Janzen

Done deal! I thought I’d be to late Maeran missing the initial six weeks but the campaign is lengthy as you said so, in I go! I gather I just PM E-power my pilot’s bio etc when I get back from holiday? Looking forward to my first ever DID! Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Cheers!

Ripping good stuff E-Power! Great timing for DID campaign! Most definitely I’d have thrown myself into the fray as this would be a “first time” for getting involved in DID. Sad thing is I’ll have to pass joining as I will be in sunny Puerto Vallarta Mexico from mid January to early March escaping winter for 2022. I’ll keep tabs on the events of everyone’s pilots as posted in this thread while on holiday! Speaking of which may everyone have a safe, healthy and relaxing Festive Holiday & New Year with family and friends! Cheers all! All the best, Janzen

Some of my favourite reads: Barker VC- Wayne Ralph Manfred Von Richthofen- David Baker The Black Flight: The Memoirs of Raymond Collishaw- Ronald Dodds/CEF Books Red Baron: The Life and Death of an Ace- Peter Kilduff The Red Baron Combat Wing- Jagdgesschwader Richthofen in Battle- Peter Kilduff The Royal Flying Corps in World War 1- Ralph Barker The Royal Flying Corps in France: From Mons to the Somme- Ralph Barker Billy Bishop VC- Lone Wolf Hunter- Peter Kilduff Mud, Blood and Poppycock- Gordon Corrigan (non aviation) At the Sharp End- Tim Cook ( 2 Volume set) Covers the Canadian Corps during WW1. Many, many more books to purchase as those listed here by others. Cheers!

Nicely done! Thank you BB for all the time, effort and hard work on this. On my average machine the fog and mist clouds look super with very little fps hit. Cheers!

Lol..I concur Rick!! Cheers to their aggression! Death to the Hun Invaders! Cheers!

Wow! Super! Thanks for the link Witchywoman, most appreciated! Cheers!

Generally my experience has been no successful interception 99% of the time if led by the AI flight leader. If you are the flight leader then you’ll have the company of your flight mates who will follow you to chase the Hun intruders. Most of the time the raiders are to high to track down, climb up to and engage successfully with your flight. It’s next to impossible to climb, reach and engage the Aviatiks, Rumplers etc especially in a DH2, BE-12 or other slow climbing scouts. On those scramble missions in late 1916 I’ve had some luck chasing and catching enemy raiders in a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, DH2, & BE-12’s if I split from my flight early as they are forming up and head east to where you think their return flight path would be. I’ve seen Archie puffs shooting at the raiders and guide my self in that direction as they fly east over our Observation balloons, Munitions Factory’s, Army camps, Train Yards & airfields. By the time I get to their height which is usually 10,000+ ft either just over or well inside enemy lines. More often than not, near or over their airfield. So since I made all this effort to chase them I stupidly attack solo engaging one that is separated from the others in his flight so I don’t get cross fire from the other rear gunners. I try to make my attack from low, behind and below as the aircraft is circling at height to land at its airfield. I’m lucky to get a good burst or two of Lewis or Vickers from less than 100 yds from my initial attack getting some decent hits until the rear gunner becomes aware and starts lasering in and getting hits on my crate with that pin point Parabellum gun. (And that’s with the rear guns set at less accurate on in the workshop) It’s a crap shoot of whether I bring down one of those intruders. It normally doesn’t end well with either my fuel tank punctured & leaking fuel, engine damaged or I get wounded. It’s the price I pay for my foolish endeavours chasing the enemy over the lines & I get and accept this. I find once you are flying a SPAD VII, Sopwith Pup, Nieuport 17, 23 etc the odds improve slightly attacking alone but you still have to be very careful of that rear gunners return fire. Now is it just me or has anyone had some nasty encounters on Scramble missions where Roland CII’s are involved attacking you and your flight after dropping their bombs on your airfield? After Intake off with my flight just clearing the airfield they dive down and aggressively engage every aircraft we have airborne. No breaking for home either, oh no even hugely out numbered. It’s not uncommon for these devil may care Roland pilots to engage and dog fight anywhere from 6 to 8 of our aircraft. Kudos for them though! Mainly all getting destroyed but taking 2 or 3 of us with them. At times it appears that all target just my aircraft at one point, and not because my aircraft stands out by colour or emblemed up or am an outstanding pilot. Far be it from that. This is on every Scramble mission where Rolands are involved or generally when I encounter them either attacking an enemy airfield where they happen to be in the area. I find the Rolands will engage and chase you down, more so than any Halberstadt, Fokker, or Albatros scout I’ve encountered. Heck I’ve attacked an enemy airfield in a 24 Squadron career with DH2’s or BE-12’s of 19 Squadron where 3 Rolands scrambled during our attack and took on all 5 of us. Like a pitbull they just won’t let go! They chase you down until you cross the lines then break off..maybe! Don’t get me wrong it is a great challenge to fight off the Rolands & dog fight them but their pilots appear to have more than their fair share of aggression & more at times than the other scout pilots. Cheers!

Yes indeed the Bloody April- Air war over Arras 1917 and the Eagle of Lille was a good purchase & find. It had good reviews from what I recall. I played a start up mission for both when I first received the games and it was very fun/immersive as board games go. The instruction/ rules for either are well laid out and the campaign’s for the RFC & Luftkrafftkreit appear to be quite immersive. Should be fun when I eventually roll out the Maps, counters and dice to have a full go playing it albeit solo. I’ll probably spread out the game maps on the dining room table as it is wide and long enough to accommodate everything much to the chagrin of my better half…lol…Dawn Patrol I played half a dozen times with one of my friends whom I worked with when we were off on rest days pre-children. He had kept the game since his teens and was a military board game enthusiast like myself. When our families were young spare time was non existent between work and parenthood. That was over 25 yrs ago and we’ve both retired since. He also moved several hours away so no chance we can link up to give Blood April a go.

Played Avalon Hill board games as youth such as Richtofen’s war, Axis & Allies, Blitzkrieg, Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, & Tobruk. I sold most of these games in my mid 20’s but I still have Axis and Allies & Richtofen’s war. I also ended up locating and purchasing Bloody April-Air war over Arras 1917 plus the expansion pack Eagle of Lille. Unfortunately I don’t have room or a table to set up the maps with the counters to play. My kids have long left the nest and our 17 yr old cat has moved on to greener pastures so there would be no interruptions of that nature. None of my friends have any interest playing these boardgames unfortunately. The new game Witchywoman speaks about sounds very intriguing. Looks like another game to add to the collection. Cheers!

Hi Robert I used the Consolidated Facilities Mod in PE. Just presently flying stock in BH & H for now. Will be Modding up in the near future with the CFM. Cheers!

Hey guys. My new TracIR just arrived today by FedEx as well as a new 27 “Samsung curved gaming monitor C27 G55T I purchased yesterday along with a new Logitech Extreme 3D Pro flight stick. Appears the monitor has all the new updated drivers and looks great. Just have to go to TrackIR site to go to and set things up. The last thing I require is a new PC. Toying with the idea of maxing out my old 2015 HP Pavillion replacing the AMD Radeon R7 200 gpu to something mid ground (if I can locate one) max RAM & installing an upgraded power source instead of purchasing a new rig right away. I’m looking to see which graphics card would be compatible with the Jasmine mother board originally installed in this PC. This is a stop gap measure until cash flow becomes more available to purchase a much better rig. All in all WOFF BH&H II believe it or not runs pretty smoothly on this old system, not with the settings maxed but I’m good with that. I like Windows 8.1 as there were no issues installing and playing UE, PE & now BH & H II. Frame rates are consistent 50-60fps from 1915-1917. In 1918 they drop to around 35-40ish which is not a surprise due to the age of the rig and its very basic graphics card. I do have air activity set to light as I realize if I put this on heavy air activity frame rates will be severely punished due to the amount of a/c even on light air activity. I’m good with where things are at presently until I can purchase a new gaming rig or get one built. Only thing I am observing is the monitor screen resolution which is at the recommended setting of 2560x1440 and also set for the same in game at the workshop seems off. The graphics seem to be at the 1680x1050 setting from where my previous HP monitor was set to. Maybe it’s me and I am not used to the nice new curved gaming monitor as the old HP was a flat screen and smaller. I’ll tinker with some areas and see how things go. Anyhow any ideas passed along my way is as always much appreciated. Happy hunting! Cheers! Djan/Janzen

First Impressions are fantastic! Great job done by the whole dev team! Definitely raised the bar to a new level. Started a career with 24 Squadron. One mission was a scramble where B Flight Attacked 4 Aviatiks which had bombed our airfield. Caught up to the enemy over Doullens where we commenced our attack at 9000 feet. Slowly closing the distance I Noticed that the rear gunner opened fire at myself and the HA I was attacking with from what appeared to be quite distant. Just out of curiosity I activated the labels to see the distance. Turned out to be 400 yards. Turned off the labels and went in for my attack, low, below tail closing to 100 yards. Not something I normally do but wanted to give it a go. Well after some good rounds into the enemy machine I exposed myself in braking away and received a pummelling from all four rear gunners Parabellums. Wounded and my poor old DH2’s controls damaged with a fuel leak. Love the effects on the goggles! Put it down in a field missing a fence. 40% health. Did survive but hospitalized for a good period of time. Wow! Just excellent stuff! I thought UE & PE were great but BH & H simply marvelous. Cheers!

Hi guys Just learned of and joined this forum from over at Sim HQ! Thank you Eric for the welcome. Cheers! (Deejan at Sim HQ)....