Airship

[Baxter]

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.

[Stumptonian]

Quite an interesting scenario - I have not seen those before.


Clipper (air) ship?

[clipper1801]

Yeah, guilty as charged. There are 8 of these triple envelope beasts and 10 single airships floating around out there . . .

[zenlizard]

Nice scenario: usually, when airships are involved it's the Germans with the dirigible. Good work on this one.

[camelbeagle]

Nice! Looks pretty fun!

[malachi]

Beautiful airship and fun scenario. Thanks, Gary

[flash]

Fun looking game Gary.
Years ago I made up a movement template for my mates Zeppelin based on the idea of the movement template used for the X-Wing big ships. Can't find hide nor hair of it on my computer now but it worked well.

[Teaticket]

Neat battle Gary. Nice to see a British airship as we usually see Zeppelins. Was there any AA fire from the ships?

[Baxter]

We did not use AA fire from the ships as the Airship would have been a bit vulnerable. Using the Oak & Iron number 4 movement ruler in conjunction with the XA deck worked really well. I did think of an escort fighter but the game seemed pretty well balanced and quite playable as it was. Only the area between the rear edge of the rear white stuck on Airship card and the front edge of the firing card counted as the Airship base for firing purposes. That was Windy Jacks idea and it eliminated potential blind spots where attacking fighters could have just sat there and pounded the Airship into oblivion with no return fire.

[BodeGier]

I like airships and zeppelin.

[Biggles downunder]

As the dunked and wet Albatross pilot, I have to that this was a really fun scenario. Clipper’s airships are certainly a sight to behold on the table er, ocean!

[Willi]

I've not seen such airships before (I may be living under a rock). Vary cool looking. I would like to know more of their construction.

[clipper1801]

There used to be and may still be a site called "Airships?" it is a fascinating look at all things lighter than air . . . I'll do some looking if you desire, it is a dangerous journey . . .

[clipper1801]

See airships.net Great site!

[Flying Officer Kyte]

I am the happy owner of one of those Airships to which Clipper alludes William. It has often been see accompanied by a Float plane Camel on patrols over the North Sea. I must give it another outing soon.
One tip for the Airship Captain who may be in a spot of bother.
If you shed your ballast you can easily out climb any perusing aircraft, and attain a higher ceiling than they can too.
The down side is that many of them were lost in storms and landing accidents just like the good old Zeppelins

Rob.

[chee911sc]

Well done ! Something else than a zeppelin for this time

[Biggles downunder]

I am the happy owner of one of those Airships to which Clipper alludes William. It has often been see accompanied by a Float plane Camel on patrols over the North Sea. I must give it another outing soon.
One tip for the Airship Captain who may be in a spot of bother.
If you shed your ballast you can easily out climb any perusing aircraft, and attain a higher ceiling than they can too.
The down side is that many of them were lost in storms and landing accidents just like the good old Zeppelins

Rob.

Camel with floats! Wow that sounds intriguing!!

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Here are a couple of my Float Planes in action Wayne.

[Baxter]

Shot down by ships AA fire?

[Biggles downunder]

Love that Camel Rob - I have a spare one in my stash and now you’ve spurred me on to work out how to change it to a float version! - mind goes into overdrive

[Flying Officer Kyte]

This may be of help Wayne.

https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/co...M-Sopwith-Baby You can use it just as well for the float plane version of the Camel.

Rob.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Here is my RNAS SSZ in action.

[monse]

Very interesting historical scenario, Gary.
Thanks for posting.