Dawn Patrol Miniatures game pics !

[mk2]

Finished product

[mk2]

Action on August 5th 1918 :

2 German Fokker Dr1s and one Albatros DVa vs . 2 French SPAD 13s and 1 Spad 7

The battle lasted 8 turns and saw all planes receive damage (two extensively barely able to make it back home).

Leutnant Oswald Wittowski of Jasta 11 (a 0/0 pilot on his first mission)flying a bright blue Albatros was hit first and received and engine critical on the first turn of the game. He was able to shake this off and 5 turns later shot down a Spad 13 flown by a 6/2 veteran French pilot named Didier Pissotte (he went down in flames). Oswald then came very close to shooting down a second SPAD13 the very next turn (flown by noted Ace Jean Raymer) . He needed to roll just two 1s out of 5 dice but just came up short. Raymer disengaged 2 turns later and left for home with a badly shot up engine.

The player who controlled the allied side admitted to making a tactical mistake that led to the Frenchman's demise (Didier's) by not knocking Oswald's blue albatros out of the sky when he had a chance (He chose to attack a fresh Dr1 instead). Both sides broke off after 8 turns with the advantage going to the Germans. It was a blast.

I also think the game saw a record amount of criticals, struts, engines, wings, all were hit and made for an extremely lively game, I don't believe we rolled a 6 while shooting not even one time. Everyone collected lots of led.

[Stephen]

And you even have a kill board posted in the game room? Oh, that is just ridiculously cool. Man, THAT is the way to play DP.

[Michael]

(mouth hangs opened utterly stupefied)

[KevinR]

This is some really cool stuff! Great work, thanks for sharing it!

[mk2]

New update

August 12 1918 has proven to be a very exciting day in the annals of dawn patrol.

The ebb and flow of battle has rarely been put so on display.

The scenario consisted of a damaged Albatros trying to make it back to friendly territory.

German ace Helmut Steiner and Martin Von Scrub crossed allied lines to defend the wounded bird and they were opposed by Erwin (1 Kill pilot) Del Vechhio (very experienced ace level pilot but with no kills) and James Cunningham (the current top allied ace with 5 kills) of the 94th aero squadron.

Martin Von scrub set the pace with aggressive play. Helmut Steiner scored first blood by severely damaging Erwin's plane with a double critical. James Cunningham lost initiative and was besieged by Von Scrub. Cuningham( even though a top ace ) could not shake the determined German pilot as he scored hits (they were scary moments) .

Steiner also shot at Cunningham all seemed lost for the allies (every time Steiner shot there was unease on the allied side as they still remembered the brutal double pilot kill from the previous game) .

Del Vechhio scored an amazing 17 bullets through two turns on the wounded bird (piloted by Wilhelm Outof-luck ) but the Albatros would not go down. Del Vechhio also found the time to score 3 engine hits on Steiner's plane on a single turn.

Wilhelm Outof-luck flew back into the fight and managed to throw his wounded plane into an out of control spin.

Von Scrub maneuvered the Red albatros with expert ease and managed to score a the third critical on Erwin's machine.....Erwin snapped into a spin and burned all the way to the ground...Von Scrub had scored his second kill.

Cunningham (on the same turn) shot Von Scrub with one 3 bullet short burst , it had the patented Cunningham luck , the burst scored a possible pilot hit. Cunningham promptly rolled double threes and Von Scrub was critically wounded. Scrub left the battle on his way to being shot down.

At this point Steiner retreated with the engine hits, Cunningham had jammed a gun and felt that caution was better part of valor and after his unbelievable lucky kill of Scrub decided to also retreat .

Del Vechhio faced off with Wilhelm Outof-luck. Del Vechhio shot his wings off and scored the kill (congrats on your first kill!) but the most amazing part of the night was the die rolling display by Martin Von Scrub. He plummeted through allied lines , crashing just a few hundred feet in German territory , surviving going unconscious , unfriendly territory, height, and crash landing safely ....he will live to fight another day.

what a game.

[Michael]

Good gravy that was a big game!

[mk2]

This week brought us stuff that have never been seen before in this campaign.

The scenario was a low level aerodrome attack by British Se5a airplanes . The board used is the 8 x 4 hand painted recreation of the original dawn patrol board.

It starts with 2 German planes that have managed to get up in the air pass all the carnage occurring on the ground (the aerodrome is partially on fire, wrecked airplanes etc. liter the runway).

2 of the tail end Se5as decide to turn back and attack the German planes that just got off the ground and table is now set for the encounter.

Keep in mind that altitudes designated on the board do count, in other words there are hills in some places that are at higher altitude than the 50 feet starting altitude etc. So extreme care must be taken if you are staying low.

Here is where the game got a little surreal.

The allied Se5as never once won initiative in the first 9 consecutive turns of the game. The allied planes either lost the rolls outright or were successfully tailed every single turn....for 9 turns....both of them... Kalman Berthold flying his all black Fokker Dr1 triplane literally had his guns almost melt from all the firing. Berthold fired on all turns except one where both guns were jammed (he unjammed one the following turn and continued firing).

Oswald Wittowski , who had previously flown one mission and had one kill, got behind a pilot by the name of Tubby Jenkins and managed to fire on 7 of the 9 turns. On the last turn he fired he managed to tear the wing of the Se5a at only 150 feet in the air and the plane crashed killing the pilot. Wittowski now has the distinction of getting one kill each in his first two missions ...this also gives the Albatros DVa (against all odds) the lead as far as the plane "type" that has shot down the most enemy planes ,flown by player controlled characters, 2 by Von Scrub and now 2 by Wittowski)...amazing...the weakest statistical plane has gotten great results.

This led up to possibly the most interesting part of the night. The other Se5a used the final turn to break off the attack and dove as he did so...the only problem was that there was a hill in the way......Berthold graciously offered Tompkins a chance to make it over the hill if he rolled a 4-6 on a 6 sided die....a 1 was rolled and the pilot Earl Tompkins died on impact...Berthold claiming the kill.

enjoy the pictures!

[Stephen]

And a flamer to boot! Way cool. How visual is an SE going down in flames? Not fun for the player, but a hoot for we casual observers.

[mk2]

This week featured a reverse of last week's scenario. A low level (starting altitude 50 feet) aerodrome attack by the Germans against a British squadron.

It consisted of the German players taking an Albatros DVa, a Pfalz XII and a Fokker DV 7 on an airfield attack mission. The Allies were flying Sopwith Camels for the British.

The British had not yet scored a kill in the entire campaign while racking up a whopping 5 pilots Killed in action.

We also play tested experimental wound location rules (which I will post in a seperate thread).

The second turn of the game saw all planes firing on an opponent. Von Scrub (a 5/2 pilot flying Albatro DVa) was flying with a light wound (as he had not yet fully healed) and we had rolled the location of the injury (his leg) preventing him from more than one 45 degree click in the direction each turn of movement.

As usual the Von Scrub luck held and he was not fired at for the first half of the game.
Everything seemed to be going the British way as all three Camels took turns slamming the Fokker DV 7 (pilot Gustav Lieber 0/0) with bullets.
Von Scrub quickly turned the tables and scored a pilot hit on Oliver Drake's camel (a 6/1 pilot)and he was critically wounded , he then passed out from the wound at an altitude of 200 feet and slammed into the ground going full speed. He died on impact and practically over his own airfield.
Von Scrub was not done yet as he scored a critical engine hit on Adam Barker's plane (Squadron leader and a 10/2) and smoked filled the Camel's cockpit.

At this point Alexander Fisher (5/1 pilot)) caught up to the Fokker Dv 7 and delivered 3 engine hits on one turn knocking the Fokker Dv 7 out of the sky. The pilot Gustav Lieber (0/0) had to land promptly and was subsequently captured.

Alexander Fisher then turned the tables again on the Germans and scored a critical on the Pfalz flown by Emil Vogel (10/0). Von Scrub continued to pepper the Camel flown by Barker and Barker finally put her down on the ground. Although technically he was not shot down and landed on his own recognizance , Scrub claimed him as a plane forced down for his second kill of the night! Fisher then decided the odds were against him and broke off combat. The Germans went back home.

Some notable facts. Von Scrub now has 4 kills and is one away from being an Ace.He was nominated for the Bavarian bravery awards and will be rolling for them as soon as he gets his next kill.

My pilots have the distinction of socring a kill for each of the squadrons in the game, German, American, British and French.

It was a fun night and a tight game that see sawed back and forth.

Enjoy the pictures.

The furball begins



Von Scrub scores his 3rd victim and first of the night shooting Drake down out of control.


Fisher scores a crtical engine hit on Vogel and barker has one scored on him by Scrub. (Barker eventually landed the next turn)



Fisher forces down Lieber. Lieber is captured and spends the rest of the war as a POW (having failed his escape rolls).



Updated kill board