"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"
Noticed I had a whole load of little planes in the spares box the other day...
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| 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.. |
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| 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.. 😂
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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...
Never had any success with air wargames either matey. I actually play war thunder on line which is a pretty accurate simulation - and there’s not an altitude peg in sight. lol. I think a gibbet would be an ideal addition to cedar gulch - so get cracking.
ReplyDeleteCheers JBM.. it would seem a number of my reader (singular) shares yours and my view.. I think air wargames are indeed best left to the computer.. tried War Thunder a while back (my grandson donated me his old X Box) but had stupid amounts of difficulty making the damn plane even fly never mind do battle.. :o)
DeleteHello Steve. Never really got into air wargames either. Having said that I was fortunate enough some years ago to play in a WW1 air campaign, where the organiser (randomly I think) allocated missions to each side and the battles were played using the rules what he wrote. Gradually, the problem of how to allocate dwindling resources loomed larger. It was excellent fun.
ReplyDeleteAgree with JBM about the gibbet - suspect there will be a few candidates for a necktie.
Hiya Jim - yeah - I think IF, and it's big if, I was to repeat the experiment it would have to be WWI, but it won't be any time soon - I scratched the itch and it's time to go back to the other projects.. the gibbet is on the paint.. errr, build... table.. :o)
DeleteI've always enjoyed WWI Wings of War but found the WWII version beyond me, so every sympathy with your struggles there.
ReplyDeleteHi David.. I used to play a lot of online WW1 Blue Max which I enjoyed, but that's basically a ported board game so altitude and and complex manoeuvres are just assimilated into the move.. worked well though
DeleteI had a look at the link to the 'Flight Squadron' rules and they look pretty quick. That said I thought the turn circle looked a bit fiddly. I went (for some different rules) for a turn widget cum ruler. It's a bit hard to explain without a picture but the plane base slides along the ruler to the end (as far as required by the rules before turning) at which point you come up to a 'stop' that projects out. The stop is not normal (at right angles) to the ruler but angled away by a 'turn angle', different planes having different turn angles (different widgets). The plane is then aligned to this angled stop and the straight edge is used to move it on again until it can turn another increment. It does really need square bases (any regular quadrilateral do).
ReplyDeleteI could try and find some pictures if you're interested.
Thanks for the comments Rob - I think Flight Squadrons simplicity is aimed at managing large numbers of planes rather than one on one, so I kind of see where they're coming from.. you're ruler sounds like the same mechanic as the turn circle in my picture, basically to turn, the plane moves a distance, pivots 30', moves the same distance, pivots, repeat until movement distance or direction is attained, etc.
DeleteI always liked the idea of air wargames but I don't think wargames really work for them. Anything 3-D does not seem to work well on a table especially as the planes get faster and the combat time frame gets shorter. Something best left to computer gaming as JBM suggests.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the gibbet and prison cart. Both essentials for any Wild West town either as terrain or parts of a scenario.
Ben - agreed... the gibbet is making progress... the wagon not so much so.. :o)
DeleteI've also never really got on with air Wargames, although I dabbled with Lou Zocchis 'Air Combat' back in the 1970s and old Paragon WW1 rules with Airfix planes stuck on poles. We did have a lot of fun a few years ago with the Pz8 WW2 air rules, they are incredibly simple and worked OK (and free). Otherwise best left to the realm of computer games, although AHGCs "Luftwaffe" was an interesting take on strategic air warfare. Even B17 worked better as a computer game than a board game.
ReplyDeleteCheers Martin - I'll have to check some of those out... is there anything more old school than WWI planes stuck on poles (preferably bamboo because none of us could afford dowel?)! :o)
DeleteNever until recently did aircraft based games intrigue. Blood Red Skies as a set reduced all the maneuvering to an abstracted state of advantage/disadvantage. This works for me but not everyone likes the concept.
ReplyDeleteCheers Pancerni.. Blood Red Skies also happens to be the title of a superb novel I just read, so I must go and have a look at those..
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