Battle of Britain mini-campaign

[pierre the shy]

Hopefully that will be taking place in the near future, got lots of real world stuff to tick off before I can get onto the campaign....

When you get your man cave recarpeted its amazing what you find hidden away for a rainy day when you have to move everything out! 

[Raider4]

Great report!

I acquired all of the aircraft to play this from Tumbling Dice the last time I went to the Newbury show (2019?).

Plus a pack of Bolton-Paul Defiants. Same stats as an Me-110, but no forward firing. If the Brits roll a '1' for squadron selection, roll again. If another '1' then the Defiants are used rather than the normal Hurricanes. Just to make life more fun . . .

Of course, nothing has been done, and all of these planes are still in their ziplock bags. Sigh.

Bristol Blenheims could also be squeezed in somewhere.

[steve_holmes_11]

Out of "Character", a quick piece on the rules.

Westmarcher and I used a variant I'd prepared for a hex surface (Since the only gridded mat I posess is a hex one).
Rules are on a PDF, and I'll attempt to find a way to post them after I've resolved a couple of bits of ambiguous wording.

The rules certainly deliver what I want form an air battle.
Rapid moves, quick kill or miss shooting, and the ability to complete a move in 15 seconds or less.

I don't mind faffing about with 10 minute moves if it's an operational table game.
The sort of "dogfight" where you're poring over tables to calculate burst length, closing speed and precise deflection angle - but a move takes 5 minutes - have always broken the immersion to me.
The same goes for detailed breakdowns of damage: "3 points of rifle calibre through the port wing".

My limited reading on the subject suggests that the pilot knew three states for his aircraft: Healthy, Damaged - but hopeful of getting home, and about to crash.
The two latter remove a fighter from the battle as anything but an easy kill, so I'm content with the "Bang you're dead" aspect of air gunnery.

Likewise the random movement distance.
I see this reflecting the pilot's management of energy, throttle, altitude etc.
There were a few instances in our campaign when a fighter a few hexes off an enemy tail rolled low for movement and couldn't get into a firing position.
Who knows what actually happened, aircraft emerged from cloud 2000 feet below the target, mechanical problems at the critical moment, sme other distraction.
This isn't chess and it isn't Advanced Squad Leader.

Finally, the specifics of the aircraft are open to criticism / modification.
I truied to get inside the author's head and understand his thinking.

Spitfire and 109 - quick and manoeuvrable.
Hurricane - slower, but manoeuvrable.
110 - quick (I figure it's starting at altitude, while the RAF - especially Hurricanes) are still climbing to intercept), but handles like a bomber.
Bombers - mainly targets, with differing speeds to reflect their capabilities.

If you're looking for a quick and dirty way to play an air battle, I recommend these rules.
The dicing for fighter movement injects that random element that makes solo play quite fun (though I've not tried it yet).

[pierre the shy]

Finally, the specifics of the aircraft are open to criticism / modification.
I truied to get inside the author's head and understand his thinking.

Spitfire and 109 - quick and manoeuvrable.
Hurricane - slower, but manoeuvrable.
110 - quick (I figure it's starting at altitude, while the RAF - especially Hurricanes) are still climbing to intercept), but handles like a bomber.
Bombers - mainly targets, with differing speeds to reflect their capabilities.

If you're looking for a quick and dirty way to play an air battle, I recommend these rules.
The dicing for fighter movement injects that random element that makes solo play quite fun (though I've not tried it yet).

Yes, for what they are they're a very good set of simple air combat rules that are very open to modification/house rules that can be played solo or against another player (thanks for being a guinea pig Paul  ).

For example I have made Japanese fighters such as Zero bit more manuverable than Allied ones, but they're more sustainable to damage/break off results if hit themselves. For the upcoming Aluetians campaign I have given American 4 engined bombers up to 3 hits as they were very rugged machines.

I haven't tried a BoB based game but I hope you and Westmarcher have a enjoyable campaign.     

[paulr]

...
Yes, for what they are they're a very good set of simple air combat rules that are very open to modification/house rules that can be played solo or against another player (thanks for being a guinea pig Paul  ).
...

Seconded, a very happy guinea pig

[bigjackmac]

Great stuff guys, and I agree wholeheartedly with Steve about the nature of the relationship between dogfighting rules and actual dogfighting, it's gotta be quick!

I've played the rules almost exclusively solo, and I've done as Pierre, making the Zeros more maneuverable but less likely to survive when getting eaten up by those American .50-cals.  And that's a great idea about giving big bombers 3 damage points.  I also love Raider adding in the Defiants for Battle of Britain, awesome!  Well, awesome idea, not awesome aircraft

V/R,
Jack

[pierre the shy]

Great stuff guys, and I agree wholeheartedly with Steve about the nature of the relationship between dogfighting rules and actual dogfighting, it's gotta be quick!

I've played the rules almost exclusively solo, and I've done as Pierre, making the Zeros more maneuverable but less likely to survive when getting eaten up by those American .50-cals.  And that's a great idea about giving big bombers 3 damage points.  I also love Raider adding in the Defiants for Battle of Britain, awesome!  Well, awesome idea, not awesome aircraft

V/R,
Jack

To be fair I think I actually got a copy of Jack's version of the rules and made a few tweaks of my own. The Japanese fighter pilots soon learnt to respect the B-17 and B-24, even when they were flying un-escorted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_666

If you want excitement in your campaign Jack you can always try the Fleet Air Arm in Norway 1940......just trying to keep up with German bombers in your Skua/Roc/Sea Gladiator is a challange!!  

[sean66]

Downloaded the rules.
Something to read in work today  
yesterday started painting 24 British fighters (1/300th Plastic Soldier Company) while watching the BoB Film  
I think Some Luftwaffe Bombers tonight.
Only criticism of the PSC bag of planes is no ME109's I know they had them in version 1 but seem to have been left out of the second Version

Regards
Sean

[pierre the shy]

No Me 109's?

No problem, not even a Spitfire can be at two places at once.......

[sean66]

No Me 109's?

No problem, not even a Spitfire can be at two places at once.......

and look how that turned out for them 
Regards
Sean

[steve_holmes_11]

Downloaded the rules.
Something to read in work today  
yesterday started painting 24 British fighters (1/300th Plastic Soldier Company) while watching the BoB Film  
I think Some Luftwaffe Bombers tonight.
Only criticism of the PSC bag of planes is no ME109's I know they had them in version 1 but seem to have been left out of the second Version

Regards
Sean

Mine are 1/600 Tumbling Dice.

I noticed the PSC bag of 100 on offer, and throught I might step up a scale.
Then I spotted the lack of 109s and opted for sanity.

Other 1/300 ranges are available, incliding Pendraken's onw Raiden, and you only need 4 109s for the campaign as written.

[sean66]

Mine are 1/600 Tumbling Dice.

I noticed the PSC bag of 100 on offer, and throught I might step up a scale.
Then I spotted the lack of 109s and opted for sanity.

Other 1/300 ranges are available, incliding Pendraken's onw Raiden, and you only need 4 109s for the campaign as written.

I already have a small Airforce for BoB both British and German Fighters so the PSC bag was to actually fill them out.
had a read through of the rules seems easy enough. now where to get a grid square mat from  :-
Also thinking to modify it a bit to Battle of the convoys where the Luftwaffe tried to stop the in shore convoys down the eastern coast.
Regards
Sean

[Raider4]

Yeah, I also have a variant in my head where Martlets from HMS Audacity defend the convoy from Fw-200s.

But this is more 1 or 2 Martlets vs. a single Condor. And if the airfield (Audacity) is sunk . . .

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Tumbling Dice are awesome!

[sean66]

I have the Tumbling Dice for Vietnam and Falklands.
but already had 1/300th for WW2 to go with my 1/300th British and German Armies.

regards
Sean