Buffalo over Java
Time for a Battle report!
In 1942 Dutch East Indies, the Dutch B339 Buffalos fought desperatly yet in vain against the Imperial Japanese army. Often their Brewster Buffalos would misidentify aircraft as “Navy Zeros” when they were actually encountering Oscar Ki43 Army machines.
This scenario pits a Netherlands B339E in a chance encounter with a lone Achi Val dive bomber over the Javan coast.
The old Mk4 Kite Cards in use here before Defensive Spiral was added.
The Machines!
The Brewster Buffalo is well enough known to our players and so I will be fairly terse here. Excellent against the Soviets, the British Commonwealth and Dutch machines had extra equipment and poorly set up engines. They were described by pilots as “wallowing” and thus have SLOP trait. They lacked firepower even when , as sometimes happened, received four .303’s. These guns also had vibration and feed issues and so have FEED trait. The lack of self sealing tanks gives them SST and also fire vulnerability. The engines lacked spares and were prone to oil leaks, poor oil pressure, incredibly loud and vibratory. They are classed as UNRELIABLE. The general toughness and the addition of armour however means I decided, quite on my own devices, to acknowlage them as HAP Heavy Armour Plate.
A Buffalo has very poor power to weight, but on choosing a random skill, the pilot here, Kaptain Piet, has THROTTLE JOCKEY and manages through careful engine management, as well as his beloved ground crew, to squeeze an extra point of THROTTLE from his Buffalo. Its known as the fastest in the squadron!
The Achi D3A1 “Val” is no slouch for a dive bomber. Armed with FORWARD ARC machineguns, FIGHTER BOMBER manouverable at CLASS D it also has a sting in the tail as well with a .3mg firing to the REAR ARC. Senior Leuitenant Kutso is no sprog. He has been shot down before and now his comrades call him “Dinghy” granting him better chances on bailing out.
As a dive bomber the Val can manage its dives with precision having “EXCELLENT DIVE, DIVE BRAKES and a NEVER EXCEED speed of 6. Its TOUGH UNDERCARRIGE helps it land on a dime with its CARRIER arrrestor gear. Unfortunatly, its also known for bursting into flame having no SELF SEALING TANKS
Approaching from below and front starboard angle, Piet spots Kutso
The Mission!
Piet is flying at 24000 feet and his Buffalo is not happy. He is nursing the engine and wondering why he’s been sent up alone to patrol the coast. He dreams of being back in Friesland, with its beautiful canals and the clean streets of Sneek. But a glint above him brings him back to reality. At 28000 ft, a lone and lost IJN Val dive bomber tries to get its bearings so it might head back to the HIRIU
Kutso pitches over into a dive and peels RIGHT D CLASS SHALLOW DIVE with throttle wide open and dive brakes retracted. Piets pulls hard on his controls and turns B RIGHT LEVEL not trusting he has the speed to start a climb right at this moment.
Kutso noting the Buffalo at his 2 o’clock low decided to press his height advantage. Dumping his bombs the Achi sprang to life. “ BANDIT! 2 oclock! TORA TORA TORA”! He slammed the throttle to 3 and pitched over and down into a stomach churning wheeling dive.
Piets saw the Achi Pitching, but at 200 mph, he knew that climbing into the Japanese’s path would rid him of even more speed and his rebuilt Wright G-105 engine was not going to manage that at this height, even with his legendary engine management skills. At full throttle he added 4 to THROTTLE, rolled for UNRELIABLE and the engine did not overheat. He pulled the Buffalo into a turn.
Kutso is above and diving at Piets level and below.
The SLOP trait rolling a 6, forces Piets to momentarily lose control and his Buffalo RUDDER TAPS right. Fortunatly that still has him on a LEADING shot at the Kutso.
Peits wrestled with the Buffalo as it slipped to the right despite his efforts. The VAL however was above him and in his forward arc of fire. Stubbing his thumb on the trigger, his Buffalo was turning tightly, but on this occassion the unreliable guns barked into life.
Kutso had a SNAPSHOT and his two MGs spat tracer.
Despite the keen off angle, the VALS FORWARD ARC guns still cross Piets base.
The Buffalo opened up at the rapidly closing Val, needing 5+ due to the range and angle, Piets hit three times, scoring one CRITICAL HIT. Kutso’s cabin was peppered with heavy .5 bullets and shards of plexiglass wounded his face. Kutsos return fire needed 6+ to hit and a pair of 1’s didnt cut the mustard!
The duelling pair now had to think in fractions of a second as they merged.
Piets still did not have power or speed for fancy manouvering, he suspected that the Val was going to turn into him and needed to reverse course. A wingunder was the obvious answer, but not availible at this speed. It would just lead to a stall and probably death. Piets needed speed and fast. The Buffalo was a better fighter low down and so he had to take this downstairs! Slinging the tubby aircraft into a B CLASS RIGHT TURN SHALLOW DIVE he picked up a speed, but the sharp turn combined with the dive took him down to 18000 feet
Kutso made a decision in a heartbeat. He was wounded and needed speed and distance, and fortunatly was in the perfect kite for this! Pushing over into a steep dive and flying straight, Kutso intended to open up his Rear Gunner, Shotsu’s arc of fire…Gain speed and then use that speed to either manouver or escape. The Steep dive took him from 28000 ft to 22000 due to the EXCELLENT DIVE trait and the Airspeed rapidly increased to 400MPH
The turn left both pilots lower and faster but as Shotsu could only fire at targets at same level and above in a dive, he could not draw a bead on the Dutchman. A Piets was in a dive and below the Val, he had no shot this turn.
The kite cards after the dives
Both players now had more options availible. Kutso knew he had a choice now. Extend and use his superior speed to gain distance and retreat, and as his hand moved to the throttle, he paused. What son of Nippon would dishonour himself so? He had bags of potential energy here, the Val was agile and still had 10 structure.
Kutso decided on a wingunder. This would extend him ahead of the Buffalo, reverse his course and lose altitude. The danger was if the Dutchman did the same, then they would be in a similar position but running out of altitude!
Piets judged the gap between them and beleived the Japanese would extend out and probably wouldnt dive again as the Vals speed was terrific. To continue his turn at full throttle would probably bring him then onto the tail of the Achi. Slamming his throttle forwards he committed. His engine at full throttle was not affected by the UNRELIABLE trait this turn, His SLOP controls remained responsive and the Buffalo swung round having throttled up, his Airspeed now reaching 310 MPH
Kutso came out of the wingunder at 14000ft in diving pitch and couldnt quite bring his guns to the Buffalo who was now steady at 18000ft and diving. Piets had a snapshot and took it! His Brewsters guns raked the Val and scored a single hit, but although the rounds knocked holes in Kutsos machine, nothing vital seemed to be hit!
The dive and then the wingunder had culminated in Kutso travellling now at over 530 MPH! Well above his “NeverExceed speed or “Crackup speed” of 6
At the start of the next turn, Kutso immediatly throttled straight back to 0 and reduced his airspeed to 8. This was still 2 greater than his NEVER EXCEED SPEED. He rolled a dice, praying to the Emperor his wings stayed on! Rolling a 2 (+2 excess speed) this 4 was below the threshold for damage. Kutso sighed with releif. Having still excessive speed he was now concerned that he would overshoot the Buffalo. He decided to enter a rolling sissors to bleed off speed and hope that Piets would continue his turn in front of him!
Piet had spent his efforts gaining speed so far, but he could see that the Val was travelling so fast it would overshoot. He committed almost without thought! A Sideslip to the right to try and slew onto the Vals beam! This would ruin his momentum, but it might be worth it to gain a devastating burst on the damaged Japanese Dive Bomber.
The sideslip however did not work out! The Vals terrific speed from its dives sent it two extra movement positions ahead of where Piet expected even if he had predicted Kutso’s rolling sissors. He lost speed and altitude and the Val lost speed. However the sideslip had placed him nearer the beam. Nobody had guns on target
Despite the Buffalos famed obselecence, Piets was giving Kutso a hell of a fight. Now he had worked into a position where the Val could not attempt a “One circle” turning fight with him, despite the speed Kutso had gained.
Kutso had still a load of energy, and the Buffalo had burned it away with that sideslip tactic, It was probably time to head for the Carrier. Shotsu made the decision. “ Senior Lieutenant Sir! Let me have this Honour that I might fulfill my destiny, as prophisised by the scrolls my great grandfather found in the year……” He continued for five minuites in this manner and ….in doing so , created Manga.
Kutso nodded once and broke hard left to extend and open Shotsus machine gun.
Piets was hanging on his prop, all the height he had burned, all the power of his finikky engine, He had blown it.
The best thing he could think of was continuing the turn and accepting another altitude drop as his Buffalo protested.
To his amazement, the Val broke left and was using its speed to get away. He was literally ON THE SIX of the Val. He thumbd the gun trigger. A stream of Thirty caliber and Fifty caliber fire hammered home. DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!!!
Two hits struck home. The puny thirty caliber did little, but the mighty USA made fifty caliber scored a critical hit. The bullets sheared through the Vals port wing flap actuator. Kutso felt the kick. He realised landing on the Carrier was looking almost impossible. Wounded and no flaps. He realised he was looking at a 6+ roll.
Shotku sprayed bullets in a constant stream. Needing a 6 as gunners always need a 6, he managed to hit once and punched a few holes in the Buffalo. They seemed to avoid anything vital, and would in the end , just annoy the groundcrew back in Java.
Kutso used his remaining speed to just extend. As he was tailing he announced “No Break”. Piets saw the Val was probably heading for the large rainbow drawer full of aircraft and gently turned to the right.
The range now 20”, only his fifty calibers had the range and a final rattle of his guns fell wide. Shotku saved his ammo. The Buffalo peeled away from home. One Probable Kill. “ The enemy EA appeared to hit the sea and exploded…there were no survivors.
Shotsu and Kutso claimed the same. “ I saw the Buffalo spiraling into the sea where it exploded”.
But their Val was riddled. As they returned they managed to reach the fleet. At a -3 for wounded and flaps destroyed, the friends shook hands and decided to try a landing. 2D6 scored a 9 and the Val smashed into the deck and pulled to a halt. Shotsu leaped onto the wing and helped his comrade out.
Kutso received the Purple Lung for his efforts. Shotsu nothing.
Piets returned and nobody seemed interested. There were a dozen claims and the IJA and IJN were still everywhere and ripping Buffalo from the skies.
Hope you enjoyed this.
The game was five turns and 20 mins using Blazing Skies.
