"Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how's your father;..."

Pulled out an old-timer this afternoon for our "Gentlemen of Leisure" weekday game.  I first met "Red Baron" in the 80s and for many years it was a staple of our gaming experience.  So since I still had  the sticks and planes, we decided to give it a go, as a true 3D flying game.

Keeping it simple, the Americans had a pair each of SPAD XIII and Nieuport 28 fighters.  The Germans had a pair of Fokker DVII, a DVIII monoplane and a Dr.1 triplane.  We diced to see our entry points.  The Americans came in together and the Germans separated.  Altitude was 3,100', plus or minus 100' at the players discretion.  Each solid mark on the stick represents 100'.  Tally ho!

My Fokker Dr.1 and DVIII with the Yanks in the distance.

Americans in a loose gaggle as Bob plots and plans.

I swung over to join with the others then turned into the enemy.

One our of old, classic traffic jams.

Taka-taka-taka as the Yanks draw first blood double-teaming
a Fokker DVII.

It looked promising for us at first.  Bob's first shot resulted in a double jam and when he later tried to clear the jam one was permanently out of action.  One SPAD flew off table severely damaged so the odds were even again.

A diving half-loop puts one in a perfect firing position.

Close-up of the attack.

A head-on shot that turned out bad for me.

After catching fire I maneuvered to try and put it out and promptly exploded.  And we ended it.  Whie we caught on to the plotting fairly quickly, I had forgotten a lot in the last 12 years since I played so we messed up shooting.  But consistently for the game, so it didn't really matter.  In the end 2-0 Americans, so a rematch is in order!  Thanks Bob, Todd and Dan for playing.

PS. The post title comes from Monty Python.