Fokker Patrol

A few years ago I started playing solo games of 'Spandau & Lewis' using a threat system. Here's the original post in which I tried it.

Anyway, in one post I ran a Fokker EIII and noted that I didn't have much in the way of opponents for it as up until recently Tumbling Dice hadn't made any suitable planes. I came across this observation the other day, and realised that I now had a nice range of suitable options to challenge an Eindecker. So yesterday I set up some games.

I took the opportunity to fiddle with the way the threat deck was created.

You will have a deck which is a mix of threat and dummy cards. Use standard playing cards.

Draw up a list of threats, with each one assigned to a card. I use red cards for threats. Ten is good if you have the models to cover it; mine is drawn up in such a way that I could theoretically field all ten threats.

For each plane in your patrol draw two threat cards. Draw an equal number of dummy cards (obviously I use black cards as dummies). Shuffle them, then discard half of them without looking at them. Then add two card to the deck for each plane you are using - the first should be a threat card, and the others dummies.

e.g. You are running two planes. Draw four threat cards and four dummies, shuffle them and discard four cards. Then add one threat and three dummies (four cards total). Your deck will contain eight cards and may have anywhere between one and five threats in it.

I drew up the following threat list, representing Entente aircraft in the Summer of 1915:

A - 1 x BE2 (1-3  Unarmed, 4-6 MG armed)
2 - 2 x BE2 (1-3 Unarmed, 4-6 MG armed)
3 - 1 x FB5*
4 - 2 x FB5*
5 - 1 x Bristol Scout (1-3 MG armed*, 4-6 Unarmed)
6 - 2 x Bristol Scouts (1-3 MG armed*, 4-6 Unarmed)
7 - Morane L* (Single-seater with front MG)
8 - 2 x Morane L (1-3 Unarmed, 4-6 MG armed)
9 - 1 x Farman MF11
10 - 2 x Farman MF11

Planes with an * will actively hunt and engage the Fokkers. Other planes are on reconnaissance missions and will attempt to escape (although will fight if forced to it).

Only one Bristol scout in the game will ever have the MG mount.

Unarmed planes are assumed to have small-arms.

Roll for crew quality as normal. You can decide on the crew quality of your own plane, allowing you to set the challenge as you see fit. In both of the games reported here I went for experienced pilots.

I drew a card at the start of each turn. If it was a threat then I positioned this direction rose over the Fokker that was closest to the enemy edge:

I rolled 2D6 and the threat appeared in that direction relative to the Fokker. It appeared 3d6" away. I turned the threat towards the nearest Fokker and then rolled on the rose again to see what direction it was actually facing (so if you rolled a 3,7 or 11 it would stay facing towards it, for example).

Threats are considered to be unaware of the Fokkers and must spot them. Until they do they behave as follows:

Reconnaissance planes would determine which board edge was the furthest from their current position. They would turn until they were facing that edge and then attempt to leave the board via it.

Other planes are on patrol. They will turn until they were facing the centre of the board, fly towards it and then circle it.

As per the rules, planes that have not spotted an enemy will move at a speed of 3 and can make a single 45 degree turn without checking for it.

That's a lot of setup information, and much of it is for a future me to read. But it may be useful to others.

In my first game I set up one Fokker. This meant a deck of four cards. 

The first card gave a pair of BE2s, unarmed except for small arms. They appeared about 10" away in direction 9 facing towards the Fokker. Both crews were experienced.

They spotted the Fokker straight away, and attempted to run for the furthest edge whilst banging away with rifles. One actually hit the Fokker but did no damage (it was a scary moment though).

They turned for the safety of a cloud. The Fokker pursued, firing as it did so. But the German's rolls were abysmal.

One BE2 ducked into the cloud whilst the other failed to make the turn and carried on. The Fokker pursued that one.

The treat deck had produced a single unarmed Morane L, but it wasn't worth going after it. It plodded across the board towards the opposite edge, aware of the fight but unwilling to take part.

The Fokker continued its pursuit and continued to miss with every shot it made.

The BE2 found a cloud to hide in. The Fokker chased it through. It would have one clear shot on the other side.

It was the best shot it had had all game. Every dice missed. The BE2 escaped. The Fokker had fired off half of its ammo for no effect. With no other threats in play it went home.

I set up a second game, this time with two Fokkers. Since they tended to hunt alone I split them up on opposite sides of the board. The one closest to the enemy edge would be the threat magnet, though.

The first threat were two oblivious Farman MF11s. These are armed but very, very slow,

One of the Fokkers worked into their rear.

The other waited to ambush them when they came out of the cloud they'd hidden in.

Another threat - a Morane L with new-fangled Garros wedges. And it was hunting the Fokkers. It also rolled an ace pilot.

One Fokker moved to engage this new threat whilst the other tried to get into the rear of the Farmans.

An unarmed Bristol Scout also appeared out of nowhere. This was just looking to head home and with plenty of targets in play the Fokker pilots were inclined to let it.

The lead Fokker swooped in on the Morane L, and inflicted hits on it.

The Farmans were now making their escape as the other Fokker somehow lost contact with them. The Scout is heading off to the right.

The Farmans escaped, undamaged but slightly rattled.

The action would now be the two Fokkers against the Morane L. This is slower than the German planes, but more maneuverable and, of course, with a much better pilot.

The second Fokker closed up on it

They exchanged shots as they passed, bot scoring damage.

But the more nimble Morane got onto the tail of the Fokker.

The Fokker went down with its engine on fire.

The other Fokker had been trying to get back into the fight but was too late to save his companion. However the Morane was fairly shot up and could maybe be finished off.

However it was obvious that the Morane was too tough an opponent for a single Fokker to risk engaging, and the Fokker fled. A straight run for home wasn't a sensible move as, although the Morane was slower, it would still get in a few tail shots before being left behind. So the Fokker attempted to lose it in a cloud.

This gave it enough of a lead that it could pile on the speed and escape.

But with one Fokker shot down for no French or British planes downed it was a bad day for the Germans.

In future games I may tweak how the cards work a little; one idea I have had is to simply add dummy cards after discarding the first half deck. But then draw a threat from those not dealt into the deck on teh first turn. It makes sense to have some enemy aircraft on the board from the start. It's possible that this could be the only threat the player faces; the deck may contain nothing but dummies. But you can never be sure. I might also deal dummy cards out so that the minimum size of a deck is six cards; this will spread out the treats a little if you are using a single plane.