I have been on a bit of a buying tear, and I really need to
slow down! My first order from The Miniatures Marketplace consisted of four
Vultee Vengeance attack aircraft, six Rogožarski IK-3 (or IKZ) fighters, a
pair of Messerschmitt Bf 109D models to use for Swiss, and a single Mitsubishi
Ki-15 “Babs” for a Darwin scenario. The Miniatures Marketplace has a large offering of planes (444 as of this posting), and can print most of them in numerous scales (which can vary from plane to plane, but 1/285 seems to be available for all). The interwar list contains thirty-six aircraft and helps fill in some of the Spanish Civil War and Sino-Japanese War planes that are not readily available from other companies. Pricing is on the high side, with single seat fighters running $4.50 to nearly $5.00, but one can receive price breaks when ordering in quantity. Bombers are very costly, with a B-24G running a whopping $21.17 (compared to $8.00 from Table Top Flights and $10.71 on the Flight Deck site). Also, one will find planes listed under the 18th and 19th Century lists - an obvious error.
A pretty good Vultee Vengeance
The Ki-15, known in Japanese Navy service as the Mitsubishi C5M
The Messerschmitt Bf 109D, known to the Swiss as the Me 109 Jumo
Compared to a Raiden Bf 109E
The least detailed print of the bunch, the Rogožarski IKZ
And compared to a Leading Edge version - I prefer the Leading Edge model
As one can see, the detail on these 3D prints is decent. The quality of the material is between Flight Deck Decals and Table Top Flights - fairly soft, pliable, with good detail (but the details are not as evident as they are on FDD).
Take a look at The Miniatures Marketplace for those odd planes that the others do not print, but be aware of the costs, particularly when it comes to larger aircraft.
Most likely these are just the first wave of Japanese....
Another previously started project checked off. I had much of the work already completed, but had to do a little paint touch up and then add decals before applying varnish. A fairly easy project, although painting 1/285 scale struts on the Aichis wasn't a pleasant time. And, once I started putting on the varnish, I found several spots to touch up with paint!
Planes - Flight Deck Decals (1/285).
Paints - Vallejo Model Air Aluminium (71.062), Army Painter Warpaint Pure Red mixed with Vallejo Model Color Carmine Red (70.908), Vallejo Model Air NATO Black (71.251), Foundry Bavarian Cornflower Blue (Shade 73C).
Decals - Flight Deck Decals.
These planes are featured in my "Melee Over the Mausoleum" scenario, found HERE.
The three scenario booklets I have been teasing the last couple of weeks are now available in both print (staple and coil bound) and pdf format for those wanting to download. The print versions are on lulu.com while the pdfs can be found on Wargames Vault. Links for both these sites are to the left.
Over the next few months I will be working on more scenario booklets, with Nomonhan, Spanish Civil War, Sino-Japanese, Taiwan Crisis, East Africa, 99th Fighter Squadron (think early "Red Tails"), Operation Torch, Aleutians, and the American 49th Fighter Group over Darwin all as possibilities. The 49th Fighter Group has all the scenarios created (I need to update the formatting a bit but there are a dozen scenarios ready to go) and I would need to add the background and other relevant gaming info to make a complete booklet, or I can start taking various theaters and placing them into scenario books without worrying about publishing specialized topics.
Regardless of the direction I take, I am happy and a bit taken aback about the support the first three booklets have received in just a few days. As previously stated, the goal is not to make money, to to offer more scenarios for gamers to (hopefully) enjoy!
I have been playing around a lot lately with ChatGPT, focusing on taking primary Civil War sources and creating things like timelines and micro histories. Today I took a chance to see if AI would create scenarios for Check Your 6! Son of a b...., it does!
Of course like most anything good data in means good data out. I uploaded a pair of Sino-Japanese War scenarios I had created, along with aircraft data for some of the early planes used during the conflict, and asked for the app to create additional scenarios for that war. ChatGPT will then spit out all sorts of things, and then make suggestions. One can go high level with a faster response time, deeper thinking which will provide more accurate details, or a deeply researched dive. One can tell ChatGPT to use online resources as well. Here is an example of a scenario that AI created:
Scenario 1 – Peashooters Over Nanking
SETTING
Date: 15 August 1937, 1330 hours Location: Approaches to Nanking, China
History:
With the ground war surging toward the Chinese capital, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Kisarazu Air Group sent twenty Mitsubishi G3M “Nell” bombers to strike Nanking. Eight Boeing Model 281 “Peashooter” fighters of the 3rd Pursuit Group’s 17th Squadron scrambled from Chuyung airfield and intercepted a portion of the bomber stream. In the running fight that followed, the Boeings helped destroy several G3Ms without loss, marking one of the earliest successful monoplane-vs-monoplane interceptions of the war.
Conditions:
Max/Auto Visibility: 20/10
Sun: None
CAB: MEDIUM and MEDIUM BOTTOM
Clouds: Table Clouds: none; Cloud Border: none
Chinese Orders:
Achieve more victory points than the opponent.
Japanese Orders:
Achieve more victory points than the opponent. National Move Order advantage.
Game Length:
No limit (game ends once all Japanese bombers have exited or been destroyed).
SCENARIO SET-UP
Map: Standard 45 × 30 hex map (Areas A–F, Edges 1–6 as in your existing scenarios).
814 Day
Japanese bomber axis: Bombers enter from Board Edge 2 and must exit off Board Edge 5.
Chinese fighter axis: Chinese fighters may enter from Board Edge 4 or Board Edge 6.
Place a city target (Nanking) as a 6-hex built-up area straddling the border between Areas C and D, at least 8 hexes from Board Edge 2.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA AIR FORCE
Elements of the 3rd Pursuit Group, 17th Pursuit Squadron (Chuyung)
All aircraft are Boeing Model 281 (use your CY6 stats from the sheet/rules).
1 × Boeing Model 281 w/ veteran (+2) aircrew (flight leader; you can use John “Buffalo” Huang or another historical pilot if you like).
3 × Boeing Model 281 w/ skilled (+1) aircrew
2 × Boeing Model 281 w/ green (+0) aircrew
Set-up:
Chinese set up second.
Start in three sections of two aircraft each in Area E, at least 6 hexes from the city, heading north-east at Speed 3, MEDIUM CAB, TAL 5.
Set up first in shotai formation in Area B, within 5 hexes of the Edge 2/3 corner, heading south-west toward Nanking at Speed 2, MEDIUM BOTTOM CAB, TAL 4.
Reinforcements:
Second Shotai
3 × Mitsubishi G3M w/ skilled (+1) aircrew
Enter on Turn 1d4 along Board Edge 2, in shotai formation, heading south-west at Speed 2, MEDIUM BOTTOM CAB, TAL 4.
Straggler
1 × Mitsubishi G3M w/ green (+0) aircrew
Enter on Turn 1d4+2 along Board Edge 3, heading south-west at Speed 2, MEDIUM BOTTOM CAB, TAL 3.
VARIABLE RULES
1–3 Early Warning:
Chinese fighters may start at Speed 4 instead of 3, and one green (+0) aircrew is upgraded to skilled (+1).
4–10 None
SCENARIO RULES
City Target:
Each G3M must plot a straight-line bombing run so that it passes over at least one hex of the Nanking city area before exiting.
A G3M that successfully attacks any city hex (per CY6 bombing rules) earns the Japanese player 4 Victory Points.
Formations:
All G3M shotai must fly level and remain in formation until:
any bomber in that shotai is fired upon, or
the shotai passes completely over the city target.
Once broken, bombers may maneuver freely.
Chinese Interception:
Chinese sections deploy already climbed to altitude, but must plot forward turn codes and fly level on their first turn (they are diving to intercept and just sight the bombers as the scenario begins).
After the first turn, fighters maneuver normally.
Bomb Jettison:
Any G3M that takes its first Damaged result must pass a crew check or jettison its bombload, losing the ability to score bombing VPs but regaining full maneuver freedom.
Friendly Airspace:
All board areas are friendly to the Chinese player.
AFTERMATH
Historically, the Boeing 281s of the 17th Squadron helped shoot down several of the G3M bombers without loss, a rare clean victory for China’s small monoplane force. The success was short-lived—Japan’s air arms would soon grind down the Nationalist fighter groups—but on this August afternoon over Nanking, the “Peashooters” showed that even obsolete fighters could bite.
A short post today showing off some of the progress I have made on my Sino-Japanese War aircraft.
For the Curtiss Hawk IIIs, they are mostly painted and some now have decals applied (using Sieben Schwaben Spiele Decals and Flight Deck Decals). I love the Chinese Nationalist roundel and plane number over the dark green. I will admit, I did cheat on the tail colors as I could not see trying to include thirteen alternating white and blue stripes at 1/285 scale. I think I still captured the feel by only using seven stripes.
The pair of Model 281 Boeings are also mostly painted, but then somehow I snapped a landing gear from one, which really is not making me happy. So I need to order a replacement and start fresh. Arrrgh.
For the Japanese the A5Ms have a coat of aluminium. I could not decide on what the base color should be, seeing so many variations on the A5M, from a golden hue to light gray (which I think really should be metal) dark green. However, seemingly the A5M came from the factory in 1937-38 in a natural metal finish, so there we have it. I still have details to add but did add natural steel to the ailerons and engine.
The schemes for the D1A also varied somewhat, ranging the natural metal to light gray to dark green. I decided to take the easy way out to have the D1As match their A5M escorts. This means the Japanese are in natural metal while the Chinese are all sporting dark green. Two very distinctive and different schemes to grace the tabletop. I still have details to paint on the D1As.
These planes will be used for the Melee Over the Mausoleum scenario that one can found on the Downloads page.
I have added another scenario to the Downloads page, this one dealing with an event that took place on this date, eighty-eight years ago, during the Sino-Japanese War. The scenario (entitled Melee Over the Mausoleum) is a scaled down version of the historical event, and features such interesting Japanese aircraft as the A5M fighter (later known to the Allies as Claude) and D1A dive bomber (Susie), facing off against Chinese piloted and U. S. supplied Model 68 Hawk IIIs and Boeing Model 281s (the export version of the P-26 Peashooter). The historical event also had several E8N floatplanes (Dave) and a pair of CR.32s, but as I cannot source the floatplanes from my favorite retailers (Flight Deck Decals or Table Top Flights) I have not included them in the scenario. I may, in the future, utilize some proxy floatplanes, like Petes, that will perform double duty.
Because of the slowness of the pre-World War II aircraft, I have changed the speed bands to make a more playable scenario. To that end, here are the ratings:
