ConsimWorld Expo 2006 Down In Flames Debriefing Report
There were 38 participants that
took part this year, with 9 new players, who played in at least one mission. New
playing records were set with 113 missions played. We had two tables set up and
second table was busy for a good amount of time. Greg Smith (Missouri), having
safely returned from a tour in Iraq, took part in the most missions with 62
(still 14 shy of the record). The Eastern Front in 1943 was very popular this
year with a record 48 missions (for 1 convention) being played. Bill Workman (N.
Mexico) for the second straight year took top honors with his a brand new pilot
1944 Japanese Navy pilot, Genji Hamasu, with 9 kills. Bill earns free admission
to next year's convention.
SPECIAL BOMBER MISSION:
On Thursday evening, Chris Janiec (Pennsylvania) ran a special 8-player, 8-turn
bomber mission covering an American raid on the oil fields and rail yards of
Ploesti, Rumania. The American side consisted of Derek DeLoe (from Wash., flying
P-38Js), Martin Scott (from Calif, P-51D), Jack Beckman (Michigan, P-38J), and
myself (P-38J). The US players started with only 1 element and did not receive
any new elements. The Axis side were allowed to play 2 elements during the
mission, although they were only allowed to fly 1 element at a time. Playing the
part of the defending Axis were Bill Workman (flying rocket-carrying Bf-110s,
then Romanian IAR-81Cs), Ruth Wheeler (N. Mexico, Bf-109Gs & Bf-109Fs), Mark
Yoshikawa (Calif, IAR-81Cs & Bf-109Gs) and Jacob Kolesik (Arizona, IAR-81Cs).
The Axis failure to ignore the escorts to go after the bombers was a major
reason the Allies won an Allied smashing victory, 175-to-44. Upon hearing the
news, US General Spaatz was ecstatic, Reich Marshal Goering was appalled (and
remained fat as ever). Losses were 1 B-24J with 2 others returning damaged and
with no US fighters lost, although 2 returned flipped to their damage side. The
Axis side lost 7 of 16 fighters with two flipped. The oil fields were left
burning and destroyed (75 pts) and the rail yards severely damaged and out of
service (25 pts). Martin Scott's P-51 leader had the embarrassment of being
flipped by the Bf-110 leader and was almost shot down by the Bf-110C's rear
gunner. Scott's leader was the only US fighter that was nearly lost, having
taken 6 of 7 damage. Another major factor in the huge score, for some reason the
Axis players decided to duke it out with the escorts (and lost) after the
bombers entered the flak areas and began their approach to the targets. At this
time, the Axis should have disengaged and ran to prevent the Americans from
accumulating more victory points for shooting down enemy fighters.
NEW CHANGES FOR 2007:
I've decided to make a few minor tweaks for next year:
A random player order determination. This is to avoid the "I want to go first because I have the Exploding Fuel Tank and I can take out somebody's Leader/Wingman" ploy. Fate will now decide (using a die roll) which player will move first for that side.
For the 1941 Western Front & 1943 East Front campaign, to give the escorts a chance to do their job and protect the bombers, the escorts will move first in an even-number player game. When the interceptors went first, it usually meant that either a British Blenheim or a German He-111/Ju-88 would be shot down.
HIGH & LOW LIGHTS OF CSW 2006's ACE OF ACES CAMPAIGNS:
After setting up on Tuesday, 3 games were played
before heading for bed. For the rest of the con, 22 missions were played on
Wednesday, 19 on Thursday, 33 on Friday, 26 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday.
Twenty-Six (26) new aces were earned with 10 of these new aces being lost during
the convention. Also, 5 aces from previous conventions were lost. The highest
scoring aces lost were Greg Smith's East Front ace, 'Stumer Schmidt', who ends
his career at 38 kills and Jack Beckman's 'Philo T, Farnsworth' with 20.
The all-time top ace, Martin Scott's Japanese Naval Ace 'Shintaro Mendo', made
an one mission appearance, shooting down 1 US plane to increase his score to 55.
Martin's ace "retired" from 1942 Pacific Campaign to advance into the 1944
Pacific campaign. Some of his 1942 ace stills were turned in to receive his new
skill, CV (Combat Vision).
Greg Smith's plan to become the first double-ace Russian pilot at the beginning
at the convention did not go as he planned. Greg did not reach his goal (his
best Soviet pilot ended up with 6 kills), but the first Soviet double-ace ever
was finally earned Saturday afternoon by my own 'Boris Budinsky' with 10. It
only took me 5 conventions. This record was later surpassed later that night by
local resident Kevin Lefevre's Ivan Nazimov' when he reached the 15-kill mark
before being shot down and killed. Kevin had a good run of luck accumulating
14-kills to go with his 1 from last year's GMT-West Weekend.
Mark Yoshikawa ended up second in the competition with his pilot 1944 US Army
pilot, 'Rod Flanders' with 6 kills. On Saturday night, he and Bill Workman (with
7 kills the time) went "head-on-head" to settle the matters as it became
apparent one of them would be the winner. Bill shot down Mark's pilot and went
on to score 1 more kill that game to clinch top honors.
Top scoring continuing pilots with kills who were not eligible to win the top
prize, (only pilots with zero kills were eligible) were Kevin's Nazimov with 14,
Greg's 1943 German pilot on the Eastern Front, 'Gunther Schrek', with 12 and
Mark's 1941 German pilot, 'Wilhelm Kink', with 10.
During a Friday night 1944 Pacific mission, 3 Japanese Navy players had a great
laughing time in unsuccessfully attacking 3 B-24Js covered by 2 elements of
P-47s. On turns 1 & 2, Mark Yoshikawa lost both his George fighters from
defensive fire from the B-24s with both pilots being shot down from the dreaded
"Exploding Fuel Tank" card! Mark had no defensive card in his hand to counter
even 1 defensive fire card. At this point, the remaining two Japanese players,
in order to redeem their 'honor', made it their goal to get those B-24s. Try as
they could, the remaining 4 Georges were shot down by the escorts, eventually
losing 31-to-0. In a final show of defiance, three of surviving pilots who were
about to be captured, in true Bushido Spirit decided death was the only
honorable thing to do and committed suicide to atone for their failure. Only 1
pilot survived to report the massacre to HQ. Although it was a smashing loss,
the 3 players (Mark Yoshikawa, Greg Smith & Jack Beckman) good naturedly took
the loss in stride and were laughing throughout the mission, mostly for their
ineptness (and being unlucky how the cards turned up) in scoring only 1 hit
point on one of the bombers (a moral victory for them). Their humor made this a
good game to play, in spite of losing 6 planes and 5 pilots.
Also being 'blown out of the sky' by an "Exploding Fuel Tank" defensive fire
card was Ian Schofield's (Regina, Canada) P-40E to a Betty bomber! For those
unfamiliar with the DIF system, the Betty only gets 1 defensive card and the
odds of drawing an "Exploding Fuel Tank" card is 1.25%, plus the fact Ian had no
defensive cards to counter getting killed, makes this kill a very unlikely
event.
Although he was not 'blown out of the sky' by an "Exploding Fuel Tank" from a
bomber's defensive fire card but was shot down none-the-less by a 1-card drawing
Ju-88 was one of Mark Yoshikawa's Lavochkin pilots. Luckily, 'Andrei Nikotin'
bailed out to fight another mission.
The best 1 mission with the most kills by 1 pilot was tied by 8 players:
Well, I'll see you all next year for more "Aerial Mayhem".