AAR - Skype Game - Battle of Britain, RAF Stn Ventnor

[OldGuy59]

This was another attempt to get Dave [clipper1801] in on a Skype game, but he was unable to participate, again. This time, Paul [tikkifriend], Daniel [Dan-Sam] and Andy [Nightbomber] attended. Eric [7eat51], Sue [ling] and their friend George got called away on business, and Shane [Skyguy001] got tied up in traffic.

Where around the world we were situated:


Without Dave attending, I decided to run a bombing scenario, pulling up a map and satellite shot of Ventnor, Isle of Wight, UK. That became the bombing target for the German side. I had planned on running one plane, and having others share sides, but Shane didn't arrive before the worst occurred to the Allied side. Andy wanted to do the bombing with the Stukas, and Paul and Daniel flew the Bf-109s, so I took the Canadian Hurricanes to start.

More to follow...

[tikkifriend]

A great little game Mike . But Cannons vs 303

[OldGuy59]

This is how the game turned out...

Set-up:

Depending on who showed up, I selected a Schwarm of Bf-109s and two Stukas for the German side, coming in from the lower left. RAF Station Ventnor was the green and white oval on the upper right. A flight of Hurricanes were coming in from top center. We ended up with Andy [Nightbomber] flying the two Stukas, Paul [tikkifriend] flying Blue Leader (top-most Bf-109), Daniel [Dan-Sam] flying Yellow 1 (second-top Bf-109), and I was flying two of the three Hurricanes.


The Bombing:

Andy came straight across the board at slow speed, flying formation with Red 5 and Yellow 2 (the colours come from my colour dots to tell planes apart on the board and on my management table). Daniel split off to the left, and Paul came straight at the oncoming Hurricanes. I split my Hurricanes to attempt getting at the Stukas, My Flight Leader ended up as a bullet sandwich between the two Bf-109s, with a few .303 rounds bouncing off Blue Leader.


Second bullet sandwich in a row, and that was it for the Flt Ldr.


What two rounds of cannon fire, following fire and light machine gun fire looks like. I found all the big numbered chits in the "C" damage bin.


A Spitfire comes in to assist the remaining Hurricane from the lower right, as the the Hurricane attempts to shoot down the Stukas.


Closing in on two Stukas was not as deadly with a Hurricane, and I drew a bit of fire in the process. I didn't find all the big numbers in the "A" damage bin, though!


The Spit and Blue Leader overlap, which probably saved a bit of damage, and the Hurricane takes a shot from the tail gunner of Yellow 2.


Paul Immelmanns Blue Leader, and puts some cannon fire into the Spit. Daniel was off on a sight-seeing tour over Ventor, admiring the town and the beach.


I Immelmanned the Spit, underestimating my speed against the Stukas. I did end up in the blind-spot, but that just concentrated the Stuka fire on the Hurricane. Daniel is off to the lower left, still circling back around.


The damage on the Hurricane from the Stukas. A rudder jam, but not affecting the way I want to maneuver.
The Spit was a bit mauled by Paul's shooting, and you can see I was looking for the big numbers in the "C" damage bin, again!


I didn't take a picture of the damage on the second round of close range shooting between the Stukas and the Hurricane, as well as adding in Paul's shooting, but it was messy. I took another rudder jam in the opposite direction, and waayy too many rounds in the fuselage. The Hurricane became a loosely-grouped assembly of flying parts, not a homogenous construction. The Hurricane did manage to inflict enough damage on Yellow 2, and it went down. On it's way down, it hit the radar mast, and the bomb/plane damage destroyed it. Andy had to leave, so he may have missed this result. One successful hit, with the loss of the crew.


We follow Andy's planned moves with Red 5 Stuka, and he squarely hits the center mast, taking it out. Paul is planning an Immelmann, and Daniel is finally coming around from the bottom left, having enjoyed the sights of Ventnor. I was planning an Immelmann to rejoin the fight with my remaining plane, but discretion kicked in. I had a badly mauled plane, and three reasonably healthy opponents. The target was as damaged as it could be, and I would only throw away a pilot for nothing. Show a pair of heels to the Germans, and let the next shift deal with them.

Butcher's Bill:

Nearly clean get-away for the Germans. Paul was damaged, and one Stuka lost. RAF Stn Ventnor's radar masts were nearly completely destroyed. One Hurricane reduced to Window (Chaff for the Americans), and a Spitfire doing a very good impression of an aluminum colander.

Not a good day for the RAF.

Summary:
Great game, gentlemen! Thanks for joining in, and a pleasure to host the game. Great meeting you Daniel, and seeing the face of one of the Aerodrome's "Historians".

[tikkifriend]

Nasty those 109 cannons when they hit . Good game , 2 hours seemed to fly by. Thanks for hosting again Mike. no breaks in the links this time which was good news.

[Nightbomber]

Thanks for the game chaps - especially Mike who did his best to organize it It was a pleasure to meet you all online.

[Dan-Sam]

The game was really nice and I enjoyed it much. It was my first skype-play experience, but I definitely want to try it again Thank for hosting, Mike!

[Stumptonian]

Very interesting scenario.
Would like to pop in as an observer some time if Skype can handle it.

Definitely piques my interest in WWII games.
I have started my collection by nabbing 17 aircraft from Keith.
(Still need to get the Rules and Accessories pack)

BoB will be my main period of interest, so I will need to start looking for Hurricanes, early Spits, 109s, Stukas, etc. etc.

[OldGuy59]

This is how the game turned out...

...


I didn't take a picture of the damage on the second round of close range shooting between the Stukas and the Hurricane, as well as adding in Paul's shooting, but it was messy. I took another rudder jam in the opposite direction, and waayy too many rounds in the fuselage. The Hurricane became a loosely-grouped assembly of flying parts, not a homogenous construction. The Hurricane did manage to inflict enough damage on Yellow 2, and it went down. On it's way down, it hit the radar mast, and the bomb/plane damage destroyed it. Andy had to leave, so he may have missed this result. One successful hit, with the loss of the crew.

...

Cleaning up the consoles after the game, I found the damage still laid out for this last bullet sandwich on the Hurricane...


6 points total damage before closing in on Yellow 2, and the rudder hit with a total of four damage from the turn before.
However, this turn, with following fire from both Stukas, I took another rudder jam in the opposite direction. A bit troubling, but not the end.

Then, Paul opened up with Blue Leader! And, of course, I went rummaging around in the "C" damage bin for the big numbers, again! This is what prompted the "loosely-grouped assembly of flying parts" comment.

Perhaps Paul was paying me back for that Skype Demo game last year at InCON, where I blasted him with my SPADs (Link: AAR - InCONceivable Skype Game-2014).