4084

The Air War Begins AAR continued:

First Week, October '42

Decisions, decisions… It’s not practical to add a new BG and then try to take out a U-boat pen in the first week. We won’t have enough points for decent bomb loadouts after spending 12 on a new B-17 group since the M30 bombs will have little to no effect on a hardened target. Alternatively, we could add a new BG and then go after two airfields with mostly M30’s. That should leave us some spare SO points for next week and then we’d be ready with 5 BG’s to attack a U-boat pen in the second week.

But after many sleepless nights :) I came up with a different plan. I could not bring myself to send BG’s over targets without escorts and repeat the mistake that Bomber Command made in real life. So we added the 4th FG led by Cmdr. Anderson to our organization for 8 SO points and banked the other 9 points. That will give us the ability to run two escorted missions this week each consisting of a B-17, B-24, and Spitfire group. All bombers will be equipped with M30’s and we will be hitting two airfields. Even if we don’t destroy both we should hit them hard enough to easily kill both in the second week without spending any more SO points. That will leave us lots of options for the third week.

Mission 1: The target was the airfield at Bergen, Netherlands in hex 12. Luftwaffe response was Average for the week so only the squadron in the hex can intercept. Our group consisted of the newly acquired 4th FG plus the 91st BG (Cmdr. Wray) and the 44th BG. They arrived at the target to find that the Germans had put out smoke pots. Every bomb roll would have a -1 air to ground modifier. No bandits scrambled. They probably had too much smoke in their eyes to fly. The smoke must have obscured the flak gunners too as we only suffered the loss of 3 B-24’s. We scored 11 hits on the airfield causing heavy damage, but one short of the 12 needed to destroy it.

Mission 2: The target was the airfield at Amsterdam, Netherlands also in hex 12. Once again the 31st FG failed to hook up with the bombers so the 305th BG and 93rd BG (Cmdr. Raper) would be unescorted. And, in keeping with Murphy’s Law, a squadron of Bf-109’s with bombs scrambled and attacked our bombers. The bombs hit the 305th causing three kills and the formation dispersed. The fighters killed an additional 9 aircraft in two passes through the group and our return fire was ineffective. The flak took down an additional 9 bombers, all in the 305th causing them to become Shaken. Not surprisingly the 305th scored no hits on the airfield. The 93rd got 7 hits for medium damage.

All in all a very bad week due in large part to the incompetence of the 31st FG that resulted in the needless loss of a dozen aircraft and their crews to the bandits. A special inquiry into the matter has been opened.

4085

The Air War begins AAR continued:

Second Week, October '42

I felt forced down one path due to the disaster last week. The Shaken 305th BG would stand down to refit. That meant we needed to add another BG to the wing, and it was the 303rd BG.

Luftwaffe response is Average for the week.

Mission 1: To Bergen again. A squadron of Bf-109’s intercepted our mission scoring no hits against the 4th FG who shot them down in return. The flak shot down six bombers. We managed 6 hits on top of the already heavily damaged field and destroyed it. Between the destroyed squadron and airfield we pushed the Bandits Disrupted track to the max and we got to remove the airfield in hex 12. The Germans activated the airfield at Saint-Omer, France in hex 11.

Mission 2: To Amsterdam again. The inbound event was very annoying. It said there was a Luftwaffe redeployment and I had to spend 3 SO’s to pick and redeploy 3 squadrons. I did not want to spend the SO’s nor roll for new deployments that put one or two of them in hex 12 with us heading there. Be that as it may, I spent the points and picked the squadron that was in hex 8 where our U-boat pens were located as well as both in hex 11 to redeploy. Can you guess what happened? Sure you can. Squadrons redeployed to hexes 5, 14, and of course 12. Turned out the squadron in hex 12 must have still been redeploying as it did not scramble. The flak around the airfield shot down 12 B-24’s. The bombers scored 8 hits in addition to the medium damage from last week and that was enough to destroy the field. The airfield at Nantes, France in hex 7 was activated.

So that was 8 VP’s for the week and that more than covered the campaign requirement for airfield points. Both FG’s increased their skill rating one level and the 305th recovered enough aircraft and crews to get back to Okay status even though they still had 4 strength points in losses.

Third Week, October '42

It was another week of tough decisions, but that’s part of what makes the game fun. Do we go for a U-boat pen while no squadrons are in that area, or do we try to destroy one or more aircraft factories and reduce the number of incoming squadrons in November. Doing the latter would mean we’d have to destroy two untouched pens in November, but that might be easier to accomplish with fewer squadrons to interfere.

The decision was made to go for two aircraft factories with mission 1 to Brussels in hex 11 with both B-24 groups, the 91st BG and the 4th FG. Mission 2 had the 31st FG escorting the 303rd BG to the aircraft factory at Meaulte, France also in hex 11. The 305th rested another week. It was tempting to send them to Meaulte but we already had 10 strength points of losses this month with the usual 12 replacement points coming in November. We would certainly take some flak losses this week and I didn’t want to exceed my replacement limit as we’ll need every SO point for bomb loadouts at the start of next month.

Luftwaffe response was Poor for the week.

Mission 1: To Brussels. On the way to the target one of our bombers had a bomb bay malfunction and jettisoned one of it’s incendiary bombs. Flak shot down 15 bombers, all in the 93rd and they were Shaken. The bombers scored 10 hits for medium damage, one short of heavy. The incendiary hits failed to raise the damage level.

Mission 2: To Meaulte. It was an uneventful flight to the factory and no flak hits were scored. The 303rd got 4 hits for light damage and again the incendiary hits failed to increase the damage level.

October Monthly Cleanup.

In spite of the Luftwaffe squadron sent to support the Med Theater we were able to advance the front to Tunis. The three squadrons sent to the Eastern Front were of no help to the Axis and the stalemate around Stalingrad continued. Unfortunately, not destroying even one aircraft factory in October meant 9 squadrons were deployed at the end of the month. The new squadrons were deployed as follows: four to reserve, one to the Med, two to the Eastern Front and two to the map. However, any time less than four are to be deployed to the map you pull from reserves to make up the difference. The four that went to the map went to hexes 5, 11, 12, and 16. Hitler stuck with Weise for November. The 31st FG and 91st BG passed their reassignment checks. We had enough replacement aircraft and crews for all units to return to full strength.

Thoughts after the Third Month

The numbers are starting to look a bit grim. We have 24 VP’s to date. We need 16 more for an Adequate performance with five weeks left. So we need to average at least three points each week, plus one. That wouldn’t be bad except that if we don’t destroy two U-boat pens in November we will face a deficit of six SO points for each week of December. If we get one 3 point pen our deficit will only be three SO points, or none if we got both. At first that sounds rough but after thinking about it that’s only two weeks in December with a deficit. We can still get an Adequate result as long as we come up with 16 VP’s between now and the end. If destroying a pen each week for two weeks this month was likely then it wouldn’t be an issue, but we can’t afford to come up short even once or we probably won’t have time to recover. So we may just ignore the pens, they are a “secondary” objective after all, and focus on getting the needed points from airfields and factories. Stay tuned…

4086

The Air War Begins AAR continued:

First Week, November '42

Luftwaffe response was Poor this week.

Mission 1: Meaulte aircraft factory in hex 11, light damage from last week. Three BG’s escorted by 4th FG. The RAF struck the factory first in a combined operation, scoring 3 hits and moving the damage up to medium. No bandits intercepted us. Three aircraft lost to flak. Eight hits destroyed the factory. Cmdr. Wray’s bomber crash landed at the base in England and all on board were lost. 2 VP’s scored for the mission.

Mission 2: Brussels aircraft factory in hex 11, medium damage from last week. Two BG’s escorted by the 31st FG. Bandits failed to scramble again. 15 aircraft shot down by flak. Seven hits added to the medium damage already there destroyed the factory. 2 VP’s earned. The 303rd BG raised it’s skill level to Green.

Second Week, November '42

One mission this week to the airfield at Lorient in hex 7. Luftwaffe response was Average for the week. Four BG’s, all carrying M30’s, and escorted by the 4th FG. The trip to the airfield was uneventful. Flak shot down 24 bombers (!) causing the 93rd BG to become Shaken. Our bombers racked up 21 hits, obliterating the airfield for 4 VP’s. The Luftwaffe pressed the nearby airfield at Angers, France in hex 7 into service after the devastation at Lorient. The 4th FG improved to an Average rating. The 305th BG improved to Skilled, and the 93rd BG improved to Veteran.

Third Week, November '42

Since our groups knew the way we decided to return to hex 7 to attack the Angers airfield. Luftwaffe response was Average again. The Shaken 93rd BG would stand down and be replaced by the 303rd BG. Same loudouts. We had a tailwind to the target increasing the range of our fighters by 2 hexes but it wasn’t needed. No bandits in the flight path. The flak was much lighter than last week at Lorient, and we “only” lost 9 bombers. We scored 13 hits, one more than needed to destroy the airfield. 4 VP’s. The 91st BG gained Ace status and the 44th BG went to Veteran status.

November Monthly Cleanup

Luftwaffe support in the Med Theater caused the front to shift back to Algeria. The Axis held at Stalingrad due to Luftwaffe support and U-boat secondary mission failure on our part. We drew another U-boat secondary mission so I left the same three targets in place and we will ignore them again. :). We lose 6 SO points each week in December too, but I built up a big cushion in November so it won’t be an issue. Five Luftwaffe squadrons deployed at the end of the month. Weise got a little carried away and tried deploying three to reserve, one to the Med, and one to Europe. Hitler would have no part of that and made him take the three from reserve and make them active in Europe. The four went to hexes 7, 10, 13, 14. That was the last straw for Hitler and Weise was sacked. Cmdr. Priller is the new Luftwaffe head. He has a fondness for U-boats. Dice are rolled and we might need to run ASW missions to avoid losing SO points. I might just ignore it at this point in the campaign. We had enough replacements to return all units to full strength. All BG’s passed their reassignment checks.

Thoughts after the Fourth Month

We earned 12 VP’s for the month so we need 4 more in the two weeks of December for an Adequate campaign result. 'Nuff said. :)

4087

The Air War Begins AAR final installment:

First Week, December '42

We’re going for all the marbles this week. Our target will be the airfield at Saint-Omer in hex 11. It’s worth 4 VP’s and will get us to the Adequate level. Same mission group as last week, all armed with M30’s. Luftwaffe response is Poor so only the squadron in the hex can intercept. On the way to the target one of our bomber groups tried some deep sea fishing by jettisoning a bomb load over the channel. Some Bf-109’s scrambled and the 4th FG dove to intercept them. The bandits didn’t score any kills and were destroyed for their trouble. The flak only managed to hit 3 bombers. We needed 13 bomb hits to destroy the airfield and got 15. Mission accomplished for 4 VP’s.

At this point I’m calling the game and giving my crews the final week off since we reached the Adequate threshold.

I have to say the game is a lot of fun and I look forward to playing another campaign with some optional rules added. That should add a lot to the flavor and challenge of the next campaign. I’d recommend the game to anyone with an interest in the air war over Europe who is looking for a good solitaire experience. Just make sure to download the revised rules and use those instead of the ones that come with the original version of the game.

Ironsight, over and out.

4088

Thanks so much for sharing that - it was great!

Did you feel like you were making many interesting decisions, or was it more along the lines of The Hunters?

4089

Unfortunately I’m feeling sick here the last day of GMT’s weekend at the warehouse but over the last couple of days I got to look at:

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-571-skies-above-the-reich.aspx

You still get great narratives out of it but I really appreciate the decision space. It feels like your choices really matter and you don’t just RNG a story out of some charts.

Tom Mc

4090

Glad you liked it!

Sorry, I’m not familiar with The Hunters. The decisions you make each turn involve which target(s) to hit, what groups to use for each target, and what bomb loadouts to bring. I’m a bit concerned after realizing that M30 bombs appear to be a bit over powered against airfields but I’d need to play more before saying for sure. Note that I did not use any optional rules so weather, target intel, and some other rules probably add more decisions to each turn. You also need to decide if/when to add more groups to your force but that’s not every turn of course. I never felt like the game just played itself and I was merely spectating.

Edit - And thanks for the tip on Masters of the Air. Reading it now and liking it a lot.

4091

Thanks for posting that. Will check it out.

4092

In case anyone was waiting for it, Shenandoah’s Drive on Moscow is out for PS4.

4093

B-17 FFL Operation Crossbow (March thru May 1943) AAR

Yup, just when you thought it was safe to read this thread again I’m back for another AAR. :) So far I’m playing the campaigns in rough chronological order and decided to write another AAR for Operation Crossbow. It will feature the setup and three monthly reports with any interesting highlights added from individual missions as needed.

A note from previous games – I misread the rules regarding Luftwaffe response. I was rolling it once for the week but it should be a new roll for each mission. Not a big deal in my previous two games as the modifiers never allowed it to be above Average anyway. That will not be the case going forward since there is no -2 modifier to response now.

All the optional rules will be added for a more realistic and interesting game. That includes random group selection (+8 SO points); target intelligence (+12 SO points); weather (+10 SO points); bomber wings (+10 SO points); veteran/novice bandits (+6 SO points since this campaign is in 1943); and fighter group engagements (+10 SO points). All these will be explained the first time they come into play during my AAR.

The Setup

As you can see from the campaign card below our focus is on hitting V-1 weapon sites since they are worth double VP’s. We start with 75 SO points plus the extra 56 points from the optional rules for a total of 131.

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There are 12 Luftwaffe squadrons at the start as shown on the map below. Four veteran and one novice bandit counters were added to the counters in the cup used from my previous campaign as per the optional rule. Theater counters were placed in Algeria and Kursk.

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As per the optional rules I randomly chose 2 fighter groups (31st FG Spitfires, and Cmdr Zemke’s 56th FG P-47 Thunderbolts) for18 SO points. One will go to each of the two wings we will use at the beginning. I then chose 6 bomber groups at random with three going to each wing. We pulled two B-17F’s (301st and 303rd with the latter having an Operation Crossbow AtG bonus!); two B-17G’s (96th and 388th both of which have the chin turret upgrade that counters frontal bandit attacks); one B-24H (392nd with the chin turret upgrade; and one B-26B (322nd). The total came to 75 SO points. We also purchased two of the better recon aircraft counters for 8 SO points each. The total of all points spent was 108, leaving 23 to carry over. No renowned commanders or Allied technologies were purchased at the start of the campaign.

Our two wings are as follows with starting skill ratings shown: 1st wing with the 56th FG green, 303rd BG skilled, 96th BG green, and 388th BG green; and the 2nd wing with the 31st FG green, 322nd BG recruit, 301st BG green, and 392nd BG average. That way each wing will have a bomb capacity of 18 points. Wings fly together as per the optional rules unless one group flies a diversionary or ASW mission.

Hitler named Commander Galland as the Luftwaffe head to start the campaign. He favors frontal attacks and is focused on developing the Type XXI U-boats. However, his tech focus would require secondary missions but since those are not active for this campaign I’m going to ignore that tech. That tech would not even finish being developed until this campaign is over as well. Galland also has a +1 modifier for deployments to this front so he is less likely to send squadrons to reserve or to the other theaters.

Campaign Analysis

With two campaigns under my belt an Adequate rating will not suffice this time. The minimum VP’s needed for a Good rating is 42. Since there are 9 weeks to the campaign we will shoot for 5 VP’s each week to make the math easier and give us some wiggle room. All the V-1 sites are at least 3 VP’s so that doubles to at least 6. One site a week will more than meet our needs. Some undamaged sites cost us SO points each week so we will focus on those first. Of course we can’t ignore the aircraft factories either, at least not for the first two months. So my general plan will be to hit one V-1 site and one factory each week, varying targets depending on damage scored in a previous week If we get short on SO points then we can hit an airfield with the free M30’s.

March 1943 Summary Report

Weather was clear or partly cloudy in all zones each week of the month. That’s about the only thing that went according to plan this month! Our 1st wing had to attack the V-1 site at Beauvoir, France all three weeks to finally destroy it. Some really bad bomber accuracy there even with medium intel on the site. The 2nd wing had better bombing results, destroying the aircraft factory at Nantes, France in the first week, but then they needed two bombing runs to take out the airfield at Abbeville, France. So the VP total for the month was only 12 points, short of our goal of 15. But that was actually the good news! The bad news was our aircraft losses. Twice our fighter groups failed to rendezvous with the bombers this month and bomber losses for the month were 81 aircraft downed. We had to assign another bomber group (389th flying B-24D’s) to the 1st Wing because the 303rd was so badly shot up. The 31st FG was badly mauled by bandits (one veteran) when they suffered 33 fighters lost on one mission! With the 9 aircraft lost on a previous mission it meant they were down to 6 aircraft serviceable. They will be replaced with another random fighter group at the start of April and will probably be out of action the whole month while refitting. We also lost one of our two recon units that will be replaced next month. Having the Luftwaffe at High or All Out level for most of the month really cost us dearly. Naturally Hitler kept Cmdr. Galland in charge for another month.

Stay tuned for the April report in the coming days…

4094

I’m on the edge of my seat.

4095

So, Ligny is a wrap:

IMG_20180502_214530
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Final tally: -501 points. Crushing French Victory.

It’s clear after one play that the Prussians need to do a MUCH better job screening with cavalry than I did. Their command challenges and inferior troop quality means they have to delay the guard coming in contact as much as they can.

Loses, when translated, were pretty 75% of the historical ones for the French and twice as many for the Prussians. Which is not too bad for a first playthrough.

I liked the system a lot. Moves fast and is only of average complexity. Didn’t use the cards a lot, since I kept forgetting about them, but otherwise I’m excited to play again. I will probably wait till they release Quatre Bras in the same system later this year, since the smaller scope will allow me to experiment a little more with screening.

Next up is one of the battles in Napoleon’s Last Gamble. I’m torn between replaying Ligny in a different system or doing the smaller Quatre Bras. Anybody has any experience with the Libray of Napoleonic Battles?

4096

Was your play of Ligny opposed or solo?

I find the NLB system to get better as the battle gets bigger. It’s a nice system that works well even with tons of units.

4097

It was solo. I am a recent parent. No way I can find time for an opposed game of that length, unless through vassal (the 1.5h of a computer Blood Bowl match is probably the limit).

4098

Pike and Shot Campaigns on sale at fanatical for $5.99. Limited stock.

4099

Ironsight is even pulling some of the casuals over. Great AAR and great descriptions.

4100

Thanks very much! April 1943 Monthly Summary incoming later today.

4101

B-17 FFL Operation Crossbow (March thru May 1943) AAR continued:

April 1943 Monthly Summary

Weather was clear to partly cloudy in all zones for the month except northern Europe (zone 3) where it was stormy for the last week of April. It did not affect the campaign. We only lost 3 SO points to V-1 rockets for the month. The 78th FG (P-47’s) was assigned to the 2nd wing since the 31st FG had to sit out the month due to catastrophic losses as mentioned above. We purchased another recon unit for 8 SO points.

The 1st Wing redeemed itself this month with much better results than in March. They destroyed all three V-1 sites they attacked this month. First was the Fevbin-Palfart, France (hex 11) site where they had a medium recon report. Next they destroyed the Watten, France V-1 site (hex 11) in part to having high intel on it. High intel increases bombing accuracy and helps reduce flak results. In the third week they took out the Siracourt, France V-1 site (hex 11), again with the help of high intel. Luftwaffe response to all three raids was Poor so losses were very low with no fighters lost for the month and only 6 bombers shot down from flak. Those three sites were worth 18 VP’s.

The 2nd Wing also had good results for April. Their first raid was on the aircraft factory at Antwerp, Belgium (hex 11). Air recon results were low but a resistance group provided high intel on the factory just before the raid took off. The RAF hit the target four times in a combined operation. 2nd Wing then took it out for 2 VP’s while losing no fighters, shooting down the bandits who engaged them, and only suffering 3 bomber losses to flak. The second target for April was the airfield at Amsterdam, Netherlands (hex 12) since we had medium intel on it. Luftwaffe response was Average but only one untrained group (event card gave them a –2 air-to-air modifier) intercepted the 78th FG who shot them down with no losses. Three bombers were lost to flak and the airfield was destroyed for 4 VP’s. During the third week the 2nd Wing went after the Fressin, France V-1 site (hex 11) even though the intel was only Low. Luftwaffe response was again Average but only one Novice group intercepted and it was destroyed with no fighter losses. Six bombers were lost to flak. The Germans had put out smoke pots to obscure our vision but we destroyed the site which was still under construction at the time thus requiring a few less hits to take it out. Score 6 more VP’s.

So losses for the month were 0 fighters (!) and 18 bombers. Obviously that was a huge improvement over last month. We scored 32 VP’s in April to go along with the paltry 12 from March giving us a total of 44 for the first two months which is already a Good rating. We only need 6 more in May for a Great rating. Fingers crossed that the weather holds and the Luftwaffe keeps sending us untrained bandits.

Our veteran 392nd BG was not reassigned to another theater. No changes to the front lines in either the Med Theater or Eastern Front. Luftwaffe High Command sent 3 squadrons to the Med Theater and one to the Eastern Front leaving 7 for deployment to the map. In spite of his poor performance for April, Hitler kept Galland for the final month of the campaign.

4102

Always the aggression…

4103

Great stuff, man. Keep it coming. But more pics, for the love of God :)