HoNoToGroABeMo Day Thirty-One: It Is Done
5 years ago
3:56 PM
I picked up (FINALLY) the follow up to WINGS OF WAR: FAMOUS ACES last night, WINGS OF WAR: WATCH YOUR BACK!
-- attribution, Boardgamegeek description.
First of all, the planes are an interesting mix of mediocrity-to-almost good. I like obscure planes so was pleased to see an Austrian plane in the mix, the ULFANG. The DH4 is a huge plane, historically, and I hope this is a harbringer of other giant bombers in the mix, like the Caproni CA42, Handley Page, Gotha and Ilya Mouremetz. I'd like to see more bomber missions.
DH4
The rulebook appears to be identical to the first one, AFAIK from a cursory glance once I got this game home last night. There are now "target cards" (landmarks to photograph and/or bomb, etc.) which appear to draw and play like maneuver cards. I looked for these in the rule book but couldn't find a reference (well, I did get home late, maybe it's there)
Halberstadt DII
In general I like the direction they are going with this design. The designer is growing away from the pure dogfighting in 2 dimensions of the first game and adding some intersting strategic dimensions to the series
Hanriot
The aircraft included is a mix between the commonplace Nieuport and unusual Ulfag.
I suspect that the designer really wanted to get a lot of Italian planes in the game (being Italian!) which created a need to include the Austrians as well. I applaud him for this!
ULFAG C1
The next installment of the series (Burning Drachens) looks very exciting... balloon busting, zeppelins, and anti-aircraft guns. Wings of War is rapidly tumbling BLUE MAX out of my personal top tier of WWI airfighting games-- it's far easier to grasp than Blue Max, not full of needless detail, and possessing a lot of the fun and simplicity of ACE OF ACES without the detail of the earlier flip book system.
Me likes!
"Wings of War - Watch your back!" is the second title in the WoW line and it is again set in World War I.
The box can be played on itself or mixed with "WoW - Famous aces" for larger scenarios. It includes 5 models of planes: the Nieuport 11, Hanriot HD.1 and Halberstadt D.III fighters, together with the British/American DH4 and the Austrian Ufag C.I two-seaters. There are also 4 decks of movement cards, 1 deck of combat cards, rulers, counters and a promo card for the first set depicting an American SPAD XIII.
The rulebook is the same of "Famous aces" and it lists scenarios for each of the two boxes, plus a couple for players who own both of them.
18 airplane cards are for immediate use. A curious plane, useful for more variated scenarios, is the Nieuport 11 of the German Jasta 1, flown in action by Leutnant Gustav Leffers. In the box there are also a few weapon variants for owners of "Famous aces": Scaroni's and Fucini's HD.1 with twin machineguns instead of the single one that was the standard from the factory; a British DH4 with a twin machinegun in the rear arc; a DH4 of the American Expeditionary Force with twin machineguns both on the forward and on the rear arc.
-- attribution, Boardgamegeek description.
First of all, the planes are an interesting mix of mediocrity-to-almost good. I like obscure planes so was pleased to see an Austrian plane in the mix, the ULFANG. The DH4 is a huge plane, historically, and I hope this is a harbringer of other giant bombers in the mix, like the Caproni CA42, Handley Page, Gotha and Ilya Mouremetz. I'd like to see more bomber missions.
DH4
The rulebook appears to be identical to the first one, AFAIK from a cursory glance once I got this game home last night. There are now "target cards" (landmarks to photograph and/or bomb, etc.) which appear to draw and play like maneuver cards. I looked for these in the rule book but couldn't find a reference (well, I did get home late, maybe it's there)
Halberstadt DII
In general I like the direction they are going with this design. The designer is growing away from the pure dogfighting in 2 dimensions of the first game and adding some intersting strategic dimensions to the series
Hanriot
The aircraft included is a mix between the commonplace Nieuport and unusual Ulfag.
I suspect that the designer really wanted to get a lot of Italian planes in the game (being Italian!) which created a need to include the Austrians as well. I applaud him for this!
ULFAG C1
The next installment of the series (Burning Drachens) looks very exciting... balloon busting, zeppelins, and anti-aircraft guns. Wings of War is rapidly tumbling BLUE MAX out of my personal top tier of WWI airfighting games-- it's far easier to grasp than Blue Max, not full of needless detail, and possessing a lot of the fun and simplicity of ACE OF ACES without the detail of the earlier flip book system.
Me likes!
