Mig Madness: Jet vs. Jet Combat
Korean War

Historical Background and Set Up

by Matt Fritz

Historical Background:
The Korean War included several major surprises: the North's invasion of the South, the Inchon landings, and the intervention of China. Another surprise came when the Russian built Mig-15 jet started flying in the skies over North Korea. It dominated the skies and took a heavy toll on UN bombers, especially the B-29s. The US sent in the F-86 Sabre to fight for air supremacy. Jet vs. jet dogfights took place in "Mig Alley," an area just south of the Yalu River which marked the border with China. UN pilots were not allowed to cross the Yalu, a rule they sometimes ignored. Badly outnumbered and hampered by early technical problems, the Sabre pilots struggled at the start. In time they would turn the tide, and by the end of the war they would have the upper hand. The Sabre and Mig were well matched. The Mig had an advantage at higher altitudes and out gunned the Sabre. The Sabre was a bit more maneuverable, and improved versions would eliminate the Migs atltitude advantage. The US pilots outclassed their timid, poorly trained North Korean and Chinese pilots. However some of the Migs were secretly flown by Soviet pilots, many of whom were WW II aces. With a Soviet "honcho" in the pilot's seat the Mig was a match for Sabre.

Design Note:
This game is a variant of the WW I Air Combat Rules printed in issue 2. I made some Pilot Licenses and paper plane models to go with the game. The only difference between the Korean War rules and the WW I rules are the maneuver cards, so if you are already familiar with the old rules you can skip to that section and start playing.

Battle 1:
The rules have not yet been playtested with students.

The Models:
Plastic model planes are readily available in 1/72 for $5 - $7. You can also find die-cast planes from manufacturers like Corgi and Model Power. Paper plane models are included which you can print and use. You can also get origami airplane models for $3 at Fiddler's Green (http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/).

Each Student gets:
1 airplane model and stand
1 deck of maneuver cards
1 Pilot License (laminated)
1 dry erase marker
5 six-sided dice

The Board:
The game is played on a 4' x 4' mat with a 5" hex pattern. The size of the hex pattern doesn't really matter, as long as the hexes are large enough to accomadate the planes. I used the vinyl "battle mat" that comes with the old Battle Masters board game. These can be purchased on eBay for $15 (a complete game is much more expensive, try to get the mat when sold as a spare part, or part of an incomplete game). Of course you can just draw your own hex pattern on a piece of felt by cutting a hex out of cardboard and using it as a template to trace the pattern. A 4' x 4' mat can handle eight pilots. With a larger group it's better to have a few separate mats rather than combing them into one big battlefield.

Airplane Stands:
I took a pin with a round head and clipped off the pointy end. Then I heated the pin in a flame and inserted it into the underside of the plane. I secured the pin with a drop of hot glue. The base of the airplane stand was made from a 4" round wooden plaque I purchased at A.C. Moore's for $1. I bought some cheap cell phone antennas at Radio Shack - this game doesn't take altitude differences into effect, so the exact type doesn't matter. The ones I chose were 13" with 5 sections. I cut the button off the end and replaced it with an alligator clip which was attached with hot glue. You will want to find a more secure way to attach the alligator clip since the hot glue isn't really firm enough to do the job (after two days of hard use three of my stands lost their clips). Drill a hole in the wooden base for the antenna and secure it in the hole with glue. I used permanent marker to draw an arrow on the wooden base to indicate the direction in which the airplane should point, and a letter for identification purposes. I experimented with adding weight to the base, but this proved unnecessary. The students can clip their planes to the stand, turn the plane to face the same way as the arrow, and adjust their antenna to any height they please.

Maneuver Cards:
Each student gets a deck of maneuver cards from which he can choose his moves for the turn. I designed the cards in MS Word so they can be printed on business cards. Each card names the maneuver, illustrates how to move the plane, and describes it in words. The maneuver deck Mic developed contains the following moves: 3 Right Turns, 3 Left Turns, 3 Straight aheads, 3 Right Slips, 3 Left Slips, 3 Straight Fast, 1 Full Throttle, 1 Split S (Immelman turn), 2 Hard Right turns, and 2 Hard Left turns. This is the same deck as the WW I Air Combat Rules with the following changes: Remove the stall maneuvers, add 2 Hard Right turns, 2 Hard Left turns, 2 Straigh Fast cards, and 1 Full Throttle card. You can download the maneuver cards as a MS Word file jetmancards.doc (117 kb) or as separate gif files page1.gif, page2.gif, page 3.gif. I suggest you write a different letter on the back of each deck so that when the kids drop or lose cards they can be returned to the right deck.

Pilot Licenses:
The pilot license is a sheet, about the size of an index card, where the students can record the damage to their planes and record their victories. They were designed to resemble baseball cards, with the name of a Korean War ace, his victory total, and a brief biographical blurb. The sources used in creating the licenses are listed in the resources section at the end of this page. The two most useful sites were Korean War Aces and American Aces of WW II. I laminated the pilot licenses so they could be marked with dry erase markers. They should be printed in landscape mode.

    USAF Page 1: Blesse, Davis, Fernandez, Jabara
    USAF Page 2: Parr, Johnson, Garrison, Moore
    USAF Page 3: Fischer, McConnell, Baker, Glenn
    Soviet Page 1: Sutyagin, Pepelyaev, Shchukin, Kramarenko
    Soviet Page 2: Fedorets, Suchkov, Smorchkov, Mihin
    Soviet Page 3: Bahayev, Ohay, Karelin, Samoylov

Deployment:
The opposing sides start on any whole hex on opposite sides of the mat. You should line up the hex grain so the hexes run straight across from the opposites sides, not at an angle. Planes should be positioned so the arrow on their base (and the nose of the plane) point at a hex side, NOT a hex corner.

Resources
American Aces of WW II website (www.acepilots.com) by Stephen Sherman, has a section on Korean War aces
Russian Aces of the Korean War website (www.acepilots.com/russian/rus_aces.html), information on Soviet aces by Stephen Sherman and Diego Zampini
Korean War Aces by Robert Dorr, Jon Lake, and Warren Thompson, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #4
"Air Wars: Simple Air to Air Combat in the Jet Age" by Jim Wallman, available at the Free Wargame Rules web page (http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/)
"Mig Hunters," a variant of "Hunters in the Sky" by David North available at the Free Wargame Rules web page (http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/)
"Tigers: Super Fighter Combat in Miniature" by Michael Scott
"Korean War: Mig Alley" by Marvin Scott, Lone Warrior #127
"Mig Pilot: Korean War Solo Game" by Marvin Scott, Lone Warrior #145
"Migs and Sabres" by Marvin Scott, Lone Warrior #146, includes nice paper plane models

Mig Madness: Jet vs. Jet Combat Korean War

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© Copyright 2004 by Matt Fritz.
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