Chase above the Channel

**Spoonfrog** · 10-29-2021 01:35

I printed some Brandenburg W.12s (A/B firing) to use in my airship scenario, so I had a look for other scenarios we could use them with.

Historical Background

July 1918, a patrol of 2 Short 184 float planes escorted by 2 Sopwith Camels was attacked in the English Channel by 7 Brandenburg float planes from Zeebrugge. More info here

Setup

A single Short 184 and a single Sopwith Camel on the Entente side, 2 Brandenburg W.12 on the Central Powers side. The Short 184 started 6 x ruler lengths from the British end of the table, with the escorting Camel placed within 1 x ruler. The German aircraft were placed 2 x ruler lengths away. I played as the British and my son played the German aircraft.

British victory: Short 184 reaches the friendly end of the table.
German victory: Short 184 destroyed or exits any other table edge.

The Battle

Starting situation:

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As we started, the 184 turned straight for home and the W.12s wasted time by turning. The Camel pilot picked his target and scored a hit at long range.

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Before long, the slower speed of the 184 came into play and one of the W.12s managed to catch up and start dealing out damage. The Camel pilot spotted the danger and broke off his attack to help out. Meanwhile the other W.12 peeled off.

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Despite some evasive manoeuvres, the 184 could not escape the pursuing W.12 (my son anticipated my movements very well). Meanwhile the Camel closed in to score a hit on the pursuing aircraft at long range.

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I mis-handled my Camel and ended up heading away from the main fight...straight into the guns of the other W.12!

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By this stage there were two battles - a running fight between the pursuing W.12 and the Short 184's gunner (now moving into short range), and the Camel taking on the other W.12.

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With the end of the table coming up, safety is almost within reach for the 184 crew...but the final short range shot from the pursuing aircraft takes it up to 15 damage, and down it goes!

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This was a fun scenario, we had to adjust it a bit to get the distances right. If my son had focused on the target aircraft better it would probably have been less of a close call.

**Baxter** · 10-29-2021 03:11

Funny how you can get so close and get not make it. Good battle thanks for posting.

**RJG173** · 10-29-2021 07:12

German pilots thought the extra weight of the three gun W-12 gave it poor performance. The three gun W-29 was a different story.

How large of a table were you playing on? This looks like an interesting scenario to try at game night.

**zenlizard** · 10-29-2021 09:07

Excellent scenario this time! And I see people there are starting to get the hang of the game.

**Spoonfrog** · 10-29-2021 09:26

Originally Posted by RJG173

How large of a table were you playing on? This looks like an interesting scenario to try at game night.

The table is 900x1600mm, but we didn't use the full length for this scenario. To adjust the difficulty you could use 2 shorts or B/B W.12s, or adjust the distances. Let us know how it goes if you do try it out!