The first mission of the 1967 Six Day War campaign was a strike on an urban target in Jordan, with two Vautour fighter bombers escorted by a single Mirage III fighter. The event cards on the way to the target allowed me to remove the three defending AAA sites for the cost of an extra stress point, but this still left three fighters to deal with. One Su-7 was shot down by an AIM-9 fired by the Mirage on the approach to the target area but in the following turn, the Mirage itself was damaged by a MiG-19, forcing it to jettison the last remaining Sidewinder, leaving cannon as the only defensive armament to take on the enemy fighters.
The two Vautours and the damaged Mirage had now entered the target area and the flight leader - callsign Sky - dropped his four bombs on the town, causing a total of five hits on top of three hits that had already been caused by pre mission sabotage and successfully evading attacks by the enemy fighters at the same time. The only thing for the Israelis to do now was get out as fast as possible, while evading the enemy fighters or shooting them down with their guns.
One of the Vautours now jettisoned it's heavy bomb load and, rolling a ten modified up to an eleven, gunned down the MiG-17, with the other Vautour finishing off the MiG-19 on the way out of the target area. All three pilots racked up quite a lot of stress on this mission, so will need a good rest before they sortie again, but I did gain 1 VP toward the fifteen that I need for a good evaluation. It's a long shot to say the least!
I enjoyed your report. I'm looking forward to seeing how the campaign unfolds. It's a great game, as are most of the Leader series.
ReplyDeleteI love the way the story develops through the action unfolding on the tactical display and through the event cards.
I'm about to begin a Hornet Leader campaign myself. I always play long campaigns now because I enjoy seeing my pilots gain experience over time and to see how their stories unfold. A great way to spend a few evenings.