Every Fourth of July morning finds the pilots of the Lion's Den Aerosquadron on the tarmac early and eager to fly in the annual dawn patrol. This seasons air combat game was put together by Jon Haworth and featured a Korean War theme, pitting F86 Sabers flying against Soviet Mig Faggots. As the dew settled on the morning lawn our intrepid gang sipped coffee and munched donuts on the patio. We ended up having seven players participate in the July 4th Dawn Patrol. We used the Lion's Den Fighter Command rules set. These rules are designed to allow you to play with 1/72nd scale aircraft outdoors in a large lawn area. We use Ken's backyard as the play area. The scale aircraft are attached to metal rods that stick in the ground and are moved according to the player pilots plotted move control sheet. Basically you look across the yard and there are a group of airplane models on rods poised at various attitudes and altitudes and then you plot where you want your aircraft to be in relation to where you believe your enemy will be. After the turn sequence is started you fire your weapons at valid targets and record damage on the control sheet. Disabled and destroyed targets pull their plane rod up from the turf and march back to their sides start line to reenter the hairball. I recall a good game this year (I didn't get shot down in the first turn). I scored a kill on a Mig, was damaged and limped back across my start line, reentered and scored another kill, and was promptly fireballed for my efforts. There was the usual camaraderie and as the sun began to heat in earnest we called the game to get on with the family day we all anticipated before us. Next year will see the backyard ablaze in more martial acts of aerobatics splendor. Stick to your wingman! Back to Table of Contents Penny Whistle #43 Back to Penny Whistle List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Lion's Den Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com