Bag The Hun 2 North Africa Game [2]

I spent the afternoon reading through The History of 73 Squadron Part 2 in search of an historical precedent for the multiplayer scenario that I'll be writing up for the club game. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything to match the set up that I was intending to use for the game, although I did pick out at least half a dozen actions that would make great scenarios if I had the requisite Ju87's, Bf110's and Ju88's that ended up as tangled wreckage all over the Tobruk perimeter in 1941.

On the plus side, there's lots of potential for a series of linked games and I may well have a go at writing them up in the future, either for fun or for publication somewhere. Some of the actions described in the book would be hair raising to say the least and would make for some superb scenarios. The five against one dogfight to the death of RCAF Flt Lt James 'Smudger' Smith on 14th April, for example, is one such encounter that makes you sit back and think.

Anyway, I'll be making up a fictitious background for the club game, allowing for some imaginative bending of the parameters to fit what I've got on the flight line. This will mean that the Italians will get six G50's to escort an SM81 on a vital re-supply mission, with top cover provided by six MC202's. The RAF will have two flights of four Hurricanes to intercept the SM81 and fight off the Italian fighter support. I'm not sure if I'll use bogeys but, if I do, they'll be allocated to the Italians who otherwise will face a bit of an uphill struggle against the experienced pilots of No73 Squadron.

Incidentally, I've been thinking of ways to replicate the fuselage flash that No73 Squadron began to use in North Africa in the middle of 1941. I experimemted with some red decal strip before I added the fuselage codes, which should be grey not white (!), but gave up in frustration. I may have another go at this attempt to make the Hurricanes less generic but, if it doesn't work, it's not the end of the world as no one else is likely to notice or even be that bothered. My Hurricanes are MkI's and really should be MkIIb's, so it's all a bit wonky either way...

Aaarggh!!!