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Saturday 27 June 2015

Taking to the air again

Today, we dug around and found our WW1 Wings of Glory aircraft...Still good despite half of them still saying Wings of War on their boxes!

It's been a while since we did this, and it's long overdue...

I used Goering's Fokker DVII, the Albatrosses were run by my solo system.
Having only one type of plane being run solo meant only one chart! 
 Rod, sporting one of those cheap sets of glasses you get in supermarkets in front of his normal ones...instant magnification! - very clever!
 Rod used a SPAD XIII...
...as did Phil. 
Lawrence used a Sopwith Snipe, and was flanked by Ian's SE5a. 
 My Germans all went straight forward at the start of the game.
 Ian and Lawrence moved in from the flank to support the SPADs 
 Rod's SPAD looked like it was going to face a massed attack from the Germans.
 I flew my Fokker round the back of my formation to join in the attack on Rod.
 (The situation at this point)
 Rod, realising he was outnumbered, turned to join the other Allied planes.
Poor Rod got shot up by an Albatross! 
 All the planes on table soon joined in, My Fokker missed, but the Snipe hit one of my Albatrosses!
One move on, The damaged Albatross sent Phil's SPAD down in flames, the pilot dead at the stick. 
Ian's SE got a great hit on the 'green' Albatross. 
 The Germans were trying to shoot at the elusive Allies..
 ..but the Snipe got another good hit on the 'red' Albatross.
The last remaining SPAD got a small hit on the Blue wing Albatross. 
The SE did an Immelmann turn and came nose on to a pursuing Albatross! 
(The situation at this point) 
 All the planes now turned and several got shots away. 
 The mass of planes parted, just as quickly, next move!
 As Lawrence's Sopwith broke away, it was pursued by the 'Blue' Albatross.
 ..everyone else was left jockeying for position.
 Another Albatross got on the Snipe's tail.
My white Fokker tried to engage the SE5a... 
...but came off worse in the ensuing fire exchange. 
 The poor Snipe was set afire, unable to escape the 2 Albatrosses. 
Only the intervention by Rod's SPAD allowed the Snipe to get away. 
 The Allied planes were all pretty shot up now...
But Rod managed to hit the most damaged Albatross, sending it down in flames. 
 With all the Germans massing behind them, the remaining Allied planes flew off table! 
 Rod had done very well for a first game, and escaped alive with a victory to his name!


It was a good game, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We did another game after this, which ended in an even more decisive win for the Germans. 
I flew a Siemens-Schuckert in this game, which, I decided is no way as good as a Fokker DVII!!!

Saturday 20 June 2015

West is Best?

Today, our Not-so-little-Band were split in two!
Ian and the rest were doing WW1 Spearhead, while Lawrence and I did a Wild West game!

We had some more buildings than last time, more 4Ground Arab buildings, surrounding some lovely Colonial Steamboat company ones.

Scenario:

We continued a previous scenario, where the Clinton brothers had revenge-killed an outlaw family - after that affair, 2 of the brothers, Nathaniel and Nehemiah, had fled to Mexico to let things settle down back in Texas.

Unfortunately, a group of Mexicans have been hired by the family we attacked - and they attack us after warning the local population to leave...

The town.
 Lawrence set his character (we both had 2 sidekicks!) in a large building on the east side of town. 
 My men were in a smaller building on the west side of town.
 Most of the bandidos appeared facing Lawrence's band.
 Their chief and his lieutenant were leading them.
 They walked into town confident of their strength.
 From the west, facing me, a group of 3 bandits.
These, too, advanced into town warily. 
The bandit chief's men spotted Lawrence and fired. 
Lawrence summoned his men... 
 ...and they returned fire.
 Il Grande's lieutenant fell with a shot in his chest.
 His compadres fell back to cover, firing furiously.
 Lawrence's indian companion was head-shot.
 On my side, the bandits saw my pistolero and fired.
 Fortunately for me, they missed.
 As my men fell back and out of view, the bandits decided what to do...
My men went down to the ground floor and left the building.
 Back on the east side, the other group of bandits outflanked Lawrence.
 His men were on the second floor, engaging the bandit chief. 
 My pistolero decided to engage the bandits on my side.
 He should have been with me and my rifleman on the far side of the building!
Lawrence was still engaged in an extended fire-fight. 
 ...as was my recklessly brave pistolero!
 Finally, Lawrence's fire drove the bandit chief to take better cover.
 Back on my side, the bandidos pushed forward against my pistolero...
My man was very cool, despite the enemy numbers facing him... 
 One of the bandits fell.
 My rifleman and I joined in shooting at the other 2 bandits.
 The other band of bandits facing Lawrence were probing his flank.
 Lawrence's men were...rather too occupied to notice.
 Another lucky shot from the bandit chief...
...killed Lawrence's other sidekick.
 My men, having apparently driven off my opponents, moved to help Lawrence. 
 He needed help! the outflanking bandits were edging round his building...
 ...they then attacked!
 My brother fired in support of Lawrence, ineffectively!
 My men were fighting Il Grande, and the other bandits I thought I had beaten!
 My rifleman killed one of them with a head shot!...
 ...the last remaining bandit retreated behind the building.
 We then focussed on Il Grande!
The rifleman killed Il Grande with a gut shot. 
 Lawrence was STILL shooting at the bandit in the doorway!
At last! - the bandit in the doorway fell dead!
His compadres then assaulted the room Lawrence was in!
Lawrence charged them, firing, and the bandits fled!
One of the bandits rallied at the bottom of the stairs, this one decided to go find some Tequila!!!
The lone bandit now appeared on my flank, having gone round his building. 
 My men were engaged with the last 2 bandits of Il Grande's group.
 The bandit fired! 
 My pistolero responded!...
...and then decided to attack him, running across the square! 
Left isolated, my rifleman fell dead in a hail of bullets. 
As I descended the stairs the bandits shot at my pistolero... 
 ...Caught in the open, he had no chance.
 My 'Hero' fired rapidly at the bandits and killed one.
Lawrence stayed in his room, waiting for the next attack! 
 The bandit did not keep him waiting...
 ...he did not stick around, though, and fled under fire!
 He, also, went in search of Tequila!
 My man went round the house, looking for the remaining bandit. 
 The bandit was hiding behind the building.
 He fired as I appeared, and my man fell back. 
The bandit now fired at Lawrence as he came down the stairs...
 My man now returned and fired...
...Lawrence fired from the other side...  
 The bandit fell back to a tree, to gain cover from both his assailants...
My man took careful aim...
 ...and shot the last bandit through the head. 
Time for a Cee-gar, methinks!

This was an exciting and very touch-and-go battle. Amazingly, both brothers survived, and the saga continues!

The solo system in my Wild West rules worked very well again, and at times it really seemed like we were playing a real opponent!