Khalkhin Gol Scenario B Playtest

I played the second Bag the Hun Khalkhin Gol scenario today, which involved a shotai of three Ki-27's against a zveno of three I-16's and one of two I-15 bis, based on an actual dogfight on 22nd May 1939. All of the aircraft began as bogey counters, deploying at opposite short ends of the table. In Turn 1 they advanced toward each other, the Japanese shotai being spotted by the I-15 lead pilot, Lt Zaitsev, who was unable to warn the other zveno as he had no radio. I decided that while the I-15's had spotted the Japanese, forcing them to reveal their aircraft, the I-16's would remain unaware as the Ki-27's hadn't yet been spotted by them and were still a long way off.

In Turn 2, the Japanese led by Captain Kani swung round to in a wide curving turn to begin their patrol back down the table, failing to spot the I-16 zveno ahead of them. In Turn 3, a second spotting attempt by Captain Kani was successful, and he now manoeuvred the shotai behind the enemy zveno, getting on the tail but, at the same time, failing to realise that the I-15's were closing fast behind them. The Ki-27's were now in the blind spot of the I-16 formation, so still had the ability to bounce the Soviet pilots, even though the I-15 pilots knew they were in danger. If only they had radios!

In Turn 4, Captain Kani opened fire using his character card at close range with a long burst on the I-16 zveno leader, Lt Ivanov, whose aircraft exploded in a fireball. This forced his wingman, Lt Lisenkov, to have a temporary loss of control. On the turn of the shotai fire card, Sgt Maj Tatsumi, opened fire on Lt Timofeev forcing him into a hard evade turn to the right, which Sgt Maj Tatsumi followed as he was still on the tail. As he was the third shotai pilot he hadn't been acting as a wingman, so he now separated from the formation and pursued Lt Timofeev instead.

Meanwhile, the I-15 zveno had sneaked up behind the Japanese and automatically got 'on the tail', as they were still flying as bogeys, allowing the leader, Lt Zaitsev, to open fire at dead close range with a long burst from his four machine guns. The target, Sgt Maj Kimura, only managed to save three of the eight hits, but luckily ended up with just a temporary loss of control. In Turn 5, the first card dealt was the Soviet bogey card, which gave Lt Zaitsev an immediate chance for a second long burst against Sgt Maj Kimura, this time killing the Japanese pilot in one go and knocking his fighter out of the sky. In the process, he managed to jam his guns but the damage had been done, with the score now even between the two sides.

By now, Lt Lisenkov had managed to recover from his temporary loss of control and moved in behind Sgt Maj Tatsumi, who was on the tail of Lt Timofeev's I-16. Lt Timofeev tried to pull a tight break turn to throw off Sgt Maj Tatsumi, but he failed and instead flew off the table, which counted as a forced off result for the Japanese. Sgt Maj Tatsumi followed, closely pursued by Lt Lisenkov, who managed a final ineffective burst before forcing Sgt Maj Tatsumi off the table edge too. This left only Captain Kani and the two I-15's to fight it out. The I-15's were still on Captain Kani's six and hadn't yet been spotted by him, but he was clearly aware that something wasn't right after his wingman had dived away in a hail of bullets!

Captain Kani now pulled a sharp Immelmann turn followed by a dive to put himself right in front of the pursuing Soviet bogeys. A second manoeuvre on the shotai move card allowed him to make a break turn behind the I-15's, which he now managed to auto spot as he flew by. As he was now on his own and facing two I-15's, Captain Kani decided to call it a day and flew off the table using the Altitude bonus card. At the end of the scenario I decided to call it a draw, with one Soviet and one Japanese pilot killed, a Soviet and Japanese fighter forced off and one other Soviet fighter with jammed guns. The Japanese CO, Captain Kani, had evaded the I-15's of Lt Zaitsev and Lt Medvedev, who now returned to their forward airstrip at the end of a successful patrol.

This scenario worked really well and was full of action, so I don't need to replay it just yet, although it would be a good one for a club night. I need to add some rules to cover the lack of radios on the Soviet side, as this would have completely changed the outcome if I hadn't thought about it during the game. I think that a modification of the bogey spotting rules might work for situations where one flight wanted to warn another that they had unidentified enemy about, perhaps by wing waggling or a burst of gunfire. The friendly pilot would have to test to see if he 'spotted' the other pilots attempts to tip him off, but would then also have to attempt to spot the bogeys using the usual system. Just an idea?