I thought I was just getting the updated charts for A Wing and a Prayer.
Instead, they sent the charts AND the updated rule book. What service!
Hopefully I’ll get to it this weekend.
First Play: A Wing and A Prayer
Finally got around to trying out this game.
I played the short campaign, covering the early bombing missions from August to December 1942. 5 missions total.
Heavy damage was inflicted on the following targets:
- St. Omer (aircraft factory)
- Lille (industrial center)
- Antwerp (industrial center)
The following targets were completely destroyed:
- Cherbourg (aircraft factory)
- Rotterdam (marshalling yard)
Of the 12 B-17F bombers under my command, the following 10 ended the campaign with better than ‘green’ crews:
‘crack’ crew:
- Slavo Sally
- Jersey Bounce
- Queenie
- Hell’s Angels (lead bomber throughout campaign)
- Big Red
- Demo Darling
- Green Hornet
‘veteran’ crew
- Chow Hound
- Pueblo Vengence
- Peoria Bell
12 Campaign victory points, resulting in:
Major Victory: War shortened by 3 months. You earn the Silver Star and an eventual promotion to Brigadier General.
This is possibly my second favorite of the four B-17 bomber games that I own, right below B-17 Queen of the Skies, and ahead of B-17 Flying Fortress Leader and Target for Today.
Unboxing
Box!Incoming!
Target for Today: Mission #1 AAR
After Action Report: August, 1942
Target for Today: Amiens (Airfield)
Bomber: Super-X (Mission #1)
Group position: Low
Bomber #: 15
Good fighter cover to and from target zone.
Outbound:
Zone 1: Good weather, no complications during take off.
Zone 2: 50% cloud cover, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 3: Clear skies, moderate German fighter resistance, mostly driven off by fighter cover, until 2 fighters got through. Both were shot down, 1xME 109 by Sgts Hayes and Stewart, 1xME 109 by Sgt. Martin.
Zone 4: Clear skies, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 5: TARGET ZONE – Clear skies, target slightly obscured, moderate German fighter resistance, driven off by fighter cover. Light Flak, no hits to bomber. Bomb run was on target, 50% of target damaged.
Inbound:
Zone 5: Clear skies, heavy German fighter resistance, driven off by fighter cover.
Zone 4: 50% cloud cover, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 3: 50% cloud cover, moderate German fighter resistance, driven off by fighter cover.
Zone 2: 50% cloud cover, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 1: Good weather, no complications during landing.
First mission under my belt, and I gotta say, I prefer this game to B-17 Flying Fortress Leader. I think both games play rather smoothly, once you figure out the mechanics of the rules.
I prefer to fly a single bomber in a group, instead of the entire group all at once. That’s probably due to my playing B-17 Queen of the Skies for so many years. TfT plays like an enhanced version of the original QotS game.
I’ll give the single bomber game in FFL a shot.
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Zone 3
Long: “Fighter coming in, 1:30 high!”
Hayes: “There’s one on our 6, high!”
Stewart: “I see him!”
Stewart and Hayes opened fire, blasting the ME 109 to hell.
Stewart: “Ha! Got him!”
Hayes: “No, I got him!”
Stewart: “Call it a tie?”
Hayes: “Yeah, okay.”
Martin squeezes the trigger on his right waist gun, obliterating the remaining ME 109.
Mitchell: “Hey, the kid got one!”
Thompson: “Nice shooting there.”
Martin: “Thanks, Chief.”
Thompson: “Don’t call me ‘Chief’.”
Find a Crew
I found a random name/age/home state generator for Target for Today.
The crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress “Super-X”:
| Name | Rank | Age | Home State | |
| Bomber | Super-X | – | – | – |
| Pilot | Wallace Thompson | Lt. | 21 | NY |
| Co-Pilot | Leon Mitchell | Lt. | 28 | OH |
| Navigator | Ronald Long | Lt. | 22 | TN |
| Bombardier | Chester Bryant | Lt. | 25 | CT |
| Engineer | Wayne Hill | Sgt. | 21 | IL |
| Radio Operator | David Stewart | Sgt. | 22 | MT |
| Ball Gunner | Billy Hughes | Sgt. | 23 | NJ |
| Left Waist Gunner | Edwin Bennett | Sgt. | 23 | GA |
| Right Waist Gunner | Philip Martin | Sgt. | 20 | CA |
| Tail Gunner | Joe Hayes | Sgt. | 21 | MA |
This gives the game a bit more ‘character’, like it did in the older B-17 Queen of the Skies. By putting names to a fictional crew, you pull for them to survive.
Back in the day, I used names of people I knew. Still do, as the B-17 QotS campaign for the bomber “Facebook” will attest.
First mission is ready, raid on the airfields of Amiens, France.
Wheels up in the morning. I should be done with the rules by then.
Target for Today
B-17 Games: QotS vs. FFL
Comparison of the base games:
The main difference is, while Queen of the Skies focuses on 1 bomber, Flying Fortress Leader focuses on 1 or more bomber groups/squadrons, so the game play is more abstract.
There are rules for single-bomber play in FFL, but I haven’t gotten to those rules yet.
Each has it’s own mechanic for encounters on the way to the target, and somewhat similar procedures for fighters and flak, and bombing the target. Many of the game mechanics from the other DVG Leader-series games are present in FFL.
Each is fun, in it’s own way. It depends on what one wants out of the game experience, overall command of the mission/campaign, or the results of your own bomber crew during those missions/campaigns.
I’ll probably play a couple more practice missions before embarking on a full campaign.
And I’ll probably try Target for Today before I get to that full campaign.
B-17 FF Leader
Blogging in Bed: Randomness
I’m about to nod off, because I’m too tired to watch Kong: Skull Island right now.
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I still watch baseball, but it becomes painful to watch when your team is bad.
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People are making such a big deal about Godzilla fighting Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidrah in his next movie, LIKE THAT’S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE.
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Too many games to play.
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I seem to be adjusting to the progressives well enough.