This tournament is a multi-year continuation of the Battle of Britain. In the tournament format, two players sit at a board and are the pilots for a section of RAF fighters. The GM draws German raiders and randomly determines their flight path. One player, each turn, is chosen as the temporary Squadron Leader and he is in charge of vectoring all the pilots into intercept position, but once he calls for the engagement, players at each board can plot their own routes into the target.

We began this format in 2001, and had previously played the days of 11 through 21 August 1942. We continued this year with two rain days (for repair and recovery) and then four active battle days. Players began with one Spitfire and one Hurricane pilot and could chose with which they wanted to start the game.

In 2001, the RAF exchange ratio was about 2:1. In 2002, it bloomed to 10:1, as the result of some rule changes. In 2003 the ratio fell back to 3.5:1. The 2003 tournament had eight raids occur over the four game days. A total of 140 German aircraft (roughly 50-50 bombers and fighters) took part in these raids against four sections of RAF fighters (an average of five aircraft per raid per section). 29 German aircraft were shot down and eight RAF planes were destroyed (seven Spitfires and one Hurricane) with six pilots killed and one seriously wounded.

The winner of the tournament, for a third year in a row, with five kills was Eric Stranger. Trevor Bender and Chris Villeneuve were a point behind in the scoring system. Each day was eventful, but I will only list the basic data and any highlights of note.

Day 1 had three raids with a total of 56 enemy aircraft; 17 were shot down The RAF lost six Spitfires, including five pilots killed and one seriously wounded. The day started on a good note with 11 enemy aircraft destroyed on the first raid. However, on the second raid, the low point of the day occurred when acting Squadron Leader Mike Lam, in an attempt to vector the squadron into an out-of-the-sun attack position, gambled, and positioned the squadron in the path of the German raid, hoping they would move to the NE. As luck would have it, the raiders moved NW into a head-on intercept of the British airmen. In this scenario both sides get one uncontested shot - the result was great casualties on both sides: the Germans losing six planes and the Brits five.

Day 2 had one raid with 20 aircraft, three were shot down with one RAF loss. Day 3 had two raids. Of 44 raiders, nine were shot down, with no RAF losses in the attack. Day 4 consisted of two raids with 40 aircraft. 0 Germans were shot down and a single Spitfire was lost.

In the 2004 tournament, the scenario will continue on 30 August 1942. With the exception of some minor tweaking of the scoring system, the tournament will use the same rules as in 2003. I will work on finding a time convenient for the largest number of players. Cheerio