On the opening day of WW3, the Warsaw Pact moves to seize the Bosphorus with a combined airborne and amphibious landing. The player controls the Soviet, Bulgarian and Romanian units involved and is mostly opposed by Turkish and Greek forces with American support. It is an immense two-day scenario and takes a major effort to analyse, let alone play.
Warsaw Pact Forces
The intention is to use the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade for the amphibious operation and this is already embarked on the Black Sea under the guise of an exercise. There are also some Bulgarian troops which can be loaded later at the Atia naval base near Burgas. The 881st Air Assault Brigade is at Kacha, near Sevastopol and can be flown-in on Curl transports. You have licence to use the 7th Guards Airborne Division, dispersed at airbases deep in Russia and the 38th Air Landing Brigade at Odessa but these formations are earmarked for later operations and you are warned that losses to them are unacceptable.
The amphibious force is shepherded by three groups of cruisers, destroyers and frigates of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, with a screen of missile boats and torpedo craft and some corvettes for close escort. The fleet has plenty of medium-ranged anti-shipping missiles, but limited SAM defences beyond the cruiser squadrons. For ASW, it is mainly reliant on Mails from the Crimea and some Haze choppers there and in Bulgaria.
There are a number of Bulgarian and Romanian warships in port or nearby, but these are of uneven quality and many are not ready, as Moscow did not trust its satellites with advance warning of the war. The best are Tarantul and Osa copies, though Romania has a Kilo submarine.
Several subs are in advanced positions around the Turkish coastline, ranging from Kilos to elderly Foxtrots, Whiskeys and Romeos. One Kilo is in the Aegean, covering the W approaches to the Dardanelles. Two more have been outfitted for minelaying, the intention being to block both ends of the Bosphorus and one of these has infiltrated the Sea of Marmara (between the two Istanbul straits).
In the air, the Pact is somewhat reliant on the Bulgarian and Romanian Air Forces, whose bases are closest to the objective. Both satellites have a squadron of MiG-29s. Romania has little else (on this front, at least) but the Bulgarians can also field some Floggers (fighter and attack varieties), Frogfeet and a swarm of Fishbeds, which are best used as light bombers. Most of these planes are daytime-only and are unlikely to be useful until the first morning of the scenario, which starts in early afternoon, local time, on 13/2/94.
Warsaw Pact fighters on this front are rather short on A2A missiles. The most advanced weapon is the Alamo A and the reserves of such are limited, to the extent that a number of Fulcrums start with Archers only. In practice, this doesn’t turn-out to be as big a problem as might be imagined, though.
The Soviets have several bases in the Crimea, where there are more Fulcrums and Floggers, some Fitters and a wide selection of heavy bombers (Backfires, Badgers and Blinders). What these lack is decent munitions – there are only enough Kitchens for one strike and ARMs are also in short supply. For the most part, you are stuck with iron bombs, mainly because this front has a relatively low priority for resources.
For the same reason, you have no AEW aircraft beyond a helicopter on one of the cruisers. To a certain extent, this is offset by long-ranged, ground-based radar in the Crimea, which can see as far as the Sea of Marmara. Plenty of Badger/Blinder variants are on-hand to do ELINT, EW and maritime recce work. You also have a number of Bison tankers – which would be great if you only had some planes that could make use of them!!
Most of the airbases are warded by SAM batteries and the Gammon sites in Bulgaria have the ability to interdict the skies over the Straits, Thrace and the Northern Aegean. Should the enemy take an offensive stance in the Black Sea, there are some SSM batteries in the Crimea with substantial reach and others which can perform a coast defence role in Bulgaria.
Finally, there are a useful number of AI-controlled Spetsnaz units behind enemy lines. These serve to observe enemy movements and provide helpful intel.
NATO Forces
The main opposition in the Black Sea comes from the Turkish Navy, which has 16 fast attack craft, six German-built Atilay-class diesel subs, a modern Yavuz-class frigate and older destroyers, frigates, subs and minesweepers. The Greek Navy is likely to be confined to the Aegean and the nearest US forces are believed to be too far away to intervene in time. In practice, the Eisenhower CVBG can be expected to intervene in the latter part of the game.
Turkey has a large Air Force, believed to include over 100 F-16s, though these only carry Sidewinders. Greece is in a similar position and is expected to commit around 30 F-16s, a similar number of Mirages and some older F-4s and F-5s. How many of these aircraft will have attack loadouts is unknown. The US has an Aggressor Squadron, making a visit to Incirlik in SE Turkey, though these might well be distracted by the parallel onslaught from Syria. F-14s and F/A-18s from the Eisenhower CVBG are a rather frightening prospect, given the limitations of the Pact’s fighters.
The Bosphorus is defended by three brigades of infantry, with armoured and mechanised forces in reserve. These are backed-up by Nike Hercules SAM sites, though these are set back a little too far from the Straits to be overly dangerous. This being the Fury series, lots of MANPADs and AA can be expected. There are no SSMs, but the approaches to the Straits are covered by several forts with 127mm and 105mm guns, plus 81mm mortars, as well as a chain of outpost fortlets which turn-out to have some Carl Gustavs and similar appended to them.
Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Moderator: MOD_Command
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Day 1 (13/2/94)
The scenario starts at 12:15Z on 13th February 1994 and the Soviets have engineered a coup in Turkey, which is expected to start at 12:30. Hostilities are scheduled to commence at 13:00Z and should not be begun beforehand. What effect the coup will have is, of course, uncertain.
In addition, you have some options for other special operations, which have to be ordered within the first five minutes of the game. There’s a base 25% chance of an ‘event’ happening every six hours across the 48-hour scenario, so two occurrences are most likely. You can increase this chance by paying from 100 to 1,000 VP, raising the average odds to between 2.8 and 4.8 events. I didn’t think that this was worth doing and settled for the base chance and, with hindsight, I think that this was the right decision. You also have to choose whether the events will cause dissension in the Turkish Army, Air Force, submarine force or between the Turks and Greeks. I decided on the last of these options, as it might have more effect than a single random military unit going rogue.
I noted that the faster landing groups could reach the Bosphorus in 3-4 hours at Cruise, while transport planes could get there from the Crimea in a little over an hour. Given that any landing would be assured of a hot reception, it seemed best to clear the potential bridgehead first and land troops second, so everything was told to hang back for the moment. We would aim to gain air superiority, scour the area around the Straits of defenders, then send-in the Curls and hovercraft. It might not even be necessary to use the slow convoys off Sevastopol at all…
13/2/94 12:15Z: A squadron of Flogger fighters was supposed to move from Krasnodar to Mihal Kogalniceanu airbase, near Constanta in Romania (where munitions had been stockpiled for them), so I initiated this ferry operation.
Another Flogger K squadron at Kirovsk in the E Crimea lacked the range to do more than provide local CAP, so I moved half of them to Odessa and thence to Sofia, where there was suitable Apex A2A ammo and they would be more useful.
Another issue was Zaporoshye airbase in the Soviet Ukraine, where there were some Fencer bombers and a large group of potentially very useful Foxbats. The former were moved-up to Crimean bases. The MiG-25s presented a problem, in that they used the Acrid missile, which was only available at Zaporoshye. It seemed best to move them to Tolbukhin airbase in E Bulgaria and then ferry them back to the Ukraine to re-arm as necessary.
Moving to start mining the SW end of the Bosphorus, the Kilo B-117 realised that he was being shadowed by a NATO sub (the Russians give their ships male pronouns). As the war hadn’t yet started, turning to fight wasn’t an option and the Kilo only had two ASW torpedoes anyway to make room for the mines. So B-117 dove deep and ran further into the Straits, succeeding in losing contact. Not long afterwards, he detected seven ships at anchor. Going closer to lay mines seemed unwise, so I opted to start doing so where I was.
At 12:40, there were reports of fighting in Ankara.
13:00Z: Theoretically, we were now at war, though there was no confirmation as yet. Intel on shipping in the Black Sea was frustratingly imprecise, hindering attack decisions. A Badger D finally identified a destroyer and frigate in the Eastern Black Sea, so a nearby group of Tarantuls engaged with Sunburns, sinking the Gearing-class Kilicalipasa for 35VP and damaging the frigate.
The Yavuz, pride of the Turkish surface fleet, had been identified in the Western Black Sea, so we deployed one of our quartet of Duck/Lun amphibious attack planes. These slow-moving but nasty things carry six Sunburns each (no reloads, though). Three missiles sank the Yavuz (37VP including her chopper). Three more sank a ship which was doing the same speed as Yavuz, but turned-out to be a neutral freighter. The Russians have never been overly concerned about such things and it cost no points.
By 13:15, there were massive anti-government protests in major Turkish cities.
After two Sunburns malfunctioned on it, the damaged frigate (an old Claud Jones class ship) was finished-off by a third from a Tarantul for another 35VP.
NATO also mistook a freighter for an enemy and some PCFGs sortying from Golcuk naval base in the Sea of Marmara Harpooned a neutral NE of the port of Zonguldak, E of Istanbul.
A posse of MiG-27s from Odessa had been searching for enemy ships to hit with Kedges, but found nothing suitable. Two Turkish F-16s went after them and were intercepted by a standing CAP of eight Crimean-based Fulcrums. Because I left it to an AI-controlled mission, destroying the Falcons cost one MiG-29 down and another damaged for a 4-2 VP gain overall. The Turks appeared to be firing Sidewinders at an improbable range, competitive with the 10nm I’d specified for my Alamos. In general, NATO was holding back its fighters, making large fighter sweeps an inefficient use of Pact aircraft.
A Spetsnaz unit outside Bartin naval base, near Zonguldak, spotted an Atilay-class SSK leaving port. Not much for it but to assign a Foxtrot to cover the area and blockade the port. Despite what it says in the briefing, Foxtrots are more than capable of dealing with Atilays, for the simple reason that the latter have no ASW torpedoes!!
I needed to use my stock of Kitchens for something and the best option seemed to me to be closing the two Turkish fighter bases at Bandirma and Balikesir, to the SW of the Sea of Marmara. Ten Backfires winged their way thither.
Gammon sites in Bulgaria began sniping at NATO aircraft over the Straits and the Northern Aegean, hitting a selection of F-16s, Mirages and F-5s, most of which were Greek.
A large explosion at the Turkish Interior Ministry disrupted the response to the coup.
14:00Z: The Backfire strike hit all of the runways and taxiways at the two fighter bases. Local Spetsnaz operatives reported heavy damage, but there was no immediate way to gauge the success or otherwise of the attack.
The Kilo B-354 finished laying her mines at the NE end of the Bosphorus, though this only covered half of the width of the waterway and did nothing to stop ships moving overland to either side, as they can in this scenario. The sub withdrew to sea. At the SW end, B-117 wasn’t laying any mines at all…
Fourteen Blinders with iron bombs headed for the Bosphorus, escorted by eight Fulcrums and a Fencer E spotter. The fighters disposed of an incautious Grumman Tracker MPA en route.
15:00Z: The hapless B-117 was detected and sunk by another Tracker, costing 40VP, having refused to lay a single mine. Why the two minelayer subs performed so differently, I simply don’t know.
The MiG-29 escorts were engaged by another pair of F-16s. With Sidewinders again over-performing, each side lost two aircraft. When they arrived, the Blinders were unmanoeuvrable and were opposed by lots of small SAMs and AA. Their bombs wrote-off three ground units for a VP each but they lost 6 of their number for 4VP each – a very poor return.
While I was trying to micro-manage this, a Turkish SSK attacked the main transport fleet close to the Crimea, sinking a Sherzhen torpedo boat for 15VP and a Polnochny amphib for 55. Our patrolling Mails struggled to pinpoint the culprit.
Again catching me with my back turned, more F-16s attacked the Black Sea CAP and, under AI mission control, each side lost four fighters. To this point, we’d lost eight fighters to NATO’s 24, but many of the latter had been destroyed by the Gammons.
Narrowly avoiding the F-16s, a second Duck hit the Turkish PCFGs in the Sea of Marmara, sinking three modern Dogans (Harpoons) and an older Kartal (Penguins) and scoring 40VP total.
16:00Z: We were notified that a Turkish rebel faction, primarily anti-Greek rather than pro-Russian, had taken-over Antalya airbase. Our special ops were evidently producing results.
It was now dusk and strikes could only begin in earnest at daybreak. Still unsure about the outcome of the Kitchen strikes, I wondered whether I should have hit Golcuk naval base, where the Spetsnaz reported a number of ships at anchor. The numbers of Turkish troops spotted around the Bosphorus by the Fencer E confirmed that they needed to be cleared before landings would be feasible. Overall, it seemed that the Russians would have done better to stick to conventional invasions of Turkey via the Balkans and Caucasus instead of this risky plan.
After much searching, our ASW aircraft finally found the Atilay-class SSK Doganay, which had attacked the convoy and sank her for 25VP (rather less than our Kilo). During the hunt, I had to put-up with Mails being flipped to not ignoring plotted course while attacking, flying at altitudes and in directions contrary to orders and the usual two hits required to sink the sub.
We were told that a radio station in Istanbul was broadcasting effective pro-government messages. Moscow wanted it shut-down within the hour – but with what?!
The Black Sea flagship, the Slava-class cruiser Admiral Gorshkov, sank a Gearing-class destroyer transiting the Sea of Marmara using a Sandbox. A shot at a Dogan PCFG was spoofed by chaff then, remarkably, another Sandbox was shot-down by a Sidewinder while flying at 50k’. To balance this, two more somehow sank FOUR Kartal PCFGs, presumably sailing unwisely close together. The devilishly-lucky PCFG Marti then spoofed the third attack made on her.
Given the submarine threat, I turned the slow convoys around, sending them to Sevastopol and Odessa. I still hoped I wouldn’t need them and 55VP per amphib is quite a deterrent.
A Koln-class frigate, the Gemlik, was detected further-out in the Sea of Marmara and sunk by Gorshkov. At +207, it was still a Major Defeat.
17:00Z: Marti’s luck finally ran-out, leaving three Kartals in the leading Turkish fleet echelon, now entering the Bosphorus. I decided that I could leave these to my own PCFGs.
Four Blinders with heavy bombs went against the radio station and, with a lack of Turkish fighters, managed to destroy it. Just 25VP (missing trigger?) and it cost three Blinders to the ample air defences for 12. The surviving Blinder took the chance to sink one of the Kartals, recovering 10VP.
Another quartet of PCFGs hazarded the traverse of the Sea of Marmara. Gorshkov sank one, but another two made 30% spoof rolls. A follow-up salvo sank these, then our last Sandbox missed the remaining Dogan-class boat on another spoof roll.
Meanwhile, four Fulcrums used all of their Alamos downing a Tracker that was too near B-354.
A patrolling Fulcrum was attacked by an F-16 and, this time, I had enough room to run it manually. The first Alamo shot got spoofed on 15% and the second was released by the AI while I was trying to dodge a Sidewinder fired at 8nm. I turned to re-engage, altering WRA for Archers to 50% Max Range to match what the enemy were clearly doing with Sidewinders. The Sidewinder then re-appeared behind me, necessitating more manual evasion as the Archer downed the Falcon. A second F-16 was then shot-down in two goes by a second MiG-29. Two more F-16s then came-in from Ankara and were destroyed for one Fulcrum. On the one hand, enemy fighters were now coming from Ankara only, suggesting that Bandirma and Balikesir had been shut-down. On the other, there seems to be a dual rule for A2A missiles. The longer-ranged ones seem to perform much as predicted by my ((speed x burn-time / 3600) x 2) equation, but things like Sidewinders and Archers appear to adhere to a different rule, based on Max Range x 50%. WRA for all Archers was adjusted to reflect this and the shortage of Alamos now seemed less of an issue, especially given their SARH deficiencies.
18:00Z: I realised that the Floggers I’d moved to Sofia still lacked the range to reach the Straits, so they would have to re-base to E Bulgaria on return from missions, then ferry back to Sofia to re-arm.
Four Badgers headed for the Bosphorus on the principle that the only way to crack the defences was to keep attacking, accept the losses and run the Turks out of ammo. Two Falcons from Ankara intervened but were destroyed by four Bulgarian Fulcrums. It really was looking as though Bandirma and Balikesir had been neutralised. On the negative side, we were out of Gammons, though the Greeks were staying over the Aegean for now. Two more F-16s arrived but the sole remaining Fulcrum with ammo managed to down both of them. Archers can be deadly.
While this was going on, the Kresta-class cruiser Admiral Zozulya used a Shaddock to sink the last Dogan PCFG, the Poyraz.
The Badgers went-in but, even from 2,000’, their 250lb bombs were hopelessly inaccurate – 40 aimed at a coastal battery scored one step loss!. OODA limitations made it almost impossible for them to bomb mobile targets, as they were generally past them before they’d spotted them properly. To add to this, their bombsights had a very narrow forward arc. Such was the intensity of the ground fire that there was no escape for the bombers as, even on RTB, they had to fly in a wide arc over the defences, only gaining height slowly. Such targets as they destroyed (a coastal fort and outpost) scored nothing, so we finished 16VP down.
Two more F-16s arrived in time to finish-off the last, out-of-comms Badger, but this distracted them from two incoming MiG-29s, which took revenge. Down to Archers, one took the opportunity to dispose of a Tracker. Another of the old, slow MPAs appeared and was missed left, right and centre, escaping as I moved the low-flying Fulcrum away from the SAMs.
19:00Z: Leaving the Bosphorus, the Kartal PCFG Denizkusu hit several of B-354’s mines and somehow didn’t sink. Her companion, the Sahin, proceeded suicidally alone.
Another Gearing-class destroyer, the Alcintepe, risked the Marmara traverse and, despite the support of a Nike Hercules battery, was sunk by another of Zozulya’s Shaddocks.
A further four Badgers hit the Bosphorus, this time bombing from a safe 14,000’, above Rapier engagement height. They did some damage, but nowhere near enough.
20:00Z: The Sahin pressed-on regardless, got lucky with a Nanuchka’s first Siren but succumbed to the second. A third finished the Denizkusu.
Four Backfires carrying 42 iron bombs each (a bit like planting potatoes in a Ming vase, to paraphrase a former London madam) hit the coastal forts. Most of these installations were now damaged, four over 50%. Ankara appeared to have run-out of F-16s, so we had air-superiority, at least for now. A Fulcrum covering the strike downed another Tracker.
21:00Z: The humble Foxtrot B-95 succeeded in ambushing an Atilay leaving Bartin. Despite finding that he didn’t have his bow tubes loaded with ASW torpedoes, B-95 recovered and did the necessary for 25VP.
Four more Badgers bombed the coastal forts and did almost no damage.
It was hard to gauge the impact of the rebel seizure of Antalya, but there was some evidence that they had downed one or two NATO aircraft.
22:00Z: Two more Badgers visited the forts, doing only superficial damage.
23:00Z: As we switched to ARM strikes, a lone Badger launched Kelts at a radar, only to see them stopped by intense AA fire.
The scenario starts at 12:15Z on 13th February 1994 and the Soviets have engineered a coup in Turkey, which is expected to start at 12:30. Hostilities are scheduled to commence at 13:00Z and should not be begun beforehand. What effect the coup will have is, of course, uncertain.
In addition, you have some options for other special operations, which have to be ordered within the first five minutes of the game. There’s a base 25% chance of an ‘event’ happening every six hours across the 48-hour scenario, so two occurrences are most likely. You can increase this chance by paying from 100 to 1,000 VP, raising the average odds to between 2.8 and 4.8 events. I didn’t think that this was worth doing and settled for the base chance and, with hindsight, I think that this was the right decision. You also have to choose whether the events will cause dissension in the Turkish Army, Air Force, submarine force or between the Turks and Greeks. I decided on the last of these options, as it might have more effect than a single random military unit going rogue.
I noted that the faster landing groups could reach the Bosphorus in 3-4 hours at Cruise, while transport planes could get there from the Crimea in a little over an hour. Given that any landing would be assured of a hot reception, it seemed best to clear the potential bridgehead first and land troops second, so everything was told to hang back for the moment. We would aim to gain air superiority, scour the area around the Straits of defenders, then send-in the Curls and hovercraft. It might not even be necessary to use the slow convoys off Sevastopol at all…
13/2/94 12:15Z: A squadron of Flogger fighters was supposed to move from Krasnodar to Mihal Kogalniceanu airbase, near Constanta in Romania (where munitions had been stockpiled for them), so I initiated this ferry operation.
Another Flogger K squadron at Kirovsk in the E Crimea lacked the range to do more than provide local CAP, so I moved half of them to Odessa and thence to Sofia, where there was suitable Apex A2A ammo and they would be more useful.
Another issue was Zaporoshye airbase in the Soviet Ukraine, where there were some Fencer bombers and a large group of potentially very useful Foxbats. The former were moved-up to Crimean bases. The MiG-25s presented a problem, in that they used the Acrid missile, which was only available at Zaporoshye. It seemed best to move them to Tolbukhin airbase in E Bulgaria and then ferry them back to the Ukraine to re-arm as necessary.
Moving to start mining the SW end of the Bosphorus, the Kilo B-117 realised that he was being shadowed by a NATO sub (the Russians give their ships male pronouns). As the war hadn’t yet started, turning to fight wasn’t an option and the Kilo only had two ASW torpedoes anyway to make room for the mines. So B-117 dove deep and ran further into the Straits, succeeding in losing contact. Not long afterwards, he detected seven ships at anchor. Going closer to lay mines seemed unwise, so I opted to start doing so where I was.
At 12:40, there were reports of fighting in Ankara.
13:00Z: Theoretically, we were now at war, though there was no confirmation as yet. Intel on shipping in the Black Sea was frustratingly imprecise, hindering attack decisions. A Badger D finally identified a destroyer and frigate in the Eastern Black Sea, so a nearby group of Tarantuls engaged with Sunburns, sinking the Gearing-class Kilicalipasa for 35VP and damaging the frigate.
The Yavuz, pride of the Turkish surface fleet, had been identified in the Western Black Sea, so we deployed one of our quartet of Duck/Lun amphibious attack planes. These slow-moving but nasty things carry six Sunburns each (no reloads, though). Three missiles sank the Yavuz (37VP including her chopper). Three more sank a ship which was doing the same speed as Yavuz, but turned-out to be a neutral freighter. The Russians have never been overly concerned about such things and it cost no points.
By 13:15, there were massive anti-government protests in major Turkish cities.
After two Sunburns malfunctioned on it, the damaged frigate (an old Claud Jones class ship) was finished-off by a third from a Tarantul for another 35VP.
NATO also mistook a freighter for an enemy and some PCFGs sortying from Golcuk naval base in the Sea of Marmara Harpooned a neutral NE of the port of Zonguldak, E of Istanbul.
A posse of MiG-27s from Odessa had been searching for enemy ships to hit with Kedges, but found nothing suitable. Two Turkish F-16s went after them and were intercepted by a standing CAP of eight Crimean-based Fulcrums. Because I left it to an AI-controlled mission, destroying the Falcons cost one MiG-29 down and another damaged for a 4-2 VP gain overall. The Turks appeared to be firing Sidewinders at an improbable range, competitive with the 10nm I’d specified for my Alamos. In general, NATO was holding back its fighters, making large fighter sweeps an inefficient use of Pact aircraft.
A Spetsnaz unit outside Bartin naval base, near Zonguldak, spotted an Atilay-class SSK leaving port. Not much for it but to assign a Foxtrot to cover the area and blockade the port. Despite what it says in the briefing, Foxtrots are more than capable of dealing with Atilays, for the simple reason that the latter have no ASW torpedoes!!
I needed to use my stock of Kitchens for something and the best option seemed to me to be closing the two Turkish fighter bases at Bandirma and Balikesir, to the SW of the Sea of Marmara. Ten Backfires winged their way thither.
Gammon sites in Bulgaria began sniping at NATO aircraft over the Straits and the Northern Aegean, hitting a selection of F-16s, Mirages and F-5s, most of which were Greek.
A large explosion at the Turkish Interior Ministry disrupted the response to the coup.
14:00Z: The Backfire strike hit all of the runways and taxiways at the two fighter bases. Local Spetsnaz operatives reported heavy damage, but there was no immediate way to gauge the success or otherwise of the attack.
The Kilo B-354 finished laying her mines at the NE end of the Bosphorus, though this only covered half of the width of the waterway and did nothing to stop ships moving overland to either side, as they can in this scenario. The sub withdrew to sea. At the SW end, B-117 wasn’t laying any mines at all…
Fourteen Blinders with iron bombs headed for the Bosphorus, escorted by eight Fulcrums and a Fencer E spotter. The fighters disposed of an incautious Grumman Tracker MPA en route.
15:00Z: The hapless B-117 was detected and sunk by another Tracker, costing 40VP, having refused to lay a single mine. Why the two minelayer subs performed so differently, I simply don’t know.
The MiG-29 escorts were engaged by another pair of F-16s. With Sidewinders again over-performing, each side lost two aircraft. When they arrived, the Blinders were unmanoeuvrable and were opposed by lots of small SAMs and AA. Their bombs wrote-off three ground units for a VP each but they lost 6 of their number for 4VP each – a very poor return.
While I was trying to micro-manage this, a Turkish SSK attacked the main transport fleet close to the Crimea, sinking a Sherzhen torpedo boat for 15VP and a Polnochny amphib for 55. Our patrolling Mails struggled to pinpoint the culprit.
Again catching me with my back turned, more F-16s attacked the Black Sea CAP and, under AI mission control, each side lost four fighters. To this point, we’d lost eight fighters to NATO’s 24, but many of the latter had been destroyed by the Gammons.
Narrowly avoiding the F-16s, a second Duck hit the Turkish PCFGs in the Sea of Marmara, sinking three modern Dogans (Harpoons) and an older Kartal (Penguins) and scoring 40VP total.
16:00Z: We were notified that a Turkish rebel faction, primarily anti-Greek rather than pro-Russian, had taken-over Antalya airbase. Our special ops were evidently producing results.
It was now dusk and strikes could only begin in earnest at daybreak. Still unsure about the outcome of the Kitchen strikes, I wondered whether I should have hit Golcuk naval base, where the Spetsnaz reported a number of ships at anchor. The numbers of Turkish troops spotted around the Bosphorus by the Fencer E confirmed that they needed to be cleared before landings would be feasible. Overall, it seemed that the Russians would have done better to stick to conventional invasions of Turkey via the Balkans and Caucasus instead of this risky plan.
After much searching, our ASW aircraft finally found the Atilay-class SSK Doganay, which had attacked the convoy and sank her for 25VP (rather less than our Kilo). During the hunt, I had to put-up with Mails being flipped to not ignoring plotted course while attacking, flying at altitudes and in directions contrary to orders and the usual two hits required to sink the sub.
We were told that a radio station in Istanbul was broadcasting effective pro-government messages. Moscow wanted it shut-down within the hour – but with what?!
The Black Sea flagship, the Slava-class cruiser Admiral Gorshkov, sank a Gearing-class destroyer transiting the Sea of Marmara using a Sandbox. A shot at a Dogan PCFG was spoofed by chaff then, remarkably, another Sandbox was shot-down by a Sidewinder while flying at 50k’. To balance this, two more somehow sank FOUR Kartal PCFGs, presumably sailing unwisely close together. The devilishly-lucky PCFG Marti then spoofed the third attack made on her.
Given the submarine threat, I turned the slow convoys around, sending them to Sevastopol and Odessa. I still hoped I wouldn’t need them and 55VP per amphib is quite a deterrent.
A Koln-class frigate, the Gemlik, was detected further-out in the Sea of Marmara and sunk by Gorshkov. At +207, it was still a Major Defeat.
17:00Z: Marti’s luck finally ran-out, leaving three Kartals in the leading Turkish fleet echelon, now entering the Bosphorus. I decided that I could leave these to my own PCFGs.
Four Blinders with heavy bombs went against the radio station and, with a lack of Turkish fighters, managed to destroy it. Just 25VP (missing trigger?) and it cost three Blinders to the ample air defences for 12. The surviving Blinder took the chance to sink one of the Kartals, recovering 10VP.
Another quartet of PCFGs hazarded the traverse of the Sea of Marmara. Gorshkov sank one, but another two made 30% spoof rolls. A follow-up salvo sank these, then our last Sandbox missed the remaining Dogan-class boat on another spoof roll.
Meanwhile, four Fulcrums used all of their Alamos downing a Tracker that was too near B-354.
A patrolling Fulcrum was attacked by an F-16 and, this time, I had enough room to run it manually. The first Alamo shot got spoofed on 15% and the second was released by the AI while I was trying to dodge a Sidewinder fired at 8nm. I turned to re-engage, altering WRA for Archers to 50% Max Range to match what the enemy were clearly doing with Sidewinders. The Sidewinder then re-appeared behind me, necessitating more manual evasion as the Archer downed the Falcon. A second F-16 was then shot-down in two goes by a second MiG-29. Two more F-16s then came-in from Ankara and were destroyed for one Fulcrum. On the one hand, enemy fighters were now coming from Ankara only, suggesting that Bandirma and Balikesir had been shut-down. On the other, there seems to be a dual rule for A2A missiles. The longer-ranged ones seem to perform much as predicted by my ((speed x burn-time / 3600) x 2) equation, but things like Sidewinders and Archers appear to adhere to a different rule, based on Max Range x 50%. WRA for all Archers was adjusted to reflect this and the shortage of Alamos now seemed less of an issue, especially given their SARH deficiencies.
18:00Z: I realised that the Floggers I’d moved to Sofia still lacked the range to reach the Straits, so they would have to re-base to E Bulgaria on return from missions, then ferry back to Sofia to re-arm.
Four Badgers headed for the Bosphorus on the principle that the only way to crack the defences was to keep attacking, accept the losses and run the Turks out of ammo. Two Falcons from Ankara intervened but were destroyed by four Bulgarian Fulcrums. It really was looking as though Bandirma and Balikesir had been neutralised. On the negative side, we were out of Gammons, though the Greeks were staying over the Aegean for now. Two more F-16s arrived but the sole remaining Fulcrum with ammo managed to down both of them. Archers can be deadly.
While this was going on, the Kresta-class cruiser Admiral Zozulya used a Shaddock to sink the last Dogan PCFG, the Poyraz.
The Badgers went-in but, even from 2,000’, their 250lb bombs were hopelessly inaccurate – 40 aimed at a coastal battery scored one step loss!. OODA limitations made it almost impossible for them to bomb mobile targets, as they were generally past them before they’d spotted them properly. To add to this, their bombsights had a very narrow forward arc. Such was the intensity of the ground fire that there was no escape for the bombers as, even on RTB, they had to fly in a wide arc over the defences, only gaining height slowly. Such targets as they destroyed (a coastal fort and outpost) scored nothing, so we finished 16VP down.
Two more F-16s arrived in time to finish-off the last, out-of-comms Badger, but this distracted them from two incoming MiG-29s, which took revenge. Down to Archers, one took the opportunity to dispose of a Tracker. Another of the old, slow MPAs appeared and was missed left, right and centre, escaping as I moved the low-flying Fulcrum away from the SAMs.
19:00Z: Leaving the Bosphorus, the Kartal PCFG Denizkusu hit several of B-354’s mines and somehow didn’t sink. Her companion, the Sahin, proceeded suicidally alone.
Another Gearing-class destroyer, the Alcintepe, risked the Marmara traverse and, despite the support of a Nike Hercules battery, was sunk by another of Zozulya’s Shaddocks.
A further four Badgers hit the Bosphorus, this time bombing from a safe 14,000’, above Rapier engagement height. They did some damage, but nowhere near enough.
20:00Z: The Sahin pressed-on regardless, got lucky with a Nanuchka’s first Siren but succumbed to the second. A third finished the Denizkusu.
Four Backfires carrying 42 iron bombs each (a bit like planting potatoes in a Ming vase, to paraphrase a former London madam) hit the coastal forts. Most of these installations were now damaged, four over 50%. Ankara appeared to have run-out of F-16s, so we had air-superiority, at least for now. A Fulcrum covering the strike downed another Tracker.
21:00Z: The humble Foxtrot B-95 succeeded in ambushing an Atilay leaving Bartin. Despite finding that he didn’t have his bow tubes loaded with ASW torpedoes, B-95 recovered and did the necessary for 25VP.
Four more Badgers bombed the coastal forts and did almost no damage.
It was hard to gauge the impact of the rebel seizure of Antalya, but there was some evidence that they had downed one or two NATO aircraft.
22:00Z: Two more Badgers visited the forts, doing only superficial damage.
23:00Z: As we switched to ARM strikes, a lone Badger launched Kelts at a radar, only to see them stopped by intense AA fire.
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Day 2 (14/2/94)
00:00Z: More ARM strikes followed the initial ‘proof of concept’ sortie. NATO air search radars from Thrace across the Straits to Bartin were taken-out, though they scored no VP. One of the two Nike Hercules batteries covering Golcuk was damaged, but the Kelt proved very inaccurate, with three ‘near misses’ doing no damage. Again, the best ARMs had been prioritised to other fronts. I also realised too late that there are two Kelt variants and, lacking suitable targets, the planes with the anti-shipping type had to RTB. We were now realistically out of strikes until daybreak.
01:00Z: There were reports of a Turkish radar and SAM site near Izmir defecting to the rebels, but it was not in a very useful place and achieved nothing before being destroyed later in the game.
02:00Z: The Bulgarian Tarantul Mulnaya moved close to the Bosphorus and sank a minesweeper that was approaching the SW end to commence sweeping. The Improved Styxes also used-up some defending AA fire.
I then realised that Styxes could be used against land targets and outranged the forts’ guns. The PCFG Uragan finished-off a fort and more fast attack craft were ordered into the area, covered by Mails on ASW patrol.
03:00Z: Mulnaya tried closing to shell the shore in the gap no longer covered by the destroyed fort, but bumped into a sub and was sunk for -15VP. The two duty Mails lacked the endurance to prosecute the contact properly, so we had to be patient.
04:00Z: The Intercept Group of PCFGs finished bombarding the forts, leaving two damaged ones standing before turning for Constanta. It seemed advisable to withdraw all redundant shipping from the Bosphorus area to reduce the risk from subs and any sudden US carrier strike. One Matka hydrofoil was left behind to shell targets later. While departing, the group used an Improved Styx (too valuable to be wasted on forts) to sink another minesweeper for 10VP (forts score nothing). A freighter passing SW through the Bosphorus absorbed two Improved Styxes meant for a third minesweeper, Murphy being ever-present.
As dawn broke, a quartet of MiG-27s began firing Kedges at the defences W of the Straits, prioritising air defence and artillery units. A Fencer E did spotting duty. There were issues with aircraft staying on Engaged Offensive after firing their missiles and refusing to RTB until Unassigned. The other eight planes in the group followed-up, doing more damage.
The Turkish oiler Akar sortied from Golcuk and was promptly hit by a Siren from the Nanuchka Groza, which was waiting for such eventualities. A message then arrived from High Command, ordering us to destroy the tanker, so the Nanuchka finished the job. It scored just 10VP.
Meanwhile, the Greeks made a big fighter sweep towards the Straits. Most of the aircraft were Corsairs and Freedom Fighters and struggled to reach the area, most turning-back short. Three that got there were shot down by CAP, which was reinforced. Strikes were suspended pending resolution of the problem.
05:00Z: Flying at 800’, the Corsairs were not easy to engage and we only downed five more. One even destroyed a Fulcrum with the only shot any of them managed to get away. Meanwhile, a Fitter bungled its targeting, did not respond to orders, strayed into MANPAD range and was efficiently brought-down by a surviving Rapier with ammo.
06:00Z: With the Greek incursion over, Bulgarian Fishbeds from Uzundzhovo airbase made repeated strikes on enemy troops with cluster and frag munitions, taking and receiving losses. Some Corsairs returned and were destroyed, but one succeeded in taking-out the Fencer E (worth 4VP), which necessitated a pause in operations while a replacement flew across from the Crimea. Some Fitters from the Crimea had problems with buddy illumination and found it very diffciult to target mobile units, so they settled for destroying the Turkish 16th Mechanised Brigade’s truck depot, which turned-out to be just a marker and scored nothing.
Meanwhile, Mails found and laboriously sank the Atilay SSK that had clained the Mulnaya. At +425, it was down to a Minor Defeat.
Three more Corsairs arrived and were disposed-of, with Romanian Fulcrums taking-over CAP from the over-used Bulgarians. Large numbers of Greek aircraft, mostly Phantoms, were now prowling the Aegean and heading over Turkey, but not at us. What were they doing?.
07:00Z: It was reported that a Turkish destroyer at Golcuk had gone rebel. It was the Gearing-class Yucatepe, which was soon brought to a halt by over-effective 35mm Oerlikon fire as she left port.
Four Frogfeet from Bezmer in Bulgaria hit the Bosphorus, having awful targeting problems despite necessarily intermittent Fencer E support (the thing circles with a butterfly ground search radar field and periodically loses contact). It proved impossible to bomb any target with any age at all since it was last definitively spotted. Enemy infantry were mostly invisible to the Fencer and simply couldn’t be attacked. One Su-25 was lost to ground fire for one artillery battery damaged. There was a ring of 105 and 155mm batteries, including mobile M109s, set-back within range of the Straits and they had to go before we could risk landing any troops.
A second quartet of Frogfeet finished the aforesaid 105 battery and some AA, losing one of their number, which was hit, lost comms and stooged around waiting to be shot down.
The Matka came inshore to bombard with his 76mm guns but came under fire from the 155mm batteries, some of which had remained undetected and were closer than I’d thought. Damaged, the hydrofoil had to pull-back.
Chaos ensued over Turkey. It seemed that the Phantoms and F-5s were trying to re-base at Bandirma and Balikesir and, with the runways closed, had no Plan B and began crashing. That Kitchen strike began to sound like a very good idea in retrospect.
08:00Z: With the targets near the Straits as suppressed as targeting issues would allow, we began operations against the 16th Mechanised Brigade, poised to counter-attack any landing further S. Inevitably, we had to bomb low against unsuppressed air defences and the first four Frogfeet were all lost. Omelettes and eggs.
A Curl dropped a group of Spetsnaz and forward observers on the East Headland, to the E of the Straits, mainly to spot. Surprisingly, this scored 250VP for occupying the marked area. It also triggered the Turkish counterattack, which was welcome, as it brought 16th Mechanised into more comfortable range and out of reach of some of their air defence. Turkish artillery fire soon got rid of the detachment, costing us a VP, but not before they had done some damage with their ludicrous 8nm-ranged high explosives (one of the game’s sillier features).
09:00Z: The PCFG Bora sank three minesweepers. In a way, it was a waste of Sunburns, but there were no better targets in prospect and it was 30VP.
At some cost, the Frogfeet destroyed all visible Turkish artillery. It finally felt as though we were getting somewhere.
Fishbeds from Balchik in Bulgaria took-over strike duties, hitting the Turkish tanks and APCs as they moved-up to strike thin air. Two Greek F-4s tried to intervene (some had managed to re-base) and the Romanian Fulcrums took them down.
10:00Z: A Curl dropped a detachment on the Western Headland for another 250VP. The score was now +1,006 and Average.
Two Turkish counterattacks developed – a big one E of the Straits and a smaller one to the W, which destroyed the Western Headland detachment. Strike planes with cluster bombs wiped-out the W prong and badly battered the E one.
An SSK was detected off the Bosphorus, so the nearby Foxtrot B-85 moved to engage and everything else cleared the area.
11:00Z: The Turkish counter-attack was effectively destroyed – or so we thought.
The SSK, a fourth Atilay, was sunk by the Foxtrot.
A Curl landed a detachment in the South Passage area, where the counter-attack had initiated, scoring another 250VP. This involved cancelling an RTB on Bingo Fuel, which was fine, as the transport plane can comfortably make it back to Sevastopol once the paras have been delivered and it has less weight to carry. There were several more marked areas which might yield VP, but some were in well-defended and inaccessible places like Golcuk.
The Fast 2 missile boat and hovercraft group landed some troops on the East Headlands, but came under fire from the outpost forts. The database says that they are unarmed, but Bart had clearly modded them to have Carl Gustavs and suchlike and these did some damage to the ships. The group retired but, despite being out of comms (which happens so easily), the PCFG Samun was still able to Sunburn a minesweeper en route (it appears that being in a group gets around the comms problem for firing purposes).
12:00Z: A Curl dropped reinforcements in the Western Headlands. The policy was to fly the transports in individually to avoid losing the lot to a sudden enemy fighter sweep. Another dropped some troops in the Cilingoz area, W of the Straits in Thrace, but this scored nothing, so we concentrated on reinforcing the other three areas from that point onward.
Cheshnogirovo airbase in Bulgaria took-over strike duties. Flogger Hs armed with Kerry missiles proved to be the answer to the coastal defence outpost problem and soon knocked-out all of the ones within a moderate distance of our beachhead, not that it scored anything. One broke-off to hit a minesweeper in the Sea of Marmara, but two hits failed to sink the stubborn little ship, which was soon joined by another.
The last Turkish surface ship at Golcuk, the Gearing-class destroyer Maresal Fevzi, then sortied and engaged both the stalled Yucatepe and our covering missile boat group in the Black Sea. Her Harpoons sank the Nanuchka Groza, costing 15VP, but an answering volley of Sunburns exacted retribution for 35. Regrettably, they also finished-off the Yucatepe, but this did not bother the Russians much.
A large force of Turkish M60 tanks was then detected approaching the Straits from the SE. Presumably, this was the 5th Armoured Brigade, known to be somewhere E of Istanbul. Attacks on them with frag bombs had no effect, due to the unsuitable ordnance.
13:00Z: After a lot of effort, Frogfeet and Flogger Hs destroyed the armour (at least 50 tanks) with cluster bombs. It wasn’t easy, as the Fencer E remained a very inefficient spotter and the target age and bombing angle restrictions were extremely trying, as was the limited manoeuvrability of the attack planes and their tendency to stay Engaged Offensive on the last thing they tried to bomb and proceed to make an eccentric mess of it.
Pausing for a well-earned rest, I then detected MORE enemy tanks further E. There didn’t seem to be that many – just stragglers? - so I sent the unexhausted attack planes from the earlier strikes after them along with some rocket-firing Frogfeet. As we got nearer, a huge mechanised column came into view, far too many to stop without a lot more resource – and nightfall wasn’t that far away. The planes did their best, destroying some units and damaging others before running critically low on fuel. Some Phantoms then appeared and it was time to get out.
Somewhat miraculously, all of the strike planes, including a Frogfoot damaged by ground fire, got away – flying low at first probably helped. The Fencer E also got clear after re-basing to Bulgaria. Less fortunately, two F-4s followed-on over the Black Sea and just happened to intercept an incoming Curl, which cost us 7VP. Worse, their path took them across a Mail on RTB and they got that too before two Bulgarian Fulcrums arrived and dealt with them.
So, with just under a day to play, the situation is uncertain. We have enough points for a Draw, but I don’t know what penalties might apply if the Turks overrun the beachhead, nor how much damage the Eisenhower CVBG is going to do me when it arrives. Stopping the Turkish tanks has to be the main focus, but we are a little short of strikes right now and nightfall is approaching. As Warsaw Pact ground units cost just 1VP each, we can afford losses but, at the same time, no amount of reinforcement is going to be enough against that column. Maybe that’s why we needed the convoy?. Without knowing the VP schedule, it’s impossible to tell, but that’s where we are. Actually doing better than an Average score looks improbable.
Overall, this has been a lot more fun to play so far than most, if not all of the Indian Ocean series. While the scale of the scenario is massive, the area of operations is manageable in size and there have been no serious performance issues. The scenario has also been pretty-much bug-free save, perhaps, for a couple of missing VP triggers for completing missions and the problems the Greeks had with re-basing their planes in Turkey.
00:00Z: More ARM strikes followed the initial ‘proof of concept’ sortie. NATO air search radars from Thrace across the Straits to Bartin were taken-out, though they scored no VP. One of the two Nike Hercules batteries covering Golcuk was damaged, but the Kelt proved very inaccurate, with three ‘near misses’ doing no damage. Again, the best ARMs had been prioritised to other fronts. I also realised too late that there are two Kelt variants and, lacking suitable targets, the planes with the anti-shipping type had to RTB. We were now realistically out of strikes until daybreak.
01:00Z: There were reports of a Turkish radar and SAM site near Izmir defecting to the rebels, but it was not in a very useful place and achieved nothing before being destroyed later in the game.
02:00Z: The Bulgarian Tarantul Mulnaya moved close to the Bosphorus and sank a minesweeper that was approaching the SW end to commence sweeping. The Improved Styxes also used-up some defending AA fire.
I then realised that Styxes could be used against land targets and outranged the forts’ guns. The PCFG Uragan finished-off a fort and more fast attack craft were ordered into the area, covered by Mails on ASW patrol.
03:00Z: Mulnaya tried closing to shell the shore in the gap no longer covered by the destroyed fort, but bumped into a sub and was sunk for -15VP. The two duty Mails lacked the endurance to prosecute the contact properly, so we had to be patient.
04:00Z: The Intercept Group of PCFGs finished bombarding the forts, leaving two damaged ones standing before turning for Constanta. It seemed advisable to withdraw all redundant shipping from the Bosphorus area to reduce the risk from subs and any sudden US carrier strike. One Matka hydrofoil was left behind to shell targets later. While departing, the group used an Improved Styx (too valuable to be wasted on forts) to sink another minesweeper for 10VP (forts score nothing). A freighter passing SW through the Bosphorus absorbed two Improved Styxes meant for a third minesweeper, Murphy being ever-present.
As dawn broke, a quartet of MiG-27s began firing Kedges at the defences W of the Straits, prioritising air defence and artillery units. A Fencer E did spotting duty. There were issues with aircraft staying on Engaged Offensive after firing their missiles and refusing to RTB until Unassigned. The other eight planes in the group followed-up, doing more damage.
The Turkish oiler Akar sortied from Golcuk and was promptly hit by a Siren from the Nanuchka Groza, which was waiting for such eventualities. A message then arrived from High Command, ordering us to destroy the tanker, so the Nanuchka finished the job. It scored just 10VP.
Meanwhile, the Greeks made a big fighter sweep towards the Straits. Most of the aircraft were Corsairs and Freedom Fighters and struggled to reach the area, most turning-back short. Three that got there were shot down by CAP, which was reinforced. Strikes were suspended pending resolution of the problem.
05:00Z: Flying at 800’, the Corsairs were not easy to engage and we only downed five more. One even destroyed a Fulcrum with the only shot any of them managed to get away. Meanwhile, a Fitter bungled its targeting, did not respond to orders, strayed into MANPAD range and was efficiently brought-down by a surviving Rapier with ammo.
06:00Z: With the Greek incursion over, Bulgarian Fishbeds from Uzundzhovo airbase made repeated strikes on enemy troops with cluster and frag munitions, taking and receiving losses. Some Corsairs returned and were destroyed, but one succeeded in taking-out the Fencer E (worth 4VP), which necessitated a pause in operations while a replacement flew across from the Crimea. Some Fitters from the Crimea had problems with buddy illumination and found it very diffciult to target mobile units, so they settled for destroying the Turkish 16th Mechanised Brigade’s truck depot, which turned-out to be just a marker and scored nothing.
Meanwhile, Mails found and laboriously sank the Atilay SSK that had clained the Mulnaya. At +425, it was down to a Minor Defeat.
Three more Corsairs arrived and were disposed-of, with Romanian Fulcrums taking-over CAP from the over-used Bulgarians. Large numbers of Greek aircraft, mostly Phantoms, were now prowling the Aegean and heading over Turkey, but not at us. What were they doing?.
07:00Z: It was reported that a Turkish destroyer at Golcuk had gone rebel. It was the Gearing-class Yucatepe, which was soon brought to a halt by over-effective 35mm Oerlikon fire as she left port.
Four Frogfeet from Bezmer in Bulgaria hit the Bosphorus, having awful targeting problems despite necessarily intermittent Fencer E support (the thing circles with a butterfly ground search radar field and periodically loses contact). It proved impossible to bomb any target with any age at all since it was last definitively spotted. Enemy infantry were mostly invisible to the Fencer and simply couldn’t be attacked. One Su-25 was lost to ground fire for one artillery battery damaged. There was a ring of 105 and 155mm batteries, including mobile M109s, set-back within range of the Straits and they had to go before we could risk landing any troops.
A second quartet of Frogfeet finished the aforesaid 105 battery and some AA, losing one of their number, which was hit, lost comms and stooged around waiting to be shot down.
The Matka came inshore to bombard with his 76mm guns but came under fire from the 155mm batteries, some of which had remained undetected and were closer than I’d thought. Damaged, the hydrofoil had to pull-back.
Chaos ensued over Turkey. It seemed that the Phantoms and F-5s were trying to re-base at Bandirma and Balikesir and, with the runways closed, had no Plan B and began crashing. That Kitchen strike began to sound like a very good idea in retrospect.
08:00Z: With the targets near the Straits as suppressed as targeting issues would allow, we began operations against the 16th Mechanised Brigade, poised to counter-attack any landing further S. Inevitably, we had to bomb low against unsuppressed air defences and the first four Frogfeet were all lost. Omelettes and eggs.
A Curl dropped a group of Spetsnaz and forward observers on the East Headland, to the E of the Straits, mainly to spot. Surprisingly, this scored 250VP for occupying the marked area. It also triggered the Turkish counterattack, which was welcome, as it brought 16th Mechanised into more comfortable range and out of reach of some of their air defence. Turkish artillery fire soon got rid of the detachment, costing us a VP, but not before they had done some damage with their ludicrous 8nm-ranged high explosives (one of the game’s sillier features).
09:00Z: The PCFG Bora sank three minesweepers. In a way, it was a waste of Sunburns, but there were no better targets in prospect and it was 30VP.
At some cost, the Frogfeet destroyed all visible Turkish artillery. It finally felt as though we were getting somewhere.
Fishbeds from Balchik in Bulgaria took-over strike duties, hitting the Turkish tanks and APCs as they moved-up to strike thin air. Two Greek F-4s tried to intervene (some had managed to re-base) and the Romanian Fulcrums took them down.
10:00Z: A Curl dropped a detachment on the Western Headland for another 250VP. The score was now +1,006 and Average.
Two Turkish counterattacks developed – a big one E of the Straits and a smaller one to the W, which destroyed the Western Headland detachment. Strike planes with cluster bombs wiped-out the W prong and badly battered the E one.
An SSK was detected off the Bosphorus, so the nearby Foxtrot B-85 moved to engage and everything else cleared the area.
11:00Z: The Turkish counter-attack was effectively destroyed – or so we thought.
The SSK, a fourth Atilay, was sunk by the Foxtrot.
A Curl landed a detachment in the South Passage area, where the counter-attack had initiated, scoring another 250VP. This involved cancelling an RTB on Bingo Fuel, which was fine, as the transport plane can comfortably make it back to Sevastopol once the paras have been delivered and it has less weight to carry. There were several more marked areas which might yield VP, but some were in well-defended and inaccessible places like Golcuk.
The Fast 2 missile boat and hovercraft group landed some troops on the East Headlands, but came under fire from the outpost forts. The database says that they are unarmed, but Bart had clearly modded them to have Carl Gustavs and suchlike and these did some damage to the ships. The group retired but, despite being out of comms (which happens so easily), the PCFG Samun was still able to Sunburn a minesweeper en route (it appears that being in a group gets around the comms problem for firing purposes).
12:00Z: A Curl dropped reinforcements in the Western Headlands. The policy was to fly the transports in individually to avoid losing the lot to a sudden enemy fighter sweep. Another dropped some troops in the Cilingoz area, W of the Straits in Thrace, but this scored nothing, so we concentrated on reinforcing the other three areas from that point onward.
Cheshnogirovo airbase in Bulgaria took-over strike duties. Flogger Hs armed with Kerry missiles proved to be the answer to the coastal defence outpost problem and soon knocked-out all of the ones within a moderate distance of our beachhead, not that it scored anything. One broke-off to hit a minesweeper in the Sea of Marmara, but two hits failed to sink the stubborn little ship, which was soon joined by another.
The last Turkish surface ship at Golcuk, the Gearing-class destroyer Maresal Fevzi, then sortied and engaged both the stalled Yucatepe and our covering missile boat group in the Black Sea. Her Harpoons sank the Nanuchka Groza, costing 15VP, but an answering volley of Sunburns exacted retribution for 35. Regrettably, they also finished-off the Yucatepe, but this did not bother the Russians much.
A large force of Turkish M60 tanks was then detected approaching the Straits from the SE. Presumably, this was the 5th Armoured Brigade, known to be somewhere E of Istanbul. Attacks on them with frag bombs had no effect, due to the unsuitable ordnance.
13:00Z: After a lot of effort, Frogfeet and Flogger Hs destroyed the armour (at least 50 tanks) with cluster bombs. It wasn’t easy, as the Fencer E remained a very inefficient spotter and the target age and bombing angle restrictions were extremely trying, as was the limited manoeuvrability of the attack planes and their tendency to stay Engaged Offensive on the last thing they tried to bomb and proceed to make an eccentric mess of it.
Pausing for a well-earned rest, I then detected MORE enemy tanks further E. There didn’t seem to be that many – just stragglers? - so I sent the unexhausted attack planes from the earlier strikes after them along with some rocket-firing Frogfeet. As we got nearer, a huge mechanised column came into view, far too many to stop without a lot more resource – and nightfall wasn’t that far away. The planes did their best, destroying some units and damaging others before running critically low on fuel. Some Phantoms then appeared and it was time to get out.
Somewhat miraculously, all of the strike planes, including a Frogfoot damaged by ground fire, got away – flying low at first probably helped. The Fencer E also got clear after re-basing to Bulgaria. Less fortunately, two F-4s followed-on over the Black Sea and just happened to intercept an incoming Curl, which cost us 7VP. Worse, their path took them across a Mail on RTB and they got that too before two Bulgarian Fulcrums arrived and dealt with them.
So, with just under a day to play, the situation is uncertain. We have enough points for a Draw, but I don’t know what penalties might apply if the Turks overrun the beachhead, nor how much damage the Eisenhower CVBG is going to do me when it arrives. Stopping the Turkish tanks has to be the main focus, but we are a little short of strikes right now and nightfall is approaching. As Warsaw Pact ground units cost just 1VP each, we can afford losses but, at the same time, no amount of reinforcement is going to be enough against that column. Maybe that’s why we needed the convoy?. Without knowing the VP schedule, it’s impossible to tell, but that’s where we are. Actually doing better than an Average score looks improbable.
Overall, this has been a lot more fun to play so far than most, if not all of the Indian Ocean series. While the scale of the scenario is massive, the area of operations is manageable in size and there have been no serious performance issues. The scenario has also been pretty-much bug-free save, perhaps, for a couple of missing VP triggers for completing missions and the problems the Greeks had with re-basing their planes in Turkey.
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FrangibleCover
- Posts: 102
- Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:25 pm
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
I'm very impressed by you taking this one on, I've opened it a couple of times, futzed around with initial orders and closed it back down as "too big" but it looks like you're managing it in bitesize chunks instead of doing what I was trying to do and coordinating a divisional para drop and high speed landings at the first possible moment (in accordance with Soviet doctrine, just not common sense 
). IIRC there's a significant number of Flagons and other third gen interceptors, I assume they're not getting into the action because you're reserving them to fight off Ike?
Might you get better results out of the Fencer E if you set it up on a linear patrol mission parallel to the targets, so you get longer dwell times with the SAR before it has to turn around?
). IIRC there's a significant number of Flagons and other third gen interceptors, I assume they're not getting into the action because you're reserving them to fight off Ike?Might you get better results out of the Fencer E if you set it up on a linear patrol mission parallel to the targets, so you get longer dwell times with the SAR before it has to turn around?
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Well done Vince!
I like this scenario as it showcases 2nd & 3rd line Soviet units and other constraints that the Northern Fury world forced on secondary theaters. (lack of missiles, support, information etc)
Of the special choices, you've picked one that I haven't seen used except in testing. There is a good chance that there was an A2A engagement over the Aegean which you probably couldn't see. The most surprising effect that I think AndrewJ chose was the submarine option. In that case, there is a chance that the sub which sank your transport would surface in the middle of your TG and request an escort home.
Those extra missions that keep popping up may not yield huge VP benefits, but success prevents Moscow from getting PO'd at you and leveraging VP costs. You may remember from the book that the commander you are playing does not fare particularly well when the results of the first day's operation are tallied.
I look forward to the next installment - and I think you probably do need those transports to land their troops...
Bart
I like this scenario as it showcases 2nd & 3rd line Soviet units and other constraints that the Northern Fury world forced on secondary theaters. (lack of missiles, support, information etc)
Of the special choices, you've picked one that I haven't seen used except in testing. There is a good chance that there was an A2A engagement over the Aegean which you probably couldn't see. The most surprising effect that I think AndrewJ chose was the submarine option. In that case, there is a chance that the sub which sank your transport would surface in the middle of your TG and request an escort home.
Those extra missions that keep popping up may not yield huge VP benefits, but success prevents Moscow from getting PO'd at you and leveraging VP costs. You may remember from the book that the commander you are playing does not fare particularly well when the results of the first day's operation are tallied.
I look forward to the next installment - and I think you probably do need those transports to land their troops...
Bart
Check out our novel, Northern Fury: H-Hour!: http://northernfury.us/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
I've not needed most of the fighters so far, mainly using the Bulgarian and Romanian Fulcrums because their bases are the closest. My main reserve consists of the Foxbats at Tolbukhin and the Crimean Fulcrums, which have had time to recover from their bad experiences of missions early in the game. Having said that, I'm not sure that anything the Pact has could cope with F-14s in numbers firing Phoenixes, so heading for the hills and letting Eisenhower bite thin air might be a good idea.
I might try a linear mission for the next incoming Fencer E. This would mean it cruising up and down in parallel to the approaching mega-column while I try to scrape together enough strike planes to stop it. Of course, should NATO provide any decent air cover for their armour, I'll have next to no chance and, sooner or later, they're going to.
Thanks for clarifying the special mission awards, Bart. I guess that this is the way it would be on the Soviet side of the fence.
The problem with trying to land the convoyed troops at this stage is a) time and b) the multiple 55VP hits I'll take if Eisenhower's attack planes get amongst the amphibs. I do rather hope that they won't be able to maintain a sustained presence over the Bosphorus due to endurance limitations.
Anyway, I'll carry on and post an update in the next week or so.
I might try a linear mission for the next incoming Fencer E. This would mean it cruising up and down in parallel to the approaching mega-column while I try to scrape together enough strike planes to stop it. Of course, should NATO provide any decent air cover for their armour, I'll have next to no chance and, sooner or later, they're going to.
Thanks for clarifying the special mission awards, Bart. I guess that this is the way it would be on the Soviet side of the fence.
The problem with trying to land the convoyed troops at this stage is a) time and b) the multiple 55VP hits I'll take if Eisenhower's attack planes get amongst the amphibs. I do rather hope that they won't be able to maintain a sustained presence over the Bosphorus due to endurance limitations.
Anyway, I'll carry on and post an update in the next week or so.
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Yeah, Ike is a long way from the fight at the moment and has a hectic week ahead of her, although you may recall an event mentioned near the end of the book which may cause a bit of excitement.
Looking forward to it.
B
Check out our novel, Northern Fury: H-Hour!: http://northernfury.us/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
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Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Day 2, Continued
14:00Z: In the Aegean, the Kilo B-903 had company. Two Turkish Gearings, 23nm astern, probably had ASROC and were best avoided. A Greek Hydra frigate 30-40nm NW didn’t and had lousy sonar to boot, so it seemed better to head slowly that way. In the event, the sub extricated himself without undue difficulty.
So far as we could tell, the Turkish armoured column consisted of 7 tank, 34 mechanised infantry and 9 mobile AA units after the losses it had already taken. It turned-out that I still had a good number of strike planes available and a couple of hours before nightfall. Perhaps it would be enough…
A little over an hour later, the column had been reduced to a long line of smoking wreckage. It might have been a different story had NATO given it proper air support. As it was, just two Greek F-16s attempted to intervene early-on but were shot down by the MiG-29s. After that, it was a case of the folly of lining-up lots of tanks and APCs along a road in the face of enemy air superiority. I deployed a couple of MiG-21 recon planes and a Fitter to supplement the Fencer E, which was told to drop to 12,000’ and cruise up and down, parallel to the column, as suggested by FrangibleCover. This helped with the targeting issues and, with cluster bombs lethal against tanks and frag bombs effective against the APCs (and a few rockets and incendiaries thrown-in) the result was absolute carnage.
Meanwhile, I sent a Flogger with Kerrys against two patrol boats in the Sea of Marmara, but couldn’t concentrate and had lots of targeting issues, including an unspecified ‘Error Occurred’, so the move was abortive.
I tried to use the Special Action to refuel my MDK hovercraft, but it didn’t work and several of the things were left stranded in the middle of the Black Sea without fuel. That left just one Ropucha, separated from its group by the Turkish SSK attack, with any chance of bringing-in amphibious reinforcements, everything else having withdrawn too far.
15:00Z: With the column no longer a threat, strikes switched to secondary targets. We destroyed two batteries of artillery some way E of the Straits and some of the infantry holding-out around the Headlands. NATO fighters intervened late-on, losing several F-4s and also an F-16, which tried to intercept returning strike planes over Thrace but was too near the Fulcrum base at Ravnets. They did succeed in shooting down a MiG-29 and the Fitter recon plane.
Two Flogger Hs with Kerrys had incredible trouble striking the patrol boats, just about everything imaginable going wrong apart from enemy fighters. In the end, the one crippled some time ago was finished-off and the other left heavily-damaged, to sink later.
16:00Z: Night fell, suspending strikes. The score was still Average at +1,426.
There had been an hourly chance of ammo deliveries arriving at various bases for a little while now but, thus far, it wasn’t coming-up. At least we now had plenty of time until dawn.
A Tarantul and four Matkas lingered off the Straits and bombarded such Turkish ground units as came into view, leaving the scene once out of ammo. All visible enemy on the West Headlands were wiped-out.
Two Greek F-16s with Sparrows came-in from Thrace and were downed for one Fulcrum. With the Sparrow AIM-7E following the 50% (database) Max Range rule, these were a fair match for the MiG-29. Another pair of Falcons arrived from Turkish bases and were disposed-of for two Fulcrums damaged.
17:00Z: Some supplies reached Balchik, Bulgaria, helpfully intended for MiG-27s, which weren’t based there. I organised a ferry of 16 of these from Odessa.
Two more Greek F-4s appeared, one being destroyed and one damaged for one Fulcrum. The damaged Phantom then latched-onto an out-of-comms Fulcrum from the previous engagement, which had refused to RTB and now meekly allowed itself to be destroyed. Planes might be out-of-comms, but it would be nice if the AI allowed them to defend themselves. I really don’t like this rule.
18:00Z: Ammo for Fitters arrived at Tolbukhin, so some were moved down from the Crimea.
Two more Phantoms engaged and were shot down without loss.
At 18:15, we heard that the Turkish President was in Spetsnaz hands. The Soviets aimed to set him up in opposition to those now handling his country’s defence effort. At 18:30, there was a more general report on the disruption to Turkey’s government and communications.
I experimentally sent two landed detachments of paras deeper into Istanbul. I soon found that, with their weapons having no range to speak-of, they stood no chance against even Turkish AA units. After one unit was lost, I discontinued the ploy.
Two more pairs of F-4s came-in and, in each case, suffered one loss at no cost to ourselves.
19:00Z: There were reports of an explosion at Murted airbase, Ankara, which resulted in eight NATO aircraft destroyed.
For some time now, NATO had been sending Phantom and Freedom Fighter recon models low over Istanbul at Afterburner. They weren’t easy to catch, as dropping low risked the remaining air defences. It is also very hard to catch an enemy aircraft moving away from your fighter at speed unless you have a faster plane or very good missiles – and we had neither, unless we chose to deploy the Foxbats in reserve at Tolbukhin. The Fulcrums downed one Phantom in several attempts.
20:00Z: ELINT spotted several USN Tomcats over the NE Aegean, rather earlier than we’d expected. The Matkas off the Bosphorus were told to withdraw, as was our CAP.
21:00Z: The plan was always to leave Eisenhower nothing to strike. The F-14s flew over the Sea of Marmara, found no targets and soon withdrew. Three Hornets then appeared and began flying low over the East Headlands, thereby missing our approaching Ropucha, which was out of their reduced radar range.
We then received 250VP for securing the South Passage, which was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.
22:00Z: Indications from enemy aircraft suggested that the carrier was somewhere SW of the Dardanelles. The Americans were somehow taking losses, possibly by staying on-station until they ran-out of fuel.
Another 250VP were awarded for securing the East Headlands, taking the score to +1,985 and a Minor Victory.
I sent a Shaddock after the Turkish patrol boat Karamursel, which was traversing the Sea of Marmara. Waste of a big missile in real-world terms, but 10VP in the game.
23:00Z: Some Fitter ammo arrived at Tolbukhin (and did so repeatedly until the end of the game) but it was too late to make much difference to things.
The Ropucha delivered her mechanised cargo to the East Headlands, then withdrew at Flank.
The AI was daft enough to send two unescorted pairs of Prowlers to the Bosphorus and Ravnets, so I accepted the gift and shot them down.
Day 3 (15/2/94)
01:00Z: It was reported that some Turkish pilots at Merzifon airbase, near Samsun in North Central Anatolia, had gone rebel. We saw evidence of some combat between these and loyalist aircraft and SAMs.
Clearly, we needed more boots on the ground in the West Headlands, so I sent the Ropucha detachment there and flew-in one of the two Curl-loads of paras I’d been keeping in reserve. Coincidentally or not, this promptly secured the 250VP.
02:00Z: Two Tomcats were seen to disappear over Istanbul, reinforcing the theory that they were staying on-station until they ran-out of fuel. It might be a bug with missions, but I wasn’t having such problems with my own. This kind of thing seems to happen disproportionately in the Fury series (it didn’t in Chains of War) and it gives the player an unfair advantage.
An Atilay was detected off Sevastopol and avoided a Mail’s torpedo, diving deep. Despite a massive search, we never found it again. All shipping was moved out of the area.
04:00Z: With the dawn, Eisenhower finally put a strike together. Some Hornets or Intruders damaged the Ropucha contingent with Walleyes, but that was it. It appeared that the Americans were having the same trouble spotting motionless infantry as our own spotter planes, despite all those Phantom and Freedom Fighter passes.
08:30Z: Large protests continued in Istanbul (or the part of it not under Soviet control). Many Turks wanted an end to military rule and a separate peace with the Warsaw Pact. Mobilisation was markedly down.
11:00Z: I tried to liven-up the last couple of hours, sending a posse of Fulcrums, Foxbats and even a pair of Flagons to demonstrate air superiority over the Bosphorus. There was no effective opposition, as Eisenhower seemed to have been called away on other business. The Flagons could do no more than reach the Straits, so were recalled. The other aircraft destroyed 7 recon Phantoms (intercepted over the Sea of Marmara and Thrace before they went low) and two Trackers. The Acrid’s minimum range of 4nm proved a slight embarrassment, but didn’t prevent the one Foxbat engaged scoring a kill. A Badger tried hitting a Nike Hercules with Kelts, but to no avail.
So, a game which lasted for 19 days of real time, off-and-on, ended in a Minor Victory, with a final score of +2,317. I achieved all of my briefed objectives and can’t see how I could have done much better.
The Warsaw Pact lost two PCFGs, an amphib, a torpedo boat, a minelaying sub, 14 Fulcrums, 18 attack planes, 13 bombers, two recon planes, a Mail and 51 ground elements.
NATO lost 4 destroyers, 3 frigates, an oiler, 16 PCFGs, 6 patrol boats, 3 minesweepers, 4 SSKs, a chopper, 136 fighters, 15 attack planes, 9 recon planes, 5 Prowlers, and 901 ground elements, including 170 tanks, 215 APCs and 112 artillery pieces of 81mm and above. The USN lost a total of 24 F-14s and Hornets to ‘accidents’.
The Turkish Rebels lost a destroyer (oops!), 8 fighters and 9 ground elements.
Three civilian freighters and a ferry were sunk (two by NATO, who also slaughtered 5 schools of fish!).
So, a massive but enjoyable game, not without a few bugs, but constantly interesting and a good challenge, with lots of strategic choices to make. After a brief Falklands interlude, it will next be a case of returning to the NATO side and facing the Syrian onslaught (I’ve a nasty feeling that they’ll be better-equipped than the Warsaw Pact forces I’ve just finished leading).
14:00Z: In the Aegean, the Kilo B-903 had company. Two Turkish Gearings, 23nm astern, probably had ASROC and were best avoided. A Greek Hydra frigate 30-40nm NW didn’t and had lousy sonar to boot, so it seemed better to head slowly that way. In the event, the sub extricated himself without undue difficulty.
So far as we could tell, the Turkish armoured column consisted of 7 tank, 34 mechanised infantry and 9 mobile AA units after the losses it had already taken. It turned-out that I still had a good number of strike planes available and a couple of hours before nightfall. Perhaps it would be enough…
A little over an hour later, the column had been reduced to a long line of smoking wreckage. It might have been a different story had NATO given it proper air support. As it was, just two Greek F-16s attempted to intervene early-on but were shot down by the MiG-29s. After that, it was a case of the folly of lining-up lots of tanks and APCs along a road in the face of enemy air superiority. I deployed a couple of MiG-21 recon planes and a Fitter to supplement the Fencer E, which was told to drop to 12,000’ and cruise up and down, parallel to the column, as suggested by FrangibleCover. This helped with the targeting issues and, with cluster bombs lethal against tanks and frag bombs effective against the APCs (and a few rockets and incendiaries thrown-in) the result was absolute carnage.
Meanwhile, I sent a Flogger with Kerrys against two patrol boats in the Sea of Marmara, but couldn’t concentrate and had lots of targeting issues, including an unspecified ‘Error Occurred’, so the move was abortive.
I tried to use the Special Action to refuel my MDK hovercraft, but it didn’t work and several of the things were left stranded in the middle of the Black Sea without fuel. That left just one Ropucha, separated from its group by the Turkish SSK attack, with any chance of bringing-in amphibious reinforcements, everything else having withdrawn too far.
15:00Z: With the column no longer a threat, strikes switched to secondary targets. We destroyed two batteries of artillery some way E of the Straits and some of the infantry holding-out around the Headlands. NATO fighters intervened late-on, losing several F-4s and also an F-16, which tried to intercept returning strike planes over Thrace but was too near the Fulcrum base at Ravnets. They did succeed in shooting down a MiG-29 and the Fitter recon plane.
Two Flogger Hs with Kerrys had incredible trouble striking the patrol boats, just about everything imaginable going wrong apart from enemy fighters. In the end, the one crippled some time ago was finished-off and the other left heavily-damaged, to sink later.
16:00Z: Night fell, suspending strikes. The score was still Average at +1,426.
There had been an hourly chance of ammo deliveries arriving at various bases for a little while now but, thus far, it wasn’t coming-up. At least we now had plenty of time until dawn.
A Tarantul and four Matkas lingered off the Straits and bombarded such Turkish ground units as came into view, leaving the scene once out of ammo. All visible enemy on the West Headlands were wiped-out.
Two Greek F-16s with Sparrows came-in from Thrace and were downed for one Fulcrum. With the Sparrow AIM-7E following the 50% (database) Max Range rule, these were a fair match for the MiG-29. Another pair of Falcons arrived from Turkish bases and were disposed-of for two Fulcrums damaged.
17:00Z: Some supplies reached Balchik, Bulgaria, helpfully intended for MiG-27s, which weren’t based there. I organised a ferry of 16 of these from Odessa.
Two more Greek F-4s appeared, one being destroyed and one damaged for one Fulcrum. The damaged Phantom then latched-onto an out-of-comms Fulcrum from the previous engagement, which had refused to RTB and now meekly allowed itself to be destroyed. Planes might be out-of-comms, but it would be nice if the AI allowed them to defend themselves. I really don’t like this rule.
18:00Z: Ammo for Fitters arrived at Tolbukhin, so some were moved down from the Crimea.
Two more Phantoms engaged and were shot down without loss.
At 18:15, we heard that the Turkish President was in Spetsnaz hands. The Soviets aimed to set him up in opposition to those now handling his country’s defence effort. At 18:30, there was a more general report on the disruption to Turkey’s government and communications.
I experimentally sent two landed detachments of paras deeper into Istanbul. I soon found that, with their weapons having no range to speak-of, they stood no chance against even Turkish AA units. After one unit was lost, I discontinued the ploy.
Two more pairs of F-4s came-in and, in each case, suffered one loss at no cost to ourselves.
19:00Z: There were reports of an explosion at Murted airbase, Ankara, which resulted in eight NATO aircraft destroyed.
For some time now, NATO had been sending Phantom and Freedom Fighter recon models low over Istanbul at Afterburner. They weren’t easy to catch, as dropping low risked the remaining air defences. It is also very hard to catch an enemy aircraft moving away from your fighter at speed unless you have a faster plane or very good missiles – and we had neither, unless we chose to deploy the Foxbats in reserve at Tolbukhin. The Fulcrums downed one Phantom in several attempts.
20:00Z: ELINT spotted several USN Tomcats over the NE Aegean, rather earlier than we’d expected. The Matkas off the Bosphorus were told to withdraw, as was our CAP.
21:00Z: The plan was always to leave Eisenhower nothing to strike. The F-14s flew over the Sea of Marmara, found no targets and soon withdrew. Three Hornets then appeared and began flying low over the East Headlands, thereby missing our approaching Ropucha, which was out of their reduced radar range.
We then received 250VP for securing the South Passage, which was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.
22:00Z: Indications from enemy aircraft suggested that the carrier was somewhere SW of the Dardanelles. The Americans were somehow taking losses, possibly by staying on-station until they ran-out of fuel.
Another 250VP were awarded for securing the East Headlands, taking the score to +1,985 and a Minor Victory.
I sent a Shaddock after the Turkish patrol boat Karamursel, which was traversing the Sea of Marmara. Waste of a big missile in real-world terms, but 10VP in the game.
23:00Z: Some Fitter ammo arrived at Tolbukhin (and did so repeatedly until the end of the game) but it was too late to make much difference to things.
The Ropucha delivered her mechanised cargo to the East Headlands, then withdrew at Flank.
The AI was daft enough to send two unescorted pairs of Prowlers to the Bosphorus and Ravnets, so I accepted the gift and shot them down.
Day 3 (15/2/94)
01:00Z: It was reported that some Turkish pilots at Merzifon airbase, near Samsun in North Central Anatolia, had gone rebel. We saw evidence of some combat between these and loyalist aircraft and SAMs.
Clearly, we needed more boots on the ground in the West Headlands, so I sent the Ropucha detachment there and flew-in one of the two Curl-loads of paras I’d been keeping in reserve. Coincidentally or not, this promptly secured the 250VP.
02:00Z: Two Tomcats were seen to disappear over Istanbul, reinforcing the theory that they were staying on-station until they ran-out of fuel. It might be a bug with missions, but I wasn’t having such problems with my own. This kind of thing seems to happen disproportionately in the Fury series (it didn’t in Chains of War) and it gives the player an unfair advantage.
An Atilay was detected off Sevastopol and avoided a Mail’s torpedo, diving deep. Despite a massive search, we never found it again. All shipping was moved out of the area.
04:00Z: With the dawn, Eisenhower finally put a strike together. Some Hornets or Intruders damaged the Ropucha contingent with Walleyes, but that was it. It appeared that the Americans were having the same trouble spotting motionless infantry as our own spotter planes, despite all those Phantom and Freedom Fighter passes.
08:30Z: Large protests continued in Istanbul (or the part of it not under Soviet control). Many Turks wanted an end to military rule and a separate peace with the Warsaw Pact. Mobilisation was markedly down.
11:00Z: I tried to liven-up the last couple of hours, sending a posse of Fulcrums, Foxbats and even a pair of Flagons to demonstrate air superiority over the Bosphorus. There was no effective opposition, as Eisenhower seemed to have been called away on other business. The Flagons could do no more than reach the Straits, so were recalled. The other aircraft destroyed 7 recon Phantoms (intercepted over the Sea of Marmara and Thrace before they went low) and two Trackers. The Acrid’s minimum range of 4nm proved a slight embarrassment, but didn’t prevent the one Foxbat engaged scoring a kill. A Badger tried hitting a Nike Hercules with Kelts, but to no avail.
So, a game which lasted for 19 days of real time, off-and-on, ended in a Minor Victory, with a final score of +2,317. I achieved all of my briefed objectives and can’t see how I could have done much better.
The Warsaw Pact lost two PCFGs, an amphib, a torpedo boat, a minelaying sub, 14 Fulcrums, 18 attack planes, 13 bombers, two recon planes, a Mail and 51 ground elements.
NATO lost 4 destroyers, 3 frigates, an oiler, 16 PCFGs, 6 patrol boats, 3 minesweepers, 4 SSKs, a chopper, 136 fighters, 15 attack planes, 9 recon planes, 5 Prowlers, and 901 ground elements, including 170 tanks, 215 APCs and 112 artillery pieces of 81mm and above. The USN lost a total of 24 F-14s and Hornets to ‘accidents’.
The Turkish Rebels lost a destroyer (oops!), 8 fighters and 9 ground elements.
Three civilian freighters and a ferry were sunk (two by NATO, who also slaughtered 5 schools of fish!).
So, a massive but enjoyable game, not without a few bugs, but constantly interesting and a good challenge, with lots of strategic choices to make. After a brief Falklands interlude, it will next be a case of returning to the NATO side and facing the Syrian onslaught (I’ve a nasty feeling that they’ll be better-equipped than the Warsaw Pact forces I’ve just finished leading).
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Well done, Vince.
When I get things back up and running I'll have to check on the US missions. You will soon find that the Ike is in the Western Med and that the strike came from a rendezvous with a refueling mission over the Aegean.
Did you notice a flock of TLAMS heading toward Crimea? That should have happened on the first night and represents a plot line in the story.
Bart
When I get things back up and running I'll have to check on the US missions. You will soon find that the Ike is in the Western Med and that the strike came from a rendezvous with a refueling mission over the Aegean.
Did you notice a flock of TLAMS heading toward Crimea? That should have happened on the first night and represents a plot line in the story.
Bart
Check out our novel, Northern Fury: H-Hour!: http://northernfury.us/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Losses and Expenditures has no record of NATO using any TLAMs, so I guess this needs fixing. Fighters and SAMs would have dealt with most of them, but it would have added some interest.
I took a brief look at Syrian Surprise, though I won't be starting it just yet. The size of the Syrian Air Force seems overwhelming and they are backed-up by a capable Soviet naval squadron. Given the relatively weak NATO OOB, I assume that this one is mostly about survival. If no VP are scored for Syrian aircraft and, as I suspect, I'll be too busy/outclassed to have much chance of sinking the Russian ships, what DO you score for?. Guess it might be one of those games that's best played without worrying too much about victory or defeat...
I took a brief look at Syrian Surprise, though I won't be starting it just yet. The size of the Syrian Air Force seems overwhelming and they are backed-up by a capable Soviet naval squadron. Given the relatively weak NATO OOB, I assume that this one is mostly about survival. If no VP are scored for Syrian aircraft and, as I suspect, I'll be too busy/outclassed to have much chance of sinking the Russian ships, what DO you score for?. Guess it might be one of those games that's best played without worrying too much about victory or defeat...
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
You'll have repeat visits to Syria for sure. You'll be surprised at how effective some of your capabilities are, but as in many early NF scenarios, your forces are out of position and not ideally configured. Holding on is the word of the day for the first few hours.
B
B
Check out our novel, Northern Fury: H-Hour!: http://northernfury.us/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
And our blog: http://northernfury.us/blog/post2/
Twitter: @NorthernFury94 or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northernfury/
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maverick3320
- Posts: 283
- Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:12 pm
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Excellent AAR, Fitzpatv. Med Fury 1 is probably my favorite CMO scenario of all time. Massive scale, playable as Warsaw Pact, tons of second- and third-line units, every type of land/sea/air unit, and decisions to be made (with some consequences).
I've played this scenario through twice - once "stock", and once where I added a few additional units - The BDK Kherson, a hypothetical USSR version of the US Tarawa class and a few Mig-31s.
Both play throughs took me over 30 days IRL. Then again, I'm a micro-manager!
I've played this scenario through twice - once "stock", and once where I added a few additional units - The BDK Kherson, a hypothetical USSR version of the US Tarawa class and a few Mig-31s.
Both play throughs took me over 30 days IRL. Then again, I'm a micro-manager!
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maverick3320
- Posts: 283
- Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:12 pm
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Also, a few notes based on some of your comments:
-Fencers can use the Bison tankers, I believe.
-Since the big missile patch I also struggle with Alamos vs AIM-9Ls. The AIM-9Ls are often fired at 10nm and If the Alamos are fired at any distance longer than that, the NATO Falcons often have time to turn and run away. It makes the F-16/AIM-9L more than a match for the Mig-29/Alamo combo, in my mind. The AIM-9Ls don't seem to lose much energy even at max range.
-I could never get mine laying to work in this scenario, either.
-Kedges and Kerrys work well against the coastal forts. Iron bombs just don't have the accuracy, even at low levels.
-A lesson I've learned with bitter tears is to never try and use Fishbeds in the A2A role. I always use them as expendable, low-level SEAD.
-I rebased the bulk of my Soviet Mig-29s to the Bulgarian and Romanian bases to give them more CAP time over the straights. I shuttled 8 of them back and forth to the Crimea for Alamo re-loads.
-I could never get the hovercraft to work either, so I manually moved them close to the beach when it was cleared (I play all my missions in edit mode).
-I never saw any F-16s with Sparrows. Did you mean F-4s?
-Soviet naval SAMs are almost useless against NATO aircraft that are flying fast and have DECM.
-Fencers can use the Bison tankers, I believe.
-Since the big missile patch I also struggle with Alamos vs AIM-9Ls. The AIM-9Ls are often fired at 10nm and If the Alamos are fired at any distance longer than that, the NATO Falcons often have time to turn and run away. It makes the F-16/AIM-9L more than a match for the Mig-29/Alamo combo, in my mind. The AIM-9Ls don't seem to lose much energy even at max range.
-I could never get mine laying to work in this scenario, either.
-Kedges and Kerrys work well against the coastal forts. Iron bombs just don't have the accuracy, even at low levels.
-A lesson I've learned with bitter tears is to never try and use Fishbeds in the A2A role. I always use them as expendable, low-level SEAD.
-I rebased the bulk of my Soviet Mig-29s to the Bulgarian and Romanian bases to give them more CAP time over the straights. I shuttled 8 of them back and forth to the Crimea for Alamo re-loads.
-I could never get the hovercraft to work either, so I manually moved them close to the beach when it was cleared (I play all my missions in edit mode).
-I never saw any F-16s with Sparrows. Did you mean F-4s?
-Soviet naval SAMs are almost useless against NATO aircraft that are flying fast and have DECM.
Re: Mediterranean Fury 1 - Road to Byzantium 13/2/94
Thanks for the detailed feedback, which I take on board.
It took me a while to play this as well. Like you, I prefer to micromanage and keep my use of missions to a minimum. In fact, I launch all aircraft individually to improve control/visibility and to remove a layer of Doctrine specification detail.
In practice, the Fencers didn't need the Bisons, but it's good to know that the things serve some kind of purpose in this scenario!
Trying to bomb the forts with heavy bombers was probably my biggest mistake in this playthrough. As you say, the short-ranged stand-offish missiles are much more effective.
I put every possible Fishbed on ground attack and found them extremely effective against the Turkish armoured columns. The few with recon loadouts were surprisingly useful, having better endurance than I'd expected.
I mostly used the Bulgarian and Romanian Fulcrums for A2A and they were enough for my purposes. It figured that the Soviets would try to use them as cannon fodder, anyway... I did move a pile of Foxbats to Bulgaria, but only used them at the end to intercept recon flights and didn't really need to do that. It was then that I found-out how useless the Acrid is at low altitude!
Interesting comment on Soviet naval SAMs. I haven't really put this to the test so far but will probably get the chance at some point during Mediterranean Fury.
As you've probably heard me say before, I don't use the Editor. This is mainly because I've never taken the trouble to find-out how it works. There's so much content in CMO that I've never felt the need to develop my own. Of course, this doesn't help me when it comes to reporting bugs, as I can't craft the mini-scenarios the devs seem to like so that they can view problems in isolation.
It took me a while to play this as well. Like you, I prefer to micromanage and keep my use of missions to a minimum. In fact, I launch all aircraft individually to improve control/visibility and to remove a layer of Doctrine specification detail.
In practice, the Fencers didn't need the Bisons, but it's good to know that the things serve some kind of purpose in this scenario!
Trying to bomb the forts with heavy bombers was probably my biggest mistake in this playthrough. As you say, the short-ranged stand-offish missiles are much more effective.
I put every possible Fishbed on ground attack and found them extremely effective against the Turkish armoured columns. The few with recon loadouts were surprisingly useful, having better endurance than I'd expected.
I mostly used the Bulgarian and Romanian Fulcrums for A2A and they were enough for my purposes. It figured that the Soviets would try to use them as cannon fodder, anyway... I did move a pile of Foxbats to Bulgaria, but only used them at the end to intercept recon flights and didn't really need to do that. It was then that I found-out how useless the Acrid is at low altitude!
Interesting comment on Soviet naval SAMs. I haven't really put this to the test so far but will probably get the chance at some point during Mediterranean Fury.
As you've probably heard me say before, I don't use the Editor. This is mainly because I've never taken the trouble to find-out how it works. There's so much content in CMO that I've never felt the need to develop my own. Of course, this doesn't help me when it comes to reporting bugs, as I can't craft the mini-scenarios the devs seem to like so that they can view problems in isolation.