Mustangs vs Zeros

On 7 April 1945, 119 P--51 Mustangs of VII Fighter Command lifted off from Iwo Jima on the first Very Long Range (VLR) mission by land-based fighter aircraft against the Japanese mainland. Off the coast of Honshu they rendezvoused with more than 100 B-29 Superfortresses for an attack on the Nakajima aircraft plant in Tokyo. The B-29s had been taking heavy losses to Japanese fighters on these Empire strikes, but the 110 to 125 Zeros who came up to greet them were in for a surprise.

My P-51squadron are up against the Zeros today. This is a standard encounter game, and the Mustangs will leave one element on high guard.

Flight Leader Capt Bob "Mitch" Mitchum Vet 4
Lt. "Ervis" Priestley 3
Lt. Rob "Wagon" Wagner 2
Lt Ernie "Borg" Borgnine 2
Lt. "Bing" Cleese 2
Lt. Robert "Hopeless" Hope 2

Kaigun-shōsa Kieto Halitoshi 4

Kaigun-dai-i Saiko Twattu 3

Kaigun-dai-i Yu Shitta 2

Kaigun-dai-i Dai 2

Kaigun-chū i Nobu 2

Kaigun-chūi Naga 2

Kaigun -shōi Yokoeggi Scrambi 2

Kaigun-shōi Nobikawa Takashiti 2

Four P51s come on table leaving two on high guard

A quick pause to make a movement gauge

Aircraft cards shuffled for the solo game

Contact as both sides play chicken

The Japanese Veteran pilot is good!

That damn tight turn card allows the P51 to turn then move.  It twists around the zeros

The Mustang veteran pilot (4) sweeps out wide and then heads back into it.

He scores a hit.  The third boom chit of the turn

But the Zeroes do the same.

It starts to get messy, but that tight turn is an advantage.

The P51 leader gets a Zero head on and kills it despite its firing back at him.

The High guard come down and join in.

The Zeroes bring down their three planes from high guard, right onto the tail of a Yankee novice.

He is outmanoeuvred and lucky to get away with only one boom chit, and not be shot down.

Some pretty poor shooting too.  How hard is it to roll a 6?

The Yanks work together with the veteran outmanoeuvring them and the sprogs shooting them up  Finally a critical!

A critical hit.

Another Boom chit for the Mustangs.  That Zero nearly got him.

Deflection shooting, a hit.

But he circles and recovers enough to get his last Zero with a critical making it three shot down.

With Seven boom chits and only four aircraft the Japanese bug out.  They should have gone two turns back but I was learning the game.  

A nice and easy system for solo play.  The cards gave the Mustang a distinct advantage with its tight turn so I'll have to consider the Japanese response to this.