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WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 9:47 pm
by jack54
Every so often I take a break from the 'monitor' and roll some dice and push counters. I was looking for something with WW1 air combat. I decided to start slow and purchased 'Aces of Valor' $15 PnP solitaire game by Berserker games. Area based random encounters.
I really enjoyed it; lots of fun and it's got me looking forward to some more complexity.
Enter "Bloody April, 1917: Air War Over Arras, France"...by GMT games I'm wait for it to show up in mail this week. Very exciting... more to calculate Wind, Sun Arc, Rate of climb... there's hexs (1 Mile scale)and GMT components.
I almost bought 'Warbirds: Canvas Falcons" which seems to be a very detailed treatment of Individual Aircraft....It's PnP and I didn't want another PnP back to back. In the future I can see me buying that also.
I really hope Matrix looks into some turn based WW1 Air Combat. I may be wrong but I think it would sell. Simulations like 'Rise of Flight' amaze me but unfortunately I can't play them.
Anyway wish me luck... by Thursday or Friday I'm sure I'll be scratching my head looking for another chart. [:D]
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 7:30 am
by aaatoysandmore
If they could only bring this to the PC before I die.
http://www.miniaturemarket.com/table-to ... war-i.html
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:52 am
by lecrop
I love WWI air combat too.
IMHO Warbirds:Canvas Falcons is a very nice and detailed simulation.
Two nice AAR's from Punta de Lanza (in Spanish)
http://www.puntadelanza.net/Foro/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16934&p=424667
http://www.puntadelanza.net/Foro/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16654
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 11:32 am
by CapnDarwin
Dawn Patrol would be awesome as a computer based game. It had lots of depth and a RPG element as well.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 6:38 pm
by Zorch
Going way way back SPI's 1971 game Flying Circus was the first tactical air combat game. It was followed by Spitfire and Foxbat & Phantom.

RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:04 pm
by catwhoorg
Not exactly a board game, but Ace of Aces would make a fun little game online.
Maybe phone based ?
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:19 pm
by Grim.Reaper
This one might have been worth a look, based on a board game, but a little older and does not appear to work on modern operating systems....
http://www.roogames.co.uk/wings.htm
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:47 pm
by LowlyUSMCgrunt
Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol is on steam.
Bought it on steam awhile back.
Fun little game to waste some time with.
I know it is PC game but maybe someone looking for
wwi air combat might be interested.
Sorry if off topic.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 11:30 pm
by Alex777
ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper
This one might have been worth a look, based on a board game, but a little older and does not appear to work on modern operating systems....
http://www.roogames.co.uk/wings.htm
I played it recently running VMWare (a free download) on Windows 7. It worked fine.
Wings Over France is a faithful port of the boardgame. It is 1 of those games that benefits a lot from the computer's ability to handle all of the bookkeeping for you. Recommended.
I would love to see a port to the PC of Bloody April.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 1:30 am
by nicwb
I still own a copy of Avalon Hill's Richtofhen's War - a really great game I played endlessly
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 6:27 am
by Pvt_Grunt
ORIGINAL: nicwb
I still own a copy of Avalon Hill's Richtofhen's War - a really great game I played endlessly
I played this one to death as well. I usually played the British and had the crappy slow bombers which got slaughtered by the twin mg German fighters!
It came with a great manual with lots of extra information and stories.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 7:37 am
by E
ORIGINAL: Alex777
ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper
This one might have been worth a look, based on a board game, but a little older and does not appear to work on modern operating systems....
http://www.roogames.co.uk/wings.htm
I played it recently running VMWare (a free download) on Windows 7. It worked fine.
Appears to still be compatible with my XP.
ORIGINAL: Alex777
Wings Over France is a faithful port of the boardgame. It is 1 of those games that benefits a lot from the computer's ability to handle all of the bookkeeping for you. Recommended.
I may have to rethink that one... I still have the boardgame, but was burned out on it by the time I finished a vassal module of it (
that and the author disappeared while getting permission to release the module).
How about a screencap of the initiative track?
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 8:45 am
by MrRoadrunner
This was my favorite:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2742/wings
I used my plethora of Squad Leader maps to create large battlefields beyond the three maps it came with. Used to have ten to twenty players with one to three planes each. All having a "mission" to accomplish.
Quite fun. In the good OLD days. [:)]
RR
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 9:14 am
by E
What do you mean "OLD" days? (
My copy is not more than two feet away from me right now!)
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 1:13 pm
by Zap
ORIGINAL: nicwb
I still own a copy of Avalon Hill's Richtofhen's War - a really great game I played endlessly
Amazingly simple and fun. I played this repeatedly. DOGFIGHT 1962

RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 4:04 pm
by wodin
Jack Warbirds is excellent.
There is a few AAR's on my blog. Also it comes with a VASSAL module.
Jason
LINK
I will vouch for Wings of Glory..just great fun, plus has some campaign rules out there that really add a roleplay feature and work for solo players.
I know Warbirds and Bloody April designers are trying to find someone to do a PC conversion but having no luck at present. There is a massive gap in the market for a small developer to snap up all these great board games for conversions with AI.
As for Matrix I have approached them with regards to Warbirds and Bloody April on behalf of the designers but got no where sadly.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 4:10 pm
by wodin
Me too..I'd be happy to pay a few quid for new planes as dlc aswell. Also would be cool to have a whole flight in correct colours aswell which is only possible if you buy unpainted planes from Shapeways.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 8:15 pm
by jack54
ORIGINAL: wodin
Jack Warbirds is excellent.
There is a few AAR's on my blog. Also it comes with a VASSAL module.
Jason
LINK
Thanks Jason... Looks like I'll pick that up in the future I'm very impressed with the detail.
It's 'Bloody April' for now...it's a Larger scale less tactical... I hope I like it. Miniatures Market has the Expansion 'Eagle of Lille'. for about $16. (Noble Knights had the game but the expansion was out of stock...MM has the Expansion but Bloody April out of stock.)
Thanks to everyone who posted I enjoyed reading about these games on the Geek.... didn't know how much I missed.[:)]
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 11:23 am
by wodin
jack if the game ever was given the box treatment and I do wish it was it would be a monster and probably pretty darn expensive due to the amount of material that comes with it. Personally I wish someone would step up and help him and Terry Simo get a PC conversion done. If I won the lottery I'd set up a game company specialising in great wargame digital conversions.
RE: WW1 Air combat board games...
Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 12:29 pm
by VPaulus
Le Temps des As (Age of Aces) thaqt came with Vae Victis 117 magazine:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161682/le-temps-des