Der Grosse Schlag Scenario Rules v1.4

Sections

• Dates and Times
• Promotion
• Introduction
• Overview of Battle
• Victory Conditions
• Allied Forces
• Axis Forces
• Other Rules
• Summary of Player-Enforced Rules
• Map
• Settings
• Reasons for Various Aspects of Rules
• Aspects Particularly Different from Main Arena
• Links to Historical Information
• Credits
• Change Log

Dates and Times

Players should register for this Aces High scenario to play in it so that they can get mission orders, although walkons are allowed to show up in the Special Events Arena on game day to see if there are any open positions to fill. Der Grosse Schlag will be a four-frame event (four battles) with one test frame (or "beta" frame). The test frame (beta frame) is on September 22, 2007. The four regular frames are on October 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2007. Start times are all at 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time US. (For how that translates to your time, here is a time converter.) The arena will be closed to admittance at that time.

Important: Please show up on or before start time to play. The arena will be closed to admittance at start time. If you are disconnected and can't get back in, you can private message the Brooke, the CM, from the Main Arena by typing ".p Brooke Let me back in" into your radio text buffer. He will open the arena briefly for you to get back in. (You can also send private messages to Roscoroo, ROC, or Newman in the event that Brooke is not responding, such as if he got disconnected.)

Promotion

It is November, 1944. The US 8th Air Force is exerting itself to its limits, sending enormous waves of escorted heavy bombers into Germany for wide-ranging strikes in an attempt to bring Germany to its knees. However, General Galland has gathered Luftwaffe resources and is focusing its remaining might, which is substantial. His goal is to inflict horrific losses upon the 8th Air Force, preferably enough to crack its resolve. His goal is to deliver “Der Grosse Schlag” -- The Great Blow.

This scenario will pit 8th Air Force P-51D’s, P-51B’s, P-47D-25’s, P-38J’s, B-24J’s, and B-17G’s against Luftwaffe Bf 109K-4’s, Bf 109G-14’s, FW 190D-9’s, FW 190A-8’s, and a very small number of Me 262's and Me 163's. The US will have strategic targets to destroy, and the Luftwaffe will do all it can to take down the enemy fighters and bombers. This is a battle for supremacy in the skies over Germany.

Fighter pilots get two lives each frame, bomber pilots get one life and formations each frame, and there will be four frames plus one practice frame. The scenario is designed for a ratio of USAAF players to Luftwaffe players of 1.0 to 0.88 (nominally 112 USAAF fighter pilots and 36 USAAF bomber pilots to 130 Axis fighter pilots).

Introduction

During September and October 1944 the armies on the eastern and western fronts advancing on Germany have ground to a halt.  Both fronts had seen huge gains in territory in the last months.  This success had led to the outstripping of supply lines so the operational tempo slowed on the ground.  This reduction in ground operations allowed the Luftwaffe to reduce it’s own operations to the bare minimum, except for sorties in defense of Germany proper.

The German aircraft industry had reorganized and in September produced 3,821 new combat aircraft.  Four out of five of these aircraft were Messerschmitt 109s and Fw 190s.  This increase in production produced an excess of aircraft in the frontline units.  All 15 Gruppen deployed in France had suffered heavy losses.  They were completely re-equipped with the influx of new production aircraft.  There was also a simultaneous expansion of the single-engined day fighter Gruppen from 1900 aircraft to 3000 by the middle of November.  Each day fighter Gruppe in the west expanded from three to four Stafflen, each with 10 to 16 aircraft.  This recovery and increase in fighters was to come as a surprise to the Allies.

The Gruppen on the western front fell back across the Rhine to bases in Germany.  Also several units where pulled back from the Eastern front and the Balkans into the Reich.   These units were reequipped with the new production aircraft and brought back to strength with replacement pilots who had been given specialist training in attacking bombers.  However the combat of the past year had severely depleted the pool of experienced leaders.  Only a few of the best leaders are left after the hectic combat of the winter of 44 and the slaughter over France after the invasion.  These were a valuable asset not to be risked lightly.

Generalleutnant Adolf Galland was thus presented with a force reinvigorated and ready to strike a decisive blow against the allied bombing offensive.  Operation “Der Grosse Schlag” (The Great Blow) is about to commence.

Luftwaffe Objectives

Some of the best Gruppen of the Jagdwaffe have been brought together in order to deliver the “Grosse Schlag” or Great Blow.  On October 26, 1944 Reichmarshall Goering called a meeting at his headquarters in Berlin.  All formation leaders down to and including Gruppenkommandeure and a Staffelkapitan from each Gruppe were in attendance.  At the conclusion of the meeting Goering announced “I want 500 B-17s brought down next time or I’ll have you transferred to the infantry!”

The Jagdwaffe had it’s orders.  A maximum effort was to be exerted on the next Allied bomber attack.  Galland’s challenge was to inflict such losses on the Allied bombers and fighters that they were forced to stop their ongoing offensive against the infrastructure of Germany while not crippling the Jagdwaffe and loosing the last of his remaining leadership.

Eighth Air Force Objectives

It is business as usual in East Anglia, with missions being planned based upon weather.  The targeting of the synthetic oil installations, refineries, marshalling yards,  and selected airfields continues unabated.  Strong enemy resistance in the form of a large intercept of the bombers in early and late September had forewarned the leadership of the 8^th Air Force that something was brewing.  The almost complete absence of the Luftwaffe in October further heightened this worry.  General Doolittle and his staff were well aware that if a concentrated force of German fighters broke through the escorts as many as 100 bombers could be destroyed.  A loss of 10% of the bomber force would weaken the continuation of “Operation Pointblank”.  A repeat of such an event would most certainly bring about the cessation of daylight bombing.

The bombing campaign had to go on, so VIII Fighter Command laid on 600 escorts for the mission of November 2^nd.  A fighter group from IX Fighter Command was also borrowed to add to the escort.

The 8th Air Force bombers must attempt to hit at least two targets on the approved target list each frame. A maximum of 10 will be scored over the 4 frames of the scenario. While doing so they must not suffer excessive losses while inflicting a crippling blow on the German fighter forces.

8^th Air Force Targets:

• City in 13, 14, 6
• Radar Factory in 11, 13, 6
• Ammo Factory in 12, 14, 1
• City in 12, 12, 1
• Ack Factory in 13,12, 5
• Troop Factory in 11, 11, 3
• Refinery in 14, 10, 5
• City in 12, 9, 4
• Refinery in 12, 8, 7
• Radar factory in 14, 8, 4
• Radar factory in 12, 7, 4
• Refinery in 13, 6, 6
• City in 14, 7, 8
• Ammo Factory in 11, 10, 5

The number of objects and guns at each type of target is:

• City: 130 Objects and 5 Guns
• Radar Factory: 88 Objects and 5 Guns
• Ammo Factory: 88 Objects and 5 Guns
• Refinery: 76 Objects and 0 Guns
• Troop Factory: 64 Objects and 5 Guns
• Ack Factory: 80 Objects and 5 Guns

Overview of Battle

This Aces High scenario has 4 frames and two sides: Allied and Axis. Each frame will be approximately 3.0-3.5 hours long (some setup time, then takeoff announcement, and end frame exactly 3.0 hours after takeoff announcement). Fighter pilots get two lives in primary rides and unlimited lives in gunner positions. Bomber pilots get 1 life (but formations) and unlimited lives in gunner positions.

The Allied objective is to reduce selected ground targets by strategic bombing and destroy the Luftwaffe in the air or on the ground.  The Axis objective is to cause heavy casualties to the 8^th Air Force while not crippling the Luftwaffe.

The scenario has a ratio of Allied players to Axis players of 1.0 to 0.89. Nominally, there will be 164 Allied fighter pilots and 56 Allied bomber pilots to 196 Axis fighter pilots (which is the final registration tally).

Victory Conditions

Axis victory points:

• 3 points per Allied fighter aircraft lost. ("Lost" means it does anything other than land safely back at an active base, including death or capture or ditch or bail).
  
• 5 points per Allied bomber aircraft lost. ("Lost" means it does anything other than land safely back at an active base, including death or capture or ditch or bail).
  
• 2 points per pilot that does not loose any aircraft during the entire frame and lands back at his home base at the conclusion of his last sortie.
  

Allied victory points:

• 3 points per non-262, non-163 Axis fighter aircraft lost. ("Lost" means it does anything other than land safly back at an active base, including death or capture or ditch or bail).
• 9 points per death of designated Axis “Leader”.
• 2 points per pilot that does not loose any aircraft during the entire frame and lands back at his home base at the conclusion of his last sortie. For bomber pilots this is 2 points per pilot who makes it back to home base (i.e., number of drones surviving or lost doesn't figure into these points).
• Percentage of 100 points per target bombed based upon a percentage of the buildings destroyed by bombing at end of four frames. A maximum of 10 targets can be hit over the 4 frames for scoring. If more than 10 are bombed only the 10 most heavily damaged will be counted.
• 2 points per ack position at an "active" airfield destroyed by strafing. This will represent Luftwaffe aircraft located at bases that were targets of Allied fighters.
• 5 points per Axis Me 262 or Me 163 fighter aircraft lost. ("Lost" means it does anything other than land safely back at A5 for both or A4 for Me 262 as well, including death or capture or ditch or bail).

Maximum Allied Points Possible 4190, Maximum Axis Points Possible 4308. However, the LW risks 396 points over 4 frames from their Leaders. This scoring does not include any pilots whose planes and bodies survived the entire frame to land back at their home base.

At the end of frame 4, the CM will total up the points for each side and declare the winner.

Eighth Air Force (Allies)

A player gets two sorties (see description below). The Allied CO may distribute his personnel in the following units.  However a minimum of 27 bomber pilots must be allocated each frame. Groups where two aircraft types are available (such as P-51D/P-51B), the choice of which type to fly is up to the player.

Other

The possibility exists for strafing Luftwaffe planes rearming and refueling at their active bases. Ack is active and manned guns are “on”. The guns at Luftwaffe bases accounted for many of the best Allied Aces during the war. It is risk verus reward and the orders were to go get the Luftwaffe on the ground. So feel free to strafe any Luftwaffe aircraft you might find on the ground.

Each Group may only launch from their designated base only.  Allies may land and rearm from any of the following bases.

Active Allied Bases: A3, A9, A15, A41, A48, A51, A63, A65, A66, A70, A71, A72

The Allies may also score points by strafing the acks at the active Axis bases (See listing below). This represents the Luftwaffe aircraft which would have been on the ground at the bases in the actual war. Ack is active and manned guns are “on”. The guns at Luftwaffe bases accounted for many of the best Allied Aces during the war. It is risk verus reward and the orders were to go get the Luftwaffe on the ground. Also feel free to strafe any Luftwaffe aircraft you might find on the ground.

Ground guns enabled at all fields.

Luftwaffe (Axis)

A player gets two sorties (see description below). The Axis CO may distribute his players as he sees fit, as long as the number of players in each group does not exceed the max strength listed.  Some Gruppen may not be used.

Luftwafffe Jagdwaffe:

Active Axis Bases: A4, A5, A7, A12, A13, A14, A20, A22, A29, A31, A37, A39, A40, A46, A54

Other

All Gruppen must start where based.  Pilots may land and rearm at any base which is active.  However, if they exit from their plane at a base that is not their home base, it counts as a sortie lost but the plane is not lost and will not count as a death.  This is to represent the fact that a pilot landing a plane at a base other than their home base would not be immediately available for further sorties.  If they have a remaining sortie they must re-up at their Gruppen’s base of origin.

Ground guns enabled at all fields.

Other Rules

1. Filling plane position on game day: Based on the "Allied Forces" and "Axis Forces" sections above, a side gets to decide on how they want to allocate their forces. The Allied CO must allocate sufficient bomber pilots to fill at least three Bomb Groups. For every spot short of this the Allied fighter loss points increase by 1 per plane and the bomber loss points increase by 2 points.
   
   
2. Every pilot has 2 sorties which they may fly per frame. You may rearm as many times as you can without penalty. However you if you exit your plane at any base other than your home base it counts as the end of the sortie.
   
   If you land at your home base and exit, it is assumed you are simply grabbing a spare plane or having yours checked before your next sortie, this will not count as a sortie loss. If you are shot down, bail, ditch or crash all of these also count as a sortie loss.
   
   Please stay to man such guns, vehicles, and exempt positions as available on your side.
   
   
3. Luftwaffe leaders (see Rule #5) are also limited by sorites as stated above. In addition each pilot designated by his CO as a Luftwaffe leader will cause the addition of 9 points to the enemy’s score for their first death that occurs each frame. If you ditch or bail successfully (without getting captured), you keep the points. Anything else -- i.e., you get shot down, you crash, you ditch or bail and get a "you've been captured" message, you ditch or bail and get killed while ditching or bailing -- you give 9 points to the Allies. A second death does not count against the point total.
   
   
4. Pilots may fire upon parachutes and ditched aircraft.
   
   
5. Each Luftwaffe Gruppen shall have a designated “Leader”. If that leader dies once, 9 points will be added to the USAAF's score. If he or she dies again, no further points will be added. Pick your best pilots as leaders, as it is vital they survive to maximize your scoring opportunities each frame. Note that JG27 as 3 Gruppen. So If all three Gruppen of JG27 are manned then there shall be 3 leaders designated. The leader must serve in the unit he or she is representing.
   
   
6. Promptly at the end of the frame, the CM's will instruct all players to Disengage. A 15 minutes grace is given to land. All combat will cease. A 15 minute grace period will be given for those who can to land at their home base. After 15 minutes planes that have not landed back at base shall crash or exit. The CM's may implement a strong downwind at this time that will force all aircraft in the air to crash. Once all of these aircraft are down, the logs will be closed for scoring purposes.
   
   
7. Buildings at strategic targets will stay destroyed objects. Antiaircraft positions that have been destroyed will be repaired at the start of the next frame. Fuel and Ammo bunkers at airbases will be rendered indestructible.
   
   
8. Players may use the 40mm guns at all friendly fields.
   
   
9. Bombers may not fly lower than 15,000 feet over enemy territory unless they are returning to base damaged. Bombers may not exceed 25k in altitude. Fighters are not to exceed 32k unless engaged. This will be enforced by making any aircraft over 34k visible to all sides on radar. This will be player enforced. Both sides are to abide by the height limitation. You have 34,000 feet to use, so be mindful of your maneuvering space.
   
   
10. Destruction of buildings at strategic targets by gunfire is not permitted. Any buildings destroyed by Fighter Pilots at strategic targets will result in a penalty to the Allied side’s score to be determined by the CM.
    
    
11. Allied fighters may not carry bombs or rockets.
    
    
12. Me 262's may only land and rearm at A5 and A4. Me 163s may not land anywhere but A5, if they do they are considered lost.
    
    
13. Allied bomb groups must stay grouped up, no splitting groups to hit multiple targets and present a wider front. Bomb groups historically flew as formations. Separate groups, however, can fly separately.
    
    
14. Aircraft must carry at least 50% internal fuel load at takeoff.

Summary of Player-Enforced Rules

The following is a summary of some rules that regular pilots must enforce upon themselves during play (as opposed to those rules that are enforced by settings or enforced by how CM's or CO's set things up prior to frame start). This is intended as a handy summary list. You still should know the rest of the rules as well. For details of what a term means exactly (such as what is a "life", what constitutes "nearest non-flashing base", and so on), see above.

• Players get only two sortes in their aircraft.
• Fighters generally do not go above 32k.
• Bombers must not go above 25k and generally must stay above 15k.
• All aircraft must carry at least 50% internal fuel load at takeoff.
• The Axis CO shall designate one player as a “Leader” per Gruppen each frame and report same to the CM before flight, please do this as soon as possible.  If the Axis CO fails to do this before flight, the first person listed in each Gruppen’s score will assume the mantel of leader for the purpose of scoring that frame.
• Make sure you know which bases are allowed takeoff bases for your Group/Gruppen (see lists above).
• If you do not die in any primary ride in a frame and land at your takeoff base, tell your CO (it matters in scoring).
• German Aircraft may only enter column row 8 if in ICON range of an allied aircraft.
• German aircraft may at no time enter column row 7, if you have not caught the running Yankee dog after 1 sector you are not going to.
• Aircraft at no time may enter Row 15 or Row 5.
• Aircraft may at no time enter column 4 or column 15. (Exception: Bombers hitting targets in Column 14 may continue past and turn around in column 15 as required for mission.)  No loitering by either side in column 15 is allowed.

Map

Map of scenario area. Germany is territory east of the 8 column line, and all bases east of column 8 will be German bases (with the possible exception if A1 for terrain reasons). Fields outlined in purple are the active fields.

Settings

Terrain: Rhine.

Icon range: near.

Wind: 0 mph at 0-5k altitude, 10 mph from northwest to southeast at 5k altitude on up -- or possibly varied frame to frame, but with notice via weather forecast.

Clouds: Clouds and cloud cover will be variable and may change frame to frame. Weather forecasts will be posted at least five days prior to each frame -- enough time to allow for planning changes.

Object down time: Destroyed objects at Strategic Targets stay destroyed permanently.

Hardness settings: Radar towers, ammo bunkers, fuel bunkers, and hangars will be nearly indestructible (500.0 = 500,000 lbs) to remove them as targets. I.e., Bomb Hgr, Bunk Ammo, Bunk Fuel, Bunk Radar, Ftr Hgr, Hanger, Rearm, Veh Hgr -- all have hardness of 500.0.

All other settings are the default settings listed here: http://ahevents.org/images/stories/scenarios_images/defaultSettingDocument/defaultArenaSettings.html

Reasons for Various Aspects of Rules

Radar/Sector Counters

The Luftwaffe had 5 command and control centers which gathered all reports of enemy air activity over Germany.  These reports consisted of radar contacts, visual sightings by aircraft, reports from ground observes and from anti-aircraft batteries.  In other words the Germans knew where the bombers were generally within a certain distance.  In order to remove the unwelcome and unrewarding task of assigning ground controllers and due to the fact that third country bases would have to be scattered throughout the terrain for these controllers to use, we will use sector counters with delayed radar updates.

The Axis will not know for certain whether raids inbound are bomber or fighters alone.  Careful use of the tower and AAA gun batteries at the bases may lend some clues.

Leadership Loss Penalty

Ratio of Players

Start Time and Closing of Admittance

Admittance into the Special Events Arena will be turned off right after start time elapses. This is because the sides in the scenario need a little time to get their players assigned, briefed, and settled before takeoff. We have found -- based on many previous scenarios -- that if admittance to the arena is not closed, players drift in late, and curious players who haven't heard of scenarios before continue to pop in to see what is going on. While we very much want players in scenarios, it is a large organizational problem to deal with players trickling in right up to takeoff or to deal with new players asking lots of questions about scenarios while trying to get things ready for takeoff. To accomodate players who show up on time but get disconnected in the initial stages of the scenario, these players can send a private text message to the CM from any other arena. For example, typing ".p Brooke Please let me back in" will private message Brooke to let you back into the Special Events Arena. You can also send a private message to "Roscoroo", "ROC", or "Newman", all of whom have the ability to open the doors of the Special Events Arena.

Lives of Bomber Pilots

Bomber pilots get 1 life because they get formations (and thus already the equivalent of more than one life) and because it is hard to keep bomber groups together if some pilots are on a first life and some are on a second life, starting at an airfield far separated from the rest of the group.

Aspects Particularly Different from Main Arena

This section is for describing some (not all) of the aspects to this scenario that are particularly different compared to flying in the Main Arena.

Increasing Aircraft Range

In scenarios, there are times when using techniques to increase aircraft range might be important. Setting the engine's RPM and manifold settings to the "max cruise" settings in the E6B will result in more range than full military power and is a good choice for a pilot who has no idea what might work better. However, there are times when settings different from the max-cruise settings will result in even greater range, such as lowering the RPM farther than max-cruise settings. Also, the E6B information does not suggest altitudes for cruising. If you have a longer distance to travel, it may be best to climb at military power to 25k or 30k, then lower the RPM below the max-cruise settings. For shorter distances or for aircraft that do not perform well at high altitude, 10-20k might work better. Figuring out a plan for fuel management is, for some scenarios, a useful part of preparation.

Wind

This scenario implements wind. Level bombing in wind is a bit different than bombing without wind, in terms of accuracy and techniques that are best to hit targets. You might want to suggest to your bomber pilots that they practice bombing in wind prior to the scenario if they are not familiar with the impact of wind.

Links to Historical Information

US Air Force history, day by day, for November, 1944: https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/PopTopics/chron/44nov.htm

References

Six Months to Oblivion – The Defeat of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force over the Western Front 1944/1945, by Werner Girbig

The Mighty Eighth War Diary, by Roger A. Freeman

The Mighty Eighth – A History of the Units, Men and Machines of the US 8^th Air Force, by Roger A. Freeman

Jagdwaffe – Defending the Reich 1944-1945, by Robert Forsyth

The Last Year of the Luftwaffe – May 1944 to May 1945, by Alfred Price

Credits

Scenario design: Fencer

Terrain and clouds: Dux

Scenario CM: Brooke

Rules writeup: Fencer, Brooke

Allied CO: Fencer

Axis CO: Stampf (leadup to frame 1), Fester (frames 1 and 2), BearKats (frames 3 and 4)

Change Log

This section mentions the changes in each version, so that when changes are made to this document, people don't need to read the whole document to find out where the changes are.

Note on terminology: In this section, "Clarified" has a very precise meaning. If a rule is listed as being "Clarified", it means that the rule and its intent is not being changed but that the explanation herein is being improved to make the rule and its intent more clear. Rules are sometimes clarified during a scenario based on player questions or misunderstandings about wording.

v0.3, 7/18/2007
-- Set 5 pts for each 262 or 163 shot down.
-- Radar settings listed to correspond to dot radar enabled over 34k.
-- Aircraft must carry at least 50% internal fuel at takeoff.
-- Give full set of hardness settings for objects made indestructible.
-- Added icon range = near in "Settings".

v0.4, 7/25/2007
-- Corrected error in 8th AF Targets list.

v0.5, 7/31/2007
-- Auto ack lethality changed to 1.0.
-- Number of available P-38's is increased.
-- Clarified that bomber groups fly together but that separate groups can fly separately.

v0.6, 7/31/2007
-- Bomber pilots get 1 life. Explain why in "Lives of Bomber Pilots" subsection.

v0.7, 8/4/2007
-- Updated intended registration numbers.
-- Put in dates and times of the frames.

v0.8, 9/8/2007
-- Updated the registration numbers to be what they are as final numbers.
-- Put in date of beta frame (Sept. 22).
-- Corrected radar settings (no "full enemy") and added a couple others that are different from defaults.
-- Made adjustments to 8th AF numbers according to Fencer.
-- Changed axis CO to Krusty.
-- Put in new version of the map.

v0.9, 9/23/2007
-- Changed axis CO to Fester.
-- Updated map to show active fields for both sides.
-- Took out special discussion of ack, as ack is at Main Arena standard.
-- Made it clear that ground guns are enabled at all fields.
-- Changed ExitWhileMoving to include chutes (in addition to gunners).

v1.0, 9/25/2007
-- Corrected ExitWhileMoving back to gunners only. Should not include ability to exit moving chute in regular frames.

v1.1, 10/3/2007
-- Corrected typographical error in 8th Air Force objectives on number of scorable targets to agree with victory conditions (a max of 10 targets will be scored).
-- Clarified in victory conditions that survival points for making it back to home base in the end for bomber is independent of drones.
-- Removed "not yet final version" from title of this document.

v1.2, 10/10/2007
-- Corrected table to include II/JG 2 as an available LW group.
-- Added setting for each side to see its own planes above 34k so that CO's can police their own pilots for flying above limit of 34k.

v1.3, 10/27/2007
-- Updated credits to list the varous axis CO's and Dux's contribution to terrain.

v1.4, 5/3/2008
-- Added the initial promotion section, which is what we use on the web site to advertise the scenario.