After Action Report – June 23, 2014

[Chuckmedic]

We just wrapped Monday night gaming. There was lots of excitement tonight! We played two games, with 7 players in the first and 5 in the second.

First mission saw a German two seater (LVG – Dennis) on a photo recon with three Pfalz D.IIIa escorts (Chris, Scott, Steve). They were intercepted by three French SPAD XIIIs (Graham, Kelly and Jeff). It was July of 1918. The frenchman pounced on the Germans on turn 1, pounding them pretty good, but with no decisive hits. The Germans sandwiched Kelly on turn 2, with Steven and Chris putting 4 in his engine and giving him a nasty oil leak. Scott missed that turn because he exceeded attack limitations! Kelly’s engine seized two turns later, but he glided to a safe landing in a field behind the French lines. Stephen would later win the cut on Kelly — but wouldn’t live to enjoy it! We thought the game would wrap up quickly after Kelly went down — boy were we wrong!

Dennis managed to complete his mission successfully and then make it home, all while Graham was hammering Chris’ Pfalz. Graham put 25 hits into Chris. Kelly hit him early on, and Jeff dogged him late in the game, bringing the hit total to 43 hfs! He also suffered two different rudder jams, and was stuck in one of them for 5 turns before finally clearing it. Unbelievably, he eventually escaped from combat and made a safe landing at his home field. Stephen wasn’t so lucky. He tried a 50′ over-dive to get a closer shot at Jeff, when he was trying to help Chris. But he failed the 10% roll, ripped of his wings, and died in the wreck!

So in mission 1, Stephen shot down Kelly but died in an overdive himself. Kelly survived, as did all the other pilots …. including Chris (just barely).

Mission two was smaller and faster. It was three US Nieuport 28s (Graham, Stephen, Jeff) against two Fokker Dr.I’s (Scott, Chris) in May of 1918. The Germans dove in on the Yanks on turn 1 and mixed it up. Numbers turned bad for Scott on turn 2 — he moved first, followed by all three Americans. Graham, Stephen and Jeff all hit Scott, totaling 22 hfs in that one turn. Scott and Chris broke off in separate directions, with Jeff chasing down Scott, and Graham and Stephen hunting Chris. Jeff got off several shots, peppering Scott and eventually wounding his pilot (LW). Scott eventually used his climb to escape, then dove down to a landing at an emergency field, with 32 hits in his plane and a critical hit. He landed safely but died in the hospital. Jeff managed to score credit for the kill on Scott.

Meanwhile, Chris tried to evade both Graham and Stephen. Graham tailed when he could, and Chris rolled poorly for initiative (Stephen had a rookie pilot, so was taking advantage of Chris’ bad initiative rolls.) Graham and Stephen combined to score 28 hits on Chris, with Graham doing 20 himself, including a 9 point burst on turn 8 (not experienced, just tailed successfully). That big burst proved decisive, and the Doctor’s left wing came off. Chris’ pilot died in the crash and Graham scored the kill.

Thanks to all who made it out to play tonight. Next scheduled game night is Sunday June 29, but watch your email … we could well have another game this week if there is enough interest.

Graham

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