Opening Salvo - Hurricane Mk I and G.50 "Freccia"
Jun 30, 2021 23:23:09 GMT
TrickiVic, nrnstraswa, and 1 more like this
Post by weedsrock2 on Jun 30, 2021 23:23:09 GMT
Today we have two early war fighters that fill a very particular niche that needed filling for both the British and the Italians. Neither Britain nor Italy had a fighter in the game with escort until 1941. These aircraft fill that gap. Our goal was not to create super-fighters. Escort fighters don't need to be strong offensively. Their job is to go in with the bombers and reduce the opposing fighter attacks on your bombers. It is rare for a fighter to actually destroy another fighter anyway, so just being "good enough" to survive is the main goal.
Hurricane Mk I
Yes, this will be our third Hurricane, but the Hurricane was arguably the workhorse of the RAF early in the war. The Mk I represents the "phoney war" through the Battle of Britain, and especially commemorates the volunteers from other nations that flew for the RAF during that time. Convoy Guardian represents the convoy "skirmishes" in the English channel during the phoney war. Ace represents the gifted and very motivated volunteer pilots. Note the flags commemorating these pilots on the back of the card. We have only done this a few times. Some of you may wish to house rule that this unit can be used in those nation's fleet builds.
Fiat G.50 "Freccia" (Arrow)
So why do we have both the G.55 and the G.50 in the same deck? Because the G.55 won out with the open board unit nominations, but that fighter did not fill the need for an early war Italian fighter with escort. The G.50 was initially considered by the team because a fighter-bomber variant was planned for the Aquila, but it turned out the plane would have been very under powered and poor performing. Plus it would not have been available until at least 1942. We could have switched to the Macchi C.200 Saetta, but while doing some background research we discovered the G.50 was also sent to Spain and Finland (and Croatia). This gave us the opportunity to not only cover Italy with an early war fighter with escort, but also give Spain and Finland the fighter they still lacked in the game. Win, win, win! As you will soon learn, this unit also contributed to the little bit of extra love the Italians received in this deck.
Hurricane Mk I
Yes, this will be our third Hurricane, but the Hurricane was arguably the workhorse of the RAF early in the war. The Mk I represents the "phoney war" through the Battle of Britain, and especially commemorates the volunteers from other nations that flew for the RAF during that time. Convoy Guardian represents the convoy "skirmishes" in the English channel during the phoney war. Ace represents the gifted and very motivated volunteer pilots. Note the flags commemorating these pilots on the back of the card. We have only done this a few times. Some of you may wish to house rule that this unit can be used in those nation's fleet builds.
Fiat G.50 "Freccia" (Arrow)
So why do we have both the G.55 and the G.50 in the same deck? Because the G.55 won out with the open board unit nominations, but that fighter did not fill the need for an early war Italian fighter with escort. The G.50 was initially considered by the team because a fighter-bomber variant was planned for the Aquila, but it turned out the plane would have been very under powered and poor performing. Plus it would not have been available until at least 1942. We could have switched to the Macchi C.200 Saetta, but while doing some background research we discovered the G.50 was also sent to Spain and Finland (and Croatia). This gave us the opportunity to not only cover Italy with an early war fighter with escort, but also give Spain and Finland the fighter they still lacked in the game. Win, win, win! As you will soon learn, this unit also contributed to the little bit of extra love the Italians received in this deck.
