Family Game Store Wings of War/Glory, 9 October '17
We had three pilots this evening; CaptWillard, Todd and myself, but I forgot my camera. So no photo recon missions.
After a late start, we played three bombing missions with each pilot rotating from one airplane to the next between each mission. The bomber was a Caproni 3A while the defenders were Linke-Crawford's Aviatik D.I and Lang's Phönix D.I (I like colorful airplanes).
AAR #1. CaptWillard piloted the bomber, while Todd had the Aviatik and I guided the Phönix. At one point we resembled Raymond Fredette's The Sky on Fire as all three airplanes took fire damage. This was especially bad for the bomber since Mike forgot about not executing straight maneuvers. Todd was the first to succumb to damage from fire and gun fire. While trying to close on Mike from the rear to get in some shots, the Caproni finally went down. He said that 10 of his 25 damage points came from A damage cards he drew for making illegal straight maneuvers. That would certainly be a killer.
AAR #2. Now it was Todd's turn to pilot the Caproni. This mission became something of a comedy of errors. I have difficulty picking the correct maneuver card unless I am standing behind my airplane. Otherwise I seem to confuse my right and left turns. So, at one point, rather than making a left turn to close on Todd's tail, I turned to the right away from the bomber. That took some time to correct. However, while Todd made a perfect approach to his target, he failed to announce “Bombs away” at the correct moment. So he overshot the target and had to turn around to try again. This gave CaptWillard enough time to inflict sufficient damage to bring the bomber down.
AAR #3. My turn to pilot the Caproni. Lots of damage early on before I drew the BOOM card. We play were that inflicts half the damage of the airplane. Since the Caproni has 25 hit points (?) Todd was arguing should it be 12 or 13 and did that determine whither the bomber went down. Since I actually had 15 points of damage at that point, it really didn't matter.
AAR #4. CaptWillard suggested an attack on an observation balloon. He controlled a balloon, a Nieuport 28 and three anti-aircraft guns for defense, placing to either side of the balloon and slightly forward while the third was placed behind the balloon. Todd and I flew Fokker D VIIs. At one point Todd was hit by an AA gun, but seemed to shrug off the damage. I managed a short turn to the left to avoid some Archie myself. We both hit the balloon several times, before CaptWillard drew the BOOM card. Unfortunately, there is no half damage for balloons so the game was over.
I hope we get more players for future games. By the way, Fredette's book is excellent. It covers the German bombing effort against Great Britain during the Great War.
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