Warlord Games has now released the teaser trailer for their new aerial dogfighting game set during World War II, Blood Red Skies: Battle Of Britain.

Take a look at the teaser trailer above...

The Basics

After having a quick look into the game Blood Red Skies starts you off exploring the conflict between the British and the Germans during The Battle Of Britain in World War II. Inside the game box, you're going to be getting a set of Six Supermarine Spitfires and Six German Messerschmidts that will do battle in the skies over the Channel.

The basics of the game see you controlling the Advantage System in the game. Planes, thanks to their flying bases, can be in three different states including Advantage, Neutral and Disadvantage. When shooting, you must do so from a state of a higher advantage than the enemy representing you zeroing in on them for the kill.

Of course, this is where the real skill of the game comes in as you try and outmanoeuvre and dodge your enemies, looking for the right time to strike. Combat seems incredibly deadly as combined strikes and working together as a squadron can end up downing planes if the enemy isn't careful.

In true Warlord Games style, the mechanics feel easy to learn and hard to master. You'll have a grip on the game in no time but the key positioning of your planes and choosing your targets is going to be where the growth of the game comes from.

Squadron Building

As with all good dogfighting games, there's plenty of room to customise your force and you have that in Blood Red Skies too with different pilot cards, skill ratings, aircraft and more. Each comes with different tactical options for you to bring into play and we really like the idea of getting some fighter aces into the mix.

Within the basics of the game, combining a pilot's skill with the proficiency of the aircraft leads to your ability to do damage and indeed avoid it. Right now, from a quick look at the game, it seems like learning about these combinations and using them to your advantage seems to be a key feature of the game.

As well as that we've also had a peek ahead and while the main box for the game features a clash between the British and the Germans you should be looking out for planes from the Soviets in Russia, Americans and of course the Japanese looking ahead to conflicts in the Pacific.

Q&A With Warlord Games

We got to ask the guys at Warlord Games some more questions about the game...

Q: What can gamers expect when they pick up Blood Red Skies?

Warlord Games: Blood Red Skies is a fast moving game of mass aerial contact, games last around 45 minutes playing with the contents of the main game. Gaming is simple to pick up, fast paced and uses a core mechanic based around the unique Blood Red Skies Advantage base.

What do you get inside the base set?

Inside the core box for Blood Red Skies you get...

• 12x plastic fighter coloured aircraft,
• 12x clear plastic advantage flying bases,
• 10x combat dice,
• 12x Pilot Skill level discs,
• 3x Gaming booklets: Rules, Expanded rules, Scenarios.
• 45x cards to use in game,
• 38x markers to use in game,
• 2x Quick Reference Sheets
• A set of tools: a movement template, range finder and navigation caliper

Each Expansion set contains six more planes and cards that allow you to use these planes in your games. Ace expansion sets come with one plane and the unique stats for the Ace

What made Warlord Games want to go into the arena of aerial dog fighting on the tabletop?

Blood Red Skies appealed to Warlord Games because it is set in the World War II, a period we know and love. The game by Andy brings a very different aspect to gaming these dramatic aerial combats and fits well with our desire to bring fast-paced, fun games to the wargames table.

We have worked closely with Andy Chambers before and we admired his passion for this game and his plans for its future development. We believe it's always a good thing to follow the passion in our hobby as it brings a genuine and better quality product to our gaming community.

What can you tell us about the miniatures of Blood Red Skies?

The plastic planes are in the popular 1/200th scale. We chose 1/200th as our scale as it gave us great looking models that could create an evocative game on a 4ft square gaming

The initial release contains iconic fighter planes from World War II that provide a good basis from which we can develop a more comprehensive range. Over the next few months, during the launch campaign, we will be working with our community to decide on subsequent planes we will release.

Can I use other manufacturers planes?

Blood Red Skies is compatible with any aircraft models available in 1/200th scale although only Blood Red Skies planes are supplied with the unique Blood Red Skies Advantage base.

The focus, to begin with, seems to be on the Battle Of Britain, but do you see yourselves looking to other theatres and countries too like the Pacific for example?

The core Blood Red Skies game is based around the iconic Battle of Britain, other sets in the range introduce new theatres of combat yes.

When does Blood Red Skies go on general release for sale?

The general release date for Blood Red Skies is February 2018; before this Blood Red Skies will only be available to pre-order from Warlord Games or from our Retail store partners.

Hopefully, that gives you a better idea of what's included within the game!

Pre-Order Bundles

Warlord Games has now included a selection of new Pre-Order Bundles on their website allowing you to get a head start on your Blood Red Skies collection. First up we have the Allies & Axis Bundles which collect together all of the models for each faction.

These then break down into more specific country bundles which will focus your attention towards one of the different forces in the game.

British Spitfire Bundle

US P51 Bundle

Japanese Zero Bundle

Soviet Yak 1 Bundle

German Messerschmitt Bundle

So as you can see they've got quite a lot of different planes for you to snap up. Thanks to the Land Lease rules as well many planes would have fought for different countries during this period of World War II!

Any question? Drop them in the comments below and we'll see what we can do!