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From our correspondent at the front…interview with Flt Lt Duke VC, DFC 43 kills

Rumour had it the Ace of Aces Pilot Duke was going to fly so your war correspondent hung around the airfield to see if it was true.

Yes their he is nonchalantly strolling out to his Spit 1, his beloved Spit V is grounded at the moment, His wingman Cain in animated discussion waving his arms about in what is undeniable fighter pilot speak for manoevers..one hand getting on to the six of another…

The props begin to turn, the engines coughing as the merlin engines suddenly roar into life before being brought back to a smooth rumble

Chocks away , I will have bacon and eggs for breakfast please, I’ll be back soon.

On another airfield over the channel four 109s are whining as their inertia starters kick the props over and with an angry bellow their engines burst into life, the 109s don’t sound as smooth as a merlin but rumble with an angry staccato bark, and you know they mean business.

Eight planes lift in to the air, rumour also has it a legendry japenese pilot on loan to the Luftwaffe has also taken to the air…we are not sure what he looks like but has a very pale face..so much so its rumoured he is called “Moon”.

Well Duke likes to be first or last so he flips a coin in the cockpit, heads high, tail low..It’s heads so Duke climbs up to very high. Searching the sky for bandits Duke sees four dots very far below at very low height. Dukes second element leader Strauss has chosen medium height so the turn order shakes out as Duke first, followed by a 109 pair as element 2, then Dukes second pair (Strauss) at medium height as element 3 and the final 109 pair as element 4.

The 109s seem to be acting in concert and have given themselves the maximum cards by being very low…that moon he’s a old hand at this.

So duke rolls over and begins the dive to high and gains a card (he only has four losing 2 for being very high) plus he picks on more up for being under spits 6 Perf at the end of his turn.

One thing Duke has noticed, novice players don’t consider the consequences of using the Height bands at all, most taking the default medium. Very high in this case with a spit 1 I like just for the choice of going first and Duke has sufficient pilot skills to fight up here, High band would probable a better choice since he could at least exchange a card, how ever he has taken his turn, has the initiative and is now up to 6 cards. Element 2 the lead 109 unit comes up from very low alt to low alt and loses a card doing so. Duke ponders why he likes the very low position also and it because you can better configure your hand by discarding card’s you don’t want in the climb plus you can turn over more cards if your hand is really bad, though you might lose the benefit of the extra cards you gained by being low. This is the risk you take you may well have an outstanding hand or a merely mediocre…but you have the chance to get a good one

So my second pair which is another Human who’s pilot is called Strauss over which I have no control has his turn.

He is at medium I am hoping like heck he does not dive down to low since to do so would mean element 4 (109s) would climb up to take him on and have a free shot since I could only dive to medium next turn,it’s also crucial to remember the wingman has his turn BEFORE the leader choose’s his height and therefore will play no part in the ensuing action the wingman can only play his turn at opponents that START at the same level as him. So if Strauss dive’s down he will get one go at nailing a 109 and if he blows it 4 109s will be having a go at him, even if he succeeds 3 109s will run him out of cards and their fore options very quicky.

Nerves get the better of Duke “CLIMB CLIMB” he yells over the radio

Strauss Climbs up to high, Duke breathes a sigh of relief, both pairs can now cover each other. The last element (4) of 109s climbs to join his buddies at low level

Duke to go next looking at his hand he has 3xIn My Sights 1x2 cards (to shoot with) and 1x Out The Sun 3x4 card plus a scissor card plus 1 barrel roll card.

Well no maneover cards and 1 defence card (barrel roll), no way am I diving into 4 109s so I discard the biggest shot card the Out the Sun 3/4 and stay high.

Why you ask, why not lose one of the smaller ones. Simple I have no cards to position myself to use it and Duke reckons many of his 43 kills held onto cards they could not possible use and exchanging might well have saved them by giving them a defensive card right when they needed it most.

The spit 1 has a burst rating of 1 so I can use all the IMS 1x2 cards in head on passes if I have too, if I don’t get any cards to get on a guys six, but I have a more devious plan but more later.

So golden rule “honour the threat” don’t get shot down holding a hand full of shooting cards, you have a guy behind you. You are now a TARGET you need every defence card you can lay your hands on to defeat his shots and shake him. Remember when he’s finished blasting at you he will be picking up more cards to do it again, you will need your cards to defeat his shots and get rid of him and shooting cards you cant use wont help you in any way except to give it away in a climb maybe.

So element 2 (109s) also does nothing and perhaps changes some of his cards, my wingy Strauss also keeps station on my wing at high Alt, at this point taunts exchanged over the radio and Duke looks over the side and sees something white in the cockpit far below, perhaps it a face but is looks pretty ugly…ahhh maybe its not his face..maybe that’s why the call him moon…but then again

Element 4 (109’s) gets Bold and climbs to medium alt.

At this point its Dukes turn and he has a rubbish hand but decides to be bold and go for a head on pass, the plan is to ping the leader or make him use his cards avoiding it and let the leader turn to get angles on us and then scissor him to put him out in front therefore I would get to use my 3x IMS 1x2 cards, 1 for the head on pass and 2 after the scissors on the following turn relying on lady luck to give me a few defensive cards. It’s a gamble but I am willing to try it. I am making the assumption Strauss will follow me down.

The dive begins and I gain a card, lady luck is smiling today a half loop is my card gained for the dive so Duke instantly switches attacks to the wingman since he will only get two cards to defend himself with, I have a potential 6 point of damage to inflict with the three bursts a loop will give me on the wingman who can only defend with two cards to the leaders six. And Duke only needs to inflict five point of damage to down a 109E

Duke feels confident the 109 wingman will be smoking or shot down, and if he going to risk his neck it must be worth it Duke screams under and over, loops onto the 109Es six Duke fires his first IMS 1x2 the wingman barrel rolls Duke counter with his barrel roll momentry wondering about using his 1 defence card…no I want the kill, the shot hits

Duke fires his second burst, the wingman turns, to not avoid this shot will cause him certain damage and he will be smoking Duke counters the Turn card with a scissor card the burst hits and the 109 wingman is smoking with no cards left, Duke closes in and puts the final burst in to down the 109, a chute blossoms.

He has used 5 cards and has two left he picks up 2 more leaving him with 4…damm OTS 3x4 and a IMS 1x1…Duke is in trouble Element 2 (109s) climbs up and has a pop at Dukes wingman landing a 2 point hit.

Strauss to go, will he dive down and help me out…indeed can he.

Ok very few understand the importance of the TURN order. As a rule of thumb element 2 (the first 109s) have had their turn so the desirable thing for Strauss to do now would be to attack element 4 (109s) since they have not had their turn and putting them on the defense means Duke will go next against element 2 putting them on the defensive since element 4 MUST play against Strauss leaving Duke free to engage element 2. to not do so would leave element 4 free to attack either Duke or Strauss

Also the second reason is if Strauss dives and kills either of the remaining pair you would have 2 singletons holding up to twelve cards between them (6 cards each). If you kill the solo then that leaves a wingman with two cards plus the leaders 6 for only 8 cards plus only one element can be engaged by the 109s leaving the other element free to kill the wingman.

So how to get this across in one radio call.

“Strauss kill element 4” is the best Duke can manage.

Strauss dives and attacks the leader of the pair (element 2) leaving element 4 (109s) free to attack anyone Nooooo thinks duke in despair at least attack the wingman

Strauss Zooms into position behind the leader and fires an IMS destroyed the 109 barrel rolls Strauss counters the 109s rolls again Strauss counters again its all going very fast but it ends when Strauss counters the 109s desperate attempts for the last time and the 109 disintergrates a chutes pops Duke is impressed with Strauss unforntunatley the wingman becomes the leader and gains 6 cards

Element 4 109 makes his choice and goes after Dukes wingman and manoeuvres against him which the wingman Cain counters but the 109 insists gaining position fires a burst which Cain counters, fires another burst which Cain cannot counter and leaves Cain smoking with a rough running engine.

Dukes turn again his wingman goes first and plays against element 4 ..half loop again, its Dukes lucky day and as he says “he would rather be lucky than good” the wingman neatly places Duke on the 109s 6

Duke fires a IMS 1x1 to ping his opponent, it standard practice amoung the more experienced players to let that one hit to save the defensive cards for the big one you know is coming..it’s a game of bluff since the 109 in front of Duke does not know Duke has no counter cards whatsoever, he lets rip with the big one OTS 3x4 hoping the 109 does not have vertical dive or ace pilot cards

Kaboom poor old element 4 109 explodes killing the pilot and a funeral march can be heard.

Well the surviving 109 attempts to get rid of Strauss and fails, Strauss fails to hit him Duke dives below the pair and this goes on until every one is at Very low Alt.

There is one final lesson on the last turn when it was clear both Strauss and the survivor had few cards and Strauss could not kill him he should have left him to Duke and his wingman to finish it on the last turn

Duke did notice the 109 made damm sure not to shake off Strauss

Strauss had tasted Blood and wanted more, quite understandable.

Duke flew and Strauss now had winking fuel lights and it was time to break off and go home.

The surviving 109 no doubt discovered adrenaline is brown and smelly and will need new trousers and a new 109

Sadly their will be an empty chair at the 109 sqn tonight

Duke and Strauss will be painting kill marks on their planes and ponder the lessons learnt today over bacon and eggs Duke will go on looking for the perfect kill for he is a hunter and he will hunt again

End interview

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Somewhere on an Airfield in England A war correspondent is listening in to Duke discussing survival tactics, he is talking to a new pilot called Noob

Well you see Noob its not about flying all hours of the day in an attempt to beat my Score Duke says ,its all about lasting long enough which means the Rookie pilots who dive in with only shooting down their opponents on their mind with no consequence of what happens after they succeed..you see they may get their man but they can have their victory painted on their tomb stone…oh and on my plane too, Duke nods towards His aircraft where his maintenance team are adding another 2 crosses below the cockpit. , I take it those two did not know what hit them either Ginger asks,

Duke just smiles

So what do I do Duke, well Ginger you notice in the last combat report that I always flew beneath the combat knowing full well the rookie pilot will dive into the waiting arms of me and my wingman, you see the rookie pilot does this to gain a card and if its good enough to succeed in escaping from his pursuer, why I am waiting for him because I will be going next and I have not been using my cards to escape from anyone so have a full set plus any for the dive.

Ahh noob says Plus Duke points out that in their blind panic rookies are not looking where they are going, you should not climb or dive into MORE enemies, go the opposite way or better yet head towards friendlys, if you have a good team mate he will know what you are doing.

So what do I do, what do I do if I have a bandit on my six Noob shouts excitedly

Well at this point of the war your defensive thinking should be ,I have a handful of junk cards which I cant use to escape how can I use that to help me.

Well the rookie will dive down to gain a card, his opponent will give one up and will throw away his worst card..and you know he will also gain one for diving and it may be better than the one he had to throw away….diving to escape does not look too wise now does it Noob.

Hmm Noob ponders just then they are both interrupted by a banshee howl as a spit screams across the airfield at full speed ..rips the flag of the flag pole with his wingtip and executes three crisp victory rolls, Sailor has had a good day Duke says…

No young Noob if you want to escape ,reduce your opponents options, you must climb, you give up a card to do so and since you are holding cards that can’t help you, give one up and use it to climb, your opponent must give one up also plus he must give one up to follow and if you live long enough you may learn the Shake Him skill which means he loses another card and if you think ahead Noob you will replace your card at the end of your turn and your opponent has lost 2 which will not be replaced until the END of his turn. You also have the benefit of reducing the wingmans cards if you can drag him up real high. You have improved your chances of surviving a hit, perhaps changed your cards for hopefully better ones while reducing the tailing bandits cards

If you find you have vertical roll in you hand young Noob you can play it which means you go up another level and it will again cost you opponent 2 cards to follow, if he does not it will still cost another card to climb up to you so by using one useless card and a vert roll you have cost your opponent 4 cards and its at this point he is regretting the decision to follow you.

So young Noob remember to use the vertical and head for the angels as they may save you, if you head for hell you might just meet it.

In the distance much shouting can be heard and a young chap has been de-bagged and is being tossed into the pond…that’s for constantly getting a guy I had cornered in my six off me Duke points out ..not once but twice too, its hard to scissor a guy if your buddy keeps getting him off your 6.. he then left me open for the second element to attack since we were all neutral position now…I thought I had pointed out it important not to leave your opponent with a free element to choose his attacks, fortunately he got himself shot down so I could get on with shooting down 2 more of the pesky Hun…still he is new he will learn.

Noob notices that Dukes Plane look rather shiny..could it be new.. and his parachute bag is in tatters

Noob looks in askance, Well Duke points out, these are guidelines Noob and will stand you in good stead most of the time but they don’t cover every situation and sometimes you just get bad luck. Oh and by the way check your plane is ok BEFORE you take off since entering combat with a smoking plane is bad form

Noob has the sense to keep his mouth firmly shut

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