Be sure to check the opening times on the hangar and BOB section because they have strange opening and closing times separate to the actual museum.

Yep, I noticed that. Probably be there for most of the day anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

Right. CCIP is getting to grips with a couple issues within the game but I should get the turn back from him either tonight or tomorrow. It's easy to forget how daunting it actually is when you're new to it. I've been playing it for a couple of years now and I still find it hard to work out what's going on at times.

Hmm, look at that. Looks like we have a new neighbour up the page there.

Got the turn. I shall run it in a bit....

And we're off!


6th August

Combat over the night of the 6th and 7th is slow but manages to confirm one of my fears straight away: He has B-17s. Probably not in any great numbers by the look of it but enough to give me pause for thought.

My recon aircraft snoop at Moresby and there seems to be quite a concentration of fighters there, a couple of squadrons worth at least. There aren't many bombers, though. In the morning My Zeros sortie from Lae over the port where, in heavy rain, they tangle with several P-39Ds. There are no losses. He returns the favour with a Beaufort raid on Lae. He loses one to my tiny CAP.

It's a slow start to the campaign but I'm sure things will heat up.

Arrivals

A dozen or so subs arrive at Truk and are immediately tasked with patrols in the waters around the Solomon islands, Near Port Moresby and off the Australian coast. Below is a shot of the various patrol zones around guadalcanal itself. You might notice a small gap right in the middle. This will be resolved shortly once the landing force starts to arrive. I want the rest on station to deal with the larger capital ships that will be arriving.

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1165/subopscut.jpg


Orders

Aside from the subs, I've ordered the cruisers I had at Rabaul and Kaveing to pull back to Truk until a decent number of escorts and the carriers arrive. I don't want them engaging on their own. Barges from Rabaul are lading with supplies for Kaveing, a fast transport convoy is loading at Rabaul for Tassaforonga. Fast transport convoys are supposed to hold off during the day and then zoom in and dump their cargo under the cover of night. We'll soon see how well it works.

A convoy is also forming for Shortlands. I need this base built up enough to handle aircraft, especially fighters but for that I need supplies and engineers. A unit at Truk is prepping as is the 143rd JAAF AF battalion currently at Wewak on PNG. I don't need them here currently so they will be moved as soon as I can get a convoy to them.

I had two infantry units form up on the north end of Guadalcanal. They muster about 190 AV between them, which is nothing to sniff at. I won't move them. They wouldn't arrive in time to make any difference anyway, and They're nice insurance in case CCIP gets cheeky and tries an alternate landing. Once supplies arrive I'll get them building fortifications.

On PNG, the Horii group of units will conduct recon by fire on the Allied unit in their vicinity. I'm not sure what this unit is - an Australian division perhaps? maybe only a brigade. I've stopped the unit moving until I know more about what they're facing.

I've reduced the range of the Betties slightly but not touched much else. Our boffins' picked up radio signals from a TF making it's way north so they are on their way. I haven't seen the carriers yet but they are out there somewhere.

I'm hoping we'll get another turn in tonight as I'm away in the morning. We'll see how it goes.

Good lord - a turn back already! That's either a very good sign or a very, very bad one! :D

we're having problems getting the combat animations to show. For some reason it they were set to 'Off' in my settings - despite me having never played with them off every before. I sent CCIP back the latest turn having saved it with them turned on so I'm hoping this time it will work. If it doesn't I've offered to scrub this game and start again. We're only a couple of turns in anyway so it shouldn't be too much of a hardship. I'm just hoping it's resolvable and not some sort of beta patch issue.

OK, still a problem so we're starting again. I'll be doing pretty much everything exactly the same except for shifting a couple of convoys around in the first turn so I probably won't update until We reach turn 3 again.

It's a pain. Not a big one but a pain anyway. No idea why it's done it and I'm hoping it doesn't do it again but that's the way things are.

Don't go changing the channel! We'll be right back!

Right, it seems to be behaving now. Only differences were I smacked his Kittyhawks around when they came to Lae. Report claims my Zeros got three of them but I think it might be more.

His B-17s did a number on Tulagi, 69 casualties reported. Not much I can do about that just now. I imagine his fleet will be arriving on the next turn.

Here is a screenie showing my preliminary sub patrol areas. I'll change them as and when needed.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5444/subopcut2.jpg


Other than this not much to report. My cruisers are almost back to Truk and I'm loading the first engineer unit for Shortlands. Forts on Guadalcanal and Tulagi went to 1. Don't think they'll get much higher before the invasion starts.

8/8/42

The landings start.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2613/landingscut.jpg

He opens with a massive battleship barrage on my positions on Guadalcanal, doing about 90 odd casualties. B-17s hit several places on both Guadalcanal and Tulagi. My Betties sortie against the landing fleet but fail to register a hit on the juicy troop ships and I lose 7 Zeros to a stout CAP. No torpedoes were carried by the Betties. I don't know why. They have been ordered to go in lower and also told to try a night attack in the hope of missing the pulverising waves of Wildcats.

On PNG, several raids by A-20 Havoc hit the runway at Buna but I have no aircraft there so it doesn't matter for the time being.

These early exchanges are usually in the Allies favour (so different from the grand campaign,) and all I can do is withstand the initial batterings. It's about ten days until the first of my carriers arrive and less than a week until the first substantial arrival of bomber reinforcements. By then he'll be running low on carrier sorties and will have to think about returning to port. That will be my first real window of opportunity. For the time being, I'll concentate on getting the Betties to do something useful. I'm quite surprised they didn't all die in the raid like they are wont to do.

Subs are all at sea and transiting to their patrol zones. In a couple of days I'll be ready to sting him if he stands still.

Supply ships leave Truk for Rabaul and my fast transport TF should reach Tassaforonga tonight if everything goes according to plan, which it rarely does.

Your's and CCIP's AARs are like too mild drug for me. I've been drooling over this game for ages now. As a poor student, I haven't really had extra money for this game (it's quite expensive! Even when on sale...). These AARs ease the pain a bit but increases the drooling bit...

Anyway, really interesting to follow the both sides!

Same, but without the student part...I'm just strapped for cash at the mo. Plus I've never really been good at TBS....or RTS for that matter... :haha:

Me neither. But nevertheless, I love to get my ass kicked in them :D.

Well, i'm sitting here in a south london kebab shop watching the football and waiting for my meal, and instead of thinking about sight seeing, the footie or my food i'm on an internet forum talking aboit WitP. I think I'm probably addicted and it's too late to do anything about it. CCIP might escape but....well.....probably not. :D

Pricewise: yeah, it's pricey, very pricey, and me telling you "oh, but you'll be playing it for years so you'll get more moneysworth out of it than a triple A title" has a certain amount of truth but fails to take the initial outlay into consideration
It took me a long time to actually buy it. CCIP was the same. I'll say this much. You will never play another game with such scope, complexity and detail. Never. No dev will ever sanction it and no puvlisher would pay for it. To quote Hunter S Thompson, WItP:AE is a lone bugle call over a lost battlefield. That's why this game is sp expensive. That why it's worth paying.

Should have gone to one of the Japanese stalls down Camden market! :O:

Wouldn't have seen the footie though...although given the final score that probably wouldn't have been a bad thing... :03:

I've just arrived at hendon. Within my line if vision are a camel, fokker, typhoon(ww2 and modern,) 109 and P-51D. This is only the first hanger. Something jyst went pop in my brain.

Don't worry, it's normal. At least for someone familiar with their history, what they represent. :salute:

Don't forget the 262, Harrier and Ki-1001b :03:

Wait until you get to the hangar with the bombers in...that Vulcan...makes my mind melt every time I get up close to it and realise the sheer size of the bugger. :doh:

I'll tell you what was huge: the Vickers Vimy is a massive bit of kit. And I had no idea exactly how big a Lancaster was....

The Short Sutherland display, where you get to go inside and through the fuselage was superb as the entire place was. For anyone that hasn't had a chance to visit RAF Hendon - next time you are in the London area make a day of it. It's amazing.

What a place. Wow. I spent about an hour just walking around the Bristol Fighter with an idiotic grin on my face....Must be one of the premier collection of warbirds anywhere on the planet. I'll post some shots when I have the energy...

Likewise with the turn. Too tired to look at it tonight. CCIP sent me a link to some of those shots he did in SH4 for his AAR. I'm sure he's posted them in his thread. Very nicely done. I always fancied doing something similar with IL2 but never got around to it.

In the last turn before I went to London my Zeros were doing pretty badly. I'll have to look into that as they got mauled over Guadalcanal by his Wildcat CAP. now, I think there are a couple of reasons for this: first, they were flying long range escort for the Betties and were weighed down by drop tanks. I don't know whether the game models that sort of effect for external tanks but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. Second, they were perhaps flying too low. I'll set their height to the next band up and see whether that makes a difference.

Ah, OK, here's a quicky before I go to bed. Forgive the quality, I only had a camera phone on me.

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/9...ternalimay.jpg

8/9th August

Not a great turn. :(

One of my dislikes of the game is the mechanics for the fast transport task forces. What is supposed to happen is simple: They hold back and rush in to deliver their supplies at night and leave again before dawn. Did that happen here? Well, they got some supplies ashore.....

Ouch. A regular shellacking. I wonder if the presence of the Armed Merchant cruiser may have caused the delay in leaving. It's possible that there are a number of factors that caused them to still be in the area when the sun came up. From now on I'll have to concentrate on Landing Barges operating down the Slot. A network running from Rabaul to Shortlands to Tassaforonga is probably the best. They don't carry much supply but are almost invisible to aircraft.

Airwar

Not so bad. I moved my Zeros at Lae up to 20000ft for CAP and it paid off. They shot down 2 Beauforts, 2 A-20s and damaged several more for none lost. The Zeros at Rabaul had the day off as I see no point in such long distance sweeps for little reward. CCIP's CAP over the landing beaches is huge and I'm unwilling to risk all my planes getting shotdown without anything in return. Once Shortlands is up and running as an airbase it will be different.

My Bettys flew a couple of night raids with little effect. They went after the fast, alert destroyers instead of the fat, docile landing ships. I wish there was a way to get them to focus on what I want them to hit but there isn't. Still it will have made CCIP aware of the possible danger of night attacks an that is good as his CAP won't be nearly as efficient in the dark. There was no CAP at all this time around. I expect different tonight.

Aircraft based at Tulagi have been pulled back to Rabaul.

Ground War

His troops came ashore in strength on both Lunga and Tulagi. His bombardment of the latter did a phenomenal 171 casualties to the small defensive force. I expect it to fall next turn or the one after; whenever he chooses to attack.

On the Kokoda trail, Japanese troops are preparing to attack the Australian brigade on the trail in front of them. My men are about 100AV better off but I expect it to still be a close run thing. I don't expect to drive him out of the hex this time but I might weaken him substantially.

Sea War

Not much to report. the first of my subs are almost in position now. Hopefully I'll register some hits in the next few days.


OK. Below is a map showing how the situation is developing. we have bombardment and escort tfs mixed in with the landing fleets. The carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, and Saratoga, I think,) continue to sit just beyond the islands.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4279/landings2.jpg


I was lairy of giving orders this turn. I'm happy with the air units so far and the subs are almost in position. A big supply convoy is about to leave truk for Rabaul and once that arrives I'll start moving units forward to Shortlands under a stout CAP - well, as stout a CAP as I can manage just now.