Wings of War: Dawn of War vs Zero!

I got a chance to play "Wings of War: Dawn of War" recently and I was a little let down.

Planning the plane's moves seemed slow and tedious and very random. I am not so sure the "planning your moves" mechanic works for these type of games because for me it fails to capture the intensity of a dog fight.

It almost seems like this mechanic simulates that the planes are much farther apart than they really should be and just by a stroke of luck you ran into the plane! The rules to "Dawn of War" even say you should have more than two planes on the table or you may find you are doing nothing but plotting moves! It almost seems to me the author is saying get a pile of planes on the table and you are bound to run into something! HAHA!

If you can imagine playing "Formula De" and both players plotting their lane changes for the next 2 turns that is almost what this is like.

It seems to me the game "Zero" really nailed the manuvering mechanic in the game. It is very simple. You play cards to get into an advantaged or tailing position and fire. The altitude rules are well thought out in "Zero" as well. The back and forth playing of cards for position seems to capture the element of dogfighting really well. You are flying by the seat of pants and trying to hold on to your target to line up for a shot.

I didn't try the altitude rules in "Wings of War: Dawn of War" but I imagine if I did it would be sometime next month before I was lined up with a shot! HA!

Reading the rules to "Wings of War: Dawn of War" the hidden damage chits sounded like a cool mechanic. But in actual play the rules were kind of sluggish. My opponent hit me at least half a dozen times and I continued to fly. This was a little frustrating for my opponent.

In "Zero" when you hit the enemy plane the card is eventually flipped to the side with the smoke and you know for sure he is almost down, very satisfying.

I have been looking for a good dogfight game and the best I have found so far is "Zero".
Some will knock "Zero" for its "luck of the draw" factor but if you think that luck plays no part in aerial warfare just read McClusky's account of Midway.

I also think Zero is the better dogfighting game. Both are fun nonetheless, though I have yet to find the perfect air combat wargame. Wings of War is maybe slightly more fun, but also very chaotic. In Zero you can also play campaigns, has anyone tried those? I'm dissatisfied with Zero though as the all four games of the Down in Flames series could actually be published in one box for a fair price (it's a card game), but instead there are two base games per theater and one expansion each, with the European theater game already being long out of print. Buying just one box gives you only a few interesting match-ups between planes, which you will soon grow tired of. In Zero those are: Zero VS Hurricane, Zero VS P-40, Zero VS Wildcat; there are only two more Japanese fighters included and both suck. To fly Hellcats, Corsairs, P-47s (but no P-51s) and Japanese N1K1s you will have to buy the expansion. I think this is quite the rip off, but this also holds true for Wings of War, which although entitled Dawn of War, doesn't even include Russian planes (MiG-3s, LaGG-3s and Yak-1s).

I will try Richthofen's War soon (with the maneuver cards) and see how that goes. Otherwise I will just stick with my joystick and the IL-2 flight simulator.

If you're looking for a close simulation, there's always Whispering Death available, but I guess this game is a little too complex to recreate a fast dogfight.