Aviation Hardback Books

I was walking the dog this morning and passed the local charity shop, popping in while the dog took a breather in the shade. Here's the result, a couple of aviation themed additions to the holiday reading list. I think I've read Tail End Charlies before but there's no harm in reading it again, while the history of the Israeli Air Force is a new one to me. Good finds both!

Wings at War 'How To?' Part Two

 

I got around to writing up the second part of the Wings at War 'how to?' guidelines to movement this afternoon, which are designed to help players get their heads around Energy and Action Point expenditure, using some more complicated movement actions compared to the previous guide. I think I've explained things as clearly as I can and have also incorporated some of the suggestions from people on the Wings at War Facebook group, most of which were very helpful. I'd be interested to know if this makes sense, especially if you either have played before or have absolutely no experience of the system. The examples use the free-to-download Desert Spitfires rules, so that anyone can try them out:

Desert Spitfires (wingsatwar.com)

Wings at War 'How To?'

 

Mr Tumbling Dice, Paul Sulley, asked me for some reason to proofread and edit the Wings at War rule booklets to see if I could make the movement, energy management and action point system less opaque for customers. Apparently, he's had a lot of emails from prospective players who are confused by the text and who have given up on the game before they've had a chance to try it out. I thought the best way to clarify things would be to produce a set of 'box out' example moves including one turn that works and another where the flight parameters are exceeded, resulting in too much energy at the end of the turn and a spin, resulting in a crash. Here's the first example using the Desert Spitfires rules as a template, although the idea would be to modify this to fit the other rules in the series. Any feedback would be very welcome.

Deepcut Aerial Desert Diversion

 

I finally found the time to un-roll my Xmas present today, a 6'x4' Deep Cut Studios Aerial Desert Mat. It's a cracker and will be excellent for Wings at War, Airwar:C21 or any other hex less but desert themed rules. To my surprise, it also works really well for 15mm too, as you can see from the photos of an AK47 supply convoy, so I think my Sandbox Skirmish post colonial project may just have had a bit of a boot up the bum?!

Magic Carpets

 

My wife ordered a rug the other day which arrived this morning, so was duly ignored and dumped in the kitchen to await approval. In the meantime, I got on with some work and forgot about it, until the other half opened the big tube-shaped parcel and discovered not a bespoke, hand-knitted piece of floor furniture, but my Deep Cut Studios desert aerial wargaming mat instead. 

This was far more exciting than a mangy flea-bitten floor rug, but I have yet to un-roll it for a proper inspection due to other things getting in the way. It turns out I ordered the neoprene backed version, although I don't remember doing so, which is even better than I expected. It also means my Agacher Strip War project is one step closer to the start line! 

Happy Xmas to Me

 

I've bought myself a 6' x 4' desert aerial wargaming cloth from Deep Cut Studios, as a gift from my wife who leaves it to me to sort out the Xmas presents. This is something I've wanted to get for ages, as it has loads of potential uses including Desert Spitfires and Wings over Suez, for example. I can also deploy it for WW2 Western Desert aerial games, either with Wings at War or Bag the Hun using the hex less system, or even for ground warfare in 10mm or 6mm. At a push it might even work for my 15mm post-colonial Sandbox Skirmish project, although I'll have to check it out first. Perhaps the most interesting option will be to play out the Merry Xmas Mr Sankara campaign using the Wings at War rules and Tumbling Dice aircraft, which would be an excellent solo wargaming project for next year. Brilliant!

Wings at War Air Combat Wargamers

 

The Wings at War Facebook group has taken off really well and now has over sixty members, which isn't bad for a couple of days. There's been some really good content and lots of enthusiasm, with two extra volunteer admins signed up to help me run things, which is a very handy. I'm hoping that the momentum will continue and that, once the word gets out, some new players will get involved too. The link here will direct you straight to the group, so why not join up and see what's going on:

Wings at War Air Combat Wargamers | Facebook

Wings at War 1/600th Wargamers Facebook Group

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/594274438736896

IAF Leader

The New Years Resolution to play more board wargames is still going strong, with the latest being DVG's Israeli Air Force Leader, as a follow on from my very enjoyable Phantom Leader Vietnam campaigns last month. There's an obvious cross over with my miniatures gaming projects too, specifically the Desert Spitfires project that I've been meaning to finish for a while now, having made a promising start and then been side tracked onto the Corsair and Cavaliers Football War project instead. Anyway, if you are interested, there are some on-going campaign after action reports on the other blog:

Tea and a Wad Wargaming: IAF Leader

Bag the Hun Scenario Projects 2022

I've been looking ahead to next year and have some ideas in mind for another Bag the Hun scenario writing project, to be combined with some 1/600th scale model painting so that I can run some more, very enjoyable solo games and club multiplayer sessions. So far, I've come up with four potential themes, some of which cross over with Wings at War as an added bonus.

First up is the Franco Thai War in 1941, which is limited in scope but features some really unusual and interesting aircraft, with the added bonus that you don't need very many of them! I've mentioned this before on the blog and have at least four or five scenarios already sketched out in rough, with all the models in the lead pile ready to go.

The second option is the Norwegian campaign in 1940, with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and Norwegian Air Force taking on the might of the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. This would have loads of potential, with lots of 'derring do' and some classic early war aircraft types to paint up. I'm keen on this idea in particular, as I don't know much about it and I think it would be a popular choice.

The third option is the campaign in Syria in 1941, again with the RAF and FAA but this time fighting the Vichy French, who put up a stiff fight by all accounts. This has the advantage that any aircraft I paint up can also be deployed in North Africa, where they can take on the Regia Aeronautica as well as the Luftwaffe.

The last theme that I've been considering is the 1948 War of Independence or 'Al Nakbah' depending on your point of view. I started on a Wings at War Desert Spitfires project before so have all the aircraft with some even painted, albeit in a half finished state, so this would be an easy option with lots of dogfighting thrown in for good measure.

What do you think?

Wings at War Desert Terrain Cloth

I'm thinking of saving up my pocket money for one of these 6'x4' Deep Cut Studios 6mm aerial desert terrain cloths, having seen one used to great effect on Nick's Bloody Betancourt blog. It's not cheap but I could use it for Desert Spitfires and Wings over Suez, as well as any other desert themed Wings at War projects. The obvious ones are the Six Day War and North Africa, the latter being a simple variation on the basic system in Desert Spitfires, with a few tweaks to give it some historical details. It could also be used for Target Locked On! and Airwar:C21 amongst other things, so there's a lot of mileage in it if I can stump up the funds. I better get saving up! 

MiG Alley Back to Back

I had two excellent games of MiG Alley today, the first a solo outing to learn the rules and the second against my son, who wanted to have a go. In the first game I gave the UN two F-86 Sabres with honcho pilots and two F-84 Thunderjets with experienced pilots, the latter tasked with attacking a bridge over the Yalu. The North Koreans had three MiG-15's, one with an experienced leader and two with green pilots. This gave the UN a decisive edge but I didn't realise by just how much until well into the game.

The game was great fun, with the Sabres chasing after the MiG's after they crossed the Yalu, while the Thunderjets dropped down to low level to bomb the bridge. They scored two hits on the bridge and then successfully returned to cross over into the safety of UN airspace at the end of the game. The Sabres managed to damage the MiG flight leader, who escaped over the eastern edge of the table, but shot down both of his wingmen, one over North Korea and the other over the border in China. 

In the second game, I decided to deploy the Fleet Air Arm with two Sea Furies and two Fireflies, again with a mission to hit a bridge (we did originally roll up a ground target but the lad wanted to use the bridge model instead). This time, the MiG's shot down one Firefly and almost shot down the second as it failed to bomb the bridge, running out of ammunition in the process. In return, one of the Sea Furies managed to damage a MiG, while the other MiG overcooked a tight turn and spun into the ground due to expending  too many AP's.

I really enjoyed both games and like the Wings at War system, which I found easy to pick up but with lots of tactical depth. I am going to play some more MiG Alley, as I have plenty of aircraft to use, but also intend to finish off the planes for the Arab Israeli 1948 version of the game, Desert Spitfires, together with my Football War planes for the Corsairs and Cavaliers variant that I devised. In fact, the Football War painting is advanced enough to be relatively quick to complete, so that will probably be pushed to the front of the queue. Tally Ho!

Desert Spitfires Flight Stand Shortcut

I have this project on hold but it's still on the radar, so I've been thinking of ways to make it easier to complete, now that I have all the decals that I need to make it feasible. The wire and tube flight stands that you are supposed to use for Wings at War are not my cup of tea, so I've been making my own flight stands in four different altitude levels for my MiG Alley and Corsairs and Cavaliers projects. The problem with these is that you need four different height stands in multiples of at least six to be able to run a game, so it's a mammoth task to scratch build them all. I've done it for MiG Alley but really don't fancy repeating the exercise again for obvious reasons.

I'm now thinking of using a modified design to reduce the overall number of flight stands that I need to make for Desert Spitfires, amongst other things. The idea is to use a double dice frame instead of a single dice frame on each base, allowing one red D6 for Energy and another blue D6 for Height to be positioned on each base. This would reduce the overall number of flight stands by a factor of four, so I'd only need to make about a dozen or so of the 30mm x 30mm format and only a few of the 40mm x 40mm stands for the bombers. It would also mean I can spend a bit more time tarting them up with texturing, dry brushing and detailing to make them look really good.

Goodbye 2018

I've left it a bit late for my usual review of wargaming year but I've done a quick wizz through of what I've done over the last twelve months. In January, February and March I painted shedloads of  1/600th planes for Bag the MiG and MiG Alley, although I still haven't completed all of the extra things I need for the latter, so a game has yet to materialise but is on the cards for 2019. I also assembled some modern fast attack craft in 1/700th, which are still in a box somewhere, and added some more 1/600th aircraft for my Flashpoint Taiwan project.

In the Easter holidays I played several games of Target Locked On! which I enjoyed and made up for not being able to get to the club for any games due to the kid's evening activities on a Tuesday night. I then started on a Wings at War: Desert Spitfires project but this was hijacked by the arrival of What a Tanker, which proceeded to occupy the next couple of months with building, painting and weathering 1/72nd scale plastic kits. I really enjoyed this but only got a couple of games in before the holidays started in July. I'll definitely be back to WAT in 2019 and hope to set up a club game at some point, using my Germans and Russian tanks. I did also paint some 1/600th Soviet Cold War aircraft just because I fancied a bit of a break from all that clanky tanky stuff!

In the Summer holidays I played a solo 'What If?' mini-campaign of Broadside and Ram with my unpainted but assembled 1/2400th French and British ironclad fleets. I thought this was really fun but it didn't get me any further along in terms of painting the things, which is also something I'd really like to get sorted in 2019. I also did some scratch building to produce my own 1/2400th scale version of the USS Dunderberg  and USS Onodaga, both for my French ironclad fleet. I was really pleased with my efforts, even if they weren't anything amazing! I am hoping to get the British and French fleets painted in 2019, together with the Danish and Prussian ironclads for 1864.

In the Autumn I decided on a whim to finish off the 1/600th scale Alto Cenepa project by completing the aircraft for both Peru and Ecuador, which had been sitting in a box for years. These were finished by October half term so I set about converting the Wings at War rules to the conflict, only getting so far before I decided to try something similar but less complicated first. The aircraft and terrain targets are all completed for the Alto Cenepa clash but I've yet to organise myself to set up a game of Target Locked On or Air War: C21, which was the original idea.

This 'other project' turned out to be the Football War using Desert Spitfires as a rules template, with my own twists and turns based on background research. The rules I developed, Cavaliers and Corsairs, may even be published in 2019 but I still didn't finish the planes for them in time for the Xmas break. This was partly due to being side tracked yet again by my 15mm post-colonial Sandbox Skirmish project, which appeared out of nowhere when I found a second hand art frame in a charity shop and then turned it into a desert terrain skirmish board. I'll crack on with this project as well in 2019.

That's it really, give or take a few minor diversions along the way and virtually no wargaming at the club for work and family reasons. I am going to try to get up there on a Tuesday night at least once a month in 2019, so that I'm not just stuck at the workbench but actually run some games or at least take part when I can. I'm making a good stab at this in January with three games already booked up, made easier by the fact that the boy's rugby training doesn't start for a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to these as they are all naval or air wargames, which is are my main areas of interest, two of which I've never played before.

I hope you've had a great 2018 and that 2019 turns out to be even better!

Cheers!

Working at Wings at War

2019?

I've got several Wings at War projects in various stages of completion and in the pipeline, so have been doing a bit of rationalisation today in order to prioritise and plan ahead. The checklist is now looking like this and there's plenty of things to do, some involving a bit of finishing off and others starting out from scratch:

MiG Alley 

This project is virtually complete with nearly all of the aircraft for both the UN and Communist forces painted and ready to go. I have made a shedload of DIY flight stands for this but they need texturing and painting. I've decided to go for a winter scheme, so that I can use my 6' x 4' winter terrain cloth. I will also need to make some hills, some river and coastal sections and some ground targets. I really would like to see this project to completion as it's taken ages to do but has been a lot of fun in the making.

Desert Spitfires

I have magnet based and undercoated all of the aircraft for this project. I also made a start on painting the RAF aircraft for this but stopped half way when I realised that I couldn't get any Egyptian insignia, so it made no sense to carry on. I now have the decals so can fire this one up again, although I will also need to make some ground targets and desert flight stands as well. I have some lovely Brigade Models buildings to use for the terrain, so that's a good start.

Corsairs and Cavaliers

The aircraft for this project are now on the workbench, with the Hondurans being painted first. The terrain and ground targets have been completed and I also have all of the flight stands done as well. I've even written the rules, so this project will be good to go once the painting has been completed, which I'm hoping to get done by the end of the month, so that I can playtest the rules properly to see if they stand up.

Fighters over the Forest

This is my adaptation of the Wings at War rule for the Alto Cenepa war of 1995. The rules have yet to be written but all of the aircraft have been painted and the terrain and ground targets can be pinched from the Football War project, so I just need to sort out the rules and I could wrap this project up. I have to admit that my interest in this has fizzled a bit but it would be worth completing, if only to use the aircraft models for a game.

Khalkhin Gol / Nonomhan 1939

This is possibly my next rules adaptation and may even get ahead of the Alto Cenapa project, as I have some more focussed ideas in my head. The plan is to adapt elements from the Battle of Britain and First World War rules to recreate the clash between the Japanese and Soviets over Mongolia in 1939. I think this has great potential but I have yet to do the background research and reading to make it work, so that's my plan for the holidays in a few weeks time. This would probably only be a rules re-writing exercise rather than a full on modelling and painting project.

Flight Deck Decals Egyptian Insignia

Dan Arute of Flight Deck Decals has done a brilliant job on the 1/600 scale Israeli War of Independence Egyptian decals for me, which arrived in the post yesterday. I asked if Dan could design a sheet including roundels and fin flashes for fighter sized aircraft, which he has managed to do perfectly, despite the fiddly details. 

He has done an absolutely splendid job but I won't post a photo here, as it could be copied and it's Dan's copyright. As soon as I can, however, I'll paint up some REAF Spitfires and post some pictures. I can't recommend Dan's design work and customer service highly enough, so why not find out for yourself by visiting the website and placing an order or two:

https://www.flightdeckdecals2400.com/1-600-scale-aircraft-decal

He has just about everything you could need for aircraft decals in both 1/600 and 1/300, including some really unusual insignia from South American, Asian and Middle Eastern air forces, not to mention the naval decals in 1/2400 and 1/3000. A great range and a great bloke to do business with. Thanks Dan!

Corsairs and Cavaliers Completed

I have now completed the adaptation of the Wings at War: Desert Spitfires rules for the Football War, so I'm ready for some play testing to see how the various changes fall into place or not. I've added the Bombing chart, the Victory Targets and Victory Points tables to finish off the main rules. I now have all the pages sorted and numbered ready to print and assemble into a rules booklet.

I've also added an optional set of rules for using the B-26 Invader, two of which were acquired by El Salvador during the war but which didn't arrive on time. Even then, they were armed with forward firing broomsticks painted black, as the FAS did not have machine guns or mountings to fit in the nose! They didn't even have a sting in the tail, as both of the rear turrets had been removed.

Here are some of the relevant sections so, if you have five minutes to spare, I'd appreciate some feedback especially if you are familiar with the Wings at War system. I'm not going to post the whole rules booklet here, as it's not my set of rules to start with and the copyright belongs to Chris Russell, who very kindly allowed me to muck about with them!