Skies over Dunkirk

Recently, The Wargames Website has been an inspiration to me. This time, it was a scenario for a dogfight from the movie Dunkirk. I decided to have a go at it, using my adaptation of the Spandau and Lewis rules.

I don't have any Battle of Britain planes so I improvised with my Aetheria imagi-nation planes. The 3 blue and yellow planes are playing the role of the Spitfires, the red planes represent Me 109s, and the silver bomber serves as a Ju88. Please pardon the blurry pics.

Two 109s are escorting a Ju88 to bomb a British minesweeper (off the map). Three Spitfires intercept.

One of the Spitfires, with an inexperienced pilot, manages to damage the Ju88. Meanwhile, another Spitfire finds itself beset by the two escorts. It too takes damage.

The inexperienced Spitfire pilot manages a nifty turn and finds itself on the bomber's tail. The Ju88's defensive fire is ineffective. The other fighters circle for advantage.

The Spitfires converge on the Ju88 and do more damage while the 109s fail to line up any shots.

One of the 109s, piloted by a veteran, manages to damage a Spitfire as it zooms past. Alas, its efforts are for nought. Two Spitfires pour fire into the bomber and bring it down.

The games lasted half a dozen turns and less than a half hour. It was a short but enjoyable scenario. Thanks TWW!

Plane Crazy

I'm facing a bit of a dilemma right now. I need more planes for my bomber campaign, but I'm reluctant to buy more planes!

Let me explain. You see, I am not a typical wargamer. I'm a minimalist at heart so I hate having large collections. I try to keep my forces to a minimum to play the game. It's one of the reasons I like imagi-nations. I can use generic forces and not worry about collecting every plane in every theater. Unfortunately, due to my GADD (Gamer's Attention Deficit Disorder) I start and drop projects regularly, only to find duplication and overlap. That's my current situation.

Today, I rummaged among my discarded projects and found some more planes.

First up are some generic 1/900 scale planes by Irregular. To the left are some of my Aetherian planes. As you can see, they seem to fit size-wise (even though the Aetherian ones are nominally 1/600 scale from PicoArmor). The bombers are a bit bigger but they are 4-engine bombers so it makes sense. The bombers are only a little larger than my 1" squares so I think they'll work. I'll probably repaint them in Aetherian colors.

And here are some 1/600 Tumbling Dice Germans and Americans (Me-109, FW-190, P-51, P-47, and B-17). They are a bit larger so I probably won't use them.

I found some 1-engine bombers from PicoArmor (right, in red). I need to finish painting and basing them. I have another 5 (not painted).

Nevertheless, I would like some more 2-engine bombers.

However, my latest plane kick started with these.

This jet age project began as an homage to my recently deceased father, who flew Canberras in the '50s. My problem with these is that they are a bit big for my board.

To complicate matters even further, I had previously intended to get rid of all my planes. In an exercise in extreme minimalism, my plan was to create fleets of rockets which could serve either as space fighters or larger ships. I have done some space dogfights with home-made flats. However, I am not happy with my attempts and am looking for some minis that I like.

Writing this post has clarified some things in my mind. I'm going to paint up my Canberras for another set of rules while I prepare my Irregular planes for the Aetheria campaign. I'll be ordering a small batch of 2-engine bombers (probably from Irregular) to fill out my Aetherian air forces. I am going to shelve my space dogfight concept for the time being. Once I get everything sorted out, I'll put any extras in my discard pile (to be given away eventually).

A Dark Day for Lucrania

Campaign Against Lucrania - Mission # 3

Mission Details
Mission # - 3
Target - Airfield
Forces Engaged - 3 Bombers and 2 Escort vs. 2 Interceptors

After Action Report
Disturbed by Lucranian success in the air, Air Marshal Gruber orders his forces to concentrate on the Lucranian forward airfield. One escort flies ahead of the swarm and engages a defender. Although he takes damage, he manages to destroy one of the interceptors.

The damaged escort heads for home, allowing the remaining interceptor to engage the bombers from the rear. His attacks fail.

And fail again.

Until an Imperial escort closes on his tail and shoots him down.

Now the bombers are free to unload on the target. Their bombs do extensive damage on the airfield.

Lucrania has suffered a major blow!

Campaign Notes
The airfield took 11 points of damage; only 4 away from destruction. In addition, the Lucranian air force lost 2 fighters with no kills. A dark day for Lucrania.

Campaign Against Lucrania - Mission 2

Mission Details
Mission # - 2
Target - Factory Complex
Forces Engaged - 3 Bombers and 1 Escort vs. 3 Interceptors

After Action Report
In the first pass, the Lucranian defenders damaged a bomber and drove off the lone escort. The Peregrine fighter from 3rd Squadron got on the tail of a bomber but took some damage.

The Peregrine continued his attack, knocking down his target. As he broke off from his attack, he found himself in the cross-hairs of his victim's comrade. A burst of fire from the tail gun blasts the Peregrine from the sky.

The remaining defenders chase after the bombers. One shoots down his target but takes some damage. The other cannot close the gap.

The bomber makes his run as flak bursts around him. He manages to destroy some outlying buildings but only does minimal damage to the factory.

It has been another disappointing day for the Imperial Air Force, while the citizens of Lucrania remain defiant!

Falling Bomb(er)s Over Lucrania

I'm off work today so I decided to test the Battle of Britain rules recently mentioned in a TWW post (see yesterday's post for more info). I used planes that I painted for Aetheria, my 1930s pulp-style imagi-nation setting. In this scenario, the Empire of the Iron Fist has launched an air raid on its neighbor Lucrania.

Because I lack the requisite number of bombers, I halved the number of planes.

The Raid

An Imperial raid consisting of 3 Condor bombers and a Raptor escort (red) cross into Lucranian airspace. The defenders scramble their forces - A Peregrine (red, white, and blue) and 2 Goshawk fighters rise to the occasion.

The Raptor makes a pass at the Peregrine, but misses. Meanwhile, a Goshawk gets behind the bombers and brings one down.

The lead Goshawk gets another bomber while the second Goshawk brings down the Raptor.

The Peregrine then brings down the last bomber.

Lucranian ground targets have been saved!

Thoughts

Maneuvering was more interesting than I expected. Random movement points created a degree of uncertainty that is welcome in a solo game. The maneuver limitations required a degree of thought while maneuvering - it was not always straightforward how to line up a firing pass.

Combat turned out to be very bloody (at least for the Empire). Once contact was made, the battle was over in 3 turns (partly because my forces were limited). I'd like to see a little more difficulty in bringing down planes. I may allow bombers to take damage (lose 1 engine on the first hit) and also may consider a saving roll.

More Air Combat Ideas

Recently, The Wargames Website (TWW) has featured a series of "Tiny Air Combat" posts.

A sample picture from the Tiny Air Combat post

Of particular interest are the rules. They are designed for the Battle of Britain, but can easily be modified for different periods. For example, the TWW post features USN Wildcats vs Zeroes in the South Pacific circa 1942. What intrigues me are that they replicate an escorted bomb raid trying to make it past air defenses. Hmmm. Sounds a lot like what I'm doing. The main issue I have is that scenarios typically call for more bombers than I will own. Still, I am interested in running a play test.

Raid on Sarawai

A Rapala Campaign Scenario

Scenario 1

Intro

In 1955, Communist aggressors from the island of North Rapala infiltrated the democratic Republic of Rapala (the main island). The RC (Rapala Communists or RapComms) have seized the northern province of Sarawai and are launching attacks on the south. The United States has sent reinforcements, including a squadron of B-57 bombers.

The first action was an air raid on Sarawai City, a port town that is receiving supplies from Red China. K Flight has been tasked with knocking out the dock facilities (4 VPs) and hitting a radio broadcast center (2 VPs).

After Action Report

Note - Due to cloud cover, recon photos could not be developed (translation - my camera was re-charging). Anyway, I'm still waiting for my order from Tumbling Dice so I used substitutes. Probably better that I did not have pics. :)

K Flight barely crossed into RC territory when it spotted a trail of smoke coming from the ground. It was one of those newfangled Soviet surface-to-air missiles. Both planes tried to evade, but the missile exploded near K-2, sending a shower of shrapnel through its tail surfaces. Fortunately, damage was minimal and the raid could continue.

K Flight then flew through some cloud cover. AA artillery started banging off, but could not hit the obscured bombers. Later, another SAM was fired, but K Flight evaded.

Over Sarawai, an enemy MiG dove at them, but an American Sabre drove it off. K Flight's bombs were mostly on target, and did substantial damage to the port (3/4 VPs). The bombers turned and dropped their remaining payload on the radio tower, utterly destroying it.

On the way home, K Flight passed harmlessly through some AA fire. Later, 2 more MiGs threatened but fled at the sight of American Sabres. Then K Flight made it safely home.

Debriefing

K Flight secured a victory in its first action (net 7 VPs).

In my first 2 test games, the bombers were very successful. I am contemplating changes to make things a bit more difficult. Changes could include:

• Reducing the bomber "payload," thus making it harder to garner VPs
• Tweaking the encounter charts to make encounters more likely. This could up the damage to the bombers, resulting in negative VPs
• Modify the escort rolls, allowing more enemy fighters to make firing passes

Anyway, I'll have to experiment more. But in the meantime, I am contemplating a dogfight scenario.