Planes on Poles

This post is dedicated to the memory of my late friend and fellow gamer Pete, who sadly passed away a few weeks ago.

Some of the games Pete and I have played feature in posts on this blog (see entries for Mythic Battles: Pantheon and Cry Havoc) but our gaming history goes back much further. Back to the 1980's in fact, when we were part of a small group of like-minded friends who regularly met to indulge in all manner of tabletop gaming.

Like the rest of our group, Pete was willing to try most games, but he had a particular penchant for two very different genres; Wild West skirmish and WWI aerial dogfights. When I remember Pete, it's the latter that I most often think of. Some of the earliest, if not the first games we ever played together were WWI dogfights. They became a staple of our early gaming sessions and something we returned to many times - and it was an area Pete never lost interest in.

At the last wargame show we attended together (Colours 2019) Pete was doing his level best to persuade me to buy into Wings of Glory. I had hesitated, having already blown most of my budget on ships for Cruel Seas and in the end I didn't buy in.  However, Pete already had a copy of the original Wings of War rules, plus cards, planes and game mat, so we agreed that he would introduce me to the rules for our next game.

It is the nature of modern life that our games were often few and far between. Other commitments got in the way and the months passed until our diaries finally aligned. And then life went into lockdown and we never did get that game.

I have thought about Pete and that 'game that never was' quite a lot since and it prompted me to go searching through the cupboards for my old WWI aeroplanes and rules. It took a bit of digging to find everything, but I eventually found a folder full of templates, order sheets and rules, plus all bar one of my aircraft collection. (One of my favourites, an Se5A, is missing somewhere - presumably shot down over the trenches?).

None of this stuff has seen the light of day for decades and it is showing its vintage a bit. The aircraft are all intact, but some of the decals have yellowed from the ageing matt varnish I had used to seal them. The various game components are looking quite shabby now and the rule book is rather tatty with faded covers, evidence of heavy and repeated use back in the  day.

Back then, our rules of choice were 'Paragon's NEW Aerial Dogfight Rules, 1916 - 1918' by Hugh Walters & John Herbert, circa May 1977. These were sold by Skytrex, who also produced a range of suitable 1/144th scale aircraft in their 'Red Eagle' range. (Now sold by Red Eagle Miniatures). The rules - a slim 14-page A5 stapled booklet, are very much a product of their time; no fancy layout or pretty pictures, but they contained all the information we needed for a simple, fun game.

Rule booklet and aircraft play sheets

By the time I began playing aerial dogfight games with Pete and friends in the 80's, I was already no stranger to Paragon's rules, having first encountered them in my late teens with a group of school friends. At that time we used 1/300th scale aircraft models and as the optional campaign rules included stats and scenarios for zeppelins I even built a 1/300th scale model of one which I was pretty proud of. I can't remember what happened to either the zeppelin or the planes, but sadly I no longer have them.

Boxes of Skytrex aircraft with a flyer for the models and optional campaign rules

Campaign rules, map, counters and dials

Paragon's rules called for 50cm tall flight stands and my original ones were simple plywood bases with wooden dowels. These were okay for 1/300th scale models, but still top-heavy when aircraft models were at the highest elevations.  Toppling flight stands were always a hazard, so the move to 1/144th scale models required something much bigger and sturdier. 

Remember, these were pre-internet days and long before wargame companies began producing ready-to-play games with everything needed to start playing out of the box. I am fortunate to have a father who counted model engineering among his hobbies, so access to a source of thick steel plate and the necessary tools to work it was no problem. From this after much effort I produced several heavy octagonal bases. A trawl of the Yellow Pages and several phone calls identified a suitable source of 10mm diameter clear perspex rod. I still remember driving to Birmingham on a wet weekday morning to collect my purchase from a small factory in the shadow of Spaghetti Junction. The perspex rod was then cut to 25½" lengths and each was then turned in my father's lathe to scribe bands at  half-inch intervals giving the required 50 altitude levels, plus half an inch to fit into a hole in the base. After painting the bases and inking the scribed bands, the stands were ready for assembly.

Heavy-duty flight stand, ready for action.

My biggest headache was figuring out a way to attach the aircraft to the flight stands. I had made some wire couplings to hold the aircraft, but needed something suitable to attach them to that would fit over the perspex rods. Also, the fit had to be perfect. Too loose and the models would slide down the rods under their own weight; too tight and there would be endless struggles to adjust models while trying not to disturb the position of the bases. At the time I was living in a furnished rented flat and among the 'accessories' in the bathroom was one of those Y-shaped flexible plastic shower hoses, the type that is supposed to fit onto the hot and cold taps in the bath. As a shower hose it was bloody useless as any amount of water pressure would pop the connectors right off the taps and spray water everywhere. However, the plastic hose was almost exactly the right diameter to fit over the flight stand rods. After a chopping up a few lengths of hose and plunging them in hot water to stretch over the perspex rod I had a workable solution to my problem. Once the wire couplings were inserted and glued in place - 'voila' I had the perfect flight stands!

Plastic hose and Araldite epoxy is what keeps us in the air.

Plane on a Pole

'Paragon's NEW Aerial Dogfight Rules' was always a bit of a mouthful, so the game inevitably became known simply as 'Planes', 'Dogfights' or, in the best tradition of alliterative game titles, 'Planes on Poles'.  The rules served us well for many years and have been the source of some great games. At one point we were playing games with sufficient frequency to start a campaign set over a fictional sector of the Western Front. This did rather complicate things, requiring some book-keeping. I kept the many pages of campaign notes, aircraft lists and pilot rosters for years, but can no longer locate them. Probably they were thrown away during one of my infrequent clear-outs, which I rather regret. In the absence of notes my recollection is a little hazy now, but in my mind Pete took the side of those 'jolly good chaps' of the RFC. That might be a trick of my memory, but it 'feels' correct - and Pete kind of looked the part anyway.

One of the attractions of the game was, of course, the planes. The Red Eagle kits produce nice models with a bit of patience and care. Okay, so some cursing and swearing is also required. It is many years since I put any together and the passage of time has probably dulled the painful memories of struggling to align wings and multiple struts whilst waiting for the glue to set.  However, once built they are quite sturdy and have withstood a few mishaps with minimal damage; certainly nothing that couldn't be carefully pushed back into shape and touched up with a dab of paint.

Speaking of paint, my planes were painted in Humbrol enamels, in the days before I switched to acrylics. Yes, enamels are smelly and a bit more of a 'faff' to clean up than acrylics, but they are very resistant to wear and tear from handling and after many years the paintwork still looks pretty good, despite the yellowing decals.

The final touch to each model was to fix a 'spinning prop'. The Red Eagle planes come with cast prop blades, but I have never liked the look of an aircraft model that appears to be flying around with a stalled engine. All of my models have had the prop blades removed and replaced with a clear plastic 'spinner', cut and scribed from spare blister packaging.

A Be2b of those jolly good chaps of the Royal Flying Corps

This always reminds me of the 70's BBC series 'Wings'

Albatross D.II

Sopwith Pup

Roland C.II

Airco DH.2 (always one of my favourites)

Pfalz D.III (A pretty aircraft, if a bit under powered)

Bristol Fighter F2b

Albatross D.V

Sopwith Camel

Fokker Dr.1 Triplane (Baron Manfred von Richthofen - of course!)

Airco DH.4 (Stirs memories of the wonderful Airfix artwork by Roy Cross)

I'm not sure when (if ever) 'Planes on Poles' will make it to the gaming table again, but I will forever associate it with Pete.

Thanks for all the games and great memories Pete.

Rest in peace.