Ares Games
Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: Mesopotamia

  1. #1

    Default Mesopotamia

    Ray Garbee put on a fantastic early war Mesopotamia game at Epic Loot in Dayton. He had a great mixture of early RFC planes facing the Ottoman threat.Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_3730.JPG 
Views:	49 
Size:	127.8 KB 
ID:	239304Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_3731.JPG 
Views:	50 
Size:	117.8 KB 
ID:	239305Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_3732.JPG 
Views:	49 
Size:	114.9 KB 
ID:	239306

  2. #2

    Default

    Love to see both the early war kites and Mesopotamia getting some table-time!

  3. #3

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
    Major

    Users Country Flag


    Name
    Matt
    Location
    Ohio
    Sorties Flown
    4,107
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default

    The early war/esoteric stuff is quite different from the flashy,'known' planes of the Western Front circa 1917/18...having been the pilot of one of the Henri-Farmans, I can attest to the rocket-like speed of the Fokker Eindeckers...

    It was a fun scenario! Ray always comes up with great games.

    All the best,
    Matt

  4. #4

    Default

    Great to see some of the exotic planes from a rarely seen front on the table.

  5. #5

    Default

    "I can attest to the rocket-like speed of the Fokker Eindeckers.."

    that is definitely something you dont hear everyday!!!

  6. #6

    Default

    Really love those early war aircraft. Thanks for sharing

  7. #7

    Thumbs up

    Great selection of Early War aircraft which I must admit I do like.

  8. #8

    Default

    Great looking dust-up.


    Love the early war aircraft, and your map looks excellent.

  9. #9

    Default

    From the photographs it looks like the Ottomans dominated.
    Good scenery, and interesting planes. Thanks.

  10. #10

    Default

    It is good to see that that aspect of the war has not been completely forgotten.

  11. #11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by matt56 View Post
    ....It was a fun scenario! Ray always comes up with great games....
    This is less AAR and more pictures of great looking models - as you were a pilot Matt can we be told what the scenario was and whether the mission was accomplished ? It certainly looks like you had your hands full with those Fokker's on your case, I suppose even the Albatros could run rings around you !

    "He is wise who watches"

  12. #12

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
    Major

    Users Country Flag


    Name
    Matt
    Location
    Ohio
    Sorties Flown
    4,107
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default

    Two Eindeckers and an Albatros C I were assigned to interdict a motley collection of 30 Squadron interlopers - a Maurice Farman 'longhorn' and a 'shorthorn', a Short 124 seaplane, an RE8, and a BE2c. (I flew the Longhorn - sorry for the 'Henri' rather than 'Maurice' in my post above)

    We used some suitably desolate looking playing mats the store had lying around, as none of us has (yet) an appropriate Eastern Med/Palestine/Gallipoli mat.

    Lots of B guns firing when action ensued, with the RE8 probably being the best British plane on the board, and the Short seaplane being the toughest. The movement of the British planes, the majority of whom were using XB and XC decks, was snail-like in comparison to what we often fly in most of our Wright Flight games. But it was a fun change of pace (), and we are all interested in getting more unusual planes into the game.

    We started on opposite ends of the board, with the British planes set up about a range stick's distance in, just to offset their slowness. The British were set out in an arc along two sides of the mat, while the Germans/Ottomans were concentrated - this definitely helped their damage-dealing capabilities when the could bring (potentially) three B guns to bear at close range on a target. The Short seaplane, being closest to the enemy, came in for a surprise when it drew a 'boom' card on its second damage phase. Off he went to table's edge to re-spawn a turn later.

    As the slower British planes closed, they came in for more of the same from the Germans, except that with more targets, the Central Powers were 'forced' to split their fire a bit. Unfortunately, the fragility of early war planes allows them to be chewed up pretty quickly, even by B guns. My Longhorn caught fire, but the fire didn't do him in - he was downed by MG fire. In fact, fire and smoke were present more in this game than we often see, with all of the CP planes having run-ins with it at one time or another, and at least two other Brits suffering from it, as well. Once my Longhorn went down, I became an observer to the game, as it would take too long to get back into what was rapidly becoming a bad day for the RFC, even with the fire and smoke damage the Central Powers were experiencing. In fact, the CP suffered more from collisions than from other damage, and that was probably responsible for doing the most damage to their planes.

    if I remember correctly, we played several more turns just to make sure the British were well and truly vanquished. Everyone agreed that it was a blast to fly planes so restricted in their movement - with a limited number of maneuver cards in the deck, your choices are obviously fewer - but it really makes you try and think through your movement choices to get where you want to go. The lack of choice also played into the collisions that occurred in the game - not so easy to do nifty moves to avoid one another when you are anticipating being in the same spaces. And while we usually play with altitude, the climb rates on the British planes, in particular, are so abysmal that no one tried over-diving to put out fires...this also played into the collision aspect of things - with quick-climbing planes, we usually vary our altitudes more and avoid one another.

    All in all, it was an enjoyable game - several of us are talking about repainting extra Halberstadts and Albtros DIIIs for the Ottomans, and I think Shapeways will see an order of two in the near future to provide a few more esoteric planes for us to fly.

    All the best,
    Matt

  13. #13

    Default

    Thanks Matt, that really colours it in. The slower X decks make for quite stately movement when used with the standard sized bases don't they !

    "He is wise who watches"

  14. #14

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
    Major

    Users Country Flag


    Name
    Matt
    Location
    Ohio
    Sorties Flown
    4,107
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default

    Indeed, Dave! Thanks goodness the size of the base is included in movement - with faster planes, I sometimes miscalculate how the length of the base will affect my movement and positioning. With the X- decks, the shortness of the movement actually 'helps' visualize where your plane will end up - or, at least it seemed like it to me...

    With bombers using those decks, you just sort of turn 'em loose and let them lumber along. When you are flying 'scouts' with those decks, you have to try and not 'lumber' any more than you're forced to!

    All the best,
    Matt

  15. #15

    Default

    Mesopotamia and Palestine are very nice and exotic WGS environments. Once we set up a scenario there and it WAS fun! Especially because of the fact one of the players was a real Turk, Hakan.



    <img src=http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=2554&dateline=1409073309 border=0 alt= />
    "We do not stop playing when we get old, but we get old when we stop playing."

  16. #16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by matt56 View Post
    with the RE8 probably being the best British plane on the board
    My god, things are looking desperate indeed when an RE8 is your best plane!!

    Great photos, thanks much for sharing.



Similar Missions

  1. WWI in Mesopotamia.
    By Flying Officer Kyte in forum WGF: Historical Discussions
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 10-28-2012, 15:16

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •