I was setting up the 'Flaming Sausages' scenario yesterday, after a very busy weekend that prevented any play testing, when I realised that it needed a couple of tweaks. I've now changed the 'Archie' zone to a twelve hex square measured from the central balloon hex, to avoid any sneaking round the edges by the attackers. The three hex defensive zone around the balloon itself remains as it was originally placed, as that's they way that the balloon defences reacts when under attack. I'll see how it works later today.
I popped into the local supermarket yesterday and was browsing the seasonal display section when I spotted these. I've been looking for magnetic tape for ages, having run out of my stash bought from Poundland years ago, so I'm dead chuffed to find these at only three euros a roll. I use this stuff for magnet basing my 1/2400th and 1/3000th scale ships but it's also great for basing other things, each strip being 19mm wide. Excellent!
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| No.59 Squadron RE8 crew |
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| Hans Muller and his damaged Pfalz DIIIa |
I did a bit more online research about the action of 27th March 1918, in which Ltn.d.R.Hans Müller shot down at RE8 and, in return, was shot down himself. I was hoping that he was flying one of Jasta 18's few remaining Pfalz DIIIa scouts, but it turns out he was in an Albatros DVa. This is a bit of a bugger but the story is really interesting nonetheless.
The RE8 (B7722) was from No.59 Squadron and crewed by pilot 2nd Lt.Christian and observer Lt.Hanning, RFC. They were on a low level flight near Graincourt at around 6.15am, when they were intercepted by Müller and forced down. Müller ended up crashing in No Man's Land but all three airmen survived, with the future Jasta 18 ace making it back to the German front lines.
Lt.Hanning received the Military Cross for this action, his citation providing some valuable detail, even though the date is incorrect:
On 28th March 1918, while on patrol with 2nd Lieutenant Christian as pilot, he endeavoured to shoot down a hostile balloon over Miraumont. His machine was at once attacked by a hostile scout, and after firing 90 rounds his gun jammed.
Although wounded in the leg by an explosive bullet, he rectified the trouble, and was about to fit a new drum on the gun when a bullet hit it and destroyed it.
The enemy aircraft then dived underneath the tail, did a climbing turn, and again attacked. Lieutenant Hanning again repaired his gun and fired a long burst into the enemy scout. The enemy pilot collapsed in his seat and his machine spun to the ground.
The controls of Lieutenant Hanning's machine were, by this time, so damaged that his pilot could not fly it. He, however, fitted the dual control and succeeded in bringing the machine back to our lines and landing it.
By his courage and determination, though wounded, Lieutenant Hanning undoubtedly saved the life of his pilot.
There's still some scope for a scenario here but I'll have to devise a new twist to keep it interesting and different from my existing RE8 based scenario.
The next play test game for the Jasta 18 scenario project - Raben's Ravens - is the solo balloon busting scenario set in August 1918. This only has a six card deck, so turns will be fast and the action hopefully seat of your pants. The scenario allows for several attempts at shooting down the observation balloon but until I try it out I have no idea if it will work? Either way, it will be fun to find out if Offz.Str.Kuhne can pull it off this time round? Raben's Raus!
The other set of rules I'm thinking of using with the Plastic Soldier Company figures and vehicles is I Ain't Been Shot Mum. This was my top option for the Breakout into Brittany project but I'm now also considering it for the 5th DCLI in Normandy and beyond.
The box sets of British infantry and heavy weapons I've just acquired are enough for a full company in IABSM, unlike my Peter Pig figures, so it makes a lot of sense, especially if I speed paint the hundred or so figures required. I can then add the support units as I go along.
The only issue is the need to paint up the opposition, but I have enough plastic Battlefront German figures, guns and vehicles to make this feasible. I'll take a look at the rule book and do some number crunching but this could be a nice summer project this year, if I get myself organized?
I played the last four turns of the Digger Dogfight scenario today and it went really well, in fact with a bit of a bang. To cut a long story short, here's the roll call at the end of Turn Ten.
Jasta 18
Ltn.d.R. Muller - engine problems resulted in him leaving the fight and crash landing on the German side of the lines (I screwed up his spin...so decided this was a feasible alternative).
Vfzw.Kuhne - down in flames
Ltn.Mendel - exploded in mid air.
Ltn.Baier - minor structural damage but got back to the Jasta 18's airstrip.
Ltn d.R. Schultz - also got back with structural damage but it was a close run thing.
No.4 Squadron
Lt.Weingarth - spins in and crashes.
Lt.Nowland - exploded in mid air.
Lt.Rintoul - new underwear but makes it back (his Camel is now U/S due to over stressed wings).
Lt.Wright - claims one E/A shot down.
Major McCloughry - claimed one E/A shot down. Top bloke!
This resulted in a well deserved victory for the Diggers!
The only thing I'll change is the suggested time, which I'll bump up to two hours, assuming there are two or more players. It took me longer to play as I was running it solo and making notes along the way. I am also going to amend the Fire Factors on the aircraft record sheets in line with the original rules but with twin observer guns rated as FF 4 not FF 3. which seems more realistic.
Good fun!
One thing I noticed in my play test game yesterday, at least compared to Bag the Hun, is the feeble fire power which makes it difficult to score any significant damage. Using the revised fire factors in the expanded lists, I started out with only three dice, adding a handful for range and positioning, so few that an opposing saving roll often wiped out any potential hits. This made it extremely tough for the attacker, even when tailing at close range, although my terrible dice rolling also had an impact.
To remedy this, at least in part, I'm going to go back to using the fire factors in the original aircraft lists from the rules. These give a fire factor of two for each gun, so that a Sopwith Camel has a factor of four instead of three, for example. It's not much of an increment but enough to make a difference. I'm also going to give rear gunners with twin mounts a fire factor of four, instead of three, as I don't see the logic in a reduced rate of fire even though the number of guns is effectively doubled.
This minor tweak should give attackers a slightly better starting point when rolling for hits, countering the defensive dice roll of the target, which can be quite high if the target aircraft is very manoeuvrable. A more radical approach would be to double the fire factors in the supplemental aircraft lists, to give a fire factor of between four and six dice in most cases, but I'll leave that as a last resort if switching to the original fire factors doesn't cut the mustard.
This time round I'll be using Rapid Fire Reloaded and the Plastic Soldier Company 15mm figures and vehicles, some of which I already have, but with the infantry and heavy weapons being a new outlay. I do have some Peter Pig figures I could use but I'm saving those for other things.
The other option will be to build opposing US 29th Infantry Division and Fallschirmjager battalions for the campaign in Brittany. This is a really interesting campaign and I have the Plastic Soldier Company Fallschirmjager figures already, as well as plenty of armour for the Americans. I'll just need to add the US infantry figures, for which the Flames of War range is the best option, the PSC figures being a bit rubbish.
This is all a long way off but no harm in planning and preparing the ground for a later time.
We stopped off in Dinan the other day for a coffee and had a quick walk around the town, which is very nice indeed. In the central square there's a rather imposing statue of Betrand du Guesclin, commemorating a duel that he fought and won during the siege of Rennes in 1356-57, when his forces were based in Dinan. We didn't have time to take a look at the town's fourteenth century defences, which are largely intact and quite impressive, so we'll definitely be going back.
I've been getting the stuff ready for play testing the first 'Raben's Ravens' scenario - Digger Dogfight - which is set in May 1918 and involves a clash between Sopwith Camels of 'A' Flight, No.4 Squadron AFC and a kette of Albatros DVa scouts of Jasta 18. This is a fairly straightforward dogfight lasting ten turns, evenly matched and with no complicated rules to juggle with, so I'm not expecting to have too many issues, although you never know!
I read this book years ago but have brought it with me for the holidays to brush up on aerial warfare in the First World War. As with most of the books by Norman Franks, it's an easy read but very well written and packed full of useful, well researched and accurate details. I'm really going to enjoy reading this over the next few days. I'm also going to play test some of the Jasta 18 scenarios for Algernon Pulls It Off!, using my 1/600th scale models, card decks and draft scenario briefings.
An old wargaming friend of mine has been doing some rather splendid things for Rapid Fire Reloaded lately, building opposing late war British and German forces in 20mm, the conventional scale for the rules. I already have a copy of the rulebook, together with previous editions, and a long time ago even had most of a British company almost completed. That went to eBay years ago but I'm now thinking of a reboot in either 15mm or 12mm, so have ordered some of the new rules supplements to see if I can work out options for a future project, once again focussed on the 5th Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in Normandy, or the Breakout into Brittany project which was originally for ISBSM back in the day.
I'm off on holiday for two weeks and have packed some 1/2400th WW1 warships to assemble and base. These include the models for Coronel and the Falklands, together with the French warships for Get the Goeben!. I'm not sure if I'll get them all sorted but it will be an enjoyable way to spend the time in the evenings.
I've discovered a range of superb decals for First and Second World War aircraft in 1/285th - 1/300th scale, from a company called Moorland Scale Model Decals here in the UK. These are resized from individual decal sets in larger scales, so have excellent detail and accuracy. The only downside is that the sheets are not based around specific RFC Squadrons or Jagdstaffel but are for individual pilots, with an emphasis on well-known aces like Billy Bishop or Carl Degelow, for example. I'm thinking of asking Geoff to design some for Jasta 18 but will hang on for the moment and see if Dan Arute at Flight Deck Decals can design a whole sheet of insignia, as he is my 'go to' for decals. They do look fabulous though, and I'm sorely tempted to order the SE5a sheet just for kicks!
https://moorlandscalemodeldecals.co.uk/285th-300th-scale-sets/
One of the great things about wargaming is that it gives you an excuse to collect and read books. I already have a good collection of reference material for the Algernon Pulls It Off! 'Black Flight' scenario project, but there were some specific gaps, so I've filled them with a couple of new books to supplement the existing ones. I was lucky to get a copy of the No.10 Squadron book, which is otherwise really expensive, for a bargain price on eBay, so this will form the core of my reading and note making, with the ubiquitous but very good Sorry titles to flesh out more of the details. I may take this lot on holiday for some leisurely reading but will start on the scenario writing later on after the break.
I got round to finishing the Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale Caquot observation balloon today, so that's a job done. The base is sky blue to match my old Hotz hex cloth but I will probably repaint it to use with my green mouse mat cloth after the play testing is complete. I'm reasonably happy with the end result but think I could have used a lighter shade for the balloon canvas, so will try that on the other model I have in the bits box.
I've narrowed down the focus of my next scenario project for Algernon Pulls It Off! to No.10 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service, or Naval 10 as it was known at the time. This will revolve around 'B' Flight under the leadership of Flight Commander Raymond Collishaw from May to September 1917. This unit was known for painting the cowlings of its Sopwith Triplanes matt black and for the pilots also marking their individual aircraft with a name beginning with 'Black', for example, Black Maria, Black Death, Black Prince and so on. The pilots were all Canadians, which gives the project a distinctive theme, as well as being very experienced in aerial combat, having flown Sopwith Strutters and Pups beforehand. This set of scenarios will be smaller than the Jasta 18 project but there's plenty of potential for some really good 'dogfight' style games with Albatros DIII's of Jagdgeschwader I, the infamous 'Flying Circus' of von Richthofen, definitely making a regular appearance.
From the club forum....
For those of you who play Cruel Seas, the next club multiplayer weekend will be a coastal forces game set in 1942 off the Hook of Holland. This will be an interception by MTB's of German S boats returning from a patrol off the East Coast convoy lanes.
We will be using 1/72nd scale MTB and E Boat models by Airfix and Revell, which will be provided for players to command, along with the car park area immediately adjacent to the Badger Farm community centre. Sainsbury's has very kindly offered the use of a number of large blue tarpaulins to represent the north sea. Dickie has volunteered to scratch build some islands.
It will be a late start and the game will run over night from Saturday to Sunday morning. No date has been agreed as this depends on availability and the phases of the moon. Please sign up if you are interested. Any assistance with model building and costumes will be gratefully appreciated.
;o)
For my next sortie with Algernon Pulls It Off! I'm going back to the first half of 1917, leading up to the period known as 'Bloody April' during which the Albatros DIII and the newly formed Jastas, cut a swathe through the RFC and RNAS ranks. I've played a lot of games based on this period using other rules, so I know that it's a really good basis for some exciting scenarios.
I've already painted the required Tumbling Dice models for 1/1600th games, but have now just enquired with Paul at Sabotage3D about a selection of 1/300th scale prints including Albatros DIII's, Sopwith Pups, Sopwith Triplanes, Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters, Nieuport 17's and a couple of aerial reconnaissance / artillery spotting types for both sides.
This is quite a lot of models but will allow me to write some really good scenarios and set up some classic 'dogfight' games, for my own solo wargaming but also for the club. when I get round to running some games. I'm thinking of writing a follow on article for the Lard Mag based on this different timeframe, to complement the later Jasta 18 scenario project, but it all depends on getting the ply testing done for that one first.
