Air Raid

I completed some of my airplane counters last weekend. I decided to take them for a test fly.

Making the Counters

I previously mentioned creating WW I and WW II style planes. I printed up both sets.

I ran into a slight issue - the print outs were smaller than the bases I planned to use. I have a load of 1 inch square wood bases that I planned to use. I must have made some calculation error somewhere because the counters ended up being about 3/4 inch square! 

Initially, I thought of two options to rectify the situation:

1. Redo the print out so the counters fit the 1 inch square, or
2. Order some custom 3/4 inch bases.

Neither option appealed to me, so I tried Plan C. Use the 1 inch bases but trim the wood down to fit the size of the printed counter.

I went with this plan. I did not turn out half bad. I I like the size better than 1 inch!

For this first batch, I only made up a handful of WW I planes.

Setting up the dogfight

I just threw done some planes on the board. I decided to run an air raid scenario, with the red side defending.

I assumed that Red 1 was a veteran pilot. All other planes had ordinary trained pilots.

The Rules

For this fight, I am using the latest iteration of my micro dogfight rules. All movement is relative. Planes make a maneuver roll. Higher scoring planes take an advantageous position and can attack the enemy. This allows me to set up the game in a small space. Furthermore, turns "fly by" quickly.

The Dogfight

Air raid sirens awaken Leutnants Weiner and Schnitzel of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Flying Corps.

They hop into their Brandenburgs and take off after the perfidious Italian raiders.

I was inspired by The Two-Headed Eagle. Besides, I unconsciously made more green fighters than red, so red needed to defend. And I associate red with the Central Powers.

The enemies approach and the dice of fate are cast. The defenders face three fighters and two bombers (gray).

I kept the dice in the picture to show the initial maneuver rolls. Our Austrian heroes take the initiative.

Also note that there is only one die for the Italians. Due to a shortage of dice, I decided to test making 1 roll for the enemy squadron. It worked OK, but probably gave too much of an advantage to the heroes. In the future, I may roll one die per pair of enemies.

Weiner and Schnitzel get on the tails of two planes. Weiner (Red 1) manages to down his target.

I realized I did not have any markers handy for downed aircraft. There happened to be a paper moustache lying nearby so I turned it into flames.

While the remaining Italian fighters try to get into position, the heroic defenders of the Empire manage to get on the tails of the bombers. Schnitzel damages one bomber.

I made the counters two-sided. The flip side shows a damaged craft. This will minimize the number of markers I'll need.

One of the fighters gets a side shot at Schnitzel, but misses. A bomber's defensive fire rattles Weiner and throws off his aim.

Schnitzel finally downs his target.

At this point, they near the bomber's target and anti-artillery fire breaks out. The defenders break off from the fight.

I rolled randomly to determine the number of turns. This was a short, 4-turn mission.

The bomber fails to score any hits on the target. Victory for the Empire!

Final Thoughts

All of the items for play fit into a 5.5 inch by 8 inch jewelry box I recently obtained. My quick play air combat set is coming along nicely.

I mentioned it before and I'll say it again. I thought rolling for maneuvering would be boring compared to choosing maneuvers. But for solo play, it works well. It creates a fast-paced, exciting narrative!