Mar 24

Game – The Burning Blue game 7

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Another great game of “Leg Before Wicket” from The Burning Blue with Paul today.

This time I took the Germans with three raids – N (Warmwell and Yoeville), P (Erpo 410 against Rochford) and D (Portsmouth and Ventnor). So, the major effort in the West Country with a harassing raid into Essex.

Early in the game I placed all my dummies over Calais which led Paul to scramble four squadrons over Kent. Good news for my raids into the West Country, but not such good news for Erpo 410.

I launched a single large raid from Cherbourg across the channel which split towards Warmell, Portsmouth and Ventnor over Christchurch. Paul opposed these raids with three RAF squadrons which didn’t stop the raids all getting good hits on their targets: One Hurricane and seven Spitfires for two Me-109s and six Ju-87s.

The Erpo 410 raid on Rochford was another story. It crossed the North Sea and down the Thames Estuary before bombing the target and returning by the same route. It was intercepted by four RAF squadrons on the way into the target for the loss of six bomber Me-110s and four escorts in return for two Hurricanes. Unfortunately the bombers were disrupted and didn’t score many VPs.

Overall a draw with 49½ VPs scored against a target of 56 VPs.

In hinsight, I’d probably have been better to have aborted the Erpo raid before it even reached the coast.

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Feb 20

Game – The Burning Blue game 6

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Just finished another excellent game of GMT’s The Burning Blue with Paul.

He took the Luftwaffe and I took the RAF and we played scenario 2 “Leg Before Wicket” which I won with 28.5 VPs against a VP target of 61 for an RAF victory.

Paul selected raids A (airfield raid on Lympne), V (raids on RAF Eastchurch and an aircraft factory in Rochester) and J (Weymouth).

His raids on Lympne and Eastchurch went OK, but the raid on Rochester got lost, then its escort pancaked and then got pursued across Kent by four RAF squadrons losing nine Do-17s for one Spitfire.
The final raid by three grouppe of Stukas got lost on route to Weymouth before being bounced by a couple of West Country squadrons for the loss of 1 Stuka

Overall losses were one Stuka, one Ju-88 and nine Do-17s for one Hurricane and two Spitfires.

Not a great day for the Germans…

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Jan 16

Game – The Burning Blue game 5

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Played another game of The Burning Blue with Paul this afternoon. This time it was my turn to be the Luftwaffe controlling a pretty straight forward raid on Dover from Northern France.

I plotted 1 group of Stukas at angles 14 escorted by two groups of Bf1092 at angles 18 straight from France over the Straights of Dover for a dive bombing attack on the harbour.

Initially a dummy raid formed up over Cherbourg so Paul put a Spitfire Squadron over a convoy near the Isle of Wight. My bluff worked the these planes were too far from Dover to help out. As my real raid approached across the Channel Paul scrambled a pair of squadrons from Lypne and Hawkinge which were unable to intercept the Stukas before they dived on Dover inflicting 15 VP damage on the port. Unfortunately as the Stukas headed back to sea they were bounced by the Spitfires for the loss of three aircraft. A further two BF109s were lost in exchange for one Spitfire and one Hurricane over the channel. Over all a draw, but really a moral victory for the RAF.

An enjoyable afternoon’s gaming. I think we are getting the hand of the game and will soon be ready for some bigger scenarios.

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Jan 09

Game – The Burning Blue game 4

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Paul and I got together this afternoon for our first game of the new year. We decided to play The Burning Blue. Because we’ve not played it for a while we decided to start with scenario 1.

Paul look the Luftwaffe carrying out a raid on a convoy off Clacton-on-Sea on August 11 1940. Paul carried out two raids on the convoy – the first with a group of Do17s and the second with a group of Ju88s escorted by two groups of Me110s. I was able scramble three groups of Spitfires from airfields in East Kent and Essex, but was only able to intercept the first raid with a flight of Spitfires which were unable to stop the raid and lost a plane in the attempt. The three squadrons of Spitfires were able to intercept the second raid over the North Sea before it reached the convoy shooting down two Me110s for the loss of two more Spitfires.

Because Paul was able to attack the convoy with both raids he managed to get enough victory points for a win.

Great fun and I think we’ll be playing The Burning Blue again soon.

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Mar 23

Game – The Burning Blue game 3, part I

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Played GMT’s The Burning Blue with Paul again today. Again we played Scenario 2 and this time I look the RAF defending against Paul’s Luftwaffe.

I found playing as the RAF rather unsettling. Having to defend the SE of England from German raids, but having no idea how many raids there would be, where they would be going and what they would be composed of.

Paul started with a number of small raids forming over Calais which appeared to be the main part of his raid, so I launched a number of squadrons to intercept. As it became apparant that these were relatively small Erprobungsgruppe 210 raids on Kent Chain Home stations (raid chit B), a large raid of 200+ aircraft appeared over Cherbourg. Suddenly I was in a panic! All my aircraft were over Kent but 200 aircraft were appraoching the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth from the South. I managed to launch about half a dozen squadrons to intercept, but failed to stop the raids reaching their tagets along the south coast (raid chit GG).

Unfortunately there appeared to be something wrong wrong with my bloody planes today inflicting minor losses on the Luftwaffe in return for 10 RAF fighter losses mostly over water. 

Paul won the game by one victory point. Well done! 

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Feb 17

Game – The Burning Blue game 2, part I

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Played GMT’s The Burning Blue with Paul again today. This time we played Scenario 2 and, again, I took the Luftwaffe.

I drew raids on Hawkinge, Lympne and Biggin Hill. I won the game with a margin of five victory points.

All my raids managed to get through to their targets. Good weather made for good bombing. Paul managed to get plenty of fighters into the air, but they only managed to get through the escorts to the bombers once and failed to damage any bombers. I was very surprised that the raid got all the way to Biggin Hill and back to Calais without loss.

You can see a turn by turn account of the game in the next post on this blog.

It was a very enjoyable game and I think we are beginning to get to grips with the system and some of the tactics required to play it. Will definitely play it again.

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Feb 17

Game – The Burning Blue game 2, part II (game play log)

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Pre-Game Sequence of Play

TIME OF DAY PHASE
Rolled a 6. Time is “11:00 AM Late Morning” with a sun direction of SE.

WEATHER DETERMINATION PHASE
CROSSWINDS
Rolled an 8 meaning that there are crosswinds at Angles 16 and higher.
WEATHER
Rolled 1 on the Bad Weather Zones Table which means 0 Bad Weather Zones using Red, Green and Red counters.
Paul to draw weathers counters from cups!

LUFTWAFFE PLANNING PHASE

Scenario 2 Leg Before Wicket
1-3 chits from A to HH. Victory Point threshold of 30-70.

Raid chip pulls:
F Lympne/Hawkinge LF2 1g Ju88; 1g Me109 9 VP
Z Biggin Hill/West Malling LF2 2g Do17; 3g Me109 14 VP
T Hawkinge/Lympne LF2 2g Ju87; 3g Me109 29 VP

2 1g dummy form up
1 2g dummy form up

RAF Response Level= 9.5=1.5+4+4

Channel Patrol
H: 2g/1s Me109

Log Sheet

Calculate Recovery Times

Raid Form up Rolls

LUFTWAFFE SET UP PHASE
1g, 1g, 2g dummy form up counters in St Valerie.

1g 0,E,-6 therefore 10+.
1g 0,E,-2 therefore 10+.
2g 3,E,+0 therefore nothing.

1100
Weather change random event. Weather worsens NW of London.
20+ raid detected over St Valery

Three new raids form up over Cherbourg – 30+ 10+ 20+

1105
Sector Scramble
RAF scramble 609 Squadron at Middle Wallop and 152 Squadron at Warmwell.

1110
No random event.
2 Luftwaffe raids for up over Calais – 100+ and 10+.

1115
Good Atmospherics (HF range=11).
RAF scramble 54 Squadron forward based at Manston,
2 more Luftwaffe raids form up over Calais – 10+ and 20+.

1120
No random event.
615 Squadron scrambles at Kenley.
100+ raid forms over Calais coast.

1125
No random event.

1130
Navigation check – no raids – no event
Two Luftwaffe raids form.
Raid 2 at angles 10, 100+
Raid 5 at angles 12, 30+.
Scramble limit now 2.
Raids move over Straights of Dover.

1135
Emergency Scramble – no effect.
111 Squadron scrambles from Croyden.
64 Squadron scrambles from Kenley.
RAF response now 6.
Two Luftwaffe raids form
Raid 1 at angles 6 and 20+.
Raid 3 at angles 8 and 20+.
Luftwaffe raids move across Channel with 2 making landfall over Folkestone and Dover. Heavy ack-ack has no effect on either raid.

1140
Group scramble – RAF scramble limit to 4 for the turn.
74 Squadron scrambles from Hornchurch.
610 Squadron scrambles from Biggin Hill.
RAF response now 8.
Luftwaffe Raid 5 forms up at angles 12 and 30+.
Total raids detected no 200+ so scramble limit now 3.
Raid 2 dive bombs Hawkinge damaging the airfield and exiting via Folkestone without any balloon damage – 2x Ju87s at 15 VP each.
Raid 4 tallied by 615 Squadron – 2 bombers and 2 fighters over Channel.
Raid 1 tallied by 54 Squadron – 1 bomber and 1 fighter then attacks. Intercept. Escort React. Luftwaffe inflicts 2/-1; RAF inflicts 0/+0. 2 Spitfires lost over land and squadron pancakes.

1145
Navigation check on Raid 5 – no effect.
501 Squadron scrambles from Gravesend
RAF response now 9.
609 and 152 Squadrons land.
Raid 1 bombs Lympne damaging the airfield. Gets Lost with navigation check. 7 VP.
615 Squadron attacks raid 3 – 2 bombers and 2 fighters. Intercept. React. Luftwaffe inflict 1/-1. 2/-1. 1 RAF loss over Channel. 2 Luftwaffe Me-109′s over Channel. Pancake for raid 3 escort.
64 Squadron tallies Raid 3 over Maidstone

1150
Sector scramble. RAF scramble limit to 4 for turn.
64 Squadron tallied by Raid 5 orbiting over Maidstone. Intercept. Luftwaffe inflicts 0/+0. RAF inflicts 0/+0. Left in dogfight. Luftwaffe inflicts 0/+0. RAF inflicts 2/-1. Both units pancake. 1 Me-109 lost over England.

1155
Emergency scramble.
Raids 1, 2 and Me-109s recover in France.
Orbiting 74 Squadron tallies Raid 5 as it returns to France, but Raid is too high for British Attack.
74 Squadron pursues Raid 5, intercepting it at angles 20 south of Detling. RAF inflicts 0/+0. Luftwaffe inflicts 0/+0. 74 Squadron pancakes.

1200
No random event
615 and 64 Squadrons land back at Kenley.
610 Squadron intercepts Raid 4 over Royal Tumbridge Wells. Luftwaffe Reacts to attack. Luftwaffe inflicts 1/-1. RAF inflicts 1/-1. 1 Me-109 loss over England. 1 Spitfire loss over England. 610 Squadron pancakes.
Raid 3 reaches orbit point at Seven Oaks.
501 Squadron pursues Raid 4, intercepting it at angles 14 north of Royal Tumbridge Wells. Escort reaction is Late. RAF inflicts 0/+0. Do-17s inflict 1/+0. RAF loose 1 Spitfire over England and 501 Squadron pancakes.

1210
Emergency scramble.
65 Squadron at Rochford scrambles.
RAF response level now 10.
Raid 3 intercepts 111 Squadron at Seven Oaks. Luftwaffe inflicts 0/+0. RAF inflicts 0/+0. Units remain in dogfight.
Raid 4 bombs Biggin Hill. 2 units of D-17 for 20 VP each. Airfield damaged.
Dogfight between 111 Squadron and Raid 3. RAF inflicts 0/+0 and pancakes. Luftwaffe inflicts 0/+0.

1215
Emergency Scramble.
501 Squadron lands in Gravesend.
74 Squadron lands in Hornechurch.
610 Squadron lands at Croyden as Biggin Hill is damaged.

1220
Delayed Turnaround
54 Squadron scrambles from Manston.
RAF response level now 11

1225
Navigation Check
Raid 4 pancaked escort recovers in France.

1230
Delayed Turnaround
65 Squadron tallies returning Raid 4 east of Dungeness over the Channel. Intercept. Escort Reacts. Luftwaffe inflicts 1/-1. RAF inflicts 1/+0. 1 Spitfire lost over Channel and 1 Me-109 lost over Channel. 65 Squadron pancakes.

1235
No random event.
Channel patrol Me-109′s intercept 54 Squadron over the Straights of Dover. Luftwaffe inflicts 0/+0 and RAF 0/+0. 54 Squadron pancakes.

1240
Agreed to end the game as no more RAF intercepts on the Luftwaffe would be possible.

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Feb 03

Game – The Burning Blue

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Spent today playing my first game of GMT’s The Burning Blue with Paul. Since it looked like being a pretty involved system we decided to start with the first scenario – “Opening Bat.”

I took the Luftwaffe and was tasked with a raid on a British convoy just of St Catherine’s Head on the south coast of The Isle of Wight. Luftflotten 3 was tasked with the raid and was allocated one gruppe each of Ju-87s, Me-109’s and Me-110s. I decided to plot a simple raid flying at 14,000 feet from Cherbourg straight from the southern edge of the map to the convoy to conduct a dive bombing attack and the fly straight back off the map to the south. The Me-110s were allocated to fly close escort, whilst the Me-109s were to fly top cover 4,000 feet above the main formation.

Paul was able to intercept the bombers and escorts with 2½ squadrons (45 and 601 Squadrons from RAF Tangmere and a flight from 601 Squadron from RAF Warmwell) although he was unable to prevent a very effective attach by the Stukas.

In the melee 4 Ju-87s and 2 Me-110s were shot down for the loss of 1 Spitfire and 1 Hurricane.

The game system seemed to work very well, although the air to air combat resolution seems a little long winded and cumbersome – that maybe down to a lack of familiarity with the rules.

In the end the Germans scored a net 12 Victory points for a clear win.

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