Gunbus Patrol

I ran the solo Gunbus patrol game from the other day again today, but this time I used two Gunbus. Both had experienced pilots.

There were six possible threats:

1 - 1 x two-seater
2 - 1 x two-seater
3 - 2 x two-seater
4 - 2 x two-seater
5 - 1 x Albatros C1 (aggressive)
6 - 1 x Fokker EII

Two-seaters had a 50% chance of only being armed with a rifle and were either an Aviatik type or Albatros type (50/50)

The aggressive Albatros C would use the engagement rules for a scout, which means that it would actively engage the player planes.

Here's the Vickers FB5s on patrol.

They immediately spot a couple of Aviatik two-seaters on a mission. They were both machine-gun armed, but with the observer in the front seat their arc of fire was very limited (tail-arc only in my rules). One of them had a rookie crew.

I made the mistake of turning towards them. I knew that because of their close proximity they would almost certainly spot me, so decided to get in some shots at long range whilst I still had surprise, as this gave me a shooting bonus. It achieved very little.

The problem was that I was now behind the Aviatiks and facing in the wrong direction. The Gunbus turns slowly and is no faster than the German planes, who would now be running to safety as per the scenarios standing orders. I was never going to be able to turn back for another shot in time. 

I started turning in order to resume the patrol, only to spot an Albatros B-type drop into some cloud-cover.

As it emerged we ambushed it!

It turned and fled, with the observer popping away with his rifle. But the two Vickers crews were putting some hits on it as well.

Gunbus B engaged at long range, inflicting damage and wounding the Albatros's pilot. 

The Albatros still dodged to avoid the British planes, and the observer plugged away with his rifle. There was a sickening crack as the lucky shot damaged a spar on Gunbus B.

Gunbus B had trouble maneuvering into the fight, but the other Gunbus closed up and a long-burst was lucking enough to hit with every dice, downing the already damaged Albatros.

The patrol had achieved a kill, and with a plane damaged and very low on ammunition it was probably time to head home. However there were still cards in the threat deck, and one of them produced a Fokker.

The pilot seemed oblivious to the British planes (another rookie), and with the danger of being spotted on the way home and them chased by a faster plane, the Vickers decided to get in fast and try to inflict some damage.

They bounced the novice German pilot, badly damaging his plane.

All of the planes then turned to gain advantage. Gunbus B fired off its last rounds and then headed for home. I diced to see what the Fokker would do and the pilot decided to go after the other Gunbus.

Gunbus B headed for home and safety, but Gunbus A now found the Fokker closing in on its tail

The Fokker was now between the Gunbus and home, and easily got in behind the unwieldy pusher.

Sustained fire slowly chipped away at the British plane.

The Gunbus managed to stay in one piece and kept turning and somehow the Fokker pilot, mostly through inexperience, lost contact and ended up flying off the board.

There's a chance a plane that leaves will return after a turn or two, but also some risk that something bad will happen to them. That's what happened. Accumulated damage and the inexperience of the pilot saw the Fokker come down in no-mans land.

So both Vickers got home, albeit shot-up and, in once case, out of ammo. One had a confirmed kill on an Albatros and an unconfirmed kill on a Fokker, so not a bad patrol.

The order that threats came up actually made for a pretty dramatic game. After the Albatros went down I was certain I'd get the planes home and it was quite a surprise when the Fokker turned up at the last minute.