Portable Air Wargame - Galland's First Kills

For my next play test of Bob Cordery's Portable Air Wargame, from his Developing the Portable Wargame, (the last one is here), I again used a scenario from the Achtung! Spitfire boardgame (and the map and the counters).

This secnario took place on 12th May 1940 and featured the first air-to-air combat kills of legendary Luftwaffe pilot, Adolf Galland.  In the scenario, Galland and his wingman have bounced a formation of six Belgian Hurricanes.

Aircraft Stats:
Bf 109E-3: SPEED: 7 DAMAGE: 4 WEAPONS: 1 red (i.e. a cannon), 2 white (i.e. machine guns)
Hurricane: SPEED: 6 DAMAGE: 4 WEAPONS: 4 white

Both 109s start with 3 energy points to reflect their greater starting speed and altitude.  The Belgians were surprised and must simply move forward on their first go.  The Germans choose whether to move first or second.

As a "getting back into it" game, there was only one additional rule that I was trying out here: an "Immelman".  Aircraft can reverse facing if they move forward for half their speed (rounded up) first.  They cannot fire during or at the end of this move.

The Battle:

Galland and his wingman (bottom) have bounced the Belgian Hurricane formation and attack, damaging two of them.

That woke them up!  The Belgians break right, with the exception of one that uses an Immelmann.

Galland follows the Belgians around, picking a new target and converting some of the energy into speed to get in close...another Hurrican is damaged.

His wingman, cutting inside Galland's turn, takes on a front quarter attack on one of the damaged Hurricanes...

Which goes down!  Belgian morale fails at this point, and it turns into sauve qui peut...

The Belgian fighters scatter for cover

Galland's wingman cuts loose and pursues a Hurricane...

...perforating his fuselage...

...but the Belgian pilot escapes!

More Hurricanes fleeing for safety...

The Hurricane leader escapes...

But Galland gets into position and puts further holes into the Hurricane...

Who also escapes!

Game Notes: A fun, quick game which reminds me how much I like the simplicity of Bob's game: it is quick enough to retain the feel of a fast dogfight.  Or bounce, in this case.  The basic mechanics are still intuitive enough to memorize and just play.  The Immelmann change seemed to work okay too.  The stat advantage to the 109 seems justified.

Historical Note: The scenario is very sure that the victims were a formation of Belgian Hurricanes but other online information indicates that the victims were RAF Hurricanes.