Tail-End Charlie
By Alex White
- 4 minutes read - 799 wordsThat has just happened to me during my preparation for zinequest in 2025. I recognise that it would be good to include some zine-level games in my product portfolio, and zinequest seemed like it would be a good opportunity to try to launch one.
I've had a number of projects which have been on my mind for a year or more. One is about an elderly couple looking back nostalgically on their life. Another is about the White Rose Society of students attempting to resist the nazi's from within WW2 Germany.
But two weeks ago I visited the museum at Bletchley Park—home of the codebreakers—and on the way back I was thinking about the work of Bomber Command and the term "Tail-End Charlie" came to mind. It was the generic term used for the tail gunners of the bombers.
Flying in Bomber Command was a study in extreme contrasts. It was the deadliest branch of military service in WW2, with over 44% of the aircrew dying on operations. Five to eight hours in an unheated, unpressurised aircraft at -60ºC in the dark with faster, better armed aircraft trying to shoot you down. And then if you made it back, you might go to a country pub with your mates, go and meet girls at local dances, have mess hall parties, and enjoy the English countryside.
Then you climb back in your plane and do it all over again.
I like writing games that tackle historical subjects, and strong feelings, and I started to wonder whether I could do something to bring to life the lonely and dangerous war of the tail-end charlies.
Turning it into a game
I felt that continuing with playing cards for the underlying mechanic seemed like a natural step because they encapsulate a number of different dimensions in a single card draw. I wasn't going to use my Retrospective SRD though because I didn't want this to be the victors looking back on a successful war. I wanted there to be a sense of danger for the character and his crew.
The main flow of the game is a downtime → mission → downtime → mission loop.
A tour of duty was 30 missions, but I've shorted it to 15 missions for this game. Partly for playability, and partly to have a simple way of making the probability of survival being a close approximation for what they really experienced.
Your card pack is divided into two decks; red cards for downtime, and black cards for missions.
In downtime you are drawing five cards from the red deck. Diamonds (♦️) are general rest and recreation, and build your relationships with your crew. Diamond face cards can reduce the stress that might take you out of the war. Hearts (♥️) are romance cards, and indicate how you might find love and affection during downtime. Heart face cards indicate a growing relationship with one particular person.
On missions, you are drawing five cards from the black deck. Clubs (♣️) are success on the mission, and Club face cards may lead to you receiving decorations for extraordinary bravery. Spades (♠️) are danger as your plane's systems fail or you come under attack by flak and enemy fighters. Spade face cards increase your overall stress, and the total number of spades on an operation tell you whether you get home safely or are in danger of death during the mission. Do you make it home, or did you have to try to bale out?
A solo game
This will be my first purely solo game. It might be possible to create a game where people play each of the crew members, but I think the isolated nature of the tail-end charlie, alone in his turret at the back of the plane with only the voices of the others on the intercom lend itself to a solo game.
You will be keeping two journals (or write alternately in one journal if you want). One is a diary where you collect the stories of downtime, as every card has a different prompt associated with it. The other is your debrief operations log, where you collect the stories of each operation. Again, every card has a different prompt associated with it.
This sounds great, when can I play it?
Well, it's coming to kickstarter on February 11th. You can find the 'coming soon' page with more details here:
It would be really helpful if you could sign up to be notified of it's launch, and spread the news about Tail-End Charlie.
If you think this sounds really exciting, and you'd like to participate in the alpha playtest, drop me a line on email (alex on this domain) or on Bluesky, and I'll sort you out with a copy of the playtest draft!