Dutch Marines for 1940 Chain of Command - The Rotterdam Project Part 1

In an attempt to provide myself with both encouragement and impetus I'm going to try and blog my progress on these. They were a Christmas present to myself and I'm hoping to get them done by the New Year - that will be 2020 before some wit asks :-)

The platoon consists of three squads of 12 men each, plus an officer. There are 2 spare officers that will be painted at the same time. I also have some Regular Army support weapons, but they will be in different uniforms to the Marines so I will do them later along with the other support options. In total I have 39 figures to paint in 5 days.

So this morning just after sparrowfart I got started with the preliminaries - cleaning the models up. In truth there is not a lot to do here. The models are by May 1940 Miniatures - the only supplier of 28mm Dutch Marines as far as I am aware. I'll probably go into the "why" I decided on Dutch Marines at some point later. The models are clean and almost flash free. There are some minor mould lines and some flash, mainly in the gaps on the figures that are firing rifles from the shoulder between the crook of the arm and the rifle, but it cleans up quickly. The models themselves are very nicely detailed and proportioned and the metal is good quality - I had one rifle lose it's foresight during clean up , other than that they are very nice models indeed.

In fact I probably spent more time on the pennies I intend to use as bases. The cunning plan is to store and transport the Dutch on magnetic sheet so the pennies which are ferrous will hold them in place. Actually not all 1p coins are ferrous so I checked the selected ones first just to be sure.  In the past I have had some problems with paint lifting from the edges of coins I have used to base figures on. A little while ago I asked for advice on Facebook and was told (by non other than Derek "Del" Hodge) that it helped if you roughened the edges with a file. This I did. I also washed the coins in soapy water - I never really thought of this before but when you think about it most of them will be filthy and covered in God knows what (yuk).

Lastly I glued the figures to the pennies using pva - with the likeness of HM The Queen face down. This isn't because I don't want to be arrested and charged with some sort of treason, or because I am a rabid Republican (which I am, but personally I don't have anything against her as an individual, but think the idea of the Monarchy is stupidly outdated). No the reason I stuck them to the reverse is because the patters on the reverse seem to give the glue something to work on better than old Liz.  One pose - a kneeling one, did not fit a penny so ended up on 2p pieces, and there is also a Lewis gun team that will have to be based as a pair on an mdf base and then some magnetic strip added later.

So that took just over three hours, with regular breaks for tea and a breakfast stop for a bacon butty. Once they're dry the next step will be to add sand to the bases, then spray the undercoat.

Merry Christmas! - War is back!

Just a thought based on some discussions at our local wargames club. There seems to be an over saturation of what I have called "Boutique" games - you know the type, small figure count, 3 foot table etc etc. Every month we see the next "Big Thing", which gets replaced in a month or so. I'm sensing a growing appetite for a return to "traditional" games with higher figure count, games where you can sweep your arm across a table full of models. Should I jump on board?

The problem of course is commitment. Playing a Grand Manner style game of say Napoleonics requires a metric sh!t ton* of figures - a dozen 36 man battalions is 436 figures - and even if you take the quick way (which I would) and have everyone in Greatcoat that's a major commitment of painting time. Then again, we have done it before, and relative cost of individual plastic figures for units is still cheap, the total cost is considerable.  Perry's are £20 a box of 40 ish figures - damned good value, but still an outlay of £200+ just on the infantry. As I said, commitment.

And I don't think I'm quite there yet. Hopefully 2020 will see the return of Impetus 2 to my gaming nights, and some more Chain of Command - both fairly "hefty" sized games. I'm also still deeply enamoured with Blood Red Skies (no surprise there).

Over the holidays I'm going to try and get my new WW2 Dutch Marines painted before I go back to work in the New Year - not much chance, but it wont get done unless I start, so tomorrow is going to be first steps - cleaning them up, and getting them stuck to their bases which will be 1p pieces - a sad reflection on the value of our currency when it is cheaper to use coins than plastic bases :-)

Cheers, and Merry Christmas 

* We are still using the metric system in the UK, however once Brexit is out the way I suspect we will shift back, so you will need an Imperial sh!t ton at that point. 

Ancient Macedonian attrition - a thesis

Every other morning or so I have come down stairs to find a 28mm Macedonian phanangite pikeman on the floor. Sometimes by "find" I mean "stand on".

The Macedonians in question are part of an army in progress - I was bought a Warlord Games Successor Army pack for Christmas a year or two ago and having failed to paint it passed it to a friend (Fred) who did a reasonable job with the brush at a very reasonable rate. The models are now languishing in the loft in open boxes waiting to be based.

However some have started to appear in strange places, mostly on the stairs. After thorough investigation I have discovered the culprit - it is my four year old cat Poppy. Poppy is usually very gentle and we have had her since she was a kitten at the local kitten rescue centre. It appears every night she sneaks up to the loft, selects a pikeman from the open box, and carries him downstairs in her mouth to be left as a gift for me in the morning. I've had this sort of behaviour from other cats, but it usually involved small mice or voles taken from the fields rather than my Successor Infantry.

To be honest at the moment this isn't an issue. I do have several spare pikemen and most of the casualties will be repairable, but I couldn't work out why she was doing this. Then, this morning as I was tidying the latest casualty up, it came to me. Poppy must have some Persian heritage!

Problem solved! now all I need is a lid to go on the box to stop her whittling down the numbers of the hated Greeks :-)

However, I may have a bigger problem. This is Lili. Lili is now two years old and was adopted from a Polish lady after her cat had a litter and could not look after them all, which technically may mean she is Polish  - this may not bode well for my plans for a Blitzkrieg German Army for Chain of Command :0) 

 

Back to the Bridges - Blood Red Skies Mig Alley

We (Paul my usual oppo) and me had sort of wandered into doing some F9F Panthers for Blood Red Skies \ Mig Alley to support our usual Migs and Sabres. He has a 3d printer which makes getting hold of less mainstream models easier. Once we had the models we went looking for scenarios and if you have F9F Panthers, well you can't avoid "The Bridges of Toko Ri". If you haven't seen the 1954 film, search for it on whatever streaming service you use. The film is based loosely around the US Carrier strike operations trying to cut North Korean communications by hitting bridges. There's the usual Hollywood romance plot but the film has several good points, including some excellent real life footage of Panthers both in the air and being readied and spotted on deck - well worth a look and almost contemporary with the "real" thing.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago Paul had a go at hitting a bridge with a squadron of six F80s escorting a strike of F9F Panthers - this was a 750 point game. I had four Mig 15s, and we milled about, had fun and achieved not a lot as far as the bridge demolition went. Paul was not a happy bunny as his first gen Jets were struggling against the 2nd gen Migs, but his numerical advantage told in the end and he managed to drive the Migs away but failed to damage the bridge.

So tonight we decided that MacArthur insisted the Navy had another go, and stepped up to 1200 points to make it really interesting. We are lucky to have access to the beta versions of the scenarios from the soon to be released Air Strike supplement, so we decided to use the "Priority Target" mission from that. Paul had obviously been thinking about how his F80s struggled last time, so this time he brought the "A-Team" - a full six plane squadron of F86 Sabres and a pair of F80s to make the numbers up. As he had more than three fighter elements he got two six plane squadrons of F9Fs as the Strike part of the mission - so the US had a total of 20 jets (gulp). Meanwhile the Commies (me) had a section of 4 MiGs with ahem Soviet pilots, and 4 much less experienced Chinese pilots, all deploying in two plane elements. There was also quite a bit of Flak - four points of both heavy and light at the bridge. The scenario allows the defender (me) to exchange some flak for some barrage balloons - this is not as daft as it seems as historically there are examples of the North Koreans stringing cables across valleys to bring down enemy planes, so I thought we would give it a try. The other new idea we were using from Airstrike was terrain. Airstrike can allow players to set terrain by area or usually quarters of the table for simplicity designating the area as flat, undulating, urban etc etc each of which has different effects on the scenario. As the area is very hilly and has some steep valleys, so we classed the terrain as "Elevated", which gives some cover from light flak but also reduced the number of dodge dice a disadvantaged plane has due to the abundance of hills that can interfere with his manoeuvres. Oh Boy was this going to get interesting later.

The game starts with the attacker having one or two of his escort elements on table and the rest in High Cover, plus his strike aircraft, all start Advantaged. The defender has one element near the target and the rest in High Cover.  In our game this was a pair of Rookie Chinese Migs. They took one look at the wall of US Jets heading their way and started to scream for help.

The heavy flak put up a barrage. In Air Strike a barrage effects anything that flies through at Neutral or better by forcing a Pilot Test - if you pass you held your nerve, if you fail, you must immediately turn 45 degrees and drop an advantage level, and pick up a Boom Chit. It's only really dangerous if you actually end touching a flak barrage - that can be bad (!). Mostly what this does is makes small planes avoid flak barrages and big ones just grit their teeth and take the chances. The lead element of Panthers decided to risk it and blow through the flak - and both failed their tests. This was a bit of a problem as the squadron starts the mission on one chit anyway, so was now on 3, with six planes in the air. Not a disaster but not great.

The pair of Rookie MiGs climbed for altitude and pulled their "man pants" up higher as all four Sabres forming the escort headed their way, backed up by a blue wall of US Navy strike aircraft. High Cover on both sides declined to appear.

Next turn the lonely Migs did their best, but got engaged by the escorts and could do nothing to stop the wave of Panthers lining up for their strike.

On the other side of the table however four silver arrows appeared to drop from the skies as the Soviet North Korean High Cover arrived. One pair went for the leading element of Panthers, the others headed for the rest.

Bounced from above and behind and still loaded with rockets the lead pair of Panthers had little chance and both were shot down by the Soviets (cough) North Koreans.

That caused one squadron of Panthers to abort due to excess Boom Chits. Both Chinese Rookies tried to get away from the swarm of attackers, but first one then the other went down under US guns, one to a P80 who was clearly punching above his weight.

Their more experienced flight leader and his wingman in High Cover disengaged due to their squadron having 4 Boom Chits and only 2 planes, which was somewhat irking to the Soviets North Koreans who were now seriously outnumbered.

The remaining Panthers swung in to attack. The lead pair were armed with rockets and their job was to suppress the flak around the target. The first dropped low, but before he could shoot he was hit by flak and unable to dodge due to all the hills, he crashed.

The second plane unleashed what should have been a devastating strike, with FP 2, Pilot 3, +1 (Heavy Hitter), +2 Strafing Ordnance - and missed with all 8 dice. The main strike of four then followed the lead pair in, but no-one managed a solid hit. (note - this isn't a surprise. The Panthers had 4 attack dice using their bombs - they had the "Bomb Shackles" card that allows them to use the bombing pilot action rather than strafing - something you need to actually bring the bridge down, but the Bridge is a "Hardened" target so ignores the first two successes of any attack - basically you need 3 hits on 4 dice. That's hard bit not impossible - in fact a one F80 did score 3 hits with 4 dice later in the game on a Mig, so it can be done).

Back with the Migs and Sabres, one of the Migs burned advantage and dropped in behind a Sabre. The Mig has the "Rough Ride" trait, so needed to pass a test to shoot, but this steely eyed Comrade didn't blink, and a Sabre went down in flames.

The odd were still stacked against the Migs, particularly now the US High Cover had arrived, and seeing the Panthers were disengaging and heading for the coast and their Carrier, the Migs also broke off.

All in all a really good game. What really surprised me was how fast turns ran, even with 20+ Jets on table at any one time. The terrain also made a big difference, making getting tailed and driven down low VERY dangerous. Flak was well balanced, being mostly an annoyance but on occasion being rather deadly. We played the scenario with a total of 28 jets (not everyone was on at the same time) and got our result in just over an hour or so, which is amazing if you compare it to other air to air games where you can spend half an hour trying to plot the exact move of each plane.

The game ended in a win to the defenders - just. Points were even but as the Bridge was not damaged the Commies were the happier of the two sides, and also claimed 3 air to air (2 F9Fs and a Sabre) plus one F9F to flak for the loss of two Migs.

I rather suspect we will be going back to those bridges again :-)

If you fancy trying out a bit of BRS MigAlley you need the rules and counters from the starter set and the Mig Alley supplement. If you don't have access to a 3d printer then Armaments in Miniature have a very nice selection of Korean War jets available. The rather beautiful game mat we were using was from Deepcut Studios, and the acrylic markers etc in the pics are from Just Lasered. All highly recommended.

Quick mention - new shop "Gaming Figures" in North East - sort of

Just a quick mention of a new gaming shop \ venue in the North East - Gaming Figures of Redcar, Cleveland.

Actually they're not "new" but they have just moved into a newly refurbished building at The Palace Hub, 28-19 The Esplanade, Redcar. The new place is a vast improvement on the old one, with much more room for stock to be displayed, better lighting, and space for at least four gaming tables. Gav (the owner) also tells me they have access to some conference rooms in the building that they can use for tournaments - something I think I will take him up on in the coming year.

I called in on Saturday to see the new set up and it is fair to say it was "buzzing"

Well worth a visit if you are in the area. A nice mix of historical and Fantasy \ Sci Fi and also some very competitive prices both in the shop and on-line too. 

Cruel Seas - Faffing about with submarines and other new fangled technology

Last night we were testing out some options for having submarines in Cruel Seas. I also wanted to give a try out for an App I picked up called "My Mini Report". The main selling point for the App was it makes producing battle reports easier because it allows you to add a voice commentary that gets converted to text as comments. I've tried it before but to be honest it was "a bit of a faff" to use, and previously I said "bugger it", but I decided to give it another go - and it was easier this time. It still needed some editing after the game but it didn't take too long. I think I may be getting the hang of it, but I'm still on the fence.

Here's the "test" result

The game itself went "OK". Like much of Cruel Seas there was some "err" moments when stuff happened - the ram was far less damaging than I thought it should be, and the perennial problem of torpedoes not doing enough damage reared it's head, but nothing that was deal breaking, and it was fun, for a given value of "fun".

Blinging up Blood Red Skies - Third Party accessories

If you are like me sooner or later you will start looking around for "stuff" to enhance your game - be it damage tokens or measuring sticks etc. I thought I would run through a few options for Blood Red Skies players who are interested in a bit of "bling".

Spitfire Bling

This isn't an exhaustive list, and I'm sadly not able to buy one of everything to review, but here goes.....

Dice
Dice are the first upgrade for most players, and the easiest to pick up. I know some players prefer smaller 10 mm dice than the chunky official 16 mm ones, and personally I think the British ones look a bit "Meh" due to the rather muddy brown colour Warlord used.  In addition to the official Warlord BRS ones it is worth looking at other Warlord or third party dice for games like Bolt Action and Flames of War. Just remember to make sure any special symbols are on the "6" face to avoid confusion, and NOT to get Bolt Action "Order Dice" - which are not much use to us BRS gamers.

FoW Dice

Dice Trays
Not exactly essential but nice to have. Dice trays keep the dice from bouncing around and can prevent them knocking models about in the heat of a game. There are several neoprene dice trays available, but if you are on a budget you can always find cheap plastic trays used for plant pots in garden centres. More expensive folding neoprene ones are available from Warlord and Deepcut.

Deepcut dice tray

Measuring sticks and tokens
The card measuring stick in the starter set is a PITA to use because you have to pick the models up after placing them to get the stick out from underneath. It also suffered a scaling problem in production so is the wrong length. The second is only really important if all players are not using the same stick, but the first issue still remains. It looks good, but is less than useful when playing, so personally I would ditch it and get a replacement. Warlord will sell you a set of plastic measuring sticks and tokens to replace the card ones in the starter set, however my personal favourites would be to look at those produced by "Buy The Same Token" and available from their Etsy store. These are cut from coloured acrylic and are available for all the different BRS factions. They do a 9" and a shorter 4" measuring stick (good for tight dogfights) and a 6" range ruler, plus themed Boom and Zoom markers and a turn angle indicator. Both manufacturers measuring sticks are of the side measuring type which don't require you to lift your models to use unlike the original card one in the starter set, but the extra depth of the scallops on the BTST one makes positioning more accurate.  All in all a nice addition.

Buy The Right Token Japanese turn, range Zoom & Boom

Buy The Right Token Measuring Stick

Carrying and transport
The plastic (and new resin) models are light and less likely to be damaged in transport, but metal models are very prone to getting their paintwork damaged due to the extra weight. Storage and transport foam trays can get around this.  Generic foam cut transport cases are available from Kaiser Rushforth (KR). These are designed for Wings of War \ Wings of Glory but they fit BRS planes. Feldherr also do a line of foam trays. Another option, and my personal favourite is available from Just Lasered, who make a foam insert to fit the original starter box and can cut bespoke trays to fit your collection. I'm currently transferring my planes to Just Lasered trays cut to fit 4 and 9 litre Really Useful Boxes.

Gaming Mats
Gaming mats are probably the most expensive single item you can get to enhance your BRS games. There are a number of suppliers and materials, including vinyl, cloth, and neoprene (mouse mat). All have their advantages and disadvantages. Vinyl tend to be cheapest but can be a bit shiny and you sometimes have problems getting them to lay flat, cloth are easiest to transport as they fold, but also can get creases, and neoprene is heavy and expensive but lays flat and gives the best gaming surface (imho).  There are several manufacturers and it pays to shop around, but Deepcut are very popular. A special mention should go to Tiny Wargames who have Taranto and Pearl Harbour mats available. Cigar Box are also popular and easily available in the US. I would recommend going for a 6x4 mat if you can find one - its easy enough to fold a larger mat but you can't stretch a small one! There are also smaller mats available for Wings of Glory which are nice but as they are only just larger than 3x2 ft you will need at least a pair. Finally when buying a mat think about how you will transport it - most producers will also sell a transport tube or bag for a reasonable price.

Links
Buy The Same Token for measuring sticks and markers
Kaiser Rushforth for storage trays and boxes
Feldherr for storage trays and carry cases
Just Lasered for storage trays
Warlord just about everything
Deepcut mats and dice trays
Tiny Wargames   mats
Cigar Box Battle mats

Hope you find that useful. I should say if any manufacturer wants to send appropriate "stuff" for review I will happily accept it and donate it to the local gaming club.

One Trick Pony - MiG 3s in Blood Red Skies

I suspect this new release from Warlord will be one of the most controversial. I think some people will love them, and some people will hate them. In many ways the MiG 3 is one of the worse fighters in the game (reasons in a bit), but as far as I am concerned it has one thing going for it - style!

Potted history first. The MiG 3 was the successor to the MiG 1. These planes were initially designed as high altitude interceptors. In the modern world of multi role aircraft we tend to blur the lines between roles but back in 1940 this was less so. The MiG was designed to be fast so that it could get up and catch incoming bombers. Manoeuvrability was not important because they would not be engaging in a dogfight. In some ways the designers got it right - at least in part. When it entered service the MiG was blisteringly fast, almost 50 mph faster than the equivalent Spitfire or Me109E at altitude, but there the good news ended. Handling was decidedly poor, dangerously so in fact. If it started to spin it was hard to recover, resulting in several fatal accidents where inexperienced pilots lost control. There were also problems with some systems such as heating and oxygen - all rather important if you are planning to fly high. Firepower was adequate for the time, but with hindsight could have been better.

The MiG3 was a major front line fighter when the Germans attacked in 1941, with just short of 1000 on strength. Soviet losses in the first weeks of the war were shockingly high, and to stem the tide the MiGs were committed to the fight lower down than they had been designed for. Unfortunately the speed advantage they held up high was much less pronounced in the thicker air and they suffered accordingly. Things got so bad that some squadrons were redesignated for ground attack. To make matters worse, the opposition started to get faster as new models were developed and the MiG lost even the speed edge it had started with. In a strange twist of fate the MiGs were being built in several of the same factories as the IL2s. Stalin personally demanded maximum effort building IL2s, so the MiGs were not given any development or production priority. By 1942 the type was looking decidedly second rate and was soon out of production. Wherever possible they were transferred from air force to Navy units where they continued on in service at the front until quite late in the war, but mostly in second line units.

The other thing that I have to mention is the looks. If the MiG3 were on an old episode of "Top Gear", on the Cool Wall, it would rate "sub zero". If James Bond were looking for a ride, he would pick the Mig3. That long nose and sleek streamlined fuselage all scream style and speed. It was not in any way hindered by some propaganda shots of MiGs in all white winter camo with prominent "go faster" arrows all the way down the side, bedecked in patriotic slogans, together with pics of white fuselages and red wing tips. They just look so damned fast. Some spoil-sports have suggested the red wings are actually a misreading of some black and white pics and should really be green, but those people don't have a soul.

So - Blood Red Skies. Stats wise the MiG is fast at Speed 8, and has Agility and Firepower 1. It also has the Great Dive Trait. The elephant in the room here is the "Sluggish" Trait. Basically this prevents a MiG pilot choosing the "Outmanoeuvre" pilot action. Against multi engine planes like most bombers this is not an issue, but against other fighters this is not good. One trait that is missing is "Poor Quality", which unlike most early war Soviet planes the MiG does not have - we thought Sluggish was enough! On the other hand against contemporaries you will always have the speed advantage, and combining that speed with Great Dive will mean you can really get in, and out of a fight very fast. In this sense the MiG is the first pure energy fighter in BRS. All is not lost as far as doctrines go either. The MiG Squadron comes with the option of the Sustained Dive doctrine, which will give you the chance to recover any advantage you burned in a dive. In points games the MiGs are cheap - the discount they get for being saddled with "Sluggish" means you can afford to get either more of them, or take better pilots, and a well handled MiG Squadron may well be quite a handful.

and then there is Alexs Pokryshkin, the Ace in the MiG3 release.

This is in some ways quite a strange choice of aircraft for him, as he is most famous as an Airacobra Ace, but he cut his teeth on MiG3s and was one of the few pilots to really master the type. Where he really shines however is he has the "The Right Stuff" Ace Skill - which allows him to ignore any negative traits on his plane. Yup - in his hands the MiG3 loses the Sluggish Trait. 

So there you go - and yes, mine will be white :-) 

Warlord Resin for Blood Red Skies

I usually have what I hope is a snappy title for any blog posts. Over the past couple of years I've followed Blood Red Skies as the game has grown and developed, and this is probably about the most important development in the game for quite some time - Warlord Resin planes. And I can't think of a suitable title for this one - so will just go with the above.

Before I get too far into it, I think it worthwhile explaining why this is such a big thing. When BRS launched it had plastic models for the five plane types in the initial release. The quality of these models varied. I won't go into too much detail here as there's plenty about this on earlier blogs and elsewhere, but the critical thing is the models were light enough to work with the "Advantage" bases, which tilt to indicate game state. This caused a bit of a problem as the game developed and more aircraft were planned. Warlord were unhappy with the "soft" plastic they used on the original models and decided to try hard plastic for the next release wave - in this case Hurricanes, Mosquitos, Me110s and Fw190s. All these were released in hard plastic, and were very very nice. The problem was the process was taking far too long due to the production methods - cutting a steel injection mould is a complex and expensive business, and Warlord couldn't commit to regular releases in plastic. The solution they came to was to release the third wave of models in metal. This had the advantage of being quick to produce, but the problem was the metal models were too heavy to use with the normal advantage bases and needed the larger bases designed for using with bombers. This had a knock on effect in making it difficult to get models positioned close in to others due to the large base footprint, and also caused problems when using some of the many third party measuring sticks which are a part of the whole BRS "thing." Metal models also imposed some size restrictions on what could actually be done. All in all it was a far from perfect solution, and it is safe to say the metal models have met with a mixed reception and this has been holding the game back from it's true potential. On the other hand the decision to release in metal was I think a reasonable one as it allowed the game to grow and expand in a way that sticking to the slow release rate plastic would not have allowed. Personally I tend to spend the extra needed to get resin models from Armaments in Miniature rather than have the issues with the metal models. Warlord were aware of these issues - and have been looking into some options. Finally they have released their latest wave in their new resin. So that's the background - what about the actual sets?

The first three models released in resin are Soviet fighters, the MiG3, I16 and Yak 1b. These have already been available in metal as part of the "Johnie Red" boxed set, but this is the first time as a "Squadron" release. Each Squadron box contains six models, bases, pilot skill disks and the usual tokens printed on sturdy card, and the associated data card and trait cards printed on the standard lighter \ thinner card. You also get a sheet of generic waterslide decals - basically lots of red stars in different shapes and patterns, but no numbers or other symbols. The Ace boxes that complement the Squadron boxes contain one model and base and the relevant pilot cards - the pilot skill disk is in a much thinner card stock than the Squadron ones, which is a bit frustrating. Anyway - let's look at the models in slightly more detail.

Firstly, let's talk about what these are not, which is a whole new model. The models in both metal and resin are clearly based on the same masters, so share the exact same dimensions and proportions. This is not a bad thing, as the Wave 3 masters are 3d designed and usually have very nice and accurate proportions - quite an improvement over the first releases. The masters are clearly the same but the moulds are different - you can see where the main pour points and vents differ between the two types of materials. They're also not in traditional hard polystyrene, or brittle resin as used for their Bolt Action tanks and Cruel Seas ships, or in the softer plastic of the first wave. Instead these are in a very lightweight resin. The resin has a very small amount of flexibility, but is NOT soft or bendy in any way- something of a relief.  As the resin is a mid grey colour it is difficult to say exactly if the resin has picked up the same level of detail as the metal castings - I suspect the detail is very slightly softer but the impact is negligible and all the panel lines and other details are certainly there - see the pic later. The models I have have minimal mould lines - far less than the metal models I have, and there are some small amounts of flash at the vent points, but this cleans up quickly and easily with a knife.  The resin models also sit snug and tight on the Advantage base - something that is often a problem with the metal models. Due to their negligible weight they work really well with the tilting base mechanic. Lastly I'm advised the resin will take paint without an undercoat - shrug, I will undercoat mine anyway, "just in case". One of the problems encountered with the metal models from Warlord was pitting and distortion in the mould due to it being clamped too tight - there is no indication of either on these models, which is a bonus too.

So the $1000 question - have Warlord got this right? If these models are anything to go by, I would say a resounding YES. The new resin is lightweight, carries detail and I think works very well. Crucially this material will allow Warlord to maintain a release schedule and not have to rely on the unpopular bomber base extensions. There will be inevitable comparisons with the excellent models from Armament in Miniature, and I have to say the new Warlord resin is at least comparable. Price remains the same as the original metal sets.

This new material is a big step forward. I understand that Warlord plan to release all new models in resin and back fill and replace the old metal models with resin as the moulds come up for renewal - I'll have those Il2s as soon as that happens thank you. That's great news, particularly as the P47 is due to be added to the range soon and that would have been a very awkward model in metal. It also opens up many more options for larger aircraft than Warlord currently produce, which can only be a good thing. I can see these new resin models getting used for games like Wings of Glory too.

For the enquiring minds out there, this isn't a pre arranged review with carefully selected models etc. I ordered them through my FLGS (Asgard Wargames in Middlesbrough) - fine chaps they are, so I assume I got the same as everyone else.

oh - what do they look like? I'm having "issues" with my camera so these were taken on my old phone - my apologies, however.......

MiG3

Side by side of metal and resin Yak 1bs

And same with the I16s - sorry for the poor pic quality, but you can see the flash stub on the port side of the resin - this cleaned up easily

Cheers
   

A break from WW2 - Mig Alley

As a bit of a diversion we thought we would give Mig Alley a run out. In case you missed it Mig Alley is a supplement for Blood Red Skies taking the game into the Korean War and introducing jet vs jet combat. You need the main rules to play - Mig Alley is sold as an expansion which assumes you have BRS. But you really should have them already as they're so damned good ...........

Anyway the thing about Mig Alley is it really hammers home just how different jet combat was to WW2 - or rather, just how much faster things happen. The main change in the game mechanic is the Jet Trait, which can really catch you unawares. Jet allows a plane with this Trait to gain an advantage level on activation as long as there are no nearby enemies, and other aircraft of a lesser power can't climb for advantage within range of the jet. This, combined with the very high speeds everyone is travelling makes for Mig Alley games to be very different to WW2 BRS.

So off to the action. Somewhere over the Yalu River a flight of MiG15s of the North Korean Air Force sight a flight of USAF F86 Sabres. The lead Mig - piloted by a particularly tall, blond haired North Korean with a Russian accent decided to engage - even though he was one plane down (the Yanks had cunningly played the "Restricted Airfields" Theatre card during set up, costing him a MiG), but superior Soviet radar direction (Radar Direction Theatre Card) meant all the MiGs were starting at Advantage, where most of the Sabres were not.

The Sabres split into two pairs, Ivan and his wingman were separated from the lone MiG. All of the MiGs jettisoned their Droptanks (Equipment Card) and pushed the throttle up.

Turn 1 and the Russians (err North Koreans) had an edge, using their "Opening Shot" Doctrine card, to take long range head-on shot, they inflicted a Boom Chit on the closing Sabres and then closed to within 9", preventing the Sabres using their "free" Jet climb for advantage. The Sabres tried to manoeuvre but were at a lower advantage level so could do nothing even when one of them did get behind a MiG.

This didn't last long however as the single MiG was forced into a disadvantaged situation by the pair of Sabres facing him which also inflicted two Boom chits. Ivan decided his best chance was to burn his Advantage to dive onto the tail of the Sabres attacking his lone comrade, ignoring the Sabres he was tangling with. He took another long range shot (Opening Shot again) and caused a second Boom chit on the USAF, then managed to get into a shooting position on the Sabre - if he could get a hit and shoot it down the Yankees would break. However his MiG had the Rough Ride Trait meaning he needed to pass a pilot test to take the shot - and he failed, as did his wingman (doh!), even though both had the Sabre at their mercy the high G force they were inflicting on themselves was just too much (the USAF have G Suits to avoid this).

Burning advantage had left them vulnerable, and the original pair of Sabres followed them. Both Sabres got hits which the Russians (err North Koreans) dodged, but they were now past their Boom limit and they headed for home. Both sides claimed kills - after all, all that shooting MUST have hit something, and several planes were seen diving away trailing smoke.

All in all this was a great game - and really showed just how different the jets are from their propeller cousins. The Migs made a mistake burning advantage to try and get the Sabre, or rather they gambled and failed. Once they were no longer in an Advantaged state they were vulnerable to being harried, and forced out of the fight. BRS moves at a pace normally, but with Jets involved this really steps up.

All of which means I need more MiGs.

A quick word on the models. These are all 3d prints. We have the Warlord ones in metal and they are more detailed than these 3d printed versions, but being metal they need a special stand. Neither of us are keen on that. When Warlord get the jets into resin, as they are suggesting, I suspect that will change. 

Stringbags and Applecores - FAA Carrier planes in Blood Red Skies part 2.

Ok let's get down to it. This time I'm looking at three of the most derided or ignored aircraft to see service in WW2, one of which is also (arguably) the most effective aircraft of it's type ever.

But before I go into details, I need to remind folks that these planes were not designed and built in a vacuum. They are the product of a logical and reasoned requirement. Sadly it may not have been shown by history to have been the correct one, but hindsight is 20\20. The Fleet Air Arm was looking for aircraft that could perform a multitude of tasks, in this case Torpedo attack, gunnery Spotting and Reconnaissance, hence the designation TSR

The Fairy Swordfish

When the Swordfish was under development it was in no way unusual. The three carrier operating nations, the UK, US and Japan were all flying biplane torpedo bombers with open cockpits and fixed undercarriages. The Swordfish was therefore not that remarkable. However by the time it was entering service with the Royal Navy in 1936 both Japan and the USA had ditched the biplane and had introduced or were introducing low wing monoplane torpedo bombers with enclosed cockpits and retracting undercarriages in the B5N and TBD. The Brits were suddenly looking like they were flying a WW1 era plane. On the other hand the Swordfish did have some advantages. It had a very short take off and landing run, was robust, reliable and surprisingly nimble - all useful when operating from a carrier. It also proved to be remarkably versatile and could carry a wide range of weaponry - the "Stringbag" knickname derives from a comment that "never had a housewife packed more into her string bag". It also proved to be a rather useful dive bomber (!), being rock steady in a steep dive, mainly due to the incredible amount of drag. I suppose a modern analogy would probably be a Toyota pick-up truck . On the other hand it was a deathtrap when facing any sort of fighter, achieving all it's successes either at night or out of reach of fighters.

The problem with the Swordfish in BRS is that in many ways it has too many exceptions. We have a max speed of (variously quoted) 156 mph "clean" and about 139 mph loaded. In BRS this equates to Speed 3. If we apply the usual "Laden" rules that drops to Speed 2 (gulp), or we introduce an exception to the Laden rule. That makes for several problems in game. The other issue is that the Swordfish was not just a torpedo bomber, but a rather effective dive bomber. Andy C is uneasy with having these two Traits on a single plane - he thinks it is bad game design (and he's right). I think Swordfish will really only work in special scenarios, but just in case, here is my interpretation for BRS.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Swordfish	1936	3 (156 mph)	2	(-)	Torpedo Bomber, Dive Bomber, Turret (Rear Fp1) + Biplane + No Laden Speed*

* When Laden this aircraft does not lose any speed

The Fairy Albacore

The Albacore was a logical development of the Swordfish. The problem was the real logical decision would have been to end the obvious dead end of that development line and move on to something with less wings and more relevance. The Albacore managed an enclosed cockpit and a marginally improved performance, but beyond that was really just a Swordfish. It was like putting spoilers and go faster stripes on a Trabant. They did give valuable service, mainly in the Med, and like the Swordfish proved to be a handy dive bomber, but like the Swordfish were death traps if caught by a fighter. Albacore was taken out of production pretty quickly as when compared to the Swordfish in the roles both types were being pressed into by the wartime circumstances. The performance difference was marginal and there were plenty of Swordfish around due to the Stringbag's legendary robustness and reliability. In Blood Red Skies the "Applecore" has the same issues as the Stringbag. It's slow, and also dual purpose, with all that implies for game design. By some generous interpretation we can however get the speed up to 4, which allows us to drop the "Laden" exception.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Albacore	1940	4 (175 mph)	2	(-)	Torpedo Bomber, Dive Bomber, Turret (Rear, Fp1) + Biplane +

So last up, the Barracuda

The Fairy Barracuda is one of those almost forgotten planes, which is a shame. Designed as a monoplane replacement for the Swordfish \ Albacore it first flew in 1940 and if it had managed to get through to service then would probably be well thought of. Instead it was found to be under-powered, and went through a drawn out development hell which lasted for three years.  It sits roughly where the TBF Avenger would in US service, with the added advantage of being designed from the outset as a dive-bomber and torpedo bomber (sorry Andy). Barracudas did see quite a bit of action, dive bombing the Tirpitz a couple of times, and serving in the Med and later the Pacific.  More Barracudas were made than any other UK naval type, but by the time it entered service the day of the torpedo bomber had pretty much ended. Out in the Far East it was found the Barracuda struggled with the tropical conditions which impacted on both range and altitude, and with little need for specialist dive bombers many FAA Squadrons operated US built Avengers instead. In BRS it is an interesting option.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Barracuda	1943	5 (228 mph)	1	-	Torpedo Bomber, Dive Bomber, Turret (Rear, Fp1)

So there you go. British carrier borne strike aircraft in BRS. How much use they are in the game is open to debate - actually, it really isn't. The Swordfish \ Albacore are just too slow to survive in our fighter based game - which is 100% correct. The Barracuda is certainly more viable. The real war was not fought on our table top (sadly), which means that players will look on these as oddities and dismiss them, which is a shame. The Swordfish in particular was, when you look at the results, probably on of the "best" (or most effective?) carrier aircraft of the war (gulp - ducks for cover) having crippled or sunk 5 Battleships, at least 1 Cruiser, around 20 U boats and a conservative estimate of over a million tons of Axis shipping. The Swordfish was also capable of operating from small decks and in conditions other types simple could not, and because of that made a huge contribution to winning the Battle of the Atlantic, and ultimately the war in the West. That's quite an achievement for a comedy act.

As an aside, the Swordfish was surprisingly agile for such a big aircraft - and it can't be stressed just how big a Stringbag was. We tend to think of biplanes as being dinky little planes, the Swordfish was about the size of a double decker bus! There is a story that one Swordfish operating in the Norway campaign of 1940 got bounced in a fjord by a 109. The 109 was unable to turn with the Stringbag and "became one with the landscape". The Swordfish crew tried to claim it as a kill, but as they had not fired a single round from either of their guns this was disallowed.  I've used this - and other similar tales to justify giving the Swordfish and Albacore Agility 2. I know Andy C will probably disagree but I think it is possible to justify and makes them different enough to be interesting.

The FAA museum still has three Swordfish in flying condition (did I mention reliable?) and they're a sight to see at a flypast - also good value as they're so slow the flypast takes quite a while :-)

All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor - Fleet Air Arm in Blood Red Skies (part 1 Home Grown Fighters)

Blood Red Skies is now reaching another milestone. Next year the "cunning plan" is to see the current Battle of Britain starter set replaced with an updated Midway themed one. With this will come an understandable shift in emphasis to the Pacific theatre, with some more US and Japanese releases. Don't worry, there will be European planned releases too.

All this has had me thinking about carrier planes, and British carrier planes in particular. History has not been kind to the Fleet Air Arm and their home built designs. Aircraft such as the Fulmar and Barracuda are not well regarded. The usual view being that they were sub standard and were replaced with superior US designs as soon as possible. As these are unlikely to ever see "official" Warlord releases I thought it would be worth looking at the FAA types in Blood Red Skies. I should stress these are not "official". I've discussed some with the games' designer Andy Chambers and he is not 100% convinced on some, but I'll explain why when I get there.

Before we start I think I should explain about why the Fleet Air Arm planes were designed the way they were. In the 1930s the Royal Navy had a good think about the wars they were going to be fighting. British carriers were expected to fight in support of a conventional fleet action, in close proximity and part of the battle fleet. The carriers would provide a scouting role, finding the enemy fleet and counter enemy scouts. When the expected fleet action was in play, carrier aircraft would provide spotting for the fleets' guns, and torpedo attacks against the enemy battle line. In thinking this, the Royal Navy was not alone. Only very radical thinkers were advocating the ideas of carriers as a separate striking force. It should also be stressed that no-one really envisaged a fleet acting in close proximity to enemy land based fighters - Britain planned for wars against Germany, Japan, the USA, France and Italy, but none of these plans really thought the whole of Europe would be hostile  to a RN Fleet. Accepting that was the expected role of the carriers, and under the usual peace time budget pressures, the Royal Navy designed their carriers and their aircraft accordingly.

So first up let's look at the fighters.

Carrier borne fighter aircraft would not be expected to fight single engine land based fighters. They needed to be able to operate against un-escorted bombers and to keep enemy scouts away. Given the expectation of the type of attacks, ie high and medium level bombing, or low level torpedo attacks what was needed was simply to break up the enemy formations. Uncoordinated attacks by small numbers of planes were not thought to be a great threat. Under constant budgetary pressure there was also an acceptance that the fighters would need to provide a secondary recce role. This recce role in particular meant there needed a second crewman to help with spotting and navigation - something quite important when operating out of sight of carriers as experience had showed single seat planes suffered a particularly high loss rate when operating more than 20 miles of the home carrier as they frequently got lost and pilots did not have the time or capability to do their own navigation. A premium was therefore placed on long range, endurance, heavy armament, large ammunition capacity and a second crewman to act as navigator or observer. Dogfighting was not a consideration.

Faced with these narrow design requirements, it can be argued that the fighters the FAA deployed were actually not that bad. The problem was, they were asked to fight a different war.

Firstly the Blackburn Skua.

A bit of an odd looking bird, but good range, and two seats. The Skua was also expected to act as a Dive Bomber and could haul a 500lb bomb from Scotland to Norway and deliver it with accuracy. The Skua wasn't that bad when deployed in it's designed role(s). As a fighter it proved perfectly adequate against Axis bombers, claiming some of the first kills of the war against German aircraft over the North Sea. They also sank the cruiser Konigsberg by divebombing during the German invasion of Norway. The problem was the Skua was really just too slow as fighter. The Skua suffered heavily when engaging fighters later in the campaign however, and the low speed was shown to be inadequate against more modern bombers so it was quickly relegated to training and support roles, ending the war as a trainer or target tug. So here is my take on the Blackburn Skua in BRS.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Blackburn Skua	1938	5 (225mph)	1	1	Deep pockets, Dive Bomber, Turret (Rear, Fp1)	16

Next up, the Fairy Fulmar.

The Fulmar was a recognition of the need to increase speed and firepower. If bombers were getting faster you had less time to keep them in your sights and needed more guns to kill them quicker. The RAF was deploying 8 gun fighters and the Navy could see the point, 8 guns were the new norm, and the Fulmar was 50 mph faster than the Skua. It was also a well built and robust plane, with excellent range and endurance, but again was required to perform a recce role so had a second seat in the back. As with the Skua it was never designed to dogfight with single engine fighters, and suffered accordingly. In fact probably the worse loss was to Japanese Val dive bombers that caught some Fulmars scrambling to get airborne and shot down several after dropping their bombs. That being said, in it's designed role it proved effective and in fact accounted for more enemy aircraft than any other FAA type. I should add the "Robust" trait is marginal, but we do need a Trait to counter Deep Pockets or it would be almost impossible to make a Squadron break through Boom Chits in BRS if it only had the "Deep Pockets" Trait.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Fairey Fulmar	1940	5 (272mph)	1	1	Deep Pockets, Robust,  -Sluggish-	16

The Admiralty were not all fools (!) and even before the war started had tried to hedge their bets by buying some single seat fighters. The only problem was they thought the Hurricane and Spitfire would not be suitable to operate off decks so ordered a naval version of the biplane Gladiator. The Sea Gladiator was already obsolete but they were available. As it happened they saw very limited service as carrier fighters, but a dozen did operate from Malta at the start of the war in the Med and made quite a name for themselves.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Gladiator \ Sea Gladiator	1937	5 (254mph)	3	1	Tight Turn + Biplane +	27

The Sea Hurricane.

When the war started it became clear that it wasn't going to go the way they planned and that the Skua and Sea Gladiator were not really adequate. Fulmars were on order, but still not available, and anyway there was a growing recognition that maybe a single engine single seat fighter would be needed. The problem was there was little available. The RN took a good look at the new US Wildcat, liked it, but at the time the versions available lacked folding wings that was thought essential to get them below on carriers operating in the Atlantic and North Sea. They also looked at the Brewster Buffalo but the consensus was they were better off with Gladiators - which is saying an awful lot. Then events took a hand. In June 1940 as Norway collapsed 46 Squadron RAF was stranded there. They and their Hurricanes had been ferried over on HMS Glorious and had flown off her decks to operate from Norwegian airfields. As it became clear Norway was lost and would need to be evacuated the Squadron CO, keen not to have to abandon his planes, thought they could land back on Glorious. The Navy were, well, a bit sceptical. The Hurricanes were not fitted with arrestor hooks and none of the pilots were trained in deck landings, but a combination of planning and fortune meant all ten 46 Squadron Hurricanes landed safely. Sadly it was all in vane, as shortly afterwards Glorious was caught and sunk by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.  The lesson of 46 Squadron was not lost however. This proved conclusively single seat fighters could operate off British carriers. The Admiralty wanted to get Spitfires suitably navalised and put on carriers. The only minor problem was the RAF were in a bit of a flap over the need to get Spitfires for what we now know as The Battle of Britain and they had priority. Would Hurricanes do?  Hurricanes were going to be easier to get, and had comparable performance to Wildcats. A quick program of modifications followed and the Sea Hurricane was born. It should be noted these were all conversions from existing RAF stock rather than new build, so many were already worn air frames and fixed wings but they were available and went into service in early 1941. They were a mixed blessing. The Sea Hurricanes were more capable air to air fighters than the Fulmars, but had much less range and endurance so were pretty useless as recce planes. Later versions were updated with quad 20mm cannons. All in all the Sea Hurricanes were adequate, but were never going to be great. They never managed to fix the folding wing problem, and usually were stored in the open on deck or on outriggers, with all the problems that entailed.  In Blood Red Skies you can just use the "normal" Hurricane stats for Sea Hurricanes, or if you fancy the cannon armed versions they would look something like this.

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Sea Hurricane IIC	1942	7 (342 mph)	2	2	Tight Turn, Robust	36

That leaves only two home grown fighters to see service. The Seafire and the Firefly. I'm NOT going to go into great depths about the Seafire - that will have to wait for another day, but needless to say it was great in the air but the problem was really getting it there and then landing it afterwards. In hindsight the Seafire was not a great choice as a carrier aircraft and more were bent and broken in landings than lost through enemy action.

So the last home produced fighter that the FAA used was the Fairy Firefly Mk1.

This is sometimes thought of as an upgraded Fulmar, and indeed it did share some of the features of the earlier plane, but in reality was a whole new aircraft designed from scratch. A big single engine, twin seat fighter \ recce aircraft, it spent quite a long time in development until it was finally cleared for operations. Where the Firefly differed from the Fulmar was it was fitted with Fairy-Youngman flaps - similar to those fitted to US P38s. These when extended gave the Firefly excellent slow speed turning and handling capabilities - very useful when operating off a carrier. Combined with a big powerful engine and four 20mm cannons the Firefly was a capable fighter, but slow in comparison to contemporary single seaters. Pilots found the flaps allowed the Firefly to turn inside not only the Spitfire, but also the Zero, but the extra weight meant these tight turns could not be maintained. The Firefly also could carry a respectable rocket or bomb load, and served well as a fighter bomber in the later years of WW2 and then soldiering on into the jet age when they were one of the main FAA types flying in the Korean War.  We do have a problem with stat -ing the Firefly in BRS (and to a similar extent the P38) because their rather impressive turning capabilities really only kick in at low speeds. Andy is toying with a new low speed turn trait, but that will probably only happen when \ if BRS reaches "version 2" so he suggests Tight Turn as a solution, and he is sceptical of the Ag 2 rating but it's my blog so..........

Nation	Type	Date	Speed	Ag	Fp	Traits	Points cost
British	Fairy Firefly Mk I	1943	6 (316 mph)	2	2	Deep Pockets, Tight Turn	32

If you would prefer the AC approved version drop Ag to 1 and reduce the points to 26.

So there you have it - my take on FAA fighters in BRS. Hope you found that useful. Next time I will look at the planes that were supposed to take the fight to the enemy - the bombers.

Cheers