To the RFC, April 1917 was known as Bloody April due to their losses in the Battle of Arras. What most people did not appreciate was that the war was almost won by the Germans not at Arras, but due to the U-Boat campaign in the same month. British ships were being sunk at the rate of 13 per day during that time and in April more than 500 merchant ships were sunk.
To counter these unsustainable losses the British instituted the convoy system and began using airships to shadow convoys and identify submarines before they could attack. One such class of airship designed for that purpose was the North Sea class.
In this scenario, one airship, NS7 (piloted by Baxter) is shadowing a British cruiser squadron in the North Sea. These airships had a crew of ten men and mounted five machine guns.
Explosions will count as half damage and no plane can collide with the airship but if overlapping or on the airship base neither can fire.
We worked out that if attacked from the side then the attacking plane would receive 3 B damage hits. From the front or rear it would be 2 hits. Easy to say but hard to fly that way when the Dirigible was twisting and turning. First blood to the airship with Biggles Downunder going down into the cold sea. He respawns in an Albatros D.II.
The Airship has managed to turn around and is heading home constantly harassed by the Albatri. Jams abound too.
With a damage point value of 40 points it seems nothing can stop the Airship from getting away ..... unless .....
Windy Jack scored the killing blow. An Explosion card and a 5 damage card at plus one seals the Airships fate for a total of 44 points.
Well done to the Luftstreitkräft, represented here by Windy-Jack, Biggles Downunder, and Mark. Airship movements made using the XA deck and the number 4 movement template from my new Oak & Iron game.
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