Spandau & Lewis

We have had a couple of people join our club in the past few months and, last week, one of them expressed an interest in my home-brew WW1 rules, 'Spandau & Lewis', having read about them on this very blog. He asked if we could play a game of it, so I set one up.

I anticipated a couple of players, so set up a scenario for four people. And that's what we got. 

It's pretty simple. I set it in mid-1917 and gave both sides three scouts and three two-seaters. Each side had two objectives on the opponent's side of the board; each two-seater could observe each of the two targets. If they could get home a two-seater would score 3VP for each target (so 6VP for each two-seater). In addition a side would score 2VP for each enemy plane shot down and 1VP for each plane that was damaged (half hits) or still on the board at the end of 20 turns. I set the highest VP for the mission in order to encourage some actual work from the two-seaters instead of it just being a brawl.

Here's the set-up. Please excuse the crumpled cloth. I really need to buy something better.

The British had three SE5s (run by Daniel) and three RE8s (run by Peter). The Germans ran three Albatros DVs (run by me) and three Albatros CVIIs (run by Bailey). Here's my flight of DVs. I got the only ace on the table, along with two experienced pilots. Bailey's two-seaters had two novice crews and one experienced one. On the British side most of their crews were experienced, but one of the SE5s had a novice pilot. 

The early moves saw everyone simply flying straight towards the targets, since the two sides hadn't spotted each other. My DVs were the first to see an enemy and turned to get into a better position.

The British quickly became aware of the Germans and the firing started soon after; the obligatory head-one shots as the two formations flew past each other. Both sides lost a few bits of canvas.

Daniel got some terrible power rolls for his SE5s that saw them suffer for their maneuvers. The DVs did very nicely, though, and my ace got into a nice tailing position. Peter went wild and sent an RE8 over to assist the scouts.

Bailey's CVIIs hadn't spotted the British and were mildly surprised when one of them was fired on by an SE5a. However the British plot was inexperienced and the shot had little effect than that of alerting the Germans. That said I still sent a DV over to support the two-seaters.

Daniel's other SE5s were struggling to get the Germans in their gun-sights, but Peter's supporting RE8 was actually causing some real damage will well-aimed fore from the observer's gun.

Whilst my initial mission was to keep the SE5s busy, I abandoned it in favour of chasing after the RE8s that were attempting to complete the mission. This would force Peter to make the decision between the observer defending against an attack or actually getting on with some observation. 

I failed to stop this RE8 from making an observation, but on the next turn I got a kill from a tailing shot. Unfortunately firing in Spandau & Lewis is simultaneous, and a shot from the observer's gun finished off my damaged plane. So each side had made one kill.

Bailey had kept a tight formation and was causing the pursuing SE5a some problems. Careful management of his moves saw him able to make observations whilst also keeping up some defensive fire. Whilst the SE5 harassed the Germans some more, it eventually succumbed to sheer weight of fire.

One RE8 had observed the first target and was closing in on the second, but came under attack from both directions. It was heavily damaged. Unfortunately my ace's plane was also badly hit, and being close to my baseline I decided it would be safer to break off and head home. 

The RE8 headed for home, but my remaining DV was hot on his tail, and got the kill.

Daniel called the game at this point. He still had two SE5s in play (one piloted by a novice), but they had to turn and cross the board to intercept Bailey's two- seaters, who were now heading for home with a stack of observation VPs on board. Maybe the Germans would have lost one or two, but we were pretty sure of getting something home. The Germans had shot down three British planes for the loss of only one of their own, so it was agreed they had won a fairly decisive victory.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their first game of Spandau & Lewis, and it rattled along despite having twelve planes in action and three novice players. Daniel enjoyed it so much that he's requested another game next week, but I may try a smaller scenario that we can run multiple times. After flying SE5s it might be fun to see how everyone copes with planes that are less nimble or well-armed.