"Harriers and Mirages" Topic

A quick Falklands / Malvinas 2v2 Check Your 6: Jet Age AAR. A rather enjoyable dogfight.

AAR on my blog here:
link

Thanks for sharing your photos and battle report.

I ran a convention game years ago, pitting these two against one another – good fun to watch.

I used the Clash of Sabres rules for it.

A couple of SHARs engaged a pair of Mirages, the latter using head-on attack tactics, despite my warnings of the low chance of success against the much better armed SHARs that had all-angle Aim-9L missiles. The Argentine pilots were desperate to get home, and one of them managed to down a Sea Harrier with a "golden BB" shot with his cannons, while the SHARs were unsuccessful in their intercepts – literally a 1 in 100 chance – 10% to hit the SHAR, and 10% for the result to down it.

The pilot became the hero of Argentina upon his return to base (especially since historically, no SHARs were shot down by Argentine pilots during the war).

For a better, though more complicated scenario, I think pitting two pairs of Mirages against a single pair of SHARs would be a better match, if fighting at low altitude, due to the better pilot quality, better missiles, and better aircraft maneuverability for the British.

Argentine pilots' main advantage is their speed.

Separate the two Mirage pairs by a minute or two, one behind the other, and the Argentine fighters have limited fuel endurance.

Love that game mat, by the way.

:) The Monday Knight Productions game mat started as a pretty vanilla "sand / desert" theme. I hit it with some random blasts of dark green and brown years ago to give it a bit of character. Maybe one day I'll pick up a mat more suited to oceanic combat but honestly, that's money better spent elsewhere.

This was my first CY6 game with the Falklands foes. I think I got terribly lucky to score a kill, especially given my horrifyingly poor CY6 track record overall. The Mirage III is a one-trick pony and no match for a Harrier once things get going.

There are some other Falklands scenarios in the MRB, including one where both sides are on bingo fuel and can only fight for a few rounds before they are both relieved by new flights.

Great looking game. The Mirage versus Harrier is an interesting duel. I just replayed Wireless Ridge in 10mm a few weeks ago for the 40th anniversary of the war.

I will have to break out my 1/600 aircraft and my Flames Above Falklands rules for a game in homage to the boys in the sky.