A Nieuport's tale

 Yesterday, we had 3 games of Wings of Glory WW1, I took pics of the first game, and should have done one of the others as they were very quick!

I am not posting my usual blow-by-blow of the whole first game as it was - shall we say- rather rambling!!!

Still, here is today's offering, I hope you enjoy it!

The opposition, run as ever by my solo rules - 4 Albatros DVa's

My little Nieuport 17, this is definitely the WW1 plane I like 'flying' the most, even though it flies rather like a leaf in a strong wind!

Next to me, a friend from the Whitley Bay 3D Wargames group, and another Phil!, as he is Irish,(from Northern Ireland) I shall refer to him as IPhil! - flying an SE5a.

Phil (The other one) and Lawrence also flew SE5a's.

We all advanced - my Nieuport is getting rather left behind!

IPhil turned too early and ended up under the guns of an Albatros!

Iphil survived and I came up behind to engage the Boche!

Phil and Lawrence had passed round the German line.

My plane and the Albatros had equal damage from our nose to nose, but my guns jammed! - Curses!

We passed with my pilot hitting his useless guns with a spanner!

Phil and Lawrence had attracted a single, rather colourful, Albatros's attention

Great Immelmann, still hitting guns with spanner!!!!

Phil and Lawrence were still hunting that Albatros!

That Albatros had a good pilot!

IPhil and I were now dealing with the other 3 Albatrii!

IPhil had a nose to nose, the German was a better shot!!!

As we passed again, (Iphils plane smoking!) I finally got my guns working again!

Phil and Lawrence were still getting outflown by the wily Boche!

Iphil and I were circling madly trying to keep from getting an Albatros on our tail.

Ah!- Phil finally got a shot at that Albatros!...

...but his guns jammed too!

The Albatros swung round totally undamaged!

I got caught by an Albatros and took another 4 damage!

IPhil was bravely holding off the other two.

I Immelmanned after the German who had damaged me...I would have to be careful from now on as I didn't have many points left!!!

The Blue Albatros came out to engage me...I got lucky but took 7 more damage!!!

At least I had got my German!

I only had 1 point left on my flimsy kite, so didn't dare get shot again! - The Albatros is faster so what was I to do?

I tried turning unpredictably which left 'Black Tail' off me...

I tried to keep Iphil close to attract the rest of the Germans off me!

'Black tail' Immelmanned to come after IPhil.

Ooh, look, Lawrence got a shot at their Albatros!

'Stripey Tail' was after me so i decided to stay close to it as I was more maneuverable, if slower...and could turn inside the German.

I did turn inside, but 'Black Tail' was bearing down on me.

I carried on, trying to get onto the tail of 'Stripey' by Immelmanning.

Stripey hadn't turned, but had sped off, I couldn't catch him!

I decided ' He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day'!

IPhil tried to break through the ring of Albatrii and join the other 2 SE's.

He side slipped past 'Black Tail'.

The great speed of the SE would get him there quickly.

The other Albatrii struggled to keep up!

That Albatros was, however, rather flying rings round Phil and Lawrence!

Watch...

Even with IPhil, the battle on Phil and Lawrence's wing didn't resolve.

Black Tail joined in and got a hit immediately!

'Stripey' also arrived.

Lawrence got a good hit, 'Black Tail' an even better one on Phil!

Both sides circled, looking for an advantage...

Lawrence got 'Stripey's' attention...

The other Albatrii were circling round to help.

Stripey turned back, taking a small hit en route.

Would the other 2 Albatrii make a difference?

Er, no!

No again!

Finally, Lawrence got a good hit on the undamaged Albatros!

IPhil, too, got a hit on 'Stripey'.

At this point, I think everyone was content to say we had run out of fuel, ammo, or patience! so the sides parted for lunch!

Some games are more satisfying than others, for sure!