A day trip to Camaret included a return to the Tour Vauban, which I last visited about fifteen years ago. It's an impressive coastal fort built to defend Camaret against the English in the late 1600's. This time I didn't go inside as we had the dog along for the trip but it was worth an hour and a bit drive nonetheless.
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| Ltn.W.Steinhauser (Jasta 11) |
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| Ltn.H.Weiss (Jasta 11) |
That's tha last of the American frigates that I brought with me on holiday assembled and based, ready for painting. The 44 gun heavy frigate USS President was originally going to be the USS Chesapeake but was flipped so that I can use her for both the Quasi War and Barbary Wars. The much less powerful 28 gun frigate USS Adams saw extensive service and will be a very useful addition to the fleet. I have ordered some more models from Tumbling Dice to add to the project, with quite a few frigates, sloops and brigs as potential additions. This will obviously be a small action focussed project rather than a fleet level one, so some simple but fast playing rules are in order.
I've not had time to get on with the Quasi War project over the last week but have made up the time by assembling two more frigates. These are the USS Essex and USS Philadelphia, both built from the same Tumbling Dice ASN10 5th Rate Frigate 38/40 Guns pack. I only have a couple more of the USN ships to glue together but may well add a few more from the lead pile when I get back from my holidays including the 24 gun sloop USS George Washington, the 14 gun schooner USS Enterprise, the 18 gun brig USS Argus and the 44 gun frigate USS President.
I played a stripped down version of the Dawn Patrol scenario today, removing the blinds and lengthening the game to twelve turns to compensate. The aim was to test out the scenario for a Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine article, where it would need to be flexible enough to be played with rules other than Algernon Pulls It Off!.
The game went very well, after a few muck ups on my part when I wasn't paying enough attention. There was plenty of action, with both sides manoeuvring for advantage, firing off rounds, a lot of jamming and some moments of tension. The Sopwith Camel and Fokker Dr.I are evenly matched, so it really came down to pilot skill and luck, or in some cases bad luck.
The RAF lost one pilot to engine damage, wounds and black out, but he did put up a good fight. The other two pilots only suffered minor damage and returned to their airfield intact, give or take a few bullet holes and a fuel line leak. The Jasta 11 ace pilot got away without a scratch but with no ammunition left, while his wingman only suffered minor damage.
A good game and I think it will work well for the magazine article, being neither too complicated nor too simplistic. However, it's probably my last game of Algernon for a week or so, as I have other things on the go.
I've been invited to run an air wargame at a local Lard day in January next year, which is a nice surprise. I've set up and umpired a couple of Bag the Hun games for Come and Have a Go if you think you're Lard Enough? a few years ago, but this time I'm thinking of offering an Algernon Pulls It Off! scenario instead, as it will be a bit of a change. This will almost certainly be a Jasta 18 themed game, for which I'll need to paint up some 1/300th scale aircraft, as the 1/600th scale models are just a bit too small for participation type games. I will also look into getting a new WW1 wargaming cloth or mat, as well as some making some new flight stands to match. All a long way off yet but these things have a habit of catching up with you if you don't get ahead of them sooner rather than later!
I've launched a new competition on the Algernon Pulls It Off! Facebook group for this month, this time focussed on painting rather than wargaming. The aim is to get more people painting aircraft which they can subsequently use for playing games, so two birds with one stone. The competition is to paint a model aircraft in a scale and material of your choice, chosen from one flown by a First World War ace pilot, either famous or preferably forgotten.
This gives people a very wide range of options and, hopefully, will cater for painting 'experten' like Steve Dean, a regular contributor to the group, as well as those just starting out. I'm thinking of a prize for the most popular paint job as well, perhaps a starter pack of choice from the Tumbling Dice range? If you want to join in, and why not, the deadline is the end of month. All you need to do is sign up to the group if not already a member, paint your plane and post a photo or two, together with a brief biography of your chosen ace pilot.
Chocks Away!
I'm all set up for a re-play of the Dawn Patrol scenario, which I'm planning to use as the basis of an article for WSS. I've decided to tweak the balance a bit by replacing the Jasta 11 Junior Ace, Vfzw.Edgar Scholtz with a Veteran pilot, Lt.Werner Steinhauser, who had four victories under his belt by April 1918. The last time I played the scenario, the combination of a Top and Junior Ace on the German side was too effective against the RAF flight of a Junior Ace and two Veterans, so I'm going to try out a different set up. As the Jasta 11 pilots are unknown it seems reasonable to swap things about without losing the historical aspect of the scenario. I'll try and play the game tomorrow, which shouldn't take too long as it has a relatively small card deck and a simple set of objectives.
Funnily enough, in the actual event, the same Jasta 18 pilot was shot down and the RAF suffered similar losses, if you assume the two very badly damaged DH4 bombers that left the table at tree top height probably would not have made it back over the front lines. Nevertheless, I am going to change the victory objectives in light of the game, making it a simple contest to see which side can shoot down the most enemy aircraft before the RAF can escape to fight another day.
Good fun!
