Bag the Hun Imperial Japanese Navy v United States Navy

A return to 'Bag the Hun' after a considerable gap with Jerry. I took the Japanese while Jerry had the Americans (using the slightly less powerful Wildcats instead of Hellcats).

As Jerry hadn't played at all and I had only played two games before against Gary a long time ago we started with a simple 4 v 4 zero's against Wildcats game.

The Zero's attempt to get behind the Wildcats:

Unfortunately the Wildcats turn the tables and end up behind the Zero's!

In a scene familiar from the previous two games one Zero explodes immediately and another suffers a catastrophic structural failure:

Another Zero catches fire while the pilot from the structural failure plane manages to bail out:

The Zero on fire explodes leaving one Zero against four Wildcats and effectively finishing the fight:

For the next game the Japanese had a flight of three Betty bombers escorted by four Zeros against four Wildcats. The Betty's quickly came under attack from the Wildcats:

The escorting Zero's attempt to distract the Wildcats:

Remarkably the combined fire of the Betty's resulting in a Wildcat being shot down!

One Betty is on fire and has an engine knocked out:

The Zero's have failed miserably to engage the Wildcats:

The fire on the damaged Betty worsens but the pilot skilfully avoids more damage from the Wildcats:

Despite the crew's efforts the Betty blows up:

The Wildcats have outmanoeuvred the Zeros yet again:

The remaining Bettys escape off table:

At this point we called it a day. Over the two games the Japanese lost three Zeros and a Betty to the Americans single Wildcat. 

Unlike the previous games where the disparity in losses was perhaps largely down to the vast superiority of the Hellcat over the Zero the Wildcat and Zero seemed better balanced so probably this was down to my incompetence and Jerry's skill!

Bag the Hun is certainly a comprehensive and interesting rule set and the game was good fun. I think though that you'd need to play it regularly (or even practise!) to be able to select the best moves for your planes from the numerous options to ensure you end up in the right place at the right time which is (realistically no doubt) difficult to achieve.

I've seen a few campaign reports from other players which have a lot of character and have invested in 'Squadron Forward' as it also has a number of scenarios to play.

Jerry really enjoyed the game and is keen to get his vast Battle of Britain collection in action so I suspect we will be playing again soon!