After Action Report: WGF at Balticon 51

[zenlizard]

Another success, I think, I got a fair number of comments from participants, observers & organizers along the line of "Come Back & Do This Again". The scenario I set up:
April, 1918: The Kaiserschlacht is in full swing. In support, the Germans have sent out a number of bomber raids to hit the supply dumps, choke points, etc, behind the Allied lines. This scenario assumes that the Germans have sent out escorts to support the bombers, but, lacking the range of the bombers themselves, have been forced to do limited-range shifts of ingress & egress support. The Allies, of course, have sent up interceptors to stop the raids, or failing that, inflict such losses that repeat raids are crippled.

The play area is two standard play mats, end-to-end, with the German & Allied "safe" zones at opposite ends. Any aircraft exiting enemy "safe" zone is destroyed by forces not immediately involved: exiting off your own "safe" zone or the sides is a no-return situation, but a side exit does cost you individual scenario points for running for home. Altitude rules are used. Escort & interceptor aircraft will enter 1/2 ruler-length from their own safe zones. Germans will start at altitude 3, Allies at Altitude 4. At a point determined before the game by the gamesmaster, one or two Gotha G-V bombers will enter from the Allied safe zone, and attempt to exit off the German safe zone. Bomber(s) to be controlled by the gamesmaster. Optional rules regarding tailing and +1 continuous targeting are to be used. GAme ends when bomber(s) have been destroyed or exited; at that point, it is assumed that fuel limitations have forced the remaining aircraft to break off combat. Any continuing damage (fire) is still to be resolved, however. As the game is designed to introduce new players, any and all boom cards will count for 1/2 airframe damage (it can be quite discouraging to learn a game, and on the first pass, get knocked out of the scenario). Scenario is modular, for up to 12 players: I ended up with five. Order of Battle therefore is:
For the Allies:
From left to right, Alexander, flying Elwood's Sopwith Camel; David, flying Rickenbacker's SPAD S. XIII; and Daniel, flying Couadou's SPAD S. XIII


For the Germans:
Frmo left to right, Tok, flying Udet's Albatros D-Va (he was very pleased that I had this particular model in my inventory); and Joe, flying Richthofen's Fokker Dr-1


And one Gotha G-V, flown by myself.

[zenlizard]

The escort, as stated, starts at altitude 3 on their side:


And the Allies, at altitude 4 on theirs:


and close rapidly:


then Tok/Udet makes a slight turn to try and avoid a head-on pass:

He has been climbing, but the Allies maintain their altitude advantage.

[zenlizard]

Joe/Richthofen tries to thread the seam between David/Rickenbacker & Alexander/Elwood:


Both sides bypass, with little to no shooting, due to altitude difference:


Until finally, Daniel/Couadou gets in the first shot at Tok/Udet:


Alexander/Elwood & David/Rickerbacker reverse to follow Joe/Richthofen; he follows suite, while Daniel/Couadou pursues Tok/Udet:


Tok/Udet turns to evade Daniel/Couadou's fire, while the other aircraft again bypass each other (Alexander/Ellwood's plane is barely visible at the top of the picture):

[zenlizard]

Alexander/Ellwood gets a shot at Joe/Richthofen:


When the returning bomber appears on the horizon (at altitude 5):


The interceptors react swiftly: Daniel/Couadou makes a firing pass that wounds the front gunner in the Gotha:

(And the base of David/Rickerbacker's plane is visible at the top, on the board, but there was an annoying seam in the tabletop, so there were a couple of times in the game when we had to simply position the plane base correctly, and set the mini to the side temporarily)

Then Gotha exchanges fire with the interceptors: David/Rickenbacker's guns jam, while the rear gunner in the Gotha wounds Daniel/Couadou:

And the Gotha draws the dreaded boom card, taking 14 points of damage, inflicted by David/Rickenbacker.

Meanwhile, the other aircraft are involved in their own mini-fight: Joe/Richthofen inflicted rudder damage on Alexander/Ellwood, taking him away from the scene of the main battle temporarily:

[zenlizard]

The interceptors & escorts reposition themselves for another pass, but the rear gun on the Gotha jams:


And Alexander/Ellwood makes his return:


To the rear of the bomber, the sky gets crowded, and there is a near-collision between Tok/Udet & Daniel/Couadou:

There were *this* close:


And the bomber dives for home, temporarily putting it out fo range, due to altitude difference:


It became necessary to use numbers on the aircraft bases to remind people of the altitudes of the various aircraft.

[zenlizard]

The overall position now, with Tok/Udet doing what a good escort should, engaging at least one of the interceptors, to keep it off of the bomber's tail.

In this case, Tok/Udet's chosen target was Alexander/Ellwoods Camel:


And the two go head-to-head. Note the problem with the table seam again:


Alexander/Ellwood temporarily gains the advantage:


While the bomber runs for home:

[zenlizard]

David/Rickerbacker dives after the bomber, and Daniel/Couadou uses the SPAD's speed to close in:


And Tok/Udet finds himself in peril:


A trailing tail chase ensues, and Daniel/Couadou's guns jam again:


But during the one-on-one battle to the rear, Tok/Udet has managed to turn the tables on Alexander/Ellwood, and set the latter's plane of fire:


And the bomber continues to evade, made extra necessary by the rear gun jamming again:

[zenlizard]

Alexander/Ellwood attempts to fight the fire:



While Joe/Richthofen finds the slow speed of the Dr-I to be a great handicap while attempting to chase the SPADS that were chasing the bomber:


...which has almost made it home:

the only possible shot here is by David/Rickenbacker, but again, the altitude difference provides the margin of safety to avoid that. All otehr guns are still jammed.

Tok/Udet & Alexander/Ellwood make another head-on pass:

[zenlizard]

And there is another near-collision when David/Rickenbacker dives to attack the bomber:


Joe/Richthofen's intervention is a little bit too late:


As the Gotha makes its final escape (I cheated a little bit here: in reality, the bomber should be completely off the board, and in fact, there were a couple of times earlier when aircraft technically flew off the sides, but I wanted to give the players a chance to keep going, so I ignored that as well. Anyway, due to the fact that the bomber should actually not be there, I disallowed a final shot by the SPAD which seems, by the positioning in the photo, to actually have one):


And the final positions of the Albatros/Camel fight:

Alexander/Ellwood's Camel did finally succumb to the fire, on the final card draw, resolved after the technical end of the scenario. Tok/Udets gets a kill.

The bomber however? The damage cards are:

With those in the right-hand column all being +1. Therefore, 5 + 14 (boom card value) + 2 + (2+1) + (1+1)= 26 points of damage. The Gotha escapes to base, but it probably will never fly again.

[zenlizard]

But the final evaluation was really, how effectively can you position your plane to hit the enemy? I awarded points based on damage inflicted, a point for a kill (only one in the whole scenario), and a point for being in position to shoot, even if you couldn't (due to gun jam). The final result was a tie between Alexander & David, with Tok a close second. I then had Alexander & David draw damage cards until one did not end up with a special damage card. David got it on that tie-breaker, which worked out well, since the prize was a RAP, which it turns out, Alexander already had.

The victor and his prize:

[flash]

Well done Sam, a very thorough & well presented AAR, glad it went well for you.
Using paper mats with those folds must have made things a little bit harder, you might want to invest in some acrylic sheet to place over them to flatten the topography a little, unless you can get a mat of course.
A Minor Con GM Medal - U.S. well earned I feel

[Baxter]

Nice AAR and choice of models. Glad the Gotha made it home too

[gully_raker]

Great AAR & game Sam!
Well done to Promote the Game to new players.
Rep Inbound.

[Stumptonian]

Nicely done, Sam.

...While Joe/Richthofen finds the slow speed of the Dr-I to be a great handicap ...

Although tempted to finally use more Dr.1s in the current Over the Trenches mission, that (and the low hit points) dissuades me.

[Naharaht]

Thank you for the good AAR, Sam, and for publicizing the game at the convention. The fact that the organizers invited you back shows that you were a success.