Today we are most exited to show a demo of Forsage games newest Kickstarter project, that just launched. We were lucky to receive a preview copy of this anticipated title.
Please note, as this is a preview, some components might change in the final version, and there might be some components not shown here (stretch goals).
First up, it's the Americans. 20 plane tokens and a storage box. As with the WWI game, the allies get the white colored bases for their stickers. This demo set came with all the stickers already in place for all the planes, dice and flight stands.
The main fighters here are the P-51D Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-38 Lightning. Then you get the not often seen P-61 Black widow as a heavy fighter. B-25 Mitchel is the bomber for this set, along with the mighty B-17 Flying fortress. Lastly there is the RB-26C Invader as the unarmed photo recon craft.
The United kingdom gets their own 20 models, along with a storage box.
The numbers and types are the same as with the Americans. The fighters are the Spitfire mk.IX, Hawker Tempest mk.II and the Gloster Meteor mk.III. The Beaufighter mk.VI is the heavy fighter, while the Blenheim mk.IV and the Avro Lancaster are the bombers. The Mosquito PR mk.34 is the unarmed photo recon plane.
The Germans also get 20 models in this set, along with their own storage box.
The fighters are the Me109G and Fw190 a8, with the Me 262 being the third. Me 410 is the heavy fighter, He 177 and Ju 188 being the bombers. Ju 388L is the photo recon plane for the Germans.
The first draft of the control panels were a bit different. Each nation had its flag and historical name, and specifically Germany had a swastika flag and was named Nazi Germany, which some players had issues with. Some of the suggestions were to switch to marking instead of flags, like in this version, and we think looks good. But having just Germany or Japan as a name, feels unfair to the people of said countries who weren't part of the atrocities. Our suggestion was to use army branch names instead of countries, so the end result would be Luftwaffe, USAF, RAF, IJN etc.
The authors have also included a sample of the expansion for the Pacific theater. I assume this means it will be the first expansion?
The sample includes a control panel for A6M Zero for the Empire of Japan (3 aircraft) and the Wildcat for USA (also 3 aircraft)
It wasn't really necessary as they are not part of the main game, but it is greatly appreciated. In fact, the first play-through we did was using these models. And we felt like these two were fairly balanced, easily played after the WWI game.
As for the rest of the components, some of the stuff is same as before, some has changed in some way, and some are brand new.
The map is same as before, double sided, three piece foldable, with one side being a countryside, and the other a seaside.
The task zones, ground or ship for recon and bombing, and the aaa. Same as before, just a new color
We have already tried the ships and the ground targets in a few scenarios. The aaa will have to wait until we receive the complete rules, as the shooting mechanic has changed.
Then we have the sun and wind markers, and the circle markers for aces,rookies as before. Other circle markers are for aggressive and defensive flying. The tilt compensators in the image are the same as before, but I'm told they are about to change as well to fit onto the new tilting mechanism.
The clouds are now in a darker material, meant to represent shadows the clouds make on the ground below. They are also on higher altitudes than before, so we will have to wait for the rulebook to see if they work in a different way.
This is a new component, but the rules for this have existed in the WWI game. These cubes are markers for the movement steps the plane made in the current turn. Its shows the players the difference in speed between the attacker and the defender. If the difference is too great no shooting is allowed. In the WWI game this optional rule was often overlooked as the planes were moving in similar speeds with a handfull of exceptions. Here it will be of a greater use, as you are now more likely to have a greater difference in speeds, between the jet engines and the ability to reduce speed. Can't wait to see the full rules for these, I have a feeling our bombing raid game would have gone much differently.
The damage markers are now transparent with a colored sticker in the middle showing the type of damage. There is also a new type of marker, meant for the bigger craft as can be seen in the image bellow. The main reason for this, I suspect, is the fact that some bombers are able to take 2 different damage markers and still fly, as depicted by their armor dots in a rectangle. These markers already feel much nicer than before.
I would have loved to see engine damage causing smoke to come out. On one hand, with transparent markers one could easily make smoke trails out of a dark gray film foil (the color the Axis ground targets were made in the previous game) than just attach to the back of the engine damage marker. On the other hand, as there are no long bursts in this game, being engulfed in your opponents smoke trail could just be a penalty to hit him? Even if nothing like that appears in the final game, I'll still make a few markers like that, it feels like it would look great to have planes zipping about with smoke trailing behind them.
The photo markers got a new graphic, but they still work the same.
The bombs are a little different. Now the plane has to drop all the bombs (or rather just the one marker it has) at a target. Each panel has information on how many bombs the plane can have. This is represented by the numbered tokens. They all work the same, its just the points you are awarded, that are different. Its not the same being hit by a Mustang with its #1 and being leveled by #8 from a B-17.
The yellow drop markers are fuel, or more precisely external fuel racks. Some planes have the option to pick either bombs or fuel rack to carry underneath. This is one of the new additions to the game, and it feels so real.
Having a plane carry internal or external weight (bombs/fuel) will make it either lose speed or agility, unable to perform aerobatics. I'm not sure of the details yet, until the rulebook is complete, but I very much like how this sounds. However I hope the authors will add a reminder for this detail, on the control panels, or instead have it on a separate card reminder.
The last bit is the mission marker. This is a multipurpose marker, that only a few planes will be able to carry, but I feel that its going to add so much narrative. It represents either paratroopers ready to jump out, some essential supplies for the troops on the ground (like new red berets the British airborne "received" in the Bridge too far movie), an agent being dropped behind enemy lines, or maybe even an in-flight pick up from the ground.
The control panels have changed a bit. They are currently missing the service years and the point costs, both of which I'm sure will be present in the final release. There is a few new details, like the new colored dice for speed, a new type of maneuver, endurance..Durability was present in the WWI game on 2 planes.
The red spaces are meant for the fixed weapons, same as before, but some aircraft can have a different firepower factor when they reach a certain level of ammo expenditure (having for example the cannons run dry before the machine guns). This is denoted by an * followed by a number. We absolutely love this.
The full throttle is slightly different, as some aircraft limit the maximum boost that can be gained when using the green die.
As can be seen the bombers no longer have ammo for their defensive fire, and any defensive fire arcs are marked on the panels. This is a big change, as the average bomber can now fire 360 degrees, with the added detail of different factors depending on the angle of attack. So, if the enemy is coming at you from a higher altitude, you use the number above the line. If the attack is coming from the same altitude use the number inside the line, and if the attack is coming from below, use the number under the line. To the left of the diagram, there is the armament data. We think that the Flexible: up to # is not necessary, as it just shows the greatest possible factor the plane can have.
The dice went through a big change. The basic shooting dice are still 2d6, but their mechanic is different. The solo play die is the same as before. The Damage die has changed a bit, and one of the sides (the weapon damage) is now 1/2 the firepower factor instead of just no more shooting. The speed dice went through so much overhaul, that instead of just 2 we now have 5 of them. The green one (boost) is reduced compared to before (and I promise you won't miss the +5 speed when you see how fast these planes are going). The blue one from WWI has split into 4 different types. The darkest blue is just like the blue from WWI (-1,0,+1 etc..). Than the lighter one has more negative modifiers an so on, with the lightest die having up to -5,-6 modifiers. This does take a little getting used to. The planes are at least twice as fast as before, so most of the time you will be using a negative modifier die.
I admit I was worried at first, when Predrag (one of the authors) told me that the map will stay the same. I feared that planes would just zip past each other and fly out of the map. These negative modifier dice allow planes to reduce speed and stay in the game. Just keep in mind that the maximum turning radius is now also different, so no more turning on a dime.
The only issue I find with the current dice, is with the coloring. I feel that the first two have an almost identical color, making them hard to distinguish in the heat of the action. There is also the "speed indicator" marking along each side, making this a non-issue for the color blind.
The fuel counters, and the larger turn counter, are brand new to the game. The fuel counters will indicate how much fuel each aircraft on the control panel has left. These will work great with scenarios (even custom ones), and will let the player know how much longer his planes can stay in the fight, or when some of them reach bingo fuel and must turn tail and head for home.
To explain in more detail, each control panel has this new stat called endurance, which in the amount of fuel it has. This can be extended somewhat with external fuel canisters. Each scenario you play will tell you where the action is taking place, and these counters are the perfect way to do it. So if playing the Battle of Britain for example, the German fighters will have to use up a significant amount of their fuel to reach the action, and will have considerably less time available to stay in the fight before they have to get back (so no staying in the game until the counter reaches 0 fuel). Compared to them, the British will have much less distance to fly before they reach the enemy, so will start the scenario with much more fuel, and can stay in the fight longer.
When designing your own scenarios, this mechanic will have you picking the aircraft with a longer range. Still this is an optional rule. We sure will be using it every time, as we feel that it brings another very real and historical factor to look into when playing, and in such a way that it takes no more than a few seconds to turn the dial after each turn. This was a concept in the WWI game, but was done in a weird way, with a line the planes can't cross, but still be able to stay on board the whole time. I hope the final rules will give the players some idea when its a good time to turn tail and head home, which should also be different depending on the location where the battle is happening.
The fuel and turn counters work together with the new approach panels (I hear these will change in the final game). These now have numbers at the bottom, to count down when that group of planes will arrive on the board. Maybe they took off from a more distant airfield, either way, it will take them some time to reach the action, which will take away some of their fuel. We tried this in our Bombing raid scenario. There I was overthinking, and though that maybe having the extra fighters arrive after just 4 turns would be too soon, and waiting for them for 6 turns would see them miss all the action.
The flight stands are somewhat different. There is now 14 different heights in total. However these don't seem to be compatible with the WWI stands. Plus these now bring in a new mechanic, the side tilt. Each numbered group will have at least 2 stands for the new tilt (apart from the LL-low level one).
Just an example of the side tilt. It is meant to be used when the plane finishes its movement steps for the round in a turn, and it prevents the plane from starting its next activation by turning the other way in the first step. Also when shooting at a target that is not in the same position (tilted the same way) there is a negative modifier to hit the opponent. Just visually, this looks amazing, but having rules for how it impacts the game is even better.
This card reminder now has more information than just the basic shooting chart. I hope that the final version could also have the damage chart, and any other tiny rules a player could easily forget.
First up is the new turning radius, depending on the speed for the turn. Now the aircraft can make consecutive turns when flying up to 8 steps in a turn. 9-12 will require at least one straight step between (unlike the WWI game where this was a case if a plane flew 10+ steps or had limited agility due to its size). Fly 13+ steps in a turn and you will need at least 2 straight steps in between.
The to hit chart is new. Now a plane first rolls 1d6 to see if it hits the target. The A column is used when firing straight from behind the target, and anything else is the B column. These feel slightly too good, as all our testing had just 1 plane miss (and that's not 1 per game, but 1 in total). We feel like the A column should be at least 3+ to hit instead of just 2+, and the B column should be 5+ to hit instead of just 4+. As there will be rules for rookies and aces (having -1 or +1 to hit), and something called aggressive and cautious possibly having more modifiers on the to hit chart or the firing results.
Then there is the Firing result table. If you hit your target, you then roll 2d6, add the result together, add to that the firepower factor of the attacker, and deduct the amount of armor points the target has. If the total is 6 or less, there is no effect, 7-10 you roll the damage die and 11+ is destroyed. This chart also feels way too powerful, as all our test games had just 3 planes damaged in total (from maybe 30 planes that took part), and all others that were hit, got downed in just one turn of shooting, with maybe 1-2 results of unaffected in all those games. We felt like the destroyed result should be at least 13+.
This is the back of the box, and it shows some of the planed expansions for the game. This time the expansions are based on each theater of war with specific planes and models available in each. From writing on Bgg, there was talk of new map boards, like a desert, of a winter one. It would be great if those would include a sea map with a large island in the middle, and a sea map with a transition to land, like a beach, or cliffs (or both, as this can be made with just one double sided foldable map piece and added to the current map).
The campaign also mentions a few micro expansions, like extra heavy bombers, extra fighter types for models that had 5+ different types during the war.
We very much like what we see in this demo set, and have enjoyed immensely playing with it, even without the complete rulebook. We made a few scenarios, a few of which will be available in the coming articles, with comments on the planes used, and how some of the rules worked in practice.
We will be picking up all the shown expansions, plus any new maps if they come out, plus most of the micro expansions. I was one of the players that was crying about not having more than just 2 or 3 heavy bombers of a certain type, and having extra planes is always a bonus.
This WWII version of the amazing Age of dogfights system, is even greater than before with the addition of some new rules and mechanics that add even more realism to the game without bogging down gameplay. The previous WWI game doesn't suffer for it, it just doesn't need fuel counters, a detailed shooting mechanic, speed markers, and the expending of ammo for some of the weapons, to name a few.
I can't wait to see how the authors handle some rules and aircraft that have been announced.
Here is the link if you want to check out the campaign
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