CanGames Ottawa 2014 - Air to Air Combat: Bandits 2

Howdy folks,

I wanted to continue on from our last post.  As mentioned, CanGames 2014 in Ottawa was an absolute blast...my first game of the con was a great success.  The GM did a great job of keeping the game moving and the table and terrain were outstanding.  My second game was from a GM that I had the pleasure of gaming with before...in fact, I consider him the reason/blame/introducer of tabletop air to air combat (Bandits and Bandits 2) and ship combat (Shipwreck). 

As with previous con's the GM was running a modern what-if scenario.  This time it was the Crimea with a Russian strike package (3 x Su-25 Frogfoots) with escorts (IIRC 4 x Su27 and 2 x Mig29) hitting a Ukrainian port.  The main objective of the Russians was sink a troop transport that was unloading an infantry combat group.  In defense the Ukrainians had a couple of old frigates as point defense and a couple of Ukraine Mig-29s...as support, NATO was represented by an offboard AWACS bird with a 2-ship of CF-18s callsigns 'Moose' and 'Poutine'.

The mechanics of Bandits breaks down each turn into a series of tactical movements.  Each pilot is assigned a certain number of manoeuvres that allow movement and turns.  At the same time, depending on the skill of the pilot there are a number of combat moves allowed as well as search or ECM (electronic counter-measures).  The combat is simply that...finger to trigger.  The search allows the pilot to roll for a visual or radar search or refill the ECM pool.  The ECM pool is where the pilot employs countermeasures in reaction to other pilots combat moves...these are rather conceptual and in realworld would be chaff/flare and jink/altitude/break manoeuvres  (this pool is never allowed to go above a set cap).

The scenario and report:

The Russians deployed along a table edge with each player controlling a 2-ship formation of fighters, opposing them, the allies elected to hold off their deployment until the Russians passed a 'line of death'.  Because of AWACS support the allies were able to be 'vectored' into position.  The Russians did not know about the AWACS and ended up dispersed along a wide front with their best pilot on the opposite end, the furthest point away from the pending fight.

Russian Su25 Frogfoots inbound...

Once the Russian Frogfoots passed a geographical reference the Canucks pounced and were deployed, when the remaining escorts crossed the 'line' the Ukraine Migs finished their vectors.  Almost immediately searches and shots were taken.  Very quickly a Russian Su27 was damaged (radar shot) and another was destroyed (guns pass) with the CF18s taking the brunt of search attention from the Russians for the next several turns.

 Russian aircraft passing the 'line'...no turning back...

Moose and Poutine from the Alouette's vector in a little off target...and promptly get pings in the RAW gear... 

The top Russian pilots...as far from the action as you can get...

Lead Ukraine Mig 'Lydia' fires a radar missile, Moose does the same...

A flurry of countermeasures...chaff chaff chaff

Moose's missile is turned away by 'chaff chaff chaff'...Lydia's is on target...

Lydia damages a Russian Flanker...both sides trading shots...

 ...and misses...

the furball happens with flight elements mixing back and forth...Lydia goes hot on guns...splash one Flanker 

The Frogfoots start to pull away and it is with some urgency that the allies try to engage them before they can sink the transport ship... 

Poutine tries to down the Frogfoot...tough bird, takes a missile hit but keeps on ticking...Boris and Lydia evade a long range missile shot from the Russian Ace who's finally in the fight...Poutine very quickly takes some damage and eventually elects to punch out (in game terms, this allowed the player to regenerate another aircraft)

Nearing the end of the game...in our haste we forgot to look at the clock...the action is coming to a close with more missile shots and gobs of chaff...

The end of the fight...the Frogfoots proved near impossible to down...the Russians suffered 3 Flankers lost and the Allies had both CF18s shot down.  The transport was not hit and one of the outdated Ukrainian frigates was sent to the depths...all in all a good game and a points win by the Allies, though I don't think it was a morale victory...