Volume 30, Number 4

RBF XXIX Schedule, Venue Announced

Red Baron Fight XXIX will be held on the precise 100th anniversary of the death of Germany's famed ace, Manfred von Richthofen. Our commemorative gaming day will be held: 

• Saturday, April 21, 2018 
• Hometown Comics & Games, 1506 N State St, Greenfield, IN 
• Gaming begins at 12 noon 
• One brief warm up game will be held prior to RBF 

There is a Wendy's restaurant, Dollar General Store and Taco Bell in the same parking lot as our venue. A Starbucks is a quarter mile north on the same road. Most major fast food restaurants are within a two mile radius, since this is a major shopping area in Greenfield. 

Warm up gaming will be held on Friday night, April 20 as well. Details will be announced soon. 

Who Reads ISD?

Your editor generally doesn't pay much attention to statistics because the Indy Squadron Dispatch is written and designed specifically for members of the Indy Squadron Dawn Patrol gaming group. We hope that our content will interest outside readers and many times it does, however, the newsletter remains true to its original mission - to keep Indy players informed of upcoming gaming days. Nevertheless, we have some data that might be of interest. 

Volume 30 Issue 2 of ISD drew 616 unique readers. Since this statistic tracks individual readers, and since the Fight in the Skies Society currently has 82 members, it is clear that at least 87% of our readers come from outside the Dawn Patrol community. 

Volume 30, Number 3
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Special Guests Coming to Indy for RBF XXIX 

The Indy Squadron is delighted to learn that former Red Baron Fight champion Scott Campbell will make his eighth appearance in the squadron's annual spring classic when he returns for RBF XXIX next month.

He will be joined by, Brad Campbell (no relation), a local player from Wichita, who will also be a guest for the weekend of April 20th. 

Scott's last appearance in Red Baron Fight was on April 17, 2004 (RBF XV). Six years prior, he won a hard-fought victory over Alice Skinner in RBF IX (see story below) to earn his only Silver Goblet. Since moving away from the Indianapolis area in the early 2000's, Scott has been recruiting players and building the new Wichita Spirit Squadron. 

Volume 30, Number 2 

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February 10th Gaming Report

The Indy Squadron enjoyed three games at the Meister's home on Saturday, February 10th, our second Indy Squadron gaming day of 2018 with Bob, Stephen, Ethan and Stephen Dale in attendance.

Offenheimmer Scores Solo Kill 

​The first game featured Bob's Albatros DVa (Rudy Offenheimmer, 6/2) and a Hannover CLIIIa (Stephen, LTN Moritz Wotzel12/1, LTN Leonard Alken 14/1) attacking an Allied balloon floating 800 feet above and behind the French lines with a SPAD XIII assigned to defend it. Ethan's pilot was LT Jean-Pierre Autois, a "4-for-4" pilot on assignment with a French western front unit. 

*** Post publication addendum - it is with great sadness that we note the passing of long time friend and Dawn Patrol player Al Christensen. He was a great supporter of the game and a never-ending source of fun and camaraderie. He will be sorely missed.

Volume 30, Number 1

​Three Games & New Players at New Year's Day Gaming

The Indy Squadron kept its 30-year holiday gaming tradition alive again this year by kicking off 2018 with three well-attended games in Union City, Indiana. 

Game One 

The first scenario pitted a trio of British SE 5's (Ethan, AJ, Stephen Dale) against three wily veterans in Albatros DIII's (Rick, Bob, Stephen). Stephen Dale flew very well and led the way for the British but the fight eventually broke up with heavy damage to several airplanes and no kills scored. The safe return of LTN Johannes Kahle from his 12th mission gave Stephen his fifth German ace/experienced pilot. Rick's Albatros DIII pilot, LTN Johann Schoffler, returned safely from his 25th mission. 

Volume 29, Number 8 

Offenheimer Downs Balloon on 5th Mission

The Indy Squadron held its final gaming day of 2017 on Saturday, December 9th, with Ethan, Bob and Stephen in attendance. The Meister's east side home again served as our venue and we graciously thank them for having us over and for all of Donna's amazing cooking. Both Bob and Stephen had potential fourth players in line who weren't able to attend, so in keeping with Dawn Patrol tradition, we played a handful of balloon missions while waiting in vain for their eventual arrival. 

The first mission had Stephen's 190 hp Bristol Fighter (2LT Clayton Butterworth, 12/1 & LT Delbert Cassidy, 10/0) defending a British balloon floating at 800 feet altitude. The attackers were Ethan's Albatros pilot, Dolf Meinhart (9/4) and Bob's most experienced German pilot, Rudy Offenheimer, on his sixth mission. 

The Germans eventually deflated the balloon but Bob won the cut for victory credit, preventing Ethan's Albatros pilot from scoring his fifth kill. Stephen's long time Bristol pilot, 2LT Clayton Butterworth, logged his 12th mission to gain experienced status. 

Volume 29, Number 7 

Stephen Dale Nabs 1st Indy Title

The longest losing streak in the history of the Armistice Day Fits Tournament came to an end last weekend when Stephen Dale earned his first Indy Squadron title after 16 tries, topping the 11-year drought established by Scott Jones from 1989 until his only championship run in 2000 and the 12-year winless streak by Rick Lacy from 2000 to 2012. 

The 29th annual edition of the Indy squadron's championship event was held on November 18th, 2017 at the home of Bob and Donna Meister on the east side of Indianapolis. Seven players were in attendance. All of them were eligible for the championship, with three of them seeking their first title.

The teams stacked up like this:

Allies
Bob Meister, SPAD XVII
Rick Lacy, SPAD XVII
A J Meister, Camel 150

Germans
Ethan Skinner, Seimens Schuckert DIII
Stephen Skinner, Pfalz DVIII
Dory Oda, Pfalz DrI
Stephen Dale Skinner, Fokker DVII 185

The fight was randomly set to start just above 17000 feet altitude.

Dory immediately attacked Rick's SPAD and tailed him into the following turn. Moving unexpectedly away from the tourney box, Rick performed a Turn Right and lost Dory, who performed a small Loop in order to end her turn inside the box. (Con't below)

Volume 29, Number 6 
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Fall Gaming Season Begins
​at Hometown Comics 

The summer break ended and the new gaming season began for the Indy Squadron on October 14 at Hometown Comics in Greenfield, Indiana. Five gamers were present for the first gaming since Dory Oda won Indy's Red Baron Fight in late May, including new player Thomas Hood. 

An important and enjoyable feature of the day was allowing players some control over airplane choice. Rather than playing only with strict adherence to random charts, the basic scenario was determined after which players were allowed to roll percentile dice with the highest roll choosing their nationality. In the final game, the date was determined and players chose any aircraft available that month. The Indy Squadron did this regularly throughout the 1990s and it was a fun and refreshing way to allow players to build their rosters in needed areas rather than entirely by blind, random rolls. ​

Volume 29, Number 5 

Dory Wins Red Baron Fight XXVIII, Ends 28-Year Drought

The longest winless streak in the 28-year history of the Indy Squadron's Red Baron Fight ended on May 27, 2017, when Dory Oda captured her first Silver Goblet with a dramatic, last-second kill shot over Michael Morgan's Fokker DrI.

​Dory's championship proved to be the most popular win in many years and was made possible by a sound strategy and teamwork. 

​Eight players gathered at the Oda residence in Franklin, IN and the sides were as follows: 

Volume 29, Number 4

Red Baron Fight XXVIII Set for May 27 
Rick, Michael Early Favorites

The 28th edition of Indy Squadron's annual Red Baron Fight will be held on Saturday, May 27, 2017 at the home of Dory Oda in Franklin, Indiana. Gaming starts at 1 pm. We expect one short warm-up game followed immediately by Red Baron Fight. 

Defending champion Rick Lacy will be seeking his 4th RBF title in 18 appearances, but the competition will be stiff. Two-time winner Michael Morgan has confirmed his attendance; he has won four Indy Squadron tournaments in the last eight years and is certain to put up a good fight. Between them, Michael and Rick have won half of the RBF events over the last decade, proving that momentum has a place in this game. 

After a 13-year drought, Stephen Dale finally got the monkey off his back when he won the 25th anniversary Red Baron Fight in 2014. Other previous winners expected to be in attendance include Ethan and Stephen Skinner. No word yet from RBF XVI winner Kevin Richeson but we hope to hear from him soon. 

Volume 29, Number 3 
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Ethan Wins Society Open,
Hoosiers Dominate Fits Spring Convention

Ethan Skinner has become the first Indy Squadron player to win the Fight In The Skies Society Open after claiming last weekend's championship with the final shot of the game. The 20th edition of the Open was contested by 20 top players from across the American Midwest. 

Ethan flew a Pfalz DVIII and was strongly supported by the wingmen of his German flight: Scott Kolar, Vakis Potamianos, Stephen Skinner and Stephen Dale Skinner. The Allied opposition included Ken Mrozak and Wyatt Kapustanczek, who began the mission with great apprehension and became more discouraged with every passing turn. In their defense, the Allies really were saddled with inferior airplanes which lent credibility to their complaints. 

The Sopwith Camel of Janie Fritz was shot down on the second turn of the game by Ethan and Stephen, leaving the Allies outnumbered virtually from the outset. Stephen Dale skillfully maneuvered his Fokker so as to string out the Allied formation, leaving them unable to attack effectively and too separated to defend themselves.