Age of Dogfights WWI

                 

A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a preview of a Kickstarter game, about WWI aircraft combat. What caught my eye was the game pieces weren't just ordinary wargame tokens on a map, but had flight stands like a miniature game. So i dug deeper, and was exited to learn that it was being made by a local publisher right here in Serbia. What I found about it online looked promising, so i decided to give it a try. 

The game already has 5 expansions, covering far more than any other WWI aerial game I ever played.

The main box is standard size for a wargame, while most of the expansions are half the size, with the Ottoman one being the smallest. The box art on each is very pleasing to the eye, with a representation of different planes from the game art with the games unique triangle system. Even the insert inside all of the boxes is nice, showing a piece of the gamemap with some planes in action. The main game, along with all the expansions also provides you with storage boxes for different components. You get separate boxes for all the flight stands, damage markers, and the different aircraft. I'm honestly not a big fan of these boxes, as they are too small to keep all of one nations craft inside, while some nations have too few pieces to justify the use of a whole box. The bigger nations will have to be separated between several boxes, which we didn't like. Instead we decided to use a wooden box for storage.

We will have to alter the box slightly in order for it to hold the Ottomans and the 1920 pieces. With all the goodies that we since found out were going to be a part of the WWII variant, a stark realization dawned on us.. We're gonna need a bigger box.

After opening the main box and sorting all the components, you realize that there are stickers in there. And I mean A LOT of them. Remember all those expansions? Yup, even more. There are stickers for all the planes, balloons, airships, dice, height stands, storage boxes for individual nations, and some for the film strips representing the bombing/photo recon areas, clouds and ships. It was a good decision in my opinion, as it keeps the costs down while still giving you an amazing looking product. To those that want to play straight out of the box, fear not, you can prepare the minimum components to try out the game in just a few minutes. The whole set (with all the expansions) is going to take a few hours to set up so be ready for that. There is an instruction leaflet inside the box, follow it to see how to make all the different components of the game. I don't remember the last time I read an instruction leaflet, but this one is useful, as it explains how to place the stickers, how to assemble the flight stands, how to prepare the damage markers etc..

While on the subject of stickers, the game gives you 2 spare ones to try out before going through the rest (along with a few other spare components. How cool is that?) They are all of good quality. I had to remove a few as I placed them on a wrong plastic piece. There was no tearing or crumpling of the material, and it sticks to the new base just as well. The bases for the planes are slightly bigger than the sticker so keep that in mind to leave a margin of about 1mm when placing them. 

Some of the base game components

The base game has planes for Germany, France and Britain, with each side getting fighters, scouts, light bombers, bombers and float planes. 

The main expansion adds many more nations to the game, like Usa, Russian empire, the Kingdom of Serbia, Austrohungary, Bulgaria, and Italy. This one also adds barrage and observer balloons for the major nations, airships for Britain, and anti-air defences. 

                   

Example of the balloon net from this expansion. Such a nice detail with dynamic rules

                              

                                           

This one adds more planes for France, Germany and Britain, but mostly just repaints of the ones you had in the base game. What it allows is for the player to fly a whole squadron of more notable planes, unlike the base game which allowed only 3 of each. Sounds boring? Its not. In fact, I'd very much like a supplement like this that adds more bombers, as I feel that just 2 Zeppelin Staakens, or Gothas for example doesn't allow for an epic raid on a grand map as it should.

                             

 

This one gives almost all of the nations some extra planes that we didn't get in the previous expansions. Loving the Staakens.. Also Japan and Canada appear.

This is the smallest of the expansions, and only adds the Ottoman empire with its 12 planes. Most are German types, with one French as well. Strangely enough we also get a multicolored storage box unlike the previous expansions.

This one was the last to come out. Everything in it is based on the post war period, where the alliances might have shifted somewhat. That's why this one doesn't have black and white pieces for stickers, instead being transparent. The purple parts in the image are meant as markers when playing multi-national sides in scenarios, to show which side they're on for the game. Even as being an expansion, it's not really meant to be played with the previous sets, because of advanced stats these planes have. Higher speeds, higher ceiling, more machineguns and more agile than before, these machines nicely portray the advancing technology after the war. Among its scenarios there is even one that jumps the timeline a little with partisans during WWII, but using planes from this box. 

Alliance markers, meant to be placed on flight stands

The game pieces all have amazing art on them. The background is a sorta cloudy color which matches well with the game board. The planes and balloons are well drawn, big enough for an average wargamer to figure out what it represents and with enough room left to show all the different abilities and stats of the craft such as identification number, speed, agility, max height level, weapons etc. They don't show the name of the plane, you can use the command panels for that. The scale of the planes feels just right, with each piece representing 1 craft. My estimate is that its about 2mm scale. Even the shooting distances feel right, unlike for example Wings of glory that uses oversized models with all manoeuvers and distances feeling far too short in comparison. With such a small scale its easy to get a dozen aircraft and other pieces on the board or even more and not feel overcrowded, again unlike the game mentioned earlier where playing anything more than just one plane per player is too much. 

Just a selection of a few of our more favorite craft that we like to take for a spin.

The game and its many expansions come with so many different models, you would be scratching your head trying to find something missing. German airships are not in the game for example, but as the author says in the main expansion, it is too big for the scale the game represents. Maybe a three part sticker, on three separate bases? And just to give some idea about the sheer number of planes, the cards on the bottom of the image are stats for the planes, with each having several pieces in the game. Bear in mind the cards for the Ottomans and the 1920 are not shown in the image. 

But since we're on the subject, while having so many different craft for most nations, you will never get to play them all, having on average 6 per player in a normal game, and maybe 12-15 per player in a grand battle. Again, we would love to get another expansion for additional bombers, with maybe the German airship, and the flying aircraft carrier, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Even without it, this game feels more than complete. 

The command panels hold all the information, such as a numerical id of each plane (2 or 3 per panel, of the same type), remaining ammo for each weapon, plus bombs, camera film (for scouts) and the number of times you can force the engine to go faster before it brakes down. It also has a depiction of the year when it was first introduced, and a points cost (some aircraft have two values, one for when its bomb laden and the other when its empty). We love this, as it allows for easy scenario creation, even if the player has little to no knowledge about WWI planes. Here you can mark the rookie pilots and aces with the green and red circle markers provided. I love how each nations plane is numerically marked so you can easily track it during gameplay. Also the style for the id is unique to each nation which is great, making it easier to sort everything and recognize different nations while on the board.

Now, something that I felt  was a missed opportunity, the reverse side of the panels is blank. It would have been amazing instead to use that space to give the player some historical background about the actual plane, with a photo, and some additional information. I only point that out as the rulebook, and the booklets in all the expansions are filled with historical facts, which just goes to show the level of effort the author has put into this labor of love. Since I got the game, I met the authors, and have realised that Predrag isn't just making a game to sell, instead he has far more knowledge on the subject of aircraft than any game designer has on the subject his game covers. In our correspondence he told me about his plan to include something like this for the upcoming WWII game. I personally absolutely love this, as I feel this helps introduce younger audiences to periods of history they may not have explored previously. However I also realize that in today's market instant gratification is far more important than feeding the thirst for knowledge, and that the average player just wants to play something straight out of the box, disregarding the extra effort someone might put into bringing history to life. 

Right, now back on topic.. The plastic pieces for the aircraft come in black and white, meant for the axis side and the entente. The 1920 expansion has them transparent as the postwar period had altered alliances. The hexagonal ones are meant for the fighters, scouts and balloons, and as a base for the larger ones that go for all the different bombers and airships. You also get the same hexagonal pieces but semi transparent meant for the flight stands. Bigger planes are first placed on a thin plastic piece made to match the sticker shape then attached to the hex base. The game arrives with yellow tape for this purpose, but I used super glue, works the same. Fair warning, the glue takes a bit to do its job on the plastic, so take your time, hold it in place so it doesn't move around (like one German scout did for me). There are also plastic sliders for the ammo and engine state. These go on the control panels during play. They are a bit too big, the same could have been done with thinner card markers.

Poor German misaligned plane..

The transparent film foil is used for bombing targets, photographing targets, ships and anti air defences. Gray color for the axis side, green color for the entente. Both colors are transparent enough to allow you to see the movement dots and triangles underneath. Having either a full color drawing of even a 3d model of the target/ship would prevent the plane from going over it,missing its movement lines in the process. Again it keeps the overall cost down while being fully functional. You also get semi transparent plastic clouds, that allow you to see the map underneath. They even get height stickers so you know when you are going through or over them. Such a nice detail, I don't remember seeing it before in games.

Just an example of the foils used

Some of the clouds

The mapboard is around 70cm x 63cm, fits nicely on a smaller table, but you will need some space around it for the panels, and the rest of the pieces. Double sided, one side has the countryside while the other is a sea map. The whole map is made of 3 pieces that fold out. It doesn't really matter how you put them together, but you could match the sides. There is a small compass on each side to help with this. The map is a bit blurry to represent what the pilots in the sky would be able to make out of the ground below. The authors offer an additional map set as an expansion. Its the same as the one you get in the base game, it just allows for a larger surface. It would be amazing if any other map sets get made, with other terrain features on them, such as a desert, winter, coastal, islands etc... I have spoken with the authors about this, and for now WWI will not be getting a new map, but such ideas are very much possible in the WWII game that's coming out soon. It makes more sense to have such maps in a WWII setting given its many theaters. Its going to be the same scale so feel free to use them between the two games. 

The rulebook is well laid out, its full of visual examples and explanations of various elements of the game. Just 15 pages gives you all the rules, several scenarios, and many historical facts for each subject that it covers (my favorite is from one of the expansions, explaining the first anti air fire during the war). This is then expanded upon in the main expansion with rules for barrage and observation balloons, airships etc. The other expansions have little to no rules to add. The wording of the rules is good, leaves nothing uncovered. The aerobatics rules feel a little daunting to be honest, and we still haven't tried them out, even after a dozen or so plays. Luckily there are a few cheat sheets on Board game geek that explain this in more detail. The rulebook is also available in several languages, while I'm working on a Serbian translation myself. 

I was surprised with the attention to details in the rules, as they cover many different weapons (anywhere between 1-4 machineguns, cannon, offensive, defensive, fixed, rotating..), target bombing or breakthrough, recon, torpedoes, anti air, anti air nets on the balloons that don't remove the whole thing when shot, instead only one balloon remains, and it gets dragged down a level because of the chains pulling on it. There is the effect of wind and sun, all kinds of aerobatics, the gyroscopic effect, gun jamming, etc.. With all that one would expect the rules to be at least 50 pages long and impossible to learn, but its really the opposite, making it easy to learn but hard to master. The box did have “MCMD” written on it, like a promise to the player. It stands for “Minimum complexity, maximum diversity”, and boy does it deliver. I can't remember seeing most of these details in other games, weapons would usually be abstracted by tokens or cards, aerobatics would just be immelman or split s. Anti air would just be straight up shooting if you get near, no distinction weather the plane was high or low.. As we were used to Wings of glory I mentioned earlier, these rules were not only a light at the end of a very dark tunnel, but a hand pulling you out of it, than slamming the door to said tunnel shut for good.

Speaking of the game mechanics, the triangle system is original. It makes it easy to fly around the map not needing any cards, scripted moves, or any detailed bookkeeping. Its no surprise, as its been around for some 25 years, constantly being worked and improved upon by the author. There are no markers on the board apart from the bomb markers when you drop them, so there's no clutter at all. The planes move either straight ahead, or turn 60 degrees to the left or right following the dotted lines. The amount of steps that you can move is your speed (to that you than add the blue or green die, to try to get more speed, or end up losing some/damage the engine). Some craft like heavy bombers or any craft that moves at least 10 steps in its turn has a limited turning radius. Everything else can make as many turns as its agility value permits (which can be modified with the gyroscopic effect). This is somewhat different when performing complex aerobatics. Also gaining or losing height changes your speed for the turn. Ascending makes the plane slower for the turn, for the amount it went up, and descending makes it faster, for the amount it went down. There are no colissions allowed, you can fly over or below another plane, even stop in the same place as long as you are at different heights. Again, that was a major issue in Wings of glory whenever we play. At the end of the move you can tilt the plane up or down to show the altitude shift in the next turn. I love this, visually its unique, as even when playing with miniatures the stock models don't have that option unless you alter them with magnets yourself. The author mentioned they were considering the option to tilt from side to side, but I don't feel like its missing in this game.

Tilt compensator in action

Shooting is performed from 1, 2, or 3 dots away from the target (depending on the weapon). Depending on the angle of attack you will be using column A of B for mg, or A,B, and C for cannons. You roll 2d6, add a +1 for each additional weapon being used, and compare the results in the table. Rookie and ace pilots also make a difference here. The results could be a jam, miss, damage or destroyed. Damage result then rolls an extra damage die to get one of 4 possible results (to the wings, tail, weapons or the engine), with each having its own effect on the plane. Any further damage of any kind just destroys the aircraft. So, at most, a plane has 2 health points, thus not needing 3 hours to shoot one down. The expansions have some craft with a bit of armor that modifies the roll further. Make no mistake here, combat is deadly, and even a heavy bomber can be brought down in one lucky shot. It doesn't make large bomber raids any less exiting.  

There are 4 kinds of damage markers, that you place on top of the plane. Personally I'm not a fan of how that looks as it covers the art and stats, but it also works well when placed beneath the base of the plane. Shooting at balloons and airships works a little differently, having its own charts to look at, and some special rules as well. And there is also anti air fire that is lethal if you are low enough, but loses its power as you climb, ultimately being able to fly above its maximum range in a fighter, but not so much in a bomber.

There is a ton of strategy involved when planing and executing your moves. There is a long burst rule, to allow you to shoot again in the same activation if you miss or just damage the opponent but it greatly increases the odds of a jam. You can only use it if both planes are flying in the same direction. It feels like the engine damage could have caused something like a smoke trail, and that could prevent the attacker from using the long burst from behind. You can easily houserule this by making some sort of a marker to clip on the flight stand. We though the fire markers from Wizkids pocket models would work, but they don't hold the flight stand too well. Also we like to treat the weapon damaged result as the pilot being hurt which would work well with the campaign rules (works just the same, just imagine the pilot being too hurt to fly and shoot).

Wizkids damage markers with bluetac

The scenarios are many (with all the expansions), covering either symmetric or asymmetric encounters. Each has a little introduction story to explain what is going on. You can also make up your own with the point costs provided, and years of introduction making this an amazing sandbox above all else. Some of the scenarios in the expansions have a sort of range for some of the fighters, which was done in a weird way, allowing the plane to do everything as usual, just not over a certain line on the map, instead of limiting its time in game. This has been greatly upgraded for the WWII variant. There is one scenario that uses a double map (also available from the publisher) for a grand battle. The game also comes with solo play rules so you are not missing out if no opponent is available. We haven't tried them out yet to be fair, as Zoey is always itching for a duel in the sky, and I feel obliged to answer in kind.

Since first reviewing this game on Board game geek, I made a campaign variant , with some minor additions like an different ace skills table, where you note down the pilots name and his plane, and keep a tally of the planes he shot down, to gain xp and gradually gain cumulative skills that make the pilot more dangerous. We felt that the Ace rule from the rulebook was far too powerfull, skipping the "I just shot down my fifth enemy" and going straight to Red baron level of deadly. There is also a table when shot down to see if the pilot manages to glide the plane down, crash lands, gets captured, gets injured, or is just killed, along with some house rules for night raids, search lights, landing and taking off (in order to rearm during the game, or land an injured pilot). These will be worked upon to add more results on the tables. 

The grand map is just begging to represent some famous and horrible battle from the period, just by using the components provided (the anti air zone could be an infantry formation attacking, pointy end forwards, or the circle markers could be either tanks, or artillery positions, allowing you even more targets to pick. Just have them move towards the opposite side 1 dot per turn to make them harder to be hit). We might address this in more detail in any future campaign updates.

After playing this with different opponents, I can say the game is a very pleasant experience. Making a narrative scenario is quick and easy. The game covers almost everything you could want from an WWI aerial combat game, with a rules system that is accessible to younger players and veterans alike, while also looking amazing. This has now become our favorite WWI air game. It makes me super excited to see how the authors handle the upcoming WWII variant, and the 2 jet variants after that. 

If I were to make a buying guide for someone looking to get into this game without getting everything all at once, I would have to say get the Main expansion after the base game, as that adds the most new rules, new nations, new components not available in other boxes. Next get Additional aircraft types as that will get new types of planes if you're going for heavy bomber raids. The others aren't as important to start with, with the Important aircraft supplement being the best choice for a second wave of purchases, while the Ottomans can be last. 1920 expansion can be last for completness, or earlier if you are into the inter war period.  

What I didn't like is the mixed nature of the expansions. Its neither here nor there, not focusing on either a year in the war, or a front, or a nation, with the Ottomans and the post war one being exceptions. It doesn't change my opinion in any way as I have them all. Also the rate at which the expansions all came out basically at the same time, really put unnecessary pressure on the author. As a player I scream "I want it all and I want it now!", but as putting extra time into this project may have made other projects suffer, I can't help but feel as if most of the expansions could have been made later down the line, with a few months in between each. 

It has everything I expect from this type of game, and more. Its clearly a labor of love, by an author that will leave a mark on the aerial game market, at least. I love the way how each plane feels different in a unique way, how they treat different types of craft and mechanics, and the sheer diversity of options available while being easy to teach. Its impressive how fluid the system is, and how smoothly it handles multiple aircraft per player, and still manage to last around 90 minutes. Tracking planes and nations during gameplay is brilliant, and the artwork is just eyecandy! The complete set offers little to be desired more, and is the ultimate sandbox for WWI air battles. For all those reasons, and many more, we give it a score of 10/10.