Collar Stays for Aiming

[RJames]

I often play WoG with multiple aircraft on each side.

In the course of doing so, who-shot-whom last often gets difficult to track, and as such we frequently neglect to apply the +1 damage bonus for aim.

I have a suggestion: the use of colored collar stays for tracking last hits for purposes of implementing the aim rule.

I have an endless supply of these little plastic things due to my dry cleaner, but you can pick them up cheaply on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/White-Plastic...vided-Shirts/d...

How to use:
1.Gather multiple sets (of 2) of collar stays, one set per pilot (or gunner).
2. Paint each set (pair) a unique color. Give each pilot (or gunner) his own unique pair of colored collar stays.
3. During gameplay, when a pilot scores a hit upon a particular plane, that pilot places one of his two collar stays on the base of the target aircraft. Or, if you prefer, simply place the collar stay on the play table, pointing at the targeted aircraft (which is quite easy to do given that the collar stays are flat and pointy at one end).
4. During the next movement phase, but before any shots are fired, be sure to keep the collar stays on the bases of, or otherwise pointed to, whatever aircraft they were associated with.
5. When firing commences, once again assign the collar stays to any planes that were hit (removing them from their former targets if necessary). To the extent that a plane already has a collar stay on it / pointing to it, from the very same player who just fired upon it -- voila! the aim rule takes effect, and the plane suffers +1 damage.

Of course, you could, instead, simply remember who you just shot....

But for those who find that challenging for whatever reason, this really helps!

[OldGuy59]

I can so see this on a table full of planes. Playing two each isn't too hard, but with a table of multiple pilots (some Rookies), it is easy to overlook this.

Many thanks!

[RJames]

Glad you like the idea! You're welcome!

[flash]

Nice solution to a problem James

[Naharaht]

That is a good idea, James.

[RJames]

PS: given the kind of plastic they're made of, some collar stays don't really like to be painted (they stay tacky, depending on the paint used). In this case, I suggest using permanent markers / sharpies. They work great. Further still, you need not paint / color the whole collar stay (which is actually a bit harder to do than one might think, because they're quite light and need to be held in place) -- you only need to color the 1/3 or 1/4 portion of the collar stay that contains its point. And again, thank you for the compliments.

PPS: along the same lines of not being able to remember important stuff, I pulled together what I've dubbed a "Comprehensive Console" for use with the game. It tracks pretty much everything that needs to be tracked (well, depending on the rules you use - we don't use altitude), and makes it easier to remember when certain things need to be done (such as removing jammed gun tokens versus smoke tokens, etc.). In any event, it's in the moderation queue here and should be available soon. I'm posting it as an MS Word file, so folks can customize it further to their own liking.

[zenlizard]

What, in this case are 'collar stays', and how do they work better/worse than a pair of chits?

[RJames]

What, in this case are 'collar stays', and how do they work better/worse than a pair of chits?

I thought of chits, but there are chits for this and chits for that. Too many chits. But chits could work if you wish. So long as you create pairs of them, color-coded per pilot/gunner.

Collar stays are little pieces of plastic that fit inside a dress shirt collar to keep the points nice and crisp.
They sort of look like tiny white arrows.
You can pick up a box of 40 or so for about $6 on Amazon.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Colla...s=collar+stays

They lay nice and flat on the table and are easy to handle.

PS: I guess if you want chrome, you could use metal collar stays!

[zenlizard]

Ah, so they might work better for example, than a pair of chits because they stand less of a chance of getting lost in the shuffle, and given their shape, they can be directed. Got it.