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Thread: OTTDYM - Mission 12 - Flash Ending with a Bang - 27th March 1916

  1. #1

    Default OTTDYM - Mission 12 - Flash Ending with a Bang - 27th March 1916

    "Well the fireworks began last night as no doubt you all heard" started Uncle
    "Heard ? damn near blew the roof off the hotel !" grumbled Lt Terry Bull
    "Quite so" replied Uncle "It certainly rattled the windows didn't it. Of course now the top brass want to see the effect of their action and you poor blighters get the chance to go and see it first hand !"
    "Lucky us." chipped in 2Lt Hale as Uncle turned to the board to give them the full SP.

    A half hour later the Bulldogs are approaching the scene of the action from the south west - it is soon plainly obvious to all that something quite calamitous had happened to the German lines as a whole stretch of the front now seemed to be formed of truly massive craters.
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    (Left: Lt Terry Bull & AM.1 Jack Dawe in FE2b #4; Right 2Lt Justin Hale & AM.2 R. Sole in FE2b #6; and up the middle 2Lt Chris Cross & AM.3 Richard Shaw flying a 'Strutter sent to the unit for combat testing)


    Approaching from directly west came the Kaiser's Eagles with much the same mission to find out what had gone on at first light by photographing the new lay of the land.
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    (Left Obltn Herman Poss & ltn Claus Ritscherle in pink Roland C.II; right Ltn's Otto Festner & Renatos Ultsch in the blue Roland C.II and up the middle Vzfwbl hermoth Hemer & Ltn Franz Schäpe in an Albatros C.III)

    As Hale closed on the nearest crater Bull and Hale broke away to the right to cover him from the approaching Eagles
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    The Eagle pilots clearly had the same idea and as their recon machine headed for his target crater at the far end of run they too turned toward their foe
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    Cross side slipped his machine over toward the first crater he came to, losing a little height to get to the optimum altitude for picture taking, 'blipping' the engine as they passed over its boundary.
    A round popped through the lower wing without causing any significant damage -
    "Bloody hell" - muttered Rick Shaw - "they're on our side too !" as he takes his first pic
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    (Ace denotes allied position. Camera token the pic being taken.)

    Cross pulled his machine right to take in the last crater at this end of the line, Bull & Hale are squaring up to meet the opposition
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    Moments later, having reduced altitude & lined up correctly himself Hemer takes the Albatros over the crater at the other end of the line.
    "Ach so, good German people, they're ours !" exclaims Schäpe even as a hole appears in the trailing edge near to him and he gets his first snap
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    Moments later Cross flies over his second crater ..."Bloody hell they're 'uns, sir" bellows Shaw as rounds crash through the framework of their wings - he gets his second pic though
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    (Special damage & damage value are applied - though a jam doesn't count the damage does - 2 in this case)

    Hale & Poss close fast - as they speed past each other the gunner's let rip... Ritscherle's parabellum MG jams.
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    Seconds later Bull is nose to nose with the Albatros & shots are exchanged - Hemer's gun jams
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    But Schäpe sticks to his task and gets his second snap as the looming FE damn near takes the paint off their top wing - ground fire is negligible & it is a verdammt Tommy trench.
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    Down at the other end Cross hauls his 'Strutter round and noses up to exchange with the blue Roland - rounds patter through the fabric but little damage done to either machine. He neatly side slips into the Roland's blind spot - just.
    The 'Strutter is a vast improvement on his old BE.
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    Hemer flies over the next crater - another Tommy - rounds slam through the cockpit floor and he is struck in the leg, Schäpe gets a third picture though
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    (D6 - 2 = pilot hit.)

    As Cross passes over another crater Shaw gets busy with his camera for his third pic of the day - Suddenly the Albatros looms large in his sights and Cross instinctively grabs the trigger - Rounds slash through Hemer's Albatros but there is no answering fire...
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    Ground fire is negligible and follows them both as they pass over but it is another one of theirs. Schäpe also steals his fourth snap as they do so.

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    The Roland's turn to meet Hale as he attempts to drive them off from the 'Strutter, Sole gets in a good burst on the pink one but the return fire starts a blaze and damages the controls
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    Sole tracks the blue Roland and hoses the cockpit - there ! He's sure he's clipped the pilot
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    Shaw gets his fourth snap as Bull roars past in #4 trying to catch up to Hale - Dawe gives them a cheery wave as they pass.
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    Hale feels exposed - the FE trails fire & smoke, the Lewis gun has run dry and Jerry is behind him - He does his best to hide behind the engine as all of them open up as one and rounds smash through the FE, his controls are badly damaged - Hemer's gun jams a second time.
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    Bull charges in and swaps lead with the pink Roland but comes off distinctly second best as his motor coughs out dirty grey smoke
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    Hale wrestles with his machine but with no tangible control of his direction and trailing flames he flies out of the battle area and heads toward the ground.
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    (As a pusher there's no problem with straights when on fire)

    Hemer takes fire from the next crater but to no obvious effect, Festner waves & indicates he must head for home
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    Cross is nearing the end of the line - Shaw get picture number 5 but ground fire damages their controls - "This could make things awkward" thinks Cross
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    Pouring smoke Bull catches the blue Roland as he completes his turn for home and sprays him with lead, return fire does no damage
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    Schäpe gets picture number 5 - as they pass over the next crater - ground fire is intense and something hits the engine causing the Mercedes to miss a beat
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    Out of ammo Bull has to let the Roland run - the gunner is feisty though and leaves them with a parting close range gift
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    Cross manages to turn the Sopwith before the controls jam up completely and he manages to get them close enough for Shaw to snap their final pic but disaster strikes as the Hun below lather them with a welter of ground fire injuring them both .
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    (D6 1= Both crew hit)

    Being only able to turn left Cross manages to point them roughly in the direction of home as he leaves the battle area
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    Meantime, gun reloaded Bull runs in on the crippled Albatros that looks to going for their last pic as it heads for home - Dawe gets in a burst but the Hun doesn't seem to notice and is out of arc himself
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    This is the last chance - as the Albatros passes over the crater Dawe rakes him end to end before his gun jams
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    But it's enough as the battered Albatros staggers and falls from the sky... heading straight for a British held crater.
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    The pink Roland had been chasing after Cross and now was too far away to intercept Bull's FE; the blue Roland had the back up camera and was limping from the field - seeing the Albatros fall Poss had no choice but to retire himself. The Eagles had failed.

    Butcher's Tally

    Eagles:
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    Obltn Herman Poss: (Pilot Pink Roland C.II) RTB 0 kills
    Ltn Claus Ritscherle: (Gunner) RTB 0 kills

    LtnOtto Festner: (Pilot Blue Roland C.II ) FRTB-W / WIA 0 kills
    Rolled 11+1RTB = All well when you land well !

    Ltn Renatos Ultsch: (Gunner) RTB 0 kills

    Vzfwbl Hermuth Hemer: (Pilot Albatros C.III) SD-ET 0 kills
    Rolled 7 -1SD = 6 Injured skip 1D3 scenarios. Rolled 1 = skip 1
    E&E: Rolled 10 -1BEL -1 WIC = 8 Landed almost home - skip 1

    Ltn Franz Schäpe: (Gunner) SD-ET 0 kills
    Rolled 7 -1SD = 6 Injured skip 1D3 scenarios. Rolled 2 = skip 1
    E&E: Rolled 10 -1BEL -1 WIC = 8 Landed almost home - skip 1

    Landing near the craters edge Hemer & Schäpe manage to slip away from the enemy back toward his own rear trenches but are unable to recover the photographic plates.


    Bulldogs:

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    Lt Terry Bull: (pilot FE2b #4|) RTB 0 kills
    AM.1 Jack Dawe: RTB 1 kill

    2Lt Justin Hale: (Pilot FE2b #6) FRTB-D 0 kills
    AM.2 R.Sole: FRTB-D 0 kills

    2Lt Chris Cross: ('Strutter) RTB WIA 0 kills
    Rolled 7 +1RTB = 8 Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario. Rolled 1 = Skip 1

    AM.3 Richard Shaw: RTB WIA 0 kills - 6 photo's
    Rolled 7 +1RTB = 8 Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario. Rolled 1 = Skip 1


    Result:
    Bulldogs nick a clear victory at the death.

    It played out very well with the changes I made & I hope it kept to the spirit of the match up, if not, the full intent.
    I basically kept aircraft at level 4, intending to dip into level 3 with the photo planes to get the pics but when it came to it the proximity of each target was such that they never climbed back to level 4 between pics.
    This I allowed to put them into range of ground fire but only if their base overlapped a crater which I'd decided they had to do to get the required detailed picture ie they had to be more or less directly overhead of their target
    To give ground fire some bite I assigned both special damage and the value of the special damage card to the aircraft (rather than just special damage).
    Freeing the other machines up from ground fire allowed them to crack on with shooting others up which they tried their best to do.
    I also allowed pics to be taken on long manoeuvres as long as a stall was one of the three cards in the turn, representing a reduction in speed overall. I find otherwise that getting pics can be bloody difficult.
    As a twist I randomly decided which trenches were in German hands, though it had no bearing on the game, and decided to randomly select which the back up photo plane would be when it was needed rather than pre mission so it wasn't favoured, pre positioned or targeted.
    All in all it was an entertaining clash. Thanks Mike
    Last edited by flash; 01-26-2020 at 01:17.

    "He is wise who watches"

  2. #2

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    Uncle says:


    Lt Terrence Bull is awarded the Military Cross for his service to the King & country.
    AM2 Reginald Sole is awarded the Military Medal for his service to the King & country.
    2Lt Christopher Cross is mentioned in despatches (MID) for his actions this day.
    AM3 Richard Shaw is mentioned in despatches (MID) for his actions this day.

    Post Script:
    Ltn Claus Ritscherle is awarded the Iron Cross 1st class for his service to the Kaiser.
    Last edited by flash; 02-06-2020 at 09:23.

    "He is wise who watches"

  3. #3

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    Nice one Dave - yet another interpretation, but it works well and is certainly in the spirit of the mission Well played

    The change in the photo taking isn't so different from the plan. I did say change any straight to a stall if necessary. But, in fact, using the D8 charts (I haven't checked the D6), so long as an aircraft approaches a target / crater directly and is close enough on the third manoeuver of a turn, the next random card, based on the target being at 12/1 and closing, would be a stall 7 times out of 8 ( true for all decks except F, M O and the X series). Certainly that was the case for the 1 1/2 Strutter and the Albatros CIII. But your adaptation works well too

    Your ground fire adaptation ( aircraft base overlapping crater rather than within long range of centre ) was kinder than I had intended, but it played out well. I did want to make it tough and I wanted the ground fire to be random - otherwise I would have left it out altogether, as I did for the "easier" option (which folk did not go for). But enough said - we could flog that one to death for ever and never agree In the end, the missions are there for folk to enjoy and if that means changing things, then so be it

    REP inbound - I think. The drop down screen froze on me when I applied the rep, so I don't know if it went

  4. #4

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    Thanks Mike, looks like it did.
    The BRF stated "whilst still within one range stick distance of any crater" not it's centre - that's part of why it got the reaction it did and, like Paul, maybe I mistakenly thought it was damage from every crater within range...
    I was happy with the changes made & I got a good game from it. Something I'll likely employ in the future.
    As you say we can put it to bed now.
    Last edited by flash; 01-24-2020 at 09:53.

    "He is wise who watches"

  5. #5

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    Gun jams, wounds, smashed engines, jammed rudders, an airframe fire. This scenario certainly had it all. Well done to the Bulldogs this time.

  6. #6

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    Nicely played and displayed, Dave.
    I think we have this mission sorted out now (now that we understand there is only one ground shot, not one from each crater)

    That being said, I hope my draws are like yours ...


    I was hoping to play mine today, but I don't think my shoulder is up for it.

    I am taking every Friday off until the end of February to use up my vacation days, so will try again next week.

    REP inbound. Hopefully the dreaded Database Error does not strike...

    Speaking of ... how was the posting of the AAR for you?

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stumptonian View Post
    ...Speaking of ... how was the posting of the AAR for you?
    I found that uploading the pics was the hardest part - kept coming up with "Waiting for WoG Aerodrome" or similar which I have never seen before - usual uploading issues being ever present of course; did take a while to load up a preview too but the actual posting to live forum went without a hitch.
    If you cut and paste before you post you at least have a copy if it goes fully tits up !

    "He is wise who watches"

  8. #8

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    Well done Dave! Wow even with one shot from the Crater they managed to do some damage.
    Nice to see the 2 seater crews get some Gongs.

    Wont be able to attempt to play this one until the fire danger is past but at least all my minis & original mats are safe here in town!

  9. #9

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    Safety first mate
    Last edited by flash; 02-05-2020 at 23:55.

    "He is wise who watches"

  10. #10

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    That went well for your Bulldogs a good way to end this campaign. I like the way you laid out the report with the game information seperate to the storyline text, it was clear and didn't interupt the flow of the report as much as I find it can do.

    I've not been keeping up with the rumbling about aa fire but this seemed to work well although you probably were a bit lucky with the damage drawn so I guess it could go either way which I imagine was the original intent.

  11. #11

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    Thanks John, it was better than expected !

    "He is wise who watches"

  12. #12

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    A great way to close off your campaign with a successful mission. Well done Dave.



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