The British had unleased their "secret weapon" Tanks on the unsuspecting German Trenches albeit rather prematurely in view of the number of breakdowns. However they did their job & made good inroads for the Infantry following them.
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They were thirsty beasts & the British were in constant need of refuelling them to keep the momentum going. Thus it fell to the Bulldogs to supply aerial cover to one such convoy as it made its way overland to the front.
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Uncle called Lt. Fife-Brand to the Squadron Hut, briefed him on the mission & gave the co-ordinates for their rendezvous with the convoy.
Reg detailed Dusty Rhodes to accompany him in one of the two new Nieuport 17's that had arrived. His favourite Blue nosed one was still waiting for a new engine after the last mission. F/Sgt Bran Stark would also fly with them preferring his trusty DH-2 to the new French Aircraft.
On the other side of the lines the Pilots of the Eagles Staffel were warmly greeting their Staffel Fuhrer Oblt Caul-August Schwartz who had finally returned to duty from wound leave. There was much saluting, hand shaking & schnapps toasting in the Casino. Schwartz was keen to get back into action & welcomed the telephone call from HQ advising of the need to mount an attack on a British Fuel Convoy making its way to the front to supply the Verdammit new monsters the Tommies had unleashed on the brave German troops.
He detailed Ltn Justus Lotz to fly as his wingman in a grey Halberstadt while he would fly a spanking new cream D.II. They would be accompanied by 2 Fokker Eindekkers flown by Ltn Kurt Rudiger in a CDL one & Ltn Otto Schoenfielder in a green painted machine. They would carry out the attack on the convoy whilst the 2 Halberstadts would act as top cover to keep away any British Scouts that might try to stop their efforts.
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The two groups of aircraft soon converged & exchanged fire.
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Reg Fife-Brand was less than impressed that his gun jammed on the very first shot at the grey Halberstadt using his new Ace skill & got hit by both of the D.II's.
On the other side of the Convoy Dusty & Bran opened fire on the two Fokkers before they had a chance to dive down to attack the convoy. Bran somehow missed his target but Dusty scored a good burst into the CDL plane although it return fire caused his engine to omit black smoke. He noticed no change in the note of the engine & breathed a sigh of relief.
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The Fokkers now dived on the convoy & the green one caused minor damage to the lead truck but immediately suffered a jamb. The CDL plane was out of arc distracted by the British aircraft.
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Obltn Schwartz pulled an Immelmann to chase down Fife-Brands Nieuport.
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He tried a long range shot but missed.
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Dusty now came to the aid of his Flight Commander but both his & the Germans shots missed their targets.
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Reg now reversed his Nieuport & using his Sniper skill caused some damage to the German leaders aircraft.
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Back at the Convoy, Bran had dived down to the altitude of the Fokkers & with a well timed burst set the CDL E.III on fire. This was some form of justice as the German had just set the last truck in the convoy on fire,
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The Fokker continued to burn as down below the fire finally caused the fuel on Truck No.4 to explode.
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On the other side of the Convoy the grey Halberstadt also continued to burn.
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The green E.III had circled back & shot at Truck No.3 but fortunately missed.
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On the far side of the Convoy there was a bit of a dogfight going on between the fiery grey Halberstadt, Reg & Dusty but not much damage resulted!
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Dusty continued to hound the German plane but then his gun jammed.
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The two opposing Flight leaders now flew head on & whilst Fife-Brand caused good damage to Schwartz's Halberstadt disaster struck the British pilot & his new Nieuport 17 exploded & fell to the ground in British territory.
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The green Fokker now switched his attention to the lead Truck causing more damage whilst both the German planes that were on fire continued to burn.
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The green Fokker continued his attack on the Convoy but Bran made him pay for concentrating on the trucks with some good shots into the E,III.
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The two burning German planes finally had the fires go out but accumulated damage from both the fires & bullets forced them to turn for their home aerodrome before they were forced to crash.
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The Truck Convoy continued moving towards their rendezvous with the Tank Company.
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Obltn Schwartz had now dived his Halberstadt down to attack the Convoy as he could see they were getting close to the Tanks.
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The first two trucks had crossed the target line & he made one final attack but his bullets went wide.
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The Convoy had successfully delivered 3 truck loads of fuel thanks to the efforts of the British pilots who were most concered about the fate of their popular Flight Commander Reginald Fife-Brand & could only hope for good news from the British Lines in due course.
Thoughts & Observations
Well that was quite a marathon with 12 turns!
The Brits were lucky to set 2 German Aircraft on fire which ultimately caused them to have to return to base because of Damage.
It was a blow to lose Fife-Brand to the Boom card & can only hope for a decent Survival Roll!
I used Altitude 4 & had the Fokkers dive to Altitude 2 for the attack followed down by Bran Stark.
I used Dave's D8 charts & flew Bran's DH-2 (Love my DH-2's!) All others were AI.
Apologies for the quality of some of the photos. The day was dark & cloudy on & off & sometimes the cameras flash operated & sometimes not.
Truck No.1 suffered engine damage towards the end of the game so the next turn I played a XB stall & decided the Sgt in charge of the Convoy would have ordered the second truck to push the damaged truck forward at normal speed for the remaining turns. I really enjoyed that game so thanks Paul. I must admit my back was glad when the 12th turn ended. Cant wait for my new modified sawhorses to be made raising the height of my table to approx bench height.
VICTORY POINTS
British:
3 trucks across the line = 9 points
German:
1 truck destroyed = 2 points
1 enemy plane shot down = 3points
Total = 5 points
BRITISH VICTORY
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