Section Leaders:
Fionn
Kelly & Madmatt
Air
Attack
Fighter-Bombers and Combat Mission
Page
6
Pictures in
this sequence taken from custom scenario's created solely for this
feature.
After the
initial surprise of the attack these AAA guns started to acquire
incoming planes and aborted and damaged several.
This Quad 20mm
is being strafed by one plane but is doggedly engaging another.
Neither his support truck nor a lone '88 in the background were
able to withstand the fusillade but this gun stayed in the fight till
the bitter end!
A Flak
88, which proved rather useless against the quick boom and zoom
tactics of the small fighter bombers, suffers under a withering
fire. Notice the Flak air bursts, this plane was shot down
just a second after this picture was taken.
The
aftermath... Several oily plumes of smoke tell the tail. What
little that was left of this once proud armored column will venture out
during the light of day no more...
Fionn's
Revenge?!? Ok, just to turn the tables around a
bit, I created a scenario with Anti-Aircraft Artillery set up in
some 'logical' formations and threw some random ground troops and
vehicles into the mix. Up against this very Flak-Heavy force I
sent in over 20 fighter bombers in 5 consecutive waves arriving several
turns apart. Wave 5 aborted completely after the first four
flights were mauled.
Final Comments:
Understand that all
these scenarios were created solely to show the EXTREMES and
should not be used as a reflection on normal gameplay. In regular
balanced play both AAA and Fighter-Bombers behave as you would expect
them. Triple A will engage air threats intelligently and (if they
are of high enough experience or just plain lucky) they can
acquire planes very far off the board. I saw one quad 20mm start
to engage a plane 1600 meters out! Planes, while purely
autonomous, will sometimes engage with a ferociousness that
is borderline psychotic, other times they will abort early or
only half-heartedly engage ground units. Similarly they can
be prone to misidentifying targets or attacking units already knocked
out, in short: They behave realistically! Like
all the units in Combat Mission, both Triple A and
Fighter-Bombers have a myriad of strengths and weaknesses. They
both have to overcome Fog of War and the inherent chaos of
battle. When employed in their native environments they are
equally devastating to each other, rarely in war
however, is anyone in their 'native' environment and that
is where the fun begins!
Thanks again go to
Wild Bill Wilder for his excellent "Ramelle"
scenario which prompted this whole extravaganza!
Fionn Kelly
for his invaluable assistance and insight.
And of
course Big Time Software
for making this wonderful game and allowing some dork like me to share
with you what I have seen!
|
