Goodbye Frieling

After my recent joy soloing with Nemo's War I branched out into the highly-rated Skies Above the Reich, where you take control of a staffel of German fighters and try to break down the allied bombing formations as they fly in and out of Germany. Spending a lot of time at home thanks to my crap feet has allowed me to wallow in retail freed up some time to take on what is a campaign game, spread across the latter years of the second world war.

I chose Skies Above the Reich because everything I'd read about it waxed lyrically about how easy was to pick up and play, but breaking open the box also broke that illusion - SAtR might be simple for wargamers, but to me it was a bewildering array of rulebooks and situation manuals and player aids. Nevertheless I ploughed on, reasoning that I get a lot of rules wrong anyway, so what's a few more.

 First mission

I began in 1942, playing the basic game. A few d10 rolls set me up on board A (there are three boards) following an outbound formation of bombers, one of whom was already nursing a hit from flak. Another d10 roll gave me some tactical points to spend - more on them later - and I began the game with six experienced pilots - experienced meant that each one had a special ability, such as dealing extra hits (when successfully hitting, of course) or being 'lucky'. Not sure how you train for that.

Then the game resolves over a set number of rounds (I had six) made trickier in the latter stages by the arrival of a suddenly-alert Allied escort, as Spitfires (in this instance) swarm around you dealing blows.

Before then, you try to do as much damage as you can following a series of phases in each round. One of them involves checking the cohesion of the bomber's formation, which you kind of want to degrade, as it makes them easier to attack.  Then manoeuvre your planes into attacking position - nose, tail, or flank - via a high, low, or level elevation. Attack in groups for certain advantages, but also certain risks (collision check!) or from the angle of the sun to make your approach harder to spot.  Then choose each pilots mode (determined for a more likely success, evasive for more likely survival) - and let rip!

Grimm leads a schwarm attack on the rearmost bomber

Depending on what part of the formation you attack, there'll be a lethal level to deal with - how likely you are to be hit by the bomber's defences - and results are revealed by card draw. Compare your elevation and lethal level for what you hope will be a hit (annoyingly rare) and not damage to yourself (annoyingly frequent, including debilitating results such as running out of ammo, or your gun jamming). Then your planes peel away (if they didn't balk already) to regroup and repeat the process.

Knocking out a bomber degrades the formation and makes it easier to attack, so there's an escalation to things as you run out of rounds and attacks are getting more and more fruitful. Then the bloody escort show up and start getting in the way.

I managed to avoid the worst of the escort though, forcing two bombers out of the sky and destroying another. What's more three of my hit pilots made it safely home (the others gave up after running out of ammo) and we sadly had to say goodbye to Frieling, who died. That's war, though.

Also war: gaining victory points (3) and experience points for my more zealous pilots, who can up their game for the next mission. Frieling has been replaced by a new pilot (Falke) who is zealous in a bad way - as a greenhorn, his 'zeal' is actually a drawback, as he is young and dumb and under the illusion he's indestructible. I fear he may go the way of the more measured Frieling, but that's war as well.

The advanced game looks a bit harder, as the damned allies take continuing fire at you as you fly away. Hardly sportsmanlike. But you can also go after any fallen bombers and finish them off, which is... nice?

It was a slightly insane experience. The board design and angles of approach stuff is all really clever. There is a lot to think about though, and I would argue the weight rating on BGG (lower than Macao!) is skewed alarmingly by brainy, chit-loving Paths of Glory players comparing it to a zillion wargames. I packed it away puffing my cheeks a bit yesterday... but today, I find myself thinking about Frieling. How do we honour his memory? By trading it away on BGG, or going out there again to our inevitable doom...?

*

This morning we set out again, my savvy pilots in their bf109s aided by headstrong Falke. Now on Map B, we had 12 bombers to think about, instead of the measly four of our first mission, and lethal levels on such a large formation climbed as high as 4. I took care to think a bit more about my attacks, choosing an evasive approach for many pilots - and had a great first round, taking a bomber out of formation.

chunky blue blocks help you remember elevation

With no escort to worry about, the skies were my oyster, as I could zigzag across the formation dealing out - in theory - death. But a rule clarification meant that I was being hit by my own flak as gunners on the ground also fired on the bombers, and this was a bit of a pain.

Speeding up considerably, I blasted through the six rounds in less than an hour, to the loss of a single fighter - sadly, it was Falke, who took a hit in the final round and although he tried to nurse the plane home, exploded without bailing out. My other pilot's grimaces and reliance on gallows humour hardened another few degrees...

Falke, wearing Frieling's old jacket

What's more, I'd only managed to knock three bombers out of formation, which was pitiful. As I pondered on where I'd gone wrong, the inevitable Missing Rule hit me - I'd neglected to roll for operation points at the start of the mission, which could have afforded me extra pilots! Which was pretty embarrassing, as we would arrive back at the Luftstutzpunkt to find them playing Scrabble in the mess... oh well. Another oversight by the top brass... that's war for you.