Zeppelin Dawn A - Winter War Jan, 2012
The scenario:
It’s late June, 1917, and the German Zeppelin L11 is trying to make it home from a night raid over England. Delays in launch, strong headwinds, and mechanical problems have put the Zeppelin far behind schedule. As dawn breaks, the crew is desperately trying to make it back across the lines as the Dawn Patrols of both sides flock to the fight. Will the L11 make it home?
6 British (mostly) aircraft trying to bring the Zep down, and 2 Germans trying to defend it (plus the Zeppelin on auto-pilot). This game actually had 9 payers since someone else’s game got cancelled at the last minute, so she joined this one as a third German pilot.
The Zep runs on auto-pilot as per the Airship Attack rules posted here at the Aerodrom.
Aircraft choices for the Brits (mostly): 4 Camels, 2 SE 5a.s 1 each of the two British 2 seaters, and one Nieuport 17 (French flown by an American pilot).
German choices were: 2 Pfalzs, 1 Albatross DIII, and 2 Dr. Is.
As planes go down, players pick a new one from those not yet selected.
The Brits (mostly) went with the two 2 seaters, 2 camels, an SE 5a, and the Nieuport.
The Germans went with the Pfalz's and the Albatross to try and close with the enemy as quickly as possible.
Pretty much all the pilots were new to the front, with only a couple having had any prior combat experience at all (almost all new players).
The initial set up:
Dawn breaks over the Western Front...
A pic with better lighting:
The action started right away, and with the first shot of the game, one of the Brits (mostly) took out the tail gunner on the Zep. But as the Brits (mostly) closed in, the inexperience in the cockpit showed, as most miscalculated the speeds of their aircraft and a gagle formed under the tail of the Zep:
As the Brits (mostly) sorted themselves out, two of the Germans closed to contact on the port side of the Zeppelin:
At about this time, the Zep pulled a Left Turn, putting all the attackers completely out of place for their carefully planned maneuvers, so they chose to concentrate on the German Scouts amongst them:
With some success:
And the hunters became the hunted. As the German scouts tried to catch up to the Brits scooting under the Zep, one of the two seaters attempted to chase them down:
While all this was going on one of the 2 seaters decided to come around the nose of the Zep, catching fire from the front gondola and forward MG pit...
and going down:
The smoking Albatross decided to continue chasing the enemy scouts and duck to the other side of the Zeppelin while the Pfalz pilot pulled an Immelmann:
But the brave German paid for his courage, catching on fire, and then taking a shot from the rear gunner on the 2 seater:
Emerging on the other side of the Zep, the Albatross pilot also was a little too brave for his own good also... Ending up in a tough spot... and going down:
Meanwhile, off the nose of the Zeppelin, the SE 5a had shot well past all the other aircraft and came around for another pass, despite flames shooting from its engine and a Pfalz bearing down on it:
As the SE 5 banked away after his pass, the Zep set the it on fire again.
And while trying to come in for another shot the SE 5 went down in flames:
At this point, the Zep turned back to the left and started heading straight to the east again. And with the other two German planes down, the Pfalz on the right side of the Zep suddenly had a lot of company:
Then one of the Camels came in for another run, while the last Pfalz lined up for the perfect shot on the Nieuport, unfortunately, guns jammed, and two Camels chasing it:
But, unfortunately for the Nieuport, the Zeps guns weren't Jammed. A new SE 5a arrived just in time to see it go down:
The remaining twoseater tried to slip by the nose of the Zep, and the gunners took out the rear gunner on the wounded bird just before two Dr. I's joined the fight for the Germans:
The Dr Is took up a tight formation, as they assessed the situation.
Slowly circling trying to figure out the best way to help the Zep:
Then, the Dr. I's broke formation, one going after the wounded twoseater:
(just to note, this pic was taken by someone else... don't want to take credit for someone else's work)
Bringing it down:
The Zeppelin turned to the left again, and the other Dr I joined the scrum on the port side. The Brits (mostly) found themselves far out of position again, and came around for another pass at Zep:
One of the Camels gave up the chase on the Pfalz as it dodged to the other side of the Zep, and decided to strafe the L11 instead, but was hit by several bursts from the Zep’s gunners, and went down:
The brave Pfalz pilot blocked the Camels' path to the Zep, but paid a heavy price, as the Dr I tried to distract the SE 5a with a head on attack:
And that is where things had to finish up, as the 4 hour time slot ended... The Zep had taken a fair amount of damage, but not as much as I had anticipated at this point.
I'll post my reflections on how the rules worked and what I needed to adjust in a follow on post soon I hope.
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Excellent report & pics there, Ranger.
Originally Posted by usmc1855
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