AAR - Easter Sunday Dogfight

[Paukenschlager]

Played a time limit game with a fairly inexperienced friend, simulating a Photo-recon mission.
I was controlling the Central Powers planes, my friend the Entente.

Narrative of the game
An LFG Roland C.II under escort by a Fokker E.III was tasked with gathering Photographic intelligence on the location of a British Division HQ to the Northwest of a French town held by the Germans. At the same time, a RAF R.E.8 accompanied by an Airco DH2 was asked to locate and photograph a bridge on the road used by their enemies to supply the town. Between the two squadrons and their targets, AA cannons and machineguns keep watch.


The Fokker's pilot leaves the two-seater to himself to chase the British squadron. He succeds in reaching them after two close calls with AA fire from cannons and machine guns
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AA Machinegun.jpg  Views: 31  Size: 140.0 KB  ID: 325147" class="thumbnail" style="float:CONFIG" />

The R.E.8 catches fire following a burst of machine gun from the E.III.


The Fokker manages to set himself in an advantageous position to keep firing on his target, still unable to properly tail it


The tail gun of the R.E.8 keeps firing on its pursuer, resulting in a wounded German pilot. The British fighter pilot, unable so far to get the enemy in its crossair, performs a daring Immelmann, managing to bring his guns to bear. Taken in the crossfire, the German plane is destroyed. Just before starting its final descent, the pilot pulls the trigger, destroying the R.E.8, which starts spinning towards the ground, following its victim.


While this rattling machine guns inferno goes on, to the Northwest the two seater gets its pictures undisturbed and starts to quietly make his way home.

Scoring
Points awarded to the Germans:
1 point for Pictures taken
1 point for shooting down the R.E.8

Points awarded to the British:
1 point for Pictures taken
1 point for shooting down the E.III

Final result
Draw

Game conducted with a time limit of 1h15m

Had great fun and I believe I really hooked up my friend with the game! Hopefully I'll have someone more or less stable to play with!

[hokusai]

Nice action and good photos. Hopefully your friend wil become a pilot (if he can find planes to purchase).

[CrashCraig]

Enjoyable game and well-done AAR

[Baxter]

Nice game and scenario but I would have thought the Germans won seeing as their recon plane managed to get home with the photos. I liked the 1 hour 15 minute time restraint too.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Good intro for a new pilot Valerio. There were plenty of challenges and interesting decisions to make it an interesting game for him too. You made a magnanimous decision to call it a draw. It is never a good idea to cane a new player too harshly, but nor is it good to make it obvious that you let him win either. He may now want to come back for another try.
Rob.

[Flying Helmut]

Good game, and a nice AAR showcasing the action.

Good intro for a new pilot Valerio. There were plenty of challenges and interesting decisions to make it an interesting game for him too. You made a magnanimous decision to call it a draw. It is never a good idea to cane a new player too harshly, but nor is it good to make it obvious that you let him win either. He may now want to come back for another try.
Rob.

Wise words!

[Paukenschlager]

I would have thought the Germans won seeing as their recon plane managed to get home with the photos. I liked the 1 hour 15 minute time restraint too.

Hi Gary, thanks for your reply!
I just kept the result strictly in the kingdom of score-counting to encourage my noob friend - as experience grow I'll get more merciless

On the matter of time restraint - I found it really helps to focus o the tactical target of the mission to know you have a limited time. Made it 1h15m to allow for some extra time to explain/clarify rules (I was not too familiar with AA cannons myself), but it could have probably been played in less!

[Paukenschlager]

Good intro for a new pilot Valerio. There were plenty of challenges and interesting decisions to make it an interesting game for him too. You made a magnanimous decision to call it a draw. It is never a good idea to cane a new player too harshly, but nor is it good to make it obvious that you let him win either. He may now want to come back for another try.
Rob.

That was exactly my train of thought when counting points, Rob - Thanks!
Also is a lifelong friend and we are both very competitive so I knew exactly the risk profile of playing Him vs Me

[Windy Jack]

Thanks for AAR. Well done on introducing someone to this game. We enjoy having a small group of regular players.

[Spoonfrog]

Nice scenario, forces the choice of pursuing your own mission or stopping the enemy from doing his.