A Great WWI Aerial Game

Well, this is a great game!  Wings of Glory (WW1) has really captured my imagination and it is pretty popular at our FLGS here in New Hampshire.  I have gotten several new planes over the past week and one of them is the massive Zeppelin Staaken VI R.   All of the Ares models are beautifully painted making them really fun to collect and use on the game table.  For only 

$16 - $20 for a single engine fighter and less than $30 for the larger single engine bombers, they are really affordable.  Even the huge Zeppelin bombers at around $70 not that bad.  Don't forget, for that price you are not only getting a wonderfully painted aircraft, but the decals are historically accurate and they well applied.  

So, with the pandemic going on around here (were is it not going on?) I had to play a solo game to get my new Zeppelin on the game table.  The scenario was simple - a Zeppelin moving in to bomb dockyards at a small Belgian city.  Two American aircraft in the area (Rickenbacher in a SPAD XIII and Hartney in a Nieuport Ni. 28) spotted the German mammoth flying through their zone and move to intercept.

There were no German fighters available to escort the bomber so the defending gunners had to be really on their game.

Here are some photos of the game:

The end of the first turn with everyone charging straight ahead in an effort to close the range and get within fighting distance.

The first phase of Turn 2 and here is the damage dealt out in the first round of firing in the game.  This is devastating for the Zeppelin as it suffers 19 points of damage!  The charge has cost Rickenbacker

as he no longer can shoot.  But Hartney hasn't even gotten within range yet.   From this point on the bomber is doomed.  Now it is a question of whether or not bombs can be effectively brought onto the target.

End of the second impulse of the second turn.  The Zeppelin has taken an additional five points of damage and is heading into a final run on the docks.  Rickenbacker at the top has taken a jammed rudder and damaged machine gun.  He is effectively out of the fight.  Hartney at the bottom of the photo dealt out the damage to the bomber but is now suffering from a smoking engine.

The bomber moves away from the target during Turn 3 as the docks are pulverized by the entire bomb load.  Rickenbacker is headed back to base to have his machine guns and aircraft repaired.  Hartney turns around to take his revenge on the bomber.

Rickenbacker flies off the board.  The docks burn.  Hartney puts the final five points of damage on the bomber and it slowly falls into the fields just outside of the Town.

The final damage cards for the bomber.

Final damage records for the two fighters.

   As I said, I really like this game and I look forward to many more games in the future.

Fleet Air Arm Corsairs

 I had a great time painting up these corsairs for my British Blood Red Skies Fleet Air Arm Squadrons!  I clipped the wing tips to reflect the British aircraft. Apparently, the British Aircraft Carriers had less room between the flight deck and the hanger deck so the wing tips had to be removed so the folded wings fit into the hold. 

The decals are for 1836 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Victorious, during Operation TUNGSTEN and are from my good friend, Kevin, at Miscellaneous Miniatures.  Operation Tungsten was an air strike plan to attack the German battleship Tirpitz in her Norwegian base at Kaafjord.  During the attack on 4 April, 1944, Fairey Barracuda dive bombers, escorted by Corsairs and Seafires from Victorious and HMS Furious conducted level and dive bombing attacks  

I have not had the opportunity to gloss coat and flat coat the aircraft yet. I will post another photo when I get them totally complete.

Hope you like the photos. I am looking forward to trying them out on the gaming table!

Cruel Seas and Airbrush Tutorial

 My Friend AJ of AJ’s Wargaming Blog came to visit yesterday to give me some pointers on airbrush techniques and maintenance. After the airbrush tutorial we had a game of Warlord’s Cruel Seas. It was a nail biting, good old fashioned Donnybrook between my Kriegsmarine force and AJ’s Royal Navy flotilla including an American Elco pressed into British service. 

AJ gives you a blow-by-blow account and shows some game pics HERE. As AJ points out, the real winner was the English Channel as 7 out of the 10 boats/ships engaged were sunk during the battle!

I had forgotten how fun Cruel Seas can be.  It is fast paced and there are many tactical decisions to make during a game.  Each skipper has to think a turn or two ahead to make sure that he doesn’t run into his own boat or random shoal (a lesson I needed to re-learn a couple of times during this game!).  Now that I have been reminded of how much fun this can be, I am looking forward to getting some additional boats painted up - AJ’s airbrush lessons  will come in right handy - and look at the scenario list which is available on the Dock Office FB HomePage.  If you are interested in torpedo boat actions of WWII, I would recommend that you join this FB page and checkout all of the resources available to help you run challenging scenarios or use a new type of boat.  There are a lot of really great ideas out there for you to take advantage of.  

It was a great bit of fun in an otherwise barren gaming season this spring and summer. Thanks to AJ for the great airbrush tips and for a really fun game. I look forward to the next game on the high seas!

Blood Red Skies Collection Continues to Grow

Here are some photos of aircraft that I completed since the start of the COVID 19 situation.  I have really gotten back to my hobby desk as of late and hopefully this is the first of several posts as I complete some long dormant projects and get started on other efforts.

Russian Lend-Lease Hurricanes.  Still want to add some patriotic slogans, but I may wait until they have been through a battle or two and become 'veterans.'  These appear very dark, almost black, in this photo but they are actually Bronze Green and are much lighter in person.

Bf-109's for the Mediterranean Theatre.  They will be the primary foe for the Martlett's below.

Il-2 Stormovik's ready to take on some German ground targets.  Need to work out some better bases, but for right now these will be ok.

Here are the Martlett III's to take on my Africa/Italian themed 109's above.  These are painted as 880 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm.

Good start to the year.  At the moment, I have several things on the painting table, including the other three Stormovik's.  These three will be in some form of winter camp scheme but I don't know exactly what they will end up being.

How Time Flies!

Wow,

Almost six months since my last post!  It doesn't seem possible.  But I am re-committing to posting my hobby activities in the coming weeks.  As a start, I will post my activities from 2019:

Hobby Activity - 2019

Figures Painted

25-28mm

Figures - 26 Infantry

8 Cavalry

Vehicles/Guns - 8

Other Game Pieces - 10

1/200 

Aircraft - 42

6mm (1/300)

Boats - 21

Aircraft - 2
Games Played - 45

Napoleon's Rules of War - 4

Blood Red Skies - 12

Cruel Seas - 6

Warlords of Erehwon - 8

X-Wing 2nd Ed. - 3

Nexus - 1

Iron Cross - 3

Volley & Bayonet Wing Scale - 4

GW Kill Team - 1

Fistful of Lead - 1

Star Wars Destiny - 1 

Hannibal at the Gates - 1

Other  
28mm Figures Rebased - 173 Foot, 33 Mounted

Not that many new 28mm figures, but I sure did get quite a few rebased (at least for me).  The biggest new addition was the Blood Red Skies game system and related aircraft that I got painted.  That will hopefully continue into the new year.

As I write this we are starting the fourth week of the COVID 19 Pandemic.  Governments are warning that the next two weeks will be the most difficult - which is a very sobering statement given what we have already been through.  I will try to continue to hobby and post what I am getting done.  Hopefully, the activity will help both you and I mentally to get through this very trying time in our lives.