Thursday, August 13, 2015

Wings of Glory - Campaign Game

Some time ago, we played another game in the long-running Wings of Glory campaign. For that night’s game, the first game of the campaign set in 1917, the scenario is Mission 4a: Stalled Advance:


Background: Hoping to prevent a stalemate and gain the upper hand on Intelligence for a major ground offensive, HQ has called for a renewed effort to eliminate the enemy’s observation balloons.
Type: Balloon Busting
Victory Conditions: Mission Points.  The side with the most mission points wins the mission. For this mission, Balloon points are worth double the normal value.
Fallback: Mission 3a or 3b
Setup: Mission was played length wise on a 4’x6’ table. The Attackers have a 16 inch deployment zone and the Defenders have a 32 inch deployment zone. This leaves 24 inches of No-man’s Land.

  • Both sides must start the sortie with their planes inside their deployments zones in a loose formation with no more then a ruler length between planes. 
  • The (French) defender’s side must place two balloons per sortie using the special Balloons rules.
  • Each side has a chance for random ground targets. Use the special Ground Targets rules.

Frederick and Kevin ran, respectively, the Germans and the French. Since it was 1917, the best pilot character on each side got an upgraded plane: an Albatross D.V. and a Spad XIII.

Below, Kevin contemplates the table.

Camera Roll-1344

Frederick overlooks the defending artillery observation balloons, and the pair of machine-guns placed between them, deep behind the French front line trenches.

Camera Roll-1345

The two patrols flew over No-Man's land.

Camera Roll-1346

Camera Roll-1347

The French opted to pass to the south of the Germans, seeking to gain their tails.

Camera Roll-1348

The northern balloon took several hits...

Camera Roll-1349

...and took several more as the Germans made long firing passes.

Camera Roll-1350

The French ganged up on the German wingman, who weathered their shots.

Camera Roll-1351

The German flight leader then fired on the southern balloon.

Camera Roll-1352

Camera Roll-1353

Concentrated fire brought the German wingman down.

Camera Roll-1354

By this point, the balloons had been winched down half of their altitude; the French might save them both!

Camera Roll-1355

Frederick's flight leader made a couple of passes at the northern balloon again.

Camera Roll-1356

Camera Roll-1357

Camera Roll-1358

Eventually, the balloon's hydrogen exploded!

Camera Roll-1359

Jousting with the French, the surviving German opened up his throttle...

Camera Roll-1360

...and headed east for home. Only the Spad had the speed to potentially catch up.

Camera Roll-1361

Camera Roll-1362

Kevin zigged when he should have zagged, resulting with the French leader ended up facing the wrong direction, and so he decided to head back to the French lines. The Germans won!

Camera Roll-1363



Knights of the Air Campaign: Results as of March 19, 2015

Scoring:

  • Bill (suffered 2 wounds in Mission 1): +2 (two sorties flown) -4 (being shot down) +4 (one plane shot down) = 1 victory, 2 campaign points
  • Brian: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) = 1 victory, 5 campaign points
  • Byron (suffered 3 wounds in Mission 3a): +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down = -3 campaign points
  • Indo: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) = 5 campaign points
  • Jim: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) -4 (being shot down) = 1 victory, 1 campaign point
  • MikeA: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down) = -3 campaign points
  • Frederick's German Flight Leader: +4 (four sorties flown) +19 (three and 1/2 planes (14) and one balloon (5) shot down) +2 (drove off enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) = 4 1/2 victories, 21 campaign points; awarded the Knight's Cross!
  • Frederick's German Wingman  (suffered 1 wound in Mission 4a): +3 (three sorties flown) + 2 (drove off enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) = 1 campaign point
  • Kevin's French Flight Leader: +2 (two sorties flown) +6 (1 victory (Frederick's Wingman) and one shared victory) = 1 1/2 victories, 8 campaign points
  • Kevin's French Wingman: +1 (one sortie flown), 1 campaign point


Next Game: Mission 5 Break Through

No comments: