GMT-West October 2008 DIF Event

GMT-West October 2008 DIF Event Debriefing Report

Here is the DIF recap and results:

A total of 27 participants (with 3 rookie players) at various times took part in 53 aerial matches from Thursday-to-Saturday. Although there were times when the DIF table was not busy, 11 missions were played on Thursday, 13 on Friday, 25 on Saturday, and 4 on Sunday. During the 4-days, the Axis Air Forces defeated the Allied Air Forces, 35-to-16 with 2 ties, with a combined score of 1146-to-859. The Axis Air Forces shot down 91 fighters, 14 light bombers (1 by flak), 19 medium bombes, and 4 heavy bombers. The Allied air forces shot down 77 fighters, 3 light bombers, and 13 medium bombers. Total loses were 168 fighters, 17 light bombers, 32 medium bombers, and 4 heavy bombers shot down from all nations. The lost rate per mission for fighters was 32% and the lost rate for bombers was 39%.

Missions by Campaigns Theaters:

Western Europe Front '41 - 8 missions with the Luftwaffe defeating the RAF, 5-3 and outscoring the RAF 71-to-53
North Africa Front '41 - 14 missions with the Germans & their Italian allies defeating the RAF, 11-3 and outscoring the RAF 415-to-288
West Front '43 - 4 missions with the Luftwaffe and the US 8th AF tied at 2-2, with the Luftwaffe outscoring the US 8th AF 145-to-138
West Front '45 - 5 missions with the Luftwaffe over the US 8th AF & RAF, 5-0, with the Luftwaffe outscoring the Allies 63-to-16
East Front '43 - 10 missions with the Luftwaffe over the VVS, 7-2-1, with the Luftwaffe out scoring the Soviets 270-to-196
Pacific '42 - 4 missions with the 5th AF & USN defeating the Japanese Navy, 2-1-1, with the Americans outscoring the IJN 27-to-19
Pacific '44 - 7 missions with the combined Japanese Army & Navy Services over the 5th AF & USN 4-3, with the Japanese outscoring the Americans 170-to-129

HIGHS, LOWS & MEDIUM ITEMS:

Kevin LeFevre shot down 15 medium bombers. His 15 was 47% of the total 32 medium bombers shot down.
There was 10 new aces created with 6 of the new aces being lost soon after & 4 new aces were lost on the same mission in which they made ace hood.
Kevin LeFevre lost 4 of his 5 new aces, including the first P-51 Mustang ace made in the Aces Campaigns.
Mike Lam lost 3 of his previous aces from other GMT Game Weekends.
Players drew cards to determine which side they would fly one. For one, this eliminated stacking the sides with the most experienced players vs. less experienced player and (2) eliminated the "Which side do you want to be?" "Oh, I don't know." routine that the GM would always seem to go through. On the negative side family and friends who wanted to play together on the same side, unless they got lucky in the card draws, found themselves on opposite teams. In 13 games that they played in together, the father/sun duo of Chris & Kevin LeFevre, only were on the same side for 2 missions.
Bomber formations used their own draw deck for defensive fire and to check if they fall out of formation. One US 8th AF B-17 formation held off 13 separate Luftwaffe attacks, taking numerous hits, but without any B-17s being flipped and falling out of formation. Good luck was on the side of the bombers that mission.
During one opening deal, one player had all 3 Ace cards dealt to him, while his team mate had both Half-Loops with 4 Maneuver cards.
During one re-deal after a player lost his leader, that player in 4 cards received the one-of-kind cards "Exploding Fuel Tank", and all 3 "OUT-OF-THE-SUNS" cards.
The most kills of 5 during the weekend was shared by Kevin LeFevre and Mike Lam both in North Africa. Kevin had 5 by his RAF Desert Air Force 7-kill ace Mitch Barlow while Mike's new Luftwaffe ace in North Africa, Siegfried Kampfmann, also had 5.
Chris LeFevre's East Front Luftwaffe ace, Herbert von Bonin, shot down 4 Soviet aircraft on 1 mission: 2 fighters and 2 light bombers.
In the preliminary round tie-breaker game for the 2-player team tournament, Team #1 of Markevich/Ryder flew RAF Mohawks vs. Romanian IAF-81s flown by Team #8 of Phil Bradley/Dave Wesner. Team 1 won 5-to-0 when Markevich shot down Bradley's damaged IAR-81 leader on turn 6.

SPECIAL BOMBER MISSIONS:

No special bomber mission was run this weekend.

TEAM DOUBLES TOURNAMENT:

For the first time, last year's champion successfully defended their "crown". The 2007 winners of Nick Markevich and Charles Ryder defeated the 2006 champions, the father/son team of Chris and Kevin LeFevre, in 5 games, 3-to-2. The first round matched a pair of US 8th AF P-47D and P-38Ls vs. a pair of Luftwaffe Bf-109G6/R1 and Ta-152Hs. Markevich/Ryder won 10-to-0 as the Luftwaffe in the first game that was helped as they quickly took out Kevin's P-47D wingman in turn 1. The LeFevre's quickly repeated that feat in game 2 as they took out Ryder's P-47D wingman on turn 1 before Ryder did his turn 1 winning handily 17-to-5. Markevich/Ryder won a close game 3 as the Germans 12-to-7, taking a 2-1 lead into game 4, which was won by the LeFevres as the Germans, 17-to-2. With the series tied 2-2, the finals went to a deciding 5th game for the first time since the tournament was created in 1999. This match up was between a pair of Spitfire Mk. XIVs vs. a pair of Fw-190Ds. With the higher points scored during the 4 games, the LeFevres chose the Spitfires with the turbo ability and started at High altitude. The Markevich/Ryder team chose to wait for the Spitfires at low altitude to build up their hand size. No action occurred until turn 5 when Nick Markevich climbed to medium and blew up Chris LeFevre's wingman, who dived to medium on turn 4, for a 5-0 lead. Chris then damaged Charles Ryder's wingman, to trail 2-to-5 after 5 turns. On turn 6, Nick damaged Kevin's leader and Charles damaged Chris' leader to win their third team championship, 9-to-2.

As the winning team, Charles Ryder won a copy of the book, "Fighter Pilot - The First American Ace of WW2" by William R. Dunn, while Nick Markevich received a copy of the book, "Carrier War" by Paul Stillwell, both books donated by Mike Lam. Charles also received a copy of the game MANIFEST DESTINY donated by GMT Games while Nick got to choose a game (although I don't know if he did).

Congratulations to Nick Markevich and Charles Ryder, the first team to defend the championship with a 7-3 record. Nick & Charles have now won 3 championships in 2000, in 2007 & now in 2008. If Nick and Charles return and pair up again in the team doubles tournament, they will be the #1 seed.

The first round was a 1941 Western Europe match up between the RAF vs. Luftwaffe. Each dogfight consisted of 2 elements Spitfire Vs vs. 2 elements of Bg-109Fs. All three of the four top seeded teams easily defeated their first round opponents, 2 games to none, while the top seeded team of Markevich/Ryder ran into a tough 8th seed of Phil Bradley/Dave Wesner, coming back to win 2-to1 after losing the first game.

The semi-finals was a 1942 South Pacific match up between 1 element of American P-40E (Warhawk) and F4F (Wildcat) vs. 1 element of Japanese A6M2 (Zeke) and A6M2-N (Rufe). Team #3 of the LeFevres defeated team #2 of Mark Aasted/Jerry White, 1 games to none with 1 tie. The LeFevres won game 1, 7-to-2, with Chris blowing up Mark's Rufe leader on turn 1. Game 2 ended in a 10-10 tie, which was enough to send to the LeFevre in the finals. In the other semi-final match, team #1 of Markevich/Ryder easily defeated the Father/Daughter team of Gene & Rachel Billingsley, winning the first game 7-0 and the second game 10-0 to advance into the Finals.

COMING THIS APRIL:
The campaigns will be the same as this weekend: The 1941 North Africa Front, the 1943 East Front, the 1943 West Front and the 1944 Pacific campaigns will return. There will be no 2-player team tournament; the tournament will return in October. The special bomber mission is TBD at this time.

One major change will be used for future weekends - RAF Blenheim and Maryland medium bombers in the North Africa Campaign will be worth only 1 kill, instead of 1.5, for ace rolls because they are so easy to shot down no matter what the escorts do.

One minor change will be to the bombers out of formation chart. The new chart will make it deadlier for bombers to be shot down by flak, thus reducing the turns that players will have to go after stragglers.

I hope all who participated had fun and a good time and I plan to continue the aerial mayhem at next April's GMT-West Weekend, scheduled for late April, 2009 in Hanford.

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