I painted up a Tumbling Dice Fokker Triplane in Jasta 11 colours for the latest Algernon Pulls It Off! scenario, 'A Test of Nerve', over that last couple of days. This was flown by Ernst Udet while briefly with the 'Flying Circus' but there's no record of it's exact markings or insignia, so a generic Jasta 11 scheme will do, even though it's a bit boring. I'm hoping to find time before the weekend to a replay of the scenario, so this will come in handy instead of a proxy model.
I'm thinking of taking the Fly Fight Win - Danger Zone rules with me in holiday next week, as a step up from the Korean War rules once I've got a grip on the system. I have a couple of options here, either my Falklands War aircraft or my Alto Cenepa collection, the latter one of my favourite projects from way back in the past. It will be very interesting to see if I can get my head around the air to air missile rules, which add another layer of complexity to air wargaming, but I'm pretty hopeful having played other modern rules before without too much head scratching!
A Test of Nerve
A very fast game this morning, played al fresco on the garden table, no less.
Turn 1
Both pilots made their frontal attacks, Ltn.Udet firing first to no effect, shortly followed by Lt.Maasdorp with equally useless results.
Turn 2
Ltn.Udet made a snap turn to try to get behind his opponent, but Lt Maasdorp then pulled a nifty brake turn to get a rear deflection shot on the Jasta 11 machine at close range, narrowly failing to hit due to ropey dice rolls.
Ltn.Udet swiftly pulled another snap turn left to get behind the South African but not enough for his guns to bear. Lt.Maasdorp now did a swift wing over to line up a front deflection shot at range two.
Turn 3
Lt.Maasdorp's Fire card came up on the initial turn of the deck. Once again, however, his dice rolling let him down, even though he had a two second bonus for firing, scoring only one 5/6 against Ltn.Udets two.
Ltn.Udet now hacked a hard left turn to place him at dead close range for a rear deflection shot on the Sopwith Camel. With eleven D6 for firing, the Junior Ace scored 6 hits, while Lt.Maasdorp rolled only 1 save on his 8D6 roll.
Five hits against the Sopwith Camel's robustness of two gave a 2C critical hit. Now, Ltn.Udet pulled a blinder, rolling an 11 on the 2D6 critical chart.
Boom!
The Sopwith Camel exploded in mid-air, the pilot being thrown clear to fall to his death below.
Victory number 22 for the Ace!
Good fun and a fairly historical outcome. Lt.Maasdorp was very unlucky with his dice rolling compared to Ltn.Udet, so I'm going to re-run the scenario to see if he can last longer and even shoot down the Jasta 11 pilot before being shot down himself.
I am once again thinking of tackling a Lake Tanganyika mini-project for my holidays, based on the Steamer Wars campaign system and Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale models. These have been stockpiled for a couple of years and would be assembled over the holidays while I am in Brittany, including some conversions to make models that are required but not included in the range.
This idea has been floating around for a few years now but, as my overall focus this year is the First World War, it makes a lot of sense as a holiday project, so much so that I've been in touch with David Manley to ask if he'd design some of the missing boats.
In fact, it turns out he's already been working on STL files for the Belgian armed barge Dix Tonnes and the launch Netta, not to mention some shore batteries in the distinctive armoured covers, which may or may not appear in the range at some point. It would be great to see some dhows and even the Baron Dhanis added to his 'to do' list as well.
I even suggested that these might scale up to 1/300th, to appeal to the Cruel Seas fan base, or even 1/200th to complement Rod Langton's excellent coastal forces range but I think that might be a big ask, as it would require all of the other vessels involved to be modelled too.
I spotted this on eBay today and put in an offer which was accepted, so will hopefully have it delivered in time for the holidays. It's obviously relevant for my Jasta 18 project and there's even Ltn.Kurt Monnigton's OAW Fokker DVII on the front cover, so it will be very useful. It's actually a signed copy as well which is a rather nice thing.
I have been putting the finishing touches to a 'fast play' scenario for Algernon Pulls Its Off! that I've been working on over the last couple of days. This is a historical scenario based on Ernst Udet's 22nd victory in March 1918, designed for quick play with minimal preparation. I'll be play testing the game tomorrow if it all goes according to plan, with the idea being to encourage other people to give it a go as well. This month's challenge on the Algy Facebook group is to play a game and post an after action report, so I'd better set a good example myself and get a game sorted. I just need to work up the very small card deck and I'm good to go!
It was too hot to do much today, so I finished off the Argentinian Inshore Squadron for my on going 'What If?' pre-dreadnought solo campaign. These are all Tumbling Dice 1/2400th scale models from either the Victorian range or the Age of Battleships range. The Chileans are now looking a bit feeble so I'm going to paint up the protected cruiser Chacabuco and the old central battery ironclad Almirante Cochrane to beef up the fleet.
This extract from the Australian Official History is the inspiration for a scenario I'm going to write for Algernon Pulls It Off! It's a bit different as it involves at least four different types of aircraft all with very different performance and armament, as well as a range of pilot abilities.
I have another source which identifies that the two German aircraft were an Albatros D.III and a Rumpler C.I type two seater in a fighter role, with the AFC flight being a real mish mash. The Germans definitely have the edge in this one but the Aussies will have objectives to even the odds.
The models for this will be 1/600th scale as I can modify a Tumbling Dice BE2c and a Brisfit into the BE2e, BE12 and Martynside G100 Elephant, while the Rumpler can be converted from an Albatros C type.
I asked Dan Arute at Flight Deck Decals if he could produce a set of insignia for Jasta 18 in both 1/300th and 1/144th scale. He has now confirmed that he can do this, subject to a bit of research and design work, with the beginning of August as a likely date. This is fantastic news, as Dan's stuff is top notch and will be perfect for decking out my 1/300th printed aircraft models, once I get round to painting them of course. Tally Ho!
I've been doing some research for some more scenarios today, this time focussing on the early victories of the Eindecker aces in 1915. The idea is to write a trio of scenarios that would focus on some of the famous German aces, as they develop their tactics and experience, featuring a range of different opponents and aircraft. It's early days yet but this could be a really good basis for another article or just for a series of enjoyable 'duel' type games using a variety of interesting early war aircraft.
The Algernon Pulls It Off! Facebook group is going very well and picking up new players on a regular basis, but there is still a lack of games being played and posted as after action reports. To remedy this, I've set up a challenge for next month, so that the number of games increases, which should in turn attract even more interest and involvement. Of course, this also means that I'll be playing some more of my scenarios, which can't be a bad thing either!
I spent a relaxing hour or so this afternoon blocking in the Argentinian coastal and riverine models, ready for an overall ink wash. They look a bit bland at the moment but will be highlighted and detailed once the ink wash has been applied. I've also blocking in the decks of the Chilean ships and will move onto those once the Argentinian models are finished.
