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Thread: The Italian Mission

  1. #1

    Default The Italian Mission

    This game took place at the Cowards wargames club, Hoveton, Norfolk on Friday 11th October 2019.

    It was played on two mats (Countryside and Coast) joined along their longer sides. A Squid Tripod would attack an Italian coastal town. It was an Italian town because my original intention was for the defenders to be a Caproni bomber and a Macchi M5 flying boat. However, I was unsuccessful in finding another club member to act as an opponent and the Caproni was replaced by a Nieuport 11 and a Hanriot scout, which would be flown using some solo play rules I downloaded from the Files section some time ago.

    The Macchi M5 was equipped with a 37mm cannon in place of one of its machine guns and the Nieuport 11 had rockets in addition to its machine gun although firing them would be difficult in solo play. At the start of each turn the Squid's movements and first action were chosen before the aircraft's movements were selected from the charts. The Squid had three objectives to destroy. The Italian pilots would win if the Squid was destroyed.

    The formidable Squid with its five heat ray projectors and black smoke launcher.

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    The defenders.

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    The protagonists moved straight forward until they were about 24 inches apart when I started to use the solo play manoeuvring rules on the planes. The orange object was a directional template used in conjunction with a die (I know, heresy ) to determine the cards used by the planes.

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    The Macchi turned to starboard whilst all the other participants just moved forward.

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    The Squid moved forward, the Macchi turned towards it whilst the Nieuport and Hanriot also turned to port. The Squid fired its forward right heat ray at the Macchi and missed! The Macchi fired its single machine gun and missed (just out of range)!

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    The Squid halted to recharge but it was a costly decision because the Macchi came on firing its machine gun at the Tripod's shielded side and the Nieuport turned to fire its machine gun at the Tripod's forward shield. They managed to drain three energy cubes in that attack! Meanwhile the Hanriot had turned to starboard to try to get behind the Squid.

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    Last edited by Naharaht; 10-17-2019 at 21:21.

  2. #2

    Default

    The Macchi and Nieuport flew straight ahead, whilst the Squid moved to the left and fired its Black smoke launcher to hit both planes. Meanwhile the Hanriot turned to port and fired at the Tripod's unshielded left rear sector.

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    The Squid suffered structural damage and battery damage, loosing another energy cube and reducing its maximum possible charge.

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    The Macchi suffered structural and engine damage. However, the engine damage could not be applied to the plane under the solo play rules.

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    The Nieuport also suffered structural damage.

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    The Macchi turned to starboard, whilst the Nieuport and Hanriot both moved straight ahead. The Squid also moved forward, fired its left rear heat ray projector and missed, again!

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  3. #3

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    The Squid halted to recharge. The Macchi and Hanriot flew straight on whilst the Nieuport turned to starboard and looked like it might collide with the Hanriot.

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    The Hanriot flew straight on, missing the Nieuport. The Nieuport and Macchi both turned to starboard, back towards the Squid, which had moved to the right towards its first objective.

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    The Squid moved forward to draw level with its objective. The Nieuport and Macchi continued turning to starboard to bring themselves in behind the Tripod. The Hanriot performed an Immelmann turn. [In retrospect, the Squid should perhaps have fired its black smoke launcher at this point to drop a cloud in front of the Macchi and protect its rear.]

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    The Squid moved left onto its objective. The Macchi flew forward into firing range. The pilot was itching to try out his 37mm cannon and he fired it now at the Tripod's unshielded left rear sector. The Nieuport and Hanriot began to line up into 'line ahead' attack formation.

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    The Macchi was given a stall card as its next move (pushing back its planned moves) and two recovery counters and the cannon did no damage to the Tripod.

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    The Squid halted and drained the energy from its objective. The Macchi stalled but, with his cockpit full of cordite fumes from the cannon, the pilot could not fire his machine gun. The Nieuport flying in from behind had its line of fire blocked by the Macchi and the Hanriot closed in at the rear.

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    Last edited by Naharaht; 10-14-2019 at 21:03.

  4. #4

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    The Squid remained stationary and destroyed the objective. The Macchi flew behind the Tripod. The Nieuport moved forward and fired at the Squid's unshielded left rear sector. The Hanriot moved forward in support.

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    Sadly, the Nieuport did no damage and its gun jammed.

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    The Macchi and Nieuport flew straight ahead whilst the Hanriot turned to starboard. The Squid turned left, fired its left rear heat ray and missed again!

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    The Macchi turned to port, the Nieuport and Hanriot turned to starboard. The Squid rotated on the spot to face towards its second objective in the coastal town and the Nieuport's tail.

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  5. #5

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    All three aircraft turned to port, whilst the Squid remained stationary and fired its forward heat ray projector at the Nieuport.

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    Black smoke began pouring from the Nieuport's engine.

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    All three planes continued turning to port. The Macchi fired at the Squid's unshielded rear with its 37mm cannon. The Tripod had moved forward and tried to fire its left rear heat ray projector, only for a warning klaxon to go off because the projector mechanism had not recharged since the last firing.

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    This time the cannon shell hit home, doing significant damage to the Tripod's structure and its engine.

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    The three aircraft continued turning to port (I forgot to give the Macchi a stall card.). The Squid moved forward towards its objective and fired its rear black smoke projector at the Macchi.

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    However, it did no damage.

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    Last edited by Naharaht; 10-15-2019 at 19:30.

  6. #6

    Default

    The Squid halted. The Macchi and Hanriot turned to starboard, whilst the Nieuport flew straight ahead.

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    The Macchi and Nieuport turned to port, whilst the Squid advanced towards its second objective in the town. The Hanriot turned to starboard in pursuit and fired at the Tripod's unshielded rear. The Martian's return fire from its left rear heat ray projector was well off target.

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    The Hanriot's bullets did heavy damage to the Tripod, enough to bring about its destruction.

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    The coastal town had been saved! The Martian war machine had been destroyed without the loss of any aircraft and only one objective eliminated. Victory went to the Italian pilots.

    The solo movement system worked quite well in this encounter. At times the aircraft appeared to be wandering off but they returned and put in some good attacks. I have seen worse from human pilots.

    I could have handled to Tripod better with more twisting and turning moves and leaving black clouds to protect my rear.

    It was an enjoyable and informative game but there is much to keep track of when playing alone.

    THE END.

  7. #7

    Default

    Thanks, David. I was interested to see how a solo game worked.
    I hope to try it out before the end of the year.

  8. #8

    Default

    Nice Game!

  9. #9

    Default

    I have not tried operating a Tripod by remote yet, Pete.

  10. #10

    Default

    I was planning to control the tripod(s) and use the same AI system I use for Over the Trenches for the aircraft.
    Quote Originally Posted by Naharaht View Post
    I have not tried operating a Tripod by remote yet, Pete.

  11. #11

    Default

    I enjoyed reading your AAR!



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