Second Game

[Naharaht]

I ran my second Tripods & Triplanes game at the Cowards wargames club in Hoveton, Norfolk last night. I did not produce an A.A.R. for the first game because I failed to take any photographs but I have mentioned it elsewhere.

In this game one Locust had to destroy three objectives. It was opposed by a Nieuport 28 and a Fokker D.VII. We played on two mats (Noman's Land and Countryside) touching along their long edges. We used the special damage rules and the black smoke launchers but not altitude. Vehicles commenced from positions half a ruler length from their home edge of the mat.

The players used the first three moves to approach the centre of the playing area.



Both sides continued to move forward.



The two aircraft turned to come in from either side whilst the Tripod moved forward and fired its black smoke launcher and hit the Fokker. Fortunately, little damage was done.



Three moves later the Tripod was approaching its first objective. The Fokker had turned behind the Tripod and the pilot was wishing that he had an anchor, ball and chain weapon. The Nieuport was closing in from the rear quarter. However, The Tripod was able to fire its black smoke launcher again and hit both aircraft. The Fokker pilot was wounded.

[Naharaht]

The Fokker turned tightly in front of the Tripod, which was stationary and recharging. The bases were overlapping. The Nieuport turned away to avoid a collision.



The Fokker pilot having misjudged the situation turned in the opposite direction. He was a 'sitting duck' for the Tripod's heat ray but the Tripod continued recharging. The Nieuport flew straight on.



The Locust turned and moved onto the nearest objective. Both aircraft also turned right.

[Naharaht]

Whilst the Locust destroyed the objective, the Fokker daringly turned across the front of the Tripod. Meanwhile the Nieuport turned left to approach the Tripod from behind and fired at long range at the shielded rear.



As the Fokker flew away to prepare another attack run, the Locust turned to face the attacking Nieuport and was shot at short range on an unshielded side.



A problem was encountered at this point because the special damage symbol on one of the A deck cards did not exactly match one of those in the rulebook. It was determined that it was supposed to be a 'damaged black smoke projector' but such damage is supposed to be kept secret.

The Locust headed on and two moves later had reached its second objective. The Nieuport had flown past it and it began to turn to come back. The Fokker had performed an Immelmann turn.

[Naharaht]

Whilst the Locust recharged, the Fokker turned right and fired at the Locust's rear shield. The Nieuport also turned towards the Locust.



The Locust prepared for a reverse move. The planes closed in to shoot at close range at the Locust's shielded sides.



The Locust reversed as the two planes turned in opposite directions to avoid a collision.

[Naharaht]

The Locust recharged whilst the Fokker flew away and the Nieuport turned left.



The Locust rotated. The Nieuport turned left to prepare another attack whilst the Fokker flew straight ahead preparing for an Immelmann turn.



I had problems with my camera and some photographs were overexposed.

The Locust moved right towards its l objective, whilst the Nieuport turned left and attacked the Locust hitting its starboard shield. The Fokker performed the Immelmann turn but could not fire because the pilot was wounded.

The Locust headed twice towards its objective. The Fokker performed its post Immelmann straight and then turned left. The Nieuport flew forward and then turned right ending in close proximity to the Locust. Their bases overlapped and the Nieuport's base was replaced by its card.

[Naharaht]

The Locust made a bee-line for its final objective. The Fokker turned and fired at the rear shield of the Locust to try to stop it. The Nieuport flew off to one side slightly.

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The Locust reached its final objective with the Fokker still behind it firing. The Nieuport appeared to be heading for the edge of the mat.

Attachment 274271

The Locust elected to destroy the objective. The Fokker pilot was unable to prevent it happening despite closing in to fire at close range. The Locust's shield was effective. The Nieuport pilot turned hard right to avoid flying off the mat as he had done the previous week.

Attachment 274272

The Tripod had destroyed all three of its objectives and so it was victorious. It had only suffered four points of damage and the loss of its black smoke launcher. Most of the aircraft's fire had hit its shields. It did lose energy cubes but by recharging it was able to sustain them.

Attachment 274273

The Fokker pilot was wounded and his machine had suffered three points of damage.

Attachment 274274

The Nieuport was unscathed.

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The players enjoyed the game. The pilot of the Locust, who had not operated one before, commented on how difficult it was to hit an aircraft with the heat rays. The aircraft pilots should probably have tried harder to shoot at the unshielded sides of the Tripod.

THE END.