The Kindness of Strangers WW2 Solo Campaign: Chapter 10 - Upper Hand
June 3, 1940
I sat on the sofa after debriefing. Joachim served us all drinks. Eris looked down and we all sipped our drinks silently. After a while, Kyte looked a few moments to his watch. "If they didn't land in another airstrip, the're already out of petrol..." Joachim went out and we sat there waiting. We knew that he went out to call HQ to know what happened to Red and Yellow sections. Eris kept looking down. "If you ever", started Kyte sofly, "ever again disregard a direct order by my, you'll find yourself for the rest of the war in prison..." Eis looked up at him. "Yes, sir. Thank you sir..." Joachim returned a few moments later. His face told us everything...
We've caught them by surprise. We were flying higher than Red and Yellow sections to protect them. They had already engaged several German bombers on their way to Calais. The Germans had become frantic these days as they saw that we were successfully withdrawing our men, surrounded at Dunkirk. I was following Joachim and Eris was tailing Kyte. I saw the Me-109's as they went slowly down, trying to take Red and Yellow sections from behind. "Six bandits twelve o'clock low", I've shout over the radio. "Well spotted", praised me F.O. Kyte, "let's take them down before the see us."
And we moved on against them. If only we could reach them before they saw us it would made up for numbers.
But they saw us immediately. As they turn to face us, Joachim told me, "keep up with me, Dave, we'll need all our firepower."
As we faced them, we were in a better position. But F.O. Kyte was on point and we knew that the Germans would fire against him. I felt my heart in my throat.
Kite's Hurricane took a lot of damage.
But his voice remained calm. "Weathering it quite well, chaps." I could hear the sound of his eight machine guns.
And I saw his fire hitting one of the One-Oh-Nines.
And we all fired against the fighter chosen by our leader. It wasn't enough to bring it down.
Kyte and Eris entered the confusion of fighters passing each other. Joachim maneuvered himself into an excellent position and I tried to follow him with a lesser degree of success.
The German cannons of the One-Oh-Nines are terrible when used properly and I felt it on my skin. "Are you alright", asked Joachim. I was, I just didn't have the time to answer him back.
Then we both fired at the same One-Oh-Nine. Our bullets raked him completely.
And he went down like a rock. "Claimed!" said Joachim. I was caught by surprise. "I thought we shared kills..." "No", he said. "The first one to shout claim, claims the kill..." I only understood that he was joking when I heard Kyte's laughter.
One of the German fighters made a reverse and we were suddenly in the tail of another one. Although we didn't caught them completely by surprise, it was notorious that they had lost cohesion.
An ace is an ace and Kyte's came out of his reverse firing against a German fighter.
As perfectly as we could, Joachim and I fired against the One-Oh-Nine we were tailing and we hit him in the canopy. We saw the plane out of control and the reality of that shook me.
"Claimed..." I said weakly. "Yes..." replied Joachim, "not funny anymore..."
A few seconds had passed. Two German fighters were falling down, I had spent almost all my ammo and the One-Oh-Nines were pulling out.
Both Kyte and Eris fired against one of the escaping fighters. "Let's pull out. They're retreating", said Kyte. "Let's return home, refuel and rearm."
"What are you doing, Eris?!" "I can take this one, sir... Give me just a couple of seconds."
"Do not engage it alone, Eris! Come back into formation."
"I'm almost taking it. One more second sir..." "Come back right now, Eris!"
"Got you!" "Come immediately back to formation! You're grounded!"
"I just took him, sir!" "I couldn't care less if you've taken the entire Luftwaffe! I say jump and you try to jump even if you have both legs cut by the hip, do you understand?!" "Yes sir..."
The German fighters were moving inland. We reformed in silence. "This is Blue Leader. Squadron leader, do you copy?"
Scenario Briefing
1. Sometimes a squadron or flight got lucky and jumped the enemy unaware. The rules were simple. First turn: Germans would spot the Hurricanes with a 6 on an D6. Second turn 5 or 6 and so on until firing started. (I rolled a 6 on the first turn.
2. German pilots were all Standard except the leader. He was a Veteran.
3. I'm using the Universal Diceless Solo WW2 Chart.
4. Flying Officer Kyte is an ace with 6 kills and the Ace Combat ability: Sniper.
5. Pilot Officer Joachim Franciszek is an ace with 14 kills and 2 shared kills (3 kills and 2 shared kills official) (2 shared kills in this scenario) and the following 2 Ace abilities: Acrobatic pilot and Perfect Aim.
6. Pilot Officer Dave Sailor is a Regular pilot with 1 Kill and 2 shared kills (2 shared kills in this scenario)
7. Pilot Officer Eris Westminster is a Regular pilot with 1 kill (1 kill in this scenario)
8. Angling Shots - All shots that don't enter the enemy plane in its rear arc and front arc are always long range shots;
All close range shots that enter the enemy's plane rear arc at close range add an A damage chit;
All close range shots that enter the enemy's plane frontal arc are treated as normal.
These rules adds to the extra A damage chit for continuous fire (i.e. firing against the same enemy plane for consecutive turns).
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Good point to discuss tactics of a group engagement...
Originally Posted by Blackronin
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