Operation BattleAxe - A Bag The Hun Campaign

I pulled out all of my Bag the Hun miniatures again for the first time in a long time. I took stock of my miniatures and have plenty of painted aircraft. So I pulled out my air campaigns and started to look through them. The idea would be to do a solo campaign but for four separate fighter squadrons based on the miniatures I have painted up.

The thought is that each side will get an action during the day randomly rolled on a table that will target a specific force. The sides to this will be the SAAF & RAF against the Luftwaffe & Regia Aeronautica. Each game will be played independently between the squadrons unless a force randomly rolls an opposing mission against a side that is attacking them. This way, mostly the opposing forces would be other random squadrons with the occasional opportunities for them to clash head to head. Or so is the idea.

I plan on keeping the games on the smaller side with between 4 to 8 fighters per side with a small handfuls of supporting aircraft (4 or less). This should make the games manageable and faster for solo play. Operation Battleaxe was a short operation lasting only 3 days. That gives a total of 12 games for the full campaign. Note, that the squadrons are ficticious but based on real squadrons of different numbers. Each side will have 3 characters of the 13 member squadron. This will be the Squadron Leader and two other members of the squadron - chosen randomly. Of these, at least one must be a Sprog. Each of the squadrons will have a relatively similar experience levels.

Meet the Regia Aeronautica

For the Italian forces, I am looking to run a Squadriglia of either MC.200s (In june 1941 there was only 1 in North Africa), Cr.42s (I have 4 planes painted), or G.50bis fighters. I have more MC.200s painted than any other Italian aircraft so I will likely go with them. Pulling from some of the historical formations I have made the following Squadriglia of 13 pilots.

377^a Squadriglia

They are flying the MC.200 aircraft. Apparently, these were uncommon over North Africa at this point of the war. But I have 8 of them painted up. The squadron has 12 total aircraft at the start of the battle.

No.	Pilot	Status	Kills	Notes
1	Capitano Mirocleto Gerbino	Jr Ace	5	Spanish Civil War Veteran
2	Tenente Gualtiero Titone	Veteran	1	Squadron XO
3	Sottotenente Tarso Isola	Regular	0
4	Sottotenente Urdino Peduzzi	Regular	0
5	Sottotenente Michael Mariano	Regular	0
6	Sottotenente Abramio Giacinto	Sprog	0
7	SergenteMaggiore Lavinio Lico	Veteran	2
8	Sergente Cristian Piccoli	Regular	0
9	Sergente Romano Garafalo	Regular	0
10	Sergente Rocco Botti	Regular	0
11	Sergente Rodolfo Scalese	Sprog	0
12	Sergente Neoterio Sciulli	Sprog	0
13	Sergente Girardo Rizzi	Sprog	0

These fighter aircraft will support squadrons fielding Ro.37bis and Ca.310 reconnaissance aircraft (I need to buy a few), Ba.65 aircraft (liason/observation and light bomber), SM.79 bombers and some Cr.42s fighters in a ground attack role. I own SM.79s with one nearly painted. I also own some B.65s but they are not even primed. I have three Cr.42s painted up and ready to go. I own some Br.20 bombers as well but they are also not painted. I do have some G.50s painted but they may need some decals to complete them out. I think I also own a pack of Ca.310s provided that my aircraft recognition skills are up to task.

Meet the Luftwaffe

For the Germans, I have a bunch of Bf109s painted up and ready to go. So these will be my base force. I own some Bf110s but they are unpainted. I have at least 4 Ju87s painted up as well which would make a great support. I think I have some bombers (likely Ju88s) but I didn't see them when i checked the tray. They would be unpainted if they are there. That would cover nearly all of the aircraft for the campaign. 3.II JG 28 These are flying the BF109E-7 trop aircraft. They were the most common German fighter aircrat over the western desert. I have 8 painted and another 16 that are unprimed. The squadron has 12 aircrat at the start of the battle.

No.	Pilot	Status	Kills	Notes
1	Hauptmann Magnus Hippler	Veteran	4	Kills scored in the Battle for France.
2	OberstLeutnant	Veteran	1	Squadron XO
3	Leutnant Edgar Masing	Regular	0
4	Leutnant Erik Von Braun	Regular	0
5	Feldwebel Marc Viermetz	Regular	0
6	Feldwebel Fritz Lips	Sprog	0
7	Feldwebel Jacob Staudenmaier	Veteran	2
8	Unteroffizer Stefan Kellermann	Regular	0
9	Unteroffizer Jacob Kindl	Regular	0
10	Unteroffizer Christopher Schulberg	Regular	0
11	OberFahnrich Benedict Stoltenberg	Sprog	0
12	OberFahnrich Karl Gebhardt	Sprog	0
13	OberFahnrich Claus Ehmann	Sprog	0

The fighters will support the Ju87s of a nearby squadron as well as escort the Ju88 bombers of other squadrons. Occasionally they may protect spotting aircraft (I found an unpainted pack of Hs126 that I can get going on).

Meet the RAF

For the RAF, I settled on a unit equipped with the P-40. I currently have eight of these aircraft painted up. There were still unit equipped with this fighter deployed in North Africa by June 1941. As supports, i own some Blenheim Is and IVs, none of which are painted. I also have a pack of Martin Maryland bombers as well that need paint.

No.	Pilot	Status	Kills	Notes
1	Troy Holmes	Veteran	1	Kills scored in the Great War.
2	Caleb Carter	Veteran	1	Squadron XO Kill Score in France
3	Toby Hunt	Regular	0
4	Deacon Carr	Regular	0
5	Wyatt Moss	Regular	0
6	Bertie Morgan	Sprog	0
7	Ernest Khan	Veteran	2
8	Thomas Cole	Regular	0
9	Gabriel Read	Regular	0
10	George Foster Douglas	Regular	0
11	Elliott Harper	Sprog	0
12	Stanley Pearce	Sprog	0
13	Adam George	Sprog	0

I have started the clen up process for some Blenheim Is and primed some Martin Marylands to give these fellows something to escort. I need some form of observation aircraft. The fighters themselves may be pressed into a ground attack role. I don't think it will take long to get the support aircraft ready.

Meet the SAAF

For an allied contingent for this campaign, I added a squadron of SAAF flying Hawker Hurricanes. They will use the same support aircraft as the RAF. The paint schemes are more or less the same between the RAF and SAAF. So what gets painted for one, is done for the other.

No.	Pilot	Status	Kills	Notes
1	Zayden de Beer	Veteran	1	Kills scored in the Great War.
2	Rudi Pietersen	Veteran	1	Squadron XO Kill Score in France
3	Adiel Hertzog	Regular	0
4	Androw FitzSimmons	Regular	0
5	Francois van Wyk	Regular	0
6	Bertie Morgan	Sprog	0
7	Wincuf Pinckney	Veteran	2
8	Jonah Parker	Regular	0
9	Luca Hanekom	Regular	0
10	Archie McKenzie	Regular	0
11	Josh O'Brien	Sprog	0
12	Dexter Hill	Sprog	0
13	Stephen Reynolds	Sprog	0

I have 8 Hawker Hurricanes ready to go. In addition to the Blenheim Is and Martin Marylands that I have, I also found a pack of Blenheim IVs to paint up. I also have a pack of Spitfires but they may not end up in this campaign. I also think I might have a single pack of Gloster Gladiators languishing unpainted. They might be interesting to have make an appearance.

I have already played the first game but this post is long enough.