Cruel Seas models - Terry the Tramp Tanker

I know a few of you are buying into Cruel Seas, and I thought a few words on what the first steps at expanding your collection past the S Boats and Vospers in the starter set should be.

If you have played a few games and you are British, the obvious choice is Dog Boats. The truth is that in a straight shoot out the Vospers will almost always lose. This is pretty much spot on historically, so what you need are Motor Gun Boats. Sadly at the moment this is a non starter as noone makes a suitable model. The Dog Boat is therefore your friend, as it basically is an MTB on steroids and can happily shoot it out with S Boats and win.

There is another option however. Warlord make a tanker model, and this really opens up your game play options for just about everyone. In theory it is the same as the card one in the Starter Set, but noone really likes playing with card in what is basically a model game, so picking up the tanker is a good idea, particularly as it has a number of attractive features - 1) it is universal, it can be used by all sides, and 2) it allows the Vospers something to use their torpedoes on. This is quite important as the real advantage of MTBs is they carry torpedoes (doh) and the 73 foot Vospers actually have twice the number of ready use torps as S Boats, making them very potent in this respect.

I picked my tanker up at Warlord when I was through doing some playtesting for BRS before Christmas as a prezzie for myself. RRP is £18, which seems reasonable on the whole. I'm not sure if it comes with wake marker or data card - mine didn't, but that may be because there were none on the shop shelf and a very helpful member of staff went around to the resin room and grabbed one off the production line for me rather than disappoint - which was nice (Cheers!). Not having the card etc is no great loss anyway as there are copies in the starter box.

The model consisted of a resin hull, separate resin bridge, and a selection of metal accessories - 2 winches, 2 masts, 2 lifeboats, 5 small vents, 2 large vents, 4 sets of companionways, a spare crane boom, funnel  and a gun and crew. Everything was crisp and broadly flash free. There were no assembly instructions - again I can't say if this is standard but I suspect so. Working out where stuff goes was not that hard, although I tried to follow the pics on the website this did cause me a problem as they have the companionways shown leading up to the forecastle when in fact I think two of them should connect to the bridge wings. I didn't help myself at this point by losing one companionway to the carpet monster that lives under my painting table - ah well. I also didn't make it easy for myself in a couple of other ways. Firstly I stuck everything down with enthusiasm - starting with the winches, which match up with two areas on the decks. The problem is this leaves no real space to mount the gun. I suspect the solution is to only fit the front winch and mount the gun aft. The second mistake was to stick the lifeboats and davits on - I really should have thought this through because it made painting around them a faff on  - top tip - paint them separately and glue them on last. To compound my problems with the gun I decided the best way to get most bang for my buck was to magnetise it so I could use it armed or unarmed. To this end I sunk a 2x1mm magnet into the deck and stuck another under the gun mount. I really should have positioned this where the aft winch was, so on mine it is a bit cramped - ah well.

Other than that the model went together quickly and smoothly. Here she is - after taking this pic I decided to move the front companionways to the bridge. You can also see the magnet for the deck gun.

I decided to paint it up as a rusty and worn out coastal tramp rather than anything nice and shiny. I may have got carried away but I (and apparently Papa Nurgle) are pleased with the result.

All in all a very nice model of a small coastal tramp tanker, and a great addition to your collection. I would happily recommend it. 

Cheers

Cruel Seas Battle Report - Scenario two - Torpedo Run

This afternoon we (me and Paul D) decided to try out one of the starter scenarios from Cruel Seas as Asgard Wargames in Middlesbrough (purveyors of the finest toy soldiers and models). Coincidentally Ste who runs the place does a nice cup of tea, which is most welcome. If you are in or around Middlesbrough or need some stuff online I would heartily recommend you look them up (plug over).

Scenario 2 is a simple 1v1 mission set in the English Channel, with the defender trying to get a tanker across the table, the attacker is trying to sink it. The recommended forces are an S Boat vs a Vosper MTB, dicing to see which is the attacker. As I ended up as the defender and had just finished painting some Soviet boats we decided to mix that up a bit by swapping the scene from the Channel to the Baltic, and replacing the Vosper with a BMO.

The BMO is a small armoured patrol boat \ submarine chaser used extensively by the Soviets in WW2. It gets several mentions in the "fluff" section of the Cruel Seas rules, but in one of the many "omissions" doesn't appear in the stat lists. Even so it is not exactly a challenge to make up something close. The BMO is about the same size as a PT boat, so we used the hull points from that. Weaponry consisted of an automatic 37mm in the bow, a 45mm on the stern and a couple of AA HMGs amidships, plus depth charges, but no torpedoes. Cruel Seas doesn't list the 45mm as a weapon, so we decided to class it as a 57mm for this game. They have some armour so we classed it as having an armoured wheelhouse like a late S Boat. They're a useful little boat but a bit slow, with a top speed of about 21 knots. Perfect for an escort scenario. Warlord don't make a BMO, or at least there are none listed in their release plans, but Heroics and Ros do for £4, and it is a quite nice model. The only thing missing is gun crew, but I think I may try getting some suitable figures from H&R.

The real one - this one has replaced the rear 45mm with another AA gun

My Heroics and Ros version - sorry for the blurry pic 

We're using the paper map from the CS starter set - it's a bit shiny but will do for now, until we can get a better replacement.

Junior Lieutenant Dolguruki was pacing his very small bridge. Slightly to starboard was his ward for the day, the coastal transport P P Ledbedev, carrying a month's supply of Vodka for the troops on the Front. (Model is Warlords Tanker - £18) Both were cruising along.

 Unbeknown to the Soviets, there is an S Boat lying in wait, Commanded by Lt Prum (model Warlord S100 class late S Boat from the Starter Set)

 Turn 1 and the Soviets spotted the lurking S Boat. The BMO immediately turned to close the range, also attempting to put themselves between the transport and the S Boat. The S Boat, realising it had been spotted, opened the throttles and tried to bring it's guns to bear.

 Turn 2, and initiative went to the Soviets. The BMO continued to close and opened fire with her two bigger gins - both missed. The S Boat accelerated and returned fire on the BMO. A lucky long range shot from the 37mm hit the BMO but did little damage.

 Turn 3 and Prum has the initiative. He continued to engage the BMO with little effect, and launched his "Fish" at the transport from a range of around 50 cm.

The Soviets landed a hit with their bow mounted 37mm, which did limited damage, and the 45mm missed.

Turn 4 and the Germans held the initiative. Their torpedoes were running hot, straight and true. It was looking a bit scary for the Ledbedev. 

Luckily the crafty old Captain had been biding his time, and at the last moment swung the wheel so the torpedo ran harmlessly past the bow. Sadly that brought her closer to the S Boat and it's heavy weaponry started to chew up the vulnerable old ship. A 20mm hit to the engine room slowed the top speed. The crew looked worriedly at their Captain. Back on the S Boat Prum ordered his torpedo tubes reloaded but the crew looked at him blankly - the torpedo reloading rules are one of the things mentioned in the rules book but actually missing. Ah well.

Dolguruki had a bit of a brain fade at this point, forgetting he could turn 45 degrees for each move segment, he hauled his ship around rather slowly and continued to engage the German, but with no effect.

Turn 5 and Prum accelerated and turned to put the transport between him and the closing Soviet boat. Ok he couldnt reload his torpedoes due to poor editing, but he still had a lot of firepower with his 37mm and 20mm cannons. He raked the transport with all his guns, hitting again and again. The Soviet return fire was again ineffective.

Turn 6 and Prum held his turn, putting the tanker between his boat and the BMO, and continued to pour fire into the damaged transport. The BMO tried to put some hurt on the S Boat, but accuracy was now suffering as the Soviets were at full throttle and the target was partly obscured by the transport. They missed with everything except a HMG which caused minimum damage.

Turn 8. The two warships continued to circle the stricken transport. German fire proved fatal, and the transport stopped dead an the water and started to sink. Those S Boats can really dish out damage. Which raised another issue, as we could find no explanation as to what happens when a ship sinks. Does it go down straight away or sink over time? There is a mention of sinking ships blocking line of sight, but no rules about what actually happens when you start to sink. We decided to leave the marker in place for a turn or two.

Turn 9. All that was needed now was for Prum to make good his escape. He opened the throttle and his ship surged forward. For a moment it looked like he would get away scot free, but then a 45mm shell hit him in the stern, damaging his engines and taking out his aft 37mm. Dolguruki may well have lost the precious vodka, but this must have galvanised his gunners who were hitting the fleeing S Boat hard.

Turn 10. Prums luck ran out. Another series of hits ripped through his boat, hitting him again in the engine room and wrecking the bridge, and she started to sink. Prum ordered his crew to abandon ship, but some of them were caught as the Soviets raked his ship from stem to stern.

So a phyrric victory to the Germans.

It was a good game and we had quite a bit of fun. The rules work, but the problems of omissions and editing are annoying. Warlord are currently getting quite a lot of flak for the problems with the CS rules, deservedly so, but I would not let that put buyers off - this is a good little game. Hopefully they will learn the lesson and get future rules sets properly proof read and play tested. Even so I'm sure we will be playing again soon.

I'm planning a couple more posts on Cruel Seas. If you would like to get notified of any new blog posts just hit the "follow" button up there on the right.

Cheers

Christmas break - Fallout 76 and Cruel Seas

Out of Office on - check
Work phone switched to answerphone - check
Time to relax :-)

I'm guessing a measurable part of my free time over the holiday period is going to be taken up with Fallout 76, and Cruel Seas. Surprisingly they seem to have a lot in common. 

Fallout 76 is a long awaited computer game from Bethesda that launched a month or so ago to much fanfare, which rapidly turned into a cacophony of criticism a the game was riddled with bugs and errors. I won't go into details on those here, because life is too short and you can spend a wasted couple of hours googling "Fallout 76 bugs" if you really want to. Cruel Seas is the much anticipated tabletop wargame from Warlord Games set in WW2 based around coastal forces. And it is riddled with bugs too.

My wife works in adult education. She has explained to me the "sandwich method" of giving feedback, which is always give negative feedback between two sets of positives, as it is better received and more productive. Here goes.

I've had enough time to read the rules and play some games of Cruel Seas. And I rather like them. The style of writing is interesting and engaging, and the layout is first class, glossy and beautifully illustrated. The game also plays well, and has a very nice fun feel to it. Other than a few issues with quality (more later), the supporting material in the box is excellent. On the whole the game mechanics are solid enough, and the use of a "wake marker" on each ship to track speed is actually quite novel, reduces record keeping and makes it easy to see what speed a ship is travelling at. I liked that. I also liked the ruler with the common shooting modifiers printed on the back - very good idea, even if for some reason only one of the three in the set has it.

The problem is there are rather a lot of errors and omissions. Chief of these are rules that read one way, but are explained in a totally contradictory way such as turning, or rules which just seem to be incomplete or missing,  such as how a ship reacts after a collision, or how minefields actually work - there is a "roll on the mine table", but no actual table. These really should have been caught by anyone proofreading the draft, but clearly were not. There are also some very strange situations created by the rules mechanics and which should really have been caught by playtesters, but again seem not to have been, such as searchlights which are invisible to anyone other than the person using them and the target, or the way a loaded tanker can turn inside a motor boat, or that it is easier to hit an E Boat moving at 14 knots than a tanker moving at 12 knots because the tanker is going full speed, where the E boat is just idling along. There are also some problems with the various statistics listed for some ships, and a points system which fails to take into account the speed a ship can travel- quite a problem with a set of rules where your speed has a significant impact on your combat capability. Similarly all ships have a "hull rating" that equates to damage points, but no explanation of how this is arrived at. Lastly there are some plain historical errors, such as giving Japanese MTBs "Long Lance" torpedoes, or Soviet Bronekaters 57mm guns, and they don't get the names of the Vosper boats quite right. These are, in truth, not going to register to most players I would think, but should really be corrected.

I mentioned the quality of the supporting materials. The counters and islands and similar bits are all of good quality thick card, but there are two items that are clearly going to fall apart quickly. The first is the damage trackers that are supposed to clip on to the ship stat cards, but in reality are so flimsy that you would be well advised to throw them straight in the bin and use small plastic paperclips or similar and save yourself the stress. The other issue is the wake markers. I feel for Warlord here. The wake markers are a good idea but because they need to be placed underneath the model they have to be thin or the model will not sit on them. The card they have used is so thin as to be almost paper, which feels as if it will not last long or take any rough handling. Reminds me of the city sector markers in Dropfleet Commander which were kept thin to allow ship bases to be placed on top of them, and were loathed by players because they were so flimsy. Lastly, the rule book itself has some quite flimsy covers more akin to a magazine than a set of rules. Mine are already curling up at the corners, but it is a minor issue really.

A fortnight after publication Bethesda released a patch to fix some of the bugs in Fallout 76 ,  and coincidentally a fortnight after publication Warlord released a ten page errata that addressed some of the layout and editing problems, but not the rules issues. In some ways they shot themselves in the foot here because they went for exactly the same lavish and well illustrated style of errata as they used in the rules, so what could have been half a page turned into ten pages, which sounds a lot worse.

So back to the sandwich. The one thing I have not mentioned is the models, which are VERY nice. The starter set has six Vosper MTBs and four E Boats in plastic, and these are first class. The expansion fleets are mostly resin models with metal detailing - I have the British set and a tanker and again these are very nice models.

I think Fallout 76 and Cruel Seas both have a lot in common. They were highly anticipated, released to much fanfare, and were both clearly rushed out before they were ready, I suspect to hit Christmas deadlines. The other thing they have in common is I think that they will both recover and do well in the long term. I certainly expect to play them quite a lot.

So on that note I will leave you with two pics that sum up each game. Firstly, this is a screenshot of my Fallout 76 character who has fallen through a "hole" in the games terrain mesh and cannot get out.

The second is taken from the Cruel Seas errata, which shows a Vosper MTB launching a torpedo, sadly the torpedo seems to be leaving the tube backwards! I don't think that will end well.

Merry Christmas

The Way Home - New Blood Red Skies scenario

 Andy Chambers is working on some new rules and scenarios for Blood Red Skies which are designed around attacking ground targets. This includes not just the actual attack but also the often dangerous bits between the attack and getting home for well deserved tea and cake (or in this case as will become more apparent later - coffee and pancakes). Andy has kindly let me have a look to playtest some of them, and I had a run at one last night with James* at Asgard Wargames (our very Friendly Local Games Store and plastic \ lead supplier, in Middlesbrough - well worth a visit if you are in the area). So here is a quick report on the scenario called "The Way Home" - sorry about the pics - I had forgotten to pack the pretty neoprene game mat so we just flew over some nondescript greenery...

Firstly the setting. After fighting their way through and attacking the target the bombers have turned for home. They are not in great shape, with one engine out, and need to get out of the area quickly - then a gunner spots some dots closing fast from below.......

The scenario starts with a bomber force half way across the table. Escorts are split, with one element on table and the rest in High Cover. The interceptors similarly have one element on table and the rest in High Cover, but as they deploy second they certainly have the drop on the Escorts or the bombers. The actual number of bombers depends on the size of the game being played - each pair of elements of escorts generates either three single engine, two twin engine, or one four engine bomber. This is a nice touch as not everyone has a collection of heavy bombers. The bombers already carry a boom chit to represent damage they have picked up on the way. As James was flying as Escort had four P51s rated 5, 5, 3, 3 this meant I could get one of my B17s on table for him to look after - Hollywood demands it! I was intercepting with four Me109Gs - my 109E models standing in for their more advanced relatives. Their pilots were rated 5, 4, 4, 4. With hindsight I probably should have went for a bit more quantity over quality but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And so it began. B17 DF-B "Bad Penny" of the 324th Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bomber Group was having a bad day. After bombing the target she had been hit by flak and lost an engine. That caused her to drop out of formation - and as everyone knows, that's when The Bogeyman comes to get you. Luckily she picked up a pair of P51s who were going to try and shepherd her home.

Initially it looked pretty bad for the escorts too, as a pair of 109s seemed to have got in behind them on setup, however when we rolled for starting advantage both 109s blew it and were Disadvantaged, even after their Radar Support. Turn one saw the P51s head for some cloud cover as the 109s climbed for position. Both sides called in their High Cover supports

Turn two and the Germans went after Bad Penny. However as the lead 109 lined the B17 up in his sights James played "Poorly Trained Opponents" on me, and my pilot forgot he had his safety catch on. This left us in an interesting dilemma because the bomber would only shoot if attacked, but the 109 had not technically done so due to his inability to find his arse with both hands. We decided the intent was enough - and Bad Penny's rear gunner hit the 109 causing a boom chit.  The second 109 of the pair wisely held off to cover his leader, as the P51s were swinging around, but the lead 109 of the High Cover element used his Great Dive to get a beam shot into the already damaged B17, taking out the top turret in the process. It was looking a bit bad for Bad Penny.

Turn three and the P51s threw themselves into the fight. A head on pass hit one 109 and caused a boom chit, and a deflection shot got another - the 109s were at 3 boom - not great. In return a P51 was also hit, but the wolves were closing in on the stricken bomber.

And then the German luck, which had never been great, went bad. In an attempt to get the bomber one 109 got too cocky. His cannon raked the B17, but the tail gunner shot back (note - the B17 had lost 2 boom chits so was at 0 FP for her defensive guns, EXCEPT for the rear arc, which had the +2 bonus- those tail .50 cals are a bitch). The 109 staggered under the impact and went down, inflicting 2 Boom chits on the Germans and causing them to break off.

Bad Penny staggered home, full of bullet holes and wounded heroes.

It was a great little scenario. A bit quick but that's probably down to our decisions and dice rather than anything in the scenario. Hindsight is wonderful and we probably should have used some twin engine bombers, but as the saying goes, if you've got it, flaunt it, and B17s are bloody lovely to look at at this scale. Looking at the other scenarios it looks like we may have the opportunity to play a connected series, with the approach to the target, the actual attack, then the run for home. I'm up for some if that!

We have a couple of queries and feedback to pass back to Andy, but this is certainly looking like another nice scenario for Blood Red Skies when it gets published properly next year.

* James Farquarson, not the infamous "Traffic James" for players of Andy Cs previous game "Dropfleet Commander" 

Balance, and Bombers in Blood Red Skies

Morning everyone!

Yup it's just gone 5am here in Renkoville and I can't sleep so I thought I would try and get a blog post out. I've been slipping of late, mainly due to some work\life\game balance issues, so I thought I would try and kill 2 birds with one stone, and look at some new scenarios Andy Chambers is working on for Blood Red Skies. First up is "Transport Hunt" - which can be found in it's beta form here on the  Ready Room Facebook Group (where all discerning BRS players meet) or here on the Warlord Games BRS Forum for those who prefer not to sell their soul to Facebook. Transport Hunt is one of a batch of interesting new scenarios Andy is developing for a future BRS expansion, and he kindly agreed to allow me to publish it early to give players something to do with their Ju52s and DC3s.

The scenario is based around an offensive sweep of fighters through an area being used by transports, with some escorts thrown into the mix. It's an interesting game because the transports only appear when the sweep finds them, and then they head for safety as fast as possible. However there have been a couple of  queries raised about balance, and rather than pop a quick answer on FB where it would probably be lost in a week, I thought it may be better to give a fuller version of my thoughts here (where it will be lost in a fortnight). So - balance and bombers in BRS.

The fundamental issue with bombers (and transports) in BRS is that the game is about fighters. Andy Chambers made a decision early on that bombers and other non fighters would really play secondary roles, basically as targets or objectives. The scenarios are all written with this in mind, and to me it makes a lot of sense. The problem with bombers is, they're not fighters (doh!). Their role in the air war is pivotal but essentially passive - they go from a to b, do their thing, then go back (hopefully) from b to a. Enemy fighters will try and stop them, and friendly fighters will try to protect them. So, point 1, bombers are not fighters :-)

Point two is about players and game styles. BRS was written with a large audience in mind. Parts of it are pure historical \ scenario driven, but it also tries to include a more casual \ tournament style of game play, where you just turn up with 500 points and get stuck in. It is extraordinarily difficult to get the two to mesh because the historical features of bombers are not the same as fighters (see point 1) so working out a "points" value for them using the same formulae for fighters is not going to work. The way Andy is trying to get around this is by broadly assuming that most bombers are functionally similar, so a Blenhiem is broadly equivalent to a Do17 or SB2, and adding elements to bomber missions based on that broad type, so a mission will include up to six single engine bombers, or three twin engine, or two four engine bombers. It is broad brush, but it does work. A fighter pilot really doesn't care if the target is a Do17 or a Ju88, and nor should we.

However where there is a problem where the broad brush approach does stutter a little, and that is is pilot (in this case crew) skill.  In "Transport Hunt", and indeed all the bomber scenarios, there is no mention of crew skill levels. Partly this is my fault - I asked Andy to trim the scenario down to a manageable size for publication on The Ready Room. It is part of a bigger document and some bits are still in development, but also when written I suspect Andy didn't think crew skills were that much of an issue, but players sometimes have different viewpoints and questions about crew skill have appeared. Anyway, here is my solution to the "what crew skills should my bomber have" question. It depends!

Option 1 - use the random crew skill option. Page 3 of the BRS Scenarios booklet has a random pilot skill table you can use. This is mainly designed for the historical scenario players, and can result in some wild variations. There are some problems with using this option in games with lots of bombers as it is easy from a management point of view that all the bombers move together as far as is possible within the advantage system, but with relatively small numbers involved it works.

Option 2 - rate all bombers the same. The KISS option. Assume all bomber crews are reasonably experienced and rate them as Skill 3 (or 2 if the scenario is about rookies).

Option 3 - use an average skill rating over all the bombers in a Squadron. For instance three twin engine planes could all have skill 3 crews, or one could be skill 4, another skill 3 and the last skill 2 - they average out at skill 3 so overall should balance. This is more interesting for the mini-max players out there.

So there is my insomnia dealt with, plus some ramblings and suggestions. I'm hoping to try another playtest of Andy's draft scenarios this evening - "The Way Home", a battered bomber formation struggling back to home and under attack, and then on Friday I'm at Nottingham where we will be having a go at trying to sink some ships with Mosquitoes - watch this space :-) 

That sinking feeling - Fallout 76 and Cruel Seas ramblings

Loads of real world "stuff" has kept my gaming limited, plus Fallout 76.

For those of you who may be interested F76 is the latest pc (and console) game set in the Fallout \ Post Apocalyptic world. Unlike the previous versions it is multi player, which is certainly different. It is also bugged to hell and on balance should never have been released in the state it is in - but it is clear the "suits and accountants" have rushed it out. The reception has been hostile and the reviews brutal, and mostly justified. The problem is, behind all the damned stupid bugs, disconnections, stability issues and plain screw ups there is a rather good game lurking underneath. I have been playing it quite a bit. It will be interesting to see how it develops, or if , as some suggest, it is fatally holed beneath the waterline.

Which smoothly segues into Cruel Seas, which should be out in a few days time. CS is Warlord Games' foray into WW2 Coastal \ Fast Attack. Still not a lot known about it, other than it is John Stallard's (who owned Warlord) pet project. Warlord are throwing the kitchen sink at this. The first two plastic frames have been given away free on the front of Decembers Wargames Illustrated, and another two in January's issue. As I mentioned before, they're in 1:300, which is a bold choice. Initially I was a bit sceptical as this is a big scale, but having painted one of the boats I can see the appeal. One other (I assumed) unplanned side effect is this game isn't going to suffer size creep - anything larger than a gunboat or corvette will be too big to put on a table. Warlord are not trying to tie ground scale (sea scale?) into the models or weapons ranges - pretty much like Bolt Action this is TLAR (That Looks About Right) so we will have MTBs moving further than some of their guns can shoot - which is a bit strange. I do have some misgivings about the rules, but it is a bit difficult to articulate - there seems to be a lot of dice rolling - in fact it seems very "traditional" - in fact that is the term that has been used several times when in discussion with people who have played. That may not be a bad thing, but we will know at the weekend when they hit the shelves - assuming there are no last  minute delays - something Warlord seem prone to at the moment. The ranges thing may not really be that much of an issue - you can justify it by saying it is all happening at night - as no MTB or S-Boat would be running around in daylight unless something very strange was happening.

Anyway, here is the first MTB painted - a Vosper, and I think it's a 72 footer but more knowledgeable heads may correct me. I do think it looks rather nice - even accepting the massively overscale mast 

Meanwhile I have ordered a couple of models from Heroics and Ros who also do a small 1:300 range of Coastal Warfare stuff, so I can compare the two.

Anyway, enough for now - hope to have something more informed on CS at the weekend. Cheers

Blood Red Skies Retrospective

Blood Red Skies (BRS) has been out for a couple of months. Written by "veteran" games designer Andy Chambers and available from Warlord Games. Now the bloom of enthusiasm has worn off, I thought it worth having a warts and all look at the game.

So what do you get for your £40 RRP?

Assuming you have bought or are looking at buying the starter set you get quite a lot. Six Spitfires, six Me109Es, bases, skill disks, cards, dice, rules, scenarios, measuring sticks, cloud and bomber templates and counters. You also get three rule books - basic rules, Advanced Rules and Scenarios.  Its all well made, the card parts particularly are excellent quality and look the business. There is a nice Art Decor theme to the graphics which ties it all together well.  The models are pre-coloured - brown for the Brits, grey for Germans, and they come with some stickers for national emblems which are clearly there for six year-olds but add little or nothing to the more experienced war gamer. I think Warlord hope to sell the game as playable out of the box, with no painting or assembly needed, possibly hoping to get it into non war gaming players?

There are some annoying issues however.

The models are prone to warping - particularly the Spitfires wings. This can be fixed with a quick dip in hot water to straighten them, and is nothing unusual with plastic models. The problem is there seems to be a tendency for that to be repeated, and sometimes it is quite serious. I don't think I would be keen on having to regularly dip painted models in hot water. The 109 is also a strange model in that it seems to be a "generic" 109 with some features of different versions. There is a more detailed look at them on an earlier post.  The models also seem to be a little under 1:200 scale - no idea why as the resin masters I saw were spot on so clearly a production issue (China I presume). They are in the "gaming piece" rather than "model" end of the scale - but serviceable non the less and they paint up really well.

Then there's the "cool" measuring template. It looks quite nice, but about thirty seconds into your first game you realise that when you use it you have to place the model on top of the template then remove the template -  it is a bit of a faff on. Later it becomes apparent that for some reason the actual measuring scale is wrong at the far end of the scale - I can only assume the original got re-scaled somewhere along the line. This isn't a problem if both players use the same tool, but as soon as someone starts to use a tape measure it becomes one because they go further! There are also a couple of typos (we all make mistooks) and some of the wording and diagrams seem less clear than they could be, leading to some confusion when playing. This last is causing some comment from ex X Wing players who are used to a much more precise style of rules writing than the historical guys.

The "Advantage" bases are pretty nice too. These are a clever pivoting base that is used to represent status on the table - reducing the need for counters and therefore table clutter, and after several months of playing mine still retain the necessary "click" that makes them work. I have heard some people don't like them, but if they bother you that much you could just use counters.

The Basic rules work well, and certainly will hit the casual gamer target audience. The Advanced Rules introduce card play which adds an additional level of game play and detail that will give more interest and longevity. The six Scenarios are designed to guide the player through the concepts in easy steps - which they mostly do, although I must admit the bomber escort scenario is one that could have used a bit more polishing as the interaction between the rules for multi engine aircraft and loaded bombers seems to confuse some people.

The rules are slick and give a fast game that does not, as someone else said rather cruelly but with some truth about another set of WW2 dogfight rules, feel like "Penguins on roller skates". The "Advantage" system manages to give a fast flowing and fluid game in 2D that represents the essence of a swirling dogfight in 3D, situation constantly changing. Initiative means even a poor pilot can get the drop on an Ace if he is set up right, but Pilot Skill is everything when you get into a dogfight, which is as it should be, and even a marginal skill advantage can really turn the tables.  Gunnery is easy to understand and again flows well, and the adoption of the "Boom Chit" as a morale \ fuel \ ammunition count system for air games is both novel and interesting. The card play is interesting too,  a bit clunky at times but adds a real extra dimension to the game.

There has been some criticism about the balance of the starter set, with the 109s being overpowered by the Spitfires, but I think this is a learning curve issue - basically the Spitfire gets the "Tight Turn" trait card, which is easy to use and because you have one per plane you are pretty much golden in a straight turn fight. The 109 has Great Climb and Great Dive. These are harder to get the most out of, particularly Great Dive, but once players understand Great Climb, and use it as often as they can, then the 109 really starts to compete - which is another way of saying "don't turn fight a Spitfire in a 109", which seems spot on to me.

The other criticism levelled with some validity is the choice of planes in the initial release. In addition to the 109E and Spitfire MkII Warlord have released a Yak 1, A6M5 Zero, and a P51D - all available in Squadron boxes of 6 with all the cards etc you need to play them and colour coded - another nod at "out of the box" and casual gamers. For the historical gamers this choice really causes problems as the Zero is the late version and the P51D is way out of sync with the others as far as service dates goes. Warlord are working on new releases, but having set their standards at pre coloured plastic there is a significant delay before any new releases - Wave 2 is Fw190, Hurricane, Me110 and Mosquito, but no official release date has yet been announced other than some time this year.

So is it worth it?

In my opinion , Oh YES. Possibly the most innovative set of rules out there for years. They're far from perfect and still need some polish - odd rough edge smoothed off, but I suspect BRS is going to be around for quite some time if Warlord get the support for it right.

Wasteland Wanderings

I've been a bit busy with work and "stuff" recently, and not doing a lot of gaming, however I have a soft spot, and it just got prodded.

Fallout

For those of you who don't know, Fallout is a series of computer games set in an alternate future, a rather bleak post nuclear apocalypse where small groups of survivors struggle to survive against each other, horribly mutated creatures and all that. The games have a rich and interesting background, and allow you on the whole to wander around to your hearts content til you get eaten by the aforementioned horribly mutilated creatures. One of the attractive parts of the background is the image of mankind desperately trying to rebuild but without the technology - nothing new is being built, everything (just about) is scavenged from the ruins of the old.

Modipius announced they were going to be bringing Fallout to the tabletop a year or so ago. The game is called Fallout Wasteland Warfare. I was lukewarm about it when the details came out - it was expensive and another game in another non standard figure size - 32mm, which would mean you couldn't easily use other miniatures.  I shrugged and got on with other projects.

One of my regular opponents Paul decided to buy the starter set, and we had a go last week. It was an interesting game - enough to make me pick up a box of figures and paint it. That seems to have been a good decision.

First impressions was this was a very fussy game, with a plethora of counters, cards, different dice, measuring sticks - just about every gadget under the sun. The rules at first glance were similarly complex and labyrinthine. However once we played a couple of turns it all seemed to click into place, and much of that fussiness and complexity now looks like an attempt to be complete and future proofing.

The miniatures in the starter set are slightly bendy pvc plastic - not too bad, however the resin models in the expansions are very nice indeed.

We're still learning how the game works, but I have to say I am quite impressed and have rushed out to buy some more. 

Cruel Seas - Warlord Games goes Postal - err Coastal

So I was at Warlord Games Open day on Saturday (22nd September). This was my second year at the event, and truth be told this time it seemed slightly less busy, however I assume it being held on the same day as the nearby and new Derby convention ChillCon contributed to the fairly muted atmosphere.

I was there to do some Blood Red Skies, and in theory Warlord were pushing their Black Powder 2 release, Strontium Dog etc, but the main interest for me and most of the others I spoke to was my first look at Cruel Seas.

Cruel Seas is Warlord's entry into WW2 naval wargaming - and they're doing it with something of a bang. The game revolves around Coastal Forces - shorthand for Motor Torpedo Boats and the like. They were running demo's but as I was busy elsewhere I missed them sadly, so I cant comment on game play, but I can comment on the models, which were stunning.

Clearly inspired by the phrase "Go Big or Go Home" Warlord have went for 1:300 scale for their models. That's twice the size of the older Skytrex "Narrow Seas" range. For example an S Boat is almost 12 cm long.  I missed getting a game, but I did acquire a couple of test sprues, one German, one British, and they are VERY nice indeed. Each sprue contains 2 boats. The British one has a Vosper 73 ft MTB (beloved of Airfix) and a 72 ft. the German has two different S Boats (sorry, I don't know which they are). As with all test sprues there are issues - some sink holes and I think the S-Boats are missing some guns, but the overall level of detail and proportions look excellent, and the whole point of test shots is to highlight problems before they happen so they can be fixed.

Warlord are planning at least 6 "Fleets" - UK, USA, Germany, Italy, Soviets and Japan. Each will get a selection of ships, with the majority being in resin but at least the S Boats and Vospers being plastic - possibly the PT boats too. The fleets all are very well developed - no sign of the "one model a side" approach taken with Blood Red Skies, there seems to be half a dozen models for each faction increasing in size up to Corvette size. That p*ssed me off a bit as a BRS player - we've had to wait a year for any real  expansion, but it is clear where Warlord have been prioritising. Sour grapes aside, the models look bloody good.

Release date is being mooted as December, so something very much to look forward to for Christmas

Warlord Games Open Day - The Future is Bright, and Blood Red

So back from the Warlord Games Open Day, with a bunch of updates and general BRS related information gleaned by attending the seminar by Andy Chambers - Internationally Renowned Games Designer (or IRDG for short) and also cunning interrogation techniques worthy of the KGB.

So all that aside here we go, and in no particular order

1. Warlord are planning a second Blood Red Skies Starter set for release "next year". It will follow the same format as the Battle of Britain one but will be centred on Pacific carrier warfare - Midway being the focus. Still in development but Plastic Wildcats (huzzah!) and Zeros. The Zero is slated to be the same one from the current release - ie the later A6M5 not the A6M2 that should be there - rivet counters like me will be disappointed but the costs of another tool when the models are so close visually it doesn't make financial sense, however the stats and cards will be different (I assume). Lots still unanswered such as will the Wildcats be hard or soft plastic, when is it expected etc, but plenty to be hopeful for - would expect some new scenarios involving torpedo and dive bombing too. ETA "Next Year"

2. Card packs. Warlord are releasing card packs (Hallelujah!) to allow some expansion. These will be Nation specific sets to allow you to play aircraft that are not available yet. The example given for the RAF was it would include later marks of Spitfire, plus possibly Typhoons and Hurricanes, plus the associated Trait and Doctrine cards. Similar packs for US, German, Russian and Japanese, with the possibility of USN\USMC and Italians. First release expected "early in the New Year"

3. Plastic expansions. We saw "test shots" of the new Hurricanes, Mosquito, Fw190 and Me110. Test shots are pre production models that are run to test the mould for issues before it goes into production. They are hard plastic NOT the soft of the current releases. They still have a couple of issues but initial impression was very favourable - I will do a full post on this later but for now thumbs up. Hurricanes and Mosquito's release is expected early November, 190 and 110 January (ish). No idea if the production ones will be pre coloured - forgot to ask (doh!). On the subject of hard plastic, it is unlikely the current "soft" plastic models will be re released in hard plastic if it means new mould plates, again a question of economics over desirability.

4. Plastic Yanks. This slipped out in conversation but the next plastic set AFTER the Germans will be US and will be the P40 and P38 - no confirmed date but next year.

5. More metal. I've rattled on about why BRS should be in plastic or resin not metal but I could be wrong. Warlord hope so - they've released the Wildcat set in metal and I bought it to try it out. Again I will be doing a fuller review at a later date. The advantage of metal is the individual models are more expensive to produce but the set up costs are far less - the upshot being if the Wildcats and Kates sell we may see some more in metal. They have already done the 3D design work on Beaufighters and Ju87s for Cruel Seas (more later) and they see no reason why they could not upscale them to 1:200. If the metals work we could see more by the end of this year so......glass half full I suppose.

6. More Aces. There is a good chance we will see more aces, at least two for each release. Bombo Schenk, Otto Kittel and Pips Priller got a mention. Ace packs are a good way for Warlord to fill release schedules as they will use existing models and they give players more options.

Andy Chambers IRGD is busy on new ground attack rules and missions for BRS too. We playtested his early draft High Altitude Interception scenario and it worked rather well - needs tweaks but where it went wrong was more me trying to push too much in rather than problems with the scenario, which I suppose is why IRGD is IRGD :-)

So overall I came away from the Open Day feeling quite positive for the future of BRS. It was pretty clear reading between the lines Warlord were surprised by the success of BRS and they are taking a bit of time adjusting, but they are getting there. I also bagged a test shot Mossie and Hurricane so I will be able to do a more in depth look at those later.

What do you think - comments welcome below

EDIT I forgot 7. Warlord have a deal with Rebellion who have the rights to the old 2000AD and other UK Comics. This is of interest to BRS players because that includes "Battle", and therefore "Johnny Red". There was a mention of a special Ace \ Squadron box for this , which could conceivably include some Russian planes along with the signature Hurricane.

EDIT I also forgot 8 (old age I suppose) but the possibility of Jets was discussed, with WW2 being pretty much certain, but also extending into the Cold War and possibly Alt History 1946 etc - not the weird war stuff, more the new tech. Similarly pushing the system back to 1914-18. All that seems perfectly possible, at least up to the arrival of the missile which may mess with the way Advantage works, so more to look forward to.

     

Uncle Sam to the Rescue - Armaments in Miniature and Miscminis -Superb service from across the pond

 OK this is a quick mention for two US companies based who offer a great service at a very reasonable price, even taking account of the cost of shipping to the UK.

Firstly Armaments in Miniature (link) . I ordered ten models late in the evening of 11th September -  exactly one week ago - and they arrived this morning. Beautiful models, crisp details. Cost to ship them over the Atlantic? $14. Their website is a bit clunky and you have to email your order in, but its well worth it.

Secondly, on the same day I also ordered matching decals for them from Miscellaneous Miniatures (link) , and they too arrived today, shipping $2.50. What is even more impressive I asked Kevin at MiscMinis if he could do me some bespoke decals for a project I am working on, quite a complex one at that, and they were included. That's damned good by anyone's standards.

I'll post the details of the loot at another time, but for now I have to say I cannot recommend both highly enough,  so if you need 1:200th planes, or decals, give them a try, you wont be disappointing.

Mystery Flying Fortress - Blood Red Skies

Sometimes you just have to remember that people screw up!

I have decided to do a B17 squadron for Blood Red Skies. This is a bit of madness bit I think several Flying Fortresses will look rather good as a demo game or a big club game.  At the moment there is no "official" model from Warlord Games, and tbh I don't think there will be for some time. Fortunately there is a plastic B17 kit out there by Academy in the correct 1:200 scale. It is out of production, so not easy to find, but still relatively cheap if you can find them. So far I have 5, but that nice Steve Perry of Dark Ops fame has loaned me 3 he managed to grab on the understanding I paint them for him, which seems fair enough. Ultimately I think nine is the target but they appear only now and then on ebay so it may take a while.

This is what the box looks like

Its an old kit - actually there is a good blog post about that but I will leave it til later, because the interesting thing is, when I have looked around, the unit depicted doesn't seem to exist!

The big A is the 91st Bomb Group, but none of the Bomb Squadrons in the 91st used the ID code LC. The 322nd used LG, the 323rd used OR and the 324th (of Memphis Belle fame) used DF. No LC. I would love to claim I researched that, but actually it was Kevin at MiscMinis who I asked to look into doing some individual BG markings. Kevin is pretty much a "go to" guy and his decals are first class.

So I was searching around the web looking for a Squadron that used LC when I saw this pic titled

"Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" of the 91st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, enroute toward Cognac, France, fly at 18,000 feet altitude - high above the heavy cloud banks. 31 Dec.43."

Looks a bit familiar? On closer inspection this is has the same tail serial as the Academy kit 23057 N with the ID code LGN, so is from the 322nd BG- I suspect the Academy guys took this exact pic as their reference, but missread the ID code as LCN - mystery solved!

Steve is less "anal" than me about this sort of stuff so he doesnt mind having his three bombers in the same scheme and serials - which will make the job easier. As for me, I've asked Kevin at MiscMinis to do me some custom decals to allow me to field planes from the 324th, though I suppose I should steer away from DF-A for fear of cheese.

Cheers

EDIT - Google is your friend apparently - B17 F serial 23057 LGN was named "Blonde Bomber". Nice to know

Blood Red Skies - Ba Ba Black Sheep

Just back from Asgard Wargames in Middlesbrough where a bit of Blood Red Skies was going on. Not a lot out of the ordinary I know except Paul was trying out his new F4U Corsair Squadron VMF 214  VF17 aka - the Black Sheep Jolly Rogers using beta stats for the Corsairs. Flying against him today was James and his rather less famous A6M5 Zero Squadron. The game was 500 points and using full historical Doctrine and Theatre Cards.

Pauls Corsairs were 44 points each, and he  started with an Ace, two Skill 4s and a Skill 3 Pilot all flying F4Us, and chose High Altitude Performance for his Doctrine, and Numbers and Poorly Trained Opponents for his Theatre Cards. Numbers added 2 Skill 4 Corsairs (ouch). James took six A6M5 Zeroes with two Skill 4s Skill 3s,  Aggressive Tactics and Heavy Flak Presence (he didn't have any more Zeros so Numbers wouldn't work)

Very fast moving F4Us - hence the blurry pic :-)

More sedate Zeros

Set up was "interesting". Paul managed to leave a gap at the back of his formation into which a pair of Zeros appeared

Doh! said the Fighter Direction Officer

Starting positions

That initial screw up was not as expensive as it could have been as both the "sneaky" Zeroes rolled Disadvantage on their set up dice and were effectively out of the game for a turn or two. In fact most of James' Zeros were starting Neutral or Disadvantaged so it wasn't looking great.

Turn one was mainly a matter of the F4Us using their high speed (9 \443mph) and Great Dive abilities to get into position to outnumber the main Zero elements before the trailing pair, who were clearly "grabbing" for altitude to join the fight could get involved. It wasn't looking good for the Zeros

But somehow the Corsairs just couldn't seem to make it stick. They inflicted an early Boom Chit on the Zeros, but then one of them got caught tailing a Zero into a cloud by the (quite shocking) combo of Tight Turn and Aggressive Pilot, and took a burst of 20mm cannon shells that even his "Robust" trait didn't help with, evening out the Booms. A second quickly followed, which the F4U failed to dodge, first blood to the Japanese.

The Corsairs struck back with another Boom, but it was quickly clear they were trading rather than making their local numerical advantage stick. Meanwhile the two trailing Zeros burned advantage to dive towards a cloud, then used their pilot action to regain their neutral status.

Back in the Furball the Corsairs were still struggling to make their Firepower 2 stick as the Zeros just kept dodging, then ,finally they connected, hard, and a Zero rolled into an uncontrolled dive, a victim of the US Ace. Score was now 5 all with both sides having 5 planes left - next hit would decide it.

Remember those two Zeros stooging around in an innocent manner at the back? Turns out they were not quite as innocent as they seemed - they burned advantage to Dive through the cloud, which reset them to neutral and put them on the tail of a pair of Corsairs.

 They initially missed, but they dropped one Corsair to Disadvantage due to tailing, and a third Zero carved his way in and delivered the Coup de Grace. The Corsair tried to dodge but his Agility 2 didn't work and another Corsair went down in flames.

The F4Us tried to grasp a draw but just couldn't line up a shot, and they broke for home

Thanks to Paul & James for the game. A good time was had by all

(Edit. Apparently the Corsairs are VF17 The Jolly Rogers NOT the Black Sheep. Need to think of a catchy new title................)

Is 20mm the unloved ginger child of WW2 Wargaming?

This is for Mark really, but I think it may be interesting to see what others think.

I started wargaming in 20mm. I think that is true for most of us who grew up in the 70s and early 80s in the UK. It is almost impossible to explain just how limited your options were as a wargamer in those days. Initially it was just one word. Airfix

I know there were other manufacturers out there making metal models, but if you were like me a young lad the chance of ever discovering them was slim, and even if you were aware you still needed to write and send a self addressed envelope (and possibly a postal order) to get a typed and un-illustrated catalogue. Luckily we had Airfix, and it was available in just about every newsagent and toy shop in the country.

Airfix were the main supporter of my wargaming from the start. That meant for most "periods" their soft plastic 20mm (1:76) figures or polystyrene kits, supported by their rule books initially loaned from the library and illicitly photocopied.

WW2 was the big interest for me. After all the war ended only 30 years before and we all had family members who had taken part. It was possible to play other periods of course, and the idea of fighting Agincourt using just the figures available in the two "Robin Hood" boxes must have occurred,  but the main arena was WW2. Choice was, well, limited. Airfix had a vast breadth of range, but it did lack depth. Germans could happily fill their order of battle with Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers, and the ubiquitous German Recce set provided a Kubel and 222, but that was about it. Similarly the Brits could get their hands on a Churchill, Sherman, Crusader and Matilda. This made for exciting times if you were so inclined, trying to convert a passable Cromwell out of plasticard and the wheels from a Crusader etc. Later, Matchbox joined the fray, adding such much needed kits as a Panzer II and III, and a Sherman Firefly. All of this was in what we now call 20mm, and as a WW2 wargamer there was nothing to compete.

But today 20mm is rapidly shrinking into the shadows. Initially 15mm, then more recently 28mm have dominated WW2 gaming. 20mm still survives, but it is no longer the first choice for me and many others, so why is that?

Firstly I should say in many ways it IS the logical scale of choice for some games. Availability of cheap plastic kits in an amazing variety, some, such as those by Dragon are available painted to a standard most of us could only dream of. Figures have also come a long way, and figures by companies such as AB are frankly streets ahead of most of their 28mm rivals in terms of detail and animation. Range is also very comprehensive. In 28mm I only know of one manufacturer makes Belgian infantry, not so in 20mm. Try finding a Sdkfz 132 Marder II in 28mm, no problem in 20mm. Price is also VERY alluring - 20mm kits being equivalently priced to 15mm ones, and usually a fraction of a 28mm one.

The problem is the tyranny of the masses. 15mm has blossomed with popular rules like Flames of War rapidly dominating the market at the "Company" level of gaming. 28mm has followed suit at "Platoon" level even if Bolt Action has a very suspect concept of what a Platoon actually was. What that means is that if you want to play a WW2 game, those scales are where you will have the best chance of finding an opponent. And that, sadly, is a fairly huge factor. OK if your club or group want to either stick with 20mm or start afresh, but once you are in, you are committing to a very fixed group, and if, as often happens, you fall out or move on, then you may end up trying to play solo.

I would also add I like 28mm as a scale to paint. As I grow older I can no longer conceive of painting some of the smaller scales to a standard I would be happy with. That may not include 20mm yet, but it is getting there. And then there is the spectacle. a Tiger in 28mm is quite a lump of eye candy in a way 20mm cant quite manage.

And of course, once you commit to 28mm, it makes little sense to play other scales for similar projects. I'm excited at the soon to be released Chain of Command Fall of France expansion. If I were starting from scratch I may conciser 20mm, (edit - I originally typed 28mm instead of 20mm) but I'm not. I already have quite a bit of 28mm kit that will port over, and a group who prefer to play in 28mm (and another local group who would look puzzled at the thought of playing in 20mm).

So that is why, with some sadness, I wont be starting 20mm again. Sorry Mark, it just does not make sense to me, but I understand why you make the suggestion.

Comments please - let's try and discuss