OTTDYM Mission 7 - Dit Fromage ! - 19th February 1916 by Tikkifriend

[tikkifriend]

Verdun 19 2 1916





Outline of mission.

As a preparation for the the beginning of the German offensive centred on Verdun German GHQ had decided to soften up some of the prepared defences of the French Army principally the Fort at Douaumont



it being the largest and highest fort on the ring of 19 large defensive works which had protected the city of Verdun since the 1890s




To this end the need for accurate mapping of the area was essential for the artillery to do their job and so it was decided to send in several photo recon planes supported by scouts to ensure the missions success. AA fire was thought to be minimal and able to be neutralised by the scouts , and the nearest Entente airfield was some 30 mins flying time away.

However loose talk in the cafes behind the German lines had given the Allied HQ an inkling that something was afoot.





The 52nd were rapidly moved to a temporary airfield a mere 6 miles from the Fort Douaumont.

in an attempt to catch the German spotters unaware





Objective

The Germans must photograph the Fort and its surrounding terrain and get the plates back to HQ.

.
Set Up

2 Mats of your choice , NML and Country would be good .
The Fort is placed 1.5 rulers from the centre on the right hand mat where the mats join .
The Fort is considered a 2 x 360° AAMG B firing position . Rules as Ares WGF

Gameplay Germans

As mentioned the Germans must photograph Douaumont and its surrounding terrain . Use this as your target



This involves 2 photos within ½ ruler of the Fort Douaumont itself and 2 shot each of the terrain North , South ,East and West within 1 ruler of the centre of Fort Douaumont

Photos can be declared on any straight or stall card played by a 2 seater . Usual observer / rear gunner rules apply re photography.

Planes must be at Level 4 or lower due to the inclement weather on the day .
At Level 2 each successful photo counts double i.e. you only need 1 pass to complete the photo mission.

These plates must get back to base for development for the mission to be a success the planes must exit the mats at the longest home edge.

You have up to a max of 3 , 2 seater planes of your choice as camera platforms.
You also have upto 4 scouts again of choice .

You can bring the planes in at whatever time in the game you wish 1/2 ruler from your starting lines on the long edge of the left mat.

A thick early morning mist is hanging over the sector. Pic So spotting the incoming attack is difficult pour the French defenders

So at the beginning of each turn of the German player rolls a single D6 dice for all their planes .


To be heard by the observer corps in the Fort consult the chart below

Turn
Dice roll required to be heard
Turn 1 5,6

Turn 2 4,5 ,6

Turn 3 2,3,4,5,6

Turn 4 Too loud to miss !!!



Once the plane/s have been heard a call goes out to scramble the Bulldogs.
This is a red flare as they are on a rolling sweep over the sector.

The first 2 RFC planes will arrive 2 turns (6 cards ) after the German planes have been detected. Thereafter a plane/s will enter the mat every turn until all are deployed.

Roll for entrance area 1,2 Left edge 3,4 centre 5,6 right edge.
.
There are a total of 6 RFC scouts to deploy if you wish.

Gameplay RFC

You have a total of 6 scouts available.

When your planes are alerted to the incoming Germans you can choose the following.

A minimum of 2 scouts must respond immediately to the flare.

Should you wish to stagger your remaining scouts they must enter the mat by the 4th turn after the initial first contact

Roll for entrance area 1,2 Left edge 3,4 centre 5,6 right edge of right mat.
They will enter ¾ ruler from the edge

Entry altitude is at your discretion.


Use of AI

You are free to choose up to 2 planes to fly manually. The rest are AI and follow the AI rules re wounds , damage etc

Points make prizes

For every compass photo RTB 1 VP
For every Fort photo RTB 2 VP.
For every German 2 seater SD 2VP
For every RFC/ German scout SD 1 VP

Bon Courage.

[Stumptonian]

Lots of planes on the table - I like it!


Might have to get some Nieuports ready.


Question about the Entente arrivals:

You first state

The first 2 RFC planes will arrive 2 turns (6 cards ) after the German planes have been detected. Thereafter a plane/s will enter the mat every turn until all are deployed.

But then

Should you wish to stagger your remaining scouts. They must enter the mat by the 4th turn after the initial first contact .

This looks like the first statement should have said:
"The first 2 RFC planes will arrive 2 turns (6 cards ) after the German planes have been detected. Thereafter plane(s) will enter the mat for the next two turns until all are deployed."

or did you mean
"They must enter the mat by the 4th turn after the initial placement." instead of first contact.


One other question - how big should the target card be? Is it the same as a standard Nexus/Ares card or ...?

[flash]

Nice one Paul !

Pete - I read it that Paul was giving us deployment options:

The first 2 RFC planes will arrive 2 turns (6 cards ) after the German planes have been detected. Thereafter a plane/s will enter the mat every turn until all are deployed.

If there are six RFC scouts - two deploy 2 turns (6 cards ) after the German planes have been detected and the other four over the next four turns, ie one per turn.
but

Should you wish to stagger your remaining scouts. They must enter the mat by the 4th turn after the initial first contact .

If you don't want scouts appearing every turn you can pair them up and bring them on but they must all be on by the fourth turn after the first pair are deployed. (I think that was the intent)

The target card should be of standard size - there are forts on the map of similar size iirc.

OTT Wounded Observer optional rule might be worth considering for this mission chaps.
Wounded Observer: option for obs/recon/bomb missions:
a. You knock him down for the remainder of the turn he is hit in.
b. He stays down the whole next turn.
c. He returns to action at the beginning of the next turn with these penalties applied:
ie 4 move gun jam, can only fire at short range & not after steep moves, Split S, Immelmann, climb cards.
d. A second hit and observer is incapacitated for the rest of the game.

[ShadowDragon]

Has all of he makings of a big fur ball...it will certainly test my ability to keep things straight. Looks like fun!

[gully_raker]

That has the makings of a real marathon!
I think I need more scouts or I will have to down size somewhat.

[flash]

....Question about the Entente arrivals:

Pete I've suggested some answers in my post above

That has the makings of a real marathon!
I think I need more scouts or I will have to down size somewhat.

I have three scout pilots available - I may have to go maximum effort & field a couple of tandems too !

Note for the Bulldogs - you will very much have to be the I in AI to run the Eagle recon machines !

[tikkifriend]

If you save the target map I put up it is the same size as an Ares card . 6.8 cm by 4.4 cm. Then print it out.

[tikkifriend]

Nice one Paul !

Pete - I read it that Paul was giving us deployment options:


If there are six RFC scouts - two deploy 2 turns (6 cards ) after the German planes have been detected and the other four over the next four turns, ie one per turn.
but

If you don't want scouts appearing every turn you can pair them up and bring them on but they must all be on by the fourth turn after the first pair are deployed. (I think that was the intent)

The target card should be of standard size - there are forts on the map of similar size iirc.

OTT Wounded Observer optional rule might be worth considering for this mission chaps.
Wounded Observer: option for obs/recon/bomb missions:
a. You knock him down for the remainder of the turn he is hit in.
b. He stays down the whole next turn.
c. He returns to action at the beginning of the next turn with these penalties applied:
ie 4 move gun jam, can only fire at short range & not after steep moves, Split S, Immelmann, climb cards.
d. A second hit and observer is incapacitated for the rest of the game.

Thats right Dave re RFC plane arrival You can have them all in one turn or in dribs and drabs till the last turn

[tikkifriend]

Re numbers of planes .
You have upto 3 2 seaters available you might want if you are the Hun to use all 3 or risk it with just 1
The Bulldogs have upto 6 scouts but you might only want to use 2
The choice is yours
The recon planes should work pretty well as AI, leaving you with the scouts to take on the enemy planes.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Nice one Paul, leads into my scenario very nicely. WTS.

Neil

[tikkifriend]

Nice one Paul, leads into my scenario very nicely. WTS.

Neil

Happy to be of service..

[Vagabond]

Crickey if I've read this right we could have 13 planes on the table, that's going to be interesting reading about it, I might scrape up half that many planes although I'm going to have to ask Dave for a lot of new pilots
Will be a while before I can get round to this but I shall look forward to reading the reports.
Fur ball springs to mind - thanks Paul.

[ReducedAirFact]

Just FYI, if you're thinking historically, we have excellent records of what the Germans were flying at this time, from Frontbestand: 349 Albatros C.I, 214 LVG C.II, 161 Aviatik C.I, 92 Albatros B.II, 67 Rumpler C.I, 51 Albatros C.III, 40 LVG B.II, 34 AEG C.I, 26 Albatros B.I, 25 LVG C.I, 22 Ago C.I, 18 Aviatik B.II, 7 LVG B.I, 7 Aviatik C.II, 5 Rumpler B.I, 1's and 2's of assorted others. I would assume the B classes were starting to move to quieter sectors by now.

Fighters: 67 Fokker E.III, 26 Pfalz E.I, 20 Fokker E.II, 12 Fokker E.I, 11 Pfalz E.II, 6 Fokker E.IV. There's a record of one Halberstadt D.III but I think it's a mistake.

Of course, there's no need to be strictly historical about it, especially if it leads to a better fight. This is just in case you're curious.

[tikkifriend]

Thanks for that Daryl

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Looks like a very interesting mission Paul.
Rob.

[ShadowDragon]

Crickey if I've read this right we could have 13 planes on the table, that's going to be interesting reading about it, I might scrape up half that many planes although I'm going to have to ask Dave for a lot of new pilots
Will be a while before I can get round to this but I shall look forward to reading the reports.
Fur ball springs to mind - thanks Paul.

All set up and ready to go. I need to create some NML / entrenchment pieces. For the moment internet photos pasted in will need to do. I decided with the faster planes and the resulting confusion to go with the larger (and plain) game mat with 3D terrain pieces (except the craters). Central Power forces will be 2 Rumplers, 1 Halberstadt, 2 Oeffag 153 and 2 Aviatiks. Entente planes will be 2 SPAD XIII, 2 Hanriots and 2 Camels. So, I"m going whole hog on this.

In the early morning light - the view towards the defences around Monte Grappa - it works out that my 1917 calendar equivalent to the official game coincides with the 1st battle of Monte Grappa - for which the Italian fortification building was inspired by the Verdun battle.

[ShadowDragon]

Just wrapped up the game. Quite a few planes in the air and quite a few errors made but I don’t think they affected the outcome.

[ShadowDragon]

OMG - what a blood bath! Of 16 aircrew - 4 killed (3 CP and 1 Entente) and 4 seriously injured (1 CP and 3 Entente) i.e., skip 3 or more missions.

Plane losses = 1 CP 2-seater exploded, 2 Entente scouts exploded, 1 entente scout down in flames and 1 entente scout down from a collision. 1 CP and 1 entente scout FRTB.

[flash]

Just finished this game - one issue I found was the detection/RFC entry - Jerry was detected on turn two, by the time the Bulldogs arrived on turn 4 the Eagles were planning to head home ! Unlikely but should you not come on until turn six - they'll be halfway home and never be caught... I, however, got on just in time and caught a packet !
Seriously though, I'd bring the RFC on on turn three if you want a proper scrap, maybe roll a D3 for their arrival would work ?

[gully_raker]

Just finished this game - one issue I found was the detection/RFC entry - Jerry was detected on turn two, by the time the Bulldogs arrived on turn 4 the Eagles were planning to head home ! Unlikely but should you not come on until turn six - they'll be halfway home and never be caught... I, however, got on just in time and caught a packet !
Seriously though, I'd bring the RFC on on turn three if you want a proper scrap, maybe roll a D3 for their arrival would work ?

Will be interested to hear others thoughts on this before I get to play mine next weekend (14th July) as I have had similar problems trying to catch up to German 2 seaters with early British Scouts in Club Games.

[tikkifriend]

The idea of the discovery dice roles was to generate a degree of tension into the game.If you dont get discovered till the 4 th roll you could bring the RFC in on the same turn if your German 2 seaters are noticably faster than the enemy scouts.
My game which is almost over did have a Roland outrunning its pursuers

[flash]

Tandems just have to be the same speed as the scouts which, in the extreme circumstances, would be enough to provide them an insuperable lead. Rolling a D3 for arrival provides a similar tension mechanic but gives a better chance of a scrap before they're legging it !

[ShadowDragon]

I'm wondering if the VP for downed 2-seaters should be 3 or 4 points. With 3 X 2-seaters, 4 escorts and 6 interceptors, the CP side has a potential for 18 VP (12 for photos + 6 for downed interceptors) while the Entente side gets a maximum of 10 points (6 for 2-seaters and 4 for escorts). it will be interesting to see how the Entente players make out. I felt it was too easy for my AH Flik but that's just one game.