Last weekend suddenly opened up for me. What to do with an unexpectedly free Saturday? Call some friends and hit the unfriendly skies!
So I brought my son and daughter along to A Game Knight, the gaming pub in Hamilton, OH where I played last time. There we met a couple friends and got down to business. This was both the largest number of players I'd ever run a game for and the first time I've used heavy bombers. I warned my players that I had no idea if the scenario was balanced or not, so we'd just see what happens.
To which my son replied, "So we're winging it." Groans ensued.
Despite his puns, I teamed up with my son on the Entente side, with each of us taking a Caproni CA.3 and a Nieuport 28 escort:
On the other side were my daughter and two friends, with a pair of Phonix and a flock of Albatross, ready to rumble.
Things got brutal quickly. The Caproni gunners were on point, seeming to either deal blistering damage or having their guns jam. One of the Phonix pilots quickly met a grim end, riddled with bullets from both a Caproni and its escort. The Entente put some more punishment on the defenders and for a bit it looked like we had the upper hand, both bombers breaking through with clear shots at our targets and a furball behind us.
More defenders fell, and so too did bombs, but then things fell apart. My son's Caproni was lit on fire and drew the Boom card, exploding in spectacular fashion as the flames hit his remaining bombs. My bomber had taken a heavy pounding but was able to hit the second target, but one of my daughter's scouts broke from the dogfight and put some crippling gunfire into the Caproni and sending it down hard. The Nieuports finished off the other defenders, but were both barely still in the air. With the bombers down we decided to make a run for it, but my daughter would have none of that. She fell in behind me and ripped my kite to shreds, then went after my son. Crippled as he was he knew he couldn't escape, so he swung around and they barreled at each other, guns blazing. The cards favored the Entente and he won that battle of sibling rivalry.
In the end we did partial damage to both ground targets and shot down all the Central Powers' planes, but at the cost of both bombers and one escort. A victory, but a costly one.
Next time we'll try breaking out the Zeppelin Staaken!
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