Energy Management Explained

There's often a bit of head scratching over energy management in Wings at War, so here's a simple reminder of how it works. The key thing to remember is it is primarily at the end of a sequence of moves, when action point expenditure equals starting energy, that any energy problems are resolved (apart from stalls, which can occur during a turn as well as at the end)

1. Action Points = Energy at the start of a turn.

2. Don't change your Energy dice during a turn but do keep a separate track of Energy loss / gain (using tokens or counters is a good idea)

3. Aircraft are allowed to exceed their Energy rating during a turn, but....

4. If energy falls below 1 during a turn = STALL (the turn ends after this has been resolved using the stall diagram)*

5. Otherwise, the turn ends when all Action Points have been spent.

6. If Energy at this end point is less than 1 = STALL 

7. If Action Point/s spent for the final manoeuvre in a turn cause Action Point expenditure to be greater than starting energy = SPIN.

8. If Energy at this end point is greater than Energy Rating = AIRCRAFT BREAKS UP.

9. If Energy is equal to or less than starting energy (but obviously greater than 0) = Action Points available for next turn. 

10. Flip the dice to the new Energy level on the model's base at this point.

*Try to avoid making manoeuvres with a random energy modifier (D) as this can cause a significant loss of energy during a turn and is unpredictable. 

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.

Magazine de Presse

 

A couple of excellent French naval and air warfare magazines to flick through over the holidays. The Vietnam ones has loads of colour profiles that will be great as a painting reference for Thud Ridge, while Los! includes really good articles on the Jeune Ecole. and on Japanese heavy cruisers. Excellent.

Thud Ridge Reading

 

I haven't been to town for weeks, as there's nothing worth going for these days, apart from the local Oxfam charity bookshop. Today I was pleased to find a copy of this illustrated chronological history of the Vietnam War air campaign, which is a great resource for This Ridge. It's got loads of black and white photos, as well as a detailed text which clearly explains in overview the various stages of the campaign. Excellent!

Wings at War 2024

Something new, or...

..time to dust this one off?

..or perhaps do this?

I'm off work at the moment with severe hearing loss, which pretty is unpleasant but also quite tedious, as I'm suffering from fatigue due to lack of sleep. It's given me some time to think about next year's projects, one of which will be a Wings at War thing, to add to the unfinished ones I already have, no doubt. At the moment, this is a toss up between Wings over Suez or Thud Ridge, with a possible third option being a 'do it yourself' Wings Above Angola adaptation of Flames Above the Falklands. The recent addition of the F101 Voodoo to the Tumbling Dice range is pushing me towards Vietnam, however, for which I've already done some preliminary sketching and the obligatory purchasing of lead. Whichever I choose it will be good to have a new project on the schedule.

New Tumbling Dice Cold War US Aircraft

As promised, Paul at Tumbling Dice has filled some gaps in the Cold War US range with some really useful new models. The Voodoo has been a missing link for Vietnam games, especially Thud Ridge, so is a very welcome addition, as well as being a really cool aircraft. For me, the Neptune is also an excellent new model, as it can be used for the Black Bat RoCAF CIA backed intruder flights, while the Orion can be used in the maritime patrol role for numerous nations, most obviously my Chileans. Nice!

Thud-ner and Lightning

I've been playing around with an idea to use the English Electric Lightning in the Thud Ridge rules, modifying the climb move to reflect its exceptional rate of climb and extraordinary power. The basic data profile looks like this:

EE Lightning       

Energy Not Loaded at Height 2-4 = 6 

Energy Loaded or at Height 1 = 5

Afterburner = Yes

Maximum Height = 4

Armament = Guns / 2 x HS Missiles (for the interceptor version)

Special Move

POWER CLIMB - move straight forward 5cm then climb up to 2 height levels, then may shoot guns or drop bombs. AP cost = 4, Energy - 3. Roll for Bingo.

I have some 1/600th Tumbling Dice Lightnings somewhere, so may well dig them out and paint them up in a bare metal 1960s or 1970's scheme, perhaps saving a couple to do in the 1980's camouflage that they were decked out in at the end of their service. I might even have one with a magnet on its back end so I can stand it up vertically like this...

New Tumbling Dice Vapour Trails 1/600th Aircraft

Paul Sulley very kindly sent me the first castings of the latest Vapour Trails 1/600th scale models, the majority of which are light civil aircraft, militarised versions of civil aircraft or COIN aircraft designed for the counter insurgency or close air support role. 

As you can see these are up to the usual high standards of accuracy and detail, which makes them a joy to assemble and paint,  as well as really useful for Wings at War or similar rules systems. The O2 is perfect for Vietnam or Rhodesia for example. 

There are several in the current lot that Paul has designed to use with Corsairs and Cavaliers, which is fantastic as they fill some really obvious gaps, with particular reference to the Mustang Cavalier, T28 Trojan with rocket / gun pods,  the Cessnas and the fabulous C54 / DC4,  which is my favourite of the lot. These should be available relatively soon. A definite ***** 

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

Alto Cenepa Number Crunching

I realized today that I need to do some more background reading and rules adaptation for the Wings at War Alto Cenepa project, before I can run the test game that I'm thinking of setting up. The main thing I need to do is mash together the Thud Ridge rules with the Flames above the Falklands rules, to extract the relevant bits from both and to adapt the aircraft and pilot capabilities to the Peruvian and Ecuadorian forces. I'm leaving out helicopters for the moment but I still need some more work on things like IR missiles, for example, so that the different performance capabilities of the Matra Magic R550 / Shafrir II and AA-2D Atoll are accurately reflected in the rules mechanics. In the meantime, I've found this really good first-hand combat account by the Ecuadorian pilot who shot down an SU-22 during the war, which is well worth reading:

https://www.laahs.com/colonel-banderas-remembers/ 

Merry Xmas, Mr Sankara

 

I was rummaging about in the rules drawers under the workbench today when I found my copy of Nick Jones' campaign system for the Agacher War - Merry Xmas, Mr Sankara - which uses Wings at War Thud Ridge for the actual wargaming. I had forgotten all about this but having had another skim through and a look at the lead pile, I think I have enough Tumbling Dice aircraft for both the sides, save for four Mi-4 Hip helicopters, the ground units and a few more Brigade Models buildings to use as targets. 

It looks like a really engaging and well-designed campaign, with lots of clever mechanisms to set up the actual games, so I'm going to have a think about doing it as a project later this year. It might even bump Thud Ridge off the list of things to do, as it requires fewer models to be painted up and has greater potential as a solo project. Anyway, I did a new colour cover for my copy of the rules just in case and you can get your own copy of the campaign rules via Wargame Vault:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/355908/Merry-Christmas-Mr-Sankara

Stocking Fillers

This is perhaps more relevant for my other blog but it also links with my Thud Ridge project, so I'll post it here anyway. I've just got hold of a second hand copy of Phantom Leader, the solitaire card / boardgame of strike missions over North Vietnam, which will be an extra stocking filler for Xmas. It's designed for solo play and includes both USAF and USN aircraft cards, so very  much the same theme as Thud Ridge. I'm really looking forward to trying it out when I get back from France.

Thud Ridge Project 2022

I've been giving some more thought to the Thud Ridge project that I prepared a few months ago and have decided to add it to my project 'to do' list for 2022 as the Wings at War element of my air wargaming plans. I will start this off with the minimum forces I need for the USAF and NVAF and build it up as I go on, adding all the extra bits for missions as and when I want to try them out. I've been enthused by Simon Tyler's excellent guide to the Thud Ridge rules and, in particular, by his really useful explanation of US tactics:

I promise not to start any new wargaming projects....: Rules - Thud Ridge (cag19.blogspot.com)

So, the initial plan will be to put together the North Vietnamese contingent including MiG-17's, MiG-21's and a couple of MiG-19's, together with some 1/600th scale SAM launchers. I can double up the targets that I scratch built for the Football War, reusing them for Vietnam to save a lot of extra effort. but adding a handful of new ones with specific details. After that I will go on to assemble a USAF strike package with top cover and at least a couple of ECM aircraft for counter measures. 

Football War Flight Stands Finished

EL Salvador (FAS)

Honduras (FAH)

I finished off the extra tropical themed flight stands for the Wings at War project today, so now have an additional six sets of normal fighter stands and two sets of larger ones for the bombers. To try them out, I thought I'd do a mass Football War fly-by of the Honduran and Salvadoran air forces to see how they looked with some actual model aircraft. If you look closely, you'll also spot a few later jets flown by both sides in the 1970's.

Wings at War Flight Stand Sitrep

I've been working on the flight stands for the Wings at War project this weekend. These have been assembled, undercoated and basecoated today, so I'm now on to the laborious and rather sticky bit, adding Woodland Scenics clump foliage using cheapo supermarket superglue, as it's the best thing if you want the stuff to stay stuck down. I'm hoping to get them near enough finished tomorrow, although it's the other half's birthday, so that may have to come first? 

Wings at War Flight Stand Factory

 

I've now started to make a whole load of additional jungle themed bases for the Wings at War rules, which I can use for both Corsairs and Cavaliers and Thud Ridge. These are divided into 40mm x 40mm bases for the larger aircraft like the C-47's and 30mm x 30mm bases for the fighters and light aircraft. I've drilled the bases to accept panel pin flight stands, with the new 50mm ones for Level 4, 40mm for Level 3 and so on down to 20mm for Level 1. This is a much better system than my original panel pin heights and makes it more obvious which altitude is which, so I'm cracking ahead and have converted some of my old stands to the new system as well.

Thud Ridge Book Bargain

There are several Osprey titles on sale for the Kindle this month, with most reduced to a fraction of the normal price, but this one stood out for me. It was less than three quid so, even though I have plenty of reference material for Thud Ridge, I splashed some pocket money on one more book. It's one of the better ones too, with lots of after action details and some excellent colour profiles. What a bargain!

Thud Ridge Project Planning: The USAF (3)

The final elements of the USAF force for Thud Ridge are a bit of a mixed bag. It includes an F-111 bomber, a couple of RB-57 bombers for recon missions, a couple of EB-66 bombers for ELINT, three or four dedicated FAC aircraft using a mix of OV-10 Broncos and OV-1 Mohawk models, the KC-135 tanker and a couple of SAR flights with A-1 Skyraiders, HH-3 and HH-53 helicopters. That should be more than enough to cover the game requirements and allow for some big games with multiple players on each side. 

Vietnam Air War Film

A link to the trailer for this short Vietnamese film was posted on TMP the other day, so I had a closer look at the film itself. It's all CGI but not bad, with some good scenes of F105's, F100's and MiG-17's in action. It's great inspiration for the Thud Ridge project and the dogfight scenes look pretty awesome!