B-17 over France-Wings of War

The below scenario was developed almost two years ago when Wings of War WWII was still fairly new.  Now Wings of War will be called Wings of Glory by Ares games and is about to release the third set of WWII minis as well as a brand new starter set with updated rules as I detailed in my earlier blog.  My son and I really enjoyed this scenario, so I wanted to make sure I captured it here.

Hope You Enjoy!

B-17 over France

Germans:
3x ME 109-ME 109s are active once the B-17 reaches the river

Allies:
B-17
P-40-escorting
P-40-Support which enters play once the B-17 crosses the river on the return trip

Objective:
Bomb town on far side of River and make it back to friendly skies(Bomber just has to pass directly over the town)

Used the B-17 cards I found on the Web:

I thought this would be fairly even as the B-17 can take alot of punishment and dish it out as well.

Mission started out well with the B-17 scoring several hits on attacking 109s while only taking minimal damage. Germans quickly learned a head on assault is not the prefferred method of attack.

Then the B-17 started to take some serious hits as it made the turn and lumbered along while trying to make it back home.

The Allies were struck a serious blow when the first little friend went down in flames by drawing the explosion the first time it was hit......OUCH!

The tail gunner was effective and scored several hits and was able to splash a ME 109 as it crossed the river.

The 2nd P-40 rushed to the rescue and was able to score some hits along with the Flying Fortress to send a second 109 down in flames


The scenario ended with the third ME 109 scoring several more blows to the Bomber as it barely limped off the map scoring a victory for the Allies. The B-17 was so shot up it was on fire and down to three damage as it left the game. Probably would not have reached base.

Thoughts on improving the scenario:
You do not realize how slow the bomber is compared to the fighters until you actaully play it. Like history the ME 109s were only able to get a couple bursts off before flying past the bomber and having to come back around for another pass. You definately do not want to make a head on attack.

The B-17 is one tough plane capable of taking alot of punishment as well as dealing it out.  Our scenario was close, but mostly because the first P-40 went down early.

Possible changes:
1. Remove explosions from the game...had the B-17 drew one the scenario ends early....or make and explsion do x amount of damage to the B-17 (12?)

2. Remove one P-40....or make both P-40s come into play after the B-17 crosses the river on the return trip.

3. Add a ME109 for the Germans initially , but in time replace it with ground AA emplacements around the town.

Optional  rule I will add: B-17 can have up to 2 fires going at once. If it takes a 3rd fire representing three engines on fire at once it crashes no matter the amount of damage.

Overall a fun scenario that allowes us to incorporate our B-17 into game play we now have 3 and have worked to expand this scenario to include a basic box fomation.

The Planes:

Although this is a scenario for Wings of War none of the planes pictures are from Nexus.  They are all custom 1/200 scale models by AIR200 which I purchase locally from "The Last Square" and painted.  AIR200 planes are sold in 2 packs of fighters and single bombers for a very reasonable price.  They do not have all the detail of the actual Wings of War models lacking clear canopies and propellers, but they fit in well.  The stands are readily availabe from Litko. I do own a complete set of the official Wings of War models, but I find these a very affordable way to increase the size of my airforce and I enjoy painting them myself.

In the future I hope to expand my bomber fleet.  The rumor is that now that Ares games has taken over the Wings of War product line (Now Wings of Glory) that bombers will be releases at some point as originally scheduled by the game designer.  In the meantime you can check out the many customs and scenario ideas at the Aerodrome.



Until next time.....Watch your Six!