To the Skys of Yesteryear: More Wings of War

I love this game!  Wings of War from Fantasy Flights Games is a fast, simple to learn but hard to master game of aerial combat during World War I.  For movement, each plane selects three movement cards per turn to use in order; one of the best mechanisms I have seen for simultaneous movement.  The cards are selected from a movement deck and each plane uses a different deck depending on its capabilities.

Line up the arrow with the line on the card and move.

 Recently I was challenged by Honorable Son #5 over the skies of World War I Europe.  He was going to try out his new UFAG C.1, a two-seater reconnaissance plane escorted by an Albatross D.V. 

 The UFAG C.1 and the colorfully painted Albatross D.V.

The allies, played by yours truely, would have a Sopwith Camel and a Spad XIII.

The Sopwith is on the left and the Spad on the right

The Hansa-Brandenburg C.I, also known as UFAG C.1 , was a 2-seater armed single-engine reconnaissance biplane designed by Ernst Heinkel.   The C.I had similarities with the earlier B. 1(Type FD, also designed by Heinkel), including inward-sloping interplane bracing struts. Like other early-war Austro-Hungarian reconnaissance aircraft, such as C-types of Lloyd or Lohner, the Type LDD had a communal cockpit for its crew.

  

The UFAG C.1

The C.I served in the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops in visual- and photographic reconnaissance, artillery observation and light bombing duties from early spring 1916 to the end of World War I. The aircraft had good handling characteristics, and steady introduction of more powerful engines in successive production batches (see below) enabled the improvement of performance and thus the continuing front-line service.

Armament of the type consisted of a free-firing 8 mm (.315 in) Schwarzlose machine gun at the rear for the observer, and at least in some aircraft for the pilot there was also a similar fixed, non-synchronised forward-firing gun in a pod above the top wing. This latter weapon was replaced in later production examples by a synchronised 8 mm (.315 in) Schwarzlose gun on the port side of the fuselage. The normal bomb load for the C.I was 60 kg (130 lb), but some aircraft could carry one 80 kg (180 lb) and two 10 kg (20 lb) bombs.

 Albatross D.V.

 Since it had been a while since we had played, our flying (especially mine) was less than spectacular as we started the game.  The Sopwoth Camel and Spad XIII had several near collisions while the Albatros had difficulty staying near the action.

Another near miss!

  The UFAG C.1 performed admirably, it's rear machine gun reminding the allied planes that it would be difficult to tail unless they got into the rear blindspot caused by the tail.  The allies were being hammered as smoke and rudder malfunctions took a toll on their aircraft.  Unfortunately for Honorable Son #5, a few stray bullets ignited a fire on the Albatros which resulted in a spectacular explosion.  It was then only a matter of time as the two allied aircraft ganged up on the remain two-seater and the pilot of the Spad got his second kill of the day.

 

Yes, the Allies have another near collision!

Wings of War

About a year ago I discovered a fun, easy to learn World War I air combat game called Wings of War. The game combines cards and board game movement into a game of aerial combat. If you want to know how historically accurate is the game - I have no idea and really don't care. It's a fun game.


Airplanes are represented by a single card which is used as a playing piece on any open surface. Each turn the opposing players choose 3 movement cards and reveal their cards in order simultaneously to decide the actions of the airplane they control.


Movement is easy; line up the card with the card or model that represents your plane and just move it to the arrow. Each plane reveals a movement card at the same time and moves.


Different planes use different decks of movement cards to represent their different maneuver capabilities, and a deck of fire cards are used to take into account their fighting effectiveness and to keep track of damage.


Firing is simple - if your target is in range and within the zone of fire, your opponent draws a card from the fire deck.


The card may have 0 damage, any number of hits or other mechanical damage ranging from broken rudders to the plane catching on fire.


Damage cards are kept hidden from your opponent - unless your plane is smoking or on fire! Above I took 1 damage but my rudder was damaged. For the rest of the game I couldn't turn my Spad to the left.

Machineguns a' blazing!

The game has many expansion sets; the basic set comes with 23 different WW I planes. With the box set are also maneuver cards, 2 rulers and 5 gaming boards to organize the cards and keep track of damage.

Game in progress with the first 2 maneuver cards revealed.

There are also pre-painted miniatures designed for the game which are reasonably priced (thank you eBay!). Optional rules add more flavor and make the game more challenging with altitude and tailing.

Trying to get behind him!

Gott in Himmel! He's on my tail!

I mentioned that the game is easy to learn - but it is one of those games that is hard to master! Trying to maneuver so as not to expose yourself to fire while trying to shoot down the other plane or planes is challenging . . . okay, I've only won once! Games take about 30 minutes to play.

Fortunately for the Allies, this German Albatross turned the wrong way.