For my first game ever, I select the first of the two campaigns included, Early Solomon's Campaign, and select the Short/Skirmish type campaign which lasts 3 days. From the 24 pilots provided, I now have to select 12. Meet my boys, then:
Capt. Erik (F4U), Veteran, Fast
Capt. Guadagnino (F4U), Skilled, Fast
"Max Damage" (B-25), Skilled, Fast
"Block Buster" (B-17), Average, Slow
1st Lt. Wallace (F4U), Average, Fast
1st Lt. K. Loftis (F4U), Average, Slow
1st Lt. B. Loftis (F4U), Average, Fast
"Danny Boy" (B-25), Average, Slow
"Black Cat" (SBD), Average, Fast
"Lemon Dropper" (SBD), Green, Slow
2nd Lt. Bryant (F4U), Green, Slow
"Wild Ride" (SBD), Newbie, Slow
That's 6 Corsair fighters, 1 heavy bomber, 2 medium bombers and 3 dive bombers. Let's hope it's a good mix!
Day 1
For day 1 of the campaign, the Recon department gives me two alternative targets: Headquarters (#18) and Enemy Troops (#1).
Headquarters sure looks tempting... it's a 10 plane raid, worth 6 victory points, deals a heavy blow to the Japanese war effort, and even gives 4 points of ordnance bonus to our squadron. Of course, the thing is heavily defended, by a total of 7 ground sites and 5 aircraft, plus it's a target deep in enemy territory, requiring lots of fuel, which severely reduces the ground attack ordnance the planes will carry. Oh, and did I mention it's a large target, requiring 7 hits to take down? I'm thinking I could have used another heavy/medium bomber... too late now. To top things off, this is a highly stressful mission: 5 stress points just for flying it which, added to the stress of all the fighting that's sure to happen, looks like it's pretty much guaranteed to leave every single one of the 10 participating pilots shaken and below their regular abilities until they rest for a day... at the very least, that is.
Enemy Troops looks like an easier target. It's a two plane raid, worth 1 victory point. The target is defended by 2 ground sites and 2 aircraft. It's near, which means the planes can fly fully loaded with ordnance, and only needs 2 hits to go down.
As a first time player, I really should go with Enemy Troops... I'm guessing it must be the simplest mission in the campaign, although it doesn't look that easy because I can only take two planes up. The enemy Headquarters, however, gives me 6 victory points, and I only need 7+ to achieve a "Great" result for the campaign... plus, even though it will leave my pilots on the edge (those that manage to come back home, anyway), I can have them rest for a day and do another mission on the last day of the campaign to get more victory points.
Decisions, decisions... Headquarters it is, even though things could get confusing for a total newbie like me with so many planes in the air and so many enemies around. Oh boy, my pilots sure as hell are gonna go on cursing the name of their commanding officer for the rest of their lives... so is war.
Okay boys, let's see what ground sites are protecting the target. Keep your fingers crossed... Yeah, looks like lady luck was kind to us. For the Approach Area we got 2 Small Arms fire sites, which don't look dangerous at all, and inside the target area there's 2 Light Machine Guns (still don't look too dangerous), 2 Heavy Machine Guns (now where talking scary) and only one 20mm Anti-Aircraft battery (run for your lives!). Let's see if I don't end up eating these words, but... it doesn't look too bad!
Now to select the ten planes going on the raid: 5 of the fighters are on, so are the heavy bomber, the 2 medium bombers and two of the dive bombers. The dive bombers will only be able to carry a puny 250 lb pound all the way to the target, but one hit (or a well aimed gun strafe) is all it takes to get rid of those ground sites on the target area. This means the only squadron people grounded for this mission are the newbie crew of the "Wild Ride" dive bomber and 2nd lt. Bryant, a green F4U Corsair pilot.
Let's arm those planes now. The fighters can't take anything over this distance, and I wouldn't want them too either; it doesn't pay to be bogged down with ground attack bombs with all those Jap planes flying around. The B-17 will be able to take 11 Weight Points to the target, the B-25s 6 points each, and the Dauntless dive bombers a mere 1 point. Since this mission can decide the entire course of the campaign, and there aren't enough heavy/medium bombers to be sure of complete target destruction, I won't spare expenses in choosing ammo. For the dive bombers I'll go with high quality 250 lb bombs... they can take only one, so I better make sure it does hurt something. [Hmm... looks there's only one high quality 250 lb counter in the VASSAL armoury, although the PDF version has four counters. Must be an oversight; I've just contacted the game designer about this. Until it's solved, I'll use a normal quality counter in its place.] As for the heavy/medium bombers, I'll fill them up to the brim: if one of them goes down before the bomb run, the others must carry enough bombs to take down the target.
Here's the combined bomb load for the entire flight: two high quality 1000lb bombs, two 1000lb bombs, three 500lb bombs, one 250lb bomb, and two high quality 250lb bombs for the dive bombers. The total expense for the squadron is: 25 ordnance points, from the campaign total of 30. Ouch, this target better go down, or there goes the campaign... we'll be left without fresh pilots, a few bombs, and only two days to make up for lost time.
Time for take-off! Say your prayers, and don't forget check your parachute and life vest...
On their way to the target, something is always bound to happen. Let's take out an Event card, and hope it's one of those that actually have some good news. Looks like our luck is holding out so far. The card is Homefront - Getting Aggressive, and it makes one of our Slow pilots Fast for this mission. 4 of the 5 fighters flying escort are already Fast, so I'll use this one on our B-17 bomber, to allow it to bomb the mission target before the enemy in the area has a chance to shoot it down.
Now it's the site adjustment event... might be more (or, hopefully, less) ground defence sites in there than Military Intelligence told us about. Let's take out another Event card and see... The card is Coordination, and it means we can remove a ground site from the Approach area. The only thing there are those two Small Arms counters, so there goes one of them. They were pretty harmless to start with but, hey, who's complaining? The situation could have worsened instead of getting slightly better.
And now, right before starting our approach to the target, it's time to find out for sure just how many bandits there are in the area, and what type they are. Wow, man, I'm seeing it but I ain't believing it!! From the 5 bandit counters Vassal randomly pulls from the pile for me, the first four are all No Bandit counters. It's only when the 5th turns out to be a lonely Ki43, pretty harmless and an easy prey, that I'm sure VASSAL hasn't gone bonkers on me. I think my 5 fighters are going to hug the ground and try to strafe the hell out of the ground defences after dealing with the single bandit.
And now, boys and girls, it's finally show time. We have four turns over the target, let's not waste them.
Turn 1
Here's how things look like at the beginning of the turn:
Not much to do here. The squadron moves to the Approach Area, where that lonely Small Arms fire counter is, and the Ki43 moves there too, coming from the Target Area to meet the raid.
Turn 2
Combat over the Approach Area! The squadron's Fast pilots attack before the enemy has a chance. Let's see. Captain Erik, the veteran, goes first and chooses Offensive tactics to face the ki43. This gives him a +2 bonus on attacks (and gives the enemy a +3 bonus for attacks against him, but we're hoping things won't get to that). His normal Air-to-Air bonus is +2, and this Ki43 is pretty rotten, giving him another +2. That's a +6 total bonus, and he only needs a 6+ to hit the plane, so it's a guaranteed hit! But let's roll the 1D10 anyway, just for laughs... it's a 9, plus the 6, a total roll of 15. Overkill! The Ki43 is down!
Now let's have someone strafe that Small Arms fire concentration... it's pretty harmless, but better safe than sorry. We won't be wasting any bombs, though. Let's see if the "Black Cat" dive bomber crew can handle this... Black Cat goes on the Offensive, too, and has a +1 Air-to-Ground bonus already. That's a total of +3. However, for strafing ground targets, you need at least a 10, so let's see if he can roll a 7 or better with the 1D10 dice. Yeah, another 9 on the die! The ground target is down, and the Approach Area is clear. So far, the enemy didn't even get a shot out. Things are looking good!
The entire squadron then moves to the Target Area, and so ends turn 2.
Turn 3
Combat over the Target Area! The tactics are reset. Our Fast planes go first.
First, let's see if that Fast B-17 can deliver and give the mission target a big pounding. The B-17 "Block Buster" goes in using Offensive tactics, which is not so wise considering there are five defensive ground sites, but I'm counting on the other nine planes taking most of the fire. Plus, if by any chance the "Block Buster" can take out the enemy Headquarters alone, other planes will be free to strafe the hell out of the ground defences before they can get out a shot. Okay, so the bonus for the "Block Buster" is +2 for the tactics, -2 for its bad Air-to-Ground aim, +3 against large targets (which the enemy HQ is), and that gives us a total of +3 to all bomb rolls. Let's roll the bones for the entire load the B-17 has been carrying: a high quality 1000lb bomb, a 1000lb bomb, a 500lb bomb and a 250lb bomb. The results, with the added bonus, are: 7, 9, 13 and 4. That means, respectively, 2 hits, 2 hits, 2 hits and 0 hits. Wow, of the 7 hits needed, the "Block Buster" has already given us 6. Thank you, sirs!
Now, that the target is on the verge of being finished off, we call in the B-25 "Max Damage" to drop its load, a high quality 1000lb bomb and a 500lb bomb, over that scary 20mm flak gun, before it can shoot someone down. With the plane's +1 Air-to-Ground bonus, a hit with the high quality bomb is guaranteed, but let's roll anyway. Hell, after adding in the +1, we only get a 2 and a 4! We score a hit with the lowest possible result we could get for the 1000 pounder, but one hit is all it takes... that flak gun is history!
Another Fast bomber, the Dauntless "Black Cat", heads over to one of the Heavy Machine Guns to drop its high quality 250lb bomb. With it's bonus, and the target bonus, it needs a 5+ on the die to score a hit, and the die says... 3. Damn, it's a miss.
Now our four Fast fighters will try to strafe the Heavy Machine Guns out of the way. All of them need a 9 or 10 on the die to score a hit, pretty difficult, but let's see: 2, 3, 6, 8. They all miss, no luck.
Now it's the ground sites time... let's just hope they don't shoot down or damage the B-25 "Danny Boy"; he's pretty much our single best hope to score that final hit we need on the mission target. We assign a number to each plane on the flight, so that the dice can choose randomly which targets get attacked. "Danny Boy" is number 10... let us pray!
One of the Heavy Machine Guns targets the B-25 Max Damage, and he's still free to go on the Defensive, which gives the enemy a -1 penalty, which joins to -1 penalty attacking the B-25 already gives (it's a more robust than a fighter). So, an 9-10 will damage him, and there's no chance of being shot down. The die says... 5! He's clear, and a 5 is just enough to escape without even a Stress Point for the crew.
The second HMG targets... the B-17 "Block Buster". Uh-oh, that plane was using offensive tactics, so the enemy gets a +3 bonus. Of course the B-17 is one hell of a tough plane, so it gives a -2 to enemy attacks. It's still a +1 in favour of the enemy, though... a 6-7 means the plane's damaged, and a 8-10 means it goes down for good. We can have one of the other aircraft perform a Suppression attack on the HMG... Our best ground shooter is 1st Lt. K Loftis in his F4U Corsair; he can have the HMG abort its attack with a 7+ on the die and... nope, it's a lousy 1! The HMG gets its shot at the B-17 and rolls... a 4! It's enough to leave the crew with one Stress Point, but not enough to do any damage, thank God!
Now for the Light Machine Guns... one targets the dive bomber "Lemon Dropper", still carrying its 250lb bomb load, and the other the dive bomber "Black Cat", already flying clean. "Black Cat" will go on the defensive, since he has already made his attack and we can't use him again this turn anyway, and we'll have Capt. Erik and Capt. Guadagnino provide suppressing fire for the LMG attacks. The fighters need 8+ to suppress the LMGs, let's see how they do: 1, 3. Both LMG attacks go through. The first LMG rolls a 9 and, goddamn, it damages "Lemon Dropper", forcing it to eject its bomb load and giving the crew 2 Stress Points. As for the second LMG, it rolls a 3, which is not enough to even stress Black Cat's crew. Not a heavy price to pay, so far.
Now it's time for the rest of the squadron to attack. We start with the B-25 "Danny Boy"... let's see if he can finished the enemy Headquarters off, so everybody can go home. He goes in on the Offensive, and that last hit on HQ is guaranteed, but let's roll. We get a 13 and an 11.... that means 3 hits and 2 hits for its 1000lb and 500lb bombs! That Japanese HQ is so trashed, nobody will know it was ever there!
Although they won't be a problem any more, we can still strafe those two Heavy Machine Guns with 1st Lt. K. Loftis, and with the damaged dive bomber "Lemon Dropper", which can even go on the Offensive now that it is not gonna suffer any more attacks this turn. Taking everything into account, the fighter needs a 7+ to take down a HMG and the damaged bomber a 5+. The dice say 4, and 7. "Lemon Dropper" avenges itself and takes one of the HMGs down.
The turn ends with the entire squadron moving away from the target to the Withdrawal Area, where they're safe from enemy fire:
Turn 4
The squadron heads for home, its target a distant burning wreck on the ground.
Now let's draw an Event card and see what happens on the way home. The Card Name is Enemy Pilots - Recon Flight. For our next mission, we'll be able to draw an extra Target card to choose the mission target from. Coolness! This means the flight lands safely at home without further complications, and now it's time to cash him all those points the destroyed target is worth, apply the mission Stress to the pilots (minus each one's Cool factor) and give every participating pilot the 2 experience points: 1 for flying on the mission, and 1 for having destroyed the target and bringing all squadron aircraft back.
Due to all the Stress, the squadron now looks like a pretty sorry bunch:
As you can see the "Lemon Dropper" crew is Unfit for duty, Capt. Guadagnino, 1st lt. Loftis, 1st Lt. Wallace and the "Black Cat" crew are all Shaken, and the rest of the squadron (minus the two guys that did not fly) are on the verge of being Shaken too. It might be better to let everybody rest and get their spirits up on Day 2 of the campaign, but that will depend on the targets Recon finds for us... if something smaller and tempting appears that can be taken down with the few fresh planes we still have, why not take a shot at it?
As for the current state of the campaign, we have 6 Victory Points (which already guarantees a "Good" result, yay!), there's 9 points of Ordnance still left to spend (counting the 4 points destroying the enemy HQ gave us), and the enemy Infrastructure has been so badly damaged that all the next targets will take -1 hit than normal to destroy.
All things considered, things are looking good for our squadron! Let's hope they do well during the remaining two days of the campaign too.
Last edited on 2006-06-18 07:33:07 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Posted Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:28 pm
