Pendrakon Blood Red Skies Day II: Battle of Britain Aldertag (13th August)

13th August 1940 Aldertag: Dowding's Home Station Defence Network is picking up something incoming off the Kent coast (see below, the "eyes and ears" of the RAF - I just gotta love the terrain models Renko printed for this game): 

Unwanted guests (two formations of German Heinkel 111s heading to Manston airfield): 

With a gaggle (well technically two schwarms of Luftwaffe Me 109's) of little friends in tow in close escort position (see below, going left to right the air is full of Nazi bombers and escorting fighters, fourteen planes in all):  

"Achtung Spitfire" - the RAF greeting party arrives (see below, tilted back indicated the aircraft is in an advantaged position [Blood Red Skies game term]):

The desperate attack of "The Few" are pressed home against the bombers (see below, but with the sheer numbers of German fighters in the air a Spitfire is caught as his compatriot riddles a Heinkel with 303 machine gun fire at insanely short range): 

After one frantic pass through the bomber formation the Spitfires spin round again displaying their tight turning capability, but the Me 109s are closing in): 

Then suddenly, the sky is clear. A classic RAF "hit and run" - the Germans have lost a Me 109 ("Where is Sigmund?") and a Heinkel is trailing smoke but is still intent on pressing on (see below, target is set for Manston airfield):  

Then all hell breaks loose as Spitfires and Hurricanes appear out of no where, charging straight into teh bombers (see below, the RAF concentrate on the left side of the the German formation, attaining local superiority. Twelve fighters to seven, but the remaining eight German Me 109s are placed ideally to swing into the rear of the Spitfire formation): 

Again a Spitfire pays the price, but fortunately the pilot jumps clear (see below, the RAF bravery means the German bomber formation is once again penetrated and riddled):  

A Heinkel from the leading formation goes down in flames and another one is severely damaged in the rear formation but Manston comes into sight as a flak barrage greets the unwanted guests (see below, the "tail end Charlie" Heinkel in not a happy bunny - or rather Nazi!):  

Manston Sector Airfield: sirens start wailing and AA firing at full effect (see below, the Spitfires and Hurricanes again disappear as the bombers conduct their attack run): 

The surviving bomber of the lead formation scores a telling hit on Manston, but the rear formation is less successful (a near miss) but loses its damaged aircraft to accurate flak (see below, RAF ground crew watch as German parachutes open from the doomed bomber as the crew bails out): 

Manston is damaged but still operational, it lives to fight another day. Holes are repaired in teh runway, as wearing RAF pilots land, refuel and get ready to "go again"!

All told an absolutely brilliant big day out, the Blood Red Skies event hosted at Pendrakon, a nice follow on from the Low Countries Game Day, where I spent my morning and afternoon fighting the Belgian Air Force. Huge thanks must go out to Renko for organising it, respect! Respect also goes to the RAF that took out 50% of the German bomber force, Hermann Goering certainly won't like that! As I was too slow in painting my BRS Starter Set Spitfires I played Luftwaffe again, so I will doubtless have to face a telling off by my commanding officer!

1/72 Mediterranean German Me 109 Fighter

This is an old Matchbox kit that I collected ages ago for no apparent reason other than I liked it. I had always hankered for a Me109 as a kid but I never seemed to get round to doing one.  So when as a bigger kid I saw this kit I could not help myself and picked it up (in London over ten years ago) but had to wait until the mid 2006 before I made it. Initially I was tempted to do the Romanian variant for a wacky Russian front feel (which given my collections would have made more sense) but the German Med paint scheme and markings just caught my eye.

Trouble is it is a bit of lone wolf just now, without even the potential of an Afrika Corp wargame to window dress or a Curtiss Warhawk or Hawker Hurricane IIc to dogfight with.

Anyway this is an eye-candy post while I am in the background painting another bunch of Platoon 20 British late-WW2 infantry (and who knows maybe a Metal Goblin).

Over the Skies of the Reich

While searching through some IKEA storage boxes I came across these boys I had painted earlier this year or last (I think). They have a feel of my recent painting schemes anyway. A base shade then a highlight :)


The early version of the Mustang, the P51B (form the Airfix "Texas Hun Hunter"kit). Painted with Tamiya and Games Workshop "Citadel" paints.


Versus the up-gunned Me109-G (again the kit is from Airfix) with 20mm cannon in under-wing pods. Not sure about the Me109 paint scheme, it seems too Matt in retrospect, maybe a satin varnish is required. This could be partly from the Humbrol acrylics I used for the grays, they seemed a little chalky and fast drying on the brush for my liking.


Not really air combat wargaming scale, unless you have a very big table, but a nice bit of eye candy representing air assets in 20mm tabletop battle IMHO. The stands came from Games Workshop marked for "Big Flyers". I had not the heart to tell the assistant what kits they were really for so I left him with the impression it was something Elvish. He took my money anyway.