This is one I’ve been looking forward to writing a lot, as it involves ‚Stalin’s Eagles‘, the ace pilots flown in to bolster the Soviet fighter regiments after their bloody nose at the start of the war, together with the first combat debut of the I-153 Chaika. In this scenario from 25th July 1939, the elite pilots of the 70th IAP under top ace Major S.Grisavets, turn the tables on the veteran pilots of the 1st Chutai, 24th Sentai under Captain S.Kani. 

In the actual engagement, the Chaikas were mistaken for I-15bis by the Japanese, easy prey for the Ki-27’s, with the Soviets pretending to scarper before whipping round and ‚bouncing‘ the unsuspecting Japanese. In the scenario, the Soviets have a Top Ace and a Junior Ace, as well as veteran pilots, with character cards for all of the Zveno leaders. The Japanese only have one Junior Ace, Lt S.Saito, but they also have character cards for the Shotai leaders and a lot of veteran pilots to even the odds.

The objective for both sides will be to shoot down or force off more than half of the enemy, with aces counting as two aircraft, which should be fun as they have equal numbers to start with!