Several months ago, I came across a new Kickstarter project from a company that I have a bit of experience with as I purchased their Kings of Rome game last year called ACIES Edizioni. Since that time, they launched a Kickstarter on an interesting looking air naval wargame called Fire in the Blue that covers the Mediterranean Theater of Operations during World War II. I reached out to them about an interview and their main developer on the project named Marco Gnagnetti responded and was interested in answering our questions.

If you are interested in Fire in the Blue, you can back the project at the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kings-of-rome/fire-in-the-blue

Grant: First off Marco please tell us a little about yourself. What are your hobbies? What’s your day job?

Marco: I’m 64 years old and have been a wargamer since 1990. I own ACIES Edizioni since 2009 and it has been my main focus since then. I like wargames, also on PC, reading, movies (quite old ones) and photography.

Grant: What is your upcoming game Fire in the Blue about?

Marco: It’s a wargame that covers the air and naval clashes of WWII in the Mediterranean. It has a “double blind” system with a map for each of the two players and a common map for fleets and formations spotted by the enemy.

Grant: What is your role in the project?

Marco: I am the developer and publisher of this game. I helped the designer in writing and expanding the rules and I’ve also taken part in some of the playtest sessions. I am really excited about this game and hope that it is well received.

Grant: Who is the designer and what games that have successfully designed?

Marco: The designer is Mirco Corazza, he’s been a wargamer for 20 years and this is his first design. He’s a true fan of the air warfare in WWII.

Grant: What does the title of the game reference?

Marco: The title refers to the fierce fighting that took place in the sea and skies of the Mediterranean. The game really does offer a wealth of historical detail and strategic depth, making every decision a test of leadership and tactical prowess. We wanted to express this fighting with an image that was unmistakable and the sky and sea afire is definitely one that is memorable.

Grant: Why was this a subject that drew your interest?

Marco: I liked the original approach the designer had for the game covering an era and theatre of World War II that deserves the utmost attention. We were very eager to publish the game once he presented it to us and we had the chance to play.

Grant: What is the design goal with the game?

Marco: To release a fast, furious and fun game featuring the Italian Navy and Air Force in WWII. The game set out to cover three battles fought in the Mediterranean Sea during WWII: Operation Harpoon/Vigorous (known in Italy as “Battaglia di Mezzo Giugno”), Operation Pedestal (known in Italy as “Battaglia di Mezz’Agosto”), and the Battle of Punta Stilo. The Allied Player commands the Allied Forces consisting of the British Royal Navy and the Axis Player commands the Axis Forces made up of the German and Italian forces.

In those operations the British Royal Navy fought against Italian Regia Marina (the Italian Navy), the Regia Aeronautica and German IInd and Xth FliegerKorps.

Grant: What other games inspired the making of this game?

Marco: Mirco designed this game from scratch starting from a dream of his, not inspired by any other games.

Grant: Why are the three operations in the game focused on?

Marco: The game contains the following scenarios: Operation Harpoon/Vigorous, Operation Pedestal and the Battle of Punta Stilo. The first two are centered on the vital task of supporting Malta against the threat posed by the Axis forces and the menace of an invasion. The third is a scenario that allows players to focus more on “search and destroy” operations against the enemy navies. We felt that these scenarios focused on the various elements of the game the best and would offer a varied experience for players.

Grant: What is the scale of the game? Force structure of units?

Marco: The turn represents one day, and is divided into 4 phases: each phase is further divided into 8 impulses. A zone on the map spans a distance of 400 km.; ships are represented on counters as flotillas of 2-8 ships with the exceptions of named ships such as carriers and battleships that are depicted individually. Air units are squadrons.

Grant: What is the anatomy of the counters?

Marco: Air units are shown with their model names in a box whose background color indicates the relevant airfield, under it, a picture representing the plane; there is also a symbol of the role (fighter, torpedo bomber, etc.)  and a flag representing the nationality.

Ships are shown with a name (for CV and BB) or type (for flotillas), the flag and a silhouette. Next to the flag there are values for combat and other functions. CV has a background colour that shows the fact that it also functions as airfields, matching the planes it carries.

There are also various administrative markers.

Grant: What are air and naval sighting counters?

Marco: Those are really important pieces of the game. They represent  search planes (the air sightings) and submarines and motor torpedo boats (the naval sightings).

Grant: Why is sighting an important aspect to include in the design?

Marco: Because of the fact that a zone on the map is 400 km. across, you may know that there is one or more enemy fleets located in it, but you cannot plan a strike against a fleet until you have pinpointed it. For this, you need a valid sighting by air or naval assets.

Grant: What is the process of shadowing a fleet and why is it important?

Marco: To simply maintain contact with the spotted enemy fleet throughout the entire day, from dawn till dusk. Otherwise you break contact and need another valid sighting to attack.

Grant: How does ship to ship combat work?

Marco: First, combat can happen only if an enemy fleet is spotted by air or sea sighting units. Players place the participating ship counters on a specific battle display that has 3 lines. Ships in the third line are safe from enemy torpedo or gun attacks, but only in the first round.

Players can also deploy smoke screens. Then torpedo attacks and gunnery attacks take place, and damage is simultaneous.

Then each player has the option to disengage, otherwise the combat goes on for three more rounds.

Grant: How do players create air formations and them move them around the board?

Marco: They simply pick up the plane counters from the “Ready” Sections of the airfields or CV’s and put them in the Air Formation Boxes found on the player aid cards. 

Then they put the formation marker on their map and transfer it on the common map only when striking the enemy.

Grant: How does air combat work?

Marco: Air formations are assembled and placed on the common map, then moved to the target fleet. Here they meet the air escort (if any) and the AA fire barrage.

The plane counters are placed on a specific display for the air to air combat, fighters in a line and bombers in another.

First of all the fighters of each formation face each other.

Then the surviving fighters (if any) attack the bombers. 

After that, bombers (if this is a strike against a naval or land target) are placed on the Air Attack Display and follow the procedure.

They must try to survive flak and then attack the target (ships or enemy ports and airfields)

Grant: How do players successfully coordinate air formations and fleets in attacks?

Marco: Players can coordinate air strikes simply directing them together against the same target.  Air formations and fleets don’t cooperate, but they attack separately.

Grant: How does the solo module work?

Marco: The solo module uses a sort of “event generator” that dictates the movement of the Allied fleets. The solo player can only play as the Axis powers. The solitaire system applies only to the first two scenarios.

Grant: What type of experience does the solo module create?

Marco: The solo player must chase and try to destroy the Allied fleets with all the assets at their disposal!

Grant: How is the game won?

Marco: Each scenario has its own victory level. You gain points by sinking ships: cargo ships and oil tankers are valuable prizes!

Grant: What does the board look like and how it is used?

Marco: The game is played on three identical full colour maps depicting the Mediterranean Sea with the most important ports and airfields of the time shown. Maps are divided into zones and they are sort of irregular hexes. One of the maps is for the Allied player, another is for the Axis player (both of which are A4 format), and the third is called the “common map” (in A3 format). Fleets and Air Formations are placed on these maps when they are Sighted and combat is resolved. Each map has an identical hexagonal grid that helps the movement of Fleets and Air Formations and each of these Zones has an alphanumeric code that identifies it.

Grant: What do you feel the design excels at?

Marco: The strength of the design is in the fast and tense action that keeps players constantly  engaged; another important feature is the great focus on the management of assets.

Players must constantly keep in mind their objectives: for the Allies, to reach Malta at all costs with the biggest number of ships. For the Axis player, the goal is simple: destroy as many enemy ships as possible, using all the assets they can.

But beware, do not lose your precious Italian ships: they can give a lot of victory points to your opponent.

And another thing must be remembered: you have 4 turns for each scenario and must use your air units and ships wisely and as efficiently as possible in order to achieve your goal.

Grant: What other designs are you currently working on?

Marco: We at ACIES Edizioni are working on various Napoleonic Era battles, using a successful and proven game system. Two of the games are Marengo and Friedland.

Thanks for your time in answering our questions Marco. We appreciate this look inside the game and its mechanics and I am always up for an air naval game and particularly one that covers the lesser gamed Mediterranean and Italian Theaters. I wish you luck on the rest of the campaign!

If you are interested in Fire in the Blue, you can back the project at the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kings-of-rome/fire-in-the-blue

-Grant