Scenario #4: The dominating power of the US CV!

This is a series of session reports of the playing of the introductory and intermediate scenarios of 6th Fleet in which I play the USA and attempt to valiantly defend the American Way of Life (Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar Whoops! I mean Pursuit of Happiness! and Thad defends the Utopian, Communist Workers Paradise or, as I like to call it, he defends the no good Godless, Atheist, Pinko Soviet Union.

So here we go again!!

Pregame:

USA: Strike the AA and leave the CR go since they can only score a maximum of 5 VP. Keep the JFK away from Soviet surface units. Thus, destroy Soviet AA and keep JFK from being sunk is the winning plan!

USSR: Attempt to protect AA, protect CR at all costs since CR+sunk JFK=WIN! Try to create as many SAG as possible (or one big one if practical) and close on JFK and shower it with SSM to sink the pride of the USA navy!

Turn 1:
Strategic Air: USA uses P-3 to detect Minsk and AA groups, uses CV AEW to detect Soviet Group with CS Bernz. Soviets detect CV JFK.

Moves:
USA Surf: CV north toward Crete.
USSR: Sovrm toward Aegean Sea
Otlch follow Turkish coast eastward toward Syria
Slava moves south of Cyprus
Minsk NE toward Crete
Skrmn south along Greek Coast
PC around south side of Crete. Unleash SSM against CV JFK (50 SSM points!). Attack fails, a near miss(result= )
USA Air: F18 sinks Rogov
F18 sinks Bernz
2 F14 attack all 3 PC splitting bombing values. Sink ALL 3 PC

Turn 2:

USA: To quote R.Lee. Ermey in Full Metal Jacket, “Out ^&%*(%$ standing” I sunk both of the high value Soviet ships and survived the SSM assault of the PC and sunk all three of those ships. If there is a better way to start this scenario, I’d like to see it!

USSR: Man, I got hammered right off the bat. Tim may not always know how to use his P-3 planes but he sure knows how to use those combat aircraft. Now, with my highest SSM value ships gone, I’ll need some luck to sink the JFK. I noticed he ignored the CR units and rightfully so, IMO. Got to try to box him in the Aegean and use some ship(s) as spotters for SSM attacks by ships that maybe cannot get right next to the JFK.

Moves:
USSR: Sovrum along Greek coast deeper into Aegean
Otlch still heading east to Syria
Slava on westward course to help hunt JFK
Minsk closes with JFK and unleashes SSM assault. Another near miss (another ) result!
Skrm toward Minsk group
USA Surf: SSM attack on DD Ognvy(due to SSM value of 7). DD damaged! JFK moves north to Turkish Coast.
USA Air: 2 F18 and 2 F14 attack AA group. One F18 damaged AA Vilkv, Gagra, and Lazo sunk. AA Ropch damaged.

Turn 3:

USA: Nothing breeds success like success! Now I have his AA force basically crippled. I’ll finish them off with air units this next time, try to sink one of his big CG or the Minsk if possible and make sure I don’t get boxed into the Aegean Sea. If I get to move first next turn, I should be able to use my surface SSM to finish off one of the AA units.

USSR: Well, this not going to be my game. Another near miss on the JFK and I do mean near miss. I need a result to damage that CV and have narrowly missed twice. Depending on die rolls, I might not get another chance. My AA force is on life support. CR are fine, but killing the JFK is now an absolute must.

Moves:
USA Surf CV JFK to close on Sovrm group. SSM attack sinks AA Batum.
USSR Sovrm moves deeper northward into Aegean
Otlch continues to Syria
Slava moves to Rhodes
Minsk goes to north side of Crete via east coast
Skrm goes to north side of Crete via west coast. Launches SSM attack that damages CG Halsey.
USA Air: F14 and F18 on remaining AA. Ropoch and Trtsv both sunk.
F14 and A6 attack Minsk. F14 damaged in attack and attack misses Minsk.

Turn 4:

USA: All AA are now at the bottom of Davy Jones Locker Missed the Minsk, but that is okay. Now I just need to win the next die roll to keep the JFK out of range to seal the deal.

USSR: I guess I’ll take the hit on the Halsey as my consolation prize. I don’t think there is any way to win now. If Tim moves first this turn, it is essentially over.

Key die roll for initiative!

USA:
USSR:

The USA has the luck of the this game!

Moves:
USA Surf CV moves west along south part of Greece, abandons damaged Halsey.
USA Air A6 attacks Sovrm (SSM value 9) damages Sovrm
2 F18 and F14 attack Minsk. F18 destroyed, but Minsk is damaged!
USSR: Otlch heads to Syria
All ships in Aegean vicinity into one giant stack to pursue JFK.

Turn 5:

USA: It will be all over but the ing if I move first this turn. Situation looks good!

USSR: Need to win this die roll.......

Die roll:

USA
USSR

USSR: What a fitting end!

Post Game:

USA: Not much to say here. Got all the AA and caught the breaks with the SSM attacks on the JFK. I don’t think there is any way to keep the JFK from being hit with at least a couple of SSM assaults. So long as you can survive the PC attack, I think the USA can easily win this scenario. If the JFK had been hit one turn one, that would’ve altered things quite a bit. I admit I had good luck this game and I will gladly take it!

USSR: I think my plan was sound, I just had bad luck. ‘Nuff said this time around.

So the current 6th Fleet series tally:

Thad:
Tim: