Battle of Britain Campaign - Turn 8 - 26th August to 1st September 1940

With not much to post about this week, It was time to return to the Battle of Britain campaign and play a quick game, moving the campaign forward another week to 26th August to 1st September 1940. 

A Spitfire is spotted by an escorting Me109.

I have been running this campaign since mid-April and generally manage to get a game played every couple of weeks. For the tabletop games I use Warlord Games’ Blood Red Skies rules from the Airfix's Battle of Britain introductory boxed set, with a few modifications to suit the campaign and allow the games to be played on a hex grid.

So far, seven campaign turns, each representing one week of the Battle of Britain, have been completed. One week did not involve a game due to bad weather, meaning six tabletop games have actually been played. For the campaign I am taking a "bath-tubbing" approach with each tabletop game representing a key encounter that determines the campaign outcome for the whole week.

Details of the campaign rules can be found here. There are a couple of changes to the original campaign rules which I mention at the end of the post.

The Mission

The mission for the week of 26 August to 1 September was determined by a dice roll, with a 5 indicating that the Luftwaffe would attempt to bomb Radio Direction Finding (RDF) installations along the coast.

Selecting the mission.

In the campaign each mission has a set order of battle, and for this game the forces are:

Luftwaffe

• 1 × Ju 87 Stuka
• 4 × Me 109

RAF

• 2 × Hurricanes
• 2 × Spitfires
• 2 × Barrage balloons with supporting flak

When setting up a game there are several factors randomly determined by dice, these including the weather, pilot skills and starting altitude. Apart from the weather (who can predict that!) the other factors can be influenced by the outcome of previous games and the campaign rules. For example, during the first five campaign turns, the Luftwaffe received a +1 modifier to their pilot skill dice rolls.

Game Setup

For this game, the weather is fine, with just a couple of clouds in the sky.

The RAF had one Ace, one Regular and two Novice pilots, while the Luftwaffe had one Ace, one Veteran and two Novice pilots. As always, bomber pilots (in this case the Ju 87 pilot) is treated as a Regular pilot.

The Luftwaffe aircraft were positioned along their tabletop edge, with their starting altitude determined by dice. The RAF could deploy anywhere on their half of the tabletop, after which their starting altitudes were also determined by dice rolls.

Battle Report

As the German aircraft approached their target, they spotted a couple of Spitfires climbing to gain altitude. Then suddenly, two Hurricanes emerged from the clouds, taking the Luftwaffe by surprise. They swept past the escorting Me 109s, aiming to turn onto the tail of the Ju 87. However, their quarry disappeared into a cloud before they could get into position.

Game setup with all aircraft positioned, pilot skills diced for along with aircraft altitude.

Hurricanes emerge from the clouds taking the Luftwaffe by surprise.

The other two Me 109s engaged the two Spitfires. In the resulting dogfight the RAF caused some minor damage and a Boom token on one of the attacking German fighters.

A note on the rules -  In the Blood Red Skies ruleset, a hit results in the aircraft taking a Boom token. These tokens represent a combination of minor damage, fuel or ammunition expenditure, and pilots becoming increasingly rattled by enemy attacks. A hit can be successfully dodged, allowing the aircraft to avoid losing its altitude advantage and potentially being shot down. However, Boom tokens remain in place, and once a certain threshold is reached for a force (not an individual aircraft) it means: 1) the RAF, break off the attack, or 2) for the Luftwaffe the fighter escort protecting the bomber must withdraw, leaving the bomber exposed to RAF fighter attacks.

The Ju87 disappears into the cloud.

With the Ju 87 safely hidden in the cloud, the fighter melee continued as the RAF tried to position themselves for the bomber's reappearance. The dogfight resulted in the RAF aircraft taking some punishment and they accumulated two Boom tokens.

When the Ju 87 finally emerged from the cloud, it was game on. The RAF fighters closed in on the bomber, but luck was on the Luftwaffe's side. The Ju 87 escaped unscathed and one of the attacking RAF fighters took a hit. Fortunately for the RAF pilot, the hit was successfully dodged.

As the Ju87 emerges from a cloud its escorting fighters they and disrupt the RAF fighter attack runs. 

Elsewhere, the two Aces had become embroiled in their own dogfight. Twice the Me 109 Ace gained the upper hand, scoring two hits against the RAF Ace. Both were successfully dodged, but the attacks had nevertheless achieved their purpose. With ammunition and fuel running low, the RAF had accumulated too many Boom tokens and had to break off the attack.

Having survived the worst of the RAF fighter attacks, the Ju 87 continued on towards its target. All that remained was to run the gauntlet of the barrage balloons and any ground fire from the nearby flak batteries.

The RAF break off the attacks.

The Ju87 flies past the barrage balloons and flak.

As it turned out, the flak proved completely ineffective on this particular day.

Wrap Up

A win for the Luftwaffe. While this victory does not earn them any campaign victory points (those can only be gained by successfully bombing industrial areas, London, or Channel convoys) it does have an effect on the next campaign tabletop game.

If an RDF installation is successfully bombed, all RAF aircraft will begin the next game at low altitude. Putting them at a disadvantage so they will need to think carefully about where they deploy. Positioning their aircraft too far forward could leave them exposed to attacks from the Luftwaffe fighters while they try to gain altitude.

This is an amendment to the campaign rules that I originally wrote before I had played many games. The original rule stated:

• The RAF subtract 2 from the altitude roll if an RDF installation was successfully bombed in either of the previous turn.

Having played a good number of games, I have replaced this with the much cleaner and simpler:

• The RAF aircraft all start at low (disadvantaged) altitude if an RDF installation was successfully bombed in either of the previous turn.

This is the third change I have made to the campaign rules as the campaign has progressed. The previous two amendments were:

1. Combining barrage balloons and flak - Rather than treating them as two separate defences, they are now combined. Flying adjacent to a barrage balloon means an aircraft is subject to flak fire.
2. Limiting Ace pilots - Only one Ace pilot is allowed per side in a game. If a second Ace is generated by the pilot skill roll, they are instead treated as a Veteran pilot.

These are small changes which should not drastically influence the outcome of the campaign.