Northern Inferno - Beware the Badgers

[MikeJ19]

Ancalagon451 and Soren,

Thanks for the input on the terms and to confirm that they are guides. Very helpful.

Mikkey, thanks for the nice comments!

Some initial thoughts:

The Soviets pose lots of threats to my forces from the air, surface and beneath the surface. Based on the scenario name, I think that the biggest threat are the Badgers. I’ve got to be ready for attacks from all three dimensions.

I need to clear a path for the three naval task units to the Safe Haven. There I need to make sure that the landing craft and helicopters can get to Narvik in one piece.

It would be nice to remove the eyes from the Soviet air units – that means finding and destroying their Tu-16P Badger J, Tu-126 Moss and Bears. This is likely not very easy to do.

My radar locations are likely already known to the Soviets, so giving them looser EMCON rules makes sense to me. I can use them to try and find the Soviet planes as they move West to attack. I need to remember that it is likely that the Soviets will not respect Swedish neutrality.

I have two squadrons of fighters in Norway. I need to get them in location to attack the Soviet air force. It would be best to attack their EW and recce planes. However, I need to take out the Guided missile launching planes, as well. They will be launching from a long way out.

I have a squadron of fighters on the Ark Royal and another on the Guadacanal. I also have a squadron of planes (Buccaneers) that I can use against Soviet Naval units.

I have P3-Bs that can find and destroy Soviet subs.

I also have my own EW aircraf – six Shackletons and 4 Garnets. I need to use the Shackletons to find and direct my fighters to take out the Soviet Badgers over Norway and Sweden. The Garnets will need to cover the approaches from the North.

My helicopters can be used in conjunction with the P3-Bs to find and destroy Soviet Subs.

The Soviet guided missile cruisers have a stand-off range of about 5nm. Each of my naval task units have ships that can out range the cruisers.

I’m not sure how the forts are going to help. The Soviet surface ships would have to be very close to get engaged from the fort. There are some forts protecting the area that the landing craft are heading for.

I have to remember that this is a 4 day battle – I can not win it the first day. Might be able to lose it right away, though!

One idea is to go on the offensive at the start – sending some planes to attack the Soviet air fields. This might also let me find the eyes from the Soviet air force.

[MikeJ19]

A look at the naval tasks

[MikeJ19]

And the air tasks

[MikeJ19]

I'm starting to set up the missions.

First naval group

[MikeJ19]

Second group

[MikeJ19]

Third group.

Now, how do I set up a mission to attack incoming planes for my Phantoms sitting on the carrier. I want them ready to go if needed?

[Ancalagon451]

Two options

A: Set up a CAP mission as normal and check it's status as inactive (mission planner lefmost column of options). Later when you see bogeys just switch it active.

B: Set up an Air Intercept mission (subtype of the Strike mission), select the distance for the enemy bogeys to trigger the launch and done.

This mission can sometimes have a little FUBAR in which all the planes assigned to it are launched even if only a single bogey is detected.

If you see it happen you can change the "maximum number of flights allowed to fly" to 1 or 2. But if you do, remember that you'll have to manually switch again to unlimited in case of a massive raid incoming.

Ancalagon

[Gunner98]

A couple things to be aware of. Your ASW missions will launch based on type and home base so in your first Amphib group you need to be careful that both helos don't launch at once.

For CAP with a Brit TG vice an American one - your resources are really thin. You've got enough AEW and ASW. Remember to keep your Sea Things with active dipping sonar in and around your heavies which make so much noise that they drown out passive sonobouys.

The general rule for CAP and any fast jet mission really is to fly in pairs. Brit carriers often have to break this rule. The problem with keeping AC on the deck is that it slows your reaction time, by a couple minutes at least: This is not good when there are supersonic sea skimmers inbound. The problem with keeping AC in the air on CAP, is that you burn through their readiness very quickly. 14 Phantoms is much better than 6-8 Harriers in later scenarios so you may want to keep a pair in the air, but if they start getting thin on readiness you may have to strip it down to one at a time.

With a Bear threat you need to cut down the odds, position your CAP down the line of threat like a goalie to cut down the angles and thin out the missiles - BARCAP (Barrier CAP). Your BARCAP is only your tripwire, the trick is to get AEW out early enough that you can start launching and 'Flush the deck' when the strike is detected. I cannot remember the Ganet's capabilities but you may want to put one out with your BARCAP. Every A2A missile you have should be expended before the inbound missiles start getting engaged by SAMs - because you just don't have enough SAMs. (Worth taking a close look at your TG formation as well)

B

B

[MikeJ19]

Ancalagon and Bart,

Thanks for the advice.

I will have to tweak my missions - I was wondering about the ASW patrols with the helicopters in the task units. As they come from different bases/ships and sometimes are different air types, I may have them all in the air right away, which is not ideal. I will have to look into this.

I like the inactive CAP approach - thanks.

I was expecting the Soviets to come from the East rather than the North. May need to re-think some of this. Bart, I take it that you are saying that my planes use their missiles against the inbound missiles. That will be interesting. It would be better if I could take out the Badgers before they launch, but once they launch the missiles are much more dangerous. Hmm, more to think about.

Here is a look at my thoughts about the missions for the aircraft on land.

[Gunner98]

It would be better if I could take out the Badgers before they launch

That is ideal, and I see you have land based - which are perfect for this task. I was referring to you ship borne Phantoms - those early Aim-7s won't get many inbound missiles but you may want to check on your SAM stocks and ranges. The most effective Sov tactic is to overwhelm your defences.

If you have any int on how many missile carriers are against you - great, otherwise assume a Regt at least (24-32) with 2x missiles each - so worst estimate is ~60 missiles, around 1.5 SAMs per missile and early CIWS getting another 1 or 2. If the bad guys find you it can get ugly very fast. Knocking down the bomber before they launch is great as it cuts your targets in half and they won't be coming back for a re-strike. Unfortunately even early AS-4, 5 & 6 have ranges above 150nm out to ~200 I think, so your F-104s are in a great spot to hit them but your F-4s may be drawn too far from your ships to be useful.

Defeating this kind of strike is key to many cold war scenarios, and its not always easy.

B

[MikeJ19]

Bart,

It is going to be an interesting challenge...

A look at my missions.

[MikeJ19]

The EMCON settings

[MikeJ19]

This is starting very quickly...

[ultradave]

Buckle up, brother

[MikeJ19]

Buckle up is right.

This is my first time with a carrier. Carriers are more challenging than an airfield as planes need to be elevated up and down to/from the hanger. I did not take a look at the location of the planes as I assigned my missions.

On the shot below, my planes are all getting ready - I do not understand why it is going to take almost 3 hours to get ready. The game is all of 130 seconds in. Any ideas?

Thanks,

[Drivingguy]

Did you happen to change the load outs? If I recall when I played there were about 6 Phantoms ready to go.

[MikeJ19]

Good question. I do not think so. I did not intend to. I will check.

[MikeJ19]

I did not change loadouts. Oh well.

The battle is continuing as the staff tries to sort this out.

[MikeJ19]

The Soviet bombers are closing in, and I find a sub...

[MikeJ19]

The first air raid is over. Lots of damage done.

Looking at the air engagement, I think that I could have done a couple of things differently. I could have had the fighters use their afterburners right away to close with the Soviet bombers.

Also, I need to look at the locations of some of my CAPs - I need to make sure they are positioned far enough away.