Wargame SITREP 24-26 ~ Wargame of the Week – Skies Above Britain (GMT Games, 2022) Introductory Intercept 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. I am working my way through the programmed rules and introductory scenarios for the game to fully learn how to play.

From Cycles to Sequence

The first two portions of the programmed rules for Skies Above Britain covered two tactical elements of the game; the Dogfight Cycle of fighter-versus-fighter and the Bomber Cycle of fighter-versus-bomber. In the next section, the Interception Sequence, the view zooms out to a formation of bombers and the “bounce” of the fighters.

The rules for the Interception Sequence in Skies Above Britain are the lengthiest to date. The Dogfight Cycle was 10 pages (pp. 6-16) and the Bomber Cycle was seven pages (pp. 17-23). The rules for the Interception Sequence are the length of the previous two sections combined at 17 pages (pp. 24-40). If it is not obvious to players by the time they finish reading this section of the rules the Interception Sequence is undoubtably the heart of the Skies Above Britain game system.

Bombers and fighters, oh my!

The Interception Sequence of Skies Above Britain ties the Dogfight and Bomber Cycles together. This is the part of the game where a narrative of combat starts to emerge. This is also the first rules that use the main game board—or at least part of it. Unlike the Dogfight Cycle that (optionally) takes place on the Squadron Display Board or the Bomber Cycle which is literally played off to the side of the main game board, the Interception Sequence (finally!) uses the largest single component of the game.

Up to this point in the rules, Skies Above Britain used multiple teaching scenarios for each section. For the Interception Sequence, on the other hand, there are are only two scenarios. Let that be a warning that learning here will be much more complex and almost certainly much slower than the previous Cycles.

Tally Ho!

“Scenario 10: No Escort”

Situation: A squadron of Hurricanes vectors to intercept a nine-plane raid of Dornier-17s. The squadron starts in the Tailing position at Low Altitude.

1. Orders – Pursue the bombers!
2. Intercept – Must roll a 10 or greater on d12; fails but spend 1 Fuel. Reroll by spending another Fuel but no success. Squadron is now Lost Contact but at High Altitude.
3. Entropy – Squadron initiates a Chase with two sections and six individual fighters. Blue and Green Sections fail to find the bombers while Yellow Leader, Yellow 3 and Red 3 reach the bombers.
4. Patrol Complete? Heck no! All fighters spend another Fuel.

The Interception Sequence restarts.

1. Orders – Skipped as no Sections on Intercept Map.
2. Intercept – Skipped as no Sections on Intercept Map.
3. Entropy – Bomber Cycle but all three fighters Delay to get better position. Remaining Lost Contact fighters Chase; Blue Section fails to find the bombers but Green Leader and Green 2 as well as Red Leader and Red 2 find the bombers.
4. Patrol Complete? No…but another Fuel spent.

Interception Sequence repeats again.

1. Orders – Skipped.
2. Intercept – Skipped.
3. Entropy – Bomber Cycle sees Yellow Lead, Yellow 3 and Red 3 attack from nose while Green Lead, Green 2, Red Lead and Red 2 attack from flank. Result is three Do-17 shot down, one damaged and fallen, and another damaged while two Hurricanes move to Fate Box and most others have Low Ammo. In the Chase Blue Lead and Blue 3 as well as Yellow 2 and Green 3 join the fight (finally).
4. Patrol Complete? All three Bomber Tiles are isolated but only three bombers are destroyed so go again…and spend another Fuel.

Interception Sequence…for the last time?

1. Orders – Skipped.
2. Intercept – Skipped.
3. Entropy – All the newly arriving fighters Delay. Yellow Lead takes on a straggler with wing damage. Elsewhere Red 3 moves to Fate Box as Green Lead and Red 2 go No Ammo. No bombers are destroyed.
4. Patrol Continue? Yes but fuel…

Interception Sequence one-more-time!

1. Orders – Skipped.
2. Intercept – Skipped.
3. Entropy – Bomber Cycle sees 4x Head-on and 3x Flank attacks but although there is some damage no bombers are shot down.

Ok, this is getting a bit too repetitive. It takes two more runs through the Interception Sequence to down another bomber. The last fighters are Low on Fuel but all the pilots make it back to base.

“Scenario 11: Escort”

Situation: A squadron of Hurricanes scrambles to intercept an escorted group of Stuka dive bombers.

(As these scenarios are getting longer and more involved I will skip the card-by-card or round-by-round explanation.) Two sections (Green and Yellow) go after the escorts and manage to Suppress them. Red and Blue section jump the Stukas and down seven for the loss of two fighters and one pilot hospitalized.

Lost Contact

“Lost Contact” is both a space and a state. It means being out of contact with the Raid, the bombers and their escort. You will have a chance to remedy this state in the Chase step of the Entropy phase

Skies Above Britain, Rule Book, p. 26

Up to this point I have been very excited to dig into the Skies Above Britain game system. As a grognard with now grown children my built-in wargame opponents are moving on which in turn makes me look for various solo game systems to fill in. Skies Above Britain is supposedly a well regarded title that earned several accolades to include winning an award for the 2022 Charles S. Roberts Best Solitaire or Cooperative Wargame.

After playing through the two programmed learning scenarios for the Interception Sequence in Skies Above Britain I am, frankly, less than excited to continue on. My increasing frustration comes in part because I sense Skies Above Britain is a largely formulaic game system with little player agency. It is, to use the words of designer Lee Brimmicombe-Wood when discussing Atlantic Chase: The Kriegsmarine Against the Home Fleet, 1939-1942 also by designer Jerry White from GMT Games (2020), an “experience game:”

An intriguing semi-abstract design on cruiser operations in the North Sea and Atlantic. It’s novel and the tutorials are necessary to understand the game. With dice playing a major role it generates strong narratives, but essentially this is an ‘experience game’ that gives a flavour of the subject matter but is low on decision points and ludicity. Catnip to me, but players who like balance and frequent decision-making will be disappointed.

pilotofficerprune, Atlantic Chase rating on BGG

Perhaps I am rushing to judgement here as I have yet to learn the Raid Vector Sequence and play through a campaign of Skies Above Britain. The campaigns are a series of linked scenarios, each being a patrol of a squadron using a roster of pilots.

So, onto the Raid Vector Sequence….

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