The Balloon goes up (nearly)

[has.been]

Managed a quick game with mates, Flatpack & JC.
WW1 aircraft. The whole game, which included a LOT of 'banter'
and (unfortunately) only one round of beverages, took two hours.

It was a simple scenario. Brits had put up an observation balloon.
The Germans decide to send two Ein-decker's to remove it.
The Royal Flying Corp. could only manage one lonely DH2, but
thanks to a jammy set of dice throws the DH2 (me) was piloted by
a veteran, while one Fokker EIII had a novice flyer (Flatpack) &
the other (JC) an average pilot.

229/230/231 = The planes
232 = The Balloon (for those who might not been able to identify it.  )
233 = Battle begins with the Germans closing.
234 = One peels off to engage me, & therefore give the other a clear run
          at the balloon.
235 = JC shooting at the balloon manages to wound the observer & damage
          some fabric. The wound is bad enough news, but just one more point
          of fabric damage & I'll have to dice for serious damage!

[has.been]

Torn between two Germans to pursue, I opt to chase Flatpack.
236 = I manage to get on his tail
237 & 8 = I get a lucky hit & shoot him down, but...
239 = JC has a beautiful shoot at the balloon. His only worry
          was that if he ignited the gas the explosion might catch him too.
          Then from point blank range at a huge target he...MISSED.
          and jammed his guns too 
240 = He then did a great bit of flying to avoid colliding with the Balloon.
          There then followed several moves of his futile attempts to unjam.
          (After all just one more point of fabric damage & the Balloon might blow.)
          His futility was matched by mine, as I tried to both get on his tail yet
          not get too close to the explosive bag of gas.
241 & 242 = I finally got on his tail & another lucky shot downed the second EIII.
 
The rules were written  (both sides of a page!!!) by a nice friend, Andy Taylor, many
years ago. As with most nice & simple games it is easy to add a few scenario rules.
Today it was rules for Balloon hits, especially for the risk of explosion.

We may well give a tweak to unjamming attempts after JC's struggle. Difficult to
fly evasively while field stripping a machine gun & reading the Dutch instructions. 
Existing rule = spend two points for the chance to unjam, needing a double on 2xD6.
New rule =For each extra attempt, after the first, the player may alter one dice by a point.
e.g. 4 & 3 can become 4 & 4 on a second attempt, & so on.

These planes are metal, assembled (many years ago) by JC, as I did not have the
patience. I did do the painting, when my eye-sight was much better.
Today there are some very nice 3D printed planes on the market.
I picked up a very nice Italian Bomber from the nice guys at Syborg 3D printers
at a recent show. No assembly needed

Once again FUN was had.
 
           

[Westbury]

Looks like a lot of fun Pete, good for you 
Like the mate.

[Cat]

Ooh, aah, great balloon too!

[has.been]

Thanks guys.

Balloon AND the rules curtesy of the genius that is Andy Taylor.

[Golgotha]

The aircraft came out a treat and the game looks great. Where did you get the balloon from?

[pauld]

Great stuff - looks and sounds terrific fun and these are some lovely models and paint jobs

I do love aviation games and especially WW1, the kites are so full of character.

[has.been]

I do love aviation games and especially WW1, the kites are so full of character.

We agree Pauld, & thanks.

Where did you get the balloon from?

From the Genius Andy Taylor. He would produce fantastic things,
then say, 'It's only knocked up from...'
In this case  (if I remember correctly) it was some expanded polystyrene,
trimmed to shape, covered in tissue which was soaked in PVA glue, & some
cotton threads. The poor thing (& the Observer) have been attacked lots of times.
For the same games he made some miniature village 'tiles' (about an inch across) &
a German Air-Field complete with a red plane! as possible targets/objectives.
He Used shaved matchsticks & some scraps of filler for the hedges!!!!

[has.been]

(Hopefully) The Rules! By Andy Taylor.
I am not very good a these new fangled E-Leck-Trickery things, so
it it doesn't come out properly it is my fault.
As with any very simple rules it is easy to add a few rules for the
scenario you are playing.
For this game we added:-

Balloon Busting is DANGEROUS!
Balloon is worth 10 Fabric points (When down to 5 roll for a critical hit)
Any Critical hits roll a D6
1,2 = Losing Gas & height. Two such hits & it will fall from the sky.
3,4 = Observer Hit. 1st is a wound, 2nd is fatal.
5,6 = It EXPLODES !!! Throw 3xD6 & that is the blast radius in inches.
         Any plane caught in that explosion must dice for a critical hit.

I draw the audience's attention to how close Baron JC flew his Ein-Dekker
to the balloon while STILL firing at it!!

We thought he was trying for the Blue Max, posthumous.

[flatpack]

WW1 air war.
You can’t go wrong.
Fabric, wood and machine guns. Gulp.

Scenario - 2 eindeckers in the air, trying to bring down a British spotting balloon. One British fighter sent up to protect the ballloon.



Closing in on the target.



British DH2 mixing it with the gallant Germans.


That’s my eindecker out of the game, as the DH2 guns me out of the sky.



Second eindecker closes on the target balloon.
All we need now is a good dice roll on the firing dice.
Anything but double one.
Oh heck….


Time for the final eindecker to get out of there.


But it’s all over as the British ace guns the second eindecker out of the air.


A great victory for the Royal Flying Corps.
Scratch two eindeckers.

Great, fun game, played in the right spirit.

Finally, I took pictures of Pete’s great collection of metal 1/144 skytrex aircraft.

[pauld]

Those German planes

That's a whole box of fun

[has.been]

Thanks Flatpack & Pauld.
It has been said before, the right opponents is far more
important than the right rules.
Some nice miniatures, scenery, friends & a good Cuppa...Heaven.

[Driscoles]

That is very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[has.been]

You are welcome Driscoles.

[marianas_gamer]

Looks great fun and the balloon is brilliant!