Scenario Booklet Sales

I am very surprised, in a pleasant way, to see how many of the scenario booklets I have sold. The pdf option generated more traffic than I expected, so I will continue to offer future booklets in that format. 

Here is a recap after two months of sales:

Links to purchase print or pdf format are to the left.

Scenario Booklets Available

49th Fighter Group P-40Es near Darwin.

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!

Scenario Book Progress

A video showing draft copies of the upcoming scenario books - Slovak-Hungarian War, Wake Atoll, and Project Gun-Val for the Korean War.

Progress on the Slovakian Front

The draft front cover

I have been reformatting the Slovak-Hungarian War scenario booklet (at twenty pages and eight scenarios, I can't bring myself to call it a book), getting all the scenarios "cleaned up" as the scenario template found on the discussion group is a bit janky. I also have had three vendors send over ads to include in the guide, provided gratis as all three entities have been gracious to me in the past through our communications and dealings. I am still awaiting one more advert, and then once the formatting has been completed I will see if the self-publishing portal I have used in the past for some Civil War projects can also do a smaller page count project (lulu.com). 

The cover, pictured left, is looking decent. The booklet will have color aircraft profiles, color photos of games, a listing of where to obtain miniatures for the war as well as a bit of a background to the conflict. Six of the scenarios have their roots in historical events, meaning they are, as much as I could make possible, based on the real deal. One scenario is purely hypothetical, and the final scenario is based on an event that almost took place had the orders not be rescinded due to the cease fire that ended the shooting war.

I hope to have the scenarios all reformatted in a few days, then the process of uploading to the self-publishing site might take a day, then it will be ready for sale if the price points make it affordable for gamers. Profit margins will be minimal as I simply want to get this, the first of what might turn into a few Check You 6! scenario books, available to gamers.

UPDATE: I realized that the cover art is indeed art, and as I cannot make out the artist's signature to locate the artist to obtain permission to use the cover, I instead "cheated" and will be going with this as the cover art.

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.

Afternoon Delight After Action Report

I hosted one of my scenarios from my Slovak-Hungarian booklet (not yet ready for much public consumption) at the local store, and suckered...er, convinced four members of the Check Your 6! Southwestern Ohio Group to play. The scenario was Afternoon Delight, which is a representation of the largest air battle of this small conflict.

The Slovak starting positions...

...and the Hungarian initial starting alignment.

Setup saw the Slovaks (three Letov S.328s escorted by three Avia B.534s) moving in from the southwest as they were on a mission to bomb targets along the Hungarian advance (aircrew quality was one skilled and two poor for the fighters, with three green for the bombers). To oppose them were six Fiat CR.32s with two skilled and four green aircrew. Both sides had to plot forward moves until a spotting check was made, and all aircraft were pretty much spotted by Turn Three. The escort Avias, pulling away from the slower bombers, made an impressive turn to take on the the flight of Avias that were heading directly for the Slovak bombers, but was unfortunately too high to do any damage. Meanwhile the other flight of Fiats now had a good angle on the Avias, but they in turn were too high. 

The Avia flight turns into the Fiats tasked for the bombers...

...but that Fiat flight stayed focused on the Letovs...

...and one split s later placed themselves in a great position, while the other Fiat flight starts to engage the Avias

Some dancing about lead to the second flight of Fiats placing rounds on the Avias, but as many '4' results were appearing on the dice, damage was limited. This was a theme for the Hungarian players - a decent amount of hits, but many '4' were being thrown, and hence, thrown out for damage.

The remaining Letovs stay on target

Things started heating up quickly, with some beautiful formation flying. The Slovaks started taking damage and based on some great positioning by the Hungarian fighters I thought this scenario was going to be over, and soon. However, the small caliber and number of guns on the Fiats meant that the Slovak planes might take hits, but were not being blown out of the sky. The bombers, less one from their flight, kept heading for the target hexes. The flight of Fiats that first encountered the bombers reversed course and stayed on the tails of the Letovs, and another Slovak bomber went down. But then the dice went cold. Even with some incredibly easy to hit numbers, the dice were unkind, and three Fiats chasing the bombers could not finish the job.

One Slovak bomber closed in to the target area, diving a couple of turns to grab the extra hex. But just as the Letov was over one of the targets, the Hungarian antiaircraft scored a full hit - five six sided dice of damage was inbound. However, Mr. Robusto (my friend Matt) fended off the strike and then placed his light bombload squarely on target, giving the Slovaks a much needed four victory points. The game was running closer.

Down to one bomber, the Fiats could not buy a hit

One Avia fighter, with the skilled (+1) aircrew, took a lucky hit and went out of control as a result. For several turns this pilot could not pass an aircrew check, and the Avia kept losing altitude. One of the Hungarian fighters pulled a Split S, winding up in the out of control aircraft's hex and at the same altitude, and both pilots failed their checks. Collision! The result was the Hungarian Fiat fell from the sky, while the Avia still hung on.

Out of control!

The balance had swung. While the Hungarians might have been able to nail another Slovak fighter or two, the remaining bomber was moving safely towards a friendly edge, and the out of control Avia finally regained a semblance of order, and was also pointed towards a safe edge. At this point we decided to call the game.

This is not the first game I have hosted in which a side looked destined for destruction, only to flip the script and pull out a victory. The dice, had then been average in nature, most likely would have seen the third Slovak bomber shot down, but it did not happen and the Slovaks could pull out a slight victory.

Returning home I pulled out some resource material and I am updating a couple of items by increasing the Slovak crew quality a bit, and giving the Letov a +1 agility.

Thanks to the group for playing!

Planes - Flight Deck Decals Avias, Table Top Flights CR.32s, and H&R Letovs, all painted by Miscellaneous Miniatures.

Mat - Deep Cut Studio.

New Toys Ordered Part III - World War Two

I have gone on a recent spate of ordering new planes. Some are to be used for future projects, others for expanding existing projects, while others will be to replace existing metal planes with higher quality 3D prints and more accurate paint schemes.

The Nell - needed for Wake Atoll

For the two scenarios I created that take place during the February 1942 surprise attack against Darwin, I needed to obtain planes for both sides as my collection was did not have any aircraft to cover. Regardless of the Darwin scenarios, I had the intention one day of adding A6Ms to my collection, so picking up a chūtai of Zeros not only fills the Darwin scenarios, but will see duty for my Wake Atoll scenario booklet as well as other early Pacific projects - likewise the purchase of a dozen Nells to use for Wake (as the price point at Table Top Flights for bombers is very low I justified a dozen bombers based on how much I "saved" - and the Nells will see duty as Sallys over Burma and Bettys in other Pacific regions as I am NOT buying thirty-six Japanese bombers). The P-43 Lancers will fit in for 1943 China while the Heinkel 170s will be used as Heinkel He 70s for the Slovak-Hungarian War (I have one scenario that involves a pair of Heinkels on a recon mission).

All in all a bit of a mix of airplane types for a variety of projects.

Flight Deck P-43, P-40E, Heinkel He 70, and A6M2

Flight Deck Decals

Mitsubishi A6M2 - 9

P-40E Warhawk - 5

P-43A Lancer - 4

Heinkel He 170 - 2

Table Top Flights

Mitsubishi G3M2 Nell - 12

Slovak-Hungarian War Planes Have Arrived

The combatants

This is a project that has taken a bit of time to come to fruition, but man oh man it was worth the wait! My interest in this pre-Second World War conflict started over a year ago as I started collecting some research materials and then miniatures (check out all the Slovak-Hungarian War posts HERE for additional information). I commissioned Miscellaneous Miniatures to do the painting on this project, and Kevin at MM, yet again, has created some beautiful gaming pieces.

The Hungarian Ju 86

The Slovakian Letov

The CR.32s are from Table Top Flights, the Avia B.534s and Junkers Ju 86s are from Flight Deck Decals, while the Letovs are old Heroics & Ros castings, and one can readily see the quality gap between those older metal miniatures and today's cutting edge 3D prints offered by Table Top and Flight Deck. Kevin did a great job not only with painting this eclectic mix of planes, but also in building the finicky Letovs as they are cast in several pieces. The sixteen planes cost an average of $8.40 each to have painted and shipped, but bear in mind that ten of the planes are biplanes and the other six medium bombers, and add in the fact that the Hungarians are all in a three tone camouflage scheme, the price to me is a very fair price point.

A flurry of Fiats will face a foe of...

...Avia adversaries

The other posts detail reading material for this conflict include a pair of scenarios I have created. I am working on two additional scenarios as well, that will feature the Hungarians bombing Spišská Nová Ves (a Slovak airfield) with the potential of Slovak fighters intervening, and the other an encounter between Hungarian recon aircraft and Slovak Avias. My goal is to offer the four scenarios, along with background information, as a pdf download for CY6! players to ease into a rather obscure period.

Two Slovak-Hungarian War Scenarios

Avia B.534IV

As readers may know, I am working on a 1939 Slovak-Hungarian War project (see posts HERE and HERE for more information). To that end I have created another Check Your 6! scenario and updated the one I had shared previously (First Fight, now known as Afternoon Delight). Here are the links to the pdfs of both scenarios.

Morning Glory

Afternoon Delight

Eventually I will be adding at least one more scenario, and most likely a bit of a guide to this war that will include background information, plane ratings, and the three scenarios.

Slovak-Hungarian War Scenario

The link that follows is the first of a couple of Slovak-Hungarian War scenarios I hope to create. This particular scenario has not gone through any playtesting, so hoping that players will give it a run-through and provide feedback (use whatever planes you have to represent the opposing forces as the aircraft stats follow). 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1llYr60m1tT0zQNtfogcucUD2zmuydc5I/view?usp=sharing

Here are the stats needed for the Slovak-Hungarian War:

The next scenario will be the Hungarian bombing attack on the Slovakian airfield at Spišská Nová Ves.

Table Top Flights - Order Has Arrived

Recently I reached out to Mike at Table Top Flights to see if he could create some World War II aircraft in 1/285th scale (his normal WWII scale is 1/200). He willingly obliged so I placed a small order to see how the planes would turn out. They happened to be in today's post, and I am pleased with the outcome. The planes will be for three different projects - Slovak-Hungarian War, 1945-46 what if, and a 1941 Rumanian scenario (which is available to the left). 

Ta 183s

The prints are clean, not encumbered with oversized details, and very little need of prep. Wing thicknesses are thinner compared to metal castings, and hence more in scale.

I.A.R.80/81

I am awaiting to see if Flight Deck Decals can also scale to 1/285 as that will give me the Ju.86s and the Avia B.534s needed for the Slovak-Hungarian War (I have metal Letov S.328s from Heroics & Ros). Once the planes have been gathered, off for painting, and that project will be complete (and I have two scenarios in mind).

Two of the six Cr.32s

I recommend Table Top Flights - service, communication, and quality all receive high marks!

The Slovak-Hungarian War Project - Rating the Planes

For the Hungarians, ratings are easy - they are already provided in the Check Your 6! rulebook. The Slovaks are a bit more problematic, so I posted on the CY6! group for some assistance. Alas after several weeks of waiting, not a single response. Well, here is my list, and still open to hear more about the Letov S-328 ratings if you have any input!

Cr.32

Hungary

Fiat Cr.32 - A3 + 2, 16/36, R0, FF: 2xHMG, 2XLMG (in the rulebook)

Junkers Ju.86 - C3 + 0 Lx, 9/35, R2, F: 1xLMG, RT: 1xLMG, RB: 1xLMG (in the rulebook)

Slovakia

Avia B534 - A3 + 3(-), 23/38, R0, FF: 4xLMG

Letov S.328 - C2 + 0, ?/?, R1,  FF: 2xLMG, RT: 2xLMG (some models FF: 4xLMG, RT: 2xLMG)

Heroics & Ros Letov S-328

In my quest to find suitable miniatures for the Slovak-Hungarian War project, I was at a bit of a loss when it came to the primary Slovak bomber, the Letov S-328. One possible scenario calls for three of these planes, and in checking both Raiden and MSD Games, my two usual sources for aircraft, I was hitting a wall. A Google search for 1/300 Letov pointed me to the Heroics & Ros site, an old line that specializes in the 6mm world. Fortunately H&R make the S-328. I had never placed an order with H&R, but the process was easy, and shipping to the United States was not unreasonable in both price and shipping time. I placed my order on June 30th and received the planes July 10th...nice delivery time from the UK!

The planes are not too badly detailed. Being H&R, an older line as mentioned, I wasn't expecting much, but I sort of like the style. Plus, once paint and decals have been applied, they will look just fine!

The Slovak-Hungarian War - The Books

A short post today as I slip ever more deeply into this obscure conflict. Here are some titles that cover the aircraft and the air campaign as a whole.

Miroslav Bily and Jiří Vraný - Avia B-534: Czechoslovak Fighter. MBI Publishing, 2008. This title only covers the third and fourth versions of the B.534, with more pages than the Vraný title below. However, it is difficult to locate and I have not seen a copy to examine its worth.  

Gianni Cattaneo - Aircraft Profile No. 22: The Fiat CR. 32. Profile Publications, 1965. This series, while long out of print, is still usually available on eBay and aftermarket sites. Just a handful of pages, with some color profiles and black and white photos.

Josef Krybus - Aircraft Profile No. 152: The Avia B.534. Profile Publications, 1967. 

George Punka - Fiat CR 32/CR 42 in Action. Squadron/Signal Publications, 2000. A typical Squadron offering with plenty of technical details, photographs, and color profiles.

Csaba B. Stenge - Baptism of Fire: The First Combat Experiences of the Royal Hungarian Air Force and Slovak Air Force, March 1939. Helion Publications, 2014. If you want just want one title, this is it. Comprehensive coverage of the conflict, illustrated with color aircraft profiles representing the aircraft used by both sides, along with black and white photographs. Helion titles are not inexpensive, so try to find a discount code or an aftermarket shop to pick up your copy. 

Jiří Vraný - Avia B-534. MBI Publishing, 1994. This title is in both Czech and English and is a fairly deep dive into the development and the technical aspects of the four versions of the B.534. Numerous pictures, line drawings, and color profiles accompany the text. 

Jiří Vraný - Letov S-328 Volume 2 - the Luftwaffe, Slovak Air Force, Bulgarian Air Force, and Slovak National Uprising. Jakab, 2005.

The Slovak-Hungarian War Project

Cr.32s face off against Avia B.534s

I've owned a rather nifty title on the Avia B.534 for a few years now, and even picked up four packs of this model from MSD Games, but haven't done much else with the planes (still in their packages). I've come across references to the Slovak-Hungarian War on the interwebs, and created a listing of aircraft used by both sides in the conflict also known as "The Little War." Hungary wanted more portions of Slovakia, and invaded the latter nation in March 1939. There were a few encounters in the air, with Avias, Cr.32s, Ju.86s, and Letov S.328s involved (among others). One can source Cr.32s from a few different manufacturers, the Avias and Ju.86s can be had from MSD Games, but the Letov's were evading me until today - Heroics and Ros make them, and while I am probably not going to far out on a limb when I say the quality of H&R won't be quite as good as the MSD range, once painted they will service just fine on the tabletop. Order placed for the Letovs.

There is a book on the subject, published by Helion, titled Baptism of Fire: The First Combat Experiences of the Royal Hungarian Air Force and Slovak Air Force, March 1939, and written by Csaba B. Stenge. It has been on my wishlist at Amazon for some time, and I decided it was time to order it.

A few more steps are in order...

First, scenario creation - I have come across the basics for two encounters between the B.534s and Cr.32s. I probably have enough to cobble together very basic scenarios for these two engagements, but I am hoping that the Stenge book, since it is focused on this very short war, will be able to provide additional information so as to make the scenarios more accurate. 

Second, rating the planes - I can decently compare the Avia against other types that are already rated for Check Your 6! and determine stats! But even easier is to use what another gamer has come up with for the Avia!

Avia B534IV:   A3+3(-)   23/38   4 x LMG   Robust 0

A Hungarian Ju.86

I have asked the Check Your 6! group for stats on the Ju.86 and the Letov S-328. And as all the aircraft for this conflict are slow, I may increase their speeds by one. 

And so there we are, the beginnings of yet another obscure project, although, much like the 1948 Arab-Israeli or the One Hundred Hours War, one that involves a small number of aircraft - I think (going from memory) the maximum Avias would be six, while nine Cr.32s would be needed, along with three Letovs, and three Ju.86s would cover it. I believe after this project I may try to refrain from starting too many others...yeah, right!