Gotha Raid on a Bridge

Lats Thursday several of the retired Jackson Gamers gathered for our weekly lunch and game.  This time we again flew the "unfriendly" skies of war-torn Europe using my Wings of War/Wings of Glory airplanes.  The scenario originally was for two German Gotha bombers to raid targets behind the allied lines with six allied two-seaters operating in defense.  But I only had enough maneuver cards for three allied planes so I reduced the bomber strength to one.

The bomber (flown by me) had a choice of two targets.  I chose the bridge which was only "protected" by one allied fighter.  It was an interesting mission as I overflew my turn-in point for the bomb run and had to make a different approach.  I think that mistake sealed my doom as you'll see below.

We had a plethora of engine's smoking and catching fire on both sides as well as many machine guns jamming.

As usual, please click on the pictures for a larger image.

After making the turn toward the bridge target, my Gotha is pursued by two enemy fighters.

After the successful bombing run, I head for home, pursued by all three enemy fighters.  "Ace" pilot Lord Sterling (red shirt) ruefully considers the consequences of allowing the Gotha to get away.

But I didn't.  The Belgian "ace" Russ shot me down just before I could cross the front lines.

Having missed my turn-in point was my downfall.  That extra set of maneuvering I had to do was what sealed my doom.  But it was a fun and exciting game especially as machine guns jammed just at the worst (or best for the traget's point of view) times.  At one time I had both my forward and aft guns jammed for a series of three maneuver cards.