Battle of the Kodel Channel (The War That Never Was, 1989, Pact)

[maverick3320]

This was the third scenario I've played since purchasing the game. I'm a fan of "theater" scenarios where I control large numbers of assets and may have some creativity in how to solve the objectives. My previous two scenarios had been played as the US/allies so I was looking for a scenario to play from the Warsaw Pact side. While I'm enjoying this game immensely, I found this scenario to be quite frustrating for a variety of reasons.

My mission as the Warsaw Pact was to land a surface group of marines on the Eastern side of Denmark, south of Copenhagen. The scenario gives approximately 36 hours to conduct the mission.

Warsaw Pact OOB:

AEW: 4 A-50 Mainstay
AAW: 48 Mig-23ML Flogger G
48 Mig-21MF Fishbed J
36 Mig-21M Fishbed J
36 Mig-29 Fulcrum A
24 Su-27S Flanker B
12 Su-27P Flanker B
12 Mig-31 Foxhound
Strike:
24 Su-17M-3 Fitter H
24 Su-22M-4K Fitter K
24 Su-24M Fencer D
12 Tu-22M-3 Backfire
ELINT/Jam:
3 Su-24MP Fencer F
3 Tu-16P Badger L
ASW:
28 Mi-14PL Haze A
16 Be-12PL Mail
3 IL-38 May

Minesweep:
8 Mi14BT Haze B

Subs:
3 Foxtrot SSs
1 Kilo SS

KUG:

1 Kashin DDG
3 OSA
7 Tarantul
5 Parchim
2 Koni
4 Pilica

Marine Landing force:

16 amphibs
3 Pilica

5 minesweepers


ENEMY OOB (checked after I lost):

AEW: 4 E-3A Senty
ELINT:
4 EC-130H Compass Call
AAW:
24 F-15C Eagle
36 F-4E Phantom II
72 F-16A Falcon
Strike:
24 Tornado IDS
12 F-4G Wild Weasel
24 F-35XD Draken
Recon:
1 TR-1
ASW:
3 BR 1150 Atlantic

BALTFOR:
4 Hamburg DD
4 Emden DD
1 Charles F Adams DDG

Subs:
9 Type 206A
1 Type 205



Starting off the scenario I was excited to test out Soviet tactics against superior NATO air. I don't think I was prepared for just how bad Soviet aircraft would fare vs NATO, although several "artificial" measures may have contributed to my failure. Overall, I lost when NATO strike aircraft and a few of the 206s eventually destroyed my entire naval force, piece by piece.

Observations/notes:

My strategy was to overwhelm NATO air with my superior numbers as I knew my naval forces didn't stand a chance as long as the air battle was contested. Several problems arose: first, the NATO SAM network could nearly reach my Western air bases, making it difficult to establish CAPs far enough out to intercept the enemy strike aircraft or Wild Weasels that eventually dismantled my own SAM network. Second, I quickly realized how useless 60% of my air was. My Fishbeds and Floggers were unable to destroy more than a few enemy aircraft, since their AAMs couldn't target aircraft below 100ft...which is where NATO air spent the bulk of their time. NATO air would generally fire Sparrows at extreme range and turn and run, or fire Sparrows at extreme range and then dive for the deck, where most of my air couldn't engage. The Falcons in particular absolutely ate up the Fishbeds - they would simply spam sidewinders (loadout of six per) and the missiles just wrecked my planes. Third, attempting to draw the enemy air over my air defense network was fruitless as well. my SA-12s and SA-5s were almost immediately deprived of their FCS radars, and I can honestly say I never saw a single SA-2f hit a NATO plane. Not one. With a Ph of well below 1% every time I checked, I guess this makes sense. Fourth, the bulk of my effective air (Fulcrums, Flankers, and the Foxhounds) was far from the front lines. After several air battles I realized that it took approximately four Pact aircraft engaging the enemy to result in a NATO loss, but I simply couldn't generate enough sorties from non-Fishbed/Flogger airframes. Fifth, and this probably bothers me the most, the scenario designer disabled "crank and drag", meaning my Foxhounds and Flankers would continue to fly directly at their targets even when they heavily outranged the F-16As in particular. Last, both the NATO AWACS and Compass Call were setup on the map to make it nearly impossible for fighters to reach them (Pact has no tanking assets) and the NATO airbases were all one unit icons, which meant my strike forces (other than the Backfires) were fairly useless. The Fitters with the laser designators in particular - even with clouds at 5-7km, I could never seem to get them to "see" the coastal artillery or radars.

The player has no control over the WP marine force, which means I was committed to one path to the LZ, which obviously meant the creator had probably put the bulk of the subs on the path. Unfortunately Pact's ASW assets were composed mainly of aircraft that had no active sonobouys, leading to cases where German subs kept firing torpedoes at passing ships while not moving and my ASW aircraft dropping dozens of passive sonobouys helplessly. IL-38s had active sonobouys, but were stationed 30 min away and I only had three of them.

Altogether, I ended up destroying 105 NATO aircraft for a loss of 64 of my own and wrecked the NATO surface group with a Backfire strike but I simply could not prevent the repeated air strikes from destroying my naval groups, no matter how many A/C I scrambled. Overall, the scenario has a lot of potential, but as mentioned earlier was mostly an act of frustration.

[KungPao]

One of my favorite scenario.
Not too many scenario give you a chance to command a regiment of Mig-21/Mig-23

[Gunner98]

You might enjoy the Baltic Fury scenarios. BF#1 you play NATO and experience the other side of this battle. BF#2 you play the WP and your amphibs are aimed at Bornholm. BF#3 is smaller and you are NATO again, it is a bit different.