Bag the Hun Japanese v Australian

Another run out for Bag the Hun with my Japanese taking on Jerry and Dave's Australians. I had four Zeros and four Jacks while Jerry had four Beaufighters, Dave had four Kittyhawks and there were six Hudson bombers to escort.

I'd also made some rather crude paper templates in an attempt to speed up the game when attempting to do anything other than fly in a straight line!

The Japanese approach:

Kittyhawks race to intercept:

Jacks head for the bombers while the Zeros attempt to hold off the Australian fighters:

Beaufighters chase a pair of Zeros:

Zeros approach the bombers from either side:

One of the Jacks explodes and another is critically damaged:

A Zero is shot down at long range by a Beaufighter. At this stage the Japanese had not managed to get off a single shot!

At last a success for the Japanese, the remaining Zero brings down a Hudson:

The Hudsons reach their target minus another one shot down by a Zero:

Something of a fight-back by the Japanese as a head on attack by a Jack causes critical instrument damage to a Beaufigher flown by a Junior Ace:

Another success for the Japanese as a Kittyhawk explodes:

Another fun game with a load of planes which went a bit quicker as we have (slightly) more idea what we are doing and the paper turning templates helped a lot.

The final score (I think) was all four Zeros shot down, one Jack shot down and one critically damaged against two Hudsons, one Kittyhawk and one critically damaged Beaufighter for the Australians.

Considering their dismal start not a bad result for the Japanese. The Beaufighter is a tricky opponent with its massive firepower (14 against 8 for the Japanese planes) and robustness so I think I'd have been better off targeting them to start off and then trying to deal with the Hudsons and Kittyhawks. I've painted up some Buffalos for the Australians so maybe we will try them next time.

Bag the Hun Japanese v Australian

Another BtH game, this time Dave and I had the Japanese escorting a bomber force attacked by Jerry's newly painted Australians. Dave and I had four Zero's each plus three Betty bombers while Jerry had four Beaufighters and four Kittyhawks.

The Japanese head for the target:

The Australian's climb to intercept:

Dave's flight of Zero's decides aggression is the bast tactic:

Dave's Zero's attack the Beaufighters from the rear while mine engage frontally:

Kittyhawks attempt to get through to the Betty's:

Pilots desperately try to get a shot off or avoid being shot:

The first kill goes to the Japanese as a Zero takes down a Kittyhawk with catastrophic structural damage. The pilot manages to bail out successfully:

The Betty's fly on ignoring the melee around them and even managing to get a few shots off of their own at a Beaufighter that attempts to tail them:

More hits are scored on both sides:

A Beaufighter loses an engine and flees:

The Betty's make it through undamaged. With most of their planes damaged the Australians break off and head for home:

Another great game of Bag the Hun. The end result was one Kittyhawk and one Zero shot down with several Australian planes taking serious damage but managing to break contact successfully. 

Before the game I felt the Beaufighters with their massive frontal firepower (twice that of the Zero!) and far greater robustness would easily take out the Japanese but it didn't work out like that, partly because the Zero's were much more manoeuvrable and partly as being a lot bigger the Beaufighters were easier to hit. 

We all enjoyed the game and have a few ideas how to make it play easier next time. Gluing the dice holders down and making labels for the stands certainly made it easier to see which plane was which! 

Bag the Hun IJN v USN

First game of 2024 was a return to Bag the Hun in the Pacific. Initially I took the Japanese Zero's and Dave had USN Wildcats, after a while Jerry joined us and took over the Wildcats, Dave had the Zero's and I had the Betty bombers.

The pilots prepare to engage:

Zero's close in against the first two Wildcats:

There was no real damage though:

Again the Zero's close in:

The bombers are coming! Betty's join the fray:

Wildcats come up behind the Betty's. Where are the Zero's?!

Wildcat's on their tails, Zero's approaching too late, the bombers have to fend for themselves:

First victory to the Zero's! A Wildcat goes down after catastrophic damage:

The bombers fight off Wildcat's:

The game ended with two Wildcat's shot down, one badly damaged and one escaping off table for no losses to the Japanese and the Betty's completing their mission.

As ever with BtH much time was spent flaying around and failing to get shots in by both sides. The bombers are actually quite tough defensively and drove off the Wildcat's a couple of times.

I almost think to really make progress with the game we would need to go to 'flight school' and learn how to get where you want to be from where you are using the many varied manoeuvres available to pilots! 

Bag the Hun Imperial Japanese Navy v United States Navy

A return to 'Bag the Hun' after a considerable gap with Jerry. I took the Japanese while Jerry had the Americans (using the slightly less powerful Wildcats instead of Hellcats).

As Jerry hadn't played at all and I had only played two games before against Gary a long time ago we started with a simple 4 v 4 zero's against Wildcats game.

The Zero's attempt to get behind the Wildcats:

Unfortunately the Wildcats turn the tables and end up behind the Zero's!

In a scene familiar from the previous two games one Zero explodes immediately and another suffers a catastrophic structural failure:

Another Zero catches fire while the pilot from the structural failure plane manages to bail out:

The Zero on fire explodes leaving one Zero against four Wildcats and effectively finishing the fight:

For the next game the Japanese had a flight of three Betty bombers escorted by four Zeros against four Wildcats. The Betty's quickly came under attack from the Wildcats:

The escorting Zero's attempt to distract the Wildcats:

Remarkably the combined fire of the Betty's resulting in a Wildcat being shot down!

One Betty is on fire and has an engine knocked out:

The Zero's have failed miserably to engage the Wildcats:

The fire on the damaged Betty worsens but the pilot skilfully avoids more damage from the Wildcats:

Despite the crew's efforts the Betty blows up:

The Wildcats have outmanoeuvred the Zeros yet again:

The remaining Bettys escape off table:

At this point we called it a day. Over the two games the Japanese lost three Zeros and a Betty to the Americans single Wildcat. 

Unlike the previous games where the disparity in losses was perhaps largely down to the vast superiority of the Hellcat over the Zero the Wildcat and Zero seemed better balanced so probably this was down to my incompetence and Jerry's skill!

Bag the Hun is certainly a comprehensive and interesting rule set and the game was good fun. I think though that you'd need to play it regularly (or even practise!) to be able to select the best moves for your planes from the numerous options to ensure you end up in the right place at the right time which is (realistically no doubt) difficult to achieve.

I've seen a few campaign reports from other players which have a lot of character and have invested in 'Squadron Forward' as it also has a number of scenarios to play.

Jerry really enjoyed the game and is keen to get his vast Battle of Britain collection in action so I suspect we will be playing again soon!

Bag the Hun USN and IJN

Some more planes for Bag the Hun (or Cruel Seas) to try to make the games more balanced!

Firstly for the USN three SB2C Curtis Helldiver    :

Secondly eight F4F Wildcats:

For the IJN three Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers:

To add to the fighters six Mitsubishi J2M3 'Jack':

According to the catalogue these should have been Kawasaki NIK2-J Shinden (George) but in fact I think they are Jack's as the George looks nothing like this!:

I much prefer the green paint job for the Japanese and considered repainting the ones I'd already done in white but decided not to! With the Wildcats being less effective than the Hellcats I did previously hopefully this will make our games a bit more balanced. 

As ever this project has grown a fair bit, being pleased with the Japanese bombers I might add a few more and I already have four Lightnings to paint for the Americans!