Winged Sabres

I'm always looking for potential scenario material for Algernon Pulls It Off! and this book should tick a lot of the boxes. It relates the operational history of No.20 Squadron RFC / RAF from February 1916 through to November 1918, initially being equipped with the F.E.2 and latterly with the F.2b Bristol Fighter. I'd been after a good hardback copy at a decent price for quite a while, which I have now located and ordered. I'm looking forward to using it for some scenario research, the aim being to write up and play test at least one game. Tally Ho!

Utilising Speed in Algernon Pulls It Off!

I re-leaned something today that I had completely overlooked, assuming that Algernon Pulls It Off! uses the same system as Bag the Hun 2 to calculate and utilise aircraft speed.

After re-reading the relevant bit of the rules, it clearly stated that you can 'slow down or speed up within the maximum speed' but the D4 modifier has to be applied on top of that, depending on your pilot skill level.

To be honest, I have been playing using the system in Bag the Hun 2, where you have to move the full basic distance. I should have realised that this was wrong, having originally played the first edition of Bag the Hun, where the same flexibility is included.

I'm actually looking forward to playing some games with the correct speed rules to see just how it speeds up, or s possibly slows down, game play. It will certainly give players more opportunity to manoeuvre into position and get on the tail of their opponents, which is an exciting opportunity for them to shoot things down rather than spend ages plotting their moves.

Tally Ho!

Bag the MiG Card Deck

I was off work today as I wasn't required to go in, which meant I could have a go at putting together a basic, printer friendly card deck for Bag the MiG, based on one I designed for Bag the Hun play testing a long time ago. It's been tweaked a bit with a few customisations, replacing the Tally Ho! cards with something more appropriate, for example, but otherwise it's fairly generic. It can also be easily adapted to add extra character cards or scenario specific cards, so it's pretty flexible. 

The cards are quite large, as they were originally designed for multi player games, but they can be scaled down on a photocopier if preferred. They are designed for use with the original, first edition of Bag the Hun but will work fine with Bag the Hun 2 mechanics, apart from the use of blinds rather than bogeys. They are available to download from the Bag the Hun FB group files as a handy .pdf document. 

Algernon Pulls It Off! Club Multiplayer Game

I've been asked to put on an Algy game at a local club, which is cool, but I thought I'd run a practice one at my usual club beforehand, just in case I need to iron anything out. I'd been meaning to do this for a while but I just haven't had the time to organise anything. The plan is to umpire one of the Jasta 18 scenarios from the Lard Mag for the chaos, probably either Digger Dogfight or Biggles and the Black Ravens, the latter being the preferred option as it allows players lots of opportuniies to shoot things down. I'll get myself organised and find a suitable date next month....Tally Ho!

Bag the MiG Momentum

I've recently become a moderator on the Bag the Hun FB group, giving me the opportunity to encourage players to give the system a go. One thing I'm keen to push is Bag the MiG, partly as I've always wanted to try it out myself but also to pick up some interest on the group for something a bit different. It's a great option for me as I already have the aircraft, flight stands and hex cloth, so just need a deck of cards for it to be a solo game project this year. I'm not going to be writing any scenario content, however, as there's already a good selection available, especially if the CY6 MiG Alley book is used as a source of historical actions. I'm looking forward to some games in the not too distant future!

Spanish Civil War Plane Painting

I was going to try and mix and match some paint shades for the Spanish Civil War Republican aircraft models but found this set of base paints to experiment with instead. I've used AK paints before and found them a little thin, so you need more than one coat for effective coverage, but it will save me some time trying to work out alternatives. They should arrive fairly soon and I'm going to get started when the postie drops them off.

Spanish Civil War Republican Air Force

The 1/600th scale models for the Spanish Republican air force have now been assessed and just need magnet basing. This is the line up based on mid to late war:

12 x I-16 Mosca

9 x I-15 Chatos

6 x I-15bis Super Chato

9 x SB-2 Katyushka

3 x MB 200

1 x Polikarpov R-5 Natasha

On to the painting!

Algy Dogfight Generator Scenario

 

I tried out Algy's Dastardly Dogfight Mission Generator today and came up with this scenario. Here's the process step by step.

I decided on April 1917 as my time slot, picking Sopwith Triplanes for the RNAS, as they were not flown by the RFC, and Albatros DIII scouts for the Luftstreitkrafte.

The RNAS rolled up a Flight of 2 aircraft and the Germans rolled up a Kette of 4. 

The RNAS Squadron roll was 2 + 4 so I added the numbers to get No.6 Squadron. The Germans rolled 5 + 1 so I combined them to get Jasta 15.

The RNAS rolled up a  flight leader Captain (Regular) and a Lieutenant (Regular). The Germans rolled up a kette fuhrer Hauptmann (Regular), an Oberleutnant (Junior Ace), a Leutnant (Sprog) and a Leutnant (Regular). I switched the RFC ranks for RNAS ones just to be historically accurate.

The starting Altitude for the RNAS rolled up as 11 and for the Germans 10. 

The RNAS rolled up an entry point to the West and the Germans to the North East.

Finally, the Sun Position was rolled as due South.

This all seemed to work out well, apart from a lingering feeling that the ranks need to be bumped down a bit, which would be easy to build in if NCO pilots were included. The RNAS are going to have a fight on their hands due to being outnumbered and less experienced, but that fits 'Bloody April' to a tee, so I'm happy with the outcome.

For game play I've named the pilots after beers...why not?! 

Flight Commander Greene-King 

Flight Lieutenant Boddington

Hauptmann Bitberger

Oberleutnant Becks

Leutnant Warsteiner

Leutnant Rothaus

Cheers! / Prost!

We Dive At Dawn First Impressions

I fancied a break from assembling tiny metal aeroplanes in a freezing garage today, so set up a play through of We Dive At Dawn, the roll and write game of WW2 submarine warfare that David Manley sent my way the other day. It was good fun, even if my fictional submarine HMS Stonefish, didn't achieve much on her first war patrol. I didn't write up a detailed after sortie report but you can read more about it on my other blog, where I keep all my solo board game stuff:

https://teaandawad.blogspot.com/2026/01/we-dive-at-dawn-patrol.html?fbclid=IwdGRjcAPkdSljbGNrA-Rzp2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHoBU-kSjnHaCPdEri_-ywcb3pmxS-c58JL88xe9ivbyQQt5b3Ej5f3fA_BAI_aem_EBnCN-x78YYRIOEGLs_JHA&m=1

Spanish Civil War Republican Air Force Progress

A long afternoon spent at the workbench and I'm nearly finished with assembling the 1/600th scale aircraft for the Bag the Hun Spanish Republican air force. I got sidetracked into converting a Mitsubishi torpedo bomber into an R-5 Natasha, but apart from that I've stuck to the plan. I have six I-152 Super Chato fighters to glue together, then I will be ready to add the magnets and start painting things.