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So it turns out that I just really like airfighting games. I loved X-Wing, I really loved Aeronautica Imperialis, and now I have found more love for Blood Red Skies. Blood Red Skies, the dogfighting World War Two game from Warlord Games, was released about four years ago covering the Battle of Britain. A natural place to start, to be sure, as Warlord Games is in Britain and the Battle of Britain was an incredibly consequential and formative aircraft war. 

But the game that I have picked up is Blood Red Skies: The Battle of Midway. So, instead of Spitfires and Messerschmitts, this is Wildcats and Zeros. In this starter set of the game, there are tokens representing naval ships, like Japanese aircraft carriers, the USS Yorktown–it’s the Japanese Fleet against the American Pacific Fleet.

Still, this is a dogfighting miniatures game, and the goal of the game is not to target aircraft carriers or the Island of Midway. This is a game in which five or six fighters on each side go up against each other in the clouds.

(There are some expansions where they introduce dive bombers, torpedo bombers and regular bombers, but not in this starter so I can’t speak to that. I’ll talk more about the expansions below.)

As with all of these reviews, I always talk about the gameplay, hobby, and lore. And I’m going to go in a different order this time because we really ought to get the elephant in the room out of the way first.

Blood Red Skies Review: Lore

It seems weird to even refer to this as lore. If you recall, I had the same problem when I talked about Bolt Action lore and Victory at Sea lore. The lore is simply history and, say what you will about the 600-some novels in the Black Library, there is nothing like the number of books, documentaries, podcasts and movies about World War Two. 

There are even two major movies about The Battle of Midway: Midway (2019) and Midway (1976). As much as I tend to dislike most modern World War Two movies, especially ones made by the likes of Roland Emmerich, the former is pretty good, and the latter is a classic. 

So if you want to know more about the United States and Japan’s war in the Pacific, you don’t have to look very hard. 

Speaking of expansions, one of the expansions for this game is lore based: you can actually pick up planes and cards that represent specific flying aces, such as American George Preddy and Japanese Saburo Sakai (who is said to have had 69 kills!)

But really, other than the personalities of the specific aces in the game is all the lore you really need to know to play this tabletop wargame. The point is getting the advantage in a dogfight, and all the rest of the war tends to fade away when you’re dodging in and out of the clouds. 

Blood Red Skies Review: Gameplay

There is a lot to love about the gameplay of Blood Red Skies, but first let’s talk about what it isn’t. When you think about X-Wing and Aeronautica Imperialis, you make your moves secretly and then execute them when it’s your turn to move. That’s not the case with Blood Red Skies. In this game, you move according to two things: Advantage and Pilot Status. 

There are four basic Pilot Statuses in the game, which range from 2 (Rookie) to 5 (Ace). The higher number you have, the sooner you will make your move. But there’s also advantage.

Advantage is the game’s abstract way of explaining how well you’re maneuvering behind your opponent. As you can see in the picture of Zeros below, these are the three ways to illustrate advantage: If you are pointed down, you are disadvantaged. If you’re level you’re neutral. And if you’re pointed up you’re advantaged. 

So, the turn order goes with all the advantaged planes going first, in order of their pilot status. The best that can happen is an Ace (5) who is advantaged, who will always go first, and the worst that can happen is a Rookie (2) who is disadvantaged, who will always go last. 

The gameplay is straightforward. On a turn you start with shooting, to reflect the fact that you have just maneuvered into the right place on your last turn. 

But note: you cannot shoot at anyone you don’t have advantage over. A neutral can’t shoot a neutral, but can shoot a disadvantaged. An advantaged can’t shoot an advantaged, but can shoot a neutral or a disadvantaged. And a disadvantaged can’t shoot at anyone. 

The next step is called “Burning Advantage” which is where you can lose one advantage to perform a remarkable maneuver. This includes making a 180 degree turn (essentially going in a loop) or diving to add 6 inches to your movement. 

Then comes normal movement where you can move your full speed (you always have to move at least 50% of your speed) and can turn 45 degrees.

Then you end by taking a Pilot Action, which includes shooting again, outmaneuvering (you can change an opponent’s advantage), or you can climb, raising your advantage. 

And honestly? That’s the game. It’s incredibly simple, but that simplicity is what makes it so much fun. It’s one of those games that is easy to learn–you hardly ever need the rulebook and can mostly just use the quick reference card to get you through every game–but takes skill to master. 

For a miniatures game, you can’t really ask for much more than being able to pick up the rules in ten minutes and get through a game in 45. It plays fast, it is exciting, and because of the fact that advantage is changing all the time, the turn order is not even set: a different player may move first each turn–maybe three of their planes move before four of yours, or maybe their one ace moves first and you follow up with three Advantaged 4s. 

Blood Red Skies Review: Hobby

I’ll be honest: I don’t love when a game’s miniatures aren’t really a challenge to paint. Don’t get me wrong–these are good miniatures, made from good plastic and well detailed. But they can be painted up to table-ready standard in about twenty minutes. 

As if acknowledging this, Warlord Games actually supplies you with stickers for their markers as well as decals, so you can either go with the more tricky and authentic method or you can just slap on a sticker. (I did a little of both.)

Still, painting the planes is fun, and they look good on the battlefield. 

Speaking of the battlefield, there isn’t one. In the pictures here, I’m using the water mat from Victory at Sea. All that this game comes with in terms of terrain is four clouds. And that’s a shame, because the simple addition of a water mat on the table instead of just your dining room tabletop, is significant. 

I mean, you don’t NEED a lot of terrain, but would it kill Warlord Games to include a battlemat?

But as far as the rest of the hobby goes, there are a lot of expansions for this game. You can really go wild with the battles you can fight and the planes you can use. Some of the notable ones are the DeHavilland Mosquito Squadron, the Hawker Hurricane Squadron and the P-51 D Mustang Squadron. Some of the interesting Aces are German “Pips” Priller, who had 101 victories, British Douglas Bader, who survived a crash and had both legs amputated but was flying again in six months, and Russian pilot Lydia Litvyak, who shot down a German flying ace.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this game and I look forward to playing it for a long time. And I look forward to what the expansions can offer, with different kinds of missions. I love that I could play this game with my 13 year old son and he could grasp it easily, but I could also play it with my seasoned wargaming buddies and they really get into it as well. 

My ratings:

• Lore: 9/10
• Gameplay: 9/10
• Hobby: 6/10