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Thread: OTT-EYM Mission 6: Guppy among the Piranhas – 12 February 1917, by ShadowDragon

  1. #1

    Default OTT-EYM Mission 6: Guppy among the Piranhas – 12 February 1917, by ShadowDragon


    OTT-EYM Mission 6: Guppy among the Piranhas – 12 February 1917, by ShadowDragon

    EYM Scenario by teaticket:

    https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...s%92-teaticket

    Note: Imagine my shock to discover I didn’t have many ‘B’ firing German scouts. To meet the scenario requirements I would have had to augment my Halberstadts with Fokker E.III and that seemed cruel to the German trainees. So I decided to use my Siemens-Schuckert D.III as D.I. They were outclassed when introduced and mostly assigned to training schools, so it seemed perfect for the scenario. A pity I hadn’t got a couple of Shapeways ones prior to this. In some ways a nice plane – as manoeuvrable as a Nieuport 11 but with better resilience. It’s just that who would choose one over an Albatros D.II or D.III.

    The Story
    Jimmy Haviland burst through the door of Teddy Mahan’s quarters, “Teddy, Teddy, you can’t believe what they expect me to do?”

    “What’s that, Jimmy? …and it’s ‘sir’ not ‘Teddy’ ….and stop bursting through the door of my quarters,” replied Teddy.

    “The Frenchie observer is down with a fever so they want me to ride shotgun for Michel”.

    “That’s ‘sous-Lieutenant Lannes’ not ‘Michel’ and you’ll just have to show him that the United States Navy is made of stern stuff. So, chin up as our English comrades would say….and carry on.”

    A few ours later, the ‘Frenchie’ pilot, Michel Lannes, and Jimmy were on a recon mission, with the new French Sopwith Strutter, deep in enemy territory. Unfortunately they were spotted and pursued by enemy scouts. Michel dove into a cloud bank to shake the Huns but it was a case of frying pan into the fire as the cloud bank turned out to be a thunderhead. It was a miracle that Michel got the Strutter safely out of the cloud – albeit with some engine damage. Try as he might, Michel could not get more than 100 to 120 mph out of the engine.

    It was supposed to be a typical training day for the two German rookie pilots – Leutnants Maximilian von Hünerbein and Heinrich Wittman. Both were bored with the cavalry and had volunteered for the flying service. So it was that they were surprised by a strange tandem aeroplane that popped out of the clouds and heading towards the front line. Max turned the Siemens-Schuckert towards the newcomer to investigate. He was curious that way.

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    Heinrich was somewhat further from the Strutter than Max. He wasn’t sure if they shouldn’t just fly well away from the stranger – as they had been instructed to do when encountering unknown aeroplanes, but seeing Max turn towards the aeroplane he decided to follow suit. He wasn’t going to let Max tease him with running away.

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    They were undoubtedly enemy scouts, but with one to the left and one to the right, Michel had no option but to fly through the middle. The Strutter could not risk being bashed in a storm cloud.

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    The roundels were unmistakably Entente markings. He fired his single machinegun at the enemy and was pleased to be rewarded by a stream of smoke from his target. By fluke Max had managed to approach the Strutter from a dead zone, so Max was amazed that there was no return fire.

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    Michel turned towards the scout to the right so that both he and Jimmy would have an opportunity to fire at each Hun aeroplane, but Max passed behind the Strutter and into the Strutter observer’s blind spot.

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    While Max turned to pursue the Strutter, Heinrich was finally in range. He and Michel exchanged fire but to little effect.

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    Heinrich’s Siemens-Schuckert was coming very close to the Strutter. “Didn’t the pilot know how to fly,” thought Michel. He manoeuvred the Strutter to avoid a collision. Unfortunately – and they say bad luck comes in threes – Max had turned his manoeuvrable little aeroplane into a perfect position – at close range in the Strutter’s blind spot. He fired again and cursed when his machinegun jammed, but the explosion from the Strutter jolted him into awareness of what he had just done. He had just shot down an enemy aeroplane. On the other side of the Strutter Heinrich was relieved that flying bits of the enem plane had missed both vital parts of his aeroplane and himself.

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    Michel managed to bring what was left of the Strutter into what passed for a landing which at least had had the good sense not to kill both him and Jimmy – even if it left both of them unconscious. They woke up to find themselves in a German hospital. Jimmy recovered first but managed to hide that from the medical staff long enough to make his escape. However, he couldn’t live with deserting a comrade so he returned to the hospital to spring Michel from captivity. It was more than three weeks when the two arrived back at the naval station.

    Teddy wondered that this observer had deigned to rescue a “Frenchie”, but Jimmy would say nothing and all Michel would say was, “He is not so bad looking in a nurse’s uniform.”

    Note: I’m happy to have Max or Max and Heinrich join the Adler roster if Dave allows.

    Scenario Results
    Another victory for the Adlers!

    Butcher’s Tally

    The Sea Dogs

    s/Lt Michel Lannes: P2 Strutter / EXP - ET / 0 kills
    C&W = 7 - 3 EXP = 4; Injured; rolled 3 = skip 3
    E&E = 6 - 1 WIC - 1 EXP - 1 BEL = 3; Captured and escaped; rolled 6 = skip 3

    PO James Haviland: Obs Strutter / EXP - ET / 0 kills
    C&W = 10 - 3 EXP = 7; Injured; rolled 5 = skip 2
    E&E = 6 - 1 WIC -1 EXP -1 BEL = 3; Captured and escaped; rolled 5 = skip 3

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    Adlers
    Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein: SS D1 - Arrow / RTB / 1 kill

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    Ltn Heinrich Wittman: SS D1 - LO / RTB / 0 kills

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  2. #2

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    Love the name of your OTT

  3. #3

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    Short and very sweet for the Heines !
    Think the first blindspot for Max was a bit generous but that may just be the perspective from the image, I would have liked to see Jimmy get a shot off as he's quite a decent shot.
    With 8 pilots on your roster Max won't be joining the Eagles just yet but is slated to be a replacement when they lose a couple more.

    Uncle says:
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    Well that was rough luck for our mixed Entente crew. Wonder if they knew what hit them !

    On t'other side of the lines -
    Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein is awarded his pilots badge for his first victory and Onkel has him short listed for the Eagles when there is a vacancy
    Last edited by flash; 05-04-2023 at 02:36.

    "He is wise who watches"

  4. #4

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    A good game that illustrates the luck of the draw with that pesky boom card. Well done to the Adlers. Off topic but I liked the picture of Ltn Wittman in his picklehauber helmet. I used to nurse thoughts of getting one of those for our gaming nights. I can just imagine four old pharts gathered round the table wearing those.

    Gully Raker, (RIP) used to wear a soft leather pilots helmet like Hunerbein's at CanCon.

  5. #5

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    Ah....er....Lady Luck can be a Witch! Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein should have his gunnery qualifications in hand now and on his way to the front. (Dave willing)

    So nice of your American boy Jimmy to not leave s/Lt. Lannes behind. Hopefully they will have a little more respect and understanding of each other.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by CrashCraig View Post
    Love the name of your OTT
    Seemed more appropriate than "shark".

    Quote Originally Posted by Baxter View Post
    A good game that illustrates the luck of the draw with that pesky boom card. Well done to the Adlers. Off topic but I liked the picture of Ltn Wittman in his picklehauber helmet. I used to nurse thoughts of getting one of those for our gaming nights. I can just imagine four old pharts gathered round the table wearing those.

    Gully Raker, (RIP) used to wear a soft leather pilots helmet like Hunerbein's at CanCon.
    The luck of the draw was somewhat aided by my adding some 'I' to the 'AI' for the rookies so that they'd avoid ending up with a steep card at the wrong time (i.e., rookies can't shoot at the end of a steep manoeuvre). It also made sense that rookies would probably go with simple when engaged in combat.

    Quote Originally Posted by Teaticket View Post
    Ah....er....Lady Luck can be a Witch! Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein should have his gunnery qualifications in hand now and on his way to the front. (Dave willing)

    So nice of your American boy Jimmy to not leave s/Lt. Lannes behind. Hopefully they will have a little more respect and understanding of each other.
    A mid-western farm boy might not have posh manners but he would have a streak of decency. I think Jimmy is a mid-western farm boy. I should check my previous stories.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by flash View Post
    Short and very sweet for the Heines !
    Think the first blindspot for Max was a bit generous but that may just be the perspective from the image, I would have liked to see Jimmy get a shot off as he's quite a decent shot.
    With 8 pilots on your roster Max won't be joining the Eagles just yet but is slated to be a replacement when they lose a couple more.
    The first blind spot (turn 1.3) was indeed very, very close - both for Jimmy getting a shot off and for Max getting a shot in (nipping the corner of the tandem base). I ended up replacing the models with cards and concluded that neither could get a shot in. Pity considering that it ruined my planned cards for the tandem to get shots off on both rookies.

    Fair enough re: Max joining the roster. Strangely I've not lost a single Adler this campaign; my Adler rosters have been dripping in red in previous campaign (13 KIA and 2 PoW for CYM; 6 KIA and 2 PoW for BYM). My only crew losses this campaign have been Seadogs - 1 KIA and 2 PoW; no doubt due to the introduction of the 'A firing' German planes.

  8. #8

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    Not much to add other than "Ouch", Paul. I thought my mission was pretty short, but yours definitely takes the biscuit there Have to keep a good eye on my six if Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein is about. I bet that cost him a few drinks
    Personally, I reckon young "Jimmy" deliberately got himself into a German hospital, on the lookout for Nurse Schulz. Ye gods, that nurse gets around don't you know Does Jimmy have a thing about her, I wonder?
    Bad luck drawing the Boom card so early, especially followed by a three. That sucks
    Rep inbound Paul

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikeemagnus View Post
    Not much to add other than "Ouch", Paul. I thought my mission was pretty short, but yours definitely takes the biscuit there Have to keep a good eye on my six if Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein is about. I bet that cost him a few drinks
    Personally, I reckon young "Jimmy" deliberately got himself into a German hospital, on the lookout for Nurse Schulz. Ye gods, that nurse gets around don't you know Does Jimmy have a thing about her, I wonder?
    Bad luck drawing the Boom card so early, especially followed by a three. That sucks
    Rep inbound Paul
    Thanks for the rep. You now know where the boom card went. . But it’s all good fun which is the point. Maybe next campaign I will do “a Peter” and switch sides. The I’d be up against a bunch of aces.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikeemagnus View Post
    Not much to add other than "Ouch", Paul. I thought my mission was pretty short, but yours definitely takes the biscuit there Have to keep a good eye on my six if Ltn Maximilian von Hünerbein is about. I bet that cost him a few drinks
    Personally, I reckon young "Jimmy" deliberately got himself into a German hospital, on the lookout for Nurse Schulz. Ye gods, that nurse gets around don't you know Does Jimmy have a thing about her, I wonder?
    Bad luck drawing the Boom card so early, especially followed by a three. That sucks
    Rep inbound Paul
    Excuse me but I think you'll find Nurse Schultz is her own woman and I don't think she would be interested in some "young jimmy" and Mike I'm a little surprised that you would know about going out for a baggy of young jimmy, I took you for a respectable pilot.

    Well Paul that was very short and not very sweet. Hopefully things will get better for the French connection. or maybe not.

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vagabond View Post
    Well Paul that was very short and not very sweet. Hopefully things will get better for the French connection. or maybe not.
    Egads! Are they now putting 4 guns on the Hun machines? was bad enough.



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