Hot Damn - Been Waiting for These!

A few weeks ago Tiny Tin Troops had a post on one of the gaming sites, selling the complete and painted ships for the Battles of Coronel and Falklands, in 1/6000 scale. I thought the pricing was very reasonable, so reached out and bought these little gems from them. Today the ships arrived in the post, in wonderful condition, and now I cannot wait to get them on the table...once I secure a sea mat.

I really love the paint jobs, and really the small scale of the ships will be a bit more visually in scale on the tabletop.

I already had these fleets in 1/1800 from Topside Minis, which are printed ships on decal paper that one affixes to wooden bases, but when I saw painted minis for practically nothing, I had to jump on them. Now, where DID I put that copy of General Quarters II?

Target

One of the scenarios for the Check Your 6 1948 Arab-Israeli War published in Wargames Illustrated calls for a vessel, the Eqyptian Amir Faruq. This happens to be a sloop similar in appearance to a Flower-class sloop, and so I decided to take advantage of the Topside Minis cheap prices and buy one of their Flower-class 1/1800 scale offerings. These are two dimensional renderings on self adhesive paper, that then is affixed to a base. For those interested in getting started in naval gaming but find the pricing of some ranges overwhelming, or the thought of painting is just too much to bear, Topside is an affordable way to give naval gaming a try...or in this case a target for Check Your 6.

Growing the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Collection

A couple of weeks ago I received my most recent commission work from Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures, some oddball planes needed to complete the remaining scenarios published at Wargames Illustrated, written by Rob Wubbenhorst. Kevin isn't really doing commission work any longer, but as I have used him in the past and was very vocal on various forums about my utter satisfaction with his painting, he graciously offered to keep doing small jobs for me as needed. 

Here we have some Raiden additions for the British, Israelis, and Egyptians in the form of Spitfires, Macchis, a Beaufighter, and a proxy Hawker Fury (really a Tempest with a radial engine). The planes I used for this period are not 100% spot on, but are pretty close, and used some planes I had picked up from Dom's Decals a few years ago for a really amazing price. Magnets have been added, so now I just need a few convoy vehicles and a ship and I will have all the toys necessary to complete all six scenarios.

As for the scenarios, most are small in terms of player count, so I will be combining a few to be able to host medium-sized games.

Torched

Today I received two orders for planes for yet another project, the background setting being Operation Torch. I love doing odd periods, or odd pieces of common conflicts, and I like odd or lesser known aircraft. One of my favorite planes is the Heinkel He.112. Why? I like the sleek look, the fact that the prototype was faster than the Bf.109, and that it was in service with Romania, Spain, and Hungary. I've been planning on buying some of these planes for a couple of years now, but only MSD Games seemed to make a quality version, even though MSD seems to be more 1/300 than 1/285. And I was going to buy them to use as Romanians to fight against Soviet I-16s. But other voices got inside my brain, so I have come up with something a bit different.

I also like the paint schemes of American Navy aircraft for Torch, and was going to buy four Wildcats and four D.520s for the scenario that appears in the Check Your 6! rule book. But I really like those Heinkels, so I have come up with a three-sided scenario that I can use to teach new players, using Spanish Heinkels as the third party. The Spanish did have some encounters with both the Americans and the Vichy French, so it wasn't a huge stretch to create this intro scenario. So along with my MSD order for four Heinkels, I also ordered four each of the Raiden F4Fs and Dewoitines from I-94.

While the basic parts of the scenario have been written, I still need to add a bit of background, and also figure out national move order for the three sides. If you are interested in an MS Word file of what I have completed thus far, leave a comment and I'll provide my email address to you.

More 1948 Planes Being Painted

This morning I sent off six more 1948 Arab-Israeli War planes to Miscellaneous Miniatures for painting. Once these have been completed this will allow me to do all the scenarios that appeared in Wargames Illustrated. Two Macchi MC.205s, two Spitfires (Late model for the Brits), a Beaufighter, and a Hawker Sea Fury will grace the gaming table in a few months. Kevin at Miscellaneous really isn't doing planes any longer, but since I have been an established customers he has agreed to keep doing some small projects for me, which will include Flying Tigers and some Swiss, and then perhaps some 1967 Arab-Israeli and Pakistan-India War. Then I should be pretty much "done" with Check Your 6! projects.

Back to '48, I was also able to pick up a few painted planes in a trade. Two are painted for Syria, and are types the Syrians never used, but are still pretty cool so I am going to use at least the Lavochkin La-7 for some flavor. The other two planes are Bf.109s, but not quite correct for Israel (should have gunpods and blue stripes), but they will also see some table time.

It feels good to get these projects worked on and putting some planes on the table!

Korean War Plane Collection

I am taking some time to go through my 1/285th aircraft to get them a bit more organized, and finally got around to straightening out my Korean War planes. I have more than I thought! Here is a picture of the collection, nearly all Raiden, and of course using Check Your 6! Time to get some aircraft on the game table!

Check Your 6! - New Projects

After another great Game Day I have decided to expand my Check Your 6! collection a bit. I am selling off my Spanish Civil War planes so that I can start a few oddball projects that I have more interest in.

At Game Day I picked up the remaining aircraft that I need to complete all the 1948 Arab-Israeli scenarios I have collected, written by Rob Wubbenhorst and published in Wargames Illustrated. I also picked up a few P-40B/Cs to start either a Pearl Harbor or Flying Tiger project. As I already have some P-36s doing a Pearl Harbor scenario might be fun, but I also now have, via a trade, a few Ki-27 Nates, so I might hold off on Pearl as that involves buying all the Japanese forces as well.  

I haven't purchased the planes yet, but the Football War (1969) saw Corsairs and Mustangs used in Central America, and I have the workings of a scenario in mind.  

I also have an idea for Swiss/German fighting during World War II that could be interesting, and have completed a bit of research to create a scenario for that. I am getting some Bf.109s in a trade as part of the Spanish Civil War selloff.

Check Your 6! Annual Game Day Recap

Israeli S-199s and Egyptian Spitfires dance over Israel.

Just a short post about the annual Check Your 6! game day event held each year in Dayton, Ohio. I was able to attend the entire day, including hosting a 1948 Arab-Israeli War game and playing in a no-plot game, and watching a Vietnam game during the evening session. There were plenty of historical eras covered, from the Great War through Vietnam, and a good turnout as well for some Wings of Glory Great War combat. I-94 was there selling there wares, and so I picked up a few oddball planes to complete my 1948 collection, and a few P-40 B/Cs to start either a Pearl Harbor or Flying Tiger project.

Attendance seemed to be very good for the morning and early afternoon, but the evening session only had two games going. One thing I'd like to help work on is promoting the event a bit more to help increase awareness and hence numbers present. There is certainly space to hold more games and accommodate more gamers, so no concerns there. And there are a few fast food joints close by to satiate the gamer appetite. The location also has a kitchen, so that means potential to sell some gamer food right onsite.

If you have an hankering for air combat, makes plans to attend next June. The National Museum of the United States Air Force is only minutes away, so one could make a nice weekend that includes gaming miniature aircraft and see the real thing up close.

These are 1/600 scale...check out those paint jobs!

Battle of Elli - Basing Solution

When deciding on how to base ships for the Elli project, I did some searching on various gaming sites, looking for a clear acrylic option. One suggestion was Warbases. Alas, while they offered clear bases, and even etching for ship names, they did not have a size of base that would be suitable for the larger ships. I decided to send them an email to see if they had any options for this issue, as their pricing was so incredibly reasonable. To my great pleasure I received a timely and favorable response - indeed they could create a larger base that would accommodate the larger ships and they could move the etching of the ship names along the long edge. Warbases worked with me to design a larger base, and so I was able to take care of that issue!

The next issue for basing will be painting and gluing the ships to the bases without creating any fogging. I typically mount ships on sheet styrene and prime everything at one time, which obviously defeats the purpose of using clear etched bases.

Vietnam in the Air

Another small project ready to go!

Here are a couple of pictures of some Raiden aircraft, purchased from I-94,and  painted by Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures, I'll be using for some future games. I have enough for a few scenarios from the Crusaders Over 'Nam booklet. I've only played one Check Your 6! game using missiles, so I will need some practice in using missiles.  

Kevin does great work,  I had something like 27 planes painted for around $170.00, which included the scheme I wanted and decals as well. Add magnets and these babies will be ready to take to the skies of Southeast Asia!

1948 Arab-Israeli War

Nice, a long planned project finally coming to fruition....

I picked up some greatly reduced Raiden aircraft from Dom at Dom's Decals some time ago, for the most part planes that would be correct for use in the '48 Arab-Israeli War.  Using Check Your 6! and a '48 War article (an supplement download) that appeared in Wargames Illustrated (#310) and written by Rob Wubbenhorst, I gathered planes to tackle a few small scenarios from that article. Sending the planes off a few months ago to Kevin at Miscellaneous Miniatures, I received them a few weeks ago, and am really impressed by Kevin's work (again). All I need to do is glue on some magnets and fill out some aircraft sheets and they are ready for Check Your 6! Game Day in June!

Stop! Magnet Time!

Heinkel He.51s painted by Kevin Hammond

In order to host an upcoming Check Your 6! game, one set during the Spanish Civil War, I had to take some time and add magnets to the various aircraft that Kevin Hammond, he of Miscellaneous Miniatures fame, painted up for me quite some time ago! Using my trusty magnet tool I picked up from Corsec Engineering, I not only knocked out the Spanish Civil War aircraft that were in need of magnets, but also some Korean War planes, painted by Chris Geisert, that were still needing this necessary accessory.

I was able to find some nicely priced magnets from K and J Magnetics. Unfortunately, based on some completed aircraft I had picked up I ordered the incorrect size, very small fiddly ones, so I had to place another order after looking over my own aircraft to get the size magnets I truly wanted. K and J offer a huge variety of sizes, with good shipping rates. 

Weird Wars - Check Your 6!

A placeholder for some of the stranger conflicts to explore using Check Your 6!

Football War

El Salvador

F4U Corsair

P-51 Mustang/F-51 Cavalier

Honduras

F4U Corsair

T-33

T-28 Trojan

I have a couple of P-51s already, but would need to find some sort of scenario information. Got this title on my wishlist as it might do the trick.