The Way Home - New Blood Red Skies scenario

 Andy Chambers is working on some new rules and scenarios for Blood Red Skies which are designed around attacking ground targets. This includes not just the actual attack but also the often dangerous bits between the attack and getting home for well deserved tea and cake (or in this case as will become more apparent later - coffee and pancakes). Andy has kindly let me have a look to playtest some of them, and I had a run at one last night with James* at Asgard Wargames (our very Friendly Local Games Store and plastic \ lead supplier, in Middlesbrough - well worth a visit if you are in the area). So here is a quick report on the scenario called "The Way Home" - sorry about the pics - I had forgotten to pack the pretty neoprene game mat so we just flew over some nondescript greenery...

Firstly the setting. After fighting their way through and attacking the target the bombers have turned for home. They are not in great shape, with one engine out, and need to get out of the area quickly - then a gunner spots some dots closing fast from below.......

The scenario starts with a bomber force half way across the table. Escorts are split, with one element on table and the rest in High Cover. The interceptors similarly have one element on table and the rest in High Cover, but as they deploy second they certainly have the drop on the Escorts or the bombers. The actual number of bombers depends on the size of the game being played - each pair of elements of escorts generates either three single engine, two twin engine, or one four engine bomber. This is a nice touch as not everyone has a collection of heavy bombers. The bombers already carry a boom chit to represent damage they have picked up on the way. As James was flying as Escort had four P51s rated 5, 5, 3, 3 this meant I could get one of my B17s on table for him to look after - Hollywood demands it! I was intercepting with four Me109Gs - my 109E models standing in for their more advanced relatives. Their pilots were rated 5, 4, 4, 4. With hindsight I probably should have went for a bit more quantity over quality but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And so it began. B17 DF-B "Bad Penny" of the 324th Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bomber Group was having a bad day. After bombing the target she had been hit by flak and lost an engine. That caused her to drop out of formation - and as everyone knows, that's when The Bogeyman comes to get you. Luckily she picked up a pair of P51s who were going to try and shepherd her home.

Initially it looked pretty bad for the escorts too, as a pair of 109s seemed to have got in behind them on setup, however when we rolled for starting advantage both 109s blew it and were Disadvantaged, even after their Radar Support. Turn one saw the P51s head for some cloud cover as the 109s climbed for position. Both sides called in their High Cover supports

Turn two and the Germans went after Bad Penny. However as the lead 109 lined the B17 up in his sights James played "Poorly Trained Opponents" on me, and my pilot forgot he had his safety catch on. This left us in an interesting dilemma because the bomber would only shoot if attacked, but the 109 had not technically done so due to his inability to find his arse with both hands. We decided the intent was enough - and Bad Penny's rear gunner hit the 109 causing a boom chit.  The second 109 of the pair wisely held off to cover his leader, as the P51s were swinging around, but the lead 109 of the High Cover element used his Great Dive to get a beam shot into the already damaged B17, taking out the top turret in the process. It was looking a bit bad for Bad Penny.

Turn three and the P51s threw themselves into the fight. A head on pass hit one 109 and caused a boom chit, and a deflection shot got another - the 109s were at 3 boom - not great. In return a P51 was also hit, but the wolves were closing in on the stricken bomber.

And then the German luck, which had never been great, went bad. In an attempt to get the bomber one 109 got too cocky. His cannon raked the B17, but the tail gunner shot back (note - the B17 had lost 2 boom chits so was at 0 FP for her defensive guns, EXCEPT for the rear arc, which had the +2 bonus- those tail .50 cals are a bitch). The 109 staggered under the impact and went down, inflicting 2 Boom chits on the Germans and causing them to break off.

Bad Penny staggered home, full of bullet holes and wounded heroes.

It was a great little scenario. A bit quick but that's probably down to our decisions and dice rather than anything in the scenario. Hindsight is wonderful and we probably should have used some twin engine bombers, but as the saying goes, if you've got it, flaunt it, and B17s are bloody lovely to look at at this scale. Looking at the other scenarios it looks like we may have the opportunity to play a connected series, with the approach to the target, the actual attack, then the run for home. I'm up for some if that!

We have a couple of queries and feedback to pass back to Andy, but this is certainly looking like another nice scenario for Blood Red Skies when it gets published properly next year.

* James Farquarson, not the infamous "Traffic James" for players of Andy Cs previous game "Dropfleet Commander"