Armoured Storm Eastern Front 1/600th Scale Reinforcements

I enjoyed the Armoured Storm game at the club yesterday so decided to start organising my Heroics and Ros (ex-Skytrex) tanks for the mid-war Eastern Front. These include Tigers, Panthers and Churchills, backed up by some Oddzial Ozmy T34/76 models and air support from Tumbling Dice. I have more Tigers and Churchills on the way,  as well as some StuG IIIG tank destroyers, so will have a good range of kit and enough for several companies. I'll start painting them all up as soon as the order arrives in a week or so.

Armoured Storm After Action Photo Report

A jolly good game of Armoured Storm in the Western Desert last night at the club, even if the Axis got thrashed by the Eighth Army. It's the first time I had played the rules but it was quick to pick up and rolled along swiftly, despite the large number of units on the table. In the end, a combination of terrible dice rolling, poor tactics and inexperience with the way command to tokens could be used, resulted in a bit of a pasting for the Italian and German forces, but they did give the British a bloody nose along the way. 

PC10 Painting Progress

You wouldn't know it but I've made some progress with the DH2 painting today, after a busy weekend scuppered my PC10 project plans. The grey parts have been blocked in with Army Painter Uniform Grey and I've also blocked in the undersides in Vallejo Tan Yellow, tidying up as I went along. Next up will be the Vallejo Cold White rudders and the Vallejo Matt Black wheels and engine.

Over the Front with the French Aces

 

The next phase of my First World War air wargaming with Algernon Pulls It Off! will be to focus on the French, assembling a collection of 1/600th models when Paul at Tumbling Dice finally adds them to the range. While I'm waiting for the aircraft to be sculpted for 1917-18, I'm doing the background reading and research toward the scenarios, so this book will be very useful in tracking down some of the leading pilots. These usually go for quite a lot of money but I've found a very good quality hardback copy for a tenner, which is an excellent price to pay. I have some half term holiday time coming up in a couple of weeks too, so time to do some proper background cross referencing and research. 

Armoured Storm Club Game

I'm off to the club tomorrow night for a game of Armoured Storm, which was supposed to happen a couple of weeks ago but was postponed. It'll be a Western Desert scenario with all the kit provider by Geoff, so I'm looking forward to having a crack at the rules. We are both bringing our boys along for the game, which will make it a father and son effort, or perhaps the oldies against the whipper snappers? As always, I'll post an after action report, but will probably get thrashed so expect some stiff upper lips and schadenfreude!

Algernon's Got a Big One

 

I've been doing a bit of scenario research for Algernon Pulls It Off! and I reckon I have enough to put together a couple of scenarios featuring the Spad XII in 1917-1918. One of these involves top French ace George Guynemer and the other the equally famous Rene Fonck, but I also might be able to include a lesser known ace or two, if I can get some more details squared away. The main stumbling block is identifying the opposition, as records are a bit sketchy about who was shot down, but I can always use some educated guesswork to fill in the blanks.

Jasta 18 Fokker DVII Decals

I've ordered some 1/285th scale decal sheets for Jasta 18 Fokker DVII fighters from a German company, to use with the 3D printed models I acquired a few months ago. The decals are highly recommended by other people and look very accurate, but it will be a challenge to apply them and not muck then up I think? The designer has just added  similar sheets for Jasta 18 Albatros DV fighters and August Raben's Fokker Dr.I, which I will order once I've had a try out with the Fokker DVII equivalent. Excellent!

https://www.siebenschwabenspiele.de/shop?store-page=Kaiserliche-Luftwaffe-c187617262

Les Cigognes

I had a tip off about this book by Norman Franks the other day and went on the hunt for a second hand copy on eBay, managing to find one for about a tenner. I am determined to add some French aircraft to my 1/600th scale air forces, despite Tumbling Dice only having a very limited range and no SPAD VII or XIII. Not to be put off I've asked Paul Sulley to add some more French models to the range and he tells me he's going to get round to it later in the month, despite being busy with shows and painting commissions. In the meantime, I'm going to start reading around the subject to identify potential scenarios for Algernon Pulls It Off! which makes this new addition to my library well worth while.

SPAD XII Special Rules for Algy

Here are the rules I've devised for the cannon armed SPAD XII in Algernon Pulls It Off!

SPAD XII

SPD 7

MAN 3

CLG 10 

ROC 2

ROB 3

SIZ 2

F/F Front  2 or 8*

*Vickers 7,7mm machine gun (35 seconds of ammo ) or 37mm S.A.M.C. (single shot / 12 rounds)

Only available to Junior Ace or Top Ace pilots. 

Only one aircraft may be deployed per game.

Vickers machine gun and 37mm cannon cannot be fired at the same time.

37mm Cannon

Burst Duration - divide maximum length of burst in half, rounding up (representing time to aim)

Modify Fire Factor for Length of Burst and the usual +/- die modifiers. 

Calculate Attacker / Defender hits vs saves as usual.

If a hit is scored, refer to the Hit Effect table (10.1)

Results

Firer Sideslips = as normal

Overuse of Anmo = cockpit fills with smoke and pilot is disorientated. 

Make a Pilot Control Test counting the test as a Hard manoeuvre and apply the results.

M* or M = C

C = 2C

2C = X

X = X 

Shift columns to the right on the Critical Damage Table accordingly.

Note: Pilot Hit = Pilot Killed.

The 37mm cannon must be reloaded after each firing (9.7) 

Vickers 7.7mm machine gun

The Vickers machine gun may be fired instead of the cannon unless cannon is being reloaded.

Use the normal firing procedure.

PC10 Painting Challenge

I was reminded by one of the regulars on the Algernon Pulls It Off! group that I hadn't set up a competition for a couple of months, so I came up with this. The October challenge is to paint a model or models in a scheme that includes PC10, or protective covering ten to give it the full title, an elusive shade of dark green over which much discussion has been had by aviation nuts. 

I use Foundry Phlegm Green Shade for this but there any numerous alternatives, so it should be a simple task for people to have a go. It's obviously aimed at RFC or RAF aircraft c1916 to 1918, so there's lots of choice to be had. I'm picking up some Tumbling Dice 1/600th DH2 scouts of No24 Squadron and a single Be2c for late 1916, which is a slight change of plan but a good thing to get sorted. Tally Ho!