The postie delivered my copy of A Mighty Fortress today and, after a quick flick through, it looks like a very cool addition to the Wings at War series. The rule booklet is the usual A5 format with a rather impressive glossy card cover. The contents follow the usual format, with a section setting out the parameters of the game and subsequent chapters laying out the core mechanisms and subject specific variations. The pack includes three B17G's, four P51D's and four Me262's, enough to get you started and very nice models.
The usual rule mechanisms are set out with some specific variations to take account of the focus of the game, including rules for bombers, formation flying, ground targets and aircraft specific factors, including the skill levels of Luftwaffe pilots and role of Allied reconnaissance. There are some neat rules for V1 launch sites, industrial targets and Me262 airfields as well, giving a very strategic feel to the game objectives. This has been well thought out and adds an extra historical dimension to the core rule mechanisms, very much in the style of Thud Ridge.
This is also not just a game of the USAAF against the Luftwaffe. There's a definite emphasis upon the inclusion of RAF daylight bombing and fighter sweeps, although the absence of night bombing and night fighters seems a bit of an oversight, despite the stated focus of the booklet. In summary, this looks like an excellent addition to the Wings at War series. Well done to the author, Chris Russell, the play testers and Mr Tumbling Dice himself, Mr Paul Sulley.
Pauke Pauke!
I've been running these rules for sometime with my club now and we've had great fun. I've got Me 262s, FW 190A & Ds, Bf 109Gs & Ks, Me 410s, P-51s, 47s, 38s and B-17s as well as Spitfire IX, Typhoons and Tempests.
ReplyDeleteThe rules feel like WW2 air combat but it plays nice and fast.
The last game we played was an RAF Typhoon raid into France 1943, the Bf 109Gs actually outfought the Spitfire IXs and shot all four escorts down. Which shows how much player skill matters as well as the unpredictability of combat.
We did make two house-rule changes: Adding a couple of aircraft stats in (Bf 109K, Ta-152H) and altering D-manoeuvres in formation flying - each aircraft now throwing separately as we had an incident with two Spitfires flying into the ground, when the lead pilot threw a "1" but the wingman threw a "3" (-1 for Spitfire).