The Slovak-Hungarian War Project

Cr.32s face off against Avia B.534s

I've owned a rather nifty title on the Avia B.534 for a few years now, and even picked up four packs of this model from MSD Games, but haven't done much else with the planes (still in their packages). I've come across references to the Slovak-Hungarian War on the interwebs, and created a listing of aircraft used by both sides in the conflict also known as "The Little War." Hungary wanted more portions of Slovakia, and invaded the latter nation in March 1939. There were a few encounters in the air, with Avias, Cr.32s, Ju.86s, and Letov S.328s involved (among others). One can source Cr.32s from a few different manufacturers, the Avias and Ju.86s can be had from MSD Games, but the Letov's were evading me until today - Heroics and Ros make them, and while I am probably not going to far out on a limb when I say the quality of H&R won't be quite as good as the MSD range, once painted they will service just fine on the tabletop. Order placed for the Letovs.

There is a book on the subject, published by Helion, titled Baptism of Fire: The First Combat Experiences of the Royal Hungarian Air Force and Slovak Air Force, March 1939, and written by Csaba B. Stenge. It has been on my wishlist at Amazon for some time, and I decided it was time to order it.

A Hungarian Ju.86

A few more steps are in order...

First, scenario creation - I have come across the basics for two encounters between the B.534s and Cr.32s. I probably have enough to cobble together very basic scenarios for these two engagements, but I am hoping that the Stenge book, since it is focused on this very short war, will be able to provide additional information so as to make the scenarios more accurate. 

Second, rating the planes - I can decently compare the Avia against other types that are already rated for Check Your 6 and determine stats! But even easier is to use what another gamer has come up with for the Avia!

Avia B534IV:   A3+3(-)   23/38   4 x LMG   Robust 0

I have asked the Check Your 6! group for stats on the Ju.86 and the Letov S-328. And as all the aircraft for this conflict are slow, I may increase their speeds by one. 

And so there we are, the beginnings of yet another obscure project, although, much like the 1948 Arab-Israeli or the One Hundred Hours War, one that involves a small number of aircraft (I think  (going from memory) the maximum Avias would be six, while nine Cr.32s would be needed, along with three Letovs, and three Ju.86s would cover it). I believe after this project I may try to refrain from too many others...yeah, right!

They Have Arrived! - The Second India–Pakistan War

I received notice from Chris Geisert at I-94 a few days ago that the commission work for my Second India-Pakistan War aircraft was completed! After eagerly awaiting their arrival, I received the planes just a few days later. I placed an order a couple of weeks ago from K and J Magnetics for additional magnets, and will have plenty on hand to place on the following, which will allow me to game fifteen scenarios from the Skirmish Campaigns' Crisis in Kashmir book (for some reason I only asked for four Hunters to be painted, but really needed five in order to add two additional scenarios):

India - 7 x Dassault Mystere, 2 x MiG-21, 4x  Hawker Hunter, and 7 x BAE Gnat

Pakistan - 2 x F-104 Starfighters and 6 x F-86 Sabres

Most of the scenarios are on the smaller side, covering from two to six players, with most falling in the four player range. As I am also not proficient with missiles within the Check Your 6! Jet Age rules, having smaller scenarios will allow me to practice and grasp those rules before moving into a more modern era.

I will admit that I am a little disappointed in the work. The natural metal aircraft have a gray hue that is not apparent on the bottom of the aircraft. I think it is from a gloss finish that was applied, so I will hit them with some matte spray and see if that helps. The painting does not seem to be quite as crisp as the first planes I had Chris do back in the day (look at the Korean War planes as an example). There are some colors on the bottoms of the planes that appear to be a little slop from a color on the top, one Hunter having a big old splotch of green on its underwing. And there used to be decals applied to the bottom of the aircraft, but none of these planes have that (the latter is not a huge deal, but I guess I was used to seeing markings on the bottoms of the planes). The Hunters look great, they do not have that shiny gloss finish. This will be a batch of planes I will have to do a tad of touch up to really bring them home. Now, those are minor quibbles, and I will keep using Chris as his turnaround time is good, prices very reasonable, and he communicates well during the process. I hope he gets back to the quality of those Korean War aircraft that he spoiled me with!

Deep Cut Studio - Pearl Harbor Mat!

Most of the mat...there is a good 8-10 inches hanging over the edge of the table.

As a follow up to a previous post...

After much hemming and hawing, and wringing of hands along with gnashing of teeth, I finally made the decision to drop a decent amount of coin on a custom mat of Pearl Harbor from Deep Cut Studios. I have ordered from them in the past, namely a simple ocean mat along with a custom mat for Wings of Glory, so I knew of their quality products first hand, as well as their fast production and shipping time (this ain't Hotz Mats, people, and I love my Hotz mat). 

Battleship Row

I submitted a cool map of Pearl I found on the interwebs, that was created from period Japanese maps. I was worried that the grid system already in the map would cause an issue, but as you can see, no problemo! 

Yes, Swiss Bf109s over Pearl...I have not started collecting Pearl Harbor aircraft yet.

The quality of the PVC is very good...a bit weightier than other PVC mats I own. 

What are THOSE guys doing here?

I ordered my mat on June 15th and received it, from Lithuania on June 24th, with FedEx tracking all along the way. If you are needing custom work, or want one of Deep Cut's many offerings, buy with confidence that you will receive a great product in a very reasonable amount of time!

Rating the Finns

Brian DeWitt has created four very good scenario books for Check Your 6! In Battles Above 4 he has provided several scenarios that involve the Finnish Air Force, both for the Winter War and the Continuation War. As a gamer of the less mainstream, I plan on obtaining the planes to do many of these scenarios. As an historian, I also like to keep things as historically accurate as manageable, and with gaming at times complete historical accuracy can certainly be a hinderance. Many Check Your 6! scenarios are representations of much larger historical encounters, necessarily so because putting dozens and dozens of aircraft on the table bogs down the game. 

One area though that is bothering me somewhat are the Finnish pilot quality ratings. Remember, it is the man, not the machine (but really the machine has a large part to play). So how are the Finns able to rack up such amazing kill ratios flying aircraft like the Gladiator, Fokker DXXI, Buffalo, Hawk 75 (P-36), and other such second tier types that as the war progressed were inferior to their Russian opponents? Take for example Lentolaivue 24, perhaps the premier Finnish fighter unit. Claims were such that this unit might have had as high as a 25:1 kill to loss ratio. While Russian/Soviet sources have not been fully examined to compare actual reported losses, even if Lentolaivue 24 managed half that kill ratio, it is an amazing feat. So how is that replicated on the table top? Pilot quality.

But that is my dilemma - in looking at many of the Finnish scenarios in the book, they are often outnumbered, and even the difference in pilot skill between the two forces for any particular scenario does not seem to be great enough to recreate the historical record. To be honest, based on my readings (thus far just a couple of Osprey titles and perusing websites), I believe the Finnish ratings in Battles Above 4 to be too low, the Russians too comparable, or a combination of the two. I would even be, in some cases, tempted to give the Soviets a poor rating as found within the Korean War scenario book for Check Your 6! Jet Age (the dreaded -1 pilot). 

I have a few titles on their way, including what appears to be an amazing work, Finnish Aces: Their Planes and Units 1939-1945 by Kari Stenman and Karolina Holda. I plan to go through Lentolaivue 24 pilots as deeply as I can, accepting that this squadron's performance might have been the exception, but overall I believe that Finland's pilots were well trained, skillful, and far superior to most of their Soviet opponents. Mr. DeWitt mentions that he gives "green aircrew rating for aircrews that are not adequately trained or marginally trained new pilots that are in their first few engagements." I agree with that assessment, but not when it comes to Finland's pilot training and experience. More on this topic once I have a bit more source material.

Neutrality Patrol - Ready for the Table

I completed the less than enjoyable chore of adding magnets to a dozen planes today. I am actually getting much better at this task, with no issues with magnet waste and no glue stuck on my figures today, and in turn no foul language to speak of. The planes for today were German Bf. 110s and Swiss Bf.109s my my Neutrality Patrol scenario (which one can download from the link to the upper right). These planes were painted by Chris Geisert at I-94 and are all Raiden models. I really like the Swiss planes - the white cross on a red field really pops!

I just have to fill out aircraft charts and this scenario is finally ready for the table - it has been a few years for this one. Once I do host this scenario I will post an after action report.

By the way, an excellent book on the Bf.109 in Swiss service is the Schiffer titled Messerschmitt Me 109 in Swiss Air Force Service, written by Georg Hoch. Being a Schiffer publication, it is far from inexpensive, but it is everything you might have wanted for such a niche subject.

Balls of Fire

The Ryan FR-1 Fireball (MSD Games) and the Kawasaki Ki-100 (Raiden)...I've had these planes painted for some time, but finally got around to adding magnets so I can host an upcoming game using these oddball planes. The scenario is set in September 1945, and it assumes that the Japanese have yet to surrender, and that the Ryan Fireball, a hybrid piston/jet plane, and historically assigned to VF-66 (the Firebirds), makes it into action. The Firebirds were commanded by John F. Gray, an ace with 8.25 kills to his credit. Gray selected experienced men to join VF-66, including another ace, Kenneth Hippe who had five kills during the war. Overall the pilot quality of the Firebirds was very good with just a couple of new pilots.

On the other side is the Kawasaki Ki-100, which was developed from the Ki-61 (Tony). Both the Fireball and the Ki-100 (known as the Goshikisen) were fairly close in performance from what I could gather, but the Japanese will have a bit of an armament advantage as the Ki-100 has a heavier armament than the Fireball (two modern cannon and two heavy machineguns vs. four heavy machineguns). Also, the Japanese unit that did use the Ki-100, the 244th Sentai led by Teruhiko Kobayashi, was considered to be an exceptional organization, so the Americans do not have a great advantage in pilot skill that one would normally expect at this stage of the war. 

The scenario is a straightforward "shoot 'em up" with four Fireballs facing off against six Ki-100s. An after action report will follow once I host the first game using these rare birds. In the meantime you can grab the updated scenario by clicking the Balls of Fire link on the upper right of this page (the file is housed on Google Drive and is in pdf format).

Torched!

Yesterday at the local game store (well, not that local, about a 50 minute drive) I hosted my hypothetical Operation Torch scenario. The event assumes that both Vichy French and American aircraft have violated Spanish Moroccan airspace, and the Spanish have responded in kind by scrambling Heinkel He.112s. This is a three-sided affair, with all three sides vying for victory. It is designed to be used as an introductory scenario to teach those new to Check Your 6! the game system. 

The combat takes place a Low CAB. The starting locations and TAL are determined by die rolls. Six players, two for each faction each running two aircraft, with each faction having one each of the four pilot skill types (ace, veteran, skilled, and green). Each section of two planes roll to see which edge they begin, so for example the Spanish players might start at Edge 2 or Edge 4, based on their die roll. Ironically each faction rolled such that both pairs of fighters started in the same area (for their faction). TAL rolls were interesting, with the French and Spanish players being widely dispersed, while the Americans started at TALs five and six.

The French forces maneuvered in Area F, heading generally towards the oncoming Spanish who were in Area D. The Americans made a beeline towards the French, with the Yanks starting in Area C. As the forces closed in, deflections shots reigned, and rained, but the French D.520s did some excellent work, knocking down the green and skilled American Wildcats. It was not looking good for the remaining Americans, as the Spanish split their sections, one focusing on the reduced Americans and the other swooping in behind the French. But the Americans held on.

The Spanish lost the next plane to the Wildcats (if memory serves), with two others taking various damage. The French continued to dance with the Americans. It was looking like a French victory, but the Americans continued to fight, their veteran and ace pilots swirling about. Then a French fighter took damage, and then another fell out of the sky. The Spanish ace splashed one the D520s, but ran out of ammo and had to leave the dogfight. With no Spanish left to to take out the Americans, and the French having troubles of their own, the Americans pulled out a victory.

I rather enjoyed hosting this game. All of the players had gamed CY6 in the past, so that made running the game rather easy. You can find this scenario to the upper right as a pdf download.

Pearl Harbor Project

I have been hesitant to game Pearl Harbor - One reason is the vast amount of aircraft for the Japanese and the handful of American planes that made it into the air to give battle. Another reason is that once one has committed to painting P-40s and P-36s for Pearl, those planes cannot be used for much of anything else due to their distinct paint schemes and markings (and yes, I do like having, as much as possible, correct historic representation on the tabletop). One could also use the Pearl P-40s for the Philippines, but there are few scenarios available for the Philippines. And, I also want to use those P-36s and P-40s for other theaters, like North Africa or Finland for the former and China for the latter. There is only so many planes I am willing to buy! Oh, and let's not forget the mat one would need to show Pearl Harbor and/or some of the various airfields - this project now becomes very specialized and limited in scope.

There is an interesting scenario that was done by one of the chaps on the Check Your 6! group, so I have that as the basis for this potential project. The scenario calls for a smattering of planes (three P-40s, three P-36s, three Kates, three Vals, and six Zeros), and while I do not have any of the Japanese needed, I am canvasing the guys I game with to see if they do (and indeed I have found out that one indeed does).

The mat is something that can be had from Tiny Wargames although it does not include Hickam Field (which is in the scenario).

In speaking with Tiny Wargames, the pricing for a standard Check Your 6 sized mat with a hex grid is something like $100.00, and that is before shipping, yikes! I have been looking for alternatives, like Deep Cut Studio. If I can find a 1940s color aerial of Pearl then I can have them make me a custom mat. I can locate crisp black and white photos, but not period color versions.

But, after some searching I did find this. It is a rendering of the Japanese maps of the period, and then updated by the Prepared by the Joint Intelligence Center. I loaded this image into the Deep Cut Studio custom map maker and have this:

The above should work rather well I believe...but not certain if I should drop coin on such a specialized project. 

Korean War AAR

 Well, maybe not so much an after action report as I simply cannot remember all the details, but today I hosted a four player Korean War game, the scenario being The Leatherneck "Checkerboards" from the Korean War scenario book - Marine Corsairs vs. People's Republic of China MiG-15s. As always with Check You 6, crew quality is often the deciding factor. I took a pair of MiGs while waiting for one player who we knew would be arriving a bit late. On the first turn I maneuvered the pair into a firing solution but the range, difference in skills, and the fact it was a deflection shot made the attempt futile. That sums up the Chinese players' day...when we could get into a firing position, the to hit modifiers were such that it was tough to bring cannon rounds onto the Corsairs. The Chinese had green pilots, the Americans had three skilled and one veteran.

The Corsairs are Raiden, and MiGs a mix of Raiden and CinC. 

The Marines drew first, and for that matter second, blood. The cannon-armed Corsair is a beauty with its good maneuverability and hitting power. A few turns in, after I handed off my pair of birds to the late arrivee, and BOOM, down goes a MiG. A turn or two later same thing happened. However, finally a MiG bears down and takes a tough shot with success and a Corsair shuddered then fell from the combination of 37mm and 20mm rounds. Pilot rolls were also not successful on either side for bailing out. Another Corsair took some airframe damage, but by this time both remaining MiGs were out of ammo and making time for the Yalu.

Over overwhelming American victory as they gained four additional victory points for each destroyed MiG in top of the normal Check Your Six scoring.

Some pictures from the game. The actual battle took place over the Yellow Sea, but I have yet to obtain a sea mat with hexes on it, so my standard Hotz map had to substitute today.

Corsairs in their starting position

Lined them up nicely, but the mods were against me

It became very interesting...

 ...and then there were three...well just two on the Chinese side