OTT Mission 4
Santa's Little Helpers
I start with a few confessions! What with manic family activities and time away, I regret that I left myself short of time this month. Excuses, excuses, I know; but if you wish to omit my results because of what follows, then please do. I shall not be offended in the least : ) By not reading the mission details as thoroughly as I ought (until after the event!), I have made a number of errors. However, I hope they cancel one another out and that therefore the results might stand.
1. I used two bombers, but they both started at the same time.
2. I used the enemy two seater from the start of their entry.
3. I did not use altitude so, as the parachute drop had to be from a minimum of 4 pegs, I assumed that the altitude was too great for ground fire to be effective against the central powers aircraft.
4. I wasn't certain how to make the parachute drops and with so many aircraft around, I guessed that it would be impossible unless the bombers deliberately targeted the drop zones rather than the nearest enemy aircraft when calculating movement. I took on one of the bombers myself, so this really only applied to the second.
5. I couldn't find an XD deck so used Richard Bradley's X deck. But this contained impossible moves (eg sector 1 / 12 : dice throws 3 / 4 or 5/6 which require side slips that are not in the XD deck). In the end I used a combination of the X deck and the “Bombing” H Deck to target the drop zones for bomber 2 and applied common sense to any impossible moves that resulted – if that makes sense!
6. I decided that firing would be impossible where an aircraft was involved in a collision – not sure if that is correct.
7. I struggled (and have done so in the past) with sometimes deciding if an opposing aircraft is “closing” or “going away” - they often appear to be doing neither very clearly! So some decisions are a bit random and gave bizarre movement results. I did not change these as I assumed the pilots simply to be unsighted or disorientated.
8. I experimented with special damage results i.e. Several aircraft caught fire and should not thereafter travel in a straight line. On two occassions (once for either side) I allowed the illegal move but drew an “A” damage card instead, as an alternative to changing the movement to one “I deemed” suitable – the latter is obviously subject to bias no matter how hard I think I am trying not to let it be so. The reader's thoughts on this and the other points above, would be much appreciated.
So on to the mission report:-
Somewhere in Northern France December 25th 1917
“I hate Christmas and I hate bloody snow!”
“Now, now, Sholto, don't be such a miserable fellow, if you please. I hate moaners, especially at 6 o'clock in the morning. Think of the PBI stuck in the freezing cold, in those dreadful holes in the ground, day after day, with nothing but bullets and shells whizzing about their heads all the time. You at least have a reasonably comfortable bed and hot food to come back to. So, enough is enough. Lets get these bags stowed and play Father Christmas with a good will for the next few hours. I'll pretend you're a gnome helper” he finished, with a sly grin on his face.
“Oh, bloody funny, ha ha”
“Oh, come on; it'll be a breeze. You don't honestly believe the hun are going to bother us on such a festive occasion, do you?”
“Well I would, if I was them. But it aint the bloody hun I'm worried about, it's the prospect of freezing my bloody balls off for the sake of a few Christmas cards”
“Oh Lord, you really are a miserable git this morning. OK, no more banter until you've cheered up somewhat. Lets just get on with it shall we!”
They took off into the gloom of early morning, in the company of Lt Alex Clarke and his side kick, Sgt Alan Davis, who were flying another bomber. Neither they nor 2nd Lt Ralph Leather and Cpl Sholto Douglas, were familiar with the aircraft, having only flown it a few times before today. A “Caproni Ca36” it was called. Designed and produced, in Italy, by Gianni Caproni. She and her ancestors had been very usefully employed by the various Entente air forces since 1914; was constructed of wood and covered with fabric; had three engines; was capable of carrying a bomb load of 1,764 pounds and was armed, in this case, with two FIAT – Revelli machine guns of 7.7mm caliber. These guns were operated by two newcomers to the unit, 2nd Lt Harry Potser and Cpl Robin Stoode, whilst on the other bomber the gunners were Cpl Mick Salford and Cpl Jeb Stewart, all four as yet unknown to Ralph or Sholto after only a very brief introduction, this morning. Each aircraft therefore had a crew of four. Today, Cpl Sholto Douglas was acting as co-pilot, a role he had been preparing for for some time now, but was still not confident with – which explained his mood this morning. He was far happier as an observer! “Happy bloody Christmas” he thought to himself, as he began to shiver, despite the extra clothing he had dressed in for the occasion. “I'll give 'im bloody gnome!”
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As they approached the front line the light was beginning to improve. All seemed to be quiet.
“I told you so” shouted Ralph, “not a sign of a hun. They're all at home in bed and looking forward to a nice hot breakfast, whatever that might be where they come from!”
That was also the current opinion of Lt Robert Loraine and 2nd Lt Alan McLeod, both of whom had the unenviable task, on Christmas day, of accompanying these slow lumbering beasts in their SE 5a scouts. All they could see was a sheet of white, fresh snow, covering the landscape before them, marred only by a scattering of villages and woods, where the snow had failed to settle and of course, the long scars denoting the trenches that stretched more or less North to South ahead of them. “Soon get this job done” thought Rob Loraine to himself.
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On they flew, over a deserted village that was unlikely to ever see it's former inhabitant again, nor witness the Christmas celebrations and happiness of former years. Then suddenly Sholto blasphemed horribly. “I say, old man, that's a bit over the top, wouldn't you say” Ralph shouted his disapproval!
“No I bloody wouldn't, sir. Look over there” and he pointed to the North East, where appearing rapidly out of the early morning sunshine he had spotted his doom!
“Where, old man, I can't see a thing, what with the sun and all this snow!”
“Right there, sir, almost on bloody top of us now, sir”
At that moment, Lt Robert Loraine, flying low over the village church, spotted the oncoming flight of hun aircraft.
“Tri planes! Damn! I thought those blighters had disappeared from the scene.” Sure enough, the Fokker Dr1 had caused a lot of problems for the RFC a couple of months ago, but quite a few of them had appeared to fall apart in mid air, especially when diving, much to the relief of their opponents! Then they had disappeared from the sector. They hadn't been seen around for a long while. But sure enough, there they were again, four of the blighters, plus what looked like one of the new two seaters as well! This was going to make life difficult – and on Christmas day too!
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He looked across to Alan McLeod and gave the signal to close in and protect the bombers. Alan needed no persuading, he'd done this many times before and was confident. A good pilot. Born in the west of Canada, in British Columbia, he had grown up in a wild but beautiful landscape, of forests and rivers, bears and wolves, which had made him a pretty tough character. His parents had moved into Vancouver when he was ten, so he could “get an education” and it was there that he had made his life since then. Until, that is, the outbreak of war in Europe. He had no idea why he had joined up to fight, apart from perhaps a sense of adventure and the fact that his mother was English, so he felt a kind of attachment to that. His roots maybe! So here he was, about to face an enemy, yet again, that he really knew nothing about and had no real reason to fight, other than the fact they wanted him out of the way. “Tally ho” he thought to himself and banked to his port side.
Meanwhile, the four Dr1s and the two seater, representing the Central Powers, flew in fast from the North East. They had spotted a large yellow bomber in the early morning light and believed it to be on the way towards their fellow countrymen, entrenched to the east. They were not going to let that happen! Certainly not on Christmas day. What fiend had organized this bombing raid? The flight leader, Obltn Wilhelm Habich, immediately flew directly towards the oncoming bomber, opening fire at long range!
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“Verdammt noch mal! What am I doing firing at this range. I am better than that” he thought, “Ich denken meine thoughts are mit Weinachten. What a way to get myself killed. Focus mein Herr!” He missed, of course, but then so did the inevitable reply! But the range was closing rapidly and the next exchange was far more deadly! As the glow of the early morning sun hit the ground below them so too did a more sinister glow appear from one of the engines of the bomber. At this range, still a bit long, he could not miss the “fat slug”. But then, just as smoke began to poor from the central engine of the bomber, he sensed, rather than felt or heard, the bullets of his foe tearing through the fabric of his tri plane. “That was a bit close for comfort” he thought! Fortunately his enemy was distracted by the support he received from Paul Beckman, whose long range fire had also hit the bomber, albeit resulting in the guns of his friend jamming. (Caproni hit 2+2+fire; Dr1 Habich hit 2+1; Dr1 Beckman guns jam)
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Then all hell was let loose as it became apparent that there were far more aircraft involved in the tussle than any one had at first realised. The next few minutes were sheer mayhem, to put it mildly!Robert Loraine was next into the action, catching Ltn Otto Poeschke in the flank, but he too opened fire too early and his bullets flew wide of their mark. Flashing past the Fokker, like a bat out of hell, he put a further burst of fire into the hun two seater only for his enemy to return fire so effectively as to set his engine on fire “Hell!” Our Canadian hero, meanwhile, had managed to outflank Otto Poeshke, his bullets ripping wildly into the fabric of Otto's fuselage but fortunately, for the hun, hitting nothing more vital than his pride! Jeb Stewart, sitting in the rear gun position of the yellow bomber did well for a rookie too. All that practice on dummy targets finally paid off when his first ever burst of machine gun fire actually hit the target! Beckman was not amused!
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(SE5a Loraine hit 2+2+fire; 2 seater Krebs hit 4+1) (Dr1 Poeschke hit for 5; Dr1 Beckman for 1+fire)
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(Caproni hits Dr1Beckman but rear gun jams)
It appeared that the safest place to be, right then, was on the other bomber, that had flown into the area well to the south and was about to play Father Christmas, unmolested by the hooligans playing off to his left. But Alan McLeod was far from safe.
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(SE5a McLeod hit 1+3+engine damaged) ( Dr1 Johns hit 1+smoke)
In fact he was about to make a grave error – he continued to bank to his port side, which unfortunately brought his SE5a into the perfect position to be beaten, like the metal between both hammer and anvil, by the entire group of oncoming Central Powers aircraft “Oops!”
The Caproni he was meant to be escorting was able to give him a little supporting fire, from an ever increasing range as it and the Fokkers, et al, parted company, going in opposite directions. He on the other hand was going their way! Ltn Karl Johns in a Dr1 and Fwbl Arthur Krebs, piloting a Halberstadt CLII, opened fire on him at the same time, with dire consequences. One second, all seemed to be going the way of the Entente boys. Next second they were facing the prospect of losing one of their number. And there was little anyone could do about it! To make a further point, the rear gunner of Krebs' two seater, Ltn Karl Rosenstein, even had a long distance pot shot at the other SE5a. It missed, but all the same!
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“There go our bloody Christmas presents!” said one “Tommy” down on terra firma, although it really wasn't firm ground at all and the boys were wading in slushy freezing mud. But nil desperandum lads, 2nd Lt Ralph Leather is here to save the day, “Even if everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves with a bit of a dust up, one of us at least has a sense of duty towards you down trodden poor bloody infantry. Watch out below, cards socks and Christmas pud on its' way.” And with that the first of Santa's sacks was jettisoned, to sail gracefully down to the waiting Tommies. Unfortunately, the drop wasn't quite accurate enough, but at least we think some of the socks got through ok! (Santa sack dropped – 25% coverage of target – 2MP)
“Bloody hell! McLeod's in trouble” shouted Sholto Douglas, as they came round to face North and the full scale of the problem was revealed to our favourite corporal! “Anything we can do to 'elp 'im out?”
“Sorry old man, not this time. Got to get these sacks off loaded! After that we'll see what we can do, if there is anything left of him. It does seem he's gone and got himself into a bit of a pickle, what! The odds are not looking too favourable are they?”
“You can say that a bloody gain!” muttered Sholto.
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(SE5a McLeod hit 3+5+pilot wounded – McLeod must try to head for the barn; Dr1 Kemph 1 damage from fire)
Meanwhile, back in the centre of that awful mess, McLeod was beginning to sweat badly. He knew he'd made a mistake, but he also knew he was good at this game! It might still play out favourably!
Daka daka daka daka – came the all too familiar rattling beat of the machine guns aimed in his direction, from two more of the Dr1s. He returned fire at close range but was uncertain of the damage he'd done or received. Then his rudder went slack and he found he couldn't turn to port!
“Damned fine time for that to happen” he cursed. But he survived that rather hairy round!
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(SE5a McLeod hit 2+1+left rudder damaged: Dr1 Beckman hit 2+3)
But his luck did run out, finally! Ralph Leather was a witness and despite relenting and giving as much support as he could, he was horrified to see the SE5a explode in a sheet of flame and tumble from the sky. He had finally been shot down by the rear gunner of the Halberstadt! Was there any chance that McLeod could survive that? Perhaps the snow below might help!
“Poor bastard” thought Sholto Douglas.
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(Caproni Leather hit 3+Pilot wound, drew III rear gun jammed: Dr1 Johns hit 1+pilot wounded: Dr1 Poeschke hit 1: SE5a McLeod hit BOOM)( Rear gunner Ltn Karl Rosenstein claims 1 Kill)
“Ouch, bloody 'ell” he then yelled “I've been hit” and for a moment all went fuzzy as he almost fainted. 2nd Lt Leather too was now coming under attack, but his gunners were doing a good job, until, that is, the rear gun stopped spitting its bullets. The damn thing had jammed, again!
“Are you ok Sholto?” enquired Leather. Cpl Douglas, for his part, was quite touched to hear the note of anxiety in Leather's voice; until Leather pointed out that, should he himself be hit, Douglas would be expected to take over! “Could you still do that old man?” Douglas muttered something expletive under his breath then added “Yea, I'll survive and yes, I could still fly this bloody crate back to the barn for you! Sir!”
The hun were not getting it all their own way though. Karl Johns was hit by a bullet that glanced off something and nicked his arm. Not a serious wound, but enough to distract him for a brief moment and lead to a loss of blood. Poeschke too came under fire from the Caproni to his left. He'd have to do something about that ba**ard!
Unfortunately for his side, they all had the same idea. What followed was very confusing!
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(Collision : Dr1 Beckman 2 damage / Halberstadt CII Krebs 0 damage) (Collission: Halb. Krebs damage 8 / Dr1
(Collision : Dr1 Poeschke 0 damage / Dr1 Johns 0 damage) Beckman 10 Crashes)
(Dr1 Johns hit from Caproni – damage 1+ right rudder damaged)
Had he been able to take photographs of the incidents occuring over the next few seconds, this is what they would have looked like. Let me explain! The reader will be able to make out three aircraft (not counting the crashed SE5a) in the left hand photo. However, there are actually five there, including another Dr1 (Poeschke) and a two seater (Krebs). Only in their hurry to dispatch the Caproni, that being their nearest target, they all turned towards it in slightly different ways and, yes you've guessed it already, the result was a couple of collisions. The first resulted, amazingly, in very little damage to anyone, with the exception of the Dr1 piloted by Paul Beckman. In fact Beckman had collided with the two seater, the latter of which was surely to blame, in his opinion, although Krebs, flying the two seater, seemed totally oblivious and his aircraft totally undamaged! (One must assume that he was still overwhelmed with the glee of having claimed part responsibility in knocking one of the famed SE5s from the sky!)
The same can be said of the other collision, between Poeschke and Johns. Neither aircraft sustained one single bit of damage; although the latter was also hit, in passing, by the front gunner of that damned Caproni they were all after! Some might say this was a touch of Karma I believe. Then came disaster, at least for Ltn Paul Beckman. In all of the foregoing confusion, I have to report that Fwbl Arthur Krebs did not aquit himself satisfactorily, as his superiors will undoubtedly state catagorically! He continued to fly in a large circle and hit poor Beckman again, this time with very serious consequences. Beckman's Dr1 plunged earthwards in a spiral, and hit the ground with a sickening thud! Krebs meantime, horrified and not a little stunned by the incident, managed to stay in the air. But not for much longer I fear. This entire action was fast turning into a complete murderous blood bath!
During those brief few seconds, the other SE5a, flown by Lt Robert Loraine, was doing its' best to shaperone Father Christmas number two. However, by this time, both were on fire, albeit under control and not, apparently, suffering any consequential damage as yet. The Caproni was nearing its first drop zone, now unfettered by the enemy, so Loraine, who had spotted the fiasco over to his right, decided to add his pennyworth and headed off, directly into the path of our not so heroic two seater pilot. Daka daka daka daka – the music played again!
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(Caproni recovers rear gun which engages Dr1 Habich - effect nil but gun jams for the umpteenth time!) ( SE5a Loraine takes on 2 seater – SE5a 0 damage, but 1 from fire / 2 seater 3+2 +left rudder damage – shot down) (SE5a Loraine claims 1 Kill)
Down went the Halberstadt, its' victory remembered for but a short while and revenged by its' victim's partner!
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(SE5a Loraine hit – BOOM) (Dr1 Habich claims 1 kill although his guns are temporarily out of action)
True! But how much shorter was the time Lt Robert Loraine had to relish the sweetness of that revenge. Daka daka daka daka, this time from the Dr1 of flight leader Obltn Wilhelm Habich who let fly at point blank range, with lethal effect. Boom!!! Down went the second of the two SE5s, leaving the two lumbering Italien built birds totally without support.
Lt Alex Clarke was becoming rather perturbed, to put it mildly, but despite the likelihood of disaster looming in the not too distant future, he did his utmost to remain calm; stiff upper lip and all that; and focus intently on his first drop of the mission. Success, he believed, feeling a great sense of
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relief. “Only thing left to do now is try to finish the mission and then get the hell out of here and back to the barn – bloody Christmas” He too was having trouble reconciling the season of good will to all men with the blood fest that was this war! (Xmas gift box drop 75% success – 4 MP)
“So onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war. Thanks a bloody bundle Sabine Baring-Gould, for those damned words of wisdom”. Now he was feeling angry, flying towards his next drop and consequently over the graveyard of aircraft that was growing by the second. His forward gunner,
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(Caproni Leather makes second drop – 25% success and heads for the barn with a wounded co pilot. Dr1 Habich hit – damage 3)
CplMick Salford, took a long distance shot at a Fokker and was delighted to see he had hit home significantly. Meanwhile Alex Clarke had made what looked like a second successful drop. “Thank heavens”, Leather thought to himself, if I can only do the same, then perhaps, just perhaps, we might get out of this mess.
“Mein Gott” thought Obltn Habich as something sunk in between all the excitement. “They are dropping parachutes, not bombs! This is a Verdammt gift run for Weinachten, not a bombing run against our lads. We're killing one another over a bunch of Verdammt socks and puddings! What is this world coming to? Scheisse, scheisse, scheisse – nein!”
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(Caproni Clarke hit 1+4+smoke; Dr1 Habich hit 3) (Caproni Leather makes second drop – 25% 2MP)
And so he turned towards the source of his anger, his grief at the loss of some friends and the stupidity of the situation and he fired his machine guns in a long, lingering, burst signifying his frustration. But it did little good, only harm as he exposed himself to the danger of return fire unnecessarily! Bullets ricocheted around him, doing some damage, but he was hardly aware of that and quickly he flashed past his enemy, screaming abuse which they would never hear! But the worst of his action was yet to come. Otto Poeschke had seen him fly into the attack and had followed, to give his support.
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(Caproni hit by Dr1 Poeschke 3+engine damage “drew counter 1”; Dr1 Poeschke hit 4+3+pilot wounded. Dr1 crashes with 16 damage)
(Caproni fwd gunner Cpl Mick Salford claim 1 kill)
That then, was the end of him! Mick Salford, the rookie forward gunner in the Caproni, shot him down with two well aimed bursts. Mick distinctly remembered, afterwards, seeing the pilot of the Fokker flinch and saw also the blood that splattered backwards in the slipstream. It made him vomit! Could that pilot have survived. Better for the war effort if he didn't. Better for Mick's soul if he did.
After that it was pretty much all over. The two surviving Fokker pilots chased the two surviving Capronis back to their lines. The yellow Caproni made its' second gift drop, which was unsuccessful, drifting off somewhere into no-mans-land. Who knows in whose hands that ended up.
The Fokkers failed to chase down the lumbering bombers and were forced to turn back before going too deeply into enemy territory.
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And so another Christmas day came to a sad end. The surviving pilots going back to their respective barns, to lick their wounds and ponder on the meaning of life – or death and to raise a glass to absent friends, some of whom they had shared breakfast with!
The end
OTT Mission 4 – Santas Little Helpers
Butcher's Bill
Entente
Attachment 207850
Lt Alex Clarke / RTB / No Kills / all well
Sgt Alan Davis / RTB / No Kills / all well
Cpl Mick Salford (Gunner) / RTB / 1 Kill / all well
Cpl Jeb Stewart (Gunner) / RTB / No Kills / all well
Made one successful drop 75% - 4 MPs
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2nd Lt Ralph Leather / RTB / No Kills / all well
Cpl Sholto Douglas / RTB / WIA / No Kills. Roll 2D6 = 2+1 = 3 – 1 WIA +3 RTB = 5 Injured – skip 1D3 Scenarios. Roll 1. Skip one scenario.
Ltn Harry Potser / RTB / 1 Kill / all well
Cpl Robin Stood / RTB / No kills / All well
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Lt Robert Loraine / EXP / FT / 1 Kill. Roll 2D6 = 5+2 = 7 – 3 EXP = 4 Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios. Roll 2 - Skip 2 Scenarios.
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2nd Lt Alan McLeod / EXP / WIA / FT / No Kills. Roll 2D6 = 6+3 = 9 -1 WIA -3 EXP = 5 Injured – skip 1D3 Scenarios. Roll 4 = Skip 2 Scenarios.
Central Powers
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Ltn Karl Johns / RTB / WIA / No Kills. Roll 2D6 = 5+1= 6 -1 WIA +3 RTB = 8 Injured – skip 1D2 scenarios. Roll 5 = Skip 2 scenarios.
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Obltn Wilhelm Habich / RTB / 1Kill / all is well.
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Ltn Paul Beckman / COL / ET No Kills. Throw 2D6 = 3+2= 5 -2 COL = 3 Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios. Roll 3. Skip 3 scenarios. E & E Roll 2D6 = 6 + 2 = 8 -1 WIC = 7 – 1 ET = 6 In hiding Skip 1D2 Scenario. Roll 1 Skip 1 scenario! – Not sure which to apply, this or skip 3 scenarios as above.
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Ltn Otto Poeschke / SD / WIA / ET No Kills. Parachutes – Roll 1D6 = 6. Shot Down – lands ok.
WIA Roll 2D6 = 4+1 = 5 -1 WIA – 1 SD = 3 Injured – skip 1D6 scenario. Roll 3. Skip 3 scenarios
E & E Roll 2D6 = 6+3=9-1WIA-1ET=7 Landed almost home skip 1 scenario (or 3 as above?)
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Fwbl Arthur Krebs / SD / ET / No Kills. Throw 2D6 = 5+2=7 -1 SD = 6 Injured – skip 1D3 scenarios. Roll 3 – skip 2 scenarios. E & E Roll 2D6 = 2+1 = 3 – 1 WIC – 1 ET + 1 Captured. The war is over for this pilot.
Ltn Karl Rosenstein / SD / ET / 1 Kill. Throw 2D6 = 2 + 1 = 3 – 1 SD = 2 Dead
Results of Parcel drop
Parcel cards covered: 2 x 25% ; 1 x 75% = 8MP
Santa makes it back to start = 2 MP
Enemy scouts shot down x 2 = 2 MP
Total 12 MP
Hope I got this right. Uncertain how to deal with a) parachuting pilots after SD b) Dealing with E & E
Many thanks for correcting if necessary.
Mike
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