Ambushing the Aces?

The Western Front air war continues. After the last encounter the British are intent on destroying the German Aces, Herr Von Freitag and Heinrich Mann-Ouvre. They intend to launch a pre-emptive strike and catch us on the ground.

Their plans go awry from the start. Von Freitag is off on some R&R amongst the fleshpots of Las Vegas (presumable incognito, now the US is in the War), so one of the intended targets is not home.

The Brits (Ian, Phil & Vincent) had to enter their first three turns, assuming we were on the ground. But no! The Germans (Me, Chris K & Richard) were returning from as patrol. I'm in the blue Albatross.

Despite my instructions to climb and gain height, my compatriots turned for the British immediately. You just can't do that against a Camel if you are in an Albatross. Luckily the Brits about faced in some confusion, having seen us. I think.

I have now got up a level above the fray. This enables me to pick a target and swoop down upon it, all guns blazing, in theory. Chris (in the triplane) and Richard are in amongst them. This is unwise in an Albatross, as the Camels turn so quickly, but it's Richard's game, so presumably he knows what he is doing.

I've started my dive into the fray (pink cube on base) . The British have lined up a three plane shoot on Richard. Luckily at least one plane's guns jam.

The downwards swoop is perfectly timed, and I unleash a short range burst into Phil's plane, after he gets in between me and Vincent, my original target.

I now need to circle round to go for another pass.

Several pictures missing, but I cut back across the centre of the table, fired off a couple of bursts, then looped back. We ended up with most planes in the same hex. This is unwise. Need to accelerate out of the crowd.

I emerged from the group but mistimed it and took some fire. Wing damage meant there was a possibility of my planer starting to come apart if I tried anything too clever.

However, as I went through the group I succeeded in shooting up Vincent's plane (white disc). He put the throttle full forwards and headed off the table before he made an appointment with ground.

As the albatrosses lumbered round, the remaining Brits homed in on Chris in the triplane.

I swung round and got a medium range burst on Ian. Two hits, and then critical damage on his wings, which were already weakened.  The machine collapsed in on itself and fell to earth. A kill!

This just left Phil against the three of us. We went head to head. I rolled double 1. Normally this is a gun jam, but if you're an ace (like I am now!!!) you get to roll to see if it is an ace shot instead. Yes!! Double ace shot. I target the tail (yes, from the front, I know, but he's already damaged there) but poor dice on the damage roll mean nothing serious occurs. A second kill slips from my grasp.

As the Albatrosses swoop out wide, Chris jinks round and gets a close in shot. He hits the tail again. Due to my previously inflicted damage he's +6 on the damage roll, which means he sends the plane into a critical spin. This is bad news for the Camel, as the rotary engine accentuates the spin characteristics of the plane.

The aim now is to close with the dying plane and stick in a burst of fire to claim part of the kill, but it is spiralling too quickly and I can't dive and turn on it quickly enough.

Phil hits the ground, and it is all over for the British. A triumphant Jasta heads back to base to put some sticking plaster over the holes in our aircraft.

We had some luck. You need it if you get in close to the Camels. Chris had an excellent evening with the Fokker triplane. He coped with its fragilities way better than I have done. Perhaps I should give it another go in the near future. Or maybe Richard will get round to assembling one of the Fokker monoplanes in his boxed collection.

Next week, Cuba in 1898. Maybe we'll get to fire one of these: