"Fighter Pilot with the Kicking Mules" Topic

Ran a large playtest game of Fighter Pilot with my Kicking Mules in the Med. Found here:
link

Enjoy

Joe

Joe,

"I suspect many people are getting tired of aerial game reports…"
Not me, I'm loving them! Your rules considerations and the way the games are playing out seem great, I can't wait to see how the mechanisms actually work (I'm detecting, or at least I think I'm detecting, some sort of roll-offs for stuff like ‘tailing,' though it's not clear if those dice come out of the pool (of six) or are only used for testing, and I haven't been able to figure out how movement/maneuvering works (beyond the fact that it's governed by the dice in your pool and your mention of "area movement"), so congratulations on your OPSEC measures ;)

The fights look great in 1/300 too, very impressive with all those B-17s, and I've always loved Lightnings. My only concern is that I don't know the airplanes nearly as well as you do (stuff like the difference between P-38Es, -Gs, and -Js, or that Fw-190s had poor performance at higher altitudes). And you have to find a better name than "Fighter Pilot" ;)

V/R,
Jack

Loved it! where can I get the rules?

Jack,
Thanks. You are on the right track. I do need a better name; any suggestions? I lost your email so email me.
McCarroll,
thank you for the kind words. They aren't available yet. Still playtesting then will have to have stats for every plane I can think of. If Too Fat Lardies picks it up I would hope they will be available next summer.

Thanks
Joe

Email sent.

Jack

Jack, I like throttle forward for a name. Consistent with the "forward" theme and sounds more action packed.

Joe

Nice AAR, thanks!
May I suggest "The great Circus"?
Circus was the RAF code name for a large fighter sweep to bring the Luftwaffe to battle and cause attrition to it.

Foxbat, that is as great suggestion; thanks.
Your handle reminds me of the old SPI game foxbat and phantom. Maybe mustangs and Messerschmits? Or did someone do that already.

Joe

Joe,
Furball Forward?
Squadron Forward?
Dogfight Forward?

Wolfhag

Wolf,
I like furball forward; thanks. Going off of foxbat I like circus circus but don't think most people would get it. I have also considered boom and zoom.
The rules are coming together well. Still need to find the sweet spot for attacking bombers though. First it was too hard, now I think it is too easy. Will try to post my last B-17 mission soon.
Thanks

Joe

Joe,
To put it in perspective, the Germans estimate it took on average 20 hits from a 20mm gun to knock down a B-17 and the hit rate was 2% but it does not state the average range or attack angle.

The 20mm MG-151 had a ROF of about 10 rounds per second. So a two-second burst from four guns would be 80 rounds with a hit rate of 1.6 rounds. So if you figure taking 20 hits to knock down the B-17 you are looking at a 5% chance per hit.

As the German fighter pilot, I see an attack as a risk-reward proposition. The closer I get the higher my chance of hitting but also getting hit by return fire.

IIRC a head-on attack on a B-17 gave only about 1-2 seconds of firing before breaking off.

Check out some German gun camera footage.

Wolfhag

Wolf,
Agree completely. For a standard German fighter I am looking for about a 30% hit rate and just seem to have a hard time finding that.
I left you several requests to email me because we have had discussions about what a WW II air combat game would look like; I am designing that game. It plays pretty fast, altitude is important,rewards good tactics and has enough chrome to differentiate five different models of FW 190-As.
Email me at the_legans4@msn.com. I am not a tmp member anymore and can't pm you

Joe

Joe,
I had emailed you a few times with no response. I'll try again.

Wolfhag