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Last year I went on holiday with my wife and kids and dog to Dartmoor. Before going, I took a punt and bought the Phantom Leader boardgame. I had heard good things but wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out that in the evenings and the lazy afternoons I was able to pull it out and get some games under my belt and - I loved it.

So recently I've been wanting to purchase Hornet Leader. It's not long released but at £60 it's a little pricey so I decided to get Phantom Leader out and play again. There is still alot of life in it.

Although there's a fairly steep learning curve, it's quite a short learning curve. It has lots to take in initially and there's plenty of flipping through the manual but get some campaigns under your belt but eventually things fall into place and slowly but surely you can put the manual aside, confident that you are getting the rules right.

I've decided to do an AAR to try and help show people that boardgaming (and solitaire) is alive and kicking. Mistakes are made (like my first one which is not checking the pilots I have selected are able to fly the campaign!), but regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed my new outing with this game.

Sounds great[:D].

So - to the campaign.

You get 3 campaigns in the box for both the USAF and USN which obviously have different aircraft, experiences, pilots and equipment. The 3 campiagns and War in the South (1965), Rolling Thunder (1967) and Linebacker (1972). As well as having each of these for the USN and USAF, there are different targets in the campaigns. Overall, alot of combinations to for many, many varied gaming hours. Throwing into the mix die rolls and rules to make even more variation, including making each campaign harder or easier by selecting from a list disadvantages and advantages.

I've decided on an early campaign - War in the South (1965). There are 3 campaign lengths - 2days, 4 days and 7 days (in addition, there is a game option to allow you to link the campaigns!). I've selected the Medium 4 day campaign.

There are specific rules for this campaign (short, medium or long):
1. I must choose 3 LESS Average pilots
2. SA-2 counters are removed from the defence counter arsenal
3. The Event cards Bandits!, SAM Site!, B-52 Strike and Show of Force are removed
4. I have to subtract 2 from the number of aircraft allowed to fly a mission
5. No Bandit counters are to be drawn

As it's the Medium campaign, I get 4 Special Option points. I can use these for special abilities, like Tankers (to remove the weight penalty enforced on my specific route) or use special weapons like th AGM-12 Bullpup or the BLU-1

Victory Conditions are:
9+ Great
6-8 Good
4-5 Adequate
2-3 Poor
1- Dismal

It'll be tough, bearing in mind I'm to lose 2 aircraft each mission!

The core campaign plays out in average difficulty. To make it harder
I could make the campaign harder by
1. ACE Difficulty - select 3 disadvantages
2. VETERAN Difficulty - select 2 disadvantages
3. SKILLED Difficulty - select 1 disadvantage

The disadvantages are:
1. Extra Stress - Pilots suffer 1 extra stress point
2. Improved Sites/Bandits - Add 1 to Site/Bandit rolls
3. Reduced SOs - start with fewer SOs (Short -2, Medium -5, Long -8)

I could also make the campaign easier by
1. GREEN - select 1 advantage
2. NEWBIE - select 2 advantages

The advantages are:
1. Less Stress - Pilots suffer 1 less stress point
2. Donwgraded Sites/Bandits - Subtract 1 from Site/Bandit rolls
3. Fewer Sites/Bandits - Place 1 fewer site/bandit counters in the Centre Area
4. Increased SOs - Start with more SOs (Short +2, Medium +5, Long +8)

For this campaign, I choose the GREEN Campaign, so get to choose 1 advantage. I choose Downgraded Sites/Bandits as I am going to have fewer aircraft to fly with.

This is the Campaign map


A word on the Campaign map. The section at the bottom shows the Recon, Intel and Political tracks. These are moved as you fly missions. As the Recon slider moves to the right, you are allowed a larger selection of targets. As the Intel moves to the right, the numbers of sites can be reduced and as the political counter is moved to the right, you are limited to targeting less politically sensitive targets.

Ok - So War in the South 1965 and Medium Campaign.

I'm allowed 10 pilots but one of the special rules says I have to choose 3 less Average pilots.

Pilot experience breakdown I'm allowed are:
1xNewbie
2xGreen
2xAverage (was 5 but -3 for the Campaign)
1xSkilled
1xVeteran

Like I said in the opening, one thing I should've checked was the validity of the pilots I choose (I didn't - bad boy!). However, it turns out that all the pilots I selected were about in the year - so I was lucky.

Pilot selection is very important for obvious reasons - and you have to take into account everything to do with the campaign to pick the right pilots. For example, there are no bandits allowed in this campaign, so I can ignore the AtA (Air to Air) values on the pilots cards and concentrate on picking pilots with a +AtG (Air to Ground) bonus.

I pick the pilots in order of experience...Veteran to Newbie so I get the best value Experienced pilots. You get Fast pilots and Slow pilots. Fast pilots get to attack before Sites/Bandits. So it's handy to pick fast pilots. I want a few fast pilots in order to neutralise any dangerous ranged air defences before they can attack my slow pilots...so hopefully use fast pilots to clear the way and slow pilots to get down and dirty on the target!

The pilots I choose?
Veteran - Monger - he's FAST and has +2 AtG
Skilled - Kirin - he's also fast and has +2AtG
Those two will be used to clear the route in each mission (probably not in the same mission though to spread out stress)
Average - Judge (yeah right!) - slow but has +2AtG
Average - Scorpio - again slow but has +2AtG
Green - Junior - slow with +1AtG
Green - Pigeon - slow with +0 AtG
Newbie - Cajun - slow with +0 AtG

The + figures are die modifiers and added to die rolls when attacking ground targets.

Obviously it depends on the targets and sites present, but I'll be possibly using a Fast pilot to clear a route of dangerous ground units and the slow pilots to pound the target.

The weapons available in my campaign are




As you can see AGM-12 Bullpups cost 1/2 an SO each and BLU-1s and CBUs cost 1 SO each. In addition, you can see there is a red P on the BLU-1s. This represents Political Will. If you use these in a mission, there is a 1 time (per mission) +1 Political move on the Political track of the campaign ot represent peoples disgust at their use (I guess).

So - to mission selection.

Looking at the Recon track on the Campaign map, I am allowed to pick the number of targets specified by the number to the right of that counter. So I am allowed to choose 2 targets initially.

I can pay 1 SO to pick another 2 target cards. But I won't.

The two missions I select are number 3 - AAA Sites and 14 - Rail Line. Looking at the campaign map, both are in the Route Pack 1 area and I will lose 1 weight point on each aircraft - reducing the amount of ordinance I can take. Also, my pilots will suffer 2 stress points at mission end.

I've selected Rail Line because it allows me 4 aircraft (and I have to fly with 2 less) - AAA Sites allows me 3 aircraft, which means I would have to fly that mission with 1 - which I do not want to! For Rail Line there will be 3 sites in the Centre and I need to hit the target 4 times for a victory. Because the target is small (and moving) I have to remove 1 from each die roll on the target. The target also tells me I have to move the Politics 2 to the right.

The Plan

There are a mix of sites in the target area
KS-19 - this has +1 range and can attack both High and Low aircraft
M1939 - same
Both of these with their +1 range need to be hit fast and hard to save my slower pilot.
Zu-23-2 - 0 range and can only attack low flying - but I WILL be low flying when I get to the target.

So - I have to make sure I take out the ranged AA sites from the Pre-Approach areas - that means a Fast pilot and weapons with range - so I'm looking at the AGM-12 Bullpups. Once they are out the way, I can move towards the target and hopefully get rid of the 3rd site before attacking the target

So what pilots?
Monger - he's fast and has +2 AtG and Judge. Although he's slow (stop it!), he has +2 AtG

Both pilots have 6 weight points on their aircraft, but I have to lose 1 because of the area - unless I use some SOs and take a tanker along - so that's what I do - though it's expensive - 3 SOs for up to 3 aircraft. On top of that, because I'm going to load them with the AGM-12s, I have to pay a further 2 SOs.

I'm going to kit them out with 2 AGM-12 Bullpups each and 2 Mk82s - that's a total of 6 weight points each (4 for carrying 2 Bullpups and 2 for the Mk82s). I'm hoping to use the Bullpups to take out the AA sites from distance and get in close with the Mk82s. But it's going to be tight.

Here's my boys

At mission start, I have to take a Target Bound Event card. I picked Political Limitations - I can ONLY attack sites in the Centre Area - fine by me as all the targets are in the Centre Area anyway.

I then place my aircraft - both are in the southern Pre-Approach area.

Over Target card is selected and......No Change - All systems go.

Here's the mission start

Start of the battle

I start both aircraft High because they can only fire the Bullpups from High altitude (the H on the Bullpup chit) and the Bullpup has a range of 2 - so I can hit the AA sites from this distance.

First, Fast pilots attack - that's Mongrel
Mongrel attacks the M1939 with a Bullpup. He rolls a 4. With his +2 AtG bonus that's 6 total. The Bullpup has 2/5 on the chit - meaning a roll of less than 2 is a miss, 2-4 is a hit and 5+ is 2 hits. Sites are automatically destroyed with a single hit - so the M1939 is destroyed and removed.

As all the fast pilots have performed an action, it's time for the enemy sites/bandits. But they have nothing that can hit my targets which are 2 areas away

So it's over to the slow pilots - and that's me (shut up!)
Judge targets the KS-19 with a Bullpup. he rolls a 2 + his +2 AtG = 7 - so another hit and the site is gone!

Good job - both dangerous sites are removed.

I now move into the South Approach area and stay high - I have 2 Bullpups left.

Turn 2

Again, fast pilots attack. So Mongrel gets his freak on
Mongrel decides to attack the target with his remaining Bullpup.
He rolls a 2 and has +2 AtG - so a 4 rolled. But the target is a small target and has a -1 modifier. So The actual roll is 3. That's a hit for Mongrel on the Target.

Again, my aircraft are not in range of the sole remaining site - the Zu-23-2 - so it's over to the slow pilots.

Judge attacks the target with his remaining Bullpup (no idea why I did not attack the Zu-23-2 here!).
He rolls a 5 + 2 AtG is a roll of 7. -1 modifier from the target = 6. With the Bullpup having hit numbers of 2 and 5, 6 means 2 hits on the target.

I move into the Centre Area and go low to use my Mk-82s

The newbie pilot is named Cajun? Being born and raised in Louisiana, I'm offended! [:D]

Turn 3

Once again, Fast pilots get to fire.

Mongrel NOW decides to attack the Zu-23-2 with a Mk82.
He rolls a 2. +2 AtG = 4 and with the Mk82 needing an 6 for a single hit, it's a miss!

The Zu-23-2 now gets a chance to target. As both my aircraft are equally close to him, I roll to see which one he attacks. Odd number, he attacks Mongrel, even number he attacks Judge. Roll of 3 - he attacks Mongrel.
Mongrel fires his last remaining Mk82 to suppress the attack. He rolls a 6. With his AtG of +2, that's 8. The suppression worked. He escapes

Judge now attacks the target. He rolls a 7 + 2 AtG = 9 and -1 for the target = 8 - HIT! That's 4 hits.

Time to bug out - target is destroyed.

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

The newbie pilot is named Cajun? Being born and raised in Louisiana, I'm offended! [:D]

Don't worry - I think it's just a coincidence - nothing personal

So I have to pull a Home Bound Event card. I pick RECON - Next mission I can draw an extra target card.

So - mission over and successful.

I've gained 2 Victory Points for destroying the target. A MASSIVE plus is both pilots are ok.

After the mission is complete, tying up the loose ends before the next mission.

I move the Political counter 1 to the left because I was successful.
The Recon counter is moved 1 to the right as is the Intel counter. These mean no change for the next mission, but another successful mission will see me removing a Centre Site and/or choosing an extra target card

No Pilot Stress was suffered during the mission because no hits/evading needed to be done. However, the area (Route Pack 1) means pilots suffer a stress factor of 2. So I assign both pilots a Stress Chit of 2. Mongrel, though, has a Cool factor of 1, so I can immediately reduce his stress by that amount - 1. So Mongrel has a stress level of 1 and Judge has 2.

Mission over. Looking forward to the next one, though I won't be doing an AAR for that - I just wanted to put out there how much bloody fun this little game is.

Thanks for reading.

Billy

Thanks for this AAR. I was actually wondering how these games are played. How much Phantom Leader set you back?

Phantom Leader was £40 back then. I think it's still about the same

Hornet Leader is a little too expensive now though bearing in mind Phantom Leader hasn't dropped in a year, even with the release of Hornet Leader, it doesn't look like Hornet Leader will drop any time soon.

Thanks for this, Judge. I've been eying Phantom Leader for awhile...I think I'll pull the trigger now. [:)]

Fun read and fun game I got it about six months ago myself.

If you haven't read them already I can recommend Rolling Thunder and Linebacker by John T Smith as good background reading for each of the Phantom Leader campaigns.

Also I've finally got a big enough monitor to play the Matrix version of (the original GMT version of)Hornet Leader and having fun with that as well.

Thanks.

It's a great boardgame. Very solo and very varied.

Wolfe - like other games, I think games like this kind of lose something in translation. I tried the Hornet Leader demo many moons ago - and I just didn't get it. It seemed sparse. Almost like removing the "rule checking" and all the various manual stuff you do (that the computer does) kind of removes the fun of the boardgame. I definitely didn't get the feel that the Hornet Leader game was a game I wanted to play. But after playing Phantom Leader, I could easily see myself buying the Hornet Leader boardgame...but staying well clear of the computer version.

Some game sjust do NOT translate well from board to computer - and my experience of the demo of Hornet Leader is exactly that - it didn't port well.


Wolfe - are those books? Is he an author or are you talking about AARs?

Yes they are books, John T Smith is the author, published by Air Research Publications and distributed by Phalanx Publishing - though I'm pretty certain I got mine through Amazon.

Sort of get what you mean about the computer version taking away some of the involvement in the process of the game. However when I want to spend a quick 20 mins or so on a mission I can play the mission on the computer in not much more than the time it would take me to set up the mission on the table. The new DVG version is prettier as well. Agree with you on the price of the DVG Hornet Leader as well, my hand has hovered over it at my local games shop but the c£70 price tag stops it being an impulse buy, plus I'm still having fun with Phantom Leader.

Apache\Thunderbolt leader is due out soon which looks intersting...but I'm waiting on WW1 leader....

Great AAR JD...I remember you playing it last year and wondered if you carried on playing it...I have Frontline here but still haven't palyed it yet...