After a week of gardening, DIY and digging holes, I've found some time today to make a little headway with the four Jasta 11 Fokker Dr.1 models. These are being blocked in with the correct colours for four specific pilots, which takes a bit of time but does look good when finished. I'm not sure if I'll have any time tomorrow but it's all going in the right direction for a change!
A potential 1916 scenario I may well write up at some point, with a few tweaks to make it manageable for Algernon Pulls It Off!
'Commanding officers of squadrons were instructed not to fly, but this order was often ignored. Major 'Ferdy' Waldron commanded 60 Squadron, flying from Vert-Galant and took off with a patrol on 3 July.
Both Armstrong and Simpson fell out, through engine trouble, before we reached Arras.... Waldron led the remaining two along the Arras-Cambrai road.
We crossed at about 8,000 feet, and just before reaching Cambrai we were about 9,000, when I suddenly saw a large formation of machines about our height coming from the sun towards us.
There must have been at least twelve. They were two-seaters led by one Fokker (monoplane) and followed by two others. I am sure they were not contemplating 'war' at all, but Ferdy pointed us towards them and led us straight in.
My next impressions were rather mixed. I seemed to be surrounded by Huns in two-seaters. I remember diving on one, pulling out of the dive, and then swerving as another came for me. I can recollect also looking down and seeing a Morane about 800 feet below me going down in a slow spiral, with a Fokker hovering above it following every turn.
I dived on the Fokker, who swallowed the bait and came after me, but unsuccessfully, as I had taken care to pull out of my dive while still above him.
The Morane I watched gliding down under control, doing perfect turns, to about 2,000 feet, when I lost sight of it. I thought he must have been hit in the engine. After an indecisive combat with the Fokker I turned home, the two-seaters having disappeared.
I landed at Vert Galant and reported that Ferdy had 'gone down under control.' We all thought he was a prisoner, but heard soon afterwards that he had landed safely but died of wounds that night, having been hit during the scrap'
A.J.L. Scott - The History of 60 Squadron
This was a bargain in a National Trust second hand bookshop yesterday at only three quid, especially as it's a hardback and in 'as new' condition. Not that I'm really interested in the Royal Leicestershire regiment to be fair, but it does have extensive detail on Aden so a bit of a gold mine for my Sandbox Skirmish 15mm post-colonial, semi-historical 'imaginations' project, which I've sadly neglected for months, if not years now? Anyway, too good to miss, so I snapped it up!
I put a request out for play testers on the Algernon Pulls It Off! group last week and was pleasantly surprised that two teams of wargamers volunteered. I've sent off the 'Black Thursday' scenario and cards to them, one in Australia and one in the UK, so that they can organise their play test games. This means that I won't need to rush a solo play test of the scenario, just yet anyway, but can leave it until the summer holidays, when I will have plenty of time.
I owe a big thank you to Andy and Gary for stepping up and they'll definitely get a mention in the Lard Mag article too.
As this has let me off the hook this half term holiday, I am going to have a crack at play testing the "Cat and Mouse' scenario instead, which is far more manageable as a solo game. The card deck is much smaller for starters and it only includes two aircraft, one RE8 and one Albatros DVa, so I will be able to manage a couple of run throughs, assuming I don't get interrupted. I just need to print the record sheets and cards, then bodge up some blinds and clouds to be good to go!
A rare night out at the local club this evening to play in a Knights of the Sky game, the house set of rules for First World War dogfighting. The Roland C.II was deployed in a fighter bomber role, scoring eight victory points for bombing a fuel depot, with some effective damage to enemy Sopwith Strutters by both the observer and pilot. The game was good fun but fizzled out a bit towards the end, which was a shame as I'm rarely around on club nights these days due to other commitments.
I completely forgot to design a card deck for the Dawn Patrol scenario that I write a couple of weeks ago, so I've quickly adapted a similar deck to make a printer friendly, easy to use deck that can be downloaded from the Algernon Pulls It Off FB group files. If I have time later in the week, I'll give the scenario a run through, as it's designed as a quick to play, easy to learn game for beginners, so shouldn't take long to play.
David Manley has drafted a set of rules additions and amendments for his Find, Fix and Strike WW2 naval rules, so that they can be used to wargame the Indonesian Confrontation c1965. This is great as I have already played a solo campaign based on the conflict using Naval Command, so have most of the forces required, apart from the carriers and aircraft. I will give this some more thought, potentially adding the missing ships and repainting the bases on my existing models, as they are a bit too dark. David has also hinted that he may produce a campaign supplement for the conflict, which would really make this a feasible project revival, perhaps even for INWarD 2025?
I was looking for a little 'side project' for the half term holiday when I remembered that this time last year, I'd organised a flotilla of American ships for the Quasi War and War of 1812. I had a rummage and have dug them out of the lead pile, ready to be assembled over the week, although not painted as I have the Jasta 11 triplanes on the go too. I enjoy gluing these Tumbling Dice ships together and I'll be able to paint them in time for INWarD 2025 in a couple of months, when I'll be in Brittany and will have plenty of time for some solo Napoleonic naval wargaming.
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A week or so after I printed off all the sheets for the Fly Fight Win series of air wargaming rules, lo and behold, a completely revised edition is released for all three versions of the rules. Not that I'm complaining as they are all still free to download from Wargame Vault and the new editions have been streamlined for faster play, all of which is a bonus. I am pretty enthused by this system, which has shades of Bag the Hun and Fistful of Lead, two sets of rules I really enjoy. I'm going to give the Korean War rules a try out over the holiday and see how they play solo, then think about doing the same with the Cold War / Modern equivalent. It's great that I don't have anything to prepare for this, apart from some printing, as I already have an extensive collection of Korean War aircraft in 1/600th scale, flight stands and a hex mat, so I'm good to go!
I'm on holiday next week, which for me marks the start of the summer, so I'm going to be spending the time on Algernon Pulls It Off! painting and play testing. After that, I'm going to move on to new things, as I think the WW1 air wargaming itch has been scratched.
I'm not sure what I'll be moving on to but Chain of Command is clearly one of the top options, assuming my pre-order copy of the new second edition arrives sooner rather than later. This would be in 15mm using Peter Pig figures, guns and vehicles, focussed on NW Europe and the 5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. This has been something I've wanted to do for years so with the new rules coming out now, there's no time like the present!
I'm on holiday next week and so will be running some more solo play test games for the Jasta 18 'Raben's Ravens' project, something I just haven't had time to do over the last couple of months. The one I really want to test drive is 'Black Thursday' but it's really a multiplayer game and will take a long session to play through on my own. I would take it up to the local club but they don't really like Bag the Hun, so it wouldn't be a very worthwhile exercise. Instead, I've offered it for play testing on the Algernon Pulls It Off! FB group, which may pick up some interest and result in some third party play testing feedback. I'm not holding my breath...but who knows?
The Duellist.
In the first few turns of the game, Capt. Bishops-Tipple inflicted some telling damage on Oblt.Hofmeister's Eindecker, with two Minor and one Critical hits, despite jamming his Lewis gun at one point and using up half his ammunition.
The critical hit caused some elevator and wing structural damage but an over confident Hofmeister then fluffed a hard manoeuvre and lost control, going straight in from ALT 2.
After this, in the second half of the game, Lt Lowenbrau managed to skilfully evade the fire of the RFC Junior Ace, who only managed a single minor damage hit in a twisting, turning dogfight.
However, in an attempt to get on the RFC pilot's tail, by trying to pull a low level Immelman, Lowenbrau also lost control, spinning in again from ALT2 with no chance to recover.
RFC 17 points / Luftstreitkrafte 0
It was a fun game but the Germans were unlucky to roll high on the pilot ability table and ended up as regulars, which made hard manoeuvring very risky. The RFC in contrast rolled low and gained a Junior Ace, so had a definite advantage.
Definitely worth a re-play to see who comes out on top next time, as the Eindeckers did put up a good fight and, with a bit more luck, would have given the RFC a run for it's money.
(I've removed the -1 modifier for the RFC ability roll and reduced the bonus VP's for shooting down a plane, but otherwise the scenario is good to go.)
On Sunday 25th May it is once again International AK47 Wargaming Day.
Play a game at the club, at home or even online. Any of the various editions of the rules can be used including the new People's Edition, if you have a copy.
Simply post your game photos on the AK-47 Facebook group afterwards and bask in the glory of your victory!
Don't worry if you don't have the time or an opponent...simply line up your forces for a victory parade and pretend that you won!
You have the whole extended weekend to get it sorted...so why not get a game organised and get cracking!
After a bit of an enforced hiatus due to DIY and gardening duties, I was able to get back to the workbench at the weekend to assemble nine Fokker DrI models in 1/600th scale. These will be painted in Jasta 11 schemes, primarily from March 1918 onwards, so that they will have the late war Balkan cross insignia. I'm on holiday next week and hope to get them finished as well as actually playing some more games of Algernon Pulls It Off!
I was daft enough to start a thread on the Algernon Pulls It Off! group, setting a challenge to paint Josef Loeser's red and white striped Albatros DIII. I didn't expect anyone to give it a go but the ball is definitely rolling, so I now really should have a crack at a 1/600th scale Jasta 39 machine in red and white stripes, which will probably be a bit tricky to say the least!
I've been thinking about another scenario for Algernon Pulls It Off! - this time focussing on two seater aircraft, air to air observer gunnery and perhaps bombing - with the RE8 or 'Harry Tate' being the aircraft of choice. I considered using formations but, in the end. have decided to go for a single aircraft sortie which is something I've used successfully in Bag the Hun. It's not been quite so easy to find a good historical example, however, but I did stumble across this unusual action on the 9th June 1918:
'Lieutenants Roderick Charles Armstrong and Frank Jelly Mart from 3 Squadron AFC were carrying out artillery reconnaissance in their in RE8 (D4689) near Meaulte-Gressaire Wood – Warfusee Abancourt. At about 1140 they were alerted by AA fire to a Halberstadt two-seater flying towards its own lines.
Armstrong flew to head off the aircraft, and the German pilot made only a token effort to escape. Eventually Armstrong shepherded the aircraft back to the 3 Squadron aerodrome. The aircraft was captured entirely intact and the feat later gained the congratulations of Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash. The crew Gefreiter Hausler and Vitzfeldwebel Mullenbach were unharmed and taken prisoner.'
(from AirWar:1914-18)
With a bit of tweaking, this would be a really different scenario assuming the German crew put up more of a fight and give the Australians a run for their money. I can work in some special scenario rules to make it interesting but I think there's enough here for a good game, with both the RE8 and the Halberstadt going head to head to see who can force the other to surrender in mid-air. In the meantime, I'll crack on with more reading to see what else I can find for scenario material?
Not bad from a standing start only two months ago. It's great to see so much interest in a 'vintage' set of rules and an aerial wargaming one at that, especially as it's card based, a bit niche and not exactly cutting edge in design terms. It's great set of rules and also completely free, so why not take a closer look? I'm sure the Red Baron would agree!
