Great War Scenarios

Image from Reduced Aircraft Factory

Currently there are three World War One scenario books available for Check Your 6! - those being the Colorful Skies series. These books offer the Check Your 6! gamer over 150 scenarios for the Great War, but only one that features the American 103rd Aero Squadron. To that end, I have put together, with the assistance of AI, the outlines for a dozen scenarios that focus on Paul Baer during his time with the 103rd. That is the good news. The bad news? AI cannot make a clear determination of what types of planes Baer was facing.

Baer's opponents during his short tenure with the 103rd were a mix of Jastas (his patrols ranging from early March to May 22, 1918). However the reports are often not clear on the type of planes the Germans used. We do know on certain missions Baer specifically claimed Albatros fighters, but on others his claims are listed as "scout" or "D" type. As the various Jastas in the spring of 1918 were using the Pfalz D.IIIa, the Albatros D.Va, perhaps a Fokker D.VII or two, and even the odd Fokker Dr.I, when the reports are vague we must make some assumptions, and can also assume that just because Baer claimed an Albatros that does not preclude a mix of planes being used by the Germans for that encounter, as was frequently the case. Therefore, even though I have done much research and utilized many AI queries, in some cases we simple cannot verify what the Germans were flying.

Here are Baer's combats, with claimed (letters) and confirmed (numbers) victories:

For the scenarios I will be adding in tables to randomly determine German aircraft mix when it is unclear what was being used. The red numbers on the table that follows indicate this uncertainty.

Most of the scenarios are small in scope, which usually means one side would be potentially out of the fight early in the game. However, I have some ideas on using one plane per player on the smaller scenarios that should help make games last a bit longer - more on that to come as I organize my adaptations for Check Your 6! Great War.

Goblin Arrival

A very short post....

Today I received my order from Geektown for a half dozen of their McDonnell XF-85s from their Space: 1963 - Hot Skies/Cold Seas range. These tiny little parasite jets will be a fun addition to any 1950s Jet Age project.

My order was placed on February 5th, and I received it six days later.  The quality of the material used on these 3D prints is on par with Flight Deck Decals which is the gold standard for 3D aircraft.

The Second Taiwan Crisis

For those who know me personally or follow this blog, you may have deduced that I like the off the beaten path topics, whether it is small battles from the American Civil War, or to some of the Check Your 6! projects I have taken on (100 Hours War, 1948 Arab-Israeli, 1950s Jet Age, etc., etc.). As I move slowly into more jet age projects, trying to understand how to use missiles, radar, and what not more effectively, I came across a conflict that saw plenty of air combat in a short period of time, including the first shoot down of an aircraft by a Sidewinder air-to-air missile. The Second Taiwan Crisis is like the Korean War, but with a couple of twists (let's call it the Korean War 2.0). One is the aforementioned use of missiles (although most kills were still through machineguns and cannon), and the other is the use of afterburner. Therefore this period allows the World War II or Korean War Check Your 6! gamer an easier transition into using additional rules as opposed to jumping into Vietnam or later conflicts.

I will not get into much of a history of this conflict, but it is good to note that the Nationalists (Republic of China) had fled to Taiwan and a series of smaller island groups, a few that were within artillery range of mainland China, after their defeat. Taiwan is only 90-100 miles from the Chinese mainland, and as a result the Taiwan Straits, much like today, was a point of potential conflict. There were several encounters prior to the late summer of 1958 as the two sides jockeyed for territorial gains. By mid-1958 the Communists (People's Republic of China) were putting more pressure in taking those island groups that were just off their coast. To support the defense of Taiwan, but not necessarily interested in protecting the smaller Nationalist controlled islands, the United States sent both air force and naval assets to the region. That alone could provide an interesting what-if series of scenarios, but the actual shooting war was just as fascinating.

The two forces involved, the Nationalist and Communist Chinese, used a variety of aircraft, but the principle fighters were the F-86 Sabre and the MiG-17 Fresco. While the MiG-17 was a superior platform over the Sabre, the quality of the Nationalist pilots overcame the technological disadvantages. The Communist pilots were, for the most part, poorly trained and often flew in predictable patterns, making it easier for the ROC pilots to obtain advantageous firing positions. To that end their average aircrew quality is lower than the ROC pilots, and they have an interesting special rule that will be included on the various scenarios I create.

Speaking of scenarios, I have fifteen outlined that should convert well into the CY6! format. Most feature Sabres vs. MiG-17s, but there are a few other aircraft types present as well. I used AI to assist, providing source material so that AI could create historical encounters. Turned out decently well.

We need to talk about miniatures, and of course I lean on Flight Deck Decals for this conflict. They make an F-86F Sabre which is ideal, and a variety of MiG-17s, but one would want the Fresco C version. Add in a few F-84s and MiG-15bis models and one is good to go. I will post numbers needed by scenario in a future post, but this project will be very affordable for gamers due to the small number of miniatures needed, and mostly of the same aircraft types.

The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin

A member of the Check Your 6! Facebook group recently shared a post from a company called Geektown, a 3D print company. While Geektown offers merchandise that I am far from interested in, they do have a line called Hot Skies/Cold Seas that have a few oddball "could-have-been" aircraft that made it into the test phase but not into production. One of the offerings is a six pack of McDonnell XF-85 Goblins, a parasite fighter that was to be used to protect bombers during missions that would have been beyond the range of conventional fighters. The Goblin would be carried under the bomber, then launch when enemy aircraft were nearing the bomber formation. It would be retrieved by connecting to a trapeze via a retractable hook that extended in front of the canopy on the Goblin.

The use of parasite aircraft extended back to the Great War, with planes being considered for use under airships. The Unites States Navy did put the parasite idea into use during the 1930s on the airships Akron and Macon. During World War Two both the Soviets and the Germans toyed with parasite designs and testing, with the Soviets actually using parasites in 1941 to attack a bridge. The United States put out request for proposals in late 1942, but McDonnell that submitted a proposal concept.

The XF-85 was originally conceived as a piston engined fighter that would be carried partially exposed under a bomber, but the United States Army Air Force rejected this concept due to the increased drag caused by carrying the parasite. Future developments led to the Goblin being placed within the bomber's hold, and it was conceptualized that a B-36 could carry up to three Goblins, providing a sort of flying carrier to support the other bombers on any given mission.

However, the Goblin seemed destined for failure - the first prototype was accidently dropped from a height of forty feet during wind tunnel testing. Additional testing proved that the Goblin, while showing promise, would not be fast enough to deal with the generation of enemy jets it would face, and recovery of the parasite was problematic due to the buffeting of air around the bomber. Only a few successful hookups were completed during testing, and the program was canceled.

In Check Your 6! Jet Age terms I have cobbled together these stats:

There is an existing XF-85 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton.

Operation Torch - The Western Task Force

I have a few Operation Torch posts already on the blog, but I wanted to provide a bit of an update as to where the project stands, including a small scenario book that I will be working on soon, providing a mix of historical and hypothetical encounters that feature the United States Navy's air operations which, as part of the Western Task Force, mostly dominated the skies over Morocco. 

Thus far I have ideas for seven scenarios which include an interesting mix of American and Vichy French aircraft (the following chart includes an eighth scenario from the Check Your 6! rulebook):

I have aircraft painted for two scenarios (French Surprise and Torched), however I might replace some or all of what I have with the exceptional Flight Deck Decals range. I do have the Model 75As already from Flight Deck - I just need to ship them to Miscellaneous Miniatures for painting as doing three tone camo scheme and Vichy stripes might be beyond my skill, or at least patience, level. 

Also, something I want to try to do is offer a mini-campaign aspect for the scenario book. Years ago when I used to game the Command Decision series from GDW, one of the concepts they offered in their Over the Top World War One rules was a "bathtub" campaign - taking units and scaling them down into playable units on the tabletop while also allowing campaign movement using a hex map. I plan on doing something like this for Operation Torch - taking the numbers of available aircraft and scaling that down to 10%. This would yield the following available aircraft for the mini-campaign:

I would have to determine how to use a force pool to generate scenarios, or really I would need a scenario generator and then a way to track the force pool due to shoot downs, damage, etc. Since the campaign was so short (just a few days), any plane that is shot down would not be replaced, and an aircrew survival roll could be made to determine if the pilot is able to return to the force pool. Damaged planes might return after a full day of inaction. There are several factors that need to be accounted for.

Rules for the F-86F-2 Sabre

While the scenarios I am creating include the following rules for using the F-86F-2 Sabre as part of Project GunVal, I thought having the rules included as a blog post might be useful. As of this date, I have four Project GunVal scenarios available on the Downloads page, with maybe two or three more to work up. After that I hope to create a Project GunVal scenario mini-book and offering it as a pdf download. In the meantime, here are the rules and stats for the F-86F-2 Sabre.

• F-86F-2 stats: B7 + 2 Hx, 93/75, R2/d6, @FF: 4xMC.
• Due to the high muzzle velocity of the 20mm M39 (T-160) cannons on the F-86F-2, use a twelve-sided dice (d12) for each firing gun.
• The T-160 cannon had a high rate of fire, therefore will check for ammunition depletion at one aircrew level lower.
• The T-160 cannon had an issue with dispersion at longer distances. Firing at ranges greater than six hexes is suffers a -1 die roll modifier.
• Conversely, the APG-30 radar provided greater accuracy at longer ranges. Add a +1 modifier to all F-86F types when firing at four hexes or greater within the target's tail arc.
• Compressor Stall – When the cannons on the F-86F-2 were fired, exhaust from the guns created a cloud of gas directly in front of the nose intake which could cause engine flame out. When an F-86F-2 fires its cannon an aircrew check is required, with a -2 modifier for CABs HIGH and above and -1 for CABs MEDIUM to HIGH BOTTOM. A failed check results in an immediate reduction of one speed at the end of the phase, and a loss of one speed on each subsequent turn, plotting only forward turn codes, until the engine has been restarted. Once restarted, speed is immediately set to 2.

Here is a silent video showing some of the effects of the 20mm cannon on the Sabre.

Another Scenario

Admittedly, my newest scenario has a lot in common with the "Protecting Them All" scenario in the Battles Above 1 scenario book. To be honest I used it as the basis, but, upon reviewing various historical sources, I believe some of the details of the original scenario were missing or in need of updating. Then I took my interpretation to a different level by checking the facts using AI and have created a scenario that has more of a grounding in the history of the engagement that took place on July 16, 1944 between the fighter group later known (well after World War II) as the Tuskegee Airmen and Mussolini's Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, although it is still unconfirmed the number of Italian fighters that were present.

On the Downloads page you will now find "Duel With the Veltro," a game ideal for four or five players. Due to damage a lone B-24, after bombing Weiner Neustadt, is making its way home, stalked by at least a pair of Macchi C.205Vs. Arriving just in time is a flight of P-51Cs from the 302nd Fighter Squadron. 

Commission Time

Finally getting around to sending off some commission work to Miscellaneous Miniatures. While I am becoming proficient in my painting skills, my limitations are mostly solid colored aircraft, and what I am sending off to have painted are, for the most part, planes that need more brush work, or ones that go along with planes Misc. Minis has painted for me in the past and I want to keep consistency.

Vietnam - While I had bought the decals needed from Misc. Minis and Sieben Schwaben, and thought to tackle this one on my own, the amount of decals having to go on each American aircraft is something I just do not want to deal with applying so many and am completely happy allowing someone else to do that work. 

Tuskegee - I have owned the planes and the ANR decals for quite some time for a scenario in the Battles Above 1 scenario book and I think it will make a great convention game with four fighters on each side and a crippled B-24 that I could run. I am changing the scenario a bit, bringing it more inline with the historical encounter. 

Slovak-Hungarian - I have a pair of Heinkel HE 70s that will allow me to bring another scenario to the table top. I *think* that will take care of my collection for this war.

Burma - I have a collection of Allied and Japanese planes for this ongoing project. I decided to expand upon the handful of scenarios I could host previously, so in the future more Flying Tigers games will be making an appearance.

1948 Arab-Israeli Scenarios

The First (1948-49) Arab-Israeli War saw a fair amount of activity in the skies over the Middle East. Rob Wubbenhorst created a set of six scenarios for Check Your 6! that appeared in Wargames Illustrated (#310) and a pdf download on the WI website. In collecting books, reading same, and doing some research of my own, I have taken Rob's "original six" (hockey reference) and have expanded the number of scenarios to twenty-three, which does include one hypothetical scenario. The 1948-49 War is ideal for smaller games when one has a few players available, and features a wide range of aircraft types (American, British, Czech, and Italian) and nationalities - Israel, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Great Britain. I hope one day to work up a 1948-49 scenario book, but in the meantime I have re-purchased the planes necessary to game twenty-one of these scenarios, replacing the metal castings with the crisp 3D prints from Flight Deck Decals and Table Top Flights (see HERE). Like the metal planes, which are mostly Raiden, the 3D prints will be painted by Miscellaneous Miniatures.

On the chart that follows, Rob's scenarios are named in black, the ones I have added are titled in green. In the chart itself appears red numbers for Egyptian Spitfires which means I do not have the data to indicate if the Spitfires used for those particular scenarios were Mark LF.IXc or Mark Vc (most likely the latter). I hope with the future release of a series of books from Helion & Company more information will come to light. 

I look forward to getting these scenarios fleshed out and play tested.

"Fixing" the MiG-15

I am digging this late war scheme used by Soviet pilots

Recently I was doing some research on muzzle velocities, rates of fire, projectile weights, and rounds carried for a few Korean War aircraft. While one does not want to bog down the simplicity of balance of the Check Your 6! Jet Age rules, the historical data is telling an interesting story. Comparative analysis shows some interesting facts about the MiG-15s armament when looked at in the context of other weapons, even its own.

The two versions of the 23mm cannon, the Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 and Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23, have the same projectile weights (6.2 ounces) and similar muzzle velocities (2300 and 2264 feet per second). What is interesting is the muzzle velocity of the 37mm N-37 is nearly the same, yet the 23mm cannons are rated as MC, while the 37mm cannon is rated as LVHC with a low rate of fire. The effective ranges for these guns are all around 600 yards, and with the same muzzle velocities they should all be rated as having a low velocity weapon. How to handle? One could rate the pair of 23mm cannons as LVC since the effective ranges are the same as the 37mm cannon, rated as LVHC in the rules with a six hex range. The penalty at medium range would be appropriate since the guns also had a wide dispersion and a decreased chance to hit at longer ranges. 

The rates of fire for the two type of 23mm Soviet cannon are lower than the .50 caliber and American 20mm cannon, but probably not enough so to make the 23mm a low ROF weapon, or only the earlier NS-23 version. The data comes in at 7.08 rounds per second (RPS) for the 37mm, and 9.17 RPS for the NS and 11.25 RPS for the NR versions of the 23mm. To compare, the .50 caliber is 20 RPS and the 20mmAN/M3 is 12.5 RPS. Okay, now I do think that the NS-23 should have a low rate of fire.

For the MiG-15s, I suggest the following revisions, which do not hinder game play:

The First Victory AAR

My pair of Yaks in lower left corner.

I hosted (and played) The First Victory scenario from the Check Your 6! Korean War scenario book this past weekend for the group. Alas, it was another one of those times in which I did not remember to take many pictures, but I can cobble together a bit of an after action report this go-around.

We had three North Korean players with a pair of Yak-9s each, facing off against three players flying a pair of F-80s (high cover) and three Twin Mustangs. The Yaks had a mission to get their aircraft of the edge of the board, although the scenario seems to be a bit confused on which edge and even with how the setup was described (Board Edges 1 and 2 do NOT intersect so one cannot set up their planes within ten hexes of that intersection), but we managed. The Yaks and Mustangs were pretty much on the deck, and with visibility only sixteen hexes it took a few turns for spotting range to be achieved. I made the players fly level and use only forward turn codes until a spotting check was passed. Then the fun began.

Denying Mustangs their due while the F-80s are in a futile chase.

We had four Korean Yaks line abreast (with a hex in between each) with my pair lying support a few hexes behind. One pair went for the deck with the goal of getting off the victory point edge while the other two players mixed it up with the Shooting Stars (once they came down to play) and Twin Mustangs. With mostly green crews on the board, shots were not easy to come by, but one F-82 shot down a Yak, evening the numbers. However, while the F-80s turned to chase the pair of Yaks screaming for the board edge, a series of maneuvers meant that the remaining Yaks were now engaged and unable to really break away. I placed my pair of Yaks with a couple of pretty good tail shots, but of course missed both. At that I had a chance to break for the victory point board edge as well, while the other engaged Yak finally meant his demise. The Shooting Stars could not get the first pair of Yaks, so some VPs were heading our way. I was able to slip around a few turns, knocking down a Shooting Star while giving the Twin Mustangs mostly deflection shots. On one turn the remaining F-80 decided to do a zero speed move in hopes of getting me in a shooting aspect, but a broke hard and the next turn that pilot failed his crew check. Being at Surface Low TAL 1, he crashed into the ground. I am counting that as a maneuver kill!

The end is nigh.

But now the F-82s were circling and one of my Yaks exposed its tail. BOOM! Down goes Frazier! A turn later my other Yak took an engine hit. We played about sixteen turns, and had some successful aircrew survival roles. Using the VP chart in the scenario book, the ending tally was:

Americans - 9 VPs

North Koreans - 8 VPs

Planes - Flight Deck Decals

Decals - a mix of Dom's, Flight Deck, and Sieben Schwaben Spiele.

Paints - all Vallejo except the red which is Army Painter Pure Red. NATO Black on the F-82s, aluminium on the F-80s, and Azure Blue on the Yaks.

Low on Ammo!

Our group seems to roll A LOT of doubles during game play. This causes many aircraft to run out of ammo and hence creates less than a perfect gaming experience. We've tried a house rule or two to address the frequency of our doubles conundrum, but haven't used them on a consistent basis. In all my reading, where there are certainly instances of running out of ammunition, or at least some guns running out while others still had rounds, it did not seem to happen as habitually as it does in our games. I was looking at the Ammo Depletion table recently, trying to figure out a way to reduce the amount of out of ammunition results while factoring in crew experience. What follows is a chart that I plan to try at a few upcoming games that I host.

When a second set of doubles has been rolled (or after the first fire box has been checked), it triggers an ammunition check. Using the same parameters for aircrew quality as on the Ammo Depletion table (meaning that a skilled aircrew has to check on doubles of 4 or higher, a veteran on 5 or higher, etc.), based on pilot skill the player will take an aircrew check and using the following table to determine the outcome. The numbers under each weapon type are the minimum numbers to roll in order to maintain that weapon type's ammunition supply. There are no die roll modifiers as aircrew quality has already been factored into the chart.

Example One: A veteran P-38 jock rolls his second set of doubles for the game, this time a pair of fives. This triggers an aircrew check on the table. The player rolls a 7 on his 2d6. Checking the Veteran row, this would result in his 20mm cannon being out of ammo, but his four .50 caliber HMGs are good to go. 

Example Two: A poor Chinese MiG-15 pilot has rolled his second set of doubles which triggers a check on the table. He rolls his 2d6 and the result is an 8. All guns are out of ammo. Had the result been an 11, then the two 23mm cannon would still be available, but the 37mm Sabre buster would be out of rounds.

Any check would be dependent upon what guns were used in the firing attack. If the type of gun(s) were not used, they are not impacted by a failed crew check.

Also, additional doubles means another aircrew check on the table, not an automatic out of ammo result. Therefore a plane could roll multiple doubles during the course of a game, but could continue to pass the checks and have some or all of its guns available.

GunVal Scenario

While the details are hazy, I was able to host a scenario featuring a pair of 20mm cannon equipped F-86 Sabres in the cold skies over MiG Alley recently (called Moore's Double Down and can be found on the Downloads page). The player running the 20mm Sabres had a lot of issues as he kept failing crew checks when firing the 20mm cannons, causing the Sabres to flameout, requiring additional crew checks to restart the engines. However, the American players did a number on the Soviet-piloted MiGs, even though outnumbered eight to six. The first four MiGs on the board did not wait for their reinforcements and instead went at the Americans, which allowed the Imperialist Yankees to swarm the four MiGs. By the time the next four MiGs were able to close in, the odds were not looking good. It was an overwhelming American victory!

No after action report this time as I waited too long to write it up and the feeble mind does not quite have all the details.

Miniatures - A mix of Raiden and GHQ
Game Mat - Deep Cut Studio with 1.75" hexes.

Back to the Pak!

As the New Year dawns upon mankind, the promise of renewed hope springs forth once again...(Monty Python voice over follows) Alright, enough of that tripe! 

Sabres, Gnats, and Mystères...oh my!

I have slowly been working on my Second India-Pakistan War miniatures from Flight Deck Decals. I am awaiting an order for some paints to go on the Hunters, but the Mystères, Gnats, and Sabres are to the point of just needing decals added. I am hosting a game next week and hope to have these completed in time - no worries if I don't as I already have metal minis from Raiden painted for this conflict. (see HERE and HERE for pictures of those planes). Why the switch to Flight Deck? See HERE for that decision. 

I have a pair of painted MSD Vampires that my buddy gave me, and in order to do one of the scenarios from the Crisis in Kashmir! scenario book I needed another pair, so I do have two more coming from Raiden. Eventually I will also order Vampires from Flight Deck as the MSD ones are not up to Flight Deck's level of quality, but for now I have done some touch up painting on the pair in hand and they will see service until their replacements have been acquired.

I have also used AI to see if there are more scenarios that can be created for this war. The answer is yes, AI yielded two additional scenarios - one of decent (five player) size with the Pakistani Sabres attacking a radar installation with rockets, one that is defended by Hunters and some flak. That will make a good game for the tabletop. The other AI generated scenario is a small night action and not suitable for a game. Here is now the full listing of 1965 scenarios by number of aircraft needed (red are the additional scenarios):

Removing the scenarios that utilize planes I do not own yields fourteen scenarios on the tabletop. I think that is probably enough for this war!