Dusty's PrairieCon XLIV After Action Report Part 2 - "Arena of Blood"

 On Saturday morning of PrairieCon I was scheduled to run 'Arena of Blood' by Wiley Games. I didn't have any preregistered participants, but over the course of the two hour slot I was able to recruit a total of eight players who played at least two games each. (The event organizers had stands with a sign that read 'Players Wanted' which I used to attract some players.)

 

Set up at PrairieCon with 'Players Wanted' sign

Samnite defeats Murmillo

Murmillo defeats Crupellarius

Hoplomachus and Murmillo versus Velite  

Hoplomachus and Murmillo versus another Murmillo

Murmillo victorious over Secutor

Murmillo vs Thracian, Dimachaerus vs Sagittarius

Sagittarius vs Thracian

Sagittarius victorious over Dimachaerus

Velite defeats Murmillo

The games were all 'fast and furious' with much of the play determined by the luck of the die rolls, but with still a bit of tactical decision making required with regards to which special skills a player was willing to lose to any major wounds, whether it was better to loose a defensive ability versus an offensive one. The best play of all the games was a young player fielding a Murmillo who played a Jack for an extra attack dice, and rolling three 6s to take out his opponent, 

No games went the full three turns, each of four phases, and game duration was generally 15-20 minutes. Conscript Dave and I have taken the game to several conventions already, but this was the first opportunity I have had to put all the gladiator figures I painted for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge to use.  

Later in the afternoon I participated in a 'Wings of Glory' WW1 aerial combat game, flying a Sopwith Camel along with two other Allied players trying to taking down a Zeppelin Staaken R. VI bomber defended by a Fokker Dr 1.The defensive fire from the bomber was quite brutal and all the Allied planes were shot down before the bomber had suffered any significant damage. The only thing that kept us from being downed sooner was the frequent jams suffered by the German player.

Somewhere in France

 

The might Staaken bomber

 Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for Part 3 of my AAR.

Wings of Glory - Outnumbered

Last Thursday I ran the latest in our long-running Wings of Glory WWI campaign for the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts. We played a 1917 scenario based upon mission 7a of the Knights of the Air campaign setting, “Outnumbered”.  The Germans were the attackers, since they won the last game (which was played before COVID).  

Frederick, the leading German player, had a Deadly Aim 1 ace flying a Pfalz DIII. Hugh, new to WoG, flew a trusty Albatross DII. Kevin is the leading French player, and flew a SPAD S.VII. I flew the colourful Nieuport XI with a wing mounted Lewis gun that allowed firing even if overlapped! Both German planes had twin guns using the A deck, and both French planes had a single gun using the B deck. This would be interesting. 

Under the rules of the mission, if a French plane was shot down, it could basically re-spawn on the French table edge, representing reinforcements. 

The Germans set up within the confines of the green circle, then the French rolled randomly for placement from the mission map. People got stuck in right away, with a damaging pass that resulted in several smoking planes and jammed guns. The two sides kept circling , with my Nieuport also trying to bring the Germans closer to a ground based French AA machine gun. 

Frederick’s ace skill was impactful. For most of the game the Nieuport was flying on only 1 damage point left! I got in the ace’s sights again and was shot down in no-man’s land. My plane re-spawned near my original deployment. 

Fredrick and Kevin’s pilots got into a fight, and an explosion card was finally drawn by Frederick! Under the rules of the campaign, Frederick drew a card from the A deck to determine his ace’s fate. His pilot managed to avoid being killed outright, and crawled wounded from the wreck near the German front line trench, vowing to return to the fray. 

Hugh's pilot, with a plane damaged by both French aircraft and ground fire, managed to accidentally fly off the French table edge into captivity, setting up a later escape and rescue scenario!

Much fun was had by all. Thanks to Frederick, Hugh, and Kevin for playing, and to Dallas for dropping by and showing off his new WWI aircraft book. 

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The current standings in the campaign (as the moderator, my results do not count):

Frederick's German Flight Leader (suffered 6 wounds in mission 7a): +6 (six sorties flown) +23 (4 and 1/2 planes (18) and one balloon (5) shot down) +4 (drove off two enemy aircraft) -8 (being shot down twice) 7 1/2 victories = 25 campaign points, Knight's Cross, Deadly Aim 1

Kevin's French Flight Leader: +4 (four sorties flown) +10 (2 victories (Frederick's Wingman and Ace and one shared victory) +2 (drove off one enemy aircraft) 4 1/2 victories = 16 campaign points

Brian: +2 (two sorties flown) +8 (two planes shot down) 2 victories = 10 campaign points

Indo: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) = 5 campaign points

Bill (suffered 2 wounds in Mission 1): +2 (two sorties flown) -4 (being shot down) +4 (one plane shot down) 1 victory = 2 campaign points

Frederick's German Wingman  (suffered 1 wound in Mission 4a): +3 (three sorties flown) +2 (drove off enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) 1 victory = 1 campaign point

Kevin's French Wingman: +1 (one sortie flown) = 1 campaign point

Jim: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) -4 (being shot down) 1 victory = 1 campaign point

Byron (suffered 3 wounds in Mission 3a): +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down = -3 campaign points

MikeA: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down) = -3 campaign points

Hugh: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being forced down = -3 campaign points

Wings of Glory - Break Through

Just before Christmas,we finally returned to our long-running Wings of Glory campaign. For that night’s game, the second game of the campaign set in early 1917, the scenario was Mission 5: Break Through:

Capitalizing on recent victories, German HQ has put more emphasis on controlling the skies.
Type: DogfightVictory
Conditions: Mission Points. At the end of each sortie, calculate each side’s Mission Points. The side with the most points wins the mission.
Fallback: Mission 4a
Setup: Mission should be played length wise on a 4’x6’ table. The German Attackers have a 12 inch deployment zone and the French Defenders have a 36 inch deployment zone. This leaves 24 inches of No-man’s Land.

• Both sides must start the sortie with their planes inside their deployments zones in a loose formation with no more then a ruler length between planes.
• The defender’s side has a chance for random balloons. Use the special Balloons rules.
• Each side has a chance for random ground targets. Use the special Ground Targets rules.

We drew cards, and manged to avoid both random Balloons and Ground Targets.

Frederick and Kevin ran, respectively, the Germans and the French. Since it was 1917, one pilot character on each side got an upgraded plane: a hex-camouflaged Albatros D.V. (Frederick) and a yellow SPAD XIII (Brian). Kevin ran a silver Nieuport 17 with twin MGs, and I ran a relatively elderly Albatros  D.II painted in the colours of Oswald Boelcke.

Below are the combatants, from L-R, D.II, SPAD, D.V., and Nieuport:

Below, two photos showing the French (Kevin) and German (Frederick) flight leaders.







Below, the two flights set off against each other. Nearest is my Albatross D.II.




The two sides flew past each other, the French to the south, and the Germans to the north (below, looking south):




Below, three of the four planes turned and got firing solutions right away, with the Albatros D.II and Nieuport taking some hits (my Albatross took 5 points of damage in one shot!).




The fight got really mixed up as the planes kept jousting at each other.






After a couple of Immelmann's, Kevin and I lined up on each other again.






Later, my Albatross and Brian's planes avoided a collision.




Kevin's Nieuport finally fell to my twin Spandaus, crash landing in No-Man's land.



Brian, wanting revenge for his comrade, started after the D.II.



Frederick came to my aid, flying under me.






Frederick trailed Brian for a bit, but the latter pulled another Immelmann...



...tried to attack Frederick...



...then went head to head with the D.II., shooting my plane down.



Brian then accelerated east...







...before turning around to dive for the western (Allied) board edge.




The fast SPAD blew right past the Albatross D.V.




Frederick got some shots into the SPAD, but not enough to bring it down, and chased Brian off the table.

The current standings in the campaign (as the moderator, my results do not count):

• Frederick's German Flight Leader: +5 (five sorties flown) +19 (three and 1/2 planes (14) and one balloon (5) shot down) +4 (drove off two enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) 6 1/2 victories = 24 campaign points, Knight's Cross, Deadly Aim 1
• Brian: +2 (two sorties flown) +8 (two planes shot down) 2 victories = 10 campaign points
• Kevin's French Flight Leader: +3 (three sorties flown) +6 (1 victory (Frederick's Wingman) and one shared victory) +2 (drove off one enemy aircraft) 2 1/2 victories = 7 campaign points
• Indo: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) = 5 campaign points
• Bill (suffered 2 wounds in Mission 1): +2 (two sorties flown) -4 (being shot down) +4 (one plane shot down) 1 victory = 2 campaign points
• Frederick's German Wingman  (suffered 1 wound in Mission 4a): +3 (three sorties flown) +2 (drove off enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) = 1 campaign point
• Kevin's French Wingman: +1 (one sortie flown) = 1 campaign point
• Jim: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) -4 (being shot down) 1 victory = 1 campaign point
• Byron (suffered 3 wounds in Mission 3a): +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down = -3 campaign points
• MikeA: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down) = -3 campaign points

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Tripods & Triplanes

I have also purchased the Tripods & Triplanes supplement for Wings of Glory from Ares Games. The story is as follows:

March 18th, 1918: the nearest approach of planet Mars to Earth. The First World War suddenly changes into a War of the Worlds, when what appears as a meteor shower falls over a wood in Alsace. A few hours later, just after dawn, an army of giant alien fighting machines appear out of the trees and starts burning villages and houses with their lethal heat-rays, leaving pestilential trails of black smoke behind them.

 A truce is hurriedly signed between the warring nations and, against the advancing Martian tripods, the best war machines of Earth are dispatched, manned by the most gallant and skilled warriors of our planet!

The supplement includes both a Nieuport 16 (armed with Le Prieur anti-balloon rockets) and a small Martian "Locust" Tripod. Le Prieur rockets seem to function well against the Martian invaders. I currently have four such balloon-busting Nieuport 16 models, flying under the flags of France, Italy, and Britain.

Below are examples of the Martian Locust Tripod and an RAF Nieuport 16. 

(These two photos copyright Ares Games)

With another couple of Martian Tripods ordered, I look forward to running some alternate-history sci-fi games!