WWII Night Bombing Raids Game

[Mako]

There's been a lot of interest of late, in the WWII Night Bombing Raid rules, so thought I'd post a pic of a "raid in progress" posted by Paul Hannah, years ago, on the "Air Pirates" Yahoo Group.

He was using the "Mustangs" boardgame rules, with house rules additions, for his game, and Ping-Pong balls painted black, for "bogies".  The aircraft shown are in 1/300th scale, and look superb, as do the scenic backdrops created to go around the game table, depicting searchlight batteries scanning for enemy bombers in the night sky.  Definitely worth a visit, if you have the time, to check the Yahoo Group out, since there are a lot of other great photos of superbly painted aircraft as well.

Due to the small number of planes needed, I'm considering using 1/144th scale aircraft for my games, at least for the contact phase of the battles.  In the "Mustangs" house rules for night combat, you first have to move into visual range and then attempt to "spot" the target with a die roll.  Once "spotted", you then need to attempt to try to "identify" it as well, in order to determine if it is a friend or foe.  You are permitted to fire on aircraft not properly "identified", but if you do so, you may end up shooting down one of your friends, instead of the enemy.  "Bogies" are represented by the black painted, Ping-Pong balls, until a visual identification is made.

GMs with a cynical bent, may routinely place the wrong aircraft type down on the board, if desired, in order to keep the German nightfighter crews on their toes (or as provided for in the rules), just for grins.  Same goes for any RAF nightfighter crews as well.

I may go with 1/600th, or 1/300th for the operational level game phases, over Western Europe and the UK, to keep track of the raid's progress on the tabletop.

Rules options for gaming night bomber raids include:  the set provided in the Featherstone Aerial Gaming book - Battle of the Ruhr, Target for Tonight (when it becomes available), Mustangs boardgame rules, with house rules for nightfighting in the Air Pirates Yahoo Group files, "Scramble" miniatures rules, and Knight's Cross (WWII variant of Canvas Eagles/Red Baron) which is also available on a Yahoo Group.

I suspect there may be a few others I've forgotten as well, so will post those if I think of them.  Feel free to add others here too, if you think of them.

I've got a few surplus 1/144th scale aircraft listed for sale, which can serve as either Wilde or Zahme Sau, German fighters, if you have a need for those too.

[Daeothar]

Wow; that looks really nice and convincing. That second picture takes the cake for sure!

Great painting on those planes as well, especialy considering the tiny scale. And the backdrop really adds the right atmosphere...

[S_P]

Love that terrain set up.

[Mako]

Yep, he did a really great job of setting the scene for a night bombing raid.

[Mako]

Here are some other pics of a 1/600th scale, RAF night raid on Nuremburg, which looks great as well.

Note the different method used, and the simple yet effective take on representing the "searchlights" on the game table.

The operational level map is nicely, and yet very simply created too.

I plan to do something similar, but instead of using the acetate sheet to mark target cities, and bomber routes, I plan to use a large black bed sheet, or black piece of felt.  Targets will then be created on separate fabric pieces, so they can be moved around, as needed, and route markers will be most likely represented by a thin strip of ribbon, suitably weighted down by "yellow marker flares" along the desired flight path, dropped by PFF aircraft.

The photos shown are from a "Target for Tonight" game (I believe), run in the UK, probably by the Devon gaming club group.