New Toys

Admittedly I have been on a bit of a painted aircraft buying spree of late. If Misc Minis would stop offering painted planes, then I would stop buying them! The most recent additions were a trio of planes I needed for Burma, and a plane I did not need at all! 

In proper CY6! shotai formation

Let's start with the planes for Burma. Here we have a shotai of beautifully painted Nakajima Ki-44 Shōki, known as Tojo to the Allies. These crisp 3D printed fighters (manufacturer unknown) are in a pair of scenarios ("Putting the Squeeze on Rangoon" and "Birthday Surprise") from Battles Above 3 (where one can find their ratings as well*), and needing only three for both scenarios it was a perfect time to snag them. Hmmm, now I have a surplus as I already have a shotai of unpainted Tojos...but that's the way that it is (thanks, Uriah Heep - the band, not Dickens).

And the plane I did not need at all...drum roll, please...the Blohm & Voss BV 138 Seedrache (Sea Dragon). Yeah, I had ZERO need for this one, but it called out to me, singing its siren, or in this case, dragon song, "buy me, buy me," and so I did. I believe it might be an MSD Games model, and one of their betters ones if so. I created a few scenario outlines that feature this plane, and the scenarios are very small encounters, typically being one player for each side. This would make some interesting (code for different) gaming I think, especially the flying boat vs. flying boat encounter I have some details on. There are no aircraft stats that I know of so I will be creating my own (UPDATE: I went ahead and did create stats: F2 + 0 Lx, 3/26, R3, F: 1xLVC, R: 1xLVC (but only may fire at targets at same or higher TAL), RT: 1xHMG, SR: 1xLMG). It sucks, but it is a flying boat, so there's that.

The Beast Rabban...I mean the BV 138

Hmmm, now I need to buy opponents for the BV!

*A fairly meh but fast C5 + 2 29/46 R0 FF: 2xHMG, 2xLMG for the Ia model, adding in Hx for the IIb and going to FF: 4xHMG. Actually, not bad, but that robustness, aye yi yi!

Commission Time

I am 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 on the tabletop and the blog.

The Commissioned Projects - Part VI

From the Wardrawings site

Next up, completing the Burma project. I recently received an order from Table Top Flights that will allow me (once the planes have been painted)  to host six different scenarios from a variety of sources (the core rules, Battles Above 3, and one additional scenario found on the Check Your 6! discussion group). Focusing solely on fighters as the prospect of having a dozen bombers on the tabletop does not excite me.

I am adding three Ki-44 Shoki (Devil Queller), two Curtiss Hawk Model 81A-2 (known to most of us as the P-40B/C), six Ki-27, two Hurricanes, and three P-40E models. This will provide, along with the existing planes I have already for Burma, all the aircraft needed for the following scenarios:

With these planes getting ready to ship off, once completed they will give me all the Burma I need!

Burma!

Yesterday I hosted a Check Your 6! game at the local gaming store (if a 50 minute drive is considered local), using the Burmese Buffalo Hunt scenario found on the CY6 forum with a few minor changes. It was a fun challenge for both sides as the scenario takes place in the rain and fog and visibility is drastically reduced. Also, the Hurricanes of 17 Squadron have their long range fuel tanks still attached, severely impacting their speed and maneuverability.

Nine Nates faced off against three pairs of Allied aircraft - Hawk 81s of the American Volunteer Group's 1st Squadron, Buffalos of the British 67 Squadron, and the aforementioned Hurricanes. It was interesting to watch the player's morale ebb and flow with the game. After spotting the Buffaloes, and having a set of the three Nates drop down from above just a few hexes away from them, the Japanese players continued to place hits on the Brewsters, but the robustness of the Buffalo coupled with the two light machineguns of the Nates meant that the Buffalos were not going anywhere for some time. However, the tide began to turn a bit with one of the Buffalos taking damage and the other receiving a lucky hit, impacting its fuel. By this time the slow climbing and slow moving Hurricanes, along with the faster Hawks, made their way into the fry, but the Nates were able to react and drive off the Allies. If memory serves me correctly, one Nate was shot down and one damaged, with the Allies suffering the loss of a Buffalo, the other damaged, a Hurricane shot down, and a Hawk likewise. Several of the Nate ran out of ammo during the course of the game (I believe four in total, but it was still an overall Japanese victory. I probably should have balanced the players a bi more as the Japanese side all had experienced gamers, while the Allies had one experienced gamer, one who had played CY6 a few times, and one who had never played.

All the planes were painted by Miscellaneous Miniatures.

Mat - Hotz Mats

Planes - Raiden

Commission Work in Hand!

Kevin at Miscellaneous Miniatures reached out to me recently let me know that he was once again doing commission work, and of course I just happened to have planes sitting about waiting to be painted! I sent him two small Check Your 6! projects, those being Pearl Harbor and Burma. The Pearl Harbor scenario you can find on the Downloads page above, and the Burma planes will allow me to do a few scenarios from the Battles Above Pacific scenario book. Here are some pictures of Kevin's work (and these pictures do not do justice...the planes are so much cleaner looking in person).

Flying Tiger Project:

Pearl Harbor Project (my buddy Matt has the Japanese covered):

And the details on the undersides of two of the planes:

These two projects are now complete, short of adding magnets.

Kevin offers high quality paintjobs at affordable prices. The planes for these two projects were $5.00 each.

Shipping Planes for Painting!

Today I mailed off a few Raiden planes to have painted by Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures. Kevin had contacted me via the Wings of Glory Aerodrome to let me know that he was doing commission work once again, and so of course I was ecstatic to hear that great news. Kevin has painted some beautiful planes for me in the past, including my 1948 Arab-Israeli War collection.

Today's shipment included two projects - Burma and Pearl Harbor - for the former Ki-27s, Hawk 81s, Brewster Buffalos, and Hawker Hurricanes, and for the latter P-40s and P-36s. With what I am having painted for Burma I will be able to host three scenarios and for the Pearl project I will be able to do the Second Strike scenario with my friend Matt (he is handling the Japanese side of things).

I am really looking forward to seeing how these planes will turn out, as well as finally getting some scenarios for Burma on the table as I have had the unpainted castings sitting in a box for a few years now!

Mat - Deep Cut Studio