As a follow up to last post I ran another mission with my P-38 squadron the "headhunters". If you read last post that will catch you up on the drama. This is Capt Strong's first mission as the commander. Col Birch sends him out on a fighter sweep; nice and simple. They are down to 5 pilots and plus Smally who is injured so pickings are slim. Strong picks:
Capt Strong Veteran 3 kills connected
2Lt Bone Nixon Scholarly Average Dead eye
Lt Porky Greenway Veteran 1 kill aggressive
2Lt Chip Peters Jovial Rookie Dead eye
Flying over the Bismark sea Greenway spots a large collection of planes ahead. As the flight investigates they find Betty bombers on the way to do mischief. [ Rolled up fighter sweep, then operational bombers.]
The Headhunters have the initiative. Capt Strong decides he and Nixon will go for the bombers while Porky will climb and take care of the Zeros. Strong, looking to make a splash as a commander, tells Nixon that they each will go after a bomber then join up after the pass.
[ Note, I know these are not Bettys. They are Nells. They are close.]
Porky climbs and manages to damage the lead Zero. But the second Zero makes an unusual high speed pass at Porky...
and gets a lucky hit. Porky screams as flames shoot around the cockpit but manages to bail out safely.
The third Zero dives down to protect the bombers...
As Strong turns to go help his wingman...
he quickly finds a zero on his tail as his plane takes damage. Maybe the plan to spit up wasn't so great after all!
Meanwhile up high, 2Lt Peters is still in shock by Porky's ill luck. A one on one duel between a green P-38 and a seasoned zero ends up...
like we expect. Unsupported, Peter's is shot down quickly. Fortunately a chute is sighted.
So Strong is not having a good day. He has lost two planes for one bomber and he and his wingman have Zero's on their tails. While the P-38 might be a dog in the air compared to the Zero it is a greyhound flat out. He tells Nixon to run flat out ahead of the bombers and meet up.
As Strong is diving he realizes his plane is too damaged for a B&Z. He will have to settle for just the boom part. [ he only rolled 5 dice instead of 6 and didn't have enough left over to climb.] His attack damages the betty but it doesn't go down. Meanwhile the Zeros have caught up. The veteran zero pilot with 2 kills today decides to do his own diving attack...
As Strong is trying to control his plane as second Zero shows up. However, this pilot is a mere mortal and despite the damaged plane, Strong and Nixon...
manage to keep him at bay.
With a moderately damaged plane Strong and Nixon head for home.
Strong makes it back to base but crash lands on the strip. Not the way he wanted his first command mission to go. Porky and Chip are rescued from the water however and will be back after 1 mission.
Whew! What a nailbiter. I can't believe the lightenings got stomped. It did show the rules off well though in that wingmen matter and speed is important.
Post game Col Birch is clearly disappointed and a bit worried. Squadron cool goes down after a blip when Strong took command. Col Birch threatens to shoot and then court-martial Lt Howard, the fickle maintenance officer for the squadron that can't seem to keep the planes running. It works as Howard has 2 damaged planes fixed pronto. Birch also secures a new plane that brings the squadron up to 6. Nixon makes his roll for Veteran after downing a Betty and a new pilot joins this chaotic squadron; 2Lt "hot" Summer. Unfortunately the nickname "hot" is a bit sarcastic as he is a bit inept as a pilot and barely made it through training. But hey, a body is a body right?
Enjoy
Joe
Great game!
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