Staaken - 1, puny little annoying planes - 0

[Goering Ace]

Flew my first sortie against the awesome Staaken this afternoon. Hunter was the attacking force with the Staaken and a single D.III escort. I was the defending squadron comprised of a Sopwith Snipe, Sopwith Camel and Spad XIII. I also had two anti-aircraft guns at my disposal (which I routinely forgot to fire as I desperately tried to figure out a way to bring down this monstrosity!).

The battle started off poorly for me as my Spad collided with the Staaken on it first pass and I drew the dreaded 10 damage card!! As I flew past the behemoth on maneuver #2, I took another 4 points of damage and just like that my Spad was on the verge of elimination! The Snipe had fallen into formation behind the Spad and was able to land a few hits on his first fly by. The Camel, meanwhile, engaged the D.III.

The Staaken reached its target and successfully dropped it's bombs, while at the same time the Camel downed the D.III. The Spad, with only 1 hit point left, was forced to steer clear of the frey until the D.III was eliminated. Now it was a race for the border. All three of my planes converged on the Staaken, but the Camel and Spad had more ground to cover to catch it and it managed to make just enough turns to avoid allowing all three planes to close and score hits at the same time. The Snipe threw caution to the wind and stuck to its tail like glue, but despite landing numerous hits he eventually fell to the multiple rear gunners. The Spad was the next to fall as the Staaken continued its slow but methodical path to the home front. The Camel was the last chance for the Allies and despite being relatively healthy, there simply wasn't enough time to bring the giant down. The Staaken safely crossed into home territory having completed its bombing run while downing 2 of the 3 enemy planes.

The Staaken took only 20 points of damage during its bombing run.

My analysis . . . next time I need more planes!!

Scott

[usmc1855]

5:1 ratio against these damned Behemoths of the sky!

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Looks like I need to build more Biffs then. See my action report later today.
Rob.

[Charlie3]

There is NO safe place to attack this thing! It was our group's first monster too. Lost one plane in one shooting phase. 3 gunners all firing at the same target at the same time is NOT conducive to surviving the fight! (6 cards 18pts...only the pilot and control stick left)

[Aero825]

Yeah, I had smoke belching out my ears when that damn Spad took out Burmowski (my D.III), but my brain cooled down after I succesfully bombed the target with 30 health points left, and then I had s belching out my ears when I down the Snipe and that @$%@$#% Spad. That's all for now. Happy Flying!

Hunter

[Hamburger]

See my thread about taking these suckers down.
Search for "taking down Bombers"

[Wolfbiter]

Yow. Sounds like those Staakens are pretty scary!

[rkhlegacy]

I'm gonna have to get a few big bomber games going. It sounds painful but fun!