Wednesday 13 June 2012

Mustang on a Typhoon

The design of the scenario for the Angels 20 game at the club last night was left to the tender mercies of yours truly as Mr Fox was recovering from brain overload as a result of his Battlefleet Gothic heroics at the weekend. As is usual with anything I design it invariably tends to be slightly over engineered in concept and this was exception in that it was a fight in two parts, or rather in two levels. The first was a typical low level ground attack mission by a pair of Typhoons with the added bonus of four P51s providing top cover. As it was 1944 the allied air superiority was making itself felt and so the Luftwaffe could oppose the attack albeit with much reduced numbers. The low level attack was to be contested by but a single FW190 whilst the top cover could muster up a pair of 109 Gs. The two targets are protected by a smattering of light flak and the pilots were going to be a varied bunch. The Allies had an ace, two veterans, two average and rookie pilot whilst the Luftwaffe had one each of ace, veteran and rookie. The Allies were at level 1 and 5 (for the Typhoons and the P51s respectively) whilst the attacking Germans came in at level 2 and 6 and from behind so it was in effect, a typical 'bounce' type scenario. The targets had to be hit in the same way as an aircraft and they were deemed to the equivalent of a MS 406 in respect of the damage capacity. Surprisingly there are no rules for light flak - only heavy flak 'fields' which are more accurately used against level bombers. A degree of improvisation was called in this respect and so I merely allowed the flak field rule to be dropped down a level so it could only engage targets at level 1 but with the same effect as a heavy flak field.



The dogfight during one of its more sedate phases....note the damage markers on the bases and the very nice paint job on the 109Gs - well done Mr Fox!


The action was fast and furious and the Typhoons came barrelling at low level and very quickly had the measure of both the objectives. the flak blazed away to no effect and in fact only succeeded in but a single chance to hit anything! Retribution was swift though as the FW190 tasked with the low level intercept made short work of one the Typhoons whilst the other escaped at high speed.


Meanwhile the 109s were mixing it with the Mustangs and it ended with the Rookie Gustav pilot going down under the guns of a P51 whilst the ongoing whirling dogfight ensured that all but one of the top cover aircraft had some damage. Numbers prevailed and this was hardly surprising at this stage of the war.


An allied victory for sure but great fun to play and for me, confirmation of why I prefer the FW 190 at this period of the war (actually at ANY period of the war!).


As ever many thanks to Mr Fox for the use of the toys and to Mr H for his valuable support and participation.


Next week we shall be revisiting Summer 1940, over the Kentish countryside....

2 comments:

Tail End Charlie said...

Sounds like a fun game, I will have to look into it. can you play it solitaire ?

David Crook said...

Hi Tail End,

I have fought a number of games solitaire without too much difficulty and it seems to work out just fine. It is not a super deluxe accurate game of aerial combat but it is fast play, tense and exciting and has been accorded the status of being a 'club night classic' for those very reasons.

All the best,

DC