RAF Battle of Britain

Started by JudgeDredd, December 09, 2017, 08:01:48 AM

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JudgeDredd

I've decided to do another AAR for RAF:Battle of Britain.

I remembered when I first done one a few years ago that the rules were very well presented and easy to follow and I've been itching to get back onto it. As Photobucket destroyed my last AAR by removing all the photos, I'll do another one.

Kind of bizarre that I did that last one in December also - and 4 years ago in December 2013!!

This one will be the longer 4 day The Hardest Days scenario.

So here goes.

The Hardest Days
Following a month of skirmishing over the Channel in July 1940, the Battle of Britain proper got underway with several intense raid days from August 11th - 18th. This period included raid days now historically known as Eagle Day (13th Aug), the Greatest Day (15th Aug) and the Hardest Day (18th Aug). German raiders concentrated on forward airfields, ports and radar stations in the hopes of engaging the RAF for a knockout blow

Setting Up For Play
Card Preparation
Set the Target Deck, Raid Event Deck, Day Event Deck and German Strategy Deck into accessible piles
Remove Target Cards 35-60 and Raid Event Cards 132-134 from the piles.
Shuffle each deck and place face down


Unit Placement
Place all 27 Hurricane and Spitfire counters full strength up in their respective sectors (but not Blenheim Sqns)
Place all 77 Gruppen counters full strength up in their assigned air bases


Target Priorities
Place the Priority Markers on the Target Priority Track as follows

  • Low Priority - Cities and Industry
  • Medium Priority - Airfields
  • High Priority - Ports and Radar


Other Marker Placement
Put the Clock marker in the 0600 space in the Clock
Place the 7 time markers on the Raid Planning Track
Detection Marker on the Detection Track
Day marker on August 11 box
Victory Point marker on the 0 box, British Side (+) up


All set up.


The might of the German Luftwaffe is poised and ready to launch the first of many days which will see raids all over southern England. The brave but few RAF pilots await the onslaught.


Sequence of Play

  • Daily Planning Phase - Occurs once each day at the start of the day
  • Raid Phase - Perform several times a day for the number of raids you have
  • Airfield Operations Phase - Performed several times each day as the clock marker moves around the clock
  • Calendar Update Phase - Performed once per day after the last raid

(anyone who has gone looking will spot immediately that I robbed this first part from my previous AAR (why reinvent the wheel?)
Alba gu' brath

MikeGER

great  :D  O0

...this reminds me to get my PC-driven version up and running on this snowy winter days

Staggerwing

I look forward to reading this as it unfolds. BTW, having that frame around the map and plexiglass (is it perspex in across-the-pond-speak?) makes the whole thing very spiffy looking.  O0
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

JudgeDredd

Perspex  O0

They were fairly cheap frames and meant I didn't have to fold the maps up and could keep them protected.
Alba gu' brath

Nefaro

Quote from: Staggerwing on December 09, 2017, 08:18:38 AM
I look forward to reading this as it unfolds. BTW, having that frame around the map and plexiglass (is it perspex in across-the-pond-speak?) makes the whole thing very spiffy looking.  O0

For me, it was cheaper buying a big poster frame that came with the plexi online, rather than going to a store and getting a cut piece of plexiglass by itself. 

JudgeDredd

#5
Sorry for the pictures. The light in my room isn't great and the camera flash often bounces back off the cards - so there's a mix and match of flash and non-flash. I'll try and sort out a proper lamp for the next lot of photos.

Daily Planning Phase
Night Raid Planning
Night raids rarely had an impact on the operations of Fighter Command and are not detailed like the day raids. However, night raids were an effective and dramatic method of German bombers to attack cities and industrial targets with little risk of air combat


German Night Raid Commitment
Looking at the priority of Cities (low) and Industry (low) and comparing those values to the German Night Minimum/Maximum Chart I can see that I can assign between 2 and 4 bombers to the Night Raid.


Aircraft assigned can be He111s, Ju88s and Do17s and come from either Luftflotte II or Luftflotte III. I assign 2xHe111s and 2xDo17s to the Night Raid from Luftflotte II.



German Strategy Draw
This does not start until Aug 12th


Raid Target Selection
I get to choose 10 targets.

5 targets are for Low Priority targets for Cities and Industry
4 targets are for Medium Priority targets for Airfields
1 target is for a High Priority target for Radar Net

This is the German Raid Priority Table I use to determine whether a target card results in a No Raid, Minor Raid or Major Raid


Of the Low Priority targets, 4 result in a No Raid because they are Strategic Value 1 or 2 and 1 target results in Minor Raids


Of the Medium Priority targets, 1 is a Strategic Value of 2 and is a Minor Raid and the other 3 are Strategic Value 3 resulting in Major Raids


The High Priority target is Strategic Value 2 and is a Major Raid


These are my targets for the first day of the campaign



Bomber Assignment
Minor Raids can have no more than 3 Gruppen assigned to them and Major Raids can have a maximum of 12 Gruppen (Gruppen refer to fighters and bombers). Gruppen can only be assigned from the Luftflotte specified on the target card.

Southend has 2 bomber Gruppen assigned
Kenley has 2 bomber Gruppen assigned
Poling has 7 bomber Gruppen assigned
Hornchurch has 6 bomber Gruppen assigned
Biggin Hill has 4 bomber Gruppen assigned
Biggin Hill has 3 bomber Gruppen assigned


German Fighter Assignment
Southend has 2 bomber Gruppen and 1 fighter Gruppe assigned
Kenley has 2 bomber Gruppen and 1 fighter Gruppe assigned
Poling has 7 bomber Gruppen and 5 fighter Gruppen assigned
Hornchurch has 6 bomber Gruppen and 6 fighter Gruppen assigned


You will notice I've not assigned any fighters after the third slot. You are not required to. You are only required to assign fighters to the first 3 time slots for the day and then you assign the fighters when you get to the "second half" of the day.

I place the raids on my Raid Planning Track. I can assign a maximum or 3 raids per time slot.


It was unlucky I think that Luftflotte II is taking the brunt of the targets today...especially as they have 4 Gruppen assigned to Night Raids. They're spread thin, but they've managed to meet their commitments.
Alba gu' brath

JudgeDredd

Night Patrol Assignment
Here it is determined which Blenheim squadrons will patrol against the Night Raids

In order to do so, I roll a die and check the result on the current date on the British Night Patrol Table. I roll a 3 and looking at the table, 3 for the 11th Aug column shows 1 Blenheim Squadron is on patrol.


That Squadron is from Sector 6 Group 11


I then move the Blenheim Squadron to the Night Raid box
Alba gu' brath

JudgeDredd

#7
Night Raid Interception
I check the Night Raid Interception Table to check the chances of an interception.

I cross reference the table by looking at the number of Blenheim Squadrons and the number of Gruppen. I have 1 Blenheim Squadron and 4 Gruppen and the table says there's 0 chance of interception.


So I don't have to roll to check for Interception.


Night Raid Combat
As there's no interception, there's no Night Raid Combat to be had.


Night Raid Bombing
To resolve Night Raid Bombing I take the number of Gruppen, roll a die and check the Night Raid Bombing Table. I have 4 Gruppen and I roll a 6 which results in -2VPs and 2 Industry Damage Points. YES!


I move the Victory Point Tack down from 0 to 2 and flipping it from the + side to the - side (indicating victory points in favour of the Germans)


Industry Damage results in lost Aircraft Replacement Points to the value of the damage (in the above case 2 points of aircraft replacement points). This is explained in rule 10.24


So I move the chit with the most value (Hurricane replacements) from 9 to 7
Alba gu' brath

JudgeDredd

This is a seriously fun game  O0
Alba gu' brath

BanzaiCat


MikeGER

+1  :)

JD do You choose  the targets freely or have to draw them from a stack?

so is their a strategic layer plan (in the limitation of what Berlin had ordered) a strategy you have made up



JudgeDredd

Quote from: MikeGER on December 13, 2017, 03:15:41 AM
+1  :)

JD do You choose  the targets freely or have to draw them from a stack?

so is their a strategic layer plan (in the limitation of what Berlin had ordered) a strategy you have made up
You have a stack of target cards and they're shuffled at the beginning of the game. You then draw 10 cards (8 if there's early morning haze) and you get to choose from the target cards selected. Some will be removed from you due to their strategic value and the Target Priority set. You don't have to engage with all targets either.

I don't know if that randomness equates to no strategic layer - I suppose it does because I can't purely focus on big raids and going after airfields for example. I could in the sense that I could choose not to attack industry and cities.

So I guess I have no strategic control over what's being targeted. Perhaps that's to do with the solo element and play balance - I don't know.

Perhaps the Target Priority and the Strategic Value on the target cards provide that strategy layer - but it's not something you as a player have control of.

That does make me wonder how it would play out if I was able to focus purely on Airfields or Radar  :dreamer:
Alba gu' brath

MikeGER

THX for the explanation  :)

for immersion just imagine just like that priority list it simulates the sophomoric of Göring and stupidity of the Führer and their historical validated wish to micromanage often instead of let their subordinated professionals in the field doing their stuff


MengJiao

Quote from: JudgeDredd on December 13, 2017, 03:50:16 AM
Quote from: MikeGER on December 13, 2017, 03:15:41 AM
+1  :)

JD do You choose  the targets freely or have to draw them from a stack?

so is their a strategic layer plan (in the limitation of what Berlin had ordered) a strategy you have made up
You have a stack of target cards and they're shuffled at the beginning of the game. You then draw 10 cards (8 if there's early morning haze) and you get to choose from the target cards selected. Some will be removed from you due to their strategic value and the Target Priority set. You don't have to engage with all targets either.

I don't know if that randomness equates to no strategic layer - I suppose it does because I can't purely focus on big raids and going after airfields for example. I could in the sense that I could choose not to attack industry and cities.

So I guess I have no strategic control over what's being targeted. Perhaps that's to do with the solo element and play balance - I don't know.

Perhaps the Target Priority and the Strategic Value on the target cards provide that strategy layer - but it's not something you as a player have control of.

That does make me wonder how it would play out if I was able to focus purely on Airfields or Radar  :dreamer:

  Burning Blue has the same approach: the Germans get a list of raids based on historical raids in different phases of the battle.  In the Most Dangerous Enemy, Stephen  Bungay reviews the German planning for Eagle (the air offensive against England) and finds it there was not much of a plan.  He concludes:
Sealion was a bad plan.   Eagle barely merits the name of 'plan' at all.  It amounted to little more than flying over England, dropping some bombs on various things to annoy people, and shooting down any fighters which came came up as a result.
Which is okay, I suppose for some gaming purposes, though there are other ways to approach the situation as a game.  For example, you could apportion different historical options -- the Germans could jam the radars and the RAF could have inland radars and radar for Night fighters and so on.  You might also want to include preparing for Sealion, but there there is a very tight time schedule and the RAF was very successful in bombing the invasion barges so that's hard to work out in a way that gives the Germans more options.

MengJiao

Quote from: MikeGER on December 13, 2017, 04:27:50 AM
THX for the explanation  :)

for immersion just imagine just like that priority list it simulates the sophomoric of Göring and stupidity of the Führer and their historical validated wish to micromanage often instead of let their subordinated professionals in the field doing their stuff

  The target list does cover what the subordinated professionals chose to bomb, since one the basic problem with the Eagle plan was that there was no real overall guidance from Goring or anyone else.  The airfleets chose their targets from a target list that eventually included everything.