Malcolm and I played part 2 of the Battle of Britain board game last night.
Lord Malcolm, VC/DSC/MSM again commanded the RAF Fighter Command while OberstGeneral Bing commanded the Luftwaffe.
The game continued on turn 5 and the Germans had until the end of turn 8 to destroy 2 more targets. (9 destroyed target in 8 turns for a German victory)
Turn 5 became the bloodiest turn of the battle…The targets given to the Luftwaffe was London and Coventry. Both sides shot down many aircraft…I believe something like 20 flights lost between the two sides.
London was hit hard enough for a victory point but the AA shot down two bomber flights.
Coventry was hit two but due to the distance the bombers lost their fighter coverage and went in alone. The Germans bombers came to within point of destroying the target and withdrew.
Turn 6…Luftwaffe needs one more destroyed target for Victory?
Targets given were an airfield in 12 Group and Belfast…damm far targets and both beyond fighter coverage! Who in the hell is the Luftwaffe G-3 working for? Bothe Luftflottes started off by sending two groups with heavy fighter coverage off as decoys while the other 4 stayed behind the safe line.
At this point Lord Malcolm changed his tactics and instead of going in after the Hun…instead he set up defensive lines forcing the Luftwaffe to come to him and giving him maximum fighters to attack with (the more hexes he moves the less planes he has to attack with)
This tactic worked has the line was too tough to break and the Luftflottes returned back to base. The decoy fighters did come into combat with the RAF winning the majority of the dog fights.
Turn 7…The German selected a city just across the 12 group boundary and finally a nearby target…a radar station on the 11 Group coast. This time sent in the flight with the heaviest fighter coverage to attack the RAF and pin them down while the bombers sneaked along the coast line. Lord Malcolm stuck to his defensive lines again. The defenders gave Luftflotte 3 a terrible bounding and sent them running home.
Luftflotte 2 used Luftflotte 3 as cover and snuck two fight of bombers in two destroy the radar station.
A German Victory!
If we had to go for turn 8 Luftflotte 2 had NO spare planes and only 5 fighter flights while Luftflotte 3 was a little better with 2 spare flights.
The Lord Malcolm did a great job commanding Fighter Command. His decision to change to defensive lines almost worked…but also allowed me to use decoys to force them north. 10 Group was hurt bad early in the battle (part 1) and never recovered and the lost of the radar station in 10 Group open the way for bomber attacks into the center of Britain.
The game is a blast to play and becomes very intensive as losses mount up…
Ron
