Wargame SITREP 24-25 ~ Wargame of the Week – Skies Above Britain (GMT Games, 2022) Introductory Bomber Scenarios

Skies Above Britain by designers Jeremy White and Gina Wills is a solitaire wargame from GMT Games (2022) where the player controls a squadron of Royal Air Force (RAF) Hurricanes or Spitfire fighters in the skies above England during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. My game is a (gently) used copy thanks to a local game market match.

Bomber Cycle

The second of the programmed learning rules covers the Bomber Cycle (the first covered Dogfights). In the Bomber Cycle the RAF fighters engage the German bombers of a Raid. In Skies Above Britain the Bomber Cycle is the second of what I term the “tactical” games presented as it is technically a sub-game of the Interception Sequence. The Situation Manual presents four scenarios, numbers 6-9, that focus exclusively on fighter engagements with the bombers.

Programmed BS (Bomber Scenarios)

“Scenario 6: Lame Duck”

Situation: Green Leader, a lone Hurricane, attacks a formation consisting of a single ‘straggler’ medium bomber with a wing and fuselage hit. The Approach step is assumed to have occurred and the Hurricane starts on the flank. Play begins with the Burst step.

1. Green Leader hits the Dorsal gunner of the bomber but suffers Low Ammo.
2. Delay as Green Leader tries to get behind the bomber.
3. Green Leader rakes the bomber for an Engine and catastrophic fuselage hit which shoots down the bomber and ends the engagement; Green Leader has No Ammo left. Scenario Outcome is “Victory.”

“Scenario 7: Finishing the Job”

Situation: Red Leader is on the tail of a kette (3 bombers) of medium bombers. The lead bomber has a wing hit and Dash-2 has a fuselage hit. Red 2 and Red 3 are ready to Approach.

Red Leader

1. Attack Dash-3 from tail. Scores engine hit and catastrophic wing hit but ends up with Low Ammo and Return fire which scores a Trivial Fuselage hit.
2. Now pursuing the single Lead bomber, Red Leader scores a catastrophic fuselage hit sending the last bomber of the former kette flaming down to the countryside, but not before the bomber scores a Severe Fuselage hit.

Red 2

1. Delay to get into tail position.
2. Moves to tail single Lead bomber.

Red 3

1. Attack Dash-2 from port flank. Result is Distress which breaks the kette into two independent bombers.
2. Continues attack against now single bomber from flank. Scores catastrophic fuselage hit and Low Ammo.

Scenario Outcome: “Tough Battle.”

“Scenario 8: A Full Basket”

Situation: Six Heinkel medium bomber tiles (Kette 1-6) are jumped by Red and Green sections. The Round 1 tail penalty (Return fire draws two damage chits with highest result applied) is used.

Round 1

• Red Leader – Target Kette 4-Leader. Near collision.
• Red 2 – Target Kette 4-2. Low Ammo, guns Jammed.
• Red 3 – Target Kette 4-3. Two hits sees the He-111 destroyed by catastrophic wing and engine hits but Red 3 is low ammo and suffers a Severe Fuselage hit from Return fire; moves to Fate Box.
• Green Leader – Target Kette 6-2. Bomber goes down from a catastrphic wing hit but Green Leader Low Ammo and suffers a Trivial fuselage hit.
• Green 2 – Target Kette 6-3. No damage but Low Ammo.
• Green 3 – Target Kette 5-2. Hits for fuselage and engine which causes bomber to fall out of formation; Return fire is only a Trivial wing hit but Green 3 now Low Ammo.

Round 2

• Red Leader continues pursuit of Kette 4-Leader. Scores hit which flames bomber but Return fire sends to Fate Box with Severe cockpit hit. Disruption check sees keete isolate (in turn isolating Kettes 5 and 6).
• Red 2 against Kette 4-2. Hit (roll confirmed even with guns jammed) which flames bomber but Return fire sends Red 2 to Fate Box with Severe engine hit.
• Green Leader pursues Kette 5-Leader. Bomber downed but Green Leader now No Ammo and returns to base (RTB).
• Green 2 versus Kette 5-3. Scores two wing hits but now No Ammo so RTB.
• Green 3 versus Kette 6-2 straggler. Shoots down bomber but now No Ammo so RTB.

Scenario Outcome: With six destroyed or fallen bombers and three or less fighters in the Fate Box this is somehow a “Victory.”

“Scenario 9: Tally Ho!”

Situation: A squadron of Hurricanes (12 fighters) intercepts a formation of seven kette of Junkers-88 bombers. Me-109 escorts are nearby…

Rounds 1 & 2: A giant, swirling battle sees two Junkers destroyed and three fallen with nine of the remaining bombers damaged. Three Hurricanes are in the Fate Box and two others will RTB due to NO Ammo.

Luftwaffe Advantage: Die roll is [4] which draws three (3) Luftwaffe Advantage Cards.

Round 3: Two more straggler bombers fall, but so do three RAF fighters. The rest of the squadron RTBs. By the scenario Outcomes this is a “Victory” but, again, it seems a ratehr empty one…

Bombed out

Like the Dogfight Cycle, the Bomber Cycle battles play out fast and with just enough thematic results to make the events feel believable. Once again I have to remind myself that these “tactical” battles are not the reason for playing Skies Above Britain. The real “game” in Skies Above Britain is intercepting raids. That bigger picture of the battle is the next section of programmed rules, the Intercept.

---

Feature image “‘Battle of Britain’ defending North Weld…” courtesy pintrest.com

The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and are presented in a personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Navy or any other U.S. government Department, Agency, Office, or employer.

RockyMountainNavy.com © 2007-2024 by Ian B is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0