Scramble all fighters, Protect the convoy!!

All hands to battle stations!!!!

The claxons went off throughout the fleet, everyone dashing for the AA pintles and to man their respective posts ready to seal bulkheads and man the pumps. The captain cursed as he saw the incoming attack wave both on radar and through his binoculars out the starboard portholes. How the hell had they known about the deployment? Had they broken the codes? Was there a spy in port?
Way above deck, the CAP swung round to face the oncoming bomber wave as the RAF fighters scrambled from blighty roared ever nearer to help intercept the bombers......

 So for a while I've been wanting to do some ground attack missions with BRS to see how it handles. I'd seen the "heroes of the pacific" document up on the Facebook group (Ready Room) and was immediately inspired! several hours of searching, posting on the ready room and sourcing suitable shipping culminated with me working my way through a decent haul of 1:700 shipping. 
I bought a mixture of Hasegawa, Tamiya and Aoshima and I have to be honest, they're horrible to build with lots of fiddly bits involved. They're clearly aimed at being display pieces rather than gaming pieces however so I can let them off lol.

The haul

 I built enough to slap down on the table for a game today with my regular opponent so here goes!

Forces of the British Commonwealth

1. CAP force of x6 Spitfire Mkii, pilot ratings 5/4/3/3/2/2
2. Relief force of x6 Spitfire Mkii, pilot ratings 5/4/3/3/2/2 + Sailor Malan in Spitfire Mkii

Naval forces: 
x1 Small recon sub (no defensive armament, vulnerable to 20mm cannons) (2 chits to sink)
x1 Battle cruiser (played as defensive turrets with FP3 and 360 fire) (6 chits to sink
x1 Destroyer (played as defensive turrets with FP2 and 360 fire) (4 chits to sink)
x1 Patrol sub (played as defensive turrets with FP1 and 360 fire) (4 chits to sink)
The flak guns aboard ships granted +2 extra "heavy flak presence" cards to the deck.
 
Forces of the Axis

1. x6 bf109e, pilot ratings 5/4/3/3/2/2 
2. x6 bf109e, pilot ratings 5/4/3/3/2/2 + Galland in bf109e
3. x3 Dornier DO17 bombers
4. x3 Junkers JU88 bombers

Objectives:
Axis- Destroy and damage as much shipping as possible 
Allies- Drive off the bombers and minimise damage to the fleet

Bombing rules: 
I kind of chopped and bastardised the rules in the heroes of the pacific as they're more geared to single engine divebombers/torpedo bombers. It being a playtest run, I was very cautious with defensive power and was mindful its better to be underpowered than overpowered whilst everything is new!
Bombers in this mission can turn/climb but not outmaneuver/be outmaneuvered as they're working to their objectives. They're limited to dive their max bomb-laden move stat, not 6" as usual.
We played that the bombers had to glide bomb (historically high altitude bombing was worthlessly bad against naval targets- see Midway and the Tirpitz). Bombers need to be disadvantaged to release bombs as a pilot action with 3" range. Use FP only. Can take single heavy bomb for +4 FP or x2 light bombs for +2FP (2 uses).
A hit on a naval target gives a chit, critical gives two.  
As the BF109e had 20mm cannons, we ruled that they can perform strafing runs on the light recon sub but wouldn't be able to harm the larger craft. We were overly generous with firepower here and it should have been firepower of the plane alone as I restricted it to a flat 3 dice and they dispatched it no problems.

Deployment

Near left is my home corner, far right is his. recon sub far left, patrol sub near right.

Bombers deploy 18" out from targets in their own corner, my CAP squadron deploy neutral around the Battlecruiser on patrol and the relief squadron start in my home corner. Escorts start within 1 move of the Bombers.

My deployment

Enemy deployement

Pass 1
The CAP had deployed in two elements, one completing a pass to the south of the convoy, one passing to the north.
My element swinging to the south presented some good tailing opportunities to the few 109's that started advantaged (he had an awful rolling session!)
His escorts pile in, either climbing for advantage or opening up into the back of the ace, tailing him. Thankfully the gun sights on the 109's seemed to be off slightly, as he managed to dodge anything that drew a bead and a lot missed! The CAP picked up a couple of chits here however and its not long before my RAF squadron get stuck in, the aces and veteran outmaneuvering the previously activated 109 escorts ready for the next pass.
The northern 109 squadron breaks formation to head to the recon sub, forming up by climbing and turning to face my intercepting northern CAP element. The JU88's dive forward to neutral to prepare for their bombing run on the destroyer. Intercepting rookie RAF fighters dive from advantaged to just into gun range, lighting up the centremost ju88 with "wall of lead" to force it to neutral. The D017's dive forward to start their run on the Battlecruiser and my northern CAP wing climb and head north to intercept the squadron heading for the recon sub.

 "LOAD!!! Range 105, elevation 60, windage 42. FIRE!!!! Confirmed, good hit." The roar of the 105mm AA guns briefly drowned out the ack-ack of the 20mm quad mount batteries on the upper decks as the sky erupted with black puffs of death around the incoming wave of bombers....

 Trailing escorts that started disadvantaged drew the ire of my flak gunners via a "heavy flak presence" card. It scores a hit, but is dodged.
The resulting disruption allows the southern wing of my CAP to bolt for the cover of the clouds and prepare for an attack on the ju88's.

Gerries moving up to hit my beleagured CAP

The bombers will get through!! intercepting RAF fighters barrel low over the battlecruiser to engage the bombers

Pass 2
My southern CAP wing engage through the clouds led by their ace, knocking the Ju88 from neutral to disadvantaged and "home advatange" soaks the chit from turret's defensive fire. Sailor Malan engages the 109 escort squadron and lights up a veteran, forcing him to jink and dive, right into the gunsights of his wingman who promptly splashes the 109, a cheer erupting on deck from the gunners and damage control crew observing hundreds of feet below.
The rookies roar over the deck and unload the whole 9 yards of belt into the DO17's, albeit way too eagerly as tracer shows the rounds falling short or wide...Having the altitude advantage now, the northern CAP pilots engage head on against the 109's running the gauntlet on the recon sub.

 The veteran willed the sub to dive but knew they were up for resupply and wouldnt be prepared for a quick dive. He depressed the firing button as the 109 banked towards him, answering his shots with an angry splash of shattered perspex across the front of his cockpit. He chucked a split S to evade and cursed his luck. The 109's were going to riddle that sub and there was fuck all they'd be able to do about it....

 My dice are once again in fuck-you mode, my R4 CAP pilot losing a head to head vs an R2 pilot and failing the dodge to boot. Its looking grim on the northern section and my wing of 3 are outnumbered and unable to really protect the sub.
My RAF 3 in front of the battlecruiser (pictured above) get outmaneuvered by Galland and promptly lit up by his comrades, but dodges like a boss and takes only chits for his squadron whilst rattling some chits back on the gerries in head-on attacks. He earned his stripes today!

Claxons blared throughout the boat, calls for damage control teams rang out across all sections but the roar of inrushing water signalled to all that the situation was beyond all hope. Bulkheads slammed shut and hands raced to ladders as the call to abandon ship rang through those sections still filled with air.... 

 The recon sub was promptly sunk by successive strafing runs with the 20mm cannons of the 109's and we realised we'd overcooked the dice a bit as it was a bit too easy for the gerries. We'll change that for next time!!
The DO17's begin their run on the battlecruiser, their veteran crew getting the first bombs off, only to send a plume of brine skyward. The deck gunners miss their opportunity to retaliate and the rest of the RAF squadron engage both the ju88's and the DO17's, chitting the disadvantaged 88 though the 17's deflection shot went wide as it dipped its wing. Undettered, they complete their pass, scoring two light hits on the battlecruiser! The enraged deck gunners blow out an engine in retaliation but the fires erupting from amidships show it might be too late...

Tracer stripped left and right as he lined up his shot, chunks of DO17 flew off into the turbulent air behind it and fell to the sea gracefully. The bastard gunner had his eye in though and a sputter and hum came from the engine accompanied by a judder and a bright flash of tracer. Oil pressure looked bad, ammo dry. The old girl was shot up and the left aieloron was well soggy. He felt awful for the boys below on the deck but they'd given it all they'd got....

Defensive fire, head-ons and generally poor dice had led me into a shitty situation, just as my main RAF force engages the central bombers, they'd been forced to bug out due to accrued chits! With the CAP alone and now practically no-one engaging the Do17's, it was really only a matter of time. I had to trust in my deck gunners and the CAP to get a chit or two through and drive the bombers away before I lost the fleet!

 The Dorniers were lined up and still had another batch of bombs left underwing!

A shot from Pass 3, looking grim for the Northern CAP element. The southern element remains engaged with ju88.

Pass 3
The ju88s make it to the destroyer and blows up another chunk of the english channel, soaking the deck gunners as the CAP element ducks and weaves, lighting them up as best they can. The Northern element get througouhly outnumbered, both the R3 and R4 pilots end up tailed and get hammered for chits, though thankfully what does hit (quite a few misses rolled thankfully!) is dodged. My R4 wins a head-to-head shot to avenge his earlier failure and the plucky 109 that lost was that shaken he missed his tailing shot after B2T to get on his 6! the outnumbered four survives but his tailed wingman is splashed into the brine with successive hits. My CAP are now bugging out, so its all or nothing, gun for those bombers!!!
My CAP rookie in the clouds pulls a nice B2T and gets hot on the 6 of a DO17 thats already chitted and splashes the fucker. My R4 northern cap pulls "tight turn" and "aggressive tactics" to pull a 90 degree turn and attempts to splash a remaining DO17 but the deflection shot is dodged on 2 dice :-(

The boilers blew out as a huge explosion tore into the engine room. The ship jumped with the impact. Damage control calls rang out across all stations. It must have been critical, power went out, she went limp in the water.......

To round out the game, the last DO17's closed in on the ship and got another bomb on target sustaining only minor damage from the flak but accrueing enough chits to force a bug-out.

End of game:
Allied Losses:
Sunk: Recon sub
Damaged: Battlecruiser
Downed: x2 CAP spitfires, x1 RAF spitfire
Axis losses:
Downed: x2 DO17's, x1 109e
Damaged: x1 DO17, x1 ju88

All in all it was a great  learning game and testing out some new ideas.
It still needs a lot of work as I'd been way too cautious with the defensive abilities of the ships.

Tweaks for next time:

1. No avoid rolls for flak when glide bombing (low and slow should be vulnerable!)
2. Up defensive FP on  all shipsby at least 1
3. Ships move 1" at end of each pass
4. Introduce "numbers" or high cover element for defenders (bombers very good in defense)
5. Wind back strafing power
6. Try scaled back version with unarmed transports + 1/2 destroyer and single squadron + bomber

Hope you all enjoyed reading and get some inspiration out of it!! there'll be more to come!!

These poor fuckers never stood a chance....