Memphis Belle Mission #1 AAR

[Compass Rose]

With the update to the B-17 Queen of the Skies (QOTS) Vassal Module, I decided to start up an air campaign. My goal is to create a fictional B-17F Bomber crew and record their missions with the goal of trying to complete 25 missions, which would send them home.

I decided to mirror the historically popular Memphis Belle and fly their real life missions. The 1st mission for my Memphis Belle occurred on 11/7/42 and the target for the day was Brest.

The Memphis Belle was assigned the middle formation position and was flying in the high squadron.

We took off and formed up with the rest of the squadron. Things were pretty quite through zones 1-4 and having friendly fighter cover helped out.

As we entered zone 5, the 1st zone that we did not have fighter cover, everything changed for the worse

We had a wave of two (2) FW-190's waiting for us. Boy, where is that fighter cover at when you really need them!. One FW-190 attacked from 12:00 Level and the other FW-190 attacked from 1:30 Low.

The bombardier open up on his nose gun and the engineer fired his Top Turret guns at the 12:00 level bandit scoring no hits.
Both the Navigator open up on his starboard cheek gun and the Ball Turret gunner open up on the bandit attacking from 1:30 Low; both scoring no hits.

Next, it was the turn for the enemy fighters to open up. The FW-190 attacking from 12:00 Level scored one hit on the port wing which caused a external fuel tank fire and explosion, causing the B-17 to decent uncontrollable. Some how the Pilot and Co-pilot were the only two crew members to be able to bail out however, it was over the chilly North Atlantic Ocean. They both perished due to drowning and exposure.

Needless to say, my bombing campaign didn't start out too good. All I can do is lick my wounds and try again! :)

[Mr Grumpy]

Boy that was a bad start, let us hope Memphis Belle 2 does better!

[Scud]

...All I can do is lick my wounds and try again! :)

...and in tonight's news the 8th air force is suffering massive desertions as Group Commander Compass "Let's Try That Again!" Rose orders all crews back into the air. "But fellas," Rose was heard to exclaim, "it's just a board game."

More news at 11.

[Compass Rose]

[Jobu88]

Ah man....I loved that game! One of the last AH board games I bought before I went off to the Navy.

I can't remember the name, but I vaguely recall AH put out a similar game in which you are a tank commander in the US Army after D-Day and you have to get across France one day at a time.

[Compass Rose]

I can't remember the name, but I vaguely recall AH put out a similar game in which you are a tank commander in the US Army after D-Day and you have to get across France one day at a time.

Sounds like a really fun game.

Hope you can remember the name of it!

[Richie61]

Ah man....I loved that game! One of the last AH board games I bought before I went off to the Navy.

I can't remember the name, but I vaguely recall AH put out a similar game in which you are a tank commander in the US Army after D-Day and you have to get across France one day at a time.

That sounds like "Patton's Best"

Solitaire game of tank command. You control your Sherman tank (17 variations) and crew. Move into a new territory and deal with what you encounter. You will need to manage your crew's actions, your tank's facing, and attempt to take out enemy forces without losing your tank. Combat system is abstracted to not take place on a map, but rather on a sector grid, with positions and movement abstracted to only change in how they relate to your tank.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4556/pattons-best

[Jobu88]

Yes that's it!! Patton's Best. I think I bought it around 1992. At least I remember I owned it after I had got out of the Navy in December 1991; I don't remember when or where I bought it.

[Jobu88]

There is a recent series of YouTube videos of B-17 Queen of the Skies that is well-produced and entertaining. The player got shot down on mission #7 so that's all there is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulu6DBUUXJI



.

[Steelwhip]

yeah...Pattons Best. great game...still got a game of it running in Vassal...always wanted to give the expansion that was done for it...think it was in The General. "Pavlovs Best". Lets you run a soviet tank crew...got the pdf of it floating around in my computer.

be willing to send it off to anyone if they are interested. just email me

[email protected]

good to see another sailor on here Jobu88. I got out in '95 GMG2