Pass in Review: Aeronautica Imeprialis, Core Game & Expansions

(Cover Art: Aeronautica Imperialis--Wings of Vengeance)

In my last Warhammer 40K post a couple weeks ago, I presented my Tactical Air Control Party (TACP).  

But as far as actual air assets, I have only one full-sized Vulture gunship and a Valkyrie assault carrier.

And very little shelf space.

I'm now at the point where if I buy anything new, I have to get rid of something old, or at least unused.

When Games Workshop came out with its Aeronautica Imperialis Wings of Vengenace, I bought it--and I sold a set of 28mm British and French Napoleonic figures to make room for my new acquisitions. 

The set contains 2 x Imperial Thunderbolt fighters and 2 x Marauder Bombers, along with 3 x Ork Dakkajets and 2 x Fighta Bommers. 

When Aeronautica Imperialis Skies Of Fire was released, I bought that too.

Sort of.

I was only interested in the Imperial aircraft and the store owner wanted the T'au omes.  So he gave me some cash to compensate for the figures.

(Cover Art: Aeronautica Imperialis--Skies of Fire)

What I had left were a flight (2 aircraft) of Valkyries and 3 x Lightning fighters. 

My next model purchases were an additional 4 Valkyries from a supplement package, and 2 Marauder Destroyers.  (Here's the in-universe details of the Marauder Destroyer).

I rounded-out my Aeronautica Imperialis purchases, (for now), by purchasing Rynns World Air War Campaign.

(Cover art: Rynn's World Air War Campaign Book) 

Because, I like campaign games.

I also buy games with the idea of utilizing them for other purposes.  

While the aeronautica models are much smaller than regular WH40K figures, I plan on using them in regular WH40K game sessions.

This is justified, because in my professional experience "fast movers" don't chug around above the battlefield just above treetop level. They zip over the target area, unleash their ordnance and are gone.  If the surface-to-air threat is great enough, enemy troops on the ground may not even see the aircraft--only ordnance exploding all around them. 

Now I have a number of "strike packages" for my TACP to call-in, but would like to see Games Workshop  make Vulture gunships for this game sometime soon. 

But as I, along with other fans, impatiently wait, I had my current bunch of aircraft that needed to be assembled and painted.

Since both tasks are above my skill-set I turned to my friend Dan and hired him to paint my figures.

He finished with them a few months ago (and I gave him more stuff for him to paint), so what follows is a gallery of his work, set up as flights of aircraft approaching then rolling-in on their target.

1. A flight of Imperial Thunderbolt Fighters:

2. A flight of Imperial Lightning Fighters:

3. A flight of Imperial Marauder Bombers:

4. A flight of Imperial Marauder Destroyers:

5. A flight of Imperial Valkyrie Assault Carriers:  

6. A flight of Ork Fighta Bommers: 

7. A flight of Ork Dakkajets: 

Artistic Note:

The backdrop is an open country setting I bought from a now-closed model railroad shop.  The aircraft are low in each picture because I couldn't orientate the figures on their stands with the backdrop in a way to present a "realistic image."

I at least I managed to photoshop-out the stands. 

Pass in Review: Air and Space Support for Sci-Fi Miniatures Games

My Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K) collection consists of mostly infantry and vehicles of the Astra Militarum.

However, my tabletop force isn't completely "dirtside-bound."  I have two WH40K-specific aircraft and several generic shuttle craft.

The first WH40K aircraft is the Valkyrie armed transport, used to deliver troops on to, and provide fire support over, an objective.

I took over a dozen of "in-flight" photos of my lone pre-painted Valkyrie I bought on-line last year.  The sky backdrop I bought from Cigar Box Battle Store.

Here's 5 of them:

Here's another front-angled view with the door hatch that can slide open:

Another view with the rear-ramp opened:

This model comes, unassembled and unpainted in a plastic kit from Games Workshop.

My second WH40K-specific aircraft is the Vulture gunship, specifically designed as a ground-attack craft.

It's another pre-owned model that was originally painted in an urban/winter camouflage scheme.  I had my friend Dan repaint it to a forest camouflage pattern in order to blend-in better with my Valkyrie.

I took another dozen "in-flight" photos of the Vulture:

The Vulture resin model kits are made by Games Workshop's subsidiary company, Forge World, but they're currently out of stock, along with just about their entire inventory.

What isn't out of stock are free downloadable paper models.

A few years ago, I stumbled across Ebbles Miniatures (now Genet Models).

One of the few vehicles I downloaded and assembled was the Utility Shuttle.

Here's the first one I built:

I printed out the model using my own printer at the time.  That along with being a few years old, the paint is rather faded.

Several months ago, I took the file to Quick Print, and assembled a couple of shuttles sporting more vivid colors:

The downloadable kit also has an option to make extended versions of the Utility Shuttle.

Here's the first "extended cab" version I built a few years back:

I like the look of the longer shuttles, so I built more of them after my visit to Quick Print:

There's no specs on these Utility Shuttles.  So at a guess, I'd say that the short version can carry about 4-6 passengers and some equipment/luggage, while being crewed by a pilot and copilot.  The longer shuttles should be able to carry a squad of medium-sized beings (8-12), along with their gear.

The shuttles have no weapons that I know of.

What I love about paper models is there's nothing to paint once you assemble them.

Theoretically, anyway.

Despite all the 6mm and 28mm paper models I've assembled, I still haven't perfected my craft, resulting in a lot of white showing.

I attempt to remedy my lack of skill by painting over the white areas with an approximation of the vehicle's color with either acrylic paint, or even a magic marker.

So that's about it for my air & space force.  Upcoming WH40K posts will be "more grounded."

Holiday Greetings 2017

Last month, my wife and I spent Veteran's Day at The Museum of Flight.

On the way back home, one of the radio stations already started playing Christmas music.  One of the tunes that popped-up was Snoopy's Christmas vs. the Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen.

I was surprised to discover my wife never heard of it.  I remember having a 45 RPM record of it and playing it constantly during the Christmas Season.

This inspired me to concoct one of my e-greeting cards for the year.  The picture is from an air war game during last year's Enfilade Convention.

I scrolled through my picture files for other images I could convert to a greeting card.  The only other picture that struck my fancy was this image from the same file of my friend Dean's First Battle of St Albans game.

Now it is a bit anachronistic, because the carol, Here We Come A-wassailing, wasn't composed until 1850.  But I I thought it'd be funny to have this band of knights signing a "road trip" Christmas carol, instead of some bloodthirsty fight-song.

And finally, here's a picture of my siblings and I.  Despite the fact it was taken during our mom's funeral I love this picture, especially since it was the last time we've all been able to get together.

Since we looked like a team of professionals, I thought paraphrasing a line from Die Hard would make a great opening line.

Best wishes to all of you this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year!

Hell Over Korea Wargame: Freshly Maid's 2nd Mission

Tim, in the role of Captain Decker, took Freshly Maid out for another spin.  This time over the Antung-Yalu River bridges. 

Here's his AAR for Mission #2:

Took off in the dark and almost immediately ran into rough weather; tried to get around it and managed to fly through the soup to reach the formation rendezvous, which was carried out successfully. Were not happy to see that we were going all the way to MiG Alley with no escort, but intel says fighter activity was not expected. That was not how it turned out.

Short of the target (Zone 8) a CCF Yak-9 attacked from 6 o’clock low. Fire from the lower turrets and tail gun caused him to break off. Upon reaching the target area, cloud cover was about 8/10ths so we had a tough time seeing the target. As we approached the IP, another CCF Yak attacked from 9 o’clock hi—he too was forced to break off from our defensive fire.


Over the target itself we encountered medium flak and took hits to the tail section that shorted out all the electrical systems to the tail turret, which remained inoperable for the rest of the flight. Bombs were dropped, but it is not likely we actually did much damage (off target, 0 percent). As we exited the target area, more light flak followed but only managed some superficial damage. Then a VV-S MiG-15 came at us head on. The bombardier fired both forward turrets, but didn’t register any hits. Lucky for us, neither did the MiG, which did not return. Away from the target (Zone 8) a North Korean Yak-9 attacked from 10 o’clock high, but was driven off as previous attacks.


We managed to remain on course without any further difficulties, though we once again hit some bad weather that pushed us off course temporarily, but did not cause further difficulties. We landed as planned around 1645.

Hell Over Korea Wargame: The First Mission of Freshly Maid

My friend Tim is an aviation buff.  So he couldn't resist purchasing Legion Wargames' Hell Over Korea. 

Here's an after-action review (AAR) of his inaugural mission, (written as Captain Decker):

B-29, Serial No. 224325 “Freshly Maid,” assigned to the 98th Bombardment Group, 343d Bomb Squadron (Medium), Yokota, Japan.

The crew:

Bombardier. 1LT Neil Sutterfield, USAF. Trained at Roswell AAF bombardier school during the waning months of WW2. Had just deployed to the Pacific when the war ended. Fairly experienced, but not actual combat experience. Temporarily reduced to enlisted status post 1945, but has since had rank restored with the outbreak of hostilities in Korea.

Pilot. CPT Terry Decker, USAFR. Trained to fly the B-29 in 1945. Flew 8 missions over Japan before war ended. Remained in USAF reserves during interwar years while working for the Department of Public Works, Alameda, CA. Recalled to active duty in July 1950.

Co-Pilot: 2LT Harold Kimbro, USAF. New pilot, fresh from Training Command. Wanted to be a fighter pilot, but it didn’t work out that way.

Flight Engineer: MSgt Matthew Murawsky, USAF. Experienced flight engineer who flew full tour on B-24s with 8th Air Force.

Navigator: 1LT Damon Zubek, USAFR. ROTC student, graduated recently from Penn State. Hopes to go regular.

Radio Operator: T/Sgt Eugene Newlin, USAF. Joined the Air Force in 1948. Has been flying operationally since 1949. This is his first combat experience.

Central Fire Controller (CFC): T/Sgt Benjamin Montez, USAF. Served in Army during WW2 as a gunner on a B-25. Joined the AF in 1947 and has been serving in a variety of operational and training roles. Has some combat experience serving in the Aleutians during WW2 and in the Pacific.

Right Waist: Sgt Ted Bourdon, USAF. New gunner from Air Training Command (ATC)

Left Waist: Sgt Jesse Burkes, USAF. New gunner from ATC

Radar Operator: 1LT Edward Potter, USAF. Served as an enlisted man during WW2 in the USAAC. Did not leave the United States and was assigned to a number of technical and training command jobs. Demobilized in 1945. Joined USAF in 1948. Has peacetime experience as a radar operator in B-29s and other aircraft.

Tail Gunner: S/Sgt Nicholas Durkin, USAF. Joined in 1948. Assigned from Training Command. Has plenty of peacetime experience but no combat.

Mission 1: Interdiction Mission, Kanggye, North Korea


Fighter escort: Yes/F80-Cs from 51st FIW.

Weather: Patches of bad/poor weather.

Take off uneventful and although we hit a rough patch of weather over the sea of Japan, we successfully got through it and rendezvoused with the rest of the flight. It was nice to see those F-80 escorts, too, especially as this was a trip to “MiG Alley.”

Sgt Murawsky (Flt Engineer) notified me that the emergency fuel transfer pump was on the blink (random event), but I did not think it grounds for an abort. Apart from that, the run in to the target area was quiet until we were in Zone 8, when a Chinese AF Yak-9 was seen approaching from 6’O’clock low. The guy must have been green as this was a very clumsy attack. Sgt Durkin opened up on him at medium range with the tail gun and lower turrets. This must have scared the enemy mightily, as he broke off early and we did not see him again.

Upon arrival in Zone 9 (Target area), another Yak-9 came in from 3 O’clock high (Chinese). The bombardier took control of the upper turrets and let him have it when he came in range. The results were spectacular. The left wing of the Yak appeared to disintegrate under the pounding of the .50s and the aircraft went down out of control. No parachute was seen. I am submitting this as a confirmed kill.

Visibility over the target area was good (no negative modifiers, but no positive either). Flak was moderate and none of it hit us during the bomb run. Bombs were dropped in the target area—the bombardier estimates good results, with the rest scattered a bit due to high winds [20 percent accuracy/on target result].

During the turn around to exit the target area, things got interesting. The flak was still moderate but this time they bracketed us good—we took multiple hits in the nose area, resulting in a cracked windshield, destroyed LORAN instrumentation and a minor flesh wound to the navigator, LT Zubek. He was able to continue with his duties, however, and as we were depressurized no further damage was done. Some of the flak also hit the waist area and caused a bit of excitement when the fire extinguisher back there blew up, initially causing concern that the damage was serious. No one was hurt in the aft section, however.

Once clear of the Flak, a MiG-15 showed up for the first time. This guy seemed to be pro so my guess (based on the color scheme and other intel) was that it was a V-VS aircraft. Fortunately, he came in at 6 o’clock level and a combination of fire from the tail guns and lower aft turret spoiled his aim and he broke off, without making another pass. The F-80s buzzing around may have distracted him.

Once out of the area, another Yak-9 dogged us briefly, but was driven off by the fire from the front turrets. [North Korean Yak-9/green].

The rest of the mission was uneventful, until we hit another patch of nasty weather over the sea of Japan (again). Thanks to the loss of LORAN and the poor visibility, we found we were off course and had to burn some fuel to correct.

We landed at Yokota more or less on schedule in the dark. LT Zubek’s wounds are superficial so he won’t miss any duty time—guess he’ll get a Purple Heart for this one. The Crew Chief notified me that the damage should be repaired in time for our next mission.
Submitted:
Capt T. Decker, aircraft commander.