'Origins' Through the Helmut-Cam; Game #11 Saturday 24th June 2023 09:00
‘Origins’ Game # 11 – “Starving the Fox”
I was really looking forward to this game – particularly with my newly-developed interest in the North African theatre in WW2.
The game was run by Glenn (Jago85), who also flew the Me.323 Gigant transports, and 11 players settled in to fly fighters; 6 P-40s, 4 Bf.109Fs, and an extra player getting a Bf.109E.
Terrific Trio!
The task at hand…
My plane (Yellow 3) – never flown a Bf.109F before.
A bit light on firepower!
Full House!
“Gain height, and use it!”
The 5 Bf.109Fs, with the solitary Bf.109E.
Here comes the opposition.
6 P-40s! This is going to hurt…
I try to sideslip to the right, away from the transports, but two of the P-40s continue to vector in on me.
One veers off to tackle my wingman (phew!) but BobSalt comes straight for me in his Free French P-40.
I know he has more guns than me, and more damage points, and I can’t deviate sideways sufficiently to avoid being fired upon, so I elect to climb above him; my CA chits @ close range drop to a C, but with an added A chit for firing from above. His BBA chits @ short range drop to a BA @ long range, so my CA matches his BA.
It’s getting pretty tasty on our Left Flank!
Unable to plot a stall after my climb (2 “steep”s) I won’t be able to Split-S behind Bob, and I’m not willing to play another non-“steep” card in between those two, since I would reverse so far behind Bob that I could never catch up to him; I therefore chose to follow the Climb with a series of Slow left tight turns, hoping to acquire one of Bob’s wingmen even as I lost contact with him.
I was hoping Bob might Immelmann, to chase after me and thus leave the transports alone, but, alas, he was too smart to fall for that!
I lost Bob, but unfortunately I failed to successfully target any of his wingmen.
The P-40s blow right through us, and fall on the lumbering bombers (TRANSPORTS!!!! – throughout the Game, we all of us kept referring to the Me.323s as “bombers”; it was contagious, we were ALL at it!). All five Messerschmitt fighters are out of range.
Mayhem erupts as the Allies charge in!
The lead Gigant has taken a half-damage BOOM chit. BobSalt pummels the right-hand Me.323, as my wingman and I struggle to get to him.
The left-hand Gigant is set smoking; by dint of a very clever tablet video, the 323 smokes in real time, trailing a pulsating smoke stream!
Bob overlaps his quarry, and my wingman overlaps him! I’m still too far away to shoot. The ‘Hill’ P-40 pilot plays a reversal card, and drops in behind “our” Gigant.
High-speed head-on interpenetration (blurry-fast!). BobSalt is still overlapping his opponents (the same Gigant, and now me). I can’t hit the ‘Hill’ P-40 with the transport blocking the shot.
On our left flank, the three 109s race to re-engage.
I perform an Immelmann, the climb counter giving me the extra height to avoid colliding with the Me.323, and allowing a long-range shot-from-above into Bob.
On our left, it’s all happening! A 109F is cut down…
…as is a P-40…
…followed I quick succession by the other P-40 and our lead transport!
I’m trailing Bob, pumping cannon shells into him…
…and down he goes!
(Kill #1)
Our right-hand Me.323 drops the other P-40, which was overlapping the leading transport.
The P-40 pilots (including “Hugh Laurie” and “Eric Sykes”) are given their respawn instructions.
The two remaining Gigants, both heavily damaged, soldier on…
… but those doggedly-determined P-40s come at them again!
One of the last two ‘original’ P-40s sets the lead 323 ablaze, before overlapping it.
The fire takes the behemoth down.
I get a face-full of respawn P-40!
And the victorious P-40 is chopped by a 109F.
At this point, we ran out of time.
I was told that, historically, the transports were slaughtered, but we Germans did a much better protection job, as it was the P-40s that were slaughtered! FIVE lost, in exchange for two Gignts and a solitary Bf.109F.
(to be fair, the 4 on-table respawn P-40s would have almost certainly accounted for the last 323)
Great game, fully lived up to my expectations! And I chalked up another victory, too.
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