A Tripod Buster

May 1918 - With the Martians increasingly targeting the human airfields, and rapidly advancing east and west toward Paris and Berlin, new technology was needed to save Europe, and possibly the world. After the Entente and Central Powers air forces were quickly reorganized as Allied Air Command in April, the new organization’s first task was to develop planes specifically designed to combat the alien menace. Combining technological advances from all the Great Powers, Project Falcon rapidly moved forward and in a few weeks had a new groundbreaking design.

A triplane outline was chosen for a fast climb rate up and away from heat-ray range. The prototype was built upon an existing Fokker Dr1 fuselage, with it’s squared profile promising to speed mass construction. A larger engine and cowling extended the length to the front, while a large rocket engine was slung underneath the tail for quicker maneuvering around tripods. Lightweight heat-dissipating armor covered vital areas. British manufacturers initially refused to be involved due to the triplane concept being stolen from Sopwith in 1917. However, when the project’s directors determined Britain would be the safest place for manufacture, and Fokker himself was lost behind the growing “Red Curtain,” the new plane officially became the “Royal-Sopwith Falcon.”

Introduced in late May of 1918, the Falcon quickly proved itself a powerful and survivable aircraft, making aircrews more willing to take on the Martians, knowing there was a chance they would make it home. The Falcon-A variant was quickly introduced in response to Martian airfield raids, adding trapeze hooks to the top wing for new highly mobile airship carriers.

As Paris fell and the Martians neared the English Channel, the Triplane looked poised to save humanity, but only combat performance would tell...

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Love it! Glad to see someone carrying on even in the face of the latest Martian Virus Plague!

I like the colour scheme, Ian.

Really awesome! I really like the color scheme. I see A guns. Any rockets or cannon?

Great job - opens up lots of possible combinations - how about. An up-engined Handley Page bomber with steam powered sidewinder missiles?

Oh gosh, I had better take some pills and lie down :eek:

I’m still waiting to playtest against my wife’s Locust this weekend. She dispatched Richtofen handily last week, so I hope the modifications even the odds a little until reinforcements arrive from eBay. :drinks:

Here’s the card:

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The asterisk on the movement is to remind of the rocket engine special ability. It allows playing a fourth card on a turn, as long as at least two of the planned moves are straights. We’re thinking it would have enough fuel for three uses per game with a cooldown time of three turns, and we will dial it back to just one use if it’s too powerful.

I’m thinking of adding the cannon as an option, if the “turbo mode” doesn’t lend as much help as I think it might.

I’ll report back after field tests! :serious:

Great looking aircraft, Ian.
Good to see there are still advances in the T&T world.
:thumbsup: