Furball Over the Sinai

A Missile Threat AAR

Finding myself at a bit of a loose end over the bank holiday weekend, I set up a little solo game of Missile Threat, Ostfront's highly entertaining and addictive game of air combat in the jet age. Normally in MT one side is designated as defender and would deploy various ground assets such as AAA and SAMs, and there is usually a mission target. For this game, seeing as it was my first foray into the Six Day War, I decided to forego the ground stuff and make this a pure air-to-air encounter. I just wanted to roll dice and take names.

I was experimenting with some house rules for wingmen, so all the aircraft were split into elements of 2 planes each, with the planes carrying a numbered counter on their base to identify which element they were.

Israel
Elements 1&2:
4 x Mirage IIICJ, each with 1 R.530 semi active air to air missile (SARH) and 2 Shafrir-1 heatseakers (IR).
- 1 Competent and 3 Average pilots.

Element 3:
2 x Super Mystere B.2, with 2 Shafrir-1 each.
- 2 Average pilots.

Egypt (UAR)

Elements 1&2:
4 x Mig-21F-13, each with 2 K-13 IR missiles.

Elements 3&4:
4 x Mig-19, guns only.

All Egyptian pilots are Average.

The points value for each side was just over 250 points. (254:252 I think).

In MT all planes are written onto a 'flight plan' where you mark the entry turn and altitude of all your aircraft. This is done in secret, so for the purposes of this solo game I decided to roll 1D3 for the turn and 1D6 for the altitude for each element. (If the altitude rolled was higher than the plane's ceiling then it entered at its maximum altitude.)

A note on the photography: sorry if some of these pictures have terrible lighting. I took care to set up a tripod and get sensible exposures, but the way my table sits by the window means that I'm often shooting into the light. I am thinking of getting some reflectors and/or lights, but these were all 'available light' shots, so yeah... sue me.

Turn 1

Flight Plan Phase:

The Israelis have both Mirage elements entering, number 1 at alt 6 and number 2 at alt 4. The Egyptians have one element each of Mig 21 and Mig 19, numbers 1 and 3, at alt  5 and 3 respectively. Lacking radar, the Migs must deploy first, allowing the Mirages to deploy on an intercept course.

The position at the end of the mandatory move phase:

 

The white dice denote altitude, the black are speed. Mig 19s bottom right, Mig 21s top, Mirages on intercept courses. Mirage element 1 (on the far left) have clear cannon shots on the Mig 21s, while the other Mirage pair will have to either maneuver and attack or use their missiles.

Action Phase:

The Competent Mirage pilot gets to go first. Despite only needing a 4+ on 2D6, excitement gets the better of him and he fluffs the shot.

The remaining pilots are all average, so they roll to see which side goes first. The Israelis win the initiative.

Captain Competent's wingman does better than his leader and shoots down one of the Mig 21s. The pilot ejects safely:

The other Mirages let rip with their mighty state of the art Shafrir air to air missiles... all of which fail to launch. The Migs break left and climb to face their attackers:

Turn 2

Flight Plan Phase:

The two remaining Mig elements arrive this turn. Element 2 Mig 21 and element 4 Mig 19. They bounce the Mirages. The two Israeli Super Mysteres will not be arriving until next turn:

After mandatory moves:

Action Phase:

Captain Competent goes first again. He barrel rolls behind the Mig 19 on his tail and lets rip with the guns. The Mig fails to evade but is lucky enough to survive, with the pilot wounded and the plane damaged:

The Egyptians win the initiative roll for the Average pilots. The newly arrived Mig 21s climb from low level to attack the Mirages ahead of them. The first lets loose two K-13 Atolls at close range. The Israeli pilot doesn't even see them coming and is destroyed. He fails to eject:

The second Mig 21 also fires both Atolls, but only one launches successfully. It's enough; the Mirage is shot down but the pilot manages to eject safely:

Meanwhile, the Mig 19 that was damaged by the barrel-rolling Captain Competent earlier, barrel rolls behind his attacker in a high speed scissors maneuver. Captain Competent evades, burning speed and altitude, and avoids any damage. His wingman is also attacked and loses speed due to his defensive manoeuvres:

Turn 3

Flight Plan Phase:

Israeli element 3, the Super Mysteres, arrive behind and below the main action. (On the top right):

Action Phase:

Carnage. Captain Competent shoots down the Mig 19 ahead of him who ejects safely. The Egyptians win the initiative and the Mig 19s shoot down both remaining Mirages. Captain Competent manages to bail out, but his wingman is less fortunate:

The Super Mysteres climb and fire their amazing Shafrir missiles at the Mig 19s ahead of them. All but one fail to launch. The Israeli defence ministry is on the phone demanding a refund. The Mig pilot successfully evades the missile.

Turn 4

Flight Plan Phase:

Nothing arriving this turn, since all aircraft are already present, but the Super Mysteres decide that, under the circumstances, discretion is the better part of valour. They're marked to RTB on the flight plan phase of Turn 5.

Action Phase:

A Scrappy turn, as the Mysteres do their best to stay out of trouble. A Mig 21 manages to make a very tight, energy-burning turn and get into their rear aspect. He successfully launches and one of the Mysteres is damaged but survives:

All other attempts at engaging are fruitless, and both sides head back to base:

Outcome

With all four Mirages destroyed for only 2 Migs this was a crushing defeat for the Israelis. Points at the end were 64:169.

I realised towards the end of the game that I'd been doing cannon defence manoeuvres slightly wrong. I'd forgotten that, unlike missile evasion, you get to do a turn after your defence. This might have made a difference to the central running combat, but hey ho.