ConsimWorld Expo 2007 Down In Flames Debriefing Report

    This year, 30 players, with 9 first time players, participated in the sixth 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 updating the various theater kills sheets and running the missions.  At the opening reception, I presented two-time and last year's winner, Bill Workman, with his personalized "2005 & 2006 ConsimWorld DIF Aces of Aces" T-shirt.

    The new North African/Western Desert Front covering late 1941 was very popular this year with 19 missions being played. Right behind was the 1943 Eastern Front front with 18 missions.

DAILY MISSION TOTALS:

    Jack Beckman (Sterling Heights, Michigan) took part in the most missions with 48.  With two tables in use this year, 74 missions were played.  Once we got everything set up & ready to go, missions would start right after breakfast, around 8 AM, and continue late into the night, usually stopping between midnight to 2 AM.  The exceptions were the first day (set up day) and the last day (playing stopped at 10 AM as I had to leave by noon).  During the 6-days, a total of 276 fighters, 10 light bombers, 79 medium bombers and 7 heavy bombers were shot down from all nations.

• Tuesday - 3

• Wednesday - 16
• Thursday - 13
• Friday - 19
• Saturday - 21
• Sunday - 2

CAMPAIGN THEATERS MISSION TOTALS AND W-L RECORDS

The 74 missions covered 5 separate campaigns:

• 1941 North African Front - 19 missions, the Italians and their German Allies fought the RAF to a stalemate, at 9 wins each with 1 tie. The RAF scored 418 points to 409 points for the Axis.

• 1942 Pacific - 15 missions, won by the Japanese 9-to-6, with a score of 361-to-353
• 1943 Western Europe  - 9 missions, won by the US 6-to-3, with a close score of 404-to-396
• 1943 Eastern front - 18 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 10-to-8, with an even closer score of 416-to-415
• 1944 Pacific campaign - 13 missions, won by the US 8-to-3 with 2 ties, with a score of 352-to-259

TOP 10 PLAYERS IN NUMBER OF GAMES PLAYED:

• Jack Beckman with 48 games with 37 total kills
• Mike Lam (42 games with 26 kills)
• Ruth Wheeler (35 games with 30 kills)
• Martin Scott (33 games with 29 kills)
• Kevin LeFevre (32 games with 38 kills)
• Mark Yoshikawa (31 games with 34 kills)
• Bob Workman (30 games with 27 kills)
• Greg Smith (27 games with 27 kills)
• Hendrick Koopman (21 games with 20 kills)
• Chris LeFevre (17 games with 11 kills)

ACE OF ACES 2007:

This year there was a new Ace of Aces, Ruth Wheeler (Farmington, NM) with her 1942 Japanese Navy Zeke pilot, Terou Kawamatu, with 10 kills. Ruth won on the tie-breaker vs. Mark Yoshikawa (Covina, CA) who also had a 10-Kill ace, his Fw-190A ace, Friedrich Himmler.  Ruth won because her pilot was still alive at the end of the convention.  Ruth earns free admission to next year's convention. 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 honors for the best record for a continuing pilot from previous years went to Martin Scott (Goleta, CA) and Kevin LeFevre (Chandler, AZ). Martin had 7 new kills by his 1942 Japanese ace, Yoshiyuki Tomino, bringing his total to 13, while Kevin LeFevre (Chandler, AZ) added 7 new kills by his Soviet pilot, Alex Korolyuk (Total: 11).

Players who achieved 5 kills or more by one pilot:

• Ruth Wheeler had one of two 10 kill pilots with her 1942 Japanese pilot.  Ruth also earned an 8-kill East Front Fw-190 pilot, Johann Brahms.
• Mark Yoshikawa had the other 10 kill pilot with his East Front Luftwaffe FW-190 pilot, Friedrich Himmler.  Himmler met a "fiery" end when his fuel tank exploded on his 5th mission.  Mark also had an 8th AF P-38J pilot, Joe Smith, with 6 kills, who was killed by an exploding fuel tank.
• Patrick Mills (Bloomington, ILL) had the top RAF Western Desert ace, Patrick "Stinkey" McDonald, his Hurricane pilot with 7 kills.
• Rich Young (Durham, NC) earned the very first Italian ace, Luigi Lamborghini, with 7 kills before being shot down and killed by the top RAF ace, Pat Mill's McDonald
• Greg Smith (Kansas City, MO) had 1 of the other 3 Hurricane aces, Reginald Bixby, with 6 kills.
• Hendrick Koopman (Cave Creek, AZ) had the remaining Western Desert Hurricane aces, Hunter O'Brien with 5-kills
• Bill Workman (Farmington, NM) had the only RAF P-40C Western Desert ace, Sean O'Shaughnessy with 6 kills. Bill also had a 1944 Japanese Army ace, Kori Wasabe, with 5 kills on just 2 missions, 4 of them were the tough American P-47D.
• Martin Scott had 6 kills with his Soviet LA-5 pilot, Sergei Baryshnikov
• Jack Beckman (MI) had 5 kills with his P-47D pilot, Al Gore, on just 3 missions in the 1944 Pacific campaign. Gore was killed trying to improve on his score.

All players using new pilots or non-ace pilots from previous years that reached 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! with the P-40.

TOP CAMPAIGN PERFORMERS:

• The top Italian player in the 1941 North African campaign was Rick Young's 7-kill pilot Luigi Lamborghini. Six kills were 6 Blenheim bombers.
• The top German player in the 1941 North African campaign was Kevin LeFevre's 3-kill pilot Roland Asch
• The top British player in the 1941 North African campaign was Pat Mills' 7-kill pilot Pat 'Stinkey' McDonald.
• The top Japanese player in the 1942 Pacific campaign was Ruth Wheeler's 10-kill ace Teoruo Kawamatu.
• The top US player in the 1942 Pacific campaign was Jack Beckman's Marine pilot, Jack 'Spitball' Jones with 4 kills flying the F4F Wildcat.
• The top US player in the 1944 Pacific campaign was also by Jack Beckman's P-47 pilot, Al gore with 5 kills.
• The top US 8th AF pilot belonged to Mark Yoshikawa's P-38 pilot, Joe Smith, with 6.
• The top Soviet player was Martin Scott's La-5FN leader, Sergei Baryshnikov, with 6 kills
• The top Luftwaffe pilot on the Eastern front belonged to Mark Yoshikawa, 10 kills by his Fw-190 pilot, Friedrich Himmler
• The top Luftwaffe pilot on the Western front belonged to Hendrick Koopman, 4 kills with his Fw-190 pilot, Heinrich Eichorn
• The top Japanese player in the 1944 Pacific campaign was Bill Workman's 5-kill ace Kori Wasabe

HIGH & LOW LIGHTS OF CSW 2007's ACE OF ACES CAMPAIGNS:

Twenty-three (23) new aces were earned with 7 of these new aces being lost during the convention. Also, 4 aces from previous conventions were lost. The highest scoring aces lost was Pat Mills' 1944 Japanese ace, 'Toshiro Mifune', who ends his career at 15.  Mark Yoshikawa earned and lost his 10-kill German ace, Friedrich Himmler.  Rick Young lost his La-5FN leader/wingman ace combo, Mikahil Y. Tal with 5 kills and his wingman Valeri Vorobyov with 6 kills.

The 1941 North African campaign was much more popular than expected.  I was surprised there were players who actually wanted to fly the 0-Burst Italian fighters.  Three players in particular always flew together and called themselves the "Italian Mafia": Rick Young, Martin Scott and Jack Beckman.  The 'Mafia' started off fast, accumulating a 5 & 1 record but lost their last 3 missions to finish 5-4, scoring 208 to 200 points.  The trio shot down 13 Blenheim bombers and 4 fighters, while losing 21 MC.202 fighters and 1 SM.79 bomber they were escorting.

The final mission on Saturday night was an 8-player dogfight over the North African desert to determine the top RAF player.  Three RAF players went into the mission with 5-kills apiece: Pat Mills, Greg Smith and Bill Workman.  Smith took the early lead when he shot down an Bf-109E on turn 1.  Workman shot down his Bf-109E on the last turn.  In between, Pat Mills got two Bf-109Es to become the top RAF player with 7 kills.  Pat won the book "Fighter Pilot" by William Dunn, an American pilot who joined the RAF in WW2.

There was an unusual mission dogfight where no fighters were shot down.  During that 1944 Pacific mission, Martin Scott & Hendrick Koopman flew Ki-84-1As (Franks) against Jack Beckman and Mike Lam flying F4U-1C Corsairs with the USMC players winning 7-to-2 (4 points for damaging two Franks and 3 points for quality of the Japanese - they had slightly better planes plus they had an ace flying).

The very first Italian ace was Rick Young's MC.202 pilot, Luigi Lamborghini. Rick also earned the very first "Bomber Killer" ace ability for shooting down 6 medium bombers.  This ability allowed Rick's pilot to add +1 damage to all of his attack cards vs. bombers.  Unfortunately, he never got to use this ability as his next two missions were a dogfight and an escort mission.  It was during the escort mission on Friday afternoon that Lamborghini was shot down and killed.

The first Yak-9D ace was Mike Lam's Boris Kamchatka.  Kamchatka scored a "Hat Trick" by shooting down 3 He-111Hs on Friday afternoon and flew back to base to tell about it!

On Saturday night, Mark Yoshikawa was brave enough to fly the very first Yak-1 element used in the Aces' Competition.  Also showing looking for a challenge in the same mission was Bill Workman who opted to fly the Yak-9D. Bill had more success than Mark who had both of his Yak-1s shot down. Each of Bill's pilots shot down 1 He-111H each and returned to base.

Martin Scott's all-time ace, Shintaro Mendo, with 54 kills, flew two missions but came back without any kills.

Three players shot down the most bombers - Mike Lam, Rick Young and Martin Scott each shot down 11 medium bombers throughout the convention.

The bombers also proved that they could shot back. Embarrassingly shot down by a Blenheim was Jack Beckman's Italian pilot, Harpo Marxkini.  The US 8th AF heavy bombers got a measure of payback when they shot down 4 Fw-190As and 3 Bf-109Gs in 9 missions.  On the first mission Wednesday morning, the B-17s shot down 3 Luftwaffe fighters.  In previous years, the heavy bombers were only able to get 1 or 2 fighters.

HAT TRICKS (3 planes shot down in one mission by 1 pilot):

Kevin LeFevre scored the "Hat Trick" TRICE during the convention, two with his Soviet La-5FN pilot, Alex Korolyuk.  On Wednesday morning, Kevin shot down 2 Fw-109As and 1 He-111.  Then on Saturday, Korolyuk shot down 2 more Fw-190As and 1 Bf-109G.  Kevin also had the final East Front "Hat Trick" on Saturday night.  His Bf-109G pilot, Siegfried Mayer shot down both of Mark Yoshikawa's Yak-1s and Martin Scott's LA-5FN pilot, Sergei Baryshnikov. Kevin's final "Hat Trick" was by his 1944 Japanese Army pilot, Takashi Sulu.  Sulu shot down 3 P-38Js on Wednesday afternoon.

Also doing the double "Hat Trick" was Mark Yoshikawa's Fw-190A pilot, Friedrich Himmler.  On Friday morning, Mark Yoshikawa's Himmler claimed 3 LA-5FNs, then on Friday afternoon, Himmler shot down 2 PE-2s light bombers and 1 more La-5FN.  Unfortunately, right after his last kill, Jack Beckman's Alex Solzhenitsyn played the exploding fuel tank card to end Himmler's career.

Not to be denied, Ruth Wheeler had two "Hat Tricks".  On Thursday afternoon, her Japanese Zeke pilot, Kawamatu, shot down 3 USMC Wildcats. Then on Saturday afternoon her Fw-190A pilot, Johann Brahms shot down 2 LA-5 and 1 La-5FN. 

One other East Front "Hat Tricks" was by another La-5FN pilot. Greg Smith's Pavel Havlik shot down 2 Bf-109Gs and 1 Fw-190A on Thursday afternoon.

The only North African "Hat Trick" was pulled off by Hendrick Koopman on Friday night. His Hurricane-2B pilot, Hunter O'Brien, shot down 3 He-111Hs.

There were two "Hat Tricks" that I have to rate as outstanding.  The first one was by Bill Workman with his 1944 Japanese Army pilot, Kori Wasabe on Thursday afternoon.  Wasebe shot down 3 of the very hard to shot down P-47Ds.  But the most best outstanding "Hat Trick" had to be Jack Beckman's 1942 Marine Wildcat wingman pilot, J.' Spitball' Jones, who shot down 3 Japanese Zekes on Friday morning.

Jack Beckman also had a double "Hat Trick" for the convention, with his 1944 US Army P-47D pilot, Al Gore.  Gore shot down 3 Franks (Ki-84-1a) on Saturday morning.

The final "Hat Trick" was by Thomas Buettner on Sunday morning.  His 1944 Hellcat pilot, Joe Nobrain, downed 2 Betties (G4M2) and 1 George (N1K1-J).

NEW CHANGES FOR 2008:

I've decided to make a few major changes for next year:

• The 1942 Pacific campaign will be dropped. The A6M2 Zeke fighter outclasses the available US fighters, The P-40E Warhawk and the F4F Wildcat. Replacing that campaign will be the return of the slightly evenly matched 1941 Western Front campaign. Surviving pilots will be allowed to transfer to any eligible campaign, along will any abilities; or in some cases, liabilities (any Green Wingmen pilots will follow their leader to the new campaign).

• The method to determine "The Ace of Aces" will be entirely different. Eligible players' kills from ALL campaign will be added in.  This is to eliminate the "I need to play in XXXX campaign in order to accumulate more kills by my pilot."  Plus, the quality of the fighters in the campaigns was not an even playing 'sky'.  Eligible pilots: Newly created pilots or previous pilots with no kills, previous pilots with some kills but with no-ace ability/abilities from previous conventions (once a pilot earns an ability, kills by that pilot will no longer count for "Ace of Aces" determination).  Previous pilots with ace abilities may fly in missions to accumulate more kills for ace abilities but their kills won't count towards determining the new top ace. Total # of kills by a players will determine the winner.  First tie-breaker will be total quality of kills: fighters: 1 pt, light bombers: 1.5 pts, medium bombers: 2 pts, heavy bombers: 3 pts. Second tie-breaker will least # of missions played.  The third tie-breaker will be if the pilot is alive or not.

• In order to even out the Aces competition, instead of allowing players to keep flying their surviving pilots that started with the best aircraft, a plane-type rotation per campaign will be used.  How this works. Players will have to rotate/cycle through an entire side's available aircraft selection, then the other side's aircraft before being allowed to fly a repeat aircraft type. Example: In the 1943 East Front campaign, the Soviets have 3 types of fighters: the La-5FN, the P-39N, and the Yak-9D/Yak-1.  If a player flies the La-5FN first, if he plays the Soviets again, he can only pick the P-39N or the Yaks (the player will have the option to substitute the Yak-1 instead of the Yak-9D) to fly with.  On the Luftwaffe side, he'll have an easier time, rotating between the Fw-190A or the Bf-109G.  I am hoping by rotating the aircrafts, this will even out the competition as players cannot select the best aircraft each time.

John Kranz has given his full support to have this event again in 2008.  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 2008!

Mike Lam, The ConsimWorld Expo DIF Flight Coordinator

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