Recent game of Dawn Patrol: Austro-Hungary vs Italy

[The Major]

While out of print for the last 40 years, Dawn Patrol is a personal favorite.  Mike Carr, the author of Dawn Patrol, really knocked it out of the park with this game, I think.  Still, over the last four decades, we play with a LOT of house rules we have collected into what we call The Major's Guide to Dawn Patrol.

This game is a Recon scenario and is a based on an historical recon mission I call "The Battle of Staro Stela"
Date:  16 Sep 1916
Location:  Over the Italian/Austrian Front (AKA the Mountain Front)
Time 0900
Reconnaissance Mission

Italian Forces of the 70th Squadriglia
Nieuport 11:  Francesco Baracca (3 kills)
Nieuport 11:  Prince Fulco Ruffo di Calabria (1 kill)
Nieuport 11:  Luigi Olivari (1 kill)

Austro Hungarian Forces of Flik 16
1x Lloyd C.III (Pilot:  Franz Morozko; Observer: Anton von Csaby)
1x Fokker E.III (Line Pilot)


Historically, this battle took place over Mount Stol near the village of Staro Stelo in modern day Slovenia.  At the time, this region was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.  All three Italian pilots claimed a shared victory over a single Lloyd C.III.  Baracca would go on to become Italy’s leading ace with 34 confirmed kills.  Prince Ruffo di Calabria would eventually gain 20 confirmed kills while Olivari would gain 8.  Both Baracca and Olivari would eventually be killed in action.

The 70th operated out of what is today Istrana military airfield about 90 miles Southwest of where the battle took place.  And, Flik 16 operated out of the town of Villach, Austria which is about 50 miles to the Northeast.

Interestingly Prince Ruffo di Calabria’s granddaughter Paola would become the queen of Belgium in 1993.  And in 1923, Enzo Ferrari would choose the rearing horse that Baracca painted on all his aircraft to be the symbol of his car company.

For game balance purposes, a Fokker eindecker escort was added.

The Austro-Hungarian player did a masterful job of taking advantage of the Lloyd C.III's excellent wings level climb ability (for an early war aircraft, that is) and was able to get in, take the required photographs of two separate targets, and get back up into the overcast cloud deck and escape combat.  Baracca did tussle a bit with the Fokker A.III but only traded single minor hits.  The Fokker ended up hard jamming his gun (hard jams can only be unjammed on the ground) and to add insult to injury, the poor pilot crashed upon landing!  He walked away unscathed and with 8 victory points under his belt, but I'm sure had to endure much ribbing from his fellows back in the squadron.  The Lloyd C.III crew however had a total mission success scoring a whopping 65 victory points!  The three Italians survived to fight another day but were left with tales of the one that got away.  All in all, a tense nailbiter of a game that ended up being a race for the clouds.  Enoy the pics!

[Driscoles]

Thanks for sharing. Looks interesting to me. 
Probably was originally designed as a counter game.

[The Major]

Thanks for sharing. Looks interesting to me. 
Probably was originally designed as a counter game.

You are correct, sir!  Dawn Patrol was originally a counter game written by Mike Carr and published by TSR.  Hardly anybody plays it anymore.  But I still love it!  The altitude sticks are really there just for visual appeal.  They have no bearing on game mechanics.  Thanks for commenting!  You can still find the Dawn Patrol boxed sets on eBay for pretty cheap.

[jambo1]

A very interesting report and some great history there, never played Dawn Patrol before but it looks decent.

[gweirda]

You can still find the Dawn Patrol boxed sets on eBay for pretty cheap.

If interested, include "Fight In The Skies" in your search, as that was the name of the original game pre-TSR.

If really interested:

2022 FITS Society Minicon
APR 27 AT 4 PM – MAY 1 AT 5 PM
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Milwaukee Airport

The event you wait all year for is coming! The legend continues to grow with 4 full days of gaming -- an extra-long weekend of DAWN PATROL® gamesmanship, camaraderie, skill and FUN !! With such a large and lively group of players, you can be sure the lead will be hot and the zingers hotter.
This annual gathering gives you the opportunity to test your mettle against the best DAWN PATROL® players in the world. Will your roster grow or shrink? Who knows, but three things are certain -- old friendships will be renewed, new ones formed, and fun will be the order of the day.

[The Major]

A very interesting report and some great history there, never played Dawn Patrol before but it looks decent.

Thanks!  I'm glad you enjoyed the "after action report".  It made for a fun scenario.  The weather turned out to be a deciding factor in the game.  We really like our house rules (The Major's Guide to Dawn Patrol). The original game is, of course, more limited and with fewer aircraft but still a wonderful classic.  We like to think we've made a great game even better! 

[The Major]

If interested, include "Fight In The Skies" in your search, as that was the name of the original game pre-TSR.

If really interested:

2022 FITS Society Minicon
APR 27 AT 4 PM – MAY 1 AT 5 PM
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Milwaukee Airport

The event you wait all year for is coming! The legend continues to grow with 4 full days of gaming -- an extra-long weekend of DAWN PATROL® gamesmanship, camaraderie, skill and FUN !! With such a large and lively group of players, you can be sure the lead will be hot and the zingers hotter.
This annual gathering gives you the opportunity to test your mettle against the best DAWN PATROL® players in the world. Will your roster grow or shrink? Who knows, but three things are certain -- old friendships will be renewed, new ones formed, and fun will be the order of the day.

Thanks for sharing this--sounds like an incredibly fun event!  And it isn't all that far from me.  I'm very intrigued.  Are you attending by chance?

[FiatRevelli]

Looks great and I'm intrigued by the rules.

My primary WWI interest is Italy vs Austria - land, sea, and air, but I've found precious little in books so far on the last of those. I'm curious where you found the historical background. If you can point me in the right direction, hopefully to an English language source, it'd be most appreciated! (even if my wallet may think otherwise)

[Mr. White]

As a fan of Wings of War and role-playing in my youth, I've frequently thought of picking up Dawn Patrol. If memory serves it does have a strong role-playing element in the creation and tracking of pilots, correct?

[tikitang]

I played a video game called Dawn Patrol in the mid 90s. Not sure if it's related!



Really fun game, and one of my favourite front covers too.

[The Major]

Looks great and I'm intrigued by the rules.

My primary WWI interest is Italy vs Austria - land, sea, and air, but I've found precious little in books so far on the last of those. I'm curious where you found the historical background. If you can point me in the right direction, hopefully to an English language source, it'd be most appreciated! (even if my wallet may think otherwise)

Hi!
  Well, I found the information on the Italian pilots from the wonderful Aerodrome website.  And I found out about the pilots of the Lloyd C.III from an article that was translated from, I believe, Hungarian.  Start at the Aerodrome.  Excellent website for WWI aviation buffs.

[The Major]

As a fan of Wings of War and role-playing in my youth, I've frequently thought of picking up Dawn Patrol. If memory serves it does have a strong role-playing element in the creation and tracking of pilots, correct?

Jack, you are correct, sir!  One of the cool aspects of the game is a pilot experience system.  I elaborate on that in my house rules in order to track, recon, artillery spotting, ground attack, and bomber crews as well.  Experience is based on missions and kills while medals are based on victory points earned during missions.  It's pretty fun, we think.  I'm hoping that Mike Carr will allow me to provide my Major's Guide to Dawn Patrol as a free to downlad .pdf for everyone to enjoy.  So far I haven't heard back from him.  But he's usually pretty good about allowing that sort of thing.  You still need the 7th ed rulebook to play it.

[Cat]

My primary WWI interest is Italy vs Austria - land, sea, and air, but I've found precious little in books so far on the last of those. I'm curious where you found the historical background. If you can point me in the right direction, hopefully to an English language source, it'd be most appreciated! (even if my wallet may think otherwise)

Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1914-1918; Martin O'Connor is The big book on the topic.  Decent prices at ABE.

[FiatRevelli]

Thank you, The Major and Cat! (sorry for derailing the thread a bit!)

[The Major]

Thank you, The Major and Cat! (sorry for derailing the thread a bit!)

You are more than welcome and you didn't derail anything!    Tangents are the spice of life.  And I always love talking WWI aviation.