A Revisit to the Basing Solution

My constant search for an ideal (for me) flight stand for Check Your 6! might be finally at an end.  My parameters, and hence my issue in finding the type of stand I desired was that I wanted something that visually indicates TAL on the playing surface, that isn't too tall and prone to knock overs, and that doesn't cause polarity issues with the magnets I have on my miniatures. Let me summarize my issues with existing base configurations:

• Official Check Your 6! bases - Do not visually indicate a plane's current TAL. Dial numbers are small, and the dials can be very tight or very loose. This causes players to constantly ask about altitude on enemy aircraft and is not visually appealing.
• Litko - Using the dice trays, one can make it a tad easier for players to see current speed and TAL, but again having a peg fixed to the base means the visually aspect of differing TALs are lost. 
• Antennas - Can be costly, and the ones I have found are far too large. Ideally this would be a great solution but I would need antennas that only extend an inch or so per segment as I do not want planes towering over the table top, making them susceptible to knock overs.

I had been looking at the flight stands from the Dockfighters: The Ale Wars as I like the fact that the system uses peg pieces in two sizes to indicate altitude, utilizing magnets to connect the pegs in combination to represent varying TALs. Smaller pieces can represent a single TAL, while the larger pieces can represent two TALs. I was worried that would cause polarity problems since my miniatures have magnets that do not all follow the same pole so I had held off on buying any until Bernhard at Sieben Schwaben Spiele Decals suggested I give them a try.

Image from Woodpecker Games site

The Dockfighters flight stands offers other very positive aspects - they have a moveable dial that one can use for speed (up to twelve), and have a series of colored rings that can be used for either aircrew quality or to make it easier to keep track of each plane (I usually have a player run two planes). One other possibility - since the peg pieces can be combined, one could represent multiple CABs, but I would not recommend this as the plane becomes wobbly and subject to knock overs. And, very important to my needs, the magnets in the Dockfighters peg pieces are round balls that adjust to the polarity of the next piece or the plane, solving my polarity issue.

An ace Me 110 (indicated by the red ring on the base), Speed 3 and TAL 2, chased down by a veteran (blue ring) Swiss Me 109 at Speed 4 and TAL 3

A consideration for those thinking about this basing system - larger metal miniatures, such as bombers, wobble a bit as well. My solution for this, as a four-engine metal bomber even has issues on an official CY6! stand, is to go to 3D printed miniatures for larger aircraft. They are much lighter and and hence work with both systems very well.

A bit of a video showing the flight stands: 

Price came out to be $72.00 USD, which included shipping from Deutschland. That comes out to be $3.60 or so per stand. The official CY6! stands are $32.50 (including shipping) from I-94, or $5.42 per flight stand.

I will be hosting a game soon, and will be using the Dockfighters flight stands in lieu of my official bases. If things work out, this means I will have a crap ton of stands for sale!

Mat - Hotz Mats

100 Hour War - Planes Needed

The Mustang is incorrectly shown with no wingtip tanks and with yellow recognition bands. The tanks were removed and the bands added after the last air to air combat.

On the Check Your 6! discussion group one can find five well written scenarios, and a background history, for the 100 Hour War, generously provided by Tom Ballou. Tom assembled the scenarios prior to the release of The 100 Hour War - The Conflict Between Honduras and El Salvador in July 1969, written by Mario Overall and Dan Hagedorn, so Tom's take on some of the actions are a little different than the most recent historical interpretation, but the core components are in place. The five scenarios call for an interesting mix of propeller driven aircraft.

Using the aforementioned book, I am developing several additional scenarios, both historic and "what-if", with a target of creating a scenario book. The scenarios will allow players to ease into Check Your 6! through a variety of missions, and there are cooperative scenarios in which the opposing side simply consists of ground targets and anti-aircraft assets. What follows are the aircraft needed for the various scenarios, including some changes to what Tom had initially offered, based on the updated information from the book.

Finding the specific aircraft however might a challenge. Only GHQ make a specific F4U-4 in 1/285 scale, but at $7.00 each they are ridiculously priced. Raiden handles the basic F4U, which should stand in as the FG-1D model used by the Salvadorans. MSD Games makes an F4U-5N in 1/300, but there is some question as to if the Hondurans had the radome in place or not (one photograph, taken before the war of an Honduran F4U-5N, shows the radome in place). Otherwise an F4U-4 work, filing down one of the protruding guns on each wing to represent four cannons instead of six machineguns. Flight Deck Decals and Table Top Flights both have F4U-1A and F4U-1C Corsairs. My suggestion is to use the 1A as FG-1Ds and F4U-4 models, while using the 1C as the F4U-5N. This is a far more affordable option than using GHQ.

Mustangs are even more perplexing. First, there is understanding just what Mustang is being used. The vast majority of Salvadoran Mustangs were Trans Florida Aviation, modified for counter-insurgency (COIN). One needs castings with wingtip tanks (the tanks were not removed until the last day of the war, and those Mustangs did not see any combat), and hardpoints. Scotia Grendel, in their Collectair range, does offer the III model, but it is not what one needs for this war. The photographs of the III model do not have an under fuselage air scoop, which the II model would have, and the engine used in the III drastically altered the appearance of the Mustang. I suggest to simply use a P-51D, which can be easily sourced, and either add some sort of wingtip tank, or use the casting/print as is. Raiden, Flight Deck, and Table Top all offer affordable P-51Ds. 

The Trojan T-28 is yet another issue. Before Shapeways went belly up, one was available in 1/285 scale, although with landing gear down (if my memory serves correctly). There are no alternatives in 1/285 or 1/300 for the Trojan. There are files available for those who have 3D printers, which I do not have. If anyone has the ability to print me a pair of T-28s, I would be happy to purchase the file and the planes!

The AT-6 (SNJ-4) Texan is easy to come by as several manufactures carry the venerable trainer. I have some from Table Top Flights to use for Syrians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and they should work well enough for Central America.

The C-47 is covered by several companies, my preferred would be Flight Deck Decals as the quality of Flight Deck's resin print is amazing. 

Balls of Fire - After Action Report

Initial setup of VF-66

I finally hosted my hypothetical late Second World War scenario, called Balls of Fire. The game features the Ki-100 Goshikisen against the Ryan FR-1 Fireball. Why these two planes? Because I can! 

The Japanese setup

The scenario is set over Sagami Bay, southwest of Yokohama. VF-66, a specially assembled Navy fighter squadron that pulled experienced pilots from other squadrons, had been training on the Fireball for months as the Ryan was the only plane fast enough to intercept the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka. However, the war ended before VF-66 could see action. This scenario assumes the war extended long enough for VF-66 to get into action. Their opponents are the pilots of the 244th Sentai, a home defense squadron, with its own selection of experienced pilots. 

Both sides have spotted and are starting to react

The players can only plot forward maneuver codes until either completing a successful spotting roll or after taking fire. 

Five hardy players from the Check Your 6! Southwestern Ohio Group met at the local game store. Initial setup is a bit randomized. While the opposing forces set up in opposite corners of the board, their starting CAB and TAL are determined by a roll of the dice. The Japanese started with three formations, two at Medium CAB and the last at Medium Bottom. The Americans started at  Medium CAB. Numbers favored the 244th Sentai with six aircraft, while aircrew quality leaned towards VF-66 (the Americans had one ace, two veterans, and one skilled pilot, while the Japanese had three veterans, two skilled, and one green aircrew).

The first five to six turns were simply approach moves until the Japanese closed to within spotting range. They were successful in spotting the Americans while the latter failed to spot in return for one turn. However, as distances were great, the Americans spotted the next turn so there was no impact with their initial failure.

Maneuvering towards the Imperialists

VF-66 moves to engage

Scratch one Ki-100! Ys, I used an afterburner marker to indicate the destroyed Nippon

One of the best opportunities for the Japanese fell short and resulted in an airframe hit in return

The Dance of Death starts

Can you say airframe?

The last formation of Ki-100s close in

But for naught with another airframe hit

The setting sun on the Japanese Empire, another good chance to damage a Fireball failed

The Americans did not fair overly well with their damage dice results, but they were just enough to result in several airframe hits. The Japanese lined up a couple of good shots, but the Americans had a wave of successful robustness checks. And once the forces had closed, it was a day of Split S and Immelmann maneuvers, neither side wanting to show tail to the opponent.

More Japanese fell from the sky. With two Ki-100s now out of ammunition and no damage on the invading Imperialist Yankees, we called the game at fifteen turns. It was a tough day for the Emperor's 244th Sentai.  I had the American ace (VF-66 commander John Gray) and did well, inflicting two airframe hits. The Japanese commander, Teruhiko Kobayashi, not so much - I think he was one of the veteran pilots that were shot down.

Some takeaways:

1. Having the players start within five hexes of their respective edge corners was too far apart. Next time they will start within their respective areas (A for the Japanese and F for the Americans). This will allow the forces to get into action sooner.
2. Having a random die roll for TAL worked well, but having one for random CAB kept one Japanese player out of the game for quite some time (both sides had to hold course, CAB, TAL, and speed until spotting the enemy). Instead I will have the players all start in the same CAB, but still randomizing each formation's TAL.
3. Dice of course determined the outcomes. Had the Americans failed a robustness check or two, the game would have went quite differently. 

• The updated scenario is available under the Downloads page above.
• Planes are MSD Games FR-1s and Raiden Ki-100s, painted by Chris at I-94.
• Game mat is from Deep Cut Studio.