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. Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this series can be found here, here, and here. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Turn 5

Turn 5 is going to be my last actual turn, because Turn 6 will be spent with my surviving fighters “Returning” from their Return Boxes. So this is it. Everybody moves to his appropriate Approach Box. I don’t have any Tactical Points to make fancy moves like on Turn 2.

My Staffel is currently spread out across three approach aspects. My most advantageously placed pilot is Clade, who is at Tail High, but his guns are jammed, meaning that even if I score damage, there is a 50% chance that it will simply be canceled. Ademeit is at Oblique Low with the same problem.

Still, I have some things in my favor. Even though Ademeit’s guns are jammed, he and Dahl can combine for the Rotte Advantage if they both come in Determined. Furthermore, they can combine with either Clade or Bauer to gain the Position Advantage, since they will be attacking from different positions and different altitudes. Lastly, Bauer is coming out of the sun.

In the end, I decide not to go for the Rotte Advantage for two reasons: (1) I would have to send Ademeit in Determined even though he has jammed guns, and (2) if Ademeit is going to get a lucky hit, I’d rather he got it on the more damaged Fortress and took it down while the other three combine on the lightly damaged one. It’s unlikely, I think, that I’ll shoot down both planes, but you never know. I do get Position Advantage, and Bauer has the Out of the Sun bonus even though I don’t have the counter placed on him. It’s in subsequent photos. For Maneuvers, everyone climbs except the evasive Ademeit, who dives. It won’t really matter, I think, except for any special conditions on the Continuing Fire cards.

Ademeit comes in from Oblique Low and, as expected doesn’t score any damage. He also isn’t hit, which is good for him. His Pass Through is <1> so he will move forward into the 3 Lethality space on the other side of the bomber he just attacked. However, that space is subject to the Fallen -1 modifier for the adjacent bomber, and the global Loose Element -1 modifier, reducing the space’s Lethality to 1.

Bauer is next, coming in from out of the sun. He is in a Lethality 2 space which has been modified to Lethality 1 by the Loose Formation. That’s a Hit / <2> doing no damage to the bomber. If Bauer had been in Evasive Mode the Out of the Sun would automatically cancel the hit, but since he is Determined it is only 50% likely and he has to roll an even number. He does.

Dahl comes in from Oblique Low and Determined in a straight Climb. He is in a Lethality 1 space but the global -1 for Loose Formation makes that a 0. At Oblique Low, a Determined pilot result on this card is no hit / <1> / Dmg with a NO AMMO event. With his last shot, Dahl runs out of ammo. I draw a Damage chit, which is Engine/6

I roll a 7.

The Flying Fortress drop out of formation and Clade is left with nothing to shoot at. Strangely, the rules are silent on what to do in this situation.

Haha did you believe that? These rules are actually pretty darn complete. I haven’t had any real question about what to do so far in any situation. On page 43 under “No Bomber?” it clearly states:

If there is no bomber to attack (because another fighter just destroyed it or knocked it out of formation), include the Fallen/Destroyed marker’s Lethal Level deduction and draw an Attack card. Apply all results except Damage.

Easy enough. Lethality of the space is 0, so the card result is a Hit, with no Pass Through or Damage. I use the Position Advantage to cancel the hit on the evasive Clade.

That was a better turn than I expected.

Our Fighters Break Away

So here we are in the Break Away Phase of Turn 5. Continuing Fire is next, and we start with … um, Ademeit. (One of my very few complaints about this game is that the pilot names are not on the Evasive Mode side of the block, only on the Determined Mode.) He is in a Lethality 3 (!) space, but the Fallen Bomber and Loose Formation modifiers take it down to 1. And he gets this.

Pilot is Experte? Check. Bomber is in its space? Check. Bomber is Damaged? Oh yes, check. Fighter may not be low on ammo. Check. But what about jammed guns?

I think the rulebook covers this adequately by saying that when guns are jammed, “when the fighter scores a Damage result on a bomber, roll a die.” Is this a Damage result? According to the Lucky Shot explanation on p. 52, “Treat this as a normal Damage result” so I am 99% sure this means I roll a die and it has to be even for the result to apply.

But just to be sure, I posted in the game’s BGG rules thread and the designer replied 2 (promptly!) that this was the correct interpretation.

So I roll a die, and it’s an 8. Therefore, I get to draw a Damage chit. It is Wing/9.

I roll a 10.

The Fort goes down, and Adameit, even with his jammed guns, gets the first victory of the campaign. If I were playing the Advanced Game, this would be the only result so far that would have netted me any VP, since the Fallen bombers would need to be tracked down and destroyed on the Pursuit Map. But for a Basic Game session, this seems like a good result.

The remainder of the Continuing Fire is uneventful. With the rest of the fighters now in Lethality 0 spaces, no one is hit, and they all reach their respective Return Boxes at the end of the phase.

Turn 6

In the Move Phase, no one can move because everyone is in a Return Box. In the Return Phase, the fighters either get back into their respective altitude boxes (Bauer and Dahl) or move to the Return Box from Evasive Return (Ademeit and Clade). If I were playing further, I would now have to decide whether to wait a turn for the evasive fighters to make it back (and maybe reposition the others) or attack with fewer fighters earlier.

P.S. I did roll for Flak (but not for Cohesion) on Turn 6. Nothing happened.

Epilogue

I’m interested in playing more Skies Above the Reich to see how the game develops, especially with new maps and additional features like Fw-190s, Ju-88s, cannons, bombs, and rockets and whatnot. I liked the balance between decision-making and chance that drove this session, and expect more decision-making when I have more tools. I’m quite impressed with what Jeremy White and Mark Aasted have done with this. Great design work.

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