I've bought a few board games recently to broaden my options for gaming sessions.
First up was Bristol 1350 - a game about trying to get out of a city when the plague arrives. Brilliant little game and loads of fun.
The second game I bought was Pandemic, a co operative game about stopping the spread of a series of global virus and disease.
Hmm
 |
| A slightly blurry pic of the A6M3s - |
The first quartet of Planeprinter A6M3 Zeros were in plain grey and painted up quickly enough. Tamiya paint and panel liner, plus the usual canopy.
The second set of A6M3s I decided to try and copy the hastily applied camouflage they were sometimes seen in. Basically the ground crew were given a tin of green paint and a yard brush and told to get stuck in. I thought the best way to try and replicate the washed out \ faded look was with either a sponge or cotton bud (Q Tip to our Cousins) over the same Tamiya grey - I went with the cotton bud. I'm not 100% happy with the result but it looks OK to me from "table distance".
Decals are from MiscMinis as usual. They include tail stripes but the pics I found didn't always have them and as the decals are designed to fit Armaments in Miniature models I decided to swerve them - both models are a nominal 1:200 but that doesn't mean they're exactly the same and wrapping decals around the fuselage is not a lot of fun.
Quick history bit.
The A6M3 was an attempt to improve on the superlative A6M2 that was sweeping all before it. the Imperial Japanese Navy may well have been suffering from "Victory Disease" but even they were noticing the Zero had some problems, particularly in a dive where controls rapidly became heavy. They asked Mitsubishi to work on an improved version to address this, and got the A6M3 with a new engine, more ammo for the 20mms and clipped wings which resulted in a (slightly) faster plane with better dive characteristics. It was a case of "be careful what you wish for" because the new Zero was not well received. The new engine was longer than the old one, so to get it in to the already tight A6M fuselage meant some changes, in this case losing some fuel capacity and therefore range. The changes also messed about with the centre of gravity a bit, leading to slightly less impressive handling. These changes hit at exactly the wrong time. The IJN was committing to the Guadalcanal campaign and was using A6M2s to escort G4M1 Bombers from Rabaul to the target at Henderson Field and the ships around Guadalcanal. This was a gruelling trip for the fighters, sometimes five hours each way, but the phenomenal range of the A6M2 made it possible, even though the pilots must have been tired even before they reached the target area. The new A6M3 just didn't have the range of the A6M2 so could not escort the bombers all the way. To counter this, and make the trip less gruelling the Japanese establishing bases closer to the island such as at Buin on Bougainville Island. Operating from here, the A6M3s could cover the cover the bombers, and it would also provide a useful staging post for damaged aircraft on the return trip. Sadly this was also within range of the Cactus Airforce operating from Henderson Field, and the bases were regularly pounded both during construction and operations, leading to high attrition rates for the fighters based there. The IJN was forced to commit scarce fighter strength to defend airfields that were only there to allow fighters to operate further forward, putting their already limited numbers of fighters under even more strain. Guadalcanal was exactly the wrong battle for the Japanese, who were looking for a knock out blow, but found themselves in a meat grinder battle of attrition they could not win.
I've been meaning to do some 1942 IJN for a bit and Gisli's post just gave me the impetus. I ordered some decals from the ever reliable MiscMinis in the States. I already had the A6M3s from the Planeprinter Patreon in my "to paint" pile, and badgered Paul Davison into printing some G4Ms as my printer is a bit too small to do them comfortably.
I've always struggled with the IJN colours - not just the grey green white (whatever) but also the dark green. I decided to order some Tamiya paint - that should deal with the issue, right? Ideally I would have ordered some of Steve Toth's Blue Falcon Hobbies paint, but the last package from Steve got picked up by HM Customs and they demanded £50(!) to hand over 3 paint dropper bottles, so I had to go with plan B - Tamiya.
The Tamiya IJN Grey arrived and was duly used on six A6M2s and six A6M3s. I'm not that keen on the Tamiya paints - I'm sure with the right techniques and skills they're great, but my slap it on style doesn't seen to get good coverage, and while I am sure they're perfect on 1:48 scale, they look a bit dark on 1:200....
Then the decals for the Zeros arrived. Kevin Hammond at MiscMinis did a great job as always with these, however he included tail markings and fuselage stripes in batches of four (historically correct). As I had six planes this would mean a Chutai (flight) of four and another of two. I was also toying with the idea of doing one pair in the transitional grey plus hastily applied green splodges camo seen at the time, so maybe the logical choice was to do two groups of four? I did have some "spares" from batch printing so two more were dug out and hastily undercoated. Having a 3d printer is marvelous but also makes you quite profligate. Ah well
So while I'm waiting for the Zeros to dry I started on the Bettys. They're big girls and there is a lot of glass to paint. I'm painting these in the lazy monotone IJN Dark Green - Tamiya again, and again I think they came out a bit too dark. Not sure if I need to maybe try a drybrush highlight?
OK I'm struggling with the title - been a long day :-)
In addition to the fighters, to do the heavy lifting, I'm going to need some bombers. The Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 1 Naval Attack Bomber, commonly known by it's Allied reporting name as the"Betty" is the logical choice. Entering service in 1941 as a replacement for the G3M "Nell", it was in almost all ways but one a superlative aircraft. The G4M had exceptional range, good speed and bombload, and good (for the time) defensive weapons. The only problem was to achieve that superlative range and other positive features the design sacrificed protection. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they did have a worrying tendency to burn if hit. When used as a high level bomber the speed and range of the G4M meant it could be hard to intercept. They could also be converted to carry torpedoes as well as bombs, and some squadrons were specially trained to do so with the aim of contributing to the IJN's Kantai Kessen (Decisive Battle) doctrine, where they would wear the strength of the US fleet down by long range air attacks before the two battle lines would meet.
The Betty was the workhorse of the Imperial Japanese Navy's land based bomber force (fleet?) in WW2. Notable points were the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the assassination (is that the right phrase??) of Admiral Yamamoto. Their long range meant they could bomb targets as far afield as China and Australia. The Betty was ubiquitous, wherever the IJN went, there was the G4M.
The G4M was a big bird, more akin to a Wellington or Mitchell in size and role than a Ju88 or Blenheim (for instance) and it has a distinctly portly appearance - the Japanese pilots nicknamed it "The Cigar" as a result of it's shape, though how much the flammability issue contributed is an interesting thought. The Allies were much more straight and to the point, calling them "The Flying Zippo".
In many ways the Betty mirrored the Zero in design, with protection being sacrificed to achieve excellence in other areas (range in both cases). That analogy continues to the crews, who were honed to a very high standard of capability, but who could not be replaced easily when lost. At Guadalcanal, this became horribly apparent as squadrons were almost annihilated by Wildcats and AA in long range strikes against the US invasion fleet at Lunga Point. Some squadrons lost 75% of their combat strength and received no replacements.
Throughout the war the IJN tried to update the design, adding more defensive weapons and even some protection such as rudimentary self sealing fuel tanks, however the weakness was baked in to the design and even at the end, the Betty had a well earned reputation as a flying torch. The Betty ended it's career and the war as a launch platform for the Oka suicide rocket plane.
In Blood Red Skies the Betty is a good medium bomber. Speed 6 is commendably nippy for such a big plane, and defensive firepower is adequate - FP1 all round with a bonus +1 in the rear arc due to the 20mm cannon in the tail . On the down side it is rated as Vulnerable, so enemies firing at it get an extra attack dice, and it can't dodge incoming attacks with Agility 0. The FP 1 rating is ok but can be deceptive if you are facing Robust enemies such as Wildcats which can negate your FP.
My models are from PlanePrinter - printed by Paul D for me on his machine as mine struggles a bit to deal with something this big. The base colour is Tamiya IJN Green, which I'm convinced is a bit too dark for 1:200, but too late now...............Decals from Misc Minis.
So, which way to Henderson Field?
2022 is the 80th anniversary of the Guadalcanal campaign, one of the pivotal moments in WW2 in the Far East. Over on the Blood Red Skies Ready Room, stalwart Gísli Jökull Gíslason mentioned he was thinking of running this as a campaign where players could report their game results and this would be collated into a coherent campaign narrative. Brave man!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1649101651822260/search/?q=guadalcanal%20campaign
I'm up for this. It ties in nicely with the Midway releases and based on his previous Battle of Britain campaign should be fun.
So I've decided to do the Japanese. Here is the plan.
I intend to run a Zero Squadron and a bomber unit of G4M Bettys initially. To be a bit different I'll be using the less common A6M3 Zero rather than the classic A6M2s.
So that's it - two Squadrons worth to prep - six fighters and three bombers - should be easy enough ???
Watch this space........
Last year I mentioned my annual dip into the murky world of loot boxes in computer games. Read it here if you missed it https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2020/12/loot-boxes-in-computer-games-my-world.html
Actually I should probably of read that again before pressing the "buy" button this year because a bit of reflection may have been worthwhile.
Last year as I mentioned I got 30k Gold, 72 days of Premium and 4 mil in silver. This year I got 28k Gold, 48 days premium, and 2.9 mil in silver - all down. I should add the price remained the same. The total "value" of all that is about £100, so still more than the sticker price of £85 for the bundle.
Last year they included some already released low tier Premium tanks in the boxes, and if you got one you already had, you got the gold price as compensation. If you were a new player this was quite good, as it gave you some interesting tanks to play. If like me you probably have them, and anyway don't play low tiers that much, it was a nice boost to gold. This year they've been looking at their spreadsheets and realised that if they released "new" low tier tanks in the boxes not existing ones then the old guard like me would not get the gold compensation........ I can still sell them, but only for silver NOT the more valuable Gold. Kerching............
Now on to the Tier 8 Premiums. Last year I was hoping to get the GSOR tank destroyer, and I did. A year on, how has this worked out? I got three Premiums. The coveted GSOR, an ISU152K Soviet tank destroyer, and an Italian heavy tank the C45. I've played 166 games in the GSOR, 20 in the ISU and 4 in the C45. I do enjoy the GSOR but it's limitations - mostly a reload time between clips about as long as the Christmas holidays mean it is a novelty rather than a first choice, and the others are Ok but of no real interest to me at the moment as I am not really going much on the Italian and Sov lines.
This year there are three new Tier 8 Premiums, and two being recycled. Also for the first time this year the drop rate - ie the chance of actually getting one, was published, and it is 2.4%, so if the dice roll as expected you should (hopefully) get 2 in the 75 boxes. The interesting one for me is the British heavy tank Caliban, plus there is a Swedish and US heavy, and the two recycled models are a Czech Heavy and a Chinese Medium. I suspect my ideal drop would have been the Caliban then the Czech, and I got the Caliban, Chinese and Swede. Nice to beat the odds I suppose.
So pretty much like last year I think the conclusion is: don't buy loot boxes if you are doing so to get a specific tank - no matter how special you think it is. If you play regularly and would have spent that sort of £££ anyway over the year on premium accounts, fill your boots.
So let's start with the box. Artwork is nice - better than the old Battle of Britain version in my opinion. The actual box itself is a bit flimsy - the old one was a fairly heavy duty affair that has continued to serve me well for over three years. This one is much more akin to the regular boxes Warlord use for their plastic kits and starter sets. I think this is a case of Warlord accepting the dream that BRS would appear on the shelves of game stores, rather than wargames stores, is unrealistic at this time. There has always been a suggestion that BRS was originally aimed at a more mainstream \ main street market, which may account for the higher quality of the old BoB box. This seems to be in the standard Warlord starter set material. My experience \ expectation is most players will bin it within a day anyway, so it's not much of a problem. I'm going to hang on to the old one as long as it holds together.
 |
| My veteran Battle of Britain box, with the new upstart Midway one |
Taking the lid off and I have to say I'm impressed. They've avoided the "clipped in" model tray which many suspected caused some problems with the old BoB set and the notorious wing bending. This layout looks packed, clean and purposeful.
Being a gamer I grabbed the models first. You get six Wildcats and six A6M2 Zeroes. The models are in a new version of "Warlord Resin". This material is a plastic \ resin but is a big step forward over that used on the earlier models, not so much "bendy" as a bit flexible. It reminds me quite a bit of the plastic used by Reaper on their "Bones" range. It's a pity these were not made in true hard plastic - in fact I suspect this is a decision Warlord may look back on with regret if the game continues to prove popular. I'll do a deeper delve into the models at another point, but for now I think they look good.
The Wildcats are already coloured blue, the Zeroes off white. This mirrors what they did with the old set, the idea being you could open the box and play straight away. More on that in a bit, but one side effect is that it's a bugger to get pics of the raw models that show the detail. The models are overall good. They don't have much flash at all and detail is excellent. The panel lining is clear and these should be easy and fun to paint. My Wildcats did have a problem getting to fit on the stands, but a very quick run with an exacto knife around the triangle mounting point fixed that, taking no time at all. The Zeros are the opposite, slightly loose. I don't think they will fall off in play, but they do wobble a bit. I suspect that will change when you apply a coat of paint. I will let you know.
The set includes decals and self adhesive stickers. The decals are for the serious players but the stickers add to the ability to play out of the box with minimum prep, which is always nice. As to be expected the decals are far more detailed and include markings for both plane types on the same sheet, including two named Aces. This is a good idea for the starter set but it does make me wonder how Warlord are going to deal with selling the models separate to the starter set - will they include the relevant decals from this sheet and if so, how?? Back to the self adhesive stickers. These are better thought out than the old BoB set, being scaled to the models and not "cartoony". They're just national cockades, and while I would not use them, I can see how they will work with the pre coloured models if you were in a rush to play or were new to the whole painting thing.
I was pleasantly surprised at the rules pamphlet. I saw the contents as a pdf a while ago but this was the first time I have actually held a "real" copy. It feels much better and more substantial than the old three part one in the BoB. Content is different too, as in addition to the rules there are some nice sections on the historical background and orders of battle - mostly by Roger Gerrish, though I did make some contribution.
The rules themselves are at heart the same as the BoB set and Airstrike, with some minor clarifications on wording here and there. The redoubtable Andy Chambers has done a good job with the game engine, and BRS plays fast and smooth.
The question has already come up "are these a version 2?" and the answer is "No". This is a starter set themed around the Battle of Midway NOT a full set of rules, so the rules for multi engine planes and attacking ground targets is not included. You will need Air Strike for that, but I should stress the rules ARE complete as far as they go - there are scenarios and rules for attacking ships as well as the usual dogfights etc.
The new punch board for the targets, clouds and bomber markers are good quality heavy duty affairs in the same vein as the BoB set ones. Having the reverse side of the clouds as islands is a really nice touch. The inclusion of the bomber tokens (six Vals or SBD Dauntless) means you can get all the scenarios in the starter set on table without buying anything else, though of course models for the bombers are sold separately. There are also eighteen ship counters to use as target markers. I have to point out someone at Warlord dropped a bit of a clanger here as instead of a Japanese Battleship they put an Italian in there. Some things never change! The ship target markers are a bit of a missed opportunity as they're two sided, but the sides are the same. If they had IJN on one side and USN on the other it would have been so much better and we could have had either a larger fleet or more options. Scale wise these look to be about the same size as my old 1:3000 Davco models, but that is almost certainly pure coincidence. I think the images used are actually from Warlord's own Victory at Sea range, which raises the question, why not do them at 1:1800 so you could cross promote the VAS models as target markers for BRS? OK you would have to have fewer ships on the card due to size, but I'm not sure that's really a problem. Also did I mention the Italian?......
 |
| Skill discs, Boom Chits and Zoom (activation) markers |
 |
| The wandering Italian Battleship |
The plastic measuring tool and associated markers is a big advance on the old card one. I'm sticking with my third party ones but these are perfectly serviceable and look the part. It will be interesting to see if players paint them up or leave them as they are. The High Cover (arrows) and Laden (bombs) are particularly nice.
So that's about it. There's a lot in there , and aside from a couple of minor typo issues this looks like a great starter for players who are looking to get started in BRS, or an existing player who wants to move into the Pacific theatre.
Recommended
