Summer Scramble 23 - The other side of the hill or "What would I do if I were a German*?"

Looking forward to Summer Scramble 23

If we end up with odd numbers of players I may have to play as an Axis player so I thought I would give my thoughts and look at list options should that situation arise.

It's going to be hard not to look at the Bf109E. 

Warlords infamous Bf109E models. These were the first BRS models I painted.

Of all the fighters available in 1939-40 this is for me is the apex predator. Speed 7, Ag 3, FP 1 Great Climb, Great Dive for 32 points (amended for Wing Commander due to the new Great Dive rule). Only a Spitfire will be marginally faster so I will mostly have the initiative on ties. I can get a six planes and 18 Pilot Skill levels at 500 points. I'd probably go PS 5, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, and lead with the Ace. I'm going to be vulnerable to better pilots in cheaper planes outmanoeuvring me (like the PZL 11 I mentioned in earlier posts) but being faster I should get to choose when the fight happens, and even without diving I can use my speed to try to get out of gun range. FP 1 isn't great, particularly on the PS 2 planes, but they will mostly act as wingmen and only shoot at targets of opportunity. Like the real Luftwaffe the Schwarm and Rotte fuhrer will be the ones making the main plays unless it all goes pear shaped.  Against Robust opponents like Hurricanes, Ms406s and Hawk 75s the lack of FP is going to be a problem but something has to give.

As an aside I think it is safe to say the Warlord 109E model has issues. It paints up well enough but you can tell it was from the first release wave. There are problems with the overall shape, particularly the front, and the panel lines on the wings look like they're from a much later version like a K. Actually the Warlord 109E front end looks rather like the earlier D version come to think about it so it can easily be proxied for those if you squint. Lastly the soft plastic is prone to a bit of bending. Hopefully this is getting remastered "soon". 

Another option would be to take the Bf110 Zerstorer. In BRS the 110C is a bit underwhelming. Speed 7, FP 2 but only Ag 1. I's also bloody expensive at 39 points each using the Heavy Fighter rule. On the other hand it is FP2 and has the Heavy Hitter Trait so an average pilot will be will be attacking at 6 dice and any hits will be classed as critical hits, and Great Dive does mean it can get in and out like the 109E. If I can initiate the engagement and blow through the opposition (literally) they may just work. Dropping to say five planes may help keep pilot quality reasonable. Hmm. btw the advantages and disadvantages of using Heavy Fighter is discussed quite a bit in one of the recent Lead Pursuit Podcast episodes and is worth a listen if you are interested in list building and the view from the States https://www.leadpursuit.net/podcast/episode-106-tournament-scene-2023  

Bf110Cs from Armaments in Miniature
 

Since I went out of my way to point out the issues with the Warlord 109E I should redress this by saying the Warlord 110 is a beautiful model, possibly the best in the range. Theyre well proportioned, detailed  and hard plastic. The only reason I don't have any painted yet is I had bought them from AIM before Warlord had even suggested they were releasing them. 

I suppose I could go Bargain Basement and use the Bf109D. This is slower and less Agile than the Emil and lacks Great Climb, but it is MUCH cheaper at 20 points each. I could build either a Swarm or Outmanoeuvre list with that, but I'm not sure.

Lastly I could go Italian. That would mean either a biplane like a Cr42 or an early FIAT or Macchi. None of these ideas appeal. They're cheap but are slower than their German counterparts and are turn fighters, which as I mentioned in another post just isn't my style.  Also I would have to get a squadron ready from scratch in a week which I don't fancy as I have no Italians yet.

* technically my paternal Great Grandfather WAS a German, but he vanished in undisclosed circumstances in 1914, about the same time the High Seas Fleet arrived and blew a significant part of my home town of Hartlepool into rubble. I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

  

Blood Red Skies - "Grisha" Rechkalov - Bad Boy Red Ace?

While I have been taking a break I discovered a “spare” P39 model.  I have a Squadron of six painted up in Soviet colours so I thought as a little side project I would paint it as an Ace for Blood Red Skies.

But which one? I did a bit of research and decided on Grigoriy Andreyevich 'Grisha' Rechkalov, Double HSU (Hero of the Soviet Union) and a bucket of other awards gained mostly while flying Lend Lease P39s with 16 GIAP.

This is him - baby faced chap second from the left.

 

Incidentally the four pilots in this pic have more than 120"kills" between them.

And this is one of his P39s 

There were a couple of reasons for choosing him. 

1) He was the highest scoring Airacobra Ace (of any nationality, not just Soviet), with 50 of his 56 claimed kills coming while flying the P39. Putting that into perspective, the highest scoring US Ace was Richard Bong, with 40, and Johhny Johnson was the RAF highest scorer with 34*.

2) The markings for Grisha’s plane are included in the Soviet P-39 Airacobra decal sheet from Miscellaneous Miniatures - link here. 

3) He seems to have been a bit of a character, being subject to some rather pointed comments from his compatriots. This is unusual in the old Soviet Union where their heroes tend to be portrayed as whiter than white (Redder than Red?) Communist icons untainted by any criticism. Also there is some details that could be used to assign the two Ace Skills needed to him. All Good so far

4) The paint project looks simple enough but different to the "normal" Soviet P39s I have due to the tail flash. At least that's what I thought. More on that later..........

So what about Grisha’s skills? 

Firstly he seems to have been a bit what we could call a “glory hunter”. He had a rather big "beef" with Pokryshkin who he flew with as wing-man, and later they had a major falling out that resulted in him being relieved of command of a Squadron for "losing control, indecisiveness and lack of initiative" - ie concentrating more on his own kills than looking after the pilots under his command. This is all rather salacious and well worth a google if you are interested in the rivalries between aces, even supposedly fraternal Soviet ones. In return Retchkalov claimed Pokryskin was padding his kill stats by claiming as his own some of Retchkalov's kills.  It doesn't seem to have harmed his career too much as he later became a General post war. In Blood Red Skies Aces have special skills, and one of them is “Loner”, which grants bonuses to pilots if they operate away from friends, so that seems appropriate for Grisha.

Secondly, everyone, even his critics commented on his superb marksmanship. This should come as no surprise as you don’t get 50 kills if you cant shoot straight. There are a number of Ace Skills that can apply here, “Accurate”, “Killer Instinct” and “Tail Snapper” all would work, but I think Accurate is a good enough fit. That would give him a +1 shooting dice. Killer Instinct is a bit of a waste as his 37mm canon supplied by the Bell Aircraft Corporation already makes his P39 rather dangerous.

The last factor is his bonus to either Agility or Firepower from being a named Ace. Either seems reasonable, but I think I would go for +1 Agility.

So what would this package cost? I asked Andy Chambers (Name drop) and he thinks 125 points, which is not unreasonable, and combined with the bargain 23 points for an early P39 makes him just about "do-able" in a points based list. Maybe. 

How will he play - no idea, but if he's in a Soviet P39 we're looking at an eight dice attack with auto Critical which is "spicey", but a bit of a liability for the rest of the Squadron.

So now all I need is to find someone with talent who can lay out an Ace card. Step forward the multi talented Martin Wilson who proceeded to create this for me (Cheers m8!)

Postscript. All that was written with a mind to adding him to my Soviet Airacobra Squadron, so just before I planned to start the painting I dug them out to refresh my memory on the scheme I had used, only to discover I already had painted one up as an Ace - a certain G.A. Rechkalov ..... you really can't make this up!

Grisha and a wingman and yes I had forgotten I had already painted him!

If you fancy trying out a Soviet P39 Squadron you can get the models from Warlord here or from Armaments in Miniature here . You can use the standard stat card from the Warlord US sets. The Soviets were not enamoured of the wing guns and often removed them. If you want to do that you can use the "Reduced Armament" Equipment card, which adds Agility at the cost of Firepower. Alternatively Martin has created this card using the Beta stats from The Ready Room (which coincidentally IS Rechkalov's P39)

I mentioned earlier that Rechkalov flew as wingman for Pokryskin. If you feel like recreating this pairing he is already available as an Ace from Warlord, this time in his MiG3 which you can find here 

*Pat Pattle was credited with at least 50 kills but as the Squadron records were lost in the fall of Greece these are sometimes overlooked. Nothing at all to do with Pattle being a South African not a Brit, no, absolutely not…..
  

Walking the less trodden paths in Blood Red Skies - Romania

I have to admit it, one of the reasons I love BRS is the attitude of the players. I mentioned before how when we started to make beta stats available I was expecting a flood of requests for some of the high profile late war super fighters such as the Ta152 or Tempest, but instead the community wanted .......sigh...... Brewster Buffalo. 

There is also a hard core of players who are not really interested in yet another Spitfire or 109 Squadron, but like to look further afield. It is easy to forget that World War Two was a World War involving many different nations, not just the big five, and also that the war was truly global. Many nations fought in the air in WW2 that (probably) will never get a mainstream release from Warlord, but maybe deserve some mention. This week I was invited to have a game against such an opponent by one of our local gamers Rob Hymer (Happy Birthday btw Rob!). Rob is a new BRS player and has a soft spot for the Romanian air force. 

I was vaguely aware of the Romanian air force in WW2, but I wouldn't want to say anything without at least doing some googling. Rob knows quite a bit more ! and wanted to try out his planes so I was happy to run a 4 v 4 game with my Soviet Yak 1s against his IAR 81s.

It was a fun game which the Soviets won eventually because I have much more experience than Rob in BRS, and also got lucky, but I hope he had a good game and I'm sure he will be back for another match up.

It also rekindled a nagging desire to go a bit out of the mainstream for my next BRS project. BRS does lend itself well to toe - dipping as you only really need 6 fighters and 3 bombers and you are good to go. Not sure what, but I suspect something like Hungarian or Dutch or maybe something out East?  

So without further ado here are some pics of the game, and also some of Robs other Romanian planes which I think shows just why getting out of the mainstream can be so interesting. Rob got his models from Shapeways as there are very few other sources at the moment - Cheers!    

And a couple of shots of some of Robs other planes - including a Plz11 

Back in the saddle - Battle of Britain Campaign game 1

This afternoon saw my first game against a real opponent since the lockdown began, and it was nice to get back to a table - even if we were socially distanced. 

The game was Blood Red Skies - actually the first of what we hope will be a series of BRS games that will run over the summer mirroring the phases of the Battle of Britain - so real time minus 80 years. I should add as this was our first game back we were quite rusty and also managed to forget the sea coloured gaming mat, so we made do with a spare from Cruel Seas that was in the shop, and also my camera was still charging so I had to use my phone - which is my excuse for some of the ropy pics that follow

I'm playing the Germans - in this case elements of I / ZG 76 in their Me110s. Todays game was part of the KanalKampf phase of the battle and was a Fighter Sweep mission over the Channel.

We ran into some RAF Spitfires and had a very interesting battle. The initial pre game and set up didn't go well for the Luftwaffe. The RAF played the "Restricted Airfields" Theatre card, meaning in the confusion and congestion on our new French airfield something went wrong and one of the 110s failed to join up. This wasnt a one way thing however as the RAF were suffering from the "Supply Shortages" Theatre card - still getting back up to strength after the Battle of France and this caused them to enter the game with one Boom (morale) chit.

Slightly less satisfying was the initial set up positions. Both elements of 110s were caught snoozing and were disadvantaged, with the RAF being much more on the ball, starting with one pair in High Cover, one Advantaged, and one disadvantaged. This was quite a blow as one of the quirks of the scenario - starting positions of Disadvantaged aircraft are chosen the opponent not the player. This was not good!  Here is the set up with the Luftwaffe circled in yellow and the RAF in blue.

The first turn saw the 110s form something vaguely resembling a Lufbery Circle with both elements trying to cover each other as the Spitfires came screaming in.

This was however a cunning plan (or at least it seems to have turned out ok , which is almost the same thing!). The 110s made judicious use of the Dive Away \ Great Dive combo to put some distance between them and the Spitfires, wrong-footing the RAF somewhat who were not expecting the Germans to be able to burn advantage to dive. It has been said many times that Great Dive on a Speed 7 plane isn't that great, but in this case it was a lifesaver, allowing the 110s a little time to claw for altitude \ Advantage. One lone 110 piloted by Lt Hubert Gruber bravely engaged a pair of Spitfires to buy time for the rest of the Squadron.

This allowed the COs pair to dive through the clouds and get into a position to turn on the Spitfires in the next turn (hopefully)

A fairly "active" furball then developed, however the 110s were careful to keep their discipline and not throw away their planes in risky manoeuvres, and also cover each others tails - clearly having read the  Dicta Doug!

The RAF seemed to be having an off day. The Spitfires were I think intimidated by the firepower of the 110s and started to use their Defensive Tactics doctrine a lot. This is quite an interesting card as it allows a plane to turn a normal shot into a much harder deflection shot, but at the cost of breaking up your formations. No Spitfires were shot down, but they did accumulate some Boom Chits and more importantly, they lost their cohesion and wingmen, and it was now the 110s that were in the driving seat. 

 

The RAF did manage to rally a little and regain their composure, with one pair of Spitfires latching on to the German leaders tail. Luckily he had the "Sixth Sense" Ace Skill, which stopped him becoming tailed. 

The game ended when the Luftwaffe managed to score enough Boom Chits to make the Spitfires head for home. It was a bloodless victory but a good way to blow the dust off the models and get a game in. Looking forward to the next mission where I hope to sink some British shipping in The Channel !

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



 

Painting models for Blood Red Skies - or "What not to do"

I've been asked to explain how I go about painting BRS models. As I was just about to start on a Squadron of Ju87s I thought "why not"? I don't think my results are that good, but they work at table distances, so here goes. I should also add that most of the "advice" that follows are the result of my mistakes in the past so are there just to make life easier if you try it -in fact as you read this you will see where I keep making schoolboy type errors. I should know better :-)

The actual models are from Armaments in Miniature. I chose these for two reasons over Warlord's metal models. Firstly, and most importantly, these were going to be for my Battle of Britain game, so needed to be the Ju87B variant, and Warlord only do the later Ju87D at the moment. Secondly, the AIM models are resin. I prefer resin or plastic over metal anyway for BRS models, but in this case I had in mind the fact that the undercarriage on both the AIM and Warlord models were separate parts. If I was going to end up trying to get these to sit right I thought resin would be an easier material to work with. There are significant cost implications - basically a Squadron from AIM will cost you twice what the same one from Warlord will by the time you factor in bases and postage, so you need to weigh that in to your calculations. If Warlord ever switch to resin, and there are persistent rumours this is on the cards, I'll be first in the queue.

Step 1 - Clean up the model. This applies to all types - metal, plastic or resin. Take a few minutes to clean any mould lines up. Do this twice! This is particularly important if you plan to use a lot of washes later on. AIM models in particular have very fine mould lines and because they're usually cast in a pale cream coloured resin they are often hard to see - until you start to paint it later.  With my Ju87s this is where I made my first mistake. I was less than thorough about the clean up and missed some mould lines, particularly around the undercarriage "spats" which came back to haunt me. Give the model a wash to get rid of any mould release agents. Some plastic and resin will have deformed - now is the time to correct it with a hot water bath if needed. At this point I also decide on how I'm going to mount the model on the advantage base. This may need some work if metal from Warlord, as the locating hole often seems to get deformed in the casting. If AIM you may need to remove the base mount post, or drill a location hole if you are using Hawk Widgets like I do , or a combination of all three.

Step 2 - Assemble. Most models don't need this, but some, like the Ju87 have separate parts. I don't like this step one little bit, because of, well, the little bits. If you are working with plastic kits in particular take a minute to decide if there is anything that you should leave off, such as flimsy radio aerials and the like. No matter how careful we are, we are making playing pieces not scale display models, so they will get a lot of handling and some bits will inevitably not survive. Better to either cut them off now or omit them rather than having the playing area littered with broken plastic later. The AIM Stukas have a centreline bomb, two under wing bombs, the two spatted undercarriage units and two tail support struts. I threw the struts away as being too fiddly, and anyway almost invisible on the model when in play. What I should have done is thought ahead and painted the main bomb and it's bomb crutch separate before sticking it on later (the bomb crutch is the thing that swings down when the bomb is released to ensure the bomb falls clear of the prop arc - pretty essential for a dive bomber) but at the time I was more worried about gluing the undercarriage on and having to work around that, so the main bomb got glued in first. My worries about the undercarriage were well founded. There are small locating holes and pins on the AIM model, but due to my earlier failure to properly clean the (very) small parts properly at step 1 I really struggled to get a good fit. In the end I drilled the locating hole all the way through the wing, This helped, but in another Doh! moment I forgot to clean and fill the upper wing afterwards, which I should have done. In my defence this was getting to be quite a frustrating build.

Step 3 - Undercoat. I use a cheap spray from Halfords or similar. I've used more expensive and better versions such as Tamiya or GW but the details on BRS models don't really justify it and I always have cheap primer around.  Grey for preference unless I am cheating and painting something in winter colours when I would use white. I try to avoid black.

Step 4 - Decisions. I search for an online source for camouflage patterns and when I find one I like or that matches the Squadron I'm building I print it off. I usually try and get a 3 view plan if possible. Wings Palette is a great site for getting ideas - link at the bottom. I also write on the plan the colours I intend to use. This is actually quite a good idea if like me you have a lot of different paint colours as the number of times I come back to add another model to a squadron then forget which paint colours I used is quite common. Keep it in a safe place. If you are using some of the excellent paint sets available this may be less of an issue. The actual colours are down to personal choice - in my case I'm sticking to the original scheme I used on my Me109Es back in the stone age so my Battle of Britain era Luftwaffe look homogeneous. I mentioned paint sets and if you can get them I would recommend using them. Sadly I didn't with the 109s so I'm not with the Ju87s, instead relying on TLAR (That Looks About Right). In my view I think people get too hung up on the "right" colours, forgetting that in wartime all quality control goes out the window, and anyway, scale models really need to be somewhat brighter than the real thing to show up, so in general, if you think it looks ok, it is.

Step 5 - Blocking. I start with the underside colour and block it in. Then using the printed sheet I do the rest in fairly quickly. Where there is a camo pattern I try to copy it without getting too involved in the details. I usually block the lightest colour first.

Where there is camo I simplify the pattern if necessary and try to get some reference points on the model - so for instance starting a pattern where an elevator is marked or at a panel line. On the Ju87s wings there are two good starting points, on the port wing the camo runs along the angle of the famous cranked wings, and on the starboard side at the wing root. Once you have them in place its easier to work the rest in, or something like it. Having these points of reference makes repeating the pattern on other planes in the squadron easier too. I've marked a couple on the pic below to try and explain the rough sequence. It's not complete but it should give you some idea of what I'm talking about.

Again with my Ju87s I did wander a bit, particularly on the starboard wing and with hindsight more care was needed but............  Models with panel lines make this far easier than those without - one of the reasons I don't like the Zvezda Ju88 . I also block in the cockpit - I use an electric blue as much out of habit as anything else.

Step 6 Tidying up. Best done the next session. Go back over the model and correct any major mistakes. I also tidy up the leading edges. Add canopy highlights - I use a bright sky blue again out of habit. Then I paint the canopy frames, guns etc. When I started off I tried to get the canopy frame colours to match the camo of the fuselage patterns but now I just choose one predominant colour and go with that for simplicity. Also paint details such as guns and the like. I sometimes add exhaust stains at this point too.

Step 7 Gloss varnish. If there are lots of panel lines a quick light coat of gloss will improve the capillary effect allowing thin plaint to work its way into recesses. If there are no panel lines on the model skip this and put some £££$$$ in the swear jar. I also attached the Hawk Widgets at this point as I was finished with big paint and the chance of getting paint on the clear plastic is less. Having the widget in place will also give me the opportunity to get a good steady handle on the model for the next step.

Step 8 - Panel lines. Panel lines really make your models stand out. I usually use a wash - Army Painter soft tone or GW Agrax but just pin wash the lines rather than washing the whole model. If the lines are deep enough and you have glossed the model then capillary action will help here. If there are no panel lines like on the Zvezda Ju88s I paint some on - just enough to give the impression. I like panel lining as it really gives the model a lot of character. I also use a pin wash around the cockpits etc. I've just bought some Tamiya panel liner which I hope will make this easier in future.

Step 9 - Decals. If you have not already gloss varnished I would do it now, at least where the decals are going as it gives them a good smooth surface for the decals to adhere to. Actual decals depend on the model and what I'm building. The new decals from Warlord are superb, but the range is limited. Luckily we have the excellent decals from Miscellaneous Minis. These are not so easy to use as you need to cut them from the decal film yourself, unlike the Warlord ones which are individual decals. In either case the process is pretty similar - use microset to prep the area, then apply the decal, microsol, then once dry a coat of gloss varnish, and then finally a spray coat of matt. All done.

So that's it. I'm not going to make claims that my painting is particularly great, but at table distances I think it's "good enough".

One warning - painting BRS planes is quite addictive. They're usually in batches of six which is a nice small painting project, which probably explains why I keep buying them!

Anyway, links
Warlord Games - models and decals
Armaments in Miniature - models
Miscellaneous Miniatures - decals
Wings Palette  - good starting spot when looking for camo

Queen of the (Blood Red) Skies

Academy \ Minicraft B17E\Fs

Following up on the post about the Brewster Buffalo I got a couple of requests to look at some other planes that may, for one reason or another, be missing from the current official releases. This time I thought I would move away from fighters and look at something bigger, and wholly more important than the Brewster - Boeing's B17 Flying Fortress.

There's a lot that can be said about the B17, and many many books and on line sources exist, so I won't repeat all that in depth other than a couple of "not a lot of people know that" (NALOPKT) bits, and will concentrate on Blood Red Skies.

NALOPKT
The B17 rather surprisingly originated as a maritime patrol bomber. In the 1930s the US and their policy of isolation decided that the way to prevent enemy fleets (read Royal Navy!) attacking the US mainland would be to find and attack them by air. Boeing submitted their design and after some false starts what we now know as the B17 was born.

Everyone knows the USAAF famously used the B17 as a high altitude precision day bomber in the second half of the war. What is less well known is the RAF pioneered this by using B17Cs to raid Germany in daylight, taking advantage of the types excellent ceiling altitude and range. The RAF  bombed from around 30,000 feet but found the extreme altitude and cold resulted in lots of problems with cloud obscuring the targets and equipment failures, and the raids were not successful and discontinued, with the surviving planes transferring to Coastal Command. The USAAF took account of this and tended to operate their B17s lower, and crucially in large numbers and tight supporting formations.

Operationally the B17 didn't really have that heavy a bomb load - usual load was about 4000lb, useful, but to put it in perspective that is the same as some of the Mosquito bomber versions. Of course the Mosquito didn't have any defensive weapons, and to be honest, it isn't a fair comparison as the Mossie breaks most if not all the rules. That being said B17s dropped more tonnage of bombs on Germany than any other USAAF bomber, and in total second only to the Lancaster. It is interesting to compare the two designs - one is a Flying Fortress, the other a Flying Bomb-bay, but that's for another time. 

So anyway, back to BRS.

There are basically 3 versions of the B17 we will encounter in BRS. The first is the B17C, which saw service on day one of the Pacific war, and also was used by the RAF as mentioned above.  This early version is quite a long way from the Flying Fortress we all know, lacking much of the later model firepower and protection. With only 4 .50 cal HMGs and 1 .30 cal all hand held on blister gun positions the type was really no better protected than other bombers of the period. In fact the hand held \ pivot mounted guns were pretty useless as the gunners struggled with the problems of slipstream and wind when trying to operate them, unlike the power operated turrets preferred by the RAF. One thing the USAAF did get right, and the RAF mostly didn't, was using the .50 cal rather than .303. Although the rate of fire on the smaller calibres was far higher, the effective range of the .50 cal and similar HMGs really compensated and allowed bombers to disrupt fighters attacks much further out than was the case with .303s.

B17 C 1941 Speed 6 (323mph) Ag 0 Fp (-) Multi Engine (4) 360 turret FP1 rear +1

In truth the B17C was a bit of a disappointment, particularly as an anti shipping bomber, though it did score some success as a long range patrol aircraft.

Lessons were learned and by the time the 8th Air Force was deployed to Europe with their B17E\Fs the Fortress was starting to live up to it's name. US doctrines called for daylight bombing and close formations for self protection against fighters and the B17F was up-gunned dramatically, adding a new tail gunners position, and dorsal and ventral powered turrets, all with twin .50 cal HMGs. Additionally the B17 received upgraded armour and other protection such as self sealing fuel tanks. Better engines helped compensate for the additional weight involved. F models continued to serve throughout the war.

B17E\F 1942 Speed 6 (318mph) Ag 0 Fp (-) Multi Engine (4) Robust 360 turret FP2 rear +2   

The last B17 model to see lots of service is the G. Operational experience showed the B17s were more vulnerable to head on attacks, so a new "chin" turret was fitted to late F models and adopted for the G. Now mounting 13 (!) defensive guns. Carrying all that extra weight did reduce speed, but that was considered an acceptable trade off. The G models were phased in  from 1943 and by the end of the war were the most numerous B17 encountered.

B17G 1943 Speed 6 (287mph) Ag 0 Fp (-) Multi Engine (4) Robust 360 turret FP2 rear +2, front +1

So why the interest in B17s? I hear you ask, when 1:200 models are "hard to come by" to say the least. Warlord don't do one, and given their production queue it is unlikely one will be coming any time soon. However I got an email from Armaments in Miniature saying their B17G was finally available - $14 (link to the site below). AIM also do B17Cs. Getting a B17 E\F is a bit fraught. There is a plastic kit from Academy that is very useful but now out of production, but it comes up on ebay every now and then so worth watching out for. Ares\Nexus do a very nice model of both the F & G for their Wings of Glory game but the price is usually quite steep -something around £30-50 on ebay at the moment . You can also get die cast B17 Fs and Gs but these are not great as gaming models as they are very heavy and bits keep falling off.   

There is a data card for the B17 E\F available in the USAAF card expansion pack from Warlord 

Links
Armament in Miniature - G model not listed but $14, they also have a B17C
Warlord 

Brewster Buffalo in Blood Red Skies - the little plane that mostly couldn't.

I run a Facebook page for fans of Blood Red Skies called "The Ready Room". I've been lucky that through that and the kind assistance of the author Andy Chambers and Roger Gerrish, plus Rich Carlisle at Warlord I've had the chance to playtest some BRS stuff and had access to the beta stat list of planes for the game that was not for general publication at that time.

As the game has grown in popularity there have regularly been requests to add more planes to the available list. This has proved quite challenging as Warlord really don't have the capacity to meet every demand for models, some of which have been quite obscure (really). In their credit they realised that the game needed to expand faster than their capacity would allow at present, so in addition to allowing me to "leak" some stats they were happy to release new "expansion" sets containing the data and trait cards needed to play some of the major planes that they had yet to get around to, either by using proxies or third party models. Two of these sets are now on the shelves, with more due in the coming months.

I think it is fair to say neither Andy, Roger, Rich or myself had any idea of the popularity of what Andy once described as a "Clown Car" of the skies. Frankly we expected one of the iconic sleek and fast late war fighting machines like the P38, Tempest or Fw190 Dora to top the wish list, but instead, very much to our surprise, it has been the Brewster Buffalo. You lot are weird.............

I knew a little about the Buffalo of course, but initially we all had discounted it as a possible inclusion into the game - who would want to fly this death trap?, so it was really just a rough beta stat. It was often sighted as one of the quirky mysteries of WW2, The Brewster performed so badly in the Far East that it was thought of as a death trap, yet did great service with the Finns against the Soviets. Why was this? Why could a single type be so bad and yet seemingly quite good at the same time? When you look into it however the answer becomes clearer. The Brewster we think of was really a number of quite different aircraft and the changes made by the different operators sheds what I think is a fascinating side light on how WW2 fighters developed and the requirements of the different users. So here is my take on the Brewster F2A\B239\B339\Buffalo in Blood Red Skies. I should stress this is just my thoughts - the others may disagree.

The US original F2A2 & F2A3
The US operated two different versions of the Brewster, so it is probably best to start there. The USN bought a few Brewster F2A2 to operate off their carriers. It actually was preferred initially to the Grumman F4F Wildcat. Generally it was ok (faint praise) and pilots thought it handled quite well, with a very handy turn and rate of roll. Unfortunately the spec didn't call for any armour or protection - not that unusual pre war, and also some other essentials such as radios were pretty much optional. By the time of Pearl Harbour it had been retired from USN service, probably because the Brewster plant was having problems making the thing in any numbers and the basic design could not be upgraded very much. The USMC however also operated the Brewster as the F2A3. The F2A3 was upgraded with a slightly better engine, wing mounted fuel tanks, radios, pilot protection and the like, which improved the range and theoretically improved the chance of survival but adversely effected handling. This is going to be a repeated theme. The Marine F2A3s saw action against the Japanese during the Battle of Midway. VMF221 has twenty F2A3s based on Midway but they proved totally outclassed by the Zeros they met there and were pretty much annihilated in their first encounter.

USN F2A2 

USMC F2A3

That could have been the end of the story, but there were other customers for the tubby little fighter.

Buffalo Mk I
Belgium had been looking for a more modern fighter before the war broke out and had placed an order with Brewster. The Germans arrived first. Britain was now desperate for any sort of modern fighter plane so grabbed the chance and bought up the Belgian order, giving the plane the name Buffalo which is now universally applied, if incorrectly. It did make some sense. Britain was producing Spitfires and Hurricanes as fast as it could, but these were needed for home defence. It was reasoned that the Buffalo could be used as a trainer or out in quiet parts of the far flung empire such as the Far East where the threat was not as great, allowing the Hurricanes and Spitfires to be concentrated at home. Anyway what would the Japanese have that could beat a reasonably modern US design? That lack of foresight was then compounded because the Brits did know quite a bit about modern air combat at that point, and understood what a modern fighter needed was some protection, radio and the like. They therefore made several modifications to the Belgian specs, all of which added weight. Unlike the USMC they didn't get the upgraded engine, in fact due to Brewster production being so badly managed and the urgency of the demand they settled on refurbished engines that had come off air liners. This was a recipe for disaster. The RAF MkIs were totally overloaded and under powered to the point where some pilots found they lacked the ability to loop. When the Japanese arrived in Burma and Malaya with their nimble Oscars it was a foregone conclusion. Almost. A couple of RAAF Squadrons that survived the initial contact decided that their only chance was to lighten the Buffalo. They stripped out most if not all the added equipment, and reduced the ammo and fuel load. In this configuration they at least felt they had a slim chance.

G'day - RAAF Buffalo's

Dutch Courage - the B339C\D
The Netherlands had ordered some F2s from Brewster for use in the Dutch East Indies, and around 70 had arrived when the Japanese invaded. These had improved engines and didn't have all the extra equipment of the British machines. As soon as they made contact with the Japanese the Dutch set about reducing the weight of their planes, flying with reduced fuel and ammo loads, and in these configurations they managed to survive for a while until the Dutch East Indies surrendered, the remaining planes flying to Australia to join the RAAF.

ML-KNIL B339

Bucking the trend - Finland
So that is the story of the Brewster  - except for one other user - Finland. The Finns also bought the Brewster - in this case they seem to have got hold of the ex USN F2A models that were "de Navalised" by removing the tail hooks and other equipment. With typical thoroughness they stripped and modified their Brewsters, rearming and re equipping them. The extra equipment made the Finnish Brewsters the slowest of all the variants, but they retained good handling. There is some suggestion that the cooler climate also helped prevent the overheating that the Brewsters were prone to in the Far East. They went into service against the Soviets during the Continuation War, and were surprisingly successful. How much this was a reflection on the quality of Finnish pilots or the poor quality of their Soviet opponents is difficult to tell, but they undoubtedly were effective, achieving kill to loss ratios of over 25\1 and producing 36 Aces. When you add that to the four Commonwealth Aces who achieved that status flying Buffalo's that makes 40 Aces out of a production run of just over 500 of all types, giving the Brewster possibly the best ratio of Aces to aircraft in WW2(!)

Finnish B239

So the Brewster in Blood Red Skies. As I mentioned, we don't really have a real Beta test stat, so these are extrapolations, but I think they're worth a try if you are so inclined.

Brewster F2A2 Buffalo USN Speed 6 323mph Ag 2 FP 1 Rapid Roll, Vulnerable 17 points

Brewster F2A3 Buffalo USMC Speed 6 321mph Ag 2 FP1 18 points

Brewster B239E (Finland) Speed 6 297 mph Ag 2 FP1 Rapid Roll 20 points

Brewster B339E Buffalo Mk I (UK\CW) Speed 6 313mph Ag 1 FP1 Sluggish 8 points

Brewster B339C\D (KNIL) Speed 6 307mph Ag 2 FP1 Rapid Roll Poor Quality 18pts - this last one is a bit of a stretch as the Dutch took out a lot of equipment to keep the weight down to a minimum, and that may have included radios and other bits, hence Poor Quality.

At the moment Warlord are not planning a model of the Brewster, however if you are so inclined, Armaments in Miniature do a very nice one that will happily fit in for any of the versions mentioned above, and Misc Minis do decals to cover the USMC VF221, 67 Squadron RAF, LeLv24 (Finnish) and I'm sure that if asked they will do Dutch too.

Links
Misc Minis
Armaments in Miniature

     

Zeros in Blood Red Skies part 3 - Swansong - the A6M5

A6M5

The last version of the Zero to see widespread service is also the first one to be released officially in Blood Red Skies, the A6M5. As the Allies came to know the early Zero and developed tactics to take advantage of it’s weaknesses the Zero lost most of the aura of invincibility. Japanese designers tried to counter this by squeezing as much out of the design as they could, and at the same time trying to improve on the now apparent problems of speed, durability and protection. They also managed to put right some of the issues with the A6M3 Mod 32. Unfortunately, there was a limit to what they could achieve within the tight restrictions of the original design, and so even though they redesigned the wings, added some armour and protection, better guns and more powerful engines, there was simply not enough flexibility in the original design to work with. The A6M5 was marginally faster and marginally better protected than previous models, and was widely thought of as the best version of the Zero, but against the new generation of F4U Corsairs and F6F Hellcats it was no longer king of the hill. This coincided with a drop off in pilot quality as the war progressed and casualties on experienced aircrew mounted. 

The Zero was always an easy plane to fly, and for this reason it was often the preferred choice of aircraft for Kamikaze attacks because it needed less pilot training. As a result many A6M5s were expended as the war neared its end in desperate suicide attacks against Allied shipping.

A6-M5 Zero

1943

7 (354mph)

3

2

Tight turn -Vulnerable -

33 points

In BRS our A6M5 is still a challenge to engage, but it is now noticeably slower than most historical opponents. In fact this is the most manoeuvrable of the Zeros in BRS because it has a full hand of Tight Turn cards available. I'm not 100% sure why Deep Pockets didn't make a return, but by the time the A6M5 was reaching the front the circumstances had changed and the Japanese were on the defensive, so long range was no longer essential. Unfortunately the general trend for heavier firepower in allied planes is now really making the Vulnerable Trait more pronounced, and the A6M5 will regularly be running into FP 2 & 3 fighters, some of which have Heavy Hitter, which will be an absolute nightmare.  In the hands of a good pilot it can certainly hold its own, particularly against enemies who want to stay in close turning fights, but if they use their speed and other advantages the Zero will struggle as it did in real life. 

So that’s the Zero. When first encountered it was a shock to the Allies from which it looked like they may never recover. However, improvements in tactics started to offset that initial shock, and the limitations of the design meant ongoing improvements were difficult and it could not keep up with newer enemy designs. To the end a well flown Zero was a dangerous opponent, particularly if you tried to out turn it, but by 1944 it was clear that the days of Zero supremacy were long gone. In some ways it bucks the trend in BRS because it does manage to keep high Agility through each step in development, however the price for that is a poor overall top speed in comparison to competitors.

Any comments gratefully received.

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Zeros in Blood Red Skies part 2 - The A6M3 Mod 32, or why changing a winning formula can go wrong

A6M3 Mod 32 showing the signature clipped wingtips

A6M3 Mod 32

Although the A6M2 had been phenomenally successful the Japanese did not rest on their laurels. Steps were taken to try and improve the A6M2 by fitting a bigger engine to improve speed and high-altitude performance. They also tried clipping and redesigning the wings to improve roll rate and handling in a dive, both things the original Zero as not great at. The result was designated the A6M3 Mod 32, and was pushed into production with some urgency in April 1942. They immediately ran into problems caused mainly by the tightness of the original design. The new engine needed more space and to accommodate it, and to fit it in some structural and design changes were needed. This included reducing the size of the internal fuel tanks and moving the engine mounting nearer the cockpit. These changes upset that fine balance of the A6M2 and it was found that the A6M3 was marginally faster and dived better as planned, but the change in the centre of gravity meant it handled less well, and the reduction in fuel capacity caused the range to be reduced significantly. This loss in range was particularly problematic as it meant the A6M3 could not operate over Guadalcanal from the main bases in Rabaul, the major combat zone at the time. On a more positive note the 20mm cannons were upgraded to more modern versions (the Type 99 Mk II) with more ammunition provided. 

The A6M3 Mod 32 was produced in limited quantities and due to the short range tended to be only deployed defensively and as a combat trainer.  It was quickly replaced in production by the A6M3 Mod 22, which saw many of the changes reversed or revised to restore the lost range.

When it was first encountered by the allies the distinctive clipped wings meant they were unsure if this was a new aircraft, and so for a while it was given the reporting code name “Hap” after General “Hap” Arnold, then Commanding General of the USAAF. Arnold took exception and the Hap was quickly renamed “Hamp”, and then simply “Zeke 32”.

How can we represent the A6M3 Mod 32 in BRS? From our beta tests it has the following stats. 

Speed has increased to 343 mph, so still Speed 7. The armament changes now allow an upgrade to FP2, however the reduced range mean Deep Pockets has gone. The changes to the overall balance results in Tight Turn being replaced by Rapid Roll, which is slightly less useful because it allows you to turn at the start OR and of your move, not at any time, but is still quite potent. The A6M3 Mod 32 remains Vulnerable. The loss of Deep Pockets also helps offset the increase in points cost caused by the increased firepower.

A6M3 Zero 1942 7 (343mph) Agility 3 Firepower 2 Rapid Roll -Vulnerable - 32 points

In BRS the A6M3 is still quite a handful, particularly as the synergy with Aggressive Tactics is still there. In some ways it is better than the A6M2 - more firepower for instance, and though Rapid Roll is not as good a trait as Tight Turn, in this case having only a single trait means there is no chance you will not have it available. As with the A6M2 you really want to avoid head on attacks against well armed fighters and tail chases against bombers. 

It is "highly" unlikely that we will see an official model of the A6M3 from Warlord any time soon. However as with the A6M2 the A6M3 is visually quite similar to the A6M5 model, so all that would be required to convert to this version would be to (carefully) clip the wings with some nail clippers and file the edges smooth, or again as with the A6M2, a model is available from Armaments in Miniature.

A6M3 Mod 32 captured in US markings showing the clipped wings

Next , the final production version, the A6M5