"Firing into the Brown" #67 - Air War Games, gibbets and stuff...

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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Noticed I had a whole load of little planes in the spares box the other day...

Four Spitfires and a half dozen Stukas - two of them appear to be tank busters..  Heroics & Ross perhaps?? Note the turning template in the background..

...and while I've never been that bothered* about wargaming battles in the air, a number of posts and blogs about the blogosphere that have been mentioning "Bag the Hun" piqued my interest, so I thought I'd see what else was about on the web, and if there was anything that might float my boat...  errr.. plane..

I'm not a fan of the Lardy rule sets, I've tried three or four of them now and it must just be the way my brain is wired but I can never understand them, so I wasn't bothered about buying "Bag the Hun", but I did have a copy of Don's "Air Wargames" on my book shelves..

* and apropos of nothing that's where this aside comes in because back in the day, a way away day (50 years ago), I did have a brief dalliance with WWI aircraft fuelled by that book - not sure I ever played a game as it was just all too complicated to represent height ..  bamboo poles with the planes on sticks that moved up or down the pole..

.."Air War Games" is not one of his better known, or even one of his better books - when it was written (1965 I think) the hobby was very much in it's infancy, and the same spirit of 'make do and mend' that dominated the table top game also extended to this branch of the hobby..  nets across the table with planes suspended at varying heights on bits of string, advice on how to attach string to show a diving plane, but unlike the classic "War Games" no rules are provided, just suggestions and ideas for a  framework, so I was back to the drawing board..  or rather the Interweb..

Which was where I found a free set called "Flight Squadron" described as "Ultra-Simple WWII Air Combat" (http://www.hmwrs.com/FlightSquad.htm). I liked the ultra simple bit, and although they are written for battles in the Pacific (torpedo bombers feature), they looked kind of interesting..  took a copy, condensed them to take everything out that wasn't relevant to the game I was going to play (take off/landing/anti aircraft/torpedo bombers/bombers) and put some planes on to the table for a little set to..

Planes made by AIM and is N scale (10 or 12mm) originally bought to support my Minifigs N scale WWII troops painted pre blog, 2007 maybe? Blue dice show altitude ie. the Bf109 is higher

I couldn't be bothered to start cutting up and basing the small one's so I used a couple of bigger planes that a while ago I painted for the WW2 project as ground attack options, and so it was that the dulcet tones of a 1085HP Daimler-Benz DB 601 and an Allison V-1710-39 V-12 roared across the desert for a meeting engagement between a Kittyhawk and a Bf109 - nothing clever I'm afraid as I just wanted to get an idea of how the rules worked...  didn't even do any turns or loops (as despite they fact they are described as ultra simple the rules for loops, rolls and S turns were frying my brain). Both planes entered at ceiling and I had an idea the 109 would be able to dive on the Kittyhawk for tactical assistance, but as it happens they both moved forward, fired... and shot each other down.. 😂

Interesting interlude..  but still not sure air wargaming floats my plane... 😏

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Was watching Clint in "Hang 'em High" the other night (great fun by the way - not so well known as the spaghetti one's, but holds up well) and was much taken with the gibbet... 

I may need one for Cedar Gulch..  perhaps it's time to get the hot glue gun out again..  😀

By the by, I was also very much taken with the prison wagon...  what a scenario idea that is!

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...