There has been a Zeppelin game glitch which I think would make a great new game variation.
Have you ever seen the glitch where the zeppelin does not move? It stays in front of South base and just hangs there. It may be the best turn fighting variation ever!
Basically, the way it plays out is that the Allies spawn right behind the zep and he Germans obviously spawn far away. The German attackers have to fight their way over and take out the engines before it can be shot down. Simple? Not really.
In a normal zep game the Germans start out making the long trip over. In a well fought game the Allies can usually keep the Germans from getting the engines until the zep gets to mid field. The further past mid field it gets, the harder it is for the defenders. Each time a defender gets shot down it takes longer for them to get back into the fight because of the increasing distance. Any close game becomes a race against time, where the Germans have to finish off the zep before it bombs the German hangars.
In this new variation, the Germans (with the superior d8s) have to travel the entire distance on each respawn. A complicating factor is that they have to ration their ammo. Each time they shoot down defending allied planes the defenders respawn at the ideal defending point. If a German just wants to dogfight they will use up their limited ammo before they can get the engines. They are forced to fly evasively and to try to get close enough to get snap shots off at the engines.
The allies need to keep the Germans as far away from the zep as possible and can obviously rack up lots of kills while the Germans need to be careful with their ammo. Remember that if a German gets close enough, once he is shot down he can shoot the engines from the parachute. Once the engines are down the attacking Germans can shoot the zep from a much greater distance but still the Germans will get more points for the game if they save their bullets for the zeppelin rather than shooting defenders.
This variation is like the real ww 1 mission of attacking well defended spotting balloons. There is the great reward of many points for a successful German attack AND a great reward for the allies of many potential kills.
I suppose that here should be some way for the allies to win too? It could either be that each side has a stationary zep to defend, OR the allies could be given bombs so they can take out the German hangars. The Germans would be flying bombless while the allies would need to have some bombers make it through. Escorts, sneaks, everything would be fair game.
This would make a good game even if one side is out numbered.