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Northerners are flying Combat Air Support (CAS) in support of a ground offensive.
P-51s escorting a C-47 bomber.A pair of Southern F4Us are flying normal air patrol.
Seems like both sides are following the river into the region. Both Southerner F4Us got the initiative, but there wasn’t much to do this early on except fly straight. The Northerners had to turn in, following the river to make a run on Southern positions. P-51s leading the way.
F4Us finally turn into their opponents on a suicidal head on. Who wins the next initiative will get to shoot first.
Only one of the F4U got the initiative and he missed his shot. The two P-51s ganged up on the slow F4U and both missed. The second F4U zoomed by heading for the C-47.
Luck is really on the side of the South because they both won initiative again. The previously slow F4U was now the lead plane and decided for a deflection shot instead of another head on. A hit! Heavily damaging the makeshift bomber. The second F4U lined up preparing to finish the C-47 off. Unfortunately it looks like he’ll overshoot the target anyway. The P-51s lazily turned, but it’ll probably be too late to save the C-47.
F4Us were having their own indecisive moments and only the lead F4U had a chance of catching up to the damaged C-47, who is turning for home.
And the lead F4U made it in time to finish off the C-47. The P-51s decided they needed to take at least one of the F4U down to make up for it and continued to turn in for a dogfight.
The lead F4U got the jump again and shredded a P-51 with a single burst. The remaining P-51 stunned by the loss of his leader flew straight and ahead instead of turning for home. The second F4U has a chance of getting a shot, but only if he rolls perfectly. The maneuverable F4U managed to get it’s cross hair on the P-51 and hit, but only managed to damage it.
The last P-51 now decided to turn away and run for home and it looks like he will make it. One of the F4U was too busy watching the column of tanks and got momentary lost, leaving the combat zone. The F4U that just shot up the P-51 will take a while to turn around and catch up.
And it looks like F4U is letting the P-51 get away.
It was such a one sided fight. Northern ground forces got a front roll seat seeing their air cover and support get shot down and chased away.
Second fight that same day
Northern Air Force sent down a T-28 to interdict Southern ground force movement, covered by another pair of P-51. These were flown by mercenaries.
THIEF (red P-51)
COLD CASH (blue P-51)
MUD (T-28)
The Southerners has a flight of F4Us flying another patrol.
Right away looks like the Southerners got lucky again. They’re in great position to take out the Trojan before the mustangs could get in the fight.
A Corsair heading right in to line up for a shot. The other, being smarter, broke right to lead intercept the Trojan (MUD).
The F4U missed his run and the MUD turned to avoid the other Corsair, while the P-51s plan to jump the closest F4U.
In a surprise development MUD got the jump on the secod F4U, taking a shot a him and managed to down the surprised Southerner. YAY! Always cheer for the underdog.
Left alone with 3:1 odds, the F4U wasn’t too confident but was determined to take out at least one plane before running for it. He slowed down using the Corsair’s superior low speed maneuverability and shot at the pair of Mustangs trying to kill him. A mustang exploded, it was COLD CASH. As before the second P-51 froze after seeing his wingman get shot down. MUD lined up for a run on Southern position.
The f4U is in a good position and will get a good shot at the T-28 next turn no matter what, and didn’t have to worry about the last P-51 for a few turns at that.
MUD missed and the F4U zoomed in, but missed his shot on the little aircraft once again. The lucky Trojan, having made it’s run turned for home. THIEF recovered and did a tight turn to get back into the fight.
The F4U failed to do a tight turn to get a shot on the departing T-28 and now he has a P-51 on his tail.
He decided to run home instead of pushing his luck. It was a close one, but he won initiative the following turn and got out of the area before the P-51 could catch up.
After the first day of combat both sides had some successes but the South was a little ahead.
Northern loss
2x P-51
1x C-47
Southern loss
1x F4UThe second fight wa a retcon. Originally the mercenaries flew for the South. THIEF got the kill and COLD CASH got short down. Since the North lost planes in the first mission it made more sense the merceanries to fly for them. Then again it made more sense if the mercs started flying on day 2 or 3.
Day 2
Southern ground forces set up a defensive line to block Norther forces from capturing the single bridge.
Northern forces had covered a lot of ground during the night and the first clash was expected later in the afternoon.Southern Air Force finally launched its first ground attack mission, throwing everything into knocking out Northern tanks, 4 F4Us with rockers and bombs.
Northern Air Force, has an air patrol over the expected battlefield. 2 P-51, red one flowing by THIEF.Once againt the Southern aircraft were following the river into the area, its the surest way to find Northern forces travelling along the river bank.
The Northerners has an advantage this time, the slow, loaded F4Us will be easy picking until they dropped their bombs and also has further to travel to their target.
The Mustangs zoomed in on the trailing pair of F4Us and only managed to damaged one F4U. The damaged Corsair dictched its ordnance and RTB. The other 3 F4Us kept their cool and proceeded to the target.
The Mustangs came around for another pass of the slow Corsairs and THIEF managed to damage the other Corsair. The damaged corsair decided to continue it’s mission to hit Northern Ground Forces, while Northern fighters continued their lackluster attacks failing to shoot anyhting down.
The camouflage P-51 pulled in behind the pair of gray Corsairs and open fired. He missed but the stream of tracers panicked one of the pilots enough for him to dumb his bombs and turn for home.
The blue damaged Corsair lined up his crosshair and let loose his salvo of rockets before dropping his bombs on the column of tanks. The pilot looks back and sees smoke coming out from most of the column. Not bad for a damaged aircraft. His counterpart in the other flight managed almost as well, scoring a single hit, but it was enough to turn the balance of force on the ground in favor of the South.
Althought there are 3 corsairs in the air, one was damaged and was trying to avoid a fight, one was running away, leaving only a single Southern Corsair in the fight. THIEF chased down the damaged Corsair but missed his shooting again.
It developed into a confusing furball with the Mustangs taking many shots at both the fighting and damaged Corsair but scoring no hits. Poor flying from both sides resulted in planes flying in circle behind each other. Finally someting happened. THIEF flew passed the damaged Corsair, pulling in behind the undamaged Corsair and let out another burst, exploding the aircraft. His wingman on the other hand overshot the damaged corsair, narrowly avoiding a collision.
Thigs aren’t looking good for the lone Southern fighter. It’s almost guaranteed to be shot down by the two Mustangs. At the last moment, before the damaged Corsair could exit the battle zone, THIEF catught up with him and open fired. He missed and only managed to stunn the pilot who got him safely.
This was a disaster for the North. A bitter success for the South with 2 Corsairs damaged and 1 destroyed but strategically its ground forces now has the upper hand.
I forgot to remove one F4U for the loss on Day 1. Everything gets repaired over night.
Day 2 Afternoon.
Northern Ground Force Commander decided he needed to regroup his troops after the devastating morning attack that saw half his force rendered combat ineffective, delaying the operation even more.
Norhtern Air Force sent out it’s pilots to stop the same thing happening again in the afternoon.
The South didn’t have the aircraft to replicate its attack that morning and could only put up a token patrol to prevent the same happening to them.
Not looking good for the South, 1 F4U vs 2 P-51.
Both sides seeked to gain an advantage but it was the lone Corsair that drew first blood. Maybe they’re better trained because in a single burst a Mustang exploded in a ball of flame.
Having downed one P-51, the Southerner chased after the other. After clirling each other several tiems, the F4U managed to get behind the remaining P-51 and opened fire. THIEF in the P-51 felt his aircraft shudder and saw bits flew away into the jungle canopy below and knew he was done for. His damaged plane didn’t have to power to fly over the mountain coming up real close. His only option was to turn and hopefully, fight.
It was easy for the maneuverable F4U to keep on the Mustang’s tail and shoot away. After a few wide burst he scored a hit and saw the P-51 plumet into the foot of teh mountain.
This guy scored two kills in one mission and pretty much broke the back of the Northern Air Force. The North only has a T-28 left, unless they get some reinforcements.
The South definitely has better pilots. This is playing out a lot like Football War.
After Day 2
Northern Loss
4x P-51
1x C-47
Southern loss
2x F4UDay 3
During the night Northern Ground Forces initiated it’s attack. Flanking along the river, it caught Southern forces be surprise, unexpetedly the Southerners hung on, causing significant casualties on the North side.Southern Air Force its bomber, but the ground forces were too close to distanguish friend from foe and diverted it’s bomber to interdict Northern reinforcements instead. A-26 escorted by the remaining F4Us.
Northern Air Force managed to scrounch up a handful of aircraft. A P-51 hangar queen was quikly brought to flyable condition, accompanied by a pair of T-28s, one flown by mercenary pilot (MUD).
Right away, Northern aircraft broke formation, due to the difference in speed and scattered in stead of planning to hit the Southerners in one big punch. The South did better, fighters sticking close to the bomber.
Coming in alone the camouflaged P-51 hoped to zoom in and shot at the A-26. Unfortunately he completely missed. The Corsairs split up, one going for the closing T-28 while the lead plane pulled a hard turn onto the tail of teh P-51 and squeezed the trigger. The P-51 pilot say the torrent of tracers all around him and decided to bail, heading for home before his plane was hit and plummetted into the river below. The Corsair pilot scored his third kill.
The camouflaged Trojan saw the dark Corsair approaching but was indecisive about turning to engage the superior fighter, loosing his chance to take his attacker by surprise. Instead he lazily pulled in behind the Corsair that jsut shot down teh P-51 and open fired with the gunpods. He saw a trail of smoke coming form the fighter but the rugged naval aircraft refused to go down. The Corsair’s wingman turned after the T-28, desperate to take the pressure off his flight lead.
Seeing the damaged Corsair turning for home the little Trojan turned for the bomber. The remaining Corsair saw the T-28s converge on the A-26 and pulled aways from the mountain, to try and catch the new comer before he reached the A-26.
The Camouflaged T-28 made a pass on the A-26 but his aim was off, whle the closure speed as too fast for the toehr Trojan to make a shot. For some reason, maybe it was the approaching Corsair, but the two Northern pilots froze instead of pursuing the bomber.
The Corsair chose to attck the T-28 closest to the bomber but failed to hit. The stream of tracers was close enough to convince the merceanry pilot to bug out and RTB.
The A-26 made its bombing run and let loose its string of bombs, scoring good hits on the tanks below. The escorting Corsair, turned for the next T-28 but was a little too slow to get a quick burst off.
The T-28 made a tight turn and almost had the jump on him, hesitating at the last moment. The Corsair pilot made his own tight turn, positioning himself for a kill.
The T-28 tried to evade but couldn’t put enough distance from the Corsair but the F4U missed his shot anyway. As he flew by he saw the little trainer banked and did a tight turn pointing it’s nose towards him. Lines of tracer reched out to hsi plane and he decided to get out of dodge and RTB before his wing was shot off and the Corsair went down.
Trhe Trojan pilot wasn’t sure he could catch up to the fast bomber and half heartedly flew towards it, finding himself in range and was able to take a shot that missed before the bomber pulled away.
Trojan for the win!!!
Day 3 Afternoon
Southern Ground Forces aounter attacked, pinning Northern forces against the river. It was a textbook maneuver and the Nothern forces was destroyed as an effective fighting force.
The Southern Air Force was eager to push their advantage but their one remaining figher was damaged. Luckily Southern governemnt managed to get its hands on a second hand fighter, a single Hawker Hunter.
Norhtern Air Force was desperate to pull their weight. They only had 2 Trojans able to fly but was reluctant to put them on CAS mission without top cover. In their infinite wisdom they put the two Trojans on air patrol instead.
The Hunter enjoys a comfortable speed advantage over the two trainers and confidently zoomed in for a gun run. MUD acted fast, dipping down and climbing under the Hunter and gave a burst. Her fancy flying was a little too fancy because she missed, but guaranteed the et fighter would overshoot her. The Hunter undertered went for her wingman but the pilot wasn’t yet familiar with the new jet and missed.
They all came around for another pass. The Hunter was able to pull a hard turn and point it’s nose towards the camouflage T-28, but the litle plane was too dificult to hit. The jet figher was surprisingly maneuverable but he continued to miss hi shots.
The new jet was a little too fast and the pilot ahd to pause his attack as the mouthain was getting bigger in front of him. He had to climb over the mountain. loosing sight of the two targets. But it was easy for the fast fighter to get back on the closest Trojan. There was another pass and uneventful dogfighting but the Hunter faied to score a hit.
The dogfight broke up as the Trojans realized fighting a jet fighter was a lost cause and RTB. The Hunter had a hard time turning at high speed and lost sight of his targets. After a long search for the slow trainer the Southern pilot was able to find the little plane and caught up to it, lining up the perfect shot before splaching the Trojan in a hail of 30mm.
MUD was down.
The afternoon mission was a lucky roll for the South, getting partial reinforcement.
After Day 3
Northern loss
4x P-51
1x C-47
1xT-28Southern loss
3x F4UIt’d be acceptable if it was their hand-eye coordination. I think they’re just bad pilots.
Day 4
Just as the North and South governments were finalizing the finer points of the ceasefire agreeement the military were positining for a last minute gain.Both side were keeping their ground forces at a distance while their Air Forces fought for control of the sky. It wasn’t a contest. really the South pretty muc had air dominance at this point.
The Southern Air Force was determin to completely destroy whats left of the Northern ground force. Another interdiction mission, involving eerything they could put together, A-26 and F4U on ground attack while the single Hunter fly cover.
The North weren’t cowards and sent their one remaing pilot up on patrol until teh ceasefire take effect.This is an honor fight. I have no hope for the North to get even a kill.
The Huner screamed in and took a shot, but the T-28 luckily flew through the line of tracers unharmed.
The little trojan was able to slip under the jet fighter and line its guns on the F4U. Tracers whizzing close enough to shock the pilot. But even loaded the F4U was faster than the T-28 and was able to pull away. Up North the Hunter had a hard time reaquiring the litle camouflaged trainer, got lost and flew out of the combat zone. Lucky!
The Trojan had a moment of confusion but thought he’ll catch the Southies on their way back. The Southern ground attackers timed their attacks wrong and ruined each other’s bomb run.
The A-26 looked like it was going for the same escape route to the East of the mountain. The Corsair was flying out of the combat zone, no doubt running away for the little Trojan. The trojan pilot learned from the previous day, and turned to lead intercept the A-26 determined to shoot the bomber done this time. His calculation was a little off and he’ll overshoot the bomber.
Diving under the bomber to follow it until he could get a shot. Ant he screwed up majorly. Low and slow with the mountain coming up REAL fast he knew he’ll crash (T-28s done’t have to power to climber over it). He bailed out.
And so ends the short but un-vicotrious war. A Complete disaster for the North and a surreal experience for the South, giving them the false sense of competence for decades to come.
I wonder if the Southern pilot was being sneaky and lured the little plane into a sudden violation of the air-ground interface.
The Armchair General Analysis of the 75 Hours war.
Total ground combat loss
North 5
South 1Ground kills by aircraft type
F4U 3
T-28 1
A-26 1Air combat loss
North
4x P-51
1x C-47
1x T-28 (obviously the final T-28 was recorded as lost in an accident)South
3x F4UKill ratio by aircraft type
F4U 5:3
T-28 2:1
Hunter 1:0
P-51 1:4
I like this, the little T-28 is by far the best fighter by kill ratio, Hunter doens’t count because it was obviously superior to everything else and still only managed 1 kill
I feel the pain you went through doing small hexes. I started off with a mix of single and double hexes. In the end I asked one of the friendly MDF terrain makers if they could make me up a whole sheet.
Mockup to see how a “Tiny Carrier Air Wing Manager” game might work.
First off, all the aircraft fits on deck or in hangar so that’s good.
Capacity based on how many can fit in the hangar x3, not on historical numbers. Air Wing composition is chosen at the begining each type fighter/scout/torpedo bomber cost the same.
There will be 2 sets of crew, maybe 3 or 4 for larger carriers (CVL and CV). Each set of crew rolls a D6 to see how many aircraft can be moved/launched/recovered/repaired.
The deck is for launch or recovery, hangar is for repairs and storage. Will probably draw a red line down the center line of the hangar to denote aircraft state. Above red line would be aircraft repaired and ready. Ones under the redline will be damaged aircraft.
Not sure if I’ll bother with readying at this point, it feels like too much hassle.
Launched aircrat has 3 missions, CAP, Scout and Strike. They can move to ajacent hex after launch and can move to outer ring the following turn. They’ll have to move the same way to rreturn to the ship.
Enemies are randomly generated at the beginning of each turn and is places wither in the outer ring or inner ring depending if there’s a scout aircraft in visual range. Once enemies reached the ship’s hex, there’s the final defensive AA before they attack. Escorts could be placed further out to draw attack at the risk of enemy approaching from diferent direction.
Escorts will have to be bought. Points are earned by sinking enemy ships. Cruise lasts until an enemy carrier is sunk or the carrier ran out of aircraft. Carrier can return to base to refit Air Wing and buy escorts or continue the hunt. (Feels like a submarine patrol)
DE 1pts
DD 2pts
CL/CVE 3pts
Scout bomber/dive bomber hit of 4-5, torpedo bomber hit on 6. All hit result in the carrier retiring from combat. Not sure how I’ll do air combat yet.
Hits on enemy ships do number of damage as hit roll. Enemy ships have hull points equal to twice their points value.
Are those the blue tanks and aircraft on the same sprue? You could base them in platoons?
3mm tanks might be the size you want, they’ll (M48/M60) be as big as the planes. I was also thinking of Arab-Israel recently. As usual it evolved into a scifi game.
Edit:
Holy mother of Batman! I just realized what to day was.
there a little bit of my first planes I hope I get well in the end
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