The Blue Max - week 8 results

 

Following the retirement of the two British triple aces things were on a more even footing this week. The first mission was a fighter sweep where the Germans mostly hid in a large thunder cloud until finally withdrawing. In the second both sides were trying to bomb targets near the front lines whilst trying to intercept the enemy planes - this ended in a draw with the British closest to downing an enemy bomber.

Mike was promoted to Ace this week with 5 kills.    

The Blue Max - week 7 results

 

This week  we reverted to a couple of missions involving escorting observation aircraft. The Germans had to bomb three targets whilst the British had to locate some hidden artillery. This was a brutal week for the Germans with them losing both encounters and getting quite a few aircraft shot-down.

The week ended with both Stuart (11 kills) and John as triple aces, which usually means medal an promotion to an instructor role in Blighty. 

The Blue Max - week 6 results

 

This week we decided to give both sides a go at some balloon busting as this is the only mission we've not yet tried out. Game 1 was brutal for the Germans as they lost 2 planes pretty early and were unable to shootdown all three balloons. In game 2 the British took early damage but were able to win the scenario still. This promotes Stu and John to double ace.   

   

The Blue Max - week 5 results

Since we had a couple of scenarios we'd not played we decided to do those this week . Both involved 3 defending fighters vs two attacking fighters and two observation / bombing aircraft. The Germans had to find a hidden British artillery battery (1 real from 4 blinds) and the British had to bomb 2 or 3 German supply dumps.

Both games were pretty tense with the Observation aircraft proving far from helpless and the ends of both games being very close. The Germans had to dive with a critically damaged Observer to win and the British just managed to bomb both targets and escape with one plan.

Sadly Mike's Ace bit the dust but both John and Richard were promoted. The laurel wreath denote 5 kills, putting Richard on 6.

        

The Blue Max - WW1 aerial, week 3

 

This week saw our first Ace as John's kill total was 6 after the first game of the night - Zeppelin busting. This was a successful mission for the British as they downed the goliath and saw off the fighter escort.

Game 2 went to the Germans though as they successfully intercepted a British recon flight and were able to shoot John down in his first mission as an Ace. This leaves most players on 3 kills but Mike is poised to make Ace next week on 4 kills.

The Blue Max - WW1 aerial week 2

This weeks random mission generator threw out a couple of dawn patrols so we spiced things up by adding a thunder cloud. If you enter the cloud your exit point is randomly determined (1-5) or you might stay lost another turn (6).

This week saw the several events - I got shot down when sitting on 5 kills, the Red Roy got his first kill and survived his first game, and John made ace so was able to upgrade his plane.

Now with the right scores

    

Blue Max - WWI aerial week 1

We kicked off the campaign with a couple of scoring games and a smaller practice. In the scoring games the Germans went on a fighter sweep which they lost to the British following the inevitable shooting down of the Fokker triplane. In the second mission the British went balloon busting with much success and i even survived being shot down.  

The SE5.a's wing mounted gun proved really useful in close combat as you have a chance to fly under the enemy and get a point-blank belly shot. We've toned it down a little by ensuring you can not then fire the next move and also can only do the manoeuvre on your own turn.    

Scores on the doors....

   

The Blue Max - grid-based WWI aerial

Converted Gotha acting as a British bomber

Since physical gaming remains off the table (ho ho) for the next few months our online activity continues. Having enjoyed Bob Cordery's naval game, I've adapted the rules for WWI aircraft as I happened to have some some Sktrex 1/144 aircraft in a draw. The rules are included here but I can email out a word version too.