Wing Leader PBEM - SDR vs Barthheart

[Barthheart]

SDR and I thought we'd have a bash at playing, someone other than ourselves, this great new game from GMT - Wing Leader

We'll be using VASSAL to PBEM the following scenario:



SDR graciously offered to setup the game and found himself volunteering to play the British. What a great guy.  O0

So here's the setup for the start of the game:

[Barthheart]

A closer view of our glorious airmen enjoying a nice fly about the mostly clear French sky.

You can see 2 squadrons of Ju 87B-1's being escorted by a squadron of ME 109E's. A bit below them is another squadron for ME109e's on a CAP mission for our bridgehead across the Meuse River. For some unknown reason the dastardly Brits want to wreck our fine bridge.  :(

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Should be a slaughter.  One thing I learned from playing the game designer's previous title Nightfighter is that he likes to design most of his scenarios based on watershed moments in history where one side's tactics or technology were shown to be revolutionary or deeply flawed.  I think this scenario is meant to highlight the flaws in RAF tactics such as the use of the tight, 3-plane Vic flying formation and the lack of a higher level radio net for comms between squadrons.  The poor buggers in the Blenheims and Battles are going in without escort.

[Barthheart]

Here we can see the evil British flyboys trying to sweep the skys of our wonderful planes and bomb our fine bridge.

Two squadrons of Hurricanes Mk. 1's are trying to catch up to a couple of squadrons of Blenheim Mk.1's.
Below them is some Allied troops to whom we will try to deliver some very special packages.

[Barthheart]

All comments welcome in this thread as there is no hidden info in this game.

There are fairly strict command and control rules in this game so there's not much your opponent can do until he gets a Tally on your squadrons. A Tally allows a flight to break out of the C&C and attack the enemy with free movement.

For instance, my ME019's that are on the CAP mission have to circle in their current space until they can get a tally on an enemy. To do that they need to roll 1D6 and have that be higher than, or equal to, the distance to the enemy plus any clouds that might be between.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Look.  This is all a misunderstanding.  The French asked us to ask you if you'd mind holidaying somewhere else this year.  They heard from the Poles that you tend to overstay your welcome and also that you refuse to take your shoes off when you come into their houses.  This messes up the carpets and scuffs the furniture.



Anyway, here are the RAF and Luftwaffe squadrons:


The RAF:

G, H, and I are the Hurricane squadrons.  They are all on a sweep mission meaning that they'll ignore our bombers and just fly straight ahead until they spot Jerry at which point they'll be free to move as they please.

S and T are Blenheim bombers.  They're cleverly well out in front of the fighter screen and without escort.  We're expecting big things from them.

X and Y are the Battle bombers.  They're still at the aerodrome drinking and won't enter until turn 6.






The Luftwaffe. 

Veterans and Aces everywhere!  Even worse, the Huns have assigned their fighters to bomber escort.  That means if my Hurricanes attack their bombers, the Bf109s will be able to dive right in and possibly intercept.  The wiley Teutons also have tactical flexibility, meaning they can split their fighter squadrons into smaller flights and act like frat boys in a buffet line.

[Barthheart]

See, now this is how rumours are started. Poland started it all by not allowing us access to the nice port city of Danzig. So we'd thought we show them how to properly engage your neighbors in friendly path sharing.

The French.... well, it's the French, you know how they are....


Each counter for the Germans represents a squadron of 9 aircraft, while the British squadrons have 12 aircraft each.

Damage from combat is kept track of at the individual aircraft level.

The Veteran status of a squadron is the training level of the entire squadron.
The Experte means there is an ace in the group.
A squadron can never lose it's training level from combat but can lose it's ace!

[BanzaiCat]

The more I see of this game the more I want it. Will be eagerly reading this AAR. Thanks, gents.  O0

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Here are the aircraft cards for this scenario.  The card for the Blenheim is for the Mk IV but the Mk I is used in this battle.  The only difference is that the Mk IV has a protection rating of 4-5h and the Mk I has a rating of 3-4h.  Whenever an attacker scores a possible hit, the attacker rolls 1D6 and adds his unit's firepower rating to the roll.  If the roll is less than the defender's protection rating there is no damage.  If it's equal to the rating then one plane is damaged and becomes a straggler or if a straggler already exists, that straggler gets shot down.  If it's greater than the protection rating then one defender is shot down.  The "h" means the unit is vulnerable to head on attacks.

[Barthheart]

These cards are something else! There are like really large counters being thick and not like playing cards at all.

There's history and variant info on the back side.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Turns 1 to 3 were uneventful as neither side was aware of the other and therefore all flights were required to fly straight and level (except for Bart's 1 Staffel of Bf 109s on CAP which are required to circle in square R4).  There was a chance for the leading fighter units of both sides to tally the bombers on turn 3, but we both needed 6s on 1d6 and both failed our rolls.

We have both just completed movement for turn 4 and I have made my tally attempts.  (Bart hasn't made his yet).  My leading squadron of Hurricanes (Sqn H) has spotted the Stukas below him.  Unfortunately, each of the British squadrons is on a separate radio net so I can't inform the other Hurricanes of my tally.




Close up view.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Lee's updated the rules.  The changes are underlined in the new rulebook.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/119168/wing-leader-rulebook-v13

[Barthheart]

So...both of my 109's fail to get tallys.  >:(

So the escorts fly straight ahead and the Ju87's move forward and down an altitude level.

I still get one last change to React just before his Hurris enter the bombers square. I need to make a successful roll on 2D6....

[Barthheart]

So SDR's Hurris dive down my poor unsuspecting Ju87's. My escort tries to react but fails and only gets a late react.
Because the Luftwaffe is so awesome at this point in the war, we have tactical flexibility which means I can split my squadron into 2 flights.
I do this and 1 flight chases the Hurris into the combat with the Ju87's while the other flight remains on escort duty.

[GJK]

Sorry for the silly question that I'm sure has been asked and answered elsewhere dozens of times but how does the game handle planes horizontally when they are in the same row?  Are they all assumed to be flying at the same radial or does the game have a way to account for placement among an horizontal axis?