I have always loved the Golden Age of Flight due to Disney's "TailSpin" back when I was a kid. The Sea Duck was the plane I wanted, and I wanted to take off and fly to lands unknown and unseen. Unfortunately, I learned of all the regulations and rules to flying in todays world, and those dreams of just flying whenever and wherever, died. Even so, the fantasy of it stuck, and Crimson Skies fulfilled that itch in more than a few ways. While Battletech is my first FASA property, Crimson Skies is the one I dream of living due to the freedom of that age. Glad to have you here Mage Leader, pop off a few drinks after sinking a few Zeps. :P
Same here. Didn't help that I spent so many hours at the airport before 9/11. After that I couldn't hang out in the manager's office right next to the runway.
Aerotech, sadly, always got the short shrift. I have to imagine part of that was because it was always the biggest target for Harmony Gold lawsuits with the LAMs.
The big difference is that the makers of Aerotech wanted aerospace fighter combat to be more "realistic" and do the whole "conservation of momentum" thing. They wanted the aerospace fighters and drop ships to fly like ships in a vacuum with the gravitation of planets and moons impacting movement - instead of Star Wars style airplanes-in-spaaaaace "what is this 'orbit' thing of which you speak?'. It was kinda one of their top priorities. And it very much demands a complicated, math-intensive movement system. It's why the mechanics of CS is so much simpler
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Crimson Skies is a franchise with a lot of untapped potential. An alt-history timeline that isn't "what if the Nazis won WW2?" for 3rd or 4th time, adventure and excitement inspired by the likes of Indiana Jones, and above all else super cool planes. There is one concern I have though, if Crimson Skies were to be picked up again and become mainstream...what's to say it won't get corrupted like many other franchises that have become mainstream?
FASA back in the day actually had a whole bunch of other games other than Battletech... it's just that the others didn't sell so well. One was Crimson Skies (looked really cool but never played other than the PC/Xbox games) and another was Interceptor/Centurion/Leviathan (aka: Romans.... in.... SPACCEEE).
I used to be a Crimson Skies fan back when I was a kid in the early 2000's since my parents thought "Big Stompy Robot Game" was too violent but considered "Literal Sky Pirates" as "whimsical". I had a few novels including "Spicy Air Tales", loved the characters and the 1920's pomp it brought with it (Still a fan of Art Deco 20 years later). We'll never get another game thanks to Microsoft, but I hope someone will take the Book Rights (which is up for literal grabs) and start pumping out stories. Yeah the 1900's timeframe is a bit limited but maybe that's all you need since we have hundreds of years in Battletech but stick around the years of 3025, 3050, 3062 and 3078. Heck just the inner conflicts of a divided United States during Prohibition can be explored, not to mention what happens around the world in that time. I guess I'll just toss this under the "When I Win The Lottery" bucket under all the other forgotten IPs as well. Right under "Renegade Legion: Centurion" and the "Interstate" series.
I remember playing Crimson Skies on my PC back in 2000. Even had a wallpaper background on the desktop from this game. Such good times. Absolutely hated the mission in Hollywood, where you had to impersonate the stuntman. These Gyrocopters would always shoot me down after I did all the stunts perfectly. 😅 That I still remember this little fact 24 years later is a testament to how good this game is.
Is this Diesel-Punk? I never had gotten a good definition of what that is. I always just considered it Pulp, which covers the time frame and the crazy tech
God, I remember playing Halo and Crimson Skies; High Road to Revenge almost every day after school on the OG Xbox. Thanks for reminding me of those simpler days
I still have my Xbox and this game. I had so much fun with this game and tried playing it again recently. I lost all of my ability to play the game, but it was cool to see and try to use my saved aircraft. I even played the table top game one time many many years ago. If you're interested in some of the original metal aircraft, Iron Wind Metals are awesome and still carry Crimson Skies aircraft. Anyone interested should check out their online store or visit them in person to pick up some planes.
God has really been that long. Remember seeing a airship on a table surround by planes in 90s. Loved both the video games and had some of wizkid planes. Shame Microsoft done nothing with it in a while.
When I met Jordan Weismann at GenCon when he was promoting his Battletech Kickstarter, I specifically asked him about Crimsons Skies. Harebrained Schemes had already handled Shadowrun and was handling Battletech, but what about their little brother? He just chuckled and said as much as he'd love to return to it, the legal status of its trademark is currently a tangled mess. I'm pretty sure Microsoft still has the rights for making Crimson Skies video games, but I'm not sure who has the core trademark anymore. I don’t think even he knew. It's a damn shame it never reached the popularity of FASA's other big franchises. It's such a cool setting, helped in no small part by my love of all things dieselpunk.
I remember an arcade in town when I was a kid that had a Mechwarrior/Crimson Skies mixed machine with like this mechanical chair that moved you around as you played. I spent all my allowance money on it hahaha
As a Pacific War fan boy, this setting has me interested. How would the lack of the US affect the various naval treaties of this period? How would Japan respond?
The best answer I could give you would be what naval treaties? In the games lore, around the same time the US collapses, the British Empire does as well with much of the Dominions like Canada breaking up and declaring independence with some merging with former US States or descending into civil war. With no UK there's nobody pushing for a naval treaty. Germany and France are locked in an arms race and are using the Spanish Civil War as a proxy to test new weapons. Japan is utterly unopposed in the Pacific as the former US as ceded all territorial claims outside North America, the Philippines are independent, but bankrupt, and Australia is embroiled in a civil war. The only other major player is Russia who never unified under the Soviet Union and is still fighting the civil ear from the end of WWI.
The board/tabletop game really is great. It was fantastic fun designing your own aircraft, maxing out the guns, using various type of ammo (magnesium rounds, armour piercing, various rockets etc) all of which had different effects. BY far the best part of the game was the damage system, where your opponent had to mark off various squares in the grid outline of his aircraft when you hit him.... if you played it right and used your armour piercing to eat away his armour, effectively making a channel into the interior systems of the plane, then a well-placed magnesium round could ignite internal systems, or, if you got it spot on; the fuel system! Seeing the despair in your opponents eyes as they cross off the boxes, knowing you were going after the fuel tanks was fab! :D A real shame it never developed any further. Less said about the Wizkids clicky game the better.
@@nilus2k Never played Battletech, but I understand it is a very similar system, and one which FASA used on a number of their games at the time; Renegade Legion: Centurion (the grav tank game) also uses a similar grid-based damage mechanism. I guess it has disappeared because it is quite labour intensive, but it's very rewarding!
I still have my copy of Crimson Skies Board Game. I miss playing that game and hope that CGL will reactivate this one as well just as they're doing with Leviathans
@@mageleader3699 hey mate: look for simple planes 2. will come out next year. its a sandox game where you can build airplanes. i think the first one already had many folks build crimson skies planes.
*Comes out of the woodwork* I absolutely adore Crimson Skies. The tabletop game was a bit rules heavy and slow at times, but the first game was absolutely golden. All the cutscenes between missions were done through over-the-top radio drama performances, and all the cast members had distinct, memorable voices to them. I actually think the in-engine cutscenes in the x-box exclusive follow-up was a downgrade story telling wise.
This video was awesome! It actually gave me the creative boost to go back to an old dieselpunk/alternate history story of mine that might have potential. Thanks for the creative boost!!!
Abandon the jet age and the stealth age! EMBRACE THE DOG FIGHTER! Glad to see this come to fruition, I fucking love me some crimson skyes! I know Lemmy from Motorhead was also a fan since he was seen playing the game in an open mouth starring at the TV screen. Also I feel like WW2 in Crimson Skyes wouldn't really kill off the setting, if anything it would only make it more static since they'd all blow themselves to hell and wouldn't advance technology.
The guns of WWII would render airships obsolete, just like they did in real history, not to mention the advancements in civilian aviation. The tech would be weirder, but it wouldn't be as romantic.
@@mageleader3699 wouldn't they just move on to giant metal airships like the one's in the first captain America movie? I mean yeah it wouldn't be as romantic but the pulp would still be there, just like maybe if they go into a Jet age or something. But I get what you mean, if they do an expansion it would literally just be adding south America and Europe and staying in the same year, still its an interesting premise to explore. Especially if you make an RPG game which is what crimson skyes lacks.
@@thegunslinger8806 No, they wouldn't. Airships, contrary to popular belief, can't actually carry much weight at all. The Hindenburg's piano had to be made of aluminum instead of wood or else it would have been too heavy. The ones in Crimson Skies already push believability. You can't armor an airship or it won't fly. The moment a decent airliner is made, they would go out of fashion, especially with how much bombers advanced the carrying capacity of fixed wing aircraft.
@@mageleader3699Tasting History with Max Miller did a great episode on the Hindenburg, contrasting its spare qualities with the unbridled opulence of the Titanic. Great episode
Im assuming a big problem is that Crimson Skies came out so late when Tabletop Games were crashing and being replaced by videogames. Most of what I know of Crimson Skies begins with the Xbox 360 game from 2003. Ive heard there was an earlier PC game in 2000. To note FASA the creators were defunct in 2001. Ive heard they were just IP holders so Wizkids took over the tabletop. Microsoft was publishing Mechcommander 2, Mechwarrior 4, Mechassault 1 & 2, and High Road to Revenge until they forgot about everything in the mid 2000s. Its fascinating because the setting is that old 1920s-30s Pre-World War 2. The Phantom(guy in purple), Tail Spin, Porco Rosso, a little Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Thinking about it is it definitely has some elements of both Battletech and Shadowrun. Shadowrun is also set as an alternate Earth where the USA breaks up. Battletech was about the Earth Empire breaking up.
I only got to play the original tabletop game ONCE. But I played the Clix version several times and actually owned models. I LOVED the XBox game it was a total blast! Unfortunately, I never got to experience the PC game. Crimson Skies is definitely a game/world that needs to come back.
I have a copy of Crimson Skies for my Xbox, it’s such a great game. When I was young, I actually won a prize at my local county fair for building a Lego diorama based on the IP. The airship was missing the giant balloon and was basically a floating cockpit, but it did have a space to fit my crude imitation of the gyrocopter, just like the ingame hanger.
Great video. One interesting, little known tidbit: Crimson Skies started development under FSDA/VWE to be 3rd game for BattleTech/Virtual World Centers under the title “Corsairs.” The first vehicle models were developed for the cockpit game and the first version of the tabletop game were developed in tandem circa 1996, but development was cancelled. The initial push development cycle/material morphed into the project that became the first PC game.
I'm not prone to seizures, but the old timey film grain strobe effect, was a bit harsh to look at. That out of the way, I always liked the Idea, that Tail Spin, was part of the Crimson Skies, universe.
Yeah, it didn't look as rough in the preview. I toned it down from the default setting, believe it or not. If I do it again, I'll definitely turn it down a lot more.
Great video! In fact, Crimson Skies has been my #1 lore since it was first released all those years ago. I first came in contact with the original board-game and loved all the aesthetic etc. Over the years I got a huge collection of Crimson Skies-stuff: All the additional books for the board-game, most of the miniatures, two for the planes in a 'museum scale'-model. Comics, posters, an additional still-sealed-board game. I even have some of the game plane-renderings printed as 'old phots' framed on the wall fitting in with other 30s-aesthetics-stuff in my home. Soooo much potential missed.
I ran a Crimson Skies TTRPG campaign, using Savage Wolrds, it was awesome. I love the setting and lore. Try the game Brew Barons if you want a game in a similar setting.
I remember the Xbox game and I loved it. I had not idea there was such a deep history or love for the series. I get the feeling this might become a new world for me to explore. Thank you for making this video.
Crimson Skies reminds me so much of Disney's TaleSpin, and vice versa. Island hopping and air travel are the primary means of transportation and trade logistics, sky pirates threaten trade routes and orivate security firms risenuo to fight them. Even island hopping unexplored and exotic places is a focal point. You just don't see such an amazing setting anymore. Really wish the theme in general would make a return.
That picture at 8:36 just threw me out of the narrative. Yes it is fitting, though a bit close to home for me. This is a border guard jumping over the barbed-wire border. The guard was of the NVA aka Nationale Volksarmee aka the armed forces of east Germany. The name of the soldier was Konrad Schuman, the time was 15.8.1961, the place the Berlin Wall on its third day of construction. You see him jumping over the fence from east communist Germany to west capitalist Germany which tells you a lot. Well the NVA learned to have always double shifts, so one guard could execute the other trying to betray socialism. I'd see it as an example how you'd risk everything to leave a "democratic" country that went full socialism. Well, enough of real world politics back to sky pirates.
I remember enjoying the PC game at that time i had been playing wing commander x wing vs Tie, Tachyon and red Barron 3D so it slid into my CD rom quite nicely
I would call Renegade Legion Battletech's forgotten sibling. It is a more thought out science fiction setting focused on vehicle combat with deeper rules- the integration of deep space, orbital and ground combat so complete invasions can be played out. Its only problem is that it lacks the political dimension - the Game of Thrones-esque feel of Battletech and instead has generic uninteresting bad guys and generic uninteresting good guys.
I remember playing Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge on my Xbox as a kid, it's only recently that I found out there was a much larger IP behind it. Much like how I played MechAssault as a kid, only to find out recently Battletech is a thing. :P
I think it would be dope to see this set up as an open world MMORPG. Start off picking a faction, get a starter plane, have a few development paths (sheriff, security, sky pirate, etc.), get the option to buy and upgrade an airship as part of a unit you can start or join. There's potential here people!
I loved Crimson Skies when I was a kid. Hated the desert section of the game, but everything else was absolutely awesome. Especially the Chicago segment, after I got the Brigand. The desert fox and Devastator were my favorite planes in terms of aesthetics, but the Brigand was an absolutely sledgehammer. Tough as shit with 4 of those heavy machine gun weapons and a rocket launcher, and upgrading it added 2 more guns and a second launcher if I remember correctly, plus that dope ass paint job, red and black stripes with a checkered flag pattern around the prop. Plus it had that turret in the back. I loved when I’d have an enemy on my ass and the brigand was too slow to turn and get behind them, so I’d just pop into that rear turret real quick and waste the enemy, then swap back to the cockpit.
The duels i fought with my buddies in the tabletop variant in our own constructed planes went on for hours. when i got my hands on the pc- game, i loved it instantly. Sadly, noone even in the bigger lan-parties where i lived was into it.
Years ago, I was browsing the fantasy section in one of the bigger bookstores. I had a CrimSon Skies book in hand, but then noticed a Battletech book and was playing Mechwarrior 3 and 4 at that time. I was always dimly aware that Crimson Skies existed, but never looked into it. Which is kinda sad, as I think I would have liked the setting.
personally i like to think the high road to revenge was an in-universe retelling of that adventures and aside from doc being perma dead the new pilot is still kickin and she was actually a double agent for Zachery though thats mostly because of the wizkid figures for Crimson Skies
Interceptor: The Early Years I loved both the Renegade Legion "template damage" rules and the pulpy dieselpunk setting. FASA really needed to develop a whole RPG to get excitement and traction for the setting, but alas. Once Chaosium's "Lords of the Middle Sea" RPG comes out, I am gonna see if I can hack it to fit Crimson Skies.
The crimsonskys-clicks era wasnt too bad surprisingly. Wizkids had some nice props in the tournament kits (like a fotograph of black swan with a scribbled note e.g) and these oldschool filemaps with a string to tie them shut. All fitting the awesome theme of this world. Kinda miss it, but then it never left my gamerheart completly anyways. Nice to see a video about it!
You used to be able to get Crimson Skies miniatures at Iron Wind Miniatures, same with Battletech miniatures. Looking at the site now, it doesn't look that active, though there was an update in August this year for Battletech bases.
Sky Captain And The World of Tomorrow is the movie adaptation of Crimson Skies we never got.
Such a fucking good movie too
I think of it more as a live action version of Talespin with real humans and a vintage noir atmosphere.
@@karlbertiljohnsson YESSS!
@@karlbertiljohnsson That's basically what Crimsons Skies is in a nutshell.
The quote "Can we please, for once just DIE without all this bickering?!?" has lived rent free in my head for decades
I have always loved the Golden Age of Flight due to Disney's "TailSpin" back when I was a kid. The Sea Duck was the plane I wanted, and I wanted to take off and fly to lands unknown and unseen. Unfortunately, I learned of all the regulations and rules to flying in todays world, and those dreams of just flying whenever and wherever, died. Even so, the fantasy of it stuck, and Crimson Skies fulfilled that itch in more than a few ways.
While Battletech is my first FASA property, Crimson Skies is the one I dream of living due to the freedom of that age.
Glad to have you here Mage Leader, pop off a few drinks after sinking a few Zeps. :P
Same here. Didn't help that I spent so many hours at the airport before 9/11. After that I couldn't hang out in the manager's office right next to the runway.
The great family of the three Weismanns: Battletech, Crimson Skies, and Shadowrun. We regret the estrangement.
It's good to be back among family
Yep...although in Crimson Skies' case it honestly might've been for the best if you look at what CGL has been doing to the other two.
100% truth. I met them and did some volunteer work for them at Gencon one year. They were really approachable and decent.
Earthdawn, don't forget that one man. ttrtpg tho
FASA made me steal all the dice from the boardgame closet. Made me!
Crimson Skies is what Aerotech should have been mechanically. It was such a fun game and I would love it revamped.
Yes❤
Aerotech, sadly, always got the short shrift. I have to imagine part of that was because it was always the biggest target for Harmony Gold lawsuits with the LAMs.
The big difference is that the makers of Aerotech wanted aerospace fighter combat to be more "realistic" and do the whole "conservation of momentum" thing. They wanted the aerospace fighters and drop ships to fly like ships in a vacuum with the gravitation of planets and moons impacting movement - instead of Star Wars style airplanes-in-spaaaaace "what is this 'orbit' thing of which you speak?'. It was kinda one of their top priorities. And it very much demands a complicated, math-intensive movement system.
It's why the mechanics of CS is so much simpler
"When you hit the ground... tell 'em Nathan Zachary sent you!"
"Up here it's a battle of wits, and you're completely unarmed!"
"When you get to hell tell 'em Nathan Zachary sent you."
I wish Crimson Skies got more love. It's an awesome pulp setting.
Crimson Skies?
Me: coming out of the woodwork 👀
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Crimson Skies is a franchise with a lot of untapped potential. An alt-history timeline that isn't "what if the Nazis won WW2?" for 3rd or 4th time, adventure and excitement inspired by the likes of Indiana Jones, and above all else super cool planes.
There is one concern I have though, if Crimson Skies were to be picked up again and become mainstream...what's to say it won't get corrupted like many other franchises that have become mainstream?
No fuckin way this has a Battletech connection! I loved this game as a child!
Yeah Mitch was pretty vocal about his work on Crimson Skies during the development of BT2018
FASA back in the day actually had a whole bunch of other games other than Battletech... it's just that the others didn't sell so well.
One was Crimson Skies (looked really cool but never played other than the PC/Xbox games) and another was Interceptor/Centurion/Leviathan (aka: Romans.... in.... SPACCEEE).
One look at the board game original of the game and you could not unsee it.
I used to be a Crimson Skies fan back when I was a kid in the early 2000's since my parents thought "Big Stompy Robot Game" was too violent but considered "Literal Sky Pirates" as "whimsical". I had a few novels including "Spicy Air Tales", loved the characters and the 1920's pomp it brought with it (Still a fan of Art Deco 20 years later). We'll never get another game thanks to Microsoft, but I hope someone will take the Book Rights (which is up for literal grabs) and start pumping out stories. Yeah the 1900's timeframe is a bit limited but maybe that's all you need since we have hundreds of years in Battletech but stick around the years of 3025, 3050, 3062 and 3078. Heck just the inner conflicts of a divided United States during Prohibition can be explored, not to mention what happens around the world in that time.
I guess I'll just toss this under the "When I Win The Lottery" bucket under all the other forgotten IPs as well. Right under "Renegade Legion: Centurion" and the "Interstate" series.
I remember playing Crimson Skies on my PC back in 2000. Even had a wallpaper background on the desktop from this game. Such good times.
Absolutely hated the mission in Hollywood, where you had to impersonate the stuntman. These Gyrocopters would always shoot me down after I did all the stunts perfectly. 😅
That I still remember this little fact 24 years later is a testament to how good this game is.
I haven't forgotten it. Diesel-Punk is underrated.
Is this Diesel-Punk? I never had gotten a good definition of what that is. I always just considered it Pulp, which covers the time frame and the crazy tech
@@nilus2k dieselpunk typically *is* pulp.
"the year is 1937" I thought I could smell the lead in that gasoline and the dysentery on that hobo
Loved playing Crimson Skies on my OG Xbox dude, so much awesomeness and not to mention it's basically Battletech with prop planes and swing music.
Made by the crew that made Battletech, pulpy setting, 3d printing encouraged, run by fans, AND art deco! Welp I'm sold.
"Don't thank me, thank Beppo the clown"
"When you get to the ground, tell them Nathan Zachary sent you."
He had some pretty decent one liners.
God, I remember playing Halo and Crimson Skies; High Road to Revenge almost every day after school on the OG Xbox. Thanks for reminding me of those simpler days
The Devastator is my all-time favorite prop-powered fictional aircraft.
I loved Crimson Skies. The minis were gorgeous and the pulp setting was well done.
I still have my Xbox and this game. I had so much fun with this game and tried playing it again recently. I lost all of my ability to play the game, but it was cool to see and try to use my saved aircraft. I even played the table top game one time many many years ago.
If you're interested in some of the original metal aircraft, Iron Wind Metals are awesome and still carry Crimson Skies aircraft. Anyone interested should check out their online store or visit them in person to pick up some planes.
High Road to Revenge was my introduction to Crimson Skies. Loved it as a kid, even if I did suck at it.
Crimson Skies took a lot of inspiriation from a previous PC game named "Airpower" (1995, Rowan Software)
God has really been that long. Remember seeing a airship on a table surround by planes in 90s. Loved both the video games and had some of wizkid planes. Shame Microsoft done nothing with it in a while.
Never mess with our hooch.
I remember playing this at one point. It left an impression because I always thought it was a fever dream.
I have had an itch for this setting ever since the Xbox game. Every day I think about it and how much I want to get into this setting.
I can see Mage Leader as an sky pirate.
Crimson Skies is an amazing setting/universe and we need more of it
Well, guess the title music of the first game is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day then.
Damn, that's nostalgic.
Gentlemen fuel up my desert fox
I loved the damage system in the board game.
Holy fuck that music sparked something in me. Crimson Skies was the first Xbox game i got GOOD at, even before Halo. Nostalgia...
When I met Jordan Weismann at GenCon when he was promoting his Battletech Kickstarter, I specifically asked him about Crimsons Skies. Harebrained Schemes had already handled Shadowrun and was handling Battletech, but what about their little brother? He just chuckled and said as much as he'd love to return to it, the legal status of its trademark is currently a tangled mess. I'm pretty sure Microsoft still has the rights for making Crimson Skies video games, but I'm not sure who has the core trademark anymore. I don’t think even he knew.
It's a damn shame it never reached the popularity of FASA's other big franchises. It's such a cool setting, helped in no small part by my love of all things dieselpunk.
To this day and like to the day I die I will always hear the main menu music in my head.
I remember an arcade in town when I was a kid that had a Mechwarrior/Crimson Skies mixed machine with like this mechanical chair that moved you around as you played.
I spent all my allowance money on it hahaha
As a Pacific War fan boy, this setting has me interested. How would the lack of the US affect the various naval treaties of this period? How would Japan respond?
The best answer I could give you would be what naval treaties?
In the games lore, around the same time the US collapses, the British Empire does as well with much of the Dominions like Canada breaking up and declaring independence with some merging with former US States or descending into civil war.
With no UK there's nobody pushing for a naval treaty. Germany and France are locked in an arms race and are using the Spanish Civil War as a proxy to test new weapons.
Japan is utterly unopposed in the Pacific as the former US as ceded all territorial claims outside North America, the Philippines are independent, but bankrupt, and Australia is embroiled in a civil war.
The only other major player is Russia who never unified under the Soviet Union and is still fighting the civil ear from the end of WWI.
The setting was just opening up when FASA closed. I feel Germany and Japan were being set up to have big roles in the story as it progressed.
The board/tabletop game really is great. It was fantastic fun designing your own aircraft, maxing out the guns, using various type of ammo (magnesium rounds, armour piercing, various rockets etc) all of which had different effects.
BY far the best part of the game was the damage system, where your opponent had to mark off various squares in the grid outline of his aircraft when you hit him.... if you played it right and used your armour piercing to eat away his armour, effectively making a channel into the interior systems of the plane, then a well-placed magnesium round could ignite internal systems, or, if you got it spot on; the fuel system! Seeing the despair in your opponents eyes as they cross off the boxes, knowing you were going after the fuel tanks was fab! :D
A real shame it never developed any further. Less said about the Wizkids clicky game the better.
So similar to Battletech damage where you want to punch through and hit those juicy internals
@@nilus2k Never played Battletech, but I understand it is a very similar system, and one which FASA used on a number of their games at the time; Renegade Legion: Centurion (the grav tank game) also uses a similar grid-based damage mechanism. I guess it has disappeared because it is quite labour intensive, but it's very rewarding!
I still have my copy of Crimson Skies Board Game. I miss playing that game and hope that CGL will reactivate this one as well just as they're doing with Leviathans
I wouldn't trust modern CGL with it. Besides, it's not owned by Topps. It's owned by Microsoft.
@@mageleader3699 Eh, we survived the last days of FASA, we survived WizKids, we'll survive CGL and Topps as well my friend. 😁
Theres ZERO reason we can't do this ourselves. We have the tools, we have the talent. All we need is the will and the coordination.
@@mageleader3699 hey mate: look for simple planes 2. will come out next year. its a sandox game where you can build airplanes. i think the first one already had many folks build crimson skies planes.
Man. This game was my Dad's jam and last real video game he was excited about. He really enjoyed the setting and would play for hours.
Awesome video! Really appreciate the influx of people to the Community Discord!
I have a few Crimson Skies minis, including a pack of them still in the box. I also greatly enjoyed both of the video games growing up.
I adored this game game on the OG xbox. Sill would love to get my TT group together for a hybrig dieselpunk dogfighting/rpg some day.
I did a Crimson Skies campaign using Savage Worlds
Had fun with the Xbox video game of crimson skies. Cool to see the lore now
Crimson Skies fits in that niche that gets aerophiles right in the feels, along with the re-runs of Disney's Talespin and the arcade game "1942".
*Comes out of the woodwork* I absolutely adore Crimson Skies. The tabletop game was a bit rules heavy and slow at times, but the first game was absolutely golden. All the cutscenes between missions were done through over-the-top radio drama performances, and all the cast members had distinct, memorable voices to them. I actually think the in-engine cutscenes in the x-box exclusive follow-up was a downgrade story telling wise.
Thanks. I keep hoping this gem of a game gets more attention.
This video was awesome! It actually gave me the creative boost to go back to an old dieselpunk/alternate history story of mine that might have potential. Thanks for the creative boost!!!
It is also currently for sale for the newer XBOX models in the online shop.
You can play them on PC using emulators and the OG PC game is surely free online as it hasn't been sold for at least 3 decades
Abandon the jet age and the stealth age! EMBRACE THE DOG FIGHTER!
Glad to see this come to fruition, I fucking love me some crimson skyes! I know Lemmy from Motorhead was also a fan since he was seen playing the game in an open mouth starring at the TV screen.
Also I feel like WW2 in Crimson Skyes wouldn't really kill off the setting, if anything it would only make it more static since they'd all blow themselves to hell and wouldn't advance technology.
The guns of WWII would render airships obsolete, just like they did in real history, not to mention the advancements in civilian aviation. The tech would be weirder, but it wouldn't be as romantic.
@@mageleader3699 wouldn't they just move on to giant metal airships like the one's in the first captain America movie? I mean yeah it wouldn't be as romantic but the pulp would still be there, just like maybe if they go into a Jet age or something.
But I get what you mean, if they do an expansion it would literally just be adding south America and Europe and staying in the same year, still its an interesting premise to explore. Especially if you make an RPG game which is what crimson skyes lacks.
@@thegunslinger8806 No, they wouldn't. Airships, contrary to popular belief, can't actually carry much weight at all. The Hindenburg's piano had to be made of aluminum instead of wood or else it would have been too heavy. The ones in Crimson Skies already push believability. You can't armor an airship or it won't fly. The moment a decent airliner is made, they would go out of fashion, especially with how much bombers advanced the carrying capacity of fixed wing aircraft.
@@mageleader3699Tasting History with Max Miller did a great episode on the Hindenburg, contrasting its spare qualities with the unbridled opulence of the Titanic. Great episode
@@mageleader3699 Stop bringing “real life science” to an obvious rule-of-cool game 😂
Im assuming a big problem is that Crimson Skies came out so late when Tabletop Games were crashing and being replaced by videogames. Most of what I know of Crimson Skies begins with the Xbox 360 game from 2003. Ive heard there was an earlier PC game in 2000. To note FASA the creators were defunct in 2001. Ive heard they were just IP holders so Wizkids took over the tabletop. Microsoft was publishing Mechcommander 2, Mechwarrior 4, Mechassault 1 & 2, and High Road to Revenge until they forgot about everything in the mid 2000s.
Its fascinating because the setting is that old 1920s-30s Pre-World War 2. The Phantom(guy in purple), Tail Spin, Porco Rosso, a little Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Thinking about it is it definitely has some elements of both Battletech and Shadowrun. Shadowrun is also set as an alternate Earth where the USA breaks up. Battletech was about the Earth Empire breaking up.
Customizing your planes on that game was so much fun
Would be a great setting for The Shadow to stalk around in.
Or the Phantom, or Doc Savage!
More artwork on the way!
I did not know about the tabletop sounds like something I should totally check out great video!!!
Dont forget "Renegade Legion"!And i played the TT of Crimson Skies for HOURS!!!!!Still have all my Minis for CS + RL!
I only got to play the original tabletop game ONCE. But I played the Clix version several times and actually owned models. I LOVED the XBox game it was a total blast! Unfortunately, I never got to experience the PC game. Crimson Skies is definitely a game/world that needs to come back.
I've been waiting for this awesome IP to make a return and now is a good time.
Ooo. I worked on this. I worked on a few FASA titles. Cool to see a retro review.
Which one?
Thanks for this one. I had been meaning to look more into Crimson Skies and this vid is a fantastic introduction.
The Crimson Skies for Xbox got me into the setting. Loved it.
It would be nice to see this IP come back.
I have a copy of Crimson Skies for my Xbox, it’s such a great game. When I was young, I actually won a prize at my local county fair for building a Lego diorama based on the IP. The airship was missing the giant balloon and was basically a floating cockpit, but it did have a space to fit my crude imitation of the gyrocopter, just like the ingame hanger.
Great timing, thanks for putting this together. Great universe.
Great video. One interesting, little known tidbit: Crimson Skies started development under FSDA/VWE to be 3rd game for BattleTech/Virtual World Centers under the title “Corsairs.” The first vehicle models were developed for the cockpit game and the first version of the tabletop game were developed in tandem circa 1996, but development was cancelled. The initial push development cycle/material morphed into the project that became the first PC game.
I'm not prone to seizures, but the old timey film grain strobe effect, was a bit harsh to look at.
That out of the way, I always liked the Idea, that Tail Spin, was part of the Crimson Skies, universe.
Yeah, it didn't look as rough in the preview. I toned it down from the default setting, believe it or not. If I do it again, I'll definitely turn it down a lot more.
Great video! In fact, Crimson Skies has been my #1 lore since it was first released all those years ago. I first came in contact with the original board-game and loved all the aesthetic etc. Over the years I got a huge collection of Crimson Skies-stuff: All the additional books for the board-game, most of the miniatures, two for the planes in a 'museum scale'-model. Comics, posters, an additional still-sealed-board game.
I even have some of the game plane-renderings printed as 'old phots' framed on the wall fitting in with other 30s-aesthetics-stuff in my home.
Soooo much potential missed.
I ran a Crimson Skies TTRPG campaign, using Savage Wolrds, it was awesome. I love the setting and lore. Try the game Brew Barons if you want a game in a similar setting.
Great Video, I still have all my books and almost all the minis for both the FASA and Wizkids games.
I remember the Xbox game and I loved it. I had not idea there was such a deep history or love for the series. I get the feeling this might become a new world for me to explore. Thank you for making this video.
Nate is searching for Francis Drakes treasure? Just... Why does that Sound so familar?
Crimson Skies reminds me so much of Disney's TaleSpin, and vice versa. Island hopping and air travel are the primary means of transportation and trade logistics, sky pirates threaten trade routes and orivate security firms risenuo to fight them. Even island hopping unexplored and exotic places is a focal point. You just don't see such an amazing setting anymore. Really wish the theme in general would make a return.
Renegade Legion was at least BattleTech's cousin, if not a sibling.
That picture at 8:36 just threw me out of the narrative. Yes it is fitting, though a bit close to home for me. This is a border guard jumping over the barbed-wire border. The guard was of the NVA aka Nationale Volksarmee aka the armed forces of east Germany. The name of the soldier was Konrad Schuman, the time was 15.8.1961, the place the Berlin Wall on its third day of construction. You see him jumping over the fence from east communist Germany to west capitalist Germany which tells you a lot. Well the NVA learned to have always double shifts, so one guard could execute the other trying to betray socialism. I'd see it as an example how you'd risk everything to leave a "democratic" country that went full socialism. Well, enough of real world politics back to sky pirates.
I remember enjoying the PC game at that time i had been playing wing commander x wing vs Tie, Tachyon and red Barron 3D so it slid into my CD rom quite nicely
Crimson Skies, and even moreso, Renegade Legion, were obscenely underrated FASA gems of pure genius.
I would call Renegade Legion Battletech's forgotten sibling. It is a more thought out science fiction setting focused on vehicle combat with deeper rules- the integration of deep space, orbital and ground combat so complete invasions can be played out. Its only problem is that it lacks the political dimension - the Game of Thrones-esque feel of Battletech and instead has generic uninteresting bad guys and generic uninteresting good guys.
This game needs a remake or a second Crimson Skies this game is creatively different and a gem of its time.
I got the pusher prop on my Bell Valiant spun up! Let's goooooo!
Iron wind metals still has a bunch of minis in their catalogue.
I remember playing Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge on my Xbox as a kid, it's only recently that I found out there was a much larger IP behind it. Much like how I played MechAssault as a kid, only to find out recently Battletech is a thing. :P
Crimson Skies was such a fun videogame! I played the heck out of it as a kid.
My inner aviation child screams with excitement every time Crimson Skies is brought up.
I really love that universe!
I think it would be dope to see this set up as an open world MMORPG. Start off picking a faction, get a starter plane, have a few development paths (sheriff, security, sky pirate, etc.), get the option to buy and upgrade an airship as part of a unit you can start or join. There's potential here people!
I loved Crimson Skies when I was a kid. Hated the desert section of the game, but everything else was absolutely awesome. Especially the Chicago segment, after I got the Brigand. The desert fox and Devastator were my favorite planes in terms of aesthetics, but the Brigand was an absolutely sledgehammer. Tough as shit with 4 of those heavy machine gun weapons and a rocket launcher, and upgrading it added 2 more guns and a second launcher if I remember correctly, plus that dope ass paint job, red and black stripes with a checkered flag pattern around the prop. Plus it had that turret in the back. I loved when I’d have an enemy on my ass and the brigand was too slow to turn and get behind them, so I’d just pop into that rear turret real quick and waste the enemy, then swap back to the cockpit.
This game deserved so much more love
The duels i fought with my buddies in the tabletop variant in our own constructed planes went on for hours. when i got my hands on the pc- game, i loved it instantly. Sadly, noone even in the bigger lan-parties where i lived was into it.
Used to play the living crap outta Crimson Skies. I never knew that it was started as a tabletop game along with the lore being this deep.
Years ago, I was browsing the fantasy section in one of the bigger bookstores. I had a CrimSon Skies book in hand, but then noticed a Battletech book and was playing Mechwarrior 3 and 4 at that time. I was always dimly aware that Crimson Skies existed, but never looked into it. Which is kinda sad, as I think I would have liked the setting.
To be entirely transparant, I didn't know about this IP and I feel lesser for it.
I guess it's time to claim the skys!
I also liked the FASA game with the futuristic tank warfare set in the "Roman legion" type of setting? I can't remember the name!
Centurion? I think?
Renegade Legion. I never got into it, but always thought it was interesting looking.
Since they keep retconning Battletech's bsckstory, they ought to just put these in the same timeline.
personally i like to think the high road to revenge was an in-universe retelling of that adventures and aside from doc being perma dead the new pilot is still kickin and she was actually a double agent for Zachery though thats mostly because of the wizkid figures for Crimson Skies
Interceptor: The Early Years
I loved both the Renegade Legion "template damage" rules and the pulpy dieselpunk setting. FASA really needed to develop a whole RPG to get excitement and traction for the setting, but alas. Once Chaosium's "Lords of the Middle Sea" RPG comes out, I am gonna see if I can hack it to fit Crimson Skies.
wow, I actually remember playing this as a child. Damn this brings back memories.
Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition
The crimsonskys-clicks era wasnt too bad surprisingly. Wizkids had some nice props in the tournament kits (like a fotograph of black swan with a scribbled note e.g) and these oldschool filemaps with a string to tie them shut. All fitting the awesome theme of this world. Kinda miss it, but then it never left my gamerheart completly anyways. Nice to see a video about it!
You used to be able to get Crimson Skies miniatures at Iron Wind Miniatures, same with Battletech miniatures.
Looking at the site now, it doesn't look that active, though there was an update in August this year for Battletech bases.
I love it like you say its almost impossible to find other players
as a man who grew up on the Crimson Skies Video Games, this does please me