Historical Background: After the fall of France Nazi Germany began preparing for the invasion of Britain. First they would have to destroy the Royal Air Force. Thus began the Battle of Britain (July 1940 - May 1941) in the skies above England. The Germans had more planes, but the British were able to make use of their "home field advantage" to win the battle, barely. German pilots had to cross the English Channel to engage the RAF, and any German pilots shot down over England became casualties or prisoners. British pilots that survived being shot down could fight again another day. The British were also able to use their radar to detect and intercept incoming German attacks. Winston Churchill said of the battle "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Playtest: I have not playtested this simulation yet, however Matt Unsworth, the author, has used it successfully with his students.
Set-Up: Divide the class into two groups - the RAF (Britain) and Luftwaffe (Germany). Each team must have an air marshal. Air marshals will be in charge of allocating resources and aircraft to targets, and filling in the flight roster. The remaining students will be pilots (German fighter or bomber pilots, British fighter pilots). If necessary, divide the students in small groups and call them "wings." The German players start with 10 bombers and 10 fighters. The British players start with 6 fighters. This information should be put on the flight rosters. German flight roster: MS Word file or GIF file. British flight roster: MS Word file or GIF file. You will need a standard deck of playing cards (52 cards, remove the jokers).
Battle Board: The Battle Board should be drawn on the chalkboard, or someplace else where all the students can see it. On the Battle Board write the three targets: air bases, radar, and London. This is where each turn you will write down the number and type of planes sent by each side to attack or defend each target. Here is a Battle Board you can print and use: GIF file.
Objective: Germany must either destroy London OR both the air bases AND radar. The British win by destroying 15 German planes or preventing the Germans from winning. The battle will last 5 turns or until one side wins a victory.
Turn Sequence:
1. Reinforcements
2. Action Points
3. Reveal Actions
4. Radar
5. Air Battles
6. Bombing Missions
Reinforcements: At the start of each turn announce a news flash and give each air marshal a reinforcement card (write them on index cards). The air marshal should add the reinforcements to their flight rosters.
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Hitler announces he will celebrate Christmas dinner in London |
2 Bombers |
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Winston Churchill delivers "We will never surrender" speech |
1 Bomber |
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Herman Goring suspends all attacks on radar stations claiming that they are a waste of time and resources |
1 Bomber |
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German troops mass in northern France and practice amphibious assaults |
2 Bombers |
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England puts army and navy on full alert status, invasion expected within 24 hours |
2 Bombers |
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Action Points: Each air marshal has 10 action points. If England's Air Bases are destroyed their points go down to 5. It costs 1 action point to assign a plane to fly a mission - fighter or bomber. The air marshal must indicate on the flight roster the number and type of planes that will be assigned to attack or defend each target - air bases, radar, and London. The British air marshal may also spend action points to repair damage done to the air bases, radar or London on previous turns. One action point will repair one damage point on one of the targets. A target reduced below 0 points cannot be repaired. Any unused action points are lost.
Reveal Actions: First the German air marshal will announce the number and type of planes being sent to each target. This information should be recorded on the Battle Board for all the students to see. Next the British air marshal will announce how many fighters he is sending to defend each target. Record this on the Battle Board. The British air marshal also must announce how many points were spent to repair targets. This information should not be recorded on the battle board. The German team should not know how much damage has been done to each target.
Radar: The British radar allows them to detect incoming German attacks and respond to them. The British air marshal is allowed to make two changes to the battle board - moving two fighters to defend a different target.
Air Battles: An air battle will be fought between the fighters over each target - resolve each battle separately. Count the number of fighters each side sent to the target. Students that are fighter pilots should draw cards - one for each fighter in the battle. Whichever side draws the highest card wins the battle. If the high cards are the same compare the second highest card to determine the winner. The high cards for each side also determines the number of planes lost in the battle as shown in the Battle Results table. The air marshals should record the number of planes lost on the flight roster. The side that wins the battle controls the skies over the target for this turn. German casualties should be evenly divided between the bombers and fighters. If the British win then any surviving German bombers must return to Germany without bombing their target (they can still be used again next turn). If the Germans win the battle then any surviving bombers will attack the target.
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Optional Rule - Rather than eliminating planes lost in air battles draw a card to determine the fate of the pilot. Number card: pilot bails out over England - German pilot is captured (plane lost), British pilot survives to fly again (plane not lost), Face Card (Jack, Queen or King): pilot is killed (plane lost), Ace: pilot heroically flies damaged plane back to his airbase and receives a medal for bravery (plane not lost)
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Pilot bails out over England |
(Plane lost) |
(Plane not lost) |
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Pilot killed |
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Pilot returns to base in damaged plane |
(Plane not lost) |
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Bombing Missions: If the Germans win the air battle over a target their bombers can attack the target. Students that are German bomber pilots should draw cards for the damage - one card for each bomber - and give them to the teacher without looking at them. Cards 2 - 9 count as their face value, face cards count as 12, an ace counts 15. Total the damage points for each target and give this information to the British air marshal. He should subtract the damage from the damage points for each target. London starts with 50 damage points, Radar and Air Bases start with 25 damage points each. This information should not be given to the German players. They won't know how effective their attacks have been.
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