Squadron Dispatch #9

Wing Commander Frank Mouse, Red Leader

Dear Squadron Pilots,

Welcome to our first Christmas edition of Squadron Dispatches! As we approach the end of 2025, it's the perfect time to look back at an extraordinary year and look at where Angels One Six is and what’s coming next.

New to the Squadron? You can read all previous Squadron Dispatches on the blog at AngelsOneSix.com/blog.

Known as the ‘New Zealand Christmas Tree’, the Pohutukawa adds a touch of colour over the summer.

The last few months have been extremely busy, both personally and for the game.

It’s getting warmer as summer arrives after a cool and wet spring, so taking a swim in the bay makes for a great break from herding cats as all the components of Angels One Six come together.

I’ve just returned from Australia, where Grandma Mouse and I visited my sister’s new property. It’s a lovely space with enough room for a slew of horses and several horse archery tracks.

One of her daughters is a world-class horse archer (yes, riding a horse at speed and shooting a bow!), so she’s excited to have her own training ground at home.

It was a great trip, and I’m looking forward to going back in a month for Cancon.

Speaking of Cancon, one of my tasks in the new year is to get properly organized for the various local air shows. I hope to be running demos at a few over the coming year. I’ll let you know as things get closer.

I’ve also been invited to take part in the summer programme at MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) here in Auckland. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, so I’m excited to have a look at their aviation hall again.

The Dice! The Dice!

Florentyna, my graphic designer, has been busy over the last few months. One of the projects she’s completed is the dice. The elves away in China are busy making samples as I type, so I can only show you some rough mockups that I put together, but I’m too excited to wait for the real thing.

The two main types of dice in Angels One Six are the Action dice and the Shooting dice.

Players roll the three Action dice at the start of each aircraft’s turn to see how alert their pilot is and how well their situational awareness is keeping up with the swirling dogfight around them.

In the core game, each 4, 5, or 6 gives you another action to add to the standard two you start with each turn.

When you add the campaign rules, your pilots get their own ability rating, changing that baseline for better or worse, with expert pilots having more chances of getting more actions.

While the action dice are lovely, I think it’s the shooting dice that are truly outstanding. The British dice are duck egg blue (yes, I know it’s green), the colour of the underside of a Spitfire, and have a Messerschmitt in their sights for a six. When you see that, you know you’ve scored a hit.

While the British have eight dice, one for each of the .303 Browning machine-guns on their Spitfires, the Germans only have four. But, two of the German dice are bigger for their deadly 20mm MG/FFM cannon, while the two smaller ones let you know when their 7.92mm MG17s are on target.

Rulebook Cover

One of the other things Florentyna’s been busy with is the rulebook. She’s finished the layout now, and it’s amazing.

As you can see from the cover, we’ve gone with a dilapidated old 1940s booklet look—based on some period books I have, particularly By Air to Battle, the Official Account of the British Airborne Divisions.

As you can see, it’s the dramatic box cover rendered in a new (old?) style. Al Deere’s Spitfire is still front and centre, but on a plain brown wrapper.

The interior combines the same style with clear graphics—I love the simple explanation of how a Split-S works, step-by-step instructions and diagrams using the cockpits, flight stands and Spitfires—straight from the box components.

Wing Commander Mouse adds in some tips to clarify things and remind you of things from elsewhere in the rulebook.

Aircraft Manufacture

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is getting the Spitfire and Messerschmitt Me 109 into production. We’ve looked at the prototypes earlier this year. Now, we’re cutting metal—preparing for injection moulding production.

Despite several months of hard work, I don’t have anything to show you yet, but we’re getting close. The manufacturer is making the last tweaks to the mould so that they can produce them perfectly every time and adjusting the colours to precisely match the historical colours (once adjusted for scale and bright sunlight). I hope to have some glorious images for you next time.

So why am I spending all this time getting production sorted out when the Kickstarter is still a while away? The answer is that I want to know for certain that I can provide what I promise when you back the Kickstarter, and to deliver quickly so you can start playing as soon as possible.

2026: The Year of the Kickstarter

Things have been running a bit slower than I thought they would a year ago, but we’re getting close. I expect things will be ready for production within six months, so look out for the big announcement in a few months.

Holiday Listening

Looking for something to watch over the holidays? Check out the We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast with Al Murray and James Holland or their exceptional Battle of Britain YouTube series.

Their podcast deep-dives are brilliant, perfectly complements what we're doing with Angels One Six.

Ever wondered what life was like as an RAF pilot? Here’s your answer.

Thank You Squadron

This year has been extraordinary—personally challenging with Grandma Mouse's health issues (though her ticker is now keeping perfect time and her new post-cataract-surgery eyes are now spotting bandits at maximum range!) but incredibly rewarding as our community has grown to over 500 passionate members. That means we’ll be able to give you top-notch components at an unbeatable price, making this awesome game a no-brainer for the coming year’s gaming.

We Want to Hear From You

What podcasts and YouTube channels do you recommend? What’s your favourite episode?

Join the discussion at facebook.com/groups/AngelsOneSix or discord.gg/6WFTv9m3HD.

From the entire Mouse family—Phil, Mrs. Mouse, and Grandma Mouse (now with enhanced visual acquisition capability)—we wish you a wonderful Christmas and an exciting New Year.

Until 2026, keep your formations tight and check your six!

Red Leader, Out.

Phil Yates

Designer, Angels One Six

Savage Mouse Games

P.S. - If you're looking for holiday reading, Derek Robinson's Piece of Cake brilliantly captures the squadron dynamics we're recreating in the campaign system. This dramatic story perfectly captures the way personalities clash and mesh under combat stress and is well worth a read.