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 :-)