Target Locked On! Sino-Soviet Scenario

I've now magnet based my Cold War Soviet and Chinese aircraft for Target Locked On! so I'm going to give them a spin tomorrow in a fictitious clash somewhere over the Ussuri river in Manchuria c1969. The scenario will be a simple Patrol set up using the guidelines in the rules, with two Soviet Su-7B Fitter ground attack fighter bombers intercepted by two PLAAF Shenyang J-6 (MiG-19) fighters. If I can handle it, I may increase the number of Chinese aircraft but as I'll be playing solo, this might be a bit much to manage? I'll balance it out my making the Russian pilots experienced but the PLAAF pilots just regulars, which is my variation on Conscripts in the rules. If it all goes according to plan, I may even have a go at the Ground Strike scenario as a follow on?

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).

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2018/10/target-locked-on-alto-cenepa-scenario.html

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.

Pondering the Pre-Dreadnought Painting Project

Now that would be fun to paint!

Now were all confined at home for the foreseeable, I've been thinking about the naval projects that I set out to do this year in my on-going Give Us The Ships campaign. I've already added to my ironclad project, with more Royal Navy ships and most of the US North Atlantic Squadron completed, so my original plan to tackle the Second Schleswig War has been moved to one side. I've left the Cruel Seas project in lay-by too, as that can be squeezed in as and when I have the urge for a quick skirmish, as it's a relatively simple job to finish off my assembled E-Boats and MTB's

Now I have the choice between the 1/2400th scale Napoleonic fleets, the 1/600th scale ACW ironclads or the 1/2400th scale Pre-Dreadnoughts. The latter has grabbed my immediate interest, as I am well stocked with Tumbling Dice models for the Russians, Japanese, French, Germans and British, having gradually built up my lead pile over the last twelve months or so. There is also a lot of possibilities for 'What If?' wargaming including a Russia vs Great Britain in the Baltic in the early 1900's, France vs Great Britain in the late 1890's or the historical Russo-Japanese War option c1904, amongst other things.

I'll give it some more thought and then set out my plans.

PLAAF Magnetised

I've now magnet based all of my 1/600th scale PLAAF fighters, fighter bombers and light bombers, although one of the Il-28's ended up in the bin as it would not detach from it's piano wire stand and ended up all bent and twisted. These models aren't as good as the Soviet fighters, partly due to the rougher castings but mainly as I mucked up the matt varnish which killed the bare metal shine. At least I can now run some Cold War Sino-Soviet 'What If?' games now that they are all based the same way and some Taiwan Straits games when I've rebased the ROCAF.

Spambots

There seems to be a lot of spam on Blogger at the moment, offering all sorts of dodgy downloads and football betting tips, so I've taken the reluctant decision to start moderating comments rather than having to go in and block / delete the offending **** that keeps on popping up. What is the world coming too eh?

MiG Alley DIY Flight Stands

I've had these on the 'to do' list for ages, so I've cracked on with spray painting the DIY homemade flight stands for MiG Alley, using a rattle can combination of Halfords Camouflage Brown, Grey Primer, VW White and Appliance White. The fibre of the mdf is supposed to show through these layers, which means that I don't have to do any base texturing, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

I can also use these bases for Target Locked On! and other non-hex based rules, over my Cigar Box tundra terrain cloth, as you can see from the zveno of Su-7 Fitter A's somewhere over the Sino-Soviet border. The D6 are used to track energy in MiG Alley, swapping bases with four different heights for altitude, or to track altitude in Target Locked On! The colour of the dice can match the base or can be used to track different formations.

I have now got sets of Level 1 and Level 2 bases to paint in 30x30mm format, a few Level 1 25x25mm bases for light aircraft and the full range of 40x40mm bases for the B-29's to do as well. I may also make some more of the standard Level 2 and Level 3 bases to supplement what I've already put together. After that, I quite fancy making some desert themed bases using the same method, if I'm not on to something else. In the meantime, I've started on the ground targets!

Target Locked On Alto Cenepa Scenario

I devised this scenario a couple of years ago but never actually played it through, so I'm going to set it up and give it a spin, as a way to refresh my grasp of the Target Locked On rules. The real engagement was fought on 10th February 1995 and led to both PAF Su-22M's being shot down, so it may be a bit one-sided!

Magnetised Fishpots

I made a modest start to the 1/600th scale re-basing scheme today, with four Soviet Su-9 Fishpot interceptors converted with 3mm x 2mm magnets superglued to the underside. This was a tedious job as the fuselage is curved and the temperature was too cold for the superglue to work properly, so there was a fair bit of angst involved. I also assembled the Tumbling Dice acrylic stands, which are great apart from the fact that the flight posts have tops that aren't level, so you need to sand them down a bit to make sure the models don't look like their banking, climbing or diving. I used Gorilla Glue to attach the magnets, following a tip from a fellow wargamer, but this was far too long winded so I'll probably resort to superglue next time, taking the risk that the acrylic will frost. I have four Su-7 Fitters to re-base tomorrow, followed by the PLAAF fighters and bombers, which may take some time.

Day of the Rangers

I have lots of time to do some reading, having found out yesterday that I have been laid off, so I decided to start with this. It may even kick start a 15mm project based on my existing Sandbox Skirmish project. I've got the figures, I've got the terrain, I've got the rules...just need some time. Hang on a minute...!

Modern Jet Magnet Re-Basing

These stands will be replaced with mini-magnets

As of Friday, it looks like I'll be spending a lot more time at home, so I've decided to re-base all of my 1/600th aircraft for the Flashpoint Taiwan and Flashpoint PVO projects. These were based on piano wire and laser cut mdf stands but I'm switching over entirely to mini-magnets, in line with all of my other models. I'll be using them with my homemade stands but also with the new transparent acrylic ones from Tumbling Dice, so I am going to make sure the polarity is correct this time rather than just slapping them on any old how. It's going to be a fiddly job but worth doing so that I can use the planes with different terrain cloths, adding a lot more flexibility to my Target Locked On! and possibly some Naval Command games.