Deleted User wrote:

Interesting about your decision on aircraft miniatures.

  Believe me, it was not an easy decision!  A couple of the guys are not “airheads” and felt having too many different looking aircraft on the table might get too stressful, especially since our first instinct was to start with a “base stat” aircraft for each type and each player could modify it with one or 2 things to customize how their forces fought.  That started to feel too much like list building, so we did away with it and since we are using the same aircraft stats why not just use the same aircraft?  Should make painting schemes a hoot!

Same for the ground stuff, as a couple of the guys are real “treadheads” but I couldn’t tell you at a glance if a tank was a T-64BV or a T-80XYZ.  So, we will have only heavy and medium tanks, with options for either heavy or medium guns.  Then also APC, IFV, and some sort of missile APC.  Probably use Challengers as the heavy tank, T-64s as the medium tank, Saladins for the IFVs, FV432 for the APCs (the O8 minis are larger in 3mm than their M113), M109s for arty (I have a bunch leftover from Vietnam gaming), and Rapiers for the ATGM vehicles (because the missiles really stand out in 3mm and all of the TOW vehicles are tiny).  The rules will be almost silly-simple.

One thing we haven’t worked on much is the economy for the campaign.  I did a full set up for a previous campaign many moons ago, so I might pare that one down to be much more simple, with most of the income coming from territory holding and combat results rather than resource based.

Deleted User wrote:

You’re missing AA vehicles, like Shilka and M163, SAMs

  SAMs will be present on the air table (as they are separate battles from the ground combats and CAS will not be a thing this go ’round as it’s “unsporting”) and ground targets will have either tactical or strategic levels of AA per Thud Ridge depending upon if points are spent on each Task Force to upgrade their base air defense.  We decided that AA units would not be used in ground combat, instead opting to IFV which would be more effective vs Inf than armor.

Deleted User wrote:

You could cut the types down to fighter, bomber and EW and have more payload options

  Yup, that’s our plan.  Here are the stats and loadouts we are using:

Interceptor: NL:6 L:4 MH:4 AB, D+1 for TT @ Height 1   Weapons: 1: RGx2 | 2: RGx1 Gun | 3: RGx3 (Loaded) | RGx2 Gun (loaded)

Fighter: NL:5 L:4 MH:4 AB, D+1 for TT @Height 4  Weapons: 1: HSx1 Gun | 2: HSx2 | 3: HSx1 RGx1 | 4: HSx2 Gun (Loaded) | 5: Gun (or HSx1) Bomb (Loaded)

Bomber: NL:4 L:3 MH:3 AB  Weapons: 1: Bombx2 | 2: Bombx1 Gun | 3: Bombx1 Rear Gun |

Recon: NL:6 L:4 MH:3 AB no Tight Turn  Weapons: 1: none | 2: Gun | 3: Bombx1 (NL:5, loaded) | 4: HSx1 (loaded)

Wild Weasel: NL:6 L:4 MH:4 AB (Any Arms is loaded)   Weapons: 1: ARMx2 | 2: ARMx1 Gun | 3: ARMx1 HSx1 | 4: ARMx1 Bombx1 | 5: ARMx4 (NL:5)

EW: NL:4 L:4 MH:3  Weapons: 1: none

Still working out the costs for the different loadouts, but EW aircraft will be expensive and will need to be protected.  Interceptors have to be careful in dogfights, though we have bandied about extending the range of RG Missiles by 5cm or 10cm to better help them do their job (as we won’t be saddled with the same ROE as in Vietnam)

Deleted User wrote:

Are you planning to use operational range? That would add another dynamic to mission planning, trading bombs for fuel tanks

  Indeed, there will be some logistical planning there, with things like the Bingo# being higher if the range to combat is longer, etc.  Drop tanks can also be included, counting a loaded, and if already loaded then lowering the NL and L energy by -1.  Maybe.  Need to test it.

Deleted User wrote:

If you like I could make an F4D stl file so you can print it out using any 3D printing service.

  I really wanted them.  Might hit you up later, thanks for the offer!

Deleted User wrote:

I meant fighter, interceptor and recon could be combined into one, RG would make the plane loaded while recon pod would take the place of most missiles. Recon pod could also be fitted to bombers and EW, just seems more flexible to me (and fewer miniatures).

  Ah, I got ya.  The decision for using different minis for the different types is 2 fold: less confusion with which plane of the same type is doing what role, and we wanted the different roles to “feel” different.

Deleted User wrote:

Looking forward to seeing 50s jets fight each other I’ve been wanting to do something like this but couldn’t decide what aircraft to use.

Sadly not a true matchup, as they are representing generic stats rather than historical ones.  Would be interesting to see something historical though, as so many designs never had the chance to fight it out! (*please do not take that as an endorsement of war!)

There is now talk of having 5 alt levels, thus allowing for both an Afterburner Climb of 2 levels (forward 5cm, up 2 levels, no shooting allowed, -2 energy, roll bingo) and allowing RG missiles to be fired at targets 1 alt above or below.  This would put levels 2-4 as “medium alt”, and level 5 as high alt.

I don’t know if I am sold yet on the RG’s being so advantaged…

Deleted User wrote:

Sounds good to me, as long as it’s true to period with low hit probability. Maybe not allow it to shoot below, those early missiles couldn’t distinguish target from ground

I suggested the exact same thing!  So, maybe from alt 5 to 4, but below alt 4 they can only fire on the same level or the one above.

If we have an afterburner climb, we will have to have a power dive too.  I foresee a lot of spins and crashes in our future!

All forces have arrived, so now we can get to painting!  There has also been a change of players, as the original Daring player dropped out and finding a replacement took a bit of time.  The new player is thinking of green camo for his units, so that should provide some variation on the table.  Hopefully we can get the game rolling very soon.  We are set to be making the initial force purchases and planing this week.

Last night ran fast and furious, with each player purchasing their starting forces and then sending me (the GM) where they were placing troops and whatnot for the start of The War.  I cannot divulge what each ground unit is composed of until they are reconed by an enemy and revealed, but we can talk about the aircraft.

Cobalt purchased 6 Fighters, 4 interceptors, 6 bombers, 3x EW, 4 Wild Weasels, 4 Recon and 3x SAR.

Darling went ground heavy and in a surprise move bought a 2nd airfield!  Their aircraft purchase was 8 bombers, 2 recon, 6 fighters, 2 interceptors and 2 SAR.  No WW or EW for them to start.

Shadow went lightest on the ground but is very fighter heavy, purchasing 10 fighters, 6 interceptors, 4 bombers, 4 EW, 4 WW, 6 recon and 4 SAR.

The (very simplified for spectators) starting map looks thus:

Roads had to be purchased and are quite expensive and also double edged (as enemies can use them too!), so the longest route is only 6 hexes.  As you can see, there is going to be a heck of a scrum in the center, and a fair few fights on the fringes as each side scrambles for initial gains.  Ground movement for a unit is determined by composition, so an infantry heavy force w/o carriers will be slow, while a unit made up of fast units (like IFV and APC) will move much more quickly.

It’ll be interesting to see who ends up controlling the major resources, as Towns generate 2 RP each and Industrial generate 6 RP each, other land generating 1 RP per 4 hexes under control (not contested by enemy ZOC).  This is going to get brutal really fast.  Airstrikes occur before ground movement and I’m guessing there will be some large strikes going in right from the start.

Prepare for carnage!  (just as soon as we all get our forces painted…)

Indeed sir, I do plan on putting up battreps and the like, and trying to keep the map updated.  As some of the players view this site there will be some secrecy that I will have to keep (being the GM with full knowledge) but I’ll do my best.

Towns and Industry are both targets and resources.  Towns generate 2 Resource Points per turn for the owner, while Industry sites generate 6 each.  Cobalt, for instance, is starting the game with 26 RP based on land area, towns and industry.  RP can be gained for destroying enemy platoons and aircraft as well as via actual land conquest.

In air combat missions, each platoon is a target, towns have 6 targets and Industry have 4 targets that can be bombed.  All are placed as blind markers, and there are also a number of dummy counters just to confuse things.  Recon aircraft can scout blinds and reveal if they are real targets or dummies.  Without recon you could be bombing countryside instead of a real target!

It was really interesting to see how each faction placed their units, especially as none had any knowledge of where their opponents were setting up.  There were more than a few hmmmms, though there also seemed to be some similar projected tactics about to take place, which makes me think there was some offline armchairing beforehand.

I’m a little worried about Daring, as they’ve placed both of their bases rather far forwards, a bit vulnerable IMO.