Aces High - Saburo Sakai

 

Saburo Sakai, the fourth most efficient Japannese fighter pilots of World War 2 who fought since the very begining (the war against China) to the very end (defenting the Japan from the US attacks), the one who flew only with Mitsubishi planes (A5M4, A6M2, A6M3, A6M5) for whole war, his memories were written in the Samurai! book which is sad rather sad story but really worth to read. 

In Blood Red Skies Saburo Sakai was a part of the first serie of aces. He is turning fight expert, rather libero than a leader. His ace skills reflect this status. Saburo Sakai piloting one of his Zero becomes a deadly weapon both in the offensive and defensive way. 

 

His Aggresive trait gives him ability to make two pilot actions instead of one during the activation. One must be outmenaouvering and the second shooting. It means that Sakai could attack the aircraft being at the same advantage level (initially outmenaouvering him than shooting at him). 

 

On the other hand if attacked being Disadvantaged he can potentially lift to the Neutral level. As he is an Maneouvering expert (+1 Maneouvering bonus) and use the suberb maneouvering aircrafts (Zero series) it is quite doable.

If you include Sakai to your squadron keep in mind that he is rather libero than the captain, so you need to include some defensive doctrines to protect your fighters from enemy attack. The biggest weakness of the Japaneese fighters is Vulnerability (opponent takes +1 dice while shooting). As US (natural oppoent) are heavy armed fighters you need to protect your Zeros even from shooting atempt. The good way to do so is to keep your fighters advantaged (and maximize the chances to being there). You can use Vertical separation doctrine card (paired with Great Climb) to do so. If you use Light Load equipment card you can exchange Deep Pockets of your Zeros for Great Climb. Is it a good deal, you need to decide by yourself.

Sakai as a leader would be one who can initiate an attack: outmaneouvering and shooting against the chosen enemy. His companions need to focus their fire on the first chosen victim. Playing Zeros keep in mind: the clouds are your best friends especially if your opponent have faster planes and/or you chose Aggresive tactics as a doctrine. 

You could try to push Sakai alone toward the enemy formation and take your chances with Comeback King ability. If succesfull Sakai could manage to fight against many enemies. If your opponents will take a bait your main force would attack the exposed enemy from the back. This tactic is risky but ... very Japaneese like.

Sakai is one of my favourite Japaneese named aces. I found Aggresive ace skill very powerfull. So in the early war era (while the Japaneese have initiative) it could be a good and easy to play option. 

If you would like to make Saburo Sakai aircrafts you can use models from Warlordgames (A6M2 from the Midway starter, A6MX as a A6M5 from the early set). There are also third party options as 3d printed models from Planeprinter or Roc Works or resin models from Armaments in Miniature.

I've chosen 3d printed option from Roman (Planeprinter). I painted them with Vallejo range paints. Decals set was designed by Arek Stamm and is available on his Facebook marketplace.

Aces High - Josef "Pips" Priller

 

Josef Priller was an active fighter pilot for the whole war period starting from September 1939 to the January 1945. Since 1940 he was assigned to the Western front. His specialty was a Spitfire. He knocked down the most planes of those type among all Luftwaffe pilots.

He used to fly on Bf109E (Yellow 1 in 6/JG52), Bf109F (white 1 in 1/JG26) , Fw190A (well known Black 13 Jutta from III/JG26) and Fw190D during Operation Bodenplatte (Black 14 JG26). Most of the aircrafts flown by Priller are available in the Warlordgames offer as well as in the third party portfolio.

For all those who would like to collect Josef Priller's aircrafts I can recommend the decal set designed by Arek Stamm available at his marketplace on the Facebook.

In Blood Red Skies Pips Priller is one of my favourite named aces due to the combination of his ace skills. Tactical Wizard gives opportunity to overtake initiative at the start of the game, while I know your type blocking effect of the enemy Trait cards. As a named ace Priller has an additionally bonus +1 to the Firepower and cost 130pts.

Priller is deadly option in the late war heavy armed fighter (as Fw190A or D) especially against the aircrafts with defensive traits as Robust or Deep Pockets (which could be blocked by I know your type ace skill). Therefore his main prey in the Blood Red Skies would be Hurricane, Beaufighter, Mustang, Wellington or B17.

In the Bf109E or F he can exploit his other skill that gives him opportunity to take over initiative at the start and execute Hit and run tactic (for example using Sustained Dive doctrine).

 

Aces High - Witold Urbanowicz

 

The second Ace decal set designed by Arek Stamm is dedicated to Witold Urbanowicz, the second ace available from Warlordgames as a box set. 

Witold Urbanowicz was a second most efficient Polish fighter pilot in World War 2. Since 1933 he was active fighter pilot in Poland. In 1936 his 111 fighter squadron, equipped with PZL11c was assigned to save eastern border of the country. During one of the patrols Urbanowicz gain his first victory, shooting down soviet R-5 scout plane that violated the border and refused to go back. 

The PZL11c from 111 fighter squadron was the first marking from the new aces set. My model is 3d printed resin and came from Roc-Works range. There is also available Planeprinted version. Model was painted with dedicated colours (Polish khaki light, and Polish Blue-Grey) from Hataka range. Though there is no official PZL11c card for Blood Red Skies we can find her stats on the Master List and in the Warlord Army List Builder app. 

The war caught Witold Urbanowicz as a instructor in the Polish Fighter School in Dęblin. The students used to fly with elder version of the Puławski style fighters: PZL7a. Urbanowicz as a leader of an ad hoc fighter flight tried to cover the school's area against German bomber raids. The PZL7a from Dęblin is the second marking in the Urbanowicz set. Unfortunately early gull wing fighter is unavailable in the yet.

After the evacuation with other pilots through Romania and France he finally end his journey in Britain. His first kill during the war was Bf110 shot down on 8th of August while serving in 601 RAF squadron. Then he was posted to 145 RAF squadron where additional victory was noted. His Hurricane form 145th squadron is the third one in the Urbanowicz ace set. 

At the end of August 1940 Urbanowicz was posted to the new 303 Polish RAF squadron as a Flight leader. Since previous S.Ldr Krasnodębski was injured he became an Acting Squadron Leader. Within 303, during the Battle of Britain Urbanowicz gained most of his victories (13) and became an ace. His most often used Hurricane Mk I was marked with RF-E

My model is a Warlordgames one, painted with standard early war RAF: Dark Green/Dark Earth/Sky camo using Hataka range paints. There is also available 3d printed Hurricane Mk I commissioned by Planeprinted.

 

The fifth aircraft in the Urbanowicz Ace set is his Spitfire Mk IIa RF-W from 303 squadron which was flown after the Battle of Britain finally ended. My Spitfire is a 3d printed resin designed by Planeprinter though another available option is early war WArlordgames Spitfire. As on Hurricane I used Hataka range paints for early war RAF camo.

 

Witold Urbanowicz was only known Polish fighter pilot who served in the Far East within famous 23 Fighter Group. On his P40 (the sources  are vary if it was E or K version) he claimed 2 additional victories on Japaneese Ki43. Urbanowicz in his memories said that his most often flown aircraft was "The Deacon Sad Sack" nr 169. 

 

As an Urbanowicz's aircraft I chose 3d printed P40 from Planeprinter. I painted it with Olive Drab/Medium Green/Neutral Grey camo. There is also avialable Warlordgames new resin model. 

Witold Urbanowicz ace decal set consist of six planes: PZL11c, PZL7a, Hurricane Mk I (145 RAF, 303 Polish RAF), Spitfire Mk IIa, P40E. Most of the models are available on the market (in Warlordgames range (Hurricane, P40E, Spitfire) and as an STL files for 3d print (PZL11c, Spitfire, P40). The only unavailable one is PZL7a, but I hope this missing will be filled.

Witold Urbanowicz as an ace in Blood Red Skies game is a master of the sky with maneouvering oriented skills as Acrobatic (gaining 180 instead of 45 degree pivot after succesfull Maneuvre test) and Slippery that gives him additional bonus for dodging and preventing from outmaneuvering. With all his abilities Urbanowicz gives level 7 base maneuverability bonus (plus aircraft's maneuverability) which is quite high number.

In Blood Red Skies Urbanowicz is a good option for those players who prefer defensive play, rather turning fight than alpha strikes. His outstanding maneuvering abilities make him a tough opponent in turning fight. In my opinion Urbanowicz would be great option while using with not typical turning fighter as P40E that make her more efficient in that kind of fight.

Aces High - Francis "Gabby" Gabreski

 

As Kevin from Miscmini announced changed his terms and conditions of his decals worldwide shipment everybody at the other side of the pool became sad. In fact one of the great decal supplier became unavailable for european customers. But emptiness doesn't exist in the market so the new decal suppliers starting to appear across the old world: Bernhard Kleber in Germany, Marc Vancamenhout in Belgium and ... Arek Stamm in Poland. 

Traditional way of thinking about decal set is to make a six markings for whole squadron of the same type planes which is obvious, useful and practical. On the other hand we have aces box sets with one plane inside and ... no proper decals. Arek come from this perspective and make decal sets of different planes for one ace pilot. It gives an atractive opportunity to post our favourite aces for leading squadrons of quite different planes.

The natural inspiration for Arek was a list of aces delivered by Warlord Games. Taking into consideration Arek's origins it was obvious that he will start from the pilot with Polish roots: an ace who flew at least four different WW2 era piston engine fighters and one jet from Korea war: Francis "Gabby" Gabreski or Franciszek Gabryszewski (as his known in Poland, from his parents emigrated to America). 

 

Everybody know "Gabby" as a leader of 61FS from the famous 56FG who collect 28 victories on his P47 both: Razorback and Bubbletop versions but it is not common that his first posting after graduation of the pilot school was 45 Pursuit Squadron in ... Pearl Harbor 1941. The unit was equipped with a mix of P36 Hawk and P40 Curtiss fighters.

The P36A from 45th Pursuit Squadron no. 22 is the first marking in the Arek's set dedicated to Gabby. Model of P36A is available as a an STL file (best project by Roman Troyan). My model is painted Olive Drab on upper and mid surfaces and Neutral Grey on lower ones. Traditional pre-war US roundels with red dot inside the star.

The next stop for Gabby was Europe. He was assigned to ferry flights but he wanted to fight. One day he came across Polish fighter pilots and ... became they friends. Due to a goodwill of his superiors he practiced in the Polish 315 fighter squadron

In Polish squadron Gabby used to fly on PK-E Mk IXc Spitfire. The plane was painted in typical North european scheme with Dark Green/Ocean Grey on upper and mid surfaces and Medium Sea Grey on lower surfaces. Alongside the original RAF markings with roundels, fin flash and code letters there were also squadron marking (fighting rooster) and Polish checkers at the fuselage.

At this stage of war the leading edges of the wings were painted in yellow with red markings of the gun barrels. Spinner and beld on the fuselage with Sky type S colour. My model came from the Blue Falcon Hobby range, available as an STL file. It is great in terms of details but with rather fragile wings. Aa far as I know the Warlord planning to restore his Spitfire Mk IX from their portfolio.

The well known part of the Gabby's story is his leadership of the 61 Fighter Squadron equipped with P47C and then P47D Thunderbolt. At the P47C Gabby earned his ace skills. He used to fly many planes, Arek decided to add to his ace set the one from early 1944 with new group markings (red cowling and rudder).

Mine model is 3d printed STL file from Roman Troyan. It was painted in the original USAAF camo: Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. There is also available P47C model from Warlord Games.

The best known Gabby's Thunderbolt was P47D25 Bubbletop 226418 that served since invasion till 20th of July while was crashed during the straffing mission over Germany. 

 

 

My model is also STL file from Roman Troyan projct. Arek chose a camo from the service during Normandy with full invasion stripes on upper and lower surfaces and fuselage. I decided to use Dark Green/Ocean Grey camo on upper and Medium Sea Grey on lower surfaces. This particular plane was the most complicated one due to the invasion markings and especially on fuselage. I decided to paint my rudder in red rather than use decals from the set. 

The last decal from the Gabby set is marking of the F86E Sabre while serving during the war in Korea. My model was as other - STL file from Roman Troyan's design range but Warlord Sabre is now available in new resin. I decided to paint in black grey undercoat and steel basecoat. Marking with regular US yellow bands, stars and stripes and individual pilot markings. 

 

So the full decal set contains of 5 planes: P36 from Pearl Harbor, Spitfire Mk IXc from 315 RAF squadron, P47C and P47D25 from 61Fighter Squadron and F86E Sabre from the 4th Fighter Wing. Decals are available on the Arek's marketplace on Facebook

As far as I know there are much more decal sets in the Arek's offer and many more on his workbench. I hope you enjoy them as I do.

Please find a link to Arek's marketplace

Multi engine fighter home rules for Blood Red Skies

 

Though the main air combat rules for single engine fighters in Blood Red Skies I'm finding simple and straightforward, the multiengine ones are rather complicated for me. Additionally, playing with different types of multiengine fighters I found some hooks in the original rules, that could be exploited by the players giving average or poor fighters (as Beaufighter) real super powers (see below). 

The optional heavy fighter optional rule looks quite interesting and was in fact a good starting point while thinking about new home rules. Unfortunately I found them not optimal as the heavy fighter are too tough (being operated with single engine working)  what is a bit strange to me.

 

That's why I'd like to share a bit different approach which was tested in our local gaming club for a couple of weeks. The way of thinking was based on heavy fighter rules but a bit ... polished ;). The idea was to make them tougher to break compare to a single engine fighters but not able to operate while damaged.

So the proposition is to treat multiengine fighters exactly in the same way as single fighters (including shot down: after single undodged hit while disadvantaged) with one excetion: for the breaking rule we use the number of engines not the planes.

To make new multiengine fighters more comparable to single fighters in terms of values we'd like to propose some point value corrections. Fortunately in the Masterlist of planes each ability including Agile (that correspond to the original multiengine rules)  is priced. So deducting 10pts (for Agile rule) from the main aircraft cost we receive the value of optional multiengine fighter home rules.

To fix the issues with the non Agile multiengine fighter according to the (in original rules those are immune to the Outmaneouvering) we decided to add Sluggish negative trait to all non agile multiengine fighters.

Does it work?

I would say: yes. We tested all main models as: Mosquito, Bf110C, P38 Lighting, Beaufighter Ic, and Whirlwind. The rules give a play balance. The more maneouvering fighters as Lighting or Mosquito are able to to engage at the same conditions as single engine fighters but a bit tougher, while less maneouvering ones need to be boosted by some doctrines (Vertical Separation, Low Altitude Performance) to keep fighting against single fighters. The number of engines as a reference to the breaking point is good enough to simulate toughness of the multiengine fighters.

 

Polish Multiengine fighter home rules (summary):

• Multiengine fighters are treated in the same way as single engine fighters 
• Breaking point for the multiengine fighter squadron  referes to the number fo engines not planes  
• Non Agile multiengine fighters gain Sluggish negative permanent trait
  
• Cost for Agile multiengine fighters is lower by 10pts compare to original
• Cost for non Agile multiengine fighters i lower by 14pts compare to original 

 

Bf110C - original cost 48pts, home rules cost 38pts

Bf110G - original cost 50pts, home rules cost 40pts

Me410A1/U2 - original cost 53pts, home rules cost 43pts

Ju88C - original cost 34pts, home rules cost 20pts

 

Beaufighter Mk Ic - original cost 44pts, home rules cost 30pts

 Westland Whirlwind - original cost 50pts, home rules cost 40pts

DH Mosquito Mk II - original cost 62pts, home rules cost 52pts

DH Mosquito Mk VIFB - original cost 67pts, home rules cost 57pts 

P38E Lighting- original cost 47pts, home rules cost 37pts

 

P38L Lighting- original cost 59pts, home rules cost 49pts

P61 Black Widow original cost 60pts, home rules cost 50pts

Ki 45 Toryu - original cost 47pts, home rules cost 37pts

Pe3 - original cost 50pts, home rules cost 40pts

Fokker B1A - original cost 40pts, home rules cost 30pts