"My Homage To "The Blue Max"" Topic

After 40 plus years of wargaming, I finally painted Bruno Stachel's Pfalz D3 & gamed with it! I got Richtofen's War for Christmas in 1972. That started my (real) Wargaming. I made my parents take me to see "The Blue Max" at the Drive-In in 1967. I remember(parts of it)vividly. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before it was over. But, bar none, that movie influenced my life more than any movie should affect anyone. I'm not complaining. Even today, as you can see, I mean I just painted his Pfalz! I don't know why it took so long, but I did it. We played Algernon Pulls It Off last night(hexless playtest, great update to these excellent rules, Rich, can't wait till they get released!) and had a blast! There were 4 players each piloting 2 aircraft each. I, of course took Stachel & his flight leader. If you read the title to each picture you can follow the action(kinda). They are in order. 2 AC were knocked down & Don had to leave just as Stachel was getting his first chance to fire (he would have knocked down that Pup, I know it!). Granted, it was late & we left it set up to finish after Historicon! Hell Yes! Take a look here & comments, good or bad are welcome.
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Thank you Mr. Jack Hunter. You are, still, one of my biggest hero's.
Peter

Great movie and very nice airplanes. I've played a lot of Bag the Hun and am (impatiently) awaiting the re-release of Algy. Thanks for sharing.

Mike

Excellent, I love the Blue Max and played Richtofen's War until it fell to pieces as a kid. The pictures look great and I love the gaming mat!

What an outstanding game, the planes and terrain are absolutely beautiful! The balloon is great as well, where did you get it?

I too love the Blue Max, and if I think back to when I saw it back in the day, I think what really struck me most was seeing all those planes in color, rather than the black and white photos I was used to.

I still play RW, but now it is a hexless variation with minis. I also use an alternative firing chart, and am in the process of revamping the maneuver schedules. But despite that, it is still RW!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Abwehrschlacht, my RW fell to pieces also, but I still have it & bought another off ebay just to have a nice one. Texas, all the planes & the Balloon are Red Eagle. The mat is of my own making. I hope Mr. Hunter & Stachel would be proud…
Peter

Yep, I liked the movie very much … And played many, many, games of AH's Richtofen's War in my youth !

I'm watching the movie even as I type on FXM Retro. We all got inspired by it and played Red Baron (true 3D game) for years. Love it.

21eRegt,
I saw it was on! I just bought the Blue Ray of it, about 2 weeks ago, which I HIGHLY recommend! Only 3,000 made.
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Peter

Ursula Andress as the Countess -- a memorable performance!

Certainly helped Bruno and Willie remember what they were fighting for while at the front.

These are great. What did you use for the spinning propellers?

MiniPainter,
I just use clear plastic sheets, like what comes on the covers of cheap paper holders with the little bendable clips on em, or anything clear really. I've used blister packs before! Then I paint a spinning prop on em with a brown wash. Hope this helps,
Peter

How do you place the stands on the raised terrain? Or do you move it out of the way? If you don't have pins piercing your lovely boards, those bases look awfully tipsy to me….

GWA,
Those bases are "Blue Sky" bases & are metal as are the 1-6 altitude spinners, so they are quite sturdy. And yes, the terrain is moveable so if need be we just move it! The hedgerows are flocked pipe cleaners & woods are just clump foliage. The fields are just different colored fine turf flock. The river is really the only "raised" part & you can see that they sit on that nicely! So all in all, no problems whatsoever.
Peter