"To the South Atlantic.....Quick March" *

*Lt Col Nick Vaux, CO 42 Commando April 1982

Well its been a while since I was last in here and much has happened since my last visit, both personally and in the world at large. 

However, now I have a bit more time and commitment I would like to start chronicalling a gaming project that has long intreged me, but never seemed achievible for various reasons up till now. That is, as you may gather from the title above, the 1982 war between Britain and Argentina for the contol of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas.

So why that conflict? 

• Well I have my own reasons for having a reasonably keen interest in the conflict, but it's long enough ago (where did those 38 years go??) to now be regarded as history. I don't care to game current or recent conflicts as to me they are purhaps a bit too close to today's news headlines.
  
• The Falklands conflict was fought between two fairly evenly matched adversaries and potentially encompasses land, sea and air forces. Both Britain and Argentina only deployed limited forces during the conflict.                                                                                                    
  
• There is a lot of information available about the war online, and much has been written about the subject as well, from a general as well as a gaming prospective.

Firstly I will say that while I was born in the UK I have much respect for all those who took part in the conflict on both sides. Eventually the islands were retaken, but it was a very near run thing indeed for both the British and Argentinians.  

While the group I normally game with are a fine body of men we already play many different periods using many different rulesets. Add to that the fact that many of them have limited (or less) interest in anything that occurred after 1980 and my pool of potentially available players drops down to one - me...though I am sure if I can put my intended project together a few will be (hopefully) more than keen to play. Hence I am designing this project towards solo play, though it can be also be played by two or more players if required.

While I intend to experiment with the land battles using a modern adaptation of  Too Fat Lardies "I Ain't Been Shot Mum" WW2 rules I have yet to come across a set of company level modern rules that I really like, so I am setting aside the land based side of the conflict for the moment.

Even before the British can get ashore at San Carlos they must first get to the islands and run the guantlet of the Argentine Navy (Armada de la República Argentina or ARA) and Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina, or FAA) who are stoutly defending their newly won territory. So it makes sense to concentrate on the naval and aerial battles first.  

For the naval side of things rules wise I have gone for Shipwreck by Vandering Publishing, a fairly detailed but easily played set of modern naval rules. The main selling point for these to me was the 14 or so Falkland War scenarios that they have available (at very reasonable rates) at the Wargames Vault. 

I also have a copy of GDW's 1991 "South Atlantic War" which was originally intended for use with Larry Bond's complex "Harpoon" ruleset, but its fairly easy to adapt the scenarioes to other rules. 

Model wise I will be using my preferred 1/3000th scale using Navwar stuff as they make virtually every ship needed to game any naval actions you need to portray.   

For the aerial encounters I am trying Flames over the Falklands from Tumbling Dice Games, which are part of their Wings at War rule series. I have a mixture of 1/600th planes on order from Picoarmor and Tumbling Dice to slug it out in the air.  

So let the games begin.....                  

  

Bounce Back - 9 December 1941

A new day saw the three available sections of Katipo Squadron bought to readiness from first light, and soon B flight was sent up by Fighter Control to intercept an incoming raid from the north that had been tracked by the radar network. 

After climbing to alititude Flight Lieutenant Crump, Katipo Blue Leader, spotted the Japanese formation emerging from a bank of clouds below the flight, heading for the large RN Naval Base on the northern side of the island. Two vics of sleek twin engined Betty bombers and an escort of three nimble Zeros. Another section of Zeroes could have, but fortunately for the Kiwi's, did not appear.  

 
"Tally Ho Katipos....remember its the bombers we're after, and try not to tangle with the fighter escort" ordered Crump as he watched Green Section dive down, lining up for a pass on the leading bombers.  

However the Zeros soon spot the Britsh fighters and rapidly close with them before they can reach the lumbering Bettys. Kapito Green One, Flying Officer Brooker, soon got well ahead of the other fighters. Much to Brooker's surprise the Zero leader attempts a head on pass. Both pilots fire furiously but at a closing speed of over 600mph Brooker flashes by unscathed (I rolled 1's for both aircraft....).

 

 By the time he lines up on the first vic of Bettys Brooker realises he will overshoot, so he flies onto the second formation and opens fire on the leading bomber, which explodes spectacularly as his tracers hit home. Meanwhile, far behind, his two inexperinced wingmen, Pilot Officer Napier and Sgt Tucker try to manuver to avoid the approaching Zeros. At the front of the formation Green Section attempts to intercept the leading Vic, with F/L Crump well ahead of the others.

  

The Zeros do their best to run interference against the British fighters using their superior speed and agility to attack Blue 2 and 3 as they continue on towards Green Section who are now finally approaching the leading bombers. Sgt Tucker's aircraft takes damage and he turns for home, streaming smoke.

F/L Crump cuts down the leading Betty of the first Japanese bomber vic, but as he dives away the gunners from the other bombers open up with everything they have and Crump's Buffalo takes damage. However his two wingmen,  Sgt's Kent and Tutahi, are now faced with two angry Zero's....

One slips onto Sgt Tutahi's tail and opens fire, damaging the Buffalo. The other tries a high deflection shot at Sgt Kent but somehow misses. Meanwhile the third Zero senses an easy kill as he lines up for a shot on the fleeing Sgt Tucker but only manages to damage him again (Aircraft damaged for a third time are destroyed automatically). With lots of energy left (rolled a 6) Zero B manages to get into an attacking position on Brooker at the rear of the fight but misses.

 

As the remaining Bettys drone onwards their target the three Zeros do all they can to hold off the British fighters. Sgt Tutahi throws his Buffalo into a dive as he tries to get Zero C off his tail but he can't shake him, and more rounds impact the wounded Buffalo, damaging it further (top), however Sgt Kent, attempting to assist Sgt Tutahi, fires a quick defection burst at Zero A as it crosses his path and is somewhat surprised to see the Japanese fighter explode as his 50-cal rounds impact on target.

Meanwhile at the back of the fight Zero B manages to get on F/L Crump's tail, but the veteran pilot is able to break away without further damage.  

       

At that stage I decided that the remaining Katipo aircraft would break off as the Japanese bombers could exit without any real danger of further interception. I played a couple more turns till all three damaged Buffalos had managed to exit the board but nothing further happened of any significance.

Results 

The Bettys went in and bombed the Naval Base target, causing 13 points of damage (a target requires 30 points to be considered to be destroyed so no doubt they will be back). The raid cost the IJN two Bettys and a Zero destroyed while Katipo Squadron lost no pilots but had three aircraft damaged:

F/L Crump - Landed without incident, aircraft repaired overnight

Sgt Tutahi - Landed heavily, aircraft under repair for 4 days

Sgt Tucker - Landed heavily, aircraft sustained Cat 4 damage and is written off.

The Squadron will fly again today, so look out for the next replay soon....

 

Outbreak of Hostilities 8 December 1941

Finally got round to finding some time to start my Buffaloes over Singapore campaign today. 

The first mission saw Air HQ order Katipo Squadron to commence combat air patrols over Singapore in at least section strength in case of any surprise enemy raids on the island in support of the landings in Northern Malaya:


 
 The CO, Squadron Leader Mulholland, lead Red Section off for the first patrol early on the morning of 8th December 1941. While climbing to altitude they were bounced without warning by an IJN A6M2 Zero Shōtai (flight) from the 22nd Air Flotilla which was over Singapore to escort a C5M Babs recce plane which was attempting to determine if Force Z had sailed from Singapore naval base.

In a brief but violent dogfight over the island witnessed by many onlookers no less than 5 aircraft were shot down. The Squadron suffered heavily in its combat debut, losing all three Buffalo's to the attacking Zeros (It didn't help that all three Japanese pilots I rolled up were veterans!!).

Two of the Kiwi pilots managed to "hit the silk" successfully, but the CO was shot down and killed after his aircraft was damaged again, having survived the initial pass from directly astern by the Japanese fighters. Though not before managing to sucessfully manuvere onto the tail of one of the Zeros and shoot it down.

Lucky shot of the day was from Pilot Officer Wilson on his first operational flight. Before surcoming to the one surviving Zero as he attempted to break off Wilson managed to hit and destroy a second Zero. He hit it with one long burst using a full deflection shot as it passed in front of him (I rolled two 6's in a row, by far the best rolls for any of the Katipo pilots in the whole fight).    

After such a costly start further patrols were suspended for the day as no further enemy air activity was detected over the island.