Bloody April: a solo game from AH's Richthofen's War / Tony Jones I recently devised an interesting little game for solo play from Richthofen's War, using the campaign game as a basis. I modified the rules slightly to take out the altitude rule - a problem for solo play in view of the time element. Basically, I used the same order of battle as the campaign game but with only one mission per day. On each mission the Allied player has to fly two separate attacks against the Germans and during the week he has to attempt four bombing raids, four Road Photo missions, two Trenchline Photo missions and four artillery spotting missions. To reflect the lack of the altitude rule, as the way was open to get into an attacking position easier, I halved the ammunition supply for each plane. I interpreted accumulated damage to an aircraft as follows: if its last damage number was eliminated exactly, the plane went into an immediate glide and had eight turns in which to try to crash land. If it was hit again, it was destroyed. If it suffered hits in one combat exceeding its remaining damage points, it was also destroyed. I altered the critical hit table for 'Pilot Wounded': if the pilot was wounded, he had to make a crash landing on or before the sixth turn after being hit. To determine the forces available to fly each mission, I ruled that the Allies could not fly more than six planes per mission and the Germans five. The Allies could choose, but the Germans rolled a die - 1 or 2, 3 planes; 3 or 4, 4 planes; 5 or 6, 5 planes allowed. This works out quite well. So that a certain amount of uncertainty comes about, I allocated the planes to the raids for the day but did not roll for their type of target until they crossed their trench line - a 1 or 2 sent them to bomb, a 3 or 4 on photo missions and a 5 or 6 on artillery spotting. Having then rolled I allowed the Allies to select the exact target. This all helps to keep a certain element of surprise in the game. Otherwise,all rules were played including deflection shooting and the Ace rule, though I left out the wind rule to make it a bit simpler. Well - fasten your goggles and I will take you through the first day - April 9th. The Allied order of battle in the game is as follows: No.60 Squadron 9 Nieuport 17 scouts, 9 pilots and 4 reserve planes. One pilot was an Ace. I did not allow replacement pilots in this version No. 11 Squadron 9 FE/2s with 4 BE/2s in reserve, plus 9 pilots and 9 observers. The German line-up was: Jasta 11 3 Albatross D2 planes (with one Ace - Schaeffer) and 6 D3 planes led by Richthofen in the Red D3 no.1. 3 D2s in reserve. Dawn breaks clear and the engines are warmed up early on 3 Nieuport scouts who have been briefed to escort 2 FE/2s on their missions. Lt. Brown is the Ace flying one of the scouts. On the other side of the lines Jasta 11 takes up a flight of 3 craft - 1 D2 and 2 D3s, flown by Ace Richthofen. The air hums with the sound of the engines and one by one the Allied planes take off on their first mission, full of hope and confidence in their mastery of the air. A nasty surprise awaits them. They fly over fields and villages, crossing the Somme River in the south-west and crossing their trench line where they roll for their targets. One is for an artillery spotting programme with one point for each turn spent south of row T on the, board without firing their guns. The other is on a bombing mission, the target nominated being Q24. Meanwhile, high above, hidden from the British planes, the 3 Albatross split up with the D3s coming round from the west and the D2 from the east. The Nieuports spread out to try to intercept and the battle is soon joined. The first attack was in fact made by Nieuport number 2 who slid into a range 3 attack on the D2. Since it was an angled shot a 1 was deducted from the die roll of 9, scoring 2 hits. The Albatross pilot was stung into action, came upon FE/2 number 1 and pumped bullets into him, only to miss! Meanwhile Richthofen crept up on Nieuport number 1 and put in a burst at range 4 on him but after deducting 1 for deflection he also missed. The shooting was not too good at this stage. FE/2 number 2 got across line T and started to spot for the artillery. The Nieuports attack the Albatross planes - 4 hits being put in at close range on one D3, knocking it about quite a bit. Nieuport number 3 was responsible for this attack. Richthofen then got onto the tail of the bombing F E/2 and in a devastating burst got 6 hits, cutting the FE/2's speed down to only 5 hexes per turn and causing a critical hit which killed the observer. However, this did not stop the plane completing its dry run over the target hex (he has to do this before coming in to bomb). Meanwhile the Nieuports suffered minor damage from the other 2 Albatrosses. The FE/2 continued to spot for the artillery and Brown in his Nieuport got 3 more hits on the partially damaged D3, thus causing over 50% damage on him. After this the D3 made off home successfully; he landed OK but was put out of action for a whole day whilst repairs were carried out. The other two German scouts were not happy about this and the D2 put in a killing burst on the damaged FE/2 before it could complete its bombing. The D2 attacked from a head-on position and suffered 1 hit in return from the gallant pilot before he went down with his plane. Richthofen was struggling to get to the other FE/2 but the Nieuports were forcing him to be very careful. Before long, however, he slipped in close to number 2 and caused a critical hit, jamming the controls of the little scout. The Nieuport had to fly off in a straight line, hoping to unjam the controls but fortunately he was pointing towards his own lines. Nieuport number 3 used up the last of his ammunition and went off home, while the gallant FE/2 continued to spot - a miracle of endurance. Nieuport number 2 got his controls unjammed finally but whilst he was still flying straight Richthofen got up behind him and wrecked his plane causing him to go into a glide (near his end of the board, fortunately); the burst in fact destroyed his last damage point exactly. He crash-landed but the pilot was saved, while the plane was a total wreck. Brown put in another burst and missed and the FE/2 decided to go home. The D2 got close to him but missed, only to have the FE/2 turn and hit him with a critical hit. Die=12 - the pilot was killed! With that, Richthofen went home and the mission was ended. The FE/2 pilot got his V.C. (or what ever) all right and the results on the opening day of Bloody April were: Allies: 6 points for 6 turns artillery spotting 2 points for one German plane destroyed Total 8 points German: 3 points for stopping the bombing attack 2 points for the two Allied planes destroyed Total 5 points A most interesting day. I feel that this game has interesting possibilities and vith a little ingenuity can be quite enjoyable as a solo game if you haven't got a nearby face-to-face pponent.