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AAR Monday 11/10/2014
Hello once again everyone. Welcome to this edition of our weekly VDP event. The same people that brought you the last Monday edition bring this Monday night edition to you. It was a barn burner of a game. Just let me start out by saying that no animals were harmed in the making of this report. The Surgeon General has also warned that this game can be very addictive and sometimes hazardous to your mental health. Thank God I don’t have any of that!
The date was September of 1917. The British Camel 130’s (Carl Fritz and Scott Kolar) found themselves over German lines at high altitude (15,800) going up against Jeff McInnes and Ken Sawchuk (Germans) in there sturdy Albatros DIII’s. The weather was clear. Not a cloud in sight and no wind.
Ken rolled this scenario up all by himself and I think he did a smashing job! I will have to admit I thought this one would be over rather soon. I couldn’t have been more wrong if I was that Scott Kolar guy. Wait, Huh?
The Germans started 600 feet above the British, giving both Carl and Scott 400 foot shots. Well, a shot is a shot and will get you mission credit. So we took em’. Low and behold if they didn’t hit! Scott had a 400 foot side shot on Jeff and even down a table he managed to put 4 hits into Jeff’s plane. Scott likes shooting Jeff and I think the feeling is mutual. Its not like we have target fixation. Jeff chose to shoot at Scott most of the game, even though he wasn’t the flight leader.
This game lasted a total of 23 turns!!!! Who’d a thunk it? Camels against Albs. I guess with the right guys flying them (Ken and Jeff), they sure gave us a run for our money. BTW, no currency exchanged hands. With the rate exchange of foreign currency, inflation and all…..oh sorry, getting off topic.
In turn five, Jeff gave Scott a NE pilot wound. He also gave Scott a nasty fabric tear in the RW. Now, Jeff is a very generous guy and a gracious host. Being that we were guests in his territory, he felt obligated to give out presents. Well, we didn’t come empty handed. In return, Carl felt the need to give Jeff an engine crit, which in itself is equal to the two gifts that Jeff gave Scott. Soon after that, Jeff rolled good initiative and found himself able to evade combat (that’s technical talk for “running like the chicken dog that he is!!”).
This left Ken to face the two Camels on his own. And, face them he did. Ken managed to last about 14 turns on his own before finally winning initiative and diving away. I have never seen a more sturdy Alb in my life. Ken and Scott played chase the tail for several turns, with Scott jamming both guns late in the game. It took three more turns (Turn 20) for Scott to unjam one gun to continue his attack on Ken. Meanwhile, Carl had suffered a crit that would not allow him to make right turns. Not a good thing in a Camel, right?
But Carl was honest and reported that he had suffered that crit in a earlier turn and made at least one right turn within the last few turns. And, at a critical moment when they thought they had the Bosch, Carl fell out of control. This allowed Ken to get a few more hits into Scott before the initiative would once again favor the Allies and the attack was on. But alas, Ken was able to win final initiative in turn 23 and dive away to safety. Scott was unable to catch him and with the fabric tear it was a risky chance that he would loose both his pilot and his plane.
So….no pilots were lost. All pilots, despite their crits and wounds, landed safely. Both Ken and Scott’s pilots had NE pilot wounds. Carl landed safely after getting control of his plane, as did Jeff with his smoking crate.
All pilots were scoring this game and everyone witnessed each other’s scores and all scores were submitted for the Ace of Aces competition.
So there you have it. What started out as a pretty sure thing for the Allies ended up being a really great game! My hat is off to Ken for some great bullet dodging and toughness. This game last over 4 hours (past 11:00pm CST).
Please join us next Sunday evening. You never know what you will get yourself into
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