Next War, Next Enemy After Action Report

I was able to host the first scenario from the Falcon of the Duce Check Your 6! book that features the World War exploits of Franco Lucchini. I've ran this particular scenario before, but wanted to pull it out again as it features a variety of rules nuances, such as a diverse range of pilot skills (ace to green), early war slow but maneuverable aircraft, and light guns and frail airframes. I decided to run this on a three foot square Monday Knight Productions mat as the last time I hosted this scenario the comment was made of how long it took for the planes to close, and then in how little table space they wound up using once closing to range. The smaller mat helped greatly.

Not looking grand for the Brits on this end

The Italians had the advantage with aircrew skill (one ace and two skilled pilots), heavier armament (two heavy machineguns vs. for light machineguns for the Gladiators), a higher starting altitude, and a slightly better agility (the Gladiators suffering an agility loss when moving at maximum speed).

However, the Italians separated quickly, responding to the British splitting their planes as they struggled to climb. The Italian ace headed for a pair of Brits, comprising of one veteran and one green pilot. A head on pass failed to hit the Brits, but the Italian was able to get on the tail of the green Brit within just three hexes. At this point we all thought it was over for this green Gladiator, but the robustness check was ably passed. This green pilot had the best luck of the game, being shot at a few times and surviving, and even helping to knock one of the Italian planes out of the air.

The Italians lining up for the kill, but it was not to be

The other British pilot did not have the same run of luck, having taken one airframe hit and one engine hit on his two green pilots in a head on pass with the two skilled Italian pilots. It certainly looked as if they were easy pickings, with another turn of an advantageous position, but the Brits survived. Then the Italian player moved his Italians in a turn that placed him in front of the slower Brits. Down went one of the Cr.32s as a result! The other Cr.32 would take an airframe hit, and the Italian ace had taken an engine hit by this point. The ace took another hit, leaving one Italian left on the board, and that one unable to climb or dive due to a lucky hit. 

The result - an overwhelming British victory. They lost one Gladiator, had another damaged, but the Italians had two aircraft shot down and one damaged. Throw in the aircrew quality and the victory points piled up for the British players.

The death of an ace, the left Cr.42 about to go down

The planes were part of the collection of our good but departed friend Bob, so it was great to get them on the table once again.