100 Hour War Scenario 2 - Zepeda misses out again!

I mentioned in Scenario 1 that one Honduran Corsair had a cannon malfunction and had to abort, inadvertently triggering the dogfight. That was Captain Zapeda. A few hours later he and his comrades were back in action, this time against a pair of Salvadoran Corsairs. And just like on the morning sortie, his guns jammed on testing again............

Major Soto pressed on and in the dogfight that followed claimed two more kills both against Corsairs. At some point a pair of Salvadoran F51s appeared. So this is the setup for Scenario 2. I've messed around a bit with history to get it more playable.

The Salvadoran Corsairs begin about two thirds of the way up the table, with the trio of Hondurans behind them. How far is important given I wanted to give the Salvadorans a chance. The Corsairs used by Honduras don't have Great Dive due to their having quad 20mm cannons and the rule restrictions on only 2 Traits, so to put them just out of engagement range there needs to be at least 22" between them. I left Zepeda in the mix but with no guns - he can still help in what can rapidly turn into a 4v2 even if he cant shoot as the opposition don't know this!  The F51s enter after they pass a raw Pilot Skill test at the end of each turn, adding one die for each turn they fail (or tbh when I thought it was a good idea to get them on to keep the players engaged). They don't use High Cover btw - there is no suggestion of any real coordination going on. Everyone dices for initial Advantage when they start, just as part of the explanation process for new \ first time players)

And that was it. We played three times and it seemed to work.

Corsair on Corsair action. Hondurans in blue, El Salvador in green

I'm going off to polish this one as I think it's a good demo. It's also interesting to see the unusual match up. 

side-note - Zepeda's cannons. After these two actions there was some investigation as to why his cannons failed twice when the others didn't. The result was in some ways emblematic of the war in general. Honduras had bought a batch of 20mm ammunition from the UK, presumably on a discount. Why is this a problem? Well the Corsairs used US M3 20mm cannon, which is in theory a copy of the Hispano 20mm used by the British. Problem is the US version had been "re-engineered" (and wasn't quite as good as the Hispano because of these changes but that's another story) and as a result the UK ammunition was about 1mm thicker than the US version. On older worn out guns this made no difference as the wear and tear coincidentally meant the UK rounds mostly worked. It appears Zepeda's guns were still in reasonable condition so jammed when trying to fire the British ammo. This was apparently resolved by the field expedient of clamping 20mm High Explosive Incendiary \ Armour Piercing into a lathe and grinding them down til they fit. Flying is dangerous but the guys who got that job certainly must have had massive "cojones" :-)      

100 Hour War part 4 - Decals and done

Paint done, now for decals!

At this point I should mention the Blue Falcon Hobbies decal Patreon. Steve Toth sends out decals to members once a month and in sheer coincidence last month he did a sheet of Honduran and Salvadoran markings for the 100 Hour War. These were (obviously) perfect for this project and were one of the reasons I thought it would be possible, though I was wincing at the Honduran wing tip and rudder markings.

It only took and hour - part of the speed I realised was the fact I was only painting pairs or threes, and also (to my shame) I was only concentrating on the the things you would see on the table, so left the undersides plain. 

And here they are - all painted and ready for action!

F51 Cavalier Mustangs 

Salvadoran Corsairs

Honduran Corsairs

 

100 Hour War- rule tweaks and scenario 1

 So what was I going to do with the models?

I do have a tendency to try and shoehorn games to fit "official" scenarios. I blame Andy Chambers. The problem here is the historical dogfights of the 100 Hour War were quite a bit smaller than a normal BRS game, so the scenarios wouldn't work. Nor would the "Boom Chit" mechanism, where the squadron breaks when it has more Boom chits than planes. 

So here is what I came up with. I'm not restricted by table size and as all the planes are Speed 9 I have a full 6x4 table to deal with. So far so good. 

Boom Chits wont work as advertised as this is a participation game and I may well have pilots playing single planes rather than Squadrons, so in this case Boom Chits are going to be accumulated on individual planes, and if the total exceeds the Pilot Skill, that plane must immediately disengage. The second change to normal BRS is to allow TWO trait cards per plane not just one - again in case we have players with a single plane so that they all get a reasonable flavour of how Traits work. 

Scenario 1 is the first dogfight. This occurred when three Honduran Corsairs were on a ground attack mission. Just before engaging they tested their guns, and one had an embarrassing total fail on all four 20mm. He was ordered to disengage, and turned for home alone. Shortly afterwards he was spotted by a pair of Salvadorian F51s who dived in. He managed to survive long enough to summon the other pair of his flight, and in the following dogfight one F51 was downed. Putting this into a BRS game was pretty straightforward - the unarmed Corsair starts half way down the table with the pair of F51s 18 inches behind him. He can't shoot and only has the Robust Trait, but as the opposition don't know he is toothless he can do everything other than shoot - including Outmanoeuvre . At the end of each turn he makes a pilot skill check and if successful his supports arrive. Simple. The F51s are both Pilot Skill 2 - this represents the Salvadorian pilots seeming have lacked faith in their Mustangs which they only recently had taken delivery of, apparently preferring their "old faithful" Corsairs. The Hondurans have a Skill 4 (Major Soto) and two Skill 3s, one of which is the guy with jammed guns. 

We played this twice on the games day. The first game the Hondurans arrived in time to save their flight mate and shot down a F51. Incidentally this is pretty much happened historically. The second time something went wrong and an F51 shot down the Honduran Flight Leader! This was something of a surprise to say the least. 

"Azul" Squadron for Blood Red Skies - part 2 - Nobody Expects ......................

Making it happen

Err did I mention no one did a G6? PlanePrinter does a G14 as an .stl file, and Warlord do a physical model. To most laymen, like myself, the main visual difference between a G6 and G14 is the revised canopy. PlanePrinter also do a 109F4 with the old style canopy, so I reached out to Roger Gerrish who likes to dabble in this sort of thing, to see if he could graft an old canopy from the F onto the G - and he did (Cheers m8!) and I printed half a dozen. I'm going to paint them as 4th Squadron in winter whitewash colours from the winter of 1943.

The problem is (as explained in part 1) that these basically look like any other Luftwaffe unit. Ah well.

Stage 1 - print the models. Not a problem. I recently purchased a Saturn 2 and it happily chucked out six "Gerrish Special" 109Gs

Stage 2 paint. This is going to be interesting. Spray them white as an undercoat. I wanted to keep them a bit light here as I was hoping to get some way of dealing with the whitewash effect. Underside - blue grey from a Hataka Blue range then paint the yellow spinner and bands - three thin coats of Citadel "Flash Git" yellow to hopefully build up some depth. Canopies - my usual two tone blue, then frames in white. Then whitewash. This is the bothersome bit. I grabbed some Citadel Apothecary White Contrast paint and sort of reverse engineered the whitewash by painting it over all the various panel lines. I was very relaxed about this , allowing the contrast to spill over quite a way from the panel lines. I also used the same Contrast paint on any large areas of white to represent areas where the whitewash was fading and the base colours showing through. After a bit of practice I think this looks ok.

Last painting step will be to tidy up, panel line underneath (I hate that) and add details like exhausts.

Decals. There are no commercially available decals for the Azul (I've petitioned Blue Falcon Hobbies) but as I said by the time 4th Squadron got their Gs they're using standard Luftwaffe markings so I am using decals from the spares box - a mixture of Balkankreuz fron the Warlord generic set and spare numbers from Warlords 190A decal sheet.

White 4

4th Blue Squadron

So there we go. I'm quite interested in getting these on the table as I think the Great Dive \ Great Climb combo is a potent mix. 

Cheers!

 

 

Spanish "Azul" Squadron for Blood Red Skies - part 1 - the Cunning Plan

A little while ago I mentioned I rated the Bf109G quite highly in Blood Red Skies. https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2023/08/blood-red-skies-list-building-what.html .

I already have some 109Es and Fs but as yet no Gs. One of the reasons is nostalgia. In my mind if I recall the "Gustaf" there is only one thing that comes to mind, the old Airfix Series 1 kit, in blue plastic with the totally Kool under wing rockets for shooting down B17s. This is a Bf109G-6 with the traditional square canopy. I loved this as a kid so thats the 109 G I want.

The problem is, the two easily accessible Bf109G models for BRS, from Warlord and PlanePrinter are both later versions with the "Galland" hood, which improved visibility dramatically but don't look right to me, so this project got parked.

I then went to FIASCO in Leeds (a long running Wargames show in the NE England)  I should do a review of that because I think there is a post there but maybe later. Anyway when there I spotted a book on the Spanish Azul (Blue) Squadrons that operated in Russia during WW2. I had heard of the Azul Division - Spanish volunteers fighting for the Germans against the Communists,  but not the Air Force unit, so I picked it up. I was thinking - that's a "Kool" and interesting 109G unit that I could do rather than a more standard Luftwaffe one. 

So I got home and started to read it - and its a really interesting story.

Potted history -back of a postcard stuff - Spanish volunteers fighting as a unit for the Luftwaffe against the threat of world Communism. The author goes quite a way to stress the point that theyre not Fascists just anti Communist - opinions may vary on that, but............ 

Anyway they wanted to be allocated to support their compatriots in the Blue Division, but the Luftwaffe said "no", so the initial draft were allocated to fly Bf109Es as a ground attack unit, 1st Escuadrillas Azules  15 Spanische Staffel 15.(Span)/JG 27 . The pilots were not that impressed as the first draft of volunteers were pretty much all seasoned fighter pilots with experience from the Spanish Civil War.

After a tour the surviving pilots were rotated back home and were replaced with another batch of pilots designated as the 2nd Azul Squadron. These guys got their wish and had the 109Es replaced with 109Fs and they became a standard fighter Squadron, 2nd Escuadrillas Azules 15 Spanische Staffel 15.(Span)/JG 51. The pattern continued, with the 3rd Squadron replacing the 2nd and taking over their planes, remaining as part of JG51. 

Up to this point they carried standard Luftwaffe markings plus their own unit badges, however with the arrival of the 4th rotation this changed. The 4th replaced the Bf109Fs with a mix of Bf109Gs* (at last!) and Fw190A2s .  However the fly in the ointment (for me) is that at this point and going forward to the 5th Squadron, they seem to have dropped their distinctive Squadron markings from their planes so they were just the same visually as a "standard" Luftwaffe unit. 

1st Squadron Badge

2nd \ 3rd Squadron 109F with Spanish "Yolk and Arrows"

After the remnants of the Blue Division was withdrawn it was only a matter of time til the Blue Squadron followed, which happened to the 5th in 1944.

So in Blood Red Skies there are a couple of interesting options here. It's a shame the 4th Squadron dropped their Spanish markings because a mixed Squadron of Bf109Gs and FW190As would be interesting and one of the few legitimate "Mixed Bag" Doctrine card units out there, though how well they would play is open to some debate. The earlier 1st and 2nd\3rd Squadrons have their own markings which set them apart somewhat. On the other hand the I'm supposed to be looking at using the Gs (!) so I better get on.

Anyway that's the background. Actual models etc in part 2. 

* some online sources say the 2\3rd Squadron got Bf109Gs

Summer Scramble 23 - The other side of the hill or "What would I do if I were a German*?"

Looking forward to Summer Scramble 23

If we end up with odd numbers of players I may have to play as an Axis player so I thought I would give my thoughts and look at list options should that situation arise.

It's going to be hard not to look at the Bf109E. 

Warlords infamous Bf109E models. These were the first BRS models I painted.

Of all the fighters available in 1939-40 this is for me is the apex predator. Speed 7, Ag 3, FP 1 Great Climb, Great Dive for 32 points (amended for Wing Commander due to the new Great Dive rule). Only a Spitfire will be marginally faster so I will mostly have the initiative on ties. I can get a six planes and 18 Pilot Skill levels at 500 points. I'd probably go PS 5, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, and lead with the Ace. I'm going to be vulnerable to better pilots in cheaper planes outmanoeuvring me (like the PZL 11 I mentioned in earlier posts) but being faster I should get to choose when the fight happens, and even without diving I can use my speed to try to get out of gun range. FP 1 isn't great, particularly on the PS 2 planes, but they will mostly act as wingmen and only shoot at targets of opportunity. Like the real Luftwaffe the Schwarm and Rotte fuhrer will be the ones making the main plays unless it all goes pear shaped.  Against Robust opponents like Hurricanes, Ms406s and Hawk 75s the lack of FP is going to be a problem but something has to give.

As an aside I think it is safe to say the Warlord 109E model has issues. It paints up well enough but you can tell it was from the first release wave. There are problems with the overall shape, particularly the front, and the panel lines on the wings look like they're from a much later version like a K. Actually the Warlord 109E front end looks rather like the earlier D version come to think about it so it can easily be proxied for those if you squint. Lastly the soft plastic is prone to a bit of bending. Hopefully this is getting remastered "soon". 

Another option would be to take the Bf110 Zerstorer. In BRS the 110C is a bit underwhelming. Speed 7, FP 2 but only Ag 1. I's also bloody expensive at 39 points each using the Heavy Fighter rule. On the other hand it is FP2 and has the Heavy Hitter Trait so an average pilot will be will be attacking at 6 dice and any hits will be classed as critical hits, and Great Dive does mean it can get in and out like the 109E. If I can initiate the engagement and blow through the opposition (literally) they may just work. Dropping to say five planes may help keep pilot quality reasonable. Hmm. btw the advantages and disadvantages of using Heavy Fighter is discussed quite a bit in one of the recent Lead Pursuit Podcast episodes and is worth a listen if you are interested in list building and the view from the States https://www.leadpursuit.net/podcast/episode-106-tournament-scene-2023  

Bf110Cs from Armaments in Miniature
 

Since I went out of my way to point out the issues with the Warlord 109E I should redress this by saying the Warlord 110 is a beautiful model, possibly the best in the range. Theyre well proportioned, detailed  and hard plastic. The only reason I don't have any painted yet is I had bought them from AIM before Warlord had even suggested they were releasing them. 

I suppose I could go Bargain Basement and use the Bf109D. This is slower and less Agile than the Emil and lacks Great Climb, but it is MUCH cheaper at 20 points each. I could build either a Swarm or Outmanoeuvre list with that, but I'm not sure.

Lastly I could go Italian. That would mean either a biplane like a Cr42 or an early FIAT or Macchi. None of these ideas appeal. They're cheap but are slower than their German counterparts and are turn fighters, which as I mentioned in another post just isn't my style.  Also I would have to get a squadron ready from scratch in a week which I don't fancy as I have no Italians yet.

* technically my paternal Great Grandfather WAS a German, but he vanished in undisclosed circumstances in 1914, about the same time the High Seas Fleet arrived and blew a significant part of my home town of Hartlepool into rubble. I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

  

Summer Scramble 2023 - List building and Cunning Plans

Card thanks to the talented Martin Wilson (Fine Chap!)

With Summer Scramble 23 only a week away and I have eight PZL P11c fighters ready. At the moment however we have an odd number of players so as the organiser \ sub I may not actually get a game. Additionally with a dozen players confirmed it is likely I'll be busy doing Organiser stuff, but if I do get a game, how do I plan to use them?

Err

Rewind a bit, and let's look at what we will be up against. Summer Scramble 23 is not an open tournament, rather it is a themed event with some restrictions as to what will be fighting what. In this case it will always be Axis v Allies in Europe from the start of WW2 to the Fall of France. That means what you are going to run up against is reasonably predictable - at least as far as the planes are concerned. The Axis players will probably be using Bf109Es, Bf110Cs or something Italian. Of these, the 109 is frankly terrifying because it's fast, can climb like a bat out of hell and dive like an avenging angel with it's pockets full of building bricks. The 110 is also fast, also has Great Dive, and will chew up targets with those FP2 cannons. Luckily the 110 manoeuvres like it dives, like a brick. Against some of the second line opposition old Herman's wet dream "Destroyer" could actually work for once. On the other hand they're both expensive and less manoeuvrable than me. Thankfully none of them have Robust, which I suspect would be a real headache to play against with low FP planes like the P11c. 

So that's the likely opposition, now back to the plucky Poles. 

The firstly they're cheap! At only 20 points a plane I can get the maximum eight allowed for 160 points, leaving enough points for 21 pilot skill (PS) levels. This is important against those 109s who will be something like 18 PS between six planes. (I always think in skill levels when building a list - basically divide the points you have by 25 then add the number of planes to get the number of skill levels, its just easier for me) 

Sadly, theyre SLOW - at Speed 5 slower than all the German fighters, even the bargain basement variant Bf109D. They also have the "Poor Quality" (PQ) Trait. This isn't so much to do with build quality, more lack of what we would come to accept as normal equipment - radios etc. The first scenario is going to be Fighter Sweep and will involve a roll to determine starting Advantage and PQ will impose a minus on the deployment die, which could be "unfortunate". 

The second mission is Surprise Attack -  an Axis attack on an airfield and that could include HE111s, which do have Robust, making taking them down a bit of a challenge with only FP1, but there's not a lot I can do about that and at least I can probably catch them when theyre laden with bombs which is going to be a real problem if chasing Ju88s!

Mission 3 is a straight Dogfight btw

I'll need an Ace I think. Aces are important as they can act as a sponge for enemy outmanoeuvre attempts in the merge, protecting the rest of the Squadron. That's five PS, leaving 16 split between seven planes. That's a bit of an issue as I'll end up with a "horde list" of five Rookie PS2 Pilots and a pair of Average PS3s plus an Ace. I really don't like that. Horde lists are ok but if you play BRS a while you will know that a rookie in an FP1 plane like a PZL 11 isn't going to hit much, and while the high Agility of the PZL will give them 5 dodge dice, it's still not great. Of course you do have a larger pool of "Boom Markers" to burn through, and you can choose a Doctrine that will help, Defensive Tactics springs to mind, which will allow you to turn any shot into a deflection shot, improving the chance of a dodge dramatically. I'll think about that.

The other option is to reduce the number of planes. I can take a standard six plane Squadron for 120 points. This still only gets me 21 Pilot Skill levels, but they're spread over fewer pilots. I can get an Ace, and maybe a PS4 and four PS3s, or maybe drop one of the 3s to a Rookie and get two PS4s. That extra dice makes quite a difference when trying to hit a target and will make outmanoeuvring an option, which means if everything is equal the Poles are going to be successfully automatically outmanoeuvring at least two or three 109s a turn.  Doctrine could be Defensive Tactics, or Aggressive Tactics, which given the reputation the Poles gained in RAF service may well be appropriate and meshes well with our Tight Turn trait.

Both options assume an Ace. As I mentioned if I'm taking an unnamed Ace he's there to act as a shield for enemy outmanoeuvre attempts in the merge or to OM enemies if the chance arises, or to buff other guys, not to do the killing himself. I'd not bother with stuff that makes him a better shooter or harder to kill as he is already on six attack and eight dodge dice. That suggests something like "Mother Hen", or more likely "Set Them Up".  I may have to think about it.

So there it is. Option 1 a Swarm list, option 2 an Outmanoeuvre list. Both could work. The problem I'm seeing is that these guys just are not my style. I don't like slow turn fighters very much. Actually I don't like turn fighters that much at all - even Spitfires only interest me when the Mk IX comes along with Great Climb.  I'm an energy fighter at heart and like to have the speed to get into position and get out of trouble, and sadly these guys just don't have it. 

What do you think? I'd appreciate comments and critiques

Cheers

 

3 Week Painting Challenge - day 10 - Decals and done

And done - ok no pilots, but good enough

My first post on this subject mentioned how the Poles had done some thinking when designing the Pzl P11c. This extended beyond the basics of design to the markings. At some point (shortly after having a giggle that the Brits and French actually painted bullseye style shooting targets on their planes) someone sat down and did some thinking about markings. Symmetrical markings, they reasoned, made it easier for opposition shooters to estimate the range and deflection, so why make it easy?

They came up with an idea to have the national markings placed at different parts of the wing, so outboard on the port wing but inboard on the starboard. A picture paints a thousand words apparently so here is a picture of what they did.

 

Which I think you will agree looks strange

I don't know how much this worked but you have to say there is evidence they were thinking out of the box! Personally I think it looks bloody odd.

I couldn't get any Squadron specific decals as originally planned - the Great Decal Drought of 2023 etc, but the i-94 ones I got from Pendraken are more than good enough. The individual numbers were a bit of an issue - I had some spare numbers from a Soviet set but had to carefully slice them down as these Sovs were using 2 digit numbers such as 01, 02, 03 etc however the Poles did not. They will do. 

So all that is left to do is the pilots. I think I may just not bother as it is a lot of faff and I don't think it will make much difference.

This has been quite an interesting project, but ironically I'm not sure I will use them at Summer Scramble this year. Partly because at the moment we have an odd number of players and I'm acting as sub so will need to drop out of gaming, and partly because I'm not sure, plucky though they undoubtedly are, these guys fit my play style. Will know in ten days I suppose, til then, 

  

 

Summer Scramble 3 week painting challenge day 8 "Pierdoly"

The Squadron drying in the summer sunshine

 ........which my Polish friend Pawel says means something like annoying embuggerations, but he has a sharp sense of humour so he could just be winding me up.

So where to start?

When I printed the models I just loaded the file on the printer and pressed "print". What I forgot was that some of the early PlanePrinter models had a slightly undersized mounting triangle slot. I usually run the file through Blender and double check, but this time I didn't. When I tried to put them on the stands so I can paint them, err they don't fit. Bugger! Now I must admit this sometimes happens if you don't carefully wash the slot thoroughly before curing, which of course I forgot to do (bugger), so it may also be that.

There are two or three options to fix this. Firstly I could restart, check the file and print again. Don't fancy that plus its a waste of otherwise fine models. Secondly I could try and carve the slots open with a knife. I didn't fancy that either as it could easily result in a damaged model and therefore another print. Luckily there is a third option - the Hawk Widget. Old timers will know all about these, and in fact I did a blog post about them here . I drilled the slot out to take a widget and I'm ready to move on.

At this point I also realised that there is no pilots in there. This isn't a deal breaker as I can pop a blob of greenstuff in there I suppose. A more elegant solution would have been to speak to the talented Roger Gerrish and get him remix the file to add a pilot - he has done this a few times in the past and the result is good, however that would mean getting Roger to do his stuff, then reprint, which I want to avoid so greenstuff it will be. 

Remember I thought the colour was a bit green? This bugged me so I decided to tone it down a bit, overpainting with Vallejo brown violet. I was a bit happier about this, and painted the undersides light blue \ grey. I painted the engine block silver and whacked some more Nuln Oil in there, and painted the tyres in grey. The last colour was a bit of a reach. The Pzl P11 has a Bristol Mercury engine. This has a metallic cover on the front cowl. On the only surviving P11 this is a dull green but I've seen these on other planes in various metallic colours so I went with a bronze colour just to give the model something other than the rather drab brown \ green that is currently dominating. Lastly I painted the windshield in blue. 

So end of Day 8 I've ran into a few unexpected speed bumps and minor problems but I think I've either solved them or have a plan to sort them.

Next, decals.    

3 Week Painting Challenge Day 7 - starting to paint

OK so now I have the models and some adequate if not perfect decals, I can start laying down some paint.

What I should do of course, is take a trip up to the NEMS (North East Model Centre) and buy a Hataka Blue Polish Airforce set. Like this one 

This would be doubly wise given I usually end up having multiple squadrons for each nation and PlanePrinter does both the Pzl 37 bomber and the Pzl 23 Karas ground attack plane, strong contenders for my bomber element to the Poles (I suspect I will do both). However there are two problems - 1) that would be like planning and I don't know if I'm up to that, and 2) NEMS didn't have it in stock on their website. I could order one from eBay or another store however I am mindful that real life (tm) has a habit of disrupting my plans so even with two weeks to go I would prefer to make progress now "just in case". 

Thus foiled I went for a standard gray rattle-can undercoat followed by a khaki rattle-can main coat - no idea of the actual colour just something from the box (PSC tank colour of some sort I believe?). I then had a moment of doubt as I thought it was too green but asked Marcin, one of the Polish members of The Ready Room , and he was fine with it, so onwards and upwards!

 Next some details I think

3 Week Painting Challenge Day 3 & 4 - models & decals

So having picked up this particular gauntlet I needed to get a start. Luckily the P11 is available from the PlanePrinter Patreon scheme so I can 3d print them. Only problem is the printer has been lying pretty much dormant over spring as I tend to suffer print fails in low temperatures. 

With some trepidation I ran some quick tests and all seemed well 

My Photon Ultra has a small print bed so I can comfortably fit only five models on it, though in the end I settled for only four so I could run it twice and get all the planes I would need. I chanted the rituals, and ran the printer. My incantations seemed to be correct and I now have eight usable models.  

First four just off the printer and ready for a bit of clean up

So clean up then undercoat and hopefully get some progress on paint.

At this point I had a bit of a setback. I had hoped to get some decals for these guys from Miscellaneous Miniatures in the US of A. They've always been my first port of call for decals and they usually are fast and very reasonably priced. However they've had a reorganisation and have changed postal service - which sadly meant that the $5 decal sheet was going to cost rather more than that to ship to me in the UK - full disclosure, I was thinking of bulk ordering twelve sheets, so $60, but the postage was quoted as $63 which was not really viable :-(

Step forward Pendraken Miniatures. I had to visit the shop to do some checks for the event anyway, so I drove through and picked up some Polish decals from the I-94 Enterprises range that they carry. The I94E range is a bit of a curates egg for me. They're not specifically designed for 1:200 scale - in fact they seem to be in any scale but 1:200, but they have a very wide range and there's usually something in there that will do. Sadly they don't do individual unit markings and numbers like Misc Minis, but beggars cant be choosers.    

The range can be viewed here https://www.pendraken.co.uk/i-94 and I suspect until the "decal drought" can be fixed theyre going to be getting a lot of business from UK based players.

So still on track - paint next

Painting Wildcats fast and dirty

VMF-223 ready to leave the painting table

With the new Midway starter set for Blood Red Skies now available I thought it may help if I shared how I painted my Wildcats. I did a similar post about Zeros here if you are interested here . I'm no expert but I think they look ok on the table. In this case I'm going to be painting them up as US Marines based on Guadalcanal rather than one of the Midway Squadrons, but the process is the same.

1. Clean the model up. Give them a quick wash in warm soapy water and let them dry. Warlord suggest this may not be needed with their new resin but it's a good habit to get into. Check for any spurs or casting points, and clean up any mould lines. Then do it again because you almost certainly missed something !

2. On the Warlord Wildcats, check they sit on the base. There is a widely reported problem with the mounting slot being too tight on the first batch of (blue) resin Warlord Wildcats. I think it is caused by the moulding process and has been fixed on the second (grey) production run. It is annoying but an easy fix, just run an Exacto or similar knife carefully round the mounting triangle. 

3. Undercoat. I used a GW Contrast spray undercoat - Grey Seer iirc. In the past I've used a standard cheap grey primer spray from Halfords, but I've discovered Grey Seer is a reasonable match to the light grey used on many planes in WW2 and it cuts out a stage of painting if you use the same colour for undercoat and underside, and I'm lazy. You can use an airbrush if you have one and can be bothered.

4. Block Paint. Block the undersides in light grey (or if you are lazy like me just paint around the Grey Seer.  I also use Vallejo but there are many others. The upper surfaces I used Vallejo Blue Grey which I think looks about right. Quick side note - "Looks about Right" is what you want. There are acres of books and more internet posts about the "right" colour to paint your models. Use them as a guide not a bible. Once they leave the factory the paint on any service aircraft fades and weathers with alarming speed. In the case of Wildcats this is even more pronounced as they are exposed to salt water if ship borne, or in the case of the Marines at Guadalcanal just parked in the open or under canvas. Also think a shade or two lighter if you can, as smaller models need a bit of a hike in colour otherwise they tend to look a bit dark for "reasons". Block the canopy in your chosen colour. I use light blue and highlight with a lighter blue just out of habit. I'd also run some gunmetal or similar around the spinner and engine. If you are unsure about colours then there are sets of paint available from Hataka or Blue Falcon Hobbies that take some of the angst out of the decision making process - Blue Falcon in particular are made by a BRS player for BRS models so are worth a look but are US based so not easily available in the UK.

5. Tidy up. Using the same colours as the blocking go back over any details you want and straighten any areas you missed. Paint the canopy bars, and the tyres. This is where you can add any oil streaks or gun soot if you are so inclined.

6. Panel lines. There are four schools of thought here: 1. Don't bother. This is probably most realistic as at any distance panel lines are going to be invisible in real life. Problem here is they do look so pretty, and without panel lines the single colour camo scheme like used on these Wildcats look a bit bland. 2. Use a thinned wash over everything. Something like Army Painter soft tone or GW Agrax \ Nuln Oil. I think he trick here is to be careful not to overdo it, and you may need to highlight over some areas if you get it wrong. I've tried this in the past and got it wrong so it isn't for me. 3. Use a clay based wash. Some people swear by Florry Wash or similar. My experience has been less than good but I suspect this may be something to do with how I apply the damned thing. Again I pass here. So that leaves 4 -Pin wash. Follow the panel lines with a thinned paint or ink in a suitable colour. On my Wildcats I used GW Contrast because I had some lying around. I quite like this for panel lines as it sinks into them well and gives a bit of a faded edging look. If you are doing panel lines a coat of gloss varnish really helps before you start (good tip there) as it helps with capillary action. 

5. Decals. The Warlord set are good, but are for the Midway carrier group and I'm doing  USMC unit so ordered from Miscellaneous Miniatures. They arrived in about a week from the US.  Wildcat markings are pretty simple, but check for some online pics for location if you are not certain, in particularly note the biggest stars go on the fuselage sides which are HUGE, and where the . I use Decasol \ Decaset to soften the decals once in place but it's personal choice. 

I then gloss varnish over the decals, and finally matt the whole model down. Done!  

As I said - quick, I think but they look fine on the table.

Guadalcanal Diary Part Three - (Bam Balam!)

OK I'm struggling with the title - been a long day :-)

In addition to the fighters, to do the heavy lifting, I'm going to need some bombers. The Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 1 Naval Attack Bomber, commonly known by it's Allied reporting name as the"Betty" is the logical choice. Entering service in 1941 as a replacement for the G3M "Nell", it was in almost all ways but one a superlative aircraft. The G4M had exceptional range, good speed and bombload, and good (for the time) defensive weapons. The only problem was to achieve that superlative range and other positive features the design sacrificed protection. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they did have a worrying tendency to burn if hit. When used as a high level bomber the speed and range of the G4M meant it could be hard to intercept. They could also be converted to carry torpedoes as well as bombs, and some squadrons were specially trained to do so with the aim of contributing to the IJN's Kantai Kessen (Decisive Battle) doctrine, where they would wear the strength of the US fleet down by long range air attacks before the two battle lines would meet. 

The Betty was the workhorse of the Imperial Japanese Navy's land based bomber force (fleet?) in WW2. Notable points were the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the assassination (is that the right phrase??) of Admiral Yamamoto. Their long range meant they could bomb targets as far afield as China and Australia. The Betty was ubiquitous, wherever the IJN went, there was the G4M.

The G4M was a big bird, more akin to a Wellington or Mitchell in size and role than a Ju88 or Blenheim (for instance) and it has a distinctly portly appearance - the Japanese pilots nicknamed it "The Cigar" as a result of it's shape, though how much the flammability issue contributed is an interesting thought. The Allies were much more straight and to the point, calling them "The Flying Zippo". 

In many ways the Betty mirrored the Zero in design, with protection being sacrificed to achieve excellence in other areas (range in both cases). That analogy continues to the crews, who were honed to a very high standard of capability, but who could not be replaced easily when lost. At Guadalcanal, this became horribly apparent as squadrons were almost annihilated by Wildcats and AA in long range strikes against the US invasion fleet at Lunga Point. Some squadrons lost 75% of their combat strength and received no replacements.

Throughout the war the IJN tried to update the design, adding more defensive weapons and even some protection such as rudimentary self sealing fuel tanks, however the weakness was baked in to the design and even at the end, the Betty had a well earned reputation as a flying torch. The Betty ended it's career and the war as a launch platform for the Oka suicide rocket plane. 

In Blood Red Skies the Betty is a good medium bomber. Speed 6 is commendably nippy for such a big plane, and defensive firepower is adequate - FP1 all round with a bonus +1 in the rear arc due to the 20mm cannon in the tail . On the down side it is rated as Vulnerable,  so enemies firing at it get an extra attack dice, and it can't dodge incoming attacks with Agility 0. The FP 1 rating is ok but can be deceptive if you are facing Robust enemies such as Wildcats which can negate your FP.  

My models are from PlanePrinter - printed by Paul D for me on his machine as mine struggles a bit to deal with something this big. The base colour is Tamiya IJN Green, which I'm convinced is a bit too dark for 1:200, but too late now...............Decals from Misc Minis.

So, which way to Henderson Field?

Guadalcanal Diary Part 1 - The Cunning Plan

2022 is the 80th anniversary of the Guadalcanal campaign, one of the pivotal moments in WW2 in the Far East. Over on the Blood Red Skies Ready Room, stalwart Gísli Jökull Gíslason mentioned he was thinking of running this as a campaign where players could report their game results and this would be collated into a coherent campaign narrative. Brave man!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1649101651822260/search/?q=guadalcanal%20campaign

I'm up for this. It ties in nicely with the Midway releases and based on his previous Battle of Britain campaign should be fun.

So I've decided to do the Japanese. Here is the plan. 

I intend to run a Zero Squadron and a bomber unit of G4M Bettys initially. To be a bit different I'll be using the less common A6M3 Zero rather than the classic A6M2s. 

So that's it - two Squadrons worth to prep - six fighters and three bombers - should be easy enough ???

Watch this space........

Blood Red Skies - New format Squadron Boxes

There is another change in Blood Red Skies with the new Midway starter set. The Squadron boxes being released with the starter set are in a new small box format. I thought it would be worth a look at what has changed.

Old format on the left, new compact on the right.

The short answer is, not a lot. Or at least not that much. The box itself has superb artwork similar to the later releases. Contents wise you still get the six models, bases, Trait and Doctrine cards as before. The only real change apart from the box size is the punch board with the Pilot Skill disks and other counters. In the old boxes (and the new starter set) this is a sturdy heavy duty affair. In the new small box format this has been replaced by a much thinner sheet of similar thickness to the ones in the newer Ace boxes. The layout has changed to get it to fit the new box. There are only four Boom chits, and no range ruler or High Cover markers, but most of us will already have so many boom chits this will hardly matter, and if you have the new starter set that comes with cool plastic range markers and High Cover markers anyway. In fact this is probably a better layout as it will mean you have fewer duplicated counters, but it is a pity about the quality of the card. 

It's hard to see this as anything other than a downgrade, and I sometimes wish Warlord would be a bit more consistent. At the moment the wave 1 Aces, starter sets and old style big Squadron boxes have the heavy duty card punch board, but the new Aces and Squadrons have the thinner ones. I don't know how much this is saving them on production costs, but it feels like a false economy for me the punter. 

Enough of the peripheral stuff, most of which is just packaging, what about the models?? Here it is all good news. The new models are in the new recipe "Warlord Resin" which is an improvement over the older version, and the ones I have seen so far are new sculpts with enhanced details and panel lines. They should be a joy to paint. I should add the last iteration of the old resin was perfectly acceptable, the new one is just better.

One last point of note. The new box has quite a handy painting guide on the back. Nothing too detailed, but more than enough to give you an idea of where to start.  

All in all except for the punchboard I think this is a good change. I'm assuming this will be the format going forward, but I don't know if they're going to retro fit the older squadron boxes into this style.

Battle of Midway Starter Set - Overview

 A little while ago I did a "preview" of the new Blood Red Skies Battle of Midway Starter Set - it goes into some detail  here if you are interested.

Today the postie delivered the real thing, so here is my first impression \ unboxing. I started to write an in depth and "warts and all" review, but realised to do it any justice I will have to split it into several parts, so this is just going to be a quick overview of the contents.

And there's quite a lot in this box.........

You get 12 model fighters - six each of A6M2 Zeroes and F4F Wildcats, plus associated "Advantage Bases " (stands for the uninitiated).

A rules booklet

A set of plastic measuring implements and game markers

2 Quick Reference sheets

6 Aircraft stat cards - Zero, Kate, Val, Wildcat, Dauntless & Devastator

15 Trait cards

17 Doctrine cards

19 Theatre cards

12 Dice

Three punchboards of ship target markers, pilot skill disks, clouds, game tokens etc

All in all a pretty decent starter set for Blood Red Skies, which I have to say is still my favourite WW2 dogfight game. 

If you fancy getting in to Blood Red Skies, or want to expand your collection into the Pacific, this really is an auto buy.

Anyway that will do as an overview. The Midway starter set should be available in shops from today at an rrp of £56.00, or direct from the warlord website. https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/blood-red-skies

 

Stupidity and persistence have a power all of their own. Update on Brewster Buffalo in Blood Red Skies

As regular readers may know, I am preternaturally indisposed towards the Brewster Buffalo, and said it, quite a bit. Also here https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/04/brewster-buffalo-in-blood-red-skies.html

It is therefore with some reluctance I have to admit defeat. In the two and a half years since that Blog post the "Community" have done their best to harry producers to the extent that ALL the Buffalo versions are now available in one form or another. Put that into context, only three or four Bf109 marks are readily available, with a production run of a dozen or so short of 34,000, but the Buffalo, which topped off around 500?? 

US F2A2\3

RocWorks , PlanePrinter, Armaments in Miniature

British Buffalo Mk I

RocWorks , Armaments in Miniature, 

Dutch B339c\d 

PlanePrinter

Finnish B239

RocWorks , Armaments in Miniature

Actually I love this. It shows that third party producers can see a demand and are prepared to fill it, even when large sales are not guaranteed. It means that when "The Community" ask for models, these guys are prepared to delve into the less glamourous, less successful and frankly obscure corners of aviation history and produce models for us. It means we can, if we want, fight more obscure but interesting theatres of war, such as China, or the early Blitzkrieg, or, well, just about anything. To be honest I never heard of a Curtis Wright CW-21 Demon before a couple of months ago - but now I think I fancy doing a Squadron. And I can get one. Or a Fokker DXXI in Dutch or Finnish versions, or a ............ you get the drift. 

Well done guys, thanks, and take a bow.

Of course I want a Fokker T.V. from someone either UK based or a .stl so I can print one, because, well ok they only made a dozen, and they lasted about 24 hours in combat, and were unsuccessful by any measure, but.........

Oh and rumour has it Warlord are planning at least one set of Buffalos. There, that is my cup running over :-)

Cheers

  

Blood Red Skies Midway Starter - NOT an unboxing 'cos I don't have a box yet, but...........

https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/blood-red-skies/products/blood-red-skies-the-battle-of-midway-starter-set

Hi everyone. Had a bit of time spare so I've had a closer look at what we know is in the Battle of Midway Starter set for Blood Red Skies, now on pre order (see the link above) and compared it to what was in the original Battle of Britain one, which is now out of print. This is based just on info from old youtube unboxings, pics shown on line, information passed to me by Bothans etc etc. I should stress I have not seen the "real" thing so there may well be some errors here. Don't shoot me

The main components are the same - 12 planes, six a side, with bases and pilot discs, though of course the planes are different - Zeros and Wildcats instead of Spitfires and Me109s. The models are also a different material, with "Warlord Resin" replacing "bendy" soft-ish plastic. Like the original release these are pre coloured, this time blue and white, so in theory you can play out of the box with your 11 year old, if you have one. We've not seen the models in the flesh yet but first pics look promising so I'm calling that an upgrade. 

The original card markers and measuring tools are replaced with plastic ones which we've already seen in the Airfix version of the game. Given the questionable value of the original measuring stick, this is certainly another upgrade.

The card punchboards for clouds etc are there - at least as far as can be seen from the pics we've seen, and instead of the three double sided twin engine card bomber markers in the BoB set we now get six single engine ones, a change needed due to the nature of the Battle of Midway. Looking at the pictures there are also some card ships which I am presuming are for use as target markers - something missing from the BoB starter set. 

The dice also look to be the same as in the BoB set, though this time you get twelve instead of the ten?? (cant remember) in the BoB set. Twelve is actually the maximum number of dice you will roll if you are playing Midway - dodging a deflection shot with an Ace in a Zero, so it makes some sense and if so shows a nice understanding of the rules mechanisms. 

The play sheet also looks to be the same , which is good as the original is brilliant and easy to follow. The packaging pics suggests you get two, though the component list on the website says one. I would guess the website is wrong here.  

Another "upgrade" is the aircraft data cards. In the BoB set you got three - one each of Spitfire II and Me109E and then a double sided one with a Blenheim on one side and a Do17Z on the other. In the new Midway set there are six cards covering F4F, SBD and TBD, and A6M2, B5N and D3A. 

The rulebooks are similar but not identical - there are no major rule changes however the wording has been clarified in a couple of places, and the three BoB booklets has been combined into one more substantial book. The section on multi engine planes seems to have been removed, but for Midway that mostly makes a lot of sense. The scenarios are different however. Both still have 5 scenarios and the first three are pretty much reskins of ones that appeared in the BoB rules. This is a good idea as the scenarios are really teaching tools to set players up. The difference is in the last two scenarios in the Midway booklet which both have strikes against ship targets, plus some basic rules to handle attacking ships and AA. It should be noted these are NOT the same rules as in Air Strike, but rather a simplified set to allow players to try it out - if you want the full Air Strike package, you will need to buy Air Strike. I suppose the same applies if you want to use multi engine planes, though there are none in the Midway scenarios. The Midway booklet has a lot more background and historical information too, which is welcome. 

Theatre Cards. For the established players this is where it gets interesting. In the BoB set we got nine different Theatre Cards. Midway gives us twice as many (18). I've done a lot of sleuthing and staring at blown up pics of the set and I think we have seven that appear in the BoB set and ten (10) new ones. OK I've not checked but some of these may have appeared in Squadron sets , but it is certainly ten more than in the BoB set. I'm not sure but it looks like Home Advantage is NOT in the Midway set - which makes perfect sense. I'm assuming Numbers is in there too but don't know. I'm classing this as a big upgrade

Doctrine Cards. Again in a similar manner to Theatre Cards, we are seeing a bunch of new cards. The BoB starter set had seven Doctrines. Midway has seventeen (17). Only five of these seem to be common to both sets, leaving twelve "new" doctrines in Midway. Defensive Tactics and Low Altitude Performance seem to be absent as far as I can tell. Again, I think this is a big upgrade.

Ace Skill Cards. Something had to give. I'm not seeing any Ace skill cards in the Midway set. There were seven in the BoB set. How much of a loss is this is really up to you and if you play un-named or home brewed Aces.

Lastly - stickers. Yup the bloody useless sticker sheet makes a return. I know this does make sense if you are expecting to play with your 11 year old but it was one of the less welcome components of the old set. However Warlord also include waterslide decals, so those of us who want to paint our models can use them too. Another bonus.

So looking at all that how do I feel about the Starter Set? To some extent it depends on how long you have been in the game.

If you are just looking to start or don't have the old BoB starter this really is a no brainer - get it!

For completists and tournament players who want every Theatre and Doctrine card, again, it looks good.

If you already have all the Wildcats and A6M2s you need, or are not interested in the slightest in the Pacific then it is less of a gimme, but I still think an attractive package and I will be getting one.

Street Date is said to be late October - whispers about the 23rd

Cheers 

 

 

 

Second hand, Shot down once, in great condition (don't look a gift horse in the mouth) - SB2s for my Finns in Blood Red Skies

I've just finished (should that be Finnish-ed?) my latest BRS Squadron. Tupolev SB2s for Blood Red Skies.

Finland were one of the surprises of WW2. They became involved due to self defence, ended up on the Axis side for a while - "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" etc, and then switched sides when it was clear which way the wind was blowing. All in all they did what was needed to survive. This does mean they have a very interesting choice of aircraft, starting with what we would broadly say was a mix of "Allied" types, then switching to "Axis" (German) types as events dictated.

I've got a Squadron of (sigh) Brewster Buffalos as my Finnish fighters, and I wanted something suitable to use in scenarios to match them. The obvious choice was the Bristol Blenheim, but doing some scrabbling around in my "spares" box I found I had a trio of mismatched Soviet Tupelov SB2 models, so I thought, why not?

How Finland got to be flying SB2s is an interesting yarn in itself. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1940 the Finns put up some rather stern opposition, shooting down quite a few attacking SB2s. They recovered as many as they could that had crashed and in a remarkable and resourceful effort managed to build five flyable planes from the collected wreckage. They eventually lost the Winter War, but when the Germans attacked Russia in 1941 these five were now ready for service in what became round 2 - the Continuation War. As the Germans overrun many Soviet airfields they captured several SB2s on the ground in various states of repair, and sold sixteen of them to their new allies the Finns. These were amalgamated into No 6 Bomber Squadron which served through to the end of hostilities flying maritime patrol and attack duties. They lost seven planes to accidents and breakdowns, but none to enemy action, which I suspect says quite a lot about the problems of flying patchwork cut and shunt aircraft. 

So I had three SB2 models. Two from Armaments in Miniature - nice resin cast models, and one plastic kit from Zvesda. The Zvezda model is a different version to the AIM models, with newer engines, but given the nature of No 6 Squadron aircraft I think this is not only appropriate but desirable. I further messed about with the Zvezda kit by adding a dorsal turret, an addition to some of the later Soviet SB2s and was shown in some photos of the Finnish operated ones. The turret was donated by a member of the Blood Red Skies Ready Room on Facebook - it was so long ago that I cant remember who, but Cheers! It originated on another Zvezda kit - their Li2 transport, and just sits in the gap where the dorsal window glazing would normally be on the Zvezda kit. It looks a bit awkward but actually is spot on as you can see in the pic. 

As an aside this is one of the most useful Zvesda Art of Tactic kits out there for BRS players as the Li2 was basically a C47 Dakota as used by the USA and Britain (but with a turret!) and can also be used as a Japanese LD2 transport plane. All you need do is remove the turret, which takes seconds. And by pure chance the same turret was used on the SB2s.

Paint was pretty basic. I didn't bother with panel lining because the Zvezda kit has very little surface detail and would be a PITA to try and get it to match the AIM ones. Decals are from the ever reliable Miscellaneous Miniatures. 

And all put to bed in their bespoke foam from Just Lasered

Getting Started with Blood Red Skies

Blood Red Skies is a great game. Quick to play, easy to learn, hard to master, cheap to get into, massive historical depth if you like that sort of thing, looks good and loads of fun. Now lockdown is ending (hopefully) I think it will see a bit of a resurgence. I sometimes get asked about starting to play Blood Red Skies, so here is my brief suggestions about what you need.

1. A starter set is nice, but not essential. The old Battle of Britain starter set is now out of print, and the new Battle of Midway starter set has been delayed so often that there are now internet memes about it. Hopefully "soon". All is not lost however. Free pdfs of the rules are available  Warlord site and Warlord have also bundled the excellent "Air Strike" supplement with a set of the game tokens. Air Strike is a supplement that contains the full rules plus loads of other "stuff" like attacking ground targets etc.

2. A Squadron. This is the first big decision, what do you want to play with? There are two routes to look at here. If you are totally new to the game, probably best top start with something "official" and buy a Squadron box from Warlord, which will include all the "stuff" you will need to run that Squadron. (A Squadron is usually six planes btw in BRS). If you want to go for something not available in Squadron boxes I would first check to see if the plane type you want is in one of the "Expansion" card sets - there are five of these, one each for the British, German, US, Soviet and Japanese, and each contains six data cards for planes plus and all the other bits to play them, just not the miniatures or bases. Somewhere in there your Squadron will be available, and everything in the expansions are covered one way or another by third party model manufacturers (almost).

3. An opponent, and you are set to go!

Ok assuming you did all that and want to go further, what is your next choice? I'd suggest a bomber squadron. Bombers in BRS usually play a secondary role to fighters. They're provided free as assets in scenarios and usually based around the number of "engines" - so six single engines, three twin engines or two four engine planes are used per Squadron. It does pay to pick a bomber type that matches your fighter Squadron, get something historically appropriate too.  Trying to escort Mosquitos with Gladiators is not going to be easy :-). Personally I don't think you can go wrong with twin engine light bombers. They may not be the best from a defensive point of view, but they usually have enough speed to get to a target and just enough firepower to make attackers nervous. I am slowly building my collection and for each period of WW2 - early, middle, late, I plan to have at least one fighter and one bomber Squadron. For example my WW2 Soviets will have 3 each of Tupolev SB2 bombers for early war scenarios, PE2s for mid war, and Tu2s for late war. These are all twin engine light bombers and match up well with my fighter squadrons. 

AND what to avoid. Ok this is just my opinion, but avoid metal models. They're too heavy for the game bases, so you need to put them on special base extensions. That in turn makes the game cramped to play (bigger bases) and it is just not worth the hassle, particularly as most planes are now available in plastic or lightweight resin from somewhere. Also replace the measuring stick thing that comes with the counter set. It looks cool but is a PITA to use. Get a third party one from ebay \ etsy or wherever, or just use a tape. 

So there you go. Grab a Squadron and get into the cockpit - it's a great game. Hopefully I will see you in the skies!