Danger Zones and Dogfights: A Hornet Leader AAR (Mission 1 Complete!)

[BanzaiCat]

005 MISSION 1
Day 1 of 8

On June 10, 1986, NATO is taken almost completely by surprise by a Warsaw Pact invasion of West Germany.

Leading up to this date, there were rumblings of democracy movements hatching throughout Eastern Europe, which slowly bled over into the Moravia SSR and Ukraine SSR provinces. KGB crackdowns, in conjunction with several Red Army and Border Guards units throughout the Warsaw Pact, settled the matters in the short term, but not in the long run. Civilian memories went long.

One particular KGB sweep in Warsaw uncovered a joint MI-6 and CIA operation, in place to observe the 'Solidarity' movements first hand. Whether or not the CIA and MI-6 were actually involved or not was immaterial; the KGB's methods of interrogation might very well have driven the captured suspects to admit to anything, after a point. The subsequent reports that went to Moscow did nothing to calm the fears of the old men in the Kremlin. Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to serve as a 'great mediator' among a rising sense of militaristic Soviet destiny did not seem to have much of an effect. Reports of Gorbachev's death in an automobile accident, when his ZIL limousine crashed into a tree in a forest outside of Moscow, were not suppressed. The Soviet Central Committee reported this was part of the CIA and MI-6's joint plottings against the Warsaw Pact. Rumblings from the East put NATO on a higher state of alert, but weeks passed with little more than the usual verbal tirades, and after a few weeks NATO's troops stood down.

Their stand-down from alert came just a few days too late. While VFX-01 and the Saratoga were preparing to return to Norfolk, having just spent several days exercising with a Royal Navy detachment in the North Sea, had just barely turned around when word came down that the Soviets and their Eastern European cohorts were pouring across the West German and Czechoslovakian borders.

With this report, the Captain of the Saratoga barely had time for the crew to be briefed before radar pickets picked up a very large Soviet raid inbound. They were not, apparently, wasting any time. The Captain had little time to worry how quickly his crew could turn on a dime from peacetime drilling to war footing; he had to trust them to do the jobs they had been trained to do.

The Saratoga received reports from another carrier group, centered around the America, that they had attackers from the same raid inbound. A large group of aircraft broke off to head for America, while the remainder remained fixed on the Saratoga.

Orders were given, and pilots were readied. World War III had arrived.

NOTE: This particular report will not be as image-intensive as I'd like. I will do better in the following reports. Some images are on my work laptop, and they're not all that important to progress this story. I will add them later, though.

DAY 1 of 8
PRE-FLIGHT PHASE
Draw Target Cards
The Recon Level, at campaign start, is 3. This means three Target Cards are drawn.

My first draw is Target Card 60.



The Scramble notation indicates that I have to stop drawing now. Normally, I would need to draw three Target Cards, but the remaining two go undrawn.

This Target is in the first Range Band. Note this map, located on the World War III Campaign Card; number 60 is in the same band as the arrowhead. The arrowhead represents the Saratoga and therefore, VFX-01.



This is going to be a little different from 'normal' Missions, as there are no ground targets. Eight Su-24 Fencers are the target of this attack, escorted by possibly many Bandits. Upwards of NINE more Bandits, actually, can be accompanying this Raid on the Saratoga. This makes it a bit easier as I will only have to select air-to-air weapon loadouts, but it won't give you a good idea of how ground strikes work. I'm very sure this will be rectified in a future Mission, though, so don't worry.  :))

Determine and Place Sites
Normally, this is where I'd draw Sites (ground defense units) and place them on the tactical board. Since there aren't any, this step is pretty simple - I ignore it.

Assign Pilots
Target Card 60 allows a maximum of five Aircraft (note the large 5 in the middle of the Card). I need to be careful and not go ALL out early on, as flying missions can wear pilots out. This particular mission may be big trouble as it can mean a LOT of air-to-air fights and a LOT of pilot Stress added on.

Stress is essentially a measure of pilot exhaustion. It can be caused by mission length (farther targets can cause more Stress), and also by combat and trying to Evade enemy attacks. This mission will only cause one Stress. Hopefully that's it, though with such a large potential for air-to-air targets, I'm almost certain there's going to be tons more put on anyone I assign to this mission.

I'm going to send four Pilots out - Wedge (Airborne Rifles), Ogre (JudgeDredd), Kermit (PanzersEast), and Psycho (Staggerwing). Sending Psycho out is something of a gamble, as the A-7 Corsair can only carry two ATA missiles (specifically, two AIM-9s). There is a method to my madness, though.

The two F-14 pilots (Ogre and Kermit) will get loaded up big time with AGM-54 Phoenix missiles.

Arm Aircraft
This is how I arm each aircraft:

Wedge (F/A-18C Hornet): ECM Pod, 3 x AIM-9, 4 x AIM-7
Ogre (F-14 Tomcat): ECM Pod, 4 x AIM-54, 2 x AIM-9, 1 x AIM-7
Kermit (F-14 Tomcat): ECM Pod, 4 x AIM-54, 2 x AIM-9, 1 x AIM-7
Psycho (A-7 Corsair): ECM Pod, 2 x AIM-9

The eight AIM-54s cost me 8 SO Points, reducing my total from 52 to 44. I think it's worth this cost as we should now have a really good chance of swatting this raid out of the sky.

As fighters from Saratoga are launched to intercept, VFX-01 is assigned an intercept course to one particular bandit group, comprised of Su-24s and an "undetermined" number of escorting MiGs. The pilots won't know what they're up against until they get within range.

TARGET-BOUND FLIGHT PHASE
Draw Target-Bound Event Card
As these four Pilots head towards the approaching Soviet aircraft, I draw the "Bad Chow" Event. This means one Pilot uses their Shaken skills.

Pilots have three status ratings - Okay, Shaken, and Unfit. 'Okay' pilots are at their best. 'Shaken' occurs after too much Stress is accumulated, and their ATA and ATG skills go down. 'Unfit' happens when their Stress gets to higher levels; if this happens, they cannot fly another mission, I think, until their Stress goes back down (I think anyway - I'm writing this from memory).

Randomly, I determine that Kermit (PanzersEast) happened to grab a plate of chow that had some bad chunks in it, giving him stomach pains. It didn't really hit him until he was airborne.

Kermit hoped he really wouldn't shit his pants in combat, but as they approached the Soviet elements, he realized that might be the least of his concerns.

Place Aircraft
I'm going to keep all four aircraft together. I want Psycho's A-7 to hang back and provide support only where practical, while the two F-14s will take the lead and try to pummel the Soviets. Wedge's F/A-18C will provide direct support as well, though more actively than Psycho.



Determine and Place Bandits
Next, I need to see how many MiGs we'll be facing.

The Target Card calls for two Bandits in each of the four Approach Areas, and one in the Center Area, accompanying the Su-24s. Like I said, upwards of nine MiGs can be in our way, in which case we might not do much damage to the Su-24s.



Six of my nine draws result in 'No Bandit.' For the moment, we're facing two MiG-29 Fulcrums and one MiG-25 Foxbat.

But wait, there's more!

Intel Air Defense Adjustment
The current Intel level indicates that there are "+3 Center Bandits." So I need to draw three more chits, which still might mean a more 'interesting' mission...



...and each Draw is a 'No Bandit.' Whew.

So, my flight of four are facing off against three Bandits. Not bad odds for eight Phoenix missiles.

Wedge, the flight leader, felt an inward fear that he kept bolted tight and deep down. He cooly scanned his instruments, which at first reported almost two dozen enemy aircraft. He blinked once, twice, and his heart fell to his stomach; his four aircraft might put a dent into the formation, but might not defeat it. Turning tail was not an option; Ogre and Kermit would have their chance.

As they got closer, he realized the reading was a false echo, and there were only eleven enemy aircraft - eight of which were the vulnerable Su-24s. He smiled in his oxygen mask; this might be a turkey shoot after all.

Draw Over Target Event Card
Another random chance Event happens, and my draw results in "No Adjustment." So, no additional enemy aircraft appear in this battle. Just as Wedge was thinking, this might indeed be a turkey shoot.

Phoenix Missile Attacks

The AGM-54 Phoenix missile is a long-range air-to-air missile that is radar guided and very deadly. It's one of the mainstay offensive weapons for the Tomcat in this game, and each F-14 can carry up to six of them. With four each, they still can do some major damage.

This game phase allows the player to fire as many of their missiles as they would like. Guess how many I decided to fire?

Wedge's smile turned into a grim line. "Kermit, Ogre, you are weapons free. Select your targets and tally-ho!"

Each of the F-14 drivers relied on their RIOs (Radar Intercept Officers) to target each of their four Phoenix missiles. The Tomcat's radars locked on quickly, and each pilot called out "Fox Three" as each Phoenix slid off its rail and accelerated at blinding speed. Soon, each Tomcat was trailing four contrails of Phoenix missiles that sped to their targets upwards of Mach 5, giving the Soviet pilots very little time to react.

Yep. All of them.

Kermit launched one Phoenix at the northernmost MiG-29, twp at the easternmost MiG-29, one at the center mass of Su-24s.

Ogre launched one Phoenix against the westernmost MiG-29, two versus the mass of Su-24s, and one against the northernmost MiG-29.



Kermit splashes the northernmost MiG-29 and the easternmost MiG-29, as well as one of the Su-24s in the center of the formation.

Ogre splashes all of his targets - a MiG-25, a MiG-29, and two Su-24s.

Not a bad day's work. Each F-14 crew cheered as they watched their Phoenix missiles blot seven of the eleven Soviet aircraft from the sky. All escorting fighters were brought down, and there were only a handful of Su-24s remaining. The Soviets that remained faltered; they were so close to the American task force, and this was supposed to be their first glorious strike against the capitalists. Single of mind, despite their fear, they pushed their aircraft forward.

Big mistake.

Turn 2 (of 5)

"Close on the bastards," ordered Wedge. "Let's clean 'em up!"

All four American aircraft pushed a bit closer to their enemies, scant seconds after the huge AGM-54s destroyed most of their targets. Their remaining AIM-9s didn't have the range to engage the remaining Soviet aircraft...at least not yet. However, their AIM-7s did.

The Soviet flight leader, one of the few survivors, began to realize the error of his ways, and was just ready to call a retreat when their warnings warbled in their headsets yet again.


In each Turn, Fast Pilots attack first, then enemy Sites and Pilots, and finally Slow Pilots attack. Wedge and Psycho are Fast Pilots, but only Wedge has AIM-7s that can reach the targets. Psycho only has AIM-9s with a range of 1, so he's out of the fight for the moment.

Wedge's AIM-7 nails another Su-24.

As the Soviet aircraft sped forward, another of their number is blotted from the sky in a flash that's faster than the blink of an eye. The remaining pilot's fear was mixed with outrage and utter helplessness, as none of the Su-24s were armed for air-to-air attacks. The escorting MiGs were supposed to protect them, dammit!

Since the Soviets cannot retaliate, next the Slow Pilots go - Ogre and Kermit. Each unleash an AIM-7.



Ogre hits his target, but Kermit's missile goes wide as the enemy aircraft ducks, barely avoiding a hit. Kermit curses, hoping for another chance. It didn't get any easier than this! And he missed, dammit!

I push the fighters one area closer to the Su-24s. Now, Psycho will have his chance...



Being Fast pilots, both Wedge and Psycho go first, launching on the three remaining Soviets. Both bag their targets, one having a wing cut cleanly off and the other losing both of its Tumansky R-21F-300 turbojet engines in a fireball that consumes the back half of the aircraft.

One Su-24 remains. It cannot do anything, so the Slow Pilots now attack.

Both Ogre and Kermit let loose with an AIM-9. I randomly determine which one goes first, and Ogre's name comes up. His missile hits, destroying the last Soviet aircraft.

Wedge watched the last Soviet aircraft come apart like a ripe melon; suddenly the skies were noticeably empty.

"Saratoga, Banshee Flight," said Wedge. "Splash eleven. Repeat, splash eleven enemy aircraft. All threats neutralized."

As Saratoga congratulated them, all four pilots felt a huge sense of accomplishment. But, all were professional enough to realize how easy this first mission was; they managed to survive an onslaught that very well could have been much worse for them. Had it not been for some Soviet failures at vectoring their escorts in, they very well could have been on the losing end of this engagement.

Saratoga's orbiting E-2C gave the pilots a return vector, and they turned for home.

Homebound Phase
Another Event Card is drawn, and this time I get a result that lets me move any one Campaign counter one to the right. I can move the Recon, Intel, or Infra markers over one; I choose Intel. If you'll recall, the Intel track is what gave the Soviets that possible extra three Bandits in the center area. Moving it one to the right now means +2 Center Bandits instead of +3, which might make a world of difference in the future.

The Recon track gives me the number of Target Cards I can draw each turn (unless a 'Scramble' card is drawn, which happened here with the first draw). The Infra track measures enemy infrastructure and indicates a number of extra hits (or number of hits less) a target needs to take to be destroyed. Since this was an air-to-air mission, the +1 Hit in the Infra Track didn't take place. At least, that's how I interpreted it; it very well might be considered to be another Su-24. I only thought of that just now, as I am writing this.

As the pilots land back on the Saratoga, each receive +2 XP. When the number of XPs exceed their Experience Points number, they get promoted one Skill Level. None of these Pilots are close, so no promotions occur.

The number of aircraft shot down do not add extra XP, unfortunately.

However, the Pilots can claim the following air-to-air victories:

Wedge - 2 x Su-24
Ogre - 4 x Su-24, 1 x MiG-25
Kermit - 2 x MiG-29, 1 x Su-24
Psycho - 1 x Su-24

Looks like we'll have to call Ogre (JudgeDredd) "Mr. Ace."

Day One ends in a huge victory. We earn 4 VPs for destroying the target. However, we have a ways to go before we can hope to achieve a measure of victory in our little corner of this war.

Look for another mission, coming soon.

[mirth]

I want to do some HARM!!!

[Airborne Rifles]

I'll take credit for Ogre's success. I was managing the fight, after all.

[mirth]

Nice job, Lieutenant :P

[Staggerwing]

Take that Putin, err... Gorbachev, err... Whomever!

[PanzersEast]

Little did the SCO know, I was packing some extra heat in my pants.....  O0

Over the headset you can hear a loud voice cry "Eat $h'1e M-29"

[BanzaiCat]

The fact that a chimp flinging crap has appeared in one of my AAR threads means I have arrived. 

That said, the crap might hit the fan for this second mission. I've drawn a decent target card and a secondary target as well, and I think we're going to go all-out on this one, so all hands should be on deck. Mirth, this means you'll probably be HARMing something.  8)

I've only gone so far as to select the mission during lunch today. I'll get the rest of the details done later tonight most likely. With two missions, I'll probably do two posts since this last mission's post was rather long.

[BanzaiCat]

DAY TWO (of eight)
Mission 1
Part One: Pre-Flight Phase

Note: The first post was so long, I'm going to break these up into smaller posts. I'll do the Pre-Flight Phase, the Over Target Phase, and the Debrief Phase, all in separate posts.

After yesterday's missions, the reports trickled down, indicating Ivan took a beating on the first day of the War. Soviet armored spearheads were, however, pushing NATO forces back in West Germany. Some scuttlebutt spoke of Special Forces raiding the Kremlin, of Russian nukes taking out Anchorage, and even of Soviet paratroops seizing Iranian oil fields. All hell had broken loose, but for now, the Saratoga, her crew, and her pilots remained whole. Their world remained intact...at least for the moment.

That ended when the whole of VFX-01 was called to the briefing room - every pilot, every crew member. Each entered the squadron ready room, harboring their own thoughts as to what was going on. A major strike was in the works, it seemed, and it would be all hands on deck for this one.

When they arrived, though, they found out it would actually be TWO separate strikes, not one, and VFX-01 would be leading the way on both.

"Gentlemen," the Squadron Commander started without preamble, "we're going to hit Ivan's forward naval base. If we can neutralize it, their Fleet assets will be easier to take down."



Note that I already have an ASW Fleet target card that is in play and will remain so until eliminated, thanks to the "Improvement" trait. The Naval Base target card means that ASW Fleet will require 4 extra hits to destroy, at least until this Naval Base is dealt with.

And that will be no easy task - note it requires 16 hits to destroy!

I also drew this Target Card:



Since this card has the 'Secondary' trait, I can fly a second mission today against it. Might as well go all-out, even though it will greatly increase the Stress on the pilots.  The Secondary target is in the furthest Range Band, while the Primary isn't as far, but there will still be a lot of Stress applied.



I guess I could ask WHY the USS Saratoga needs to fly a mission against SAM sites located in northern Poland, especially when we're in the far North Sea...but hey, it's a game, don't ask serious questions. :)

First, we're going to deal with the Naval Base. We'll deal with the SAM Trap target in a follow-up post. First, I draw chits to determine the sites located around the Naval Base.



Note that most of the site chits have the "R" notation, which means AGM-88s can be used against them. You know what that means, mirth! You're up!

Here is the composition of the strike I put together, along with the armament for each one:

WOLF (Barthheart) F/A-18C: 1 x ECM Pod, 5 x AIM-7, 1 x GBU-16

OGRE (JudgeDredd) F-14: 1 x ECM Pod, 2 x AIM-54, 1 x AIM-9, 2 x GBU-16

MOON (mirth) EA-6B: 4 x AGM-88

SHIFTY (Dammit Carl!) A-6: 1 x ECM Pod, 5 x Mk83

WASH (Besilarius) A-7: 1 x ECM Pod, 3 x AGM-88, 1 x Mk84

EYES (Windigo) E-2C: No Armaments

The EA-6B Prowler only carries four AGM-88 anti-radar missiles, and it also provides a bonus to aircraft in its same space when avoiding enemy attacks. Furthermore, the Prowler also has a bonus to defense when it is attacked itself.

The E-2C Hawkeye gives a mission the ability to avoid events on a roll of 7+. It also can give Situational Awareness. SA is basically an extra turn.

I think I've armed this strike to deal with the radar sites (and then some). Both WOLF and OGRE have a good loadout to deal with any enemy bandits over the target, and there's a lot of good anti-ground armament. I've had to spend a LOT of Special Options points...more than I wanted...to allow each aircraft to carry its full loadout to this target and not have to incur the WP penalty.

Let's see if this actually works in practice, though.

All aircraft were on deck and ready to roll.



Note: I want to thank Sundog, from the BGG forums, for letting me use some ideas from his excellent USS Ford graphic he created for the Hornet Leader game. I took inspirations from it to create the above image, based on some of the things he did. Thanks, Sundog!

[BanzaiCat]

Day Two (Continued)
Part Two: Over Target I

The strike (code named Lightning Ride) is on the way, and it's time to determine a Random Event. The card I draw is Aerial Refueling, which is fortunate: it gives us +1 Turn over Target. I was worried that we might not be able to fully destroy this Target within the timeframe allotted, because as you may have noticed, to drop bombs on the Target card it takes at least three Turns to get to it in the first place. This will help tremendously and may mean the difference between success or failure. The margin for success here was already razor-thin because of the 16 hits required to destroy this naval base...



I went ahead and lined up all aircraft in the southern approach area, to keep them all with Moon and the Prowler's protection. Everyone is going to swoop in as quickly as possible and hammer the hell out of the Naval Base.

Note that Ogre is the Flight Leader in this strike, as he was randomly determined to be so based on the highest skill levels present (Go Average!).

Now that the strike is on target, we can determine the enemy Bandits we'll be facing.



Once again, a lot of possible MiGs present, but only three end up being in the air as we approach. The MiG-29 is a badass in this game and should be targeted and eliminated quickly.

There's an extra two draws for the Center Area, over the Target card, and I draw a MiG-23 and another No Bandit chit. So there's four MiGs to deal with now.

Another Event card draw is required, and another stroke of luck - it's Clear Skies, which means no adjustments. No news is good news in this case.

Before we get into the turn-by-turn fracas, now is the time to fire our Phoenix missiles (AGM-54s), I loaded two onto Ogre's F-14, and I'm going to use them both.

"Bandits are turning in patrol," said Merlin, Ogre's RIO. "They still haven't made us."



"Lightning Flight," said Ogre, "let's light them up. I'm going to cook the -29 and -25 with the Phoenix missiles, then we're heading in. Tallyho!"

Each of the other pilots made a similar "Tally-ho!" declaration. Merlin noted the Phoenix missiles were ready for launch.



Ogre keys his mic. "FOX THREE! FOX THREE!"

Two AGM-54 Phoenix missiles leap off their rails in quick succession, targeting the MiG-25 and MiG-29, the two biggest threats on the board right now.





Both Phoenix missiles home in unerringly on their targets, both proximity fuses exploding the 135-pound warheads within 10 feet of both targets, turning each aircraft into hundreds of fragments.

"Two more for Mr. Ace," said Wolf. "Let's get the rest of 'em, Grogs."

[BanzaiCat]

Day Two (continued)
Part Two: Over Target II

In a turn over the target, Fast Pilots go first, followed by enemy Sites and Bandits, and finally, Slow Pilots go last. Situational Awareness can be spent to give Fast pilots the ability to attack in both the Fast and Slow phases; Slow pilots can do the same thing. The E-2C, as I mentioned previously, can spend SA on any pilot. The Flight Leader can do the same. In this case, on the first Turn, Eyes spends one Situational Awareness point and gives Wolf (a Slow pilot) the ability to attack this phase. Moon also has SA, so he spends one as well so he can attack now, too.

Wolf targets the MiG-21 with an AIM-7, while Moon locks on to the SA-6 site that is on the strike's approach path to the Target card.



Wolf needs a 6 or higher and rolls a 10. His AIM-7 Sparrow nails the old MiG-21, disintegrating it in mid-air seconds after the other two MiGs were splashed.

The SA-6 that Moon targeted barely lit up its radar in response to the frantic calls from the MiGs overhead. When they went silent, the SA-6 commander assumed the worst, and went live to find the enemy aircraft. As soon as it lit up, Moon's AGM-88 HARM missile was ridiculously accurate, its microprocessor brain homing in unerringly. The SA-6 commander noticed the incoming missile, and shut his radar down, but it was too late. The missile noted the last location and struck the vehicle seconds later, sending an orange fireball into the coastal sky. The southern approach to the target was clear.

Moon rolled a 9, easily scoring a hit on the SA-6.

Now, it was the Soviet's turn to react. Unfortunately for them, confusion reigned. With their primary CAP down, the remaining MiG-23 pilot screamed at ground control to give him an intercept vector. Once the SA-6 went offline, the Soviet colonel in charge of coordinating the defense of the naval port tried to get everything south, knowing it would be too late. He was still in a state of shock, never expecting a NATO strike against their port, this far north. The MiG-23 knew enemy aircraft were coming in from the south, but they were out of range, so he frustratingly had to play the waiting game. None of the surviving sites had anything on their radar either, so nobody could fire. Most of them prayed that was all the NATO fighters were after, but none were that naive.

In the Slow Pilot Attack Phase, Moon acts again and fires another AGM-88 at the westernmost SA-13, while Wash launches one of his AGM-88s at an SA-15 protecting the Target card. Moon's missile strikes true, obliterating the SA-13 (which had a range of 1 and could attack them when their strike moved closer to the Target card). However, Wash's missile misses, having rolled a 1.

Everyone moves one space closer to the Target card, except for Eyes, who remains in the approach area. There's no reason to bring him in closer, especially considering the Hawkeye has no armaments to defend itself with.

[Barthheart]

Who you calling slow!  >:( ;D

Are you sure you brought enough ground ord to do 16 hits?!? Looks a little thin to me..... ???

[BanzaiCat]

Who you calling slow!  >:( ;D

Are you sure you brought enough ground ord to do 16 hits?!? Looks a little thin to me..... ???

Indeed, it does. In hindsight I didn't bring nearly enough; I tend to overestimate ATA ordinance needed. In this case though, you'll see how well I did. It shall all play out. I've already done both missions and know the outcome of both.  O0

"Slow" is not indicative of the pilot's lack of ability. It just denotes when they are able to attack. I think this goes up to "Fast" as the pilot gets more skilled, though.

[Barthheart]

...
"Slow" is not indicative of the pilot's lack of ability. It just denotes when they are able to attack. I think this goes up to "Fast" as the pilot gets more skilled, though.

Yeah, I play the Leader games, not this this one though, as well. And, yes, if you give me.. errr... Wolf enough fly time we'll eventually "level up" and might become Fast.  O0

[BanzaiCat]

Day Two (continued)
Part Two: Over Target III

In the second Turn over target (of six total), Eyes spends his last Situational Awareness, giving it to Moon so the latter can attack with another AGM-88 in the Fast Pilot Attack phase. Moon rolls a 9, scoring a hit on an SA-15 site. One less thing to worry about.

At this point, I realized I screwed up earlier; the SA-10 in the center area has a range of 3, and could have attacked in the last Turn. So, I decide to roll twice for him, to make up for it.

The SA-10 ("Grumble"), a very potent long-range anti-air missile platform, attacks Moon (determined randomly among the five pilots in that space). Since Moon has his own intrinsic defense, I decide to not Evade, and nobody Suppresses.

Now, a sidebar on Suppression. In the game, any Pilot can choose to Suppress a site if it targets someone. This means expending an AtG munition of any type (as long as it is in range); a successful attack means the enemy site's attack is negated. I have an issue with that in general. If a munition hits, it should destroy the target, not just cancel an attack. From a gameplay standpoint, though, it makes perfect sense. In real life, it's kind of weird. As a general principle, I do not Suppress. I might regret that, but we shall see.

So, Moon does not Evade. The SA-10's missile is launched at him, and the enemy's roll is 7. However, there's a -1 for targeting the area that the EA-6B is in, and another -1 for targeting the Prowler itself, so their roll is a 5. This results in +1 Stress for Moon.

The second (make-up) roll is a 3, a miss, thankfully.

The MiG-23 finally gets a vector, finding the enemy aircraft closing fast on the naval base. He chooses one aircraft at random (which happens to be Ogre) and fires.

Now, while I don't like Suppressing, I have no problem with Evading. Since Ogre has an ECM Pod, this means he only incurs +1 Stress instead of the +2 Stress he'd get without an ECM Pod. What really sucks here, though, is I COMPLETELY forget to roll for the ECM Pod to negate the enemy's attack. You see, on a roll of 6 or higher, the ECM Pod jams up the enemy's attack, negating it completely. I can kick myself now, but Evading means the enemy rolls two dice instead of one, and I can choose which one is the Attack roll. The rolls are 1 and 10. Gee, which one do I choose? One, of course. It's a miss, and a big miss at that.

The MiG-23 pilot's attack came too quickly, and the Soviet pilot cursed - he pulled the trigger before he even got a missile lock, a complete rookie move, and probably his last.

Next, the Slow pilots attack. Wolf fires an AIM-9 on the remaining MiG, rolling a 6. He gets a +1 for his AtA rating, and another +1 for the MiG being bad at its job of staying in one piece. This results in an 8, higher than the 6 needed, so it's a hit. The MiG fireballs and comes apart before the Soviet pilot can think too much further on the error of his ways.

Moon fires one of his two remaining AGM-88s against the SA-10 site that tried to take him out. This time he rolls a 2, and with a +0 AtG rating, nothing is going to help that one. He misses.

Wash fires one of his AGM-88s against the same SA-10 site, rolling a 10. The SA-10 was apparently so preoccupied with avoiding Moon's missile strike that he totally missed Wash's, and pays for it dearly.

All aircraft move in a little closer, now.



They're down to three sites and no MiGs. The SA-8A to the north will never be a factor unless I fly into its space, which I won't do - it can only attack targets in the same space. The remaining two sites aren't too dangerous, but I'm running out of time...there's 16 hits to inflict on this Target card and I still have to fly one more Turn before we're over it...

[BanzaiCat]

Day Two (continued)
Mission One
Part Two: Over Target IV

The third Turn (of six) is relatively quiet. Only Wash can attack, and that's in the Slow Pilot phase by spending one of his Situational Awareness points. He then unleashes his AGM-88 against the SA-6 site in the center area.



Wash rolls a 6. With +0 AtG and +1 for the SA-6, he gets a 7, resulting in a hit. The SA-6 site goes up in a blaze of glory.

No Sites can attack, and there's no Bandits left, so nothing happens there. None of the Slow pilots have munitions in range, so nothing happens there, either. All aircraft swoop in over the target, now.

"Lightning Flight," said Ogre. "Pick your targets carefully. Let's take out these bastards."

Each pilot had a small sector assigned to them, with several primary and a few secondary targets. As long as their munitions landed on those areas, and all of them were successful, the Naval Base would be devastated and unusable, but a LOT of munitions had to find their targets and in a short window of time.



On Turn 4, we have this turn and two more to take out the Naval Base. Let's get to work.

Both Wash and Shifty spend one Situational Awareness point so they can attack in the Slow Pilot phase.

Wash finds a fat juicy tank farm, dropping a Mk84 on it.

The Mk84 bomb is just over 2,000 pounds of high explosives of destruction. It is capable of forming a crater 50 feet  wide and 36 feet deep. It can penetrate up to 15 inches of metal or 11 feet of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 yards. Wash's Corsair becomes one ton lighter as the Mk84 drops and falls onto the Naval Base.

I roll a 6. Wash has +0 AtG, but this is a decent roll, as two hits are made. First blood has been drawn.

Shifty joins in, dropping a Mk83. This one is smaller than its Mk84 brother, but still packing about 1,000 pounds of weight and is an all-around excellent General Purpose (GP) weapon. Shifty's roll is a 3, though, and even with his +1 AtG rating, the bomb misses, blowing up some Soviet general's ZIL limousine instead of the facility it's parked next to.

The S-60 site - a 57mm AA gun - which is the only remaining site on the Target card's space, targets Shifty. I have Shifty evade, causing him +1 Stress. (Again, I forget to roll for the ECM Pod to negate the attack, though again I didn't forget that ECM Pods only cause +1 Stress instead of +2.) The site rolls two dice, getting a 3 and a 9. It's a no-brainer which one I choose - the 3, so the gun misses.

Now, the Slow pilots have a go.

Shifty drops a Mk82, rolls a 3. With his +1 AtG he gets a 4, but it's still a miss. I can't afford too many of these on this mission!

Ogre comes in, dropping a GBU-16 on the target. This is the Paveway II, a version of the 1,000 pound Mk83 but with laser guidance and fins to help it guide itself to its target. I roll a 9. However, Ogre, being a Tomcat driver, is not an air-to-ground expert and has a -2 AtG penalty. Still, the resulting 7 is good enough to hit the target THREE times, giving us a total of five. Only 11 more to go.

Next, Wolf swoops in, releasing his own GBU-16. He rolls a 9, and has an AtG penalty of -1, resulting in an 8. That's good enough for three more hits, upping our total to eight.

The Naval Base has taken a pounding, but it is only halfway gone. We have two more turns after this to deal the killing blow.