Phantom Leader 5 - USN Linebacker continued
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Mission 3 was a complete disaster, with an MIA, 2 other planes destroyed with pilots rescued, and not enough damage to the target to any victory points for the campaign. At this point, there is no way to "win" the campaign, but I'm going to play it out anyway.
Here's the squadron for the campaign:
- Buick, skilled-9
- Easy Money, average-7
- Whiplash, average-6
- Taxi, average-5
- Griz, average-5
- Gringo, green-6
- Firefly, green-4
- Pluto, newbie-4
Preflight
1. Draw target cards
Fighter Sweep #7 and Truck Park #4.
2. Select target and move Politics Counter
Choosing Fighter Sweep #7 with politics value 3, politics counter now in Slot 5.
3. Determine and place sites
Both in center, nothing in approaches:
- S-60,
- Zu-23-2.
These are both low altitude, so no need to care about them, we can load out all pilots for AtA and stay at High Altitude.
4. Assign pilots
Here's the flight for Mission 5, the only three pilots fit to fly at the moment:
- Buick, skilled-9
- Griz, average-5
- Whiplash, green-6
5. Arm aircraft
Definitely purchasing the Tanker option for 3 SO Points.
- Buick: ECM, 1 x AIM-7, 4 x AIM-9
- Griz: ECM, 1 x AIM-7, 4 x AIM-9
- Whiplash: ECM, 1 x AIM-7, 4 x AIM-9
The idea is too hit them first with the AIM-7s, which have a range of 1,2 (not 0), and hopefully knock out at least 1, then use the AIM-9s for close in.
This is going to be a dice fest I can see. I have 15 AtA missles, each of which has a 50% chance of destroying a MIG. If I dropped the ECM pods, I would have a slightly better chance. This is one of those missions where fast pilots with good AtA DRM are really handy.
Target-bound flight
6. Draw Target-Bound Event card
All Good Things Surprise: Sites and Bandits cannot attack in Turn 1. Which doesn't matter for this mission. Nice to know I have this card in the deck though.
7. Place Aircraft and Flight Paths
Entering north, exiting east.
8. Determine and Place Bandits
All bandits in Center, per Target.
9. Intel Air Defense Destruction
None.
10. Draw Over Target Event card
A-1 Skyraiders Pilots flying this mission get 1 extra Experience Point, but suffer 1 extra Stress.
11. Place Turn Counter in "1" box
Turn 1.
Over Target (5 Times)
12. Jettison Decision
Nope.
13. Fast pilots attack
Buick sends off a AIM-7, roll 4, miss. And we're off to an inauspicious start.
14. Return fire
Nothing can range into pre-Approach right now.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
- Griz fires AIM-7, roll 8, hit.
- Whiplach fires AIM-7, roll 9 hit.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Move to North Approach.
17. Bandits move
Bandits move to North Approach.
18. Advance turn counter
Turn 2.
Target Turn 2
12. Jettison Decision
Nope.
13. Fast pilots attack
Buick fires AIM-9 on MIG-19, roll 10, MIG-19 destroyed, we're getting some good luck here.
14. Return fire
And the bandits fire back:
- MIG-17 on Whiplash, ECM fail, evade fail, roll 5 fail.
- MIG-17 on Griz, ECM roll 3, fail, evade roll 10.
- MIG-17 on Buick, ECM roll 4 fail, evade roll 10.
- MIG-17 on Buick, ECM roll 8. negate.
- MIG-17 on Buick, ECM roll 10, negate.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
- Whiplash on MIG-17, roll 10, MIG-17 destroyed.
- Griz on MIG-17, roll 9, destroyed.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Stay high.
17. Bandits move
Moving to center.
18. Advance turn counter
Turn 3.
Target Turn 3
12. Jettison Decision
Nope.
13. Fast pilots attack
Buick fires on MIG-17, rolls 9 destroyed, getting lucky here.
This leaves two MIG-17 remaining.
14. Return fire
- MIG-17 fires on Whiplash, ECM roll 10, negate.
- MIG-17 fires on Griz, ECM fails, let's roll for evade as Griz has lots of stress points and doesn't go Shaken until 6, roll 5, fail, MIG rolls 8 for damage. Honeymoon is over.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
Whiplash fires, roll 5 for a miss. Bummer.
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Staying high.
17. Bandits move
Follow flight into East Approach.
18. Advance turn counter
Turn 4.
Target Turn 4
12. Jettison Decision
Nope.
13. Fast pilots attack
Buick fires on MIG-17, roll 5 + 1, destroyed.
14. Return fire
MIG-17 fires on Buick, ECM negate.
15. Slow Pilots Attack
Whiplash fires on remaining MIG-17, roll 9 destroyed.
That's the mission, success!
16. Aircraft move and adjust altitude
Stay high and exit.
17. Bandits move
No more bandits.
18. Advance turn counter
Turn 5.
Target Turn 5
Nothing to do, mission is over.
Home Bound
19 Draw Home-Bound Event card
Peace Rallies Weapons Limitations: No BLU-1 or CBU next mission.
20 Roll for SAR results (if needed)
Not needed.
Debriefing
21 Record mission outcome, victory points, adjust recon and intel counter and special option points
- Mission outcome: Success.
- Victory Points: 2.
- Recon and Intel both advance 1 into the 1 slot.
- Special Option points expended for Tankers, SO Points now 6.
22 Add target card stress to pilots
All done on worksheets.
23 Pilot stress recovery (all pilots)
Done.
24 Move Politics Counter 1 left
Politics now in Slot 4.
25 Record Pilot Experience and Stress
Done.
AAR
I should have replaced Taxi with a random pilot after last mission. Will know to do next time. I should wrap this up with stats from the campaign, but I'm not feeling like it at the moment. Other things to do today, and this worked out really well.