Boston Tea Party, 1942-Style

Date: July 4th, 1942
Location: Over El Alamein, Egypt
History: On a morning patrol over the battlefield with a force of twelve fighters (Macchi C.202s) Capitano Lucchnini intercepted a formation of twenty A-20 Boston Bombers escorted by a large number of P-40s and Spitfires; below them was a second formation made up of Hurribombers. Italian fighters pounced on the British planes, and our battle commenced.


Check Your Six! is fast becoming our historical minis "go-to" game, and I am absolutely fine with that. I gotta say, aside from the people you game with it's the stuff you game with that makes it enjoyable and I am lucky to play with the best CY6! stuff on the planet. From the handmade, ten-foot hex map to the excellently painted planes, to the adjustable height combat stands there's nothing about this game I don't like. The rules are solid, the games fun, the mechanics easy to learn, and an absolute horde of historically-based scenarios make every game unique and grounded in reality from the barnstorming biplanes of WWI to the jets of the 1980's.


Unlike the past handful of games, this time around I was saddled with a coupe of green pilots. No skilled pilots, no veterans, and certainly no aces, just me and a couple of rookie Spitfires. I was expecting much, but I did surprisingly well actually.


This is a tough scenario for the Italians to win. The British forces have a ton of heavy bombers flying by, plus a bunch of lighter bombers, then all of their fighter escorts. All my side had to do was get off the other end of the table, while avoiding getting shot down of course. My little greens got in there scoring a couple of hits and even taking down an enemy fighter. Of course this enemy fighter was Andy's plane, and I always like to point out when I shoot him down, it's becoming quite the Mik's Minis tradition!


Here's my wounded Spitfire shooting down Andy's plane


When the battle was done, and the smoke not yet clear, the British forces had pulled out a decisive victory. We weren't able to meet out secondary objectives, but we did pretty well. I like these scenarios since they're based on actual events, and in the case the real-world counterpart battles was a completely different affair with the Italian forces demolishing the Brits.

So there's another CY6! battle in the bag. That makes five total for the year, and I have feeling we've got at least that many more in store before 2012 is up. Until then, enjoy!

Top Cover near the Dutch Border

Date: March 6th, 1944, 1203 hours
Location: Near Haseluenne, Germany
History: As Hauptmann Rolf Hermichen led I/JG.11 to attack the main bomber stream, P-47's of the 78th Fighter Group moved to protect the bombers. Flying top cover for Stab./JG.11 and I/JG.11 was Günther Specht's II/JG.11 Heinz Knoke and his squadron were the first to dive down on the Americans in an effort to keep them away from the bombers.


I'm somewhat behind...on pretty much every thing in my hobby life it seems, and this Check Your Six! batrep is no exception. I think it's mandatory to state every time I do a CY6 writeup how great this game is and is perfect for long-term play, pick-up games, or anything in between. It's also, speaking strictly from my own non-historical gaming background, a nice entry to the world of minis and historicals. The scenarios in the rulebooks are drawn directly from real life air engagements, such as this one that found me playing a real life German fighter ace. But, as with all games of CY6, it gave me an opportunity to clip the wings of my fellow gaming buddies in a grievous, flurry of machine-gun fire and breakneck maneuvering.


I also need to state once again that I probably wouldn't even bother with CY6 if it weren't for all the homemade "extras" that make the game so enjoyable. Seen here is the homemade flight stand, with plane designator arrow, and the posts are removable by section so you can instantly see on a table full of fighter who is at what altitude. Also you can see the smoke marker, just a clever magnet design easily implemented but adds immensely to the overall atmosphere of the game. White smoke is airframe damage (I believe) and black smoke is engine damage.


When playing historical scenarios such as these it's always interesting to see how the game stacks up to what happened in reality. Fortunately the rules play fast enough where you can just switch sides once the battle is over and try it again from the other side of the table's perspective. In the actual battle the Germans only lost one plane to the Americans two. We already had those numbers by the end of turn two.

Check your six! An American P-47 can't seem to shake his "friend"...



Here's a shot of ace Knoke's Bf-109 squadron. It's when you're playing a squad like this on the table you're like, "Yup, I'm playing a wargame." I don't know the costs of getting into the game, spoiled by all of my friends' great stuff, but I can't imagine it being too terribly much. The stands are homemade and the planes are pretty small, so they should be cheap and easy to paint.

Overall the Germans won the day, just with more casualties inflicted on both sides of the ball. Playing an ace on the tabletop is a lot of fun and I keep getting lucky when we roll off for them too. You're able to out-maneuver pretty much at will, you get to go last in the turn which is a big deal, and your fighter skill is always going to give you a leg up in firefights. Having said that however, I've seen plenty of green pilots get in there and clean house too.

I've got another batrep I need to write up for CY6!, but Andy's has beat me to it here. I'll still get to it eventually because mainly seeing all of those bombers en masse on the table is just too of a sight on the tabletop to mothball.

Green Flares over the Netherlands

Date: November 5th, 1943, 1425 hours
Location: Near Rotterdam, Netherlands
History: By 1420, elements of the 55th were about to exit the Rotterdam area, escorting a group of B-24s and several stragglers at 26,000 feet. Lt. Gerald Leinweber and several other P-38s that had formed with him quickly spotted green distress flares below, fired from a lone B-17 under attack at 12,000 feet. They dove to its assistance.


This is the second Check Your 6! game we've played recently, and like the first (which I'll post on second) it was a lot of fun. Given that this game game was an on-the-fly pickup game too made it even better. If you've got the materials in place, one of these games can be had with little to no prep time, yet it feels like a full-fledged convention game in action.


I've always liked the P-38 Lightning, you can see them here as the larger silver planes. They pack quite a bit of punch, and they just look cool. I've also always liked CY6! because most of the games you play will be grounded in actual historical engagements. It's one thing to say you're playing a bomber rescue run, it's another to play out one that actually happened. Well this scenario didn't disappoint because it had great planes and a cool background.

This is Andy's plane. It got shot down. By me.


I am very spoiled by the caliber of CY6! players I game with. As you can see here, we don't use static plastic bases with an altitude indicator/slider. We use metal rods, in sections, to represent the altitude of the plane itself. Six rods high? You're at altitude six. When you've got a table full of planes everywhere, it'd be impossible to remember where they're all at without this. Plus, when I do historical wargaming I want the "spectacle" and nothing screams that than something like the above dogfight.


The scenario calls for the American forces to pretty much get their bomber off the table as quickly as possible. Being a very unconventional tactician, we opted to turn the bomber into the attackers and open up with its massive array of heavy machineguns. On top of that, add in a squadron of P-38s dropping in from high altitude and you've got the makings for a tense, high-action, frenetic dogfight. Compounded of course by a lumbering bomber that kept everyone guessing as to what it would do next.


It was tough fought battle for the first couple of turns, but soon enough the American forces gained the upper hand and momentum helped them roll over the Luftwaffe. It helped that the bomber crew was randomly rolled for at game start and came up veteran, improving their effectiveness, but also, those P-38s just hit too hard and fast.

The P-38 squadron led by Lt. Weinreber


Here's the B-17 the scenario revolved around. By using it in a completely different role I think it threw a sizeable enough monkeywrench in the opposing players' plans. They had to contend with this slow-moving target turning into their attack instead of fleeing. Of course a target this ripe is too hard to ignore, but like a hornet's nest, if you stray too close you'll get stung. Plus you now have to divide your attention between the bomber and the P-38s at the same time. It was a gamble, putting the bomber in harm's way, but it paid off in the end.

I've got another Check Your Six! batrep queued up with the photos, I just haven't been able to write it up yet. It was the first one we played, which meant there was a little more planning up front, and then this one came the following week. Until then, enjoy!

Too Close for Missiles...err, Maybe Not!

During the Libyan-Egyptian War, there were some skirmishes between Libyan and Egyptian fighter jets. In one instnace, two LARAF MiG-23MS engaged two EAF MiG-21MF which had been upgraded to carry Western weaponry. The Libyan pilots made the mistake of trying to manoeuvre with the more nimble Egyptian fighters, and one MiG-23MS was shot down by Maj. Sal Mohammad, while the other used the speed advantage to escape. -WikiPedia


Andy's "claims" of being divinely protected saved him...even here!


Egyptian MIGs and two ground defense units


A near miss!



Missile contrails filled the middle-eastern skies



The orange trails denote hitting the afterburners



Two missiles fail miserably, missing their mark by a mile


Libyan bombing runs decimated ground units


Check Your 6! was one of the three "BrianCon" games we played, and as always it didn't disappoint. I hadn't had a chance to play with the jet rules yet, and man, they were cool. Speeds were off the charts, we had missiles, attack ranges were vast, and we had afterburners. Mind you, all of these extra mechanics didn't muddle up the rules or make them any harder to play. CY6! is a great game with tight rules that allow even brand new players to jump right into the action and pretty much know what they're doing by the second or third turn. I've played in a handful of games, and every one of them has been enjoyable, here they are.


...and now from the "what if" files, laser guns!

Weekend o' BrianCon

Well this last Saturday, July the 17th was our inaugural "Briancon". It was a bittersweet affair, and no, the photo above is not the con itself. Anybody who has been around has seen me mention my buddy Brian and his blog, Repple Depple. Well it was that Brian who was the focus, and the reason being is every gamer's lament...he's moving! Losing a regular member of any gaming group is always a bummer, especially now that we're all getting, ahem, older. It's one of those things that happens though, and although we're very happy for him and his family in their new venture, we're also incredibly bummed they're leaving.


We kicked off the festivities at ten in the morning with a rousing game of Field of Battle set in France, early World War II. I'll do up a separate post for each game we played of course, but let me just say I loved, loved, loved Field of Battle. As is the norm for the historical group, the table was huge, the minis were beautiful, the terrain was lavish...the works.


The game was broken up by an awesome lunch of grilled sausages, dips, and other great foods. Brian's wife was super cool and was in full-on "cook for gamers" mode allowing us to roll dice without a food care in the world. The one and only bonus of a family moving away is they don't want to take all the food with them, so they were cleaning out the cabinets, and what a better food-wreckin' crew than a gaggle of gamers?


Check Your 6! was next in the line up, and finally I got to play the "jet age". Having flown, err, played with just 1930's and 40's era planes, these jets were crazy. They were super fast, maneuverable, and had missiles (that never seemed to hit anything). The scenario took place in the 1970's between Egyptian and Libyan air forces.


To round out the day we played a large game of Pig Wars, with each of the six players fielding their own warband of Vikings or Irish, and havign their very own agendas. Even though everyone thought they knew what side they were on, special circumstances might have said otherwise. This was a very inspirational game and although I said I was "done" with project viking, I could see myself painting up "just a few" more guys to fill in some gaps in the collection. Also, Brian had some great terrain set up with a central palisade on a hill complete with stone cottages and a couple of fire pits.


Speaking of fire pits (ha, nice segue!) we had another scrumptious meal for dinner. Again Brian's wife was a dervish of the dish in the kitchen, taking care of all our gastrointestinal needs. Some leftover sausages from lunch made it into the fray along with grilled chicken, these great little shrimp/bacon/pepper thingies, beans, cole slaw, and kinds of other fixings. To round it all off, homemade key lime pie and peach cobbler with whipped cream provided the perfect, final send off.

All in all, it was a great day full of everything that makes this hobby great; gaming, food, and friends. Like I said, I took lots of pics of each of the games, so there will be more to come. If you live in or around the Winchester, VA area and looking for a game or know of any solid historical groups nearby let me know and I'll pass it along to Señor Repple Depple.

Mayhem Over Malta!

Would you like to know more?

Proper CY6! Writeup

I say "proper" in the title, but it should read *complete*. Brian over at Repple Depple has posted his batrep of last Friday's Check Your 6! game. To see more pics, most importantly not taken with a camera phone (so they're much better quality) and a writeup on the actual historical context of the battle, including types of planes, head over to Repple Depple.

Italians on Your 6!

Another teaser post until Repple Depple gets the Batrep in!


Last night's game of Check Your 6! was a dogfighter's dream (or nightmare).


It was the Brits versus the Italians, and it was a blast!


Tailing action, lining up for the kill shot...


"Get the bomber!" Brian has set up ingenious, adjustable-altitude flying stands.

A Pair o' Dogfights

This last Friday night I got out of the house and went and played some historical air fights over at our buddy Brian's house of Repple Depple using the Check Your 6 rules. I love these rules and I can see why they're a big draw at Cons, I'm by no means an experienced CY6 player, but after the first turn, you're square in the action and an entire complicated system is easily managed at your fingertips with just a few charts and diagrams. It doesn't handle modern day aircraft, but completely understandable given the speeds and armament of what's out there nowadays, but from biplanes to Korea, it's great.

Having a full blown CY6 game master (for lack of a better word) is an invaluable benefit too. Brian's got dozens of planes, from a variety of time periods and war theaters, in different scales, so any scenario is possible. He also has an ingenious altitude system that is simple to use, and looks awesome on the tabletop. The above pic is his, all of mine were too blurry (arrgh, camera phone!) to post, but to see more...lots more pics of the evening, you'll just have to head over to his blog and read (and see) all about it.

The first scenario: I played the Allied side somewhere over the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese. I had a couple of named veterans on my side too and was flying a cool plane, the P-38 Lightning that looked kind of like a sci-fi ship. Our mission was to go blast some bad guys who had just dropped some bombs on our buddies.

The second scenario: We were in Europe, trying to attack some bombers or something that were flying low, and we were the Axis bad guys. A storm front was moving in and created an impenetrable wall to one side of the board. I was flying fast and agile little planes that had a cool desert camo pattern; the 109's.

Brian's got a very thorough writeup of the evening, and as mentioned, he's got tons of great pics. So, what are you waitin' for?

Check Your Six!

All right, last Friday night Andy and I got in on a Check Your Six! game run by a mutual friend, Brian, and a group of peeps we regularly game with. Brian, in turn, was running this particular scenario as a warm-up for when he runs it at Historicon later this month, so we were happy to be his guinea pigs. Check Your Six! (CY6!) is a World War II air combat game, and it was a freakin' blast. The rules were chunky, but played in a very easy-going and intuitive manner. It could've been completely quagmired in charts, diagrams, and confusion with very little effort, but it wasn't. I felt comfortable enough by the second round that I was able to plot my moves and get a feel for what to do without a bunch of hand-holding. In a convention setting, it's pretty much perfect. I could see myself playing a lot more of it in the future, it was that good.

Now the above pics pretty much say it all. It was a great game, on a huge table, with some neat little planes that were painted very well (click on the above pics). There were five of us altogether. In all honesty, I'm not traditionally a historic gamer, not that I'm adverse to them, I just haven't found a period that I can sink my teeth into (well, maybe FIW) and I do love my sci-fi. I know the major players of WWII, mostly I know the equipment used, but the particulars, the nitty gritty I'm a bit slack on, fortunately that wasn't a factor for this game or group of players.

The basic scenario was that General MacArthur and some other allied big-wigs were touring the countryside with their awesome P-38 escorts, and then were ambushed by Japanese forces. I controlled a couple of P-38 Lightnings (one was an 'ace' pilot) as well as all three of the bombers. Two of the bombers turned tail and got out of the fray as fast as they could (which wasn't saying much), but I ran one bomber as a 'wildcat' that tore through the enemy fighters as best as it could, it's exterior bristling with machine guns and cannons. The bombers claimed a kill, and my Lightnings took out four more.

There is a lot more to it than this, obviously, but how do you do a game report when there's already one done on the exact same game? I already borrowed his pics, so I'll just refer you to Brian's gaming blog for the full details, you should definitely check 'em out. His blog, Repple Depple, is listed over on the right along with Andy's as well as some other noteworthy ones.