Mrs Thatcher's War

[bob48]

'I counted them all out, and I counted them all back'

[judgedredd]

Cracking news...I roll 17 for the first attack in Sea Zone Puerto Deseado.

In addition to removing the Grupo and an aircraft from the Argentinian aircraft pool, BBC News goes up by +5 and they lose an Exocet.

Unfortunately my BBC News is already at 19 so it's maxed out...it needs to be high to get the ground combat bonuses.

[judgedredd]

For the second sea zone attack in Comodoro Rivadavia I rolled 15. Another excellent roll. Another Grupo gone,  another airplane gone (Dagger this time...it was  Dassault Mirage last time)

BBC News would've gone up by 1 again.

[judgedredd]

This is the strategic map after the Task Force Phase.

The Argentinians have 3 Grupos and will be able to send 6 aircraft to East Falkland. That's not going to go well for them... the British have 14 Sea Harriers to send in.

[judgedredd]

Argentine Air Asset Phase
Here the Argentine air force deploys.

You first determine the Priority Air Sector which is either E (outside Stanley) or the sector with the most British ground units. There are none as yet, so the priority sector is E

You then place 2 aircraft in the relevant sectors on the East Falkland map for each Grupo on the mainland. So sector b, c and e all get 2 aircraft.

That's why it's important for the British player to try and remove Grupos when possible...to prevent a strong Argentinian air presence over East Falkland

[judgedredd]

An optional rule which I'm using is removing A4 Skyhawks  during rain/snow weather.

Apparently this is because they had no radar

So 4 off the 6 aircraft are removed. The Argentinians could be in bother here

[judgedredd]

British Air Asset Phase
The British Harriers now deploy. The Argentinians are in got water.

[judgedredd]

Argentine Junta Plan Phase
During this phase the Argentinian Air units can be redeployed on East Falkland. In this instance they can't because they are all engaged... it's only the ones which aren't engaged which can move.

This rule is pretty complicated because it's not entirely clear initially what plans can move. Its only at the end of the phase where it explains what planes is talking about...

[judgedredd]

Air Battle Procedure
First determine the sides..the British are usually the attacker. It makes a difference

Call For Ground Support
The Argentinians get a step off ground support for each ground unit in the sector. So their support moves from 0 to 5. This gives them a +5 on their SP. So as the sole aircraft in the sector has 6, their SP is now 11...better odds.

The British could have the same if they had any troops in the sector.

So the odds will be 49 ÷11 which is 4.45 (445) which rounded down means the British are rolling on the 400% column

[judgedredd]

A roll of 4 is a DE result.

This means the Argentinian unit is eliminated (moved to the repair pool)

For the second combat in sector C the British have 49 again and again the Argentinians have 11 (they have 2 ground units providing support).

A roll of 5 means the enemy is dispatched.

Britain currently has control of the skies over East Falkland

[judgedredd]

I miss all the ground war phase because there are no British units on East Falkland.

The final phase then is Logistics and Invasion...which I fast forward to the Reset section because I have no troops on East Falkland

[judgedredd]

Reset
Belgrano had taken to the sea again in Rio Gallegos. That will pose a problem i think for the British landings next turn. If it remains at sea next turn then a British ground unit willbe marked as out of supply

Because there are 5 Argentinian planes in the repair pool, one is removed from the game (lowest value) due to parts shortage

During repair,  because its rain/snow, one remains in the repair pool.

Now I roll for the political headlines. I took 1 die and add the turn number.  I roll 6 and turn 6 means 12

...Sub Threatens Carriers means I have to move an effort to the TRALA box. Not good as this will affect supplies
...US Sends Mixed Signals means the BBC factor could be increased or reduced by 3. In this instance,  rolling a die means is increased by 3...but its already at the max
...Kelper Logistics Force means I could supply the KLF unit but I have no forces on land so nothing happens
...Ayo Gurkhali! is where I could deeply the Gurkhas but I have no ground units on land as yet
...By-Election Tests Tory Popularity is where i could increase the BBC News depending on how many settlements i have captured...none so nothing happens


That's it. That's a walk through of a turn albeit void off any ground combat. It's a nice wee game. I'm very much enjoying it...but it makes me yearn for a proper,  full on air, land and sea game of the Falklands conflict...whether its computerised or board. I'd especially love to take this down onto the ground at company scale

[bbmike]

Good to hear! I'm going to try to get to this one this sometime this year. 

[judgedredd]

It really is very good. Counter count is low and the rules are short. Managing your resources as a British player is crucial. Determining when you use the Royal Navy, what assets to assign, how many aircraft to commit to a sector and which sectors.

I just went into Turn 7 hoping to land but had fair weather - and they can't land in fair weather because they want cloud cover. So I haven't actually landed until Turn 9!

In order to land, you need both escorts - so if one of those is moved to the TRALA box due to diplomacy roll, then you can't land next turn. Once you do land you have to make sure you keep your escorts handy for supplies. It's also very important to try and keep your aircraft so you can try and gain some air superiority to help your ground troops.

Then there's the superb SAS mechanic. Deciding whether to use them for reducing Exocets (a difficult one because it only works on a roll of 1), or removing Pucarra ground support aircraft to help keep the Argentine grouns combat less favourable - or removing Grupos so they don't send aircraft to East Falkland. Keeping them to help Ground forces engaged in combat. And when you do use them, you have a "saving roll" - which means the SAS unit comes back on that many turns ahead...which could be 6!

It's all quite nail biting and things turn so quickly. For example the weather not allowing my landing. The escort being sent to the Trala box so you can't land or supply...I've just had a Carrier sent to TRALA because of a diplomatic roll.

Really simple and very cool.

One thing you really have to keep in mind is the rules. These rules really do require you to read through from start to finish and remember...for example, the Royal Navy phase where you assign escorts to sea zones to reduce Grupos....if you do so, you wouldn't be able to land that turn...so if you're planning to land, you need to keep your escorts handy. That of course means you either use the Carriers to reduce Grupos or leave Grupos as they are - resulting in more aircraft over East Falkland. Of course attacking Grupos with just a Carrier is risky if the Argentines still have exocets...because if there's a hit from an exocet and there are no escorts with the carrier, then the carrier and her aircraft are lost

All very tense stuff. Such a great wee game.

I would say I think I've ben very lucky with the rolls. Exocets are down to 1, SAS have been having save rolls of 1, 2 or 3 allowing me to use them more.

[judgedredd]

Well. It's over. I didn't make it. I know it's only turn 18 - but I can't get the centre force to the hills outside Stanley in time



It's a real challenge to try and make sure you keep the troops moving once you actually get to land. The Yellow and Green tracks (north and south) made progress because I kept them supplied but also because they had helicopters. The Brown track (centre) was left a couple of turns without supply and thinking about it, that was a bad move. I could've made the others out of supply as they had helicopters...which allow you to move as far as you can (until a block - Argentinian unit).

So I messed up there.

Also - the weather in the last few turns is really against you. I had 2 rolls resulting in Gales which meant skip turn...that took two very much needed turns away from me.

Ultimately I didn't use my Navy well enough. I was happy to leave a unit or two unsupplied not realising how tight the schedule was. Not only that - but sometimes I HAD to make troops unsupplied because an escort was moved to TRALA due to diplomacy...I think that happened twice or three times.

I had alot of fun with this. I was all ready to pack it up and move onto another game...but honestly, I had so much fun - and I've learnt alot - I really want to play it again.

I'm going to put it away for a couple of days because I've got Decision at Kasserine coming and I want to see how it fits onto my gaming table (spoiler - it's going to be tight) and whilst it's away I might try and get some paint onto my A-10 Warthog...but this is the next game I'm going to have on my table