Pierre Le Flanne stares the infamous "Pink Terror" in the face and like a mad French Gascon of old charges blindly at his enemy. The chatter of his machine guns turning the evil German grin into a Munch-like visage of a scream as cards were unexpectedly handed to him from the "A" deck (a nastier place to get them from than the usual "B"). This Boche had not tangled with a Nieuport 17 before (see below). The N17 has two guns. Hits were scored on both planes and on they flew past each other. The German chortled as Pierre was now at the mercy of the Hun's rear gunner a renown marksman. Ominously the Spandau clicked at the ready, the next 'round' would be a German one at the back of Le Flanne's head.
To the right a Sopwith Pup (yes please ignore the third wing) takes on a Albatross DIII at long range (see below). Putter, putter and exchange of greeting's cards but no "visible" damage. One of the joys of the WoW game is the uncertainty of not knowing what has exactly been "done" to the enemy. Somebody can accrue a lots of 'damage cards' but actually take little or no damage. Likewise, you can be unlucky enough to pick up just one single stray bullet from an odd, unexpected angle and explode! Cruel, cruel fate!
To the left of Pierre a mirror dogfight exchange takes place, another Albatross DII and another Sopwith Pup (this time with the correct number of wings) exchange their officers greeting cards (see below). The only thing to note was that the German pilot was called Kevin which I thought was somehow quite cute, "Kevin the Junker" minor nobility no doubt. Apparently there's a lot of it about (as in nobility) on the Western Front in 1916. (They are mostly dead by 1918.)
To be honest Pierre was not looking forward to the next round as two Germans were literally gunning for him, but as his luck (of the devil) would have it Pierre found himself in the "blind spot" of the "Pink Terror's" rear gunners arc (see below). Oh, how the German howled in range at the umpire at the unfairness of it all. Tough. Even better the Albatross also had misjudged his firing angle and was also "out of arc". Yippee! Trouble was that depending on what the next card (Note: players choose three movement cards in advance) the Albatross had selected, the Jerry could well end up on Le Flanne's tail (see below) and thus allow himself a subtle card selection advantage. The most oft quoted remark in WoW is that you always hate your third card as it invariably ends up being worst choice for the given situation. Some people literally chose at random. You never expect that the most sensible move would be ... "x". Pierre also didn't like the thought of being too near that lumbering great big RE8 that had showed up. To be fair it was hitting the German planes. Note: Another N17 model has been replaced by its card and is sitting underneath the "Pink Terror" at a different altitude. Yes the air-space is getting quite congested (see below).
The situation after the next move (see below). "Hell's Teeth" that RE8 does like to come close in by to the friendly Scout pilots. There is 80% of the Entente's airborne assets stuck inside a six inch by six inch playing area. The N17's take special care to be at a different altitude of the RE8 by climbing as fast as they can.
But where is the Hun? (That's not a good sign!)
2 comments:
Looks interesting Geordie, may have to have a closer look - nice one!
Playing it is simple
Surviving through one game to the next is hard though ...
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