Thursday Night 5/31 Game

[AP]

Who is in tonight? I can't make it until around 9...

[kevan]

I'm available this evening. I'll probably log on early while I'm working on the Plane Pack, and if enough people show up early we can try for a quick early game.

[kirkh]

I'm not sure if I'll be available or not. The wife and kids return from a week at grandma's so I may be doing some "family" time tonight.

[kevan]

Seeing all the interest in SEs over in the rules forum, and remembering that I had hoped but failed to do a bombing scenario last week, maybe it would be interesting to run a German bombing mission with SEs defending tonight.

[kirkh]

Hey, I have a dumb question. In the 7th edition rules I get the feeling two different players would play if an aircraft is a 2 seater. In other words, one person would be the pilot and another the observer. Is that really the case or does one person fly the two seater and do everything associated with that plane? Also, if the latter is the case, are the pilot/observer considered a pair or are their careers managed separately?

[AP]

In the 6th edition "Fight in the Skies" it was the case that separate players flew the obs & pilot. Not so with 7th edition and present. Now a player at the table is in charge of the entire aircraft, no matter how many crew members. Crew members careers are managed separately.

Kevan, set that mission up! I want to be in a German Halberstadt!!

[Orion]

I am in tonight. Starting time for me might be as late as 9pm cst but I will try to be on earlier if at all possible. Watch out allies, Erwin "Double-Kill" Spitzburg is looking to repeat!

[kevan]

Another successful game night was had. I sketched down the basic details last night, so I should be able to get a report off to Stephen. Dan, if you're reading this, I believe I don't have your pilot info.

Short report: Andy piloted an LVG CVI on a bombing raid against four Allied bridges, escorted by Dan and Rex in Pfalz DIIIa. Rex flew in late, and didn't stay long, more on that later.

Defending the bridges were a pair of AA guns and a couple of MG nests, plus heavy concentrations of infantry on the ground. Michael and I were flying SE-5as. Under constant harrassment, Andy managed to cleanly drop his four bombs to destroy all four bridges, before heading for home, still in pretty good shape. Dan did a good job of excorting, dueling with both Michael and I at various points. I took 14 hits in the first two turns, including 4 in the engine that took out my manifold. That and poor initiative kept me out of the game for a few turns, during which Michael kept at Andy, eventually getting so beaten up that he had to head for home. Rex flew in about that time, chasing Michael off. However, I was able to demonstrate the ability of the SE to occasionally inflict devastating damage when I rolled max damage (9 hits) on a 50' bottom shot at Rex. A handy infantryman put an extra bullet into Rex's plane, knocking out his controls at 400' - he survived the crash but was captured.

I followed the fleeing LVG and Pfalz, eventually jamming Dan in a straight, but soon encountered the seemingly inevitable jammed Vickers / empty Lewis combo and as it was getting late and Andy's observer was keeping me in his sights as I tried to unjam, gave up the pursuit.

It was another long game, more than 3 hours. I think we're getting better, but there is still room for improvement. I think that with VDP having run successfully for the last month and a half, we really need to make Skype / Teamspeak a priority. I'm as guilty of putting this off as anyone, as I have yet to replace my broken mic, but I've just written myself a post-it note reminder to get one this weekend.

Bragging Edit: I now have a 3/2 SE-5a pilot. Yay!

[Stephen]

3/2 on VDP alone is a fine pilot. Way to go.

[Orion]

Kevan,

My pilot's name is Eric Freytag and that was his third mission. He is currently 3/0.

Thanks,
Dan