Enemy Coast Ahead (dambusters raid)

[Barthheart]

 >:(

Tail gunner: "Something's coming up fast behind us, Sir!"

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Fighters usually stayed around 14,000 ft for bomber intercepts.  During the raids they dropped down to about 3,000 ft which was still way too high.  Roll 2d6 to see if they spot you.

[Barthheart]

Fighters usually stayed around 14,000 ft for bomber intercepts.  During the raids they dropped down to about 3,000 ft which was still way too high.  Roll 2d6 to see if they spot you.

See last post on previous page....  ;)

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Yup.  The first roll was to see if one showed up to investigate all the doins afoot at the dam.  The second roll is to see if it spots you, descends to your level, etc.

[Barthheart]

Yup.  The first roll was to see if one showed up to investigate all the doins afoot at the dam.  The second roll is to see if it spots you, descends to your level, etc.

Gotcha.

[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 4, total 7[/blockquote]

[undercovergeek]

I rolled a 6 for damage

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Fatally weakened by two successive blasts, the dam wall suffers a structural failure and collapses.  Millions of litres of water spill through the breach and down into the valley below.  The collapse of a portion of the dam wall drags a flak gun down with it.

UCG, your 2nd bomb did 4 points of damage to the dam, bringing the total to 7.  The dam needed 6 points to breach it.  The explosion knocked the flak defense level down to 1.




Bartheart,  your rear gunner reports a possible night-fighter sighting roughly 3000 ft above your current altitude. 

You have some decisions to make.  You can stay and attempt another run to widen the breach.  The reason that you'd want to do this is that the game models the unreliability of damage assessments made by the bomber crews at night while under stress.  Once the mission ends, a morning recon flight will be send out to determine the exact damage.  There's a chance that it's going to be less than what is indicated now but even then, it's highly unlikely that the damage rating will be lowered to the point where the dam will be considered to be not totally breached.

Also, there is now a night-fighter nearby and the longer you stick around, the more likely it will be to attack.

If you want, you can give the orders to proceed to your secondary target, the Eder dam.  If you wish to do so, you can form the remaining bombers into 1 or more waves.  A wave must have at least two bombers in it.  Gibson will have to lead the first wave.  If you decide to create more, you can elect any other bomber as the flight leader for that wave as the original flight leaders of waves 2 and 3 are both down.

As all the remaining bombers are present at the Mohne, the wave or waves can be formed automatically and in good order and there's no need to conduct wireless checks.  The waves will form on the Ruhr Valley section of the map and begin their moves towards the Weser region next turn.

[Barthheart]

Gibson to all aircraft: "Knight's heroic last run has done enough damage here. Form up and head to the secondary target."

I believe we have enough planes to form 3 waves of 2 planes each. 1st wave will be AJ-G and AJ-M. Stagger's 2nd wave will be AJ-L and AJ-P. UCG's 3rd wave is AJ-B and AJ-Z. All flight leaders listed first.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Keenly aware of the looming night-fighter thread, Gibson made a rapid assessment of the situation.  If he split the remaining force into 3 separate groups and ordered each to find their own way to the Eder, the overall risk might be greater but he wouldn't be putting all his eggs in one basket should that fighter pounce.  Hopefully some would make it through.  He began to issue his orders.  "Hello, M for Mother.  Hopgood, you're with me."

"L for Leather, you take P for Popsie and make your way to the secondary."

"B for Baker, you and  Z for Zebra take the 3rd wave.  Understood?"



Astell:  "Hello leader, this is B for Baker.   Sir, Henry....Z for Zebra.... they didn't make it, sir.  I saw them go in after their drop.  It's just the five of us left, sir"

Bart, a wave needs two or more planes so AJ-B can't form a wave.  You can order him to fly independently but if he fails his nav check in the Weser zone, he'll get lost and will have to make a check each turn to get back on track.  Do you want to attach him to one of the other waves instead?

 

[Barthheart]

Doh! I went back through the posts trying to find all the crashes and missed that one....

Gibson: "B for Baker, damn you're right. Ok you pull in with L for Leather and P for Popsie. We'll do it in two waves instead."

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Here are the new waves.




Turn 5 starts.  The weather is starting to worsen and fog is starting to form in the river valleys.

Both flights turn SSE and start following the Weser river towards the Edersee reservoir.






Navigation checks. 

Bart, your flight needs a 7 or better  on 2D6 due to Gibson's map error.


Stagger, your flight also needs a 7 or better due to Astell's map error.

[bob48]

Great read so far lads, very entertaining  O0

[Barthheart]

Gibson: "Nav is that the Weser down there?"


[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 2, 4, total 6[/blockquote]

[Barthheart]

Gibson: "Nav? Damn it where are we?"
Nav: "Not quite sure sir...."

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

First wave formation spread out.  While we wait for Stagger, you can have a look at the hazards generated and decide which 2 you want to evade.

There are 6 hazards (2 for the zone, 2 for the alert level, and 2 for the number of bomber waves).  Two are known flak positions.  The other 4 are unknown.  The zone has a recon level of 2 two so you can select any two hazard chits to remove.