OTT Bold Young Men Mission 2 - 12th October 1916 – “All for One and One for All”
OTT Bold Young Men Mission 2 - 12th October 1916 – “All for One and One for All”
BRF - by Mike
This mission is very loosely based on the following event. (Please note, that whilst the event is about an attack by allied aircraft on a factory in Germany, it could just as well have been an attack by Central Powers aircraft on a factory in France. Play the scenario either way).
On this day, 12th October 1916, Gervais Raoul Lufbery would become an Ace, Ltn. Ernst Udet would disable a Breguet IV, whilst Flight Sub-Lt. Raymond Collishaw would manage to limp back to Luxeuil with an engine damaged by Ltn. Otto Kissenberth flying a Fokker DII. All this, during a bombing raid in Germany that became one of the epic air battles of the year—and one in which a number of heroes, French, British, German and American, would make their mark. The Battle itself involved many different types of aircraft, including bombers, two seaters and scouts: the following are noted as having been involved: Farman 40 and 42 bombers, Sopwith 1½-Strutter two-seaters, single-seat Sopwith bombers, Breguet-Michelin IV pushers, Breguet Vs , Nieuport 17s, Ago C.Is , Fokker E.III and D.II fighters, of Jasta 15, an Aviatik and a Roland C.II .
There is no mention of other types, but that does not mean they were not present. The whole event worked out as very big, over a wide area and very confused.
The mission, therefore, is part of that battle which began as a joint Allied attack on the Mauser arms factory at Oberndorf-am-Neckar, but which went rather horribly wrong from the Allies point of view. A number of aircraft had to turn back because of engine trouble, aircraft got lost and the raid ended with six Breguets bombing Donaueschingen, rather than Oberndorf; the loss of a number of allied and central powers aircraft and a hazardous night time landing for some that made it back to base.
The bombers were supported by a number of RFC “fighters”, four of which had to fly ahead and land at an advance airfield at Corcieux to refuel before proceeding to the target. Ahead lay the German aerodrome at Colmar-Nord, from which Royal Bavarian Feldfliegerabteilung (Flying Detachment) 9 – or Fl.Abt. 9b – operated six Ago CIs supported by a small number of scouts, of various types, a little to their south.
You are part of another escorting scout group, intended to meet up with the bombers. You fly to a forward airfield where you re-fuel. Then you set off in search of the bombers, that seem to have gone off in all directions but the right one. You see no sign of them. Having used up half of your fuel you turn back, only to encounter a motley assortment of enemy scouts. The latter have been sent up to counter what they believe to be your intended attack on their airfields. They lie between you and your barn.
Equipment: Three friendly scouts of the same type. Three enemy scouts of three different types. Two playing mats (or the equivalent) - one no-mans land and one enemy, laid long edges together. Plus all of the usual paraphernalia. Scouts to be chosen, at your discretion, from any that were available in early October 1916.
(Example: 3 Nieuport 17s face a Fokker EIII, an Albatros DI and a Fokker DII)
Set up as per the diagrams below and the supporting photographs.
Objective: Defeat the opposition. If forced to retire or voluntarily leaving the area, you may leave the field of conflict from any free playing edge of the No-Man’s Land area without further penalty. If leaving from any edge on the enemy playing area you are deemed to have run out of fuel, forced to land and a kill will be awarded to the last scout pilot to fire on you. You are not necessarily injured, unless previously so during aerial combat, but you will need to roll 2D6 according to the FRTB protocol, where a double is a crash etc. You will also need to roll for Escape & Evasion. Enemy aircraft may leave from any edge without additional penalty (ie roll in the normal way during the tally process).
Set Up: Place aircraft as in the diagram. The red range measure placed on the central dividing line, between the mats, should be centred and the whole of it on the “Enemy Territory” mat area.
Enemy aircraft should be lined up, as best as possible, with the outside edges of the firing arcs of flanking wingmen. The centre one as dead straight ahead as possible. This means, of course, that when using the AI charts for the first turn the flanking attackers could, technically, be in one of two possible positions: On the left, the enemy could be either “12/1 closing” or “10/11 closing”; on the right, the enemy will be at either “12/1 closing” or “2/3 closing”. The choice is yours but during testing I chose these at random, using a D6, with interesting outcomes.
All aircraft start at 4 pegs altitude and are within sight of one another. Use of altitude thereafter is optional.
The above photos shows an example set up where three Albatros DIs are in enemy territory heading for No Man’s Land where they will encounter a Nieuport 17 (centre), an RAF FE8 (right) and a stray RNAS Sopwith Pup (left).
Victory points: Scout shot down, 5 points. Scout forced to return to base, 2 points (Friendly via NML mat edge; enemy via any edge). Friendly scout forced to retire via enemy mat edge, 5 points to the enemy.
I shall try to be available to answer any questions about the mission, following posting. Please note, however, that from the 9th to the 18th July Yon and I shall be out of the office. We are messing about on a narrow boat on the Grand Union Canal and I sincerely doubt we shall have much in the way of internet access. I hope you enjoy the mission
Take care all,
Mike
Looking forward to seeing this one in action Peter
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Thanks Mike! That looks like a fun furball.
Originally Posted by mikeemagnus
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