Phantom Leader War in the South USAF: Mission 4

 

The fourth and final mission in my medium length early war campaign was a basic ground support sortie, with two aircraft lined up for the task, which required eight damage points on a soft target defended by four AAA sites. I decided to load up with AGM-12's again for this one, as none of the AAA sites could target high altitude aircraft and I could happily ignore then while blatting the target. The mission went very smoothly and I gained three more VP's, giving me a campaign total of six victory points. This was number crunched by an IBM mainframe computer in the Pentagon, with the overall verdict being Good, which must mean that we're winning the war? Either way, I really enjoyed this short but challenging campaign and will be re-running it with different aircraft at a later point. 

Phantom Leader War in the South USAF: Mission 3

 

Mission 3 was a covert operation to bomb a VC target in Laos, again with only two aircraft tasked for the job. I took two of the most skilled AtG pilots and loaded them out with a combination of rockets and iron bombs, in order to suppress any AAA and knock out the target, which needed 6 hits but would only give me 1 VP as a reward. The mission went a bit wonky from the get go, due to the AAA that ringed the target, which I was not allowed to attack but only suppress as it was too politically sensitive. The two pilots did knock out the target, however, gaining that single VP and a couple of XP's but it was not a great result, so the next mission will be critical if I'm going to scrape a respectable outcome.

Phantom Leader War in the South USAF: Mission 2

 

This was a strike on a railway line in Route Pack 1 and it looked like an easy mission, until I turned over the first event card, which added stress to the two pilots from AAA on the way in. After that it went downhill, primarily due to some terrible dice for the AGM-12 missiles, four threes in a row on a D10, with the target only getting four of the six hits needed to knock it out. The last event card, peace protests back home, also added a stress point to every pilot in the squadron, which meant I had to send them on R&R to recover. No VP's either, so the scoreboard is looking pretty poor at the half way stage in the campaign. 

Phantom Leader War in the South USAF: Mission 1

 

This was a good start to the USAF campaign, with a VC troop concentration attacked by three Thuds armed with stand off AGM-12 Bullpup missiles, once again to keep them out of range of the AAA. The fighter bombers swept in and knocked out the target with little difficulty, gaining a useful 2 VP's and 2 XP's for each pilot in the bag. The AGM-12's do require some SO expenditure but they a worth it to ensure that the AAA and ground fire can't touch the high altitude aircraft. The next mission is an attack on a railway line, with a -1 to any dice rolls for AtG attacks and only two aircraft allowed to fly the mission, so it will be a challenge to destroy the target before running out of munitions.

Phantom Leader War in the South USAF Campaign

I'm now starting a four mission medium length campaign in 1965, with a USAF squadron equipped with the iconic F-105 Thunderchief as the focus. This will be an interesting change from the Rolling Thunder missions that I've been playing, as there are no bandits or SAM sites to worry about but lots of AAA instead. The campaign also limits the number of pilots and the number of aircraft that can be assigned to missions, so it will be a challenge to destroy some of the more heavily defended targets and avoid stress building up for the aircrew. I'm really looking forward to this - what a great game!

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN: Mission 7

 

This was the last mission in my Rolling Thunder campaign and, unlike the previous one, went off without a hitch. I tried out a new attack profile, the three Skyhawks coming in at high altitude armed with AGM-12 Bullpup stand off missiles, targeting a POL storage facility defended my AAA that could only attack low level targets. The one high altitude AAA site was eliminated by an event card and the rest also prevented from firing in the first turn, not that it mattered as they had nothing to shoot at. 

The single bandit counter also turned up blank, so I didn't have to worry about that either. As a result, the Skyhawks rolled in and blasted the POL facility from afar, launching a total of three AGM-12's to finish the job. I only gained 2 XP per pilot and one measly VP but, as a bonus, the last event card returned one of my MIA pilots to the squadron having escaped from VC captivity. This brought the campaign to an end, with a total of eleven VP's - an 'Adequate Outcome' according to the campaign score card. Not too bad but not as good as the last campaign.

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN: Mission 6

 

After the FUBAR last mission I had no option other than to give the squadron down time instead of a new sortie, as all of the target cards were well above my political point threshold including the extra ones that I spent SO points on. The squadron did slug off some more stress while on R&R, however, the only down side being the loss of much needed VP's. I set up Mission 7 while they were at China Beach, so there will be a strike mission on a POL target next time, with some new tactics being devised to avoid that nasty AAA.

Phantom Leader Rolling Thunder USN Mission 5

 

Mission 5 turned out to be a complete disaster, largely due to the first two event cards which gave the defending AAA a cumulative +3 bonus to their dice rolls. The end result was the loss of two Crusader pilots MIA, having fluffed their SAR rolls, but only five points of damage on the target, a small naval base, which was not destroyed. To add insult to injury, the last event card pushed my politics counter so far to the right I couldn't select any targets for Mission 6, so have had to scrub it. At least the stressed out pilots will get some down time and we'll earned R&R. 

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!

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! 

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. 

New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's Resolution this year is to play more board wargames, some old favourites and some new additions to the collection, most of which are second hand but in very good condition. For my presents this year, I have a quartet of great games, most of which can be played solo, especially Phantom Leader and Wing Leader, both of which I'm very keen to get started on. 

I've also bought myself some more games including Panzer Blitz, as I'm a veteran Panzer Leader player and love the game, as well as Lock n' Load Band of Heroes, so I can try out the Lock n' Load system. I've also just got hold of Manoeuvre by GMT, which ticks all the boxes for Beer and Pretzels wargaming, although not so great for solo play. I'm hoping to really dig into board wargaming again after having neglected this side of the hobby for far too long.