Different eras but using similar systems - plane to plane combat old school style with hexes and counters! Naturally models can be used.
My ongoing mission to stock up with some selected boardgames continues apace and boy oh boy did I score big time!
The backs of the boxes. Yes, you can fly a Zeppelin in Wings, along with the giant bomber of the same name!
Wings is an S Craig Taylor designed game of aerial combat during the Great War produced by Yaquinto Games, way back in 1981. The system is essentially a development of that used in Air Force and Dauntless which cover WW2.
My copy of the game is unpunched and one of the big advantages of Yaquinto was that their counters were nice and thick and cut out easily (I never punch counters out - I always use a scalpel to free them). A number of large sized reference sheets, two counter sheets, three map boards, some terrain overlays, fifty aircraft data cards, the rule book and even the original d6 are in the box, the lid of which has some minor storage wear. I could not be more pleased to have this game as the acquisition of it coincides with something else currently underway - details of which will posted in due course.
Spitfire, produced by 3W Games, uses a similar system to Aces High which started out as a magazine game, supplemented by an expansion called Blue Max. As I recall the two were then combined in a boxed version. This is rather niche in a way in that it focuses very much on the Blitzkrieg era of WW2 including Poland, France, the Battle Of Britain and some of the early air battles over the Balkans. It is good to see coverage of the Polish and French air forces (the latter appear in the Air Force expansion kit) and an expanded early war orbat for the RAF and Luftwaffe. Due to the similarity between this system and that of Air Force it would not be difficult to adapt them to Air Force.
I rather fancy the idea of using Defiants!
There is one missing link in all this retro aerial goodness and I am hoping to be able to rectify this shortly….
2 comments:
Looks like a lot of fun DC. You will have to do a battle report when you play one of the games.
Hello there Bob,
I played Wings a lot back in the day but not Spitfire although I have played its predecessor Aces High. There are plenty of scenarios with it including some solo so I reckon that will be first.
No idea when though!
All the best,
DC
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