The Fokker Scourge

A few weeks ago I hosted the Thursday game, namely  the WWI air combat game, Wings of Glory (formerly Wings of War). Awhile ago, Ares Games finally released some new, early-war model planes for Wings of Glory. Among the pile of planes I bought were three Fokker E.III's. They were the first warplanes that had interrupter gear, allowing machine gun fire forward through the propeller. The exploits of the infamous "Eindecker" resulted in the titular Fokker Scourge, when the Germans gained air superiority over the Allies in the 1915-1916 time period.

This was an interesting period in the air war. The combatants flew a lot of pre-war aircraft designs, and were trying to figure things out for the first time. Artillery spotting and aerial photography had become important uses of this new technology. Aircrew started to carry rifles and pistols to pot shot each other. The impact of the Fokker E.III was maybe out of proportion to its relatively few numbers.

I wanted some suitable Fokker Fodder, so obvious period opponents for the German monoplanes would be some Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c's. This was a very stable airplane, great for observation and photography, but not optimal for aerial combat. However, I did not have the appropriate models or stats. I pressed into service a couple of Wings of War R.E.8's, using stats from the Wings of Glory Aerodrome site, namely:

• Maneuver Deck: P
• Damage Type: optional single rear-facing B gun
• Damage Points: 11

The bases of the British planes in this scenario were after-market items purchased from Keith at Aerodrome Accessories. He provides great customer service - there had been a slight error in one item in my order, and Keith immediately rectified it.

Game One: Bombing Raid, 1915

The first game we played was a plausible 1915 scenario: a single-seat B.E.2c, unarmed except for its bomb load, escorted to its target by a two-seater variant, armed with a single rear-facing Lewis gun (the British had not yet developed interrupter gear).

Below, Conscripts Bill and Brian flew the British aircraft.
(Note: Click on the photos for larger images.)



Meanwhile, Conscripts Frederick and Kevin flew the Germans.



Below, looking north, the British aircraft nearest the camera is the bomber, run by Bill. His escort, run by Brian, lies a little ways to the north. To the east are the two Eindeckers run, respectively, by Frederick and Kevin.



The initial stages of the game saw Bill angle northeast to line up on the target to the east, while Kevin flew in a wide circle to the south, hoping to eventually get on Bill's 6 o'clock.



Brian, in a brilliant bit of compensatory flying against superior aircraft, maneouvered to get his tail gun to bear on Frederick's green plane.



Bill slipped between the Germans...



...much to Brian's amusement



Bill lined up his bomb run, managing to drop his stick of primitive aerial bombs right on target.



As Bill circled wide northwards and headed home, Brian mixed it up with the Germans.



Kevin and Frederick went after Bill's plane to try and  exact some revenge.



But Frederick's single machine gun jammed as he tried a deflection shot.



Again, the British were much amused by this.



Brian bird-dogged back to protect the unarmed bomber.





Brian took some hits after Frederick unjammed his gun.



Kevin also got in some licks against Brian's plane.



The British planes reached their own lines, whereupon the Germans broke off their pursuit. Brian revealed that his aircraft had only one damage point left. Heroic, indeed!



Game Two: Dogfight, 1916

Wings of Glory plays very quickly, so we decided to have another game, a three-on-three dogfight between scout planes. The Airco D.H.2 was a pusher plane, with the engine and propeller behind the pilot, so its single gun could fire forward unimpeded.

To the west are three British D.H.2s, run, respectively, by myself, Bill, and Brian. To the east are a flight of three Eindeckers, two run by Frederick, and one by Kevin.



In a head-on pass Bill set Frederick's green Fokker on fire.



The two flights flew past each other, and maneuvered to try and bring their weapons to bear.





The flames proved too much for the green German machine, which crashed in No-Man's Land.



Frederick's other plane immediately thereafter exacted some revenge, shooting down Bill's plane after a few  long bursts.



Kevin managed to set Brian's plane on fire with a long-range shot.



Brian scored hits on Frederick's plane, causing it to belch forth smoke.



After some maneuvering, Frederick got Brian in his sights again...



...and shot him down in No-Man's land.



I managed to Immelmann around and get a burst into Frederick's Fokker, which proved too much for his damaged airframe, and he went down.



Kevin and I then got into a turning fight near the western table edge.





I managed to survive a close-range burst from Kevin's gun.



Kevin, out of room to maneuver,  flew off the western (Allied!) table edge into captivity!



3D models: The wave of the future?

Soon after game night, I ordered a pair of B.E.2c models, 3D prints, from Shapeways. They were shipped out and arrived on my doorstep very quickly.

They are neat little one-piece models, as can be seen in the photos below.



I am glad I do not have to fiddle with and maintain the required forward-swept angle of all those struts.

The propeller was rendered as part of the wing. Some minor cleanup and assembly, and they will be ready for paint.



I am thinking 1915-era schemes, with a buff coloured canvas dope and early-war roundels. Check out a video of a couple of flying B.E.2s, here.

I would also like to run a scenario re-enacting Lanoe Hawker's single-handed 1915 raid on a Zeppelin base, flying a B.E.2c armed only with bombs and hand grenades.

Pile Of Treads - Khurasan 15mm Sci-Fi Tanks

Nova Respublik tanks - ready to roll

I continue to channel my frustration over the ridiculous NHL lockout (hockey fans see here for some rage-inducing content) into cleaning up the pending pile for 15mm sci-fi.  Up next, following some Federal Troops and Control Battalion, as well as some massive frustration with Khurasan's new DOE gunship model, was a pile of Nova Respublik armoured vehicles - six tanks and four APCs.  Here are a few pictures.

From left - the Red Banner, the Red Banner U, the Red Eagle, the Red Lightning

The Red tank series represent, to me, the very best of the Khurasan design approach.  The tanks are a perfect fit for the near-future, pseudo-Soviet Nova Respublik faction.  The basic tank design - the "Red Banner" is very, very evocative of a T-55 or T-72 of the distant-near-future.  It mimics a great deal of the Soviet design philosophy - low to the ground, massive main gun, eggshell turret that is surely a horrifically cramped nightmare for expendable crews - while looking a little sleeker, a little cooler, so you "know" it is sci-fi.

The Red Banner - tried to make this more weathered than the others, as it would be the oldest mark in service

The Red Banner U - featuring a tank commander in the cupola - this has better protection than the basic tank

The Red Eagle - very evocative of the rumoured Russian T-80 "Black Eagle"

The tanks then literally build from there - you can add reactive armour plates and storage bins to make the "Red Banner U", even thicker armour and a big turret bustle to create the "Red Eagle", and thicker armour, a scary-looking main gun and likely very unsafe bustle mounted battery contraption to create the "Red Lightning".  You get all of the bits you need with each tank to make any tank you want from the range.

The Red Lightning - having all that stuff on the back exposed to artillery is probably not safe...

The "Red Lightning" looks particularly cool - likely as dangerous to the crew as to its enemies.  Exactly the sort of thing a Soviet-style government would put into the field.

A Federal Siler tank in between two Nova Respublik tanks - the Siler is bigger, a little beefier 

Not only do these tanks look very cool, these model designs manage to mimic the design progression of late model Soviet armour, while still standing on their own as awesome sci-fi models. Brilliant.  Also, they are easy to assemble and paint (rather the opposite of the DOE).  I loved the tanks and was all over the place when building the models, so I ended up doing two Red Banners, two Red Banner Us, one Red Eagle and one Red Lightning.  Considering that Soviet style tank platoons contain three vehicles, this was kind of dumb in hindsight.  The platoons will have to contain mixed vehicles.

NR troops pose with the tanks - you can see the tanks are very low to the ground

Ominously, these models are currently listed on Khurasan's website as "Temporarily Out Of Production".  They have been for some time.  Let's hope that doesn't last too much longer...

NR tank commander in the cupola of a Red Banner U; the tank behind in this shot has a different green hue thanks to a defective can of Testors Dullcote.  Frigging spray cans...

I also did some of the "Hedgehog" heavy APCs.  Again, excellent design, blending sci-fi look with basic elements not out of place in the current era. The APC looks not too far from something like a German Marder IFV, but covered in bricks of special/reactive armour.  The gun mount looks spooky too.

Ready to carry the commies of the future to battle

When I first started painting individual Nova Respublik models, I had flirted with using BMP-3s (a favourite IFV of mine) for the APCs, but the models, available from QRF miniatures, just look too small for my taste. Cue the circular and pointless TMP discussion of scale vs. size.  I'm pleased with the Khurasan models, so that will do for me.

NR fireteam poses near their IFV

The paint jobs on all of these vehicles - tanks and APCs - were very basic green, with weathering and powder applied here and there.  I painted some red stars and "Guards" type liveries on the front fenders of a few of the tanks, but these are otherwise pretty plain vehicles. They painted pretty fast.

These models look cool, and look like they would be cramped and uncomfortable, meeting two key requirements for all IFVs in the universe

With like 40 infantry and 10 armoured vehicles, my Nova Respublik forces are more than ready for action.  Just one or two tanks is a lot in a game of Tomorrow's War, so I don't think I will be hitting the table all at once with this stuff.  This would be a ton of armour for even a Bolt Action game too, or Future War Commander.  Whatever rules we play I am looking forward to getting these suckers out on to the table some time.

40K Griffons vs. Tau - This Time It's for the Greater Good

 

Last Thursday was my birthday so as is my wont, I set up a big game to celebrate. This year I wanted to have another outing with the Howling Griffons so I challenged Conscript Greg to a rematch against his Tau.

 

With 1500 points to play with you get to roll out with *most* of the toys although I still had to leave the Devastators and Terminator Squad (not to mention the Chaplain and Librarian) on the Battle Barge (I'm getting the feeling that my armies are becoming more and more suited to Apocalypse-size games?)

Finished up a standard for the converted Captain I picked up in the blister; he joins the command squad.

Everybody rides in this crew! The final list consisted of the Captain and command squad in a Razorback, three sections of 10 Marines each in Rhinos, a seven-man assault squad with jump packs, a Landspeeder and the Land Raider Armoured Proteus.

Greg rolled out with... a bunch of Tau ;-) Three squads of Firewarriors I think, two Devilfish APCs, two big (Broadside?) suits, several Crisis suits, a Pathfinder squad, Commander Shasta Cola-Beverage and a bunch of very annoying drones.

The game we set up was a straightforward objectives-hunt with three on the table: the comm tower at left on the hill, the missile silo at centre between the craters, and a Gothic ruin at right just out of shot. You can see my stuff rolling onto the table for my first turn. Greg has yet to deploy.

Here's another view. We had some more full landscape shots but Blogger refused to let me post them as landscapes, very annoying.

Anyway, I decided to go for the two objectives at centre and on my left and ignore the one on my far right. Greg went for the ones on his left and centre and ignored the one on his right. This resulted in the entire battle being waged for the centre objective, the only one we both wanted.

My Razorback was brewed up almost instantly so the command squad disembarked and unfurled the standard.

These guys deployed in a wood at the centre of the Tau line and were responsible for moderate mayhem, although Griffon bacon was saved for several turns by Greg's appalling die rolling. Whew!

These guys secured the uncontested objective on Greg's left flank. They added some long range sniping too - even the basic Tau guns are really good!

Another view of the big cheeses behind their destroyed transport.

The infanous missile silo can be seen at centre left. It's a cool little model from Armorcast - three pieces: silo top, a moveable hatch, and the missile warhead. As the turns went by we moved the hatch aside and the missile rose into firing position, ready to ruin everyone's day.

Missile approaching launch and a Griffons squad has disembarked preparatory to assaulting the objective. (Their Rhino blew up of course)
 

A highly annoying Devilfish wish no guns saw fit to interpose itself in the firing line of the Land Raider...

... duly obliterated! (note crater)

The command squad struggled up through the crater to assault some nearby suits (below). The Proteus acquitted itself very well in this game, redeeming the shame of the first-turn blowup of its first outing on the table. The Assault Squad and Landspeeder didn't fare so well, deep-striking in front of a Tau gunline and not surviving the ensuing shooting phase :-(

We left a section of Marines on the leftmost objective and brought the other section and Rhino over to help in the middle, which they did by driving off the Tau section in the crater (top left). They had problems surviving the concentrated fire of the suits though. In a fortunate turn Greg's commander got left out on his own, and was charged and killed by Marines. The damn Devilfish (above centre) wedged itself in between my Marines and the objective, denying me sole control.
 

My command group was *just* in range to assault the suits (thanks to the Warlord trait I'd rolled earlier) and eliminated them.

Winning the battle, but drawing the war... the game ended up a precise draw. We each controlled one objective (three VPs), Greg scored First Blood, I scored a leader kill, and we both got Linebreaker.

It was a pretty fun game and 6th edition represents a significant advance over 5th, but we found we really needed Conscript Dave V. there to provide his encyclopaedic rules knowledge. We had to spend too much time checking the rules to verify how Rapid Fire worked, etc. Anyway we had fun, a ton of guys showed up through the evening, and we drank beer, ate cake, and pushed around some really nice models. If that's all I get out of wargaming I'm pretty happy with that :-)