Anyone played Blood Red Skies?

[Paul]

I think the Meeples and Minis guys have been using 1/600 tumbling dice. They did a good review recently - episode 247

hehe...I've got some of those, unpainted, in the garage too! WingCo does a lot in 1/600 doesn't he and the paint jobs are fantastic.

[grizzlymc]

I thought Wingco was a COTOTS man!

[Jeremy]

Bag the Hun is seeing a bit of a resurgence recently and sounds like lot of fun

I have that somewhere and forgotten about it!
What aircraft models are best now? I've got a box of old style H&R somewhere plus some excellent models by 'Airpower' which I don't think air available anymore but they're all buried deep in the garage since the move

I like BTH. Sadly my BoB camping never quite got off the ground due to my opponent not painting his planes. I have a lot of JU’s and and Stukas, mostly unpainted. 1/600 was the scale we chose.

[grizzlymc]

I have Spits and Hurries and Messerschmitts. I just haven't painted them or put them on magnets.

[Wg Cdr Luddite]

I thought Wingco was a COTOTS man!

All my aircraft collection are The One True Scale. The 1:600 stuff is comissions for other people. I'm offended now.

[grizzlymc]

It was tha Panda who accused you of heresy, not I (they aren't real bears anyway).

[RMD]

That welsh girl who flies on a broomstick swears by CY6, but when I asked why wouldn't share her insights with me.

I probably had you on ignore at the time...

CY6 does an excellent job of showing the relationship between energy and manoeuvres: Very simply, if you pull a split-arse turn in a steep climb, your speed is going to disappear (and vice versa). Many games have done this before, but only CY6 succeeds in making it simple enough for a whole bunch of people who have never even wargamed before, to get the hang of it within two turns and have a fun game.

The way that pilot experience is handled also works superbly. Better pilots have the opportunity to modify their plotted move (within given parameters) in response to what the more inexperienced pilots have just done. It's superb.

I used to use CY6 (reasonably successfully) to teach bits of Principles of Flight, Air Power and History of the RAF syllabi.

It's a truly great game. Hex grids don't suit everyone though, but I love it. Once you're used to the game, I recommend using the optional 'narrow' firing arc, which does make it more of a challenge.

I read Bag The Hun and then threw it in the bin. The Battle of Britain campaign supplement was excellent though - when used to run campaigns using another set of rules.

[Zenbadger]

I played a quick game of BRS this morning at Warlord HQ. Pretty good, I really like the advantaged/neutral/disadvantaged system rather than fiddling about with height bands. Not a game for rivet counters but it flows well and we fought a game to completion in about 25 mins. I shall be investing soon.

[RMD]

Er, I'm not sure that 'fiddling with height bands' really equates with 'rivet-counting'. Three-dimensions and the conversion of energy into manoeuvres is what makes air warfare air warfare. Otherwise you may as well just have model boats or tanks on the table.

BRS seems to be popular in a club I've just started visiting, so I'll hopefully get a game soon. We played WoG last time I was there and while it was fun, the two-dimensional nature of the game made me think that had we replaced the Sopwiths and Albatrosses with MTBs and E-Boats it would have made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

I freely confess that I don't mind the two-dimensional nature of X-Wing because it's fantasy - the entire nature of space combat in Star Wars is completely bollocks and not based in reality anyway, so I see no reason for the 'game of the film' to be realistic. However, I do expect a historical air combat game to at least have a cursory stab at realism...

[Zenbadger]

I didn't equate the two, I merely stated the absence of the former and the unsuitability for the latter. I think it is probably a game for someone who only has a passing interest in air warfare rather than a die hard enthusiast. I don't really have an interest in any kind of aircraft but I enjoyed the game. I have played CY6 and didn't much enjoy it, ditto BtH, but I do enjoy painting 1/200 scale planes and this is my kind of complexity which will allow me to paint and play a few games.

It would be better with dragons though... :-p