Battle of Britain II (Luftwaffe Adler Tag) AAR

[PanzersEast]

BOB II - ADLER TAG AAR

// Preface //

With the A2A re-release of Battle of Britain 2 I had high hopes many issues would be addressed from the original version and for the most part they were.  However, the German campaign remained broken with the main issues of fighter escorts that would not join up with their assigned bomber formations, and the lack of squadron informative feedback.  Enter the release of v2.12, which in essence has corrected many of the main issues that has plagued the German side.  Now with some brief testing it appears that the issues have all been corrected.  Let me preface this by saying that it in no way makes the campaign easier and what I have learned from previous campaigns is that if you do not dwindle down the number of A/C fielded by the RAF, it does not matter how many airfields and production facilities you take out. I have failed over and over at this campaign and it is a hard one to overcome.

The game mechanics work in a way that data you receive may or may not be accurate and most of the time you have to send recon flights to assess damage to installations or buildings (production may or may not be effected).  This simulates the intel Luftwaffe High Command would receive from aircrews who would over exaggerate their damage when view from high altitudes. Also we will have to monitor crew morale and supply.

It has been quit a while since I have played so I am relearning as I go, however it will be fun to see if certain strategies will be effective in winning the campaign.  I hope to take feedback from you guys on our strategy and giving you a day by day report of bombing raids, both damage and planes lost and shot down.  I hope to finish this campaign with not restarts etc.... I really just hope to finish it through.



// Initial Strategy //


<WILL BE POSTED SOON>

[LongBlade]

Cool. Looking forward to this.

[JasonPratt]

Registering for future posts...

[bob48]

^Me as well - looks like it could be very interesting.

[Staggerwing]

I bought the Matrix version a while back. Hopefully I salvaged the hard drive from the 'puter I had then. Hate to have to buy it again...

[Shelldrake]

So far my experience with BOB2 has been limited to quick action scenarios so I am looking forward to reading about your campaign. Maybe it will encourage me to start my own RAF campaign!  :)

[PanzersEast]

// STRATEGY & INTEL //

Staffel = 12 aircraft (nominally)

Gruppe = 40 aircraft (nominally), three Staffeln plus a Stabstaffel (command/staff Staffel) of roughly four aircraft.

Geschwader = 124 aircraft (nominally), three Gruppen plus a Stabstaffel.
Conceptually, the LW thought of its air units differently than the RAF. Where the RAF would move around and send into battle individual squadrons, the size equivalent of Staffeln, the LW would only deploy and commit Gruppen to battle. In addition,
Gruppen were often committed to action independently of their parent Geschwader.

LW starting strength on July 10:

3 Bf-109 Gruppen
3 Bf-110 Gruppen
3 Ju-87 (Stuka) Gruppen
12 bomber (He-111, Do-17, and Ju-88) Gruppen


The full LW OOB after all units arrive:

24 Bf-109 Gruppen
9 Bf-110 Gruppen
9 Ju-87 (Stuka) Gruppen
6 Ju88 Gruppen
9 Do17 Gruppen
16 He111 Gruppen




// Tasking //

I will task the following a/c accordingly.

Bf-109 - Escort and Air superiority
Bf-110 - Low level bombing and strafing of Radar and Airfields (limited escort)

Ju-87 - Dive bombing of Radar installations - limited attacks on factories/a/f
Ju88 - Bombing level/db missions
Do17 - Bombing and Recon missions
He111 - Bombing


The Ju-87 will be used in limited capacity outside of attacking Radar and Docks.  The Bf-110s are not good options as escorts so will be used for low level bombing and strafing runs of Radar and Airfields.  The Bf-110 performance in dog fighters leave much to be desired so they will be used in a limited role in this capacity.


There are two methods I feel we can primarily employ with our large bombers. 

1. We can use the mass bombing method which will employ large formations of bombers and escorts to attack their targets in hopes of doing more damage and drawing out the RAF.  We would have to make sure adequate protection.




2. The other method is splitting these attacks into a two wave attack on a target.  Our first group would be supported by more escorts in drawing out the RAF.  The second wave follows 30~45 behind the 1st attack and will have about a 1-1 or 1-2 escort to bomber ratio.  Normally we can expect little resistance on the second attack. 



I will try to use both methods depending on where we are in the campaign.  I used method 2 primarily in earlier campaigns because of the difficulty in having to coordinate escorts and bombers to meet at their rendezvous points.


We also have the option of assigning our formations to - Bomb in Trail, or Level bombing.  Trail bombing covers a larger spread and Level bombing is more concentrated.  Typically I will defer to bombing in trail unless it is at a low level run.


// Target List //

This is the priority target list as assigned by Luftwaffe High Command.  The three areas of focus are Airfields, Factories, and Radar installations.  We may deviate from the order of the list, however I will try to closely follow.





// Escort Assignments //

We can assign our escorts to behave in various manners as listed below.

Free - Escorts will patrol ahead of the bomber formation
Attached - Escorts will fly with formation to target and then begin to patrol
Return - Escorts will meet the formation at a rendezvous point and escort back to base

We can tell our attached escorts to fly above or below our bomber formations and how high or low.


A typical setup would be to split the assigned escorts in the following manner

35% Free
35% Attached
35% Return

This ensures that our bombers have protection in all phases of the mission.  Their are cases that some of the assignments may not be needed are maybe not effective.  We will use them each in combinations and determine the best formations, however starting out we will follow some form of split above.  I do not want to go into too much detail, but just to touch on the options afforded to us.



// Recon //

Typically information you receive after bombing raids maybe inaccurate.  These reports are given by the bomber crews and may be exaggerated as they were during the war.  To be certain will will need to have crews go up and recon the bombing areas to assess the damage after the smoke has cleared.  Each day we will set aside a/c tasked with this mission.  One thing to note, these a/c go up unescorted and often times they are sent up and do not return.




// Mission Photos //

I will take in-game 3D photos with a play by play of some missions.  Photos from a bombers (gunner) prospective and from and escort.



< more to come >

[W8taminute]

I've got Rowan's Battle of Britain and watching this AAR will help me determine if I should upgrade and buy Battle of Britain II.   ;)

[jomni]

Is the game still good at this day and age?

[Sir Slash]

You got my attention PE.