Fox1
Posts: 6
Joined: 12/29/2013
From: Australia
Status: offline
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So - my first AAR, for my first multiplayer game of Command using Baloogan's Joint Command addon...and I had my backside handed to me :P.
We were playing Duelists 1989, myself commanding the Royal Navy and my honourable opponent Zathras taking charge of the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet. The game was played with 30 minute alternating turns.
For those who are unfamiliar with the scenario (unlikely, but still), it takes place in the North Sea, with a Soviet SAG centred on the helicopter carrier Kiev seeking to break into northern European waters. In response, the Royal Navy has tasked the HMS Invincible Carrier Group to intercept and destroy the Russian interlopers...
My first thoughts going into this was that I wanted to avoid detection for as long as possible. It occured to me that whoever got the jump on their opponent would be the victor by way of sudden, devastating anti-ship missile strikes.
This being so, I ordered the HMS Invincible and her consorts to steam on a north-westerly course, taking them past Jan Mayen Island and hopefully getting them off the most probable vector of a Soviet attack. ASW and AEW Sea Kings were already up and providing sensor cover...so in order to improve the relative stealth of the British surface group I ordered them to switch radars off. In hindsight, I am not sure whether or not this was a good idea...
Similarly, a CAP was already present in the form of four Sea Harriers, and so I was content to leave the pre-set patrol patterns as they were. Far to the south, I sent a Shackleton AEW aircraft up to cover the Iceland - UK gap just in case this turned into a longer match and the Soviets somehow managed to sneak past me. I also had some Buccaneers in reserve, but with their 950NM range, again, they were unlikely to be involved unless the Soviets steamed south (or so I figured).
Lastly, I sent the submarines HMS Torbay and HMS Sceptre on a slow creep north-east, hoping to run into some Russians...
When Bears Attack
Approximately five hours later, we had our first contacts. Two Bears, one Tu-95RT recon and a Tu-142 MPA variant, were headed in my direction. Fortunately, my AEW Sea King had detected their emissions early. According to their approximate positions, they hadn't detected my surface group yet. Good. After some deliberation, I decided to vector a couple of Sea Harriers on an intercept course. Although I was afraid of getting jumped by some long-range Soviet interceptors, I felt that I couldn't allow the Bears to get in radar range of my warships...
Half-an-hour later, and the Bears had detected my Sea Harriers and sought to evade them, returning from whence they came and out of range of my jumpjets. By this time however, a third Bear had been located, approaching on a more northerly course, and the remaining airborne Sea Harriers vectored on to the unfortunate Russian aircraft.
Flying Circuses
Another 30 minutes went by, and my Sea Harriers had drawn first blood - the third Bear had not been able to escape, and was brought down by a Sidewinder approximately 250NM northeast of HMS Invincible.
Unfortunately for me, although I was able to successfully tail-chase and bring down another Bear at the extremity of the Sea Harriers' range, he had managed to get into sensor range of my CVHG...uh oh. I immediately re-tasked some spare Sea Harriers with CAP duties, hoping to somehow fend off the inevitable Soviet counterpunch. I battened down the hatches, and hoped for the best...
Sure enough, another turn later, and I was faced with a volley of 16+ AS-4 Kitchens bearing down at me at 1015 knots. The Backfires had come in fast, and I didn't even get the chance to get my Sea Harriers up.
Although my ships defended themselves bravely, several missiles got through, sinking all but HMS Manchester and HMS Battleaxe. With the CVHG all but annihilated, I figured it was all over.
Game, set and match to Zathras. Well played sir!
Things I might have done better in hindsight:
- Using my Sea Kings (specifically the AEW version) more. Some Nimrods would have been lovely, but I was deathly afraid of sending out anything airborne to look for the Soviet SAG because of any potential Russian interceptor threat. This fear might have been a bit overblown. I had no other way of hunting for the Soviet ships - the subs would have taken forever to find them out there in the deep blue.
- Managing my CAP better. Had I been more prepared, I might have been able to send up some Sea Harriers in time to stop Zathras' Backfires. Unfortunately, all but two were being re-armed at the time...
Any comments or critiques would be most welcome, especially from my opponent!
< Message edited by Fox1 -- 2/4/2014 12:20:52 AM >
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Joint Command Multiplayer Game - Duelists 1989 - 
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