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I posted an AAR over at Wargamer for Hornet Leader...sorry about the pics

Very well done. Very interesting game. The photos were good-not bad. How long did it take to play the scenario? Enjoy it, there is more to the game than I relized.

Thanks TW.

The scenario took me about 3 hours to setup and play, b ut that was including doing the AAR and taking the photos. A normal scenario (from selecting the target to completing the mission) is between 30 minutes and an hour.

It's a great solitaire game - I can't praise it enough. I'm looking forward to getting U-Boat Leader and (when it's released) Thunderbolt-Apache Leader

Link, plz?

oops - sorry.

Hornet Leader AAR

Judge can you post it here aswell please?

Iraq - In The Beginning (1991)

Campaign 9 day US Navy
Special Option Points 68
Special Option Points gained 12 (1xA7)
Total Special Option Points 80

Pilots selected
E-2C EYES - Veteran, Promotion 10, Cool 0
A-7 SPIKE, Skilled, Promotion 7, Cool 1
A-6 MULLET, Skilled, Promotion 8, Cool 1
A-6 EXTRA, Average, Promotion 7, Cool 1
F/A-18C MUSTANG, Average, Promotion 6, Cool 1
F/A-18C LIGHTNING, Average, Promotion 6, Cool 0
A-6 CRACKEN, Average, Promotion 5, Cool 0
F/A-18C TALON, Average, Promotion 6, Cool 1
F/A-18C BEAR, Average, Promotion 7, Cool 1
F14 MAVERICK, Average, Promotion 6, Cool 0
EA-6A CRUNCH, Green, Promotion 5, Cool 0
F14 WALDO, Newbie, Promotion 6, Cool 0

Aircraft Choice
I chose F14s for their Pheonix strike ability. This means they get to take out some bad guys (air) during the Target Bound phase and before any real contact is made.
I chose the EA-6A because any aircraft in the same area as this gets a -1 reduction on all attacks against them
I chose the E-2C because it's Situational Awareness points can be given to other aircraft (giving them the ability to attack first) and because (on a die roll) you may be able to ignore an Event Card.
I chose the A-7 for the extra SOs I get.
I chose the A-6s for their great loadout ability.

The Campaign - Mission 6 Labratory east of Bahgdad
Day 4
This is the 4th day of the campaign and my 6th mission. I've destroyed a radar installation, a minor airfield, a SAM site and a POL storage facility. I have a couple of pilots in a bad way. TALON is shaken 6 stress and almost unfit. EYES is shaken with 5 stress and BEAR is on the edge with 4 stress.

The target is east of Bahgdad...and because of the distance, I will lose 2 weight points from each aircraft. So in order to make sure I can carry the maximum loadout, I'm taking a tanker...and that's going to cost 5 SOs

I need to hit the target 9 times to destroy it. It comes with 8 defence sites. 4 over target and 1 in each approach area. It also has (potentially) 7 bandits. There are a couple of nasty sites in the mix. An SA10 with a range of 3 and an SA8B with a range of 1 and an SA13 in the target area, 2x KS9s in the approach areas.

The KS9s can be avoided because they have no range. I'll need to take out the SA10 and SA8B so my pilots are not being pestered on the way to the target. There's the SA13 and an M1939 I have to deal with when over the target

With all this in the intel - I have to choose pilots for the mission. I need 5 pilots from the roster. I'm going to rest the pilots with stress so they recover. I am however going to take MULLET even though he has 3 stress - because he has 12 weapon weight points. And that's the same reason I'm taking along CRACKEN.

The target has potentially 7 bandits so I'll be taking WALDO in the F14 Tomcat with his 6 Pheonix missiles...hopefully that will neutralise the air assets before going over target. I'll also take SPIKE for some additional AA.

My 5th pilot will be MUSTANG.

Weapon Loadout
As I said I'll be loading WALDO up with 6 Pheonix missiles. These will be expended in the Pheonix Missile phase


CRACKEN is being loaded with a mix of MK83s, MK82s and MK20s. The MK20s will be used to destroy any sites present as they has a +5 against soft targets. The MK83s and 82s will be a good bet with his +2 AtG bonus


MUSTANG will have a couple of MK20s for attacking soft targets, 2xMK83s and 1xMK82 for the target

SPIKE will be loaded with AA also - 2xAIM-120s for distance and 2xAIM-9s for closer encounters and 2xRockets for suppression. He'll escort the ground attack into the target area. A good point with the AIM-120s is they are independant weapons. This means they can both be fired in the same turn but target different bandits


MULLET has got 3xMK84s for the target and 2xAGM88s. Hopefully he can take out the couple of nasty air defence units (SA10 and SA8B) - both in the target area but have range

In addition, all aircraft have ECM pods (when an enemy unit or aircraft attacks, a roll of 6 or more means the attack was jammed)

It may seem like I have a lot of "defence" weapons....alot of AtA and suppression weapons...but if I don't get to the target, I can't hit it. Also, I can do without having to evade when I'm full of bombs. Basically I'm counting on 6 hits from MULLET, 3 from MUSTANG and 5 from CRACKEN - and I only need 9 on the target. A cake walk

Having choosen my weapons it's time to tally up the SOs used. 6xPheonix missiles is 6 SOs, 2xAIM-120s is 2 and 5 for the tanker...13 in total. I take that off what I have and leaves me with 33 for the other missions in the campaign. Ouch...that's not many. I'll have to be prudent from here on in

Mission Start

I place my aircraft and draw bandits...there 4 bandits pulled. Hopefully WALDO and his 6 Pheonix missiles will dispatch them.

I pull an Event Card. Nice - a gain 4 Special Option points. That takes me up to 37 for the rest of the campaign


Next is Intel Air Defence Adjustment. Looking at my intel track, I can remove 1 centre site. I choose the SA10...it won't be harrassing my forces from the get go. There is a slighly more dangerous unit...the M1939 - but as I have no fast units and no SAs (situatiknal awareness points), then my aircraft WILL come jnder attack from the SA10 right away...so I'm getting rid of it.

My Over Target Event card was.....Good Briefing - remove any site or bandit. I'm confident in WALDO and the Pheonix phase, so I'm going to get rid of a site...and I'll get rid of the M1939...I really don't lkke that number 2 for a stress point


As I said, the Pheonix Missile phase is before the start of the turns...and here goes. There are 4 bandits. Two of the most dangerous ones will get 2 Pheonix missiles as a gift. WALDO fires kne missile at each of the bandits and 1 extra at the Mig-29 and Mig-25.

Roll of 8 against the Mirage III....splash one
Roll of 9 against the Mig-23...splash two
Roll of 1 and 5 for the Mig-25...the Mig-25 has a +1 designation on it...so the +1 and roll of 5 is 6...splash bandit 3
Roll of 2 and 3 for the Mig-29

Anway - 3 bandits gone and 1 to go with 4 AtA missiles left

Turn 1

So at the beginning of the approach phase, this is the situation)
No jettison is required and I have no fast pilots, so it's straight over to the site/bandit attack phase. Only the Mig-29 has the range.

The Mig-29 rolls a 8 and therefore targets CRACKEN. He activates his ECM...rolls a 9 and the attack is jammed. That's all the enemy can do.

Now the slow pilots get their chance. I am able to attack with SPIKE and his AIM-120s, and MULLET with his AGM-88s. SPIKE targets the remaining bandit - the rather dangerous Mig-29. He fires both AIM-120s and his first roll of 1 and his +2 AtA is 3 and not enough for a hit. His second of 9 however is...and the bandits are destroyed.

Next comes MULLET. He has 2 AGM-88s with a range of 3 and and fires one at the SA-8B and the other at the SA-13? The AGM-88s require a 4 for a hit, but MULLET has a +2 on his AtG rolls - so should dispatch them easily. A roll of 3 (+2 AtG) is 5 and destroys the SA-13 and a roll of 10 destroys the SA-8B.

The road to the target is looking nice now

Turn 2

This is how the turn looks at the start. My units have moved towards the target. Having no fast pilots, again it is the enemy which has the advantage...but my initial attacks were so devastating, they have nothing with any range.

SPIKE decides to hold on to his rockets instead of trying to destroy the M1939. Rockets have a better chance of success when being used for suppression. So the end of the phase means there's no exchange of weapons.


Turn 3

The M1939 opens up. A roll of 7 means CRACKEN comes under fire. He activates his ECM...and...a roll of 4 means the jammer failed. SPIKE steps in and fire a rocket. Because it's suppression, the rocket gives a +3 to his roll and with a +1 AtG for him, he's got 4 to add to his roll. He rolls a 4, which gives 8 total. Rockets require 7 for a hit, so the attack is suppressed.

MUSTANG decides he doesn't want the M1939 sitting there for the homeward bound journey. So he drops an MK20 on it...a roll of 7, +5 for the MK20 and +2 for his AtG ability means 14 rolled. Only 8 required for a hit, so the M1939 is taken out.

Turn 4

My strike aircraft move into the target area unopposed...it should be a walkover.

No enemy units have any range to reach my strike package. There are no enemy sites in the target area.

MULLET is first on the scene. He has +2 to add to his rolls. He drops all 3 MK84s. The first bomb (3+2) does moderate damage (2 hits). His second goes right down the chimney...(9+2) and flattens one wing (3 hits) and his final strike skims past the target and only some shrapnel damage is done (1+3) for a hit.

Next on the scene is CRACKEN. He drops the lot in one fail swoop...2xMK20s, 4xMK83s and 1xMK82. He also has a +2 for his AtG abilities. Unsurprisingly, both MK20s do not damage the target with rolls of 3 and 4 (5 and 6). His MK83s finish off the target. It disappears under a cloud of smoke and dust as they hit...the first of his MK83s scores a direct hit on the majn facility and it disappears. All other bombs dropped by him simply disappear into the cloud of dust.

Mission End
Now the target is gone, the pilots head for home elated. But it seems as though the enemy is not finished with them. The Home Bound Event card - Bandits Inbound.


So 3 attacks inbound by bandits. Luckily SPIKE didn't fire all his AtA weapons. He has 2 AIM9s left...and dispatches 2 bandiyes...but one is still at large. SPIKE is targetted. A roll of 5 is a miss (+1 stress point) and the bandit has had enough and heads for home.


This mission added +2 stress to the pilots and +1 more for the target itself. So ALL pilots suffer +3 stress. That leaves SPIKE with 3 stress, MUSTANG with 2 and MULLET with 5 (-1 for their cool value) and WALDO and CRACKEN with 3 stress.



All pilots pick up +3 experience (+1 for destroying the target, +1 for destroying it and not losing any friendlies and +1 for the target itself.

It turns out though that no-one will be promoted this mission.



All in all a very successful mission.

Again - sorry for the photos. The next one I do I will get decent photos.

I don't know if it's my camera, whether I don't know what I'm doing with it, or I am actually just moving - because they come out blurred - on my phone camera AND my Olympus SP-610UZ. Or whether it's just not great in low light

Anyway - I'll try and get some decent pictures the next time I do one...