Battles over Brewer Part 3
In each of our battles Dave an I set it up and then roll a die to randomly determine sides.
In our third and last game Dave got to fly a trio of his new Corsairs while I flew three of his A6M5s.
A straight up fighter-sweep over a Pacific Island on a cloudy day.
Cloud rule for WW2 is when peg is in the cloud you cannot shoot or be shot. The movement card you leave the cloud you cannot shoot. But can be shot at.
Before moving, if the peg is in a cloud roll a d6. 1 = pivot plane 45* left, 6 = pivot plane 45* right, 2-5 no effect.
The Corsair flight hunting for victims. Two newer dark blue gull wings and one older plane assigned to a rookie.
The Japanese patrol flight hoping for an easy day of flying over their island.
The two sides spot each other across a spotty sky. Somehow the infamous rude cloud gets center stage in the middle of the sky.
Both fights head to the left of the large central cloud.
The Corsair rookie heads into a cloud and momentarily loses his bearing. Luckily for the Marines he does not cause a collision with one of his own. A few choice words are heard crackling over the radio.
The rookie, in his embarrassment flies into another cloud.
The Japanese flight leader see this as an opportunity and signals his flight to turn back to have a 3 on 2 advantage.
Maybe not such a good idea as the first exchange is quite one sided.
The next exchange of 3 on 2 is more even. Not what flight leader Miko had wanted.
The corsair leader is wondering where his rookie is. Ah, just emerging from the cloud well behind them.
But those corsairs are fast and the rookie catches flight leader Miko from the side. His A6M5 crashes next to the military installation. With minor wounds he will fight again.
The already smoking Zero finds himself in a corsair sandwich. He reverses to face the corsair tailing him but shows his tail to the rookie. This rookie is a deadly shot and downs his second Jap, but not before, in his last dying shot, he takes down a corsair of his own.
Now it’s two on one, the Corsairs feel quite confident of clearing the sky of Zeros.
Miko uses a cloud to hide behind before turning back on his enemies.
Corsair leader heads into the cloud to evade the oncoming Zero. Will he come out where he expects?
The rookie follows his leader and avoids the Zero as well.
Corsair leader was slightly confused emerging from the cloud and flies off the mat and out of the battle leaving the rookie on his own.
The rookie has no trouble with the cloud and reverses to where he thinks the Zero will be.
Miko does not want to have the rookie behind him so heads into the cloud too!
They exit opposite sides of the cloud and begin a deadly dance that will leave only one of them still in the air.
Miko tries to line up a shot but the faster Corsair zips by and disappears into the cloud again.
The Corsairs speed easily lets it put some distance between him and his foe before he reverses to re-engage.
(ignore the damage markers on the mat)
Both know it will be next to impossible to get off an unanswered shot. They tighten their harnesses and head straight at each other.
This time the rookie’s aim is off and he takes the worst of it. Miko has a boost in his confidence.
Both reassess their position and try to maneuver for an advantage.
Mkiko tries to emerge from behind the cloud and time a surprise shot at the American but the rookie disappears into the cloud just as Miko was about to shoot.
Miko puts a little distance between the two before reversing.
This exchange does not go well for either pilot, but Miko takes the worst of it and is set on fire!
The flames get larger as Miko starts to set up an over-dive to try to douse the flames.
No use. The flames take him out. His over-dive cannot be controlled and his Zero dives straight into the river.
Pulling himself out of the river on to the bank, Miko shakes a fist upward at the rookie flying off, thinking he must be some American great ace.
Dave’s rookie claims 3 official kills! Miko and his surviving wingman claim 2 kills each.
Dave’s Corsairs rule the sky and when the rookie rejoins his leader they fly back to base to report their victory.
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