"Crimson Skies" Topic

hey

I recently was re-introduced )by "Virtualscratchbuilders" garage sale) into the cool game of Crimson Skies from FASA ( not the clicky game…), and it got me wondering…

1) what scale is the planes?

2) and where can I still buy the figs for it?

I was really enjoying this game, so I am hoping that some of you can help out!

Thanks

Check Iron Wind Metals to see if they still produce the metal miniatures.

The clicky game is pretty good too

Ral Partha Eurpoe sell all of the models

ralparthaeurope.co.uk

The scale is about 1/200th but I don't think that there was a definite scale

MH
:-)

I've played both. The original was better in my opinion, but the clicky version is easy to play. You can still find the metal planes on discount closings at many stores (a lot of the clicky ones as well).

But check with Iron Wind Metals.

I've played both also. I much prefer the original game system. However I sort of liked the movement tiles of the Wizkids version, just totally hated the damage system.

I believe IWM still makes the models.

You can still find the pewter models and the Wizkids vinyl ones on eBay pretty cheap. The vinyl ones are the same models as the pewter ones, you just don't have as many choices.

Overall the models vary in scale, I'd estimate between 1/144 – 1/200 th scale.

I've got both. You can use the clicky planes to play the regular version, no sweat.

You can find the clix minis for next to nothing (all but the last couple of releases, which noone ordered, so are hard to find), many gaming stores in my region have them for less than $5 USD a pack. And unlike many Wizkids offerings, you can't complain the paint apps are crummy! After all, not being blindpacked, WYSIWYG. A good reason they should have blisterpacked their stuff sooner.

Yes, IWM does still sell the Crimson Skies aircraft.
link
Not only has IWM continued to produce the 38 aircraft that Ral Partha did before the FASA shutdown, they have added two more aircraft just in the last two years.
I am sure, if the Crimson Skies aircraft start selling better, IWM will continue to add more aircraft to the line from the FASA-era Crimson Skies Aircraft Manual and maybe even from the Crimson Skies Airman's Gazetteer.

Yes, the original FASA-made game is better IMHO, but this is only really for those who like all of the detail involved.
It can get to be quite an involved game; plus, all of the work starts way before any actual deployment of aircraft.

Copies of this FASA-version game can be found on eBay and at many second-hand games stores, both physical and on-line, like Noble Knight Games and Sentry Box.
The game retailed for $35 USD but the nicer condition or sealed copies of the game are reselling for as much as x3 that amount.

For those who just want to have a quick fun game without all of the paper-work and template hassles, WizKids' version is the one to go with.
All you need beyond the aircraft and game tokens is the special ability index card after you have learned the rules.
This game was designed to be easily played without all of the paper-work problems.

Last I heard, WizKids still had the CS license, but Topps, their parent company, was not allowing them to continue development.
What I would love is for MS, who owns the IP, to license out the CS Universe to a company that will do a FASA-like development of it; their was so much left to do when FASA closed their doors.
It would be cool if that same company could pursue both the metal and plastic games.
Both games have their places in the continuum of the Crimson Skies Universe.
On top of those, it would be great if that same company would convert BattleTroops/DMZ/Vor into the CS Universe so that we could have a 25mm scale game as well.
Having the CS aircraft in kits for this scale would be most excellent!
Those kits would be popular with far more than just CS enthusiasts; all of the aircraft buffs out there would like them as well.

Sorry for the mis-spelled "there" in last paragraph, line five.
Instead of "their", it should have been "there".

Is there any discount stores carry them? I really like the old metal figs, but really dont like the $9 USD price tag each. And the metal and the Clicky ones are the same scale? that will be helpful!

I liked the damage templates. it reminded me of the old Iron Legion/Interceptor game. really cool stuff there.

And the metal and the Clicky ones are the same scale?

No. The metal ones are smaller.

If you like the movement system in Clicky CS, check out Top Gun by FASA. *BEST GAME EVER*

Operator, the plastic planes I have are almost an exact match to the metal planes. The only difference I can see is the cockpit on the Firebrand is different, and the transparent prop discs are smaller on the plastic planes.

As for scale, the miniatures don't even have their proportions correct, never mind a consistent scale!

I concur the plastics are about the same size as the metals. I'm pretty sure Wizkids made the tooling for the vinyl dies based on the original metal models, with some minor modifications.

I tried CS for a while. It was "OK" as flying games go. However, I didn't particularly like the tile movement. It simply relpaces the a hex mat with the tiles (Hostile Aircraft, the WWI minis game did the same sort of this by using hex shaped bases). SInce I've played FFG's Wings of War, I've really fallen in love with the movement system. Rather than trying to explain it, I'll refer you to their website on which they publish the rules for the WWI and WWII versions of their game. It would be simple to take Crimson Skies aircraft and use them in the WWI verion, Wings or War: Dawn of War.

Fantasy Flight Games Wings of War rules: link

The big deal about Crimson Skies RayRangel is not the movement rules; it is the background and the aircraft designs.
I am positive there are at least three other flight games out there that have better and/or easier rules systems, but there are no other games with the ambience.

As I was told by one German CS enthusiast why he liked CS, "It is about time America was chopped down to size."
The balkanization of both the Dominion of Canada and the United States of America is the selling point of the Crimson Skies Universe for many, many folks out there.

This game universe simply plays out on the severe regionalism that both countries have internally culturally and linguistically that, so far, have not caused the fracturing of these nations into a European model.
It allows some folks wu=ithin those two countries to simply enjoy, safely, the regional pride that they may have in spades in reality.

I like the FASA game (it's in my collection) and the metal planes. I also like the alternate history. Not because of any ideologial or polictical reasons. I like it because for the great "pulp" feel (I'm a huge Bill Barnes fan) and the limitless opportunity for variation and expansion.

I didn't care much for the clix game. I don't think it did the CS family of games any favors.

Actually RayRangle, the Clix game opened up the Crimson Skies Universe to a whole new group of folks which was a very good thing.
Those that did not go for the great detail level of the FASA game, those that did not get into the dedicated game machine thing (you know – video games) and those who are not fans of the computer or computer games were now introduced to the wonderful Crimson Skies Universe.

What WK really did wrong with the clix game was to do too limited of a release as to militias.
Those very regional loyalties that make the game possible are the real money making factor in selling the game and WizKids and then Topps did not address that core issue.
What kid in Georgia really wants to fly Hollywood aircraft instead of Confederation ones?
Only the strange ones.

Plus, the sweet buyout deal of WK from Topps also killed CS Clix because of the real stinker game, Creepy Freaks.
We have all seen how that whole deal was a real SNAFU and flopped because of the rather myopic marketing of SportsClix.
Whole buyout was so Topps could control the clix technology for their SportsClix idea, and all it has gotten them is heartache!
Such is life at times.

Played a game of the FASA version last night. I still love this game. yea yea yea… there is room fer improvement, thats fer sure, but i love the damage system, and plotting of movement.

I need to get more of the metals, and in a hurry!

I'd like to see a Zeppelin done in scale with the CS planes, with gun positions, retreival crane, drop hatch out of a launch bay, and as big as my couch.

Here, here for the zeppelin kit Matsuru Sami Kaze.
Closest thing I found to do in plastic or metal was to buy the Yu-Gi-Oh zep at Toys 'r' Us and use it.

Dowloaded a paper zeppelin project from Rattrap.
I will build their zep first.
Next, I will find the schematics from the U.S.S. Macon/Akron and build that using these pieces.
Finally, I will then use these pieces to try to build a zep like the Pandora.
Wonder if that is at all possible.

RabidFox: Finally, I will then use these pieces to try to build a zep like the Pandora.
Wonder if that is at all possible.

I think you'll need to build a hangar to house your completed zeps. And rent a U-Haul to take them to cons for games.

I have a lovely 15mm paper model kit of the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine. I haven't built it because I have NO ROOM TO KEEP IT!

Time to move out to God's country, buy some property with a barn. And a bunker.

The space problem is just a bit more managable than all that.
I will have to post pics after things get built.

Time to move out to God's country, buy some property with a barn. And a bunker.

Now, where exactly is that?
In the Crimson Skies Universe I would, of course, say that is Hollywood.

It's Utah, of course!

Confederation of Dixie ground forces,as well as Louisiana troops attack German backed Texas troops beginning World War Two in North America.

I thought it was going the other way around, with Texas and the ISA invading Louisiana and Dixie…

Where is this stuff coming from?
Canon is not past first half 1938.

Remember, Luftwaffe representative & WWI ace Flugmeister Ernst Udet courted Redmann and that sort while in Texas, not folks in the main flow.
German influence is on the outs in Texas since Redmann is also on the out.
Meanwhile, you would be quite correct about German influence in the ISA.

On the other hand, joint operations between Texas and the ISA just do not fly well either.
Texans are heavily against European meddling in the Americas meanwhile the ISA welcomes German assistance.

On top of that, I cannot see joint operations between Confederation troops and French Louisiana forces either.
Way TOO much bad blood there!!
Just ask the Alabamans!
Remember, not too many years back Louisiana seceeded from the Confederation.
Atlanta is still not happy about that even though folks, President Turner used that situation to grab just a little more power for the Confederation Presidency.

Anyway, did I miss a canonical reference to all this somewhere?

zippyfusenet said:

Time to move out to God's country, buy some property with a barn. And a bunker.

RabidFox said:

Now, where exactly is that?
In the Crimson Skies Universe I would, of course, say that is Hollywood.

Jakar Nilson said:

It's Utah, of course!

But Jakar, you are from Québéc.
Are you not Québécois?
Is not Québéc heaven and such?
Why in the world would you say Utah?

Why in the world is that nation named Utah anyway?
If you look at American history, that nation would be called "Deseret" if it split off.
Makes one wonder how much research the original background writers put into their research.
Makes one wonder if any of the other countries in North America are mis-named as well.

I was born in Alberta, I'm just in exile here.

We were refering to our tentative ~WWII additions to the CS timeline. I guess I really need to hunt down "Pride of The Republic" now.

As for FASA's naming of countries, and choosing of flags, they've either got a good reason, or they were just lazy, or loco.

Well we figure Lousiana is not going to stand on it's own,so they would have to turn to Dixie for help.

Louisiana does not stand on its own just like Republic of Quebec does not; they both have help from France.
If you own the Gazetteer, you also know that France is just a bit better off in that 1938 than in actual history.

Plus, underlying long-standing grudges and tensions along with just plain prejudices is not going to allow for an alliance between the Confederation and Louisiana guys.
Even today guys, Louisiana mostly stands alone on many of its causes with only the briefest of alliances with other states.

As to the Utah issue, the most likely and statistically significant possibility of your choices is "lazy".
In actuality, it is probably just plain poor research, if any at all.

But i don't think if France is involved with a war with Germny,ain't gonna be helping Louisiana too much so they gotta turn to somebody.Dixie is the biggest nation in North America and they are allied with the UK so that is while they will turn to them unless they want to get wiped out early.But of course France got wiped out early so i guess Lousiana takes France's place in North America and Dixie comes in tells them if they want help to come back into the Confederation,Louisiana agrees since theu don't have a standing army Dixie gets what it wants and Louisiana gets the help.The End.

Copllestone releases A.E.F. 1920's American's,perfect for Alaskan ground forces in CS WW2

Just not canon there at all FalloutLeader.
Remember France and Britain are better prepared this time around according to the Gazetteer.

Do not get too hip on your own kinks; it might lead you to major disappointment FalloutLeader.
Do not want you to leave the game because your own developments, which became near and dear, were rejected as canon by the powers that be once they start CS rolling again.
Seen too many gamers take the "insult" to heart and leave a game as a result.

As to Dixie and Louisiana FalloutLeader, bad blood is bad blood and that's about that.
Anyway, Lousiana would turn to Quebec, not Dixie; common ethnical heritage and all that.

I think i'm a better adult than most people to take anything like that.The only game i left was 40k,thank goodness,and when did you hear they we're starting it back up and what year is it going to be in anyway.And who is Quebec gonna turn too,HA

FalloutLeader, do you OWN a copy of "The Airman's Gazetteer"?
Your personal storyline just does not jibe with that piece of canon.

Do not know you from any other "adult" out there and believe me there have been some "adults" out there that I have been amazed with their behavior when confronted with circumstances.

I have heard of some rippling or rustling at MS, the folks who own the IP, for a little while now.
This has been especially so since WK sold off the BattleTech and Shadowrun IPs to the folks that run BattleCorps.
How much longer WK is a viable part of Topps really seems to be determined by how successful HaloActionCLix end up being.
I think MS is a bit concerned about the CS option.

France has built aircraft factories in Quebec.
That is some leverage there.
Quebec's very active alliance with the Atlantic Coalition with one Gen. C. Lindbergh commanding their air forces is also a contributing factor to standing up on their own.
In history, Lindbergh, while on a Pacific training/demonstration mission, racked himself up a kill of a Zero from a P-38 (gotta love the Lightning!) in just a few minutes combat time.
Plus, in history, France did not call all units home when invaded in 1940.
As a result, the FFL unit present in Louisiana, the Dervish Air Wing, along with any other French national units present will not be sent home most likely.

I know you just want Lousiana to be the poor little sitting duck for your own house story, but it just ain't there guy.

Having just looked up the ISA's allies in the Gazetteer, why do you have the ISA attacking an ally?
Dixie is an ISA ally.
I know there is German influence in the ISA and some British influence in Dixie, but with all of the falling apart that went on in 1930-1933, do you not think the isolationist movement would be even stronger now than in history?
Many would be saying, "Let the Europeans fight their own war. Look what happened when we got dragged in last time."
You know, the Spanish Flu among other factors.

Well iguess since WK won't be producing a WW2 ground force skirmish game any time soon and probably never will it gives us more leverage in our timeline.And as far as the isolationist movement,granted we stayed out as long as we could until the bombing,but honestly ask yourself if we could have kept out of it for much longer.Because if Hitler would have won and if YOU know anything about history he had plans for the US.

FalloutLeader, you want your idea to work really bad, yes?
That's fine then; play it that way if you like with you and your friends.
As for me, I am done here on this thread with this post unless someone else has questions or brings up a relevant issue.
I have tried to be nice in explaining your problem within the canon of the game, but you bull on ahead despite good sense.

FalloutLeader, do you or do you NOT own "The Airman's Gazetteer"?
It is FASA8008.
That other than MS's WEB page "Crimson Skies Universe" is the limit to canon other than a few minor changes WK did like change Khan's personal aircraft and pick up a younger looking Blake.
Where you want to stretch canon is not where the game was setting things up with the way background was being written.

Do I know anything about history FalloutLeader?
I have two degrees in history, with the last one specializing in military history, along with two degrees in psychology with a specialization in clinical neuropsychology.
So yes FalloutLeader, I know "just a bit" about history and people which is what history is all about.

I wonder how much YOU know about history with your discounting of the American isolationist movement.
Change three factors concerning what happened with the American isolationists & German behavior in 1940-41 and the U.S.A. would have been a conquered German territory by the end of 1943 at latest.
Hitler and his stooges would not have had to worry about lebensraum that way, yes?
Granted, the resistance movement here would have been more unruly than France's, but the Germans would have control.
Probably even greater control than they had had in Continental Europe since there were so many folks here in North America that agreed with his Nazi philosophies in the early '40s.

Yes i know quite a great deal about history so your degrees does not impress,and as far as being nice no you haven't been you are one of the types who have to go strictly by the rules.Everytime i would bring something up about what me and a few others we're doing you would be like "Do you own a copy of Airmans Gazeteer,no i don't so what.You are the type who takes the insult to heart by anyone just doing there own thing,oh you can't do it that way thats not what it says,oh you can't use those minis there not for this game.It's called ALTERNATE HISTORY deal with it man.and i'm glad your done with this post maybe we can talk without you butting saying DO YOU OWN A COPY OF THIS AND THIS.There not producing a WW2 supplement they probably won't,and if they do we can still use there rules and tweak it the way we want too.Go back and read your psychology books and dig into your own mind and see how your acting,my job deals with people like you all day and i work for the Government.

uuummmm… guys…. I was looking for a place fer cheap metal figures fer Crimson Skies… not to start a history battle….

oh, and to state how much I love this game, and am looking for any fan-sites for plane data sheets…

Well richarDMB, some folks just cannot let facts of a game stand.
Some folks just feel the company(ies) that make the game just are not as creative as them.
What is really interesting about these sort of folks richarDMB is these folks also never bother to buy what is available for the game and then complain about how the company(ies) never really supported the game anyway.
How do I know?
I know because I was crazy enough to work in the gaming industry for a good while.
I must admit there are super great fans/gamers out there that really help games along, but then there are others, who, just because you do not develop the game in the direction they wanted, become the great anti-whatever-the-game slayer.
That gentleman here feels exactly like that sort of slayer.

Anyway richarDMB, I have noticed just in the last week, unless you can find a retailer that has been sitting on the aircraft you want for a while, that ordering direct from IWM is actually cheaper than many retailers out there.
One retailer I have been buying his old selection from told me IWM raised their prices and that is why his prices climbed dramatically.
When I went to IWM's on-line store though, some of the prices were less than the last printed IWM price list I received.
So other than eBay or some retailer that someone who knows someone knows, IWM may be your cheapest and most reliable source for CS aircraft minis.

richarDMB, I would be more than happy to post links for a list of the CS fan sites I know of on one condition.
No one figuratively jumps up and down on my neck about sites that have not been updated in the last year or two let alone seven years.
If you and others are just looking for straight information, I would be willing to put up a list for all to use.
I did post the list on one CS WEB page and got jumped all over on by two posters how I had not editted out the actively maintained sites from the one that just happen to still be out there.
It was not worth the grief there.

You just cannot let stuff go,i never once bashed the game i loved the game and just wanting to expand in a way to make the game more interesting,you need to grow up and get a life.I don't like to get into childish arguments but it's people like you who turn games off because you can't do it this way because it didn't say it this way,i just wanted to post to have something fun.Become an adult.

Two sites that I have bookmarked with CS airplane designs are:

link

link

Aw shucks Jakar, I was hoping your two links were ones I did not have already.
Unfortunately they were not.
The number of sites on the Crimson Skies WEB Ring are diminishing as well.

BTW FalloutLeader, you can still get all of the FASA Crimson Skies reference material on eBay, at very least if not elsewhere on the WEB.
It will give you a better handle on what is going on and be a good bit less embarrassing for you unless you want to continue to read like you do.

Oh yeah, an English writing course may be handy too FL.
e.e.cummings you are not.
Have some respect for your readers that way, okay?

Thanks little fella

Thanks Jakar…. cool links. those I didn't have. I also found a ton of figs in a somewhat 'local' game store in their bargin-bin.

They also had a soundtrack for the computer game, which is really good. I found that on amazon.

The soundtrack is interesting.
I never dreamed there was that much different music within that game.

FYI, rumor has it that IWM is raising prices soon.
The increase on the Crimson Skies aircraft will be significant, anywhere from $1 USD to $1.50 USD depending on the aircraft.

Here are some more links richarDMB:
Arixo Air Defense Force
link
Crimson Bricks
link
Dead Parrot's
link
Firedrake's
link
Fox Force Five
foxforcefive.nutz.de/cs
WDOC
link
The Black Zeros
link
Moffet Airdrome
link
Southwest Defense Company
dana.ucc.nau.edu/~dld44
Chesterton Aviation Co.
link
Crimson Skies Plane Exchange
geocities.com/joecool1234
Salvation Air Force
springbrooke.tripod.com/saf
Crimson Skies Universe
crimsonskiesuniverse.com
WizKids Crimson Skies Section
link
Crimson Skies artwork for download by John Hudgens
link

If you want any links to the Crimson Skies computer, arcade or X-Box games, just ask and I will post them here as well.
Hope that these links will be helpful to y'all.

HOLLY SMOKE! I didn't have ANY of these sites on my favs list!

Nope. I really dont play the puter version. and I am a ps3 guy, so x-box fer me. but thanks anyways!

THANKS RabidFox!!!!