Racing, not Shooting: Introduction and race 1

[Windy Jack]

Set up
Playing area: 2 standard Ares WoG mats.
Markers: 1) on centre point where 2 mats join.
2) two on each mat placed at the midpoint of the short length and 23cm from outside edge of the mat.
Rulers: 1) one ruler placed perpendicular to the outside edge of a mat at the midpoint of the long edge. This is the start/finish line.
2) at the other end of the playing area, one ruler placed parallel to the edge of the mat, one ruler length from the edge, with its midpoint at the midpoint of the long edge of the mat.


[The photograph of the set up was taken before I put the second ruler in place.]

Action
Planes are to race around the markers, one in a clockwise direction and the other in an anti-clockwise direction. Each plane must pass between the ruler and the edge of the playing area at the end away from the start finish line.

Planes chosen for this experiment were Nieuport 17 and Siemens-Schukert D.III in race 1, and Hannover CL.IIIa and RAF SE5a in race 2.

Photographs were taken at the end of each set of 3 manoeuvres. (However, I did miss one photograph in the first race when the planes were near the middle heading away.)



























Comments
I was surprised that all planes handled the course without too much bother. In the first race I did change a few manoeuvre cards for the Nieuport because I had underestimated how far it would go with the manoeuvres chosen. In the second race I was much more careful in choosing manoeuvres!
I found that gentle side slips were enough to get a plane on the right line ready for the next turn. I think I only used a wide side slip once to avoid hitting a marker.
I would reiterate the comment of Flying Helmut (Tim) to the Gritty Goblin post that if you want to make an interesting game of racing, then the planes need to be carefully matched. My excuse is that I was experimenting and so I chose a range of planes to observe their different behaviour!

[CrashCraig]

Nicely done Doug. Good pics and interesting outcome.

[Spoonfrog]

This looks fun. I like the idea of going opposite directions, to avoid too much overlap. What would be the penalty for hitting a marker?

[Windy Jack]

What would be the penalty for hitting a marker?

I haven't really got that far yet. However, in a waking moment one night recently I did think of this. If a plane hits a marker, it is fairly unlikely that it will be centre to centre. Therefore, when a plane hits a marker, it must move to the nearest side so that it is clear of the marker, and forego its next manoeuvre. It then must play the following manoeuvre as normal.
In the context of a race, I thought that this was a reasonable penalty. Firstly, the plane misses one manoeuvre which is a disadvantage, and secondly, it plays a manoeuvre that may not be helpful, because it was planned when the plane was expected to be in a different position.
For example, if a plane is approaching a marker where it expects to do a left turn: say it plans two straights and a left turn. If it hits the marker on the first straight, it misses the second straight, and then must play the left turn on the following manoeuvre. If it hit the marker on the second straight (probably more likely), then it would miss the left turn, and move the first manoeuvre of the next planning phase. If it hit the marker on the left turn, which is the third manoeuvre in the phase, then it would miss the first manoeuvre of the next planning phase, and move the second manoeuvre of that phase.

I have also been wondering about making the planes go around the centre marker after the far outside marker, instead of just flying from one side to the other as I did in my experiment. That means a plane would go around the centre marker three times in the race.

[flash]

With same speed racers the penalty would work well, Doug, as it is a form of time penalty. As pilots get better at the game, rather than first across the line, you might have to count the number of turns/cards it takes them to complete the race to decide the winner.
I looked at the RB racing rules - it's all time penalties or DNF for various infractions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W84lQS_9jL0

[CrashCraig]

Regarding the question about penalties for hitting a marker, in our Gritty Goblin November game, if a plane hit the flag base/marker, they received a B-damage card. Since the pilots were playing with live rounds, i.e., shooting at each other and taking AA fire, this seemed like a logical approach. If they hit the marker on the wrong side of their turning move, they had to go back and get around it on the proper side. Likewise, if they went off the edge, they came back on but took a B-damage card as well.

[Windy Jack]

Thanks, Dave and Craig, for your feedback.

[zenlizard]

I'm still not sure fromt he photographs, what the actual outcome was.

Was it, as I suspect, simply the faster aircraft did better? Without having to take into consideration very unfriendly fire, I suppose this would be the outcome, but...YMMV.

[Flying Helmut]

To me it looks like a clear win for the SS D.III (last two photos, sitting on the Finish Line waiting for the N.17 to finish).

As I expected, the faster plane has a big (insurmountable?) advantage, which is why I run planes with the exact same speed (arrow length on the manoeuvre deck card) against each other.
They don't have to have the exact same deck, though, just the same speed.

In order to match up a slower plane against a faster one, the course would need to have many more "forced" turns, like an Alpine slalom, and the slower plane would need manoeuvres the faster one doesn't have, such as 90 degree turns.

SS D.III vs SPAD XIII might work - if the SPAD were to be frequently "forced" wide when approaching multiple corners, whereas the SS D.III could approach directly and use its wide sideslips and 90 degree turns to "cut the corners" and thus play fewer cards to travel the same distance...

[Baxter]

I like the concept. I also wonder what other non war oriented table top games might be out there. I think someone did a Zeppelin one over the North or South pole last year. Project here for someone.

[Windy Jack]

SS D.III vs SPAD XIII might work - if the SPAD were to be frequently "forced" wide when approaching multiple corners, whereas the SS D.III could approach directly and use its wide sideslips and 90 degree turns to "cut the corners" and thus play fewer cards to travel the same distance...

I was actually surprised at how little I had to use wide sideslips and 90 degree turns. Maybe the course wasn't tight enough, and was more like an amble in the park than a race course.

The match up you have suggested is one that I was thinking about trying next. And I will pit the Nieuport against the Hannover - a sort of consolation race.