A Bit o' Holiday Cheer... Dogfight Night At The Family Game Store

[jbmacek]

Turnout was light, due to iffy weather, and the holidays, but we managed to get three fun-filled games in.

The first? A warmup while we waited for PRS to arrive. Yes... we decided to do something completely lopsided - two D.VIIs versus an RE.8. Pseudotheist and I went up against Capt Willard.




Todd's Fokker overflies Mike's RE.8. I'm hoping to get around in a tailing position.




Well, I'm behind him, but I'm also on fire from my very first hit of the game.




Mike is doing an excellent job of surviving. He is almost to his photo recon target.




Snap! Yet another picture of that crossroads.




I survived my fire, and handed out a bit to the RE.8.
And look! Reinforcements have arrived. Paul joins in with another D.VII.




He can't survive much more of this. In fact, he doesn't. So ends scenario 1.




Two and three to follow...

[flash]

Not so much cheer for the Harry Tate pilot !

[jbmacek]

Capt Willard was a great sport to give this a go. Given how far he got, and the odds against him, he did quite well.

With PRS' arrival, we now had four, which was all we were expecting. I think Todd came up with the idea of doing three Nieuports versus a Gotha. I rarely get to use a Nieuport (and didn't even bring any of mine), so I happily agreed. Todd and Paul diced for control of the Gotha, with Paul winning.

And... the colors in the following pics are meh. Had I time, I'd change them all to sepia for the nostalgic look.

The Gotha had three possible targets. He chose which was the real target and recorded it secretly.




Todd was in the Nieuport marked T. Mike was in the Nieuport with the gimbal. Mine was the one at bottom with the band around the fuselage.

[Nightbomber]

Three Fokkers against one recon plane! Where were the escorts?

[jbmacek]

He was obviously lost, both in place and in time. The real object of that scenario was "lets play something that will end quickly, because Paul will be here soon and we will then begin play for real."

Those oddball scenarios can sometimes be a hoot. And like I said, given how far Capt Willard drove that bus, I'd say he won at least a marginal victory.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

I'm waiting to see the outcome between the Gotha and the three Nieuports. It looks less of a forgone conclusion.
Rob.

[jbmacek]

Indeed. And we were using altitude (something we don't often do) so it was even more tense than usual.

[gully_raker]

Will look forward to the next installments!

[jbmacek]

I'd continue right now, but I've just challenged my kids to a recon vs fighters mission.

[CaptWillard]

He was obviously lost, both in place and in time. The real object of that scenario was "lets play something that will end quickly, because Paul will be here soon and we will then begin play for real."

Those oddball scenarios can sometimes be a hoot. And like I said, given how far Capt Willard drove that bus, I'd say he won at least a marginal victory.

That was a fun little mission. The Germans would have taken an even greater drubbing if not for an unfortunate rear gun jam. Then again the fire did not help matters very much either!

[MoonSylver]

Nice to see some Nieuports in action!

[jbmacek]

Yep. We don't use them nearly as much as I'd like.

Paul did an excellent job of zigzagging up the field, confusing us as to which target he was aiming for.




We normally don't play with altitude, but this time we did. Even though that didn't prevent this collision (which after the fact we learned did no damage to either plane).




I managed to bring myself into a nice position behind the Gotha, and was able to remain there for three or four movement phases, scoring quite a few hits +1.




Yoinks! Methinks he is about to drop his bombs. Paul did a stall, and managed to just clip the corner of the target with his bombs. Well played!




After the bombs hit, he turned for home. I turned in the opposite direction. Ooops! Oh well, my wigmen are on him.

[jbmacek]

I don't know if he was considering dropping his second stick of bombs on the other target or not. Suffice to say he didn't and completed his turn toward his lines. I'm hoping to come at him from the side, while doing an overdive to close the distance. Todd's plane, severely damaged is fleeing back toward our lines. I have one damage card, for 0 points. Mike's plane is also getting rattled.




My move worked. Maybe too well, as we are now overlapping. In the meantime, Mike has gotten lined up for a shot. And Todd, with only one hit point left, decided to escape off of the map.




Off of my port wing, a Nieuport erupts in flame.




The Gotha has dropped to treetop level, but we didn't give up.




The Gotha took his second shot on me and... WHAM!
Nothing like having one damage card with a zero, and drawing the explosion.




On the plus side, I did shoot him down at the same time, leaving Mike alone, with one hit point remaining.




Our final game. Paul wanted to try his new Dr.I, and I an old plane that rarely sees action in our games - the Pfalz D.IIIa.



More to come...

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Another great installment there John.
Great work by the Nieuports, and well done for finally taking the Gotha down with you.
Rob.

[jbmacek]

That was a tough fight, and even though I pulled the explosion, I quite enjoyed it.

For our final contest, our opponents - a SPAD XIII and a Nieuport 17 - the SPAD piloted by Capt Willard, and the Nieuport by Pseudotheist.




We used altitude again, and in addition, a variant movement mechanic.




I spent most of this game tangling with the SPAD. And I did a really good job of holding my own. The trouble with that SPAD is that it is so darned fast. It doesn't turn as well as most planes, but then again, neither did my Pfalz D.IIIa.




As for the variant movement, it went like this. Have three cards on your board. The first card is turned up, and is your previous movement card. The middle card is the card you are about to execute. Once that card is played, it slides over to slot one, face up. The card in three moves over to two, remaining face down. The card that was in one goes back into your hand, and you pick a new card for slot three.


As for the variant movement, it went like this. Have three cards on your board. The first card is turned up, and is your previous movement card. The middle card is the card you are about to execute. Once that card is played, it slides over to slot one, face up. The card in three moves over to two, remaining face down. The card that was in one goes back into your hand, and you pick a new card for slot three.




I disengage from the SPAD, hoping to chase down the Nieuport.

[jbmacek]

Well, I thought I had disengaged from that SPAD (remember that SPAD = really fast thing?).




I hadn't been hit many times, but the cards I had gotten were nasty: 4, 3, 2 and maybe a few 0s.




Nieuport... where did you go? I wave a Paul as we pass and shout, "go get that SPAD!"




There's that SPAD. Back on my tail. And as I recall, the Nieuport and I were separated by too many levels of height, so I had no shot.




And then he dove, and I looped upward, bringing us to the same level. I fired my guns and - BOOM! Down he went.




But that SPAD... where was he? Oh, waaaay back there.




Here he comes.

[jbmacek]

I looped around and we exchanged shots. He looped back on to me, and hit me again, setting me ablaze.




Down to one hit point, I escaped off of the map, only to explode with the fire damage on the next turn. The game ended just about then, since it was closing time.



FIN

[Blackronin]

Excellent instalments, John. I'm always happy reading them and appreciating the photos.

[PRS]

Yeah, that gotha fight will go down as one of my favorites even though I got shot down. With one Nieuport downed and the other 2 with one point each, it was so close.

[CaptWillard]

I looped around and we exchanged shots. He looped back on to me, and hit me again, setting me ablaze.




Down to one hit point, I escaped off of the map, only to explode with the fire damage on the next turn. The game ended just about then, since it was closing time.



FIN

I must say I do enjoy flying Rickenbacker's Spad - Fast!

[CaptWillard]

& thanks for posting the pics & an great AAR

[7eat51]

Looks like a fun time was had by all.

Very nice mat.

I am receiving some Nieuports and Pfalz D.IIIs from ebay. Should be here within a week. This was a timely AAR to read; I don't see those planes often. Thanks for sharing.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Once again a most enjoyable read John.
i must try out your alternative card idea. Now that I'm getting used to the WWII two card system, I should be able to handle it better.
Rob.

[jbmacek]

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

As for the alternate card system, I don't know if it was Todd's idea, but he was the one who introduced it to us. So the credit shall go to him.

[jbmacek]

I must say I do enjoy flying Rickenbacker's Spad - Fast!

Indeed. You do well with those SPAD XIIIs. I've said I don't like them, but maybe I should give them another go.

[fast.git]

Great reports! Thanks for sharing... I like seeing the Nieuports hit the table. But can't get a little love for the pilot of the Harry Tate? Three D.VIIs?! The stuff of nightmares...