Our club faced some challenges with the game we presented at Carronade. Sandy had to withdraw from his game due to other commitments, and Dave Douglas stepped in, suggesting a game created in the 1980s. Our club members Jim Duncan, Ian Holt, and William Heath designed this game. Dave made preparations for the show to ensure everything ran smoothly.
The game simulates First World War aerial combat and is played using two types of dice: D6 and D10. Aircraft movement takes place on a hexagonal board, and the game is activated by aircraft cards, allowing for a varied order of movement and actions. During the show, about eight games were played, and I participated in four of them.
Here’s a summary of my four games. In the first game, an enemy struck my plane head-on right at the start and went into a spin. Luckily, I managed to pull out of this dangerous situation just above the ground, made a wide arc, returned to the fight, and shot down one of the enemy planes. Unfortunately, my plane was shot down shortly after that.
The second game was an internal SESWC match between Gordon and his wife, and Alasdair and me. This time, things went very quickly. Alasdair and I managed to shoot down Gordon, leaving Jacqueline alone on the battlefield. She bravely resisted us, but there was no mercy this time. My guns jammed, but I decided to make a daring move. I approached her plane and simulated a collision, which caused Jacqueline to lose control and crash. Once again, the Germans won the game.
My third game is not worth discussing. Before it started, Dave announced to the players that I was already an experienced pilot, which had an electrifying effect on me. All the Allied players quickly targeted me. My pilot was wounded and entered a spin, but thankfully, I managed to regain control without further injury. However, as soon as I stabilised, I was shot down, marking the end of the game for me. In the last game, we started with Campbell. Each of us had one Entente plane and one German plane, and there was one important rule: neither I nor Campbell could shoot down each other’s planes. I quickly decided to discard my British plane and focus solely on my favourite German plane. Chris and Dave soon joined the game. During this round, Campbell first shot down my British plane, but I managed to shoot down Campbell's British plane in return. Dave then took out Campbell's German plane and sent Chris' plane into a spin from which Chris was unable to recover, causing it to crash to the ground. Next, I turned my attention to Dave. A duel ensued, and we took turns getting into shooting positions. Finally, I delivered the decisive blow and won the game.
It was a successful day at the show, and everyone was happy with the game. As the game's motto stated: "Learn to fly in 2 minutes. The game takes about 30 minutes or less if you are shot down"
Thank you, Dave, for organising this game.
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