Enemy Coast Ahead (dambusters raid)

Started by Silent Disapproval Robot, March 08, 2015, 02:58:08 AM

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Staggerwing

D'oh! At this rate we'll end up in Sweden with that crazy Yank pilot, Lt Orr.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

#61
QuoteGibson's flight remains in good formation as it crosses over the Dutch Coast but both Young's and Knight's flights became dispersed and crossed out of sight of one another soon after passing inland.


The Dutch Coast is a nasty bit of business.  It generates 3 hazards due to the heavy defenses, +1 for each wave or independent bomber, and +1 for the alert level for a total of seven hazards.

The hazards you faced so far were generally in the nature of human error or mechanical issues.  Now that you're in hostile territory, the hazards will tend to be in the form of threats from defenses and terrain. 

The good news is that you can evade some hazards.  Each hostile zone has a recon level that represents earlier scouting & photo reconnaissance missions that have located enemy defenses.   You can remove a number of hazards equal to the recon level which is 2 for this zone.

As you can see in the screen shot, you've got 7 hazards.  5 have question marks meaning they are unknown (but can still be evaded).  The remaining two are known hazards.  One is a flak battery and the other is a collection (gaggle?) of barrage balloons.  The strength of the flak batteries in the game ranges from highly ineffective to absolutely murderous.  Balloon concentrations are absolutely deadly though.  As the bombers were flying at less than 100 ft at night, they stood almost no chance of spotting the tethering cables holding the balloons in place.  Balloons offer a 50/50 chance of killing a bomber outright, but even if the bomber survives, it still takes damage unless it has a veteran crew in which case it has a 1 in 6 chance of surviving.

Bartheart, you can remove any two hazard markers of your choosing.  If you want one or two of the unrevealed hazards just let me know which ones by numbering from 1 to 5 from left to right in the screenshot.

Once that's done, you'll have to assign the remaining 5 hazards to the 3 waves.  Again, they've got to be spread out as evenly as possible so 2 waves will get 2 each and the remaining wave gets 1.  As before, once you get hazards assigned to your wave, spread them out as evenly as possible between the bombers in your wave.  Disregard any previous hazards affecting your bombers when deciding where to assign the new hazards.

UCG, remember that your flight leader has the Jink & Weave ability so he can discard a single hazard that's been directed at either his plane or his wave.  This might be the turn to use it.  You have to decide before the nature of the hazard is revealed.


 

Silent Disapproval Robot

I'll be working until 7pm PST so take your time deciding.

Barthheart

#63
Nav: "Sir, we've lost visual with the other two waves again. Seems they missed the nav points."
Gibson: "Damn! This isn't a joy ride, what in bloody hell are they up to? Well I hope they still know the locations of the Ack-Ack and the Balloon farm that the Recon boys found earlier."

(We'll avoid the flak and balloons, thank you very much)

Gibson: "Ok everyone, keep your eyes open for any kind of threat. We're low an exposed here so keep sharp! I do hope that Knight is up to his usually fancy flying tonight..."

(Wave 1 will take the first 2 hazards, AJ-M and AJ-P, Wave 2 will get the next 1 and Wave 3 will get the last 2 - hoping that he can jink away from one.)


Silent Disapproval Robot

OK, still need the hazard assignments for the planes in waves 2 and 3.

undercovergeek

ill use me jinkin' skill to avoid whatevers coming up

Staggerwing

Meanwhile, onboard Lanc AJ-J 'for Johnny'...
Johnson the navigator shouts up to pilot Maltby, "Cap'n, 'ave ye ever 'ad the feelin' tha' there's a grea' big circle painted on our arse?". Maltby laughs and tells Johnson to pay more attention to his charts. A few moments the hairs on the back of Maltby's neck start to raise as well despite the lack of any apparent danger...
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

#67
UCG, you didn't select a bomber in your wave so I'm going to assume you'll assign the hazard to Astell in AJ-B.


Anyway, here are Bart's results.

QuoteGibson, aware of heavy concentrations of flak ringing a Luftwaffe base to the north, altered his flight path slightly southwards in order to give the German gunners a wide berth.  The roar of the bomber's Merlin engines couldn't be masked however and the German defenders came to life and began to sweep the skies with their searchlights.



Bartheart, your flight has been caught in the beams of two searchlights, ruining your crew's night vision.  The flight leader will have to make an immediate navigation check with a 2 point penalty.   Roll 2D6 and you'll need 8 or better to succeed.







Silent Disapproval Robot

QuoteMeanwhile, aboard AJ-J in the 2nd wave, Maltby again called back to his navigator for course confirmation.  Nicholson, still convinced he was in the right and the navigator in the lead plane had made an error, confidently called up.  "Yes, Skip, beariing 141 degrees.  That should take us right up the length of the canal and keep us out of sight of those ack-ack guns to the north."   Too late Maltby spotted the line of power poles.....

Staggerwing, AJ-J has suffered a crash.  Roll 1D6.  On an odd number, the bomber is destroyed.  On an even number, it's damaged but also loses its ordnance.





Silent Disapproval Robot

#69
QuoteKnight, flight leader of the 3rd wave couldn't be sure if he truly saw anything or not but just for an instant, he thought he saw a shape blacker than the surrounding blackness blot out a star in the night sky.  Just for an instant, then it was gone.  He kicked the rudder over and dropped even closer to the deck.  Astell, piloting AJ-B, saw the sudden change in direction and tried to follow suit  "Where the bloody hell is he going?" he muttered.  He soon lost sight of the lead plane in the ground clutter.  His navigator tried to keep track of the sudden series of direction changes.  He climbed up to the dome to get his bearings.  "If that's Arnhem over there, then we must be just north of Nijmegen....or is that Groesbeek  ....?

UCG, AJ-B has suffered a map reading error.  They (or any flight they're in) will suffer a 1 point navigation penalty for the rest of the mission.  Knight's used his jink and weave ability so he can't use it any more during this mission.  As a bonus, I've flipped over his counter so you can see his smiling face and shiny medal!




(BTW, you picked a good hazard to evade.  It was an Me-109 night fighter.)

Staggerwing

Lanc AJ-J suffers a great shock down the length of its fuselage while pilot Maltby desperately tries to keep up the nose...


[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3[/blockquote]

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Staggerwing

... but to no avail and the huge aircraft slowly sinks down through the air until the left wingtip touches onto the soil and the Lanc starts a deadly cartwheel roll for several hundred feet.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys


Barthheart

Gibson: "Blast! I can't see a bloody thing. Let's hope we can keep from flying into the ground until our vision returns."

[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 5, 6, total 11[/blockquote]

Barthheart

Nav: "Captain, were still on course... as far as I can tell in this hellish light."
Gibson: "Good to know. I'm going to    "
Nav: "CAPTAIN! Large ground explosion to the south of us! I just caught sight of a wing tip arcing up before the explosion. Must have been one of ours.... no way to know who it was though...."
Gibson: "Damn! Any chance anyone made it out?"
Nav: "Not from what I just saw..."
Gibson: "Rotten bloody luck."