From Across the Pond….

A brace of Wildcats, a Typhoon and a Sturmovik

Some more additions to the Axis and Allies: Angels 20/Bandits High collection. Delighted to have scored these for a very reasonable price - these days if the items are below the cost of the shipping it is a good result - and it means that I now one Wildcat away from having the four destined to be repainted into Fleet Air Arm colours as the Martlet. 

I am on the lookout for another Typhoon - along with a pair of Spitfire Mk 9s - but at this stage am unsure about what to do with the Sturmovik. I do not possess a single native Russian fighter although I have four Hurricanes that are destined for the Red Air Force with a repaint. More trawling through eBay is in order methinks, in order to bolster the forces of the Rodina.

Sabre Rattling Migs

I think that the technical term for this is “KABOOM!!” Or “Read ‘em and weep!” The D6 rolls above equal 7 successes which equals the target Vital Armour meaning an instant kill. 

Yesterday evening saw your truly taking to the skies against Mr Fox, using Mr Huband’s quite lovely looking Warlord Games Blood Red Skies 1:200th scale Sabres and Mig15s. We were also using Mr Huband’s Korean War variant for Axis and Allies: Angels 20 - so he was wearing his umpiring hat for the occasion - along with Mr Fox’s rather lovely gaming mat.

We each had a pair of aircraft - Mr Fox was driving the Migs while I took the Sabres. We rolled for pilot quality with the result that Mr Fox had a veteran and a rookie whilst my two were both plain vanilla, beige and average. As is usual for this type of action - the aerial equivalent of a ‘meeting engagment’, it was, after all, a bit of a try out - we set up on opposite sides of the board, rolled for altitude (Migs at 6 and the Sabres at 5), rolled for initiative and set about the serious business of trying to shoot each out of the sky.

I am unable to give a turn by turn account of the action but suffice to say it was at high speed and largely fought more or less ‘on the flat’ - no great ‘boom and zoom’ climbing and diving - so plenty of turning was the order of the day. One of the Sabres took a point of damage, as did the veteran Mig but the rookie Mig pilot’s day was ended in no uncertain terms by virtue of a pretty emphatic set of dice rolls. To be honest, Mr Fox was singularly unfortunate throughout the action - he maintains that his dice hate him - in that aside from the point of damage he inflicted on one of the Sabres, he was on the wrong end of the initiative rolls throughout. In any type of aerial game having the initiative can be a crucial advantage - ever was it thus as far as the Sabres were concerned! 

At the end of the action the remaining Mig ‘bugged out’, leaving the skies to the Sabres.

It was great fun to play and the scale of the models used seemed more appropriate for the jets rather than the larger 1:100th models from the Angels 20 base game. It is certainly a period I would be keen to revisit but for now I cannot see myself building up a Korean War collection - too many other aerial things on the go! Mention of which leads me nicely into one of the aerial projects I am looking to tackle - the Battle of Britain.

A new book for the collection, courtesy of the fantastic Mr. Fox and with my grateful thanks! 

Mr Fox was having a sort out at Maison Renaud when he came across a duplicate copy of the title you see above. He very generously passed this over to me and as this is my first Osprey Air Campaign title I was delighted to welcome it to the library. It has opened a bit of a rabbit hole as a quick look at the other titles in the series (how on earth did I miss these?) has thrown up several that would be of interest….

The Nakajima Ki-44 “Tojo” fighter/interceptor. 

It was no all one way traffic in that I presented Mr Fox with a Japanese ‘Tojo’ fighter - if you recall he passed over a surplus P51B/C so it was the least I could do to return the favour. He now has a brace of these and I am quite sure we may be seeing them in action at some point. I also confidently predict that Mr Fox will gain a measure of revenge in due course, when we next take to the air!

My thanks to Mr Fox for his generosity and for supplying the mat and a cheeky beer (to be repaid soonest) and to Mr Huband for his inspired set up and those rather lovely aircraft - methinks that other models may well follow into his collection for this period but of course, he couldn’t possibly comment….

Aerial Reinforcements

A pair of FW190As - near as I can tell the model has been used for the A2 and the A4 variant. The latter had the option of a methanol boost for a surge of speed when needed. I now have six of these and the plan is to repaint a pair for use on the Eastern Front.

A Japanese “Oscar” on the left and a “Tony” on the right. The “Oscar” was incredibly manoeuvrable, more so than the famous Zero, but it came at a cost as it was very lightly built. The “Tony” was a tougher proposition. I now have a brace of “Oscars” and four of the “Tony”

Another P51 B/C (they are the same aircraft) to add to the other three I own. Along with the brace of P38Js already in situ, my USAAF collection just needs a couple of P47D Razorbacks to be complete. These will have to be sourced from elsewhere though, as the Axis and Allies range does not include the ‘Jug”.

By virtue of some selective Google-Fu and a dash of ducking and diving, I have been able to add to my Axis and Allies Angels 20/Bandits High collection. The aircraft you see in the pictures will round out their  respective formations - I prefer to operate in twos or ideally fours - and are most welcome additions.

15mm or 1:100th if you prefer, looks really great on the tabletop but would not really work for massed dogfights as they are on the large side. Once you start including multi-engined types, bombers especially, the playing area can get a little congested, not to mention the problem of models overhanging hexes by quite a margin.

1:200th and smaller would be better for large actions involving lots of aircraft, but for straight up dogfights, the 15mm models look really good.

I still have a few holes in the collection from the Axis and Allies range and suspect that I may need to use alternatives for some of the rarer types. Certainly something to think about but for now I shall press on with the ‘official’ models and some selective repaints.

For now….

The Battle of Britain and other Aerial Adventures

Very inspiring as a ten year old - 64 pages and still useful, even today!

As a 65 year old member of the Airfix generation, the film of The Battle of Britain was hugely inspiring to my ten year old self ‘back in the day’. To coincide with the launch of the film in 1969 there was a plethora of Battle of Britain merchandise available including the rather modest tome you see above. I remember buying a copy of this from a bookshop and paying 25p for the privilege and it has stayed with me ever since. That in itself is quite remarkable given the number of house moves since my days on the Isle of Sheppey! With only 64 pages you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a relatively lightweight tome but what it lacks in pages it more than makes up in terms of what I would call, succinct writing, The main types involved in the battle are described so for the RAF we the Spitfire, Hurricane, Defiant and the Blenheim. The Luftwaffe feature the Bf109, Bf110, Ju87, Ju88, Do17P and Z and the He111 P and H. It includes technical specifications, line drawings, side profiles (sadly in black and white) and plenty of photographs. I remember being thrilled by this book and even now, it is a very tidy piece of work.

This is a cracking read and I am delighted to have a copy in my library at long last. This edition is revamped version released in 1990 to mark the 50th anniversary. Needless to say, there is a tale behind the acquisition of this book….

The next book is altogether rather more detailed. The Narrow Margin, written by Derek Wood with Derek Dempster, was described as “One of the most carefully researched and authoritative accounts of the whole circumstances surrounding the Battle of Britain, and recognised as such by RAF historians.’ High praise indeed and in fact, this was the book that supplied much of the data for the film the Battle of Britain.

I saw this book listed on eBay from a seller that had five copies. Unfortunately, the picture used was of a pristine version - not the copy you see above. Now I know that this book only cost £5.80 but that is not the point. I challenged the seller and would have been quite happy for an exchange to have taken place for a better looking version but instead, and without any fuss, he immediately refunded me in full and said to keep the book anyway. Being rather particular about my books I will probably get a copy in better condition at some point but it is not urgent. It is a wonderful book though, full of all the information an aspiring Battle of Britain aerial gamer would want and with a marvellous selection of period photographs.

Other Aerial Adventures

I have been expanding on my Axis and Allies: Angels 20/Bandits High collection with some additional aircraft beyond my planned Battle of Britain collection, which has now changed quite dramatically. I have reconfigured my collection on a two or four basis meaning that the models will be organised in, you’ve guessed it - twos or fours. For the Battle of Britain I shall be fielding four each of Spitfire, Hurricane and Bf109E with a pair of Bf110Cs. I will also acquire a pair of resin Stukas at some point, not sure about bombers yet but I can fall off that bridge when I get to it.

I have sufficient models for three other theatres - Eastern Front 1941, Pacific 1942 and over the Reich 1943/44. The Eastern Front collection will have four Bf109Es, a pair of Bf110Cs, a pair of FW190As and for the Russians there are presently four lend lease Hurricanes. I am looking to add to these to balance out the Germans but am unsure as to what models to get, maybe Yak1s if I can get them.

For the Pacific I have four Zeros (two A6M2 and two A6M3), a pair of Ki 43 Oscars and four Ki 61 Tony. The Americans have four Wildcats, and two each of P39 and P40.

The final part is the ‘Over the Reich’ selection consisting of a pair of  Bf109Gs, four FW190As, two each of P38J, P51B and P51B and something a little out of the ordinary, two Fleet Air Arm Martlet Mk.IV (used over Norway).

The number of models is quite modest but remember they are 15mm scale. The original models are pre painted but I reckon there will be a fair amount of repainting or adding specific decals to ‘pimp’ them up.

On top of all this I have been feverishly beavering away typing up additional rules and generally tinkering with the base game, supported by and collaborating with fellow aviators, Messrs Fox and Huband (Mr Huband has the Korean War in his sights using 1:200th Blood Red Skies models). 

For now though, my blizzard of aerial activity needs to be parked, albeit temporarily, so that work can resume on the new book.

In closing though, I have to say that taking time out for a couple of distractions -aerial and the coastal wars stuff - has really given me a mental boost. A change is as good as a rest or so they say!

High Flying Fun

A straightforward game to play although I was certainly a little rusty as this was my first game for about five years or so!

Yesterday evening at the club I was lucky enough to be able to take part in an Axis and Allies: Angels 20 game. I have some history with this game in that I used to play it a lot but for one reason or another I lost the enthusiasm for it. I offloaded my original collection but revisited the game a couple of years ago when I acquired a pile of Battle of Britain types as part of a transaction. This was a good beginning but I added to it to round out the numbers so there are now six each of Spitfires and Hurricanes, four Me110s and eight Bf109s. I then acquired some bespoke decals and had every intention of repainting the aircraft to a uniform standard and then rebadging them accordingly. Naturally this idea went absolutely nowhere and in fact, I explored the possibility of offloading them, mainly due to the arrival of Fighters of Europe.

To cut a long story short, and in truth due to lack of interest on the part of any potential buyers, I kept hold of the models and after last night I am very pleased that I did! Mr Fox organised the game - a brace of Zeros against a pair of P39s, somewhere over New Guinea in 1942. I had forgotten just how much fun this game is! I had also forgotten just how nimble a Zero is! 

Somewhere over rural Kent, sorry New Guinea….

The Zeros started at level 6 whilst the P39s were at level 1. In truth it was over relatively quickly as the Zeros dived to meet the climbing P39s head on. There was a brief exchange of fire in which the P39s took some damage - they are quite tough and need to be approached with caution - whilst the leading Zero (piloted by yours truly) went hammering past at maximum speed followed by a split S to head back in the right direction. Meanwhile the rest of the aircraft were desperately trying to get into firing positions - considerably easier for the other agile Zero (Mr Huband at the controls) - with the result that first one P39 succumbed, piloted by Nigel, shot down from behind and then the second fell. This was at point blank range but in what could best be described as a ‘high angle off’ shot (for those of you that remember the SPI game Air War). It was a fairly dramatic end for this particular P39 as I managed to roll four sixes, a five and two threes from seven D6. Mr Fox, the unfortunate pilot of the said P39, is confident that he will be avenged in due course….

“Dakka, dakka, dakka!” The unfortunate demise of a P39.

In fairness to the P39s this was always going to be an uphill battle for them against the Zeros but, given the right circumstances, they can give a good account of themselves. They are quite ruggedly built - the Soviets were very fond of the type - and of course, the firepower from the nose mounted cannon was guaranteed to keep any self-respecting Zero honest.

My thanks to Mr Fox for organising the action - it was tremendous fun and made me realise that hanging on to the Battle of Britain was definitely a good move!

Portable, I mean Pocket, Air War….

Came from out of the blue but looks a cracker!

The back of the box….

….including the aircraft types covered. It is not complete but there is certainly plenty of variety contained therein!

I am a sucker for aerial games although I should qualify that by saying that for the most part I am a sucker for aerial board games. In recent years my dabbles with miniatures have been largely indifferent affairs , perhaps with Axis and Allies: Angels 20 being the high spot - certainly the Wings of Glory WW1 collection never really took off with me (pun intended!). I was a huge fan of Air Force/Dauntless and the Expansion Kit produced by Battleline and then Avalon Hill but these days they lurk in the recesses of my collection, stubbornly refusing to be sold, despite being at a very low price. I digress. 

My aerial activities these days are still largely board game based (with the exception of the aforementioned Axis and Allies: Angels 20) but with the occasional thought about using models. I have some 1:300th aircraft for Mustangs - the de facto successor to Air Force - that require some TLC but for now the counters will suffice. The two big scores for me were the full kickstarter versions of Fighters of the Pacific and Fighters of Europe. There is heaps of potential with these two and as soon as I get the time I will do something with them. I was toying with my flying base idea for both of these but the counters are  aircraft shaped rather than squares so my Dawn Patrol WW1 idea would not really work. I will think some more about when I get the time.

The full colour 36 page rulebook. The rules themselves are 15 pages with the rest being mission and theatre specific campaigns, oh and solo rules as well no less!

Pocket Air War: Definitive Edition, is a tactical WW1 game produced by WBS Games (WBS meaning We Build Smiles) and I must confess it had completely passed me by. I had never heard of it until a local chap listed it for sale (the full KS version) and so after some extension research (yeah right!) I snapped it up. I am absolutely delighted that I did!

The game components. On the left are three example of the aircraft ‘dashboards’ whilst on the right are red and white altitude discs (there are but three altitudes in this game - low, medium and high) and the all important yellow energy discs. The orange coloured devices are machine gun range templates whilst the five black and white devices are for turning. 

The turn template in use. The aircraft counters have a small line on either beam that is lined up with the marks on the device. 

The game components are top drawer. There are some 70 aircraft represented covering the everything from the Battle of Britain to the Fall of the Reich via the Mediterranean and the Pacific and with a dabble in the Korean War no less. Each aircraft has a ‘dashboard’ or as I prefer to call it, a stick. This contains all the aircraft’s characteristics required for them to fight and fly. The aircraft counters are double sided with the reverse indicating a damaged machine. 

The RAF, Luftwaffe, USAAF, USN, Reggio Aeronautica, Japanese Air Force and the Red Air Force are all represented but sadly no French. There is an extra set of counters available that expands the numbers included in the game - there are only pairs of aircraft so with the extra counters you can field fours. Hopefully some additional types will be made available in due course.

The game is all about maintaining energy which is where the yellow discs come in. Essentially the more extreme the manoeuvre, the greater the loss of energy. Manoeuvres are limited to turning, wingovers, sideslips, climbing and diving. Combat is based on the use of a D20 and fire is modified by target aspect, size, range and pilot quality.

As befits a kick starter there are some rather nice goodies that come with the game in the shape of four 50cm by 70cm neoprene gaming mats. These look something like this.

Over land….

….and sea.

High in the wild blue yonder.

Not sure about this one. It is supposed to represent a tropical island shore but to be honest I am not feeling that!

The four neoprene mats roll up and fit in this handy drawstring backpack - as if I would use as such!

In many ways this reminds me of Wings of War but without the models, but it would be really easy to substitute the counters if required. Probably the most significant thang about this game, at least for me that is, is that it is a free table game with nary a grid in sight! 

Definitely looking forward to giving this a run out at some point and with the small table footprint, it almost qualifies as a PORTABLE aerial wargame.

WBS Games have a website where the rules and campaign book can be downloaded if you wanted to take a look.

 

Bloody April, 1917….

Bit of a grail game this one - WW1 in the air above France in 1917. Operational in scope but with a tactical element for combat resolution.

The rear of the box. The counters have been carefully inched and sorted - which is just as well as there are rather a lot of them! 

I have always enjoyed WW1 aerial games but for the most part these have been ‘plane vs plane’ tactical games. Richthofen's War, Wings, Aces High and Dawn Patrol have all featured (the latter I am still making the ‘flying bases’ for) but aside from tackling the occasional campaign style game I have never gamed WW1 in the air from the operational perspective. 

A closer view of the campaign area….

…. And the components in the box

Bloody April by GMT Games will address this as it is firmly in the mission planning and execution school of wargame. Counters represent anything from one to six aircraft, individual counters for named and famous pilots as well as for things like observation balloons and ‘Archie’. Wind and weather feature and missions are plotted on a map with the counters deployed once identified. There are numerous mission types - artillery cooperation, balloon busting, patrol and others - and these are driven by the scenario. 

The Eagle of Lille expansion. 

This is quite a ‘rule heavy’ game which will take some careful reading before getting to the table but it is something I am hugely excited to crack on with. Also included with the game is an unpunched copy of the Eagle of Lille expansion which covers the infamous ‘Fokker Scourge’ earlier in the war. This is not a period of WW1 air combat I am particularly familiar with as most of the games I have played have tended to be late 1917 to 1918.

I did take a look at the Tumbling Dice 1:600th aircraft range but am undecided about going down that particular rabbit hole although they do look very nice with some work. The all round good chap and project meister extraordinaire - Jim Jackaman -  has produced some lovely examples of WW1 aircraft which can be seen on his blog using the Tumbling Dice range and are well worth a look.

Two excellent books - Marked for Death I have in hardback and it is a cracking read

I have a few books on WW1 in the air and the two above are great reads. I have a copy of Marked for Death in hardback but the chap I got Bloody April from included the paperback version in with the game - a much appreciated gesture!

WW2 in the Skies

Taking to the skies over Europe. The base game covers the Battle of Britain whilst the Battle of France and Defending the Reich are covered in the expansion pack The stretch goals fleshes out the main protagonists and introduces the Belgians and Italians

A reminder of the Pacific version

The ‘sea side’ - the neoprene version is unsurprisingly identical - 40mm across the flat sides of the hexes

The reverse side of the seascape - the clouds and islands for the neoprene version are on a separate strip and require cutting out which is far more sensible as they can be deployed where needed.

Small counters - in this case from the Pacific version, mainly because I have yet to unseal the Europeans!

Aircraft data cards

Following on from previous post I am delighted to relate that I am now the very proud owner of the full kickstarter versions, including all the extras, of Fighters of the Pacific and Fighters of Europe! Fighters of the Pacific I now have two copies of - at least of the base game, the two scenario packs (Coral Sea and Midway) and the stretch goal expansion (see the previous post for details) - but only one set of the other stretch goals extras which is why I acquired the additional set. The kickstarter extras include an extra copy of the playing board, a neoprene version of the same, a pack of Aces for both sides, some bespoke storage boxes and a limited edition coin. The latter is a nice to have from a collection perspective but serves no game function.

The neoprene mat is a plain hexed seascape (hexes being 40mm across the flat sides) with a separate strip of neoprene onto which are printed some cloud formations and a couple of islands - these would need to be cut out to use but have the advantage over the map boards as you can place the islands and clouds where you want whereas they are printed in place for the basic playing board. Both the board and neoprene versions are ideal for naval games using models although the 40mm hex size would mean smaller models than I am used to.

No matter, there is a plan of sorts….

I do not need two copies of the Pacific version so will have a think about what to do with it.

Fighters of Europe is the real prize for me in all this. Covering the Battle of Britain in the base game with the Battle of France and Defending the Reich (US daylight bombing raids) as expansions along the stretch goals expansion that includes a whole heap of additional aircraft and extra scenarios. 

European countryside - 24 by 17 and again, 40mm across the flat sides of the hexes

The coast and clouds - these need to to be cut out 

The contents of the base game - luckily the Battle of France expansion expands out the Luftwaffe as it includes Bf110s, Ju87s and Do17s

Lots of extra aircraft….

….and even more! 

I am absolutely delighted to have these two games and all the extra bits and bobs in my collection. The aircraft counters are lovely and I will certainly look to devise some kind of flying base for them in due course. As is my usual modus operandi with a board game I am already thinking about what other rule systems I can use the components for. The map boards for the Pacific version I have already earmarked for use with ships (they would need to be small though!) and the European landscape could also serve for the Great War.

The rules for this system do not use dice or indeed, anything random to determine combat outcomes. It is all about initiative and maintaining formation. This may not be to everyone’s taste - the element of luck in aerial combat has been mentioned in many books (at least the ones I have read!) - and I would probably include myself in that but I will reserve judgement until I have a few hours flying time under my belt before changing anything.

Although you can read the lists of aircraft included in the pictures I shall type them out in full at some point but that will be for a later post.

Kickstartering Fighters of the Pacific

The base game and the two scenario packs

Way back in March of this year I posted about my acquisition of a board game called Fighters of the Pacific. You can read the post here: Fighters of the Pacific

I then was able to acquire the Coral Sea and Midway expansion packs but for completeness - especially a greater selection of aircraft - I was really keen to get a copy of the Kickstarter Stretch Goals pack. Finally, after much trawling of eBay, I have been able to get a copy!

I will let the pictures do the talking but suffice it to say that I now a selection of 24 aircraft types for the Pacific War including the infamous Japanese ‘Ohka’ manned rocket powered bomb.

The front of the box….

….and the back, including a list of the components. Note the PBY Catalina and yup, that is the Yamato!

The four counter sheets - these are double sided and in the case of the aircraft have a dark blue ‘sea’ side to represent low level and a white ‘cloud’ side for high level.

The new format aircraft data cards - the types above are for the base game

I ma really pleased to have gotten a copy of this stretch goal set as it really helps to round out the Pacific set. Aside from the additional counters there are also some scenarios that make use of them, including Aerial Recon - always an important part of carrier operations - and others.

The final counter set for this game features aces from both sides but this was only available for the full kickstarter pledge. I may be able to get a copy at some point but I am not holding out much hope that it will be anytime soon.

The European version - Fighters of Europe - is available and features the Battle of Britain, the Battle of France and US daylight raids over the Reich. I would be really keen to get a copy of this!

Meanwhile, back to the Russo Japanese War….

WW1 Aerial Card Game

Quick and easy to play and with an alternate (and to be fair, more ‘wargamery’) set of rules available on BoardGameGeek.

There are twenty aircraft types for each side - note the lovely artwork on the two examples above - and fifteen of the action cards (three of each of the five types depicted).

 Laurel and I braved the thirty degrees plus heat on Sunday to visit our usual boot sale. It was quite small in terms of the number of sellers and buyers, presumably the weather warning deterred many from attending. Despite the paucity of sellers I managed to pick up the small card game you see above for the princely sum of £1.

Dogfight was released in 2015 and was designed by Martin Wallace - a designer of many boardgames (I own his excellent version of Waterloo) and personally known to a number of readers of this blog (sadly I am not in that number!).

The game is a type of Trumps style game where the applicable aircraft rating - determined by any one of the five action cards you see above for - is compared to the opponents with the highest score being the winner. Simple but effective although as mentioned, there is a meatier set of rules available from BGG which would sit rather more comfortably with the WW1 aerial enthusiast.

The artwork on the aircraft cards is very nice and would be useful for painting colour schemes for the aerial model gamers amongst us.

All in all, a nice acquisition for a £1 and a game that can be easily played anywhere and with a very quick set up time.

More on Fighters of the Pacific

Looking forward to giving this a spin - there is a solo system included - and am thinking about how best to ‘elevate’ the aircraft counters.

Following on from my earlier post about Fighters of the Pacific, today saw the arrival of the Midway expansion set, all the way from the US of A! I now have both expansions for the game - Coral Sea being the other - which means that some South Pacific carrier air action may well be imminent! There are some kickstarter bits and pieces that would be nice to have but are not really essential and besides, I have to keep myself in check for when the European version is launched later this year.

The Midway set, aside from the usual Wildcat, Dauntless, Devastator and Zero, Kate and Val types, also includes Buffaloes, B26s and Avengers. Both the expansions include a five scenario mini-campaign that features key points of the respective operations.

Nice and compact - it all lives in the base game box - and ready to roll so I reckon I should do something about it over the weekend.

The Genesis of an Idea

Available from Tumbling Dice 

All the mounted counters for the RFC/RAF - more than enough for my needs and with a good selection of types

Work on the ‘cardboard aircraft’ project continues at a measured pace - mainly because what I am tackling at present is quite laborious!

I am mounting the counters from the TSR game Dawn patrol onto 1” MDF squares (3mm thick) as the card used is really thin. These mounted counters will then be used in conjunction with a flying base to give the illusion of flight. It is simple work but for a variety of reasons quite tedious and best undertaken in bite-sized sessions.

If you look closely you can see the difference in size - small, but in need of attention

Matt 80 for the bases - very ‘old school!’

To begin with, the counters themselves, notionally 1”, are anything but. There are also some counters on which the aircraft images have been printed slightly off centre. Squaring them involves carefully placing the counter as centrally as possible (or with the ‘slightly ‘offset’ bias) on the base and then trimming the edges with a combination of a scalpel and gentle filing. Bearing this in mind, I have thus far managed to ‘base’ all the British aircraft - 32 in all - which leaves me with the French, American, Belgian, Italian, German and Austrian types to go. On top of this are the AA counters and a couple of double sized balloons.

Whilst the aircraft part continues at a leisurely pace so does the flying base part. After trialing Humbrol Satin 131 and Matt 89 (grass green and sky blue respectively) I then experimented with the old gaming standby of Matt 80 - and to be honest I am far happier with the results. 

Tomorrow I shall take the map to get it laminated so at least that part will be finished.

In the meantime though….

I have been thinking about rules to use - Dawn Patrol as written are not quite what I am looking for - and so acquired a copy of Duel of Aces from Tumbling Dice. They are very good and one thing struck me - they would be very easy to adapt for a square grid.

Which happens to be what my soon-to-be-laminated map has….

Have I found yet another rabbit hole to fall into?