This year's Marscon Wings of Glory game was a success. I had six players in the first scenario plus me running AA fire and three players including myself in the smaller, second scenario. I reprised models and ground terrain from last year's Siege of Malta scenario I ran.
The first scenario represented 1940, from where the legend of “Faith”, “Hope”, and “Charity” arose as the lone defenders of Malta.
The defenders set up their planes: two Gloster Gladiators and one Hawker Hurricane recently brought to reinforce the island.
The Italians set up their attack: one SM.79 Spaviero bomber, one Macchi C.200 fighter, and one CR.42 biplane that my friend Dwight had recently purchased.
The SM.79 cleverly turns to avoid the bracketed AA fire put up my the Maltese gunners. It might be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, however, as the SM.79's flight path goes toward the defending Gladiators.
The bomber and fighter exchange fire to little result.
The CR.42 and Gladiator square off. The Hurricane...just sort of wanders off.
The SM.79 gets trapped by AA fire concentration (and was hit by one on the next turn)
The majority of the fighters get into a furball that results in the CR.42 being shot down by a combination of fire from a Gladiator and the Hurricane. Somehow (I can't tell by the positioning of the planes in this photograph), the Hurricane also took an engine hit that limited his movement.
The SM.79 shoots down a Gladiator, but get distracted in his bombing run on the docked ships and ends up releasing his bombs a turn too late.
The Macchi C.200 strafes one of the Maltese AA batteries to some effect.
The Italians then fly off back to Sicily. The results of the battle are as follows.
English and Maltese
- “Faith” and “Hope” (Gladiators) shot down
- several Maltese AA gunners killed in strafing attack
Italians
- one CR.42 shot down
- SM.79 took several hits, but was still flyable
This would be an Italian victory except for the poor bombing run (the Italians also did poorly in bomb accuracy the last time I ran this scenario)
The second scenario represented 1942. George Buerling, known alternatively as “The Knight of Malta” and “Screwball” squares off againsts a pair of Reggiane Re.2001's. This was an opportunity to play with one of the new planes (the Spitfire Mk.IX piloted by Buerling – even if it is the wrong variant and paint scheme). I am playing the Spitfire, and even though it is clearly a superior plane, I am not confident in my odds.
Over the Mediterranean, Buerling approaches the two Falco II's from behind, who each break left and right.
We discover that the new planes are fast enough to get out of the trap the Reggiane's had planned. The Spitfire cruises across the sky of play.
Buerling and the Italian pilot engage each other at short range. The Italian player draws a dreaded explosion chit amongst the other damage counters he draws. I draw an engine hit which precludes me from moving fast.
After much maneuvering and circling, the Spitfire and Falco finally engage each other head on.
The engagement ends with Buerling shooting down the second Falco.
[IMG 0827]
The results are as follows.
English
- Buerling limps his engine damaged Spitfire back to Malta (13 out of 18 points of damage taken)
Italians
- Both Reggiane 2001's shot down. One from an explosion, the other from an accumulation of points
The results outside of the game are as follows: introduced three new players to the game, fueled the buying habits of two other players, everyone had fun, and I got to test out one of my new planes.
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