Tuesday, 24 March 2020

Target Locked On! Alto Cenepa Action Report















This afternoon I played out the scenario for Target Locked On! that I adapted from the rulebook to fit the historical action on the 10th February 1995 between two Ecuadorian Mirage F1 fighters and two Peruvian Su-22M fighter bombers. The Mirages were flown by Major Banderas (LUNA) and Captain Ucategui (TANGO) while the Fitters were flown by Major Orrego (POETA) and Lt Colonel Maldonado-Begaza (ALPHA).


I did note down the sequence of each turn but when I tried to decipher all the scribbles it was a bit of a mess, so I'll just go through some of the key points. 

In turn 1 the FAE bounced the FAP fighter bombers but failed to make the most of the advantage of surprise, TANGO launching a single Matra Magic missile which shot off in the wrong direction.  In fact, in Turn 2 the tables were turned by some effective evasive action by POETA, who shook off a partial lock with an Immelmann and Split S then got on the tail of TANGO at close range, launching both Atoll AA-2's to blow the FAE fighter out of the sky. I messed up the missile damage resolution at this point but did it retrospectively, with the same result coming out in the end.

In Turn 3, ALPHA managed to shake off a brace of Matra Magic missiles fired by LUNA and exited the airspace to gain 2 VP's. This left only POETA and LUNA on the table but both without any air to air missiles to fire and low on fuel, they both accelerated away to disengage in Turn 4. This was a really enjoyable game, even if I screwed up the rules in a few places having not played a game for quite a while. The Peruvians scored a decisive victory, largely down to Major Orrego's tactical skill and some unlucky dice rolling by Captain Ucategui. 

It's definitely worth a replay and I'll aim to have another go tomorrow, now that I've revised the rules mechanisms and have remembered some of the details. I need to read the rules through again to pick up some of the minor points that I missed at times including stalling, the missile hit dice and evasive manoeuvres against missile attacks, but otherwise it was great fun.
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9 comments:

  1. Pete.24 March 2020 at 21:22

    Great stuff- will try that one myself.

    Cheers,


    Pete.


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  2. Jim Jackaman24 March 2020 at 21:53

    Thanks Pete,

    I forgot to mention that both sides started at half speed and at Level 1...no room for a stall!

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  3. Bluewillow24 March 2020 at 22:24

    Excellent work, great little missiles

    Cheers
    Matt

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  4. irishserb25 March 2020 at 00:26

    Very cool, not how I expected it to go.

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  5. Rob25 March 2020 at 08:48

    Love the green bases they almost disappear against the carpet(?) - I would be so tempted to highlight them with a lighter green with the odd speckle on the wires to see if they would blend even better. The in-flight missile also really add to the game - for such a small scale it's brilliant.

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  6. Jim Jackaman25 March 2020 at 12:21

    Yep, it was a surprise for me too but once the first Mirage went down it changed the whole dynamic of the scenario. I'll have to do a replay to see what happens if it turns out differently.

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  7. Jim Jackaman25 March 2020 at 12:22

    The green cloth thing is actually a carpet from the local charity shop. I think it was only a tenner. It's perfect as jungle canopy and I'll be using it for my Football War games too.

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  8. Kaptain Kobold26 March 2020 at 20:31

    I played this very same action a couple of weeks ago! I used a semi-boardgame called Instant Thunder.

    https://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2020/03/tiwintza.html

    I played a what-if variant, where both sides got reinforcements (Kfirs and Mirage 2000s)

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  9. Jim Jackaman27 March 2020 at 06:26

    I did think about that as they were there but kept it simple. Good ideas.

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