Target: 27th Guards Missile Army

Our next Mission is gonna be a lot tougher fellahs - time for some more Toe-to-Toe Nu’klr Combat with the Rooskies!

We are going in on the YELLOW route to take out the 27th Guards Missile Army and its strong retaliatory capability.  Secondary target is the airbase at Krasnoyarsk, and the Sary Shagan military complex is the tertiary.

Loaded up with a 30Mt, a 20Mt and a 10Mt for the three targets.  Defensive stores wise, we loaded up two each of chaff and flares. A much longer mission than route GREEN so I'll have to watch the fuel gauge more this time.

Flying at High altitude, all threats are Low, nil damage...hold on boys, we're going in!

Ingress
Zone 1: No defences encounterd - but wait: Isnt that the Soviet Premier down there? (target of opportunity).  Keep focused boys - we need all the bombs we got!  Reckon he be a decoy anyways.

Zone 2: Still no defences - reckon we caught Ivan napping boys!  Damn - seems we have a bit of a fuel loss though... (Random event card)

Zone 3: Intercepted by MiGs screening the tertiary target.  Deployed flares to evade attack but took some minor damage anyway (2 points)

Zone 4: (-1 fuel).  Dropped down to fly low and slow,(event card) we lined up for the bomb run and released a 10Mt device to flatten the area (2VPs)

Zone 5: Preferring the extra height to defend agaisnt SAMs, we climed to Mdm altitude. SAM threat now at Mdm (event card).  Sure enough, we got locked up immediately by a heavy SAM Battery (SAM+2) - chaff was ineffective and we took a big hit (5 Damage!).  Pushing on..

Zone 6: Continued to climb to High altitude.  Got bounced by a MiG as we approach the bomb run but flares were effective. (Picked up Yee-Haw event card - will hold for the Primary target, just in case).
Dropped the 20Mt device on Krasnoyarsk and incinerated the airbase - 6 VPs

Zone 7: As forecast earlier, strong SAM defences cover the approaches to the 27 Guards.  But high altiude allowed us to evade both fixed and mobile launchers.

Zone 8: Mobile SAM Launcher missed - now approaching primary target with 30Mt bomb...where the Hell is Major Kong? (Dropped 30Mt on Primary - used Yee-Hah! Card to re-roll accuracy and Major Kong did his thing!)  18VPs

Now to get home...minus a crewmember!

Egress
Zone 7: Evaded fixed sites and an undetected mobile launcher nearly got us but the last of our chaff saved us from further damage.


Zone 6: Just ash and cloud...

Zone 5: Feeling lucky - both MiGs and SAMs missed.  Hope this keeps up...

Zone 4: Not much left here either, but now down to just two units of fuel remaining - keep them fingers crossed boys!

Zone 3: Swarmed by two MiG intercepts, but evaded at high altitude.  No doubt the ground control radar is getting interfereence so close to ground zero at Sary Shagan.

Zone 2:  Clear skies.  We obviously rattled Ivan's cage real good!

Zone 1:  I think we're home and hosed fellahs!


Zone 0 - Landed on fumes (1 fuel remaining).  Major Kong nominated for a Silver Star!
+3VPs for B-52 survival, +2VPs for crew surviving (lost one for the Yee-Ha!)

Total VPs: 31                                         Mission Result: Mission Success!

Campaign VPs: 61 - With two Missions down, we are on target for Campaign success


Summary- enjoyed this mission even more - particularly using the event cards and Yee-Ha! especially.  High altitude minimised the SAM threat again, conserving the chaff.  Fuel management much tighter this time, as was payload assignment.  I had 3 bombs for 3 targets, so the target of opportunity presented a dillema.  I could have wacked it and sacrificed the Tertiary target, but decided not to.  Why? Because there were no fixed defences in that spot.  If it turned out that there were defences from the counter in the same location as the tertiary, they would be blown away by the nuke, making the way home that little bit easier.  Same VPs too anyway.  Just a thought anyway - anyone else face this?

Next mission: Route ORANGE into the Urals...