Volume 24, Number 5

Gen Con returns to Indianapolis on August 16-19, and the Fits Society's complete Gen Con gaming schedule is to be released soon here at ISD. 

We anticipate daily gaming slots at 9 am, 12 noon, and 5 pm. George Henion and Indy's Rick Lacy are expected to be among the GM's running scenarios throughout the week. 

ISD will once again carry complete coverage of Gen Con, including: 

• Photos of all Dawn Patrol and Fight in the Skies events
  
• Video coverage of special DP events on Indy Squadron TV 
• Coverage of Rick Lacy's Fits scenarios 
• Special coverage of oddities such as the costume march, etc., as we have in the past 

Dawn Patrol remains the only game in the history of Gen Con to be represented at every convention since the birth of the con.  

Outside the immediate news directly related to Dawn Patrol, a few enjoyable treats await Gen Con attendees in 2012. 

A major announcement regarding the future of D&D, the original role playing game, is expected. A recent Gen Con press release called the conference "an unprecedented look into the future of Dungeons & Dragons, including the evolution of the game, the re-birth of a fantasy setting and the next generation of art."

Broader still is the addition of Wil Wheaton to the guest list this year. Wheaton is best known to gamers as Wesley Crusher, the doctor's son on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wheaton will be signing autographs for three days during the con. 

Now is the time to get your badge for 2012. It is also a big time saver to order all of your game tickets in advance. 

The Masters and the Gen Con Open headline a big lineup of Dawn Patrol events at this year's con. The complete 2012 schedule will be posted here as soon as it is released by the Fits Society. 

Volume 24, Number 4

It didn't seem like much of a shot at the time. Even Ethan didn't think much of it when his Fokker Dr I pilot took at 200-foot tail shot on Rick Lacy's Camel. One of Ethan's guns was already jammed. The shot scored only two hit factors of damage. 

But it was enough.  

That single bullet turned out to be the margin between victory and defeat in one of the most bizarre Red Baron Fights in the game's 23-year history.   Dice were rolled and the sides stacked up like this:

• Dory, Sopwith Camel 130
• Rick, Sopwith Camel 130 (CPT Gordon Firth-Hewitt, 4/0)
• Ethan, Fokker Dr I (Citrudes Mercedes, 1/0)
• Stephen Dale, Albatros DVa [rev] (Alex Godfrey, 2/0)
• Stephen, Albatros DVa [rev] (OF ST Sabine Schorst, 7/1)

It looked as if the Brits would be overwhelmed early in the game when all three Germans scored hits on Dory's Camel on Turn 4. Somehow she survived the assault and the Brits quickly altered their tactics by splitting up and forcing the Germans to divide their forces in order to stay on the attack. 

The Albatri of Stephen and Stephen Dale pursued Rick's Camel, while ten squares to the north, Ethan's Fokker Dr I pressed the attack on Dory. At this critical juncture of the game, the Brits flew exceptionally well and managed to avoid what appeared to be a certain defeat by using their speed to dodge attacks and offer only the poorest shooting angles. 

The Germans, meanwhile, were plagued with bad luck. Stephen's Albatros had jammed one machine gun on the game's opening turn. He was unable to clear it despite trying eight times throughout the game. On turn 12, both Stephen and Ethan double-attacked Dory's severely battered Camel in what should have been a decisive moment. But instead of shooting her down, Stephen's last remaining gun jammed and Ethan could manage only 5 hits. 

By this time Dory knew that she had run out of miracles. With 41 bullet holes in her Camel it was time to get out while the gettin' was good. She had flown well and had nothing left to offer to her wingman offensively, and was rapidly losing the ability to defend herself. She had survived 20 possible pilot chances and only taken one critical hit in her airplane. Dory left her 17th Red Baron Fight the same way as the previous 16... without a Silver Goblet. 

With the Albatrosses effectively out of the fight and unable to keep pace, Ethan's Dr I played a cat-and-mouse game with Rick's lone remaining Camel. They would briefly exchange shots, then fly out of range before a general dogfight could ensue. 

Stephen Dale's Albatros was unable to get close enough to an opponent for a shot in the last 16 game turns. In that same span, Stephen's Albatros managed only two total shots. Like their Camel counterparts, both Alb pilots flew brilliantly but simply lacked the airplane performance to be a meaningful part of the outcome. 

The final shots were exchanged on Turn 21 when Ethan's Dr I took a 200-foot tail shot on Rick's Camel, scoring 2 hit factors. Those bullets scored the deciding points. When the points were tallied, Ethan came out ahead, 79-77 in the closest Red Baron Fight since Scott Jones and Terry Phillips finished in a dead tie in 1995. 

With only five competitors, this was the smallest RBF since 1998 (RBF IX won by Scott Campbell) and only the third RBF ever to have fewer than six players. 

Some of the early records for RBF are sketchy, but this year's event was probably the only one in history to produce no kills on either side. At 21 total turns, it is also among the longest in RBF history. 

At age 11, Ethan becomes the youngest player to have won the squadron's two elite events, Red Baron Fight and the Armistice Day Fits Tournament. That record may stand for a while. 

RBF XXIII will be remembered as a tactical chess game that produced few points, but loads of fun for everyone.  

Red Baron Fight XXIII
April 21, 2012 
Arsenal Game Room
784 Virginia Ave, Indianapolis 

1. Ethan Skinner                                           79 
   Fokker Dr I
2. Rick Lacy                                                   77 
   Sopwith Camel 130
3. Dory Oda                                                   47
   Sopwith Camel 130
4. Stephen Dale Skinner                            43 
   Albatros DVa (rev)
5. Stephen Skinner                                      39
   Albatros DVa (rev) 

Gaming Report
April 21, 2012

A total of four games were played on April 21. The first was a quick warm-up game that randomly pitted two Albs and a Roland (Ethan, Dory, Stephen Dale respectively) against a pair of 130 hp Camels flown by Stephen and Rick. 

We learned that flying Camels and Albs just before Red Baron Fight was a bad idea. Otherwise, the game was uneventful until the last turn when Rick's Camel hit Stephen Dale's Roland DII with forward fuselage critical hit 4/4. No one had ever had this critical hit before, so we were shocked to find that it was a fuel tank explosion. 

Stephen Dale's pilot was buried with full military honors. The second game of the day was RBF XXIII. 

Game 3

Stephen wanted to fly a Caproni bomber on the Italian front and everyone else was very obliging until the game actually started. At this point, much wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth ensued until by some miracle, both Rick and Stephen Dale's Austro-Hungarian fighters jammed their lone wing guns on the same turn. 

The game ended without further interest, although Stephen was delighted to have destroyed an enemy bridge with his Caproni and increased his pilot and aft gunner's records to 10 missions apiece... surely a Dawn Patrol record of some sort. 

Game 4

This game was notable in that the SE 5a's of Rick and Stephen both scored kills for their ace pilots. Stephen Dale's battered DVII 160 went down in flames to Lt. Norman Duckworth (Stephen, 23/9) while Dory's DVII 160 had its right wing sawed off by Perceival Stuart (Rick, 18/5).  

Society Spring Mini Con Dates Announced
April 13-15, Milwaukee

The Fits Society has released the dates for this year's Spring Mini Con, to be held from April 13-15 in Milwaukee. 

The Masters Tournament, the Society Open, and most of the major society tournaments are now held at the Mini Con, which is the biggest event on the Fits calendar. 

If you haven't attended this event yet, do yourself a favor and go! 

Incredible Discovery
Unseen Aerial Footage from WWI

The footage shown below was recently discovered in a vault in Paris, where it had been lost for more than 90 years. This amazing footage was taken by a French pilot just months after the Armistice ending the First World War. His purpose was to show the devastation left behind by the conflict. 

The story of the pilot's daughter, who had never seen her father's face until viewing this footage, is equally fascinating. 

Gen Con Commits to Indianapolis Through 2020
Gen Con Agrees to Five-Year Extension

 SEATTLE (December 7, 2011) – Gen Con LLC has agreed with the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association (ICVA) to continue operating Gen Con,  the nation’s largest annual consumer fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure gaming convention with the city of Indianapolis through the year 2020.
 
Gen Con experienced significant growth over the last several years. In 2011, Gen Con’s 44th year, there were more than 36,000 badges sold and turnstile attendance of 120,000. Attendees participated in 96 hours of gaming, music, shopping and more. 

“Forging this extension agreement with Indianapolis is a strong move for Gen Con,” said Adrian Swartout, CEO and co-owner of Gen Con. “With the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, the city has committed to supporting our growth, and the people and businesses of Indianapolis have embraced our gaming culture. We are happy with this partnership.”

Gen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, sci-fi and adventure game convention in North America. It was acquired in 2002 by former CEO and Founder of Wizards of the Coast Peter Adkison, who owns the company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Gen Con is a consumer and trade experience dedicated to gaming culture and community. For more information visit the website at www.gencon.com. For up-to-the minute details, find us at www.facebook.com/genconindy and at www.twitter.com/gen_con. 
 

Volume 24, Number 1

After nearly ten years on the old Web.com platform, the Indy Squadron Dispatch now has a new home on the web.   

Some of the changes that readers will notice include fewer total pages on the new site. This is because the new site has a wider presentation than the old site, allowing more content to be placed on each page. 

The new "Downloads" page is a better way to archive old issues of ISD and make data available to readers (such as Indy's house rules). The archiving of all known issues of ISD in digital form is a massive project that will hopefully come to fruition on this new site so that everyone can download the entire history of the Indy Squadron quickly and conveniently. It also better preserves the squadron's heritage by committing it to a digital format. The entire first decade of ISD exists only on paper at this point, but we are working on transferring all of the early paper issues into PDF format for preservation. 

The menu links to the forum and Indy Squadron TV are direct and now require only one click. Also note the return of our original Indy Squadron logo created by Brian Halberstadt more than a decade ago. 

Future issues of the Dispatch will appear in blog format to make more data available to the reader with less scrolling and searching. 

NOTE: To view the entire issue, always click the "READ MORE" link to the lower right of this sentence! There's much more in this issue.  

2012 Calendar Released 

The 2012 calendar is now posted on the right side menu bar on the front page of the new site. 

Armistice Eligibility Rules Change

In an effort to encourage more participation in games other than Indy's two major annual events, the following rule was passed by a 6-0 vote on Feb 18, 2012:


To be eligible to compete for the title of “Indy Squadron Champion” in the Armistice Day Fits Tournament, a player must either:

• Have participated in an official Indy Squadron game in the same calendar year, not including the Red Baron Fight or the Armistice Day Fits Tournament, OR
  
• Establish lifetime eligibility by having previously won an Indy Squadron championship title. 

The Latest Dirt

2011 was a weak year for the Indy Squadron. The lack of an annual calendar was one of the primary causes, in addition to fewer issues of the Dispatch being published. 

That't not entirely surprising. In some ways, it's not even a bad thing. There's an ebb and flow to hobbies like Dawn Patrol. Business, family matters and other pass times take their toll on player commitment. That's to be expected. The key is to maintain an existence during these times, and the Indy Squadron has always done that. 

There were fewer issues of ISD published in 2011, but there were issues published. We played fewer games, but we still played. Our two big events - Red Baron Fight and the Armistice Day tourney - were held with solid turnouts and great enthusiasm despite a slow gaming year. We had fewer local representatives at Gen Con, but we did have some representation. It was a slow year but the organization held together and maintained its existence. 

I hope the good turnouts at gaming on Feb 18 and Whosyercon are an indication of the coming year. The publication of a complete 2012 schedule should help considerably. 

Gaming Report

On February 18 the squadron held a surprisingly well-attended gaming session in addition to a brief business meeting to help organize the coming year. 

Dory, Wesley, Rick, Ian, Michael, Stephen Dale, Ethan and Stephen all participated. Two games were played while Alice whipped up a delicious meal of barbecue pork with chips and salsa, which everyone enjoyed immensely. 

On March 2, Rick, Ethan, Stephen Dale and Stephen attended Whosyercon, a small gaming convention based in Indianapolis. Dawn Patrol veteran George Henion is vice president of the con and it was a pleasure to see him there. Rick ran two game slots to help introduce new players to the game. 

Here is Rick's game report from Whosyercon:

***************************************************
WhosyerCon game reports
3-3-2012
by Rick Lacy 

I signed up to run two DP events at WhosyerCon in 2012.  The following are reports on the official games and the pickup games played.

Game 1:  Hot August Night (8-28-1918, F Med 7:00 pm no wind/clouds)

In this game, I tried to keep it simple hoping that any new players would be able to jump in and learn quickly.  The game was one of the first to start (12 noon) at the con and not many players were there yet, so I didn’t have enough for an official game.  Rather than not play however, I allowed my two new players to run 2 planes each (still an unofficial game, but one that allowed most of the game situations to be illustrated).  On the German side was the younger player (I forget his name unfortunately), on the Allied side was Larry, an older gentleman.  It was 2 Sopwith Dolphins vs 2 D-VII (160) Fokkers.

After a brief explanation on record keeping, movement, and firing/damage, my players rolled initiative.  It was Fokker/Dolphin/Fokker/Dolphin.  The first Fokker pulled away slightly, leaving the first Dolphin with a side shot.  The second Fokker pulled up for a tail shot, and the second Dolphin followed suit.  Firing saw the only Fokker firing miss while both Dolphins hit for average damage.

The second turn saw the movement order reverse.  This time however, both Fokkers teamed up on one Dolphin, causing significant damage in the right wing.

The third turn saw the movement order reverse again, but this time one of the Dolphins managed to roll snake eyes on a pilot chance, causing a critical wound to the hapless pilot.  He immediately dove away from the fight, passed out 2 turns later, and crashed into the ground shortly thereafter.  The remaining fight was a damaged Dolphin, a Fokker trying to get to the damaged Dolphin, and another Dolphin trying to intervene.  The Fokker managed to win initiative several turns in a row and damage the fresh plane, even causing a light wound to it’s pilot, but could never make it back to the tempting target just beyond his reach.  When the dice turned, the Fokker wisely chose to fly away, ending the combat.

Even though they didn’t end up with pilots, the two players seemed to enjoy the game.  I’m glad I ran it.  It’s always good to have people see the game played and allow new players to see how it works.

Game 2:  Pickup (10-2-1917, C High, no wind/clouds)

After the first scenario, 3 other Indy Squadron members showed up while one of my new players moved to other games.  A random mission was rolled and we ended up with Stephen and Larry in Alb D-Vs while Rick was in an Alb D-III vs Stephen Dale in a French SPAD V-II (150) and Ethan in a French SPAD X-III.

The first turn saw Larry move first.  He moved just far enough that Rick couldn’t box up, so he opted to pull up on the side of Larry’s plane to cover him.  This left Rick an unprotected target and both French planes sandwiched him.  Stephen then pulled up for a top shot on Ethan.  Firing resulted in average damage all around for everyone but Rick, who was fortunate in that Ethan missed him so he only took 2 points from the undergunned SPAD.

The fight continued to swirl around 13,500 ft with neither side gaining or losing much, until a pilot hit on Ethan caused him to dive out of the fight.  He eventually died in a crash.  Meanwhile, Ethan had managed to put a bullet into Larry, and he dove always also, to crash and die as well.  Stephen Dale then wisely chose to leave rather than face Stephen and Rick alone.

Game 3:  Two Seat Terror (8-28-1918, F Low, low clouds, no wind)

Two Halberstadt CL-IVs were tasked with a contact patrol, the objective to determine if the British forces currently on the offensive had forced a river crossing in their sector.  As they were approaching the target, they happened to run into 2 Bristol F2.B's (275 hp) on their way to bomb the mortar unit supporting the Germans in their defense of the river.  The Germans immediately dove to ground level and began their observations - each plane had to identify 2 groups of troops and then return with their data.  The British opted to ignore their mission and gleefully went after the Germans rather than continue to target.

Ethan’s pilot immediately got one area identified, but Stephen was not so lucky.  The Allies managed to hit both German planes slightly.

Ethan then pulled both Allies to the extreme end of the search area, leaving Stephen to make his ground observations unmolested.  He identified both his search areas quickly, then started back toward Ethan.  However, both Allies (having been beaten at numbers by Ethan), came back and targeted Stephen.  His observer managed a HO shot at Rick through the wings for 4 hit factors (all of which went into Rick’s engine).  Meanwhile, Ethan pursued Rick and pulled up for the 100 ft tail shot, exposing himself to Ricks HO observer fire.  Rick hit for 3 hf, one being a light wound to Ethan’s pilot.

As Ethan had identified his second group, it was time for the Germans to leave.  However, they decided that since their armorer had given them a bombload, they should use it, so they dropped them on an identified group of British soldiers, hitting them hard and dispersing an entire British platoon.

Pulling away after their bomb drops, the two Halberstadts looked like they would get home okay – until Ethan’s pilot passed out at 700 feet, both crewmen dying in the resulting crash.  Rick’s pilot was awarded the kill.  Stephen escaped, ending the combat.

Game 4:  Pickup (12-2-1917, C Low, wind 20mph from W, no clouds)

A setup game where each side got to pick it’s own planes, the Allies had Rick flying his backup SE5a pilot while Ethan was in a Bristol 275 vs Stephen Dale in a DrI and Stephen in a Hannover.  The Allies were making a bombing run on a train, and there was an additional target of a balloon at 600 feet a short distance away.  Stephen moved first, then Ethan dove down for a bomb run.  Stephen Dale chose to charge straight in on the Bristol, which Ethan tried to punish him for, taking a 150 foot head-on as a defensive shot (unfortunately missing and jamming his rear gun in the process).  As Stephen Dale pulled up for the bottom shot, Rick’s SE dove down and targeted the DrI with a 100 foot top shot – which resulted in a pilot hit on Stephen Dale and good damage to his DrI.

Stephen Dale pulled away and climbed, but Rick followed and got a 100 foot bottom shot which apparently did significant engine damage as the DrI started smoking.  Ethan completed his bomb run destroying the 2nd car in the train.  Stephen pulled up, firing both the pilot's and observer's guns at Rick for average damage.

Stephen Dale chose to dive away for a landing.  Rick followed Stephen to keep the pressure on him, and Ethan decided attacking the balloon solo would be a good idea. This was immediately disproven unfortunately, as he failed to surprise the balloon defenses and took 12 shots from the top in anti-aircraft fire. The resulting damage pretty much crippled him and caused the engine to catch fire, but he managed to get 3 hits on the balloon.  He failed to down it however, and flew away to line up for his landing attempt.  Meanwhile, Rick lost numbers to Stephen and chose to swoop by.  Stephen followed but missed his shot.

Ethan missed his landing roll and crashed hard, end over end.  The pilot was killed outright, but the observer lived.  He was unfortunately captured.  Rick chose to fly away and ended the game.

For those local players who missed the Con, you missed a fun day.  We hope to see you all at the next gaming day.