NAZ "Not a Zero" - My latest Blood Red Skies unit

If you want to play Japanese in Blood Red Skies (and why wouldn't you?) at the moment your choices are a little bit restricted. To one plane to be precise. The Zero. Actually it's worse than that because the "official" model from Warlord Games is the late war A6M5 version which really only came into service in the mid to late war period. Why they chose the M5 has been chewed over regularly - the only answer I can get is it made sense at the time. Luckily most players are happy to sub the A6M5 for the much more iconic early war A6M2 and the stats have been posted up as a beta test in various places.

Thankfully Warlord are releasing an expansion set for each of the BRS factions. The RAF one has just been released in March, April will see the Luftwaffe, so the IJA\IJN set will be along soon enough. These are card only sets, no models, but there are other sources of models out there such as the excellent Armaments in Miniature.

So if you fancy trying something different, something "Not a Zero". Where do you go?

The Japanese Army and Navy both operated their own air services, and not unlike the relationships between "sister" armed forces the world over, they pretty much refused to speak to one another or acknowledge each others existence other than to pass the blame when something went wrong. In Japan this was even more charged as both parties were directly involved in politics to an extent that was absent in the other combatants. It should come as no surprise therefore that the Army had their own designs. Actually I'm being a bit unfair here. It is perfectly logical that the IJA and IJN would have different design requirements as they are operating in different environments.

So anyway, the Army had a fighter every bit as advanced as the Zero, the Nakajima Ki43 Hayabusa (usually translated as Peregrine Falcon or Fighting Falcon). Like the Zero it has exceptional handling capabilities and is a bit fragile. They also look quite similar, and in BRS will play in a very similar style, so are pretty much a Zero in game terms. In fact many Allied pilots confused the two types regularly in their reports, adding to the Zero's already formidable reputation. I wanted something different. Something Not a Zero.

Which led me to the Nakajima Ki44 Shoki (Demon Queller) given the reporting name Tojo by the Allies. This is a really interesting Japanese fighter for a number of reasons. Firstly, its Not a Zero or a Zero clone. It also plays in a totally different way to the Zero. The Shoki is an Army designed interceptor. It fast and fairly reasonably armed (depending on the version), but unlike the Zero it turns like a brick. The Shoki is an energy fighter, with Great Dive and Great Climb traits. It also saw service throughout the war in the Pacific, from 1942 to the very end where several Shoki pilots became Aces by shooting down B29 Superfortress - no mean feat.

So I've bought a "squadron" of six from Armaments in Miniature and have started to get some paint on them. I'll update as I progress, and hopefully will have a battle report with them after their first outing.

Cheers