Tally Ho! More Like Tally Oh No!

Had the opportunity to fly a formation of Hurricanes in Skip Peterson’s WWII Battle of Britain game. Skip has written his own rules and uses 1:100 diecast aircraft for his miniatures. As you can see, the terrain is exquisite.

Ju087B Stukas start their bombing run on the radar chain.

The scenario for the evening was several flights of Stukas were to bomb some of the chain radar installations. RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes were scrambled to bag the Huns, and the Germans returned the favor by jumping the RAF with ME-109’s. Lots of twisting and turning ensued.

My Hurricanes made an OK show of it. My top gun for the night, Sergeant Benny Hill, scored three kills, but his third was his own demise as it was our first ever mid-air collision, resulting in his own plane and the Messerschmidt plummeting to the ground. As the game progressed, it became clearer and clearer that this was not the RAF’s finest hour. Great maneuvering was performed by the plucky British pilots, but our gunnery was on the same odds column of scoring a hit as the Cubs winning the World Series. When the planes returned home, there were a few empty seats at the squadron mess in England, while Hermann’s boys were cracking open the schnapps.

Skip’s game continues to evolve and is one of the most playable WWII dogfight games in which I’ve participated. His maneuver card system is fun and there is just enough detail to keep things exciting without too much bookkeeping. I can’t wait for him to publish these rules.