Wings of Glory - The Twenty Minuters, part 5

The Twenty Minuters, part 5 

So, things haven't been going well for our heroic British pilots. Lord Flashheart is nowhere to be seen and Berty, our Rookie 20 Minuter pilot has an aircraft that's more holes than canvas and trailing smoke from its engine. The Hun however are doing rather well. They have collected vital intelligence on the Entente lines and are making haste for their own lines and safety. The White Albatross has a dead rear gunner and the Brown Albatross' pilot has been injured. In addition, both of the Albatross are not in danger of falling out of the sky from damage.

You can read about the previous turns' action over here.

TURN 9

Berty resolutely has decided to chase the Bosch and attempt to down their aircraft stopping the intelligence from getting back to German High Command. It's what his hero, Lord Flashheart, would have wanted.

Phase 1

Berty has finally managed to unjam his rudder and so can now chase the Germans. The Germans however are making straightway to their own lines and safety. As no aircraft have range of their opponents, there is no shots exchanged this phase.

Phase 2

The White Albatross turns slightly to join up with his Brown comrade. Berty meanwhile pushes his ailing engine to catch up on his quarry.

Again, no aircraft are in shooting range this phase.

Phase 3

Finally, some good luck for Berty as his engine smoke begins to dissipate. His Albatross enemy however are still too far to intercept right now.

Still no shooting is able as everyone is out of range of each other.

TURN 10

Phase 1

With his engine no longer smoking, Berty turns to port and chases after the White Albatross. But the Germans are getting closer to their own lines and escape.

Once again, no one is in range to take a shot.

Phase 2

Berty continues to close on his enemy but they, in turn, draw ever closer to their own lines.

Once again, the guns remain silent on all contenders.

Phase 3

Berty's quarry remains illusively just out of reach. The Germans can clearly see their own front lines now and their hope of escape rises. Again, the guns remain silent.

TURN 11

Phase 1

Our doggedly determines Rookie remains chasing the Bosh. He can see the White Albatross heading for a patch in the cloud between two cloud banks.

Phase 2

The Germans start to pass through the cloud bank and Berty loses sight of the Brown Albatross just as he edges nearer to firing range.

Phase 3

Berty pursues the Germans as the White Albatross passes through the cloud bank and is lost to his sight.

TURN 12

The Germans can sense escape now. Their English pursuer has been lost to sight and their own defence lines are about to be crossed.

Phase 1

The Brown Albatross escapes across their own German defensive lines and leaves the field with vital intelligence. Berty, passing through and out of the cloud bank, misses this escape.

The Brown Albatross escapes!

With partial LOS, and an enemy now at long range, Berty lets rip. He bullets sizzle through the sky but fail to find their mark.

Phase 2

The White Albatross escapes and just as he begins to turn for home, Archie (German Antiaircraft fire) begins to make its presence know. Dejectedly, Berty heads for home with haste. His Rookie flight has been one solid learning experience.

Berty's Sopwith Camel has suffered 13 damage.

The German White Albatross suffered 9 damage and one dead rear gunner / observer.

The Brown Albatross suffered 8 damage and an injured pilot.

The Germans are the clear victors this day having downed one British aircraft and gaining vital intelligence for an additional Victory Point. All up, the Germans gained 2 Victory Points to the British Zero Victory Points. A disastrous day for the British.

At least Lord Flashheart survived being shot down. But this has not been a day to write home about.

Wings of Glory - The Twenty Minuters, part 4

The Twenty Minuters, part 4

The chase is on!

NOTE: to see what happened last time in this Wings of Glory battle report, go to here.

TURN 7

Berty searches quickly around for any sign of Captain Flashheart, but to no avail. He then focuses on the White Albatross ahead of him attempting to Tail his opponent by anticipating the Bosch's moves.

Phase 1

Berty closes the distance on the two interloper German Albatross aircraft whilst the Brown Albatross, having completed his reconnaissance run, turns back towards the German lines and safety. The White Albatross, seeing his comrades' manoeuvre, also begins to turn for home.

"Time to go home, Fritz."

Berty again gives the White Albatross a burst of gunfire. Fortunately for our Twenty Minuter, both German aircraft are either out of range, or out of firing arch due to a dead gunner. Berty, once again, inflicts only a single point of damage at long range. The White Albatross has now suffered a total of six points of damage and has a dead gunner.

Phase 2

Berty continues to Tail the White Albatross. In an attempt to close in on that aircraft, he misses the fact that the Brown Albatross is closing in on him. The White Albatross ducks under the Brown Albatross and Berty finds himself face to face with the oncoming Brown Albatross.

Berty kicks himself for this Rookie mistake and hammers the trigger of his guns just as the sound of the ratta-tat-tat from the German aircraft cracks across the intervening distance. At Close Range both aircraft pummel each other with machine gun fire. Berty's aircraft suffers another two points of damage and smoke begins to issue forth from his engine. The Brown Albatross meanwhile receives four points of damage.

The Brown Albatross now has eight points of damage and an injured pilot. Berty however looks around at all the holes in his aircraft and smoke and oil issuing from the engine. At the eleven points of damage, his Sopwith Camel is not in good shape.

With a smoking engine, Berty can no longer Tail the White Albatross and may need to pull out of this fight and let the Germans escape. "Where are you Flashheart?" he says under his breath as he wonders what to do next.

Phase 3

Berty and the Brown Albatross now pass each other as Berty continues to follow the White Albatross.

As Berty now finds himself to the rear of the Brown Albatross, the unwelcome sound of another ratta-tat-tat is heard from that aircrafts' rear gunner. Berty meanwhile also fires on the White Albatross ahead of him.

Again, the shooting is at close range from both aircraft. Berty receives another two points of damage and his rudder jams so that he can't make either left or right rudder manoeuvres. His beleaguered aircraft has now suffered a total of thirteen points of damage.

The White Albatross however suffers another three points of damage, taking it to a total of nine points of damage overall.

TURN 8

Berty's aircraft is shot up badly and his rudder is now completely jammed. Meanwhile his engine is smoking. As such, he is limited to only moving straight ahead this turn. On the positive side, Berty is facing his own lines and so can make it back to his airfield safely enough if he disengages now. The Germans likewise and facing their own lines but will need to cross No-man's Land to get back to safety with the reconnaissance photos on the Brown Albatross intact.

Phase 1

Images of Lord Flashheart fill Berty's mind, and he begins to fear that his mentor and hero may have been shot down as he is nowhere to be seen. He is also keenly aware of the British PBI's (i.e. Poor Bloody Infantry) below him watching this sceptical unfold and no doubt cheering him on. Anger stirs in the Englishman and decides to attempt an Immelmann Manoeuvre. If he survives, he'll be back on the Bosch tail and will try to make Lord Flashheart proud of him by taking down one of their aircraft.

The Germans meanwhile aim straight for home, eager to get their intelligence to their own command.

As no aircraft are either in range, or firing arc, no shooting occurs this phase.

Phase 2

Berty survives the Immelmann Manoeuvre as his quarry flee for home.

But again, none of the aircraft are in range and so no shooting occurs this phase.

Phase 3

The chase is on once again.

On the Brown Albatross, the gunner yells out to his pilot, "Fritz, zere zeems to be a small cloud chasing uz." Fritz looks over his shoulder and sees the speck of the Sopwith Camel coming after them and growing steadily closer, a trail of smoke issuing from its beleaguered engine.

Can Berty, in a crippled Sopwith Camel, chase down the Germans and exact revenge for the loss of Lord Flashheart's aircraft? Will the Brown Albatross make it across the German lines and thus escape with vital intelligence of the Entente lines?

Stay tuned!

Wings of Glory - The Twenty Minuters, part 3

The Twenty Minuters, part 3

Things aren't looking the best for the Royal Flying Corps lads. Both British aircraft have been shot up rather badly and their German counterparts seem to be having the run of the day. Lord Flashhearts gun is jammed, and he's been injured by shrapnel. You can read all about their misfortunes back here in Part 2.

TURN 5

Although the German AI determines their flights throughout this scenario, if they approach their objective, they will tend to have movement cards selected for them that move them in the general direction of obtaining that objective and then retreating back across the German lines. That said, movement cards are still randomised but with a general directional push towards obtaining the objective.

Phase 1

With Flashheart's gun out of action, and the Brown Albatross being the only German aircraft with an Observer still alive and capable to achieving the observation objective and gaining a Victory Point (VP), the Brown Albatross will be pushing towards the Entente lines.

Berty disappears into the cloud cover after having received some nasty fire from the White Albatross. Flash meanwhile plays around with the jammed bullet blocking his gun. This distraction sees the White Albatross get on Flashhearts tail. Meanwhile the Brown Albatross makes haste towards the British lines so as the gain vital intelligence.

Flash cops another spray of German gunfire from the White Albatross. A bullet passes through his fuel tank and punches a large hole out the lower side. Fuel starts pouring out from underneath Flashheart's SE.5a and the engine starts to splutter. With a last puff, the engine goes out and Flashheart's aircraft begins to drop precipitously.

As his aircraft rapidly descends, Flashheart looks at the fuel gauge. "Damn Bosch. Wait, what's this? Out of fuel. Crickey! Looks like it's another crash landing. Let's DOOOooooo IT!" He manages to pull up his aircraft long enough to crash into the British trenches and jumps down, gun in hand, to hammer a Captain to the ground whom he mistakes for a German Officer. Only after he questions Captain Blackadder does Lord Flashheart realise that he's back on the right side of No Mans Land. Better make a phone call. "Woof!"

Phase 2

Berty, in an attempt to get onto the White Albatross tail, performs the second movement of an Immelmann Manoeuvre whilst hidden in cloud cover. He has no idea of what has just become of Lord Flashheart.

Trying to get correct movement in 3d clouds isn't easy!

Meanwhile, as the German aircraft now aim for the Entente lines, they have gained a VP for downing a British aircraft and want another for their primary mission objective.

"Za coast is clear of zoes pesky British flyers. Letz get za photoraphz!"

Phase 3

As the Germans continue onwards towards their objective, they have lost sight of the remaining British fighter. Thinking they have fended off the British, their mood lightens up after the downing of one British aircraft and chasing off another.

But not so fast. Berty completes his Immelmann Manoeuvre inside the cloud bank and prepares to return to the fight.

TURN 6

For movement this turn, the Germans will automatically move as directly as possible to the Entente lines before turning to dash back towards their own lines and safety.

Phase 1

Berty reappears out of the cloud bank and onto the White Albatross tail. With the German observer dead, the White Albatross won't be able to fire behind the aircraft, nor can it gain any VP for observation of the Entente line.

The Brown Albatross however, makes it over their reconnaissance objective. If they can stay over the Entente line for the rest of the turn then make it safely back across their own lines (i.e. off the German table edge), the Germans will gain a VP.

"Surprise Hun!"

"Start taking photorgraphz, Schultz"

Phase 2

Berty quickly begins to close the gap on the slower White Albatross. The Brown Albatross begins its photographic run of the Entente trenches. Berty is at long range but has the White Albatross in his sights. He opens fire on the German, eager to repay the kindness he suffered before going into the cloud bank earlier.

Being at long range however prevents him from getting in an accurate hit as the German throws his Albatross around the sky in an attempt to avoid damage.

Phase 3

As the Brown Albatross continues its reconnaissance run as Berty closes in on his prey, the White Albatross.

Berty lets rip with on the White Albatross with another salvo from his guns. But yet again fortune is not with the British pilot as he only manages to score a single point of damage.

With that, the turn comes to an end. The Germans have managed to shoot down Lord Flashheart, who has fortunately survived, and are undertaking the reconnaissance run of the Entente lines. Meanwhile Berty is frantically trying to take down the Germans single handedly. Not bad for a Rooky pilot of the 20 Minuters but things look bleak for the British Royal Flying Corps.