Bomb the Factory

[Naharaht]

This game was played at 'The Cowards' wargames club in Hoveton, Norfolk on 20th April 2018.

The Scenario: Two Caproni bombers have flown over the Alps to bomb two vital parts of an Austrian factory. The bombers were spotted by Austrian ground troops, who telephoned a warning to the local fighter base, which scrambled an Aviatik D.I, a Phonix D.I and two Albatros D.III's.

The playing area consisted of a No-mans land mat (representing the Alps), a countryside mat and an Industrial Complex mat with their longest edges touching. Two target markers were placed on factory locations in the Industrial Complex. They could be eliminated by one direct hit with half a bomb load or two near misses with half a bomb load. The Caproni bombers were flown by Robert, who had played wings before but had never handled bombers. I flew the four Austrian fighters. Standard rules were being used so Altitude was constant.


Caproni bombers 'Crossing the Alps'.


The Austrian defenders take to the air. (I know that the Blau Maus was flown by a German but I needed a fourth plane and the Austrians flew Albatros D.III's.)



The targets


Six moves from the start the planes were approaching each other.

[Naharaht]

The defending fighters manoeuvred to attack the bombers.





The spotted Aviatik attacked the green mottled Caproni but at the angle both gunners could shoot at it. the Aviatik took engine damage but the Caproni's rear gun jammed. The red and white Phonix and the plain Caproni's front gunner exchanged fire. The Phonix's guns jammed and its pilot was wounded. The blue Albatros was hit by the Caproni's rear gunner.

[Naharaht]

The fighters flew past the bombers. The blue Albatros was hit again by the Caproni's rear gunner. However, the Caproni was hit in return.

The Capronis flew on towards their targets. The Albatrosses turned in pursuit of the plain Caproni. The blue Albatros continued to exchange fire with plain Caproni. The blue Albatros received a left rudder jam. The Aviatik turned right whilst the Phonix flew straight on.

The Capronis flew on. The Albatrosses both pursued the plain Caproni and exchanged fire. The blue Albatros was hit again. The Aviatik turned to follow. The Phonix flew on.

The Capronis flew on. The Albatrosses split left and right and the blue one was hit again. The Aviatik continued in pursuit.

[Naharaht]

The final shots from the Caproni's rear gunner finished off the blue Albatros.

It was the +1 damages for 'Improved Aim' from repeated hits by the same gunner, which finished off the Albatros.


The battle turned into a 'tail chase'.

The fighters slowly gained on the bombers but would they catch them before they reached the targets?

[Naharaht]

I found handling four planes a handful. I had already mixed up some cards and now I made more serious errors with the Aviatik. In place of choosing a 'straight' I chose an Immelmann turn. The other planes flew straight on. The plain Caproni released its full bomb load. The mottled Caproni's bomb aimer realised that he had left it too late.

The plain Caproni scored two very close near misses with the two half-loads of bombs and destroyed the target. However, the pursuing green Albatros had not yet closed to firing range. The Phonix continued its pursuit. My second mistake with the Aviatik was to forget it had a damaged engine and I had to play a stall move once every turn, thus the straight following the Immelmann was an illegal move and I had to take an A damage card.



As the two Caproni's made left turns the green Albatros finally got into range and exchanged shots with the plain Caproni's rear gunner. The Phonix continued its pursuit and the Aviatik made a left turn.

[Naharaht]

The Capronis turned left. The green Albatros attacked the mottled Gotha. The other two fighters were still trying to return to the fray.

The Capronis turned left again. The green Albatros turned the wrong way. The Phonix was finally getting close. The aviatik stalled.

The Capronis turned left again. The green Albatros turned left. The Phonix attacked the plain Caproni and was caught in a cross-fire from both front gunners. The Aviatik turned towards the battle.

The Phonix caught fire and received smoke damage. The mottled Caproni's rear gunner fired at the green Albatros.

[Flying Helmut]

"Gotha"s? - Capronis methinks!

[Naharaht]

Yes, you are correct, Tim. I confused this battle with my previous one. I have corrected the account now. Thank you for your help.

[Naharaht]

The Capronis continued turning left. The burning Phonix headed straight for the plain Caproni. The Aviatik flew straight forward whilst the Albatros turned left.

The mottled Caproni continued turning left and released its full bombload at the second target. The Albatros continued turning left.

The bombs hit the target and obliterated it. The green Albatros still turning left was shot at by the mottled Caproni's front gunner. The plain Caproni also turned left whilst the Phonix turned right and avoided a collision but exposed its tail to fire from the Caproni's rear gunner. The Aviatik turned towards the plain Caproni.

The Phonix was shot down in flames.

[Naharaht]

The Aviatik attacked the plain Caproni head on. It was hit by fire from the Caproni's front gunner.


The Aviatik blew up. The green Albatros was still turning left.


The Capronis turned for home with the Albatros in pursuit.



The Capronis flew back towards home. The green Albatros flew straight forward.



As the Capronis flew on towards their base the green Albatros gave up the chase and Immelmann turned to also head for home.

It was a resounding victory for the Italians!

Afterwards it occurred to me that it would be useful to have some target markers, which are a red spot in the middle of a rectangular transparent plastic sheet, to indicate features pictured on the official mats as targets because the target cards show different features from the mats.

[gully_raker]

David none of the photo attachments to your last post will show & when highlighted say "Invalid attachment" ???

[Naharaht]

Sorry about that, Barry. I posted the pictures but then decided to edit the text with them and I fell asleep before I clicked on the save button. Hopefully, they are all right now.

[Ken at Sunrise]

I noticed that some of the target cards, I think from the Giants, are from the maps. My wife and I matched up a bunch of the cards right on the map.

[Naharaht]

Thank you, Ken, I shall have to check that out. I believe that two of the target cards in the R.A.P. match a bridge and a road junction on maps but, if we had transparent ones we could put them on any map feature. They should be fairly easy to make; just cut some acetate sheet to the correct size and mark a red dot in the middle.

[Ken at Sunrise]

Thank you, Ken, I shall have to check that out. I believe that two of the target cards in the R.A.P. match a bridge and a road junction on maps but, if we had transparent ones we could put them on any map feature. They should be fairly easy to make; just cut some acetate sheet to the correct size and mark a red dot in the middle.

Great idea, but it was still fun matching them up. But I do like your idea.

[flash]

Nicely done David - a bad day at the office for the A-H pilots.