Wings of War: Battle over the Trenches

Last night I ran Wings of War for some fast WWI air combat action. We first played a quick dogfight to get everyone up to speed on the rules. Afterward, we played the first mission in the Knights of the Air campaign system.

Mission 1: Battle Over The Trenches: Each side reveals the newest weapon in their arsenal – the airplane – and attempts to seize the initiative. The side that wins goes on the offensive.

Type: Dogfight

Sorties: 2+

Victory Conditions: Mission Points. At the end of each sortie, calculate each side’s Mission Points. The side with the most points wins that sortie. After all sorties have been flown, the side that has the most victories wins the mission.

Fallback: Replay

Setup: Mission should be played length wise on a 4’x6’ table. Each side has a 24 inch deployment zone. The trenches begin 24 inches in from both ends of the table. This leaves 24 inches of No-man’s Land in the center of the table.

Below, MikeA and BillC played Die Fliegertruppen, setting up two Albatross DIIIs in the nearer (eastern) section of the table.



Brian and Indo flew a pair of Aéronautique Militaire Nieuport 17s, seen in the farther (western) zone.



Mike and Bill flew in a loose formation westwards, looking to scrap with their French counterparts.



Mike and Bill turned south, Brian turned north to meet them, and Indo flew on east toward the German lines.



Indo Immelmanned and flew back west to help out Brian, who was locked in a turning fight with Bill's red Albatross. Mike performed a large, slow turn, nursing damage from the first pass.



Brian decided to concentrate on Bill, and Indo sunk his teeth into Mike, breaking up the fur ball into two distinct dogfights.



Below, Indo moves his plane into a deflection shot on Mike.



Like mounted knights of old, Bill and Brian headed straight for each other, all guns blazing. Brian's deadly marksmanship set Bill's plane on fire...



...then another burst at point-blank range sent Bill's Albatross spinning down into No-Man's Land.



Meanwhile, Mike decided to head for his own lines. He had suffered considerable damage, and was now outnumbered 2-1. However, Indo had other ideas...



At the extreme range of his guns, Indo managed a final burst that forced Mike to crash land just within the German front line trenches.



Mission Results: The French were able to pull off a decisive win.

Campaign Results:

• Bill: shot down in No Man's Land; suffered 2 wounds, but managed to evade capture and return to his squadron
• Brian: one victory (Bill's Albatross DIII)
• Indo: one victory (Mike's Albatross DIII)
• Mike: shot down over own lines; unwounded

Since they won, next game the French will be able to choose to play one of the following missions:

1. Mission 2a: Enemy Troop Movement: Providing intelligence for the ground war is of the highest priority, HQ has tasked the air service to locate vital ground targets along the front lines.
2. Mission 2b: Dawn Patrol: Maintaining air superiority is critical for the ground war, HQ has tasked the air service to fly routine patrols along the front lines.

Wings of War is a very fast and clean system. There are better simulations out there (for example, Aces High), but WoW is easier to grasp and allows new players to get involved right away.

Thanks to everyone who played.