Nothing to see here.
The FW 190s are now fully painted and based with magnets on the top of the stands and the underside of the aircraft. Set against the B-17 combat box the two formations make an imposing sight.
For some additional options I’ve also done some Me 163s and Me 262s.
Of course, nothing is a match for a giant military cat.
To provide a period correct opposing force for my ealrly 70s Chieftain I settled on a T-62. (Early T-72s would have been entering service but they wouldn’t have been present in numbers but, more to the point, the only T-72 model I could find was an M1 variant that entered service in 1979.)
For this I picked up the Trumpeter T-62. This is fundamentally a reasonable kit but the image on the box features a lot more detail than is present on the sprues in the box. As any modeler will know this is a good reason to buy a new kit – in this case the Revell T-55 A/AM which is significantly better detailed than the Trumpeter T-62. As the T-62 is very similar to the T-55 there a a lot of parts that will translate directly across – from headlights to hatches. I think that between the two I can make a detailed T-62 appropriate for the early 70s.
Storage is a key part of the usability of any wargaming setup – it has to be easy otherwise I’m not going to make much use of it. For the 1:300 aircraft I have used closed cell foam floor mats stuck to card backing and stacked in a plastic storage box.
The foam was first cut to size so that it fitted into the box and then the individual aircraft shapes were cut out. A sharp knife is needed and I made a paper template for each aircraft type as tracing round the actual models would inevitably lead to damage.
Once the aircraft shapes were cut out, and trimmed where necessary to get a good fit, the foam was glued to a cardboard backing with PVA glue. After leaving them to set under a decent weight the card was trimmed to the edges of the foam.
Whilst the FW 190s fitted nicely in the foam layer the B-17s have a high tail. To get round this pieces of the foam I’d cut out of the aircraft holes were secured on top with a hot glue gun to provide some spacing. The layers on top won’t be that heavy so the slight compressibility of the foam isn’t an issue.
To make getting the layers out of the box easier one corner has been cut out to allow a finger to hook under a layer.
The B-17s are now painted, decals have been applied, exhaust tracks added and everything sealed with a coat of satin varnish.
From the 6 o’clock high position the different heights of the flights is easier to see.
The stand mountings aren’t finalised yet but they’re off the painting table.
When initially looking at the heraldry I had left the B-17 numbering until later. I couldn’t find any available transfers that would fit what I needed so I’ve got some transfer paper and made up my own sheet.
By the point in the war this scenario is set (11 September 1944) the majority of aircraft would have been silver (or natural metal finish as it’s sometimes known) so the markings would have been black. (There would have been a few olive drab aircraft sill in service but I’m going with 12 silver aircraft.)
The identification symbol for the 100th BG was a square with a D inside. This appeared on both sides of the tail and – in a slightly larger box – on the upper and lower surfaces of the wings.
The code for 351 squadron of 100th BG is EP and the aircraft have a single letter identification code. As for the Luftwaffe aircraft I’ve gone for an idealised/abstract sequence of A-M (missing I as it doesn’t look great). The squadron code appears on each side of the fuselage and, smaller, on both sides of the tail.
Finally there’s the individual aircraft’s serial number which appeared on both sides of the tail above its identification code. There are valid ranges for these but, for what I’m after, a set of random numbers in the 200,000 – 400,000 range is close enough.
With all that, a USAF lettering font, and some measuring of images from various sources and I’ve got enough to produce a vector image that I can print on the transfer paper:
Painting done, decals and weathering to be added.
Initial test fit of the B-17s to the stands.
One of the reasons for choosing Bag the Hun (BtH) as the rule system is that it uses a card deck for turn sequence meaning it’s ideally suited to solo play.
In the case of the scenario of a attack on a combat box of B-17s there’s not much choice in terms of actions:
Given the very restricted nature of this scenario there will be a number of cards that are normally included that we can discount:
In BtH cards for movement and shooting are allocated on a formation basis: one each for each formation. Normally formations are considered to be in the region of three or four aircraft but in this scenario we have two special case formations – the B-17 combat box and the FW 190 Sturmgruppe – both of 12 aircraft. Let’s look at these individually:
Whilst the combat box consists of four flights of three aircraft, the 12 aircraft formation is the be-all-and-end-all of the B-17s – so much so that forcing an aircraft out of formation (Herausschuss) was the primary goal of the FW 190s. So, in this scenario, the box will never break down into individual flights meaning only one formation move card is needed.
When it comes to shooting, the B-17s don’t have any pilot controlled guns so they don’t need a formation shoot card. The B-17s will therefore be entirely reliant on air gunner cards which are allocated at the rate of one per four aircraft (rounded up). With a starting compliment of 12 aircraft that gives three air gunner cards.
Normally each side would receive a formation bonus move card but, as the B-17s are size six aircraft they cannot use this card so it won’t be included.
The Sturmgruppe would approach the combat box in a single line abreast formation before, as late as possible, breaking up to attack the individual flights of the combat box. As the basic formation of the Luftwaffe was the four aircraft Schwarm three formation move cards are needed. Following the formation rules in BtH this means the Sturmgruppe can move as a single formation on Schwarm one’s move card and ignore Schwarm two and three’s move cards until such time as they choose to break formation. (This break formation could be handled with a scenario specific card but this keeps it simple and gives the FW 190s the edge in terms of tactical manoeuvrability which is appropriate.)
As the FW 190 has pilot controlled guns, each formation will need a shoot card meaning three formation shoot cards are needed – matching the move cards.
There will be one formation move card for the FW 190s.
Whilst this may well be adjusted later based on experience, the starting card deck will be:
As a thought exercise this seems right: the FW 190s have the tactical advantage in terms of manoeuvrability but the B-17s will still get plenty of chances to return fire. (The way the rules work, it will only be a shot at a single FW 190 with each card but, with the combined bonuses granted by the interlocking fields of fire of a combat box, it’s got a very good chance of doing serious damage.)
Whilst Bag the Hun comes with stats for a huge variety of aircraft, it doesn’t come with the FW 190A-8/R8, Sturmböcke. However, it does have the 190A-8 so one less point of move (SPD), one more of armour (ROB) and four more of fire-power (FRO) seems about right.
The B-17G is, unsurprisingly, represented so the stats for that are as per the book.
| Name | SPD | MAN | ALT | ROC | ROB | SIZ | FRO | RIG | LEF | REA | AMO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FW 190A-8/R2 | 8 | 5* | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| B-17G | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | N/A |
I have picked up some flight stands from Figures in Comfort, 25 with 50mm pegs and 10 extra 100mm pegs.
By cutting down pegs, this gives the ability to mount up to 10 aircraft on 50-100mm pegs and – as I have 24 aircraft in total – any number on 50mm or shorter pegs. (In game mechanical terms the hight of the aircraft doesn’t make a difference, this is purely for visual effect on the table.)
As there are 12 FW 190s I’ll mount them on the stock 50mm pegs as that will save work.
The 12 aircraft B1-17 combat box consists of four flights of three, each at different heights (medium, high, low and low-low). Discounting the 50mm height – as that’s been taken by the FW 190s – four equally spaced heights are now needed.
Taking 50mm as our mid point between the levels, a 10mm spacing would work (35mm, 45mm, 55mm, 65mm) but doens’t have much visual impact. A 30mm spacing would still fit within our available range (5mm, 35mm, 65mm, 95mm) and provide a good visual impact but leaves the low-low flight on 5mm posts. So I’ve settled on a 20mm spacing:
| B-17 | FW 190 |
|---|---|
| 80mm (high) | 50mm |
| 60mm (mid) | |
| 40mm (low) | |
| 20mm (low-low) |
This gives the necessary flight levels for the B-17 combat box and also doesn’t line the FW 190s up on the level of one specific flight, which is something I was trying to avoid.
