"Getting started in WWI and WWII Aviation Gaming." Topic

To the wise Magi of Aerial Combat:
A member of my local circle of table-top wargamers has suggested that we branch out into WWI and WWII Aviation games. I have played very few such games with miniatures but I do have some experience with board games based on WWI and WWII aerial combat. Thus I am a defacto newbie to this type of game and I frankly do not know what to do first. I do not want to sink vast amounts of money into this branch of gaming but if my club is going to do it, I want to do it well.
My questions to the TMP membership are as follows:
1) What are the best scales to game in? I am leaning towards 1/300's but am open to other suggestions?
2) What are the best models/ miniatures for the 1/300 scale and other scales which you might suggest? (Cost, quality of casting, attention to detail and accuracy would be my criteria, but I am very unsure, so add in anything you think is important when choosing miniatures in this genre of gaming, please.)
3) What are the best commercially available stands in terms of flexibility, functionality and durability or is it better to make your own?
4) What kind of terrain (no 'terrain' is the wrong word); what kind of scenery is needed for a visually attractive game? How do you simulate clouds for example?
5) How big a table is needed to simulate a dogfight with between six and a dozen airplanes in total?
6) What are some suggestions for suitable rules allowing for quick but reasonably accurate simulation of WWI and/or WWII aerial combat?
Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer and I look forward to reading your responses.
Rod Robertson

1/300th is a very good compromise, though 1/600th and 1/144th are nice too.

Larger scales for dogfights, and smaller for larger battles.

You can just use a green, or blue sheet for "groundcover", though more elaborate printed/painted covers look nicer. White for Winter.

Topgun, "Dogfight Flight Stands" for flexibility, and virtually any attitude of flight. Uses rare earth magnets for attachment to aircraft. Of course, I'm biased, but tons of people have bought from me, and use them.

4' x 8', or larger is good.

I generally prefer 6' x 9' – 12', when available.

Lots of rules, e.g. Clash of Sabres, Duel of Eagles, Blue Skies, AirWar C21, Check your Six, etc.

C21 is great for modern gaming, in two-dimensions.

Scotia, H&R, Raiden, Tumbling Dice, Oddzial Osmy, etc., plus prepainted plastics for the aircraft minis.

Aeral gaming is very inexpensive, since you need just a few aircraft, and can use free, or inexpensive rules to get started. Then, add to your collection, as your budget and interests dictate.

The biggest decision, other than minis and scale, is whether you want your games hexless, or hexed, so you need to consider that for a bit, first.

Multi-scale gaming is fairly common with many collectors/gamers.

For WWI and WWII I prefer 1/300 although there is excellent availability for WWII 1/600 (not so much for WWI 1/600). As Mako said, lots of rules available. Personally we play CY6! for smaller games (1 to 2 planes per player) and Blue Skies for larger games (3 or 4 to 6 or 8 planes per player). There is also an unofficial WWI version of Blue Skies available on the net that is pretty good called Blues Skies, Wood and Canvas. Blue Max/Canvas Eagles is the WWI CY6! equivalent.

We've had fun doing the 1:144 (I think) Wings of War/Wings of Glory rules. Each player can realistically handle one or two airplanes. It is quick to learn but taxes your planning of future moves to try and out think your opponent. Since the moves are simultaneous, no one has to wait around for a bunch of guys to move. We've had up to three players per side without too much confusion. But when everyone's in a "furball" trying to get on your opponent's tail, it can get exciting.

Jim

Mako and Sundance:
Thank you.
Does the rule system determine whether or not you go"hexed" or "hexless" or is this referring to modular terrain hexes? You don't have to answer that – I'm just thinking out loud and will begin doing some research. I have a large amount of terrain from playing 1/285 and 1/300 Micro-armour but what about aerial features like sun direction, wind direction, clouds, etc? How are these represented?
Cheers and thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.
Rod Robertson.

I prefer 1/300 miniatures for air battles.

Rules, like the Yankee Air Pirates rules for WWI and WWII (and their other sets for Korea and Modern…). They are based off the Avalon Hill boardgame called Mustangs! Reasonable accuracy and very playable. Best of all is that all the rules are free.

link

For WWI I also recommend Blue Max and for WWII (Battle of Britain only – and I am a friend of the author.) is Blue Sky/Black Cross.

I also like his Flight Stands – made for 1/300 scale planes and handle altitude very nicely. Also comes with game maps to play on.

link

Wings of War/Glory in 1/144th scale. No hexes needed, movement is handled by maneuver cards. There are a slew pf prepainted planes available, from early war to the super machines of late 1918. And what they (Ares) do not make, one can buy on Shapeways and have fun painting and decaling. Super forum to support the game.

We game in 1/144th. The mat is a Hotz mat, turned over not using the hexes. Hedges are flocked pipe cleaners, trees are clumped foliage, 3mm Houses & bridge, & different colored flock for fields. We use Algernon Pulls It Off Again (playtest version) hexless movement from Too Fat Lardies. Hopefully these rules will be out soon!
Peter
LINK:
link

ColCampbell, Dyanaman8789, Buckeye and Ceterman:
Thank you gents.

Ceterman:
Those photos you linked to were inspiring. Outstanding!

Dynaman8789:
Thanks for the links.

Rod Robertson

Yes, rules are usually written for either hex-based or hexless movement. Both Blue Sky and CY6! are hex-based. We usually play on a 4 x 8 or 4 x 6 table and generally have plenty of room. Wind direction plays no part, but IIRC both have rules for sun (usually a modifier if searching in that direction) and clouds (there are various ways to represent clouds/cloud cover – obscures anything on the other side of the cloud/cover). Terrain can come in handy sometimes, and if you use 1/300 a/c, you can even use the armor/infantry/AA/etc. as targets or for ground-fire vs. the a/c.

One of the joys of air wargaming is that, once you have a set of models and stands, you can play many different rules with the same set of toys. This is generally true in miniature wargaming, but it's more true with airwar, since the models are single-mounted except in the very smallest scales.

If you're playing rules based on hexes, you have to balance model size vs. hex size vs. the number of hexes a model will move in a turn vs. the size of your game table. A 5" hex will hold a 1/100 WWII fighter model, but a 5' wide table can only be 12 X 5" hexes wide. That's not wide enough when your models move 3 to 6 hexes per game turn.

1/300 (and 1/285) models and 2" hexes fit together well for most WWII and jet-age rules. A very wide variety of models are available in 1/300. An average single-seat fighter is about the same size and same effort to finish as a single 28mm figure, so it doesn't take long to paint up several squadrons.

It's hard to resist the 1/144 pre-painted models, which are widely available for WWII and jet-age. There are also many kits available in this scale to challenge the plastic and resin modeller. 1/144 models are often used with 3" hexes, which I find a little tight, both for the model and on the table-top. I play with 1/144 models on a 5" hex map, but I stick with the Air Pirates rules (mentioned above) for this scale, because these rules use few hexes in a game turn, so the games fit on my table. I play CY6! and Blue Skies in 1/300 on 2" hex maps.

1/144 scale is more popular than 1/300 for WWI gaming. Building bi-planes in 1/300 can get very fussy/fiddley with all those struts. WWI models are smaller than WWII airplanes in the same scale, so the 1/144 show up better and fit better into smaller hexes. There is also a spectacular series of pre-paints available from Wings of War/Wings of Glory that has attracted many players to the hobby.

Big bombers like B-17s are so much bigger than single-seat fighters that it can be hard to fit them into standard sized hexes. One solution is to go 'down a scale' for the biggest airplanes in the game. I use 1/200 B-17s and 1/182 Bettie bombers with my 1/144 WWII fighters. The visual effect is good, since the bombers still look bigger than the fighters without completely dominating the view of the table.

It's a good idea to structure games around a physical objective, such as a bombing or recon target, or a flight of bombers flying across the board. This helps focus the fighter action so that a game can be played in a limited space.

In pure fighter dogfights the players often scatter so far that it's difficult to keep everything on one table. I've even had a player deliberately fly two of his aircraft in opposite directions, in order to 'break' the rules. Meh. No one followed him, so I told him his planes were returning to base, but it detracted from the game and he acted like he had proved something.

I thinks Wings of war/Glory is the easiest way to get into it and have you "in the air" in no time. They are not as detailed as some rules, but I like them just fine because they give a quick and fun game, allowing you to play multiple scenarios in an evening, if that is what you want to do. If you decide you need a more complicated set of rules, you already have the planes to go with it.

Thanks again for the feed-back. I am thinking now that perhaps 1/300 is the way to go for WWII games but perhaps 1/144 might be better for WWI games.
Zippyfusenet:
Thank you for your very informative post. It cleared up some things for me but also made me doubt the sense that 1/300 is the best scale for WWI dogfights.
79thPA:
I shall have a look at the buzz about the rules you suggested and see what's what. One of the club members apparently has a set of "Check Your Six" rules, so we might start with those and then sample other systems later.
Sundance: Thanks for the advice on hexed vs. hexless rule systems.
Mako11:
I searched the dang-blasted inter-web for your "Topgun, Dogfight Flight Stands" and could not find your product. Do you have a webpage address I could visit to see what you offer?

Cheers to all and good hunting in clear skies!
Rod Robertson

Not very mainstream, but quite do-able and inexpensive is 1/1200. A good variety of Modern and WWII models are available; probably not WWI though.

We used to play this on hex maps, using the SPI board game "Air War" rules. For WWII rules we used the "Dauntless" / "Air Force" boardgames. An example, showing 2 Iraqi Mirage F1s and our home-made stands is below. The stands show the attitude (pitch and roll) of the AC for visual purposes, but the actual state of each AC was kept track off off-map. The "loops" are small pieces of electrical wire insulation. The wire stand is a piece of steel wire salvaged from a banjo string. The circular base is a metal washer, with a piece of paper glued over the top.

Mark H

C in C makes a nicely detailed (but somewhat limited) range of WW1 planes.

I like Check Your Six rules, you can't go wrong with that set.

Thanks gents:
Phantom and Foxbat, Airwar, Dauntless and Air Force are the aerial combat board-games which I played for years. Great memories!
Cheers.
Rod Robertson

FWIW I do WWI in 1/300 and WWII+ in 1/600. I went with 1/300 for WWI because I have obsessive completist tendencies and it was the best combination for me of cost-efficiency and availability. Getting 4-8 of every available fighter would have broken my bank at 1/144.

Of what's available, Goblintooth is OOP but a nice combination of ease of construction and look if you can find them. In production, H&R provides the bulk of my air force, with help from Shapeways, Skytrex, Irregular, and CinC. CinC makes lovely planes, but don't have any children within 50 feet of you while you put them together – you'll use bad words.

My choice for 1/600 for WWII was similar, lots available and reasonably affordable to buy "everything". Tumbling Dice and Oddzial Osmy are the two main players, with some Shapeways B-10s thrown in.

When you get to moderns, the other advantage of 1/600 is size, those fighters start to get large, and the bombers larger yet, so 1/600 keeps things reasonable (a B-52 is 3-4").

The 'traditional' scale for WWI airwar is 1/72. There are a vast number of plastic and resin kits that can fully display research and modeling skills up to IPMS levels. The disadvantage of 1/72 kit-built models is that they're big and fragile. Even when a wise wargamer ruggedizes them by replacing plastic struts and landing gear with brass stock, they still break up easily. I must admit, I've seen some gorgeous collections, and I had to build just one myself for a personal mount. The Aerodrome rules were designed for 1/72 models and handle that scale well. Of course they work perfectly fine in smaller scales, too.

I once found a few diecast WWI prepaints and had to collect them. They're not bad quality, but they're heavy as bricks.

Speaking of 1/72 scale, you could always go the madman route and try this: amazon.com/dp/B00AV8WUB8

Wow, 1/144 and 1/72 scale get kinda expensive real fast but they are visually so attractive . But 1/300 or 1/285 has lots of little fiddly bits for WWI planes and may be a nightmare to assemble and paint. How durable are WWI planes in these three scales and is durability inversely proportional to scale? WWII planes should not be a problem for the most part but those bi-planes and tri-planes might be a pain to assemble and keep intact. Maybe the way to go is the simpler and presumably more robust lines like Heroics and Ros in 1/300. It will also be cheaper by far to buy. Crap, I have to make a decision! My heart says 1/144 but my head says 1/300.
Great War Axe:
I remember seeing a WWI aerial combat game at Historicon in the mid 1990's where the fellow putting on the game had multiply-articulating stands almost a meter long to suspend aircraft in any attitude or altitude and clouds made of cotton pulled to feathery thinness also on these Cronenberg-kike apparatus. At the time it seemed needlessly excessive but now I feel myself pining for such apparatus. This is bordering on compulsive addiction and I haven't bought my first model yet. My budget is seriously screwed!
Rod "receivership" Robertson

In 1/285-300, the CinC stuff and some of the Shapeways a/c in FUD (e.g. Vickers Gunsbus) are my "untouchables"; I've permanently mounted them, rather than put them on magnets. Most FUD is pretty good though even for biplanes, and no construction is needed – I picked up a bunch of French recon and bomber a/c that no one makes and they're fine.

Irregular, Goblintooth, Skytrex, and H&R are all pretty durable metals, other than the DIY struts for H&R, but only if you really stomped on them should that be an issue. Irregular and Goblintooth have slightly thicker integral struts, and Skytrex ignores them.

My initial WWI projects, CinC Hanriots and Halberstadt, Goblintooth Camel and Dr.I:

Saw something that TD has expanded their 1/600 WWI line recently (no more news than that) and Oddzial Osmy has launched their 1/600 WWI a/c line, so that's another option if you didn't know of it, but probably not one you'll go with given your interest in 1/144. If 1/600 WWI had been available a few years ago I might have gone for it, they'd be fast to paint!

We have found 1/72 scale airplanes to be quite durable. Packing them securely in foam sheet inside suitcases works very well. Using other material than the plastic struts is recommended, but if you are careful the stock struts in most models is robust enough. Price: yes, that is a drawback. My small collection was started way back in the mid 60s! When Revell kits were 45 cents. Nowadays of course the price is many times higher, but the availability is also many times bigger. But the smaller scales are getting bigger selections all the time too, and if you don't especially want to make your own models, those pre-painted beauties are very tempting. 1/72 scale remains the preeminent choice of the modeler who wants to game with his creations….

Warning shameless promoting:

You can also download the In Clouds of Glory ruleset here – along with cockpit panels and missions (Free): link

1/350 scale 3D printed planes. No-hexes. full Energy, altitude and attitude representation and yet simple enough to play. Also a much better scale representation than 1/144 or 1/72.

Lots of after action reports here with pics. link

GilmoreDK,

That terrain looks excellent, as do the planes, but those black stands (?) are very obtrusive. What about using clear plastic rods, or painting them a lighter color?

MH

Hi Rod,

Apologies about the delayed reply.

Sorry, I don't have a website currently, but you can see many pics of the Flight Stands here (they also work for Spacefighters/Spaceships, flying Grav Tanks, etc. as well):

link

Here are a couple of sample images, but the link is worth a look to see how our "Dogfight Flight Stands" work with heavy bombers, 1/144th scale WWI aircraft, etc.

As you can see from some of the pics, the ability to place you aircraft models/minis in climbing, diving, turning, and banking positions adds a lot of interest and drama to your aerial wargames. Flying straight and level is not only boring, but dangerous to the health of your pilots.

For WW1, I definitely recommend using 1/144, or larger aircraft (1/72nd scale planes are nice looking too, and some model kits are reasonably priced).

For WWII dogfights, I prefer 1/144th scale as well, though 1/300th comes in very close to that. The larger planes just look a bit more attractive to me.

For moderns, I recommend either 1/300th (again, larger aircraft look really nice on the tabletop), or 1/600th (best for large battles, or when you need large numbers of aircraft.

I wouldn't turn away from multi-scale gaming either, unless just getting started, since the aircraft are in many cases pretty economical.

E-mail me at:

topgungrav AT yahoo DOT com if you'd like more info about the Flight Stands I produce.

The problem with clear rod is that it reflects a lot of light, so is also very intrusive.

About the only way to get around that is to try to paint the rods/wires to match the terrain, though if you are too good at that, you then bump them all the time during game play plane movement, so………

Mako11,

Actually, your chromed finish stands don't look too bad in the above images. They seem to take on the color of the background. Does that still hold in typical game room lighting?

MH

I believe so, and see what you mean, given the reflection of the color of the mat below them.

They are no more obtrusive than other flight stands I've used/purchased in the past, and they provide virtually any attitude of flight to be represented.

I've sold thousands of them, with many repeat customers, so they seem to be fairly popular in many gaming circles.

Yes – they look like the best possible solution. When I was trying to make something similar for 1/1200 A/C (some bought from some place and some scratch built) I used hexagonal based drawing pins and clear plastic rods joined with aluminium tubing. Not very strong (just about OK for the very light a/c models I had), fiddly and still quite obtrusive.

Personally, I don't like the look of the black wires and pins into the nose – though the a/c do look amazing.

The carbon fibre poles with the 1/350 scale planes could be painted light grey or such. But the pictures cheat a bit due to camera angles. They are very thin – 1,2 mm.

I do not think them as obtrusive when playing the game.

A better pic here:

I suppose when playing they become less obvious – just like the join lines between tiles of the terrain. Obvious for the first 5 minutes then much less noticeable over time.

Painting them grey or green or blue would probably help too.

boy wundyr X:
Thanks for the information about the durability of 1/300 and 1/285 scale WWI aircraft. It's good to know ahead of time. I was somewhat confused about what FUD means. Great pictures by the way.
Great War Axe:
I think perhaps 1/72 is going to be too expensive and too time consuming for me, so I will limit myself to deciding between 1/300 and 1/144 for WWI for WWII I'm going with 1/300. Thanks for the comments none-the-less as you made my decision harder with your persuasive description and endorsement of 1/72.
GilmoreDK:
What a beautiful set-up you've got there. It is breath-taking. I had never heard of 1/350 scale planes before. They are beautiful but a bit too small for my tastes. Do you print them yourself or are they a commercially available product? I really like the stands you use but from examining the photos you provided, I wonder how they can stay up? The base looks so small and the wire so large.
Mako11:
Are those bases telescoping bases or do they have fixed lengths – it's hard to tell from the photos but they seem to be telescoping ones. I shall shoot you an e-mail when I have made my final decisions on which way to go in this new gaming area for me.
Cheers to all and thank you so much for the advice and counsel in this exciting new branch of miniature gaming.
Rod Robertson

I really like the stands you use but from examining the photos you provided, I wonder how they can stay up? The base looks so small and the wire so large.

Gilmore hasn't been back to reply, so I will supply: He described his system earlier. Each stand is actually a long pin on the bottom, which pierces the terrain boards. He says that the wear and tear on the terrains boards is very minimal….

Hi Rod,

They telescope from 7" – 22" in height, and have five sections.

We sometimes use half-sections for 3-D aerial rules, which require more than 5 – 6. For 6, we just use a plain 3" stand, for low level maneuvering.

Also, with the circular altitude dials (10 digit, and 2 x 10 digit), you can get 50 (10 digits x 5 antenna sections), or 500 different altitude levels (10 x 10 x 5 antenna sections), so you can represent 50,000 feet of altitude in 100 foot increments, which is far more than most aerial wargaming rules require.

I sent you a reply to your e-mail inquiry, so you should have that now.

The scales you are considering are a good choice, especially for just starting out. Don't overlook the 1/144th scale WWII, pre-assembled and pre-painted aircraft as well, since they are fairly inexpensive, and let you start gaming right away with them, if desired, instead of having to wait for the paint to dry.

A lot of people re-paint/touch up their pre-painted aircraft, since that is easier to do, than starting from scratch.

I also have 1/144th scale Battle of Britain fighters, and Pacific Theater aircraft for sale too (Flying Tigers and Zeroes), if you are interested in any of those.

Best regards,

Rob

Mako11:

I sent you a reply to your e-mail inquiry, so you should have that now.

Ahhh??? I haven't sent you an e-mail yet so you must have replied to someone else! I will send you an e-mail very soon however.
I am a painting-junkie so what ever scale I buy, I will be painting them.
Great War Axe:
Thank you for the explanation on Gilmore's stands.
Thanks again gents!
Rod Robertson

Our group in Salt Lake City still plays the same Mustangs&Messerschmitts/Triplane rules we've been using for 40 years. 1/72 scale models except for bomber formations which are done on paper. Full 3D movement. It does require a bit of space, though.

[URL=http://s14.photobucket.com/user/SailorSteve/media/Gaming/6Allies_zps1a6a084a.jpg.html]

[/URL]

Hmm…I seem to be having trouble getting rid of the extra wording in the link.

Hi Rod – sorry about that, FUD = Frosted Ultra Detail, one of the materials 3D printers like Shapeways use to print things in. More detailed/smoother than White Strong Flexible (WSF), the other typical option, but not as strong.

Most of the same Shapeways shops do a/c in 1/144 (actually, way more in 1/144 than 1/288/285/300) too, to fill in the blanks.

Hi Rod,

Sorry about the mixup – I chalk it up to old age. I did get you confused with another person, but have responded to your e-mail now.

Best regards,

Rob

Hi just saw this. I can see that Great War Ace has answered. A bit more in depth answer:

A full "how-to" on how the stands and 360 deg.nose mounts are made and also Shapeways links to where you can order all the 1/350 planes can be found here:

icog.dk/ICOG/How_to_and_FAQ.html

Boy wundyrx, Mako 11 and Gilmore DK:
Thanks!
Well, the initial hemming and hawing is done and I have decided to go with 1/144 metal models for WWI and 1/300 models for WWII. My next decision is hexes or hexless and that is going to take some research. Next I will have to find a reputable and reasonably priced maker of hex mats if I go the "hexed" route. However Gilmore DK's terrain is a powerful incentive to go hexless.
I have already decided on the first order of 28 planes for the WWI games. They are all planes operational in 1916. Once they are assembled and painted then I will buy some 1/300 planes for the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain and the Mediterranean. Then I will leap-frog back to WWI and buy a large number of planes operational in 1917. Then I will jump again to late war WWII planes. Then 1918 WWI and finally I will fill in the gaps in WWII. This is going to be expensive, but I must admit I am really looking forward to it. Thanks for all your help and support/"enabling". My retirement will have to wait a little longer but so be it!
Cheers and thanks again.
Rod Robertson.

Sounds ambitious! Remember that there is a large range 3D printed 1/144 planes on shapeways as well. they are light in weight, sturdy (if in the strong white flexible material) and printed in one piece – no assembly needed. Also as they have a low weight you can use higher stands for them.

Rod, it's not too difficult to make a hexed gaming mat yourself, especially if you go with the larger 4" hexes.

I suggest a colored king-size, flat, bedsheet, or double-wide felt fabric of an appropriate color. Some people also use canvas dropcloths, and paint/dye them. I've gone with the pre-colored fabric, to skip a step, and eventually plan to do a little painting of terrain on those, when I get the time and space to do it.

Print out some hexes on paper, or cardboard of the appropriate size, and just mark the corners (covers up any slight alignment errors you may make, while creating the game mat. I used pencil on a desert mat I made, so they marks are barely discernible, and you can use a magic marker, or fabric paint-pen for other, darker colors.

The Wings of War/Glory plastic aircraft are quite nice, for WWI planes, and very reasonably priced, when you consider they are pretty much ready to play with. Gluing biplanes/triplanes together, isn't my idea of fun.

At least on the bright side, you'll have a great hobby to keep you occupied, before/during your retirement.

;-)

Print out some hexes on paper, or cardboard of the appropriate size, and just mark the corners (covers up any slight alignment errors you may make, while creating the game mat.

Or mark the hex centers with a dot. To position the dots, print a hex grid using a PC program, and punch or poke out the center of each hex. Then use the printed sheet as a template/stencil for marking the dots on your playing surface. I also mark every 10th dot slightly differently to facilitate counting distances, but this may not be necessary for an air combat game.

Mark H.

For WW1 air combat, I have always liked "Blue Max Miniature Rules" and/or "Canvas Eagles".

For WW2 air combat, there are several recommendations, but depends if you are looking for detailed or simplified games.

Anyone looking for a simple WW2 air combat game might be interested in a free set of rules called "FLAC". See link below:

link

Canvas Eagles – WWI

Knight's Cross – WWII

Both available for free, on their respective Yahoo Groups, if you like hex-based games.

This is just an update.
Well, I took Mako 11's advice and ordered some Wings of Glory miniatures from the Warstore and 12-7 Games and I must say I was impressed by the service of the stores and the quality of the miniatures. Service was efficient and delivery was quick. Well done, to both stores. The little planes are very nice and despite being a bit of a fanatic about painting my own miniatures, it is nice to have these done already. All I have to do is weather them and dirty them up some!
I have still not made up my mind on the hex vs. hex-less issue so that is next.
Cheers and thanks for your past advice.
Rod Robertson.

Rod

If you ever fancy a change of pace may I suggest a look at some free rules Instant Bandits (WW2) and Instant Spandaus (WW1).

Very different to many 'traditional' air wargames – you still get altitude but don't need stands!

Must declare an interest here – I wrote them ! (plus the modern version Instant Thunder).

link

link

NL

No real need to choose Rod, especially if you try out the free sets of rules first.

If you do decide to go hexless/hexed, you can just flip your gaming surface over to have the appropriate one needed for game play, if you leave one side without hexes, and get one printed/make one with hexes on the opposite side.

1/72nd scale or 1/144th scale aircraft kits. REVIRESCO tin-soldier.com has full coverage decals to make painting easier. Check out our decal line at: tin-soldier.com/deks.html

Reviresco also has an extensive line of 1/144th scale aircraft kits. tin-soldier.com/air.html