Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: pixelgeek on May 06, 2018, 12:24:28 AM
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We played some introductory games of Blood Red Skies today and I posted some thoughts on my blog
(https://zacgaming.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/img_5775.jpg?w=730)
https://zacgaming.wordpress.com/2018/05/05/blood-red-skies-first-experience/
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A very good review, I was surprised at how tactical it was after reading through the simple rules however it will take some mastering tactically
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I have to admit I am quite enjoying painting their planes:
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We just tried the rules for the first time last night, using the (free) basic rules + scenario 1.
I used my existing 1:600 planes, with altitude showing advantage (my stands let you put the planes at 6 altitude levels by swapping the little tubes that planes + stands plug in to).
We had 6 planes a side, 6 spitfires vs 6 me109s. 1 ace, 1 veteran, 2 normal, and 2 rookie pilots per side. Game played in about 90 minutes.
Good fun, and requires much more thought that expected after reading the rules. It's one of those sets of rules that plays much better than it reads.
We've used Bag the Hun a lot before, and that's also very good, but BRS does play much faster.
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I hear consistently that the game is fun, have also heard behind the scenes that warlord arent getting the returns they had hoped for on it though, they put in a lot more than usual and it hasn't fully paid off.
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The starter set is pretty good value. You get the rules, advanced rules, cards, scenarios, markers + 12 planes for £40.
The squadron sets seem overpriced. £20 just for 6 planes and a few cards.
The aces are grossly overpriced. £10 for one plane and a couple of cards? Come on.
The game itself is great, but I'd really like it if they released the cards for all the different planes as a separate pack so I can use my existing models.
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The starter set is pretty good value. You get the rules, advanced rules, cards, scenarios, markers + 12 planes for £40.
The squadron sets seem overpriced. £20 just for 6 planes and a few cards.
The aces are grossly overpriced. £20 for one plane and a couple of cards? Come on.
The game itself is great, but I'd really like it if they released the cards for all the different planes as a separate pack so I can use my existing models.
But then they couldn’t sell you overpriced plane models o_o
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They've also got the problem of luring folk away from Wings of War which they've probably already invested heavily in since those planes aren't cheap either, certainly not when compared with a box of 6 planes for only £20, a WoW one costs anywhere from £12 to £35+. £20 for 6, that sounds like a giveaway at that price to me.
I think Warlord will find that the market for aerial wargaming especially period specific gaming, and soon to be released coastal naval wargaming in the near future, is a pretty limited sales market compared to foot figures spanning centuries of warfare.
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I think Warlord will find that the market for aerial wargaming especially period specific gaming, and soon to be released coastal naval wargaming in the near future, is a pretty limited sales market compared to foot figures spanning centuries of warfare.
Agreed the market they pitch this at is pretty small, and has been well served for years in 1/300 and 1/600. Likely they pick up some borderline interested people but most anyone who wants to game it will already have good sized collections.
The new MTB game is pretty much doomed before it is even launched because of the scale they have chosen.
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I don't think Warlord are the best at marketing. As far as I know, they make very little attempt to build hype around their games other than that they exist. They could host in depth gameplay videos for their stuff, but they don't. They don't even put much about how the games work in their product descriptions. The worst example of recent times was them having Black Powder 2nd edition up for pre-order without saying anything about what had changed or why anyone should want the new edition. Only after its release did their newsletter contain anything like a "let's play" and that was them visiting the Beasts of War guys (a channel that does a lot of peoples' heads in...).
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I don't think Warlord are the best at marketing. As far as I know, they make very little attempt to build hype around their games other than that they exist. They could host in depth gameplay videos for their stuff, but they don't. They don't even put much about how the games work in their product descriptions. The worst example of recent times was them having Black Powder 2nd edition up for pre-order without saying anything about what had changed or why anyone should want the new edition. Only after its release did their newsletter contain anything like a "let's play" and that was them visiting the Beasts of War guys (a channel that does a lot of peoples' heads in...).
All true. WG are like an even more inept GW.
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I don't think Warlord are the best at marketing. As far as I know, they make very little attempt to build hype around their games other than that they exist. They could host in depth gameplay videos for their stuff, but they don't. They don't even put much about how the games work in their product descriptions. The worst example of recent times was them having Black Powder 2nd edition up for pre-order without saying anything about what had changed or why anyone should want the new edition. Only after its release did their newsletter contain anything like a "let's play" and that was them visiting the Beasts of War guys (a channel that does a lot of peoples' heads in...).
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Agreed. There's a video appeared featuring Mr Preistley doing a demo game with a member of Warlord staff that has just appeared on the WI page. It's about an hour long, so if you can spare that much of your life to watch about 4 rule changes explained then its all there in glorious technicolour for you. Personally, I'm disappointed with BP V2 although it is laid out a lot better than V1. A lot of money for about 4 rules changes if you don't include rockets, and some scenarios which could have gone online.
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Thet did do a bit of marketing in WI but that was the height of it. I'd agree their marketing isn't great
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Played another game last night, this time with the full rules with cards and clouds in play. That really enhances the game. The Spitfire’s tight turn and the Me109s climbing and diving ability came into play. The aces had special abilities, RAF had Home Advantage, but were Poorly trained.
The stands that come with the game don’t look as nice as my home-made stands which show altitude, but they are very functional and easy to use.
The only thing I’d change is the tie breaker for planes with the same speed. It’s a huge advantage to go first; in the first game we used Spitfire 2s which are just a tiny bit faster than Me109, but didn’t actually arrive until November 1940, so after the BoB was over. This time, we used Spitfire 1s which are just a tiny bit slower. In both games, it was a fairly easy win for whoever had the planes which went first, but with such tiny differences in speed it seems too much of an advantage. I think in future if two planes have actual speeds within 10mph of each other we’ll dice to see who goes first if advantage and pilot skill and coarse plane speed are all tied.
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thanks for the review. I have been considering this game since it was out and really wanted to have a go at it.
The main issue that prevented me from taking my wallet out is the pricing of the game. It quickly adds up and doesn't really compete with other games out there.
The starter set a GBP 40 is the price I'd pay for Down in Flames or Blue Yide Wonder. I really don't understand how they found themselves in such a pricing. Maybe initial production costs were high but here, I just can't follow them (and I do spend a lot of money on other Warlord's products).
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I picked up my copy for 30 pounds off ebay; new in its shrink wrap.
Consider that the game contains 12 model planes, with stands, pilot disks, cloud/balloon markers, measuring tools, 10 dice, card bombers, a pack of cards for traits, theatre, doctrine and ace abilities, cards for the planes, chits and markers, rules, advanced rules and scenarios.
I don't think the price is out of line at all, even at full price of 40 pounds.
The squadron packs at 20 pounds I think are overpriced. If you want more me109s and spitfire you'd be better off buying another base set.
Of course if you want Hurricanes, Zeroes, Yaks, Thunderbolts etc you need those packs.
The ace packs at 10 pounds seem very over-priced for 1 plane and a couple of special cards, but you really don't need those. The game comes with about 10 ace ability cards.