Mustangs Field of Battle

The Mustangs game board. 21 x 15 hexes, each of 1” across the flat sides.

The game board that is supplied with Mustangs features a bird’s eye view of a generic piece of European (?) real estate which personally I am not a huge fan of. I like my aerial games to look as though they are in the sky so found the plain blue map sheets in the original version of Air Force to work better. Naturally if ground targets etc are featuring then terrain is needed but for me blue is the colour.

The hex grid you see in the picture above features hexes that are 1” across the flat sides. This is fine for the game counters but is a little on the small side for models. Overhanging wing tips, engines and tails are a potential problem when you get up close and personal - when tailing for example - so ultimately I will need to think about a larger hexed playing area. I am thinking about using hexes that are 2” across the flat sides. This will leave some elbow room within the occupied hex so a tailing aircraft or one flying in close formation (in each case I am of course referring to an adjacent hex) will not be in danger of physical contact. This does raise another issue though.

The various manoeuvre counters are the standard board game 1/2” variety which look fine on the board but would certainly be a little lost within a 2” hex. Even before realising this I had already thought about getting some bespoke counters cut from MDF. These would be of the ‘arrow’ variety with the various manoeuvres indicated by the shape of the marker i.e. a normal turn would be shallower than a tighter version. I need to think about this but am satisfied this will be the way forwards (or turning, or whatever manoeuvre was being planned….).

On another note I was checking out the full list of aircraft available and there are a few others that may make into my late war over the Reich set up - mainly for the Luftwaffe - which could be fun. Before I get to them though I will of course need to think about the RAF - late Spitfires, Typhoons and Tempests.