Submitted: New Scenario for Testing Med Fury 7 - Under Pressure, 1994

[Gunner98]

OK here is the next in the series:

Med Fury 7 - Under Pressure, 1994

You command the USS Nimitz CVBG, along with the newly arrived HMS Ark Royal. The two carriers have worked together in the Indian Ocean and will now move through the Med and into the Atlantic as a team. You have three major tasks: Neutralize the Black Sea Fleet; establish air superiority over Thrace and the Turkish Straits area, and; significantly degrade the Bulgarian air force. USS Iowa and Kearsarge have a secondary task to complete.

But, you are Under Pressure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I, to get it done quickly, with limited resources and with severe logistic constraints.

Edit V1.3 final Uploaded

[AndrewJ]

I notice that the Turks and Greeks mostly don't have their fighters on 'quick turnaround'.

Is this intentional? (Combat fatigue, lesser sortie generation capability than USA, etc?)

[AndrewJ]

Tankers! My kingdom for some tankers!

[AndrewJ]

So little of everything! This is going to be really interesting.

[Gunner98]

The Greeks & Turks should be on QTR, an oversight.

Yes, this theater is on a bit of a diet as far as high end munitions go...

[AndrewJ]

There are 48 desperately needed HARMs on the Cimarron, which is headed off to Brindisi.

Are they fair game, if I were to fly over some cargo helicopters to take them back to Souda for the Marines, or are they reserved for future operations?

[Gunner98]

No I thought I removed them. They are going to be in the next scenario (Loaded at Brindisi, and only 24) and I want to test out the new cargo features

Don't know how I missed that...

I want to get the COD working overtime with those new features as well

[AndrewJ]

Day-only designator pods... Enough HARMs for the ships OR Bulgaria, not both... Not enough anti-shipping missiles for a big second strike... Already running out of missiles for Mirages... Swarms of Soviets left even after heavy air fighting... Distinct lack of night vision for Greeks/Turks...

All sorts of interesting constraints! Fun!

[Gunner98]

Glad you're enjoying the challenge.

[Primarchx]

The Sovs have more brigades of double-digit SAMS than NATO has usable HARMS. Ouch!

[AndrewJ]

Here's the first part of how it went for me.

SITUATION

The struggle for the eastern Mediterranean continues, and this time we’re expected to cripple the Soviet invasion of Greece and Turkey, first by wrecking the Black Sea fleet near its beachhead, and then by battering the Bulgarian airbases which are supporting the enemy offensive. Our Greek and Turkish forces are modest, mostly composed of an assortment of less capable aircraft – basic F-16s, F-4s, F-5s, Mirages, and even old F-104s – without large quantities of modern PGMs. Our main air striking power comes from the Nimitz and Ark-Royal carriers which are passing through the south side of the theatre, plus some Marines and UK Harriers at Souda and Heraklion on Crete. There are three surface groups up in the Aegean; some Greeks, some Turks, and the battleship Iowa, plus parts of a Marine amphibious group and some more Brits further south. We’ve also got an assortment of submarines in the northern Aegean and one in the Black sea.

The Russians are reported to have three major surface groups and some missile boats operating north of the Bosporus, and copious SAMs guarding their extensive landings in the region. They occupy almost the entire north side of the Dardanelles, and rumours are flying that our battleship is being asked to head north to bombard entrenched artillery in the area. The Soviets have a colossal amount of airpower in the region. Fortunately, their truly good stuff (MiG-31s, Su-27s) isn’t here, but that just leaves an endless supply of MiG-25s, 29s, 23s, and 21s which we have to cope with, along with the threat of scores of heavy bombers operating out of Crimea.

Unfortunately, munitions restrictions are the name of the day, and we can’t simply drown the enemy in a flood of PGMs. We’ll probably only have one truly powerful shot, and after that we’ll be on a restricted diet, so we’ll have to choose our moment wisely.


THE PLAN

The Nimitz is ordered to slow down, and wait for the Ark Royal and her scattered escorts to catch up, before proceeding west along the north side of Crete, and eventually angling southwest and leaving the theatre. We’re needed elsewhere in the west, so this will have to be a drive-by shooting. Our first priority is a heavy anti-shipping strike on the Russian fleet, so our strike aircraft are directed to begin loading as many anti-ship missiles and HARMs as possible.

The oiler Cimarron is to leave the safety of its comrades, and proceed NNE into the Ionian sea with a single escort, hugging the Greek cost until they can reach Brindisi for resupply.



Our extensive array of subs in the Aegean and Sea of Marmara could, theoretically, try and pass through the straits and attack the Soviet naval forces, but there are rumours of mines, and the passages are likely to be closely guarded, so the subs are ordered to patrol near chokepoints in the region. Only the TCG Saldiray, which is already in the Black Sea, is ordered to proceed to attack the Soviet fleet.

Our aircraft which are not loading for the anti-shipping strike are ordered to conduct initial reconnaissance, and then hold the line against any incursions the Soviets might make. We may be able to bite off small exposed groups of aircraft, particularly over the Black Sea, but no large sweeps are anticipated there at the moment. The Greek pilots do get a warning order about a heavy fighter sweep late in the morning, to try and draw the enemy’s fangs in western Bulgaria, provided nothing interrupts us before then.

The big question is the situation with the Battleship Iowa. Headquarters wants us to take it north to bombard entrenched artillery near the Dardanelles, but that would leave the battleship very exposed within enemy bomber and missile range, and its escorts have very few of their SAMs left. However, we do have some attack helicopters on the nearby Kearsarge which might be able to sneak in, dispose of local air defences, and engage the artillery directly. Therefore, the helicopters are ordered to make their attack first, while the Greek and Turkish surface groups converge on the Iowa/Kearsarge and form up into a more defensible group, and await further orders.


FEB 22 – INITIAL MORNING OPERATIONS

Operations get underway with some aggressive Soviet submarine activity, as startled ESM operators report submarine radars near our amphibious group at Mykonos, and up in the top of the Aegean 33 miles west of Gallipoli. I guess they really want to find us! The USS Bowen immediately turns and charges the sub near Mykonos, lobbing an ASROC in her general direction to keep her occupied, while her own helicopter closes in and does the sinking. It only takes a few minutes more for helicopters from the Iowa group to close in and sink the second sub.

RF-4s and assorted ELINT planes taking off to go hunting, getting a good look at the Gallipoli area and probing along the FEBA and borders. MiG-29s come hunting for the RF-4s, but they have plenty of gas to evade, and the over-extended MiGs get jumped by F-16s instead. The F-16s also start hunting out over the Black Sea, picking off a few isolated aircraft, getting good radar contact on the enemy task groups closing on the Bosporus, and spotting small cargo aircraft heading to and from the bridgehead. There seems to be some sort of logistical hub there, which is worth future consideration.

Meanwhile, the four Cobra attack helicopters have been working their way north across Turkey, before turning west towards the artillery at the Dardanelles. They’ve received the reports of the SAMs in the area, and have carefully plotted terrain-masking routes to get into attack range without being shot. This works, and by carefully sneaking back and forth across the ridgelines they manage to destroy both the SA-8 units which are guarding the artillery site, and then attack the artillery itself. The guns may be heavily dug in, but when TOW missiles start flying directly through the embrasures the results are devastating. The fortified position is wrecked, and the helicopters still have enough munitions to work their way up the peninsula and kill an SA-11 site when they get within its minimum range. The commanders of the Iowa group are very relieved by this news, and after forming up with the Greeks and Turks, they turn south and head out of the high threat area.

The Iowa does have a parting gift, however, in the form of four TLAMs which they want to donate to the enemy. Our ELINT and recce planes have identified two relatively isolated SA-11 batteries on the eastern end of the Soviet bridgehead. These are blocking direct Turkish access to the Black Sea in that area, and are an obstacle that our attack planes would have to go far around in our efforts to hit the Soviet fleet. Therefore, the Iowa shoots its four TLAMs at one of the SAM sites, while the distant Nimitz group fires four more at the other. All of them get through, knocking out the systems, and giving us overflight access on that side of the bridgehead.


FEB 22 – MORNING AIR ACTIVITY - TURKEY

I had initially intended to limit my air activity over the Black Sea, but that doesn’t last long, and the Turks from Murted and Eskisehir and bases further inland are soon steadily engaged with MiG-29s and other support aircraft (jammers, ELINT, etc.) over the Black Sea. This actually goes better than I had expected (the new missile kinematics model makes the weak AA-10s on the MiG-29s fairly ineffective), and our kill claims mount, even including several of the An-26s that are flying cargo to the Bosporus logistics hub. We’re starting to feel confident, despite the Soviet numbers, when we start getting reports of Foxbat radars headed our way. Initial reports suggest eight, then sixteen, and finally a colossal thirty-two inbound planes! There’s no way in heck we can tackle that, and we’re driven ignominiously back from the sea, and the Russians reclaim the airspace as their own. Is this massive effort an escort of some sort, perhaps covering an attack plane strike or bombers? Nothing shows up, and the Russians eventually turn for home.

Their withdrawal gives the Turkish F-5s an opportunity for a bold little attack. We’ve spotted a lone Ropucha out at sea, heading for the bridgehead without any escorts at all. It’s got decent CIWS capability, but those weapons only point to the flank, so our needle-nosed little fighters dart in from the front, plastering the ship with iron bombs and sinking it, while some F-16s fend off the angry MiG-29s which come to retaliate. Then it’s more MiG-25s again, and we withdraw once more.

The MiG-25s are a continual problem throughout the day, but fortunately they seem to be coming and going in smaller ragged packs now (a mere 16!), with eight or so MiG-29s scattered around the north side of the Black Sea in flights of two. Our fighters do their best to avoid the large formations, and pick smaller fights where we can get local numerical superiority, and our kill claims continue to mount. The enemy’s slow-moving flying boats and An-26 cargo planes get heavily punished during this time, whenever the MiG-25s are away. Even when they’re present, our pilots are learning how to draw out and dodge their long-ranged shots and then close in for kills. (Although if the Russians don’t shoot at long range, those IR-guided AA-6s act like very unpleasant ‘uber-Sidewinders’ when our planes merge.) Thank heavens there are no MiG-31s here!


FEB 22 – MORNING AIR ACTIVITY – GREECE

The Greeks get into action mid-morning, with a heavy fighter sweep into the south-west corner of Bulgaria. HQ is pressuring us to hit the Bulgarian airbases, so the intention is to try and provoke a fight and consume their fighter resources now, before strikes tomorrow. The eastern part of the country is densely guarded by SAM sites, so an incursion here in the west is the only place we have reasonable freedom to operate.

The sweep goes in, killing a few MiG-23s, and provoking a surge of MiG-21s from Uzunzhovo and more MiG-23s from Dobroslavsti. The fighting goes in our favour (the MiG-21s, with no front-aspect missiles, are particularly outclassed), but we’re constantly being forced to dive out of position by the incessant barrage of long-ranged SA-5s. Thankfully, these come from so far away that our fighters have plenty of time to make their escape. Pressing further into the country starts drawing fire from SA-10s, and those are a completely different threat level, so our sweep hangs back and tries to avoid them.

The effort lasts for several hours, and isn’t quite as conclusive as planners had hoped. A good number of MiG-21s and 23s are down, but we’re still seeing numerous planes in central and eastern Bulgaria, particularly MiG-29s in the Ravnets / Bezmer area, ensconced in their SAM bastion and unwilling to come out. We’re already hitting munitions limits on some of our planes, particularly the Mirages which have very few of their long-ranged missiles. Fortunately, it looks like the Bulgarians are having problems too. The SA-5s seem to have stopped shooting, possibly due to ammo exhaustion after their profligate expenditure at long range targets, which is welcome news. Unfortunately, we’ve identified four and a half different SA-10 sites throughout the country, and those are going to be a real problem when it’s time to strike.


FEB 22 – AFTERNOON – STRIKE THE FLEET!

At 1330 local, the first of our tankers start taking off to preposition themselves for the upcoming strike against the Soviet fleet. The British will be sending all their Sea Harriers carrying Sea Eagles, the Marine and Nimitz-based F-18s will go in with Harpoons, most of our HARMs, and a few TALDs, while the usual array of escorting F-14s and EA-6s go along for the ride. Planners had initially intended the Greek A-7s to work together with the Turkish F-4s and use LGBs against the pack of lightly defended missile boats, but those are in the middle of the enemy formation now, where it’s much too dangerous to use LGBs, so that part of the strike is reluctantly called off.

The strike arrives mid-afternoon, tanking over the Eskisehir area, before heading north over the wrecked SA-11 sites, and then hooking north west, to attack the fleet from the rear. The Soviet ships are deployed with the Gorshkov and her two escorting Sovremennys in the center, and the older cruisers and destroyers on each flank. All the anti-shipping missiles are fired at the three central ships, which are the heart of the fleet air defence, while the HARMs are spread out more liberally throughout the fleet. The fast-moving anti-radiation missiles get multiple hits, starting growing fires on several of the outlying ships, but they don’t manage to shut down our three main targets. The Sovremennys’ SA-N-7s cut down numerous Harpoons and Sea Eagles, but while they’re defending themselves, they’re not engaging the missiles headed for the Gorshkov. Multiple hits batter the big cruiser, and then some of her ordnance detonates, and she rolls over and sinks within moments. The Sovremennys each take a single big missile hit, and stagger away listing and on fire, their upperworks riddled with HARM fragments, while an unlucky Krivak takes a hit from a leftover Harpoon and is destroyed.

Enemy air cover is almost completely absent at the moment, so our strike aircraft withdraw unmolested, while our escort sweeps out into the Black Sea to pick off a few targets (like those pesky jammer planes) before retiring when they get lit up by the Crimean SAMs.

Several smaller follow-up strikes happen over the next few hours, trying to find gaps between the returning Soviet fighters. A pair of P-3s manage to sink a HARM-wounded Kresta with Harpoons, while Turkish F-16s bomb an AGI and one of the outlying Kashins, although they nearly get swatted by the Kerch’s Gecko, so further bomb runs are called off. Some A-7s arrive just before dusk to make an attack with Mavericks, but they’re driven off by the Krivak’s SAMs, and circle around and hit a more lightly defended Kashin instead. Some of the other ships continue to burn, the two Sovremenny’s eventually sink, and by the time night falls only the cruiser Kerch and a few of the escorting destroyers are still fully operational.


FEB 22 - NIGHT – SUBMARINE MENACE

The Turkish submarine Saldiray has been advancing towards the location of the Soviet fleet throughout the day. She’s been a little indiscreet at times, snorkelling a bit too close to the fleet before finally pulling in her masts, but fortunately our planes have been happy to pounce on some ASW helicopters that seem to have been hunting in her direction. Now, with a final update on the fleet location, she closes in stealthily at four knots, hoping that her elderly sonars can pick up the sounds of her targets.

At first there’s nothing, but then there’s a single large ship, very close, and moving quickly. It’s the Kerch, headed in the general direction of the Saldiray’s last snorkelling position at 9 knots. The anxious sonar operators report the target will be passing slightly to port, well within RBU range if they are detected. The captain slows to 2 knots, waits, turns in to port, and at 500 meters starts to open fire with his eight torpedo tubes. The Kerch is taken completely by surprise, and the first torpedoes are crashing into the sleek grey hull before the last of them can be launched. Multiple hits completely wreck the only undamaged cruiser the Russians had, sending it to the bottom within minutes.

The Saldiray moves on for a few minutes, raises a scope, and spots a wounded Kara, battered by multiple HARM hits. A short intercept move later generates another kill at 500m, and a leftover torpedo is guided to a Kresta which is still fighting fires from the initial air strike. It hits, slowing the cruiser, and allowing the Saldiray to close in and finish her off. A nearby Kashin is claimed by two more torpedoes, leaving the submarine with only a single torpedo. Enough is enough! The captain orders her down below the layer, and leaves the area at full speed, slowing down again after a few miles, turning east and proceeding home again in triumph.


NEXT STEPS

So far, HQ is quite pleased with our progress. The attacks on the Soviet fleet have been an unqualified success. All major surface combatants are down, leaving only the pack of missile boats, a lone Krivak, and an AGI to contest the waters north of the Bosporus. The artillery position in the Dardanelles has been destroyed, and the Iowa and friends are sailing south, ready for their next mission. The fighter sweep into Bulgaria may not have been a triumph, but it produced a useful number of kills and seems to have run down the available number of SA-5s.

Now, we have to try and tackle the Bulgarian airfield infrastructure itself, and that may be more difficult. The first steps in that direction will be a low-level night attack, with night-vision equipped planes like our Harriers. Their goal? Elimination of the two SA-10 sites in south-western Bulgaria! Should be exciting…

[Gunner98]

Nicely done Andrew. I thought I had fixed those Sov subs popping up with radar on but I guess not.

Looking forward to the next bit.

B

[AndrewJ]

Here's the next installment.

FEB 23 – NIGHT STRIKES ON BULGARIA

Going into the evening, a pair of RF-4s are sent probing into Bulgaria to test their responses. This draws a pair of MiG-23MLs down from the north, and a little bit of SA-10 fire, but no significant fighter response, which is encouraging. However, as the night proceeds our radar operators spot a wagon wheel of 16 MiG-21s flying around Uzundzhovo airbase, which is a bit of a concern since our strikes are starting to launch and head for their destinations. Greek F-s and F-16s head out to run interference, and they manage to get a number of the small MiGs before the rest of them disperse and head north.

We’re sending all our night-vision equipped planes, primarily Harriers, on a low-level bombing attack against the SA-10s guarding Dobroslavtsi and Graf Ignatievo, in south-west Bulgaria. The hope is that we can get close enough by terrain masking to dash in out of the darkness and hit our targets before we are completely destroyed.

The first strike targets the SAMs near Dobroslavtsi, where a half-strength SA-10 unit has been spotted, along with a nearby SA-3. Our pilots clear the last rise and dash in, waiting for the SA-10 to open fire, but nothing happens. Is it out of ammo now? We’ll take it! A blast of Mavericks from the F-18s and a deluge of cluster bombs from the Harriers rip up the SA-10 site in a very pleasing fashion. Simultaneously, four other Harriers are charging the SA-3, but it still has ammo. Four SAMs come hurtling in, all of them missing, and then sticks of 500 lb bombs are crashing into the target, wrecking the site and allowing all our planes to escape to safety.

The second strike hits the SA-10 near Graf Ignatievo. This SA-10 still has ammo, and it’s out in the middle of plain, twelve miles from any cover, so our low-level strikers will be spotted for ages on the way in. Distant F-18s start by releasing some TALDs, hoping to draw some fire, but the SA-10 resolutely ignores them. Next comes a barrage of our last twelve precious HARMs, and the SA-10 responds with a counter-barrage of its own, neatly downing every incoming missile. After that, our strikers are on their own, exposed in the open and marked for death. But the SA-10 doesn’t fire any more. Its crews are struggling to reload empty launchers after engaging the HARMs! Our planes dash in, and Mavericks and bombs of all types hit SAM site, leaving it a smoking wreck. Now the planes dash out, and this time they’ve got some angry MiG-23s in pursuit, but their courses aren’t quite right. They seem to be chasing the TALDs instead, and the distant SA-10 near Uzundzhovo starts shooting at the decoys too, which lets our attackers flee safely into the darkness.

Our escorts spend some time fighting MiG-23s in the interior, and those wandering MiG-21s are eventually shot down when they curve back over the northern end of the Aegean, but there are no other complications. All our strikers land safely by 2:30 in the morning.

Analysts are very pleased with the results of this strike. With those two SA-10s down, we’ve got clear access to most of the airfields in western Bulgaria. True, there are still some SA-2s and SA-3s to deal with, but the SA-2s can easily be handled by flying low, and we can probably terrain-mask enough to deal with the SA-3s. Things look promising.


FEB 23 – NAVAL CLEANUP

While some of our F-18s are busy in Bulgaria, the remainder have reloaded with Harpoons, and are headed back to the Black Sea. The last Krivak, the only ship with effective air defence, succumbs to a salvo of six missiles, and then the F-18s start to work on the others. The Tarantuls are essentially defenceless in the dark, as are the last AGI and another Ropucha near the shore, and they are all struck by systematic single missile shots until they sink. There are still a few isolated vessels over by the Bulgarian and Romanian coast, but it would be a long haul to get to them, and there is still heavy air cover in that area, so staff decide to leave them alone. This phase of the naval activity is complete.


FEB 23 – DAWN

The day’s operations begin over the Black Sea, where the Turkish F-16s continue to skirmish with the MiG-25s, distracting them from our strike that’s headed across the water and towards the logistical center a few miles east of the Bosporus. F-16s come charging in at military power, pulling up and dumping numerous 2,000lb bombs onto the truck depot and container park, hurling valuable supplies in all directions. Our pilots turn as hard as they can, diving back down to sea-skimming height and lighting their burners as they flee from the SA-11s being fired in their direction. They barely manage to get down into the radar shadow in time, and the SA-11s fall harmlessly into the ocean.

There’s another tempting target on the coast, which is the Soviet helicopter base near the mouth of the Bosporus. Staff have looked at this one, but there are so many SAMs around that it would probably be a suicide run for the attackers. We have to admit that this one’s out of reach.


FEB 23 – DAY – BATTERING BULGARIA

Most of the morning’s work happens over Bulgaria, where an ongoing series of strikes is sent to attack the airfield infrastructure. These strikes are using all the planes and weapons systems which couldn’t attack at night; conventional bombs from planes without night vision, LGBs using day-only pods, and EO ordnance which doesn’t have thermal seekers (Walleyes, older Mavericks). Unfortunately, we are now completely out of anti-radiation missiles. If we want to do SEAD, we have to do it the hard way!

Gabrovnitsa’s SA-3 site is hit by F-5s. They clear the distant ridge with seven miles to go, and the SAM manages to fire four shots, all of them misses, before it gets bombed and destroyed. Things don’t go quite so well at Graf Ignatievo, where the charging F-104s have to clear eight miles in the open, and the SAMs claim one of the attackers, or at Dolna where another plane is lost, despite only having a five mile dash to go. The losses are sad news, but the SAM sites go down, so our anti-runway strikes will be able to attack without interference.

Our biggest SEAD strike comes from the retiring Nimitz, which sends a strongly escorted strike package north, to engage Uzundzhovo. The first element of the strike is a series of TALDs, and the SA-10 here engages them again, just like it did during the night. That uses up enough of the missiles that the barrage of Walleyes is able to make it through to the target, wrecking the SA-10 and two adjacent SA-3s, and allowing a few more munitions to hit and shut the runways. (We still have a few more Walleyes back on the ship, but once they’re gone were out of long-range land attack ordnance. Better hope the Cimarron can bring us something from Brindisi!)

Conventional strikes continue to pound Bulgarian bases throughout the morning. The Condib anti-runway bombs hit reliably, but do only modest damage, so the bulk of the anti-runway work is handled by heavy 2,000 lb LGBs from the Turkish F-4s and Greek A-7s, and 1,000lb LGBs from the British Harriers. Follow-up strikes with conventional Mk84s work too, although it takes a lot more of them to achieve hits. Other strike aircraft bring smaller weapons to finish off SAM sites, particularly the helpless SA-2s, and batter away at the exposed SA-5 complexes.

The fighters in eastern Bulgaria largely leave us alone, although there is one nasty scare when a pack of MiG-21s and ten MiG-29s turn west towards our Mirages which are bombing Dolna, and start charging in on burner. Our own fighters are ordered to intercept, but we’ve gotten a little too casual with providing CAP, so they probably won’t get there in time. Our Mirages are essentially on their own. There’s a huge sigh of relief when eight of the Fulcrums turn back, and then the other two do as well, but the MiG-21s are still coming. The good thing is that our attack planes are Mirages, not clumsier A-7s or F-104s, and they have front-aspect missiles, while the MiG-21s do not. The Greek attack pilots are happy to add some well-deserved kill markings to their aircraft, but staff deserve no credit for putting them in such a dangerous position.


FEB 23 – ENDGAME

Our morning strikes withdraw, and our ships continue to move towards their destinations. Our AO arrives near Brindisi with eight hours to go, and the carriers get into their rendezvous zone four hours in advance of the deadline. Our BB and escorts are near the bottom of the Aegean Sea, ready to go where directed, and hoping someone can send them some SAMs.


EVALUATION

The destruction of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet has been a decisive success, but we’ve only managed a partial victory in Bulgaria. Although all their western facilities have fine new runway craters, the airfields at Bezmer and Ravnets are completely untouched, as are all their coastal facilities and the central logistical hub. There are dense belts of SA-11s guarding the area, plus two more SA-10s (that we’ve spotted), and we no longer have the quantities of long-ranged ordnance we would need to engage them. Our radar and ESM operators are still picking up numerous MiG-29 contacts operating in the area, and we’ve been unable to tempt them out of their bastion to get conveniently destroyed.

The Soviets have taken extremely heavy losses at sea, and our list of kill claims in the air is very long, but they are still operating significant numbers of planes over their side of the Black Sea. The MiG-25s have taken heavy losses, but we’re still seeing multiple flights of MiG-29s in the north and west, and signs of MiG-23s (which we’ve largely ignored) in the east.

Our munitions state is not great. The Turks are running low on AAMs at their northern bases, particularly Murted and Eskisehir. The Greeks are doing a little better, but six of their Mirage 2000s are out of the fight due to missile shortages, and they’ve used all their LGBs and Mavericks. The Nimitz has no more Sidewinders in her magazines, and she’s running very low on Sparrows too. HARMs and TALDs are completely expended everywhere, so SEAD will be a problem, unless we rely on our few remaining Walleyes, but that’s a day-only option. The Cimarron better come back full! (Surprisingly, we still have some anti-shipping missiles left. Despite having used 45 Harpoons and 16 Sea Eagles, we still have enough left (29) to launch a respectable attack on a modestly defended enemy.)


Many thanks for another very enjoyable scenario.

[AndrewJ]

Here's some observations after looking at the other sides.


Impressions

Interesting scenario! The various munitions limitations make it a challenging act to try and get the best use out your limited resources, against a numerically enormous enemy, and I found myself faced with dwindling stocks that restricted my options again and again. I generally had a chance for one good concentrated shot, a second weaker shot, and a few isolated munitions left after that. I briefly considered the special actions to get more planes, but decided against using them, since they didn’t come with added stockpiles of high-end munitions, just more iron bombs. I had plenty of subs, but never really considered taking them through any of the straits to tackle the enemy in the Black Sea for fear of mines or patrols in these obvious choke points. I also really didn’t want to take the Iowa north into danger, especially with so few SAMs to defend it, so I was very pleased when I found a way to destroy the artillery without resorting to the battleship. (I know we’re supposed to be ‘showing the flag’ with the battleship, but it’s a lousy show when the battleship is underwater…)


Missions, Triggers, Actions

The AO Enters Replen area trigger, BZ 2 Ark Royal Enters trigger, and the BZ 2 Nimitz Enters trigger all have ‘earliest’ times in March, rather than February. As a result, none of these triggers will activate during the scenario.

There is no trigger or event for the loss of the Ark Royal CV.

It might be handy to have an event at the very start of the scenario which discusses the Special Actions. They are already described in the side briefing, but the information is sort of buried in among the lists of forces, which the player may be tempted to skim, and thus miss the information until the five-minute warning.

There are some Syria-related actions left over in the actions menu, but these should have no effect on play. Similarly, there are some obsolete NATO Sp triggers.


Soviets

The B-303 Ptl, B-354 Ptl, & B-887 Ptl mission have the transit and station depth either set to ‘periscope’ or ‘Custom Depth -20m’, which is the same thing, and the EMCON set to ‘active’ for radar and sonar. This makes them immediately detected at the start of the scenario.

B-887 Ptl, where there are no biologicals to cause problems with false launches, could benefit from being weapons free vs subs.

The CAP West (Su) mission has a deactivation time 0600 Z on Feb 22, which is when the scenario starts, so it does not activate. This took 36 MiG-23s out of the core of the defence of Bulgaria, which certainly made things easier for me! (I still could have fought my way in, but it would have taken a lot more work from the Nimitz’s F-14s and the other Greek fighters, and I’d even have been bringing in Harriers with AMRAAMs. I’d probably have bombed a couple fewer bases, and been essentially black on AAMs at the end.)

The PVO Intercept mission launched all its aircraft at once (36 MiG-25s), and spread them out towards a host of different targets, even those that were well beyond the nominal intercept range for their loadout. This certainly forced me out of the area, but it’s probably not the behaviour you were expecting. I think there might be something funky with intercept missions in general at the moment, since the Bulgarian ones were also producing mass launches. Maybe a maximum strike radius would help control the behaviour?

I’m sure glad I never triggered the Ship Strike mission. That’s an awfully big bomber swarm! I’m not sure the Russians have any realistic chance of spotting either of the carriers, and even the Kearsarge and the Iowa will probably get away without being detected, unless they stumble on the sub somehow. The fort has no sensors, and the Geckos don’t have the sensor range to spot the ships in the very limited area where they actually have LOS to the sea. Perhaps some discrete spotters N of the FEBA along the Dardanelles W coast, representing army units in the area, could accomplish the spotting if the Iowa moves in?

The coastal fort at the Dardanelles has zero damage points, according to the database viewer, as do most of the forts in the database. Probably a database error?

The coastal fort could benefit from some MANPADS, in order to keep prowling helicopters away. There are several ways to sneak attack helicopters into the region, which is a great way to accomplish the mission, but it also removes the need to use the battleship, which is one of the features of the scenario.

It would probably be worth turning on the active sonars of the Soviet surface groups in the KUG Ptl mission. They are already emitting radar, so it will not reduce their ability to hide, and it would be a big help against the stealthy Turkish sub. They should probably also be Weapons Free vs. sub-surface targets. Tests show the active sonar detections will only give a yellow unknown contact, which the ships will not engage unless weapons free.

Would it be worth having some sort of withdrawal set up for the Soviet ships individually, or the groups as a whole (Lua?), perhaps sending them back towards Atia or Varna when they are damaged or badly reduced in numbers? The SAMs and aircraft there could provide useful shelter for retiring ships.

The lone Ropucha headed for the Bosporus could probably benefit from a close AA escort, maybe an old destroyer or a frigate, (Bulgarian/Romanian?) or something like that, as it is very exposed to the most basic attacks.


Bulgaria

The GrafIgnatievo Intercept and Uzundzhovo Intercept missions both produced unusual behaviour, sortieing large numbers of planes (all their ready planes) which then orbited in small or large circular paths tangent to the airbase. This may be a bug in strike mission behaviour.

Would any of the Bulgarian airfields have AAA defences? Maybe just some low proficiency ZU-23-2s, or the like, to keep the player honest about the risk of repeated low-level attacks?

The SA-5s might benefit from some reloads later in the game. Because of their enormous range, they end up taking a lot of shots which fighters can easily avoid, so they run out missiles while achieving few actual kills, and then contribute nothing for the remainder of the scenario. Delivering a few replacement missiles here and there – maybe five or so per battery - at different times on the following day might cause some very entertaining consternation, without unbalancing the scenario. I know that once I realised they were out of missiles I was able to ignore them in a way which was probably a bit optimistic.

There are a number of bases with planes with no mission (Dobrich, with Fitters and recce Fishbeds, Bezmer’s Frogfoots, Cheshnegirovo’s MiG-23 BNs). I assume the action of these ground attack planes are deliberately not simulated in this scenario?


Romania

The CAP Coastal mission has a deactivation time of 0600 on the 22nd, which is when the scenario starts, so it never activates.


NATO

The air defences at Eskisehir immediately start moving when the scenario begins. Manually assigning speed zero will fix that.

The two helicopters on the John Rodgers (the Spruance escorting the Kearsarge) have no loadouts. They would presumably have ASW loads.

The Greeks have a number of aircraft which require buddy illumination for their LGB loadouts. They do have some designator pods for their F-4s, but they don’t have any LGBs for the F-4s, so they can never get their designators into the air. (There is no ‘designator pod only’ loadout available.) The only airborne designators in the scenario seem to be a few for the Turkish F-4s over at Eskisehir, where they do have some bombs to go with their pods, but once they use their LGBs (they only have 8) those designator pods become unavailable too.


Miscellaneous

The Biologics side is playable. (It could also be made blind for a bit of processor saving.)

In the Mission section of the Side Briefing, it might be helpful to add instructions that both the carriers need to get to the Nimitz Btl Zone, and the AO needs to get to the AO Replen Zone.

Would it be worth assigning any points for the destruction of logistical facilities such as the truck and storage depot at the beachhead?


Typoes, Speling, Ect.

Side Briefing: ‘Over the northern Bosphorus” (you mostly use Bosporus elsewhere)
Intel Briefing: ‘block the Dardinells” (Dardanelles)
Intel Briefing: ‘losing at lease four” (least)
Intel Briefing: ‘limited to the SARA’ (SARH)
Intel Briefing: ‘Dobrich’ should be in bold, like other airbase names
Intel Briefing: ‘the East Bridghead’ (Bridgehead)
Operation Digger: ‘it is hopped’ (hoped)
Operation Digger: ‘will bolster the moral’ (morale)

[Gunner98]

Thanks Andrew, great report!

I'll make some tweaks and turn this one around this weekend. The next in the series is in the works, same crew but Libya is the target this time. Bulgaria is back in the fray for MF 9 as well.

B

[AndrewJ]

It was neat to spot the Smeli over by the Bulgarian/Romanian coast. If I remember rightly, she served well on shore bombardment duty when I was running her in the Soviet invasion scenario.

[Gunner98]

It was neat to spot the Smeli over by the Bulgarian/Romanian coast. If I remember rightly, she served well on shore bombardment duty when I was running her in the Soviet invasion scenario.

The very same I think. I'm enjoying the series where you play one side then the other. Baltic was like that - 'Hay I just used that ship to...'

[Gunner98]

OK here is the next update guys. I think with this one you may have to pay more attention to those bombers

[RSMC]

Version 1.1 plays very differently than version 1.0. Key points are:
1.) Bomber strike can't be avoided in 1.1 like it can in 1.0. Oddly, the bombers were not launching at max range, that allowed for a turkey shoot over the Sea of Marmara. It took every fighter that could get there from Nimitz (Mig CAP F14s), Bandirma, Balekesir, and Tanagra, with some help from the F4s at Ekisiher and Larissa, but I managed to save the Iowa and Kearsarge. Had the bombers launched from behind the SAM belt, Iowa and Kearsarge would have had no chance.

2.) Cruisers in the Black Sea took their SSM shots at Iowa - easily picked off by fighters, then RTBed to Varna. Managed to bag 3 cruisers - and a bunch of other stuff - with 4 TLAMs targeted at the naval dock. That also thinned out the SAM coverage for the later Harpoon/HARM strikes on the destroyers.

3.) 1.1 had zero activity from the intercept Mig-25s. That surprised me, since I spent much of 1.0 running from them. Was there something different in 1.1 vs. 1.0?

4.) The Turkish SSK in the Black Sea had a field day in 1.0, and got caught in 1.1. Luck of the ASW patterns.

5.) The USS Groves - escorting Cimmaron, and USS Briscoe - escorting Nimitz are both checked to avoid cavitation, eliminating any speed runs for those groups unless unchecked or not allowing group lead to slow for regroup.

6.) In neither version did I find it profitable to go after the Bulgarians. Too many SAMs and too few capable aircraft.

Both versions are great fun to play. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next book.

[Gunner98]

Thanks

I'll check on the Mig-25 and why the bombers aren't releasing, probably a weapons free issue. I'll do a couple other tweaks as you recommend as well.

Some news on book 2 will be forthcoming shortly.

Bart