Utilising Speed in Algernon Pulls It Off!

I re-leaned something today that I had completely overlooked, assuming that Algernon Pulls It Off! uses the same system as Bag the Hun 2 to calculate and utilise aircraft speed.

After re-reading the relevant bit of the rules, it clearly stated that you can 'slow down or speed up within the maximum speed' but the D4 modifier has to be applied on top of that, depending on your pilot skill level.

To be honest, I have been playing using the system in Bag the Hun 2, where you have to move the full basic distance. I should have realised that this was wrong, having originally played the first edition of Bag the Hun, where the same flexibility is included.

I'm actually looking forward to playing some games with the correct speed rules to see just how it speeds up, or s possibly slows down, game play. It will certainly give players more opportunity to manoeuvre into position and get on the tail of their opponents, which is an exciting opportunity for them to shoot things down rather than spend ages plotting their moves.

Tally Ho!

Bag the MiG Card Deck

I was off work today as I wasn't required to go in, which meant I could have a go at putting together a basic, printer friendly card deck for Bag the MiG, based on one I designed for Bag the Hun play testing a long time ago. It's been tweaked a bit with a few customisations, replacing the Tally Ho! cards with something more appropriate, for example, but otherwise it's fairly generic. It can also be easily adapted to add extra character cards or scenario specific cards, so it's pretty flexible. 

The cards are quite large, as they were originally designed for multi player games, but they can be scaled down on a photocopier if preferred. They are designed for use with the original, first edition of Bag the Hun but will work fine with Bag the Hun 2 mechanics, apart from the use of blinds rather than bogeys. They are available to download from the Bag the Hun FB group files as a handy .pdf document. 

Algernon Pulls It Off! Club Multiplayer Game

I've been asked to put on an Algy game at a local club, which is cool, but I thought I'd run a practice one at my usual club beforehand, just in case I need to iron anything out. I'd been meaning to do this for a while but I just haven't had the time to organise anything. The plan is to umpire one of the Jasta 18 scenarios from the Lard Mag for the chaos, probably either Digger Dogfight or Biggles and the Black Ravens, the latter being the preferred option as it allows players lots of opportuniies to shoot things down. I'll get myself organised and find a suitable date next month....Tally Ho!

Bag the MiG Momentum

I've recently become a moderator on the Bag the Hun FB group, giving me the opportunity to encourage players to give the system a go. One thing I'm keen to push is Bag the MiG, partly as I've always wanted to try it out myself but also to pick up some interest on the group for something a bit different. It's a great option for me as I already have the aircraft, flight stands and hex cloth, so just need a deck of cards for it to be a solo game project this year. I'm not going to be writing any scenario content, however, as there's already a good selection available, especially if the CY6 MiG Alley book is used as a source of historical actions. I'm looking forward to some games in the not too distant future!

Spanish Civil War Plane Painting

I was going to try and mix and match some paint shades for the Spanish Civil War Republican aircraft models but found this set of base paints to experiment with instead. I've used AK paints before and found them a little thin, so you need more than one coat for effective coverage, but it will save me some time trying to work out alternatives. They should arrive fairly soon and I'm going to get started when the postie drops them off.

Spanish Civil War Republican Air Force

The 1/600th scale models for the Spanish Republican air force have now been assessed and just need magnet basing. This is the line up based on mid to late war:

12 x I-16 Mosca

9 x I-15 Chatos

6 x I-15bis Super Chato

9 x SB-2 Katyushka

3 x MB 200

1 x Polikarpov R-5 Natasha

On to the painting!

Algy Dogfight Generator Scenario

 

I tried out Algy's Dastardly Dogfight Mission Generator today and came up with this scenario. Here's the process step by step.

I decided on April 1917 as my time slot, picking Sopwith Triplanes for the RNAS, as they were not flown by the RFC, and Albatros DIII scouts for the Luftstreitkrafte.

The RNAS rolled up a Flight of 2 aircraft and the Germans rolled up a Kette of 4. 

The RNAS Squadron roll was 2 + 4 so I added the numbers to get No.6 Squadron. The Germans rolled 5 + 1 so I combined them to get Jasta 15.

The RNAS rolled up a  flight leader Captain (Regular) and a Lieutenant (Regular). The Germans rolled up a kette fuhrer Hauptmann (Regular), an Oberleutnant (Junior Ace), a Leutnant (Sprog) and a Leutnant (Regular). I switched the RFC ranks for RNAS ones just to be historically accurate.

The starting Altitude for the RNAS rolled up as 11 and for the Germans 10. 

The RNAS rolled up an entry point to the West and the Germans to the North East.

Finally, the Sun Position was rolled as due South.

This all seemed to work out well, apart from a lingering feeling that the ranks need to be bumped down a bit, which would be easy to build in if NCO pilots were included. The RNAS are going to have a fight on their hands due to being outnumbered and less experienced, but that fits 'Bloody April' to a tee, so I'm happy with the outcome.

For game play I've named the pilots after beers...why not?! 

Flight Commander Greene-King 

Flight Lieutenant Boddington

Hauptmann Bitberger

Oberleutnant Becks

Leutnant Warsteiner

Leutnant Rothaus

Cheers! / Prost!

We Dive At Dawn First Impressions

I fancied a break from assembling tiny metal aeroplanes in a freezing garage today, so set up a play through of We Dive At Dawn, the roll and write game of WW2 submarine warfare that David Manley sent my way the other day. It was good fun, even if my fictional submarine HMS Stonefish, didn't achieve much on her first war patrol. I didn't write up a detailed after sortie report but you can read more about it on my other blog, where I keep all my solo board game stuff:

https://teaandawad.blogspot.com/2026/01/we-dive-at-dawn-patrol.html?fbclid=IwdGRjcAPkdSljbGNrA-Rzp2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHoBU-kSjnHaCPdEri_-ywcb3pmxS-c58JL88xe9ivbyQQt5b3Ej5f3fA_BAI_aem_EBnCN-x78YYRIOEGLs_JHA&m=1

Spanish Civil War Republican Air Force Progress

A long afternoon spent at the workbench and I'm nearly finished with assembling the 1/600th scale aircraft for the Bag the Hun Spanish Republican air force. I got sidetracked into converting a Mitsubishi torpedo bomber into an R-5 Natasha, but apart from that I've stuck to the plan. I have six I-152 Super Chato fighters to glue together, then I will be ready to add the magnets and start painting things. 

Winter Hammer Soviets

The land based wargaming project on the workbench is a solo Winter War platoon level scheme using 6mm figures on a three foot square terrain board. The original idea was to use the 6mm Heroics and Ros range of Finnish and Russian figures, tanks and artillery. This is still Plan A but having received a Peter Pig voucher for my birthday, I was also of doing the Soviet forces using WW2 Russians in greatcoats with head swaps. I have a stash of figures, so would just need to budenovka and early war helmet head packs to convert them for 1939. The Finns are a different question but the WW2 German ski troops are a possible option. In the meantime, I'll stick with the 6mm Soviet figures, guns and vehicles which I have got ready to base and paint.

Early War Aircraft for Bag the Hun

I discovered a fantastic range of 3D printed aircraft for interwar and early war scenarios yesterday, as usual while looking for something completely unrelated. These are available in three different scales including 1/300th, from Bayonets and Brushes and are intended to be used for the Spanish Civil War, Dutch East Indies and Blitzkrieg. However, they incidentally cover just about everything you could need for the Winter War, Khalkhin Gol and East African campaign, which ticks all of the boxes for my Bag the Hun Lard Mag articles, and then some! I'm sorely tempted to order a few to fill the gaps in the East Africa stash for Bag the Bok but can't really justify spending pocket money on more stuff at the moment. 

We Dive at Dawn

David Manley of Long Face Games was kind enough to send me earlier this week, a pre-release copy of his new solitaire pen and dice rules for Royal Navy submarine sorties in the Mediterranean. This is a system not unlike Corvette Command or Nightfighter Command, which I have played a lot and did some of the play testing for a few years ago, but it uses different mechanics. I haven't had any time this week to try it out but hope to give it a go this weekend. As usual, I'll be posting a report over on my other very occasional blog, which is dedicated to solo board wargames and print and play rules: 

https://teaandawad.blogspot.com/?m=1

Algy's Dastardly Dogfight Game Generator

I had some time over lunch today to draft out the Algernon Pulls It Off! dogfight scenario generator, so that it's is a bit more user friendly. I added a sun position dice roll, which I had forgotten to include in the initial version, as well as a few minor tweaks to explain the options. I think it will work well but the proof will very much be in the pudding, as they say in the mess. I'm going to try it out as soon as I can find the time to have a quick pick up game.

Through the Mud and Blood British Platoon

I eventually found my stash of Peter Pig WW1 British infantry, after a long and frustrating search in the garage,  shifting loads of boxes of lead about and dropping one on my foot. The figures were in the last box, of course, but at least I tracked them down.

I've sorted them out and I'm pretty sure I have all that I need for the text book platoon from the training manual scenarios in the Stout Hearts, Iron Troopers supplement. I'll use the bayonet armed figures for most of the sections, with the Lewis gunners, rifle grenade launchers and grenade throwing figures alongside. 

The figures without bayonets will be used as scouts and snipers., while the 'novelty' sportsmen figures will be converted into runners and ammunition carriers. An officer figure will be included for the platoon lieutenant and I'll put together a single Vickers machine gun and team for defensive scenarios or as objectives for the sturmtruppen to knock out.

....this is looking like a very feasible project!

Dastardly Dogfight Challenge

DOGFIGHT CHALLENGE

Here's the challenge for the Algernon Pulls It Off! group for  next month which I'm hoping will get a few games underway.

THE MISSION - Play a game of Algy using the dastardly dogfight mission generator system (TM) set out here:

1. Choose your aircraft models - any will do as long as they are a historical match. Single seater scouts are ideal but you can also deploy two seaters if you wish e.g. Brisfits.

2. Roll 1D6+1  for each side to generate the number of aircraft for each flight or Kette.

The Squadron, Escadrille or Jasta is up to you. If you want to randomly generate a number, just roll a D6 and a D4 and use the result to assign a number to your unit e.g. D6 = 2, D4 = 3, Squadron = 23 or 32 or 3+2 = 5.

3. Roll 1D10+1  on the pilot generation table (4.2)  for a pilot for each aircraft (11 = 0)

Roll once on the Captain or Hauptmann table, up to twice on the Lieutenant or Oberleutnant table and assign any remaining pilots using the Second Lieutenant or Leutnant table.

A maximum of one Ace is permitted per side (re-roll if necessary). Assign pilots to aircraft and select a Flight leader (highest ranking pilot).

Pilot names are up to you!

4. Roll 1D10  to determine starting Altitude for each Flight or Kette  (for early aircraft roll 1D6). If the result exceeds aircraft performance, set starting Altitude at the aircraft's maximum ceiling.

5. Roll 1D6 to determine entry point:

German 1-2 N.E. / 3-4 E. / 5-6 S.E.

Allied 1-2 N.W. / 3-4 W. / 5-6 S.W.

6. Roll 1D6 to determine sun position:

1 = E / 2 = S.E. / 3-4 = S. / 5 = S.W. /  6 = W.

7. Victory Conditions - the objective is to shoot down or force off half of the enemy aircraft (rounding up) after which the defeated flight or Kette must evade via their own long table edge, East for the Germans, West for the Allies.

If you wish, you may decide to continue the action until one side has been entirely eliminated...it's up to you.

8. The game will end when one side has either been eliminated or has left the table.

9. An after action report and/or photos or videos of your dogfight must be posted on the FB group.

10. Although designed for the Western Front there's no reason why this couldn't be adapted for the Italian or Eastern Front, simply by changing the the ranks and by modifying the entry point system.

Chocks Away!

Republican Fighters and Bombers

A bit of a frustrating day for various reasons but I have made a good start on assembling some 1/600th scale fighters and bombers for the Republicans. I have some more to do but at least count I have twelve I-16 Moscas, six I-15 Chatos and three Bloch MB.200 bombers, the last being all I had in the box but soon to be joined by six more. I'm focussing on 1938-39, so haven't included any of the earlier aircraft just yet. 

The Barons' War Birthday

 

It was my birthday yesterday and I was lucky enough to get the starter set The Barons' War, which now gives me a bit of a conundrum. The models and rules look really good and it's a favourite period of mine, being a post-graduate medieval history and archaeology student back in the day, so I am enthusiastic about doing this as a solo project. It does mean some of my other plans would have to go by the wayside, however, which is a bit of a bugger but probably worth it in the end. 

Air War Over Spain

I used to have a tatty hard back copy of this book but it literally fell apart after the loft leaked and it got soaked. I've now found a new copy in much better condition and I'm hoping that it will give me some really good material for a set of scenarios, as well as a better grip on the course of the war in the air. The research for scenario projects is something I really enjoy and I'm looking forward to getting started in a couple of weeks when I have done holiday reading time.

McCudden's Cut and Run Play Test Prep

I printed and cut out the cards and aircraft record sheets for a play test game of the scenario I wrote for Algernon Pulls It Off! last week. This is designed as a two player plus game but I'll be playing testing it solo at some point this week, which isn't difficult once you get going, even with a large card deck and lots of aircraft. I haven't played a game of Algy, or anything else for that matter yet this year, so I'm looking forward to it. Tally Ho!

The Red Baron's Albatros DII, Jasta 2, late 1916

After a bit of a delay due to work and family stuff, I wrapped up the 1/600th scale Albatros D.II of Ltn.Manfred Von Richthofen today, applying the decals and then a wash over of diluted Warpaints Pure Red. The upper wing crosses should really have white squares underneath but my I-94 decals were badly off register, so I just used the later ones instead. I will use this model for the McCudden's Cut and Run scenario, which I'm hoping to play over the next couple of days. Tally Ho!

Bag the Hun Spanish Civil War Scenario Project

I've been looking for a focus for a Bag the Hun Lard Magazine article for 2026 for a while. Although I do have an existing theme under research, the Arctic Eagles project, its not really ready for development into a full article. As a result, I've been trying to pin down a more manageable alternative. I've decided that this is going to be the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that hasn't been covered in any depth before fir Bag the Hun, apart from some aircraft data tables in one of the old Specials. 

A key factor in this is that I already have the 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice models that I need and some decals from Flightdeck, so any expense will be minimal. I also really love the interwar aircraft involved, especially the Soviet fighters like the Rata and Chato, for example. I'm going to do some preliminary reading and research then plan to get painting as soon as I know what's needed. Tally Ho!

Spanish Civil War Bag the Hun Wargaming

Two new titles from Helion Publishing for my birthday at the weekend, both focussed on the Spanish Civil War, a long time interest of mine but something I haven't yet tried to do. The initial interest is in the potential for a Bag the Hun scenario project, once again focussed on the interwar / early war era. I do like the idea of some linked scenarios focussing on the Republican Air Force, both before and after it was re-equipped with Soviet fighters and bombers. Excellente!

TFL Painting Challenge

This sounds like a good way to shift things on my painting backlog and log jams this year. I've asked to be added to the list and will, hopefully, be submitting some entries on a reasonably regular basis over the next few months. The first will be the Albatros D.III of Von Brumovski that I painted up a week or so ago, as it would be a good way to kick off the challenge. After that I will aim to focus on stuff for Toofatlardies rules... sounds like a plan?!

Through the Mud and Blood

A while back I bought some really nice custom laser cut platoon rosters for Through the Mud and Blood from Alex Sotheran, the Storm of Steel YouTube authority on the rules. I put them away for future use, as I was up to my neck in Algernon Pulls It Off! projects, with the intention of starting a TTMAB project in 2026. 

So, here we are. I'm going to do some reading up on the rules and watch some of the game reports on the Storm of Steel YouTube channel, then work out if it's a feasible job to take on. If it is, I will aim to paint a couple of platoons in 15mm. Fortunately, Alex has set out exactly what's required in a previous online post, so I'm going to go with this:

"It depends on the year, but let's say you are playing in 1917, for arguments sake. For the British, a full paper strength platoon would be:

HQ: Leiutenant (1st or 2nd), armed with a rifle, or less likely a pistol, Sergeant armed with a rifle, two scouts/runners armed with rifles.

Rifle section: 1 Corporal armed with rifle, eight riflemen.

Bomber Section: 1 Corporal armed with rifle, six riflemen, two bombers.

Rifle Grenadier section: 1 Corporal armed with rifle, four 2 man rifle grenadier teams.

LMG section: 1 Corporal armed with rifle, 2 man Lewis gun team, six riflemen.

For a typical German platoon:

HQ, Leutnant (or similar junior officer) armed with pistol or rifle.

Zug 1 & 3: Gefrieter armed with rifle, eight riflemen, two bombers.

Zug 2 & 4: Gefrieter armed with rifle, eight riflemen, 2 man LMG team (either captured Lewis or MG 08/15).

The Big Men are the Leiutenant, Sargent, Leutnent, Corporals and Gefrieters, given appropriate command initiative levels."

I have a good stash of Peter Pig figures already set aside for this, but it's a big project to take on, so I may have to rethink it if it turns out to be too much of a hill to climb. 

Fifteen Seconds of Fame

The next issue of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy is available for order now and it includes my article and scenarios for Algernon Pulls It Off! Don't worry, as there's lots of other stuff as well if you are a First World War wargaming enthusiast! It's good to see some air wargaming in the magazine and, if I get the chance, I'm definitely up for another fifteen seconds of wargaming fame 

Von Richthofen's Red Albatros DII

It's the last couple of days of a painting challenge on the Algernon Pulls It Off! Facebook group, in which you have to paint a single Albatros scout in any scale or scheme, as long as it is historically accurate. I thought I'd have a go at Manfred Von Richthofen's red Albatros D.II from December 1916, which I can use for the McCudden scenario. I've only got one 1/600th scale  model left in the box, so I have no room for error and not a lot of time either. I've started with a base coat of Army Painter Pure Red...what could possibly go wrong?!