On the way to becoming Aces - Early War

[Baxter]

Like Flash, I fancied some early war action last night so I looked through the scenarios in my Famous Aces book and selected this one. N.11 vs Halberstadt D.III. To offset the the disparity in damage points (14 to 10) the Nieuport has a get out of jail free advantage whenever a green jam is scored against him. That proved to be ironic as although 3 green jam cards were scored, they were all against the Halberstadt! Yes, in the course of what turned out to be a very quick 25 minute game my Halberstadt jammed 3 times and was set on fire once! Windy could not capitalise from my jams because of my avoiding action. He just could not get into a favourable position for a shot. Despite my damage (and by virtue of him turning over unlucky damage cards) I still managed to kill Windy Jack's Ancilotto Nieuport in that game and that happened during the movement shown in the 3rd photo.

Game over in less than half and hour! Time for another longer one we thought. This time I piloted the Jean Chauput Nieuport 11 and Windy flew the Heinz Von Keudell Halberstadt. In a frantic dogfight with absolutely no finesse shown by either pilot we both ended up on fire and it was fire that killed both of us in the same move. I scored 8 damage points from fire and Von Keudell suffered 10 damage points from his. This game lasted an even shorter 15 minutes. One thing that stood out for me was the number of times we selected identical or mirror image movement cards during the game. I guess when you play so often with someone you get to think alike?

A good night albeit a short one.

The playing field looks so peaceful does it not.





It is the Nieuport that dies in this movement!



Swap sides and new planes for missiion 2.

First pass shooting.



An Immelman turn and things look tricky.
Both planes are actually on fire at this time.



Mutual destruction by fire!



My pilot looks bemused.

Game over!

[Biggles downunder]

Nice one guys. I’m sorry I couldn’t be part of the action - grounded by the MO due to bad sinus infection (even though altitude rules were not in play)

[Setarius]

Nicely done guys two games in just under an hour.

[gully_raker]

Haa nothing like mutual destruction especially with Fire!

[Flying Helmut]

Brutal action!

In my experience, 1 vs 1 dogfights often produce "mirrored" card selection, especially when the manoeuvre decks are so similar; but a degree of familiarity does increase the frequency of "mirror" cards!

One opponent of mine loves 90 degree turns, and will choose them whenever possible, so when he flies a plane without them he performs multiple Immelmann turns instead; all I have to do is position myself to intercept an Immelmann, and I get to shoot time after time! It's too predictable.
He hasn't figured this out yet.................

[Setarius]

Brutal action!

In my experience, 1 vs 1 dogfights often produce "mirrored" card selection, especially when the manoeuvre decks are so similar; but a degree of familiarity does increase the frequency of "mirror" cards!

One opponent of mine loves 90 degree turns, and will choose them whenever possible, so when he flies a plane without them he performs multiple Immelmann turns instead; all I have to do is position myself to intercept an Immelmann, and I get to shoot time after time! It's too predictable.
He hasn't figured this out yet.................

I knew a guy that used to do the same thing, fly past you then Immelman to try to get on your tail. I just started sending one straight at him and bring the wingmen in in a flanking position to hit him from the sides. I would end up on his tail more than he would end up on mine. He refused to change tactics, so I ended up shooting down more of his planes than he did mine.
Sacrifice the one to save the many.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Nice little solo action Gary.
Did someone mention fire?
Kyte.

[zenlizard]

One thing that stood out for me was the number of times we selected identical or mirror image movement cards during the game. I guess when you play so often with someone you get to think alike?

Not surprising when you consider: experienced players get to know the capabilities of the aircraft, and tend to get familiar with the range of "best" maneuvers in a given situation. Even more so, if players play against each other long enough, they get to know what maneuvers the "other guy" favors, so yeah, it does in fact, happen.