One night while playing a Modern Spearhead game with our group of insane friends, I had an idea. I had just had a company of tanks butchered by some rocket bearing F-4's. Minutes previously, I watched a company of infantry defending a woodline get incinerated by a napalm strike (just like the movies!). This carnage had shown me the light regarding a new level of wargaming, for those insane enough to do it.

The idea that popped into my mind while watching this carnage was to put on a game where one set of players ran their sides air forces, the other group the land campaign, both playing simultaneously. Not a new idea, but one I have never seen done before. Thus allowing the drama of a ground commander squealing for air support as he is getting blasted to pieces by enemy planes or ground units.

I proceeded to buy every 1/100th scale modern aircraft model kit I could find. Why this scale? Well, I am insane and that 1/100th scale is basically 15mm. I found some really nice variety out there for 1/100th jets, both model kits and Armor collection die cast planes. The main benefit is that all of these planes could lay swaths of death across the game board, their stats being in the rules. (By the way, if you like modern warfare I recommend Modem Spearhead.) After many dollars and much time, I realize I could do this in a smaller scale, but to me it just wouldn't be as cool.

I assembled 2 "Air forces" on the premise being they represented the air forces of two fictitious 3rd-World nations. This allowed me to equip them with whatever the US, France, Russia, China or any other arms dealing country would supply (in other words, whatever models I could find in 1/100 scale). One air force has mainly French aircraft (Mirage III's, Sepecat Jaguars, etc ... etc ... ). The other is mainly Russian aircraft (Mig29's, -27's and -21's, for a few).

I now needed a basic framework to use as the air warfare rules. I chose an out-of-print game by Victory Games called 2nd Fleet (3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Fleets were other games in this series). I chose these rules for several reasons:

1 . All of the desired aircraft statistics are in these games.

2. The strategic concept of mission assignment was perfect for my needs.

3. I didn't need an actual air combat game, I needed more of a strategic framework to determine what air assets were actually going to be able to attack ground units.

This being decided upon, I proceeded to take what I needed from the 2nd Fleet rules. I drew out an air deployment diagram for each side. Three connected boxes of equal size running horizontally (looks like a long rectangle) with three long single boxes under the three above it, all under the other. The three top boxes each had a name, the first being "air superiority", the second "ground attack/naval strike", and the third being "recon/ supply".

The first box running under each of the three mission-type boxes is for ready aircraft, the box below that for aircraft in maintenance, and the last one is for lost/damaged aircraft.

How does all of this rambling apply to a miniatures game? First, each turn must be assigned a time value if it's not in the rules you use. I chose to say 1/2 hour for my purposes, this is to allow some way of limiting the number of air sorties and repair times. Before the miniatures game begins, the air force players must resolve air superiority. They place all of their airaft in the appropriate mission-type boxes (Air Superiority, Ground Attack/ Naval Strike or Recon/Supply). The first turn usually ends up being a huge slugfest with high casualties on both sides. Many aircraft end up in the maintenance box or removed from the game. This determines who controls the air. I won't go into the specifics of the combat.

Next, any surviving recon planes make a pass over the gaming board to spot any land units. Usually some of the defenders units are spotted and set up for the dreaded rolling barrages to come. I use the spotting chats from Modem Spearhead.

After the recon is done, any air missions against either players airfields or strategic targets are conducted. This may limit repair capacities, air sorties , and ground reinforcements later in the game. The player with air superiority usually comes out better. Players wishing to save surviving aircraft for ground attack missions later keep those models in the ground attack box, to be called for later. Ground attack missions need to be called, they don't arrive automatically.

After this is done the ground battle can begin. Aircraft that have flown any missions are placed into the maintenance box for later use. About every three turns of the ground baffle, both players roll for aircraft in the maintenance box, models being rolled for equal to that nations ground crew rating. This can be very good for most European countries, or dismal for many 3rd-World nations. Values are rolled against on a single D6. The best rating is a 6, the worst a 1. If the number rolled is less than the air crew value, the plane is placed in the ready box for use in the next turn (about 3 ground turns).

Most players will find out that the airpower part of the game is fairly quick to resolve. A normal game allows about 2-3 mission per aircraft if they are lucky enough to avoid AA fire. Air-power can greatly influence a game, as columns of armor can evaporate under intense air attack.

FLAK and SAMS

One thing I failed to mention: FLAK and SAMS. I never said the jets would survive every ground attack mission (heh heh). I have found almost every modern AA system out there in 15mm (1/100th). Companies like Quality Castings and QRF Miniatures offer almost everything you need or want.

Heck, I have HAWK batteries along with SA-6 and SA-8 batteries, mixed in with ZSU23/4's and ZPU AA guns. Modern Spearhead has extensive rules for all of these flak systems. I have seen an entire flight of Mig 27's either damaged or shot down during a single mission (although they did get to blast the SAM sites)

This is a very condensed explanation of what is actually done, but is it fun, You can e-mail me at frontlineshobby@frontlineshobby.com with any questions. I will be glad to explain further.