Check Your 6 Jet Age - Learning Part 2

Ziggy and I put CY6JA back on the tabletop Saturday. We were delighted to not have to contend with mother nature this time. Since in our last session we'd only played with gun-equipped planes, this time we played with missiles only to get a feel for their rules. I took 2 MiG-21s with a paltry 2 AA-2s each, while Zig had two early-model F-4s loaded to the gills with Sidewinders and Sparrows. We each also had one green pilot and one skilled pilot.

Since my 6 x 4 hex mat is still either in the mail or production, we again played on a surface of Heroscape tiles. The hexes are a bit large and thus the play area a little small. Certainly playable though.

Major Nguyen (yellow base) and Captain Nguyen (red base) The color-coordinated dice indicate altitude and speed - d12 for altitude and d8 for speed.

Ziggy getting it figured out.

So at least we had a good bit of space between us to start.

We jockeyed for position for a few turns and eventually I got my veteran pilot into a firing situation. For whatever reason I didn't photograph the misery of rolling snake-eyes for my to-hit roll.

But the frustration was short-lived, as a couple turns later I was again able to take a shot at the junior American pilot with Major Nguyen.

Missile away! And a good roll of the dice confirm a hit!

Heh heh...

But this being humid Vietnam and the early days of missile warfare, those rockets aren't terribly reliable. A "one" on the malfunction die indicates an issue and the detonator doesn't live up to its name. 

Now my better pilot has no more missiles.

A turn or two later Zig manages to get his lead Phantom in behind my junior pilot and looses a Sidewinder.

 

This happens. Crap.

The Major decides that since his plane isn't paid for yet either, he should take it back to base. Thus begins a chase.

It took three or four turn for me to get that MiG to my home edge of the map. The Americans got two shots off just as I was exiting but both failed to connect. Ah. Small victories.

We're having a good time with CY6JA. Once the mat arrives things should change up considerably since we'll have a lot more room to maneuver, not to mention that radar-guided missile will come into their own with a larger area to fight over.