Biggles downunder

I’m keen to see how the new rules work out!

A Carnevale of Italians?

Donated

Very nice!

Very nice - like you, I hadn't realized that!

Um, still looks the same as it always has to me.

Yes, that’s what I thought too! Speaks the pilot of the Rolands!

My June workbench revolved around getting a proper base for my Felixstowe all set up - thanks to a good friend who has access to a Laser cutter! I designed the firing arc template in Photoshop, emailed him the image and the laser cutter did the rest! This shows the underneath of the base - it will be flipped over and the backing paper removed before attaching the altitude peg. I used acrylic paint for the gun arcs and, as part of the design process, I corrected the copilot's arc. And, finished... The acrylic rod is cut from a curtain pull that I bought from a curtain accessory shop for the princely sum of $18!

That’s a great idea Dave. I’ll drag out some spare bases I 3D printed and then see if I still have any altitude pegs spare. They are almost impossible to purchase now - I emailed Evan about them but he says Ares don’t have them on their reprint schedule 😢

You are correct Dave - but the Roland bases are not quite right because the rear gun arc should be closer to the frontal arc if you want to match the arcs on the downloadable plane card.

Speaking of Topside minis, their website is well worth checking out - you can even download a sample (in pdf format) for free! Here is a screenshot of the free sample sheet that I downloaded: https://topsideminis.com/

Last Tuesday night, Gary (Baxter), Windy Jack (Doug) and I met to play a scenario I had designed. After wrestling with designing a set of rules, I have the utmost respect for those who produce larger and more complex sets than my humble attempt! However, I wanted an excuse to get my W.29s on the table and so proposed this scenario: ‘A merchantman has suffered rudder damage from a prowling U-boat before a patrolling Felixstowe chased off the submarine. The submarine, however, managed to radio in and as a result, 2 Hansa Brandenburg W.29 floatplanes are dispatched to try and sink the merchantman before it reaches port.’ The ship card came from the Topside Minis range, the Felixstowe and Hansa Brandeburgs are all Shapeways. We used a subset of an XA deck for the ship – one card to be played at the end of each maneuver phase. To simulate the rudder damage we decided that the card played would depend on a D-6 roll (1-2 a left turn, 3-4 a right turn, 5-6 a straight). We used the coastal mat placed over Gary’s new sea mat to give the equivalent of 3 mats. The damaged ship was placed in the centre of the table, the Felixstowe was placed at no more than 1 ruler length from the ship and the two W.29s, each armed with 2 bombs, half a mat distance in from their end of the table. The ship will sink if hit by a bomb anywhere on the ship itself, a near miss (the cross-hairs on the bomb card overlapping the ship card but not the ship) will cause damage and two near-misses will sink the ship. The Entente wins if the ship reaches port and the Central Powers win if the ship is sunk. And so the fun begins and it doesn’t take long for the ‘fun’ to get serious! And the Felixstowe takes a massive hit – those Brandenburgs mean business! The first bomb run results in an overshoot. Meanwhile the lead continues to fly. And eventually the inevitable happens as the Felixstowe meets a watery end. This meant that the W.29s could take their time lining up for a bomb run with minimal interference. Which results in a bomb placed squarely on the bow of the unlucky merchantman. We had also decided that a near miss would slow down the ship and that we would reflect this by restricting the ship movement to once every second movement phase. Meanwhile the other W.29 sets up a perfect bomb run which makes doubly sure! So, not only was the merchantman sunk, but the Felixstowe was downed – a resounding victory for the Central Powers! Now, if only I had another Felixstowe!

Hi Iain The mats are the paper ones that came with my Staaken & Handley Page 0/400. The tiles are just some quick and dirty 3D prints that I knocked up but really are overkill as cardboard markers would serve exactly the same purpose.

Our little group (Baxter, Windy Jack & myself) decided to honour the return of Clipper to the forum by getting one of his Zeppelins on the table to be opposed by 3 RE.8s. We used my ‘home-grown’ rules which can be downloaded from the files section. Just search on ‘zeppelin’ and look for my name (Wayne Starick). Here are a few of the game aids I’ve produced to try and smooth the passage of play: Top left are the +, - and zero chits to indicate whether the aircraft is above, below or level with the Zeppelin. The blue plastic range rulers are a bonus, produced by a friend who has access to a laser cutter. The circular chit is from the original ‘Wings of War’ set and are used to show which attacking aircraft have incendiary bullets on board. This shot shows the telescoping stands that I created from plastic tubing. They aren’t really necessary but the do elevate the aircraft to the same height as the Zeppelin which looks good on the table. As there were only three of us we used the automatic pilot rules for the Zeppelin while the three of us each flew an RE.8, with only the Belgian machine carrying incendiary bullets. As the RE.8s set out they begin climbing – notice the red ‘0’ chit on the base of the Belgian machine indicating that it has climbed to the same height as the Zeppelin. And the Zeppelin starts its hazardous journey home after delivering its load of bombs. Note some of the Zeppelin game aids just under the tail of the Zeppelin – the port/starboard turn template and the crew management console. The RE.8s rapidly close on the Zeppelin. By this time they have split up and are at different altitudes to the Zeppelin. The first shot is fired by the Belgian RE.8. Note the home made template temporarily placed on the table butted up to the base in order to determine firing arcs for the Zep. The next phase sees the RE.8 come into range of the Zeppelin while the other two attackers wheel in on the port side. Note that the orange range rulers are the Zep guns and the blue rulers RE.8s. The action really starts to hot up! Those zeppelin gunners are deadly! Going, going… gone! Another RE.8 bites the dust The last remaining RE.8 (armed only with conventional ammunition) keeps pummeling the Zeppelin! The accumulated damage to the gas cells and structure of the Zeppelin proves too much and the inevitable occurs – one less Zeppelin on the Kaiser’s list! Drum roll, curtains closed and take a bow Clipper - if it weren't for you, we wouldn't see monsters like this on our gaming tables!

I have a vague memory of a book my father had on his shelf which listed every Westland plane including all of the experimentals. I have an even vaguer memory of a version with a turret on the back. Aha - this page mentions turrets!!: https://militarymatters.online/forgotten-aircraft/westland-hill-pterodactyl-v-flying-wing-fighter/