Blood Red Skies AAR: First impressions

The elusive Doug in his element

Back in late February when the powers of darkness were still ascendant (hail to the spring!) Doug came over for a gaming weekend. Friday night we went over to Garrets house for some beer and pretzels gaming and to try out Blood Red Skies, by Warlord Games. In a shameful display of winter hibernation I'm only getting this pictures up to the blog now. Oh well.....

We started with Doug and I getting an orientation game with Garret counseling us.  3 vs 3 planes (Germans vs Americans I believe). The rules are simple enough to make sense within two or three turns. The end of the mission typically comes from loss of nerve/confidence/morale rather than shooting down all the fighters. This is a good thing as lots of games of swoopy planes can DRAGGGGGG. Morale is lost everytime the enemy gets a good line on you and manages to fire on you. The shooting resolution is via fists full of dice and looking for fairly high numbers (I think successes are on a 6). The early war planes have much lower offensive dice pools so it's actually pretty hard to splash your opponent.

The bases are pretty clever with a tilt built into the stem. Nose up is advantage, level is neutral, and down is disadvantage. Pilot skill tells you who moves first, followed by (dis)advantage, and then finally actual airplane max speed. It rarely gets to that point. 

As actions you can choose to gain advantage, maneuver (which tries to force your enemy within a certain range 'down' in advantage), or shoot. You can only shoot someone with less advantage than you. You can only take out a plane that is disadvantaged (I think otherwise it's forced lower still). So you end up with team work to hit the enemy by 'maneurvering' to lower it's advantage rating, and then a wingman to clean him up. I think this is the only mildly jarring aspect of the game to me: it makes sense for your high skill pilots to maneuver the enemy down, and then the lower skill (moving later) pilots to shoot them down. Who knows, maybe this is actually how it happens but it seems a bit odd. In terms of game mechanics though it works very very smoothly. 

Next up we fought a three way melee. Japanese vs British vs Russians. Another nice touch is upon the start of the game you make a skill roll for each pilot which dictates what advantage level they start at. You will notice my green plans in the bottom right are all disadvantaged.....the Red airforce believe in training by doing!

We all elected to hold some planes as 'high cover'. I think this is scenario dependent, but basically they can show up on the board edge within a certain distance of marker on whatever turn. If they don't show up you can move the marker along the edge a certain distance. It's like aerial flankers!

Happily I brought in my high cover, who happened to be the highest skill planes, very early. And very very right behind the British. Garret knows the game; it's best to thin our his planes early.

Clouds are very interesting as when you enter them your advantage goes neutral immediately. So they are a safe harbor for planes in trouble, but neutralize your advantage if you are doing well. 

Coming out of the cloud you have a choice to gain advantage, maneuver or shoot (like normal). This means that planes in advantage are pretty safe from things emerging from the clouds.

 The number of markers are very modest. It's important to mark who has and hasn't gone though. With so many planes, that change advantage, it's pretty easy to lose track of who has gone (we had a few times where we noted a plane we missed.....nothing that would have changed much). 

Firing ranges are fairly short, so despite playing on a 3x3 table with a lot of planes the opportunity for fire wasn't overwhelming (lots of planes aren't legal targets as they are at the same or higher advantage). By far maneuvering and gaining advantage are the most common actions taken.

 

 Planes have some character to them, with differences in offense/defense and, more notably, special abilities. These abilities give you some cards you can play to do a bit extra. Lose advantage to move extra far. Similarly, the aces (rare as they are) come with a special ability which is much more powerful. One of them could use maneuver AND shoot in a turn. Nasty bit of work that could solo enemies on his/her own (Russians had female pilots anyway).

 

As the enemy gains numbers on you there is a bit of a snowball effect. But skill is quite important. Since you move and do actions it makes sense to move first, and the first movers can often make their opponents lose the advantage they need to take their shots.

Overall I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed the game. While I don't know that I'd select it as a primary choice for a game night, it makes for quick games: so on a short night, or while killing time for the main event it seems like a great option.

WW2 Romanians Great Escape Games (3) - Rifle Squads

The final wave of Romanians from my initial order. I still intend to add an artillery piece (printed but lacking crew) and maybe, MAYBE, some cavalry. That's really starting to stretch the project a bit far though.

Late war the Romanians coup their leadership and join the Soviets in the drive on the axis. In Bolt action they lose their free artillery piece and gain a free squad (if you have 3) of the cheapest version you have.  So I laid these guys out to have at least 4 squads. 

Standardized to 1 light machine gun, an SMG leader, a panzerfaust, (which would be lost in earlier phases of the war), and a bunch of rifles. As one would expect. The 4th squad I think lacks panzerfaust but has a big old anti tank mine being totted by the guy with bronze balls.

Turns out I can manage a 5th squad of 50% SMG. So either the project got overlarge, I've undersized my squads, or I just have some extra flexibility.  Hopefully I can find an opponent this year and get the traditional 'full painted and lose your first game' game in.

WW2 Romanians Great Escape Games (2) - Machine Gun, Flamethrower, SMG squad

I've fallen off the wagon! Too long since my last post. Here are the next wave of the Romanians. Once again they are 28mm metals from Great Escape Games. 

The SMG squad is largely equipped with Russian and German SMGs. There is a pack of figs that I ordered for more flexibility in late war Romanians (more captured gear available!), and is padded out with some of the stock infantry (stolen from full size rifle squads making an appearance soon)

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 Romanians Great Escape Games (1) - platoon assets (hq, sniper, mortar, resita atg)

Finally I'm getting around to posting up some pictures of painted stuff. I finished these right at the beginning of the year but got bogged down with pictures. My dave-cave is in a state of disarray so it's a bit of a hassle to carve out the space needed for pictures. I'm also not SUPER happy with my light box for pictures yet. It might be a backdrop issue, or it might be that it's a bit too small. 

These folks are from Great Escape Games, one of maybe 3 companies that do 28mm metal Romanians for world war 2. I found their range to be the most comprehensive so I ordered up their platoon pack and a bunch of side products so I didn't need to faff about filling in gaps. One and done is how I typically like to order up projects. Hilariously I find myself needing some more crew for guns (as I printed an artillery piece). Oh well, the nature of the game (see what I did there?). 

Please enjoy photos of: a platoon headquarters, sniper team, light mortar team, and antitank gun (a resita 75mm gun, which I think was domestically produced). 

 

Bases were finished with "Luke's ready mix" something I saw on another blog and wanted to experiment with. Fast, easy, and doesn't look shabby. 

 

The minis were protected with future floor polish applied with a brush. I figure with metal figs, and a skirmish range it will worthwhile having a hard finish. I should, and probably will eventually, hit it with some matte to get rid of the shine. 

 

 

 

 

3d printing nerd gifts (4) - finished products

Doug works fast. The package arrived 8 days ago and he's already finished his tanks. I hope that he will forgive me in 'stealing' his pictures he sent me for a post. It's nice to have some continuity and see the final product in this series. I can't do better but heavily quote from the email. 

"Before I forget again, thanks for the support removal.  I was quite prepared to do that (had picked up some others in the past so knew what to expect).  it is a pain to do.

The StuG had a barrel replacement as the ink tube was a perfect fit.  I took your advise and coated the Valentine's with runny super-glue with a few coats and it did smooth out a bit. 

 

The miscast boogie wheel on the Valetine is not an issue as you can see I covered the track area with lots (and lots!) of snow - it is a Lend-Lease arriving on the Moscow front just at the end of 1941. This ‘evens-out’ my collection which now can accommodate 3 a side.

 

The StuG is to fight my t34-85 during the summer of 1943 also in Russia for some one-on-one action.   The side armor are plastic pieces which match perfectly with your print - your scaling is perfect!"

 

 

 

I will concur with Doug, removing supports is a bit of a pain. Certainly some are worse than others. Gotta say these look great, as does pretty much everything Doug ends up producing. 

Head over and take a look at his blog Dots of Paint for more.

Romanian Tacam R-2: prequel and sequel

 While hunting for pictures for my new year "resolution" post I ran into some pics of the original print. It's kinda fun to see what is going on with this project. 

 The printer lays down layers sequentially to build up the objects, and due to the analog nature of FDM printers (i.e. it has pulleys and squirts out bits of goop from a print head) there will always be some print artifact. The 'layer lines' are usually the worst culprint. FDM also totally sucks at 'overhangs' as the plastic needs plastic or something firm underneath to prevent it from drooping as it cools (this is all sounding increasingly phallic). 

I decided with the front as the 'top'. I also needed to through a bunch of cylindrical supports to prevent the inside from looking like gravy and to help stabilize the whole thing (prints can be rocked off by the movement of the print head. 

I was actually very pleased with the quality of this print. I've had much worse to be honest. The supports all came off very cleanly and easily as well and the model didn't need much clean up.

Romanian Tacam R2 Tank Destroyer - 28mm 3d print

 I'm recently been chipping away at a variety of figs and this one is close enough for photos! 

 

I have been possessed to paint up a 28mm Romanian WW2 force. It seems like a perennial scale/period that comes back again and again (with different rules. Many years ago I read a book: '3 axis, 4th ally' which was an interesting look at the Romanians. Conveniently, for wargaming, they swapped sides late in the war and started attacking the Hungarians (who they really didn't like) and helped push on Germany. This means I have a bigger scope of opponents I can fight 'historically'. 

AAR: What a tanker (1st game)

4 corners type setup...eventually 2 more gamers showed

 Largely my gaming has had the crimp put on it by my young children (1.5, and 4.5). Besides the fatigue and time sink (big big time sink) involved with raising kids I don't feel great about abandoning my wife to manage two children for most of a day. It's hard when it happens to me so golden rule.....

 

 

Fortunately this weekend, one of the newer local gamers hosted "what a tanker" which is super easy to drop in/out of and it turns out he lived mere blocks away! I carved out 2 hours of daddy time (entirely thanks to the wife) to try out the (new to me) ruleset.

 

 

Soviets rushing forward. Already one Sherman brewed first turn

Each player took a single tank from Nick's 15mm collection. People trickled in so the rules were explained about 3 times before we started and in a most auspicious sign, everyone took pretty reasonable vehicles despite the numerous Tigers, Kingtigers, Jadzpanthers, IS-2's and SU-whatever is huge with a big gun in the box.  We saw a soviet Sherman, T34 (without the upgraded gun), Stug4, Su-76 (tank destroyer), panzer 4, and a marder. All largely 'mid war' stuff. 

Panzer 4 hiding in the trees still ends up taking heavy fire

 

What a Tanker has the active player roll 6 dice, and each dice result allows you to conduct different actions. Move, acquire, aim, fire, reload, and a wild die. Various tank abilities let you convert one of your dice into a set result (like fast lets you convert to a move, tank destroyer to an aim). The hilarity of the game is you often don't get the full spectrum of dice you need, so you are able to move to position, acquire and aim at the target but for some damned reason, your crew just can't seem to get that shell down range. This largely matches the friction of war and makes planning pretty challenging. Given the wild die and abilities you are often able to do *something* useful, even if it isn't turning your opponents into piles of flaming wreckage. 

 

 

A Sherman ices by Stug who was otherwise distracted

 

Target rolls are civilized (base 6+ to hit within a couple of feet) with a moderate number of bonuses/penalties, all of which are a single point change (aiming per dice used, obscured, each obstacle in the way, long range, target is small, etc). Once you hit there is another first full of dice rolled for the attacker it's 'strike' and the defender 'armour'. You are looking for 5+ (in most cases) and compare the difference in number of successes for the result of the hit. A great roll will see your opponent brew up immediately, but more often there is a steady loss of function (loss of command dice, and reduced effectiveness of actions). 

 

 

I was around for 2 hours which included set up, 3 rounds of rules explanations, and about 5 turns with 6 people. We had 3 tanks brewed up already, and I'm reliably informed that it got bloodier as it went on. The table was certainly sparse terrain wise, but it makes sense for an intro game. Russian steppe or something. I appreciate the ease with which a knocked out player can re-enter the game, and how simple the basic mechanics are to grok. Definitely a good ruleset to break out for beer and pretzels or a fun fun convention game. I'm not sure how it's make out for people who care about the actual results and a campaign system but what do I know, I've only played once for 2 hours. 

I'll tank this one as a play again.

A nice clean side shot on that T34 distracted me from the git in the woods

A quick naval bloodbath; Intro War at Sea AAR

 After six months of silence I managed to get a post done....and a game AAR at that. Local gamer Garret has been quietly collecting the (mostly?) defunct game War at Sea. I imagine you can pick up a good set of minis for reasonable prices. While not my favorite style of game (each ship has it's own card with different values/rules) it does keep the bespoke rule craziness to a modest level. 

 

 

 

 

One of the big drivers was the ability to hammer out a game VERY quickly (important when we both have 2 children under 4!). I think this one took about 90 minutes with learning for me. Garret has a useful little computer program that has a database of his available gear and will wizard up lists. He made two reasonably balanced ones....An american fleet with a cruiser, aircraft carrier, and 2 destroyers (plus planes), and a japanese one with 2 destroyers, a heavy cruiser, a sub, and a heap of air. 

Objective is to seize the 3 white objectives on the midline, and/or destroy your enemy. Victory is sorta sudden death as when you hit a certain VP total you win (I suspect at the end of the turn). I was VERY concerned about the japanese sub to the Northwest so swarmed it with planes dropping depth charges. Unfortunately the amount of fighters I had to bombers was....unbalanced, so the japanese were able to sink my carrier in the first turn. Yikes!

Land bases were the only thing keeping the aircraft up, which now means they come ever second turn in the absence of special rules (some bombers with larger fuel and bomb loads can 'loiter' and stay on station without needing to reload each turn). 

The second turn we both kept as much aircraft in play as possible and continued to hammer the ships. I decided to focus reducing the number of targets so ignored his cruiser in favor of killing destroyers (which carry torpedoes which are pretty swingy in this game but do heaps of damage). 

We were rapidly reaching a point where all we had were one or two crippled ships and far too many bombers for any sailors health.

The one turn of naval gunner and torpedos saw my cruiser and one (of two) destroyers go down, but cleared the table. The final turn the japanese continued to struggle for the draw to kill my final destroyer before it could claim a VP point. It narrowly avoided the angry wrath of the japanese bomber force to pull out a win.

A fun beer and pretzel type game that you can hammer out a couple of games in a session. I feel that it's obvious you need more fighters but Garret makes it sound as though there is a tricky element of balancing various needs without leaving yourself catastrophically open to certain attacks.