Wings of War Campaign- Jil's Jasta Weekend Patrol

This weekend we continued Jil's WoW German campaign while up at the game meet at the University.  We continue to play test the campaign system and are looking for bugs.  So far, I'd say that we both really like playing this game campaign style as it cuts way down on the normally reckless behavior of players who do not have consequences for their actions.  It is a very simple home brew system but it manages to bring sane play, surprise and unpredictability to the games and that was the mission.  I think we are accomplishing it nicely.
After that disaster mission where Jil lost two Fokker DR.Is he really needed to get something good going to restore the reputation of his squadron.  The squadrons with the best records and reputations always got the best machines and pilots.
At the beginning of the day Jil received his orders and he drew two patrol missions and one recon escort mission.  He assigned which pilots and machines would be flying each mission as well as who was staying at home that day.  On his first patrol mission he had three Albatross fighters out hunting and they ran into a slightly numerically superior force of SPADs and Camels.  (randomly generated) He spotted them at a distance and he decided that the possible rep point gain for this mission was not worth the risk against these top enemy fighters.  He decided to run away and leave that rep point on the table and hope for better pickings later in the day.

Which brings us to the second patrol mission which turned out to be quite interesting.  On this mission he was flying along and ran into a large flight of RE8 and Nieuports that were flying at a similar speed and heading of his patrol.  For whatever reason, be it clouds, sun etc.. the two opposing flights did not notice each other until they were almost wing to wing!  Jil's three Albies are on the far end.

The opposing flights look over and see each other and the fighters all start peeling off to engage.  This was quite interesting because even though the allied flight was twice the strength, it was stretched out and this gave some tactical possibilities to the Germans.  Jil decided to stick around and see what he could pick off before my fighters concentrated.

Two of my Nieuports immediately engage and trade some shots with the closing Germans but I have a problem with Nungesser on the other side of my flight.  The Nieuport is not a very fast plane so I decide to do an Immelman turn and circle around behind the RE8s.  I'm steadily getting those two seaters into a defensible formation.

Swapping lead in a tight fly by.

My RE8 two seaters are finding their formation and they fly steady on to get clear of the threat.  My N.17 and N.23 nearly collide while flying past the German flight.

Things are spreading out; time for some decision making.  It is going to be difficult for me to get my fighters concentrated before Jil gets a chance to do some damage to someone.  The good news is that my RE8s are pretty safe in that close formation.

Nungesser's N.17 speeding towards his comrades.

My RE8s are wasting no time getting out of the area.  I love these things!  Their so big and they have a tail gunner.  One by itself is vulnerable, but if you have several, then they are very tough to attack.

Back at the fight, Jentsch and Lufbery have quickly turned it around and are playing chicken.  Unfortunately for me, Lufbery gets hammered hard and is already effectively out of the fight.  But Jil does not know this yet.  I also really messed up here and assigned a wrong maneuver card to the N.23 in the top right corner so he is moving even further away from the fight!

My RE8s are just about clear now.

I finally get all my planes headed in the right direction!  Fortunately for me, Jil also made a couple of bad blunders while maneuvering and he missed a great opportunity to finish Lufbery.

Lufbery (center) starts limping away while Nungesser and Kibanov come to guard him.

Jil is not finished yet however.  Udet is hot on the trail so I turn Nungesser back to engage.

As Udet and Nungesser pass each other they let fly with a barrage from their guns.  It happens again!  I get hammered and Udet comes off light.  Now I have two planes that are critically damaged.  It is time to stop messing around and to run for it.

Lufbery is not looking back and limping away.  Kibanov is watching his back but Nungesser is now far behind with a hungry Udet on the prowl.  Jil has had another snafu with his card assignments which has delayed the arrival of his other two Albies.

Here is every pilots worst nightmare.  All alone and Udet closing on your damaged machine.  I really thought for sure that Nungesser was finished.  He should have been because I made a very stupid mistake going back solo to tangle with the German flight.  Miraculously no damage was done and Jil's horrible luck continues.

Lufbery looks like he will get away with his damaged crate.  Kibanov has swung his N.23 back to try to help Nungesser escape in his damaged crate.  And the Germans are finally getting organized.  Booooooo!

Udet is still on Nungesser's tail but now he has to worry about Kibanov's N.23 closing fast on his right.  Who is going to chicken out first?

I guess Jil just couldn't believe that I would keep flying straight with Nunny and he misjudges and turns away.  After an non-effective first salvo against Udet, Kibanov's guns are jammed!

The German Albatross D.V fighters are just too fast for my Nieuports.  I decide that I'd rather go down shooting with Nunny than to be tailed and slaughtered helplessly.  So here we go!  Let's gang up on Udet before his boys get here.

But the crafty devil slips through, dealing out damage while not receiving much in return.

For a moment the flights separate, I need to make a decision fast.  Since Nunny is headed back home at the moment, I choose to run that way.  Kibanov will attempt to follow and re-join the flight.  We have a house rule that when you run it has to make sense.  You cannot just take a fast cheesy exit from the table side for convenience, it must be either in the direction of the mission or where you came from.

And here they go!  Zoooooooooooooooooooooooom!  It looks like mice running for cover when the lights come on!  So now what will Jil do?

Remember these guys?  They are long gone.

And so is Nunny, he had a really nice head start and he will get away.

Kibanov's N.23 will re-join the flight.

This mission was a success for the Germans, and they will get a rep point for successfully damaging two Allied crates and clearing the area, plus a bonus rep point for doing it while vastly outnumbered.  However, it could have been a really great success.  Jil was just a hair away from downing two planes against vastly superior numbers.  If he could have pulled that off he would have gotten rep points for each crate shot down, plus one for mission success, plus an additional for the numerical odds bonus.

As we have gotten more play testing in on the campaign system we have settled in on some concepts that seem to work out pretty well.  I may post the campaign rules in case anyone is interested in doing something similar.  It makes WoW into more of a strategy game and I really like the nail biting decision making.