TSR's recent release, The Battle of Britain, simulates the first battle of Britain in 1940. This part of the article is intended to give players a chance to simulate Operation Steinbock using The Battle of Britain game as a vehicle. In order to play this variant, players must make three He-177 air unit cards. The He-177 has an air combat strength of 2 and a bombing strength of 4. Game length is five turns.
This variant is intended mainly for use with the advanced game rules but may also be played with the basic game rule if the anti-aircraft fire rules from the advanced game are used with it. The German player can attack only those targets in the Group 11 area. The remaining map area is out of play. Take out and use only the mission cards for Group 11 targets.
The British player may use only the Blenheim air units and must increase their air combat strength to four. The Blenheims now actually represent several different types of US and British night fighter aircraft.
The German forces consist of: 1 x Me-110, 8 x Ju-88, 6 x Do-17, 3 x He-177. The Me-110 represents a Me-410 unit.
He-177 special rule:
Whenever a He-177 air unit takes off, roll one regular die for each He-177 unit. On a roll of 5-6 the He-177 must abort its mission and return to base immediately with a mechanical failure. These units are considered to be available at the start of the next game turn.
When conducting air combat against German aircraft, all German air unit cards are placed face-down except for the He-177 units. The remaining units are flipped face up when attacked and remain in that condition for the remainder of the turn. If the Me-110 card comes up it may conduct combat against the intercepting fighters. Unless otherwise mentioned, all regular rules from, The Battle of Britain are in effect at all times. Use the victory conditions from the basic game for this variant.
Heinkel He 177 "Greif'
Tyge: 5 seat Heavy Bomber.
Power: Two 2700 HP DB 606 coupled engines.
Speed: 317 mph at 19,000 feet.
Ceiling: 23,000 feet.
Load: Up to six 1,00lb. or four 2,200lb. bombs.
Guns: One 7.9mm MG81 in nose.
One 20mm MG FF in lower nose gondola. One 13mm MG131 in upper turret.
One 13mm MG131 in tail.
Two 7.9mm MG81 in aft lower nose gondola.
The Baby Blitz September 1943-March 1944
Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 21
Back to Air Power List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 1992 by J.D. Webster
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com