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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




Weird its the Ju-88 when its a Do-17 in the starter box, not entirely sure on the purpose of the Ju-52 either (models look nice though) unless they come with a custom escort mission of some sort (or such is planned) - An American (B-25 or B-26?) or Japanese bomber would have made more sense.

Indeed a medium bomber for all five factions would have been better, note quite sure on the role of the transports.

that said they look like proper multi-part models, hopefully in a proper hard styrene, and the details mention "decals" (hopefully not flipping stickers)

Think the base would have been better redesigned specifically for larger aircraft with a larger base and the forwards/backwards angle reduced to about half that of the fighters (I think they look ridiculous angled up or down)


Likely will be ordering via FLGS the Blenheim, Ju-88 & Ju-52 though
   
Made in us
Executing Exarch




I brought this up on the Warlord forums, and got a response from another player there. Apparently these five planes have all been licensed from kits made by Zvezda. Thus the odd choices.

Despite that, I still think that this is a mistake. It's bad PR-wise, since the majority of potential players won't know why Warlord went with the choices that it did. They'll simply see that Warlord is neglecting the US and Japan.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




Zvezda kits....

ahhhhh yyeeeesssss

they are "ok", odd plastic though, have various ones in 15mm for Flames of War, they are "ok" mostly because of how cheap they are, remains to be seen if this is a good idea.

the idea of a game where different models are in different styles (and different materials) gives the whole thing a whiff of being done on the cheap
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






The land of cotton.

leopard wrote:

Think the base would have been better redesigned specifically for larger aircraft with a larger base and the forwards/backwards angle reduced to about half that of the fighters (I think they look ridiculous angled up or down)


Speaking of the angled bases... they offend me greatly both in the implementation (Advantaged is nose up? That's a plane struggling for altitude) and in usage (A plane with it's angled base has increased it's footprint, and is taking up even more space at a time when the planes are likely to be tightly engaged i.e. a dogfight).
   
Made in us
Executing Exarch




 Major Malfunction wrote:

Speaking of the angled bases... they offend me greatly both in the implementation (Advantaged is nose up? That's a plane struggling for altitude)


One of the actions that you can explicitly perform in the game is a Dive, which gains you additional movement distance in exchange for losing advantage. So based on that, it does make some sense to have the plane pointed down when Disadvantaged.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




 Major Malfunction wrote:
leopard wrote:

Think the base would have been better redesigned specifically for larger aircraft with a larger base and the forwards/backwards angle reduced to about half that of the fighters (I think they look ridiculous angled up or down)


Speaking of the angled bases... they offend me greatly both in the implementation (Advantaged is nose up? That's a plane struggling for altitude) and in usage (A plane with it's angled base has increased it's footprint, and is taking up even more space at a time when the planes are likely to be tightly engaged i.e. a dogfight).


I see what they have tried to do, but think a base similar to how Armada handles squadrons would have worked better, bit of a slider that can be left centred or pushed to either side, the increase in footprint is an irritation, the models also become a lot less stable.

Sort of see why up == advantage though, is in "things on the up" v the disavantage == down as is "going down shortly"
   
Made in us
Inspiring SDF-1 Bridge Officer





Mississippi

I picked up the boxed starter set as well as some Mustangs and Zeroes over this last weekend. Played a quick game with the basic rules.

THE GOOD
The models are preassembled (though unpainted). The rules are fast to learn and you will be up and running under 30 minutes, especially if you are already familiar with games like Wings of War or X-Wing.

The game handles a lot more fighters in the air on each side than you’ll see in Wings of War or X-Wing. The latter two are better for getting a sort of 1v1 or 2v2 duel. Blood Red Skies is about swarms of fighters filling the skies and duking it out.

You can customize pilots with plane talents and Ace skills to add more diversity and options to the game. You can also select “Theatres of War” that impose handicaps/advantages to the overall game.

There are no hit points or plane states to track, other than Advantaged/Neutral/Disadvantaged - Planes are only knocked out of the sky if they are Disadvantaged and suffer a hit, a somewhat difficult proposition, as planes can generally quickly recover from a Disadvantaged state (think Stressed from X-Wing). Note: The game’s primary win mechanic is to achieve a certain number of “Booms” - which is essentially scoring a successful attack roll on an enemy plane.

THE MEH
The fighters come unpainted, and the raw plastic colors chosen are somewhat questionable. The plastic the models are made of feels really cheap as well.

Advantaged/Neutral/Disadvantaged is an interesting mechanic, but I do not like the swinging the altitude pole to indicate your state (as it makes it difficult to position nearby models) and would have preferred a token to represent it.

THE BAD

It seems far too difficult to hit & hurt an enemy plane, you’re throwing D6’s that only hit on a 6, and the defender is throwing way more dice than the attacker. We spent a little over 2 hours on our first game with one hit before we decided to pack up for dinner. Most of our attacks against each other were head-ons, about two passing side shots (which are frankly far more impossible than they should be) and couple tailing shots. Even the tailing shots were atrocious to attempt to get a hit, and should not have been.

Pilots have a skill/initiative rating of 2-5 that are denoted by small cardboard markers fit onto the bases. “3” is an average pilot. Unfortunately, only the starter game has the markers for 5 initiative pilots - the additional boxes of planes only have markers that go from 2-4. There was no reason NOT to have “5” markers in the individual plane boxes.

Most annoying is the movement ruler - you’re expected to put the moved model on top of the ruler and then figure out some way to slide it off without moving the model atop it - really poorly thought out.

VERDICT

3/5 stars - It feels like a flight combat game, but the mechanics have been done better by other systems. Maneuvering is quick and enjoyable, but the game overall seems to drag as one shot after another is whiffed time and again. It’s a decent source for airplane minis, and I think that was deliberately so. I expect a v2 of the game would be much improved, if it can survive.

It never ends well 
   
Made in us
Executing Exarch




 Stormonu wrote:
It seems far too difficult to hit & hurt an enemy plane, you’re throwing D6’s that only hit on a 6, and the defender is throwing way more dice than the attacker. We spent a little over 2 hours on our first game with one hit before we decided to pack up for dinner. Most of our attacks against each other were head-ons, about two passing side shots (which are frankly far more impossible than they should be) and couple tailing shots. Even the tailing shots were atrocious to attempt to get a hit, and should not have been.


Remember that successfully rolling a hit generates a Boom token *before* the dodge roll is performed. Or in other words, your opponent still gets a Boom token when you roll a hit even if he successfully dodges it.
   
Made in us
Inspiring SDF-1 Bridge Officer





Mississippi

Eumerin wrote:
 Stormonu wrote:
It seems far too difficult to hit & hurt an enemy plane, you’re throwing D6’s that only hit on a 6, and the defender is throwing way more dice than the attacker. We spent a little over 2 hours on our first game with one hit before we decided to pack up for dinner. Most of our attacks against each other were head-ons, about two passing side shots (which are frankly far more impossible than they should be) and couple tailing shots. Even the tailing shots were atrocious to attempt to get a hit, and should not have been.


Remember that successfully rolling a hit generates a Boom token *before* the dodge roll is performed. Or in other words, your opponent still gets a Boom token when you roll a hit even if he successfully dodges it.


Well, I must have missed that in the rules! That would have made the game much, much quicker! Good to know.

It never ends well 
   
 
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