Bag the Hun Japanese v Australian

Another run out for Bag the Hun with my Japanese taking on Jerry and Dave's Australians. I had four Zeros and four Jacks while Jerry had four Beaufighters, Dave had four Kittyhawks and there were six Hudson bombers to escort.

I'd also made some rather crude paper templates in an attempt to speed up the game when attempting to do anything other than fly in a straight line!

The Japanese approach:

Kittyhawks race to intercept:

Jacks head for the bombers while the Zeros attempt to hold off the Australian fighters:

Beaufighters chase a pair of Zeros:

Zeros approach the bombers from either side:

One of the Jacks explodes and another is critically damaged:

A Zero is shot down at long range by a Beaufighter. At this stage the Japanese had not managed to get off a single shot!

At last a success for the Japanese, the remaining Zero brings down a Hudson:

The Hudsons reach their target minus another one shot down by a Zero:

Something of a fight-back by the Japanese as a head on attack by a Jack causes critical instrument damage to a Beaufigher flown by a Junior Ace:

Another success for the Japanese as a Kittyhawk explodes:

Another fun game with a load of planes which went a bit quicker as we have (slightly) more idea what we are doing and the paper turning templates helped a lot.

The final score (I think) was all four Zeros shot down, one Jack shot down and one critically damaged against two Hudsons, one Kittyhawk and one critically damaged Beaufighter for the Australians.

Considering their dismal start not a bad result for the Japanese. The Beaufighter is a tricky opponent with its massive firepower (14 against 8 for the Japanese planes) and robustness so I think I'd have been better off targeting them to start off and then trying to deal with the Hudsons and Kittyhawks. I've painted up some Buffalos for the Australians so maybe we will try them next time.

Bag the Hun Japanese v Australian

Another BtH game, this time Dave and I had the Japanese escorting a bomber force attacked by Jerry's newly painted Australians. Dave and I had four Zero's each plus three Betty bombers while Jerry had four Beaufighters and four Kittyhawks.

The Japanese head for the target:

The Australian's climb to intercept:

Dave's flight of Zero's decides aggression is the bast tactic:

Dave's Zero's attack the Beaufighters from the rear while mine engage frontally:

Kittyhawks attempt to get through to the Betty's:

Pilots desperately try to get a shot off or avoid being shot:

The first kill goes to the Japanese as a Zero takes down a Kittyhawk with catastrophic structural damage. The pilot manages to bail out successfully:

The Betty's fly on ignoring the melee around them and even managing to get a few shots off of their own at a Beaufighter that attempts to tail them:

More hits are scored on both sides:

A Beaufighter loses an engine and flees:

The Betty's make it through undamaged. With most of their planes damaged the Australians break off and head for home:

Another great game of Bag the Hun. The end result was one Kittyhawk and one Zero shot down with several Australian planes taking serious damage but managing to break contact successfully. 

Before the game I felt the Beaufighters with their massive frontal firepower (twice that of the Zero!) and far greater robustness would easily take out the Japanese but it didn't work out like that, partly because the Zero's were much more manoeuvrable and partly as being a lot bigger the Beaufighters were easier to hit. 

We all enjoyed the game and have a few ideas how to make it play easier next time. Gluing the dice holders down and making labels for the stands certainly made it easier to see which plane was which! 

Bag the Hun Luftwaffe v RAF

A return to Bag the Hun, this time I took the Luftwaffe while Jerry had the defending RAF. My force was six JU188 escorted by 4 ME109's attempting to return across the channel from a raid while intercepted by six RAF Spitfires.

The Luftwaffe head home:

Achtung! Spitfire! The RAF approach head on:

The JU188's plod on while the ME109's attempt to distract the attackers:

A mass of planes whirling around trying to get off a shot. One ME109 is on the tail of a Spitfire:

Undeterred one of the Spitfires shoots down a JU188:

Another JU188 goes down:

A rather lacklustre performance from the Luftwaffe who lost three out of six JU188's while managing only minor damage to one Spitfire!

Good fun as ever, before our next game I might try to go to flying school (aka getting the hex mat out and trying out a few manoeuvres to expand my current repertoire of 'fly straight', 'simple turn' and 'tight turn') and hopefully be able to put more thought into my efforts next time!   

Bag the Hun USN v IJN

Jerry and I continued our efforts to become more proficient at Bag the Hun with another Pacific set game. This time I had the USN with 6 Wildcats escorting 3 Devastator torpedo bombers attacking a Japanese battleship. Jerry had 6 defending Zero's.

The American pilots head for the battleship:

Zero's move to intercept:

The Wildcats attempt to head off the Zero's:

More Zero's appear:

The Zero's close with the Devastators:

Planes whirl in all directions:

One Devastator is forced to ditch in the sea, luckily the crew survive:

The other two Devastators though manage to get their torpedoes away!

A Wildcat tails a Zero and shoots it down:

Wildcats and Zero's melee:

Another Zero goes down:

Flak from the battleship downs another Devastator. The crew are not so lucky and don't survive:

One torpedo hits the Japanese battleship! Disaster occurs though as it turns out to be a dud:

Another Zero is shot down:

The fight begins to break up with planes on both sides heading for home:

The Americans manage to catch one last Zero taking their score to 4 with 2 Devastators lost:

We are gradually getting the hang of BtH and adding in the torpedo attack certainly made it more interesting, I was really pleased to launch the torpedoes and really disappointed when one hit and failed to explode!

The rules are very comprehensive and not actually that complicated but there is a lot to remember and again I'm sure we missed a few things. The campaign system looks great fun but unfortunately I'm not sure we will have the time to play one, perhaps something for the future!

Bag the Hun IJN v USN

First game of 2024 was a return to Bag the Hun in the Pacific. Initially I took the Japanese Zero's and Dave had USN Wildcats, after a while Jerry joined us and took over the Wildcats, Dave had the Zero's and I had the Betty bombers.

The pilots prepare to engage:

Zero's close in against the first two Wildcats:

There was no real damage though:

Again the Zero's close in:

The bombers are coming! Betty's join the fray:

Wildcats come up behind the Betty's. Where are the Zero's?!

Wildcat's on their tails, Zero's approaching too late, the bombers have to fend for themselves:

First victory to the Zero's! A Wildcat goes down after catastrophic damage:

The bombers fight off Wildcat's:

The game ended with two Wildcat's shot down, one badly damaged and one escaping off table for no losses to the Japanese and the Betty's completing their mission.

As ever with BtH much time was spent flaying around and failing to get shots in by both sides. The bombers are actually quite tough defensively and drove off the Wildcat's a couple of times.

I almost think to really make progress with the game we would need to go to 'flight school' and learn how to get where you want to be from where you are using the many varied manoeuvres available to pilots!