OTTDYM - Mission 12 - “Ending with a Bang” 27th March 1916 by Mikeemagnus
OTT Daring Young Men - Mission 12 Brief - “Ending with a Bang”
Based on the Actions of St Eloi Craters - the Ypres Salient of Flanders 27th March to 16th April 1916
On the morning of 27th March 1916 - several mines were exploded, by British sappers, under the German trenches at St Eloi along the Ypres salient in Flanders. “Sint-Elooi (St Eloi in English) is a village about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Ypres in Belgium. The British dug six galleries under no man's land, placed large explosive charges under the German defences and blew them at 4:15 a.m. on 27 March.” Wikipedia
Following these enormous explosions, British infantry captured 4 of the six craters, but a German counter attack held the remaining two.
Entente: Three two seaters are sent up following the detonations. One to photograph the craters, assess the damage and assess the progress of the subsequent attack by infantry. Two as escorts.
Central powers: Three two seaters are sent up following the detonations to assess the damage to their lines and to report on the success of a counter attack against the British offensive: One to photograph the area, two as escorts.
The six two seaters encounter one another.
Mission Objectives
1. Required by both sides. Photographs of the devastation around six target locations – six “craters”. (The same for each side).
2. If enemy aircraft are encountered, prevent them gathering any reconnaissance information. i.e. chase them away or preferably destroy them.
Equipment
Two mats, or their equivalent. Three two-seater aircraft for each side. All the usual paraphernalia.
Set up
The two mats are set long edge to long edge. Six target locations are placed along the centre line as per the diagram below, with equal spacing between each target and the spaces to the edge of the playing area. These represent the craters left after mines have been exploded.
(The following link is for some game ground markers, three of which are explosion markers which are suitable for use as craters.
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/do...do=file&id=387)
Aircraft starting positions:
Assign one mat to each side. For each side, therefore, the long edge farthest from the centre is the starting point and the way home.
Divide the “home” long edges into “three” equal measures then randomly select which is the starting point for the aircraft, using a D6.
Place one aircraft in the centre of that position then place the other two, one either side of the first, within a half range measure of one another (base edge to base edge). Finally, if you wish, a) you may move the middle aircraft forward so that its rear edge is level with the front edges of the other two and b) you “may” fly the escorts in formation with the leader of the flight until first contact with enemy aircraft. (See example layout below.) c) Both side’s lead aircraft “will” begin by targeting one of the craters chosen at random.
Notes:
After the mines were exploded and following the Entente infantry assault and Central Powers counter attack on the position, there is, temporarily, no “no man’s” land. Aircraft forced down or shot down on their own side of the centre line are in friendly territory. On the other side they are in enemy held territory.
There will be six areas to photograph, as per the following picture. These are the same for both sides.
You must not permit the enemy to leave the playing area with any photographs for their side.
All anti aircraft guns in the area have been destroyed in the explosions – there is no threat from the ground above altitude three. However, whilst still within one range stick distance of any crater, at altitude three or below, aircraft from either side will face AA MG fire at the rate of one “A” damage card per manoeuvre card from largely unidentifiable sources on the ground.
OR...
Use WGF AAMG rules as written
OR...
Use a method of ground fire of your choice/creation.
There are no scouts available for either side – all are occupied with other duties.
The usual rules regarding photography will apply – the aircraft needs to be at altitude three or lower, within short range distance of any part of the target and observers may use their cameras or their machine guns, not both, in the same manoeuvre. Photos are taken only after a stall. For this purpose, if flying a photo reconnaissance aircraft with AI, any straight manoeuver card may be substituted with a stall, provided this is not automatically an illegal manoeuver.
For AI movement – do not permit any aircraft to leave from the sides – substitute cards to compensate (shuffle the manoeuvre cards and turn one over from the top until the first one that is sensible and is not illegal comes up). Also, for AI controlled photo reconnaissance aircraft, when selecting manoeuver cards your choice is to target either the nearest enemy aircraft or the nearest unphotographed crater.
There will be no replacements if aircraft are shot down. So, before starting the mission, nominate “one” of the escorts, for both sides, to be equipped with a back up camera. This will only be used if the original photo reconnaissance aircraft is seen to have been shot or forced down. Otherwise, focus solely on escort duties as per the objectives. A photo recon aircraft forced down and not burning, in friendly territory, keeps any photos taken. If in enemy territory, photos are lost.
All aircraft will attempt to remain in the area until all six photos have been taken for their side. You may, of course, use your discretion around the meaning of “attempt to remain”.
The choice of whether or not to play altitude is your own. If you do not, all aircraft are considered to start and remain at altitude three. But beware the ruling re photography above in relation to ground fire.
Finally, a note on aircraft selection. Many early two seaters were armed with a single mg operated by the observer. However, the intention is for you to have a two seater dogfight, preferably with aircraft armed both fore and aft. So try to make this your choice if you can and make it as even as possible.
The Albatros CIII is the obvious choice of ARES miniature for the Central Powers, but Ares only issued the Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter that is comparable and available at this time for the Entente (at the time of this Mission, that had only been issued to the RNAS). The RAF FE2b is another alternative, if you have them. They can be armed with two mgs from early in their introduction. Just try and avoid the obvious mis-matches eg Albatros CIII v BE2c. Unless of course you’ve recently had a bad run of luck and feel like a bit of revenge
Victory points : 1 point for each photograph successfully taken home. Deduct 1 point for each photograph that an enemy aircraft successfully makes it home with (“Home” in both cases
being off the home longside edge of the playing area).
There is a minimum requirement of three clear points for a victory. Anything less is either a
loss or a draw depending on what the other side achieves.
Example Start-up Layout
PS Both Sopwith 11/2 Strutters and Albatros CIIIs appear to be currently available from Entoyment at 10% discount. Just saying
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