Wing Leader: Penny Packets

 

On to the fourth scenario for Wing Leader, Penny Packets, which seeks to demonstrate how the RAF defense against coastal raids, of which they had little warning, was hindered by the distributing of squadrons in small groups (the penny packets of the scenario title) in an attempt to respond everywhere quickly at once. It allowed British planes to react to every raid. But by spreading out everywhere (as that great tactician Bilbo Baggins might have said) "like not enough butter over too much bread", the RAF ended up with too little strength to achieve a desirable effect at any point.

So it was here. The RAF has four full squadrons to take on two squadrons of fighters and their three bomber flock, but the British struggle to get any kind of traction on the bombing flock and their Bf sheepdogs, especially as the escorts/sweeps are Veterans and the home team are not. The RAF are also handicapped, if they are defending in a fight, by their rigid doctrine.

The bombers are coming in at 8, with one escort and a sweep  squadron above.

The RAF start with one squadron low and behind the Germans, one near the bombers and below them, and one very low and approaching the engagement. One squadron enters as a reinforcement. Since that would be the "break glass in case of no serious damage by then" unit and because it was one of the two (superior) Spitfire squadrons, I chose to give them the British Experte, whom I dubbed Biggles, after the hero of British period schoolboy adventure books. The German Experte I gave to Holstein Staffel (the sweep squadron)

The RAF put out vectors in front of the bomber gruppe and began climbing toward them. Kapok Squadron tried tallying the German sweepers and vice versa; nothing doing. Lion Squadron, climbing through the cloud deck into the bright sunshine, finally tallied the trailing bombers (the first time I used the "+2 for a ruddy bog load of the blighters" tally mod). About the same time, Kapok tallied the lead bomber elements.

But before Kapok could land in among the bombers, the escort staffel scored them (my first successful use of escort reaction, and just after the Hurricanes had realized they could use their free movement after tallying to move OVER the tally and dive on it, rather than suffering a head-on engagement).

Sadly (for the Germans) the two groups of 109s were not on the same radio net, so the sweep squadron remained unalerted and just kept sweeping the empty sky ahead.

If the combat is a dogfight, it will always be a turning fight. Otherwise, whoever is attacking can choose whether to use Speed factors or Turning factors to decide who has the combat advantage. If bombers are in the mix, the non-bomber party will always be the attacker. Otherwise it goes by who had the initiative (moved last) in Movement; if all a/c moved at the same time, it goes to the a/c with the highest Speed.

Speed and Turn vary by aircraft by altitude (usually the lower the altitude the better the stat). Spitfires and Emils are comparable, but Spits have an edge in turning fights. Emils and Hurricanes are comparable, but Emils have the edge in speed fights. And anyone diving has an edge in Speed combat (+1 to Speed) and anyone climbing has a detriment (-1 to Speed).

Thus Isar leader got to choose combat with the Hurris, having moved last, and took Speed. He had his Speed advantage, his Veteran advantage, and by making the RAF the defenders he got to use the British "rigid doctrine defending" disadvantage". So, not surprising that the escorts shot down one Hurricane and disrupted the squadron. They also forced the British into a dogfight, thus preventing them from engaging the bombers in the near future (dogfights only end when one side breaks).

Next turn, Holstein finally tallied (miraculously) the oncoming Spitfires and joined them just as they climbed up into the underbelly of the bomber gruppe.

In the dogfight, the Hurricanes take a loss and break, preparing to return to base (RTB).

In the fighting just below, because the Germans were on sweep, not escort, they couldn't React to the Spitfires and catch them before they got in among the bombers, so it will be a fight with the RAF attacking, the Germans (fighters and bombers defending). The Emils were diving, so their Speed (normally the same as the Spits) is one higher, while the Spits had to climb to reach the Heinkels so their Speed is one lower then normal. The Spits, the attackers, take a chance and chose a turning fight. This cancels out the German +1 and their -1 modifiers, which are only to Speed, and it allows them to use their Turn, which is one higher than the Emils. But it also bumps up the He-111's Defence number (the only thing that bombers contribute to a combat like this) from 0 to 2 as a DRM to the German combat roll. A risk, but Echo Leader decides that a Combat Differential of 0 (the British Turn advantage is blanked by the Germans being Veteran) with a +3 German DRM (they're also bringing their Experte) is better than a -2/+2 Differential in the German favour with a +1 German DRM.

And, it turns out, he's right on the night. The Germans actually take a loss in the combat and the RAF don't. But again the Germans manage to pull the Spits into a dogfight.

NOTE: Here's where I made a significant rules error. Since two German staffeln were involved (one fighter, one bomber), it was actually the British choice as to how to distribute the hits before they are resolved, though each squadron has to take one before any can take two, etc. Hits are distributed before they are confirmed (they begin as generic hits that have to be checked to see if they manifest as losses, stragglers, or near misses). But I think I was assigning them to the fighters automatically as they were the primary combatant.

EVEN BIGGER NOTE: And here's where I notice that I've been missing out a major rule through all four of these scenarios. Ammunition! Fighters go low ammo after their FIRST combat round. After their SECOND combat round they then go DEPLETED. These increase their chances of disruption in later turns. Squadrons have had WAY too much staying power in my games so far. This will be an added factor in deciding when to engage; the first shot is going to be the best shot!

Anyway, back to Penny Packets. Having dispatched one group of Hurris off to lick their wounds, the escorts pop down to fight the Hurris that have latched on to the tail end of the bomber gruppe. The Hurris don't lose any crates, but they also don't prang any Jerry bandits. And the dogfight between the Spits and Emils continues.

 

Good news for Great Britain! Flight Lieutenant Biggles and the second squadron of Spits arrive! They rush toward the bombers. The bombers plod forward. And the dogfights fall behind. (Dogfights move either not at all, or one square adjacent to their current location at the same or one lower altitude, at the choice of a random player. They cannot crash or move off the board.)

Biggles dives into the lead bomber element. He takes down one bomber, and Lion Squadron take down an escort 109. 

The next turn Biggles hits twice, but both hits resolve as "miss". Rattled by the misses, he fails to check in with FLt. Snipes, who is smoked by a Jerry tail gunner. E takes a loss and a straggler and disrupts, but veteran Holstein Staffel and their Experte also take a loss and with snakes both break lose their Experte! L and I trade shots, then L breaks and RTBs. This dissolves both dogfights, leaving Echo's Spitfires and Isar's 109s free to engage new targets.

Biggles, like an American cowboy riding herd on a stampede, tries to bring down another Jerry. E Squadron, unable to get direction from GCI at the end of last turn, was going to RTB and hope to tally on the way, but scored a desperate tally on the tail of the stampede! Isar Leader could not tally Echo for all the glare, and so returned to his sweep mission.

But as in even the most heroic Western, the cowboy is sometimes run down by the stampede! Biggles loses another plane and a straggler and is disrupted. 

This is essentially the end of the mission. Biggles' D Squadron and the first of the bombers move off the board on the next turn. E won’t catch up before the rest exit. And even if I tallies E and can move full, without being able to get extra MP from a dive, he will not catch him.

Victory Points: The RAF got one He-111 and three 109s. In the process, they lost seven precious a/c, three Spits and four Hurricanes. The Germans exited three laden bombers (I did forget to count the -1 Speed for bomb loads. Oops! Biggles might have gotten another crate or two. But then, I also wasn't counting ammo, which only works against fighters, not bombers.) That’s 25 German VPs and British 5 VPs, a difference of 20 and a clear German victory.

I think the scenario shows the historical context it tries to demonstrate. The British are a mix of a/c that are slightly better or slightly worse than the opposing fighters, but they are dispersed at start and have difficulty concentrating on their target (the bombers). The German fighters have overall more experienced aircrew and the advantage, in an air tactical setting, of the central position. They can react to each of the British piecemeal attacks, attempting to neutralize them in turn.

The Germans effectively used dogfights to protect their bombers. And most of the British came into the fight too low, not having had time to climb to positions above the incoming bandits because of lack of warning. Later scenarios, as I glance ahead, are going to feature the RAF starting to use wings, groups of squadrons operating together under a wing leader who can provide guidance (he vectors and his squadrons move with him) and local command (he can assign tallies rather than squadrons having to roll them).