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Setting the Scene
This is another epic Fury scenario, spanning most of the Mediterranean with great complexity and challenge over a two-day timescale. It requires a lot of effort to analyse properly, let alone play and I’ve only finished the first day thus far.
It assumes that the Warsaw Pact assault on the Bosphorus was repulsed after a hard struggle but that the situation in Turkey remains chaotic. An attempt to block the Suez Canal using a container ship has been thwarted by the Egyptians, who remain neutral but lean toward NATO, who are permitted to base aircaft at Cairo and use it as a base of operations against Syria. Hezbollah and the Syrians have attacked Israel in the Golan and there is renewed unrest in neutral Lebanon. The Eisenhower TG off Sardinia made a moderately-successful tanker-supported strike which helped stabilise the Bosphorus situation. For now, NATO forces in the West-Central Mediterranean are tasked with eliminating the Soviet CVH Leningrad and her escorts, currently at Tripoli with three auxiliaries, while trying to deter Libya from entering the war.

The Leningrad is a sister of the Moskva at Tartus, but her escort isn’t quite as strong, lacking a Slava and consisting instead of a Kara-class CG, three DDGs (one of which is a Kara Mod and better classified as a cruiser) and two Krivak IV FFGs. An oiler, repair ship and container ship are also at Tripoli and have, no doubt, brought-in Soviet Grumbles and other SAMs to supplement the Libyans’ Gammon, Goas and Guidelines.

Libya’s navy consists in the main of fast attack craft, mostly armed with Otomats and Styxes and numbering a score or so. Algeria can also muster about a dozen PCFGs and gun-armed corvettes, as well as patrol boats.

An unknown number of Soviet submarines are at large in the area of operations, while the Libyans have a Foxtrot and neutral Algeria a couple of Kilos which could easily be mistaken for Soviets.

Like Syria’s, the Libyan Air Force has been boosted to an unlikely strength of some 400 combat aircraft (which sounds like a lot of trained pilots for what is a sparsely-populated country). Their best are Foxbat fighters and Fencers with short-ranged stand-off weapons, though most attack planes are bomb-armed Fitters, Flogger Hs and Mirages. Needless to say, the Russians have moved squadrons of Fulcrums, Flogger Ks and Badger Gs to Tripoli to support Gaddafi’s forces.

Specifically, you are told to:
- Sink the Leningrad TG and its auxiliaries
- Get the Eisenhower TG to a marked area near the Balearic Islands, where it will meet the auxiliaries Detroit and La Salle, coming from Rota in SW Spain with the CG Baltimore and two old frigates available for escort. Eisenhower then has to fly-off two squadrons of Hornets to Rota to be re-equipped with AMRAAMs before heading for the Atlantic (and her eventual fate in Northern Fury).
- The Spruance DD David Ray needs to sail from Greece to Toulon to replenish her stock of TLAMs, which were mostly used at the Bosphorus.
- Other NATO forces, comprising the French Foch TG off Marseille, the Italian Garibaldi group in the Adriatic and the British Illustrious TG, in an exposed position SW of Greece, must concentrate at a marked rendezvous (RV) W of Crete. They should be joined there by Bainbridge and the auxiliaries Fort Grange, Durance and Isherwood (both near the French TG, the latter in port at Marseille), Orangeleaf (N of the Illustrious group, off W Greece) and Stromboli (behind the Italians).

To complicate things further, NATO is conducting a massive re-distribution of fighters, attack planes and tankers from the USA to Egypt, Crete and Sicily, collectively dubbed Operation Reforger. This involves lots of planes travelling under AI control from a box near Ireland to the above destinations, almost all on Ferry loadouts and totally lacking in initiative or any sense of self-preservation. You have the headache of protecting them.

The Eisenhower CVBG starts 75nm E of Sardinia, with the CVN escorted by two cruisers, a DDG and a frigate. It has plenty of aircraft in a good state of supply, but is limited by the sheer scale of the scenario.

HMS Illustrious is accompanied by two British destroyers and four frigates and has a small complement of Harriers and numerous ASW and AEW choppers. Bart made no secret of the fact that they were in very serious danger…

TG Foch is a typically-outdated and under-powered French squadron of the period, the CV having a DDG and a poor-quality so-called FFG as close escort and two more DDGs nearby, along with the SSN Rubis. Her air group is extremely limited, with even the Super Etendards lacking Exocets and only four Hornets with fighter loadouts. Her SAM cover doesn’t inspire confidence, either and her ASW is below NATO average, though I’ve underestimated the French in this regard before. Worse, the timescale gives her almost no chance of reaching the RV off Crete with her charges, considering all the twists and turns of the route.

In the Adriatic, the Italian CV Garibaldi has two destroyers and a frigate for company. They are weak on fighter cover, having only a few Harriers with Sidewinders, have precious little strike capability and rely on medium-performance Aspides for air defence. At least their helicopter complement is adequate.

Around Rota and Gibraltar, the supply ship Detroit is at sea with the old frigate De Wert as escort. The 6th Fleet command ship La Salle won’t be ready for sea for some hours and has a designated escort of the weak Knox frigate Moinester and two choppers, which will have to join them from Rota’s Naval Air Station. Bainbridge is also at Rota and, as she will be hard-pressed to reach the Crete RV as ordered, is the logical reinforcement at least as far as the meet-up with Eisenhower, as she has strong SAMs and ASROC.

There are lots of single ships and subs of varying usefulness. The Spanish SSK Narval is patrolling off the Algerian coast, with the frigates Andalucia and Navarra also in that general area and potentially of help to the Detroit group. Somehow, the British FFG Monmouth has gotten here from Scenario 2 and stands NNE of Tunis, from where she can try to join Eisenhower.

Two Italian FFGs armed with Otomats are off Malta and Syracuse, Sicily and could be useful pickets, but the corvette Vega, off W Sicily, is best suited to intercepting small boats from Africa and is best gotten out of the way, perhaps to Naples. You also have the SSK Marconi 100nm NNW of Tripoli and a flotilla of three Otomat-armed PCFGs off the heel of Italy.

A modest Greek FFG, the Limnos, starts in an exposed position 100nm N of Libya’s Benghazi bulge, while another refugee from Scenario 2, the elderly and inadequate British frigate Andromeda, is in a similarly nervous position 130nm NE of the Libyan base of Tobruk. A British SSN, Conqueror (of Belgrano fame) is just N of Crete with no obvious role.

Diverse land-based air forces are at your disposal. Portugal has a shower of Corsairs and Alpha Jets that are safest staying there, despite briefing suggestions that they could be moved to Sardinia. Spain is in a slightly better position, despite its share of Freedom Fighters and suchlike rubbish, having some Sparrow and Harpoon Hornets, tankers, Orions and EW planes. There are also some American Orions at Rota.

France can call-on three Breguet Atlantiques at Hyeres, near Marseille and the Italians have half-a-dozen more of these wonderful MPAs at Sardinia and Naples. Three US Orions are based at Sigonella in Sicily.

Otherwise, Italy has a couple of squadrons of halfway-useful F-104s at Trapani in Sicily and Gioia del Colle in the S of the peninsula, some tankers, a couple of EW kites and a pack of trashy Ghibli attack planes. There are six US KC-135 tankers at Rome.

Then there’s the Greeks, who have squadrons of Phantoms, armed with poor-quality early-model Sparrows at Araxos and Amendola on the W mainland and another at Souda Bay on Crete, as well as some Sidewinder-armed Corsairs and Mirages. The Americans have stationed two more Orions at Souda and there are two NATO Sentries at Aktion (of Antony and Cleopatra fame) in NW Greece.

Planning
My initial assessment, after hours of analysis, was that the chief threat was likely to be a massive swarm attack on the Illustrious by Libyan aircraft, backed-up by Soviet Badgers firing Kingfish ASCMs from distance.

I saw the submarine threat and the danger of Libyan PCFGs trying to threaten the sea lanes as moderate, as we had the tools to deal with such things. There was, however, an initial issue with two Libyan MTBs that were shadowing the Illustrious and the Italian DDG Ardito and which had been allowed to approach within their kinematic torpedo range. I couldn’t fire at them without bringing Libya prematurely into the war and probably incurring a vicious VP penalty, so the only option was to move away at Flank and hope I wasn’t being suckered onto a waiting submarine.

A real worry was the enemy trying to interdict the air bridge to Cairo in particular. Protecting the Sicilian and Cretan traffic looked feasible, but between Crete and Egypt, there was a lot of open water close to Libyan fighter bases and I only had the Greek F-4s to do the job.

As for the Leningrad group, their strike range was a modest 80nm, as they lacked the Sandboxes of the Tartus squadron’s Slava. As they would presumably still be at Tripoli, I would have plenty of time to see them coming if they left their shore-based SAM cover. Chances were that they wouldn’t, leaving me the problem of penetrating the Gammons, Grumbles and lesser SAMs as well as plenty of CAP. It could only be done by Eisenhower and ideally on Day 1, before she had to sail for her rendezvous.

There was also the question of what to do about Algeria, which starts Unfriendly (like Libya) and neutral Tunisia (which might be sending intel to the enemy as she plays a double-game). I didn’t feel that either was likely to attack during the scenario and my main concern was to prevent ‘incidents’, particularly mistaking Algerian subs for Soviet Kilos. It seemed best to stay out of Algerian waters, especially as they were known to have Styx batteries along the shoreline.

Initial Orders
Eisenhower was told to sail S towards Tunisia for the moment and stay there for the whole of the first day. Jammers were switched on and all eight ready Phoenix Tomcats were immediately sent-off to support Illustrious with tanker support from Rome.

Illustrious turned towards Greece, aiming to link-up with Garibaldi (at least) before proceeding to the RV. The DDGs Limnos and Grecale were told to steam toward the same meeting point off the Greek coast. I thought about flying-off all unnecessary aircraft, but soon realised there weren’t any, as even the strike Harriers carried Sidewinders and I needed my AEW and ASW choppers.

Foch detached the almost useless (and slow) frigate Commandant Bouan to Toulon, then aimed to rendezvous with the other French DDGs and the auxiliaries Durance, Fort Grange and Isherwood between Sardinia and Corsica. I judged that there was no realistic chance of any of these reaching the RV off Crete in 48 hours and concentrated on keeping them out of harm’s way as they moved towards the Straits of Messina, which were searched for lurking subs by Orions.

Garibaldi had the option of waiting for her auxiliary, the Stromboli, but I considered it more important to link her up with Illustrious as soon as possible and had her push-on S, gambling that the enemy had no subs behind her in the Adriatic.

Narval was an accident waiting to happen, so I sent her NW to patrol off Cartagena. The Spanish frigate Andalucia was sent to link-up with the ships coming from Rota. She had ASROC, but lousy sonar and no chopper and therefore needed some MPA support. Navarra had excellent sonar, but limited ASW weapons, so was told to sail slowly W, sounding for subs and keeping her chopper ready.

As Vega headed for Naples, Monmouth and Ardito were ordered to try to join Eisenhower, the latter accelerating away from her Libyan shadow.

David Ray faced a struggle to reach Toulon in time. She started at Cruise, glad of her two ASW choppers. Andromeda headed N towards Turkey at Flank.

As many Spanish Hornets as possible were kitted-out with Harpoons, with a view to their participation in a tanker-supported strike on Leningrad. The Orions at Rota were detailed to cover Detroit, while those at Moron (near Seville – I’ve told that joke before) were given the job of defending the Andalucia.

I noted that this is one of those scenarios where you aren’t allowed to prevent aircraft with SARH weapons from cranking and missing their aim. Annoying – why does this vary from one scenario to another?

The Breguets at Hyeres were told to cover Fort Grange for now, as Foch could provide their own ASW. They could supplement the combined squadron in due course.

Searching for more CAP for Illustrious, I discounted the Italian F-104s, as they lacked the range and could not refuel in-flight. It seemed possible to use some of the Greek Phantoms from Andravida and Souda, so sent four from each base.

Day 1
14/2/94 13:00Z: A surprisingly placid start!. To my relief, the Libyan MTBs made no immediate attempt to attack Illustrious or Ardito and let me move to a safe distance, maintaining their course and speed. The 16 fighters and 3 tankers detailed to help Illustrious arrived and began patrolling. Otherwise, some Foxbats watched Andromeda as she headed away at speed.

14:00Z: The briefing suggested trying to lure Leningrad out of cover without upsetting the Libyans. I decided to use Ardito as bait and had her cautiously approach Tripoli, keeping well out of Soviet missile range and with orders to retreat if attacked. Her chopper kept an eye on the MTB Susa and usefully confirmed that the Soviets were still in port and blaring emissions. Meanwhile, Bainbridge sailed from Rota, aiming to catch Detroit as soon as possible.

15:00Z: No more phoney war!. Libya mounted the expected heavy strike on Illustrious, sending a diversionary force of attack planes to Souda Bay. They got lucky and timed their attack for when the Greek F-4s were changing shifts and the US Tomcats were refuelling. As a result, two F-14s were unable to engage and one had to divert to Andravida in Greece. The tankers got clear with refuelling privileges suspended to allow them to do so instead of committing suicide. It worked much better when planes had to go to tankers and not vice versa.

As soon as hostilities began, we were fined a brutal 100VP for no better reason than that Libya had chosen to make an unprovoked attack on us. This in the context of 1VP for each enemy aircraft (even Soviet) destroyed. We were immediately given an unrealistic list of Libyan targets to eliminate by our deluded High Command. What with ?!.

For all this, my preparations bore fruit and the Brits did NOT have a bad day!. The attackers were cut to ribbons by the Tomcats, Harriers and Phantoms and either shot down or harried into going Engaged Defensive (such a pathological setting) and eventually retreating, low on fuel (the closest thing there is to an AI morale rule in the game). They did a bit better at Souda Bay, where I had to use F-4s with attack loadouts as CAP and lost four for 3VP each. The Libyans lost 10 Foxbat escorts, 16 Flogger Hs, 19 Flogger Es, 3 Fishbeds and 5 Fencers (53 airframes in all), while the Illustrious TG didn’t need to expend a single SAM. A Lynx from HMS Glasgow took the chance to sink the MTB Debha for 5VP with a Sea Skua volley and Ardito disposed of the Susa with an Otomat.

16:00Z: Eisenhower sent another eight fighters to support Illustrious, but they had to be diverted when another large formation of enemy aircraft left Tripoli and made for the American CV (or possibly Ardito or the supply base on Pantelleria). Similarly, a SEAD strike on the Leningrad had to be aborted, as it would have gone straight through the enemy planes. The Sparrow Tomcats and Hornets engaged the strike, putting safety first as they dodged Alamos and Apexes from the Soviet Fulcrum and Flogger K escorts at Afterburner. Four more Phoenix F-14s and two HARM/Sparrow Hornets from the SEAD strike waited in reserve near Eisenhower, with two Prowlers in jamming support. One Tomcat and one F/A-18 were lost for 2 MiG-29s, 12 Floggers and 6 Mirage attack planes. Some of the latter fell to Ardito, which defended herself valiantly against those bombers that took an interest in her. She also accounted for most of a follow-up wave of bomb-armed Libyan Blinders, eight of which were downed. Critically low on SAMs, she withdrew towards Naples.

Meanwhile, some late-arriving Libyan planes hit Souda Bay, destroying a Phantom on the ground and a radar (5VP) at a cost of 17 Flogger Hs, a Flogger E and two Fencers, many of which were operational losses as the planes RTB’d.
17:00Z: There was continued attrition of interloping enemy aircraft around Crete but we lost an F-4 as a result of it going out of comms and then refusing to RTB.

18:00Z: Another crisis reared-up as a large formation of Soviet Badgers departed Tripoli and made for Illustrious. A volley of Kingfish would pose an existential threat to the task group and something had to be done. Four Hornets from Eisenhower, several Harriers and Greek F-4s from Andravida intercepted the strike, with six Italian F-104s from Trapani not arriving until the action was over. Thankfully, the Russian bombers either had their radars off or weren’t carrying Kingfish, as they didn’t loose any missiles before being slaughtered. With no escorts, they were sitting ducks and only one of the 16 made it back to Libya. So far, we’d destroyed 134 enemy aircraft for nine of our own. On the downside, Illustrious’s Harriers were almost out of A2A missiles.

Just as this action finished, I looked at Eisenhower just in time to spot four Algerian Flogger Hs coming-in low to attack her. Reacting, the TG shot them all down with SAMs, but the treacherous and unprovoked raid slapped me for another 100VP for something I could do nothing about. I had really not believed that Algeria would get involved until a later scenario, but there it was…

Four Soviet Flogger Ks then made a move towards Eisenhower, two falling to SAMs and the others to a recon F-14 (with Sparrows) that was our only ready fighter due to commitments elsewhere.

A squadron of Libyan Foxbats then went after the force that had mauled the Badgers, matters being complicated by the damned tankers backing-up to refuel our planes. A couple of Greek Phantoms protected the KC-135s, downing 2-3 MiGs for one loss.

19:00Z: The Algerians then mounted a big strike at Eisenhower as La Salle and the Knox frigate Moinester sailed from Rota, picking-up their helicopters. There were 16 Fishbeds and 16 Flogger Es (all in attack mode) in the main wave and it looked worrying, even though I knew intellectually that they had little chance of getting through. Enough Tomcats and Hornets managed to ready in time and were joined by more Starfighters from nearby Trapani. The Algerians came-on like lemmings in a mindless conga line and those few that got past the fighters fell to SAMs. Some puzzlement was caused by a TALD-carrying F-14 that I pressed into service as CAP. It launched its decoys under AI control and then behaved as if it was Winchester, needing a lot of coaxing before it condescended to attack.

While I was occupied with this, a Greek F-4, RTB’ing to Souda, was bounced by a pair of Foxbats and lost. The map for this scenario is too big to keep a proper eye on everything that is going on, especially with Algeria involved.

A follow-up strike by a dozen Flogger Hs was repulsed, with three downed. The remainder fled, pursued by Tunisian F-5s. Our own planes had to disengage at speed to prevent the risk of an ‘incident’ with the Tunisians, two Tigers following over the task group and making our Hawkeye nervous.

I was decidedly upset with the Algerians and two Osa boats W of the Eisenhower group were given the treatment by a pair of Hornets with Harpoons.

20:00Z: Given Algeria’s intervention, I had Detroit and Bainbridge reverse course and wait for La Salle and Moinester (which had no SAMs), calculating that the combined force could still get to the Eisenhower RV in time and that Bainbridge had no hope of reaching the one off Crete. Algerian Fulcrums were patrolling and two flew over Southern Spain chasing-off one of our Orions. I didn’t want to oppose them with the available Spanish and Portuguese aircraft, so concentrated on denying them targets for now, scaling-down MPA activity.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi had sent his score or so of fast attack craft on a crazy death-or-glory incursion into the Central Mediterranean. An Orion from Sigonella sank the Otomat-toting frigate Dat Assawari, using all four Harpoons, as the ship carried SAMs and was probably Libya’s most capable surface warship.

With the Reforger traffic now in full swing towards Cairo, I tried to do something about the Libyan fighters interdicting the route. The Greek F-4s fared poorly against the Foxbats, each side losing two planes. Judging from the Message Log, the enemy Apex missiles were roughly twice as effective as the Greek Sparrow E, which typically veered 90 degrees sideways on the first shot (at 50% Max Range) and invariably missed. Sending-in the F-14 that had re-based to Andravida made no difference, as it couldn’t shoot straight and was destroyed as soon as a Foxbat got in range to shoot back. At least we were keeping the enemy away from the F-15s and tankers heading for Cairo...for now.

Ardito turned and used her Otomat battery on a pursuing pair of Libyan Al Hani frigates (with Improved Styxes), sinking both.

I had 80 TLAMs with the Eisenhower group, so used them in a strike on Tripoli, aiming for the specified land targets but mainly aiming to soak-up enemy SAMs. We did that and also destroyed three large buildings rated as key targets for 6VP each and four air-search radars for one apiece. A secondary strike was aimed at the Algerian airbase at Ain Oussera, which I guessed was the one used by the Fulcrums. It turned-out to be a recon Foxbat base instead and we scored half-a-dozen points for three MiG-25s and three hangars.

Libya still had a lot of Sharara-class Otomat frigates, Nanuchkas and Osa boats coming and something had to be done, even though each Harpoon used was one less to fire at the Leningrad. A Hornet with SLAMs dealt with the first pair of Shararas, the Shafaq and Laheeb.

21:00Z: The frigate Andalucia engaged most of the Algerian Navy off Cartagena and sank three Nanuchkas and two Osas before being lost. The scoring system being what it is, this worked-out at 25VP each. Navarra was surprised by an Osa but recovered to sink it and avoid the answering Styxes.

Meanwhile, another Libyan Sharara was claimed by our Hornets.

The Greeks at Souda, reinforced by the F-4 squadron at Araxos on the mainland re-basing to Crete, were busily engaging Foxbats and Flogger Bs to protect the Reforgers. Much of this was indecisive, with poor shooting on both sides and losses about even.

22:00Z: A Spanish strike with Hornets from Torrejon (Madrid) and Zaragoza hammered the Algerian fleet with Harpoons, sinking two Mourad Rais frigates (ex-Soviet Koni-class, gun- and SAM-armed), an Osa I and a pair of Osa IIs.

Hornets and Vikings from Eisenhower clobbered three more Shararas – trouble was, they kept coming and we only had so many missiles…

Navarra again got ambushed by an Algerian Osa II. She sank it with a Harpoon, then hurriedly switched her single rail to RIM-66s in time to foil a pair of Styxes.

The F-4s continued to spar with the Libyan fighters, none-too-successfully with 13 lost so far, but the Reforgers were getting through unharmed.

Approaching Sicily, David Ray decided to use her eight TLAMs to soften-up the Libyan Gammon site shielding Tripoli. She did no damage, but used-up more SAMs.

23:00Z: A Viking sank yet another Sharara, biting the Bark but, as happens so often, her other Harpoon malfunctioned. I aimed to use Vikings for sea control as much as possible, as it didn’t make sense to send these low-performance aircraft against Tripoli. Delaying to avoid a periodic Foxbat surge, a Hornet then sank the final pair of Shararas. That left three Nanuchkas and eight Osa IIs. Two of the latter were disposed-of by another Viking.

The Greeks had one of their more-successful skirmishes, downing two Foxbats without loss.

Four Algerian Fulcrums went after the two MPAs escorting the La Salle-Detroit-Bainbridge group, which was still assembling E of Gibraltar. Bainbridge illuminated radars and downed two with RIM-67Cs. The score was now +107 and down to a Minor Defeat.

15/2/94 00:00Z: Suddenly, “Four messages of type: Reforger Aircraft Lost”!!. WHAATT!?. At Sicily, perhaps?. No!!. Reaching Cairo, the wretches had been circling the airport ‘manoeuvering to refuel’ until they crashed instead of simply landing, with their tankers ignoring their plight and touching-down. In theory, this cost me 20VP, with the prospect of many more to come and what had been a really enjoyable game was ruined in an instant. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it, as sending my own tankers to Cairo was impractical, all Reforger aircraft are under AI control and I have never used the Editor and don’t know how. The only possible response, other than quitting in disgust, was to assign tankers to the other termini at Souda and Sigonella and simply disallow any VP the enemy scored in this way, treating it as if it wasn’t happening. Obviously, Bart never intended this and it is a bug. Much still needs to be done to get air-to-air refuelling working satisfactorily. There’s also a case for NOT having AI-controlled Allied units in scenarios. If something can cost the player VP, be fair and give them control over it. Cursing, I continued...

Ardito sank an Osa II with her last Otomat, then withdrew towards Naples.

Six Hornets and two Prowlers attacked the Leningrad group with HARMs, coming-in low at 300’ once they reached the Gammon umbrella and overcoming fuel problems (some Hornets are lumbered with useless cluster bombs as well as HARMs) by cancelling RTB on the basis that the situation would improve once the weight of the ordnance was gone. It was hard to gauge results, but hits were scored and lots of enemy SAMs were expended. Rather miraculously in one lucky Hornet’s case (avoiding fighter missiles), all aircraft managed to RTB safely despite being chased by Foxbats. Keeping low did much to immunise them from Apexes and Gammons alike. We soon learned that the Krivak frigate Svirepyy had sunk, though the award of a derisory 5VP was depressing (same as one Reforger F-15).

01:00Z: The increasingly-forlorn mission to defend the Cairo Reforgers continued. The Greeks were running-out of ready F-4s and 15 had been lost so far, while the Libyans kept coming. No Reforgers had been lost to the enemy, but they were piling-up over Cairo and crashing one-by-one (but not all of them, for some reason – we eventually got 58 airframes down). It was hard to stay motivated.

02:00: Illustrious and Garibaldi had linked-up and were heading to the RV with Orangeleaf, Limnos, Grecale and the Italian PCFGs. The Libyans had sent four Osa IIs and an MTB to intercept them, so Illustrious launched a Harrier with Sea Eagles, which halved the Osa problem.

Libya then made a big strike against Souda. Due to my futile efforts to protect the Reforgers, I had to use F-4s with attack loadouts for CAP. It didn’t go well and six were lost for just one attacker. I might have done better to just let the enemy bomb me, as the raid itself cost no points.

More pain at Cairo, with some Galaxy transports heading BACK over enemy-controlled airspace, despite the impracticality of providing an escort. At least my tankers were overcoming refuelling issues at Sigonella.

03:00Z: Vikings from Eisenhower attacked the main force of Libyan PCFGs, sinking all three Nanuchkas and four of the five Osas. Simultaneously, Libyan Mirages struck Pantelleria, where I had chosen not to re-base Iberian aircraft as suggested in the Briefing. We downed three or four, but engaging with Starfighters cost me two of these and the Mirages also destroyed one of my retiring Vikings.

Meanwhile, a Reforger F-15 was actually lost to enemy action approaching Cairo, so I had to allow them 5VP. I’d had nothing ready to protect it with.

04:00Z: A Hornet with SLAMs rid me of the last Osa boat in the main Libyan fleet.

A small enemy strike on Souda resulted in a Fishbed downed, but the Greeks’ Sparrows continued to be hopeless, missing repeatedly.

Some of the Reforger F-15s were now trying to fly back across the Mediterranean to refuel from tankers over Sicily… at least the latter weren’t going to meet them.

Lacking better targets, Bainbridge Harpooned an Algerian patrol boat.

05:00Z: With daybreak, a Greek F-4 picked-off the Libyan MTB S of Crete with Paveways. A Sea King from Garibaldi then sank the last two Osa boats with short-range Marte missiles, completing the destruction of the Gadfly’s surface fleet.

The Libyans managed to catch a Reforger tanker off Cairo, so I had to grant them the 15VP. As some Greek F-4s re-readied, they resignedly returned to the fray and, in a fairly typical encounter, downed two Flogger Bs for one loss. Apart from a couple of trailing tankers, the Reforger stream to Cairo seemed to be over at last.

06:00Z: In summary, we still aimed to sink the Leningrad group, get Eisenhower to her rendezvous with Detroit and La Salle, fly the Hornets to Rota and get Illustrious and Garibaldi to the Cretan RV with the Orangeleaf and Stromboli. Oh, and get David Ray to Toulon.

07:00Z: With a second HARM strike on Leningrad underway, a Greek F-4 caused a distraction by taking-off without orders on a mission I hadn’t cancelled for it and got itself shot down.

Just as the SEAD planes were about to go in, Grecale got a sub-surface contact. She and the PCFGs were now heading for Tripoli as a mopping-up force or backup, depending on how the strikes on Leningrad went (as was the SSK Marconi). Evasive action and employment of an MPA and chopper were called-for, but it turned-out to be a whale.

Again, with my attention on the strike, the AI took advantage and downed one of the trailing tankers en route for Cairo, increasing its legitimate Reforger score to 35.

The eight SEAD planes went-in, hitting two Karas and two destroyers and getting away ahead of the inevitable Foxbat surge. The enemy surely had to be running-out of SAMs by now…

08:00Z: Bainbridge took-out a second Algerian patrol boat. We needed all the VP we could get. Suicidal Algerian Fulcrums then evaded far too many RIM-67s to close-with and down a low-flying Orion near the cruiser. It cost them four MiG-29s, but still scored 8-4 in their favour.

09:00Z: Eleven Hornets with Harpoons and SLAMs went-in low over the wavetops and annihilated the Leningrad group in a textbook strike. Not that the awards were generous for what was billed as our primary mission!. The Leningrad scored 50, the CG Ochakov 25, the three DDGs (one really a CG and another a Sovremenny) just 10 apiece and the second Krivak 5. 115 in total, counting both frigates, plus another 10 or so for choppers. All planes returned safely and Eisenhower (with HMS Monmouth) headed for the Balearic RV point.

Just as we were congratulating ourselves, an Algerian Kilo ambushed and sank the Detroit and the frigate De Wert, with the La Salle being just beyond its torpedo range and escaping. With choppers, this cost me 109VP and pretty-much wiped-out the victory over the Leningrad with the cruellest of timing!. Bainbridge blasted the Kilo with her ASROC, which recovered 25VP. A change a few updates ago has made SSKs very hard to detect and the first hint you generally get of their presence these days is when they attack you…I’d had plenty of sonobuoys in the area from the Orions.

10:00Z: The Algerians repeatedly sent Fulcrums after the La Salle group’s choppers, but they lacked their predecessor’s extreme good fortune and nine were shot down as they came like moths to a candle.

The Greeks lost yet another F-4 as it tried to protect what I hope is the last KC-10 heading to Cairo. Thankfully, the tanker had worked-out how to land…

11:00Z: Bainbridge swatted another Fulcrum, but was now down to 17 SAMs, so I organised some tanker-supported Spanish CAP in case the Algerians still had a strike in them. It turned-out that they had no more MiG-29s left, which significantly altered the local balance of power. The Bainbridge is definitely the best way to deal with them, but only because of the AI’s stupidity.

The score after one long game day is +69, or +174 with the Reforger bug discounted. Looking ahead, my main concern is further submarine attacks, though I expect the Libyans to raid Souda again and maybe strike Illustrious and Garibaldi when they reach the RV (which is, therefore, best done as late as possible). HMS Conqueror is heading to scout the area for subs. Meanwhile, Eisenhower aims to reach her RV and finish-off the Algerian Navy, while Grecale, the PCFGs and Marconi should suffice to deal with the Russian auxiliaries off Tripoli. Whether I can score enough to win under this brutal scoring system is a good question.

Thanks Vince, great report.

The Cairo crash issue is a PITA, maybe another runway or two just to get the aircraft down faster.

I remember in my playthrough (many years ago), both the Ardito and the Bainbridge were the heroes, and they seem to be in your run as well. Well done on saving Lusty, although in future scenarios, she will be treated as sunk and you will need to work with remnants of her air group repositioned to Cyprus and her escorts reinforcing other groups.

Algeria jumps in thinking this is an opportunity to gain an advantage over Spain, and not to be left out of the 'spoils of war'. I did consider setting up a separate scenario, perhaps later in the campaign for her. However, I think both in reality and the game, NATO can handle the separate threats of Libya and Algeria fairly well - combined it causes some further issues. I cannot remember why I granted -100VP for them coming in unprovoked, it may have simply been an issue with my inept event programming in the early days. This was a scenario that was hatched way back in the Harpoon days and was one of half a dozen that I had dabbled with for many years, so it was one of the first CMANO scenarios I designed.

Looking forward to the next day.

B

12:00Z: As Foch and company had no real chance of reaching the RV off Crete, I sent them to Naples.
The Spanish SSK Narval torpedoed an Algerian patrol boat off the North African coast.

A Reforger tanker decided it would return across the Med from Cairo without warning. There was no way to escort it in time and it was lost, taking the semi-legitimate Reforger penalty total to 60.

Another buggy issue surfaced, with some of the Greek F-4s RTB’ing as soon as they launched, e.g. 335 Sqn Tiger#6. This recurred several times.

13:00Z: A Viking sank an Algerian Mourad Rais frigate E of Algiers and found an Osa II, which was put away by Navarra. This got the Algerian Air Force excited and a posse of Foxbats and four Fishbeds went after the Viking. Eisenhower’s CAP intercepted and downed 9 Foxbats and all the Fishbeds for one Tomcat as the Viking escaped by diving low. The fight identified a patrol boat W of Eisenhower as Algerian, not Tunisian, so HMS Monmouth shrugged-off a malfunction to Harpoon it. Algeria’s surface fleet was now down to 5 patrol boats.

14:00Z: Narval made that four patrol boats.

The expected strike came-in at Souda Bay. Reinforced by four more F-4s from Andravida, the Greek Phantoms were their usual frustrating selves and took four losses in dealing with six Flogger Bs and Fishbeds. The raid did little damage, mainly because the Fishbed attack planes were trying to bomb underground fuel and ammo storage instead of all the juicy parked Reforger planes.

Moving towards Tripoli, the Italian PCFGs were ambushed by the Libyan Foxtrot Al Badr and the Sibylla was lost for 25VP (same as a Russian cruiser). Our prosecution of the contact wasn’t helped by a Foxbat surge and a lone Mirage bombing Pantelleria. An Orion and chopper survived by keeping below the Foxbats’ engagement altitude.

15:00Z: After the Foxbats gave-up, the US Orion (from Sigonella) found not just the Al Badr, but a Soviet Victor III!. Despite some exasperating AI behaviour, including firing a Harpoon at the SSN when it surfaced damaged, the MPA sank both subs for 25VP each.

While this was going-on, we lost another tanker on the Cairo run, taking the penalty points to 75. Frankly, I was past caring…

A Hornet with Harpoons attacked two of the surviving Algerian patrol boats. Got one, but there always has to be a malfunction, doesn’t there?.

16:00Z: A squadron of F-16s was now available for our use at Sigonella, though they would need time to ready. Unfortunately, there were also Ferry missions going to Incirlik and the island of Limnos, which promised more pain.
I sent another Hornet after the lucky patrol boat, which prompted three pairs of loony Fishbeds to challenge Eisenhower’s CAP, much to their detriment. Spanish and US Hornets then sank the last three patrol boats.

Another mindless Cairo tanker return flight was lost (penalty now 90, or 105 with three F-15s taken into account). F-4s managed to nail the two Flogger Bs responsible.

17:00Z: The Algerian Air Force got frisky again and sent 7 Foxbats and two Fishbeds against the Eisenhower and La Salle groups. Only one Foxbat survived, but they did down a Spanish F/A-18A.

With the game’s penchant for simultaneity, the Libyans raided the Cairo route again while this was going on, but we were ready this time and put away two Flogger Bs without loss.

With more simultaneity, the second Algerian Kilo showed-up S of the Eisenhower group and was sunk in good time by an Italian Orion, which was a big relief.

A Fishbed tried to raid Souda, with one Flogger B for escort. The latter duly wasted an F-4, but a second Phantom got the MiG-21.

Navarra linked-up with the La Salle group.

19:00Z: Two more Algerian Fishbeds were destroyed by Eisenhower’s CAP.

The Reforger shambles repeated itself at Incirlik (though all was well at Limnos, Souda and Sigonella). The F-16s still had their home base set to Sigonella and refused to land, ignoring the two tankers I’d sent to help them.

An F-4 downed a Flogger B and escaped.

20:00Z: With a Sentry supplying targetting data from afar, Grecale and the PCFG Fenice attacked the Soviet auxiliaries with Otomats, sinking the oiler Berezina and the freighter Viktor Kuban for 25VP each. The repair ship Amur was hit but not sunk.

The Algerians chose that moment to commit their last Foxbat, which fell to the Spanish Hornets.

21:00Z: The recurring Libyan Foxbat surge over the Gulf of Sirte necessitated some evasive action.

22:00Z: Ongoing operations to protect the endless Cairo supply runs saw another Flogger B knocked-down without loss.

23:00Z: The PCFG Chimera’s attack on the Amur was hindered by persistent Foxbat surges driving-off the supporting AWACS. Unfortunately, the Italian ships can’t get a precise enough fix without such aid.

16/2/94 00:00Z: The Foxbat problem continued, though one was incautious and got shot down by Grecale’s Aspides. Finally, the Sentry got enough peace to send Chimera the targetting data. Lacking any other targets, the PCFG loosed all 6 Otomats, just to make sure – only for the repair ship to sink before they got there!. You couldn’t make it up!!

01:00Z: There was another strike on Souda Bay, with 11 Flogger Bs escorting just four Fishbed attack planes. The weary Greeks intercepted and lost three Phantoms for five Floggers. Again, the MiG-21s did no real harm.

02:00Z: A trailing Fishbed was shot down trying to bomb Souda. It took seven missiles…

A couple of Mirages bombed Pantelleria, with the Starfighters at Trapani unable to get there in time.

Eisenhower reached her RV zone, but there was no immediate VP award. I created a Ferry mission to Rota and put the Hornets from the F/A-18C squadrons on Ferry loadouts to minimise fuel issues, as the Algerians were no longer in any shape to interfere.

The Libyans attacked the Illustrious and Garibaldi groups with 11 Flogger Es and Hs, all of which were culled by CAP and SAMs.

The first twelve Hornets left for Rota. The other six had longer ready times and had to delay their flights.

04:00Z: The Hornet batch reached Rota. There was no VP award and it was not possible to re-arm them.

05:00Z: The remaining Hornets left for Rota.

06:00Z: We received a delayed 100VP for Eisenhower reaching her RV. Illustrious and Garibaldi advanced into the Crete RV zone for 50 more each, plus another 25 each for the supply ships Orangeleaf and Stromboli.

07:00Z: All F/A-18C Hornets that could fly had now reached Rota, but it scored nothing.

08:00Z: The remaining Badger went for Illustrious with two Flogger Ks for escort. It went about it properly this time, with radars on and making use of the Libyan Gammon umbrella. As a result, it managed to loose its two Kingfish at the carrier. CAP were powerless to intercept them and they were only stopped at the last by 40mm and 30mm gunfire – a real close shave!. After I’d persuaded them that they weren’t still on a Ferry mission (!), two F-16s from Sigonella cut-off the bomber’s retreat as it was abandoned by its escorts and ensured that it wouldn’t be able to try again.

This prompted 16 Libyan Foxbats to come screaming at our CAP at 1,350 knots, only to hit a fuel brick wall and return the way they’d come.

David Ray reached Toulon for another 50VP.

12:00Z: The Libyans made a last raid on Souda Bay. The Greek CAP was reinforced by Harriers and two F-16s. Two Harriers were lost (the Flogger Bs were surprisingly effective all game) but the attacking force of five Floggers and four Fishbeds was wiped-out.

So, it finished with a final score of +496, or +651 with the illegitimate Reforger points removed. The former score was offically Average, but I’ll leave it to the reader to decide for themselves who won.

NATO lost two frigates, an ammo ship, a PCFG, 41 fighters (of which 32 were Greek F-4s), two ASW planes, three choppers and a radar. Legitimate Reforger losses came to 5 tankers or cargo planes and three F-15s, though another 31 fighters were ‘lost’ to the bug.

The Warsaw Pact lost a CVH, a cruiser, three destroyers, two frigates, an oiler, a freighter, a repair ship, an SSN, 19 fighters, 16 Badgers and 10 choppers.

Algeria lost three frigates (of sorts), 14 PCFGs, 9 patrol boats, two SSKs, 47 fighters, 47 attack planes, four recon planes and three hangars.

Libya lost three frigates, 24 PCFGs, three MTBs, a sub, 52 fighters, 113 attack planes, eight Blinders and 10 ground facilities.

Overall aircraft losses (excluding the bug) were NATO 54, opposition 316.

Overall, this was an enjoyable scenario to play, despite the bugs. The map was perhaps a bit too large for comfort and the whole Reforger business would have been better left-out, while the scoring system needs looking-at.

The next one looks like a hybrid of the last two and promises to be another two-day slog, with the familiar Fury features of resurrected units on both sides.