What boardgames have you played recently?

[Bob Walters]

Phantoms Over Phuc Yen - Epilogue......

With the death of their flight leader, the Phantom crews were all disordered and in near-total chaos. With difficulty, Gunslinger 02 manages to get a semblance of the remaining Fours into a line astern staggered formation, now heading South. He'd made up his mind, two dead and two more planes damaged was just too much risk in the Red River Valley.....

"Red Crown, Iron Guard, Gunslinger up on button 4.. We are RTB at this time, speed of heat. Expect egress over Steel Tiger OpArea within 10 mikes, over."

"Roger, Gunslinger, Red Crown confirms you are RTB, will notify Sandy and Udorn."

"Roger Gunslinger 02, Iron Guard copies. Texaco will be onsta at race-track 3 for you, Angels 15."

Jim Hartmann in Whiskey 01 was shaking from head to toe as the Phantoms egressed out southeast of Thud Ridge, keeping low to mask them from any SAM sites to the North. He had survived his first flight into North Vietnam, and this one into Route Pack 6a, no less. but it wasn't enough. His mentor since arriving at Udorn was now a lingering smoke trail over the jungle valley and he was, for the first time since becoming a Phantom pilot, alone.

The Phantoms returned to Udorn without incident as the MiGs had all bugged out after a full engagement and a successful series of ambushes. Whiskey 02 had a stuck Nose landing gear door, but the emergency T-handle blew all three struts down and locked for a safe landing. The film cassettes were pulled from both RF's as the crews dismounted their jets. Jim told a photo-tech to make damn sure copies of those SAM site photos get over to TacAirOps, TODAY!!!. Two dead aircrew should have earned at least that much hustle on the ground crew......

---------------------------------------------------------

At Hoa Loc airfield, Van Cuong and Van Co stood as they were proclaimed Heroes of the Party. They were awarded an equal share in 2 1/2 kills of Yankee Air Pirates over North Vietnam and held up as shining examples of what the DRV was prepared to do to defend itself against incursions by American aircraft.

________________________________________________________________________________________

When the missile tracked and killed the phantom and its crew, it unknowingly got a recon bird, and that meant both damaged birds were the gunfighters, who had been forced to jettison when damaged earlier, so they were guns only. With little hope to prevent the MiGs from re-forming at airfields and rearming to re-engage on the egress if they pressed on for a possible overflight by the remaining recon bird, Jackson aborted and the Phantoms were untouchable in the 7 or so turns it took them to race off at dash throttle. Recovery rolls had one damaged F-4 down safe and the other touching down good but close to the threshold for danger.

Today, the US learned that a multilayered air defense was something to "Respect" over North Vietnam, just as the scenario title said.

After his trip to Siam Riep, Jackson and I will be going on for the next scenario in his learning curve over Vietnam - "All Tomorrow's Parties" which will finally give him the full complement of tools, jamming, ARMs, full CSAR, Iron Hand, Alpha Strike Package, MigCAP, TarCAP, and StrikeCAP; vs the DRV SAMs, AAA, Fire Cans, and MiGs, along with NVA troops armed with SA-7s. It is the final " learning" scenario in the set, designed to expose the player to the capabilities of the game and its units.

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AAR, I think the only thing I would have done differently as the US player would have been to break the gunfighters off at the first sign of MiGs, split that flight into two individual planes and use one to engage before the MiGs could while the other screened the recon birds against the next MiGs in line. This would have allowed the guns to switch off from flight to flight screening the RFs until they could get their pics along a single rail line finished and turn for home. Still may well have cost an F-4D, but the mission would have stood a better chance of completion IMO. The DRV used every advantage given and scored big on the good DRs because of them.

KRL, jon H

In what year does this scenario take place?

 

[hongkongwargamer]

In what year does this scenario take place?

August 1967

 

[witchbottles]

August 1967

The game takes the players chronologically through the air war over North Vietnam.As such, after the four learning scenarios, the players are encouraged to tackle the remaining 12 scenarios in sequence, in order to improve their tactics and abilities in the game. Everything is abstracted outside the tactical portion of fighters and fighter -bombers engaging in Air to Air combat while the DRV fields SAMs and AAA and the Americans field SAR to try and prevent POWs from occurring. It is really as complicated of a game to master as ASL, IMO, and plays just as tensely.

Finally, the players can graduate to the RP 4 Dragon's Jaw bridge scenarios from Linebacker I and then to the two scenarios depicting Linebacker I and II air raids over Hanoi and Haiphong with B-52s and chaff / SAM suppression corridors.

At that point, I consider a player ready to tackle either of the two CGs. the first is a 12 mission "day" in the Rolling Thunder, depicting the opening strikes on the POL system in North Vietnam. The second depicts the Christmas Eve bombing day of Linebacker II and its 6 cell strikes of B-52s over Hanoi that day.

the last two scenarios in the system offer a look at the 1973 Easter Offensive airstrikes on the DMZ and then the 1975 airstrikes outside Saigon three days before the fall.

 

[Bob Walters]

If it was in August of '67 after the North revised their tactics then the poor showind by the Phantoms might make sense. Between then and the first part of the next year the air to air ratio was a bit in favor of the North.

 

[62nd Army]

Gentlemen

We got to Britannia a few Saturdays ago, had a blast!! (we played the AH version)

Was close,but I pulled out a win with purple (Romans, Romano-British,Scots, Dubliners, Norwegians)

This is a great game for an extended session 5 to 8 hours, we played and broke for food, then
finished.

Blue had some bad luck and lost the Picts early which hurts blue in the end game. Green did well, with the Welsh
and Danes gaining big points. Caledonians were squashed, but did get some points.
Red did well, but the Irish and Brigantes were both wiped out which really hurt red.
I did really well as the Romans (Drove all the way to southern Scotland) The Romano-British survived the whole game, which I have never seen before.

All and all a good time for everyone, final standings, Purple, Green, Red, Blue

Thanks
Joe

 

[ASL1]

Reading a great book by Michael Reynolds "Sons Of The Reich: II SS Panzer Corps: Normandy
Arnhem, Ardennes, Eastern Front" .. Good Chapter about the attack on Mortain.
So, broke out the 1980 AH Classic, "The Longest Day" and first scenario is Mortain.
Will play this one again.

 

[witchbottles]

Iron Hand (Phantoms over Phuc Yen - Episode 2)

Chapter 1

Jim Wilcox had spent the last three weeks since losing his flight leader over Thud Ridge with cold sweats every night. Constant nightmares replaying the scene of the previously unknown SA-2 missile site firing and in the dreams, that white telephone pole would twist and turn with every maneuver Jim tried to make. It was hopeless. Sleep was not going to happen, so Jim would get up and walk out to the veranda, smoking another Pall Mall, as he watched the airmen bustle to prepare the next day's airstrikes.

Ever since TacAirOps got his photos of the SAM site armed and functional, all hell had broken loose on the base. The on again, off again strikes on Kep and Phuc Yen had been terminated, and nearly constant planning meetings had been going with all the top brass over at the Base Tower. Scuttlebutt was that tomorrow they would find out what the whiz kids had dreamed up this time.....

Chapter 2

0600, 24 July, 1965.
Lt Jim Wilcox looked around the noisy Ready Room, but few of the faces were familiar. Jimboy wondered if anyone from else from the 341st TFW had been drafted for this party. He was sure the only reason he had been was because he had been checked out in F-105s before becoming a Phantom driver this last summer. That and the brass was super-pissed at him for rocking the boat, so he was going "Downtown" on every trip from now on, whether he liked it or not.

The Major came in and took the cloth off the map board. Blue and red strings indicated ingress and egress routes for the strike package. There were 24 pilots listening as he told them that the grey string racetrack over Laos was a tanker and Sandy flight would be orbiting just east of the Dragon's Jaw ridge off the coast, in case they were needed. 16 Thuds were detailed to the alpha strike - targeted for that SAM site Jimboy had identified. the other 8 were flying TarCAP, and would carry CBUs to suppress any flak nearby before switching to their 20mm cannons to keep any MiGs off the strike birds.

Everyone got quiet when the Major said "MiGs". Jim felt as if every pair of eyes in the room were boring right through his skull. No one had ever said it, but he felt the entire base blamed him for the loss of the well-liked and respected XO of the 341st.

"Shit" he said under his breath, and pulled out his knee-board.

"I'm gonna fly this strike, and those NVA screwballs are gonna eat my 500 pounders. The rest of these guys can just blow off." he whispered to himself.

It was going to be another long day up in Route Pack 5.............


______________________________________________________

Jackson and I are moving into the chronological order of the scenarios now that his flight training has ended with his gold wings...

D1 Here, there and Everywhere is first up. I gave up 2 VP right away to get another MiG 17 flight so there are possibly 3 or 4 of them ,and some Hidden Flak and Fire Can guided flak around as well.

Looking forward to another fine day above North Vietnam in this one!

 

[hongkongwargamer]

Reading a great book by Michael Reynolds "Sons Of The Reich: II SS Panzer Corps: Normandy
Arnhem, Ardennes, Eastern Front" .. Good Chapter about the attack on Mortain.
So, broke out the 1980 AH Classic, "The Longest Day" and first scenario is Mortain.
Will play this one again.

View attachment 2232 View attachment 2233 View attachment 2236

Ahhhh - shooooooott .. need to break this out one day .. pls keep us posted!

 

[witchbottles]

If it was in August of '67 after the North revised their tactics then the poor showind by the Phantoms might make sense. Between then and the first part of the next year the air to air ratio was a bit in favor of the North.

for the USAF pilots and the VPAF the VPAF held the upper hand until Operation Bolo, and then still long afterward. MiG-17s could out turn and out maneuver any US bird of the time. The `19s gave the ma AA missile comparable to the sidewinder of the time in capability, as well as supersonic turn radius capability far in excess of US planes. the 21 offered the ability to launch on detection, zoom climb at supersonic speeds from the deck after staying off radar for the entire flight, shooting heat seekers and then running faster than anything but a Phantom to get away. The only sure method for gaining air superiority was to use the USN tactics of sending pilots back to dogfighting school, and pairing the missile only Phantoms with gunfighters like the F-8 as CAP for the strikes.

 

[djohannsen]

The game takes the players chronologically through the air war over North Vietnam.As such, after the four learning scenarios, the players are encouraged to tackle the remaining 12 scenarios in sequence, in order to improve their tactics and abilities in the game. Everything is abstracted outside the tactical portion of fighters and fighter -bombers engaging in Air to Air combat while the DRV fields SAMs and AAA and the Americans field SAR to try and prevent POWs from occurring. It is really as complicated of a game to master as ASL, IMO, and plays just as tensely.

You sure know how to sell this one. You got me poking around BGG and reading reviews. There's no point in purchasing right now, as I'm up to my eyeballs in trying to learn my way around ASL, but "Downtown Hanoi" is now on my radar. Thank you for the great descriptions of this game.

Dave

 

[witchbottles]

You sure know how to sell this one. You got me poking around BGG and reading reviews. There's no point in purchasing right now, as I'm up to my eyeballs in trying to learn my way around ASL, but "Downtown Hanoi" is now on my radar. Thank you for the great descriptions of this game.

Dave

IMO, and I know I'm not alone, both "Prof3TR" and "Hongkongwargamer" tend to agree.... Downtown by GMT is really ASL in the air over North Vietnam 1965-1972. The level of complexity involved is every bit as much as ASL, with layered air defenses to plan, pre-raid strike planning requirements basically " in the blind" (you get some intel-but its not enough and typically leaves your planes hanging in the breeze - just as Rolling Thunder ops did over Route Pack 5.) DRV units can be given Hidden Flak and AAA and SAMS, dummy flak, AAA, SAMs and even dummy MiG flights. Americans are given a full force of what was historically available, and honestly, until they roll on a target table for that mission in the pre-game planning, they have no idea what their actual target is going to be. All planes have "concealment" until detected - even then they are not visual ID'd yet, and the risks of being hit by enemy fire are low unless you are visual or Radar ID's (or locked in the case of radar). It still can happen, witness the last mission when Jackson's Phantom took an Atoll missile hit on a 19 DR (you use 2D10 for this game)- I needed a 17 or better to get a hit - then the 18 for damage, on a 14 or better to destroy the plane - and the low DR for crew survival meant they died in the fireball.

I heartily recommend the game, shop around you will finally find it - but copies are hard to come by - typically takes a few months to a year to locate one.

KRL, Jon H

 

[djohannsen]

The level of complexity involved is every bit as much as ASL, with layered air defenses to plan, pre-raid strike planning requirements basically " in the blind" (you get some intel-but its not enough and typically leaves your planes hanging in the breeze - just as Rolling Thunder ops did over Route Pack 5.)

The complexity of ASL appeals to me ("Road to Washington" [the old regimental level treatment of Second Manassas by Command Perspectives] will be the first game that I learn after getting more comfortable with ASL). However, reading your comments and the reviews reminded me why I haven't yet pulled the trigger on this one. I have local people with whom to play ASL, but don't know of anyone who is interested in other wargaming. As "Downtown" seems to be VERY solitaire unfriendly (the whole element of "in the blind" being lost), I think that this is why I held off on buying it years ago. I may grab a copy of "Elusive Victory" instead, in order to have an inexpensive way to read the rules and try the system as a solitaire endeavor.

Still, your AAR was a pleasure to read - thank you.

 

[Yuri0352]

I heartily recommend the game, shop around you will finally find it - but copies are hard to come by - typically takes a few months to a year to locate one.

KRL, Jon H

Downtown is at the top of my gaming wish list, and yes, I've been browsing and searching for a copy for nearly a year so far. The Vietnam air war equivalent of ASL...what's not to like?

 

[62nd Army]

Gentlemen

Guns of August up next for the group, I have Austria-Hungry. Looking forward to this.
Will post an update when things advance.

Thanks
Joe

 

[Bob Walters]

for the USAF pilots and the VPAF the VPAF held the upper hand until Operation Bolo, and then still long afterward. MiG-17s could out turn and out maneuver any US bird of the time. The `19s gave the ma AA missile comparable to the sidewinder of the time in capability, as well as supersonic turn radius capability far in excess of US planes. the 21 offered the ability to launch on detection, zoom climb at supersonic speeds from the deck after staying off radar for the entire flight, shooting heat seekers and then running faster than anything but a Phantom to get away. The only sure method for gaining air superiority was to use the USN tactics of sending pilots back to dogfighting school, and pairing the missile only Phantoms with gunfighters like the F-8 as CAP for the strikes.

Yes, but the Phantoms has their own capabilities. Indeed, it was not all that uncommon to be able to outrun some of their air-to-air missiles in real life. At least that was what was related to me at the time. In addition, the Mig-21 had some real reliability and endurance problems at the time.

 

[witchbottles]

The complexity of ASL appeals to me ("Road to Washington" [the old regimental level treatment of Second Manassas by Command Perspectives] will be the first game that I learn after getting more comfortable with ASL). However, reading your comments and the reviews reminded me why I haven't yet pulled the trigger on this one. I have local people with whom to play ASL, but don't know of anyone who is interested in other wargaming. As "Downtown" seems to be VERY solitaire unfriendly (the whole element of "in the blind" being lost), I think that this is why I held off on buying it years ago. I may grab a copy of "Elusive Victory" instead, in order to have an inexpensive way to read the rules and try the system as a solitaire endeavor.

Still, your AAR was a pleasure to read - thank you.

EV is much like Downtown - both have an extensive solitaire system that uses a Random Event chart much like SASL rules to generate the enemy flights and air defenses - at some instances, the solitaire systems can be more deadly than an opponent.

good news is EV is still readily available
KRL, jon H

 

[djohannsen]

EV is much like Downtown - both have an extensive solitaire system that uses a Random Event chart much like SASL rules to generate the enemy flights and air defenses - at some instances, the solitaire systems can be more deadly than an opponent.

Thank you - I had no idea that these games had a mechanism for solitaire play!


Dave

 

[HansK]

GMT's upcoming Red Storm seems to have a solitaire system under development. Maybe it can be used with Downtown and EV too.

 

[witchbottles]

GMT's upcoming Red Storm seems to have a solitaire system under development. Maybe it can be used with Downtown and EV too.

I have no idea myself on that. The Solitaire rules for both Downtown and EV are free downloadable packets online - from Lee Brinncombe -Wood's webpages...

http://www.airbattle.co.uk/d_downloads.html

Here is the designer's home page with a full listing of all the games based on the same game structure as GMT games. There are three others that were available only in C3i magazine. They were the Dragon's Jaw add-on to Downtown, the hypothetical USS Mayaguez air battle, and a trio of scenarios covering the Falklands Islands War air combat. The first two can be found on the webpages above. The last can be found at CSW's "GMT Downtown" webpages. (If you can't get ahold of the old C3i magazines).

The best point of contact for these games here on Gamesquad is Al Cannamore (BigAl737) - he is a developer and play tester for Lee Brinncombe-Wood, among other things (smile).

 

[HansK]

http://www.insidegmt.com/?p=16953#more-16953