Back to the 'Nam

After hosting (and getting to play as well) a Check Your 6! Jet Age game the other night, it has me thinking about getting into another jet age period, but something later than the 1950s things I have. I do have a decent collection of miniatures for the Second India-Pakistan War, but missiles and radar are rather limited in scope for that conflict, and I would like to "master" the more advanced rules and the aircraft that use them. I created some roughly framed scenarios for early Vietnam, and about a dozen for the 1982 Lebanon War, so there are plenty of opportunities and possibilities to get into an era that would require the understanding of radar lock-ons, ECW, and advanced missiles. I also have several outlined scenarios for the Second Taiwan Crisis, but that is basically the Korean War with some crappy missiles. 

Other guys in our group have 1956, 1967, and 1973 Arab-Israeli collections, so I do not want to duplicate efforts there. The Falklands are fairly covered as well. I am pretty certain no one is doing the Lebanon War, so that would bring something new to the table. But even in 1/300 scale, those beautiful Flight Deck Decals planes run four to five dollars each, and then there is the painting of advanced camouflage schemes. While my painting skills are improving of late, not certain if a lot of camo is in my future.

VF-211 Crusader. Later VF-211 served on the USS Bon Homme Richard

I keep heading back to Vietnam, although what I am looking at are early war years featuring the F-8 Crusader and MiG-17s and MiG-21s. The missiles are crappy, but radar starts to become a thing. Planes are easy - for the sixteen scenarios that feature just the F-8 I would only need four Crusaders, five MiG-17s, and four MiG-21s (if one does not mind using one model to cover the same basic airframe). If I add in four Skyhawks I increase the number of scenarios I could game to twenty.

Skyhawk from VA-76, USS Bon Homme Richard

I can handle painting Navy aircraft with the dull gray and insignia white scheme. Decals are covered by Miscellaneous Miniatures for specific Crusader and Skyhawk squadrons. Actually, that might be the hold up as those decal sheets mean adding something like a dozen or more decals to each plane! However, with the need for only four F-8s and four A-4s, I guess I could suffer adding a slew of decals. The MiGs are more decal friendly with just the North Vietnam national insignia and a BORT number needed. Painting them, however, would be a bit more of a challenge - early in the war many were simply in their natural metal, but then camo schemes started to appear. But I think the simple all metal versions might be the direction I take.

So, here on Christmas Day, I have ordered the planes and decals needed to eventually game these scenarios:

A Pair of Jet Age Scenarios

Not that I own any planes for the Falklands conflict, but as my buddy Matt does game this war, I was able to cobble together a pair of scenarios to add to the five that are present in the Check Your 6! Jet Age rules. These are actual events, not some of my hypothetical creations, so I hope folks will get some enjoyment from having another pair of scenarios that feature the Israeli Aircraft Industries Dagger, which is the export version of the Israeli Nesher, which in turn is a modified French Mirage 5.

The scenarios are on my Downloads page. 

Thoughts on CincyCon

Heading to Israel, albeit slowly

I have only been to a couple of CincyCons in the past, which is a fairly large and very well organized convention in greater Cincinnati. It has moved locations a few times over the years, but for the last last several editions has found a consistent location at the Butler County Fairgrounds in nearby Hamilton. The facility is large, with plenty of parking, and good lighting for gaming. This is also a wide variety of vendors and a flea market. The historical pickings are a little thin, but I-94 made it to the convention, and I know a few of us spent some shekels with them. Having plenty of unpainted planes already I only picked up a scenario book (the well done Under Southern Skies). My other money was spent on some food, which is also another nice aspect of CincyCon - there is a kitchen in the main gaming hall and so food can be purchased onsite at very reasonable prices.

There were plenty of historical games going on, but seemingly not enough gamers to fill them - I might suggest they reduce the number of historical games a tad so as to allow the remaining ones to fill. But that is a concern that is beyond my purview - although as a gamemaster I would want a good amount of gamers in my event.

This year saw at least five Check Your 6! games - including one I hosted and two others in which I was a participant. Alas, I did not take many pictures. I planned on waiting to see how many gamers I had play before putting together a scenario, having brought all my 1948 Arab-Israeli aircraft. Since we had four of us, including myself we just selected an aircraft, and so in the first game (we had time to play twice) I took a C-47 escorted by a Hawker Fury to bomb an Israeli airfield. Flying a C-47 is an exercise in the mundane, but I was able to get to the airfield and make a bomb run, which failed to hit. I took an engine hit while moving to the field. The turn following I purposely made an extreme turn, and caused myself go out of control, at Surface Low CAB and TAL 2! My plan was to crash into the field, but I passed the aircrew check and recovered. Yikes. At that point we called the game.

An Avia S-199

And the rarely used Beaufighter

Closing in to bomb the airfield...get that Avia away from me!

Engine hit taken, bombs released, time to get out!

The second go 'round saw a pair of Israeli Spits against a Hawker Fury and a Macchi C.205. The Egyptians soon made sheep stew out of the Spitfires, while having lower quality pilots the superior agility of the Fury and the Macchi helped negate the difference in crew quality.

One Spitfire downed, and the second in my sights...

I played an unsuccessful 1956 Arab-Israeli game, commanding a pair of MiG-15s for a few turns before getting blown out of the sky. In the evening game (Foxtrot 4 from the Check Your 6! Jet Age book) I had a pair of Skyhawks. One took a Sidewinder in the arse, but the other jettisoned its bombs and became basically a fighter, shooting down a veteran Harrier. Alas, the Brits still won the game on points.

Skyhawks over the Falklands

Overall, I would return to CincyCon as a GM - the $30.00 weekend fee being too rich for me to game with the same guys I can game with for free at the local game stores (which is also probably why many gamers I know did not attend). Offering a Saturday only fee might be a way to generate more attendance. Also, perhaps offer a $5.00 shopping badge to help get some money to the vendors. Also, I think putting all the Check Your 6! games on a pair of tables in front of the I-94 booth would be a good way to promote the game while also helping I-94 sell their products. Regardless, this is a well organized convention and the location works well, so consider making it to CincyCon next year!

Sea Mat

Buying a gaming mat these days leads to quite a few rabbit holes, due to the vast amount of options currently available. Used to be one bought some felt at the local fabric store, then that permeated into buying Geohex mats, then Geohex terrain pieces, and that covered the gaming needs for a number of years. But more recently one can buy mats on fleece or mousepad material or PVC, beautifully printed. One could also use various sign making companies and upload an image for the company then to produce a mat printed on banner material. Then, does one want hexes or no? All sorts of decisions to be made.

To use with my Figurehead Great War ships, mounted on Warbases custom bases, for the Coronel and Falklands scenarios, I spent a few hours weighing options at various online retailers. Cost would be a primary factor as I did not want to spend too much on a mat, but still wanted to have a nice looking and functional surface. To that end I went with a PVC mat from Deep Cut Studio.  

I placed my order on a Sunday afternoon (U.S. time). The website is easy to use. Find the mat you want, pick a material, pick a size, add to cart, and checkout with PayPal or a credit card. My 6' by 4' mat was $72.00 which included included overseas shipping.

I received my mat on January 24th, the Friday following my order. During the process I received updates about shipping with a FedEx tracking number. A Sunday to Friday turnaround time is really amazingly fast from Europe to the United States! The mat came in a long tube, which I should be able to use when the mat is being stored.

I am very happy with how the mat looks with my Warbases custom blue bases. Now, time to determine rules and to host this game at a local shop!

Coronel and Falklands Ships - Based and Ready

Using tacky glue I have been able to base the various ships for the Coronel and Falklands battles. I am just waiting for my Deep Cut Studio mat to arrive to see how well these blue tinted bases from Warbases will look on the gaming table. I am really looking forward to running some games with these little beauties! Now I need to sort out a simple set of rules!

Basing

It is time to get these Figurehead ships for Coronel and the Falklands (picked up from Tiny Tin Troops) on their newly acquired bases! I recently received my custom bases from Warbases, each base etched with the name of the ship. Should make it easy for players to know which ship is which, while not being as intrusive as a print out of the name. The blue color of the base will blend nicely with the gaming mat as well. 

Now, next quest, to find a glue that will not cause any hazing or smoking of the base itself, just in case I get a little glue beyond the miniature itself!

And the other next quest, a nice sea mat to game on!

UPDATE - Per the suggestion of some on a gaming forum, I've tried some tacky glue on the Scharnhorst to see if it will hold decently enough for game play. Checking it after a night of drying, the ship is firmly in place. Thus, the basing glue conundrum has been solved.

Hot Damn - Been Waiting for These!

A few weeks ago Tiny Tin Troops had a post on one of the gaming sites, selling the complete and painted ships for the Battles of Coronel and Falklands, in 1/6000 scale. I thought the pricing was very reasonable, so reached out and bought these little gems from them. Today the ships arrived in the post, in wonderful condition, and now I cannot wait to get them on the table...once I secure a sea mat.

I really love the paint jobs, and really the small scale of the ships will be a bit more visually in scale on the tabletop.

I already had these fleets in 1/1800 from Topside Minis, which are printed ships on decal paper that one affixes to wooden bases, but when I saw painted minis for practically nothing, I had to jump on them. Now, where DID I put that copy of General Quarters II?