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 !

3d Printing - "The World Turned Upside Down?"

I've been talking a while about 3d printing and how it is impacting on my gaming. Actually thinking about it this has been a theme on my blog for about 5 years starting with my dipping my toe in by buying WW1 fighters from Shapeways. Recently I have taken the logical step and bought a 3d printer of my own, an Anycubic Photon, and I'm having a go at printing my own "stuff".

This isn't a post about the trials and tribulations of my ongoing journey into 3d printing - other than to say it has been a blast and an education, and I'm still learning. What I wanted to muse about is how much these home printing machines will impact our gaming now and in the future.

At the moment the answer is probably - not much. I'm quite surprised by this conclusion.  I think the issue is the general faff with the machines, which at least in my limited experience are still very much "this way up" things, and also the level of skill and practice needed to regularly get acceptable prints. It is this second part in particular that causes me to scratch my head as a layman. I can run a perfect print, rerun it, and it will fail. I'm sure there is a reason, but I may as well be chanting an incantation to the Machine Spirit for all I understand what is happening. Of course this is my fault. There are hours of on line tutorials to watch, help pages galore, but I rarely can find the time to watch and take it all in. Having said that, I am getting better, and I'm feeling more confident. There is a wonderful freedom in having a 3d printer for a wargamer. Feel the need for a "x" model or tank or plane, there is probably the file  available either free or for a small price somewhere on line, just download it, slice it, and pray to the Machine God before pressing the "print" button, and several hours later you have a model. Or you don't. Probably because you miss pronounced Yog Sottoth or something similar in your chanting (is the Y really a J sound?).

So will this drive miniature companies out of business? I can't see that happening. Most gamers will not want the mess, (poisonous) chemicals, smells and faff. Cleaning them up is an adventure too, and not always a happy one. However in a few years time when the tech becomes a little more friendly I would imagine it could start impacting some sales. At the moment it is a cool way to get models that are not readily available, but most players will just go to their normal suppliers. 

The other reason is human nature. Those Shapeways planes I mentioned - some of them are still unpainted. In many ways this may be something 3d printing will make worse. If I no longer have to weigh up the costs of ordering a model plus p&p and then wait a week for it to arrive, I suspect the impulse printing will increase, and that could be a problem if like me you have a substantial unpainted "pile of shame". 

However I do think the market and demand for 3d printed models is only going to grow, and how companies react to it will be interesting. If , rather than buying a physical model I can buy a licence stl file at a reasonable price I would be tempted. If course it would have to be a licence that would allow me to print several models, just in case I get the incantations wrong when printing.....................

 

Stalingrad Redux Part 3 - Dug in T34

This is one of those "I have a cunning plan" moments. Reading up on the battle it became clear that the German Panzers had a lot of problems with dug in Soviet T34s, mainly due to the difficulties in spotting them before they could get their shot away. Initially I was very sceptical about how powerful these would be in Chain Of Command (and said so on the Facebook Group), My experience with CoC over the years is that if you sacrifice your mobility you lose. Stationary tanks in CoC are very vulnerable to infantry close assault, particularly in close terrain. When I thought about it a bit more however I do see the point - in real life, and in CoC, the tank that gets the first shot usually wins against another tank, so being able to deploy and shoot with a tank near a Jump Off Point is actually very handy indeed (apols to the guys on Facebook).

Anyway I decided I needed a dug in T34. I didn't want to just put some earth banks around a normal full kit, I wanted to show it was properly dug in. I contemplated buying a kit and chopping the hull down, but that seemed like a faff too far. Then I wondered if Paul Davison could print me something suitable on his 3d printer? I explained \ badgered him about this and he went away and seemingly forgot, then a week or so later dropped off a pla print of a T34 that he had amended the files so as to cut the hull down to just above the running gear. I have to say it was almost perfect for my needs.

I decided to paint it as one of the alleged unpainted models that was rushed out of the factory onto the battlefront. I suspect this is a bit of propaganda but it certainly looks different. I built up some earth around the hull and a quick paint later here is the result - and most pleased about it I am.

Here it is cunningly hiding on my painting table!

The only problem now is I want to build and paint a full hulled version in a similar scheme - maybe a "bitser" with a painted hull and bare turret or................



     

The Rotterdam Project Part 5 - Roadblock

The whole lockdown thing has meant I've been flitting about gaming projects even more than normal, as there is no particular rush to finish anything for an upcoming game. One of the casualties has been the "almost" finished Dutch for 1940 Chain of Command which I got mostly done just before lockdown. Mostly. I was short some roadblocks, a few entrenchments, that sort of thing.

When lockdown was announced I was just about ready to order some pre made barricades, but then in all the uncertainty I decided to try scratch-building a barricade myself. Only a couple of problems, one of which was I was not sure what one would look like (!).

Luckily google came to my aid, unearthing this pic of a Dutch squad heading out (or back) through a rural roadblock.

It's a fascinating picture because it tells an interesting story. This is clearly a well thought out obstacle, not a hastily felled tree, and the more I looked at it, the more I liked the idea of copying it - "Play the Period" and all that. The other advantage was I thought this would be a minimum cost build - and so it was.

I initially went for a short constitutional walk, coincidentally bending down every now and then to pick up some likely looking twigs. When I got home and in the cold light of day I realised I could do just as well with some off-cut dowel, and was less likely to get any suspicious creepy crawlies coming out of the woodwork. I also stole a couple of the cats' chew sticks (sorry guys) for the main trees. After that it was just a case of sticking everything together. That took about half an hour. Then I put it off to one side to dry - and forgot about it. Yesterday I was casting about for something to do and saw the roadblock, and got it painted up in short notice. I'm quite happy with how it worked out. Obviously not quite the same as the original, but recognisable. The idea is it will sit on the road rather than being an extra road section.

It may be a bit too rural to really fit the Rotterdam theme, but it will do for now.
 

Battle Group Northag - Red3 Miniatures BTR

I was looking to fill the gaps in my Northag Soviets and generally scanning around for alternate models in 10/12mm when I heard a new company had entered the fray recently - Red3 Miniatures. They had some models that were not available elsewhere so I thought it would be interesting to put in a small order to check them out.

What I ordered was a BTR60 Command version, and some Gaz Jeeps . Turnaround was quick, and I have to say I am impressed with what I got.

Red3 BTR60PU and PSC BTR60PB comparison

Models are all white metal. Casting is clean and sharp with a minor sink hole on the rear of one of them which I expect will be invisible to the eye when in use.

The BTR60 Command looks to be a BTR60 PU minus the frame aerial. Having assembled a 15mm version of this particular machine I can understand why they decided to omit the aerial in 10mm - or it could be one of the many sub variants. The model itself comes in 2 parts - the hull and the turret \ generator \ aerial. The 2 part thing seems an excellent idea as it allows the model to share the hull with the standard BTR60 PB personnel carrier with a straight turret swap. Detail and proportion are excellent. All in all it is a very nice model.

The BTR60PU is probably a bit higher up the food chain than you would usually see on a Northag table and you wont need many - mine will be a Battlegroup Tac Command hauling around my ECM capability.

Will it mix with PSC? Not wishing to open the "10 mm isn't a scale" argument but the Red3 model is marginally bigger than the PSC ones, but I expect once they're  on table they will mix well enough.

All in all I like these - and expect I will be picking some other  models from them.

Check them out here : Red3 Miniatures