The historical background on this scenario is posted on another thread for this campaign, however this scenario has a Japanese bombing force attempting to reach and bomb the airfield on Midway while U.S. forces attempt to intercept and prevent the bombing run. The Japanese planes are AI in this game (thanks to my friend Peter [Teaticket] for gifting me an AI template which I used in this game). The Japanese force in this game consists of 3 Val bombers escorted by 3 Zero fighters. The U.S. interceptors are a flight of 4 USN Wildcats and (just because I'm obsessed with P-40s) one USAAF P-40 scrambling from the airfield. I think this is the first time I have tried to manage 11 planes in a solo game -- and I think it came out OK. The USN pilots are: Wildcat F-2 -LCdr Sterling Moore; Wildcat F-3 - LTjg Garrard (Garry) Hughes; Wildcat F-4 - LTjg John Saunders; and Wildcat F-7 by the youngest of the pilots - Ensign Jimmy Crosby. The USAAF P-40 is flown by
1Lt Charles "Chazz" Butler.
And please remember I am the world's worst photographer -- at least this time I don't think there are any close ups of my thumb....
Here are the opposing forces:
Turns 1 & 2
As the USN and Japanese formations approach each other, the bombers tighten their formation for defense and a lone Zero (camo) moves to run interference. US Wildcats 2 & 3 (fuselage #s) open long range fire on the Zero inflicting 3 damage points plus smoke damage. The Zero returns fire putting 4 damage points on on Wildcat #2.
Turn 3
The fighters close with each other as the bombers attempt to evade. Wildcat #4 collides with camo Zero resulting in 6 points damage to the Zero and 0 damage to the Wildcat (Boy they really built those things!) -- pretty lucky draw for the USN pilot, but as will be seen the US pilots had luck flowing their way throughout the game. Wildcat #3 fires long range inflicting 2 damage points on Val#3. Wildcat #2 exchanges short range fire with the black stripe Zero inflicting 2 points of damage and a BOOM! on the Zero -- Moore draws first blood. Wildcat #3 exchanges short range fire with red stripe Zero: Wildcat takes 3 points damage while Zero takes 7 points and a wounded pilot (I think the USN pilots took some extra target practice before the game!).
Turn 4
The wounded Zero pilot veers off as does the smoking Zero while the Wildcats close on the Vals. Wildcat #2 fires at close range on Val #2 inflicting 8 damage points -- the Val replies with its rear gun causing 2 damage points on the Wildcat. Wildcat #7 fires close range into Val#2 causing 4 points plus rudder damage. Vals 1 & 2 return fire on Wildcat 7 only scoring 2 damage points.
Turn 5
The bombers try to regain the integrity of their formation. Wildcat 4 Immelmanns while other 3 Wildcats bank left. In the exchange of fire Val # 3 takes 9 points of damage but remains in the air! Young Jimmy Crosby in Wildcat 7 is unlucky as a fire onboard his plane begins -- I don't think his plane is likely to survive this.
Turn 6
The P-40 finally makes it into the fight firing long range into red stripe Zero causing 3 points damage. Wildcat 4 and camo Zero face each other down just outside of short range: Wildcat 4 takes 2 points damage but devastates camo Zero with 7 points and engine damage shooting him down (Saunders records his first victory!). Wildcat 2 fires long range on Val #1 inflicting 3 damage points and receiving 2 damage points from the Val's rear gun. Wildcat 3 puts 8 damage points on Val #3 shooting it down (Hughes 1st victory as well).
Turn 7
Wildcat 7 goes into overdive protocol in attempt to save his plane taking him out of action for the remainder of the game. The P-40 shoots down red stripe Zero earning Butler his first victory. Wildcat 3 shoots down Val #2 giving Hughes his second victory. Here again lady luck smiles on the USN pilots as all draw 0 damage chits including the burning plane (go figure).
Turn 8
The P-40 and Wildcats 2 & 3 fire on Val #1 shredding it with 17 damage points and shooting it down -- each pilot earning a .333 victory for their total. USAAF 1Lt Chazz Butler earns the sobriquet "The Vulture" among the Navy pilots for swooping in near the end of a bitter fight and collecting 1.333 kills. LCdr Moore has 1.333 victories on the mission but Garry Hughes has 2.333 victories today (halfway to Ace status!). Ensign Jimmy Crosby executes the stall, dive, straight overdive protocol and draws two A counters to see the effect -- he gets two 3 counters thus extinguishing the fire onboard his seriously damaged plane. He limps back to safety ( I thought he was going down for sure).
Butcher's Bill
All 6 Japanese planes shot down -- no bombing of airfield accomplished
All USN and USAAF planes return safely (although Jimmy Crosby limped in). US pilots had the following victories: LCdr Moore 1.333; LTjg Saunders 1.0; LTjg; Hughes 2.333;
USAAF 1Lt Butler 1.333.
Discussion:
While the AI was interesting and added an element of unpredictability to the game, it seems to me the Japanese planes would have moved more directly toward the airfield to accomplish their mission. I was also surprised by the fragility and lack of punch of the Japanese aircraft. Taking that into consideration, I will be more circumspect about the number of US planes I put up against them in future scenarios. That being said, however, I really wanted to see all my Vals, Zeros, and Wildcats on the board as I have never flown them before. All in all I had a lot of fun playing this game and the outcome could have been different if the US forces hadn't had lady luck flying co-pilot on this mission.
Bookmarks