Ze Germans are Coming - Chain of Command 2

I've realised I sort of repeated myself with the last post, so this is something of a correction, or at least something with actual content.

I decided on VolksGrenadiers, thinking spring 1945 as I didn't want to have snow on the bases.  I did a trawl and realised Warlord were the only real source for suitable figures with enough StG44s to make up the platoon. I also worked out I would need an extra sprue or two to make the full platoon as a box of 30 wasn't quite enough. 

So I shopped around and decided that getting the Warlord Bolt Action Winter Starter Army was probably the best \ most comprehensive option. I don't really play BA but the box is great for CoC or any WW2 set of rules. There are some bits in there I wont need - ie the mortar team, but the rest is great.

So here is the box and it's contents. 

Metal bits - Command, MMG and Mortar etc

Open the box and its chock full of "stuff"

Lots of VolksGrenadiers

Opel Blitz \ Maultier

Instructions etc

Panzer IV H

Bases etc

So there's "enough" there. I don't really need the mortar team and I probably would have preferred a Hetzer or STuG to the Pz IV and Blitz, but they will always come in useful. It cost £78 from Zatu including postage.  Ok that's more than the £30 a box of Winter Germans would cost, but there's a lot of added value in there so I'm happy.

Now to get on with it and start glueing and painting. Wish me luck!

Starting Chain of Command 2

I'm a big fan of Chain of Command so when v2 was announced I was a happy but slightly concerned bunny. Happy because more CoC, concerned because I've seen many great rules set broken by "updates".

Not played yet, but on first, second and third reading the new rules look good - evolution and tweaks not revolution by the looks of it.

My gaming group have started building armies, and of course they went late war. I have Early War Dutch, Finns and Germans, and Mid War Germans and Russians. You can see the problem. I decided to give Late War a try and the initial thought was, "surely it should be easy to upgrade my Mid War Germans to Late War?" Oh you sweet summer child :-)

I've ended up buying everything. Ok this wasn't too bad as I picked up one of Warlord's Late Winter German starter armies at a reasonable cost and that has just about everything you would need. 

Almost

Anyway I've decided to go full Nazi and do VolksGrenadier complete with Assault Rifles - more on that later.

So look out for some build, paint and hopefully game updates soon.

Cheers

Chain of Command 2 Late War Germans - where to start?

Chain of Command 2 from Two Fat Lardies has arrived (Huzzah!) So after thirteen years of version 1 I'm looking at what I need to change. 

AND of course this being historical gaming where there are no such things as regular new editions that force you to buy stuff again, the answer is nothing! Gotta love historical Wargames.

OK Almost. HMGs are going to need some sandbags or similar, but other than that I'm not seeing anything "new" needed yet.  

So I was wondering about what I would need to expand my current German army into the late war period and it got me thinking, so here are my thoughts.

There are four German lists in the main CoC2 rules, Infantry, PanzerGrenadiers, Fallschirmjager and VolksGrenadier. The FJ are uniformed significantly differently to the others so I'm disregarding them. TFL have gone full historical on the VolksGrenadiers allowing you to field the fabled StG44 "assault rifle". I'm going to go all Grognard here. Other rules allow almost any German Infantry to have the StG44s but the actual issue was really just to the VG Divisions raised in 44/45 . Of course the chaotic situation as the Reich collapsed doesn't mean other units or individuals didn't pick them up, but fielding them outside the few test units or VGs is a bit of a stretch. 

The three organisations are quite different. The Infantry have three Mg42s, 4 MP40s and 24 riflemen,  PanzerGrenadiers have 6 MG42s , 3 MP40s and 15 riflemen, and the VGs have 2 MG42s, 1 MP40 , 3 rifle grenadiers, 16 StG44s and 5 rifles.

All have some Panzerfausts chucked around if you were wanting to represent them.

So if I wanted to do that, what's available?

Victrix have just released their new Late War German Infantry set. It looks damned nice and includes some support weapons, an Mg42 on sustained fire mount and a Panzershreck . I've had a look at the frame pics however and it looks like you only get eight StG44s in the set - not enough to do the VolksGrenadier. They do seem to have everything you need to do the Infantry and PanzerGrenadiers however.

Warlord typically have several box sets available. 

The Winter German Infantry set are all bundled up against the cold, but you get 30 models and enough StG44s to field the full 16 out of the box. In fact the only issue is you will be one man short of an Infantry platoon as there is only 30 models in the box and I calculate you need 31. I'm sure you can either but a frame from the Sprue Shop or get a spare donated. This is a good set, and with everyone in greatcoats is a pretty easy painting project. 

Next up the "Grenadiers" box set. One of the older sets so maybe less sharp, nevertheless you get 15 StG44s and enough of everything else - just about. you will be short one guy as with the "Winter" set but that's easy to fix and an extra sprue if needed will provide your spare StG44 if you are doing VG.

Last from Warlord is the "Waffen SS" box. This has enough StG44s but seems to be a bit short of MG42s.  My earlier comments on 30 man sets also applies here, plus my Grognard dislike of them having StG44s in the first place but there you go.

So what I think I'm saying is that unless you want to do VolksGrenadier Victrix is probably the best choice because you get enough of everything plus a few useful support options thrown in. If you want to do the VolksGrenadier then Warlord are a better option, though here you will have to step away from a "one box" solution and buy some support weapons.

I'm not sure which way I'll jump - let me know in the comments what you think?

  

Pet Peeve no 257 not a review of Perry and Warlord Napoleonic French Infantry boxes

OK so I'm busy painting my way through some French Infantry for Sharp Practice. I was using Perrys and then because I was hitting a painting block switched to Warlord Late French because they're in Greatcoat so far easier to paint. And all is good. I've pretty much rattled through the unit I needed and my core force is now complete. To do that I bought a box from Warlord - actually from a 3rd party supplier for cost reasons, and for some reason this box boils my blood so as it's a Sunday I thought I would share.

First up - the ££££ . 

Warlord are selling this box for £27.50 as of today. I got mine for £22 inc p&p shopping around. The box contains four half box sprues each of six models, two of which are flank company, and four metal command figures. That's £0.98 per figure. The box also contains an info sheet with some paper flags and a set of ammo box decals and a sprue of bases. 

This is the box from Perry Miniatures

It's not quite equivalent as this one has no greatcoated figures. Also the whole box is plastic. Forty-four  figures split into six sprues each of five men for the line companies, a six figure Command sprue (full size) and two four figure half size elite company sprues which are in more active \ skirmishing poses. I should add the line sprues contain arms to allow you to model them as elites in line as well. Cost from Perrys- £25 so £0.57 each. I'm sure I can pick them up for less if I shop around. The box also contains a similar paint guide \ flag sheet and bases. 

Perrys do another box with similar content but half in greatcoat. I didn't get that because I wrongly assumed I would have the fortitude to paint the whole lot in normal uniform so would not need the greatcoat.

So what is my peeve? Apart from the price, it's bloody obvious Warlord are behind the curve here. The Perry boxes are well thought out and FULL of sprues. I can't stress this enough, you feel like you're getting your $$££ worth as the box is chock full with nine sprues to the point it is hard to get it closed again. Also the box has three different sprues in there so you can get a whole unit in plastic. The comparison with the Warlord box is stark. The sprues only fill half the box, the rest is a plastic clamshell holding the four metal command figures plus some foam to hold them in place. I don't know, but to me it looks like Warlord decided not to include the command and skirmishers as plastic to keep the production cost down to one basic plastic sprue. The side effect is that you and I as the punter are paying more for less figures, some in metal, and three layers of packaging. Working with metal requires different tools and techniques than with plastic too. I know the Warlord sprue was conceived and designed a while ago, but so was the Perry. I'd also accept the Warlord sprue is slightly easier to assemble with fewer parts but it's not that much of a bonus. 

Come on Warlord. Surely it is time to redesign this box to be all plastic, including command and flank company, reduce your production costs, save the planet by cutting down on packaging and bump up the value for money to your customers. This is probably the most common of all the Black Powder range to be bought, being Napoleonic French AND Waterloo period, so it is pretty much a flagship product.

Rant over. And to be fair if you buy the Warlord army boxes or starter sets the per figure cost does come down quite a bit, and it also has to be said Perry produce their artillery and other stuff you will need in metal just like Warlord, and at a comparable price.

So am I getting wound up over nothing or do I have a point? What do you think - comment below please       

Cheating Frogs

I think I mentioned I was stalling painting my Sharp Practice French Napoleonics? Before Christmas Wargames Illustrated were giving away a sprue of Warlord French Infantry, and I picked one up to have a closer look - it was free after all. There were six figures on the sprue, all in greatcoat at March Attack. Hmm

Anyway I got a few more sprues by begging from friends (thanks Dave) and then picking up some from the Sprue Shop as I didn't need that many figures. Actually I needed sixteen. Each sprue had four line company guys and a pair of flank types with epaulettes. I needed sixteen line, so four sprues, and I would have eight spare figures to paint up as Grenadiers if I needed them in the future. I suppose I could have carved the epaulettes off them but that seems like a bit of a faff.

As I considered greatcoats cheating and as I was damned to hell for that I felt I should go all the way and just use Contrast paints. May as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

So after a couple of tries I discovered that the Warlord ones were very quick to paint and look ok (to me) at table distance. The minimal straps and the greatcoat covering the damned waistcoat really helped. I found I could paint them about twice as fast as the Perry models. In fact the main issue was waiting for the contrast to dry before putting another colour near - my eyesight is getting a bit meh so I do wander over the lines a bit.

So I have rattled out the sixteen needed which brings my Sharp Practice French up to complete for the core force. I will still need some supports adding before they can hit the table, but it feels like the back of this one is broken.

As for what supports? That's an interesting question. The basic French infantry unit is sixteen guys in the 1809-1812 Peninsular list. My usual first call for supports is to chuck in a gun, but the sixteen man units worry me because I think they lack the weight to carry either a melee attack in column or shoot it out with a British line. So my first option will be to add another stand of eight to each of the line units. They're surprisingly cheap at 4 support points each so shouldn't break the bank in points. Then if I have some spare support points I can take a gun, or maybe some Dragoons........

The sharp eyed (should that be Sharpe eyed??) out there will have spotted the problem. I only had sixteen greatcoated figures. So I decided I needed two more sprues. I consulted the Sprue Shop and they were a fiver each, give or take, plus a bit extra for postage. But a full box could be had for £22 inc p&p so it made sense to do that, it would give me all the expansion option I needed, plus a command group.

Which is why my "I've not bought any models this year" meme has lasted a whole seven days. Ah well.

 .  

En Avante Mes Amis!! Vive l'Empereur etc

I realise I've not given much of an update on the Sharp Practice French I was working on. Looking back, I started them in April and now it's October, which tells a story on it's own. Truth is they've been a bit of a slog. I got through the twelve figure Voltigeur unit in short order, but the Ligne have really been a chore. The real issue is the chest area, with all the collars, turn backs, straps and cross belts was driving me to distraction. I decided to give them a break and work on the Quar, but now I'm back on them.

I've finally managed to finish the first 16 figure unit, but it was hard work and they're not exactly my best work, though they will do from "table distance". They all still need the bases finishing but that pretty much is the last step. 

I got so frustrated with the rank and file that I decided to paint a mounted officer, something to look nice. I bought a pack of Perry Miniatures mounted Colonels - way too senior really for Sharp Practice, but looks good. Actually painting him was easy and quite enjoyable. Like the rest, he looks OK from a distance :-)

need to do something with his face :-) 

Anyway, I've decided to try and speed things up. Last month's issue of Wargames Illustrated had a sprue of Warlord Napoleonic French - six figures in greatcoat. Sadly two are flank company, but looking at the others I suspect these will paint up very fast. Thanks to Dave Lakey (Cheers Dave!) I've acquired a second sprue, and I've ordered another pair of sprues from the Sprue Shop which will give me the sixteen I need - I'll also get a base of Grenadiers if I want them. 

To be honest I had considered Warlord when I was starting the project, but Perry's were just so much better value. Getting half the unit free and not having to deal with the metal Warlord command group which looks a bit iffy to say the least certainly helps. I wonder why Warlord went for the mixed material (plastic rankers but metal command)? I assume production cost, but it does make the boxes a bit on the pricey side on a per figure basis. When I was looking at options the Warlord Army sets were reasonable value, but the individual boxes less so. AND I love Perry's models in general.

The other change I'm going for is to add a gun by Victrix. I swapped a metal Perry one with Andy Parkes (Cheers m8). I prefer the plastic Victrix model because it comes with five crew (spot on for Sharp Practice) while the Perry ones only have four.  

Anyway. I've ordered movement trays from Warbases. Once they arrive I'll have all the "bits" I'll need, just need to get them painted. I've had a bit of a think and I'm worried the sixteen man Ligne units are a bit too fragile. Luckily the overall force cost is pretty low so rather than getting another unit I could add some more troops to the original units making at least one of them a much more robust twenty four strong. 

So this is what I'm now aiming for

1 Unit 12 Voltigeurs

2 Units 16 Ligne

Officers and Leaders for the above

Support options:

at least one base (probably 2) of Ligne to be used either as a third unit or to bolster the others

One artillery piece and crew

One small unit of Dragoons

One or two bases of Grenadiers

Musicians \ Standard Bearers - the latter not so much for on table but maybe as a good option for a Deployment point?

That's the "Cunning Plan" anyway  :-)

  

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.

  

Painting Wildcats fast and dirty

VMF-223 ready to leave the painting table

With the new Midway starter set for Blood Red Skies now available I thought it may help if I shared how I painted my Wildcats. I did a similar post about Zeros here if you are interested here . I'm no expert but I think they look ok on the table. In this case I'm going to be painting them up as US Marines based on Guadalcanal rather than one of the Midway Squadrons, but the process is the same.

1. Clean the model up. Give them a quick wash in warm soapy water and let them dry. Warlord suggest this may not be needed with their new resin but it's a good habit to get into. Check for any spurs or casting points, and clean up any mould lines. Then do it again because you almost certainly missed something !

2. On the Warlord Wildcats, check they sit on the base. There is a widely reported problem with the mounting slot being too tight on the first batch of (blue) resin Warlord Wildcats. I think it is caused by the moulding process and has been fixed on the second (grey) production run. It is annoying but an easy fix, just run an Exacto or similar knife carefully round the mounting triangle. 

3. Undercoat. I used a GW Contrast spray undercoat - Grey Seer iirc. In the past I've used a standard cheap grey primer spray from Halfords, but I've discovered Grey Seer is a reasonable match to the light grey used on many planes in WW2 and it cuts out a stage of painting if you use the same colour for undercoat and underside, and I'm lazy. You can use an airbrush if you have one and can be bothered.

4. Block Paint. Block the undersides in light grey (or if you are lazy like me just paint around the Grey Seer.  I also use Vallejo but there are many others. The upper surfaces I used Vallejo Blue Grey which I think looks about right. Quick side note - "Looks about Right" is what you want. There are acres of books and more internet posts about the "right" colour to paint your models. Use them as a guide not a bible. Once they leave the factory the paint on any service aircraft fades and weathers with alarming speed. In the case of Wildcats this is even more pronounced as they are exposed to salt water if ship borne, or in the case of the Marines at Guadalcanal just parked in the open or under canvas. Also think a shade or two lighter if you can, as smaller models need a bit of a hike in colour otherwise they tend to look a bit dark for "reasons". Block the canopy in your chosen colour. I use light blue and highlight with a lighter blue just out of habit. I'd also run some gunmetal or similar around the spinner and engine. If you are unsure about colours then there are sets of paint available from Hataka or Blue Falcon Hobbies that take some of the angst out of the decision making process - Blue Falcon in particular are made by a BRS player for BRS models so are worth a look but are US based so not easily available in the UK.

5. Tidy up. Using the same colours as the blocking go back over any details you want and straighten any areas you missed. Paint the canopy bars, and the tyres. This is where you can add any oil streaks or gun soot if you are so inclined.

6. Panel lines. There are four schools of thought here: 1. Don't bother. This is probably most realistic as at any distance panel lines are going to be invisible in real life. Problem here is they do look so pretty, and without panel lines the single colour camo scheme like used on these Wildcats look a bit bland. 2. Use a thinned wash over everything. Something like Army Painter soft tone or GW Agrax \ Nuln Oil. I think he trick here is to be careful not to overdo it, and you may need to highlight over some areas if you get it wrong. I've tried this in the past and got it wrong so it isn't for me. 3. Use a clay based wash. Some people swear by Florry Wash or similar. My experience has been less than good but I suspect this may be something to do with how I apply the damned thing. Again I pass here. So that leaves 4 -Pin wash. Follow the panel lines with a thinned paint or ink in a suitable colour. On my Wildcats I used GW Contrast because I had some lying around. I quite like this for panel lines as it sinks into them well and gives a bit of a faded edging look. If you are doing panel lines a coat of gloss varnish really helps before you start (good tip there) as it helps with capillary action. 

5. Decals. The Warlord set are good, but are for the Midway carrier group and I'm doing  USMC unit so ordered from Miscellaneous Miniatures. They arrived in about a week from the US.  Wildcat markings are pretty simple, but check for some online pics for location if you are not certain, in particularly note the biggest stars go on the fuselage sides which are HUGE, and where the . I use Decasol \ Decaset to soften the decals once in place but it's personal choice. 

I then gloss varnish over the decals, and finally matt the whole model down. Done!  

As I said - quick, I think but they look fine on the table.

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…..
  

Blood Red Skies - New format Squadron Boxes

There is another change in Blood Red Skies with the new Midway starter set. The Squadron boxes being released with the starter set are in a new small box format. I thought it would be worth a look at what has changed.

Old format on the left, new compact on the right.

The short answer is, not a lot. Or at least not that much. The box itself has superb artwork similar to the later releases. Contents wise you still get the six models, bases, Trait and Doctrine cards as before. The only real change apart from the box size is the punch board with the Pilot Skill disks and other counters. In the old boxes (and the new starter set) this is a sturdy heavy duty affair. In the new small box format this has been replaced by a much thinner sheet of similar thickness to the ones in the newer Ace boxes. The layout has changed to get it to fit the new box. There are only four Boom chits, and no range ruler or High Cover markers, but most of us will already have so many boom chits this will hardly matter, and if you have the new starter set that comes with cool plastic range markers and High Cover markers anyway. In fact this is probably a better layout as it will mean you have fewer duplicated counters, but it is a pity about the quality of the card. 

It's hard to see this as anything other than a downgrade, and I sometimes wish Warlord would be a bit more consistent. At the moment the wave 1 Aces, starter sets and old style big Squadron boxes have the heavy duty card punch board, but the new Aces and Squadrons have the thinner ones. I don't know how much this is saving them on production costs, but it feels like a false economy for me the punter. 

Enough of the peripheral stuff, most of which is just packaging, what about the models?? Here it is all good news. The new models are in the new recipe "Warlord Resin" which is an improvement over the older version, and the ones I have seen so far are new sculpts with enhanced details and panel lines. They should be a joy to paint. I should add the last iteration of the old resin was perfectly acceptable, the new one is just better.

One last point of note. The new box has quite a handy painting guide on the back. Nothing too detailed, but more than enough to give you an idea of where to start.  

All in all except for the punchboard I think this is a good change. I'm assuming this will be the format going forward, but I don't know if they're going to retro fit the older squadron boxes into this style.

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 

 

 

 

SPQR Revised Edition or "Show some Passion, you Lazy......"

I'm going to need an analogy for my relationship with SPQR from Warlord Games.

Sometimes in football (soccer for The Cousins) your team signs a new player, usually a striker. Great things are expected from them. The crowd are initially very enthusiastic about the new signing. He looks the part. Then after a few matches it seems something isn't right. The striker is not delivering, not putting the effort in, is lazy or just doesn't care. The crowd's initial enthusiasm turns to bewilderment and then to exasperation, and sometimes to downright hostility.

That was me with SPQR. My thoughts on this were posted up after they were first published and the disillusionment was at it's height here  https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/08/spqr-warlord-do-it-again.html

Originally much touted by Warlord as a great new Ancient "Warband" scale game (30-50 ish figs a side). This was pitched right into Two Fat Lardie territory and looked like it could deliver. Beautiful book, excellent artwork. First glance showed a character progression system, campaigns, the works.  What could go wrong?

Then the elephant in the room - the rules were shite (sorry, that is my considered view). They were not bad - they simply didn't work. After a couple of games it became clear these were unplayable. They lacked any integration between the individuals and units, there was no tactical thought, there.... ok look these were bloody awful and the list of things that didn't work in the rules will take longer to explain than I would care to waste. Probably the worse set of rules I've ever seen chucked at the public. Playtesting??? there are a list of playtesters and frankly they should hang their head in shame. I suspect these are Warlord staff who messed about but didn't actually point out the problems because they were in house and didn't want to rock the boat, or were playing a different game. In addition to the crap rules there were some almost unbeatable combinations - Gauls with a certain combination of large units and heroes would destroy everything they contacted without fail. The only solution was something like an equally stupid \ gimmick build of massed archers who if they won the initiative would just annihilate anything they can see. Neither of these made for good games. SPQR was so bad I think I said they were insulting to the customers and not fit for sale. I got permabanned from the Warlord SPQR Facebook group for saying something along those lines.

So now Warlord have reluctantly recognised there were issues, and have produced a "revised" version. This was originally going to be available free to the poor suckers (like me!) who had bought the original. They changed this so it was available for free with a purchase of a box set from their Ancients line. I bit.

OK I have to admit I bit reluctantly. Warlord are getting a rep for just chucking out stuff that looks good but really is riddled with errors and typos. I'm not sure if this is a quality control issue or something deeper and related to the way they manage their projects and development. Either way it is getting to be a regular thing - Cruel Seas was an example, and SPQR was probably the worse case, but Victory at Sea also seems to have some big issues around a lack of proofreading, particularly in the "Fleet Lists" section - the rules do seem much more "nailed down" to be fair. 

Anyway back to SPQR (Revised). What has changed? Actually not a lot, but that which has changed  will impact on the game in a big way and for the better. Gone is the mind numbingly stupid "everyone fights in melee" to be replaced with only those in contact fight. This neatly fixes the issues previously with Heroes being able to fight at the point of a wedge and never take any risks until everyone else was dead. It also makes smaller units more viable. This is a good start. Gone are most of the bonuses that made large units unstoppable (or at least I think they are). Gone too is the "Parry" system, which allowed units or individuals to parry a number of attacks each turn, now replaced with a much easier to manage reroll system - though again you get to force rerolls irrespective of the direction of attack, so stabbing someone in the back still has no benefits, even when he is already busy fighting someone to his front. I'm not sure if this works or not, or rather if it is much of an improvement. I quite liked the mechanic that allowed a "pool" of shield parries and maybe just a tweak here may have been better?? Then again that was hard to keep track of, but this is very simple - big shields reroll all failed armour saves, little ones reroll 1s. Also the weapon "reach" idea has been reworked to make short spears a bit more useful and the whole idea of "reach" seems more coherent. Mostly. 

There has also been some tweaks to the points system, but as usual with Warlord some errors (?) have crept through. Just how many of these there are is open to debate - did Warlord actually intend for some equipment to be cheaper to buy for one faction than others? It's possible, but Occam's Razor points to a visit by Mr Cock Up.

So are they any good? Will the crowd like them? Back to my football analogy. Sometimes a Manager sees a player is struggling for motivation and kicks them off to Boston United on loan, where much to everyone's surprise they rediscover their motivation and return with a surer touch and become the seasons top scorer, receiving the plaudits and well deserved adoration from the home fans. Will this happen with SPQR (R)? Not sure. It will take some games to decide this, but I must admit I think there may be a spark of interest returning. Maybe they could be the new Marco Van Basten - who knows??

https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2015/feb/24/adam-boyd-marco-van-basten-hartlepool

Why all the hate? Warlord games "Epic Scale" ACW

Warlord Games have sprung a bit of a surprise recently by announcing their new "15mm" American Civil War range for their "Black Powder" game. The fanfare accompanying the announcement was well coordinated, including a free sprue of miniatures on the front of January's Wargame Illustrated - available now in December for reasons which I don't really understand. I grabbed one and I like what I see.

The main bullet points are these are hard plastic, and instead of individual figures the infantry are strips of ten men standing shoulder to shoulder. Each sprue has ten such strips - one Command, then a mix of two other infantry strips. The sprue also includes a gun and crew, and a mounted officer. So each has 100 infantry and a gun and crew. Both sides are getting the same sprue but on release the Union will be coloured blue, the Confederates Grey as I understand it.

The announcement has been followed by a large amount of hostile posts in the online wargaming community. These posts have broken down into a couple of broad themes, mainly "proprietary scale" and "wrong" equipment. 

The scale thing does have some validity from a certain point of view. The nominal size in the press releases is 15mm. 15mm is a traditional and industry size (not scale) and very popular for ACW due to games like the excellent "Fire and Fury". The issue is that these figures are 13.5mm foot to eye, 15mm to top if head \ hat. That puts them distinctly on the small side - they're not compatible with other "15mm" which tend towards 15mm foot to eye, indeed some are stretching to 18mm. I can't work out why Warlord bothered to mention it to be honest, but it does give plenty of ammunition to anyone wanting to call "foul". If they had said "Epic" scale and leave it at that then I'm sure there would be (slightly) less uproar.

The equipment thing is also a bit more valid. The sprue is going to be the same for both sides - i.e. the only difference is going to be paint. The figures are dressed in a mix of headgear - kepi and slouch hat on the same strip. OK this isn't strictly correct according to the manuals, however it isn't a big stretch of the imagination to say they would and could be mixed headgear on campaign. 

All this is missing the point I think. For those of us who are complaining they don't fit with our current collections, IT ISNT MEANT TO! Love them or loath them this is Warlord making a product to fit their Black Powder range and for that game only. It's a bit like complaining that your draughts pieces are the wrong shape to play chess with. 

The real issue here is just how damned good they look. I love Fire and Fury, and similar ACW games, and played them extensively in 15mm. The problem is no matter what basing scheme you use your representation of a Regiment \ Brigade \ Battalion or whatever always broke down to looking like a half dozen bases with three or four figures on each - like those episodes of Sharpe on TV when thirty guys are pretending to be the whole South Essex battalion. The visual effect you get with these with 20 figures on a 60mm base is bloody good. I'm looking hard at Regimental Fire and Fury - and indeed other rules like Sharp Practice where the main bases are elements, and wondering how they will play using these Warlord Epic bases instead. 

It's not just the figure count by the way. The shoulder to shoulder nature of the strips means these do look far more like a close order infantry formation than just about anything we have seen (excluding maybe 2-3mm blocks) because with "traditional" single based figures you struggle to get the impression of ranks and close order no matter how many you stick to your base.

I'm aware this is starting to sound like an advert so I will chuck a couple of criticisms in. The decision to use just one sprue for both sides isn't a good one. I can see why, but an all kepi sprue, or even a sprue with all the troops in a strip in uniform headgear would have been much more preferable. I'm also frowning at the decision to release the supporting models in "Warlord Resin" - the bendy resin that has been used on several Warlord projects now with mixed results. I don't like the idea of trying to clean up figures this small in that material. At all. I'm also unsure how good cavalry will look - I'm looking at the bases and thinking there will only be 5 to a base (assuming the bases are universal - which seems to be the case).

However that said I'm chucking my money at this. The starter set has literally thousands of infantry (2400 to be precise, and 24 guns) in there for an RRP of £90 that's amazing value -  the idea of representing units in 1-1 is do-able if you feel the urge. I've no idea how Black Powder plays, but I'm pretty sure it wont be beyond the wit of man to work out a way of using these for Fire and Fury or whatever, ether as a straight base for base swap or a 2 for 1 with the odd half base chucked in to deal with odd numbered units. Let's be honest, with figures this cheap you can easily justify the wastage that you would incur carving the strips in half if you wanted.

So there is my initial thoughts on this new Warlord "thing". I'm sure that if this works, like with the original 28mm plastic ranges, this will grow and grow, with AWI and Napoleonics being obvious candidates for the "Epic" treatment. 

Defining Advantage in Blood Red Skies

One of the regular questions that comes up in Blood Red Skies is "what is Advantage?"

If you don't play this may seem a bit cryptic, so I'll do a quick explanation. At the core of Blood Red Skies is the Advantage system. Planes have one of three states, Advantaged, Neutral, or Disadvantaged. Your status changes due to your own and enemy actions. 

Advantage status is EVERYTHING in BRS. It decides initiative, and also who can shoot at what - you can only target a plane at a lower Advantage level, and can only be shot down if you are disadvantaged. 

Status is indicated by the tilting model stands - tilted back - climbing, for Advantaged, nose down - diving, for Disadvantaged. 

Advantage in some ways replaces the concept of altitude. OK in a game about air warfare not specifically representing altitude may seem a bit strange, but in BRS it works very well. Gone are the tall stands that are impossible to move and topple over at the slightest touch, or counters and dials and all that, instead replaced by a simple three status system. The problem is of course that when we use terms like "Advantage level" and "climbing for Advantage" (a Pilot choice in BRS) and we point the nose of the model up, we tend to reinforce the idea that Advantage = Altitude. And it doesn't. Not always anyway.

Actually the best way to explain Advantage is to use the other end of the Advantage curve - Disadvantage. Disadvantage is the thing that gets you shot down. It can be anything that allows that. Energy state, speed, lack of awareness, and yes, sometimes altitude. 

There is a famous incident during the Battle of Britain that helps illustrate "Advantage" in action. On 15th September 1940 Ginger Lacey in a Hurricane of of 501 Squadron ran into a group of 12 Me109s. Lacey is an Ace, flying below them on a reciprocal course, however he is unseen, so Advantaged. The 109s are Neutral. Lacey has the initiative and "burns Advantage" with a climbing half loop to attack them from behind. Both are now Neutral (and that would normally prevent Lacey shooting) however he is now tailing the target which drops it to Disadvantaged and he shoots it down. He proceeded to claim a second before disengaging into some nearby clouds.

James Harry "Ginger" Lacey, the Ace we should of got instead of Bader in BRS!

The other point to make is Advantage is situational and can change as the game turn flows. You can start Advantaged, fly into a cloud (becoming Neutral) then come out the other side and climb for Advantage - back to Advantaged. Later you can be subject to an enemy Outmanoeuvre and become Neutral, or worse get tailed and become Disadvantaged - and vulnerable, all in one turn. It is this constant changing status that helps make BRS such a fun and fluid game that feels like a dogfight not a battle between sailing ships in 2 dimensions.

Cheers

Roc-Works is taking off - interview with Rich Carlisle about his new Blood Red Skies compatible range of models

Interesting news. I’ve been chatting to Rich Carlisle about his new project Roc-Works. For those who may not know, Rich was one of the guys at Warlord when BRS started and was very much one of the unsung heroes that helped get Blood Red Skies where it is. He left Warlord over the Christmas \ New Year and has been involved in a number of other projects since then, however he has always been a BRS guy at heart. Anyway, long story short, he has this new BRS related project “Roc-Works” which I think will be great news for all of us. I asked him to explain a bit more about Roc-Works and what it is about for the Blood Red Skis Ready Room, but the interview took in quite a bit more than I originally expected so here it is in full. 

RichC Hi Ken, you asked for a bit about what’s coming up for roc-works.co.uk, we’ll I’ve been busy putting together a place for everyone to come and find some fantastic sculpts by several talented people; including Aidan & Rowan Boustred and Steve Toth. Production-wise I’ve decided to go along the 3dSTL route to allow those with a printer of their own to build their airforces. I can also make these aircraft to order for those without a printer.

Ready Room (err me): That’s great – I’ve already got some of Steve’s work as we did a couple of crowd funding projects (ok not big crowds!)  to have Steve design and print models – his Meteor and Ki45 were beautiful. I’ve also see Aiden and Rowans excellent Fleet Air Arm stuff. So all 1:200 and ready to accept BRS bases?

RichC – yes! and I hope to have all available BRS products including bases on the store

Ready Room so I have to ask – what’s the price point? 

RichC Prices depend on the size of aircraft (and therefor sculptors time and materials etc) so an average size fighter is £13.50 for an STL and £4.50 for a single resin model. $USD prices will be similar based on exchange rates 

Ready Room. That’s not bad at all – what are you working on ?

RichC Our first releases will be the following:  Brewster F2A Buffalo ,  Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar),   Gloster Gladiator ,  Fiat CR.42 Falco ,  Dewoitine D.520 . From the 2nd August, you’ll be able to order the STL files whilst the actual resin models will be ready for release from the 17th August. More models are to come asap; including the Messerschmitt Bf 109 F Tropical, Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb/c Tropical, North American Mustang Mk1 and a Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber (with torpedo) I and the sculptors hope you’ll give roc-works.co.uk a look and keep an eye on our progress, we have a whole lot of aircraft we want to make including many not available in detail anywhere else.

Ready Room – I’m sensing a matched pairs theme?

RichC Partially, I had a wish list we (sculptors) talked priorities and it came together. We wanted Italians and Aidan had the Cr42 and already had a Gladiator. Whilst Steve was working on a Spitfire and we added the Bf109F to match it but mainly to fill gaps we think are needing filling

Ready Room – You mentioned Italians – is that going to be a thing?

RichC There are definitely a couple more that I'd like to do, some are already planned by Warlord (SPOILER ALERT - ITALIANS ARE A THING!)  So yes, I want to look at those smaller airforces and aircraft that are often overlooked.

Ready Room – Will the stls come with printing recommendations – angles , supports etc?

RichC The STL come with several files. Firstly the STL sculpt but also that sculpt pre laid up (Sprued) and saved as 2 types of common printer files. Lastly as a ChiTuBox workable file with spruces so you can see how it’s been approached. Oh and we’ll include a guide on the website

Ready Room – nods wisely (not sure I understand that but I’m sure it makes sense to people with 3d printers)

Ready Room – any plans for bigger planes?

RichC Bigger planes, absolutely. We may start with twin engined bombers initially and I’d love to see the first of them later this year. But first things first. Let’s see if people want them   

So if people are interested in new BRS compatible “stuff” get your names on the newsletter list for RocWorks at https://roc-works.co.uk

For the TLDR brigade here is the short version

New UK manufacturer of BRS compatible models

Available as either print your own or physical models

On sale 2nd August for stls and 17th August for physical models

How good is that 😊

Poor Quality in Blood Red Skies

Probably the most queried Trait in Blood Red Skies is "Poor Quality".  The text on the card is pretty simple :

"Rushed development and poor manufacturing practices held back many innovative designs. - In scenarios where a die roll is made for starting advantage, Deduct -1 from the roll for planes of this type."

The classic example is the Yak 1 in the initial "bendy" plastic releases. The Soviet aircraft industry was in disarray and quality control at the factories was suffering as the pressure to provide aircraft for the front. As a result some planes were rushed into squadrons with known defects - including parts becoming detached in flight. Similarly as the war situation deteriorated for the Axis forces some resources became scarce and were replaced by less ideal substitute materials ersatz rubber in aero engines for instance, which adversely impacted on performance in some cases. 

What Poor Quality does in effect, is to handicap such aircraft at setup, making it less likely to start Advantaged, or more pertinently, 50% of them will start Disadvantaged in Dogfight scenarios, which can be a PITA. There is no ongoing impact - they will still get to be Advantaged, they just take longer to do that, assuming the opposition doesn't get to them first!

 

That seems very simple. What has happened however is that as the game has developed the "team" has found some other uses for this card. The relationship between altitude and Advantage is a tangible but non specific one - you can be Advantaged or Disadvantaged at any altitude, but if you struggle with a sustained climb rate you are more likely to be disadvantaged at setup. There are a lot of aircraft types that we know due to design or other issues did not perform as well at climbing to higher altitudes due to lack of superchargers (for instance). A good example here being the P39 Airacobra. We struggled to represent this because we don't have low or high altitude. One option was to make climbing for advantage a test for such planes, however this would add another dice roll per plane per turn - lot of dice rolls, to a game involving such types. We really don't like adding layers of tests. BRS is about air combat, which is fast and furious, and one of the strong points is the quick turn sequence, so anything that adds tests and slows that down is avoided if possible. We did however already have a card that generated the right result in game - Poor Quality.  

Poor Quality is starting to appear more often because of this. It is morphing into a useful way of applying a negative to a plane's characteristics without inventing new Traits. We don't really like new Traits because they would have to be retrofitted to current releases, and the problems with cards etc make that undesirable to say the least. In the dim and distant future when we get V2 there will undoubtedly be more Traits added, but for now we are trying to keep to what we have.

So get ready for a bit more Poor Quality. Italian aircraft with battery powered radios*, or planes with no radios at all? PQ can work here because it can reflect the disadvantage these planes would be operating under without making them totally outclassed. Badly designed cockpits that overworked the pilot, same thing. There are many uses for PQ, so giving PQ to a beautifully build Macchi** doesn't mean it was badly manufactured, but that something about their design puts them at a disadvantage.

Cheers

*For some reason the Italian designers didn't think a dynamo \ alternator was needed on fighters. Instead of powering their radios by attaching them to the big rotating thing at the front that would generate copious amounts of electrical power, not the sons of Caesar, nope, they would use batteries. Like our mobile phones, battery life would deteriorate with use and age. The end result was the Italian fighter force in the early war period would only have enough power in their radios to communicate for a half hour or so, after which point they were down to wing waving and the like. Of course poor radios were not just an Italian thing. In 1940 it is fair to say most fighters had issues with radios, and Spitfire, Me109 and Zero pilots all struggled one way or another to reliably communicate with others in their flight, but these were mostly ironed out.  

** Saying nowt but I think our Regia Aeronautica players will be smiling soon(ish) once we start to get out of the Lockdown backlog :-) 

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 !