ConsimWorld Expo 2003 Down In Flames Debriefing Report

First, a big thanks to the 41 players who participated in the second ConsimWorld Expo DIF Aces' Campaigns by flying in at least one mission.

I was unable to post any reports during the con as I was very busy with the DIF game table always in use.

At the opening reception, I presented last year's winner, Rob Robertson, with a special "2002 ConsimWorld DIF Aces of Aces" T-shirt with his name on it. I also mentioned that last year's aces had personalized leader and/or wingman cards created especially for them by Martin Scott. Each new ace card had the player's name, his pilot's name and the new abilities. Player's Own Ace Card

DAILY MISSION TOTALS:

A total of 64 missions were played:

• Wednesday - 8

• Thursday - 17
• Friday - 22
• Saturday - 10
• Sunday - 7

CAMPAIGN THEATERS MISSION TOTALS AND W-L RECORDS

The 64 missions covered 6 separate campaigns:

• 1941 Western Front - 3 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 2-to-1

• 1942 Pacific - 8 missions, won by the USAAF 6-to-2
• 1943 Western Europe, Autumn  - 11 missions, won by the USAAF 7-to-7
• 1943 Western Europe, Winter  - 1 mission, won by the USAAF 1-to-0
• 1943 Eastern front - 19 missions, tied by the Luftwaffe & Soviets 9-to-9 with 1 tie
• 1944 Pacific campaign - 22 missions, tied by USAAF & IJN/IJA, 11-to-11

TOP PLAYERS IN NUMBER OF GAMES PLAYED:

• Mike Lam with 51 games with 45 total kills
• Martin Scott (39 games & 36 kills)
• Greg Smith (35 games& 35 kills)
• Jack Beckman (22 games with 19 kills)
• Chris LeFevre (19 games & 17 kills)
• Patrick Mills (16 games & 22 kills)
• Bob Robertson (16 games & 11 kills)
• Steve Keifer (16 games & 9 kills)

ACE OF ACES 2003:

Patrick Mills (Bloomington, ILL) was this year's Ace Of Aces with 11 kills in 7 missions flown by his Imperial Japanese Naval pilot, Toshiro Mifune, in the 1944 Philippines campaign. Patrick won the Grand Prize of free admission to the 2004 ConsimWorld Expo. A big thanks to John Kranz for this prize in making the event a very competitive one.

BEST KILL RECORD BY A CONTINUING PILOT:

The prize for the best record for a continuing pilot from last year went to Greg Smith from Phoenix, AZ. He won the book prize "Flying Aces - Aviation Art of WW2" for amassing 13 kills against the Soviets on the 1943 Eastern Front campaign in 9 missions with his 5-kill ace Sturmer Schmidt.

With the release of the new Corsairs & Hellcats game, most of the new aces were made in the 1944 Philippines campaign.

Players who achieved 5 kills or more by one pilot:

• Jack Beckman (Sterling Heights, Mich) had 8 with his P-47 pilot, Philo T. Farnsworth, on 7 missions in the 1944 Philippines campaign. Jack won the book "Thunderbolt, The P-47" by Martin Caidin.
• Martin Scott (Goleta, CA) for two pilots: 7 by his IJN pilot, Takashi Kaga and 5 by his wingman Hayao Kakizuki, flying N1K1s (George) on 10 missions in the 1944 Philippines campaign. Martin added another ace pilot, Ulrich von Beck, with 4 kills to go with his 3 previous kills on the Eastern Front. Unfortunately, von Beck's career ended when his Bf-109G exploded in mid-air on his 3rd mission.
• Steve Keifer (Wheaton, ILL) with 5 by his IJN Kenji Kato on 6 missions, also flying the N1K1 (George) in the 1944 Philippines campaign.
• James Jones (Atwater, CA) with 5 by his P-38J pilot, Robert Mitchum, on 4 missions in the 1944 Philippines campaign.
• Mike Lam's USN Hellcat pilot, Bob Newhart, had 5 on 9 missions in the 1944 Philippines campaign. He also made a new Eastern Front ace, Hans Stotz, 6 kills added to his 3 from last year.
• Rob Schroeder (Manteca, CA) added 1 more to the 4 made from last year by his Luftwaffe pilot, Johann Hindermann, in the 1941 Western Front campaign.
• Chris LeFevre (Mesa, AZ) added 2 Luftwaffe fighters to go with his 3 kills with his last year's P-39N pilot, Joe Bugel. Alas, his pilot ace status was posthumous as his pilot was killed on the same mission that he got the final two aircraft needed for acehood. 

All players using new pilots with 5 or more kills also received the new "I Became An Ace" t-Shirt version that has on its front side the Ace card drawing from ZERO! but the P-40 was replaced with an F6F Hellcat. Many thanks to Martin Scott again for providing the design.

TOP ACES:

• The top US player in the 1943 Western Europe campaign was by Greg Smith's P-47C pilot, Richard Cranium, with 4 kills. Greg's pilot's career came to an end on his 5th mission when he was shot down and taken prisoner.
• The top Japanese player in the 1942 Pacific campaign was by Martin Scott who added 7 more US fighter planes in 4 missions with his 23-kill pilot Shintaro Mendo (from previous DIF campaign games played at GMT-West).
• The top US player in the 1942 Pacific campaign was by Randy Martin (Norman, OK ?) with 3 Zekes in 2 missions by his P-40 pilot Pierce Coale to go with his two previous kills from last year to earn an ace T-shirt.
• The top 1943 Luftwaffe pilot on the Western front belonged to Steve Keifer's Fw-190 pilot Walther Hintzman with 3 kills flying in 3 missions.
• The top Soviet player with 3 kills was shared by Greg Dewan with the Chekov brothers, Pavel and Anton (2 and 3 missions), and my own Boris Budinsky (7 missions), all flying the Lavochkin La-5FN.
• Top RAF honors went to Nick Markevich (San Bruno, CA) by his Spitfire V pilot, Paddy Griffin, who had 2 kills achieved in 2 missions in the 1941 campaign.

SPECIAL BOMBER MISSION:

More missions might have been flown on Saturday but the big 14-turn bomber mission with 10 players took 5 hours to complete . . . Much too long.

Despite taking a beating from the American escorts (losing 20 fighters to 2 P-51B escorts), the Luftwaffe squeezed out a marginal victory when Mitch Ledford (Chicago, ILL ?) downed two B-17s on the second-to-the-last-turn.

My thanks to the US players (Martin Scott, Rick Young, Steve Keifer, Rob Robertson & Steve Charlton) and the Luftwaffe team (Ledford, James Jones, Joe Chacon, Jack Beckman & Patrick Mills) for their participation and for sticking it out to the end. Next year, the mission will be canceled with more time devoted to the Aces' Campaigns.

PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR - 2004:

John Kranz has given his full support to have this type of event again in 2004. And based on the participation level this year, it is very likely that this event will return next year, provided I can get vacation days off from work.

For any DiF players, if you like playing DiF all day like I do, consider making the trip to Tempe next year.

I hope everyone enjoyed it and had fun learning how to play and playing DIF. I hope to see everyone again as well as some new players for more aerial mayhem in 2004!

Mike Lam, The ConsimWorld Expo DIF Flight Coordinator

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