That was another really good game, with plenty of action and not a little bit of tension at times, although the end result was a decisive victory for the Japanese. The top ace, Sgt Maj Saito shot down two I-16's, one with a hit that killed the pilot outright and a second with an explosion which blew the fighter to smithereens! The veteran shotai commander, Lt Okamoto, also shot down one I-16, which suffered a catastrophic structural failure, although this time the pilot made a successful bail out and hit the silk to fly another day.
However, Lt Okamoto himself was wounded and blacked out, recovering just in time to fly off the table pursued by two of the tailing Soviet fighters. I decided to roll for his fate, using his luck rating to determine what happened next and giving him a chance to crash land, which he managed to do and was able to walk away from. The unfortunate junior ace, Sgt Maj Ishikawa, spent most of the game trying to evade the Soviet fighters having suffered fuel line damage early in the game but he did get a shot in right at the end on one of the I-16's, albeit to little effect.
The Soviets lost three fighters and two pilots but forced off Lt Okamoto, so claimed one kill as he did actually crash land. In the real dogfight they shot down two Ki-10's for no loss, so this is the only game so far that hasn't had an historical ending. I decided during the game to set some victory objectives rather than just play on until the end, so gave the Japanese the goal of shooting down three or more I-16's to win, while the Soviets had to shoot down all three of the Ki-10's. This seemed a fair arrangement, given that the Soviets outnumbered the Japanese by three to one! I'll write that into the scenario when I eventually get round to it.
Apologies for the limited selection of photos but the camera died half way through.
Glad the game went well- sounds action packed.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Yes it was quite a dogfight!
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