Briefing from Colonel Raymond Air Intelligence.
Settle down Gentlemen, please help yourselves to some fugu sushi, lots of tetrodotoxin in there for the taste. As you will all know, young Lieutenant "Squiffy" Simpson has taken the loss of so many of our fine chaps hard. Damned hard. He has a bad case of the nerves. He had the shakes and he's drinking too much champagne.
Squiffy blames the German we know as the "Yankee," Leutnant Bruno Klattermeir from Grand Forks, Iowa. Fair enough really since that Hun swine shot most of them down, including most of Squiffy's friends.
Lt. Simpson took his camel up at dawn this morning swearing he would bag the Yankee blighter or die trying.
If he succeeds we will celebrate with champagne in the mess tonight. If he fails I shall auction off his personal effects in the mess tonight.
Meantime Gentlemen, get some rest. The Squadron is sitting this one out, its a battle of the Aces.
(Once again my thanks to Capt WE Johns for the scenario.)
"B" Flight 70 Sqd. France F1 Sopwith Camels
Flight Leader Lt "Squiffy" Simpson (Ace) F1 Sopwith Camel
Jasta 3
Leutnant "Yankee" Bruno Klattermier (Ace) DR1 Fokker Triplane
Sopwith
Camel
|
Fokker
Dr I
| |
Speed
|
7
|
6
|
Manoeuvrability
|
6#
|
6#
|
Ceiling
|
11
|
11
|
Rate of Climb
|
3
|
3
|
Robustness
|
2
|
2
|
Size
|
1
|
1
|
Front
|
4
|
4
|
Rear
|
0
|
0
|
Left
|
0
|
0
|
Right
|
0
|
0
|
Notes
Rotary engine torque... |
#The Camel can snap turn to the right
|
#The Dr1 can also snap turn to the right
|
Two well matched pilots, both lucky, but the Yankee German has lured Squiffy over the Lines, and is positioned to the south to try to get into the sun, giving the German an advantage.
This will be a move by move game, heavy on detail. My apologies that I was so immersed in the game that I only took a couple of photos, and having dropped my phone,my tablet camera is pretty useless anyway.
Turn 1
Lt. Squiffy Simpson RFC comes on table at height 10. The Camel moves in straight flight forward 7 plus D4 (2) =9 spaces. Squiffy scans the sky and fails to spot the Hun Fokker lurking in the sun to the south.
Bruno Klattermier moves 6+3 hexes along the southern table edge. The Fokker Dr1 is at height level 11, it's maximum ceiling. (He probably spent half an hour getting to that height.)
Bruno turns and comes down on Squiffy, giving him an oblique burst, but no damage is done.
Squiffy snap turns right, using the camel's famous rotary turn
and climbs a level, getting above Bruno.
I swapped the models onto the taller thinner stands after turn 2. They are on magnets, and the taller ones look better but are fiddly for using a lot of aircraft.
Turn 3
Squiffy hard turns and descends on Bruno, side slipping to come in on the Yankee German's rear. But Bruno's movement card comes out and he swings around in a hard turn. He overcooks it, zooming below Squiffy.
Bruno gets to move first again. He Immelmans and puts his plane into the tail zone, but Squiffy loops and gets the first shot damaging the Fokker's engine, reducing the robustness of the Fokker. It`s really close to a down in flames for Bruno.
Bruno's fire card comes out. He puts as many spandau rounds into the camel as he can. It's not good news for Squiffy. The camel is on fire, and his fuel line cut. The camel drops out of the fight spinning down out of control.
Not quite all over, as the Yankee German heads for the Lines, however I gave Squiffy a chance to pull out of the spin. The dice failed him as the camel dropped to pieces during the spin.
So it's goodbye to poor Squiffy. I`m a little miffed. I had seen him go up from Sprog to Ace. Better go, the Mess auction is starting soon and I want to bid on Squiffy's pocket watch and his collection of Moroccan pornography.
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