Traits in Blood Red Skies (4) Staying Alive!

So having dealt with performance and gunnery related Traits, lets look at those which kick in when you actually get on the wrong end of a gun.

First up, Robust. This is an easy Trait to use and explain. When played your opponent loses one attack dice. Simple - just remember to use it before he rolls the dice!

Toby always reminded his owner to play "Robust" in time! 

So let's have a quick look at some of the implications. Firstly Robust is usually a second trait combined with something else. There is also an implication when you have an odd number of planes in a Squadron as you can only take one card per plane - do you take the odd card as Robust or the other Trait? This means you can't always rely on having it available either in normal or Open Deck games so choosing when to use it can be important.  If your opponent is already throwing lots of dice you may be better off saving it until later in the turn (it's a Discard, so it recycles each turn). On the other hand losing one attack dice may be the difference between a crit and a hit - something to take into account if you are facing deflection shots under the optional deflection rules. One area Robust shines is when you are attacking bombers - most of which only have FP1 defensive capability - so in effect when they use it they just don't shoot back..... a good reason to send your Hurricanes after the bombers!

The Wildcat is a bit of an anomaly in that it is a "single Trait" plane with Robust. This is more by accident than design as it doesn't really fit any of the others, and the obvious Trait, Great Dive, doesn't add any benefits as it only kicks in above Speed 6. Andy Chambers is probably going to introduce a new Trait in V2 (whenever that happens) to give to slower planes like the Wildcat to make them a little less one dimensional.

There is only one Bonus Doctrine at the moment that works with Robust, and that is Ram Attack - much in vogue with both Soviet and Japanese Squadrons. It's a doctrine that you need to be careful with - always try to only ram someone who is disadvantaged - the normal rules for attacks and advantage apply, but unlike normal attacks you will also take a heavy hit in return. All in all Ram Attack is a great option when you need to inflict one Boom Chit or kill to win the game, but is not something I would recommend as a regular attack option.

The other Trait to consider here is Armoured. It is a rare Trait, which will probably only appear on two very specialised planes, the Il2 and the Hs129 - nothing else has the level of protection to justify it - think Flying Tank. This is also a positive Trait - basically an "always on" Robust. All the implications of Robust apply here, and there is no need to worry about choosing when to use it. There are no Bonus Doctrines that apply.

The last Trait that impacts on survival - or rather morale, is Deep Pockets (DP). DP is an interesting trait that represents those planes that due to either exceptional long range or large ammo capacity (or both) could hang around in combat longer. It allows you to discard boom chits, meaning your Squadron will soak up more Boom Chits before breaking for home. DP is a "Remove" card, so there is only so much you can get out of it, but if you time it right it can be a real force multiplier. Two good examples are P51s and the Zero.

There is one Bonus Doctrine that works with DP - Wall of Lead - basically you can burn your DP cards to re-roll any dice that don't hit. This is one of those Doctrines that scale with he number of firing dice, but it can be VERY powerful, particularly when used early in a fight to gain a Boom Chit advantage, OR again if using the optional deflection shot rules to try and inflict a Boom Chit with a deflection shot.

I'll not go into too much detail on how DP interacts with the multi engine rules, because it really gets confusing - so much so that the only Agile multi engine so far is the Mosquito, and we're unlikely to be repeating that particular combo. If you are using the "Heavy Fighter" optional rule it is much simpler.

Hope that is useful - next time I will round the series off with a look at the Traits we've missed so far - Jet, Agile, Biplane, and the dreaded Vulnerable, Poor Quality, and Sluggish.

 

Traits in Blood Red Skies 3 - Shooting

Sooner or later if you are doing it right, or at least in my case get lucky, you get an opponent in your sights. So lets take a look at gunnery related Traits in Blood Red Skies.

There are two obvious traits to consider, and one less so, plus a couple of Traits that are associated with attacking ground targets only. Let's look at the obvious ones first, Heavy Hitter and Buzz Saw.

Heavy Hitter (HH) is there for planes that have a bigger than average punch, either because they have large calibre guns, or guns that are all concentrated on the centre line. Examples of bigger guns would be the 30mm Mk108 on some German fighters such as the fearsome Me262 , or the NS 37mm on some Yaks. It does NOT include specialist anti tank guns suck as the Vickers S mounted on a Hurricane IID which we will come to a bit later. Centre line gun batteries can also benefit from the HH trait because they don't need harmonising like wing mounts and tend to be able to deliver more concentrated fire - an example of this would be an Me110 or a Mosquito. Lastly the four gun Hispano mounts on some later British fighters such as Hurricane IIC, Typhoon and Tempest also get HH. The Trait itself is not dependent on the number of guns or the firepower rating of the plane - you can get FP 1 HH if you have only a single or couple of guns, one of which is a monster.

So that's what it is - what does it do? HH only works when shooting at 3" or less. At that range it adds a firepower dice, and crucially, any hits that it causes are critical hits. HH is a "discard" so it keeps recycling through your deck. The real bonus with HH comes with the new "deflection shots need a crit" optional rule because with HH all hits from 3" are automatically Critical Hits - ok the opponent may well dodge them still, but the chance of getting the initial hit, and therefore inflicting the Boom Chit, is dramatically increased.

There are also some Doctrines that have HH as a Bonus. First up is Opening Shot. This isn't a widely used option - I think partly because it comes from Mig Alley, and is restricted to the late war Soviets. It allows you to take a shot from double normal range, but you only roll your FP value NOT FP+Pilot Skill. It is only available as a pilot action shot, so is a bit restricted, and HH doesn't really add anything to the attack as it will happen from outside the 3" range of HH. Then again if you happen to have an NS37 cannon firing shells the size of milk bottles, well it would be rude not to.

Next up is Head on Attack. When you get a Critical hit in a head to head against a multi engine plane it is applied directly to the target - so instead of dropping an advantage level, they immediately take damage no matter what advantage status they are in - it is very situational, but if your job is hitting bombers, it is a very useful doctrine to take.

Last is Big Game Hunters. This one is very specialised, only kicking in when firing at disadvantaged multi engine targets, but if you get a crit you apply 2 Booms to the target - ie shoot out 2 engines. This will immediately cause twins, including Agile ones (!) to crash. I suspect it is designed to represent the special tactics used to target vulnerable areas on heavy bombers, but it actually works better on Agile fighters.

The second shooting Trait is Buzz Saw. This is another MiG Alley card but it may possibly work its way back into some WW2 releases. It represents the big batteries of heavy machine guns on centre line mounts such as on the F80 and F86. It operates exactly like Heavy Hitter but does not grant the plus 1 FP dice, so the comments that apply to HH also apply here. There are no Bonus Doctrines (yet) that use Buzz Saw, but there may be some along soon.

One quite major implication of these cards is when you are strafing ground targets, particularly those that have qualities that reduce either the number of dice rolled when strafing, or the number of hits caused. As a Critical hit causes 2 point hits on a target, and when in effect both HH and Buzz Saw cause any hits to be criticals, they will chew up ground targets pretty well. This makes planes with either of these traits good at strafing targets with the Dispersed quality, and also help a little when hitting Armoured ground targets.

Speaking of armoured targets. The other Trait that involves shooting is Can Opener. This is a specialist ground attack trait that represents those aircraft with anti tank cannons and specialist ammunition, such as the HS129 or Hurricane IID. These planes tend to have very limited actual firepower as they were awful in air to air combat, but as they negate the Armoured value of ground targets they are good at killing tanks. The problem with these types is they are over specialised, and the opportunities to use their specialist equipment was relatively rare so that everyone moved away to a more generic and versatile fighter-bomber. Can Opener (and the Hurricane IID and Hs129 data cards) are only available via the "Sandstorm" pdf  downloadable for free from the  Warlord website.

So that is part 3 - next up will be traits that impact your survival - such as  Robust, and Armoured.

Traits in Blood Red Skies 2 - Climbing and Diving

OK let's get this out of the way first. One of the criticisms I often hear is that there is no altitude in Blood Red Skies, so how can you climb and dive??

The answer of course is that BRS represents some of the effects of altitude using the Advantage system, which not only does away with all the telescoping stands and paperwork, it actually works in the game. So moving on..
 
There are two climbing and diving Traits in Blood Red Skies, Great Climb (GC), and er, Great Dive (GD).

Unlike the previous post on turning Traits which had fixed effects, these two have varied effects based on other factors. Let's look at Great Dive first.

Great Dive allows a plane to add it's normal move when it burns advantage to dive, not the normal 6". It follows that faster planes get a bigger benefit from the trait. This is not that "great" if your normal max speed is 7", but quite significant if 8" or 9" as they will usually be able to either put some distance between a tailing opponent and yourself, or catch him if he is trying to get away, even oif he is technically faster than you. A P51D will dive 18" compared to a Fw190A diving 14" - even if that is not enough to get you out of range, it will be far enough to stop him claiming his Heavy Hitter bonus.

So what Doctrines work as a bonus with Great Dive? Firstly Low Altitude Performance (LAP). LAP has been mentioned in the last post in relation to Rapid Roll. Most of that still applies here, so you can burn a GD card to automatically move from Disadvantage to Neutral at the start of your activation, and all that implies. Next is Dive Away (DA). DA allows you to burn advantage to dive even if disadvantaged - allowing you to put some space between you and the fight - useful but mainly defensive. The next Great Dive bonus is anything but defensive. This is Slashing Attack (SA). SA turns a normal hit after a dive into a Critical Hit. This is in some ways better than Heavy Hitter - it does not have a range restriction like HH, but it does not add any attack dice. In the new "deflection shooting" meta this is going to be VERY powerful - particularly with beasts like the P47 now in the game. You have been warned! Then there is Sustained Dive (SD). SD allows you to make a Manoeuvre test and if you pass you regain the advantage you burned to make the dive. Just in case you missed the implication there, you can dive from Neutral and if you make the test, you can still tail and shoot your victim. Of course here having some Agility and a good pilot helps, so Agility not really the P47s forte will make it slightly less useful to Jug drivers, but still worth thinking about, and Corsairs, Hellcats and Tempests will greatly benefit. Lastly,  Compression Issues (CI). This is useful in a number of ways, particularly if your opponent is trying to escape or using a dive to set up a shot. It forces any opponent who burns advantage to dive to pass a manoeuvre test or lose their pilot action that turn. That could be a shot, an outmanoeuvre, or even just a climb back up. In this case it is more effective against poor quality pilots or planes with low agility.
 
Now for Great Climb (GC). GC is one of the most powerful traits in BRS, and usually the most overlooked by new players. The card itself is a royal PITA to any opponent trying to climb for advantage anywhere within 12" of a GC plane as they have to pass a Manoeuvre test to succeed. This makes GC more useful against low quality pilots or low agility aircraft, but still worth a try even against an Ace. Importantly it does not require any skill on behalf of the friendly pilot, other than remembering to use it! Failure to understand and use Great Climb is the reason a lot of new players flying Me109Es think the Spitfire is overpowered. The Bonus Doctrines that work with Great Climb however even worse from an opponent's point of view. High Altitude Performance makes any Advantaged pilot trying to outmanoeuvre an opponent 2 skill levels better than his actual skill - so a Skill 4 pilot can auto outmanoeuvre an Ace, and even a Rookie can challenge a Vet.  Gulp. The other Bonus Doctrine is Seasoned Pilots, which allows you to re-roll a failed Manoeuvre test. I know this causes some people to scratch their heads trying to work out the connection between rate of climb and pilot skill, but I rationalise it by pointing out having all that power available means a good pilot can get more out of his plane, and do things easier.

So that's the ups and downs of going up and down. Next one will look at firepower, robustness and the like.

Traits in Blood Red Skies 1 - Turning

I thought it may be interesting to share some thoughts on Traits and the like in Blood Red Skies. Part one is about traits that effect turning.

There are currently only three Traits that relate to turning, Tight Turn, Rapid Roll, and Biplane. Lets look at them one by one.

Tight Turn (TT). Probably the most useful trait in the game, at least for novice players (and me!), accounting for more shot down Me109Es than any other factor in BRS. TT allows you to take your "normal" 45 degree turn at any point in your move, not just at the end. Planes with TT such as Spitfires, Zeros and Yaks find it much easier to set shots up, get into tailing positions, or even just get into the safety of clouds. It is a damned useful trait. Additionally for the more advanced players TT acts as a bonus card for a number of doctrines. Of these Aggressive Tactics is probably the most potent, allowing you to take an additional 45 degree turn at the start of the move, in effect giving you a 90 degree turn at the start, or two 45 degree turns. Defensive Tactics is in vogue at the moment with players who are using the optional "Deflection Shot" rule. Defensive Tactics can turn a rear shot into a deflection shot (though it can't prevent becoming disadvantaged through tailing) or a deflection shot into a head to head. I'm not so sure of its value however as a canny opponent can use the turns of Defensive Tactics to break up your formation, and it is at heart a defensive option. TT costs 3 points.

Rapid Roll (RR). Often seen as a poor man's TT, RR allows you to take your turn at the start of the move ONLY, rather than at any time like TT. As such it is clearly not as flexible as TT, and is often overlooked. Where RR shines for me however is the synergy with doctrines. In addition to Defensive Tactics RR combines with Slashing Attack, allowing a bonus firepower dice (Edit - I need to RTFM) hits to become Crits when you dive into an attack. In the new Meta with deflection shots needing Crits this is a big deal, or my particular favourite Low Altitude Performance, which means you will never be disadvantaged after activation, and you can climb from disadvantaged to advantaged in one turn. This has a number of benefits - such as allowing you to burn advantage to dive even when you start disadvantaged, or if you are lucky, set up a shot that your opponent doesn't think is possible. Not bad for 2 points.

Biplane. This is a new Positive Trait, officially only introduced in Air Strike. Biplane allows you a free 45 degree turn at the start of your activation. In theory this could stack with Tight Turn and Aggressive Tactics to give you a 135 degree turn! The down side is this is an "always on" and comes with some disadvantages - you can't climb for advantage within 9" of an enemy and your dive is restricted to 3" not 6". Biplane doesn't have any synergy with particular doctrines. As Biplane has both positive and negative aspects it is a free trait.

Lastly there is one other turn based Trait that may be making an appearance. Andy Chambers has always felt that Tight Turn is a bit of a blunt instrument that doesn't reflect some aircraft handling - particularly those that either have exceptional slow speed handling or some mechanical options such as manoeuvre slats that only work at slow speed. The classic example is the Zero, which turned very well at slow speed but became quite heavy on the controls as speed increased. To solve this he is thinking of introducing a new trait "No Stalling" (NS). NS will allow a plane to move between 1" and half speed and turn at any point in that range - basically a half speed TT. This may  get applied to the A6M2 Zero in the new Midway starter set, but others that could potentially benefit would be the P38Js with their redesigned dive flaps, Me109Es with their manoeuvre slats, or the Fairy Firefly with its Fowler Flaps. Personally I don't like the name, but I do like the capability this trait will bring, and anyway, Andy gets the final vote :-).  This is quite a big change and may wait to Blood Red Skies Version 2, where some re balancing of stats is probable, so don't get too excited yet.

I hope you fond that interesting and useful - if so, or if you disagree, please post a comment below.

Next we can move from the horizontal to the vertical, and look at the Traits that work with diving and climbing.

And if you like this sort of thing, why not click the "follow" button up there on the right to get updates?

I'd also recommend the Lead Pursuit podcast which is full of BRS "stuff".

Vapnartak Blood Red Skies Tournament report

2nd February was Vapnartak show in York - one of my favourites. This year I was running a small Blood Red Skies Tournament, and much fun was had.

We initially had 9 players with me the odd one out acting as sub. Sadly on the morning one of our players had transport issues so I got promoted to active player. Luckily for me Paul was driving - on the understanding I got the pizza in later - seems a fair deal.

We set out about half seven, stopped for breakfast and other refs, then arrived at York about half nine. As tournament players we were able to bypass the queues and get straight up to our spot and set up.

Players all arrived on time, and following some introductions we all "set to". the format was three games, each an hour long using the "Dogfight" scenario from the rules. The first two games would take us to lunch, and then after an hours break we would finish up, just in time for "Tea and Medals". We had quite a selection of Squadrons on show, covering all the main BRS factions - 3 RAF, 2 IJA\IJN, US (Marines), Luftwaffe,  and my own Soviets. We also had some interesting "builds" - possibly the most interesting being the four Wildcat Aces with complementary skills, and at the other end the FW190 Squadron with a couple of average pilots but the rest all rookies. I'll post the full Squadron lists at the bottom so people can dissect them if they want.

I'll not go into too much detail on the matches other than to say they all played fairly smoothly and without any problems - a testament to the rules and the players, all fine chaps. The three game format worked well I thought, with the majority of games being decided before the hour cut off. It was nice to have a real break to both shop and "refuel".

I was interesting to see some of the games were quite "cagey" with all players using clouds and jockeying for position with very little initial shooting, while other games were pretty much "pile in and see who shoots best". I can't give much comment on the games other than the ones I played.

My first match was against Sean and his Zeros. This went ok - I was actually ahead until Sean was trying to work out how to get a shot on one of my Migs, and I, still in helpful organiser mode, explained how he could do it - and he promptly shot the poor Ivan down! (memo to self - its a competition - keep your mouth shut!). That game ended in a winning draw to the IJN as we both were forced to retire due to Boom Chits (morale) but Sean had one kill.

Second match was against Ross and his FW190s. I think I managed to put him on the defensive early on and he never really recovered, partly due to his Rookie pilots and partly due to my Migs getting in close using their Great Dive Trait - probably the only thing the Mig is good at. I also remembered my memo and didnt prompt Ross when he forgot to use his Robust Trait - I needed all the help I could get! We shot one FW190 down and Ross was forced to disengage - a 6 point win.

Last match was against Chris and his IJA J2M Raidens. Chris was probably the most assured of the guys I played, and his J2Ms had a lot in their favour, but I did have the numerical advantage and attempted to isolate one of his elements quickly. Chris made a minor error and I got lucky several times with my dice, isolating and shooting down a J2M before it could get to the safety of the clouds, which combined with some other Boom chits inflicted earlier caused him to disengage. I was very relieved at this!

All the players had some interesting Theatre and Doctrine cards in play, and they certainly has an impact. My "Restricted Airfields" was certainly a very powerful choice (possibly too powerful?) as it causes opponents with equal or greater number of planes to lose one at the start. That has two big impacts. Not only does it reduce the number of planes (and therefore boom chit capacity) but it also forces most opponents to deploy in only 2 elements, leaving me with the tactical advantage of deploying an element last. I wish I could say I had thought of this in advance, but my taking it was just down to pot luck.  I suspect that will be a very solid choice for players using more expensive planes and high quality pilots. Ross and his "Low Level Haze" was also an interesting as it made surviving if you got into trouble easier, but that worked both ways. Chris had a great combo in Tropical Conditions and Tropical Filters, which nerfed the speeds of opponents who didn't take filters as equipment. Joe took Defensive Tactics. This is certainly a very powerful choice if you have planes with Tight Turn, effectively making most tailing shots deflection shots. As we were using the optional "need a crit to hit on deflection" this really made his Hurricanes buggers to nail down, but I think on balance it can also make you too defensive, and makes it difficult to line up shots for next turn.  Most players took "Drop Tanks" and this is one of the cards I think we may have to think about in future Tournament use. It is free, and other than a minor initiative nerf on turn 1 helps negate many of the other Theatre card effects. Needless to say I took it!

As for builds - we didn't see any twin engine fighters. We were using the "Heavy Fighter" optional rule, which makes them easier to use but also easier to catch. On discussion I suspect for tournament play these should be made a bit cheaper if Heavy Fighter is in use.

Probably the most interesting "build" was Steve and his "Four of a Kind Aces" build. Each was chosen with a skill that supported other Squadron mates. Of course this is a very expensive way to build a list and at 500 points you needed to take cheap fighters - nothing more than 25 points, so it will be limited to Wildcats, Mig3s, I16s and that sort of thing. I think it was interesting, but only 4 planes means you are very vulnerable to accumulating Boom Chits. I also noticed that it meant Steve was pretty much forced into a very tight deployment and that he needed to keep close to each other to get the benefit. Dan and his Spitfires exploited this ruthlessly, one managed to trigger most of Steve's Ace skills and Steve failed a couple of retention rolls so lost them for the turn, another Spit got inside Steve's tight "Lufbery" and tailed and took a shot at a Wildcat  - Steve rolled badly on the dodge and was shot down.

On mechanics - the new optional "crit to hit deflections" worked well - even though I missed most of mine (doh!) and everyone liked "open play" with the cards. 

Certainly food for thought.

Overall winner was Sean and his Zeros, so he got a signed copy of Air Strike (thanks Andy Chambers). Me, Dan and Paul were the "runners up" and all grabbed a new Squadron Box set donated kindly by Warlord Games (thanks again). Best painted went to Sean's Zeros, and wooden spoon for finishing last went to Joe, both got a set of measuring tools from "Just Lasered" - thanks again to Mel at Just Lasered for donating those.

In discussion it looks like we are going to try and organise another event in Sunderland soon - I'm certainly interested in that, and I hope this could be the start of some more organised events for Blood Red Skies.

York Blood Red Skies Tournament – Player Lists

1. Steve Ellis – US Pacific Early War
4 F4 Wildcats
4x PS5 (Mother Hen, Set Them Up, Eagle Eyes, Reflexes)
Equipment – Tropical Filters, Drop Tanks
Doctrine – Aggressive Tactics
Theatre (1) Restricted Airfields
Theatre (2) Superior Armaments

2. Paul Davison – British Late War NW Europe
5x Spitfire XIV
1x PS4, 4x PS3
Equipment – Drop Tanks
Doctrine – High Altitude Performance
Theatre (1) Down Drafts
Theatre (2) Poorly Trained Opponents

Sorry - for some reason I lost the pic of Pauls beautiful Mk XIVs (Doh!) but this is a low res one

3. Dan Ibekwe – British Late War NW Europe
6 x Spitfire IX
1 x PS4, 3 x PS3. 1 x PS2
Equipment – Polished Performance
Doctrine – Intruders
Theatre (1) Met Office
Theatre (2) Radar Jamming

4. Joe Chandler – British Early War NW Europe
6 x Hurricane II
1 x PS5 (Blackout Master), 1 x PS4, 2 x PS3, 2 x PS 2
Equipment – non
Doctrine – Defensive Tactics
Theatre (1) Radar Support
Theatre (2) Met Office

5. Sean Griffiths – Late War Japanese Pacific
6 x A6M5 Zero
2 x PS 5 (Aggressive, Blackout Master), 4 x PS 2
Equipment – Drop Tanks
Doctrine – Aggressive Tactics
Theatre (1) Radar Support
Theatre (2) Bad Weather

6. Cam Murray - Late War Soviet Eastern Front
5 x IL2 3M
1 x PS5 (Mother Hen) 4 x PS 4
Equipment – none
Doctrine – Interlocking fire
Theatre (1) Low Level Haze
Theatre (2) Supply Shortages

Cam couldn't attend due to a last minute transport problem

7. Ross Hendry – Late War German North West Europe
6 x Fw190A
2 x PS 3
4 x PS 2
Equipment – none
Doctrine – Big Game hunters
Theatre (1) Low Level Haze
Theatre (2) Bad Weather

8. Chris Jarratt – Late War Japanese Pacific
5 x J2M Raiden
1 x PS5 (Aggressive) 1 x PS 4, 2 x PS3, 1 x PS2
Equipment –Tropical Filters
Doctrine – Aggressive Tactics
Theatre (1) Radar Support
Theatre (2) Tropical Conditions

9. Ken Natt (sub) Soviet Early War Eastern Front
6 x MiG 3
Ivan Pokryskin (The Right Stuff, Set Them Up) 1 x PS 4, 4x PS3
Equipment – Drop Tanks
Doctrine – Low Altitude Performance
Theatre (1) Bad Weather
Theatre (2) Restricted Airfields

BRS Finns

I've been thinking about starting a new nationality for Blood Red Skies. I already have "cough" several squadrons, British, German, Soviet, Japanese and some American, but I'm thinking of doing something a bit less mainstream. Choices were narrowed down to French, Italian, or Finns. Finns won out, mainly because I have some spare Soviet bombers that I can re-purpose, and could get some 3d printed fighters, so this was going to be a fairly low impact project, at least as far as my wallet is concerned.

I'm initially planning just two Squadrons - one fighters, one bombers. The bombers will be Tupelev  SB2s, a mix of Armaments in Miniature and Zvezda models. The Finns didn't have much of an aircraft industry and relied on either imported or captured models. In the case of the SB2s, they managed to recover and repair at least five Soviet SB2s over the period of the Winter War, and put them into service as maritime patrol and attack bombers. Later they "acquired" more via their then German allies who captured large numbers during Operation Barbarossa. This meant they used several different versions of SB2s, which gives me a good excuse to reuse those spare SB2s I had lying around without worrying too much about them being different models.

The fighters will be Brewster Buffalos. These are 3d prints provided unbidden by my regular opponent Paul. Yes I know I have been less than complementary about them in the past The Little Plane that Mostly Couldn't but ..........

Pics from Wings Palette

Decals will be the excellent ones from Misc Minis

I'll update as the project develops