Dunkirk

[Bigman]

finally got the chance to play some WOW at last. This scenario is the culmination of a loose campaign for the Battle of France with the British attempting to evacuate their ground forces and the Luftwaffe trying to stop them.

The set up was as follows. The game area is four feet by three feet. I used some beach tiles from a game called Battleground Fantasy warfare to create a beach at 3 feet along the short board edge (I really must learn how to upload diagrames )

The British have 10 ground units set up on the beach. The size of the beach tiles I had meant that they were strung out in a long line filling the beach.

There are two destroyers (from this site. actually USA but who's counting) set up at least 1 ruler length out to sea and 1 ruler length from the board edge.

British Aircraft

2 x Spitfires Mk 11's yes they were released by Dowding(reluctantly) to support the Dunkirk evac

2 x Hurricanes (from the Dawn of war set) Can't remember the mark


Luftwaffe

2 x Bf 109 E-4's

8 x Ju 87 in waves.

The way we set this up was no anti aircraft guns. The infantry and Destroyers used the damage markers indicated on the cards.

Two Stukas start on the table 1 ruler length from the edge opposite the beach. each time one is destroyed or completes its bombing run another starts from the origional position. At the same time the british remove one of their remaining infantry units representing thier escape from the beach.

The fighters start as follows

Spitfires Half a ruler land ward of the beach half a ruler apart

Hurricanes half way between the Destroyers and the beach

109's as per the Stukas.

The fighters remain in play unless destroyed or fly off board as per normal rules and do not re spawn.

We were worried that the inbalence in numbers might effect the play so that players just concentrate on shooting down the enemy so I devised this contriversial points system.

1) No points awarded to either side for shooting down enemy aircraft This is all about the ground units!

2) The Lufttwaffe score 20 points for each ground unit destroyed

3) the British score 20 points for each Unit evacuated

4) the Luftwaffe score 10 points for each Ground unit left on the beach

5) The luftwaffe score 30 points for sinking a destroyer plus half the evacuated ground units are considered destroyed.
I.E. if 4 units have been taken from the beach by the British it is assumed that two are on the sunk ship.

This may go against the grain for us fighter jocks but it did result in a very exciting game with Stukas jinking through heavy ground fire from infantry and ships a 109 breaking off from combat with a Hurri to strafe the beach.

Ultimatley the game was decided by the very last Stuka sinking a Destroyer which up till the had shot down four stukas as they tried to bomb her!

I will try to find time to write a fuller report later

[Doug]

Thanks for that as it gives me some ideas for a game I am working on which is roughly based on the Jap landings in Malaya with Australian aircraft (and British) trying to stop them.