OTT-EYM Mission 1: When the Blood Runs Cold - 5th January 1917 - by ShadowDragon
OTT-EYM Mission 1: When the Blood Runs Cold, by ShadowDragon
EYM Scenario description:
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...y-ShadowDragon
This scenario was adapted from Mission 3, “The Hunter in the Skies”, by Blackronin, for the very first OTT campaign. The changes I made were to include some new ace skills, add named aces (I don’t think these were yet available for the original OTT campaign) and to put a turn limit on the game so it didn’t drag on too long. The original scenario is here with links to the AAR of that campaign.
I’ve wanted to this for awhile since we seldom get to play against aces on the other side. My enemy roster is getting close to the first, but we’ll see. Also, I’ve come to prefer smaller scenarios, but not quite one-on-one as these can be a frustrating to play. I did think of adding in a 2nd plane on each side to come in on a later turn, but kept it one-on-one in the end.
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...paign-Missions
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...r-in-the-Skies
As the saying goes, well laid plans go astray….I didn’t quite get the action I intended. I thought of re-doing my game but we’re into the last third of November and it’s unlikely I’ll get that done. So here’s the game.
The Story
As Baz approached the veranda of the Wilde house, he could hear Bruce and Jack arguing.
“I tell you I did.”
“Well, that may be, Jack, but as the lawyers will tell you, it’s not what’s true it’s what you can prove and you can’t prove it.”
The two turned and nodded at Baz as he sat down and poured himself a glass of the excellent 1898 Cognac. Jack had managed to acquire several cases of the cognac for a song while he lived in France. It was excellent and if any of the gentlemen had know that a case would fetch a fine price in 50 years they might have slowed down their consumption, but liquid assets will be…well, liquid for only so long.
https://oldliquors.com/products/1898...vintage-cognac
Baz sipped the cognac – yes, very good stuff. Mind you it was as good as the 1798 but Baz had only heard about the 1798 as he had not been lucky enough to taste it; and, given it’s price – worthy of a prince’s ransom, that was unlikely.
https://oldliquors.com/products/cogn...ande-champagne
Jack turned to Baz, “Baz, you know I’m not telling a tale.”
Baz nodded in the vain hope that it wouldn’t be the umpteenth time that Jack would tell the story, but…he just sighed as Jack went on.”
Jack’s Story
Let me tell you how it went and you can decide. It was cold day in early January of 1917 – cold enough to freeze your buns off. Jock and I were on a patrol over the lines to ward off Hun observation planes. Jock developed engine trouble and had to cut the mission short. I should have headed back too rather than flying solo but I thought I’d give a couple more passes over No Man’s Land first. We had been warned of the risks. The Bloody Red Baron was only beginning to make his mark but he was a rising star for the Germans – enough so that we had all heard of him. He had not been seen in our neck of the woods – he had downed one of our boys the previous day near Metz, so I thought a couple of passes wouldn’t hurt and the odds were unlikely that the Red Baron be dropping from the sky near me that day.
Still thoughts of the Red Baron made me check over my shoulder a little more than usual. That’s when I saw a red Albatros on my tail – it’s the Baron. He must have popped out of a cloud. It was a cold day and suddenly my blood dropped a few more degrees.
If it was the Red Baron I was a dead man. That thought jarred me from my stupor. If I was going to be a dead man it would not be with a bullet in my back. I Immel’d plane to meet the red Albatros head on.
Then came the miracle. We met head on guns blazing. I saw my tracers head straight into the cowling of the Albatros and, for a moment, there was brief flicker of a flame. Bullets whizzed all around me. I checked my body. For an instant I thought I had been hit and died as I felt nothing, but I was still flying my Tripe, so it was best to keep on the Baron.
Another Immelmann and I was to the right rear of Baron. Another burst and the flicker of flame on Albatros the became a fire. For a moment I was elated. I had him, but my single Vickers jammed.
I tried to keep with the Albatros while I worked a the jam. The Tripe was even faster than the Albatros then normal since the Baron’s engine was suffering my some damage from my first burst.
It took some fancy flying (Bruce and Baz rolled their eyes at this) to keep behind the Baron and not collide with his Albatros.
I had to make a quick decision – the sensible option for the Baron was an overdive to put out the flames and if I didn’t follow him he’d escape, but what if he didn’t? Then I’d end up far below him. It was a 50-50 proposition. I went with the overdive. The fire was rapidly consuming the fabric of the Albatros; the Baron went with the overdive (50% chance – I rolled for the option).
My Vickers as unjammed but the Baron was gone into his dive first so he was far too low for me. (The Tripe’s over dive was a turn delayed due to the steep manoeuvre for the last phase of the previous turn.) The over dive had some effect on the fire. (One fire chit removed for the Albatros’ overdive.)
Despite my dogging him, the overdive was a good choice. There was a bit more damage but the fire died out.
The Baron levelled off, and I was close behind, but we were nearly in range the Hun’s Archie. I had one last change. One last burst and the red Albatros banked and nosed down towards the ground. (Bruce interjected to point out that Jack wasn’t known for his marksmanship so clearly an angel was looking after him that day.)
I didn’t stick around long enough to see what happened, but our boys on the ground confirmed that a reddish Albatros went down. I was credited with the victory, but there were no Hun reports of the Red Baron being shot down so the official conclusion was that it was some other Hun pilot.
On the German side of the line, a smoking, red Albatros seemed doomed to crash but the pilot managed to bring the nose up and managed to land the aeroplane along a road. The Albatros would not fly again but the pilot was unscathed. He hopped out of the wreckage as a nearby staff car drove up. The driver and an officer got out; and, on recognizing the pilot, saluted.
“Sind Sie in Ordnung, mein Herr?”
“Ja, nur motorschäden”
Scenario Results
Enemy ace shot down = Seadog (RNAS X ‘Turkey’ Squadron) victory
The game was a bit of a disappointment as I wanted just a bit more dogfighting to try out the ace skills, but…I’m sure X Squadron will take the victory.
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Originally Posted by Stumptonian
for his 15th victory for King & Empire 
Still, it serves to wet the appetite for the rest of the 
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