Excellent!
I decided to do one more AAR, this time on map 4 with a late-1944 start date. This will make everything available to the German player, including Me-262s. The downside for the player is that the lethality levels on the map are higher, and there will be escorts. Possibly Mustangs.
I’m also going to play this using the Advanced Rules, which means that I will not get any VP for knocking planes out of formation (Fallen bomber). Instead, I will need to chase these bombers down in the Pursuit phase. That will occur after the end of the mission proper.
Lastly, I plan to use one “optional rule.” Normally, I hate “options” in games: it is not my job to decide what the designer thinks is appropriate for the game. That is the designer’s job. But one rule strikes me as so much of a piece with the rest of the design that I can’t fathom why it was labeled as an option. Probably due to the fact that it’s a bit mechanically fiddly. But believe me, if you’ve designed a game this way, you should go all the way there.
I start out by rolling for the mission parameters. Since it is 1944, the map is automatically map 4, which is the toughest one. I roll a 3 to get Inbound bombers (on their way to the target), 4 to get 12 Ops Points (to buy my equipment), and a 10 for escorts, meaning I will be facing a Light escort of P-47 'Bolts that will stick around until Turn 9.
You’ll have to take my word for it that while I posted the photo for clarity, I actually bought my planes before I rolled for the escorts, like the rules say. With 12 OP, I went ahead and got:
- 4 Me-109s (1 pt each, so 4 pts)
- 4 Me-110s (1 pt for a set of 4)
- 3 Me-410s (1 pt for a set of 3)
- 1 Me-262 jet fighter plane (2 pts)
That’s 8 points. with my remaining 4 points, I bought:
- 6 cannon attachments (1 pt for a set of 3, so 2 pts)
- 4 rocket attachments (1 pt for a set of 4)
- 3 armor attachments (1 pt for a set of 3)
I split the cannons up between the Me-109s and the Me-410s, and put the rockets on the Me-110s. Since I had six cannons for seven aircraft, and three armor, I simply left one Me-109 without any cannon or armor. This will actually help him if he gets into aerial combat with the escorts.
So that’s four named pilots and eight “auxiliaries" (NPCs). The +1 you see on the auxiliary aircraft denotes the increase to the Lethality of any space when resolving a Burst or Continuing Fire by/against those planes. Except for the Me-262 – that -1 means that spaces are 1 level less Lethal from his perspective, since he is so fast. That’s also the reason he gets a +1 to Pass Through. I see I cut off the cannons on the Me-410s in the picture. They all have them.
My strategy will be to try and damage the formation a bit by launching rockets and firing cannon at long range. Me-410s and Ju-88s can fire cannons from the Tail Level box (without entering the map) during the Burst/Flak Phase. Rockets can also be fired from Tail Level, although they are a one-shot deal. If I can get to Tail Level before I get jumped by the escorts, I might be able to knock a plane out of formation and reduce the lethality of some spaces enough that I can exploit the breach during my Attack Phase. We’ll see.
So here’s the setup. For those who were asking about the footprint, I’m using the same table as last time, although with the bigger map, I need a side table for the counters and draw cups.
There was no accumulated damage to the bombers, so they are unscathed. I got 6 Tactical Points, which I’m going to try and save for Pursuit. Sun is at Oblique High (8 o’clock to 10 o’clock). Two escorts are at the Forward station and three are Below Trailing. There are no Contrails.
Oh - I used the Late 1944 campaign start, meaning that all my pilots are Green. Interestingly, there are only three Green counters while there are four Experten. I think this is because there are only three different kinds of Green penalties. I think you’re just supposed to mark that on your pilot roster, not on the map.
This AAR will take longer than the previous one because (1) I have a lot more to keep track of, and (2) unlike the previous one, I did not finish it before I started posting. But the game does play fast, so hopefully we’ll see how differently the late war goes.
NEXT: The battle is joined
On Turn 1, my fighters enter the map in the Move Phase. Here is where I feel like the choice to use blocks, while nice for tactile reasons, is less optimal for tactical reasons. I want to enter all my fighters in the Tail position, and by rule they have to be at Low. This is the result.
Fortunately, it is not Game Turn 3 or 4. I also don’t like how the attachments cover up the aircraft information, and how the Evasive Mode side has no pilot ID on it. It’s tolerable in low-density scenarios, but here with 12 fighters it’s problematic.
Anyway, that’s a development issue. The design itself is, as stated before, tremendous. It’s evident in things like the escort system, which doesn’t just place fighters around the formation, but assigns them to stations, which then cycle onto the map.
Because of my opening setup rolls, I ended up facing an escort of 5 P-47 Thunderbolt counters, positioned with two at the Forward station and three Below Trailing. During the Escort Phase, I roll a die for each station (not each counter) so I roll once for Forward and once for Below Trailing. My roll for Below Trailing is 2, sending one counter to Forward. My roll for Forward is a 3, sending a counter to Above Trailing.
The way the escort cycling works is interesting. Based on what I have read, at this point in the war, the bomber formations were so large that the escorts’ job was a difficult one. They had to keep track of emerging threats to the formation from different points on the compass, and position themselves to meet them. I like the way that the map and the escort cycling system reflects this, feeding escorts into the battle gradually rather some kind of positionally illiterate roving massive beatdown.
As a matter of fact, there is another thing I need to point out, which is that this particular bomber formation is “anchored” at Oblique Level and Low (2 o’clock to 4 o’clock). Since in the late war these bomber formations could be composed of 1000+ bombers, fighters could not easily get to all parts of the formation due to way the elements were stacked. In this scenario, the map represents part of the formation that has depth to the 2 o’clock through 4 o’clock positions at the same and lower altitudes. Escorts can enter these spaces, but my fighters can’t. This makes for additional positional considerations.
And that’s it for Turn 1. The escorts stay at their stations after some rearrangement, and my fighters have entered the Tail Low box. Next turn, we’ll try and get into position before we get jumped by the Thunderbolts.
NEXT: The blitz begins
You sure are making me wish I had the money for a solitaire wargame right now.
On the PC wargaming side, a menu from The Operational Art of War which is indicative of the state of the hobby. Options under the View menu, View under the Options menu.
Bloody hell. Whats your quick take on the “new” TOAW by the way?
Hi,
I’ve registered after a long time lurking because I had to correct this. :)
You are mistaken, the menus are the way they are supposed to be. “Options” refer to options on how to display stuff on the map etc.
View as you can see lists the different reports and summaries you can… view.
“Theater Options” are not options in the sense a grid overlay is, but rather events in the scenario that you can manually trigger.
Welcome aboard!
This just arrived. I plan to dig into it this weekend.
Found this two part AAR of a mission for Skies Above the Reich: http://discourse.statelyplay.com/t/skies-above-the-reich-aar-1/1405
You’re famous! :) Now about the next part of your current AAR…
I have a bunch of pics and notes - I just have to organize them. Will post more today.
The action really starts on Turn 2. My strategy is going to be to get my weaker fighters (the Me-110s and Me-410s) to Tail Level, where they can use their rockets and cannons in a special attack, which I hope will break up the formation a bit. Meanwhile, my intrepid Me-109s are going to make a simultaneous* pass from Tail Low.
*Not really simultaneous, as the cannon and rockets will take effect in the Blast/Flak Phase, which happens before the Attack Phase. So my Me-109s will be able to take advantage of any damage to the formation.
Also, remember I have one Me-262 jet fighter! He will join the Me-109s, as he can only ever attack from the Tail Low position. My understanding of the reason for this is that the closing speed of the jets makes it impossible to get a shot off at any other aspect.
My fighters move in the Move Phase. A lot now depends on the Escort Phase. If they happen to see my fighters massing for that cannon/rocket attack and jump them, I’ll lose my opportunity and have to face the bomber formation with four Me-109s and an Me-262.
(One of the many things I like about this game is how differently it would play if I had chosen, for example, six Me-109s, two Me-262s, and two Fw-190s. Still 12 points, but a completely different loadout. It would have been much more escort-resistant, for one thing!)
Perhaps the biggest rolls of the game are right now, in the Escort Phase. If the escorts get to engage my slower fighters, I’m sunk. My rolls are:
Above Trailing: 4, move to Tail High Return Box
Forward: 2, move to Above Trailing station
Below Trailing: 2, move to Forward station
And with that, we will get to take a shot at the bomber stream. Had the escort from the Above Trailing station rolled a 6-10, he would have gone straight for my massed fighters in Tail Level. Also, if he had moved to the Tail High box, he would have moved to Tail Level in the same phase because there would have been fighters in an adjacent box. But instead, he flies down to the Tail High Return Box looking for German fighters. There are none. He stays in the box.
NEXT: Mobilis in Mobili
I’ve been toying with the idea of picking up another airwar game now that I’ve put B-17 FFL aside for a while after quite a few hours of fun. Three games come to mind: Target for Today, Wing and a Prayer, and Skies above the Reich. They are all quite different in their approach from what I’ve read and watched on Youtube.
Target for Today strikes me as a story telling engine more than a game. There are very few decisions to be made during a mission and the focus is very much on your crew and living out their story from mission to mission. There are a myriad of tables detailing every event and RNGesus really runs the show. It is supposed to be the spiritual successor to Avalon Hill’s Queen of the Skies which I never played.
Wing and a Prayer is the closest to B-17 FFL in that it looks like more of an operational level game. It’s not as big a picture as B-17 FFL but has a much higher level view that TfT. As such it is probably last on my list since I could just play more B-17 FFL to get that kind of game.
Skies Above the Reich is, of course, played from the German perspective and looks to be somewhere in between the other two in the level of detail. It also looks to have the most impactful decisions each “turn” compared to the others. Will be interested to see what you think of it Brooski after you finish your AAR.
Decisions, decisions… And no I’m not getting all three! ;)
Target for Today is just B-17: Queen of the Skies with more stuff. Same level of non-decision. The designers even said that it was:
Instant non-buy for me.
Yeah, I can understand that. The game is more like an RPG than a wargame. My gut feeling is that you really have to use all the optional tables to generate a detailed narrative to get the most out of it. That will take a lot of time and effort so if you aren’t interested in investing that in your crew and aircraft then it won’t be very rewarding. Seems like you really need to play a campaign with the idea of getting your guys through 25 missions and back to the States safely. Good luck with that given the historical survival rate!
I’m not dismissing it out of hand as I have not played that kind of game before. I’m just not sure there is enough interest for me to stick with it to accomplish that goal. On the plus side it could make for some nice AAR’s here at Qt3. :)
Edit - As an aside I see there are some play by forum groups that band together to fly missions somehow. Not sure how that works but it might add something to the fun.
So the thing about RPGs is there should be as much player agency as possible. The thing about those B17 likes is they are more story generators as opposed to true RPGs.
However, I may have some weird criteria; Crusader Kings 2 is my favorite CRPG. ;)
Yup. I’m not saying TfT is an RPG. Just that it feels more like role playing to me than a wargame even though war is the whole context for the game. As an aside, I’ve tried numerous times to get into CK2 and have never been able to do it. Not sure why. Maybe there are too many decisions for my old brain to handle.
I look at it more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book than anything else. It makes for pretty cool AARs.