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    CA-WW1 - Sagittarius Rising
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Bringing another Great War classic to life in Wings Over Flanders Fields!   The man and the book  '...air fighting required a set steely courage, drained of all emotion, fined down to a tense and deadly effort of will. The Angel of Death is less callous, aloof and implacable than a fighting pilot when he dives.'  So wrote Cecil Lewis in his classic aviation memoir, 'Sagittarius Rising'. First published in 1936, this book - by the man who later became a founder of the British Broadcasting Corporation - is one of those 'must read' pilot autobiographies that's often quoted in other histories for its many dramatic accounts.   Lewis enlisted directly into the RFC in late 1915 and trained intitially on the inevitable Marucie Farman 'longhorn', moving on to the Avro 504. Posted to 22 Squadron flying the relatively-new FE2b 'pusher', on arrival in France he finds plans have changed. While he's able fo get in some extra flying time, mostly on the BE2c, he's posted ultimately to No.3 Squadron after a short introduction to its mount, the Morane Type L Parasol.   This aircraft he describes as '...one of the recognised death-traps which pilots in training prayed they might never have to fly...Pilots trained on ordinary Avros and 2c's, when turned loose on Moranes killed themselves with alarming regularity.' The main problem was apparently the lack of a fixed tailplane, resulting in an incredibly sensitive elevator: '...the least movement stood you on your head or on your tail.' Nevertheless, Lewis says that he '...did come to love the Morane as I loved no other aeroplane...Good old Parasol!'   Lewis flies the type throughout the dreadful Somme battle, on whose first dread day the British Army suffered approaching 60,000 casualties, including nearly 20,000 killed, devastating in particular many communities whose young men had signed up to fill the ranks of the 'Kitchener's Army' battalions which bore the brunt of the fighting. In the air, Lewis flies the new infantry contact patrols as well as photo recce missions and artillery spotting, and has some inconclusive air combats. By this time, Lewis has seen trials of a captured Fokker monoplane which have shown it to have little or no advanatge over most RFC types, beyond its synchronised machine gun.   Posted to 'Home Establishment' after winning the Military Cross, Lewis has a spell as a test pilot. Spring 1917 finds him joining 56 Squadron, formed to introduce the potent new SE5 fighter to combat. Back in France, he sees much action, including the fight during which the great ace Albert Ball is lost. Wounded after narrowly escaping being shot down by '...one of the latest Pfalz scouts: the SE was no match for that machine', he's posted back to England on Home Defence duties. His last operational posting is to a new night fighter unit, designed to operate in France to intercept enemy tactical night bombers in modified Sopwith Camels, but sees no action before the Armistice brings the war to an end.   Lewis's book is sprinkled with insights and anecdotes aplenty. These include an air combat demonstration with the great French ace Guynemer, not long before the latter was killed: 'In his hands the Spad was a marvel of flexibility...nothing I could do would shift that grim-looking French scout off my tail.' 'Sagittarius Rising' is currently in print and deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in WW1 in the air.   The air war in mid-1916 By this time, the 'Fokker Scourge' had already been eclipsed by more modern French and British aircraft dedicated to the air-to-air role, like the Nieuport 11, De Havilland DH2 and RAF FE2b. By the time of the Battle of the Somme, the aerial boot was firmly on the other foot and the British and French air forces were enjoying a period of increasing ascendancy, which would last only until the autumn, when the arrival of the Jastas and the Albatros D-types marked the start of another German resurgence.   The mission As expected, Wings Over Flanders Fields allows me to fly with Cecil Lewis in No.3 Squadron in the fateful Battle of the Somme. I opted to start on 1 July, the opening day, and here's the squadron 'Duty Room' which shows our roster, aircraft strength and disposition.     And here's 'B' Flight, which I'll be leading. As well as the author of 'Sagittarius Rising', another notable pilot is no less than 'HK' himself - Hubert Harvey-Kelly, the first RFC pilot to arrive in France in 1914, who as CO of 19 Squadron was shot down and killed by Kurt Wolf in a disastrous fight with Jasta 11 during 'Bloody April', 1917.     And here's the briefing screen for our mission. It's another bombing raid, this time to a railyard just behind the German front lines. 'A' flight is not involved in this mission (there's no 'C' flight on WOFF missions, I believe) but perhaps to make up for it, there are no less than six Moranes along for this particular ride.      And here we are lined up on the grass in front of the sheds at la Houssuoye, each carrying four small bombs down between the wheels. The weather is fine with only scattered clouds, mostly clear blue skies.     I was soon up and away, leaving our airfield behind. It seemed quite well-equiped and sensibly-located, on a nice clear area of open ground, the only hazard some stands of trees on the airfield boundaries that would have been better cut down. But I managed to miss these and off I went, slowly getting the hang of my unfamiliar mount, whose elevator was quite sensitive but whose rudder needed quite a bit of deflection to effect any kind of a decent turn.     Settled onto my course, I levelled off and throttled back, to let my flight catch up. They did so slowly, about as fast as you could expect on their 80 hp Le Rhone engines. Finally the formation was complete and I opened her up again.     Climbing as hard as we could, we came up to the Lines. Zero Hour for the offensive was past but there was still a certain amount of shelling going on, well underneath our clear doped linen wings.     I levelled off at four thousand and in the clear conditions, was able to pick out our target visually, just the far side of the shelled area. As the range wound down, I called up the tactical display, selected a series of targets in the railway complex and issued 'Attack' orders. Leaving my flight to get on with it in their own way I then made my own bombing run. Everyone's bombs seemed to hit at about the same time so I wasn't sure which were mine, But overall, we seemed to have had much the desired effect. A good start!     Sure enough, a certain amount of damage had been done. Not bad at all, considering that out bombs were so small.     I banked around for home, porpoising a bit while trying to balance the turn in the awkward big parasol. Rolling out with plenty of coarse rudder, I levelled her off and headed for home, gratifled to see that the flight seemed to be losing little time in getting back into formation.     It was only at this point that Archie showed up. There was a muffled 'crump!' and then another, as the black bursts of German AA fire started unrolling in our wake. A bit late there, you Huns! Well, you can do your worst, now. We have knocked about your little railway station and we're already well on our way home!     My confidence was a little premature, as it turned out. The Huns hadn't finished with us yet!     ...to be continued!

    CA-WW1 - Wind in the Wires
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Re-living a classic WW1 memoir in Wings Over Flanders Fields!   The man and the book   The SE5a, low down over enemy territory, pulled up to release its last two bombs onto a German gun battery. The bombs' release was accompanied by a blast directly below and behind the aircraft, possibly a premature detonation, which ripped off the tailplane on one side, leaving it trailing behind, held by an elevator control wire. The SE dived vertically, pulling out too late to prevent the undercarriage from being ripped off as she bounced drunkenly back into the sky. Now desperately headed west for friendly territory, the pilot saw German soldiers just below training a machine gun onto him, then simply stare open-mouthed, rather than shooting. Regaining the British side of the Lines, he force-landed heavily. 'Coming to' and finding himself alive, he was briskly saluted by an artillery subaltern whose men helped him from the wreckage. On being chided for his officiousness, the Gunner officer replied 'I thought you must be at least a wing commander. You had such a very big streamer on your machine.' 'Streamer be blowed', the pilot replied. 'That was my tail-plane.'   'Wind in the Wires' was first published in 1933 and is an entertaining and vivid account of the author's wartime service, including the dramatic events I've summarised above. His record was an unusual one, because it comprised two periods 'on ops' separated by two years in a German prisoner of war camp!   The book starts with an account of the author's flying training, after his secondment to the Royal Flying Corps from an infantry regiment. He trains on Caudrons and Maurice Farman 'longhorns', a 'pusher' type so named as its elevator was mounted on long booms out in front of the crew nacelle. Early on, there's a chilling account of a crash in which an experienced pilot makes an ill-advised turn to regain the airfield after an engine failure on take-off, resulting in an horrific crash right in front of the helpless students, instructors and ground-crew.   Gaining his wings despite this early shock, the author is posted to France in the autumn of 1915, where he finds himself with 16 Squadron based at Merville near Armentieres, home of the mademoiselle who, as the song had it, 'hasn't been kissed in forty years'. Two of the squadron's three flights were operating the BE2c two-seater general purpose biplane, said to be of the latest type, with the new (skid-less) undercarriage and 90 hp RAF engine. The author was posted to the third flight, operating Maurice Farman 'shorthorns', a slightly-updated cousin of the 'longhorn' on which he trained.  He offers amusing descriptions of the varied personalities in the unit, referring to them by the nicknames he gave them. His unfriendly and unhelpful flight commander is 'Growl'. Another flight commander - dubbed 'Foxy' - has a rather warped sense of humour: he titters at own his descriptions of unfortunate pilots burned in crashes being 'completmong carboneezey' ('completely carbonised' in his pidgin French). The highly-withdrawn Major commanding the squadron is 'the Starched Shirt', which a helpful list at the front of my revised 1971 edition confirms is no less than Hugh 'Stuffy' Dowding, who later commanded RAF Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain. Doubtless these nicknames saved his publishers more than one libel suit! Grinnell-Milne received absolutely none of the careful mentoring and instruction that more enlightened or professional leaders like Mick Mannock bestowed upon their own new pilots. A trip up to the lines with an experienced observer to get the lie of the land and a taste of 'Archie', then it was down to 'on-the-job-training'.   Until his flight's elderly pushers were replaced by BE2cs, the author soldiered on, flying mostly defensive patrols over the lines in a 'shorthorn' armed with a Lewis Gun for the observer. These patrols, left to the less experienced pilots, were designed mostly to deter any incursions by German aircraft, even though the author acknowledges that they were seldom going to be able to bring to battle the faster German two-seaters. His patrols were uneventful and they spent their time watching for German planes which never came and on their secondary function of observing and reporting enemy ground activity in or near the Lines. At the end of each uneventful flight, they dived and peppered the German trenches with gunfire. The highlight of this period was an ineffective but spirited attack on a German observation balloon.   Converting to BE2cs later in 1915, the author finds the type to be stable but highly manoeuvrable, fully capable of making vertically-banked turns and looping. Flying the BE, he ventures on recce and artillery observation missions but soon finds his yearning is for combat with enemy aeroplanes. In November, he shoots down what he describes as a 'big white Albatros' which will have been a two-seater machine-gun-armed C-type. Other highlights are his fight with the infamous 'Two Tails', an Ago C III pusher credited with almost mystical prowess and his participation in an attack on a railway junction, said to be the biggest bombing raid mounted by the RFC up to that time. In May 1916, when flying the dreaded 'Long Reconnaisance', his BE's engine fails on the return journey, possibly from flak damage, and he has to force land just a few miles short of friendly territory. Taken prisoner with his observer, Grinnell-Milne is much impressed by his sympathetic reception by German aviators from a nearby airfield.   Two years later, the author escapes from his captivity and joins the famous 56 Squadron, flying SE5a fighters, scoring several victories in the closing months of the war.   From one episode to the next, all of these experiences are described with humanity and a dry sense of humour, laced with many details which the enthusiast of this period will treasure. 'Wind in the Wires' appears to be back in print again, courtesy of publishers Grub Street, and is highly recommended:   http://www.grubstreet.co.uk/products/view/572/wind-in-the-wires/     The air war in autumn 1915 In this mission report, we'll be looking at the early period of the author's combat career. At this time, the concept of specialised fighter squadrons was still a little way off. Two-seater units might be allocated one or two faster machines more suited to air-to-air fighting - or less suited, in the case of the wildly-unsuitable BE 9 'pulpit' the author mentions that 16 Squadron trialled at one point. But in general, the two-seaters were expected to undertake all roles, including air fighting. Grinnell-Milne's account makes it clear that although under-powered and awkwardly-armed, the BE was not entirely incapable of effective air combat. However, the arrival from summer 1915 of Fokker monoplanes equipped with a machine gun which could safely fire ahead through the propeller arc signaled the start of a new, deadlier era in air warfare. On the ground, little had changed. Static trench warfare remained the order of the day, with the Battle of Loos, fought just to the south of 16 Squadron's sector of the front, failing to achieve the hoped-for breakthrough.     The Mission As with the other mission reports planned for this series, the aim is to fly a campaign mission in Wings Over Flanders Fields which recreates as far as practicable the sort of experiences described in the book. 'Wind in the Wires' being one of comparatively few which cover the role of the 'working aeroplanes' rather than the 'fighting aeroplanes', I opted to fly a mission from the first part of the author's combat career, in the later part of 1915, when the squadron had ditched its 'shorthorns' and was equipped with the BE2c. Sure enough, No. 16 Squadron is in WOFF's order of battle in this period and I chose to start in October 1915 - WOFF gives you more freedom over start date than did OFF. Here's the 'Duty Room' for the Squadron. It describes our establishment in typically fulsome WOFF detail, including the names of both pilots and observers. We have the nimble Bristol Scout for the top-ranking pilots and for the rest, the BE2c. I'm Lieutenant Richard Growl, having decided to adopt the nickname given by Grinnell-Milne to his surly flight commander!     Homing in on my own flight, I can find out something about my fellow-pilots. Obviously we are not the hottest outfit in the Flying Corps but we have a job to do and we will get on with it.     Looking at the intelligence report, I can find out more about what's going on at the front in this period (this one's actually dated a month later, from a career started previously, but you get the picture as to what's available here):     And so, to battle! Here's the briefing screen for the campaign's first mission. As usual, I have selected 'Always lead' in the WOFF 'Workshops', so I'm in charge of 'B' Flight on this sortie, which is to be a bombing raid on German front-line positions. The squadron's 'A' flight is said to be flying 'top cover', just as some of the BEs in the bombing raid described in 'Wind in the Wires' were assigned to escort the bomb-carrying machines.     In this pic, you have a better view of the map, showing our dog-leg route out to the target and a straight leg back to our base at Merville. We are each carrying four 25-pound 'Cooper' bombs. It was common practice for BEs to leave behind the observer on bombing runs, at least if carrying the heavier 112-pound bombs, but I'm glad to say that won't be the case on this mission!     And here we are on the grass at Merville, bombed up and good to go. Our BEs are in the clear doped linen scheme common at that time. The weather's quite good, although there's quite a bit of low-lying cloud around.     Checking the controls, I started her up and took off, followed by the others. Turning right beyond the airfield boundary, I crossed what will have been the River Lys, said to have been canalised at this point. I didn't see the barge which Grinnell-Milne says was used for the officers' accommodation but the general lie of the land looks pretty authentic, with detail sufficient for basic visual navigation.     At about five hundred feet, I throttled back and held her level to allow the flight to catch up. As they closed in on me, I opened her up again and began a long, slow climb for height, out along our plotted track to the north-east.     The objective was not too far off, so instead of going to autopilot and running time compression, I opted to fly in real time and enjoy the view of WOFF's very pleasing new terrain.     As we climbed, the superior WOFF formation-keeping was also much in evidence. What lay ahead I could not know. But we made a bold sight as we climbed away together, the aircraft rising and falling gently as we steadily gained height.     Drawing close to the Lines, we passed to our left a large town, which a glance at the map showed must be Ypres - or 'Wipers' as the Tommies knew it.     Some low-lying cloud towards the trenchlines indicated that target acquisition might be difficult, but I pressed on. I had decided to attack at whatever height I had managed to gain by the time I reached the area of our objective. This turned out to be just over four thousand feet; not very high but enough to be out of harm's way from rifle and machine-gun fire from the ground.     At this point I turned on the Tactical Display or 'TAC', set to display ground targets. This shows up the front lines and in red and blue, the general locations of ground units on both sides. Given the limitations of 'MonitorVision' and the general mess of the 'shelled area' that now rolled out beneath us, I had few qualms about using this visual aid, which I expected I would soon have to use anyway, to get my flight to execute its attack.     The difficulty now seemed to be, which target to attack? After dithering for a while, I tabbed to select an isolated red enemy blob, out behind the others in the big rectangular boxes along the front lines. The latter I took to be entrenched enemy troops. The isolated blobs to their rear seemed likely to be easier targets, out in the open perhaps. I gave the order to attack, then as my flight swung away, turned so as to make my own separate bombing run, throttling back and losing altitude as I did so.     I failed to notice a convoy of motor transport on a nearby road running through the mud, which was actually the target I had selected; this would have been plain had I the sense to padlock it. Instead, I chose a small but prominent, dark, circular fieldwork, at the end of a trench running off the main positions. This looked important - possibly a command post or a supply dump. Whatever it was, it was about to be bombed.     Letting go my load of four little Cooper bombs in two closely-spaced salvoes, disdaining a bombsight view and working from the external view looking down, I watched anxiously for the results. My expectations were, I admit, fairly low. I was much gratified to see my bombs bursting pretty well on target. That'll wake up those Huns, I thought to myself!     As I banked around, my feelings were rather more mixed, as I saw the bombs from the rest of my flight explode right in the middle of the MT on the road. And noticed also that there was a second convoy just a little further down the road, which I could have attacked instead of my better-protected dugout.     By now down to about three thousand feet, I turned for home, slowing down to allow my flight to close up, all the while unmolested by enemy AA fire. I must admit that in my anxiety to locate and clobber something worthwhile, I had neglected to keep a good lookout in the air around us. But there was no sign of any Hun aircraft. Perhaps 'A' Flight, somewhere up above and out of sight, had kept the Fokkers at bay, today.     Thereafter, it was an uneventful flight back to Merville, this time with the assistance of autopilot and time compression, until the last few miles. Our airfield's proximity to the River Lys made finding it easy and we soon slipped gracefully down towards our base.     Making my own landing ahead of the others, I swept across the path of a local freight train, put her down and ran up to the sheds, where I switched off and relaxed again. Job done!     Here's the main and secondary debriefing screens, showing the level of detail you can get on how your mission went. Overall, not a bad day's work for 'B' Flight, although my own bombs would evidently have been better reserved for the enemy motor transport.     This was a fairly quiet mission but then, that's typical of the real missions recounted by Grinnel-Milne, flown when the air-to-air war was just taking a more deadly turn.   Many simmers will have had their interests inspired by the books they've read and I'm no exception. 'Wind in the Wires' is a great account of one man's WW1 air war and Wings Over Flanders Fields is a great way of bringing it to life. Both are highly recommended!   Mark 'Polovski' Rogers of ODB Software answers some likely 'readers questions'... - can you tell us anything about the work that went into WOFF, that's relevant to this particular mission?   Not just the BE2c but across the board, all squadrons were revised to more accurately reflect the real squadrons duties at the time. It should apply to most squadrons and craft types.   A vast amount of the development time on WOFF was due to the work and testing of the AI that went on. Included in the large feature list for WW1, we also wanted the AI pilots to have human like traits and qualities.  One of those was a realistic formation keeping capability, including the problems of keeping up in turns, meeting up with Escorts, going to mission, and return, and rejoining sometimes after a mission.  Obviously there are many things that humans do without even thinking but actually defining that in terms of an artificial intelligence is a massive undertaking.  We also wanted to include faults and mistakes this adds to the human-like  behaviours.  Obviously we can always improve areas but we believe it's one of the best AI's out there in many areas.   - any pointers as to what the Fokker Scourge or skins packs include, which would enhance the experience?   The Fokker Scourge Expansion of course adds two more Eindecker types, and more squadrons using them to the appropriate theatres.  Although the BE2c 'early' version is included in WOFF, it's only flyable in the Fokker Scourge add-on.   The introduction of the flyable BE2c 'early,' was to allow the player to experience the earlier period fear of pilots and observers at that time of the Scourge trying to defend with just a rifle and to feel the threat more.   - any plans for the future that may impact here?.   We are of course hoping to add more craft across all periods so if we get good support we will of course be adding more early craft too. We hope to improve the BE2c model slightly too at some point (no promises but if time etc allows).   The competition Fuller details of the competition, including the prize, will be announced soon. Current plans are that it will be a word search from this series of reports, which when combined will produce a famous air fighting maxim...watch this space!   Coming next in CombatAce-WW1 - 'Sagittarius Rising' by Cecil Lewis  

    Wings Over Flanders Fields - the CombatAce Review, part 3
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Wings Over Flanders Fields - the CombatAce Review, part 3     The WOFF Campaign System   Up to now, I have tried to keep this review factual and observational with the minimum of gushing hyperbole. But this is the point at which it gets rather difficult to give a fair or adequate picture without resorting to superlatives. So I'll settle for saying at the outset 'I'm simply blown away by the WOFF campaign!', then try to settle back down to business.   This first bit will be familiar to players of OFF but for everyone else, the main feature of the WOFF campaign is that it is underpinned by a pretty comprehensive, living reproduction of the aerial orders of battle (orbats) of the British, French, German and US air services. This includes 'scouts' (fighters) and a variety of two-seaters (a few fighters, but mostly general purpose recce types). Each squadron is based where it was at any point in time, during the real war. Its roster includes many of the pilots who are known to have flown with the unit, including squadron aces - you can see their names in the 'duty room' and look at their own dossiers, often with a real photo of the actual pilot. The unit's planes have an historically-accurate skin for different periods in its operational service. Its aces may well have their own, distinctive skins. You can pick your squadron and fly with it through the war, moving bases and changing aircraft as it does. This includes the ability to start for the Germans flying a two-seater then move to 'scouts' when the unit changes role, with the formation of the German Jastas (Jagdstaffeln, fighter squadrons) from autumn 1916. Squadrons may fly more than one aircraft type or variant, with the higher-ranking pilots having the more up-to-date mounts - 'rank hath its privileges', in WOFF as in real life.   There are some gaps in the orbats where a plane is not (yet) available in the sim. For example, let's say you've read the classic 'No Parachute' or 'Open Cockpit' and you want to fly with author Arthur Gould Lee's 46 Squadron, RFC. You can: you just have to start where the author did, in late Spring 1917 flying Sopwith Pups, because the squadron's previous mount, the Nieuport 12 two-seater, isn't in the WOFF planeset. When you arrive at la Gorgue airfield and visit the 'Duty Room', you can see the author himself in the squadron roster and look up his dossier/logbook where's there's an actual photograph of the man himself. How neat is that?     By combining a good planeset with thorough orders of battle and realistic rosters and skins for each unit, WOFF does an exceptional job of putting the player into a first-class and incredibly-detailed recreation of the air war over the Western front. OFF did this too, but WOFF does it better. And when you get into the air, WOFF's much better AI and other new or improved features bring the experience to life in a much superior fashion.   There's so much depth and so many features to the experience you get from WOFF campaign missions, it really needs an article in itself. I plan to illustrate this topic with some mission reports, soon. In the meantime, here's some fairly random but illustrative info and observations on how it all comes together.   First, let's take a quick look at the training option I mentioned in Part 2. If you opt for 'Automatic Deployment' after choosing the nationality of a new pilot you are creating, you can also opt to have him undertake some basic flight training in a two-seater, before he is posted to an operational unit 'at the sharp end'. This is an appealing addition to WOFF. As training, you're much better off trying out your squadron's assigned machine in Quick Combat. But many WW1 pilot autobiographies begin with accounts of their flying training, which could be pretty basic by modern standards. WOFF, amongst other things, is evidently a product for enthusiasts designed by enthusiasts and it's a nice touch that as a mood-setter, they have taken the trouble to construct for us a short, optional smattering of simulated WW1 flying training before we head off to the Front.   There seems to be a training option for each nation. It's a pretty basic syllabus, but then by all accounts it was, at least until the last year or so of the war. Here's the Royal Flying Corps version, operating out of Sutton's Farm, then on the eastern outskirts of London, later RAF Hornchurch, flying a 'Quirk,' as the BE2c was called.     The first flight is a pleasant short-range extended circuit around the aerodrome, with your virtual pilot under instruction sitting in the front seat, with no dual controls, purely to see how it's done. I turned on text message display just for this but saw none. It was a pleasant enough trip, in good weather, over England's green and pleasant land.     For the German training, you're flying an Aviatik from Maubeuge in Belgium. With the French, I'd guess that you'll be in a Morane parasol; for the USA, maybe a parasol or a Strutter. When you kick off the course, you are told which unit you will be assigned to when your training is complete, so that you can have some choice in the plane you will fly on operations. Neat!   Right, you've done the training, if desired. And, hopefully, you've had the sense to put in some time flying your chosen aircraft against typical opposition, in Quick Combat. Eager for action and with your chosen pilot active, you start a campaign. Here's a typical mission briefing. First time I saw this, I thought, 'Oh no! We're still getting some inappropriate missions, like recces for fighters!' But no, despite the headline, we're actually escorting a pair of RE8s on a recce mission. And the mission text is better written than OFF's, with more proper placenames, for example. Spot on.     At this point, you can do various things. You can't alter the type of mission you get, only its target (if you're bombing) or end point/objective area (if not). But you can look up some 'Intell' (to use an out-of-place modern term!) and while you are there, apply for a transfer. Here's the 'Intell' screen with tabs opened for both local enemies and transfer opportunities, for a Jasta 10 mission in Autumn 1917. Presentation and functionality is much improved, over OFF.     As to the missions themselves, the campaign is where you really notice how all the improvements and new stuff come together. Take navigation, for instance. Now, what you can see on the map and and in the 3d game world actually tie in nicely, (which they didn't really, in OFF). And there are two inflight maps available. There's a basic one that includes an icon with your own position and your track plotted. And for the more hard core who scorn such things and want to find their way around more realistically, there's a better in-cockpit map, without the visual aids.     Here I am in an Aviatik in the winter of 1915, off on a bombing mission to a railway terminus near the large town of Amiens. Comparing what I can see to my maps, I can tell that the town just ahead and slightly right is Albert, with Amiens still out of sight, just beyond the river, further ahead. This helps a lot, with immersion.     If you're curious how that one ended up, I chickened out short of Amiens and instead bombed a target of opportunity, namely a convoy of lorries I spotted heading east on a road near the target. After all, don't they say that a convoy in the hand is better than a railyard in the bush? If you're wondering where the bombs are, early planes didn't have racks; the observer kept the bombs in his cockpit and heaved them overboard!     One irritation on longer campaign flights is that you can no longer 'warp' to save time. Apparently, this is because 'warp' messes up the synchronisation between other flights, which are going about real missions of their own, all along the front, and are not just 'spawned' in your vicinity. Instead you can fly in real time or enable an autopilot and use time compression. If I recall right, there's a workaround to enable 'warp' if you want to chance it.   I haven't flown many two-seater campaign missions but while some planes have a suitably-rudimentary bombsight view, I believe that there is no special provision for reconnaisance missions (unless you want to grab a screenshot or write on Wordpad what you see) or for artillery-spotting missions.   It's on campaign that you will also come to understand the various tools available to help you locate or identify other aircraft or understand what's going on. Opinions and results may vary from player to player, plane to plane and set-up to set-up; but to me, distant aircraft visibility is still somewhat on the short side. Some report up to about 2.5 miles, 1.5 is more common in my experience. You can live with this reasonably well, especially if flying German fighters as you're mostly on your side of the Lines and flak bursts will often point out your targets. Or you can use the Tactical Display (TAC), selecting a range limit which you're comfortable with. Or you can use the labels. As with the TAC, labels have been much improved, over OFF. Settings can be varied. There is now a 'dot' mode to make planes more visible further away - this appears quite effective although (i) it's now grey while I think it'd have been better left black or very dark grey and (ii) it looks to me that the default settings need a bit of experimentation to get an optimum balance between realism and effectiveness. As for the actual text labels, these can now contain a surprising variety of information, not just the type of aircaft, distance and (if close enough) the pilot's name - but also what it's doing eg fighting, returning to base, or landing.     And the new TAC sub-text can also give the ID of any target you have selected - in this case, confirming that my opponent in the silver Nieuport I'm fighting in my Pfalz is no less than RFC ace, James D Payne of 29 Squadron (in the text below the TAC, 'HA' indicates an Historical Ace). Now, that was a scary discovery! But I actually managed to knock him down.     Campaigns are also a great way to experience WOFF's new AI. Payne was the last of three Nieuports I claimed on that mission, having met them one at a time. Being an ace, he was a much tougher nut to crack. In fact he very nearly got me instead. At one point I saw him stall and spin out, then recover and resume the fight, another indicator of the quality of the new AI. His Nieuport seemed rather more nimble but I managed to hold my height better and in the end, my two MGs settled the matter in my favour.   Here's the claim form I filled in after the battle. In 'Workshops' I've opted to have my kill confirmations depend on acceptance of these combat reports so I've typed in details like time, location and altitude into the 'Narrative' field. Here's hoping!     Another thing I've noticed on campaign is that my suspicion was confirmed, that enemy balloons are vulnerable to friendly flak aimed at you. The burning Hun gasbag behind me was clobbered by his own Archie as I was beating a low-level retreat in my Pup, pursued by two Huns in V-strutters, after my blood having knocked down one of their comrades. Worth mentioning that the Albatrosses gave up chasing me when I reached the Lines, with none of the usual target fixation. And speaking of the Lines, the word is that you no longer routinely meet Hun fighters operating freely on the British/French/US side, which would be good. Another plus, I believe, is that there are no longer some disconnects between what happens in the game world and what's reported in WOFF's interface. There's no longer the RB3d-like ability to replay missions on the map, but a modder is working on something which may provide a comparable facility.     The much better formation-keeping is also much in evidence, on campaign. Realistically, your flight seems very liable to become split up in or after an air combat but otherwise, the fact they now keep up so well during course changes means that at last, you can bring your flight into action as a unit, and better play the role of a patrol-leader. Scouts and two-seaters do equally well, here. I've seen no more slipping wide on modest course changes, nor falling below on a climb. The new AI is really first-class!     Activity levels at or behind the front is another big plus. Though I haven't seen any artillery batteries (which I think were in CFS3) the barrages they produce look better than ever, more concentrated and with better graphical effects.     As you have probably worked out by now, I could witter on all day about the WOFF campaign experience and how good it is, but I must stop somewhere and this is it!   At-a-Glance - the Pros & Cons
    Now, we're getting into more subjective territory and as they said in Rome, there's no point disputing matters of taste. But here goes! It's worth saying at the outset that merely counting up the 'pros' and 'cons' listed below is misleading: most of the 'pros' are significant; many of the 'cons' just aren't, by comparison. Not featured in either of the lists below is damage modelling, as I reckon that isn't a particular strength nor a particular weakness. Likewise, I have left out two other points. Firstly, there's distant aircraft visibility. Though I think it should be a bit further, I expect the new dot mode, when I get it set up to my taste, will fit the bill. Secondly, there's the flight models, which in general do seem somewhat less tractable than what I'm used to and prefer. But I'm not an expert and rather than knock these, I'll put that impression down to lack of familiarity, possible greater realism and wrist strain/my lack of rudder pedals.
     
    Pros
    Excellent, historical single-player campaign Excellent sounds
    Large planeset, all flyable
    Great-looking cockpits
    Great-looking planes, especially with Ankor's mod
    Great looking terrain & scenery, covering whole Western Front
    Great AI Great 'living' air war
    Good range of historical 'skins'
    Ability to 'gun' from multi-seat planes
    Historical aces are present
    Faithful reproduction of orders of battle over most of the war Very good interface with lots of options Very good support from the developers Good level of ground activity at and behind the front lines Expansion packs already available and more planned  
    Cons
    No multi-player (possibly a 'Pro', if you're not into MP!)
    Limited aircrew animation
    No reloading time for drum-fed MGs No 'warp'
    Barrages, but no artillery batteries in action (I think)
    Limited simulation of recce or artillery observation missions
    Attacked balloons not winched down (& vulnerable to 'friendly' flak)
    A few significant planeset gaps Comparatively few villages
    Minor inaccuracies in a few aircraft models
    'Wide angle lens' external view
    Some significant limits to modability eg difficult to add new planes/integrate with campaign
      The Verdict This year marks the centenary of the outbreak of 'The Great War for Civilization', to quote the title used on my great-great uncle's Victory Medal. So it's a fitting time for the release of a new simulator which gives us some sense of what it must have been like to fight the Great War in the air. However, with WOFF's predecessor Over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight and First Eagles (not to mention the IL-2 mod DBW-1916, the earlier FS-WW1 based on Screamin' Demons Over Europe or even the Warbirds derivatives like Flyboys Squadron) - we are already well-served with WW1 flightsims. So what's the case for splashing out on WOFF? Is it worth it, especially if you already 'fly' one of the alternatives?   My own assessment of the 'big three' current WW1 combat flightsims - First Eagles 2, Rise of Flight, and now Wings Over Flanders Fields - is still that there are some areas where each is best. FE2 - modded - has an amazing planeset, great air-to-air, additional theaters and an under-rated campaign system. RoF is great at delivering the feeling of flying a WW1 plane and now has Pat Wilson's Campaign Generator to enhance the single player campaign experience. I've much enjoyed playing both FE2 and RoF and I know I will continue to do so.   OFF was a product with an unrivaled grasp of its historical subject matter. However, in some core respects - patrol-leading and air combat, to my mind the most important things for a WW1 sim to do well - OFF, in my experience, had not fully matured. Now, in its latest incarnation and in this WW1 centenary year, Wings Over Flanders Fields is a simulation that has come of age, with impeccable timing. It has taken the historical content and the comprehensive single-player campaign system of OFF, improved it and then added visuals which - save for a few minor caveats - are absolutely top-notch. Likewise, sound effects are really marvellous and interface is much improved. So are most other features. And new stuff has been added, like the flying training missions. Most of all, thanks to the new AI and other related enhancements, the air-to-air experience is now right up there, with or ahead of the best of them.   Playing WOFF for this review, I get a strong sense that the people behind the sim have this stuff in their blood and have striven really hard to deliver an exceptional WW1 air war experience. Did they succeed?  Will Wings Over Flanders Fields repay the investment of your money and your time? Well, it's your call, and I hope this review helps you make up your mind. For me, the answer is a resounding 'Hell, yes!'   Why 'Hell, yes!'? Well, I prefer to avoid gushing superlatives and have tried to keep this review balanced and observational. But lest anyone mistake that for coolness about WOFF, please allow me the luxury of two related and more personal observations, to wind up the main body of the review.
     
    Here's the first point. Imagine a developer who asked a thousand knowledgeable enthusiasts what they wanted to see in a single-player sim - content, features, looks and gameplay. And then built it. For World War 1 over the Western Front, Wings Over Flanders Fields is that sim. How many other sims can you say that about? And on/shortly after release?
     
    So there's no DH4. Not everything made it. But last time I checked, I wasn't living in Utopia.
     
    Second point is this. Having been released at the end of 2013, I don't know if WOFF counts as a 2013 sim or a 2014 one. But given the depth, breadth and quality of this product, if WOFF doesn't win at least one 'Sim of the Year' award, well, there ain't no justice. Likewise, in my experience, WOFF deserves to be in at least the top ten 'Best Combat Flightsims' - ever.   The final score? Well the scale is:   5 - Must Buy - Delivers a consistently outstanding experience with minimal flaws that do not detract from the gameplay in any significant way.     4 - Highly Recommended - Delivers a fun and enjoyable experience well worth your time and money, despite some room for improvement.   3 - Recommended - Delivers a solid gameplay experience with a few irritations that occasionally disrupt enjoyment.   2 - Difficult to Recommend - Delivers some of the promised fun, but not without significant problems in the gameplay experience.   1- Not Recommended - Delivers a sub-par gameplay experience; doesn't fulfill its promises; offers more bugs than fun.   This reviewer's final score on the above scale is: 5 - Must Buy   But we're not quite finished here yet!   Coming next in part 4 - the view from the cockpits of the other CombatAce reviewers!     The staff at CombatAce are grateful to OBD Software for supplying review copies of WOFF. By way of disclosure, 33LIMA helped with a little research (mostly on aerodromes) for the original, non-commercial release of OFF, but has no other or recent connection with OBD Software.  

    Wings Over Flanders Fields - the CombatAce Review, part 2
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Wings Over Flanders Fields - the CombatAce Review, part 2   The Planeset
    WOFF comes with an impressive planeset - fifty-five aircraft, albeit this includes some close variants. All of them are flyable. The two-seaters come with an observer's cockpit to which you can jump to man the defensive gun or guns carried there, leaving an AI pilot to fly the aircraft. Here's the list of planes, grouped by the maker's nationality. The British and US flew many French types, while the French flew the British Sopwith Strutter. WOFF includes all the flyables from OFF and its 'Hat in the Ring' expansion, plus eight new aircraft, which have been marked below with an asterisk.   German (C- and CL-types=2-seaters, D- & E-types='scouts'/fighters): Albatros D II; Albatros D III (early), D III, D III (OAW); Albatros D V (early), D V (later), D Va, D Va (200hp); Fokker E III 'eindekker'; Fokker Dr I 'dreidekker'; Fokker D VII, D VII (OAW), D VIIF; Fokker E V/D VIII; Halberstadt D III; Pfalz D IIIa, Aviatik C I *; DFW C V; Hannover CL III; LFG Roland C II; Rumpler C IV *   French: Morane L 'parasol' *; Nieuport 11; Nieuport 16; Nieuport 17 (two versions); Nieuport 17 bis; Nieuport 23; Nieuport 24 (two versions); Nieuport 24 bis (two versions); Nieuport 28; SPAD VII; SPAD XIII British (RAF=Royal Aircraft FACTORY): Bristol Scout D; Bristol F2B Fighter (2-seat); DH2 (early), DH2; RAF FE2b; RAF BE2c (early) *, BE2c (trainer) *, BE2c (Lewis); RAF BE12 *; RAF SE5 *, SE5a, SE5a Wolesley Viper; RAF RE8; Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter (single- & 2-seaters); Sopwith Pup; Sopwith Triplane, 2-gun Triplane; Sopwith Camel; Sopwith Snipe *            The most significant addition here is a pair of two-seaters which help fill out the early-war planeset. First, there's a Morane type L 'parasol' used by both the RFC and the French Aéronautique Militaire in 1914-15 and which is a passable stand-in for the later LA, LAS and P models, into 1916. An unlicensed copy served with the Germans in small numbers at the Pfalz AI!     Then there's the German Aviatik C I. This is a slightly unusual aeroplane. The C-type machines were the first German planes built (in any numbers) to carry a machine gun, sensibly moving the pilot from the previously-universal rear position to the front seat. This left the observer to his rear with a good field of fire. Evidently, nobody told Aviatik, for their C-type machine kept the observer in front, between the wings. Not only that, but instead of a ring mount, he had only a pair or rails, one each side of his cockpit, between which he had to shift his 'Parabellum' machine gun. Crews of later C-types will have been relieved that this feature was not repeated in subsequent designs! The WOFF Aviatik C I gives the observer a non-standard gun each side, likely because animating gun-switching would have been problematic.     I think it would be fair to say that - excluding the first ten months or so of WW1, before air combat as such really got under way - the main gaps in the WOFF planeset are the British DH4 day bomber; a representative 1916-17 French 2-seater, like the Farman F.40 'pusher' or the Nieuport 12; and a 1918 French two-seater like the Breguet 14 or Salmson 2A2. Hopefully, these - and perhaps a Belgian air force mod - will be the subject of an expansion pack, although the sexier but less useful Gotha bomber has apparently pushed its way to the front of that line!   Graphics & Sound This is where some of the biggest improvements have been made, compared to Over Flanders Fields. As a study of the screenshots in this review and elsewhere will show, ground textures and scenery would do any flightsim proud, even at the low detail settings I had to use. Terrain textures include effective seasonal variations. My only minor gripe would be that the tonal contrast in summer between the dark, grassy fields and the much paler corn or wheat fields is rather too great. Different weather states are effectively conveyed and you can set things in the 'Workshops' so that, when you fly in a campaign, you get the weather they had on the actual day. The First World War seems to have had many periods of bad weather, all in all. So if you use the 'Historical weather' setting, you can expect to be told that flying has been cancelled for the day, from time to time!   Railways and major roads still have angular bends, but many rivers are now more realistically depicted, even though their water textures are still pretty basic. Apparently, compared to OFF, there are fewer little villages dotted around, though it's not especially noticeable. Clouds are not volumetric but are often still impressive. A cloud mod by Arisfuser offers significant improvements; it's available on the WOFF site's 'Third-party mods' page, here.   The aircraft textures have been given a comprehensive overhaul, and like the ground textures, are now generally exquisite. Gone are the rather bland cockpits of OFF; instead, here's the sort of representation you get in WOFF: in this case, the Albatros D V. To my eye, it's well up to the high standards set by Rise of Flight:     Externally, too, the WOFF aircraft textures are a great improvement. There's still the CFS3-style 'wide-angle lens' effect in the 'spot' (external) view, but the planes now look fantastic. A must-have mod is Ankor's DX9 mod which adds dynamic self-shadowing to WOFF's planes, inside and out. Some have this working in OFF and CFS3 but it crashes these, for me! Monoplanes can live without self-shadowing but biplanes really need it. Ankor's mod makes such a big improvement that OBD plans to incorporate it officially. For now, you can get it here. Screenshots alone can't do this mod justice, and even my sub-par system can cope with it.   Another nice touch is that rotary engines now have a 'blip' switch, used to cut the ignition momentarily as a form of throttle control. 'Blip' your engine and you get a little puff of smoke or simulated unburnt fuel, followed - when you release the switch and the engine fires again - by a little flash of fire as the excess fuel burns off. Clever and rather brilliant! In the pic below, the puff of smoke has disappeared astern but you can just see the flames, below the Clerget rotary engine of my Camel.     Aircraft and aircrew animation is really limited compared to Rise of Flight or First Eagles 2. Rotary engines and wheels rotate and control surfaces deflect, of course. And the pilots' heads all now seem to move slightly but noticeably, in harmony with elevator and aileron deflection. Aircrew don't look around and you won't see MG belts or cocking handles move. There are no animations (nor, I believe, reloading delays) for Lewis Guns or 'Parabellums', either. WOFF's observers are now better posed, though.   Some of the 3d aircraft models have seen improvements over their OFF counterparts. For example the Pfalz D IIIa used to have an incorrectly drooping tailskid, but this has now been tucked up underneath. However, there is still some room for improvement, here and there. The SE5a's wings still look rather plank-like to me, seemingly bereft of adequate upper-surface camber and I think the wingtip profiles should be a little squarer. The SPAD VII still has the more rounded SPAD XIII rudder and elevators. The RE8 is missing some prominent rigging, between the wings. The BE2c's interplane struts are too far inboard. It is missing some flying and landing wires in between these struts, has imaginary inverted V struts on the upper wings, and a web of rigging between the base of the outer interplane struts and the upper wingtip which also did not exist. Mostly minor stuff but an update would be nice, especially for the BE2c as this features prominently in the Fokker Scourge Expansion Pack.     EDIT, 23 April - Patch 1.24 has introduced improved BE2c and 2c 'early' models and textures, which I think take care of all the issues mentioned above! Here she is, now:     Another move in the right direction - important for effective patrol-leading and air combat - is that while planes still appear to be rendered only up to about a mile and a half  - twice that might be more realistic - you can now activate a new 'dot mode' (similar to distant aircraft rendering I've seen in IL-2) to make planes visible out to a distance you can select in the 'Workshops'. And the Level Of Detail models seem improved: too often in OFF (on my rig, anyway) the 'LOD' transitions could be fairly brutal, with aircraft visibly sprouting or losing detail like undercarriage, as they came closer or receded. Now, in WOFF, I'm hard put to notice transitions; planes look as they should at longer ranges. This in itself is a big improvement.   You can turn on or off aircraft labels, as well as controlling their display range in the 'Workshops'. These labels now have white backgrounds, making them more readable, but also more obtrusive. They are perhaps most useful for such purposes as establishing the identity of the hot pilot who has just sent you plunging to your virtual doom. As WOFF campaigns feature historical aces, you may end up 'Under the Guns of the Red Baron', to borrow the title of the book of that name and indeed, flying or fighting with other aces from all sides, whose identities the labels can reveal - neat!   As far as sounds are concerned, these really are much improved. In particular, engines not only vary from type to type but all now sound like real light aircraft. To get the best from them, I'd recommend upping the engines sound level in the 'Workshops' from the default 20% to 80% or so.   As for machine guns, these now have a realistic, chunky report, which reminds me of the sound effect used in the Red Baron movie (which I thought did this very well, even though the movie's portrayal of the Rittmeister's life was a travesty!). Only RoF makes your rate of fire vary with propeller RPM but overall, to my ear, WOFF's engine and MG sounds are much the best of any WW1 sim. Amongst my favourites is the deep mechanical grumble of the Albatros D V's Mercedes which, when you cut loose, is complemented nicely by the batter of its twin Spandaus. When you pull the trigger, it sounds at first like one weapon is firing, then the second quickly cuts in, giving a nice high combined rate of fire. These sounds really help invest WOFF's beautiful planes with both life and character.     The 'buffeting' sound which indicates an imminent stall was inaudible in OFF but can now be clearly heard. This is actually very important. For the first time, you get an indication that you are flying on the edge of the envelope, without having to clutter your screen with immersion-killing text messages. This little detail is a big plus during what they now call 'Air Combat Maneuvering' as it warns you not to pull that turn any tighter, and perhaps even to back it off and/or push your nose down a bit, lest you 'depart the envelope'! You don't get the additional, visible shudder that FE2 provides but WOFF's stall buffet sound does the job well enough.   The main on-screen aid in CFS3, OFF and now WOFF is the Tactical Display or TAC, wryly referred to by folks like me as 'the radar' as that is - sort of - how it operates. Its appearance and function have been changed in WOFF - mostly for the better in my opinion. Its default range has been reduced to discourage the 'AWACS effect'. I tend to turn it on only as a navigation aid or - for combat - only when I really need it - to select a target, either to padlock it or to tell my flight to attack. The 'Attack!' command now requires you to select a target in the TAC before giving the order, at which point your flight, if you're the leader, will attack enemies near your target (but not your own). But we'll cover this a bit further on, when discussing the WOFF Artificial Intelligence, next in this review.   The Air Combat Experience - Artificial Intelligence, Flight and Damage Models One of WOFF's most prominently-promoted features is 'brand new AI'. This is much-needed. Of the 'big three' sims, I always thought FE2 had much the best AI, with OFF lagging some way behind. For example, in an OFF dogfight at low level, it was as if terrain avoidance and air combat routines were fighting each other: near the deck, AI planes often made repetitive 'rollercoaster' moves, reminiscent of Red Baron 3d. And two-seater recce aircraft seemed to be a one-trick pony - fly level and shoot back. From fixed, widely-spaced formations, too, just like bombers in CFS3. And speaking of formations, if you were leading one, make the slightest turn and your AI flight-mates invariably slipped hopelessly wide, struggling to catch you up. So just how good is WOFF's new Artificial Intelligence? The answer, thank goodness, seems to be 'a whole lot better!' I haven't been playing WOFF that long but it's obvious we've got a whole new ball game here. Here's what I have seen, so far.   If a dogfight goes low, it does so realistically - not right away, but with the underdogs tending to be forced down as they lose altitude, trying to escape or to regain the initiative. If and when a fight hits low levels, there is little or none of the old rollercoaster manoeuvring. Now, aircraft dip and turn like you'd expect to see from real planes flown by real pilots. Perhaps there are rather many barrel-rolls, but otherwise, it's much, much better. If you are on an enemy's tail, or are watching one under attack from a flight-mate, you will see much human-like behaviour. The enemy may seem to hesitate momentarily in a turn, then carry on. He may level off, as if he has lost sight of his attacker, only to break hard, if attacked again. He may try to escape back across the Lines, if damaged or finding himself outnumbered. I believe they can even just loose their nerve and run.   Two-seater AI is also improved. Their formations definitely seem closer and more varied - for example, echelon instead of always in 'vic'. They may now break formation to evade or escape when pressed hard, instead of just flying on monolithically & returning fire. In the picture below, taken in a Quick Combat mission, my flight of Pfalz D IIIa aircraft - which type, incidentally, now has a much improved flight model, compared to OFF - is getting stuck into a formation of RE8s. Under attack, the RFC formation gradually broke up. One two-seater was shot down out of formation, early on. The left-hand RE8 then turned left, out of formation - you can see him above my left wingtip (I'm flying the Pfalz in the foreground). The flight leader - roughly above my nose - started weaving after he too was attacked, with the other RE flying stolidly ahead, just to his right. In OFF, this would have played out like 109s attacking B17s. Now, I don't see that it could look or feel much more realistic. It was a joy to behold, a WW1 air battle unfolding right in front of me, just as I imagine it should. Straight from the pages of the classic pilot autobiographies like 'No Parachute' or 'Wings of War'.     Observers in two-seaters still seem to have a rather limited depression to their guns, leaving quite a large blind spot below. But if you change to the gunner's seat you will find that where before, your bullets would 'ghost' through any part of you plane's structure you could reach, your fire will now damage it, as it should.   Formation-keeping - one of the real bug-bears of OFF - is like night and day. Now, in WOFF, your flight can keep up nicely in turns. Two-seaters and scouts/fighters do equally well here. Pull too tight a turn and you will lose them but that is entirely realistic. It's hard to exaggerate the improvement to the patrol-leading experience which this better formation-keeping delivers.   I invariably fly with 'Always lead' selected in 'Workshops' to avoid the chore of formation-keeping and to give myself the additional tactical element of patrol-leading. So I can't say much about how the AI operates as flight leader. Forum feedback indicates some find this can sometimes produce strange situations, although these may just be attributable to the new AI being more human and not simply operating on that 'Attack EVERYTHING!' principle.    As for wingman commands, these have been revised somewhat. You still have the same basic CFS3 set - A=attack, H=help me, S=split, R-rejoin (which you can re-assign, eg to joystick or HOTAS buttons), but some now work differently, as follows;   'A' key - this is still 'attack' but you must first turn on the TAC (if not already on) then tab to highlight/select a target, then hit 'A'. Your flight - and you have to be the leader, to issue this - will now attack enemies near your selected target but not your own. I think this also works with other target types besides aircraft, notably ground objects;   'S' key - instead of ordering your flight to split/extend formation, this tells them 'I'm going home (or off on my own); if I'm the leader, don't follow me, but carry on with the mission, under a new leader'. This is useful since before, if you were going down to a forced landing with a dud engine, your flight was liable to follow you down;   'R' key - this is no longer 'rejoin formation - which is default behaviour, anyway - it now means 'break off attacking ground targets'.   There is also one new command - and it's a biggie. Ctrl+R orders a 'washout' as the RFC called it - in effect 'Mission is scrubbed, return to base, individually if necessary'.    All very clever and a big improvement!   Anti-aircraft fire - or 'Archie' in the RFC vernacular - may be said to have Artificial Intelligence, of a sort. This is a much better target indicator than it was in OFF. As before, black bursts denote German fire, whitish ones Entente. But now, while still not especially deadly, AA bursts track targets better and spread less around their mean point of aim. This makes it a lot easier to pick up and track targets from AA fire, much as it appears to have been in real life.   In the screenshot below, from the Quick Combat Pfalz -vs- RE8 mission mentioned earlier, after shooting down one of the Englishmen I have picked up the remaining pair of retreating RE8s visually, just from the receding flak-bursts.This would have been much more difficult in OFF, due to the scatter of the bursts. The picture also illustrates the set of on-screen gauges available via the F5 command, which you can drag around individually, as well as turning on a 'no cockpit' view. This F5 view also comes with a (blue) text status read-out which you can drag about separately. You can also see the TAC in use here - the Tactical Display. This feature will be familiar to all players of the CFS series. It's a sort of situational awareness tool, which compensates in some respects for the limits of 'MonitorVision', where you have no peripheral vision, regardless of how you move your point of view around (hat-switch, in my case). Here, I have mouse-dragged the TAC to the top left of my screen - I usually keep it bottom left, to push off the lower screen the new text that now comes with the TAC. In this case, the text below the TAC describes my selected target, which is an RE8 which has just been shot down by a flight-mate (hence the text is in black). This text will also provide navigational and mission prompts, should you need them. A lot of work has obviously been put into making the TAC much more useful, should you feel the need for it.     The only apparent negative as regards AA fire is that it still appears to be pretty vigorous and indiscriminate at lower levels. I can't confirm it but I suspect that many balloons burned on balloon-busting missions may - as in OFF - be busted by the defending flak! Not this one though - it was one of my own side's balloons and I collided with the b***er in my SE5, trying to give the boys in the basket a bit of excitement. I expect that I succeeded!     A couple of other points are worth mentioning here. First, in 'Workshops', you can turn on an option 'AI always attacks'. This is useful if, flying as a wingman, you find the more realistic (but sometimes cautious) new AI seems insufficiently aggressive for your tastes. RFC ace Harry Hawker would doubtless have enabled this option, having enjoined his fellow DH2 pilots in the pioneer RFC No.24 fighter squadron to 'Attack EVERYTHING!' And though not strictly an AI issue, you can also enable random failures, so some of your flight may drop out eg with a dud engine. This was a VERY frequent occurrence in WW1 and though potentially frustrating, it's a highly realistic new option in WOFF.   As for Flight Models, I'm no expert - my real-life stick time is limited to just under nine hours, all dual, in the Cessna 150/152/172. What I've found in WOFF so far is that many planes are (I believe realistically) tail-heavy, reminiscent of those in RoF. They can be trimmed with CFS3 controls, if you find this a strain or that it makes it too hard to control your aircraft. I fly with 'Wind - on' (as opposed to 'the wind up', which in RFC jargon meant something completely different!) and I assume this accounts for planes swaying gently, which is a nice effect, not overdone.   There are a few things I find odd. For example I practiced stalls in a Nieuport 17, chopping the throttle and pulling back on the stick to keep the nose from dropping. When the stall came, the nose went down and the plane rolled right to about 40 degrees - then stopped rolling, quite sharply. Then my aircraft began to roll back level, and as the speed built up in the descent, the nose rose again. The aircraft seemingly unstalled itself, without a spin developing, in this rather odd-looking fashion. I could cause a spin, by applying right rudder as she stalled, in the classic fashion; recovery was easy enough, with some opposite rudder.   Here are some more observations. Realistic or not, significantly more rudder is needed to balance turns than in either RoF or FE2 (modded). Without rudder, you often get pronounced tailslides, which can be hard to detect unless flying from the external view.  When applied 'just right', rudder can produce some surprisingly tight turns. This is much as it was in OFF. However, it seems no longer possible to fly in many planes with my fuselage at 45 degrees to my direction of travel, by 'crossing' ailerons and rudder. In WOFF, this now realistically produces an inefficient, flat, skidding turn, in planes that could 'helicopter/windvane' before.   The Camel, I found, turned better to the right, as she should. As in RoF, I didn't find her the vicious ride that I was half-expecting. Back in the Nieuport 17, I experienced a nice, not excessive implementation of what I took to be the phenomenon known as 'adverse yaw': in a left-hand turn, if I held the nose up too much maintaining too high an angle of attack, the plane rolled itself around, out of the turn.   The Albatros D V flight model seems be be proving controversial but I've not found it objectionable; perhaps a bit more sluggish than I was used to in RoF or FE2. Reports are that it is rather slow, perhaps based on sources which report it as having an inferior performance to the heavier Albatros D III, which I have always found strange.     Overall, my impression is that - plane for plane - WOFF's aircraft feel rather less tractable or responsive and somewhat harder to fly (and aim!) with precision, than their counterparts in either RoF or FE2 (modded). That may or may not be realistic - after all, difficulty does not necessarily equate to realism - but so far, I find the WOFF FMs to be perfectly acceptable and regard them as better than those of its predecessor in several respects. I would definitely agree with those who have said that rudder pedals would make life easier, though I'm plodding on with the 'twisty joystick/wrist strain' combination.   Gunnery is obviously an important part of the air combat experience. On the negative side, I believe that WOFF still just gives you the full continuous ammo load for drum or spindle-fed weapons - the Lewis Gun and the German 'Parabellum'. There is no representation of reloading, I'm fairly sure: neither a time delay as in RoF and FE2, nor an animation as in RoF. On the plus side, you can now clear stoppages. In OFF, if you had these enabled in the 'Workshops', a jam would stop both weapons in a twin gun fighter and was impossible to clear. Now, stoppages affect individual weapons and there is a chance you can clear them in flight. So far, I have avoided stoppages by keeping bursts short.   As for the results obtainable from air-to-air gunnery, perhaps it's down to my flying with unfamiliar FMs and no rudder pedals, but I find hits harder to get than in RoF or FE2. Either that, or the hits I get, do less damage! There is a 'Workshops' option to increase the player's gun lethality or accuracy, if you find this unsatisfactory. I must admit I'm tempted to try this, after an Albatros D V campaign mission which saw me pumping round after round into (or at!) a plucky Frenchman who flew his single-seat Sopwith Strutter like a fighter, only to end up colliding with him, after breaking off a firing pass too late! I did manage to nail one of his amis first, though:     As for damage modelling, this was good in OFF but is now better again. You will still see minor airframe damage (like bulletholes) only if you don't have 'hi-res skins' enabled but there appear to be no more 'flying flamers' - aircraft set on fire which would fly on in that condition, seemingly endlessly. In the screenshot below, my Rumpler C IV has just had a lower wing shot off by attacking SE5s, showing the exposed ribs at the wing root...it's a long way down, from eighteen thousand feet! I followed her down to see if the Rumpler would break up under the strain of the long dive, as she probably should have done, but no joy there.     Another positive is the aircraft wrecks, which are much improved. Remember that campaign I started in part 1, flying Bristol Fighters with 48 Squadron? Well, here's how that one ended up, thanks to some rather unfriendly Huns in V-strutted Albatrosses:     The view system is also worth mentioning here, because WOFF has made some tweaks to the CFS3 approach. You still have to cycle through views to get to some of them and overall, it still doesn't seem to have the flexibility of FE2 or RoF. I'm not sure yet whether these tweaks represent anything more than changes from the stock key assignments, or whether there's something really new here, but I expect I'll work it out, in time. EDIT - I see there is now an 'experimental' free-roaming camera, accessed with the 'J' key and controlled via joystick and numpad (added with a patch, I believe).   Gameplay Modes Ok, you've set up WOFF to your taste, in the "Workshops". You've created a pilot or two, and have selected your squadron, escadrille or staffel and thereby your aircraft. Now, it's time to get a slice of the action and find out how WOFF flies and fights!   If you opted for 'Campaign Auto Deployment' (in the 'Enlistment Options' screen, seen in part 1 of the review) then you had the option of going through some initial training, first. This is new to WOFF, so how does it work? Well, let's take a look at that later, when considering campaign gameplay.   Whether or not you took the training, you'd be well advised to start by getting some 'stick time' in your chosen aircraft using the 'Quick Combat' option. Only one of your pilots can be 'active' at any one time and it's his nationality's planes that you'll be able to fly here. French pilot active, and want to fly a Hannover? Go back to 'Pilot Dossiers' from the main menu, and activate a German pilot, instead.   When you select Quick Combat from the main menu screen, here's what you'll be offered. This is for one of my British pilots, flying for the Royal Flying Corps (which became the RAF only on 1 April 1918).     As you can see, it's possible to select free flight or different types of combat mission from a drop-down list. Options include attacks on balloons and different ground targets, as well as air combats. You can also select your flight's aircraft type and your foe's, as well as choose 'skins' for them. Many of the parameters here are new to WOFF, including the facility to specify a 'top cover' flight for you and/or your immediate opposition. In short, WOFF 'QC' is a heavily-featured instant mission generator: not only useful to hone your flying and shooting skills before you really go to war on campaign, but a great way to experience air combat in WOFF and check out its many flyable aircraft. Don't forget to tick the box 'Pilot never dies', centre left, as you likely won't want your precious pilots killed off, when you're just practicing! Usefully, WOFF has the option to save a Quick Combat mission you have created here, for future use ('Save as Scenario').   Another option available from the main menu screen is Quick Scenarios. This comprises a set of pre-defined missions, and is presumably where you can also pick up any mission set-ups you have saved from Quick Combat (and possibly, any third party missions). On a quick count, there are seven Quick Scenarios by default: balloon busting, bombing an airfield, intercepting DFW 2-seaters, Morane parasol recce, an interception, and two different dogfights.   Sooner or later, you'll find yourself at the front, on campaign, flying over or near the famous trench-lines. Campaign mode is the beating heart of the WOFF experience. Probably, you'll know the form. If you're flying a fighting aeroplane for France, Britain or the USA, you'll expect to operate mostly over the Lines or in enemy airspace, patrolling in indirect support of your own side's 'working aeroplanes' - the two-seaters. Later in the war, ground attack missions may become a regular feature. If flying for Germany as a fighter/scout pilot, you'll expect to fly defensively, over your own territory. In a two-seater with any side, you can expect to fly reconnaisance or artillery observation missions; the latter near the Lines, the former over them or deeper into enemy territory. You might also draw bombing missions, or perhaps some infantry co-operation work. In a nutshell, that's how the WW1 air war played out, at least from about 1915-16 when it really got into gear. So...just how well does Wings Over Flanders Fields deliver this experience to your PC?   Coming in part 3 - campaigns, pros & cons and the verdict.

    Wings Over Flanders Fields - the CombatAce Review
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    OBD Software Raises The Bar for WWI Air Combat Simulation! What can players expect?
    Wings Over Flanders Fields - 'WOFF' - is the latest in a line of World War 1 air war sims that started with a modest but promising freeware mod for Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator 3. The first commercial installment, Over Flanders Fields - Between Heaven and Hell (a.k.a. 'OFF Phase 3'), quickly made a name for itself. Features included much the best out-of-the-box, all-flyable planeset of any WW1 sim, complemented by thousands of meticulously-researched colour schemes for its planes and authentic orders of battle featuring the British, French, German and later (with the aptly-named 'Hat in the Ring' Expansion Pack) the US Air Services. Above all else, OFF wove together all of these elements to deliver an immersive and absorbing single-player campaign that enabled you to fly and fight for you chosen side, changing bases and aircraft as the war around you progressed, from 1915 through to the end of the war - if your pilots survived that long!

    So what's different about WOFF? Well, it's a long list, but in short, it does all of what OFF did, but bigger and better, with some brand-new stuff to boot. Notably, WOFF features: A re-worked, more polished 'WOFF Manager' interface with a great new musical score; Much improved maps, both in-flight and for briefing/debriefing; Optional pre-deployment training missions for your virtual pilots; More realistic missions, flight strengths and briefings; Improved terrain graphics - the terrain textures and scenery objects are transformed, with (amongst other things) better treelines, more natural-looking rivers and new airfields and objects, while No-man's Land looks more convincing than ever; Improved aircraft graphics - OFF's rather bland cockpits now have absolutely exquisite textures matched by new external 'skins', while there are tweaks to some of the 3d models and a DX9 mod by Ankor adds dynamic self-shadowing, which really gilds the lily; Some new aircraft, including a BE2c with - at last! - a flexible Lewis Gun; its predictably-unsuccessful single-seat fighter derivative, the BE12; the very widely-used Morane parasol; and the superb high-flying Rumpler CIV recce two-seater; Totally new and much superior Artificial Intelligence - not only is air combat more convincing, the AI can now keep formation much better; A host of other improvements, not least the ability to (try to!) clear stoppages ('jams') and much-needed enhancements to the view and wingman command systems. System requirements, ordering and installation
    The system requirements for WOFF are substantially higher than its predecessor and are listed here. Supported Operating Systems are Windows 7 (64 bit) or 8/8.1 (also 64 bit). The minimum recommended specs are an Intel 2.6GHz CPU; 560GTX/640GTX (or equivalents) GPU with 1GB of video RAM; and at least 4GB of system RAM.   I am actually running WOFF in Vista 64 on a 2.33GHz multi-core CPU with some background processes turned off. I have 6 GB of RAM but believe it or not, only a 512MB 8800GT video card. On this system I can't rack up the anti-aliasing as far as I'd like and the terrain and detail settings are set low. But though the FPS is often down to about 30 and can get a little choppy at times; and while panning can be sluggish; WOFF is playable, for me - just. And that's with both high-resolution aircraft textures and Ankor's self-shadowing mod (of which more later). The planes look great - even the dialled-down terrain and scenery looks wonderful. I could probably improve performance by turning off the high-res aircraft textures and most of all, by reducing the size of the scenery texture (.dds) files in a suitable file editor (as Pat Pattle has reported doing with good results, over at SimHQ). So...if you have been holding off because you have a slightly 'sub-spec' system and are on a budget, you may at your own risk still want to give WOFF a try now, certainly if you are prepared to upgrade should you find you really must and can do so without having to wait too long.   WOFF is available only by online order from OBD's WOFF website and at time of writing, is priced at $59.99 US (plus any local taxes like VAT in the EU). Options are digital download or DVD by post. Also available, by digital download only, are: a pack of over 4500(!) historical 'skins' for your planes; Matt Milne's atmospheric musical score; and the first official expansion pack, 'The Fokker Scourge'.   If opting for digital download, once you've purchased and got the email with the link, you can kick off your 4.4Gb download. You must have CFS3 for WOFF. When installing, you can either use your CFS3 CD/DVD or as I did, point the install wizard to an existing patched cfs3.exe on your PC. After that you can burn your download to DVD; it fits on a normal DVD-R. Simple!   To their credit, the developers have issued patches to add features or address such issues as have emerged, post-release. At time of writing, the current patch is to version 1.19, available here. Happily, this installs over any previous version, so installation is a breeze.   The new interface The previous 'OFF Manager' was a pretty comprehensive interface to the sim's many settings and gameplay modes; but it had some rough edges. One of WOFF's main achievements has been to knock off the rough edges and provide a more polished interface. I make no apologies for covering this in some (mostly visual) detail because it's a crucial component of WOFF - both functionally and in terms of the immersion it contributes - and because it's one of the things that has been considerably improved, over OFF.   The first thing you'll notice is Matt Milne's new menu music. His score for OFF was a hard act to follow and at least one theme has been rolled forward into WOFF. Nearly all is new and it's a worthy successor to the original score, notably the main menu theme which is suitably dark, dramatic and foreboding.   Here's the OFF main menu screen. The background picture - a row of Fokker triplanes, here - will change with successive visits.     Looking at the menu options, 'Leave' exits the sim and 'Credits' does 'what it says on the tin'. 'Workshops', bottom right, is the place to start, as this is where you select graphics and realism settings - it's not tabbed, but all in one screen, which has changed somewhat since OFF. The latest version of the 'Workshops' screen looks like this, which shows you just how many settings you can change here:     Gone is the 'CFS3config' tool that OFF users will know, replaced by the ability to set the main display settings here in the 'Workshops'. As before, you can turn off gun jams (stoppages) but now, if you leave them on, stoppages can affect individual guns and you have a chance of being able to clear them, in flight - which was impossible, in OFF. As in the latter, you can elect to have confirmation of your kills dependent on acceptance of your claims in combat reports you write after the mission. New stuff includes the fact that injuries to your pilot can be displayed in-game - options are blood spatter (in red, or in black for the squeamish) or tunnel vision.  There really is a lot of stuff you can adjust here, to improve looks, tweak performance or increase/relax realism or difficulty.   While we're talking 'setup' it's worth mentioning that - while there's no manual as such, that I can find anyway - there is some neat stuff installed into a 'Toolbox' folder - specifically a 'WOFF Toolbox' program whose most useful feature is a great little keyboard and joystick control assignment utility. There's also some helpful guides online, here. EDIT - the same documents can be found in the game folder OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields/documentation.   Moving on from the 'Workshops' and returning to the main menu screen, the next place to go is 'Pilot Dossiers'. Before you fly in any mode, you must create at least one pilot, and this is where you do it - the Enlistment Options screen:     You choose your nationality and can then go for 'Campaign Auto Deployment', top of the screen, with or without preliminary flight training missions. Alternatively, if you want to pick a specific unit and starting period, you can instead use 'Manual Squad Deployment', button bottom right. If you choose the latter, you get an improved version of the old OFF squadron selection screen, like this one, which I used here to start a career with the pioneer Bristol Fighter squadron, No. 48, starting in March 1917:     If you're familiar with OFF, you'll notice at once that the map has been vastly improved from the original, which was rather poor. And you can click on tabs which bring up helpful additional information, before finalising your selection - for example, here's the 'Craft' tab for the 'Biff' or 'Brisfit' (represented in WOFF, as in OFF, by the F2B version rather than the original F2A) - with a nice rendition of the squadron's mount in a wooden hangar, though the accompanying text mistakenly says it's a 'bomber':     When you've made your choice of unit, you can enter a name for your pilot, in your 'dossier' or logbook. Here, WOFF will record your flights and campaign achievements. The representation of this document is another big improvement over the OFF version. Your squadron marking (two white bars in this case) is displayed top left and you can cycle through a selection of different authentic period photographs for the logbook itself. In this career, I've opted to be a brother of the CO, William Leefe Robinson VC, posted to France after shooting down a Zeppelin over England!     At this point, having set up the sim to your taste and created your first pilot, you are now ready to take to the skies over war-torn Europe!   Coming in part 2 - the planeset; graphics/sound; the air-to-air experience; and gameplay modes

    Hell on Wheels - SF '42
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Fighting in the M4 Sherman in Steel Fury - Kharkov 1942! Until recently, I didn't realise that Graviteam's Eastern Front WW2 tanksim lets you sign up as a US Army tanker and fight in the famous M4 Sherman tank. It doesn't of course...at least, not out-of-the-box. But SF '42 is one of those sims which has been much enhanced by the work of that intrepid and talented group of people we call 'modders'. And the 'New Tank Add-on' (NTA) mod - current version, NTA 1.8 - includes a Sherman and missions for it. Keen to go to virtual war in an M4  - and to fight some battles in places whose names I could actually pronounce - this was one tank I had to try out.
     
    The mod
    Jonesoft Generic Mod Enabler is a must for SF '42 and I have it set up so I can play with either the Steel Panzer Mod (SPM) version 2.0 or NTA 1.8. Each has its own install order for the main mod and some recommended or essential extra components. It's not-at-all complicated to get set up; main thing is, use JSGME and enable or disable the mods, after installing them into JSGME's 'Mods' folder, in the right sequence. It's all here: http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=10944.0 (NTA) ...and here: http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11026.0 (SPM).
     
    NTA 1.8 is apparently the most recent and complete mod and that's what I'm using for this mission, along with the associated sound mod, mission packs and update. Edit, August 2014 - the NTA mod has been discontinued but its successor, the STA Mod, is now available: http://stasf2008.eph...d-on-steel-fury
     
    The tank
    Like the Tiger featured in my last SF '42 mission report, the M4 General Sherman needs little introduction. Nicknamed rather derisively the 'Tommy Cooker' or the 'Ronson' (after the cigarette lighter's slogan, 'lights first time'), the M4 may have earned an unenviable reputation for burning when penetrated and it mighn't have been a match for some of the later German tanks in a straight fight. But when it appeared in action with the British Eighth Army in North Africa in 1942, it was one of the best tanks in the world. Even in 1944-45, it could do many of the things a tank had to do, as well or better than its opponents. Strong points included a decent dual-purpose gun, reliability and fast turret traverse
     
    The NTA Sherman is a late WW2 model M4A3, with the 47 degree, single piece upper hull front with larger driver and radio operator hatches; the T23-type turret with 'vision' cupola for the commander; 76mm gun; and internally, wet ammo stowage to reduce the fire risk. The 76 is of course a better AT weapon than the earlier 75mm, comparable to the German long-barrelled 7.5cm KwK 40 tank and Pak 40 anti-tank guns and able to fire APCR tungsten-cored rounds. The latter gave the Sherman 76 a better chance against the later German tanks at shorter ranges but was reportedly in short supply in tank units, being reserved mainly for the Tank Destroyer force, whose towed and self-propelled 76mm guns were supposed to be the main counter to enemy tanks, in US doctrine. The SF '42 M4A3(76) is a really nice rendition, with a just a hint of the 'gypsy caravan' look from external stowage and extra track sections on the hull front for extra protection. There are no interiors; these are of limited use anyway, as you can play just fine from the third person external view or (in the first-person view) from either the hatch-open view or the gunsight/periscope/vision port view.
     
    The mission
    From the list of available single missions, I chose 'Everything, but the Bridge!' by prolific Ukranian mission-maker Lockie. This is part of mission pack 2.1, which I think is designed for the NTA mod. Like Lockie's other missions, this comes with a neat loading screen, which includes a tantalising excerpt from a report of an engagement during the Battle of the Bulge, the historical setting for this mission.   The German Ardennes Offensive in December 1944 is probably familiar to most of us, if only from the well-known Hollywood movie which featured grey-painted Spanish Army M47s acting as King Tigers, M24 Chaffees acting as Shermans, and that famous rendition of the Panzerlied with Robert Shaw. As that French General said on observing the charge of the Light Brigade, 'C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre!'
     
    I haven't played much SF '42 until dusting it off recently but in my experience, the typical mission is a deliberate but rather chaotic attack by a combined arms company-based combat team. This one was clearly going to be very different, as I could see from the briefing. Here it is; the mission map anyway. I have minimised the text briefing as it hides a lot of the map and in this case, it told me nothing much, except to defend the bridge:  
     
    My little outfit is the trio of red diamonds, bottom centre-left. The bridge is in the middle. From the tactical symbols, the defenders - on the left bank apart from one AT gun - comprise some dismounted infantry, some soft-skimmed vehicles, a single tank, and a handful of anti-tank guns, likely the 57mm ones derived from the British 6-pounder, used by US Infantry Divisions. I believe the map is a re-labelled version of one of the Ukranian ones that come with the sim. The terrain itself is fairly level, not what you'd expect for the Ardennes. It might have been a good idea if I had enabled the winter weather mod to produce snowscapes appropriate for at least the later stages of the Battle of the Bulge but I don't know if it's compatible and I stuck with the original.
      Even though this mission is evidently an ad hoc operation, I'd have preferred a fuller, more immersive 'battle picture' and more scene-setting, in the mission briefing. Here’s how I ended up picturing the briefing, in my own mind:
     
    You're a lieutenant in the US Army commanding a platoon of three 76mm-armed M4 tanks from the 66th Tank Regiment, Second Armoured Division, the famous 'Hell on Wheels'. In the confusion following the Division's sudden redeployment to deal with the German Ardennes Offensive, your platoon has become separated from your unit. As you motor uncertainly along a track beside a river, an infantry major and his radio operator step out of the trees to your left and wave you down. The major looks tired but business-like, waving his '45 like he means to use it.
     
    'I'm the Officer Commanding, Company B, First Battalion, 145th Infantry. I don't care who you are or where you're going, but starting right now, you're working for me.
     
    Look at this map. There's a bridge over the Roer River here. It's on your right, just a few hundred yards ahead of you. See it?
     
    There's also a whole bunch of Kraut tanks and infantry heading straight for it, coming from way over there, on your far left - see those blue arrows on the map?
     
    Company B - what's left of us - is in a defensive perimeter, on the near side of the bridge, with a few 57mm AT guns.
     
    The Krauts musn't get that bridge. We've to hold it, at all costs. No more bug-outs.
     
    Take your three M4s up there and keep the Krauts away from the bridge. Their tanks are your priority targets. Your choice, where you set up. But do it quick. Move out NOW!'
     
    They say 'Time spent in reconnaisance is never wasted'. For this mission, as usual in sims and often in real life, my recce would have to be a map one. First job before starting the mission was to take the map and my orders and make a quick Combat Appreciation. For this sort of thing, I used an abbreviated format we were taught by a captain in the RM Commandos - good enough for the booties, good enough for me. It's 'Aim - Enemy - Ground - Plan' and here goes my quick effort for this mission.
     
    Aim - the easy bit, to destroy any Germans making for the bridge.
     
    Enemy - tanks and infantry in unknown, but possibly company group, strength, shortly likely to cross my front from left to right, headed for the bridge.
     
    Ground - looking towards the enemy from the bridge: on the left, a treeline with good cover and some room to manoeuvre; in the centre, a large open space with little cover, which the enemy will likely have to cross, a good killing ground; to the right, a narrow treeline backed by a bend in the river which severely limits mobility that way. Contour lines are few and gentle so the terrain looks rather flat, apart from the rather shallow river banks and a very low hillock to my immediate left. Basically, I'm looking for covered, preferably hull-down firing positions on the enemy's lighter-armoured flanks.
     
    Plan - move to positions in the tree line to the left of Company B's defended locality. Fire into the flanks of the enemy as he crosses my front from left to right, heading for the bridge. My tanks to be in a line, set back from the treeline, sacrificing wider arcs of fire for better concealment. Change firing positions every few rounds, as one does. Cover from fire would be nice but accept cover from view if that's all I can get up there, as seems likely.
     
    Plan made, I loaded the mission and roared off down the track towards the bridge, trying hard not to veer off and fall into the river, conventional Sherman gun tanks not being noted for being amphibious, notwithstanding the abilities of DD versions.  
     
    Looking behind me only to see my other two tanks immobile, I realised I'd forgotten to brief them. The F8 key brought up the map again and from its command and control icons, I ordered single file/column formation and 'do as I do'. As they caught up, I pressed on. About 50 meters before the trees on my left petered out, I turned 90 degrees left and rumbled through the woods, some distance inside and parallel to the treeline from which I intended to catch the enemy with flanking fire.
        As I motored on, the trees thinned out but I was still screened from the killing ground to my right by a decent line of smaller trees. From that direction, the cacophony of sound I could hear above my engine noise indicated that the battle was already in full swing. I'm using the recommended NTA sound mod, which I assume was responsible for the US tanker voices I could hear on the intercom. This mod changes many of the other sound effects too; hard to say from one usage whether or not I prefer it to stock, which is pretty good too. Anyway, I pressed on, more cautiously now.     The woods thickened up around me and I swung 90 degrees right, to face the edge of the treeline. Beyond, the enemy seemed already to be advancing, heard but not yet seen through the screen of foliage in front of my tank. I began to edge slowly forward, to the point where I would acquire a narrow line of sight out into the killing ground.     As I did so, I ordered my tanks into line abreast, anxiously looking around to see how well my AI Tank Commanders would cope with my series of manoeuvres. The answer, alas, was 'none too well!'   ...to be continued!

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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