Update - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948

I received my copy of Eagles of Destiny: Volume 1: Birth and Growth of the Royal Pakistan Air Force 1947-1956, and this well written and informative guide to the early development of the RPAF clearly indicates that the initial batch of Tempests that were received were not in the desert camo scheme, but were in the Royal Air Force Day Fighter Scheme of a Dark Green and Ocean Grey disruptive pattern with Medium Sea Grey undersurfaces. More research at the Hawker Tempest Page also seems to confirm this fact. And disappointingly the Pakistani Tempests did not see any action during the 1947-48 war. Well, that is a bummer! What I thought would be a neat Tempest vs. Tempest war, with the RPAF Tempests having a desert scheme and the Indian versions sporting silver, has now splintered apart from the historical perspective. 

Seemingly, I may forego this project. I have ordered nearly all the planes needed for the Skirmish Campaigns' Crisis in Kashmir scenario book (Second India-Pakistan War) from I-94, and with so many other projects to work on and without the interesting Tempest on Tempest aspect, the appeal here is no longer that great.

Crisis in Kashmir - The Second India–Pakistan War

This is a gaming period I have been wanting to tackle over the last couple of years, really ever since the scenario book for this was published by Skirmish Campaigns and I played in a fellow gamer's events. 

The various scenarios do not call for a great deal of aircraft, so this could be managed decently well in 1/285 scale. However, there is one scenario that does call for six Canberra bombers, and if one wants to do every scenario in the book, there are some one offs for other aircraft types as well. One could either forego those one off aircraft types and still manage to cover many of the other scenarios in the book, or one might consider going to 1/600 to manage costs more effectively. Tumbling Dice happens to make every aircraft type needed, but their castings are a little disproportionate, at times even cartoonish. But at that scale with with a solid paint job it would be a cheaper and complete alternative to going with the more limited Raiden offerings. 

However, as the Indian Canberras, and for that matter the Vampires, are only in one scenario apiece, I am moving forward without those two aircraft types. I've placed my order with I-94 and will be having Chris Geisert of I-94 paint the planes. For those who are intimidated about the Jet Age rules and in particular adding in radar and missiles, this war allows one to ease into those aspects without too much effort. The missiles that were used were not always reliable, let alone available, and are very rudimentary in nature so not overwhelming to learn. 

A Little More on Wake

The Wake Island Check Your 6! project has been sitting around for a few years now. I went ahead and ordered Brewster Buffalos from Pico Armor to use in some hypothetical scenarios. A squadron of Marine Brewsters (VMF-221) were on the Saratoga and dispatched to reinforce the atoll. Things of course did not shake out that way, but could make for some fun games. Still need to ship them off for painting!

I will still need to purchase a sea mat with 1.5 inch hexes, which I think I will obtain from Deep Cut Studio. A friend ordered a desert mat from them recently, with hexes superimposed, and it looks rather nice. Deep Cut, although based in Lithuania, has great turnaround time to the U. S., and their custom work is nice (I had a custom sized mat made for Wings of Glory). 

Sample image from Deep Cut Studio website

Another addition was a Fight's On Wake Island terrain piece (Fight's On now owned by I-94 Enterprises). It should not take long to paint, but I want to wait until I receive my ocean mat so I can match the colors outside the atoll with the mat.

One Hundred Hours War - Gamed!

I finally got around to hosting the Soto Gets Three scenario (download to the right) after breaking down and doing the chore of adding magnets to the planes. While the scenario is a mosh of two actions on the same day, and some of the variable rules are more hypothetical in nature, I hosted a game at the Dragon's Guildhall on the east side of Dayton. As I had five players, I went ahead and added all the variable rules that added more aircraft to allow enough planes on the table. It was a fun time, and some good feedback from the game. I am tweaking the scenario a bit, after re-reading my book on this conflict and seeing some interesting posts on the Check Your 6! group. 

It was a tough go for the Salvadorans...losing three planes while the Hondurans suffered no losses. The 20mm guns on the Honduran planes caused a ruckus, but one of the tips on the CY6! group can counter this a bit - each time a 20mm Corsair fires, any ones means a jammed gun moving forward. 

For my planes, I do realize that some of the castings used are not quite right - some of the Mustangs should have wingtip tanks, and the Corsairs with radar domes should not have the domes at all, but as these were spare aircraft from other projects, I made do with what I had. I think it turned out well!

Mustangs in trouble

Splash one!

Salvadoran Corsairs trying to look badassed

Does it hurt?

Closing in

A Corsair furball. 

Meanwhile, other Mustangs join the fray.

More damage for the Salvadorans.