Archie So Thick You Could Have Walked Home
I was reading Billy Bishop's autobiography, and he more than once commented how at times on AA fire was so very heavy. Then, a couple of days before PRS, Flammenkopf and Capt. Willard came over to my house, I was reading a report about the German attempt to push through the BEF in May 1915. The Germans used chlorine gas, and even though the British had photo reconnaissance showing evidence of the stockpiles, neither the British nor the French correctly interpreted it and thus did not bomb the area (apparently the Germans had piled the chlorine gas shells in piles, 40 meters apart). The German's use of gas achieved complete surprise, and the Germans almost broke through the British lines, making it all the way to the artillery lines (and being driven back by direct fire). When a German captured officer later asked what lay beyond the guns that his unit had almost reached, the answer was "Headquarters."
So putting these two (lots of AA and aerial observation of the impending attack) I came up with the following two scenarios, which take place simultaneously. (Note: I know that the planes in the scenario where not available in May 1915, but not a lot of planes were. I used planes that come online in 1916, which I thought would make the game more fun to play than a bunch of MS Type Ns and Eindeckers.)
As I mentioned, the British had the photo reconn intelligence but did not manage to put two and two together. After this mistake, each squadron had its own intelligence officer to help interpret photo recon. But the real reason the photo recon was not used is disclosed in the following two (fictitious) scenarios.
Scenario I: The Royal Observation Corps HQ
British HQ suspected something was going on. Balloon observations and scattered reports from local spies made it clear something big was going on, but what? Scout planes have been sent out in ones and twos but none has returned, so clearly the Germans were doing their best to protect something. The decision was made to send out all squadrons simultaneously; someone would have to get through. While that may leave the Royal Observation Corps HQ without air cover, it is far behind the lines and well protected by AA.
Everything goes as planned, except Major Collins, in charge of the RFC squadron protecting HQ, has a wheel come off the landing gear while taxiing. Mechanics rush to fix the problem. Ensigns Wet and Dry stay behind to wait for him.
As they finally take to the air and pass HQ, they see some planes coming in towards them. Surely it is too early for the rest of the squadron to return?
It is. It is the German's attempt to completely blind the British. A strike force of five Roland C.IIs (three with two guns, two with rear gunner only) have snuck through the lines, carrying a heavy bomb load (three bombs each; until they drop one bomb load, each Roland must play one stall each turn). Their orders: destroy ROCHQ, which consists of three buildings (partial victory). If at least one Roland can return to base to report how thin the BEF's lines are and all HQ buildings destroyed would be a a decisive victory. Standing between them: three DH2s and NINE AA guns (I was thinking about having the AA guns protected by trenches, but we only had four players total so the logistics were difficult enough already. For that reason, we also played without altitude). We also decided to ignore the water on the map (hence the AA guns in the water).
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Originally Posted by Baron Rolf
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