Roden 1/72nd Nieuport 27

As part of my First World War focus this year I'm planning to build some more kits for Knights of the Sky. I have a big stash of models but there's always room for more, especially if they fill a gap. Here's the latest, a Roden Nieuport 27 that will be painted as either an RFC or French machine. The RFC roundels are a bit off centre so I'll probably go for the Aviation Militaire option. The added bonus is that Roden is a Ukrainian company, so I'm very happy to support the Ukrainian economy, even if it's by buying their plastic kits! 

Pop the Sausage

         

Over the weekend, the next scenario I'm going to be working on for the Algy Jasta 18 project is a solo balloon busting sortie by a single Fokker Dr1. As a result, I need a Caquot Type R observation balloon model, one of which I have in my Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale stash. These are now out of production and due to be replaced by a new version, so it's fortunate that I have one. This one will be painted as an American balloon once I've worked out how to assemble, rig and base it.

'Run The Gauntlet' Play Test Card Deck

 

The card deck for the 'Run the Gauntlet' scenario has now been worked up in MS Word and just needs to be cur out to be ready for play testing. The deck looks quite big but is actually quite compact, as the No.104 Squadron DH9's are flying as a defensive formation, so will only use their individual move and fore cards if they fall out due to damage or engine problems. In the scenario briefing, the Jasta 18 player also has the option to deploy as a formation, either as a blind or in the open, or as individual aircraft at the start of the game with a randomised entry mechanism to make that less predictable. I think this will add a bit of tactical depth to the set up and provide good replay value. Tally Ho!

'Run The Gauntlet' Scenario Sorted

 

I have spent a couple of hours drafting the Run the Gauntlet scenario for the Algernon Pulls It Off! Jasta 18 project, and I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out. This game includes a few special rules to make it a bit more interesting, including a bonus Air Gunner card to reflect the defensive fire power of the DH9 formation, and the use of an optional blind for the Jasta 18 formation. As an extra twist, the Jasta 18 aircraft can choose to enter as individual aircraft from randomly determined points around the edge of the table, but lose their formation move / fire and 'Flying Circus!' formation bonus move card if they do. The Victory Points are the only thing I'm not entirely sure about, with the Germans getting one VP for shooting down a bomber, while the RAF get one VP for each bomber that exits the table via the opposite end and two for any enemy aircraft shot down. That will definitely need play testing to see if I've got the balance right.

WW1 Naval Projects - Coronel and the Falklands 1914

 

I've been enjoying the WW1 air wargaming project that I've been working on the last few weeks, so I've decided to continue this year with more 1914-1918 themed projects. The next naval project will therefore be the 'Get the Goeben!' project that I tinkered around with at the end of last year or quite possibly the Battle of Coronel and the Falkland Islands. As a matter of fact, I already have all of the 1/12400th scale Tumbling Dice models for both of these battles, which makes it an obvious direction of travel. When I've finished the aircraft for the scenario play testing I'm going to sort out all of the models and make a start on some ships for one or both of these neatly self contained naval projects. 

A German in the RAF

William Ludwig Deetjen

I've was dipping into the excellent airwar19141918 blog for scenario research, specifically in relation to No.104 Squadron and No.55 Squadron, RAF, when I came across this very interesting entry:

After a relatively quiet few days, better weather brought the aircraft out again on the Western Front. The RAF Communique reported 25 enemy aircraft shot down and another 10 driven down with 20, 41 and 204 Squadrons RAF accounting for the majority of the claims. German records show only two pilots killed and 4 wounded.

104 Squadron. RAF, part of the Independent Force met particularly strong opposition following its early morning raid on Landau station. In response Captain Jeffrey Batters Home-Hay and Lieutenant Charles Cecil Blizard, claimed one enemy scout shot down.

2nd Lieutenant Francis Henry Beaufort and Lieutenant Cecil Gerald Verity Pickard were shot up in their DH9 (D1008) but got away unharmed. Their colleagues, 1st Lieutenant William Ludwig Deetjen and Lieutenant Montague Henry Cole were less lucky and failed to return from the mission. Their deaths were later confirmed by the German authorities.

As the name might suggest, Deetjen was in fact born in Germany. His parents were German but had emigrated to the United States and had been on a visit back to Germany when he was born. He had grown up in the US and served briefly with the US army before travelling to England for flight training in October 1917 in a group of Americans later known as the 2nd Oxford Detachment (as they initially trained at Oxford). 

He spent the next few months training before finally being posted to 104 Squadron on 4 June 1918. As was standard practice at the time, new pilots spent three weeks acclimatising themselves to the front and Deetjen’s first combat mission was on 28 June. This ended in failure as he got lost in the clouds. The Squadron stayed on the ground on the 29th. The fateful mission today was only his second mission and the first that actually came into contact with the enemy.

Unfortunately, I can't use Lt.Deetjen in any of the scenarios, for obvious reasons, but it's a fascinating story nonetheless. Here's a link to the blog, which is well worth browsing for scenario ideas, not just relating to the Western Front, and has a very handy list of useful sources too:

https://airwar19141918.wordpress.com/

'Digger Dogfight' Play Test Video

 

A really great video report and review of a play test game of the 'Digger Dogfight' Algy scenario by Alex Sotheran on his excellent Storm of Steel Youtube channel. Cheers Alex!

'Black Thursday' Play Test Card Deck

 

After a fair bit of farting about with row and column sizes, clip art positions and font sizes, I have managed to complete the card deck for play testing of the Black Thursday scenario. This deck is the biggest so far, with a total of thirty six cards, which is a lot for one game but still manageable, especially if I use the Move / Fire modification that would remove at least a dozen cards in one fell swoop. The cards are black and white again for ease of printing, with no frills or colour to keep them simple enough to edit or change if needs be. I'll hopefully start play testing some of the scenarios soon but, in the meantime, I'm cracking on with writing up the next one, Running the Gauntlet, although this is a working title at the moment.

Knights of the Sky Halberstadt DII

On the 25th there's a WW1 Knights of the Sky game at the club, set in 1916. I thought it would be a nice idea to build a kit for the game and have pulled this one out of the kit pile for a challenge. It's a limited run, very basic and fairly crude injection moulded kit of the Halberstadt DII, perhaps the best scout that the Germans deployed in 1916. It's going to be a tricky job to glue together, with lots of sanding, filing, filling and swearing, but if it works I'll be very happy!

1/600th WW1 Painting Progress

I've been plugging away at the last of the 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice WW1 aircraft over the week and have almost finished them. I'll aim to wrap up the painting tomorrow and possibly even get the decals applied, depending on other things that I have to sort out first. This will wrap up my 1918 aircraft for the moment, so I'll be starting another workbench project soon, although it may well be in the same vein.