P-51 v. FW190

[Setarius]

Report on Tuesday afternoon gaming session.
Players: Mike, veteran of strategy and roleplay gaming 40 yrs exp. Flying Ellington and Landers P-51.
Gary, novice, less than a yr gaming. Flying Gotz FW190.
Dale, (me), veteran of fantasy roleplay gaming and strategy gaming 40 yes exp. Flying 7/Jg 26 FW190.

Optional rules in use:
A) plan one card, play one card.
B) cannot shoot until you sight enemy. Must be within 2 ruler length of closest enemy and draw a special damage chit to sight enemy. Can fire after being fired upon.
Rules of engagement:
Fuel points 30 for both sides. Start at altitude 4. Both groups start 1 ruler length from edge of board.

Both groups flew straight for 3 turns with the Mustangs flying wingtip to wingtip and the Germans Gotz just slightly ahead of 7/Jg. Gotz and Ellington were approximately 1-1/2 rulers apart when Gotz drew a smoke chit and Ellington drew a 0 DMG chit. Gotz sighting the enemy let his partner know and executed a right sideslip, while 7/Jg flew straight. The Mustangs unaware of the enemy flew straight. 7/Jg opened fire on Ellington damaging his plane. The Mustangs continued straight while Gotz did another right sideslip and a straight, while 7/Jg turned sharp left twice to try to get behind the Mustangs.
Both Mustangs flew straight again to start an Immelman and executed/the Immelman. Gotz started a slow left turn and 7/Jg started his own Immelman, being far enough away from the Mustangs to safely accomplish the move. As 7/Jg completed the Immelman both Mustangs flew by just out of range.
Gotz having completed his left turns went head to head with both Mustangs. Gotz scored hits on the Mustang of Ellington as 7/Jg moved in to set up possible tailing shot on either plane. Gotz having taken massive DMG made a hard left and headed for the edge of the board.
Both Mustangs start their Immelman as 7/Jg fires on Landers and then executes a hard left sideslip. As both Mustangs come out of the Immelman 7/Jg ends up just off Landers right wingtip. Both Mustangs split with Landers going right and Ellington left. Ellington sees Gotz taking his time getting off the board and fires a long shot downing Gotz. As Ellington heading for the edge of the board and 7/Jg running low on fuel heading for the same edge, 7/Jg takes a long shot at Ellington downing him.

Landers escapes with a severely damaged plane. 7/Jg leaves board with 3 fuel points left and no damage.

Scoring this for future campaign purposes:

7/Jg...1 kill, 4 victory points
Ellington...1 kill, 0 victory points
Landers...minus 2 victory points
Gotz...minus 4 victory points

[Marechallannes]

Unfortunately no pictures.

How did the game work with only 30 fuel points for each plane? (I think you used 2 points for a fast maneuver and 1 point for a slow one)

[Setarius]

I did use 2 points for fast and 1 for slow. It worked pretty good, you had to get after it and quick. You really had to be careful of what maneuver you used and how fast you do them. It also makes you aware of how much time you really have as your chips disappear and you trade in a large chip for smaller ones.
Also we normally play on a 3ftx5ft table.
In the future I plan on limiting the amount of fuel both sides have depending on what kind of flying time I think has been involved to get to the meeting point. In one scenario I have the attackers having 30 fuel points while the defenders have 50. The reasoning is the defenders just scrambled from their base and the attackers have been in the air a while. I'll let you know how that works.

[Marechallannes]

Ok, as long as you remind the drop tanks of the Mustangs and the bases they could operate from in late 1944 -1945.

[Franco Lucchini]

How'd the players like the sighting rules? Seems even if they don't draw the right chit to sight, they would start maneuvering for a better shot.

[CappyTom]

Good job on this report. Love the 2 ruler length of closeness to see the enemy. Great using a point to check. Will have to try it.

Thomas

[Setarius]

As far as the sighting rules go, I liked them, Mike the guy playing the P-51's hated them, Gary the other player was neutral on them. The thing is Franco, I told the other players to act like there was cloud cover. I did not have what was needed to make clouds, so there was a good possibility that both groups could have flown past each other without seeing each other.

We are taking things slow and adding more rules as all 3 of us get used to the basic and more advanced rules.

I have several scenarios planned for the guys, including Pacific and European Theaters of Operation. I will report as I can with what pictures I can get.

Mike is one of those people that likes to read the rules then find the loopholes and exploit them or come up with his own idea on how things should be. Mike now wants to start limiting ammo to 2 minutes worth per plane and include such things as increase in speed if you dive, and rockets, so he can do "more effective" ground attacks. We haven't even tried ground attacks other than dive bombing.

[Franco Lucchini]

Good luck Dale!

For your sighting rules, perhaps have players repeat their chosen two maneuvers until sighting (or being shot at). Would better simulate level flight or slow circling while on patrol.

I'm in a similar boat just starting with a small group. Please keep posting your scenarios. I'm in need of new ideas.

Allen

[Gotham Resident]

My group is tiny. It's my son (age 10) and I. And sometimes my daughter (age 7). We haven't used fuel or sighting...well, in one scenario we did use that Side A couldn't fire until fired upon.

I have found that we randomly determine starting positions by rolling a die. I assign numbers to areas on the table (sometimes floor) and roll for us. Then I roll again for distance from edge (0,1,2 rulers). Sometimes we roll for heading. Other times for sighting. It started when we got our Heinkel, I put in the middle of the table and then rolled it all out. My son started behind me (the Heinkel) and I didn't see him until he fired.).

The campaign rules are interesting as well to make everyone 'invested.

[Setarius]

Mischa, I definitely like the idea of a die roll to determine starting position. On a standard card table I thought about using a d8 to determine starting spot. On a larger table maybe a d10 or d12. Being an old D&D player I have the ability to do up to a d100, if the area is big enough.
Right now we just come on at opposite ends and have at it. We are trying to get the dive bombing down so we can destroy the target rather than just damage it.

[Franco Lucchini]

In our last game (5 of us), we had 3 D.520s vs. 2 Re.2001s (one of them the CN). I shuffled and dealt out the aircraft cards. We were sitting around the table and planes had to start in front of its respective player. Made for quite a fur ball and a lot of social interaction.

[Setarius]

Allen,
Friday 22 May, 2015, my friend and I are going to practice level bombing. He is providing the Germans and I have the Brits.
Here is the set up: Germans
Heinkel He 111 (1), Messerschmitt Bf-110 (2), Messerschmitt Me-109 (2).
British
Hawker Hurricanes (5), Supermarine Spitfire (2)
Rules of engagement
Germans
Bomb 3 targets. Successfully destroy each one to get max points. Damage each and receive 1/3 points.

My friend is happy with getting points for just damage done. Am trying to force him into a successful bomb run.

Practice Dive bombing scenario I've used.
Japanese
Aichi Val (3), A6M2 Reisin Zero (2)
American Volunteer Group
P-40 Warhawk (2)

Rules of engagement
Dive bomb 3 targets

Or
Japanese
Aichi Val (3+), A6M2 Reisin Zero (2+)
American
P-40 Warhawk (2-4)

Rules of engagement
Japanese
Bomb the airfield, do not let any planes get airborne.
American
Start on ground. Cannot attempt to move any planes until after 1st bomb hits ground. Put markers for 8 planes on ground wingtip to wingtip. Randomly pick up to 4 planes to try to get airborne. Planes destroyed on ground by fire, max HP, or engine damage.
Tora, Tora, Tora.

This is just some of my ideas I've used and will be trying in the near future. Also, I am working on a scenario/story called There Can Only Be One.