April Storm - The New Eastern Front 1996

[fitzpatv]

This somewhat topical scenario assumes that Boris Yeltsin was deposed in late 1995 and replaced by a hard-line regime, which proceeded to invade Eastern Poland in 1996, with the assistance of Belarus. Though the Russians then halted, seemingly content with their 'near abroad' buffer zone, NATO was unwilling to accept the outcome, ordering US and German air groups to aggressively scout occupied Poland and try to provoke a confrontation. The hope was that the bloody nose then inflicted on the Russians would persuade them to give-up their gains.

You can only play the NATO side. At your command are 46 US F-15 and F-16 fighters, 32 German Tornado attack planes, supporting EW, AEW and tanker aircraft, ground-based radars and 13 Patriot or I-HAWK SAM sites. Ranged against you are substantial numbers of Flankers, Fulcrums and Fencers, with Foxbat recon, Mainstay AEW and Midas tankers backing them up. The Russians and Belarussians also have Gadfly, Gainful and Gauntlet SAMs and Snow Drift radars and you are encouraged to seek-out and destroy these if at all possible. The Russians have some jammer vehicles and both sides have satellites.

This is how it went:

04:00L : I launched 2 F-16s, a Tornado, 2 Ravens, then 2 HARM Tornadoes to do and support recon, as ordered. All tankers and Sentries were assigned to pre-defined missions, but I unassigned all but three Stratotankers.

A friendly satellite pass revealed a great many SAM and radar sites in an arc from Elblag to Bialystok in occupied Poland, with radars off. Many Russian and Belarussian aircraft launched and some soon violated Polish airspace.

The enemy sent fighters into our airspace and fired first. The initial exchange cost us an F-16, Raven and Tornado for 3 Flankers and 2 Fencer Fs, with some lousy shooting on our side. All planes score 20 VP.

05:00 : More aircraft joined the melee. NATO lost an Eagle, but shot down 6 Flankers and 2 Fencer Fs.

06:00 : By now, the battle was going NATO's way. We had lots of AMRAAM-capable fighters, with none of the resource shortages typical of Northern Fury and the recognised shoot-and-scoot tactics against foes using SARH missiles had the usual pleasing results. Two Falcons were lost, but we downed 10 Flankers, 2 Fencer Fs, 4 Fulcrums and 4 Foxbats. The score was now +520, enough for a Minor Victory.

07:00 : The Russians took advantage of a break in our CAP cover to destroy two radars and damage an I-HAWK site with Fencers using ARMs. This scored them 40 VP.

08:00 : The huge air battle raged on. We lost another three fighters, but destroyed 18 enemy fighters, 3 Fencers and two Foxbats, crossing the +900 VP threshold into Triumph territory.

09:00 : The scenario abruptly terminated as the score reached +940, with two more Russian fighters down.

Quite entertaining while it lasted, but a bit easy compared to Northern Fury and the ending was anti-climactic (though I guess I could have played-on). NATO actually won without having to attack any of the ground targets that were supposed to be a key part of their mission and most of our Tornadoes were waiting in reserve to do this once air superiority was assured.