Second Illustrious Playtest

We were able to get together for the second playtest of our Enfilade Illustrious scenario. This time we went with the full number of aircraft for the scenario, 15 Axis bombers vs. 6 defending Fulmar fighters. We had some minor tweaks from the previous playtest (changes to Italian morale, heavy AA fire, and option selections).

Stukas above the flak

The Axis players went with 9 Ju-87 Stuka and 6 SM-79 bombers. Unlike the previous game, the Axis players chose to have the Stukas enter first, followed by the SM-79s on turn 2. The idea being that this would get both sets of bombers to the carrier at close to the same time. The Fulmars spread out against the Stukas, with some making a head on pass and then seeing if they should try to turn behind the Stukas or head toward the torpedo planes.

Stuka wave with a pair of Fulmars attacking from the right

From the left, the Fulmars get a critical hit, which starts a fire on the Stuka

The initial Fulmar attacks shot down a couple of Stukas and damaged some others, but the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) pilots watched their limited ammo dwindle as the Italians came on the board.

Stukas trying to break through the fighters and flak with one Italian group following behind while the other comes in unopposed

Stuka wave passes over HMS Nubian

The Italian bombers dive low to start their torpedo run

Flak knocks down two Italians, but the third gets off his torpedo as a pair of Stukas drop their bombs.

Fulmars try to swarm the other flight of torpedo bombers

Royal Navy flak, which had been ineffective for most of the game, finally zeroed in on the attackers as it knocked down 2 Italian bombers just before they could drop their torpedoes. However, Illustrious ended up taking 3 bomb hits and 1 torpedo hit, which was almost enough to cripple her. But the Royal Navy just pulled out victory in this game.

Overall, this playtest went smoothly. Both sides felt they had a good chance to win, but still wanted just a few more resources, and the final score was close. With that Kevin and I are calling this one good to go for the convention.

I have a few paperwork items to finish up before Enfilade, but both my scenarios are ready to go and there is still almost a month to go before the convention. This puts me in the unusual position of not having to rush to finish a few final things before the convention. But I think I'm okay with that this year.