A-H Campaign from SummerCon 2013

[Marechallannes]

Here are the pictures for Watchdog's SummerCon Friday A-H Campaign:

We had really fun with this missions.

...I felt free to add a few comments.

SORTIE 1

The first sortie we flew was a recreation of a historical mission, the bombing of Russian military parade in Chotin on 12th April 1916. At that day, Otto Jindra with Godwin Brumowski managed to attack the military parade overseen by the Russian tsar himself. They dropped seven small bombs from their Albatros B.I and when they were intercepted by four Morane-Saulnier Parasols, they shot down two of those and returned to their aerodrome.

We had to change the planes since none of those planes had been available. Due to a higher number of player than originally thought, we added an escort Fokker A.III. Unfortunately, after dropping the first bomb, the two-seater was shot down. To play this mission properly, some -/B planes on the Russian side would have been more appropriate.

Dan-Sam & Kubajs intercepted my two-seater and Watchdog's E.III.



Hit! First hit from Dan-Sam the Sharpshooter killed my observer and make the plane smoke...



It was close, but I managed to throw one bomb on the Russian parade...



...before being shot down.

Markus controlled two Russian Nieuport reinforcement planes and wrecked Watchdog's E.III.

We finished the mission after my two-seater was gone.

[Marechallannes]

SORTIE 2

The second sortie was a recreation of the events of of February 1918, when an Aviatik Berg C.I observation plane, escorted by an Aviatik Berg D.I were intercepted by three Sopwith Camels. While the two-seater managed to return home, the first burst of bullets hitting its tail caused the escort to surrender and land in the enemy territory with a nearly undamaged plane, the first of its kind captured intact. Again, more pilots arrived, therefore we had to alter the settings. We had an UFAG C.I, escorted by two Aviatik Berg D.I's, all crewed by aces, facing four Sopwith Camels, one of them an ace. Again, the Austro-Hungarian two-seater went down, together with one of the escorts. Dan-Sam's Camel was shot down very early in the game, since he drew crew damage twice in one shooting phase, once from a scout and once from the two-seater. The mission ended with my Aviatik Berg D.I making a head on pass on the two remaining, already quite damaged Sopwith Camels. I still had 5 hit points left, therefore, I was quite confident I could make it. I shot down Yelena's Camel, but I drew a 5 card from her.

The A-H aces. Me on the left (Sniper), Kubajs in the two-seater (incendiary ammo + strong constitution for the rear gunner) and Watchdog with (Daredevil).



The Flight of Camels.



Dogfight! Dan-Sam the Aces is on fire.



Second Camel went down and another Camel on my six!



The end of the mission. ...without me.

[Marechallannes]

SORTIE 3

The third battle was a recreation of an air battle over Pergine on 31st August 1918, which ended disastrously for the K. u. K. Luftfahrtruppen. A patrol of 6 Albatros D.III (Oeffag)'s from Flik 3J, led by the squadron leader Oberleutnant Friedrich Navratil, with Oberleutnant Stefan Stec and four less experienced pilots in it. Over Pergine, they saw a Bristol F2B and went to intercept it, considering it an easy prey. Problem was, that the two experienced pilot flew faster machines and they quickly left the four other planes behind. A patrol of three Sopwith Camels, piloted by some experienced pilots, saw the four Albatros scouts and attacked them. The British aces in superior airplanes made short work of the four inferior enemy airplanes. Three of the pilots died, one of them, a Czech Feldpilot, Oberleutnant in der Reserve Jaroslav Kubelík, after facing the Camels bravely head on (noted by the British in their own report), bailed out of his flaming Albatros in desperation and fell to his death. The fourth pilot survived the crash and was taken a prisoner. The two other pilots knew nothing of this and they returned to their aerodrome after a by-the-book example of shooting an enemy two-seater, only to learn the horrible fate of their comrades. The squadron leader suffered a nervous breakdown.

We used two maps joined at the short edges. There were three Oeffag .153 series and three faster and more durable Oeffag .253 series in the battle. One part of the battle, the hunt for the Bristol (proxied by a D.H.4 using an S deck), saw the two attacking D.III (Oeffag)'s in an advantageous position, while the other part, the jumping of the four other planes, saw the Camels in an advantageous position behind the Austro-Hungarians. Well, it did not go the same way as in the history. The Camels could not co-ordinate their attacks and one of the "victims", flown by the shop owner Ladinek himself, even decided to go and try to get some fun with the Bristol too. Two of the Austro-Hungarians went down, however, we managed to clear the sky of all British planes.

Briefing with Watchdog. Sounds like a cool mission.



Markus versus Watchdog's and Kubajs' Albatrosses.



Planing the next movements.



Lino's Camel on fire.

I controlled the nice Albatros D.III with a winged sword symbol (lower left corner)



Ladinek'S D.III in support of the two D.Va planes versus the brave fighting Bristol Fighter B/B (Markus).

A lot of B-gun jams prohibted the Albatrosses from being shot down.



GET THIS BRISTFIT NOW!

[Marechallannes]

SORTIE 4

This was a sortie planned ad-hoc. We used four Ares game mats, two of them being the coast, placed diagonally. Each side had two bombers (Caproni Ca.3's and Gotha G.V's) and 3 escorts/interceptors. The Italians had two Hanriot HD.1 (with A guns) and one SPAD VII (a Serbian guest, flown by Nemanja). The Austro-Hungarians had three Aviatik Berg D.I's (one of them with B guns). Each bomber was carrying three bomb loads. The objective was to hit the enemy city on the coastal map four times (no matter if partials or full hits). Both sides managed to fulfill their objectives, but despite me and Markus using our Gotha G.V's as fighter planes, we did not manage to clear the sky of enemy planes and both enemy bombers limped to safety. Nevertheless, I got two kills during the game, if I remember correctly, one was Yelena (shot down), the other was Nemanja (due to a collision). The mission ended as a tie.

The last mission. Preparing the planes.



Nemanja an Jelena choosed escort fighters for the Capronis.



The Austrian-Hungarian planes. Me in the B-firing Aviatik with the complete brown fuselage, Watchdog in the blue Gotha and Markus in the red Gotha.



First duel with a Hanriot. I catched a lot of bullets.



That was the reason, that my brave attack on the Capronis was my last action in this game...



Bombers passed each other.



Closing in for the targets, both sides had already lost an escort fighter.



Communication between the turns...



The next A-H scout goes down in flames.

Have a look at Watchdog's nicely painted Caproni



The bombers return and headed for their big oponnents.



Due to the loss of their gunners, the Capronis left the battlefield.

I think you see here Nemanjas last action, trying to ram the Gotha with his superb Serbian SPAD VII.

The Gotha won...

[gully_raker]

Some very interesting scenarios there Sven. I do like the idea of recreating some historical battles particularly in WW2 Pacific action.

[flash]

Excellent photos Sven - great to see - also nice to put names to faces ! Looks like you all had a good time.

[Marechallannes]

Thank you guys, I only added some pictures and a few comments to Jan's AARs.

The missions were all historically based and Jan told us before about the background.

It was fun to reenact this missions, and there were always special rules to care for historical details.

I hope we can repeat this and start the next SummerCon again with Austrian-Hungarian Mission.

[Nightbomber]

Thanks for your pics and comments, Sven! It's a pity I could not join you on Friday. I could have met Dan-Sam and Kubajs then!
The missions seem to be very interesting. Great you have fun playing them

[jbmacek]

Well done, Sven. Looks like great times! And I really like that red k.u.k. Gotha.

[Nightbomber]

Well done, Sven. Looks like great times! And I really like that red k.u.k. Gotha.

Now she is based in my town, Opole

[Mike George]

Real nice, and looks like lots of fun.

[Smitch]

Great photos, really nice looking games. I like your flame markers, I've been working on the same solution but mine don't look as good as yours.

[calm]

Great photos and comments ! As already said - Looks like it was a great time and many great games

[Flying Officer Kyte]

How I managed to miss this lot, I have no idea, but that does not detract from the games in any way. The action is impressive and more faces are put to names I have spoken to on the Drome.
Thanks for yet anothe glimpse of Summercon, Sven/ and Watchdog.
Rob.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Great times by all at SummerCon. I like the historical theme to the battles. Great pictures.