting against 14 US fighters on CAP, 8 US fighters must shoot at the Zeros, 4 US fighters are blocked from shooting at anything, and the other two may shoot at the bombers).
c. It takes three escorting US fighters to block two Zeros when US attacks are being made against Zeros flying CAP. (i.e., if F10 escort engages an F10 Zero CAP, F7 of the Zero CAP must shoot at the escorting fighters and F3 may engage bombers.).
d. Air Strike Zeros launched from a distance of 3 zones or less from the battle zone kill defending fighters during the egress round on a roll of ‘5’ or ‘6’. The additional lethality reflects the Zero’s demonstrated ability to use the combination of manoeuvre and endurance to ‘fuel kill’ defending fighters.
f. Only 6 Japanese fighters may ‘bounce’ an incoming raid, (not 12 as listed in the rules).
Night Operations.
Your six heavy carriers can conduct night operations with “D” and “T” squadrons, and your “P” and “M” land based squadrons can as well, by designating each that will fly a night mission with a ‘night’ marker on the 8am turn of the day prior to when they will fly. A squadron with a ‘night’ marker can still fly in daytime, but if it does, it loses its night marker and cannot fly in the night mission.
a. Air range for night flying is ‘-2’ off the squadron’s printed value.
b. The number of bomb dice rolled for ship attacks is halved, (ie, torpedo attacks by your Kate bombers roll will roll 2 dice per squadron, not the ‘4’ printed on the counter). Ship anti-aircraft is also halved at night.
c. The number of squadrons required to attack at bases is doubled. (ie, it takes two squadrons to roll one attack against a grounded squadron and four to attack base infastructure).
d. The zones to which the attacking squadrons return will be revealed to the US player, (aircraft recovering at sea at night tended to broadcast in order to find and land on their parent carriers).
e. If the target zone is weather state ‘2’ or higher, the attack automatically fails.
f. Squadrons flown at night suffer a ‘-1’ penalty to their bombing attacks if they are used during the next day. Any squadron that flies consecutively during one night (any of the three turns) and one day (any of the three turns) is exhausted and cannot fly again until it has passed through an entire night phase without flying.
“S” Class Seaplanes (F1M Pete).
Your “S” seaplanes may fly CAP, escort, or fly bombing missions. When being used as fighters, treat them as type “Fo”.
“M” Class Bombers (the G3M Nell)
These are vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire when making torpedo attacks. A squadron is lost each time a ship rolls any combination of two ‘5’s’ or ‘6’s’
“P” squadrons.
These count as two squadrons when you ‘ready’ them.
Submarine Seaplane Tender.
This is a special submarine unit modified to carry fuel. It has a ‘ready’ capacity of 2 and can ready a total of 6 squadrons during the game. (“P” types count as double, so it can ‘ready’ only 3 of these).
At-Sea Refuelling.
You may refuel ships at sea using your tanker units. A task force that is refueling may only move 1 square per turn.
Roll one die for each tanker and check the tanker table on sheet 2. The result is how many “DD” oil points are transferred by that tanker. Roll as many times as you have tankers.
If you sail directly into the wind, shift one column to the left on the tanker table.
Use the total oil points gained to fuel either ships or their attendant destroyer as you see fit.
You may also refuel from warship to DD using the same procedure. Shift 1 table to the right when doing so.
Destroyers: These are not represented in the game, but they are present and require fueling in order for your ships to move about the map. Each ship in the game is assumed to have one attendant DD present with it.
Invasion Procedure and Victory Points.
Your invasion convoy may invade one green zone other than Oahu and you will receive victory points as follows –
Midway (10)
Johnston Island (5)
Any Hawaii Island other than Oahu (20)
To successfully invade, at least half your AP’s must survive sitting on the invasion base for six consecutive turns.
1. Long Range Seaplane Cruisers.
Tone, Chikuma – If both of these are in the same task force, you get one free scouting squadron of range ‘6’ every turn.
Suzuya, Kumano, Mikuma, Mogami – if all four of these are in the same task force, you get one free scouting squadron of range 6 scout free every turn.
2. Searching
Japanese squadron types ‘P’, ‘M’, ‘T’, ‘S’ and ‘SR’ search at no penalty.
Japanese “D” squadrons search with a penalty of ‘+1’ to each roll.
Japanese “F” squadrons search with a penalty of ‘+2’ to each roll.
3. Tracking
If a US ship task force was spotted last turn at a range of less than ‘6’ from either a Japanese carrier or one of the long range seaplane cruiser groups mentioned above, then when the US task force moves, it is ‘tracked’ on a roll of ‘1-3’. You see where all ships of a ‘tracked’ group will move to before any of your (untracked) task forces move.
4. Pre-War Training.
If attacking ships in port with level bombers, your “T” squadrons attacking from your six Pearl Harbor carriers are considered to have a ‘4’ level-bombing value to reflect the residual effects of intensive pre-war training.
5. Air Strike Procedure.
Japanese fleet carriers tended to launch air strikes in two waves. However, right at the time of this scenario (the raid on Port Darwin), Kido Butai experimented with a ‘running rendezvous’ strike against a land base.
Japanese fleet carriers attack ships at sea in ‘waves’ of up to half of the carrier’s capacity rounded up, (Akagi’s capacity is 15, meaning it can launch up to 8 squadrons in one wave). All carriers in the same zone must attack the same target zone, with all aircraft in the wave being combined into one strike. Japanese fleet carriers can launch two waves per turn. The second wave may be directed against a different target than the first wave.
Japanese light carriers may launch all their squadrons as one wave.
If attacking a land target and the strike will pass over an island or anchorage en route to the target, the Japanese player can launch both ‘waves’ as one giant attack. The range of all participating squadrons is reduced by one.
6. ‘Long Lance’ Torpedoes
These have special advantages in surface combat. In aerial combat, to reflect the volatile nature of these weapons, Japanese cruisers hit by bombs roll one additional die for each hit and they suffer an additional hit for each penalty die roll that is a ‘6’
7. The “Zero” Fighter.
The Zero fighter was probably the single greatest asset to the Japanese carrier forces in the first six months of the war. While Allied fighter pilots and tactics were good enough that fighter vs. fighter aerial losses were usually comparable, its long range, manoeuvrability and high rate of climb gave it advantages that were unparalleled.
a. Only one U.S. fighter may shoot at each of your Zero squadrons, no matter how many U.S. fighters there are in the combat. (i.e., if there are 20 “CAP” fighters but only 5 “Zeros”, only 5 CAP may shoot at your Zeros).
b. For every two escorting Zeros, three defending fighters are blocked from shooting at your bombers during the ingress round. (i.e., if 8 Zeros are escorting against 14 US fighters on CAP, 8 US fighters must shoot at the Zeros, 4 US fighters are blocked from shooting at anything, and the other two may shoot at the bombers).
c. It takes three escorting US fighters to block two Zeros when US attacks are being made against Zeros flying CAP. (i.e., if F10 escort engages an F10 Zero CAP, F7 of the Zero CAP must shoot at the escorting fighters and F3 may engage bombers.).
d. Air Strike Zeros launched from a distance of 3 zones or less from the battle zone kill defending fighters during the egress round on a roll of ‘5’ or ‘6’. The additional lethality reflects the Zero’s demonstrated ability to use the combination of manoeuvre and endurance to ‘fuel kill’ defending fighters.
f. Only 6 Japanese fighters may ‘bounce’ an incoming raid, (not 12 as listed in the rules).
Night Operations.
Your six heavy carriers can conduct night operations with “D” and “T” squadrons, and your “P” and “M” land based squadrons can as well, by designating each that will fly a night mission with a ‘night’ marker on the 8am turn of the day prior to when they will fly. A squadron with a ‘night’ marker can still fly in daytime, but if it does, it loses its night marker and cannot fly in the night mission.
a. Air range for night flying is ‘-2’ off the squadron’s printed value.
b. The number of bomb dice rolled for ship attacks is halved, (ie, torpedo attacks by your Kate bombers roll will roll 2 dice per squadron, not the ‘4’ printed on the counter). Ship anti-aircraft is also halved at night.
c. The number of squadrons required to attack at bases is doubled. (ie, it takes two squadrons to roll one attack against a grounded squadron and four to attack base infastructure).
d. The zones to which the attacking squadrons return will be revealed to the US player, (aircraft recovering at sea at night tended to broadcast in order to find and land on their parent carriers).
e. If the target zone is weather state ‘2’ or higher, the attack automatically fails.
f. Squadrons flown at night suffer a ‘-1’ penalty to their bombing attacks if they are used during the next day. Any squadron that flies consecutively during one night (any of the three turns) and one day (any of the three turns) is exhausted and cannot fly again until it has passed through an entire night phase without flying.
“S” Class Seaplanes (F1M Pete).
Your “S” seaplanes may fly CAP, escort, or fly bombing missions. When being used as fighters, treat them as type “Fo”.
“M” Class Bombers (the G3M Nell)
These are vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire when making torpedo attacks. A squadron is lost each time a ship rolls any combination of two ‘5’s’ or ‘6’s’
“P” squadrons.
These count as two squadrons when you ‘ready’ them.
Submarine Seaplane Tender.
This is a special submarine unit modified to carry fuel. It has a ‘ready’ capacity of 2 and can ready a total of 6 squadrons during the game. (“P” types count as double, so it can ‘ready’ only 3 of these).
At-Sea Refuelling.
You may refuel ships at sea using your tanker units. A task force that is refueling may only move 1 square per turn.
Roll one die for each tanker and check the tanker table on sheet 2. The result is how many “DD” oil points are transferred by that tanker. Roll as many times as you have tankers.
If you sail directly into the wind, shift one column to the left on the tanker table.
Use the total oil points gained to fuel either ships or their attendant destroyer as you see fit.
You may also refuel from warship to DD using the same procedure. Shift 1 table to the right when doing so.
Destroyers: These are not represented in the game, but they are present and require fueling in order for your ships to move about the map. Each ship in the game is assumed to have one attendant DD present with it.
Invasion Procedure and Victory Points.
Your invasion convoy may invade one green zone other than Oahu and you will receive victory points as follows –
Midway (10)
Johnston Island (5)
Any Hawaii Island other than Oahu (20)
To successfully invade, at least half your AP’s must survive sitting on the invasion base for six consecutive turns.
Special Advantages of the United States Navy.
1. Searching
Squadron types ‘P’, ‘M’, ‘D’, ‘T’ search at no penalty.
“F” and “Fo” squadrons search with a penalty of ‘-2’.
2. Carrier Air Strikes.
US carriers operating in the same task force attack the same target as individual waves; each carrier’s strike is resolved as a separate attack, (this reflects poor inter-carrier coordination, which hampered US doctrine for the first years of the war).
Whenever multiple US carriers are attacking the same square, even if the US carriers are attacking from different squares, roll one die for each additional strike beyond the first; on a roll of ‘1-2’ it combines with the first strike to form one large attack, (this reflects the chance that different carriers could arrive at the target within half an hour or so of each other simply by chance). Continue this procedure for all waves until there are no more waves following.
Example. Three US carriers are attacking one zone. The Lexington attacks first. The US player rolls one die for Yorktown’s strike and one for Enterprise’s, ‘4,4’. Lexington’s group attacks alone. After Lexington’s attack is resolved, the US player selects Yorktown to attack next. He rolls one die for the Enterprise – a ‘2’. Yorktown’s and Enterprise’s strikes attack as one group.
Night Operations.
Bombing and Recon: Your carrier based “D” and “T” squadrons, and your land based “B” and “P” squadrons can be assigned to fly night missions by putting a ‘night’ marker on the selected squadrons during the 8am turn of the day prior to when they will fly. A squadron with a ‘night’ marker can still fly in the daytime, but if it does, it loses its night marker and cannot fly that night.
a. Air range for night attack is ‘-2’ off the squadron’s printed value when conducting an attack.
b. The number of bomb dice rolled for ship attack is halved, (ie, torpedo attacks by your Devastators roll 2 dice per squadron, not the ‘4’ printed on the counter). Ship anti-aircraft is also halved at night.
c. The number of squadrons required to attack at bases is doubled. (ie, it takes two squadrons to roll one attack).
d. Any sea zones to which the attacking squadrons return will be revealed to the Japanese player, (aircraft recovering at sea at night tended to have to broadcast in order to find and land on their parent carriers).
e. If the target zone is weather state ‘2’ or higher, the attack automatically fails.
f. Squadrons flown at night suffer a ‘-1’ penalty to their bombing attacks if they are used during the next day. Any squadron that flies consecutively during one night (any of the three turns) and one day (any of the three turns) is exhausted and cannot fly again until it has passed through an entire night phase without flying.
Fighters may fly night CAP missions, prepping for night deployment in the same manner as other squadrons. You may fly up to F3 at night in any zone, using the daytime air rules.
“B” and “P” Squadrons.
Your PBY Catalina “P” and B-17 “B” squadrons count as two squadrons when ‘readying’. These squadrons may attack the same or different target than other squadrons of that airbase is attacking that turn, (so if an IJN force is at range ‘4’ and another at range ‘10’, your heavy squadrons can attack either group while the rest attack the range 4 group).
“B” squadrons have the following special rules;
(a) In air combat all “B” squadrons fire even if only one “B” squadron comes under attack. The Japanese player may decline to fire at “B” squadrons, in which case they do not fire and do not qualify for bomber squadron losses, (the Japanese seem to have had a healthy respect for them).
(b) A “B” squadron always takes two hits to be destroyed.
“D” Squadrons on CAP.
“D” squadrons aboard carriers may fly CAP patrols, being treated as type ‘Fo’ when doing so.
Air Search Radar.
Anytime a Japanese strike is inbound you are informed if it is 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25+ squadrons in size, (whichever total is closest, rounded up). Before the ‘bounce’ you may; (1) reinforce your CAP with any currently ‘ready’ fighters or dive bombers in the zone being attacked.
(2) move any currently ‘ready’ squadrons to their carrier’s ‘aloft’ box, (where they are immune to air attack).
(3) Radar directed interception: For ‘F’ squadrons (not ‘Fo’) that were flying CAP prior to the raid (ie, not just launched from ‘ready’), roll one die. If the roll is a ‘6’ then the CAP has succeeded in making a distant interception. Fight two air ingress rounds, (with any fighters launched from ‘ready’ joining the fray on the 2nd ingress round. The Japanese player may abort his attack after the first ingress round.
Wheeler Field
Wheeler Field was more heavily fortified than other airfields. US single engine squadrons on the ground there take two hits to be destroyed when being attacked on the ground.
Anti-Aircraft
US carriers were prioritized for AA upgrades at the start of the war. US carriers score AA kills for any combination of two ‘5’ or ‘6’ die rolled against one attacking bomber group.
Surface Search Radar
Your ships Pensacola, Chicago, Northampton, Chester, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Yorktown, Lexington Enterprise have radar. In addition to their regular searches, these ships always report the number (not type) of enemy ships in their zone regardless of weather conditions.
At-Sea Refuelling.
You may refuel ships at sea using your tanker units. A task force that is refueling may only move 1 square per turn.
Roll one die for each tanker and check the tanker table on sheet 2. The result is how many “DD” oil points are transferred by that tanker. Roll as many times as you have tankers.
If you sail directly into the wind, shift one column to the left on the tanker table.
Use the total oil points gained to fuel either ships or their attendant destroyer as you see fit.
You may also refuel from warship to DD using the same procedure. Shift 1 table to the right when doing so.
1. Searching
Squadron types ‘P’, ‘M’, ‘D’, ‘T’ search at no penalty.
“F” and “Fo” squadrons search with a penalty of ‘-2’.
2. Carrier Air Strikes.
US carriers operating in the same task force attack the same target as individual waves; each carrier’s strike is resolved as a separate attack, (this reflects poor inter-carrier coordination, which hampered US doctrine for the first years of the war).
Whenever multiple US carriers are attacking the same square, even if the US carriers are attacking from different squares, roll one die for each additional strike beyond the first; on a roll of ‘1-2’ it combines with the first strike to form one large attack, (this reflects the chance that different carriers could arrive at the target within half an hour or so of each other simply by chance). Continue this procedure for all waves until there are no more waves following.
Example. Three US carriers are attacking one zone. The Lexington attacks first. The US player rolls one die for Yorktown’s strike and one for Enterprise’s, ‘4,4’. Lexington’s group attacks alone. After Lexington’s attack is resolved, the US player selects Yorktown to attack next. He rolls one die for the Enterprise – a ‘2’. Yorktown’s and Enterprise’s strikes attack as one group.
Night Operations.
Bombing and Recon: Your carrier based “D” and “T” squadrons, and your land based “B” and “P” squadrons can be assigned to fly night missions by putting a ‘night’ marker on the selected squadrons during the 8am turn of the day prior to when they will fly. A squadron with a ‘night’ marker can still fly in the daytime, but if it does, it loses its night marker and cannot fly that night.
a. Air range for night attack is ‘-2’ off the squadron’s printed value when conducting an attack.
b. The number of bomb dice rolled for ship attack is halved, (ie, torpedo attacks by your Devastators roll 2 dice per squadron, not the ‘4’ printed on the counter). Ship anti-aircraft is also halved at night.
c. The number of squadrons required to attack at bases is doubled. (ie, it takes two squadrons to roll one attack).
d. Any sea zones to which the attacking squadrons return will be revealed to the Japanese player, (aircraft recovering at sea at night tended to have to broadcast in order to find and land on their parent carriers).
e. If the target zone is weather state ‘2’ or higher, the attack automatically fails.
f. Squadrons flown at night suffer a ‘-1’ penalty to their bombing attacks if they are used during the next day. Any squadron that flies consecutively during one night (any of the three turns) and one day (any of the three turns) is exhausted and cannot fly again until it has passed through an entire night phase without flying.
Fighters may fly night CAP missions, prepping for night deployment in the same manner as other squadrons. You may fly up to F3 at night in any zone, using the daytime air rules.
“B” and “P” Squadrons.
Your PBY Catalina “P” and B-17 “B” squadrons count as two squadrons when ‘readying’. These squadrons may attack the same or different target than other squadrons of that airbase is attacking that turn, (so if an IJN force is at range ‘4’ and another at range ‘10’, your heavy squadrons can attack either group while the rest attack the range 4 group).
“B” squadrons have the following special rules;
(a) In air combat all “B” squadrons fire even if only one “B” squadron comes under attack. The Japanese player may decline to fire at “B” squadrons, in which case they do not fire and do not qualify for bomber squadron losses, (the Japanese seem to have had a healthy respect for them).
(b) A “B” squadron always takes two hits to be destroyed.
“D” Squadrons on CAP.
“D” squadrons aboard carriers may fly CAP patrols, being treated as type ‘Fo’ when doing so.
Air Search Radar.
Anytime a Japanese strike is inbound you are informed if it is 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25+ squadrons in size, (whichever total is closest, rounded up). Before the ‘bounce’ you may; (1) reinforce your CAP with any currently ‘ready’ fighters or dive bombers in the zone being attacked.
(2) move any currently ‘ready’ squadrons to their carrier’s ‘aloft’ box, (where they are immune to air attack).
(3) Radar directed interception: For ‘F’ squadrons (not ‘Fo’) that were flying CAP prior to the raid (ie, not just launched from ‘ready’), roll one die. If the roll is a ‘6’ then the CAP has succeeded in making a distant interception. Fight two air ingress rounds, (with any fighters launched from ‘ready’ joining the fray on the 2nd ingress round. The Japanese player may abort his attack after the first ingress round.
Wheeler Field
Wheeler Field was more heavily fortified than other airfields. US single engine squadrons on the ground there take two hits to be destroyed when being attacked on the ground.
Anti-Aircraft
US carriers were prioritized for AA upgrades at the start of the war. US carriers score AA kills for any combination of two ‘5’ or ‘6’ die rolled against one attacking bomber group.
Surface Search Radar
Your ships Pensacola, Chicago, Northampton, Chester, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Yorktown, Lexington Enterprise have radar. In addition to their regular searches, these ships always report the number (not type) of enemy ships in their zone regardless of weather conditions.
At-Sea Refuelling.
You may refuel ships at sea using your tanker units. A task force that is refueling may only move 1 square per turn.
Roll one die for each tanker and check the tanker table on sheet 2. The result is how many “DD” oil points are transferred by that tanker. Roll as many times as you have tankers.
If you sail directly into the wind, shift one column to the left on the tanker table.
Use the total oil points gained to fuel either ships or their attendant destroyer as you see fit.
You may also refuel from warship to DD using the same procedure. Shift 1 table to the right when doing so.
I've also got an idea or two how to deal with those PBY-infested lagoons.
Do any of those ideas involve Godzilla? That is the first thing that came to my mind.
To answer Kevin's earlier question to me, my tankers were slow. The only fast tanker I had was the Lexington.
Earlier I had commented that a tanker was operating with my western task forces as they moved towards Midway. I did have one tanker out past Kauai, and it may have been my westernmost task force at one time. The problem was, while the Lexington TF and the cruiser TF could make high speed dashes towards the enemy, they would still eventually have to meet the tanker for refueling. My sustained speed towards Midway was still 1 zone per turn.
I'm trying to decide if my refueling situation was simple or complex. Maybe my sustained speed towards Midway was faster than 1 zone per turn? Lexington could refuel destroyers and the cruisers had big fuel stores. THey could keep going till the tanker (and the BBs) caught up.
Glenn,
What do you mean by "Cornwalling"?
I would have withdrawn my cruisers south. I have no way of knowing that the IJN carriers were withdrawing. Akagi alone would have been a threat. (Btw, I was both hunting Akagi and worried about Akagi in the last few turns.) I assume my cruisers had the speed to stay out of gunnery range. That means high speed steaming, and then the IJN ships are doing the same and running away from their oilers.
Kevin, would you have considered pursuing my retreating forces with your cruisers and BBs? A pursuit that headed far enough east would have been my one remaining hope for getting my BBs involved.
Good points, Carl. I was thinking converting the crippled CAs would be considered as an expedient amid a panic. The Cleveland hulls would go faster than converting the CAs, since there would be no need to remove the upper hull from the Clevelands.
One strategy I've been thinking of for the rest of 1942 is the retaking of Wake Island. The Pacific Fleet won't have much offensive capability, even if Hornet, Wasp, and Saratoga are all active (and maybe Ranger in the rear?) Bring in the CVE Long Island as well, which was with the battleships before June 1942. Wake might be close enough to US bases that the fleet might be risked. Depending on refitting schedules, 6 or more old BBs can be available.
Taking Wake expands the patrolled zone west of Hawaii. It might also trigger a response from the Japanese, in essence a reverse Midway.
Hmm, would the IJN try for Midway again in 1942? What would the US response be in that case?
I hadn't thought of that.Dilvish said:Do any of those ideas involve Godzilla? That is the first thing that came to my mind.
Dilvish said:To answer Kevin's earlier question to me, my tankers were slow. The only fast tanker I had was the Lexington.
I got my answer from Glenn's post. I didn't realize my tankers were actually faster. I was thinking they were no faster than the transports.
As it turned out, the tanker speed wasn't a huge issue.That looks like my solution, too: preposition as effectively as possible.Dilvish said:
I had the same problem, which was taking me away from Oahu, & Lex, in the last 4-5 turns.Dilvish said:
Honestly, I wasn't keeping careful track of rate of advance while tanking/not.Dilvish said:
For me, the issue was time taken.If I could have fuelled from subs, I'd have done it.
(I can just imagine a sub with 20000 tons of oil aboard.)I'm taking it to mean a curbstomp.Dilvish said:
So that worked out better than I hoped.Dilvish said:
Were you thinking the whole main TF was along, or just her?Just your surface forces? IDK. I'd probably have kept my BBs & CAs off Midway absent knowing your CAs or BBs were remotely close. I'd have been using carrier air & VSs to track what was left of Lex's escort, & I'd have finished them with my escort cruisers if possible. If I'd detected your BBs at that point, with almost no CV strike capacity left, I'd probably have avoided, knowing my cruisers were outgunned, unless I could lure you nearer my own BBs, or unless they were bearing down. (A long chase, with need for tanking, would have been a pretty futile exercise for the amount of return.)Dilvish said:
It crossed my mind to come after you, but I realized, since you knew where I was, all I had to do was wait & try & meet you inbound after dark.
I'm thinking that would be an epic disaster.Dilvish said:
I'm seeing Tarawa times...IDK, 10? That's presuming the Pac Fleet can make a jump that long without support afloat.It really has to, IMO. Japan can't afford a U.S. base there.Dilvish said:
Given the results here, & allowing for the amount of overclaiming IJHQ would get (& blindly acceptDilvish said:
), IMO there'd be no perceived need to return. Yamamoto got his wish. Beyond that, Japan has lost so much of her CV striking power, another major attack before the U.S. has overwhelming strength seems unlikely.
The destruction of HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall in the Indian Ocean during the 1942 raid.