Shipwreck!: Attack Planes on Fire....

... off the shoulder of Hunan...

After some unfortunate delays, we had a chance to finally game out the mechanics of air combat.  This will probably be the last of the purely mechanical games we have, as we feel confident to start gaming actual scenarios.  Caveat, submarines might need some more mechanical gaming, but we will see....

Our first venture was a PLAN air attack on a lone USN Ticonderoga class vessel.  It has strong air defenses, and the PLAN aircraft don't carry very accurate weapons.... but they are effective if they hit.

Here is how it went down....

A pair of friendly H-6 bombers, flying in support of a pair of JH-7 fighter/bombers were conducting routine live munitions training a few miles off the coast of Japan.  Little did they know that a USN Ticonderoga had snuck into their training range....  the pilots of course released their ordnance (flights of C301s and YJ-81s) without realizing the danger, and the highly sophisticated weapon systems targeted the American trespasser.  In an act of belligerence, the Ticonderoga targeted the H-6 bombers at medium range and downed them both.

The JH-7 pilots turned 180º to escape the wrath of the capitalist running dog, and fully intended to file a formal protest with the UN once they were safely back on PRC soil.  In the meanwhile, the incoming missiles continued to close on the Ticonderoga... a few Japanese fisherman were witness to the following effective display of air defense weaponry

The Ticonderoga downs the high flying, heavy C301s first, as they are slightly easier targets and could cause more damage than the YJ-81s.

 The YJ-81s close....

 ...and begin to be shot out of the sky, as the Ticonderoga opens up with missiles, Phalanx, and guns...

As the PLAN player, I was delighted that 2 YJ-81s (out of the initial 4 C301s and 8 YJ-81s) actually got through the barrage of fire.  However, despite a reasonable chance of hitting, the target EW was just enough to make them both miss.  Bu hao!

The Ticonderoga lived to trespass another day, having downed 10 missiles and 2 bombers.  For fun (mostly for my fun, not his) I rolled the 2 YJ-81s as if they had hit, and scored a Cripple and a Light hit, meaning that if I had hit, I would have bagged the Ticonderoga.  And, the Ticonderoga had expended a number of missiles in defending itself from only 4 aircraft.  Something to think about in the future....

We then set up the opposite scenario, a USN air sortie against a PLAN ship.  This time, we allowed for escorting fighters, and a defending CAP.

Here is the PLAN Qingdao, a Luhu class DDG, on a peaceful humanitarian mission in the territorial waters of the Philippines....

And here comes a most definitely non-peaceful swarm of F-18 Hornets, the strike flight under the EW protection of an Intruder, with the escorts flying outside.

The Qingdao calls for the CAP, a pair of J-10s, who heroically attempt to interdict even though heavily outnumbered and outclassed.

The J-10s attempt to engage with their PL-11s, but miss their targets, as the F-18 strike aircraft release a pair of Harpoons each.  The Qingdao is out of range, and unable to assist.  Besides which, the Captain of the Luhu class DD is pretty certain he will have more things to worry about shortly...

The strike aircraft and their Intruder protector return to the Teddy R, while the escort F-18s agree to engage the advancing J-10s (after having fired some missiles at range, we wanted to see how dogfighting worked).

The Harpoons, being "medium" weapons, were too small for the J-10s to engage (or I would have used them that way), but as they were now close enough for my Crotale, I was able to engage one flight and score 2 hits for 2 shots!

The dog fights continued as the missiles closed.... the pilots apparently were a bit over excited, and everyone continued to miss (despite the odds, which should have seen someone being splashed here)... the F-18s were the superior platform, and I was beginning to worry for my brave pilots.  However.... the Harpoons continued to close....

... and through a combination of more Crotale fire and chaff, I was able to whittle the incoming ordnance even further, as the fighter pilots continued their duel....

... but in the end, it was not enough, as 3 Harpoons were able to break through, 2 of them hitting the Qingdao, and sinking her immediately (a Sunk and a Heavy hit).  Oops.... I guess we will have to bring the cultural revolution to the Philippines at a later time.  Meanwhile, an F-18 was able to finally splash one of the J-10s, an insult to injury as it were.

Overall, the air rules seemed to run smoothly... I had some confusion on where the CAP was placed, and how it moved in range bands.  With aircraft and missiles moving towards each other, there did seem to be something odd as the range bands are not "even" increments.  It did not hurt the gaming, it just seemed odd.  And, of course, for the mechanical games we were not worried about arrival times of flights, or them having to return to base without finding targets.... we wanted to see how the rules worked, and apparently they worked fine.

Despite my Qingdao being sunk, I was happy with the result.... it was no where near as protected as the Ticonderoga was, but, still, it was able to do a reasonable job of defending itself.

We will begin to game scenarios, which for the PLAN will actually make for more even games (my victory objectives are likely to be different than the USN objectives).  Anyway, until next time.... until next time....