British Cavalry Halt the II Corp

Wellington's right flank, and the ridge line it hangs off of, is of critical importance to holding the entire Allied Line across the field of battle. In the game, it seems, just as much as it did historically. It is what I see from current positions in the middle of turn 24. Napoleon's last reserves, the Imperial Guard, attempted to take this section of ridge line late in the day, and failed. This marked the end of the Battle of Waterloo, and the French's chance of winning it.

I'm attempting to take the same section of field much earlier, and with the entire II Corp! My real-life opponent is responding by massing a significant cavalry force to charge down the hill, across the open ground, and crash into II Corp's 9th Division. If successful he would be able to cause a general rout in most of the II Corp. 

In response I massed II Corp artillery batteries, 24 guns in all, and blasted the oncoming horde. The massed allied charge was broken up and repulsed, but at the cost of the artillery crews of all three batteries being trampled and put to the sword.

The good news is the assault is still on! III Cavalry Corp will pass by my silent guns with 9th and 5th IDs following. Skirmish units will be detached to reman the guns, and once on the ridge line the field will be mine!!!!

SPI's Wellington's Victory Actual Play - with someone else!

 I forget the movie, but the Lead asks the crowd "How many of you have had sex?" After several raise their hands, the Lead clarifies, "Other than with yourselves!" What hands were raised now descend.

I'm reminded of this scene anytime I talk about playing wargames. Ask me if I play, arm shoots straight up with second-hand support and bouncing in my seat up and down. Let the other shoe drop, though, and my hand will meekly come down. Yes, most of my wargaming is a solo enterprise. I was in the Bonnie Brae (now defunct) game store one day buying GMT's The Battle for North Africa and the clerk comes up to me to ask whether I plan on playing the game or was I just a "collector"? Ouch dude, thanks for reminding me I have no friends. I don't want to be a game "collector", but only playing solo games with Vassal (before it was set up the game one afternoon and have it taken down four hours later, un-played, because there is no room for it to stay up) makes my physical copies of some great games just that. A collection. I prefer to be a player of games, not a collector. 

But the amount of time I have been able to play with someone else any of these table-top board wargames tells me if it was not for the collectors I would not, as a player, have an industry to shop. 

And desperately groping for a physical gaming connection did get me to post some solo play online. Which led to a fine gaming enthusiast reaching out to me suggesting a play of SPI's monster wargame Wellington's Victory. 

You could not pick a game I am more willing to play than Wellington's Victory. We agreed to use Tabletop Simulator for the gaming software, and Steam for the gaming platform. I have never used TTS before, but it is a better choice for live face-to-face play than Vassal. This is because the software goes out of its way to simulate leaning over an actual game board, shuffling pieces, and rolling die. 

We are playing RAW, the Historical Scenario, and have played a total of 13 turns. As the French I decided to implement an En Echelon attack, beginning with a historical opening assault on the Chateaux Hougomont. To my surprise, my opponent backed off of this "hardpoint" and has left my divisions of the II Corp free to isolate and surround the farmhouse. 

In the center I push forward two divisions from D'elorn's I Corp and as much artillery as I can muster and begin my attack on La Hay Sant-whatever. Holding this farmhouse in the center and free-reign over Hougomont I should be able to push the Allied forces off the top of the ridge.

Here is a link to a great review of this game by a blogger, really worth the read. Maps & Counters

SPI's Kharkov Wargame Live Play

 I just finished playing (solo) the first 5 turns of Kharkov The Soviet Spring Offensive from SPI. It is a game out of the magazine Strategy & Tactics May-June 1978 issue. After playing out the first two turn I fired up the YouTube channel and started a live stream. Played turns 3, 4, and 5 online. 

The Russian 28th army broke out easily in the north, and 6th army began enveloping the German units south-southeast of Kharkov. The high mark of the Spring Offensive includes taking (but not keeping) one of the Kharkov city hexes, scoring 2 victory points each turn for breaking the German front line, cutting supply to those German units in the pocket formed by the surrounding 6th, and running several units far out west threatening to take Poltava!

As the look of turn 6 shapes up it is apparent it is a race against time to take Poltava before these Russian units are cut off and out of supply. Operation Fredricus was unleashed on turn 5 and the Russian southern front line evaporated and Panzer spearheads cut straight to the Donets River. The German's historical result of bagging the whole Russian offensive and annihilating it is clearly evident on the game board!

You can see the video here. The live stream scheduled for tomorrow morning where I finish the rest of the game (turns 6-10) is found here.

Wellington's Victory House Rules

 I love almost everything about the TSR monster wargame Wellington's Victory. Except the ability to stack 9 skirmish units together and bulldoze through formed infantry. I, for some time, did not believe this issue actually existed and were just so much grognard grumblings. But then I found it, the rule in the book which allows this. I had missed this rule all these years. Probably because it isn't how I envision skirmish units being used in a Napoleon-era battle. 

The discussions and variants are legion on solving this niggling stone in the shoe of an otherwise great game. Last I had the game on the table was this time last year. Well, Vassal actually (it is a 'monster' game) because it is the only reasonable way for me to keep a game set up over a long period of time. And I couldn't move very far into the game with this issue weighing on my mind. 

Another year, as I have pointed out, has passed by as fast as summer in the Rockies, and I have a set of "house" rules I am going to try out and see how it modifies the game. The rules are as such:

Still playing the game right now RAW. I have some morale check questions for skirmish units I need to parse out answers for. Until then I cannot try variants because there as yet not be a "problem" needing fixing.

Who Killed Wargaming?

 This article is written by Greg Costikyan. The opinions expressed are his alone, and no other person or organization should be deemed in any way responsible for their expression here.

Opens this gem of an article. Appears to have been written in 1996. Packs much history in a short read. I found nothing in the article I could disagree with. Here is a direct link to his home page. 

My only knock I can give him is he is responsible for the original Paranoia roleplaying game. Fucking hate that game. But, being a wargame designer first, maybe it his middle-finger to the roleplaying hobby?

There are further articles (and books) he has written on gaming on the site and they all are thoughtful and steeped with actual experience in the whole hobby. I recommend any fanatic gamer/wargamer read everything he has on his site.

Clash at Einghiem - AH Napoleon Game Turn cont.

 I arrange the Allied units on the battle board with little to no choice in arrangement. Since all three spaces (left, right and center) need to be filled all three of the allied units are committed to battle. It is a mix of all three types; cavalry, artillery and infantry. The French are four units strong, two infantry and two cavalry. The forces are arrayed as such:

As mentioned in the previous post, to achieve victory in battle a player needs to advance and control any one space in their opponent's line.  I move 3 of the French units onto the "middle ground" of the battle board and engage the enemy cavalry unit and the artillery battery. There are attack modifiers for cavalry units and artillery has a ranged attack and other combat rules, nothing complicated, and the most of the rules you need to know are printed right on the battle board.

The French assault is doomed from the start. The Allies score an artillery hit before engagement and after melee the French losses total 3 hits to the Allied forces 1 hit. This all but destroys any hope of knocking the Allies off the field of battle before reinforcements arrive from the next town over. At the first opportunity I pull back what units I can as the Allies move two more infantry units from nearby towns on good roads. 

The balance has well past shifted now the force array is 5 units versus 4 units, and these 4 units are one step away from obliteration as it is. If you look carefully you can see all the steps the French force lost while doing negligible damage to the Allies!

With the battle concluded and my retreat successful (you need cavalry units to "safely" withdraw) the game turn advances. No need to waste time dithering, the play of the game is fairly obvious at this point, set up battles with your opponent when you can funnel more troops into the contest and smash them on the field with an equally punishing retreat from battle.  The final moves I make before I stuff the game back into its box and place it back on the bookshelf are to throw as many units at each other as I can. This ends up low and behold, in Ligny!

The French split forces and move enough units to displace the two Allied cavalry units and the large French cavalry force slides west to be within 2 spaces of Ligny. So the French will be pouring reinforcements into the second and third battle turn from 2 roads and the same for the Allies.

I'm not going to set up the battle board and grind out the engagement. I think the point, and playability, of the game are apparent. I see Napoleon giving a great game session. Players will get a chance to outmaneuver one another and the decision can come about through a massive battle where you wipe out your foe! I think this game will keep players engaged from start to finish! 

Avalon Hill Napoleon Play Thru Part 1

 I’ve plopped Napoléon, the venerable wargame Avalon Hill inherited from Columbia Games, onto the kitchen table intending to bull-rush my way through a solo game. The operational goals are to experience the entire game. The strategy to be employed to reach this goal is not dwell on rules too much. Begin with the sequence of play and grind out each turn as quickly as possible. The game is going to be friendly to this approach because of the limited components. Setting up the competing armies for play can be done briskly. The rules are delightfully brief and the movement system is very understandable. It only takes a few turns to move your armies around before you get the logic of the conflict space.

This means no dwelling on optimal placement of forces during set up. I’m going to trust the game will reveal how the forces should be organized in offense and defense as I move the armies into contact.

The victory conditions are on point, destroy your opponents army. Reduce your opponent and make them unable to resist. 

Roads can handle only so many troops before it is closed for further movement for that player’s turn. The 2 types of roads are major and minor. River crossings cut this limit by half. Towns with multiple roads leading in and out of them become the key terrain feature to leverage tactically. Their radiating spokes allow mutual support of each other’s units, a key to success. You win the game by having substantial reinforcements to funnel into a battle while denying the defender the same.

I open the French with movement on the eastern flank. Cavalry units with a small contingent of infantry and aritllery. The river is crossed just north of Givet across the Belgium frontier.

On the second day of hostilities Wellington reacts to the French provocation shifting cavalry and artillery in a blocking position at Namur. These forces are supported by more Prussian units which are close enough to reinforce any battle which may erupt here. Note the defensive use of the river. This restricts the amount of forces an attacking French army can bring to bear on the first battle turn and striking with overwhelming numbers in the first battle turn is a vital way to massacring your enemy and winning the game.

The French June 16 move is spent moving the forces in the center up to engage Ligny and Quatro Bras. Namur has too large of a troop concentration to attack so the attack will be directed at a weaker point in the center which does not include a water crossing. This was basically the intent of the French initial moves. The troops occupying Conde move in support of the center’s left flank and intends to harass the allies from Soignes.

The Prussians coordinate with Wellington to set up a defense against Napoleon in the center. Napoleon moves up his forces on the left to Soignes. The French hope to pin down enough forces south of Waterloo in preparation for the main attack against Ligny. Noting the pressure Napoleon is flexing on his right flank the Allies are content to sit pat. Time is on their side and the French forces committed are not an alarming threat. Wellington sees the battle of consequence will be at Ligny.

The dice placed on the table is my marker to track how many troop counters have marched down a particular road for the turn. Mastery of the game requires mastery of the road network and moving more troops into a battle than your opponent. Here is a picture of the movement and set up around Namur and Ligny. A French strike on either of these two towns would face Allied troops streaming in from three different directions! The French cavalry on the lower right 

is positioned so to swing left and support an attack on Quatro Bras. Cavalry can move 2 towns compared to infantry and artillery at one town a turn. And forced march! Don't forget about forced march. It clearly is worth the chance of attrition loss in a forced march to get more troops into a key position before a battle erupts. 

Currently the troops in front of Napoleon are more numerous and in better position so I decide to demonstrate on the Allies right. I attack Einghiem.

Four French units vs. three Allied units. The French consist of two infantry units, and two unit of cavalry. Allied forces are an infantry unit, cavalry and artillery. One of each here. The French will need to knock out the enemy on the first battle turn, otherwise Wellington can move two additional infantry units and tip the balance in their favor. Next post we will take the units off the game board and transfer them to the battlefield and I get to see how a set-piece battle is played in this game.

Battle of Arras 10th April 1917 - Wargaming Continued

 

The morning of the 10 saw a thin layer of snow on the ground, but otherwise the rain had stopped. Word from the top is the offensive was a success and substantial gains had been made the very first day. The horizon to the west trembled under the ceaseless thump of Third Army’s artillery and the ever-burning black clouds of war. Now more than ever the RFC needs to provide the offensive the vital intel it needs to sustain the drive.

Therefore, XIII Army Wing orders two Fe2’s on each photo-recon mission. With no time to spare every mission must come out a success! Lessons learned from the first day are shaping the squadron’s tactics in real time! The RAF spotter planes have had their best success flying low to the deck and leaving before the enemy can dive from 4K and intercept them. More to the point, the Germans couldn’t intercept both of them before they reached the safety of the Canadian lines.

The Mission Board for Tuesday the 10^th looks the same as yesterday. 3 Photo-Recon missions and a bombing run. Same sector, most likely same opponents, Jasta 11. Rumors fly like mosquitoes among the aerodromes on where the “Bloody” Red Baron is in action. It seems the legendary Ace is in five places at once. Truth is the front has not seen the fearsome red Albatross and its deadly operator for two days now. Could he be dead? And the German High Command is covering it up?

Bomber 8, the Phoenix and 9 Shockwave are assigned Linwood and his Hellfire Horde. More photos of the German road networks behind the front are needed. The sky is once again overcast, but the rain has not resumed. Karl and Ezekial lead in their Fe2s while Linwood watches their six from 4,000m.

The Huns are not sleeping in today and the Allied pilots stiffen up when the grey fighters of Rote Spinnen are spotted at 4,000m and closing. Two of them. Reinhardt and Norbert open the throttle all the way and go at the Allied bombers a thousand meters below them. The Fe2s hold formation and start their defensive dive. They are counting on Linwood to fly down and shake one of the bombers free from attack. It once again begins a battle of speed and space. The Ab/d3s, two of them, gain on the slower FE2s one hundred meters at a time while Linwood can already tell he is falling behind as the German planes out dive him. He decides he will have to let the battle come to him. He banks the dive right in the familiar wide-sweep preceding a fighter’s attack. Knowing the 11ths flight path Linwood plans on surprising the enemy. But the Albatross dives too fast, too far for Linwood to close the gap. He would have to risk a wing-tearing nosedive to match their rapid descent. He squirts bullets at the German’s tail trying to force a challenge, but the nervy fighters ignore him. They strike wingtip to wingtip at the tailing Allied bomber. Its Karl’s Phoenix. The German flyers ease off on their throttles and a second round of firing obliterates the Allied bomber-craft. But the stratagem worked. The other bomber plane was now out of reach of the attackers. Only Linwood remained engaged. He corrected the situation immediately and turned west.

Stonewall's Last Battle

Stonewall's Last Battle: The Chancellorsville Campaign is the fifth volume in the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War Series by our venerable and defunct publisher, Avalon Hills. It is the only title of the GCotACW I own and is the only US Civil War game I own in toto. It is a genre I have been most desiring to play but never have. This game recreates "Fighting Joe" Hooker's bold flank march across the Rappahannock to the climactic battles around Chancellorsville. Included is a beautifully ren­dered game map of central Virginia which includes the Wilderness, Fredericksburg and practically the whole length of the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers. This highly accurate map is based on original Civil War maps in state and county archives. And the map links with the maps from the other 4 games! Yes, you can give yourself a theater 5x the size of what you start with. 

 

I have had the game since 2004(?). Got it the same time as Columbia Games’ East Front and GMT’s The Battle for North Africa. Completing Scenario #1 last night and then rolling through 3 turns of Scenario #6 I now have solid opinions on this package of goods. These are all great games!

Stonewall’s Last Battle impressed me with the mechanical flow of the game. It tilted back and forth with an unpredictable initiative system. This means one side can move and attack with their units multiple time in a row. This feature is balanced by Fatigue. Every time a unit does something it increases its level of fatigue by 1. At 4 fatigue the unit is dead in the water. and must wait for the conclusion of the day-long turn and its concordant Recovery Phase before it can take action again. 

 and the game map is gorgeous. It makes the situation the commanders faced more accessible with a good-looking map and dynamic turn play. In short, it is a fun
game with a great package of features. My favorite feature is the amount of text given over to a detailed report of each day’s actions from the historical record. You can just set up the campaign scenario and see why Hooker and Lee would have made the decisions they did. Which was all dependent on the terrain faced. Which is excellently portrayed on the game map!

Good looking box. It is one of the more appealing spines on the shelf and makes you want to slide out the game and see the full cover art. The rules are laid out well. I highlighted key items over many readings and now the rules feel understood. This is all solo play and I had played the Salem Church scenario (#1) up to going through march and assault attacks with the forces. Maybe three times since 2005? I confirmed this with a fast play through of the scenario and moved right into the full game, Scenario #6 The Chancellorsville Campaign!

I have forgone the historical flank attack made by Hooker and made my Union crossing of the Rappahannock directly on either side of Fredericksburg and am going straight at Lee dug in south of the city. First two turns go quick. The Union basically gets two turns (two days) of maneuver north of the Rappahannock before he must place his bridging counters. Once the Unions have bridged the river the fighting starts, and my game is starting out no different. The Union can place 1 of the 2 bridging counters available. Jackson, in response to the attacks on the fords west of Fredericksburg, had moved up a full division east of the city, denying their planned crossing at this location with the pontoon bridge constructed for the task.

This makes the prosecution of the Union advance committed to a western crossing, but there are plenty of avenues to get the Army of the Potomac across and into the Confederate lines. Turn 3 is a grind. I have made a strong attack against Lee with 3 Corp attacking the breastworks of Fredericksburg from the west. In response Lee calls for his southern reserves to mobilize. These are the remaining elements of Jackson's Corp and the historical Confederate defensive strategy leaps at you. The Union is forced to expose its right flank attacking the Confederate position, and Lee has the Army of Northern Virginia’s reserves in just the right spot to pounce on this weakness as they approach Fredericksburg.

I play through several more turns. I crossed the river just east of Fredericksburg but Sickles/Sedgewick is not going to get farther than this. The rebels dug in are too strong behind their forts but not strong enough to dislodge three full divisions. Stalemate. This means going straight at the city from one side will only repeat what Burnside experienced, slaughter. His men were slaughtered in the frontal attack. He to tried to do an end around Lee, but the high waters and torrential rain drowned his second attempt in the mud of Virginia's roads and muddy tracks. 

I'm too late to try this. My union forces were stalled on two separate times by high rivers and more rain and now the game is too far along to change course and achieve victory. So I think the simulation is well balanced. Makes me want to play more games from this series!

 

Bloody April Day One, Last Mission of the Day XIII Army Wing

Mission 5 Photo-Recon Road Network

Elton tells his escort he wants to switch it up, the NIE17s to take a high-altitude approach while the Fe2 comes in underneath them at 4K. “This will take 1,000 meters off my initial dive on target and give me more distance from any German aircraft. They may not see me if you two get in their face fast enough. We stack up and go in together.”

The two Americans nodded glumly and rolled their Lucky’s nervously between dry fingers and lips. They couldn’t take their eye off the sky. It was so wet.

“Lt. the planes are ready for takeoff.” This was the Flight Deck Officer on Duty (FDOOD) Adams. The Scotsman had seen fit to have his deck crew stay on top of the chocks under the flight’s wheels. No one was to leave a plane unattended once on the runway. The wind and rain made accidents more likely to happen which would damage planes. But even in this mid-day’s morass Adams still strutted with his clan bag pipes under arms. In tartan kilt Adams would follow behind the departing planes under his watch, the almighty screeching sound (which was the source of the 11ths squad mascot) of old Jacobite martial songs ringing out. Ballads of blood-frenzy, of doomed souls fighting to the last lifting them up into battle. All were glad not to hear any of it over the diesel engines when planes took off. 

The three pilots dashed from the assembly hall and under the wing of their planes as quickly as they could. Grounds crew hoisted them up and once secured they slid off the plane and the choks removed. Elton took to the air first followed by Brendon and then Tye. The three Americans had been through flight school together in Yorkshire so their flight plan was quickly set up. In fifteen minutes they should see the front lines.

Everyone but Reinhardt expected the Allies to throw it in for the day. The Roten Spinnen could claim three confirmed kills on the day. Two Fe2s and a Nieuport fighter. Dietmar has been confirmed a kill. The front reports his Alb2 was shot down by a lone Allied fighter over No Man’s Land. This has made the men sour along with the black weather and everyone wants to drink. No more flights, let us just drink.

The groan was palatable when the air raid siren warned of danger, another threat which must be met by the Spiders. Reinhardt was out of his tent before it sounded, it seemed. He was in front of Nicole’s tent when the grumbling Lt. stepped forth. “I got this sir. Those two fucking Italians need not sleep in any longer. Let me send them up Reinhardt. If they don’t make it back...” Here the Austrian gave an exaggerated shrug, revealing the true state of his intoxication. On his knees in the mud he waved two thickly-haired hands up in the air. “I say send the EYE-TALYUNSS!” Too late. Reinhardt did not expect the Austrian to hit the bottle until six o'clock. Nicole was a superstitious swine and kept to his routines, drinking like a fish from six to midnight being one of them, but he had never seen the Ace so blatently flirt with a court-martial. Maybe Nicole only flies when the Baron is in rotation. Manfred was on two days leave and may be reassigned anyways. 

He walked away from the blubbering Nicole and told the Deck Officer on Duty to pull out the Italian’s d2’s. “He doesn’t know about Diameter then.” Reinhardt mused. If Nicole found out in his current state his friend had been killed while he drank himself stupid he would likely end up shooting the Italians, some how reasoning it was the Dago’s fault.

Vasco and Teibaldo trotted out to their lime-green fighters purring on the runway. Despite their age the d2’a were in showroom condition. They were part of a gift from the Kaiser when the Italian’s made their disastrous junket into Ethiopia. Somehow this pair of fighters was left behind in the hangers of Sicily and forgotten. Vasco and Teibaldo, having the dubious fortune of never seeing action while in Libya, were recalled upon their discovery and sent to the Western Front to fly them. Reinhardt had no measure of their value as pilots. Perhaps Nicole has a point. No need to risk German lives when one doesn’t have to. Capt. Reinhardt gives his orders to the Italian aid and returns to his tent to finish his reports.

The pair of Italianians in their striking fighter planes stay in visual contact all the way to the front, but the weather has spread them a 1000m apart. At 3K Teobaldo’s Cativo Grifone is out of position to protect Vasco's Tutti tre Morti. Teobaldo spots the enemy bomber reported the same time he hears Vasco being shot at by two approaching Nieuport fighters. His orders are to attack all recon aircraft, but to do so would leave his wingman to die! Teobaldo hits the throttle and hammers the Alb2 up, up. The Allied fighters strike together in a head-on attack against Vasco. It is near suicide, but they do rip up Vasco’s plane. Every time he hits right rudder there is a violent shaking. He must have hit one of the Allied planes, it has dropped out of formation. The other NIE17 banks right for another pass. 

The damaged plane is the Sick Vulture, Brendon’s plane. The damage is so extensive a non-powered crash landing is inevitable. The squad will never get a definitive answer to which of the many planes that crashed down in No Man’s Land this day was his and if some how he survived.

Tye can only hope the recon plane is far from the fight now. He only cares to get his first kill and then head for home. He drops the Mad Sparrow’s nose and comes at the lower Alb2 as steep as he can. The Italian pilot can’t even get a snapshot off at the NIEU17 as it barrels by over his 10 o’clock. A hole ripped and flapped open where bullets danced down one of the wings. Teobaldo rolls the Cativo Grifone right and makes his wide turn to reengage. Tye points his plane back up and dares the green Albatross to follow. The pilot of the Cativo Grifone obliges and gives chase. The Tutti tre Morti dives, but not to attack. Vasco is seeking his wingman’s left. Per textbook. While not an aggressive move there is nothing to fault the Italian for flying “smart”. 

But aggressiveness has a quality all its own. Tye stretches the seconds he has ahead of the trailing d2. Quick bursts from its guns make it clear it is closing in on his six. Tye juggles his throttle and peddles. The Nieuport complains as Tye bends the tail over clockwise and begins a violent corkscrew, shedding altitude. His timing is well calculated. He gets five seconds of reversing the tables and trashes Teobaldo’s rudder controls. Vasco is now on Tye’s tail, but his aim is off in the stormy weather. The Mad Sparrow takes a few shots through the canvas, nothing more. Tye pulls an extreme loop which the Italian is unable to counter. “His plane must be crippled as well!” Tye thinks as the adrenaline pumps through him, the death-dealing cold all but forgotten in the heat of battle. Completing the loop Tye’s luck holds and is able to run a long burst through the Albatross from stem to stern. Black smoke pours from the stricken airplane and it careens towards the ground. More gunfire reminds Tye he still is in danger. Diving right and seeking a westerly course he gauges the last enemy plane cannot keep up. He points the Nieuport west, locks the throttle open and scans the skies until the front is well behind him.

Elton has already brought in the Fe2. He had taken the critical photos needed and the film had already moved up the chain of command. Hopefully it paid off, XIII Army had lost pilots and planes all day up and down the front. The 11th lost two planes and their pilots. 60^th lost Crimson Claw, Comanche and Sick Vulture along with their pilots. Duke survived his crash landing but Swamp Fever and Duke would not return to the war. Six pilots in all. The “Night Sheets” could claim two D2’s shot down. They were losing 3-1. As far as the Royal Flying Corp is concerned the war in the air was proceeding on schedule and in their favor!

After debriefing Tye found Lee in his tent. “I was hoping you could tell me about your day.” Lee said. To entice the tired pilot he revealed an unopened bottle of Old Irish from inside uniform. 

“What do you want to know?”

“Not here, this place has no atmosphere. Follow me.” Tye had to hurry after the quick striding Lee. The urge for a drink was strong, overriding all present needs. If he was going to relive today’s action a stiff drink was the only sane thing to do. Lee kept walking, almost jogging now, across the soggy runway and towards the dark forest at the north edge of the aerodrome.

“Where are we going?” Tye asked again. Lee swatted the cigarette out of his hand before he could light it. “Shut up, you want to spoil it?” At the fence line Lee pulled back a small, ripped up part of the fence and held it expectantly. “What are you waiting for?” There was nothing to do but follow his lead. On the other side it was a wet ten-minute walk through the woods. Tye was going to demand a drink before he took another step forward when they came out on a cart track running behind the quiet homes of a French town. After passing three such places Lee stopped at a large, two-story brick building. Stairs in the back descended to a basement entrance and here Lee gave a sharp knock. Tye smiled as the door was open and warm light and warm music spilled out. There were some Canadian brass playing high-stakes Canasta and 6 French pilots entertained the hostess with their drunken pledges of eternal love. The mousy bar tender, a short, blue-buttoned gentleman in his fifties called “Popaul” offers the two Americans a table and lights another oil lamp. Glasses are produced, francs are passed and Lee pours the eagerly awaited Old Irish.

“Those bombers are going to get us killed.” Lee states flatly.

“Not the Germans?” counters Tye.

“Oh, Jerry will get us sure as anything. But they are going to do it a lot quicker while we play wet nurse to the 11^th. Those Fe2’s have no business up there against these d3’s.”

“Well, the Fe’s are going up tomorrow. And we will be going up with them.” Tye salutes the granite hard truth with another swallow of the Old Irish.

“Yes, but how far do we have to follow them? As soon as Jerry shows up they are supposed to disappear leaving us to face the attack. I say we disappear and hunt Jerry before the bombers attract attention.” Lee has given this some thought since he saw Hildred and Taylor go up in flames. Three drinks deep he lays it out on the table for Tye. “We keep up with flying the bombers low, nothing above 3K, fighters at ceiling at 4.4K. As soon as we see trouble, we go at it. The bomber has really been on its own anyways. If the Germans want to shoot it down isn’t nothing we can do to stop it.”

“So what do you want to do, put the 11^th on notice?” Tye was being sarcastic. Lee made to close the deal. Pouring Tye another glassful he said conspiratorially, “I tell Emmerson to put us together. As long as you don’t raise a stink it should be no problem. After that we do our best to stay tight up there and let the bombers fend for themselves. I guarantee Jerry will target an easy kill over two fighters who look like they know what they are doing.”

The French hostess of the speakeasy peels away from her countrymen, stands on the sturdy bench and begins singing a song currently popular among the men. The native pilots accompany her in the sodden shouts of the truly drunk while enthusiastically shaking the bench between red-flushed hands.

“Here, why don’t you hang onto this.” Lee passes over the whiskey bottle. “I’’ll go catch Emmerson before he turns in. I recommend on the way back you keep to the road. You’ll just fall in the river if you go back through the woods. The MPs won’t give you any trouble trying to get in to the aerodrome. I’ll make sure we get an afternoon mission tomorrow.”

Monday's Rain of Death, Western Front, April 9, 1917

 Jasta 11 has the superior phone network of the German Army to inform the aerodromes where and how many Allied planes are crossing “No Man’s Land”. The mission parameters for the Germans is simple. Reinhardt gets the report on the Allied flights in his sector and decides who goes up to take it out. Being a man of honor, he will be found most mornings taking the dawn patrol himself. The wire chatters away, 3 Allied planes crossing the frontier! Reinhardt calls for Norbert and Christian on deck. The Zum Ruhm, Rachieniel’s Ruin and Unruhinger Tod are pulled out on the runway and started. The brilliant red spider emblazoned on the tail sections stands proudly on the grey canvas stretched tight over the Albatrosses’ aerodynamic frame. The new d3 has turned the tables in the skies and the nimble NIE/17 withers under the sustained fire of the German’s twin Vickers. Reinhardt, as Ace, is the first up into the frosty morning. Raindrops begin to spit across the wings and soon the flight captain is heavy with the wet.

The fighter group climbs to 4K and soon spots the enemy. Two Nieuports are at 4K while the Fe2 is a thousand meters higher. The Allied strategy is to engage the Germans and let their recon plane cruise by unmolested. Reinhardt pulls back on his stick and begins his long climb to intercept the Fe2. Once he gets in range the Fe2 doesn’t stand a chance. The pusher-prop aircraft dives to increase speed, but the d3 is much faster. One well-sighted blast and Reinhardt rips past the flaming Fe2. Pieces of scrap and fuselage rain across the sky like tickertape. The Ace records his 6 kill, banks hard left and dives towards his wingmen. They must have rattled the Allied fighters. The Nieuports are diving for the home front and Norbert and Christian seem keen on pursuing. Reinhardt follows after until they see his wing-wag and the fighter group returns victorious to the aerodrome.

With Mission 1 a failure Mission 2 is sent immediately out. The rain is hard driving and the recon group climbs high hoping to get above the clouds. 4,500-5,000 meters and the rain is present. O’Dennell’s coordinates are the same as the last chap’s. And he didn’t come back. “When you see the Huns, dive to the deck and make your run.” This is what Workman had told everyone yesterday. “The fighters will keep the enemy off your tail long enough to take your photos. Remember, no photos means no successful mission. No successful mission and poor Teddy down there doesn’t get to go home!” I wonder if Workman forgot to follow his own advice? There was no debrief to be had so O’Dennell could only speculate.

Five more minutes and many compass corrections later O’Dennell starts to dive. He can’t see anything from the front perch of the Yorkshire Pudding this high up in the rain. The brown, ugly cut of the trench lines cones into view. No sign of his escort? Then the wet droning in the wind is ripped apart by screaming air and hissing bullets! A German fighter comes out of the black clouds on O’Dennell’s 10 o’clock, stitching his left wings and tail section. A Nieuport gamely follows in hot pursuit but the Albatross seems unphased by its fire. I wonder how much harder I can dive? O’Dennell wonders. Then, he can’t, doesn’t want to believe his eyes. A shadow, a fury of grey death rings yellow fire at him. He doesn’t even hear the growling diesel engine as the Alb3 kills him in the onslaught of head-on gun fire. The Fe2 lopes forward and spirals down with a dead man at the stick.

With two failed missions in a row the squads operational staff is in a panic. Emmerson suggests flying a decoy. Scrub mission 3 and send up instead a single bomber. At the plane’s ceiling, just like the last two. When the Germans scramble to intercept we send in a flight of Nieuports low and hit our urban bombing target of the day, Mission 4. The Germans should have less planes to throw at our bombing mission since we have three busy elsewhere.

Westly draws the short straw and is sent up in the Paradise Garden without escort. He is instructed to fly at ceiling towards the same point as the last two missions. When he has lured out German fighters, hopefully three of them, he is to turn around and fly back as fast as he can. 60^th squad air control gives the bomber from the 11^th ten minutes lead out before the flags are shown for the 3 fighters going out to conduct the real bombing mission. Taylor, Lee and Hildred in route have a mind only for vengeance. The squad has yet to see a bomber safely home and Jasta 11 has been chasing them away with their fields of twin-Vickers machine gun fire. The bombing target can wait. But no one challenges the Allied flight. They line up over the city road junction and toss their bombs over the side. Not until they are returning over the Allied lines do they encounter the d3 Gottes Verrater and the d2 Schuchtermer Rabe. Trying to use their numbers against the Germans, all three pilots head for the d2. Dietmar is no coward and both Albatross’ charge at the attacking Nieuports. The Crimson Claw is smoked by Korbinian but Taylor gets a lucky critical firing defensively and the Gottes Verrater ends up with severed elevator cables. Korbinian banks left in a bid for friendly lines. Lee and Hildred joust with Dietmar. All three planes are taking hits and Hildred breaks apart under a blast from Dietmar’s Vickers. Only Lee is left and he is not giving up until one of the two pilots remaining is dead. An engine hit forces the Schuchtermer Rabe to lose power and go into a glide. Lee makes another pass and kills the German with a well-sighted tail attack. HQ will call this mission a success! Lee sees it as the German side of the ledger still is not in the red!

With no break in the weather and the wet fields of muddy France being lashed by freezing rain XIII Army HQ orders another recon mission immediately. They have not received any useful intel from the Wall Cat’s today and are ordered to photograph road networks immediately behind the German trenches. HQ needs these photos or the ground attack tomorrow in this sector will be going in blind. Failure is not an option! Elton from the 11^th and Brendan and Tye of the 60^th are tasked with the group’s most important mission yet!

Bloody April 4/9/1917 during Richthofen's War

 I've played with all the variants, except the 5-Second Game for this wargame classic. I can only see to mash the variants I have played together and run the full campaign scenario, Bloody April, which comes with the original game. I am playing a solo run through so my game master knack for creating stories, plots and adventure seeds will embellish this play and create my own fictional battle over Arras during this Allied offensive. None of the titles and descriptors relate to anything in real life. I completely made all this up for color as I played through the daily missions.

Personalizing the roster for both sides is the first step. The Allies consist of two squadrons from the 13th Army Wing. These are the 60th Fighter Squadron, the "Night Sheets", and the "Screaming Wall Cats" of the 11th Bomber. The sluggish Fe2s 11th Bomber must work with the NIEU17s from 60^th or they will be nothing but target practice for the German Alb3s!

These two elements assemble in Pizel on Thursday 4/5 under grey skies. The 9 Nieuports are piloted by Emerson (RAF), Darin (RAF), Duke (USA), Linwood (RAF), Taylor (CAC), Lee (CAC), Hildred (USA), Brendon (USA), Tye (USA). Emmerson is an Ace and the "Old Man" of the squadron. His fighter is called Wicked Jinx and he never goes anywhere without his wingman Darin and his plane Dead Bride.

 

11th Bomber matches with 9 Fe2. A single-seat photo recon aircraft, the pilot is responsible for flying and taking the mission photos. He is equipped with a front-firing Lewis machine gun, but the Fe2s best strategy is always to dive and bug out from any fighting. These brave and fool-hardy pilots are Workman (RAF), O'Dennell (RAF), Westly (RAF), Hayes (USA), Elton (USA), Zachary (RAF), Allan (USA), Karl (USA) and Ezekial (USA).

Jasta 11, the Rote Spinnen is led by two veteran fliers, Reinhardt and Nicoli, both Aces. Reinhardt, Norbert, Christian, Burkhard and Korbinian are tasked with attacking any and all reconnaissance missions. Specifically targeting the reconnaissance plane itself. Nicoli, an Austrian and an ugly racist, leads the 3 Alb2s in the squadron in his own Alb3, Glockliter Kafer. The d2s are flown by Dietmar and two Italians; Teobaldo and Vaso.

Monday morning comes cold, damp and drizzly. The pilots today are going to have to do all they can to keep their numb hands limber and to stave off hypothermia while flying through the rain at 4,000 meters. The mission board for the day is up and XIII Army Wing has many recon flights to execute. The Arras Offensive is hot and the ground forces need to find the Germans flank. A constant update on German Reserves and troop movements is vital to sustaining the attack!

Mission, Daily 1. PHOTO-T: NIE/1 and NIE/2 will escort Fe/1 to the German lines for 11-hex trench recon mission.

Mission, Daily 2. PHOTO-T: NIE/3 and NIE/4 escort Fe/2 to the German lines for11-hex trench recon.

Mission, Daily 3. PHOTO-T: Fe/3, Fe/4, and Fe/5 to the German lines for 11-hex trench recon.

Mission, Daily 4. BOMBING-U: NIE/5, NIE/6 AND NIE/7.

Mission, Daily 5. PHOTO-R: Fe/6, NIE/8 AND NIE/9.

Adv Lvl Richthiofen's War again

 Just finished playing out yet another variant from the pages of the General, the old house organ of the long defunct grand daddy of wargame companies Avalon Hill.

This article is written by Kenneth Erby and smacks of the perfect tenor for the Campaign Game, the April air war when the Baron met his fate. This is indeed what the game was designed for, to play out this large, multi-day scenario. A week of airel combat over France April, 1917. The Brits need to complete a series of photo-recon and bombing missions and the Huns attempt to blow them to pieces. 

It is a complete departure from all three previous variants I have played through this weekend. Erbey believes the game is incredibly broke. Once you are aware of the nature of the flaw you may never enjoy playing it ever again. He argues effective fire should not be determined by range, but by how long you have the enemy in your sights. I fired up two NIEU/17's and a piece of shit Fe2 and headed for the German lines. The Fe2 was to conduct photo-recon on the trench line. Up against the Allied cause was 3 Alb/d2's, a plane which should soak the enemy planes in curtains of machine gun fire. The German planes have a clear advantage in firepower, and with the focus shifting away from range the agile Albatross easily got long runs at the Allies with excellent sighting numbers and BLEWY. The Fe2 got smoked first. I wasn't even intending for the plane to carry out the mission. I hoped to peel off a single Alby intent on shooting down the Fe2 and swing both NIEU/17's onto the German's tail. The pilot of the slower recon plane was instructed to tuck tale and dive for home as soon as the enemy is sighted. 

It all happened like that, except the German plane blew the Fe2 out of the sky before the NIEU/'s could catch up! They fired at the distant enemy’s tail but had to tuck tail themselves as the other two Alb/2's closed in. They got shot up but risking Overdive got them off the map in time to get home and land. I don't know if this variant destroys any "balance" between the planes and makes it unwinnable for the Allies in the Campaign Scenario? No one it seems has logged any record of playing it.

I then set up a single contest between a Fokker dr1 and a Sopwith Camel. The planes flew and engaged each other like you would expect in a real ariel encounter. The two kept circling each other, climbing and diving for extra speed, and making snap shots at their opponents tail briefly sighted. This has to do with the planes, in game turns, having equivalent firepower and turning ability. Trying different things to get a target sighted for 4-5 movement points, which increases effective fire, Snoopy fucked up and the Baron blew the shit out of the Sopwith. Speed reduced, no ability to climb, you can guess the rest.

Conclusion

More of so far what I think, because the 5-second game needs to be assessed. This variant will make for a faster playing campaign game. The performance differences between the planes is amplified so once combat is engaged slower, less maneuverable planes get wiped out quick. Evenly matched fighters circle each other looking to fly at their opponent for as many hexes in a row they can accumulate before firing, which is tough to do, for effective firepower.

But for setting up the board and engaging some friends for two or three random games I think you have to return to the Unexpected Manuevers with plotted movement or with preset flight controls prior to movement. This makes for free-wheeling fun and makes it harder to shake an adversary if they stay on your six too long.

There really is nothing left to do for this analysis except play the much touted 5 Second Game!

 

Advanced Level Richthofen's War

 Promises simultaneous movement and combat. I hope it doesn't bust the game's simple mechanics. One of the strong points of RW is fast set up and fast play.This variant from David A. Bottger gets high praise from the editor at the General, Avalon Hill’s house organ for their line of classic wargames. The main feature of this variant is simultaneous movement and firing. The game turn changes from an IGO-UGO

move and fire schedule so a game turn is only 1 segment instead of 2 segments per RAW. What this gives a pilot in the game is an edge to the one who knows their plane the best. In ariel combat absolute understanding of your plane’s capabilities is an essential ingredient for survival. To me this means the variant is off to a very promising start. 

The other feature is “Tailing”. This returns the real-life advantage of being on your enemy’s 6 to anticipate their move and line up your shot for the kill. Awesome. The tailing mechanic is a target number set by position, range, and the two plane’s maneuver schedules. Degree of success determines the percentage of the tailed plane’s plotted movement which must be revealed to the tailing pilot. This information should be limited to the players/pilots involved because WWI craft had no radios. From my first read through of the variant I do not believe there is a limit to the number of planes which can tail a target and the tailer can be jumped and tailed by other enemy craft at the same time. Getting even better!

Take note, the field of fire is no longer limited to a straight line out from the front of your plane. It has been increased to a 60 degree front-facing arc. This is to compensate for the difficulty of getting directly in line for your shot when there is guess work in where you and your opponent is going to end up at the end of the movement phase. I do not know if this is necessary, but we will go with it for now. I anticipate much more shooting in this variant then regular play.

Unexpected Maneuvers are expected to be used. But unlike Flying Lessons the author gives very clear instructions on their use. I am now going to set up the first scenario again and run through some turns to reach a verdict on this variant. Does it enhance, does it detract, does it play with little or no ambiguity? I set the pieces on the board differently than the previous game, but it does not change the start of the game much. The planes are shooting at each other in the first turn! I messed around with different throttle settings in the previous game to see the effect. I came to the conclusion speed is king. All planes in this start come out full throttle with no intention of letting up. The Sopwith Camel has a top throttle speed of 10 and the Fokker Dr 1 is 9. The Fokker can climb and dive farther than the Sopwith in a turn, but all in all these two planes are an even match. I see the Fokkers climbing and diving in this match up much more than the previous run.

But not for the first two turns. I plot movement and resolve. Everybody is eager to shoot someone down so almost all the aircraft are currently at 3,000m. The combatants blow by each other spitting hot lead and turn around and do it again. With the increased arc of fire there are many more shots being fired, and hits! 7 damage points are spread among two of the Sopwiths while one of the Fokkers takes 6 points of damage. This first clash sees the Sops getting the better of it. They have 12 damage points compared to the Fokkers 10. With only 4 points left the stricken German is going to scoot out of the engagement real soon.

Top of turn 3 and we are looking at our first tailing opportunity. Sop2 forgoes shooting at the Baron who is right close and picks a Fokker farther out flying away from the Sops ten o’clock as its target. With the increased distance the Sop is increasing its chances of a successful tail. The fire resolution is a miss and reading the tailing rules closely I find the Allied plane is too far away to force the tailing rules on its opponent. Everybody plots their moves in secret!

Turns 4-8 see the Sop3 spraying most of the ammo. It got one good shot on Fok3 reducing it to 4 pts of damage. This is over 50% of the triplanes hit points so its climb and speed have been reduced. With his plane holding together by the merest strips of canvas the Fok 3 heads to the deck and bugs out. The rest of the planes circle, maneuver, pull special maneuvers- all trying to get behind their enemy close enough to tail. Interesting. Both the Sops and the two remaining Fokkers find themselves shooting at the limits of their range and always just one hex away from being close enough to tail. Everyone is just keeping that 50m cushion putting this advantage out of reach of their opponent.  Shots are traded, but we are now scoring 1 or 2 hits of damage an attack. The Baron did drop right in behind Capt. Brown, but the altitude difference was too great to achieve tailing.

The rules are all working fine with little to no ambiguities. It is easy to see how and when you can perform a special maneuver. There are easy to assess attack modifiers which consider angle of attack, speed, Ace status and the like. The tailing rules make a great substitute for the RAW spotting rules. Side-Slips and Barrel Rolls and Loops keep the action tight. 

And I don’t like it as much as the “Flying Lessons” variant. What is up with that?  It is the ease of maneuver, which is also present in RAW, the planes can produce. The previous variant locks you in to a left, right or straight flight path for your entire movement. But if you start receiving a hail of bullets the variant asks you to bust out the Unexpected Maneuvers schedule or pull extreme Gs to roll out of a certain death tailing situation. I may be frustrated with the holes, the vagueness in the rule interpretations for the Flying variant, but pulling the stick and shifting the rudder to set up my attack run was more fun. I didn’t notice a difference in firing chances either, which you would expect because “Advanced” increases the arc of fire. The Flying Lessons variant remains true to the RAW, your firing arc is directly ahead. While the Advanced must add an additional rule to shooting your guns to cover the flexible maneuver abilities, the Flying variant forces you to target more carefully. But I had just as many firing chances during the session. Go figure.