So yeah, I said I was taking a break from Missile Threat for a while, but I just wanted to follow up the recon idea from the last post. Just one more wafer thin AAR, Mr Creosote. Actually, this one might be a bit long winded, so feel free to ignore my ramblings and scroll through all the pretty pictures with gay abandon.
For this game, the Arab forces will be the attacker and it's an Israeli base being hit. Normally in Missile Threat one side in any particular theatre is permanently the 'attacker', and the other side is the 'defender'. There are some theatres designated as fluid, where both sides may be attackers or defenders, but these are the exception rather than the rule. In all the Arab-Israeli Wars scenarios, Israel are considered attackers, and only the Arabs have ground assets listed. A while back I mentioned to Tom on Discord that this was a little bit weird because:
- In most conflicts both sides conducted operational airstrikes even if one was clearly the defender, strategically speaking;
- This means the defenders' dedicated bombers are mostly useless;
- More specifically, the '73 Yom Kippur War began with a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria on Israel, so it doesn't make much sense to define the Israelis as purely 'attackers'.
Tom got back to me in less than 10 minutes with a revised pdf for the Israeli forces for Yom Kippur, including SAMs and AAA. Basically Hawk and Chaparral SAMs along with their associated radars and the usual AAA mix. This was easy to adapt to the '67 war - simply remove the Chaparral and make the Hawk unable to engage at low altitude.
This will be a 350 point game.
Recon
As mentioned in
my last post, I've decided to have a separate recon mini-game. The Israelis make their list thus:
Recon Game:
1 x Super Mystere - average pilot, guns only.
Main Game:
3 x Mirage - 1 competent & 2 average pilots, 2 Shafrir I IR missiles
4 x Super Mystere - 1 competent & 3 average pilots, guns only
1 x EAW radar
2 x Hawk SAM
1 x PAR guidance radar for the Hawks
3 x Medium AAA
5 x Light AAA
The Egyptians choose a single unarmed Mig-21 PF for the recon game. Both sides make their flight plans (secretly), with both aircraft arriving on turn 1 at alt 6. Israel then deploys the Mission Target (the runway) and decides which ground assets to deploy. He chooses the EAW (in order to limit the Egyptian's deployment), and his AAA (in case the attacker is planning a low level recon). The SAMs and PAR are left un-deployed.
The target:
The runway is just a satellite image cropped and scaled to be about 8" by 3", then printed on card. One day I will make a proper one, but this will do for now. The scale is obviously completely borked, but hey, this is Missile Threat, whadya want?
I have some house rules regarding the bombing of runways:
- The runway may only be bombed by moving over it during the Mandatory Move Phase.
- The move must be within 20 degrees of the runway axis.
- Strafing has no effect on a runway.
Recon Game
Flight Plan Phase
The Super Mystere has a longer radar range than the Mig-21 PF, so the Mig deploys first outside the range of the Israeli EAW radar. The Super Mystere then deploys on an intercept course.
Mandatory Move Phase/Action Phase
The Israeli jet doesn't have a straight shot on the Egyptian recon plane, so will have to do a manouevre and attack...
...which he succeeds in. The Egyptian pilot doesn't see it coming and is shot down, failing to eject.
So the recon game seems to work ok-ish and was suitably short and sweet. The attacker will now have to draw up his list without full knowledge of the defender's ground assets, but he has some idea simply because the defender chose to reveal some. Both sides spent about the same points on it. Either could have decided to spend more or none.
Main Game
The Egyptian player (attacker) now makes his list with his remaining points:
3 x IL-28 - average pilots, 12 bombs each
2 x Mig-21 F-13 - 1 competent, 1 average, 2 K-13 IR missiles each
4 x Mig-17 - 1 competent, 3 average
The defender (Israel) then deploys his remaining ground assets - the SAMs and guidance radar.
Both players now write their flight plans.
Egypt (attackers):
Turn 1: the 4 Mig 17s will come in at alt 1 to suppress the air defences and draw off any Israeli fighters.
Turn 2: The 3 IL-28s and the 2 Mig-21 F-13s will arrive at alt 1 to hit the runway and bounce enemy fighters.
Israel (defenders):
Turn 1: 3 Mirage and 4 Super Mystere all arrive at alt 2, generally looking for trouble.
Turn 1
Flight Plan Phase
I deployed the Mig-17s first, because they have no radar, but now realise that the average planes should have deployed before the competent ones. Oh well.
The first pair approach from the south, with the leader lined up on the SAM radar:
And the other pair attack the northern end of the airfield from the west:
The IAF deploys the 3 Mirages and 4 Super Mysteres behind them on intercept courses:
Mandatory Move Phase
Not looking good for the Migs:
Action Phase
The Migs all fail miserably in their strafing attempts. The southern pair are quickly dispatched by the Mysteres:
One of the other Mig 17 pair is shot down, but his wingman manages to roll behind the lead Mirage. He fails to do any damage, but the Mirage has been forced to sacrifice his speed and is now low on energy. The Mig pilot is subsequently wounded by AAA fire in the Ground Asset Phase.
Turn 2
Flight Plan Phase
Arriving this turn are the three IL-28 bombers and two Mig-21s. The bombers come in low and fast at the northern end of the runway:
The Mig-21s fall in behind the Mirages:
Positions after the Mandatory Move Phase:
Action Phase
The Egyptians win the initiative roll and so the Competent Mig-21 pilot goes first, shooting down the Mirage leader with cannons. The lead Super Mystere then turns onto the middle IL-28 and downs him.
The Average Egyptian pilots go next. The Mig-21 fires two IR missiles at a Mirage, forcing him to burn energy and gain a Defensive II marker:
He's then finished off by the Mig-17's guns:
The two remaining bombers successfully drop their loads on the runway, and then turn gently away taking care to keep their speed up:
One of the Super Mysteres turns and lines up a Mig-21. The Mig passes his defensive roll, but because he's at alt 1 he has to make another pilot check to avoid splatting into the ground. He fails. Manoeuvre kill!
And the last plane to activate is the only remaining Mirage, who pulls a hard right turn and unleashes a Shafrir IR missile which, miraculously, launches successfully. Shooting a dumb fire-and-forget heat-seeking missile into a melee might seem reckless, but the Mirage pilot has read the manual and is convinced that the missile will track the IL-28's hotter signature, rather than the Super Mystere in between them. It doesn't reach its target in its initial move, but will impact in the next mandatory move phase.
Turn 3
Flight Plan Phase
There are now two Egyptian fighters and one bomber vs one Mirage and four Super Mysteres. All the Egyptian planes are marked to exit in the following FP phase (Turn 4).
Mandatory Move Phase
The Shafrir brings down the IL-28:
The position after all planes move:
Action Phase:
The competent Super Mystere turns and shoots down the last remaining bomber:
The Mig-21 shoots down the last Mirage with a K-13 missile:
The remaining Super Mysteres are unable to manoeuvre themselves into a firing position.
The last remaining plane to activate, the Mig-17 on the far right, could just do nothing here and run off home. He's wounded, he's severely outnumbered, and he has a bandit on his tail. Running away would be the sensible thing to do...
But no, he decides to attempt a barrel roll to position himself behind the bandit on his 6. Being wounded, he needs to roll a 7+ on 2D6...
He rolls a 3. Failing the roll means he loses one speed and one alt, and seeing as he's at alt 1 already... Epic Fail:
