ConsimWorld Expo 2009 Down In Flames Debriefing Report

    This year 31 players, with 6 first time players, participated in the eighth 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 32 missions being played. Right behind was the 1943 Eastern Front campaign with 20 missions.

ACE OF ACES 2009:

    Greg Smith (Ephrata, PA) was declared the 2009 Aces of Aces competition winner with 43.5 points despite having a 13-18-15 record in games played.  It was a close 3-player race between Greg, Jack Beckman and Rick Young.  But Greg pulled away late Saturday night when he earned 8 bonus points for his Hurricane-I ace.  This was the first year a player earned bonus points for making an ace using an inferior aircraft.  Taking second was Rick Young (Durham, NC) and Jack Beckman (Sterling Heights, Michigan) came in third for the second straight year with 30 points.

DAILY MISSION TOTALS:

    In addition to taking the Ace of Aces title Greg also played in the most missions with 51 out of total 84 missions possible.  Thursday and Saturday were the busiest days with 19 missions each.  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 noon).  During the 6-days aerial mayhem fest, 383 aircraft were lost. A total of 284 fighters and 99 bombers (21 light bombers, 61 medium bombers and 17 heavy bombers) were shot down from all nations.

• Tuesday - 5 missions played

• Wednesday - 18 missions played
• Thursday - 19 missions played
• Friday - 18 missions played
• Saturday - 19 missions played
• Sunday - 5 missions played

CAMPAIGN THEATERS MISSION TOTALS AND W-L RECORDS

The 84 missions covered 4 separate campaigns:

• 1941 North African Front - 32 missions, the Italians and their German Allies won over the RAF with 22-to-7 with 3 ties with a score 675-to-438

• 1943 Western Europe  - 14 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 8-to-6, with a score of 573-to-560
• 1943 Eastern front - 20 missions, won by the Luftwaffe 10-to-9 with 1 tie, with a score of 394-to-355
• 1944 Pacific campaign - 18 missions, won by the US 12-to-6 with a score of 482-to-384

TOP 10 PLAYERS IN THE ACE OF ACES COMPETITION:

• Greg Smith: 43.5 points, 46 games, with 50 total kills
• Rick Young: 32.0 points, 31 games with 34 kills
• Jack Beckman: 30.0 points, 49 games, 31 kills
• Mark Yoshikawa: 27.5 points, 38 games, 34 kills
• Chris LeFevre: 24.5 points, 33 games, 24 kills
• Kevin LeFevre: 23.0 points, 24 games, 27 total kills
• Doug Sun: 15.0 points, 23 games, 19 kills
• Nick Markevich: 14.0 points, 23 games, 18 kills
• John Baker: 12.0 points, 10 games, 7 kills
• Ian Schofield: 11.0 points, 16 games, 11 kills

BEST KILL RECORD BY A CONTINUING PILOT:

The honors for the best record for a continuing pilot from previous years with 10 kills went to Greg Smith for his Soviet LA-5FN ace Pavel Havlik (20 career kills).

Players who achieved 5 kills or more by one pilot:

• Greg Smith had 7 kills by his RAF Desert AF Hurricane ace Bob Barker.  Greg also had 5-klls with his West Front Luftwaffe Bf-109 pilot, Wilhelm Vortman
• Kevin LeFevre had 6 kills by his USMC Corsair ace Will Chandler (career total 8)
• Doug Sun had five kills by his RAF Desert AF Tomahawk ace Frank Kinehan (career total 6)

A FEW HIGH & LOW LIGHTS OF CSW 2009's ACE OF ACES CAMPAIGNS:

Twenty-one (21) new aces were earned with 1 of these new aces being lost during the convention. Also, 9 aces from previous conventions were lost, with Kevin LeFever's 10-kill Luftwaffe ace being the highest ace lost.  Mike Lam lost the most aces with 3 with one of the aces being the only Soviet Yak-9 ace.

In the 1941 North African campaign, the Italian-Trio of the "Italian Mafia" of Rick Young, Jack Beckman and new member Greg Smith flew in 1 mission, winning 42-to-11.  The Mafia Squadron record after 3 conventions now stands at 9-5, shooting down a combined 25 medium bombers and 8 fighters, while losing 28 fighters and 5 bombers they were escorting. In their 3 years of campaigning, they have outscored the RAF 362-to-301 while losing 3 aces.

Mike Lam shot down the most medium bombers (10) and five (5) 8th AF heavy bombers throughout the convention

Chris LeFevre's P-40C pilot had the 'dubious honor' of being shot down by Doug Sun's Bf-110 REAR GUNNER in one of the North Africa missions late Saturday night.

With 99 bombers shot down, the bombers also proved that they could shoot back a little.  Surprising, it wasn't be the US 8th AF heavy bombers with their 4-to-6 defensive hand draw but by lightly armed Japanese bombers -- Jack Beckman was shot down in the Pacific by a G4M2 (Betty) bomber while one of Mark Yoshikawa's pilots was destroyed by a Fuel Tank defensive fire from a Ki-67 bomber (Peggy).

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

The "Hat Trick" was achieved 12 times during the convention, with Greg Smith's 20-kill Soviet ace, Pavel Havlik, shooting down 4 Luftwaffe planes in one mission on Friday.  Havlik also had one mission where he sot down 3 more Luftwaffe aircraft.

Also accomplishing the 3-plane "Hat Trick" were Mike Lam (twice by Luftwaffe pilots in the 1941 North Africa and one by a Luftwaffe pilot in 1943 East Front), Doug Sun (RAF 1941 NA), Jack Beckman (1943 East Front Luftwaffe pilot), Gene Billingsley (1943 8th AF Mustang pilot), Greg Smith (Japanese Army 1944 pilot), Mark Yoshikawa (5th AF pilot 1944 Pacific), Kevin LeFevre and Rick Young (Marine pilots in 1944 Pacific).

FOR 2010:

For the 5 and 7 player 8th Air Force missions, one of the Luftwaffe players will use either the ME-410A or the Bf-110G.

John Kranz has given his full support to have this event again in Tempe in 2010. 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 2010!

Mike Lam, The ConsimWorld Expo DIF Flight Coordinator

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