@toblerone77:
This may have been addressed before, but I have always liked the idea of night bombing in A&A. My suggestion would be that is conducted in a similar way to regular SBR raids with these exceptions.
1. The attacker declares their SBR and that they intend to bomb at night.
2. The defender can choose to intercept, however they must use their bombers only. Many bombers in WWII were built as night fighters. This could apply to TBs but I leave that up to the players.
3. All aircraft will attack and defend at 1.
4. Attacking bombers roll and the defender removes casualties behind the casualty line.
5. Defender rolls.
6. All casualties are removed.
7. Defending AA fires. Casualties are halved rounded-up to simulate the difficulty of spotting targets at night.
8. Surviving bombers then roll for damage. The result is halved and rounded-up due to the difficulty of night bombing.
Are you really suggesting using Strategic bombers as interceptors?
Or just Tactical Bombers (and StB when playing without TcB)?
This is a weird concept at first glance.
But it could be used as a way of marking Night-bombing, as such:
During Night Bombing SBR, both StB and TcB can bombard IC.
Half damage for each: StB: 1D6/2 +1 while TcB get 1d6/2.
The Mosquito was used for a variety of tasks. It was used as a pathfinder plane during bombing raids on Germany. Flying with Bomber Command at night, it would attack a specific target ahead of the main bombing force, guiding them to that target. The Mosquito suffered fewer losses than any other plane attached to Bomber Command. The Mosquito was also used for the bombing of specific targets as it had the speed for low level accurate bombing. Some Mosquitoes were equipped with heavy cannon and were used to attack German armour on battlefields in western Europe. Some were equipped with night-fighting radar and as a result, the Mosquito became the most successful British night-fighter. Some Mosquitoes were fitted out with rockets and attacked Nazi shipping.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/mosquito.htm
With no interceptors and AAA needing to make 3 x “1” rolls to get down two bombers, Night bombing may seems attractive. EDIT: in fact, it is not the case. See posts below.
Another way to play Night Bombing could be as a 1 round preemptive regular attack against IC:
Only bombers (StB and TcB) which miss are shot at by AAA @1.
So, each StB get as many damage as they roll for succeeding: 1 to 4 success (for 1 to 4 IPCs bombing damage), 5 and 6 miss.
In addition, each TcB get a success with 1 to 3 (for 1 to 3 IPCs bombing damage), and from 4 to 6 get a failure.
After, AAA @1 roll only against StB which get 5 and 6, and also against TcB which get 4-5-6.
So during Night bombing, there would be 2/36 (or 1/18) odds of putting down a StB and 1/12 of putting down a TcB. (Probably TcBs are flying at a lower altitude.)
Making up to StB average Night Bombing: 1+2+3+4+0+0=10/6 IPCs = 1.67 IPCs - [(cost:12*2/36)= 4/6] = +1 IPC per SBR.
This reward would be lower than regular SBR (2.583 IPCs damage/StB):
G1940: 1 StB doing SBR without interceptor
5/6 StB survived * 5.5 IPCs (avg of 3+4+5+6+7+8)/6= 4.583 IPCs
1/6 StB killed *12 IPCs = -2 IPCs
Sum: 4.583 - 2.00 = +2.583 IPCs damage/StB
While TcB average Night Bombing: 1+2+3+0+0+0= 6/ 6 IPCs = 1 IPC - cost:11*1/12 = + 1/12 or 0.083 IPC per SBR.
With this other mechanics, Night-bombing SBR is still less dangerous but lesser effective than SBR and balance.
Did Bomber Command get a good return for the investment in men and planes during the bombing of Germany? There is no doubt that the casualty statistics for Bomber Command were very high. On some bombing missions over Germany, air crews might have a one in twenty chance of returning alive. The stress of flying a mission was such that recent research has found that many of those who survived bombing missions, became victims after the war ended. Failed marriages and alcoholism were not unusual for veterans of Bomber Command.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/bombing_world_war_two.htm
After reading on the Mosquito:
The Mosquito suffered fewer losses than any other plane attached to Bomber Command. The Mosquito was also used for the bombing of specific targets as it had the speed for low level accurate bombing.
Maybe all TcBs could attack @4 (because of their accuracy and ability to get closer to target) same as StB during Night-bombing? So TcB will get the same attrition rate: 2/36.
So all night-bombers (TcB and StB) will be nearer the 5% maximum attrition rate during worst UK’s SBR mission in day-light.
To give crews experience of night flying, Bomber Command introduced primarily night raids. Though crews were usually safe from German fighters, the weather was another matter. The temperature could fall very low and engines and machine gun turrets could literally freeze. Frost bite and oxygen shortages were a real problem. Night time navigation was also a major problem as Germany had a full blackout and the astro-sextant, used to navigate via the stars, was not reliable neither was the radio aerial. Successful navigation was almost entirely due to the skill of the crew as opposed to any man-made contrivance. The situation did not change until late 1941 when the GEE was introduced a far more sophisticated radio aid.
In the first six months of the war, Bomber Command made 262 night sorties over Germany, at a cost of five aircraft missing and eight that crashed. The experience crews got from such sorties was to prove invaluable in later years. By comparison, in daylight raids, Bomber Command suffered an attrition rate of about 20% (173 planes used with 31 lost).
[…]
In early 1940, the Air Staff believed that it was only a matter of time before Germany attacked the west of Europe. When this happened, what they wanted was a massive attack by Bomber Command on the Ruhr – using all of their planes to destroy the heart of Germany’s industry. Ludlow-Hewitt was against such an attack as he estimated that 50% of his planes would be lost and that Bomber Command would be operationally crippled for many months. Ludlow-Hewitt was replaced as commander-in-chief by Air Marshall Portal and on April 13th 1940, Portal was given a command that if an attack on the west occurred, his targets were to be German troop concentrations and rail yards and oil plants in the Ruhr. The attacks were to be done primarily at night. Germany launched their attack on the west on May 10th; on May 15th, Bomber Command launched a major attack on the Ruhr. Of the 78 planes on the night raid, only one was lost. However, smog over the Ruhr obscured many of the targets and only 24 crews claimed to have even seen their planned targets.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/bomber_command_1939.htm