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#Post#: 76--------------------------------------------------
E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2018, 9:56 am
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Date: 1 Sep
Playtester: Gordon Christie/Andrew Brazier
We’ve also played this one three times.
Summary-it is VERY good. Unusual scenario, well constructed &
tightly balanced. Great fun as it stands. A slightly puzzle like
scenario initially but rapidly evolves into a huge late war
brawl with an interesting mix of aircraft & technology (gyros) &
an unusual victory condition with the Germans needing to exit
fighters & a complex balance between committing fighters against
the interceptors or trying to get off the map.
A great deal depends on how the initial bounce goes. There are
some interesting choices for the US about using tactical
flexibility to try & engage more LW units or just going in flat
out on GT1 to maximise initial casualties & try to break some LW
units early & press on against the others.
Run1 saw the bounce fail spectacularly with incredibly bad US
DRs (1 loss each at the end of the 6 initial combats!)-the LW
managed to exit 6 intact squadrons after a series of dogfights
tied up the US. 17 LW fighters were lost against only 6 P-47s
but the final result was a clear LW victory.
Run 2 saw a better initial bounce & only 3 LW squadrons got off
the map. Kills were 29:12 in favour of the US but the final
score was a narrow German victory (+5 VP). A draw was probably
likely but the LW scored well in the last couple of combats
killing 5 P-47s.
Run 3 saw the US use tactical flexibility & manage to engage all
the LW squadrons. Final kills were 29:10 but only 1 disrupted LW
squadron escaped (although 2 of the LW squadrons were caught in
column A…) for a solid US victory.
We think it is really good as it stands. At first glance it
looks likely to be a massacre but the US are outnumbered & the
Germans are resilient enough to make it tight. It Nisan unusual
setup & unusual victory conditions & works well as a big late
war fighter on fighter engagement.
No changes suggested. Really VERY clever scenario.
#Post#: 77--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2018, 9:58 am
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Date: 5 Sep
Playtester: Elias Nordling
OK, so I did this one, and I dunno...
Given the setup, the US can be guaranteed a tally and assigning
targets to everyone. So I just did that, split 3 veterans and
attacked 9 of the 12 German squadrons on turn 1. I was coming
from above and behind so everyone was bouncing for coming out of
the sun. So all the Thunderbolts were attacking with at least 8
speed and +2 DRM, except those with aces or the veteran squadon
that had even better combat mods.
After turn 1, the Germans had taken 13 losses to 1 US loss, and
4 German squadrons were drisrupted an an additional one broken.
For the Germans for turn 2, I couldn't think of a better plan
than running for the map edge and hope for the best. Exiting is
their only hope of a point advantage, and moving 3 squares ahead
using free movement didn't hurt their chances compared to
staying and fighting (diving is inadvisable as that would allow
the US fighters to once again attack out of the sun).
Because of the tally special rule, the three front units that
hadn't been engaged couldn't try to tally the US fighters
because they would then be unable to move towards the map edge.
So all they could do was move 2 squares straight ahead.
By turn 2, the German had taken an additional 10 losses and 7 of
12 squadrons were broken, and the US fighters were working their
way towards the front units. The US were a bit lucky in that the
forwardmost US unit broke its target both turn 1 and 2, so it
was able to do its work on the forward German wing early.
By turn 4 there was one disrupted German squadron staggering off
the map. The mop-up-phase of the next three turns was
anticlimatic as the US only managed to score 3 more kills for
one loss.
Final score: US 34 kills
German: 1 Disr exited, 10 US fighters shot down: 12
Score: 22. Massive US victory.
The US tactic was perfectly fine. I'm not sure how to improve
the German tactic. The 9 squadrons that were engaged turn 1
could just stay and fight with the hopes of the 3 forward ones
exiting, which maybe might be enough for a draw. The US could
counter that by leaving the last wing alone at start instead.
It is possible that the US got lucky turn 1 and should have
suffered a few disruptions and broken formations earlier, but
then, that would make the original German strategy to just run
straight ahead even more valid.
For the Germans, making sure that their wings don't touch and
make for a huge single blob formation might give them the chance
of a blown US tally roll here or there, which means they could
get lucky and only have 6 squadrons tallied turn 1.
Nevertheless, the initial impression is that the Germans are
toast and a bit short of options to do anything about that.
#Post#: 132--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 15, 2018, 1:20 pm
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Clearly we need more test on this scenario. My only thought at
the moment is to remove the turn 1 tally restriction from the
Germans and see what effect that has, in terms of giving the
Germans the ability to use part of their forces, and their
limited splits, to stop the Americans.
#Post#: 788--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: Elias Nordling Date: January 5, 2019, 2:16 am
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v0.3
Player Elias Nordling (Solo)
So this time was an even worse disaster for the Germans than
last try. Obviously there are balance problems, but I think the
bigger problem is the lack of meaningful decisions for the
Germans. As a solitaire turkey shoot, I find it different and
enjoyable, but I can't think of anything the Germans can do to
improve their chances other than run for the map edge. In
theory, the Germans could split to tie up a few US units, but in
practice I find the US are in full control of where to go so the
Germans would only help them by splitting giving them fewer
squadrons that need to be dealt with.
The game starts with the US doing max splitting and attacking 9
of 12 German squadrons out of the sun. As far as I can tell,
this doesn't really need any die-rolling, it is automatic. I've
listed all the combats with the US combat modifiers.
T1: US ftrs auto tally and split, engaging 9 of 12 Ger ftrs out
of the sun. Not much point for Germans to tally since that
allows the US to prevent them from moving towards the map edge.
I still tally with the rearmost formation, gaining a MP or 2.
Combats:
+1(+2). Lucky Germans (experte) shoot down one P47 and break
flight.
+2(+2). No losses.
+3(+2) 5 FW shot down. Ger Sq broken.
0(+3). 4 BF109, 2 P47 lost. Ger Sq broken.
+2(+2). 1 Bf109 lost, Ger Sq disr.
+1(+3). 3 Bf109 lost, Ger Sq disr.
+2(+2) 3 FW190, 1 P47 lost.
+3(+2) No losses, Ger Sq Disr.
+3(+2) 1 Fw lost.
T2:
Germans can only be hampered by tallies so drop them.
Germans can dive to gain one more mp, but then suffer an
additional out of the sun...
Combats:
+1(+1) 3 FW lost. Ger Sq broken.
+3(+2) 1 Bf109 lost, Ge Sq broken.
+1(+3) 5 Bf109 lost. Ge Sq, US Flt broken.
+2(+3) 1 BF109 lost, Ger Sq, US Flt broken.
+1(+1) 1 FW lost, Ger SQ broken, US sq Disr
+3(+1) 1 FW lost. Ger SQ broken.
+2(+1) 1 FW lost. Ger Sq broken.
3 unbroken German SQ left.
T3:
Combat:
+1(+1) 1 P47 lost, US Sq broken.
+1(+1) 2 FW, 1 P47 lost, both broken
+1(+1) No losses, dogfight
T4:
Combat:
+2(+1) 2 FW lost, Ger disr, 1 US Sq broken. Dogfight.
+1(+1) No losses. Ger Sq Broken.
T5:
Combat:
1(+1) 2 FW lost. Germans roll 12 on cohesion, the only result
that wouldn't break them. US don't break either.
3(0) No losses, US Flt breaks.
T6:
1(+1) 1 FW lost. Ger Sq breaks.
No Germans further than D.
Final score:
No Germans exit. 38 Ger Ftrs lost to 6 US Ftrs.
Final score 32.
Suggestions: I'm not sure what to do with lack of German
decisions, though if you like a challenge, you might still enjoy
being the Germans.
Balance is easier to handle. I would like to try with US split
limit at 4 instead of 6 and 3 US veterans instead of 4. If
needed, the starting positions could be moved forward 2 spaces
or more.
I'd like to play this one against someone with more ideas for
the Germans. All I see is that if the Germans tally, this is an
opportunity for the US player to anchor them in place by not
moving forward themselves.
#Post#: 789--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: pilotofficerprune Date: January 5, 2019, 12:30 pm
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Lets try all those suggestions of yours: shaving down split
limits to 4, reducing American Veterans by 1 and starting the
Germans two columns to the left.
#Post#: 791--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: Elias Nordling Date: January 6, 2019, 1:54 am
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v0.3, modified by the suggested changes in the previous post.
Player Elias Nordling (Solo)
The outcome was still an US victory, but with much less margin.
The Germans had really crappy cohesion rolls the first 2 turns,
with 4 disrupted and 4 broken squadrons turn 1! That put them
behind the curve right from the start. They managed some good
combat rolls though. No Germans exited but 3 squadrons got to
within one turn's movement of the edge. Losses were 28 Germans
for 11 US fighters. An US victory but not with a massiv margin.
The US had to work harder this time.
I suspect the German turn 1 cohesion rolls were decisive and a
bit of an outlier so I would like to try it again, but at this
stage, the game is clearly winnable by the US but I suspect the
Germans don't need any more shifts in their favor. If there are
smart things the Germans can do with tallies, they are likely to
be in favor of the German player too.
#Post#: 792--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: pilotofficerprune Date: January 6, 2019, 2:38 am
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What do you think about reducing the Americans by a single
squadron? That immediately puts them on the back foot, dropping
the number of losses they can inflict and giving at least two
squadrons a chance of getting away?
#Post#: 793--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: Elias Nordling Date: January 6, 2019, 2:58 am
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That is probably about equal to the reduction of veterans and
splits in effect.
#Post#: 794--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: pilotofficerprune Date: January 6, 2019, 5:10 am
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What if we layer it on top of the Veteran and splits reductions?
#Post#: 796--------------------------------------------------
Re: E18 Zemke's Wolfpack
By: Elias Nordling Date: January 6, 2019, 6:03 am
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I'll try.
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