Unbeknownst to the Adler airmen there is a large British bomber approaching.

Per scenario rules Home Defense plane pegs are ½ ruler + 1 d6” from the mat’s center.
Roll a d12 for direction. Top of the mat is 12. Facing is your choice.
Altitudes will be 1st plane placed is at 4.0, 2nd plane placed is 4.1.

Höfer Placement
D12 = 3
D6  = 5
Altitude = 4

Fischbacher Placement
D12 =10
D 6 = 5
Altitude 4.1

The AA gun card represents a searchlight position.

HP O/400 Placement:  1 ruler from mat edge center.
[I missed the note that the bomber is supposed to be placed at altitude 5.3 and put it at 4]

Turn 1.2 [Spotting]
Höfer and HP O/400 spot each other.
[Note: I used Nexus damage cards for spotting and Ares cards for shooting]

[Shooting]
Dada dada
The bomber’s front gunner curses as his gun jams on the first shot!

Dakka dakka
Höfer damages one of the Handley-Page’s engines right off the bat.


The H-P climbs to 4.2

[Spotting]
The H-P loses sight of Höfer’s D.III but he keeps the bomber in view.

The Adler lose sight of the bomber.
Höfer flies a Split-S to Altitude 3.3

The searchlight beam fails to find the Handley-Page.
The pilots realize they are off the mark and will need another attempt to find their target.

No Spotting

The searchlight again fails to find the bomber.

The searchlight crew is getting frustrated. They can hear the drone of the bomber's engines but cannot find it in the night sky.

And again the searchlight fails to find their target.

The Handley-Page will have to circle back.

Per the Scenario briefing, a die roll of 6 means the H-P return places it near the far right edge of the Ares mat.
[Fischbacher’s Albatros was placed before the die roll.]

[Spotting]
Finally! The searchlight catches the H-P.
The bomber crew also spot Fischbacher.
Fischbacher’s base overlaps the H-P so there will be no shooting.

[Spotting]
The searchlight has kept the bomber in its sights.

[Shooting]
Dakka dak …
Höfer fires at the Handley-Page but jams his gun.
Luckily it will be an easy one to clear.
[I use Flash's advanced optional gun jam rules.]

[Note: I made a slight change to the scenario rules and allowed a long range shot when the searchlight maintains consecutive spotting]
[Disregard the 2 card with rudder damage – it was left on the table from spotting]

[Spotting]
The bomber is still tracked by the searchlight.
Höfer is spotted by the bomber.

[Shooting]
Höfer frantically works on clearing his jammed gun.

Dada dada
Höfer has put himself in the firing arc of both of the H-P’s guns.
Luckily only the rear gunner hits his mark.

[Spotting]
The Handley-Page remains spotted and so is Fischbacher.

[Shooting]
Dada dada
The front gunner hits Fischbacher hard!

[Spotting]
The searchlight keeps its beam on the H-P.
Fischbacher <just the card> is overlapped but still spotted.

[Spotting]
The bomber remains in the searchlight beam but Fischbacher is out of sight.
The bomber has been focused on bombing and lets some bombs go.

[Spotting]
Fischbacher is spotted again.

The bombs hit the town.

[Shooting]
Dada dad..
The bomber’s front gunner hits Fischbacher but jams his gun.

[Spotting]
The searchlight maintains its hold on the H-P.
The bomber climbs to Altitude 4.6

The bomber drops the last of its load on the outskirts of town.

[Spotting]
The searchlight crew hold the beam on the bomber.

[Shooting]
Dakka dakka
Höfer fires at the H-P but can’t see any damage.

[Spotting]
The searchlight stays on the bomber.

[Shooting]
Dakka dakka
Höfer finally hits the Handley-Page

Dada dada
The rear gunner finds Höfer.

[Spotting]
The Searchlight remains on the Handley-Page and Fischbacher is spotted by the bomber.

[Shooting]
Dakka dak…
Höfer curses as his gun jams again.

Dada dada
The H-P Front Gunner hits Fischbacher and sets the Albatros aflame!

[Spotting]
The searchlight maintains its hold on the Handley-Page.
Fischbacher is automatically spotted due to the flames.

[Shooting]
Dada dada
The Rear Gunner hits Fischbacher.
His return shot does nothing.

[Spotting]
The H-P finally escapes the searchlight beam, but Fischbacher sees the bomber.

[Shooting]
Dakka dakka
Fischbacher hits the bomber.

Dada dada
The rear gunner misses his chance for consecutive damage.

Fischbacher’s fire continues to damage his D.III

[Spotting]
Fischbacher spots the bomber, while his flames continue to make him an easy target.

[Shooting]
Fischbacher’s turn for a gun jam!

Spotting is maintained by close range for Fischbacher, but Höfer is just out of spotting range.

[Spotting]
Höfer sees the bomber.

[Shooting]
Dakka dakka dak..
Fischbacher damages the bomber but jams his guns.

Dada dada
The rear gunner catches Fischbacher and adds to his worries.
[He is now FRTB-D/F]

Dakka dakka
Höfer hits the rear gunner!

Spotting maintained by close range.
Fischbacher’s fire seems to be under control for now.

[Shooting]
Dakka dakka
Höfer does some serious damage to the Handley-Page and sets the big bird on fire!

Spotting is maintained.
Fischbacher flies a Split –S hoping to get back to base.

[Shooting]
Dakka dakka
Höfer hits the H-P hard.

[Spotting is maintained]
[Shooting]
Dakka dakka
Höfer hits the H-P again, shredding the bomber’s rudder controls.

That  last burst was too much for the H-P to handle and the giant machine falls to the ground leaving a streak of flames.

Fischbacher’s fire takes him down as well!

With flames streaking the Albatros hits the ground.

Butcher’s Tally

HP O/400: SD-FLM-ET / 0 kills

Pilot: KIA
Co-Pilot: All is well
Front Gun: Injured in crash – Captured and Escaped
Rear Gun: Wounded – Captured!

Slight damage to the town from the Handley-Page

Adler

Ltn Siegfried Fischbacher: Albatros D.III:  SD-FLM-FT / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 12 -2 FLM =10 : All is well when you land well!

Ltn Jens Höfer: Albatros D.V:  RTB / 1 Kill, HP O/400

Höfer has his 10th victory and will add Sharp Eye to his ace skill, bitte, Onkel.

Not sure how the points work in this one.

There is no mention of points for downing the Home Defense, but with the bomber shot down and minimal damage to the town I will claim an Adler victory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Took a bit longer with the spotting round tracking but I think Teaticket’s Night Fighting rules work well.

It would be interesting to see how it plays in a non-solo game.

For the info of all Players:

As requested there will be a change in activity - 
There will be two games to each campaign month eg 5th, 19th, July but we will still only actually play 1 game a month as usual.
This means that for the 6 months of the campaign period we will get 12+ months of gaming, it also means we get to use of some of the later kit a bit faster and that the change will also affects injury times for pilots and crew.
There will be breaks in December & August next year, to allow people to catch up, or, have time out.

As usual, all those that play are expected to provide a scenario (or two) at some point.
If you want to join OTT Gallant Young Men campaign please check the rules sticky, particularly you old campaigners, as some minor changes will be made permanent.
Old campaigners of FYM will continue with their current rosters, your WIA will eventually return to action, your KIA/POW are lost to history but their victories are still accounted for.
Those who wish to 'change ends' need to tell me so I may reverse or change your rosters, only one so far. 
If anyone has any questions this is the place to ask them.
The potential pilots (pending confirmation):

Dave (flash) - Bulldog

Peter (Teaticket) - Bulldog

Pete (Stumptonian) - Eagle

John (Vagabond) - Bulldog 

Paul (ShadowDragon) - Eagle

Malachi (Chris) - Eagle 

Hu Rhu (Gary) - Eagle

Mikeemagnus (Mike) - Bulldog

Kustenjaeger (Edward) - Bulldog 

That Friday, after what had turned out to be a quiet week, the phone jangled in Uncles office and jarred them into action. An enemy bomber had been heard crossing the lines and they had to get in the air “toot sweet”.
The planes were ready, fancy flash eliminators fitted to the Vickers that would stop the worst of it they were told by the armourers, though Foldes advised maybe to still shut one eye when they let rip.
They were in the air minutes later and climbing fast.

The most likely and vulnerable target was the barracks and stores in the city centre near the rail lines and there was a searchlight team located nearby beside the river to assist in case the Hun came close. One could but hope !

So it was that Foldes in his striped Camel and Sout in his OO marked Camel found themselves circling near the city below, still brightly lit in places. The spotted each other from time to time as they circled, both scared stiff they may collide at any moment.

The bomber came on trying to locate its target in the darkness, ever closing on the city and it’s guardians.

As luck would have it, the Germans veered away from the target – why is unknown, and eventually lost some altitude – maybe in a bid to see better. Only they would know the answer to that query, but, unbeknownst to them, he'd dropped nearer to the patrolling Camels. The Tommy continued to circle, straining their eyes to see something, anything, that might bring them on the intruder.

Eventually Sout spots the beast looming off to his right slightly above him, he blinks hard not quite believing he’s found it and focusses on how he’s going to get on it.

(Spotting)

Sout stalls but the Hun does the same, he’s annoyed as this won’t give him any advantage. Foldes spots him as he passes closely in the opposite direction.

(Spotting)

By some miracle the bomber doesn’t spot Sout, even as he Immels across the nose of their machine.

(Spotting)

Foldes has spotted Sout as he passes him again and twigged that he might be onto something; as he turns to follow him, Sout sees him too. The Bomber meantime has started to climb again.
(Spotting)

The search light team has heard the bomber but thus far been unable to pick it out from the dark sky.
A few moments later Sout’s hunch pays off and he spots the beast again, luckily only the rear gunner spots him as he closes in.

(Spotting)

Surprise from below is complete, Sout fires off a burst into the belly of the beast as tracer flashes past his ears, the damage is not as great as he hoped.

(Shooting)

Still climbing, Sout breaks off in a climbing turn as Foldes lifts his nose and hones in on the now revealed bomber.

(Spotting)

The front gunner still can’t identify a target, but hears his comrade open up from the tail section, he’s trying to watch his tracer as twin Vickers crackle close aboard and rounds thud into the bombers airframe..

(Shooting)

The bomber has bypassed it’s target but it knows the city is defended by scouts now, as it’s pilot plots his return course for another go as Foldes climbs past close aboard.

END OF PART 1 - 

The return run is to come..

I'll conclude this tale of woe in due course !   

Part 2 - The Return Run:

As long as it took them to turn the beast about the dreaded Hun were heading back toward the city
(Angling 5-2 as per the scenario set up)

It takes a while but the searchlight does finally pick out the invader from the night skies.

(Spotting)

And despite it’s evasive dive they manage to hold on to them, lighting them up for our heroes !

(Spotting)

Now they’re finally over the city the diving bomber begins to shed it’s load upon the population.

(Bombing)

Maybe put off by the blinding glare of the searchlight the next passel of eggs hits nothing of consequence as the bomber veers away.

(Bombing)

The searchlight team are finally on their mettle and hold their city’s tormentor in their beam for all to see.
Dropping his nose Sout closes fast, the front gunner sees him coming but maybe his night vision has gone as he can’t hit the onrushing Camel.
Rounds clatter through the airframe of the beast but one of Sout's Vickers packs in.

(Shooting)

Drawn by the flickering tracer and not to be out done by his protégé Foldes gets a long range effort in himself (ignore erroneous fire marker) before he breaks away.

(Shooting)

Circling back, Sout is lucky enough to spot the beast once more, from close range he drops his nose, rakes the beast once more and is gratified to see flame, but the return fire from the now alert rear gunner damages his controls and he won’t be able to pursue them straight away.

(Shooting)

Out of effective range to catch up Foldes calls it, narrowly avoiding Sout as he passes him, they can but watch the bomber trailing fire as it retreats in the hope its consumed by the fire.

 

Butcher’s Tally:

German:

Gotha V: FRTB-F / 0 kills (bombs dropped on city)
FRTB Rolled 6+4 = Stuck the landing.

Bulldogs:

City: Minimal structural damage – Damage to morale to be determined. 

Lt Bill Foldes: Camel (striped): RTB 0 kills

2Lt Peter Sout: Camel (OO): RTB 0 kills, 1 probable FRTB-F (Gotha)

Followed the set up suggested, in the return run I diced the allies with random clock placements & facings.

AA card stood in for the searchlight.
Used the Random movement for the bomber..  Think it would have been a better game for Jerry if I'd used my D8 AI charts. 
Alt tracked on the cockpits rather than the bases, finding that annoyingly fiddly with others in use; I will also have to make the spotlight chits bigger too, as I struggled picking the **** things up after my op !   
Used a separate A deck for spotting.

The rules are well thought out and easy to follow, but the limit of spotting attempts to short range only for unspotted aircraft was very frustrating in game terms. Gave it a good go though, hopefully I didn't make too many errors & I enjoyed the outing.
At least nobody died !   
    
 

Historical Background: The Third battle of Ypres had been grinding on since 31st July 1917 and British High Command decided to make a concentrated push down the Menin Road on 20th September.  There were a number of German strong points which needed to be eliminated before good progress could be made.

The Anzac Corps were tasked in clearing Polygon Wood and the RFC were asked to strafe a strong trench line between Glencourse and Sanctuary Woods.  The Bulldogs have been given this task!

At this stage of the War the Allies have achieved a numerical superiority of Four to Three in Aircraft numbers and this will be reflected in the Aircraft allocated for the mission.

Set Up

Two WoG  mats, at least one of which must be No Man’s Land,  joined on the long edge (or equivalent sized mat)
[I will be using 2 of the Ares No Man’s Land mats]

5 x "B" firing Trench cards set up approximately equidistant from each other in the German trench lines:  3 in the front row and 2 in the second row.

4 x Allied aircraft will start one  ruler from the edge of their own trench mat , roughly in the center.
Two aircraft will fly top cover at Level 5 and the two aircraft designated to attack the trenches will start at Level 4 but must dive to Level 2 or lower for the strafing run.  The two aircraft flying top cover are slightly behind as per the photo.

You may choose 2 x SE 5a's or Sopwith Camels for the top cover but the strafing aircraft must be Camels.

3 x German defenders. These can be any single-seaters available at the time.
The Germans will start at the edge of their trench mat one half ruler apart at Level 4.

Scenario Special Rules:
The trenches have a 360 degree firing arc, not just the arc printed on the cards.
There will be no inherent Infantry Fire from the trenches – just the Lewis gun, which will not jam.
Trenches ignore Special Damage except Smoke or Explosion  cards (the dreaded Boom).
Smoke will stop trench Lewis gun fire for three phases due to limited visibility.
Explosions destroy the trench completely.

As per the rules, firing at Altitude 2 will require the target to be at short range and will draw one damage card.
Shots taken from Level 1 will get the two-card draw at short range and one card at long range.
There is no +1 advantage for aircraft firing at the trenches from altitude or for consecutive shots at ground targets.

The British top cover will score +1 on their first attack on the German defenders with an additional +1 if from higher altitude. This is to represent surprise.

Victory Points

Each trench card is worth 10 Victory Points to the Entente for its destruction and 10 points for the Germans if not destroyed by Turn 10.  
After Turn 10 the Entente aircraft must leave the area (this is not considered FRTB).
Aircraft shot down are worth 5 points.
Aircraft forced to retire are worth 3 points.

When trying to come up with something for this month’s mission I decided to look back at previous OTT campaigns for ideas.
I found this one from ten years ago - almost to the day! (February 27th, 2016) – written by one of the first Aerodrome pilots to welcome me to the site: Barry Hickson – our original ‘Baz’ – a.k.a. gulley_raker

Perfect!

Barry passed away nearly 5 years ago now and is sorely missed.
Everyone enjoyed the many photos he posted regularly to the 'drome.

The following is the original text and photos of his briefing which, luckily, I kept a printed copy of.
Unfortunately this section of the old wingsofwar.org did not get completely converted to the new site.

Baz's favourite aircraft was this Vickers F.B.5 "Gunbus"

I will always think of him whenever my own Reduced Aircraft Factory models make it to the table

Blue Skies, Barry. Hard to believe it's nearly five years since you left us.

If you get into the AAR's then please leave a comment for the author, if only a couple of words, the games can take hours to play and the AAR take hours to prepare for your viewing pleasure so, showing your appreciation, especially in REP/Likes, will be.. appreciated! 

Cheers Dave - flash (aka Uncle/Onkel). 

The two men had an almost immediate dislike of each.  Altemeier thought that Max was reckless and irresponsible – well, he was affectionately, er, mostly affectionately, known as ‘Mad Max’.  Max thought Altemeier was officious and a danger to the Jasta.  Rumour had it that Altemeier had been sent to the Jasta as a punishment.  The Jasta, known as the ‘Hard Luck’ Jasta due to its rough handling by their usual enemy the Sea Dogs.  It had a reputation for losing oberleutnants.  Perhaps, Altermeier was being punished too.  Whatever was the reality, Altermeier refused to die.  Despite being shot down many times, he kept coming back like a bad pfennig.  With that thought Max tossed another dart that went wide – yet again.

If only the Oberleutnant had been in hospital another few days, Max would be on the current mission, but, Altermeier had returned and grounded Max for damaging the prototype. The damage wasn’t that bad, but the Oberleutnant had the excuse to punish Max.   Max suspected it was because the Oberleutnant was looking for his elusive first ‘kill’ and he didn’t want Max, the Jasta’s top ace – well, only ace, there to embarrass him.  Instead, Altermeier chose the congenial Hans Bauer as his wingman.

Shortly, a few other members of the Jasta entered the mess, followed by the rather singed looking Altemeier and Bauer.  Altemeier glanced around, saw Max, scowled and stormed out.  Max turned away to hide his smirk.  At the pleading of the others, Bauer stayed to relate their ‘adventure’.   Leutnant Emil Hess offered a lager, but Bauer refused and asked for a brandy – a large brandy.  After a few sips to steady his nerves, Bauer began his tale.

Turn 0: The raging battle around Lens saw heavy air action with the bombing of troop concentrations.  Defending scouts patrolled the skies to shoot down or drive away the bombers.  The sector assigned to the Jasta’s scouts had three choke points – as shown.  (Sorry, Dave, I forget it was two target cards per chokepoint.  I only used one per chokepoint.  I drew extra damage cards for the extra card per chokepoint, and it made no difference – at least to the point where the story ended, which would be 3 target cards destroyed and not 6.  Oh well.)

Two Bristol F2B approached the sector.  The leader in the one marked with a ‘C’ was flown by AM1 Max Little with FCdr Robert Samson as the passenger.  The other, with red wing patches, was flown by Colin Booker with FSL Ian David-Lloyd.

Turn 1: The two F2B crossed No Man’s Land unhindered.

Turn 2.1: Samson spots two target locations.  He taps Little’s shoulder and points to the nearer of the two.  He then signals to the other F2B to head towards the further one.

Turn 2.2: The two F2B neatly execute their turns to head towards their respective target areas.

Turn 2.3: Little stalls the F2B so that Samson can start to send the target coordinates to the artillery, while the other F2B team is still too far away from their target.

Turn 3.1: Trouble for the Bristol F2Bs arrives in the form of Oberleutnant Walter Altemeier (red Albatros) and Leutnant Hans Bauer (green tail Albatros).

The red-patched F2B nears its target.  AM2 Booker stalls the aircraft so that FSL David-Lloyd can send the relevant coordinates.

Turn 3.2: AM1 Little circles the target while Samson continues to relay coordinates.  He’s surprised by the two Albatros.  His shot goes wide and his machinegun jams, but Altemeier and Bauer are on target as they dive on the F2B.  Altemeier scores 3+1 (for altitude) hits, but Bauer does better with a 3+1 and damage to the F2B’s engine.  The enemy aircraft will need to head for home.

Turn 3.3: As the Albatros pass the F2B, Samson, who has finished transmitting, tries get a long shot off without any luck.

Turn 4.1: AM1 Little turns to cross No Man’s Land.  Bauer follows him while Altemeier engages the second F2B.  AM2 Booker does better than Max Little and scores 2 hits with fire damage.  Altemeier also scores 2 hits with rudder damage (left turn).

Where are the escorts?  Just in time FCdr Nigel Flashman (red heart Sopwith Camel) and FSL Jan Kruger (white striped Sopwith Camel) arrive.

Turn 4.2: With F2B’s rudder damage and Altermeier manoeuvrings to keep the flames under control, it’s small wonder that the two aircraft collide.  The Albatros draws 0 hits but the F2B draws 6 hits.  Bad luck for the Brits!  But, David-Lloyd persists with stiff upper lip and starts sending the coordinates of the third target location.

Turn 4.3: The two planes separate without further ado.  The F2B’s observer is too busy signalling to fire on the Albatros.  The photo shows the start of turn 5 fire damage for the Albatros is 2 points.

Samson gets another chance, this time at close range and score 2 hits plus engine damage on Bauer’s Albatros.  Bauer will need to break off the fight.

Turn 5.1: Due to rudder damage, the red-patch F2B must go the long way around to start strafing the enemy ground troops.  Altermeier circles to avoid a flare up of his fire.  The ‘C’ F2B continues for home as does Bauer.  Ominously the two Sopwith Camels approach (would that be foreshadowing?)

Turn 5.2: Samson gets one last chance for revenge and causes 1 hit of damage and a fire on Bauer’s Albatros.

Turn 5.3:  Cue the ominous Sopwith Camels!  Kruger drops in neatly behind Altemeier and scores a devastating long shot – the ominous ‘boom’ card is drawn.  “Curse you, Sea Dogs”, shouts Altemeier as his Albatros heads for the earth thinking, “oh no, not again”.

Turn 6.1: The infantry are on their own thinks Bauer as the fire continues to lick at this aircraft (for 2 points).

Turn 6.2: The now lone F2B finally turns around and heads for the last target location.  The two Camels chase after the flaming, fleeing, fluttering (engine damage alliteration) Albatros.

Turn 6.3: The Camel’s get closer!  The F2B dives down to start strafing runs on the ground troops.

Turn 7 – Planning: Bauer’s luck – no damage on the second draw of a fire card.

Turn 7.1: The F2B can’t fire on the ground troops (arc of fire blocked by the F2B’s tail), but not so the ground troops.  The get yet another rudder damage on the F2B.  (Note: if there had been two target cards, a second card would have been drawn.  I checked afterwards.  It had no damage.)

Turn 7.2: The F2B is now in position to fire both ‘fore and aft’, but it misses, as does the ground fire.  (Note: again, with a proper set of two ground targets at each location, there should be two more cards drawn for ground fire.  Done afterwards, one had no damage and the other a fire damage.  Draws for the fire yielded 4 points of fire damage.)

Turn 7.3: The Camels catch Bauer’s sputtering Albatros.  Flashman draws 0 points and a gun jam while the diving Kruger draws two cards for a 2+1 fire and 0.

Turn 8.1: The Camels head about to help their comrades in the F2B.  Bauer leaves the game mat, but draws 2 fire hits.  On turn 9 he will draw the 5 hit card and crash.

Turn 8.2: Not shown.  No action either.

Turn 8.3: The F2B scores 1 hit on the ground troops while the ground troops get another rudder damage.  (A second card for ground fire scored nothing.)

Turn 9.1: Flashman returns to help with the strafing and scores 4 hits taking out the target card.  The F2B’s pilot gets 0 points and a gun jam.  The ground troops score nothing (as would second cards for each).

Turn 9.2: The photo was missed, but Kruger scored 5 hits on a target card – destroying it.  The ground troops scored nothing in the game.  (A card drawn afterwards for a second target card got a fire damage on Kruger.  Fire damage drawn amounted to 4 points.)

Turn 9.3: Flashman and the remaining target exchange fire.  Flashman scores 4 hits again, destroying the target.  He suffers no damage in return.  (A second ground fire card also scored no damage.)

Since, I was playing the German side, I debated stopping the game after Bauer’s Albatros was downed.  I didn’t bring on a third German aircraft because it was looking dire for the British, but suddenly Altemeier’s blown up and Bauer’s heading home.   As for continuing with the ground strafing, I wondered about that since it was clearly a massive British win at that point.

Again, sorry, about getting the instructions wrong and not putting two ground target cards at each location, but it really didn’t change outcomes.

Score:

Lots for the British versus minimal for the Adlers - (16 - 2 Onkel reckons )

And, yes, the bad pfennig returned home!

BUTCHER’S TALLY

Adlers

ObLtn Walter Altemeier: Albatros D.V (red): EXP-FT / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 12 -3EXP = 9 - All well when you land well!

Ltn Hans Bauer: Albatros D.V (Green Tail): FLM-FT / 0 Kills, 1 probable FRTB-E (Samson/Little)  
C&W rolled 11 -2FLM = 9 - All well when you land well!

Ground Targets: All three destroyed (but three were hidden from the game player!)

Bulldogs: 

FCdr Nigel Flashman: Sopwith Camel (Hearts): RTB / 2 Ground Targets Destroyed

FSL Jan Kruger: Sopwith Camel (White Stripes): RTB / 2 Kills (Altemeier, Bauer), 1 Ground Target Destroyed

FCdr Robet Samson: (P2) Bristol F2B ('C'): FRTB-E / 0 Kills
FRTB Rolled 5+3 = Stuck the landing

AM1 Max Little: (O) Bristol F2B ('C'): FRTB-E / 0 Kills
FRTB Rolled 5+3 = Stuck the landing
(The damage card photo was missed.  I set it up but must have missed snapping the photo.  Anyway it would show just two 3 damage cards (at +1) - one with fire damage.

FSL Ian David-Lloyd: (P2) Bristol F2B (Red Patches): RTB / 0 Kills

AM2 Colin Booker: (O)Bristol F2B (Red Patches): RTB / 0 Kills

4 Sept, 1917 London bombed (night?)

4 Sept, Red Cross stations behind Verdun bombed at night

16 Sept,  Stuttgart, Colmar, Thionville and Saarburg bombed by French.

Long range bombing deep behind your own lines always caused panic with the locals and in response HQ would come down on air defence like a hammer.

Home air defense had a difficult time catching the bombers if not given enough warning ahead of time so they could get up to altitude. Finding the incoming or outgoing bombers was another fly in the ointment. Night raids were a whole ‘nother can of worms.

Todays mission, an enemy bomber slips behind the lines approaching a city at night that luckily has a pair of home defense planes in position to try to interfere with its mission. You are to shoot it down preferably before it drops its bombs or at least after to not let it return to its home.

Flying for the Entente,

Friendly planes are to be two typical home defense aircraft, your choice.

The enemy is a Gotha IV/V or equivalent.

Flying for the vile Hun,

Friendly planes are to be two typical home defense aircraft, your choice.

The enemy is a Caproni or HP 0/400 (roll a d6, 1-3 Caproni, 4-6 HP)

Set up

Place 2 ARES mats joining at the long sides or equivalent area.

A countryside mat and a city mat will do nicely.

The enemy bomber is placed 1 ruler in from its friendly(er) mat edge center. It is at altitude 5.3.

Friendly Home Defense planes pegs are ½ ruler + 1 d6” from the mats center. Roll a d12 for direction. Top of the mat is 12. Facing is your choice.

Example, My SPAD rolled a 10 and a 2.  Roll for 2^nd plane. Re-roll if at same direction.

Altitudes will be 1^st plane placed is at 4.0, second plane placed is 4.1.

Place a target card as shown, 1 ruler from the mat edge.

Place one searchlight on the board, randomly either ½ ruler to either side or away from the target towards the mat center.X, Y or Z.

 (see searchlight rules at the end of the Night Fighting rules)  

Bomber movement

The enemy bomber movement deck will consist of 1 turn in each direction, all straights and stalls, climb and dive. Shuffle and play through the deck and reshuffle when necessary. It will only dive if it has been shot at in the current or previous turn. When it dives it keeps all climb chits. It will climb on the climb card gaining 2 climb chits.

The bomber will fly across and off the mat, possibly dropping bombs on the city. Once the enemy bomber flies off the mat, you will reset.

You will place your Home Defense planes anywhere you wish, at any altitude and facing.

You can replace one of your Home Defense planes with a fresh plane if it has taken over half damage. Take it off the mat and bring on a fresh plane. It will begin from the random starting position at altitude 4.-1 (ie if your climb rate is 3 you would start at 3.2)

After placing your planes roll for the bomber re-enrty position. Reshuffle the bombers deck so it is full. The Bomber will aim towards its opposite position on the far friendly(er) mat edge. Example, 1 would fly towards opposite end 6. 2 towards 5…..

Do not let the bomber fly off any side edge. Be the I in the AI to keep it on the mat.

Bombing

On any movement card that the bomber base flies over the city (and not the primary target card), draw two A damage cards and add the damage done to the enemy’s total.

The bomber may still drop bombs on its return trip.

The bomber will fly randomly. It will drop its bombs at any point that it is over the city.

If any part of its base flies over the primary target card, draw a D damage card. On anything other than a ‘0’ the target is destroyed and gains 30 points for the enemy. (HQ will have words for you if you get back to base.)

If you draw a ‘0’, the bomber does not hit the primary target. Draw 2 A damage cards as normal.

After dropping its bombs (when it is past the city on its way home) it will dive on the dive card, though it will not dive into the ground.

Victory points

The bomber scores points for all damage it inflicts on the city.

30 bonus points for destroying the primary target.

Your Home Defense score points for damage done to the bomber.

10 bonus points for downing the bomber.

Difference in points

0-4 points = draw

5-9 points = minor victory

10 – 19 points = victory

20+ points = Major victory

Night Fighting rules are in the files, Home Rules and can be found HERE

57 Squadron RFC has been dispatched over the front to report the positions of infantry ground forces near Lens and then strafe them.
A pair of R.A.F. R.E.8s are nearing their designated area.
The lead aircraft is piloted by 2Lt Charles Johnsen with Observer AM3 Percy Kilroy.
Following close behind are 2Lt Neil Stead and AM3 William Holme.
They had been promised an escort from 52nd Squadron a.k.a. “The Bulldogs” but there is no sign of them as yet.

Johnsen shouts at Kilroy to point out the area just at the edge of No Man’s Land to the trailing R.E.8

The ‘Harry Tates’ switch to line abreast and Kilroy and Holme see their assigned targets and begin transmitting the coordinates.

While spotting the next wave of targets they see some ominous silhouettes approaching: a pair of red, what appear to be Albatros D.IIIs or D.Vs
All are thinking the same thing.
“God I hope that’s not The Red Baron we’re facing …”

Close but not quite right as it turned out.
There is one Albatros D.V, bright red with a white tail with black detail, flown by Adler Ltn Jens Höfer.
The other is actually a Pfalz D.III with a white tail piloted by Ltn Dietrich Oelker.

Da da da.. Oelker tries to squeak by Johnson/Kilroy but Kilroy is having none of that.
The Pfalz's rudder controls are damaged.

Höfer and Stead seem to have been playing ‘chicken’ and neither is able to get off a shot.

A pair of Sopwith Camels are finally making an appearance, albeit not close to the action yet.
Bulldog F/Sgt Alexander David (with a distinctive ‘A’ on the top wing) and 2Lt Victor Young, making his first appearance with 52nd Squadron.

Kilroy, meanwhile, begins his second transmission of ground target coordinates.
Holme tries to line up the Pfalz for a shot but doesn’t want to risk hitting their own tail.

Oelker flies a Split-S and eyes potential targets.
Holme transmits his second set of coordinates.

Holme spots a third group of infantry, letting Stead know and gesturing at the other tandem.
Johnsen waggles his wings confirming he has seen the target.

The Adler are maneuvering to try to get behind the Zweisitzers.

Kilroy begins his third transmission.

Holme follows suit.

Höfer dives at Johnsen’s R.E.8 but misjudges his chance to fire.

Daka dak … “Verdammt!”
Oelker uses his sniper skill and does some damage but jams one of his guns.
Luckily it’s not a serious jam and he will clear it quickly.
[I am using Flash’s advanced gun jam rules and this result is just for one phase instead of the usual three.]

Dada dada.. Johnsen dives and fires at Ground Target #2 doing minor damage.
Dada dada dada.. Both ground target groups fire back, with #2 doing some reciprocal damage.
[The white numbers indicate the strength of each unit]

Young dives his Camel to Altitude 4 to get closer to the action.

David does the same.

Dada dada... Holme catches Höfer with what he perceives to be a fatal shot.
Wishful thinking? [Actually Höfer has used his Lucky Pilot skill]

Dakka dakka... Oelker catches Stead at close range.
“No Lucky Pilot for you!” 
[Disregard that +1 as his shot was not actually consecutive – not that it mattered…!]

Stead guides his R.E.8 to a rough finish in the fields below.
Holme is thrown violently from his seat.

Dada dada.. Kilroy fires at Ground Target #2, jamming his gun in the process.
Pow Pow Pak.. Ground fire does some more damage to the R.E.8

Höfer flies an Immelmann.

Pow Pak Pak... Ground Target #1 fires but misses.

David does a Split-S to get back into it.

Dakka dakka dakka...Oelker dives down and sends a devastating stream of bullets into Johnson and Kilroy.
Kilroy is hit and smoke starts to stream from the R.E.8.

The ‘Harry Tate’ can take no more and joins their comrades down in enemy lines.
That's two for Oelker today.

Young and David see that they have failed their charges and vow to take revenge on those “red bastards!”

Höfer does an Immelmann and Oelker climbs anticipating what’s coming.

Höfer does an Immelmann and Oelker climbs anticipating what’s coming.

Young flies over Höfer.

Dakka dakka... Oelker (again using his sniper skill) hits David’s engine.
David is FRTB-E and will be out of the fray.

David is not where Oelker expected and he has no shot.

Young is just outside of Höfer’s firing arc.

Young has lost sight of David and searches the sky for his wingman.

Höfer sees David heading away from the fight and decides to try to chase him down.
Oelker and Young eye each other warily.

Dakka dakka... Oelker hits Young and the young Aussie hears his engine suddenly howling and realizes his day is also done.

Höfer starts to think he is not going to catch the Camel before it makes it to the British lines.

And he was right.
David slips away and Höfer will be turning back.

Dakka dakka... Oelker’s sniper skill comes through yet again and Young will be joining has comrades down below!

Oelker has his third kill of the day, bringing his total to 17, just 1 behind Eisenhardt.

Höfer catches up with Oelker and the two Adler head home.
Oelker will be buying many rounds in the mess tonight! 

Butcher’s Tally

57 Squadron & Bulldogs

2Lt Neil Stead: (P2) RE.8: EXP-ET / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 6 -3EXP = 3 - Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 2
E&E rolled 9 -1EXP -1WIC -1BEL = 6 - In Hiding - skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 1 = Skip 1

AM3 William Holme: (O) RE.8: EXP-ET / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 5 -3EXP = 2 - Dead !  KIA 

2Lt Charles Johnsen: (P2) R.E.8 (#14): SD-ET/ 0 Kills
C&W rolled 10 -1SD = 9 - All well when you land well !
E&E rolled 5 -1BEL = 4 - Captured & Escaped – skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 2


AM3 Percy Kilroy: (0) R.E.8 (#14): SD-ET / WIA / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 5 -1SD -1WIA = 3 - Injured  – skip 1D6  scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 3
E&E rolled 7 -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 4 - Captured & Escaped – skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1
 

2Lt Victor Young: Sopwith Camel (stripes):  EXP-ET / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 6 -3EXP = 3 : Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 3
E&E rolled 8 -1BEL -1EXP -1WIC = 5 - In Hiding – Skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 1 = Skip 1
 

F/Sgt Alexander David: Sopwith Camel (A): FRTB-E / 0 Kills
FRTB rolled 5 & 4 = Stuck the landing.

Adler

Ltn Jens Höfer: Albatros D.V:  RTB / 0 Kills

Ltn Dietrich Oelker: Pfalz D.III:  RTB / 3 Kills (Johnsen, Stead, Young), 1 Probable FRTB-E (David)

With 17 kills, Oelker earns a 3rd Ace Skill
Sharp Eye , Bitte, Onkel 

All targets spotted and reported.
Only Target #2 took any damage.

Victory Points

Bulldogs

Choke Points Reported  : 2 x 3 = 6
Ground Units Damaged : 1 x 1 = 1
Total : 7 Points

Adler

Scout FRTB : 1 x 1 =1
Scout Downed : 2 x 1 = 2
Tandem Downed : 3 x 2 = 6
Total : 9 Points

Eagle Victory..!

=======================================

The Bulldogs were doing great until the dreaded Booms came out (again!)
Then both Camel engines were done in before they could strafe the ground targets.
Luckily for my Adler  Höfer was able to negate his boom.

An interesting mission, Dave.
Thanks for that.

Now to see what Colonel Teaticket has in store for us ....

The bulldogs had already been tasked to monitor possible choke points around the city in support of the operation in case there should be a response and to pass their sightings to the Arty chaps and HQ, but now the orders had shifted slightly for them to also engage any units seen there in an attempt to alleviate the pressure on our beleaguered ground forces…
Ground fire and enemy aircraft might make things a bit hairy, but they had their task and could only do their best with the hand that fate had dealt them.  

57 squadron crossed the lines in a slightly staggered echelon left formation, with the city to the city off to the right ahead of them.
Lt Justin Hale with AM2 Reg Sole led the formation in a Red striped RE8; 2Lt Chris Packett with AM1 Jack Dawe followed in a white marked RE8; 2Lt Christpher Cross with AM3 Rick Shaw in RE8 (#14) were the tail end Charlies.

Note I’m trying out the Alt markers this time out.

Hale signalled them to follow as he adjusted their approach line and they fell into line astern with the city in sight.

As luck would have it I rolled three 7’s for all the planes and they fell into line!

As they turned onto their run in the formation changed a little as the pilots jockeyed for height – Hale signalled for Packett to check an assigned area below and he throttled back to let Dawe take a peek.

No sooner than Shaw had started transmitting his observations than a brace of Eagles appeared from either side of the city – they had obviously been waiting their opportunity !

New boy Ltn Justus Lotz in Albatros D.V (#2) from their right


And veteran, Ltn Max Manschott in Albatros D.V (Edelweiss) from their left

Cross is the first to engage whilst Shaw makes his first observation, trading blows with Manschott as the Eagle swoops into the attack and even damaging the controls of his opponent.
Sole make his spot too; Packett turns right as Dawe continues his transmission keeping a close eye on the other Hun as it closes on them

+1 for the dive

Cross’s machine is raked by Manschott as he passes close behind them, Cross feels a sharp blow as bullets whip through his cockpit, it feels bad enough to send him home.

(D6 roll: 1-both, 2-3 pilot, 4-6 obs; pilot hit this time on a 2)

As he turns back toward his choke point Hale is also caught by Manschott, causing damage, but jamming one of his guns in the process.

Relief from above as Camels from 52 squadron make an appearance, 2lt Evan Keel in #8 dives in some way behind Manschott.

Sout from the opposite side in Camel OO high up and rolling into an overdive.  

Hale holds his turn and Sole keeps transmitting as Manschott ignores his jammed Spandau and presses home his attack.

As Hale dives Reg Sole, engages a ground target, the end up shaking Manschott who then deals with his jammed Spandau.

Packett passes over a target and Dawe goes to work as Sout’s Camel whips behind their tail.

Packett picks up some rudder damage from the ground fire as Dawe keeps up his fire, mowing down anything that moves.

Nearby, dropping his nose, Cross clobbers his choke point, scattering men and animals in fear and confusion.

As Cross turns away a lucky shot from below does some serious damage to their engine, definitely time to go home he thinks !
Shaw finishes the work Cross started by smashing the rest of the formation, badly jamming his Lewis gun in the process.

Packett nosing down engages a target as Dawe finishes off one of the units targeted below & behind them. Another lucky shot from below will leave their Harry Tate trailing smoke though.
Hale adds to the misery Dawe had started below.

Packett is not so lucky on the next target as rounds from below set them afire and damages their controls. He also jams his Vickers in the process.

As Hale presses home his attack on the remaining unit at the choke point Manschott lines up and sends a burst toward them but Sole was having none of it and put an accurate burst into the pursuing Albatros to settle his hash. Kill to Reg !

Hale finishes off the ground unit in style as the Albatros falls away behind them.

Sout latches on to Lotz’s machine but can’t make the best of his chance.
No damage for Packett as Dawe works over the unit below.

Cross limps for home in the background as Hale checks for targets, he sees an Albatros heading his way !
The Camels are sorting themselves out to get on said Albatros and Packett is still engaging ground targets in spite of his fire.

Hale passes close to the Albatros as lead zips past his nose from Sout and then Keel close aboard him that damages the Hun’s rudder..

The Hun tried diving away but the hounds are still on him and everyone has a pop !
Sout hits the cockpit area and Lotz is hit; Keel jams a Vickers for a moment and even Sole has a punt with his Lewis.

Sweating it, Cross pushes for home as an Albatros seemingly gives chase, the Camels behind it appear to have lost contact, but that can’t last long..

As they pass, Sole, like an avenging angel, scatters another unit below them.

 
Their work almost done, Hale eyes the final unit, as he does so he sees a new player in the game making towards them.
Ltn Franz Werner in Albatros D.V (LO) drops in on the party.  

Hale ignores the Hun and presses on to engage the target below even as rounds crash through his airframe.

The Camels get back on the tail of their Hun as a relieved Cross makes his home run across the lines.

Packett snuffs out any further resistance from the unit below Hale as Werner slides past the tail of Hale’s machine out of range.

The Albatros gives the Camels the slip and they spend more time avoiding each other !

Lotz reverses, but the Camels still have no target & he’s out of range.

Packett jams his Vickers strafing the unit below; Dawe jams his firing at the Albatros of Werner.

Matters not as Sole finishes the job emptying his Lewis gun into the targets below.

As the Albatros tries to run for home Keel reefs into a tight turn and catches him with a burst.


He can’t get round fast enough to finish the job as Sout turns in and applies the coup de grace to Lotz.

Called it there as time was getting on and Werner didn’t fancy his chances against the Bulldogs on heat !

Butcher’s Tally:

Eagles:

Ltn Max Manschott: Albatros D.V (Edelweiss): EXP-FT / 0 kills, 1 Probable FRTB-W (Cross/Shaw)
C/W: Rolled 7 -3EXP = 4 – injured skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 6

Ltn Justus Lotz: Albatros D.V (#2): SD-NML / WIA / 0 kills
C/W: Rolled 7 -1WIA -1SD -1NML = 4 – injured skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 5 = Skip 5
E&E: rolled 7 -1WIA +1NML = 7 – Landed Almost home = Skip 1 scenario

Ltn Franz Werner: Albatros (LO): RTB – 0 kills

German Ground Units:
All dispersed

Bulldogs:

Lt Justin Hale: (P2) RE8 (Red stripes): RTB / 0 kills  

AM2 Reg Sole: (O) RE8 (Red stripes): RTB / 1 kill (Manschott)
 

2Lt Chris Packett: (P2) RE8 (white box): RTB / 0 kills

AM1 Jack Dawe: (O) (lucky) RE8 (white box): RTB / 0 kills
 

2Lt Christpher Cross: (P2) RE8 (#14): FRTB-W+D+E / WIA / 0 kills
FRTB Rolled 5+4 = Stuck the landing.
C/W roll 8 -1WIA +1 RTB = 8 – Injured - Skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1

AM3 Rick Shaw: (O) RE8 (#14): FRTB-E+D / 0 kills
FRTB Rolled 5+4 = Stuck the landing.

Inverted cards are ground fire - Packett copped a packet of them  !

2Lt Peter Sout: Camel (OO): RTB / 1 Kill (Lotz)

2Lt Evan Keel: Camel (#8): RTB / 0 kills

Sorry it was so picture heavy but it was fun to play. Who needs arty ! They can shell it when we leave  
Applied my usual rules re jams, alt and things. Hope you enjoyed it.   

Oncle stood in front of the large map in the briefing room with all the flyers gathered around.

“The British are about to mount another offensive at Ypres. As at the moment our Poilu are still glued to their trenches, we are ordered to give the British what assistance we can from above. They are in need of artillery spotters and since we have some native English speakers, it will be our pleasure to help out”, Oncle nods towards Stosham. Oncle rolled the British, Canadian and Americans all into one as ‘English speakers’. Not that he didn’t appreciate that they were here flying to help France, he just didn’t understand them. Definitely not the same culture as his Paris upbringing.

Nigel, head held high, made his way to the front.

“It will be a pleasure to help out my Tommy friends”. He pointed at Harold Crenshaw, who was standing in the back. “You’ll come up with me Harry old chap, right oh”.

To Harold it should have been a request, but Nigel just volunteered him for the mission.

“Yes Sir. It will be a pleasure”.

Louis Colvin rolled his eyes. Looks like I better take up some experienced help with me for this one. Turning to his right, “Lucien, you up for this one”?

Lucien nodded. “Sure, we’ll make it work”.

Nigel and Harold made a quick visit to the Royal Artillery battery they would be calling for.

The meeting with the Comms Officer went…well, it went as usual when Nigel is involved.

Immediately after saluting Nigel shook the CO’s hand, “I guarantee you will get the information you need. We’ll pulverize those bloody Boche”.

Harold looked down at his feet and shook his head to himself.

“You will do your best, that’s all we can ask”, the CO replied.

Nigel couldn’t help himself, “You’ll get what you need and more. Your results will be so good you will be requesting I fly all your spotting flights in the future”.

Harold almost choked.

“Are you all right son”? a concerned CO asked.

“Yes Sir, I’m fine. Just hope we can help”, an embarrassed Harold answered.

“Well, well, that’s all jolly good. We’ll be off now” Nigel salutes the CO and nods to Harold as he turns and leaves the CO’s office.

Halfway to the motor pool, “I have the map, do you have the radio call signs and frequency we’ll be using?” Harold inquires.

Nigel stops mid stride, “Harry, I’ll meet you at the car. I forgot to give the CO the cigar I brought for him”.

Nigel turns back and sheepishly knocks on the CO’s office door.

Up in the air Nigel pilots the AR.I and is flanked on the left by flight leader Louis Colvin and on the right by Lucien Cordonnier.

 As expected, there is a welcoming committee. Three Albatros D.IIIs flown by Luther Ochs, Hans Pfeiffer and Olivier Näther.

Before they close with the enemy, Colvin cuts behind the AR. Does he see something in the closing formation he wants to take advantage of?

The opening shots are bloody, especially for Lucien Cordonnier. Lucien takes a round and the immediate pain tells him it won’t be possible to stay in the fight.
At least he put some damage into Pfeiffer’s machine.

Nigel doesn’t like what he sees coming. A familiar black Albatros has a direct course at him, a bad feeling comes over him and he jerks the AR to the right. The black Albatros doesn’t react in time and flies past unable to shoot.
Harold treats the black bird like a grouse flushed out of the tall grass. His reflexes are sharpened by the excitement of the moment and the black bird takes some serious damage.

Harold’s next shot isn’t so successful as Pfeiffer blocks his aim at the black bird. Pfeiffer barely notices the tracers zipping past.
Näther now gets into the action, but his first combat butterflies make everything seem 100 times faster than what they are. His close range shot at Lucien is wasted.

With Nigel and Lucien clear of the Hun flight, Colvin turns in and punishes Näther, setting the newcomer on fire.
Harold adds in more damage to the tail of Näther.
(no picture of a close range shot. I missed a couple of photos here!)

Näther’s fire isn’t that bad at the moment.

The panicking Näther turns to keep the flames away from him and his plane, but in doing so turns into Ochs! Luckily for the two Germans the damage is minimal when they touch.

Keeping his focus on Näther, Colvin adds to the new pilot’s woes, wounding him.
Unfortunately, Colvin’s Lewis’s drum runs dry.  (gun jam or empty?)

Colvin begins to replace the drum on his Lewis, missing a nice opportunity for a shot at Pfeiffer.
Lucky for Colvin the three German planes are all facing away from him.

Lucien reverses and passes close to Nigel, waving a bloody hand signaling he’s heading home.
Nigel doesn’t notice as he spots the first shells landing and begins to position the AR so Harold can send off the corrections.

Harold checks his map and radios off corrections for the battery’s next shoot.
(I used a d10 for the distance to be corrected and I put down a d6 to track the 2 turn delay for impact. For the target I used one of the small targets from T&T.)

Another missed opportunity but Colvin’s new drum is almost in place.

Näther’s fire continues to look worse than its bite.

Cordonnier’s pain is too distracting and all he can think about is getting home. Unfortunately, he does not see Pfeiffer and Näther.

The incoming rounds shake him from his trance and Lucien lets off a burst into Näther, ruining his life.

The joy was momentary as Pfeiffer puts the finishing touch on Lucien’s N.24, sending him spiraling down near to where Näther crashed.

The artillery shells begin to fall and inch their way closer to the target.
(first shell fall is 7x (some distance) away from the target. Every call can help zero in the next round of shells by the damage # on a B card. Subtract the damage from the current x until your get to 0x. 1^st 0 is a 0, then after that all 0s are 1s. Overshoot is half rounded up.)

The sky is much more open with Lucien and Näther gone. Ochs and Pfeiffer realize they have to get after the tandem while Colvin is out of the way.

Harold sends off some more corrections as Nigel circles the target at a distance.

A sideslip and stall later more shells fall. This time not getting any closer to the target to Harold’s dismay.

Colvin pounds his thigh for being just a bit too far out of position to stop Ochs before he reaches Nigel and Harold. He will get back into the fight but not before bullets are flying at the AR.

 Harold, concentrating on his radio equipment, does not notice the black Albatros closing in.

Colvin shoots first hoping for the best but comes up pitifully short and with a gun jam.
(Colvin used his Itchy Trigger Finger skill to shoot first hoping for a Boom)

Maybe the Nieuport's quick approach caught Ochs' eye as he does little to the Dorand at close range.

With the dreaded black Albatros heading straight at his nose Nigel closes his eyes and pulls the trigger, with expected results.

With both French planes guns jammed Pfeiffer swoops in and hammers the AR.1.
Fortunately the German guns go silent after doing their dirty work.

More shells come dropping from the sky closing in on the target, a bit closer to Ochs than he is comfortable with.

Nigel was in the middle of a turn back towards the target when his engine began sputtering.
Harold is torn between working the radio or his Lewis as Pfeiffer is dangerously close but just underneath him. As he has no chance of getting a bead on the Hun he adjusts the radio.

One more call heads back to the battery.

Harold drops his receiver and takes up his Lewis in a flash and rips into the Albatros, setting it alight.

Pfeiffer feels the heat from this fire.

Nigel stalls as the Albatros slips back below him. Colvin gets off a long but telling shot into Pfeiffer before he is shielded by Nigel.

The shells inch closer to the intended target and come down just meters away from the unknowing Colvin.

Nigel can’t shake Pfeiffer and prays Colvin can scare him away.

With the fire and Colvin coming up behind, Pfeiffer tries a little too hard to use the AR and a shield. Nigel somehow avoids the seemingly imminent collision as Harold hangs on for dear life.

Even with the planes just meters apart, Colvin confidently takes his well aimed shot into the Hun.

Moments later the fire finishes the job for Colvin and Pfeiffer flutters to the ground, leaving  a black column of smoke above him.

Colvin now is in Ochs’ sights and knows it will be tricky to extricate himself from this position.

Ochs closes in and one hot lucky bullet finds the fuel tank.

Harold whacks Nigel’s shoulder pointing to where Colvin falls from the sky.
Nigel now starts to sweat. No more escort scouts and he has a jumpy engine slowing him down with the black Albatros the only other plane in the sky and will give Nigel some time y.

Harold makes one last call before they will out of visual verification range.
Luckily Ochs' pass at Colvin took him away from the French tandem and it will take a little longer to catch up.

Nigel has a good headstart but with that misfiring engine the Albatros will surely close in before they can reach safety.

Explosions can be seen in the distance but their exact location is unconfirmed by Harold as the distance is too great. (they are over 1 measure stick away)
(the target is destroyed as this second 0 = 1, which is what was needed to hit the target)

 Now the chase begins. Ochs grits his teeth and Nigel’s sweat runs down his goggles impairing his vision.

Ochs finally gets in range and lets off a quick burst. Harold returns the favor. Both unknown to the other jam their guns.

While the two shooters clear their weapons Nigel leans forward to help his AR flay faster.

One more moment and Ochs would have had another chance at the French tandem, but that moment never came as the AR reaches safety by the skin of their teeth.

Nigel guides his wounded Dorand back to a shaky but safe landing.

Later that evening word came from another recon plane that their work had been good work and the target destroyed.  

“Pity about those scout pilots but at least tour part of the mission was completed”, Nigel casually patted himself on the back.

Harold wasn’t sure if Nigel was talking about the German scout pilots or our own.

Butcher’s Tally

Bouledogues de la Republique

s/Lt. Lucian Cordinnier: N28 #5: SD-ET / WIA / 1 Kill (Näther)
C/W rolled 5 -1SD -1WIA = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 6
E&E 5 -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 2 - captured - The war ended for this pilot 

Lt. Louis Colvin: N28 #2L: EXP-ET / 1 Kill (Pfeiffer)
C/W rolled 7 -3EXP = 4 - Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 3.
E&E rolled 8 -1EXP -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 4 - Captured and escaped! - Skip 1D3 Scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1

Lt. Nigel Stosham: (P2) AR.1 #11: FRTB-E / 0 Kills
FRTB roll 4+5 = Stuck the landing 

Cpl. Harold Crenshaw: (O) AR.1:  FRTB-E / 0 Kills
FRTB roll 4+5 = Stuck the landing

Successful artillery spotting mission

Kaiser’s Eagles

Ltn. Luthar Ochs:  black Alb. D.III:  RTB / 1 Kill (Colvin)

Fwbl. Olivier Näther: red spinner Alb. D.III: EXP-FT / WIA / 0 Kills
C/W roll 4 -3EXP -1WIA = 0 - Dead ! KIA  

(Looks like I don’t have to make a printed nametag for this Hun.)

Ltn. Hans Pfeiffer: b&w striped fuselage Alb. D.III: FLM-FT / 1 Kill (Cordonnier) & 1 Probable FRTB-E (Stosham)
C/W roll 5 -2FLM = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 6.

Mission conclusion target was destroyed, but not at a cost that the Bouledogues want to pay.

First things first – my aged camera conspired against me in this set to – the set up images and some of the concluding images didn’t get saved and I don’t quite know how that happened as I took the pictures !
Nevertheless, there’s enough there to present a truncated AAR for you all to enjoy.

Uncle’s instructions were plain and simple. A clump of buildings just outside the city of Lens had been identified as a focal point for the enemy supplies and reinforcements before they were passed up the line. The mission was to talk the artillery chaps onto the target by correcting their fall of shot with the objective of destroying everything in the locale and disrupting their resupply.  

As I have no imagery to show, I will have to tell you that I randomly rolled the set up for the Brits and they came on at point A, bottom left of the mat, in the formation indicated.
Lt Justin Hale with AM3 Oliver (Olly) Daye as his observer/gunner flying an RE8 , flanked by 2lt Cameron Paine on the left with the ‘Hearts’ Camel (Perfect Aim/Acrobat), and on the right by 2Lt Robert Pynne (Sharp Eye/Fire Expert) in the Red trimmed Camel.
The two aces regarded this as a bit of a milk run, but appreciated the opportunity to rack up more notches on their personal tallies.  

As luck would have it the Eagles rolled in at point Z – directly opposite the Bulldogs and in position to make a straight forward head on intercept -  though probably not ideal, or, what they wanted !
Obltn Georg Pütter led the flight in a resplendent all red Albatros D.V, to his left was Ltn Max Manschott in another marked with an edelweiss & to his right the promising youngster, Falco Bähr (stuntmean) in a yellow machine with his personal emblem.
Pütter was proud of his new machine and to be leading the flight today, dreaming he was the Baron, his idol, and hoping the sight of his red machine would strike fear into the Englander’s hearts and cause them to make errors.

The Camels made a beeline to take on the Albatrii as the RE8 swung left so that he might line up with the target.
Pynne engaged Manschott, more or less head on, rounds clattered through his airframe and he began trailing smoke (4 smk + 1 LRD), but his first burst seemed to have liitle effect on the Albatros (1+0).

Paine locked horns with the yellow machine flown by Bähr, but he had little effect either at long range (0), though it seemed the Albatros jammed a gun (2 RGJ).  
Pütter somehow managed to slip between the two Camels without being engaged at all, but didn’t get a shot off either.
 

As Hale brought the nose of his RE8 onto target he met Bähr’s Albatros at close range – Hale mashed the firing button of his Vickers scoring well and damaging the Albatrii’s controls, however the return fire from the single gun on the Albatros stuttered to silence.  A red Albatros loomed on the beam but had little effect on the RE8.

Rudder damaged Pynne throws his Camel into a tight turn behind Manschott’s machine.

 

Olly Daye is on his mettle as he opens up on the Red beast – putting an accurate burst into the engine, Paine pokes a burst into the Yellow machine of Bähr further damaging his controls.

Pynne gets caught from above as the flowered machine Immels and fires down onto him – but it loses a gun to an irrevocable jam in the process.

Paine adds too Pütter’s woes as he rolls through his turn and Bähr Immels above him, weathering a long range burst from Olly Daye’s gun.

After this Daye must observe the target that is now in range ahead of them – he observes the fall of rounds and on the next movement he’ll call in a correction. Meantime Bähr works to clear his remaining gun behind them.
  

Paine collides with Pütter’s red machine as neither can avoid the smash.. his damage is negligible but the Hun is badly damaged

Pynne & Manschott turn to chase the fight

Daye makes the call as Bähr turns in behind them and opens up at long range..

Cam Paine Immels behind the red kite, trailing a thin white smoke from it’s engine – easy meat..

Daye, message sent now takes up his gum once more and takes on Bähr at range. He scores a solid hit but they take one too and begin trailing smoke

Paine closes on the red machine and swats him from the sky !

Daye fires on the yellow machine again and is surprised to see it fold up in the air, though his return shot sets them ablaze (Round closed by 3 Bähr was hit by incoming rounds 3 & 4smk !) 

Manschott, though relatively undamaged, sees he’s outnumbered and decides it’s time to leave – the Tommy tandem is burning and is fairly shot about too.

What he didn’t know is that the Harry Tate completed the mission and survived the fire though FRTB-F shortly thereafter

Butcher’s Tally:

Lt Justin Hale: (P2) RAF RE8: FRTB-F / 0 kills
FRTB - rolled 4+5 = Stuck the landing ! 
AM.3 Oliver (Olly) Daye: (O) RAF RE8: FRTB-F / 0 kills

2lt Cameron Paine: (Perfect Aim/Acrobat) ‘Hearts’ Camel: RTB / 1kill (Pütter)

2Lt Robert Pynne: (Sharp Eye/Fire Expert) Red trimmed Camel: RTB / 0 kills  

Obltn Georg Pütter: Albatros D.V (all red); SD-FT / WIA/ 0 kills
Rolled 5 -1SD -1WIA = 3 - Injure - Skip 1 D6 Scenarios, rolled 5 = Skip 5  

Ltn Max Manschott: Albatros D.V (edelweiss): RTB / 0 kills

Ltn Falco Bähr: (stuntman) Albatros D.V (Bear): SD-FT / 0 kills, FRTB-F (Hale)
Rolled 6 -1SD = 5 - Injure - Skip 1 D3 Scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1 

In truth I'd run out of time or Manschott might have 'had a go', but I didn't fancy his chances. I rolled a 4 for the next Correction so they'd have nailed it and drew the fire cards for the Harry Tate - survived (just) !  
A bakers dozen for Cam Paine and Pütter’s luck seems to continue it's bad form 

A great scenario, Peter, thanks for that  

So, yes, it was a typical mission but one that gave Alois a bad feeling.  True they had two scouts for protection but there should be a certain amount of trust among the members of a flight – and that was the problem.  The flight leader was Oberleutnant Walter Altemeier.  Altemeier took over after they lost Oberleutnant Siegried Christiansen just 15 weeks prior.  In that time Altemeier had been on just 4 mission and managed to be shot down on 3 of them.  He had spent nearly half of his time with the Jasta recovering from wounds.  It didn’t instill the, so-called, Hard Luck Jasta with confidence.  Neither did it help that Siggi Christiansen had been very popular with everyone In the Jasta.  All of this gave Altemeier a sour aura – or so it seemed to Alois.

The other scout was piloted by their only ace, the young Leutnant Maximillian von Hünerbein – Mad Max.  If Alois had to pick on individual in the Jasta that Altemeier disliked the most, it would be Mad Max.  The feeling was entirely reciprocated.  While Max maintained a proper demeanour around Altemeier there was no mistaking the distain he had for their commander.

So, what could go wrong???

Ahead was their target.  Unfortunately, it was not unprotected.  Three enemy scouts were off to their left – to the south.  (The photo view is from the north.)

The enemy scouts belonged to the nemesis of the Hard Luck Jasta and they knew their business.  They quickly identified the tandem as the ‘high value target’.  They quickly turned and headed for the tandem.  Mad Max neatly tucked in behind the tandem to head them off while Altemeier was doing….something.

The tandem pilot’s eyes widened when he recognized the incoming Sopwith – the top pilot of the Seadogs.  The enemy instantly proved why with a long range shot that hit a vital spot on the Rumpler causing an explosion.  (Sharp eye for Flashman – and, yes, the boom card was the 2^nd draw.)  The mission was over before it started.   The other two Sopwiths demonstrated their experience – one (MacAlister) intercepted and entertained the two Albatros escorts while the other (Kruger) flew to the north to cutoff the tandem if it should escape the flight leader (Flashman).

Max turned to the right to protect the tandem, but it was too late.  Altemeier flew on straight ahead allowing MacAlister to get a close range shot from Altemeier’s right rear.

Max moved in on Flashman and Kruger – only now seeing the remnants of Rumpler fluttering to the earth.  Max looked back to see Altemeier continuing to fly straight ahead.  Had he frozen?  Did he not see the enemy Sopwith spinning about to get on his tail?

Surely, Altemeier must have noticed by now?

Meanwhile, Max anticipated Kruger’s Immelmann and inflicted heavy damage on the Sopwith, which started to stream smoke.

Whatever daze Altemeier had been in, he suddenly realized the danger and went into an Immelmann turn, but the wily Scotsman on his tail took bits and pieces and gears and… from the Albatros.

Altemeier completed the Immelmann to end up nose-to-nose with his pursuer.  Well, that didn’t last long.  The Albatros was finished, and all Altemeier could do was to try to bring his kite down somewhere reasonably ‘soft’.

With all his comrades shot down and facing three deadly enemies, discretion seemed wise, but Max hoped for some revenge.  He settled on Flashman’s Sopwith as his target, but the Sopwith turned far quicker than Max anticipated.  His shot went wide, but not so Flashman’s shot.  Flashman saw Max jerk in the cockpit – a direct hit.  (Sharp Eye to produce the wounded pilot card which was nullified by Max’s Lucky Pilot.)

Max checked for blood.  He found nothing but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there – filling his boots, for example.  Only in the nick of time did he see that he was on a collision course with the Sopwith – just enough time for Max to bank the Albatros to the left and miss the enemy aircraft.

That had not gone well.  Looking back Max saw that both Kruger and MacAlister join Flashman. It was three to one.  Likely he was injured – how badly he did not know – so, this time, discretion was in order.  It was time to break off and head home.

Back at the aerodome, a spent bullet was found embedded in Max’s flight suit.  A slight bruise was the only injury.  But none of that took away the horror of the mission with 2 of 3 airplanes downed with a failed mission and no enemy shot down.

An Adler failure, I would think.

BUTCHER’S TALLY

Adlers

ObLtn Walter Altemeier: Albatros D.V (red): SD-ET / 0 kills
C&W = 12 -1SD = 11 - All well when you land well!
E&E = 8 -1BEL = 7 - Landed almost home! - Skip 1 Scenario

Ltn Max von Hünerbein: Albatros D.V (Lt Blue): RTB / 0 kills

VzFwbl Hans Schwendemann: (P2) Rumpler C.IV: EXP-NML / 0 kills
C&W = 10 -3EXP -1NML = 6 - Skip 1D3 Scenarios; Rolled 1 = Skip 1
E&E = 7 -1EXP -1WIC +1NML = 6 - In hiding! - Skip 1D2 Scenarios; Rolled 6 = Skip 2

Obltn Alois Böning: (O) Rumpler C.IV: EXP-NML / 0 kills
C&W = 5 -3EXP -1NML = 1 - Dead !  KIA  

Seadogs

FCdr Nigel Flashman: Sopwith Camel (Hearts): RTB / 1 kill (Rumpler)

FsLt Jan Kruger: Sopwith Camel (Red Tail): RTB / 0 kills

FsLt Ryan MacAlister: Sopwith Camel (Blue Rondels): RTB / 1 kill (Altemeier)

The Adler have been tasked with escorting a Rumpler C.IV of FF(A) 245 on yet another artillery spotting mission.*
Eisenhardt and Oelker are hoping that Nixdorf and Wiechers will get this one done quickly so they can get back and try to relax before being sent aloft again.

[* No offense to Teaticket. His new spotting method should keep this one interesting]

A mile or so to the West a trio of British Bulldogs are probably in the same state of mind.

2Lts Glen and Whitney are flying S.E.5s (although Whitney has the latest  S.E.5a model).
Baker is the first of his unit to try out the newest aircraft from Sopwith: the Camel.

Oelker, in a red & white Albatros D.V, is first to notice some dark shadows approaching and turns to face them.
 

The Brits are closing.

Oelker cuts in front of the Rumpler.
Nixdorf curses him for carelessness but then sees the reason for his quick change of formation.

Dada dada
Baker uses his inherent Perfect Aim to score a solid hit on Eisenhardt.

Daka daka
Eisenhardt’s Sniper skill only gives him minor damage in return.

Wiechers brings his Parabellum to bear on the approaching S.E.5
Dakka dakka

Nada

Dada dada
Glen does some barely noticeable damage to the Rumpler.

Daka daka

Oelker uses his Sniper skill and shows Eisenhardt how it should be done!
Baker jerks in his cockpit.

Dada d…
Baker fires at Eisenhardt and jams one of his guns.

Dakka dak…
It turns out Eisenhardt doesn’t need his Sniper skill.
Although his gun jams, the Camel explodes!

Baker has fallen with the first time to the table (at least in this campaign) curse.

Dada dada
Wiechers sticks with Glen and gives the S.E.5 some more damage.

Dada da…
Another jam.
[Somehow I allowed him to fire …. we’ll have to say that his Lewis was still functioning, even though I gave him an ‘A’ damage card, not a ‘B’.
I think it was because of the interruption of the boom card, taking additional pictures for the Butcher's Tally and documenting the kill, resetting the damage deck etc.]

Dada dada
Wiechers hits Glen again and damages his rudder controls.

Turn 3: The combatants scan the area and plan for the next round.

Oelker performs an Immelmann to get back into the action.

Dada dada
Whitney fires at Eisenhardt but sees no damage for his effort.

Eisenhardt thinks he has Sharp Eye*, and takes an additional 4 damage with smoke (which would cause a fire) but he can only claim the Sniper shot, disregarding the 0.
[Why do I only notice these things when writing the AAR?   Luckily this will not affect the final outcome.]

Dada dada
Whitney comes after the Rumpler and Wiechers gives him a welcoming burst.

Whitney’s fire [which is really just smoke.]

Nixdorf stalls the Rumpler and points out the artillery’s target so Wiechers can send the results of their barrage.

Dada dada
Whitney fires at the Rumpler and Nixdorf feels the rudder relax.
Luckily he was not planning on turning right anytime soon.

[Disregard the damage to Whitney – I forgot Wiechers cannot fire when sending the coordinates to the battery.]

Eisenhardt and Glen appear to be playing a game of chicken.

Dada dada dada da…
Some serious damage is done to both aircraft and Glen is the second British pilot to take a bullet.
If Eisenhardt had not jammed his gun things may have been much worse for the young Bulldog.

Dada dada
Whitney gets into the Rumpler’s blind spot.
Damage by paper cuts …

Dada dada
Staying in the blind spot, Whitney hangs on like a true British Bulldog.
The Rumpler has taken too much damage and will have to break off.

The artillery strike is far from the intended target.

[The scenario rules state the accuracy starts with 7 minus the number on a drawn ‘B’ damage card, so the shots are 6 away from where they need to be.]

The Rumpler cannot stay in the area to make adjustments, so the artillery will not receive any further corrections.

[The non-existent fire does no damage.]

Whitney has slipped out of the Rumpler’s blind spot!

Dada dada
Wiechers makes him pay and blasts the S.E. 5a from the sky!

Whitney crashes in friendly territory, not far from the artillery target area.

The Adler are closing on the last remaining Bulldog.

Dakka dakka
Oelker’s sniper skill comes through.

Dakka dakka dakka dakka
The Germans close in and both let loose on the poor Englishman.

Oelker is doing some serious damage and the S.E.5 starts to crumple.
Eisenhard’s sniper skill finally kicks in …

There is a quick FLASH and Glen’s S.E.5 disappears from view.
[The kill goes to Oelker. Eisenhardt’s boom, although spectacular, was just icing.]

A thick black pyre is seen streaming skyward.
No one can get close to the crash site for at least a few minutes.

Nixdorf has waggled the wings of the Rumpler and the Adler realize there is no point in hanging around the area.
They all head East toward home and some well-deserved schnapps to celebrate their (aerial) victories.

Things will be rather more subdued in the Bulldog mess …

Butcher’s Tally

Bulldogs

2Lt Frank Baker: Sopwith Camel  EXP-FT / WIA / 0 kills
C&W rolled 7 -3EXP -1WIA = 3 : Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 3

2Lt George Whitney: SE.5a (Z): EXP-FT / 0 Kills, 1 probable FRTB-D (Rumpler)
C&W rolled 7 -3EXP = 4 : Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 4 = Skip 4
[One of the 4 w/Smoke should be disregarded]

2Lt Richard Glen: SE.5:   EXP-NML / WIA / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 5 -3EXP –1WIA -1NML = 0 : KIA 

Adler

Ltn Felix Eisenhardt: Albatros D.V (#1):  RTB / 1 Kill (Baker)
This was Eisenhardt’s 15th kill, making him a triple ace.
[So now he can get that Sharp Eye skill, bitte, Onkel]

Ltn Dietrich Oelker: Albatros D.V (Red & White): RTB / 1 Kill (Glen)

FF(A) 245

Rumpler C.IV: FRTB-D
FRTB rolled 4 & 2 : Stuck the landing.

Fwbl Siegfried Nixdorf (P2): FRTB-D  / 0 Kills
ObLtn Leonard Wiechers (O):  FRTB-D   /  1 Kill (Whitney)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to correct the artillery shots due to FRTB – it looks like an interesting mechanic.
Again I have to say sorry for the SNAFUs – luckily none of them affected the final outcome – even the premature use of the Sharp Eye skill.
Not sure why I thought Eisenhardt had it – I must have been thinking ahead of giving him that skill when he claimed his next victory.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I think I had better point out how I handle damage in these missions for those who might be questioning how I managed to get three boom cards in one playthrough.

I have two of Keith’s Aerodrome caddies, one filled with 3 decks of ‘A’ damage cards and the other with 2 decks of ‘B’.
The cards have all been shuffled together and distributed into the four separate compartments.

Whenever there is a need to draw damage I roll a 12-sided D4 and pull cards from the corresponding section (see the numbers 1 through 4) for each attack.
This means there are 3 booms in the ‘A’ deck and 2 in the ‘B’. Sometimes those cards can end up close together in a pile.

Additionally, when a boom card has been drawn, after taking a photo for the AAR showing the cards, I randomly distribute all of the downed plane’s damage cards back into the caddy and reshuffle each stack.
This means there will always be a full count of boom cards in each caddy.

Thanks again for the challenge, Peter. Hopefully we can try your mechanic again in a future mission.

Escorting them were two Albatros DV.a flown by Ltn Hans Neumann (Sniper) in his purple and green winged machine and VzFwbl Frederich Steiner, flying a brown and green winged aircraft.

As they closed in on the target, the expected enemy protection flight was spotted. Lt Basil Blenkinson was leading a flight of three Sopwith Camels, the first time they had flown these machines. Blenkinson was in the rear of the ‘V’ with 2Lt Dennis Giles to his left and a new pilot 2Lt Michael Wood to his right.

Both sides spotted each other and there was some jockeying for position as they closed the gap.

Neumann using his sniper skill opened fire on Giles’s Camel, damaging his rudder.  However Giles’s return fire came with a sting and Neumann was wounded in the shoulder.

In a flash all six aircraft were zooming and turning in a frenzied dogfight with bullets flying in all directions. Giles flashes past Neumann and puts a short range burst into Steiner’s Albatros, damaging his rudder and causing heavy damage.

Wood cuts across his flight leader and hits Neumann for minor damage. Neumann is obviously feeling the effects of his wound and his return fire misses. Steiner following up however, hits the Camel hard. Scholtz chips in by firing on Giles but only succeeds in jamming his gun. (Actually I forgot that Hartmann’s Bullet Checker skill applies to all guns in an aircraft).  Blenkinson is out of range.

Blenkinson finally gets into the fight and fires at Steiner at close range but only causes minor damage. In return he takes a heavy burst of fire and the Camel begins to smoke. Giles and Scholtz fly into the same airspace and the lighter Camel takes heavy damage, which the more robust DFW C.V shrugs off.


Hartmann in the rear seat takes a pot shot at Giles  and scores some minor damage, pleased when his foresight of checking every bullet prevents a jam at the crucial moment.

Neumann immelmans and Wood prepares to do likewise.

Wood immelmans and gets a long range shot on Neumann, setting the Albatros on fire.

Blenkinson, whether by accident or design flies into Hartmann’s blind spot.

Despite turning away from the onrushing Camel, Wood’s fire damages Neumann’s engine.

Hartmann fires a long range burst into Blenkinson, which sees the Camel set of fire (Second smoke card turns into fire).

Neumann hits Blenkinson’s Camel hard but jams his guns.  However that is the least of his troubles as Wood has another go at Neumann before seeing the Albatros fall away and crash behind enemy lines, albeit at the cost of jamming his own guns.

Kill to Wood.

Meanwhile Scholtz finally spots his target and starts the call for fire.

Blenkinson’s fire card is manageable.

Steiner guessing right and appears on Giles flank and fires in at close range. This is too much for the Camel which plummets into the ground. However his joy is short-lived as Wood fires at long range setting the Albatros on fire.

Kill to Steiner.

Scholtz is just out of range of Blenkinson who is manoeuvring towards the two-seater.

The Artillery fire falls short. However the DFW has inadvertently flown into the path of the shells and the two-seater is buffeted by the shock wave but fortunately the shells do no damage.

Steiner and Wood take evasive action as they jostle for position and Blenkinson is too far away from a target.

Wood and Steiner are still evading each other.

Scholtz turns and gets a shot into Blenkinson and the Camel is now severely damaged and must return to base.

Blenkinson’s fire flares up rapidly and the Camel can’t take it and crashes.

Kill to Scholtz.
Steiner's fire also flares up and he must flee the battlefield.

The artillery fire creeps closer. Wood gets a long range shot against the DFW and Hartmann returns the favour.

Both Wood and Hartmann fire again but both miss and Wood jams his guns.

The artillery misses again but Steiner is too close but the shells simply give him a fright.

Steiner’s fire continues to burn and the Albatros can’t take it and plummets to the ground.

Kill to Wood.

The artillery creeps even closer but not yet on target.

Scholtz and Wood take avoiding action.

The DFW slips past the Camel and Hartmann fires but jams his gun.

Wood is now out of position as Scholtz heads back towards the target.

The artillery shells land over as Wood lines up for another attack, whilst Hartmann frantically tries to unjam his gun.

Wood is still out of range

The artillery undershoot this time. Wood is finally in range and opens firing but misses.  However Hartmann’s aim is spot on and ignites a fuel line and the Camel explodes.

Kill to Hartmann.

The artillery eventually hits the target and the ammunition dump is destroyed. Scholtz heads for home before anymore Tommies arrive on the scene.

Butcher’s Tally

Adlers

Ltn Hans Neumann: Albatros D.Va (Green/Purple): SD-FLM-ET / WIA / 0 Kills
C&W: Rolled 11 -2FLM -1WIA = 8 - Injured Skip 1 D2 scenarios. Rolled 3 = Skip 1.
E&E: Rolled 4 -1FLM - 1WIA -1WIC = 1 - Captured ! The war is over for Neumann.

VzFwbl Frederich Steiner: Albatros D.Va (Green/Brown): SD-FLM-ET / 1 Kill (Giles)
C&W: Rolled 9 -2FLM = 7 - Injured Skip 1D2 scenarios. Rolled 3 = Skip 1.
E&E Rolled 8 -1FLM -1WIC = 6 - In Hiding - Skip 1 D2 scenarios. Rolled 2 = Skip 1.

Fwbl Jurgen Scholtz: (P2) DFW C.V: RTB / 1 Kill (Blenkinson), Successful spotting mission.

Ob Ltn Klaus Hartmann: (O) DFW C.V:  RTB / 1 Kill (Wood), Successful spotting mission.

Bulldogs

Lt Basil Blenkinson: Sopwith Camel (Blue Rings): SD-FLM-FT / 0 Kills
C&W Roll: 7 -2FLM = 5 - Injured Skip 1 D3 scenarios. Rolled 2 = Skip 1.

2Lt Dennis Giles: Sopwith Camel (Red Stripes): SD-FT / 0 Kills
C&W:  Rolled 6 -1SD = 5 Injured - skip 1 D3 scenarios. Rolled 5 = Skip 3 

2Lt Michael Wood: Sopwith Camel (U): SD-EXP / 2 Kills (Steiner & Neumann)
C&W: Rolled 8 -3EXP = 5 - Injured - Skip 1D3 scenarios. Rolled 4 = Skip 2.

Adler Victory but at some cost.

A great little scenario that swung one way and another.  It looked like curtains when both Neumann and Steiner were shot down but Hartmann pulled a rabbit out of the hat and won the day for the Eagles.  Fire damage was rampant and proved the undoing for three of the 6 aircraft but with only one boom drawn it seemed to balance itself out.

"An Impression of Lens, France, Seen from an Aeroplane- the Anglo-German Front Line, 1918"
(oil on canvas, Richard Carline IWMART 2661)

Artillery map for the Lens area, 11 May 1917. The German trenches, indicated in red, would have been targets in preparation for the battle at Hill 70 in August 1917.
(Canada. Dept. of National Defence, 1st Field Survey Company, Royal Engineers - CWM)
 

The operation against Lens was scheduled for the morning of 21st August, the tasks being divided between the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade on the left and the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade on the right.
The attack was to begin at 4:35 a.m. but the Germans began shelling the Canadian positions at 4:00 a.m. 
Just before the Canadian attack, the left flank of the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade was attacked by units of the Germans 4th Guard Division and a battalion of the 220th Division. The forces met between their objectives and fought hand-to-hand and with the bayonet; in the mélée the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade advance was stopped and the troops forced back to their start line.
Communication between the forward units and brigade headquarters had broken down at the beginning of the attack and could not be restored due to the German bombardment, making it all but impossible to co-ordinate the infantry and artillery.
On the right flank, a battalion of the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade suffered many casualties to the German artillery while assembling for the attack and was met with massed artillery and machine-gun fire, near its objective. Only three small parties, the largest of not more than twenty men, reached their goal. The other two attacking units captured their objectives late in the evening, creating a salient in the 4th Canadian Division line.
On the evening of 21 August, three parties went forward to bomb the German position from the flanks but were only moderately successful and an attack on 22 August failed to materialize, due to battalion-level misunderstandings.

Mission: To report and engage enemy ground forces

Method: Report concentrations of enemy forces via radio to the Canadian Corps and Heavy Artillery Groups, then engage the ground target with machine guns.

Friendly forces: 1 – 3 tandems; 2- 3 scouts

Enemy Forces: Infantry Ground fire; 1-2 scouts

Targets – Any suitable Inft trenches; inft units; artillery units; stores; HQ’s; you wish to use - every card will put up Trench fire (p31 RAP 2014)

Setup: two mats long edge to long edge – Trenches and Cityscape suggested - left and right as you look at them.

Nominate at least three choke points at road junctions and near the station. Place two or more target cards at these points.
Target Cards can be 5 health points each.

Example of potential choke points in the middle of the table (excuse poor pic !) 

A number of cards placed at the identified points (I used WGS inf cards for the pic) 

Friendly tandems start from randomly selected points on open edges of the Trenches mat in a formation of your choosing, or, randomly selected (eg: V; line astern; echelon left; echelon right, line abreast)

Enemy aircraft arrive individually from random points around the open edges as the first Friendly machine reaches their targets/choke points, or, are with half a ruler of them (scout placement selected at that moment).

Transmission of co-ordinates takes three phases – observer cannot operate guns during this.

Friendly scouts appear randomly from the edge of the mat when the enemy scouts first engage the tandems, in formation or, singly if you like. They will be coming from altitude – deal with this as you prefer.

Altitudes: For those with an interest in altitudes:
The tandems start at Alt 3 – spotting height, descending to Alt 2 to engage targets with guns.
Enemy scouts may start at Alt 3 or 4;
Friendly scouts start at Alt 5 or 6 as they’re top cover.

Reinforcement: Should the Germans lose a responding scout early on and you think it helpful, by all means bring on a replacement once the other has left the table, or, hit it !  

Further info:  Play a stall to spot the choke points, and don't forget the Trench Fire !  

British types in the area were BE2’s, N.17’s, Strutters, DH4’s, Martinside Elephants with Camels as top cover but use whatever your teams are currently using.

This mission can be played either way as both sides flew similar missions over the course of the conflict around the area, if not actually on the day, or, the Eagles can play as is, as the Hun intercepting the Tommy.  Up to you.

Victory Points:

Each choke point reported – 2 pts
Each ground unit engaged & damaged – 1 pt
Each ground unit knocked out – 2 pts
Scout FRTB – 1 pt
Scout downed – 2 pts
Tandem FRTB – 2 pts
Tandem downed – 3 pts
 

I've not had time to test this scenario myself, but I'm fairly confident it will work, the tandems should have time to report the choke points before the enemy get to them, though how much destruction they can do before they decide it's time to bug out, I'm not sure. 
Maybe the damage decks will dictate the outcomes for us.
Happy New Year and good luck with it - I will answer any questions if I can ! 
Cheers Dave      

Eduard scanned the sky for signs of trouble, and, sure enough, there was trouble – a flight of three British Sopwith Camels in the livery of the dreaded Seadogs.

Eduard broke out of his circling patter to intercept the three enemy planes.  Perhaps it shouldn’t try to take on three enemy, but, perhaps, honour required at least one pass at the enemy.

Just then a strange triplane came from the direction of the German held territory.  The only triplanes Eduard had seen were the British ones.

But Eduard had more immediate concerns – the three Camels.  He exchanged fire with the nearest enemy for no effect other than jamming his machineguns.

Eduard ‘threaded the needle’ between the Camels and avoided a collision.  All three enemies fired on the drachen for minor damage.  It seemed at least one of the enemies had trouble with a jammed machinegun.

Both Eduard and the Camel with blue rondels circles to clear their machineguns, while the other two Camels continued to fire at the drachen – again for minor damage and, again, both airplanes had jammed machineguns.  But who was this strange aircraft approaching.  He seemed German according to his wing markings.   Eduard hoped that was so.

And so, it was German.  The triplane poured fire into the Camel with red hearts…and, as fate would have it, its guns also jammed.  Five airplanes all with jammed machineguns.  It was like the early days of aerial combat – shaking fists at each other.

[I forgot to take the photo for turn 2.3.  I only discovered a few phases later, but on reviewing the photos I saw that I had not moved the Fokker on that phase.  It would have been too difficult to go back and correct, so I left it as is.]

The blue rondel Camel had finally cleared the machinegun jam in time for a distant, deflection shot at Eduard.

Eduards turned in on the two other Sopwiths as they continued to pepper the drachen.  His fire was accurate – the pilot in the Camel with hearts was hit.   As would soon be clear, the pilot was badly hurt and would return to his base.

Eduard again passes the enemy avoiding a collision.

The two groups of adversaries have broken off to regroup for another attack.  Eduard finally sees who the pilot of the triplane is - its Mad Max who is wildly waving at him.

While Eduards and Max exchange mid-air pleasantries, the blue rondel Sopwith heads in for another attack on the drachen.

While he blue rondel Sopwith’s initial shot at the drachen hadn’t scored any hits, its continued firing was fiercely deadly – two fires erupted on the damaged drachen, which soon exploded.

Both the Sopwith and Max were within the blast radius.  Max’s experiment triplane suffered no damage, but Sopwith was not so lucky.

With the job done, the Sopwith turned for home while Max moved to intercept. (Max used his Lucky Pilot ace skill.)

Neither pilot would give way – so the inevitable happened the two aircraft collided.  The Sopwith fluttered to the ground, but the triplane was still airworthy.  Nonetheless, Max could only think, “oops!”, as he was supposed to return the triplane without damage.

Points:

Adlers: 15 points (1 scout downed and 1 scout FRTB)

Seadogs: 20 points (balloon destroyed)

An Adler failure on points, but von Boenigk returned to base unharmed, and the Fokker Dr.1 wasn’t too badly bashed up   Maybe there’d be some valuable feedback for the Fokker company.

It was mixed for the Seadogs – a win on points, MacAlister made ace and the sausage was nicely grilled, but Orlando Norton was KIA despite making it back to base.

BUTCHER’S TALLY:

Adlers

Ltn Max von Hünerbein: Fokker Dr.1: RTB / 1 kill (MacAlister)

Ltn Eduard von Boenigk: Albatros D.V: RTB / 0 kills, 1 probable FRTB-W (Norton)

Observation Detachment: Brown Drachen: EXP-FT

Entente

FSL Jan Kruger: Sopwith Camel (Red Tail): RTB / 0 kills

FSL Ryan MacAlister: Sopwith Camel (Blue Rondels) / COL-ET / 1 kill (Balloon)
C/W Rolled 10 -2COL = 8 - Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario, rolled 1 = Skip 1
E&E: Rolled 8 -1WIC -1BEL = 6 - In hiding! - Skip 1D2 Scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1

FSL Orlando Norton:  Sopwith Camel (Hearts): FRTB-W / WIA / 0 kills
FRTB:  Rolled  1+1 = Crashed
C/W Rolled 2 -1FRTB +1RTB -1WIA = 1 - Dead - KIA  

Lt Bill Foldes was excited as anyone when it came to new types being discussed, there was surely nothing better than a new machine to help them to do their work to the best of their abilities and to make it home safe and sound at the end of a sortie. New ideas, new designs, new engines, new technology, more weapons based on research and lessons learned from feedback from the pilots, hopefully. Of course they can only talk to the surviving pilots, so some lessons are hard learned before they get adopted.
New types have to be tested in the crucible of war, or as near as they can be brought to it, by those chaps that may have to fly them in anger one day and today was one such day and Bill Foldes was one of those chaps.
He was particularly interested as the type in question was the Austin-Ball AFB-1 designed with the input of none other than the one and only Albert Ball VC, the late leading ace of the RFC. At least they got his ideas down on paper before his demise back in May.
He'd collected his new ride from the air park and hopped it across the channel so he had a good idea how it might perform having thrown it about a bit on the way. It was certainly rapid, could climb like a monkey and turn on a sixpence, so he was looking forward to putting it through its paces in the heat of battle, should anything come across the lines today.
It was an odd deep chested beast and had an oddly Germanic look about its wing plan, which might be an issue, he’d have to be careful and keep his wits about him in case anyone out there was a bit twitchy.
Foldes beat the bounds of their area marvelling at the machines performance and enjoying the ride as he put it through its paces but it was pretty quiet along their sector, the few machines he’d seen were at a distance and nobody came to investigate as he stunted about the clear blue sky.

Things changed as he approached one of their balloons – he could see a lone Camel circling it, which was odd as he was sure as he was sure that three of their chaps had been assigned to shepherding the gas bag today, but more concerning was that there were three Hun machines heading straight for them

Foldes realised he was going to drop in right behind his colleague, maybe not the best position in the circumstances, but at least he’d be able to back him up

Unbeknownst to him coming the other way in their new Albatrii D.V were L-R  Ltns Raven Busse in #2 “lightning bolt”; Hugo Stark (flight lead & Firm Hand) in #9 “rune” and Hans Eberhardt Gossner (Fire Expert) in #4 “red band”.

Stark signals to Gossner to attack the balloon as he and Busse take on the escort, he’s pleased to see the enemy turn towards them, confident they will quickly take him out

He’s somewhat astonished when the enemy pilot eschews head on combat with them and heads to cover the balloon and another enemy machine, for it must be an enemy machine, though he has no idea what it is, has magically appeared behind the first ! 

(Note pure luck – all AI driven !)

The Camel jockey is 2Lt Will Powers in #3 and has taken protection of this gasbag personally, he swoops in and peppers the red banded Albatros as it opens up at long range on the balloon, damaging its controls.

Foldes is frustratingly just out of range of the other brace of Albatrii 

Powers rakes his target at close range as they pass each other, but the Hun presses his attack on the balloon.

Foldes slides past the other pair as they turn in on him, thus avoiding any contact, for now.

Power glances over his shoulder at the red banded Hun as they part company; Foldes rolls his machine round to see if he can assist

The #9 Hun with the rune rolls into his sights and Foldes employs his sniper skill at long range to ensure he gets a solid hit, but the other beggar with the lightning bolt punches a few holes in his canvas without hitting anything too important. It’s a warning though, he needs to be careful and get this machine back in decent shape.
   

He trades lead with the other Hun as they close but does nothing noticeable, though his controls stiffen up under the onslaught.

Power swaps spit at close range with the #9 rune chap, coming off slightly second best, perhaps.

Foldes can do nothing to stop Gossner’s red banded Alb strafing the balloon after his reversal as he shakes off Busse’s #2 from his tail.
Gossner is pleased to see one of the observers fall to the floor of the basket – it looks like he’d preparing to bail out.
 

Powers is bearing down on Gossner’s red banded Alb though – he gets a shot in and sees the pilot reaching for his guns -  a jam perhaps ?
Gossner is furious to find his right hand gun has jammed solid.

With no other choice to escape the Hun on his tail Foldes reefs the AFB round in a tight left turn, narrowly avoiding a collision and another burst from the Busse’s spandaus, as was intended by the Hun as he turned in.
 

A momentary pause for breath as the Huns reassess their attack on the gas bag and the Tommy gather their thoughts to receive them

Power spots the Busses’s #2 lightning bolt Albatros and turns to intercept, sending a speculative long range burst in his direction as he does so.

(more AI luck)

Foldes is left with the other pair to contend with..

Foldes catches Stark’s machine as it presses home a heavy attack on the balloon at close range, toppling the second observer who had been trying to heave his oppo over the lip of the basket to chute to safety. Foldes’ rounds clatter around the cockpit and sees a bloom of red mist - Stark is hit hard, a stunning blow to the head, his goggles torn away, a lot of blood, he’ll have to run now.

On the far side of the balloon, Power scores a long range effort on the lightning bolt machine of Busse

It may have been enough to put the Hun pilot off his game as his following long range shot on the balloon has little to no effect.

Power rolls in on the tail of the Hun, damaging it’s controls as it stalls to add further damage to the gas bag at short range.

Gossner’s red banded Alb joins the fun from the other side of the balloon – between them causing significant damage as Foldes reverses to keep up with the fight

Using his acrobatic and sniper skills Foldes avoids a collision with Gossner and tags the Starks #9 rune Alb at extreme range adding to his woes, before turning away.

Power clobbers the lightning bolt Hun again..

He sets it aflame with his next effort as Gossner’s red banded kite pumps more rounds into the balloon
 

Powers keep on his target even as it tries to break contact; Foldes endeavours to chase down Stark’s #9 machine 
 

Foldes has taken his eye off the battle behind him and unwittingly strays across the bow of the beleaguered Busse’s lightning bolt Albatros who promptly gives him the beans, even as Power pours more hate into him !
 

The stricken Hun machine falls away – kill to Power.

Foldes has one last chance and pops a few rounds into the tail of the fleeing #9 rune Hun as it heads across the trenches. Quite how it’s still in the air is anyone’s guess, but Foldes has to let it go and must head for base.

Called it there as time was running out, Gossner had only one gun remaining and seeing both his comrades seen off decides discretion is the better part of valour and heads off home too.
Foldes is on fire & FRTB so that was game over I thought.

Butcher’s Tally:

Eagles:

Ltn Raven Busse: Albatros D.V #2 “lightning bolt”: SD-FLM-ET / 0 kills, 1 probable FRTB-F (Foldes) 
C/W: rolled 6 -2FLM = 4 – Injured – Sip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 3
E&E: rolled 3 -1FLM -1WIC = 2 - Captured! The war ended for this pilot...

Ltn Hans Eberhardt Gossner: (Fire Expert) Albatros D.V #4 “red band”: RTB / 0 kills

Ltn Hugo Stark: (flight lead & Firm Hand) Albatros D.V #9 “rune”: FRTB-W / WIA / 0 kills
FRTB roll 2+1 = Stuck the landing.
C/W: rolled 10 -1WIA +1 RTB = 10 - All well when you land well.

Balloon
2 crew downed
winched down severely damaged:

Bulldogs:

Lt Bill Foldes: (acrobatic/sniper) Austin AFB-1: FRTB-F / 0 kills, 1 probable FRTB-W (Stark)
FRTB roll 2+2 = Crashed on landing.
C/W: rolled 8 -1FRTB +1RTB +1ACE= 9 - All well when you land well !

2lt Will Power: Camel #3: RTB / 1 kill (Busse)

It was an entertaining scrap, Paul, thanks for that, the prototype mission is usually a good one.
I flew for Foldes, AI for all the rest, my usual foibles employed but I kept it simple, not employing altitude as I was a bit out of sorts and didn't think I could keep track of everything, hopefully that didn't detract from the game.

Who won ? 
well, the Eagles put the balloon out of action by knocking out the crew and damaging it badly, so I guess take the honours, but I think Bulldogs can claim the bragging rights with the victory & a POW  ! 

The aircrew of both sides waited eagerly for the arrival of latest aircraft so that they could gain an advantage over the enemy.
However, it was important that the new aircraft were thoroughly tested so that flaws could be eliminated and limitations overcome.
Hence the need for prototype testing from first flights through to combat evaluation.

This scenario is based on prototype testing by a combat unit pilot but only for assessing airworthiness, maneuverability, etc.
The combat pilot has been instructed to avoid aerial combat except in self defence. The prototype is not to fly over No Man’s Land nor, heaven forbid, enemy territory.

The test pilot is Adler Ltn Felix Eisenhardt, testing one of the new Pfalz D.III.  He is flying within sight of No Man’s Land when the he notices that a single scout from his unit defending an observation balloon is about to be attacked by three enemy scouts.

Unbeknownst to Eisenhardt this is the second attack on the balloon. The first destroyed defending AA units and forced one of two defending scouts to return to base.
Neither the balloon nor the remaining scout were damaged in the first attack.

This left just the one defending scout. Eisenhardt recognizes the distinctive red and white livery of Ltn Dietrich Oelker flying his Albatros D.V
With three enemy scouts attacking, Eisenhardt decides to help his comrade - despite his orders.

The three enemy scouts are from the Adler’s regular nemesis: 52 Squadron, RFC – commonly known as The British Bulldogs.
This flight is comprised of a mixture of aircraft (and also a mixture of nationalities):

R.A.F. S.E.5 flown by Canadian 2Lt Wilfred Gilson
Sopwith Camel flown by ‘Kiwi’ 2Lt Malcolm Eddy
R.A.F. S.E.5a piloted by Welshman 2Lt Llewelyn Day

The Bulldogs approach their target, a grey Parseval-Sigsfeld kite balloon.

They do not hear or see any ‘Archie’ – the previous flight must have done away with them.
They do see just one defender, a red and white Albatros.

“This should be easy …” they all think in unison.

Gilson takes the initiative and flies straight at Oelker.

Dada dada
He can’t believe his luck when he sees black smoke streaming from the German plane.
But then his luck really takes hold when the smoke turns to flames!

Dakka dakka
Oelker’s sniper skill is of no use to him – the flames have totally thrown him off guard and his return burst does minimal damage.

The flames are not getting any worse at least.

Dada dada
Gilson and Day take on the Drachen but don’t see any effect.

Dakka dak…

Eisenhardt tries out his Sharp Eyed Sniper skills
He does damage Eddy’s rudder controls but jams his gun in the process.

Luckily this one will clear easily.
[Disregard the inverted 1; I had a senior moment when drawing the damage cards]

Dada dada
Day does some serious damage to the Drachen but can’t really tell if he has done anything.

Dada dada
Eddy does more but, like Day, can’t be sure of any result.

[They have knocked the Drachen down to 10 remaining damage points from the starting number of 28!]

Day puts his S.E.5a through an Immelmann and sees the blue Pfalz approaching from his right.

Oelker’s fire seems to be dying down.

Dakka dakka

“Damnit”

Day has not managed to evade the blue Pfalz and Eisenhardt sets his S.E.5a alight.

Dakka dakka
Eisenhardt turns his attention to the Camel, doing some major damage.

Dada dada
Eddy gives as good as he got and the German ace feels his rudder slacken.

Dada dada
Gilson punctures the Drachen some more.

No shooting as the pilots all assess their situation.

Oelker’s fire flares up for  one last time, while Day’s seems to be under control.

Dada dada
Gilson is sure he sees flames arising from the red and white Albatros, but it must have been from Day’s aircraft and some wishful thinking.
This is only his second mission with enemy contact after all.

[Actually, Oelker has used his Lucky Pilot]

Dakka dakka
Oelker damages Day’s rudder

Dada da …
Gilson’s Lewis abruptly stops.

[This is where I originally thought he was now FRTB-G but luckily I thought “wait a minute – his guns are totally separate” and clarified it with Flash: he can fire his remaining Vickers with the ‘B’ deck]

Gilson has flown an Immelmann to have another go at the Drachen.

Eddy has done the same.

Day’s fire flares up!
[He is now FRTB-F]

Turn 5.1

The Drachen is at Altitude 4 with 7 damage points remaining.

Eisenhardt again uses his Sniper Skill in conjunction with his Sharp Eye.
Eddy jerks in his cockpit and then his Camel explodes!

Eddy’s Camel plummets.
It’s not looking good ….

Turn 6.1

Day can been seen heading for the barn.
Gilson considers following him while Eisenhardt eyes a new target.

Day’s fire is not giving up!

The S.E.5a can take no more and Day’s day is done.

Dakka dakka
Eisenhardt attacks Gilson who joins Eddy and Day with a flaming aircraft.

They do say bad luck comes in threes ….
[It’s actually four counting Oelker’s, and would have been five if not for that Lucky Pilot]

Gilson’s Immelmann gives him another chance at the Drachen.

Dada dada
Another paper cut, but the Drachen now has only 5 damage remaining.

Gilson’s fire is growing.
[Where’s all those zeroes when you need ‘em?]

Dada dada
Gilson hits the Drachen hard!
[And only just now when writing the AAR did I realize that the hit was consecutive]

Gilson’s fire is really starting to worry him.

Gilson has one last pass at the Drachen before he will be forced to try to return to base.

The giant gasbag finally crumples as the last bit of hydrogen leaks from the remaining cells.
It slowly falls and collapses on the ground.

The crew had bailed during the earlier attack that took out the AA guns.
[Amazing with all of the fire damage cards drawn that none had hit the Drachen]

Dakka dak…

“Verdammt!”
Oelker’s gun has jammed.
Gilson’s return burst does minor damage.

Dakka dakka
Eisenhardt sees struts shatter …

Dada dada
Gilson’s final burst hits the blue Pfalz almost as hard.

But the plucky young Canuck sees his day come to an end.
He struggles to maintain control of his aircraft.

He hits the ground near the German compound.
There is a lot of ruckus and shouting.

Do they realize this is the pilot who downed their Drachen?

The Adler regroup and fly over the downed Drachen.
Their mission was a failure, regardless of their having downed 3 Bulldogs.

But Eisenhardt is sure that there will be a silver lining when he reminds Onkel that those Bulldogs were downed by the prototype.
This will be a solid addition to their airfield when the Pfalz is released to the Jastas.

There might have been a different reaction if the prototype had been lost in action.
Action that Eisenhardt had been told to avoid.

I suppose there is something to say about being the top ace in the squadron.
Well, top ace currently in action ….

Obltn Giesebrecht might have something to say about that.

Butcher’s Tally

Bulldogs

2Lt Malcom Eddy: Sopwith Camel:  EXP-ET / WIA / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 8 -3EXP -1WIA = 4 - Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 4 = Skip 4
E&E rolled 6 -1EXP -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 2 - Captured! The war is over for this plucky Kiwi.

2Lt Llewelyn Day: S.E.5a  (G): SD-FLM-NML / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 9 -2FLM -1NML = 6 - Injured – skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 2
E&E rolled 6 +1NML -1FLM -1WIC = 5 - In Hiding– skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 5 = Skip 2
 

2Lt Wilfred Gilson: S.E.5 (PC10): SD-FLM-ET / 1 Kill (Drachen) / 1 Probable FRTB-D (Oelker)
C&W rolled 10 -2FLM = 8 - Injured – skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1
E&E rolled 6  -1FLM -1WIC -1BEL = 3 - Captured and Escaped– skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1

Gilson has his first victory!

Adler

Ltn Felix Eisenhardt: Pfalz D.III (Dark blue) RTB / 3 Kills (Eddy/Day/Gilson)

Ltn Dietrich Oelker: Albatros D.V (Red & White): FRTB-D / 0 Kills
FRTB rolled 4+2 = Stuck the landing.

Parseval-Sigsfeld Drachen : Shot down.

Victory Points

Adler

Scouts shot down: 10 x 3 = 30

Bulldogs

Scout FRTB: 5 x 1 = 5
Drachen shot down: 20
Total: 25

Minor victory for the Adler.

==============================================

Several SNAFUs again but I caught them all (I think).

A misunderstanding with the optional gun jam rules, but I sorted that out and was able to resolve it.
Made a huge difference to the final outcome.
The game continued for an extra couple of turns and what I originally thought was a blowout for my Adler
turned out to be a very close finish due to a missed +1.

I made a Player Aid for the optional gun jams to help keep it straight.
Here’s a JPEG of it:

If there is any interest I will try to upload the PDF.

An interesting scenario, Paul.
When I saw I was going to have 3 very maneuverable planes against 1 Albatros D.V and a Pfalz D.III I was not feeling very optimistic.

Then when Oelker drew two 4 w/Smoke which turns to Fire in Turn 1 I was sure this would be a quick one.
I was tempted to use his Lucky Pilot to take away one of them.

Sure glad I didn't ....

Last mission it was Boom cards, this time it was Fire.

Fingers crossed for the next one. 🤞🏼

Note: Blue number represent altitude and white numbers are climb counters.

Lt Cdr Mike Brown was pleased with himself. Having taken off in company of Lt Simon Grey from Dunkirk in the dark with two Capronis, the RNAS pilots had plotted a dead reckoning course around the Dutch coast to Heligoland. Their target was some aircraft factories just inland from the port of Emden.  As dawn broke the two planes were just short of the coast and believed that they had not been spotted.

However unbeknownst to them a lighthouse keeper on the island of Borkum had telephoned the authorities having heard the planes fly overhead about an hour ago.  They in turn passed the information about unauthorised flights to the local airfields.

As luck would have it the Adler Jasta had been taken out of the line for some rest and had been assigned to some training airfields to help instruct new pilots outside of Emden. They had taken advantage of their good luck and despite their new charges threatening to crash land their planes, those pilots who had wives and sweethearts had managed to find lodgings close by.  Those who had neither spent their evenings carousing in local establishments, who were only too pleased to have such decorated airmen to fete.

Thus it was that this morning that when the call out came, some were ready for the sortie and others were slightly delayed (and some befuddled). What made it more unusual is that the Jasta were using locally provided aircraft, some were modern (or at least recent) while others were more obsolescent.

First in the air was VzFwbl Frederich Steiner (Starting altitude 2), a relative newcomer to the Jasta who had been assigned a Roland D.II.

Just to the East of him was Fwbl Jurgen Scholtz and Ob Ltn Klaus Hartmann in a relatively new DFW C.V (starting altitude 4).

Scholtz tuned NE and though he saw the intruders much higher than him.  He didn’t recognise the aircraft. Steiner also turned towards the coast impatient to gain altitude.

 Scholtz was now much nearer the two giants but still too low to intercept as is Steiner. However by now Ltn Dieter Roth, flying an Albatros D.II (Starting altitude 5) had taken to the air and had quickly gained height.

Grey’s Caproni sails through the sky towards it target leaving the DFW in it’s wake. Brown also ploughs on but is getting worried by the emerging aircraft, albeit lower than him.

Roth’s D.II continues to climb as does Steiner who is still too low.  Meanwhile ObLtn Karl Ziegler, the most experienced pilot in the Jasta arrives on the scene flying a modern Albatros D.Va.  He has also spent the time gaining altitude and now appears at the same height as the Capronis (Starting altitude 6) and immediately turns towards the nearest bomber. 

Roth Immelmans to gain height, whilst Steiner is still too low (and will continue to be for the rest of the engagement). Ziegler closes the distance waiting for his moment to pounce.

Grey has continued on his way whilst Scholtz is a long way behind and below him.

Ziegler lets fly at long range using his sniper skill but his aim is well off, however he does avoid a jam. The Caproni’s front gun opens up on the Albatros but despite the bullets hitting all round the cockpit and even plucking at the sleeve of Ziegler’s flying jacket, there is no damage. (Lucky Pilot used to negate the effects of the damage).

Roth is on the tail of the Caproni and climbing rapidly.
VzFwbl Jakob Weber now joins the battle in white-tailed Albatros D.III.  He too has taken the time to gain height before engaging. (Starting altitude 6).

Ziegler narrowly misses Brown’s Caproni which had turned away. Roth has climbed and is finally at the same height as the Capronis. Meanwhile Scholtz and Steiner are a long way back and below the action.

As Brown steadies his Caproni on the target, the three Albatros pounce. However dismal shooting from the German’s scores only minor damage but does damage the rudder controls. Return fire from both front and rear gunners is also abysmal as they both miss.

Off to the SE, Grey lines up on the target, completely unmolested by any German aircraft.

Ziegler executes an acrobatic turn coming out of his immelmann turn and ends up in the blind spot of the Caproni and catches the bomber at close range. * See later comment. However his poor shooting continues and he hits nothing at all. The rear gunner fires at Weber and misses.

Fwbl Gerhard Becker and Lt Walter Kruger in a Roland C.IIa now enter the fray. This pair were off base when the balloon went up and so are at a very low altitude (Starting altitude 1).  They take no part in the action at all.
Weber heads for the second Caproni (Grey), whilst Steiner continues to climb, albeit slowly.
Both Ziegler and Roth continue to fire into the Caproni but score only light damage. Meanwhile both Caproni’s release their bombs hitting their targets and setting fire to the factories.

Grey turns away from the target as Scholtz closes in. Steiner, Weber and Becker are well behind Brown’s Caproni.
Ziegler again uses his sniper skill and avoids a jammed gun and finally hits the Caproni causing it to emit black smoke. Roth uses his Sharp Eye to hit the Caproni really hard and Brown must now head for home with some serious damage, however the Albatros takes heavy damage back.

Grey and Scholtz continue their turns.

Steiner and Webber chase the Caproni but Becker is simply seeking to gain height.
Ziegler immelmans to avoid a collision leaving Roth to deliver the final blow sending the Caproni down just outside the town it had bombed.

Kill to Roth

Note: It was at this stage I remembered that the Caproni doesn’t have a blind spot so I trawled back through the shots and where it was possible assumed that Brown had fired at Ziegler (closest aircraft) throughout the engagement.  This gave Ziegler a further 9 points of damage.

Becker and Steiner continue to climb. Grey’s Caproni continues to turn towards the coast but the Albatrii are now closing in.

The pack continue to close in. Weber fires at long range.

Roth and Weber fire at long range and smoke pours from the Caproni. Weber takes minor damage.

Scholtz continues to climb. It will be touch and go if he ever gets to the same height as the remaining Caproni.  The others have no chance.
Weber overshoots and takes severe damage from the rear gun.

Roth and Grey exchange fire but Roth’s guns are jammed and his rudder damaged.

As the Albatros close in Ziegler fires at close range but not only misses but manages to jam his guns as well. In return he takes minor damage but that forces him to have to disengage and return home. Probable to Grey.

Grey outwits the onrushing Albatros by turning inland and continues to pepper Roth’s D.II at long range but misses.

Weber immelmans but is a long way behind the Caproni.

Ziegler makes for home whilst Roth stays out of range until his gun is unjammed.

Weber pursues but is a long way behind whilst Becker and Steiner continue to climb. With his guns finally unjammed, Roth turns in pursuit of the Caproni. Scholtz and Becker continue to climb, whilst positioning themselves on the bomber’s likely escape route. Finally Roth gets close enough to fire but takes damage in return. Weber is still out of range but Scholtz is very close to gaining Altitude 6.

Roth and The Caproni continue to exchange shots but all the others are either too low or out of range.

Again Roth and the Caproni exchange shots at close range leaving the Caproni on fire. Its return fire initially seemed to start a fire but the flames quickly went out. (Lucky Pilot discarded the fire damage card).

Grey’s fire damage is not kind, leaving it perilously close to crashing.

A combination of fire and rudder damage forces the Caproni to turn North East away from its intended route home. Roth’s persistence finally pays off as he hammers the Caproni at close range and it falls off and crashes into the sea. 

However in its dying throes, the rear gunner produces the coup de grace on the Albatros and Roth crashes on the beach.
Kill to Roth; Kill to Grey

Butcher’s Tally:

Adlers:

ObLtn Karl Ziegler: Albatros D.Va: FRTB-D / 0 Kills
Rolled 5+3 = Stuck the landing

Ltn Dieter Roth: Albatros D.II: SD-FT / 2 Kills (Brown & Grey)
C&W Rolled 7 -1SD +1ACE (Lucky Git) = 7 - Injured - skip D2 scenarios. Rolled 3 = Skip 1

VzFwbl Jakob Weber: Albatros D.III: RTB / 0 Kills

VzFwbl Frederich Steiner: Roland D.II: RTB / 0 Kills

Fwbl Jurgen Scholtz: (P2) DFW C.V: RTB / 0 Kills
ObLtn Klaus Hartmann: (O) DFW C.V: RTB / 0 Kills

Fwbl Gerhard Becker: (P2) Roland C.IIa: RTB / 0 Kills
Ltn Walter Kruger: (O) Roland C.IIa:  RTB / 0 Kills

Bombers:

Lt Cdr Mike Brown:  Caproni C.3a: SD-ET / 0 Kills - Bombed target successfully

Lt Simon Grey: Caproni C.3a: SD-SEA-ET / 1 Kill (Roth), 1 Probable FRTB-D (Ziegler) - Bombed target successfully

Introduction

The aircrew of both sides waited eagerly for the arrival of latest aircraft so that they could gain an advantage over the enemy.  However, it was important that the new aircraft were thoroughly tested so that flaws could be eliminated and limitations overcome.  Hence the need for prototype testing from first flights through to combat evaluation.

This scenario is based on prototype testing by a combat unit pilot but only for assessing airworthiness, maneuverability, etc.  The combat pilot has been instructed to avoid aerial combat except in self defence.  The prototype is not to fly over No Man’s Land nor, heaven forbid, enemy territory.

All’s going well.  The test pilot is flying within sight of No Man’s Land but no closer.  That’s when the test pilot notices that a single scout from his unit defending an observation balloon is about to be attacked by three enemy scouts.  Unbeknownst to test pilot this is the second attack on the balloon.  The first destroyed defending AA units and forced one of two defending scouts to return to base.  This left just the one defending scout.  Neither the balloon nor the remaining scout were damaged in the first attack.

With three enemy scouts attacking, the test pilot decides to help his comrade - despite his orders.

Set Up

Use two mats – one No Man’s Land and any other mat for Friendly Territory.

Friendly Forces:

The balloon is in the middle of the Friendly Territory mat.  The balloon will start to be winched after first being shot at.  It will take 12 turns.  (If you’re using altitude, it starts at altitude 6 and takes 2 turns to descend 1 level.)

The defending scout (your choice – but an ‘A firing scout would be preferable) one ruler to either side of the balloon (i.e., either location A or B randomly chosen) and facing No Man’s Land.

The prototype scout enters on the first turn at locations 1, 2 or 3 (randomly chosen).  See below for stats for the prototype.

Enemy Forces:

Three ‘A firing’ scouts in a line, one ruler back from the join of the Friendly Territory and No Man’s Land mats – at locations C, D or E (randomly chosen).

Altitude Rules:

If you’re not using altitude, just use the 12 turns for the balloon to descend and assume all airplanes are always at the same level as the balloon.

If you are using altitude rules, everyone starts at level 6.  The balloon descends one level every 2 turns.

Prototype Statistics:

Entente – any of these:

• Sopwith Dolphin: Manoeuvre N, Firing A, Damage Points 16, Max Altitude 13, Climb 3  
• Nieuport 28: Manoeuvre F, Firing A, Damage Points 14, Max Altitude 13, Climb 2  

Central Powers – any of these:

• Pfalz D.IIIa: Manoeuvre J, Firing A, Damage Points 16, Max Altitude 13, Climb 3
• Fokker Dr.1: Manoeuvre D, Firing A, Damage Points 14, Max Altitude 13, Climb 2
• Phonix D.1: Manoeuvre X, Firing A, Damage Points 15, Max Altitude 13, Climb 3  
• Aviatick Berg D.1: Manoeuvre Q, Firing A, Damage Points 14, Max Altitude 14, Climb 2

The option can be your choice or be done randomly.  The model doesn’t have to match the reference airplane as it can be a hypothetical prototype.

Points:

• Each side gets 10 points for an enemy scout shot down and 5 points for an enemy scout forced to return to base.
• The enemy gets 20 points for destroying the balloon and 10 points if its on fire when it reaches the ground.
• In addition, the friendly side loses 15 points if the prototype is shot down in No Man’s Land, 10 points if it’s in Friendly territory and 5 points if the prototype is forced to return to base due to damage to the airplane (i.e., not if it’s only due to a severely wounded pilot).
• And, it would be a shame to disobey orders for naught, so the friendly side loses 20 points if the defending scout pilot is KIA and 10 points if he is a PoW for the duration of the war.

Victory Determination

• The points above are for reference only.  You get to decide if it was worthwhile to disobey orders or not (i.e., you decide if it’s victory or not) but justify your decision.  No matter, the test pilot will be grounded for one mission unless he is out for injury / returning to base.

Keeping pressure along the front was a hot subject after the failed Nivelle Offensive. With the French now in a defensive posture many though it would be best to wait for the Americans to join in at the front. The War Cabinet though did not want to let up and give the Germans any respite.

The Battle of Passchendaele (the Third Battle of Ypres) began late July 1917. Field Marshal Haig did not receive the War Cabinets approval for the Flanders operation until the 25^th of July.  Even so, almost immediately the artillery shells began to fly in the area around Lens, prepping for an offensive.

On the 28^th the RFC flew an air raid into Flanders attacking key positions in the German rear.

On the 29^th a furious artillery battle took place with both sides lobbing as much as they could at the enemy.

Flights were sent up to observe, adjust and photograph the results.

Today’ s mission is to adjust the artillery for your side, to maximize damage to the prime targets behind the enemy lines.

Friendly forces consist of one recon/spotter plane and two escort scouts. Your choice of planes that were available and what you have.

Enemy forces will be three scouts.

Starting locations for planes and target for your artillery, see photo below.

Left map is no mans land, right map is enemy territory. Use whatever mats you like.

(map is oriented from the Entente point of view. You Central Powers chaps will have to mirror image it)

Target card (at circled 1) placed in the center of the enemy side.

Enemy planes start in a V formation ¾ range ruler apart at either X, Y or Z, randomly selected.

Friendly spotter plane starts at A, B, C or D, randomly selected.

Friendly scouts start one on each side of the spotter, ¾ range ruler away.

If using altitude, everyone starts at altitude 4 with randomly chosen plane(s) to have climb token(s).

Special artillery adjusting rules.

This is an abstract spotting adjustment system. The actual location of the shell landings is not dealt with, just the distance from the target. A d8 or d10 can be used to track the distance.

You are adjusting the incoming rounds until they hit the target.

Start the distance at 7.

When your spotting plane is within a range ruler of the target and flies a stall or straight you send the battery your location call instructions. (Measure from plane’s peg to center dot on target card.) You can note this movement card for the message sent. 2 movement cards later the shells land. Draw a B card and that is the distance closer to the target the shells land. When the shells hit exactly at distance ‘0’, the target is destroyed. Any call with a Boom card destroys the target.

So if your first call draws a 3 the distance is adjusted to 4.

If the distance is at 1 and a 3 is drawn, there is overshoot. In this example the shells landed at distance 2 past the target. So if you are at distance 1, you need to draw a 1 to hit the target. After a 0 adjustment has been drawn, all following 0s = 1.

Other than getting lucky and drawing the Boom, it will take several to many calls to adjust to hit the target. Good luck!

Special Specials -

If there is a plane within short range of the target (measured peg to center dot) there is a chance of being hit by the incoming shells. Draw 2 ‘A’ damage cards. If both are 0s, draw 2 more ‘c’ cards and take the lesser damage, unless a Boom comes up, you get the boom..

The observer is doing the adjustment calling and sometimes is busy with the radio. When sending in the adjustment instructions he cannot shoot on the card of, and immediately before the call.

Once the target is destroyed you can head home to claim victory!

Resistance is Futile, be prepared to die.

Nigel Stosham gently lifted the AR.1 off of the grass field. His observer, Harold Crenshaw sat in the rear, excited to be able to get some time in the air even if it was a routine out to the lines and back. Nigel liked Harold, more for the way Harold looked up to him than as a friend.
“So Harry”, Nigel putting on his best air of confidence, “Care to join me on a jaunt to the lines”?
Harold jumped out of his chair, “Yes Sir”! Harold, being an American, gravitated to the native English speaking fellow airmen. That said, Nigel, an English Officer and Albert Graham, a Canadian observer were his two closest comrades.
Harold, was somewhat new to the unit with only one other observer having less flights under his belt so any chance to fly was eagerly taken.
Harold looked up to Nigel. All the adventures Nigel told Harold about surely meant Nigel had to be an exceptional pilot. On the other hand, Harold did have a funny feeling that the French airmen in the unit weren’t as convinced about Nigel’s skills in the air. Not really sure but there was something about how the natives went about their way only speaking in French when Nigel was around.

As they sat in their respective cockpits while the ground crew did their final preparations Nigel tilted his head back towards Harold, “Harry, did I ever tell you about the time I rescued a spy from behind the lines and how she… ah I better not go on”.
The engine roared to life and drowned out the rest of Nigels’ rambling on about his exploits.
Still gaining altitude before heading to the front Nigel spotted a couple of large somethings coming from the east.

Rene LaPointe was returning from his patrol noticed the same two somethings. His curiosity was greater than his fuel tank level and he turned to investigate. He still had at least 15 minutes left so a quick look wouldn’t hurt.

Getting closer Rene could see that the large aircraft were German Gotha bombers.

Nigel felt uncomfortable with the Gotha closing in, luckily it was quite a bit higher. Nigel turns to hide under a cloud.
There was a frantic tapping, more hammering on Nigel’s right shoulder. Looking back Nigel saw Harold mostly out of his cockpit so he could reach him. Worried that if they flew beneath the cloud the plane with the crosses would go unseen by Nigel, Harold had to let his pilot see what was up there.

Nigel grinned to Harold and gave him the thumbs up and grudgingly turns the AR.1 to the right.
The AR.1 noses up and begins to climb after the Hun above.

LaPointe in the nimble scout quickly climbs to the same altitude as the Hun bomber and trades a few bullets with the front gunner.

Before these first shots, down at the Bouledogues aerodrome the claxons had blared out announcing the warning of the oncoming Germans. The aerodrome wasn’t important enough for Gothas so where were they going? It wasn’t important to the Bouledogues, no matter why they were near, they would do their best to ruin their day.
Planes were readied and sent off as soon as possible.
Girard Framboise hopped into his N24 and climbed as quickly using the clouds to conceal his presence.

Passing over the Gotha the cheeky rear gunner lets loose into Rene’s belly, a rude surprise to say the least.

Rene makes a drastic move and throws off the gunner’s next shot.

Back with Nigel and Harold, the AR slowly climbs while the Gotha passes overhead.
Nigel screams hoping Harold will hear, “This AR climbs like a brick”!
Harold wonders if they had began to climb as soon as he saw the German if they could have engaged before the bomber reached its target. Now at best they will only have a chance to engage the bombers on their way home.

Octave Delacroix lifted off just after Girard. Octave knew it would be some time if they even will get a chance to get in any shots at this German intruder.

Girard started his climb from below the cloud. When he emerged into the clear the German was still well above flying in the opposite direction.

Taking off on the tail of Delacroix, Constant Charbrier quickly outclimbed the clunky Dorand with his new SPAD VII.

The latest three French planes to reach where the bombers were still had a bit of altitude to make up.

Nigel and Harold, having to climb at every opportunity were not gaining on the Hun. This Hun bomber would make it to its target unless Nigel could get some help.

Having been in Oncle’s office going over the upcoming weeks roster rotations when the claxon blared, flight leader Louis Colvin was the last to get off the ground.
Colvin’s SPAD VII climbed faster than anything else in the air. He would be able to engage soon but not before the bombs were falling.

It seems like ages but in reality only a few minutes since the opening shots. Finally bullets fly again. Framboise trades long shots with the observer just after the bombs were released.

With Framboise and the purple Gotha’s rear observer locked on to each other the green Gotha adds to the incoming at the Nieuport.
Girard’s engine rattles violently from being hit but somehow continues running.
Girard immediately realizes his aircraft is in trouble.

The green Gotha drops its bombs with Framboise taking one last shot in frustration before leaving the fight.

LaPointe finally got back into the fight after getting out of position early on after the opening shots.

Colvin climbs into shooting range challenging the purple Hun.

Girard doesn’t get away clean and takes a few more rounds into his Nieuport.

The green Hun finds itself in the thick of it. Lucky for them LaPointe is jammed with him taking some lead. Charbrier though isn’t and puts some real damage into the Gotha where the front gunner can’t fire in return.

Charbrier cuts it close, too close to fire or be fired upon.
The unfortunate LaPointe can’t hide behind the Gotha’s tail but somehow avoids any damage.

Girard dives out of the fight and heads for home.

 Colvin places himself beneath the Gotha preparing to reverse onto its tail.

Just about to clear his gun jam LaPointe’s Nieuport takes a fatal hit from the blue Gotha’s observer.

Colvin takes a good one in the back while he sets up his reverse.

Charbrier latches on to the blue Hun and lights it up.
The observer holds his own and scores his share of hits into the French SPAD.

Colvin is having second thoughts about his tactics with the Gotha as he hears the bullets ripping into his SPAD.

Charbrier this time takes a lot more than he gives out.
The fire adds little to the French cause.

Delacroix noses up just in front of the green Hun jamming his gun after only a round or two exits his gun barrel.

Charbrier, hiding in the blindspot directly behind the tail, does little damage to the green Gotha but wounds both gunners.

Just before taking a bullet, the front gunner rips into Delacroux’s controls.
No one notices Nigel’s first attempt to shoot. Did he pull the trigger?

Colvin fires first and smoke trails the purple Hun. (Oops, I put smoke on Colvin! It makes no difference in the outcome)
Better yet for Colvin, he sees the rear gunner frantically working on his weapon.
“Now's the time”, Colvin thinks to himself.

Colvin closes in, flames now engulf the Gotha!

Burning embers and smoke in his face block his vision and Charbrier misses  golden opportunity.

Graham gets off his first shot at the troubled Gotha.
(should have been a long-range shot but the gun jam takes care of my mistake!)

Too close to the burning Gotha, Charbrier still can’t find the target 20 yards to his front. To add insult to his frustration his gun jams.
The fire does much more damage to the green Gotha than Charbrier’s point blank shooting.

The fire on the purple Gotha does little damage.

Colvin keeps on plinking away with his consecutive rounds.
With both front and rear guns jammed, Nigel flies his AR.1 into the front gunners arc.

The purple Hun is getting desperate as Colvin won’t let go of its tail. The front gunner takes a round in his back.
Nigel finally unjams his gun but is too close to shoot.

Nigel cuts dangerously close between Colvin and the Gotha. Colvin has to avoid hitting the Dorand and misses his intended target.
(only one firing ruler should be there as Nigel is still overlapping the Gotha at the same altitude.)

The fires are doing the French any favors.

Colvin’s itchy trigger finger takes down the purple Gotha.
Nigel’s report puts in his claim for the Gotha too.

With the purple Gotha falling in bits to the ground the green Gotha gets a long shot at Nigel.
No bullets head in the direction of the Hun.

Charbrier returns to the fight after clearing a gun jam. The green Gotha’s observer recognizes the SPAD closing in.

The green Gotha finds itself it in a vise. Nigel can’t shoot but his presence is felt and he takes close range fire.
Colvin fires around Nigel, not missing this time.

Charbrier’s consecutive fire is spot on, wounding the pilot and the damage sealing the fate of the bomber.

The observer won’t go down without a fight and keeps on target for as long as he can, taking Charbrier’s SPAD down with him.

Colvin watches Charbrier’s SPAD glide down to the ground. He circled above until he saw Charbrier dismount and wave up to him.
Knowing Charbrier was ok he caught up to the two Dorands and escorted them home.

Nigel’s claims in his report are taken with a grain of salt, maybe two. With only two rounds used from his allotment Oncle thinks Nigel may be stretching the truth, but with all the holes in his AR he was surely in the fight. Oncle can only shake his head and hope Nigel can prove himself in the future.

Butchers Tally:

Bouledogues de la Republique:

Sgt. Girard Framboise:  N.24 #15:  FRTB-E  / 0 Kills
FTRB roll 1 & 1 = Crash!
C/W: Rolled 8 +1RTB -1FRTB = 8 - Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario, Rolled 2 = Skip 1
 

s/Lt. Rene LaPointe: N.24 #5: EXP-FT / 0 Kills
C/W: Rolled 4 -3EXP = 1 - Dead !  KIA  

Asp. Constant Charbrier: SPAD VII #7:  SD-FT /  1 Kill (blue Gotha)
C/W: Rolled 7 -1SD = 6 - Skip 1D3 Scenarios, Rolled 3 = Skip 2.

Lt. Louis Colvin: SPAD VII # 3: RTB /  1 Kill (purple Gotha)

Lt. Nigel Stosham: (P2) Dorand AR.1 # 11: RTB  /  0 Kills

Cpl. Harold Crenshaw: (O) Dorand AR.1 # 11: RTB  /  0 Kills

s/Lt. Octave Delacroix: (P2) Dorand AR.1 #4: RTB  /  0 Kills

Cpl. Albert Graham: (O) Dorand AR.1 #4: RTB  /  0 Kills

The Kaisers Henchmen:

Pilot: Purple Gotha: EXP-ET / 0 Kills
C/W: Rolled 4 -3EXP = 1 - Dead - KIA  

Front Observer: Purple Gotha: EXP-ET / WIA / 0 Kills 
C/W: Rolled 5 -3EXP -1WIA = 1 - Dead - KIA  

Rear Observer: Purple Gotha: EXP-ET / 0 Kills
C/W: Rolled 3 -3EXP = 0 - Dead - KIA  

Pilot: Green Gotha: SD-ET / WIA / 0 Kills
C/W: Rolled 7 -1SD -1WIA = 5 - Injured - Skip 1D3 Scenarios. Rolled 3 = Skip 2 
E&E: Rolled 3 -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 0 - Captured! The war has ended for this pilot...

Front Observer: Green Gotha:  SD-ET / WIA / 0 Kills, 1 Probable FRTB-E (Framboise)
C/W: Rolled 9 -1SD -1WIA = 7 - Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario. Rolled 5 = Skip 2
E&E: Rolled 7 -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 4 - Captured and escaped! - Skip 1D3 Scenarios. Rolled 6 = Skip 3

Rear Observer: Green Gotha: SD-ET / WIA / 2 Kills (La Pointe/Charbrier) 
C/W: Rolled 4 -1SD -1WIA = 2 - Dead !  KIA  

Victory scoring:

2 bombers shot down - 20 points to the Bulldogs

1 scout downed for 3 and one Forced Home for 2 - 5 points for the Germans

20 - 5 - Bulldog claim the win.

It was a great plan.  Ship a half dozen of the Caproni bombers to the southeast of England; and then send them across the North Sea to bomb the Hun’s naval facilities in Belgium.  But, alas, the plan ran afoul of the foul North Sea weather.  Of the 6 bombers, 4 ended up somewhere in the middle of the North Sea.  Eventually they turned around and headed for what they assumed was west and England.  Fortunately, it was west and, also fortunately, England was there before their fuel ran out.  The other two bombers ended up just off the coast of Belgium, although they did not realize it.  Heavens, they hadn’t yet spotted land of any type.

On the other side, there was no problem with situational awareness; a German naval vessel had signalled that two bombers were headed for the coast with the likely target the harbour facilities in the nexus of Ostend, Zeebrugge and Bruges.  Their problem was, unlike the Caproni crews, that they had no plan and had to scramble.  Fortunately, there were some experienced members of the Hard Luck Jasta in the area training new aircrew.  Making use of what ever aircraft that were at hand, the Hard Luck Jasta crewmen were swiftly in the air.  First up were Ltn Kurt Strähle and Fwbl Erich Heiligers in an Albatros C.III (initial altitude = 5).  There were soon joined by Mad Max von Hünerbein in an Albatros D.V (also, altitude 5).  The others would be along as best they could.

The two Caproni aircraft and the two Hard Luck Jasta planes quickly closed the distance gap; although the crew in the CDL Caproni thought they saw land to the right and turned right.  Neither Caproni crew had yet spotted the Albatros aircraft.

Meanwhile, Fwbl Rudolf Bethge in an Halberstadt appeared below (altitude 4).

The white Caproni had decided to head back to England and in doing so crossed the path of the CDL Caproni.  It was about this time they spotted the Hard Luck boys – at least the Albatros D.V and the C.III.

The CDL forward gunner waved at the compatriots and pointed to the land…and, of course, the Huns.  Having not yet climbed to the altitude of the high-flying Caproni (altitude 6) neither Mad Max nor the Albatros C.III had an opportunity to fire on the either Caproni.  They would need to circle about and continue climbing.

However, reinforcements were nearby; the Rumpler, with Ltn Otto Sauerbrunn and Fwbl Jacob Rosenhain on board, popped out of a cloud (altitude 6).  Where had they been hiding??

That certainly attracted the attention of the forward gunners of both Caproni who opened fire on the Rumbler, but, as the white Caproni found out, Rosenhain wasn’t sleeping on the job. His return fire found a vulnerable spot on the white Caproni.  ‘Boom’ and the Caproni was headed for the cold waters of the North Sea.

As the Rumpler passed the rear gunner of the CDL Caproni sought revenge but was rewarded with minimal damage to the Rumpler and a jammed machinegun.  Sauerbrunn, amazed at the white Caproni fluttering into the sea failed to return fire.  Rosenhain noted that but, being a feldwebel versus a lieutenant, decided to not mention that later.

Seeing the odds against them, the remaining Caproni crew decided to ditch their bombs on whatever Belgian livestock was at hand and return to England.  Ltn Emil Hess, in Albatros D.III, was just now visible (altitude 3).  His wingman, Ltn Eduard von Boenigk – also in an Albatros D.III had only just taken off (Turn 4.1 at altitude 1).   [I had decided not to show planes that were too far below the Caproni and with no chance to get into action.  However, they are a part of the mission and so are included.]

The Rumpler, being at the same altitude as the lone Caproni, was first to get into firing range.  However, Rosenhain missed.  The return fire did minimal structural damage, but it did temporarily jam the Rumpler’s flight control.  Consequently, the Rumpler would have to circle left and its flight path would take it away from the Caproni.

Mad Max, having finally reached the same altitude as the Caproni (on turn 4 – turn 4 photos were dropped as not much happened except for some flying about).   The Caproni’s rear gunner continued to track the Rumpler (for bonus points) while Mad Max managed some decent damage (3 points).  Sauerbrunn didn’t return fire, but the Caproni is just in the dead zone for the Rumpler, so he’s off the hook this time.

With the Rumpler turning left and out of range, the Caproni gunner switched his target to Mad Max.  The damage done to both planes was about equal.

The exchange of fire continued with the Caproni rear gunner showing that he was no rookie.  The Caproni pilots had decided enough is enough and, since there were some nice Belgian cows in a field, dropped their ordnance.  No one asked the cows what they thought about that.

Mad Max stalled his Albatros which threw the Caproni’s gunner’s aim off.

The Caproni’s gunner adjusted his fire as Mad Max flew by, but other than minimal damage, his machinegun jammed again.

With the faster Albatros overtaking the Caproni, it was now the turn of the Caproni’s front gunner to take over the fight for survival.  Structural damage on the Albatros was slight, but the control damage and the nearness of the ‘edge of the world’ would force Mad Max into an Immelmann turn.

Finally, Strähle and Heiligers got into the action – even if their, slow climbing, Albatros C.III was still below the Caproni.

Now everyone – nearly everyone, Bethge’s Halberstadt was still struggling to gain altitude – got into the action.  Mad Max’s Albatros took some heavy damage, but ‘luck’ was with him, so the Great Referee in the Sky nullified 3 points of damage.

But not all his ‘luck’ stayed with him, just as Mad Max executed his Immelmann, the Caproni’s front gunner ‘restored’ the damage the Great Referee had just wiped out with the result that Mad Max's Albatros is just 1 point from being hors de combat.  “Curse you, yellow Caproni,” Max mutters as he dives into a cloud bank .  And, indeed, the front gunner was cursed in the form of Heiligers who seriously wounded the gunner.  (Lord knows why I failed to draw damage cards for Mad Max, but I sure don’t know.)

With the Rumpler avoiding the ‘edge of the world’ and Bethge still not high enough, the fight continued between the Caproni and the Albatros C.III.  (Rosenhain, might point out that, yet again, Sauerbrunn failed to fire.  The Rumpler wasn’t a scout after all, but Rosenhain would again prudently not point that out.)

Heiliger’s aim was rewarded with a fire breaking out on the Caproni, which was fortunate.  The Germans were stunned with the damage the Caproni could take.  Obviously, the explosion of the white Caproni had given them high expectations of an easy kill.

More of the same – a fight between the Caproni and the Albatros.

With some good shooting by Heiligers the Caproni was done, but not without the famous revenge of its rear gunner.  Return fire saw the Albatros alight with fire; with the next draw of a fire damage card, the Albatros was finished as well.

Victory Points:

Adlers = 2 X 10 points for 2 Bombers shot down = 20 points

Entente = 1 X 2 points for scout FRTB + 1 X 4 points for tandem shot down = 6 points.

Adler victory, I would think, but a victory shared with the 'Boom' card.

BUTCHER’S TALLY:

Adlers:

Ltn Emil Hess: Albatros D.III (photo not shown): RTB / 0 kills

Ltn Max von Hünerbein: (Lucky Pilot) Albatros D.V: FRTB-D / 0 kills
FRTB roll = 1+6 = Stuck the Landing

Ltn Eduard von Boenigk: Albatros D.III (photo not shown) / RTB / 0 kills
 

 Fwbl Rudolf Bethge: Halberstadt D.III / RTB / 0 kills

Fwbl Erich Heiligers: (P2) Rumpler C.IV: RTB / 1 kill (White Caproni)

Ltn Kurt Strähle: (O) Rumpler C.IV: RTB / 0 kills

Fwbl Jacob Rosenhain: (P2) Albatros C.III: FLM-SEA-FT / 1 kill (CDL Caproni)
C&W = 7 -2FLM -1SEA = 4 - Injured - Skip 1D6 scenarios; Rolled 2 = Skip 2
E&E = 5 -1FLM -1SEA -1WIC = 2 - Captured! The war is ended for this pilot.  

Ltn Otto Sauerbrunn: (O) Albatros C.III / FLM-SEA-FT / 0 kills
C&W = 6 -2FLM -1SEA = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 scenarios; Rolled 2 = Skip 2
E&E = 6 -1FLM -1SEA -1WIC = 3 - Captured and escaped - Skip 1D3 scenarios; Rolled 6 = Skip 3

Entente

Caproni #1 (White)

Pilot 1: White Caproni: EXP-SEA-ET / 0 kills
C&W = 9 -3EXP -1SEA = 5 - Injured - Skip 1D3 scenarios; Rolled 3 = Skip 2
E&E = 10 -1EXP -1BEL -1SEA -1WIC = 6 - In Hiding - Skip 1D2 Scenarios; Rolled 5 = Skip 2

Pilot 2: White Caproni: EXP-SEA-ET / 0 kills
C&W = 7 -3EXP -1SEA = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 scenarios; Rolled 3 = Skip 3
E&E = 8 -1EXP -1BEL -1SEA -1WIC = 4 - Captured and Escaped - Skip 1D3 Scenarios; Rolled 6 = Skip 3

Front Gunner: White Caproni: EXP-SEA-ET / 0 kills
C&W = 5 -3EXP -1SEA = 1 - KIA  

 Rear Gunner: White Caproni: EXP-SEA-ET / 0 kills
C&W =3 -3EXP -1SEA = -1 - KIA  

Caproni #2 (CDL)

Pilot 1: CDL Caproni: FLM-SEA-ET / 0 kills
C&W = 6 -2FLM -1SEA = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 scenarios; Rolled 4 = Skip 4
E&E = 12 -1FLM -1SEA -1BEL -1WIC = 8 - Landed Almost Home - Skip 1 Scenario

Pilot 2: CDL Caproni: FLM-SEA-ET / 0 kills
C&W = 7 -2FLM -1SEA = 4 - Injured - Skip 1D6 scenarios; Rolled 3 = Skip 3
E&E = 11 -1FLM -1SEA -1BEL -1WIC = 7 - Landed Almost Home - Skip 1 Scenario 

Front Gunner: CDL Caproni: FLM-SEA-ET / WIA / 0 kills
C&W = 3 -2FLM -1WIA -1SEA = -1 - KIA  

Rear Gunner: CDL Caproni: FLM-SEA-ET / 1 kill (Albatros C.III) and 1 probable (Albatros D.V)
C&W =7 -2FLM -1SEA = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 scenarios; Rolled 2 = Skip 2
E&E = 10 -1FLM -1SEA -1BEL -1WIC = 6 - In hiding! - Skip 1D2 Scenarios, rolled 5 = Skip 2 

ObLtn Bernhard Wienand put the phone down sharply and briskly walked over to the Jasta 24 mess tent.
He had received an urgent call from the FF(A)245 that required immediate attention.

A flight of Caproni bombers had been sighted over No Man’s Land, apparently heading toward the industrial complex outside of Forges‑sur‑Meuse.
Eisenhardt and Oelker were currently on leave so Wienand would need to lead a hastily mustered response to this threat himself.

FF(A) 245 had committed a pair of available tandems and those were already en route to the area.
“Höfer, Schüter, Fischbacher! Folgen Sie mir. Wir müssen in zehn Minuten in der Luft sein!“
< Follow me. We have to be in the air in ten minutes! >

Fischbacher was the latest Adler replacement and was about to get his first real test under the watchful eye of his Kommandant.
The target area was not too far from their airfield, so they needed to attempt to gain some altitude advantage quickly.

The first to reach the area were Fwbl Lukas Himmel-Spaziergänger and Ltn Roland-Reinhart Dietrich-Daimler in their Rumpler C.IV.
[Per scenario setup, several die rolls will determine the aircraft placement, facing and altitude. Separate rolls will be made for each aircraft.]

A D6 roll of 6 placed them 1-1/2 rulers from center of the target map.

A D8 roll of 7 meant a compass position to the west of center.

Another D6 roll of 6 set their bearing to the right, and a final D6 roll of 3 set  their altitude at 3.

The second random aircraft was newcomer Ltn Siegfried Fischbacher in a green Albatros D.III
His placement was 1 ruler to the NW facing left at Altitude 4.

A pair of Caproni CA.3 bombers on loan and tryout from the Italian government were crossing No Man’s Land at Altitude 6.
It will be tough for the Germans to get within firing distance, especially the two-seaters with their dismal climb rate.
[I am using the modified rules designed by Peter ‘Teaticket’ Landry, a simple modification that allows two chits to be placed per climb card. Immelmann and Split-S maneuvers add or remove a chit respectively.]

Fischbacher turns toward No Man’s Land and Himmel-Spaziergänger climbs.
The Blue markers show altitude and the white ones show the climb count.
[Thanks to Chris ‘Malachi’ Weaver for those.]

The Capronis are moving using a pared-down XD deck per the scenario rules.
The one on the right (which I will refer to as Caproni 2 ) has drawn 2 right turns is a row (which will be the maximum).

Fischbacher’s turn to climb.

Turn 2 and Ltn Helmut Schüter arrives on the table in a light blue Albatros D.III with white tail.
[1 ruler to the East of center facing the enemy at Altitude 3]

Fischbacher is at altitude 5 just out of range of Caproni 2.
[I had to force a left turn to avoid the bomber leaving the table]

Turn 3 and another Adler arrives – Obltn Wienand in a red and white Albatros D.Va with white tail.
[1/2 ruler West of center, facing enemy at Altitude 6]

Fischbacher overlaps Caproni 2 so there is no shooting.

Himmel-Spaziergänger climbs to Altitude 5
[Note: I thought it odd that the Rumpler C.IV had a climb rate of 3 – better than the Albatros (!). Re-checking that today I discovered that the climb rate chart in the 2012 edition of the Rules & Accessories Pack (that I have a copy of near the gaming table) was revised in the 2014 edition. The corrected rate is 5 – much more like I expected.]

Caproni 2 fires long range at Fischbacher with no effect.

Schüter climbs to Altitude 5.
Dakka dakka
Wienand fires the first volley for the Adler and sets Caproni 1 on fire!
Dada dada
Caproni 1’s front gunner does minor damage in return.

A Roland C.II flown by Ltn Herbert Fiedler with new Observer Ltn Hennig Lucht arrives to begin Turn 3.
[1/2 ruler to the NE of center facing the enemy at Altitude 2. The Roland’s climb rate of 6 will make it doubtful that this aircraft will play much of a part in this battle.]

Caproni 1 takes minor fire damage and declares bombing.

Dakka dakka
Wienand fires his second burst at Caproni 1 doing minor damage.
Dada dada
The rear gunner’s return fire hits with devastating effect!

Wienand plummets to the ground just outside of No Man’s Land.

The Roland climbs.  It’s going to take a while to get within firing range ….

Schüter will soon be high enough to make a difference.

Fischbacher eyes his prey now that he is at the same altitude as the Caproni.

After a long fall Caproni 1’s bombs strike a railway line.
[Bombing is just for flavour – there are no points for it in this scenario.]

Höfer is the last Adler on the scene arriving 1-1/2 rulers NW of center facing right at Altitude 4.

Caproni 1’s fire increases.

Caproni 2 declares bomb release.

Status at the start of Turn 5.

Schüter and the Rumpler both climb. Luckily the Rumpler has chits ….

Caproni 2’s bombs strike what looks like an ammunition dump.

The fire on Caproni 1 has dissipated.

Fiedler continues his agonizingly slow climb

Dada dada
Back to some combat: Caproni 2 front gunner hits the Rumpler.

A whole lotta nuthin’ !

Dakka dakka
Fischbacher damages the Caproni’s rudder.
Dada dada
R2.D2 does some major damage to Caproni 2 including wounding the co-pilot.
Dada dada
The front gunner manages to hit the Rumpler with return fire.

Dada dada
The front gunner’s follow-up burst misses the Rumpler.
Dada dada
R2.D2 keeps up the pressure with some major damage.
Caproni 2 now has smoke streaming.
[I remember to place the smoke next phase]
Dada dada
The Caproni rear gunner follows suit and Fischbacher’s D.III starts smoking as well.

A whole lotta shootin’ goin’ on!

Dakka dakka
Fischbacher hits the crew of Caproni 2: the pilot and rear gunner are both hit!
But the rear gunner hits Fischbacher as well!
[He is now FRTB-W]
Da da d…
It appears that R2.D2’s luck has worn out and he manages to seize his gun.
It’s beyond unjamming and will be lost to him until the armourers back at the airfield can have a look at it.
[I decided to use Flash’s detailed gun jam rules going forward in this series.]
Dada dada
The final burst has the Caproni front gunner setting the Rumpler ablaze!

Dakka dak ….
Höfer jams his gun as well, although not as badly as Roland-Reinhart Dietrich-Daimler, and does mange to do some damage to Caproni 1

The fire on the Rumpler continues to burn.

Dakka dakka
Fischbacher gets behind Caproni 2 and wounds the co-pilot and rear gunner, each for a second time.
Dada dada
The Caproni rear gunner fires at the Rumpler, jamming his Fiat–Revelli machine gun.
[Note: per OTT rules he should not have been able to fire yet; he should have still been down from the previous turn]

The damage Fischbacher caused was enough to end the day for Caproni 2.

Himmel-Spaziergänger and Fischbacher now search the sky for a new adversary.

Meanwhile the fire on the Rumpler is growing.

Another hail of lead from all directions!

There was actually more.
This photo is Turn 9.2

In Turn 9.1 there was similar carnage and I somehow forgot to get a photo!

Höfer hit Caproni 1  with 2 +1
Schüter did a further 3 points.
The Caproni rear gunner (who should till have been knocked down!) hit Schüter for 2 w/Left Rudder.

This turn:
Höfer hit Caproni 1  with 5 +1 & 0
Schüter caused 3 +1
Fischbacher did 4 & 4 w/Smoke
Caproni 1 Rear Gunner (you know, that guy who is ineligible to fire*) hit Schüter for 3 +1
Caproni 1 Front Gunner hits Fischbacher for 2 +1
[Disregard the extra 3 +1 in the photo; it must be a duplicate of the ineligible hit on Schüter]
* and to make things worse, I just realized I forgot to place his gun jam marker!
[Ineligible or not, I only noticed the infractions when writing this AAR, so I counted them all!]

Caproni 1 shot down!
Kill to Höfer

The Rumpler fire burns out of control …

… and takes ‘Luke’ and ‘R2.D2’ down to the mess known as No Man’s Land.

With no more enemy in sight, the Adler and Roland head back to their respective airfields.
There will be schnapps flowing tonight! (at least in the Adler tent)

Butcher’s Tally

Entente Bomber Group

Caproni 2 :

Pilot: SD-NML / WIA / 0 kills
C&W rolled  5 -1SD –1NML -1WIA = 2 - Dead ! KIA 

Co-Pilot: SD-NML / 2WIA / 0 kills
C&W 4 -1SD –1NML -2WIA = 0 - Dead !  KIA 

Front Gunner: SD-NML / 0 kills
C&W 10 -1SD -1NML = 8 - Injured – skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 6  = Skip 2
E&E rolled  9 +1NML -1WIC = 9 - They didn’t even see me!

Rear Gunner: SD-NML / 2WIA / 0 Kills, 2 probables: FRTB-W (Fischbacher); FRTB-D (Rumpler) 
C&W rolled 10 -1SD -1NML -2WIA = 6 - Injured – skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled  3 = Skip 2
E&E rolled  8 +1NML -2WIA -1WIC = 6 - In Hiding – skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 1 = Skip 1

Caproni 1

Pilot:  SD-NML / 0 kills
C&W rolled 8 -1SD -1NML = 6 - Injured – skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1
E&E rolled 5 +1NML –1WIC = 5 - In Hiding – skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip1

Co-Pilot:  SD-NML / 0 kills
C&W rolled 9 -1SD -1NML = 7 - Injured - skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 4 = Skip 2
E&E rolled 8 +1NML -1WIC = 8 - Landed Almost Home – skip 1 scenario

Front Gunner:  SD-NML / 0 kills
C&W rolled 5 -1SD -1NML = 3 - Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 2
E&E rolled 4 +1NML -1WIC = 4 - Captured & Escaped– skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1

Rear Gunner:  SD-NML / 1 Kills (Wienand)
C&W rolled 8 -1SD -1NML = 6 - Injured - skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1
E&E rolled 4 +1NML -1WIC = 4 - Captured & Escaped - skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 3

Adler

ObLtn Bernhard Wienand: Albatros D.Va (White Tail): EXP-FT / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 8 -3EXP = 5 - Injured – skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 2
 

Ltn Jens Höfer: Albatros D.V  (Black & White Tail): RTB / 1 Kill (Caproni 1)
 

Ltn Siegfried Fischbacher: Albatros D.III (Green): FRTB-W / 1 Kill (Caproni 2)
FRTB rolled 4 & 3 : Stuck the landing.
C&W rolled 8 +1RTB –1WIA = 8 - Injured – skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 2
 

Ltn Helmut Schüter: Albatros D.III  (Pale Blue): RTB / 0 Kills
 

FF(A) 245

Ltn Herbert Fiedler (P2): Roland C.II: RTB / 0 Kills

Ltn Hennig Lucht (O): Roland C.II: RTB / 0 Kills

Fwbl Lukas Himmel-Spaziergänger: (P2) Rumpler C.IV: FRTB-D / 0 Kills
Crashed on Landing  (due to screw up - see notes below) 
C&W rolled 9 +1RTB -1FRTB = 9 - All well when you land well ! 

(Originally: Rumpler C.IV: SD-FLM-NML / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 9 -2FLM -1NML = 6 - Injured - skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 3
E&E rolled 6 +1NML -1EXP -1WIC = 5 - In Hiding – skip 1D2 scenarios, rolled 5 = Skip 2)

Ltn Roland-Reinhart Dietrich-Daimler: (O) Rumpler C.IV: FRTB-D / 0 Kills
Crashed on Landing  (due to screw up) 
C&W rolled 7 +1RTB -1FRTB = 7 - Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario rolled 3 = Skip 1

(Originally: Rumpler C.IV:  SD-FLM-NML / 0 Kills
C&W rolled 7 -3EXP -1NML = 3 - Injured - skip 1D6 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 3
E&E rolled 8 +1NML -1EXP -1WIC = 7 - Landed Almost Home – skip 1 scenario)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Rumpler should not have been shot down, it should only have been FRTB-D
There was confusion near the end, as noted with missing photos and Observers who had been wounded (twice!) still shooting (with a jammed gun!).
I am okay with the results as written, but if Onkel wants to make changes I will definitely accept them.

Maybe Himmel-Spaziergänger crashed on the FTRB landing and the Brits claimed a probable instead of a kill ?  Noted by Onkel   

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victory points

Adler
Enemy bomber shot down 10 points x 2 = 20

Entente

Friendly tandem shot down – 4 points*
*If FRTB it’s 3 points

-------------------------------------------------------------

An interesting mission, Mike. It was fun to play out.
And after looking up the victory points I noticed another thing I messed up ….

“Thereafter, your remaining four friendly aircraft will appear in the same fashion, one more aircraft every turn, except the random location could be on either mat each time.”

It was also noted at the very end of the BRF after the example photos. 

Sorry about all the screw-ups. Put it down to being "tired and shagged out after long squawk."
(Or a long time since my last play through) 

"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast"

 Unbeknownst to Blighty’s last line of defenders the two Gotha were almost as lost as they were in unfamiliar territory, having lost contact with their comrades amongst heavy clouds as they crossed the Belgian coast, but they were determined to drop their deadly loads on England’s shores somewhere, nonetheless so made their approach.  
 

Keel made a bee line toward them, with Baz trailing below in his SE5, both machines climbing as they went.

Climbing out from Lympne at pace came a Camel piloted by 2Lt Will Power, eager to join the fight but well below where he needed to be. It would be a struggle to get there in time.

The Germans seemed to have a roundabout way of getting there but the target was likely Folkestone port and they didn’t seem overly concerned with the scouts coming up to oppose them.

Keel struck the first blow, cutting the corner and lining up on the sky blue Gotha, his twin Lewis guns chattered but one fell silent. The front gunner’s accurate return fire damaging his controls.

Keel pressed home the attack and returned the compliment through a hail of lead from both the gunners, the front gunner proving to be accurate again and his machine coughing flame and smoke.
The other chaps were still clawing to gain height after the other Gotha

Keel saw the arrival of a FE2b from seaward just below him (alt 5) as he slipped behind the sky blue Gotha. Unfortunately he was high enough above the tail to be raked by the rear gunner at close range, jamming the man’s parabellum momentarily.
The pilot 2Lt Phil Anders & his observer that day 2Lt Peter Sout were well placed to see what happened next as the Nieuport rolled over and spiralled toward the Channel trailing fire and smoke.

Meantime the other Gotha had elected to drop part of his load on the chance target of a Felixstowe anchored near the beach, the other defenders powerless to intervene and could only watch in frustration.

Happily for the home side the bombs were a near miss and only minor damage was caused to the Felixstowe as it was peppered with shingle and showered in dirt !

As the big machines jockey for position and the defenders struggle to get to them another scout appears off Folkestone at altitude (5), a SE5a piloted by 2Lt Percy Veer, chomping at the bit to get amongst the action.

As Veer whips past the sky blue Gotha drops his eggs, but it may be too late and it may also have forced the other Gotha off target (Damned random cards!)

As the Sky blue job turns away, ‘Two Dads’ gets in a poke as he makes height but sees no damage for all that effort, the rear gunner takes a shot at the FEE as it’s just in range but jams his parabellum again (for 3). The FE is just out of range.

‘Two Dads’ gets his eye in and lands a solid blow as the front gunner peppers his wing. Behind them the bombs thankfully fall outside the walls of Folkestone and all that is achieved is some rural landscaping.  

‘Two Dads ’slips wide into the blind spot of the Gotha and adds a bit more damage to it, Anders drags the FEE to altitude and he’s wounded as Sout trades shots with the other Gotha gunners.

As the sky blue Gotha wriggles ‘Two Dads’ closes to point blank and smashes another burst into it. The front gunners gets a shot into the FEE setting it on fire as Sout sends a heavy close range effort into the other Gotha and the SE5a of Veer finally gets into the fight (just out of frame)

A moment of chaos reigns, The Camel climbing from below finally gets in a shot on the sky blue Gotha; Sout, having lost sight of the other Gotha, swings his gun onto the sky blue one and sets the beast aflame but jams in the process.
the front gunner’s response is hefty but his parabellum then locks solid.
The rear gunner in the other Gotha scores a useful hit on the FEE, the front gunner hits Veer’s engine for six and is also jammed solid in the process; Veer rakes the other Gotha again at close range in return and damages the controls..
Take a breath everyone !

‘Two Dads’ stays on his target but inexplicably does next to no damage at point blank range – probably put off by the sight of Ander’s flaming FEE colliding with the beast and coming off distinctly second best (8-0)
Powers’ camel scores well again from under the port wing; Veer damages it’s controls as he takes heavy damage from the other departing Gotha. (3)

 
The FEE falls away and ‘Two Dads’ takes a hit as he parts company with the sky blue Gotha, Veers passes through the blindspot of the Gotha as he looks for somewhere safe to land, deciding RFC Hawkinge just outside Folkestone is his best bet, and Powers’ camel still
lurks beneath the port wing

Powers’ Camel slides beneath the sky blue Gotha when it turns for home leaving smoke and flame in it’s wake. The rear gunner takes a pot shot at ‘Two Dads’ but his luck holds as rounds crash around his cockpit.

Somewhat irked he reefs the SE into a tight turn and hammers the Gotha at close range damaging the engine, Powers looks like he’s shaping up for a pass too; the other Gotha ditches what’s left of his bombs and makes good his escape

‘Two Dads’ last burst was enough to finish the job and the sky blue Gotha is downed – crashing heavily in open farmland just shy of the beach

Victory Points:

Bulldogs: 
Enemy bomber shot down = 10 points.
 

Germans:
Englander scout shot down = 3 points:
Englander tandem shot down = 4 points.
Englander scout FRTB = 2 points:

Result:
Bulldogs: 10 points v Germans: 9 points

Bulldogs just squeak a win ! 

Butcher’s Tally:

Gotha:

Sky blue: SD-FLM-ET / 2 kills (Keel N.17; Ander/Sout FE2b)
Pilot: Rolled 3 -2FLM = 1 KIA
Gunner/bombardier: Rolled 7 -2FLM = 5 – Injured skip 3D scenarios, rolled 5 = skip 3 (captured)
Rear Gunner: Rolled 6 -2FLM = 4 – Injured skip 6D scenarios, rolled 6 = skip 6 (captured)

 Other Gotha: RTB / 0 kills, 1 probable FTRTB-E (Veer SE5a)

Bulldogs:

2Lt Evan Keel: (Perfect Aim) Nieuport 17#4: SD-FLM- SEA- FT / 0 kills
Rolled 10 -2FLM -1SEA = 7 – Injured, skip D2 scenarios, rolled 4 = Skip 2

2Lt Will Power: Sopwith Camel #3: RTB / 0 kills

2Lt Barry (Baz) (‘Two Dads’) Fife-Brand: (In Lucky Pilot)  RAF SE5: RTB / 1 Kill (sky blue Gotha)

2Lt Phil Anders: (Fire Expert) (P2) FE2b:  COL-FLM-FT / WIA / 0 kills
Rolled 8 -2COL -1WIA = 5 - Injured - skip 1 D3 scenarios, rolled 6 = Skip 3  

2Lt Peter Sout: (Itchy Trigger) (O) FE2b:  COL-FLM-FT / 0 kills
Rolled 7 -2COL = 5 - Injured - skip 1 D3 scenarios, rolled 4 = Skip 2

2Lt Percy Veer: (Acrobatic Pilot) RAF SE5a: FRTB-E / 0 kills
FRTB Roll 5+3 = Stuck the landing !

All in all a very enjoyable game, though I don’t care for random bomber movement as I have D8 charts for them, I persisted with it as best I could. I also eventually got to grips with the altitude markers kindly provided by Malachi with my alt rules (if you’re wondering why the numbering looks odd) which did help me keep track of who was where.
My usual rule adjustments were applied.