Air War Korea - Part VII: And Now, Back to the Air

As I get closer to running Check Your 6! events, I realize I need to add a few gaming items in order to do several of the scenarios in the Air War Korea scenario book. As it stands, once I receive my latest batch of planes from Chris G. at I-94, I will be able to recreate sixteen of the thirty-two scenarios published in Air War Korea. Realistically I could opt to do more, but as I am sticking with Raiden for all my miniatures (with a few CinC exceptions) some scenarios are still out of reach as Raiden does not yet produced the needed aircraft, plus I really refuse to buy nine B-29s! In looking in greater detail at some of the scenarios I can host forced me to rush over to the Fight's On! website and place an order for some goodies that I am still missing. I have ordered from Fight's On! one time previously, picking up some damage markers and a parachute marker, thinking that would be enough, but some of the scenarios that I have the full complement of aircraft for call for things like anti-aircraft positions and target markers. This evening I ordered the required items, along with some game markers that weren't needed but perhaps will be handy to use. Once the order comes in I will need to paint up the AA positions and target markers, but those will get knocked out quickly enough.

In the mail today I received a copy of Squadron/Signal's USN/USMC Over Korea. This is a classic work by Squadron/Signal, filled with black and white photographs along with color aircraft profiles. I can't believe I never bought this excellent work prior to now. As the F9F is my favorite Korean War aircraft, and the F4U one of my favorite World War II planes, this title, which of course brings these two and other fine aircraft into one publication, will always be a handy reference. And it was interesting to see the appearance in the Korean War of the TBF Avenger, used to evacuate Marines during the breakout at Chosin.

Scoring Books at Half Price

I am fortunate to live within an hour of several Half Price Books locations.  Yesterday I headed to the second closest store and found some great buys, two books being directly related to the air war in Korea.

The first title is Combat Over Korea by Philip Chinnery.  My copy still had the shrink wrap intact, and had no description on the back cover, so I took a bit of a gamble on buying it, but am glad I took the risk.  Normally retailing in the States for $39.95, I picked up this new copy for under a ten spot.  Published in 2011 by Pen and Sword, it is an overall history of the war, with a war in the air focus.  There are many first hand accounts, not of the typical U.S. fighter jock, but also from those who served in air rescues, bombers, and helicopters.  And it is not just an American-centric book as other nations receive their due.  This is a great addition to anyone's library who is interested in the overall air campaign.

The second title I snagged is The United States Air Force in Korea 1950-1953 by Robert Futrell.  This edition is an updated version of the original, being published in 1983 by the Office of Air Force History.  Being an official publication, it is filled with facts and figures, and also has plenty of black and white photographs and maps.  Nearly 800 pages in length, it is also goes through the phases of the war, but from the U.S. Air Force's perspective.  The copy I was able to buy is in mint condition, as if I had ordered it directly from the Air Force.  Should be an educational experience once I delve into it.

My Half Price stores always seem to have a few Korean War books, but rarely anything so focused as the aforementioned titles.  I think it's time for another trip to my closest location to see what I can find!

Air War Korea - Part VI: Off They Go!

Not too many moons ago I was able to snag some Raiden aircraft that were being sold on The Miniatures Page by Dom from Dom's Decals for a ridiculously low price (thanks, Dom!). In that mix was four Panthers, two MiGs, and six P-51s, along with several other aircraft for World War II (which I have sent to Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures to have painted). Today I put the Korean War planes into a box and mailed them off to Chris Geisert, who works at I-94 and painted a slew of other Korean War aircraft for me a few months ago. Chris does some excellent work as you can see on the pictures on that post, so I am eager to have him finish up my Korean War air project for me. Other than perhaps buying some Yak-9s and Meteors, I will have plenty of planes to cover most of the scenarios in the Check Your 6! Korean War scenario book. This will allow me to host a variety of events with a decent mix of prop and/or jet aircraft. I recently picked up a sky blue gaming mat with 1.5" hexes, so hosting Korean War air games for the upcoming 2015 convention schedule should be easy to do.

Korean War Memorial - Washington D.C.

A few pics of the Korean War Memorial from my honeymoon trip earlier this year.  I should have posted these months ago!

Air War Korea - Part V: Yes, Even More Toys!

Oh man, oh boy, oh bliss! Got a little box in the mail yesterday from I-94, and it contain some of the most wonderfully painted planes I have ever seen. Chris Geisert, who does painting gigs for I-94, painted and decaled these little beauties for me, and I am more than pleased with his work, and the pricing.is superb! I do not have the patience to do such small decal work, so having Chris add some character to these babies was well worth the cost. Depending on the amount of paint and decals, the prices ranged from $3.50 to $4.50 per plane. Add to that the base cost for a Raiden model, and you can have such great work for well under $10.00 a plane. I almost do not want to tell you how good these are as more work for Chris means more waiting for me! But, I cannot help but to give props where it is due. Chris was easy to work with, communicated very well, and the turnaround time was about six weeks (I was fourth in his work queue at the time).

As you can see by the photos, I had several planes commissioned. One MiG-15 in North Korean colors to go along with the three I bought painted from Zippy off of a Bartertown ad, and two MiGs done up in Soviet markings.

Add in four F9F Panthers, probably my favorite Korean War airplane at the moment, from both a design, color, and Check Your 6! performance perspective.

Six, count 'em, six F-86s, four in 51st Fighter Wing and two in 4th Fighter Wing markings. The amount of decals Chris added to these are stunning. I now have John Glenn's MiG Mad Marine in three scales!

And let's not forget four Marine F4Us!  Again, just great work!

Air War Korea - Part IV: New Air War Toys!

I was able to purchase some wonderfully pre-painted planes from Dave at I-94 Enterprises at the semi-recent Check Your 6! event in Dayton, known affectionately as OxleyCon.  Several weeks ago I attempted to attach magnets to my purchases and get them ready for the table, but my fingers are far too large to handle the tiny magnets that come with the Noble Minis flight stands, so after getting glue in places I shouldn't, I gave up.  Then I remembered seeing some sort of magnet tool on the Corsec Engineering site.  I immediately placed my order and after a couple of weeks of waiting I received this magnet tool in the post, got out my planes, and after a few mistakes in polarity and still getting a bit of glue on the fingers, I now have some toys ready for action.  The F-84s are Raiden, but I am unclear as to the Skyraider (I believe it is Scotia). 

Air War Korea - Part III: Check Your 6! Air War Korea

I went through the CY6 Air War Korea scenario book tonight to determine what would be the maximum number of the aircraft needed to create each scenario. The numbers are...impressive. I do not believe I will aspire to collect them all as this is simply too many aircraft to comprehend, especially the number of B-29s one would need.

Aircraft	# Needed
AD-4	4
B-29A	9
F4U-4	4
F-51D	6
F-80C	8
F-82A	3
F-84E	8
F-86A	6
F-86E	6
F-86F	4
F9F-2	8
F9F-3	4
F9F-5	7
IL-10	6
La-11	10
Meteor	2
MiG-15	8
MiG-15bis	8
RF-86A	1
Tu-2	9
Yak-9P	9

Obviously some of the above are not manufactured in 1/285th (and I am a stickler, no 1/300th scale for me), and some are redundant as few folks will be able to tell the difference between a MiG-15 and a MiG-15bis in 1/285th, so that does shrink the list down a bit but still leaves far more aircraft than I want to invest in.

What I am shooting for is the following: four F4Us, six F-86s, four F9Fs, and six MiG-15s. To that end I am sending some planes to Chris Geisert at I-94 Enterprises to have painted. I have seen his work firsthand, and he does a very nice job for a very reasonable price. Of course I will post pictures of the planes once he has sent them back to me.

Check Your 6! Game Day - Updated!

Check Your 6 and Check Your 6 Jet Age Game Day, June 28, 2014

From Tom Oxley....

Meet at the National Museum of the US Air Force as they open at 9:00 a.m. and wander through the museum – those who want to take a shuttle bus to the Presidential and Research & Development hanger should get signed in for that as soon as we get in to avoid missing a morning run.

Meet for lunch in the museum cafeteria at 11:30 for a quick lunch, then take time in the museum gift shop to look at toys, books and stuff there.

At around 1:00 p.m., we will head to Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1541 South Smithville Road and start setting up games, and start rolling the dice as soon as possible thereafter. 

Directions:

Click on picture for a larger version

Tentatively there are eight games scheduled: four World War II (Battle of Britain, Rabaul, Guadalcanal, and the Med), one Korean War, one '56 Arab-Israeli, one '65 Indo-Pakistani, and one Iran-Iraq War).

Air War Korea - Part II: Deciding on Scale and Rules

Scale

MiG-15s - GHQ above, Raiden below

Wow, there certainly are a lot of options when it comes to 1/285th and 1/300th scale aircraft for the Korean War, much more than I had initially expected. That is a grand thing, having a half dozen or so companies to choose from (that variety being the spice of life thing). It also has allowed me to decide that while these two scales are close in size and decently compatible on the table top, I can go with strictly 1/285th aircraft so that my aircraft match perfectly, as opposed to just closely.

Why else am I able to focus on just 1/285th aircraft? There are several reasons. First, the variety of U.S. and Soviet aircraft covered:

B-29 Superfortress - Raiden

F-84F Thunderjet - Raiden

F-86 Sabre - GHQ, Raiden

F4U Corsair - CinC, GHQ, Raiden

F9F-2 Panther - Raiden

MiG-15 - GHQ, Raiden

P-51D - Raiden

Yak-9 - GHQ

F-86s - GHQ Above, Raiden below

Next, the quality of those companies making 1/285th is on the higher end of the quality spectrum of the various companies in both 1/285th and 1/300th. The three companies listed above blend very well together.

Add in ease of ordering.  All of the above companies have online webshops and can also often be found on eBay, Noble Knight Games, and other online discounters.

And, looking over the Check Your 6! Korean War booklet, the above list of aircraft cover nearly every scenario in the book.

So, I am going to push forward with the 1/285th aircraft that are available. To that end I have removed the links for the 1/300th scale companies from both the right sidebar and the Air War page as, for me, they are no longer needed.

Rules

Rules, however, are still a bit of a bane to my existence. Now, Check Your 6! seems to play decently enough, but I have only experienced two games in a span of a decade, and running numerous aircraft isn't quite what I want to do. Most of the CY6 scenarios also call for quite a bit of aircraft, and even splitting the load among multiple players still means controlling several miniatures on the gaming table. On the other hand CY6 is also what my gaming buddies are using, so there are opportunities for continued exposure and experience.

I have given Clash of Sabres the most cursory of read-throughs, but it appears to be a decently written set of rules, and one that a player is more focused on controlling a single aircraft or at most a pair of aircraft. Where CY6 uses hexes for movement with each aircraft having certain maneuvers it can perform based on its historical performance, CoS uses turn templates, and the template used is based on airspeed, not individual aircraft capabilities.

A Visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force

I have been fortunate in many aspects of my life, with one of those fortunate aspects being my proximity to the National Museum of the United States Air Force (still known to me simply as the Air Force Museum).  The NMUSAF has been so within reach all these years that I have not appreciated the museum as I probably should, at least not until more recent times.  The museum has an amazing and ever expanding collection of aircraft as well as numerous displays.  I recently made a trip to see the Korean War gallery and take a few pictures to share with those readers of the blog who might not have had the chance to visit the museum.  Of course this trip was also for perusing their book store, which in its own right is an amazing place for air combat aficionados.  I did pick up two Osprey titles to expand my Korean air war library (F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War and F-86 Aces of the 51st Fighter Wing), and there were some other related items that looked good, but since I have been buying so many books and hobby "stuff" lately I held my eagerness in check a bit.

Here are the pictures from my quick trip:

Pictures of New Toys

Here are some pics of the Raiden MiG-15s I recently purchased from Zippy. Nicely painted, yes? (as in all my blog posts, clicking on an image will give you a larger version)

Air War Korea - Part I

I am now the proud owner of three 1/285th scale F-86 Sabres and three MiG-15s (all Raiden Miniatures), courtesy of Zippy from The Miniatures Page. He had a pretty darn good deal on Bartertown that I stumbled across (not having been on that site for months I would say that finding his listing to be borderline karma). The deal also included two sheets of Dom's Decals, and four books (three dealing with the Sabre and one with the MiG-15). I was also able to grab a copy of Clash of Sabres from him as part of the deal. I had a copy of Clash of Sabres in a previous life, but a recent search in my boxes of gaming rules proved to be futile.

After picking up these new gems from Zippy, I hustled to Dayton to join in a Check Your 6! game at The Hobby Shop. I had reservations about playing CY6 as the first and only time I had tried CY6 I had some real issues with how the rules worked, but that was because I had a green pilot in a fighter being outfought by an ace in a dive bomber, which didn't make a lot of sense to me at the time. Therefore I had some trepidation about using those rules again. However, after a few turns running a flight of F-84s, launching some successful rocket attacks against a North Korean airfield, being blasted by anti-aircraft guns, and seeing how the MiG-15s seem to rule the skies from a firepower perspective, I did find myself enjoying the rules much more than my first experience. I still have a lot to turn about planning my moves, especially when it comes to climbing and diving, but it was a good second exposure to CY6 and I do look forward to participating in more CY6 games.

That said, I am also going to give a thorough look at Clash of Sabres. Movement is simpler as CoS uses turn gauges, the current speed of the aircraft determining the gauge to be used (slower speeds use a tighter turning gauge). I'll have to see have altitude and combat resolution works, but wouldn't mind getting the CY6 gang together to see what they think about Clash of Sabres.

I have placed an order with I-94 Enterprises for the Check Your Six! Korean War supplement along with one each of the Raiden F-86, MiG-15, and F-84. I plan on grabbing a few other planes from the war, most likely the F-80 Shooting Star and perhaps a few U.S. Navy planes as well (the Grumman F9F Panther is one sweet looking bird). Of course there are the prop planes, holdovers from World War Two, but they were mostly used in the ground attack role, and my initial plan is to start with air-to-air combat. Looks like I will need a few Soviet-made prop planes for the early portion of the war (La-9s and -11s, and Yak-9s). MSD Games make the La-9 (as does Scotia Collectair), GHQ makes the Yak-9 but finding the La-11 seems to be more of an exercise in futility. However, having the La-9 and Yak-9 should be a decent start for the early war period.

I've also ordered some GHQ and MSD MiG-15s and GHQ F-86s to see how they compare to the Raiden ones I have. Comparison pictures will be part of an upcoming blog post!

Resources

This is your chance to be very interactive with the blog, as being a new Korean War student, I am asking for your suggestions for the various resources that you find useful. These resources can be websites, books, movies...whatever you find to be good material on the Korean War. Leave your suggestions in the comments and I will add them accordingly.

Books

Overall Studies

Formidable Enemies - Kevin Mahoney
Korean War Almanac - Harry Summers
The Korean War (Korea Insitute of Military History)
The War for Korea - The House Burning (1945-1950) - Allan Millet
The War for Korea - They Came From the North (1950-1951) - Allan Millet
United States Army Official Histories

Battle Studies

Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950 - Martin Russ

Colder Than Hell - Joseph R. Owen
Fire Brigade: U.S. Marines in the Pusan Perimeter - John C. Chapin
Into the Breach at Pusan - Kenneth Estes
Marine Tank Battles in Korea - Oscar Gilbert
The Last Stand of Fox Company - Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

Air War

Combat Over Korea - Philip Chinnery
F-86 Sabre Aces of the 4th Fighter Wing - Warren Thompson
F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st Fighter Wing - Warren Thompson
F-86 Sabre vs. MiG-15 - Dildy & Thompson
F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War - Warren Thompson
F9F Panther/Cougar in Action - Jim Sullivan
Famous Aircraft: The F-86 Sabre - R.J. Childerhose
Korean War Aces - Dorr, Lake, & Thompson
North American F-86A-L Sabre in USAF and Foreign Service - McDowell & Ward
Soviet MiG-15 Aces of the Korean War - Krylov & Tepsurkaev
USN/USMC Over Korea - Thomas E. Doll
The United States Air Force in Korea - Robert F. Futrell

Websites

Commentary on Infantry Operations and Weapons Usage in Korea - Winter of 1950-51
Korean War Gallery - National Museum of the United States Air Force
Korean War Project

Welcome!

The first post on this new adventure, the Korean War! I will be posting blog entries on an occasional basis that will deal with gaming the war in miniature, along with other tidbits I find interesting. On the miniatures side, the land war will be in 15mm, small unit level, while the air war will be gamed in 1/285th (1/300th) scale. As this is a brand new gaming project, there are a lot of decisions to be made about miniatures and rules, but I do have some ideas in hand.

My Korean War knowledge is slim so I grabbed a few titles from my local Half Price Books and am working my way through them. My father missed Korea, having served in the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s where he was stationed in Germany as part of an armored cavalry regiment. So I do not have any direct connection or reason to have a strong interest in the war, other than it isn't gamed often, the air war saw the first widespread use of jets, and of those jets I really am a fan of the F-80 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre. I also think that the M26 Pershing is one sweet looking tank. Are those valid or enough reasons for gaming the Korean War?  Damn right they are!

For the land war, there are various companies making Korean War figures, and of course many World War Two ranges can be used. I would almost go with 10mm for this project, but to my knowledge there is only one company (Pithead Miniatures) making 10mm Chinese and none making North Koreans or Allied forces in winter gear, while there are some ranges existing in 15mm. The larger scale of these battles (compared to some of my more modern projects) would lend itself more readily to 10mm, and there are rumors that Pendraken will be making a Korean War range, and that Pithead will be expanding their range, but until those figures are forthcoming 15mm will be the direction I most likely will head. As I am going to work on the air portion of the war first, I do have some time to wait to see if these additional rumored 10mm miniatures are indeed placed into production.

In 15mm there are enough existing figures to put together small unit actions. Quality Castings (part of Old Glory 15s) make Chinese in winter gear, North Koreans in summer uniform, and other forces can be put together from their World War Two range. I have always had a soft spot for the Quality Castings figures as they were some of their first World War Two 15mm figures I ever painted. While some of the poses and details might be a tad dated compared to more recent lines, they still hold up fairly well. I do have an order placed with Eureka (the USA shop) for the North Koreans to see how they look, and will probably order some of the other ranges to see if they blend well together.

For the air war, I am purchasing some 1/285th MiG-15s and F-86 Sabres from a local gamer, along with four air war books and some Dom's Decals. I am not sure who the manufacturer of the planes might be, but I did order some of the Raiden Miniatures via I-94 Enterprises today so I hope I will be able to compare them and determine what manufacturer the local gamer's planes are.

Rules - For the land war these are yet to be determined, but I do have a copy of the Korean War Data Book coming from Olde Dominion GameWorks (ODGW) for their Mein Panzer rules. For air combat some of my gaming friends use Check Your 6! rules from Skirmish Campaigns so I ordered the Korean War supplement today as well. I have only gamed CY6! one time before, years ago, and did not come away with fond memories, but am willing to give it another go before making a final decision on rules.

There will be more to come over the next several days (pictures of minis, etc.) so be certain to check out the blog regularly and leave comments from time to time!