5-10 players, Western Front, DH 4's/SPAD XIII's vs. German mixed bag

The Lost Battalion  - Oct  5, 1918     

by Barton Stano

Historical Background

A U.S. infantry battalion advancing in a rolling wooded area was completely cut off by the German army. October 5^th 1918 was the fourth day they had been cut off and supplies were running low. Brave American DH-4s tried a supply drop. In this action a American DH-4 was shot down by ground fire and its crew killed, they were later awarded the Medal of Honor.

Player Setup and Game Rules

The game will be played with hidden damage.  Sixteen-card tailing, and all German pilots may roll for parachutes. Table talk penalty will be adding one to the next to hit roll. Dense troop concentration, no clouds and no wind. The front is 150 squares from the Allied edge of the table and is 20 squares wide. German forward airfield is 25 squares from German side of the board; home airfield is 100 squares from German edge of the board. The Allied home field is 100 squares from the front; emergency field is only 30 squares from the front.  American observers CANNOT fire at the same target as their pilot. Two or more pilots/observers sharing a kill will have to cut cards for credit. Critically wounded crew members are incapacitated on a roll of a 1 on a D6. Crew members get two escape chances, one at time of capture and one at the POW camp. Any player can play an experienced pilot/observer with all bonuses.  A four-turn tourney box of the entire board will exist, and any aircraft exiting the board will be considered shot down for point determination during the four five turns. The entire board is considered flat with no buildings, trees, water, or roads. If a plane lands, roll for terrain as per the rules.

The flight leader of each side should print out the appropriate briefing sheets for his side by clicking on the link below:

Strafing is done from an altitude of either 50 or 100 feet, and a level (not nose down) attitude. Any military unit on the ground is fair game for strafing, but gun positions (machine guns and anti-aircraft or AA units) are the most common targets. The range of a strafing attack is counted normally, but the aircraft's maximum range is increased to 650 feet. The chances of hitting the target at various ranges are:

Range           to Hit
150' - 250'     1-5
300' - 350'     1-4
400' - 450'     1-3

500 - 550'      1-2
600' - 650'      1

Check the type of burst against the corresponding range in the normal manner for effect. There are five ranges, just as with other shots.

A ground gun can be put out of action by strafing in three ways: by disabling the gun itself, by killing or wounding the gun's crew or by forcing the crew to abandon the gun.  The table below lists results of strafing attacks on ground gun positions depending on the number of hits scored in the attack. The defending player rolls one die, subtracting one if the gun is dug in for better protection.

The first number in each result is the number of crew casualties. The second number is the number of turns that the gun may not fire. An asterisk means the gun is destroyed if it is a machine gun. A double asterisk means the gun is destroyed regardless of its type. A machine gun has a crew of three and a light AA gun has a crew of six. It takes at least one man to fire a machine gun, and at least two to fire a light AA gun. The number of hits scored by a ground gun is reduced by one if its crew is short two persons and is reduced by two if its crew is short four persons. A ground gun that damages its target always causes at least one hit, despite crew reductions. If a gun is destroyed surviving crewmembers can run to another gun position at the rate of one square per turn. The attacking pilot should not know the result of a strafing run. The defender rolls the result secretly.

Machine gun hits are distributed normally, and there is deflection shooting. Anti-aircraft shells burst around the target plane.

Machine guns will not fire if friendly with 200; AA guns will not fire at an enemy plane if a friendly plane is within 400 feet of the target.  Hill contours, which intervene, may block a target, but other ground obstacles will not prevent ground guns from firing.