Falklands Fury

[John B.]

RB and I continue our journey through the shorter scenarios of TOAW. In this one, RB is the dastardly Argentinians hell bent on seizing the Falkland Islands and looting them of their plentiful sod reserves. I'm the British and if you want a good informative AAR you're going to have to wait to the end when RB posts his version of events.

As for me, here it is turn one. The Argies have landed at the Falklands and attacked the minute (the tiny minute not the time period minute (they're heteronyms dontcha know)) British garrison there. No other British forces are on the map yet as they're all getting riled up in England, quoting Churchill etc..

In any event, I chose my first theater option and have opted to take full control over the two British aircraft carriers. This gives me more flexibility over the use of their airpower and spares me a bit of supply loss but exposes me to a vast VP loss (and a bigger supply loss) if they sink. But, hey, what could possibly go wrong.

Warning, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with naval forces. This could get very ugly very fast. Please don't let small children view this AAR.

Seems I forgot to save the image of the first turn. Not much to see. Just lots of empty island hexes.

[John B.]

Not much to report on turn two. I still have a unit on the Falklands that held off an Argentinian attack but did not cause any casualties. Next turn, I choose my Exocet response. I do see the Argie CV but right now there is not much I can do about it.

[John B.]

Turn 3 and I still have a unit and it's still hanging on. This is, no doubt, whippping the jingoistic press in London into an absolute frenzy.

[John B.]

Only two squads of the lads left so they may not be around to see the morning.

In the meantime, I assume British reinforcements are steaming my way. I had to choose my Exocet strategy this turn. Basically, you can go ground (better recon to find Exocet launchers), air (increased air shock bonus for air superiority), market (try to prevent the argies from getting more Exocets), or electronics (high chance of putting the Exocet out of commission). The Argies have a series of basically opposite choices. Historically, according to the designer notes, the Argies went market and the Brits went electronics.

In this game, we're going anti-air baby! Bring on the shock bonus !!!

[John B.]

Not much to report for turn 4. I did get a unit (2 sea harriers based on Ascension Island and set to air superiority). Also, the Argie navy retreated like whipped currs to the safety of their ports. They did lose 4 DDs to British submarines. There are no sub units that is a random event that happens while the Argies are out at sea.

I may actually get DDs of my own next turn.

One can't help but wonder if these first few turns could have been skipped.

[John B.]

Turn 5. A reported Vulcan strike reduced Argie air transport by damaging the airfields.

In other news, a British DD flotilla showed up. As I moved them towards the Islands they were struck several times by the Argentinian airforce. No losses for me, but splashed four aircraft. I don't think these were Exocet strikes.

[John B.]

The British carrier force showed up. I splashed some A-4s and lost a Harrier and another one was damaged. I also shortened the range of one of my harrier squadrons to 42 from 121 figuring that may give me better coverage. And, I put all the British ships into one stack. Don't know if that's good or bad, but it seems as if that would enhance protection.

Although we both got news reports that the Argies lost 4 DDs there are no losses reported and RB reports he has no lost DDs in his inventory.

[StuccoFresco]

This turns help set up the stage, but I doubt they are very exciting to play.

[John B.]

Stucco,

You might be right. But, the Royal Navy is now locked in combat. From the combat reports I splashed 6 A-4s and there were indications of minor damage to at least one of my CVs but nothing showed up when I viewed the units. I have all of my navy ships stacked together. I don't know if they provide mutual protection or not (I'd think so, but I don't know how the anti-air naval system would work).

[John B.]

There do not seem to be any british replacements for the sea harriers so this could get dicey as the numbers go down. I've reduced their range to 40 hexes on the theory that they can provide more CAP coverage if they are covering less hexes.

Here are the latest positions from the argie army. I'd like to get into the East Falkland and get to Stanley but there are no easy options over there.

[John B.]

In the end I opt for the open easy stuff on the West Falkland. My units are very small (5-6 squads) and this gets them on share with supply ports opened up. I tasked on helo unit for supply (increases my supply level by 5) and got another one ashore. I'm assuming that my boys will be able to get back into boats and that I can use superior mobility to get around argie deployments. I guess that I'll find out.

Now, to wait and see what the argie airforce strikes are like.

[John B.]

No much air action, RB must be hoarding his airforce for a really big blow. I moved my commandos around picking up free VP and waiting for large units to show up.

[John B.]

England did set off a nuclear device to incinerate a lot of fish and warn the Argies. A shore bombardment showed me that there are lots of argies in the main hexes and a gazelle got damaged. I see the Argies have blowpipes, isn't that a British device?

I suspect that this is a bug in the game but it does not seem to have affected anything so the world marvels at photos of the large mushroom cloud and returns to wondering where in the heck those Exocets are.

[John B.]

Well, the good news is that there were no nukes today and lots of lost Argie planes. This does not seem to be having much of an effect on his victory though. And, not surprisingly, England is VERY sensitive to casualties. I lost a couple of gazelles and my loss VP is at 3 (while Argie stays at zero).

[John B.]

I seem to have sucked myself into fighting for West Falklands and I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to clear this out and go to East Falkland. Especially as my first attack was a loss. I'm sure that's because of Argie war crimes. So, the rest of the turn was spent having DD's bombard his positions. Not too much in the way of losses, but hopefully it wore down his supply.

[John B.]

Another turn and more spalshed Argie aircraft. But, there is a drip drip drip of attrition for my sea harriers. I suppose my choice of the air shock bonus is paying off but I hope I don't run out of planes before the Exocets hit. I've also chosen every theater option to use my transport helos to increase my supply level.

The game reports that Argie supply levels are dropping. Radio intelligence from ComArgie leads me to believe that he is not happy with the performance of his airforce. It's been all Mirages lately with no A-4s being seen.

[John B.]

There is not a lot of time left and the ground combat was a mixed bag. Large units finally showed up and in a daring heliborne assault I captured Darwin right next to Goose Green. I did not see any unit in there and dropped in a platoon on top of an unseen company. But, my boys went in and dug the argies out enabling a brigade to land there. This was pure luck on my part. Had I seen the unit I would not have went in. The newly landed forces out the artillery unit but was unable to capture Goose green since it appears that a helicopter unit held the hex.

On East Falkland I took the port hex he was defending at a high cost to both sides. I also captured some additional odds and ends VP hexes. So, now I need to clear out Goose Green (let's hope the Argies are reorganizing and can't move much back in) and move on to Stanley.

[John B.]

Not a good day for Jolly Old England. First, he shot down two harriers for no losses of his own. I have six harriers in my stockpile, but those are land based and I don't have a land based harrier unit. I used to, but it's gone. And, my loss penalty shot up to 15 from about 5 because I'm taking heavy land losses.

[John B.]

All of my forces on West Falkland have basically shot their bolt trying to dig the argies out of their entrenchments. I did, but my units went from Green to Orange and, again, there were very heavy losses on my side.

On East Falkland, it turns out the port I took was not a supply point. So, my troops there were cut off and had to take Goose Green. I did and managed to push towards Stanley but I'm not feeling optimistic right about now. We'll have to see what tomorrow holds.

[John B.]

On the plus side, I shot down a lot of Argie planes this turn! On the bad side, both of my carriers were damaged and one is at only 61% effectiveness. If it takes much more damage, and does not sink, I'll have to send it off the board! Also on the plus side, I've moved to a marginal defeat. It looks like Argie casualties are starting to take a toll. Also, radio intercepts from ComArgie indicate that he is dispirited by the high quality of my troops.