FIRE IN THE SKY - Battle of Britain

 A couple more games of 'Fire in the Sky', but this time Battle of Britain. The official supplement is yet to be published, but I was itching to get my collection on the table , so we just fudged some stats and set to.

We used my 1/300th collection, with 1 model representing a section of 3 or 4 aircraft. I also used my usual flight stands but modified them to show 3 altitude levels. A thin wire, wrapped around the stem of the flight stand, could be pointed forwards, sideways or to the rear, to signify high, medium and low altitudes respectively. Squadron leaders were shown by a coloured label on the height indicator.

Red squadron at altitude HIGH, led by their squadron leader.

The first game featured a bomber escort mission. It was also our first go at using Aces; Adolf Galland, for the Germans, and 'Sailor' Malan, for the Brits.

Ju 88 bombers escorted by yellow nosed b*st*rds.

The British appear to be adopting a Big Wing of several squadrons.

This game featured my usual truly dreadful dice rolling. I didn't lose many planes but most of my aircraft simply went home after a single dogfight.

The inevitable result of tangling with the escorts - scattered formations everywhere.

Red squadron leader makes it through to attack the bombers.

With the rest of the British scattered or 'gone home', Green squadron make
a final attempt to attack the bombers - resulting in the game's sole bomber casualty.

A win for the Germans this time - the pre-war adage of 'the bomber will always get through' was true this time!

Despite my atrocious dice rolling, it was great fun, plus the highlight for the British was that Sailor Malan personally shot down Adolf Galland. I'm claiming that as a victory.

For our second game, we used the same forces but left out the bombers. This time I took the Germans.

The RAF demonstrate some fancy formation flying.

The Luftwaffe's finest.

The Germans attempt to attack the edges of the British formation........

.........but end up scattered.

Spitfires of Green squadron regret tackling the Me110 destroyers.

The Luftwaffe's swansong, as the game descends into scattered dog fights.

A win for the British this time and we proved that the game works equally as well as a fighter only game. Very enjoyable and surprisingly tactical.

Looking forward to the official Battle of Britain supplement. I can't wait to get my Defiants into action.

BLOOD & CROWNS - English versus Scots

Our second go at Blood and Crowns; English versus Scots and the debut of my new Galloglass.

Scots left - Big choppers in evidence.

Scots right - pointy sticks covered by archers.

English force - small but dangerous.

English attack, heavy metal style - powerful but expensive.

A one sided battle, with most of the English points wrapped up in their mounted knights. The small size of the English units left them prey to the Scots archers - not helped by a crucial rules misinterpretation and some truly awful dice rolls, on the English side. A promising start though.

For the second game the English reconfigured their army with bigger units and left their horses at home.

Game two and we're using the same terrain - but deploying from the corners.

Scots deploy with archers on the flanks.

English leave their horses behind this time - seems about right.

Scots pikemen seize the central objective.

Galloglass goaded into a charge by English archers - it didn't end well.

A cracking game that could have gone either way. We played five out of six turns before agreeing on a draw. The Scots held the objective but the English had captured the Scots leader. Both were equal on favour points but the English had caused more casualties, so technically it was a win for the English.

I'm pleased with my Scots but they really suffer from the Hatred (English) rule. I lost two of my best units, including my leader, by being forced to pursue deep into the English lines - only to be surrounded and chopped to bits.

Looking forward to more games.