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#Post#: 79--------------------------------------------------
E20 Operation Meridian II
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2018, 10:15 am
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Date: 8 Aug
Playtester: Gordon Christie/Andrew Brazier
Andrew & I have run through this twice. Good fun & we think it
is fine as it stands…
Brief summary-nothing to see here, move along….
First run saw 8 losses on each side with both refinery targets
heavy damage & a final score of +24 VP for a draw which felt
about right.
Second run was one of the occasional wild outliers a 2D6 system
seems to generate-everything went perfectly for the British with
the dice roller & dismally for the Japanese. Final result was 19
Japanese losses (2 Ki 45s) for 20VP against only 4 FAA losses
(-4VP) with one refinery target fatally damaged & the other
heavily damaged (+48VP) for a comprehensive British victory.
Overall though it feels pretty good. The forces are pretty
balanced. The mix of aircraft is unusual (first time I’ve ever
actually sought dogfights as the Allies playing against the
Japanese encouraged by the lower dogfight ratings of the Ki-44 &
Ki-45). The Allies have to try & protect the bombers & preserve
enough fighters to eliminate the barrage balloons. The bombers
are few enough in numbers that the Japanese can reasonably hope
to inflict enough damage & disruption to blunt the bombing
attack. Flak & balloons are a threat & can derail the bombing
but are not overwhelming.
One rule thought. At present the balloons can only be tallied
within 3 squares. This made it somewhat hard for the FAA
fighters operating a bit higher to get down to attack the
balloons at altitude 2 & seemed a bit odd as (I would assume)
barrage balloons are not the most inconspicuous targets.I’d
suggest changing the tally range to 6-8 squares or allowing
fighters within 4 columns to attack balloons without a tally
akin to the strafing rules permitting attacks on ground targets
within 3 columns.
As an aside following on from that (bearing in mind our request
for an SSR in Operation Tungsten to allow escorts to strafe
within 5 columns) might it be better to increase the provision
to within 4 columns for strafing as a diving fighter can
generally cover 4 squares as it comes down to attack a strafing
target?
That apart though we felt it was a good, fun scenario which
(despite our second playing) is probably pretty balanced.
#Post#: 295--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: Elias Nordling Date: October 5, 2018, 6:04 am
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I think this scenario needs Japanese split limits.
#Post#: 297--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: pilotofficerprune Date: October 5, 2018, 6:37 am
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Are there any particular aircraft that need split limits? The
Ki-44s, for example? Or just put a 2 flight limit on everything?
#Post#: 302--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: Elias Nordling Date: October 5, 2018, 7:25 am
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I don't know about balance yet, I just don't want to have to
figure out how many Ki 44 and Ki45 flights there are in the
countermix. 2 flights per type will probably work fine.
#Post#: 310--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: pilotofficerprune Date: October 6, 2018, 4:10 am
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For the next release the only change I've made is to add split
limits for the Japanese.
#Post#: 314--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: Elias Nordling Date: October 6, 2018, 1:39 pm
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Is the lack of split limit intended to mean it can't split?
Because I think according to the rules, it is able to split to
the limit of the countermix, which is 1 in this case so you
can't split but you won't find out until you have sifted through
the countermix.
#Post#: 315--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: pilotofficerprune Date: October 6, 2018, 4:11 pm
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Yes, the split limit essentially overrides the countermix.
However, all the Japanese aircraft in this scenario have at
least two flights each. (I checked.)
#Post#: 316--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: Elias Nordling Date: October 7, 2018, 1:06 am
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Sorry, I failed to write that I was talking about the Firefly,
which has no split limit but only 1 flight.
#Post#: 327--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: Elias Nordling Date: October 7, 2018, 1:55 pm
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Meridian II 0.3
Playtester: Elias Nordling (Solo)
I put two of the British veterans in the bombers and one in the
hapless fireflies (I don't get the deal with those, for all
intents and purposes they suck within the framework of this
system). Halfway through this looked like a mistake, but in the
end it paid off. The reason it looked like a bad idea initially
was that the Hellcat sweep, except for one flight, failed to
tally, which meant that the Japanese had numerical superiority
against the bombers. The Japanese got a fair number of attacks
on the bombers, causing three disruptions.
The air combat was over with all Japanese fighters broken well
before the bombers reached the Flak zone, so the bombers circled
while the Hellcats dispatched the balloons (the Fireflies were
maimed and broken early on). I'm not sure they are worth the
bother.
The Avengers descended under the clouds and then did steep angle
attacks. the Flack got to fire at all 4 but rolled 5 or less on
all attempts.
Bombings:
+2: 9: 50%: 7
+3: 7: 50% 7
+1: 4: Miss
+1: 9: 50% 7
Score:
British: Bombing 36, Balloons 2, 4 Ki43, 6 Ki44, 3 Ki45.
52,5
Japanese:
1 corsair, 2 hellcats, 3 firefly, 5 Avengers: 11
Total: 41,5. Runaway British victory.
3 US air losses suffered by Flak, but US would have gained 12
more points without disruptions, so at least the air fight
wasn't a net loss for the Japanese.
Comments: Given the value of the target, this one is going to be
highly dependent on bombing rolls, and the British were lucky
where it mattered, on the flak rolls. They could have blown one
more bombing roll and still would have won, though.
My biggest concern with the scenario is that it played nothing
like the historical outcome. The Fireflies are dead meat unless
the Japanese choose to ignore them, and the combat is a big
brawl well before the target is reached. Chances for the
historical attacks after the target has been bombed are
nonexistent.
#Post#: 343--------------------------------------------------
Re: E20 Operation Meridian II
By: Elias Nordling Date: October 9, 2018, 1:20 pm
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I just noticed this one:
"first time I’ve ever actually sought dogfights as the Allies
playing against the Japanese encouraged by the lower dogfight
ratings of the Ki-44 & Ki-45"
There's a difference in play style. I dogfight whenever I can as
the defender, even against fighters with a defence rating. It
doesn't matter if the interceptors have superior skillz in
dogfighting, if they are dogfighting they aren't intercepting,
and any favourable attrition rate they can get out of the
dogfight is small consolation. Besides, the US usually have
superior firepower and protection, more than making up for
poorer turning ability.
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