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Game two of the night saw Jeff Mc and Chris O in Roland DIIa’s against Scott K and Ken S in Brit Spad VII’s in Sept of 1917. German morale was not improved when they saw the special notation stating “seaplane”. We assumed this was a typo until we saw the aircrafts performance at the nearly 12,000 feet we would be flying at. The Brits started with an 1100 foot height advantage and lost initiative to the Germans so they simply stayed at altitude. It took a couple turns before fire was exchanged. The Germans found it difficult to maneuver to get decent close in shots with only having a 60 turn speed. Scott was first to get hit and smoke started from his engine. He was able to use his speed to temporarily take himself out of danger. The next few turns saw Men going first but a littany of curses as the dice gods produced a staggering number of misses and hits that did take place jammed guns to produce little damage. Scott rejoined the fight and rolled amazing low rolls for initiative helping to take some heat off Ken. The battle finally ended when Scott jammed his gun, Jeff had a jammed gun, Chris alternating jammed guns and Ken sustaining a crit that forced him to fly off. Basically when Spads decide to escape, you pretty much have to left them. Everyone landed home safely in another thrilling high altitude early war mission!
Thank you Jeff for doing the write up. At least the Brits had the speed advantage. This made up for the fact that we could not hit! I missed three of four shots that I took and I believe Ken missed more than that. It was not a good night for the Allies at all.
Wasn’t great for the Germans either. I jammed a gun on the 2 nd burst and missed 4 of 5 shots, which is rare for me.
Here’s the game one update …
The first game on 9/8 was a German balloon bust, on Nov 8, 1918. The balloon was at 700′, defended by three British SE5a’s (Carl P, Jeff Mc, Ken S). Attacking were two big Fokkers (Scott K and Andy P), a Pfalz D.IIIa (Chris O.) and an Albatros D.III (Graham). Yes, apparently it is possible to roll an Alb D.III in November 1918, if you’re particularly “lucky” and roll a 01.
The Germans got the jump on the allies on turn 1. They started 700′ higher, and the three Brits rolled the three highest initiative numbers. They boxed up, and the Germans swept in. Graham moved onto Jeff’s tail, expecting and getting a head-on shot from Carl, from 300′. Graham returned fire (thinking head on shots would be his best chance in an Alb D.III) but both missed. Chris tried the same tactic, but gave both Ken and Jeff head on shots on him! Ken missed from 400′, but Jeff and Chris hit each other. Chris landed 4 hfs, and missed two probable pilot chances. Jeff maxed out with both guns and hit 9 times, putting 5 in Chris’ motor and two in each of his left and right wings! Chris rolled a carburetor hit, started smoking, and would escape on turn 2. Andy and Scott tried top and bottom shots.
Turn 2 saw Graham move first, swooping in for a 300′ top shot on the balloon, the best he could get from where he started. Andy and Scott would move in for shots on the balloon as well (Scott from 300′, Andy from 100′). Graham was the only one to hit, though, and for all of one hit factor (he jammed a gun on a short burst, limiting his damage, and rolled a 1 for damage). But one hit was enough! He rolled the 1 in 6 chance to down the balloon with a single hit, and it burst into flames, scoring the Alb D.III pilot his first kill. Ken and Jeff moved in to target Scott, thus effectively eliminating the risk of AA fire. A few MGs shot at Andy, for minimal effect.
Turn 3 saw things get even more interesting. Graham moved first with his second consecutive box-cars for numbers (he also cleared his jam). Albs can’t go far, though! Ken and Jeff both swooped onto him, but Ken Immellmanned over the burning balloon to get the better shot, knowingly taking the 15% chance to burn up. Of course he failed the roll and perished in the flames! Jeff did minimal damage to Graham, and drew fire from Andy and Scott.
The dogfight continued on turn 4, with Graham jamming his gun a second time (while missing Carl), and with Scott and Andy double-teaming Jeff. The poured on the punishment, and Jeff couldn’t get away.
On turn 5 Jeff turned back toward the balloon and flew down to 100′, but Graham and Andy got him in a sandwich. Both hit him, while Carl shot at Graham and missed. Scott had failed to tail Jeff, and was stuck at high altitude. Taking a measly 2 hits from Graham and 6 from Andy, Jeff shut off his engine and tried to land. He had three crits and a 20mph crosswind … he failed the landing and died in the crash. With both Graham and Andy hitting, the diced off for the force-down kill, with Graham winning. His second kill of the game.
At that point Carl broke off combat. It got a bit interesting when the ground troops hit Graham, giving him a nickel engine critical, but it was just a no effect carburetor hit. The players at the table began discussing Ken’s demise, and (with Graham abstaining) they agreed that Graham should get kill credit for Ken, having been the one to shoot down the balloon that killed Ken, and the one to lead Ken through the flames. A non-conventional kill, but all of the players (at least those who spoke up) were unanimously supportive. That gave Graham a triple kill … scored with four bursts, two misses, and a total of three hit factors of damage (plus two gun jams, both cleared). Efficient? No, just darn lucky!! All that with an Alb D.III in November of 1918?!?
That was it for Game 1. Jeff has already recorded Game 2. Next game is on Sunday, September 14.
Graham
PS … I was NOT scoring the mission. Who would score a November 1918 game while flying an Alb D.III? And even if I was, the score wouldn’t have been great (+78 I think) with just 3 hfs.
Hey everyone, it was a truly amazing game to see Graham handle a late war Alb DIII. It also created a situation that I have never come across in playing and want to make sure we have a clear understanding of the ruling so we do not have issues down thee road. Graham was awarded an automatic kill for Ken flying into the flames of the balloon he had just flamed. This to me has set a precedent of ” flying someone into the ground” so to speak. Ken was not fired upon by Graham or anyone else and essentially hit an obstacle (the obstacle being a geyser of flame). This to me would set the precedent that any enemy that you destroy through flying into the ground from any obstacle results in an auto kill. We should also set a ruling for any other aircraft that could be involved. For instance what if Ken had a plane firing on him? Would there be a cut for the kill or is the lead plane still the victor? Thoughts?
Hey Jeff. I definitely don’t think the situation last night should establish a precedent. If the exact situation came up again, then perhaps players would feel it should count. But the balloon isn’t the same as any other obstacle. A static ground obstacle would be different, since there isn’t just a 15% chance to crash. Also, no one shot at Ken before he burned. That’s an important factor too. All in all, I’m not really sure it should count, but what counts for a kill is less a hard and fast rule, and I think it is reasonable to give the players latitude in unusual situations, like this one.
As for amazing to see me handle the D.III … there I disagree! I was just lucky. Well, not lucky to roll an Alb D.III in Nov 1918, but lucky in lots of other rolls thereafter! Luck Carl didn’t kill me on turn 1, lucky to down the balloon with a single hf, and lucky to outdice AP for the kill credit on you. Credit on Ken was just being in the right place at the right time, and Ken being “aggressive”.
Graham
Jeff,
I had fired at Ken a turn earlier, but usually in this situation a kill is only awarded if someone is firing at the target on the same turn they go down. I think we made the exception based solely on the incredible situation surrounding…In general you should not get a kill unless you shoot at the guy who went down, or at least are tailing him. Exceptions are possible however. It could be argued that this should count as a forced down kill. I’d say that any borderline case like this should be decided by the players at the table, not by arbitrary precedents. So congratulations on the Triple!!
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