Lake Ladoga Ice Road
The scenario was based on stories I have read online about the Siege of Leningrad. This scenario combined a description of the Lake Ladoga ice road which the Soviets used to transport supplies into the city with stories about DC-3's (PS-84's I think was the Soviet designation at that time) transporting out civilians.
On one side, the Soviets lined up with a pair of Yak-1's and several lend lease planes in a P-40, two P-39's and a Hawker Hurricane. They needed to defend the DC-3 leaving the city and a convoy of trucks trundling across the ice (represented by the target cards on the right side of the picture below.
On the other side, the German deployed two Bf-109F's, two Bf 109E's, and a Fw 190. The picture shows our German players strategizing. They would send the fast, lighter gunned 109Fs to strafe the truck convoy, while sending the rest of the planes after the DC-3.
The fighters closed upon each other very quickly. Note the Bf 109F card beneath the P-40 – they barely avoided colliding! A special shout out goes to OldGuy59 who made the custom cards for the Bf 109F's.
The DC-3 dove and headed for the table side of the table, where there was a bank of thick fog, friendly AA batteries, or something that would enable the DC-3 to escape.
The 109F's started wrecking shop on the truck convoys.Their greatest danger was their own close flying formation which made them prone to collisions.
Speaking of collisions, the Fw 190 and Bf 109E pursuing the DC-3 collided with other, causing the Fw 190 down in flames toward the frozen lake. The DC-3 turret gunner made sure to quickly fire so that he could claim the Fw 190 as a kill, but first, his pilot had to make it to the edge of that fog bank...
Many hands make a Wings of Glory game go.
How do you keep a P-39 from smacking you with the close range fire of its 37mm cannon? You collide with it! The rules then work to your advantage. The player flying the Bf 109E didn't exactly plan it that way, but it was effective.
The German wingman then swooped up from behind and shot down the P-39.
Moments after the Hurricane shot down a Bf 109E, a Yak-1 and another Bf 109E face off, just as we had to roll up the game due to time and to clear the table for a Battletech game.
The game was a success. I had seven players: three experienced and four new ones.To even out the numbers of players, I even got to play myself, flying the DC-3 and the Hawker Hurricane (appropriate based on my Aerodrome avatar). Using an oversized d20 to keep everyone on the same turn, I know that we played 28 turns in about two and half hours.
I called the game a draw. Only one truck in the ice road convoy survived to reach Leningrad. One other truck survived, but was sandwiched between the flaming wrecks of two of the other trucks. On the other hand, the DC-3 escaped with its evacuees – even if it was just about shot to pieces. The Germans lost two planes: an Fw 190 (reported to the VVS as a kill credited to the DC-3, but the players knew better.) and a Bf 109E shot down. The Soviets lost one plane, a P-39 shot down by a Bf 109E.
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Great work there David & good to see you roping in new players.
Originally Posted by ptownhiker
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