Check Your 6! for the Great War

Like many older gamers, years ago I used to play the Blue Max board game (the GDW version), but using CinC 1/285 scale miniatures on a hex mat instead of counters. From what I can gather from my feeble memory, I enjoyed the system for the most part, but seemingly there was a part of the rules that seemed "off" - that might have been the ease in which certain parts of the plane became damaged, or was it a random chit pull and I seemed to draw the worst results more frequently than I cared for? Regardless of my own hangups, the group seemed to move away from Blue Max for whatever reason.

For the last few years I have used Wings of Glory for my Great War gaming fix. However, while there are elements I enjoy, there are several gaps in the rules, and trying to get the local group to adopt house rule changes has been tough. Also, the haughtiness of a reply I received to a post on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome has turned me off a bit.

Check Your 6! has its roots in Blue Max, at least from a turn and maneuver perspective. And the concepts of Blue Max have been expanded into Canvas Eagles, still available as a free download. Add to that the Check Your 6! modifications from Brian DeWitt and his series of three Colorful Skies scenario books, and one has a couple of Check Your 6! style options for gaming the fight in the skies during the Great War.

One concept I have is to take the maneuver charts of Canvas Eagles and use them in place of the standard maneuver charts offered in Check Your 6! that Colorful Skies utilizes. Seemingly the Canvas Eagles maneuver charts reflect the historical performance of the widely varying aircraft of the Great War more accurately than the standard charts, but also add a great deal of depth when it comes to climbing and diving. For example, we have the chart for the ubiquitous Fokker Dr.I:

The speed bands are there, and taking, say maneuver 4S3 (in Speed Band 3), one can stay at level, can dive, or can setup into a restricted maneuver the following turn. That equates fairly well with Check Your 6! in which one, using a forward maneuver, can stay level or dive at varying changes in altitude, but can also climb with a possible detriment to speed the following turn. Simple enough, but what about a maneuver like 9R2? A fierce right turn, but one that allows a dive in the current turn, or a required dive in the following turn. The E Chart in Colorful Skies does have a similar maneuver, R14, which is an extreme turn. It does not require a dive, but can allow a climb, level flight, or a dive, depending on current speed. There are some maneuvers available on the chart above that do not exist on Chart E, such as 11R2 or 11L2, so there are some differences between the charts, and these differences add a different element to aircraft performance.

There is also a question of what miniatures to use - I have a slew of the Wings of Glory and Reduced Aircraft Factory color printed aircraft, in 1/144 scale. Within my collection I also have a few planes I have painted from Shapeways and Table Top Flights. However, the standard Check Your 6! playing surface is 1.5" hexes on a six by four feet mat, and I already have three gaming mats with these parameters. The stands for the Wings of Glory planes are a little over 2.5". This leaves a bit of a conundrum. Do I use the 1/144 planes on a mat with 2.5" hexes with a larger mat? If so, to use the scenarios in Colorful Skies, the mat would have to be ten by seven feet! That is going to be problematic - Deep Cut Studio, where I go for custom mats, doesn't make a mat of that size (and if they did, it would be cost prohibitive). Second, finding tables at the local game stores for that size is most likely not happening. 

Of course, I could start collecting aircraft in a smaller scale which solves the mat issue. Table Top Flights make both 1/200 and 1/285 scale aircraft for the Great War, however, in speaking with Mike at Table Top Flights, the smaller scale leads to some quality concerns - the frailty of some of the struts at that scale causes breakage. Mike is going to run some test prints for me on certain aircraft to see how they turn out. 

Going to 1/200 would be a possible option as most WWI planes are smaller than their WWII counterparts. I could still use the mats and the flight stands I currently use for the other Check Your 6! eras I game. Here are a couple of shots of a 1/200 scale Roland D.II (I buggered up the nose a bit when I removed the propeller blades).

The quality is quite good, regardless of how a digital camera captures the tiniest of details.

Decals can be an issue in 1/200 - there are some available, but mostly as part of 1/285 or 1/144 sheets, and very little squadron or personal markings in that scale. In 1/285 there are much better options, using 1/300 as well. And of course, if I do go to a different scale, then I am going to have a lot of painting in my future! World War One aircraft can be very colorful, an I cannot imagine trying to paint German lozenge on such tiny planes. I have some decisions to make....

Custom Range Sticks and Deflection

The beauty of the Wings of Glory rules is the ability to add on house rules, in most cases with relative ease. However, the range of the machine guns, when compared to the size of the plane model, is very off. But one also has to consider the amount of playing space. I have a custom three feet by five feet mat which really well on the tables at the local hobby shop - room to maneuver a bit, with room for the miscellaneous gaming paraphernalia that goes along with miniatures gaming. Also, in reading the many house rules on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, one thought was to measure peg to peg. My solution was to have custom rulers made, with a nine inch range, and changing the ranges to short (two damage cards), medium (one damage card at a +1), and long (one damage card), and measure peg to peg. I've not tried this on the table yet, but am eager to give this a shot. As for altitude, only the short range band is used, and treated as a long range shot.

The custom range sticks you see in the pictures were made by Pro Painted Studios out of Dorset in the United Kingdom. I sent them a rough sketch of what I was looking for, and they produced a wonderful looking range stick. 

Deflection – Measure from the peg of the firing plane to the peg of the target plane. If the line does not both stay within the firing arc and cross the rear edge of the targeted plane, then the shot is a deflection shot. In this case the defender draws two damage cards and decides on which card to keep. If this is a short-range shot, then another card is also given as damage. Example: A Fokker D.VII is firing at a SPAD XIII at short range. The line from peg to peg does not cross the rear of the target plane but is within the firing arc of the Fokker. The defender will draw two cards, keeping the card of his choice and reshuffling the other back into the deck. As this is a short-range shot, a second damage card is also given.

Some pictures showing the sticks and examples of range and deflection.

If playing peg to peg, this shot would be out of arc as the peg of the target plane is out of the firing plane's arc. If playing standard, this would be a medium range deflection shot as the arc of the firing plane does not cross the rear of the target plane's base.

A medium range shot (one card at +1)

A long range shot (one damage card)

A long range deflection shot. Draw two cards and the target player chooses which one to keep, and discards the other.

Looks MUCH better in person

Mat - GripMats

Historical Board Gamer Decals

After a tip from one of the chaps on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, I thought I had a solution to the 9mm American and Russian roundels I need to dress up some Shapeways RAF colored prints, but alas the decals sold by Historical Board Gaming are actually for 1/285 and smaller scales. If there was a company making quality 1/285 or 1/300 scale quality World War One planes (at reasonable prices), I would be tempted to paint up a slew, but there does not seem to be. CinC - fiddley to assemble, range is limited, and prices are now stupidly high. Hostile Aircraft fail from a quality point of view (and landing gear...yuck). Heroics & Ros, no pictures means no buying from this gamer. Anyway, my search for 9mm American and Russian roundels continues, although these HBG offerings look rather nice. There is a wide variety of decals to be had from HBG, and there are MANY roundels/insignia of various sizes on each sheet. The sheet I believe is one large decal, so one does have to trim around each roundel/insignia.

Hmmm, one option is still available - Mike at Table Top Flights will scale WWI planes at 1/285...maybe that is the ticket! At this point I could use all my Check Your Six "stuff" along with the Colorful Skies WWI mods for CY6. Then there is also Canvas Eagles, which could work. Seemingly when I used to play Blue Max, which is what Canvas Eagles is derived from, there was something about the rules I did not like. Might have to go download Canvas Eagles and give them a lookover.

Well, to further the story, in chatting with Mike at TTF, scaling his WWI aircraft to 1/285th can be done, but the frailty of such a small print, when doing biplanes, is a concern. So still a bit thwarted in my desire to use 1/285th scale aircraft.

The Completed Ponnier

This nice little bird is completed! Added another coat of yellow to the rudder stripe, added the remaining decals, and applied a coat of matte varnish. The decals (made by I-94) were sent by a fellow gamer (thanks again, Keith). Alas, they were a bit aged, so some tore during the process, so I went with Miscellaneous Miniatures decals. The sizes are pretty close to the illustration shown.

After several discussions with camelbeagle and other on the Wings of Glory forum, I've decided to go with the following stats:

V Deck, B Gun, 10 damage points, Climb Rate of 4. I have been unable to obtain a maximum altitude for the Ponnier.

Colors: Wing surfaces and wheel covers AK Interactive Clear Doped Linen version 2, tires Vallejo Medium Sea Grey, fuselage and propeller Vallejo Cork Brown, Lewis gun and motor Vallejo Natural Steel, rudder flash Vallejo Black, Vallejo Carmine Red, and Army Painter Babe Blonde, struts Vallejo Flat Brown.

I cannot wait to get this little plane on the table.

Mat - GripMats

Shipping Planes for Painting!

Today I mailed off a few Raiden planes to have painted by Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures. Kevin had contacted me via the Wings of Glory Aerodrome to let me know that he was doing commission work once again, and so of course I was ecstatic to hear that great news. Kevin has painted some beautiful planes for me in the past, including my 1948 Arab-Israeli War collection.

Today's shipment included two projects - Burma and Pearl Harbor - for the former Ki-27s, Hawk 81s, Brewster Buffalos, and Hawker Hurricanes, and for the latter P-40s and P-36s. With what I am having painted for Burma I will be able to host three scenarios and for the Pearl project I will be able to do the Second Strike scenario with my friend Matt (he is handling the Japanese side of things).

I am really looking forward to seeing how these planes will turn out, as well as finally getting some scenarios for Burma on the table as I have had the unpainted castings sitting in a box for a few years now!

Mat - Deep Cut Studio

Snipes on the Hunt After Action Report

At the Wright Flight monthly Wings of Glory gaming day I hosted the Snipes on the Hunt Polish-Soviet War scenario. Five players took part, and we used some modified rules (covered within the scenario found on the Downloads page above).

Using the random starting location generator from the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, the Poles, being on the defense, started in the center of the table, while the attacking Bolsheviks were two range sticks to the Poles' starboard. Within a few turns the planes engaged, with one Ansaldo taking some early damage. I had the Camel, and climbed to maximum altitude while the two Ansaldos became also separated in height. The players took a few turns to grasp the changes to the diving and firing rules, but worked both changes pretty well for the remainder of the game. The Soviet ace continued to lay down some heavy damage on the G Dog's Ansaldo, flown by an ace and representing Meriam C. Cooper's plane, he of later King Kong fame, continued to take a beating as his damage cards were of higher values in the A deck. Down went G Dog.

Down goes G Dog - note the heavy amount of damage inflicted

The other Ansaldo started taking damage, including the boom card (which we play at half damage rounded up) and limped off the board with just a point or two of damage remaining on the stricken aircraft. While  had a nice run at one at the Snipes, my altitude was too high for firing, so I decided that as the Soviets had two planes in excellent shape still on the board that it was time for some discretionary valor and headed for the safety of friendly lines.

All in all it was a short game, even with the modified altitudes for firing. The Ansaldos were given diving turn cards to enhance their historical performance, but the nimble Snipes were too much to overcome.

We laid out a second game in which I hosted and another player swapped in. The second game saw a much longer combat, with no planes shot down, but a couple forced off the table.

Starting locations for the second game

Planes: Table Top Flights Ansaldos, Ares Camel and Snipes

Mat - GripMats

Magnets - K and J Magnetics

A Proper Ponnier

Another project nearly completed - this one being a French made but Belgian used Ponnier M.1. The Ponnier was rejected by the French as they were focusing more on other types (the Nieuport line in particular) while the Belgians were scrambling for whatever they could get their hands on. 

The Ponnier story is one of controversy. I addressed this on the Wings of Glory forum, but will repeat here.

Table Top Flights' Ponnier M.1

One of the smallest of Great War fighters, which might have led to its perceived poor performance as being nose heavy. Nungesser disliked the plane after flying it in January 1916 with the initial smaller rudder, and the unknown (at the time) Willi Coppens did not want to fly it either. But Coppens would have had no "clout" in 1916, and Nungesser was performing acrobatics at 200 meters in an unfamiliar plane that led to him being injured. Jean Navarre also mentioned the plane was demanding to fly, but then again so was the Sopwith Camel.

However, I feel that the Ponnier has been unfairly represented.

As a American Civil War historian, I often deal with those who cling to misconceptions that permeate history, such as Braxton Bragg was a terrible general and everyone hated him. But the historical data does not back that argument as many of his soldiers, writing private letters home, wanted Bragg back in command during the Atlanta Campaign, over Joseph Johnston. You see a small but vocal portion of Bragg's army that did indeed dislike the man, but many in his army respected Bragg. Much like Bragg I have a feeling that there is a misconception for the Ponnier due to one bad report that other pilots gravitated towards without understanding the circumstances, and without having flown the plane themselves.

Noted Belgian aviation expert Walter Pieters in his definitive account of the Belgian Air Service (The Belgian Air Service in the First World War - Aeronaut Books, 2010) includes two photos of the Ponnier, with the caption of stating that the Ponnier was used by two Escadrille de Chasse (the 1st and 5th). No derogatory commentary is included. Pieters, in his book Above Flanders' Fields (Grub Street, 1998) provides one brief mention of how a Ponnier was tested during the summer of 1916, and mentions that several Belgian pilots were photographed with the plane. A thought to ponder - if the plane was so bad why would a pilot be seen in a photo with this plane? Pieters goes on to mention that Jan Olieslagers convinced higher authorities to not purchase the plane. However, there is no evidence I have been able to source that Olieslagers ever flew the plane, and perhaps was simply using Nungesser's comments. So, has the Ponnier been given the short end? It is rated by the Unofficial Stats Committee as a K Deck for maneuverability, and only six points of damage, again, as far as I can tell, based on the common misconception taken from Nungesser's flight in an unfamiliar plane at low altitude. The Nieuport 28 was not highly thought of, with the fabric shredding issues, until its pilots learned how to use the plane more effectively, and two of its squadrons wanted to keep the Nieuport instead of taking on the SPAD XIII. The Ponnier was not given much of an opportunity, but could it have performed, in the hands of a pilot who knew how to use it, like the Nieuport?

I suggest a revision to the Ponnier - as it used a rotary engine it might be considered for an I Deck. That might feel extreme to those who look through Nungesser lenses, so perhaps a compromise of a J Deck is in order? As for damage, if we believe that this plane has been given an undeserved reputation, then an 11 or 12 for a light 1916 plane is in order.

The coat of primer applied - one can really see the print lines that are enhanced by a digital camera

I've toyed with obtaining a Ponnier for years now, but Kampfflieger is was the only Shapeways option before they went tits up, my dallying about kept me from picking up a SRAM version when they were still available. However, the Shapeways version was offered in white natural versatile, which to me is code for "too damn grainy" and "too much damn prep work." Being a relatively lazy modeler, I like to spend less time in prep and paint and more time gaming. So when camelbeagle brought me a Ponnier from his recent trip to Origins, I was ecstatic! You see, this version is made by member mikejr74 (Table Top Flights), who produced his model in a high quality material that feels a bit more like plastic and is certainly less grainy than white natural versatile.

Base colors added - Vallejo cork brown and AK Interactive clean doped linen (version 2)

I have since painted the rudder with the Belgian colors and have added decals to the top wing. Once I have completed all the decals I'll hit the rudder with another coat (the yellow I have is very thin and needs several coats) and apply matte varnish overall. 

Using Magnets to Overcome Beveled Stands

Ahhh, Wings of Glory developers...why oh why did you decide to use a beveled edge for your bases? A true pain in the arse to pick up. An idea that was presented on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, and then camelbeagle motivated me by doing this himself. Ordered from K and J Magnetics for the thumbtack looking peg and the magnet below, let the video tell the story. Seems to work!

The Voss Effect

Transitioning some of my blog posts from over at the Wings of War Aerodrome to the blog so that others might enjoy!

Last Dance of the Hussar by Russell Smith

I have been working a bit with camelbeagle (Dan) on a Voss Wings of Glory scenario. Well, Dan has been doing most of the work, but I have been making a few suggestions about setup, aircraft, using more accurate climb rates, that sort of thing. For those who do not know, I have a side business - I give tours and talks related to the Civil War - American that is. So, historical accuracy is fairly important to me. Dan has planned a four on four fight, simply to keep the amount of players around the table at a reasonable number, with four SE.5s against Voss in his triplane, with a couple of Pfalz D.IIIs and an Albatros D.V making a late arriving appearance. 

In reading accounts of the action (September Evening: The Life and Final Combat of the German World War One Ace Werner Voss by Barry Diggens and Lt. Werner Voss: Germany's Greatest Teenage Ace by Walter Musciano) it is apparent that Voss cannot be given too many ace abilities. I have an Ares Voss Pfalz on its way, mostly for the ace ability cards, and a couple of Pfalz D.IIIs offered by Reduced Aircraft Factory of a couple of the German pilots involved. Dan has 56 Squadron in hand. 

Looking forward to testing this scenario and then hosting for the Wright Flight in the future. When we do, we'll be certain to post an after action report!

By the way, the Musciano book was written in the 1960s, and the colors given for Voss's various planes are questionable at best...stating that his Fokker and Pfalz has red noses...Rudolph would be proud.

Wings of Glory AAR

The repainted Nieuport 11

So the announcement came on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome - the July session of the Wright Flight would be Nieuport 11s facing off against Fokker eindekkers. We had a large turnout, with over a dozen players. Apparently last minute a decision was made to do some sort of odd Cthulhu game? WTF? I didn't drive an hour to game stinkin' fantasy! Luckily the G Dog brought planes to stick with the original plan while the heretics played in the other event...but then also appeared on our table Nieuport 16s and Halberstadt D.IIIs! Would my little Chapman N.11 make it? (repainted with AK Interactive Clear Doped linen version 2 as it matched the color already present on the bottom of the plane very well).

The target for the Allies was a drachen, with three N.11s and one N.16 facing off against a pair of Fokkers and a pair of Halberstadts. To be honest, I was having too much fun poking one my Nieuport partners to focus much on the game or take many pictures, but one N.11, the target of my fun, was able to cause a fire on the balloon as he himself was shot down, both from plane damage and a second pilot wound. Another N.11, using incendiaries and colliding with the balloon, also inflicted a great amount of damage. I used my Nieuport to snipe at the opposing German aircraft, avoiding the the ground fire while throwing out a little damage here and a little damage there. I started taking hits in return, and decided, with the remaining Nieuports now heading beck to Allied lines, that it was time to leave the fighting as well. The balloon burned up before reaching ground, so it was an Allied victory.

Staying on the periphery, causing damage as I go

The flaming Jean Navarre Nieuport, before meeting his demise

In the future I will be certain to bring extra planes and gaming mats to help stick with the original plan as all I brought was my single Nieuport 11.