Heretical Gaming is my blog about my gaming life, featuring small skirmishes and big battles from many historical periods (and some in the mythic past or the far future too). The focus is on battle reports using a wide variety of rules, with the occasional rules review, book review and odd musing about the gaming and history. Most of the battles use 6mm-sized figures and vehicles, but occasionally 15mm and 28mm figures appear too.

Sunday 8 September 2019

Portable Air Wargame - Low Altitude Dogfight (Mission One)

Low Altitude Dogfight:

 Next mission in this series of using Bob Cordery's Portable Wargames rules for air combat scenarios from the Achtung! Spitfire boardgame is a low-altitude encounter between two Spitfires and five Bf109s.

In reality, this mission was for the Spitfires to protect a training aircraft which had landed in France to pick up a downed pilot.  The group was spotted and attacked by a group of five 109s.

Aircraft Stats:

Bf109E: Speed 7; Damage 4; Weapons 1 red (cannon) 3 white (MG)
Spitfire: Speed 7; Damage 4; Weapons 4 white (MG)

The bottom Spitfire has one energy chit whilst the other Spitfire (top-left) has four energy chits as do the 109s top-right.  The central 109 has none.

The RAF can choose whether to move first or second.

The Set-Up:

PO Allen's Spitfire is top-left, PO Deere's Spitfire is bottom, homing in on the lead 109.
The Combat:
PO Deere's Spitfire off the port side of the 109 leader...

PO Deere moves in and damages, but does not destroy the 109.

Allen and the leader of the 109s second group go for a head-on pass...

The 109s have two aircraft concentrate on Allen's Spit (top-left) whilst the other two go to the assistance of the 109 leader (bottom-right)

PO Allen's Spitfire dishes out and receives minor damage...

Deere is in deep trouble (bottom): he has only damaged the 109 leader and now the other 109s are putting big holes in his fuselage...

The Spitfires have received enough damage between them that they have to break off...Allen is hotly pursued but looks to have enough speed to escape the 109s...

Deere is trapped...

And down he goes.
Game Notes:
Good fun again and played nice and quickly.  The results are broadly the same as in more complicated games but it takes about 10% of the time to get there...

This mission inspired me to make a minor change to reflect pilot quality.  Aces, crack shots or otherwise killer pilots are allowed to re-roll misses (so an ace on the six o'clock line can reroll missed dice twice).

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