Early World War I: Canvas Eagles Dawn Patrol (1/144)

Dawn over the Western Front. A photo reconnaissance Be2 is escorted by an early war Bristol Fighter  [not to be confused with a later war BrisFit]. The sky is a clear blue but the RFC flyers will have to contend with the rising sun, so "Beware the Hun from the sun!"(see below, please also note the early war "dirty dope" [Yellow] paint scheme):

A lone fighter from the Imperial German Air Service is prowling the skies in his Fokker Eindecker EIII (see below, the Kallista scenery is a natural fit for the Canvas Eagles rules, the trench-line/no-man's land being a bespoke additions. The "white poker markers" represent "Archie" positions and the "blue poker markers" represent 'areas of interest' that the High Command want to be photographed (see below):

The forces converge. Spoiler alert the planes fly past each other without any damage to each other. The German plane did let off a medium burst [Note: Wisely the pilot did not want to risk his guns jamming with a long burst] of machine gun fire to no effect. Then there was a knock at the door! As we were playing a "rolling game" this meant another German plane was about to enter the fray (see below, the German plane has a slight advantage in that it has the sun behind it):

There was a gasp as a sleek state of the German art killing machine appeared, the Albatross II. This was a nasty shock to the Entente! Immediately it dived into a head on attack with the Bristol Scout (see below, just in sight s the base of the EIII about to Immelman back into the combat zone):

Despite taking many valuable pictures the Be2 lingered far too long over the German lines and the slow lumbering "photo recon bus" paid a heavy price by mixing it with the deadly Albatross (see below, two "red hits" caused an unsustainable eight engine hits and the Be2 disintegrated):

The "rolling battle" meant that the player simply picked up a new plane and returned to the fray. This time a green painted RFC DH2. As the Entente were getting a bit of a pasting I also decided to step down from being an umpire and join the fray in a Nieuport (see below):

Rather than being a Nieuport 11 as per the model, I had picked up the stats for a Nieuport 10 which is a two-seater observation plane. No matter that seemed to be fairer so we just played on (see below, I was desperately angling myself away from the Albatross II, leading it rather unkindly onto the RFC fighter pair who were knocking pieces out of the German EIII):

The game ended with a tactical German win. The smoking EIII made it off table (just), although I had taken a photograph of an interesting trench-line, albeit from a very high altitude. What swung it to the Germans was the still burning wreck of the Be2 deep inside their lines.

Good fun was had by all and the plan is to take this game to the local Stockton Battleground Wargames Show on Saturday 24th November as a participation game. If you are there please feel free to stop by and say hello.