Check Your Six AAT Attack on the Airfield

It's been a very light year so far for wargaming, with about three games played prior to this game and none at all against Matt so it was great to get a game in with Matt again. Check Your Six does not really feel like a typical game for me and tends to get far more laughter than say Fields of Glory Ancients game. Not that I don't play to win because I do but it just is a lighter experience I think.

This is a follow on from the December game where I had took a pounding failing to take out the Radar protecting this sector. As such I was expecting to go into this game with a disadvantage and on finding three Spitfires and three Hurricanes it certainly looked that way as I had just two ME109's and two ME110's with a pair each of Dornier's and Heinkel's that needed to now bomb the airfield.

Now CY6 is a fairly bloody game and you don't come out of a mixed melee like the one above without a fair few holes in your planes. The only good news is that the Spitfires were actually Defiant's though the bad news was that they were in great position to fire at my plane.

Well the good news was that whilst the Brits landed a few shots (less than they should have) the structure of the bombers was so strong none of the hits turned into damage. However I failed to even hit a single plane but overall such a result is a win for me.

 The following turn I had two Defiant's dead for rights though I wanted to make sure so fired both my ME110's at the same target, guns and cannons needing 4 and 5 on 2D6 for a hit, both missed by one for a frustrating close call. Matt missed with all of his as well so at least we were on evens.

The low odds shot the next turn though caused superstructure damage to my Ace ME110 plane fired on by either a Green or Skilled pilot Defiant so meaning that would one would have to tread lightly. One of my Veteran 109's took an engine hit but he did deserve damage as he ended up slap bang in front of a Hurricane. The Defiant's were just moving out of the battle area and thus out of the fight as they could not get back in time to take on my bombers as they set their sites on the airfield.

Whilst I was rolling really bad for shooting, most being well below the required magic numbers I was rolling almost faultlessly for damage. One of the Dornier's needed something like seven and I rolled ten for instance. Unfortunately this was a double five that turns into a special hit, "Don't roll" was Matt's last words before double one landed! OK pilot dead, aircrew roll to take control which I think was a seven. I rolled somewhat below this and the very first loss was registered. That's about 5-6 turns into the game and unheard of, especially when considering the number of shots we had taken and the close proximity of the planes. The other Dornier was tagged but not too bad. I had elected to go round the clouds in the hope of getting to the target that bit quicker. The clouds being the white hexagons that actually look better in the flesh.

I had been diving each turn for a few turns to gain the extra one hex distance which is a big bonus when you move at only two hexes per turn. By this point I had been under fire from the heavy AA for a few turns and now the lights started to give out some fire which so far had been totally ineffective.

The Defiant's were not the only planes being left behind as I had managed to fail to keep up with the Hurricanes and thus was playing catchup, well all but the ME109 with engine damage as it could only move two hexes a turn as well.

The rear Dornier was then taken out but that was expected as it was just trying to hold the Hurricanes off the two heavier Heinkel's. I was starting to move into position to start being a problem for the chasing Hurricanes.

One turn to go and one bomber finally took a superstructure hit and the other was racked by the Hurricane behind it losing an engine. The other Hurricane had pulled an Immelmann as he would end up in the same hex as both bombers in that last turn and promptly dispatched one of my 109's. 

Now I had to survive the last round of AA fire and two Hurricanes fire, somehow I managed to survive all this and drop my bombs. The first bomber failed to hit it's mark, possibly as his comrade was also dropping it's bombs at the same time but from directly above him!! This second bomber was a better shot but not by much as he managed to do light rather than heavy damage. Sure the runway was out of commission for a bit but it would be up and running the following day.

I had only one plane without damage so it's debatable that much of my force would have made it back across the channel though one of the Hurricanes had used up it's ammo taking down the 109.

I only scored a total of two hits all evening and Matt shrugged them off, though both of these were from single MG's so not exactly killer material. 

It's proof of a gun game though when this does not matter and the fun remains turned up to eleven. After the game we had a natter for about half an hour which is always fun as it's a mix of what we are doing in our projects with a little old time memories mixed in for spice.