Operation Chacal: Day 3

The third day of Operation Chacal and we come to the pivotal moment. Operation Chacal has been a complete success so far and I had the initiative. Essentially, Henry had to make a stand at my next objective, Gorom-Gorom, or he would lose the war.

The day started badly for him; Capt. Alex Dabo, who had been out of action the previous day due to damage sustained in his attack on Dinangourou, was shot down and killed by ground fire while attacking Malian troops advancing on the town.

Then came the showdown.

I declared Gorom-Gorom to be the Area of Operations and placed down a section card, Henry responded. I placed down another, and then so did Henry, and then another. This went on until we had both played five section cards each – the most we’d played in one AO before now was two. When the cards were revealed, I had a section of MiG-21s, led by Capt. Lamin Sonko, and a second section of MiG-17s. In addition I had two Mi-4 helicopters loaded with troops, but I wouldn’t bring these on unless I had air superiority.

Henry had played similar; two sections – all four of his Libyan-piloted MiG-21s – and two Mi-4s.

As I had the tactical initiative, I deployed first and brought on both sections of jets. All were loaded with ordnance and my aim was to dive down low, hit some ground targets and then get the hell outta Dodge. Henry responded by placing his MiG-21 sections opposite mine on reciprocal headings.

Henry’s Libyan pilots are a LOT better in air combat than mine and I was worried that I would be severely mauled. In Wings at War: Thud Ridge the penalties for poorly trained pilots are brutal; put simply, in most circumstances I had a one in six chance of a shoot-down, Henry’s Libyans have a 50/50 chance. And I was now flying with loaded planes against equal numbers. What was I thinking?!

Clockwise from top: Burkinabe MiG-21s, Malian MiG-21s, Malian MiG-17s and Burkinabe MiG-21s. The town in the centre is Gorom-Gorom.

As we closed I pulled back the throttles and dived. Henry wasn’t impressed as he was at maximum energy and couldn’t immediately dive after me, so my heavily loaded planes whooshed beneath him, no doubt the Malian pilots flicking the Vs as they did so.

Then Henry did something which – at first – looked like a genius manoeuvre. He couldn’t dive and turn to stick with his targets, so he pulled off what was, essentially, a form of Thach Weave: his left-hand pair of MiGs turned right and dived down on my MiG-17s, while his right-hand pair turned the opposite way to engage my MiG-21s.

Genius, I thought. Until I saw the flaw.

In turning he’d exposed his tail – my MiG-21 pilots were on him immediately; jettisoning their bombs, a tight turn brought them up on his tail and Lt. Sowe fired a heat-seeking missile at Lt. Azhaar el-Rahman’s plane. The Libyan didn’t stand a chance and his plane disintegrated, the Libyan pilot fortunately ejecting before being engulfed in the fireball.

Lt. Kabiru Sowe get’s Mali’s first air-to-air combat kill

Henry was shaken – coupled with the loss of Capt. Alex, he’d lost 40% of his combat aircraft in a single day. He quickly recovered himself, though, and some neat flying brought his MiGs back into the fray. But his dice-rolling was appalling throughout the game and Lady Luck was favouring me; rolls he could barely lose, he lost, and rolls I had little chance of winning, I won.

Capt. Azhaar el-Rahman sweeps in but misses Mali’s new hero

Capt. el-Rahman turned in and got a shot off at Lt. Sowe but missed, then followed through with an attack on the the still-loaded MiG-17s. This time he had more luck and Lt. Birom Ngom was sent earthwards, the young Malian ejecting into captivity with the Burkinabe forces below.

A Malian MiG-17 bites the dust

But in going after the MiG-17, Henry had the same mistake again – Capt. Sonko saw the action and closed in on his Libyan counterpart. A burst of gunfire from the Malian captain’s 23mm cannon shredded el-Rahman’s plane, killing him and sending the MiG down.

Henry had now lost 60% of his combat aircraft in one day.

In the best traditions of the Christmas panto – “He’s behind you!”

It was left to Lt. Imraan el-Haque to pick up the pieces – a turn back in brought Capt. Sonko into his sights. The Malian leader was dispatched easily with gunfire so Lt. el-Haque turned to the next target, the MiG-21 of Lt. Bora Touré. Again, Henry’s dice rolling was dreadful and Touré survived.

By this point I felt that I was living on borrowed time – I’d had a remarkable run of luck and had blunted the FABF’s main strike force, but I knew my luck couldn’t hold. Engaging the afterburners, I cleared the AO.

Despite his mauling, Henry still had control of the air over Gorom-Gorom so was able to land his helicopters safely, whereas mine were forced to turn back to avoid destruction. Despite feeling good about the air battle, I was in trouble – Henry had more “Tactical Advantage Points” (TAPs) in the AO so my advance was in real danger of being repulsed. I threw my last section of MiG-21s at Gorom-Gorom which, because Henry had committed all his combat aircraft, were able to attack without opposition. We rolled on the bombing table; one hit for Lt. Musa Kabba – we were on equal TAPs.

Then I rolled again – a 1.

Lt. Momodu Jobateh was shot down and killed by ground fire.

We ended the day on equal points, but a draw is a victory for the defence. My attack was halted and Henry now had the Strategic Initiative, meaning he can counter attack.

In the post-game admin we found that there were no new diplomatic initiatives and, despite my losses my personal reputation is still riding high, largely because of the amount of territory I’ve conquered and the losses inflicted on Burkina Faso. Henry, on the other hand, is looking very shaky at home – the war is incredibly unpopular because the Burkinabe people feel it is being lost. Henry will need to fight back to avoid being forced into a disadvantageous peace deal or – worse still – being ousted in a military coup!