Tripods and Triplanes - First Play AAR

Posted for Al, our first try at Tripods and Triplanes!

A Desperate Defence!

Two aircraft were all that could be spared to defend the village of Zwiderhof and its vital munitions factory from the unstoppable Martian Tripods. A Fokker Dr1 and an ageing Albatross took to the skies in the early hours before dawn to seek out and, if nothing else, delay the alien invaders.

Armed with machine guns and these new French rockets, the two aircraft gained altitude in order to have the sun behind them as they approached their patrol zone. The pilots waved cheerfully to each other as they crossed the Oder River. Both knew what awaited them.

A plume of smoke rose from the Western horizon, and a glint of sunlight off a metal surface gave the pilots a clear idea where their targets were. They both increased the throttle and darted to the attack.

Two massive machines towered over the landscape, plodding in their unworldly three-legged gait towards the village. The closest was one of the type dubbed the 'Locust' and it definitely had an insect-like appearance. Leutnant Reim of der Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte banked his Fokker left to make an approach, guns blazing. The metal skin on the Martian machine seemed to sparkle as the bullets struck, doing no damage.

The fragile aircraft attacking the Martian Tripods!

The second Martian, a larger machine known as a 'Scarab', turned its attention towards the incoming aircraft. A sudden flare of light and the Dr 1 was engulfed in an intense blast of heat from the alien's forward projector.  Deft manoeuvring on the part of Lt Reim saw him fly through and carry on the fight, but he was severely wounded in the blast.

A Martian Tripod deploys 'Black Smoke'...

The Martians steadily destroyed their objectives, one by one, troubled little by the German flyers. Rockets and machine guns could not seem to penetrate the armour of these mechanical monsters. But then, a lucky shot by Hauptman Kremb in the Albatross caused an explosion in the power plant of the Locust and the Martian machine collapsed in a ball of flame.

Lt Kremb soars passed the remains of a Martian Fighting Machine...

Emboldened by this success, the German pilots renewed their attacks, but the wounds suffered by Lt Reim, together with a choking lung full of Black Smoke from the remaining Martian saw him spiral into the ground. Posthumously awarded the Iron Cross with oak leaves, Lt Reim was survived by his wife Greta and six children.

Never giving up the fight, Kremb struck again and again, but to no avail. The remaining Martian, despite once tumbling to the ground, destroyed all its objectives and marched relentlessly towards the German lines, pursued by the single remaining German aircraft.

Lt Kremb was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class and a Wound Badge in recognition of his efforts at the time...

The game ends with the surviving Martian Tripod advances remorselessly...

This was our first foray into Tripods and Triplanes, the War of the Worlds expansion to Ares Games' Wings of Glory. Dave and Pete controlled the tripods and George defended humanity as the German player. Al acted as referee while we learned the rules. It was a fun game and we mostly played it correctly. Some confusion was had over how rockets work but our interpretation turned out to be correct. Next time, the game play will flow faster as we will be a bit more familiar with the new rules covering Martians

Certainly a worthwhile investment and a fun expansion to an already-excellent game