Tuesday 11 April 2023

Korean War and ACW Ironclads?


A little dated now (published in 1998) but covers all the aerial combat I am likely to be interested in!  A great primer on the subject.

I hope everyone had a good Easter!

Indulge me, it is a moment of whimsy to be sure, but a welcome one! As part of my recent haul of aviation books offered up on Freecycle there was one in particular that caught my eye, the title you see above by Ivan Rendall. I have mentioned before that I have played a lot of aerial games although these have mostly been of the board variety and even then the palette is rather modest. For jet combat my experience was solely down to the SPI game Air War which was complex but a lot of fun at the time - especially as most of our early games involved non missile carrying types and so inevitably the Korean War featured.

I never really studied the war in great detail but the chapter devoted to Korea has been something of a revelation. Plenty of late WW2 propeller driven types and a basket of early jets makes for a truly diverse range of match ups, all of which means some interesting games. A mixture of old and new technology with the older stuff being very much at the pinnacle of piston engined aircraft development.

Rather like the naval side of the American Civil War….

There you had sailing ships that were pretty much at the technological summit of their development mixing it with steam power and those newfangled ironclads. The two struck me as having this in common!

Essential research material and there are few other titles produced by Osprey that would be handy to add to the collection

Anyways, enthused by the revelations of the Rendall book - incidentally I should mention that this title is by no means the definitive word on the subject, as some of the more pithier reviews on Amazon pointed out - and remembering that the well known aerial gamer, blogger and prince of the project list, Jim Jackaman, had covered this particular war using 1:600th Tumbling Dice models and the Mig Alley rules, I decide to take a further look. Naturally this involved a modest degree of expenditure in terms of research but it will be fulfilling a need I didn’t know I had - actually that is not entirely accurate, I had planned a small aerial project but had gotten no further than the Battle of Britain. The first step was to secure a copy of the rather timely written book you see above.

In an exchange with the aforementioned Mr Jackaman he suggested that the Mig Alley pack plus a couple of extra packs would be more than sufficient for a nifty little set up which will be fun to do. 

Anyhow, planning for this and the various other bits and pieces I have on the go will keep me occupied whilst Laurel and I both deal with the bout of Covid we now have - her first and my second!

6 comments:

Steve J. said...

Sorry to hear you have both come down with Covid! Poor old Bob Cordery has been struck down again too:(.

Not my period at all but the mix of aircraft is certainly attractive. Years ago whilst wandering the Fleet Air Arm museum on a family visit, I was struck by how tiny one of the early MIG's was, so much smaller than WWII fighters. It must have come as a shock to the pilots when they first encountered these over Korea.

David Crook said...

Hi Steve J,

This is my second time and it is nowhere near as bad as the first but the symptoms seem very erratic. I am by turns shivery, sneezy, coughing or lethargic - or any combination at any given time!

The FAA Museum is a great place to visit and I recall the Mig - you are right about the size! As mentioned, I had an aerial itch and was looking to scratch it with the old standby of the Battle of Britain but this seems to have rather a lot more to offer in terms of what I am looking for.

Certainly it is something different!

All the best,

DC

Mark Cordone said...

Get well soon, here's hoping for a very mild case for both of you. I'm looking forward to yours and Bob's new gridded navel wargames Facebook page. Should yield some interesting stuff. Perhaps just the right place for me to post my old fast play fighting sail rules once I have finished converting them to play on a hex board.

Aly Morrison said...

Interesting looking books David…
I do find those transitional periods fascinating… with the old/traditional and the new/innovative sharing the same battlefield.

All the best. Aly

David Crook said...

Hi Mark,

Thank you kindly old chap! Laurel is still rough but I seem to be coming out the other side so hopefully she will be soon.

Early days with the new FB group but very encouraging so far! Looking forward to adding some content and encouraging diverse ideas.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Aly,

Transitional periods have a great entertainment value - probably why I enjoy the whole ironclads thing so much as well!

Splash One is a great primer on the subject albeit only up to its publication date.


The Butterflies are circling….

All the best,

DC