OTT CYM Mission 9 “Who’s Stalking Who?” 5 September 1916 {Stumptonian
After a raucous evening of eating (and more than a little drinking) Oberleutnant Bernhard Wienand called his pilots away from the bar.
“Meine Herren, es ist Zeit, die Dienstpläne für die Missionen von morgen auszuwählen.“
<Gentlemen, it is time to select the rosters for tomorrow's missions.>
Holding six straws he held out his hand to Leutnant Till Huebner.
“Sie werden die Ehre haben, zuerst zu zeichnen.“
<You will have the honour of drawing first.>
Huebner drew a straw and held it behind his back without looking at it.
The Adler performed this ritual every evening when there was no specific mission to be assigned.
The next day’s missions would be simple search and destroy patrols, looking to contact enemy formations, or if they were lucky, stragglers looking to make their way home.
Next up was Leutnant Burkhard Baumann. Like Huebner he drew his straw and held it behind him.
Leutnant Günther Giesebrecht ambled over and drew a straw, followed by Leutnant Dietrich Oelker.
Leutnant Felix Eisenhardt approached but was waved off by Wienand.
“Ich brauche nur vier für morgen.“
<I only need four for tomorrow>
„Mein Glückstag! Ich werde morgen spät schlafen.“
< My lucky day! I'll sleep late tomorrow.>
Eisenhardt winked at Wienand, knowing that was not the way things worked.
The four pilots laid their straws on the table.
Those with the two shortest straws would be assigned to the first mission of the day – Morgendämmerungspatrouille < Dawn Patrol >
Giesebrecht cursed under his breath as he saw he had the shortest straw.
Huebner accepted his fate a little more cheerfully.
“Na ja, frühes Frühstück für mich.“
< Well, early breakfast for me. >
Baumann and Oelker smiled.
They would get a bit more sleep tonight.
The next morning, Giesebrecht and Huebner found themselves climbing their Halberstadt D.IIIs toward the front.
The nip in the air reminded them that autumn was not far away.
Morning Mission
Mat roll of 2 indicates that the Adler will start in Friendly Territory, heading toward No Man’s Land.
Initiative Rolls: Adler (1) and Bulldogs (4)
Vector Roll: 2
Giesebrecht is flying his usual CDL machine slightly to the left of Huebner in the reddish brown one that to which he has become accustomed.
Staring off to his left he is startled when Huebner fires a test burst and points toward 2:00
A pair lf Nieuport 11s are closing fast.
Lieutenant Robert “Don’t call me Bob” Lewis and 2Lt Eddy Duke hope to catch the Germans off guard.
Da da d….
Lewis gets of the first shot but his namesake Lewis has jammed on the first burst.
Tikka tikka tikka
To make matters worse, Huebner [using his Sniper skill] has sent bullets ripping through his control cables.
[Huebner also has the Bullet Checker skill so can ignore the gun jam]
Da da da tikka tikka
Duke and Giesebrecht trade shots and do minor damage to each other
Tikka tikka tikka
Giesebrecht uses his Sniper skill to inflict some serious damage to Lewis’s N.11
Not only has he nicked Lewis in the shoulder, but a flame starts from the engine area!
The Bulldogs and Adler both try to regroup.
Lewis curses quietly.
His shoulder injury makes it difficult to fly in the side-to-side maneuver recommended to control fire.
Suddenly …
BOOM!
The flames have reached the fuel tank.
Lewis sees his day come to an abrupt end.
“Zehn!”
Giesebrecht has his tenth victory at last.
He looks at the flaming Nieuport spiraling to the earth.
“Dieser arme Scheißkerl”
< That poor bastard >
He would not wish that on anyone, not even an enemy.
Giesebrecht is elated as he performs a perfect Split-S and pulls up beside Huebner who gives him an enthusiastic ‘thumbs up’.
Duke finds himself alone with two aces closing on him.
Luckily he doesn’t know about the aces bit ….
Tikka tikka tikka tikka tikka tikka da da da da
The sound of three machine guns firing simultaneously, followed by a blood curdling scream, as both Giesebrecht and Huebner send bullets ripping through Duke.
The Nieuport is barely holding together, but Duke is overcome with pain.
The Nieuport crashes to the ground.
Duke drifts in and out of consciousness as German infantrymen pull him from what remains of his aircraft.
Huebner nods in recognition of Giesebrecht’s 11th kill.
“Jetzt sind wir gleich”
< We’re equal now >
The Adler continue across No Man’s Land
Afternoon Sortie
Mat roll of 2 indicates that the Adler will start in Enemy Territory, heading back toward No Man’s Land.
Initiative Rolls: Adler (3) and Bulldogs (4) – again the Bulldogs have the advantage
Vector Roll: 12
Ltn Dietrich Oelker again flies the camouflaged Halberstadt D.III while Ltn Burkhard Baumann has been assigned a CDL machine this time.
The painters have not kept up with customizing his aircraft – more important tasks have been assigned.
Oelker waggles his wings to draw Baumann’s attention to the aircraft approaching from No Man’s Land.
A pair of PC10 DH.2s are closing from 12:00
Lt Charlie Gordon flies the one with a CDL tail, with F/Sgt Alex David in the all PC10 machine.
Da da da
Tikka tik …
David and Oelker fire tentative bursts at each other but not damage is apparent.
Oelker curses his armourer as his ‘Spandau’ jams.
“Erster verdammter Schuss!”
< First damn shot >
Oelker nearly collides with David while trying to clear his jammed gun.
Da da da da
Tikka tikka tikka
Now David has a new target.
He and Baumann trade solid shots, but Baumann gets the better result, as flames begin to flicker from the DH.2
Gordon sees David flitting from side-to-side and hopes his wingman can keep the flames under control.
For now that seems to be the case.
Oelker has cleared his jam and eyes his potential targets.
Baumann flies an Immelmann and decides that David is too far to bother with – especially since, with any luck, he will be able to “behaupten eine wahrscheinliche” < claim a probable >
Oelker and Gordon eye each other warily.
The flames flare up on David’s DH.2
Not looking good for the young Scotsman.
Tikka Tikka Tikka
Oelker uses his inherent Sniper skill and hits Gordon with a damaging shot.
Da da d…
Gordon’s return fire damages Oelker’s rudder, but then his Lewis jams.
Oelker flies a Split-S and catches Gordon’s DH.2 in the rudder controls.
David’s flames have gone out.
He performs an Immelmann and heads back toward the action.
[Note: David was about to exit off the edge of the mat, but since his fire was extinguished his FRTB-F was no longer applicable, I allowed him to draw new movement cards for the next turn instead of those originally planned]
Tikka tikka
Oelker stays with Gordon and does some more damage.
Da da da da
Gordon has cleared his jammed Lewis and slams Baumann.
Bits of fabric and wood fly from the Halberstadt.
Da da da
Gordon empties his Lewis drum firing at Baumann.
Oelker flies another Split-S and heads toward Gordon to try to take some pressure of his wingman.
Gordon curses as he works on his drum.
A perfect setup wasted!
Da da da
David’s turn to empty a Lewis drum, and he damages Baumann’s controls.
Oelker takes a long shot and misses David.
Focused on replacing his drum, David nearly runs into Oelker
David and Gordon have both reloaded and prepare to turn back into the action.
Tikka tikka
Oelker’s turn to damage some rudder controls
Tikka tikka
Sticking with Gordon, Oelker inflicts some more damage.
Tikka tikka
Oelker is relentless!
That last shot was just too much for Gordon’s DH.2
Barely keeping the aircraft under control, Gordon brings the busted up machine to a rough landing just outside of a village.
Oelker has kill number three
Flying over the area where the DH.2 went down, Oelker tries to see if there is any movement near the crash site, but cannot see anything for certain.
Baumann flies a reversal to keep up with his wingman.
Now alone, David weighs his options.
Tikka tikka tikka
Oelker has made David’s decision for him.
With damage mounting it is time to make for the barn.
Da da da tikka tikka
Not to say he can’t try to take someone with him ….
Baumann feels his aircraft cannot take much more and turns to head across No Man’s Land.
The plucky young Scot nips between the two Germans.
Baumann tries to let Oelker know he is leaving but is not sure that his wingman got the message.
As David turns for home, Oelker fires a withering burst.
Tikka tikka tikka tik ..
“Teufel noch mal!”
< Dammit! >
His ‘Spandau’ has jammed again.
But he doesn’t realize he has wounded young David and pushed the DH.2 beyond its limit.
Another DH.2 hits the earth and David’s day is done.
Oelker sees Baumann already crossing over No Man’s Land and turns to join him.
He may not have understood what Baumann had tried to tell him, but that doesn’t matter now.
Time to get back to the Jasta and tell them he has doubled his tally!
One more to make ace!
Butcher’s Tally
Morning Mission:
Bulldogs
N.11
Lt Robert “Don’t Call Me Bob” Lewis EXP WIA ET
C&W: 6 -3 EXP -1 WIA = 2: KIA
N.11
2Lt Eddie Duke SD ET WIA x 2
C&W: 9 -1 SD -2 WIA =6: INJ 1D3(2) = Skip 1
E&E: 8 -1 BEL -2 WIA -1 WIC =4: Captured and Escaped Skip 1D3(3) = 2
Total: Skip 2
Adler
Halberstadt D.III
Ltn Till Huebner RTB
Halberstadt D.III
Ltn Günther Giesebrecht RTB 2 Kills : N.11 (Lewis and Duke)
This brings his total to 11 and a new ace skill.
I will select “Lucky Pilot”
Afternoon Mission
Bulldogs
DH.2
2Lt Charlie Gordon SD FT
C&W: 9 -1 SD = 8 - INJ 1D2(2) : Skip 1
DH.2
F/Sgt Alex David SD FT WIA
C&W: 10 -1SD -1WIA = 8 - INJ 1D2(5) = Skip 2
Adler
Halberstadt D.III
Ltn Dietrich Oelker RTB 2 Kills : DH.2 (Gordon and David)
Halberstadt D.III
Ltn Burkhard Baumann FRTB-D
Roll for possible crash: 6 + 6 (I don’t think I have ever rolled 12 for a C&W ….)
C&W: 9 +1 RTB -1 Crash =9: All is well when you land (not so) well.
Victory Points
Bulldogs
1 enemy FRTB = 1
Adler
4 enemy shot down x 2 = 8
3 RTB x 1 = 3
Total : 11
Decisive Adler Victory!
================================================
Notes and Observations
A decisive win, but I am sad to lose Bulldog Lt Robert “Don’t Call Me Bob” Lewis
With 4 kills he was just one away from becoming an ace.
None of the other Bulldogs are even close.
I would like to recommend 2Lt Duke to take over his position.
I think it’s time to retire those Nieuport 11s – I should have swapped them for N.17s ages ago.
For some reason I didn’t think the RFC got them until late in the year.
Would have made a big difference in this game.
I rolled to see which pilots I would be up against and had them fly their ‘usual’ machines.
Hindsight is 20/20
Especially in 2020
I would have liked to see one of the missions with the attack coming from 6 or 7 (preferably mine)
As it was I drew to be the target both times.
I also think there should have been some benefit to the attackers in phase one when they are not coming from the tail.
I considered using an altitude bonus, but don’t like the odds of drawing a zero and negating the +1 advantage, so didn’t do that.
Perhaps the side without the incentive should have to fly toward 12/1 for the first phase?
Or maybe give them an inherent ‘Itchy Trigger Finger’ bonus for the first turn?
Anyway, I like the concept – just needs some more tweaking.
When David emptied his drum I forgot to use his inherent Weapons Specialist skill (even though I had an ace chit on his base to remind me)
I suppose it was because it wasn’t a jam, but I think swapping the drum should get the same benefit.
Nice to see Giesebrecht finally get his second ace skill, and Oelker now just one away from getting his first.
And, finally, didn’t I say I would prang the FRTB roll.
With double sixes, no less, that I have never to my recollection rolled when it counted for something good!
Luckily Baumann walked away unscathed.
I hope you guys like the mission and can do as well as I managed.
I suppose this means that the next mission will be deadly for my guys again …
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Originally Posted by flash
) Anyway - RIP Robert.
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