Thursday Game: Wings of War

Tonight's game will be the first of the long-gestating Wings of War campaign. The game will be set in 1916, pitting men and machines of the French Army Air Service (Aéronautique Militaire) against those of the Imperial German Flying Corps (Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches).

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 for the next game of the campaign.

We shall be using the Knights of the Air campaign system for Wings of War. The system uses the rules from Famous Aces and Watch Your Back (including the Special Damages, Aim, Tailing, and Blind Spots For Rear Guns optional rules), plus we may use our home brew Limited Ammunition rules.

Balloon Busting

The Balloon Buster Expansion Set has recently been released for Wings of War miniatures. The set features a 1/144 Caquot balloon model (good for every European nation at war) and an Allied Nieuport 16 armed with Le Prieur air-to-air rockets. Two versions of the set are available, with different color schemes for both the balloon and for the Nieuport 16. Both include a decal sheet to customize the balloon models.

Frederick and I each picked up the yellow balloon, which set contained a French Air Force Nieuport 16. Kevin got the grey/brown balloon, with a Nieuport in the colours of the Lafayette Escadrille. The balloon models are very detailed. The many supporting cables are well represented. In the basket there's even an observer with binoculars.

The rulebook explains how to add balloons and Le Prieur rockets to WWI air battles, plus offers new missions. In the rules, balloons can take a lot more damage than a plane, and they are immune to many special damage effects. However, if a balloon is set on fire, the fire does not go out, and multiple fires may be set. So, balloons are particularly susceptible to munitions like incendiary bullets and rockets.

On Good Friday, Brian, Frederick and Kevin came over to push some planes around, and try to set some balloons on fire.

Scenario: Two Allied observation balloons are spotting for off-table artillery. Locating German scouts, they frantically signaled to be winched down to the ground by their support crews. The Germans had 12 turns to knock down the pair of balloons, which were defended by a flight of Sopwith Camels...

Frederick and Kevin can be seen below sitting behind the western table edge. Their 3 Sopwith Camels came in roughly from the northwest, trying to use their tight turning ability to get on the Germans' tails. The 2 German Albatrosses were run by Brian; they had incendiary ammo, and would try and take out the two Allied artillery observation balloons. They flew in from the southeast to try and take both balloons in succession. Flying the all-red Fokker Triplane, I flew to the north of the Albatrosses, and would try and keep the Camels busy.

(Click on the photos for larger images.)



Brian's Albatrosses line up on the southernmost balloon. Meanwhile, my Triplane mixed it up with the Camels.



Below, Brian contemplates his next move.



Brian's planes scored hits on the first balloon. The Camels have now abandoned their skirmishing, and can be seen flying over to come to grips with the Albatrosses.



A big dogfight ensued as both sides' forces converged on the same airspace.



Confused by the whirling melee, one of Brian's pilots accidentally flew off the western table edge. That pilot could look forward to the relative comforts of an Allied prison camp.



Since the Germans had lost half their incendiary firepower, I figured we had to turn to "Plan B." Accordingly, I kicked the Fokker around and attacked the already-damaged balloon. Through sheer luck, the Fokker managed to set it on fire.

Mmm, toasty.



Brian expended the last of his Albatross' ammo into the damaged southern balloon, then turned back east towards home. Meanwhile, my Fokker made an unsuccessful pass at the other balloon, closely pursued by Kevin's RAF Camel and Frederick's Belgian plane.



Performing an Immelmann, I set up the Fokker for another attack run on the balloon.



I managed one close-range burst on the balloon. However, the Allied pilots had correctly guessed my intentions. A no-deflection shot sent the Fokker down into the mud, and its pilot into the waiting arms of his Allied captors.



With the loss of two planes, and the balloons merely being damaged (albeit one was on fire), the scenario result was an Allied victory.

All in all, the game was tremendous fun. The on-fire balloon was within a single burst of being destroyed, and IIRC all the surviving planes were suffering from one sort of damage or another. I look forward to playing with the balloons again. Maybe three barrage balloons protecting a vital installation...

Wings of War - campaign rules playtest

Last week, Frederick, Brian, Kevin and I got together to playtest some rules for a proposed forthcoming WWI campaign using the Wings of War game system.

For the playtest we used planes that were historically in service in the late-1916/early-1917 time period:

Allied = 2 x Nieuport 17 scouts flown by Brian (silver plane) and myself (camo)
Central Powers = 1 x Albatross DIII scout and 1 x LFG Roland CII observation aircraft flown by, respectively, Frederick and Kevin

Kevin's Roland was tasked to photograph a point on the Allied lines, escorted by the Albatross. The two French planes were set to intercept.

Some of the optional or new rules we are thinking of using are as follows:

• Blind spot - two seater-aircraft have a blind spot to their immediate rear where their tail masks the fire of their observer's gun
• Deflection - planes firing from and into another plane's front/rear arcs have no deflection, and score +1 damage
• Limited Ammo (thanks, Frederick!) - Planes and observers have a limited and variable number of shots
• Shoot the real thing - all measurements are made from post to post, not the stands

The two long edges were the east and west board edges, the German planes coming in from the east. In the photo below, the Allied planes misjudged closing speeds and overshot their targets.

(Note: click on the photos for larger images.)

Brian turned around to pursue Kevin's observation plane. Frederick Immelmanned to change direction and try and bear on my own Nieuport. Meanwhile, the German observer managed to snap a photo of the target on the ground.


The Roland banked left to head back to its own lines. Brian's maneuverable Nieuport turned tighter, to bring its guns to bear.


A real furball ensued as three planes seemed to converge upon the same spot in the air. Frederick in his Albatross hammered my Nieuport with twin Spandaus. Brian, Kevin and I were busy avoiding mid-air collisions.


The action shifted east. Brian tailed Kevin, while Frederick flipped around and I gave him a quick burst.


Kevin flew the Roland east, jinking left and right to try and avoid Brian's shots.

I let Frederick go, turning towards the 2-seater. This was a grave mistake. Frederick turned back upon my Nieuport and set it on fire with a well-aimed burst.

Brian, for his part, managed to stick on Kevin's tail and shot the Roland out of the sky before it could cross the German lines.


My lighter Nieuport couldn't stand up to Frederick's close-range fire, and fell in flames onto No-Man's Land.


Brian, having succeeded in stopping Kevin's observer from getting away with vital information, turned west to preserve himself. Kevin's observer had managed to set Brian's plane on fire before he fell, but Brian retained control and the fire went out before too much damage was caused. Through canny maneuver, Brian managed to stay out of Frederick's gunsight, and made it safely to the Allied lines.


With the rules we tested, the players tried to use historical tactics, firing from their enemy's six-o'clock, at very close range. Long-range deflection shots were much less in evidence this night, as opposed to the game we had over Christmas break.

Some further discussion is required. For example, a couple of different campaign systems have been offered to track aircraft availability and generate scenarios. However, I'm looking forward to starting something up in the next few weeks.

Wings of War night

Last night I hosted a Wings of War evening. Wings of War is a miniatures based air combat game, with a dedicated fan following. We used their 1/144 scale pre-painted WWI biplane models for the games. Currently, their are 36 different models, with a new set involving observation balloons and more planes coming out in the new year.

In the photo below, Alaric, Frederick and Dallas contemplate German tactics.


Most of the players had never played the game before, but this didn't turn out to be a problem. Game play is very simple and elegant:

Each model comes with its own set of maneuver cards specifically designed for it, with large arrows on them. The player controlling a plane plans his turn, choosing three cards in sequence and putting them face down on the gaming mat. All players reveal at the same time the first card for the turn, put it in front of the plane and move the latter so that the little arrowhead on the rear of its clear flight stand matches the arrow in front of the maneuver. Planes thus "fly" on the tabletop. This is repeated for each of the subsequent phases, for each turn.

A ruler (provided in the game) is used to see if a plane has enemy planes in its field(s) of fire; if so, the player may choose a target. The target plane's player must draw a damage card with a random amount of points (optional rules cover special damages, too). Short range fire (up to one-half ruler distance) means two damage cards drawn instead of one. Maneuvers available, firepower, and amount of damage sustained before being eliminated all depend on the specific airplane chosen.

Below, Kevin and Brian observe the results of the Allies' cunning plan.


After a short while, the players weren't thinking a lot about the game mechanics any more. Rather, they were concentrating on anticipating their enemies' moves, and on how to best utilize their own plane's advantages.

We were able to get in a half a dozen games, trading planes and sides throughout the evening. Some battles were just straight shoot 'em ups. The last couple were bombing scenarios, where a force comprised of a two-seater escorted by some fighters was opposed by a flight of enemy fighter planes.

Highlights included:

• My DH-4 being blown out of the sky by Frederick's multi-coloured Albatross D.III, just shy of my target

• Alaric's Roland C-II was on fire, but he still was able to drop its bombs on target - just before being shot down by the combined fire of Kevin's Sopwith Camel and my Nieuport 17
  


• After all other planes on both sides were shot down or fled, Alaric's all-red Albatross D.III was left alone on the table, a menacing presence to be sure
  

Thanks to Alaric, Brian, Dallas, DaveO, Frederick and Kevin for taking part in the festivities.

Happy gaming, and have a safe and happy New Year!