Crimson Skies is one of the coolest nerd properties not to survive past the 00’s. Set in a pulp universe where America relies on air transport instead of roads, and pirates haunt the skyways, the Crimson Skies franchise was perhaps best known for dogfighting videogame that became a multiplayer hit on the original Xbox. When New York state resident Steffan Martin discovered a range of toy planes that reminded him of the game, he was inspired to create a truly audacious convention wargame powered by the rules for Gaslands.
“I was introduced to Crimson Skies as a game for the original Xbox back in 2003”, Martin says. “I was hooked with the story and multi-player aspect of it”. He’s also a big fan of creating convention wargames for large groups of players to participate in: “I enjoy the energy at the table, the cheering, the laughing, the whole table erupting when something amazing happens”.
Crimson Skies actually had its own licensed wargame in the early 2000s, based on Wizkids’ Clix system, but Martin thought that Gaslands had the best miniature wargame rules for what he wanted to do. “Gaslands has such a solid system for vehicle combat it seemed like the natural fit”, he says, and “it’s an easy system to learn and teach that can easily include eight players at a convention and still have a pace where players aren’t bored waiting for their turn”. He’s used Gaslands as the backbone for Mario Kart and Twisted Metal convention games to great success.
“At its core it’s still 90% Gaslands’ original rules”, Martin says. He’s added “a three tier altitude system; you can use a shift” (Gaslands’ re “to gain altitude, and you can lose altitude for free, one level per move”. There’s a simple high ground attack die bonus, but very little else has changed. “Because it’s for a convention I don’t want to over-complicate it” Martin explains, and the game is designed “so people can buy the Gaslands book and be able to play”
The propeller plane models are all from Matchbox Skybusters, which Martin first saw in a local Dollar General. “I used action figure display stands to build the bases, and with 3d printing so easily accessible I just jumped on Etsy and found drivers and guns to convert the planes”. The sky is, famously, quite an open environment, but Martin “wanted to make it more than just a free for all dog fight”, so he “found a 3d file for the zeppelin and had a friend print it” to give the battlefield a serious obstacle.
To give the battlefield more depth Martin built an “inlaid mirror-lined board with LED cloud lights, and a second light strip hooked to a halloween thunder effect machine”. Finally he “added flak cannon bursts to scatter around, just to make it all look dynamic”.
The zeppelin is both the centerpiece of the board and the main mission objective. “The narrative is that it’s on a bombing run”, Martin explains, “the attackers must destroy all four engines within the turn limit to win, and the defenders must stop them”. It’s a perfect convention objective, immediately grokkable and incredibly cool to interact with.
If you want to see more of Martin’s work, you’ll find him on Facebook and Instagram as Skirmisher’s Guild. He lives close to Syracuse in New York State, so if you want to play this or any of his other wargames, your best bet will be to haunt the wargames conventions in that area.
He’s also got a lot of irons in the fire for future projects, many of them informed by his collaboration with an MDF terrain designer. “I’m writing my own ruleset for a fast, modern war, deathmatch-style game”, he says, plus a d20 modern RPG one shot “with lots of terrain” based on the anime Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040.
I can’t wait to see more of Martin’s work. Is there a retro franchise you think would make a great wargame? Have you ever been part of a really inspiring convention game? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community!
