Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN: Mission 4

 

Yet another tough mission, this time a strike on a VC troop concentration down South in Route Pack 2. I had some political constraints which meant I couldn't attack any sites outside the centre target area, and there were lots of them in the approach zones so I just had to take the heat, grin and bear it. I made it to the target okay, with some AAA adding a few stress counters to some of the pilots and some nasty damage to the Intruder - callsign Easy Money - causing the pilot to dump all of his ordnance. I hit the target, blowing it to bits with rockets, CBU's and Mk-82's, and then made a quick getaway. 

On the way out, a long range AAA burst shot down one of the Skyhawks - callsign Shadow - but he was quickly extracted by SAR, so returned to the squadron with half a dozen stress counters, which isn't a surprise. In the debrief, I gained another two VP's and some XP's for the pilots, as well as some useful recon and intelligence shifts, but at the cost of a lot of stress. I decided to splash out on three SO's for some quality R&R, winning back two stress points for the squadron, which means that six out of nine pilots are mission ready, while the other three can recover with some mission downtime.

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN: Mission 3

This was supposed to be another straightforward mission but once again I overcooked the AtA load outs on the two Crusaders, which turned out to be superfluous, while the AtG load out wasn't enough to do the job properly. In the strike mission on a truck park, the four aircraft went in low to avoid the SA-2's but were hit by AAA on the first event card and by MiG's on the second, although I was able to cancel the second attack using a Sidewinder. The attack went in and the truck park was destroyed but not before one of the Skyhawks was shot down by AAA, with the pilot - callsign Backfire - now MIA. The stress factor wasn't too bad, as it was a mission in Route Pack 4 but still enough to give one pilot 5 stress points, even after adjustment in the debrief. I gained another 3VP's as well, making it a worthwhile mission and putting me on track for a decent campaign result. Luckily, the rest of the squadron have recovered enough to be fully fit for duty, ready for the next mission, a strike on a VC troop concentration in Route Pack 2.

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN: Mission 2

 

Mission 2 was a straightforward, low stress SAR support mission, which I'd played before in my short USAF campaign so knew it was a nice easy one. This was a three aircraft mission, so I took two Skyhawks and one Electric Intruder along, all with good AtG ratings and two of them with fast pilots. The mission was a bit of a cake walk with all of the infantry units destroyed plus an SA-2 site, which was added to the target in an Event Card, with only one stress counter gained over the target due to a near miss. In the debrief, I was able to eliminate most of the squadron's stress counters, again thanks to an Event Card and some downtime, as well as gaining 3 VP's and 2 XP's for each of the three pilots involved on the mission. It's all going pretty well so far....

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN: Mission 1

The first mission for the USN in the Rolling Thunder campaign was a strike on a minor bridge by four aircraft, two Skyhawks and two Crusaders. I spent four SO's to allow them their full weight point allowance so that they could load up with BLU-1's, Mk82's and AIM-9 Sidewinders, just in case. They went in at low level but it was a tough target and a baptism of fire.

Two AAA sites were knocked out before the attack went in, leaving a MiG-17, four AAA guns and an SA-2 to deal with. The MiG went down to a Sidewinder in Turn 2, with two of the AAA guns also knocked out but one of the Skyhawks was shot down on the way out by a remaining S-60. Luckily the veteran pilot, callsign Shadow, was rescued under fire but picked up six stress points in the debrief, so will be sitting out the next mission. The bridge was completely destroyed, giving the pilots an XP each and two VP's for the squadron.

It was another good game but I made some tactical errors in the set up, so will need to think it through with greater care next time round. I only had one fast pilot and also took too many AtA missiles instead of bombs or AtG weapons, the latter not having sufficient range to attack from a stand off position. I'll be careful to avoid the same mistakes next time!

Phantom Leader: Rolling Thunder USN Campaign

I'm about to kick off a new, medium length Phantom Leader campaign switching from the USAF to the USN for a change of aircraft and pilots. This time I have lined up four A-4 Skyhawks for the ground attack and interdiction role, four F-8 Crusaders top cover and interception and one EA-6A Electric Intruder for electronic warfare and countermeasures. I also have some extra SO's to spend so have upgraded five of the pilots pre-campaign to gibe them some more resilience. It should be a lot of fun!

Command and Colors Ancients

 

I've been after a good second copy of this for ages and was lucky enough to find one as a 'Buy It Now' on eBay last weekend, for only thirty five quid including postage. The blocks have the stickers applied which saves me the hassle of having to do it but otherwise it's in mint condition, so I'm very happy to now have the chance to try it out when I get the time. Excellent!

Night Fighter Command Sortie 6

I played the sixth and last sortie of Night Fighter Command today, at least for the moment, with a successful mission in which a Do17 and Ju88 were shot down, with one confirmed and one probable. This brought my total up to five bombers so I was able to roll for a skill increase for the crew, which resulted in a +1 across the board for both of them. The pilot, Acting Flt. Jenkins, DFC, also got a Mention in Dispatches, while the AI Operator, F/ Sgt Renaud got a well deserved DFM. They are both now on leave for a couple of weeks, but will be back on ops when I get time for some more games, probably next weekend. 

Phantom Leader Mission 3: Convoy Cakewalk

 

The last sortie of my Rolling Thunder short campaign turned out to be a cakewalk for the USAF. A combination of recon and event cards effectively removed all of the three AAA sites defending the convoy, so the F4's just rolled in and napalmed the trail, finishing off with a couple of CBU's for extra political value. The two pilots gained enough XPs to be promoted to skilled as well, with the overall VP's for the campaign also totalling a very good 9. I've really enjoyed these games and the whole system, so will be launching a new medium length campaign soon, this time with Thuds and an EB-66 instead of Phantoms. 

Phantom Leader Mission 2: Scratch One Bridge

 

The mission against the important bridge target in Route Pack 6a was a success this morning, with the bridge destroyed with laser guided bombs, two bandits shot down with Sidewinders and two AAA sites wiped out with CBU's. The squadron lost one aircraft shot down by AAA but the pilot - Callsign Papa - was recovered under fire. Needless to say the stress levels have skyrocketed but I've sent the squadron on two weeks R&R to recover, with most now on 2 or 3 stress points. 

The VP total is now 7, which is pretty good, but the political fall out from the bridge strike means I can only attack a 2 point target, which is a convoy that I just happened to draw as one of the two possible target options. It only has two strike aircraft assigned, so I'll pick my best ground attack pilots - Scorpio and Boomer - to fly the mission, loaded out with CBU's and BLU-1's for maximum effect. Luckily there are no bandits, so this will be a simple interdiction, ground pounding job. 

Phantom Leader Mission 2: Bridge Strike

 

This is the second mission in my short Rolling Thunder campaign and, as you can see, it is a lot tougher than the first one. I've loaded out the seven F4's, so that two are tasked with top cover armed with Sidewinders and the rest are strike aircraft, armed with a mix of laser guided bombs, rockets and cluster bombs, both for the suppression and strike roles. Fingers crossed! 

Phantom Leader Mission 1: Search and Rescue

I played the first mission in my Rolling Thunder campaign this morning, with three F4 Phantoms on a close support Search and Rescue mission. I loaded them up with cluster bombs, napalm and Mk82s for the job, which they pulled off in style only taking two turns to wipe out the NVA infantry that were closing in on the downed aircrew. The three pilots - Junior, Boomer and Scorpio - picked up some stress but also 3 VP's, not much but it wasn't a difficult sortie. I've now set up the next mission, a strike on a major bridge in Route Pack 6A, which has already caused the seven crew to pick up a stress counter each, as the Event Card made it an important target. This one will be a tough nut to crack! 

Night Fighter Command Sortie One Report

I completed the first mission for my night fighter command play test games and it was a pretty nasty outcome for both the RAF and the Luftwaffe. After an initial attack on a Do-17 last time, the crew managed to regain contact and fired another three second burst, hitting the engine, fuselage and tail and starting a fire. The Do-17 failed to evade and also missed with the tail gunners return fire, which is hardly a surprise. The Beaufighter then closed in for the coup de grace but missed and ran out of ammunition, resulting in the AI having to reload the cannon magazines, although the bomber also failed to evade or hit the fighter again. However, the subsequent three second burst of cannon fire scored a direct hit and blew the bomber out of the sky, with a confirmed kill from the observer corps in Yeovil. 

The GCI now vectored the crew to a He-111 over Weymouth, which had already been damaged by flak on a raid over Bristol and was now attempting to get back across the channel. This time, the AI operator initially failed to maintain contact but with help from the GCI managed to get back into position, eventually guiding the fighter onto the bombers six o'clock. A three second burst inflicted two more hits on the bomber but didn't cause any serious damage, with a second and final burst missing completely, despite the bomber failing to evade or spot the attacker. With no ammunition left, the crew set course for Middle Wallop but a nasty overshoot on landing left the aircraft in a wreck and the pilot and AI operator in hospital for a month with some serious wounds, the pilot having smashed his head on the gunsight and now with a -1 spotting penalty as a result. 

I enjoyed the game and it picked up pace after a slow start. I was lucky to shoot down the Do-17 which proved to be a tough customer but also really unlucky not to destroy the already damaged He-111, which only had an Evade of 1, a Spot of 1 and reduced Attack of 2. The crash landing at the end was also a pain in the bum as I will now have to rest the crew for a month, the pilot only needing two weeks to recover but the AI operator being more seriously injured. For the next sortie, they will get a new aircraft and will be operational in early June 1941, so there will be less chance of the 10/10 cloud cover that made spotting a bit more difficult and enabled the bombers to evade.

In terms of the system, I was thinking that the GCI could do a task roll to get a fix on a bomber each turn, rolling a GCI Skill vs Difficulty 1 roll, so that the game could move along a little faster. If the roll failed, the Beaufighter would advance 1D3 sectors onwards then contact the GCI for a new vector, with another GCI roll made to get a fix on a bomber. That way, the Beaufighter would move around the track a bit more and still get a chance to intercept a bomber at least once in the game. From what I've read about early GCI usage, there were occasions when night fighter crews failed to intercept due to ground controllers not vectoring them on to the target effectively or not being able to identify and locate enemy bombers with accuracy. I'll have to play a few more games to see if this works out.

Enemy Coast Ahead

 

The WW2 air wargaming theme continues with a second hand acquisition via eBay of the board game Enemy Coast Ahead, which replicates the famous Dambusters raid as a solo game. I'm really excited by this one but I don't expect to get round to actually playing it very soon, as I have a stack of other board wargames piling up that need my attention. I think I'll save this one for the Easter holidays in a couple of months time.

Enemy Coast Ahead: The Dambuster Raid | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Night Fighter Command Opening Shots

I've been playing the first moves of a Night Fighter Command game and, apart from some minor head scratching, it's been going pretty well. The Beaufighter crew are now somewhere over Sherborne in Dorset on the tail of a Do-17 bomber, which they intercepted using the CGI vector and the AI operators radar, successfully spotted despite 10/10ths cloud cover, then damaged with a three second burst of cannon fire. This hit the port engine, starboard wing and tail, also seriously wounded the pilot who nevertheless has now managed to evade to long range. I've had to call it a day now but will pick up the game again tomorrow, with the crew aiming to make another successful AI interception and spotting attempt, followed by a second deadly burst of 20mm! 

Eisenbach Gap

 

I won an eBay auction for this game last week and I've been having a closer look today, when I had the time to check out the contents of the box. It's a punched game but everything is in very good condition and ready to play, once I've read through the rules. It looks fairly straightforward and should be ideal for solo play as well. I'm focussed on Phantom Leader and Night Fighter Command at the moment but this may well be my follow on game.

Night Fighter Command Set Up

I now have all the components for Night Fighter Command printed, laminated and cut out, so will be ready for a game or two at the end of the week. I have a day off on Friday this week, so I'm planning to run at least two games if I can find the time, with some more pencilled in for the weekend. I also dug out an old 1/300th scale Bristol Beaufighter from my Bag the Hun collection which I thought would be good as a marker for map movement rather than just a counter. I painted this years ago and had to improvise some fictitious insignia, but otherwise it's spot on in terms of accuracy for the game. I'm looking forward to finding out if I can shoot anything down with it!

Night Fighter Command Playtesting

I volunteered to do some playtesting of Night Fighter Command a while ago and the author, Alan Eagle, has very kindly let me take part. I have printed out all the sheets, counters, cards and rules so I need to get them cut out and get them laminated before I can start. I've really enjoyed Corvette Command and I'm a very keen air wargamer, albeit with miniatures, so I'm really looking forward to the whole playtesting process, which will hopefully include at least half a dozen ops.

PO 'Moggy' Jenkins famed for his cat like night vision

F/Sgt 'Jonno' Renaud, his stalwart Canuck AI Operator

In the meantime, I've rolled up my crew, operating from Middle Wallop with No.604 Squadron, with an English pilot, PO Albert 'Moggy' Jenkins, RAF, (Spotting 3 / Evade 1 / Attack 2 / Flying 2) and his French Canadian AI Operator, F/Sgt Jean Paul 'Jonno' Renaud, RCAF (AI 2 / Reload 2). Their GCI Controller has a skill rating of 4.  Their first op will be on the 12th May 1941 when the full moon should make interception easier over the mission route, which will take them down through Dorset then back along the coast around Portland before returning to Middle Wallop for breakfast.

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder Mission 1

 

I was hoping to play the first mission of my short Rolling Thunder campaign today but it took so long to trim the counters and set it up that I'll have to leave it for tomorrow. I had the choice of a SAR close support mission or an attack on a heavily defended major airfield, so decided to go for the easier option. I've loaded our the three F4's with cluster bombs, napalm and 500lb iron bombs, which should do the trick as there are no bandits, AAA or SAM sites to worry about. Fingers crossed! 

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder

I'm about to kick off a short campaign of Phantom Leader using the Rolling Thunder mission card and a squadron of USAF F4E Phantoms. I would have liked to use Thuds but can't equip a full squadron of them as the card mix doesn't cater for this (I have an older edition of the game with only double sided cards). I just need to punch out some counters and I'll be ready to roll. 

Totensonntag Turn 5 and 6

 

Well that was a complete shambles for the British, primarily due the fact that I didn't have a plan to start with and forgot to think about the victory objectives. I was also working things out as I went along, so made a couple of mistakes with the rules, nothing serious but enough to screw things up. It's a great little game though, with some simple mechanics and excellent components, so I'll be giving it another try when the dust has settled, this time going hell for leather in the direction of Sidi Rezegh instead of Bir El Gubi! 

Totensonntag Turn 4

 

It's going from bad to worse as the 6th Brigade of the New Zealand Division is almost destroyed by the Panzerwaffe. The plucky South Africans also still haven't quite managed to capture Bir El Gubi, not that it matters anyway as it's not a victory objective! The New Zealand 4th Brigade is about to enter to reinforce he remnants of the 6th Brigade but will be advancing straight into a ring of German tanks. Oh dear. 

Totensonntag Turn 3

 

Yet more disasters for the 7th Armoured Division in Turn 3, with the 7th Armoured Brigade, 22nd Armoured Brigade and 7th Support Group now destroyed. The South Africans have almost managed to take Bir El Gubi from the Ariete Division, which is now shattered, but the 4th Armoured Brigade is now down to one battalion of M3 Stuarts. The New Zealand 6th Brigade is about to enter as reinforcements but there's not a lot left to reinforce! 

Totensonntag Turn 2

Things are going from bad to worse for the 7th Armoured Division, with the advance on Sidi Rezegh absolutely hammered by the 15th Panzer Division and Afrika Division. The assault on Bir El Gubi is also stalling although the South African 1st Division 5th Brigade is moving up to support the 1st Brigade in its attack. The 7th Armoured Division has now lost twelve units so has been shattered. I think the Afrika Korps may already have won! 

Totensonntag Turn 1

It's the end of the day on the 19/11/41 and the Allied offensive is already having some difficulties, with tough opposition from both the Italians at Bir El Gubi and the 21st Panzer Division North of Gabr Saleh. On the upside, the 7th Armoured Brigade is pushing through to Sidi Rezegh after destroying the forward deployed units of the Afrika Division. The British and Germans now have  reinforcements on the way, with the South Africans well placed to support the attack on Bir El Gubi, while the 15th Panzer Division moves up to Sidi Rezegh.