Friday, 31 January 2025

Jasta 18 - The Red Noses


It's been a really long week at work and today was particuarly uphill, so I was chuffed to find that the postie had delivered a trio of second hand Osprey Publishing books when I got home including this one, the definitive work on Jasta 18 by an acknowledged expert in the subject. I've had a quick flick through and have already identified at least two potential scenarios for Algernon Pulls It Off! one of which features multiple flights of American Spad XIII's against a single kette of four Fokker DVII's. All very stirring stuff and I'm hoping to dig out even more material when I get the time to sit down and do some more reading. Tally Ho!

Thursday, 30 January 2025

Ravenfeast Viking Raiding Party


As it's almost the end of the month, it's time to plan ahead for the next few weeks. I've decided that I'm going to finish the Jasta 18 aircraft over the weekend, then clear the workbench for a new project (I'll come back to the WWI project later in the year and will still be continuing my scenario research in the meantime). After some considerable thought, I've opted for a Viking warband for Ravenfeast, using the excellent Foundry figures that I already have assembled, based and undercoated. I'll paint up one raiding party of around twenty figures in total, which will be fun as I haven't painted anything in 28mm for years! The figures already look absolutely huge compared to my usual tiddly things but I'm looking forward to not having to squint through a magnifier for a change!

Wednesday, 29 January 2025

Who Indeed?


As if I need an excuse to collect more history books, the current focus on WWI air warfare has led to yet more acquisitions for the overloaded book shelves, including this second hand hardback by Norman Franks. I have quite a lot of his books and they are invariably very good, as you'd expect from the acknowledged expert in the field, but this one is new to me. I'm going to dig in and see what I can find to use as scenario material. 

Jasta 18 Blocking In Busted

 



The blocking in has now been completed on the Jasta 18 models, apart from the black bits which I will do later. Next up will be an overall brush over in my usual Future diluted ink wash. In other news, Dan has pulled a blinder and my late war decals have arrived in the post, well before I expected them to turn up. This means I can crack on with the painting and have the decals to hand straight away. Excellent!

Tuesday, 28 January 2025

Jasta 18 Painting Progress

Jagdstaffel 18

Albatros DVa and Fokker DrI

Fokker DVII 

The Jasta 18 models have now had another block in coat of Warpaints Red and, as it's my day off tomorrow, I'm planning to complete the rest of the painting to finish them off. This will include blocking in the white tails and nose cowlings, a simple sky blue block in on the lower wings, an overall ink wash and then detailing and highlighting. It's a lot to do and very much depends on the drying time in between the various stages but it's not impossible if I get cracking. The decals are now in the post from Dan at Flight Deck Decals so that will be the final bit to get them finished off. Tally Ho!

Monday, 27 January 2025

Algernon Pulls It Off! WWI Scenarios

Raben's Ravens

I was thinking about what to do for an air wargaming scenario writing project today, something that would be a bit different and push me to explore subjects that I hadn't considered before. Apart from the things that I have already started work on, such as the Arctic Eagles and Hurricats themed scenarios for Bag the Hun, I came up with a bit of blank. However, in a moment of inspiration I thought to myself, why not try Algernon Pulls It Off! as a focus for a scenario project, perhaps even a Lard Mag article or even a submission for Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy, assuming they would be interested? 

So, this year I will be leaving Bag the Hun to one side and will be nose diving into Algernon Pulls It Off! instead, the aim being to learn a new set of air wargaming rules (even though I know the system underpinning it very well) and researching some scenarios for playtesting and eventual publication. I'm quite enthused by this idea and at the very least it's a great excuse to paint more tiddly planes and buy more books, so what's not to like. The initial plan is to research a specific squadron and write a set of scenarios featuring the historical actions in which it was engaged, with Leutnant der Reserve August Raben's Jagdstaffel 18 being my immediate focus for scribbling some notes.

Tally Ho!

Sunday, 26 January 2025

What's on the Workbench?

The 'oh so cunning' plan to have three projects on the go at any one time has clearly been a bit of a balls up, as I've only had time to tackle one this month in the shape of my WW1 1918 Spandau and Lewis thing. It's obviously not feasible to tinker away at more than one project a month, so I'm now going to return to a single focus for the workbench, which isn't tied down to a single month but can be extended over a longer stretch of time as required. So, for the next couple of weeks I'll be plugging away at the 1/600th scale German WWI aircraft, possibly adding some RAF Sopwith Camels and Airco DH4's if I can squeeze them in. After that....who knows?

1918 Aircraft Blocking In the Basecoats




I've made a good start on blocking in the German aircraft for the 1918 project today. The Jasta 18 machines have been given a basecoat of Warpaints Red while the rest of the models have a basecoat in Flames of War Luftwaffe Green. The next stage will be to tidy up the white tails on the Jasta 18 fighters and start adding the camouflage patterns to the other aircraft. I'm also thinking of building some more Fokker DVII models to paint in Jasta 15 or Jasta 40 schemes, just for fun. 

Saturday, 25 January 2025

Going Solo with Algernon Pulls It Off


Now I have the 1/600th scale aircraft for 1917 finished, I'm ready to try out some aerial dogfighting rules, the aim being to get a good grip on the systems by playing some solo games in the half term holiday. This year we are staying at home for the week which means I have time to set up the dining room table and roll some dice for a change. There are a couple of rules I'm going to try out, the first being Spandau and Lewis, the second being Algernon Pulls It Off. I'm very familiar with Bag the Hun in both it's editions, so I don't think there will be any surprises with Algy, but it's always a good idea to get a bit of practice under your belt. Tally Ho!

Friday, 24 January 2025

The Giant Killers


It was a slow day at work today, so I had a bit of time to squeeze in some more research towards the Hurricats CAM Ship project for Bag the Hun. Based on the historical record of sorties flown and enemy aircraft forced off, damaged or shot down, there's clearly enough to put together a decent number of scenarios built around a solo friendly interception mechanism. I'm going to continue plugging away at this concept and have started to gather together some more resources, including this old paperback that is worth it for the cover art alone. Good stuff!

Thursday, 23 January 2025

Ravenfeast West Saxons


I got a Gripping Beast SAGA 4 point Anglo Saxon warband for my birthday at the weekend, which will give me a perfect starting force or two for Ravenfeast. Although I have a Foundry Viking collection I quite like the idea of putting together one or two mid-Saxon skirmish forces, one of which would be West Saxon and the other possibly Mercian, pitching things in the early ninth century. This was the time of the West Saxon expansion into the South West, which I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on many years ago, so a subject of long term interest for me. I've already picked up some Gripping Beast plastic archers and shield transfers from eBay and so I'm thinking that this would be a cracking project for next month?

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

1918 Plane Painting Plan


The 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice WW1 German aircraft have now been assembled, magnet based and undercoated, ready for painting. I used Halfords Ultra Matt Camouflage Green on most of them but the Jasta 18 machines are undercoated in Halfords White Primer, as they will be painted in red and white. I may still add some more Albatros DVa or Fokker DrI models but the painting jig is pretty full up as it is, so I'll probably save those for another time. I've also ordered some late war cross insignia from Dan at Flight Deck Decals, which should arrive in time for me to apply them assuming I get the painting done by the end of the month....?

Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Fokker EV / DVIII Chop Shop


I was pleased with the tweaks I made to the Tumbling Dice Fokker EV model the other day, which involved reshaping the wing into a more defined 'razor' shape, so I'm going to chop together a few more for the 1918 project. I'm also going to glue together a couple more Fokker DrI triplane models to make up a kette of three aircraft. It's my day off tomorrow and I will hopefully get this lot completed then undercoat all of the assembled aircraft in matt black, ready for painting at the weekend.

Monday, 20 January 2025

Spandau and Lewis Updated

 

Over on The Stronghold Rebuilt blog, which is excellent all round for interesting things, there's an updated version of the free Spandau and Lewis WW1 air wargaming rules available. This was as an unintentional but very welcome extra birthday present for me and very much appreciated. The rules have had a few tweaks to firing arcs and a lot of new stats have been added for aircraft for the British, Germans and French, which is all very well timed for my current 1918 project. Unfortunately, the rules for balloon busting, archie and bombing aren't yet included but you can't complain as the whole thing is free. I'm hoping to get a try out game in at the weekend, if I have time. Here's a direct ink:

https://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2025/01/spandau-lewis-v13.html

Sunday, 19 January 2025

1918 German Aircraft Additions





I had a productive session at the workbench today, despite freezing my nuts off yet again. The end result is six Hannover CLIII ground attack two seaters, three Friedrichsafen GIII bombers and a single, reworked Fokker EV / DVIII. This had the upper wing trimmed back to look a lot more like the actual aircraft, which was nicknamed the 'flying razor' by allied pilots. The wing supplied with the model is more like a butter knife, so a few cuts and some judicious sanding are required. It's one of the very few models that Paul could improve. I'm pretty much there now with the German aircraft for 1918 but will probably add a couple more Fokker DrI models to fill up the painting jig. Tally Ho!


Happy Birthday Book

 


It was my birthday yesterday and I had a great time with family and friends going to Wales to watch a good game of rugby after a very nice pub lunch. I haven't opened my presents yet, as we got home in the early hours of this morning, but I have opened one from my sister, as it arrived earlier in the week. She very kindly bought me a hardback copy of Dan Jones' new book on Henry V, which is brilliant and much appreciated. This was one of  my final year modules for my first degree at university, so very much one of my areas of interest. I will save this to read at half term in a few weeks time. Thanks Ren. 

Friday, 17 January 2025

The Hurricats

I read this book a few years ago and it stuck in my head as a potential Bag the Hun scenario project, although how it could actually work has been a bit of a sticking point too, to say the least. After some thought, I've come up with a potential solution, which is to develop a solo scenario system based partially on the Bag the Doodlebug V2 interception mechanisms in the Bag the Hun rule book. In this variant, the German aircraft would be controlled by the system, while the player would fly the Hurricane to launch, intercept, bail out or ditch then be picked up by the convoy escort. 

The focus would be on intercepting the Fw-200 Condor, BV-138 and Ju-88 long range aircraft that shadowed convoys, rather than convoy protection against waves of torpedo bombers. There's no reason that the latter couldn't also be included in a set of scenarios but it wouldn't fit with the solo focus of the game. and would require a full convoy of shipping. It's a minimal outlay project as a result, requiring a handful of Tumbling Dive models, with all of the required aircraft already available in the 1/600th Vapour Trails range.  I'll give this some more thought and see what I can work up.

Thursday, 16 January 2025

Winter Hammer Homework



My order from Heroics and Ros arrived today and I'm very impressed by the 6mm figures, guns and vehicles for both the Soviet and Finnish forces. I'm lining this up as my land project for next month, as the 2mm Pike and Shot project is currently on hold until I sort out some replacement bases. I've been working out the basing system already and reckon on using 40mm x 80mm bases for the infantry, with 40mm x 40mm bases for the support units and vehicles, which sounds a bit odd but will look the part and also work well with the rules. I need to do some more planning but this is definitely coming together.

Lozenge Camouflage Challenge

Roy Cross Box Art 👍

One of the challenges I'm going to have to face for the 1918 German aircraft is painting the ubiquitous lozenge camouflage pattern. In most cases this will just be on the upper surfaces of the wings but in others, such as the Hannover CLIII above, I'll have to tackle the fuselage and tailplanes as well. I have some ideas for how to go about this but it's either going to be a piece of cake or a complete nightmare!

Wednesday, 15 January 2025

1918 Aircraft Additions



It's my day off on Wednesday but I always have so many things to do that the stuff on the workbench gets left to the last minute. Here are the aircraft I managed to assemble today, including three Albatros DV's, a lone Fokker DrI and three Halberdtadt CLII two seaters. The latter are lovely models and I'm looking forward to painting them. Next up will be some more Albatros DV and Fokker DVII scouts and a flight of Hannover CLIII's.

Ravenfeast Big Battles


In light of my recent experiments in 2mm and 6mm figure scales, I thought this variant of the Ravenfeast skirmish rules looked really interesting. The basic rules remain the same in most respects but the individual figures are replaced with multiple based 6mm figures, using in the examples provided the Baccus range of Viking, Saxon and Norman armies. The free supplement also includes a mini-campaign for 1066 with all three battles linked together, and there's an additional scenario for the Battle of Ashdown available on the website. I think this may be an even better option than 28mm and would allow me to recreate the Battle of Hengestdun in 838, for example, which is something I've always wanted to do. Yet more food for thought?

Tuesday, 14 January 2025

Ravenfeast


This year I'm aiming to not start any new projects, apart from the Winter Hammer one, but instead work on things I have already begun, if possible with a new twist to make them more interesting. The focus is on small, solo friendly projects with simple rules and a minimum of terrain, figures and cost.

One idea I've been mulling over is to finish some 28mm Viking figures I've had in a box for years, at least since 2010 or so. These are Foundry figures and were originally destined for SAGA. I have played a few games of SAGA with my Norman warband and enjoyed the rules, but they're not designed for solo play.





Instead, I'm going to use the free Ravenfeast rules which require fewer figures, are simple but also good for solo games, and also need a minimum of terrain as games are played on a roughly four foot square area. The warbands, for want of a better word, are about a dozen figures each, which is just about covered by the ones I've already based, perhaps with a handful of extras like bowmen and berserkers. 

I like the sound of this a lot and may even make it next month's land based skirmish project. It will make use of some stuff I've already got, won't take a lot of time to set up and the figures should paint up nicely, being full of character. It's also scalable and I could even use the rules for larger battles with smaller scale figures, possibly even in 6mm or 2mm. 

Monday, 13 January 2025

Jasta 18 Extras


Jasta 18 was re-equipped almost entirely with the Fokker DVII in early 1918 but retained a few Albatros DVa scouts and at least one Fokker DrI triplane. One of the latter was flown by the staffel commander, Lt August Raben, in addition to a standard Fokker DVII. I thought it would be fun to add a few Albatros and triplane models to the Jasta 18 line up, so have set some aside for assembly later this week, as it's far too cold in the sub zero garage to be playing around with super glue tonight.  

Sunday, 12 January 2025

Jasta 18 'Red Nose' Fokkers



I've made a start on some Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale aircraft for 1918, with eight Fokker DVII scouts and a single Fokker EV / DVIII. These will be painted up as Jasta 18 machines, conveniently avoiding the need for any lozenge camouflage while also looking pretty nifty in their iconic red and white scheme. I may add a couple of Albatros DV models to the Jasta 18 line up, as they were flown alongside the DVII's by a few die hard pilots. 

2mm Pike and Shot Cock Up

I painted the bases on the 2mm Pike and Shot Royalist ECW army yesterday but I'm really not happy with the results. I think I over cooked the texturing on the bases which makes them look like they are at sea instead of marching across the West Country, and the green colour is a bit off too. I've salvaged the ones that are okay, the cavalry and artillery in the main, but will replace the infantry units, as they are not really useable. Oh well, ces't la guerre!

1/600th WWI 1917 Aircraft Album

Albatros DV and Fokker DrI

Albatros DV

Albatros DV

Albatros DV

Albatros DV



Roland CII

Fokker DrI

Fokker DrI

SE5a

DH5

FE2b Bristol Fighter

Sopwith Triplanes

Nieuport 17

BE2e

RE8

That's the first project of 2025 to be  completed, two opposing forces for the RFC / RNAS and the Luftstreitkräfte in early to mid-1917. Although I haven't added fuselage or tail insignia, to all intents and purposes they are ready for the wargaming table. They can be used for any WWI set of rules but I will be trying out Spandau and Lewis as the first choice. Tally Ho!

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