Whats Wings of War board game like?

[Willi Von Klugerman]

So whats the board game like?Is it simple to play?Is it lots of fun?How do you play it?

[Ric Walters]

Originally Posted by Willi Von Klugerman

So whats the board game like?Is it simple to play?Is it lots of fun?How do you play it?

Here is a quote of the summation from the Boardgame Geek page for the game.

-"Wings of War is a game series which merges card and board game mechanics to recreate aerial combat. The first series of Wings of War games focus on the "knights of the air" age, World War I, portraying the abilities of the fighting planes of this period.

Airplanes are represented by a single card which is used as a playing piece on any open surface; the players choose and play simultaneously movement cards to decide the actions of the airplane they control. Different planes use different decks of movement cards to represent their different maneuver capabilities, and different deck of "Fire" card are used to take into account their fighting effectiveness and to keep track of damage.

Each Wings of War set is a complete game for 2 to 4 players which may be combined with additional sets, or with other copies of the same set, to play larger games. For that purpose, 23 planes with different colors are included in each box. Each one is depicted after accurate historical documentation.

Wings of War - Famous aces is the first set of the WWI collection. It includes 5 models of planes: the Spad XIII, Albatros D Va, Sopwith Camel, Fokker Dr1, Sopwith Triplane. Each one was flown by an ace: between them Baracca, von Richtofen, Rickenbacker, Fonk, Olieslagers, Bakers. There are also 4 decks of movement cards, 1 deck of combat cards, rulers, counters and a promo card of the second set, Wings of War - Watch your back!, depicting an Austrian two-seater Ufag C.I."-

Ric

[Zoren]

Wings of War is an awesome game to play. It is simple to play but does require some skill to master, if that makes sense.

The game play and rules are easy to follow. It allows you to get up and running quickly and allows you to apply the optional rules as you see fit with your skill level. When you add the mini's to the game, you get more of a 3D feel to the game.

Gameplay starts with picking your plane and the cards that show you the moves that plane is allowed to do. You start out picking 3 cards for how you want the plane to move. You pick the order, move 1, move 2, move 3. Place them face down. When everybody is ready, you place your first move card in front of your plane and follow the line. Once everybody has done that, you resolve any shooting using the supplied rulers. If planes are within range of shots, you draw a damage card. Apply damage like fire/smoke/etc...

If still healthy enough to fly, you place move 2 in front of your plane. Follow the line, resolve damage, apply damage (if any), then repeat for move 3.

After move 3 is done (damage etc...), you start the process all over till either all enemy planes are toast or you are.

The game really comes alive when you add some real life to it. We found that if you just played the game, you basically would play to the death as you didn't lose anything if your plane was shot down. So to make it more interesting, we actually create a pilot and allow them skills for the missions they fly. Shoot down 5 planes, you become an ace. So now it was more to your advantage to live to fight another day.

I hope that helps. There are a few groups that post more information on the web about the game and talk about giving pilots special skills.

[sightreader]

Originally Posted by Willi Von Klugerman

So whats the board game like?Is it simple to play?Is it lots of fun?How do you play it?

Wings of War is a card based game. There is a card with an image of your airplane that you put on the table to show its location (or you can use a miniature). You then choose from a selection of arrow cards which show how your card/miniature moves.



There are alignment indicators that help you correctly orient the arrow card to your airplane then advance it to the end of the arrow. Once your mini/airplane card is moved, you return the arrow card back into your hand.

To keep the planes with the better selection of arrows from winning every time, you plan three moves at a time, creating a lot of unpredictability by the end of those three turns.



If your plane is pointing at an enemy card, you use a ruler to determine how many hit cards he draws. The hit cards then determine the damage you've inflicted.

It doesn't get much more elegant than Wings of War!

[Desaix]

I agree, this game has an excellent game design : it is simple, elegant and very enjoyable...
I found it better to be played in the deluxe version with the miniatures and the game mats... It adds rules for altitude and has way more flavor than the original version with cards...

[Kirk]

I'm really interested in Wings of War but I'm wondering if it's a true wargame an old timer wargamer will like or is it more of a "lite" wargame? Do the aircraft perform differently enough that one will notice differences? How much detail is there? Can guns jam? Are there clouds? Are there unique rules for certain aircraft, i.e. Fokker DVII's hanging on their propeller or SE-5's that can fire their Lewis gun upwards? I'm attracted by the color and presentation of the game, but I'm wondering if having played WWI aviation wargames like Richthofen's War and Dawn Patrol will leave me disappointed in the gameplay itself.

[dglewwe]

The big difference, imo, between WoW and those you mentioned (RW and DP) is the turn order: rather than sequential, movement in WoW is preplotted (3 turns in advance, iirc) which makes it a game of outguessing your opponent (-similar to Blue Max/Canvas Eagles) rather than one of reaction.

Different strokes: I find the paper-rock-scissors flavor not to my liking insofar as it hits wide of the mark of what I believe pilots did/do...The lag time involved in preplotting just doesn't mix with flying/dogfighting for me, that's all...but since the subject is games and games=fun (imo), then it's a matter of what's fun to the individual. I find Nuclear War, for example (another preplotting cardgame), to be lots of fun --so there really isn't a problem with the gameplay itself.

[Kirk]

That's not what I'm referring to though. I've played aviation board games where you move sequentially and ones where you plot and then move simultaneously. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about whether there's sufficient detail to engage an old wargamer. In other words, is Wings of War more like Dawn Patrol or more like the old Milton Bradley game Dogfight! I had as a kid. Dogfight! had little planes on sticks and a cool looking board and was a fun "lite" wargame for kids. Also, I consider games like Axis & Allies Miniatures to be "lite" wargames as well. They're OK, but not detailed enough for me.

[sightreader]

Originally Posted by Kirk

I'm talking about whether there's sufficient detail to engage an old wargamer.

I would say it's on the "lite" side. The main expression of aircraft differences is in the arrows themselves: either sharper turns for maneuverability or longer arrows for speed. They may also limit the supply of certain arrows to reduce how many you can do in a row (since you're plotting 3 moves at once).

Anyway, at such a level, there isn't much to differentiate many types of aircraft. Energy isn't really modeled, although there is an altitude system which is pretty much handled "offline": you do a certain move, then you have a number to keep track of.

As far as strategic depth is concerned, by your third blind move your plane's actions are pretty much random, and it's not infrequent to have planes flying off the table or doing ridiculous things relative to each other.

[Fokker Ace]

It's lite. Period.

Enjoy it for what it is or it won't be what you want.