David R. Moody - May 8, 2008 1:20 pm (#22752 Total: 23182) What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises-- no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love . . . . It's not for fighting. My copy of Khyber Pass' B-29 Superfortress is due to arrive next Tuesday, and last night in anticipation I started the B-29s in China campaign from Corsairs and Hellcats, to get some flight time on the Superfortress before the new game arrives. Basically, you start with three B-29s. The game lasts 12 turns (each turn being one week), and each week you assign one of four missions to your B-29s--Supply (fly over the Hump to take supplies to forward bases so you can bomb Japan), Missions (bomb Japan and other places--sometimes you must fly the mission that week or risk a VP penalty), Training (your crews start untrained, so you have to train them), or Repair (of four points of battle damage). The first mission isn't until week 4 (the 15 June 1944 raid on the steel works at Yawata, Japan), so I decided to concentrate on training my crews and building up supplies the first three weeks. Not knowing how well the supply runs would go, for Week 1 I decided to send one B-29 over the Hump while the other two worked on gunnery training (checked off the Turret Support box on one bomber and Turret Defense on the other). The supply mission turned out to be an eventful one--the B-29 encountered a pair of Oscars, and engaged them in a four turn battle. One of the Oscars was flipped to Damaged, but so was the B-29, who managed to only deliver 10 points worth of supplies (takes 20 per aircraft to fly a mission). Negative 8 VP--not a good way to start out the campaign. So I assigned that damaged bomber to the repair shack in Week 2, while the other two B-29s tried a Hump run. And they did much better--no opposition, and thanks to a Tail Winds event, they flew in 60 points of supplies! More than enough for the Yawata mission. All three bomber crews spent Week 3 in more training; for the two undamaged ones, it was spent in bombing practice. Week 4--mid June 1944--and the first mission to the Japanese mainland since the Doolittle raid two years earlier. I sent my two undamaged bombers, taking the VP hit for the damaged one, which underwent more training. My Superforts went in at High altitude, and were attacked by a lone Tojo--the Ki-44-IIc, with cannons designed to hunt bombers (and which I'm not sure was available in June 1944, though I could be wrong). Anyway, the Tojo ended up attacking the bomber with the better Turret Defense rating, supported by the one with the better Turret Support rating (the wonders of random selection) and soon broke off, Damaged (in this campaign Japanese fighters Disengage at the end of any turn in which they are on their Damaged sides). Flak was heavy over target, and the weather was cloudy, but not enough to obscure bombing too much. My Superforts did 16 damage points, enough for 15 VP (doubled to 30 for the first mission only). On the way back though, disaster struck; area flak scored a hit on the fuel tank of one of the bombers, sending it down in flames. My first loss. But the week was not over. Both bombers drew Follow Up Attack for the mission event, so the forward airfield was attacked by three Betty bombers at Low level. They did some damage to the field, enough to add a damage point to the bomber that made it back from the Yawata mission, but Allied flak took a heavy toll--one Betty shot down, other two flipped to Damaged. An eventful week indeed. Total VP for that week: 30 (target damage) + 10 (shot down Betty) + 10 (5 each for two damaged Bettys) + 2 (damaged Tojo) + 7 (one B-29 Over Target and returned Undamaged) - 20 (shot down B-29) - 10 (one B-29 did not go to Yawata) - 3 (damage to forward airfield) for a net of 26 VP. I took a replacement B-29, with one training box checked, losing 5 more VP, for a net of 21. Added to the -8 from Week 1, that puts me at 13 so far (Poor performance), but there are still 8 weeks to go. Next mission is to a supply depot on Formosa. If I don't have to fly it in Week 5, I think I'll send the new plane on a supply run while the other two repair damage. Oh, and the one surviving crew from the Yawata mission got enough experience to check off another training box. Also still solitairing Overlord at home--really need to get back to that, now that I think I have my head around the supply and support points rules. Also in a PBEM WWII Naval game with Joe Oppenheimer (Operation Watchtower)--action heating up as my Marines land on Guadalcanal. David R. Moody - May 9, 2008 12:42 pm (#22754 Total: 23182) What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises-- no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love . . . . It's not for fighting. Did three more turns last night. On Week 5 I sent the new plane on a supply run while the other two repaired battle damage. No fighter interception, and 20 points of supplies delivered. The Japanese tried another follow up attack on the advanced airfield, though; two Bettys made a run at low level. They did minor damage to the field, enough for 3 VPs and one damage point to the B-29 that made the supply run. One Betty flipped to Damaged. A net loss of 3 VPs, down to 10 for the campaign. At any rate, it was determined that the Formosa mission would occur in Week 7, so for Week 6 I sent one of the fully-repaired B-29s on another supply run while the other two underwent training. This supply mission was also successful, delivering 20 more Supply points, and no interception or any other events. So on Week 7, I decided on maximum effort--all three B-29s to hit the supply center on Formosa. We came in at High altitude, and were intercepted by a pair of Tojos, who started at Low level. They climbed up and managed one pass at the formation leader before we made our bomb run. Flak was light, but clouds over target obscured bombing accuracy so little damage was done (3 points--not enough for a VP). The fighters made another run as we egressed the target area, doing more damage to the lead bomber; the Tojo wingman was flipped to Damaged. All B-29s safely made it back. So not a bad week--21 VP (7 each for three B-29s over target and back Undamaged) plus 2 for one Damaged Tojo, for a total of 23 VP gained, putting me at 33 for the campaign. Very good. Even got some experience gained for one of the bomber crews. Next mission will be against the railyards at Bangkok. I'm going to need to build up supplies for that one--the all out effort knocked me down to 10 supply points (not enough to fly a mission with even one B-29). David R. Moody - May 12, 2008 2:17 pm (#22757 Total: 23182) What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises-- no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love . . . . It's not for fighting. When last we left my B-29s, they had just bombed a supply center on Formosa--a major effort with all three B-29s, hampered by bad weather. Next mission was to a rail yard at Bangkok, and it had to be flown on Week 9. So for Week 8 I had the badly damaged B-29 undergo repair while the other two ran supplies over the Hump, getting 40 Supply points over between them against no opposition. For the Bangkok mission in Week 9, I sent those same two bombers, with the third still undergoing repairs. No fighter opposition was reported, but once again clouds over the target area obscured bombing accuracy--we damaged the target only slightly, not enough for any VP. Both bombers made it back safely, though, with only minor flak damage, so I did get 14 VP for that (7 each). That put me at 47 VP for the campaign, solidly in the Historical band. A good showing in the last three weeks would win me the campaign. Next mission up was to Nagasaki, and it had to be flown in Week 11. For Week 10 I had the more heavily damaged bomber from the Bangkok mission undergo repairs while the other two (including the now repaired bomber that didn't go to Bangkok) flew supply runs. They managed to get 40 points over; one suffered an engine fire and then was attacked by a twin-engined Nick that made one pass, doing no damage. Week 11, and the Nagasaki mission. I sent the two bombers who made the supply run on the mission, while the third flew another supply mission in case I wanted to fly a mission the last week. Fighter opposition was heavy on this run back to Japan--two Zeroes and a Tojo--and another engine fire in one of the B-29s didn't help. The B-29s shot down one of the Zeroes and flipped the Tojo to Damaged, but the Tojo shot down one of the B-29s with another Fuel Tank hit! Flak was heavy too, flipping the surviving bomber to Damaged, and only minor damage was done to Nagasaki. A bloody day indeed. And the supply run ran into trouble as well--only 10 SPs delivered, and an attack by an Oscar that shot up the already damaged B-29. Ugh. There went my VP cushion. I lost 23 VP all together (5 for shooting down a fighter, 2 for Damaging a fighter, minus 20 for losing another B-29, minus 10 for having a B-29 Damaged), putting me down to the Needs More Training band. Next target was a strike on docks in Japan. With two shot up bombers, and the risk of losing another one to flak and fighters, I chose not to fly the mission in Week 12, ending the campaign at 24 VP. Fun, and fast playing. Damn it went south fast. Now to try my hand from the Marianas--my copy of B-29 Superfortress is in a UPS truck somewhere in the north bay . . .