Get All The Info On Blood Red Skies: Battle Of Britain By Warlord Games!
July 10, 2017 by crew
Warlord Games has now released the teaser trailer for their new aerial dogfighting game set during World War II, Blood Red Skies: Battle Of Britain.
Take a look at the teaser trailer above...
The Basics
After having a quick look into the game Blood Red Skies starts you off exploring the conflict between the British and the Germans during The Battle Of Britain in World War II. Inside the game box, you're going to be getting a set of Six Supermarine Spitfires and Six German Messerschmidts that will do battle in the skies over the Channel.
The basics of the game see you controlling the Advantage System in the game. Planes, thanks to their flying bases, can be in three different states including Advantage, Neutral and Disadvantage. When shooting, you must do so from a state of a higher advantage than the enemy representing you zeroing in on them for the kill.
Of course, this is where the real skill of the game comes in as you try and outmanoeuvre and dodge your enemies, looking for the right time to strike. Combat seems incredibly deadly as combined strikes and working together as a squadron can end up downing planes if the enemy isn't careful.
In true Warlord Games style, the mechanics feel easy to learn and hard to master. You'll have a grip on the game in no time but the key positioning of your planes and choosing your targets is going to be where the growth of the game comes from.
Squadron Building
As with all good dogfighting games, there's plenty of room to customise your force and you have that in Blood Red Skies too with different pilot cards, skill ratings, aircraft and more. Each comes with different tactical options for you to bring into play and we really like the idea of getting some fighter aces into the mix.
Within the basics of the game, combining a pilot's skill with the proficiency of the aircraft leads to your ability to do damage and indeed avoid it. Right now, from a quick look at the game, it seems like learning about these combinations and using them to your advantage seems to be a key feature of the game.
As well as that we've also had a peek ahead and while the main box for the game features a clash between the British and the Germans you should be looking out for planes from the Soviets in Russia, Americans and of course the Japanese looking ahead to conflicts in the Pacific.
Q&A With Warlord Games
We got to ask the guys at Warlord Games some more questions about the game...
Q: What can gamers expect when they pick up Blood Red Skies?
Warlord Games: Blood Red Skies is a fast moving game of mass aerial contact, games last around 45 minutes playing with the contents of the main game. Gaming is simple to pick up, fast paced and uses a core mechanic based around the unique Blood Red Skies Advantage base.
What do you get inside the base set?
Inside the core box for Blood Red Skies you get...
- 12x plastic fighter coloured aircraft,
- 12x clear plastic advantage flying bases,
- 10x combat dice,
- 12x Pilot Skill level discs,
- 3x Gaming booklets: Rules, Expanded rules, Scenarios.
- 45x cards to use in game,
- 38x markers to use in game,
- 2x Quick Reference Sheets
- A set of tools: a movement template, range finder and navigation caliper
Each Expansion set contains six more planes and cards that allow you to use these planes in your games. Ace expansion sets come with one plane and the unique stats for the Ace
What made Warlord Games want to go into the arena of aerial dog fighting on the tabletop?
Blood Red Skies appealed to Warlord Games because it is set in the World War II, a period we know and love. The game by Andy brings a very different aspect to gaming these dramatic aerial combats and fits well with our desire to bring fast-paced, fun games to the wargames table.
We have worked closely with Andy Chambers before and we admired his passion for this game and his plans for its future development. We believe it's always a good thing to follow the passion in our hobby as it brings a genuine and better quality product to our gaming community.
What can you tell us about the miniatures of Blood Red Skies?
The plastic planes are in the popular 1/200th scale. We chose 1/200th as our scale as it gave us great looking models that could create an evocative game on a 4ft square gaming
The initial release contains iconic fighter planes from World War II that provide a good basis from which we can develop a more comprehensive range. Over the next few months, during the launch campaign, we will be working with our community to decide on subsequent planes we will release.
Can I use other manufacturers planes?
Blood Red Skies is compatible with any aircraft models available in 1/200th scale although only Blood Red Skies planes are supplied with the unique Blood Red Skies Advantage base.
The focus, to begin with, seems to be on the Battle Of Britain, but do you see yourselves looking to other theatres and countries too like the Pacific for example?
The core Blood Red Skies game is based around the iconic Battle of Britain, other sets in the range introduce new theatres of combat yes.
When does Blood Red Skies go on general release for sale?
The general release date for Blood Red Skies is February 2018; before this Blood Red Skies will only be available to pre-order from Warlord Games or from our Retail store partners.
Hopefully, that gives you a better idea of what's included within the game!
Pre-Order Bundles
Warlord Games has now included a selection of new Pre-Order Bundles on their website allowing you to get a head start on your Blood Red Skies collection. First up we have the Allies & Axis Bundles which collect together all of the models for each faction.
These then break down into more specific country bundles which will focus your attention towards one of the different forces in the game.
British Spitfire Bundle
US P51 Bundle
Japanese Zero Bundle
Soviet Yak 1 Bundle
German Messerschmitt Bundle
So as you can see they've got quite a lot of different planes for you to snap up. Thanks to the Land Lease rules as well many planes would have fought for different countries during this period of World War II!
Any question? Drop them in the comments below and we'll see what we can do!
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Smoke me a kipper chaps…. Chocs Away
It looks beautiful. But it is so far away still.
Yaks ?
It’s got Yaks ?
I wonder if they’re adding Sturmoviks too.
oh my poor wallet. I can hear it scream again …
They are going to work with the community to decide on what planes to add into the mix. So, over the coming months make sure to let them know your thoughts @limburger
Having a quick look about all the 1/200 aircraft are quite expensive and mostly modern. Depending what it’s like I think I would go 1/300 as there is a bigger selection
Colour me intrigured
Looks really good, only thing I did see was on Facebook today, some was moaning about the price. Apparently it’s not going to be a cheap project if you want to invest.. I COULD BE WRONG THOUGH, like I say, this was only someones opinion on Facebook. Anyway.. If people really want it they’ll buy it expensive or not
It is $120 USD per faction
However, there is a lot of plastic. 25 aircraft so the cost seems about right because Wings of Glory starter with 6 aircraft is $60
I went and I saw the price. Someone will have to show me some play through before I can commit to $120 USD to $300USD. Next, they should have had included the following bundles. 1) Blood in the Pacific where you had F6F and F4U’s vs the Japanese. 2) A Battle over Britain bundle with Spitfires and Hurricanes vs Me 109, 110s. I would have expected more verity in the aircraft. It is enough to have me interested but not enough for me to pull the trigger to down a purchase. To me, the Yak and the Japanese aircraft do… Read more »
oh I’m dooomed… Dooomed I tell you!
Ok I’m in, and I shall really paint those 1/300 models I got too 😛 as I do have like…. 12 109 E or maybe 24 of them at at least 12 Hurricans and 12 Spitfire from Raiden Miniatures (awesome sculptors!)
How much for just the core game?
$120 USD
Dakka Dakka Dakka the boxes look fantastic.
But, well, have they shown any actual photograph of any aircraft? I mean, one that really shows them. I’d really like to see some images of the product to be able to know if it is worth the price… or know how it works… sure they will do it, but they are offering it right now… go and buy!! now!! quick…!! Coloured means just red and blue or really nice looking models like X-wing?? I really know they are not obliguing anyone to buy nothing, but… do you think it is a good way of behaving to offer you to… Read more »
This is just the first teaser of the game. I’m sure we’re going to get proper images as the game closes in – still a long wait so plenty of time.
Reserving judgement until I see the actual models.
Looks expensive for models you have to paint and sadly the models I have are revell 1/144s and the battle of Britain game coming from PSC are 1/300, so can’t crossover with them. Will watch and see though.
Tally ho chaps … looks very cool. Also Kudos to Warlord for going pre-release rather than kickstarting it (as a pre-release)
Pitching it as a Battle of Britain game, it seems odd not to have any Hurricanes or Me110s.
And why no bundle with a squadron box each of Spitfires and Me109s so that you can expand the basic game set to an historic squadron of 12 planes for each side? They are missing a trick there I think.
Can’ wait to see more about it. Just signed up to BoW for this game alone!
Pauke, Pauke!
Strikes me a flipping exspensive even for 1/200 scale, Spitfire & Me109 packs work out at roughly £8.00 per plane just on the pre order. I’ll need to be convinced by a lot more detail an pics of the actual planes before I commit to those prices
Those look really interesting.
Reply to a couple of questions I asked: The models are 1:200 scale and those in the core box and expansion sets will be in coloured plastic; these will not be pre-painted, but the plastic colour will be different for each faction. The various aces pilots will not have a dedicated model, just different stats and their own card, but the exclusive models available in the pre-order bundles will be 28mm versions of them. These models may come back in the future and after the release, included in other special bundles, but no specific plans for now on this. We… Read more »