Lee Brimmicombe-Wood - Oct 29, 2004 4:32 am (#799 Total: 805) Senior Games Designer, Kuju Entertainment Ltd War and Peace, Part I An AAR from Gordon and Guy: A quick Glossary: RE = Random Event; FU = Form Up; CP = Channel Patrol; FJ = Freie Jagd S4 AAR RAF – Gordon LW – Guy Rules – first few turns under old set, then new rules (1.3.2, 3 Oct) used thereafter. The only real impact on game was the response levels. Gordon started with 5 sqns airborne and we played that they started with 2d6 endurance used but could be replaced without the limitation of the raid matching rules. We are getting more comfortable with the set up procedures but this did not prove to be any hardship to manage. Some raids initially planned to skirt the coast by one hex now would be counted as "over England" for losses and VPs. The new withdrawal escort over the North Sea and Channel Freie Jagd rules might have been useful but were not used. Weather – generally OK, but dense haze over London, patchy clouds at 20 over Hornchurch, crosswinds 16+. ------------------------------ In a departure from the norm, I've cut and pasted the pre-game raid chit draw, subsequent plan & comments to the end of this AAR – see if you can tell what's going on here, and what you would do about it! (Lee – if you want to put this on Consim, you might want to put this back to the beginning so people not familiar with the game can follow its course more easily). -------------------------------- GT1 – 1 FU counter at Cherbourg. Nothing else in view at start, then Hostile 01 appears: 20+, high, in Baie de Seine. GT2 – 1 FU appears over the Pas de Calais. Gordon starts scrambling 10 Gp (601). H01 moves to Channel B. Impromptu fighter sweep from the channel patrols bounce 41 Sqn over Ashford. Both lose 2 aircraft, 41 pancake, the CP loses no cohesion and returns to the display. GT3 - The FU in Cherbourg disappears, but no raid detected. Second FU appears over Calais. 10 Gp scramble again (87). H01 moves to Channel A (see above-Exeter sqns need to be off early & the disappearing FU might well be Epro 210 with a high FJ in support- threat has to be honoured) GT4 - H01 enters heading straight north for Southampton. 10 Gp still scrambling (152). GT5 - Tangmere wing (airborne at start) moves to cover Southampton. H01 bores in north. 10 Gp still scrambling (238). 603 scrambles to replace 41. GT6 – H01 goes undetected as it coasts in over the I of W, jinks right & passes behind Tangmere wing who miss their tally. 10 Gp sqns move to cover potential Erpro threat from the FU counter that disappeared over Cherbourg on GT3. Gordon starts to scramble 11 Gp sqns (303). Another FU appears over Calais. GT7 – Tangmere wing, getting short of fuel, hunts for the elusive FJ, catching it inland, identifying it as 1g Me110. They botch the intercept, lose a Spit and pancake. (Gordon: The shape of things to come!) The FJ takes a single disruption and disappears again as tally is lost. Gordon moves to replace some 11 Gp airborne sqns running short of fuel (66 & 72 launching) and also scrambles another 11 Gp sqn (257). Another FU appears over Calais (total now 4). (Gordon: I'm now increasingly convinced Epro 210 aren't coming & there is a huge pile of formups over the Pas de Calais so even though the shape of the LF2 effort isn't clear I need to get something up in 11 Group) GT8 – Weather change! Hornchurch goes to rain & overcast at 4, N Sea gets fog, Biggen has broken clouds at 4. Shit! This means crap weather on all approach routes & waypoints to London, only mitigated by making the Observer Corps task more difficult. (Gordon: It made tracking the FJ very hard & due to this & the high unit density over London, together with Guy's excellent FJ tally results meant I had no success in FJ avoidance-wings in fact seemed to attract the FJ quite remarkably!) H04 (20+, A16) breaks out from the Calais FUs and heads NW. Undetected H01 FJ moves inland, heading NE towards Northolt. 11 Gp scramble another sqn (222). The Hostile track nos a bit confusing to recount, H02 & 03 slots on the display were filled with detection cards drawn to simulate the Cherbourg raid (the FU there was a dummy) and activity in the Baie de Seine. The sequence of track numbers gets confusing later as well as units split off from raids to pancake. GT9 – H04 is upgraded to 60+, A22, raising the raid matching limit to 2 sqns per turn. 2 more FUs appear over Calais, while a second raid is formed there (H05, 20+, high). Gordon, realising that nothing has appeared on the south coast, scrambles 2 sqns out of Northolt (1 RCAF & 229) while readying the Duxford Wing. H04 continues NW past Margate, H05 heads NW from France, going feet dry just E of Deal. Undetected H01 approaches Northolt. GT 10 – RE detection checks causes H05 at Deal to go undetected. Gordon launches the Duxford Wing en masse (5 sqns), starts to move the Middle Wallop sqns NE towards London and scrambles 92. 11 Gp sqns start to mass around the Thames Estuary. Undetected H01 continues his grand tour, now NW of London, narrowly missing a tally attempt on the Northolt wing climbing above the capital. H04 over the sea off Margate turns west towards London and promptly gets lost over the fog shrouded sea. This raid is in trouble already. Consisting of 1g Do 17 + 1g 110 close escort, it was supposed to use clouds for cover, but the cloud has dropped to fog and rain, leaving it standing out like the proverbial dog's bollocks. Undetected H05 (1g 109 FJ sweeping ahead for H04) moves NW across Kent to lead the way down the Thames Estuary, but fails to tally sqns waiting there. GT 11 – Another FU appears over Calais (total now 5). No sqns scrambled though, as Gordon has to be wary of the Response Level – 23 sqns launched so far, the plotting board shows just 1 raid of 60+, with 2 x 20+ FJ flitting about somewhere undetected. (Gordon: I was getting edgy at this point that I was facing one small raid & a big FJ with a correspondingly low RL-the decision to commit the Duxford wing would have been hard in a competitive game but was easy here as the rules needed to be tested) Duxford wing starts to form up. Gordon has 5 sqns positioned to receive H04, which moves West up the Thames Estuary vainly searching for cloud cover. 603 Sqn neatly avoids H05 sweeping ahead of H04 (all the more impressive as H05 is still undetected (Gordon: About my only successful FJ sidestep!) and positions itself perfectly for an up sun intercept. 603 bounce the 110 escort, shooting down 3 and causing a D2, for no loss and a D1 in return. The other sqns gain height and wait inland. The H05 FJ, 2 hexes ahead of H04, fails all tally attempts. Undetected H01 flies east round N London to protect the raid's N flank but fails all tally attempts on potentially vulnerable sqns climbing to height. GT 12 – New track H06 (150+, A18) forms and heads straight west out of Calais towards Hastings. The Thames Estuary sqns continue to jockey for position while H04 plods on to 1 hex W of Sheerness, undetected H05 still 2 hexes ahead. H01 reappears high above 222 Sqn, climbing just W of Rochford, having flown round London, which hopefully is a bit of a surprise. Everyone misses tallies this turn, including the still undetected H05 FJ, which has 5 sqns below within 2-3 hexes and misses them all. Gordon re-scrambles the Tangmere wing (213 & 607). GT 13 – New Track H07 (20+, A32) forms and follows H06 towards Hastings. H04 reaches Tilbury and is set upon by 92, 257 and 222 Sqns. In a comedy of errors, 222 attack the escort getting a straggler result, shooting down 2 more 110s but leaving them otherwise intact and in place. 257 are perfectly placed up sun on H04 but miss their tally and 92 tallies but misses the intercept. I was half hoping to receive a D1 on the bombers to allow them to bomb their alternate at Tilbury rather than push on to London. Undetected H05 FJ sidesteps the London flak and then appears next to 1 RCAF & 229 in a wing, climbing over S London. A successful tally & intercept breaks up the wing and sends them home. H01 (110 FJ) goes undetected again and backtracks west to try to block northern approaches to London. Gordon scrambles more 11 Gp sqns (605, 249 & 504), Duxford Wing completes form up. RAF has launched 28 sqns, 9 have engaged. GT 14 – H06 (150+) reaches Hastings, H07 FJ goes undetected as it coasts in N of Dungeness. 257, having screwed up last turn, goes into an orbit and duly tallies H04 as it ploughs on towards London. They evade the escort but blow the attack, just causing a D1 and they break off to pancake. Amazingly H04 (1g Do 17 + 1g 110) has reached London almost intact - they are still lost but a nav check before they reach the bombing hex puts them back on course and they are about to bomb and get almost max VPs. They then fail the nav check overhead the target and roll to divert to their alternative and head back towards Tilbury! They are intercepted again and the escort (rather than their stragglers) is finally intercepted and gets the final D required to pancake them. H05 FJ moves next to Kenley and bounces 605 climbing out of Croydon, shooting down 3 for one loss in return and both pancake. Undetected H01 110 FJ meanders about N of London hoping to catch the Duxford Wing on its approach but the patchy cloud in between them puts them out of tally range. Gordon is now launching everything as sqns from Castle Camps, Stapleford and Martlesham (73, 46 & 17) take to the air. The sqns assembled at the Thames estuary have partly engaged H04 while the remainder starts to head South to cover the approaching H06. There are still 4 FU counters in the Calais area. GT 15 – 2 new tracks form at Calais and head out NW – H08 (10+, A24, FJ) and H09 (150+, A6). Gordon re-scrambles 41, 501 and 602. H06 turns NW from Hastings towards London, but fails its nav roll. Undetected H07 (109 FJ) moves up to cover its E flank. 11 Gp sqns move to cover the new threat, 66, 72 & 303 leading. H05 FJ (pancake) runs for home from Kenley and runs into 303 Sqn's patrol at Maidstone, they are intercepted and lose 2 109s to 1 Hurricane, the Poles pancake too. Example here of the case where pancaking units pull down a patrol that was well placed for the incoming threat. Undetected H01 (110 FJ) doubles back to Hornchurch, still fails to tally anything, but are tallied by 46 way below and become detected even though 46 rescind pursuit. (NB tallying with low sqns that can pass on pursuit is a good way to get raids detected). The Duxford Wing move S, still protected by overhead cloud cover. The Tangmere wing + 238 & 152 from Middle Wallop arrive over W London. H04, now a lone Do17 gruppe, reaches Tilbury, still lost and drops bombs haphazardly through the overcast, with a total of 10(!) column shifts right on the bombing table and gain 1VP for their heroic efforts. Gordon ignores them as they continue their confused way outbound. They have been to central London & back without loss (only 1D, although the escort suffered), scored the 1VP but have tied up a lot of sqns in doing so. However, there still looks to be plenty left for the incoming raids and the Duxford wing looks ominous as it crawls S. GT 16 - No new tracks, just 2 FUs still over Calais. Detection check RE reveals the H07 FJ covering the150+ H06 approaching Tunbridge Wells. Gordon re-scrambles 253. H01 (110 FJ) goes into patrol overhead Hornchurch 5 mins too early to catch Bader's boys and instead they intercept 249 climbing out of N Weald. They break up the sqn for no losses and finally get to pancake themselves after hopefully having been a pain in the arse for the defence for all 16 GTs. (Gordon:True!) The storm gathers S of London as 66 & 72 tally H06 at 2 hex range as it approaches Sevenoaks, 504 moves into position at Biggen, Bader moves up to Hornchurch, 238 & 152 move over central London and the Tangmere wing move into line. H07 FJ sweeps ahead of H06 but misses all tallies. H01, H04, H05 & H10 (detached pancaking 110 close escort for H04) all stream outbound. Sqns elsewhere clawing for height and position for the next wave. GT 17 – RE is a CP fighter sweep, but nothing in range. A form up counter disappears (H11, another 109 FJ, not detected) and another FU is placed. No scrambles, the readiness tote looks pretty bare. H09 (150+) heads inbound passing over Ashford, with H08 FJ sweeping ahead. A frightening reception awaits H06 (2g 111 A16, 2g 109 escort, 1g 109 top cover) as 504 patrol Biggen, 238 & 152 patrol high over central London, the Duxford Wing move to S London on H06's approach route, the Tangmere Wing just to their west and 66 & 72 already have tally and are in pursuit. H07 FJ start by passing overhead Bader & sweeping into 238 & 152 on patrol. 152 engages but does no damage and pancakes. 238 (Hurricanes at A30) tally the FJ above them at A34 but cannot intercept. (NB: They cannot rescind pursuit until their movement phase as they are only 4 angels lower but they cannot climb above their ceiling to get the 109s. I played it that they lost their patrol status but would be able to rescind pursuit in the Pursuit Phase and so be available to tally/intercept H06 in the combat phase. Some clarification needed here I think on how this sequencing should run – when do sqns that rescind pursuit move? If they do so in the pursuit phase they are still moving after all LW units so are heavily advantaged.) (Gordon: Also a useful illustration of how effective FJ a hex or two ahead of the bombers could potentially be in sweeping patrols out of the way close to predictable targets- probably quite important in S4 as most of the targets are in London & the RAF may well make extensive use of patrols). H06 continues its run towards central London. 504 on patrol misses 2 tally attempts as the raid passes them and the raiders end up one hex short of their target, in the same hex as the Duxford Wing and adjacent to the Tangmere Wing. 66 & 72 in pursuit go first though and scythe into the top cover & escorts, and both D3 and pancake their adversaries in one pass. The Tangmere Wing then miss their tally. Bader doesn't though. Question arose here about how you handle a balbo in combat. After getting it all wrong, I redid it with the wing able to break up to intercept units within the raid at will. 242 & 19 hit the lead 111g, killing 3 but causing no disruptions and Bader pancakes. 616 take on the remaining escort and inflict a D1 but pancake themselves. 303 & 310 miss the intercept on the second 111g with snake eyes, but stay in pursuit. The Duxford Wing has huge potential to cause damage, but here with unlucky die rolling has not performed to spec. (Gordon: Certainly didn't justify the RL hit here though it could have done, I'm also slightly bothered by the inability of the Balbo to fend off FJ atacks- makes it very vulnerable & I think the wing did have a prebriefed plan for the Spit squadron(s) to hold off the fighters while the Hurris went for the bombers-to have lost the whole lot to H01-1g of 110s would have been at least mildly frustrating. Guy - how about letting 1 sqn act as top cover for the balbo, nice bit of role reversal!) 238 try to follow the Duxford Wing in but miss their tally. H06 has survived the turn but still has to get past the Tangmere Wing & 238, with 302 & 310 in pursuit. In LW combat, H07 FJ over central London fails to tally 238 below them or the Tangmere Wing, or anyone else. H08 FJ sweeping for H09 inbound tallies 41 climbing over Chatham and goes into pursuit. (NB: Even using CB things were a little congested over London. Suggest a Balbo or wing counters to represent formations when required, either with separate vector / tally counters or using the lead sqn's. If playing ftf and using the track history counters (Gordon:Track history counters might also usefully be numbered as at this sort of counter density I think they would be useless clutter if not-we abandoned them about GT4 -I didn't feel they were helping) as well it would be a nightmare. This turn was marked by a lot of very low rolls for cohesion and tally checks. I thought the system held up well during this thorough work out and demonstrated the unpredictability of the air combats, so no problem with the end results IMO.) Summary so far: 35 sqns committed, 20 sqns engaged & pancaked / RTB. 15 sqns airborne under orders, including 601 & 87 holding way off over Dorset / Hampshire. 5 raids inbound (1 undetected), 6 outbound or pancaking in dribs and drabs. Still 2 FU counters over Calais. Lee Brimmicombe-Wood - Oct 29, 2004 4:35 am (#800 Total: 805) Senior Games Designer, Kuju Entertainment Ltd War and Peace, Part II S4 AAR continued.... War & Peace vol II - Count Pierre Behuzov, the white Russian emigre joins 92 Sqn... GT 18 – RE detection check reveals H11, which set out last turn: 10+, A28, heading inbound S of Dover. Yet another raid forms, H12 100+ A18, and heads out from Calais. Hopefully, with the RAF already heavily committed, this is a nasty surprise for AVM Christie. (Gordon: Indeed!) Another FU counter takes its place. Gordon re- scrambles 501 & 603 (Gordon; I reckoned I must be over my RL but was desperately trying to get in amongst the bombers & do some real damage for lots of VPs). The sqns over London go into orbit to catch H06 before they bomb. Sqns gathering & climbing around Tilbury and South of London as the next wave heads in. H06 (now reduced to 2g He 111 + 1g 109 escort) moves into the target hex, and the Tangmere Wing miss their tally again! 238 don't and try to get to the bombers but are blocked by the escort & pancake. The 2 He 111 gruppen of H06 fail their nav check (they were already lost) but bomb anyway for 14 VPs. On the way out the Tangmere Wing miss the tally again (which now may be a good thing with more raids inbound) and 302 & 310 hit the raid in pursuit, pancake the last escort, kill one 111, disrupt themselves and RTB. (NB: VPs may still need a tweak – Gordon could garner more VPs monstering the defenceless bombers outbound than by trying to stop the inbound ones) (Gordon: Agreed-I went for the historically correct solution but in game terms I could have contented myself with slaughtering the 2g of bombers & standing Fighter Command down thereafter & I might just have won!) H08 FJ sweeping for the 150+ of H09 (now approaching Maidstone) pursue & bounce 41 at Rochester, 2 Spits go down and they pancake, and the FJ incur no cohesion loss. Bad day for 41, 2 sorties, 2 bounces, 4 losses. The Tangmere Wing's day also goes from bad to worse as H07 FJ over London tally them at 2 hex range and go into pursuit. H11 FJ heads inbound to Ashford, sweeping behind H09 (now overhead Detling) and ahead of the new H12. GT 19 – No new form ups, 2 FU counters still over Calais. Only 222 at readiness in 11 Gp and they scramble, 9 sqns on turn round. With H06 now outbound, attention turns to H09 inbound. The strain is starting to show on the defence, with a far less formidable reception awaiting H09 (still showing 150+ at A6). 46 and the Tangmere Wing move to interception positions around Gravesend while from the west 504, 253 and 501 (still climbing out of Kenley) struggle to get into position to hit the raid before it reaches London. 603, 73 and 17 are arriving late from the east and 602 approaches Kenley from the west and look as if they are better placed for the next raid. H09 drives on to just SW of Gravesend. H08 FJ, fresh from bouncing 41, climb back to regain their track and finish overhead H09. (NB: A lot of scope for gameyness in this move, as they could stay level and plough into the 504/253/501 group and by climbing they effectively become another top cover unit for the raid. Trying to write a rule for this would be well nigh impossible, with variables such as weather, fuel etc. No ideas apart from perhaps stating a general principle of the factors to take account of, similar to the guidance for breaking off pursuit). H07 FJ pursue the Tangmere Wing from central London, bouncing them for 1 kill, disrupting both sqns and then pass their own cohesion check, further thinning the defence. The next wave moves up, H11 FJ reaches Detling, H12 (100+ A18) coasts in S of Lympne. The RAF implements a scheme for free eye tests for sqn leaders as 46 & 504 fail to tally the big H09 raid from 1 hex, and 253, 603 & 73 fail from 2-3 hexes. Only 501 succeed from 2 hexes and they are well below the raid, which is revealed as 1g Do17 & 1g He 111 with 2g 109 close escorts at A12, with 3g109 top cover stacked upwards to A24. 46 does manage to tally H08 FJ above H09 and vents its frustration by intercepting them, shooting down one 109 and D3'ing the rest while losing 2 Hurricanes in return and pancaking. In a show of solidarity, the remaining FJs fail all their tallies as well! (Gordon: Again I went for the historically correct-I think-approach but a betetr game tactic would have been to wait & go for the smaller raid following) The outbound raids stream SE, the air picture must be a nightmare with 12 Hostile tracks on the move and some 20 sqns airborne. A quick scan reveals how the balance of forces has swung: Gordon's heavy commitment against the early raids and some good work by the FJ leaves 8 active sqns facing a total of 3 bomber gruppen and 9 fighter gruppen still inbound. (NB: Despite the multiple failed tally checks I still think the tally table process works OK. It just worked out that the low rolls hit the tally checks, while the high ones went to combat / nav rolls etc.) GT 20 – RE detection checks on detected raids: H11 FJ fades from view at Detling, all other inbound raids stay detected. Outbound raids were skipped. Gordon re-scrambles 1 RCAF & 229 out of Northolt, but not as a wing as all the wings (except Bader) have so far fallen prey to FJ and been broken up. Gordon divides his forces to deal with the 2 incoming raids, 504 goes into patrol ahead of the big H09 raid while 17, 73 & 253 position over London to hit them over their likely target. 501 drops tally on H09 to climb to meet H12, 602 moves high over south London and 222 and 603 climb over the Isle of Sheppey. H07 FJ moves first to get back on his plotted route and triggers the 504 patrol resulting in a straggler combat and both lose 1 aircraft and 504 pancakes. This clears the way for H09 to move through ineffective flak to eastern London unopposed. They pass their nav check (no way points en route, so not lost on arrival) and bomb to gain the max 20 VPs. Good work by the FJ and a couple of failed tally rolls means this large raid has reached its target without being intercepted. That changes when 17, 73 & 253 attack from out of the sun. 73 fails to tally the raid (I'm sure the air is turning blue over Aberdeen!) and 17 and 253 hit the upper top cover units for 2 D2s, losing 2 Hurricanes in return and pancaking. (NB: In VP terms the RAF might have had more to gain by ignoring this raid once it had bombed and turning to meet the next raid. However, that would leave over 160 unmolested German aircraft doing a display and celebratory fly past over London.) Undetected H11 FJ approaches Sevenoaks, but fails to tally anything and H12 (100+ A18) passes Ashford inbound. H07 FJ also fails all tallies and is just out of fuel. Pancaking units from both sides stream home. Interestingly, the weak response against the big H09 raid that has just bombed has now shifted the balance back towards the RAF, with 8 active sqns facing the inbound threats of 2 FJ (one short of fuel and the other undetected) and the 100+ of H12. This is a neat point as the game can provoke the same historical arguments over committing sqns en masse and missing some raids or having lots of small, weaker attacks against all raids. At the moment I believe the game's VP system favours the former. (Gordon: Agreed & I'm not sure that's right) GT 21 – RE extends HF range for the RAF, which will be useful. No new form ups, no scrambles. Bit of a pause as RAF draws breath and the latest attack turns outbound from London. Sqns struggle for height, generally in 2 groups east and west of the LW express route to London; 73, 603 & 222 to the east, 501, 1 RCAF & 229 to the west. Again the outbound raid is ignored as new threats approach. Undetected H11 FJ moves to Sevenoaks and gets a lucky tally on 501 climbing out of Kenley and goes into pursuit. H07 FJ has to pancake from the same area for fuel – if the last turn's combat with 504 had not been a straggler combat they would have reached home at their max recovery time and had to roll for recovery / aircraft running out of fuel. H12 (still 100+ A18) approaches Maidenhead inbound. GT 22 – RE nav check, H12 becomes lost. No new form ups, still 2 FUs over Calais. Gordon scrambles sqns as they come back to readiness, launching 92, 605 and 303. He knows he is probably over the Response Level but decides to gamble on getting back VPs by getting a good force in action against H12. IMO this is the right approach; the game system can become distorted at this edge of the envelope as the RAF could well lose more VPs than they gain by contesting raids. H12 luckily gets back on course as it passes over West Malling but is then hit by 73 & 602. 73 again fails to tally, but 602 succeeds, revealing the raid as 1g bombers + 1g fighters at A18, with 1g 110 top cover at 30. They bounce the top cover, killing 3, causing 3 disruptions, lose 1 Spit themselves and both sides pancake. 501 tries to close on the raid but runs into the pursuing H11 FJ at Sevenoaks, losing 3 Hurricanes and pancaking while the FJ goes to D2. As they were not tallied, H11 remains undetected and fades from view. Things look bleak for H12. Their top cover has been stripped out in one attack, and 1 RCAF, 229, 603 and 222 will just be getting to height over London when they arrive, and 73 is on their tail searching for them. Other sqns might catch them on the way home. GT 23 – RE Detection Check on detected raids – all remain detected. The LW just keeps coming as another raid heads out of Calais – H16, 30+ A34. Will this divide the defence or is the time split too great allowing the RAF to take each threat in turn? The balance of forces now shifts heavily in the RAF's favour (at the cost Response Level VPs) as Gordon re-scrambles 66, 249 & 41 (for their third sortie of the day). H12 flies into the wasp's nest over London, but before the sqns can intercept (they were unable to patrol as they were still moving into position) H12 passes the nav check and bombs Woolich for 9 VPs. 1 RCAF & 229 fail to tally for what would have been a climbing intercept. 603 fail to tally as well. Gordon wants the close escort out of the way and it is hit by 222 and 73 for 2 losses and has to pancake. South of London, 92 climbs out of Kenley into the patrol zone of the undetected H11 FJ. They are bounced and slaughtered in a devastating attack that kills 5 Spits and they go straight back to Kenley. H11 (I/JG51) turns for home, tea and medals – 8 kills, no losses! GT 24 – RE Channel Patrol fighter sweep, nothing in range. No form ups (1 FU counter remains). RAF has plenty of sqns to hand, but 257 scrambles for back up. The problem of "dumb patrols" resurfaces. H12 is trying to escape from London, with 3 sqns adjacent that can go on patrol. Their close escort is in the same hex as a separate raid having been pancaked last turn. By moving the close escort first the LW can take down all the patrols and give the bomber gruppe a clear path out. Decided to actually move both tracks together and then do a random roll to see which one each of the patrols attempts to tally first. 1 RCAF & 229 get the fighters, 603 get the bombers. 1 RCAF then fails to tally the fighters and get the bombers instead. The exposed bombers have changed their orders to pancake, to get the –1 on the interception table. They lose one to 1 RCAF, who pancake, one to 603 in a straggler combat, who pass their cohesion check and go into pursuit. 229 hits the fighters for another kill and pancake. (NB: I think this end result was good, but how you write a rule for this I have no idea!). Elsewhere, 41, 605, 66 and 249 race east and climb to try to get ahead of the fleeing raid, although 249 is just too far behind. (Gordon; Last gasp attempt against this raid but I'm still not sure this is the end & that last FU counter has me positioning 5 squadrons high in case Guy has yet another raid up his sleeve) H16 (30+ A34) heads inbound past Ashford. Far away, 87 & 601 land at Exeter, commenting on what a quiet morning it has been for them! GT 25 - RE Nav check – no effect. 46 & 72 re-scramble to increase the standing defence against the last FU over Calais. The sqns chase the fleeing Dorniers of H12. 66 & 41 climb up from below it, 605 close to 2 hexes west, 603 continues in hot pursuit. H16 FJ moves inland to the west of the melee around Detling. 603 comes in for a second pass, intercepting the main element, not the stragglers, shoot down one Do17 but lose 2 Spits to return fire and pancake. Things go further downhill for Gordon as 66, 41 and 605 fail to tally the raid (Gordon: At this point I make it 10 tally attempts & 2 successes against 2g of unescorted bombers, even worse the 2 intercepts have cost me 2 fighters in exchange for only 2 bombers). To make it worse, H16 FJ tallies 66 from 2 hexes and goes into pursuit. GT 26 – No scrambles. The H12 Dorniers continue their desperate run for home. 66, 41 & 605 all close on their target. 66 is bounced by H16 FJ, losing 3 Spits and pancaking; the FJ gets a D1 - 66 have lost 5 aircraft over the 2 sorties today. 41 & 605 still can't get tally on the bombers. The FJ is in the middle of the mix up but can't attempt another tally as they have been in combat this turn. The air picture finally picks up to +1, having been solidly in the +0 box for most of the game due to the intensity of action. Back in France H09 lands on schedule – 1g Do 17, 1g He 111 + 5g 109s, they scored max bombing VPs for no losses and 2 top cover units at D2. The crews head for the bar. GT 27 – At last 605 and 41 catch their prey just before it goes feet wet into the safety of the Channel Patrols. They shoot down 4 Do-17 in 2 straggler attacks. 605 breaks off for home. 41 survives the attack intact, but decides against a chase over the sea and hauls off as they cross the coast. H16 resumes his track west, but decides to pancake rather than use all his fuel climbing back to patrol height. The last 109s turn back towards France. Shame – they were going to strafe Kenley, where there were 3 sqns on the ground! Columns of smoke are rising above London – looks like its been a good day for the LW…… ENDEX End Game Summary (all losses overland): LW Fighters = 28. Bombers = 11. VPs = (28 x 1.5) + (11 x2) = 64 RAF = 33 Bombing VPs = 44 Response Level = 32. Sqns scrambled = 49. VPs = 17 x 4 = 68 Net total = 135 – 64 = 71. Scenario VP = 52 Result = LW victory. (Gordon: Great game & excellent work through for the system. RAF "only" lost by 19VPs despite some pretty awful tally, intercept & combat rolls. No major issues on my part though I think the tally numbers & raid size issues need a look & although the VPs are sound overall I think that there needs to be a clearer incentive for the RAF to keep going at the inbounds & also the RLs need to take account of the fact that a prudent RAF player will always have some squadrons airborne at end game as a prudent LW player will always use one dummy formup to leave a latent threat at the end of the game which the RAF must honour) -------------------------------------------------- Pre-game chit draw, planning comments: Raid Chits – T (5x109g FJ, 6 VPs, RL 7), and B (Woolwich & India Docks, 6 bomber gruppen, 3g 110, 9g 109, 46 VPs, RL 25). By getting the FJ first, it greatly increased the chance of getting a big raid as the second chit, as quite a few chits then had to be discarded for not meeting the minimum VP threshold. Point to remember if playing the option of letting the LW select one raid chit of his choice. LW Plan - impressive LW OOB, but forming large raids increases chance of a trip to the Special form up table with a 1/3 chance of losing half or all the escort, which would guarantee disaster. (Gordon: An effect of the way things are written at present is to strongly encourage the LW to set up raids of less than 6g total with only 2g of bombers-this minimises he risk of formup cockups & also sharply reduces the odds of tallies against the raid-see below. This may be deliberate & justifiable but I wonder if there is a bit too much of a cellophane effect giving an "ideal" raid size for the LW here) We had discussed before how the default LW plan usually entails launching everything early and how different the game would look if there was a genuine threat of follow up raids. Decided to go for something different by spacing raids at 15-20 minute intervals, with alternating FJs and bomber raids to stretch the defence and hopefully give Gordon a bit of fun in managing the defence against a variety of threats rather than the default RAF plan of launching everything as fast as the raid matching limits allow. Probably not a game winning strategy but interesting to push the game in a different direction and it would give the response rules a good work through. (Gordon: This was great fun & made for a very different game. It is also perhaps a potent LW strategy given the RAF RLs & the ability of the LW to use dummy formups. I scrambled the Exeter squadrons against a dummy formup over Cherbourg-as they are so far away its an early decision to use them or lose them. It was impossible not to be aware of the historical sequence of raids by Epro 210 on Woolston so, though I avoided stacking all of 10 Group over Woolston I felt I had to honour the potential threat when the FU counter disappeared as there is no CHL cover in the West & I didn't want to hand Epro 210 15VPs on a plate. This is a very potent use of LW dummy FUs in S4 against an RAF player who either knows the history or has analysed the raid table-the converse is how do you stop a sleazy RAF player just parking a couple of patrolling squadrons over Woolston in every game- not sure on that one! At game end Guy had a final FU in the Pas de Calais. I deliberately abstained from studying the raid table all through so that I played with as little foreknowledge as I could & the last dummy FU convinced me that I needed 3-4 sqns high in case it was another raid. In total I reckon astute use of dummy FUs by Guy caused at least 6 scrambles and netted the LW 24VPs). Spreading the raids over time makes the RAF player's life difficult with the RLs-I went at it as hard as I could hoping I would really damage one raid- historically valid I think & although it didn't come off in this game I think with slightly different results at crucial stages it might have done) Planning with large nos of FJ can get very complicated when trying to avoid having them stack together and not with or adjacent to bomber raids. By managing raid sizes and heights, max FU mod was +2 and remarkably all raids went on time. (Gordon: Still a bit worried about the potential results of the EW die roll for S4. A 6 or 7 leaves 0 squadrons in the air and if the LW runs a simultaneous launch of carefully organised raids on London splitting a big raid into 6g or less packages together with FJ on GT1 it's a near must win for the LW I think as with 0 squadrons on patrol nothing will get up to the FJ-potentially at A34-and only 9 or so squadrons will be at A20 or better by the time the LW is over London, although others will be struggling for height. As the EW table stands I don't think the LW has any incentive to do anything else than this as it seems to me to be a potentially killer tactic to which there is no RAF defence about 1/3 of the time. As a highly relevant aside the steady procession of raids Guy launched made for a constantly exciting game and the use of the 2 dummy formup counters in LF3 at the beginning & in the Pas de Calais at the end was highly effective in creating potential threats the RAF had to honour by scrambling squadrons against the RLs) Additional points to follow... Lee Brimmicombe-Wood - Oct 29, 2004 4:37 am (#801 Total: 805) Senior Games Designer, Kuju Entertainment Ltd War and Peace, Debrief S4 Game Debrief When drawing conclusions from this game it should be remembered that the some of the results are a bit distorted because of the unusual raid plan and a lot of poor RAF tally results. I thought the slow build up made it more interesting and fun but the new early warning rules seem based on the premise that the LW will launch everything at once. We went through the early turns very quickly and it didn't really add much to the playing time. If the game started with no form up counters and just a few RAF standing patrols, the RDF detection process could easily be adapted to provide rough information on levels of activity in the 2 general form up areas of the Pas de Calais and Cherbourg (using the total number of gruppen forming up, rather than trying to detect individual form up counters). If form up times were based on raid size (ie getting everyone into formation) then the RAF player can decide his own response rather than what might be a hit or miss use of the Early Warning table that will shape the whole game. (Gordon: I still like the idea of allowing the RAF to scramble some squadrons in relation to the appearance of formup counters. I think this provides an excellent way of modulating the RAF response in relation to a reflection of perceived LW activity. I would be inclined to reduce the variability inherent in the EW table dramatically but allow the RAF to place 0.5-1 squadron per on map formup at start & scramble 1 sqn in addition to raid matching for each additional counter that appears) Tallying – my luck was average, Gordon's was poor. If my maths is right, the probabilities of tallying at range 0-1 in clear weather with no modifiers are 49.7 % against fighters, 53.4% against <3 bombers and 64.1% against 3+ bombers. So the middle tally column on the detection cards might need a couple more T's. Also, there is no difference if you are co-altitude or if there is a big height split. Possible solution is to only do the card draw for units tallying from range 2+ or with a 4+ height difference. That changes the base chance of tallying close units to the die roll alone, so for the same examples the probabilities rise to about 72%, but you lose the differentiation between fighters / bombers etc. It avoids complications over the raid's indicated / real height because if the tally attempt goes on to use the cards and still fail, the tallying side only know they are not within 2 angels of the real height, which seems fair enough. (Gordon: I agree there should be something in the tally system to reflect altitude difference, also the step between 2 & 3 bomber gruppen seems a bit steep-especially combined with the formup effects on >6 gruppen). Possibly more (?4 or even 5) tally categories for non co altitude (A<-2, A>+4 fighters/ co altitude fighters & small (?1g) bombers non co altitude/ 1g bombers coaltitude & 2g non co altitude/ 2g bombers co altitude/3g non co altitude/3g+ co altitude. Slightly fiddlier but a smoother probability curve with fewer steps might be useful?) The VP system is moving in the right direction but may still require some tweaking. The RAF has more to gain by concentrating on one raid and picking up loads of VPs for bomber casualties rather than raid matching available sqns to threats. The extra VPs for bombers make them prime targets if stripped of their escort and outbound, even over inbound raids. There is little encouragement for the RAF to go for the larger goal of defending their airspace against all incursions. The Response Levels VPs are a big step forward but can produce anomalies. If the RAF player has over-committed on early raids he stands to lose more VPs than he gains for intercepting follow up raids, leading us back down the track of being better off letting raids go in and out unmolested. Response Levels - each scenario should have a rough guide on the sqn to gruppe ratio the RAF is looking for, otherwise the RAF player needs to study the Historical Raid lists to see what the parameters might be. This is difficult enough for players familiar with the system, so would be essential guidance for new players (Gordon: Agreed-I tried not to second guess the raids & steered clear of the raid table all game.but it left me in the dark about appropriate RLs. That said despite massive effort by the end of the game I thought 11 Group was nearly back in balance and the huge VP penalty might somewhat overestimate the effect) The FJ were very effective and won the game for the LW. They engaged 16 sqns that would have otherwise hit the bomber formations and caused 22 of the 33 RAF losses. I think this was due to: 1. Luck – the plotted plan happened to put them in the right place at the right time, you could use the same raid plan again and get completely different results. Also the poor RAF tally results left the sqns exposed to FJ attack before they could engage or get into pursuit. A FJ with tally at range 2-3 on a sqn already in pursuit is unlikely to catch it before it gets its attack in. 2. Fair Play – All credit to Gordon, he was meticulous in carrying through his planned moves even when he knew the sqn faced impending doom from a pursuing FJ that they would have been unaware of in reality. This is as it should be, but there is a lot of scope for the less scrupulous to minimise the FJ threat, and perhaps there should be a note in the rules to that effect. (Gordon: Agreed. The only other option would be an FJ pursuit phase prior to RAF movement- or FJ preemption by undetected FJ before tallied sqns move-might be worth thinking about as otherwise gaminess is hard to keep out). 3. The density of action gave the FJ lots of tally opportunities. The raid selection process can throw up odd or disastrous combinations, as we found in S2. FJ raid chits however will always complement and strengthen other raids from the same LF. A raid chit that provides a big raid with plenty of escorts together with a FJ raid chit really represents the LW dream team, with loads of planning possibilities. However, looking at the S4 raid list, the LW rarely got the dream team together, if at all, as it appears the big FJ raids were usually independent missions. I would hate to lose this option because it makes for such a good game, and it balances the more usual frustrations of raid chit selection. Bit of a Hobson's Choice – accept that the raid selection process will throw up these extremes or deny the LW the chance to try out the dream team in a complementary and coordinated attack. Finally, if you have a lot of FJ, trying to plan their routes while keeping them from stacking together and not even adjacent to bomber raids is very difficult. The only way I could figure it out was by making up a table with raid nos across the top and GT nos down the side, and then enter the end hex for each raid on each turn so I could read across a GT line to ensure there were no conflictions. A lot of work initially but vastly speeded up LW movement during play. My planning map looked like a plate of spagetti! The FJ rule is correct, but just drawing route lines on the map for such a scenario will lead to confusion and mistakes. Interception & Combat with multiple units – Gordon has already raised the wing / Balbo issue. I think the interception and combat rules could do with examples of multiple interceptions because it can get quite complicated and the organisation of the rules doesn't lend itself to following individual cases through, but cross referencing should sort this. I think 13.3.4 could do with a round up of escort capabilities over a turn / phase. The one turn`s action as an "active agent" principle is good. What about if an escort / top cover is actually targetted for interception (as opposed to reacting and becoming a defender), say during their movement – do they lose their reaction capability for the rest of the phase and/or turn? When you look at the Balbo / Wing interception and combat procedures, can you state how this differs from sqns operating individually that are attacking from the same or different heights. That leads on to the really complicated scenario of Balbos / Wings & sqns attacking at the same time from the same and/or different heights. I think there could be a separate section devoted to Hidden Movement games, explaining the nuances and what info should be with held. Eg: Drawing a detection card each turn for the Baie de Seine area during LW movement. Draw extra detection cards when RE calls for detection checks on undetected raids. Keep nav rolls secret (otherwise RAF can target on course raids over lost ones - this applies to open games too). Remember to place undetected raids on the map if adjacent to an RAF unit or AAA counter in the RAF combat phase. I would also prefer that when raids become undetected, all acquired info is lost. When it reappears it is up to the RAF player to correlate the new track with a previous lost one. Requires each newly detected track to be given a fresh number, so some moving about of units on the raid display may be needed. A little extra effort that would enhance the hidden game greatly. Also, that is how it was/is done for real. (Gordon; Agreed-would greatly add to the RAF chaos factor) Keep the tally rolls of undetected FJ secret as it will reveal their position relative to RAF units, but in a ftf game do lots of rolls anyway, to keep the RAF player on edge! Player honesty is paramount in a hidden movement game. Weather effects – I had a raid that flew through the Hornchurch Sector (Overcast 4, + rain) to get to London (Dense Haze & Fine above). They failed the nav check over the target then diverted back to Tilbury (which they had already overflown and is only 2 hexes away) where the weather was worse, incurring a minimum 5 column shift on the Bomb Scoring Table. Not sure if a rule can be framed for this, because for other raids the alternate could be miles away, but that could be a lot of VPs at stake. Airfields – 18.1.1 says airfield capacity is 2 sqns for Sector airfields. In S4, Northolt has 3 sqns assigned. Is the sole effect of airfield capacity just the number of sqns that can be scrambled / landed in one turn. What is the effect of a sqn diverting and causing the airfield capacity to be exceeded? Should there be a limit on the number of sqns that can be moved through the refuelling / rearming boxes at the same time? Hex grid – I think the LW player should indicate on his raid plot which hex his units will occupy when the plotted course runs along a hexside. Too much scope for abuse otherwise – the direct routes from the Pas de Calais to London run along hexsides all the way (along or parallel to the Biggin / Hornchuch sector border), allowing a bomber raid to shift left or right every other turn, or a FJ raid to shift every turn. (Gordon: Agreed) Strafing – the rules are not clear: can fighter units strafe more than once during a game, if they survive the flak and cohesion checks? (I would guess yes). Can they strafe more than once a turn? (I would guess no, although Biggin-Kenley-Croydon in one turn would be a neat trick!)