They say when it rains it pours. Only two days after I received Blood Red Skies, What a Tanker arrived in my mailbox with a resounding thud. If you haven't been around, What a Tanker is Too Fat Lardies' answer to the Tanks game that was released about a year ago.
There's a German tank with the commander in the open hatch on both covers. The similarities end there.
Oh... Time flies like an arrow apparently, it's been a while. I've been busy... hobbying... working... generally just doing things but not finding the time to write about them. But enough about that, what about Blood Red Skies?
The box in all it's shinyness
I got intrigued by a couple of articles and a gameplay video that Warlord released in the autumn; one particular thing that drew me in was that the rules were written by Andy Chambers, of GW fame. He has written some of my favourite games and devised a lot of clever mechanics. Unfortunately a lot of the games he has written has not been big hits, through no fault of the rules. I'm thinking of Dust Warfare for instance. The basic rules were available as a download and they had some innovative ideas that further piqued my interest, so I preordered the game. Unfortunately the production was delayed (it was originally supposed to be released by christmas) but finally I have it in my grubby hands.
Opening the box reveals a lot of pretty planes and a couple of rules pamphlets.
I will not go into the details of the rules before I have played them, but they utilise a nice mechanic of tracking planes' statuses relating to eachother instead of height. Wether a plane is at 3 angels or 500 feet is of no consequence, what is important is if that plane has an advantage over another plane or not. This status represents both altitude and other factors and is shown by tilting the plane models on their special flight stands.
Getting the rules out of the way reveals dice, decals, cards and flight stands.
The box feels a bit empty when you open it up. The majority of the space is just air, but I suppose it's to keep the models from being damaged. They fit snug into compartments in a plastic insert that is provided. Oh, if you can't tell that's six Messerschmitt 109's and six Spitfires.
Rummaging around a bit more reveals more cards.
The basic rules are 16 pages long, with the expanded rules booklet a mere 12 pages (which includes game credits). You do get a deck of 42 action cards so I guess a lot of the tactics might lie in card management. The scenario is also 16 pages and tells you how to choose your forces and pick a scenario as well as using the national trait cards. Finally it has five scenarios and rules for bombers since one scenario is escort duty. But there are no bombers in the box you say?
Lifting out the plastic tray reveals a quick reference sheet -- there are two so you get one per side.
Next some cardstock -- clouds which functions as terrain and pilot chits for the flight stands.
The clouds are doublesides showing balloons on the other side. You get two sheets of these too.
Next a sheet with counters, movement templates and British Blenheim bombers.
You only get one of these but I wanted to show the other side which has German Dorniers.
Last some shots of the miniatures.
Wait, that's not a Hurricane?
As I stated earlier you get twelve miniatures in the box, six messerschmitts and six spitfires. But if you preordered in december you would get a free Bolton Paul Defiant. At the launch there are only one fighter per nation available -- and I wasn't so interested in the pacific or the eastern front -- so having another type of fighter for the Battle of Britain, even if I got just one, is an immense upgrade.
The details are quite nice, even though the turret looks a wee bit awkward.
The Defiant came in it's own little box with a flight stand, plane card and pilot chits. No decals though but I can probably manage.
There are squadron boxes and ace personalities released, but I hope Warlord will release more different planes soon, I want the Hurricanes and the Messerschmitt 110's too, and Stukas of course.
