The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:15 am

I would like to be placed on standby to replace any unfortunate losses in combat!

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:27 am

gbasden wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:15 am I would like to be placed on standby to replace any unfortunate losses in combat!

Assuming the bomber returns with some vacancies, yes!

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:37 am

I had our little friends drive off the Me-109 because it's eligible to attack up to three times in a wave. Our remaining bandit is a green pilot which gives us some advantageous modifiers for hitting the fighter and when he attacks. Unfortunately due to his lack of skill the chances of him colliding with the bomber go up as well. Same tactics as the last attack with Blackhawk and Raydude taking the shot and LordMortis with the passing shot if necessary

The Fw-190 makes a pass at the Hellcat. The tracers from Blackhawk and Raydude zero in on the fighter and a hit is scored. No flames can be seen and the damage looks superficial but that's enough to discourage the Fw-190 as it veers off in search of easier prey.

A second wave of 2 fighters begins their run at the Hellcat Agnes, one from 12 o'clock and the other from 6 o'clock. This time all the escorts are engaged and it's up to the gunners alone to drive them off...

This time as Blackhawk and Raydude pour fire on their target a solid hit is scored and with flames coming from the fighter it still attempts an attack run but misses and breaks off. TheMix and LordMortis fire on their target and a hit is scored but no apparent damage. The pilot makes his run but misses the bomber and breaks off to attack another bomber.

A third wave of fighters races towards the formation but for some reason avoid the Hellcat Agnes. It's as if Lady Luck herself is smiling on the bomber as she comes through the last attack wave unscathed. As the German fighters finally leave the little friends wave their wings and make their way back to England to refuel. From this point on the bombers are now on their own...

For the third attack wave instead of drawing fighters I got a random event result. You then roll again and either there's just no attack or you get to roll on the random events table. All sorts off fun things can happen there some good, some not so good. We happened to get the "good" result, "Lady Luck Smiles!" where I get to reroll any one die or dice roll!

Got to go but I'll leave you with this...uh oh...

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:25 pm

Where are we again? I thought we'd just crossed the channel.
And don't the Germans know there are other planes in the formation?

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:36 pm

dbt1949 wrote:Where are we again? I thought we'd just crossed the channel.
And don't the Germans know there are other planes in the formation?

So, you've left behind the coast of France and are over the French countryside. Unfortunately due to the limited range of the Allied escorts in the early years of the war bomber crews were shit out of luck as they conducted bombing raids over the continent.

Also unfortunately for you there are plenty of planes to go around...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:37 pm

dbt1949 wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:25 pm Where are we again?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:55 pm

$iljanus wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:27 am
gbasden wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:15 am I would like to be placed on standby to replace any unfortunate losses in combat!
Assuming the bomber returns with some vacancies, yes!

Now you've jinxed them!
Sorry guys, you're all goners now.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:33 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:37 pm
dbt1949 wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:25 pm Where are we again?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Uh-oh.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:47 pm

At the beginning of the campaign fighter escorts were Spitfires a lot of the time, and P-40s. A lot in American colors until the American production started putting out the newer planes.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:56 pm

One green pilot, one average pilot and unfortunately two aces are in the mix. Also I had mistakenly reversed the top turret with the nose gun so Blackhawk is actually shooting at one of the aces while Raydude and Isgrimnur are targeting the fighter at 1:30.

Blackhawk fires at one of the planes heading for the nose and drives it off. Raydude and Isgrimnur zero in on the fighter coming in at 1:30. The fighter tries to evade the stream of tracers coming towards him but they hit square on and the plane disappears in a ball of flame. The remaining two fighters make a run at the nose, with one missing and darting away but the ace scores a hit on the flight deck and banks away to make another run at the Agnes. The flight deck crew manage to stay unharmed but sparks and a puff of smoke comes from the instrument panel and it looks like the rudder control is damaged. The fighter ace emboldened by his strike comes around to try and finish off the bomber. Henzau, Raydude, and LawBeefaroni train their guns on the Me-109 and fire. The ace dances away from the stream of bullets and fires in return but the bomber succeeds in throwing him off enough to miss and as the ace flies away he waves his wings and goes off to attack easier targets.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:01 pm

Wave one down, second wave of fighters incoming. A total of three waves in this zone before we can move on.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:04 pm

$iljanus wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:56 pm looks like the rudder control is damaged.

Oh, I'm sure that won't be at all necessary for lining up the bombing target. No problem....

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:29 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:04 pm
$iljanus wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:56 pm looks like the rudder control is damaged.
Oh, I'm sure that won't be at all necessary for lining up the bombing target. No problem....

Surprisingly it's not as I look through the bombing charts! On the other hand, the chances of your plane crashing during landing go up a little bit so there's that...

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:44 pm

A pair of Me-110s turn their attention towards the Agnes.Isgrimnur lets loose and scores a hit, shredding the fighter's rudder. It fires on the bomber but the damage is enough to make the pilot miss as it almost collides with the bomber as it dives away. The Me-110 at 3:00 evades Hentzau but Zenn7 hits the superstructure of the fighter. The pilot is determined and fires but misses and goes off to attack another bomber.

I forgot to add the extra fighter due to our position in the formation. No worries, the extra fighter appears in the 3rd and last wave along with 3 of his friends.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:29 pm

So that’s two kills for me...

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:42 pm

And I got a goose egg. But I’m still alive at least.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:05 pm

Take that you bloody Kraut!

Dear lord... won't they ever stop coming?

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:26 pm

This is probably in poor taste but was Agnes perhaps a Jew?

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:40 pm

Shots have been lined up and LordMortis is set to take a passing shot against the ace if the plane is still in one piece or he's not dead...Pic is slightly blurred but you can make out enough details when you enlarge it. Time to roll some dice. Good luck gentlemen!

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:51 am

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:29 pm So that’s two kills for me...

Excuse me? I have twin .50s that say otherwise.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 10:10 am

Shouldn't you be driving a train somewhere?

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:37 pm

Can't talk right now. Too busy covering over 50% of the bomber.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:09 pm

Can someone strap the navigator back in his car seat?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:10 pm

raydude wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:37 pm Can't talk right now. Too busy covering over 50% of the bomber.

I'll just be up here being cheeky while trying to keep us from wandering into Switzerland.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:13 pm

I l..l..li..like Swiss ch..ch..ch.. candy.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:27 pm

Fine. *Kicks the navigator a couple of times to get it working.*

I didn't give up my vacation in Bombay just to get lost. In a few minutes I'm dropping bombs on something. If that's Switzerland, so be it.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:03 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:10 pm
raydude wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:37 pm Can't talk right now. Too busy covering over 50% of the bomber.
I'll just be up here being cheeky while trying to keep us from wandering into Switzerland.

I see what you did there.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:11 pm

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:11 pm

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:49 am

$iljanus wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:40 pm

Shots have been lined up and LordMortis is set to take a passing shot against the ace if the plane is still in one piece or he's not dead...Pic is slightly blurred but you can make out enough details when you enlarge it. Time to roll some dice. Good luck gentlemen!

The Fw-190 at 10:30 comes at the bomber and Lawbeefaroni fires scoring a solid hit on him but the plane stays in the air. The fighter fires back but misses, flying off hoping for an easier target. Raydude and Blackhawk try to drive off two fighters flying at the nose of the Agnes and are successful against one of them as a solid hit on the Me-109's fuel tank causes it to explode. However the other Fw-190 flown by an ace deftly avoids being hit and dives in landing solid hits on the bomber. Bullets tear through the pilot compartment, waist and nose areas. Dbt1949 cries out as shrapnel tears into his triceps (yeah there's an optional detailed wound table if you wanted extra gruesome details...) but yells out that he's okay. Zenn7 gets a gash to his face but the resulting scar will probably be attractive to the ladies. Blackhawk doesn't fare as well though as a hail of bullets fills the nose area missing the bombsight but hitting our bombardier and he suffers a serious wound in the form of a broken fibula. In his condition he won't be able to drop bombs on the target or man his gun. The ace passes behind the bomber allowing LordMortis to take a shot. He scores some hits but it didn't seem to damage anything critical as the ace swings around for another run at the Agnes. Meanwhile Zenn7, bleeding from his cut and Isgrimnur try to shoot down a Fw-190 coming in from 1:30. Bullets hit the plane but it stays in the air, firing at the bomber. Luckily for the crew the fighter misses and he flies away to go after other bombers.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:42 am

Tell me, can I still have children?

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:55 am

dbt1949 wrote:Tell me, can I still have children?

(rolls dice) Procreate away!

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:08 am

Damn. That was a rough round.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:35 am

dbt1949 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:42 am Tell me, can I still have children?

Is that how your triceps work?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:49 am

hentzau wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:08 am Damn. That was a rough round.

Yeah, but that's the last of them. Gotta be smooth sailing from here on in.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:17 am

The only easy day is yesterday.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:13 pm

$iljanus wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:49 am Blackhawk doesn't fare as well though as a hail of bullets fills the nose area missing the bombsight but hitting our bombardier and he suffers a serious wound in the form of a broken fibula. In his condition he won't be able to drop bombs on the target or man his gun.

Instructions for whoever mans my position when we get there: Aim down.

For me, morphine syrettes and a nice nap.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:16 pm

I suppose I can stick my nose into the situation as well.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:43 pm

$iljanus wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:55 am
dbt1949 wrote:Tell me, can I still have children?
(rolls dice) Procreate away!

Shouldn't he at least wait until the plane lands?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:44 pm

Archinerd wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:43 pm
$iljanus wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:55 am
dbt1949 wrote:Tell me, can I still have children?
(rolls dice) Procreate away!
Shouldn't he at least wait until the plane lands?

If he freezes himself to his equipment, then he stays out of everyone else's way.