Back Into The Skies

I've been away on holiday this past week and managed not to do any gaming of note (aside from the obligatory Love Letter that is). I didn't taken any gaming projects with me and didn't really go anywhere of gaming interest either. Still, I had a nice few days in Hobart (my first visit to Tasmania).

Anyway, whilst we were away I did mull over Spandau & Lewis a little, and my current quest to strike a balance between how many hots a plane should take and how likely critical hits should be. This was something i wanted to explore in my previous game, and something I was looking at when I played it again this morning.

I set out the same scenario as before, but reduced each side's force by one two-seater and one fighter. I randomised how each sides' fighter were split up and where they cam on. The three German planes - two DVIIs and a Dr 1 - came on individually whilst the British Sopwith Camels came on as a pair and a single.

Early stages in the vicinity of the German two-seaters. Two Camels are on the attack, but the DR 1 is coming up behind them. The DVII hasn't spotted anyone yet, but was about to get a rude surprise.

One of the German DVs went down with an engine hit.

On the other side of the lines a Camel was chasing a DVII, whilst the two FK8s observed their first target.

Long range fire from the triplane took down a Camel with structural hits.

The British had spotted one target, but the FK8s escorting Camel was currently out of contact and a couple of DVIIs were closing in on them.

The Triplane made another kill as a Camel went down with an engine fire.

The third Camel lost contact with the fight and was shot down by ground-fire (left the table and rolled badly to come back on).

The FK8s were now on their own against two Fokker DVIIs and a Triplane. One DVII had a wounded pilot, though, and he struggled to bring the plane into the fight. The other two Germans attacked, putting plenty of holes in the British two-seaters. In return the observer in one of the FK8s scored engine damage on the DVII, forcing it to break off.

The Dr1 was also badly shot up and running low on ammo as well, so did a final pass of the two-seaters (no significant damage) and headed for home. 

The final DVII, with the wounded pilot, now finally came up. Time was running out for him to get home, but if he could down one of the FK8s the points would favour the Germans. It was worth the risk. His shot failed to score a hit on the escaping two-seater

But he British observer was having a good day, and his return fire caused a lucky structural hit on the German plane, that caused its wings to come off. Down it went!

(The British scored a critical that meant that the target rolled 2D6, took the lowest score and inflicted that many hits. They then proceeded to roll a 5 and a 6).

So the British lost three Camels, but got both two-seaters home with a full set of observations. They also shot down two German aircraft. The Germans got their two-seater home as well, and shot down three British planes. However the VPs are weighted towards successfully completing a mission, so the British were the victors despite their losses.

I played with aircraft taking slightly fewer hits than in the previous game, which made things a little more dangerous for them, especially with so many planes having powerful twin-guns. But it seemed to work out OK.