'Warspite'

I am fairly new to this website and am still finding my way around. This is my first blog here.

I'm an old-time wargamer from the late 1960s who can remember when everything we had on a wargames table came from Airfix, Revell or Frog. This included WW1 aerial combat where we used 1/72 kits which were fitted on to stands made from old Meccano strips. The strip was first screwed into the side of a wooden base so that the 20-25 hole strip of Meccano metal stood vertical. The Airfix and Revell WW1 kits had split half fuselages and were assembled with a slot cut in the assembly join of the fuselage halves. This way a matchstick or cocktail stick could be put through the current hole or altitude that the aircraft was flying at. The stand was moved via steel tape measure or plastic rulers to simulate forward movement, cardboard turning circles marked off in inches were used to simulate turns while the holes in the stand allowed diving and climbing.

Speed was in miles per hour divided by 10, so 120 mph meant a 12-inch move. If you climbed you subtracted two inches from your move per Meccano hole climbed but you added two inches for each hole dived. Typical climb rates were one to four holes per move (I recall that only the Dr1 got maximum climb, but dive rates were around five or six holes. We also had a series of percentages for dangerous dives so that an aircraft [I]could[/I] dive further in pursuit or to escape, but the player then had to roll a pair of percentage dice to see if he/she survived the manoeuvre. I once dived a favourite Dr1 of mine and had a 99% safety chance of a one level overdrive. I took the chance, rolled the % dice and promptly rolled '00' - and tore my wings off! Oh how we laughed (not). :mad:

Early games were with the Romford Wargames Club which met in the back bar of the Mawney Arms in Romford. This club folded in time but reformed at nearby Harold Wood as Harold Wood Wargamers. It was at Harold Wood that people like Scott Peters and the late Ray Brewster developed a WW2 version using 1/72 kits on three-foot poles marked off in one inch levels to represent each 1,000 feet in height.

In both cases (WW1 or WW2) the game mechanism was to roll %dice for whether the aircraft hit its target. If it was successful then further % dice were rolled for [I]where[/I] the aircraft was hit. Pilot, rear gunner, engine, fuel, wing, tail, etc. If any area was hit then a further effect roll was made. In the case of engine hits - for example - this could vary from 'no damage' or a small speed loss up to half speed, engine smashed and now gliding or the engine catching fire. Later versions of the WW1 rules were improved and we differentiated between types of engines. Water-cooled inline engines were more vulnerable as the radiator could be punctured, etc. Rotary engines were judged more robust but woe-betide you if you had a cylinder shot-off while flying a DH2 as there was a test to see if the flying cylinder broke a fuselage longeron.

There was also points damage (as in WoG) which meant that if an aircraft lost half its points it took a special roll for unusual damage (punctured tyres, broken machine gun belts, unusual control damage, etc). If the aircraft was not shot down by direct hits on vital parts, if it lost all of its points then it broke up.

Our game also allowed for character development and history so 'aces' with 5 kills or more got improved skills. Of course these characters could be killed so a 15-kills pilot character was jealously protected. A famous moment was when one player refused to risk his star character in a deadly dogfight and - basically - flew off and left his wingmen in trouble. Unfortunately... said wingmen all survived and subjected him to a mock court martial the following week. He was not at all popular.

My 'pet' Hurricane pilot achieved the dizzy level of seven kills but made the mistake of half-looping up in front of a German Bf 110 instead of behind it, the Hurricane was wrecked by cannons and mgs and came down in flames. My pilot tested to bale-out but found that his cockpit canopy was damaged and he could not get out. He was killed. On the other hand my North Korean MiG 15 pilot (also seven kills) survived and lived to a ripe old age. He shot down one Shooting Star and six Sabres in various games. Of course by that time we were using jets and had scaled up to using six foot (yes, six foot) poles to get the extra height.

Those were the days. Of course, tell young kids all this today and they won't believe you!