Close your ears - Blood Red Skies Tactical Tips

I don't usually NOT recommend something to the readers, or indeed visitors to The Blood Red Skies Ready Room, but on this occasion could I say to any of my opponents, please do NOT listen to the latest episode of the Lead Pursuit Podcast, particularly the section on tactics where Doug annoyingly explains how not to get shot down:  link here -

 https://www.leadpursuit.net/podcast/episode-28-tactics-101?fbclid=IwAR3-BazQVSonxOh4N1bezYtn8HCKT9XHU9m-nXLZOe1Anh_IDFQZqZCFiMc


The Dicta Doug has some great points.
1. Situational Awareness - aka READ THE SCENARIO!
2. Use your "F Suit" - an F Suit is like a G suit that prevents a rush of sh!t to the brain to stop you trying to get to a position to take a risky shot that leaves you in a vulnerable position.
3. Table edges are your friend as you don't need to worry about enemies that way.
4. Avoid head on attacks unless you want to get shot back in the face.
5. Wingmen are a thing - learn to use them (my no 1 tbh),
6. Outmanoeuvre doesn't just cause a loss of advantage, it causes a loss of initiative.     

What did I miss?

So, just to repeat, DO NOT LISTEN TO LEAD PURSUIT - got that?

Naval Gazing - First look at Warlord's new Victory at Sea

I was hanging around our FLGS mulling over what I would need in the way of supplies for the coming "Isolation", when a parcel was delivered from Warlord Games. It was the demo set of the new(to Warlord - more later) Victory at Sea WW2 naval game, due for release in April.

I'm interested in "this sort of thing" so decided to hang around and take a look. The demo set was not the full starter set - more on that later, but it is enough to show the basic mechanics. It contains 2 Cruisers and 2 Destroyers for both sides, Japanese getting Mogami's and Fubuki Class, US Northampton and Fletcher.

So first the models. These have come in for a lot of initial flak due to the very pronounced oval bases when seen in Warlord's promo pics. I'll come back to the bases in a bit, but the actual models look rather good. They're in the new "Warlord resin" and the castings I saw were crisp and clean, and looked very accurate. The scale s 1:1800 which is NOT a proprietary scale, despite what a lot of people think, and actually I think in this case it is a good choice - small enough to get some impression of ranges, but big enough to gave plenty of detail. The models came as a hull fixed to the base, which has some nice wave details, and a small sprue of detailing parts - turrets,  catapults etc. There was some warping but I expect that should be an easy fix with a quick hot water bath.

Now on to the "hovercraft" effect of the bases  In real life I don't think it is that bad. A quick read of the rules - which I assume are a cut down version, shows no need for the bases as part of the rules mechanics. My assumption is that they needed to base depth to make the casting easier and to allow them to have the names on the bases (which they do - individual ships on the Cruisers and classes on the DDs). Only Warlord know. I think they have made the issue worse in their photos by drybrushing the waves on their model bases, which creates an optical effect of emphasising the darker sides of the base - I suspect painting the sides of the bases a lighter shade would be a good idea.

I didn't get a chance to look at the rules themselves, but the accompanying punch board with tokens and turning angle thing etc was good quality and should last - not so sure about the paper sea mats which will I guess be the first thing to be replaced, but it makes sense to include them. The data cards seemed quite detailed - no idea of how accurate they are as I never got to look at them for any length of time. The damage track "clips" beloved of Warlord make a reappearance but these look to have been redesigned a bit and hopefully will work better than those in Cruel Seas. 

So - lastly a bit of history of Victory at Seas. Not something I have played, being a Dyed in the Wool General Quarters player. This game started out as a Sci Fi set of rules for Babylon 5 iirc, by Mongoose Publishing and it was modified by some enterprising folk to cover real WW 1 & 2 era games - not sure what that says about the rules but the general consensus was that the V1 set worked and gave a reasonably fun game, if not too accurate. V2 was scheduled but never completed, along with some detailed 3d mastered ships - about 50 so I am told. Warlord have done a deal with Mongoose and released this version along with the models. Not sure if this is indeed V1, V2 or somewhere in between. The starter fleets will be available through retail but the suggestion is the follow on models may only be direct sales.

First thoughts are this could be a winner - I know I said that about SPQR and that turned into a disaster to play in record time. In this case I think we are on firmer ground as there is a decade of testing the VAS system in it's various forms so it should have had most of the kinks ironed out.

The starter set is a USN\ v IJN affair and contains 3 US Cruisers and 6 Destroyers  vs 3 IJN Cruisers and 3 Destroyers. There are also Fleet Boxes that add battleships and Carriers and also some Battleships available as single packs.

One to watch

ps I think the ships would make excellent target markers for Blood Red Skies.

Thanks to Ste at Asgard Wargames for the pics - Cheers M8 - and if you're interested in VAS Asgard will have them on pre order now https://asgardwargames.co.uk/product-category/victory-at-sea

The Rotterdam Project Part 4 - Concrete

A major part of my cunning plan to stop Army Group B will be some fixed defenses and fortifications - or Kazemats in Dutch.

These will consist of a weapon bunker and a squad bunker (both concrete), a road block, and a couple of minefields and wire entanglements which I'll hopefully get finished soon.

The weapon bunker is an easy one - my mate Paul (with the 3d printer) has found a .stl of a Dutch B Type HMG \ ATG bunker and kindly printed it off. The print went a bit off with the roof but I judged it recoverable = beggars cant be choosers and all that. Here it is after a coat of paint.

The second emplacement is larger as it needs to hold either 2 teams \ weapons or a squad. This one is "home made" from pink foam based on a S Type bunker in the Peel-Raam line I found some plans for.

Both are a bit tall - a result of the real things being buried at least partly underground, but we cant really do that on our tables and reducing the height to represent that makes the rear doors look daft so I'm just going to have to live with tall bunkers.

Roadblock, mines and wire to follow........

The Rotterdam Project Part 3 - Support Troops

As I mentioned, the core of my force are Dutch Marines, who fought in the defence of Rotterdam in May 1940. In Chain of Command these troops can (and need to) draw their supports from other Dutch lists, so I have a few choices.

Initially I'm going with a Forward Observer, a Swartzloss Heavy Machinegun team, and a Pioneer team. All the models are from May 1940 miniatures Dutch Infantry. The Pioneers are "repurposed" stretcher bearers with cable reels and the like added from spare bits from the Warlord German Pioneer set, plus a spare officer pointing to tell the guys where to plant their bits. The Pio team is needed as some of the Blitzkrieg scenarios in Chain of Command require you to blow up "stuff" to slow the Germans down.

My last support choice for now is a Landsverk Armoured car. The Dutch had no tanks, but did have a couple of dozen armoured card that by 1939-40 standards were not that bad. This model is another 3d print that went a bit wrong, getting a bit twisted in the curing stage, but it has cleaned up ok and will certainly do til we can get another (better) one run off.

The Rotterdam Project Part 2

Update on the Dutch Marines for Chain of Command

ok so this took more than 5 days but the main platoon is now done (!) with plenty of time left before the Germans are due in May :-)

The platoon is a bit strange. It has a fairly standard three squad platoon, but then goes "a bit wrong". The Dutch never took an active part in WW1 so they never had a chance to learn first hand some of the low level lessons. One of these was the need to make the infantry squads more flexible. The Dutch don't have the ability to split a squad into teams, and instead operate as a single eleven man squad.

This has some advantages. It will take a lot more to pin a large squad than a small three or four man team, but it does impose a bit of a tactical straight jacket. Then again the lack of flexibility will be "interesting". The squads do have an LMG, but it is the distinctly WW1 issue Lewis gun, with a rather dodgy big drum mag that is prone to stoppages and cant fire on the move. Rather worryingly no anti tank rifle, indeed no integral support weapons at all. I suppose this is in part because the Marines were organised and equipped to act as landing parties and the like in far flung territories where tanks are not likely. Then again the Regular army dont have an ATR either. Or tanks for that matter. Oh and the officer has a sword - something of a first for my WW2 armies!

Next time - some supports