A Little Wings of Glory Recap

Yesterday was the monthly gaming session of the Wright Flight, and while I was planning on doing Polish-Soviet action using a slew of house rules, the lack of players meant we went with just one table, eventually getting up to eight attendees. 

We did two games of early war action (then why was there an Aviatik D.I on board?), seeing a mix of German aircraft against various early model Nieuports. I pulled out my Escadrille Americaine Lawrence Rumsey repaint for the first game, and in the second game I jumped over to the German side and used my Shapeways Siemens-Schuckert D.I, a copy of the Nieuport 17 but one that performs like the Nieuport 11. In both early war games I took a few hits, gave out a few hits, and jumped off the board before dying in either game.

A cluster of Nieuports, with a new player turning right towards my Rumsey!

Second game's plane of choice!

Nothing to see here (and I survived this passing attack)

Bill, that Halberstadt does make a nice photo.

Matt's nicely painted Shapeways British N.11

Passing planes over the Channel

We played another game with six participants, a later war affair. This time I had a chance to use my little Pfalz Dr.I, and the little beauty performed well. The O Deck is a dream, and I shredded a SE.5a that flew right into my arc. The Allies took a bit of beating...they did shoot down the Baron (well, somebody had to do it) and put some damage on the Fokker D.VII, but with the SE.5a unable to put out its fire and the Camels having taken a crap ton of damage, it would be considered a German victory. We also used my new range sticks from Pro Painted Studios, and they, along with my modified firing ranges, seemed to work well. Next time I'll add in deflection!

The Germans gather

Say hello to my little friend - the SE.5a takes a fire result. I would apologize for my actions, but I wouldn't mean it, and why waste a good apology?

Soon the end of the Baron...no one likes that Prussian anyway

We had a couple of new players, who had a tendency to ignore spatial awareness, or even friendly planes, and plotted turns that caused collisions. Luckily in the late war game my C Damage card was a goose egg for the goose-stepping Pfalz pilot, but Lord, gotta watch those new players!

Wings of Glory - Modifying Climb Rates, Altitude and Other Changes

I have been working on historical data for climb rates for the last several months. The discrepancy between aircraft types can be rather inaccurate within the rules, for example the Nieuport 16 with a climb rate of two is simply ridiculous. While it had a more powerful engine than the Nieuport 11, the increased power came at a cost - a much heaver engine, and hence performance was only slightly improved. I decided to find and utilize as much historical data that I could, which in itself can be faulty based on who was doing the reporting. The result (and still a work in progress) is the file you can find on the right. (entries in black have at least three data points, goldenrod has two data points, and red just one data point) 

While I was researching at climb rates, something else didn't feel quite right when using just four pegs to represent altitude. While I would prefer to use the advanced altitude ratings, the physical limitations of using so many pegs prevents that from happening - can you imagine the carnage caused by the ham-fisted gamer who keeps knocking over planes that have ten or more pegs stacked up? So I have taken a modified approach that lies between the basic four pegs and the advanced ratings, capping the maximum number of pegs at seven and a minimum at two, which provides a better historical feel and at seven pegs the chances of bumping a plane is reduced. Using just four pegs in the basic rules gives all planes the same height advantage, and no one can tell me a B.E.2c had the same ceiling as a Siemens-Schuckert D.IV. Even moving to seven pegs still means that one peg represents a huge amount of vertical space, and so I have also modified firing a bit as well (see below).

I also feel that the over dive process within the rules is overkill, and the modified diving rules below addresses the HUGE amount of space lost in an over dive. It also allows, for those aircraft I have rated as having only two or three pegs of altitude, a chance to perform an over dive when attempting to put out a fire without crashing into the ground.

Rules Changes

Diving

When the dive card is played, remove one peg and place climb counters at half the climb rate rounded up. If there are already climb counters in place, when the dive card is played remove all climb counters but do not remove a peg. This allows a dive to be made within a reasonable amount of vertical space. 

Example: A B.E.2c with a climb rate of 8 is flying at three pegs (maximum altitude for the B.E.2c). A dive card is played. As the B.E.2c currently has no climb counters, one peg is removed and four climb counters are issued. If the B.E.2c was at two pegs, but with any amount of climb counters in place, when the dive card is played all counters are removed, but not a peg.

Over dives are stall, dive (remove one peg and place climb counters at half the climb rate rounded up), straight (remove remaining climb counters). If climb counters are present at the beginning of the over dive, then stall, dive (removing all climb counters), and straight (remove one peg and place climb counters at half the climb rate rounded up). The end result of an over dive is only one peg is removed, not two.

Firing

As the altitude bands within the rules are too generous from a vertical height perspective, firing may only occur under the following conditions (assuming that the target is within the firing arc):

Firing Aircraft Has         Then Target Must Be

No climb counters        at same peg height with no or some climb counters, or one peg                                                        below with climb counters (+1 for firing from a higher altitude) 

Climb counters                 one peg above with no climb counters (+1 for firing from a higher                                                    altitude), same peg height with or without climb counters

I have used these modifications once thus far at a group event, and once the players mastered the changes, seemed to enjoy the fact that planes were now lasting longer because of the restrictions in firing at different altitudes and were able to climb back to altitude a tad faster.

Escadrille Americaine - Thaw's Nieuport 16

Before adding roundels

I am not 100% pleased with this one, but for a gaming piece it is decent. I took an Ares Nieuport 16, ripped off the top wing, removed the struts, tried to cut the rockets off, then reversed the struts so that the residue from the rockets that I could not remove would be less noticeable. I then painted it a nice AK Interactive Clear Doped Linen (version 2), gave it a little touch up, and applied Miscellaneous Miniatures decals (the bottom still retains its historical French markings). Thaw's N.16 is done.

The smoothness of the paint job does not match the Chapman N.11 I completed last year, and one can see some issues around the struts on the lower wings, but in the flesh it is not so bad. 

The finished product

There were two linen colored Nieuports in the Escadrille Americaine - Chapman's with confirmed American looking roundels on the top wing, and Thaw's speculated to be the same. Having these on the board against the normal green and brown Nieuports is a nice change of pace.

Looking pretty decent from a distance!

The base is a Rival Sky Games offering (I just received several bases - cost and shipping were very reasonable from Australia to the United States), while the mat is a new GripMats from Etsy (Break From Reality Games). Super happy with both of these products!

The End of a Baer

Paul F. Baer in front of his SPAD S.VII

As you may or may not know, I have a great interest in the Escadrille Americaine/Lafayette Escadrille/103rd Aero. I have a few planes to represent the various stages of this squadron, ranging from two Nieuport N.11 repaints (Rumsey and Chapman), to the Thaw/Lufbery Nieuport N.17, to four SPAD S.VIIs for the 103rd Aero. Also, one of the more compelling American pilots of the war, and one who was the American Ace of Aces for a short spell, was a member of the 103rd, that being Paul Baer from Indiana.

The flight log of the 103rd Aero is an interesting read. While it might not have all the details needed to flesh out scenarios, it does in some cases provide a framework to build a scenario upon. Hence the following scenario idea, based on Baer's last flight of May 22, 1918, in which he was shot down, captured, and kept as a prisoner for the remainder of the war.

The flight took place between 8:45 (when the patrol took off) until 10:45 a. m. (when most of the patrol returned). An hour into the patrol eight enemy fighters were spotted in the Laventie region (the term monoplace being used in the log to denote single-seater) - Laventie being a few miles west of Lille. According to the log, First Lieutenant William Dugan was attacked and in turn he performed a loop and fired but ten rounds until his Vickers jammed. Fellow flight member First Lieutenant Charles Wilcox "piqued" on two of the enemy fighters, which I believe means that he had a height advantage. After firing fifty rounds he was able to shoot down one of the fighters which fell en vrille - spinning out of control. Then First Lieutenant George Turnure piqued on the tail of another German, attacking it, following it for 2,000 meters, when the German appeared to be out of control. Dugan would state that he saw a German being hard pressed by a SPAD, which could have been Turnure's potential victim. It was also noted that the patrol saw a German piquing on a SPAD. Then the report simply states that Lieutenants (Paul) Baer and (Ernest) Giroux did not return. Baer was flying a SPAD S.VII, but Giroux was flying a SPAD SXIII. The 103rd, even when transitioning the the S.XIII would often prefer to fly the S.VII as it was more mechanically reliable.

So, how would one create a scenario from such information? We have five American pilots named to face off against eight Germans. We do not know the types of planes the Germans were equipped with, let alone their Jasta (although Baer had possibly encounters the red nose planes of Jasta 18 previously). Being that is was late May of 1918, there is a chance the fighters were Pfalz D.IIIas, Albatros D.Vas, or even Fokker D.VIIs (these being the most common types in service at the time, there could be other choices as well). Most likely the enemy was not using triplanes as this most likely would have been noted in the log. We do know that Baer was credited with an Albatros on this flight so can assume that at least part of the German flight consisted of Albatros D.Vas.

Dugan was attacked, seemingly even after the Germans had been spotted. Does this mean the Germans had a position advantage over Dugan? Were they tailing the SPADs of the 103rd? How then was Wilcox able to pique on two Germans? Did he maneuver for a height advantage or was he already at a higher altitude?

I would almost suggest starting the various aircraft at random locations. Have each plane roll a die, loser starts in the middle of the playing surface, then next lowest die rolls, using the chart below, to determine their place, then next plane starts based on that position, and so on. Would make a heck of a mess of planes on the table, to be certain!

I would be curious to hear your thoughts on this potential scenario!

Wings of Glory AAR

The repainted Nieuport 11

So the announcement came on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome - the July session of the Wright Flight would be Nieuport 11s facing off against Fokker eindekkers. We had a large turnout, with over a dozen players. Apparently last minute a decision was made to do some sort of odd Cthulhu game? WTF? I didn't drive an hour to game stinkin' fantasy! Luckily the G Dog brought planes to stick with the original plan while the heretics played in the other event...but then also appeared on our table Nieuport 16s and Halberstadt D.IIIs! Would my little Chapman N.11 make it? (repainted with AK Interactive Clear Doped linen version 2 as it matched the color already present on the bottom of the plane very well).

The target for the Allies was a drachen, with three N.11s and one N.16 facing off against a pair of Fokkers and a pair of Halberstadts. To be honest, I was having too much fun poking one my Nieuport partners to focus much on the game or take many pictures, but one N.11, the target of my fun, was able to cause a fire on the balloon as he himself was shot down, both from plane damage and a second pilot wound. Another N.11, using incendiaries and colliding with the balloon, also inflicted a great amount of damage. I used my Nieuport to snipe at the opposing German aircraft, avoiding the the ground fire while throwing out a little damage here and a little damage there. I started taking hits in return, and decided, with the remaining Nieuports now heading beck to Allied lines, that it was time to leave the fighting as well. The balloon burned up before reaching ground, so it was an Allied victory.

Staying on the periphery, causing damage as I go

The flaming Jean Navarre Nieuport, before meeting his demise

In the future I will be certain to bring extra planes and gaming mats to help stick with the original plan as all I brought was my single Nieuport 11.