Air War solo training flights

 After our foray to Korea with SPIs 'Air War', there was some talk of another go, this time over Sinai in 1956 (Meteors vs Mysteres). As I had little clue what was going on in the last game, I thought I'd better practice a bit!

I added to the stuff I'd printed out for the last game with a full set of (printed) rules for flight and cannon combat as well as the data cards for Mysteres and Meteors. I also made up a battle board with four of the geomorphic air combat sheets and made some generic counters (red 1-4 and blue 1-4) plus some control counters for things like banking. 

My initial plan was to treat Blue 1 as a target drone flying across the map at 15,000 feet at constant speed 3, while Red 1 was at 16,500 feet and could practice manouvering around it and maybe set up an attack run. These are  both Mysteres which are actually pretty good early jets, very manouverable and relatively fast.

I'm just using little blue dice to track most things on the aircraft control sheets. You can just make out the aircraft attitude counters I made on the bottom right tracks - a very clever 2D display which shows both the degree of aircraft bank as well as the angle of dive or climb, including 'pull outs' and 'pull throughs' ie the top or bottom of a loop or split S.

One complication is that the movement point track has three markers on it - throttle, current MP and energy from dives. I'm just using three dice with 1,2 and 3 respectively showing, but I should probably make some specific counters for those (T,M,E or something).

Anyway, my plan of doing some gentle manouvres with Red 1 while Blue 1 chugged along steadily soon went out of the window. Blue 1 accelerated and made a hard turn to starboard (these old jets don't accelerate very fast!) which lost it both speed and altitude but put some distance between it and Red 1. Red 1 meanwhile banked to port then went into an inverted power dive which lost lots of altitude but gained lots and lots of speed and energy while heading in directly the opposite direction to Blue 1.

Blue 1 had completed a turn to port at low speed (they turn much better slowly) and was now facing Red 1. Red 1 meanwhile executed a Split S and roll and ended up facing Blue 1, albeit at much lower altitude. I'd accumulated a ton of energy in the dive, and I planned to use it to climb back up. My brain exploded at that point and I couldn't face the next few turns required for both sides to get lined up in what would almost inevitably be a head on pass with a very low probability of hitting anything. I had however learned a huge amount about the turn sequence and how manouvring worked. I needed to come back to it again and practice some more stuff. I'd really like to figure out how to do an Immelman and a barrel roll, but mainly to get a better feel of how to anticipate the position, altitude and speed of the aircraft as otherwise neither a turning fight nor boom and zoom are going to be possible. 

A few days later I set the game again with a couple of aircraft with the aim of working through more manouvres. In the interim I'd made up some custom counters to track throttle, energy and movement points as they all share the same track, and I'd colour coded and numbered the aircraft attitude counters to match the planes so I could tell which track related to which plane easily. We started off with Blue 1 and Red 1 (B1, R1) cruising along at throttle 3, MP 3. B1 at altitude 70, R1 at 75. (or 'medium low' - it affects acceleration, turn speeds etc).

This time I left B1 to just fly straight, accelerating to maximum speed but keeping straight and level. R1 wanted to try a loop (or 'wing over' as the rules have it). To execute a wingover you need to go into a type 1 (shallow) climb, then two turns in a type 2 (steep) climb, enter a pull through (ie vertical and pull the stick back) and finally the wing over which leaves you inverted and but reversed 180 degrees. It is quite a handy manouvre to practice as if you get into a pull-through, you can do an Immelman from there and choose how many points of turn (up to six) and roll you do - ideal to bounce an unsuspecting enemy. That is five moves or 12.5 seconds of real time.

Anyway, these old 1950s jets proved to be rather hard to loop in. I discovered I wasn't going fast enough to actually enter a type 2 climb! So had to level out, hit the throttle for a few turns to speed up (acceleration isn't instant as the turns are so short), and then try again. Of course what I should have done was dive first.... anyway 

I finally got to the top of the loop, meanwhile B1 had managed to fly off the far end of the board and come back on again at the bottom, barrelling along at 5 MP. At the top of the loop, I realised to my horror that my airspeed was about the reach 0 but managed to avoid stalling. Having survived, I executed the wingover and ended up inverted with an airspeed of 1, but eleven altitude levels above B1 (iirc each level is 250 feet?). 

As B1 was close by, I though I'd try and execute a pursuit.

This doesn't look too promising does it! It took me a couple of moves to turn 180 degrees by banking at 90 degrees and pulling hard Gs. I lost a bit of airspeed and altitude pulling such a tight turn but was still well above B1. Time to dive and get some energy. Diving both increased my speed to the airframes maximum, 6 (just below the speed of sound), gained energy, reduced the height difference and l

closed the gap.

It took a few turns but eventually I caught B1, and loosed off a rather hopeless medium range cannon shot which missed.

By now I'd accumulated masses of energy, so was able to pull off some very fancy manouvres. I rolled left to line up exactly with B1, my dive had actually made me undershoot the altitidude, but I was able to level off, burn some more energy to pull up a couple more altitude levels and then boost my speed using yet more energy to set up a perfect shot (above). I believe diving then pulling up right on the enemy's tailpipe is called a Yo Yo.

Point blank range with four cannon, Impossible to miss. KABOOM! goes B1.

I called it a day there as my head hurt once more, but I felt I'd got on top of the manouvre system at least. I think the main lesson was that these underpowered jets really can't do the same looping manouvres as prop planes and turning was the way to go in a cannon fight. The boost from accumulated (dive) energy from the very last engagement was a revelation however as it allowed extra manouvres at the last minute to set up really good shots.

OK, feel a bit better prepared for our next team outing now. I'm really not sure why I'm demonstrating this level of obsession with mastering a dead air warfare system from 45+ years ago. An intellectual challenge to be beaten, or something.

250th Anniversary Independence Day Parade

 Happy 4th July to our US cousins! As it is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I thought I'd have a parade for my WW2 US troops. I'm afraid the US has always rather played second fiddle to the British and Germans in my various collections, although my first proper allied army for Charles Grants 'Battle' was American (Airfix US Marines, Shermans and Halftracks) . My 15mm US  collection has been acquired relatively recently so isn't as large as some of the others.

The US forces lined up for inspection. Unlike their Russian comrades, I arranged these in ranks rather than marching down the table. They take up rather less space that way (many thanks to Mr Kemp for that idea!).

Eisenhower himself is here to inspect them (Roco personality figure).

First up the Queen of Battle, the US infantry. Just some representative figures put out, roughly a Regiment of three battalions in Command Decision terms. These are almost exclusively PSC hard plastic figures, and very nice they are too, if a pain to assemble. 

These are all on 30x30 bases and in theory could be used as teams for WRG etc as one base per group of three has a leader on it and another has a BAR. They are pretty generic infantry in tan/khaki uniforms rather than OD, and I confess I use them for everything including US Paras.

We also have half a dozen halftracks for the Armored Infantry, mainly QRF. I've got a load of unbuilt PSC halftracks I should assemble at some point as really I need another four or five at least.

Next the Cavalry. Three MG armed jeeps (BPM 3D prints), three M8 armoured cars (QRF) and a QRF White Scout Car. Nice models of which the Scout Car has been used the most. I want to do some more NWE scenarios featuring US forces so hopefully the Greyhounds will have some more outings.

Tank Destroyers, a pair of Battlefront M10s, a pair of towed 57mm guns and a Battlefield 3D 75mm SP. I cant recall the 57mm manufacturer, possibly Skytrex? They are the US version of the 6 pdr anyway.

I actually have four Battlefront M10s, but I converted two of them into Achilles, although they can stand in as M36 Jacksons if needs be.  

A lot of this US stuff is interchangeable between the later war British and Russians.

The mighty Armor command! A fleet of green tanks.

The front rank are the Light Tanks. Left to right, a pair of QRF M3s (rather undersized), a Skytrex M3A5, a Battlefield 3D M8 Scott, and then three PSC M5s - all hideously oversized. I've got several more of the PSC ones unbuilt. They came in the 'US Tank Company' box.

Behind them we have the first rank of Medium Tanks. Three PSC 75mm Shermans of various types and three Zvezda M3 Lees, which have seen a surprising amount action albeit in Russia mainly and just once under US command in Tunisia.

Two more ranks of Medium Tanks. Three more PSC Shermans and three Peter Pig Shermans, with the final rank being four PSC 76mm Shermans. Many of these are interchangeable with British and Russian stuff, and some of the Shermans have very clearly got British commanders. The 76mm Shermans have seen more service with the Russians than anyone else, although iirc I did use a couple in some Bulge games. I've got several spare turrets, including a couple of Firefly turrets, 75mm turrets and a 105mm. I've put the 105mm turret on the Sherman third from the left in the front rank.

I used to have more Shermans but thinned them out a few years ago, moving on some QRF, Roskopf and a few PSC ones to John A.

The artillery park is quite small but you don't actually need a lot of artillery as it is mostly off table although I like to use the gun models if I have them. Front row are a pair of 75mm pack howitzers mainly for Airborne use. Second rank is three 105mm howitzers (Peter Pig), and the third rank is a PP 155mm howitzer, a Roco 8" howitzer and a Quad .50 cal AA halftrack. The latter is a PSC chassis and I built the AA mount out of spare .50 cal MGs! What was I thinking....

The 75mm howitzers were recently seen engaging Tigers in Sicily.

Various HQ/rear area vehicles. First rank Sherman ARV (a bodged up spare turret on a PSC Sherman chassis), a lovely Battlefield 3D (maybe BPM?) Dodge Ambulance and a B3D armoured bulldozer.

Second rank is a Roco Dodge radio truck, a six wheel radio lorry built on a Roco chassis and a QRF Dodge Ambulance I use as a radio truck. The radio lorry I cleverly made so it is too high fit into my normal slimline A4 box files, so it goes in a special box.

I've got loads more US softskins, but how many Dodge and GMC trucks do you want to see?

And lined up on the airfield, we have the USAAF. It is quite right that the US should have lots and lots of planes. These are all 1/144th scale and largely various donations from Tims immense collection.

The first rather motley group of fighters. A P40 Warhawk, a P-47 Thunderbolt and an Airacobra. In the rear is a metal Spitfire in US colours. The P47 has been out to play for ground support but I've not used any of the others.

And some more late war fighters, a pair of P-51 Mustangs and a pair of P-38 Lightnings. I've used the P-38s a few times as everyone likes a Lightning. All plastic kits.

Finally some bombers. A B-20 Havoc (diecast), a B-25 Mitchell, a B-26 Marauder and a B-17 Flying Fortress. The medium bombers have seen quite a bit of action as I like to use them for air interdiction in my WW2 games, but the B17 has only been in use once - the opening bombardment for Operation Goodwood. Apart from the Havoc, these are all plastic kits.

Finally we have the utility aircraft, three 'Dakotas', actually Zevzda IL-3s(?) minus the gun turret. I did them in plain OD without markings, but I'm thinking I should mark them up really. I realised as well that I completely forgot to put out the tiny resin L2 spotter plane. It is so small I forgot about it in the aircraft box.

So there we have it, the US Army. While they haven't featured as much on the blog as some others, I have plenty of US themed games planned - more trips to Market Garden and Normandy, the Battle of the Westwall and perhaps even some trips to Tunisia.

Happy Independence Day!

Arras 1940

 Arras is one of the iconic battles of the 1940 campaign, and one of the great what-ifs, particularly the fate of one Erwin Rommel. I ran it fairly early in lockdown as a One Hour WW2 game and much fun was had, although I've actually got enough kit to do the Command Decision version (!). Far too many Matilda Is.

Anyway, a brief summary: after the Germans broke through at Sedan they rapidly isolated all the Allies units in northern France and Belgium. The counterattack at Arras was an attempt to cut off the Panzer spearheads, or at least to allow some units to escape back into the rest of France. Originally conceived as a four division attack, it was repeatedly watered down until it ended up being executed by barely a brigade. Wiki summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_(1940)

Here we are, Arras itself is in the northeast with the river Scarpe running through it. The terrain in the area is generally fairly flat and dotted with small woods and villages. The isolated Allied units are attacking from the north and various German motorised units are to the south - the Panzer Regiments being busy motoring westwards to the sea.

The Allied forces, 4th and 7th RTR comprising 1st Army Tank Brigade and mainly equipped with Matilda Is and a handful (16) Matilda IIs. These are represented as two (heavy armour) tank units. There are also 6 Durham Light Infantry (DLI) and 8 DLI from 151 Brigade, both leg infantry. 6 DLI are on the right and 8 DLI in reserve. Finally there are elements of 3 DLM, our old pals from the Battle of Gembloux. This is actually a composite unit as many of the surviving tanks of the DLMs had been distributed as infantry support. This is a powerful elite and heavily armoured unit (Somuas were pretty good in 1940), but is also flagged as unreliable - irl 3 DLM was first accidentally shot up by British anti tanks who misidentified them, and then became embroiled with 7th Panzer Regiment who motored back east to the sound of battle. 

The Allies don't have any significant artillery or aircraft, which may be an issue.

Closer view of my Matildas. These are all Zvezda models although I have some Peter Pig Matilda Is as well. Some of them have gas detection patches on. I've been generous and given both Regiments a model Matilda II although irl they were mostly in 7 RTR.

The Germans are a right rag bag. SS Regiment Totenkopf was the first unit to encounter the heavy British tanks, and panicked badly. SSTK was drawn from concentration camp guards, but unlike camp inmates, the British shot back. These are represented as three unreliable infantry units in trucks.

In reserve we have Schutzen Regiments (SR) 6 and 7 from 7th Panzer Division who were made of sterner stuff. They were reinforced with the divisional anti tank battalion, plus field guns and heavy AA guns firing over open sights. These guys are all in reserve, we have I/6 SR with AT guns, II/6 SR with heavy 88mm (elite) AT guns, I/7 SR also with AT guns and II/7 SR who are just a regular infantry unit. Both the units with AT guns are 'unreliable' as the Germans rapidly discovered that their 37mm shells just bounced off the Matildas and Somuas. The 88s and regular infantry are reliable though. 

Finally the Luftwaffe is present in the form of a regular bomber unit. There aren't any German tanks so no German blitzkrieg options and strangely German air superiority doesn't impede Allied reserve movement. German reserve movement will be impeded by the Allied tanks though.

With so many unreliable units, particularly the otherwise devastating Somuas, this is going to be a wild ride. 

The 7th RTR attacked in the centre and II/3SS ran away. German reserves failed to move up (rolled a 1) and the centre was open! The Germans bombed 6 DLI.

6 DLI collapsed under the bombing and 3rd DLM moved up to fill the gap (I made a mistake and made it roll for arrival even though the Germans have no tanks).

4 RTR attacked on left and easily routed I/3 SS. The 88s moved up into the line.

On the right III/SSTK decided to stand while 3rd DLM didn't turn up after all (failed its reliability test) and 8 DLI took their place. irl 3rd DLM became embroiled in a tank battle with 7th Panzer Regiment so didn't manage to intervene decisively.

7th RTR tried to outflank the 88s through the centre but failed. The lull allowed more German anti-tank guns (I/6 SR) to move up. The Luftwaffe busily bombed 8 DLI and missed.

Both 4 and 7 RTR attacked the German gun line and bounced. II/6 Schutzen decided to stand and fight.

7th RTR attacked the centre again while the Luftwaffe bombed the right.

The Matildas overran the 37mm Pak 36s and their place was taken by the last German infantry reserve, II/7 SR. The DLI had also had enough of the bombing and withdrew.

7th RTR tried once more in the centre and bounced. III/SSTK attacked on the right however....

And sent 7th RTR packing, at which point with only one unit left in the field, the Allied attack collapsed. That was a fairly historical outcome, 3rd DLM failed to arrive, the British infantry were pinned down and separated from the tanks and the Matildas were unable to break through the gun line. 

Having the 3 DLM as an unreliable unit is quite a clever way of modelling its travails on the day, but it adds a real wildcard as it is the best unit in the game with a 50% chance of arrival. The unrelieble German units are great fun as you just don't know who is going to stand or not, and with no less than five of them, I guess the luck on those evens out a bit.

As such an important battle and such a random scenario, it deserved another go.

In a catastrophic opening, 4 RTR assault I/SSTK. The SS stand and fight and rout 4 RTR on a 6! 3 DLM manages to move up and take their place, and this time decides to stand and fight under Luftwaffe bombing. Maybe not such a bad result after all as now the elite heavily armoured French are in action.

7th RTR attacks the centre but II/SSTK decide to stand as well and the attack fails. The Luftwaffe bomb 6 DLI with no result. The German luck on reliability somewhat balances out 3 DLM.

Heavy fighting in the centre again has no result (both sides rolled 'attack centre').

7 RTR tries yet again and bounces off the SS. The Luftwaffe finally see off 6 DLI however, and their place is taken by 8 DLI.

The British infantry immediately get stuck in and assault III/SSTK, who also decide to stand and fight.

But the DLI rout them anyway, and II/6 SR move up to fill the gap. I'm saving the Pak 36s for the tanks, as the AT guns still get a bonus despite their heavy armour.

3rd DLM goes into action on the left and demolishes I/SSTK.

The Luftwaffe bomb them, even though this is a low odds attack. It allows the Germans to make a reinforcement roll in this sector and I/7 SR moves up. Still untried of course. The Germans have to make reinforcement rolls as they are facing armour in the sector.

3 DLM attack I/6 SR who promptly run away. 7 RTR have another go in the centre and II/SSTK runs for it, its place is taken by II/6 SR with its 88s.

3 DLM try to outflank the 88s and fails (very unlucky! Needed a 3+). This allows I/7 SR to fill the gap. The Luftwaffe bomb the Somuas ineffectively again.

Heavy fighting in the centre once more as 7 RTR and II/6 SR duel repeatedly but with little effect. Both sides need 5+ to hit.

3 DLM attacks the gun line and the Pak 36s stand. The attack fails. The Luftwaffe see off 8 DLI though. Only two allied units left now!

3rd DLM overruns I/7 SR, forcing the Luftwaffe to hold the line once more. II/7 SR make an unsuccessful flank attack on 7 RTR.

 

7 RTR try again the the centre and II/7 SR on the right, all to no effect.

3 DLM are held by the Luftwaffe while 7 RTR sees off another attack by II/7 SR.

3 DLM fights its way through the Luftwaffe, and 7 RTR concentrates on the 88s but is held off.

More attacks on the flanks by both sides which are ineffective.

But finally a double combat on the left flank sees 3 DLM overrun the 88s. With just one German unit left in action, it is a very hard fought Allied victory! Once that Somua is in action, things can go south very quickly for the Germans.

General view at the end. You don't often see that many dead units in Dominion.

That was perhaps a more random scenario than some of the others due to the profusion of unreliable units, but it was great fun nonetheless. It was interesting how much of a slog the Allied tanks found it without air superiority, as without artillery or bombs to blast the way ahead, armour struggles a bit unless it has a serious quality advantage.

I really enjoyed that and it captured the flavour of the battle very well. Now I've got my head around them more, I understand how the rules work and they are another excellent addition to the Dominion series. That is probably enough Dominion of the Blitzkrieg for now, so on to other things for a bit.