Ramblings Over the Front

The Wright Flight gathered together yesterday for our monthly Wings of War/Glory session at the Dragon's Guildhall near Dayton, Ohio. I believe there were eight of us nefarious types present to see a couple of Handley-Page beasts grace the table, escorted by a single Brisfit, facing off against a mix of German late war aircraft (three Fokker D.VIIs, one Fokker D.VIII, and one SSW D.III). The bombers had targets to bomb on three places marked out on a city mat (we used three mats altogether).

To be honest, my focus, as the pilot of the SSW D.III (the von Ziegesar color preprint made by Reduced Aircraft Factory) and flying along the northern edge of the table, I did not pay much attention beyond sighting in on one of the approaching bombers. Seeing the beast drop to altitude three (we always seem to start all of our games at altitude four) I dove to three, then to two just in time to cross under the British foe, passing just out of short range of the now higher bomber. Performing an Immelmann, I locked on to the beast's tail, alongside the G Dog's D.VII, both of us closing for the kill. The bomber opened on the G Dog's machine, leaving me alone for a couple of firing phases. The Dog's Fokker caught fire, but I had wreaked chaos on the Handley-Page, damaging an engine, wounding the pilot, causing smoke, and then seeing the rear gun jam. Piling on the heat the bomber burst into flames as the G Dog and I combined to knock the Brit from the sky. However, in the exchange I had taken two damage cards...an explosion and a single point, causing eight points of damage (we play explosions as half the total aircraft damage). It was time for me to head back to the field and enjoy the kill. The game went on...the Brisfit was shot down, and the other Handley-Page, suffering massive damage, was able to obtain a partial hit on one of the targets before succumbing to the swirling German fighters.

The RAF planes are very nice. While the colors are muted, the detail is very good, and the price point cannot be beat. Alas, I took but a single picture, but the one here shows the end of the Handley-Page.