ConsimWorld Expo 2008 Down In Flames Debriefing Report

    This year, 35 players, with 5 first time players, participated in the seventh 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. I usually stayed awake until 2 AM each night, getting 4 hours of sleep before waking up for breakfast.

    The North African/Western Desert Front covering late 1941 was again very popular this expo with 24 missions being played. Right behind was the 1943 Eastern Front campaign with 22 missions. This year the 1942 Pacific campaign was retired and the 1941 Western Front campaign returned after a 1 year hiatus.

ACE OF ACES 2008:

    Kevin LeFevre (Mesa, AZ) was declared the 2008 Aces of Aces competition, blowing away his competition with 49 points despite having a 19-21-2 record in games played.  In previous years, the Ace of Aces winner would not be known until the last mission on Saturday.  Not so this year.  Kevin was so far ahead in points on Saturday night, he for all purposes clinched the crown.  His closest competitor was his dad, Chris LeFevre, with 38.5 points.  And Jack Beckman (Sterling Heights, Michigan) took third with 36.5 points.

DAILY MISSION TOTALS:

    For the second year in a row, Jack Beckman took part in the most missions with 43.  With two tables in use this year, 89 missions were played.  Friday was the busiest day with 27 missions.  That afternoon three tables were in use at one time by 14 players.  Missions would start right after breakfast, around 8 AM, and continue late into the night, usually stopping at 2 AM.  The exceptions were the first day (set up day starting at 6 PM) and the last day (playing stopped at 10 AM as I had to leave by noon).  During the 6-days aerial mayhem fest, 399 aircraft were lost. A total of 298 fighters, 16 light bombers, 65 medium bombers and 16 heavy bombers were shot down from all nations.

• Tuesday - 10 missions played

• Wednesday - 18 missions played
• Thursday - 17 missions played
• Friday - 27 missions played
• Saturday - 14 missions played
• Sunday - 3 missions played

CAMPAIGN THEATERS MISSION TOTALS AND W-L RECORDS

The 89 missions covered 5 separate campaigns:

• 1941 Western Europe  - 20 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 12-to-5 with 3 ties, with a score of 373-to-233

• 1941 North African Front - 24 missions, the Italians and their German Allies won over the RAF with 15-to-9 with a score 487-to-389

• 1943 Western Europe  - 11 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 6-to-5, with a score of 526-to-436
• 1943 Eastern front - 22 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 12-to-8 with 2 ties, with a score of 434-to-397
• 1944 Pacific campaign - 12 missions, won by the US 7-to-4 with 1 tie, with a score of 325-to-287

TOP 10 PLAYERS IN THE ACE OF ACES COMPETITION:

• Kevin LeFevre: 49.0 points in 42 games with 50 total kills
• Chris LeFevre: 38.5 points, 32 games, 37 kills
• Jack Beckman: 36.5 points, 43 games, 33 kills
• Greg Smith: 32.0 points, 36 games, 31 kills
• Mike Lam: 26.0 points, 28 games, 26 kills (Note: As GM of the event, would not eligible to win)
• John Baker: 24.5 points, 21 games, 19 kills
• Nick Markevich: 16.5 points, 27 games, 19 kills
• Ruth Wheeler: 14.5 points, 29 games, 20 kills
• Martin Scott: 13.5 points, 21 games, 15 kills
• Rick Young: 13.5 points, 14 games with 12 kills

BEST KILL RECORD BY A CONTINUING PILOT:

The honors for the best record for a continuing pilot from previous years with 5 kills went to Rick Young (Durham, NC) for his Soviet LA-5FN ace Yegor Tikhonov (5 career kills).

Players who achieved 5 kills or more by one pilot:

• Kevin LeFevre had 7 kills by his RAF Desert AF Hurricane ace Mitch Barlow. Kevin also had 5-kills with his East Front Bf-109 pilot, Xaver Muntz.
• Ruth Wheeler (Farmington, NM) had the other 7-kill pilot with her East Front Bf-109 pilot, Johann Schmidt.
• Rick Young for his Soviet ace Tikhonov with 5 kills.

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 tied between Rick Young's Mario Marinara and Jack Beckman's Grocho Marxini with 4 kills each.
• The top German player in the 1941 North African campaign was Kevin LeFevre's August Dirksen with 4 kills.
• The top British player in the 1941 North African campaign was Kevin FeFevre's 7-kill pilot Mitch Barlow.
• The top British player in the 1941 North African campaign was by Mark Yoshikawa's (Corvina, CA) pilot John Cleece with 3 kills.
• The top US 8th AF pilot belonged to Kevin Lefevre's P-47 pilot Mike Murphy with 4.
• The top Soviet player was Rick Young's La-5FN leader Yegor Tikhonov with 5 kills
• The top Luftwaffe pilot on the Eastern front belonged to Ruth Wheeler's Bf-109 pilot Johann Schmidt with 7 kills.
• The top Luftwaffe pilot on the 1943 Western front belonged to Nick Markevich's (San Bruno, CA) Bf-109 pilot Heinrich Mann with 3 kills.
• The top Luftwaffe pilot on the 1941 Western front belonged to Chris and Kevin LeFevre with 4 kills each. Chris with his pilot Helmut Glöckler and Kevins' Franz Mueller.
• The top Japanese player in the 1944 Pacific campaign was Bill Workman's (Farmington, NM) 9-kill ace Kori Wasabe with 4 new kills.
• The top US player in the 1944 Pacific campaign had 2 kills. This was accomplished by Chris Janiec (Woodland Park, CO), Chris Lefevre, Kevin Lefevre, Pat Mills (Bloomington, IL), Greg Smith (Kansas City, MO), Ruth Wheeler, Bill Workman.

HIGH & LOW LIGHTS OF CSW 2008's ACE OF ACES CAMPAIGNS:

Sixteen (16) new aces were earned with 2 of these new aces being lost during the convention. Also, 9 aces from previous conventions were lost.

The highest scoring aces lost was Bill Workman's East Front Luftwaffe ace, 'Dietrich Turkington', who ends his career at 11 victories.  Losing 10-kill double aces were Pat Mills' Luftwaffe pilot, 'Hans M. Gretel', Rick Young's US P-47 Pacific ace, 'Don Wert', and Kevin LeFevre's US P-47 Pacific ace, 'Dan Leon'.  Two previous Italian aces were also KIA: Jack Beckman's 8-kill 'Grocho Marxini' and Martin Scott's 6-kill Angelo Ferrari.

In 1941 North African campaign, the Italian-Trio of the "Italian Mafia" of Rick Young, Martin Scott and Jack Beckman flew in 4 missions with a 3-1 record. Their 'Team' record after 2 conventions stands at 8-5, shooting down a combined 21 medium bombers and 8 fighters, while losing 26 fighters and 5 bombers they were escorting. In their 2 years of campaigning, they have outscored the RAF 320-to-290 while losing 3 aces.

The very first victories for the Bf-110 were scored for the first time over North Africa skies with a few surprising results.  Greg Smith's Bf-110 wingman pilot Hans Gluck shot down 3 RAF planes in 2 missions, 2 fighters and 1 bomber.  Mark Yoshikawa's pilot Martin Luther shot down a fighter and a bomber in 3 missions.  And Bill Workman's element shot down 3 Wellingtons in 2 missions.

Jack Beckman shot down the most medium bombers 8 throughout the convention while Chris LeFevre's Luftwaffe pilots shot down 5 8th AF heavy bombers.

With 101 bombers shot down, the bombers also proved that they could shoot back a little.  The US 8th AF heavy bombers got a measure of payback when they shot down 2 Fw-190As and 1 Bf-109G in 11 missions, shooting down Jack Beckman, Ruth Wheeler and Luke Billingsley (Hanford, CA).  Jack Beckman was also shot down in the Pacific vs. a B-25 while Ruth Wheeler was downed in North Africa vs. a Maryland.

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

The "Hat Trick" was achieved 10 times during the convention, with Kevin LeFevre accomplishing that feat in 4 different campaigns: in the 1941 Western Front as a German, in the 1941 North Africa campaign in the RAF, in the 1943 Eastern Front as a German, and in the 1943 Western Front as an American.

Also accomplishing the 3-plane "Hat Trick" were Jack Beckman (1941 North Africa as an Italian), Chris LeFevre (1941 Western Front as a German), Greg Smith (1941 Western Front as a German),  Jeremy Weltsch, Phoenix, AZ (1943 Eastern Front as a German), Bill Workman (1943 Western Front as a German), and Rick Young (as a Soviet).

NEW CHANGES FOR 2009:

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

• With 5 campaigns, it was really difficult for player to ace t-shirts or to earn any bonus points for becoming aces for flying certain types of aircraft.  For 2009, only 4 campaigns will be offered.  Even though the 1941 Western Front campaign is the most balanced, I was thinking of dropping it because the kill ratios are low, about 3 planes for both sides are shot down per mission.

• A side randomizer (players will draw a card from a standard deck of cards - all players picking red cards will be on one side, players picking black cards are on the other side).

John Kranz has given his full support to have this event again in 2009.  Hopefully it will be in Tempe in 2009; if not, then the future of the DiF event is questionable.  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 2009!

Mike Lam, The ConsimWorld Expo DIF Flight Coordinator

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