Friday 10 September 2021

Stupidity and persistence have a power all of their own. Update on Brewster Buffalo in Blood Red Skies


As regular readers may know, I am preternaturally indisposed towards the Brewster Buffalo, and said it, quite a bit. Also here https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/04/brewster-buffalo-in-blood-red-skies.html

It is therefore with some reluctance I have to admit defeat. In the two and a half years since that Blog post the "Community" have done their best to harry producers to the extent that ALL the Buffalo versions are now available in one form or another. Put that into context, only three or four Bf109 marks are readily available, with a production run of a dozen or so short of 34,000, but the Buffalo, which topped off around 500?? 

US F2A2\3

RocWorks , PlanePrinterArmaments in Miniature

British Buffalo Mk I

RocWorks , Armaments in Miniature

Dutch B339c\d 

PlanePrinter

Finnish B239

RocWorks , Armaments in Miniature

Actually I love this. It shows that third party producers can see a demand and are prepared to fill it, even when large sales are not guaranteed. It means that when "The Community" ask for models, these guys are prepared to delve into the less glamourous, less successful and frankly obscure corners of aviation history and produce models for us. It means we can, if we want, fight more obscure but interesting theatres of war, such as China, or the early Blitzkrieg, or, well, just about anything. To be honest I never heard of a Curtis Wright CW-21 Demon before a couple of months ago - but now I think I fancy doing a Squadron. And I can get one. Or a Fokker DXXI in Dutch or Finnish versions, or a ............ you get the drift. 

Well done guys, thanks, and take a bow.

Of course I want a Fokker T.V. from someone either UK based or a .stl so I can print one, because, well ok they only made a dozen, and they lasted about 24 hours in combat, and were unsuccessful by any measure, but.........

Oh and rumour has it Warlord are planning at least one set of Buffalos. There, that is my cup running over :-)

Cheers

  

Tuesday 7 September 2021

Blood Red Skies Midway Starter - NOT an unboxing 'cos I don't have a box yet, but...........


https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/blood-red-skies/products/blood-red-skies-the-battle-of-midway-starter-set

Hi everyone. Had a bit of time spare so I've had a closer look at what we know is in the Battle of Midway Starter set for Blood Red Skies, now on pre order (see the link above) and compared it to what was in the original Battle of Britain one, which is now out of print. This is based just on info from old youtube unboxings, pics shown on line, information passed to me by Bothans etc etc. I should stress I have not seen the "real" thing so there may well be some errors here. Don't shoot me

The main components are the same - 12 planes, six a side, with bases and pilot discs, though of course the planes are different - Zeros and Wildcats instead of Spitfires and Me109s. The models are also a different material, with "Warlord Resin" replacing "bendy" soft-ish plastic. Like the original release these are pre coloured, this time blue and white, so in theory you can play out of the box with your 11 year old, if you have one. We've not seen the models in the flesh yet but first pics look promising so I'm calling that an upgrade. 

The original card markers and measuring tools are replaced with plastic ones which we've already seen in the Airfix version of the game. Given the questionable value of the original measuring stick, this is certainly another upgrade.

The card punchboards for clouds etc are there - at least as far as can be seen from the pics we've seen, and instead of the three double sided twin engine card bomber markers in the BoB set we now get six single engine ones, a change needed due to the nature of the Battle of Midway. Looking at the pictures there are also some card ships which I am presuming are for use as target markers - something missing from the BoB starter set. 

The dice also look to be the same as in the BoB set, though this time you get twelve instead of the ten?? (cant remember) in the BoB set. Twelve is actually the maximum number of dice you will roll if you are playing Midway - dodging a deflection shot with an Ace in a Zero, so it makes some sense and if so shows a nice understanding of the rules mechanisms. 

The play sheet also looks to be the same , which is good as the original is brilliant and easy to follow. The packaging pics suggests you get two, though the component list on the website says one. I would guess the website is wrong here.  

Another "upgrade" is the aircraft data cards. In the BoB set you got three - one each of Spitfire II and Me109E and then a double sided one with a Blenheim on one side and a Do17Z on the other. In the new Midway set there are six cards covering F4F, SBD and TBD, and A6M2, B5N and D3A. 

The rulebooks are similar but not identical - there are no major rule changes however the wording has been clarified in a couple of places, and the three BoB booklets has been combined into one more substantial book. The section on multi engine planes seems to have been removed, but for Midway that mostly makes a lot of sense. The scenarios are different however. Both still have 5 scenarios and the first three are pretty much reskins of ones that appeared in the BoB rules. This is a good idea as the scenarios are really teaching tools to set players up. The difference is in the last two scenarios in the Midway booklet which both have strikes against ship targets, plus some basic rules to handle attacking ships and AA. It should be noted these are NOT the same rules as in Air Strike, but rather a simplified set to allow players to try it out - if you want the full Air Strike package, you will need to buy Air Strike. I suppose the same applies if you want to use multi engine planes, though there are none in the Midway scenarios. The Midway booklet has a lot more background and historical information too, which is welcome. 

Theatre Cards. For the established players this is where it gets interesting. In the BoB set we got nine different Theatre Cards. Midway gives us twice as many (18). I've done a lot of sleuthing and staring at blown up pics of the set and I think we have seven that appear in the BoB set and ten (10) new ones. OK I've not checked but some of these may have appeared in Squadron sets , but it is certainly ten more than in the BoB set. I'm not sure but it looks like Home Advantage is NOT in the Midway set - which makes perfect sense. I'm assuming Numbers is in there too but don't know. I'm classing this as a big upgrade

Doctrine Cards. Again in a similar manner to Theatre Cards, we are seeing a bunch of new cards. The BoB starter set had seven Doctrines. Midway has seventeen (17). Only five of these seem to be common to both sets, leaving twelve "new" doctrines in Midway. Defensive Tactics and Low Altitude Performance seem to be absent as far as I can tell. Again, I think this is a big upgrade.

Ace Skill Cards. Something had to give. I'm not seeing any Ace skill cards in the Midway set. There were seven in the BoB set. How much of a loss is this is really up to you and if you play un-named or home brewed Aces.

Lastly - stickers. Yup the bloody useless sticker sheet makes a return. I know this does make sense if you are expecting to play with your 11 year old but it was one of the less welcome components of the old set. However Warlord also include waterslide decals, so those of us who want to paint our models can use them too. Another bonus.

So looking at all that how do I feel about the Starter Set? To some extent it depends on how long you have been in the game.

If you are just looking to start or don't have the old BoB starter this really is a no brainer - get it!

For completists and tournament players who want every Theatre and Doctrine card, again, it looks good.

If you already have all the Wildcats and A6M2s you need, or are not interested in the slightest in the Pacific then it is less of a gimme, but I still think an attractive package and I will be getting one.

Street Date is said to be late October - whispers about the 23rd

Cheers