Friday Afternoon

In an experiment to attempt to get more playing out of the same rental fee, Jim T. of the Colbys accepted my offer to run a dirt track sprint car racing game during the pre-convention hours Friday afternoon. The four victims, er...volunteers each selected two 1/64 scale cars from my collection and set about running a two lap race. We had one caution flag entering the back stretch on lap one to the disappointment of the pole sitter who had already opened a sizable lead.

The restart was a good deal closer and three or four lead changes followed during the remaining lap and a half. The winner, the Colby's own "Master Yoda," thought he had it locked up, no sweat -- until he managed to give himself the chance to wreck on the last turn of the game (which would have been a DNF). But he survived and picked up the checker. The players expressed interest in the advanced rules which include weather effects and crew chief decisions in setting up the car to handle various track conditions. My thanks to all who participated.

Friday Evening

I played the Japanese Rear Admiral in a Shipbase 3 scenario of a night action on Dec. 9, 1941. I think these rules are excellent. In no time at all, I had slipped into the role of admiral and was playing the tactics, not the game mechanics. We were returning to Japan at 12 knots on a NW heading when the first American appeared off of the port side at about 17,000 yards range. The American fleet was hell bent on revenge and was bearing down on us with a 50% higher speed. The Americans were in position to cap our "T". The destroyers in our van, along with one CA and 2 CL's (?), broke off and interposed themselves so that the six carriers could turn away.

The Japanese destroyers and cruisers died like Samurai and managed to take most of the American escort vessels with them to the bottom. The American CAs continued to press in and actually managed to hit the Kaga but not severely. The second group of Japanese escorts finally caught up to the action and brought 2 BCs to bear on the rear U.S. cruisers, while the Minneapolis ran afoul of the guns still mounted on the lead two carriers which were both converted battlewagons. It all ended in a pyrrhic victory for the U.S. The U.S. lost a little over 70% of its tonnage, while the Japanese lost a little more than 20% of theirs.

The Japanese losses were the CA and the CLs, plus 6 or 7 tin cans, where as the Americans lost all 7 or 8 of their DDs, the Minneapolis, plus damage on the 3 remaining cruisers. But the Americans were considered expendable to begin with, while the Japanese could ill afford losses of any kind, even though the carriers all made it back. 

Saturday Morning

The 3rd edition of the Desert Shield scenario, "If Sadaam Had a Brain," took place with a full compliment of players. The background is that instead waiting for the coalition to fall apart, Sadaam Hussein scrapes together what operable AFVs he had after he lost 25-70% per unit, due to operational failures moving into Kuwait, and presses on into Saudi Arabia on Aug. 12, 1990. There the first deployment of the 82nd Airborne, some remnants of the Kuwaiti 35th Brigade and the Saudis are digging in around the airfields closest to Iraq that will be needed for Desert Storm. Air power being a critical issue, the CAP aircraft on each side were roughly equal in number. The ground attack head count favors Sadaam by a 5-to-3 ratio at that moment.

The 82nd dug in its one infantry battalion, an anti-tank company (TOW2s mounted on Hummers) and a tank company (Sheridans with Shillelaghs) in a line from their left to their right. The Iraqis hit with 2 regular army T62 battalions, a mechanized infantry battalion, a Republican guard T-72 battalion and Mechanized Infantry battalion. Each side had a company of attack helicopters, airstrikes and artillery support as well.

The ground scale was 1"=50 yards for the 20mm figures. The terrain was anything but flat. The Iraqis attacked down the length of the 6'x8' table. The open area for the airfield was at the south end and was dominated a double contour hill and a town. The route of approach for the Iraqis was astride a road running mostly N-S passing just east of the airfield. There were two ridge lines running E-W with a wadi nestled between them. There was a bridge on the road that spanned the wadi. Visibility down in to the wadi was restricted and it made for covered E-W movement as long as no AFVs "brewed up" in the wadi. There was a town on the north end of the road. The road was straight and level till after it crossed the wadi.

The Iraqis posted the regular army troops on each flank with the RGFC in the center. The T-62s made for the wadi and the cover it offered. The T -72s of the RGFC were fatally tentative driving up the middle and made it no better than about halfway to the wadi. An exchange of fire eliminated each sides AAA (M163 & ZSU-23-4). The Iraqis lost two of their three Mi-24s to Stingers and ground fire, but the Cobra and Apache were tentative about selecting targets, and as a result the Apache did not fire all of its Hellfires before it left the board to refuel. Two Sheridans were toasted by the T -62s and Mi-24 with out much trouble along with a Chieftain platoon of the Kuwaiti 35th Brigade. The hummers with TOWs and the infantry with Dragons and one airstrike from an F15 wiped out all but two of the T-62 stands, and about half of the BTR-50s that the mech infantry were riding.

Unfortunately for the Americans, they had expended 98% of their ATGWs by that point and the Iraqis were now in small arms range with good artillery support and airstrikes of their own. The Americans had shifted from a marked technical superiority to vaguely resembling Custer at The Little Big 24 Horn.

Iraqi losses were high but they were a ways from out of it. The Iraqis could still break through, maybe. The Americans and Kuwaitis did not plan a fall back and regroup line when they set up. Without the ATGWs, as tough as the 82nd was, it couldn't afford losses or contract its position if and when they occurred. The event was called a draw by the referee. My thanks to all who participated.

Saturday Afternoon

Red Wings 5, Avalanche 3. Burger at Dominic's was very good.

Saturday Evening

A strategic withdrawal was made 100 miles to the north. Drums was a great convention.