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.

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:

Changing Scales?

Picture from Pico Armor site

Recently I have been giving some thought to doing more Vietnam air gaming, using Check Your 6! I have some nicely painted 1/285th Raiden aircraft (painted by Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures...damn fine work he does), for a few scenarios from Crusaders Over 'Nam, but I recently picked up Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club, which adds a slew of opportunities for gaming with a variety of aircraft. However, a slew of opportunities means a slew of aircraft to purchase and while 1/285th fighter aircraft are around $3.00 to $4.00 each, needing larger bombers and such precludes a deep dive into trying to purchase and have painted all the aircraft needed for both scenario books. A possible solution is diving down to a smaller scale of aircraft (see what I did there?).

There are two companies making 1/600th scale aircraft in metal that I know of, those being Tumbling Dice and Osmial Osmy (Pico Armor in the United States). The former seems to offer more modern aircraft, but apparently have some issues in scaling and looking a bit more "cartoonish." The latter do not offer quite all the aircraft needed, but apparently are more to scale and more realistic in appearance. Check this blog post from sixtwentyeight to see some excellent comparison pictures.

Detailing on this size of aircraft in terms of painting and details offers a perhaps more simplistic approach. That is not to say I have not seen some amazing work in this scale, but some of the detailing (gun panels on F-86s for example) is not as necessary to paint.

I might have to place a small order with Pico to see if the quality of the planes, and the assembly of same, are both within my expectations. And then I also need to see if I can have them painted!

Check Your 6! Annual Game Day Recap

Israeli S-199s and Egyptian Spitfires dance over Israel.

Just a short post about the annual Check Your 6! game day event held each year in Dayton, Ohio. I was able to attend the entire day, including hosting a 1948 Arab-Israeli War game and playing in an interesting no-plot game, and watching a Vietnam game during the evening session. There were plenty of historical eras covered, from the Great War through Vietnam, and a good turnout as well for some Wings of Glory Great War combat. I-94 was there selling there wares, and so I picked up a few oddball planes to complete my 1948 collection, and a few P-40 B/Cs to start either a Pearl Harbor or American Volunteer Group project.

Attendance seemed to be very good for the morning and early afternoon, but the evening session only had two games going. One thing I'd like to help work on is promoting the event a bit more to help increase awareness and hence numbers present. There is certainly space to hold more games and accommodate more gamers, so no concerns there. And there are a few fast food joints close by to satiate the gamer appetite. The location also has a kitchen, so that means potential to sell some gamer food right onsite.

If you have an hankering for air combat, makes plans to attend next June. The National Museum of the United States Air Force is only minutes away, so one could make a nice weekend that includes gaming miniature aircraft and see the real thing up close.

These are 1/600 scale...check out those paint jobs!

Vietnam in the Air

Another small project ready to go!

Here are a couple of pictures of some Raiden aircraft, purchased from I-94,and  painted by Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures, I'll be using for some future games. I have enough for a few scenarios from the Crusaders Over 'Nam booklet. I've only played one Check Your 6! game using missiles, so I will need some practice in using missiles.  

Kevin does great work,  I had something like 27 planes painted for around $170.00, which included the scheme I wanted and decals as well. Add magnets and these babies will be ready to take to the skies of Southeast Asia!

Off They Go!

Strange Encounter by Roy Grinnell

After some great communication with Kevin Hammond of Miscellaneous Miniatures, I have shipped to him my Raiden aircraft for both the Vietnam and 1948 Arab-Israeli projects, both are for Check Your 6! The Vietnam project is based on the Crusaders Over 'Nam scenario book, and the 1948 planes are from the Wargames Illustrated 310 article "War of Catastrophe and Independence" written by Rob Wubbenhorst, along with an extra online scenario he created. The aircraft I have will allow me to do three of the six available scenarios. One day I'll have to order a few extra aircraft in order to game all six. Regardless, I'll have some options for hosting events, particularly at the Check Your 6! Game Day held in Dayton every June.

New Decals From Miscellaneous Miniatures

VF-211 decals, from Miscellaneous Miniatures website

Just popped over to the Miscellaneous Miniatures website and what do I find? Recently released 1/285th scale decals for Crusaders and Skyhawks, for units that are in some of the Crusaders Over 'Nam scenario book. Talk about serendipity! Time to get those lovely Raiden planes I received a few days ago sent off to be painted!

Another Crusader Scenario

I pulled out the Check Your 6! Jet Age rules last night to go over how missiles work in the rules (I have pretty much only gamed non-missile actions thus far), and forgot that there was another Vietnam scenario in the rules featuring Crusaders. Actually, it is a different version of a scenario that appears in Crusaders Over 'Nam, but different enough that I consider it the twelfth scenario using Crusaders. This one also has four A4s, so I guess in my next I-94 order I'll grab some Raiden A4s!

Crusaders Over 'Nam - Planes Needed

Previously on this blog appeared a short review of Crusaders Over 'Nam, a short scenario book for Check Your 6! This post is a bit of an add on to discuss just how many of each plane type is needed in order to run all the scenarios.

In the eleven available scenarios, the primary forces consist of U.S. Navy F8 Crusaders facing off against MiG-17s of the Vietnamese Peoples Air Force. Add to that a mix of MiG-21s, and A4 Skyhawks, and a lone A6 Intruder, and one has a fairly simple mix of aircraft to purchase and paint. The MiG-17s are simply F models, while the MiG-21s are either F-13 or PFM models. The Crusaders are of four variants (C, E, H, and RF), and the Skyhawks are either E or C types. That might sound a little confusing, but as we can use the same model Crusader, Skyhawk, and MiG-21 to represent the various variants, we can drastically simplify the buying process. So what are our maximum needs to cover all eleven scenarios? As follows:

F8 - 6

A4 - 12

A6 - 1

MiG-17 - 10

MiG-21 - 4

Using the Raiden 1/285th scale offerings (nicely cast models at a fair price from I-94), we can order the following codes:

F8 - USA103 - $3.50 - $21.00

A4 - USA102 - $3.00 - $36.00

A6 - USA126 - $3.00 - $3.00

Americans total 19 planes at $60.00.

MiG-17 - RUS103 - $3.00 - $30.00

MiG-21 - RUS104 - $3.00 - $12.00

Vietnamese total 14 planes at $42.00.

But wait, I offer to you an option. Maybe you do not want to purchase and paint that many planes  If we remove one scenario, one with twelve A4s, we can get the totals down even more:

F8 - 6

A4 - 2

A6 - 1

MiG-17 - 8

MiG-21 - 4

F8 - USA103 - $3.50 - $21.00

A4 - USA102 - $3.00 - $6.00

A6 - USA126 - $3.00 - $3.00

Americans total 9 planes at $30.00.

MiG-17 - RUS103 - $3.00 - $24.00

MiG-21 - RUS104 - $3.00 - $12.00

Vietnamese total 12 planes at $36.00.

Still too rich for your wallet? Let's take out just one more scenario, leaving you the ability to game nine scenarios in the book, with just the following planes needed:

F8 - 4

MiG-17 - 5

MiG-21 - 4

F8 - USA103 - $3.50 - $14.00

Americans total 4 planes at $14.00.

MiG-17 - RUS103 - $3.00 - $15.00

MiG-21 - RUS104 - $3.00 - $12.00

Vietnamese total 9 planes at $27.00.

So, for $41.00 you could have the planes needed (including options) to game nine of the Crusaders Over 'Nam scenarios. One heck of a deal I say - time to go place an order!

Review - Crusaders Over 'Nam

Crusaders Over 'Nam - written by Roxanne Patton. Published by I-94 Enterprises, March, 2017.  $18.00.

As many of you already know, I like obscure and different periods of history to recreate on the tabletop. While the Vietnam War is certainly not obscure, Vietnam air combat is not that prevalent in the gaming world, so when I came across a Check Your 6! scenario book for Vietnam on the I-94 website, specifically one that deals with the F-8 Crusader and MiG kills I was curious. So, I placed my order via the I-94 Raiden webstore, and within a few days I received my copy. While the booklet is not an official SkirmishCampaigns production, it is designed for Check Your 6!

Let's jump into what I felt left me less than satisfied. First, the price of the scenario booklet is $18.00. Unfortunately, the number of pages doesn't warrant such a high price tag. The 8.5" by 11" booklet comes in at only twenty pages. The cover is color cardstock, while the interior is black and white. Unlike the other Check Your 6! scenario books, this offering does not have a data table showing the plane stats needed, which I find very useful in the other books and wish could have been added here to avoid having to refer back to the Jet Age version to obtain plane data. And there are a few typos and missing information, both within the scenarios themselves, and in the rules modifications section. Example - Page 4, second line states "range is reduced to eight (8) hexes for targets at." At what?

Okay, those were my sticking points. My positive takeaways are the vast majority of the eleven scenarios are ideally suited for four players, perfect for a small gathering of friends or a convention setting where the smaller number of players makes teaching Check Your 6! an easier task. The scenarios are also well researched and clearly written indicating that the author knows her subject well. The bits of typos and missing info within the scenarios is easily overcome with a bit of common sense.  The eleven scenarios, with F-8s featured in every one, also includes A-4s and a lone A-6, while for the "bad guys" all one needs are only MiG-17s and MiG-21s. This is a simple mix of planes for the player to obtain.

Overall, Crusaders Over 'Nam fills a niche for Vietnam War air combat, while providing more scenarios for jet age gamers, especially those who use Check Your 6! You will have to be the judge in deciding if a twenty page scenario book priced at $18.00 holds value for you.