Tuesday 5 November 2024

Mixed emotions!

 A number of years ago I added a plea onto the Baccus forums for the esteemed Mr Berry to create a range of early Byzantines so I could replace my venerable Irregular Miniatures army.  At the time the response was that it may happen but not in the immediate future.  However, I wanted a Byzantine army, specifically one for the 5th - 6th centuries, so I decided to proxy other Baccus figures to that very end.    Sassanid regular infantry had a suitably large shield so I started there and though I say so myself they don't look too bad, yet they were not perfect.  In my mind's eye I had an image of the old Hinchcliffe 25mm figures but in glorious 6mm, but needs must and all that.  At 'The other Partisan' last month I bought some of Mr B's Hunnic Noble to serve as, well, Hunnic Nobles, but also to proxy for Boukellariioi for Belisarius or Narses.  This week in a fit of enthusiasm I started to work on a second unit of Skoutatoi.  No sooner had I started then 'bingly bong' goes my mobile phone to alert me to the fact that Baccus 6mm have launched a new range for a new period.  Yes you guessed it the period is 'Late Antiquity' and the range 'Early Byzantines'.

So this is the cause of my mixed emotions the infantry are exactly what I was dreaming of but I already have proxy troops for that role.  I almost wish that they were not what I wanted, but the entire range is perfect!  Damn you Mr Berry, now I think I may be falling prey to some form of compulsive behaviour disorder.  This is caused by knowing that the exact figures I want are out there so my lovingly proxied Sassanids are no longer ticking the right boxes.  I must have proper Byzantines, I need proper Byzantines!!!

Not 'proper Byzantines' but I was happy with them until.....

So in due course I will, of course, weaken and buy said 'proper Byzantines' the only question remaining is what to do with the demobilised Sassanid proxies, other than use them as Sassanid regular infantry (well that would be too easy wouldn't it).

Proper Byzantines!  (image from the Baccus 6mm catalogue)

Other than the above mixed emotions the new range looks really useful.  It will cover Justinian Byzantines and Maurikian Byzantines, it has the Avar influenced half armoured cavalry (drool)) as well as lance and bow armed heavy cavalry.  At a push it would cover Byzantine armies through to the introduction of the kite shield in the late 10th Century.  The castings look excellent, you can see them here Baccus 6mm and the later Byzantines from the early Medieval range are here Baccus 6mm.  I now have a terrible stabbing pain in my wallet!

Monday 28 October 2024

Doing some admin!

Ooh that does sound exciting doesn't it.  It probably conjures up images of a weaselly looking bloke with a flat cap, a pencil moustache, a clipboard and a slew of coloured pens!  Sorry, it's not that exciting, but it does include a spreadsheet (if that helps) not that you get to see it though.  Instead its my annual calculation of the replacement value of my toys, you know the one I deflate by around 15% when Mrs E asks how much did that little lot cost then? 

It was a bigger task when I first did the count a few years back, but since then it has only been a case of adding new figures to the totals and updating the replacement costs for the figures, bases, painting service (I paint my own but if I lost the lot I wouldn't feel up to redoing them) etc.  Each year I add a new section, this year for example it was painted 6mm ECW.  I still need to add values for  painted World War One aeroplanes and World War Two tanks etc though.  Anal moi? No! Meglomaniac....well maybe a bit!

So what is the actual damage?

6mm Ancients to ECW

Painted and based - 3,647 figures with an estimated like for like replacement cost of £3,600

Unpainted - 900 figures, I haven't done an estimated replacement cost yet

6mm 1915 - 1945

I haven't done a count of the painted stuff yet, or valued these.  A job for 2025 I think. 

Unpainted - 329 castings foot armour and aircraft - again no replacement value calculated, another 2025 job then.

2- 3mm ECW, ACW and Cold War

These are not fully counted but the numbers are a bit scary if I count individual soldiers, not that I would as it's castings or maybe bases which are the way to value them.  For example the ACW infantry alone would number 13,392 figures or 93 bases of 144 each.  But those are matchstick based, home made troops with a negligible value other than the MDF bases.

I'm trying to reduce the lead pile...honest

Summing it all up

All in all I think the full replacement cost would be over £4,500 and probably approaching £6,000 if I  include terrain items, tables and boards (or rules or associated reference books) and the like.

So toodle loo, or in my case it better be too da painting table!

Wednesday 23 October 2024

Painting the Antonne 2mm blocks

I know lots of other painters have covered this topic, but this is a post aimed at a very small and specific audience....me!   I wanted to document how I arrived at my approach to painting these blocks as my usual system wasn't going cut it, so I can repeat the style later.  The Antonine castings don't have the definition of Irregular Miniatures 2mm stuff.  All the detail has to be painted in, some of it is there just not as much as with the IM blocks.  This has to be painting intended to fool the eye at arms length, so as I often say we are painting for mass effect not individual detail, but this time it's real what do we see at first glance stuff.  So the first thing to decide is what needs to 'pop', what are we going to see the most easily at gaming distances?  To me it's the glint of metal from helmets and the splash of colour from shields and to a lesser degree the faces and lastly the clothing on the backs of rear ranks of warriors.  Helpfully heads and shields are visible on the castings if you look carefully.  Sidney Roundwood's blog (Roundwood's World) gave me a great concept to work with; he suggested taking a look at Snayers' paintings of the battles of the Thirty Years War for inspiration.  These show masses of soldiers as seen at a distance and is the level of detail to go for.

 An extract from Snayers' Battle of Fleurus

In the above portion of a much larger painting I have focussed on troops who are in the middle distance of the painting.  If you look at the furthest infantry it is almost impressionistic simple lines and of lighter and darker shades of a base colour to give the look of a mass of men.  That's what I wanted to go for but with a bit more pop.  The other thing to notice is the contrast between the block of soldiers and the background which makes them stand out, again something to focus upon in our tiny troop formations.

So with all of that in mind I broke with my normal painting system and under coated with Vallejo Earth.  It's a mid brown edging towards the red end of the brown scale which gives it some warmth.  Once that was dry I started with the detailing I dotted a metallic (bronze, silver or gold) on most of the heads of the warband castings then added a few primary colours and a few white spots to give something to draw the eye.  More regular troops all got the same metallic dot as they are dressed in a more uniform style.  Next up was a dry brush all around the sides of the foot castings in a pale sand to hint at linen tunics.  Next up are the shields done in a mix of primary colours so they stand out.  All this needs is a spot or a short brush stroke.  Lastly a dot of pale flesh (applied with a needle's point) for faces in the front rank.  

Barbarian Horde approaching.

I kept the unit photo small to give more of the on table feel to what you can see.  Remember this is painting a 'unit' not individuals.

The cavalry were also undercoated in Earth.  As I was doing these as cataphracts they then got a gunmetal coat to the front of the head and all the top surfaces and riders.  I picked out some faces and helmets in gold and silver for variety.  Lastly I painted in some cloaks in my usual primary colours plus white.

Two rank cavalry blocks as cataphracts.  I'm happier with this basing style.

As usual basing caused me trouble.  I never seem to get a scheme that I like first time of trying.  I used my usual fine sand and PVA base but masked off a 5mm strip along the rear of the base, so far so good.  For the horde I dry brushed a lighter shade over the actual sand.  I know; painting actual sand a sandy colour, who else but a wargamer would do such a thing!  The problem is that I didn't like the resulting shade of sand I got.  I tried some olive green dry brushing to break it up but I'm still not happy.  The cavalry base is better and is probably how I will do them going forwards.

The cavalry castings just don't match the infantry castings, they are too big and too blocky

A final thought after applying paint, the cavalry castings are about 30-40% bigger than they probably should be compared to the foot castings.  Plus I can't help but feel that they look like someone's Dad made them horse armour from old cardboard boxes that flat pack furniture came in!  At some point a re-sculpt is going to be required. 


Sunday 20 October 2024

Antonine 2mm blocks

As mentioned in my last post Warbases don't carry stock of the 2mm blocks of troops for Strength and Honour.  So on Tuesday I made use of the free postage voucher they gave me and ordered some on online.  I spent just under £15.00 and bought four different types to see what the castings were like.  Given that this included 2mm thick MDF bases it was a decent price to pay for what I received.  This was:

  • A Roman Legion of 10 cohorts,
  • A pike phalanx, well its actually three of them on a single base,
  • A cavalry unit (as heavy or medium cavalry not lights)
  • a Barbarian warband.
My first thought is that these are big units, which is as they should be as they represent several thousand men each.  The castings are a little more 'abstract' than Irregular's 2mm offerings and seem ever so slightly smaller but that isn't noticeable when placed side by side.  The pike phalanx is much bigger than anything IM offer but the pikes are not as high as the IM ones. 

Antonine pike phalanx compared to IM pike block (centre)
The cavalry are rather nice although a bit 'cubist' in design, as they are made up of rectangles and lack the detail of the IM cavalry. They look great from arms length thoughI suspect that I might use Irregular's cavalry in preference to Antonine's
.
Fuzzy photo (sorry) but you see why I find the cavalry a bit 'Cubist'

There are a couple of different warband castings but all have the same style, depicting an unorganised body of men in unorganised mass. each unit consists of several castings which can be combined to give different shaped masses of men.

Barbarian warband base

I spent around half an hour this morning gluing the castings to the bases ready for painting and they do look good.  The castings lend themselves to this approach as there isn't as much need to get to the sides or rear of castings as would be the case with IM equivalents where each block would be several castings. There was little to no flash to worry bout and no visible mould lines which is a bonus. Under coating will proceed once weather and Covid symptoms allow the spray can I prefer to be deployed outdoors.

If you would like to peruse the entire range they can be found at Strength and Honour which takes you to Warbases website.

Given that armies in Strength and Honour run between four and fifteen (roughly) units an army will probably cost a maximum of £50 and that includes bases, which is very reasonable.  I'd be a bit more exact about that except I can't access the link for the PDF version of the rules I bought since the Lardies website went down!  The moral of the story being don't be cheap and buy a hard copy not the PDF.




Saturday 19 October 2024

The other Partizan 2024

So Sunday last saw me hop into my car and drive down to the Newark Showground for The other Partizan Show.   As a bonus I managed to sneak in an illicit McDonald's breakfast muffin on the way.  I'm not supposed to eat stuff like this but it was my first Fast food since this time last year!  It was a fairly clear run down the A15 and A46 and it gave my car a decent run which it hasn't had for a while as we normally do long runs in Mrs E's big VW Tiguan.  I could tell I'd not done much in the way of long drives in my car as when I got back home after an 80 mile round trip my projected tank range reading had actually risen from 205 miles to 240 miles!  If only that meant extra fuel had miraculously formed in the tank eh?

Parking at the Showground was simplicity itself even though the car park was already busy.  There was a long queue to get in but this moved along quickly.  Entering the pavilion the first thing to strike me was 'wow, this is big'.  Really, really big! Plenty of traders around the walls and games in the central area.  In fact it's almost too big as there is so much to see and it takes a moment for it all to sink in.

Swedes at Lutzen. Advancing on the Imperial centre
The display games were my first port of call as some of my re-enactment friends were putting on a refight of Lutzen 1632 in 28mm.  This was an epic undertaking with over 2,000 figures on the table.  I dread to think of the weight of lead involved or the cost of figures, painting and basing!  Ian who was providing the Imperialists joked that he could feel the weight of lead he was transporting pulling his car sideways in bends!  I then had a chat with the guys from North Riding Wargaming who were putting on an Alter of Freedom game using 10mm figures.

 

Chris Kemp's Not Quite Mechanised game

 

I spent a pleasant 20 minutes chatting with old friends from the Monday Night Gamers (you know the ones who meet on Tuesdays) as they were running an Edgcote game, and a Not Quite Mechanised game of Longstop Hill, Tunisia in 1942 and manning the Northampton Battlefields Society stand.  Well done those chaps.

The huge Lutzen battlefield.  The town is burning at the other end!

Looking around the games there were at least three ACW games of various sizes, the same for Viet Nam and a lot of games involving beach landings.  The later included a huge D Day participation game.  I spotted a couple of western shoot out games as well.  All in all the standard of games was stunning.

Bloody Omaha participation game.  Nice to see some younger folk having a go.

The above game in close up the detail is stunning



Second day at Gettysburg in 10mm using Altar of Freedom

Another D-Day game.  I really liked the empty battlefield feel of this.


A samurai game which was simply stunning to look at

I tried my hand at the Wargames Developments participation mini game next.  These are always interesting and usually play out in under 15 minutes.  This year it was the armoured drive to relieve the para's at Arnhem.  The game consists of a line of squares each with a mini playing card allocated to it.  The card shows the level of German resistance and some squares have hidden events under the cards!  Cards are valued as in Bridge (well it is a Bridge too Far) with ace counting high and suits ranked Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts to Spades.  The allies win all ties.  The allies are dealt five cards face up. German cards are face down.  Each turn the allies advance one square, or stay put to either resupply or reorganise.  Resupply brings their hand of cards back up to full strength, reorganisation discards the current hand for a re-deal.  Used cards are discarded and not reused.  The hidden events are that the US airborne troops have not secured their bridges and the armoured thrust is stalled for a turn and that a German counter attack happens back down the road which has to be dealt with (Gerry gets an additional card back down the road which has to beaten before moving forward again).  Very simple, very elegant and very frustrating!  I got to the south bank of the Rhine at Arnhem on the last turn so it was a bridge too far for me.

Seven Years War as the action heats up


I then headed off to do some shopping.   First up was Pendragon for some Litko flight stands.  These are two part items a hexagonal base in one pack and the uprights in another.  This allows you to buy different size hex bases and different length height posts.  At ten stands for £9.50 you can't go wrong.  Next was Warbases where I had to restrain myself, they had a full range of the Cactus Creek western shootout building kits and I was mightily tempted by a couple (well rather more than a couple if I'm honest).    What I really wanted was some of their Antonine Miniatures 2mm stuff for Strength and Honour but it turns out they don't bring those to shows...pooh!  However, I got a special code to allow me to buy from their website postage free for 48 hours after the end of the show.  I then bought some western shoot out figures from Empress Miniatures (along with a chat with Paul and Christine) and some Hunnic Noble cavalry from Baccus.  By my standards this was a very restrained shopping frenzy.  Then it was back to looking at the display games.

Lastly I wandered over to the Strength and Honour participation game being run by Mark Backhouse.  This was a really popular game and deservedly won the best participation game award.

Strength and Honour game, this was hanging in the balance at this point.


After all this excitement I had a leisurely drive home and even managed to drop the roof and and have the full cabriolet experience in my elderly tin-top VW Eos.  I'd say 'feel the wind in my hair', but I don't have any 😊.  So all in all a great day out and I really recommend it.

Post script

Sorry for the delay in posting this.  It seems that I had one additional. unexpected acquisition from the show...Covid!  It's so 2020 my dears.


Oh Bugger!

Wednesday 9 October 2024

The Great War in the Air


 As previously mentioned I have been reading over some of my old blog posts.  A bit narcissistic I grant you, but I'm quite proud of some of the posts and after not rereading them for a few years they read rather better than I thought they would.  One of those I landed on was a WW1 air combat post, which of course meant I read all of the others on that topic.  Reading them two things came to mind, firstly I never did post the amendments I made to the original SPI rules and secondly where the hell did I put my notes and rules!  Worry not, I did find them, eventually.

Now that's a dogfight (except it isn't the picture is mock up created in 1933)

The starting point was the old SPI game "Flying Circus".  I played this to death back in the mid 1970's when it first came out.  So I suppose it was only natural that I would want to tinker with the concepts it through up. The original rules for that game can be found here FlyingCircusRules.pdf (spigames.net) and if you want to follow what I did you should take a look at them.  Like the majority of SPI games it used a hex gridded playing area but I didn't want to have to draw a large hex grid so I simply based the models on hexagonal bases and measured everything with a cardboard hex tool I made.  You can see that in photo one.  Aircraft don't stay in grid alignment with each other so when measuring line of sight and shooting ranges and arcs anything that crosses any part of the models base is 'on target'.

The measuring tool used for movement....



...and for gun range checks

The original rules are three dimensional in so far as aircraft can climb and dive  in the vertical plane but not much more, all other movement is in 2 dimensions within a height band of 1,000 feet, as you would expect from a map and counters game I suppose.  I wanted to add some out of plane manoeuvres like rolls and Immelmann turns that were the key tactics in aerial combat. Other things needed adding as well like energy gain and loss too.  The original game had one thing going for it though, which was that it could be learned in a couple of minutes!  Each aeroplane had a stall speed and top speed defined as movement points.  Making a turn used up movement points and different planes took different numbers of turns to climb to the next height level.  You could only shoot at a target which was within range and that had been in your firing arc for half of your, or their movement points.  Possible damage varied depending on the number of machine guns (single or twin) and the ammunition feed (belt or drum).  Lastly you had a limited number of turns firing and drum fed guns had to change the drum after two turns of firing.  That was pretty much it, a real beer and pretzels game.

Luckily smarter minds than mine had already looked at some of the things I felt needed improving so I borrowed and adapted.  First I changed the combat resolution table outcomes so they reflected pilot morale and experience by having most hits impact not the aircraft but the pilots confidence with any hit having a chance of causing a critical damage result which would have an effect on the aeroplane. As I said in the original posts those early aeroplanes were mostly a lot of nothing wrapped in canvas and wood, the vital systems were a small percentage of the target area.  Talking about the aeroplanes the original game only had statistics for around 20 of them, mostly allied types.  That needed expanding which given the lack of firm data on early combat aeroplanes was a big (read huge) task.  The amendments I ended up with are as follows.

Flying Circus Plus

These adaptions use a mix of advanced flying Circus (SPI), Richtofen’s War (AH) and home brew rules.

Turn Sequence (IGOYGO)

1.      Player 1 spotting

2.      Player 1 Movement

3.      Player 2 spotting

4.      Both player’s firing

Repeat the above for Player 2

Simultaneous Movement codes
Each turn note the aeroplanes movement on the play sheet using the following codes:

·         Number – that number of hexes straight ahead

·         Down Arrow – dive note how many metres

·         Up arrow climb - note how many metres (Max of 100 per hex)

·         R or L one hex side turn in indicated direction in the current hex one letter per hex side subject to a max of three.

·         Special manoeuvres – use code as shown below.

Diving
There are two standard categories of dive and a special manoeuvre available in FCP.  The two standard dives are:

Shallow dive – there is no reduction in MP for a shallow dive each 2MP spent moving a shallow dive loses 100 feet.  Turns may be made while shallow diving.

Steep- dive – an aircraft may only move straight ahead in a steep dive.  Each hex costs 2MP and loses 150 feet a steep dive.  Aircraft gain KE while steep diving.

Power Dive – see special manoeuvres.

Over Speeding (gaining energy)
Additional “speed” may be gained as a result of gaining energy by diving under power (over speed).  There is a maximum safe over speed before structural damage is risked.  This varies between aircraft as shown on the statistics sheet.  The original game rule of diving at a reduced speed is not used in the advanced rules.  Aircraft may dive at the maximum normal level flight speed or faster (due to energy gain) without any restrictions, but may suffer structural damage.

Gaining kinetic energy (KE)
Where an aircraft dives at its maximum speed or above it will gain kinetic energy (over speed) up to its maximum over speed allowance.  Aircraft gain one MP per KE point gained per turn spent diving at or over maximum speed.

Using KE
Once an aircraft has ended its dive it still holds the excess energy which must be bled off.  This happens in one of two ways.  In each turn of level flight KE movement points are lost in addition to any other speed reduction (through Drag).  Alternatively, the excess energy may be used to “zoom and boom”.  This entails converting excess energy (over speed movement points) into additional climb points.  One KE point provides an additional 200 feet of climb.

Damage from diving at over speed
Aircraft diving at more than safe dive speed risk structural damage.  Different aircraft have different safe dive speeds.  This is shown on the statistics chart.  The structural damage modifier will increase depending on how much they have exceeded the safe maximum dive speed.  Use the over speed damage table to check if damage occurs.

Damage from high stress manoeuvres
Where an aircraft performs a high stress manoeuvre roll on hit chart CRT3 to see if damage occurs.  First dice to see if hits are scored.  If so pilot resolution is not reduced as with MG fire instead move on to a critical damage test as per gun fire.  Ignore all results other than structural damage.  If there is structural damage check on the structural damage table for the type of damage incurred.  Fragile aircraft use range 1, normal range 2 and robust range 3 result columns.

Fragile Aircraft
Certain aircraft are considered fragile and have an increased chance of suffering structural failures when undertaking high stress manoeuvres.  Fragility is noted on the data chart for those aircraft.  They have lower resistance to structural critical damage than normal.

Loss of height and turns
Any turn in a single hex after the first hex side creates a loss of height of 50 feet

Front MG Arc of fire (simultaneous movement)
As firing solutions are harder to achieve with simultaneous movement the frontal arc of fire is widened.  It is now as shown below.

This simulates the ability to ‘kick in’ a little rudder to yaw the aeroplane.  Range remains the same.

Arc of Fire



Gunner operated ring and pin mounted guns

The gunner has to anticipate the pilot’s actions which can interfere with tracking targets.  He may also need to switch targets rapidly from left to right above or below.  To simulate this gunners fire at -1 on the CRT dice roll for all targets other than those below their aircraft where they fire at -2.

Spotting
Any aircraft firing is automatically spotted by the target aircraft.  Aircraft in blind spots cannot be spotted.  Line of sight is required to spot.  Clouds block line of sight.  Otherwise roll 2D6 at the start of the turn and adjust the result as follows (all factors are cumulative)

Aircraft firing weapons

+1

Aircraft within 8 hexes

+1

Aircraft below spotter

 -1

Aircraft ‘up sun’

 -2

Aircraft over 20 hexes from spotter

 -2

 

If the result is 7 or more the aircraft is spotted.  Any other aircraft in close formation are also spotted.  Close formation means in base to base contact and at the same height (+/- 200 feet).  If playing IGOYGO non-moving player’s aircraft check after the moving player has completed all movement

Ranges in 3D firing and spotting
To simulate firing in three dimensions the enemy aircraft must be within 1,000 feet above or below and not in a blind spot.  Only aeroplanes with the prop hang special move may fire directly upwards, and those with power dive fire directly below and only when those special manoeuvres have been used to gain the firing solution.  The chart below gives the actual range in hexes to use on the CRT

Height

Diff’ (feet)

Hexes to target >

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0

-

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

200

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

400

2

2

3

4

4

5

6

7

8

600

3

3

4

4

5

6

7

8

-

800

4

4

4

5

6

6

7

8

-

1,000

5

5

5

6

6

7

8

-

-

NB 200 feet height difference equals one hex height difference in spotting

Combat damage and pilot resolution
In FC an aircraft has a damage limit equal to its speed.  Each point of damage reduces the aeroplanes speed by one point until it falls below stall speed when it is considered destroyed.  In these additional rules, particularly strong aircraft have a damage level higher than their speed as shown in the game statistics and fragile aircraft a lower value. 

Firing uses the tables below to ascertain if hits are scored.  These do no damage to the aircraft but reduce the pilot’s resolution (willingness to continue in combat).  Lots of bullets passing through your ‘plane will tend to do that.  The amount scored is subtracted from the resolution of the target pilot.  Once his resolution reaches zero his objective becomes survival and he will attempt to get off the board via any friendly table side.   Standard pilots have a resolution of 10.  Veterans and novices may have their resolution adjusted as players see fit.  In a campaign setting reduce resolution of all pilots by 1 for each friend shot down and killed.  Add 1 for each enemy aeroplane shot down to the shooter who got the kill shot.  Add 1 to all pilots who survive a game.  It is suggested that minimum resolution be set at 6 and maximum be capped at 18.

For damage checks roll a second D6, if the result is equal or lower than the result on the combat CRT add the totals rolled on both dice together and check the critical damage table. 

For example: a Fokker DVII (Twin belt fed MGs) fires at an SE5a at a range of 3 hexes.  A D6 is thrown scoring a 5 resulting in 2 hits.  The SE5a pilot’s resolution is reduced by 2.  As hits were scored a second D6 is thrown this results in a roll of 2 this is equal to the CRT score of 2 hits.  Critical damage may have occurred.  Adding the two dice rolls together gives a total of 7.  This is a control hit, checking on the control hit table requires a final roll of a single D6 this scores a 1 which reduces the SE5a’s turn code to the next lowest level.

Long Bursts
A player may opt to fire a ‘Long Burst’ before rolling the dice.  This adds 1 to the to hit di roll.  It uses up double ammunition and cannot be used if there is insufficient ammunition remaining or for drum fed guns there is only one ammunition point left before needing to reload.  After using a long burst roll 1D6 on a 1 the guns used have jammed and if this is the main gun, the pilot takes a reduction of 1 to his resolution for not being able to shoot.  This remains in place for the rest of the game.  Each following combat turn where the aircraft has flown straight and level for the entire turn roll 1D6 and unjam on a 6.

Special manoeuvres
These are all moves which require a climb or dive but which do not follow the FC rules so they are treated as special exceptions to the movement rules.  Some of these special manoeuvres are considered high stress manoeuvres and may lead to structural damage.  This will be detailed on each aeroplane’s data card.  To understand the moves the direction and facing of the aeroplane will use the descriptions in the image below. Front is always the initial direction of movement. 



1.      Side Slip (Code -SS) -The aeroplane remains pointing in the same direction throughout the manoeuvre.  It moves into the Front Right or Front Left adjacent hex at a cost of 2MP and loses 50 feet of height.  The action may be repeated as long as there are MP available to use.  Alternating from right to left or left to right is permitted.

2.      Yo-Yos (Code HYY or LYY + number of hexes) -A Yo-yo allows an aeroplane to reduce distance over ground by alternatively climbing and diving.  A Yo-yo may start with a climb or a dive but must alternate climbs and dives in each successive hex during the manoeuvre.  The first step is always by entering the adjacent front hex.  It uses the energy gained in a dive to recover some of the height lost in the following climb.  Each hex moved through costs 2MP.  A hex in which the aeroplane dives reduces height by 100 feet.  A hex in which the aeroplane climbs gains 50 feet.  The manoeuvre may be carried out while flying in a straight line or combined with turns.

3.      Hammerhead turn (Code HT)HIGH STRESS.  The aeroplane moves forward one hex and enters a vertical climb.  it then revolves around the aircraft’s length (going from nose vertically up to vertically down) it then dives vertically in the same hex.  The aircraft may exit to any adjacent hex.  The manoeuvre costs 6MP.  For targeting purposes 3 MP may count towards acquiring a target for the aeroplane carrying out the action and all 6 for an aeroplane attempting to shoot at it. While carrying out this manoeuvre the aeroplane hangs almost stationary at the top of the climb and any aircraft firing at it does so with a +1 modifier to the to hit dice roll.

4.      Rolling reversal (Code RR)HIGH STRESS a half loop and roll out the modern Immelmann turn.

5.      Full loop (Code O) – The maximum size of the loop and so the number of hexes displaced to the rear is determined by the aeroplane’s rate of climb.  The aeroplane ends the manoeuvre facing in the same direction and the noted number of hexes to the rear of the starting hex.  The ‘plane will lose 50 metres of height in the loop.

Rate of climb

MP cost

End point

50

2

Start hex

100

4

1 hex to rear

150

6

2 hexes to rear

200

8

3 hexes to the rear

250

10

4 Hexes to the rear

300

12

5 hexes to the rear

 

6.      Displacement roll (Code DR) – In essence this is a combination of a side slip and a roll to slow forward movement while maintaining MP.  The aircraft moves forwards two hexes at a cost of 4MP

7.      Propeller hang (Code PH) HIGH STRESS– Aircraft moves forwards one hex and enters a vertical climb it then stays in the same hex but is assumed to be pointing vertically.  As with a Hammerhead The manoeuvre costs 6MP.  For targeting purposes 3 MP may count towards acquiring a target for the aeroplane carrying out the action and all 6 for an aeroplane attempting to shoot at it. While carrying out this manoeuvre the aeroplane hangs almost stationary at the top of the climb and any aircraft firing at it does so with a +1 modifier to the to hit dice roll.  After the propeller hang the aircraft may carry out a further propeller hang, a hammerhead or a rolling reversal

8.      Power Dive (Code PD) – HIGH STRESS The aircraft moves forwards one hex and then enters a vertical dive.  It gains KE in the dive at double the normal rate.  To end the power dive the aircraft enters a normal dive for half a turn and then level flight for half a turn.  Fragile aircraft check for structural damage on pulling out.

Charts

CRT 1 (twin MG belt fed)

Die/Range

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

3

4

2

1

1

1

0

0

0

4

4

3

2

1

1

1

0

0

5

5

4

2

2

1

1

1

0

6

6

5

3

2

2

2

2

1

 

CRT 2 (Double MG – drum fed)

Die/Range

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

3

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

4

4

2

1

1

1

0

0

0

5

4

3

2

1

1

1

1

0

6

5

4

3

2

2

2

1

1

 

CRT 3 (Single MG belt fed)

Die/Range

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

4

2

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

5

3

2

2

1

1

1

1

0

6

3

3

2

2

2

1

1

1

 

CRT 4 (Single MG drum fed)

Die/Range

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

5

2

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

6

3

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

NOTE:  Aircraft with both a single belt and single drum fed forward machine gun (e.g. SE5A) use CRT1 until the drum is empty they then use CRT3 until the drum is reloaded. 

Critical Hit Chart

Throw a second D6 if the score is lower than the result on the CDT above a critical hit has been scored.  Throw a second D6and add the scores together to get a score of 2 – 12 and check the table below.

Score

Effect

2

Crew Hit

3

Engine Hit

4

Structural Damage

5

Structural Damage

6

Control Hit

7

Control Hit

8

Control Hit

9

Structural Damage

10

Structural Damage

11

Engine Hit

12

Crew hit

Crew Hit
For multi crew aircraft dice to see which crew member is hit.  Roll 1D6 1 or 2 is KIA all other results are wounded.

Pilot hit if KIA aircraft is out of control and enters steep dive until it hits the ground.  If wounded reduce resolution by 2.  If Gunner hit KIA that gun position is out of action for the rest of the mission.  If wounded reduce pilot resolution by 2.  All fire by that gunner is at minus one to hit.  Further wounds to a previously wounded person reduce resolution by an additional 2 for each wound.

Engine Hit
Throw 1D6

Score

Result

1

Engine seizes.  Power reduced to zero.

2

Oil leak engine runs rough and seizes in next 6 turns 1D6 1 to seize then 1 & 2 etc.

3

Max power reduced by 1

4

Max power reduced by 2

5

Fire - 1 point of damage/resolution per turn until extinguished

6

Fire 2 points of damage/resolution per turn until extinguished

Extinguishing fire – dive the aircraft in a steep dive.  On a 6 on a D6 the fire is extinguished.  In a power dive it is extinguished on a 5 or 6

Structural Damage
No effect until the next high stress manoeuvre is attempted.  Then roll 1D6:

Score

Result

1

No Damage

2

No Damage

3

1D6 Damage

4

2D6 Damage

5

May no longer make high stress manoeuvres as a wing spar has cracked

6

Aircraft disintegrates

 High Stress Manoeuvres are:

·         Steep Dive

·         Any turn of more than one hex side or part hex side after the first.

·         A second turn in a consecutive hex after the first hex in the same turn

·         Special Manoeuvres as noted

Control Damage
Throw 1D6

Score

Result

1

Turn Rate reduces to next lower rate (e.g. A to B or C to D)

2

Unable to turn to Left

3

Unable to turn to Right

4

Climb cost increased by 1D6 steps

5

May only shallow dive

6

May only gentle climb

 No Special Manoeuvres may be used that require a move no longer available as a result of Control damage

Over speed effects
Throw 1D6 add any adjustment for how much over speed the aircraft is

Score

Result

1

No effect

2

No effect

3

1 Point Damage

4

2 Points Damage

5

3 Points Damage – possible structural damage test on next high stress manoeuvre

6

4 Points Damage - wing spars crack no steep dives or climbs

7 to 11

Severe damage wings detach plane breaks up

 

You don't have everything you need here (yet).  Next post I will put up the playing sheet on which the aircraft data is recorded and explain the abbreviations on that.  I will also post the data for the aeroplanes most commonly seen over the western front.  That will be another long post!