Once again yours truly came up short against Game Store Tony, who is turning into a budding wargamer before our eyes.
The occasion today was a little dustup over England during the Battle of Britain in the fall of 1940.
The situation was a wayward ace-piloted J-87 being shepherded home by a pair of Me-110s (veteran and skilled) when the group is jumped by four Spitfires (veteran, two skilled and a green pilot) coming from 6 O'clock high. Coming to the rescue was an element of Me-109s piloted by another ace and a skilled wingman. The final participant in the aerial drama was a fifth Spitfire, this one also piloted by an ace. Game Store Tony took the Germans, I took the Brits.
The ace-piloted Stuka proved to be a difficult target for the Spitfires, who found their number cut by one almost immediately when the heavy trigger finger of one skilled pilot emptied his magazines. With no ability to hurt the enemy he dove out of the action, Unfortunately he was the element leader for the green pilot who ended up lurking around the edge of the furball -- unwilling to mix it up but also unable to tempt any Germans into chasing him.
The Me-110s bled off most of their speed performing a loop and spent most of the rest of the battle catching up. They did force the other skilled Spitfire to dive away out of the fight when they ended up behind him.
The Me-109s had more of an impact and were able to interfere with the Ace and veteran Spitfires as they popped away at the Stuka. The vet Spitfire was able to damage the Stuka but moments later fell to a well-placed shot by the Me-109 ace. The ace Spitfire found himself unable to line up a quick shot to finish off the Stuka and with four Messerschmidts stacked up behind him he also was forced to exercise the discretion to leave.
All-in-all a credible performance by Tony, although in my defense I'll note it's only my third or fourth game as well and I'm still learning the flying ropes. The final score was one downed Spitfire and a damaged Stuka.
The battle was played using Axis & Allies miniatures planes on a Hotz Mat and took a little over 2 hours to play 9 turns.
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