Raid on Sarawai

A Rapala Campaign Scenario

Scenario 1

Intro

In 1955, Communist aggressors from the island of North Rapala infiltrated the democratic Republic of Rapala (the main island). The RC (Rapala Communists or RapComms) have seized the northern province of Sarawai and are launching attacks on the south. The United States has sent reinforcements, including a squadron of B-57 bombers.

The first action was an air raid on Sarawai City, a port town that is receiving supplies from Red China. K Flight has been tasked with knocking out the dock facilities (4 VPs) and hitting a radio broadcast center (2 VPs).

After Action Report

Note - Due to cloud cover, recon photos could not be developed (translation - my camera was re-charging). Anyway, I'm still waiting for my order from Tumbling Dice so I used substitutes. Probably better that I did not have pics. :)

K Flight barely crossed into RC territory when it spotted a trail of smoke coming from the ground. It was one of those newfangled Soviet surface-to-air missiles. Both planes tried to evade, but the missile exploded near K-2, sending a shower of shrapnel through its tail surfaces. Fortunately, damage was minimal and the raid could continue.

K Flight then flew through some cloud cover. AA artillery started banging off, but could not hit the obscured bombers. Later, another SAM was fired, but K Flight evaded.

Over Sarawai, an enemy MiG dove at them, but an American Sabre drove it off. K Flight's bombs were mostly on target, and did substantial damage to the port (3/4 VPs). The bombers turned and dropped their remaining payload on the radio tower, utterly destroying it.

On the way home, K Flight passed harmlessly through some AA fire. Later, 2 more MiGs threatened but fled at the sight of American Sabres. Then K Flight made it safely home.

Debriefing

K Flight secured a victory in its first action (net 7 VPs).

In my first 2 test games, the bombers were very successful. I am contemplating changes to make things a bit more difficult. Changes could include:

• Reducing the bomber "payload," thus making it harder to garner VPs
• Tweaking the encounter charts to make encounters more likely. This could up the damage to the bombers, resulting in negative VPs
• Modify the escort rolls, allowing more enemy fighters to make firing passes

Anyway, I'll have to experiment more. But in the meantime, I am contemplating a dogfight scenario.