More on Mustangs and Salute 50

“Red Tails in the sunset…” The legendary P51 Mustang

I seem to have opened a veritable Pandora’s Box of goodies in my search for material for the board game Mustangs, recently acquired from my good friend Mr Fox.

The WarFlag website has a dedicated Mustangs page which you can take a look at here. There is free stuff aplenty and so I spent some time happily downloading bits and pieces that take the game to, if you will pardon the play on words, new heights….

The base game is pitched very much at the 1944 plus years of the war - the age of the ‘power’ aircraft - which means that early war types are very pedestrian by comparison. There is an optional rule adjustment that essentially substitutes MPH for KPH when calculating speeds meaning that the slower early war types have a higher movement allowance. This obviously makes for a faster game but as mentioned, is entirely optional - a nice idea though.

There are period specific variants available covering WW1, Korea and Vietnam using the core system so I downloaded the first three as definitely being of interest. There are aircraft specification cards for a huge number of aircraft types and variants and, of crucial importance for the ‘all round air combat experience’, rules for using bombers and anti aircraft.

My plans are simple and are certainly helped by the fact that the game in its base form recommends no more than four aircraft a side, flown as two pairs. This keeps the model count down. I am thinking 1:300th  as being the scale of choice although using larger models would certainly be an option. I am also thinking along the lines of having custom tokens and control cards fashioned although this is not essential, just a piece of chrome really.

Looking closely at the rules I can see signs of their Air Force roots - unsurprising really given that both games were by the same designer - and although we will never know for sure (unless someone does of course, which is entirely possible) I like to think that the late S. Craig Taylor had this system in mind as a successor to his original game and that given time he would have developed it further. I like to think so anyway!

Salute 50

This is tomorrow and I am looking forward to going. It will be great to catch up with old friends and of course the Bloggers meet up will feature - another great reason to go! As usual I shall be helping Dave Lanchester close down his stall at the end of the day but for me seeing what is about, soaking up the inspiration and talking to gamers and traders and indulging in a little retail therapy is what it is all about.

To those going tomorrow I hope to see you there!