Phantom Leader PBF

Matt, you shouldn't have re-rolled target acquisition, because now we actually have a choice whether or not to suppress the MiG-19. The choice is between firing missiles and evading, which in the best case (84%) will result in 2 stress points for Poco or 4 stress points and loss of ordnance in the worst case (4%). (12% for 3 stress.)

Poco is our second best pilot so we shouldn't stress him out unnecessarily. On the other hand side when suppressing we'd only have 2 missile pairs left for the 2 MiG-17s.

- Simon "Dr. Math" Mueller

Bullwinkle wrote:

I certainly wouldn't suppress the Infantry, and I might suppress the MiG-17, but it's up to Dog.

Buick addresses the infantry with the time-honored "middle-finger salute" and flies on his merry way.

As for Poco, I want to clarify: we're in the Site/Bandit Attack phase, meaning Poco has been targeted by the MG-17 and my only options are to Surpress [expending ordnance to eliminate the attack but at the price of doing no damage to the MiG], Evade, and Nothing, right?

Further clarification: In looking at the map, aren't we at Range 0 to the MiG-17 in the Western Approach, thus eliminating any use of AIM-7s?

Oh--and I don't see a MiG-19 on the map at all. I lost the bubble on that target status in all the earlier vox chatter...

So, in saying all that, doesn't this then mean that my only choices with regard to (WRT) the MiG-17 are Evade or Nothing?

If that's the case, I'm going with nothing and hoping he doesn't roll a 10...

Easy Money's got your back, the Fresco can't do you much harm.

The Farmer has been taken care of.

We're all out of Sparrows though: spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjWxydU...jNpcUkzWnJpV2c&hl=en

Unless I'm mistaken, there are no MiG-19's left in play, just the two 17's to worry us.

Okay then, here goes:

Infantry: 9 (add 1 stress)

MiG: 10 (thankfully because of easy money this is damaged, not destroyed, but Poco's going to have to get the hell out of dodge now)

We now have slow pilots attacking. I believe Barbarian is due to unleash some AtA pain against that annoying MiG pilot. Anyone else?

Just make sure to roll like that when I drop my bomb load.

Just for clarification, you can both suppress and evade an attack. You don't have to choose whether to evade until you've seen the suppression roll.

Jesus, nice rolling Matt.

Schweig! wrote:

Easy Money's got your back, the Fresco can't do you much harm.

The Farmer has been taken care of.

We're all out of Sparrows though: spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjWxydU...jNpcUkzWnJpV2c&hl=en

Ah, thanks for the link. And, Matt, Jesus fucking wept. Are those dice payment for my opting for breakfast before checking the forums this AM?

MattDP wrote:

We now have slow pilots attacking. I believe Barbarian is due to unleash some AtA pain against that annoying MiG pilot. Anyone else?

There's nothing else going on this turn.

Barbarian rolls

5, 2

and misses. Now we have a problem - we may have to split our remaining AtA shots.

All US and Soviet planes move to the center, an we're in to turn 3. What are our fast pilots attacking?

According to our plan Showtime is going to drop 2 CBUs on the ZU-23-2 first.

If he misses Easy Money will drop a CBU on it too. Otherwise I don't know ... either factory or infantry. The plan was to leave after this turn, wasn't it? (How exactly is the play sequence anyway?) So Midas can attempt to suppress the infantry with rockets if needed be. Should Easy Money suppress both AAA in the East with one rocket each, or only the KS-19 with two rockets and Barbarian the M1939 with one? (I'd only have 10% miss rate on both attacks, Barbarian 30%.) But we can still discuss this after enemy target allocation.

If we leave at the end of turn 3 Buick should fire both missiles of course.

That sounds about right. If we take out the target in turn 3, then at the end of the turn we move back into the West. That will only leave the infantry (which can only add 1 Stress) and whatever remaining MiGs there are.

I'd have EM suppress the targets in the East with one rocket each.

I'd fire a single AIM-7 from Buick in turn 3, not both. Statistically, it gives the same average total number of MiG shots, but also gives Buick the option of using the last missile to suppress in turn 3 instead of destroy in turn 4 if a MiG targets one of the bombers or attacks Poco.

I notice on the spreadsheet that Poco has a 2 under his name. I assume that's Stress from the damage, but that shouldn't be assigned yet. You get the 2 Stress for finishing the mission in a damaged plane, not when the plane is damaged. For the most part, this doesn't matter, but it will if Poco gets shot down. (If he is, then he doesn't actually get the 2 Stress; there's a different calculation.)

Sorry I wasn't around much today, guys. Work was a pain.

It says in the rules:

You may exit the Tactical Display and end the Over Target portion of the mission during the Aircraft Movement step of any turn.

(Also check the example.) So we don't have to linger around the full four turns.


It also says:

[...] the target aircraft is Damaged. Remove all weapon and pod counters and give the pilot 2 Stress Points.

So apparently the stress occurs immediately.

Schweig! wrote:

(Also check the example.) So we don't have to linger around the full four turns.

Hmm. This is new in PL. In HL2, you had to exit from the Pre-Approach areas. Is this supposed to simulate afterburners or something? Because that's a pretty big advantage.

[...] the target aircraft is Damaged. Remove all weapon and pod counters and give the pilot 2 Stress Points. So apparently the stress occurs immediately.

Another change from HL2. The wording in the rules has removed 'for finishing in a damaged aircraft'. I imagine this was done precisely to avoid this confusion.

Bullwinkle wrote:

I'd fire a single AIM-7 from Buick in turn 3, not both. Statistically, it gives the same average total number of MiG shots, but also gives Buick the option of using the last missile to suppress in turn 3 instead of destroy in turn 4 if a MiG targets one of the bombers or attacks Poco.

I'm good with splitting the missile attacks (I still wonder about the AIM-7 Range 0 attack though. Does that mean it can't fire AtG [duh] or can't fire at AtA targets collocated in teh same area?...)