After the Escort Phase, we deal with Blast/Flak. Since these bombers are Inbound, there is no flak. Now is the moment of truth: my Me-110s are going to unleash their rockets.
The way rockets work is that they have to be fired from Tail Level: which is where they are. Then, for each rocket fired, I have to target an Element.
I target the rear two elements with two rockets each, with the intention of attacking with fighters whichever one I manage to do some damage to. If I do any damage.
The rocket table works like this (and it works the same way for bombs, too, except that for rockets I don’t have to roll for a hit): the rockets are going to detonate, but the question is, where? The Blast Location Table on the tri-fold player aid looks like this:
I roll two dice. I take the higher number and compare it to the location chart, and then take the lower number and compare it to the blast table. Basically, I need to roll high numbers on both dice. But if I roll doubles, it is an automatic miss.
That’s the best die roll I think I could have gotten. The rockets detonate in the middle of the formation, destroying one bomber entirely and damaging a second one. There is a basically 2% chance of destroying a bomber outright with a rocket, since you have to roll a “9” and have that be the lower number (and a “00” is actually a miss, since it is doubles). Yes, you could take a bomber down with damage, but this wipes out a single bomber entirely. It’s almost irrelevant what damage I inflicted on the second bomber. I miss the roll on the front so I do 2 points of wing damage.
With the lead bomber down, the lethality of the spaces around it goes down as well. This is exactly what I was hoping to do with these rockets: soften up an element so the other fighters could swoop in during the Attack Phase. Even if the rest of my rockets miss, though, this has still been a successful Blast Phase.
I target the other element with the next rocket salvo, since with a bomber already down in the first element, that opens up space and makes it more likely that I will end up detonating the rockets in a space that has no bomber in it.
That turns out to be a decent choice, but unlike the previous roll, the lower die is a “5” so I just select one Damage chit. I get a Fuselage/8. A die roll of 6 flips it, and we have a c3. (c = cockpit)
The other two rockets miss. One detonates but with a lower die roll of 3 that results in no damage, and one that was placed outside the element altogether. I guess I couldn’t hope for that kind of luck again. Or in the next ten games, either, with a 2% chance of that happening. But I left three Detonation markers on the board (the marker that ended up off the map due to placement according to the diagram is removed) which will count during the Cohesion Phase next turn.
I also have my cannon-equipped Me-410s at Tail Level, which allows them to target the rearmost bomber in the formation. Right now that looks like Tail-End Charlie in the element with the bomber I just destroyed. The process for Me-410 cannons is different. I roll two dice. If the red die is higher than the black die, I draw two Damage markers and choose one. (This is similar to the procedure for cannon-armed fighters when scoring damage in the Attack Phase - cannons draw two chits but keep one.) If the black die is higher than the red die, or I roll doubles, it is an outright miss. If either die is a 1, or if I get doubles, that Me-410 runs out of ammo.
I roll a hit (red 9, black 3 in the left image) and draw two Damage chits (shown directly above the middle bomber, but actually being directed against the trailing bomber that already has a w2 damage chit). I choose the Wing/9, since if I roll a 9 or 10, that explosion icon means the bomber is destroyed. Otherwise, I flip the chit.
As you can see in the right image, I roll a 9.
The bomber explodes and tumbles to earth.
I have two more cannon-equipped Me-410s. The next one lines up its shot:
Another hit (red 9 > black 6). I draw a Wing/10 and a Fuselage. I choose the Wing/10 so I can get a chance to knock the bomber out of formation (the arrow icon). I don’t succeed, and flip it to reveal a “2” damage chit.
The last cannon misses.
That’s a fantastic result against the formation by any gauge of success. Two bombers down, one damaged, and three Detonation markers. (Although I have removed them for clarity because they tend to obscure the Lethality values on the map, there are two Detonation markers in the upper element and one in the lower.) Furthermore, the escorts haven’t sorted out where my main threat is, yet. It’s time for the single-engine guys to do their job.
NEXT: The hunters
