I’ve been sitting on this ruleset for a few months now. I got a bunch of 1/600 scale planes (too many) from Pico Armor. In short: they’re great, but tiny! I intend to switch to 1/285th scale from I-94. They’re $3 per plane and come as single pieces. I considered splurging on GHQ, but their planes come in multiple parts and I hate gluing metal. Reviews to come once I receive and paint them.

So what is Check Your Six!? Well, it’s a ruleset from 2007 for hex based aerial combat in WW2. There is a Jet Age version as well. The title includes an exclamation mark, so forgive my annoying punctuation.

The main selling points for me are:

-Hex based: I dislike templates and cards for maneuver, which other games use. I like the precision of hexes. Less fiddly to me.

-Pilot skill matters greatly: Man, not the machine! Aces counted for proportionally enormous numbers of victories in WW2 compared to everyone else. There was a huge difference in skill and I love how that’s represented here.

-Height matters: Just a basic detail I want. Want to shoot at someone higher than you? Better be moving faster than them or you won’t even have a chance of hitting!

-High level of choice and nuance in maneuver: I love how this differentiates the aircrafts in subtle ways that show up in battle.

-Plays on a full 6×4: I just like how this looks and the space it provides for maneuver.

Anyway, all this for a ruleset I hadn’t even played until last night! I had a buddy over to try it out with two planes each. This also gave me the opportunity to try out my own system of marking maneuvers and some plane cards I made myself. The game normally has you write your maneuvers on a chart and then execute the turn. I dislike this aspect from a game feel perspective, so I made my own system.

In the photos below you’ll see dry erase markers. One side has the country symbol and on the other you write your code for your plane’s movement. Place the token beside the plane and execute per the rules.

I have one photo of the cards I designed. They just give you your plane stats in a pleasing format. The blank box in the bottom is if you’d like to have a card per plane. I’ve already uploaded these cards onto Facebook in the main CY6 group.

Further, I made little speed and altitude trackers I printed and glued onto the bottom of the flight stands so I can use Litko stands and track everything on each stand. Also on Facebook, though I think I still owe the group the PowerPoint so they can edit their own.

Last thing you’ll notice is: the planes are tiny! Again, I intend to upgrade. They’re just too small to enjoy at tabletop distance. You can really see that in the full table shot.

And my thoughts on the game? I really like it! I absolutely look forward to playing with proper flights of 4 and larger planes. Below you’ll find two P-47’s v two Bf 109’s. We each had one Veteran and one Green pilot.

The Americans managed the first kill, but it was the green German. The Veteran German managed to tail the Veteran American and take him out, leaving a Veteran German VS a Green American. We had to call the game for time, but I think the Germans would have won.

Very dramatic game–you can see we even had a tailing chain with the Veteran German sandwiched between both American aircraft for a bit. Too bad it was the Green American to the rear–he couldn’t stop the German in time.