OTTBE Mission 14 - Flashes Hard Days Night - 21st May 1918

[flash]

The call came late in the evening, Uncle only had a few pilots available since the fracas with the new Fokker but HQ was insistent that he send a flight up in the dark to attempt to intercept some Hun bombers that had attacked Paris and were now heading their way. It was a long shot at best he knew but he had to comply with the order so he called in the remnant of the Bulldogs.
He put Claude Back in charge and sent Brad Hammer with him - both were experienced pilots - and finally one of the new boys Owen Dewes.
After he rallied the men all was quickly prepared - pots were lit to light the airstrip and off they went into the black void.

A Staaken accompanied by Eagles Fwbl Hermann Goerth & Ltn August Deilman in a Rumpler C.IV are returning to their base from a successful mission to bomb Paris


A formation of Bulldogs are sent to intercept the fleeing Huns -
2Lt Claude Back (centre); 2Lt Bradley Hammer (H-Harry) & 2Lt Owen Dewes (Z-Zebra) vainly search the night sky for their enemy.


They must be close...


Goerth spots a scout approaching rapidly from his right, totally missing the one crossing his front !


Too late to take avoiding action the Rumpler bears the brunt of a close range attack from Dewes' gun's, tracer slashes through the airframe


Dewes, momentarily blinded by his own gun fire has to reacquire the target as he surges past its tail. Back spots him but Hammer doesn't - Goerth and Deilman both spot opponents


The Eagles open up ! Hammer is lucky and Dewes takes minor damage - the guns flashing fore and aft highlight the Rumpler's position and momentarily blind its crew


The Bulldogs react instantly - "There he is - Tally Ho !!"
The Rumpler sideslips away into the dark "Now where is he ? He was just there a second ago..."


"There he is ! " - "Achtung !"


The guns chatter once again. Sparkling muzzleflashes, lazy arcs of tracer pin point the machines involved - flickers of flame illuminate stricken machines - Back's Lewis gun jams - Dewes is hit !


Deilman can see Backs SE as it passes behind them but it slips into his blind spot and he can't get the gun on him ....Verdammt !


Dewes, momentarily stunned, circles away trailing fire and smoke


Back, already side stepped once gets after the flaming Rumpler


He's closely followed by Hammer also homing in on the flaming trail


The Staaken has managed to avoid detection all this time but the Rumpler is unwittingly leading the enemy straight towards it with it's trail of sparks and flame. The crew of the Giant roundly curse their colleagues !


Dewes sorts himself out and gets in on the chase but he is so far away he's out of it


The other Bulldogs stalk their prey


The flame from the Rumpler flickers out leaving all in darkness - the SE was closing fast but nothing seen ...


"Must be here somewhere" thinks Back as his machine is rocked by the wake of the unseen Giant


Goerth sees an SE loom from the darkness but Back is oblivious to their presence


Goerth opens up at close range causing Back's SE as it burst into flame


Lit up by flame and haloed by muzzle flash Hammer seizes the opportunity and opens up on the Rumpler at long range - his rounds damage the Rumpler's tail


It's all too much for the fire ravaged German machine and it falls toward the darkened earth


And the Staaken gets away unseen.... grr !


Butchers Tally:

Eagles:

Fwbl Hermann Goerth: (p) SD-ET 0 kills
Rolled: 7 -1SD -1Dk = 5 Injured - Skip 1D3 Scenarios: Rolled 5 = Skip 3
E&E: Rolled 11 -1WIC -1BEL = 9 They didn't even see me!

Ltn August Deilman: (o) SD-ET 0 kills
Rolled 11 -1SD -1Dk = 9 All well when you land well
E&E: Rolled 4 -1BEL = 3 Captured and escaped! - Skip 1D3 Scenarios: Rolled 4 = Skip 2


Bulldogs:

Top: 2Lt Bradley Hammer: (H-Harry) RTB 1 Kill;
2Lt Claude Back: (cammo) RTB 0 kills &
2Lt Owen Dewes: (Z-Zebra) RTB/WIA 0Kills
Rolled 5 +3RTB -1WIA = 7 - Injured skip 1D2 scenario. Rolled 2 = Skip 1



Now you will have noticed I didn't use Peter's tokens but this was played quick off the cuff so I subbed in some rarely used pairs of tokens for the #spotting/searchlight and used the red rings as the s/light/all token.
It wasn't error free I'm sure but I found it quite intuitive and fun to play - I got a result of sorts by knocking down the two seater and there was a huge machine I never even saw so quite realistic I thought. Hope you enjoy things that go bump in the night too - well done Peter !

[Stumptonian]

Well done, Dave.
At least you got one of them, and no losses to your own boys.

I wondered about the markers at first but then realized you were simply using "subs".
I hope to get my chance to fly this mid month .

I am going to make myself some kind of "cheat sheet" to keep track of when to draw cards and when to remove markers.
I also might try to take some "night shots", just to add atmosphere.

[gully_raker]

Well & bravely done Dave!

Being the first to attempt this very inventive mission deserves Rep!
As I wont be able to try it for some time I will look forward to learning some of the tricks others enjoy during their games.

[Setarius]

Nicely done Dave. It helps seeing the night stuff in action to clarify any fog that might have been in my mind just reading the BRF. You have also given me an idea on how to do mine when I get my shot at it.

[flash]

The rules played very well I thought and was I done in a couple of hours. I didn't always place the markers straight away as I got on with shooting and tended to put them on after that (put that down to over excitement!), very often they were removed straight away as the machines moved out of spotting range. The searchlight all marker is a great idea - aircraft fires and firing kept the enemy in sight in this case. If I lost contact my plan was to fly to where they were last seen then zig zag up the table to try to spot them again.
I flew Back's SE once the enemy was sighted, though before that & when 'target lost' I reverted back to the AI chart.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Nicely done Dave. I am going to try to get my version played this week. My OPFOR will be two HP 0/400s, I hope I can find them!

[mikeemagnus]

Excellent Dave. Bradley made his point even if Dewes failed to get his dues or interest! One down and no losses. A good return. That certainly deserves a rep Well played.

[flash]

Thanks Mike, I was quite happy that Hammer finally got a kill - especially as he saved my backside, I was flying Claude on and off. I resorted to using AI moves when he was hunting in the dark. At least they all made it back !