Somewhere Over The Italian Front, 1915 Well, Otto Ferdinand Von Flaschmann, what are you doing several hundred feet up in the air in a contraption only marginally more safe than Cousin Johann's homemade mousetrap? The answer, is of course, learning to fly. In a desperate bid to escape from the flies and paprika of the Danubian Gunboat Flotilla or to save your honour ("not much left of that commodity" mutters Uncle Willie) you have joined the KuK Fliegertruppe. You have passed your pilot's course with the distinction of not having smashed your undercarriage, every other part of your plane, but not the undercarriage. You are now posted to FliegerKompagnie 19 Fernaulklarung, better known as Flik 19F (Recce), based at Caprovizza. The CO is Major von Strumpet (no relation, you hope) who runs a tight and formal Flik; spares are signed for in triplicate and ammunition issued weekly; as an officer and gentleman you are discouraged from pilot duties as this is too much like a trade, "leave that sort of thing for the mechanics" is the CO's view. The Flik is flying artillery spotting and photo reconnaissance for the 7th Corps based at Oppaciasella; they are part of the 5th Army of the Lower Isonzo under General Oberst Freiherr Svetovar Boroevic, "Der Bosco" or "the Croatian Numbskull". Alarmingly, the CO has been petitioning for the Flik to be converted to bombing duties. Your planes are either Lloyd CIIs or Hansa Brandenburgs; both are slow and quite strong but held together by Faith, Hope and Charity. Nice girls, but you would still prefer it if wires did not go pinnggg at odd moments. The High Command promises to develop better planes once the current production run finishes in 1919. Enough of the briefing. Swing the prop! Contact! Takeoff! Blast, the magneto is on the blink.... Roll every day for a mission: 1,2 Bad weather, grounded. Roll d6: 1: Get drunk 2: Get Drunk and argue with the CO over ammunition expenditure: a Black Mark 3: Italians strafe the airfield. Roll a 6 to shoot down a plane, which is a Feather in Your Cap 4,5: You are you seconded to the Naval Flying Boat Patrol at Lussin Piccolo 6: The Flik is converted to Bomber duties; if you are bombers, you go back to recce duties. 3 Your plane breaks down and you spend the day ripping up forms to annoy the CO 4,5 Recce Patrol 6 Special Mission The Recce Patrol Stooge about for 2d6 turns and roll a d6 each turn, +1 after 6 turns 1: You see absolutely nothing 2: Your map blows out of the cockpit, the engine splutters and your observer throws up, abort mission. 3,4 You see absolutely nothing 5,6 Report sudden Italian troop movements. Roll a d6; if a double with 5 or 6 just rolled, you have just arranged the shelling of the 14th Croat Alpine Brigade - another Black Mark. 7 Dacka! Dacka! Dacka! An Italian Nieuport swoops in to the attack. The Special Mission 1,2 Photograph Italian trenchlines for a new assault; roll d6 turns of recce patrol, then roll d6: 1,2 Fine, photos taken, you can clear off 3 You can't work the focus, try again 4 You break the camera 5 Heavy cloud, abort 6 Italian Fighter! 3 Observe the fall of shot from SMS Erzehog Karl on a coastal battery 1 The old rustbucket misses by miles 2,3 Loads of dust and smoke, go in closer to see the effect, 456 of ground fire 4 Italian groundfire opens up at you 5 Hit, the Navee want to carry on, +1 to next roll 6 Direct hit. It will need 3 hits or 1 direct hit to silence the battery 4 The Italian long range gun, "Waldschani" ("Johnny in the wood") to his Austrian targets, at Gradischa is to be bombed, you are to find it and direct in the bombers. 1,2 Johnny has gone, you drop markers on suspicious clearings anyway 3,4 There is a lot of wood, try again. Italian groundfire opens up. 5 An Italian fighter appears 6 You spot the gun and the bombers move in with satisfying explosions. 5 Fly to Voscia, "Der Bosco's" HQ with dispatches and captured Italian wine: 1 You fiddle a weeks leave in Vienna 2,3 You get slung out of HQ without as much as a thank you 4 An aide gives you orders, Flik 19F is now converted to Bomber duties, or back to Recce if Bomber. 5,6 You crash-land on "Der Bosco's" shiny new staff car and get posted to a penal assault unit on the Isonzo. 6 You have to observe a counter battery duel at Mt Neo between an Italian heavy battery and a 42cm railgun 1 Whoops, the Italians get a good shot in, the Armee needs a new railgun. You get grounded and posted to that penal unit you have heard so much about. 2,3 Loads of gunfire, no result 4,5 Near misses, close in to spot closer, +1 next roll, but take ground fire 6 Direct hit on the battery; mission accomplished. Bombing Missions 1,2 The target is the Sagrado-Ronchi railway line; fly there in d6 turns, do the bomb run and fly d6 turns back 3,4 Your target is the Palmanova ammunition dump; fly there in d6+6 turns, do the bomb run and fly back in d6+6 turns 4 Bomb and strafe the enemy trenches, d6 turns flight away 5 The objective is the Naval Dockyard at Venice. Flight is d6+12 each way. 6 Special Mission. Roll on the recce table, but bomb the target (not the Army HQ). All special targets are d6+6 turns flight away Getting to the Target and (hopefully) Back Again Roll d6 per turn of flight 1,2 Nothing happens 3 Ground fire, 1 dice only 4 Nothing happens 5,6 Italian fighter -1 flying low The Bomb Run 1,2 Wrong place, abort mission or try again after another d6 turns flying 3 Found the target, no ground fire 3,4,5 Found target, take ground fire 6 Ground fire and a fighter Firstly, resolve combat with fighters, then take any ground fire. If you are still flying, roll 2d6; if a double you have scored a hit. If you go low and slow you can adjust one of the dice up or down by 1pip to improve your aim, but you take an extra dice of ground fire Return to Base As getting there, but -1 to the roll Seaplane Missions If you are seconded to the Naval flying Boat Patrol, you are flying Loehners; solid, strong planes which take a bit more shooting down. They carry a few bombs and MGs so you can have a go at small vessels and surfaced submarines. 1,2 Bad weather. Roll again, on a 12 you are returned to Flik 19F. 3,4 Provide aircover for the Fiume-Durazzo Supply Convoy 1,2,3 A nice quiet flight down the Adriatic 4 A ship is hit by a mine, call up rescue vessels 5 You spot a surfaced Italian submarine - attack it. 6 You are attacked by an Italian fighter 5 Observe the fall of shot as SMS Prag, a rusty old monitor, bombards Italian Marines dug in on a lump of rock in the Adriatic. Use the SMS Erzehog Karl mission above. 6 Anti Submarine Patrol over the Dalamatian Islands 1,2,3 Nothing to see 4 Shot at by an MAS Patrol Boat, 2 dice of ground fire 5 Italian vessels 1,2,3 Destroyers and cruisers, report it to KUK Navee at Pola, 4,5 Armed Merchantman, bomb it and strafe, 6 Submarine, see below 6 Italian submarine; 1,2 it dives, 3,4,5 you have 1 turn to engage it, 6 you have 2 turns Ground fire, sea to air combat Ground fire hits on a 6 and scores 1-3 points of damage (see below) - Submarines, merchants and railway lines roll 1 dice - Batteries, trenches, MAS Boats roll 2 dice - Ammunition dumps and big ships roll 3 dice - Venice has 4 dice To bomb a submarine, roll d6, 1,2,3,4 misses it, 5 damages it, 6 sinks it. A damaged sub cannot dive. A sub will fire each turn you attack, it until it dives. You have three bombs. To bomb Merchants or MAS, roll d6 as above, except merchants take 2 damage before sinking. Strafing cannot sink Merchants but a 6 will take out the AA Mg; to strafe MAS boats, roll a d6, a 5,6 takes out I mg, a second d6 is then rolled and any double scores 1 damage, 3 of which cause fires or cripples the boat, forcing the crew to abandon, one bomb hit sinks a MAS. Being an Officer and Gentleman, you do not strafe survivors. What to do if attacked by fighters Each plane has a factor called FLIK; this represents damage to plane etc. Both planes roll 2d6 and add their FLIK. The lower loses d6 of FLIK; if the winner has more than double the losers score, 2d6 is lost. If the loser rolls a double, the winner takes a d6 loss as well. If roll a double, roll another d6 and add it to your score. To evade, decide that is your tactic and roll; if you get higher than the enemy, you pull it off. If a Bomber, you are not obliged to fight. Austrian planes have a FLIK of 7, the superior Italian planes have a FLIK of 9; a Loehner deducts 2 from FLIK losses as it is a bit stronger. If a FLIK is reduced to 0, a plane is shot down. If your FLIK is reduced to 0, roll: 1,2,3 you glide home to base and wreck your undercarriage 4,5 you land in a providentially placed hayrack 6, you crashland on the HQ of a Hungarian SturmKompagnie and are press-ganged into a trench raid. The Debriefing and getting away from it all Successful missions, enemy planes shot down or ship sunk are "Feathers in you cap" and crashed planes, "Black Marks". Keep a total. If your total reaches -5 someone associates your name with a previous scandal and you find yourself transferred to an assault unit on the Isonzo front. Get +5 and it is home for Vienna and a Hero's Welcome. PS If you make it to Vienna you find that a pilot's wings are nowhere near as fashionable as the battered white cap of a U Boat Kapitan. Truly, "War is Hell!" -ed note: Look for the continuing saga of Von Flaschmann in The Gauntlet #12! Related Von Flaschmann: Part I Von Flaschmann: Part II Von Flaschmann: Part III Von Flaschmann: Part IV Von Flaschmann: Part V Very Simple Gunboat Rules Back to The Gauntlet No. 11 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Craig Martelle Publications This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com