All,
So it's 1640 on 4 Feb 1990, and the Cuban Liberation Air Force (CLAF) is once again on the prowl. But the focus of this report, Gentle Reader, is you. Because I am angry with you, because, for you, I tinkered with the scenario setup and, for you, I tried to make it more interesting and, ultimately, for you, I got the ever-loving @#$% kicked out of me! So I've got a bone to pick with you, Gentle Reader; but first take a gander at the disaster you inflicted on me. Or I inflicted upon myself for your benefit… If it weren't for you, for the "oh, you cheated/used Magic Dice" comments I was sure I'd receive, I'd have probably been a lot happier with the last dogfight of the War of Liberation.
This is a simple two-ship vs two-ship fight, with two of the last MiG-21s left in Castro's Air Force up and about to run into Boxcar 01 and 02, both Regular pilots.
This picture about sums it up… To see how the fight went, and to check the new posted, official squadron roster, please check the blog at:
linkand:
link
In any case, enough pissin' and moanin', the War of Liberation is over, we won! The whole thing was a tremendous amount of fun, and the air campaign portion was a blast. I think the rules have been sufficiently tested (12 total fights) and they worked like a champ, delivering a lot of tense, fun, dogfights. I won't claim they're the most realistic or anything, but they do exactly what I want them to do, and I'll be playing them in other eras as well.
So, as always, lets get to some stats. The Cuban Liberation Air Force started and ended the war with a single fighter squadron: they began with 12 pilots. Though the war lasted only five days, the squadron quickly lost three pilots killed in action, then robbed some of the ground attack squadrons to replace them, then lost another two pilots killed in action (including one of the replacements). But they scored well: the Free Cubans ended the war with two Aces and a Veteran pilot. The CLAF scored a total of twenty victories versus Castro's Air Force, against thirteen losses, with sixteen of those victories coming from the two Aces and one Veteran.
So, with the War of Liberation thus concluded, the single Expeditionary Force's fighter squadron is being expanded to a total of four flights of four (vice the three it had for Liberation), and reorganized in preparation for worldwide deployment.