Wildcats & Flying Aces Soar Into Warlord Games’ Blood Red Skies
September 17, 2018 by brennon
Warlord Games continue to expand upon the world of Blood Red Skies with some new planes including the stunning F4F Wildcat Squadron.
The Wildcat Squadron comes with six new metal planes, a perfect way to control the skies during World War II. The Americans brought the Wildcat into play against the Japanese whilst ground troops below were doing their island hopping.
Here is a look at the painted planes plus some of the stylised components for the game. I love the 'poster' look to the artwork you see for the various plane cards for example.
The F4F Wildcat was unfortunately very outclassed by the Japanese Zero but whilst the Japanese had faster aircraft the Wildcat was, in quite an American way, robust and heavily armed.
Wildcat Ace
As well as this standard collection of F4F Wildcats we have Joseph J. Foss, a new Flying Ace for the Allies.
Foss and his squadron became known as Foss' Flying Circus and he made a name for himself during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
This kit gives you another Wildcat, just like the larger set above, but also comes with the additional statistics cards and such which you'll need to bring Joe Foss into play.
Torpedo Bombers
The Japanese aren't going to be taking this all lying down however and the Nakajima B5N 'Kate' Squadron are on their way.
It seems like quite the running joke that these planes we're seeing here, regardless of their allegiance, were not up to scratch. It certainly throws an interesting spanner into the works and will have you thinking very tactically about where your aircraft are and what tactics you want to employ.
As a torpedo bomber, these planes were manned by three people and you'd imagine they would be the scourge of ships trying to carry troops between islands in the Pacific.
Are you tempted by these new releases for Blood Red Skies?
"Foss and his squadron became known as Foss' Flying Circus and he made a name for himself during the Battle of Guadalcanal..."
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Those are very nice.
Thank god I am only collecting the brits and Germans, finally a release I can skip 🙂
The Hurricanes and Mosquitoes will be along before you know it! 😉
See, I’m in the opposite boat, @laughingboy – I could easily ignore Brits vs. Germans in BRS – now that we’re FINALLY seeing some Pacific War material – I might finally get into this game. Especially since most VMF US Marine Corps squadrons were left with the F4F Wildcat (not upgrading to the F6F Hellcat like the VF Navy squadrons) … at least until the F4U Corsair comes out. Am I reading the article right, this release only has Wildcats and Kates? That seems like something of a mismatch. We should be looking at A6M Zeke (Zeroes) for Japanese fighters… Read more »
Zero squadron is available – they were part of the original release I thought?
Oh, I dunno. That’s what I was asking. 😀
Yes, there are already A6M5 Zeroes out as part of the original release, but they had nothing American earlier than a P-51 Mustang to fight against in the Pacific Theatre – until now. A squadron of Kates can be used as a replacement for three larger European bombers in some of the scenarios.
Zeroes and Mustangs, not much historical opportunity for battles there. These Wildcats, though, are an awesome addition!
Perfect together we will have the full set for a future meet up 😉
I’ve been waiting on these as well! I bought some 1/200 scale Wildcats from another company but now they’ll be carrier dressing and I’ll grab these from Warlord to actually play the game with. I have been hoping for the US Navy torpedo plane Douglas TBD Devastator, and the US Navy dive-bomber Douglas SBD Dauntless. I do currently have stand-ins for these as well, but no stat cards or stands. Crossing my fingers that they are headed our way in the near future. My WWII pacific game board is getting closer to reality. I guess I need to get back… Read more »
Sounds good. Do share some pictures when you are ready.
Personally i would love to see more planes used in Eastern Front as Eastern Front tends to be under presented in gaming in general. More often than not it tends to be either Western Front or Pacific War than Eastern Front. And yes, I want some planes with Finnish markings.
Oriskany, Once a Marine…. and first to fight yet again.
Joe Fosses nephew, Bill served with me for many years. He had great stories about him.
All I need now are some F4U Corsairs. Then the “Marine” mid-late war fighter experience is more or less complete!
Semper Fi!
Neat historical note about the Corsair is the Marines actually got it in squadron service first. As it was initially deemed unsafe for carrier landings. It was based on the island airstrips until the canopies were changed and it was deemed safe for carriers. The engine was so powerful it had a tendency to flip over on take off.
@oriskany they’ve also announced Hurricanes and Mosquitoes. For now, only Zeroes and Kate’s for Japan. Zeroes were in the initial release.
I’ll be doing my Hurricanes as 303 Squadron and the Kate’s from the Akagi. My Wildcats will be from Lexington (with the earlier pattern Star with red meatball) and Hornet.
Currently working on some Bulgarian Me-109s.
Still waiting for the P-40. ?
Sounds like you have the F4F Wildcat markings right – USS Lexington went down at Coral Sea, May 1942, when the Wildcat was still the standard US Navy fighter. Hornet as well, as least until she goes down during the Guadalcanal / Solomons battles later in 42/43. Early fighters, early markings.
So Zeroes, and Kates. Now we just need Val dive bombers and we have the IJN early war “Pearl Harbor” trifecta. 😀
ooh a flying leathernecks squadron.
I have had to put the breaks on my aircraft buying for BRS, I have more than I can handle at the moment..lol
I am a little disappointed that they are still pursuing the stickers in the boxes.
@oriskany go for it they are starting to do more Pacific stuff and there are companies that also do 1/200 aircraft so you can easily expand your collection 🙂
Noble miniatures in the states do a small metal range . Magister Militum sell them in the UK
Armaments in Miniature are the best 1/200 scale aircraft that I have found they are based in the USA and the models and service is superb
I thought they had closed some time ago. Nice to see there still about
nope still going strong or he was a couple months ago when I ordered my Wellingtons from him 🙂
I was thinking of the AIM 10mm figures. Maybe a different company or they sold those ranges off
http://www.angelfire.com/nj4/armamentsinminiature/ourproductlines.htm
Cheerz
They switched to metal for the Wildcats?
Both the wildcats and Kates are in metal, the mossi’s and hurricanes fw190s and bf110s are going to be in hard plastic, it’s about getting as much out as quickly as possible I believe demand is high
Interesting. I wonder if they bought up the metal molds from some other company.
@misch not sure, I think they cast some of the Wildcats and Kates for their Pacific game at Salute so I am guessing they have just brought these to market, given its far easier for them to get metal moulds done and cast in house.
Have to get these to add to collection. I also after Salute sent in an idea to Warlord games to replicate the carrier the Hornet and others in flat card stock, same idea as the bombers in the starter set. We can’t all afford the model ones and this would allow game play of the Kate’s attack and wildcats trying to get off the carrier ect to defend.At tabletop distance the flat carrier with a modded 3d island would work. They replied saying it as a good idea but nothing came of it.Does anyone do or have any ideas who… Read more »
Do these come painted? I keep seeing them coming with decals, which make me think unpainted. Yet whenever I see articles the models are painted and with decals applied. Is the paint job out-of-the-box or the writer of the article prepping for a better photo shoot?
They come unpainted and with stickers rather than decals. Like the other squadrons, the stickers are for those who are less inclined to paint their models in what to us is the usual manner. Decals are available separately.
Finally got a demo on, it is now on the too buy list – not sure what yet though. Tempted by the US but spitfires and hurricanes are also calling
PTO now I can get into this! Any chance of some F4Us?