"Phantoms Over Havana, Fight #2" Topic

All,

Part of the War of Liberation

So it's 0815 on 1 Feb 1990, and CLA aircraft are winging towards Castro's Cuba from secret airfields in *REDACTED*, in support of CLA ground forces which have landed via parachute or amphibious assault. Two hours ago, Boxcar flight tangled with four MiG-21s of the Castro regime's air force, which saw each side lose two aircraft in fierce dogfighting. CLA Air Force aircraft continue to execute near continuous sorties against ground targets, zooming in, bombing command and control centers, radar sites, grounded aircraft and their support facilities, moored ships and their port facilities, artillery and tank parks, ammunition and fuel storage, anti-aircraft sites, etc…, then heading back to rearm and refuel, then get back in the fight. Castro's Air Force has managed to put another four MiG-21s into the air, and so Blackjack flight, consisting of four F-4 Phantoms, is vectored in to intercept the interceptors.

Red 01 and Blackjack 04 slash past each other, nose to nose. Red 03 recoils in horror as a Sidewinder destroys his wingman, Red 04 (not pictured); but he recovers quickly, pulling hard left, lining up a decent shot on Blackjack 04, and launching a missile. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

Another fun fight, more coming up ASAP.

V/R,
Jack

I don't seem to have any reference material. Could someone tell me whether blue or are khaki uniforms are accurate?

Lol, thought I was immune but finally got hit by the bug! Sorry for barging onto your post old boy!

Great write-up!

Nice! I cracked up with the "but he's Army and 4 steps…" damn funny dude!

I too use legos for flight stands. I use 3 clear and a blue for each flight level, with the blue being the to divider for the alt level. Works great and easy to track!

I really do think you should come up with a radar vs IR missile differentiation, changes tactics up completely as Mig-21s with IR won't be taking those head-on shots as often and getting a radar lock could be an extra step that could add some more tension.

Pretty cool!

Sigwald – No sweat, happens to the best of us.

Mwindorfw and Chuckaroo – Thanks, glad you liked it, and I appreciate the kind words.

Darby – Yeah, can't help myself with the Army jokes ;)

I'd love to use one Lego bit per alt band, but they get wobbly, and it's kind of a pain in the butt to constantly swap them in and out (I did try it once, went right back to the dice).

Regarding the radar vs IR missiles, I certainly agree, but there's a couple issues for me:

1) I'm trying to keep the games quick. I figure by limiting each a/c to four missile shots it's quicker, and combining radar and IR capability (can take head on shots, tail shots are exceedingly deadly) into those four shots I keep the game quick without losing the flavor of an F-4 carrying four AIM-7 and four AIM-9.

2) Regarding the MiGs being IR only, this will sound totally weak, but for the most part I like to play my games with rough parity between gear, where the focus is on the people and the story, rather than maximizing the use of a piece of gear. I've played games where the Wildcats and Zeroes all turn average, climb like Zeroes, and dive like Wildcats.

Totally unrealistic, I'll admit, but I want the game to be a dogfight between sides with equal opportunity to win. The air war was won with slashing dives and Thach Weaves; fantastic in real life, but not a lot of fun on the table (for me).

It's funny, because I don't do everything that way. I guess we all have our limits/expectations. For example, in most games I treat a tank as a tank, unless the point of the exercise is something akin to five Shermans taking on a Tiger. I certainly wouldn't have Stuarts knocking out Tigers on anything but fluke shots, I guess that's just a bridge too far. But an F-4 = a MiG-21, an F-86 = a MiG-15, an F-16 = a MiG-23, a Wildcat = a Zero, a Spitfire = an Me-109 all work for me.

V/R,
Jack

Jack ! ..legend ! ….I love this ! I didn't see what rules you are using. is this 'lacquered coffins' or 'flight leader' ? great stuff !!

…" so he simply clenches his anus in anticipation of his impending fiery death "… yeaah ! that's what we've come to see !

Hey bud, how are ya? I'm using Lacquered Coffins, which are modified a little bit as they are designed for WWII (I was just using the board from Flight Leader).

I do what I can in terms of color commentary ;)

V/R,
Jack

Another great write-up, thanks Jack.

Thanks Whirlwind, glad you liked it. Have you gotten any more games in (of Lacquered Coffins, and/or your NUTS! campaign)? I'm patiently waiting ;)

As are a couple of you out there in internet-land waiting for me, I'm sure. I've played one company-sized fight in Cuba Libre, almost done with the batrep, and I've played four more dogfights, just have to find time to write them up. Also finished up more first four squadrons of Napoleonic cavalry.

V/R,
Jack

Have you gotten any more games in (of Lacquered Coffins, and/or your NUTS! campaign)? I'm patiently waiting ;)

Not yet, been gaming some other stuff (Ancients, Medievals, Napoleonics) – looking to get Lacquered Coffins to the table later this week, Nuts! this weekend. I have painted up a platoon of 15mm US infantry to get stuck into Nuts! too, though…

Cool, I look forward to future batreps! Did you post the Napoleonic stuff? I like them too.

V/R,
Jack