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#Post#: 1620--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: pilotofficerprune Date: February 10, 2019, 8:59 am
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I think the idea is that if the air raid sirens go, even if the
airfield is not attacked, it interrupts the repair. Everyone is
taking cover.
#Post#: 1643--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: Kevin Date: February 10, 2019, 2:59 pm
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Sorry folks, but this is going to take a long time to reach the
end of the report. Apologies for the blow by blow nature of my
playback but hopefully it may shed insight on how players might
approach this campaign.
I've finished 1300 May 9, and it was a disaster for the
Axis....namely the Stukas. The line ups are listed in the
previous Axis Planning post and the Allies got a good warning
roll. Four Spitfire squadrons were scrambled to meet this raid.
So the two sweeps and single veteran escort failed to protect
the three Stuka squadrons very well. One was broken, and two
were disrupted. 9 shot down plus 3 Bf109s shot down not a good
start. They did manage to down 9 spits which shows the
superiority of the 109F. However, the spits got too many free
shots at loaded Stukas before the bombing.
The Stukas came in at level 7 which I think was a tad high.
Scored 2.damage total. The second wave at level 9 had a milk
run with no opposition and little flak interference. However,
they only scored one more point of damage. In retrospect, if I
had put the Stuka Gruppe in the second wave they may have been
much more effective...
So end of this turn the Allies are 12VP ahead, but let's see if
the attrition plan will kick in. German fighters shouldn't have
much trouble returning on the 10th.
My thoughts thus far: I really like the premium the campaign
game puts on conserving strength for another day.
#Post#: 1644--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: Kevin Date: February 10, 2019, 3:10 pm
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Question to raise: if a squadron takes 4 losses or more should
it be changed for a flight before it is placed in the Recovery
box? One of the Stukas has 4 losses.
#Post#: 1645--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: pilotofficerprune Date: February 10, 2019, 4:40 pm
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No. There's no converting squadrons into flights in the campaign
rules.
#Post#: 1697--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: Kevin Date: February 12, 2019, 11:22 pm
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End of Day report, May 9. The following raids were flown
against the airfield:
1300: wave1 is 3 109s, 3 Ju87; wave2 is 2 109s, 1 202, 3 Ju88
1500: 2 109s, 1 202, 1 Ju87, 1 Ju88, 1 Sm79
1700: 5 109s on a Freijagd, one with bombs
Losses & VP count through the day:
Axis ftr loss Axis bmb loss Allied Ftr
loss Damage VP cumulative
1300: 4 9
9 3 -13
1500: 3 0
2 9 -3
1700: 9 0
3 0 -10
From the end of day VP of -10 this looks pretty dismal for the
Germans and think it was all decided by the severe bombers
losses in the first engagement. I'll play through Day 2 though
to see if a new bombing approach works. The end of day was very
kind to the Germans to only lose the following squadrons to
cycling: 2 Ju87, 3 109, 1 Savoia. The Brits start Day 2 with 2
flights still in recovery.
1300: recounted in previous post
1500: a German success! The single Ju87 got 100% bomb damage
on the port for a total of 12 at the end of the day. This seems
to be the magic number if you're going to smash it on Day 1.
With 6 removed overnight, there will still be 6 left in the
Cycle round of Day 2 11:00 which could keep a flight out of
action.
1700: this was an absolute disaster, but was a really
impressive show from the Spitfires. Cycling resulted in 3
Veteran Squadrons being available for 1700 along with the 2
Experte! The Germans had only a single veteran and no Experte.
One Spit squadron in particular despatched three 109 squadrons.
I set up the 4 German sweeps in a phalanx in column R and this
seemed to be the undoing of them. That legendary Spit was able
to work his way down the ladder, which forced the bombing 109 to
jettison and join the fight.
Some thoughts I have for playing again:
Don’t split Axis into flights May 9 during combat. This will
limit recoveries at the end of the day. If there are any Axis
flights which can be joined overnight, do so, as this increases
the amount of planes which can be mustered in a wave. These can
always split during the raid on Day 2.
Conserve bombers Day 1....? That's a Catch-22 if you want to do
serious damage to the airfield and reap the benefits of the
Allied Cycling +1 drm. I think in retrospect, I'd rather
conserve two of the Stuka squadrons for Day 2, and focus on
better protected bombing pairs. Perhaps conserve some fighters
as well.
May 10 Axis Planning:
1100:
Wave A: 3 Escorts with 2 Ju87 & 109 bombing to circle around
altitude 10 to await the arrival of Wave 2. Coordinate to hit
the port with everything on turn 18
Wave B: 2 Sweeps, 1 Escort with 2 Ju88 @ altitude 5
1300: 3 Sweeps, 1 Escort with 2 Ju88
#Post#: 1699--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: pilotofficerprune Date: February 13, 2019, 2:35 am
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I almost hesitate to write, because I don't want to dusturb your
flow, but I'm liking what I'm seeing from your playthrough.
There seems to be a common problem in campaigns of players
overcooking the first campaign turn and going all-in more than
they maybe should. If you are starting to think you need to pace
yourself better, then the campaign system may be doing its job.
The observation about splitting flights slowing the rate of
cycling actually feels quite real, in that I'd expect a split
formation to recover more slowly that one that did not split.
It's an unintended effect that adds an extra element of
strategy.
The idea of coordinating waves is interesting. It's entirely
legal, but is there any downside to this tactic? It sort of
makes setting up waves redundant.
#Post#: 1700--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: Kevin Date: February 13, 2019, 10:15 am
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[quote author=Lee Brimmicombe-Wood link=topic=92.msg1699#msg1699
date=1550046936]
The idea of coordinating waves is interesting. It's entirely
legal, but is there any downside to this tactic? It sort of
makes setting up waves redundant.
[/quote]
If the British get a good warning, then they can see this coming
in the setup potentially. The risk lies in the number of
squares away from each other the forces start: Spits starting
in column M can rush over to column W and force battle with the
first wave before Turn 6 when Wave 2's Sweeps arrive to help.
That's all subject to the starting altitudes of the German
bombers and the maximum altitude the British roll. It could get
ugly!!!
I had a double check on legality and originally wanted Sweeps in
Wave 1, but starting as Escorts gave more flexibility to react
to what the British might do. I also didn't want to hold the
Bombers back in a circling pattern while a small Sweep advances
toward the target. If the Spits rush forward (which I'm not
sure sounds like a great idea) then the Escorts can become
Sweeps. But the Spits might have an advantage in numbers in
that battle if they can successfully force it.
#Post#: 1739--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: Kevin Date: February 16, 2019, 2:37 am
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I think it would be helpful to have an example of Cycling and
for Repairs in the rules at least for the British. For some
reason which must be down to me, I struggled to get my head
around the sequence.
For historical flavor, could we have more of an indication what
units are involved? It would be interesting to know what
Geschwaders and Gruppes the Axis we’re flying.
#Post#: 1742--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: pilotofficerprune Date: February 16, 2019, 4:25 am
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I've written an example as requested, which you'll see in the
next release.
We can probably construct an order of battle for this, just so
long as it's background notes and we don't try to map the units
to the game units. (Historically the RAF squadrons were
über-sized and so don't map directly to the game squadrons.)
#Post#: 1748--------------------------------------------------
Re: Malta Spitfires Campaign
By: Kevin Date: February 16, 2019, 10:53 am
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I've played out May 10 1100 and pulling the plug now because
it's hopeless after 1100. This is a German disaster. The Brits
got a good warning with a maximum altitude of 14! This put
everything in place to try out rushing the German first Wave
which was circling to await the low level Ju88's coming in on
T8. The melee went pretty much to the Germans in losses but the
Spits managed to disrupt both Ju87's. The arriving T6 Sweeps
put an end to the Spits which just left the bombing. However,
Flak from the Port is nasty indeed. The Germans lost an
additional 3 Ju87's and broke one squadron up on its way down.
I think the ability of the Axis just turning with the First Wave
until the Second show up can be interesting, disruptive to play,
weird, and annoying all at the same time. It doesn't seem right
but I played it out since all the conditions came up for it to
happen. The British were punished pretty badly for it even
though they had optimal circumstances. In the end, the Flak at
the Port was not overwhelmed really since there plenty of ammo
to share around the diving Stukas and Ju88's.
In the engagement, the Germans scored 2 hits on HMS Welshman
which is 1 VP for slight damage. The Germans shot down 13
Spits, Brits shot down 7 109s, and 7 Ju87s. That's a -7 shift
for the turn which added to the -10 from May 9, is -17.
Final reckoning: I didn't play the Axis well. Too much on May
9 and just trusting to luck with those Cycles. My Big Wings
theory might be flawed and perhaps it's best to pester the
British all day long with raids every round. I've only played
this once, and will do again, but I have a concern that not much
can be done against that Port on May 10th. The Flak looks
formidable. Getting to +17 looks like an awful large hill to
climb.
At this point, I've got the following questions:
M5.1.3 Smoke Pots: does this also apply to Flak shooting out
of F0?
M5.2.3 Second Wave: does this have the same altitude
restrictions as the First Wave?
Also, am I correct in thinking
that Sweeps due to enter on Turn 6 cannot Tally until they have
entered the map?
M5.5.2 There are references to removing damage to Flak and the
Port. Why would the Axis target these? I'm really doubtful now
that I've missed something: do you rack up the VP's as normal
after a raid, so if you've scored some points on Flak and the
Port, you count up your VPs and hang on to that count till the
end of game? Looking at the Victory conditions, you get nothing
for damages to the Port or Flak, so I'm confused why these would
ever be a target. The scoring on the airfield is pretty clear.
M6.2.1.2 If the Allies shoot down a 109 which was bombing is
this worth 1 VP or 2?
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