Flying Follies

 I decided to do some aerial gaming last weekend. I was inspired by this:

It's from the classic Halloween cartoon, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. After watching the show, I decided that I wanted to be a World War One flying ace.

So I brought out my Fokker Dr 1 and Spowith Camel. I'm using my Sky's No Limit rules, which are an adaptation of Kaptain Kobold's Spandau and Lewis rules (which you can find on his Free Stuff page).

Lieutenant "Snoopy" Brown in his Sopwith Camel spots a red Fokker Triplane.

"It's the Red Baron!"

Snoopy turns to attack, but the Red Baron outmaneuvers him and ends up on his tail. Rat-a-tat-tat. Bullets shred the Camel's tail surface.

And moments later hits the engine.

"Curse you, Red Baron!" yells Snoopy as his guides his plane down for a crash landing.

Well, that was short. Let's try something different.

The Continuing Adventures of the Dragon Squadron

Let's bring back Devin Drake and his Dragon Squadron. I played the first campaign using my variant on Mike Crane's Battle of Britain rules. The Dragon's squeaked out a win, although the last mission was a tough defeat while attacking artillery emplacements.

 

"You've got to be kidding me!" Capt. Devin Drake exclaimed in the telephonic receiver. He could not believe his luck. His squadron, the Dragons, had just returned to the front and they were immediately tasked to attack an artillery emplacement. The last such mission practically destroyed his squadron!

But you can't reason with Wing Command. So Drake took his entire squadron with him. "Let's take out the cover first." he ordered.

As they approach the emplacement, they see two enemy Cobra fighters.

Devin (in the red, white, and blue plane) and his XO Al Hartley lead the charge.

But one of the Cobras cuts back and rakes Drake's side. Severely damaged, he breaks off for home.

The rest of the squadron carries on. Alas, their gunnery is horrific. Finally, Hartley is hit and must retire.

"Let's get out of here, boys." Hartley commands. The two neophytes, Palmer and Hobbes also break from home.

A thoroughly disheartening start for the newly reconstituted squadron. They did not score a single hit on the enemy and lost two planes (damaged beyond repair).