The reports were true! Strange three legged metal monsters presumably from Mars were now attacking Earth. An organized response was not yet in motion but individual pilots that could wait no more put to the sky.
A lone Frenchman in a Nieuport 16, armed with rockets vowed to do some damage to the invaders.
On his first shot he jammed his guns as the tripod turned away and shot out a gas cannister that burst open right under the N16.
As the N16 flew past the Martian headed towards what it perceived as a high value location.
The Frenchman Immelmanns but the tripod has run off towards a power station.
The Martian drains the station of power recharging it’s batteries. One element of energy must be spent to keep the incoming bullets from doing any real damage.
As the tripod stands motionless it ejects another gas cloud at the incoming biplane.
More energy is expended keeping the shields strong.
Another shot from the biplane drains away precious energy while the tripod destroys the station.
The N16 flies off to unjam its gun while the tripod runs in the opposite direction.
As soon as the jam is cleared the Frenchman reverses to get back after the metal monster.
As the tripod absorbs energy from it’s new target the Frenchman’s long shot again drains off a little more energy.
The Martian blows more of it’s caustic smoke on the N16 but that does not deter the Frenchman.
His bullets find a weak point in the shield and a massive amount of energy is consumed to stop the bullets from reaching anything vital.
(The Locust has 1 energy point left after this!)
After a quick recharge the Martian couldn’t resist using his heat-ray.
After a few moments of standing still regenerating some energy the tripod turns to avoid a shot through it’s unshielded side. One more battery’s worth of energy is used up.
The tripod stops to recharge some more and the Frenchman overshoots and flies by.
With no immediate threat from the biplane and a decent amount of energy the heat-ray lashes out and sets the biplane on fire. Too much for the fragile plane to take any more, it brightly burns as it nose dives into the ground.
Just as the tripod reaches another town a second Frenchman appears. He shoots but can do nothing to deter the Martian as it sucks the life out of the town before destroying it.
Passing too close the biplane is forced to fly into another foul gas cloud.
The acidic cloud damages the biplanes control surfaces. It cannot turn right to keep up the fight.
In disgust the Frenchman can only watch as the Martian quickly heads off towards more defenseless towns.
Playing this out with my wife, we found it difficult to line up a rocket run for the N16 as the tripod can dance an erratic dance. Also getting off a shot with the ray-gun is not that easy. I think with more planes and tripods on the table it will be much different!
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