No14 Squadron Blenheim IV

I've been working out the decal options for the Bag the Hun North Africa Hurricanes and Blenheims and have decided to mark up the latter as machiens from No14 Squadron RAF. This was one of the principal light bomber units in North Africa and was operating at the time of the Tobruk siege in the Spring and Summer of 1941. The Hurricanes are still up in the air but with probably end up as 73 squadron machines, which had a flight entirely composed of Free French pilots.

Anyway, I found a cracking website with photographs of the Blenheim IV's in their distinctive squadron markings, which consisted of a prominent horizontal white or light grey bar adjacent to the fuselage roundel and accompanied by a single letter to identify each aircraft. I have some Blue Rider 1/72nd scale WW1 lettering decals that would be perfect for this, so I'm hoping to try them out on the single model that I've finished painting, with the other five following over the weekend.

http://www.14sqn-association.org.uk/14_Squadron_Association/Photo_Galleries.html

RAF No56 Squadron B Flight Combat Report

I was going to write up an after action report of the Bag the Hun 2 game but Paul, taking the role of F/Sgt 'Taffy' Higginson of B Flight, No56 Squadron, has done such a cracking job, that I'll let him take do the de-brief...

"Flight Sergeant Whitehead and myself were leading our sections to intercept a number of German bombers that had been picked up on radar, but unfortunately we missed them on the climb. Instead we were bounced by a couple of ME109 sections, not what we were expecting for a sunny afternoon, the Hun really do not play cricket properly!

I was fortunate enough to break left and get behind the leading Hun section, but poor Whitehead was hit by their dastardly leader - I recognised his plane as I flashed by, I am sure he is one of their top aces!

Anyway, Whitehead and his chaps got involved in a horrible dogfight with the leading section. I saw one of the Germans limping home, but poor Whitehead and one of his chaps had to bail out. I was pleased to find out, when I returned to base later, that Whitehead had got out ok and was picked up by a local fisherman, but the other poor chap's parachute failed to open....The third chap limped home as well so poor Whitehead's section was decimated.

It really was very bad luck that he came up against one of the Hun's top men!

As I mentioned, I was fortunate enough to slip past the first German section and was soon engaged with the second one. One of them got on my tail and fired a long burst, but miraculously I only received minor damage, a few holes in my left wing. The good 'ol Hurry did me right again! It was enough to break our formation though and we were soon engaged in as fierce a dogfight as Whitehead.

Lady luck then intervened, I managed to come out of the sun on one of the Hun and he was soon bailing out. My other two chaps also did me proud, managing to shoot down 2 of the other 3 Germans (I am sure one of them exploded, but I was looking into the sun at the time).

Just as I thought we were safe I was surprised by a couple of the Germans that had hit Whitehead coming up behind me, plus the surviving one from the section I had faced coming from the right. Two of them got long bursts at me and I thought I was a gonner.......I shut my eyes momentarily, waiting for the explosion......

When I opened them I saw the Germans heading for home and I was, again, miraculously unscathed! I therefore report that my section had 3 confirmed kills for no losses, although how the latter happened I will never know......"

 

Thanks Paul!

 

Incidentally, the real 'Taffy' Higginson was a genuine fighter ace and ended up as a Wing Commander by the end of the war.

 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-11734164

 

Let Us Not Forget.

Empress Miniatures Drivers

These have just been released by Empress Miniatures and are perfect for both my VBCW forces and for the Back of Beyond, where I could use them for the American Dinosaur Hunters or for a British Indian armoured car force, should I ever get round to putting one together, or even for the Arab Revolt for which I have some figures. They're good value as well as being excellent sculpts, so I've ordered a pack for use in the not too distant future.

Tally Ho!

The Battle of Britain Bag The Hun 2 introductory game this evening was a real success and was well received by all of the players involved. In the end, I ended up with slightly fewer participants so decided to run a simple fighter v. fighter game, using the cards that I'd laminated up but leaving out the bombers to keep things simple.

I'll do a write up of the whole thing later on, after I've had some feedback from the flight and schwarm commanders, but it was a narrow RAF victory. This was a bit of a turnaround for the plucky players concerned due to a bit of a sticky wicket in the opening turns. However, the collective stiff upper lip didn't wobble and things turned out tickety boo by the close of play.

Well done chaps!

Incidentally, everyone was duly impressed by the turn cards which Duncan very kindly provided for the game. As you can see in the photos, they are rather good and add a definite quality to the game, especially the Bale Out! card, which was employed on at least four occasions towards the climax of the proceedings.

Tally Ho!

Bag the Hun 2 Channel Dash Game

I've spent most of the evening laminating the turn cards for the Bag the Hun 2 Channel Dash game that I'll be running tomorrow night at the club. The cards have been blown up to just under A6 size so that I can use some plastic laminating pockets that I found in WHSmiths at half price a couple of weeks ago.

They're a big larger than I'd like but will work well for a multiplayer game, where bigger is definately better. It took me quite a while to shove them through the laminating gizmo and even longer to trim them down to size but I have no doubt that they'll be worth it.

Thanks once again to Duncan Hamilton for the excellent cards, which I'm sure will add much to the game and make it all the more enjoyable for everyone involved!

Iron Cow CDSU Task Force

The extra CDSU packs that I ordered in the Brigade Models 6mm sale arrived yesterday and I've been sorting them into units for my projected East African campaign. I have a company of tanks, a company of infantry in APC's, a battery of rocket launchers and SPG's, with a couple of AAA missile carriers in support, together with half a dozen HQ command APC's. It's not a lot in game terms but should be a potent enough force for a few try out games with the Iron Cow rules.

These are now in the painitng queue but, if I follow the quick spray and wash method that I used on the British battlegroup, they won't take long to complete, whenever I get round to them. I've also had an idea to base the infantry, using the Renedra plastic bases wih countersunk holes as before, but with some of the new Citadel texture paint to blend them in. It might work but I'll have to do some experimentation on some test bases before I tackle the infantry en masse.

Magnetic Basing Bargain

I spent some time this afternoon re-organising my RAF and Luftwaffe collections for the Bag The Hun 2 game on Tuesday. As a result, I now have the early and late war RAF planes in one storage box and the early war Luftwaffe planes in another, rather than having them all mixed up. In the process of swapping the models around I realised how rubbish my 'stick 'em down with blobs of blu-tack' storage method actually is.

I have a plan, however, which will utilise my latest bargain find, in the form of several packs of magnetic photo paper from Poundland. These have two sheets of thick magnetised paper per pack, which can be cut up and glued to the underside of the resin hex bases. I can then use metal boxes to store the models in, thus avoiding the twisting and pulling to get them unstuck from the blu-tack, with the inevitable bending and snapping that results.

I suppose I could just re-base the whole lot with tiddly magnets but it's too late for that now, as I went down the permanent hex base approach a long time ago and have to stick with it. Anyway, I'm going to experiment with the cheapo fridge magnet paper which hasn't cost an arm and a leg. If it doesn't work for the planes, I can always re-use it for some other figures, with the BKC Italians or the Impetus Picts being good candidates for a trial run.

Curse You Waterstones!

A dangerous 'buy one get one half price offer' and some points on the loyalty card mean three more titles for the bookshelf, which is now in imminent danger of implosion under the combined weight of several hundred volumes. These three are, however, welcome additions to the inner sanctum of historical reading material, so I have no guilt.....well, not much.

Bag the Hun Channel Dash Cards

I've now decided that the Battle of Britain Channel Dash scenario is a definite for Tuesday's game, although I'm still going to push on with the RAF planes for Tobruk over the weekend. The Hurricanes, in particular are virtually done, so I should be able to sign them off given a couple of hours to spare. I need to paint the bases and add the decals, so it shouldn't be too difficult despite the shed re-felting, Laser Quest (TM) birthday party and rugby training for the sprog.

Anyway, I've been provided with a full set of top notch turn cards by Mr Duncan Hamilton Esq, who spotted the post I made a couple of days ago and offered to let me use his full colour spangly version of what would otherwise be my feeble card deck. He's even customised the cards with the appropriate pictures and names for the aircraft and aces in the scenario.

http://duncanhamilton.blogspot.co.uk/

Needleess to say, I am extremely grateful and will be posting some photos of the game that will feature Dunc's cards centre stage. I've also sent him the scenario sheets and briefings, which is a small return for his time and effort. I'm going to laminate the cards in A6 plastic to make them look the business, so I'm sure they'll impress the natives and make the game run like a greased whippet in lycra hot pants.

Thanks DH! 

Bag the Hun North Africa [18]

I had some time this afternoon to get the Hurricanes a bit further forward, so painted the canopy framing and the spinner hubs in dilute Foundry Charcoal Black, followed by the gun patches in GW Blood Red, toned down with Vallejo Dark Red. I then oversprayed the whole lot in Army Painter matt varnish, in order to tone them down and see what they look like without the shine.

I'm not very happy with the canopies but will learn to live with them, as I haven't got the time or energy to go back and repaint them again. The gun patches also look a bit garish but at least they'll scare the pants off  the Italians. Next up will be the decals but I also need to paint up the Blenheims before the weekend, so it'll be a rush to get them finished in time.