S3 Series

Additions/amendments in RED text.
Last update 1600hrs EDT 11 Oct

Allied landings in North Africa have caught the Axis forces off balance and out of position to face a threat from the west. The race is on to grab control of as much of western Tunisia and Algeria as possible to thwart the Allies effort to cut the vital Axis supply lines through Tunis.

Planning Map


Iron Dogs of the Desert is a four frame series. Objective is to control the most number of airfields by the end of the series while losing proportionate fewer aircraft than the other team.
Map above provides the set-up at the start of frame one. Flight ops are only permitted in non-shaded areas.
Allied and Axis aircraft will be enabled at F2/F3 and F6/F7 respectively. All other fields are initially neutral/closed with AAA disabled.

Players may capture neutral fields using paratroops or truck carried infantry. 24 troops are required to capture a closed field.
Fields/airfields may be captured in any order.
Upon capture airfields will become operational and flight will be enabled for fighters, but not troop transport aircraft. Transport aircraft will become available at a captured airfield at the start of the next frame.
During the course of play captured fields may be closed and captured by the opposing team.

"Roads" depicted on the planning map represent routes of supply and can permit the capture of non-airfield fields between frames. At the end of a frame, if an uninterrupted path can be followed from a friendly airfield (open or closed) directly back to the supply hubs (green and gold circles on the map), then all non-airfield fields along that path are considered captured and open at the start of the next frame. Paths are considered interrupted if there is an enemy controlled or neutral airfield on the path. Enemy controlled fields that are not airfields can also be captured under this rule.
Fields considered airfields, from NW to SE, are F2, F3, F12, F77, F78, F84, F14, F81, F80, F4, F5, F82, F7, F6, F83, and F16.

Use of a modified inflight map and associated tunisia.fld file are strongly recommended.
These files can be found at the links below and saved to your warbirds root directory:
tunisia.dds
tunisia.fld
Prior to flight, in the tower map view ICONS should be selected ON and FIELD NAMES selected OFF.

Side assignments - TBC
Confirmed numbers are very low at the moment. Some assumptions on turnout numbers. Assignment to Allied/Axis was determined using a die roll.
Allied (Team Green): RCAF, 4th FG, 23rd FG (est 5-10 pilots)
Axis (Team Gold): 352nd FG, okdoc- (4-8 pilots)
Lone wolves be be assigned a side based on numbers in the arena and voice comm capabilities. I hope to see a lot of them!

Voice Comms for frame 1
Axis - TEAMSPEAK 45.77.206.51:9745 - 352nd channel --->352nd encouraged to set up a channel on the iEN DISCORD server.
Allied- DISCORD - If you do not already have Discord, or do not have access to the iEN Discord server, go to this address https://discord.com/invite/8u6MfGzxJQ

Game Settings and basic rules
Standard login.
Icons – d24 friendly, d12 range, d6 enemy plane
Weather - clear
Radar – 10 miles, represents ground spotters. Grey dots, inflight arrow. Minimum alt is 50 ft. All fields EXCEPT medium airfields F14, F16 and F81 have radar capability.
Flak - AAA limited to 30,000ft in height.
Fuel Multipler - set at 1 for all aircraft. Minfuel fighters is 100%, transports 50%.
Rebuild Time - 300 mins
Game Length – 180 mins
Lives – 3 lives per frame. Players may not re-up in an aircraft type they have already lost (i.e. anything other than a safe landing).

1. Start Times - each frame uses the following schedule:

T-30 Log starts.
T-5 (or sooner) Players log in for pre-flight coord.
T+0 (2030hrs EDT/EST) - Flight enabled.
T+160 - Last surface attacks completed all a/c must disengage ASAP.
T+180 - Dark(ish), any aircraft still in flight will be considered lost.

2. Field closure requirements - ONLY ack objects are required for closure (88mm, 40mm, 20mm, and MG).
Damage to objects and field closure status (with the exception of neutral fields) will NOT carry over between frames.

3. Plane Set:
Pilots may fly different aircraft on different sorties, but may NOT re-fly an aircraft type/vehicle that they have previously lost (KIA, bail, ditch, crash, DISCO w damage, etc).
Axis: Bf 109G-2, Fw 190A-4, Ju-52, Opel truck
Allied: P-400, P-38L, C-47, Opel truck

To balance the capacities of the Ju 52 and C-47, the Ju 52 will have one AI wingman available. The higher speed of the C-47 is somewhat offset by the defensive guns on the Ju 52

4. Teleporting
S3 mantra, teleporting is not permitted. At frame start players may launch from any airfield, but subsequently may only re-launch from the field they landed at. Players who have lost their aircraft (KIA, Bail, Ditch, crash, etc) may re-up from any field.

5. Scoring
All fighter losses (any cause), score 1 VP each for the other side. C-47 losses count 2 VPs and Ju 52 losses (player or AI) count 1 VP.
Scoring for control of airfields will not be determined until the end of frame 4. Each airfield under control at the end of frame 4 will score 10 VPs.
The team with the most points after four frames is the winner.

S3 Clarifications - the S3 staff reserves the right to make a ruling on questions or game situations not answered completely or missed by the rules.