Very well done...congratulations on that set up!

Mission 17 (Bomber Escort)

With a couple of weeks break from gaming due to work (Damm my job!!)   I felt quite confident at halting my mates steadly increasing lead....I just hoped my pilots had been practicing in the mean time?

I thought I'd go for a new tactic with this mission. The plan is to send the fighters up the left hand side of the bomber and engage the enemy fighters, drawing the firepower from the bomber.

A bad photo unfortunately, but you will notice that my mate is only fielding one of his Ace's in the hurricane, which plays in my favour.....at least I hope is does anyway!!

Putting the plan into action. The fighters fly forward to engage the enemy and the bombers flys off for the target.

Not quite what i planned. One 109 enagages the enemy and get a lot of damage tokens for its troubles.........ouch!

Unfortunately the lead Spit got a good shot on the bomber and started it smoking.

The No 2 spit loops around and finishs off the right hand 109. I know the 109's were there to draw the enemys fire, but so far the bombers smoking, getting battered by the hurricane at close range and I've just lost a 109. Not quite what I had planned!!

A bit more looping and I've managed to leave the spits behind and drop my first load of bombs. However the hurricane at close range is starting to eat away my bombers hit points, at an alarming rate!! Unfortunately the bombs didn't destroy the target, so I've got to make a choice of whether I circle around and re-bomb the current target, or go for the second target.

I decide to go for the circle around  and bomb the same target option, not that it makes much differance with all of the enemy fighters behind me and closing fast. Not sure why i picked this option as I dont think I've ever managed to sucessfully circle around and re-bombed the same target without getting shot down, but in desperate times and all that....

Starting to circle and the enemy are all over me like "A tramp on a hot tray of chips" (or for the Americans, "A hobo on a hot portion of fries").  Although the Hurricane is turning my tail fin into swiss cheese, the two spits managed to collide with each other, much to my amusement and get a "C" token each for there trouble, Ha ha ha

The spits collide again and the hurricane is still firing into my tail.....ouch!

Unfortunately the Hurricane downed the bomber, my mate won the mission, and my 109 is still off doing its own thing? Maybe next time I should just drop all the bombs on the first target and go for a "Draw", as neither off us are managing to do to well at the bombers escort missions.

Right now I'm thinking I may be in trouble? Time to make a sharp exit off my side of the playing table, however, there is still the problem off running the gauntlet through the enemy fighters?

So far so good....

Still looking good....that was until the bloody hurricane looped and shot my last 109 down!

Not only had I lost the mission, but I hadn't even shot one of my mates fighters down. Not a good day out for the Luftwaffer, but at least all my pilots managed to survive to fly again another day, which make's a pleasent change!

aarondpjames said:

Actually, this would suggest the conditions for the BE missions are to difficult to accomplish, and need to be adjusted.

Evening all!

Hi Aaron.  I've just finished reading all the posts in this thread and I'd like to congratulate you on your stunning models!

I have a few questions for you and the others in this thread if you don't mind?

Aaron:

The He111 - is that a kit or Jap prebuilt (F-toys, Bandai, etc)?

Same question about the Lanc

And again for the Hurricanes

The Spits appear to be kits, is that correct?

Could I trouble you to email me your tournament rules?

Anyone:

Has anyone tried the Litko Flight Stands? I'm curious how you adjust altitude if (as the instructions appear to state), the rod is a permanent fixture in the base?

Thanks fellas!

Adrian

Adrian,

No problems mate,

The HE -111 is a pre-painted, semi pre-built F-Toys kit, as is the Lancaster, and there are really well make.

The Spits and 109's are pre-painted and semi pre- built Bandai, there are OK, but the finish could of been better.

The Hurricanes are "Sweet" kits, built and painted from scratch. fantastic model kits.

If you email me on aaron_dp_james@hotmail.com I'll send you a copy of our campaign rules and aircraft stat's to go with them.

Cheers,

Aaron

Mission 18 (Dog Fight)

Now normaly i dont mind a good old fasioned dog fight, at least it's an even fight. But unfortunately for me, my mate is feilding 2 Aces for this one, which kinda tips the scales in his favour.......the git!!

My usual starting line up....... one day, I'd really like to have an ace..... it's not much to ask for, is it? As it stands, two of my pilots have two kills each, so with a bit of luck, by the end of the game, they will be closer to becoming the first Ace's of the Luftwaffer!!!

My mates line up. The closest Spit (number 1) is on 4 kills, so one more and he's got another ace. The Hurricane is an Ace and the MK 5 Spit at the top of the  picture in desert colours is a double ace. So an evenly ballanced game as usual then??

As you can see, my mate went for the "Consuntrated Fire" method of attack and I chose the "Horns of the Buffalo" pincer movement. As it stands, my mate is in a strong attacking position...... if i was approaching him in the "Consuntrated Fire" method. His "B" deck guns would soon add up damage on my aircraft where as my "C" guns may or may not give him some damage.

However, as my flanking 109's are doing the "Horns of the Buffalo" attack, they are about to get a couple on un-challanged shots on the outside Spits and my centre 109 just moves in at slow speed to draw the enemy in, and then dives to a lower altertude to avoid to much damage.

Now my mate knows all this, but for some reason, he very rarely counter attacks my "Horns of the Buffalo" by sending his flanking aircraft out to engage my flanking 109's. If he did, he would be able to use his supreior damage deck on me and stop me getting a "Free/unchallanged" shots on him. So what ever you do, dont tell him....... I need all the help I can get at the moment!!

For some reason, my mate Split-S'ed his Hurricane prior to the contact. Wether he wanted to try and counter attack my "Horns of the Buffalo" attack with 2 Waves of fighters, I dont know? As you can see, my Flanking 109's appear to be turning in to late as the Spits have flown by. the only thing that went to plan to was my centre 109 dived a the right time.

Unbeleavable!!! I missed the jump on the Spits and the Hurricane decided to Immalmann after my Centre decoy 109........ right in to the cross hairs of both my flanking 109's, at close range....... and there's nothing the Spits can do about it!!!

One good burst of the 20mm cannons from the 109's and the Hurricane is no more!!!! A cracking start to my game!!

My victory was short lived, just like the advantage i was lucky enough to of optained. The next card of movement saw what was my right flanking 109 get taken out by the Mk 5 Spit (Token number 2)

My original centre decoy 109 with the British roundals token comes rushing to the aid of my other 109 who appears to have picked up a pair of angry Spits.

Some more flybys and more damage tokens are handed out. Although it looks like my mate is in the stronger position, with his solid, unbroken formation flying, his is at a huge disadvantage. As it stands, my two fighters are flying on the right hand side on the battle, and consuntrating there fire on the Mk1 Spit (Token number 1)

By doing this, I acheave two things.

1. All damage I fire with both 109's in collected by one enemy fighter and not spread out over both of them, giving me a better chance of downing another one of his.

2. Most important of all, by staying on the right hand side, I'm keeping his Mk5 Spit (Token number 2) out of the battle, as he has nothing to fire at. So in theory, the battle is going in my favour with 2 of my fighters against 1 of his...... for now anyway!

My mate breaks from his ridged formation flying, split-s's and gives me a got burst at close range.....ouch!

Doing one of those fancy side steps that only the "A" movement deck can give you, the Mk1 Spit dodges the incomming 109 (British roundal token) and still manages to stay on the tail of my evading fighter (Generic roundal token), giving it another close range burst...... double ouch!!

A fantastic monouver from my mate, I think we can all agree. And to top it of the Mk 5 Spit managed to get a long range burst in to the (British roundal token) 109, and knocked it out of the sky.......bugger!!!!

A bit more flying around and my last remaining 109 is not only still flying, but it managed to take out that Mk 1 Spit that kepted filling it with holes earlier. The down side is, it is full of holes and only has about 2-3 hit points left, where as the Mk 5 Spit, has'nt been shot at that much. So, some how, I need to give the Spit maxamum fire power at close range, with out putting my self in front of its guns...... which is going to be easier said than done.

Bugger, he's still behind me!!!!

As a last ditch effort to avoid the Spits close range attack, I slowed down to let him get near me, and went to split-s to get past him. Unfortunately, I was that eager to get past him and not get shot up, we colided. Alas the "C" damage token each finished me off and the Spit went home for tea and medals, and my mate racked up another victory.......but only just!

The really anoying bit is that both my pilots that got a kill in this game, both got shot down and were either caputured or killed, and one of them already than 2 kills. So at the end of the game, I now have one pilot with 2 kills and two new rookies posted into the squadron, so I'm actualy worse off at the end of the game an what I was at the start........... bloody tipical!!!!

Mission 19 (Bomber Rescue)

With 4 loses in a row, I needed to win this game and then next few to try and even up the score. I normaly do well (ish?) at this mission, so lets see what fate has instore for me today.

The usual line up for my mate with his Hurricane Ace, Double Ace Spitfire Mk 5 and the rookie Mk 1 Spitfire on the right. Now all I've got to do is stay out of there way......

With 2 movements in to the game, my HE-111 is smoking. Not a major problem at the moment, but it could be later.

Now I'm in trouble. In the very next turn, I picked up another "smoke" counter and a "fire" counter too. (Hence the double flames on the model. I know you can't be on fire twice at the same turn, but it make the situation look more dramitic!!)

With 3 fighters blasting away at my tail and the flames setting hold to the plane, my poor old bomber could'nt take any more and blew up. Along with the explosion went my chances of winning the game and my mate streched his winning streak to 5 in a row...........bugger!!!

Time for some revenge. I thought  I'd just charge on into his fighters and see what damage I could do. I currently have one pilot on 2 kills and the other guys have yet to get a chalk mark on the board yet, so nothing really to lose!

With a bit of consuntrate fire, I mannaged to get rid of my mates Hurricane Ace, so I'm feeling better.

The Mk 5 Spits dragging it's self off the table with engine damage and my mate is using the Mk 1 Spit to cover its retreat. Fine by me, as I can't catch up with the Mk 5 and I'll quite happly use all 3 of my 109s on the Mk1, should be an easy kill!!

The Spit got through the 109 line, but picked up a few tokens along the way. Now all it has to do is get back!!!

Insted of Immalmanning/Split-s'ing, it looks like my mate is trying to turn his way out of the dogfight and avoid the battle.

It looked like a good call on my mates behalf as I had already laid my movement cards down for my 109s to Split-s, so the next couple of moves are dictated for me.

In a mad panic to try and recover the lost ground and take the final Spit out, one of my 109's has to dive to avoid another, whilst the Spit is quite happly flying away, laughing at us!!

My 109 that dived is now to far away from the Spit to be on any use and is effectively out of the game. My other 109's are valently chasing the Spit, but unless I can get a lucky long ranged shot giving him engine damage, then its all over.

Unfortunalty that lucky long range shot never produced an "Engine Damaged" token and the Spit managed to leave the table, even thought I was still shooting at it each turn.

I have to admit, my mate has pulled some cracking moves over this campaign. But the one in this battle were his Spit turns away from my fighters whilst there are in mid-split-s, and just about makes a clean break for his one lines was legendary!!!  God i hate him!!!!

Hi Aaron!

You have to get a break one of these days! I wonder if a Junkers 88 might be a better choice - a tad quicker. At least you nailed one of his aces

I'm quite chuffed - have the F-Toys Spads, Albatros' (Albatriis?) and a Lanc on their way to me. About to order another Lanc and some B17s (still pondering about possible scenarios for the Swordfish - don't want them be be 109-bait!)...  Any suggestions?

I might have to look into the JU88, as I think my Luftwaffer is running out of HE-111's!!!

The F-Toys range are a cracking set of minitures. Very easy to put together and really well painted/detailed. Very much like the 21st century range of minis. Bandi do some "hard to find" types of minis, but i dont think there overall finish is that good, but then again thats my own personal opinion. (But theres nothing stopping you re-spraying them and starting over).

If your going to get a B-17, I'd reconment the B-17G as it has a front chin turret which has a 180 deg arc of fire to the front, something not to be sniffed at!! We use a B-17G with our group and it's quite hard to put down. 50 hit points and its got more 50 cal's sticking out of it that a Hedgehog has spikes!!

I've not gotten around to using the Swordfish yet, but there is a good picture you can print off on "Board game geek" link to the page is below.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/238996

Although the above picture is clearly from WW2, it appears to have been set up for Wings of War WW1. Mind you, I'm sure this could be easly changed to suit our needs. I've no idea who  make it up, but they have done a cracking job with it. Making up extra planes is hard enough, but a Battleship?

If you have a hunt around on Board Game Geek, you can find loads of other good stuff like the Bismarck.

As for your Swordfish being bait for 109's? My 109 pilots could'nt score in a whore house with a £100 note poking out of there g-strings!!! So you might be plesantly supprised by the out come!! (of the ariel battle, not the the £100 in the whore house!!!)

Mission 20 (Bomber Rescue)

My mate rolled Bomber rescue for his mission. I have to admit, I was happy about this mission as I can always get a few shots into his bomber with out his fighters getting in the way......for a few turns anyway. Mind you, the "B" token guns from the tail turret of the bomber (4 x .303 Brownings) can be dangerous enough on there own!!!

I went with my usual line up on 3 x BF 109's....... like I have a choice!! As the Lancaster is on 4 altertude pegs, I put 2 of my 109's on 4 pegs and the middle 109 on 3 pegs, just incase the bomber drops a level before my fighters do.

(One day, before the end of this campaign it would be really nice to have one Ace. I dont think thats asking for to much, all I want is just one Ace )

Normaly by the start of turn 2, the fighters are just about in range of the bomber and the tokens start to mount up. This was no different. The Tail gunner got a good shot on my left hand 109 and set it on fire. (I was in such a hurry to get out and do some gamming the day we played this mission, I forgot my box with all my movement decks and smoke/flame attachments. Fortunatly my mate has all the kit as well, less the smoke/flame attachments, so we could still carry on the campaign). 

I had to move my fighters out of the way of the bombers flying base, so when I dived in to attack it, I did'nt end up colliding with it. I thought it was gong to be a normal "run of the mill" turn, right up untill my mate decided not to shoot back at my fighters? This could only mean one thing!! In our campaign rules, if a bomber picks up a wounded pilot token, the crewman nearest the attacking fighter is out of action. In this case the rear gunner. Not only that, his top turret gunner did'nt fire either. After a bit if "taking the micky" out of him, my mate informed me the last turn had been pretty bad for him, as he has picked up 2 wounded pilot tokens which ment his tail and top turret gunners were out of action. These ment the rear of the bomber was completly unprotected.................just ripe for the taking!!!

Just as my mate brought his rescue fighters into the action, he was taking his bomber out of it!! At last a win for me, and an end to my mates winning streak!!! Unfortunatly the bad news is my mates 2 Hurricane Aces and double Mk 5 Spitfire Ace have just enters the killing zone and desperate for revenge. This is gonna hurt!!

The last round of battle was a bit of a bad one for me. My 109 on the right got a damaged engine and the one of fire is cutting close to the 17 hit point limit, so I may have to get some more replacement pilots by the end of the game.......no change there then!!!

Ouch!!!! And I thought the last turn was bad!!! The Mk 5 Spit took my middle 109 out with an explosion counter which killed the pilot outright, (I have a terroble skill at pulling them out, where as my mate rarely doe's?) and the left hand 109 that was on fire sucome to the flames, although the pilot did manage to survive and get back home. A bad round, but at least my mate never got the the kill for the 109 on fire, and I did get a pilot back, so I should be thank full for small mercy's!?

In a desperate effort to get home and out of the battle, my engine dammaged 109 was diving and weaving to try and dodge the persuing fighters, and just as I was about to fly off the board to safety when the Mk 5 Spit finished me off. Unfortuantly the pilot never survived as his parachute failed to open.

In the after battle sequence, my mates Mk 5 Spitfire double ace became a trebble ace and was given a Mk 5 Tempest to fly insted. (Close range 4 x C and long range, 2 x C) So I cant wait to meat that one!!!

As for me, at the start of the game I had one pilot with one kill, and the end, I have 3 pilots with no kills between them, but at least I won the mission!!!!

I don't know how exactly the Bomber Rescue mission is supposed to work -- but I think I can say without fear of contradiction It Doesn't Work.

Go back through the track record -- how many times has the bomber been rescued?

Can you provide a bit more detail as to how that particular mission sets up, and how the bomber work?

csadn

I can see where you're comming from mate, with the ratio of bomber missions (either rescue or escort) in this campaign failing. But the differance between a real ariel combat and war gamming do differ consererably. 

In real ariel combat (so I'm told) you not only consuntrate on the bombers, but also on the fighter escort too. If you solely attack the bombers, the fighters will kill you! But with getting distracted by the fighters, you dont get many shots on the bombers, and they continue on with there bombing mission. So in reality, you dont always win.

In war gamming, you can play for the mission at all costs. You can spend all your time hiting the bomber and not worry about the fighters, and when the bomber is dead, then you can worry about the fighters. But at least you win the mission with no permant damage as its only a game. This is pretty much what me and my mate do, as its all about getting the points to win the campaign.

The bomber stats are as follows

The German HE-111 &  Japanise GM4 (Betty) moves on a "D" deck and has 35 hitpoints each.

The British Lancaster  & American B-17G moves on a "D" deck and has 50 hitpoints each.

The hitpoints were decided on each bomber after reading reports on the "Old" site and according to its size.

The Missions

Bomber Escort.

You must escort your bomber aircraft with up to 2 fighters. The bombers mission is to fly over an enemy territory and destroy 2 designated enemy positions. (A predetermined card set up by the enemy player for all to see before the start of the game. It must not be within 6 inch’s/15 cm of any table edge).
As most fighters only had a limited amount of time for Ariel combat on bomber escort duty, due to the distances of the targets, all fighter escort only have 60 fuel counters for this mission. They must be off there side of the playing area before there tokens run out to be save from the game (all normal “Aircraft leaving the playing area” rules apply).
If they go off a neutral/enemy sides or run out of fuel tokens, they must instantly bailout over that territory as there plane has run out of fuel, (See the “Landing in Friendly, Neutral or Enemy territory” rules above).
To make a bombing run, follow the rules in the rule book for bombing. You are going to be using you’re nations main bomber that has enough bombs for 6 drops. Each drop causes 2 x C damage tokens to the target if successfully hit. 1 x C damage token if classed as a partial hit. It is up to you how many of the 6 bombs you drop at any one time on the target, just as long as you keep account of how may you have dropped in total.
If the Bomb card fully covers the red dot on the target card, it’s classed as a successful hit. If the target card red dot is not fully covered, but the bomb card does in some way cover the target card, then it’s classed as a partial hit. If the bomb card does not cover any part of the target card, the bombs have missed the target completely.
Each enemy position has 15 hit points before it is considered destroyed.
If your bomber takes a “Pilot wounded” token, then the person nearest the enemy fighter (i.e. turret gunner, waist gunner) is incapacitated and you do not need to tell you opponent of this event. If the cockpit is the nearest manned area, and there are no gunners to pass the damage on to, then the co-pilot is dead and you treat it as a normal pilot wounded. (Lay out extra cards ect as the pilot is struggling to fly the plane on his own. If you take a further Pilot wounded token to the cockpit, then the pilot is now dead and the plane falls to the earth and explodes. In the event of the pilot/co-pilot being taken out, your opponent is to be told.
You win the mission and get the 3 points if you destroy the targets. If your bomber plane is shot down over the playing area before you destroy the targets, then you lose the mission and the enemy gets the 3 points. If your bomber is shot down after the targets have been destroyed, they you still get your 3 points. If you only manage to destroy 1 of the 2 targets, then the mission is a draw and both sides get 2 points each.
The whole mission is spent over enemy territory for bail out rules. The enemy is playing over friendly territory for bail out rules.

Bomber Rescue.

A single friendly bomber is limping its way back to friendly territory whilst being harassed by the pursuing enemy fighters. Your mission is to drive off the enemy and save the bomber.
The bomber starts 30cm/12inch from the enemies side of the table with the enemy anywhere along there table edge. The bomber will be making a straight dash for the friendly table edge to exit with all normal rules applying to the bomber leaving the table. After the second turn, 3 friendly fighters make there way on via anywhere along there friendly side of the table edge.
If the bomber makes it safely to friendly lines, after the “Aircraft leaving the playing area” rules have been worked out, then you will receive 3 mission points and the enemy will get nothing. If the bomber gets shot down at any point, then the enemy gets the 3 mission points and you get nothing. The whole mission is spent over neutral territory for bail out rules.

If we make the bombers any harder/tougher, then the attacking enemy fighters will find it to hard for them to acheave there mission. As it is, including all the pre-campaign test games, the bombers are able to hold there own, with about 40% win & 60% lose ratio. Its just now we go out with developed tactics purely to kill the the bomber, and win the mission.

We could try ignoring the explosion counter if the bomber picks it up and play it soley until it runs out of hit points. But that would kinda take out the "Fear Factor" of pulling out the instant kill token.

Another option is to bring the Defending fighters on sooner so the attacking fighters dont get to long on the target. If we did this, we may have to drop the amount of defending fighters to 2 to even up the battle. It might be to much for the attacking fighters to have to take on 3 fighters and a bomber.

Comments and suggestions, as always, welcome from everyone.

aarondpjames, are your bombers flying without gunners? I have not seen your enemies take any hits and I know that the group I play with we have lost fighters to the bombers gunners. I have the worst luck with this......LUCKY ME  Hope your luck gets better and that you take it to your buddy in the near future.....SHEP

Yeah, my bombers have the full complment of gunners in them, they just dont "seam" to do much damage to the enemy fighters. My mates lancaster has shot down a few of my fighters and heavly damaged many more, but my HE-111 appears to have bad luck with the tokens.

If I pull a token out of the bag, I'd bet good money on it having a high number on it......if not an explosion. If my mate pulls one out of the bag, its as if some devine intervention guides his hand to the tokens with "0's" on them. A classic example of this is the recon mission he won with his mosqueto. The end photo off all the damage tokens laid out for the Mosqueto, about 12 tokens in total and only about 3 of them had any damage on them. At this gaem, he is the luckiest person I know!!

aarondpjames said:

OK -- constructive suggestions:

For the Bomber Rescue, have the rescue team start on the playing surface, rather than coming in on Turn 2.

For the Bomber Escort, have the bomber only have to hit one target (retaining two targets throws in the necessary doubt as to where exactly the bomber is going -- the defenders wouldn't have known "in reality", so they shouldn't know here). Change the Draw condition to "target is 1/2 or more damaged without being destroyed". (Oh, and the last sentence of the rules doesn't really make sense....)

Just on the basis of the AARs, it looks as tho' the bomber, and its escorts/rescuers, need a *bit* more time in order to have a 50% chance at winning.