And More New Toys

As part of my new Spanish Civil War project, I ordered small batches of a few needed planes from both Flight Deck Decals and Table Top Flights. From Flight Deck came three I-15s, three Arado Ar 68s, three I-16 Type 10s, and mistakenly (because I might have been ordering while I was at work), one Tupolev Tu-2, which has nothing to do with the Iberian Peninsula! I had to double check my order for the Arado, thinking maybe I pulled another bone-head move and ordered the 1/200 scale as that plane is a beast compared to the diminutive Soviet fighters - no, the Arado is simply a beast! 

I-15

I-16 Type 10

Arado Ar 68

From Table Top I sourced three I-16 Type 5s, three Nieuport NiD-52s, three Breguet XIXs, and six Heinkel He 51s, the latter being my initial prime focus for the Legion Condor scenarios I am working up (and four appear on the Downloads page).

Breguet XIX

NiD-52

The Type 5 I-16

Heinkel!

Spanish Civil War Update

Quick post but now there are three Spanish Civil War scenarios plus the stats needed to game the Legion Condor scenarios I am focusing on. These can be found on the Downloads page under the Spanish Civil War section. My initial focus will be on developing the scenarios that feature the Heinkel He 51, which rules the skies against the early Republican fighters, held even with the I-15, but struggled mightily against the I-16 (although the skilled German pilots did have some success even against the speedy I-16).

Downloads

Prepping for the Condor Legion Scenarios

Moving into the realm of buying aircraft for the Spanish Civil War...

While the scenario list I have created includes a huge number of aircraft, I am not looking to go into yet another massive project. To that end, I have placed a couple of orders, more like sample orders, to review some of the cool aircraft that can be found in the Spanish Civil War.

From Dan at Flight Deck Decals I have on order three Arado Ar 68s, three Polikarpov I-15s, and three Polikarpov I-16 Type 10s. I forgot to order Tupolev SB-2s but will do so in the near future.

From Mike at Table Top Flights I have ordered three Polikarpov I-16 Type 5s, three Nieuport NiD-52s, three Breguet XIXs, and six Heinkel He 51s. These fill in the gaps that Flight Deck does not cover. 

My focus will most likely be on scenarios that feature the Heinkel – I just find it to be neat plane even though it was not a great performing one.

Once these arrive I will write a post to review the miniatures and include pictures.

Spanish Civil War - Scenarios

Galland in his Heinkel He 51

It's back! The interest in the Spanish Civil War, as yet another obscure gaming project, has made a return. Part of the reason is I started playing, albeit very poorly, War Thunder, and have been using a Heinkel He 51. Yes, long time followers of this blog might have noticed that several years ago I had posted some wonderfully painted Spanish Civil War planes, but I had traded that collection for some Korean War aircraft (and yes, regret is a rearward looking trait) and sold off my research materials. But now, the urge, the itch as it were, has returned and Amazon is winging four books my way, and AI has helped me create a slew of potential scenario outlines featuring the Legion Condor.

Granted, several of the scenarios on the chart are HUGE, and I will need to scale them down significantly for gaming purposes. I will also be creating what I hope to be a very complete and accurate listing of aircraft data for Check Your 6! Most likely I will scale the speeds as SCW aircraft, for the most part, are slow and slow aircraft have a tendency to accumulate in about a one foot square of gaming surface.

For now, I have created one scenario featuring Adolf Galland, entitled Galland's Carpet, found on the Downloads page. 

The What If War

Yep, I have a hankering! 

In 1937 Europe was unsettled, to say the least. The rise of Germany was on the near horizon and it was unknown to the other European powers what Germany's impact would be on future events. Austria was still "free" although the Austrian socialists were making strides towards controlling the country (with a little shove called German annexation in March 1938). There were some rumblings of the Germans and Czechs having a bit of a "have at you" as well. Using this unsettled setting as a background, I wanted to create a biplane encounter, using some planes not often seen on the tabletop, and appearing in eye appealing schemes. 

The setting is late 1937 with the Austrians causing some angst among the Czechs by repeated violations of Czechoslovakian air space by the CR.32s of the Austrian Luftstreitkräfte. The Czechs have been hesitant to do more than protest as they have concerns of a larger conflict that would see Germany supporting Austria. However, on a beautiful fall day over the Vltava River the Czechs had had enough and scrambled fighters to intercept the latest Austrian incursion.

Austria - The Austrians had as their main fighter the Fiat CR.32. I just love the Austrian roundel over top a gray or natural metal scheme and have been looking for an excuse to buy a sheet of Austrian decals (which might wind up on some Tunnans as well). As Table Top Flights make the CR.32 in 1/285, grabbing a flight (or two) of these will be a no-brainer. However, does anyone know what constituted an Austrian flight?

Czechoslovakia - And now I can get some double duty from my Slovak-Hungarian War Avia B-534s! Or, it gives me an excuse to order more! I am asking Flight Deck Decals to scale some of these for me in 1/285. I know the Czechs used three-plane formations, so three flights of these will do nicely, thank you very much.

Germany - Okay, I should use an early model of the Bf 109, but I miss the Heinkel He 51s I used to have for the Spanish Civil War (traded them years ago) and want more! And I really like the above scheme, the medium blue speaks to my Bavarian roots. Like the Czechs, the Germans were using three-plane formations, so as a support to the Austrians, I might just grab three of the Heinkels. Again, I am having Flight Deck scale these to 1/285.

The good news is that all three antagonists have paint schemes that I should be able to pull off myself.

I have created a scenario (well, you KNOW I was going to) in which the aggressor (the Austrians) intentionally violates Czech airspace to embarrass the Czechs, with the Czechs unexpectedly responding in force, and with the Germans coming to the Austrians rescue. Check the Downloads page for the Violence over the Vltava scenario.

Check Your 6! Updates

A bit of a summary, mostly for my own later reference, but some of the projects I am toying with for Check Your 6!

Spanish Civil War - I have a few Heinkel He 51s, Bf 109s, and now with my friend's collection, some CR.32s. I need some more bad guys to go against them.  I do have four I-16s painted up, but in Soviet markings.

German-Czech What If - Just got my order for eight Avia B-534s from MSD, and I plan on buying some early mark Bf.109s to go against them, but I still need to find a few period German bombers to add in. Most of the German bombers on the market that were round in 1938 are later period versions, and so a bit incorrect.

Romanian-Soviet Front - I like the Heinkel He 112, a lot. While there were only a few made (less than 100) it is still a cool looking bird. There is a neat encounter in June, 1941 in which Romanian He 112s are strafing a Soviet airfield while the I-16s based on the field are taking off. Turns into a hairball of a fight, with a dozen Heinkels facing upwards of thirty Ratas. Rating the He 112 is a bit of a bear, seemingly a tad slower than the Bf 109B, less agile, but more maneuverable, I think I would rate the 112 as follows:  A4+1, with a robustness of 1, and armed with FF: 2xLVC, 2xLMG. This would make them a tad better than the I-16, with a better punch for armament, which should help a bit with the number disparity. I already have four I-16s painted in Soviet colors, but would need to order some Heinkels from MSD along with a slew more of the Ratas.

American Volunteer Group - I've always liked their story, and with the addition of several scenarios in one of the Check Your 6! books that was released recently, there are now something like fifteen scenarios published that include the Tigers. I have no aircraft for this project.

Wake Island - Another one of those stories that pull me in again and again. However, while I look the look of those Marine Wildcats at Wake, after the initial Japanese bombing attack, only four remained, and they faced Mavis flying boats after the initial attack. I can't see buying a ton of flying boats for one project - they are expensive! Perhaps I can do something from the Cactus Air Force scenario book as I do like the look of those early Wildcats!