Wings of War: Scenario 2a- Enemy Troop Movement

After defeating the Allies in a dogfight over the trenches, the Germans were able to advance to the next scenario on the campaign map. There was a choice of either playing another dogfight scenario or doing a recon mission, and a die roll decided that we would be playing the latter. No-Man's Land and the Trenches were moved closer to the German side, so that we would have to fly further into enemy territory to complete the mission. While the published scenario seemed to be a little confusing as to the placement of the recon objectives, we decided to place three objectives on the Allied side, and only two on the German side. We put them at varying distances from the trenches, so that the Germans would have to fly further to observe their targets. Again, we placed Machine Gun postions and Balloons on the board.

The Allies had to set up first, and they did so by spreading their planes out across the trenches. Then we set up. We placed all of our planes on our right flank. The Rolands were to fly up the side, hugging the edge of the table, and then circle around the recon objectives. The Albatross would initially protect them, and possibly turn on the RE8s after they passed into German territory. Naturally, we assumed that the Nieuports (because of the better climb rate) would come after our Rolands, as we had started all of our planes one altitude level higher than the Allied planes.

As the Nieuports came rushing on, I broke off from the formation and pitched into them, while our remaining two Albatross continued to escort the Rolands.

An RE8 heading toward the German lines.

Our lead Roland takes a hit and catches fire!

Nieuports attacking the rear of our formation.

The Rolands pass the first objective point. Two-Seater planes were able to spot at long range, so long as the observer was still alive. Fighters had to get within close range and then peform a stall maneuver to successfully observe a target.

Albatross being chased by a Nieuport.

Away from the formation, I decide it's time to go on the hunt. With faster speed, I close in on the RE8 closest to me.

Fixated on the enemy to my front, it's too late when another RE8 appears on my Three O'Clock.

On the Allied side of the field, our Rolands continue to spot the ground targets, as a Nieuport flies in the middle of our formation taking shots. The Canadian pilot appears cross-eyed from keeping track of all the Germans around him.

It turned out that the RE8 on my Three O'Clock got in a lucky hit, doing some serious structure damage to my Albatross. I had to execute a power dive to escape being hit again. Time to land before I get shot out of the sky.

With only two of our planes remaining, the Allies don't let up!

One of our German pilots may have started celebrating too soon.

In the end, it turned out to be an Allied victory. Even though we had gathered more observation points initially, only one of our planes made it back. The Nieuports really raked us this game. By losing scenario 2a, we had to return to scenario 1, where we would again have to dog fight to see who goes on the attack.

Little Fritz relaxes with the Frauleins and a glass of wine after the battle.

Overall, we really enjoyed 'Knights of the Air' thus far, and are anxious to continue playing with the rest of the club. Most of the rules that are apart of the system work great, and although we haven't gotten to the special ace abilities yet, they sound like they will add a lot of flavor to the game. The only problem we found, lay with the scenarios, which seem a little unclear as to the objectives. I will either have to contact the author, or we will make our own adjustments as we see fit. Really though, a great system, and many thanks to Keith Upton for creating it.

Baron Von Gerstner lives to fight another day. Prosit!