Wednesday was the time of another web game run with Paul from NWA. The game was set in the club Bush Wars campaign setting. For some months there have been articles and headlines and hints that the country of August Bank Holiday Island (ABHI, and terrestrially known as Madagascar) was launching aerial incursions of its neighbours EEZs and similar, threatening civilian shipping, and engaging in general belligerence. Now that the models have been painted and prepared for action, Paul and I used a game to test out the difficulty of hitting a merchant ship with multiple rocket pods. The action was pretty simple, but taught a couple of fundamental lessons.
Of note, this was the first game where we used the new filament-printed hex template for movement, rather than relying on printed hexes or similar marks to delineate position and location.
First the was the approach from a distant end of the table
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The ABHI aircraft from the 743 Naval Aviation Attack Regiment at that point began a quick descent to skim across the waves at Tac Altitude Level (TAL) 2, avoiding the waves and the concurrent pilot skill checks they'd have to make if they got lower at TAL 1 (0 being the surface)
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The A-5s began their final attack run, manoeuvring in for a perfect shot. Given this was a merchant vessel and they weren't at risk from any AAA or SAMs, Paul took his time getting speed and range as bang-on (an appropriate phrase for this I think) as he could
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The flight leader was first in, successfully putting this pod-rockets into the vessel, though when we determined the damage done they had really only set the ship alight.
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With smoke staring to come off the ship and little likelihood of there being a threat to the aircraft, the flight leader lit his afterburners as he climbed and turned to get out of the way of their wingman's run in. That second attack was also successful, though these rockets hit some vital parts of the ship, ensuring it would eventually sink
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So with their target set alight, the Nanchang A-5s both climbed away from what would soon become a burnt out sinking hulk.
This was an effective practice game for Paul as getting the airframes onto the right place at the right time was still a challenge. Though the rules for the release of air-to-surface ordinance on p30 of the Jet Age rulebook don't require the aircraft to be within the range template for the weapon system at the end of their turn, Paul did this anyway and found that it would be far more straightforward to tear in at high speed and only bleed off enough at the last moment so as to not incur targeting penalties before firing or releasing ordinance. I think we're going to see the return of these scourges of the sea!
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