Recently, Bruce Geryk posted a detailed and well illustrated After Action Report of the 1942 Campaign of Skies Above the Reich on a Grognard Wargamer thread. We are presenting that AAR here as a series of articles with Bruce’s permission so readers can easily reference it in the future. Part 1 of this series can be found here. Enjoy! -Rachel

The Luftwaffe’s First Pass

In the Engage Step, fighters:

1. Select a Mode (Determined or Evasive)
2. Check for Collision in spaces with two or more fighters
3. Select their Maneuvers
4. Check for Advantage

I’ll go through the sequence and then post the final pic, even though each one of these is resolved sequentially. No need for four photos.

1. All fighters are in Determined Mode. This is required to gain the Schwarm Advantage.
2. I have two spaces with two or more fighters, requiring two Collision checks. Note that to gain the Rotte Advantage, you have to risk running into each other or into the bomber.
3. The upper two fighters in the pic (Bauer/Clade) will Climb/Roll to the left. This will put them in the High Oblique box, and they can come out of that box with the Out-of-the-Sun Advantage. The other two fighters will Dive Roll to the right, putting them in Low Oblique at the end of the turn.
4. I should have both Schwarm and Rotte Advantage unless we have a collision!

The pic above shows you what ended up on the map. This is where the maps starts getting messy with chits.
First, I drew a Collision marker for B/C and resolved it. It says “No impact” and stays on the map until the next Cohesion Phase. The Collision marker for A/D says “Proximity 2.” If one of the fighters had been in Evasive mode, this would be “No collision” but since they are both Determined, I need to roll equal to or greater than this number to avoid a collision. I succeed. This chit also stays on the map and will possibly help degrade the bomber formation during the Cohesion Phase.

1. So with no collisions, I check for Advantage and gain both Schwarm and Rotte. Rotte allows me to cancel a hit on a fighter, and Schwarm gives me two extra damage when I hit a bomber. Note that I only gain one Rotte even though I have two spaces with two fighters because you can only gain one type of Advantage per element. The advantages can be used by any fighter attacking that element, not just the one(s) who earned it. But it can only be used once.

So it’s time for the Burst Step. I draw a card from the Nose deck and cross reference the Lethality of the space the fighter occupies (1 in this case) with the altitude (High) and the Mode (Determined).

No hits, no damage to the bomber. The “Jam” effect happens, meaning that from now on, that fighter will have to roll a die during each attack and will have a 50% chance of having a Damage result nullified. Argh!

The <2> result is the Pass-Through. Clade will need to move two spaces in the direction of his Maneuver (in this case Climb Roll Left, so forward and left) and be subject to Continuing Fire in the Break Away Phase. It’s over to his wingman.

Bauer’s result at 1 Lethality Nose High is Hit / <1> / Damage. He takes one hit, on which I will use the Rotte Advantage and cancel it. Bauer’s Experte skill (which I chose before the mission) is “Aim.” That means when I score Damage, I get to draw two markers instead of one. My first draw is Wing/10, which means if I roll equal to or greater than 10, the effect (Fallen, the curved arrow) takes place. If not, I flip the Damage marker over and place it on the bomber. I roll a ten.

The Fort drops out of formation and leaves the element. In the Advanced Game, I would put the Damage marker on the turn record track and continue after the mission on the Pursuit Map. Since I’m playing the Basic Game, I just call it gone, place a Fallen marker on the map, and gain 1 VP (for Fallen Bomber on Near Target map) and 1 Experience Point (EP, but please, it should be XP!) for Bauer. He moves his Pass-Through move of 1.

One bomber down, two fighters to go

Our first pair of fighters knocked a B-17 out of the formation. Pilot Ademeit takes on the B-17 behind and to the left of the fallen one. Because it is adjacent to a Fallen counter, the lethality of its space is reduced by 1. That’s an advantage to going second, and why I resolved the lower lethality space first.

Another Jam! But I do inflict Damage, and escape without being hit. A’s special ability is Timing, which means that if he is in Determined Mode during the Burst Phase, he automatically damages a bomber. Since we already got one Damage, he gets two. The first draw is Engine/6. I roll a 5.

That means I flip over the Damage marker and leave it on the bomber. Ten damage on a bomber and it’s dead. Unfortunately, this one is a zero. The next draw is a Wing/9, and I roll a 7. I should have rolled a 7 last time!

That flips to a 3. By the way, if you’re wondering why it matters which section of the plane is damaged, that’s an Advanced Game feature that affects the Pursuit Map. But we’re not doing that right now, so for this game consider it flavo(u)r text.

One more fighter, and that is Dahl. He gets a Hit / <2> / Damage. Since I haven’t used the Schwarm Advantage yet, I will use it now to draw an additional two Damage markers against this bomber. I’ll spare you the die rolls, but it didn’t come out well.

I drew three Damage markers, did not knock it out of formation, and only got 4 more damage points. This must be what they meant when they said the Flying Fortress was tough. Five Damage chits and it’s still flying.

The one consolation I have is that the Damage chits will count towards the Cohesion check next turn.

NEXT: The fighters break away

Articles in this Series: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Author: Bruce Geryk