Craig C. Robertson

This is honestly one of my all-time favorite games. Besides the beautifully rendered aircraft miniatures, the game uses an extremely intuitive mechanic to deliver the right feel for a WWI dogfight. I’ve seen it played with eight people around the table, including two teenage girls, a couple of PhD.s in astronomy, and a lawyer, all of whom had a fantastic time. I highly recommend it.

The game delivers most of its flavor through the use of maneuver decks, a set of cards which use arrows to depict various maneuvers that a plane may make, including climbing, diving, banking, and even the Immelmann turn. What makes the game especially interesting is the fact that each plane uses a different maneuver deck, which simulates its unique handling and performance capabilities. This can lead to some very interesting situations. For instance, the Sopwith Camel had a rotary engine which gave it tremendous amounts of rightward torque, which is simulated in its maneuver deck by giving it three 90 degree turn cards, but no 90 degree left turns.

The flow of the game is very easy to follow. Each player secretly chooses three maneuver cards and places them face down, in order, on his plane display. Players then reveal their cards one at a time, using the arrows on the cards to guide the movement of their planes. You simply slip the maneuver card against the marker on the front of the plane’s base, then move the plane so that the rear of the plane lines up with the front of the arrow on the card.

Once all players have moved their planes, they have a chance to fire at enemy planes that are within the firing arc and range of their planes. Damage chits are drawn, face down, so that you can never really be sure how close you are to destroying an opponent, especially since some chits have a zero value. Critical hits are also possible, including engine damage, pilot injury, and rudder hits.

Overall, this is a fantastic game for both serious wargamers and casual players. It is also very family friendly, with a very simple core mechanic and the visual appeal of the miniatures. I highly recommend it.