PACIFICCON 2017 DIF Event Debriefing Report  

Here is the DIF recap and results:

Originally the event was to showcase the new Wild Blue Yonder game, which had be scheduled for release back in April.  But final development took a little bit longer than expected and the game is now on scheduled to be released in October.  So we played using the play-test cards, counters and aircraft.

A total of 14 participants (with 4 first time rookie players and 10 from previous events held at CSW Expo and GMT-West Weekends) at various times took part in the inaugural PacificCon Down in Flames Aces’ campaigns.   For this event three new with two different campaigns were used.  The May 1940 Dunkirk evacuation (was essentially a Battle of Britain campaign), — and two new ones — the Summer 1942 Eastern Front drive on Stalingrad and the May 1943 Mediterranean over Sicily campaigns.

26 aerial matches were held from Friday-to-Sunday — 6 on Friday, 9 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday.

During the 3-days, the Allied Air Forces and the German Luftwaffe fought to a stalemate with each side winning 13 missions.  The Allies outscored the Germans, 581 points to the German’s 458.  The Allied Air Forces shot down 22 fighters, 2 light bombers and 26 medium bombers (50 aircraft).  The German Luftwaffe shot down 38 fighters, 3 medium bombers and 2 heavy bombers (43 aircraft).  Total losses for all belligerents were 60 fighters, 2 light bombers, 29 medium bombers and 2 heavy bombers shot down, for a grand total of 93 aircraft lost. The lost rate per mission for fighters was 26% and the lost rate for bombers was 41%.

Missions by Campaigns Theaters:

• Dunkirk May ’40 - 9 missions with the RAF defeating the Luftwaffe, 5 games to 4, with the British outscoring the Germans, 189-to-171
• Eastern Front Summer ’42 - 10 missions with the VVS defeating the Luftwaffe, 6 games to 4, with the Soviets outscoring the Germans, 247-to-158
• Mediterranean, Sicily May ’43 - 7 missions with the Luftwaffe defeating the US 12th AF, 5 games to 2, but with the Americans outscoring the Germans, 145-to-129.

HIGHLIGHTS, LOW-LIGHTS & IN BETWEEN-LIGHTS:

• With brand new campaigns, there were very little player pilots with previous kills, although some players with Luftwaffe from other campaigns were allowed to transfer to the Eastern or Mediterranean campaigns.
• There was only 1 new aces created this event: GM Mike Lam’s East Front Luftwaffe Bf-109F, and no aces were lost.
• Dave Lanphear set an event record with a 100% participation rate by playing in all of the 26 recorded games.  Dave had a good weekend shooting down 17 aircraft — six of them bombers — while losing 8 of his own fighters.
• All games were played with the new cards planned for Wild Blue Yonder.  The new cards planned: Clouds, Chop Throttle, Cockpit Hit, Engine Hit and special spoiled attack for bombers with zero Turret Support.  In addition, 2 new revised rules were used: (1) the new escort intervention rules were used which gives escorts more options to intervene to prevent bombers from being attacked and (2) intercepting fighters vs. bombers lose a random card IF they select to avoid any medium or heavy bomber defensive fire.
• There was no players shot down by bomber defensive fire this weekend — Whew!  That would have been embarrassing.
• The new revised P-39Ds on the Eastern Front proved very deadly with their 2/3 IMS heavy guns against the Luftwaffe He-111s.  With only 1 card for turret support it was difficult to stop back-to-back 2/3IMS attacks, especially by the wingmen.  The Luftwaffe bombers didn’t fare very well, losing 19 bombers out of 32 that flew in the Eastern Front for a 59% loss rate.
• There were no Hat Tricks — 3 kills by one pilot personality — this event.
• Stupid Play of the Weekend:  It didn’t happen during the games but I oversleep and missed my starting time for Saturday by 3 hours.  The guys didn’t let me forget that I was late!

NEXT PACIFICCON LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2018:
I don’t know at this time if I will another PacificCon DIF/WBY event in 2018.  But knowing my OCD personality, and since I didn’t get to show off WBY, I probably will do it to complete what I wanted to do.  But if I do this again, next year will be only for 2 days — Saturday and Sunday only. 

If the event returns, the campaigns are: The Battle of Britain, the 1942 Eastern Front, and the 1943 12th AF/Mediterranean campaigns.

I hope all who participated had fun and a good time and I plan to continue the aerial mayhem at next GMT-West Weekend, scheduled from 5-to-8 October 2017 in Hanford.

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