Torched - After Action Report

Yesterday at the local game store (well, not that local, about a 50 minute drive) I hosted my hypothetical Operation Torch scenario. The event assumes that both Vichy French and American aircraft have violated Spanish Moroccan airspace, and the Spanish have responded in kind by scrambling Heinkel He 112s. This is a three-sided affair, with all three sides vying for victory. It is designed to be used as an introductory scenario to teach those new to Check Your 6! the game system. 

The combat takes place a Low CAB. The starting locations and TAL are determined by die rolls. Six players, two for each faction each running two aircraft, with each faction having one each of the four pilot skill types (ace, veteran, skilled, and green). Each section of two planes roll to see which edge they begin, so for example the Spanish players might start at Edge 2 or Edge 4, based on their die roll. Ironically each faction rolled such that both pairs of fighters started in the same area (for their faction). TAL rolls were interesting, with the French and Spanish players being widely dispersed, while the Americans started at TALs five and six.

The French forces maneuvered in Area F, heading generally towards the oncoming Spanish who were in Area D. The Americans made a beeline towards the French, with the Yanks starting in Area C. As the forces closed in, deflections shots reigned, and rained, but the French D.520s did some excellent work, knocking down the green and skilled American Wildcats. It was not looking good for the remaining Americans, as the Spanish split their sections, one focusing on the reduced Americans and the other swooping in behind the French. But the Americans held on.

The Spanish lost the next plane to the Wildcats (if memory serves), with two others taking various damage. The French continued to dance with the Americans. It was looking like a French victory, but the Americans continued to fight, their veteran and ace pilots swirling about. Then a French fighter took damage, and then another fell out of the sky. The Spanish ace splashed one the D520s, but ran out of ammo and had to leave the dogfight. With no Spanish left to to take out the Americans, and the French having troubles of their own, the Americans pulled out a victory.

I rather enjoyed hosting this game. All of the players had gamed CY6 in the past, so that made running the game rather easy. You can find this scenario on the Downloads page above.

Planes - Raiden and MSD Games

Mat - Hotz Mats

Pearl Harbor Project

I have been hesitant to game Pearl Harbor - One reason is the vast amount of aircraft for the Japanese and the handful of American planes that made it into the air to give battle. Another reason is that once one has committed to painting P-40s and P-36s for Pearl, those planes cannot be used for much of anything else due to their distinct paint schemes and markings (and yes, I do like having, as much as possible, correct historic representation on the tabletop). One could also use the Pearl P-40s for the Philippines, but there are few scenarios available for the Philippines. And, I also want to use those P-36s and P-40s for other theaters, like North Africa or Finland for the former and China for the latter. There is only so many planes I am willing to buy! Oh, and let's not forget the mat one would need to show Pearl Harbor and/or some of the various airfields - this project now becomes very specialized and limited in scope.

There is an interesting scenario that was done by one of the chaps on the Check Your 6! group, so I have that as the basis for this potential project. The scenario calls for a smattering of planes (three P-40s, three P-36s, three Kates, three Vals, and six Zeros), and while I do not have any of the Japanese needed, I am canvasing the guys I game with to see if they do (and I have found out that one indeed does).

The mat is something that can be had from Tiny Wargames although it does not include Hickam Field (which is in the scenario).

In speaking with Tiny Wargames, the pricing for a standard Check Your 6 sized mat with a hex grid is something like $100.00, and that is before shipping, yikes! I have been looking for alternatives, like Deep Cut Studio. If I can find a 1940s color aerial of Pearl then I can have them make me a custom mat. I can locate crisp black and white photos, but not period color versions.

But, after some searching I did find this. It is a rendering of the Japanese maps of the period, and then updated by the Joint Intelligence Center. I loaded this image into the Deep Cut Studio custom map maker and have this:

The above should work rather well I believe...but not certain if I should drop coin on such a specialized project. 

Korean War AAR

 Well, maybe not so much an after action report as I simply cannot remember all the details, but today I hosted a four player Korean War game, the scenario being The Leatherneck "Checkerboards" from the Korean War scenario book - Marine Corsairs vs. People's Republic of China MiG-15s. As always with Check You 6, crew quality is often the deciding factor. I took a pair of MiGs while waiting for one player who we knew would be arriving a bit late. On the first turn I maneuvered the pair into a firing solution but the range, difference in skills, and the fact it was a deflection shot made the attempt futile. That sums up the Chinese players' day...when we could get into a firing position, the to hit modifiers were such that it was tough to bring cannon rounds onto the Corsairs. The Chinese had green pilots, the Americans had three skilled and one veteran.

The Corsairs are Raiden, and MiGs a mix of Raiden and CinC. 

The Marines drew first, and for that matter second, blood. The cannon-armed Corsair is a beauty with its good maneuverability and hitting power. A few turns in, after I handed off my pair of birds to the late arrivee, and BOOM, down goes a MiG. A turn or two later same thing happened. However, finally a MiG bears down and takes a tough shot with success and a Corsair shuddered then fell from the combination of 37mm and 20mm rounds. Pilot rolls were also not successful on either side for bailing out. Another Corsair took some airframe damage, but by this time both remaining MiGs were out of ammo and making time for the Yalu.

Over overwhelming American victory as they gained four additional victory points for each destroyed MiG in top of the normal Check Your Six scoring.

Some pictures from the game. The actual battle took place over the Yellow Sea, but I have yet to obtain a sea mat with hexes on it, so my standard Hotz map had to substitute today.

Corsairs in their starting position

Lined them up nicely, but the mods were against me

It became very interesting...

 ...and then there were three...well just two on the Chinese side

Mat - Hotz Mat