Phantom Leader 3 - USN Linebacker continued
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Mission 2 for Phantom Leader's USN Linebacker Campaign.
This is the game where I finally "got it." While I found the rules difficult to absorb at first, everything gelled during this mission. I picked the right pilots and ordnance for the target, and flew a successful mission gaing 2 experience for both the pilots, and a lucky event card gave back 1 stress point to the whole squadron.
All in all, I like it, and I'm happy about that. I was worried the game would turn out to be a turkey.
Here's a turn sequence and the mission in more detail.
Turn Sequence
Preflight
1. Draw target cards
Port #19 and Search and Rescue #34. The Port is way more than I have experience dealing with, flight of 6 with Politics value of 4.
2. Select target and move Politics Counter
Selecting Search and Rescue, Politics counter stays at 0.
3. Determine and place sites
Target card calls for single infantry site in each position.
4. Assign pilots
Here's the lineup for the mission:
- Taxi, Average-5, Slow, with +2 for AtG.
- Griz, Average-5, Slow, with +2 for AtG.
5. Arm aircraft
Need good air-to-ground ordnance for this mission, which would dictate CBU or M-82 Snake Eyes. However, Event cards have provide 3 chances to pull up bandits, so maybe need to pack some AtA? In any case, identical loadouts:
- 3 CBU
- 1 ECM
- 1 AtA
Target-bound flight
6. Draw Target-Bound Event card
Bandits! Conduct 3 AtA attacks on random aircraft. This is where the ECM comes in handy.
- Griz, ECM roll 8, negated.
- Griz, ECM roll 3, not negated, evasion roll: 3, success.
- Taxi, ECM roll 9, success.
7. Place Aircraft and Flight Paths
- Griz coming in Low from the west and leaving south.
- TAxi coming in Low from the north and leaving east.
8. Determine and Place Bandits
No bandits for this target.
9. Intel Air Defense Destruction
No change.
10. Draw Over Target Event card
Television War Move a random site to a random exit pre-approach area. This sucks as it puts 3 sites in Taxi's area of responsibility.
11. Place Turn Counter in "1" box
Over Target (5 Times)
12. Jettison Decision
No.
13. Fast pilots attack
No fast pilots this mission.
14. Return fire
None, all infantry, range 0.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
Nothing in pre-approach zones.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Stay low, advance both.
17. Bandits move
No bandits on the map at the moment.
18. Advance turn counter
Advance to Over Target Turn 2.
Target Turn 2
12. Jettison Decision
No.
13. Fast pilots attack
Both pilots slow.
14. Return fire
- Taxi takes fire in the north approach, roll ECM 4, fails. Roll 8 for 1 stress on Taxi.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
Taxi drops a CBU, roll 7 + 4 (S) + 2 (Taxi AtG) for 13, need 8, site destroyed.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Both move into Center, but there's nothing there.
17. Bandits move
No bandits.
18. Advance turn counter
Advance to Over Target Turn 3.
Target Turn 3
12. Jettison Decision
No.
13. Fast pilots attack
No fast pilots on this mission.
14. Return fire
None.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
Nothing to attack in center.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Move to exit area.
17. Bandits move
No bandits.
18. Advance turn counter
Advance to Over Target Turn 4.
Target Turn 4
12. Jettison Decision
No.
13. Fast pilots attack
No fast pilots this mission.
14. Return fire
- Griz, roll ECM 9, success.
- Taxi, roll ECM 6, success.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
- Griz drops 3 CBU, roll 6, 10, 4, site destroyed.
- Taxi drops 1 CBU, roll 10, site destroyed.
16.Aircraft move and adjust altitude
17. Bandits move
No bandits.
18. Advance turn counter
Advance to Over Target Turn 5.
Target Turn 5
12. Jettison Decision
No.
13. Fast pilots attack
No fast pilots this mission.
14. Return fire
- Taxi takes return fire in pre-approach exit area, roll ECM 5, fail, Infantry rolls 6 for another Stress Point on Taxi.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
Taxi drops CBU, roll 8 site destroyed.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Both go to High to leave the area.
17. Bandits move
No Bandits.
18. Advance turn counter
We're done with the Over Target Phase.
Home Bound
19 Draw Home-Bound Event card
FAC Support Remove 1 Stress Point from every pilot in squadron.
20 Roll for SAR results (if needed)
None needed.
Debriefing
21 Record mission outcome, victory points, adjust recon and intel counter and special option points
- Mission outcome: success, all sites destroyed.
- VP: 2.
- Recon: 0.
- Politics: 0.
- SO Points: no change.
22 Add target card stress to pilots
- Griz: +2 for events during mission, +2 mission stress, -1 FAC support net +3.
- Taxi: +2 events during mission, +2 mission stress, -1 cool, -1 FAC support, net +2.
23 Pilot stress recovery (all pilots)
2 (sitting out) + 1 FAC Support event net +3 all pilots sitting out.
24 Move Politics Counter 1 left
Already at 0.
25 Record Pilot Experience and Stress
Recorded on log sheet.
AAR
This was interesting. I actually worked my way through the reasoning for selecting a load and flight path based on the target, the sites, and the potential for bandits. It definitely helped that I had two 0 stress pilots available to fly each with +2 AtG. With CBU +4 on soft targets, have to roll a 1 to miss.
Using ECM was good for this mission.