Imperial Skies

I wanted to like this game, I really did. However, after only a few minutes of looking over the book upon receipt, I wanted to send the book back to Brigade with the comment "You seem to have sent me a galley proof, I meant to purchase the final version." The rules are all over the place and there is no continuity. The quick reference items are scattered around the book and skip steps discussed in the text. On one picture the caption even reads (quote): "Movement example using the rules to make a turn. Much better photo of ruler movement needed!" Yes: 1) you should have a better photo as this particular photo is simply of three dirigibles and and some ships, with rulers along the side of the photo and 2) I strongly suspect this was a note to the final editing team to REPLACE THE PHOTO. This is but one of many examples of poor layout and sloppy editing. I can't recommend this set of rules because I couldn't actually understand them.

Easy to learn, intuitive to play, the game we played I forgot the rulebook anf left it at home, but we still were able to play just using the playsheet and ship cards. Great fun!

Quite a good (if slightly random) wargame experience. Lots of dice throwing.

Great game, used the rules with dystopian minis too

As far as rules go, this set is extremely solid, especially compared to its predecessor, Aeronef, with significant improvement in all areas. I do have the odd rules gripe, but mostly due to taste.

However, I have one major gripe. Namely, the laying out of the rules. The fluff is clearly indicated with italics and relatively unobtrusive, but clarity of phrase is lacking, and there are contradictions between the quick reference page and the actual rules. Rather confusingly, rockets (despite being clearly displayed on all record cards) are not mentioned in the rules proper, and can only be assumed to act like torpedoes based on their entry in the quick reference guide. In addition, the record cards, whilst comprehensive, do have their issues. Some are misaligned or overlap with neighbours, and they cannot be scanned or photocopied without damaging the spine. Thus, I have created my own record sheets in order to circumvent this.

As far as playerbase goes, you'll find about three posts a month on TMP, which is not too bad for a relatively niche topic and ruleset. Official support may be a bit lacking, though, as, although the book includes virtually all Brigade Models releases at the time of its writing (certain fixed-wing elements are conspicuously absent), newer ones are not covered, and it is unclear whether new stats cards will be put up on Brigade Models' site or Rottenlead's.

I would rate the overall IS experience as follows:

The rules themselves: 9/10 – mostly strong set of rules, although the issues with clarity make determining what the rules difficult in a couple of cases. Layout of rulebook: 7.5/10 – I don't mind the inclusion of a painting guide, copious pages of record sheets, somewhat extraneous illustrations and bits of narrative fluff at all, but the flaws in the record sheet pages are a bit of a let-down. Perhaps they could have been separate sheets from the bound book to make copying easier. Polish: 5/10 – spelling errors, a lack of proofreading in multiple parts and a few internal contradictions really bring this down. I noticed that the painting guide, which appears to have been the last element made, was actually much better produced than the rest, so it clearly could have been done better overall. Considering that the rules have been in use since 2014, I'm inclined to believe that the author may have overlooked a rereading of his rules and records, as he may have presumed that they were fine.

Still, my overall rating is an 8.

An aerial combat game, set at the turn of the twentieth century, using flying cruisers, destroyers and dreadnaughts.