Category Archives: WWI

Gaming the Great War with Wings of Glory™

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A lone Albatros D III

 

Somewhere Over the Italian Front

The Itallian Front also has its Aces. Austro-Hungarian aviators vs Reggia Aeronautica. Here Oberleutnant Ludwig Hautzmayer in his Albatros D III takes the direct approach with Maggiore Francesco Baracca flying a SPAD XIII who seems to have jammed guns! Double BLAST! No-no, on second thought, remember chivalry Herr Hautzmayer, please. Both are within range and must be on reconnaissance.

Ciao!

Auf weidersehen!

The “Direct Approach”.

This version of the gaming mat is a work in progress but it plays much better than a bare table top. More and updates on the gaming mat will be posted later.

The hand-painted gaming mat–a WIP.

I started with this the very enjoyable Wings of War™ by the incomparable Nexus Editrice (defunct), but now produced by the glorious people at Ares Games™ as Wings of Glory™. Huzzah! Visit Ares Games™ thus:

Ares Games™

http://www.aresgames.eu/

Interesting Reading

I include some excellent sources for more information, and perhaps your enjoyment too, on the Air Battles on Italian Front, the aircraft, the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops, K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen, and the aces of the Italian Royal Army, Regio Esercito.

Franks, Norman, Russell Guest, & Gregory Alegi.  Above the War Fronts: The British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air aces of WWI. Grub Street, 1997.

Martin O’Connor.  Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1914-1918. Flying Machines Press, January 1986.

Chant, Chris, Mark Rolfe (Illustrator). Austro-Hungarian Aces of World War 1. Osprey Publishing, 2002.

Guttman, Jon. SPAD XII/XIII Aces of World War I. Osprey Publishing, 2002.

Medals, Merits, and Honors

Baracca

Maggiore Francesco Baracca:  Gold Medal of Military Valor, three Silver Medal of Military Valor, British Military Cross, French Croix de Guerre, Belgian Order of the Crown.

 

 

 

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Hautzmayer

Oberleutnant Ludwig Hautzmayer : Order of the Iron Crown, Military Merit Cross, Military Merit Medal, Medal for Bravery, Order of Leopold.

 

 

 

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Keep on gaming!

WORLD WAR I Reading Pulp

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Black Hand Gang

‘No Man’s World – Black Hand Gang’ – 2010 Pat Kelleher (Abaddon Books). Cover by Pye Parr.

This is my sideways glance at literature or at least a pulpy WWI read.

Lost Battalions and even Legions are not unusual themes in history.

Here we have a Lost Company of Tommies during the WWI Battle of the Somme. From the known world of France during the hell of World War I to the alternative world,  The Black Hand Gang is a portal novel in the fashion of Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Norman, and even a favorite, C. S. Lewis. It also shares similarities with H.P. Lovecraft (Horror), H. G. Wells (Dystopia), and Jules Verne (Sci-fi).

The struggle is to survive to return home, if not Blighty, then to the certain carnage of machineguns and gas. What is a soldier to do? His duty is the short and neat expectation. Read this one to see how the Pennine lads fare.

The second book in the series is titled The Ironclad Prophecy.