Sitrep Podcast: Historical Gaming (and Register for Upcoming Gaming Event)!

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Some more additions to the aircraft types available for the Operation Corporate campaign supplement in AirWar C21.  Argentinian Hercules transports, Pucara COIN (counterinsurgency) aircraft, and Super Entendard navy strike planes (one of many platforms for the infamous Exocet ASM).  Might see some of these in tomorrow’s live stream.  😀

[somegeezer 18431xp 1]

Apologies if I’m going over old ground but it’s just dawned on me that the Falklands War (1982) is as long ago from now as 1945 was from the Falklands War. The pitiless march of time.

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

@somegeezer – Scary, isn’t it?

In my much,much, younger days, I was in the service during the 91 Gulf War.  Imagine the dark and cloudy morning when, in the course of casual conversation in the office where I work now, I learned that almost no one I work with was even alive at the time.  (:o

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

Ha! I have sweaters older than some of my colleagues now 🙂

[oriskany 60771xp 0]

Less than an hour to go before the live stream!  😀

[oriskany 60771xp 2]

Thanks very much @stvitusdancern for the great game and thanks to everyone who stopped by our streams to support us. It really means a lot. So yeah, I hope we gave AirWar C21 a decent showing here. I kind of didn’t do my Immelmans correct (at least the ones that succeeded), so I that’s on me … and there are additional rules for TAILING that can make the “dice-iness” of the initiative phase a little less luck driven – IF you’ve planned ahead and get can begin an enemy (your from 180-degree arc, in enemy’s rear 60-degree arc, you go when he goes, NO MATTER WHAT THE initiative is). SO we’re still learning this system, but already having tons of fun with it, and it’s deliver great realistic results for our 1982 Falklands wargames.

Northeastern coast of East Falkland Island, 1 May, 1982. Two FRS1 Sea Harriers of HMS Hermes have been vectored to intercept two Argentine Mirage IIIEA interceptors launched toward the battlegroup. Each grid on the map = roughly 1km (scale in the game is actually logarithmic). Each inch of movement = 50 knots air speed. Virtual gameboard is set up to reflect a 72″ x 48″ (6×4) gaming table.

 

Mirages, pushing 950 knots, try to pull Immelmans to vector toward the sidestepping Harriers (both just executed successful barrel rolls + turn maneuvers). One Mirage fails the roll, but still manages a lock with SARH R.550 “Matra” medium range air-air missile. Shots fired! The Falklands War is on!

 

The Harriers respond. They fire American made AIM-9L Sidewinder IR-guided short-ranged air-air missiles. The keyy advantage here is that the Sidewinder “L” variants can acquire a lock from any target aspect. you do NOT have to behind the enemy plane to get a lock (although it helps when the missile has to hit). The Argentinian equivalent, much older R.530 “Magic” missiles, must be launched from behind the target aircraft. Easier said than done.

 

The first Sidewinder hits the lead Mirage, but explodes off my wing and only does 2 points of damage. Sea Harrier 01 is closing to guns range, however, and will score one more hit on a high-deflection, medium range extended burst from her cannon. It’s just enough to cripple the Mirage, who’s max safe speed drops from 1000 knots to 500 knots as a result. Too bad he’s currently at 650 knots (speed 13), so that’s +3 over safe speed, +3 MORE damage, so that’s 6 damage total. BOOM. Mirage is down, but the pilot punches clear with a clean ejection. Still, that’s SPLASH ONE!

 

Another hit on another Mirage! Not only does Gianna score the hit, but then gets a roll on the “Golden BB” table. Compression stall in the Mirage’s engine! Immediate stall and spin in a random direction, AND he’s down 5 out of 6 damage points. Man, is this pilot in trouble.

 

Final result at the end of Turn 3, Phase 2. British win by splashing all 3 Mirages, no loss to themselves. If this game seems unfair, it really isn’t. I kind of forgot how Immelmans really work, and if EVEN ONE HARRIER goes down, automatic Argentine victory. And these Harriers are not very sturdy AT ALL. Just one burst of Mirage cannon fire is enough to put one down, so the British player really has to play it to the wire, which Gianna totally did. Well done! And thanks again for the great game and support with the stream!

 

[oriskany 60771xp 2]

Okay, once again thanks to everyone who came out for our live stream.  In that vein, let me try to respond to everyone who asked or question or dropped a comment – to whom I wasn’t able to reply DURING the stream.

@gladesrunner – That’s no joy on Top Gun soundtrack just because we’d get booted off of Twitch.  😀  And you only heard me at first because I was yammering too much.  😀  And damn it, now I know how @stvitusdancern won so badly, you were  giving her tips and intelligence in the stream!  Just kidding.  😀 😀 😀

@tuffyears – apologies for the early audio issues.  And yes, the Americans stayed out of the Falklands War … except we sent all the AIM-9L Sidewinders that allowed the Harriers to score that awesome kill ration, and leased bases on Ascension Island the British task force used as a midway staging point for the invasion.  So we stayed out, but we were definitely on the UK’s side and providing logistics support.

@warzan – thanks so much for stopping by!   Yes, I should have had 20, 30,of 50 more Mirages on that table!  😀 😀 😀  And yes, Tea and Hobnobs all the way!  Don’t forget the Quavers, though.  😀  Nostradamus would have it no other way.

@elessar2590 and @rasmus – I called it, I would you in the Darkstar stream that I would have my head handed to me today!  😀 😀 😀

@tuffyears – I would love to see you get and build / paint and play some Harriers for your Team Yankee British.  We have RAF Harriers in this game as well, technically a different version (in 1982 we’re talking about the GR .1 and .3) in addition to the FRS1 Royal Navy planes.  A few subtle differences in the game stats. – and YES, good call on the Vulcans.  The Black Buck missions will be addressed in Part 02 of the upcoming Falklands series in the Ops Center.

@warzan – Nazi UFOs – will we see these over Omaha or Sword beach for the D-Day boot camp? 😀 😀 😀  They  might make the difference!

@rasmus – absolutely – the Harrier is NOT an air superiority fighter at all, she’s a strike craft.  Yet they were pushed into this role during the Falklands.  They “got away” with it because the Argentinians they were up against were a full generation behind and they had full stocks of the latest top-shelf AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile.  Really the silver bullet of the Falklands air war.

@tuffyears – Damn, that was a harsh slam on the USMC performing math.  No worries, between the US Army and Canadian vets in the Sitrep team, I’m used to it.  😀  Unfortunately, no stuff upper lip bonus against impacting 20mm autocannon or R.530 Magic Missile.  In all seriousness, though, these Mirages were the absolute terror of the skies … 20 years before this game takes place.  Again, just look at what they did with Israel service in the 1967 Six-Day War.  So you’re right, in the right hands, even a Mirage can be great in 1982 – especially with guns.  As we’ve seen earlier in this thread, these Mirages have actually won this scenario 3 out of 5 times.  They just did really poorly this time.

Absolutely @rasmus – True Lies shows how Harriers absolutely work realistically.  Actually, Gianna totally pulled off that barrel roll to avoid a missile strike.

@elessar2590 – Old, Busted, and French … indeed, none of these are good things in a 1980s dogfight.  😀 😀 😀  And thanks for the assist on the Max Immelman reference.  Indeed, he was pulling this in a biplane, what this game would definitely classify as a “low power” aircraft.  So target number 8+ on a d10 … so he must have been a seriously great pilot to be doing this consistently.

@grimwolfuk – thanks for stopping by to support the stream!  😀

@templar007 – thanks so much for stopping by the stream!

@tuffyears – Do a Barrel Roll, Fox!  Ha!  Great game.  At least you didn’t say … “I’ll do spinning, that’s a good trick …”  🙁 🙁 🙁  And just a boy racer indeed, but when you’re not allowed to lose a single aircraft per scenario rules, the Brits have to be as agile as possible against all these Argentinian guns and missiles.  Hey, they’re old missiles, but I can always roll a 10!  I have literally won this game with the Argentinians by just launching all missiles blindly and landing that “10” result.

Arggh, and another Marine slam, followed by a mike drop.   No worries, you supported our stream, you get a pass.  😀   Yeah, and I guess you’re right, we were “getting weird” from the very start.  😀   All the way to the Danger Zone.  😀

@rasmus – good catch on that -1 Chaff Modifier.  😀

@templar007 – indeed, that Black Buck Vulcan mission was beyond epic.  And crucial, too.  With that success at Port Stanley runway, the Argentinians had to operate their jets from their bases on the mainland, at the limit of their range.  How about that refueling plan!

Okay, that’s the first half of the stream, I will do the rest later tonight.  😀 😀 😀

[rasmusParticipant 8879xp 1]

@oriskany interesting game – think you for hosting and streaming it

[oriskany 60771xp 0]

No worries at all, @rasmus .  It was a blast, and it’s great to see such interest and support from the community.  😀 😀 😀

[tuffyears 23171xp 1]

To make it clear I have the greatest respect for all veterans world wide. You all are heroes in my eyes. But sometimes you got to poke the bear for a laugh or two.

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Absolutely @tuffyears – totally get it and loved every second of it.   No worries at all from my end.  Quite the opposite, thanks for all the comments and for supporting the stream. 🙂

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Good morning, everyone ~

Okay, on to the rest of the replies from the stream. 😀

@rasmus – I could sing Highway to the Danger Zone and not get copyright pinged, especially, as @tuffyears says … with my terrible singing of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”   And man, looks like you were doing some singing in the stream yourself!

Good call, @gladesrunner – no Vulcans until a drunken James Cromwell breaks the warp barrier. And yep, SPLASH THAT SUCKER, YEAH!  😀

@harpoon71 – Thanks so  much for stopping by.  Yeah, we’re using AirWar C21 here for the air combat, and Rory Crabb’s “Naval Command” for our actual naval combat scenarios in the Falklands.  There’s a lot of overlap between what the two systems can handle, of course, with the “naval” combat in the Falklands really being so air-dominated.

And I totally agree on the stalled pilot / firing guns determination.  Yes, technically the rules are a little vague on that point, but I honestly think it’s because it’s so obvious they didn’t need a rule for that.  In other late-breaking developments, gravity usually pulls DOWN and aircraft are NOT allowed to maneuver or engage targets AFTER they have exploded.  Who knew?  😀

Hello, @bloodstrike !  Thanks for stopping by!  Yes, the game includes gun fighting.  In fact, guns are the only real hope for the Argentinians in this scenario.  I didn’t really get a chance to do a gun attack in this game, but on previous play throughs on this scenario, Argentinian guns (the Mirage III carries an autocannon under each intake at the wing root) have proven very dangerous and actually shot down Harriers and won games many times.

@rasmus – yes, automatically lose at least some airspeed on a successful Immelman.  This is because he gained at least 2000 feet of altitude, rolled over on his back, and then corkscrewed back around on a turn.  But, he’s made possibly a 180 degree turn, and made a major change in altitude, so on a SUCCESSFUL Immelman, even though he’s slower, he’s harder to hit.  The thing is when you FAIL one of these maneuvers.  In the case of the Immelman, not only do I lose the airspeed, I have no idea which way I’m facing, and because the pilot is fighting for control of his aircraft, he’s not making any evasive maneuvers, and is +1 easier to hit (I believe +2 for guns).  Each maneuver has different game effects for success and for failure.

@gladesrunner- @tuffyears is right, Harriers are a BRITISH design the USMC have been using (we call ours the AV-8).  In the Falklands, British Harriers were using American AIM-9L Sidewiders, which was a huge edge over Argentinian A-4 Skyhawks (also American aircraft), Mirage V “Daggers” (French made, sold second-hand by Israel), and French Mirage IIIs (as we see here).  No  matter what plane we’re talking about, they’re carrying French and Israeli missiles, which were nowhere near as good as the latest all-aspect Sidewinder IR missile.

@harpoon71 on YouTube – When does a stalled aircraft eject?  The stalled pilot tries to recover in each speed segment.  If he fails, he makes another roll to see if he actually crashes.  If he fails the stall recover but does NOT crash, he gets to attempt recovery again next turn.  If he fails recovery and DOES crash, he makes the standard ejection roll at that time.   Also, pilots can eject pretty much whenever they want.  It sounds crazy, but in a campaign game, where you’re trying to really build up a pilot over successive games, it might make sense to bail from a very badly damaged plane while it is technically operational before you take ANOTHER hit and now have to roll ejection at a +6 difficulty, etc.

@templar007 – Great call on Chuck Yaeger.  Man, Aces get +3s on all rolls in this game.  Yaeger would be an “Ace plus” – I’d give him a +4 at least.  Jeez, he’d be freakin’ unstoppable.  And hell yeah, @gladesrunner – Viper is my favorite character in that movie.  Especially since he and Maverick’s dad served in Vietnam aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany!  😀 😀 😀

@rasmus – I know you were kidding about the head-on crash between the two Harriers, but that actually happened in the Falklands and accounted for two Harriers lost out of six total lost in the war.

@yavasa !  So glad you stopped by!  😀 😀 😀

So thanks again everyone for all the support on the stream!  Great game, and congrats to @stvitusdancern !

[yavasaParticipant 4740xp 1]

No problem, I am glad I made it for the last few actions of the game @oriskany

[rasmusParticipant 8879xp 1]

@oriskany The part about speed was when you did switch the Airspeed on the 2 Mirages around – made sense a a live comment but not alone I think 😉

[grimwolfuk 10506xp 0]

@oriskany new series for ops centre starts this week where he will be covering the Falklands War. For those who are new to the conflict, this little video could be used as a primer for you to enjoy the ops centre. Enjoy

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