I have opened this topic for anybody who wants to share their triumphs or disasters.

Here’s my latest

After 5 straight USN victories in the ‘Game of Tag’ scenario (from the Gulf of Sidra scenario pack) I confidently took my F14s into a Hot War scenario (solo). The Libyans chose 2 x Mig 25s and 2 x Mirage F1s. This gave the Tomcats one experienced crew.

For a while things went swimmingly for the USN. The F14s bossed their opponents around the sky. On turn 1 The experienced F14 fireballed a Mirage F1 with two Sidewinders (ripple-fired) and, on the next turn, the same plane shot dowm a Mig 25 with cannon.

Break out the cigars; it was just a matter of mopping up the stragglers.

Then on turn 4 ...The F14s missed their lock-on attempts. Tomcat no 2 narrowly avoided a Matra Magic only to be crippled by an Acrid RH missile fired out of a cloud square by the ‘useless’ Mig 25.

Suddenly the US was on the defensive, trying to coax the crippled F14 through to the end of the game. It was not to be. Despite trying to hide in the sun the ailing Tomcat was shot down by a Matra Magic missile on the last turn!

The victory points gave the scenario to the USN (4-3) but it was Col Gadaafi who was beaming on TV that night!

NL

PHOENIX KILL !

Just finished playing my ‘Phoenix!’ scenario from the Gulf of Sidra pack. What can I say… probably the best game of Instant Thunder I have played in many a long year! Playing solo, I chose 2 x Mig 23s to escort the Fitters.

The USN started well, killing two Fitters in the first two turns - one by cannon and the other by a Phoenix kill (from a range of 23 Squares!). The remaining two Fitters were crippled and were staggering across the map to try and exit. Looked like a cast iron win for the USN.

Then the Libyans got lucky as another long-range Phoenix shot narrowly missed, as did a sure fire Sidewinder shot (drew an ace for damage!). It was about this time that the lack of ammunition for the Tomcats really came into play. Ideally they should have concentrated on the Mig23s and then killed the remaining Fitters at their leisure, but they had insufficient misssiles left to do so. Indeed, both Tomcats jettisoned their remaining Phoenix missiles when threatened by the Mig23s to regain their full performance figures and manouevrerability. A Tomcat was ultimately crippled, then shot down by a Radar Homing Atoll. A crippled Fitter managed to stagger off the board and the remaining Tomcat expended all its ammo in trying to bring down the last Fitter, without success. This ended the game and the last Fitter automatically exited. Phew!

I drew for the results of the two exited Fitters (both crippled). One drew a Spade (missed attack). The other drew a Club (excellent attack - 2 VPs awarded).

The final tally was

USN = 4 points (2 Fitters shot down)

Libya = 5 points (1 Tomcat shot down plus the Fitter attack bonus).

...And still Gadaafi is smiling!

NL

Well, I’m still deciding on specifics for my Prototype scenario. At the moment, its at x F-104s, 2x MiG-21s, 1x F-4, 1x MiG-25, and 3x F-86s with sidewinders. All are after a rather out of place SU-27. Its on a cloudy night, so no sun, and four or five cloud banks.

What I have played out is a pair of IaI kifrs with experienced pilots jumped by 3 MiG-21s, and for a challenge, a MiG-23. Not really. The 23 took 5 hits of cannon fire on turn one, and spent the rest of the game hiding. Turn two saw a MiG dodge a Marta 530 radar homing, and a futile cannon pass was the only action round three. I must say, it just wasn’t a good day to be a MiG pilot - they kept failing their V and M draws! One would think that with three of them, the law of averages would help - but time and again, the Israeli craft escaped. A Shafir took down a MiG-21 in turn 4, and a cannon pass inflicted one point on the -23 - enough to kill it, after that.

Then luck abruptly changed, and the third MiG-21 got a cannon hit for 5 on one of the Kifirs. Then it bugged out, the only arab survivor, with quite a story to tell. The home team struggled home, one crippled, the other out of ammunition.

A lean sweep until turn 7 of an 8 turn game!

LATEST FROM THE GULF…

I have played the solo scenario ‘A Tale of Two Fitters’ four times now.

Game 1
Won on game turn ten when the second Fitter went down. Not a particularly bright performance considering that the first was splashed on turn 1!

Game 2
Ran out of ammo on or around turn 15 with both Fitters still alive (1 damaged and 1 crippled). A definate loss.

Game 3
Probably the most frustrating game ever! Fired off all four ‘winders in the first three turns to score the grand total of 1 Hit Point (a bit of flaked paintwork). The cards were Cursed…CURSED I tell you. Fitters dodged all over the map. into clouds, out of cannon range etc. I swear I could see the Libyan pilots thumbing their noses at me! The final straw was when I came in for an easy cannon shot (range = 1 square, Fitter filed to jink). For the reference card I drew the Ace of Spades. AHA! I guess higher (naturally) and drew Ace of Diamonds. I conceded.

Game 4
Curse lifted - both Fitters downed (gunnery) by turn 5.

The final game took about 20 minutes.

I’m sure somebody out there can do better than turn 5!

NL

Latest report from the Instant Thunder front…

I have just playtested a scenario from my forthcoming India - Pakistan scenario pack.

This involved 4 Indian Gnats versus 4 Pakistani Sabres with both sides getting reinforcements at the halfway point (2 Starfighters for the Pakistanis; 2 Mig21s for the Indians).

To start with the Indian aircraft lived up to their nicknames of ‘The Sabre Slayers’ as two Sabres were dispatched by the cannons of the agile Indian jets.

Things turned around with the arrival of supersonic reinforcements. First a Starfighter shot down a Gnat and then crippled another. As things stood, though, the Indians would still claim a narrow victory. However, on the very last action of the very last turn a Mig21 ran out of airspeed, altitude and ideas in front of a Sabre who utilised the optional ‘Long-Burst Machine Gun’ rule with devastating effect to fireball the Mig and go home to a heroes’ welcome!

Final Vicory Point score: Pakistan 7 India 4.

I played this solo in about 80 minutes.

NL

Well…just to whet any WW2 appetites around here…

First playtest of an ‘Instant Bandits’ game (WW2 version of ‘Instant Thunder’ which I am working on).

First ever IB kill…Spitfire I shoots down Me Bf109 over South East England.

Tally Ho!

NL

PERU v ECUADOR 1995

After several months spent on designing and playtesting ‘Instant Bandits’ I felt like a return to jet on jet action. I chose to play a scenario from my published pack - N4 ‘Tiwintza’. A bit off the beaten track this one, featuring the brief skirmishing in the border dispute between Ecuador and Peru.

Playing solo I chose the ‘what if’ variant which gave both sides reinforcements from the 2nd turn on.

The first turn Ecuadorian ‘bounce’ was a disappointment. One of the Peruvian Su22s was deployed into a safe cloud square and the Mirage F1s could not get into a firing position on the other Su22.

The cavalry arrived on the second turn 2 x Mirage 2000 for Peru and 2 x Kfir for Ecuador.

A Mirage 2000 saddled onto an F1 and was lining it up when a Kfir executed a zoom climb, locked on a Shafrir II and fired. Although a hit was scored the Mirage 2000 only suffered minor damage (1 Hit Point) but it was enough to shake it off the F1’s tail.

The loaded Su22s were lumbering around trying to stay alive but one soon fell to gunnery from a Kfir. On the same turn a Mirage F1 was crippled by a Matra Magic I. Subsequently this was finished off by a second Magic .

Going into the final turn it looked as though the Peruvians would squeak a win but, with the very last combat action the remaining SU22 (which had jettisoned its bombload) was hit and crippled by a Shafrir II - which would have a significant effect on the outcome.

The final victory points were:  Ecuador 3 (2 for the Su22 killed and 1 for the Su22 crippled)
                              Peru 3 (for the Mirage F1 shootdown)

                                        A draw !

An enjoyable game - each aircraft carrying different missiles (Ecuador’s were better - as historically they were).

On a final note - and a point about the game that may be worth making. After my deployment phase on turn 3 I had to interrupt the game due to visitors. I picked it up two days later, having made a brief note of the sun/cloud squares and the deployed aircraft squares. It took less time to set it up than to write this paragraph. If you have to interrupt a game between turns and can’t leave it in situ then the game is still ‘Instant’ enough to easily pick up!

Any more reports out there?

NL

Latest report from the ‘Instant Thunder’ frontline.

Fancying a bit of ‘guns only’ jet action I chose to play the ‘Yalu Perch’ scenario from my scenario pack. Set in the Korean War this pits 6 USAF Sabres against 8 Chinese Mig15s. The Sabres have the advantage of quality but the Chinese have the numbers, as well as having the whole of the Hearts altitude band as a safe haven (representing their side of the border).

The first few turns were somewhat cautious with both sides managing to form large tactical formations to discourage over-aggressive attacks by the enemy. However, it soon became clear that Mig15#8 was a bit of a wildcard. Despite being rated as inexperienced he narrowly missed the experienced Sabre #2 with a cannon burst on the first turn (more of these two later).

One mig 15 was damaged by a Sabre burst, but not sufficient to cripple it.

The Migs then managed to cripple two Sabres in the same turn - one of which was the experienced pilot of Sabre #2. The USAF was now very much on the defensive - trying to protect the two severely damaged aircraft. Step up Mig #8. With his final burst of ammo he despatched Sabre #2 (this needed 5 correct guesses to secure a hit!). As is things couldn’t get worse the other crippled Sabre was similarly shot down by the experienced Chinese pilot of Mig #1.

In reply the USAF could only inflict minor damage on another Mig and, at the end of the game, the Chinese were runaway victors (3 victory points to nil).

A bad day for the USAF.

I played this solo in approximately 80 minutes, including set-up.

NL

LATEST AIR COMBAT REPORT

?Instant Thunder? scenario C3 from China v Taiwan 1958 pack: ?Enter The Sidewinder?.

This pits four Taiwanese F86 Sabres against eight Chinese Mig17s. The Taiwanese have 2 Experienced and 2 Average pilots against 5 Average and 3 Inexperienced Chinese. Both the Experienced Taiwanese aircraft also carry 2 first generation AIM9 sidewinder missiles ? the first operational use of heat-seeking missiles in history.

The Taiwanese had early success on turn 2 (out of 8) as Sabre #3 saddled onto Mig #3. At close range he utilized the ?long burst? optional rule for machine guns and the Mig17 blew in half. Minor damage was also scored on another Mig.

A cat-and- mouse game ensued as the Taiwanese tried to get into position to use their new-fangled missiles, but without success. The Chinese snapped off some cannon shots at their agile opponents but missed.

On turn 7 Sabre #2 locked on and fired a sidewinder which tracked perfectly ? only to bounce off the canopy of Mig#7 ? a dud! This was potentially disastrous as the special bonus victory points could give the Chinese 2 points for carrying off sidewinder technology in these circumstances.

On turn 8 the Taiwanese would therefore do their best to bring down Mig #7 thereby denying the Chinese these potentially scenario winning points. Alas, they couldn?t get at their target, although they did launch a further two sidewinders (which failed to track to their target).

At the end of the scenario the Taiwanese led 1-0 in Victory Points for the Mig17 shot down.

However, if the Chinese drew a picture card from the deck they would receive 2 VPs for the ?stolen? sidewinder technology. The Taiwanese held their breath as the Chinese drew ? the 3 of Clubs!

The Taiwanese win the scenario but must go back to the tactical drawing board for their new missiles!

I played this solo in 75 minutes, including set-up.

Any more games going on out there?

Nelclaret

...I guess not.

NL

I’ve got a pacific war game scheduled for late Sept. Unfortunately, that’s the next time we’ll be able to get together a quorum;.

I haven’t had much time to play IT as of late.  However, I did come across a website - http://www.spyflight.co.uk/main.htm - dedicated to intelligence aircraft. An essay on contained therein tells of an interesting trio of encounters during the War of Independence in 48/49, where Israeli Spitfires intercepted RAF aircraft. It could make for an interesting scenario - how many other historical battles involved Spits engaging Typhoons?

CA

Thanks for the link. The Israeli War of Independence of 1948 is a fascinating subject for Air War gamers with all kinds of ad hoc confrontations. Spitfire v Spitfire, not to mention Israeli Me109s etc! If you check out the ‘Quickies’ scenario pack I have posted for Instant Bandits you will find a semi-historical scenario from that conflict where an Egyptian Spitfire takes on three Israeli B17s.

However, one of the more fascinating incidents I have read about recently was during the second World War where a squadron of Spitfires mis-identified a flight of RAF Meteors as Me262s and moved in to attack, only for the Meteors to hotfoot it out of the area at high speed, thereby preventing a blue on blue incident.

Expect to see a ‘what if’ scenario from me for Instant Bandits sometime soon!

NL

Latest from the Instant Thunder Sky-Arena!

I played my latest IT scenario “The Ogaden Shuffle” today. I was intrigued by this historical clash between the Ethiopian and Somali air forces in 1977 as it is the only recorded clash between F5A Freedom Fighters and Mig21s that I have ever come across.

Full scenario details can be found here: http://www.miniaturewargaming.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/411/P15/

As the Ethiopian player I selected the ‘Israeli pilots’ option which upgraded both the Ethiopians to ‘EXPERIENCED’‘. I declined the option of the first turn bounce and selected the first generation version of the AIM 9 Sidewinder.

The result of my selection was to award the Somalis one Victory Point (for the Experienced pilots) and determine that the Migs were armed with guns only.

This turned out to be an exciting clash, with plenty of movement and shooting throughout. The early Sidewinders were ineffective (as usual) being fired too far away from their targets. Both F5A pilots ripple fired the missiles (ie fired them in pairs) but without success.

On turn 4 Mig #3 was shot down by F5A #1 using cannon fire. This equalised the victory point scores.

The Somalis responded aggressively and only some last minute evasive jinking saved F5A #2 from a similar fate as a Mig got on his tail.

On the very last turn an F5A saddled onto a Mig21 for a potentially game-winning attack, only for another Mig to Power Dive two altitude bands and just get into cannon range on the attacking Ethiopian. He let fly and scored a ‘hit’ on the attacker, only to draw low for damage which inflicted no Hit Points. The F5A then attacked his victim at point blank range but could only score minor damage of 1 Hit Point - not enough to claim victory.

The Final Victory Point Score was

Ethiopia 1 (1 x Mig21 kill)

Somalia 1 (for the Ethiopian pilot selection)

A draw.

(Historically all four Migs were destroyed, two being shot down and two colliding whilst trying to dodge a missile).

The game took me approximately 50 minutes, including set-up/clear away.

NL

SAVING THE EARTH   -  INDEPENDENCE DAY DOGFIGHT REPORT

I originally wrote an ‘Independence Day’ scenario over 2 years ago; lost it from my PC and re-wrote it for inclusion in the extensive ‘Instant Thunder’ collected scenario pack; but I had never played it…until now.

The scenario details can be found here: http://www.miniaturewargaming.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/411/

I decided that I wanted three different types of single-seat US jets and eventually selected an F15A, an F5E and an F/A 18.  Using the procedure outlined in the scenario the jets were armed as follows:

F15A = 2 cannon shots, 4 RH missiles and 2 HS missiles.
F5E = 5 cannon shots and 4 HS missiles
F/A 18 = 1 cannon shot, 3 RH missiles ans 1 HS missile.

The missiles used were the most modern versions of the Sidewinder and Sparrow.

As I had selected 3 aircraft the Aliens received 6 Fighters to oppose them.

From the outset the Human tactic was to keep the Aliens at arms length and engage with missiles. Very soon missiles were whooshing across the board, striking their targets but invariably the alien shields absorbed any damage. However, on the third turn the F15 splashed one of the Alien fighters with a Sidewinder.

The Aliens themselves had managed to score some hits with their blasters at close range but drew low for damage and inflicted no Hit Points. All this time the ‘Event’ cards were being drawn but without effect.

The F5E got in on the act and shot down a second Alien with cannon (Scoring 6 Hit Points of which the shield accounted for only 3).

A third Alien fell, again to gunnery, this time from the Hornet (who only had one ammo point but certainly made it count!)

On the 6th turn an Event card came into play, the Alien drawing a Jack which meant that a ‘Stasis Ray’ was beamed onto the aircraft - freezing them in place for the upcoming turn (no movement/jinking).

This certainly had an effect as the F15 was hit for 4 points of damage and therefore crippled, being unable to avoid the attack.

With the F15 looking to see out the last 2 turns the Alien mothership was destroyed on turn 7, which removed the Shielding from her fighters, making them much more vulnerable but also more manoeuverable as well.

Despite their desperate efforts to close the gap the Aliens only succeeded in losing another fighter on the last game turn to the guns of the Tiger II, his second such kill.

The game ended with 4 Aliens being shot down, with the Eagle crippled. A clear victory for humanity!

If you are wondering, I used 1/300 models for the aircraft and coins for the Aliens (UK 2p denomination). The Aliens were deployed heads up and I flipped them to tails after their movement - which worked a treat!

I played the game solo in about 80 minutes. It will be interesting to retry with different aircraft.

NL