Your Enemies Briefing
Our Two Seat planes have been taking a bit of a pounding from the enemy when they are conducting bombing missions over the lines and we need to put a stop to it. We can’t cover the raids with our scouts as they don’t have the range and so I want you to think how we can fly in a formation that will provide all round defence to get our planes to the target and back again.
(Your enemy are the two seat formation.)
Planes
You have 4 two seat light bombers, your choice of plane and in period but I would suggest a forward firing gun as well as a rear facing one. For the Germans that’s easy, Albatros CIII, Roland or Rumpler, for the Brits the 1 ½ Strutter or maybe the FE2b with the rear firing MG giving them all round cover but only firing 1 gun at a time. Substitute as necessary or use differing planes but give some thought as to how you will maintain formation if using differing speeds.
Dave if it's OK with you I would suggest that we only use named 2 seater crew that we have available, and that the additional ones needed are anonymous, feel free to disagree and we'll go with your recommendation.
Formation
You will chose a formation to fly in, this can be anything you like, historical or not, you will chose the distance between the planes but I think ½ a ruler should be the minimum, but do what you think is appropriate. The planes will be placed centrally on the long edge of one mat facing the opposite long edge. The rearmost plane of the formation will be placed with its rear edge on the edge of the mat and the rest of the formation will be placed according to the formation you have chosen to fly in.
Movement
Your objective is to fly in a straight line and exit the far side of the mat. You will use 1 set of movement cards 2 straights and 1 short straight to simulate the fact that you are carrying a full load of fuel and bombs. Take the 3 cards and shuffle them and place them in order with out seeing which is which. Alternatively use a dice or some other method to suit you to give a randomness as to when the short straight is played. Do this after determining the attacking scouts movements. Use the same card to move all 4 planes each phase, this will ensure that they stay in formation.
The Bombers will remain in formation at all times, the only exception is that if on fire use sideslips instead of straights use 1 right and 1 left sideslip and for the 3rd card use a short straight. A plane that is on fire will use the sideslips independently of what the rest of the formation is doing.
EG the formation may play long straight, short straight, long straight but the plane on fire may because of the random nature of their choice play a right slip, a left slip and then a short. At the end of the turn they will be still in position.
If a plane has to return to base because of damage or wounds etc, turn them out of the formation in the safest direction and then make normal independent moves back home.
The aim of the game is to see if a formation of two seat planes can defend itself against a scout attack.
I don’t use altitude for my games but I think this is one where having planes at slightly different altitudes will help in the all round defence, especially making it harder to creep up behind them without getting shot at, it will also give more options in the attack as well.
OK I hope that’s not too controversial and now for the scouts that you will be flying.
Scout Briefing
The enemy seem to have put some thought into using formations and arcs of fire to defend their planes on bombing missions, we know they are coming over in, (whatever Formation you have decided) your task is to devise an attack strategy that will defeat their formation defence.
This is the clever part, when I played out my trial game I just used an ill thought out attacking position and got shot to pieces.
Planes
4 scouts of your choice and in period.
Scout Starting Position
You know they have been coming over regularly in formation and beating off the disjointed attacks made on them so you are waiting in the air at the right altitude. You will see them coming and can position your planes where ever you like but not closer than 2 ½ rulers from the nearest enemy plane. If you are using altitude and want to start higher that’s fine.
Control in the air
You have a plan (I hope) and all 4 scout pilots know what it is but once in the air there is no communication as per the normal rules.
Your plan could be A1 and A2 will attack the rearmost enemy and A3 and A4 will attack the Northernmost enemy, once they are shot down it’s a free for all.
It may be that your plan is more specific, or less so, it could be as simple as Come in from the flank and shoot from the hip.
So when using the protractor to decide the quadrant the enemy is in, you take it to your pre determined target rather than the nearest plane and that should take you in the right direction. All targets of opportunity will be fired on as per normal and there may be a situation that you feel your pilot would attack the nearest plane rather than the planned target, if so just do it, but you should endeavour to engage the enemy designated in the plan.
At some point you could abandon the plan altogether and go for a free for all if the Flight Leader fires a red Very flare for instance.
Table size
I envision this as an initial slug feist that will develop into a running fight once the two seaters are past the scouts and the scouts are playing catch up. I played this on my single mat which is the same as 2 WoW mats side by side joined on their long edges. I found that the 2 seat planes broke through and even allowing for the reduced movement with the short straight the scouts only began to catch up near the end of the table.
What I propose is using 3 mats joined on the long edges, for some of us it will not be possible to lay out 3 mats, indeed you may not have 3 mats but what I found was that the fight started on one mat and eventually moved to the other one as the bombers made their way into enemy territory. It would then be possible to remove the empty mat, slide the full mat into its position and place the empty mat in front of the full mat for the planes to fly on to. In my case, once the planes are more than half way over the mat I shall move them all back 27” and keep the relationship of one to the other correct and achieve the same result as mat moving.
Should you find this isn’t a practical proposition for you just assume the enemy came over a little later than usual and you used up too much fuel hanging around waiting and have to return to base sooner and just use the normal 2 mat option.
This may explain what I mean, or it may not. For the German players you should reverse the table so that the British bombers fly on from the left hand side.
Balance
The game balance depends on the planes you decide to use, I used Albatros CIII’s and Rumplers, flew them close together and in a very cunning formation, they provided a huge amount of mutual support, which was the whole purpose of the exercise.
I flew Nieuport 11’s against them and they proved too fragile and as I said my attack plan was ill-considered and my scouts arrived piecemeal, the weight of firepower against them was just too much and I lost 2 planes but inflicted a lot of damage, just not enough to down a plane, but having learned from that, I have hopefully a better plan, or I may just use tougher scouts.
The alternative would be to use some planes with forward and rear firing guns and others with just rear firing ones and this will give different dynamic to take into account when choosing a formation.
My only advice is try and avoid this situation.
It ended very badly.
Hopefully it's reasonably clear what I would like to include in the game but this is for you to enjoy and so see fit to make any changes you think necessary to ensure it flows well for you.
As you all have much more experience than I do it will be interesting to see what planes you chose, why you chose the formation you did and what your attack plan will be.
Victory Points
+2 pts for each bomber that exits the board in the right direction.
-2 pts for each bomber shot down or returned to base.
For E&E, the whole board is ET for Bombers and FT for Scouts
Any questions feel free to ask and I will answer asap depending on internet.
Good Luck and all the best
Cheers
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