Arrows Over Bavaria

I know I have an addiction for Check Your 6! when I drop coin on painted planes that had very little service during Worlds War Two - in this case the Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (Arrow). Miscellaneous Miniatures had a schwarm of Arrows painted and ready to go, and after looking at them several times on the Misc. Minis website, I pulled the trigger. Oh, I have zero use for them, but I have been dealing with a little tension and anxiety of late, probably mixed in with a little depression, due to my father. The amount of tasks and chores I have to handle is rather overwhelming, and his house needs much attention in preparation for an auction for the goods in the house, and then readying for sale - and his place is a solid forty-five minute drive from the condo. Thank God that my wife has been fantastic throughout. Anyway, not a post for complaint, but I find myself buying more books and other things for gaming of late, a sure sign of compensation.

Because they were there

Back on track - I have worked up outlines for scenarios that feature the Dornier in action over Bavaria in mid to late 1945. The first scenario has been created, although it is rather sparse in detail (I'll work on that). It features the Lockheed F-80 vs. the Pfeil is a straightforward shoot 'em up.

Jet Age Dawning

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.

Korean War Planes Ready for the Table

A productive few days on the assembly line as I worked on finishing some planes I have had in various stages for a few months. These additions will allow me to game 24 out of 52 scenarios I have for the Korean War. 

F-80s - Vallejo Aluminium, Foundry Bavarian Cornflower Blue Shade 73C, Vallejo NATO Black, Army Painter Pure Red, Dom's Decals (national insignia), Flight Deck Decals (USAF). I will be adding some additional decals from Sieben Schwaben, such as plane numbers and some additional details.

Yak-9s - Vallejo UK Azure Blue, Foundry Bavarian Cornflower Blue Shade 73C, Army Painter Pure Red, Vallejo Natural Steel, Sieben Schwaben Spiele Decals.

F-82s - Vallejo NATO Black, Foundry Bavarian Cornflower Blue Shade 73C, Army Painter Pure Red, Vallejo Natural Steel, Dom's Decals (national insignia), Flight Deck Decals (USAF). While I used Vallejo Decal Softener there are still some cloudy parts on the decals. I've not had that issue before, and a second coat helped a bit, but did not solve the issue completely. I am thinking the black background is really bringing this defect to the fore.

Being colder outside, I cannot spray the planes with varnish (Army Painter Satin) on our balcony so I went with a brush coat of Vallejo Satin Acrylic Varnish. That provides a good protective layer while giving the planes just a hint of shine. For the F-82s, I went with a coat of Vallejo Gloss with a coat of satin as these night fighters had quite the sheen.

Plenty of more planes in the paint and decal queue, so more will be forthcoming.

Color Choices - Part I

While at times I do include in my posts what paint colors I use on my aircraft, I wanted to offer a short series of posts in which I do discuss some of my projects and the aircraft colors in greater detail. 

I prefer, when the colors match, to utilize the Vallejo Model Air series. While designed for airbrush work, I have found these paints are good for applications via brush if one is willing to apply two coats. Some of the other acrylics go on a tad too thick, causing some "gunkiness" and loss of detail. I have not experienced that when using the Model Air range, even when I have had to use several coats.

Before painting the planes I apply a coat of primer. I have used a variety of primers in the past, but have now settled on Tamiya's Fine Surface in light grey. It provides complete coverage with a light coat that seems to enhance the details on the model. 

Korean War

• Yak-9 - I hemmed and hawed on what to paint the North Korean Yaks for some weeks before I finally settled on UK Azure Blue (71.108). To be honest, it is probably a shade too dark and a shade too azure, but once I put decals on the planes, I really liked the end result.
• F-80 - One of my favorite colors for natural metal planes is Aluminium (71.062). Metallic paint is where the Model Air range really shines as my experience with most metallic paints yields a thick and gunky result. The aluminium goes on smooth, even with multiple coats.
• F-82 - As the F-82s were night fighters, I went with NATO Black (71.251) for the Twin Mustangs. It is a hair "lighter" than straight black, and while it took three coats (over light gray primer) there are no issues with loss of detail. 

In various stages of completion

1950s Jets

• Saab J 29 - I used Aluminium for these Swedish jets for the same reasons given above for the F-80s.
• FJ-4B Fury - The United States Navy had by the time of my scenario setting had gone to the scheme of upper surface and fuselage in Light Gull Gray (71.121) with under surfaces in Insignia White (71.279)
• MiG-15/MiG-17 - While I could have used Aluminium for the "silver darts" I decided to use...drum roll, please...Silver (71.063)...just to give the MiGs a slightly different look than the Saabs. However, there really is little visual difference between the two.

Need to get cracking and start adding decals

Works in Progress

As I become older I find that painting is actually becoming a bit of a calming release for me. Oh sure, my wife will tell you that on occasion she hears me spout out an expletive from the den as I fiddle with getting a decal in place or paint canopy frames, but overall I am starting to enjoy painting my own planes. Now, that being said, I am only working on simple schemes - more complex brushwork will still be sent off to Miscellaneous Miniatures or I-94, but of late, after having some success with 1/144 Great War planes last year, I have been working on a few 1/285 scale aircraft with some success and not a lot of swearing.

Before I forget, I do have an update from Kevin at MiscMinis on some commissioned work he is doing for me - here are the nearly finished Americans for an Aleutians scenario. 

Okay, now here are a few I have been working on.

The above are all Flight Deck prints. At the bottom are a Curtiss Hawk III and a P-26 (known as the Model 281 in Chinese service), painted in the base color for China in 1937. They need another coat of green, and I will need to add details such as tires, engine, and the tail stripes (the white is in place but needs another coat before adding the blue), and then Chinese roundels.

In the middle are the beginnings of my Wake Atoll collection. I decided that 1/600 is just too fiddly for my fingers to handle, so have transitioned into 1/285. The Wildcats and Buffaloes are complete, other than decals. Then I will need to start collecting a variety of Japanese aircraft. 

The top row are gap fillers. While I have a decent Korean War collection and can host numerous scenarios, I needed to buy more planes to run games involving the Yak-9P and the Shooting Star. The blue on the Yak is probably a hair too dark, but I like how it will stand out on the tabletop. The F-80, after priming, has a base coat of Vallejo aluminium which really looks great. Both of these types need details painted in, and then decals. 

Luft1946

The Germans were an innovative bunch, creating all sorts of far-out designs, perhaps assisted by off-world beings (yes, I am saying ALIENS!). No, seriously, look at some of the stuff they were designing and tell me they didn't have some sort of ethereal help. Now had they only raised and organized that brigade of Sasquatch....

Okay, I partially jest, but the German designs do make for some interesting what-if the war had continued scenarios. I have already talked about the Ta 183 (in this post), and have purchased a pair of Table Top Flights Yak-15s as potential opponents for the Hucklebeins. I might throw in some Me.262s and Su-9s (the 1946 Me.262 copies made by MSD Games). And let's not forget the American and British jets being designed, with the P-80 Shooting Star having two samples in Italy by war's end and the Gloster Meteor also in production. This could make a interestingly different sort of CY6 game, part Second World War, part Korea (but with better aircrew ratings for the "bad guys."). One issue would be movement charts - the Me.262 has a special one in Check Your 6!, and I guess one could just use the Check Your 6! Jet Age charts for the other aircraft.

Ratings are from a post on the Check Your 6! group

By using some of these what-if aircraft, it would be a way to introduce players into using jet aircraft with good speed and a real punch when it comes to firepower, but avoiding missiles, afterburners, and other rules that bog the game down a bit. More on this once I have some planes painted and put a scenario together.

A Visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force

I have been fortunate in many aspects of my life, with one of those fortunate aspects being my proximity to the National Museum of the United States Air Force (still known to me simply as the Air Force Museum).  The NMUSAF has been so within reach all these years that I have not appreciated the museum as I probably should, at least not until more recent times.  The museum has an amazing and ever expanding collection of aircraft as well as numerous displays.  I recently made a trip to see the Korean War gallery and take a few pictures to share with those readers of the blog who might not have had the chance to visit the museum.  Of course this trip was also for perusing their book store, which in its own right is an amazing place for air combat aficionados.  I did pick up two Osprey titles to expand my Korean air war library (F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War and F-86 Aces of the 51st Fighter Wing), and there were some other related items that looked good, but since I have been buying so many books and hobby "stuff" lately I held my eagerness in check a bit.

Here are the pictures from my quick trip:

Air War Korea - Part I

I am now the proud owner of three 1/285th scale F-86 Sabres and three MiG-15s (all Raiden Miniatures), courtesy of Zippy from The Miniatures Page. He had a pretty darn good deal on Bartertown that I stumbled across (not having been on that site for months I would say that finding his listing to be borderline karma). The deal also included two sheets of Dom's Decals, and four books (three dealing with the Sabre and one with the MiG-15). I was also able to grab a copy of Clash of Sabres from him as part of the deal. I had a copy of Clash of Sabres in a previous life, but a recent search in my boxes of gaming rules proved to be futile.

After picking up these new gems from Zippy, I hustled to Dayton to join in a Check Your 6! game at The Hobby Shop. I had reservations about playing CY6 as the first and only time I had tried CY6 I had some real issues with how the rules worked, but that was because I had a green pilot in a fighter being outfought by an ace in a dive bomber, which didn't make a lot of sense to me at the time. Therefore I had some trepidation about using those rules again. However, after a few turns running a flight of F-84s, launching some successful rocket attacks against a North Korean airfield, being blasted by anti-aircraft guns, and seeing how the MiG-15s seem to rule the skies from a firepower perspective, I did find myself enjoying the rules much more than my first experience. I still have a lot to turn about planning my moves, especially when it comes to climbing and diving, but it was a good second exposure to CY6 and I do look forward to participating in more CY6 games.

That said, I am also going to give a thorough look at Clash of Sabres. Movement is simpler as CoS uses turn gauges, the current speed of the aircraft determining the gauge to be used (slower speeds use a tighter turning gauge). I'll have to see have altitude and combat resolution works, but wouldn't mind getting the CY6 gang together to see what they think about Clash of Sabres.

I have placed an order with I-94 Enterprises for the Check Your Six! Korean War supplement along with one each of the Raiden F-86, MiG-15, and F-84. I plan on grabbing a few other planes from the war, most likely the F-80 Shooting Star and perhaps a few U.S. Navy planes as well (the Grumman F9F Panther is one sweet looking bird). Of course there are the prop planes, holdovers from World War Two, but they were mostly used in the ground attack role, and my initial plan is to start with air-to-air combat. Looks like I will need a few Soviet-made prop planes for the early portion of the war (La-9s and -11s, and Yak-9s). MSD Games make the La-9 (as does Scotia Collectair), GHQ makes the Yak-9 but finding the La-11 seems to be more of an exercise in futility. However, having the La-9 and Yak-9 should be a decent start for the early war period.

I've also ordered some GHQ and MSD MiG-15s and GHQ F-86s to see how they compare to the Raiden ones I have. Comparison pictures will be part of an upcoming blog post!

Welcome!

The first post on this new adventure, the Korean War! I will be posting blog entries on an occasional basis that will deal with gaming the war in miniature, along with other tidbits I find interesting. On the miniatures side, the land war will be in 15mm, small unit level, while the air war will be gamed in 1/285th (1/300th) scale. As this is a brand new gaming project, there are a lot of decisions to be made about miniatures and rules, but I do have some ideas in hand.

My Korean War knowledge is slim so I grabbed a few titles from my local Half Price Books and am working my way through them. My father missed Korea, having served in the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s where he was stationed in Germany as part of an armored cavalry regiment. So I do not have any direct connection or reason to have a strong interest in the war, other than it isn't gamed often, the air war saw the first widespread use of jets, and of those jets I really am a fan of the F-80 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre. I also think that the M26 Pershing is one sweet looking tank. Are those valid or enough reasons for gaming the Korean War?  Damn right they are!

For the land war, there are various companies making Korean War figures, and of course many World War Two ranges can be used. I would almost go with 10mm for this project, but to my knowledge there is only one company (Pithead Miniatures) making 10mm Chinese and none making North Koreans or Allied forces in winter gear, while there are some ranges existing in 15mm. The larger scale of these battles (compared to some of my more modern projects) would lend itself more readily to 10mm, and there are rumors that Pendraken will be making a Korean War range, and that Pithead will be expanding their range, but until those figures are forthcoming 15mm will be the direction I most likely will head. As I am going to work on the air portion of the war first, I do have some time to wait to see if these additional rumored 10mm miniatures are indeed placed into production.

In 15mm there are enough existing figures to put together small unit actions. Quality Castings (part of Old Glory 15s) make Chinese in winter gear, North Koreans in summer uniform, and other forces can be put together from their World War Two range. I have always had a soft spot for the Quality Castings figures as they were some of their first World War Two 15mm figures I ever painted. While some of the poses and details might be a tad dated compared to more recent lines, they still hold up fairly well. I do have an order placed with Eureka (the USA shop) for the North Koreans to see how they look, and will probably order some of the other ranges to see if they blend well together.

For the air war, I am purchasing some 1/285th MiG-15s and F-86 Sabres from a local gamer, along with four air war books and some Dom's Decals. I am not sure who the manufacturer of the planes might be, but I did order some of the Raiden Miniatures via I-94 Enterprises today so I hope I will be able to compare them and determine what manufacturer the local gamer's planes are.

Rules - For the land war these are yet to be determined, but I do have a copy of the Korean War Data Book coming from Olde Dominion GameWorks (ODGW) for their Mein Panzer rules. For air combat some of my gaming friends use Check Your 6! rules from SkirmishCampaigns so I ordered the Korean War supplement today as well. I have only gamed CY6! one time before, years ago, and did not come away with fond memories, but am willing to give it another go before making a final decision on rules.

There will be more to come over the next several days (pictures of minis, etc.) so be certain to check out the blog regularly and leave comments from time to time!