Wednesday 8 August 2012

Air Force, Dauntless and the Expansion Set


The first of the few....I purchased my copy from Tradition in London in about 1979 


Dauntless was a standalone game and my copy came from a bring and buy at the old Present Arms show at Rochford. Jon Bamford acquired Air Force in the same transaction and we split the cost!


This set tied the other two together with extra planes and rules and  included the Russians, Italian and French air forces

Many years ago I was fortunate enough to have acquired the two board games and the expansion set mentioned in the title of the post. These were the original Battleline versions and not the Avalon Hill 'update'. Over the first five years or so of the early 1980s I, together with a similarly like-minded aerial gamer (Jon Bamford - where are you?), absolutely played it to death. The game covers tactical plane to plane combat in WW2 and although not by any means a fast play set like Axis and Allies: Angels 20 still gives a very good game. With my recent forays aloft providing so much fun I  must confess to coming over all misty-eyed and rose-tinted at the memory of those great aerial fights I used to enjoy. With this in mind and with a certain amount of Google trekking I have been able to track down copies of the rules from each set and also the play sheet covering the firing and damage allocation. I have even been able to track down pre filled log sheets for every single aircraft included in each of the sets. I have even found some completed data cards for aircraft that never appeared in any of the expansion but, and it is a really significant but - I have been unable to track down copies of the aircraft data charts in full for each of the types included in all three sets.

Essentially I have everything I need to play the game except for the aircraft cards - which is a bit of a problem!

If any readers of this blog know of such a source for the aircraft data cards in full then please let me know as I would really like to use my Angels 20 models on my Hexon for some aerial battles using these rules.

I note that the game's designer - S.Craig Taylor, who was also responsible for Flat Top, Wings, Wooden Ships and Iron Men (and the Ship 'O the Line miniatures rules that preceded them), Napoleons Battles, Ironclad and a whole host of other games - recently passed away and so the hobby has lost a truly talented game designer and I for one have enormously enjoyed all of his titles above over the years including some epic games of Flat Top.

If you are able to help with the above it will be hugely appreciated although of course it will mean that the Angels 20 models will have to be pushed to the top of the production queue!


12 comments:

Tim Gow said...

There's a game from the past! I had the AH versions of both Airforce and Dauntless but never really got on with the system. It always seemed a lot of work and not enough fun - but then I am well know for not undetstanding game rules! Both went in my great boardgame clearout in the '90s.

Michael said...

I have a copy of "Air Force" in the archive. I could scan the sheets if you like?

Unknown said...

Dear David ...You might want to leave a query on the Lone Warriors blog. You never know what some of the old timers might have squirreled away in the man cave!
Jeff

Peter Douglas said...

DC

I also have fond memories of these games, both in their late 70s Battleline version (owned by a high school buddy who moved away to go to Uni) and the AH version in the 80s (owned by me).

Hopefully the cards will show up. I suspect that there's some one out in the ethernet who has a set that been scanned in PDFs at some point.

Cheers

PD

johntheone said...

have you tried webgrognards.com Under Airforce there is a link to aircraft data cards

The Angry Lurker said...

Sorry mate but not a clue, hope you have a bit of luck though!

David Crook said...

Hi Tim,

They are certainly not a great club night game but I really enjoyed the experience. I was never struck on the AH aircraft cards though.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Michael,

I may well take you up on that in due course!

Many thanks,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Jeff,

That is a good idea - I may well give that a try and see what bites.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Peter,

I had some brilliant games 'back in the day' and fought some bonkers scenarios - 633 squadron attacking the Fjord springs to mind and true to the story only a single Mosquito, badly damaged, made it back....

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Johntheone,

That is a good idea and I will give it a go.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Fran,

You were probably too young...;-)

All the best,

DC