The Fattest Pilot

This week saw us take to the skies once more with Bag the Hun 2. Fired up with enthusiasm, after last week, I was inspired to not only create an electronic play sheet for my Kindle, but also put together a new card deck. The old cards were my original version one cards and were now looking a bit worn. As a consequence the game has now acquired a new cast of characters with the likes of Max, Ludwig, Eddy and Mickey leaving us for a well earned retirement. Let's see if the new guys can equal their exploits.
After last week's fighter fest I wanted to introduce some bombers so this week's game was substantially larger, although, with five players I felt that we could handle it, even with several novice players. However, best laid plans and all that..........we only had four players on the night. Never-mind, we were able to go ahead after a bit of last minute reshuffling but it did mean that the game was a bit slower than it should have been but everyone seemed to enjoy it.
This time around the scenario was loosely set during the Battle for France with the Axis attempting to destroy a vital bridge.

The Bridge

Once again we diced for altitude but this time the die roll was modified so that the Allies had the advantage. Unlike last time each side had an allocation of dummy bogeys.
The Axis strike force consisted of 9 Stukas commanded by Herman Grossburger (the fattest pilot in the Luftwaffe), escorted by two Schwarms of four Me 109s under the command of Top Ace Dieter Hasselhof and Junior Ace Heinrich Winkler.
Facing them were  9 Hurricanes commanded by Junior Ace Victor Valiant and Veterans Johnny Danger and Charlie Foxtrot.
Starting at altitude level 5, the Allies chose to use their dummy Bogeys to suggest the presence of a fourth vic of fighters.

The Allied Deployment

On the Axis side, the Stukas came on at a respectable altitude level 4 but the supposedly escorting fighters were at a miserable level 2.
The Axis chose to add a dummy bogey to each Kette of three Stukas to disguise them as Schwarms of fighters, leaving 2 dummy bogeys deployed as a lone pair.

The Axis deployment - Stukas in the centre.

Early moves saw the Stukas head directly for the objective whilst the escorting fighters climbed for height. The Axis ruse was fooling no-one as Charlie Foxtrot led his section in a headlong charge into the Stukas - that's certainly one way to spot them! Unsurprisingly, the lone pair of Axis dummies was insufficient to prevent Johnny Danger swinging around behind the Stukas.

Charlie Foxtrot surges ahead whilst Johnny Danger flanks right.

With two of the Stuka Kettes spotted, the third was able to slip unseen, between the Allied sections, and position themselves perfectly for a bomb run on the bridge. But no.......wait a minute.......where is the bridge? Not finding their target the Stukas were forced to circle the location before locating their prey - OK I forgot that you have to spot ground targets before bombing them.
Whilst the unseen Kette was busy messing up their bomb run the other two were struggling to stay on mission assailed by Hurricanes front and rear. Johnny Danger, in a perfect tailing position, downed the first Stuka which promptly exploded. The neighbouring Stuka, flown by Hermann Grossburger was severely buffeted by the blast and was knocked temporarily out of control, diving to the right. Unfortunately for Johnny Danger he was too close to his victim when it exploded and he too lost control diving to the left.
But where were the Axis escorts during all this mayhem? You might well ask; I certainly never saw them!

Johnny Danger makes the first kill

The Stukas doggedly attempted to complete their mission, even with the Allied Red and Yellow sections amongst them. One Stuka did actually manage a perfect dive to deliver its bomb on target - only to discover that it was a dud - apparently. Meanwhile, another Stuka exploded under the guns of Charlie Foxtrot whilst Johnny Danger, failing to regain control, continued his dive and left the playing area.
Beyond the bridge, Grossburger was also struggling to regain control, heroically foregoing the chance to bail out - or could it be that he couldn't squeeze his fat backside out of the canopy?
As Red and Yellow sections were doing a fine job of dispersing the bombers, Green section under Victor Valiant had eventually found the escorting Me 109s. Or to be more accurate they had found him, sweeping down from above to latch onto his tail. Pulling out all the stops and executing several Split-S and Immelman turns was not enough to shake off Top Ace Dieter Hasselhof. However, his accompanying schwarm were dispersed as they struggled to keep up with their acrobatic leader.

Stuka chaos while Johnny Danger dives for home

Whilst Hasselhoff took on Valiant, Winkler had led his schwarm, still unseen, behind the swirling Stukas. Unfortunately, this was too little too late, as Charlie Foxtrot led Yellow section straight through the Stukas and lined up on the struggling Grossburger. Inevitably, after long burst which emptied Foxtrot's guns, Grossburger's Stuka suffered a catastrophic structural failure falling apart - or was it just the excess weight.

Winkler loiters at the back whilst the Stukas disperse

With Danger and Grossburger both out of action, another character was about to bite the dust; a long burst was enough to see Valiant's Hurricane explode.

A Valiant end!

Once again we had reached pub o'clock so we stopped there. The Axis were starting to gain the edge in the fighter battle but that bridge was not going to be bombed today. A winning draw to the Brits then.