Mig Alley for Blood Red Skies - Coming Soon!

OK Gents and Ladies. Warlord have confirmed the release date for their Blood Red Skies (BRS) Korean War expansion. I'll apologise in advance here as this is going to be a bit in depth and will use terms from BRS that non BRS players may not understand - then again why are you not playing BRS?? I should also add I pinched the pics from Warlord - hopefully they wont mind or this could be a short lived blog post.

Here's a little more info on MiG Alley that I have been able to extract from a Warlord employee whose battered body may one day be found, or maybe not...... 

Doing Korean War Jets is actually quite a challenge because these two planes in particular represent a real step change in capability over their prop driven predecessors. Swept wings, high speeds and superior high altitude capability means these planes are almost untouchable by others. It is true that prop planes did on occasion catch a Jet and get a kill, but almost always as a result of the Jet pilot making an error. 

So what do you get? The box is not a new starter set, rather it is designed to introduce BRS into the Korean War. It contains two of each MiG15 and F86, and the usual bases, trait cards and counters, plus decals covering both planes . You would still need the basic BRS rules to play and these are not in the box.

The rules are fully compatible with WW2 BRS in both directions - you can use the current planes like F4Us and P51s in Korea, and crucially for us WW2 fans, the Jet trait is designed to be compatible with WW2 era planes too, so you can start planning those 262 vs Meteor games - but more on that later. 

Also included are some new Traits - The obvious one is "Jet", but we also get "Buzzsaw" and "Rough Ride". 

Jet is probably the most powerful Trait in the game. Firstly, it is "always on", you don't play it as a card.  How it works is quite clever. When you activate a Jet you immediately gain a free advantage level.  Additionally non Jets cannot use the "Climb for Advantage" Pilot Action within 9" of a Jet - so if you want to catch a Jet you have to set yourself up quite a distance away or catch him at a lower advantage level or he will simply use his superior speed to leave you in the dust. If you miss him you probably wont get another chance as he will be gone! 

The really interesting part is that the Jet Trait is split into two generations. First Generation Jets like the 262 and Meteor can use this against prop driven planes, but Secord Generation Jets such as the MiG15 and F86 can also use it against First Generation Jets - like MiGs vs Meteors over Korea. 

Buzzsaw is a toned down Heavy Hitter, and Rough Ride is a negative trait (so always on) and represents those planes that could become harder to handle at high speeds and high G and also the lack of G suits in Korean era MiGs. Interesting aside, British and US pilots did get rudimentary G suits late in WW2, and there is a possibility they may make an appearance as an Equipment card later. One of reasons they're not already on the list is Andy Chambers is wary of making equipment restricted by Nationality. So far all the Equipment Cards in BRS have been generic, even if the names have not - so "Malcolm Hood" is technically a UK\US thing, but all the other nations had similar bubble style canopies so it can be used. Will be interesting to see what is decided there.  

Compression Issues is another new Doctrine card designed for Jets but backward compatible with WW2. This card can be played on an opponent attempting to burn advantage to dive, forcing an opponent to pass a Manoeuvre Test or lose their Pilot Action. This is a really interesting card because it can be used to represent the problems pilots found as their planes started to dive fast and approach what we would call the Sound Barrier.

The models themselves are very nice too, and I can see them being easy to paint (silver anyone?). Warlord are persisting with metal which has some problems associated with how they balance on the Advantage bases. They really need to be plastic or resin. One can hope.

With only a pair of planes each side small games will be over very fast and accumulation of boom chits will probably be the deciding factor, which is reasonably correct from a historical point of view as these are very thirsty planes with limited endurance, particularly when the throttle is open. I'd confidently expect the "Drop Tanks" equipment card being a must have. If you are playing points games then expect your jets to be badly outnumbered. Better yet buy more jets :-)

Lastly I mentioned Jets in WW2, and of course other Jets that fought or could have fought in Korea. As I explained, the Jet Trait is usable in WW2.  Later this year Warlord have plans to release the Me262 as a squadron set. I understand the "Air Strike" supplement will have stats for Meteors, Airacomets and Shooting Stars and hopefully some more, again due out later this year.  

It is fair to say I fancy this. I'm going to the Warlord Open Day on 20th July where I hope to get a game or two in. 

Mig Alley RRP is £20