AAR - Six is a party

[Paukenschlager]

Tried a recon action with a few late war planes. The gaming surface available was limited so I favoured planes with an higher agility.

I only had an A Damage deck available so I was forced to choose the american Airco DH4 as two seater, escorted by a NI 28 and a SPAD XIII. The AEF planes are tasked with the photo reconnaissance of a bridge in German territory.
Opposing the American formation there's a Fokker D.VII, a Siemens Schuckert D.III and a Fokker E.V


The Entente seems to have an advantage - let's see how this develops.


The Germans converge towards the bridge and soon first blood is claimed by the two seater, which hits the D.VII.
Responding to fire, the German pilot jams his guns. At the same time the D.III is fired at by the Spad, taking damage as well.




Some poorly coordinated manoeuvres by the Germans cause utter chaos. The Americans take pot shots at their adversaries, without them being able to respond.
The Fokker biplane is set on fire and takes damage as he completes it's Immelmann

The E.V pilot misjudges the distances and ends up abandoning the battle field

Things would seem still recoverable from the Teutonic point of view, but this soon changes as the D.VII, already on fire and with guns jammed, explodes midair after being targeted by the Spad.

The Siemens Schuckert is decided not to give up and gets into position. His efforts are in vain though as his bullets don't find the target.

Luckily we didn't use collision rules

Despite finding his mark in the Nieuport, the D.III gets in range of the returning DH4's guns. The two seater had photographed the bridge and is now making a dash for home



The recon plane exists the game area on its side, mission accomplished!


The scoreboard

Germans:
Aircrafts downed: NIL, 0 points
Aircrafts exited from gaming area: 1, -5 points
Total: -5
AEF
Aircrafts downed: 1, 5 points
Successful photo run, 10 points
Total: 15 points
Major American victory

[CrashCraig]

Nice action, especially for the Americans. Thanks for posting.

[Teaticket]

Don't you hate it when your Fokker DVII eats a Boom!

Well done Americans,

[Paukenschlager]

Don't you hate it when your Fokker DVII eats a Boom!

Yeah absolutely infuriating especially so early in the game (it was the 2nd or 3rd turn) and when its gun is about to unjam

[flash]

Luckily we didn't use collision rules

Does anybody still use the collision rules as written ?! There are better alternatives out there.
Bit of a nightmare for the Germans, maybe cutting the Americans down to one escort might have helped their chances, but maybe the Gods of War were against them !

[Paukenschlager]

Does anybody still use the collision rules as written ?! There are better alternatives out there

I normally do because I'm too lazy to look up and try an homebrew that will suit me - regardless, until I get my R&AP back out from the storage box is no altitude for me!
Also I find the additional effort needed to plan manouvers that won't results in collision a real brain teaser.
Same goes for the B deck - the scenario I had in mind had originally the British DH4 escorted by a Snipe and a Camel, but I couldn't field any B firing machines (rear gun on the DH4).
With a lower firepower the odds might have been a little more even

[flash]

The most generally accepted alternative collision rules I've seen is the overlap where the red dot of a card is covered by the base of an overlapping model and the peg of that model is also over the plane card. It doesn't eliminate collisions but makes them a little less likely than the rules as written, especially in large multi-player games. It works and is well tested.

[Windy Jack]

The most generally accepted alternative collision rules I've seen is the overlap where the red dot of a card is covered by the base of an overlapping model and the peg of that model is also over the plane card. It doesn't eliminate collisions but makes them a little less likely than the rules as written, especially in large multi-player games. It works and is well tested.

That's how we have been playing collisions for a long time now. If the centre post/red dot is covered by another planes base/aircraft card then it is a collision, and C damage is drawn.