Saturday Afternoon Dogfight

With more time to spare, it being the weekend and all, I set up a larger game of  'Spandau and Lewis' in order to see how my small changes to the gunnery system worked, and was more than pleased by the results. This game saw eight planes on the table - four Bristol F2Bs, against three Albatros DIIIs and a single Fokker Triplane. I gave both side one ace and one novice pilot/crew.

Two F2bs started in the centre of the table, with the other aircraft appearing in pairs at random points around the edge.

In fact the four German planes came in from roughly the same point.

Both groups of planes swung around to the left, looking for an opening.

(Apologies for the quality of some of these early photos; I had the wrong lens on)

(Mind you. It takes great close-ups)

(Really nice)

As they circled the rear-gunner in the lead F2b scored a lucky hit on an Albatros and saw it drop out of the fight, its engine on fire.

Only a couple of turn in, and the Germans were on the back-foot and a plane down.

The British made the most of the numerical advantage, hemming in German planes where they could. The Germans struggled to bring their guns to bear without exposing themselves to fire.

The German ace locked onto the tail of his British counterpart, but failed to score any significant damage before the British crew shook him off.

The Fokker Dr1 was suffering especially badly, having taken damage from an early burst. The British pilots kept it sorely pressed, despite its significant advantage in mobility.

A reversal of fortunes saw the British ace crew tail the German ace, but again little significant damage occurred.

The Dr1 fought desperately in an attempt to break free of the British around it.

The German ace found himself sorely pressed as well.

A head-on pass saw the German ace's guns jam. In fact there were several gun jams in the game, but with two seperate guns on their planes the British could, with a little manoeuvre, keep fighting with one whilst they cleared the jam in the other.

The German's novice pilot had fought well early in the action, but damage to his plane left him disorientated. He departed the fight and disappeared somewhere over no-man's land. The wreckage was never found.

At the same time the rear-gunner on an F2b finally finished off the Triplane.

The Germans now had one plane left - their ace - and he had four Bristol Fighters gunning for him and a gun-jam to clear. The position was hopeless so he made a run for home, closely followed by the British. He managed to clear the jam as the British closed in, and opted to turn and fight his way off rather than simply be shot down from the rear as he ran for it. A burst damaged the British aces' plane, but a shot from another F2b ended the German's career.

The British had shot down three German planes, each of three F2bs accounting for one. Only the novice crew failed to score a kill, but it was, in fact, their dogged pursuit of the German novice that had contributed to his leaving the fight, so they could almost claim him. The Germans had scored a few decent hits on one British plane, but otherwise the F2bs were relatively unharmed, aside from some jammed guns. 

I felt that the gunnery factors worked quite well, but will try some more tests. I may simplify gun jams as well. At the moment clearing a jam requires remembering what a plane did earlier in the turn, and I have to confess I couldn't always remember. I may scrap the idea of it being a roll to repair and simply assume it knocks out the gun for one turn but with a test to see if the jam is permanent.