Air strike beta test
Long time, no write! So things have been crazy with the 2nd kid and gaming time has been diverted to an Aristeia league and an Infinity campaign recently but I'm back on the planes for a while.
For those of you in the know, Air Strike! is an upcoming expansion for Blood Red Skies, focussing on ground attack.
Andy Chambers and Ken Natt on the Ready room have put out a chunk of the new stuff in beta form to whet a few whistles.
My local opponent John came over for a test-game and we rocked a brits vs germans early-ish war naval attack.
As there are no scenarios or guidelines for force composition so far, we eyeballed it a bit based on engine numbers and my previous experience with homebrewing it.
The attacking force were the germans, rocking x6 Stuka divebombers (R3 pilots) and escorted by 3 durable 110c's with R3 and R4 pilots. They deployed 18" away from the targets, giving them a couple of turns before hitting the targets. I deployed 18" away from the enemy, giving me a couple of turns to mix it up and defend as best I could.
With low flak probability and x6 divebombers plus strafing-capable planes, the defenders got a x6 strong hurricane complement with an ace and a pair of mosquitos at R3.
Brits took radar support (large warship with radar equipped) but was countered by german radar jamming. Stukas deploy automatically in advantage and the rolls produced a decent spread of results with much of the hurricane complement advantaged or neutral.
T1
The advantaged stuka wave advance slowly in formation, maintaining their advantage. Their escorts keep pace and climb whilst my pincers of mossies and hurricanes close whilst climbing. The mosquitos are in range for a cheeky outmaneuver on my left-most stuka.
T2
Battle lines begin to close and the ace on my right flank leads off by engaging a 110 that blundered a bit too close with his snapshot, but its a deflection and is easily saved. He finishes his activation by outmaneuvering a stuka to neutral, setting it up for his allies. (as laden, it cannot climb for advantage)
As the stukas advance, they begin to outmaneuver attempt with pilot actions which seemed bizarre, but the general fudge of rule-spread meant we couldn't find anything to deny it so played it RAW. A couple of my hurricanes fail their saves and are knocked down a level.
A pair of stuka are just in range of the big girl and make an attack run, the first burning to dive and grabs a solid hit out of it, getting past the "hardened" whilst the second gets obliterated by flak and misses with its bomb.
T3
Things get interesting here as the 110's are positioned to take out my central hurricane vic; my ace pulls a burn to turn and tails a 110 and chits it's engine whilst taking a chit from the rear gunner. Another stuka makes a dive and gets another hit on the big girl. Shes's taken two hull points so far and smoke is pouring from the engine room!
My pincers now close and shots fly, resulting in a few chits, but no kills thanks to decidedly poor dice on my behalf and good dice on my opponent's behalf.
Left looking a bit safer now the lead 110 is nearly splashed, the central vic engage and take out one of the shot-up stukas and splash it, earning enough chits on the squadron to force it to bug out next turn.
Seeing the big ship smoking heavily and the stuka's getting shot up, a switch of targets is in order and the germans target the auxilliary with two remaining activations. The stuka lines up:
and gets a critical hit, putting a hull and a point hit onto it! the 110 makes a strafing run but fails to crit, putting only a point hit on it.
Both ships are heavily damaged and will be spending a lot of time in drydock following today's encounter!!
The remaining stukas bug out at the end of the turn.
T4
With another strafing pass inevitable from the damaged 110, the mosquitos pounce and splash it, saving the beleaguered crew!
The remaining 2 110's make their last pass with a strafe over the big ship, the flak gunners putting out an engine of one but missing the other.
We call it here.
End: Auxilliary lost both area points , 1 hull point remaining.
Battlecruiser lost two hull points, leaving two remaining.
We had a few head scratching moments due to vague and non-specific timing clauses of flak gunners and some bizarre mental images from laden single engine dive bombers outmanuevering unladen combat fighters.
Hopefully the full rules account for these oddities but the core of the new expansion is excellent and really changes up the feel of the game and gives it more impetus!
For those of you in the know, Air Strike! is an upcoming expansion for Blood Red Skies, focussing on ground attack.
Andy Chambers and Ken Natt on the Ready room have put out a chunk of the new stuff in beta form to whet a few whistles.
My local opponent John came over for a test-game and we rocked a brits vs germans early-ish war naval attack.
 |
| Brits deploy 18" away; mossies to left, hurris to centre and left |
The attacking force were the germans, rocking x6 Stuka divebombers (R3 pilots) and escorted by 3 durable 110c's with R3 and R4 pilots. They deployed 18" away from the targets, giving them a couple of turns before hitting the targets. I deployed 18" away from the enemy, giving me a couple of turns to mix it up and defend as best I could.
With low flak probability and x6 divebombers plus strafing-capable planes, the defenders got a x6 strong hurricane complement with an ace and a pair of mosquitos at R3.
Brits took radar support (large warship with radar equipped) but was countered by german radar jamming. Stukas deploy automatically in advantage and the rolls produced a decent spread of results with much of the hurricane complement advantaged or neutral.
 |
| Classed as a Battleship, this battlecruiser had 4 hull points and area points and 3 flak. Its auxilliary had two each and 1 flak |
T1
The advantaged stuka wave advance slowly in formation, maintaining their advantage. Their escorts keep pace and climb whilst my pincers of mossies and hurricanes close whilst climbing. The mosquitos are in range for a cheeky outmaneuver on my left-most stuka.
T2
Battle lines begin to close and the ace on my right flank leads off by engaging a 110 that blundered a bit too close with his snapshot, but its a deflection and is easily saved. He finishes his activation by outmaneuvering a stuka to neutral, setting it up for his allies. (as laden, it cannot climb for advantage)
As the stukas advance, they begin to outmaneuver attempt with pilot actions which seemed bizarre, but the general fudge of rule-spread meant we couldn't find anything to deny it so played it RAW. A couple of my hurricanes fail their saves and are knocked down a level.
T3
Things get interesting here as the 110's are positioned to take out my central hurricane vic; my ace pulls a burn to turn and tails a 110 and chits it's engine whilst taking a chit from the rear gunner. Another stuka makes a dive and gets another hit on the big girl. Shes's taken two hull points so far and smoke is pouring from the engine room!
 |
| Stuka finding it's mark! |
Left looking a bit safer now the lead 110 is nearly splashed, the central vic engage and take out one of the shot-up stukas and splash it, earning enough chits on the squadron to force it to bug out next turn.
Seeing the big ship smoking heavily and the stuka's getting shot up, a switch of targets is in order and the germans target the auxilliary with two remaining activations. The stuka lines up:
Both ships are heavily damaged and will be spending a lot of time in drydock following today's encounter!!
The remaining stukas bug out at the end of the turn.
T4
With another strafing pass inevitable from the damaged 110, the mosquitos pounce and splash it, saving the beleaguered crew!
The remaining 2 110's make their last pass with a strafe over the big ship, the flak gunners putting out an engine of one but missing the other.
We call it here.
End: Auxilliary lost both area points , 1 hull point remaining.
Battlecruiser lost two hull points, leaving two remaining.
We had a few head scratching moments due to vague and non-specific timing clauses of flak gunners and some bizarre mental images from laden single engine dive bombers outmanuevering unladen combat fighters.
Hopefully the full rules account for these oddities but the core of the new expansion is excellent and really changes up the feel of the game and gives it more impetus!
The last few days I've played a squadron of P51s against some Zeros escorting my new Kate bombers. These more complex scenarios are a lot of fun.
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