From: Doug Murphy <dmurphy@WPPOST.DEPAUL.EDU>
Subject:      Reisen. Replay

I recently completed a grand homemade version of Reisen., the
expansion to the Luftschiff "Zeppelin" game by Sierra Madre Games.  Not
satisfied with instructions to use the "flying bomb" counter to represent
the giant a/c, I constructed my own counters using a shirt cardboard, a
photocopier and ball-point pen.  I also sim'd a flight of 3 a/c rather than
one: 3 Italian Cap. 3 bombers, for which I used simple house rules of
photocopying 3 of the bomber tracking charts, using three counters
(staggered in a "rough" Vee formation on the vertical altitude chart).  I
also "cheated" this solitaire game by starting the game at 2,000 m.  rather
than sim' the long slow climb to altitude.

These a/c were off to bomb the Austrian fleet anchorage at Pola.  On
their way, they encountered stiff headwinds and terrible weather that
forced them to burn more fuel coins than was proper for this stage of
the mission.  They also ran into the Alpine mountains and were forced to
turn back and cruise along the "spine" for awhile (to allow the Mtn. card
to reverse itself off the map).  Unfortunately they got lost and didn't find
Pola (unlucky in not picking ANY target cards over hostile territory).
Fortunately, they managed to dodge any Aus. fighters.  Finally admitting
defeat about halfway through the hostile "deck," and worried about fuel,
they jettisoned bombs and turned back only to run into a series of
several more enemy fighters.  (I randomly chose a number of fighters to
appear when prompted by the card --  from 1 - 6).  The fighters were
held at bay by the formation and expended themselves in uncoordinated
attacks.  Finally, one bomber was damaged enough to drop out of
formation (ran out of fuel due to a broken line that was unrepaired and
eventually crashed).  The other two struggled to thread their way over
the Alps and with one fuel coin remaining made emergency
crashlandings in Italian territory.

Unlike their lighter-than-air brethren, the Reisen. trade airspeed for
altitude and take an intermitable time to gain any alt.  In the Zep game, I've
found you must use the advanced rules that allow you to point the Zep's
nose up and use the engines to gain altitude rather than drop most of
your ballast. (the basic game has the Zepp climbing essentially on an
even keel.).  I've seldom made it past 3,500 m w/ Zep -- even the
heightclimbers or a/c.  Anyone have an idea at which alt. these bombing
missions were run?

Doug Murphy