Origins `90 Tournament Report
Part 1

Friday: Main Event, Round 1:
Two Against One in MiG Alley (Korea 1953)

by J.D. Webster

On Friday, we had two back-to-back four hour slots in which to run the tourney. The theme I chose was "TEAM WORK". It was to consist of three rounds with all players participating in all rounds and prizes going to those who scored the most points overall. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out as planned (nothing new for me!).

There were lots of old faces and the initial atmosphere was one of a happy reunion with many players gleefully planning to settle scores from previous years. There was much taunting and boasting as well, most of it in fun aimed at the Canadians. We've been picking on them for a year in the newsletter so it wasn't unexpected either.

In fact, they showed up with some nifty red T-shirts, on which was printed a squirrel (I think) replete with flying cap and goggles busting through a hexagon field and plucking the tail feathers off an American bald eagle. Actually, at first glance it looks more like it's fornicating the Eagle doggy style while holding onto the tail feathers, but we were assured that this was just an optical illusion (I believe that, sure!!!!). Higher up on the shirt is a CF18 camped at the six of an F-15. All in all, a pretty neat shirt.

Some old hands appearing were Mark Bovankovich and Curtis Maki, in from California replete with Hawaiian shirts, NIKE shorts, lime-green day-glo surfer sneakers, long hair and a lot of those strange words like "Dude". Roger "Woof" Taylor, Ken Maniscalco, John Vasilakos, Mike Daniels, and our very own infamous editor Tony Valle, rounded out the other Yank veterans.

The Canucks were few, but included previous winner Paul Procyk, Ray Lament, Doug Smith and Steve Madjanovich, all high calibre pilots. Australia was represented by newcomer Joel Williams. Gee, wonder when England, Europe and Asia will send representatives?

The first round was a one-on-one game with a twist. The twist being that one player got two airplanes while the other got one. Match-ups were randomly drawn from a hat. Two hours were allotted for this round and 3 minute sand timers were to be used by each player to limit the time spent moving each jet.

Two Against One Over MiG Alley! Korea, 1953

Background.

An F-86F pilot, separated from his wingman after a short skirmish near MiG Alley, is trying to get back to Kimpo when he is jumped by two aggressive NEG-15 pilots. Turning to meet the attack, he finds himself confronted with a classic two-on-one situation. Uncharacteristically, the MiGs stick it out and fight.

Game Length: 15 turns

Notes:

1. All aircraft begin spotted, all are silver

2. All have full ammo and the MiGs pilots are actually Soviet instructors, equal in ability to the Sabre pilot 3. Victory. The side with the most points wins

Overview of Play:

The setup is more or less neutral with the Sabre out of immediate danger. The MG- 15's must capitalize on the fact that there are two of them and maneuver to stay away from the Sabre's superior guns while outflanking it. The Sabre has the equally difficult task of getting a MiG, without being sandwiched and bagged. I expected a lot of draws. As it turned out, of the 10 match ups, it came out even with four draws, three NG wins and three Sabre wins.

Two MiG's, flown by Canadians, Paul and Ray, got the only real Kills shooting down Californian Sabre pilots Mark and Curtis in short order to make them eat their pre-game boasts. A Sabre flown by Mike Phelps rammed a MiG and survived getting a kill in the process. Summary as follows:

Match MiG's/Sabre: Results

1. Ken "Goldielocks" Maniscalco/Fred "Target" Gray: F86 win on first move, first shot. L hit on MiG, Sabre ran. Ken opted not to defensively preempt on first turn. Big mistake!

2. Paul "Wiseguy" Procyk/Mark "Top Wop" Bovankovich: Paul's MiG's dogged Sabre whole game; took 5 shots; 5th resulted in kill; Sabre pilot failed to eject.

3. Alex "Joker" Lovetsky/Doug Powers: Draw, Sabre took 3 shots, MiG's 1; all missed.

4. Steve "Madman" Madjanovich/Joel "Weasel" Williams: Draw, MiG's got one shot, missed.

5. Ray "Mojo" Lament/Curtis "Slash" Maki: Ray worked MiG's well setting up one 50% shot which killed Sabre. Curtis failed to eject.

6. Roger "Woof" Taylor/Mike "Maverick" Van Leeuwen: Draw, MiG's got one shot, Sabre two; all missed.

7. Jeff "Badman" Billings/Wug "Sled-dog" Smith: MiG's manhandled Sabre taking 3 shots for one L hit.

8. Jim "Sundown" Plesec/Paul Mansfield: Sabre offensive most of game; scored L hit with one shot.

9. Mike "Bouncer" Daniel/Mike "Cougar" Phelps: Cougar's F-86 took 3 shots and missed, but rammed a MiG and lived. The MiG crashed and other MiG couldn't catch crippled Sabre.

10. Tony "Killjoy" Valle/John "Greek" Vasilakos: Draw, MiG's managed one shot in tough battle and missed.

Origins `90 Tournament Report Part 1

Origins `90 Tournament Report Part 2

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