Over skies of Britain, yet again

Check Your Six is such a delightful ruleset and it’s really a shame that my wargaming group is now depleted to such a degree that it’s becoming difficult to run a decent-sized game.

The scenario

Luckily, I was able to scrap together four of my mates and run a scaled down version of scenario “Tally Ho” from Skirmish Campaigns’ scenario book ‘Over the Channel’. The setup in this one is classic – a formation of Ju88’s, protected by a couple of Me109’s is attacked by Hurricanes trying to do as much damage as possible before the bombers reach opposite edge of the table. The twist is that players controlling the Hurricanes are unaware of the fact that  they will be bounced by Me110’s immediately after they fire their first shots.

Due to lack of players, I had to remove one vic formation of Hurricanes and a rote of Me110s, but even with these modifications, the essence of the scenario was still there. As it’s been a while since me and my mates played CY6, everybody was a bit ‘rusty’. Thus, I also refrained from deploying clouds, which make the scenario more interesting but also complicate the plotting of airplane movements.

After the modifications, six Ju88’s and two 109’s confronted six Hurricanes. Two Me110’s would appear after the Brits fired their first shots.

The game

The game developed in what I, after participating in a 15+ CY6 games, can only describe as ‘familiar pattern’. Random deployment placed that starting positions for both vic formations of Hurricanes would be in same sector, but separated by several altitude levels. They entered the board in very close proximity and to the left of the bomber formation, not giving the escorting Me109’s much time to react before getting in range.

Ha. and He., who had the control of British fighters, headed straight for the bombers in hope for immediate results. Knowing what was coming and taking advantage of the fact that the Brits were so close to me (yepp, yet again I was in control of the bombers, that’s the lot of GM), I adjusted the path of the bombers slightly, moving them closer to the enemy. Counterintuitive perhaps, but quite effective against an opponent who expects you to fly straight forward – Ha.’s Hurricanes overshot my bombers in next move, not able to shot at all. He.’s first bursts of machine gun fire were also ineffective due to being deflection shots.

After initial couple of turns the game developed in, for me at least, familiar pattern. Ha.’s Hurricanes, made a series of sharp left turn immediately after overshooting the bombers, in an attempt to quickly gain firing position yet again. Unfortunately, that manoeuvre also exposed them to the ‘hunter’ pair of Me110’s which now appeared behind and above Ha.’s Hurricanes. Lead Me110, under control of L., promptly disposed a Hurricane that slightly lagged behind his comrades. Another Hurricane was shot down by head on fire of T.’s Me109’s, which stuck behind the bomber formation, in wait for exactly the move that Ha. tried. Sole surviving Hurricane managed to get in the middle of bomber formation and damage one Ju88 at point blank range before having it’s engine shot up by T.’s Me109’s and diving for home. It failed to return home.

He.’s Hurricanes split immediately after first pass, one of the Hurricanes challenging T.’s Me109’s, while the remaining two fighters headed for the rear of the bombers. As already mentioned, T.’s Me109’s didn’t bodge from their position at the rear of German formation and the Hurricane tangling with them managed to sneak on their tails. Dice luck wasn’t however on He.’s side that day and despite valiant efforts he failed to score any hits. The two Hurricanes that headed for the bombers were more successful. Once in position, they finished off the bomber already damaged by Ha.’s sole survivor and damaged another one. The success came with a price tag – one of the attacking British fighters became the final victim of T.’s Me109’s before He. decided that enough was enough and headed for home, thus finishing the game.

Final tally – four Hurricanes shot down, another one damaged for one Ju88 shot down and one damaged. Good fun all around… but for me as game master, also another case of a slight anti-climax. Why, you say? Keep on reading and I’ll explain.

Musings after the battle

So here’s the thing – I find CY6 to be a quite brilliant ruleset which, if correct tactics are applied, is able to provide nail-biting and for the lack of better word, subtle games. What’s even more important, CY6 enables “historically correct behaviour” both in regard of tactics as well as manoeuvres. However, for those things to happen, a bit of afterthought and care is required on the part of the players. And yet, in the 15+ games I have by now participated in, pretty much same pattern develops in every game. First of all, the bombers act as magnets, with all fighters ‘lumping together’ around them. Chaos inevitably ensues. Also, choice of manoeuvres consists predominantly of sharp horizontal turns, especially on the part of fighters attacking the bombers. Players controlling them usually try desperately to get in yet another burst after the first pass through bomber formation. This makes the attackers bleed speed, consequently making them sitting ducks for the escorts and quite rightly so! This last issue is compounded by fact that if the attackers succeed in getting their fighters in position, more often than not they try to stay there until their targets are shot down. Usually though, it’s they that fall victim of escorting fighters.

The most fascinating aspect of this behaviour is that it seems to be universal – I have now played CY6 with three distinctly separate crowds of players and most of them tend to play in that manner.

On one hand, I understand this behaviour all too well. After all, we all like to ‘shoot and score’. Also, if one thinks about it, the phenomenon I describe isn’t unique – wargames in general have a tendency for becoming a chaotic tavern brawl, with everybody trying to kill everybody else. I must be honest and admit that I find this type of games to be slightly tedious. In case of CY6 in particular, games played with this ruleset can so easily be so much more than a gigantic dogfight and I can’t help but see these chaotic free-for-all engagements as lost opportunities.

Right, you think, and now he’ll probably tell us how to play CY6 ‘the correct way’! Well, maybe not the ‘correct way’, but I will dispense a couple of free of charge advices/observation that may very well provide you a better CY6 game.

Let’s start with the goal of the game. In my opinion, shooting down the enemy airplanes is a secondary objective. Player’s primary goal should be to get his airplanes safely home. After all, most real pilots wanted to survive first, shoot down airplanes second. Keep this in mind and you’ll see how differently the tabletop will look to you as you plan your next move.

While on that topic, nowhere in the ruleset is it stated that you can’t leave the game before you run out of ammunition. You don’t have to stick around if your side becomes disadvantaged or if you’re hopelessly out of position where you can influence the game any further. An added advantage of such attitude is that it also helps keeping the games at sensible length.

Now, regarding the technical aspects of the game, there is one simple rule that should be kept in mind at all times – energy is life! It comes in two shapes in CY6 – speed and altitude. Thus, use sharp horizontal turns only when you absolutely have to. In four cases out of five, vertical manoeuvre is the better alternative, because they automatically provide you with either increased height or possibility to increase speed.

Finally, regarding fighters vs. bombers – you don’t have to glue your fighter to a bomber’s arse and blast at it ‘til it goes down. In fact, it’s the worst thing you can do, especially if enemy fighters are nearby. Quick passes with goal of damaging bombers and forcing them out of formation is a much preferred alternative. Just look at the archive films, do you see the fighters sticking around in the middle of bomber formation? And no, you don’t have to immediately turn into the bomber formation after you made your pass. Take your time, gain speed or altitude and catch the bombers again in five, six or even seven rounds. After all, they’re slow and usually you know where they’re going. So take your time, avoid the escorts with your speed/altitude superiority and don’t stick around for  too long!

OK, hope I gave you some food for thought, that’s it from me for this time around.

Dogfight over Convoy BOSOM

My Stukas didn't have long to wait until their combat debut - just a couple of hours ago we run a simplified version of scenario "Dogfight over Convoy BOSOM" from scenario book “Over The Channel” with four of my friends. Since we had one completely new player, I decided to remove certain elements of the scenario, most significantly clouds and spotting rules.

"Dogfight over Convoy BOSSOM" is a very neat little scenario for 2 to 4 players. German side runs a pair of Me-110:s and Me-109:s escorting ten Stukas. RAF is represented by a flight of Spitfires and Hurricanes. This scenario is also quite interesting from the tactical perspective - British planes can deploy in a perfect position for a head-on pass against Stukas, while German fighters are hindered from engaging British fighters until they fire. However, after first salvo, British players have some decisive decisions to make - do they make another pass against Stukas or do they act defensively and counter the German escorts?

Our game followed the by now quite familiar script (I’ve actually played this scenario once before in Copenhagen, with remarkably similar results). The critical first fire phase from British players was quite ineffective (only one Stuka damaged). To add insult to injury, one of Hurricanes run out of ammo almost immediately and left the engagement in a hurry. Spitfire flight then turned around to get the Stukas from behind, while Hurricanes continued straight forward, gaining altitude at the same time. Results of those maneuvers were predictable - Spitfires gained perfect position for attack against the Stukas and managed to damage three of them. Unfortunately, they were by now unsupported and exposed to German escorts, which shot down two of Spitfires (the “stunner” of the game consisted of the fact that it took four very potent hits from Messershmidts to down one of the Spits). By round six, three British planes were opposed by four German escorts in advantageous position and we decided that it was time to call it a day.

Situation in the middle of our game – front group of Stukas are out of harm’s way, while Spitfires are hammering the second group of bombers from behind, while being hammered by the escorts.

Conclusion of this game is once again that trying to gain 6 o'clock position against bombers, while ignoring their escorts is a suicidal proposition. Attacking side must instead keep maximum speed and either engage the escorts in a head on contest (unhealthy proposition for the British because of 20mm cannons of Messerschmitts) or try to position themselves in a position for a deflection shot against the bombers several turns later in the game.

MOST DANGEROUS ENEMY BY STEPHEN BUNGAY

Battle of Britain is probably the most covered topic in military aviation literature and there must be literally hundreds of titles covering the topic in English language alone. Throughout the years I have managed to read quite a few of them and I can say that 'The Most Dangerous Enemy' is without a doubt the best of them. First of all, author manages to stay focused and balanced both in his narrative and analysis of events. Both antagonists get same amount of coverage, while critique and prize are dealt out where appropriate, regardless of the side. Furthermore, the book is perfectly balanced in another respect - personal experiences, technological aspects of the conflict and overview of large scale events are dealt with in separate chapters with focus on single well-defined topic. It may sound strange based solely on my description, but this writing technique seems perfectly suited for coverage of Battle of Britain. It allows the reader to keep solid track of the events as they unfolded, understand the high level decisions and at the same time never lets him forget the personal costs and sacrifices required by both sides.

For those that are familiar with this clash between Luftwaffe and RAF some seventy years ago, I'd recommend this book for a different reason - conclusions of Stephen Bungay regarding the Battle, its outcome and consequences may be controversial and challenge traditional opinions, but I dare to say that they deserve some afterthought.
If there is any criticism that this book deserves then it's the fact that, if one is to draw conclusions from the references, the author relied predominantly on English sources. Also, I found it a bit annoying that Stephen Bungay seems to have problems with deciding in how to present foreign pilots in RAF service and their role in the Battle of Britain.

From wargamer's perspective this book is to be considered mainly as a great historical background source for those of us who enjoy aerial wargames. 'The Most Dangerous Enemy' does not contain much information for creation for new scenarios, it is however excellent source for understanding of proper tactics and why they were employed. It is also worth reading for the reason that I suspect I hardly have to point out - learning about real events that our games are based on is after all, or at least should be, part of this hobby.

Duel of the Eagles

For next installment of our Battle of Britain-saga we selected scenario with very suitable title 'Duel of Eagles'. It was our first pure fighter game, which was a nice change of pace from previous games, where bombers were the primary targets.

The setup

Historical encounter depicted by 'Duel of Eagles' was between elements of Jagtgeschwader 26 and Squadron No.76. Pilots of both formations were very experienced and both were led by an ace - Adolf Galland and "Sailor" Malan. To reflect this fact, both sides in our game had an Ace pilot and a bunch of Veteran pilots each. R.A.F was represented by three sections of Spitfires, while Germans had four sections of Me109:s. Entry point and initial altitude of each section was determined randomly, although random Scenario Special Rule roll allowed the German side to enter one section of Messerschmitts at highest altitude at the beginning of round 2.

Random setups have sometimes tendency to put a certain spin on a game and this was one of those occassions. Malan's section entered the table at very low altitude and it was obvious that his formation would not have much influence on the initial phase of the game. Galland's rote and second Spitfire section entered the table on the opposite sides of the table, at high altitude, but equally out of position. Third section of Spitfires was however definitely in trouble - two sections of 109:s were in their immediate vicinity. Furthermore, unbeknownst to the player controlling British fighters, last section of Messerschmitts would show up on their tails at the beginning of second round.

Separated Spitfire section at the start of the game

The game

It could be said that this game had two very distinct phases. First half was spent on maneuvers where every one of us was trying to select their targets and gain an advantageous position. On one side of the table focus lay on Malan's Spitfire section that started at very low altitude. This formation was a very obvious target for Galland's Messersmitts, which started to the right of Spitfires - both sections tuned into each other, Spitfires climbing, 109:s diving. Both sides opened fire simultaneously, missed and then they were past each other. While Malan's planes continued on same course, still climbing, Galland's rote met the other section of Spitfires that started on same side of the table. This time the Brits were the lucky ones - Galland's wingman was hit and damaged and both Messerschmitts were suddenly fighting for survival.

The picture was very different on the other side of the table. Single section of Spitfires, with enemy fighters both in front and behind them, had no choice but to run toward the middle of the table. Initially the only good news for those British planes was the fact that one of German flights was below them and had to climb before it posed a real threat, while the remaining 109:s didn't really have a good shooting resolution and choose not to open fire.

Between the rock and the hard place

In other words, the game was at first separated in two separate chains of events. Then all airplanes found themselves in the middle of the table and at roughly same altitude. As it turns out, it was a recepy for total chaos - six Spitfires and eight Me109:s were basically on top of each other, every pilot having at least one target in its sights at any given time. For the first time we experienced a true dogfight.

Gathering in the middle

Considering the amount of fire, surprisingly few hits were scored. First victim of the day was one of green Spitfires that turned the wrong way (incorrect plot) and found two Messerschmitts in its path. Short burst of cannon shells demolished the unfortunate Spitifre and it spun down to the ground. Another Spitfire was shot down shortly afterward by a random snapshot from a German fighter. The Brits returned the compliment and hit one of 109:s, setting its engine on fire.

Two vs. one

Engine on fire and long way away from France

With two British fighters shot down, the Germans seemed to gain the upper hand. At this moment, Malan's flight finally found its way to the fight, with immediate and telling effect. A deflection shot from British ace found its target, putting the Messerschmitt into a spin from which it never recovered. Third Spitfire became victim of German fighters at the same time, but two of German fighters also run out of ammunition. Those events changed the picture dramatically - German planes found themselves outnumbered and in a disadvantageous position. Prefering prudence before glorious death for the Fatherland, all German pilots put the superiour diving speed of their planes to use and managed to exit the table without any additional loses.

Time to head for home

Final score of the game - three Spitfires and one Messerschmitt shot down, two Messerschmitts damaged. Another German victory, but this one with much narrower margin than in previous games.

Musings after the game

This game made two things rather apparent. First, a game without bombers is a very different experience - there are no obvious targets and players can take their time, searching advantage of position or simply waiting for a mistake from the opponent. Second, a melee like the one that developed in this game is a very unhealthy proposition for everyone involved. Firing arcs are very generous in CY6 (and we are playing with the optional, narrow arc), so most of the time it is almost impossible to avoid potshots.

From practical point of view, I have to say that it wasn't the most enjoyable CY6 game I had opportunity to play. Chaos that developed made it rather hard to keep track of who was supposed to move when. Additionally, if one is to draw any conclusions from this game, dogfights tend to concentrate all the planes in a very narrow area. This fact creates some purely physical problems, as you can fit only so many bases in a single hex.

At the same time I have to say that 'Duel of Eagles' has a lot of replayability and does seem to be an excellent pick up scenario for multiple players. In our game we had three players on British side and four on the German. Two of them were complete beginners, but managed to be 'self-going' within a couple of rounds.

Black day for R.A.F.

One week after the slaughter of German bombers on a forlorn night mission, it was time for us to run ‘Dogfight Over Convoy BOSOM’. This scenario is the first in the Battle of Britain scenario book that actually takes place during that battle. Scenario in question depicts one of many raids aimed at the Channel convoys in the initial phase of the campaign. Although the targets of those attacks were obviously British ships, the real goal of Luftwaffe was to lure slender R.A.F. forces into a battle of attrition.

Initial setup

At first sight, ‘Dogfight Over Convoy BOSOM’ does look like another milk run for the British. Not only do they have superior fighter force, they are also allowed to setup very close to their primary targets, a group of nine Ju-87:s, more famous as Stukas. German side has one rote each of Me-109:s and Me-110:s, although it has to be said that German fighters are severely hamstrung by rather restricting setup rules.

The game

With setup rules allowing the British airplanes to start basically on top of the Stukas, this scenario can be characterized as “short and sweet”… which it was, although not in a way that one would expect.

British fighters bounce the Stukas

British fighters (one vic of Spitfires and Hurricanes) approached the bombers out of the sun, ten o’clock high relative to the German formation. With German escorts far behind the bombers (a calculated risk on the part of the Germans), Brits had opportunity for one freebie pass on the bombers before they had to tangle with the escorts. This was a temptation that guys on the British side couldn’t resist - Spitfires went after the group closer to the British entry point, while Hurricanes selected to make a head on pass against the remaining Stukas a bit further back. The reward for the trouble was surprisingly slim – one Junkers received a solid hit to the engine, while another started to burn after a lucky hit from a .303 bullet.

Hurricanes trying to get behind the bombers

Seeing the Brits splitting up forces, German fighters did the same – Me-109:s side slipped to the right to meet the Hurricanes, Me-110:s dove toward the Spitfires, two of which surprisingly choose to disregard the escorts and turned behind the Stukas. Remaining Spitfire left the formation in an attempt to try his luck with 109:s and was immediately shot down in what can only be described as a nonchalant manner by a single burst from German rote leader’s cannons.

Doomed Spitfire

This unexpected kill was the start of a nightmare for the British side. Leader of Spitfire formation was the next one to pay the ultimate price – after his engine was damaged by accurate fire from Stuka rear-gunners, he was unable to do anything against Zerstörers at his six o’clock.

Last survivor of the Spitfire formation tried to get away, but was unable to shake off the Me-110:s. 20 mm cannon shells found their target in next round and last Spitfire immediately went down in flames.

Demise of the Hurricane formation was equally rapid, but far more memorable. After a completely unsuccessful head-on pass, British fighters choose to repeat the mistake of their comrades flying the Spitfires – they turned to the left with the intention of gaining tail position on the Stukas. The fact that two Me-109:s were rapidly closing on them apparently didn’t bother them… however, the fact that the formation leader managed to turn so tightly that he managed to collide not with one, but two Ju-87:s struck everybody with complete amazement. Miraculously, the first Stuka suffered only scratches on its paint, while the Hurricane suffered minor damage. British pilot wasn’t as lucky in his second ramming attack – his plane blew up. It has however to be noted that his perseverance paid off and he managed to bring his victim down with him.

Amazing performance of the evening

Remaining Hurricanes were bounced by Messerschmitt immediately afterward. Position advantage of German fighters made the dogfight a foregone conclusion and both British fighters were shot down after a short dogfight. One of Me-109:s was damaged in the process, but that was a small price to pay for the complete triumph of Luftwaffe in this fight.

Hurricanes bounced by Messerschmitts

Musings after the battle

The entire game took less time than it took me to write this post – it was all over after only two hours, or six game rounds. This however is unimportant. It is however worth noticing that “Check Your Six” once again proved to be an excellent game ruleset and you will suffer if you ignore Boelke’s Dicta. In this game, both British players choose to ignore the threat of German fighters at their back and suffered the consequences.

Meanwhile in the other room…

Disaster in the dark

Two weeks ago it was time for another ‘Check Your Six’ scenario from ‘Over The Channel’ scenario book. This time it the turn came to ‘Into the darkness’. Name of the scenario refers to the fact that it is a little different from the rest, as it tries to represent the challenge of night bombing raids in those early years of the war.

Setup

To simulate the difference in night and day missions, a couple of special rules are implemented in this scenario. Visibility is very limited, while German bombers are allowed to fly individually. Additionally any airplane that is can be shot at, needs to perform a check for illumination – if it makes it, it is invisible for the rest of the turn.

The game

Goals of this scenario are very simple for both sides. The objective of six Heinkels was simple – try to stay alive while traversing the board. For three sections of British assailants – one section each of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims – the task was to find the bombers and bring down as many as possible. Their task was made difficult not only by very limited visibility conditions and special rules, but also by random entry points in regard of both location and altitude.

As things turned out, start of the game ment some good news and some bad news for the German players. Blenheims came in low and out of position – this was very fortunate for the opposition, since those obsolete light bombers hastily converted into night fighters are real hogs in regard of speed and climb rate. But any optimism on the German side was quickly dispersed by the fact that both Hurricanes and Spitfires entered the table with height advantage and behind the Heinkels. We didn’t know it by then, but this simple fact more or less decided the outcome of game.

Blenheims making a debut in this game

The game itself was straight forward and the events need only few sentences to be described. William and I were in control of the bombers and we decided upon different strategies. My previous experience told me that defensive armament of German bombers can be very effective made me decide to keep my planes in formation. William went for speed and additional maneuverability of bombers flying individually. One of us made the right call, the other was disastrously wrong and payed the price.

The hunted…

I have to add though that I don't think any decisions would change the course of the game – both Hurricanes and Spitfires took full advantage of altitude and speed and came into range within a couple of rounds. Since my three Heinkels were from British point of view was flying slightly behind William’s bombers, they were the natural first target and they took the brunt of British onslaught. As soon as the fighters reached optimal firing position, it was all over but the crying for my doomed Heinkels. A single burst of .303 machine guns was all it took to bring down first victim; other two put up a better fight, but nevertheless went down after being repeatedly by British fighters.

…and the hunters

Distraction of three juicy targets or ‘the heroic sacrifice’, as I prefer to call my dismal performance in this game, did have one positive side-effect – it bought William enough time to dive, dive, dive and put some distance between majority of British fighters and his Heinkels.

Heinkels making it to the other edge of the table

Nevertheless, one Spitfire and one Hurricane did manage to score some hits into his bombers, with limited success of knocking out both dorsal gun positions on one of the bombers (two lucky hits, both resulting in same effect). This didn’t stop William from exiting the game area with three more or less intact Heinkels.

Back to Albert Canal

Call it for artistic drive or pure silliness on the part of the owner of this blog, but for quite long time I had a wish to write an after action report in narrative style, rather than a dry description of the moves, dice rolls and game mechanics. I finally did it in post “Battles over Albert Canal” and I have to say that I’m a little surprised over how hard it was. Still, some people enjoyed my first attempt at “writer’s career”, so I may do it again sometime.

However, for the sake of consistency, I do feel that I need to post a more traditional AAR of that game. So, what did really happened that day? Scenario for the game was taken from "Over The Channel - Battle of Britain" scenario book for Check Your Six. It’s called “Impossible Mission” and considering the real historical events it is based upon, it’s a very appropriate title. Six Fairey Battles escorted by two Vic- formations of Hurricanes attempt to bomb a bridge over Albert Canal. German side has six Me-109:s on patrol and the bridge itself is protected by light anti-aircraft artillery.

In our game, L. controlled German fighters, while F. and W. took control of escorting Hurricanes. I took charge of five apparently doomed Battles (we lost one in pre-game event check). At the start of the game, German fighters were spread over the table in three rote-formations, so British plan was to take advantage of that fact, get to the bridge as quickly as possible and then get out of Dodge.

Naturally, Battles were like the big magnet for Me-109, which started to close on them from three different directions. Hurricanes hastened to meet them and leader of W’s fighter formation managed to score hits on leader of one of German rotes in a head on attack. Unfortunately, the German pilot managed to return the favor – so one fighter on each side was out of the fight. Remaining fighters of those formations tangled with each other for the rest of the game, but none of the sides managed to score any hits.

Another German rote closed on the bombers from the opposite side, initially bypassing F’s Hurricanes. F. managed his planes in skillful manner and managed to place them in tailing position behind the Messerschmitts. L. disregarded the danger and pressed on his attack on the Battles. His effort was rewarded and one of Battles went down immediately, after a critical hit was scored by the leader of the German flight. His joy was however rather short-lived, since in subsequent turn his leader was shot down by the Hurricanes and wingman’s airplane suffered engine damage from a well-aimed burst from a Lewis machine-gun of leading Battle. He tried to escape, but was finished off by F’s Hurricanes in subsequent turn. Unfortunately, two of victorious British fighters expended their ammunition and were forced to head for home.

As the Battles got close to the bridge, last German rote caught up with them. Leader of this flight was the best pilot in the air that day and it showed – his opening salvo resulted in one Battle immediately shot down (once again, critical hits from the 20mm cannons), while a subsequent burst scored damaging hits on another Battle. Fortunately, he didn’t manage to do more damage before passing behind the British bombers and encountering remaining Hurricanes. Three surviving bombers reached the bridge and unaffected by ineffective AA fire, dropped their bomb load on the bridge. One of those was a direct hit, severely damaging the target.

Then “the freak event” of the day occurred – L. attempted to extract his fighters from the chaotic fighter furball behind the bombers (four planes in a single hex) and attempted an Immelman with two of his Me-109. Since both planes made same maneuver, they ended up yet another time in same hex and this time they collided with each other. Both planes managed to stay in the air, but with bombers reaching their target and only a single German plan in fighting condition we decided to call it a day.

End result was a brilliant British victory – bridge severly damaged, 2 German fighters shot down, while three other were damaged. Price for that victory was paid by two downed Battles. Point total for the scenario was 24 points for RAF and 8 points for Luftwaffe. Campaign total after the game is 54 points for RAF against 27 for Luftwaffe.

Historical background for this scenario can be found here.

Finally, a couple of words regariding the "Check Your Six" ruleset - to put it bluntly, it is without a doubt my current absolute favorite ruleset in all categories. It is easy to learn, very intuitive and immensly fun to play. However, there is an apparent upper limit of number of airplanes that a single player can handle. Two planes per player is perfect, six is an absolute maximium in my opinion. Also, once multiple airplanes get into same area, things can get rather complicated and tempo of the game slows down significantly. To counter possible confusion, I will in the future use color coding directly on the airplane bases for several aspects of the game.

Battles over Albert Canal

With red arrows piercing the blue lines at several locations, the picture shown on the operational map looked rather depressing. If anybody was still doubting it, one look at that map was enough to tell him that the “Phoney War” was over and Jerry was on the move.

Quiet murmur of plane crews discussing the events of the last couple of days quickly died out as Captain Richards, wing operations officer walked into the tent. He walked to the map, turned around and hesitated for a moment as he observed the men in front of him. “They look so tired.” – he thought and immediately felt his own exhaustion. He then cleared his throat and started today’s briefing.

“Gentlemen, as you are well aware, the situation at the front is not developing to our satisfaction. Despite best effort of our ground forces, Jerry managed to cross the Meuse and is pushing into Belgium as we speak. HQ would like to do something about it and has ordered RAF to take out the bridges at Albert Canal.

Your squadron will participate with six airplanes. You will be escorted by two sections of Hurricanes. Expect heavy opposition – there is substantial Luftwaffe presence over the Canal and intelligence reports indicate heavy ack-ack defenses in the target area.

We will be lifting of at…”

---

Flying Officer Henry Stevens anxiously scanned the skies, searching for the dark specks signaling presence of enemy fighters. So far they managed to avoid the attention of the yellow-nosed bastards, but he knew that it was unlikely that their luck would hold all the way through the mission.

He looked to the sides for yet another check of the formation. He could clearly see the pilots of two Battles in his section, their heads turning from side to side as they looked for the enemy. He couldn’t find the Hurricanes, but he knew that they were there – two Victor formations, behind and above his flight. “At least Jerry won’t be having free lunch today.” – he thought.

Initial setup.

He looked forward again and there it was – a silvery blue band of water cutting through the mostly green landscape. He followed the dark grey line of the road and found the spot where it intersected with the Canal. Their target was barely visible from this distance, but the hazy contour of the bridge was enough for him to feel the pang of excitement mixed with fear.

He pushed the radio button and said: “Target in sight. Form on formation leader. Change altitude to 400 feet.”

He put his plane into a shallow dive, felt the Battle accelerate and watched his wingmen disappear behind him. The plan was to approach the target in single file formation at very low altitude. Hopefully, the speed gained by the dive and low level of the flight would counter the anti-air artillery defending the bridge.

“This is Red One. Enemy fighters at two o’clock high! Engaging!”

Head-on pass of Red One.

Stevens had hardly time to find the two… no, four dots rapidly moving in his direction before the radio crackled again - “This is Blue One. Bandits at ten o’clock high. Breaking formation to engage!”. Stevens snapped his head to the left, but had at first difficulty finding the enemy fighters spotted by the Hurricane pilot. When he finally saw the German planes, they were no longer small specks in the sky, he now could see their wings.

He quickly checked his instruments and then looked for the target - he could now see the trees at the banks of the channel – before looking to the right again, just in time to see the tracers sprouting from two fighter formations approaching each other on collision course. Was it fire coming from one of the planes?

Rapid staccato of strained voices now came out of the radio.
-“Blue One. I’m hit! Returning to base!”
-”Blue Two. Blue One, you got him, bastard is smoking! Engaging the rest of bandits!”
-“Red One. Bombers, enemy planes on your left. Repeat, enemy closing on your left!”

German fighters approaching Battles, Hurricanes in pursuit.

That last sentence made Stevens snap his head to the left. It wasn’t difficult to find the enemy, those two Me109:s seemed to be right on top of him. Just a split second later he saw glowing fireballs spitting out of their wings, flying straight at him.

-“Green Two, I’m damaged. Can’t control he….” – the voice cut off before finishing the sentence. Green Two, that was his number two wingman, Henley. Stevens involuntarily tightened his grip on the stick as he heard the strangely high-pitched voice of his rear gunner shouting “Oh, my God!” on the intercom.

Death of Green 2.

It was with grim satisfaction that Stevens watched the effect of the fire comming from the Hurricanes that pursued the German fighters. Tracers seemed to embrace the leading Messerschmitt and large chunks separated from its airframe as it closed the distance with the Battles. For a second, Stevens was mesmerized by the sight of the stricken enemy fighter visibly stagger in its path, then pitching over into a shallow dive and heading for the ground. Next, rattle of his rear gunner’s machine gun pierced through the monotonous sound of the engine, snapping him out of his fixation on the seemingly mortally wounded Me109.

The bridge was now just a couple of kilometers away and he made last routine check of the instruments. Suddenly multiple fingers of tracers reached out toward him – yes, for once the intel was correct, a lot of ack-ack down there and they all seemed to focus on his plane. He pushed the grim thoughts out of his head and concentrated on the quickly approaching bridge. He heard his gunner shouting intelligibly with excitement on the radio. Then a Me-109 passed his Battle just couple of hundred yards away, its engine engulfed in flames. It disappeared below him, as suddenly as it appeared. Later he found out that Jenkins actually managed to damage the enemy airplane with his puny Vickers machine-gun and Hurricanes swiftly finished it off.

Bridge was straight ahead now. Just a couple seconds more….

Green One bombing the bridge.

“Releasing bombs!” – Nick Doyle, his bombardier confirmed what Stevens already knew, as he felt the Battle jerk up once it was released of its bomb cargo. Then he heard Doyle shouting “Direct hit!”. Sense of satisfaction replaced for the moment the dread that Stevens felt ever since the Messerschmitts were spotted.

That feeling lasted just for a second– Stevens kept his low altitude and banked the Battle to the right. As he banked the plane, he could see the horrifying spectacle above the bridge. Somehow he managed to get several hundreds of yards in front of his squadron – remaining Battles reached the bridge only now. Just before they reached the target, a pair of yellow-nosed 109 reached them and raked the bombers. Stevens’ face twisted in helpless fury as he saw the bullets tearing into two of the Battles, literally ripping one of them into pieces. The other one started to smoke, but stayed on course. Two surviving Battles released the bombs just a moment later, both missing the target with couple of yards.

What followed next stunned both Stevens and apparently everybody else. Two Hurricanes appeared behind the Me-109:s that annihilated the Battle just a second before and for a moment Stevens could hardly distinguish friend from foe. Then both German planes took advantage of their speed and rose up in the air, performing textbook Immelmans. Stevens observed them arching up in the sky, coming closer and closer together… and finally colliding with each other! The Messerschmitts seemed to bounce of each other, creating a cloud of debris at the point of impact, but amazingly both planes stayed in the air.

Bombing run of remaining Battles.

This rather unexpected event seemed to take the spirit out of the Germans. Anti-air fire slackened for a moment, crews of the guns probably being afraid to hit their own fighters. Surviving British airplanes took this opportunity to extricate themselves from the area. Stevens continued to wearily observe the German planes for a long while. As it turned out, he didn’t have to. Remaining 109:s seemed more interested in nursing their damaged comrades back to the base, rather than following the bombers that already did all the damage they could manage.

---

Stevens felt empty inside. “We did what you asked us, now make it count.” – he thought as he threw last glance at the black columns of smoke marking the graves of his comrades - “Make it count!”.

Hurricanes over France

Last Sunday I’ve set up a ‘Check Your Six’ game for a couple of my friends. I used scenario ‘Jolly Good Show’ from 'Over The Channel' scenario book. Scenario setup is quite interesting. A large formation of Do-17:s escorted by Me-110:s is bounced by five Hurricanes. Germans get points for every undamaged bomber that exit the edge of the map, while British need to do avoid being blown out of the sky by 110:s and do as much damage as possible. Couple of special rules gives the initiative to the British, but the numerical superiority of the Germans (if used effectively) can make life very difficult for the Hurricanes.

In our game there was never really much doubt about who would win. Tony handled the British planes on that day. He noticed very strange initial placement of German escorts and decided to go for the jugular. He chose very aggressive approach, starting with a concentrated head-on pass through one of German bomber formations. The effect was immediate – one of Dorniers span out of formation and crashed in the fields below.

German reaction was both predictable… and incorrect – both Lars and Paul choose to turn aggressively toward the Hurricanes, without any real chance of catching them. Seeing the escorts’ futile pursuit, Tony realized that he had time for another pass, this time from behind. He split his formation into two smaller groups, two planes turning gently behind the bombers to the right, while the rest pursued the formation to the left. His speed advantage made it possible for him to outmaneuver Me-110:s and eventually leave them behind.

What ensued can only be described as a bunch of foxes finding a way into the hen house. None of the Hurricanes had much of a problem finding a target and German bomber formations were repeatedly hosed by British Brownings. Second Dornier went down with fatal engine damage at the start of that second pass through the bomber formation. A third bomber span out of control, but then leveled out and was last seen trailing smoke and flying away in the wrong direction. It failed to return home. Three more bombers suffered significant damage, dropped their bombs and dove in an effort to escape the fighters.

Damage caused by the Hurricanes would probably be much greater, but one fighter after another begun to run out of ammunition. It also became painfully obvious to Tony that even though his fire scored repeated hits on the bombers, most of the time his machineguns caused only limited damage.

The only event that can be described as a success for the Luftwaffe on that disastrous day happened at the end of our game. A stray bullet from one of the Dorniers hit a Hurricane in the engine. Not wanting to take any chances and with three fighters already out of ammunition, Tony chose to dive out of contact with the damaged plane and the Hurricane of his flight leader. By doing that he also finished our game.

‘Jolly good show’ ended in an undisputed British victory. Three Dorniers were destroyed, while another three suffered significant damage and aborted their mission. Six bombers continued on to their target, which gave the score of 30 points for RAF and 19 for Luftwaffe.