Sunday 17 March 2024

Balloon Busting

I have been browsing a lot of thread on the Wings of War Forum as, whilst they relate to a specific game, a lot of the discussion covers general WW1 air subjects and it's fairly easy to relate them to my own rules. As you know I painted a kite balloon last week, and this week I did its companion:


It coincided with reading THIS THREAD on the forum, looking at what would be important in games involving shooting down balloons. I tried to organise some rules based on them in order to add such attacks to my S&L games.

The rules I needed to add were for anti-aircraft fire, shooting at balloons and, additionally, shooting at balloons with Le Prieur rockets or with incendiary ammunition. Today I tried out some of these ideas.

I set my first game in the Summer of 1915. The British were having a crack at a couple of German balloons using a pair of Vickers FB5s. They would be relying on their machine-guns to try and down the balloons.


They both closed on on the southern balloon (the grey one).


The anti-aircraft fire began. If a plane was within 6" of a balloon it would be subject to AA fire, which took place before regular shooting. This would consist of a 2 dice attack on the aircraft, with a 6 scoring a hit. Criticals are tested as normal, but structural hits score an additional 1D6 damage. Any plane with 2" of a balloon, or friendly aircraft would only be attacked by a 1D6 shot. But, yes - AA fire affects friendly aircraft. 


One Vickers took a direct AA hit and was blown to pieces.


The surviving Vickers pressed home its attack, opening up on the balloon. I ran firing against a balloon as normal combat, although the +1D6 modifier for a large target applied. Deflection modifiers do not apply. A balloon can take 24 hits; a single plane is unlikely to achieve this, although criticals are tested for as normal, with crew hits affecting the observer in the basket, and engine hits of either kind counting as instant destruction. Regardless of criticals, after an attack that scores any hits the attacking aircraft rolls 2D6 and takes the highest score. If the score is equal to or less than the number of hits inflicted in the attack then the balloon catches fire, and is considered destroyed. The odds of this happening are low, as the Vickers soon found out.


The Germans had one Fokker Eindecker on patrol as well. On each turn I rolled a D6 and on a 6 it turned up, on a random side edge, in line with the balloons. It turned up as the Vickers made its first attack.


The Vickers turned behind the balloon as the Fokker fired a long-range burst at it.


The Vickers briefly evaded the Fokker.


Rather than turn slowly back on the grey balloon, the Vickers went after the khaki balloon instead, whilst the Fokker turned to attack it again.


Disaster for the Germans as the Fokker took a direct AA hit and dropped from the sky, its pilot dead.


The Vickers closed on the balloon, shooting as it went. It scored hits, but couldn't get an ignition.


What are those red markers next to the balloon? Well, they represent its 'altitude'. Any time there is an enemy aircraft within 6" of the balloon its crew will attempt to winch it down to the ground. The technology for this progressed throughout the war, with the balloons being pulled down by hand at first, then teams of horses, then steam-engines and finally by petrol-driven winches. By the end of the war the balloon could be pulled down in minutes. My rules are as follows:

At the end of any turn in which a balloon has an enemy aircraft within 6", the crew will try and pull it down. Roll a D6; if the score for the year is achieved then one marker is removed. When all markers are removed then the balloon has reached the ground and can no longer be attacked. The rolls are:

1914-15 - 6, 1916 - 5+, 1917 - 4+, 1918 - 3+

(I am considering making the AA attacks within 6" of the balloon 3D6 if it is at two markers or fewer, to simulate the attacking aircraft having to fly lower.)

Anyway, in this scenario the balloon is only lowered on a 6 each turn, so the Vickers had plenty of time to make attacks. Unfortunately none of them caused the balloon to catch fire, and the Vickers eventually ran out of ammunition and headed for home.


A final burst of AA fire saw no damage, and the Vickers got back, mostly intact.


So in terms of dropping a balloon the mission had been a failure, with the loss of one of the attacking aircraft. The only bright spot was the loss of the German plane, but that was an own-goal, so hardly a cause for celebration.

So balloon busting with machine-guns is not the best way to ensure success.

I tried again, but this time shifted to the Summer of 1916. This time the French were attacking, with a pair of Nieuport 16s, fitted with Le Prieur rockets. The Germans could test to bring on two Fokker Eindeckers.


Everything you'd ever want to know about Le Prieur rockets is in this excellent paper, that was linked to on the Wings of Glory Forum. The key thing is that they have a short range and are best used against the wind. The nose of the balloon faces into the wind, so you really need to get behind it to be effective. I used the following rules to check the direction of the balloons:

They start the game facing the Allied baseline (the west, from which the prevailing wind blows). I then rolled 4D6. each 1 or 2 rotates the balloons 45 degrees anticlockwise. Each 5 or 6 rotates them 45 degrees clockwise. Obviously each roll of 1 or 2 negates a roll of 5 or 6 (and vice versa). In this game they turned 45 degrees clockwise (facing the north west). British or French balloons would have their rear facing the German lines, but the Germans never used rockets, so it's not really an issue.

Anyway, with no German aircraft around the Nieuports split up, each going after a balloon.


Of course, just after the did this a Fokker turned up.


AA fire exploded around both aircraft as the Fokker closed in on one of the Nieuports.


The other Nieuport also found it was receiving a lot of attention from ground fire.


One burst damaged its engine, but it kept up the attack.


Rockets fire at close range only (up to 3"). They are treated as normal gunnery, but get the deflection modifiers for shooting into the balloon's front or rear arc. A plane has two volleys of rockets; you can fire one of them or both. A single volleys hits on a 5+. A double volley hits on 4+. When testing for ignition you take the lower of the two dice rolled. It's a lot easier to kill a balloon with rockets.

Boom! The first Nieuport ignited the balloon, destroying it.


The other Nieuport also hit and destroyed its balloon. However as it flew bast the burning Drachen it was hit by AA fire and destroyed.


The first Nieuport was slightly damaged by its exploding balloon. I ruled that the turn after a balloon ignited, it would explode, and any plane within 2" would take a 3D6 AA fire attack. With its damaged engine it didn't have the speed to escape the explosion.


The surviving Nieuport now had to get home. Both Fokkers were in play, with one closing in on the Nieuport's rear and the other moving to cut it off.


The Nieuport slowly edge in behind the one Fokker, but soon found the second Fokker on its tail.


It started to take hits.


It tried to inflict hits on the Fokker in front of it, but its shooting was abysmal.


The lead Fokker broke away, but the other Fokker stuck doggedly to the tail of the little French plane.


Both Fokkers now attacked, and the Nieuport went down.


So the French got both balloons but lost both attacking aircraft. I'd probably count that as a minor victory for the French, but nothing more.

So thoughts for future games. I'm still working out how to score the games. Destroying a balloon should get good points, and the attackers should lose points for lost planes. Shooting down defending planes might give a point as well, but isn't the aim of the mission. Killing or wounding the observer on a balloon that isn't destroyed should give a few points too, as it puts the observation platform out of action for a period. And if the balloon reaches the ground that should give the attacker points as well, since, again, it deprives the defenders of the balloon's use for a while whilst it is got back into action. 

I'm still trying to work out just how effective rockets were. I may drop the hit chances to a 6 for a single volley and 5+ for the double volley. They get good odds of converting hits to a burn, but I like the idea that actually scoring a hit is hard. Obviously attacking from the optimal tail position maximises hits.

I may have balloons roll to see if they explode once they are on fire, so you don't know exactly when they will go up. Setting them on fire is a kill; that is for sure. But since they are dangerous when they explode it's fun to make that random. I think maybe a 4+ on each turn, including the fire phase when they are set on fire (so if you've attacked them at close range there's a 50% chance you'll risk taking damage from it). Then you test each fire phase just before you resolve AA fire.

I haven't tried incendiary ammunition yet. This would use the normal gunfire rules, but with the ignition test being on the lowest of the two dice. In theory it wasn't supposed to be used on enemy aircraft, but was. I'm not sure what effects to apply there, though.

Anyway, that was a long report, with a lot of rules mixed in, many of which are to remind me how I played the game in case I lose my scribbled notes. But I hope they give an indication as to my thought-processes when setting up the game.

Saturday 16 March 2024

The Eagle Of The Aegean

Rudolf Von Eschwege was a young German pilot who, when commissioned an officer, was sent to the Macedonian Front. There, on the fringes of WW1, an air force of Turks, Germans, and Bulgarians were up against a vastly numerically superior French and Franco-Serbian foe. In fact Eschwege was covering a nearly 100 mile front with one Albatros scout, assisting three two-seater reconnaissance planes. Opposing him were over 200 enemy aircraft, including four British squadrons. Despite this he achieved 18 kills. The latter of these were balloons, and that was how he died; the British sent up a dummy balloon with explosives in the basket and detonated them when he flew within range to attack it.

Anyway, as long-term reader know, I have used scenarios and plane stats from GDW's 'Aces High' as a source for a lot of information when developing 'Spandau & Lewis', and they have an Eschwege scenario. So I had a go at adapting it yesterday.

In the scenario Eschwege must prevent a RFC two-seater from directing artillery on a town. The two-seater is protected by some BE12s. Eschwege is flying an Albatros DIII.

For the my first run I had Eschwege set up on his edge with a town towards the centre of the board. In front of him the two-seater was close to the town, heading towards it to start its mission. Two BE12s could be placed anywhere to cover it. I gave the British novice pilots but they could upgrade one plane to experienced. Eschwege was rated as an ace.

The planes are as follows:

Eschwege - Albatros DIII - Speed: 5, Agility B, Hits 8, Power 3 - 2 x Forward Guns

BE12 - Speed 5, Agility C, Hits 7, Power 0 - 1 x Forward Gun
Farman MF11 bis - Speed 3, Agility B, Hits 7, Power 0 - 1 x Forward Gun (pivot covering the whole front-arc)

(The Farman Shorthorn is an odd aircraft, having a ridiculously low speed, but a surprisingly good agility for something that resembles the unholy offspring of a box-kite and a bathtub)


The Farman crew were rated as experienced. They headed towards the town to do some spotting. The BE12s were facing Eschwege.


Here's Rudolf, ready for action.

The objectives are for Eschwege to prevent the Farman ranging in the artillery and escape. The British must either range in the artillery or shoot down Eschwege.


The fighters came at each other head-on, which was a bad move for the British. A few hits were exchanged before the aircraft passed, but now the ponderous BE12s had to turn around whilst Eschwege just had to fly straight forward to take on the Farman.

(The BE12 is an amazingly bad aircraft. It was born of the idea that it would be great to take the slow, unagile BE2 and create a fighter-plane version. It was as good as you'd expect it to be. Nevertheless one pilot became an ace in one. God knows how.)


The Farman started directing artillery, aware that Eschwege was coming up fast.


More ranging shots (the markers on the town) and Eschwege is closer now.


The Farman turns as Eschwege comes into range. It takes some damage.


Keeping his cool under fire the observer on the Farman chose to direct artillery and got another ranging shot on the target. A BE12 was coming back into the fight


As Eschwege turned to chase down the damaged Farman the BE12 came into range. The observer on the Farman directed another shot ...


... and it was ranged in correctly. The artillery bombardment began.


Eschwege had lost, but the British could gain extra street-cred for shooting him down. However he deftly evaded the BE12s and escaped.


The heroes of the game - the crew of the Farman who kept focused on their mission despite being shot at.

(The model is a Farman F20. The MF11 has a square tail structure rather than a triangular one. Also the scenario assumes it's RFC, but mine is painted with French markings.)


I tried it again twice in the evening, and set it up differently as I felt the British had had it too easy in terms of doing the observation. I had the Farman have to travel from its own board edge to the target. However I also gave the British an extra BE12. And they rolled for their crews (with a roll of ace counting as experienced). All crews ended up as experienced. The BE12s could set up anywhere but Eschwege could set up after seeing where the British planes were deployed.

In the first game Eschwege and the Farman arrived at the objective together. Eschwege fired and hit the Farman, doing some light damage. The Farman's observer fired one burst which hit Eschwege's engine, causing it to burst into flames, destroying him and his plane. Game over.

For the second run Eschwege (top right) and the Farman arrived at the target together.


Eschwege fired a long-range burst that killed the observer on the Farman and wounded the pilot. So the observation mission was thwarted. However Eschwege had to escape alive as well.


He turned from home but found a BE12 in front of him. Being bold he chased it.


BOOM! The BE12 went down in flames.


As he ran for home he had a chance at a second BE12, badly damaging it.


He got it down to its last hit, but since his home edge was close I decided that rather than chase after it and risk getting attacked by the third BE12, he'd let it be and head for home. He'd prevented the mission and got another kill, so it had been a good day's work.


I forgot to add that in the two later scenarios I rated Eschwege as a marksman, a trait I'd not tried out a great deal. A marksman gets a higher chance of scoring criticals, and this was obvious in the second game, with the Farman suffering a critical as well as the downed BE12. I'm thinking that the trait is maybe a little too good and may dial it back a bit.

Artillery observation uses the following rules:

If the observing plane ends its move within 3" of the target at a speed of 3 or less then it can direct artillery. 
Roll 2D6 and take the highest score. If that score is equal to or less than the number of ranging shots on the target, then the artillery is ranged in and the mission is a success.
If the score is higher, or there are no ranging shots on the target, add a ranging shot.

If spotting doesn't happen on a turn, remove a ranging shot.

Earlier this week I played my Australians in Sinai scenario with Catherine. She took the Australians, with their BE2 and Martinsyde G100, whilst I took the two Turkish Fokkers.


Owing to bad manouevre dice we blundered around not really getting into contact with each other, but eventually I latched onto the BE2.


A couple of good bursts shot it down, but I ran out of time before I could exit a Fokker off the Australian edge for final victory. So the game was a draw.





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