Bag the Hun Khalkhin Gol Scenario D

This scenario is the biggest in the series and is actually too big to work smoothly, if I'm being realistic, given the large numbers of aircraft and cards (36!) in the deck. However, it is typical of many of the aerial dogfights that occurred in the conflict and, in fact, is probably on the smaller side of a typical mass aerial clash. The objective for both sides is simply to shoot down as many enemy aircraft as possible before running out of ammunition, which is pretty limited to start with!

The scenario is set on 24th June 1939 over the Buir Nuur Lake, with two squadrons of Soviet fighters, one of I-15bis and a top cover of I-16's both of the 70th IAP, clashing with two Chutai of Ki-27's, the first from the 24th Sentai and the second from the 11th Sentai. This adds up to seventeen Soviet fighters and nineteen Japanese fighters, even with the numbers reduced to manageable proportions, so a lot to handle unless a multiplayer game for four players and an umpire. 

The Soviets enter the table from the Western short edge on Turn 1 and Turn 2, with the I-15's in the lead at ALT 2 and the I-16's following on at ALT 3. The Japanese fighters of the 24th Sentai, 1st Chutai enter on Turn 1 from the Eastern short edge at ALT 3. The 11th Sentai, 4th Chutai fighters enter from the Northern long table edge from Turn 5 onwards, on a successful die roll of 5-6 on a D6, at ALT 3. The exact entry point is up to the player involved, so there's room to position the 11th Sentai fighters to advantage.

The Soviets have a Junior Ace and a Top Ace as squadron leaders, Major I Lakeev and Captain Y.Stepanov respectively, both Spanish Civil War veterans. The Japanese also have a Junior Ace, Captain Saiji Kani, as CO of the 24th Sentai, 1st Chutai. This seems a little unfair but the Japanese pilots are, on average, more experienced than the Soviet pilots and also have a slight numerical advantage. I've deliberately left out any bogeys, as it would make a big game even harder to manage, but they could be used for the 11th Sentai for an additional element of surprise. 

Five Parsecs from Home Figures

After some googling about in search of suitable 15mm figure ranges for Five Parsecs from Home, I've decided to get most of the figures I need from the Critical Mass range via Ral Partha Europe. I would have preferred to use Khurasan figures but, as they're in the US the customs and postage would be prohibitive, so Critical Mass it is. I'll hunt around in other ranges including GZG and Alternative Armies for bits and bobs to fill any gaps, but the Critical Mass figures will do for most things including Humans, Ferals, K'erin, Engineers, Assault Bots and Precursors, give or take a few minor discrepancies. I've ordered a pretty good selection of figures from across the range, with an eye to some individual figures that I can form into a six strong crew. It's another project for the summer holidays or, if I can't squeeze it in, later in the year.

BTH Khalkhin Gol Project Progress

Despite being really tied up with work this week and having no time for painting, I have managed to sketch out three more scenarios for the Khalkhin Gol project, bringing the events forward to late June 1939. The three I've worked out include a mass dogfight with twenty or so aircraft on each side, a bridge busting ground attack sortie by cannon armed I-16's and the first test of the I-153 under battle conditions by an elite unit of Soviet aces. It's looking pretty good so far but I have to finalise a few things before I'm ready to word process them up into a finalised format for play testing. 

One of the references that I've found to be really useful, apart from the books and websites that I've already utilised, is this book on the development of air warfare tactics and technology between the wars. It has an entire chapter on the Nonomhan incident and also one on the Chinese Civil War, so it's been really useful to pin down some of the thinking behind the Soviet and Japanese approach to the air campaign over Khalkhin Gol. The technological aspect of aircraft and armament development is also explained, with some fascinating insights into the relative capabilities of the Japanese and Soviet fighters, which heavily influenced the way they were deployed. 

Bolt Action 2nd Edition

The lad is keen to try out Bolt Action with his late war Germans, so I have given in and bought a copy of the second edition rules. I have played several games with the original rules and, although I liked the order system and some other aspects, it never felt like a realistic historical representation of skirmish warfare in WW2. In fact, it was very gamey and could have been anything, which is possibly a result of it being designed to be fairly vanilla and therefore easy to pick up for a beginner. I'm hoping that the second edition will have a bit more flavour to it but, at the very least, we should get some fun out of it before moving up to Chain of Command?

BTH Khalkhin Gol Play Test Turn Cards

I want to start playtesting the initial scenarios I've written for the Bag the Hun Khalkhin Gol project, as soon as I finish painting the Ki-27's, so I have adapted a set of basic turn cards from some I already had on the hard drive. They're a bit simple but useful for playtesting as they don't take long to print and laminate, as well as being easy to modify or edit for specific scenario requirements. I'll produce some proper flashy ones when I know the scenarios actually work!

Multi-Engine Aircraft Critical Damage Quick Fix

There's a glitch in the Critical Damage table in the Bag the Hun 2 rules (p34), which refers to cockpit hits but should read Pilot Hits in the Multi-Engine Aircraft section. The Cockpit Hit result only works with single engine aircraft, as it gives a penalty to shooting rather than flying, while replacing the entries with Pilot Hit actually matches up with the following Pilot Hit Table, using the section for multi-engine aircraft (p35). To fix this FUBAR, I've edited the original Critical Damage Table to add the Pilot Hit, Pilot Hit** and Pilot Hit with +2 on the dice** in the relevant slots. This means that when critical damage is rolled up and a Pilot Hit is the result, the effects can be applied without any confusion. Job's a Good 'Un!

Marching to the Sound of Gunfire

I've been reading this over the last few days, one of the few books by Patrick Delaforce that I haven't read before, as part of the build up to my summer project this year. The sprog has already started assembling and painting his German infantry platoon for Bolt Action and Chain of Command, so I really need to get started at some point before the end of the month if I'm going to keep up. I have all the figures and most of the support elements for a platoon of the 5th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, so I really should get my marching boots on!

Five Parsecs First Impressions

I've been skimming through the Five Parsecs from Home rule book today, as it arrived yesterday in the post, and first impressions are really good. I haven't really got my head around the system yet but it seems pretty straightforward and I expect that, after a couple of games, it will flow along quite easily. The detailed bit is in the crew creation and progression mechanisms beyond the actual skirmish combat, which is the key to the narrative campaign focus of the game. The book itself is a handy not quite A5 size and is very well laid out, illustrated and organised, which makes the twenty five quid price tag easier to swallow (although I got mine for slightly less). I'm now on the hunt for 15mm figures to use for the characters and opposition, with GZG as the first option, supplemented by whatever else I can find!

Tumbling Dice 1/600th Nakajima Ki-27's

I've been really busy with work this week, so the 1/600th scale Nakajima Ki-27's that I was supposed to have assembled and based are still in a pile of parts, except for the two that I did complete last weekend. I have a busy weekend ahead but I'm going to aim to get this lot glued together and undercoated over the next couple of days, even though we have some relatives visiting. The sooner I get them sorted, the sooner I can start solo playtesting the scenarios that I've sketched out, with several more on the way.

BTH Khalkhin Gol Scenario C

This is the hardest scenario thus far for the Soviets, as the actual historical event led to an entire squadron of I-16s being virtually wiped out. As this wouldn't be much fun for the Soviet player, I've  tweaked the scenario conditions to make it harder for the Japanese to win. On 27th May 1939, the a squadron of the 22nd IAP, consisting of eight I-16's was dispatched to a forward improvised airstrip at Hamar Daba to patrol over the frontlines. After an uneventful morning of patrols, the squadron returned to refuel at the airstrip, when three Ki-27's were spotted approaching from the east at 2500m. The squadron scrambled but, due to contaminated fuel and poor engine maintenance, two aircraft failed to take off including the squadron CO. 

The remaining six pilots, all of whom were inexperienced and had not been in combat before, managed to assemble in a disorganised line, failing to form any sort of combat formation. At 2000m they were then bounced by six Ki-27's in two flights of the 1st Chutai, 11th Sentai led by Captain Shimada, the squadron CO. These dived down at high speed and ripped into the gaggle of I-16's, with the three Ki-27's that had been acting as bait joining in the dogfight. Despite the efforts of the deputy CO, Lt Cherenkov, to form some sort of defensive circle, the I-16's were hammered, with two shot down, one crashing, two suffering engine failure and only one escaping undamaged. The Soviets claimed one Ki-27 shot down for the loss of three of their own pilots killed or wounded.

This is clearly a very one sided scenario, with most of the Soviet pilots rated as sprogs against a unit of regular and veteran Japanese pilots. The Japanese have the advantage of numbers, height, the sun and superior skill, so to balance this out I have written in some pretty tight victory conditions for them to meet. They have to shoot down at least half of the I-16's to win. I've given the Soviets a simple objective, which is to shoot down only one Ki-27 before they can make a getaway. I might also include a 'bad fuel' card on which each I-16 has to roll to pass and I will be removing the Soviet formation bonus card, with the I-16's not being allowed to formate but activating as individual aircraft on the Zveno Move/Fire card. I think this will even things out a bit and avoid a walk over for the Japanese but still allow for a realistic outcome that matches the historical events.