Volume 38, Number 1
Train of Gold II
(Game 2) The "Train of Gold" is a specially designed mission that the Indy Squadron originally held in March 2022. The scenario features a German train behind the lines, laden with gold to pay war expenses and ammunition for the front line troops. The British contingent is tasked with stopping the train at all costs. If they cannot stop the train before it arrives at its destination - a bridge over the canal - they must blow up the barge onto which the gold and ammunition will be loaded.
This episode of the mission produced one of the more chaotic opening turns in recent memory — smoking engines, burning triplanes, and a DH.9 crew already counting squares to home before the first turn was fully resolved.
Train of Gold II
(Game 2) The "Train of Gold" is a specially designed mission that the Indy Squadron originally held in March 2022. The scenario features a German train behind the lines, laden with gold to pay war expenses and ammunition for the front line troops. The British contingent is tasked with stopping the train at all costs. If they cannot stop the train before it arrives at its destination - a bridge over the canal - they must blow up the barge onto which the gold and ammunition will be loaded.
This episode of the mission produced one of the more chaotic opening turns in recent memory — smoking engines, burning triplanes, and a DH.9 crew already counting squares to home before the first turn was fully resolved.
Stephen flew the British DH.9 on the bombing run, with Rick providing escort in a Bristol F.2b (275 hp) and Ethan handling photographic duties in a second Bristol F.2b. On the German side, Ben climbed into the Fokker Dr.I triplane while John took the Fokker D.VII at 160 hp.
The mission fell apart for both sides simultaneously and spectacularly. John opened fire on Stephen's DH.9 from above on the very first turn, landing nine hits that produced both an engine critical and smoke. The two-seater was finished as a fighting machine before it had fired a shot. In the same instant, Rick and Ethan both found Ben's Triplane in their sights and worked it over with enough conviction to set the engine ablaze. The sky over the target was suddenly full of smoke and flame.
Ben's pilot, Vizefeldwebel Heinrich Wilhelm, reacted with the presence of mind his situation demanded. He put the burning Dr.I into a rotary right and sat it down smartly at an adjacent German airfield, well behind the lines and well out of harm's way. A rotary right, well executed, is still the triplane's one great gift, and Wilhelm used it to full advantage. Ethan's pilot, Graeme Cox — his observer, the Australian Oliver Kangaroo — pressed forward to complete the photographic mission, and duly documented the locomotive after it was destroyed.
Stephen's crew had meanwhile written their own chapter. Lieutenant Dennis Woodbridge at the controls and Lieutenant Clay in the observer's cockpit refused to simply crash on the nearest field. Despite the engine oil leak and the failing powerplant, they drove the DH.9 through its bombing run, put a bomb on the locomotive, and then nursed the dying machine 140 squares back toward Allied lines before the engine finally gave out. They crash-landed five squares short of safety — a heroic effort by any measure — and both men survived.
Rick, flying Captain Dennis Bennett (now at fourteen missions and two kills) and Captain Adam Powell (fourteen missions, three kills) in the Bristol, had perhaps the cleanest day of anyone on the field. Bennett and Powell put Ben down on the first turn, then chased John's D.VII until Vizefeldwebel Heinrich Ziebergh cut his engine and glided to a landing. Rick returned home without a scratch. It was, in his own assessment, a perfect mission. Captain Bennett was subsequently awarded the DSO for his performance, though Rick's observer and both of Stephen's crewmen saw their medal applications denied by the brass.
John's VZ Ziebergh had taken a light wound in the right arm from Rick on Turn 2 or 3, but managed to land safely and survive — now at four missions and two kills after accounting for Stephen's DH.9. A good day for the Vizefeldwebel, all things considered, even if the locomotive was reduced to scrap iron.
The mission fell apart for both sides simultaneously and spectacularly. John opened fire on Stephen's DH.9 from above on the very first turn, landing nine hits that produced both an engine critical and smoke. The two-seater was finished as a fighting machine before it had fired a shot. In the same instant, Rick and Ethan both found Ben's Triplane in their sights and worked it over with enough conviction to set the engine ablaze. The sky over the target was suddenly full of smoke and flame.
Ben's pilot, Vizefeldwebel Heinrich Wilhelm, reacted with the presence of mind his situation demanded. He put the burning Dr.I into a rotary right and sat it down smartly at an adjacent German airfield, well behind the lines and well out of harm's way. A rotary right, well executed, is still the triplane's one great gift, and Wilhelm used it to full advantage. Ethan's pilot, Graeme Cox — his observer, the Australian Oliver Kangaroo — pressed forward to complete the photographic mission, and duly documented the locomotive after it was destroyed.
Stephen's crew had meanwhile written their own chapter. Lieutenant Dennis Woodbridge at the controls and Lieutenant Clay in the observer's cockpit refused to simply crash on the nearest field. Despite the engine oil leak and the failing powerplant, they drove the DH.9 through its bombing run, put a bomb on the locomotive, and then nursed the dying machine 140 squares back toward Allied lines before the engine finally gave out. They crash-landed five squares short of safety — a heroic effort by any measure — and both men survived.
Rick, flying Captain Dennis Bennett (now at fourteen missions and two kills) and Captain Adam Powell (fourteen missions, three kills) in the Bristol, had perhaps the cleanest day of anyone on the field. Bennett and Powell put Ben down on the first turn, then chased John's D.VII until Vizefeldwebel Heinrich Ziebergh cut his engine and glided to a landing. Rick returned home without a scratch. It was, in his own assessment, a perfect mission. Captain Bennett was subsequently awarded the DSO for his performance, though Rick's observer and both of Stephen's crewmen saw their medal applications denied by the brass.
John's VZ Ziebergh had taken a light wound in the right arm from Rick on Turn 2 or 3, but managed to land safely and survive — now at four missions and two kills after accounting for Stephen's DH.9. A good day for the Vizefeldwebel, all things considered, even if the locomotive was reduced to scrap iron.
FEBRUARY 28, 2026 GAMING REPORT
Five players gathered in Lewisville on Saturday, February 28th for a full day of Dawn Patrol, with Cori serving an outstanding spread of food that kept the squadron well fortified from noon until after sundown. The cheesecake and pizza were particularly delicious and appreciated.
Present were Rick, Stephen, Ethan, Ben, and Jon, who flew a total of four games across the course of the day. The lineup included some fine dogfighting, a classic two-seater escort mission, a famous historical scenario, and a brief but spirited rear-guard action to close out the evening. What follows are the individual reports on each engagement.
GAME 1: ALBATRI VERSUS SOPWITH PUPS
January 1918 — Fighter Engagement
It does not happen often that a trio of Sopwith Pups walks away from a pair of Albatros D.Va's without losing a man, but that is precisely what the January 1918 sky served up in the first game of the day. John and Rick flew the Albatrosses, with the squadron's Revised Statistics in play to grant the big German fighters improved turn speed. Opposing them were three Pups in the hands of Stephen, Ben, and Ethan, though the odds on paper clearly favored the heavier German iron.
The opening turn set the tone. Stephen's Pup absorbed three hits from the side, a stinging greeting from the Albatros formation, while Ethan found himself on the receiving end of five hits from below — a punishing burst that left his engine badly mauled. Rick had found his range early, and Ethan's pilot, a five-mission man who could little afford to gamble with irreplaceable experience, was now counting engine hits rather than opportunities. Four engine crits from Rick's guns in that first pass left Ethan no real choice.
At the end of Turn 2, Ethan made what would prove to be the smartest move of the game. Rather than continuing to absorb punishment, he deliberately tailed John's Albatros, neutralizing it as a threat and buying time for his wingmen. Then, his duty done, he broke away and set his nose for home. His pilot had earned those five missions the hard way, and there was no shame in living to fly again. He cleared the area with no further damage — a clean escape under the worst of circumstances.
That left Stephen and Ben against John and Rick — a two-on-two engagement that, despite the Albatros's structural advantages, settled into a remarkably even slugging match. Stephen found a rhythm at the guns that he could not explain afterward and fired six consecutive bursts to good effect. He and Ben worked together to pour hits into the fuselage of John's Albatros, loading it up methodically while Rick's machine kept them honest. But the fuselage hits, for all their number, could not bring the German down. The Albatros's rugged construction absorbed what was thrown at it, and the game wound toward its inevitable conclusion with neither side willing to accept the final decisive blow.
Everyone eventually flew home. Ben, in particular, handled his withdrawal with considerable skill, putting distance between himself and the Germans with a textbook exit that drew comment afterward. The game was called a draw — perhaps a mild surprise given the Pups' theoretical disadvantage — but a tribute to the Allied dice rolling in the middle turns and Ethan's early tactical sacrifice that kept the German numbers from telling.
Five players gathered in Lewisville on Saturday, February 28th for a full day of Dawn Patrol, with Cori serving an outstanding spread of food that kept the squadron well fortified from noon until after sundown. The cheesecake and pizza were particularly delicious and appreciated.
Present were Rick, Stephen, Ethan, Ben, and Jon, who flew a total of four games across the course of the day. The lineup included some fine dogfighting, a classic two-seater escort mission, a famous historical scenario, and a brief but spirited rear-guard action to close out the evening. What follows are the individual reports on each engagement.
GAME 1: ALBATRI VERSUS SOPWITH PUPS
January 1918 — Fighter Engagement
It does not happen often that a trio of Sopwith Pups walks away from a pair of Albatros D.Va's without losing a man, but that is precisely what the January 1918 sky served up in the first game of the day. John and Rick flew the Albatrosses, with the squadron's Revised Statistics in play to grant the big German fighters improved turn speed. Opposing them were three Pups in the hands of Stephen, Ben, and Ethan, though the odds on paper clearly favored the heavier German iron.
The opening turn set the tone. Stephen's Pup absorbed three hits from the side, a stinging greeting from the Albatros formation, while Ethan found himself on the receiving end of five hits from below — a punishing burst that left his engine badly mauled. Rick had found his range early, and Ethan's pilot, a five-mission man who could little afford to gamble with irreplaceable experience, was now counting engine hits rather than opportunities. Four engine crits from Rick's guns in that first pass left Ethan no real choice.
At the end of Turn 2, Ethan made what would prove to be the smartest move of the game. Rather than continuing to absorb punishment, he deliberately tailed John's Albatros, neutralizing it as a threat and buying time for his wingmen. Then, his duty done, he broke away and set his nose for home. His pilot had earned those five missions the hard way, and there was no shame in living to fly again. He cleared the area with no further damage — a clean escape under the worst of circumstances.
That left Stephen and Ben against John and Rick — a two-on-two engagement that, despite the Albatros's structural advantages, settled into a remarkably even slugging match. Stephen found a rhythm at the guns that he could not explain afterward and fired six consecutive bursts to good effect. He and Ben worked together to pour hits into the fuselage of John's Albatros, loading it up methodically while Rick's machine kept them honest. But the fuselage hits, for all their number, could not bring the German down. The Albatros's rugged construction absorbed what was thrown at it, and the game wound toward its inevitable conclusion with neither side willing to accept the final decisive blow.
Everyone eventually flew home. Ben, in particular, handled his withdrawal with considerable skill, putting distance between himself and the Germans with a textbook exit that drew comment afterward. The game was called a draw — perhaps a mild surprise given the Pups' theoretical disadvantage — but a tribute to the Allied dice rolling in the middle turns and Ethan's early tactical sacrifice that kept the German numbers from telling.
VIDEO: Historic DH 9 Restored
GAME 3: THE VOSS EXPERIMENTAL
September 23, 1917 — The Last Flight of Werner Voss
Rick designed this scenario himself, and he will tell you it played out almost exactly as he had hoped. The game is an attempt to simulate the last flight of Werner Voss — the remarkable engagement of September 23, 1917 in which the German ace, flying a Fokker Dr.I, held off no fewer than seven of the RFC's best pilots for ten minutes before being brought down. For this Indy version, Rick took the single triplane against four SE.5a's flown by Stephen, Ben, Jon, and Ethan. This was a test run of the game that Rick expects to run at Gen Con this summer.
The historical fight is one of the most analyzed single combats of the entire war. Voss was credited with hits on six of the seven British machines he faced before Lieutenant Arthur Rhys-Davids finally brought him down. The scenario attempts to capture the energy and chaos of that encounter — a single gifted pilot, flying a supremely maneuverable machine, turning the tables repeatedly on opponents who outnumber him four to one.
By all accounts it succeeded. Rick's pilot, representing Voss, flew all over the map, finding angles and taking shots with the aggression that characterized the historical pilot. The SE.5a pilots found, as their historical counterparts did, that reloading the top-mounted Lewis gun in the middle of a turning engagement with Voss in the vicinity is an exercise that tends to end badly. Ben and Jon, newer to the game and working hard to coordinate with their wingmen, noted that the degree of teamwork required against such an opponent under the scenario's special rules was considerably higher than a conventional dogfight — you could not simply look for your own shot, you had to think about your position relative to everyone else on the board.
Rick, however, had made a deliberate choice to restrain himself. He was trying to simulate what actually happened, not to win at all costs, and that meant pulling back when the historical Voss would have pulled back, rather than running the Fokker's engine flat out and exploiting every last advantage of its legendary turning radius. Stephen observed afterward that if Rick had used the triplane's maneuverability without restraint, the results for the Allied team would have been considerably worse.
The game's outcome hinged on a single die roll. Rick took a wound from Stephen's SE pilot but it turned out to be No Effect, and the fight ended in a draw with no victories claimed by either side.
GAME 4: THE GREAT CAMEL RETREAT
Pfalz D.XII Patrol — Late War Fighter Engagement
The final game of the evening had John and Rick flying 150 hp Bentley Camels against Stephen, Ben, and Ethan in Pfalz D.XII fighters.
After eight turns, the tail of Rick's Camel had six holes in it and neither side could produce a telling hit. The Camels turned for home and the German pursuit was vigorous but ultimately fruitless. Ben gave chase and got to point-blank range, only to miss cleanly. Ethan also closed the distance and found himself tailing Rick's Camel until the British machine began to pull away. A long shot at the retreating Sopwith failed to connect, and that was the end of it. The German formation, having chased the Camels to the edge of the action, broke off without reason to continue.
Both Camel pilots made it home. The Pfalz pilots returned to their aerodrome equally unscathed, and the evening ended with the sort of inconclusive result that the Western Front regularly produced.
The game closed out a long and satisfying day of flying. Four games, five pilots, and enough dice rolls to sustain argument and analysis well into the drive home.
September 23, 1917 — The Last Flight of Werner Voss
Rick designed this scenario himself, and he will tell you it played out almost exactly as he had hoped. The game is an attempt to simulate the last flight of Werner Voss — the remarkable engagement of September 23, 1917 in which the German ace, flying a Fokker Dr.I, held off no fewer than seven of the RFC's best pilots for ten minutes before being brought down. For this Indy version, Rick took the single triplane against four SE.5a's flown by Stephen, Ben, Jon, and Ethan. This was a test run of the game that Rick expects to run at Gen Con this summer.
The historical fight is one of the most analyzed single combats of the entire war. Voss was credited with hits on six of the seven British machines he faced before Lieutenant Arthur Rhys-Davids finally brought him down. The scenario attempts to capture the energy and chaos of that encounter — a single gifted pilot, flying a supremely maneuverable machine, turning the tables repeatedly on opponents who outnumber him four to one.
By all accounts it succeeded. Rick's pilot, representing Voss, flew all over the map, finding angles and taking shots with the aggression that characterized the historical pilot. The SE.5a pilots found, as their historical counterparts did, that reloading the top-mounted Lewis gun in the middle of a turning engagement with Voss in the vicinity is an exercise that tends to end badly. Ben and Jon, newer to the game and working hard to coordinate with their wingmen, noted that the degree of teamwork required against such an opponent under the scenario's special rules was considerably higher than a conventional dogfight — you could not simply look for your own shot, you had to think about your position relative to everyone else on the board.
Rick, however, had made a deliberate choice to restrain himself. He was trying to simulate what actually happened, not to win at all costs, and that meant pulling back when the historical Voss would have pulled back, rather than running the Fokker's engine flat out and exploiting every last advantage of its legendary turning radius. Stephen observed afterward that if Rick had used the triplane's maneuverability without restraint, the results for the Allied team would have been considerably worse.
The game's outcome hinged on a single die roll. Rick took a wound from Stephen's SE pilot but it turned out to be No Effect, and the fight ended in a draw with no victories claimed by either side.
GAME 4: THE GREAT CAMEL RETREAT
Pfalz D.XII Patrol — Late War Fighter Engagement
The final game of the evening had John and Rick flying 150 hp Bentley Camels against Stephen, Ben, and Ethan in Pfalz D.XII fighters.
After eight turns, the tail of Rick's Camel had six holes in it and neither side could produce a telling hit. The Camels turned for home and the German pursuit was vigorous but ultimately fruitless. Ben gave chase and got to point-blank range, only to miss cleanly. Ethan also closed the distance and found himself tailing Rick's Camel until the British machine began to pull away. A long shot at the retreating Sopwith failed to connect, and that was the end of it. The German formation, having chased the Camels to the edge of the action, broke off without reason to continue.
Both Camel pilots made it home. The Pfalz pilots returned to their aerodrome equally unscathed, and the evening ended with the sort of inconclusive result that the Western Front regularly produced.
The game closed out a long and satisfying day of flying. Four games, five pilots, and enough dice rolls to sustain argument and analysis well into the drive home.
BOOK REVIEW
The First World War in the Baltic Sea, Volume 1
By Mark Harris | Helion & Company | Hardback, 313 pages
The Baltic Sea theater of the First World War has long suffered from a kind of editorial neglect in the English-language literature — a footnote to the North Sea drama, the subject of a paragraph here and a chapter there, but seldom examined at length or with fresh eyes. Mark Harris, a member of the Society for Nautical Research, has set out to correct that in emphatic fashion with this first volume of a planned three-part history, and the result is exactly the kind of book the subject has deserved for a century.
Harris draws on Russian, German, and British archival sources to reconstruct the opening Baltic campaign with depth and precision. At the center of it all is Admiral Nicolay von Essen, the Russian commander, whose aggressive instinct for mine laying and whose productive partnership with British submarine forces drove the German Baltic Fleet — badly outgunned by its North Sea counterpart — steadily onto the defensive by early 1915. The story of the German cruiser Magdeburg running aground in Russian waters in August 1914, and the subsequent recovery of her cipher books, is handled with the narrative energy it deserves. Harris writes prose that moves purposefully, pausing to examine strategy and operational context without losing momentum. The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society called it simply "Well done," and concluded that it "moves the war along, stopping to examine naval strategy and operations as well as battles, feints, and mine sinkings" — an accurate summary of a book that manages to be both scholarly and genuinely readable.
Helion has produced this volume to a standard that reflects well on both publisher and author. The acid-free page stock is excellent — pages that lie flat, take the light cleanly, and give every indication of lasting decades without yellowing or brittleness. Those who have watched inferior military histories turn amber within a few years of purchase will appreciate the difference immediately. The nineteen black and white maps are clear and well-positioned throughout the text, allowing the reader to follow naval movements without constantly hunting for a chart buried at the back of the book. Most impressive of all are the sixty-five photographs, which reproduce with exceptional crispness — a rarity in books of this price point. The contrast is rich, the detail in ship profiles and officer portraits is genuinely sharp, and none of the muddy, flattened reproduction that plagues so many naval history volumes appears here.
With Volume 2 eagerly anticipated, this is an outstanding beginning to what promises to be the definitive English-language account of a forgotten campaign. Essential reading.
The First World War in the Baltic Sea, Volume 1
By Mark Harris | Helion & Company | Hardback, 313 pages
The Baltic Sea theater of the First World War has long suffered from a kind of editorial neglect in the English-language literature — a footnote to the North Sea drama, the subject of a paragraph here and a chapter there, but seldom examined at length or with fresh eyes. Mark Harris, a member of the Society for Nautical Research, has set out to correct that in emphatic fashion with this first volume of a planned three-part history, and the result is exactly the kind of book the subject has deserved for a century.
Harris draws on Russian, German, and British archival sources to reconstruct the opening Baltic campaign with depth and precision. At the center of it all is Admiral Nicolay von Essen, the Russian commander, whose aggressive instinct for mine laying and whose productive partnership with British submarine forces drove the German Baltic Fleet — badly outgunned by its North Sea counterpart — steadily onto the defensive by early 1915. The story of the German cruiser Magdeburg running aground in Russian waters in August 1914, and the subsequent recovery of her cipher books, is handled with the narrative energy it deserves. Harris writes prose that moves purposefully, pausing to examine strategy and operational context without losing momentum. The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society called it simply "Well done," and concluded that it "moves the war along, stopping to examine naval strategy and operations as well as battles, feints, and mine sinkings" — an accurate summary of a book that manages to be both scholarly and genuinely readable.
Helion has produced this volume to a standard that reflects well on both publisher and author. The acid-free page stock is excellent — pages that lie flat, take the light cleanly, and give every indication of lasting decades without yellowing or brittleness. Those who have watched inferior military histories turn amber within a few years of purchase will appreciate the difference immediately. The nineteen black and white maps are clear and well-positioned throughout the text, allowing the reader to follow naval movements without constantly hunting for a chart buried at the back of the book. Most impressive of all are the sixty-five photographs, which reproduce with exceptional crispness — a rarity in books of this price point. The contrast is rich, the detail in ship profiles and officer portraits is genuinely sharp, and none of the muddy, flattened reproduction that plagues so many naval history volumes appears here.
With Volume 2 eagerly anticipated, this is an outstanding beginning to what promises to be the definitive English-language account of a forgotten campaign. Essential reading.
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