I thought it would be interesting to look at a couple of WW2 fighters from the perspective of a BRS player, and how those designs changed and through the war. One of the main themes the games designer Andy Chambers wanted with Blood Red Skies was to show the way WW2 fighters evolved. As combat experience was gained planes were designed or modified to have more firepower, speed and protection, but this all came at the inevitable sacrifice of handling and manoeuvrability.
Having just painted a half a dozen I thought it may be worth looking at the Japanese A6M Zero, with specific reference to Blood Red Skies. I’m using the beta test stats here, so be aware these may be subject to change if and when they get officially released.
First a bit of history. The Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 Rei-sen “Zero” was one of the most advanced fighter planes in the world when it entered service in 1940. As with all Japanese aircraft the US allocated a reporting name, based on the assumption that US pilots would be unable to pronounce or be confused by the Japanese names. Fighters were given boys names, bombers girls, and in the case of the A6M this was christened “Zeke” but on this occasion this didn’t really take hold and was usually just known as the Zero.
The Zero was built to a very specific requirement, that of a long-range carrier fighter, and it met those requirements superbly. Initial reports of the Zeros prowess were discounted in the West – how could the “backward” Japanese build fighters better than “us”? That changed when they were encountered and the Zero ran up a terrifying reputation as a supreme dog fighter, possibly the best of the war, with a phenomenal range of operation. The Zero was incredibly manoeuvrable, particularly at lower speeds, and had a great rate of climb. All over the Far East, Chinese, American, British, Commonwealth and Dutch pilots learned to fear it as it sliced through almost any and all opposition it encountered. Full disclosure here. The Zero is quite similar visually to the Army Type Ki-43 Hayabusa \ Oscar, and I suspect in the heat of combat a lot of Ki43s were misidentified as Zeros in a similar way that a lot of Luftwaffe pilots shot down in the Battle of Britain insisted they were victims to Spitfires when they had really been attacked by Hurricanes. The Oscar was also very nimble and lightweight, so some of the legend of the Zeros invincibility should probably go to the Oscar.
The reason for the Zero’s incredible performance was due to the design team, led initially by Jiro Horikoshi, and their obsession with weight saving. They used new light weight materials and trimmed every ounce of spare weight. A great deal of effort was put into making the Zero clean and streamlined. That meant the plane was very lightweight, improving range and manoeuvrability. The downside however was the Zero was inherently more susceptible to damage than other contemporaries and didn’t have any protection in the way of armour or self-sealing fuel tanks. This was an acceptable trade off to the Japanese, who reasoned that making the Zero hard to hit was more important than surviving if you did get hit. Initially it looked like they may have had a point as in the first six months of combat the Zero ran up an incredible score, and the IJN pilots gained both experience and confidence. Incidentally, this weight saving and streamlining efforts on the Zero meant it was also a very demanding and complex aircraft to manufacture, something that would cause problems later.
So let’s look at the Zero in Blood Red Skies. Currently the only official stats are for the late war A6M5 version, but I am lucky enough to have access to the Beta test stats for the earlier A6M2 which won the fearsome reputation in China, Pearl Harbour and the Philippines. I will also look at the interim A6M3 Mod 32, a less successful mid war upgrade, before taking a quick look at the A6M5 in later posts.
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| Data card by the talented Martin Evans |
The A6M2 is the classic Zero of the early war period. This nimble lightweight fighter is reasonably fast and very agile. Top speed was 331 mph which makes it Speed 7 in BRS, slower than the Me109E and Spitfire II but faster than almost anything it was going to meet in the skies of the Pacific and Far East. Firepower is about average for an early fighter, with a pair of 20mm cannons and pair of .303 machine guns. Like the Me109E the limited ammunition on the cannons and their mediocre performance means the A6M2 has only 1 Firepower in BRS. Like all Zeros it has the “Vulnerable” negative Trait which means opponents shooting at it always have a bonus firepower dice. It has two very useful positive Traits too, Deep Pockets, and Tight Turn. Deep Pockets reflects the superb range and endurance of the A6M2, giving pilots the confidence to maximise their performance without having to worry too much about running out of fuel on the way home. In the game you can discard a Deep Pocket card to ignore one Boom Chit inflicted on the squadron. Tight Turn is a great card to have in your hand, as it allows you to take your standard 45 degree turn at any point in your move, not just the end, making this Zero a real handful in a turning fight. Add to that the fact that the early war Japanese have access to two very powerful Doctrine Cards – Aggressive Tactics and Seasoned Pilots, and keeping a Zero in your sights long enough to get a shot is going to be difficult to say the least. This amazing manoeuvrability comes at a price, and you really need to avoid getting shot at if you can manage it. Try to avoid head to head attacks against fighters and particularly tail shots against bombers with bonus rear defensive weapons where the chance of getting hit by defensive fire is much higher due to the Vulnerable Trait.
At the moment there is no model of the A6M2 available from Warlord, however unless you are a real propeller head the visual differences between the A6M2 and A6M5 are minimal in 1:200 scale, mainly a matter of the exhaust pipes protruding from the engine cowl in later models and a slightly different wing span, so you can use the A6M5 model without too much trouble, either by carving the exhausts off or just not painting them, or if you prefer a very nice resin model is available from Armaments in Miniature.
Nothing lasts forever. In June 1942 a Zero was forced to land in the Aleutian Islands. The pilot was killed in the crash but the plane was recovered by the Americans in a repairable condition and they soon had it flying again and learned the Zeros strengths and weaknesses, particularly poor handling in the high speed dive, and started devising tactics to exploit this.
So part 2 will look at the unloved middle child of the Zero family, the A6M3 Mod 32
Links
Warlord Zero Squadron
AIM Zero
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