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Dramatic Final Turn Ends Dory's 29-Year Title Drought ~ Shorter Games, Similar Scores Under New Ammo Rules ~ Original WWI Aviation Footage from Australian War Museum

11/9/2025

Volume 37, Number 7

DRAMATIC FINAL TURN ENDS DORY'S 29-YEAR TITLE DROUGHT

Bob, Jon, Ben Secure 4 of Top 5 Spots for Allies

Dory, Rick and Bob were all within a single burst of winning the 37th Indy Squadron Armistice Day Fits Tournament last Saturday, November 8, in Lewisville, Indiana, but it was Dory who squeezed the trigger at the moment of truth. Seven players gathered to determine the 2025 squadron championship, with Rick drawing up yet another excellent scenario:

Allies
Bob Meister, SPAD XIII
Dory Oda, Morane Saulnier AI
Ben Shepherd, Camel 130
Jon Shepherd, Ansaldo AI

Central Powers
Ethan, Siemens Schuckert DIII
Rick Lacy, Fokker DVI
Stephen Skinner, Oeffag 253

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Game Report: Rick Gets 1st Career Triple Ace ~ Armistice Day Preview ~ Vintage Film, German Rumpler CI

10/19/2025

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Volume 37, Number 6

Rick Gets 1st Career Triple Ace
October 18 Game Report

Three players gathered for gaming in Lewisville, Indiana on October 18th and ran a series of short balloon missions while awaiting the arrival of Dory to complete the quorum.

Game 1 featured Stephen's 275 hp Bristol crew defending a British balloon against Ethan's Albatros DVa and Rick's Fokker DrI. On the first turn the Bristol was able to position for a 150 side shot on Rick while the observer took at 200 foot head-on shot at Ethan, whose engine instantly stopped after a 5% critical hit cut his fuel lines low over enemy lines. The DVa managed a landing on a nearby road but Ethan's 2-mission pilot, Schnookie Pootzie Durtzenwald (Ethan insists it is a genuine German name meaning "Cutie Pie in the Forest") was captured for the duration.

Rick's DrI pummeled the balloon for 11 hits but was forced to break off and escape when the gasbag was just 150 off the ground.

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Mike Carr Visits Indy ~ Sept 20 Gaming Report ~ Albatros DVa in Flight ~ Verdun 1914

9/21/2025

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Volume 37, Number 5

Mike Carr Visits Indy

The creator of the Dawn Patrol board game and masters-level veteran player Carl Priest visited Indianapolis for the Gen Con gaming convention on July 30th, and Stephen met them in the downtown area for dinner and a quick Fits scenario.

The evening began with a distinctly underwhelming dinner at The Hangar near South and Madison Avenue in which we served ourselves in an unpleasant atmosphere without utensils while trying to pay via QR code. After consensus determined that we would not return, we walked to the nearby Hyatt Indy where Mike and Carl were staying. There we played a quick, 3-player balloon mission in which Stephen's Albatros pilot was credited with shooting down Carl's SPAD VII. Lacking a fourth player, we called it a night.

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Rick Dominates Late to Beat Stephen Dale in RBF XXXVI ~ New Ammo System Adopted for Special Events ~ Ethan, Kevin Save Triple Crown ~ May 17 Gaming Report

5/18/2025

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Volume 37, Number 4

Rick Dominates Late to Beat Stephen Dale in RBF XXXVI

For a while the 36th Red Baron Fight didn't really feel like Red Baron Fight. The largest field since 2018 gathered at Nelson Skinner's house in Lewisville, Indiana on May 17th for the annual event that featured new ammunition rules for the first time. Each pilot was allotted 3 long bursts, 3 interrupted bursts and 2 short bursts with gun jams rolled as usual - although all jams were automatically fixed for the following turn (see New Ammo System Adopted in this issue). The sides for the seven-player game were:

Kevin Richeson, Camel 130 (LT Collier Smith, 14/6)
Bob Meister, Camel 130
Stephen Skinner, Camel 130

Dory Oda, red Fokker Dr1
Rick Lacy, Fokker Dr1 (UNT Lawrence Reiter, 31/7)
Ethan Skinner, Albatros DVa 180 hp revised stats
Stephen Skinner, Albatros DVa 200 hp

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Red Baron Fight Coming May 17 ~ Re-Thinking Indy's Participation at Whosyercon ~ Whosyercon 25 Report ~ 2025 Mini Con Report by Rick Lacy

4/25/2025

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Volume 37, Number 3

Red Baron Fight Coming May 17

Indy's popular and long-running special event, the Red Baron Fight, is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, in Lewisville, Indiana at 12 noon.

As always, the 36th Red Baron Fight will recreate the dogfight in which Manfred von Richthofen lost his life in April 1918. The airplanes, altitudes, weather conditions and landscape are all carefully designed to match the historical air battle. This is very much like the Fits Society's "Pages From The Past" scenarios printed in each issue of Aerodrome, except we've been doing it for 36 years.

Everyone is welcome, participation is always high, and it is common to see some of the best aces in the squadron being flown. The winner receives the Silver Goblet, which is a pretty accurate recreation of the silver cups that Richthofen had made by a Berlin jeweler to represent each of his aerial victories. This year's cup has already arrived and awaits it's new winner - see photo above. The lower photo is an actual Red Baron cup from 1916.

Watch for the location to be announced within a week, and the date is set for May 17th. See you there!

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World Record Ground Fire Wrecks Both Teams ~ Gaming Report, Feb 8, 2025 ~ The Red Baron's First Albatros ~ Best Von Richthofen Book in Decades

2/9/2025

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Volume 37, Number 2

Four players gathered for four games in Lewisville on Saturday, February 8th for the Indy Squadron's second gaming day of the new year. Present were Rick, Ben, Jon and Stephen while Nelson served us a great snack smorgasbord as well as lunch and dinner.

The final game of the night was wrought with mayhem and unbelievable ground fire carnage, so we'll start at the end of the night with our report on Game 4.

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Society Desperate to Copy Instant Start's Success ~ Stephen Dale Dominates Gaming After 3 Year Absence ~ Fly In a WW1 Airplane ~ 2025 Indy Calendar Released

1/2/2025

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Volume 37, Number 1

Society Desperate to Copy Instant Start
Sarcasm Rating, 7/10

Rather than simply adopting the Indy Squadron's existing Instant Start system that is faster, starts flights closer together and provides better limited intelligence, the Fight in the Skies Society has wisely chosen to alter the system that was already producing inferior results. George Henion shared the news that the Society will now begin halving Quick Start's ridiculously large altitude differences to make it more like Instant Start, because everyone knows that propping up a deficient system is better than changing What We've Always Done.

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Rick Edges Ethan To Claim 3rd Indy Crown ~ Rule Changes Considered for Armistice Day

11/13/2024

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Volume 36, Number 10

Rick Edges Ethan to Claim 4th Indy Crown

Rick scored a pilot hit and inflicted a fatal wound. Ethan scored a pilot hit but the result was a no effect wound. That was the difference between a landslide victory for Ethan and a narrow win for Rick in the Indy Squadron's 36th annual Armistice Day Fits Tournament held on November 9 in Lewisville, Indiana. The sides rolled up as follows:

Dory Oda, Sopwith Snipe
Stephen Skinner, Sopwith Camel 150 hp
Ethan Skinner, SPAD XVII

Bob Meister, Fokker DVII 185 hp
Rick Lacy, Seimens Schuckert DIV

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Special Preview, Nov 9 Armistice Day Tournament ~ Last of Historic Victory Medals to be Awarded

11/2/2024

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Volume 36, Number 9

Special Preview!
Nov 9th Armistice Day Tournament

The 36th annual Indy Squadron Armistice Day Fits Tournament is slated for 12 noon, November 9, 2024 at the home of Nelson Skinner in Lewisville, Indiana. Please bring $12/person if possible to cover food. Meals and snacks will be served all day.

Everyone is welcome to vie for the tourney title, and those who have participated in an official Indy Squadron game in calendar year 2024 are eligible to win the local squadron championship. See complete eligibility details here.

Zach and Joshua are among the new players eligible this year after participating in New Year's Day gaming early in the season. While both of them must be considered long shots for the title, they wouldn't be the first rookies to win it and both seem adept at gaming.

Jon and Ben are sharp and well practiced. They both played at last month's game day and Benjamin survived every mission. 2019 Victory Medal winner Bob Meister is seeking his second title but he's been missing from the table since spring and may need a game to get back in the groove. The same goes for Kevin Richeson, holder of three Victory Medals who joined us before the summer break.

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Ethan Dominates Season Opener, Ben Survives Every Mission ~ Armistice Day Set for Nov 9 ~ Restored and Colorized: SPADs, Sopwith's and More in France, 1918 ~ Superb New Book on Dreadnoughts

10/13/2024

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Volume 36, Number 8

Ethan Dominates Season Opener, Ben Survives Every Mission
October 12, 2024 Gaming Report

Fall gaming kicked off on October 12th at Stephen's 1917 Room in Union City. There was plenty of action on the table with five kills being scored in three games.

Game 1

The first scenario matched the Pfalz DIIIa's of Ernst Reichensberger (Jonathon, 3/0) and LTN Nathanael Spadinger (Stephen, 11/2) against the French Nieuport 17's of Achilles de LaCroix (Ethan, 5/1), Martin Boulee (Rick, 19M) and Benjamin's yet-to-be-named 2nd mission Frenchman.

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NEXT GAMING DAY:
Jan 1, 2026
New Year's Day
Lewisville IN

Reigning Champions

Armistice Day Fits Tournament
Dory Oda

Red Baron Fight
Rick Lacy

Whosyercon Open
Stephen Skinner

2026 Calendar

January 1
Official gaming
Location TBA

February 7
Official gaming

March - April
Society Mini Con
Date/Location TBA

April 18
Red Baron Fight XXXVI

May 16
Official gaming

June 20
Official gaming

September 5
Official gaming
Possibly at WhosyerCon TBA

October 3
Official gaming

November 7
Armistice Day Fits Tournament
Lewisville IN

December 5
Official gaming

January 1, 2027
New Year's Day gaming

ISD Staff

Treasurer:
Ethan Skinner

Editors Emeritus:
Brian Halberstadt
Terry Phillips

Editor-in-Chief:
Stephen Skinner

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