David R. Moody - Mar 2, 2009 3:45 pm (#27175 Total: 27369) Almost 20 years of pitiless combat! No rest, no sleep like other men. And yet the spring wind blows, Subotai. Have you ever felt such a wind? . . . For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm. On Saturday I went down to Fremont to play Downtown with my dad. He's ex-Air Force, and from him I got my love of airpower games and airplanes in general. He had requested a scenario with multiple missions on map at the same time, so I chose the 24 April 1967 strikes from scenario D5, Spirit in the Sky. Two small Navy strikes, from the Bonhomme Richard and Kitty Hawk, hit the railyard at Hon Gai and the airfield at Kep, respectively, while a USAF Phantom Raid hit the airfield at Hoa Lac. Lots of different aircraft types in play, and lots of action seemed in the offing. I plotted out my raids ahead of time, to save time while I assisted the old man with setting up his SAMs, AAA, and aircraft. He spotted me 3 VP to get an extra MiG-21 flight. I used two of my Electric Spads for early warning jamming, so my dad only got Some Warning of my strikes. Thus, he only had one flight of MiGs airborne when the strikes came in. Most of the action took place off near the coast, where the two Navy strikes went in. My plan was to send Bonhomme Richard's strike (two flights of four A-4Es each, with a flight of two F-8Es as Armed Escort) right into Hon Gai, then right back out again. Paralleling them was Kitty Hawk's strike--two flights of four A-6A each, with three flights of two F-4Bs each as CAP. I intended to send the Intruders east of Haiphong, then dive to Deck altitude and turn north of Phantom Ridge (on some maps I've seen it called MiG Ridge) to hide from the SAMs around Haiphong. These planes would fly very close to the Chinese buffer zone, hit Kep from the northeast, then egress at high speed between Hanoi and Haiphong. So in came all the planes, with two more Electric Spads trying to jam SAM radars. Two flights of Phantoms swept westwards, looking for MiGs, as the strike planes headed north. The one flight of MiGs airborne (it was up near Hanoi) moved to intercept, as more MiGs took off from various airfields. One of the Phantom flights, callsign Rootbeer, was vectored to intercept the already airborne MiGs. They got clearance for a long range missile shot (random event) and fired off all their AIM-7 Sparrows at three hex range. One MiG (of three in the flight) was hit and crippled. Rootbeer then tried to engage the now disordered MiGs, but failed; fortunately, the other Phantom flight, callsign Dakota, did bounce the MiGs, splashing one. The crippled MiG crashed before landing. Dakota flight headed back to Kitty Hawk while Rootbeer continued its sweep, at one point having to evade SAMs. Meanwhile, SAM radars began switching on everywhere and engaging the strike planes. Despite the Electric Spads jamming, one SAM site got a lockon on the lead A-6 flight, forcing them to maneuver violently to avoid being hit. They lost their bombs in the process, and headed back to Kitty Hawk without bombing the target. As the Navy planes moved north, another MiG flight was picked up northwest of Haiphong, on an intercept course. The third Phantom flight, callsign Showtime, moved to intercept, but the MiGs hit them first. The #2 Phantom in the flight was crippled, but a third MiG-21 was splashed; all planes made it back safely. By then the Hon Gai strike made it to target. The F-8s, armed with rockets, went in first, hitting and Supressing the target flak. Behind them came the first four A-4s, who plastered the target (Success Level 4). Sadly, they flew into a flak trap on egress, and the #4 A-4 was shot down and the pilot captured. The AAA unsupressed as the second A-4 flight hit the target with Success Level 2. All seven remaining A-4s, and the F-8s, returned safely to Bonhomme Richard. The remaining A-6 flight, unmolested by MiGs, made their run at Kep, hitting the runway good (another Success Level 4). The revetments were untouched though, as the other flight had had to abort. The A-6s then climbed out and hit Dash throttle to get home. On the way they passed over a light flak concentration, and one Intruder was hit and shot down. Pilot captured; copilot killed. Arrrghhh . . . David R. Moody - Mar 2, 2009 3:47 pm (#27176 Total: 27369) Almost 20 years of pitiless combat! No rest, no sleep like other men. And yet the spring wind blows, Subotai. Have you ever felt such a wind? . . . For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm. And the Air Force strike? I had been worried about sending in that strike without escorts (you delete the MIGCAP for a Phantom raid), but thankfully, all the Navy flyboys kept the MiGs off them. The two Wild Weasel flights went in first, hunting SAM sites, forcing them to shut down radar (and also a Fire Can next to target) while the two flights of F-4Cs, armed with bombs as well as missiles, flew in toward Hanoi unmolested, then turned at the Black River and began the run into Hoa Lac. Then the SAM sites began lighting up. I had the EB-66s doing Standoff jamming, which helped; still, some of the SAMs locked on. One of the Wild Weasel flights tried to make a run at a flak concentration near target, but a SAM got lockon. The Wild Weasels did a SAM Avoidance maneuver, ending up down on the deck and with their cluster bombs gone. As they tried to egress they ran into Small Arms flak (Random Event); luckily they sustained no damage and got out safely. As the Phantoms got close to target, a SAM site fired on the lead Phantom flight, forcing it to maneuver violently, jettisoning their bombs, and ending up Low over Hoa Lac airfield. They, too, safely navigated the flak (that shut down Fire Can site really helped) and regained their base. The second flight, though, made their run, getting Success Level 2 on the revetments, then headed home. Meanwhile, to the north, the second Wild Weasel flight had just hit a SAM site with cluster bombs, destroying it, when they were bounced by three MiG-17s. These MiGs were flown by inexperienced pilots (-2 Aggression); neither side was able to get a shot off after much maneuvering. Both sides broke off with no losses. So that was it. All the recon birds got in and out safely, and photos showed both the railyard at Hon Gai and the Kep runway to be Totally Destroyed; the Air Force guys did only Slight Damage to the revetments at Hoa Lac. No damage, alas, to the revetments at Kep. Three MiG-21s destroyed, to an A-4E and A-6A shot down; one US airman killed, two captured. US VP were 16 (5 for target damage--with multiple targets you add it up then divide by number of targets, 6 for three MiGs splashed, 2 for a SAM site destroyed, and 3 for the extra MiG flight) to 9 for the DRV (4 for two US planes shot down, 1 for one dead US airman, 4 for two captured US airmen). Net of 7, for inconclusive result. Damn . . . so close . . . if I don't lose that A-6, or do more damage to Hoa Lac, and if that one A-6 flight didn't have to abort . . . Then again, it could have been worse--my dad could have gotten more of my planes had he rolled better. David Hughes - Mar 8, 2009 11:40 pm (#27308 Total: 27372) BookmarkEmail to Friend Come tell us how you slew them ol' Arabs two by two, like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows. How you bravely faced each one with your sixteen pounder gun, and you frightened them damn natives to their marrow. On the Table - Downtown Geoff Phipps and I played Downtown at Paddington Bears on Saturday. We chose scenario D8 - All Tomorrow's Parties, and the dice gods offered up a USN Alpha Strike on the Airfield at Cat Bi. As Geoff has previously played the Yankee Air Pirates, he took the DRV,with me slipping naturally into the baby-killer role. Cat Bi is a nice target for the USN - quick in and quick out. I spent some time looking for a raid flight path which would minimise exposure to what were sure to be tough Haiphong air defences, and eventually chose a route in over the marshes east of Haiphong, overflying Cat Bi from the North East. The scenario offered the choice of F8s or Phantoms in the CaP / Armed escort role, and I chose the last gunfighters, for style points For the Beavis and Buttheads out there, one of my A4 flights was the wonderfully named Redcock. I'd seen Watchmen the previous night, and renamed it Bluecock... Two groups of MiGs made an early appearance, one attempting to sneak up on the raid from behind (south west) and one heading for the Haiphong area. At this point, neither of us had quite internalised what a bad idea it is to fly the MiGs into the SAM zones. Also, Geoff had had a brainstorm and thought that my target was Hanoi, and so planned a head on run on the strike aircraft well before the Hanoi air defence region. The net result was to take his SAMs out of the fight just as the strike arrived. I split the CAP to deal with the two threats. That from the southwest turned out to be figments of my imagination (dummies.) It was a different story over Haiphong, however. A lucky Random Event gave me the initiative so Corktip flight bounced a pair of MiG 17s from their 6, engaged, and fired off three sidewinders. One failed to launch, one went ballistic, but the third exploded 10 feet behind a MiG's tailpipe, crippling it. Unfortunately, Nickel flight failed to spot the second MiG flight. The DRV ground controllers vectored the MiGs onto A4s comprising the main flight perfectly, but luckily for me, their diving pass was ineffective. Meanwhile, my Iron Hand flights lined up to suppress the air defences around Cat Bi. First up, some misdirected CBU ordnance landed flush on a Haiphong hospital, giving the Reds a golden publicity opportunity they were not slow to exploit (Collateral Damage.) A couple of misses exploded harmlessly in the nearby fields, before some well aimed rockets suppressed the Cat Bi AAA. One of the attacking aircraft suffered some damage, from the unlikely source of peasant-aimed AK 47s... At this point, just before the main raid went in, we had to call the game. Believe it or not, Sydney's annual gay and lesbian Mardi Gras festival meant that 300,000 revellers would be flooding the streets outside the club, necessitating an early end to the carnage. So, how was it? I'd say interesting without being engaging. Neither of us really had much fun. I think there are a number of reasons. First, this is quite a tough game to play to a decent standard. It has a number of unique mechanisms, and the interplay of MiG, SAM, AAA, Iron Hand, CAP and Attack altitude takes a bit of getting used to. Short version is, I played like a pillock, which is always depressing. Second, particularly for the DRV, much of the game takes place before you start. AAA is on autopilot (there's no reason not to take a shot,) SAMs are ineffective, especially beyond burn through range, so it all comes down to what you can do with a literal handful of MiGs. Third, at least for the US player, first time out it was a pain in the ass to play. I was forever riffling between call sign, counter IDs, the map and the aircraft data sheet to figure out what to do. Fourth, it feels like there is too much wristage. On Saturday we had at least 10 SAM shots, half a dozen air to ground attacks, at least twenty AAA shots and two air combats, all of which involved multiple DRs. We had FOUR which hit. Each turn involved a series of DRs (and counter flipping) to detect flights, the results of which were often reversed (with more attendant counter flipping) a few minutes later. Now, I have no issue with the history this represents. As I understand it, the US loss rate to SAMs was 2.4 per 1,000 sorties. With around 40 planes in the raid, this means you should see a SAM strike every 10 times you play. It may be historic, but it's tedious. This is a pity, as it's hard not to like everything else about Downtown. Great subject, nice components, excellently written and indexed rules, comprehensive and well laid out play aids (apart from the US Flight Log Sheet!) The research and indeed care that has gone into this package is apparent. So much so that, even now, the memory of actually playing is fading,and I like it much more than I did even as recently as 5pm on Saturday afternoon...