Tag Archives: Blood Red Skies

Warlord Games Releases Combined Arms

Combined arms is Warlord Games’ first board game but more importantly for the Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies and Cruel Seas players amongst you, it’s their first campaign supplement as well.

What does that mean? Well you’re able to play Combined Arms as a stand alone game using the pieces in the box to conquer Europe etc. Or you can link games of Blood Red Skies, Bolt action or Cruel Seas together for one large campaign.

Credit Warlord Games

The boxed set is priced at a very reasonable £50 and includes maps, cards and all the tokens you need to wage a complete campaign.

Bolt Action – Combined Arms is a strategic board game that commands the players to face off, seize the initiative and outwit their foe amidst the fog of war. Each game will see you fighting for control of air, land, and sea in order to claim objectives and hold them against the enemy.

Choose your theatre of war, from the western and eastern fronts to North Africa and the Pacific. Each theatre has its own challenges and opportunities, some rewarding control over the sea, some rewarding control over the skies. How many of your precious resources will you sink into each, and how much will be left to control the land? Will you rely on stealth as you move units secretly, springing up where you are least suspected, or will you attempt to overwhelm your enemy with brutal overkill?

Combined Arms can be played as a stand-alone game or players can incorporate Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies, Cruel Seas, or Victory at Sea for an epic continent-spanning campaign. Unique cards link your campaign with your chosen wargames, meaning your choices in the campaign could mean victory or defeat on the tabletop.

Combined Arms is available for Pre-order and will be shipped to customers in May.

What is Blood Red Skies?

BOARD GAME GEEK SUMMARY

Blood Red Skies is the new World War II mass air combat game from Warlord Games, written by renowned game developer Andy Chambers.

Packed with everything you need to play this fast paced air combat game, the Blood Red Skies starter set does what it says on the tin. Plus once started you’ll have the extra rules to introduce the play cards that really bring your fighter aircraft to life, allowing you to fly them just as they would have been by the Aces of WW2!

It has been given a rating of 7.4 on BoardGameGeek from 150+ ratings.

Simple but effective gameplay

Tabletop Anarchy has produced a series of videos explaining how to play Blood Red Skies.

1. Core Mechanics

2. Activation

3. Movement

4. Pilot Action

5. Shooting

6. Wingman

7. Clouds

8. Cards

9. Build A Squadron

10. Gameplay

Tabletop Anarchy also have a number of videos on painting the planes.

If you’re interested in getting into Blood Red Skies I can’t suggest you start anywhere else but these excellent collection of videos.

— Peter

Woehammer Facebook Group

Did you know that Woehammer have a Facebook group? Why not head over there and post some pictures of your miniatures, we’ll include them in monthly hobby summary alongside our own.

The Woehammer Painting Competition

This is just a reminder that we have a painting competition taking place where the winner gets their choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box. We wouldn’t be able to give away this fantastic prize without the support of our good friends at SCN Hobby World. Why not join their emailing list and receive 25% off Games Workshop products whenever you place an order with them?

To enter you’ll need to paint a miniature with a base size no larger than 50mm and send it’s picture to thewoehammer@gmail.com. you’ll also need to send a small fee of £1 to the same address via PayPal. Your miniature doesn’t even have to be a Games Workshop model, it can be from any range you like.

One of your pictures must include a picture of your email address on a handwritten note. This should prevent people using internet photos for their submissions.

The closing date of the competition is 30th November where submissions will be placed into groupings of four and placed on the Woehammer Twitter account for a poll. The winner of these polls continue into the next round and so on until only one submission remains.

There you have it, get painting! If you want to find out more then either please leave a comment below, on my twitter profile or as an email to thewoehammer@gmail.com.

Solo Wargaming for your Favourite Games

I’m in the process of creating a series of Wargaming Aids which allow players to play their favourite games in a single player format against an AI controlled enemy army. To find out more on this click here.

For as little as £1 a month (the price of a chocolate bar) you can help support me in this endeavour and receive cool perks as a thank you, such as access to our Discord Server as well as downloadable copies of the gaming aids which you can print out and use at home.

Why not pop over to Patreon and sign up and help me in this project? Money raised will go towards making these as physical products.

This Weekends Releases 16th October 2021

This weekend Games Workshop releases their latest Warhammer Underworlds boxed set Harrow Deep.

Warlord are releasing a massive amount of kits for Blood Red Skies, Hail Caesar and Black Powder.

Mordiphius have a number of new releases for their fall out miniatures game.

Reaper Miniatures have a massive amount of sets being released this month.

Solo Wargaming for your Favourite Games

I’m in the process of creating a series of Wargaming Aids which allow players to play their favourite games in a single player format against an AI controlled enemy army. To find out more on this click here.

For as little as £1 a month (the price of a chocolate bar) you can help support me in this endeavour and receive cool perks as a thank you, such as access to our Discord Server as well as downloadable copies of the gaming aids which you can print out and use at home.

Why not pop over to Patreon and sign up and help me in this project? Money raised will go towards making these as physical products.

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!

LINK

Game Review – Blood Red Skies

Type:World War 2/Aviation
Scale:1/200th
Players:2+
Age:12+
Game Length:30-60 Minutes
Starter Box Cost:£45
Designer(s):Andy Chambers
Publisher:Warlord Games
Complexity:2.6/5.0
Board Game Geek Rating:7.4 (166 Ratings)

Blood Red Skies is the new World War II mass air combat game from Warlord Games, written by renowned game developer Andy Chambers.

Packed with everything you need to play this fast paced air combat game, the Blood Red Skies starter set does what it says on the tin. Plus once started you’ll have the extra rules to introduce the play cards that really bring your fighter aircraft to life, allowing you to fly them just as they would have been by the Aces of WW2!

Description from Warlord Games

First of all, right off the bat, this isn’t a simulation game. If simulation of World War 2 dogfights is what you’re looking for then this isn’t the game for you.

Blood Red Skies: Battle of Britain

However that being said, there has been a lot of work that has gone into the rules to give them an authentic ‘feel’ of the period.

The Blood Red Skies: Battle of Britain starter set contains everything you will need to carry out air battles over the British Isles in World War 2. With six Spitfires, six Messerschmitt BF-109s and a number of scenarios through which the players can jump straight in.

The minis unpainted

The games core mechanic revolves around aircraft being Advantaged, Neutral and Disadvantaged. Disadvantaged aircraft cannot shoot aircraft that are Advantaged or Neutral and Neutral aircraft cannot shoot Advantaged aircraft. However, you can choose to make your aircraft disadvantaged to gain manoeuvrability and enabling you to try and get on the tale of enemy aircraft.

Scoring is done by using boom chits, where any shots that hit the enemy cause a chit regardless of whether it causes damage. Once a player has more chits against them than they have aircraft then their squadron are forced to break contact with the enemy and head for home. This can mean that games are over without a single aircraft being shot down, which is true to the real life dogfights that would be carried our in the skies during World War 2.

Painted Luftwaffe Aircraft

Gameplay is quick with a loop of Shoot-Move-Action that is enhanced by the use of the action deck, with extra abilities and events. These cards can be selected based on the planes in use and the period of the war the combat is taking place.

Downsides of the game are that the pilot discs are easy to damage when inserting or removing them from the plane bases. Measuring can also be tricky with arcs being difficult to set on the circular bases.

That said, this game is fantastic and is ideal for a quick pick up and play game during a lunch break or a spare 30 minutes with friends in between other games.