Finest Hour Fictional Luftwaffe Staffel

For the Bag the Hun game in January, I'm planning to set up a simple fighter vs fighter encounter, using the scenario generation mechanism in the Finest Hour campaign rules. I've selected two options, either a 'Is Bounced By' game with the RAF being ambushed, or a 'Scrambled to Intercept' game, although I may well have both, one after the other so that the new players get a good chance to learn the system.

Either way, I need a Luftwaffe Staffel to be worked out as the opposition for my system generated, semi- fictional RAF Hurricane unit, No27 Squadron, which I have fleshed out with pilot backgrounds, skill ratings and so on. My initial idea was to use the system in Finest Hour to roll up an actual unit, which gave me the famous 7 Staffel or III Gruppe, JG26. 

This was a top-scoring, highly experienced squadron with several ace pilots by the end of the Battle of Britain, not to mention Spanish Civil War veterans. While a very exciting prospect for the Luftwaffe players, I thought this might be a bit too daunting for the relatively normal pilots of the RAF, so I went back to the drawing board and devised another fictional unit in line with No27 Squadron.

I'm still working on the finer details but in essence, I now have 7 Staffel of III Gruppe, JG31 Boelcke as my Luftwaffe squadron. Its home airfield is Caffiers in the Luftflotte 2 area of operations. It is equipped with fifteen serviceable Bf-109e fighters and a squadron strength of thirteen pilots, all generated by the Finest Hour mechanisms with a little bit of a tweak. 

The commanding officer is a Junior Ace but most of the pilots are Regulars, with a couple of Veterans and Sprogs to balance things out. I've also devised a variation on the Pilot Rank Generator for the Luftwaffe, which has enabled me to pin down the different ranks within each 'schwarm' in a reasonably realistic way. It goes like this:

Roll 1D6 

Staffel Leaders (Aces -1): 

1-2 = Hauptmann 

4-6 = Oberleutnant

All other pilots (Aces -2 / Veterans -1 / Sprogs +1)

1-3 = Leutnant

4 = Oberfeldwebel

5 = Feldwebel

6 = Unteroffizier

(I've not included the Stabschwarm rankings but it would be easy to work something out for that)

Finest Hour RAF Bogeys

You may remember that I had some custom acrylic bogey markers made by Warbases for my Khalkhin Gol project in the summer, so I thought it would be neat to have some made for the Finest Hour project too. Although the Finest Hour supplement was written for the first edition of Bag the Hun, which uses blinds rather than bogey markers, I'll be using the second edition of the rules for my solo campaign. The use of bogeys really adds some depth to the game and they are required for the set up conditions in most of the encounters too.

To start with I've just had some markers made for the RAF, using clear blue acrylic as that seemed the most appropriate choice, given that I used clear green and red for my Japanese and Soviet ones. The Luftwaffe markers will either be yellow or opaque black but what I'll have engraved on them has yet to be decided, as LUFTWAFFE is a bit too long and LUFT a bit to short? I might go for BANDIT, which will cover all sorts of scenarios and would fit the theme of the campaign too, especially as I'm playing if from an RAF perspective.

Finest Hour Project Scramble!

 

I finally got started on the Finest Hour Bag the Hun project today, with twelve Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale Hawker Hurricane MkI's magnet based and ready for painting. They will be used for the semi-fictitious No27 Squadron in my Finest Hour campaign, although I'm not going to be adding any squadron codes so they can represent any Hurricane equipped unit (they are also way too tiddly to even contemplate adding any lettering!).The other half of the painting jig is going to be filled by a matching staffel of Bf109e's which I'll be tidying up and magnet basing tomorrow, given half a chance. Tally Ho! 

Finest Hour Forward

A couple of years ago I started work on a Bag the Hun Finest Hour solo campaign project, featuring a fictitious RAF Hurricane squadron, No.27, based at Middle Wallop, which is about twenty minutes from where I live. The Luftwaffe fighter opposition was represented by another fictional unit, 7/JG31, which gave me the opportunity to flesh out the counterfactual background in some detail. I devised rosters of pilots and started painting a load of 1/600th aircraft but then drifted off course, as full time work commitments wiped out any time to either paint or play any games. 

At this time of the year, my thoughts turn to projects for the year ahead, and I am keen to reboot the Battle of Britain campaign, especially as I've already invested a lot of time and effort into the background. As a change of pace, I may even use the first edition of Bag the Hun, as it is almost identical to Algernon Pulls It Off! and will give me some insight into a potential campaign set up for the Western Front. 

Tally Ho!

You can read all about my campaign ground work here:

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/search?q=Finest+Hour

Bag the Hun Finest Hour Solo Campaign 2022

I've always wanted to run a Bag the Hun campaign using the Finest Hour supplement for the Battle of Britain with 1/285th scale aircraft, but there wasn't any interest at the club so I shelved my plans a long time ago. However, my recent 1/600th scale games for the Khalkhin Gol project over the summer have convinced me that I can manage to run quite large games on a solo basis, with several flights on each side and bombers on autopilot. So, one thing I'm going to add to my 'to do' list for 2022 will be a Battle of Britain themed solo campaign, based on the system in Finest Hour and using 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice magnet based model aircraft.

To give myself something to aim for, I rolled up a squadron for the RAF today, using a combination of the mechanisms in the supplement and a bit of cherry picking. A dice roll identified the unit as No27 Squadron, which was actually based on the North West Frontier flying Westland Wapiti light bombers and Tiger Moth trainers at the time, but in my campaign it will have been disbanded and reformed as a fighter squadron in October 1939. The squadron is based at Middle Wallop airfield in 10 Group, which is just up the road from me and so an ideal choice. The squadron is equipped with the Hawker Hurricane Mk1 and has a generous compliment of seventeen machines, although one is currently U/S. The squadron code is RM.

As the timeframe for the campaign will be the Kanal Kampf in July 1940, the pilot generation system has given me a total strength of sixteen aircrew, so I will have four spare pilots in reserve and a full complement of twelve for my four sections. The Squadron Leader is a Top Ace, having achieved eleven kills during the Battle of France, and is leader of 'A' Flight, Red Section. The other section leader in 'A' flight is a Veteran of the fighting in France too, so a safe pair of hands at the helm of Yellow Section. The leader of 'B' Flight and Blue Section is a newly minted Junior Ace with five kills over the beaches of Dunkirk, but the leader of Green Section is a Sprog, fresh from advanced training (I decided that he was a well to do and well connected pre-war private pilot, so promoted to section leader on the basis of his supposed flying experience rather than any combat skill).

Luckily, there is another Junior Ace pilot in Green Section to shepherd its newly appointed section leader, backed up by a solid Regular sergeant pilot in the number three slot. The other section pilots are a mixed bag, with two more Veterans and Regulars, together with a couple more Sprogs, sprinkled around the squadron according to the random dice rolls that I made. The reserve pilots are all Sprogs, as you'd expect but there is a single Regular to give the CO some options when it comes to replacing losses and rotating pilots during the campaign. I may well dip into the character generation system in Squadron Forward to flesh out the identities and backgrounds of each pilot, but I don't want to over complicate things at this stage.

In terms of preparation for this solo campaign, I'll obviously need twelve Hurricanes based and painted but will also have to paint quite a lot of Luftwaffe bombers and fighters too. The Kanal Kampf gives me the option of using Ju-87 Stukas, so I'll need twelve of them plus twelve bombers to start with, probably Heinkel III's as they are really nice models. As fighters I will need twelve Bf-109's and, as it's still early days in the Battle of Britain, I'll also need twelve Bf-110's as fighter escorts. A couple of reconnaissance aircraft would also be useful, so I can add a Ju-88 or Do-17 in that role, with the option of expanding up to twelve aircraft in the bomber role later on. This is quite a lot to do but still manageable if I do it in stages (I have fiddled the encounter table to fix the maximum number of aircraft at twelve, which is more than enough to deal with!)

This will all kick off in 2022 but it's always a good idea to plan ahead!

Finest Hour Gruppe Stabschwarm

I am moving on to some Ju-87 Stukas next for the Finest Hour project but I'll also be adding three or four more Bf-109's to the painting table, to represent the stabschwarm for the gruppe that my staffel of Bf-109's is attached to. All that teutonic alphabetty spaghetti just means that I will be able to attach a command schwarm to my squadron of twelve fighters, piloted by some highly experienced veterans and aces. To fit this in with the scenario set up, I've added a Staffel and Stabschwarm bit to the Luftwaffe Fighters column on the random roll up table, which I've already tweaked to reduce the number of bombers I have to paint to sensible figures.

Finest Hour Painting Progress

It's been a while but I have finally moved on to painting the He111's and assorted extra aircraft for the Finest Hour Project. It is not a lot to write home about but they have now had the undersides blocked in with Vallejo Pale Blue, ready for a second coat to cover all the gaps. After that I can get the basecoat on he upper surfaces and add the camouflage pattern, which is the tedious fiddly bit. I'm hoping to have some time off work soon(ish) so will be able to pick up the pace a bit.

Finest Hour Flight Deck Decals

I'm taking a short break from the Finest Hour project to concentrate on painting an early Imperial Roman army for Strength and Honour. This means that the half painted Heinkel He-111's will be moved to the shelf above the workbench for a few weeks while I speed paint the 2mm units for the Strength and Honour project. However, I am going the have a go at applying the decal on the squadron of Hurricanes and Bf-109's that I painted last month, which is something I've meant to do for a few weeks now but put off as its a bit daunting, the decals being very small indeed. When I do get the on to the models, I'll be ready to play the first game in the campaign, which sees B flight of no27 Squadron bouncing a full Staffel of Bf-109's!

Finest Hour Campaign Research

 

I have a couple of books by this author to read over the next couple of months, in the run up to the Finest Hour solo campaign for Bag the Hun next year. I haven't read anything by Chris Goss before but he has some interesting angles on the Battle of Britain including this one, which obviously focuses on the aces of the Luftwaffe rather than the whole battle, for which I already have more books that I could possibly need! I'm really looking forward to reading it along with his book Brothers in Arms, which compares the experience of a Luftwaffe staffel and RAF squadron. Tally Ho! 

Finest Hour Luftwaffe Reconaissance

I've been very busy lately with work and decorating a bedroom at home at the weekend and evenings, so the Finest Hour painting has slowed to a trickle. The DIY is now done, however, so I'm planning to finish the Bf109 basing and start on some painting over the next week or so. To add to the options I will be able to table, I've included a single Do-17P and a single Ju-88 model to use for reconnaissance missions, if and when I roll one up as an interception sortie for No27 Squadron. They won't take long to paint alongside the fighters and will be good practise for the full bomber force when I have to paint that up for future scenarios. Tally Ho!

Finest Hour No27 Squadron Cards

I've now decided to shelve the Napoleonic naval project until next year, as I haven't got the time to do it now due to working full time, so instead I'm going to begin the Bag the Hun Finest Hour project as it can be broken down into several bits that I can tackle one  at a time. To move this along, having not started the Hurricanes again this weekend due to family stuff, I have word processed up some basic turn cards for No27 Squadron, based on the format I used for the Khalkhin Gol project. I think they'll do the job, even if they are a bit rudimentary!

Finest Hour First Sortie Sorted

'About to bounce an enemy formation'...in action!

I decided to generate the first sortie for 27 Squadron in my Finest Hour solo campaign, in order to determine what I needed to paint in advance of the campaign kick off. This involved using the sortie table (section 6.3), which I had previously made a couple of tweaks to, so that the number of bombers required was slightly reduced and the chances of some decent sorties slightly increased. The resulting sortie, set for Saturday 13th July 1940, worked out with 'B' Flight 'about to bounce an enemy formation' of a full staffel of twelve Bf-109's, which was handy as that's what I'm painting first anyway!

The table with a few tweaks

While I was at it, I noticed that the table as written included reference to 'Three Schwarm' and a full 'Staffel', which are actually the same thing being twelve fighters in three schwarm of four. This seemed a bit daft, so I have amended the table again to fix it and give the chances of encountering one or two schwarm a slight uplift but still ensuring that in most scenarios the RAF will probably be outnumbered. I also took the opportunity to increase the chances of intercepting formations of twelve and nine bombers, as less than that seemed a bit unrealistic on reflection. Tally Ho!

Finest Hour Ju-87 Stukas

The next phase of the Finest Hour project will be to assemble and paint twelve 1/600th scale Ju-87 Stukas, once again from Tumbling Dice. These are really nice models that really capture the look of the actual aircraft but are a bit of a fiddle to assemble due to the undercarriage, which glues onto two pads under each wing rather than fixing into a slot like other models in the Tumbling Dice range. It's going to take me a little longer to get them glued together and magnet based, but I'm planning to have them ready to paint by mid-week. These will be painted as dive bombers of 3/StG 1 using the decal sheet from Miscellaneous Miniatures that should be arriving in the post fairly soon.

Finest Hour Hurricane Camouflage

The other half hijacked the kitchen table today for her school work, so I had to postpone the MiG Alley game for a later date, hopefully sometime during the week. Instead, I braved the arctic conditions in the garage and cracked on with the Hurricanes for my Finest Hour solo campaign. This involved painting the dark green camouflage pattern using Foundry Phlegm Green shade, having had a rethink about which colour to use. I'll do the undersides next followed by the canopies, exhausts and propeller bosses. 

Finest Hour: Bloody April 1917

A couple of weeks ago I posted an idea on the Algernon Pulls It Off Facebook group, to use the Bag the Hun Finest Hour campaign as a template for a 1917 Western Front campaign. This sounds a bit bonkers at first but, with some simple adaptation and use of imagination, I think it could work quite well. 

The idea would be either to run a campaign over a single month of 'Bloody April' or to divide most of the year into four sections - March to April, May to June, July to August and September to October. There would be a mechanism to create a fictional scout squadron of the RFC / RNAS including pilots, aircraft and airfields, then track it over a series of missions, day by day. 

It also got me thinking of the Battle of Britain solo campaign I did the spade work for a couple of years ago. I may have another crack at that this summer, if I can find the time, as it would be great fun and not too much trouble to set up, assuming I can speed paint the models to a decent standard. Tally Ho!

Finest Hour Painting Progress

I've made some good progress with the 1/600th scale Finest Hour project over the last couple of days, with the Hurricane painting done and the Bf-109's base coated, ready for painting when the RAF fighters are finished. I've kept it simple to avoid wasting time, so there are no fin flashes on the Hurricanes and the decals will just be roundels on the upper wings and fuselage sides, after which I'll tone down the shiny surfaces with some matt varnish. Tally Ho!

Finest Hour Decal Delivery

 

I was despairing of ever getting my hands on the Miscellaneous Miniatures decals I ordered for the Finest Hour project, when I decided to have a rummage through the bank statements stacked up on the hall table. Lo and behold, the envelope containing the RAF and Luftwaffe decals had been shoved between some similarly innocuous envelopes by the hand of fate, or by the other half who had mistaken it for a bill of some sort. In the interim I have also ordered some sheets of insignia from Dan at Flight Deck Decals, so I will now have all that I need to finish off the aircraft I've painted and most of the ones in the painting schedule. Huzzah!

Finest Hour Campaign Plans

I've offered to run a Bag The Hun 2 campaign sometime in 2013 at the club, with four or five players already signed up. I originally intended for this to be a Tobruk set up but have been re-thinking the idea and will now probably go for a Battle of Britain campaign using the Finest Hour supplement. This is an easier option than working it all out myself.

It will allow me to use my existing Luftwaffe collection of eight Bf109's, four Bf110's and nine Do17's, together with the twenty four (!) Ju88's that I painted up for the club participation game a couple of years ago. The latter need re-basing but otherwise they'll fill a big gap in the Luftwaffe air fleet, although I'll need to do some more fighters as well to make up the numbers.

I've also decided to leave my existing Hurricanes to one side and instead to paint up a full squadrons' worth of Spitfires, twelve of which I already have on the leadpile. These will be decked out as 609 Squadron machines based at RAF Middle Wallop in 1940, which just happens to be twenty minutes up the road. I like the local connnection and I also have a full set of 609 squadron decals to mark up the fuselage insignia.

The challenge will be to match the paint shades and finish to the existing RAF aircraft that I have in the collection but this shouldn't be too difficult, as I have everything written down somewhere, so can duplicate the camouflage without too many headaches. I hope. I'll get started on the project as soon as I've cleared the decks a bit and have had a decent break.

Finest Hour Gruppe StaBschwarm

I've just finished cleaning up and magnet basing four Bf-109e Emil fighters for my Finest Hour Gruppe command flight, so I thought it would be fun to roll up the pilots for the staff schwarm using the pilot generation system in the supplement. I rolled a D10 and have allocated the pilot skill ratings as follows:

Gruppe Kommandeur (CO) - Top Ace

Gruppe Adjutant (2nd i/c) - Junior Ace

Gruppe Technischer Offizier (Technical Officer) - Veteran

Gruppe Beim StaB (Chief of Staff) - Veteran

This lot will give the RAF a nasty surprise if they turn up, although as I have it organised at the moment they would only appear occasionally and with a full staffel to back them up. I won't be adding any character background to the Luftwaffe side of the equation but it's easy to see how this would be quite a historically accurate make up for a staff flight, with some Spanish Civil War Condor Legion 'experten' making up the core, supported by two battle tested veterans of the Blitzkrieg campaigns.

Finest Hour No27 Squadron Reserve Pilots

Sgt Fraser, P/O Ramsay, Sgt Jarvis, F/O Hamilton

Here are the four reserve pilots for the Finest Hour campaign, who will be on standby for sorties when the pilots currently assigned to flying duties are not available.

Sergeant Pilot J. ‘Jock’ Fraser

Age 25. From Halifax, Nova Scotia. A drifter. Spent time as fisherman, lumberjack, construction worker and merchant sailor. Enlisted after jumping ship in October 1939. No27 Squadron is his first posting. Sprog.

Sergeant Pilot P.F. Jarvis

Age 23. From Lincoln, Lincolnshire. Former gamekeeper. Enlisted in September 1939. Selected for pilot training due to his marksmanship. No27 Squadron is his first posting. Sprog.

Pilot Officer H.K. Ramsay

Age 22. From Newcastle, Northumberland. Former laboratory technician. Enlisted in October 1939 alongside his brother, a navigator on Whitley bombers. No27 Squadron is his first posting. Sprog.

Flying Officer D.E. Hamilton

Age 30. From Bristol, Somerset. A pre-war regular RAF pilot. Enlisted in June 1932. A confident and able pilot. Did not take part in Battle of France due to pilot training duties in Scotland, from which he has just been transferred to No27 Squadron. No combat experience. Regular.